text:
No more work email from home?
|Report an Error
Share via Email
LONDON—Volkswagen turns off some employees' email 30 minutes after their shifts end. Goldman Sachs is urging junior staff to take weekends off.
This surge in corporate beneficence isn't an indication that employers are becoming kinder and gentler: It's about the bottom line. After years in which the ease of instant communication via email and smartphones allowed bosses to place greater and greater demands on white-collar workers, some companies are beginning to set limits, recognizing that successful employees must be able to escape from work.
"Industry is now responding," said Cary Cooper, a professor of organizational psychology and health at Lancaster University, who says the imperative to be constantly reachable by iPhone or tablet is taking a toll on the work delivered at the office. "Employees are turning up, but they're not delivering anything."
After seeing colleagues lose their jobs during the Great Recession, workers are more inclined to come in to work, even when sick, surveys show. After hours, physical presence is replaced by the next best thing — a virtual one. Many employees fear switching off, instead deciding to work on vacation, during dinner and in bed with the help of smart phones, laptops and tablet computers.
People also have more data than ever to process — whether they ask for it or not. Information overload cost American businesses just under $1 trillion in employee time lost to needless emails and other distractions in 2010, according to Jonathan Spira, chief analyst of the New York research firm Basex.
The cost of replacing employees who leave in search of better work conditions is also a concern. A study from the Center for American Progress put the cost of turnover at just over a fifth of the employee's salary for people making up to $75,000 (U.S.) a year. That goes up exponentially for top managers, with turnover costs as high as 213 per cent of salary for very highly paid positions.
After worrying about trimming staff numbers during the recession, employers are focusing on how to keep those who are left from burning out.
One strategy, which Goldman Sachs has been trying, is to make people feel less at risk in their jobs. That's not easy in most companies, much less so in investment banking, infamous for its competitive environment and grueling work hours.
To keep junior analysts from burning out in the attempt to prove their worth, the bank has decided to start hiring first-year analysts as permanent employees, instead of taking them on as contract workers. It is also encouraging them to not work weekends.
"The goal is for our analysts to want to be here for a career," said David Solomon, global head of investment banking at Goldman Sachs. "This is a marathon, not a sprint."
Work conditions in banking came under scrutiny after an intern at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London died from an epileptic seizure that may have been brought on by fatigue. The case prompted the bank to review work conditions for junior employees.
But it isn't just the junior staff. Recently, Hector Sants, a senior executive brought in to help London-based Barclays bank overcome a costly scandal, resigned after a leave of absence due to stress and exhaustion. The chief executive officer of Lloyds Bank, Antonio Horta Osorio, took time out in 2011. The CEO AkzoNobel, a Dutch paint and coatings company, did the same last year.
"The HR people now talk about regrettable turnover. We cannot afford to lose our best people because we have fewer people," said Cooper, the professor. "We will lose them to companies with better work/life balance, where they don't have to work 19-hour days."
Though technology has helped boost worker productivity over the past few decades, it has come with related costs, like stress.
Technology, for example, is eliminating the downtime or slack that used to be built into the day — such as the time one took going to the library to do research that can now be completed online, says Edward Tenner, author of "Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences." Those minutes used to act as a buffer that prevented people from working constantly.
Though physical exhaustion in traditional enterprises was bad, conflicting mental demands can be more problematic, Tenner says, particularly in the United States, where professional workers often don't have union contracts or the same legal overtime protection as hourly workers do.
"So it's as the Red Queen said in 'Through the Looking-Glass,' it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place," Tenner said.
Companies haven't yet come to grips with how bad it is, said Spira, the analyst. Information overload has decreased people's ability to manage thoughts and ideas. Fixing it means changing company culture — such as the idea that dozens of people need to be cc-ed on a given email.
"Almost every organization is burying its head in the sand," said Spira, the author of "Overload!: How Too Much Information is Hazardous to Your Organization."
It is hard for a company to control the amount of technology used in the workplace and at home since it is so integral to modern life. Volkswagen addressed the issue in a blunt, if effective, manner — by deactivating some workers' email accounts once their shifts were over.
To get everyone, from intern to CEO, to not overdo it with the work hours, some companies have resorted to bolder measures.
Quirky, a New York based start-up which shepherds inventions to the marketplace, has instituted a "blackout" week once a quarter during which no one except customer service representatives are allowed to work, lest employees be tempted to check email.
"We all dropped pencils together," said CEO Ben Kaufman, who figured he could bring the idea of re-invention to his own company. "People were getting burned out. They needed to see other things besides their desk."
And having the message come right from the top was important for Shirin Majid, the company's 39-year-old head of digital marketing, who laments not having enough time to spend with her husband and 9-month-old daughter, Ella. In 17 years of public relations work, she has yet to take a vacation devoid of that dreaded phone call from the office.
But not during a recent vacation. No one could call from the office — since no one was at the office.
"If you know that your boss is checked out, you're going to relax a bit and not worry that you're going to get an email," she said. "You can just have a nap."
All that blackout-inspired creativity is working out for them so far: General Electric just invested $30 million.
Top News
- NEW Troy Tulowitzki excited to 'win now' with Blue Jays
- 'I'm kind of sick of their excuses:' Frustration grows over streetcar delays
- NEW Super Bowl ads to stream online for first time
- Low-income workers battling bosses get a $3.9 million boost
- Taliban leader Mullah Omar dead – for more than two years
- Hackers blindside CSIS with 'cabinet-level' security breach
- Do you hug a pope? U.S. lawmakers seek etiquette tips for papal visit
- Search on after 2 Asian carp found in waterfront ponds
Special Coverage
Super Bowl ads to stream online for first time
CBS intends to sell advertisers joint package of TV spots and online ads for Super Bowl 50.
Well heeled food companies out-spend health advocates in fight over U.S. diet
Most Popular
Video New York prison worker says she got 'caught up' in escape that included sex acts
Video British Airways flight makes emergency landing in Montreal
Video Cyclist-pedestrian fight highlights confusion along new Queen Quay lanes
'We don't need to put our shirts on': Topless cyclists in Waterloo plan rally


text:
Wish you were here? Tiger talks Open playoff
Tiger Woods talks about watching the 2015 Open Championship playoff.
Passing the torch? Spieth impresses Woods
Tiger Woods talks about Jordan Spieth's play at St. Andrews during the 2015 Open Championship. Woods spoke to the media Tuesday at the 2015 Quicken Loans National.
Grill Room: ZJ throwback and lots of short shorts
Lauren McDonald bring you the lighter side of golf. In this installment Charles Barkley fixes his swing, Paige Spiranac shows off some skin and Danielle Kang shows off some eager fans. Visit us at golfchannel.com/grillroom .
Willett on 65: 'Good day, long week last week'
Danny Willett talks about his opening round of 65 at the 2015 Omega European Masters. Willett is coming off a T6 finish at the 2015 Open Championship.
Johnson down the stretch at Open: 'Where's Jordan?'
Zach Johnson went on "Morning Drive" Wednesday and explained that he had an eye on Jordan Spieth coming down the stretch at St. Andrews.
On the Clock: Should Zach pack for HOF?
With twelve PGA Tour wins, the claret jug in hand and a second major title on his resume, is Zach Johnson now a lock to join the World Golf Hall of Fame?After his playoff victory in St. Andrews, Zach Johnson now has 12 career PGA titles including a pair of majors. Joined by Nick Menta, I'm Will Gray. Nick I'm gonna keep this real simple. Is Zach Johnson now a lock for the hall of fame? Isn't in amazing what one week can accomplish? I agree. If you would have asked me this last week, I would have said no. He wins one major and he's like. No, no, he had a good case entering this week I think. And then once he wins this title, I look at someone like Mark O'mara who is just one of the recent inductees, 16 PGA Tour wins, 2 Majors, Zack is now a 12 with 2 majors, his career is certainly not done, I expect him to win a few more titles and. The way the World Golf Hall of Fame is sort of changed their standards in recent years, there's no reason Zach Johnson's not getting in. Yeah I think he's definitely on block right now. The unofficial bench mark seems to be fifteen wins in
Back in the USA: Chatting with Zach at airport
Lauren Thompson reports on Zach Johnson's return to the United States after winning the 2015 Open Championship at St. Andrews.Hello and welcome inside the Golf Channel Report. I'm Lauren Thompson. Zach Thompson returned to the states this morning after winning the Open Championship on Monday. He spoke abouthis second major championship title. Thanks for watching. This has been your Golf Channel report.
Morning Drive takeaways from 144th Open
Damon Hack, Paige Mackenzie, Tim Rosaforte and Charlie Rymer share their thoughts on Zach Johnson winning the 2015 Open Championship at St. Andrews. Watch Morning Drive on Golf Channel.Playoff in possession of the Claret Jug. This is overnight, now. Zach Johnson landing back in the United States in Jacksonville. What in the world is in that case, Zach? What you've got in thatthe golf yesterday, And, it's really neat to see a guy, like Zach Johnson , go out and win his second major championship . A guy who is very genuine, he's authentic, he is what he says he is, really hard worker, smart worker. I love the win yesterday from Zach. Just outlasted everybody, too, on a tournament that we didn't think was going to ever end, It just kept going and going. Bonus golf. It was extraordinary to watch. It was a great finish. Couldn't ask for a better scripted finish than that. The theatre was tremendous really all week. And watching Zach Johnson win his second major championship in a similar fashion to which he won the first. Wedging his way to victory. On a golf course supposedly built For the bomber, for the big hitter, Rosie, this grittiness, were there early signs of it in Zack Johnson's life?evolved, they're longer. They're built for the big hitter. We look at Zach Johnson's stats here, 60th in average driving distance, and that was enough To get the job done. He's not as big as most of these players as Tim Rosafort talked about, Charlie. What impresses you the most about what he was able to do on the golf course supposedly built for the guys that hit at 350? Well, you know what, and I hate hearing all that. I hate that so many people think our game is about hitting the ball long. Yeah. And if you don't hit the ball long, if you weren't born with the genes of a Dustin Johnson. Then you can't play this game anymore. I hate that discussion. That's why I love when a Zach Johnson wins. When a Jordan Spieth has won the first two majors of the season. Jordan Spieth is not particularly long. Hey listen, he's long for, you compare him to the folks at home, yeah, he's long. But compared to the other PGA tour players, he's not tremendously long. And certainly Zach Johnson is much farther Down the scale but I love the fact that in our game there are different ways to get it done. If you have a game plan, if you have discipline, and you stick to it, you can win major championships. There is no recipe for success. There's no prototypical golfer that will always win, and Zach Johnson Example of that. To me, he reminds me of a pot roast in a slow cooker. Okay- Follow me on this one. It's ordinary ingredients, it's a chuck roast. It's not the most exciting cut of meat, but give it time and it develops into something really, really tasty and really, really special. And that's Zach Johnson , in a nutshell. I mean, 11 out of his 12 wins, Came in his 30s. Here's a guy that his very first
Spieth's putting only negative of Open effort
Geoff Shackelford talks with Damon Hack about Jordan Spieth's performance at the 2015 Open Championship. Watch Morning Drive on Golf Channel.man of the Summer, Jordan Spieth, who is seeking his third straight major championship . Grade his performance for the week, inside the ropes and outside the ropes. I thought he was a revelation, especially sitting there, watching Jack Johnson win his second major championship . I guess I'd probably give it an A minus. The only downside was really the putting, and he just never got a
Johnson talks ZJ's Titleist Vokey wedges
Golf Digest equipment editor Mike Johnson talks with Matt Ginella about the Titleist Vokey Design wedges Zach Johnson used to win the 2015 Open Championship. Watch Morning Drive on Golf Channel.For more on Zach Johnson's wedges, we bring in Mike Johnson , the equipment expert at Golf Digest. Mike, tell us a little bit about his wedges, the gapping and the brands he uses.
