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Three-Dimensional Design Leads to Better Solar Cells. A Santa Barbara, California, company called Solar3D plans to make silicon solar cells that are more efficient than conventional cells by borrowing the light-trapping concept behind optical-fiber technology.
The company claims that its three-dimensional design will funnel light into silicon and keep it trapped—giving the material more time to convert it into electricity. Silicon has a theoretical maximum light-to-electricity conversion efficiency of 29 percent, but panels on the market today are only 15 to 18 percent efficient. Solar3D does not have exact efficiency numbers for its design yet, but CEO Jim Nelson says, "We think it's going to approach silicon's theoretical efficiency. We won't get to 29 percent—nobody's going to get that high with silicon—but we're hoping to get as close as possible."
New Solar Panels Produced at Less Than $1 Per Watt. Solar panels that cost less than $1 per watt to produce are on their way, as Colorado State University's new method for low-cost, high-efficiency solar panels looks set to begin mass production.
The panels will be made by AVA Solar, and production should start towards the end of next year at a huge factory employing 500 people.The cost reduction comes from the new, continuous manufacturing process which uses cadmium telluride thin film rather than the more expensive crystalline silicon. Once manufactured, the cost to buyers could be brought down to $2 per watt, which is roughly half the current cost of solar panels. The process is also greener, with less wastage than previous systems. Only 2% of materials need to be recycled. "This technology offers a significant improvement in capital and labor productivity and overall manufacturing efficiency," said the director of Colorado State's Materials Engineering Laboratory, Professor W.S.
HelioVolt: Solar Innovation Powering a Sustainable World. Harnessing nature's solar cells. Within a few years, people in remote villages in the developing world may be able to make their own solar panels, at low cost, using otherwise worthless agricultural waste as their raw material.
That's the vision of MIT researcher Andreas Mershin, whose work appears this week in the open-access journal Scientific Reports. The work is an extension of a project begun eight years ago by Shuguang Zhang, a principal research scientist and associate director at MIT's Center for Biomedical Engineering. Zhang was senior author of the new paper along with Michael Graetzel of Switzerland's École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. In his original work, Zhang was able to enlist a complex of molecules known as photosystem-I (PS-I), the tiny structures within plant cells that carry out photosynthesis.
But that early system had some drawbacks. As an bonus, both zinc oxide and titanium dioxide — the main ingredient in many sunscreens — are very good at absorbing ultraviolet light. Photovoltaics. Photovoltaic SUDI shade is an autonomous and mobile station in France that provides energy for electric vehicles using solar energy.
Photovoltaics (PV) is a method of generating electrical power by converting solar radiation into direct current electricity using semiconductors that exhibit the photovoltaic effect. Photovoltaic power generation employs solar panels composed of a number of solar cells containing a photovoltaic material. Mainstream materials presently used for photovoltaics include monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon, amorphous silicon, cadmium telluride, and copper indium gallium selenide/sulfide. Due to the increased demand for renewable energy sources, the manufacturing of solar cells and photovoltaic arrays has advanced considerably in recent years. Quantum dot solar cell. Spin-cast quantum dot solar cell built by the Sargent Group at the University of Toronto.
The metal disks on the front surface are the electrical connections to the layers below. Quantum dot solar cells are an emerging field in solar cell research that uses quantum dots as the absorbing photovoltaic material, as opposed to better-known bulk materials such as silicon, copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) or CdTe. Quantum dots have bandgaps that are tunable across a wide range of energy levels by changing the quantum dot size. This is in contrast to bulk materials, where the bandgap is fixed by the choice of material composition. Solar Power News. Cool Earth Solar: News Archive. Tamera - SolarVillage.
This Is Why We're Hot: Sun-Absorbing Black Roofs Need a Coat of White Paint - Cities. If you live anywhere in America other than the shores of the Pacific, you are probably sweating right now.
A lot. And it's likely that the paint job and materials on your building's roof are making it worse. As we've reported on GOOD before, painting white the black roofs that top many of American cities can deflect 70 percent more sun, keeping interiors cooler, reducing the urban heat island effect, and curbing global warming. Luckily it seems like 2011 could be the summer where this idea goes mainstream, with the combination of powerful heat waves and politicians (Bill Clinton!)
Getting behind the idea. When temperatures heat up, white roofs can stay up to 30 degrees cooler than traditional dark roofs, generating a cooling effect throughout the building below, which means less electricity used for air conditioning.
Sunrise and Sunset for U.S.A. – Nebraska – Omaha – coming days. Solar Power Rocks! Use Solar Energy to Power your Home, your Business, your LIFE! Your Complete Guide to Solar Energy. Solar Power. Home Page. EERE: Green Power Network Home Page. 2011 Platts Global Energy Awards. Government to slash subsidies for solar power. China's super-rich: Zhu Gongshan. 5 July 2011Last updated at 19:00 ET By Nick Rosen Author and film-maker Zhu Gongshan's company GCL-Poly is now China's largest producer of polysilicon, the main material in solar panels There is little information in the public domain about energy company boss Zhu Gongshan - and one gets the impression he prefers it that way.
While other billionaires invited me to their offices or even their homes, Zhu preferred to talk in a hotel suite hired solely for the occasion. Zhu, 53, is one of the Party Traditionalists, and is not secretive so much as modest - a trait much prized among a certain type of successful businessman in China today. His company GCL-Poly is now China's largest producer of polysilicon, the main material in solar panels, yet despite his $2 billion (£1.24 billion) fortune Zhu seemed uninterested in the luxury brands which motivate so many of the newly-successful Chinese. The watch he was wearing was a humble Citizen. 'Trusted position'
Solar Company Says Its Tech Can Power 90 Percent of Grid and Cars. Solar-power-plant company Ausra has released a paper claiming that solar-thermal electric technology can provide 90 percent of U.S. grid electricity, with enough left over to power a fleet of plug-in electric vehicles.
