text:
A system and a process for determining the timing and position of contestants on a track. This system comprises at least one directional antenna in communication with at least one competitor communication device that can be coupled to each contestant. A remote base station, is in communication with the positioning device, wherein the positioning device determines a contestant time as the contestant passes the projected field and also determines the position of the contestant in relation to an inside guide such as a rail. There is also a process which includes attaching at least one competitor communication device on at least one contestant, starting a race, and then recording the position and time for each contestant and transmitted from the competitor communication device to a remote base station.
1. A system for determining-a particular position of an individual contestant in a race and a position on a track of that contestant wherein the system comprises:
at least one stationary transmitting directional antenna positioned at a position on one side of the track and for creating and broadcasting an encoded radio signal across the track;
at least one competitor communication device which can be coupled to each contestant and which can be used to read the encoded radio signal;
at least one remote receiving station for receiving at least one transmission from said competitor communication device;
wherein said at least one competitor communication device has at least one processor, and at least one antenna, which is configured to measure a position of a competitor relative to an inside rail of a track, and is configured to determine a position, speed and time of a contestant as that contestant is passing said at least one stationary transmitting directional antenna, by measuring an amplitude, and recording a time of crossing a peak position of the signal, and transmitting a set of captured information comprising said position, speed and time of a contestant, including a position of at least one contestant relative to an inside rail of a track to said remote receiving station.
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10. A system for charting a position of at least one contestant in a race comprising:
at least one stationary transmitting directional antenna disposed adjacent to a running surface on a track for broadcasting an encoded radio signal, said at least one stationary transmitting directional antenna being positioned on a side of the track and configured to be aimed to broadcast a signal across the track;
at least one adjustable antenna bracket, coupled to said at least one stationary transmitting directional antenna, said antenna bracket configured to adjust the aiming position for said at least one stationary transmitting directional antenna;
at least one competitor communication device which can be coupled to at least one contestant and which can be used to read said encoded radio signal wherein said at least one contestant comprises a plurality of contestants;
at least one remote base station;
wherein said competitor communication device determines a position, speed and time as each of said plurality of contestants as said plurality of contestants pass said at least one stationary transmitting directional antenna, and wherein at least one of said plurality of contestant's position, speed and time data is forwarded to said at least one remote base station; and
at least one display in communication with said at least one remote base station, wherein said at least one display displays the time, speed and position of one contestant of said plurality of contestants in relation to said plurality of contestants and said display includes a graphical representation of a set of top three finishers taken from said plurality of contestants at a plurality of different distance points of call throughout an entire race wherein said display indicates a distance each contestant is spaced from an inside rail of the track during the race.
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15. A process for setting up a data capture system and recording a live race data stream comprising:
positioning at least one stationary transmitting directional antenna on a side of a track;
aiming said stationary transmitting directional antenna across said track;
broadcasting an encoded radio signal across said track from one side of said track from said stationary transmitting directional antenna;
attaching at least one individual competitor communication device on at least one contestant, wherein said positioning device is equipped to receive, decode and measure a magnitude of said encoded radio signal on said at least one contestant;
starting a race;
recording a position, speed and time of the at least one contestant using said competitor communication device including recording the position of at least one contestant relative to an inside rail on the track;
reporting said position, speed and time of the at least one contestant on a display device including reporting the position of at least one contestant relative to said inside rail on the track.
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28. A process comprising:
broadcasting an encoded radio signal across a track from one side of a track via a stationary directional transmitting antenna positioned on said side of said track wherein said encoded radio signal includes information relating to a race distance point of call at which said stationary directional transmitting antenna is located;
electronically tracking a time, speed and position of at least two contestants in a race by receiving and decoding said encoded radio signal transmitted by said stationary directional transmitting emitter antenna;
transmitting an additional radio signal from a competitor communication device, wherein said additional radio signal includes information relating to a number of the competitor communication device, as well as information relating to the position of the stationary directional transmitting antenna at which the encoded radio signal was received, along with the position, speed and time of said competitor communication device;
receiving said additional radio signal in a base station;
recording a position, speed and time of each of said at least two contestants including comparing a position of at least one first contestant to a position of at least one second contestant based upon receiving said additional radio signal, obtaining a difference and then comparing the difference to an average length of the at least two contestants and an average width of each contestant and then comparing each position of said at least two contestants to a position of an inside rail on the track; and
reporting said position, speed and time of said at least two contestants on a display device by reporting the position in terms of an average width of at least one contestant relative to the inside rail on the track.
29. The process as in
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attaching at least one individual contestant positioning device on each of the at least two contestants, wherein said positioning device is equipped to read and decode the encoded radio signal and measure an amplitude of said encoded radio signal.
35. A display for providing information relating to a contestant in a race comprising:
a plurality of graphical representation elements wherein each graphical representation element represents a contestant in a race wherein each contestant is represented by a corresponding graphical representation element,
a race clock representing a race-time of arrival by a lead contestant at each distance point of call and finish during a race; wherein each graphical representation element is arranged in an order on the display to indicate an order of contestants in the race;
wherein each graphical representation element includes a number corresponding to the number of a contestant;
at least one graphical distance indicator indicating a distance that each contestant is positioned in relation to said lead contestant wherein said graphical distance indicator is positioned adjacent to the number corresponding to the number of said contestant and wherein said graphical distance indicator indicates a distance that each contestant is spaced based upon an average length of a contestant and a distance that each contestant is spaced from an inside rail on a track.
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This application is a non-provisional application and claims priority from provisional application Ser. No. 60/752,762 filed on Dec. 21, 2005; this application is also a continuation in part application of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/126,736 wherein the '736 application claims priority from U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/577,430 filed on Jun. 3, 2004, and wherein the '736 application is a continuation in part application of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/860,867 filed on Jun. 3, 2004 wherein the '867 application is a continuation in part application of International Application Serial No. PCT/US2002/38459 filed on Dec. 3, 2002, wherein the international application claims priority from provisional application Ser. No. 60/336,620 filed on Dec. 3, 2001. This application is also a continuation in part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/860,867 filed on Jun. 3, 2004, wherein the '867 application is a continuation in part application of International Application Serial No. PCT/US2002/38459 filed on Dec. 3, 2002; wherein the international application claims priority from provisional application Ser. No. 60/336,620 filed on Dec. 3, 2001 wherein the disclosures of application Ser. Nos: 60/752,762; 60/577,430; 10/860,867; US2002/38459; are all incorporated herein by reference.
The invention relates to a system and a process for determining the time and position of a contestant in a race. More particularly, the invention relates to a system and a process for determining the times for each contestant at particular positions or splits in a race and for determining the position of each contestant in relation to an inside guide, or rail of the track at each of these particular splits.
Timing and position systems are known in the art. For example the following U.S. Patents generally disclose timing and/or positioning systems for contestants in a race: U.S. Pat. No. 6,072,751 to Kirson et al issued on Jun. 6, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 5,844,861 to Maurer issued on Dec. 1, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 5,737,280 to Kokubo issued on Apr. 7, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 5,138,550 to Abraham et al issued on Aug. 11, 1992; U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,679 to Carlin issued on Sep. 27, 1988; U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,698 to Armstrong issued on Feb. 18, 1986; U.S. Pat. No. 4,274,076 to Hermanns et al. issued on Jun. 16, 1981; U.S. Pat. No. 4,142,680 to Oswald et al issued on Mar. 6, 1979; U.S. Pat. No. 3,946,312 to Oswald et al. issued on Mar. 23, 1976; U.S. Pat. No. 3,795,907 to Edwards issued on Mar. 5, 1974; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,781,529 Abramson et al. Issued on Dec. 25, 1973 wherein the disclosures of all of these patents are herein incorporated by reference.
One embodiment can be a system and a process for determining the timing and position of contestants on a track. This system can include at least one directional antenna disposed on a side of a track. There can also be at least one competitor communication device (CCD) that can be coupled to each contestant. There can also be at least one remote base station, wherein the competitor communication device determines a contestant time as the contestant passes the directional antenna and then communicates this time data or other data to the base station or another display station. The directional antenna can be used to compress a high-frequency electric magnetic field. The frequency can be on the order of 2.4 GHz which can be compressed by a 15 dBi directional antenna. An example of a directional antenna can be a Hyperlinktech HG24115G. With a well designed antenna, the electric-magnetic forms a virtual loop. By detecting the peak position in time domain, the timing information can be obtained.
This feature is particularly useful in determining the performance of a competitor wherein during a race, this performance will be processed and presented in real time and published for future race handicapping.
The CCD can comprise a positioning sensor in the form of a coil for reading the magnetic field from these loops. An amplifier which can be a logarithmic amplifier and a tuning capacitor may also be coupled to this coil. This sensor is coupled to a microprocessor and to a power input. The power input can be in the form of a battery that may also include a DC-DC boost converter to give the components for example, a 5V power supply. In addition, coupled to the microprocessor and the power input is a transceiver wherein there is an antenna coupled to the transceiver. In addition, a video and audio input can also be coupled to the power input and to the microprocessor.