Rosaforte: Zach's days at Drake prepared him for Open
Insider Tim Rosaforte talks with Lauren Thompson about how Zach Johnson's days at Drake University and mini tours helped prepare him for Open Championship play. Watch Morning Drive on Golf Channel.But we talked about the amateurs. Let's talk about the winner. Zach Johnson , you have anything on him? Well it's related to his college career. Nobody talked about Zach Johnson coming out of Drake the way we're talking about Niebrugge and Schneider. Boy, this is a mouthful with those two kids. DonFailing then succeeding there. Working his way up through the ranks, being nationwide Tour Player of the Year. This was not an all American kid who came out with a big contract like. Yeah. Yeah. Snyder Jan's did. It's a totally different way of making it. Now look where he is at this point in his career. Would the two majors, would the 12 wins, I tell you something, all the money that Snyder Jan's and Abruggie and Dun are gonna make. They would pay a lot of that to have the type of career that Zach Johnson has had thus far. Of course he was, and what an emotional speech after too. Zach Johnsons definitely an open champion who
Kings of Distance: Day longest at the Old Course
Golf Channel's Lauren McDonald recaps the 'Kings of Distance' leaders from the 2015 Open Championship and Barbasol Championship. Get more distance at golfchannel.com/getlong144th Open Championship. The two time major winner wasn't a long distant Saint Andrew's finishing 68th in driving distance but overall a pretty solid week for some of the game's biggest hitters. The two time major winner wasn't the longest at St. Andrews, finishing 60th in driving distance. But overall a pretty solid week for some of the game's biggest hitters. Four of the top five distance leaders from the Open finished inside the top ten Jason Day leaves that list. He is 11 distant leader board with another top 5 finish in a major for the Aussie. Back in the states, Scott Piercey picked up his third PGA tour victory on Sunday at the inaugural playing of the barbasol championship. Piercy posted back to back 65s on the weekend to secure the
Roberts talks Z. Johnson's marketability after Open win
Fortune magazine writer Dan Roberts talks with Damon Hack and Lauren Thompson about Zach Johnson's marketability after winning the 2015 Open Championship. Watch Morning Drive on Golf Channel.a two time major champion from the midwest, good stock, what is Zach Johnson's marketability look like right now on Tuesday morning? Well you know he's won two majors as you said, and in the States
Under Armour stock drops after Spieth's Open finish
Fortune magazine writer Dan Roberts talks with Damon Hack and Lauren Thompson about Under Armour's stock drop as Jordan Spieth's grand slam chase ended at the 2015 Open Championship. Watch Morning Drive on Golf Channel.yesterday and the fact that it wasn't able to complete 3 straight major championship wins? I think they still got the exposure, I saw that story and thought it was a little silly to attribute the stock price to Spieth. You know, when you saw him out on the course, he was head to toe every single thing. His glove, probably his socks, I was joking, was Under Armour. The only thing they don't make yet is golf clubs, golf equipment But that was huge exposure for the brand. I mean he missed by inches, as we all saw, it was crushing. But I don't think the fact

subset: commoncrawl


text:
New User:
Forgot your password?
Stock Market & Financial Investment News
News Breaks
June 16, 2014
Isis Pharmaceuticals reports final Phase 2 data on ISIS-GCGR Rx
Isis Pharmaceuticals announced the final results from its Phase 2 study of ISIS-GCGRRx in patients with type 2 diabetes uncontrolled on stable metformin therapy. In this study, patients in the per protocol population treated with ISIS-GCGRRx in addition to metformin achieved absolute mean reduction in hemoglobin A1c of up to 2.25 percentage points from baseline after only 13 weeks of treatment. Patients receiving placebo had an 0.25 percentage point reduction in HbA1c. In this study, more than half of the PP patients achieved an HbA1c level of less than or equal to 7.0 percent. PP patients treated with ISIS-GCGRRx in this study also achieved a mean reduction of up to 74.9 µmol/L in fructosamine. In addition, in these patients a mean increase in total GLP-1 of up to 19.97 pmol/L was observed.
News For ISIS From The Last 14 Days
Sign up for a free trial
to see the rest of the stories you've been missing.
August 3, 2015
Isis reports FOCUS FH Phase 3 study met primary efficacy endpoint
Isis Pharmaceuticals (ISIS) announced that the FOCUS FH phase 3 study of KYNAMRO in patients with severe heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia met its primary efficacy endpoint, a statistically significant reduction in LDL-cholesterol after 60 weeks of treatment of once weekly injections of 200 mg of KYNAMRO compared to placebo. LDL-cholesterol reduction was similar to that observed in previous phase 3 studies. In addition, based on the data available for review, the safety profile of KYNAMRO observed in the FOCUS FH trial was similar to the safety profile reported in previous phase 3 studies. Genzyme (SNY) will provide a more in depth review of the safety and efficacy data at a future medical meeting.
Isis Pharmaceuticals and AstraZeneca collaborate to develop antisense drugs
Isis Pharmaceuticals (ISIS) and AstraZeneca (AZN) announced a strategic collaboration to discover and develop antisense therapies for cardiovascular, metabolic and renal diseases. The new collaboration builds on a broad existing relationship between the two companies and supports AstraZeneca's strategic approach in these therapeutic areas using novel RNA-targeted treatments. It also enables Isis Pharmaceuticals to extend use of its antisense technology to diseases of the kidney. AstraZeneca will pay an upfront fee of $65M to Isis Pharmaceuticals plus development and regulatory milestones for each program that AstraZeneca advances to clinical development. Isis Pharmaceuticals is also eligible to earn tiered double-digit royalties on annual net sales for each program. This transaction is subject to clearances under the Hart-Scott Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act.
July 31, 2015
Isis Pharmaceuticals cuts stake in Regulus to 5.57%
Subscribe for More Information
July 29, 2015
Isis announces publication of Phase 2 clinical results from volanesorsen study
Isis Pharmaceuticals and Akcea Therapeutics, its wholly owned subsidiary, announced that the New England Journal of Medicine has published positive clinical results from a Phase 2 clinical study evaluating volanesorsen, formerly ISIS-APOCIIIRx, in patients with very high to severely high triglycerides. This publication follows the December 2014 publication in the New England Journal of Medicine of the positive Phase 2 results from a clinical study of volanesorsen in patients with familial chylomicronemia syndrome. Volanesorsen is part of Isis' lipid franchise, which is being developed and commercialized by Akcea Therapeutics.
July 27, 2015
Isis 'most obvious' Biogen takeover target, TheStreet's Feuerstein says
Subscribe for More Information
Isis Pharmaceuticals announces results from ISIS-TTRRx study
Subscribe for More Information
July 22, 2015
Isis Pharmaceuticals announces positive clinical data of ISIS-APO(a)Rx published
Subscribe for More Information
July 21, 2015
Isis Pharmaceuticals initiates Phase 1/2a clinical study of ISIS-HTT Rx
Subscribe for More Information
Sign up for a free trial
to see the rest of the stories you've been missing.
I agree to the theflyonthewall.com
disclaimer & terms of use


text:
RSSChats & Other Live Events
Pac-12 Men's Basketball Tournament live blog
Take a look at what people are saying about UCLA's upset over the Cats in the championship final on 15 in Las Vegas. Tweet with the hashtag #Pac12tournament to join in on the action.
Soo excited!!by johnnb0234xx via twitter 3/12/2014 6:27:28 PM
"@BenLindsey_ : @R_pain_10 @RickyKreklow Viva Las Vegas #Pac12Tournament #CalBears http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BijAB2XCQAEVzYg.jpg" miss you guys. ☺💛💙by Ali Kreklow via twitter 3/12/2014 6:29:38 PM
We're 30 minutes away from tipoff! Don't forget to tag your tweets and photos with #pac12hoops . pac12.me/bracketby Pac-12 Networks via twitter 3/12/2014 6:29:42 PM
Looking for Utah/UW? Options:
Channel finder: pac12.me/1lWSLFu
Stream: pac-12.com/live http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BijCOW6CUAAY7s-.pngby Pac-12 Networks via twitter 3/12/2014 6:37:40 PM
30 minutes. @Pac12Networks tourney starts things off. @utahathletics @UW_MBB #ripit @AdamsonAshley http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BijBbxPCQAATogu.jpgby YogiRoth via twitter retweeted by Pac12Networks 3/12/2014 6:38:44 PM
RT this if you're cheering for @runnin_utes ! Tipoff is coming up at 12 PT/1 MT on Pac-12 Networks. #pac12hoops http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BijCxXHCUAAbq1w.jpgby Pac-12 Networks via twitter 3/12/2014 6:40:03 PM
Are you on board with @uw_mbb ? RT this to prove it! Tipoff is coming at 12 PT/1 MT on Pac-12 Networks. #pac12hoops http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BijDanLCYAAAdru.jpgby Pac-12 Networks via twitter 3/12/2014 6:42:52 PM
Ten straight hours of basketball to watch, BUT I'LL SEE YOU LATER!!! Run for it Marty!!! instagram.comby Jon Gold via twitter 3/12/2014 6:43:53 PM
No. 8 Utah and No. 9 Washington about to tip off in 15 minutes. Winner plays No. 1 UA Thursday at noon. #Pac12Tournamentby Josh_Nacion via twitter 3/12/2014 6:45:24 PM
Game On!! Utah vs Washington #Pac12Tournament http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BijGwQMCcAAoAMx.jpgby DarrellPeters via twitter 3/12/2014 6:57:27 PM
It's time! Tipoff at the Pac-12 Tournament is coming...now! Watch it all on Pac-12 Networks. #pac12hoops http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BijHHjKCUAAVP76.jpgby Pac-12 Networks via twitter 3/12/2014 6:59:03 PM
Joining @KennyAndCrash on 910 AM Phoenix LIVE at MGM Grand Pool to talk some Pac-12 Hoops. Unless I just quit, strip to boxers and dive in.by Jon Gold via twitter 3/12/2014 7:00:50 PM
I'm in @BruinReport if you are. MT: @themightybruins : @TheCoolSub just give woodsy's beard a good rub for good luckby Jon Gold via twitter 3/12/2014 7:03:00 PM
Sitting in on the Utah vs. Washington men's basketball game in round one of the #Pac12Tournamentby Alissa Noe via twitter 3/12/2014 7:03:56 PM
by Pac-12 Networks via twitter 3/12/2014 7:07:39 PM
#Huskies and #Utes tip off in #Pac12Tournament in Vegas. Game now live on Pac-12 Network.by Nick Eaton via twitter 3/12/2014 7:07:47 PM
The @pac12 tournament is underway from Las Vegas and on @Pac12Networks - if you have @twc or @dish you can watch every game #freepreviewby Mike_Yam via twitter retweeted by Pac12Networks 3/12/2014 7:18:09 PM
