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GH3, It's not meant to be an in-depth. It was a blog update.
GH3, It's not meant to be an in-depth. It was a blog update.
No opinion offered. No slight intended. The fact is Eric did have one year of eligibility remaining. That's all.
You are correct. Hakim Warrick did have 2,073 points and 1,025 rebounds. So that makes three SU players with 2,000-plus points and 1,000-plus rebounds.
On Tobias Harris: He is currently in the midst of taking his campus visits. He's already visited Syracuse and Tennessee. This weekend he's visiting Kentucky for "Big Blue Madness.'' His father tells me that Tobias will take all of his visits before making a decision.
This is the Orange Basketball Blog.
That was well-played. However, as anyone who reads The Post-Standard or syracuse.com would know, Dave Rahme is the best lacrosse writer in the country.
Good catch. I made the correction. Going to sleep now.
To all the eagle-eyed copy editors out there. Obviously, I mixed up the numbers on Jonny Flynn. He actually had 254 assists last year; a figure that's been surpassed by only Sherman Douglas and Lazarus Sims in SU history.
To Hearst,
Don't be too quick to award Donna the win from last year's argument. How do you know that with a year's experience under their belts that Donte and Jonny Flynn don't lead SU to a Sweet 16 appearance? And remember Devendorf and Rautins were a combined 7-for-24 in the loss to Oklahoma.
Just saying.
This is funny. Talk about brain-freezes. Colin Stephenson is a friend of mine who writes for the Newark Star-Ledger. I'll have to save him a copy of the story.
Actually, when Jason Hart was a freshman, Allen Griffin wasn't on the team. Griffin came a year after Hart.
And it's hard to say that Flynn had help at the point in Jardine. Flynn led the Big East in minutes played, averaging over 37 minutes per game as a freshman. Where's the help?
Mike Waters
The press conference has been pushed back 30 minutes. It's now starting at 6 p.m.
I'm not 100 percent sure; I couldn't tell from the release, but I believe Mimi Griswold will be making announcements in addition to Michael Veley's public address work. She's not replacing Veley.
The Memphis game will be on ESPN2. Syracuse's home game against Georgetown on Jan. 25 will be on ESPN.
Syracuse's game at Georgetown on Feb. 18 will be on either ESPN or ESPN2. It hasn't been determined yet.
The Cornell and Colgate games are the only ones that won't be televised this season.
Those might have been some fun minutes against Siena, but I can't put a 10-minute span in what turned out to be a 50-point rout up there with the Kansas game or the Oklahoma State game or even the Pitt comeback.
Rest assured that we will provide the best coverage to be found anywhere on the SU women's team.
Chris Wagner has written preview stories, feature stories, he's put together some cool videos and covered all of the SU women's home games.
Chris wanted to go to Cancun, but it wasn't in the budget.
I remember that game. Good call.
I didn't mean to "put Yanksfaninma in his place.'' I just wanted to get the right information out there for him and anyone else reading the blog.
The two non-televised games against Cornell and Colgate have upset and confused a lot of people.
The Maine game will be on Time Warner Sports.
Donna had a much-deserved night off, so I handled all the tweets.
DaShonte Riley has some skills. He has a nice touch and he's a very good passer for a young center. He needs to get stronger and he's out of position for rebounds at times. I think he's got a chance; much depends on his work-ethic in practice and in the weight-room.
Normally, I don't like to edit the comments; however, I felt the need to delete an item that was posted here recently.
The post in question added nothing to the conversation about ESPN Radio's move or the debate regarding Brent Axe's show on 1260 AM. It was nothing more than a personal attack.
Feel free to argue about sports here. Heck, that's what makes sports fun for a lot of folks. But keep it civil and, please, no personal attacks.
The comment has been deleted. Just wanted to let everyone know because there have been several comments in response to it.
If you're going to insult the paper, it's Sub-Standard. Get it right. And we absolutely ran a story about Donte Greene back when it happened.


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PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. (WPBF) – A mother said she is disgusted by a Facebook group where moms bash pictures of other people's children.
New mom Melissa Antenucci said she accidentally stumbled upon the group while visiting a Facebook page set-up to sell gently used baby clothes. She said group members copied pictures of other people's children and posted cruel criticisms.
Under one photo, one mom wrote, "You can absolutely not fix ugly. This is a God given example of such."
Another mother wrote, "An ugly baby thread. I have died and gone to heaven. Why can't you guys live near me so we can do this over cocktails?"
"The things that these mothers said were the most horrific things that I have ever seen," Antenucci said. "I mean, they used their own profiles. It wasn't like it was secretive at all."
She said others moms were shocked to learn their children were being made fun of on Facebook. When Antenucci began to copy and paste the mean comments on her Facebook wall, one of the "mean moms" responded.
"This is Facebook, not the Salem Witch Hunt," she wrote. "This is a free country and I was laughing because it was funny. Thanks for your comments, next."
When Antenucci reported the incident to Facebook, the company said they were investigating. Most of the "mean moms" have since deactivated their Facebook accounts.

subset: commoncrawl


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Mar 25th
Lollipop Chainsaw Video Review
Chupa Chump
Check out our video review of Lollipop Chainsaw!
"Lollipop Chainsaw is certainly unique alright. Unique in the fact that it's one of the worst games I've had the displeasure to play this generation. Horrible visuals, a boring story and monotonous gameplay will make the game's arduous four hour campaign a haunting slog of misery and pain. But you know what hurts the most? The fact you don't even get a proper look up Juliet's skirt. What a rip-off."
For the full written review, click here.
Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel!


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Board Docs - Charles County Commissioners' Meeting - Tuesday, March 2, 2010
1.09 [1:00 p.m.] County Business: FY2010 Budget Transfer Request, $1,863,190.00, Capital Projects, Piney Branch Interceptor Capacity Construction (Ms. Deborah Hudson, Fiscal & Administrative Services)
One of the really "Big Ones" to shake the United States was a magnitude-9.0 earthquake along the Pacific Northwest coast more than 300 years ago, before the arrival of people and development, that sent a catastrophic tsunami to Japan.
Were something like that 1700 quake to occur today — and it certainly could, seismologists say — enormous destruction and loss of life would result in a region that is home now to big cities and millions of people.
The magnitude-8.8 earthquake that rocked Chile and sent tsunami fears across the Pacific on Saturday — nearly seven weeks after the enormously deadly quake that destroyed parts of Haiti— serves as a vivid reminder of the perils posed to the United States by countless fault lines and shifting plates.
The so-called "Great Recession" has left Americans depending on the government dole like never before.
Without record levels of welfare, unemployment and other government benefits as well as tax cuts last year, the income of U.S. households would have plunged by an astonishing $723 billion — more than four times the record $167 billion drop reported last month by the Commerce Department.
Moreover, for the first time since the Great Depression, Americans took more aid from the government than they paid in taxes.
Happy Monday! Federal funding for major road construction projects and national anti-drunk driving campaigns dried up Sunday night amid Congressional gridlock.
Lawmakers failed to reach agreement last week on tax credits, unemployment insurance for roughly 400,000 Americans and a short-term extension of the Highway Trust Fund. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said Sunday that he expects Republicans to along with a vote this week to pass the $10 billion package despite objections from Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.), who objected and delayed the bill.
Nearly 40 years after the first Earth Day, this is irony: The United States has reduced the manmade pollutants that left its waterways dead, discolored and occasionally flammable.
But now, it has managed to smother the same waters with the most natural stuff in the world.
Animal manure, a byproduct as old as agriculture, has become an unlikely modern pollution problem, scientists and environmentalists say. The country simply has more dung than it can handle: Crowded together at a new breed of megafarms, livestock produce three times as much waste as people, more than can be recycled as fertilizer for nearby fields.
Not far from Yosemite's waterfalls and in the middle of California's redwood forests, Mexican drug gangs are quietly commandeering U.S. public land to grow millions of marijuana plants and using smuggled immigrants to cultivate them.
Pot has been grown on public lands for decades, but Mexican traffickers have taken it to a whole new level: using armed guards and trip wires to safeguard sprawling plots that in some cases contain tens of thousands of plants offering a potential yield of more than 30 tons of pot a year.
It's not being called "Cash for Clunkers," but it is similar.
The Maryland Energy Administration's mail-in rebate program will help residents replace older, inefficient appliances with new Energy Star-qualified and ultra-efficient ones. The program launches in March.
Since the program was announced, the state has seen a lot of interest, MEA spokeswoman Christina Twomey said.
Eligible products include refrigerators, clothes washers and heat pump water heaters.
But once in the emergency room, the investigator is told it is hospital policy not to allow its medical personnel to help collect such evidence because they could be hauled into court and diverted from patient care. As a result, there is no chemical evidence and the case against the drunken driver falls apart.
In what Bizarro World could such a thing happen? A parallel universe? Some place out of a comic book?
Close. Maryland.
That is, in fact, the state of the law here. Harford County State's Attorney Joseph Cassilly is trying to change that.
For decades, Maryland lawmakers have built up public education through spending requirements that they've imposed on themselves and on local governments. But this year, more seriously than ever, the General Assembly is looking for ways to nip at school funding.
