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Meaning & History
From the Greek name Γεωργιος (Georgios) which was derived from the Greek word γεωργος (georgos) meaning "farmer, earthworker", itself derived from the elements γη (ge) "earth" and εργον (ergon) "work". Saint George was a 3rd-century Roman soldier from Palestine who was martyred during the persecutions of emperor Diocletian. Later legends describe his defeat of a dragon, with which he was often depicted in medieval art.
Initially Saint George was primarily revered by Eastern Christians, but returning crusaders brought stories of him to Western Europe and he became the patron of England, Portugal, Catalonia and Aragon. The name was rarely used in England until the German-born George I came to the British throne in the 18th century. Five subsequent British kings have borne the name.
Other famous bearers include two kings of Greece, the composer George Frideric Handel (1685-1759), the first president of the United States, George Washington (1732-1797), and the Pacific explorer George Vancouver (1757-1798). This was also the pen name of authors George Eliot (1819-1880) and George Orwell (1903-1950), real names Mary Anne Evans and Eric Arthur Blair respectively.
Related Names
VARIANT: Gheorghe (Romanian)
FEMININE FORMS: Georgia, Georgiana, Georgie, Georgina, Gina, Geena, Gena, Georgeanna, Jorja (English), Georgeta (Romanian)
OTHER LANGUAGES: Gjergj (Albanian), Georgios, Georgius (Ancient Greek), Gevorg, Kevork (Armenian), Gorka (Basque), Georgi (Bulgarian), Jordi (Catalan), Jory (Cornish), Đuro, Juraj, Đurađ, Jure, Jurica, Juro (Croatian), Jiří (Czech), Georg, Jørgen, Jørg, Jørn (Danish), Joeri, Joris, Jurgen, Jurriaan, Sjors (Dutch), Georgo (Esperanto), Georg (Estonian), Jyri, Jyrki, Yrjänä, Yrjö (Finnish), Georges (French), Joris (Frisian), Xurxo (Galician), Giorgi, Iuri, Goga (Georgian), Georg, Jörg (German), Georgios, Giorgos, Yiorgos, Yorgos (Greek), György, Gyuri (Hungarian), Seoirse (Irish), Giorgio, Gino, Giorgino (Italian), Georgijs, Georgs, Juris (Latvian), Jurgis (Lithuanian), Jürgen (Low German), Gjorgji, Gorgi (Macedonian), Geevarghese, Varghese (Malayalam), Jurian (Medieval German), Yrian (Medieval Scandinavian), Georg, Gøran, Jørgen, Ørjan, Jørg, Jørn (Norwegian), Jerzy, Jurek (Polish), Jorge, Jorginho (Portuguese), Georgiy, Georgy, Yuri, Yuriy, Yegor, Yura (Russian), Deòrsa, Seòras (Scottish), Djordje, Djuro, Đorđe, Đuro, Djuradj, Đurađ (Serbian), Juraj (Slovak), Jurij, Jure, Jurica (Slovene), Jurij (Sorbian), Jorge (Spanish), Georg, Göran, Jörgen, Örjan, Jöran (Swedish), Yuri, Yuriy, Yura (Ukrainian), Siôr, Siors, Siorus (Welsh)
Related Names


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I love taking portret pics and I received several Highly Commended awards fot this serie. This one i altered a bit. I love this serie to be critiqued and turn my next series into editors choices. ;o) Still have to learn a lot, so please members of ephotozine critique team i welome your advise.
Thanks in advance.
Kind regards
ps this photo is taken with natural light from the right. And a (nearly) plain background.
|Nikon D700 Check out Nikon Nation!
|85.0 mm f/1.4
|Recording media:
|JPEG (digital)
|Date Taken:
|2 Oct 2011 - 2:54 PM
|Focal Length:
|Lens Max Aperture:
|Shutter Speed:
|Exposure Comp:
|Exposure Mode:
|Aperture-priority AE
|Metering Mode:
|No Flash
|27 Oct 2011 - 3:31 PM
|Black & white, General, Portraits / people
|VS Mode Rating
101 (60% won)
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There is a great feel to this portrait and i'd like to just vote for it;
But critique, OK her hair sticks out on camera left and this is drawing my eyes from her captivating eyes. the grey background and grey tshirt are starting to blend, have then wear a darker colour if possible or light the background more.
Crop, i might lose 10-20% on the right and 20-25% on the bottom of the pic as i feel she is looking out of the frame leaving space that's not adding to the image. No one ever always right so ignore comments you don't like.
Nominating Constructive Critique
It's a very effective style you have developed for your portraits Rhobbie. the soft focus is quite flattering. this is just a personal thing but I might like to see a bit more definition around the chin. The eyes are nice and sharp but the focus drops quite quickly away from this area. It works fine with her fringe but not so well to my eyes going in the other direction around the jaw.
I am just wondering about your camera settings. Are you deliberately using 800 iso to get come noise in the pic? Otherwise there is some leeway with your shutter speed at 1/160 to go for a slower speed and a lower iso.
Nice work
Nominating Constructive Critique
Some good advice there, I think.
I agree with Stuart in that a tighter crop would probably work better and Catherine's comments regarding the DoF are also very valid.
I too like the softer approach you've adopted but I think that you needed to get just a little more of the face sharper.
Photographing people in glasses can be fraught with problems but you've managed it nicely here.
Overall, I think that this has a lot going for it. I like it a lot.
Nominating Constructive Critique
First thing I would ask is that you upload exactly the same shot as the HC version. This is not only smaller, but considerably different in contrast and overall impact. The original image is quite superior to this version. Only then can the advice you want be meaningful.
Nominating Constructive Critique
OK, - I was able to download your original 1000 pixel shot (wonder why you loaded a smaller version here?)
Its a very good shot, and for me thats simply because it is very natural, as are the others in your portfolio. Youve also got the focus correct on the eyes, through glasses, which is indicative of you thinking about what you wanted to achieve, and paying attention to details.
You used ISO 800, - I would recommend using a lower ISO, and if you want to get better portraits, use a tripod, and use the lowest ISO the conditions will allow if you dont have studio lights.
For this shot, I would lighten the eyes a little more and enhance highlights, - you can use a reflector to improve light directed at the face. Fill flash is worth trying, and getting some practice with. If the camera has a built in flash, simply force it to pop up, - it will not fire on full power, but will improve eye details and catchlights. Not a good idea though for a person wearing glasses.
I dont know of the heavy frame is part of the style, - if it is, thats fine, - if not, I would try a lighter, less restrictive frame.
Ive loaded a mod of your original shot.
Hope this helps,
Nominating Constructive Critique
Nominating Constructive Critique
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press release
Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the first quarter of 2014 grew by 6.7 per cent (year-on-year), while the year-on-year GDP growth for the first quarter of 2013 was 9.0 per cent, Mr Baah Wadieh, Deputy Government Statistician, has disclosed.
Mr Wadieh said, at current prices, the GDP during the 1st quarter of 2014 was GH¢25,733.21 million, including oil, while non-oil GDP at current prices for the1st quarter of 2014 was GH¢ 23,028.47 million.
Addressing a news conference in Accra on Wednesday, he said key findings of the performance of activities in the first quarter of 2014 indicated that the Agricultural sector recorded the highest growth of 12.7 per cent, followed by the services sector with 4.6 per cent, while the industry sector recorded a negative growth -1.1 per cent.
According to the findings, Mr Wadieh said, in the performance of activities in the first quarter of 2014, compared with the first quarter of 2013, the main drivers of the Year-on-Year quarterly GDP growth rate of 6.7% were livestock production which expanded by 24.7 per cent; fishing activities which increased by 20.0 per cent; Financial and insurance activities which increased by 19.7 per cent; Community, social & personal activities which inched up by 10.7%; and Information and communication activities which rose by 10.3%.
The findings, he said, indicated that the quarter on-quarter, seasonally adjusted real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate for the 1st quarter of the year 2014 was 2.6 per cent, implying that the value of goods and services produced in the 1st quarter of 2014 increased by 2.6 per cent, compared to that of 4th quarter of 2013. The Quarter-on-Quarter GDP growth rate for the 1st quarter of 2013 was to 2.7 per cent.
He said the findings also showed that sectoral contributions to the GDP in the 1st quarter of 2014 at basic prices were Agriculture (14.9%); Industry (33.9%); and Services (51.2%)--highest contributor to the 2014 first quarter GDP.
Mr Wadieh said, according to the findings, the contribution of the Agriculture subsector to the 1st Quarter of 2014 GDP were Crops & Cocoa (10.2 per cent); Livestock (1.4 per cent) Forestry (1.8 per cent); and Logging, Fishing(1.5 per cent).
He said the findings also indicated that the contribution of the industry subsector to the 1st Quarter of 2014 GDP were Mining and quarrying (12.6 per cent); Manufacturing (4.4 per cent); Electricity (0.5 per cent), Water & Sewerage (0.8 per cent) and Construction (15.6 per cent). He said, by the findings, the Services subsector's contribution to the 1st Quarter of 2014 GDP, were Trade & Repair of Motor Vehicles (4.8 per cent); Hotels and Restaurants (4.7 per cent); Transport & Storage (10.3 per cent); Information & Communication activities (2.5 per cent); Financial & Insurance Activities (7.9 per cent); Real Estate, Professional, Administrative & Support Service activities (4.2 per cent); Public Administration (7.7 per cent); Education (4.4 per cent); Health (1.1 per cent); and Community, Social & Personal Service Activities (3.6 per cent). Mr Wadieh said the findings showed that the main drivers of the growth rate recorded in the 1st quarter of 2014 were Forestry and logging activities (19.0 per cent); Fishing activities (14.1 per cent); Mining and quarrying activities (8.4 per cent); Livestock activities (4.5 per cent); and Community, social & personal activities (4.3 per cent).
The findings, he said, also showed that declines in the growth rate were also recorded in Public administration, (7.3 per cent); Real Estate, Professional, Administrative & Support Service activities (business activities), (5.1 per cent); Manufacturing, (0.1 per cent); Financial & insurance activities (3.9 per cent); and Electricity, (1.8 per cent).
Conversely, he said, the findings indicated that, declines in growth rates were recorded in the Public Administration subsector (-8.0 per cent); Manufacturing subsector (-19.3 per cent); Forestry & logging subsector (-7.6 per cent); and the Health subsector (-6.9 per cent).
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the estimate of the total value of final goods and services produced in the country during a given period. It can be quarterly or annually.
Quarter-on-Quarter indicators measure changes in a quarter to the immediate preceding quarter while Year-on-Year quarterly indicators measure changes in a quarter to the same quarter of the previous year.
The estimation of the GDP is done in stages, with estimates generated at each stage depending on available data.
Estimates from each stage are progressively designated as projected, provisional, revised and final.
Source: ISD (G.D. Zaney)


