text:
Korea Republic coach Huh Jung-Moo has praised Park Ji-Sung for carrying the burden of the nation's 2010 FIFA World Cup™ hopes on his shoulders. The 29-year-old Manchester United midfielder will lead his side in their last-16 battle with Uruguay in Port Elizabeth this afternoon determined to extend his stay in South Africa as he dreams of a repeat of the 2002 run to the semi-finals.
Park is not only captain of his country, but also one of the most influential player's in Huh's side and as such, bears a huge responsibility. However, his manager is delighted with the way he is handling the pressure and still producing on the pitch.
Huh said: "Many people were quite surprised at my choice. I actually told him [Park] on the way here in the car that he must have a headache because of all the burden, I have to admit that. But the burden I have given him is probably good for the future of Korean football, and we are more than satisfied in the way he has played.
The burden I have given him is probably good for the future of Korean football, and we are more than satisfied in the way he has played.
"He is doing a great job as the captain. He has also been up to his best in his performances in games and the way he interacts with his team-mates, both his superiors and his subordinates. I am sure he has some troubles himself, but he has been doing wonderfully and I am more than satisfied."
Park modestly shrugged off the plaudits, insisting his team-mates need little extra attention from him. He said: "All of the players in the national team are in professional teams, so they know what they have to do. They know better than anyone else. All I can do is to help them so they can be prepared in a more comfortable and convenient atmosphere. What they show on the pitch comes from they themselves."
While some of Europe's big guns are already on their way home, both Korea Republuc and Japan will fly the flag for Asia in the second round. The pair, of course, co-hosted the tournament eight years ago and both reached the second round then, but the same achievement this time around is perhaps more notable.
Huh said: "It's a great honour for Asian teams. In 2002, Korea and Japan both made it into the second round, but this is the first time that both teams have made it into the second round on foreign soil. It goes to show how much Asian football has grown and it also shows that Asian teams can do it through what they have learned from Europe and elsewhere."
Korean tradition has it that great adventures are dreamt of in advance, but asked if he had had any dreams before the tournament, Huh replied: "I don't recall. Nothing in particular, I don't think. "I did have a bunch of dreams, but I don't remember them. I don't think it was anything significant."


text:
|Newegg Daily Deals
|Thread Tools
Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 56,168
PhysX Research: Wrinkle Meshes
Dr. Matthias Müller-Fischer, PhysX SDK research lead at Nvidia Switzerland, Novodex founder and man behind many core PhysX algorithms, like Position Based Dynamics solver for cloth and soft-bodies, has published another interesting paper ' Wrinkle Meshes.
We present a simple and fast method to add wrinkles to dynamic meshes such as simulated cloth or the skin of an animated character. To get the desired surface details, we attach a higher resolution wrinkle mesh to the coarse base mesh allowing the wrinkle vertices to deviate from their attachment positions within a limited range. The shape of the wrinkle mesh is determined by a static solver which runs in parallel to the motion of the base mesh. Our method can be used to automatically enhance a purely animated skin mesh with wrinkles which would be atedious task to do by hand.
In generally, that means more detailed cloth simulation with less resourse consumption. Previous research ' Hierarchical Position Based Dynamics ' was already added in PhysX SDK 2.8.3 so we believe that Wrinkle Meshes will appear in PhysX SDK or APEX Clothing module soon enough.
Also, you can download demonstrational video (63 mb)
|Thread Tools

subset: commoncrawl


text:
NC State plays its first Super Regional game since 2008 on Saturday, but they face an extremely tough foe in No. 1 seed Florida.
But the No. 16 Wolfpack (43-18) still have a legitimate chance to advance to the College World Series, thanks to the arm of Carlos Rodon. On Wednesday, the freshman left hander was named the National Freshman Pitcher of the Year on Wednesday by Collegiate Baseball. He comes into the weekend with a 9-0 record, and a 1.61 ERA. Unfortunately, some of Rodon's finest performances have come in games where his teammates could not find their niche at the plate. Continue reading CBD Column: 2012 Gainesville Super Regional


text:
Out-of-the-Box, Ubuntu 14.04 LTS To Support TRIM On SSDs 133 133
Posted by timothy
from the keep-it-snappy dept.
from the keep-it-snappy dept.
First time accepted submitter Maurits van der Schee writes "Where in older versions you had to add a cron job calling "fstrim" or mounting with the "discard" option in fstab, the new LTS (Long Term Stable) version of Ubuntu Linux will automatically enable TRIM for your SSD. Good news for hardware enthusiasts!"


text:
ISSNThe International Standard Serial Number of the International Journal of Naval History is 1932-6556
Recent Articles
- View from the Quarterdeck: January 2015
- The Development of Modern Counter-piracy Initiatives in Southeast Asia: Vietnamese Boat Refugees and Alternative Incidents 1979-1997
- Swimming in the 'Fishpond' or Solidarity with the 'Beresfordian Syndicate': An Analysis of the Inquiry by the Subcommittee of Imperial Defence into Naval Policy, 1909
- BOOK REVIEW – With Commodore Perry to Japan: The Journal of William Speiden, Jr., 1852-1855
- BOOK REVIEWS – Some New Looks at the Old Breed: Preparing for Victory: Thomas Holcomb and the Making of the Modern Marine Corps and Victory in Defeat: The Wake Island Defenders in Captivity, 1941-1945
Tag Archives: Friedman
BOOK REVIEW – Blue versus Orange: The U.S. Naval War College, Japan, and the Old Enemy in the Pacific, 1945-1946
Hal M. Friedman, Blue versus Orange: The U.S. Naval War College, Japan, and the Old Enemy in the Pacific, 1945-1946. Newport, RI: Naval War College Press, 2013, 364 pp. Review by Joseph Moretz British Commission for Military History The role … Continue reading
Posted in Book Review Tagged book review, Friedman, IJNH, international, Japan, journal, Moretz, Naval History, Naval War College, war games Leave a comment
Strategy, Language, and the Culture of Defeat: Changing Interpretations of Japan's Pacific War Naval Demise
By Hal M. Friedman Henry Ford Community College Military historians say that military history is written from the perspective of the victor. Japan's naval defeat in the Pacific War, however, provides a highly arguable case. Much of the translated postwar … Continue reading
Posted in Article Tagged Culture, Defeat, Friedman, history, IJNH, international, Japan, journal, naval, navy, World War II, WW2 2 Comments


text:
Recent Posts
headstrong pro7 - 10-14-2010
i have one that i am selling.
Class of 2012 Face off Specialist verbal commits - 10-14-2010
kennedy is class of 2011 not 12
2011 Junior Verbal Commitments Thread - 03-08-2010
T.J. Hanzsche- Attack- Malvern Prep- Navy
2011 Junior Verbal Commitments Thread - 03-03-2010
Drew Kennedy- F/O- Malvern Prep- Hopkins
Pennsylvania lacrosse 2010 - 02-09-2010
What school do u play for? Yea the kid with the cuse helmet is Eric Gartner he is ridicoulous hes going d1 probably has
Brine Shootout - 01-27-2010
are they the same weekend?


text:
The Charles (Bijou) Theatre
The Bijou Theatre (later the Charles Theatre) opened in the fall of 1926. Architect Eugene DeRosa was commissioned by the Delancey-Clinton Realty Company to build the Bijou at 12th Street and Avenue B in Manhattan's Lower East Side. The theater had 600 seats, 502 on the main floor and 98 in the balcony.
By 1937 the Bijou had been sold to the Bell Theater Company. The same year, the Motion Picture Operators Union started a strike for higher wages from the Bell Theater Company; during the strike, two operators locked themselves in the projection booth in protest. Their demands were met 12 hours later and wages were increased to $27.00 a week.
The theater was managed by Charles Steiner until his death on June 29,1946. In 1949, the Bijou was renamed the Charles Theatre in his memory. The Charles was run by Audubon Films in the 1960s, showing foreign and American films. Jonas Mekas, an experimental filmmaker, was hired to hold screenings of amateur films once a month. Many New York City filmmakers showed their early works at the Charles, including Vernon Zimmerman, Ron Rice, and Andy Warhol.
The amateur film screenings were very popular, inspiring audience members to make their own films. Because more amateur filmmakers were showing their work than were watching it, it was difficult for the management to decide who to charge. This lead to a decline in ticket sales and the Charles' closure in 1975. The building was purchased converted by the Elim Pentecostal Church. In October 2006, a fire damaged the building and the church was forced to relocate. The Charles Theatre is currently being demolished so a new church and apartment housing can be built on the site.
William C Thobaben permalinkFebruary 28, 2012 1:01 pm
I'd like to see some pictures when theater was in good shape and when it was a church.
Serge permalinkFebruary 29, 2012 5:24 pm
Another loss of beautiful architecture. Very sad.
March 9, 2012 7:46 am
All of us at Britain's OLD THEATRES magazine are delighted to find your site as you mirror what we are doing in the UK. Do take a look at us on our web pages http://www.oldtheatres.co.uk
Each year we publish details and pictures of Britain's theatres 'At Risk' and include pictures of them, and others which have been demolished. Comments are also received from Britain's entertainers who trod their boards.
We will always be pleased to hear from you and to exchange information.
Walter Langsford permalinkMay 13, 2012 5:13 pm
In March 1961 Dan Talbot of The New Yorker Theater opened the Charles Theater with a program similar to the policy at the New Yorker. I was the house manager. The New Yorker closed their operation onJuly 17, 1961.
On October 1, 1961 Edwin Stein Jr and Walter Langsford re-opened as the Charles Theatre. We closed in Nov.1962. We were the first to show Independent or experimental film on a regular basis. We showed Vernon Zimmerman's film. Our program policy was unique and has not been equaled since.
The complete records of that operation exist and I am shipping them to MoMa tomorrow. Walter Langsford
- Destructoporn: Curtain Call for Avenue B Theater; Development in Wings | Text or Call : 917-557-6066
- Demolition starts tomorrow at former counterculture theater on Avenue B « NYC Real Estate News
- Watch the Demolition of a Historic Movie Theater Turned Church - The Local East Village Blog - NYTimes.com


