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Dominican Republic
Nothing compares to the Latin flavor of the Dominican Republic.
You'll be hard pressed to find a more friendly people than the dominicans They are gregarious, fun, and full of warmth and energy.
Punta Cana Resorts
Punta Cana Boasts one of the best beaches in the world. development on Punta Cana started about twenty years ago. It has quickly become a sophisticated destination featuring world-class resorts, fun casinos, "Las Vegas-style" revues and nightlife that moves to the beat of the Merengue, the national dance.
Puerto Plata Resorts
Located north of Santo Domingo along the Atlantic shore is the glittering Amber Coast, home to the world`s richest deposits of amber, which allows local residents to produce a variety of the one-of-a-kind jewelry creations found throughout the country. Here, surrounded by a spectacular mountain range, Puerto Plata offers a wide variety of historic sites, great resorts and challenging golf.
Puerto Plata is a picturesque resort city situated at the base of the towering Mt. Isabel de Torres, which can be reached via the teleferico, an electric sky lift system. At its peak, visitors will find a scaled-down version of Rio de Janeiro`s The Redeemer, the famed statue of Christ.
Windsurfers flock to the Amber Coast and a small strip of land called Cabarete. Here, the Professional Windsurfing Association has held its prestigious World Cup competitions, attracting the top windsurfing champions from around the globe. In mid-June, there`s the Cabarete Race Week for amateurs, one of the most popular amateur competitions in the world.
Santo Domingo Resorts
The Caribbean`s most cosmopolitan city is also the oldest in the Western Hemisphere and as rich in history as in modern convenience. Old Santo Domingo houses over twelve museums filled with treasures from around the world. Stroll the Malecon, and dine at tiny cafes that line the water`s edge. For other historic sites visit the oldest street, house, cathedral and university in the Western Hemisphere. Once the sun sets, take a trip to the monumental Columbus Lighthouse, housing the remains of Christopher Columbus, and see it light up the night. Those who appreciate history and the arts will be awed by all that Santo Domingo has to offer.
In the heart of Santo Domingo, be sure and visit the Plaza del Cultura, where you`ll find a cluster of four museums that includes the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of History and Geography, the Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Dominican Man, which charts the progress of Dominican civilization. The National Theatre is also located here and it`s a popular venue for ballet, opera, concerts and theatre.
Santo Domingo nightlife has a variety of individual choices and flavors. This is the home of the merengue, the famous Latin-style dance, and visitors will find countless opportunities to polish their skills. A different type of excitement can be found at the capital`s dozen casinos, which provide all the late-night action any high roller could want. City-wide, gourmands will find excellent restaurants that will whet the appetite of even the most serious food fanatic.
La Romana Resorts
Trendy La Romana lies east of Santo Domingo and is home to international polo matches and world-class championship golf. Enjoy an unbelievable variety of sports and recreational activities unmatched in the Caribbean including golf, polo, horseback riding, tennis, swimming and all other non-motorized watersports, with some of the finest snorkeling and scuba destinations in the region. The area also boasts some of the most unique shops and boutiques on the island.
La Romana, a city built and maintained by the sugar mills that proliferated in this region, is a burgeoning resort area. Nearby attractions include the "artists village" of Altos de Chavon, a re-creation of a 16th century Italian village with artisan workshops, an archeological museum, cobblestone streets and quaint architecture.
NYC is 4 hrs.
Miami 1.5
Charlolette 3 hrs.