I wish I was in las Vegas right now!!! #Pac12Tournament #GoDucks #UnitedWeBallby Vicki Tindall via twitter 3/12/2014 7:21:06 PM
What happens in Vegas gets nationally televised and seen by thousands. #DownWithTheBeavers #Pac12Tournament #WheresDougby The Oregon Duck via twitter 3/12/2014 7:23:11 PM
.@Runnin_Utes are throwing down in game #1 . Dakarai Tucker leading the Utes on a 9-0 run over @UW_MBB : pac12.me/Pu4C0Iby Pac-12 Networks via twitter 3/12/2014 7:26:49 PM
Utah holding Washington to 31 percent shooting so far. Utes lead 18-11 with 10 minutes left in first half.by Bruce Pascoe via twitter 3/12/2014 7:28:15 PM
BTW official Verne Harris is back doing Utah-Washington after pulling his hamstring during UA-Stanford game on March 3.by Bruce Pascoe via twitter 3/12/2014 7:32:40 PM
Gotta love neutral sites. A UW fan wins a pair of tix to Rock of Ages, Utah fans boo her on the jumbotron. #Pac12Tournamentby Josh_Nacion via twitter 3/12/2014 7:34:17 PM
by Ethan via twitter 3/12/2014 7:37:41 PM
Media hospitality on point at the #Pac12Tournament . One word: churros. http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BijQfNACEAAer-z.jpgby lauren_lanier via twitter 3/12/2014 7:39:59 PM
.@Runnin_Utes are relentless on the attack against @UW_MBB . Princeton Onwas driving past C.J. Wilcox: pac12.me/Pu9EKEby Pac-12 Networks via twitter 3/12/2014 7:47:05 PM
ESPN bracket-wizard Joe Lunardi on Sun Devils: 'They're not going to miss the tournament.' Not even if lost to Wazzu. espnmediazone.com/us/press-relea…by Greg Hansen via twitter 3/12/2014 7:49:29 PM
#Colorado vs USC on the big screen @TheAtticBarCO at 3:30pm!! #Pac12Tournament #CUBasketball #GoBuffs http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BijTrcDCMAAeYnZ.jpgby Attic Bar via twitter 3/12/2014 7:53:55 PM
Halftime: Utah 34, Washington 24. UW's C.J. Wilcox leads all scorers with nine points. #Pac12Tournamentby Josh_Nacion via twitter 3/12/2014 7:54:09 PM
Halftime from MGM: Utah 34, Washington 24. Huskies shooting 26.9 percent. Wilcox 2-7. Winner faces #arizonawildcats Thursday.by Bruce Pascoe via twitter 3/12/2014 7:54:42 PM
It's halftime at the MGM! The @Runnin_Utes lead by 10. 2nd half coming up on Pac-12 Networks. pac12.me/1gkJ6EV http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BijUIqfCYAExq3D.jpgby Pac-12 Networks via twitter 3/12/2014 7:55:55 PM
"@TheOregonDuck : What happens in Vegas gets nationally televised and seen by thousands. #DownWithTheBeavers #Pac12Tournament #WheresDoug "by Isaiah via twitter 3/12/2014 8:01:32 PM
.@Runnin_Utes are breaking away from @UW_MBB 34-24 at halftime. Some great passing plays from the Utes: pac12.me/1hcWCIRby Pac-12 Networks via twitter 3/12/2014 8:02:06 PM
Wrestlemania Freak style b4 #Pac12Tourney w special guest @TheCoolSub & insight to @pac12 bballin' @foxsports910 http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BijS7sXCUAAi0WF.jpgby Kenny and Crash via twitter retweeted by TheCoolSub 3/12/2014 8:02:20 PM
The 2nd half is underway at @MGMGrandGarden ! Watch it on Pac-12 Networks or right here: pac12.me/1gkJ6EVby Pac-12 Networks via twitter 3/12/2014 8:11:59 PM
And here we are. #Pac12Tournament http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BijY1qVCUAAZpg_.jpgby agonzales43 via twitter 3/12/2014 8:16:28 PM
It's so fun to watch Shawn Kemp Jr. play in the Pac-12 Tournament & imagine all 87 of his brothers and sisters in the crowd cheering him on.by Jon Gold via twitter 3/12/2014 8:16:32 PM
Utah vs. Washington live stream link fansided.com/2014/03/12/uta… #Pac12Tournamentby PatrickASchmidt via twitter 3/12/2014 8:16:56 PM
by courtney carlyle via twitter 3/12/2014 8:18:41 PM
Pac-12 Commish Larry Scott just took a seat opposite the Utah bench. No word on if he'll stick around for Arizona's games or not.by Jon Gold via twitter 3/12/2014 8:21:49 PM
.@UW_MBB is making a comeback here in Vegas, and @HarryTheHusky is straight chillin'. #pac12hoops http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BijatFjCQAADEHv.jpgby Pac-12 Networks via twitter 3/12/2014 8:24:37 PM
The Huskies have grabbed the lead after being down 10 at the half! Watch the exciting action: pac12.me/1gkJ6EV #pac12hoopsby Pac-12 Networks via twitter 3/12/2014 8:25:39 PM
Washington takes its first lead of the game with 11:26 left. Huskies lead 41-40, winner gets Arizona tomorrow. #Pac12Tournamentby RyanBafo via twitter 3/12/2014 8:26:18 PM
Utah was up 10, outshooting Washington 43-27 at the half. Now, Utah shooting 38, Washington 36 and Huskies claim 1-point lead.by Jon Gold via twitter 3/12/2014 8:26:54 PM
Subscribers: Getting blocked when you try to read an article? Let's fix it.
Activate your digital today or let us do it for you!
Follow the Arizona Daily Star
Featured businessesView more...
Deals, Offers and Events
Have you checked out our new products? Visit our online store today! Tucson's Vape Escape 520-333-4318
Looking for the hottest new items to vape with? We carry hand…
Is hoof imbalance causing pain or lameness in your horse? Call Reata Equine Veterinary Group for comprehensive vet care and hoof balancing! 520-749-1446
Pain and lameness due to hoof imbalance can often be corrected…
Call A American Electrical Services, Inc. for fast, friendly service you can rely on! - (520) 751-9247
Let us solve all your electrical problems!
Looking for Quality Lawn Care in Tucson & Cochise County? Call Anthony Tilden ~ (520) 254-9086
When it comes to landscaping, there is nothing that we won't d…
We'll actually show up when we say we will! ~ A and K Landscaping ~ The Real Deal ~ 520-254-9086
You may be in the desert, but that doesn't mean your yard can'…


text:
ads keep dLife free
dLife Membership is FREE! Get exclusive access, free recipes, newsletters, savings, and much more!
You are subscribed!
You are subscribed!
You are subscribed!
Sponsor Specials
Recipe Shuffle
Spaghetti Squash With Herbs Snow Dusted Tea Cakes Mission Hill Bocaditos Goat Cheese Cherry Tomatoes Lemon Pecan Pork Chops Chopped Salad With Creamy Italian Dressing Sauteed Okra and Tomatoes Smoked Salmon in Endive Peri Peri Pork Medallions and Lemon Cuban Black Beans
Click a button to see recipes.
ads keep dLife free
110 Views 0 commentsby Lindsey Guerin
As the thoughts of adoption cross my mind, I have a nagging on my heart that reminds me that I am not alone in this. Not alone in a positive way that I have the support of my husband and I'm building a great medical team to help me tackle any fertility challenges that come along. But not alone in that it's not just my emotions and desires that dictate how, when, or if I have children. Yesterday, I was chatting with a volunteer at work. He and his wife have a two year old and we...


text:
When we first learned of the cats of St. James last month, they were being evicted from their courtyard residence in the historic Lower Manhattan church.
Even worse, the cat caregivers, who dutifully fed, watered and provided vet care, were denied access to them, leading to fears of starvation and a crisis over the cats' future.
Diligence and public pressure brought the Archdiocese of New York to the table with the NYC Feral Cat Initiative of the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals.


text:
Ratings based on 185 Verified Reviews
They paid and stayed. We double-checked.
4.7 Room cleanliness
4.5 Service & staff
4.5 Room comfort
4.4 Hotel condition
They paid and stayed.
We double-checked.
We double-checked.
for Everyoneby A verified traveler from San Francisco CA
Best option in San Antonio-El Peñon area....for noPosted Jul 24, 2015
Pros: Staff is super-nice.
Cons: Rooms could use updating. Catering management could use improvement - restaurants can't handle large crowds very well.
Location: In the upmarket San Antonio-El Peñon area of Cali - most desirable if you're a tourist or visiting business person.
This is probably the nicest international-style hotel in the San Antonio-El Peñon area of Cali right now (although there is new construction going up nearby for other high-end hotels). This hotel is pretty much like any other Intercontinental - but a bit dated. The staff is super-nice and accommodating. The hotel has a large pool, spa and workout room, as well as several restaurants.
for Everyoneby A verified traveler
world youth athleticsPosted Jul 22, 2015
Nice experience - very hard to find English speaking help . Serving staff often not friendly
for Everyoneby A verified traveler from Panama
Great hotel, perfect location.Posted Jul 13, 2015
Service is just great and location was perfect to move around turistic areas. They implemented transportation services what makes it even more easy to discover the city.
for Business Travelersby A verified traveler from Miami
For businessPosted Jun 29, 2015
Pros: Al..., Good gym
Cons: Hotel internet, could be improves a tad.
Location: Best location.
All well. Best area. Most complete. Well received Had no issues.
for Everyoneby A verified traveler from Maryland, USA
Condition of BathroomPosted Jun 27, 2015
Pros: The restaurants and pool area.
Cons: Maintenance needs to check all bathrooms for complete functionality.
The sink stopper was closed shut, and the lever would not work. I tried to fix it below for a long time but couldn't. I took a knife to open it and had to leave the knife to hold it open. (Room 607) There was no water running from the shower head, but there was a shower hose. I had to take a shower holding the hose with one hand; this is an awful way to take a shower. I was in a hurry to get to the airport so I did not request a plumber; it was too early, anyway, 3:00 a.m. I did complain at the desk at checkout, but who knows if they will fix it. A week ago I stayed in room 619 and the sink did not have a stopper; so I had to leave the water running while shaving. This being a four star property has something to be desired. They should check all bathrooms for equipment function.
for Everyoneby A verified traveler from Colombia
GREAT PLACEPosted May 26, 2015
Pros: The pool the Spa and food
Cons: Availability in the spa for massage
Fantastic the most friendly people, good food, nice Spa
for Business Travelersby John
Posted May 1, 2015 on Hotels
for Couplesby A verified traveler from Bogota
The botanic spa us great,Posted Apr 28, 2015
Pros: The cassino , and the spa
Cons: the jacuzzi need more potent
Location: The daw tonw is close. the tertulia museum was fenomenal. , and the obeñlisco food is traditional and graeat
The personal is very dilegently, the breakfast was very good. the SPA was fenomenal . ant is cñlose to best parts of the cuty- Great
for Business Travelersby A verified traveler
Great stayPosted Apr 23, 2015 on Hotels
A surprising price for a great stay!
for Business Travelersby A verified traveler
Posted Apr 21, 2015 on Hotels


text:
Previous Next
Have you ever been to a haunted house?