text:
On View: Toilet Spoon in the Shape of a Bouquet of Flowers
Like many late Eighteenth Dynasty spoons, this example takes the form of a floral bouquet. The decoration includes lotus and papyrus blossom...
Hiroshige's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo
Hiroshige's 118 woodblock landscape and genre scenes of mid-nineteenth-century Tokyo, is one of the greatest achievements of Japanese art.
On View: Reliquary Guardian Figure (Mbulu Ngulu)
The Kota once used reliquary guardian figures (mbulu ngulu) to protect and demarcate the revered bones of family ancestors. The bones were p...
200 Eastern Parkway
Brooklyn, New York 11238-6052
Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum
Wednesday: 11 a.m.–6 p.m.
Thursday: 11 a.m.–10 p.m.
Friday–Sunday: 11 a.m.–6 p.m.


text:
Guangzhou Treemas Printing Co., Ltd.
|Business Type:
|Manufacturer, Trading Company
|Main Products:
|Guangdong, China (Mainland)
|Year Established:
|Number Of Employees:
|51 - 100 People
|Total Annual Sales Volume:
|US$2.5 Million - US$5 Million
|Main Markets:
|Product Certifications:
|Average Lead Time:
|20 Day(s)
Guangzhou Treemas Printing Co., Ltd. Established in 2003 .Our printing and processing technology of exquisite package makes us enjoy...
Guangzhou Treemas Printing Co., Ltd. Established in 2003 .Our printing and processing technology of exquisite package makes us enjoy a good reputation of "Expert of Cardboard". With many years of production experience, scientific management and advanced equipment, our company specializes in perfume test paper, fragrance test strip ,book printing,magazine printing,manual printing,box printing, Brochure printing ,label printing, Model book, picture books, paper bag,notebooks,and the printing and processing services of other paper products. We have been cooperating with enterprises from at home and abroad and supplying quality exported package. Moreover, we have 7-years experience in china.Alibaba.com.
Certifications&Top-Ranking Equipment
With unique technique and abundant experience, our company passed the evaluation of several domestic and international certifications, such as ISO90001:2000 quality system certification. At present, our company has a series of advanced printing and post-processing equipments,Germany Heidelberg CP-2000 bisect four-color printing machines Heidelberg outside color printing presses, Roland four Japanese komori four-color printing presses;
OUR Task
1.Customers are always our first priority.
2.Create excellent products & provide creative services.
Service philosophy:
We hope we can provide our customers one-stop solution for packaging producing, book printIn a global competitive environment, we continue to sever our customers with professionalism and to maintain and control every stage of the manufacturing process based on the advantages of cost and capability in China while maintaining high quality standards. We insist on offering products of top quality, excellent services and competitive prices to our customers. We highly value the building up of long-term relationship with all parties. If you have any enquiries, please do not hesitate to ask. We look forward in building a long term relationship with you!
Company Capability
Trade Capacity
Eastern Asia : 25.00%
Eastern Europe : 20.00%
Production Capacity
Factory Size : Below 1,000 square meters
No. of Production Lines : 3
R&D Capacity
No. of R&D Staff : 5 - 10 People
Equipment and Facilities : Research And Development
Email to this supplier


text:
More Ore RPG Enderborn Quest Pack's Info:
More Ore RPG Enderborn Quest Pack is a cool pack which is added tons of cool thing including:
- Environment: Sun, Moon, end Sky, and much more.
- Items: Portal Gun, Master Sword, Aether Shovel, seed packets, fuel cells, gold coin, ruppies, chocolate, coffee, Lighter,compass, clock, and much more.
- Food: Added butter, bacon, Chicken Nuggets, Fries, Burgers, Sushi, and much more.
- Ores: Added ruby, ender, butter, sapphire, copper, Bronze, and much more.
- Mobs: Added Slender, Drones, Robots, Hydra, Ducks, Birds, Diamond pig, Herobrine, and much, much more.
- Beds: Added Butter beds.
- Armours: Added emerald, ender, butter, dark, redstone,Leather 2.0, and ruby armor.
More Ore RPG Enderborn Quest Pack Installation:
- Required Optifine or MCPatcher. Download either two these mods.
- Download the Resource Pack by clicking the Download link below.
- Do not un-zip the downloaded file.
- Open Minecraft and click Resource Packs from the settings menu.
- Click Open resource pack folder.
- This opens up the folder where the texture packs are stored. If the folder does not open you will need to manually locate it:
- Windows: %AppData%.minecraftresourcepacks
- Linux: ~/.minecraft/resourcepacks
- Mac OS X: ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft/resourcepacks
- Drag and drop the downloaded .zip file to your resourcepacks folder.
- Enjoy!
Credit: gaeibel46


text:
Basic Design Tips of a General Website
- 5 July 2014
- Articles
- This post was written exclusively for PV.M Garage by admin
- Comments (0)»
Undertaking website design may appear to be simple process but many details need to be worked upon to give it an ideal look. Website design layout for various kinds of website differs, as their own requirements and preferences differ.
Here we would talk about basic tips of the general website
Background with transparent glass plates From Depositphotos.com
A common website includes many web pages completely having links to each page yet featuring its own standing. The most typical elements of website style …


text:
'We agree with you'.
The White House voices support for cellphone unlocking petition in formal response: 'It's time to legalize cell phone unlocking'.
That's right, the White House has just issued its official response to the petition calling for President Barack Obama to legalize the practice of unlocking cellular phones in the U.S..
In short, it looks like the administration agrees wholeheartedly! The author of the letter is R. David Edelman, Senior Advisor for Internet, Innovation and Privacy. Here's a summary of what he said:
So, while we're not going to see immediate change, it appears that a chain of events is now in motion in which the FCC and Congress will potentially play a huge role.It's Time to Legalize Cell Phone Unlocking.
"The White House agrees with the 114,000+ of you who believe that consumers should be able to unlock their cell phones without risking criminal or other penalties," Edelman writes.
"The Obama Administration would support a range of approaches to addressing this issue, including narrow legislative fixes in the telecommunications space that make it clear: neither criminal law nor technological locks should prevent consumers from switching carriers when they are no longer bound by a service agreement or other obligation."
You can read the response in its entirety HERE.
NEWS SOURCE #1: White House issues official response Cellphone unlocking petition (via) TheVerge
NEWS SOURCE #2: White House phone unlock (via) EnGadget
Our thanks to 'Gauss' for this news item!