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Motoing for 44 years
Joined: Mar 2013
Location: Wichita Mountains SW Oklahoma
Oddometer: 1,696
Amputees & Trials Competition - One Man's Solutions
This thread documents some solutions or adaptations for right leg amputees doing observed trials riding and competition.
There aren't many amputee trials riders. I am one, having lost my right (brake) foot up to 7" below the knee, and some fingers on the left hand. The missing bits don't hold me back much. Fortunately I can push hard with my right leg for weighting and dynamic body positioning. I can't actively articulate my foot at the ankle, and I don't directly feel what's under my foot directly. But wearing a prosthesis is like playing tennis. The better players learn how to very precisely control an extension of their body, their racket and feel exactly what's going on out there. A prosthesis is like a racket you learn to control to varying degrees.
I mostly use one leg for everything, from ranch work to motorcycle riding (thus the very beat up looking leg below). When I compete in trials, I sometimes use a second leg with a lower-performing (less compliant) foot that is 'aligned' to be angled up in the toe. Otherwise, I can catch catch my toe on steps and roots and take points. It takes only one toe smacking incident to knock a fellow down from a solid 1st through 3rd finish.
As for the hand situation I have just enough left for it to work well. Some friends have joked that I am so 'hands on' that I leave my hands on the work, or that I must be an alien because I have an ET hand:
That hand is really strong. It has to be. I hold on to the left grip with only two fingers, little and ring, and clutch with the short index finger, which is attached to the what was once my middle finger, which is now dust somewhere. My hand doesn't tires out prematurely in events. Rather, heat has always been my biggest problem. I don't compete well in high heat indexes. I have heard amputees don't shed heat as well, but I don't know if it is that or just normal for me, missing bits or not.
Anyway, this is about leg stuff and left side brakes, documenting some of my left-side brake setups from the `80s until today. It's nice to have the training and skills, and a machine and welding shop at the ranch (as well as an awesome place to ride).
I ride on and off road... dualsports regionally and transcontinentally. I make no changes to bike controls on road bikes or dualsports. I simply heel the rear brake, standing or sitting. When I was racing cross country up to Expert level, I tried several hand brake designs, but they caused more problems than they solved. I learned to not miss the rear brake that I could not feel but every blue moon. And when I did, it was scary flying into corners in the woods! Yaaaoooh!
Trials competition, however, requires immediate access to the rear brake. Fortunately, the shifter is up and forward on trials bikes, leaving room for a left-side brake. In trials we don't have to fan the shifter, so a left-side foot brake and shifter don't have to occupy the same space.
I have had many left-side rear brake setups. Some bikes are easier to do this on. Others are harder. Some are really tough. for example, Betas. Betas are right-side chain bikes with a left-side kick start, so with a left-side brake there'd be three functions occupying the same are. They tend also to put the muffler on the left side, which takes up space needed to mount a master cylinder. The easiest bikes are left-side chain bikes with right-side kick starts and the muffler on the right side.
My first conversion was on a TY350. I haven't found the photo of that one yet, but it was a machined aluminum mount that wrapped around the front sprocket with a steel brake lever pointing backawards. A hefty ATV rear brake cable went from the mount around to the other side, near the rear brake. It worked well considering a drum/cable setup does not stop as well as hydraulic brakes. I could lock the rear wheel up.
The nexy setup I had for many years was on my `89 Fantic 305/7. This was to set the basic design theme for all future adaptations. That is, brake lever outside the frame rail with master cylinder on the left. here is the setup today, after my third and best rebuild of this bike. Anyone interested? It's likely the best Fantic of that year in the world. Buyers get a bike converted back to right-side brake:
I can't yet find photos of the setups on my Fantic Section, KeyRoo, and Scorpa 250 (yet).
Then I moved to Shercos. The Sherco frames allowed me to make a modular setup where the only thing left behind after I was done with the bike was two 6mm threaded holes in the frame rail and a groove in the frame rail for the brake line to sneak by. Here is the setup on the 2001:
...And the 2002, which I had up to about 2010:
On the Shercos I was able to use the stock brake lines and not come up short. This required running the line not through the swing arm but zip tied on to top of the swing arm.
Here is the 2001-2002 combination aluminum and stainless steel brake lever and an example aluminum blank with pivot hole and bushing:
In 2012, after some years of laying off, I got back into trials. I was the lucky buyer of a particularly sweet 2010 Econo 280. The Econo used an older-version 2008 eliptical-tube frame, which takes up less space than the newer round-tube frames. The Econo also used the pre-2010 sub frame, which does not have the holes, does not stick out as much at the base, and has room to put the master cylinder inside, up against the air box air boot. This left only the lever and a long push rod exposed.
The enabling solution on the Econo was to share the lower master cylinder mounting hole and the lower-left sub frame mounting, using a long FHCS M6. I welded a bracket from the frame to the upper master cylinder mount. The high mounting required a long push rod, which I made a little thicker to prevent buckling or bending:
And a view from the back:
The only negative I found with the solution was it really squeezed the air box boot. I about went nuts trying to get the boot on with the Dell'Orto-required rubber donut in the boot, until Stoodley told me to put the donut on the carb first (Doh!). Thereafter it was a tight fit, but I could remove and replace the sub frame with only a little extra care.
During the Econo conversion I went back to an all-stainless-steel brake lever. I fabricated it from a prosthetic 'foot horn', which is a stout tool used to remove and replace the tough foot covers (called shells) on prosthetic feet. The toothed foot contact portion was made from laser-cut pieces I had made in bulk in the `90s when I was making extended-platform pegs for RYP:
During the very first trial after the conversion, I smacked the brake lever hard on a rock sticking up on a steep hillside. Enough to almost knock me over. The lever bent a little but did not fail. Thereafter, it survived a number of competitions and is seeing use on the latest bike.
I really like GasGas bikes, but this year I lusted after the pretty yellow 2013 Sherco 300. In a test ride, I found the Sherco wonderful, but a touch wide between the calves. My prosthesis, which is inset in the lower socket, can hit the right side of sub frames (you normal folks don't have this problem). Concerned that may be a problem, I opted for a 2011 Raga 300. I then found out the newer GasGas design is close to as wide at my prosthesis bulge as the Sherco. My leg is chewing up the sub frame stickers. The Sherco would have also been a viable choice. Oh well.
The next photo shows the collision problem. The prosthetic foot is a well used College Park Soleus. This particular foot was developed from another amputee's patent. My design team struggled to make the complexities work within the interpretation of the patent. Took us 4 years, but the result was - in my very experienced opinion - the best do-everything prosthetic foot sold in the world today. The design is a bit wide at the attachment. That and the inset to my carbon-fiber socket tends to beat up sub frames. I correctly don't hug the sub frame, but with all the dynamic body movements of trials, stuff happens.
The later-model GasGas design presented a challenge over the previous design. I could not put the master cylinder inside the sub frame. The only place for it short of something more complex was to mount the master cylinder under the sub frame. I assumed at first I could not, because the master cylinder would have been too exposed, or the brake and reservoir lines would get into the upper travel of the chain.
During mock-up of the simpler choice, (mock up is when I put all the bits together and tack weld things in place), I found mounting below the sub frame was a very good option:
The new mount tab turned out to be very simple. The Econo's lever was re used, but I had to tweak some details. I also re used the custom Speigler brake line that runs through the swing arm as the stocker does. I was not able to use the new style integrated-reservoir master cylinder, however, because the exit for the brake line is on top instead pointing to the rear. That pushed the master cylinder too low.
Here follows a view form the rear:
I had to machine another pivot from a old chunk mild steel form the ranch's scrap pile, as the previous one stayed with the Econo:
Here it is clamped to the frame, ready to rack on:
I'll update as things progress.
motobene screwed with this post 09-13-2013 at 06:58 AM
Spelt with 2 ffs
Joined: Nov 2005
Location: Melbourne Australia
Oddometer: 14,710
Excellent work their, motobene.