Asked at Massachusetts Street on October 27, 2007
"Yeah, one in Topeka. It was a two-story house out in the country by Forbes Field. I was kind of little, so it was pretty scary with everyone jumping out to scare you and everything."
"No, never. I'm too scared, I guess. My friend tried to get me to go once, but I don't want to pay my money to be scared."
"Yes, a real one, supposedly. It was an abandoned house that I heard about from some friends. It was way out on some gravel road near Kansas City … They say someone had been killed there."
"Yes, in downtown Kansas City. We went with our church group. It was a lot of fun. There was actually a shooting while we were inside, and I thought it was part of it."
sgtwolverine 7 years, 9 months ago
I'm intrigued about Melissa's answer, too, Py.
As for the question: yes, I have, but only once. I'm not really interested in that sort of thing.
ms_canada 7 years, 9 months ago
When visiting my sister in Montana in July, we stayed with her friends way up on the side of the mountains, Bitterroot Mtns.. Her friend Ray is a very clever man. He built a two story haunted house. It is just amazing. He even built a small elevator to take you to the upper story to the party room. The main floor has five rooms and each room has a theme. One of them is Arsenic and Old Lace. Furnished like the room in the movie. That room has a basement where the bodies of the two old ladies are buried. There are sound effects and ghosts that fly out at you when you open a door. Every Halloween Ray and Judy have two parties. One for kiids on the lower floor and one for adults upstairs. Great fun. And so clever of Ray.
matahari 7 years, 9 months ago
Does anyone remember the corpse(s) that were stolen from the anatomy dept at KU years ago, and placed near potters' lake? Now THAT was funny! I also heard they took a frozen arm and hung it from a light (where you have to reach for the string) in a house, and also stole a human head and placed it in a guys yard, and when the guy went out to see what his dogs were fighting over discovered what it was.......times have changed I guess? I am with Ms Cho, I refuse to pay to get scared....although the old haunted house in the bottoms (near Kemper arena) in KC was quite the rave way back when.....
Charles L Bloss Jr 7 years, 9 months ago
I wish I knew which house Jill was in. There was a house which was abandoned. The owner lived nearby. He was always calling about trespassers inside the house. It was always kids who thought the house was haunted. There was a pentagram painted on the floor of the living room with red paint. One Sgt., after responding to the house, had nothing but bad luck. I was with him, and I stepped in the pentagram too. I never had any increase in bad luck. So, Jill if this was the house let me know! It was on Paulen Road, I believe, but it has been a long time. I know some guys that would know for sure. Thank you, Lynn
tangential_reasoners_anonymous 7 years, 9 months ago
emily, the story was about "flaunted blouses."
black_butterfly 7 years, 9 months ago
I have been to one years ago and I wont go into them now. For one thing I'm too old for that LOL, besides, things are not like they were when I was a teen. People are too mean. They don't just scare you anymore. I have heard stories of people getting hit, bitten, and having to fight their way out of them. It is dark so the people working in the haunted houses know that they can get away with a lot. I even heard a report last week about a girl saying she got raped in a haunted house in Kansas City. NO thank you!
Flap Doodle 7 years, 9 months ago
I have a haunted refrigerator. It contains the ghost of meatloaves past.
Kathy Getto 7 years, 9 months ago
Lynn731 - the house Jill is talking about was a fund-raiser for the Topeka Jaycees about 20 years ago or so - I had the pleasure of portraying a vampire in that house. We usually found a house that was set for demolition, then fixed what we needed for the haunted house to raise money for Cerebral Palsy. The house you are talking about was East of Croco Rd - never went there, but heard about it.
I am with matahari - don't feel the need to pay to be scared!
janeb 7 years, 9 months ago
Once I took a wrong turn in the city ended up in Fairfax, no need to go in the houses could tell from outside they were full of spooks. I got the heck outta there.
Commenting has been disabled for this item.
ATA Prime Martial Arts 785-749-7337
Find more businesses on Marketplace
Arts & Entertainment · Bars · Theatres · Restaurants · Coffeehouses · Libraries · Antiques · Services
- Editorial: Hub hubbub July 27, 2015 · 11 comments
- Blog: Promoter not sure now on canceling 1,000-foot water slide event in west Lawrence; city gets report on its financial health July 27, 2015 · 35 comments
- Letter: Managing risks July 25, 2015 · 30 comments
- Letter: Higher wage lessons July 20, 2015 · 119 comments
- Blog: Law enforcement training involves pepper spray to face, underwater diving; weekend arrest list; 911 call roundup July 27, 2015 · 5 comments
- Letter: Support peace July 25, 2015 · 12 comments
- Kansas GOP sets caucus date, gears up for 2016 July 25, 2015 · 10 comments
- Brownback calls for better National Guard security, defends Kansas teacher pay with fuzzy math July 24, 2015 · 23 comments
- Crashed truck removed from between guardrail, wall in North Lawrence July 23, 2015 · 36 comments
- Brownback calls for probe of abortion clinics; Planned Parenthood calls request 'political grandstanding' July 21, 2015 · 45 comments
- Only in Lawrence: Lucas Creamer brings vintage Harleys to North Lawrence July 27, 2015
- Lessons learned in war June 13, 2010
- Opinion: Cuba event should include dissidents July 27, 2015
- Cage match: Double OT win gives Kansas Cagers third place July 26, 2015
- KU alumnus, L. Joseph Bauman, recalls power of building PC August 11, 2001
- Kevin Willmott talks Spike Lee, 'Chiraq,' teaching at KU July 26, 2015
- WWII B-24 pilot finally gets to thank his rescuer June 14, 2010
- Douglas County Senior Services executive director to step down July 27, 2015
- Retiring business owners need successors, aspiring grads want to buy, KU's RedTire program helps fix them up July 20, 2015
- Study: Many Kansas Turnpike accident hotspots near Lawrence July 27, 2015


text:
You are currently browsing the category archive for the 'Opinion' category.
Today's post comes from the thrilling (?) world of international football aka soccer [Ed. Are you sure this is right?] Although, to American eyes, soccer sometimes seems to lack critical elements of sport (excitement, skill, scoring, and so forth), it definitely has the most important thing: wacky mascots! In fact, soccer arguably has the wackiest mascots, as is very emphatically demonstrated by the new mascot of the Scottish football team Partick Thistle (er, that's apparently the name of their soccer club, not the new spokesbeing). Apparently the old mascot, Jaggy MacBee, (pictured above) was not edgy enough for something as riot-inducing as Scottish football. Fortunately, the new mascot, pictured below in all of his (its?) stark raging horror is nothing but edges! Well, that isn't entirely true, "Kingsley" the yellow thistle also has a mouth-breathing look of angry stupor and a unibrow to go with his (its?) sharpened head.
The internet has been abuzz with sarcastic quips about the ambulatory thistle and with wistful nostalgia for the unemployed bee (as indeed was almost certainly the intent of some sinister group of marketers behind the entire switch). Even despite the transparently manipulative nature of the upgrade, there really is something poignant about the substitution. Bees are fading from our pesticide-heavy world (as we will discuss in a real post tomorrow) while irritating characters specifically and solely designed to create an angry emotional response are proliferating.
Also, Kingsley is not unfunny. He has his own particular Alfred Jarry flavor, as was the intent of the responsible artist David Shrigley, who designs deliberately crude cartoons to mock the shirking anomie of contemporary mass culture (at least that's how I am going to interpret them). How would you design a thistle mascot? It is not necessarily an easy challenge, although I know my submission would have been more purple and baroque—like everything I make. Stay tuned for the further adventures of Kingsley and Jaggy MacBee. I get the sense we haven't heard the last of these guys—if for no other reason than the obtrusive attention-seeking of their makers.
Happy Summer Solstice*! Also happy Father's Day to all of the dads out there! Ferrebeekeeper doesn't usually publish on Sundays, but because it is a special day, here is a celebratory image of an ancient druid with a golden sickle and a megalith. This is a perfect image for the first day of summer, however it is somewhat more ambiguous as a father's day image… Still, I feel that it has some paternal magic, and it is certainly better than neckties and golf-themed art. My own father would probably prefer an archer, but I got a bunch of cartoon spies and elfin cosplayers when I googled that…so the wise druid elder will have to do.
I am so excited for summer! Let's make it a great one!
*Actual solstice may vary by hemisphere.
Happy news from the ocean depths: marine biologists have discovered an endearingly cute deep sea octopus in the cold deep ocean waters off the continental shelf of California. The newfound octopus is about the size of a fist and looks a lot like the ghosts from Pac-man. The creatures' default color seems to be a rich orange-pink. It has big soulful black eyes and little fins atop its head which look like cartoon cat ears.
Stephanie Bush, an octopus scientist (!!!) from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute has spent nearly a year studying the new octopus which she classifies as belonging to the "flapjack" octopuses (a family of animals which sound like they merit additional attention from Ferrebeekeeper). The genus of the octopus is thus pre-established as "Opisthoteuthis" but she is toying with "adorabilis" as a species name (which sounds like a wise choice in the internet era).
So far very little is known about these cute mollusks which live in coastal Pacific waters at depths between 200 and 600 meters. Every one of the dozen specimens thus far found has been female. According to Bush, "They spend most of their time on the bottom, sitting on the sediment, but they need to move around to find food, [&] mates." I am curious what the male octopuses are like. I presume they are pink and adorable as well, but sexual dimorphism is not unknown among cephalopods. Also, how widespread are these animals? Do they live beyond the California coast?
We need to know so much more. Dr. Bush needs to get back to work, and we are definitely going to need more pictures!
As everyone knows, the Statue of Liberty (which is actually properly titled "Liberty Enlightening the World") is a colossal neoclassical sculpture which stands in the harbor of my beloved home city, New York, New York. This is the 130th anniversary of the statue arriving in New York from France. The 93 meter tall statue was a lavish gift from the French people, who obviously know how to give astonishing amazing beautiful presents! I won't get into the elaborate political, engineering, and fundraising history behind the statue's conception, fabrication, and construction: suffice to say, it has a very complicated story (as one would expect in a monumental joint artistic venture between two of Earth's greatest nations).
I will note that the statue has greatly overshadowed its creator, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi—which seems inconceivable today when most art is an afterthought to the virulent self-aggrandizement of art world personalities. If something similar were attempted now we would probably end up with a 90 meter tall statue of Jeff Koons…or of some part of his anatomy (though I shudder to write that down, lest I give him any ideas).
Bartholdi was an Alsatian and a freemason. He studied architecture and then served in the disastrous Franco-Prussian War (a conflict when the excesses of the Second Empire came back to haunt France—and a war which provided dark foreshadowing for the great industrial wars of the twentieth century). Bartholdi conceived of the statue as a tribute to democracy and freedom just after the American Civil War—when France was under the dictatorial regime of Napoleon III. Because of the authoritarianism and inequality of the time, the idea was shelved until after the Prussians drove this second Napoleon into exile and ushered in the third republic.
The Statue of Liberty is so universally iconic that it is hard to look at as a work of art—which is a shame because it is very lovely. The fluid Roman robes belie the practical architecture beneath. Atop the statue is a glowing crown of radiant beams—the neoclassical symbol for divinity. The enigmatic face is simultaneously stern and compassionate (though it is said that Bartholdi based it on his mother which might explain these juxtaposed emotions—and the very human tenderness with which the artist wrought the giant metal face).