The microprocessor can include and/or perform a set of instructions that creates a unique identity for the sensor unit. This unique identity allows the remote base station to track each individual contestant individually and to match the time and position of each individual contestant on the track for handicapping of a race or for race analyzation processes. The microprocessor can also include a synchronization protocol which sets periodic transmissions of signals from at least one transceiver to the at least one remote processing or base station. This synchronization protocol can be a time division multiple access (TDMA) protocol where collision is avoided by assigning each transceiver its own time slot.
This microprocessor also controls the audio and video transmission from each contestant so that the audio and video transmission is sent from only one contestant at a time. In this case, a competitor communication device can include a video and audio reader so as to take pictures or record video or audio.
There is also a process for determining the position and timing of each contestant in a race. This process includes the steps of attaching at least one CCD on at least one individual contestant. This CCD can, for example, be connected to a head piece such as a blinder on a horse, a saddle, or any other section which would allow connection. Next, the race starts, whereby during the race, the position and time for each contestant is recorded. Next a signal is transmitted from the CCD to a remote base station. Finally, these signals are synchronized so that there is no interference.
In another embodiment of the invention, the CCD is a three dimensional magnetic field sensor which detects an absolute value of an ambient AC magnetic field. This absolute value depends on the sensor's position in space but not on the sensor's rotation.
The sensor can comprise of a plurality of XYZ coils which pick up the X, Y, and Z component of the field. The coil signals are then amplified by a set of amplifiers each connected to the XYZ coils. The amplitude of the signals fed from the amplifiers is detected by a plurality of amplitude detectors in communication with each of the amplifiers. There are then a set of analog to digital converters with at least one analog to digital converter in communication with each of the amplitude detectors. These analog to digital converters then feed into a microprocessor, which in turn calculates the absolute value of the magnetic field.
In one embodiment of the invention, there is also a loop of wires that generate a signal to be read by a sensor. The loop of wires essentially form a trapezoidal shape along a vertical plane above or below a racetrack. The trapezoidal shape of the wires is used to determine the position of each of the sensors as the sensor crosses the wire.
In another embodiment of the invention the loops can be placed along an inside rail of a racetrack wherein these loops can be in the form of elongated loops extending along a length of the track.
In another embodiment of the invention, the loops can be extended above a racetrack wherein two loops can be disposed above competitors and extend substantially parallel to each other.
In another embodiment of the invention, there can be a loop system wherein in this embodiment, the device includes a loop that can be positioned underneath a track via a process called directional drilling. In this case, the equipment drills a tiny hole and pulls the cable through this hole so that the racetrack is not affected at all. In this embodiment, the wires can be placed approximately 1.5 meters below the track surface. Depending on improvements in technology and the conditions of the track, the depth of placement below the track surface may be adjusted. This loop can include essentially two loops with a first loop coupled to a second loop wherein both loops are driven or powered by a loop driver. These loops or loop systems can be placed around a track at any point, but may be particularly placed at fraction points around a track such as the start, the Ľ mile marker, the ˝ mile marker, the ľ mile marker, the one mile marker and the finish line if the finish line is not on a fraction line. In this case, the start position may be adjusted because races such as horse races usually adjust the starting position of the race based upon the length of the race while usually keeping a standard finish line.
Essentially, the loop can be in the shape of a large "V" with one arm perpendicular to the race track and the other arm positioned at an angle. Power can flow through the loop in a counter clockwise manner wherein this power can flow out from a loop driver and through the second loop first and then flow through the first loop and then back to the loop driver. Using a computer simulation of the magnetic field readings, the signal can be picked up by a sensor positioned in a CCD and placed either on a horse or a jockey. This signal is then relayed to a remote base station for further readings and analysis.
When determining the timing, speed and rail position, the speed information can be obtained by calculating the slope steepness of a detected power curve. In this way, the simplest way is to measure the distance between two threshold points along the curve. This can provide a preliminary speed reading.
To determine the rail position and speed refinement, the detected power curve can be fit on the pre-detected power surface to derive more accurate rail position and speed information. The power function is unique for each antenna, this is because while each antenna may be designed the same, it is operated under different environments. While these individual features or characteristics may be reported the entire speed curve can also be reported, to provide a whole array of statistics for a user.
There can also be a process for tracking and reporting the position of contestants in a race. This process can include a first step of creating an ambient field in at least one position on a track. Next, there could be the process of attaching at least one individual contestant positioning device on at least one contestant such as a horse. This positioning device is equipped to measure the magnitude of the magnetic field on the contestant. Next, a race could be started wherein for example, in a horse race, gates would open and horses would start running. The next step could include recording a position and time of at least one contestant in this race. This position could then be reported on a display such as a television screen or a website for users to calculate or determine the racing characteristics of a race horse. The recording step can include recording a position of at least one contestant relative to an adjacent contestant. When recording the position of contestants this can include comparing a position one contestant to another contestant. The difference in distance between these competitors is then calculated based upon to an average length of a competitor. In horse racing this is described as "lengths".
This step of recording a position and time of the contestants can also include recording a position of a contestant relative to an inside rail. In this case, the position can be measured based upon an average width of a contestant. This reporting of the position of the contestant can include reporting on at least one display in the form of screen including a graphical representation of a full field running order for each of the contestants in a race.
In addition, this step can include reporting a position of a contestant on a display which includes forming on the display a graphical representation of the top three finishers taken at different positions throughout an entire race. This reporting can include a screen displaying a television based graphical representation which can be used to provide an instant race recap for each fraction and finish position for each contestant.
With these reporting features it provides users with multiple advantages in that these users can now determine the split times of each contestant such as a horse and also the position of each contestant such as a horse at different times during a race. This additional set of information can then be very valuable for handicapping a race because this type of particular information would now be known to handicappers of horse races which then allows the handicappers to better calculate the true handicap of a horse.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings which disclose at least one embodiment of the present invention. It should be understood, however, that the drawings are designed for the purpose of illustration only and not as a definition of the limits of the invention.
In the drawings wherein similar reference characters denote similar elements throughout the several views:
Referring to the drawings,
In this embodiment, there is disclosed a series of directional antennas 20, which are disposed in different locations such as locations 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18 which are around a track 5. These antennas are used such that they are for reading a competitor communication device 10, which is disposed on a competitor such as a horse. In addition, there can be an infrared transmitter 185, (See
An example of a directional antenna 20 is shown in
As shown in
Therefore, each antenna 20 is set to such that a peak reading of the antenna corresponds to a particular position on a track. Therefore, if antenna 14 is positioned in a region that represents a quarter-mile section of the track, the antenna is directed such that, once a competitor crosses a particular peak at the middle of the loop, (See
As the competitors such as horses are racing around a track, the competitor communication device 10 can receive this reading. This reading is then transmitted to an initial transmitting station 17 to an intermediate a base station 205. Alternatively, the signal from each competitor communication device can be transmitted directly to receiving and display station 800.
Rail position is derived from another characteristic of electric-magnetic field. Since the energy is projected along with a loop direction, if we define the power at a unit distance as P in the form of Po, at a point (d,θ) where d is the distance from the center, and θ is the angle (refer to
Where K is a constant, f(d,θ) is an even function for θ (which means that f(d,θ)=f(d,−θ)) and decreases and d and |θ| increase. Usually a constant K and function f is unique for each antenna.
To determine the rail position, or distance of a competitor from a rail, a power curve can be fitted on a pre detected power surface. Since the power function is unique for each antenna (even the same design in different environments) the power information can be collected at each point in the field, wherein this information can be stored in the remote computer system. Each competitor communication device can be used to store and transmit each power curve. The remote computer base station can either use a direct slope calculation or a recursive approximation to find more accurate rail position and speed information.
For example, from the reading disclosed in
Some of the benefits of this system relative to a wired system is that the cost of installation can be lower relative to a wired system. These antennas can be coupled to poles on the antenna. With this design, there is no need to use directional drilling services to install wire loops in a track. In addition, the cost of the system is also lower. In this case, the expense of the wire and conduit under the track is also avoided. Furthermore, the calibration is simpler. In this case, the system can be installed in a few hours wherein the user can enter in positioning and timing services for an event. After the event is over, it can be broken down and taken to a new location easily. Furthermore, this system can be found to be more accurate, especially with regard to reading the distances a horse is located from a rail.
Microprocessor 110 is coupled to amplifier 106, whereby microprocessor 110 contains instructions to control the transfer of signals, the individual timing of the contestant, and to carry a unique identifier to identify each individual contestant.