Another way around the rear braking issue is the use of a Clake. Its designed in Australia and incorporates the use of the rear brake and clutch using the one lever. I don't have anything to do with the company, just a very impressed and satisfied customer. Just thought i'd share with you, not to take anything away from what you have achieved.
Here's the link to the company if you wish to check them out.
Motoing for 44 years
Joined: Mar 2013
Location: Wichita Mountains SW Oklahoma
Oddometer: 1,696
Nice photo of the Clake. I know about it. I investigated the thing a couple of years back, even talking to them on the phone. The high cost and hugeness of the mechanism was a turnoff, plus some tech issue I'm trying to pull up from my old grey cells.
And there's that thing about not wanting anything in the way of a super easy pull clutch. Might wear out my nubby finger
Joined: Mar 2006
Location: Black Bill Park
Oddometer: 364
I don't have any need of a left brake, both legs intact and all.
As a fellow fabricator of things I am impressed and honored that you would share with us. Your posts of late obviously represent considerable investment of time, we owe ya.
ATGATT: When you fall off your motorcycle, you will be wearing what you were when you got on your motorcycle. Dress accordingly.
Trials Ninja
Joined: Feb 2011
Location: Boise aria
Oddometer: 1,136
Great Stuff!
I agree, the considerable investment of time you have put into your posts are well worth the read!
Thanks for all the sharing and you have a fan here in ID reading every post all the way through always eager for more.
Studly Adventurer
Joined: Mar 2008
Location: Boston,Massachusetts
Oddometer: 946
Mad respect for people who just do it. (Sorry for the Nike rip-off, but very fitting) Besides, Im a sucker for pretty pictures - so keep it coming Chris. Great stuff!
Motoing for 44 years
Joined: Mar 2013
Location: Wichita Mountains SW Oklahoma
Oddometer: 1,696
Thanks, lurkers and responders all.
I document things with photos. It helps a feeble mind to remember things
I always carry a pocket camera. It's pull and shoot. I upload and organize photos with a great little Dutch photo program, PIE Studio, then tweak them in Photoshop. Years of doing this has made the process fast. The last piece fell into place recently when I finally listened to my son and signed on to Smugmug and its great embeddable links.
The amount of time I spend may not be as much as it looks. This and the other Raga projects have been a great distraction from unending ranch projects in this enduring, infernal heat. My breaks are to do engineering-like work.
Can't wait for the weather to cool and to ride the 'new' bike.
Adventure NZL
Joined: Dec 2008
Location: New Zealand
Oddometer: 2,426
Love your work and inspirational attitude motobene. I'm a big fan of threads with lots of pics and stories bout things folks do to their bikes...my wife calls it a sickness keep it coming cuzzy
My EXC530 Adventure
Gnarly Adventurer
Joined: Jul 2013
Location: The flatlands of Illinois
Oddometer: 226
And I thought that I had it bad with one missing finger on my left hand. You rule!
Why does it hurt when I pee?
Motoing for 44 years
Joined: Mar 2013
Location: Wichita Mountains SW Oklahoma
Oddometer: 1,696
Motoing for 44 years
Joined: Mar 2013
Location: Wichita Mountains SW Oklahoma
Oddometer: 1,696
It's rare for me to focus on what's missing or focus on the few technical adaptations. But I thought maybe it might help someone with solutions they may benefit from.
As for the 'inspirational' part, I've never thought of it that way. To me it's no big deal and normal. For many years I worked in prosthetics and dealt with amputees and amputee issues. I recall my first Amputee Coalition of America meeting in the early `90s where I caught myself thinking, "What am I doing here hanging around all these handicapped people?" Then it was like, "Oh wait, someone might think the same of me."
Wonna Be ADVrider
Joined: Mar 2010
Location: Sandia Mountains New Mexico
Oddometer: 4,057
Chris you are the bomb in many ways.
About 22 years ago, I finished a trial at Red River moto park in N. Texas. I knew Chris and had been riding with him a year or two . I went walking by his truck and he was sitting inside the enclosed shell in the back. There was a leg laying on the tail gate and he was chilling with his half leg laying across a boot. I was . I believe he beat me that day as I recall thinking I just got beat by a one legged trials rider.
Chris handed me my hat again 20 plus years later in June 2013 at Sipapu.
We have Willy Brown in our club same as Chris, he has been riding forever with one leg. I also remember a national rider and a minder during world rounds who was missing his arm from below the elbow. He had a cup installed on his handle bars and he could shred a section. Amazing people
Edit, never knew till now that you were missing digits........
AMA, NMOHVA & NMTA Member
Baja: http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=870197&highlight=team+magoo
Fly&Ride http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=841561
KLR-DRZ-Gas Gas-Yamaha
Motoing for 44 years
Joined: Mar 2013
Location: Wichita Mountains SW Oklahoma
Oddometer: 1,696
Love 'the finger' post digits! Sometimes if I waive with the left hand folks think I'm flipping them off.
As always, a pleasure riding with you, and I speculating as to who you are are, Sir ATeam. Maybe T H?
Wonna Be ADVrider
Joined: Mar 2010
Location: Sandia Mountains New Mexico
Oddometer: 4,057
AMA, NMOHVA & NMTA Member
Baja: http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=870197&highlight=team+magoo
Fly&Ride http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=841561
KLR-DRZ-Gas Gas-Yamaha
Joined: Oct 2009
Location: Harpers Ferry, WV
Oddometer: 88
Incredible fabrication skills!
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THE VIDEO games market is not what it used to be. People are getting tired of playing shoot-em-up, knock-em-down games on a TV screen. To make matters worse for the market leaders Nintendo and Sega, Sony's new Playstation system is winning a growing share of sales.
Now Sega has spotted a market opportunity. British children are the best in the world at video games because they waste more time on them than kids in other countries. And Britain failed dismally at the recent Olympic Games in Atlanta. So, says Sega with unarguable logic, Britain's sports minister, Ian Sproat, should lobby the International Olympic Committee to make video games an official Olympic sport. That way Britain would have "a great chance to increase its medal haul at the next games in Australia".
The Olympics now include beach volleyball, synchronised swimming and table tennis as official sports, Sega points out. Surely, in ...
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Another Daytona wreck collects champ Johnson
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. Jimmie Johnson's quest for a fifth straight NASCAR championship will begin in a backup car.
Johnson was involved in the latest wreck at Daytona International Speedway on Wednesday, doing enough damage that crew chief Chad Knaus decided to scrap the primary car for Sunday's season-opening race.
"I was just riding along and thought everything was fine, and the next thing you know, I was in the middle of it," Johnson said.
Joey Logano also got caught up in the accident during the second practice at Daytona. Mike Bliss triggered it when he lost control of his car coming out of a turn. Bliss turned sideways, seemingly got tapped by Derrike Cope, then shot across the track and rammed into Logano.
Logano also was forced into a backup car. Kyle Busch weaved through the wreckage and avoided any damage.
The two practice sessions had several other harrowing moments.
Clint Bowyer started a three-car accident in the first session when his tire went flat, hit the wall and collected David Reutimann and the 1990 Daytona 500 champion Cope. Bowyer and Reutimann went to backup cars.
Two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip and fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. narrowly avoided wrecks in the second session. Waltrip spun and drove through the infield grass, but managed to not hit anything. Earnhardt got a little sideways after getting bumped from behind by Denny Hamlin, but Junior got the car straightened out at 190 mph.
Earnhardt said over his radio that Hamlin "doesn't know how to bump draft."
"I think he made an aggressive move with (Jamie McMurray) and I followed him," Hamlin said. "I think I was pushing him and he was steering all over the racetrack and it just may have lifted his car up at that point. But a relatively good save."
A few minutes later, when asked about his bump-drafting technique, Hamlin joked that, "Dale Jr. said I (stink) at it."
UNDER REVIEW: NASCAR officials are considering a change to their policy on making only one attempt at a so-called "green-white-checkered" finish to races that would otherwise finish under caution.
Under the current policy, officials will add two green-flag laps to the end of the race to avoid a finish under yellow in the event of a late-race accident - but they'll only try it once.
But after Saturday night's Bud Shootout ended under caution because of an accident during NASCAR's version of overtime, officials could change the policy to make multiple attempts at a finish under green.
The idea is getting a mixed reception from drivers, many of whom didn't like the concept of adding any laps to the end of the race because it could lead to even more accidents and affect teams' fuel mileage calculations.
"I just think that you've got fuel mileage issues," Jeff Gordon said. "We're all cutting it real close anyway. And all you're going to do is set yourself up for another wreck. You give us two laps out there under green and we're going to find a way to wreck."