text:
Vessel Handle in Form of Lion
The Persian conquest of Egypt in 525 B.C.E. led to a vogue for metalwork in the Persian style, such as these animal-shaped handles and fluted bowls with floral decorations on the base. All of these objects were discovered in Egypt; the silver pieces were discovered together with a large number of objects as an offering at a temple of a foreign goddess.
This text refers to these objects: ' 54.50.35; 54.50.41; 54.50.42; 37.1538E
- Medium: Silver
- Geographical Locations:
- Place made: Iran
- Place found: Tell el-Maskhuta, Egypt
- Dates: ca. 410 B.C.E.
- Dynasty: late XXVII Dynasty
- Period: Achaemenid Period
- Dimensions: Length: 4 15/16 in. (12.5 cm) (show scale)
- Collections:Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art
- Museum Location: This item is on view in Egypt Reborn: Art for Eternity, 19th Dynasty to Roman Period, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor
- Exhibitions:
- Accession Number: 54.50.42
- Credit Line: Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
- Rights Statement: Creative Commons-BY
- Caption: Vessel Handle in Form of Lion, ca. 410 B.C.E. Silver, Length: 4 15/16 in. (12.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 54.50.42. Creative Commons-BY
- Image:
- Catalogue Description: Silver handle from a large vessel. Form, a faceted body with curved end terminating in lion's head with open mouth. Lower end of handle terminates in palmette (lotus?) with two buds. Cast solid (?). Possibly related to 54.50.38.
- Record Completeness: Good (73%)


text:
Appraised Values on Tax Returns:
Burdens on Taxpayers Could Be Reduced and Selected Practices Improved
GAO-12-608: Published: Jun 5, 2012. Publicly Released: Jul 5, 2012.
Additional Materials:
- Highlights Page:
- Full Report:
- Accessible Text:
(202) 512-3000
Office of Public Affairs
(202) 512-4800
What GAO Found
Appraisers most prominent role relative to the three types of tax returns GAO studied is in the valuation of estates. In the most recent years for which GAO had data, appraisers were likely involved in the valuation of property worth from $75 billion to $167 billion reported on estate tax returns in 2009. In contrast, less than $17 billion worth of gifts in 2009 and less than $10 billion in noncash contributions in 2008 likely involved an appraiser. Gift tax returns that likely used appraisers had higher audit rates than gift returns that were unlikely to have appraisers. The use of appraisers was not associated with higher audit rates for estate tax returns and individual returns with noncash contributions.
The Internal Revenue Services (IRS) procedures for selecting returns to audit do not specifically target noncash contributions or gift or estate tax returns supported by appraisals. Nevertheless, returns with appraisals do get included in the population of audited returns because certain types of returns on which IRS does focus, such as higher-income ones, are also the most likely ones to have noncash charitable contributions that require appraisals. The current appraisal threshold for certain contributions over $5,000 has existed since 1984. The absence of an inflation adjustment over the past 25 years means that many contributors who pay for appraisals would not have needed to do so when the current threshold was first introduced. IRS seldom takes issue with appraisals for noncash contributions. Consequently, there seems to be little risk in Congress raising the $5,000 dollar threshold.
IRS appraisal experts in one division met standards for ensuring that they were qualified. However, art appraisal experts in another division are not subject to either a comprehensive quality review program or continuing education requirements specific to appraising art. The lack of comprehensive quality reviews and mission-specific continuing education requirements could make the art appraisers less effective than they otherwise would be.
Why GAO Did This Study
Misstated appraisals used to support tax returns have long caused concern. In 2006, Congress adopted the Pension Protection Act, which changed the criterion for when appraisals are considered to be substantiallymisstated and created a penalty for improper appraiser practices and qualifications for appraisers with respect to noncash charitable deductions. The Tax Technical Corrections Act of 2007 extended the penalty for misstated appraisals to estate and gift taxes.
Among its objectives, GAO was asked to (1) describe the extent to which individual, estate, and gift tax returns are likely to involve an appraiser and the extent to which IRS audits them; (2) describe how IRS selects returns likely to involve appraisals for compliance examinations, and assess whether the current appraisal threshold is useful; and (3) assess IRS procedures for ensuring that itsappraisal experts are qualified.
To accomplish these objectives, GAO analyzed IRS data, reviewed IRS guidance, and interviewed appropriate IRS officials.
What GAO Recommends
GAO recommends that IRS develop a comprehensive quality review program for Art Appraisal Services (AAS) and establish appraisal training requirements specifically for AAS staff. Congress also should consider raising the dollar threshold at which qualified appraisals are required for noncash contributions to reflect inflation. IRS agreed with our recommendations.
Matter for Congressional Consideration
Status: Open
Comments: No actions taken as of July 6, 2015. We continue to monitor for new legislation.
Matter: To reduce the compliance burden on taxpayers making noncash contributions, Congress should consider raising the threshold at which taxpayers are required to have qualified appraisals for a particular contribution. Raising the threshold and giving IRS the authority to adjust this value for inflation in the future would maintain the consistent treatment of taxpayers over time.
Recommendations for Executive Action
Status: Open
Comments: IRS has developed a plan to supplement the Appeals Quality Measurement System (AQMS) random sample with a periodic targeted review of Art Appraisal Services (AAS) closed cases as described in IRM 188.8.131.52.2. The first such review will involve Fiscal Year 2013 closed cases. The Director, Art Appraisal Services will inform the Director, Specialty Operations of any delays in implementing this action.
Recommendation: To better ensure the quality of IRS's examination of appraisal issues, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue should ensure that a more comprehensive quality review system for work performed by AAS staff is implemented.
Agency Affected: Department of the Treasury: Internal Revenue Service
Status: Open
Comments: IRS has developed more specific and documented appraisal training requirements for the Art Appraisal Services (AAS) appraisal staff. The AAS director will inform the Director, Specialty Operations of any delays in implementing the new training requirements.
Recommendation: To better ensure the quality of IRS's examination of appraisal issues, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue should develop more specific and documented appraisal training requirements for AAS staff, as LB&I has done for engineers.
Agency Affected: Department of the Treasury: Internal Revenue Service
Explore the full database of GAO's Open Recommendations »
May 28, 2015
Electricity Generation Projects:Additional Data Could Improve Understanding of the Effectiveness of Tax ExpendituresGAO-15-302: Published: Apr 28, 2015. Publicly Released: May 28, 2015.
Mar 3, 2015
Internal Revenue Service:Observations on IRS's Operations, Planning, and ResourcesGAO-15-420R: Published: Feb 27, 2015. Publicly Released: Mar 3, 2015.
Feb 19, 2015
Identity Theft and Tax Fraud:Enhanced Authentication Could Combat Refund Fraud, but IRS Lacks an Estimate of Costs, Benefits and RisksGAO-15-119: Published: Jan 20, 2015. Publicly Released: Feb 19, 2015.
Dec 17, 2014
Tax-Exempt Organizations:Better Compliance Indicators and Data, and More Collaboration with State Regulators Would Strengthen Oversight of Charitable OrganizationsGAO-15-164: Published: Dec 17, 2014. Publicly Released: Dec 17, 2014.
Dec 16, 2014
Tax Filing Season:2014 Performance Highlights the Need to Better Manage Taxpayer Service and Future RisksGAO-15-163: Published: Dec 16, 2014. Publicly Released: Dec 16, 2014.
Nov 19, 2014
Individual Retirement Accounts:IRS Could Bolster Enforcement on Multimillion Dollar Accounts, but More Direction from Congress Is NeededGAO-15-16: Published: Oct 20, 2014. Publicly Released: Nov 19, 2014.
Sep 22, 2014
Identity Theft:Additional Actions Could Help IRS Combat the Large, Evolving Threat of Refund FraudGAO-14-633: Published: Aug 20, 2014. Publicly Released: Sep 22, 2014.
Sep 18, 2014
Large Partnerships:With Growing Number of Partnerships, IRS Needs to Improve Audit EfficiencyGAO-14-732: Published: Sep 18, 2014. Publicly Released: Sep 18, 2014.
Aug 11, 2014
New Markets Tax Credit:Better Controls and Data Are Needed to Ensure EffectivenessGAO-14-500: Published: Jul 10, 2014. Publicly Released: Aug 11, 2014.
Jul 29, 2014
Tobacco Taxes:Disparities in Rates for Similar Smoking Products Continue to Drive Market Shifts to Lower-Taxed OptionsGAO-14-811T: Published: Jul 29, 2014. Publicly Released: Jul 29, 2014.
Looking for more? Browse all our products here


