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Wallowing Slime for Brain EatersThursday, May 22nd, 2008
The following interview was published in MAXIMUMROCKNROLL #300.
DB: Dave Blakeslee, TG: Timothy Gallaher. Interview conducted and edited by Ry Wharton in March, 2008.
First off, could you give a bit of history about the band, for those who haven't read MRR #1?
DB: I first met Tim and Bruce when we were all enrolled in a creative writing class at DVC. I think that's mentioned in the MRR article where I got mocked for wearing red pants. I had bought a guitar a year or two before that and spent time figuring out how to play it in my bedroom. Bruce played keyboards and we got together so that he could help me learn a bit of music. That led to a band called the Maroons, with Bruce on organ, me on guitar, a girl named Ba Powell on bass, and Tim on a real small and crummy drum kit. Tim knew Eric Lundmark through Bruce, I think. Bruce and Eric were from Concord, Tim and I were from Walnut Creek. That right there accounts for the creative tensions and irreconcilable differences within the band, a cultural rift which ultimately sealed our doom.
TG: Church Police formed out of an earlier band Dave, Bruce, and I were in called the Maroons. I met Bruce when we were at Diabolo Valley College in Pleasant Hill. He got a ride to a Dead Kennedys show with some friends of mine. He was the first person I met who was also in to the scene. I met Dave through Bruce. Eventually we put a band together. I bought a drum set and became the drummer. Bruce played piano and had a farfisa organ. The organ sound drove the band and Bruce wrote goofy type songs with bouncy melodies and fun lyrics, like one song about Ed Babar, "the greatest salesman alive," as Bruce labeled him in the song. He owned furniture stores and always was on TV with his commercials. Another great Bruce song was "She Likes the Oatmeal" about Laurie Bailey, who played guitar in Animal Things, and how she liked oatmeal. We played a show somehow at lunch period at a High School in Concord, California. We got in to the first song and the kids went crazy. They began screaming and yelling and throwing their food at the stage. I was sitting there playing drums and those 8 Oz milk cartons were flying by my head like in slow motion. The reason they went crazy was simply because of our looks and the whole idea of a punk rock band being there. We were doing the Peter Gunn theme so it certainly wasn't because of any radical music. It's hard to imagine now, but back in 1980, simply not having long hair on a guy was radical and threatening to a lot of people. Needless to say we were shut down after the first song. The kids were still all riled up, yelling and screaming, so I went to the front of the stage and picked up an apple slice from the stage. It was clean and pristine so I picked it up and held it up very clearly, all eyes on this, and slowly brought it to my mouth and took a bite. The audience went wild, screaming, "he ate it!". It was funny because it was all empty shock value. There was nothing wrong with the apple slice, it wasn't dirty and wasn't going to hurt me but I knew they'd freak out and they did. After the show met up with Mark Hosler, who later made Negativland, who was a senior at this high school and whom I'd known when, but not seen since, we both went to Bible study at the Presbyterian church in Walnut Creek.
We put on another show, Bruce and I, that was bigger and better. We called it Maybe Contra Costa after the "No New York compilation". This was probably the first punk rock type show put on in the area. We were pretty young, I was 19, Bruce was 18. We got use of a hall at the Unitarian church in Walnut Creek. Bruce had an old station wagon and we went and rented a PA from a local music center.
After this show I said I wanted to start a band and call it Church Police and be the singer. Eric Lundmark said he'd be in the band and play drums. Eric was only sixteen and still in high school. He lived in the same neighborhood as Bruce, so that's how they knew each other. Dave said he'd play guitar and Bruce bought a bass and was able to use his same amp and speaker he used for the organ. Eric played my drum set.
DB: Tim and Eric got together one day and wrote a bunch of lyrics. I guess they get ultimate credit for starting the band. They chose the name "Church Police" which came from a Monty Python skit. Either that same day or the next, they came over to my dad's house in Walnut Creek where The Maroons would hang out and practice in the cellar, this dank little underground cavern which provided decent sound insulation. This was 1980 when there was no punk scene even imaginable in Contra Costa County suburbia. The sounds we were making were very alien to that environment at the time.
Tim and Eric showed me their lyrics so we went down into the cellar and I banged out some very elemental riffs on my guitar. Eric played the drums and Tim sang. Our first bass player was also named Dave, he was Eric's friend. I think the songs we created that day account for about 75% of the material that the Church Police ever performed. Songs like "The Oven Is My Friend," "Life Is Fun," "Robots," "Gourmet Cooking," "Rock and Roll Bank Account," "Holidays" and "Church Attack" were all pretty much the work of a fall afternoon. We added a few other songs later, but it was mostly one burst of creativity that set us in motion.
TG: We started playing at Sound of Music, which still had a downstairs dressing room in the back that had lockers and wigs and dresses. They'd put on transvestite shows before they started booking punk bands. This was summer 1980. We were all under 20 still and not even old enough to legally be in the Sound of Music.
You made several recordings, but no records were released. What happened to the band?
TG: We made a very early recording at DVC. It had a number of songs, including "Robots", "Bag of Lumps", and "Jarhead". This was passed around among the scenesters, so people knew us from that. Back then the Mabuhay put out a schedule on a flyer that also had the Rotten Top Ten which were the top ten punk or underground records played at KUSF. We made the top ten with "Bag of Lumps" from this tape. Back then it was not easy to put out a record, but tapes were made and played.
DB: We did an early demo at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill where our instruments were plugged directly into the mixing board - no amps. Only the drums were mic'ed. It made for a weird and unrepresentative sound but that resulted in the tape that made its way to Bruce Loose and led to us having our short moment in the spotlight in the SF punk scene circa 1981-82.
There were a few shows that got recorded and also a few practices caught on cassette. If those tapes exist, Bruce would be the guy who has them.
TG: Bruce Gauld did a lot of tape making and he did great dubs as well. He'd take our songs and dub them up. He was into dub at the time as one of his influences. Bruce Gauld and Bruce Loose always had their tapes. Bruce Loose had this tape he'd play all the time of a skip on some old funk record where it skipped and played the same funk groove over and over with the one lyric "'ollywood….'ollywood…" over and over. Bruce Gauld was inspired to get the same record and played it, and amazingly it skipped at the exact same place. There was all sorts of creative stuff going on with regard to recordings and the like that set the stage for sampling and so much of what is done routinely now.
We did the MRR compilation. We used money we made at a gig to buy time at Bay Sounds in Oakland and record a bunch of songs. Kevin Kvarme was a great friend. He was a couple years older so had been around a bit more. He wanted to go in to producing and he produced us. He calls himself Kevin Army, and from what I've seen he produced a lot of bands and engineered some of the Green Day stuff.
DB: We were just too inept and couldn't get our act together. We did the one studio session at Bay Sound that has served us well for the number of records we've gotten out of it, I guess. But we never had much money, our equipment was usually in shambles and there was no managerial figure or anyone else to oversee us and get something organized. By the end of 1982, relationships between Bruce and the other three of us deteriorated and my personal living situation in San Francisco fell apart. Not only that, I was going through a bit of a psychic meltdown - too many drugs, the death of one of my best friends and other internal personal conflicts, I'll just leave it at that. So I came to the end of my pursuit, my fantasy really, of being a full-time rocker.
TG: If we'd kept going we would have put out stuff – probably on SST or some like label. What happened to end the band was that Dave and his Dad decided to take a boat trip around the world on his Dad's yacht. There were no plans for the band to end. When Dave got back after a few months we'd start up again. But something happened and they couldn't get past Mexico and Dave took off and hitchhiked back to his Mom's in Michigan and decided to stay there. That was that. We could have and maybe should have gone on with another guitarist, but we didn't. I seldom saw Bruce or Eric. I decided to go to college and went down to Santa Cruz, so I moved away and that pretty much caused me to lose touch with the scene.
DB: Basically, the whole thing was just too unstable and chaotic. I think the actual break-up happened one evening when Bruce told us that he was no longer willing to drive our equipment around to shows. That was pretty much the deal-breaker right there - it just didn't seem like any of us were willing or able to keep it going. We were having a hell of a time finding a rehearsal space - I remember looking at some abandoned beer vats where a bunch of punk kids were living and hanging out but nothing came of that. Bruce's decision messed things up because it was our most reliable way to get our amps and drums from the suburbs to the city. I also think he was tired of the screw-ups that the rest of us had become and his musical tastes were moving in other directions too.
Most people know the name Church Police from "The Oven is My Friend", a standout on the heavily stacked Not So Quiet on the Western Front compilation. How did that come about? It was fairly well distributed at the time– What kind of response did you receive? Have you heard the Sebadoh cover of the song?
TG: Western Front came about because they asked us. We did the recordings and they wanted "Oven is My Friend" on it. After the record came out, we did a show at On Broadway and a teenage kid came up afterward and asked, why didn't you do "Oven is My Friend". I really hadn't thought about that one way or the other. But it was interesting: After there is a recording out there, people may come to a show to hear that song they like. And be disappointed if it isn't played.
Biafra only sent one royalty check ever as well and owes all of us money I am sure.
DB: I like that recording because it is all just one take of us playing live going right onto the tape, no overdubs, just Kevin tweaking knobs, dropping instruments in and out right on the fly, which I think made the recording more interesting than if it had just been played straight. We did each song only once. It was practically like having a live show recorded because we only had like one hour or so of studio time. It was like, rush in, set up, plug in, play, then get the hell out of there before the meter flipped over to charge us an extra dollar. I had to use a really cheap crappy pawn shop guitar because my good one had been stolen when I lived upstairs from Big Al's strip club on Broadway. (One of several sad stories I could relate from the time I spent living in The City while trying to make it in the music biz.) Which explains the horrendous feedback and gnarly texture of my guitar sound. Plus I recall being more drunk than I should have been. But that's what it is!
Tim's lyrics were demented… you'll have to ask him about the inspiration for that. But yeah, I think as a "signature tune" goes, I'm good with it. I thought from the first time I heard "Not So Quiet" that our track stood out just because it was different from most everything else on the comp - loose, sloppy, funny without necessarily trying to be. A perfect capture of the mutations taking place at the time out in shopping mall territory.
TG: I never heard Sebadoh's cover. I never heard of Sebadoh until someone told about their cover of our song. About 10 years ago, maybe more, I was working in a large lab and one of the senior scientists liked to go see shows at clubs in Hollywood. Over all these years I have had little contact with any scene, not gone to see shows, but I will still look and see who's playing. I saw that Sebadoh had just played Hollywood so I asked this guy, "hey, did you go see Sebadoh?". "Yes," he said, very enthusiastically. "That was the greatest show I've ever seen!". He really liked these guys. I asked if he knew that song "Oven is My Friend" by them. He said, yes. I said, "I wrote that song". He says, "Oh yeah, I like that song too, that's a great song". I said, "No. I wrote that song." Finally it sunk in, "you wrote that song?" I don't think he believed me.
DB: I've really enjoyed the occasional random connection that I have with Church Police fans from places far away from the SF Bay Area. But I think Sebadoh kind of messed up their version. It struck me as too histrionic - like the guy overdid the screaming part or something. I wouldn't mind getting a piece of that royalty check, now that you mention it.
I noticed you had put a copy of the interview from MRR #1 online. How does it feel to read an interview with yourself from 25 or so years ago? Are you surprised that MRR is still published?
TG: It is strange to read such an old interview but it also brings back memories.
DB: I have a lot of old journals and crap that I wrote from that time so that part of my life is pretty well documented for my own recollections. But it's a different kind of memory trigger when your words are in print in an old magazine.
TG: I never thought about MRR much, but somehow it seems natural for it to be still there. I see it still and still look. Much I have no interest in, but there was an interview with Penelope Houston not too long ago and an update on the Lewd. That reminded me of Chris, their drummer with the cool 50's wagon who was a great joi de vivre type guy.
I think MRR found a niche and stayed there. That's its strength and why it is still there. There's always kids coming up who will be interested in it. It's still the exact same as before after 25 years. But again, that's why it has lasted. It does bug me that it's not on the web. I missed the issue that reviewed our recent release on Skulltones. I'd like to look it up and read it on the web, but they don't do that.
MRR kept me informed to some degree about the old scene I'd left and sadly, it was through MRR that I heard about Will Shatter's death. I was really shocked and sad to see his obituary in MRR which was the first I'd heard way back in '87.
And in MRR, I always like to see my old buddy Ray Lujan's name. Ray was a great friend and a great guy. Hi Ray – long time no see.
DB: To be honest, I haven't read many issues since those few that we were featured in. I respect their perseverance and what they've accomplished. I think the punk community has grown into an institution and the magazine meets the needs and interests of a vibrant community. I think I still retain a fair amount of the punk mindset even though my presentation is a lot more conventional and middle-class.
How did your plans to be a bum work out?
DB: Well I did actually hitchhike from LA to Houston in the aftermath of my failed sailing trip in early 1983, so I can cross that ambition off my list. But after a couple months of that, I settled down and went straight. I'm a father of four, a social worker by profession, married for over 23 years, got a house and two cats and a respectable standing in society. But I still nurture my inner bum when others aren't looking.
Your sound definitely shows the influence of Flipper, and I know you played with them quite a bit. Was the comparatively slug like pace of both bands warmly received amidst your faster contemporaries? Did you go over better with more a open-minded audience, say at the Throbbing Gristle gig you played? What other bands did you consider like-minded contemporaries?
TG: We just played like we played. There was no overt attempt to sound like Flipper or any band. Not all our songs were necessarily all that slow. And, even punk bands weren't that fast. Avengers, Sex Pistols, and Black Flag for example didn't start out playing a million miles a minute like what happened later.
DB: I honestly think that we should not be seen as being derivative of Flipper's sound - we had our sound before we'd ever seen them perform. In fact, the first night that Bruce Loose came out and danced around and made a big scene at one of our early Sound of Music shows, I didn't even know who he was, but I just noticed some dude in the audience was really getting into our music. It wasn't until after the show that Tim told me who that dude was. I think that Flipper and us had similar influences, and I think they were better at what they did than we were. We both liked Public Image Ltd. and seeing Flipper open for them at some south-of-Market warehouse was my first Flipper show, though I wasn't particularly impressed by them at the time and I think that was even before I was in a band.
TG: I would not agree with the premise that a Throbbing Gristle audience would be more open minded. I don't know how we came across. I remember one industrial geek arty type guy at the very front looking at me like, "what are you doing here?" A very curious look. And of course, if the audience was an arty audience like this I'd play up rock and roll. At the Kezar show I kept yelling, "rock n roll!!" just because it seemed that would bug that audience and made sure we played our rock song, a cover of Black Sabbath's "Killing Myself to Live" (which was more of our own variation on it than a cover. In fact I still haven't ever heard the Black Sabbath version).
DB: I know we pissed off a lot of the weekend warrior, "let's party in the City" trendy types. Which is what I considered most of the crowds to consist of when we played the clubs on Broadway. It's hard to get your girlfriend drunk and in the mood when a bunch of suburban teenage misfits are blasting your eardrums with atonal feedback chaos and sonic explosions from a dislodged reverb coil! The SoM crowds and kids at the other assorted odd gigs we played were just art weirdos like us who probably took the whole thing for granted.
TG: Playing more loud and slow was associated with the Pet Rock thing. Pet Rock is not a joke and if it was, it wouldn't be funny, was the initial line disseminated about it. There was a lot of factionalization of Pet Rock side and the emerging hardcore side. The arty side was a little separate from both. Will Shatter said something well when he said that they were "trying to do artistic things without being an art band", which was apt. Flipper definitely were not an art band and came out of the punk rock scene and that was the association. Same with us. We were not an art band. But we were in a way. In San Francisco the scene started with all sorts of bands together. Shows would have Tuxedomoon playing with the Mutants and Avengers and DOA. It just all went together.
DB: I liked PiL's percussive style of guitar playing and the heavy bass and drums. I liked the early Gang of Four sound (Entertainment!) Wire's Pink Flag was in that mix of influences too. Don't get me wrong, I loved Flipper once I got more into the S.F. club scene and really enjoyed their shows and the massiveness of their sound, but I don't think it was really a copycat thing on my part at all. At least, I could never approximate what Ted did on the guitar, in my opinion.
Animal Things were the first local Bay Area band that I got to know and love, and they helped connect us to Flipper. Peter Accident and Gaga Din were other Contra Costa bands that we hung out with. Pariah, Ray Lujan's band. They had nice equipment that their parents bought them. There was a guy named Dave Jones who stood by us and helped us a lot. He had a short-lived band called the Wild Boys but I don't think they ever did anything. A band from New York named Arsenal, we got along pretty well with them for awhile. And I have to mention my friends Joe Nitzberg and Julie and Joyce Jackson. They were suburbanite kids who formed a goofy little band called Yawn Moan Sigh. A fun and funny bunch. I'd love to reconnect with them.
I've been to Walnut Creek and some of the surrounding areas, and it certainly feels removed from San Francisco and even Berkeley and Oakland. Do you feel this isolation from the city was essential to the sound and ideas behind Church Police?
TG: It was removed and isolated but not hugely so. And to answer your question, yes it was a component, but not consciously. You are who you are. And there was an East Bay connection. I remember getting on BART in Pleasant Hill and there was Biafra and Theresa. All one had to do was take BART or drive over to be in the city. And Dave lived there for most of the band's existence.
DB: Yeah, I think our overt suburbanness made us distinctive from other bands, especially at that time. We never really tried to fit into any of the stylistic templates of the era - no "uniforms" or punk haircuts or anything like that. Our look was kind of a proto-grunge I suppose… flannel shirts and jeans, tennis shoes. Tim would wear khakis more than jeans though. What came through our music and live shows was a fair amount of anger lashing itself out at the world - we liked having crazy fun and breaking the boundaries of what entertainment was supposed to be about at our gigs, but it's hard to deny that we were directing a lot of hostility toward our audience, sometimes toward the other bands on the bill (just about any band who seemed too serious about trying to "make it") and especially the club managers who exploited the bands but were vital to giving us our creative outlet.
Lyrically the Church Police material I have heard seems to veer from abstract to the mundane, and I'm curious how much of this was premeditated. The MRR #1 interview and your journal bits hint at your (Dave and Tim) literary aspirations (both producing and consuming). Where were you coming from at the time? You seem to have sidestepped blatant political posturing of many hardcore bands from the same era- was this a conscious decision?
TG: There was no conscious decision to write any sort of lyrics. I wrote whatever I thought of. Eric and I wrote "Oven is My Friend" together and it was funny. It came from another song we were writing called "Holidays" about how Holidays are stupid. It had lines like, "holidays are for slime wallowing brain eaters" and Christmas is "a trick on the poor by the Sears Corporation" and "Santa buys dust with the money he makes" which is funny for two reasons: One, Santa is smoking angel dust. But more so, he makes money off Christmas. "Oven is My Friend" came from a line I was going to put in that song about how people who celebrate holidays should go lick the oven. So I took it and made it its own song. Eric and I traded off lines and laughed.
DB: I didn't write too many lyrics except for a couple of our later songs which never got recorded. Tim and I were both interested in literary counter-culture - Kerouac, Burroughs, surrealism, Joyce, the Song of Maldoror, Philip K. Dick, Robert Anton Wilson, Timothy Leary, stuff like that. In some ways we were probably too clever for our own good… we bit off more than we could chew in a sense. I didn't feel like I had the grand political statement to give or the right to give it in any case.
TG: I was very interested back then in literature and other art. I was a big Kerouac fan, and James Joyce and Henry Miller. And I liked surrealism. Bunuel was one of my heroes. I liked Jarry's Ubu Roi and other such things. City Lights was right down the street from the Mabuhay and from where Dave worked and I hung out there a lot and got to get a lot of things there.
Looking back on the band and the northern California do-it-yourself scene that you were a part of, how has it affected where you are in 2008? Are you still playing music or writing at all?
TG: I think everyone who was involved in this scene at the time was affected by it for life. It was an amazing unique time, and this is apparent more now than it was then. Just the impact and the influence of what we were doing then has permeated society in all sorts of ways. Not just music or entertainment, but everything in what is now mainstream society – for good and bad.
After the Church Police I went to Santa Cruz for school and in grad school there I did play in another band. I played bass in a band called Jimmy Jesus. We played some gigs but it was nothing like Church Police or the scene of that time.
DB: No, I don't do music, mainly due to lack of talent. There are other things I do much better. I keep a blog and maintain an email list that discusses religion, politics and cultural stuff. I get involved in some local political and social activism. I'm part of a group that produces a local public access TV show each month. I work with kids who've been abused and neglected, trying to help them stay out of trouble, work through their problems and get back on track again. That's something I feel good about doing with my life.
A few years ago two of my sons had some interest in starting a band but didn't stick much with it. I fiddled around with their guitar, but I don't feel the same fire to want to make music that I did in my teens. Back then it offered a hope and a direction to focus myself… sort of. Now I have plenty of other stuff to do that keeps me busy and I'm OK with that. I wish we could have kept the band together a bit longer, or at least that we would have made better use of the time when we were together. But it's not like I'm gnawing at the emptiness within because I got out of the music game before I could make it really pay off for me. It's a satisfying part of my personal story and history, and with the recent release of some of our old recordings, and prospects of maybe some more on the way in the near future, I don't feel like it's completely done and over with either. I would even be open to reuniting the band for some kind of show or recording or just the experience of it if we could work out the logistics. But it might just be a daydream. I'm okay with it either way.
TG: I don't play anything now but wish all the time I could. I really wish I had continued on in the music scene. But at the same time I really like what I ended up doing as well. But the scene was not only vibrant and creative; along with it was a very self destructive side. Will Shatter died. I read about the troubles one of the Kirkwood brothers had and how its amazing he didn't end up dead.
But I'd love to do music again. Any guitarists out there want to back an old punk rock singer, let me know.
More information, flyers, photos, and words from the Church Police can be found here. Dave has posted his unedited answers online as well.