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Suzhou Nanguang Battery Co., Ltd.
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Suzhou Nanguang Battery Co., Ltd. is a professional factory manufacturing a variety of zinc batteries and alkaline batteries. We are...
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Our batteries have been widely received as trust-worthy products by consumers and environmentally-friendly products with the famous brand name of Kelong. We have been steadily developing since 1989. Up to now, our annual output of batteries has reached more than 400 million pieces of batteries, such as R6, R03, R14, R20, LR03, LR6, LR14, LR20, 6LR61 and other series. 90% of our products are exported to clients in Europe, America, East Asia and other countries and regions.
Our continual development target relies on high level starting point, high standard and high efficiency. Our company will steadily march forward to the future in the market competition with our advanced technology and safe and reliable products, offering a continual quality improvement system and the best services.
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Email to this supplier


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Wow couldn't tell that this was going to be yet another bias article. Let's try it this way:
BUSINESS IS BUSINESS. When you are in business you are trying to do what is strategically best for your company. Would you expect Motorola to act differently? Would you expect Apple to act differently? This is not a "score one for the boys back home at Motorola WINNING" type of pursuit. Believe it or not, executives at Motorola are trying to do what is best for their business, not gain respect on the Internet forums by battling in court.
How Apple is defending against Samsung and Motorola's unfair, unreasonable, discriminatory patent attacks
Apple is increasingly playing defense against lawsuits from Samsung and Motorola that seek to take iPhones and iPads off the shelves and out of stores. Apple is trying to do the same to their competitors, of course, but there's a subtle difference -- Samsung and Motorola are suing Apple over FRAND (Fair, Reasonable, And Non-Discriminatory) patents and are apparently seeking licensing that's anything but fair and reasonable, and may in fact be discriminatory.
FRAND patents are typically typically pledged as part of a standard, which makes them essential to a technology, the organizations that govern those standards require them to be equitably licensed back to everyone. That's the whole point of having standards. If you want your invention to become a standard, you let it be used as a standard.
FRAND vs. non-FRAND
Apple doesn't play the FRAND game with the iPhone or iPad. They don't want their multitouch patents to be a standard. They don't want other companies using them. (Unlike Microsoft, they don't want to make their competitors' products more expensive, they want them to stop being Apple-like.)
Samsung and Motorola did play the FRAND game, however, and did want their wireless patents -- covering core 3G technologies, among other things -- to be standards. However, when Samsung and Motorola infringe on Apple's non-FRAND patents, they then demand outrageous terms from Apple to license their FRAND patents -- which Apple has to use for their products to work on existing networks -- hoping Apple will cave and cross-license their non-FRAND patents as part of the deal.
Put another way, it's like the owner of your local public pool refusing to let you swim there unless you let them swim in your private pool at home. Worse, it's like the manager of your local public pool demanding you pay him $1,000,000 dollars to swim in a pool you're supposed to have fair and equal access too, unless he gets to swim in your private pool at home. Worse still, it's like the manager of your local pool has made agreements that force anyone who wants to swim anywhere to get a license from his pool first, then demands you pay him a fortune for it, and give him access to your private, home pool. (In one case, in a swim-suit that looks surprisingly like yours. Only bigger.)
What can Apple do?
According to Florian Mueller over at FOSS Patents, this means Apple has to be careful, and iterative in their defense.
Apple won't get a deal that meets its needs unless Samsung and Motorola (or Google) are forced to recognize the fundamentally greater strategic and commercial value of Apple's non-standards-related patents, which are the fruit of independent innovation and independent commercialization as opposed to a company's ability to push its patented ideas into industry standards everyone is forced to implement after a collective of major industry players defines them.
Samsung and Motorola (or Google) would like all patents to be treated in more or less the same way. They give nothing more than lip service to their FRAND licensing obligations. They may hope that the law on this isn't sufficiently settled in major jurisdictions. They look for loopholes in the rules -- including certain opportunities in Germany, where the case law on this is more favorable to them than elsewhere. If they realize at some point that this strategy doesn't work out because of a combination of court rulings, regulatory intervention and Apple's determination to stand its ground, then -- and only then -- Apple will ultimately get the kind of deal it wants. Until then, Apple doesn't even have much to talk about with Samsung and Motorola (or Google).
Sure, you can say Apple is being selfish by not licensing multitouch to one and all, but they never agreed to in the first place. (Are you being a selfish by not letting everyone who wants to come swim in your private home pool?) Samsung and Motorola did agree to let everyone use their patents under FRAND terms so those patents would be become essential to the standard.
Enter the European Union
Now Samsung and Motorola are certainly free to do and to sue what and who they want... up to a point. The European Union has already announced they're investigating Samsung for FRAND abuse, and Motorola may not be far behind. With pressure from Apple on one side, and anti-trust action on the other, it puts them in a delicate position.
In the meantime, Apple can't give in to Samsung and Motorola's unfair, unreasonable, and discriminatory demands, and they can't risk injunctions like the one that was temporarily in effect in Germany last week, becoming permanent before the EU sorts everything out.
Whether or not there will ultimately be a settlement, like the one they achieved with Nokia over similar FRAND patents, only time will tell. All Apple can do for now is continue the careful, iterative defense.
Mueller's whole article, which delves into the patents and legal issues in great detail, is worth a read.
Source: FOSS Patents, x2
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Reader comments
How Apple is defending against Samsung and Motorola's unfair, unreasonable, discriminatory patent attacks
Wow couldn't tell that this was going to be yet another bias article. Let's try it this way:
I agree completely. If I were Samsung or Motorola, I would do the exact same thing. (Though I'd also be working really hard at making phones to do to the iPhone what the iPhone did to the Treo -- make it look old and outdated.)
This whole article is bias. The feature set in FRAND was designed to be fair and equitable for all of the companies involved in designing the patents. Now, each of them are being sued by apple in an attempt to keep them from using patents that were developed by Apple, meanwhile, Apple wants to continue using their intellectual property without paying a cent in royalties or allowing the trade-out in technologies. What a crock.
But if I had the patent on the pool then I am within my rights to not allow anyone else to build one. Just because you don't agree with how a system is setup doesn't mean you can simply not abide by it in it's current form. Apple has multi-touch patents and the bottom line is they simply do not want anyone else to have these features. Under our current system that is their right to protect what has been declared legally their creation.
Wow dude when you resort to name calling you discredit yourself and come off pathetic and stupid.
I wasn't calling the commenter any name. It was a simple metaphor to describe the way the other companies must feel about apple's recent business practices. I'll compare that practice to Apple's use of the notification center, which is a direct rip off of Android. I understand that Android is open sourced and they have no right to sue, but really? You cannot call it ethical or moral to use someone else's idea and then sue that same person for using yours (albeit legal, by Google's lack of a patent of the notification shade and open source platform) My apologies to sting7k, not directed at you. Can't believe someone with "izzle" in their name called me pathetic though, Hello pot, meet kettle. Chill out dude.
Didn't Motorola sue Apple first?
Motorola sued Apple on Oct. 6, 2010. Apple counter-sued on or abouts Oct. 30, 2010
And Tim Cook was threatening lawsuits at least as far back as January 2009, in the famous "we will go after anybody" speech, which was directly targeted at Android, and had already filed against one maker, HTC. Give those actions in 2009-2010, It is difficult to see Motorola's filing as anything other than anticipatory (and yes, pre-emptive) defense.
The link is the source link at the bottom of the page. They're suing Apple over FRAND patents. Unless and until Apple can pay FRAND rates, the attack in un-FRAND.
Are cross-licensing deals FRAND terms?
Yes, actually.
FRAND terms can be whatever the companies in question can agree upon. Quite commonly, it involves cross-licensing of patents. Not always, mind you, and it is certainly not required, but it does happen with some frequency.
The bottom line is that Apple has to pay something. Motorola is not asking for anything out of the ordinary to ask for cross-licensing as part of that package; it is certainly not unfair or discriminatory, as you state. However, Apple is not acting unreasonably by refusing to include it, either.
Rene is right. Apple just does not want other products to have features they deem essential to their own that they have patents too. If they did they would license them and make money off those fees. Microsoft is doing exactly that and being successful at it. But that is not what they want, they only want companies to stop using their tech. Motorola could sell 5 times as many droids compared to the iPhone but if those droids are not using Apple's multi-touch (or any tech they feel Motorola has stolen) then I guarantee you Apple would not care about Motorola or Android at all.
That's a fair point, thought not all the Apple/Fingerworks patents are as arguably trivial. But the patent office granted them, just like they granted Motos, Sammys, and countless others.
Unfair, unreasonable and discriminatory attacks? Oh my, I thought it was multi-million dollar companies doing business, not some poor helpless kid being bullied at school.
Seriously, Samsung and Motorola have a fiduciary obligation to go after Apple at any and every opportunity, because Apple is eating away their profit and their market share.
Besides, what was that Steve Jobs said about Android: "I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank... I'm going to destroy Android...I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this." That is the mentality he left at Apple. Both Motorola and Samsung are heavily dependent on Android at this point, so how can you really call their actions unfair, unreasonable and discriminatory? Has the CEO of Samsung threatened to go thermonuclear on Apple? How's THAT for unfair and unreasonable.
Remember when Microsoft bailed Apple out all those years ago, and Steve said that:
Because Apple believe in being open and that people should have a choice we'll be shipping our computers with safari and Internet Explorer.
Not an exact quote, but still.
Apple once fought against the giants; To help consumers, but now that they are the giant they don't want to give anyone any choice at all. It's Apple's way or no way. Stop suing each other and grow a pair of balls. Each company is doing well. Apple definitely more than others. Android and iOS take from each other. It passed the point of whether Android was stolen or not when Apple started taking things from it.
Sooner or later both OS' are going to run out of things to implement and they'll be the exact same, only differing in looks.
It's almost as though all these lawsuits are really just a plot created by the lawyers of each company to increase billable hours for the hourly law staff. What are all these lawsuits achieving for consumers who buy these products? Apple isn't going to stop Android from creeping up on it and Android isn't going to cause Apple's popularity to wane to the point that on Apple launch days there are not people standing in line to buy Apple products. Moto and Samsung have yet to produce products that inspire the kind of desire that makes people stand in line. They all need to just get back to producing products people want to buy and stop the general counsel's of each company from filing these stupid lawsuits. The lawyers are the only one getting anything out of it.
Re: "All Apple can do for now is continue the careful, iterative defense."
And time is on Apple's side. They're leading in the smartphone and pad computing spaces, in terms of design, technological innovation, profitability, mindshare, and value-add infrastructure / ecosystem. The longer it takes to sort out the patent suits, the better for Apple. They move a little (or a lot) further ahead every day. It's the competitors who are in a hurry.
And beating all the Samsungs of the world in their attempts to abuse FRAND-encumbered patents will serve the same purpose as "patent reform" would. Anyone who says they want "patent law reform" is willfully ignorant. Just because you don't understand patent law doesn't mean it shouldn't exist. Eventually, tech companies will stop attempting to use FRAND-encumbered patents as ultimate weapons. They'll use them for their real purpose: to allow widespread use of common, essential technology, and to earn a fair licensing fee for the inventors.
Dude, knowing what your comments are normally like , I'm not surprised they're removed.
Apple sued Samsung because they felt the Tab looked too much like the iPad.. because, you know, having rounder corners and a touch-screen is such an Apple exclusive thing, right? Are you REALLY saying Apple is any less guilty of abusing BS patents than Motorola or anyone else you think is playing "unfair"? God, Rene. Lay off the Kool-Aid.
President Bush afforded Israel. Now contrast Mr. Obama's behavior and his insulting speech with that of Mr. Netanyahu's the next