Coupled to microprocessor 110 is transceiver 130, which can send and receive signals from microprocessor 110 through antenna 140 to and from a base station, such as base station 210 or communicate directly with a remote station 800. There is also a power input 120 which is coupled to amplifier 106, microprocessor 110, transceiver 130, and video and audio input 160. Power input 120 comprises a battery 122, a DC-DC boost converter 124 and a charger connection 126. Battery 122 sends power through DC-DC boost converter 124 such that converter 124 delivers 5V of power supply into the components in the system. Charger connection 126 works in unison with LED 150 and battery 122 so that when battery 122 runs down, LED 150 changes from green to red to indicate that the battery is running out of power. Conversely, once the battery has been fully recharged, LED 150 changes color back from red to green to indicate a full charge.
Video and Audio input 160 is essentially a motion video camera with a microphone that can be placed on a contestant such as a horse. With a horse, while the CCD 10 can be placed in any position on the horse, the camera would most likely be placed on the back of a saddle to capture moving images behind the horse. Microprocessor 110 would then control the sending of this information to a remote base station depending on instructions sent from that remote base station.
With this embodiment, there is an infrared or IR receiver 180 coupled to microprocessor 110′. IR receiver 180 is used as a position sensor to determine the time and position of the individual contestant as that contestant is racing in a race. Essentially, IR receiver 180 receives an infrared beam from IR transmission device 185. IR receiver 180 and IR transmission device 185 are positioned at a start pole on opposite sides of the track, so that at the start of the race, these devices can track the exact start of the race by having the competitors cross the IR beam being sent between transmission device 185 and receiving device 180. Thus when the race starts, this beam is broken and then a signal is sent to a base station to start the race clock.
As shown in
Because there is both an IR based system and a magnetic based system at each terminal, this provides a redundant system for tracking the race contestants. The IR based system does not contain information relating to the identity of each contestant. However, the IR based system does relay the time that the first competitor crosses each mark. Thus, at a very minimum, this IR based system can be used to verify the start and ending times of a race.
The sensor operates as follows, x, y, and z components of a signal are picked up by x, y, and z coils 310, 320 and 330 respectively. The components of this signal are fed from these coils into their respective amplifiers 312, 322, and 332. The coil signals are amplified by the amplifiers and then the amplitude of each of these signals is obtained by the amplitude detectors 314, 324, and 334 respectively. These amplitudes are then digitized by the ADCs 316, 326, and 336 respectively wherein this information is fed into microprocessor 340.
The microprocessor then calculates the absolute value of the magnetic field using a program that follows the following formula:
B is the total magnitude of the field
Bx, By and Bz are the magnitudes read by the x, y and z coils respectively. Because of these three coils extending in the three dimensions are used, these coils can be used to determine the position of each party in all three dimensions.
The system operates as follows: each contestant receives a competitor communication device 10 which can be attached to each contestant by any known means such as a belt, a strap, etc. This device is turned on and it may run one or more test signals to base station 205 so that each device 10 is pretested to communicate with base station 205 or central station. Each contestant lines up at a starting line which contains a field provided by a directional antenna or loops, and the infrared system which projects an infrared beam. Each competitor communication device reports its time stamp and identity information to the base station 205 or a central station 800 prior to the start of the race. At least one report is presented to the central station for all CCD's at a substantially simultaneous time. At this point, all of the times in the CCD's are synchronized or compared in the software. A race indicator goes off whereby the contestants are notified of the start of the race. This start may occur via a gun, bell, or a horn sounding. After the start, each competitor moves out of the starting position and crosses the startline which is positioned with the first ambient field. As each competitor crosses the peak amplitude reading of this ambient field, the associated CCD reports its individual time stamp and identity to central station 800. This crossing of a peak in the ambient field, starts the race clock. Alternatively, if the system is relying on an infrared system, the start of the race occurs when the first contestant crosses an infrared beam. In this case, there can be many clocks running at once. First, there is a universal race clock which determines the universal race time. There are also individual clocks that determine the split times for each competitor's split. These separate times are useful because it allows the analyzation of the true starting times for each contestant. Thus, if a contestant is quick off of the start there will be little or no time lag between the universal race time and that individual competitor's race time. However, if the contestant is slow off the start, then there will be a large or even larger time lag for that competitor.
Each split is recognized in each CCD as a peak reading of amplitude from the ambient field. As each contestant or competitor crosses each of the splits, the identity of each CCD, the individual times for each contestant, and the amplitude level of each reading is sent to base station 205 or to central station 800. Central station 800 can then contain a program that determines the actual split times of each contestant based upon the difference between the current individual time reading and a previous split time reading. In addition, this program can determine the position of each competitor based upon its distance from the rail, based upon the level of the amplitude of each reading for each competitor.
All of the competitors race around the track until they reach the finish line whereby as they reach the finish line, their times are clocked into base station 205 or a central station 800. The overall winning race time stops when the first competitor crosses the finish line field.
During this race, the position of each individual contestant is also recorded. The position of each contestant at each split is also sent to base station 205 or central station 800 and recorded. In addition, during this entire race, base station 205 or central station 800 is controlling processor 110 in competitor communication device 10 to determine whether to send audio and video signals. In addition, base station 205 or central station 800 is sending controlling signals for the transmission of this information via a synchronized relay system explained above so that there is no interference of signals from any of the CCDs.
Essentially, the loop is the shape of a large "V" with one arm 410 a extending perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the race track and the other arm 410 b positioned at an angle relative to this first arm. Power can flow through the loop in a counter clockwise manner wherein this power can flow out from loop drive 420 and through loop 410 b first and then flow through loop 410 a and then back to loop driver 420.
Thus, each sensor records two values, the time of the second peak (T2), and the delay between the peaks (dT=T2−T1). This information is then reported to the base station. Time T2 is used directly for timing purposes. In this case, the base stations can calculate the average sensor speed based upon measurements of T2 at the previous and at the current point of call which is determined when the sensor crosses a center point of each loop 410 a for each loop positioned around the track. As shown in
Knowing dT and the speed of each contestant, the x distance or traveling distance between the peaks can be calculated. Then, taking into account the geometry of the loops, the distance of the rail is calculated. In this case, if the x distance is larger, then the distance from the rail is calculated to be larger as well. If the x distance is smaller then the distance from the rail is also calculated to be smaller as well.
In this case, there is shown a graphical representation of the competitors in a race wherein this representation lists the leader time 910, the name of the fraction represented (Ľ, ˝, ľ, FIN (finish) 920, a listing of the number of the race 930, and a marker 940 indicating the position of a fraction position on a track. Each competitor is represented by its race number 950 and also by a graphical bar 960 which extends across the screen and crosses different length lines 970 which is the finish line, and 980 which is the distance behind the lead horse separated by one horse length. These length lines 980 can be used to display a distance that a competitor is spaced behind another competitor. For example, in horse racing, the distance of other horses behind another horse can be calculated in lengths. In this case, these length lines would be helpful for handicappers in determining the distance that particular competitors are from a leader.
This screen also shows an indicator 1160 of the number of the horse in the lead at the previous fraction mark, the indicator for the previous fraction mark 1170, and the time period of the leader at the previous fraction mark 1180. Furthermore, there is also a set of indicators or graphical representation elements 1190 which indicate the placement of the horses via dots to indicate the distance of each horse in an average horse width from the inside rail. Each dot indicates that the horse is an average horse width from the rail. In this case, these indicators on all of the screens indicate both the length position and the width position of these competitors during the race.
With this view, there can also be a set of indicators indicating the length that each horse is spaced from the lead horse. For example, as shown in this view, graphic blocks 1150-1156 include the positioning distances of the horses based upon the distance each horse is from the lead. In this case, the lead horse number 1 is shown by graphic 1156. The horse in second place, horse number 7 is shown as spaced two horse widths from the rail via indicator 1190, and also trailing the leading horse by Ľ of a length as shown by graphic, or graphic representation element 1192. For each trailing horse, these indicators or graphics 1192, would then be used to indicate the position of that horse with respect to the lead horse. The distances by length would be calculated based upon the split times, and the speed of the horses to determine the length of the distance of each horse from the leader. With these graphics 1192, the user can then have a full visual indication of the position of each horse in a race.
Essentially, the competitor communication device 10 works with program 840 and PC/server 800 to create a system where there is an easier way to present instant information to viewers who wish to track and handicap races. The process can essentially follow the following steps: a timer on a competitor communication device is started with an absolute timer clock, the time on that device 10 is marked at the start of the race and then forwarded wirelessly to outdoor unit 210 or directly to a receiving central station 800. If this information is passed first to outdoor unit 210, then this information is then forwarded onto indoor unit 220. Indoor unit can then forward this information onto PC/server 800. This information is then forwarded onto display 800 to display this information on the different screens.
This system them provides a handicapper of races with an easy access to information relating to that race. In this case, the handicapper can then easily use this information to monitor or bet on future races.
