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Patch 6.2 - Mail PvP Armor
The mail Season 17 PvP set shown on MMO-Champion. Colors are not finalized and is currently used on the green and blue set.
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US Tournament #12 & EU Tournament #2
US Tournaments are EVERY FRIDAY / SAT @ 9:00 PM EST/ 6 PM PST / 3 AM CET.
EU Tournaments are EVERY SATURDAY / SUNDAY @ 8:00 PM CET/ 3:00PM EST / 12:00PM PST.
So once again we are back with another week of arena tournaments! Not much has changed since #11 and #1. We are slowly building up our prize pools and made a few changes to our format/rules:
We want to host a Tournaments every week so if you're interested in watching 3v3 Arena with Live Commentary with a real prize pool at stake please share our Channel (Twitch.tv/GCDTV) and consider donating to increase our prize pools!
Follow the Channel to be Notified when we go Live
Click here for more info on US #12
Click here for more info on EU #2
All vods will be uploaded to Youtube.com/Dmachine52
Special thanks to @VadrakAL (Harald Böhm) for creating Arena Live 3 - the spectating addon we will be using.
All games will be live streamed at http://www.Twitch.tv/GCDtv with live commentary!
The fastest way to have a question answered would be to Tweet us @GCDTV_
You can also contact us at:
· They wanted to try to not have the difference between sustained damage and crit damage be too massive.
· Some classes benefited from this more than others.
· They will buff skills that they feel are too weak with the reduced crit and multistrike such as what they have done with Lava Burst.
· They feel the game is better without having the battle be based on the crit lottery.
· The nemesis quest is being talked about.
· They designed it to be a WoD thing that is done out in the world, and they currently want to stick to this. But they will be looking at the requirements for it.
· They want to add more "knobs" that lets them deal with adjusting skills for pvp without effecting pve. They don't think having a PvE and PvP version of every skill is the correct solution.
· They are talking about other plans for the future to solve this and are excited about it.
· High level goal with CC effects going into WoD is players want to be playing their characters more.
· They would first want to take more CC out of the game before breaks.
· This would not be a goal for 6.2.
· CC is one of the most important parts of the game. They have no plans to remove all CCs from the game.
· There may be too much CC right now however.
· Blizzard is very thankful for all the people hosting tournaments for WoW.
· They want to continue to find ways to help those people hosting tournaments out.
· They have things coming that they wish they could share today.
· They think battlegrounds could be fun to watch too.
· They are happy with this mechanic.
· They wanted games to end in a reasonable amount of time, and they are.
· They think that building comps around the dampening mechanic is a strategic option that players can pick if they wish, and have no problems with it.
· They are happy with where they are going with 6.2 with alt progression in pvp.
· They do want to make sure that you still need to play the alt to gear it up in the end.
· They are still very open to feedback and will take it step by step.
· They do not have plans to bring back the 2700 CP vendor. They feel the system did not make a lot of sense for the average player.
· They hear the request to keep everyone at the same ilvl for pvp a lot. However if they take away the gear progression from pvp, they need to figure out what players would do to progress.
· They have tried to shrink the gap between the highest and lowest player ilvl.
· Going into the next expansion, looking at the racials is a possibility.
· They want to make sure they are all interesting and fun, and not boring.
· They feel solo queue experiences can be very toxic.
· When you have pre-made groups you will have a leader which will set the tone for the group. If you act out of line, they can kick you out.
· They think the group finder has been a very big success.
· They have thought there might be a dip in progression in Rated BGs, but participation is up by upwards of 50% to 60% even with less rewards just because of how easy it is to group.
· No plans for Solo queue rated pvp at this time.
· They felt Ashran was the new type of content that players wanted, however they feel it did not hit the mark. Blizzard is very unhappy with how it turned out and really want to improve it.
· Faction unbalance is an issue they are still working on.
· They thought server communities was important at the start for asharn, turns out it was not.
· They might make the conquest able to be rewarded higher than 500.
· One thing they are thinking about, is allowing you to cap your conquest just on asharn, but you would need to participate in all areas of asharan to achieve this.
· They may restrict it so only groups can que for ashran, and not raids. They are open to feedback on this.
· They do want to keep it balanced and up to date as they have gotten lots of good feedback, but no key game changes planned.
· There is a good spread of participation in Random BGs, Rated BGs, Arenas, and Ashran.
· They certainly want to make BGs more fun and improve it mechanically.Botters
· They know botters do not make the game look good.
· They put a lot of effort into stopping them.
· They are not transparent for a few reason. One key reason is they do not want to tip botters off. If they come up with a new method, they don't want to inform botters of this while they are working on the system.
· It will work in world PvP.
· It is disabled in instanced pvp (such as Ashran and arenas).
· They focus on high level pvp for balance.
· If something is very unbalanced - such as a single spell, they want to hear about it and fix.
· If you find that some classes are stronger at say level 20, that is not something they spend a lot of time on.
· There is an open bug that XP-Off players can not que for wargames. This is being fixed.
· Many, many more class changes are coming to the PTR. What we have seen is a very small amount of them, and changes have already been made to some of those.
· They are happy with the ability pruning, and in fact will probably prune more abilities down the road.
· Disarms was removed in WoD when they were trying to reduce CCs.
· They don't necessary think since melee can interrupt spellcast, spellcasters have to be able to disarm them.
· They do think they should be balanced against each other, such as how casters can control melee.
· Blizzard is happy, but not satisfied with how PvP turned out in WoD so far.Back to Top


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Event: Fresh Magnolia Wreath/Garland Sale
Start Time:Friday, November 30, 2012 9:00 am
Event Type:Benefit
Location:University Florist Flower Shop
Contact:Brittany Sims at 601-728-1624
Info:20" Fresh Magnolia Wreath: $35, 36" Fresh Magnolia Wreath: $75 9 ft Fresh Magnolia Garland: $50, other wreaths available. Pre-order now through the University Florist or Brittany Sims.
Last Modified:11/14/2012 11:53 am

subset: commoncrawl


text:
If it has wheels, you can race it. Mike Haag keeps you up to speed on the racing scene in and around South Texas in his Motorsports blog.
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Circuit of the Americas to host GRAND-AM racing this weekend
AUSTIN – One of the country's premier sports car racing series will compete in their first-ever race this weekend at the new Circuit of the Americas. The GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series and the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Challenge will be held at the Austin road course March 1-2. The event will also feature the Pro […] [Read More]
UTSA engineering student lands NASCAR internship
Pedro Mojica Jr. is having the time of his life this summer in Daytona Beach, Florida. The 21-year old senior, who is majoring in mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at San Antonio, is one of 20 college students from across the United States who has been selected to participate in the 2011 NASCAR […] [Read More]


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An interactive electronic shopping system and method create a virtual shopping facility from an actual shopping facility, such as a grocery store, restaurant, or office. A shopper at a computer or other suitable display device can move through the virtual shopping facility and see replicas of what would be seen in moving through the actual shopping facility. Various lists of items selected for purchase can be made, and predetermined lists and information can be displayed. Changes in the actual shopping facility, such as a change in a display of goods, can be accommodated by replacing prior data with new data so that the virtual shopping environment is kept current with the actual shopping facility.
1. A food vending method, comprising:
maintaining an actual operating food vendor at a physical location, the food vendor having a customer service area;
converting at the customer service area actual images of the customer service area and food served therein into encoded digital signals;
storing the encoded digital signals in a computer storage medium; and
providing for remote computer communication link access to the stored encoded digital signals such that transmissions over the communication link responsive to the stored encoded digital signals display on a monitor of a computer at a location remote from the physical location of the food vendor a continuous motion visual representation of movement and food within the customer service area enabling a person viewing the monitor to have a visual experience of walking in the customer service area of the actual operating food vendor, sitting down at a table, and opening a menu as if the person were in the physical location of the actual operating food vendor.