The company estimates that such a changeover would eliminate 40 percent of the country's greenhouse gas emissions with a land footprint of 9,600 square miles, about the size of Vermont (thanks, Kent). The key to the scenario, however, is developing the ability to store energy for 16 hours, thus creating a stable power source through cloudy periods and the night, a feat that has so far eluded engineers. "If we can do storage," Ausra CEO Bob Fishman said, "We can take on coal. " The paper says Ausra expects to commercialize its energy-storage technology within two years. A prototype of the system will go into a model plant the company plans to finish this summer in Bakersfield, California, the company's founder, David Mills, told Wired.com.
Solar power plants in the Mojave Desert. Solar Panels Integrate Into Building Facade. In Helsinki, Norway, Ruukki reports that it has developed what is believed to be the first photovoltaic system to be fully integrated into the facade of a building.
This patented solar power system does not depend on the sun's warmth, only its radiation (a key factor in cold climates). Ruuki designed this solar panel for applications in conjunction with commercial buildings, providing juice for the building's needs and feeding excess back onto the grid. The company reports that this new technology is "the most cost-effective way on the market to make a fully-glazed facade that generates energy from the sun." image via Ruukki Great, you say, but I live in a cloudy climate.


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The 76th Annual Sports Star of the Year, presented by ROOT SPORTS, at Benaroya Hall in Seattle Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011. The evening honors Northwest sports stars, carrying on an annual tradition started by Seattle Post-Intelligencer sports editor Royal Brougham in 1936. (Photography by Scott Eklund/Red Box Pictures)
On January 26, 2011 over 1,000 athletes, coaches, media, fans and others in the community came out to Benaroya Hall to celebrate the biggest night in Washington sports. A local sports tradition, the 76th Annual Sports Star of the Year, presented by ROOT SPORTS™ was packed with sports luminaries from the past and present.
Special guests included Keith Jackson, Gary Payton, Apolo Ohno, Governor Christine Gregoire, Hope Solo, and many more!
Congratulations to Seattle Seahawks and Sounders FC owner Paul Allen on being named Seattle Sports Commission Sports Citizen of the Year, an award to be renamed the Paul Allen Award from now on.
Tags: Apolo Ohno, Christine Gregoire, Gary Payton, northwest sports, paul allen, Seattle Post Intelligencer, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS, Seattle Seahawks Owner, Seattle Sounders, seattle sports, Sports Commission
Fair Use Notice This website may at times present copyrighted material, the use of which might not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available in an effort to advance understandings of democratic, economic, environmental, human rights, political, scientific, and social justice issues, among others. The author believes that this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U. S. Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the articles published on this website are distributed without profit for research and informational purposes. In most instances a link is placed to originator of Article and it is never expressly mentioned as written by, we use published by certain entities who write or publish for this said Blog..

subset: commoncrawl


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Dave Elmore
To the editor:
Nice to see that the Jackson County Solid Waste Management District cannot loan $250,000 to the Board of County Commissioners for the construction of an animal shelter.
I certainly am not against the animal shelter, but when a government agency has $250,000 that it can loan to another government agency, something is very wrong.
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Demi Moore's Daughter Goes Country [Video]
March 19, 2012 5:22 AM
Meet America's newest Country singer: [mp3com-artist]Scout Willis[/mp3com-artist]. And we've got the video of her performing an original song.
Demi Moore's 20-year-old middle daughter with Bruce Willis has teamed up with guitarist Gus Wenner and billing themselves as Gus + Scout.
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Okay, so the farrier came out and we got them trimmed and one shod. I asked him about my horse's hooves with the superficial cracks.One was from an old injury that happened and the other one was actually a small abcess and cleared on it's own. The thing is I never noticed the crack untill this week and the the other day a small surface hole showed up and I wondered if it was but she was never lame or anything so I brushed it off and it ended up being one. The thing is how did she get it..she didn't step on anything sharp.I read up on it but none of it made sense to me. Could she have knicked herself right there without me knowing. I clean her hooves daily and I put hooflex on it but that appeared out of nowhere. Oh and her feet are hard and good. He said she probably doesn't need shoes and I can just keep an eye out to make sure they won't do any serious chipping or cracking.
Ludo's hoof is not the best.We couldn't get one hoof shod because he couldn't apply any pressure to his hurt leg.He even tried to lay him down and that didn't work. He cut away at the crack and it didn't go all the way through like the vet thought. The farrier said his hoof isn't bad nor is it good and to make sure we keep putting hooflex on it.
I guess I'm just paranoid. I don't want any hoof issues.


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The Devil Walked in Devon
Was the devil responsible for a set of 100-mile footprints in 1855?
by Brian Dunning
Filed under Paranormal, Urban Legends
|Skeptoid #31
March 7, 2007
Podcast transcript | Listen | Subscribe
By Brian Dunning, Skeptoid Podcast
Episode 31, March 07, 2007
Snow fell all through the wee hours of February 8, 1855, in Southern Devon, a county in south western England.
When the sun rose at last, villagers throughout the county awoke to find a set of strange footprints stretching over 100 miles throughout the county. But it wasn't the length of the track or its sudden appearance that caused the most alarm. It was that the track at one point went right through a 14-foot-high wall, leaving untouched fresh snow on top of the wall. Elsewhere, the track went through a haystack, emerging on the other side. It was also found to enter a 4-inch drainpipe, and continue out the other end. In some places the track stopped inexplicably, only to reappear elsewhere. Most significantly, the track was found to have crossed a two mile stretch of river, picking right up again on the other side as if the maker of the footprints had walked on water. Theories and explanations abounded, until some clergymen suggested that perhaps the devil was on the prowl. From that moment on, the devil was said to have walked in Devon.
When people hear this story they generally imagine horseshoe-sized cloven hoof prints. However, this was not the case. All reports are that the footprints were between one and a half and two inches in size, and only eight inches apart. If this was the devil, he must have been more petite than he's usually depicted, and up on ballet pointe the whole way. No photographs exist but there are some detailed drawings of what the footprints looked like: basically, horseshoes. Now you've seen snow before, and you can imagine what a one and a half inch long footprint would look like in several inches of new fallen snow. Would it really be detailed enough to get a clear horseshoe drawing? Of course not. One suggested explanation was a field mouse, which does hop (often when there is snow that it can't easily walk through), and which does leave footprints in a V pattern. Each hind foot is long and narrow, and when they hop, their heels are together. A V is not so dissimilar from a horseshoe that the possibility cannot be discounted, given how indistinct the footprints would be in soft new snow.