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Valentine's Day Giveaway: Jawbone Mini Jambox & Pair of iPhone cases!
Posted by Andru Edwards - Categories: Accessories, Announcements, Apple, Cell Phones, Features, Videos
Yes - we're giving away a Jawbone Mini Jambox, Otterbox Defender for iPhone 5 and 5s, and a Sonix Heart to Heart Inlay for iPhone 5c for Valentine's Day! Seriously, February is the month of red, and we've got the perfect smartphone accessories for you to match, thanks to our friends at AT&T.
So, how do you enter to win the Mini Jambox giveaway package? Simply use the widget below to keep track of your entries! We've got a lot of ways for you to enter, but don't check off any that you don't actually perform. If you do, you'll be eliminated:
By the way, if you wanna pick up any of these items on your own, you can find them all at AT&T:
Is this our first look at the iPhone 6?
Posted by Andru Edwards - Categories: Apple, Cell Phones, Handhelds, Rumors
Is this the iPhone 6? It's February, and that means that like clockwork, it's time for the next iPhone leaks to start dropping. The only thing we know is that Apple is working on its next flagship device, and that the iPhone 6 should launch this fall. We've ben hearing reports that Apple will release two larger-sized variants this time around: a 4.7-inch model, alongside a 5.5-inch version.
As you can see in the pictures (which, to be clear, have not been verified to be real), the displays here are larger than those found on the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5s, and also takes on the design language of the iPad Air and iPad mini. Neither are too far-fetched, and for our tastes, we think it looks great. Also, check out that bezel-less display, another rumored feature of the iPhone 6. Of course, even if these are real, Apple tests multiple designs, and this could be one of a few different ideas that the company is playing with.
We've got two more pictures of the device after the jump. What do you think? Let us know in the comments.
EDIT: Forum posters at MacRumors have taken a closer look at the images and have determined that they're rendered fakes. Reasons include textures that repeat and the usage of an out-of-date font.
Click to continue reading Is this our first look at the iPhone 6?
Unboxing Live 132: Sonos Play:1
Posted by Andru Edwards - Categories: Features, Home Entertainment, Household, Videocasts
We open up the new Sonos Play:1 in this episode, the entry-level wireless speaker from Sonos that costs $199. You're now able to get into the Sonos ecosystem at a lower cost, streaming your music from iTunes, Rdio, Spotify, Pandora, radio, and more! Check out the new hotness in this episode of Unboxing Live.
You can pick up the Sonos Play:1 now from Amazon.
Don't forget to subscribe to Gear Live's YouTube channel!
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Titanfall Beta application now open for Xbox One & PC
Posted by Andru Edwards - Categories: Action, Electronic Arts, First Person Shooters, PC, Xbox One
If you can't wait to get in on the Titanfall action, you might wanna rush over and apply for the Titanfall beta. Available on both Xbox One and PC, the beta will allow you to play near-final code prior to the launch of the game next month. If you are selected, you'll receive an email from RA with instructions on how to access the game by noon on February 17th. Good luck!
You can pre-order Titanfall now.
Read More | Titanfall Beta Application
Xbox One Stereo Headset and Adapter coming in March
Posted by Andru Edwards - Categories: Accessories, Wearables, Video Games
The delay of the first major Xbox One dashboard update isn't the only big news out of Microsoft today. The company has also announced a couple of new accessories: the Xbox One Stereo Headset, and the Xbox One Stereo Headset Adapter.
First, let's talk about the Xbox One Stereo Headset. As any Xbox One owner knows, the console does include a pretty flimsy mono headset in the package. Now the company is prepping to launch a full-on over-ear stereo headset that features premium, full-range sound with a unidirectional microphone. The headset includes the Xbox One Stereo Headset Adapter, which allows you to balance game audio and chat audio volumes, master volume, and mute your microphone. No batteries are required here, as the headset pulls power direct from the Xbox One controller that it's plugged into. These will sell for $79.99.
The aforementioned Xbox One Stereo Headset Adapter will also be made available for purchase on its own, allowing you to use whatever pair of compatible headphones you'd like with your Xbox One. The Adapter itself will cost $24.99.
Both products will go on sale in early March.
Mac Pro shipping estimates slip to April, but you can get one sooner
Posted by Andru Edwards - Categories: Apple, PC / Laptop
If you're looking to order the new Mac Pro, you should be aware that shipping estimates from Apple have just slipped to April worldwide. This comes approximately three weeks after shipping estimates slipped from February to March. While this doesn't necessarily mean that supply is getting worse, it does seem to show that Apple is having a hard time catching up with the demand on the most powerful Mac it has ever made.
Of course, as we mentioned recently, you can order the Mac Pro from B&H Photo and get it shipped much, much sooner (and tax free as well in most areas!) Go to the Mac Pro page and choose to be notified when they are in stock - B&H seems to get models in a couple times per week.
If you're wondering if the cost is worth it, be sure to check out our full Mac Pro review.
Read More | Mac Pro at B&H
Today's Xbox One dashboard update delayed to later this week
Posted by Andru Edwards - Categories: Corporate News, Microsoft, Xbox One
Today was supposed to be the day that Microsoft released the first major Xbox One dashboard update, but unfortunately, it was pulled at the last minute. Larry Hryb (Major Nelson) announced on Twitter that the "team is working on finalizing," and didn't give a solid date other than to say that it is now on track to be released later this week.
FYI: The February #XboxOne System Update will ship this week, but not today. The team is working on finalizing. More details when I get them
— Larry Hryb (@majornelson) February 11, 2014
As previously reported, the February update will bring battery life indicators for the Xbox One controllers, storage management for the Xbox One, and will split up My Games and My Apps into separate sections in order to more easily handle larger libraries. Additionally, the update will bring USB keyboard support.
Fujitsu ScanSnap ix500 review
Posted by Andru Edwards - Categories: Accessories, PC / Laptop, Peripherals, Product Reviews
Let's face it. Scanners aren't sexy, and are more often than not, an annoyance. Ease of use is typically out the window, paper jams are common, and software compatibility is always a mystery. Fujitsu has been on a mission to change that, and the ScanSnap ix500 is the latest entry in its desktop sheetfeed scanner series. New to the line is remote control support for iOS and Android, USB 3.0, Wi-Fi, and 25 page-per-minute color scanning. If you're looking to go paperless, or simply want to keep digital versions of your hard copies, and want to know if the ScanSnap ix500 is worth your money, we're here to answer that in our full Fujitsu ScanSnap ix500 review.
Click to continue reading Fujitsu ScanSnap ix500 review
Apple Mac Pro (2013) review: in a class of its own
Posted by Andru Edwards - Categories: Apple, Features, PC / Laptop, Product Reviews
Power. The Apple Mac Pro (late 2013) is the newest Mac on the block, and it's also the most powerful computer ever made by Apple. It deserves to be, too, as the Mac Pro lost that title as Apple let that product line slip into virtual irrelevancy. After all, the previous Mac Pro spent the last four-or-so years at a technical standstill. It didn't have any Thunderbolt ports, no USB 3.0, no PCIe flash storage...heck, it didn't even have an 802.11n Wi-Fi option. For all intents and purposes, Apple had allowed the Mac Pro, the one machine that was aimed at meeting the needs of the most demanding customers, to become a dinosaur.
That is, until the release of the newly-redesigned Mac Pro (late 2013) model. With its smooth metallic cylindrical shape that looks like it was plucked off of an alien spaceship, smaller and lighter profile, and top-of-the-line specs that include PCIe SSD storage, dual workstation-class GPUs as standard, the newest Intel Xeon processors (up to 12 cores!), 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and a bunch of I/O ports which include Thunderbolt 2 and USB 3.0, this thing is a beast. It's modern--no, futuristic.
For all of you professional video editors, photographers, graphic artists, 3D animators, audio engineers and the like, we're betting that Apple has piqued your interest. After all, this is a Mac which can drive up to three 4K displays simultaneously. That's a lot of power. Wondering if it should be your next purchase? It's expensive, starting at $2,999 (and climbing up to $9,559 depending on how you configure it,) so we're here to help you in your decision making. Follow along as we bring you our full Mac Pro (late 2013) review, after the jump.
Click to continue reading Apple Mac Pro (2013) review: in a class of its own
Mario Kart 8 races onto Wii U this May
Posted by Andru Edwards - Categories: Driving, Nintendo, Release Dates, Wii U
We know, the Wii U has been taking a beating in recent weeks in the press--but Mario Kart 8 is fast approaching, arguably just the second AAA title that will be available for the struggling console (with the first being the magnificent Super Mario 3D World.) While the release date isn't as close as we'd like it to be--we really enjoy throwing those red shells, after all--it's close enough. You'll be able to get your hands on the next home console installment of Mario Kart in May.
That's as solid a date as we've been given from Nintendo President Satoru Iwata, but once we get the exact date, we'll update you guys to let you know when you can get your Mario Kart 8 on. Now, if only Nintendo would finally fix their jumbled online multiplayer...
You can pre-order Mario Kart 8 now.
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Kurt Zouma
Interested clubs: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United
Valuation: £13m
Despite currently serving a 10-game ban for breaking a player's leg in a horror challenge, Kurt Zouma has attracted the interest from a number of Premier League clubs.
Chelsea have been linked with the strongest interest but face strong competition from Arsenal, who are keen to reinforce their options in defence.
The 18-year-old has shown signs of being the next big defensive enforcer, justifying the intense interest.


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Valley City State softball opened Friday with a 2-1 victory over Baldwin-Wallace, fell in a 10-0 shutout to Dordt College and led for most of the nightcap before losing a 6-3 contest to No. 10-ranked Olivet Nazarene.
The Vikings are now 4-9 on the season and 2-5 in their current Tucson, Ariz. Spring Trip.
Read this story in Monday's Times-Record.
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[2] mailto:email@example.com


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Working at a feverish pace to complete this latest album before the baby arrives. Feeling so good about that musical magic that has ensued during the recording. Feeling nervous and excited
Baby Autumn Hope is born at 8lbs 14 ounces. She is already pulling at my hart strings and I am in love again. She is even more beautiful then I imagined.
My 2nd album, For Autumn or Austin is released in conjunction with the birth of my baby girl, Autumn. All songs in dedication and motivated by the cherub that has captivated my heart. Go to my heart beats page to hear it along with my other tunes.