It is frustratingly difficult to find pictures of other Bartholdi sculptures. I see here that he created a work titled "Genius in the Grasp of Misery" which sounds incredibly relevant and germane as I scrabble piteously for rent, but sadly I can't find any photos of it. He designed a fountain "The Little Vintner of Colmar" which features a handsome youth drinking a never-ending stream of wine. The statue is as delightful as its description and was a gift from the city of Colmar to the city of Princeton New Jersey…What was going on in the nineteenth century that cities were all giving art to each other? It seems like an amazing trend which has passed.
Speaking of which, it occurs to me, that I have never thanked the French people for their far-sighted generosity. Allow me to do so now! Everyone here loves the statue and we deeply love our beautiful exasperating intelligent friends across the Atlantic (even if it sometimes seems like we are at odds). Vive la France et merci pour le cadeau magnifique!
Yesterday's post for World Oceans Day did not sate my need to write about the endless blue bounding. I am therefore dedicating all of the rest of this week's blog posts to marine themes as well ("marine" meaning relating to the sea—not the ultimate soldiers). Today we are traveling back to South America to revisit those masters of sculpture, the Moche, a loose federation of agricultural societies which inhabited the Peruvian coastal valleys from 100 AD – 900 AD.
I keep thinking about the beauty and power of Moche sculptural art, and the Moche definitely had strong feelings about the ocean. In fact an informal survey of Moche art online indicates that their favorite themes were cool-looking animals, human sacrifice, the ocean, grown-up relations between athletic consenting adults, and crazy nose-piercings.
You will have to research some of these on your own, but I have included a selection of beautifully made Moche art of sea creatures. Look at the expressiveness of the crab, the turtle, and particularly the beautiful lobsters (which are part of a large pectoral type ceremonial ornament held in place through the nose). Moche ceramics are as rare and beautiful in their way as Roman paintings or Greek sculpture. I wish we knew more about Moche culture and mythology to contextualize these striking works—but the outstanding vigor and grace of the figures is enough to feel something of what this vivid culture was like.
I know I just did a post on National Donut Day, but that piece was both tongue-and-cheek and nakedly self-interested. Clearly donuts are ephemera with transient importance—scraps of fried dough which stay tasty for less time than flowers bloom (indeed I enjoy juxtaposing their cheap impermanence with the vast seemingly eternal universe in my paintings). Today I looked at my calendar to find that June 8th is World Oceans Day! Unlike National Donut Day (which is self-evidently a meretricious marketing "holiday"), World Oceans Day strikes me as an important and worthwhile day of observance. The ancients celebrated the oceans with festivals and sacrifices to venerate the sea gods. We tend to regard the oceans as an inexhaustible source of cheap fish and a place to dump our rubbish. I worry that the careless industrialized spoiliation of the oceans is the gravest mistake humankind is currently making (and we have our grubby grasping fingers in lots and lots of pies—and are making plenty of errors). Yet, I don't want this blog to become an angry jeremiad or an environmentalist harangue. I want to celebrate the beauty and grace of the oceans and their inhabitants while also underlining the stress and danger which these vast swaths of the world are facing. What to do?
For World Ocean Day therefore I am writing about the lifeform which, to me, most exemplifies the oceans of the late Holocene/early Anthropocene, the crown-of-thorns starfish, Acanthaster planci. This echinoderm is a ravenous poisonous destroyer which is exploiting the sickness of the oceans to proliferate and succeed wildly (at the expense of everything else). It is an amoral ravenous monster covered with toxic spines which is eating the coral seas bare. It is also a beautiful creature magnificently evolved to thrive—we can hardly hold its horrifying success against it. Maybe it should be on the cover of Forbes smoking a cigar and bloviating about its philosophy of success. By chance the starfish also lies at an intersection of many blog topics—crowns, invaders, colors, poison, mollusks (for its fate is connected with that of predatory mollusks), opinion, and science…perhaps even "deities of the underworld". This is a lot of introduction…let's meet our antihero!
The crown-of-thorns starfish (or "sea star"), Acanthaster planci takes the form of a spiked disk with up to 21 prehensile arms (also covered in spines). On its underside, the starfish has numerous sticky tube-like suction feet running along the bottom of each arm. These legs run in parallel rows beside a series of closely fitting plates which form a central groove on the bottom of each arm. The arm grooves each run ominously into the starfish's horrifying stomach/mouth. The starfish can grow to a diameter of up to 80 centimeters (31 inches) although they are more commonly found in the 35 centimeter range. Acanthaster planci has a wide Indo Pacific range and lives in tropical and semitropical coastal waters from the Red Sea and the East Coast of Africa across both the Indian and Pacific Oceans all the way to the West Coast of Central America. The starfish are usually dull grays and reds but they can range to brilliant purple, blue, orange, aqua (or display all sorts of mixed ranges). Their colors are highly mutable and variable! These starfish eat coral polyps! It crawls into corals by means of its many sucker feet—compressing or elongating its body as needed. When in position the starfish extrudes its stomach over the polyps it wishes to eat: the stomach can cover an area approximately equal to the starfish. The creature then releases digestive compounds which dissolve the soft parts of the coral into a soup which the starfish slurps up. It then retracts its stomach and moves on, leaving a bleached (i.e. dead) patch of coral skeleton. A medium sized starfish can consume up to 6 square meters (65 sq ft) of living coral reef per year. If times are lean the starfish can go for months (or longer) without eating. http://www.arkive.org/crown-of-thorns-starfish/acanthaster-planci/video-00.html Crown-of-thorns starfish are male or female and they do not reproduce by budding, but female starfish lay from 6.5 million to 14 million eggs each per breeding season [hereupon the author wiped his furrowed brow]. When the eggs hatch there are several interesting larval stages which the echinoderm goes through before reaching their adult form. Suffice to say, the starfish reaches sexual maturity after 2 years and it lives as long as 8 years. Fourteen million offspring per season is a lot! If predators do not keep the crow-of-thorns starfish in check, they can swiftly overrun entire reef systems and eat all the coral into bleached uninhabitable wasteland. This leaves all of the multitudinous reef inhabitants homeless. The reef skeletons dissolve in our newly acidified oceans and one of earth's most diverse ecosystems becomes a weed-strewn graveyard. The starfish are hard to stop since they are provided with tremendous defenses: each animal is covered with 1-5 centimeter long razor sharp spines which in turn are covered with toxic saponins—soaplike chemicals which interact with cholesterols to tear holes in cell membranes. The starfish can regenerate arms. If removed from the water, the starfish develops holes in its body and loses its water, but it can swiftly reconstitute itself if placed back in the ocean.
Fortunately there are some tough predators of the crown-of-thorns starfish. Certain triggerfish, parrotfish, and blowfish can insouciantly crunch through the spines with hardened mouths. Painted shrimp and polychaete worms can tear off and eat pieces of the starfish until the latter dies (whereupon the impatient scavengers devour the corpse). Best of all, the magnificent Triton's trumpet, a huge gastropod mollusk, can rasp the odious starfish to pieces with its sharpened radula and suck up the offending echinoderm! Unfortunately, the fish are vanishing into the aquarium trade or the soup pot and the tritons have been killed en masse so their shells can be sold to tourists. This results in a feedback loop wherein the crown-of-thorns devastate a reef to the extent that the predators can not survive at all. The plague of starfish then descend of virgin reefs and kill them off too.
Healthy reefs have a certain ability to fight off the crown-of-thorns star, but today's reefs are coping with overfishing, invasive creatures, acidification, pollution, and fluctuating temperatures. The crow-of-thorns is exploting these weaknesses (and the diminished stock of its predators) to run rampant. Humans have stepped in late to try to kill of the rampaging multi-armed villains, but, for all of our skill at doing in other organisms, we seem to not be very good at killing these fiendish starfish. They are difficult to rip apart. They are hard to net or trap. They are surprisingly resistant to punctures. Recently divers have had success suppressing infestations by injecting the starfish all individually with sodium bisulphate (which echinoderms and my great uncle cannot abide, but which is relatively harmless to most other lifeforms). Obviously this is an expensive and labor intensive solution (although if somebody wanted to hire me as a starfish bounty killer, I would not decline).
The common name of the crown-of-thorns starfish is a reference to Christian mythology. One of the tortures endured by Jesus was a crown woven of thorns (which pierced his temple and hurt him while simultaneously mocking his alleged crime—pretending to the throne of Judaea). Throughout Christian art, the crown of thorns is the supreme crown of the king of kings which he wears during the passion or as he harrows the underworld. The voracious starfish earned its sobriquet not by godliness, but by looking like a horrible alien crown made of thorns (and arguably also by bringing death and devastation to coral reefs). I find it to be one of the most poetic and horrifying common names in all of taxonomy—and as the starfish destroys ecosystem after ecosystem, it seems fully earned.
Through the dark and improbable marketing magic of the Big Baking industry, today is National Donut Day (or possibly "National Doughnut Day" depending on how classical your tastes in pastry spelling are). Donuts are sweet snacks usually made of deep-fried flour dough. The traditional doughnut is ring shaped, probably because that is a very efficient way to make and evenly fry such a pastry (if the cake was a sphere or a disk, there would be uncooked dough in the middle), however there are also rod-shaped doughnuts, crème filled donuts, crullers, bearclaws, and heavens only knows what else! Donuts have a creation myth wherein a magnificent Dutch sea captain who loved pastries was piloting his galleon through a towering storm. The mariner was unwilling to let his ship sink and his crew perish, but he was equally unwilling to forgo the pleasure of fried pastries for even one moment, so he stuck the donuts on the ship's wheel so he could devour them as he faced off against Poseidon. I say this is a myth because it seems likely that donuts predate the Dutch. They were probably invented by Sumerians in equally trying but now unknown circumstances. It's still a great story though! I have heard that law enforcement officers have their own secret donut creation myths, but, since I am not a policeman these sacred traditions have never been vouchsafed to me. Maybe if you ask any of our friends in blue about this, you should be very circumspect…
Ferrebeekeeper has an immoderate fascination with toruses which stems from a peculiar combination of aesthetic, mathematical, and mystical factors. In my personal world of symbolism, the universe itself is a torus (it seems like it might well really be a torus, but our understanding of such matters is incomplete). The most familiar torus here on our Newtonian scale is the humble–but delicious & multitudinously variable—donut! So I paint lots of symbolic microcosmic paintings of donuts. I was amassing a whole wall of them, but I started to sell some so that I don't have to live on the streets. Maybe they will be worth a bunch of money someday…. You could do me a huge favor and say exactly that to the art world professionals whom you meet in your life!
I have already put up photos of some of these doughnut paintings on this blog here and here (to say nothing of the painting of a toroid honey bundt cake which serves to represent the entire blog). In celebration of National Donut Day, here are two more Wayne Ferrebee original oil paintings (well, digital photographs of the same). The painting at the top is grandiloquently titled "There is Nothing Suspicious About these Glowing Treats in the Ocean Depths." Three magnificent sugary donuts glowing within drift among the happy denizens of the deep ocean. A friendly anglerfish proffers a funny lure, while a near-eastern ewer drifts toward the ocean bottom. A glass squid with orange dots scuttles past the scene. In the murky background a passing shadow resolves into another friendly creature of some sort. A cynical & world-wary viewer might interpret the work as some sort of warning about impossible things that are too good to be true, but the enlightened art-lover recognizes it as an evocation of benthic wonders!