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Since his return from a knee injury in November, the 34-year-old has played an influential role in Sunderland's resurgence and Poyet has been keen to praise his impact.
Poyet, who himself played until he was 36, hailed the versatile former Manchester United man's intelligence adding that if he avoids injuries, he could easily continue playing for years to come.
The Black Cats boss said: "I would say if we keep playing the way we are playing, Wes could play with us until he is 40.
"He has a way of playing, of understanding the shape and of how high up you should defend - plenty of things that influence a game.
"When you are so ahead of the game, if you keep yourself normally fit, you can go on. Does he want to play until he's 40? I don't think so, but maybe he will.
"You never know as well how much longer Wes is going to play because if the body does too much, he might break down. But every time he's all right, he plays.
"He reads the game, he knows the game, he anticipates plenty of things. He knows what we want and he adapted quickly to what we wanted.
"He's doing it every week, which is great for me. It's difficult in our improvement to say who has made the biggest difference, but he has played a big part."


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Renewed Accreditation Awarded
by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission
Founded in 1967 as a land trust, four years later the Brandywine Conservancy opened the Brandywine River Museum in the renovated Hoffman s Mill, a former gristmill that was part of the Conservancy s first preservation efforts. Brandywine Conservancy, Inc. updated the naming of its parent organization and its two programs in early February. The parent organization became the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art. The environmental program, formerly known as the Environmental Management Center, is now known as the Brandywine Conservancy.
"Accreditation helps our organization stay on top of trends in practices and procedures and makes the Brandywine Conservancy a stronger organization" said Sherri Evans-Stanton, Director of the Brandywine Conservancy. In addition to the many environmental accomplishments, the parent organization, Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art celebrates the interconnection between art and the environment.
"Accreditation is an important touchstone for the land trust community. In establishing the highest standards and practices that best accomplish our shared conservation goals, we have also created an important symbol that assures the public of the integrity of our actions" said Virginia A. Logan, Executive Director of the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art.
The mission of the Brandywine Conservancy is to conserve the natural and cultural resources of the Brandywine watershed and other selected areas with a primary emphasis on water quality and quantity. It has permanently protected from development more than 59,000 acres in Chester and Delaware counties in Pennsylvania, as well as New Castle County in Delaware. The Conservancy holds more than 440 conservation easements and owns more than 2,100 acres of land.
The Brandywine Conservancy assisted with the founding of the Land Trust Alliance. It is fitting that they were among the first to be accredited and now awarded renewed accreditation. To date, Brandywine is one of only 254 land trusts from across the country that are now accredited. Accredited land trusts are authorized to display a seal indicating to the public that they meet national standards for excellence, uphold the public trust and ensure that conservation efforts are permanent. The seal is a mark of distinction in land conservation.
"The Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art is one of the first land trusts to achieve renewed accreditation, a significant achievement for the land trust and significant major milestone for the accreditation program. They are an important member of the 254 accredited land trusts that protect more than half of the 20,645,165 acres currently owned in fee or protected by a conservation easement held by a land trust," said Commission Executive Director Tammara Van Ryn. "Accreditation renewal, which must be completed every five years, provides the public with an assurance that accredited land trusts continue to meet exceedingly high standards for quality."
Each land trust that achieved renewed accreditation submitted extensive documentation and underwent a rigorous review. "Through accreditation renewal land trusts are part of an important evaluation and improvement process that verifies their operations continue to be effective, strategic and in accordance with strict requirements," said Van Ryn. "Accredited organizations have engaged citizen conservation leaders and improved systems for ensuring that their conservation work is permanent."
"The Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art is proud to display the
accreditation seal and to be a part of this wonderful land trust community,"
said Evans-Stanton.
About the Land Trust Accreditation Commission
The Land Trust Accreditation Commission, based in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., inspires excellence, promotes public trust and ensures permanence in the conservation of open lands by recognizing land trust organizations that meet rigorous quality standards and that strive for continuous improvement. The Commission, established in 2006 as an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance, is governed by a volunteer board of diverse land conservation and nonprofit management experts from around the country. See a complete list of all recently accredited land trusts online. More information on the accreditation program is available on the Commission's website.
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New Nokia Lumia 810 Will Be T-Mobile Exclusive
Article Comments
Replying to: Re: CPU by The Coon
Re: CPU
It is very, very, VERY doubtful that this is caused by processor speed. More likely, by Processor architecture, or the actuial way the device's internals were designed.
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Happy New Year 2013 everybody! We've decided to continue the Christmas sale with a New Year's sale which will run until the 7th of January 2013. This means NI mate is still -20% off for another week. Get a license … Continue reading
Category Archives: Web shop
Hey friends! Surely you didn't think that we'd leave you all without holding a proper christmas sale did you? Starting from right now and lasting until the New Year's eve (31st of December, 2012) NI mate is selling at -20% … Continue reading
First of all some good news regarding the price of an NI mate license. For buyers located outside of the European Union region the license can be sold without VAT (unlike we were previously made to believe). For EU citizens … Continue reading
Edit 9th of May 2012: We were under the false impression that VAT would need to be included in non-EU purchases as well. We were informed that this is not so and have now corrected the price for non-EU citizens. … Continue reading


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As the son of an immigrant and an immigrant myself, I know that it takes immigrant communities time to establish themselvesusually several generations.
The black community arrived fairly recently in this country. We are only now beginning to see black British teachers in our schools in any significant numbers. This is the first step in a long lead-up to social success, and happens with any immigrant community regardless of its colour or culture. It will have a very positive effect on the up-and-coming generation of British black children, but it won't happen overnight.
The high-flyers from within that community, those who have gone on to be doctors, lawyers, scientists and other high-profile professionals outside the entertainment industry, probably don't see themselves as emissaries of their communities, but as people who have struggled to make good. So it is a little early yet to expect them to dedicate themselves to serving ...
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Islamic University faculty participates in "Aakash for Education" workshop
Filed Under: Media & Tech, World | Posted: 11/11/2012 at 4:33AM
Comments | Region: India
Awantipora,Srinagar, November 11 (Scoop News)- A two-day virtual workshop "Aakash for Education" was conducted by IIT Bombay to train educational institutes on using applications of Aakash for effective use of the device as well as to enhance the technological skills of the teaching faculty.
The objective of the workshop was to introduce the tablet computers to the participating faculty members.
The workshop was conducted at about 250 centers across
As many as 45 faculty members from various departments of IUST participated and were exposed to the new and educational purposes served by the Aakash Tab II.
The Tab II of Aakash was formally launched on November 11 by the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee during the National Education Day celebrations held at the Vighyan Bhavan,
Meanwhile, in the two day workshop the participants were exposed to various facets of the Aakash Tab that could serve as the bedrock in the modern and participatory approach in the education sector.
Detailing about the workshop, Coordinator of the Project at IUST, Mohammad Asif Naqshbandi, said that the aim of such type of workshop is to develop a sense of research and development among the faculty members and the students.
He said that the Aakash for Education is a two year project in which students from across the
He said that the Ministry of Human Resource development will provide the financial as well as technological aid to the centers selected from across
He said that citing the importance of the workshop, Vice Chancellor, IUST, Prof A R Trag took effective measures for including IUST as one of the centers for this workshop.
Assistant Coordinator of the project, Majid Nisar informed that an Aakash tab would be connected to a local Linux server and the students can have access to real time lectures as well as quizzes. " The tab will facilitate an immediate response and feedback from the student about a given topic that was taught in the class room. It will provide a continuous assessment system," Majid added.
The IT section of