There's broad agreement among lawmakers that the depth and length of the national economic downturn means the time has come to review this previously untouchable part of the budget - which accounts for about 20 percent of state spending.
History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside.
~John F. Kennedy


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Bodily Malfunctions
Submitted by boloo2 on Mon, 08/11/2008 - 10:55.
Three old men are talking about their aches, pains and bodily functions.
One seventy year old man says, "I have this problem. I wake up every morning at seven and it takes me twenty minutes to pee."
An eighty year old man says, "My case is worse. I get up at eight and I sit there and grunt and groan for half an hour before I finally have a bowel movement."
The ninety year old man says, "At seven I pee like a horse, at eight I crap like a cow." "So what's your problem?" asked the others.
"I don't wake up until nine."
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| Mykerinos
Price: £23.99
This item usually ships in 1 to 3 days.
Please note: Due to space constraints this item is NOT normally available in our Bricks & Mortar shop. If you would like to collect a copy from the shop please contact us in advance.
Board Game, 2-4 Players by Ystari Games
1899. For more than a century, the European public has been fascinated by Egyptology, and the discoveries of Denon, Champollion, Petrie and others.
Seeking adventure and glory, teams of archaeologists search the sands of Egypt for hidden treasures.
The players embody archaeologists working for patrons. They excavate the land of Egypt to find precious artifacts, which will adorn the most prestigious rooms of the Museum.
Counter Magazine review
2-4 players, 30-60 minutes
designed by Nicolas Oury
reviewed by Stuart Dagger
started with an Ys. When Cyril Demaegd showed up at Essen in 2004, it looked to be another case of a gamer who had designed a game he was proud of, decided to publish it himself, sunk enough money into the project to ensure it looked the business and brought the result to Essen. A French equivalent of Richard Breese or the Lamont brothers. There are a number of such people every year and their presence is one of the things that makes Essen worth attending. Some of them succeed and find themselves the centre of attention; others don't and have a long four days as they gaze at a pile of boxes that doesn't seem to be getting any smaller. Fortunately for Cyril, he was one of the former.
A year later he was back with a second edition of Ys and with a new game, but this time there was a difference: the new game was by someone else, which suggested that the plans for Ystari might be rather grander than simply a high class ``own label''. This third game would seem to confirm that. Three games, three different designers, and this time they mixed it with the big boys by launching in the Spring rather than waiting until Essen.
Mykerinos is a less substantial game than either Ys or Caylus, but there is still enough here to make it worth your attention. The theme is Egyptian archaeology, but don't go reading too much into that. If you want a game that conveys something of the feel of that activity, try Jenseits von Theben; Mykerinos is another instance of a strategy game with graphics.
Play takes place in two places: a museum which is about to mount an exhibition of Egyptian artefacts and Egypt, where you are going to discover them. In both it is a matter of placing blocks. Those you place in Egypt will win you cards; those you place in the museum will determine how many points each card is worth to you at the end.
The game has four ``seasons'' and at the start of each a number of tiles are laid out. Each tile is a rectangle subdivided into 6 squares. Some of the squares are blank; others contain a drawing of a pyramid. At the centre of each tile is a patch of colour to indicate which of the five patrons behind the exhibition is associated with that particular parcel of land. At the start of each of the first three seasons, two rows of four tiles are put together to form a bigger rectangle. In season 4 it will be three rows. For reward purposes the tiles are regarded as being in pairs, with each pair consisting of two adjacent tiles. Such pairs are known as ``areas''. So each row is split into two areas.
The other thing that happens at the start of the season is that you are given a certain number of the blocks of your colour. These form your ``personal stock'' and are the ones you will have the opportunity to use this season. You will also have cubes left behind in the ``general stock''. These may or may not come into play.
In each of your turns you do one of four things:
1. Start a new excavation. To do this you simply place one of the cubes onto a free square on one of the tiles. A square is free if it contains neither a cube nor a pyramid.
2. Extend one of your existing excavation. This time you get to place two cubes. They again go onto free squares, with the first being adjacent to one of your existing cubes and the second being adjacent to the first. ``Adjacent'' includes ``adjacent on the next tile''.
3. Pass. Once you do this, you can place no further cubes this season. You are obviously forced to do it when you run out of cubes, but might want to do it before then, because you have run out of useful things to do and prefer to carry your remaining cubes over into the next season, or because you wish to gain the edge in tiebreak situations.
4. Appeal to a patron. This only happens from season two onwards. By then the likelihood is that you will have won some cards. Each shows the picture of one of the patrons. Each patron has a special power, such as starting a new excavation with two cubes rather than one, extending with three rather than two, placing a cube on a pyramid square and so on. When you appeal to a patron, you get to use this power. Each of your cards can be used once per season.
As you can see from options one and two, what is going to happen in the course of the season is that you will build up a number of colonies of adjacent blocks. The object, which won't come as a surprise to you, is to be in first or second place in as many areas as possible. It probably hadn't occurred to you before, but archaeology is another game of majorities.
At the end of the season, rewards are given out for each area and what is on offer is a card for each of the patrons associated with these two parcels of land. The player with most blocks in the area gets first pick, followed by the one in second place. Ties are broken in favour of the first player who passed this season.
Either of the players in first or second place can pass up the chance to take one of the offered cards and instead ``book a room in the museum''. In the final scoring, the base value of each card that you win is only 1, but by booking the right room in the museum you can increase this to 2, 3 or even 5. The ``5-rooms'' can only be accessed through the lower valued ones, and so there is a separate mini-game of manoeuvre going on over in the museum, which you must take part in if you are to have a chance of winning overall.
If either of the two ``winners'' in an area passes up the chance to take a card, the one released goes to the player in third place, and if both are spurned, they go to the third and the fourth. So a minor presence in an area can still be worthwhile.
At the end of the fourth season you score the points for each card you have won and to this total is added a bonus for each complete set of five different cards.
The theme of Mykerinos doesn't make much sense and the game's mechanisms don't relate all that well to such little sense as it does make, but despite that the game is good. The main interest comes from the block placements in Egypt. The idea of having the area all one for the purposes of determining which squares are adjacent, but subdividing it for reward purposes is a clever one and works well, as does having the pyramids as blockers. Making the rewards for each area known in advance and of different values for different players was also a smart move. The museum sub-game is more straightforward but still presents difficulties of timing because of the special powers that the cards offer. You must get your share of the high scoring locations, but passing up on a card that would give you a useful advantage next season makes the decisions on what to do when quite tricky. Finally, there is the extra little wrinkle of the bonus points for sets. This is not a new idea, but including it here keeps the game together and stops it turning into a situation where everyone is collecting different things. The mechanisms might not mesh that well with the theme, but they do mesh very well with each other.
Ystari's score is now ``played three, won three''. Their fourth game is scheduled for Essen. I won't be the only person looking forward to it.
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DoD News Briefing with Brig. Gen. Votel from Afghanistan
Presenters: Deputy Commanding General for Operations, Combined Task Force-82 Brig. Gen. Joseph Votel
June 26, 2007 9:00 AM EDT
(note: Brig. Gen. Votel appears via video teleconference from Afghanistan.)
BRYAN WHITMAN (Pentagon spokesman): Good morning and welcome. Let me just check with General Votel and see if he can hear us okay.
General Votel, this is Bryan Whitman at the Pentagon.
GEN. VOTEL: Hello, Bryan. How are you?
MR. WHITMAN: I'm doing fine.
Thank you again for spending some time with us. This is Brigadier General Joseph Votel. He is the deputy commanding general for operations of the 82nd Airborne Division and Combined Joint Task Force-82. He has been in the country since January. Many of you know him from his time in the building and his pioneering work with the IED Task Force. But now he and his forces are responsible for operations in NATO's Regional Command East, as well as overall responsibility for all of Operation Enduring Freedom operations in Afghanistan.
And again, we welcome him back. I think the last time he spoke to us was in April, and today he is at Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, where he speaks to us today and is going to give us a brief overview and take some of our questions.
So with that, General Votel, let me turn it over to you.
GEN. VOTEL: Okay. Well, good. Thank you, Bryan. Appreciate that, and it's good to talk to you.
Good morning to all of you from Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. This morning I'd like to give you an update on our operations here in eastern Afghanistan, and then I'll be happy to answer any of your questions.
Let me start by updating you on some changes in Regional Command East since I last had the opportunity to talk to you in April. The 3rd Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division departed after 16 months of operations and activities that played a critical role in the development of Eastern Afghanistan.
They left in early June. They were replaced by the Sky Soldiers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team. The 173rd is now building on the great accomplishments of our mountain soldiers and continuing the development in this area by partnering with our Afghan national security forces, local government officials and most importantly Afghan citizens.
Our international partners as well have renewed and reinforced their commitment to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan. A Polish battle group of over 800 soldiers known as Task Force White Eagle is now operating beside U.S. and Afghan forces in Regional Command East. The Republic of Korea hospital here at Bagram recently began its 11th rotation in-country since the start of Operation Enduring Freedom. Likewise the Egyptian hospital recently conducted a change out of their forces. These dedicated doctors and nurses are improving the lives of 6 (thousand) to 8,000 Afghan citizens monthly, providing health care and education to them. The Republic of Korea army support group continues its assistance with vital civil engineering projects as well.