2. A method as defined in
converting actual images of the customer service area includes converting an actual image of a menu used in the customer service area; and
the continuous motion visual representation includes the actual image of the menu.
3. A method as defined in
4. A method as defined in
5. A method as defined in
6. A method as defined in
7. A method as defined in
This application is a continuation of copending application Ser. No. 08/838,087 filed on Apr. 15, 1997.
This invention relates generally to interactive electronic shopping systems and methods and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to such systems and methods utilizing the Internet so that an individual shopper can access shopping information from his or her home or office, for example.
Commercial use of the Internet, and particularly the World Wide Web, presently allows some degree of investigation and ordering of products offered for sale. The convenience that this can offer to a shopper would be enhanced with regard to at least some types of shopping if the shopper could see a virtual reproduction of an actual store and the products offered there as they are actually displayed at the store. Convenience would also be enhanced if the shopper could examine the displayed products in a manner similar to how one would at the actual store.
Further convenience would be added by creating one or more lists of what the shopper may need to buy based upon historical or predetermined ordering patterns or upon actual selections at the time the shopper is moving through the virtual store shown on the shopper's display.
Thus, there is the need for a video-based digitally implemented interactive electronic shopping system which allows a customer to view the contents of a particular shopping facility in a format that provides the feeling of shopping for the items in that particular facility. Use of this should be available at the customer's home or business through a convenient device, such as a personal computer, television or other consumer type electronic visual display device.
The present invention provides a novel and improved interactive electronic shopping system and method that satisfy the aforementioned needs for making shopping more convenient to the shopper. Using the present invention, a shopper can browse through a virtual duplicate of an actual store in a manner similar to being in the actual store itself. The shopper can examine individual products, and select or not select ones for purchase. Through the selection process, one or more types of lists can be created (e.g., alphabetical or by location in the store). Historical lists based on past ordering and predetermined buying frequency can also be provided. Special displays or information can also be provided to alert the shopper to specials on particular products. Products can be located through a directory that correlates all the products with their respective locations in the store. Changes at the actual store can be implemented in the virtual store.
This invention benefits the marketer of the products because, for example, it allows for customer loyalty to be developed since the exact depiction of the marketer's store actually enables the customer to become very familiar with the store and its particular products and to stay abreast of changes. It also enables a customer to reduce the actual shopping time and to ease or enhance the shopping experience.
An interactive electronic shopping system of the present invention comprises: means for converting images of a shopping facility into encoded digital signals representing the images as would be seen by a shopper at a physical embodiment of the shopping facility; means for storing the encoded digital signals in a computer data base; means for displaying a video representation of the shopping facility in response to the stored encoded digital signals; and control means for the shopper to control the means for displaying such that the means for displaying causes the displayed video image to change at the shopper's command to correspond to what the shopper would see were the shopper to move through a physical embodiment of the shopping facility.
In a particular implementation, the interactive electronic shopping system comprises: a digital camera to digitize a shopping facility into digital signals representing images of the shopping facility; a central computer data base to store the digital signals; a communication link connected to the central computer data base; a local computer connected to the communication link; and a control interface connected to the local computer to enable a shopper to control the local computer such that the local computer obtains data from the central computer data base in response to the digital signals stored therein and displays video images of the shopping facility in response to the obtained data.
The present invention also provides a method of creating a virtual shopping facility for interactive shopping by computer. This method comprises: selecting a physically embodied shopping facility in which a shopper can purchase from among a plurality of products; converting images of at least a portion of the shopping facility and the plurality of products into encoded digital signals; storing the encoded digital signals in a computer storage medium; and providing access to the stored encoded digital signals such that portions of the stored encoded digital signals are selectable and transmissible to a computer for displaying, on a monitor of the computer, virtual movement within a visual representation of the shopping facility and for permitting examination of visual representations of selected products in response to selected stored encoded digital signals.
The present invention also provides a computer-implemented method of simulating movement of a shopper through a shopping facility to enable an individual to observe, inspect and select a product in the shopping facility through operation of a computer. The method comprises: selecting a shopping facility having a known configuration of products displayed at the selected shopping facility such that a shopper can move among the displayed products to observe, inspect and select from among the displayed products; simulating the configuration of displayed products in a computer, including translating the known configuration of displayed products into encoded configuration-defining electrical signals in memory of a first computer and using the electrical signals to create in a second computer video representations of the configuration of displayed products; indicating to at least the second computer a first position of a shopper in the shopping facility and displaying through a monitor of the second computer the video representation of the configuration of displayed products at the first position; and indicating to at least the second computer a continuous change from the first position to a second position and displaying through the monitor of the second computer a changing video representation of the configuration of displayed products corresponding to a moving scene the shopper would see in moving from the first position to the second position in the shopping facility.
The present invention still further provides a computer-implemented method of making a shopping list for purchasing products from a shopping facility, comprising performing each of the following steps using a computer: accessing a predetermined data base of encoded electrical signals representing a shopping facility and products available for purchase from the shopping facility; retrieving from the data base a sequence of the encoded electrical signals and displaying moving images of at least a portion of the shopping facility and products to simulate movement through the portion of the shopping facility in response to the retrieved sequence of encoded electrical signals; and selecting displayed products and making a list of the selected displayed products.
Therefore, from the foregoing, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved interactive electronic shopping system and method. Other and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art when the following description of the preferred embodiments is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the preferred embodiment system of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a particular implementation of the preferred embodiment system of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a representation of an illustrative screen display at a local computer of the particular implementation of FIG. 2.
FIG. 4 is a representation of another illustrative screen display at the local computer represented in FIG. 3.
FIGS. 5 and 6 are representations of alternatives for the screen display of FIG. 4.
FIG. 7 is a representation of still another illustrative screen display at the local computer represented in FIG. 3.
FIG. 8 is a representation of a further illustrative screen display at the local computer represented in FIG. 3.
FIG. 9 is a representation of a still further illustrative screen display at the local computer represented in FIG. 3.
FIGS. 10A-10B show a flow chart of part of the method of the present invention.
A digital camera provides an inexpensive and versatile way for a store owner to electronically capture images of the store's contents for computerized interactive viewing by its customers. The present invention uses this to enable a viewer of a display screen to visually proceed through a virtual embodiment of the store in a fashion similar to walking up and down aisles at the actual store. The viewer can view items on each aisle with the ability to move closer to read images of actual labels on products on shelves or in displays. The digitization of the images generates electronically stored data that allows for efficient substitution of new images if products are moved or changed in a store. Items that the store chooses to highlight, such as for "sale" or "special" items, can flash or otherwise be made distinctive as the customer approaches them on the virtual journey through the displayed store.
"Hot spots" are imposed upon the display screen, such as at the location of the store price label for a particular product or at a logical location before a display of one particular group of items. By "mouse" double click or touch of an indicator on the hot spot, for example, a portion of the screen displays additional information concerning the item.
The additional information concerning an item includes any information desired. Examples are product size, price, unit price, last purchase date, location in the store, additional product advertisement including audio information, information concerning other sizes or related products available and a "yes" or "no" to order or place an item on a list. From the running list of items selected for purchase, additional lists can be automatically created. One such list could include a list of items ordered with the cost of each, the running total cost, and store location. A list arranged in order of store location could be selected for use in speeding time required for obtaining the items while in the actual store. If the order is to be filled by another party, the list could order the items for selecting from a warehouse or other storage location. Items which must be weighed or selected on a weight basis could be estimated based upon prior purchase history. Unique items such as flowers or vegetables could be ordered by category, number, and total cost or amount required (if applicable).