text:
Great articles on other sites
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- Competition watchdog should break up Foxtel monopoly: Ludlam
News, Telecommunications - Written by Renai LeMay on Wednesday, February 6, 2013 13:47 - 92 Comments
NBN confirms doubled satellite, wireless speeds?
news NBN Co today revealed that its satellite and wireless services designed to serve a small proportion of the population will feature higher speeds than previously confirmed, with the services now to provide download speeds up to 25Mbps and upload speeds up to 5Mbps. However, questions remain over the timing and technical details of the company's announcement.
Previously, the satellite and broadband services were only confirmed to be able to provide download speeds of 12Mbps and upload speeds of 1Mbps. The satellite and wireless solutions are slated to cover over half a million premises (seven percent of Australian premises) which will not be covered by the NBN's predominantly fibre-based rollout, as the cost of providing fibre to those rural and remote areas is prohibitive.
NBN Co has previously flagged the potential for its satellite and wireless services to offer higher speeds than the 12Mbps/1Mbps baseline which constitutes the Federal Government's policy on the matter. For example, in June 2011, when NBN Co signed its 10-year, $1.1 billion contract with Ericsson to build its wireless network, the company's chief technology officer Gary McLaren said NBN Co would look at the potential to offer higher speeds in future after they could assure a certain base level of service to all customers in each area, and technology in the area also developed.
In addition, in NBN Co's most recent corporate plan (page 38, the PDF is available online), the company stated: "The Fixed Wireless and Long Term Satellite networks will initially provide services to NBN Co's wholesale customers at a peak speed of 12 megabits per second (Mbps) in the downlink, 1 megabit per second in the uplink (both at a wholesale level). Both networks will continue to be upgraded to match the fibre speed tiers when the technology and costs make this possible. The 2012-15 Corporate Plan includes the costs associated with anticipated technology upgrades across both technologies."
However, the company's media release today (PDF) represents the first time the company has publicly confirmed the precise speed upgrades which will be available to customers; they will be available across NBN Co's wireless network from June this year and through the company's satellite service when it launches in 2015. The wireless network is also slated to be finished construction in 2015.
In addition, the wholesale prices for internet service providers who retail NBN packages to rural broadband users will be pegged at the same rate as they are for fibre users in the cities: $27 per month for the 25/5Mbps service and $24 for the 12/1Mbps service respectively. NBN Co said it "has already committed to reducing wholesale broadband prices in real terms".
NBN Co Chief Executive Mike Quigley said: "Every home and business in Australia – from the outback to the city – will have access to fast internet at speeds as good as or faster than ADSL2+ services available in metropolitan areas today."
"That will give people in the most isolated parts of the country access to economic and social opportunities that the rest of the country takes for granted. For instance, faster speeds will allow people in regional communities to work from home like they would from a big city office, access video- based health services and make high-quality video calls to family and friends. Just as importantly, the NBN is helping to foster real competition, and that drives affordable prices for consumers. Every provider has equal access to the network and NBN Co's prices are the same in the city and the bush."
NBN Co's announcement today is the second time the company has announced a major speed upgrade to its planned network during an election campaign. In August 2010, ahead of that year's Federal Election, the company's chief executive Mike Quigley confirmed for the first time that the NBN's fibre would eventually support speeds of up to 1Gbps, although Quigley denied the revelation had anything to do with the election campaign.
I've got two things to say about this announcement. Firstly, and most obviously, this is great news, and we've been expecting speed upgrades to the NBN's wireless services for some time. With the fixed LTE technology that the NBN has been deploying capable of speeds much higher than 12Mbps, it was probably only a matter of time until NBN Co did enough testing of its wireless network and worked out that it could reliably support 25Mbps. It's a similar situation with the satellite component, and overall it's good news for rural Australia that they'll be getting these speeds.
However (and this is not going to be a popular line of argument amongst readers), I must also question the timing and technical details of this NBN Co announcement this morning. Please consider the following with an open mind.
There have been no, and I repeat no, massive developments in satellite technology over the past week (or indeed, I believe the past several years, at the very least), which have meant that NBN is suddenly this week able to guarantee 25Mbps satellite broadband speeds to Australians. NBN Co must have known internally for quite a long time (perhaps years) that the two new satellites which it plans to put in orbit in 2015 will be capable of speeds up to 25Mbps.
Similarly, I suspect that NBN Co has known for quite a long time (perhaps as long as six months, perhaps longer) that its wireless network was indeed capable of providing speeds up to 25Mbps. The company started deploying its wireless network 18 months ago, and must have been speaking to Ericsson and other vendors about the potential of that network for six months or so earlier, as it was negotiating its contract.
I expect that Ericsson has for a year or more had its own beliefs about the speeds which NBN Co's wireless network is capable of consistently delivering. Why do I believe this? Well, Ericsson is one of the largest global networking vendors and knows the capabilities of its own equipment inside out. In addition, locally, you may remember that the company deployed Telstra's Next G network. That's a mobile network, not a fixed wireless network, but it features much of the same infrastructure as NBN Co's wireless network.
Today's media release from NBN Co is not the result of "hard news" generated internally inside the company. NBN Co has likely had the information in this media release for a long time. The company chose to collate this information together and release it in this fashion on this random day, magically delivering an instant "upgrade" to its network.
This brings us to the question of why NBN Co would do such a thing.
If you believe the company, it wants to provide consistency about the way it talks to those living in the seven percent of Australia which will receive wireless and satellite services instead of fibre. It doesn't want those residents to feel as though they're getting left out, and it wants to provide consistent speeds across its wireless and satellite services. Perhaps NBN Co has recently finished testing the higher speeds on its wireless network (now that it has 1,000-odd live wireless customers) and it was able to announce the 25Mbps wireless speeds. It probably wanted to do both simultaneously and so it issued a joint release about both technologies. This is the most likely case.
Some will argue that NBN Co released this 'upgrade' today because Prime Minister Julia Gillard released the date of the election last week. While I don't personally believe NBN Co did this, there is no doubt that Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has already jumped on this morning's announcement and is using it for political capital. So while this isn't likely on the part of NBN Co, it's still a valid question to be asked of the company. And regardless of what NBN Co intended, its action objectively represent a boost to Labor's election message.
Irrespective of why NBN Co released this information today, however, what we do know about this release is that it represents the opposite of transparency from a technical point of view.
When NBN Co was able to confirm that its satellite service would definitely be capable of 25Mbps services (probably years ago), it should have released that information at that point. When the company was able to confirm that its wireless service would definitely be capable of 25Mbps, the company should have released that information at that point.
In fact, the fact that NBN Co today released both the wireless and satellite upgrades simultaneously leads to the question of whether it is too big a coincidence that both technologies magically support the same maximum upload and download speeds.
After all, despite the fact that NBN Co has conflated both services together in the past and has done so today, isn't it true that wireless and satellite broadband are fundamentally different technologies and not similar at all? Isn't it likely that, instead of both coincidentally supporting 25Mbps speeds, that they each support completely different speeds (for example, 26.2Mbps for the satellite and 33.4Mbps for the wireless, or vice versa) in practice, and that NBN Co has artificially set the 25Mbps limit, purely to ensure that it can promise a consistent speed across regional Australia?
Yes, this is very likely. It is very unlikely that both the satellite and wireless services coincidentally have a top speed of 25Mbps.
In fact, there is precedent for this in Australia's telecommunications industry. Those with long memories will remember that Telstra artificially set ADSL speeds at three speed tiers — 1.5Mbps, 512kbps and 256kbps — despite the fact that many people's connections would actually work at up to speeds of 8Mbps. It was only when ISPs like iiNet started rolling out their own DSLAMs throughout the early 1990's and uncapping ADSL1 to 8Mbps that Telstra did the same. Now it looks like NBN Co is setting artificial 25Mbps speeds on its satellite and wireless services. I'm not saying it's the exact same situation; but there is an element of artificiality here.
To sum up: NBN Co's upgrade of its satellite and wireless services today is great news for rural and regional Australia. But let's not fool ourselves. The company is not being completely honest about the technical capabilities of its network here, and this announcement has been carefully stage-managed in timing and structure for purposes which have absolutely nothing to do with the underlying technology.
92 Comments
BMW do it to their cars. A 325i used to have a 2.5 litre engine but it has a 2.0 litre now. Japanese performance cars for a while ALL had 280hp maximum but in reality some where shipping with much more.
I don't see an issue with this as long as it caters to the lowest common speed, any more is a bonus in my eyes.
As for being stage managed, I don't see what's wrong with that at all. NBNCo need as much theatre as they can get to counter LNP's pantomime routine.
And some of us are pretty disgusted at BMW's change. They went from a model number that had meaning to a model number that doesn't.
Regarding the timing, you may also want to take into account that NBNCo would not want to announce that FTTH is 100Mbit (up to 1Gbit), fixed wireless is 12Mbit, and satellite is 25Mbit. The people who are in the wireless zone would be demanding satellite – and to many it would be obvious that the wireless does in fact support 25Mbit. But obviously, such conflicting information would be used against them constantly in the mainstream media.
In fact, the fact that NBN Co today released both the wireless and satellite upgrades simultaneously leads to the question of whether it is too big a coincidence that both technologies magically support the same maximum upload and download speeds.
Magically? No, but deliberately? Yes.
Satellite will be used for very remote premises, but it will also be used for Fixed Wireless infill in blackspots. Considering this there is no doubt in my mind why this announcement has happened the way it has.
It isn't rocket science IMHO (well launching sattelites is, but you get my point.).
Perhaps another reason for the timing of the dual announcement is to keep a level playing field for the two types of regional broadband. If they had announced early that satellite could provide 25Mbps but wireless was limited to 12, there would have probably been even more anti-wireless sentiment than the rubbish that's already going on and people who were scheduled for wireless would have wanted satellite because of the higher speeds.
If they have indeed recently confirmed that the wireless will support 25Mbps, then I can see how it would make sense to announce that both "regional" options are getting a speed bump at the same time without any devious political planning involved.
I can't comment on the satellites but I think you're being overly sceptical of NBNco's wireless network. They obvious don't upgrade until they can ensure everyone can get a specific speed. Wireless is a shared medium and so by limiting they can ensure everyone gets 12 Mbps (in theory of course). They don't need a bit technological jump to get 25 Mbps, just like the 1 Gbps fibre speeds have been around for a while but the NBN won't be updated until 2014. They do it when its economical and feasible to do so.