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Israel News - Stay Informed, Pray Informed
The world turned its back on the Jews of Europe during the Nazi Holocaust. Many of those who miraculously survived became a part of a reborn Jewish state. But the ghosts of their horrific past linger, and far too many are living out their last days in poverty and loneliness.
Israel Today is proud to be among those providing physical aid, as well as emotional and spiritual comfort, to Israel's Holocaust survivors.
But, we need your help!
How special it is to inform these precious souls that it is thanks to the kind donations of Christians that we are able to provide aid and comfort, when so many of them have been left scarred by their treatment at the hands of supposedly "Christian" nations.
We'll supply a Holocaust survivor with several gift coupons that can be cashed in a number of Israeli supermarkets.
Visiting Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem often leads to emotional and unexpected encounters.
We recently received a report of an experience as such. A young woman from the United States shared with us her impressions on a tour of Yad Vashem, and her own personal feelings. At the end she had a very special encounter with a Jewish woman. A small excerpt of her experience is posted here:
"We proceeded into the museum complex. The rooms were in chronological order, beginning with the seeds sown for anti-Semitism such as newspaper clippings of cartoons mocking Jews. At every turn I made in the Z shaped rooms, I was met with displays of family portraits, beautiful families, with a description about their lives, occupations, children's ages and then date when they were murdered at a death camp.
As I turned away, I literally stumbled onto a reconstructed brick road. It was pulling me into the horror. I tried to swallow my pain as my heart felt like it was swelling with grief. There was a video playing in every section. Old women and men were telling the stories of how they escaped or hid as they listened helplessly to the cries of their mothers, brothers, and sisters who were taken away – never to return or be seen again.
A Nazi officer's room was set up with a desk, typewriter, and other furniture, demonstrating how if would feel to approach him and be questioned, not knowing whether your fate from this awful interview would be life or death."
You can read the detailed version of this woman's extraordinary encounter and reconciliation in our Israel Today April 2013 issue.
If you want to ease the plight of the few remaining Holocaust survivors in Israel, click here!