Additional lists can be automatically available at the beginning of the interactive virtual shopping session. These include pre-prepared lists of items routinely purchased, items purchased in the past, and items due for reorder based on prior purchase history.
One purpose of this invention is to allow persons that cannot or do not want to visit a store to send an order electronically to a store where personnel will select the items and either deliver them or hold them for pick up by the customer. Automatic electronic payment capability is preferably also available as a part of the order process.
The present invention enables pre-shopping of a particular store in the comfort of one's home, office or any location where a suitable electronic interface. (e.g., a computer having Internet access capability) is available. The information can be searched, selected and lists prepared for use while in the store, thereby reducing the shopping time. It also allows someone unfamiliar with the particular customer's desires or unfamiliar with the store to efficiently do the actual shopping using the lists produced.
This invention has particular application to any provider of goods or services where customers, clients or patients typically go to an actual shop, office or other physical facility. It is especially applicable to any merchandiser of consumer products including grocery stores, mass merchandisers of consumer goods such as variety or department stores, drug stores and other similar stores selling many items. Another specific application would allow a person to have the visual experience of walking into a restaurant, sitting down at a table, opening up a menu and ordering as if the person were in the restaurant. The order could be electronically transmitted for preparation for "carry out" or "delivery." The restaurant could create a video image of each of its menu items for display upon activation of a particular "hot spot" on the viewed menu. Unless otherwise stated or limited by a particular stated context, the terms "shopping facility" and "store" as used in this specification and the accompanying claims encompass all such places to which the present invention is applicable. The term "shopper" refers to a user of the present invention.
Preferred Embodiments of System and Method
An electronic shopping system in accordance with the present invention is represented in FIG. 1. The system creates an electronically produced, electronically transmissible visual replica of a display of goods or other objects at a shopping facility or other particular environment. The shopping facility is conveyed to a shopper through the present invention as a specific shopping environment to be met when the shopper is actually at the facility. This expedites the shopper moving through the actual facility because the shopper has familiarity with it. Any type of environment may be depicted; however, the present invention will be specifically described with reference to a conventional grocery store 2 having conventional aisles stocked with typical products 4. It is to be noted, however, that other items, such as business cards, product brochures, business information, machines, personnel, meeting or examination rooms, etc., can be depicted.
The electronic shopping system of the present invention includes means 6 for converting images of the shopping facility into encoded digital signals representing the images as would be seen by the shopper at the physical embodiment of the shopping facility. The image converting means 6 can be used to provide any desired view that will produce a desired video replica of the shopping facility, particularly the interior environment and products of the facility. For example, the image converting means 6 can be used to generate electrical signals from which these features can be depicted at a distance for a broader view or close up to provide sufficient clarity to read significant product labeling.
A particular implementation of the image converting means 6 is a digital camera 8 shown in FIG. 2. This can be a conventional known type of product that generates, in response to the received light emitted or reflected from the shopping facility features, digital signals representing these detected images of the shopping facility. The image converting means 6 can be implemented in other ways, such as by a scanner device using a pictorial representation of the shopping facility or by a computer operator using a known type of graphics program to create images on a computer (e.g., the computer operator could draw an image based on a picture of an actual location or based on an artist's rendering, or as a fictitious place if actual shopping by the user is not to occur). It is preferred, however, to use a digital camera as illustrated in FIG. 2 so that a substantially exact representation of the actual facility can be quickly obtained and ultimately displayed in the electronic shopping system of the present invention. Known types of photographic (e.g., telescopic lensing) or digital imaging techniques can be used in creating long range or close up views with desired detail.
The electric signals from the image conversion means 6 are stored in a suitable storage means 10 preferably forming part of a computer data base. The storage means 10 can be implemented in any suitable manner, such as by one central memory or multiple distributed memories, or individual memories (e.g., diskettes or CD-ROMs provided to the shoppers for their individual use at home or business). The storage means 10 of whatever type is used within the system such that data can be removed and replaced as changes are made in the actual facility 2.
The data from the storage means 10 is used to provide a video representation of the shopping facility as presented through a display means 12 as represented in FIG. 1. The display means 12 includes a video monitor of any suitable type, such as a computer monitor or a television screen, in conjunction with other conventional hardware and software that allow the downloading and use of the data from the storage means 10 in the display means 12. The information downloaded can be downloaded all at one time or incrementally as specifically required. Visible images can be displayed either as still or moving images. Moving images are used to give the shopper at the display means 12 the sense of moving through the aisles of products in the grocery store 2 example.
The display means 12 is programmed to also include means for communicating information about the selected product to the shopper. This information communicated includes ordering information as well as other information as will become apparent below. The information communicated is information that has been previously entered into the data base of the storage means 10. The information can be conveyed audibly through speakers forming part of the display means 12 or visibly through the aforementioned monitor or other display device of the display means 12.
The display means 12 also includes means for generating and displaying one or more lists of products ordered. These lists can be provided in alphabetical order, or in a sequence according to the locations of the ordered products in the shopping facility so that the shopper can go to the actual facility and efficiently and expeditiously move through the facility to obtain the items to be purchased. The lists can be organized in any other suitable manner as well.
Another type of list that can be provided by the means for generating and displaying a list of the present invention is a list of products previously ordered by the shopper and the date each listed product was last ordered by the shopper. This type of list can also indicate the frequency with which each listed product has been ordered or is to be ordered by the shopper. One implementation of this is to program the display means 12 so that actual ordering or selecting of products is automatically tracked and a frequency computation made, such as either on the basis of the time since last ordering the same product or an average time based on a historical record of the orders for the same product. These lists are generated and displayed by suitable programming means within the display means 12 or as obtained from the storage means 10.
The display means 12 can also display selected images that are visually distinctive relative to the video representations of other images to highlight these images to the shopper at the display means 12. For example, certain products that are on "special" at the grocery store 2 might flash on the display screen of the display means 12. Alternatively, there might be a text indication noting that such product is on special. Such distinctive display can be applied for other purposes, examples of which include goods that may need to be reordered, items that have been selected for current purchase, etc. This feature of distinctive display is implemented by means for modifying the respective encoded digital signals of the selected images so that the video representations of these selected images displayed by the display means 12 are visually distinctive to the video representations of other images not represented by modified encoded digital signals. The modification can be implemented by the tagging or linking technique referred to below whereby the programming commands which cause the image to flash or the "special" notification text to appear are linked with the respective signals defining the respective product image.
The electronic shopping system shown in FIG. 1 also includes control means 14 for the shopper to control the display means 12 such that the display means 12 causes the displayed video image to change at the shopper's command to correspond to what the shopper would see were the shopper to move through the physical embodiment of the shopping facility 2. This includes a suitable interface device such as a mouse, keyboard, light pen, or touch screen function that allows the shopper to indicate to the display means 12 that other video representations are to be displayed or that a product is to be more closely examined or ordered, for example. An example of this is to have the control means 14 allow the shopper to interact with the display of one aisle of the grocery store 2 with which a shopping cart image is also displayed. The control means 14 allows the shopper to cause the display means 12 to move the shopping cart down the aisle as if the shopper were pushing it. The control means 14 further allows the shopper to cause the display means 12 to stop at a desired part of the aisle, turn toward that particular part, and zoom in on a particular product. The control means 14 can also allow the shopper to cause the display means 12 to show movement of the selected product off the shelf for closer examination or for moving the displayed representation of the selected product into the represented shopping cart in the same manner as the shopper would actually function in the real grocery store 2. The shopping cart representation is a specific embodiment of a selected product accumulation space. Another embodiment of such a space is a counter in a clothing store where a cash register is located and where the shopper would collect selected clothing items in moving them from the racks of clothing to purchase them. This also provides means for ordering the selected products in that the display means 12 can record the selections and add them to an order list. The control means 14 can provide for eliciting textual, graphical or audible information about the product (e.g., pull-down menus or windows containing the information).