As you've mentioned, the speeds are artificially limited and this also ensures everyone pays the same across the country to receive the same service. I don't think we'll see the satellite speeds upgraded as quickly as wireless in the future.
It was always designed to go up to the higher speeds eventually…they've apparently just brought the plan forward.
With regard to the timing of this announcement I hardly see it as relevant. I mean Quigley (or someone else from NBNco) alluded that they may be able to improve speeds for the satellite and wireless plans some time ago so this announcement is really just a confirmation of that… which I imagine there is never a good time to announce since it can ALWAYS be considered political. Remember when they announced fibre would be capable of 1000/400mbps? Same thing, it was political too, now it's "We don't need that speed!" and also the contradictory whining about having to redo one area in Tasmania because they are limited to 100/40mbps… another "speed we don't need" lol
Indeed HC…
All we hear from the naysayers (apart from the obvious FUD) is, where's the information?
And what do they say when they get it? Politically timed, nothing but NBNCo estimations, not worth the paper it's written on.
Yet again more damned if they do/don't.
I live in Rural Victoria and work in the CBD as a technology Integrator. My only broadband choice is Telstra NextG @ 2mbit down/1mbit up capped at 15gb/month.
This will be a massive bonus for me!
"But let's not fool ourselves. The company is not being completely honest about the technical capabilities of its network here, and this announcement has been carefully stage-managed in timing and structure for purposes which have absolutely nothing to do with the underlying technology."
Not completely honest?
Excuse me, where is it written that 'wireless and satellite will be stuck at 12/1Mbps forever – signed NBNco'. It was my understanding that the potential for higher speeds was always made very clear, for example:
From 2011 on page 47 states: "Traffic Class 4 higher speed options 25/5, 25/10, 50/20, 100/40 Megabits per second" is 'TBA' for wireless.
It's very clear to anyone with any technical knowledge and ability to read NBNco's docs that this capability has *always* been there – they've not hidden it. All this announcement is a more public commitment to actually releasing said service.
Have to agree here.
At *most* of the NBN Co technical briefings I've been at, someone has asked what the roadmap for the wireless network would be in terms of future speed. They never ruled out faster speeds from the initial infrastructure, and in fact I recall on at least one occasion them ruling out that it would stay at 12/1Mbps.
Anyone designing a network of this size and nature would be positively daft not to allow for extra capacity beyond the baseline specifications requested.
This was always going to happen.
There is also the factor that has not been mentioned , the backhaul/transits and feeders for the wireless networks that will support that speed and data throughput.
No sense announcing upgrades until those are up to speed for the levels being announced across the board
I don't share the same assumptions as Renai. I think NBN have been pretty open that their network could do more, and that they would be seeking how to get this extra performance for customers.
There is no gain to holding back on this type of information, not politically or commercially.
I would think they waited to confirm these speeds as being official offers, as NBN was needing confirmation that both technology offerings would be able to provide the same(ish) performance. Note that is not asking about the technology itself, but the technology offering which includes things like guaranteeing available bandwidth, sorting out contention ratios etc.
NBN definitely want the 7% to be considered as equal, whether they are on sat or wireless. That decision could be considered a commercial, marketting or even a political one. But once NBN had worked out a figure for both technologies, I don't think they held back on releasing that info.
An interesting question that you haven't considered is: will the coalition's fibre to the node network be able to guarantee people speeds of 25/5? If not (and let's face it, it can't, given copper's variability), the coalition is proposing to build a broadband network for metro users that will actually be SLOWER for some people than the satellite and fixed wireless network in rural areas. Now that is freaking insane.
Wouldn't announcing it any time in the next seven months be seen as a political ploy? Is the fact they didn't announce it sooner political? Is there any possible time to announce it that doesn't seem to be suspicious? The same got said when they announced 1Gb fibre. The same was said when they released roll out maps. Is there in fact any way they can announce anything without it seeming political?
Of course not. The NBN has become a political issue. Talking about the NBN at all is political. There's no way to win here. The only thing you can do is just assume that everything about it is political or apolitical, and so there's no real need to discuss it. Even the choice of technology (FTTP vs FTTN) could be considered political, as a differentiator between parties – although that should be based on technical and economic evaluation, Turnbull has made it purely political. As far as NBNco are concerned though, it's all business as usual.
Storm, meet teacup. It was known now for some time they were planning to allow for higher speeds when wireless installations that could not handle 25/5 were rejected. I suspect they were just waiting for the technology to prove itself on rollout before announcing it. In any case this article has a huge amount of assumptions built on, a huge amount of assumptions. Surprised Renai, you can do much better when you have a little more to work with. Most of this article is pure speculation.
I Suspect an element is having adequate backhaul capacity for the wireless networks, the announcement would suggest they now have.
I do remember back when the satellites were first being discussed and they were considering including the Antarctic Territories and Shipping that the possibility of 100Mb Satellite downstream was being bandied about. ? Guess we wait for the birds to fly and see how they perform
I think it would be a bad move to announce that satellite is capable of faster speeds than the fixed wireless, otherwise what's the point of the fixed wireless? It seems quite likely that satellite is probably capable of much higher speeds than even 25Mb/s but it will always be done in lock-step with what fixed wireless is capable.
Of course, fixed wireless will have much lower latencies than satellite, but I suspect most consumers won't care about (or even understand) that.
Now it looks like NBN Co is setting artificial 25Mbps speeds on its satellite and wireless services. I'm not saying it's the exact same situation; but there is an element of artificiality here.
You could also say they're also putting artificial limits on the fibre with the different plans. But I think different plans actually make sense here, due to the way upstream broadband is purchased (I personally believe data caps should be removed and everybody should be paying by the megabit-per-second, but I think that's too much of a pipe dream)
Even if satellite down links were 50 Mbps, anyone who knows anything would still opt for wireless if they were outside the fibre footprint. Packet transit times in the multiple thousands of ms (in other words several seconds) are unacceptable for two way comms. You see it all the time when CNN have a live correspondent via satellite in the Middle East. 7 second delay between question and answer.
Thus, I don't think people who care about capacity really care about the bandwidth of the satellite service vs. the wireless service. Also, NBN is about offering the same product over multiple modes of delivery at the same price, thus 25/5 is going to be $50/m (retail) regardless of the delivery method (fibre, wireless or satellite)
I, too, am really surprised by your analysis and assumptions here, Ren. NBN Co would have needed to confirm the technical capability of the equipment from vendors (probably nailing it down contractually) which would have hinged upon their testing, and given the satellites haven't even been built yet we're likely to be talking about equipment that is either still just components or may still be in the prototyping phase. How you could not only draw the conclusions you have, but then decide it was a good idea to publish your unfounded speculations as though there can really be no alternative but a political angle to this, is quite beyond me. I thought hard facts were your stock in trade, not rumour mongering and wild speculation…
When I started writing that comment there were just 12 other comments on the article, so your further comments weren't there, Ren. I still stand by it, though – it's not a personal attack, just my honest surprise at your position. There are plenty of reasons for the NBN Co releasing figures now that are equally as valid as your speculations.
As for 'bundling' the different network types, it is surely to keep the packages as simple as possible for both the public but also the retailers, who would never deliver consistent products without it. A great example of confusing products is PC graphics – how many consumers have even a cursory understanding of that confusing mess? Simplifying broadband options into consistent packages like this is laudable IMHO.
Additionally, consider that the NBN as a project is being driven 'top-down'; that is, the Govt of the day created NBN Co as a project to deliver certain objectives. This is not about releasing products as they become technically feasible, it's about finding products to deliver your policy objectives. So whether a product is technically fibre, wireless or satellite is irrelevant as far as policy objectives and as far as products delivered to consumers are concerned. This is what 'technology agnostic' actually means – the underlying technology is irrelevant as far as both politicians and consumers are concerned (paying attention, MT?). This has been the obvious and evident strategy from day one, so I don't see why anyone is surprised by the continuation of this strategy or expects it to change.
> Additionally, consider that the NBN as a project is being driven 'top-down'; that is, the Govt of the day created NBN Co as a project to deliver certain objectives. This is not about releasing products as they become technically feasible, it's about finding products to deliver your policy objectives.
Which is exactly why Labor should be held accountable for the fact that speed tiers exist. 50% connecting at 12/1Mbps should be considered a national shame.
"50% connecting at 12/1Mbps should be considered a national shame."
It would be if it wasn't fiction from your mind.
Unless you care to share a source?
"Unless you care to share a source?"
Source is the corporate plan. MM believes this a historical document telewarped from the future describing the past. Should you chose to read this document be warned; due to the temporal displacement there is radiation which may cause ocular damage so you may not be able to read the graphs contained in it correctly. The relevant information has been extracted by my trained team of professionals so you need not put yourself in any danger. The 50% figure he is referring to is for the years 2013 to 2014 after that it drops off to 46% and eventually 36% in 2028 where an overwhelming majority of 64% will be on 25/5mbps plans and higher. Furthermore 51% will be on 100/40mbps and higher plans. This IS history remember ;-)
> Source is the corporate plan. MM believes this a historical document telewarped from the future describing the past.
Whereas the NBN fanbois refuse to even contemplate that NBNCo are offering anything less than the world's best, ignoring what the Corporate Plan contains and Google Fibre. So far the evidence suggests that NBNCo have been overly optimistic in their planning.
"NBNCo are offering anything less than the world's best"
Is the corporate plan the "world's best" prediction? Tell me. Is it?
"ignoring what the Corporate Plan"
No one is ignoring it. We simply reject your erroneous interpretation of it. Hope that helps.
"So far the evidence suggests"
So far the evidence suggests you simply don't have a clue.
> Is the corporate plan the "world's best" prediction? Tell me. Is it?
I didn't use prediction. I directly referred you to Google Fibre which I would assume that anyone with a slight interest in the topic would have some knowledge of. I suggest you read what Google are rolling out and compare it to what is being rolled out by NBNCo. I suspect even the most biased would have to agree that the Google Fibre solution is far superior in every facet.
And your point? So Google, a company who is out to get profit, can do something better than the NBN for a VERY small, HIGH DENSITY section of the US population it can make money off. How is this at all comparable to a network that will cover 10 times the premises at over 5000 times the area??