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"The Wolves are honored to be presented with the 2012 Community Service Award," said Wolves president MIKE GORDON. "There are lot of AHL teams doing great things within their communities and to be recognized as a leader is a tribute to our staff. The Chicago Wolves take a lot of pride in our community efforts and we feel it is one of the defining aspects of the organization. From our Adopt-a-Dog program -- which reached the 1,000 dogs adopted mark this past season -- to our health awareness and cancer prevention initiatives, the Chicago Wolves organization is happy to continue to make a difference in the lives of Chicagoans for over 18 years."
The Wolves community relations efforts are led by senior vice president of operations Courtney Mahoney and aided by community relations coordinator Becky Jarosch. Since Mahoney moved into the leadership role for community relations prior to the 1997-98 season, she has spearheaded some of the club's most successful community endeavors, including the Read to Succeed and Adopt-A-Dog programs. Under her supervision, more than $4 million has been raised for Chicago Wolves Charities.
This is the first time the organization as a whole has been honored by the AHL for its community endeavors. Four players have been recognized for their commitment to the Chicagoland community during the team's 18-year existence. Former defenseman Kurtis Foster was named the 2004 AHL Man of the Year, while forwards Tim Breslin (1997), Chris Marinucci (1999), and goaltender Wendell Young (2001), now the Wolves general manager, all garnered Man of the Year honors during the team's International Hockey League era.
For information on season tickets or group outings for the 2012-13 season, call 1-800-THE-WOLVES or visit chicagowolves.com.