The second donut painting here is a very tiny painting (4 inches by 4 inches–so smaller than the image onscreen) which concerns the micro-world beneath us. It is appropriately titled "Cell Donut." Against a dark magenta background, a courtly mummer performs some sort of dance/pantomime for a paramecium and a clutch of glowing eggs (or possibly cells). A diagrammatic cell is in the lower right corner with all the color and complexity of a future city.
I took a course in cell-biology one and in the first moments, as the biochemist started writing out the molecular processes of respiration, it hit me that the drama at a cellular level is, if anything, more intense and complicated than the goings on at our familiar human-size frame of reference. "Cell Donut" is meant to remind us that the real rewards and perils are within us already–for in the microsphere within our bodies, billions of cells are fighting, metabolizing, reproducing, and recycling with maddening vigor and ceaseless action. Also the tiny donut in the middle of the painting is a classic plain donut…an ideal symbol for national Donut Day (as opposed to some of my other dozens of donut paintings, which can often be quite baroque, phantasmagorical, or strange…or are just straight-up bagels!)
I hope you enjoy these paintings, and I also hope you manage to drop by the bakers to enjoy a well-deserved donut or two!
Note: No matter what I do, or how I try, I cannot get these paintings to display properly! It is obvious that Word Press hates me and hates my artwork, despite the fact that I have essentially been working for them for free for half a decade. I'm afraid you'll have to click on the paintings in order for them not to appear all hideously cropped and mutilated as they look above. [sotto voce] mutter mutter…should have chosen "Blogger"…mutter, curse… "never "Fresh Pressed"… grumble grumble.
From 600 BC until 146 BC Carthaginian civilization vied with Greco-Roman civilization to control the Mediterranean in a series of increasingly bitter wars. Ultimately Rome was completely victorious in the great contest: the Carthaginian territories in North Africa and Iberia became Roman territories and the city of Carthage was destroyed and the ground sowed with salt. Rome sat about effacing Carthaginian language, culture, and art from the world. To this day nobody can figure out what was actually normal in Carthaginian civilization and what was a crazy bitter smear campaign by the Romans.
But no matter how greatly the Romans tried, they could hardly destroy everything left over from a vast ancient civilization, and so we have actual Carthaginian artifacts and artworks today. In fact there are many of them, and they tend to be very bizarre and beautiful–but it is difficult to find consensus on what they represent and how they were used.
That is the loose background for these terracotta statues from the Iberian Peninsula from the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. Back then, Spain was not just Carthaginian territory–in fact it was the top secret source of most of Carthage's vast wealth–which came from tin mines (tin was a raw material for the bronze which held classical antiquity together).
These statues seem to be the great goddess Tanit, the dark queen of the heavens. Tanit and her ram-god consort, Ba'al-Hamon, were the principal divinities of Carthaginian civilization. Tanit seems to have evolved from fierce warrior sky goddesses like Astarte (who once was Ishtar at the dawn of civilization) and especially the Ugaritic goddess Anat. Anat was a bloodthirsty and horrifying goddess—myths about her involve all sorts of impaled entities, seven-headed serpents, oceans of blood, fire, grinding up of bodies and such like dark elements (Ugarit was an ancient port in Syria).
Tanit seems to have been a dark goddess as well and she was probably the focus of Carthaginian child sacrifice, assuming such a thing existed and was not a Roman propaganda invention (scholars are fiercely divided about child sacrifice in Carthaginian culture, although I am inclined to side with the archaeologists who believe that it happened). You are beginning to see some of the historiographic problems that Carthaginian scholars and art historians face!
Whatever the case, the sculptures are magnificent and they certainly suit a dark enigmatic sky goddess who thirsts for blood. Look at Tanit's crown of celestial vegetation and her almond Babylonian eyes! Sometimes when I fall into a strange humor I look at Carthaginian art online and try to grasp what it meant as I enjoy its sinuous lines, mocking smiles, and leonine power, but it always eludes me and ends up filed in my head as a near-eastern cypher. I'll try to feature some more of it—you'll quickly see what I mean. In the mean time enjoy (?) Tanit, bloodthirsty sky goddess.
Irises are flowers in the genus Iris. They are named after the Greek goddess Iris [ed. So far this seems kind of circular] who traveled on rainbows which were also known as irises. Thus the familiar beautiful garden flowers are known by the Greek word for rainbow because they were available in a whole rainbow of colors.
This is all deeply relevant because four years ago I bought a beautiful iris and planted it in my garden. It started as a little green sprout and then, through the subsequent years grew into a magnificent thicket of sword shaped bright waxy leaves—but it never bloomed. Time worked its indignant wiles on my memory and I forgot what exactly what variety I had bought.
This year, finally, a bud sprouted on the iris! I have been so excited to find out the color of the mytery iris. I scoured the internet trying to figure out what I had bought (the irises pictured above "Batik" and were some of my guesses). There was even a dark moment when I thought about how quixotic my aesthetics can be and I feared I had bought a huge brown hypnotic werewolf iris!
But it turns out that the me of four years ago, made at least one good choice: here is the beautiful mystery iris as it appears now in my garden (along with my sphinx sculpture):
It is darkest violet edging into black with furry deep purple beards! I am pretty sure it is called "Night Ruler" which sounds like an evil cleric or a death knight! Yes! Sometimes my past choices come back to haunt me, but for once that guy did something really amazing and nice! I love this iris! Here is another picture of it which I drew.
"Night Ruler" has awakened my heart to a lust for irises—but any actions I take will require another four years to yield results and by then I will no doubt be living on a tropical beach in Greenland or fighting our robot overlords…or worse I will have again forgotten what I picked out and I will be forced to live beholden to the unfathomable whims of who I used to be.
Today's post seems like it concerns exceedingly trivial matters from a bygone age, but it is actually of much larger import. When I was five, I had the most delightful birthday! It was a splendid August day with the barest hint of coming autumn in the forget-me-not sky. There was every food I like. My mother made a special unlicensed Star Wars cake and, though chocolate Vader looked a bit blobby and brown he tasted amazing. There were astonishing presents, games with friends, and my splendid loving family telling me how wonderful I was. There was only one stain upon the luminous day and it came at breakfast through the black-and-white TV screen.
I was only allowed to watch limited amounts of TV (it makes me feel like some nineteenth century fogy to talk about having one (1) tiny mono-color viewscreen in a whole house), but even in the innocent (?) world of the seventies there were ads everywhere, fiendishly concocted to sink their razor sharp hooks into desires you did not even know you had. One of these was an ad for a cereal which featured the most miraculous toy—a swimming dolphin which actually dove down into the darkened abyss and then playfully rose back up with an enigmatic dolphin smile.
Through the dark magic of contemporary media saturation, the original ad is available on Youtube. Here it is!
Perhaps the four-year-old me was emotionally moved by the lumbering tragicomic figure of Smeadley the elephant, however I confess I did not remember him until seeing the clip. But the toy dolphins were magical! The only thing which could have been better would have been an ichthyosaur. There was a problem—we were not allowed to have sugared breakfast cereal, which my mother regarded as a dangerous abomination (as an aside: I was raised so well…how did I go so wrong?). The only chances for such a treat were trips to visit grandparents and birthdays—the one day on the calendar where requests for sugared cereal were countenanced in-house.
My poor parents were forced to turn down requests for Cap'n Crunch for weeks until the big day finally arrived. The first thing that went awry was the cereal–I guess Cap'n Crunch is supposed to be artificial peanut butter maybe? But whatever that unearthly bletted corn flavor is supposed to be, I found it vile. The year before I had had Alphabits when I turned four and they were amazing! Cap'n Crunch was a real disappointment. No matter—the important thing was the toy. We were supposed to wait to eat down to the bottom of the box to retrieve toys, but I abused my birthday privilege to stick my arm through the crunch and finally extract the coveted dolphin!
Sadly the actual toy was also a disappointing thing, much smaller and more colorless than it was on TV (and, again, the TV was black and white!). The dolphin came horrifyingly bisected in a little plastic bag and had to be assembled and filled up with sodium hydrogen carbonate (not included), an operation which involved my father and much muttering and forcing of poorly molded plastic injection joints.
We did not have a perfectly shaped transparent toy dolphin tank as pictured in the ad (not included) so the dolphin went into an opaque gray plastic mop bucket. It sank to the bottom and fell over on its side. We all stood there for a while as it was gradually wreathed in a milky cloud. Boring, boring time passed—five-year old 1979 time which I will never recover! About an hour later, the dolphin began to imperceptibly rise (according to my eagle-eyed mother) whereupon I raced off, and the dolphin was pushed into a corner. Later we looked at it—and it was floating at the top, on its side like a dead goldfish.
The bad toy was swiftly forgotten…except I have not forgotten it. I remember it more clearly than many of the awesome beautiful thoughtful toys I received later that day. It was a harbinger—and a warning.
Ninety-five percent of consumer products ARE the diving dolphin. They are cheaply made, poorly conceived and useless except for marketing/merchandising purposes. Most of what you are looking at on the web and on the news are diving dolphins. So is most of what politicians say. It was hard for me to recognize so much of human endeavor in a little plastic sack beneath the corn-syrup and artificial flavor, but I assure you it is so. Just put any of that junk in a bucket and watch it sink forlornly to the bottom…
Of course diving dolphins do not detract from the real things—happiness, friendship, good memories, family, and love. Not unless you let them.


text:
Last night, Revolt claimed that, in addition to new projects from Tyler, The Creator and Young Thug, next week would bring us Meek Mill's long-awaited Dreams Worth More Than Money.
Big Sean dropped his third studio album, Dark Sky Paradise, today, and as a result, he's doing an insane amount of promo for the album this week.
We've seen Diddy's Revolt TV brand all over the net since its inception last year, but it looks like the TV network itself is having trouble increasing its viewership.
Lil Twist, Kylie Jenner & Diddy's Son Christian Will Be Hosting His "Revolt" Television Network Oct 7, 2013 at 11:05am
As reported by TMZ, it looks like Diddy has enlisted Lil Twist, Kylie Jenner, and his son Christian as hosts of "Revolt", his new 24-hour music channel.
Diddy announces that his Revolt TV Network has finalized a national carriage deal with Time Warner Cable, making its launch in the Fall of 2013 one of the biggest in cable history. Peep the new visual for Diddy's Diddy "Born Dreamer (Vlog)" Video.