text:
Your browser does not support iframes.
Heat Advisory, Shipping Delayed! Please Click This.
Texas is a very large State, and that makes it difficult to identify which trees will be best to plant into your landscape, vineyard or orchard. With the helpful information provided by Ty Ty Nursery, your decision will be much simpler. It is important to know exactly which USDA plant and tree survival zone you are located in (see the map above). It is not advisable to plant Texas fast growing trees in USDA climate zones 6 or 7, because the deposits of lignin and cellulose that are contained in the cell walls are reduced when the cell walls enlarge rapidly and elongate, so the these insulating chemical compounds are produced in a fast growing tree or plant, and the tree may be dramatically injured or killed during a sudden temperature snap in the middle of winter. Many botanists recommend planting a slow growing tree to avoid these problems that may occur in Zones 6 or 7.
The Official State tree of Texas is the native pecan tree and the Texas State shrub is the crape myrtle tree, and both plants are native to Texas. Pecan trees will grow and produce nuts in the Texas cities of: Austin, Houston, San Antonio, and Texas is known as being the largest producer of native seedling pecans in the United States. In the cities of Lubbock, and Corpus Christi the native seedling pecan trees can be found growing everywhere as a nut producing tree and also as an excellent shade tree.. Our pecan trees are all hybrid pecans and grafted on cold hardy Curtis pecan root stock. The American black walnut tree and the English walnut trees are well adapted to the alkaline soils of TX. and the Thomas black walnut tree is a grafted tree that often will bear walnuts the first year of planting. The almond tree is well adapted to the dry areas of Texas and is very productive of high quality almonds that mature during the late summer. The American filbert tree is native to the State, like the American Chestnut tree that has been hybridized as a blight resistant tree. The Chinese chestnut tree is very well adapted to grow in most soil profiles in Texas.
Ty Ty Nursery offers a wide selection of fruit trees suitable for the Texas USDA climate zones. Some of these Texas fruit trees include grafted apple tree, peach trees, and Japanese persimmon trees. When planting grafted fruit trees in Texas, it is very important to keep in mind that there are important pollination requirements for each tree, and some trees and plants require cross pollination and others are self fertile. This Texas tree and plant pollination information is easily accessible with our user friendly website or by calling toll-free 1-888-811-9132.The Texas Star Banana Tree is a very cold hardy banana, surviving down to minus l6 degrees below zero degrees in Wichita Falls, TX., in 1983 record freezes, and is the only one of the banana trees cultivars that can be grown in all USDA zones of Texas.
Ty Ty Nursery also grows and offers a wide variety of berry plants for Texas, for example Rabbiteye, blueberry bushes, Texas red raspberry plants and blackberry plants, even mulberry trees. Berry plants such as a blueberry bushes are easy to plant and maintain for home orchard production or commercial plantings year after year. Enjoy those grocery store savings when planting blueberry plants in Texas.
Muscadine and Scuppernongs are two hybrid grapevine plants that are just right for Texas cultivation, and the grapes are so sweet that you will be unable to stop eating them right off the vine during the summer. Muscadine grapevines and Scuppernong plants are the grape vines of choice for Texas vineyards, because of the vigorous growth of the native American Muscadine grapevines and genetically possess a resistance to disease.
There are wide variety of nut trees that are well adapted for Texas such as, almond nut tree, walnut nut trees, pecan trees, TheTexas hazelnut tree and chestnut trees are both native American trees that grow favorably throughout the State.. When planting nut trees in Texas, keep the pollination requirements in mind, and call the friendly staff at Ty Ty Nursery who are always available to help you in choosing the perfect nut trees for your Texas orchard planting.
Some gardeners might be looking for other trees that will grow and thrive in Texas, like flowering trees, shade trees, and shrubs. Lower your home cooling costs during the hot summer months and plant Texas adapted shade trees near your house.
Brighten your landscape with Texas recommended flowering tree and shrubs. The Redbud tree is a native TX flowering tree, will add early beautiful spring color to any yard, as well as from the white, red or pink dogwood grafted trees. The Japanese, pink, Kwanzan cherry tree or white,Yoshino flowering cherry trees are some of the most important trees to plant for early spring color. The white flowering "Aristocrat" pear trees begin blooming in early spring, along with the fluffy white, flowering plum tree and the multicolor flowering peach trees. Flowering crabapple trees form fluffy early spring flower with a delicious fragrance, with colors of white, red and pink, and some crabapple cultivars form red leaves. Some of the flowering crabapple trees will produce small fruits that wildlife animals love, and the tree is an excellent pollinator for all apple trees. Purple or white wisteria trees are very fragrant, and the blue or pink wisteria vines are a fast climber, even reaching the top of the tallest pine trees. The Southern Magnolia trees, Magnolia grandiflora, along with the dwarf Little Gem Magnolia tree are evergreen flowering trees that are covered with huge white flowers that begin appearing in May and continue until the fall. The Sweet Bay Magnolia tree, Magnolia virginiana, is a creamy flowered landscape native specimen that grows well in very wet areas with fragrant leaves and blooms. The Japanese pink saucer Magnolia flowering tree looses its leaves in the fall, and in the early spring, the trees are filled with spectacular large aromatic flowers in a variety of colors, purple, white and red, and there is a rare yellow flower color almost unobtainable. Magnolia trees are not only wonderful flowering trees, but they are one of the best shade trees for Texas gardens. Crape Myrtle trees have become one of the favorite flowering trees that begins flowering in June and continue until fall, a period when very other blooms can be seen. The new dwarf crape myrtle trees are fully colored like the "True Blue" crape myrtle tree, the "Black Diamond" crape myrtle and the "Yuma Purple" The dwarf crape myrtles only grow about 6 feet tall. The common "Dallas Red" crape myrtle is brilliant red, the "Natchez white" crape myrtles and the "Miami pink" can be seen in many Texas gardens. The Paulownia tree, also called the dragon tree and the Princess (Empress) tree is a very fast growing flowering tree, but the wood is soft and is said by the US Forest Service to be a weedy tree. The Chaste or Vitex tree blooms in colors of blue, white and purple with a pleasing fragrance. For very brilliant yellow flower colors, the Cassia senna tree blooms in fall when not much else is flowering and the Golden Rain tree is covered in early summer with golden giant clusters of delicate blooms that are transformed into Chinese-like lanterns that persist on the tree until the winter. The Oleander flowering tree is one of the best selections in zone 8 and 9 to plant in Texas, since the oleander tree is tolerant of alkaline soil, drought stress, growing in full sun, heavy pruning and a great resistance to salt water, being widely planted at Galveston, TX., Houston as a privacy hedge, especially useful to plant in long rows along interstate highways to cut out noise and wind flows. The Oleander plant is literally covered with flowers for 9 months in colors of Firestarter red, white and pink, and then there is a dwarf apricot oleander that only grow about 6 feet tall, as contrasted to some of the other yellow or purple oleanders that grow up to 25 feet tall. Camellia flowering trees are long blooming shrubs tha can begin flowering in the fall and continue into the winter and spring.
Texas bamboo plants grow as an excellent privacy screen from Houston, Dallas and North to Wichita Falls, Texas, and this fast growing plant thrives in deep, wet organic based soils and survives in the intense heat of San Antonio and El Paso, Tx into Northern Texas at Amarillo to survive below zero temperatures because of its cold hardy characteristic, of even minus 20 degrees. The exotic colored poles of the Texas bamboo plants ranges from blue to yellow and reflective black-green, waxy coverings.. The woody canes of the bamboo plants can grow fast into giant clumps that can form a hedge 50 ft. tall in Texas in the warmer areas that block out intrusive noises and car exhausts. The bamboo plants form hedges that stop soil erosion in a hurry. You can order your Texas bamboo plants from Ty Ty bamboo Nursery (tytyga.com)that can be shipped fast to your home at anytime during the year.
We look forward to providing Texans with the best Texas trees and plants. We do offer a complimentary 1 year guarantee on plants, shrubs, trees that we sell to Texas or any other State. Texas Trees are shipped at the best planting time, and all deciduous trees are shipped dormant, but evergreen trees (banana, olive, palm trees, etc.) are shipped all during the year.. For any questions about our website simply call 1-888-811-9132 and speak to professional, knowledgeable, phone operator at Ty Ty Nursery, who will be able to answer any questions and help you select to the perfect plant you are looking for.
For most landscape gardeners in Texas, Agave plants, Yucca trees and Aloe plants are familiar in the landscape and also to indoor dish gardeners. Agave plants are native plants to the U.S., and especially to Texans who see them growing in the desert landscape as plants that required no special care or attention, no fertilizer, water or protection from pests. Agaves such as the commonly known, 'Century Plant' A. americana, grows almost anywhere, and the striped, variegated form Agave americana 'Marginata', is dramatic in the landscape or when containerized to grow near pools or in dish gardens. The Agave attenuata is called a 'spineless agave' and is absent any thorns, spines or terminal pricks. The agave plant leaves are thick and fleshy and the Agave tequilana is grown in Mexico to ferment into an alcoholic beverage, tequila. Yucca plants can grow into small trees and the Joshua Tree that is also called the Yucca Palm Tree can live for a thousand years and is armed with dangerous tough, woody leaves with terminal spikes. The Joshua Tree, Yucca brevifolia, was named by the Mormans and grows into an enormous specimen with large clusters of white flowers in the spring. The Yucca filamentosa 'Color Guard' is a beautiful variegated plant that is drought resistant and dramatic when grown as a container specimen. The Yucca rostrata is very prickly and armed with thorns, spikes and tough skin that is cold hardy in all Texas areas and grows into huge yucca trees. The Red Yucca, Hesperales parviflora, has long filamented peeling leaves that from the center of the plant sends up a flower stalk topped by orange flurry of flowers, and the leaves turn red in the winter and then revert to green in the spring. The Aloe vera plant is an excellent medicinal plant with beautiful spotted leaves that produce a beautiful spike of orange flowers in the spring, and the sap of the leaves is excellent to treat burns, bee stings or scratches for quick healing.