You're now saying the NBN isn't going far enough WHILE saying they won't make the money they've predicted and apparently that's not good enough. Remind me never to go into business with you…
"I suspect even the most biased would have to agree that the Google Fibre solution is far superior in every facet."
OK, let's talk about Google and 1gbps.
No one is disputing 1gbps would be awesome for all. Thing is in our case we really have to build the network first and there is more to it than just the last mile. (According to you the NBN is 121 separate networks, so you should know this). The NBN is far more ambitious. It is "121 separate networks" (your words) covering 12+ million premises over I don't even know how many cities and towns. Google can do what they do because they don't have to worry about subsidising those in other areas like NBNco do.
Thing is 1gbps is something that can be changed and modified with a flick of a switch and at any time so why quibble about it now? It's really not going to make any or much of a difference until more or even the majority are connected. This argument of yours would have more weight if there was more of a network to argue about. Assuming it gets built as planned I imagine in 2021 you'll have 12 million premises agreeing with you. At this point your criticism of NBNco regarding the tiers are simply childish and narrow minded, NBNco are not Google and Australia is not America. Further more spamcasting it on every tech website like an infantile drone for yet another two years is not going to achieve anything. So far it has achieved NOTHING except expose your own idiocy. Wrong audience too. So perhaps if you really are sincere with your tiers = whoooooooo evil message you could try another avenue like have you ever contacted NBNco regarding your concerns? I'd be curious to see the reply if you have or do.
Oh and for the record don't take my comments as implicit support for everything NBNco do because I have long said that the 12/1mbps plan on fibre is useless and the lowest should be 25/5 or 50/20. Most people agree with me that it is useless and that's why we already see 12/1mbps as the least popular plan, but we all know the reason why it must remain for now… It certainly is funny how the corporate plan you cling to cites 36% will be on this speed in 2028. In 2028 I doubt this plan will even exist. I'm willing to bet big money that it won't. How about you?
The NBN is "next gen" enough, we don't need to gold plate it ;o)
But I agree with Mat about the speed tiers though, they shouldn't exist. The only tiers should be data cap ones.
You don't build a High Speed Rail track, and then run steam trains on it (speed), but you do run services at different distances (data)…
"Source is the corporate plan."
Nope, Mathew clearly stated:
"50% connecting at 12/1Mbps"
Not a word of 'prediction' or 'forecast'.
"Not a word of 'prediction' or 'forecast'."
Yes, seems you are correct here. Well that would mean he would need to provide evidence to back up his claim. As I understand the comments policy (http://delimiter.com.au/comments-policy/) takes exception to "Comments which inject demonstrably false information into the debate".
It depends if the 25Mbps is a soft cap (suggested speed you'll always get, but possibly higher if local congestion is low), or if it's implemented as a hard cap (pre-allocate bandwidth to better plan network expansion without the oddball customer who is sad that they no longer receiver higher than advertised speeds).
The wording all reeks of advertising maximum speeds, which makes one wonder why all this testing was needed at all.
I'd rather see them advertise minimum speeds rather than maximum speeds for shared wireless tech.
> The wording all reeks of advertising maximum speeds, which makes one wonder why all this testing was needed at all.
Fibre is exactly the same, all that is promised by NBNCo is peak information rate (PIR). If you want committed information rate (CIR), then you need to pay extra – 5/5Mbps is $330/month wholesale according to page 66 of the Corporate Plan 2012-15.
All the comments here but nobody has pointed out that despite all the wonderful numbers floating around in regards to the new speeds, latency is and will always continue to be a problem regardless of any dl / ul figures.
For geostationary satellites, yes, but not wireless. It would be interesting if NBN Co found their income was such that they could afford to extend the fibre network out to an increasingly greater percentage of the country as time went on, so by the time the satellite and fixed wireless needed replacing they'd no longer be needed anyway…
That is one thing I think has been forgotten in this debate. NBNco doesn't just fix a problem we have now it puts in place the structure to prevent it from reoccurring. As a GBE the government of the day can direct NBNco to expand its fiber foot print, continuously improve the speed offerings or even activate new service options that might appear in the future(like enabling multicasting; which is happening). Without private shareholders to worry about funds can be channeled back into the network.
Of course the speeds NBN offers are artificial. In fact, the whole thing, fibre included, is just a cross-section of managing contention in the infrastructure built and maximising revenue. Every network or piece of infrastructure has the same thing going on. The only question is quite how ethical a business will be about this.
So the pollies take a trip out to 'rural Bungendore' to announce this rural upgrade. Catch is Bungendore is slated for Fibre, so the location is pointless. Ok so maybe nbn has announced Bungendore's wireless towers etc are going up for the outer lying areas. Nup!
Jokers all of them.
Bungendore does have a reasonable population outside the township that have a fairly poor ADSL connection given the distance. "IF" NBN are sensible in placing their tower(s) in a really good spot it could benefit the semi-rural types really well. For the village, yes it is a bit pointless, fibre to the home will always be miles better.
Given Bungendore isn't on the 3 year fibre map yet, it's not worth holding ones breath given the potentially incoming Government (aka opposition) want to spoil this good plan with FTTN. If you want to see how bad FTTN can work look at Transact!
Ah, now the Farmers Federation agrees it is great.
Irrelavent I supose because the nationals (part of the coalition/LNP) will toe the party line.
I'm fully expecting the KAP to steal a few nationals votes, I also think the nationals are only one or two elections away from joining the Democrats.
Yep, they are pretty well irrelevant now days thanks to their blind support of the Liberals, who don't always have the interest of "the bush" in mind (unless your talking miners). At least Katter is focused on this constituents needs (and is hilarious at times).
While I agree the timing of the announcement is VERY suspect, I don't accept your reasoning along the lines of "why didn't they release technical details then?"
The satellites are being built by Space Systems/Loral and are based on designs VIASat uses – the 1300 series. ViaSAT use the 1300 series in the US to provide 70Mbps commercial services. Fact is, the PEAK service speed has ALWAYS been much higher than 12Mbps- we knew that didn't we? NBNCo. simply want to make sure everyone gets a high quality, same rate service. I've also seen an internal roadmap showing launching of the 25/5 on LTSS was always going to happen at or before launching of the LTSS sats (2015).
Fixed wireless is no different- we KNOW LTE (TDD) is capable of at least 100Mbps peak throughput. But NBNCo. are limiting it to ensure quality. That is nothing like Telstra's limiting of 1.5Mbps ADSL- that was for profit. If NBNCo. opened up Wireless and Sat to full top download speeds, they'd be swamped and quality of service would drop off rapidly. They won't do that. Hence the limited top speed.
I'll say it again, the timing may very well have been politically motivated, but the NBN is not trying to limit this technology because of profit- they have a responsibility NOT to follow Telstra/other Telco's and provide stupidly slow services because of high contention due to high peak speeds. This was always coming. And I have no issue believing, even if it was several months ago and they waited for a good opportunity, now they have a substantial testing bed on wireless and have a good idea of design and coverage for fibre, wireless and sat compared to a few years ago, they can be more confident of providing those top speeds earlier.
I've no doubt the timing was political. But I disagree entirely that NBNCo. are being coy with their technical capabilities. I'd MUCH prefer them to under deliver slightly on top speed than open it all up and give a crap service thanks to a few thousand selfish P2P pricks.
In light of the number of assumptions you made in the article. Maybe just for consideration, perhaps NBN relies on the vendors to indicate whether they can guarantee a certain data speed. Perhaps some testing needs to be done before NBN can say that it will be able to guarantee such and such speed over the fixed wireless. With mobile operators, even though the equipments are probably similar, you would realise that the data speed degrades as the number of users increase, whereas NBN has to guarantee a certain rate regardless of the number of subscribers.
Why lay all the cards on the table at once? If you have announcements in the bag then why not spread them out?
Mal's announced his FTTN nightmare so they drop another bomb which now makes the Nationals start to ask questions.
I say it's very well played and if the Labor Government are major investors then I'm sure some discussion with regards to timings took place.
I would be surprised if the NBN has been holding onto this for very long. It would have leaked.
Keep in mind, at least on the LTE wireless side, that the CPE can achieve is very dependent on your conditions. Do you have direct line of site, are there trees etc.
The author of the article appears to approach it from a question of "what speeds is the wireless network capable of". The answer to that though is "that depends on your conditions".
It is the wrong question to ask.
The way data networks are designed though is often the inverse. NBN Co may specify "we require a 25/5 speed for these areas". then the number of sites, installation conditions etc. are determined. So the 25/5 figure becomes the lowest common denominator and determines the cut off of whether a premises will have an installation.
25/5 is certainly not the peak speed that is capable, but it should be the peak speed that is possible for all installations.
Perhaps the same goes for for satellites and where you are placed in the spot beam.
The question is perhaps whether NBN Co should impose limits on peak speeds at all (including fibre), but then there is no way of having price differentiation since their charging is based on speeds rather than volume.
And you wanna know something really spooky?
Ethernet comes in 10 megabit, 100 megabit and 1000 megabit. What's the chance of that happening by accident huh, huh? All those 10's like some sort of intelligent design guiding the numbers.
Listen! Did you hear that? Twilight Zone music.
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text:
Intel to go on offensive at CES 2014 with wearable devices0
Intel has been having a hard time trying to catch up with it's rivals in the ARM side of the fence in relation to mobile devices, most especially with smartphones. The chip maker, however, is quite intent on recovering lost time and is planning to strike hard at a rising device category: wearables.
The fact that Intel will be flaunting some wearable technology at CES next week comes from from the mouth of the company CEO himself, Brian Krzanich. Krzanich has the unenviable task of steering the company towards a world that is moving more and more towards non-traditional computing devices, in an arena that Intel has long held reign. It has been making some progress in the tablet space, which is a sort of in the middle ground between fully mobile devices and, lets say, a laptop computer. It still has to reach the critical mass in smartphones and yet it is already setting it eyes on an even more esoteric device category.
Intel has been busy laying the groundwork for such an endeavor. At last Septembers Intel Developers Forum , the company unveiled the Intel Quark, which is an ultra small and ultra low-power microchip that is clearly intended to be the driving force in future Intel-powered technologies such as wearable devices and even ingestible medical tools. Immediately following that, the company added to its roster former engineers and designers who have worked on Nike FuelBand, as well as Oakley Airwave Goggles.
Sources :
Android Community: http://androidcommunity.com/intel-to-go-on-offensive-at-ces-2014-with-wearable-devices-20140103/
Re/code: http://recode.net/2014/01/02/intel-ceo-brian-krzanich-on-rekindling-the-chipmakers-innovative-process/
Engadget: http://www.engadget.com/2014/01/02/intel-ceo-hints-at-wearable-plans-for-CES/