- Birdman's Instagram Hacked2,175 Views14 Comments
- Mac Miller's 3rd Studio Album Is Done3,950 Views50 Comments
- 'OVO' Air Jordan 10 Scheduled To Release This Weekend1,744 Views0 Comments
- PartyNextDoor's 5 Best Non-Album Tracks7,679 Views33 Comments
- K Camp Unveils Cover Art For "Only Way Is Up"2,321 Views14 Comments
- Stream Soulja Boy's "King Soulja 4"2,906 Views45 Comments
- #TBT: Fabolous' 2001-2005 Era4,735 Views19 Comments
- Tyga Says Eviction Lawsuit Is Fraudulent 5,364 Views35 Comments
- 5 Things We Want From Dr. Dre's "Straight Outta Compton" Soundtrack7,123 Views16 Comments
- Jordan Brand Loses Trademark Lawsuit Against Knock-Off Beijing Company4,145 Views0 Comments
- Next Chief Keef Hologram Benefit Concert To Broadcast In 3 Cities At Once4,890 Views14 Comments
- iHeart Radio Music Festival Taps Kanye West, The Weeknd, Lil Wayne & More5,590 Views8 Comments
- R. Kelly Announces "Buffet" Album Release Date3,804 Views22 Comments
- Is Earl Sweatshirt Changing His Rap Name?21,874 Views41 Comments
- The 5 Most Confusing Things Birdman Said In His Angie Martinez Interview69,651 Views87 Comments


text:
Image Unavailable
- Sorry, this item is not available in
- Image not available
- To view this video download Flash Player
|$56.24 & FREE Shipping. Details
CHOKING HAZARD -- Small parts. Not for children under 3 yrs.
Product Details
Would you like to give feedback on images?
Have purchased one for our granddaughters for Christmas. They enjoy making the angel sing and playing with the different pieces of the manger scene.Published 1 month ago by Rebecca
My niece is just over a year old, and we are looking forward to seeing how she reacts to Christmas this year. Read morePublished 2 months ago by Mark Baker - Carstairs Considers
This is perfect for toddlers. Our granddaughter has learned to put it together and we do not worry that she will break anything. Love the looks of the set. Read morePublished 2 months ago by Di Williams
wish it wasn't so pricey but that's the only complaint we have. my kids love playing with it and its nice to have a nativity they can touch in addition to the nicer ones we have... Read morePublished 2 months ago by Brandon Dean
I purchased this as a gift for my grand children and they were absolutely thrilled with it. They play with it year round.Published 2 months ago by Mary


text:
Hi, Would the NEX 7 do well for DSO astrophotography{globulars, and galaxies}? Are 15-30 single exposures realistic? I have a C14" on a CGEM-DX mount. Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks, Looking UP
The NEX-7's little built-in flash has a guide number of 6 (m, ISO100) which isn't exactly powerful, but still capable of reasonable range even with the kit zoom if you turn the ISO up a bit. Like the pop-up mechanisms on several other cameras of this type, you can pull the flash back and bounce it off a (low) ceiling for more flattering lighting, although you'll generally need to use high ISOs (1600 or more) to get a good exposure - and as this is distinctly an unadvertised 'feature', doing so is very much at your own risk.
If you use the flash often, you'll probably find that the NEX-7's default control setup infuriating - you have to dive into the menu to change flash mode or flash exposure compensation - and it makes sense to assign one or both of these functions to the soft keys. Unfortunately the NEX-7's built-in flash can't be used as a controller for off-camera wireless flash - a disappointing omission from such an expensive camera.
|The NEX-7's small built-in flash does a decent enough job, with well-judged exposure. Its slightly offset position relative to the lens does however mean that you can get fairly obvious shadowing to the left of your subject, as seen here.
The NEX-7 uses much the same approach to JPEG processing as we've seen from previous Sonys, which means a certain emphasis on smoothing away noise at the expense of fine, low contrast detail such as grass or hair. The upshot of this is that, just as we noted in our SLT-A77 review, the camera's JPEG output doesn't really show the full extent of the detail that can be captured by that 24MP sensor.
If you want to get the most detail out of the camera's JPEGs, then it's worth experimenting a little with the sharpening setting - turning this up to +1 or +2 can enhance the appearance of detail, although we'd probably steer clear of +3, which can show very obvious halo artefacts. However if you want to extract all of the detail that the sensor has captured, you'll still need to shoot RAW.
Naturally this all has to be placed in context - with the sheer size of the NEX-7's image files it only really matters if you normally view your images at 100% on-screen, print extremely large, or crop aggressively before printing.
|The 100% crops below show the effect of the JPEG sharpness setting on both halos around high-contrast edges (which become more pronounced as sharpness is increased), and low-contrast detail. As is often the case, careful sharpening of a RAW file generally yields the best results.
(ISO 100, E 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 OSS, 55mm F8)
|JPEG, Sharpening = 0 (default)
|JPEG, Sharpening +1
|JPEG, Sharpening +2
|JPEG, Sharpening +3
The Sony NEX-7 uses a newly developed 24MP CMOS sensor, shared with the SLT-A65 and SLT-A77. This follows on from the last-generation 16MP sensor which has impressed us greatly in the original SLT-A55, the NEX-5N and NEX-C3, and the Nikon D7000. A characteristic of these sensors is a low noise floor at low ISOs, which means you can lift shadow areas without running into objectionable noise levels.
The examples below compare the NEX-7 with the SLT-A77 and two enthusiast APS-C SLRs, the Canon EOS 7D and the Nikon D7000. The NEX-7 performs visibly better than the SLT-A77, due to the latter's light-sapping 'translucent' mirror. The Nikon D7000 (and by extension, other cameras such as the NEX-5N which share the same sensor) does a bit better at the pixel level, but for many uses this will be offset to a degree by the NEX-7's higher pixel count. Meanwhile the Canon EOS 7D lags somewhat behind in this particular comparison.
|Sony NEX-7 - ACR+3.0EV (ACR NR: 0)
|Sony SLT-A77 - ACR+3.0EV (ACR NR: 0)
|Nikon D7000 - ACR+3.0EV (ACR NR: 0)
|Canon EOS 7D - ACR+3.0EV (ACR NR: 0)
|Sony NEX-7 - ACR+3.0EV (ACR NR: 0) - 100% crops
|Sony SLT-A77 - ACR+3.0EV (ACR NR: 0) - 100% crops
|Nikon D7000 - ACR+3.0EV (ACR NR: 0) - 100% crops
|Canon EOS 7D - ACR+3.0EV (ACR NR: 0) - 100% crops
This might seem like extreme pixel-peeping of little practical consequence, but there are real-world photographic ramifications. If you shoot RAW it means that you can draw more detail from the shadow areas of the NEX-7's files than you might expect, without a huge noise penalty (remember the images above were converted from RAW files with Adobe Camera Raw NR turned off). If you shoot JPEGs, then you can take advantage of Sony's Dynamic Range Optimization (DRO) function confident that you won't give shadow noise an unpleasant boost.
The NEX-7's overall image quality is, on the whole, remarkably good. Indeed we'd go so far as to say that at its best it surpasses any other current APS-C camera, bar none. The 24MP sensor is capable of resolving immense amounts of detail (just as long as your lens is up to it), but at the same time its high ISO performance is a match for pretty well any APS-C SLR. The NEX-7 may be an expensive camera, but you'll need to spend a lot more money to get hold of a substantially better sensor.
Just as important, metering and exposure are generally accurate, and tend to err on the side of protecting highlights (which definitely counts as a good thing). The camera also offers the user enough cues to avoid exposure errors on those odd occasions when the metering has been fooled, with full-time exposure simulation and a live histogram that, while small, is a pretty good predictor of the final output. If you shoot JPEGs you can turn on Auto DRO and generally trust the camera to come up with a balanced image, holding highlight detail and boosting the shadows in a visually realistic fashion without excessive noise.
The NEX-7's auto white balance system on the whole does a decent job when left to its own devices, although it can often give too-cool renditions of subjects in shade. It's also reluctant to fully compensate for low colour temperature artificial light, often giving an unpleasantly strong orange cast (to be fair it's not alone in this regard). But again, one of the advantages of a fully-electronic finder system is that you can generally see very easily when it's getting things wrong, and compensate accordingly.
We have some reservations about Sony's JPEG processing, and its tendency to smooth away noise at the expense of detail even at low ISOs. The relatively-crude wide-radius sharpening also means that the finest low-contrast detail tends to be lost. With so many pixels to play with this can feel like nit-picking, but it's clear that there's a fair bit more detail in the RAW files than ends up in the JPEGs, no matter what you do with the Sharpness setting.
Perhaps the biggest question mark hanging over the NEX-7's image quality, though, is nothing to do with the sensor. Instead it's about how many of the native E-system lenses can provide sufficient cross-frame detail to make full use of all those pixels. The E 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 OSS kit zoom certainly struggles to keep up, giving visibly soft edges and corners at almost all settings. But again, this has to be placed in context - in terms of the overall detail captured, the NEX-7 will always match or exceed the NEX-5N when compared like-for-like. Overall though it's a camera that cries out for more top-quality native lenses than you can currently buy.
Sony NEX-7 24.3 MP Mirrorless Digital Camera
with 18-55mm Lens (Old Model)
Sony NEX-7 24.3 MP Mirrorless Digital Camera
with 18-55mm Lens (Old Model)
Sony NEX-5TL Mirrorless Digital Camera
with 16-50mm Power Zoom Lens
Focus Sony Alpha NEX-5T NEX-5TL/B Camera
with 16-50mm Lens Bundle + Sony SEL55210 55-210mm F4.5-6.3 Telephoto Lens + Sony 32GB SD Card + Sony Large Case + Additonal Battery for NP-FW50 + Tiffen 40.5mm and 49mm UV Protector Filters + Accessory Kit
Sony a7 Full-Frame Mirrorless Digital Camera - Body Only
Sony Alpha a6000 Mirrorless Digital Camera
with 16-50mm Power Zoom Lens
Sony Alpha NEX-7 Digital Camera Body
and E 18-55mm OSS Lens -Black with E 55-210mm Lens , 32GB Card , Battery , Telephoto , Wide-Angle Lenses , Case , Tripod and Accessory Kit
Sony Alpha NEX NEX5K/S Digital Camera
with Interchangeable Lens (Silver)
Sony NEX-5N 16.1 MP Compact Interchangeable Lens Touchscreen Camera
with 18-55mm Lens (Black)
Sony NEX-5N 16.1 MP Mirrorless Digital Camera
with Touchscreen - Body Only (Black)
Sony NEX-6/B Mirrorless Digital Camera
with 3-Inch LED - Body Only (Black)


text:
Caps waive Kundratek
Sep 25, 2013, 1:26 PM EDT
The Washington Capitals have placed defenseman Tomas Kundratek on waivers, according to the Washington Post.
Kundratek, 23, was caught up in a numbers game. The Caps have a glut of defensemen in the system — 10 remain on the active roster — and head coach Adam Oates suggested the team's financial situation played a role.
From the Post:
"We've got a lot of guys. Obviously it's a salary cap era, so there are factors involved," Oates said. "Talked to him this morning, he's a good hockey player. If he gets picked up, I hope he does well. If he doesn't, I hope we see him again."
Kundratek's departure removes his $550,000 salary cap hit from the Capitals cap equation, giving them a little more room to maneuver with now $1,215,705 in space, according to Capgeek, before accounting for the possibility of adding Tom Wilson or any other prospect.
A former third-round pick of the Rangers in 2008, Kundratek was acquired by Washington in 2011 and played a decent role for the Caps last year, scoring seven points in 25 games while averaging over 16 minutes a night.
Given he's only 23, has some good NHL experience and carries a pretty cheap contract, it's very possible Kundratek doesn't clear waivers and is scooped up by another team.
- jrocknstuff - Sep 25, 2013 at 2:00 PM
He's a serviceable young defenseman and he did a nice job filling in for us. I don't mind the move to drop him, but I do think he will find a home somewhere this year. I'm sure it will be a 2 way contract, so he may not open the season with the big club, where ever he signs on.