Turning briefly to the security situation here in Regional Command East, the enemy continues to use all means available to him to attack our forces and disrupt the lives of Afghan civilians. As the weather has improved through the spring and now into the summer, the numbers of insurgent attacks have increased. This was expected. In addition to IEDs, rockets and mortars, the insurgents use intimidation tactics to frighten the population into abandoning their support for their government and disrupt development and governance activities. In many places we see this insurgent tactic failing as Afghan citizens reject these efforts and in some cases literally fight back against the insurgents.
Our operations since the spring have had a significant effect on the Taliban insurgency here. We continue to be focused on neutralizing insurgents and creating a security environment that will allow development and extension of the legitimate government of Afghanistan. We have successfully killed or captured dozens of Taliban commanders and subcommanders, leaving their elements without experienced leadership or direction. We have moved into provincial districts that were previously controlled by the Taliban, reestablished control, and enabled legitimate Afghan government officials to come in and do their jobs. We are building roads, schools and district centers.
Our efforts at coordination along the Afghan-Pakistan border area is resulting in better cooperation and communication between all partners and has successfully allowed us to interdict insurgent infiltration back and forth through the border area.
Key in all of these activities is building a robust and capable Afghan national security architecture that truly allows the Afghans to fully assume the lead. The best recent example of this is Operation Maiwand, an Afghan 203rd Corps-led operation in the Ghazni province that commenced on the 1st of June. Here Afghan forces are taking the lead in clearing areas of insurgent presence, working with district and provincial leadership, and providing the foundation for sustained security. Many of you had the opportunity to speak with Major General Khaliq, the Afghan corps commander, last week during the press conference, and so you know that he is and remains in overall command of this operation.
The security that the Afghan national security forces and ISAF forces bring to eastern Afghanistan is allowing us to continue infrastructure development. Over the last two months we've provided seed corn to farmers and commenced building an agricultural research station to improve the ability of Afghan farmers to produce food products. We've repaired four schools and built 10 other ones. We completed eight other educational projects, ranging from self-help workshops to school and equipment -- to school equipment and supplies, in an effort to help improve the future of Afghan children.
We're not only improving the future of Afghanistan; we're helping the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan provide for their basic needs right now. As we speak, we're building four micro-hydroelectric power plants, two of which are on schedule for completion in the next month, that will bring power into villages that have never had it before.
We've also worked seven irrigation projects, increasing the vital water supply in Afghanistan, with retention dam repairs, windmills and wells. All of these projects were coordinated with local government officials. They represent the priorities of the people as established in the Afghan National Development Plan, a plan that starts at the lowest level and is coordinated and developed at all stages of Afghan government up to the national level.
Finally, before taking your questions, let me comment on some recent reports regarding civilian casualties resulting from ISAF and in particular U.S. operations here in Afghanistan. We deeply regret the loss of any innocent lives. All of us have families, and many of us are married with children, so it is absolutely agonizing when these type of events do occur. In the final analysis, we are here to protect the people of Afghanistan, and so we take any report or incident of this nature very seriously. We do not target civilians, and extensive measures are undertaken in all of our operations to absolutely minimize any effects on Afghan civilians. When injury, death or damage does occur as a result of our actions, we are quick to establish communications with tribal elders and Islamic Republic of Afghanistan officials, accurately determine the facts, take responsibility and hold ourselves accountable.
Unfortunately, we operate against an insurgent enemy who has no regard for the civil population, frequently conducting terror operations within population areas, waging a campaign of intimidation and in some situations using civilians to shield their activities. They accept no responsibility for their actions and make no attempt at accountability. We will continue to operate in accordance with the values we treasure as fighting men and women and as Americans who are members of the greatest military alliance known, the NATO Alliance, while always doing everything we can to protect the very people who have invited us into their country.
Thank you very much for allowing me to be here this morning, and with that, I would be happy to take any of your questions.
MR. WHITMAN: All right. Well, thank you for that overview. We do have several questions here, so let's go ahead and get started. And we'll start with Andrew and then go over to Barbara.
Q General, this is Andrew Gray from Reuters. To follow up on the point of civilian casualties, by one count in the past month, NATO and coalition forces killed more Afghan civilians than the Taliban. What additional procedures, if any, have you been looking at, if you look at that situation, to try and minimize those casualties?
Have you taken any additional measures in addition to what you already do?
GEN. VOTEL: Okay, thank you. You're coming in with a little bit of static there, but I think that question was about civilian casualties, and I think you're asking about what additional measures we take to protect civilians there.
First of all, with every operation we do, we always do a very good look at the area in which we're going to operate and identify those areas where civilian population may be affected. We hold our commanders to a very high -- a high level of responsibility out on the battlefield. They have the obligation to always positively identify the enemy before engaging him. And when we are conducting operations in areas where there will be some civilians, we use a collateral damage estimate process that allows us to accurately look at where effects may occur and then helps us determine how we can mitigate those things. So those are the principal things that we try to do.
What we've continued to do is, whenever possible, when the situation allows, we try to work with local government leaders to let them know that we are operating in their area so they can communicate with the people and ensure that they have awareness that there are ISAF or U.S. forces operating in their areas.
Q Could I just follow up? Have you taken -- there seems to have been a recent spate of these killings? Have you reviewed procedures as a result of that and made any changes perhaps with regard to the use of air power?
GEN. VOTEL: I'm sorry, can somebody at the podium there repeat that question?
MR. WHITMAN: Sure. It has to do with whether or not you can speak to some of the additional measures.
GEN. VOTEL: Well, as I've mentioned just a few minutes ago, I mean, we always use positive identification of enemy forces. We use an accepted U.S. and, quite honestly, NATO process that when we are doing deliberate targeting of insurgents allows us to make sure that we have the right procedures in place and we've made the right estimate of collateral effects. You might be aware here in Afghanistan we have a very low tolerance for that. And so in most of those cases we choose to use other methods. In a number of instances we will try to go work with local Afghan authorities to help us identify those persons that we're interested in trying to bring under control or talk to rather than going in and using some other more kinetic means to try to get them.
Increasingly, we try to -- we are partnered with the Afghan forces here and particularly the Afghan National Police. They have the legal authority to come and operate in these areas, and so we always try to -- we always conduct our operations in conjunction with the Afghan forces and we try to use them whenever we can to get in and work with the people and help and allow them to do the operations that are right in civilian areas and keep ISAF forces out away from those areas.
MR. WHITMAN: Andrew, does that get to the part of the specificity that you were requesting?
Q I think that, you know, -- (inaudible) -- there's been a recent spate. We're asking if any additional measures have been taken as a result of the most recent -- if they've reviewed procedures and whether any additional measures in addition to the procedures they already have are being taken.
MR. WHITMAN: I don't know if you heard that, general. Just -- it was kind of a second follow up to the same thing.
With the most recent incident, are there any new procedures that you've initiated as a result of these latest incidents?
GEN. VOTEL: No, there's no particularly new procedures that we are using right now. We think the procedures that we have in place are good. They work; they help us minimize the effects on this. I think it's important to understand that in a number -- in the majority, really, the large majority -- now, I won't say every instance, but in a large majority of these incidents where we -- we would, unfortunately, do have a civilian injury or death or we caused some damage, in most cases these are caused principally by insurgents who are initiating activities in the direct proximity of villages or where civilians are located. And of course, that puts a -- that makes it very, very difficult for our forces who are operating out there because they do have a responsibility to respond; they have a responsibility to protect themselves and their forces.
And so that tactic that the insurgents use unfortunately in some cases exposes civilians to this. And in that case, we have to rely on training; we have to rely on experience of our leaders out there to make the right decisions on the scene as these actions are being executed. And while it's never acceptable and we want to minimize to the absolute any damage or injuries or death caused to civilians, it does unfortunately occur. And while there have been instances of that happening here, I will tell you that there are dozens and dozens and perhaps hundreds of other operations that occur across Regional Command East that are successfully executed in and around civilian populations with no negative collateral effects on the people.
MR. WHITMAN: Very good, thank you.
Q General Votel, Barbara Starr from CNN.
To follow up on some of that, can you bring us up to date on last Saturday's strike that you -- ISAF now says resulted in a hotel or building inside Pakistan being struck and nine Pakistanis being killed, civilians, as a result of action by the 82nd Airborne. Very specifically, sir, what can you tell us about this strike? Did you mean to strike inside Pakistan? Did the insurgents go to this location and you struck and you didn't realize you were striking inside Pakistan?
And I would also like to ask what you can tell us about the criminal investigation now opened into an alleged detainee abuse incident in your region as well.
GEN. VOTEL: Okay, thanks. I think you asked a couple questions there, one about the strike down in the vicinity of Bermel, Afghanistan, along the Afghan-Pak border, and then about some allegations of abuse.
So let me start with the Pakistan situation. What -- first of all, that incident is under investigation, as all of these incidents are. Whenever we have an operation or an activity that occurs in the close proximity of the border, we always go back and do a thorough examination to look at what our actions were and ensure that they were appropriate and to determine what we can learn from that.