The electronic shopping system shown in FIG. 1 also includes printing means 16 from which one or more selected lists can be printed. This allows the shopper to take the printed list and go to the actual grocery store 2 (or other represented facility) to perform the actual shopping. The present invention also contemplates, however, electronically ordering the selected item so that the facility 2 receives the electronic order, fills it and has the selected items ready for pick up by or delivery to the shopper as desired.
A particular implementation of the system shown in FIG. 1 is illustrated in FIG. 2. A representation of one actual aisle of actual products 4 is digitized using the digital camera 8 referred to above. The digital signals output from the digital camera 8 are provided to a data storage computer 18 embodying the storage means 10 of FIG. 1.
The display means 12 and the control means 4 of FIG. 1 are implemented in FIG. 2 at least in part by one or more local computers 20. A communication link, illustrated in FIG. 2 as the Internet 22, connects the data storage computer 18 with the local computers 20. The data storage computer 18, the one or more local computers 20 and the Internet 22 are used to embody the storage means 10, the display means 12 and the control means 14 of the FIG. 1 embodiment. Particular functions and structures of the system can be implemented in either the data storage computer 18 or the local computer 20 as desired; however, in general, the main data base of digitized signals provided from the digital camera 8 is contained in the central data storage computer 18 and the control means 14 is part of each local computer 20 for the implementation of FIG. 2. The display occurs at the local computer 20, but particular programming to accomplish the functions of the present invention can reside in either the computer 18 or the computer 20 as desired. The computers 18 and 20 are of any suitable known type having enough memory and operating speed to handle the amount of data used in defining the shopping facility and the operations performed therewith. Preferably each computer 20 is a personal computer type or other comparable type readily usable by the shopper, and the computer 18 can be of this type or larger depending upon data handling capability required for a specific implementation. The printers 16 shown in FIG. 2 are of any desired conventional known type compatible with the respective computer 20 (e.g., laser, ink jet, etc.).
The communication link connecting the data storage computer 18 with the local computers 20 can include a telephone line, cellular link, cable television or other connection medium, but in general the local computers 20 will be remote from the data storage computer 18. As mentioned, the particular implementation of FIG. 2 uses the Internet 22 as the communication link. The computer 18 and the computers 20 have suitable known programs to interface with the Internet and communicate over it to achieve the data acquisitions and transfers referred to in this specification.
The programming of the computer 18 and the computers 20 is, in general, known conventional programming which stores data, accesses data, communicates data, manipulates data, and displays data in manners known in the art. One significant aspect of the data handling is, however, that the digitized signals from the digital camera 8 need to be stored in the data storage computer 18 in a manner which allows particular portions of data associated with respective images displayed through the local computer 20 to be identified and independently manipulated. One way to do this is to create links or identifiers with the digitized video data so that it can be located and associated with other information. For example, identifiers can be spatial coordinates of the interior of the grocery store 2. As the data is recorded by the digital camera 8 and stored in the computer 18, the data of a particular portion of the store is associated in the data storage computer 18 memory with a respective x-y-z coordinate. Other identifiers could be manually assigned or otherwise associated by a programmer looking at an image on the screen of the local computer 20 and clicking on areas of products and assigning identifiers to those areas. In whatever manner is chosen, this allows a particular product or other visual segment shown on the screen of a local computer 20 to have a unique identifier to which other information can be associated. For example, this other information can be a set of encoded signals which cause the respective product to flash when it is displayed on the local computer 20 to indicate that that product is being offered at a special price or has been ordered or needs to be reordered. This also allows product information, selector "hot spots" and other features to be associated with respective products. This allows, for example, a hierarchy of classifications to be assigned to each product (e.g., "canned goods," "green beans," "(specific brand name)") to facilitate text-based searching for particular products or types of products. This still further allows for discrete or segmented replacement of data; for example, when a certain product or group of products is changed in the actual store, a corresponding change can be made to the stored signals in the data storage computer 18 by replacing or modifying only that data at the corresponding coordinates in the data base.
With the data entered, linked or tagged as described above, and formatted with appropriate associated information, the shopper at one of the local computers 20 accesses the data storage computer 18 through the local computer and communication link. In the particular implementation, this involves accessing a home page for the grocery store 2 that is also stored in the data storage computer 18. To perform this access, the local computer 20 is turned on, the Internet is accessed by conventional Internet access provider, and the address of the home page is entered (e.g., http://www.abcgrocery.com). A home page 24 such as illustrated in FIG. 3 is then displayed, for example.
From the home page 24 illustrated in FIG. 3, the shopper can "go shopping" or "make lists" or use a "product locator." These are function selectors designed into the home page which connect the shopper to features of the present invention illustrated in FIGS. 10A-10B.
Referring to FIGS. 10A and 10B, a shopper that "goes shopping" from the home page 24 shown in FIG. 3 can travel through the virtual store, look at specific products, request more information about products, select products for purchase, and make lists. The shopper can also enter order information and print one or more lists.
In traveling through the store, the shopper sees the interior of the virtual embodiment of the store as displayed through the respective local computer 20. At the beginning of a travel through the store, the display can show entry through the front door of the store, selection of a shopping cart, and movement to a conventional starting point; however, programming can be used to allow the customer to start at any selected point within the environment of the shopping facility 2. Additionally, programming can allow the shopper to travel down a main aisle and look down each stocked aisle to see images of the products and/or menus of products contained in that aisle. The shopper can then go down each aisle as desired. The beginning of one such stocked aisle is shown in FIG. 4. FIG. 5 shows another type of display of the aisle including an index 26 of the items in the store, a list 28 of items on "special," and a list 30 of items to be ordered based on a predetermined or a calculated frequency. FIG. 6 shows still another type of aisle display, this one including a menu 32 of products available on that aisle.
In general, traveling through the store involves the programming of one or more of the computers 18, 20 to determine the location of the shopper, access data, and display the retrieved data. This involves data transfers between the computer 18 and the respective computer 20 whereby the desired data to be displayed is provided to the local computer 20. One way to determine the location of the shopper in the store is via a cursor 34 displayed on the screen as shown in FIG. 4. This location of the cursor 34 is oriented relative to the computer program defined three-dimensional space coordinate system set up for the shopping facility and providing one means of identifying the digitally recorded images. Once the shopper enters the shopping facility, the computer 18 or 20 keeps track of where the cursor 34 is located within the virtual three-dimensional space and the computer 18 or causes the associated data within a predetermined region of that location to be displayed, again such as illustrated in FIG. 4 (and FIGS. 5 and 6). That is, the computer programming can be defined with preset spatial parameters that define the range of x-y-z coordinates to be shown at any given cursor location. This can be a fixed range, or different ranges depending upon the various positions within each aisle, for example, or as otherwise desired.
The present invention also allows for rotational orientation so that if the shopper is in an aisle, looking in a particular direction, the computer 20 displays that view. Such rotational orientation can be implemented using the control means 14 such as specifically implemented by the arrow keys on a keyboard or by a joy stick. Thus, as the shopper travels down the aisle from the end shown in FIG. 4, different data is retrieved from the computer 18 (or from data previously downloaded to the computer 20) to show movement along the aisle as indicated by the scene in FIG. 7. Also shown in FIG. 7 is one technique for identifying to the shopper items to be reordered and on special. Means other than the textual indicators of FIG. 7 can be used; for example, the products can be made to flash or can be highlighted in a predetermined color.