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Thursday, May 23, 2013
Ingredients and Preparation
Roma tomatoes
6 (or 3 large regular tomatoes)
Onion, finely chopped
½ medium
Garlic clove, finely minced
Serrano or jalapeno peppers, finely chopped
Cilantro, chopped
3 tablespoons
Oregano, finely crushed
1/8 teaspoon
1/8 teaspoon
1/8 teaspoon
Avocado (black skin), diced
Juice of 1 lime
1. Directions
2. Combine all of the ingredients in a glass bowl.
3. Serve immediately or refrigerate and serve within 4 to 5 hours.
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San Diego, CA (Sports Network) - Cory Luebke tossed eight shutout innings and outdueled Roy Halladay as the San Diego Padres snapped the Philadelphia Phillies' 13-game winning streak at PETCO Park with a 5-1 win on Saturday.
Luebke (2-1) allowed just two hits and walked two while striking out five for the Padres, who snapped a four-game skid.
Yonder Alonso drove in a run and scored, while Orlando Hudson smacked an RBI triple when San Diego blew the game open in the eighth.
"A good win like this off somebody like Doc (Halladay) maybe turns things around for us," Luebke said.
Halladay (3-1) labored through seven innings and allowed two runs on five hits and four walks for the Phillies, who have scored two runs or less in nine of 15 games this season.
"He pitched good enough to win the game, he can't throw shutouts every time," Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel said of Halladay's outing.
Halladay was unusually wild in the home second. After he struck out Nick Hundley, he walked the bases loaded, but then got some help from Freddy Galvis at second base to save a run.
Hudson slapped one through the hole on the right side, but Galvis ranged far to his left and threw him out from his backside, limiting the Padres to just a run on the play.
San Diego plated a two-out run in its half of the third. Chase Headley and Hundley reached with a pair of singles and Alonso sliced an opposite field double into the left-field corner for a 2-0 Padres advantage.
The Padres added three two-out insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth. Cameron Maybin walked and Jason Bartlett slapped a double down the third-base line to bring him home. Hudson lined a triple into the right-center field gap to plate Bartlett and pinch-hitter Jesus Guzman singled up the middle to score Hudson, giving San Diego a 5-0 lead.
Ty Wiggington had an RBI double in the ninth to conclude the scoring.
Halladay was seeking his second 4-0 start in three years. He was 3-0 with a 1.90 ERA in three starts coming in against San Diego...Philadelphia last lost at PETCO Park on Aug. 16, 2008 and is 24-5 since the ballpark opened in 2004...The Phillies placed left-handed pitcher Cliff Lee on the 15-day disabled list with a left oblique strain.


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Classic Croissants, Set of 15
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Master pastry chef Jean-Yves Charon crafts our croissants in the traditional French style, using his buttery, award-winning puff pastry, cutting and shaping the pastries by hand. Shipped frozen, they are easy to prepare—just let rise overnight and then bake. The croissants emerge from the oven with flaky, golden-brown exteriors, delicate interiors and an irresistible buttery aroma. There's no simpler way to bring a taste of France to the breakfast table.
- 15 croissants; 2 lb. 13 oz. total.
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Year-round calendar prompts furor from many local parents
SANFORD — At its monthly meeting on Dec. 11, the Lee County Board of Education announced a radical proposal to put every single student in Lee County from grades pre-K to 8 in year-round classes starting in July of 2013.
Many parents have been less than pleased.
"Do not make us bow down to what they want," local parent Charlotte Johns said in reference to the proposal from Lee County Schools' Calendar Committee, which the school board will most likely vote on in January. "... When you force people to do something, they are going to push back, and it's not going to be pretty."
Johns is one of the people who have called or emailed The Herald in the days since the proposed change was announced, although she was one of few who agreed to speak on the record — others cited fear of retribution from school employees or fellow parents in their wish to stay anonymous.
Pros and cons
Johns said she has no problem with year-round classes being available, or with the people who teach at or send their children to year-round schools. Her issue, she said, would be the lack of an option for parents who want to send their children to a school with a traditional calendar.
Currently, options do exist. Traditional calendars are in use at every elementary school in the county except Tramway Elementary School, which operates on a year-round schedule and is open to anyone in Lee County. Students are in class for nine weeks, then have three weeks of vacation, repeating that pattern until all four nine-week sessions are completed. Summer vacation lasts four weeks instead of eight.
There was talk several years ago of starting a year-round middle school, but after a survey of 1,263 parents of rising middle school students in 2010 found 36.4 percent in favor, the idea never took off.
Tramway, however, has been quite popular. Despite relying entirely on voluntary applicants and only offering bus service to part of the county, it had 692 students last year when the district average for elementary schools was 578. It has also demonstrated academic success well above what other local schools have achieved.
Last year, 80.2 percent of Tramway's third, fourth and fifth graders could read at or above grade level, compared to a countywide rate of 67.8 percent. The school also had 89.8 percent of students at grade level for math, compared to 82.2 percent across the district.
In a story published in The Herald earlier this year, employees from both Tramway and the district office attributed that success directly to its non-traditional calendar, which they said helps improve retention by not giving students a long enough summer break to forget the previous year's lessons. Educators said they could cover more subject matter since the first several weeks of class didn't have to be spent re-teaching old material.
But Johns and other parents said the potential pitfalls of switching every elementary and middle school to a year-round schedule — the redistricting of elementary schools, teachers losing the ability to take summer jobs, more parents needing childcare services, and summer vacations disrupted or stopped, to name just a few of their concerns — outweigh the potential benefits.
Reluctant to redistrict
Even at least one Tramway parent is against the proposed changes.
Martha Bursey, who has two daughters at the school, said she loves the year-round calendar but feels for the teachers and parents who have already paid for summer vacations who can't get that money back if the recommendation passes, or who take long trips or trips at specific times, like for family reunions, which might no longer be possible.
For her, though, the main concern is redistricting — which hasn't occurred at the elementary level in seven years, before any current students were in school.
If all elementary schools were to switch to the same calendar, Tramway would no longer need to be open to all families in the county. Children in the area could be taken from their current schools and be put into Tramway, and current students could be taken out and sent closer to home.
Sharon Spence, public information officer for the school district, said there's no chance for students to be grandfathered in at their current schools because the elementary schools are already overcrowded as is.
Bursey said she worries about the effect of changing schools on her children and other young students.
"I have a child in third grade," she said. "She's 8 years old. She's spent half her life at that school."
Tough change
Johns didn't mention redistricting as one of the reasons she opposes the recommendation that will be discussed during and before the school board's Jan. 8 meeting, although she did speak at length about the effect the changes might have on extracurricular activities, especially her children's involvement in the Boy Scouts of America, which generally schedules major trips and camps during the summer.
She said she has already paid for two summer camps in late July, meaning she will lose her money, and her children will lose those opportunities, should the proposed changes go into effect. The Calendar Committee is reportedly still tweaking some specifics, but a near-final draft recommends that school start July 17.
On Tuesday, several members of the committee sat down to explain how and why they made their decision, acknowledging the opposition but maintaining that academic benefits outweigh any negative side effects.
Andree Freeman, a parent who has had children in both local private and public schools for the past 15 years, including at Tramway, said she whole-heartedly supports the recommendation — which passed the committee unanimously, with some members abstaining.
"We need to do what's in the best interest of the children and those who are working hard to educate them," she said. "... Change is always tough, even good changes."
Although the meeting agenda hasn't been released yet, Board of Education Chairman Lynn Smith said the calendar recommendation will be voted on after the pre-meeting public hearing. He said he wants a vote sooner rather than later so that if the proposal does pass, the schools have as much time as possible to work on the changes.
And even though some parents, including Bursey, also questioned how much planning would be able to occur in six months, Floyd L. Knight teacher and Calendar Committee member Marilyn Elliot said she supports a quick start because she thinks any change that will help children learn more should be implemented as soon as possible, even if it has potentially negative — but non-academic — ramifications.
"Education needs to come to the forefront in this country, and that's what this is doing," she said.