text:
|Home > International
(Reuters) / 5 January 2013
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavezs formal swearing-in for a new six-year term scheduled for Jan. 10 can be postponed if he is unable to attend due to his struggle to recover from cancer surgery, his vice president said.
Nicolas Maduro's comments were the clearest yet that Venezuela's government is preparing to delay the swearing-in while avoiding naming a replacement or calling a new election in the South American OPEC nation.
The political opposition argues that Chavez's presence on that date in Cuba - where there are rumors he may be dying from complications after his latest operation on Dec. 11 - is tantamount to the president's stepping down.
But Maduro, waving a copy of the constitution during an interview with state TV, said there was no problem if Chavez was sworn in at a later date by the nation's top court.
"The formality of his swearing-in can be resolved in the Supreme Court," he said.
Despite his serious medical condition, there was no reason to declare Chavez's "complete absence" from office, Maduro said. Such a declaration would trigger a new election within 30 days, according to Venezuela's charter.
Chavez was conscious and fighting to recover, said Maduro, who traveled to Havana to see his boss this week.
"We will have the Commander well again," he said.
Maduro, whom Chavez named as his preferred successor should he be forced to leave office, said Venezuela's opposition had no right to go against the will of the people as expressed in the Oct. 7 vote to re-elect the president.
"The president right now is president ... Don't mess with the people. Respect democracy."
For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes, and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes
|comments powered by Disqus
|Most Popular Stories


text:
by Steven Raichlen
Bon Appétit
May 2008
reviews (6)
make it again
Makes about 3 cups
Mix all ingredients in large bowl. Season to taste with salt. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 hours ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature.
Made this to go with the Yucatan Mahi Mahi as printed. It is good, and works well with the recipe, but nothing special in particular. Used 1 habanero and 1 lb campari tomatoes (not sure how much "3 large" is...) - I thought the salsa was pretty wet, so my comment would be to seed the tomatoes before chopping.


text:
Newcomer Joe Alexander could make his Euroleague debut this week.
Sofoklis Schortsanitis is 2 free throws away from the 400th of his career. He will become the 16th player in competition history to reach that milestone. The next player on the list for him to pass is Luis Scola with 423. FC Barcelona guard Juan Carlos Navarro is the all-time leader with 728 made free throws.
Schortsanitis averaged more than a point per minute in two victories over Crvena Zvezda last season. Big Sofo totaled 35 points on 13 of 16 shooting plus 8 rebounds in 33:06 of playing time.
Devin Smith has made at least 1 three-pointer in four straight and 13 of his last 14 Euroleague games.
Smith has recorded at least 1 steal in five straight Euroleague games.
Yogev Ohayon has made at least 1 three-pointer in each of his last eight Euroleague games. He is shooting 11 for 24 (45.8%) from downtown over that stretch.
Ohayon needs 5 steals to reach the century mark for his Euroleague career.
Alex Tyus has rejected at least 1 shot in each of his last six Euroleague games. He is averaging 2.2 blocks per game in that period.
Boban Marjanovic was the regular season leader in average performance index rating (24.9 per game) and in rebounding (10.7 rpg.).
Marjanovic has scored in double figures in 11 of his last 12 Euroleague games.
Marjanovic has seven double doubles this season and eight in his last 12 Euroleague appearances.
Marcus Williams was the regular season leader in assists with 6.9 per game.
Assistant coach Velibor Radovic played four seasons for Maccabi in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He was a teammate of current Maccabi Coach Guy Goodes during part of that time.
Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv overcame Crvena Zvezda Telekom Belgrade 78-67 on Thursday in the first Top 16 game at the renamed Menora Mivtachim Arena. Brian Randle collected 16 points, 9 rebounds and 4 steals and Sofoklis Schortsanitis added 15 points for the reigning champs, who improved to 1-1 in Group E, while keeping Zvezda winless. Maccabi led by as many as 10 in the second quarter, but Nikola Kalinic helped the visitors narrow the gap to 37-33 at halftime before taking the lead in the third quarter. However Maccabi entertained with several alley-oops as it regained control and pushed the lead to as high as 18 in the fourth quarter to claim the victory. Jeremy Pargo added 12 points, Yogev Ohayon totaled 10 points, 8 assists and 3 steals and Sylven Landesberg also scored 10 for the winners. Kalinic led Zvezda with 18 points, Marcus Williams recorded 13 points and 9 assists and Boban Marjanovic finished with 10 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks. Maccabi's Devin Smith received his bwin MVP for December award prior to tipoff from Euroleague Basketball President and CEO Jordi Bertomeu.
Maccabi won the opening tip and went inside to Schortsanitis, who drew Marjanovic's first foul just seconds into the contest. Maccabi continued to feed Big Sofo, who scored twice as the hosts started 5-0. Nemanja Dangubic got Zvezda on the scoreboard with a three from the top of the key. After Marjanovic stuffed Schortsanitis, Marcus Williams gave the visitors the lead with a triple. Schortsanitis stepped outside and hit a jumper to make it 7-6. The lead switched hands on the next several scores, with Pargo and Luka Mitrovic trading slams. Alex Tyus came in and picked up where Schortsanitis left off with a bucket in the paint to make it 13-10. Marjanovic muscled his way to a slam at one end, but Tyus answered quickly. A Kalinic triple tied the game at 15-15. Pargo found an open Ohayon for a layup and then Tyus for an alley-oop slam. Kalinic's second triple brought the visitors within 1. Ohayon's layup past the outstretched arm of Marjanovic made it 21-18 after 10 minutes.
Landesberg nailed a jumper and Mitrovic a layup in the first minute of the quarter. Randle used a spin move to get his first basket. Kalninic fought his way inside to keep the score even. Landesberg hit a long jumper to put the hosts up 5. A Kalinic bounce pass left Maik Zirbes open for a slam. Randle tipped in a Schortsanitis miss and finished a fast break with a slam to make it 31-24 before Zvezda called timeout four minutes into the quarter. Pargo connected on a long two-pointer only to see Kalinic get to the basket for a three-point play seconds later. Landesberg scored twice in transition as the difference reached double figures, 37-27. Kalinic countered with a three-pointer and Marjanovic banked in a jumper to bring the visitors within 37-33 at the break.
Marjanovic's tip in and a Kalinic slam tied the game less than one minute into the second half. Pargo's deep three at the end of the 24-second buzzer was met by a Williams triple to make it 40-40. Williams finished a break with a Williams layup for the visitors' first lead since early in the first quarter. An Ohayon three-pointer briefly put the hosts back ahead, but Kalinic continued his monster game with a floater in the paint. Ohayon picked up a loose ball and took it for a layup and a 45-44 lead. Randle and Marjanovic traded baskets inside. The same players then swapped free throws. Schortsanitis scored over Marjanovic on the offensive glass and Ohayon whipped a great pass to Randle for a slam and a 53-48 lead. Schortsanitis free throws increased the margin to 56-49.
Big Sofo continued to get to the line and the Maccabi defense continued to deny Zvezda. Mitrovic finally hit a three to make it 58-52. Smith's first points of the night came from downtown and Ohayon sent Landesberg a great pass for an easy score and an 11-point advantage. After a Zvezda timeout, Brank Lazic buried a three. Pargo ignited the crowd with a tough three to make it 66-55. Randle added free throws for a 13-point cushion with five minutes remaining. Williams went through the Maccabi defense for a layup. But Pargo added free throws and assisted to Randle for an alley-oop slam as the lead hit 72-57. Zirbes got to the line for 2 points, but Smith scored the next 5 points to end any doubt at 77-59 as the champs claimed another home win.


text:
Full text of Greenfield's Surgery Scientific Principles and Practice 5th ed. (2011) Editor: Mulholland, Michael W.; Lillemoe, Keith D.; Doherty, Gerard M.; Maier, Ronald V.; Simeone, Diane M.; Upchurch, Gilbert R. is available through Books@Ovid
For USC users only. Requires USC network connection. Allows limited number of simultaneous connections.
©2009 Norris Medical Library 2003
Zonal Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90089-9130 (323)
442-1116 email@example.com


text:
12 June 2014
This Is What Backyard Swimming Pools Look Like In The Future!
This is the pool of the future. It boasts natural clear water without using chemicals, and was handmade by David Pagan Butler for a fraction of the cost of a conventional swimming pool. Hopefully, this will inspire more people to move towards an organic and natural lifestyle!