Some accounts describe it as a heavy snowfall, and others say it was a light snowfall. Now, it does get quite cold in Devon county and they definitely do get snow, but it's seldom more than a few inches and it certainly doesn't last all winter. This episode was in February, so a heavy snowfall is reasonable, though heavy is a relative term. Several inches is probably a good estimate. A single snowstorm is not likely to cover more than 100 miles, but we don't really have enough information about the preceding days to know whether there might have already been enough coverage over the area in question.
Among the possible culprits nominated by the witnesses were some kangaroos known to have escaped from a private owner, a Mr. Fische. Although the track sounds too small for kangaroos, the size and age of Mr. Fische's kangaroos was not published, so possibly they were quite young, or they may have even been a smaller species, like one of the smaller species of wallaby, some of which are no larger than small rabbits when full grown. This explanation does have one strong piece of evidence in its favor: the fact that kangaroo tracks were almost certainly unfamiliar to residents of England in 1855. Given that this was a rural area, and snowfall was frequent, tracks of commonplace animals would have been easily recognized. Whether Mr. Fische recovered his kangaroos is not known.
The element of this story that does it the least credit is the claim that this track stretched for over a hundred miles. In 1855 the means didn't really exist in Devon to travel a hundred miles in a single day to verify the length of this track, especially when the way is obstructed by two mile stretches of water. Devon is quite rural: farmlands, brooks, forests, hills; and must be teeming with small wildlife. Small rodents would have been running around everywhere, leaving tracks that would be pretty hard to tell apart from the description of the devil's footprints. For a group of investigators to follow one set of tracks to the river, leave their task long enough to find a bridge or a boat, cross, resume the search and spend enough time as it would take to find a set of mouse-sized footprints two miles away from where they were last seen, and all of this while plenty of other mouse-sized forest creatures are hopping around through the snow leaving tracks, and yet be certain that they found the one and only set of devil footprints, strains credibility.
A prominent biologist named Richard Owen declared the tracks to be those of a badger, perhaps distorted by freeze-thaw action. Other nominations included raccoons, rats, swans, and otters. And, of course, the most famous nomination: that of the devil himself.
What of these feats of moving through walls and haystacks, walking on water, and moving through drainpipes? I find it hard to give these much weight. These are purely anecdotal, unsubstantiated, uncorroborated verbal reports during a media circus when phrases like "the devil walked in Devon" were being tossed around. Give me something concrete to talk about, and we can look for explanations. But if you must accept these at face value, I submit that most of the animals we've nominated are perfectly capable of fitting inside a four inch drainpipe, and often do enter such structures for security or while foraging. I've already dismissed the river crossing to my satisfaction. And as far as materializing through walls and haystacks, I don't have enough information to speculate. Was there sheltered ground around the base of the wall? Was the wall breached near its end? But mainly, is there really any reason to believe that this happened?
So who did walk in Devon that night? In the presence of so many possible and reasonable culprits, and in the extreme unlikelihood that this was indeed one single set of prints, I find little reason to turn to supernatural explanations. Commonplace events are frequently blown out of proportion, and everyday objects are just as frequently regarded as supernatural oddities. In my opinion, which I think is well supported with other examples in recent history, the devil's walk through Devon was the 1855 version of the Virgin Mary appearing in the bark of a tree or in bathtub stains. People see what they want to see and they think what they want to think, even when they're looking no farther than their own grilled-cheese sandwich skillet.
© 2007 Skeptoid Media
References & Further Reading
Dash, Mike. Fortean Studies Volume 1. London: John Brown Publishing, 1994. 71-150.
Fort, Charles. The Book of the Damned. New York: Boni and Liveright, 1919. 334-356.
Mason, Paul. Investigating the Supernatural. Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2004. 22-23.
Nickell, Joe. Real-life X-Files, investigating the paranormal. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2001. 10-17.
Owen, Richard. "Footprints in the Snow." Illustrated London News. 4 Mar. 1855, 26: 214.
Wilson, Colin, Wilson, Damon. The Mammoth Encyclopedia of the Unsolved. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2000. 107-110.
Reference this article:
Dunning, B. "The Devil Walked in Devon." Skeptoid Podcast. Skeptoid Media, 7 Mar 2007. Web. 8 Oct 2015. <http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4031>
10 most recent comments | Show all 33 comments
Heard of this legend as a kid, very stirring for the imagination but the points made regarding actual logistics for following said tracks are very pertinent... Thanks guys, cool page.
I'd like to know how this story developed. Who noticed the tracks first? Why did anyone find them interesting enough to trace them through the snow for a long distance? What was going on that people all across the country also traced them and reported to the others what they had found? How long was this incident of interest to people before all the reports were assembled and a conclusion reached that something had made a trek all across the country in one night?
I find the devil very accommodating to do cloven hoofprints.. after all in the bible he hasnt got cloven hooves in any of his humble or dramatic guises.
Sadly, we apparently ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Sharing the seeds probably wasnt an option...
Pho, Gerringong (the not so Brave) Australia
September 18, 2011 5:12am
Damn, Thunderwood is now conducting tests??
That just about ruins my next round of qualifications from the college!
Mud, In a Sinful shire and a Sinful state, Oz
June 15, 2012 5:20am
Birds have also been proposed as an explanation. Raccoons, I doubt -they're not native to the UK, although one has turned up in this area in the last few days!
'Devon county' is a construction never used on this side of the Atlantic: it's always 'the county of Devon', Devonshire or just plain Devon.