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Meltzer was saying that Rampage suggested Kimbo or Houston(both pretty light bouts) and that King Mo called Bjorn and company up and offered to take the main event and they declined.
Meltzer was saying that Rampage suggested Kimbo or Houston(both pretty light bouts) and that King Mo called Bjorn and company up and offered to take the main event and they declined.
Dana White takes a shot at Bellator's pay-per-view cancellation
"It's unfortunate," he said sarcastically at the post-event press conference for this past Saturday's UFC Fight Night 30 event. "It breaks my heart. Couldn't happen to a better bunch of guys."
Did bell ator take a shot at ufc when 151 was cancelled???
You say shark I say hey man, Jaws was never my scene and I don't like Star Wars
I dunno Bellator's 3 outta 4 coaches for FightMaster all are people who Dana has blasted badly intriguing enough Jackson never had it bad from Dana until the 151 cancellation .
Add on the signings of 2 of the biggest UFC whiners of all time and have them headline your first PPV..
Would be stupid for Dana not to poke fun at them and laugh his ass off over this.
I really believe that people like Bill Murray or John Belushi are just as great and just as valid as Robert De Niro or Al Pacino. And I don't think you can say One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) is a better movie than Animal House (1978); they're different genres. I think they're both examples of great craftsmanship.
-Sam Rockwell
Now free on SPIKE TV, promotion officials have decided to remove Cheick Kongo vs. Vinicius Queiroz, Terry Etim vs. Patrick Cenoble and Karo Parisyan vs. Cristiano "Soldier Boy" Souza from the fight night entirely.
The remaining bouts left after this barrage of failure is as follows:
MAIN CARD: (Spike TV, 9 p.m. ET)
Champ Michael Chandler vs. Eddie Alvarez – for lightweight title
Muhammed Lawal vs. Emanuel Newton – for interim light heavyweight title
Champ Pat Curran vs. Daniel Straus – for featherweight title
Mike Bronzoulis vs. Joe Riggs – "Fight Master" tourney final
Mike Richman vs. Akop Stepanyan
PRELIMINARY CARD: (Spike.com, 7 p.m. ET)
Jesse Juarez vs. Joe Williams
Brandon Halsey vs. Hector Ramirez
Mike Guymon vs. Aaron Miller
Joe Camacho vs. Cleber Luciano
Darren Smith vs. Josh Smith
Read more at http://www.bjpenn.com/bellator-drops...OjwKcmFXgaV.99
Damn... it's sad... but... it gives Dana plenty of ammunition...
Last edited by SimpleJack; 10-28-2013 at 08:32 PM.
You say shark I say hey man, Jaws was never my scene and I don't like Star Wars
Jesus, this is MMA. Not Jesus loves Ghandi.
There are many paths to freedom, not all are peaceful
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CULLOWHEE - When Sheridan Caudle attended her freshman orientation at Western Carolina University in July, she was just an ordinary student.
But after talking with head soccer coach Chad Miller, she was asked to attend the Catamounts' summer camp with the hopes of walking onto the team.
Caudle, a captain on Forbush's dominating squad that advanced to the 2A West Region championship game last season, impressed Miller and the Catamount coaching staff and earned a walk-on spot.
"I had been emailing the coach at Western since November. Then at freshman orientation, we set up a meeting to talk. He told me the best way to see me play would be to go to their camp at the end of July. He liked what he saw and asked me if I wanted to come play," Caudle explained.
"I never could decide whether or not I wanted to play college soccer [during high school]. But after losing to South Iredell last season, it made me see that I didn't want it to end that way," she added.
A week later, Caudle moved into her dorm in Cullowhee and began preseason training with the Catamounts.
"It's an amazing experience that I know I couldn't have done without my friends, family and [Forbush head coach] James Kenan - I definitely couldn't have done it without him," she said. "Knowing that I come from a small town, being able to play at the Division I level is inspiring.
"My biggest inspiration was one of my best friends - Austin Macemore. He was definitely my biggest inspiration to play college soccer. I know he's proud of me."
Caudle suited up and saw action in her first game in a Catamount uniform in an exhibition game against High Point in August.
"I played in the exhibition game against High Point for about 25 minutes. The pace of the game was a lot quicker. It's just getting out there and playing; it wasn't that different from what I've been doing my whole life," she said.
But sitting behind four starting juniors on defense, playing opportunities appear to be scarce for Caudle in her first season at Western. But she said she hopes to work hard this year and fight for a starting spot as a sophomore.
"I don't expect to play much my first year because I have to fight for position against four starting juniors who have played together the past few years. But I do expect to work hard so next year I can start a few games."
Caudle was named the Mountain Valley Conference and Region 10 Player of the Year last season, while guiding the Lady Falcons to a 25-1 mark. She also garnered all-region and all-state recognition.
During her four-year career in East Bend, Forbush posted a 91-10-5 record, capturing three conference titles and a state runner-up finish in 2010 in the process.
Reach Matthew Gorry at 835-1513 or email@example.com.