Accordingly, while several embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it is to be understood that many changes and modifications may be made thereunto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
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Crinolines and Leather Ch. 02— Victorian themed erotica in a brothel: Edward meets Olivia.
Dream Guy— Travis finally meets the man of his dreams.
Sarrah - English Version— A woman that I've met only by chance...
Sweetie Pie— A fun vignette. No cheating wives or husbands.
Taking Care of Business— Businessman forced to face the truth.
Ravi and Kate Ch. 01— The first meeting between Ravi and Kate.
A New Beginning Pt. 02— Rachel's Story leads to a conclusion.
A New Beginning— After a bad year, a new beginning.
A Midnight Meeting— When a frustrated man meets a frustrated woman.
Making Good on My 2nd Chance— Chance meeting leads to a 2nd chance with an old girlfriend.
Getting Lucky— Random meeting leads to unbelievable sex.
The Sun, The Girl and Goodbye Ch. 01— Our hero opens the door and steps into the North African sun.
The Cruise— I am forced to take a cruise.
Helen— A woman with whom I've spent about three years...
Luke and Leah Ch. 01— A sales meeting gets sexy.
The One That Got Away— A high school dream is fulfilled by two adults.
The Beginning— How two people finally meet and a story begins.
A Concert Not to be Forgotten— Finally meeting.
Ch. 01: Twosome— Lovers reunited after a long time.
Community Involvement Ch. 04— Meeting for brunch produces outcomes and possibilities
The Entrepreneurs Ch. 01-02— Casey & Lacey begin a journey into creating a space for play
Sam and Dan Meet— The story of how Sam met Dan.
Frankie's Story Ch. 09— She will never touch you in an intimate way ever again.
The Meeting Goes Dark— The company meeting gets lively when the power goes out
Swinging Seniors: About June— A prequel that explains my few years with June.
The KA Series 02— Part II of their meeting.
Imogen's Gift— A singer and her gift of hope.
The Project Manager— Mutual attraction leads to a satisfying private meeting.
Banging Big Red— My first of many nights with a cyber slut.
Music Girl Ch. 01— Just a day in the life of me.
Meeting Ch. 01— Vampire Erotica/Action.
My Dream of Melanie Ch. 01— First time with another woman.
There Oughta Be a Law Ch. 01— Don meets two hot women.
Bliss Ch. 06— Little things can mean a lot. Sometimes.
To My Beloved - A Dream, A Fantasy— A love story of two meeting for the first time.
Stop the World to Get a Better View Ch. 07— Matthew and Greg hit it off.
Welcome to New York— A long awaited meeting with a sexy friend.
Deep Secrets Ch. 02— The meeting...Again.
Logan and Lauren Ch. 12— Meeting Logan's Dad...
Missed Connection Ch. 03— Jackson's the man for the job.
Encounters - J Ch. 01— I meet J for the first time
Kissed by Lightning Ch. 09— He calls me Rose.
Bad Sex— On the road to happiness, there will be bumps.
Real Life (or) Just Fantasy— Caught in a slide, no sympathy.
They Met Online Ch. 01— A chat room encounter evolves into much more.
A Cocktale for Sherry— Holiday meeting turns into love.
A Weekend Away— A weekend holiday goes wrong.
Kissed by Lightning Ch. 02— A promise made.
Train Journey— They meet on a train and end up having an encounter.
Lustful Encounter— I waited for you for what seemed like an eternity.
Claiming the Woman— Angel meets her online Master.
The Meeting— Two people finally meet after talking online.
The Beauty Parlour— A meeting, this time with an non CD.
My First Meet— The short story of my first meeting with another CD.
First Meeting— After months of talking online, you finally meet.
Game for Two— Man seducing another for sex.
Downloading— Coming together at the annual sales meeting.
In Praise of the Bum Ch. 04— They meet at last but don't know what will happen.
Pleasure to Meet You— A chance encounter in real life...for the first time.
Taming the Tiger Ch. 02— Kaiya is restless.
Her Love— Internet lovers meet in real life for fun.
Can't Wait to Get Home— Meeting you off the train, a walk turns naughty.
Old Home Town - Old Lover Ch. 01— She meets her first lover.
Husband's Version Of How We Met— How I met my wife.
Lyndsey's Lunch— Lyndsey meets her Master for lunch.
From a Finger to Fucking Ch. 04— Paul meets a man and two women at a gay bar.
The Wake Up Call— He wakes her in the best way he knows how.
Dirtyslut Stories...— Chat site members meet up.
Business Trip Rendezvous— Business traveler hooks up with online acquaintance.
Eroslit Meets Johnnie Blue— Lit authors agree to a hot, one-on-one collaboration.
Don't Play Games!— Internet gamers meet to play with each other.
Olivia Ch. 04— The enlargement of Olivia's pleasure center.
By His Command— Sandra finds unexpected pleasure in her thoughts Spencer.
The Meeting— The meeting is cancelled, so he looks up an old friend.
And I'm Not Sorry— Slightly biographical story of a chance meeting.
Friending on Facebook— An internet friendship leads to a first meeting.
Meeting in the Mall— An older woman and younnger man meet in the mall.
Monica and Alex Ch. 02— They Meet Again.
Monica and Alex Ch. 01— He bumps into her.
Trish and Tom— Two Coworkers rekindle their affair.
Restaurant Risk— Wife teases and pleasures husband during business dinner.
You— Just for you, QueenM.
Starr Search Ch. 01— Starr arrives in Los Angeles.
Endings Ch. 01— Truth or dare finds him a lover.
Adventures in Swinging Ch. 04— Shaun and Mel finally get to try swinging.
Going Out Ch. 02— Their night in.
Going Out Ch. 01— Lonely guys meet on night out.
My Night of Nights— Melinda sets out to seduce her man.
The Meeting— Sonia must learn never to be tardy.
See What I See— A lover makes his BBW feel beautiful.
Connie & Becka: New Old Friends— Two women meet at a seminar and discover love.
The Dance of Passion— Student finds love in a dance.
Wife's Day in Her Office— She recounts an explosive meeting.
Connections by Six Degrees Ch. 01.1— Literary erotica with an Indian twinge.
A Foolish Bet— 2 girls, 3 bets,1 presentation that no-one will forget.
Lazy Sunday Afternoon— A business merger becomes more.
My Best Friend's Daughter Ch. 01— A chance reunion leads to quality time alone.
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Click Here to Watch the Whole Video in HD at Straight Fraternity
Me and my video camera alone with a hot straight guy. Anything can happen. Horny straight guys go gay for pay.
David J Loves Dominant Girls With Big Asses, so He Was In Heaven When We Matched Him Up With Rising Porn Star Katie Cummings. You Can See It All Over His Face as He Fucks Her Bareback...
Pixels: 320X240 | Bitrate: 350K
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This whodunit card game makes players use their skills of deduction and reasoning to solve the who, what, where and why of a murder. Players score points for solving the mystery, but also for helping other players solve it, forcing them to make strat (Learn More...)
Fantasy and reality meet in this exciting offshoot of our popular game system. A must for any Empire fan looking for a new twist!
Science, fantasy, and trains mix in the popular game of fun and finances, Iron Dragon. Players lay track across a myt (Learn More...)
©2015 Mayfair Games, Inc. All Rights Reserved.


text:
Session U35: Focus Session: Cytoskeletal Dynamics and Cell Migration II
8:00 AM–11:00 AM, Thursday, March 8, 2007
Colorado Convention Center Room: 405
Sponsoring Units: DBP GSNP DPOLY
Chair: Arpita Upadhyaya, University of Maryland
Abstract ID: BAPS.2007.MAR.U35.12
Abstract: U35.00012 : A kinematic description of the trajectories of Listeria monocytogenes propelled by actin comet tails
Preview Abstract MathJax On | Off Abstract
Dhananjay Tambe
(Brown University)
Vivek Shenoy
(Brown University)
The bacterial pathogen Listeria monocytogenes propels itself in the cytoplasm of the infected cells by forming a filamentous comet tail assembled by the polymerization of the cytoskeletal protein, actin. While a great deal is known about the molecular processes that lead to actin based movement, most macroscale aspects of motion, including the nature of the trajectories traced out by the motile bacteria are not well understood. Listeria moving between a glass-slide and cover slip in a Xenopus frog egg extract motility assay is observed to display a number of geometrically fascinating trajectories including sine curves, serpentine shapes, circles, and a variety of spirals. We have developed a dynamic model that provides a unified description of these seemingly unrelated trajectories. A key ingredient of the model is a torque (not included in any microscopic models to date) that arises from the rotation of the propulsive force about the body-axis of the bacterium. The trajectories of bacteria executing both steady and saltatory motion are found to be in excellent agreement with the predictions of our dynamic model. When the constraints that lead to planar motion are removed, our model predicts motion along regular helical trajectories, observed in recent experiments. We discover from the analysis of the trajectories of spherical beads that the comet tail revolves around the bead.