Almost certainly this was a typical snowfall, unusual but not rare in SW England. The morning sun got to work on some small animal tracks. And over-active imagination did the rest. The Wikipedia article is a good read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_Footprints
This subject was covered in a radio broadcast on the BBC (The Stargazer talks) by Lt. Commander Rupert T. Gould, RN on 13th February 1935. He drew attention to the observation that the tracks were convex meaning that the 'hoof' must have been concave. This ruled out many suggestions that the track were made by familiar animals with 'pads' on their feet. The residents would have been familiar with the tracks of such animals. The tracks also approached the front doors of dwellings before retreating. He also commented that, at a spacing of 8 inches over an estimated 60 miles of tracks made over night in thirteen hours, the 'creature' must have made 9 strides per second! There must have been more than one creature.
The shape fits that of the clasper of a male giant dragonfly-like entity. The clasper is a horseshoe shape appendage located at the end of it's tail for grasping the female during mating. If the male giant dragonfly is low on energy in cold weather, then it could hop on it's tail as opposed to walking on it's legs to save energy. Strange but true? See here for a photo match; (http://www.sciforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6638&d=1380878914)
There were no helicopters in 1855 (d-uh!) so who followed the footprints for a hundred and some miles in one day?
They were probably all sorts of different tracks from all sorts of different animals over the distance, and when people "put their heads together" after days, or more likely weeks, they came to a false conclusion.
We all know the old analogy about how "the fish grows" and "the one that got away" with every re-telling.
And how "everyone wants to get into the act" for attention, or something.
I've spent much time in areas that city people who've never been beyond the city limits, or off the paved highway, would call "wilderness" or "isolated".
I've seen some pretty bizarre tracks in melting and re-freezing snow that the woo-sters would make a big deal out of.
Move along folks, nothing to see here - it's perfectly natural.
If you look hard enough, you can even find "funny tracks" in the summer.
Sorry, I never did track down Mel the Sasquatch and his stolen 12-pack of Kokanee. ;)
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Well it seems that once again it's time for the annual celebration of my expulsion from a uterus.
It's my birthday.
When I was growing up I hated my birthday being in December.
I felt I always got screwed, since by mid-December Christmas preparations were in full swing; and my birthday was just a blip compared to those kids who had birthdays in the summer, the lucky bastards. They could have parties at the beach or the pool; not to mention that by the time my birthday came around my parents had already been spending money on Christmas stuff.
Therefore I always got less. Well I thought I did anyway.
Seriously, women of child bearing age should just super glue their knees together the month of March.
I'd really expected to be bummed about turning the big 6-0. However thanks to the power of modern pharmaceuticals I feel just fine- better than fine actually. Well actually I woke up with a headache, but that's just because I forgot to take my BP pill yesterday. And now after a couple of aspirin, I'm feeling much better.
So here's what I really wanted to do for my birthday-
I'd do that in a heartbeat- less than a heartbeat; and would push nuns and orphans outta the way to do so. Actually there's very little I wouldn't do to be able to do that. However as a courtesy to my younger and more sensitive readers I'll not go into further details about that at this juncture…
But if I ever hit the lotto I'm calling that guy. Of course I might need an extra engine to counterbalance all the beef enchiladas and cake over the years; but I'm sure for enough money modifications could be made.
However since I realized that probably wasn't going to happen I'd told Doug that all I really wanted from him was a hand made card. (We're pouring all the $$ back into Ecofab right now.) And just a couple of minutes after I woke up he walked in with a card he'd made and red roses. It was very sweet.
Then just when I was feeling all gooshy and sentimental Doug said "Too bad about the headache. I was looking forward to doing a 60 yr. old. I've heard they know stuff."
I guess I should feel good knowing that some things in life never change…
Last week we saw a friend we hadn't seen since mom's funeral 2 years ago. She said "Your skin is just glowing." Laughingly I told her it was because I was pregnant. Then I fessed up that I'd gotten my face zapped by 3 laser treatments last spring.
"Well something has changed." she said; and since she isn't someone known to be effusive with compliments I guess I do look better than I did before, even if I'm still stuck in this body which looks a lot like a human Shar-Pei.
It kinda made me wonder if I'd been walking about looking like a zombie before; but I decided to take it as a compliment anyway.
And lastly a bit of news- We did 2 events this past weekend. At the first we set up just two tables in front of a house in an cool, old neighborhood near downtown. Two streets were lined with luminaries as people walked the 7 or 8 blocks looking at the decorated houses. People pulled their kids in wagons decorated with Christmas lights. A few women were wearing tree toppers as hats and had on Christmas tree skirts. There were bands playing Christmas music at some of the houses. In three hours we did $300- all without a tent or even a sign of any kind.
Then yesterday we did a tiny event on a side street south of downtown. There were about 30 vendors and no press. Still we did almost $400. It was exciting. We took 2 special orders for Elvis albums to make into wall art.
Anyway, it was our biggest weekend so far.
We have an event at a country club tomorrow. So today I'll be making more bracelets.
Such is life. I'm just glad our stuff is being well received.
Anyway, please forgive me if I haven't been around to visit online lately. It just seems there aren't enough hours in the day for everything I want to do, or for that matter need to do. But I'm going to carve out some time for myself tomorrow after the show to go catch up with everyone.
31 Responses so far.
Well, happy birthday lady! I have almost a full year to celebrate the end of my 50′s, until I get to the big 6-0. Woo-hoo!
Thrilled to hear your new biz is doing so well!!!!
And don't worry… everyone is busy this time of year…
Hope your day is wonderful. Just for the record, I've always felt sorry for the kids who had birthdays close to Christmas & I always thought they got robbed in a way, lol.
Liz C. recently posted..Ever Had A Snowball Fight With Yourself? It's Kinda fun!
Happy, happy, HAPPY Birthday XXXOOO
… though why you'd want to leap out of a perfectly good plane is totally beyond me! :-)
Janet NZ recently posted..Christmas Party
Happy Birthday Michele! I'm so glad you had a good weekend and I hope your event tomorrow goes well! I'll take a note on supergluing my knees shut in March to avoid a December baby but both Branden and my birthday are in March… ;)
You are nuts for wanting to do that jetpack craziness!! I almost crapped my pants and got sick just watching it! Branden's going to think it's the coolest thing ever…
Have a fabulous birthday and maybe teach Doug a thing or two ;)
Padded Cell Princess recently posted..Overjoyed and a bit Overwhelmed
Happy Birthday. Not quite as bad as Dec. birthdays, but an anniversary in December is not the best. I do not know what we were thinking_ hmmm, maybe we were not thinking when we planned our wedding for Dec. 27. It gets lost too- number 36 coming up. Anyway, have a great 60 day.