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A display is backlit by a source having spatially modulated luminance to attenuate illumination of dark areas of images and increase the dynamic range of the display.
1. A method of illuminating a backlit display, said method comprising the steps of:
(a) spatially varying the luminance of a light source by
(i) illuminating a plurality of displayed pixels in response to a plurality of pixel values dependent on the content of an image to be displayed on said display,
(ii) modifying the illumination from said display based upon a filter that is determined at least in part by a non-uniform illumination profile of said light source, and;
(iii) varying the transmittance of respective light valves arrayed over a viewing region of said display in a non-binary manner, wherein said light source is spatially displaced at a location at least partially directly beneath said plurality of pixels, wherein said light source provides different respective non-zero luminance intensities to first and second said light valves, relative to each other, using a non-linear transformation of said plurality of pixel values;
(b) modifying the light to be output from said display by rescaling said light to be said output from said display in such a manner to alter the tone-scale of said light to be said output from said display from a state that would have substantially non-uniform tone-scale to a state that has substantially uniform tone-scale resulting from the luminance of said light source.
2. The method of
3. The method of
4. The method of
5. The method of
6. The method of
(a) operating said light source at substantially a maximum luminance if a luminance of at least one displayed pixel exceeds a threshold luminance; and
(b) otherwise, attenuating said luminance of said light source according to a relationship of said luminance of said light source and a luminance of a plurality of pixels.
7. The method of
8. The method of
9. The method of
10. The method of
This application claims the priority of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/007,118 filed Nov. 9, 2001 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,064,740.
The present invention relates to backlit displays and, more particularly, to a backlit display with improved dynamic range.
The local transmittance of a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel or a liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) display can be varied to modulate the intensity of light passing from a backlit source through an area of the panel to produce a pixel that can be displayed at a variable intensity. Whether light from the source passes through the panel to an observer or is blocked is determined by the orientations of molecules of liquid crystals in a light valve.
Since liquid crystals do not emit light, a visible display requires an external light source. Small and inexpensive LCD panels often rely on light that is reflected back toward the viewer after passing through the panel. Since the panel is not completely transparent, a substantial part of the light is absorbed during its transits of the panel and images displayed on this type of panel may be difficult to see except under the best lighting conditions. On the other hand, LCD panels used for computer displays and video screens are typically backlit with flourescent tubes or arrays of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that are built into the sides or back of the panel. To provide a display with a more uniform light level, light from these point or line sources is typically dispersed in a diffuser panel before impinging on the light valve that controls transmission to a viewer.
The transmittance of the light valve is controlled by a layer of liquid crystals interposed between a pair of polarizers. Light from the source impinging on the first polarizer comprises electromagnetic waves vibrating in a plurality of planes. Only that portion of the light vibrating in the plane of the optical axis of a polarizer can pass through the polarizer. In an LCD the optical axes of the first and second polarizers are arranged at an angle so that light passing through the first polarizer would normally be blocked from passing through the second polarizer in the series. However, a layer of translucent liquid crystals occupies a cell gap separating the two polarizers. The physical orientation of the molecules of liquid crystal can be controlled and the plane of vibration of light transiting the columns of molecules spanning the layer can be rotated to either align or not align with the optical axes of the polarizers.
The surfaces of the first and second polarizers forming the walls of the cell gap are grooved so that the molecules of liquid crystal immediately adjacent to the cell gap walls will align with the grooves and, thereby, be aligned with the optical axis of the respective polarizer. Molecular forces cause adjacent liquid crystal molecules to attempt to align with their neighbors with the result that the orientation of the molecules in the column spanning the cell gap twist over the length of the column. Likewise, the plane of vibration of light transiting the column of molecules will be "twisted" from the optical axis of the first polarizer to that of the second polarizer. With the liquid crystals in this orientation, light from the source can pass through the series polarizers of the translucent panel assembly to produce a lighted area of the display surface when viewed from the front of the panel.
To darken a pixel and create an image, a voltage, typically controlled by a thin film transistor, is applied to an electrode in an array of electrodes deposited on one wall of the cell gap. The liquid crystal molecules adjacent to the electrode are attracted by the field created by the voltage and rotate to align with the field. As the molecules of liquid crystal are rotated by the electric field, the column of crystals is "untwisted,' and the optical axes of the crystals adjacent the cell wall are rotated out of alignment with the optical axis of the corresponding polarizer progressively reducing the local transmittance of the light valve and the intensity of the corresponding display pixel. Color LCD displays are created by varying the intensity of transmitted light for each of a plurality of primary color elements (typically, red, green, and blue) that make up a display pixel.
LCDs can produce bright, high resolution, color images and are thinner, lighter, and draw less power than cathode ray tubes (CRTs). As a result, LCD usage is pervasive for the displays of portable computers, digital clocks and watches, appliances, audio and video equipment, and other electronic devices. On the other hand, the use of LCDs in certain "high end markets," such as medical imaging and graphic arts, is frustrated, in part, by the limited ratio of the luminance of dark and light areas or dynamic range of an LCD. The luminance of a display is a function the gain and the leakage of the display device. The primary factor limiting the dynamic range of an LCD is the leakage of light through the LCD from the backlight even though the pixels are in an "off" (dark) state. As a result of leakage, dark areas of an LCD have a gray or "smoky black" appearance instead of a solid black appearance. Light leakage is the result of the limited extinction ratio of the cross-polarized LCD elements and is exacerbated by the desirability of an intense backlight to enhance the brightness of the displayed image. While bright images are desirable, the additional leakage resulting from usage of a more intense light source adversely affects the dynamic range of the display.
The primary efforts to increase the dynamic range of LCDs have been directed to improving the properties of materials used in LCD construction. As a result of these efforts, the dynamic range of LCDs has increased since their introduction and high quality LCDs can achieve dynamic ranges between 250:1 and 300:1. This is comparable to the dynamic range of an average quality CRT when operated in a well-lit room but is considerably less than the 1000:1 dynamic range that can be obtained with a well-calibrated CRT in a darkened room or dynamic ranges of up to 3000:1 that can be achieved with certain plasma displays.
Image processing techniques have also been used to minimize the effect of contrast limitations resulting from the limited dynamic range of LCDs. Contrast enhancement or contrast stretching alters the range of intensity values of image pixels in order to increase the contrast of the image. For example, if the difference between minimum and maximum intensity values is less than the dynamic range of the display, the intensities of pixels may be adjusted to stretch the range between the highest and lowest intensities to accentuate features of the image. Clipping often results at the extreme white and black intensity levels and frequently must be addressed with gain control techniques. However, these image processing techniques do not solve the problems of light leakage and the limited dynamic range of the LCD and can create imaging problems when the intensity level of a dark scene fluctuates.
Another image processing technique intended to improve the dynamic range of LCDs modulates the output of the backlight as successive frames of video are displayed. If the frame is relatively bright, a backlight control operates the light source at maximum intensity, but if the frame is to be darker, the backlight output is attenuated to a minimum intensity to reduce leakage and darken the image. However, the appearance of a small light object in one of a sequence of generally darker frames will cause a noticeable fluctuation in the light level of the darker images.
What is desired, therefore, is a liquid crystal display having an increased dynamic range.
Referring to
Light radiating from the light sources 30 of the backlight 22 comprises electromagnetic waves vibrating in random planes. Only those light waves vibrating in the plane of a polarizer's optical axis can pass through the polarizer. The light valve 26 includes a first polarizer 32 and a second polarizer 34 having optical axes arrayed at an angle so that normally light cannot pass through the series of polarizers. Images are displayable with an LCD because local regions of a liquid crystal layer 36 interposed between the first 32 and second 34 polarizer can be electrically controlled to alter the alignment of the plane of vibration of light relative of the optical axis of a polarizer and, thereby, modulate the transmittance of local regions of the panel corresponding to individual pixels 36 in an array of display pixels.
The layer of liquid crystal molecules 36 occupies a cell gap having walls formed by surfaces of the first 32 and second 34 polarizers. The walls of the cell gap are rubbed to create microscopic grooves aligned with the optical axis of the corresponding polarizer. The grooves cause the layer of liquid crystal molecules adjacent to the walls of the cell gap to align with the optical axis of the associated polarizer. As a result of molecular forces, each succeeding molecule in the column of molecules spanning the cell gap will attempt to align with its neighbors. The result is a layer of liquid crystals comprising innumerable twisted columns of liquid crystal molecules that bridge the cell gap. As light 40 originating at a light source element 42 and passing through the first polarizer 32 passes through each translucent molecule of a column of liquid crystals, its plane of vibration is "twisted" so that when the light reaches the far side of the cell gap its plane of vibration will be aligned with the optical axis of the second polarizer 34. The light 44 vibrating in the plane of the optical axis of the second polarizer 34 can pass through the second polarizer to produce a lighted pixel 38 at the front surface of the display 28.
To darken the pixel 38, a voltage is applied to a spatially corresponding electrode of a rectangular array of transparent electrodes deposited on a wall of the cell gap. The resulting electric field causes molecules of the liquid crystal adjacent to the electrode to rotate toward alignment with the field. The effect is to "untwist" the column of molecules so that the plane of vibration of the light is progressively rotated away from the optical axis of the polarizer as the field strength increases and the local transmittance of the light valve 26 is reduced. As the transmittance of the light valve 26 is reduced, the pixel 38 progressively darkens until the maximum extinction of light 40 from the light source 42 is obtained. Color LCD displays are created by varying the intensity of transmitted light for each of a plurality of primary color elements (typically, red, green, and blue) elements making up a display pixel.
The dynamic range of an LCD is the ratio of the luminous intensities of brightest and darkest values of the displayed pixels. The maximum intensity is a function of the intensity of the light source and the maximum transmittance of the light valve while the minimum intensity of a pixel is a function of the leakage of light through the light valve in its most opaque state. Since the extinction ratio, the ratio of input and output optical power, of the cross-polarized elements of an LCD panel is relatively low, there is considerable leakage of light from the backlight even if a pixel is turned "off." As a result, a dark pixel of an LCD panel is not solid black but a "smoky black" or gray. While improvements in LCD panel materials have increased the extinction ratio and, consequently, the dynamic range of light and dark pixels, the dynamic range of LCDs is several times less than available with other types of displays. In addition, the limited dynamic range of an LCD can limit the contrast of some images. The current inventor concluded that the primary factor limiting the dynamic range of LCDs is light leakage when pixels are darkened and that the dynamic range of an LCD can be improved by spatially modulating the output of the panel's backlight to attenuate local luminance levels in areas of the display that are to be darker. The inventor further concluded that combining spatial and temporal modulation of the illumination level of the backlight would improve the dynamic range of the LCD while limiting demand on the driver of the backlight light sources.
In the backlit display 20 with extended dynamic range, the backlight 22 comprises an array of locally controllable light sources 30. The individual light sources 30 of the backlight may be light-emitting diodes (LEDs), an arrangement of phosphors and lensets, or other suitable light-emitting devices. The individual light sources 30 of the backlight array 22 are independently controllable to output light at a luminance level independent of the luminance level of light output by the other light sources so that a light source can be modulated in response to the luminance of the corresponding image pixel. Referring to
To enhance the dynamic range of the LCD, the illumination of a light source, for example light source 42, of the backlight 22 is varied in response to the desired rumination of a spatially corresponding display pixel, for example pixel 38. Referring to
A data processing unit 58 extracts the luminance of the display pixel from the pixel data 76 if the image is a color image. For example, the luminance signal can be obtained by a weighted summing of the red, green, and blue (RGB) components of the pixel data (e.g., 0.33R+0.57G+0.11B). If the image is a black and white image, the luminance is directly available from the image data and the extraction step 76 can be omitted. The luminance signal is low-pass filtered 78 with a filter having parameters determined by the illumination profile of the light source 30 as affected by the diffuser 24 and properties of the human visual system. Following filtering, the signal is subsampled 80 to obtain a light source illumination signal at spatial coordinates corresponding to the light sources 30 of the backlight array 22. As the rasterized image pixel data are sequentially used to drive 74 the display pixels of the LCD light valve 26, the subsampled luminance signal 80 is used to output a power signal to the light source driver 82 to drive the appropriate light source to output a luminance level according a relationship between the luminance of the image pixel and the luminance of the light source. Modulation of the backlight light sources 30 increases the dynamic range of the LCD pixels by attenuating illumination of "darkened" pixels while the luminance of a "fully on" pixel is unchanged.
Spatially modulating the output of the light sources 30 according to the sub-sampled luminance data for the display pixels extends the dynamic range of the LCD but also alters the tonescale of the image and may make the contrast unacceptable. Referring to
Likewise, resealing 92 can be used to simulate the performance of another type of display such as a CRT. The emitted luminance of the LCD is a function of the luminance of the light source 30 and the transmittance of the light valve 26. As a result, the appropriate attenuation of the light from a light source to simulate the output of a CRT is expressed by:
If the LCD and the light sources 30 of the backlight 22 have the same spatial resolution, the dynamic range of the LCD can be extended without concern for spatial artifacts. However, in many applications, the spatial resolution of the array of light sources 30 of the backlight 22 will be substantially less than the resolution of the LCD and the dynamic range extension will be performed with a sampled low frequency (filtered) version of the displayed image. While the human visual system is less able to detect details in dark areas of the image, reducing the luminance of a light source 30 of a backlight array 22 with a lower spatial resolution will darken all image features in the local area. Referring to
The spatial modulation of light sources 30 is typically applied to each frame of video in a video sequence. To reduce the processing required for the light source driving system, spatial modulation of the backlight sources 30 may be applied at a rate less than the video frame rate. The advantages of the improved dynamic range are retained even though spatial modulation is applied to a subset of all of the frames of the video sequence because of the similarity of temporally successive video frames and the relatively slow adjustment of the human visual system to changes in dynamic range.
With the techniques of the present invention, the dynamic range of an LCD can be increased to achieve brighter, higher contrast images characteristic of other types of the display devices. These techniques will make LCDs more acceptable as displays, particularly for high end markets.
The detailed description, above, sets forth numerous specific details to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well known methods, procedures, components, and circuitry have not been described in detail to avoid obscuring the present invention.
All the references cited herein are incorporated by reference.
The terms and expressions that have been employed in the foregoing specification are used as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention, in the use of such terms and expressions, of excluding equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof, it being recognized that the scope of the invention is defined and limited only by the claims that follow.
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Tuscarawas News Detail
Communication Studies Instructor Guest Coaches for Women's Basketball TeamPosted Apr. 5, 2013
By Catherine Berry
The Kent State University Women's basketball game on February 20, 2013 was a game to remember for one Communication Studies instructor.
Ashley Evans, a public communication major and member of the women's basketball team, first met Molly Taggart, part-time faculty member, in her Foundations of Communication course this semester. Evans had a feeling that Taggart was a cool person, who seemed to really like sports.
Taggart has been working at Kent State since 2004.
Evans asked Taggart to serve as an honorary coach for the Women's Basketball team early on in the spring semester. Honorary coaching is when team members pick a favorite professor or instructor to come to a game and sit on the bench with the team, join huddles, listen to pregame speech, attend game day practice and the pregame meal.
Taggart said she was humbled when Evans asked her to be an honorary coach because she had only known Evans for a few weeks.
Taggart chose to coach at the game against Ohio University, which is her undergraduate alma mater.
Taggart said she was excited that every member of the team introduced themselves with a warm welcome and called her "Coach Taggart."
Evans said that Taggart stood out compared to other honorary coaches. She joined in the huddles and was giving out high-fives to the whole team.
"Professors normally don't get to see what goes on behind the scenes." Said Evans.
Taggart said that serving as an honorary coach was a great way to see the responsibilities of the students outside of the classroom, especially for students on sports scholarships. She has a better understanding of the amount of time that it takes to be a student athlete.
Taggart said that Evans represents Kent State and the School of Communication Studies well and has high hopes for Evans to be captain of the team next year.
Kent may have lost this game, but Taggart and Evans took away an experience that will never be forgotten.