So it's a constantly evolving learning process here to make sure that we are doing things right and we're adjusting to the insurgents and their activities.
In this particular case -- and again, I'll just remind you that this is under investigation right now to determine all the facts -- but in this particular case, we had an insurgent element, fairly sizable, came across the border, displayed imminent threat to a U.S. or an ISAF fire base. And the commander on the ground, really through the use of some of the surveillance tools that we have given to him, was able to identify that early and took the appropriate action in that particular case to protect himself and in accordance with the rules of engagement that allow us to take these type of actions.
As this action was under way, the insurgents broke contact, as they often do, and began to move back in the direction of the Pak border. We were able to continue to observe them and continued to bring fires onto their locations. And as you're aware, that did extend into Pakistan.
With regards to the any Pakistan casualties on there, we certainly extend our deepest regret for any casualties that were caused among Pakistan civilians on that side. That is under investigation right now to determine the extent and exactly what occurred there.
But let me just say this is a fairly common tactic, again, that the insurgents use of trying to expose gaps between the Pakistan military and the Afghan security forces and ISAF forces that operate on the Afghan side. And so we have a practice of very careful coordination and communication with the Pakistan military. I would assess our relationship with them to be excellent. We meet regularly at all levels to discuss procedures and activities along the border.
We -- over the last several months, we have taken some very significant steps to improve our communications. In areas where there was no communication between battalions on both sides of the border area there now is communication, and we are much better now than we were in January.
Unfortunately, these type of incidents still do occur because the insurgents continue to operate in that area.
So this is under -- this -- any of the activities that took place on the Pakistan side are under investigation.
We are talking with the Paks. They are cooperating with us and helping us get to the bottom of that particular instance.
With regard to the other portion of your question, with regards to detainee abuse, we were not aware when this article was released over the weekend that that incident had taken place. I will tell you when we became aware of it we have immediately have taken action to investigate the circumstances of that, talking to everybody that is involved, to include the detainee himself who was apparently featured in that, who was, by the way, released that same day of the alleged incident, and talked with him to ensure we have a complete picture of what happened.
And again, that's under investigation. We take that very, very seriously, any allegations of detainee abuse or inappropriate behavior with them. And so we're looking at that in great detail here trying to determine all the facts, and then we will make the appropriate judgement based on that.
But we don't condone any of that. When we are made aware of that, as we were in this instance, the commander on the ground, the commanders at the level at which I am operating immediately address it and take -- begin to take the appropriate action to determine what occurred so that we can make the right corrections if they're appropriate.
Q General Votel, very, very briefly, can I just make sure I understand; is it correct that U.S. forces did not mean to fire into Pakistan? Is that correct? And do you have an estimate of how many civilians have been killed accidentally by the U.S. military in the last month? Is it accurate that more civilians have been killed than Taliban?
GEN. VOTEL: Okay, I got the last part of the question. It was about my estimate of how many civilians have been injured as a result -- injured or killed as a result of our actions. And I think the first part of your question dealt with the appropriateness of firing into Pakistan, if somebody could just clarify that.
MR. WHITMAN: Actually, the question was, for clarification, did U.S. forces intend to or not fire into Pakistan as they continued that operation.
GEN. VOTEL: In this particular situation the commander on the ground determined that he needed to continue to address that threat until it was eliminated, and that included firing into areas that were in Pakistan. What -- (short audio break) -- to do in these situations, as I mentioned about the communications, is to establish communications as quickly as we can with the Pakistan military so that we can coordinate any of these actions and ensure that we are deconflicted on both sides of the border. So, you know, U.S. commanders have the responsibility to take action to protect their forces to the extent that they need to based on the threat that is presented to them.
And as I've mentioned to you, we're looking at this whole incident in full and complete detail here so we can understand what exactly occurred in a fairly dynamic situation here, when a commander on the ground is making decisions that are presented to him in a pretty rapid situation.
And I'm sorry. I think I forgot the other part of the question there.
Q The other part dealt with some assertions that there have been more civilian casualties than Taliban deaths during the last month of operations.
GEN. VOTEL: No, that is absolutely not true. I mean, there's a recent report -- I think it was released in April or May timeframe by the United Nations Human Rights Commission -- that basically laid out the amount of casualties that were caused from Taliban or insurgent actions versus ISAF or OEF coalition force activities, and it is significantly greater.
Let me give you one statistic here with suicide IEDs. There has been a spike in the use of suicide IEDs here in Afghanistan. The numbers here are relatively small when you compare it to something like what we see in Iraq, but nonetheless there has been an increase in that particular tactic. From that particular tactic, well over 65 percent of the casualties that are caused from suicide IEDs by Taliban or insurgent operatives are innocent civilians, so it's not a particularly effective technique against the Afghan National Security Forces or ISAF forces, although we do in some cases have people who are killed or injured as a result of these.
But the people who are bearing the brunt of these types of attacks are the Afghan people themselves, and so this tactic is barbaric in that it's attacking the very people that the Taliban express their desire to control and to lead, so it doesn't make a lot of sense to me. And I have a hard time understanding how anyone can provide any allegiance to any kind of force that advocates the use of suicide attacks as a tactic or a method, particularly when most of those casualties being caused from -- are innocent civilians.
MR. WHITMAN: Let's go to Pauline; if we have time, then Courtney.
Q Pauline Jelinek of the Associated Press. Sir, the last time you spoke to us, you told us about Operation Eagle Teamwork; it started in late February and clear, hold and build. I wonder if you could go back now and tell us, is that over? What did you clear? Is it being held? What's the building going on? Just sort of an update to give us a sense over the months what happened and how it turned out.
GEN. VOTEL: Okay. I'm sorry. I'm going to need to have you repeat that one from the podium --
MR. WHITMAN: This has to do with your last briefing, when you talked about Eagle Teamwork, the -- Operation Eagle Teamwork, and if you could give an assessment, now that you've been into that for a few months -- is that completed?
Did you achieve your goals? What were the objectives and anything you can provide with respect to how well that operation was conducted?
GEN. VOTEL: Yeah, good. Okay, good. Good. Thank you very much for that question.
That operation, Ham Kuri, our teamwork is -- as the Dari word implies there, it really continues here in Regional Command East. That will be an operation that will continue really, I think, through -- as a broad operation will continue through the summer and perhaps into the fall when we start to change our focus into other areas.
My assessment is, is we are doing very well with this operation. The operation that Colonel Schweitzer and General Khaliq talked with you about last night -- last week, Operation Maiwand that is a occurring in the Ghazni area is a very clear example of what we're trying to do with Ham Kuri, one of the sub-operations that's taking place underneath that, and it's been very, very successful. You know, we've -- as a part of that, we've detained really -- the Afghan national security forces detained in excess of 50 team leaders out there. We've killed a number of Taliban subcommanders, includes several very, very important individuals out there who were facilitating IED networks and generally causing a variety of other problems out in the area for the Afghan civilians.
We've effectively brought governance down into that area. As part of this operation that is now a little over three weeks old, we've held nearly 40 shuras out in the district areas and throughout the province, where we brought Afghan government leaders in to talk with the tribal elders and to explain and to help build support for the government. We've had the president of Afghanistan came down and spoke at one of these shuras.
So I think we're doing very, very well, and Maiwand is a very good example of it. Of course, Teamwork -- Op Teamwork here extends really beyond the Ghazni province and includes the operations that we're doing along the border and the increasing cooperation and coordination we're building with our Pakistan partners to the east, and it also includes operations that we're conducting in the northern portions of our area, where we're addressing insurgent strongholds.
We're going into districts where they have support areas. We're pushing them out of there. We're capturing or killing them. We're separating them from the people, and we're allowing the government to get in there.
As part -- the whole focus of this operation for us is to help us create the situation where we can allow development and governance to take place. And we are definitely seeing that, not only in the Ghazni area, which is our principal focus area right now, but also up in Nangarhar and in some of the areas up around -- that surround the Kabul province up here in the north central portion of our province.
So I think we're making very, very good progress with this overall operation, and we're going to continue to work it very, very hard.
Q The question really was, when you tell there there's an operation going on, four months later, are you -- is it possible to tell us we now have cleared this area, that, with some specificity what you've accomplished -- cleared 10 areas, we do hold them, we lost one of them -- you know, a detailed explanation of what happened at that thing you've said four months ago you started?
GEN. VOTEL: Okay. I'm sorry. If you can repeat that -- I'm sorry. The press mikes are coming in very staticky. I cannot understand the question.
MR. WHITMAN: Actually, what the question is looking for is whether or not there are some specific things that you can cite four months into this operation that helped quantify the success that you're taking about -- areas that have been secured, accomplishments of a concrete, quantifiable-type measurement.
GEN. VOTEL: Yeah, certainly. Yeah. I'll just -- I'll start in Nangarhar province here, a very important province that borders on -- in -- Pakistan here and has some vital lines of communication through that.
Our operations up there have basically allowed the U.S. Agency for Internal (sic/International) Development, USAID, to basically invest over $100 million in that province this year alone to help with the alternative livelihoods program up there for the people.