When the shopper stops at a particular section to look at a product, as indicated by left, right, forward or reverse motion such as input through the arrow keys of the keyboard, a more limited, closer view of a section of the aisle can be viewed, such as shown in FIG. 8. Although not shown in the representation of FIG. 8 due to space and lettering constraints, the individual products, such as product 36, appear on the display means as replicas of the actual products and include their labeling in sufficient definition that the labels can be read in at least close-up views. Associated with each product or group of like products is the corresponding price and information label 38 also in detail for reading in at least close-up views.
An even closer view is shown in FIG. 9 in association with further information about a particular product and lists generated when products are selected. In FIG. 9, for example, each of the shelf labels 38 is a "hot spot" which causes a product information window 40 to be displayed when the cursor 34 is placed on the shelf label "hot spot" and clicked on. As shown in FIG. 9, the information can be visibly shown as in window 40; however, audible information can also be provided if the computer 20 has a speaker and the data from the computer 18 data base contains data for generating audio output. As another example, the product may be graphically presented in response to actuating the "hot spot"; for example, different discrete views of the product can be sequentially shown in maximum close-up views with sufficient resolution and clarity to allow the shopper to read product labeling. These are examples of implementations of the means for communicating information about a selected product and the means by which that selected product is identified.
To obtain data by which the different views shown in FIGS. 4-9 can be provided, the digital camera 8 can be moved throughout the store to capture all of the images and this raw data stored in the computer 18. The computer programming is set up to define specific image ranges within each location of the cursor 34 so that under shopper control of the control means 14, the cursor location within the store can be noted and the images within the appropriate range of that location displayed. As the cursor 34 is moved and other control information given to the computer 18 or 20, movement along an aisle and zoom in and zoom out views can be shown. Alternatively, discrete segments of the store can be stored in the memory and these discrete segments pulled up and displayed as the cursor 34 reaches appropriate locations within the three-dimensional coordinate system set up for the interior of the shopping facility.
As the shopper moves through the virtual store displayed via the computer 20, products can be selected for purchase such as by entering data through the product information window 40 as shown in FIG. 9 (i.e., by selecting "yes" after "purchase") or by single or double clicking on the product or the "hot spot" in a distinctive manner from that used for calling up the product information. A selection can then be automatically added to one or more lists, examples of which are shown in FIG. 9. For example, the lists can be alphabetical (42), by store location (44), or by warehouse location (or other "order fill" location) (46). At least a list such as list 30 also automatically lists the number of items ordered, the unit cost and/or the total for each product, and a running total for the entire list. The programming for the computer 18 or 20 can also allow the shopper to add notes to any of the lists (e.g., an instruction for the person filling the order regarding what to do if a particular selection is not available); entering a note can be by any suitable means of the system, such as by entering text through the keyboard of the computer 20.
Once a list has been created for the products to be purchased, the products can be ordered electronically through the Internet system with instructions for delivery by the store or for pickup by the shopper going to the store. Payment provisions (preferably secure ones) can also be included in the system.
If the shopper wants to go to the store and go through the aisles to select the individual items himself or herself, the desired list can be printed (e.g., by selecting the "print" button on any of lists 42, 44, 46) and taken to the store by the shopper.
Returning to the home page 24 shown in FIG. 3, one or more list forms is displayed at the respective computer 20 if the shopper selects "make list." These can be of the same type shown in FIGS. 5 and 9 and can allow the shopper either to create a current list or to install a reorder list.
Referring to FIG. 10A, to make a current list, the shopper enters the current date, selects any reorder items from an existing reorder list, enters new items to be selected and then controls the computer 20 to automatically organize in the manner the shopper wants (e.g., by location in the store or by price or alphabetically as illustrated in FIG. 9) and print the list if desired. The shopper can then end the session or "go shopping" to see if additional items are needed.
To make a reorder list, the shopper enters the current date, the item to be reordered and information regarding the reorder frequency, and stores the reorder list in memory in either the computer 20 or the computer 18. The list can be printed, and the shopper can then "go shopping" or end the session as desired. An example of a resultant output based on this type of list is shown in FIG. 5 by list 30, which shows items to be reordered as of the current date. Such a list 30 can be defined by the foregoing to have a predetermined order frequency or a list can be automatically maintained based on actual ordering history (e.g., each time an actual order list is made, the historical list updates and determines ordering frequency such as by computing an average time between purchases of the same product).
The third option shown on the home page 24 of FIG. 3 is to use the "product locator." Details of this are shown in FIG. 10A. A predetermined directory of all the products available from the store 2 is encoded in digital signals stored in the computer data base of the system such that this directory is searchable by one or more words entered into the computer 20 by the shopper (or other selection technique, e.g., an alphabetical list the shopper scrolls through). The programmed computer 20 with its keyboard (for example) provide means for enabling the shopper to search the defined searchable directory in that the shopper types in one or more words to identify the product to be located (e.g., "green beans"). The system then matches this to the stored directory listing and retrieves and displays back to the shopper through the screen of the computer 20 where the product is located in the store 2. This can be by a text response (e.g., "aisle 2") or by displaying the video image of that portion of the store as would be seen if the shopper moved among the virtual aisles. The shopper can select these found items, make one or more lists, and order if desired, all as indicated in the flow chart of FIG. 10A. The shopper then can print the list(s), "go shopping," or return to the home page 24, also as shown in FIG. 10A. Other specific implementations can, of course, be used.
The foregoing defines the preferred embodiment of a computer-implemented method of simulating movement of a shopper through a shopping facility to enable the individual to observe, inspect and select a product in the shopping facility through operation of a computer. Stated another way, this is a method of creating a virtual shopping facility for interactive shopping by computer.
Based on the system described above, this method comprises selecting a physically embodied shopping facility having displays of goods physically disposed therein for the particular implementation of a grocery store, for example. The selected shopping facility has a known configuration via its actual construction and arrangement of products displayed at the selected shopping facility such that a shopper can move among the displayed products to observe, inspect and select from among the displayed products.
The method simulates the configuration of the displayed products in a computer, such as one of the computers 18 or 20. This includes in the illustrated implementation translating the known configuration of displayed products into encoded configuration-defining electric signals in memory of the computer 18 and using the electric signals to create video representations of the configuration of displayed products through the computer 20 (in another non-limiting example, the signals can be stored on a storage medium used directly in the computer 20). Conversion of the images of the physically disposed displays of goods into encoded digital signals is by means of the digital camera 8 for the particular implementation of FIG. 2. The encoded digital signals from the camera 8 are stored in the computer 18 in this implementation. Access is provided to these stored signals such that portions of the signals are selectable and transmissible to the computer 20 for displaying, on a monitor of that computer, virtual movement along the display of goods represented by selected stored encoded digital signals. In the illustrated implementation this uses known Internet communication technology for accessing and transferring the requisite signals.
The shopper using the system and method of the present invention is located at a respective one of the computers 20 and indicates to that computer 20 a first virtual position of the shopper within the displayed shopping facility. This first position is indicated by the shopper controlling the control means 14, such as a mouse, to place the cursor 34 at a desired location within the displayed video representation of the configuration of displayed products.
The shopper indicates to the computer a continuous change from the first position to a second position. This can be done by moving the cursor 34 along the displayed image. In response the stored data within the predetermined display range of the cursor location is acquired to continuously change the displayed images resulting in displaying through the monitor of the computer 20 a changing video representation of the configuration of displayed products corresponding to a moving scene the shopper would see in moving from the first position to the second position in the actual shopping facility.