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It's time to take out the pots, pans and chef's hat and cook up a fancy feast for the whole family With our adorable Gracie Kitchen, toddler chefs get to explore their very own kitchen. Parents will be so proud watching their young girls as they open the doors, turn the knobs and play pretend.
- Doors open and close
- Knobs turn and click
- Convenient storage space above and under the sink
- Removable sink for quick and easy cleanup
- Smart, sturdy construction
- Packaged with detailed, step-by-step assembly instruction
- Play kitchen dimensions: 25.2"W x 36.69"H x 11.89"D


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A Grade II Listed Victorian hotel in Newcastle City Centre
Newcastle is now firmly established as one of Britain's favourite cultural, shopping and short break destinations. And as one of the few hotels in Newcastle directly opposite the main train and Metro stations, this Victorian hotel is the perfect base from which to explore.
If you've any energy left after shopping at Eldon Square or the Metro Centre; one of the UK's largest shopping centre's in the UK; browsing contemporary art at the Baltic or letting your hair down on Grey Street, the Gate or the 'diamond strip', as a guest of Thistle Newcastle, The County you have complimentary access to a nearby fitness centre. Or if you prefer to watch others working out, you'll find we're within walking distance of St James' Park, the home of Newcastle United FC – known to fans and the locals, simply as 'The Toon'. Music and culture fans will be pleased to note that the O2 Academy is to the rear of the County, the Metro Radio Arena and the Theatre Royal are within a 10 minute walk and the Sage Gateshead is a 15 minute walk.
Thistle Newcastle, The County has 114 bedrooms, including executive rooms and a junior suite. There are 10 meeting and event rooms with the largest seating 220 people theatre style.
Click hereto view a full of list of nearby sports, music and theatre events.
Thistle Newcastle City Centre, The County at a glance:
• Authentic Victorian grandeur, right in the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne
• 114 bedrooms, plus seven function rooms
• Directly opposite Newcastle railway and Metro stations
• Within walking distance to St James' Park, Eldon Square Shopping Centre and Metro Radio Arena
• Conveniently located for Newcastle Airport


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Find accommodations in East Berlin with the hotel list provided below. Search for cheap and discounted hotel and motel rates in or close to East Berlin, PA for your personal leisure or group travel. We show the best East Berlin, Pennsylvania motel and hotel rooms. Browse the East Berlin area hotels to find the perfect lodging! Please use the provided map of the East Berlin hotels.The East Berlin center is about 12 miles from Ski Roundtop and 12 miles from Tyrone Amtrak Station.
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Disney Live! Mickey's Rockin Road Show…Put on your dancing shoes!
Sea Spray Hotel propose you a fantastic day with Mickey Mouse…surprises, fun, love…Put on…your dancing shoes! Disney Live! is bringing a brand new, live stage show, starring favourite Disney characters to The Brighton Centre this summer. Disney Live! Mickey's Rockin' Road Show plays at The Brighton … Continue reading


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Students are allotted 200 pages of black-and-white printing per semester at no charge. Students who need more pages must purchase additional prints by adding money to their SpartanPrint Cash Account.
However, there are ways students can significantly reduce the amount of printing while at the same time reduce waste and make studying and writing for college faster and more efficient.
Many of these tips can be combined to reduce the amount you need to print by 50 percent or even eliminate the need to print altogether.
Please submit any additional tips to SpartanPrint at email@example.com and we'll publish them here!
Most programs like Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Publisher, etc. will allow you to preview what your printed page will look like by clicking "File | Print Preview" or the preview icon. The printed page should look identical to the way the document looks on the screen. Make adjustments and corrections to look just how you want it in "Print Preview" before printing to paper.
Printing PowerPoint slides can consume lots of paper. Here are ways to dramatically cut PowerPoint printing:
To print in either Outline Mode or Handouts Mode click the "File" menu and choose "Print." Then choose which mode to use following the illustrations above.
ADDITIONAL TIP: You have the ability to print ONLY the slides (or range of slides) you need by combining TIP #2 with TIP #10. PowerPoint Slide Sorter Tool: PowerPoint has a tool that allows you to see all the slides in a presentation on one screen. This is useful for deciding which slides you wish to print. The tool is called the Slide Sorter tool and you simply open "View" from the menu bar and select "Slide Sorter".
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Instead of printing to paper, computers with Microsoft Office include a printer called "Microsoft Office Document Image Writer". This isn't really a printer at all, but it will create an electronic printed document image that goes far beyond paper. This is similar to a .PDF file, but you can even more! You can read, scribble notes, add post-it notes, use a highlighter, save these annotations and take it with you. BUT unlike paper, you can also click on web links, zoom in, zoom out, copy and paste text to a Word document, search for text within the image, and it's a whole lot easier to carry around and use than a pile of paper.
Here's a cool example of how to do this:
Now you can highlight important sections, copy and paste text to your report, add your own notes and comments to the document and save it all for later use.
Send this document to someone via e-mail.
Send a selection of text and/or graphics to Word using the "Tools | Send Text to Word" on the menu bar. You can choose a selected portion of text, pages of text, and graphics.Search for specific words in your image to find what you want quickly.Click on HTML hyperlinks to jump to selected web sites . (NOTE: Some types of hyperlinks do not work)
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If you wish to print something in color laser in SpartanPrint, do a test print in black and white to check the layout first. You might also want to print all of the black and white pages to the black and white laser printer and only the color page(s) to the color printer to save money. All pages printed on the color laser printers cost 35 cents vs. 10 cents in black and white. You'll stretch your printing a whole lot further with this tip!
TIP #5 – Copy and paste journals into Microsoft Word and read/edit later
You can copy important sections of information and research into a Word document, save the Word document onto disk or USB memory stick and review it at a later time. Copy URL links with the text for your bibliography or to easily find the information again if needed.To consolidate articles into one document, do the following:1. Open a new blank document in Word, Wordpad or Notepad.
2. Highlight the text you want to save for later.
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5. Repeat until all of the important text is consolidated into your new document to save.(Note that some formatting will be changed when you paste into your new document)
TIP #6 – E-mail Internet links to yourself to read later
Similar to TIP #5, you can copy and paste Internet URL links into an e-mail to find information later when you have time to read or when you write your report.
To consolidate your links into one document, do the following:1. Open a new blank document in Word or your e-mail client.
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This is a great way to reduce the amount of pages you are printing. Provided the type is large enough for you to read, you can print two, four or more pages per sheet of paper.
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Many business use powerful features in Word for editing and corrections. Then, the document can be sent to the original writer to accept, decline or revise the suggested corrections. See the figure below.
As you see above, all changes are noted by a bar on the left side of the line, changes are either underlined or noted in the right side margin. Comments by the editor can be added. Then, the document is returned to the writer and the changes can be accepted or discarded. To use the Track Changes feature, select "Tools" from the menu and select "Track Changes". The Track Changes toolbar will appear to add comments, highlight text, and to later edit the document.To find out more about this feature, press the F1 key in Word and search for "Format Tracking". You will see additional instructions and information about using Word to track changes to your document.
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Printing on both sides of the paper is called duplex printing. There is currently significant saving in duplex printing, you will also reduce the amount of printing and resulting waste in half, and you have to carry half the amount of paper.
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TIP #10 – Print only specific pages
Rather than printing the entire document, you can print only the pages you need. It's a good idea to "Print Preview" your document (see TIP #1) before you print. Here's how to print only selected pages:
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TIP #11 – Tips for printing from Internet Explorer
TIP #12 – Print these instructions
NOT !!! This will save your SpartanPrint account seven pages – 70 cents! Save this Microsoft Word or PDF document to your USB memory stick or MU network personal folder to use later, or just revisit the SpartanPrint web site and read it later to refresh your memory.