By the way, did you see our manger scene we posted on FB?
Please reverve 2 Jetman packs!! I'm going with you–you know how much I loved my Zero Gravity flight!!
Your stuff is starting to sell because it's beautiful.
My son. Matt, was born on December 21. He's turning 50 this year. I was never good at keeping my knees together. If you were Jesus, today would be Christmas!
As far as jumping out a plane, have fun. My friend celebrated his 40th birthday jumping out a plane last year. Then last week, he was putting up Christmas lights, fell off the ladder and broke both wrists, one ankle, and fractured the other ankle. Point: I guess jumping out the plane is just as safe as staying on terra firma. LOL.
I skydived for a friend's 34th birthday. Would do it again, no problem. The fabulous view (or rural Wisconsin), the ducks at eye level, the profound silence when the chute opens…
Anyway, it's as my father says: It's not the jump that kills you. It's the sudden stop.
Pearl recently posted..Bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbblack Slacks, or It's So Hard to Get Good Help
Happy birthday!Many more–all in good health!!! And how exciting about those two successful events. I love a happy post!
"Susan Says…" recently posted..The Mall at Christmas, Part One…Revisited
Happy birthday, you glowing 60 year old.
Dazee recently posted..Five Things I Know You Have Been Wondering About Me
A very very Happy Birthday!!!!
jenn recently posted..A December To Remember
You do realize that 60 is the new 40, don't you? Happy Birthday, my friend. As I like to say, "I may be getting older, but I'll always be immature."
Congrats on the business boom, Boomer! Woo-hoo!
injaynesworld recently posted..injaynesworld it's the "Sunday Recap…"
I want to do that too! What a hoot! Happy Birthday to one of my favorite blogging friends! So glad your events went well! Congrats!
melynda recently posted..Random rantings
Happy birthday to you! You're in much better shape than I am even though I'm barely into my 20′s.
Certainly more adventurous than I am, I'm having lots of second thoughts just looking at the thumbnail of that video.
DWei recently posted..Finals Week Post 1
Happy (late) Birthday! I hope you had a wonderful one.
P.S. That video is AWESOME :0)
M, Feeling better, YES!
Doug u did good and yes 60 yr olds do have stuff/n no stuff n no what 2 do with it!
Happy Birthday M!
p.s. I could use a "handshake" pancakes, please…TRACK :-))
Holy Moly! What a ride!
Happy happy birthday, Michele! I'm glad your feeling better, and I hope 60 is the best year yet!
Kara recently posted..Snowmageddon – December 14th, 2010
Well, a big 60 happy birthday to you! I turned 60 last April and the only difference
I notice is that I' m even more of a klutz. Doesn't sound as if that is a problem for you so enjoy! Glad your shows are doing so well; keep up the good work. And don't forget to enjoy your birthday — 5 days before and 5 days after — not just that one day.
Sandy recently posted..Traditions – Jasper the Elf


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Will Rietveld
2006-01-30 03:00:00-07
New Balance will introduce the new lightweight model 872 trail runner for fall 2006. It will be a technical off-road trainer designed to provide exceptional cushioning and traction. It looks like a good pick for the experienced trail runner and ultralight backpacker, and it will be available in extended sizes and widths.
The New Balance 872 trail runner is well designed for comfort and should be a good choice for ultralight backpacking. It comes in a range of sizes and widths.
The new shoe features an Endurance heel and Absorb cushioning for extra shock absorption. The outsole actually has density gradient cushioning from heel to toe. A N-Lock technology adds extra midfoot support. A Rock Stop plate provides forefoot protection from rocks, and the shoes have an excellent toe bumper to shield the toes from impacts. I especially liked their moderately stiff midsole and lightweight.
"New Balance 872 Trail Running Shoe (Outdoor Retailer Winter Market 2006)," by Will Rietveld. BackpackingLight.com (ISSN 1537-0364).http://backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/new_balance_running_shoe_orwm06.html, 2006-01-30 03:00:00-07.


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Latest weather
The latest weather forecasts for the Border region.
The latest weather forecasts for the Border region.
Greatest risk for any significant snow during Sunday is for higher ground above 300m. Some accumulations possible at lower levels but mainly for hills or where drifting occurs.
According to provisional Met Office statistics this has been the coldest March for 50 years.
A selection of you pictures showing this weekend's windy weather
As High Pressure and settled weather south & east, milder and (eventually) more unsettled conditions develop from the south and west.


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The Value of Meditating Upon God's Word
from Joel Beeke Jan 11, 2009 Category: Articles
After reading Scripture, we must ask God for light to scrutinize our hearts and lives, then meditate upon the Word. Disciplined meditation on Scripture helps us focus on God. Meditation helps us view worship as a discipline. It involves our mind and understanding as well as our heart and affections. It works Scripture through the texture of the soul. Meditation helps prevent vain and sinful thoughts (Matt. 12:35), and provides inner resources on which to draw (Ps. 77:10-12), including direction for daily life (Prov. 6:21-22). Meditation fights temptation (Ps. 119:11, 15), provides relief in afflictions (Isa. 49:15-17), benefits others (Ps. 145:7), and glorifies God (Ps. 49:3).
Quoted in Feed My Sheep: A Passionate Plea for Preaching. 2nd edition, 2008 by Reformation Trust Publishing, an imprint of Ligonier Ministries. Available here.


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Mr. and Mrs. Paul Harrison McClain were married August 31, 2013, at two o'clock in the afternoon at the Belton Pentecostal Church in Belton, South Carolina. The Reverend Steven Oltz officiated at the ceremony. A reception followed at the Watkins Community Ceremony in Honea Path, South Carolina.