We've got several what have been described as super-madrasses but really they're educational centers of excellence being built throughout the provinces right now that are really an extension of the Afghan minister of education program to bring education to the people. These centers of excellence will help combine religious education with secular education, with vocational training, out in the provinces. And we've got several of those under construction now.
We are well in excess of 8,000 kilometers of roads that we have continued to add to what our predecessors have done here in Afghanistan. We work with the Afghan engineer district, Corps of Engineers element here, to help build those roads, identify them and get them in place. I think if I was to put you in a helicopter and fly you up over the northern portion of our province in the Nuristan, Konar area, heavily mountainous area, you'd be surprised at the amount of roads that have been carved out of this very difficult terrain that are allowing us to extend commerce or extend governance up into those areas.
We have literally built or repaired dozens of schools throughout the area. In the Andar province, for example, where we were several months ago before we started operations, where we were measuring the amount of children going to school in the teens and very low hundreds, we're now seeing thousands of students who are attending school, both boys and girls, in that province, in that area, because we've started to create the security situation for that.
This is a long process. We very carefully study what the insurgents are doing. We look at the districts in which they're operating and we try to focus in on those where we can make immediate gains and we can achieve some effects. Last week I had an opportunity to go out to the Khost province and participate in a district center opening in the Bak district.
I had been out to this area just a couple months previously, and this was an area -- this district center was just a mess. It was not being taken care of. There was no extension of governance out there, and what we've been able to do in that particular area, working with the Afghan national police in there and with the local authorities, is get some security established, get a very effective district center put in place and allowed the leadership of that province and of that district to get out there and start looking after the needs of the people. So there are lots of examples of what we're doing. We're bringing humanitarian aid to people, just in Operation Maiwand, 246 tons of humanitarian aid delivered just over the last several weeks in one small area of our operations.
MR. WHITMAN: General, we have reached the end of the time that has been allocated for this, but I'm told we have one very short question. Do you have time to take one more?
GEN. VOTEL: I certainly do.
MR. WHITMAN: I'm told that it's a yes or no answer, but I'm suspicious of that. So we'll let the reporter ask it, and I may have to repeat it for you, though.
Go ahead, Courtney.
Q I'll be loud. General, this is Courtney Kube from NBC News.
This is a very brief question regarding a strike last weekend in Paktika province, the one where seven children were killed on a compound. Do you know any more about whether Abu Laith was killed or injured or captured?
GEN. VOTEL: Okay, I think that question was about an operation that took place last week where there were some reports of -- where we were going after some high-value individuals and there were some civilian casualties, reported as children, in that incident. Is that the one you're referring to?
MR. WHITMAN: Specifically whether or not a specific individual, Abu Laith, who was believed to perhaps be part of that strike, was killed or not in that operation.
GEN. VOTEL: Okay. Well, I think I got the gist of the question here.
With respect to that operation, we did capture a number of insurgents in that and have brought them in for questioning. There were several others that were killed as a result of that. We did not necessarily get all the individuals we were going after in that particular operation, but we continue to work that very, very hard. And obviously, we have continued to work through the governor of the province there in Paktika to ensure that the proper condolences and other cultural customs are adhered to with respect to those children who were unfortunately victims of this operation.
Q (Off mike) -- Abu Laith?
MR. WHITMAN: I think that -- perhaps if you can hear me, the specific question was whether or not you have any information with respect to Abu Laith and whether or not he was killed in that operation.
GEN. VOTEL: With respect to -- I'm sorry. Say the name?
MR. WHITMAN: Abu Laith.
GEN. VOTEL: Yeah, right now I don't have any evidence that he was killed in that particular operation.
MR. WHITMAN: All right, General. Well, thank you very much for your time this afternoon and for hanging in there with us with the less than perfect audio. We appreciate once again you giving us some time, and we hope that you'll be able to join us again soon.
And before I close, let me just turn it back to you in case you have any closing thoughts.
GEN. VOTEL: Well, thank you very, very much. I appreciate the opportunity to talk with you today, and I apologize that I've had to have so many of these questions repeated.
I appreciate all the questions, and I appreciate the opportunity once again to address you.
I'd like to take just a moment to thank -- to send a "Thank you" out to the American people for the support they are providing our service members and for their continued support of our mission here. We're very grateful for all the support we get from the United States, from our NATO partners, as well as the international community, in bringing stability and development to the Afghan population here.
The Afghan national security forces deserve a special recognition from the international community for the improvements that they are making and the progress that they are bringing to their own country. They are taking the lead in the fight against terrorism, and they will ultimately prevail in their quest to bring peace and stability to their people. We feel very honored to be serving alongside them.
And I will tell you that our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are doing a spectacular job here. Every American there should be very, very proud of what they're doing here in Afghanistan and of the sacrifices that are being made every day to bring freedom to the Afghan republic.
I firmly believe that the progress -- I firmly believe that we're winning here and that we're making progress, as exemplified over the last several months, and that we're going to bring a lasting benefit to the people of Afghanistan.
As I mentioned, there's still a lot of work to do here, but with every project we complete, with every mission we finish, we are one step closer to bringing freedom and stability that -- the freedom and stability that the people of Afghanistan crave and the enemies of peace and freedom would deny them.
Thank you again for your time today and for your continued support and interest in our mission. Thank you very much.
Q Thank you.
MR. WHITMAN: Thank you, General.
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text:
A system for creating independent communication channels using a single optical fibre, is provided. To this end, at the transmitting end, several "laser" diodes such as that E11 (FIG. 1) supply infrared rays of a wavelength defined to within at least 50 angstrom units (in the case of suitably doped gallium arsenide diodes), to selective mirrors such as that M11 which are quasi-transparent vis-a-vis other wave lengths. These rays focussed along with those coming from other diodes, upon the entry face 11 of the fibre. At the receiving end, there is an arrangement similar to that at the transmitting end, but comprising, instead of the diodes, photodetectors. A diode and a photodetector may be exchanged in order to provide a channel operating in the reverse direction.
1. A system for transmitting independent communication channels through a light-wave medium, said system comprising, staggered on at least one transmission direction:
a plurality of n diodes, n being an integer at least equal to 2, said diodes producing light radiations of different wavelengths;
a plurality of n channel inputs;
a plurality of n amplifiers, supplied by said channel inputs;
a plurality of n lenses collimating light emitted by said diodes on one axis via a plurality of n parallel mirrors, n - 1 of which are selective;
one lens focussing said collimated light on the entry of said light-wave medium;
a plurality of photodetectors;
a lens collimating the light transmitted by said medium in one axis;
a plurality of n parallel mirrors, n - 1 of which are selective;
a plurality of n lenses focussing the light reflected by said mirrors on said plurality of photodetectors;
a plurality of n amplifier detectors supplied by said photodetectors;
a plurality of n channel outputs supplied by said amplifier detectors.
2. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said light-wave medium is a single light-wave fiber.
3. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light-wave medium is a bunch of light-wave fibers, the input and output faces of which are laid out respectively in small portions of planes at each end of the transmitting path.
4. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein at a transmitting end, said diodes are laid out in a line parallel to said collimation axis, said lenses have their optical axes parallel to one another and perpendicular to said collimation axis, said mirrors are plane mirrors inclined at 45� in relations to said axis, the nonselective mirror being the most distant from the entry of said light-wave medium, and at the receiving end the arrangement is analog to the arrangement at the transmitting end, the exit face being substituted to the entry face.
5. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said diodes are constituted by gallium arsenide diodes.
6. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said photodetectors are constituted by silicon diodes.
7. A system as claimed in claim 3, wherein said bunch of optical fibres have their ends disposed side by side respectively in one plane at each end of said bunch, a selective mirror separating the light rays transmitted in the two directions by two diodes each possessing its own emission spectral line.
8. A system as claimed in claim 7, comprising furthermore, at each end of said bunch, a first and a second parallel lenses, between which said selective mirror is arranged at 45� in relation to said first and second lenses, and a third lens disposed at 90� in relation to said lenses.
9. A system for transmitting independent communication channels through a light-wave medium, said system comprising at each end of the transmitting path constituted by said medium, an arrangement of n diodes and n photodetectors, n being an integer at least equal to 2, said diodes producing light radiations of different wavelengths a row of diodes and a row of photodetectors being laid out at either side of an optical plate having parallel faces, a lens and a bandpass filter being arranged between each diode and said optical plate on the one hand, and between each photoconductor and said plate, on the other hand.
The present invention relates to a system for transmitting independent communication channels through a light-wave medium e.g. an optical fiber, and to the devices used to operate said system. It relates to systems employing "go -- no go" modulation of a coherent or incoherent light wave. This kind of modulation utilises, for example, "laser" diodes i.e. electro-luminescent diodes which emit within a narrow band of wavelengths, and it is possible to choose the wavelength as a function of the conditions of manufacture of the diode, for example by doping the semi-conductor material.
Those skilled in the art will be aware that the maximum data rate which can be carried by an optical fibre of given length, for a given communication error raten is limited by two main factors which are contradictory in nature:
-- THE LIGHT POWER AVAILABLE AT THE FIBRE OUTPUT; THIS MUST BE IN EXCESS OF A THRESHOLD BELOW WHICH THE COMMUNICATION ERROR RATE IS IN EXCESS OF THE FIXED LIMIT. For example, for a permissible error rate of 10- 8, the output detector must receive a minimum power of 1 microwatt peak, which requires that at the fibre input a power of 10 milliwatts is necessary if the fibre attenuation is 40 decibels.