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The Chicago Wolves will host TeleBrands Inventors Day prior to their game at the Allstate Arena on Wed., March 9. At-home inventors from around the country will convene in the Allstate Arena's Skyline Room, beginning at 9 a.m., for their chance to pitch their inventions to the "As Seen On TV" giant in hopes of creating the next "must have" infomercial product.
The inventors, who answered an open casting call by TeleBrands, will each have five minutes to pitch their product to a panel of judges including TeleBrands CEO AJ KHUBANI and Chicago Wolves President MIKE GORDON, in hopes of winning a contract with the company that is famous for "As Seen On TV" products such as the PedEgg, Pasta Boat and Bark Off.
"We are very excited to provide the platform for these inventors to pitch their ideas, and I am looking forward to seeing what they have come up with," said GORDON. "Our fans will get a look at three of the inventions during the game, as well as a chance to take home one of TeleBrands' great current products."
The first 2,500 fans who attend the Wolves game against the Peoria Rivermen at 7 p.m. that night will also receive a TeleBrands product giveaway of the PedEgg, Windshield Wonder or Chef Basket.
For more information, or tickets to the game, call 1-800-THE-WOLVES or visit chicagowolves.com.
For pre-event interviews with AJ Khubani, please contact Andrea Pass at 201-498-1600 or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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The new Yamaha TF digital mixing consoles give you the ability to respond to music and artists with unprecedented speed and freedom.
The way your TV should sound! Discover the new additions to our line, featuring sleek designs and outstanding sound realism.
Yamaha TransAcoustic Piano Technology turns the soundboard into a large loudspeaker.
Nathan East's self-titled solo debut on Yamaha Entertainment Group has been nominated for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album.


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TODD YATES/CALLER-TIMES Olga Flores, a senior officer with the Corpus Christi Police Department, shows how the department's new dash cameras work. Until the installation of 154 cameras in patrol cars, Corpus Christi was largest city in the state whose police department didn't have cameras. Arlington, the city closest in size to Corpus Christi, has been using dash camera video for about 10 years.
TODD YATES/CALLER-TIMES Corpus Christi Police Senior Officer Olga Flores shows how the department's new dash cameras work. The system the agency purchased is a $1.4 million package from Coban Technologies, Green said. The camera units cost $4,500 per car.
TODD YATES/CALLER-TIMES Members of the Corpus Christi Police Department train on the wireless microphone systems that connect to the department's new dash camera system.
TODD YATES/CALLER-TIMES The Corpus Christi Police Department installed 154 new dash cameras in patrol cars. The process to get the new system took more than five years, two police chiefs and more than $1 million.
TODD YATES/CALLER-TIMES Members of the Corpus Christi Police Department attend a training session for the new Coban in-car camera system. An officer cannot control when the video starts recording from the dash camera. It automatically begins when an officer activates lights and sirens, the vehicle reaches 80 mph or faster or a rear door is opened.


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Each week the areas of the concentrated enforcement will be listed in The Jones County News so motorists can expect the presence of the GPD and hopefully understand the purpose of the effort, which is to ensure the safety of motorists and pedestrians, especially on routes used for transporting children to and from school.
Lowe said he does not want anyone to be surprised about the increased visibility of law enforcement in the areas, and that is the reason for the information being posted in the newspaper.
For the full story, pick up a copy of this week's newspaper or subscribe to our e-Edition at http://ee.jcnews.com.


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Aloha Medicinals Inc., K9 FullFlex, Hip & Joint Formula, For Senior Dogs, Liver & Beef Flavored, 60 Wafers
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Pat, Florida
3 people found the following review helpful
Posted by Reviewer1029346 on Mar 04, 2012
This product is the BEST. I have tried several formulas for my 13 year old Border Collie and my 12 year old Golden. Nothing compares to this. I saw results immediately. They are gettin up and down with ease. I am glad I found this product.
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Note: iHerb does not imply any medical claims from this review. Disclaimer.
k9 fullflex
2 people found the following review helpful
Posted by Reviewer1508364 on Sep 08, 2011
excellent boost for dogs with various pain and stiffness problems. Old dogs are helped greatly....
brings new life....
K9 FullFLex
Posted by ShelleyP on Feb 01, 2012
This product has been quite helpful for our Chocolate Lab who's hurt his rear knees (at different times). I feel this formulation is far superior to the usual glucosamine/chondroitin (and not much else) that most dog products contain. When we can keep him a bit quiet, then he starts to recover quickly. Our problem with him is when he starts feeling better he gets rowdy and re-injures himself. I suggest buying this larger size no matter what size of dog you have as the formulation/milligram content is the same for both.
Improvement in the (joint)condition of old dog.
Posted by Rosiee on Jul 12, 2012
A friend of mine has an old dog (German Shepherd) and I saw, that it's in bad (joint) pain. She was trying to take it out for a walk, but every few meters it would sit down and breathe heavily. It was a very sad sight and I decided to order of this product, which by the way I discovered by accident while browsing through the "pet section" on iHerb.
I liked the ingredients and though it might prove to be beneficial for that poor doggy.
When I gave this product to my friend and she started giving it to her dog, after a week there was an improvement in the condition. After two weeks, there was even further improvement.
I definitely recommend these wafers to all those dog owners, that have similar problems with their dog.
The ingredients are top-notch and will help your beloved pet!
Tail up again!
Posted by Reviewer1703820 on Jul 23, 2012
After an initial trial of K9 Full Flex my Uncle's elderly and arthritic Weimaraner showed impressive results. In the words of the owner "Casper (the dog) again has his tail up which he hasn't done for a long time". K9 Full Flex is now a regular inclusion in my iHerb cart.


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Some years ago, I played on a church softball team. Each summer, we would don our church uniform — a T-shirt with the church name on it and a ball cap — and hit the field.
Practices were sometimes grueling, especially for the older guys; you know, the 45-plus age group. Knees would crack and moans were uttered, as were complaints of having to stretch too far to catch the ball.
Now that I'm way past that age group, I understand their irritations!
But back then, I was my harshest critic. When I didn't play well, I didn't need the coach to tell me. I knew. There were times I simply wanted to give up.
The coach would tell me, "Don't ever give up!" Although it was easy for him to say, it was hard for me to hear.
One time, this coach's point resonated.
During a game when I was not doing particularly well, I was at bat and swung at a pitch that I was sure would go over the fence. As the grounder I hit made its way to the shortstop at a snail's pace, I muttered under my breath and half-heartedly ran toward first base, knowing I wouldn't make it before the shortstop threw the ball to first base. I was tagged out.
The shortstop threw the ball to first base. I stared incredulously as the ball sailed beyond the first baseman's reach.
An overthrow!
An error!
With a sudden burst of energy, I hightailed it the rest of the way to first base and arrived safely.
The team coach was also working as the first base coach that game. He walked up to me as I recovered from my astonishment and said, "See what I told you? Don't ever give up!"
I have remembered those words and that lesson. And I share them with you: don't ever give up!
There is always the possibility of a great outcome.
Here are examples:
•The great American poet Carl Sandburg flunked English.
•Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb and other inventions, did not do well in school, either. His teachers thought he was dim-witted.
•Einstein could not speak until he was 4 and did not read until he was 7.
•Beethoven's music teacher said, "As a composer he's hopeless."
•F. W. Woolworth couldn't get a job. Merchants said he didn't have enough sense to wait on customers.
•Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor who said Disney didn't have any good ideas.
•Enrico Caruso, an Italian opera singer, was told by a voice coach, "You can't sing. You have no voice at all."
What if all these people had believed their critics? They would have given up and we would not have the numerous inventions, music, writings and stores we enjoy today.
Don't give up.
Every day is a new opportunity to begin fresh. Every day is a gift given to you by God to have a new beginning. Hang on to the hope and assurance of his love and grace because he will see you through.
The Rev. Mark Broadhead is pastor at Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church and First Presbyterian Church of Crestview.