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$3 billion tourism industry celebrated in Tampa
Janelle Irwin
WMNF Drive-Time News Wednesday | Listen to this entire show:
Tourism is a multi-billion dollar industry in the Tampa Bay area. The regionâs tourism marketing team is trying to make sure Hillsborough County continues to grow its slice of the pie. During a luncheon Wednesday celebrating tourism week in Tampa, new Tampa Bay & Company president and CEO Santiago Corrada said he wants to popularize Tampa as a destination for visitors.
âWe have a great region here and our biggest obstacle is that a lot of folks donât know what a great region it is. So, we have to really get out there and sell this destination because we have because we have all of the perfect assets here to bring anyone to our destination.â
Tampa Bay & Company is re-branding the tourism marketing campaign in the area. Corrada will release details later this month, but said the facelift incorporates ideas from other tourism hotspots.
âWe have to be creative. We have to go to different places and look for different types of business. So, internationally as well as domestically â itâs getting that word out about Tampa.â
Corrada used to be the city of Tampaâs chief of staff. The luncheon at the A La Carte Pavillion near Rocky Point was emceed by radio personality Jack Harris.
âItâs just getting better all the time â 66,800 tourism related jobs in our community. Think about that, 66,800.â
Tampa Bay & Companyâs Corrada said thatâs one of the reasons marketing Tampaâs tourism appeal is crucial.
âOur industry is so important to our economy when you talk about $2.3 billion in wages and the amount of jobs that are created through tourism â itâs hugely important to our economy and so, itâs the foundation of our economy here in the region.â
Hundreds of business leaders in the tourism industry were entertained by performers from Busch Gardens. The theme park is one of Tampaâs most popular tourist destinations. It also draws revenue from locals. A marketing campaign across the Bay in St. Pete and Clearwater focuses more on its appeal to beach goers and arts enthusiasts, but Tampa Bay & Companyâs Corrada said Tampa can use that to their advantage.
âYou know, we have a great convention center, a great airport, great sports venues, great museums, great dining, the hotels â so, you know what, weâre complimentary to each other and thatâs the way we need to think about it and lots of other places are like that. You know if you think of South Florida â you have Miami Beach with the beaches and then you have the cosmopolitan feel of the city of Miami. If you go into the bay area â the San Francisco Bay area you have those kinds of same dynamics. So, we need to start thinking that way that we really, really compliment each other.â
Besides creating jobs, Hillsborough County Commission chair Ken Hagan said tourism also pumps more than $3 billion into the local economy.
âAnd there is a sexy side to all of this â 2012 was a fantastic year with nearly 15 million visitors coming to Tampa Bay. More than $21 million in tourist development tax revenues were generated, over a 10% increase from 2011 and we host some of the most prestigious events in the world.â
The most prominent example of that is the Republican National Convention in downtown Tampa last summer. Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn still champions the political spectacle as a success that drew millions of visitors.
âAnd I can tell you that throughout the course of that week, in spite of all that was going on, in spite of the fact that there was a hurricane bearing down on us, we pulled that event off with no drama, two arrests, no property damage and they left this community saying amazing things about what an experience they had. Wherever I would go, they would say to me, âMayor, this town is amazing, your people are amazing; I have never felt so welcomed in my life.ââ
Nearly half of the $21.5 million from the hotel bed tax last year is used by Tampa Bay & Company to market the area, service debt and run the Tampa Convention Center. The public-private partnership also uses money to support sporting events, community activities and other attractions.
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Overall, others give this:
Green Bay, WI
Got the slippers for my granddaughter and she totally loves them so much she even wears them for her nap time. They are soft and have a great fit around the ankle so they do not fall off and not so bulky that she cannot walk in them. Totally perfect for the little diva!
New York, NY
Cute slippers my daughter loves it! Princess theme is exactly what she likes...slippers fit a little narrow but good thing I ordered a size up.
Chicago, IL
I bought these slippers for my little girl two years old, the slippers are comfortable and keep your feet warm My little girls love this slippers she wants to wear all day
Knox, PA
These were purchased for my granddaughter for Christmas. They were a big hit! I have not had any negative feedback about them. They were affordable.
Philadelphia, PA
The reviewer indicated they are affiliated with this product. The reviewer indicated they received a sample of this product.
Indianapolis, IN
I bought two of these in different sizes for my 14 month old daughter. They are adorable and they work great. She wears them every day. They are easy for her to walk in and they keep her feet warm. We have gotten compliments on them already as well. I would definitely recommend these slippers.


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Kedar is Founder and CEO of ARC Energy, a renewable energy company whose mission is to develop and commercialize several innovative technologies that will help provide a clean, sustainable environment for our current and future generations. Previously, Kedar was a Co-Founder of GT Solar (also known as GTi). In October 2002, GT Solar moved into its brand-new 60,000 square foot facility in Merrimack, NH, and is one of the fastest growing small businesses in New England. The company designs, manufactures, installs, and maintains high-technology semi-custom and specialty equipment for the "high-end" of the photovoltaic and semiconductor industries. In 2006, GT Solar went public on NASDAQ (NASDAQ: SOLR). Today, GT Solar achieves annual revenues of more than $500 million and employs more than 300 employees.
Prior to forming GTi, Kedar was the VP and General Manager of the Systems Equipment Division of Ferrofluidics Corporation, where he grew the business from under 5% market share to more than 60% in a five-year period.
Kedar received his Master's and Ph.D. degrees in Material Science from State University of New York, Stony Brook, and his MBA from Lindenwood Colleges, St. Charles, MO. He is a graduate of IIT Kanpur in Metallurgy '68 batch.


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March 5, 1998 5:35 PM PST
AOL lists top ten spammers
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More AOL spam bustingOctober 29, 1997
AOL sues junk emailerOctober 20, 1997
Steve Case, AOL's chief executive, today announced what he is dubbing "AOL's Ten Most Wanted Spammer List," which includes the names of what he said are the ten most frequent spammers. He also reiterated support of national legislation that would put legal brakes on spam.
It is unclear whether the move will have any effect. It is one of a string of efforts by the online giant over the past year to show that it is trying to free its network of junk email.
In spite of technological antispam measures and a spate of lawsuits issued against junk emailers, they continue to flood the email boxes of AOL's 11 million members.
Anyone who spends more than a few minutes in a chat room will first find himself inundated with Instant Messages directing him to a variety of Web sites. Then users get reams of junk email advertising everything from get-rich-quick schemes and pornography to everyday products.
While AOL has been able to win all its lawsuits against the spammers it has sued, new ones crop up daily; junk emailers are attracted to AOL for several reasons, including the fact that AOL email addresses are easily available by going to AOL itself or by buying lists from "brokers."
But AOL is by no means alone in its battle against spam and it continues to look for new ways to combat it.
On Monday, the company filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia charging Eddie Davidson and his two firms, Web Communications and Sex Web Incorporated, with violations of the federal copyright statute, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and the Virginia Computer Crimes Act.
It is similar to several other suits AOL has filed.
Aol's top ten spammers, in order, are as follows:


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Play Fighting Tigers, Australia Zoo, Queensland, Australia
All images creative commons non commercial. www.ashmolephotography.com
Watching The Sunset, Airlie Beach, Whitsundays, Australia
The Makeshift Shrine, Angkor, Cambodia
The highest point in the ancient city of Angkor is the temple of Prasat Bei. It is situated at the peak of a hill which offers amazing 360 dgree views. The Temple is so fragile that it is dangerous to enter, so a makeshift shrine has been erected just outside for people to worship at. All images creative commons non commercial


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Kay Mixson-Jenkins was at the pinnacle of her career as one of the few female heavy equipment operators in the construction industry when she developed Parkinson's at only 34 years old. Since then, she has become a tireless advocate and respected leader in various Parkinson's organizations worldwide. Kay's journey with Parkinson's disease led her to undergo Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) surgery at a National Parkinson Foundation Center of Excellence. She is also the author of "Who is Pee Dee? Explaining Parkinson's Disease to a Child." Kay currently lives in Georgia with her husband and young son. (Portions of this video deal with the mature subject matter of Deep Brain Stimulation surgery and may not be suitable for all audiences.)
© 2015 National Parkinson Foundation | Privacy & Terms of Use


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Habitat for Humanity Build Day
The students spend one day at the Habitat for Humanity build site. The help with framing and other building aspects. Before they go to the site, they have a one hour discussion with the construction manager who discusses the energy efficiency aspects of the Habitat homes.
Learning Goals
Context for Use
Description and Teaching Materials
Teaching Notes and Tips
References and Resources
For information about Habitat: http://www.habitat.org


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PGA365 photos for June
(75 images)
A day-by-day gallery of golf-related photos submitted by readers through #PGA365.
View as:
June 30, 2014
Beautiful shot submitted on Twitter @AlexAbruzza.
Credit: @AlexAbruzza/Twitter
Date: Jul 01, 2014
©2003-2013 PGA/Turner Sports Interactive. All rights reserved.
PGA.COM is part of Bleacher Report - Turner Sports Network, part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Network.