text:
By Zack Plair
In case you missed it — and because I didn't have to call 911 to report an intruder, I suppose you did — Plair Family Productions presented a musical Wednesday night in my apartment for a very demanding audience of one.
Based on the original tune, "It's Time to Brush Your Teeth and Get Ready for Bed 'Cause It's 9 o'clock," the approximately 20-minute musical featured the use of two plastic My Little Pony figurines trying to compel my 4-year-old daughter to mind her father through song.
To subscribe to the E-edition, please click here [1].
[1] http://www.starkvilledailynews.com/eedition


text: Teen involvement in cults 01/14/2003 11:29 AM 01/14/2003 11:29 AM Teen involvement in cults 01/14/2003 11:29 AM Teenagers often become involved in cults for one of the same reasons they may get involved with gangs: they're seeking a place to fit in. Also, groups that promise some sort of idealistic impact on the world have a big appeal to young people. Bluestreak Media Page: [[$index + 1]]


text:
KTM 525 EXC as an Adventure Bike
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Buffo Maximus
Joined: Feb 2004
Location: Eastern YahooLand
Oddometer: 955
Rtw 525
The 525 does have its virtues that could be strengthened. It is robust, simple and durable. With protective skid plate, etc. it would be hard to harm it. It is so light compared to the competition that handling it for miles in deep sand or muddy tracks in Siberia would be much easier. The reliability could be extended with a thicker base gasket, a cush rear hub, an HT oil cooler, etc. You would be limited in what you could carry even with the ProMoto rack and Dirt Bagz mounted to that rack. You could overcome some of the mileage problems with the JR jetting and the 6.6 gallon Acerbis tank. It would be a whole lot more fun than the competition as well. If you are mechanically adept it should do just fine. If they can do the Dakar on them with every mile being pushed to the limit the 525 should be able to do a RTW trip.
The new 690 Adventure ('08 it is rumored) definitely would work since the 640s routinely do that trip.
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text:
Pond scum, that's what it was. Scum feeding of the little pond of ideas that has access to stacks of accountable money and of course the DVDs or downloads or whatever you wanna call it. Every new generation of every industry always has the stand out filmmakers whom most try to emulate and in our case most is 'all of them' and emulate is too strong a word for us, let's call it amateur recreation. Rajamouli and Puri are those stand outs for this generation (and suddenly the bar seems so low), make no mistake they are talented but I wish we had few more names to offer, we are such a large industry, okay, Shekar Kammula may be (lets bring that bar down again, Please! Thank you!). Now, Vamsi Paidipally is a beautiful example for the scum theory.
This man does what a bunch of filmmakers history will forget have done (but, there is too much media around, even fools, actually its mostly fools on TV. The tapes need to be destroyed). Somehow squeeze in the few Hollywood ideas you are familiar with into the all welcoming pond pulp. Regarding this, I am always fighting my other side, the one that's not that hard on our cinema and can occasionally enjoy it for what it is. You know, why can't I just say it is a beautiful tribute to John Woo's action films moulded rightly for the local market, may be their passion shouldn't be misread. But, but, this is not a tribute, this is you feeding off someone's ideas and being lazy about it or just in the wrong profession because your surroundings have always given you the wrong idea, that can't be helped I guess, that's sad.
Yevadu is the story of Sathya and Cherry and how the proximity of their murders changed everything, not just personally but to the thousands of people always waiting for 'cool shoes' to rescue them. The film has the classic mafia in Vizag who live in a fuck all fancy bungalow and do nothing but molest and murder. Rahul Dev is the main boss and Ajay plays his younger brother. Make a list, count the number of times Ajay plays the younger brother of a don and even the number of times he represented the Vizag mafia can be pretty interesting. Same goes for Rahul Dev. In Hyderabad the gang of villains has Kota, Subba Raju and Sai Kumar who are after that stupid set of a market yard which will probably be the most interesting subject for a list, that can be a whole book actually, Title : Who really owns the market? Think about it, every hero always wants to, you know to take the market by storm, wants to own it. Such greed!
Even though you are feeding just off the surface, when you do it for long enough and with a little skill, your narrative can be packed rather interestingly. And for that little skill Vamsi showed me today, it got me fighting my other self for quite some time. And I've decided to end by saying that this film is not bad, you can actually watch it, once (can't believe I just said that)view less


text:
Beyonce's wax figure was unveiled at the announcement that started the countdown to the Grand Opening of the 1st ever Madame Tussauds in the world to be built from the ground up in Hollywood, California on July 10, 2008.
July 12, 2008
Beyonce Gets Waxed in Hollywood...
5 comments:
She's kinda cross eyed, lol.ReplyDelete
i dont like it...she looks like a white barbie. they did better at the Madam Tussaud here in NYCReplyDelete
This is one of the worst ones I have ever seen. Most of Madam Tussauds look exactly like the person....ewww!ReplyDelete
Not a fan. She made her too fair skinnedReplyDelete
- chardaeSun Jul 27, 01:07:00 PM 2008
why is beyonce's skin so light she looks almost white.ReplyDelete
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Word Origin 2013 Calendar Words, Cliches, Expressions, and Brand Names (Calendar)
|Author: Gregory McNamee
Learn more about Word Origin 2013 Calendar:
Format: Calendar
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Pub
Sku: 228682667
Publish Date: 8/13/2012
Dimensions: (in Inches) 5.5H x 5.5L x 1.75T
Pages: 640
See more in Linguistics / Historical & Comparative
From the Publisher:
Daily vocabulary lessons range from witty, to thought-provoking, to sometimes just plain weird as language lovers glean entertaining insights into everyday words, cliches, expressions, and brand names in the Word Origin 2013 Day-to-Day Calendar. Learn the fascinating roots behind words and phrases such as: ozone; password fatigue; when you hear hoofbeats, don't think of a zebra; stand pat; panic; and more. The Word Origin 2013 Day-to-Day Calendar is a year's worth of etymological fun!


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SpecificationsNotebook: MSI EX628-8447BW7P
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo P8400
Graphics Adapter: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4670
Display: 16.0 inch, 16:9, 1366x768 pixels, glossy: yes
Weight: 2.7kg
Price: 900 euro
Average of 1 scores (from 1 reviews)
Reviews for the MSI EX628-8447BW7P
Source: Notebookjournal DE→EN
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 12/18/2009
Rating: Total score: 90% price: 90% performance: 70% features: 90% display: 30% mobility: 50% workmanship: 60% ergonomy: 70%
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4670: Higher clocked version of the Mobilty HD 4650. Supports the Avivo HD technology. The performance of the cards depends on the used type of memory (DDR2, DDR3, GDDR3 possible) and should lie somewhere between the desktop HD 4650 and 4670.
Modern games should be playable with these graphics cards at low settings and resolutions. Casual gamers may be happy with these cards.
» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.
Intel Core 2 Duo: This is the Core Duo and Core Solo successor with a longer pipeline and 5-20% more speed without more power consumption. As an addition to the Core Duo design there exists a fourth decoder, an amplified SSE-unit and an additional arithmetical logical unit (ALU).
The Core 2 Duo for laptops is identical to the desktop Core 2 Duo processors but the notebook-processors work with lower voltages (0.95 to 1188 Volt) and a lower Frontside bus clock (1066 vs 667 MHz). The performance of equally clocked notebooks is 20-25% lower than Desktop PCs because of the lower Frontside bus clock and the slower hard disks.
Middle class dual core CPU with a TDP of 25 Watt. For high end gamer the performance could be not sufficient (for class 1 graphic cards).» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.
16.0": 16 inch display-variants exist since 2008 and partially got the market share of 15 inch notebooks. The reason why so many people like displays with medium size is, that this size is not exhausting for the eyes, does not need too much energy and the laptops can be kept quite compact.» To find out how fine a display is, see our DPI List.
2.7 kg: This notebook is lighter than the average of all notebooks. It is too heavy for sub-notebooks. 14 inch displays are normal for this class of weight.
MSI: Micro-Star International (MSI), is a Taiwan based computer hardware manufacturer since 1986 best known for desktop computer motherboards. MSI also designs and manufactures graphics cards, barebone PCs, notebook computers, networking products, servers, multimedia, consumer electronics, and storage devices. MSI, as most Taiwanese computer manufacturers, sells products on OEM/ODM basis. It also sells products worldwide based on its own brand name "MSI". The market share of laptops with the MSI brand is rather low.
90%: There do not exist many models, which are rated better. The most ratings get ratings, which are a bit worse.
» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.