To cite this abstract, use the following reference: http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2007.MAR.U35.12


text:
Cradle of Dominion 4.17Jul 3, 2015 Multiplayer Map 0 comments
GRIGIO87 MODIFICATIONS: Added 5 caves provinces and more mountain passes. Khabez Cavern, Withc's Roost and Aklavik Caves now are cave instead of mountain...
You are a God! You are master and ruler of a loyal nation. You have unimaginable powers at your disposal. You have claimed this world as yours. But there are others who stand in your way. You must defeat and destroy these pretenders. Only then can you ascend to godhood and become the new Pantokrator. When you start the game you decide what kind of god you are and how your DOMINION affects your lands and followers. It is an expression of your divine might and the faith of your followers. If your dominion dies, so do you. Your dominion also inspires your sacred warriors and gives them powers derived from your dominion. In order to win and become the one true god you have to defeat your enemies one of three different ways: conquer their lands, extinguish their dominion or claim the Thrones of Ascension. Release version and manual is available now. Manual can be downloaded from Illwinter's web page.
3 comments by jk.illwinter on Nov 13th, 2013
This patch focuses on caves. Agartha has got many improvements like new units, pretender gods, national spells, heroes, unique names and improved income from cave provinces. Early Agartha has now also got the means to open the seals they guard with a new ritual and release whatever horrors are within. Caves on random maps will now sometimes be cave forests which provides more income than ordinary caves. There are also some new spells to summon cave monsters that can only be cast in caves.
GAME Major changes to Agartha in all three ages
GAME Extra income/resources in caves for some nations
GAME Rebalancing for summoning spells
GAME Typos fixed
GAME Unit stat fixes
GAME Descriptions updated
GAME Some battle sound effects where not affected by volume setting
GAME Swallower could try to chase after already swallowed units
GAME Ether Gate raises magic level
GAME Ermor can buy 1 defence in pop 0 provinces now
GAME Random event fixes
GAME Dementia got cured when removing items
GAME Fix for units with missile weapons in wrong order and a lost arm
GAME Random caves did not get cave names, fixed
GAME Blood sacrifices by disciples did not work properly
GAME Medallion of vengeance improved
GAME Spells that required a second path were not greyed out properly
GAME No snow/rain in caves
GAME New cave critters
GAME New cave indeps
GAME Indep Abysians (lava-born)
GAME Undead cannot bleed
GAME www.draam.com in Credits
GAME Tough monsters would stay behind troops instead of attacking, fixed.
GAME --quiet now prints less
GAME Secondshape don't heal afflictions
GAME Global event darkness works now
GAME Improved pluralisation of unit names
GAME --newgame for scripts that want to create new games
GAME Innate spellcasters didn't always cast their spells
GAME New graphics for Weapons of Sharpness
GAME Nation restrictions persited after cancelling out of a scenario
GAME Horrors that refuse to rout do not get -4 to att/def
GAME Truly ethereal beings could be invisible
GAME Bubbles in non deep water were incorrect
GAME Never shape change into forms that drown
GAME New terrains: Cave forests and cave seas with proper looks
GAME Could start network game with disciples without a team
GAME It was possible to fire rear by using shortcuts
GAME Rectangular maps were cut off in map preview.
GAME Network bug after you had lost and reconnected fixed
GAME Print battle message when units flee off the battlefield
GAME Some afflictions were not printed correctly
GAME New god title
GAME Commanders with priest magic are now always considered sacred
GAME Max 50% damage in limbs now takes modified max HP into account.
GAME Units fleeing from random events disappeared form world
GAME Limited recruitment of 2+ different unit types at once didn't work
GAME Corpse Constructs stun units attacking them in melee
GAME Mid R'lyeh can now recruit Hybrid Commander in coastal forts
GAME New spell: Unleash Imprisoned Ones
GAME New spells: Bind Penumbral, Summon Penumbrals, Summon Umbrals, Olm Conclave
GAME New spells: Hall of Statues, Revive Cavern Wights, Summon Cave Grubs
GAME New spells: Summon Cave Cows, Summon Cave Crab, Animate Mercury
GAME New spells: Living Mercury, Nightmare Construction, Hidden Underneath
GAME About 35 new units and monsters, mostly related to caves and Agartha.
GAME New magic items: Storm Spool, Mercury Barrel
AI Fix for reanimation
AI AI bid for mercs was incorrect, fixed
AI AI recruitment priorities improved
AI Improved AI spell targeting
AI AI will recruit more spies
MAPS Fixes for BigBlackPeaks
MAPS Fixed missing connection on Frosted Lands
MAPS Map command #nonamefilter didn't work
MAPS Removed preset province names on Valanis map
MAPS Black text color for Valanis map
MAPS Fixed battle look for floating islands on Valanis map
MAPS --rugedness, to set random map rugedness from command line
MAPS Maps with #defence >100 would crash, fixed
MAPS Cave forests on random maps
MAPS Bunch of random maps now uses rugedness setting too
MAPS More names for plain and forest provinces
MODDING New monster mod commands: #indepmove, #cleanshape, #reanimator, #defector, #nohof
MODDING New monster mod commands: #reqlab, #reqtemple
MODDING Pink shadow when highligting modded units fixed
MODDING Modding: #cold... commands didn't work
MODDING Game could crash when adding names to a new nametype
MODDING Modding: Master Smith value can be negative
MODDING Modding: makemonsters work with negative values too
MODDING New mod nations could not be selected for network play
MODDING Scoregraphs for new mod nations could not be hidden
MODDING New monster and item mod commands: #deathfire, #deathparalyze
MODDING Mod banners placed at the right edge of widescreen displays too
MODDING New mod commands #deserter, #horrordeserter
MODDING It was possible to make the game freeze with incorrect shape modding commands
GRIGIO87 MODIFICATIONS: Added 5 caves provinces and more mountain passes. Khabez Cavern, Withc's Roost and Aklavik Caves now are cave instead of mountain...
This is based a randomly created map by Manadh for a 29 player game. I repainted the map to be easier on the eyes. Water seems disproportionate but it...
A little specular map for two players (49 lands + 10 seas). Ideal for duel or single player nations tests.
Map for Dominions 4 (214 + 69 provinces). Inspired in the Arcanus/Myrror planes of MoM. Version 2, with more portals between planes and no pink map.
Tri-specular map with very rich central area for a six players balanced game. By Grigio87's dominions4.italiaforum.net (bigger version)
Tri-specular map with very rich central area for a six players balanced game. By Grigio87's dominions4.italiaforum.net
where this comment gone about crashing in late game? can someone explain it is huge bug in real or not? I'm thinking about buying this game, but it's expensive, so i want to know if it works perfectly.
All technical questions are in the forum as this is no good place for longer discussions.
Ohh man. I didn't know Dom 4 was out. I think I have to get this now.
Dominions version 4.03 is available now. This patch focuses on caves and a changelog can be found at Illwinter.com
Really happy to be "back" with Dom 4. I'll start porting my mods (and finishing them) if I ever have free time.
Comparing with Dominions 3, now manual is three times thinner... I want my money back! :)
No, you now have 6 manuals, 178 pages total, not conting mod manual at nearly 80...
Love this game, hours and HOURS of play time and I STILL find new things to play with! Thanks for making such a great game!
Never used this site, but downloaded Dominions 4 Windows version and get this message:
LoadLibrary failed with error 998: Invalid access to memory location
Anyone know how to contact Illwinter about that?
Please post tech support questions on the forum: Indiedb.com
Highest Rated (37 agree) 10/10
Well, as a newcomer to Doms world, it may seems an exageration score. But as a veteran player, more oriented to strategy (TBS mainly: Civ saga, HOMM, Age of Wonders saga, Fallen Enchantres and many more on this style), this game is simply THE GAME. I've frecuently read that dominions games are not for everybody. The learning curve and the micromanagement required are very important. And they increase as the turns goes on. I think that only by digging deep and reading guides you can get the juice…
Aug 25 2013, 10:51am by Solosol
Lowest Rated (18 agree) 3/10
How can people play this game with such a terrible User Interface? It does not even let you do something basic like saving the setup of your troops for quickly reusing at another time. You can save a copy of the orders but not the placing, so you have to individually place each group of troops each and every time even if you just want an identical copy of your previous setup. This might be a decent game if you have the patience but there is so much room for improvement it is embarrassing and the…
Nov 7 2013, 4:09am by sothishell666
Promote Dominions 4: Thrones of Ascension on your homepage or blog by selecting a button and using the embed code provided (more).