Mrs. McClain, the former Megan Erin Ashley, is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Phillip Lee Ashley of Honea Path, South Carolina. The bride is the granddaughter of Mrs. Audrey Greenway and the late Mr. Charles C. Ashley of Honea Path, South Carolina, and of Mrs. Carole Crumpton and the late Mr. David Pace of Anderson, South Carolina. She is the step-granddaughter of both the late Mr. Kenneth P. Greenway and the late Mr. Rudolph Crumpton, and the great-granddaughther of Mr. Dillard L. Smith and the late Mrs. Sue Dela Smith. The bride received a Bachelor of Science in elementary education with additional certification in early childhood from Anderson University. She is a first-grade teacher at Flat Rock Elementary in Anderson, South Carolina.
Mr. McClain is the son of Mr. and Mrs. David T. McClain. He is the grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Horace P. Phillips of Honea Path, South Carolina, and Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth H. McClain of Greenville, South Carolina. The bridegroom is a graduate of Lander University with a Bachelor of Science in biology. He is an associate microbiologist at Nutra Manufacturing Incorporate in Anderson, South Carolina.
The bride was escorted and given in marriage by her father. Sisters of the bride, Jennifer Renee Ashley and Brandy Leigh Pearson, both served as maids of honor. Bridesmaids included the groom's sister, Erin Elizabeth McClain, as well as Susan Elizabeth Epting and Kala Renee Goss. The father of the groom, David Thompson McClain, served as best man. Groomsmen included the groom's brother, Lucas Wyse McClain, as well as Michael Thomas Mulkey, William Allan Kay, and Timothy Ray Wright. The bride's niece, Kyleigh Adrianna Poole, served as flower girl, and the groom's cousin, Dawson Michael Knight served as the ring bearer. Guests were greeted by Morgan VanGieson and Olivia Alewine. Music was provided by Sharon Brown, pianist.
After a short honeymoon to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, the couple will reside in Anderson, South Carolina.
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text: 10 Shorts For Under £100 The sun has been shining in the UK for several days now, which means FabSugar UK will be showing her legs! She loves shorts and tends to wear them all year round (with tights in the Winter), and they're a great alternative to a skirt or dress for a night out. Here are 10 pairs of shorts that she's loving right now for under £100.


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By Melissa Meisel, Associate Editor
Published April 9, 2012
New developments in the ever-evolving ethnic hair and skin care marketplace. Read More »
By Alisa Marie Beyer, The Beauty Company
Published April 2, 2012
If you want to truly understand what motivates and inspires loyalty in your consumer (and what doesn't), it pays to listen to what she's saying about not only your brand, but herself. Read More »
Published March 30, 2012
Tinted lip balms are a tricky formulation—some products don't have enough pigment to give that pop of color; others feel too chalky or worse, have a strange aftertaste. Naturals marketer Yes To Carrots created a winning blend in its new… Read More »
By Melissa Meisel, Associate Editor
Published March 30, 2012
Mother and son duo carve niche in illustrious nail lacquer sector. Read More »
By Melissa Meisel, Associate Editor
Published March 16, 2012
Illustrious nail color and innovative hairstyles seen at Fall 2012 Fashion Week. Read More »
By Melissa Meisel, Associate Editor
Published March 6, 2012
Check out what's next in beauty trends. Read More »
By Tom Branna, VP/Editorial Director
Published March 2, 2012
The email subject line read, "Exclusive Invitation." But after 23 years in this industry, I've been to enough "exclusive" events to know that these invites usually mean getting jammed into some cramped New York City loft… Read More »
Published February 24, 2012
American International Industries' China Glaze officially confirmed a collection of nail polish to debut in conjunction with the March 23, 2012 release of "The Hunger Games," after a few buzzworthy weeks in the beauty blogs where the pr… Read More »
Published February 10, 2012
One of OPI's latest celebrity collaborations is with hip hop songstress Nicki Minaj (who also recently performed with Madonna at The Superbowl). The collection of six limited edition shades includes a purple Shatter texture coat, amongst others… Read More »
By Tom Branna, Editorial Director
Published February 8, 2012
Best known for its nail polish remover, the brand is growing again thanks to investments from its owner, Arch Equity Partners. Read More »
Published February 3, 2012
As we know, nail polish is a cosmetic category rife with innovation right now—as seen in mass, where nail lacquer sales climbed 20% to $363.4 million for the year ended May 15, 2011 in supermarkets, drugstores and mass-market retailers excludin… Read More »
Published February 1, 2012
Published February 1, 2012
By Melissa Meisel, Associate Editor
Published January 27, 2012
Are multi-tasking beauty balms the bomb? Read More »
Published January 16, 2012
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Rules and Preferences
There were fervent protests from readers reacting to "Old Superstitions Die Hard." The article established that the relative pronoun that refers to people as well as to things and has done so for centuries.
Never was an essay more aptly named.
"I don't care what all of your quoted sources say," wrote a fiery businesswoman. "Executive-level communications candidates who use 'that' do not endear themselves to this veteran headhunter." One can understand her passion—the raw anger and frustration we all feel when a principle we've lived by for years is exposed as an old wives' tale.
Meanwhile, we'll leave it to you to decide whether those responsible for the following quotations are English-challenged hacks …
- "I am he that walks unseen." —J.R.R. Tolkien
- "I am he that aches with amorous love." —Walt Whitman
- "… children that belonged to a man I didn't even know." —Mark Twain
- "A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." —King James I, the Bible, Proverbs 18:24
Another reader took issue with Kingsley Amis's preference for the man that I spoke to rather than the man whom I spoke to—but for a different reason: "I would have written 'the man to whom I spoke.' "
The gentleman who wrote this believes that prepositions should not end sentences. It's another of the myths about English that just won't die, right up there with "Do not split an infinitive" and "Do not begin a sentence with And." Amis set a trap, and this person fell into it. There is no living English scholar who will defend "Do not end a sentence with a preposition," yet the superstition is still believed by an alarming number of intelligent people.