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Friday, 25 January 2013
VINTAGE TGB: What Happened to My Butt?
EDITORIAL NOTE: I needed a day off yesterday for a day trip to the Oregon coast with my friend and house guest, Jim Stone, so you are getting a vintage post from a couple of years ago. Everything I said still holds.
We all had some silly fun with the Naked Guys' Balloon Dance in the Interesting Stuff post on Saturday.
I am sure that Marcia Mayo (who blogs at Well Aged With Some Marbling) is not the only one among you who, as she wrote in a comment, "kept trying to watch their crotches" to see if she could "check out their stuff."
Come on, now. Admit it. You did the same thing. I certainly did.
Even so, I was more interested in their butts or, since they are British, their arses. What a nice collection of round, juicy, pat-able posteriors. Take a look:
Aren't they cute? Don't you want to grab them and squeeze?
That isn't common with guys. I remember a boss I had 40 years ago who, in his meanderings around the office, often passed my desk with his fanny directly in my line of sight. It was flat as a pancake, nothing there at all and I used to think that was a shame. He was otherwise such an attractive, interesting man.
Most men have moderately good bottoms – at least some small amount of meat to fill out their trousers – and the lucky few, like the balloon dancers, have spectacular backsides of the sort that show off particularly well in snug-fitting khakis, less so in jeans and hardly at all in suit pants.
Far more women have nice hind ends and although my sexual orientation leans otherwise, I can still appreciate a well-shaped female derriere.
For example, my own. Unlike guys, my tush looked best in jeans, especially men's Levi's 501s, and even better when paired with high-heeled shoes. I took full advantage of that in my younger years.
It's been a long while since I pranced around so attired and anyway, it's no longer possible, with a waist as wide as my hips, to fit into those sexy 501s.
But I still have to ask, what happened to my cute keister? It's not exactly flat now but there is no shape. I know this because – only for the purpose of this blog post, you understand - I checked it in an angled mirror.
There is none of the definition that once made men glance my way as I walked past. And it is not even a particularly fat ass. I am currently on my biennial diet to get rid of the excess weight that accumulates, but it doesn't gather in my rump. My body is more like that of an aging beer-drinker – all the fat goes to my waist and belly.
My hindquarters do not appear to have dropped much either, but the oomph is gone. (By the way, I produced a television show many years ago with the actress Julie Newmar who had invented - and patented - pantihose that lifts your buttocks.)
I can't say much about other elder women's bums but I suspect, since I don't recall having noticed any, that they are generally no more beauteous than my own.
A lot of old men, like that boss I mentioned, have no rear end at all, walking about with nothing to fill their saggy pants. Where do you suppose it goes?
I don't mind my wrinkles or little jowls anymore and I've accepted the crepe that is beginning to drape my neck. But, you know, I miss my quite excellent youthful fundament even though I have no idea what I would do with it if it were still there.
A final note: The English language has an amazing number of names for our bums and behinds. For no more reason than to amuse myself, I've used as many as I can think of without once repeating myself or checking a thesaurus. Have I missed any?
At The Elder Storytelling Place today, Joyce Benedict: The Moth
Posted by Ronni Bennett at 05:30 AM | Permalink | Email this post
...fundament, now "there's a word to lift your hat to..." (Emily Dickinson, on PHOSPHORESCENCE)!
Alas! The rump is made up of muscles, and like all muscles, loses tone and volume as we age. When I first became skinny again, after my child-bearing years were long gone, I was proud of my flat backside--- until I realized that wasn't the gold standard of bottoms' contours.
When I was a kid it was referred to as a "heinie".
I do possess a generous rear which looks ok in jeans if somewhat excessive. My husband is afflicted with what we call "lack o'butt. "
Those cute guy buns made me smile on a cold and dreary Seattle a.m.
Still delightful. To get some roundness in out flatter than usual rears, we need to walk down hills. Down develops that certain tender roundness we all wish we still had.
What a day brightener! My Alabama-born husband used to say people with flat butts had "a bad case of the gone ass."
There's a scene in the wonderful movie 'Amour' where Emmanuel Riva, who is in her '80s, is nude in the shower with her care giver trying to bathe her. Imagine her agreeing to be filmed that way. What class.
...tush, derrière, wazoo ...
...also glutes...
It was a number of years before I realized that of course my nonexistent butt was the result of atrophied muscles from so much less exercise since I retired. The natural loss of body fat is involved too, but rebuilding those underlying muscles would make a big difference.
I enjoyed your appreciative wink at the badonkadonk, caboose, moneymaker.
My friend Chuck's 92 mother told me she married his father because "his pants didn't hang all flat back there"!
Great short story!
Oh, yeah: CAN
Tookus and bucket... :)
Love it. Mine is flat too, now, as is my husband's. I sit in my chair on this darn computer all the time, so I can't expect to have the muscle tone necessary for it.
Hey, Hattie, being a fellow Seattle-ite, I can sure relate to your description of a "cold and dreary" morning. We have a lot of those, especially around this time of year. I've been here for 40 years now (and am very happily married to a native Washingtonian who would never, ever move to another state). Still, as a former Californian, I haven't quite arrived at a state of acceptance when it comes to being cold essentially from November through April of every year.
As far as rear ends are concerned, when I was younger and considerably heavier, I tried every way I could to "minimize" my hips and tush. Now, at 5'2" and about 95 lbs., my tush is no longer an issue. Like everything else in my 76 Y/O body, it's "gone south". Luckily, I do still have a waistline, for which I'm grateful.
My ex-wife is definitely the most callipygian person I've ever seen.
What a wonderful collection of bottom names you have given us all.
And Peter - what a fabulous word. I'm pretty sure I've never heard or seen it before.
From what you've said (and I've experienced), I think the butt migrates upward in old age. Other things seem to sag as we age, but when you ask 'what happened to my cute keister' I'd suggest it's now your midsection. And not so cute there, is it?
Ah well, like the wrinkles I will just say I've earned it.
I love this post. Personally, I have managed to keep my tushy nice and plump, even in my advanced years, by eating plenty of cheeseburgers, fries and pasta. A nice slice of cheesecake every now and then doesn't hurt either. I am enclosing a picture of my butt. Just kidding, or am I?
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This is Christ's church. There is a place for you here.
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HP Envy 15-j059nr
SpecificationsNotebook: HP Envy 15-j059nr (Envy 15 Series)
Processor: Intel Core i7 4700MQ
Graphics Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M
Display: 15.6 inch, 16:9, 1920x1080 pixels, glossy: yes
Weight: 2.2kg
Price: 1000 euro
Average of 1 scores (from 1 reviews)
Reviews for the HP Envy 15-j059nr
Source: PC Online.com.cn zh-CN→EN
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 09/03/2013
Rating: Total score: 94%
NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M: Mid-range graphics card of the GeForce GT 700M series. Based on the Kepler architecture and manufactured by TSMC in a 28nm process.
With these GPUs you are able to play modern and demanding games fluently at medium detail settings and HD resolution.
» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.
Intel Core i7: The Intel Core i7 for laptops is based on the LG1156 Core i5/i7 CPU for desktops. The base clock speed of the CPUs is relatively low, but because of a huge Turbo mode, the cores can dynamically overclock to up to 3.2 GHz (920XM). Therefore, the CPU can be as fast as high clocked dual-core CPUs (using single threaded applications) but still offer the advantage of 4 cores. Because of the large TDP of 45 W / 55 W, the CPU is only intended for large laptops.
4700MQ: Haswell-based quad-core processor clocked at 2.4 GHz with Turbo Boost support up to 3.4 GHz. Offers an integrated HD Graphics 4600 GPU and a dual channel DDR3 memory controller.» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.
15.6": 15 inch display-variants are the standard and are used for more than the half of all notebooks. 15.4 inch display with 16:10 are the standard for notebook displays. However nowadays, more and more 16:9 displays with 15.6 inch appear. The reason why so many people like displays with medium size is, that this size is not exhausting for the eyes, does not need too much energy and the laptops can be kept quite compact.» To find out how fine a display is, see our DPI List.
2.2 kg: These sub-notebooks weight less than the average of all notebooks, but represent a heavier class of weight among the sub-notebooks. 13 inch displays are normal for this class of weight.
HP: The Hewlett-Packard Company, founded 1935, commonly referred to as HP, is a technology corporation headquartered in California, United States. HP specializes in developing and manufacturing computing, storage, and networking hardware, software and services. Major product lines include personal computing devices, enterprise servers, related storage devices, as well as a diverse range of printers and other imaging products. Other product lines, including electronic test equipment and systems, medical electronic equipment, solid state components and instrumentation for chemical analysis. HP posted US $91.7 billion in annual revenue in 2006, making it the world's largest technology vendor in terms of sales. In 2007 the revenue was $104 billion, making HP the first IT company in history to report revenues exceeding $100 billion. Market share regarding sales of personal computers in 2007 (market research IDC): HP 18.9 %, Dell 16.4 %, Acer 9.9 %, Lenovo 7.5 %, Apple 5.7 %
94%: Indeed, this rating is very goodl There do not exist many notebook models, which are rated better.
» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.