text:
Night of the museums
9th May 2011
On the 14th of May 2011 the night will be filled with culture! It's the night where every single museum in Barcelona opens its doors from 19h until 01h for free, in a total of 48 museums spread along the city comprising every type of cultural taste you might have!
But not only is every single exposition available for free, plus there will be concerts, performances, conferences or guided tours among others. So entertainment is guaranteed!
This event is taking place all over Europe, with more than 3000 museums in over 40 countries joining in for a filled cultured spring night.
14th of May 2011
Barcelona (all over the city)
Free event


text:
Topic Page
Nation Topics - Nuclear Arms and Proliferation
News and Features
The offspring of the Manhattan Project are circling back toward Manhattan.
The news that the Pentagon had secret contingency plans to fight terrorism with nuclear weapons has the marks not of considered military doctrine but rather of an infantile tantrum born of the Bu
Disarmament Wars
To the January ritual of reflecting on the old year and looking to the new, add the "top five" list of various 2001 nuclear events put together by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.
India's Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan's Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who gathered here with the leaders of the other five South Asian countries for a summit meeting in early January, sat opposite each other at the banquet table. For two hours, while Vajpayee stared impassively down at his plate, Musharraf looked up at the chandeliers and made light conversation with Bangladesh's Prime Minister Khaleda Zia on his right. The leaders of the two nuclear powers of South Asia made no eye contact throughout. A thousand kilometers to the west, their armies were massing at the frontier.
The avuncular Vajpayee, of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), once penned poems in memory of the Hiroshima dead. But it was he who took the subcontinent nuclear by conducting tests in the Rajasthan desert in May 1998. This was an invitation for rival Pakistan--riven with internal angst based on an ideological reliance on Islam since its founding in 1947 and ruled by the military for long periods since--to join the nuclear fold, which it did with its own tests weeks later.
The Kargil miniwar of June 1999, which was the Pakistani military's response to peace moves by the civilian leadership of the two countries, was the first-ever conflict between two nuclear powers. It proved that the nuclear deterrent would not necessarily keep South Asia from conventional war. Since then, the region has walked a tightrope; unforeseen events can rapidly escalate into full-blown conflict, and the bluster of both sides includes the threat of using nuclear weapons.
There is a failure of imagination to consider the impact of nuclear blasts on the densely populated Indo-Gangetic plains, or that missile flying time to targets is measured here in minutes. Such are the proximity of population centers and climate conditions that a nuclear attack on Pakistan could consume India as well, and vice versa.
Meanwhile, even rudimentary confidence-building and de-escalation devices are lacking between the two countries--one a brittle military state whose command and control structures could collapse at a critical moment and the other a democracy egged toward brinkmanship by the arrogance of size and reactionary politics.
The current deep chill has its origins in the belief that General Musharraf is considered the "architect" of the Kargil conflict; in addition, there is the flamboyant Musharraf's upstaging of the aging Vajpayee at every public opportunity. But beyond the matter of personalities, New Delhi has legitimate grounds for anger, for Pakistan has been indulgent toward radical Islamic organizations with the avowed aim of conducting jihad to release Kashmir from India's grasp. It has allowed these militant groups to organize, fundraise and run training camps within its territory. These Pakistan-based external elements gradually displaced the indigenous militants in Kashmir over the last half of the 1990s, and recently even Kashmiri civilians have been targeted by the infiltrators.
Things came to a head on December 13 with the attack on India's Parliament in New Delhi by a militant Muslim suicide squad. An enraged Indian government accused the Islamabad government of involvement in the attack and, with the example of the American war in Afghanistan fresh in mind, hotheads within the BJP called for strikes on Pakistani territory. With one eye on a crucial legislative assembly election in the all-important state of Uttar Pradesh, Vajpayee's government upped the ante, refusing to talk with Musharraf and massing its troops at the border.
Independent of Pakistani designs on the territory, New Delhi is unwilling to consider that the disquiet in Kashmir is due to rejection of Kashmiri aspirations for a modicum of self-rule. New Delhi wants nothing less than total control, even though the Indian Constitution contains unique provisions for autonomy for Kashmir. India decided long ago that it could suffer limited bloodletting in the territory under the mistaken assumption that "letting Kashmir go" will unravel the Indian republic itself.
The discord between India and Pakistan can also be traced to postpartition animosities that grew up after 1947 in particular among the Hindu and Muslim refugees who ended up on either side of the border. More recently, Indian ire against Pakistan has been ratcheted up by neonationalism among the growing Indian middle class, which makes up a large part of the BJP government's Hindu-right base of support. These nationalist emotions have been enhanced by the unifying function of satellite TV, a new phenomenon, and a run of movies from Bombay's escapist film-production machine that are no longer coy about identifying Pakistan as "the enemy."
There are now certain actions that the two protagonists must take, goaded by the international community, including the United States. On both sides there must be a softening of inflammatory rhetoric, a calming of tension and a pullback of the military. New Delhi must talk to Islamabad, however distasteful it finds the prospect. India, as the stronger and larger country, should have the self-confidence derived from its democracy, powerful economy and world standing to show generosity of spirit.
In the medium term, the United States and other powers must continue to pressure Pakistan to withdraw support from the militant groups engaging in Kashmiri jihad. In the longer term, New Delhi and Islamabad must be made to move toward accommodation on Kashmir (read autonomy, self-government, a plebiscite, a freeze or another imaginative solution) and a program of denuclearization.
In March 2000, Bill Clinton, visiting the region as US President, called South Asia the world's most dangerous place. January 2002 finds it a much, much more dangerous place. The resentful, asymmetrical twins of South Asia have faced each other for nearly fifty-five years in an adolescent rivalry that has triggered three major wars and an endless barrage of "minor" clashes. The price of the failure of reconciliation was once high. Now it is apocalyptic.
Nike-Zeus, Nike-X, Sentinel, Safeguard, Star Wars, X-ray lasers, spaced-based neutron particle beams, Brilliant Pebbles, Ground-Based Midcourse National Missile Defense, Midcourse Defense Segment of Missile Defense. Over the past fifty years America has poured approximately $100 billion into these various programs or efforts to shield the country against long-range ballistic missiles. Yet not one has worked. Not one. Nevertheless, except for the constraints imposed by his own "voodoo economics," President George W. Bush appears poised to pursue the development and deployment of a layered missile defense--as a hedge against more failures--that would force taxpayers to cough up as much as another $100 billion. In December Bush formally notified Russia that the United States was withdrawing from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty in order to "develop ways to protect our people from future terrorist or rogue state missile attacks."
Russian President Vladimir Putin labeled Bush's decision a "mistake," a mild reaction that should not disguise the fact that much of Russia's political elite is seething at the withdrawal. Already smarting from America's broken promise not to expand NATO and the US-led NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 (which violated the 1997 "Founding Act" between Russia and NATO), the coincidence of America's success in Afghanistan (obviating the need for further Russian assistance) and withdrawal from the ABM treaty is viewed as yet further evidence of American duplicity.
President Clinton diplomatically explained the Republicans' obsession with missile defense when he observed: "One of the problems they've got is, for so many of their supporters, this is a matter of theology, not evidence. Because President Reagan was once for it, they think it must be right, and they've got to do it, and I think it makes it harder for them to see some of the downsides." That's a nice way of saying that the conservative wing of the Republican Party abounds with missile-defense wackos. I've participated personally in two missile-defense conferences and was astounded by their right-wing, faith-based atmospherics.
Which is why Bradley Graham's engaging narrative of politics and technology during the Clinton years, Hit to Kill: The New Battle Over Shielding America From Missile Attack, seems destined for popular success, notwithstanding its serious conceptual limitations. Graham ably recounts the excessive exuberance of Republicans as they schemed to realize their missile-defense dreams. But he is equally critical of the Clinton Administration's attempt to actually build a missile defense: its "three-plus-three" ground-based midcourse program.
Offered in the spring of 1996, in part to undercut the Republicans, "three-plus-three" provided for three (or four) years of development, after which, if then technologically feasible and warranted by a threat, there would be deployment within another three years. In early 1998, however, a sixteen-member panel, led by retired Air Force chief of staff Larry Welch, condemned the plan as a "rush to failure."
But two overdramatized events later that year demanded even greater urgency. In July, the Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States, led by Donald Rumsfeld, asserted that America's intelligence agencies had woefully underestimated the capability of "rogue" regimes, such as those leading North Korea and Iran, to attack US territory with ballistic missiles within five years. It concluded: "The threat to the United States posed by these emerging capabilities is broader, more mature, and evolving more rapidly than has been reported in estimates and reports by the intelligence community."
When North Korea subsequently launched a three-stage Taepodong 1 missile past Japan in August 1998, many Americans put aside not only their qualms about the role Representatives Curt Weldon and Newt Gingrich had played in creating the commission, but also their suspicions about the blatantly pro-missile defense bias of most of its members. Although Graham generally portrays the commission's deliberations as unbiased, he does provide evidence that some of its briefers were not.
For example, one intelligence official betrayed visible irritation during his briefing of commission members, prompting General Welch to ask, "You're not happy to be here, are you?" The official replied, "No, I'm not. I'm ticked off that I have to come down and brief a bunch of wacko missile-defense advocates." His outburst infuriated Rumsfeld, who "stalked" out of the room.
Nevertheless, Rumsfeld's report and the launch of North Korea's missile frightened Americans and galvanized Republicans. Graham's investigative reporting gets inside the subsequent political war waged against a Clinton Administration that, itself, was slowly awakening to the possibility of a more imminent ballistic missile threat.
Graham brings an open mind to the hotly disputed technological merits of missile defense. Nevertheless, he cannot avoid the conclusion that George W. Bush's decision to expand missile defense beyond Clinton's ground-based midcourse program constitutes an acknowledgment that, after fifty years, "military contractors had yet to figure out how best to mount a national missile defense."
In theory, a ballistic missile can be intercepted during its comparatively slow, if brief, "boost phase," before its "payload"--warheads, decoys and debris--is released. Speed is of the essence during the boost phase. So is proximity to the target. According to Philip Coyle, former director of the Pentagon's Office of Operational Test and Evaluation, "The process of detection and classification of enemy missiles must begin within seconds, and intercept must occur within only a few minutes. In some scenarios, the reaction time to intercept can be less than 120 seconds."
Compounding concerns about boost-phase intercepts are questions about the ability of an interceptor to distinguish quickly between a missile's flame and the missile itself. Finally, boost-phase missile-defense platforms would invite pre-emptive attacks against those platforms by any state bold (and foolish) enough to launch ballistic missiles.
The "terminal phase" of ballistic missile flight is the final minute or two when the payload re-enters the atmosphere. Detection of the warhead is comparatively simple, but designing a missile fast enough to catch it and hit it--given the problems associated with sensor degradation in intense heat--is extremely difficult. Countermeasures, such as maneuvering capability or precursor explosions, would further complicate defensive efforts. Finally a terminal-phase missile defense can, by definition, protect only a limited area, perhaps one city. Thus, many such systems would be required.