Here is what the snarky Mr. Amis himself had to say about it: "This is one of those fancied prohibitions dear to ignorant snobs … It is natural and harmless in English to use a preposition to end a sentence with." Amis goes on to quote H.W. Fowler, the dean of English scholars, who wrote, "The power of saying People worth talking to instead of People with whom it is worth while to talk is not one to be lightly surrendered."
We are all entitled to our preferences—even our prejudices—but declaring them rules everyone else must live by is crossing a line.
Pop Quiz
Pick the correct choices. Answers are below.
A) This is the man who got away with murder.
B) This is the man which got away with murder.
C) This is the man that got away with murder.
A) She is not someone to whom you want to be rude.
B) She is not someone whom you want to be rude to.
C) She is not someone that you want to be rude to.
D) She is not someone you want to be rude to.
A) I just saw Vada, who looks distracted.
B) I just saw Vada, that looks distracted.
C) A and B are both correct.
Pop Quiz Answers
1. A and C are both correct.
2. All choices are correct.
3. A is correct.
To comment on this grammar tip, click on the title.
Posted on Tuesday, September 16, 2014, at 1:09 pm
Old Superstitions Die Hard
People that try hard usually succeed. Is that sentence grammatical? Some nitpickers say the relative pronoun that should never refer to humans. Here is an interesting piece of mail that arrived recently:
Please review your "rule" about the use of "who" and "that" when referring to persons. The use of "that" when referring to people is very poor English and, unfortunately, has become today's vernacular. I wonder if you could review your work here, so that students are not confused. I teach graduate students and I do not permit the distinctions you are making re this particular word usage. I cannot refer my students to your site for that reason.
The writer went on to say that using that instead of who, while "common today in vernacular English," is "still eschewed in academic writing." If we doubted this, we were advised to consult an online site called The Purdue Owl.
That is what we did.
According to the Owl, one may substitute that for who in informal English, but who is "more common in formal written English" and is "preferred"—although the Owl does not say who prefers it. Look at the wording: "more common" and "preferred." The Owl is conceding that even in formal usage, that sometimes replaces who.
We language fussbudgets like to demonize "today's vernacular," but it won't work in this case. Many authorities past and present would beg to differ with the Owl, and with our correspondent's assertion that that for who is "very poor English." The Chicago Manual of Style—the publishing industry's bible—says, "That refers to a person, animal, or thing." In the 1990s, author and literary critic Kingsley Amis wrote that he found the man that I spoke to preferable to the man whom I spoke to. In the eighties, English scholar John B. Bremner wrote "that may refer to persons," with no mention of formal or informal. In the seventies, the renowned editor Theodore M. Bernstein wrote, "You may say either 'the boy that lives next door' or 'the boy who lives next door.' " In the mid-sixties—half a century ago—an eleventh-grade textbook called Warriner's English Grammar and Composition said, "That may be used to refer to either persons or things."
Great essayists, novelists, and poets have been substituting that for who for centuries. A famous quotation from the Gospel of John begins: "He that is without sin among you …"
Many words have been used to describe the Bible, but it's a safe bet that "informal" is not one of them.
To comment on this grammar tip, click on the title.
Posted on Thursday, September 11, 2014, at 4:15 pm
We the People, or…?
For much of the last two months, we have been analyzing why the subject pronouns I, he, she, we, they and the object pronouns me, him, her, us, them are chronically misused and confused.
In this final installment, we'll deal with flawed sentences like Politicians should respect we the people and It's a happy outcome for he who laughs last.
Formal writing requires "us the people" (object of respect) and "him who laughs last" (object of for), even though we instinctively resist tampering with venerable expressions like we the people and he who laughs last.
If being correct would ruin the mood, there may be creative ways around the grammatical buzzkill. In the first case, we could probably avoid censure by using capitals: Politicians should respect We the People. This signals the reader that the well-known phrase is sacrosanct and must not be altered.
In the second example, we could write: a happy outcome for "he who laughs last." The quotation marks grant the words special dispensation, like the title of a book or movie.
So now, here is a summary of the chief causes of pronoun confusion.
• All forms of the verb to be. Informal sentences (It was me, It must have been them, It seems to be her) wrongly use object pronouns instead of what are called subject complements. (The correct pronouns respectively would be I, they, and she.)
• Compound subjects and compound objects. In everyday speech, when and or or links a pronoun with other nouns or pronouns, the results are often ungrammatical: Joe and him went fishing, Sue invited my friend and I for dinner, Her or I will meet you there. (The correct pronouns respectively would be he, me, and she.)
• Comparative sentences using as or than. Sentences like You're as smart as her and Eddie ran faster than them sound fine but are technically flawed. (The correct pronouns respectively would be she and they.)
• Infinitives and verbs ending in –ing. They change subjects to objects. An infinitive such as to be turns I believe he is honest into I believe him to be honest. A verb ending in –ing, such as going, gives us the option of saying either I saw he was going home or I saw him going home. This can be especially confusing with compound subjects and objects, or when who-whom is involved.
• Idiomatic phrases containing subject pronouns (we the people, he who laughs last).
Pop Quiz
Correct any sentences that are formally ungrammatical.
1. LaTroy knew it was him who everyone preferred.
2. According to witnesses, it had to have been we.
3. The receipts were always safe with Maria and I.
4. May him and his friend join us for a nightcap?
5. She's every bit as confused as me.
6. Your cousin's wife looks older than he.
7. Who do you suspect was hiding something?
8. Who do you suspect to be hiding something?
9. This has been a bad week for we citizens of the United States.
10. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
Pop Quiz Answers
1. LaTroy knew it was he whom everyone preferred.
2. According to witnesses, it had to have been we. CORRECT
3. The receipts were always safe with Maria and me.
4. May he and his friend join us for a nightcap?
5. She's every bit as confused as I.
6. Your cousin's wife looks older than he. CORRECT
7. Who do you suspect was hiding something? CORRECT
8. Whom do you suspect to be hiding something?
9. This has been a bad week for us citizens of the United States.
10. Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.
To comment on this grammar tip, click on the title.