text:
Academics . Foundation . Courses
Autobiographical Narrative in African Literature
Course No. LLC 207W Credits: 3.0
Faculty Olatubosun Ogunsanwo
This course consists of six first-person accounts, which highlight the socio-historical and psychological significance of the autobiographical narrative in the black experience. The autobiographical mode is one of the predominant forms of literary expression in black literature, dating back to the "slave narrative" of the eighteenth century, just as it is in the hands of African artists a prominent literary form that is characterized by its predominantly collective and communal narrative voice. The course will focus on the interface between individual life-story and collective (social) history. It will also consider in the postmodernist sense the thin line between fiction and history (art and life), while exploring individual consciousness as an art of rhetorical self-definition and subjectivity. The last two books include two generational responses to womanist issues; and both of them problematize the autobiographical art-form. There are six videos primarily to provide socio-historical background to the course. The videos, as visual texts, are also meant to create a critical interface with the 6 literary socio-constructs, with a view to stimulating your deep insights into the course. Fulfills Humanities/Cultural Studies distribution requirement. Creative Writing Concentration course.
Running into trouble with your iPad? Submit an inquiry, and CIA's IT department will get back to you with a solution!
Douglas Sanderson
Adjunct Faculty
While at CIA, you'll learn from the masters through our rigorous, world-class curriculum and connect with working professionals to begin your career.


text: LOTS OF FUN AT SUMMER FOOTBALL AND DANCE CAMPS Summer Soccer Schools and Dance Camps off to a great start. 12 hours 58 mins ago SPOOKTACULAR HALLOWEEN PARTY AT THE DW STADIUMFree entry to Halloween Party for Team Latics members - Non-.... 23 Oct 2014 WIN WITH OUR NEW HALF TIME CHALLENGE FOOTBALL CURLINGFootball Curling is the brand new Wigan Athletic half time c.... 22 Sep 2014 FUN, GAMES AND CHANCES TO WIN AT TEAM LATICS HUBTeam Latics Hub gets fans in a winning mood ready for home g.... 18 Sep 2014 WIGAN YOUTH ZONE FIVE A SIDE LEAGUESFive a side leagues return to Wigan Youth Zone 10 Sep 2014 SATURDAY SOCCER CENTRE RETURNSNew location for Saturday Soccer Centre 09 Sep 2014 TEAM LATICS SUMMER PARTY SUCCESSNew location for summer party proves popular with Team Latic.... 04 Sep 2014 TEAM LATICS MATCHDAY COACHINGExciting new opportunity for Team Latics members 26 Aug 2014 TEAM LATICS SUMMER PARTYSummer party organised for Team Latics members at Wigan Yout.... 13 Aug 2014 TEAM OF THE WEEK - READINGTeam of the Week from Wigan Youth Zone 11 Aug 2014 RETURN OF THE TEAM LATICS HUBPopular Team Latics Hub returns for the 2014/15 season. 06 Aug 2014 COMMUNITY FOOTBALL 'PAY AS YOU PLAY'Wigan Athletic's Community Trust offering 'Pay as yo.... 18 Jun 2014 ELLIOT WINS WEMBLEY MASCOT PRIZE9-year-old Elliot to lead out the team this Saturday thanks .... 09 Apr 2014 WIN SEMI-FINAL SHIRT AT TEAM LATICS HUBTeam Latics Fun Night at the Hub! Get ready for Wembley with.... 08 Apr 2014 BE A PLAYER ESCORT AT FA CUP SEMI-FINALWin the chance to be a Player Escort at the FA Cup semi-fina.... 24 Jan 2014 WIN AT THE TEAM LATICS HUB THIS SATURDAY 30 Dec 2013 PREV|1234|NEXT All News


text:
Comment Futurama said it best (Score 2) 273
Announcer Bot:You have a degree in balogna! (sprays the idiot with water)
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Comment Re:first??? (Score 2) 142
Comment Re:Not much the US can do. (Score 1) 108
Comment America's response (Score 1) 830
Comment How Video Games Shaped My Career (Score 1) 170
When I started getting bored of the popular gaming consoles of the time (Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, etc), I started playing the shareware games that my dad had downloaded from the BBS's on his computer. These were simple games, games like the original Duke Nukem (the platformer), Crystal Caves, Cosmos's Cosmic Adventure, Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry (when my dad wasn't home
Doom was a game changer for me. Aside from the graphics (which were amazing for the time), I found the concept of multiplayer fascinating. Playing Doom with a friend over the modem, on two separate machines, located in two separate houses was the coolest thing my pre-adolescent mind could fathom...I was hooked. I spread around copies of Doom to whoever I could find that had a computer capable of playing it. In order to play Doom with others, they needed a copy. I'd use archive software like pkzip to compress and span it over multiple disks to take to school with me and give it to whoever I could. For my more tech-savvy friends, I'd send them a copy over the modem with terminal programs like QModem or QuickLink II.
Once the problem of finding other players was solved, the problem of getting it working started. This is where I started learning about things like COM ports, IRQs (and conflicts), init strings, etc. Eventually the fruits of my labor began to pay off and things started to work. I was in heaven. I'd spend as much time as my parents would let me playing games on their computer with friends. Eventually my parents got a new computer and I inherited their old one. Score!
As the games got more advanced, so did the minimum system requirements. My hand-me-down 486 with 8 megs of RAM wasn't keeping up with my gaming addiction. After a year of saving, I finally had enough money to purchse my own gaming rig: a blazing fast AMD K5 PR133 with 24 megs of RAM. Up until now I had only dealt with minor upgrades; this was the first time I'd built my own system from the ground-up. That thing blazed through Duke Nukem 3D and Quake like butter. Everything was going great. Then the Internet happened.
Not having to go through the routine of pursuading my friends why they should trade sleep for getting their asses handed to them at Doom and Quake on the weekends was liberating. Now all I had to do was get online and jump in a server that had *gasp!* more than one other person in it! Growing up, we never had a LAN setup in my house so all my multiplayer gaming was done over the modem by directly calling my friends' modem. This meant that there was always only one other person to play with (or against). Gaming over the Internet thrust me into the world of TCP/IP networking at a relatively young age. Learning about how TCP/IP networks worked (IP addresses, subnets, DNS, IP routing, etc) came as a result.
As a function of my love of working on computers (which in turn was a function of my love of gaming on them), I took a computer science class in high school to see if I might like programming. I figured that since I'd mastered the hardware side of things, I should move on to software. During my junior year of high school I took a beginner computer science class and fell in love with programming. I knew that this was the career path for me and pursued it in college and eventually ended up with a degree in the field.
Somewhere along the way I got invovled with Linux. Back then, the PC was synonymous with Microsoft. Until I was 16, I didn't even know there were alternatives to their operating systems. I found the concept of running a 'foreign', and especially free, operating system on my PC fascinating. I spent many frustrating nights trying to get even a basic graphical interface working properly. By the time I knew enough to get OpenGL and Quake III working properly on my Linux rig I felt like a certified bad ass; I had conquered the final frontier of PC gaming.
The skills that I picked up along the way were crutial in landing my first jobs in IT. At the age of 18 I was working as an EMR (Electro-Mechanical Repair) technician for Dell, a feat that was unheard of for an 18 year old still in temp-to-hire status. I had learned the skills necessary for this job building and troubleshooting my and my friends' gaming machines.
As the years increased, so did my skills and knowledge of computing. The rest, as they say, is history.
Comment Re:Dell, HP, Panasonic (Score 1) 417
Comment Re:systemd is a bad joke (Score -1, Troll) 494
see, the value of a craftsman is in his knowledge and experience of his tools. some people spend decades learning how to use their tools and work in their trade and the time shows; experience is worth having and paying for!
Perhaps the fast-moving industry that is technology isn't for you?
Comment Re:It's not really a timepiece (Score 1) 290
No one buys an Apple watch so they can tell the time. They're buying it so they can show off something interesting and fashionable on their wrist.
Or, so you can access your phone in situations where it really isn't convenient to (such as when running, biking, working on something and your hands are filthy, etc).
Comment What does he know? (Score 1) 303
Comment Re:It's all about competition (Score 1) 208
WiFi tops out at 50
Maybe if the year was 2003. I've been getting near-gigabit speeds on my 802.11ac AP.
Comment Sounds about right (Score 3, Interesting) 163
Comment Re:More than curious, (Score 1) 188
Those aren't the reasons why I currently shy away from VMWare (it sounded like he was asking more from a moral point of view, hence the answers I gave), but those reasons, plus others, prompted me to start looking for alternatives.
The biggest problems I had with VMWare back then was 1.) when they made the switch to the web-based managed interface for VMWare Server 2 (it was sluggish and very unresponsive compared to the VMWare Server 1 management console) and 2.) the lack of a mature CLI toolset for managing VMs (this was big for me because I wanted to be able to SSH into a VM server and do trivial things, like start a VM without having to get a GUI involved).