The "midcourse phase" of ballistic missile flight is the period during which the payload is dispersed in space. It remains there more than 80 percent of the missile's total flight time. The Clinton Administration's ground-based midcourse program (continued by the Bush Administration) is designed to strike the warhead in space with a high-speed, maneuverable kill vehicle--thus Graham's title: Hit to Kill.
Easily the most developed of all programs, as recently as December 3, 2001, the midcourse program demonstrated the awesome technological feat of destroying a warhead hurtling through space--hitting a bullet with a bullet. Yet such a feat constitutes but the commencement of an arduous technological journey, not its endpoint.
As a "Working Paper" issued recently under the auspices of the Union of Concerned Scientists noted, America's ground-based midcourse program has not been subjected to real-world tests. Five hit-to-kill tests have resulted in three hits. But each test: (1) used identical test geometrics (the location of launches, trajectories of target and interceptor missiles); (2) released the same objects (payload bus, warhead and decoy); (3) occurred at the same time of day; (4) made the lone decoy obviously and consistently different from the warhead; (5) told the defense system what to look for in advance; (6) attempted intercept at an unrealistically low closing speed; (7) kept the target cluster sufficiently compact to aid the kill vehicle's field of view; and (8) provided the kill vehicle with unduly accurate artificial tracking data.
Any ground-based midcourse missile defense system has to contend with virtually insurmountable countermeasures, especially the decoys that, in space, are quite indistinguishable from the warheads. Yet the three successful hits did not have to contend with even the countermeasures that a missile from a "rogue" regime would probably employ.
A National Intelligence Estimate in 1999 determined that "countermeasures would be available to emerging missile states." In April 2000 a "Countermeasures" study group from the Union of Concerned Scientists and the MIT Security Studies Program concluded: "Even the full [National Missile Defense] system would not be effective against an attacker using countermeasures, and an attacker could deploy such countermeasures before even the first phase of the NMD system was operational." Consequently, "it makes no sense to begin deployment."
Craig Eisendrath, Melvin Goodman and Gerald Marsh (Eisendrath and Goodman are senior fellows with the Center for International Policy in Washington; Marsh is a physicist at Argonne National Laboratory) state the problem even more starkly in their recent book The Phantom Defense: America's Pursuit of the Star Wars Illusion: "This is the bottom line: the problem isn't technology, it's physics. Decoys and warheads can always be made to emit almost identical signals in the visible, infrared, and radar bands; their signatures can be made virtually the same."
If such information troubles Defense Department officials responsible for missile defense, they seldom admit it publicly. However, they're not nearly as irresponsible as the political and "scholarly" cheerleaders who remain unmoved by a half-century of failure and the physics of countermeasures. I encountered one of them last June at a missile defense conference in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.
Representative Weldon delivered the conference's keynote address to more than 220 participants from the Defense Department, the military industry, think tanks, various universities and the press. Weldon is the author of HR 4, legislation that made it "the policy of the United States to deploy a national missile defense." (Senator Carl Levin was able to add amendments to the Senate bill on missile defense that made the program dependent upon the annual budget process and tied it to retention of the ABM treaty; Weldon referred to the amendments as cowardice. Nevertheless, they remained in the Missile Defense Act that President Clinton signed on July 22, 1999.)
Weldon told the audience that the United States requires a missile-defense system to protect its citizens from an intentional missile attack by a "rogue" regime presumably undeterred by the prospect of an overwhelming American nuclear retaliation. He even displayed an accelerometer and a gyroscope, Russian missile components allegedly bound for a "rogue." He then displayed an enlarged, poster-size photograph of Russia's SS-25 ICBM. Russia possesses more than 400 such missiles, he asserted, and any one of them might be launched accidentally against the United States, given Russia's deteriorating command and control capabilities.
It was a "no-brainer." Both threats demanded that America build a national missile defense system, capable of intercepting such missiles, as soon as possible.
However, when I asked Congressman Weldon to shift from the SS-25 and contemplate whether his modest missile-defense system could prevent the penetration of an accidentally launched TOPOL-M ICBM from Russia, he responded, "I don't know. That's a question you should ask General Kadish during tomorrow's session." Extending the reasoning, I asked Weldon whether his modest missile-defense system could shield America against a missile, launched by a rogue regime, that was capable of TOPOL-M countermeasures. Weldon again answered that he did not know. But rather than let such doubts linger at a conference designed to celebrate missile defense, Kurt Strauss, director of naval and missile defense systems at Raytheon, rose to deny that Russia possessed such countermeasures.
Presumably, Strauss was unaware of the work of Nikolai Sokov, a former Soviet arms control adviser and author of Russian Strategic Modernization: Past and Future. Sokov claims that the TOPOL-M features a booster intended to reduce the duration and altitude of the boost phase, numerous decoys and penetration aids, a hardened warhead and a "side anti-missile maneuver."
Strauss's uninformed denial hints at a much bigger problem, however: the prevalence of advertising over objectivity in a society where the commercialization of war and the cult of technology have reached historic proportions. In The Pursuit of Power historian William McNeill traces the commercialization of war back to mercenary armies in fourteenth-century Italy, pointing out the "remarkable merger of market and military behavior." And Victor Davis Hanson, in Carnage and Culture, sees much the same reason behind the decimation of the Turkish fleet, some two centuries later, by the Christian fleet at Lepanto--"there was nothing in Asia like the European marketplace of ideas devoted to the pursuit of ever more deadly weapons." McNeill concludes that "the arms race that continues to strain world balances...descends directly from the intense interaction in matters military that European states and private entrepreneurs inaugurated during the fourteenth century."
Post-cold war America, virtually alone, luxuriates in this dubious tradition. Yet it was no less than Dwight Eisenhower who warned America in his farewell address: "This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence--economic, political, even spiritual--is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the federal government."
Who could have been surprised, then, when Matthew Evangelista conclusively demonstrated, in Innovation and the Arms Race (1988), that commercial opportunities within America's military-industrial complex, much more than any Soviet threat, propelled innovation--and, thus, most of the arms race with the Soviet Union. A year later, the highly respected defense analyst Jacques Gansler identified the uniquely American "technological imperative" of commercialized warfare: "Because we can have it, we must have it." Such impulses caused the United States to run profligate arms races with itself both during and after the cold war. They also explain America's post-cold war adherence to cold war levels of military expenditures and, in part, our missile-defense obsession today.
This technological imperative had its origins in America's "exceptional" historical experience, which it continues to serve. Indeed, so the argument goes, Why should a country on a mission from God sully itself with arms control agreements and other compromises with lesser nations, when its technological prowess will provide its people with the invulnerability necessary for the unimpeded, unilateral fulfillment of their historic destiny?
Such technological utopianism, however, has its costs. In their book The Dynamics of Military Revolution, 1300-2050, MacGregor Knox and Williamson Murray demonstrate the very secondary role that technology has played in past military revolutions. They conclude: "The past thus suggests that pure technological developments without the direction provided by a clear strategic context can easily lead in dangerous directions: either toward ignoring potential enemy responses, or--even more dangerously--into the dead end, graphically illustrated by the floundering of U.S. forces in Vietnam, of a technological sophistication irrelevant to the war actually being fought." (In Hit to Kill, Graham has little to say about military strategy or the commercialization of warfare.)
In hawking a missile defense shield, Representative Weldon traveled in the first dangerous direction when he assured the defense conferees that although Congress was not ignoring the threat posed by terrorists with truck bombs, "when Saddam Hussein chose to destroy American lives, he did not pick a truck bomb. He did not pick a chemical agent. He picked a SCUD missile.... The weapon of choice is the missile."
Unfortunately, on September 11, America learned that it is not.
Potentially worse, however, is the Reaganesque theology propelling the Bush Administration's decision to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty. Putting aside the question of whether withdrawal requires formal Congressional approval and other questions of international relations, one must ask why any administration would destroy the cornerstone of strategic stability. The ban on national missile defenses not only prevents a defensive arms race but also obviates the need to build more offensive missiles to overload the enemy's. Why would a country withdraw from the ABM treaty without knowing whether its own missile-defense system will even work, and before conducting all the tests permitted by the treaty that would provide greater confidence in the system's ultimate success?
Readers of Keith Payne's recent book The Fallacies of Cold War Deterrence and a New Direction, might guess the probable answer. Payne, chosen by the Bush Administration to help shape the Defense Department's recently completed but still classified Nuclear Posture Review, writes about a new, post-cold war "effective deterrence," to which even an imperfect missile-defense system might contribute: "In the Cold War, the West held out the threat of nuclear escalation if the Soviet Union projected force into NATO Europe; in the post-Cold War period it will be regional aggressors threatening Washington with nuclear escalation in the event the United States needs to project force into their regional neighborhoods.... In short, Washington will want effective deterrence in regional crises where the challenger is able to threaten WMD [weapons of mass destruction] escalation and it is more willing to accept risk and cost."
The real concern, then, is less about protecting America from sneak attacks by rogue states ruled by madmen, and more about preserving our unilateral options to intervene throughout much of the world. Thus, President Bush's speech at The Citadel in December was disingenuous. His rhetorical question asking what if the terrorists had been able to strike with a ballistic missile was primarily an attempt to steamroller frightened Americans into supporting missile defense. The speech simply seized upon the wartime danger to compel a military transformation that has been debated for almost a decade and resisted by the services and the military industry since the beginning of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld's tenure.
Lest we forget, China hasn't disappeared either. Its muted criticism of America's withdrawal from the ABM treaty was accompanied by a call for talks to achieve "a solution that safeguards the global strategic balance and doesn't harm international efforts at arms control and disarmament." Failing such talks, China may feel compelled to increase its offensive arsenal to insure penetration of an American missile defense, which could provoke India, and consequently Pakistan--perhaps rekindling tensions that have already brought them to the brink of war.
Russia, for its part, believes it has little to fear from America's current missile-defense programs but is awaiting the inevitable: the moment when the technological utopians push America to expand its modest system into a full-blown shield. How will Russia respond then?
To court such reactions by withdrawing from the ABM treaty before even testing against decoys is pure strategic illiteracy--which only a Reaganesque theology (founded on exceptionalism, commercialized militarism, technological utopianism and righteous unilateralism) shrouded by the "fog of war" might explain.
The Bush administration's abandonment of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty was a win for Rumsfeld's Defense Department—but it could be an obstacle for the State Department.
The Price Anderson Act has discouraged the development of safer, less costly sources of energy than nuclear power. Join your voice to those calling for Congress to not renew its status by signing this online petition.