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One of Westminster sophomore Jason Brown's five defeats this season came against Liberty junior Justin Muhl in a consolation round at the Damascus Tournament about a month ago. But Brown had an excuse for that defeat.
"I wasn't too down with that tournament," said Brown, who is 20-5 and defeated Muhl in the McDonogh Tournament earlier in the season. "I was tired of being there. I tried hard against him, but I didn't try my hardest. I didn't feel well, and the tournament was taking too long."


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The story of China's rise seems, on the surface, quite different. A communist and closed regime undertakes an efficient, massive, and rapid embrace of the global economy—and sends its country into overdrive. It appears to be a far cry from the common understanding that democracy promotes growth because it imposes constraints on rulers and reassures private entrepreneurs of the safety of their assets and fruits of their labor. The idea that China grew because of its one-party rule stems from a mistaken focus on a single snapshot in time at the expense of an understanding of shifting trends. China did not take off because it was authoritarian. Rather, it took off because the liberal political reforms of the 1980s made the country less authoritarian. Like India, when China reversed its political reforms and saw governance worsen in the 1990s, citizens' well-being declined. Household income growth slowed, especially in the rural areas; inequality rose to an alarming level; and the gains of economic growth accruing to ordinary people fell sharply. China even underperformed in its traditional areas of strength: education and health. Adult illiteracy rose. Immunizations fell. The country's GDP might have been booming, but it was also hazardous to your health.
The real Chinese miracle began back in the 1980s—when Chinese politics was most liberal. Personal income growth outpaced GDP growth; the labor share of GDP was rising; and income distribution initially improved. China accomplished far more in poverty reduction in the 1980s without any of the factors (such as foreign direct investment) now viewed as essential elements of the China model. In four short years (1980–84), China lifted more of its rural population out of poverty than in the 15 years from 1990 to 2005 combined. If India became less democratic under Indira Gandhi, China became less authoritarian under the troika rule of Deng Xiaoping, Hu Yaobang, and Zhao Ziyang in the 1980s. Therein lies the key insight into China's economic takeoff.
One of the first acts by the reformist leaders was to signal an improving environment for private property. In marked contrast to today's massive land grabs, the Chinese government in 1979 returned confiscated bank deposits, bonds, gold, and private homes to those former "capitalists" the regime had persecuted. The number of people affected by this policy was not large, around 700,000. But symbolism mattered for a country still reeling from the Cultural Revolution. There were also other symbolic acts designed to elicit the confidence of private entrepreneurs in the new political environment of a post-Mao era. In 1979, two vice premiers visited and personally congratulated an entrepreneur who was granted the first license to operate a private restaurant in Beijing. As early as 1981, a Communist Party document signaled a willingness to recruit its members from the private sector, a well-publicized gesture. The widely held view that the party only began to recruit capitalists late in the Jiang Zemin era is simply incorrect.
The reformist leaders also began to embark on meaningful political changes. As scholar Minxin Pei has noted, every single important political reform—such as the mandatory retirement of government officials, the strengthening of the National People's Congress, legal reforms, experiments in rural self-government, and loosening control of civil society groups—was instituted in the 1980s. The Chinese media became freer in the early reform era. The timing here is critical. This "directional liberalism" of China's politics either preceded or accompanied China's economic growth. It was not a result of economic success.
This liberalism mattered the most for growth in rural China, where the majority of Chinese citizens live. Private access to capital eased in the 1980s. Private entrepreneurship and even some privatization became widespread, especially in poorer parts of the country that needed them most. Of 12 million rural businesses classified as township and village enterprises, 10 million were completely private. The change in direction of China's politics was sufficiently credible to encourage millions of entrepreneurs to go into business for themselves.
But in the 1990s, the Chinese state completely reversed the gradualist political reforms that the leadership began in the 1980s. This assessment comes from a well-placed insider, Wu Min, a professor at the Party School under the Shanxi Provincial Party Committee. In a 2007 article, Wu revealed that the political reform program adopted at the 13th Party Congress in 1987 implemented some substantial changes. The congress abolished the party committees in many government agencies and explicitly delineated the functions of the party and the state. After 1989, there was no progress on the political reform front, especially in reducing and streamlining the power of the Communist Party.
The political reforms of the 1980s were designed to enhance the accountability of the government by creating some checks and balances over the power of the party and by fostering intraparty democracy. Wu cites one specific measure in the 1990s to derail the reforms of the 1980s. According to Wu, in the 1990s China instituted explicit provisions prohibiting the National People's Congress (NPC) from conducting evaluations of officials in the executive branch and the courts. Wu comments, "This is obviously a step backward."
Just how far did this step set back China? How about nearly 30 years? Consider China's track record when it comes to industrial fatalities. In 1979, in the aftermath of the capsizing of an oil rig that resulted in 72 deaths, the NPC held hearings at which officials in the Ministry of Petroleum Industry were called to testify. The minister was determined to have been negligent and was sacked. But since the mid-1990s, there have been hundreds of explosions and industrial accidents in China's coal mines. Thousands of people have lost their lives. No hearings have been held, and not a single official at the rank of minister or provincial governor has ever been held explicitly responsible.
Like Indira Gandhi in the 1970s and 1980s, the Chinese state greatly centralized its economic management in the 1990s. It was another reversal from the promising reforms of a decade earlier, the gist of which was delegating decision-making to those best informed about local situations. In 1994, the central government increased substantially the shares of tax revenues going to the central coffers and abolished one of the most innovative Chinese reforms—fiscal federalism. A less well-known development in the 1990s was that the Chinese state centralized the budgetary and other functions of villages. So, even though people were voting in village elections, the officials elected exercised very little power.
The economic consequences of these reversals were substantial. The 1990s saw depressed growth in household incomes relative to GDP, which means that the average Chinese person was losing ground. The employee share of GDP —the income going to the general population—peaked in 1990, at 53.5 percent. By 2002, it had declined to 45 percent of GDP. At 45 percent, the Chinese economy in 2002 was benefiting its people less than it was in 1978, when its employee share of GDP stood at 48 percent. Similarly threatening for the poorest Chinese is a development that has garnered almost no attention: The country is backsliding on literacy. On April 2, 2007, the state-run China Daily published an article with an unusually frank title, "The ghost of illiteracy returns to haunt the country." It reported that the number of illiterate Chinese adults increased by 30 million between 2000 and 2005. In 2005, there were 115.7 million illiterate Chinese adults, compared with 85 million in 2000. The roots of the problem began in the 1990s. Consider how literacy is defined—the ability to identify 1,500 Chinese characters by the age of 7 to 9. An adult reaching into the illiterate group by 2005 received all his or her primary education in the mid-1990s. In addition, immunization rates against DPT and measles—rising throughout the 1980s—began to decline in the 1990s. In time, China will pay dearly for these colossal failures.
In the 1990s, the nature of China's growth was fundamentally altered. In the 1980s, growth was broad-based and positive for the poor; since then, the percentage of people benefiting from growth has narrowed, and social performance has deteriorated. The impact of this great reversal is strongest in the silent and less visible rural areas of China.
Of course, understanding the origins of India's and China's separate paths to development is just half the story. What's more telling is how these two countries enacted and reacted to reforms—and what that says about the relationship between political liberalization and economic growth.
After the Soviet collapse, Chinese political elites converged on the view that China avoided the same fate because China had not reformed its politics. The truth is precisely the opposite. The single most important reason why China survived the 1989 Tiananmen crisis is because its rural population was content. In the 1980s, rural China experienced the most radical economic and political reforms. It was reform that saved the Chinese Communist Party.
Political reforms contributed to Indian growth as well. Take the media. During the long Gandhi era, though the print media were free, the government controlled the TV stations—a more important source of information for a country with high illiteracy. The privatization of the stations in the 1990s not only enriched the quality of entertainment for the average Indian but also added transparency to Indian politics. Many corruption and bribery scandals were first exposed on TV, the effects of the exposures being magnified by the vivid images of politicians receiving cash in shady hotel rooms. That is the right way to fight corruption.
As China tightened its political grip on rural affairs in the wake of the Soviet collapse, India moved in the opposite direction. In 1992, India amended its constitution to strengthen a reform with long and deep implications—village self-government. This panchayati raj phenomenon promises to transform an urban-centered, elitist system to one that is Tocquevillian in character and is empowering women along the way. The auxiliary institutions of Indian democracy, so atrophied under Indira Gandhi, have been renewed. World Bank indicators show a notable improvement in key areas of Indian governance during the period of high growth since the mid-1990s.
In fact, India leads China in a number of important areas of reform. Throughout the 1990s, India reduced state controls on the banking sector, allowed the entry of private domestic and foreign banks, and abolished government interference in setting the equity pricing of initial public offerings on the stock exchange. China is nowhere near India in terms of pace and depth of financial reforms.
Would democracy galvanize opposition to reforms? Many progressive reformers in China hold this view, but this is a hypothesis long on fear and short on facts. Consider the following fact about Indian politics: All the reforms have been carried out by a coalition of multiple parties rather than by a single-majority ruling party. This is true of the Congress Party in the early 1990s, the Bharatiya Janata Party between 1998 and 2004, and the Congress Party today.
What about building infrastructure? Even liberals in India sometimes wish for a dose of authoritarianism here. A powerful government in China is able to sidestep all the political and legal complications and build world-class railroads, highways, water systems, and other networks overnight. Surely, authoritarianism has an edge when it comes to public works projects. But no. Building infrastructure has followed—not preceded—Chinese growth. In 1988, China had roughly 91 miles of expressway. That did not begin to change until the late 1990s, when the country poured massive resources into infrastructure. Only in the past eight to 10 years could the country claim to have infrastructure rivaling that of developed countries.
Many foreign investors think that infrastructure explains the different pace of growth between China and India. No such evidence exists. In the 1980s, India started with some infrastructural advantages over China. It had a longer system of railways, for example. Although we can debate today which country is performing better, there is no doubt that China outperformed India in the 1980s. It was reforms and social investments that propelled Chinese growth, not fancy airports and skyscrapers.
One justification for building those massive infrastructure networks is to attract FDI. For years, Western economists and business analysts have chided India for not following China's lead in this area. But that criticism puts the cart before the horse. Like infrastructure, FDI follows GDP growth rather than precedes it. In the 1980s, China received very little FDI, and yet the country grew faster and more virtuously than its later growth. FDI is a result of growth, and the first order of the policy business is how to grow the economy—not how to attract FDI. As long as India can grow in the 8 to 9 percent range, even without superior infrastructure, it can easily triple or even quadruple its FDI inflows from its current level of $7 billion a year. Growth can self-finance the infrastructure truly needed for business and economic development.
China has built critical networks, such as power stations and transportation links, but since the mid-1990s, unconstrained by public voice, media scrutiny, and private land rights, Chinese leaders have wasted massive resources on urban skyscrapers that have no economic benefits. Many of them are government buildings and are extraordinarily expensive, costing more than $100 million in some cases. And the financial costs of these projects do not even begin to approach their opportunity costs—those investments in education and health China has failed to make. That a country constructed nearly 3,000 skyscrapers in Shanghai and added 30 million illiterate Chinese during the same decade is truly remarkable.
The economic dividends of political reform don't appear overnight, which skews the timeline and confuses the cause. But by using nearly every metric, political liberalization has spurred rather than stunted growth in both China and India.
After a long hiatus, China's leadership has rhetorically returned to a vision of the 1980s—that political reforms should be a priority. Rural China has begun to recover from the neglect of the 1990s, and rural income has grown the fastest since 1989. All this is good news. But consolidating these achievements will require a more substantial undoing of the illiberal policies of the 1990s. How India managed to emerge from its own long shadow of illiberalism offers some valuable lessons. In the past, China taught India the importance of social investments and economic opening. It is time for today's China to take a page from India—and from the China of the 1980s—that political reforms are not antithetical to growth. They are the keys to a healthier and more sustainable foundation for the future.
p/s photos: Natalie Tong Si Wing