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Steelers trail Raiders, 14-0 at end of firstPosted by on October 27, 2013 – 4:49 pm
The Raiders got on the board right off the bat when quarterback Terrelle Pryor took off running 93 yards for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage for a 7-0 lead with only 19 seconds off the clock.
The Raiders kept the pressure on, blocking a Zoltan Mesko punt and taking over at the Steelers' 26-yard line. They took advantage of the short field with a seven-yard touchdown by Darren McFadden for a 14-0 lead.
At the end of the first quarter Raiders 14, Steelers. 0.
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
One Response
to "Steelers trail Raiders, 14-0 at end of first"
By jim m on Oct 28, 2013 | Reply
Special teams once again terrible. Special teams coach isnt doing his job and the players arent doing theirs.
Sorry, comments for this entry are closed at this time.


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In the Americas, Shell has a number of different innovative partnerships including with the Wall Street Journalist, Fortune magazine and Aspen Ideas Festival.
Wall Street Journal
Over the last few years Shell has been a key sponsor of WSJ ECO:nomics conference which attracts over 200 executives and thought leaders to discuss the issues driving change for business and the environment.
This year Marvin Odum, President Shell Oil Company and Upstream Americas Director, took part in an "in conversation" interview at the event with John Bussey, Assistant Managing Editor WSJ, on the theme of "A New Middle East: The US as an Oil Powerhouse". Shell also hosted a custom exhibit at the conference featuring a Shell Eco-marathon car.
Marvin Odum speaking at the 2013 WSJ ECO:nomics conference. Copyright © 2013 WSJ
WSJ ECO:nomics conference. Copyright © 2013 WSJ
Fortune Brainstorm Green
A panel discussion at Fortune Brainstorm Green. Copyright © 2013 Time Inc.
Shell was a gold sponsor of Fortune's 2013 Brainstorm Green conference and its "Energy, Climate & Policy" programme. The conference aims to facilitate debate and generate ideas around some of the world's most pressing sustainability issues. It brings together 350 individuals from across government, industry, NGOs, think tanks and the media.
Marvin Odum took part in a panel discussion on the future of oil, gas and renewables hosted by Fortune's senior editor Brian Dumaine. Shell also hosted two breakfast roundtables on biofuels and a workshop on sustainable solutions to the challenges of water, food and energy production.
Aspen Ideas Festival
The Aspen Ideas Festival is dedicated to Engaging Ideas that Matter. Shell supported the 2013 festival and shared insights around its New Lens Scenarios. These explore how economic, political, and social forces will shape the global energy system.
Marvin Odum and Jeremy Bentham, Head of Shell's Scenarios team presented the new scenarios and explained how they help Shell link uncertainties about the future to decisions made today.
Marvin, Jeremy, and other thought-leaders also took part in an innovative simulation exercise grounded in Shell's Scenarios. Participants were split into two-groups and asked to explore how the future of our planet may unfold, including an examination of the role oil, gas, and renewables will play in getting us there. Wrapping up Shell's presence at the Festival was a custom-display which gave participants an opportunity to experience first-hand the long-term consequences of the choices we make today.


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The reality facing oil and gas industries has changed dramatically over the last year. Learn how CEOs are responding to disruption in a marketplace without boundaries.
PwC's Annual Global CEO Survey >>
Wood Group wins onshore oil pipeline work for Origin Energy
Jul 2, 2015 Wood Group has secured a $1 million contract with Origin Energy for the onshore oil pipelines...
Shell takes final investment decision for deepwater development in Gulf of Mexico
Jul 2, 2015 During design work for the Appomattox deepwater development, Shell reduced the total project ...
Statoil suspending offshore rig
Jul 2, 2015 Statoil has decided to suspend Scarabeo 5 due to overcapacity in its offshore rig portfolio.
Gulf states and BP reach settlement over oil spill
Jul 2, 2015 BP and five Gulf states have announced a $18.7 billion settlement over damages done by the oi...
The reality facing oil and gas industries has changed dramatically over the last year. Learn how CEOs are responding to disruption in a marketplace without boundaries.
PwC's Annual Global CEO Survey >>
Pervasive Governance: Rethinking Traditional Approaches to Information Governance for Oil & Gas
Information is an organization's most important strategic asset – the "lifeblood" of the organization's knowledge, processes, transactions and decisions, according to independen...
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Subscribe Today PennEnergyâs daily petroleum newsletter provides the most important news stories in the petroleum industry.
Oil and gas recruitment: Hiring in Europe and North America has slowed, so why is the oil and gas job market in MENA thriving?
Jul 2, '15 While there's still a clear shortage in highly-skilled professionals within the sector, some markets are now showing a resurgence in hiring activit...
Oil and gas: The power of constructive collaboration
Jul 2, '15 As the oil and gas industry faces an uncertain future, there is increasing pressure to improve efficiency and eliminate wasted resources.
Kansas utility agrees to refund $10M, drop electric rates
Jul 2, '15 The largest electric utility in Kansas would refund $10 million to its customers under an agreement to settle a complaint filed by state regulators...
Amid uncertainty, Virginia utility makes transitional plan
Jul 2, '15 Dominion Virginia Power on Wednesday suggested how it may transition to new ways of generating energy, citing the uncertainty of new U.S. environme...
NW Natural Announces Dividend and Schedules Conference Call to Review Results for ...
Jul 2, 2015 NW Natural Announces Dividend and Schedules Conference Call to Review Results for the Three a...
Vantage Drilling Responds to News Reports Regarding Petrobras
Jul 2, 2015 Vantage Drilling Responds to News Reports Regarding Petrobras
BP Settlement: "Time for Gulf Restoration to Begin"
Jul 2, 2015 BP Settlement: "Time for Gulf Restoration to Begin"
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Turkish Yields Rise 3rd Day on Inflation Concern, Interest Rates
Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Turkish yields increased for a third day and headed for their highest level in two weeks on concern that inflation may accelerate in early 2012 and banks' cost of short-term funding may remain elevated.
Yields on the two-year benchmark bonds rose 11 basis points, or 0.11 percentage points, to 10.51 percent, a Royal Bank of Scotland index of the local securities showed. This is the highest level since Nov. 29 on a closing basis.
The central bank is now focused on inflation, Governor Erdem Basci said in televised comments to reporters in London yesterday after a meeting with economists. It acted early to tackle an increase in the inflation rate, he said. Price acceleration increased to 9.5 percent in November from 7.7 percent a month earlier, the statistics office in Ankara said Dec. 5.
Inflation has not peaked yet, Ozgur Altug, chief economist at BGC Partners in Istanbul, said in an e-mail. "We foresee that annual CPI inflation will reach double-digit and it'll stay there for at least four months."
The central bank decided to increase the rate at which commercial lenders borrow to as high as 12.5 percent in October instead of raising the one-week repurchase rate, which is at a record low of 5.75 percent.
The benchmark bond yield could test 12 percent in the next couple of months. Altug said. "Banks are not willing to purchase government securities" because the central bank almost doubled their funding cost, Altug said.
Economic Growth
Yields on Turkish government two-year notes climbed to 10.94 percent on Oct. 25 from 8.4 percent at the end of September. Turkey's economy grew at a faster-than-expected 8.2 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, the statistics institute announced yesterday.
"Growth data was very strong, and the central bank is setting its tone more hawkish, putting emphasis on inflation and this played a role in the yields' increase," Bulent Topbas, a fund manager at Strateji Menkul Degerler in Istanbul, said in an e-mail.
The lira was little changed at 1.8697 per dollar at 12:36 p.m. in Istanbul, after it depreciated 1.5 percent yesterday, the biggest one-day slump since Nov. 21, on concern that Europe's debt crisis will damp growth in a region which buys almost half of Turkey's exports.
To contact the reporter on this story: Selcuk Gokoluk in Istanbul at email@example.com
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at email@example.com


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Ellen DeGeneres explains 'eleveneleven': 'It's my ATM pin number.'
What the heck does "eleveneleven" mean?
For days now, we've been wondering what's behind the meaning of the nebulous name choice for Ellen DeGeneres' new record label, eleveneleven. Well, she evidently got asked by enough inquiring minds that she decided to give us the 411 via Twitter Friday (May 28) morning:
A lot of people have been asking me about the name of my new record label, eleveneleven. This is what it means: http://su.pr/1NBAze


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A fatal motor accident yesterday evening claimed the lives of Dr. Usman Yakubu who specialist in brain surgeon, his five year old daughter, Fatima and Malam Abubakar Muhammed a staff of Access bank . The accident was as a result of head-on collision of two vehicles and occurred along Sokoto-Birnin Kebbi Bypass in Argungu.
According to an eye witness, Malam Abdullahi Mai Masallaci, none of the vehicles' tires burst as some people believed. "I was watching the two vehicles collide, we all believe that either one of the drivers fell asleep or was making calls while driving".
He said Dr.Yakubu and his two daughters and a friend were travelling in a Toyota Corolla 1.8 while the other vehicle, a Volkswagen GOLF GT was coming from the opposite direction at high speed.
LEADERSHIP learnt that Malam Abubakar died at General Hospital Argungu on arrival, but the doctor and his daughter, Fatima died in the ambulance on their way to Usman Dan Fodio University Teaching Hospital Sokoto.