The relationship:
P = K sin2 u 1.
where k is a constant characteristic of the light source, applies between the power P injected at the fibre input and the apertural angle u.
Thus, there is a limit on the power for a given rate, since the value of the rate fixes a maximum value of u; similarly, there is a limit on rate for a given communication error rate.
In accordance with the invention, there is provided a system for multiplexing an optic communication comprising at least one optical fibre, a multiplicity of electroluminescent diodes producing light radiation of different wavelengths, and a multiplicity of photodetectors, means for selecting said wavelengths, modulating means applied to said diodes, and demodulating means applied to said photodetectors.
The invention will be better understood and other of its features rendered apparent, from a consideration of the ensuing description and the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 illustrates an example of the invention;
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram;
FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 illustrate variant embodiments of the invention;
FIG. 6 illustrates a device for operating the system in accordance with the invention.
FIG. 1 illustrates a device with 10 communication channels (unidirectional) operating on the principle of the system in accordance with the invention. A fibre 1, for example 1 kilometer long, has an input face 11 at the "transmitting" end, and an output face 12 at the "receiving" end. At the "transmitting" end, 10 electro-luminescent diodes E10, E11, . . . E18, E19 are arranged in a parallel array. The two first and two last of these diodes, are the only ones to have been illustrated. For example aluminum-doped gallium arsenide diodes, of the double heterostructure type, whose different doping levels are such that 10 different emission spectral "lines" in the near-infrared, are obtained, will be used.
These spectra have been shown on a graph in FIG. 2, the graph plotting the luminous intensity I as a function of the wavelength λ in microns. There can be seen 10 "lines" S0, S1, . . . S9, substantially all having the same highly elongated bell form, with a base measuring less than 50 angstrom units, the mid-height width being of the order of 20 angstroms units, and the axes of the lines being regularly spaced from 0.88 to 0.97 micron, in other words at 100 angstrom unit-intervals.
However, it is currently possible to manufacture band-pass and band-cut filters which are sufficiently selective in order to readily separate such spectral lines. These filters are designed in the form of assemblies of transparent plates of given thicknesses (of the order of half the wavelength).
Equally, it is known to manufacture selective mirrors which will reflect the radiation within a narrow frequency band (corresponding to the width of a line in FIG. 2), and which behave as transparent plates vis-a-vis other wavelengths.
Selective mirrors, orientated at 45� in relation to the axis F1 X1 of the entry face 11, centered at F1, are arranged in a parallel fashion. The mirrors M11 to M19 selectively reflect the lines S1 to S9 of FIG. 2. These mirrors are preceded by a non-selective mirror M1Q. Similarly, the mirrors M20 to M28, orientated at 45� in relation to the exit axis F2 X2 of the fibre, selectively reflect the lines S0 to S8 and the terminal mirror M29 is a non-selective mirror. The terminal mirrors M10 and M29 could either be replaced by selective mirrors, which would mean an unnecessary extra expenditure, or be discarded provided that the light transmitter and receptor corresponding to the relevant channels, were suitably positioned.
In the device shown in FIG. 1 the diodes E10 to E19 are respectively supplied with voltage pulses by the input circuits C10 to C19 responsible for amplifying the power of the pulses for transmission, the pulses being received at the channel inputs V10 to V19, and for modulating the diodes E10 to E19. Circuits of this kind, well known to those skilled in the art, have been symbolically illustrated.
The diodes E10 to E19 are respectively arranged at the foci of lenses L10 to L19 whose axes are perpendicular to the axis F1 X1. The mirrors M10 to M19 are orientated in such a manner as to direct the reflected rays in the direction F1 X1. These rays are focussed at F1 by a lens 101.
At the receiving end, similarly there is to be found a lens 102 whose axis is coincidental with the axis F2 X2 of the face 12 of the fibre 1, and which has a focal point F2 arranged at the centre of said face. The mirrors M20 to M29 are arranged at 45� in relation to the axis F2 X2 in order to direct the rays from F2, on to lenses L20 to L29 having axes perpendicular to F2 X2. At the foci of these lenses, there are located photodetectors R20 to R29 injecting into amplifier-demodulator circuits C20 to C29 of a kind well known to the person skilled in the art, and thus furnishing their signals to the channel outputs U20 to U29.
The operation of the device is as follows. The infrared radiation emitted by diode E11 in the spectrum S1, is selectively reflected by the mirror M11 which passes the radiation substantially unattenuated, the radiation then passing the ensuing mirrors, for example M18 and M19, again substantially without attenuation. The same radiation, reconstituted by the fibre at F2, is rendered parallel to the axis F2 X2 by the collimating lens 102, passing thence across the mirror M20 to be selectively reflected by the mirror M21 and finally focussed by the lens L21 of the photodetector R21 which supplies the circuit C21.
It will be observed that since the mirrors M10 to M19 on the one hand and those M20 to M29 on the other, are arranged on the axis F1 X1 and F2 X2 in reverse order, the rays emitted and received at each end in fact pass through them in the same order. Because of this fact, the radiation components produced by each of the channels, have the same number of mirrors to pass and consequently experience the same overall attenuation which is not negligible despite the fact that it is the sum of very small attenuation levels.
By way of example of a practical embodiment, using two one kilometer long fibres each capable (in the absence of the device in accordance with the invention) of transmitting 10 megabits per second with an attenuation of 40 decibels and a communication error rate of 10- 8, it is possible to build, using the terminal electro-optical equipment shown in FIG. 1, a 10-channel system capable of handling 10 times 10, in other words 100 megabits per second. The characteristics of the equipment used in the system, are for example as follows:
a. Diodes E10 to E19 (aluminium-doped gallium arsenide diodes):
-- threshold current 300 mA;
-- output power at 500mA: 10 mW;
-- beam divergence in the plane of the junction: 15�;
-- beam divergence in the perpendicular plane: 50�;
-- source dimensions: 80 microns by 0.5 microns.
b. Photodetectors (silicon PIN photodiodes):
-- photosensitive area: 1mm2 ;
-- total capacitance (for reverse voltage of 20 V): 2pF;
-- dark current: 2 mA;
-- sensitivity at 8500 angstroms units: 0.5 microamps per microwatt.
c. Lenses L10 to L29 :
-- diameter: 1 cm;
-- focal length: 1.5 cm.
d. Selective mirrors:
-- pass bands: 50 angstrom units for the wavelength in question;
-- dimensions: 1.4 cm by 1 cm.
It should be pointed out that since an optical fibre is capable of simultaneous transmission in both directions, in FIG. 1 it is possible to exchange any diode E with the associated photodetector R, provided that the input and output circuits are also exchanged.
In a first variant embodiment, the diodes and the photodetectors for the different channels have been respectively arranged in the focal planes on the transmitting and receiving ends. In FIG. 3, the transmitting end of this kind of system has been shown. The receiving end, not shown, is strictly symmetrical. At the transmitting end, the diodes Ei and Ej emitting at the different wavelength i and j are arranged at different points on the straight line representing the intersection of the plane of the figure with the focal plane of a lens L1 whose centre and focus are disposed in the plane of the figure together with the centre F1 of the entry face 11 of the fibre 1.
The different beams emitted by the diodes Ei and Ej, give rise to beams made up of rays parallel to the rays Ii and Ij coming from the lens L1. They pass through a dispersive element 30 which is for example a prism of a diffraction grating. The positions of the diodes Ei and Ej and the inclination of the elements 30 are calculated in such a fashion that two incident rays Ii and Ij give rise to two parallel (refracted or diffracted) rays Ri and Rj. In the case of the diffraction grating, these will for example be two first order diffracted rays. These rays are focussed by a lens L2 on the face 11.
At the receiving end, the rays Ri and RJ collimated by a lens which is symmetrical with L2, and then dispersed by an element symmetrical with 30, are finally focussed by a lens symmetrical with L1, on the separate photodetectors.
In a second variant embodiment, the assembly of three optical elements L1, 30 and L2 FIG. 3, is replaced in FIG. 4 by a single holographic lens 40 which is a hologram in a thick medium. Considering the point F1 which is the centre of the entry face 11 of the fibre 1, the rays emerging from the hologram 40 seem to stem from a single source. At the receiving end, the rays emerging from a symmetrical hologram, are focussed at different points depending upon the wavelength and it is at these points that the photodetectors pertaining to the different channels are arranged.
In a third variant embodiment, a single fibre can be used for both directions of transmission, thanks to the provision of the terminal equipment shown in FIG. 5 pertaining to an example involving six channels, three in either direction. At the end corresponding to the face 11, a glass plate 51 is arranged, having parallel faces, at either side of which there are disposed three diodes E1, E2, E3 and three photodetectors R4, R5, R6. At the end corresponding to the face 12, in a symmetrical arrangement there are encountered a plate 52, three diodes E4, E5, E6 and three photodetectors R1, R2, R3. In front of each diode and each photodetector there is a lens 53 having a focal point on the corresponding emissive or photodetecting face. Band-pass filters T1 to T6 centred in pairs on six different wavelengths (as in the case with the spectrum shown in FIG. 2 for example) are arranged respectively in front of the corresponding lenses 53.