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All men want to have a bigger and stronger arm. If you have already made arms training to achieve bigger and stronger of the gym, there are 5 tips that you can not miss.
Possibly the arms is the body part that gives the impression of greater strength and muscle development. Getting bigger and stronger arms are at your fingertips following these 5 tips from the pros and bodybuilding training.
1. Warm up before training to get big arms and strong
Once I get to the gym, I heat 10 minutes on the treadmill to get the blood flow throughout the body. After that, I'm like 5 minutes stretching. When he finished warming up, I will play it safe and start doing exercises at a normal pace instead of starting with supersets of biceps and triceps. I finish my first bottle of water and go right to the EZ bar.
Roger Lockridge, personal trainer.
2. Compound exercises to get big arms and strong
In my opinion, if you really want big arms, you need to focus most of your training on compound exercises to make you stronger: squats, deadlifts, pullups, rowing inverted military press and bench press. This is what will help your arms more, even if you believe it or not.
Joe Dowell, personal trainer.
3. Train arms separately to get big arms and strong
As soon as I started training the biceps and triceps together one day and separated the chest and back workout, my arms began to improve. Being cooler in each workout, I was ready to hire me deeply into each workout to achieve the desired arms.
Ryan Mackie, bodybuilder.
4. Isolation exercises for big arms and strong
When I get to train biceps and triceps, I focus on exercises that allow me to achieve maximum muscle isolation. Instead of bench press close grip, do triceps extensions. Instead of standing biceps curl with dumbbells, sit on a bench, elbow support leg and achievement so that the biceps do all the work.
Fouad Abiad, IFBB Pro.
5. Use different techniques to get big arms and strong
If you always do the same exercises with the same never put your muscles out of the comfort zone and, therefore, will never improve. Make changes every two workouts. You can change the order of the exercises, change the exercises with pulley by free weights, or make a series of 50 reps with half of the weight that you're used to moving.
Matt Danielsson, Personal trainer IFBB.


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Alex Olson on Nike SB
03.27.2012 //
After leaving Vans at the end of last year, Alex Olson has been officially added to the Nike SB team. Check his ad and their press release here.
After leaving Vans at the end of last year, Alex Olson has been officially added to the Nike SB team. Check his ad and their press release here.
Dickies has a new video with their team consisting of Tom Remillard, Kevin Terpening, Vincent Alvarez and new addition Jim Greco talking about why Dickies and skateboarding work so well together.
Theeve Trucks welcomes Benny Fairfax to the team with this banger of a video.
The man who put the black in Black Label, is now on Santa Cruz skateboards, a fact that is being celebrated on Strange Notes all week long.
Check the welcome video from Positiv Skateboards with the Breeze
After a minute of being off Lakai, Jeff Lenoce has found a home with the homies at Axion Footwear!
Chris "Mango" Milic has a new welcome video for his addition to Welcome Skateboards.
Element Australia welcomes Bjorn Johnston to the Australia pro team with a full-length video part. Bjorn was recently added to Krew and Supra as well.
ONE Distribution is pleased to announce that Bjorn Johnston is the newest member of the KR3W and SUPRA Australian teams.
Check out the newest video for Lucky Bearings team rider Josh Matthews. He'll have a FULL PART in the upcoming full length THINK SKATEBOARDS video, which is slated to premier in April.
Dogtown Skateboards welcomes Andrew Pott to the squad with this introductory video of Andrew hitting the HQ for a box, setting up a board, then taking it to the street.
Orion Trucks added Marcus Carr to the team and have a video to showcase the new rider's talents which you can view here.