text:
The Kata D-3N1-33 3 in 1 Sling Backpack, Large (Black) is designed to fit a digital SLR camera body with battery grip, long-range zoom lens attached, 5-6 additional lenses, flash, laptop computer with a screen up to 15.4" and personal gear. The pack is made from reinforced Nycore grid fabric exterior with TST rib structures protection, Yelloop interior and smooth lining and an EVA and polyethylene closed cell foam interior. It has three carrying options in one; changing from sling to "X" position to backpack and back again. The bottom main compartment of the pack holds equipment and uses the modular dividers to custom fit the bag. The large top compartment will hold personal gear or additional gear and it has internal pockets and a MP3 player pouch. There is a computer section toward the rear of the sling bag.
Two external zippered pockets allow quick access to accessories without opening the main compartments. In sling position, the bag easily swings around from back to front to achieve quick draw access to the main camera and extras lenses. In backpack position and "X" position, the equipment can be comfortably carried for long distances. The included balancing hip strap helps take the load of heavy equipment off the shoulders. The included rain cover folds neatly away into an integrated pocket and can be hung out to dry on the small buckle next to the handle, or tucked away for storage in one of the pockets.
- Construction
- Reinforced Nycore grid fabric exterior
- TST rib structures protection
- Yelloop interior and smooth lining
- EVA and polyethylene closed cell foam interior
- Movable dividers
- Zippers and buckle closure
- Modi-Vers System allows creation of compartments and the dividers can be cut with scissors to any desired size. Attach the newly cut divider to another divider or the walls of the bag with a special touch fastener connector
- Interior of the bag is made of a loop fabric called Yelloop to which the Modi-Vers dividers can be attached. It is a bright yellow material, so that the contents can be viewed with ease
- On Board
- Conforms to current FAA airline carry-on regulations 1
- Compartments
- Top compartment for misc. items
- Main camera compartment has side access to the equipment
- Computer area toward the rear of the sling bag
- Pockets
- Media Kit is a digital organizer for memory cards and spare batteries
- Two pockets in the top compartment
- MP3 player pouch
- Two external pockets allow quick zippered access to accessories without opening the main compartments
- Pocket inside access flap of bottom compartment
- Rain cover folds neatly away into an integrated pocket and can be hung out to dry on the small buckle next to the handle, or tucked away for storage in one of the pockets
- Carrying options
- Adjustable, shoulder strap in a concealment sleeve
- Balancing hip strap


text:
Our Entrepreneurs
Arnaldo Goldemberg
LAN Designers
Impact metric503% growth in revenues since selection
"I saw an opportunity to improve IT for companies."
- Country
- Brazil
- Industry
- Technology
- Employees
- 2,200
- Year selected
- 2003
- Website
Company Snapshot
Arnaldo is a rare and inspiring example of a Latin American entrepreneur who failed in his first business, failed in his second business, and came back to create an innovative third company that is not only succeeding, but revolutionizing its field. In 1990, using only his overdraft limit of US$100, Arnaldo rented a small office in São Paulo (which he also used as his home) and set up LAN Designers.
LAN Designers is the first company to implement and operate an IT outsourcing project in Brazil, and one of the first in the world to develop a workflow monitoring and management system for IT operations. Its ASK software is the only real-time process auditing tool in the market able to extract operational indicators continuously from a company's different management software and automatically identify workflow problems. Since selection by Endeavor, the number of jobs at LAN has grown by 162%.
Arnoldo won an Ernst & Young Innovation Award in 2005.
Endeavor and LAN Designers
Arnaldo has benefited from global services such as the eMBA program (which determined the best way to market and sell ASK software), several Immersion Tours, and an Entrepreneur Summit. He also participated in the local PEG management program, and received mentorship in sales, marketing, and HR. Endeavor also provided introductions to strategic clients to promote his software, and firms to distribute it.
A highly involved network member, Arnaldo demonstrates commitment by serving as a speaker at Endeavor events, a panelist for pipeline candidates, and a mentor to fellow Entrepreneurs. He also donates IT support to Endeavor Brazil.
entrepreneur spotlights
Mario Araya
Fatih Işbecer
Bedriye Hülya
Support the cause
Endeavor transforms the economies of emerging markets by identifying and supporting high-impact entrepreneursI want to get involved
endeavor impact$6.8Bn
revenues generated by Endeavor Entrepreneurs in 2013Show me more


text:
New Urbanists are to Environmentalists as Republicans are to the Tea Party
After participating in the PRO-URB listserv while following the Republican primaries, it occurs to me that there's some similarity between the Republican Party's problems with its more extreme activist wing and the relationship between the new urbanist/smart growth movements and environmentalists.
Just as the Tea Party (by which I mean, the most right-wing element within the Republican Party) is the Republican activist base, environmentalists are urbanists' mass base. That is to say, environmentalists are the only politically organized mass movement that is likely to support more pedestrian- and transit-friendly policies. (And no, I don't consider the American Planning Association or big-city mayors a mass movement).
But Tea Party types often say things that make the general electorate cringe; for example, they tend to be more willing than most Republican politicians to attack noncontroversial government programs such as Social Security, and more willing to engage in reckless parlaimentary tactics. So Republicans who want to actually be elected should probably be careful about endorsing the Tea Party 100 percent.
Similarly, when I listen to my environmentalist friends, I hear things that would make most swing voters (or even most Democrats) cringe- remarks about how everybody should pay more for just about everything, and how we should have fewer children and have less of everything. So as much as urbanists need and respect the smart growth movement, we aren't going to get a lot of swing voter or Republican support for our priorities if we are perceived as being among the most extreme environmentalists.
Write your comments in the box below and share on your Facebook!


text:
A short student film made during 2011 by students of the Skateistan NGO about the issue of streetworking children in Kabul, Afghanistan. Over 50% of Skateistan's students must work to support their families. This is 13-year-old Suliman's second film that he made since joining the Skateistan film class. Suliman is now a peer-educator at the facility.
Loading more stuff…
Hmm…it looks like things are taking a while to load. Try again?