The method of the present invention also includes distinctively displaying predetermined ones of displayed products to indicate to the shopper that the distinctively displayed products are offered on a special basis or need to be reordered or are on the current order list, for example.
The method also includes indicating to the computer the shopper's selection of a specific product. This can be by, for example, clicking on the displayed product, or clicking on the displayed product and dragging it to a video representation of a shopping cart, or answering a selection query in a display window on the screen. Selection can also be by a light pen, screen touch, keyboard actuation or other means. When a product is selected, it is automatically added to the selected product list.
The invention also includes maintaining in the computer a historical list of products selected by the shopper.
From the product selections, a list is created in the computer 18 or 20, which list contains the products to be purchased by the shopper at the actual selected shopping facility. The list can be organized in a sequential order in which the selected products are to be picked up at the actual selected shopping facility or at another location such as a warehouse where electronically transmitted orders are filled. Other list organizations can be used.
When the list has been completed, it can be printed for the shopper to use when the shopper goes to the actual selected shopping facility, for example.
As mentioned above, the hardware and software for implementing the system and method described above are in general conventional and known in the art. To the extent any modifications or additional hardware or software is needed in specifically implementing the invention, such modifications and additions are within the skill in the art given the explanation of the invention set forth above.
Thus, the present invention is well adapted to carry out the objects and attain the ends and advantages mentioned above as well as those inherent therein. While preferred embodiments of the invention have been described for the purpose of this disclosure, changes in the construction and arrangement of parts and the performance of steps can be made by those skilled in the art, which changes are encompassed within the spirit of this invention as defined by the appended claims.
Patent Citations
Non-Patent Citations
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Merge project files
That'd be nice if you'd help to merge project files (csproj, vbproj) that are generated by the IDE.
329 votes
Rémi BOURGAREL shared this idea
2 comments
Jason Stangroome commented
Merging project files using XML semantics only would be insufficient. For example:
* Order of Items is unimportant.
* Order of Properties can be important.
* Grouping child elements into ItemGroups and PropertyGroups without Conditions is unimportant.
Mike C commented
If we can semantically merge XML, then we can handle project files. :-)


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jread23's Profile
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Looking for a good seafood market in Manchester, NH- tuna/ or swordfish preferably
Never liked them so I'm not sad to see them go. Someone mentioned the guy at the traffic circle near Massabesic, he's still there on Fridays and part of the day on Saturday.
Mar 28, 2012jread23 in Northern New England
Need help in Manchester NH area - wedding gift
agree with bedford village inn or richard's bistro.
Jul 29, 2011jread23 in Northern New England
Matt Provencher has left Richard's Bistro
Richard's was worth going to before Matt ever worked there. My wife and I actually liked it better before he was the chef and can't wait to go back.
Apr 23, 2011jread23 in Northern New England
A friend of mine has been roasting for over 30 years and currently roasts for a company in Mass. His stuff is always good so I get it from him when I can and otherwise drink tea since I've been unable to find coffee that I like.
Best coffee I've ever had was 20 years ago at Peets. At that time they were still only a regional chain in and around SF and their coffee buyer would actually fly to the countries of origin and visit the growers, roast and cup onsite and decide what to buy. Since they roasted everything dark they were very particular about buying coffee that was grown between certain altitudes because that could best withstand the roast. The coffee descriptions from the cupping actually carried through to your cup, if they claimed "hint of berries" or whatever in the description then that is what you'd get. Phenomenal stuff. Not anymore. They long ago grew too big and their coffee now is just awful.
Mar 03, 2011jread23 in Northern New England
I'm an absolute coffee snob and haven't found anything worth going out of the way for in NH and that includes A&E. I've tried their coffee many times and it just never did anything for me. I'll stop in to Prime Roast when I'm out that way, sounds promising.
Mar 02, 2011jread23 in Northern New England
Sweet Retreat Bakery in Manchester
In our experience, for the size of the cupcake it is not a lot. A similar sized cupcake at a bakery in Bedford (and Amherst) was $5 and nowhere near as good.
Feb 25, 2011jread23 in Northern New England
Sweet Retreat Bakery in Manchester
their website lists greek cookies, cookies and butter cookies. Not sure what that entails since I didn't go and my wife didn't mention the cookies. I haven't tried LALA's but I'll check them out. Thanks for the recommendation.
Feb 24, 2011jread23 in Northern New England
Sweet Retreat Bakery in Manchester
After reading about this in the Hippo my wife went by and picked up a raspberry turnover, lobster tail and a vanilla cupcake. The Raspberry turnover with creme was one of the best pastries I've ever had and the lobster tail was very good. I didn't try the cupcake but my wife, who bought one with our daughter a few days ago at a well known bakery in the area for $5, said this one from Sweet Retreat was far better, in fact the best she's had in the area and only cost $2.
Sweet Retreat is located on Dow St between Canal and Elm.
Feb 22, 2011jread23 in Northern New England
Service? What service? At Famous Daves
I used to think KC's was good, then they closed for awhile and it wasn't the same afterwards. Didn't seem like they smoked anything anymore. Went to Goody Cole's once, it was ok but not great.
Jan 21, 2011jread23 in Northern New England
Sports Bar with NFL Network for Thanksgiving? Urgent Help Needed Please.
Nov 22, 2010jread23 in Northern New England
Best hidden secrets in New Hampshire? Thin Crust Pizza, Burgers, Wings?
I disagree with the blanket statement that pizza in NH sucks. Espresso in Nashua used to be good (haven't been in awhile) and we like Pizza Man in Hooksett. If you're looking for NY or Chicago pizza in NH then you're setting yourself up for disappointment.
Nov 18, 2010jread23 in Northern New England
I found Parkers about 15 years ago in a similar manner and also didn't eat there the first time. I've gone back a few times since and I just don't understand what it is about the place that makes people want to wait 30-90 minutes for breakfast. The food is pretty average at best.
Sep 20, 2010jread23 in Northern New England
New Fish store on 2nd street, Manchester NH
I haven't been back either. I have been going to the guy at the candia rd traffic circle and haven't been disappointed.
Aug 10, 2010jread23 in Northern New England
Lunch along Rte 101 or 95 in NH - Exeter to Portsmouth
I second the loaf and ladle recommendation. It's what I thought of as soon as I saw the title of this thread. Excellent soups and breads made from scratch.
Aug 02, 2010jread23 in Northern New England
Really good pancakes/breakfast in the Lakes region of NH
Finally made our way to Heritage Farm Pancake House today. The pancakes were very good. I had the Oatmeal Scottie (Oatmeal with butterscotch chips), my wife had 1 chocolate chip and 1 pumpkin and our 3 year old had a blueberry and 1/2 of one of my oatmeal. Once she tried mine she kept asking for more. The Oatmeal Scotties were great as was the pumpkin, which wasn't overwhelmed by spices as I usually find pumpkin flavored foods to be. The other standout was the bacon which is from Fox Country Smokehouse. They even asked if we wanted it crisp or soggy. It seemed to be family run and the staff were very friendly.
After eating our daughter played on the playground for awhile and then had fun feeding the chickens, pigs, cow and sheep.
We'll definitely head back at some point and I recommend giving it a try if you're in the area.
Jul 24, 2010jread23 in Northern New England
I went yesterday for lunch with a friend. We both thought the ribs were dry and tasteless and the brisket, while tender, was also tasteless and neither had any smoke taste though both had a "smoke ring". Don't know how it got there since you couldn't taste it.
Jul 09, 2010jread23 in Greater Boston Area
Red Barn Coffee has great ice coffee. They have a location in the Faneuil Hall building (not Quincy Market) and in the Longwood galleria. Some posted about cold brewing and that's how they make it there.