The path of the light rays is as follows. First of all let us consider the trajectories of the light rays issuing from the diode E1. They experience two refractions at the end corresponding with the face 11 and, at the end corresponding with the face 12 successively a refraction, five reflections and another refraction, before terminating at the detector R1, thus in total four refractions and five reflections. It will readily be appreciated that in the arrangement shown in FIG. 5, for the other trajectories E2, R2, E3, R3 etc . . . , the same number of refractions and reflections is experienced albeit in a different order.
The result of this is that the six channels, vis-a-vis the transmitted radiation, will present the same total attenuation. If we assume that the faces of the glass plates 51 and 52 act as semi-reflective walls, then a total attenuation of the order of 25-30 decibels will be experienced in the case where there are three channels in either direction. In this variant embodiment, the system would seem to be limited to the operation of a small number of channels. It is possible to combine the equipment provided in the third variant embodiment, for a small number of channels, with the equipment provided for the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, which handles a larger number of channels. In this way, the communication facilities offered by the fibres, are only partially utilised in both directions.
If reliability of communication takes precedence over other considerations, then a bunch of several fibres will be used, the entry and exit faces of which are arranged side by side in the same plane. It is worth while combining this arrangement with the multiplexing system which forms the object of the present invention, in order to provide several channels or, more simply, a go channel and a return channel. Thus, in this latter case, we arrive at the device shown by way of example in FIG. 6. A diode E1, radiating within a narrow frequency band, is arranged at the focus of a lens L1. The rays leaving this lens form cylindrical beam passing a mirror M1 of selective type arranged at 45� in relation to the beam and producing no substantial attenuation vis-a-vis the emission spectrum of E1. A lens L2, parallel to L1 then concentrates the rays coming from E1 and L1 on the entry face 601 of a bunch of fibres 600. At the opposite end of the bunch, there are the lenses L4 and L5 between which there is disposed, at 45�, a selective mirror M2 identical to that M1. The lens L5 concentrates the rays coming from the exit face 602, on the photosensitive electrode of a photodetector, R1.
Because of the provision of the selective mirrors M1 and M2, the rays emitted by a diode E2 arranged at the focus of a lens L6 (disposed at 90� to the parallel lenses L4 and L5) are reflected by the mirror M2 which has a normal reflective power in the emission spectrum of E2. After passing the lens L4, they converge on the face 602 which, vis-a-vis this spectrum, acts as entry face. In the same manner, the face 601 plays the part of exit face vis-a-vis the radiation from E2, which is concentrated on the photosensitive electrode of a photodetector R2 by the lens L2, the mirror M1 and the lens L3 arranged at 90� to the parallel lenses L1 and L2.
Self-evidently, in the case of the device shown in FIG. 6, the emission spectra of the diodes E1 and E2 are chosen to have a much larger interval from one another than in the case of FIG. 2. For example, the interval will be of the order of 1400 angstrom units instead of 100 angstrom units as was the case in FIG. 2. The design of the selective mirror is facilitated by the magnitude of this interval ant the cost is also reduced. It should be pointed out that the device operates equally well with simple semi-transparent mirrors although the transmission efficiency is poorer.
The device shown in FIG. 6 is applicable in particular to the transmission of remote-control signals, for example in airborne equipment.
Patent Citations
Referenced by
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Red Faction: Guerrilla PC Review
Played on:
Many gamers didn't know what to think of the third Red Faction game before it was released, but a solid demo and plenty of promise with the game's geometry-destruction technology kept it on plenty of people's radars. The release on PS3 and 360 in June of this year was a welcome surprise to those who hadn't seen much on it, as its open-world action, impressive ability to destroy just about every structure in the entire game, and its inventive multiplayer modes kept people coming back.
In Red Faction: Guerrilla you play as Alec Mason, a minor who just got to Mars, and clearly he didn't bother to check in on what life's like there first. The Earth Defense Force has a strong grip on the planet, exploiting the people who live there and sending all the profits back to Earth. Mars has has been terraformed and become habitable with oxygen in the atmosphere, and there's a history going back enough years to hide some secrets. Shortly after arriving, Alec quickly finds reason to join the cause of the Red Faction, guerrilla fighters trying to free Mars from the clutches of the EDF.
The PC version of Guerrilla could be really damn good, but a few technical issues will hold the game back for some players. Yes, the full package is here along with Games for Windows Live-based online play and even some of the paid DLC content from the consoles tossed in for free, but whatever magic Volition pulled in allowing whole multi-story buildings to realistically fall apart with solid, stable frame rates on the consoles hasn't quite made it here into the PC version.
In some versions of Windows - namely Windows 7 64-bit and possibly others - the game doesn't seem to know how to handle the wildly varying frame rates it can produce. Now, it's expected that if you cause enough simultaneous destruction, the game can slow to nearly a crawl even on a fast quad-core CPU (which the game does take at least some advantage of, but not enough to stop major slowdowns when huge buildings collapse). And in Windows 7 64-bit, any time the frame rate is high, the whole game runs faster, making it feel like someone hit the fast-forward button. As far as I can tell, in this OS the speed of the game's logic is tied somewhat directly to your frame rate - this makes the game artificially difficult to play as you're always dealing with either debilitating slowdowns in nasty firefights or a hyperactive speed that requires extremely quick reaction time. The mouse sensitivity also increases when everything else is fast, causing your aim to quickly go haywire as well - Guerrilla is already a difficult enough game on its Normal setting, and these frustrations start to stack up against it very quickly.
If you find that you're not getting a hugely variable frame rate, you will get to experience the same brilliant, yet somewhat flawed game as console players have experienced. Vehicles may handle unrealistically but they're still a blast to drive, and the number of ways you can approach attacking a target really increases the replay value as you use different tactics. If there are two hostages on the second floor you have to save, do you risk driving your garbage truck right through the front door in order to get them out? Or do you stay back and pick off the guards, then carefully move your way in? Do you take out the staircase with a remote explosive after climbing it to stop additional enemies from following you, or do you just bust a hole in the wall with your sledgehammer and jump out the gap to cover your retreat?
The variety of weapons and vehicles available to Alec is solid, with plenty of upgrades available for purchase that seriously beef up your arsenal. The same issues I found in the console versions are here, too, like the rather frustrating difficulty levels that will force many people to drop down to the lowest setting, Casual, by the end of the game. Additionally, the intriguing premise and narrative of the "native" people of Mars - societies that started just after Mars was terraformed many, many years ago - falls completely flat halfway through the campaign. Finally, your only real enemy are the EDF, and they have no stand-out characters, no main villain with a recognizable face or voice to loathe, and an ill-fitting style that resembles an evil organization in a comic book. Red Faction: Guerrilla could have tackled difficult issues about the difference between a guerrilla fighter and a terrorist, especially when one is fighting on the right side of history, but none of that winds up happening and the single player story ultimately leads to a bit of disappointment with some of the opportunities that were missed by Volition and THQ.
The multiplayer modes in Red Faction: Guerrilla mostly mirror what's seen on consoles. Online play is handled through Games for Windows Live so you'll be hooking up with people on your friends list in small-scale matches hosted on your own PCs. For anyone that was hoping for epic battles on dedicated servers with dozens of players destroying buildings in huge, open areas, well, you're going to have to wait for another game. Guerrilla does a great job making its more intimate games feel much bigger in size, and part of that comes about through the successful application of GeoMod 2.0's building destruction into the multiplayer action. But PC gamers aren't likely to give the Games For Windows Live-based online play much of a chance, as this style of online matchmaking is rather a very poor fit for the PC and its gaming community.
I've found it difficult to fully enjoy the PC version of Guerrilla because its highly variable frame rate in my version of Windows severely hurts the controls and fun factor. This issue should be the very first priority for Volition with the first patch - if they can improve some of the technical issues, I'll happily call the PC port of Red Faction: Guerrilla the best way to experience a great game that has only a few easy-to-forgive flaws. Until they do that, you might want to wait it out, but if you do decide to jump right in, at least the game's priced at a somewhat modest $40 rather than the full $50 you might expect.
[Author's Note: This review was partially revised after a developer from the team that ported the game to the PC wrote in to get some information from me about the game speed issue. So far, it does seem like my 64-bit Windows 7 is the culprit, as it happened on both of my 64-bit Windows 7 PCs and dual-booting to WinXP immediately fixed it on both. I haven't heard from him back as to exactly which versions of Windows the game is having trouble with, and am willing to further revise this review and increase the score we gave RFG if a patch can be produced to fix the game.]


text: Giottos Vitruvian Aluminum Tripod/Monopod w/ Ballhead for $199.95 – Deal Alert June 19, 2014 By Eric Reagan Adorama has the Giottos Vitruvian aluminum tripod with ballhead for $199.95 (reg. $365.99) through July 18. The tripod allows you to convert it into a monopod by attaching one leg to the center column. Check it out while it lasts here at Adorama.