I first made the switch to VirtualBox because it was free, had a good GUI management utility (for managing local testing or development VMs), and a nice CLI utility (VBoxHeadless) for managing remote VMs on a headless server. Eventually I started running into weird performance issues with VirtualBox which prompted me to give KVM a second hard look.
I had first looked into using KVM a few years prior due to the hypervisor being built-into the standard Linux kernel, which sounded really appealing to me, but it wasn't quite ready for production use. Once KVM/libvirt became stable enough to use, I made the switch to that and I haven't looked back. It has everything I need: a rich CLI environment (virsh), a rich API for managing it at a lower level (libvirt + bindings to all the popular languages), a decent GUI that works surprisingly well over X11-forwarded sessions (virt-manager) for when it make more sense just to do things in a GUI environment, and a nice range of storage options for VMs (raw disk image files, qcow2 images, LVM logical volumes (my personal favorite), block devices, etc).
Just recently I've started playing with LXC containers. For instances where I don't need the benfits of full paravirtualization and don't mind sharing the host machine's kernel it's awesome. It performs better than paravirtualization because there's less overhead (thanks to kernel and process namespaces), and if I need to change something in the guests' filesystem I can access the files directly from the host machine, or chroot into it if I need to do something fancy.
I'll give VMWare the credit they deserve; they paved the way for paravirtualization on the x86 front in the early 2000s and for many years I was a faithful user (even fanboy) of theirs. When they had their IPO back in 2007 I bought as many shares as I could afford and advised my friends and family to do the same because I knew they were the industry leader in an industry that was exploding.
I also realize that I am not VMWare's target audience and have since moved on to tools that are more suitable for my needs.
Comment Re:More than curious, (Score 4, Informative) 188
1. Made their management tools run on only Windows, shitting on the Linux community
2. Deprecated VMWare Server 1.x (free and very functional) for VMWare Server 2 (free and barely functional)
There are far better free alternatives out there nowadays if you're not managing a full-blown cloud infrastructure (see: LXC and KVM). And if you are, there's OpenStack.


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Posts filtered on Tag
Burned bearings and a badly behaving Bobcat offer bit of levity in Texas game wardens' otherwise soberingly serious field work
In the outdoors, as everywhere, things sometimes are not what they seem. That group of sea gulls hovering and diving into the bay look for all the world to be birds pouncing on shrimp being pursued by a school of speckled trout. But when you ease close, anticipating fish-a-cast action, you see the gulls are […] [Read More]
More on huge Choke Canyon alligator
I had a piece this past Sunday on a huge alligator taken May 7 from Choke Canyon Reservoir during a public hunt on the James Daughtrey Wildlife Management Area, and the surprising number of alligators in parts of South Texas. Here's a little more information on that gator, the Houston-area hunter who took it and […] [Read More]
Game warden cases: Much more than just hunting and fishing
Ask a Texas game warden to list the best things about his or her job, and "diversity" will be right there at the top with ""best office in the world." While their primary mission is enforcing hunting, fishing and water safety laws and regularly investigating environmental crimes such as water pollution, Texas' game wardens find […] [Read More]
Game warden cases: Few Mensa members here and other tales of miscreants
Not every poacher is a career/serial criminal. But a lot of them seem to be. This is not surprising, as the only difference between poaching – illegally taking fish or wildlife – and stealing someone's car or boat or other property is that instead of thieving something from an individual the poacher steals from everyone. […] [Read More]
Game warden cases: Frida Kahlo and Facebook fools? Must be deer season
Wild deer have been a subject of art since. . . well, since the beginning of art. Representations of antlered cervids are all over the cave walls at places such as Lascaux in France, Spain's La Pasiega and other caves across Europe where they were painted 20,000 or so years ago. Winslow Homer featured deer […] [Read More]
Game warden cases: A runaway tractor, Craigslist scammer, pot plantation and dove-related skulduggery
The diversity of cases and incidents Texas' game wardens handle never fails to amaze me. Neither, sadly, does the behavior of some of the people wardens encounter. But it's also worth noting as we head into the opening of deer and waterfowl hunting seasons, arguably the busiest time of year for the state's 500 or […] [Read More]
Game warden cases: Mountain lion reports, criminals caught on Facebook and trail cameras, and plenty of dove-related dumbness make September a busy time for Texas wardens
September may well be the busiest month for Texas game wardens. Fishing and boating are just as popular as they were during much of the summer, and officers have to spend considerable time patrolling inland and coastal waters. But September also brings the opening of dove season, which sees as many as 300,000 Texans head […] [Read More]
Beat the Labor Day Weekend rush; Texas hunting/fishing licenses went on sale today
Sept. 1 falls on a Saturday this year, and that's going to make things interesting for a lot of Texas dove hunters and folks who plan to include fishing trips in their Labor Day Weekend activities. It'll be even more interesting for the 1,600 or so retail stores along with 58 state parks and 28 […] [Read More]
Game warden cases: Crazy from the heat? Why else would one stuff a dead deer in a 'friend's' truck?
Maybe it's the heat. That's what I'd really like to believe is behind some of the incidents in this week's selection of recent cases worked by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game wardens. After all, fried brains certainly would seem an explanation for some of these actions. [Read More]
Game warden cases: Found fawn, fisticuffs, botched boating and the usual holiday hijinks
Holiday weekends during warm-weather months are all-hands-on-deck affairs for the 500 or so Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game wardens. Charged by the Texas Legislature as the primary law enforcement agency for enforcing the state's water safety laws, TPWD wardens spend long days and nights on lakes, bays and rivers crowded with recreational boaters, anglers […] [Read More]
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Eastern Region
Haynesville Correctional Center (male institution)
Charles Allen, Warden421 Barnfield Road
P. O. Box 129
Haynesville, VA 22472
(804) 333-3577
Security Level 2 - Assignment Criteria:For Initial Assignment ONLY: No Escape History within past 5 years. Single Life sentences must have reached their Parole Eligibility Date (PED). No disruptive behavior for at least past 24 months prior to consideration for a transfer to any less-secure facility
- Opened - 1993
- Average Daily Population (June 2008) - 1,141
- Special Populations - NA
- Special Programs - NA
- Site Additions/Upgrades - NA
- Virginia Correctional Enterprises -Clothing Industry
Directions From Richmond:Take Route 360 East from Tappahannock through Warsaw five miles to Haynesville at State Route 619. Turn left on State Route 619 for one-half mile to State Route 650. Turn left on State Route 650 for three-quarters of a mile to Haynesville Correctional Center.


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I just read about Claudia Seymour in the magazine september issue, see the article.
It says that she uses a box on wheels to setup still lifes, the same kind as
that one used by Scottsdale artists school. Anyone got a photo of a box
like this, or any other good still life setup? I experiment with the setup myself, and try to find a good solution.
Ragnar Österlund
Here are a few photos of what I built.
It has racks under the table top where I set up still life's. There are wheels on it so I can roll it out of the way when needed. Remember that bigger wheels roll over objects better than small wheels..
Sorry the photos are a little dark but I think you can see what was done...
Great thank you! How do you do with lighting? Do you have any flaps to control the light?
I dont have a box, but a shelf and I attach my light to the shelf, giving a direct hard light that is close to my objects. I figure it would be better with a box, and my light not so close to the objects, but my studiospace is limited. Its actually in my bedroom at the moment. I also need something to control the light.
© 2015 F+W All rights reserved.Use of this site signifies your agreement to the Terms and Privacy Policy, updated March 2007


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We're conveniently located adjacent to the Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport (YWG) and offer shuttle service to and from the terminal. Explore our Winnipeg Airport hotel deals below, and enjoy exclusive savings and our best available rates.
Stay with us this Labor Day weekend and enjoy our best available rates.
Book now or call 866-716-8133 to reserve your stay.
Aeroplan travellers can earn 1,000 bonus miles for stays with us this summer. Book online, or call
866-716-8133 and mention rate plan SSBAERO to take advantage of this special offer for stays through August 31, 2015.
Offer valid for Starwood Preferred Guest members. Not a member? Visit spg.com to learn more and to enroll.
®Aeroplan is a registered trademarks of Aimia Canada Inc.Terms & Conditions
Cool off with Four Points and Coke® this summer and enjoy:
Offer is valid for Sunday – Thursday stays through September 7, 2015 when you stay at least two nights.
Book online, or call 866-716-8133 and mention rate plan FPHOLI.
Book a summer getaway with Four Points and enjoy:
Book now, or call 866-716-8133 and mention one of the rate plans below.
Best Available Rates (rate plan DAILY)
AAA/CAA Members (rate plan AUTOV)
We're celebrating the opening of our 200th Four Points Hotel! Book today and earn 200 Starpoints plus free daily breakfast. Stay Sunday and get 200 bonus Starpoints.