I cold brew at home too. We started with the home version of the Toddy but have moved on to the commercial model because we were going through the coffee so fast. The commercial version makes 2.5 gallons of concentrate.
Jul 01, 2010jread23 in Greater Boston Area
Review of Goody Cole's BBQ Brentwood NH
I went a few weeks back and had a similar experience with the ribs and brisket. The ribs were ok and the brisket was tasteless. I haven't had good brisket @ a bbq place around here. The best thing I can say about Goodys' is that they actually smoke their ribs, not sure about the brisket since there was no evidence of it.
We used to go to KC's, but they got worse and worse each time we went and the last time I became convinced they stopped using their smoker completely. At that point I just bought my own smoker and ordered a bunch of pecan so I could do ribs and brisket myself.
Jun 30, 2010jread23 in Northern New England
Sunday BRUNCH?? Nashua NH area
Michael Timothy's is always great for brunch.
Jun 25, 2010jread23 in Northern New England
Worldclass bagels in Nashua & Manchester, NH
I like bagel alley. I've been to NY a bunch of times and tried bagels every time I've been there. Never had a good one there, let alone anything I'd consider world class..
Jun 22, 2010jread23 in Northern New England
I emailed Walpole and asked about corn syrup or hfcs in their base. They replied saying they use sugar.
Apr 29, 2010jread23 in Northern New England
Walpole creamery makes their own base. Their website says they only use "all-natural ingredients", but I don't think that necessarily means they don't use corn syrup or hfcs.
Apr 28, 2010jread23 in Northern New England
Richard's Bistro, Manchester NH - So VERY solid, always so wonderful!
We like Richards but used to like it more before the chef from Baldwins started.
Apr 26, 2010jread23 in Northern New England
New Fish store on 2nd street, Manchester NH
Went by again yesterday. Seems to be hit or miss with the freshness of the fish. I really wanted salmon, but it looked awful again so I went with the pollock and some monkfish. Anyone know why fish stores don't remove the membrane from monkfish?
Feb 14, 2010jread23 in Northern New England
New Fish store on 2nd street, Manchester NH
Went in yesterday and had a much better experience the 2nd time. Everything seemed much fresher. Bought some Atlantic Salmon and Cod. Good prices and it tasted great.
Jan 10, 2010jread23 in Northern New England
Sorry to take this thread off topic, but how much does quality charge for brisket? Wal-Mart in Hooksett has packers for 1.78 lb. Meat House charges ~$4 a lb.
Jan 08, 2010jread23 in Northern New England
New Fish store on 2nd street, Manchester NH
Thanks for the reply. I will definitely head back in this week and give it another try.
Jan 06, 2010jread23 in Northern New England
New Fish store on 2nd street, Manchester NH
Good point. I'll check back again some other day. Maybe they should change "delivered daily from Portland" to "delivered when possible".
Jan 03, 2010jread23 in Northern New England
New Fish store on 2nd street, Manchester NH
Went in today after reading about in NH Magazine and here. Huge disappointment. Fish was similar to that in the local grocery stores. Haddock was all slimy and the salmon was slimy and looked like it had been beaten with a hammer.
Jan 03, 2010jread23 in Northern New England


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What We Will Do to Correct Problems
If a claim made during the Warranty Period is covered under this limited warranty, the Manufacturer or its authorized representative or local authorized dealer will, at the Manufacturer's sole option, (a) repair the defective portion of the KNAACK® product or (b) replace the entire KNAACK® product, or (c) a refund equal to the purchase price paid for the KNAACK® product or a credit to be used toward the purchase of new KNAACK® product. THE SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY FOR BREACH OF THIS LIMITED WARRANTY SHALL BE LIMITED TO REPAIR, CORRECTION OR REPLACEMENT OF THE KNAACK® PRODUCT, OR REFUND OR CREDIT OF THE PURCHASE PRICE.
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This limited warranty is the sole and exclusive warranty provided to original purchasers of a KNAACK®
product identified above. No employee, agent, dealer, or other person is authorized to alter this limited warranty or make any other warranty on behalf of the Manufacturer. The terms of this limited warranty shall not be modified by the Manufacturer, the original owner, or their respective successors or assigns.
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The original purchaser must promptly notify the Manufacturer upon its discovery that the KNAACK®
product contains a defect in materials or workmanship by calling the following number: (800) 456-7865. Notification must be made during the warranty period. In order for a warranty claim to be processed, a copy of the original sales receipt must be provided to the Manufacturer or at Manufacturer's instruction, to its authorized representative or local authorized dealer. The Manufacturer will determine, in its sole and absolute discretion whether the claim is covered or subject to the limitations or exclusions described in this limited warranty. The original purchaser may be asked to contact Manufacturer's authorized representative or local authorized dealer for further instructions on how to obtain the remedies available to it under this limited warranty. Repairs or modifications made to the KNAACK®
product by other than the Manufacturer, its authorized representative or local authorized dealer will nullify this limited warranty. Coverage under this limited warranty is conditioned at all times upon the original purchaser's compliance with these required notification and repair procedures.
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- Books → History → Renaissance
Art of Fresco Painting in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
written by Mary Merrifield
Dover Publications | ISBN 9780486432939
Hardback – 134 pages
Member's price: $28.80
Usually ships within 2–11 business days.
Fresco painting was reintroduced to public attention in this important work by a recognized authority. In addition to translating descriptions of painting methods used by such masters as Alberti, Cennini, Vasari, and Borghini, the author also discusses causes of fresco destruction and how to retouch, repair, and clean these works of art.


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Gimme the Khalid Mohammed Shake and a Side of Fries
If the 9/11 terrorists (and murderers of Daniel Pearl, don't forget) want to spend their last days on earth acting out a farce more absurd than Noises Off, don't they have that right? Say, in lieu of a last meal (which they'll never finish digesting anyway).
You don't have to be a mind reader to figure out the propaganda strategy of September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the four other terrorists who were arraigned Saturday in a 13-hour spectacle in Guantanamo Bay. The idea is to use the open military trial to promote jihad and discredit American institutions, including the military system of justice.
The point to keep in mind is that this would have happened no matter the trial venue, civilian or military. The critics who have never liked military tribunals and accused them of being a form of railroad justice are now blaming them for being so unruly that they give terrorists a chance to act out. Well, which is it?
The real fault lies with the terrorists, who hope to put American justice on trial instead of themselves. The defendants refused even to look at Judge James Pohl, much less to answer questions or wear headsets to hear the simultaneous translation into Arabic. There were unscheduled prayers and a paper airplane. Ramzi bin Al Shibh commented in English that "Maybe they will kill us and say we have committed suicide."
Sad to say, they were helped by some of the military defense lawyers, who know they can make a name for themselves by putting the Bush Administration's detention policies on trial. KSM attorney David Nevin said in a press conference that "The government wants to kill Mr. Mohammed. They want to extinguish the last eyewitness to his torture so he can never speak again." Sure, 9/11 was one giant cover-up.
The terrorists deserve a zealous defense under our adversarial trial system, but the lawyers' efforts to defend their clients not by any evidence of their innocence but through political attacks on the procedural detail of military tribunals does a disservice to the victims and to their military peers.
The decision by Cheryl Bormann, the lawyer for Osama bin Laden bodyguard Walid bin Attash, to come to court in a black hijab and abaya and urge other female prosecutors to do the same was beyond any reasonable definition of what's necessary and proper for women working in a U.S. military courtroom.
The professional female lawyers and members of the U.S. military should cover themselves, she said, so that the suspects wouldn't be in "fear of committing a sin under their faith."