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CAPLAN: Still Time for Spring Garden Chores
Many gardeners have been wondering if it is too late to prune their trees and shrubs, spray their fruit trees and perform other early spring garden tasks. By the calendar, we still should have had plenty of time, but the extremely early spring warm-up has pushed the development of all of our landscape plants up by nearly a month.
Pruning can certainly be done now. Our early spring-blooming plants, such as azaleas, forsythia and crab-apples, normally are pruned after the blossoms drop, so they won't be affected by the earliness of the season. Summer-blooming plants, such as roses and butterfly bush, normally are pruned before growth begins, to promote the new growth that will develop this year's flowers. Although they've already started growing, you still may want to cut them back as normal, but I wouldn't wait much longer. Likewise, grapes must be pruned immediately to balance out this year's vegetative and fruiting growth, or you may wind up disrupting optimal fruiting for the next couple of years.
On fruit trees, it's way too late to be spraying dormant oil. I would move right into the standard orchard sprays, taking care to avoid using any insecticides on blooming plants. This spring has, so far, not been as wet as the last two or three years, so disease pressure is currently low. That could change at any time, so repeated sprayings every 7 to 10 days still are recommended for high-quality fruit.
Insect pests will be out earlier this year. Insect development is tied to the amount of heat they absorb, measured in growing degree days (these are reported each day on the Courier-Press weather page). For example, bagworms need to accumulate about 650 growing degrees before they can hatch. Normally, this would occur during the first week of June. However, according to The Weather Channel website, we have already accumulated more than 320 degree days for 2012; in an average year, we still should have zero. At this rate, bagworms may hatch out a month earlier than normal; this may be the same for most other pests as well.
I'm not expecting heavier early-season populations than normal, since most garden insects protect themselves from winter weather. However, because insects are getting an earlier start this year, they will have more time to grow and reproduce. Azalea lacebug, for example, usually hatches in mid-May and will have two or three generations during the year, hatching out at monthly intervals. Based on their earlier start this year, I wouldn't be surprised if we actually manage a fourth generation. Early spring control will be essential for late-season plant survival.
I don't have a crystal ball that tells me what the rest of this season will bring. All I can suggest is to be prepared for anything and plan on reacting quickly to keep the garden alive. For up-to-the-minute garden news, send me an email to the address at the end of this column to be signed up for my free Hort. Alerts email newsletter.
Larry Caplan is an extension educator-horticulture with the Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service, Vanderburgh County/Southwestern Indiana. You can send email to him at firstname.lastname@example.com.
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Bard College Hosts a Weekend in Honor of Internationally Renowned Filmmaker Robert Gardner, October 22–25
Robert Gardner to Receive Honorary Degree from Bard College
Jennifer Wai-Lan Huang
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—From Thursday, October 22 to Sunday, October 25, Bard College will host a weekend honoring the life and work of internationally renowned filmmaker Robert Gardner. Gardner, who is best known for his extensive work in the field of nonfiction filmmaking, will receive an honorary degree from Bard College in recognition of his achievements. "Gardner's camera scans with precision and feels with sympathy: the objectivity of an anthropologist, the fraternity of a poet," says Octavio Paz. Bard College's weekend celebration will include screenings of several Gardner films introduced by Bard faculty members, a photography exhibit, panel discussion, book signing and conversation with the filmmaker, film presentation, and the conferral of Gardner's honorary degree. All events are free and open to the public and take place in the Jim Ottaway Jr. Film Center at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.
Gardner was the director of the Film Study Center at Harvard University from 1957 to 1997. Some of his most prominent films include Dead Birds (1964), a lyric account of the Dugum Dani, a Stone Age society living an isolated existence in the highlands of West Papua (Gardner was the leader of the Peabody Museum–sponsored expedition to study the Dani in 1961–62); Rivers of Sand (1974), a social commentary on the Hamar people of southwestern Ethiopia; and Forest of Bliss (1985), a cinematic essay on the ancient city of Benares, India, which explores the ceremonies, rituals, and industries associated with death and regeneration. These three films will be presented during the weekend celebration at Bard.
A Weekend Honoring Robert Gardner
October 22–25, 2009
Jim Ottaway Jr. Film Center
Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
All events are free and open to the public.
Thursday, October 22–25
An Exhibition of Photographs 1960–1990
Gallery, Jim Ottaway Jr. Film Center
Gallery hours:
Thursday, October 22 through Sunday, October 25
10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Friday October 23
7:00 p.m.
Screening Forest of Bliss, 1985
Introduced by Laura Kunreuther, assistant professor of anthropology
Jim Ottaway Jr. Film Center
Saturday October 24
1:00 p.m.
Screening Dead Birds, 1964
Introduced by John Pruitt, associate professor of film and electronic arts
Jim Ottaway Jr. Film Center
3:00 p.m.
Screening Rivers of Sand, 1974
Introduced by Peggy Ahwesh, professor of film and electronic arts
Jim Ottaway Jr. Film Center
5:00 p.m.
Reception for photography exhibition, book signing, and conversation with Robert Gardner and Susan Meiselas
Jim Ottaway Jr. Film Center
Sunday, October 25
12:00 p.m.
Film presentation Fragments From Unfinished Films, Robert Gardner
Jim Ottaway Jr. Film Center
2:00 p.m.
Panel discussion with Stanley Cavell, Susan Meiselas, Luc Sante, and Charles Warren; moderated by Ian Buruma
Jim Ottaway Jr. Film Center
4:00 p.m.
Presentation of the honorary degree of doctor of fine arts
Jim Ottaway Jr. Film Center
About Robert Gardner
Robert Gardner began his career as a filmmaker in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. In the mid Fifties, he moved back to Massachusetts for graduate work in anthropology. He presently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
He made his first feature-length work, Dead Birds, considered a classic of its genre, in 1964. This narrative, nonfiction account of a Stone Age community of warrior farmers living in a remote valley in the Highlands of West Papua is a film about man's capacity for violence and his efforts to bring it under ritual control. A decade ago, it was added to the Library of Congress Registry of Classic American Films. Gardner has made several other feature nonfiction films, including Rivers of Sand and Forest of Bliss. Together with two short films on the artist Mark Tobey, three on Sean Scully, and one each on Alexander Calder and Michael Mazur, Gardner has made a number of films on a number of artists. In early 1989, he returned to visit the places in which he had lived while making Dead Birds and did the camerawork for a new film about the way time transforms both individuals and culture.
Gardner established film at Harvard as a subject of university concern when he taught the first courses dealing with the subject while still a graduate student. For 40 years, he was director of the Film Study Center, which he founded in 1957. While working alone or with collaborators, he has encouraged innovation and experimentation in all aspects of film. For 10 years, Gardner was the director of Harvard's Visual Arts Center and also served as chairman of the Visual and Environmental Studies Department.
Outside the university and apart from his own filmmaking, he undertook, in the early Seventies, a major commitment in television by producing and hosting nearly a hundred 90-minute programs for a commercial broadcasting station. Each program presented an interview with a significant figure in the arena of independent filmmaking. This series represents a concentrated history of important experimental and documentary filmmaking of the 1960s, '70s, and '80s.
Following his retirement from teaching and administration at Harvard, Gardner established a small cooperative called studio7arts in Cambridge, Massachusetts. There, he collaborates in the production of films, videos, DVDs, and books with a number of prominent writers and artists such as Sharon Lockhart, Samina Quraeshi, Susan Meiselas, Alex Webb, and others.
Gardner is the author of A Human Document (1965) and Gardens of War (1968). His book, Making Forest of Bliss (2002), is the outcome of a close watching of the film with his collaborator, Ákos Östör. In 2006, Gardner published The Impulse to Preserve: Reflections of a Filmmaker; Making Dead Birds: Chronicle of a Film was published in November 2007. His latest book, Human Documents: Eight Photographers was published in 2009. He is also the subject of several books.
Gardner is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He is also the recipient of numerous film awards and prizes including the Flaherty Award (twice). In 2005, he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Anthropological Association.
For more information about Robert Gardner, please visit www.robertgardner.net.
# # #
This event was last updated on 09-30-2009


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GASTONIA, N.C. -- Gaston County is getting plenty of criticism from those upset by the county's decision to euthanize 144 Canada geese at a park.
Officials say the flock had become such a nuisance at the park in Dallas that they had no choice but to remove them.
Parks and Recreation Director Cathy Hart said the U.S. Department of Agriculture helped retrieve the geese Tuesday and humanely euthanized them.
Hart said the birds left droppings on and around the park's ponds, athletic fields, picnic areas, walkways, restrooms and parking lots.
Hart said some residents have reported the birds were hostile.
"We've had reports of bites here," she said.
County officials are getting in-person comments, telephone calls and emails.
"We've heard a lot of opinions about it, some pro and some con," said Hart, who acknowledged the vast majority of responses have been negative.
Carolina Waterfowl Rescue of Indian Trail had worked with Gaston County officials on the problem for the past month and said it was willing to relocate and save the geese. Officials with the nonprofit organization said they were never told that all 144 birds would be euthanized.
"I think we were all trying to put the public's health first," she said.
Many Facebook postings were highly negative.
"Killing without looking for alternative options is not OK," wrote Kim Braman. "You should all be fired."
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