Book online, or call 866-716-8133 and mention rate plan FP200.Terms & Conditions
Get comfortable and earn more when you stay at Four Points by Sheraton Winnipeg Airport. Book now and receive:
Book now or call 866-716-8133 and mention rate plan EYD3K.Terms & Conditions
Special perks for Starwood Preferred Guest® members:
Book online, or call 866-716-8133 and ask for rate plan SPG35B. Blackout dates apply.
Not a SPG® Member? Join today and discover just how rewarding membership can be.Terms & Conditions
Book one of the rate plans below and then show your AAA member card at check-in to receive discounted parking during your stay or while you're away. Choose your way to save.
Book online or call 866-716-8101 and ask for rate code CAA to book this offer.
CAA Rate (rate plan AUTOV):
CAA Rate + Parking (rate plan AUTO1-10P):
CAA Rate + Breakfast (rate plan AUTO1-10B):
Government employees enjoy special room rates at Four Points Winnipeg Airport. A valid government employee ID is required at check-in
Book online, or call 866-716-8133 and mention one of the rate plans below.
Canadian Government employees (rate plan GOC):
Canadian Provincial Government employees (rate plan GOP):
US Goverment employees (rate plan GO):


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The Gazebo
The Penthouse
Aladdin's Lamp
Cabin Fever
Caesar's Palace
City Lights
Gotham City
Hawaiian Holiday
Heart to Heart
Jewel of the Nile
Jungle Fever
Knight Moves
Medieval Times
Mr. Lucky
Nifty Fifties
Oriental Jade
Roman Empire
Signs of the Zodiac
The Carousel
The Igloo
Tiki Island
UFO Area 51
Under the Sea
$209.95 ….. $249.95 plus tax
Step out of the world and enter paradise. Our Luxury Fantasy Suite is a veritable garden of paradise. When you arrive relax and unwind in your personal Jacuzzi Tub beneath the branches of an apple blossom tree. Step up into the Gazebo and sink in to the luxurious bed surrounded by cascading water and nature.
Our super Fantasy Suite is twice the size of our regular suites, and includes a King size bed, Super Sized Jacuzzi and Free Bottle of Champagne along with two Souvenir Glasses
Copyright ©2008 Hollywood Inn And Suites.
All pictures copyright ©2008 Hollywood Inn And Suites.


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By Army Sgt. Jessica R. DahlbergSpecial to American Forces Press Service
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, May 13, 2008 The sound of idling Humvees resonated in the air as the police mentoring team commander briefed his team on convoy operations. With their orders received, the team mounted up and prepared to roll out, bound for Dandar, a small village in Afghanistan's Parwan province.
Army Capt. Mark Moeckli and his team rolled out of Bagram Air Base and embarked on a scenic and treacherous journey over winding mountain roads.
Their task was to instruct the Afghan National Police on hand-to-hand combat, community policing, coordination-cell training, and criminal investigation.
Moeckli's team is made up of servicemembers who were trained in an array of military occupational specialties. With their combined expertise, they make a highly skilled and effective team, ready to tackle the task of teaching the skills Afghan police officers need to remain effective, he said.
The confident commander seemed secure in his team, which began work immediately.
"Some of the Afghan people do bad things, but most of the Afghan people want to see the Taliban gone and their country safe, just like we do," Moeckli said after returning from a meeting with Afghan National Police Col. Masoum Farzaie to discuss the day's objectives.
While the police mentoring team leadership met with the Afghan police colonel, the remaining team members prepared for a class on techniques for physical apprehension and restraint.
"We took it upon ourselves to give these training classes," said Army Capt. Donald Young, an Idaho National Guardsman and police mentoring team leader.
The teams of soldiers and airmen teach a variety of classes based upon the needs of the police in each district, Young explained. The day's classes were taught by the team's airmen, who are charged with training national police in two provinces and 17 districts, and who recently taught police officers how to search personnel and control access to resources.
"The training is very good for us," Dawa Jan, an Afghan National Police officer, said. "Our main goal is security, and the classes the Americans give us help prepare us for that goal."
During the hands-on part of the class, Air Force Tech. Sgt. Chris Padron, deployed from Cannon Air Force Base, N.M., coached the police officers and gave them useful tips to help master the techniques.
"I love doing what I do," Padron said. "Teaching the Afghanistan National Police has been a great experience."
To become an Afghan National Police officer, applicants must have a high school education, go through testing and then attend a six-week course at one of the country's four academies. U.S. forces augment their training, helping them to retain the training they received at the academy.
"It is good for my policemen to learn from the Americans," Farazie said. "They have improved greatly since the Americans have come to teach them."
As the police mentoring team travels all over Parwan province, its goal is to give the Afghan National Police the training and confidence they'll need to work without the assistance of coalition forces.
"We want to make the Afghanistan National Police sufficient, because in the end, it is not about us at all," Young said. "It is all about them."
(Army Sgt. Jessica R. Dahlberg serves with 382nd Public Affairs Detachment.)


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Department of Human Services
Food Stamp Online Policy Manual
I. What Is a Medical Deduction?
Medical Deductions Supplement
Section C
(1) General
The total non-reimbursable medical cost exceeds $35 per month. Apply the $35 exclusion to the household, not to individuals. The $35 is deducted for each month a medical deduction is allowed. The balance, in excess of the monthly $35 exclusion, is counted as a medical expense.
(2) Age of the Medical Expense
When considering a one-time medical expense, the following criteria apply:
a. do not consider how old the expense is or when it was incurred;
b. establish that the medical expense still exists;
c. establish whether it has previously been considered (if it has been considered in the food stamp budget before, it cannot be considered again); and
d. establish the current balance. Only the existing balance can be considered.
Verify all medical expenses prior to allowing them as deductions. Do not provide a deduction if the expense cannot be verified. If the household subsequently provides the verification, redetermine benefits at that time.
Provide increased benefits, if any, according to established procedures for processing reported changes.
(4) Responsibility for Medical Expenses of a Non-Household Member
At times, the food stamp household is responsible for a non-household member's medical expenses. This normally occurs when an individual dies or enters a nursing home.
The individual must have been an eligible HH member, and eligible for a medical deduction, immediately prior to entering the hospital or nursing home, or prior to death.
Consider only the following:
a. hospitalization;
b. out-patient care; and
c. nursing home care.


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El Paso, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Shaquille Harrison led the way with 15 points as the Tulsa Golden Hurricane defeated the Texas-El Paso Miners, 65-60, in a Conference USA battle at the Don Haskins Center.
James Woodard chipped in 13 points for Tulsa (16-12, 11-3 C-USA) as it picked up its sixth consecutive victory overall and fourth straight road win. Rashad Smith contributed 11 points, while D'Andre Wright pulled down nine boards.
For the Miners (20-9, 10-4), John Bohannon registered a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Julian Washburn added 14 points, while Vince Hunter tallied 12 points, six boards and two steals.
The Golden Hurricane took a 30-24 lead into the intermission after they made 42.3 percent of their field goal attempts and limited UTEP to 40.7 percent efficiency from the floor in the opening period. Tulsa scored 10 points off of turnovers in the first half to build its advantage.
Although the lead changed hands four times and the score was tied on three occasions in the second stanza, Tulsa stayed in front for the final 5:44 of the contest. The Golden Hurricane's bench outscored the Miners' reserves, 10-2, in the second period.
The Miners finished 0-of-8 from 3-point range. With the win, Tulsa is tied with Middle Tennessee, Louisiana Tech and Southern Miss for first in the C-USA standings with two games remaining in the regular season.
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If the game freezes, just click inside it (games can get unresponsive if you click elsewhere on the page).
Clarence has never been on a date in his 35 years of life. But today that changes. He must run and jump around four large levels, collecting items to impress the lady of his dreams while going about his daily routine. How well you perform determines which of the five endings you will get in this skill game.
Left / Right Arrow Keys - Move.
Down Arrow Key - crouch.
Up Arrow Key - Read signs / Use doors.
Spacebar - Jump.


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The Music of South Central L.A. Plays the Same, From Death Row to Bompton
Courtney Smith examines the resurgence of gangsta rap and its subtle differences and striking similarities to its hey day in the 90s. Has the climate of South Central LA changed in the last 20 years, and discovers the music reflects an unfortunately stagnant environment of violence and gang activity.
Rapper The Game Facing Charges Over Twitter Prank?
On Rollin' With Nick Cannon, Nick was stressing the point that different ways social networking can ruin your day. Case in point: Rapper [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]The Game[/lastfm] got into a little bit of trouble last Friday […]


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Hotels in 22570 - Village VA
Only hotels in 22570 zip code are listed below. Search for cheap and discount hotel rates in Village, VA for your upcoming leisure or conference / group travel. We list the best 22570 hotels and motels so you can review the Village hotel list below to find the perfect lodging. Hotels in Richmond county and area code 804 are also listed.
22570 Hotels, Motels & Accommodations
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