To hell with that. I say the lawyers should be required to wear stilettos, sequined hot pants, and nothing on top but a push-up bra. And that's just the guys!
This is America, baby, love it or leave it. To some of us, the Statue of Liberty is just a big dominatrix: "You're tired! You're poor! You're nothing but a huddled mass yearning to breath free, you pathetic excuse for an American." Crack! (You can't truly appreciate liberty unless you've been in bondage, I always say.)
It's not like the Gitmo Five haven't seen their share of infidel flesh. Didn't Mohammed (that name again!) Atta and his crew hit every titty bar and strip club in the Northeast before carrying out their mass-murderous mission?
We know that President Obama's preferred method of dealing with America's enemies is to terminate them with extreme prejudice—preferably by Predator drone, Navy SEALs a close second—and we salute him for that. (If a couple of wedding parties are mistaken for jihadist book groups and "accidentally" vaporized, just put your hat over heart and say you're powerful sorry.)
If deprived the pleasure of a Hellfire missile or two in the head, however, Obama would settle for a show trial from out of the Cultural Revolution in lower Manhattan. But this? KSM middle-fingering us without consequence? That's gotta be eating up Obama inside. We all know that in any other country, he'd get 70% of the vote—but in America and within Al Qaeda, he has to endure these indignities.
Me, on the other hand, I love it. The Gitmo Five can drop trou (or robe) and defecate in the middle of the courtroom for all I care. KSM can grope the female lawyers in their hijabs and say "How 'bout abaya drink?" He may make a farce out of the proceedings, but after his scrupulously fair military tribunal, we'll get the last laugh at the firing squad.
Just swallow the popcorn before laughing. No choking on the concessions.


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After the explosion that rocked a West Virginia mine, killing 29 workers, Mine Safety and Health Administration inspectors have stepped up their efforts, using the regulatory tools already available to them to expand their enforcement activities.
A reform bill making its way through Congress would expand the mine regulator's authority, but what's already changed is that inspectors are now using preexisting powers to a much fuller extent — particularly their ability to conduct surprise inspections and pull workers out of mines with serious health hazards until those hazards have been abated.
"We're aggressively using the closure order as a tool of choice" Main said.
"I see more withdraw orders than I ever saw in the past," said Ellen Smith, the managing editor of Mine Safety and Health News. "MSHA's always had power to issue them," she said, "they just didn't use the power that they had to the fullest extent. They're doing that now. They've never done it before, under anyone."
MSHA statistics show 1,287 closure orders between April 5 and August 5 of this year, 285 more than during the same period last year.
Smith said she's even heard of surprise inspections in off hours. "For MSHA to go into a mine on third shift was unheard of," she said.
One law has changed, to dramatic effect – a measure inserted into the financial reform bill which requires mining companies who trade on the stock market to register serious mine violations with the SEC. This has caused fluctuations in stock prices when serious violations get noticed by industry analysts and shareholders.
Similarly, in response to a large-scale event, the FDA plans to inspect all large egg farms in the United States, where about 80% of the nation's eggs are produced:
An Obama administration official says inspectors will visit about 600 large egg farms that produce 80 percent of the nation's eggs. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan has not yet been announced. This will be the first government effort to inspect large egg farms, as most of them have gone largely uninspected for decades.
The FDA's plan for heightened inspections came after more than half a billion eggs linked to cases of salmonella poisoning were recalled from two Iowa farms this month. The inspections will be conducted as part of new FDA rules put in place this July to prevent salmonella in shell eggs.
In both of these cases, the emphasis on prevention comes only after a tragedy occurs. It spurs the regulatory apparatus into action. The post-tragedy effect is positive, but you would have hoped that the deaths of 29 miners or the sickening of 1,500 egg eaters would not be necessary to kick-start these efforts. Especially because, in the case of Jack DeCoster, proprietor of the two big egg farms involved in the recall, the signs were readily apparent that he was a menace:
Long before Austin "Jack" DeCoster became a central figure in one of the largest egg recalls in history, he had paid more than $10 million in fines and suit settlements, his eggs were banned in one state and quarantined in another, and he was almost single-handedly responsible for new restrictions on child labor in his native Maine.
Despite this, both of DeCoster's Iowa-based egg farms had never been inspected by the FDA.
I appreciate this leap to action by the MSHA and the FDA, but wish it didn't take sickness and death to get us there.


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Thursday, May 15, 2014
A young girl believes she may have gotten pregnant after having sex with two teenage boys, according to the Aiken County Sheriffs Office.
Officers were called to North Augusta Elementary School on May 14, according to a sheriffs report. The complainant told them she was informed by the juvenile female that she had sex with two boys, one of whom is 13 and the other of whom is either 14 or 15.
The victim spoke with school officials because she feels like she may be pregnant, the report stated. Officers did not speak with the victim and were unable to obtain anymore information.
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Jan Houtermans, an accomplished Austrian kite designer, created this single line gem to excite even the most demanding kite collector. This original shape creates brilliant colors and special effects in the sky. Kite pilots experience the fun and pleasure of kite flying with a hand-crafted sculpture.
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What is 2DCraft?
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Goodtaste Houston!
Good wine, good food, great fun with Tanji Patton
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Easy Way to Cook with Wine
There's something ceremonial about cooking on the weekends. Having the glorious luxury of time to relax and really enjoy the whole process of putting a meal together… glass of wine in-hand of course! Sometimes that luxury of time just doesn't exist, so I found a quick answer when you need a wonderful meal in […] [Read More]


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By Jim GaramoneAmerican Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, July 17, 2013 Pentagon leaders understand the pain military and civilian workers are going through as the effects of deep spending cuts unfold, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in South Carolina this morning.
Speaking to civilian employees at Joint Base Charleston, Hagel assured them that Defense Department leaders know that furloughs and other sequestration effects are not just numbers, but people.
The secretary promised to work with Congress to end the next round of sequestration spending cuts scheduled to kick in when fiscal year 2014 begins Oct. 1. If sequestration continues into fiscal 2014, the planned defense budget would take a $52 billion cut.
"We are unwinding from the longest war we've ever been in," Hagel said. "And as you do that, not unlike any other time in the history of our country -- World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Cold War -- there are ramifications and consequences to budgets, to capacity, capability, priorities."
The bottom line is that it is still a dangerous world, the secretary said, and while the challenges have changed, the need to confront them has not.
"Sequestration is a mindless, irresponsible process. You know it; I know it," Hagel said. "I'm hoping that our leaders in Washington will eventually get that and come to some policy resolution."
But the secretary said he must plan for it to happen, because it is still the law of the land under the Budget Control Act of 2011. That being the case, he added, his responsibility for the nation's security includes preparing the department for the cuts.
Hagel reminded the civilian employees he commissioned Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to conduct a strategic choices and management review to provide him with options. "We do know this: regardless of what comes out of 2014, … this institution's going to be living with less," he said. "If there is an adjustment or a compromise or a change, even to sequestration, it's still going to mean less." The dramatic drop in spending under sequestration gives DOD no time to make the responsible adjustments needed, he added.
Hagel said his last choice was to furlough civilian employees, but his hand was forced. "It's unfair," he said. "It's wrong to do this to families, to people who have given their lives to this country. It's the wrong way to do it."
He has tried to make the process as fair as possible, he added, and furloughs will result in saving $2 billion for the department.
"I know it doesn't change anything," the secretary said. "I know it doesn't make you feel better. But you needed to know from me, because I made the decision, why I made it and what the realities are, and then anticipation of what's ahead."
Related Sites:Joint Base Charleston TranscriptSpecial Report: Travels With Hagel