- withseidelinn - Sep 25, 2013 at 2:07 PM
- ibieiniid - Sep 25, 2013 at 2:18 PM
nah. Flyers are 4mil over the cap currently, with 9 d-men (including Pronger) signed. Kundratek could most likely find a home on an NHL team. I was really impressed with him jumping to the Caps last year…. plus he's cheap.
- ibieiniid - Sep 25, 2013 at 2:22 PM
"most likely" might be a bit overzealous. possibly is more like it.
- bmoreredfury311 - Sep 25, 2013 at 5:17 PM
Pronger is still on the Flyers pay roll, why wasn't he one of the buy outs?
- capsfanone - Sep 25, 2013 at 3:52 PM
I wish it were Hillen instead.
- ludacrish05 - Sep 25, 2013 at 4:50 PM
Hillen is our St Louis
Top Posts
- What does Jack Eichel mean to the Buffalo Sabres? 19
- It's Buffalo Sabres Day at PHT 30
- Bernier, Leafs agree on two-year, $8.3 million deal 26
- How do Voracek, Giroux compare to the most expensive duos? 62
- Voracek turns monster season into massive eight-year deal 71
- Report: Canucks, Sutter closing in on five-year deal, north of $20M 28
- Voynov serving sentence at jail that once advertised it had flat screen TVs 45
- Report: Bernier and Leafs more than $2 million apart ahead of Friday's arbitration hearing 12
- Flyers re-sign Couturier: six years, $26 million 41
- Benning calls Sutter a 'foundation piece' for Canucks 24
Most Commented
- Voracek turns monster season into massive eight-year deal (71)
- How do Voracek, Giroux compare to the most expensive duos? (62)
- Trade: Penguins send Sutter to Canucks for Bonino, Clendening (54)
- Voynov serving sentence at jail that once advertised it had flat screen TVs (45)
- Here's a chart that shows which teams have been good/bad at drafting (44)
- S. Couturier (1111)
- G. Bettman (1066)
- C. Wilson (1065)
- L. Couture (944)
- A. Chiasson (934)


text:
Bayern Munich left it late to end their three-match winless run in the Bundesliga by beating Eintracht Braunschweig 2-0 on Saturday.
Since being crowned league champions in record time last month, Pep Guardiola's men had drawn once and lost twice after previously going 53 unbeaten in the Bundesliga.
Rock-bottom Braunschweig provided stern opposition in the first half, but Bayern eventually found the breakthrough in the final 15 minutes thanks to goals from Claudio Pizarro and Mario Mandzukic at Eintracht-Stadion.
Jan Hochscheidt went close to putting the home side ahead with a 17th-minute header before Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg smashed over for the Bavarian giants.
Braunschweig troubled Bayern throughout the first half, but Bayern looked far superior after the break and Pizarro finally gave them the lead in the 75th minute before substitute Mandzukic made sure of the win 11 minutes later.
Bayern winger Arjen Robben challenged his team-mates in the build-up to end their recent poor form and boost confidence ahead of their upcoming UEFA Champions League semi-final clash against Real Madrid, and he nearly got them off to a great start.
With 13 minutes played, Franck Ribery latched on to a pass threaded in behind the Braunschweig defence before squaring to the Netherlands international, but Matthias Henn charged back to poke away with an open goal at Robben's mercy.
Braunschweig almost capitalised on that let-off four minutes later, but Hochscheidt headed Omar Elabdellaoui's right-wing cross just wide of the left-hand post.
After a somewhat laboured first 20 minutes, Bayern started to take control of proceedings and should have taken the lead just before the half-hour mark.
Guardiola's men did well to keep possession inside the Braunschweig area and Robben eventually cut a pass back to the edge of the box, only for Hojbjerg – making just his second Bundesliga start – to blaze a wild effort over.
Chances were at a premium at both ends at the start of the second half as Braunschweig crowded their defensive third.
Bayern did not muster a meaningful shot at goal until the 61st minute, when Daniel Davari in the home goal comfortably dealt with Hojbjerg's long-range attempt.
With the champions' creativity lacking in the centre, Philipp Lahm attempted to seize the initiative with 66 minutes played and his excellent cross was met by Jerome Boateng, who could only head wide
Bayern finally got themselves ahead when Pizarro pounced on Mario Gotze's clever pass into the area and the Peruvian emphatically blasted past Davari.
Mandzukic then added a second when he collected a long ball to coolly slot under the goalkeeper four minutes from time.
Defeat leaves Braunschweig bottom on 25 points with three games left as relegation looms, while Bayern will be relishing Wednesday's semi-final first-leg trip to Madrid.
|D. Davari
|M. Henn
|D. Dogan
|K. Reichel
|J. Hochscheidt
|N. Theuerkauf
|K. Kratz
|M. Boland
|O. Elabdellaoui
|D. Kruppke
|H. Nielsen
|Coach: T. Lieberknecht
|L. Raeder
|P. Lahm
|J. Boateng
|A. Robben
|B. Schweinsteiger
|F. Ribéry
|Javi Martínez
|M. Götze
|P. Højbjerg
|C. Pizarro
|Coach: Guardiola
for J. Hochscheidt 72'
for K. Kratz 73'
for D. Kruppke 83'
for A. Robben 73'
for F. Ribéry 73'
for P. Lahm 88'
|Marchisio expects Milan title challenge
|Rafael set for Lyon move
|Celtic ´seeking reassurances´ over Qarabag pitch
|Wenger beating Mourinho does not affect Chelsea - Zouma
|Rooney moved by Everton welcome
|Mancini not worried by lack of Inter goals
|Coloccini wants to finish career at Newcastle - McClaren
|Ramsey: Pressure to win trophies is nothing new
|Terry: Wembley defeat could be a ´blessing in disguise´
|Blatter not running for IOC re-election
|Bendtner: Wolfsburg can challenge Bayern for Bundesliga honours
|Liverpool relishing Britannia return, says Henderson
|Everton big enough to keep Stones - Martinez
|MLS Review: Fire stun Dallas as goals dry up
|New Atletico signings excite Raul Garcia
|Cahill expects Arsenal title challenge
|Jovetic happy with Inter debut
|Luis Enrique: Barca defence must improve
|Yanev calls for calm after ugly scenes in friendly
|Coppa Italia Review: Cittadella romp to victory, Brescia rely on penalties
|Arsenal have learned how to play against big teams - Ramsey
|Shawcross to visit specialist over back woe
|Fiorentina 2 Barcelona 1: Bernardeschi double sends Barca to another defeat
|Mancini hints at Melo interest
|Rodgers hails ´incredible´ Benteke strike
|Galatasary 1 Inter 0: Sneijder sinks former club
|Wenger defends Arsenal approach
|Wembley loss has no bearing on new season - Terry
|Porto cruise to friendly win over Stoke
|Mourinho denies Wenger ´snub´ suggestions
|Arsenal abandoned their philosophy to win Community Shield - Mourinho
|Mourinho throws Community Shield medal into Wembley crowd
|Swindon Town 1 Liverpool 2: Benteke nets stunner on debut
|Scottish Premiership Review: Hearts win thriller on top-flight return
|Ujah at the double as Bremen beat West Ham
|Mourinho: We were the better team
|Wenger hails defensive solidity
|Rooney returns as Villarreal spoil Ferguson´s party
|Rodriguez stunner earns Southampton draw as Caulker makes debut
|Arsenal 1 Chelsea 0: Case of 14th time lucky for Wenger against Mourinho
|Taechaubol announces Milan agreement
|Jojic fires Cologne to latest victory
|China 0 South Korea 2: Kim and Lee seal victory
|Origi getting up to speed
|Costa a doubt for start of season - Mourinho
|North Korea 2 Japan 1: Halilhodzic´s men spurn lead
|Allam brands FA ´amateurs´ as name-change row rumbles on
|Fournier ´worried´ by Lyon pre-season
|Swansea still working on Michu exit - Monk
|Neuer furious at Bayern Supercup defeat
|Wenger: Ozil signing not a mistake
|UEFA Champions League Preview: Shakhtar ready for Fenerbahce decider
|Lampard targets MLS play-offs for City
|MLS Review: Goals galore as DC United win 10-goal thriller
|Ronaldinho returns and helps Fluminense to win
|Keane: United won´t overtake Chelsea
|Casillas has the ´enthusiasm of a 20-year-old´ - Lopetegui
|Blanc hopeful over Ibrahimovic knee injury
|Guardiola laments late goal in Supercup defeat
|Tuchel plans to keep Bender
|Hecking happy with Wolfsburg discipline after Supercup win
|Arsenal players too interested in selfies and six-packs - Keane
|Confusion over Ibrahimovic´s PSG future
|Sporting Lisbon 2 Roma 0: Slimani, Mane inspire Portuguese hosts
|Rodgers feeling ready for new campaign
|Khedira to miss Supercoppa
|Paris Saint-Germain 2 Lyon 0: Aurier and Cavani seal more silverware
|Wolfsburg 1 Bayern Munich 1 (5-4 on penalties): Super-sub Bendtner nicks it for Pokal champions
|Lampard´s long-awaited New York City debut ends in defeat
|Casillas the spot-kick hero for Porto
|Monk bullish ahead of season opener at champions
|Marseille 2-0 Juventus: Night to forget for Serie A champions
|Swansea end pre-season with yet another draw
|HJK 0 Liverpool 2: Origi and Coutinho on target
|Juventus rocked by Khedira injury scare
|Lens and Pantilimon star as Sunderland beat Hannover
|Pardew hopeful of concluding Wickham deal
|Martinez allays Lukaku fears
|Stuttgart 4 Manchester City 2: Cause for concern for Pellegrini
|Wasteful Bournemouth held by Hoffenheim
|Jerome seals Norwich win
|Souare´s first goal ensures Palace draw
|Sinclair hits hat-trick in Villa draw
|Leicester end pre-season with thrilling Birmingham win
|Wood and Mowatt condemn Everton to friendly defeat
|Coloccini not involved as Newcastle lose to Gladbach
|Borussia Dortmund 2 Real Betis 0: Ramos scores on return from injury
|Stoke lose to Cologne on Afellay debut
|Norwich capture goalkeeper Kean
|Jovetic hits out at Pellegrini following City exit
|Jones backing new boys to spark United revival
|Scottish Premiership Review: Celtic up and running, Dundee hammer Kilmarnock
|Can keen to learn from Milner
|Immobile on the mend following friendly scare
|Sagan Tosu 1 Atletico Madrid 1 (1-4 on penalties): Simeone´s men need spot-kicks
|Cahill: Big-spending rivals will make title race tougher
|Roberto happy to play full-back for Barca
|Gestede eager to make his mark at Villa
|I want to play more and score more - Remy
|Lambert influence important, says Pulis
|Benteke a ´bargain´ buy - Rodgers
|Zola: Qatar would be ideal for Balotelli, Cassano
|Suarez: I´m not among world´s best
|PSG ready despite ´chaotic´ pre-season - Blanc
|Arsenal thumping still hurts - Fournier
|Aubameyang targets Champions League success
|Rooney set for Everton return
|Cech can match Van der Sar - Wenger
|Mourinho ponders Wenger´s losing record against him
|CBF confirm Fred failed a doping test