Posted on Tuesday, November 12, 2013, at 6:54 pm
Shape-shifting Troublemakers
No nouns in our language behave like pronouns. The most common subject pronouns (I, he, she, we, they, who, whoever) all become different words (me, him, her, us, them, whom, whomever) when they are objects.
Colloquial English has always thumbed its nose at proper English. A seemingly innocent everyday sentence like It's me is Exhibit A.
As we discussed last time, in formal English, It's me is wrong, and It's I is correct. In such sentences, pronouns linked by any form of the verb to be are equivalent to subjects—but me is an object pronoun. If It's me were correct, then we'd also have to say, "Me is it."
Down through the years, correct pronoun usage has been of little concern to the masses, who would rather drink from Lake Erie than say, "The culprit was they, but we thought it might be he."
Having dealt last week with the havoc that the verb to be wreaks in sentences with pronouns, let's look now at another disruption to correct English: compound subjects and compound objects that contain pronouns.
A compound subject is two or more nouns or pronouns joined most commonly by and or or. Joe and I is a compound subject. It is correct in Joe and I went fishing.
Joe and her is a compound object. It is correct in The group chose Joe and her.
Here is an easy, foolproof way to get such sentences right: Remove the noun and say the sentence with just the pronoun. Without the nouns, the two sentences are a breeze: I went fishing and The group chose her. Using this method exposes incorrect sentences such as It was up to Joe and I and Either me or Joe will help, because we'd never say, "It was up to I" or "Me will help."
One more thing: It is always wrong to mix subject and object pronouns, such as "her and I." In an oft-heard sentence like "Her and I arrived," it's clear that I arrived is correct, but no one would say "her arrived," so the sentence requires she, the subject pronoun: She and I arrived.
More on finding the correct pronoun next time…
Pop Quiz
Correct any wayward compound subjects or objects.
1. Me and him went to the game.
2. The dog was always with Vinnie and I.
3. May my wife and me join you for dinner?
4. Either you or him must be willing to help.
5. Alice and me were who it was meant for.
Pop Quiz Answers
1. He and I went to the game.
2. The dog was always with Vinnie and me.
3. May my wife and I join you for dinner?
4. Either you or he must be willing to help.
5. Alice and I were whom it was meant for. (whom is the object of the preposition for)
To comment on this grammar tip, click on the title.
Posted on Monday, October 21, 2013, at 5:25 pm
I Subject, Your Honor
Last month, in discussions of who-whom and whoever-whomever, we passed along a handy memory aid: who (and whoever) = he; whom (and whomever) = him.
That's fine as far as it goes, but it goes nowhere unless we can tell a subject (he) from an object (him).
One reason that distinguishing between subjects and objects is so difficult can be traced to what's called the subject complement, a fancy term for the B in A = B. In the sentence It is you, the word you is a subject complement: it = you.
Math teaches us that if A = B, then B = A. If it = you, then you = it. In the sentence It is you, the word you is a kind of secondary subject.
However, you stays the same whether it's a subject or an object. Things get trickier with the subject pronouns I, he, she, we, they, who, and whoever, which all change forms when they function as objects (me, him, her, us, them, whom, and whomever).
A conversational sentence like It's me is technically wrong, because me is the object form of I, when what we need is a subject complement. Therefore, It's I would be proper English (it = I). Remember, if It is I, then I am it. Since no one says, "Me am it," It's me can't be correct.
Look at these everyday sentences: It's us. Wait, it was him. No, it has been them all along. But it could've been her. We hear these all the time—and every one of them is technically incorrect. In such sentences, informal speech tends to prefer object pronouns like me, her, and them over the formally correct I, she, and they. Who knows why? They just sound better, or something. For whatever reason, not many folks we meet on the street would say, "It's we." "It was he." "It has been they." "It could've been she."
But no one can ever master whom and whomever without knowing when object pronouns in everyday speech should be changed to subject complements in formal English.
More next time…
Pop Quiz
Make the following colloquial sentences consistent with formal English.
1. She's just glad it turned out to be me.
2. The way I see it, it must have been them.
3. The culprits were Joe, Jack, Jake, and whomever else.
4. It ended up being her who the group could count on.
5. It seemed like them, but it was him.
Pop Quiz Answers
These answers are academically correct. But if you talk to your friends like this, you're on your own.
1. She's just glad it turned out to be I.
2. The way I see it, it must have been they.
3. The culprits were Joe, Jack, Jake, and whoever else.
4. It ended up being she whom the group could count on. (whom is the object of the verb count on)
5. It seemed like them, but it was he. (them is the object of the preposition like)
This grammar tip was contributed by veteran copy editor and word nerd Tom Stern.
To comment on this grammar tip, click on the title.
Posted on Monday, October 14, 2013, at 2:55 pm


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Intertek Testing Services
Campaign Finance$0 Given
Figures are based on itemized contributions reported to the Federal Election Commission and state agencies. Please note that:
- contributions under $200 are not reported, and so are not included in totals.
- only contributions from individuals and organizations to candidates are included. Various accounting measures and more exotic contribution types are excluded.
- contributions are matched based on organization and recipient name reported within each election cycle. Contributions using an incorrect or non-standard version of the name may be missed.
- corporate name changes and mergers may cause figures to differ from those of the Center for Responsive Politics.
- organization totals include known subsidiaries of the organization.
For more information, please see our campaign finance methodology page. Lobbyist bundling data is described on our lobbyist bundling methodology page.
Lobbying$800,000 Spent
Figures are based on lobbying activity reported to the Senate Office of Public Records. Reported dollar amounts are required to be accurate only to the nearest $20,000. For organizations whose primary business is lobbying, we display total income and top clients. For organizations that are not primarily lobbying firms, we display total amount spent on lobbying and top lobbying firms hired.
For more information, please see our lobbying methodology page.
Lobbying on Behalf of Intertek Testing Services
Names of Lobbyists
Most Frequently Disclosed Lobbying Issues
- Homeland Security,
- Intelligence,
- Consumer Product Safety,
- Defense,
- Manufacturing,
- Health Issues,
- Energy & Nuclear Power,
- Labor, Antitrust & Workplace
RegulationsMentioned in 15 dockets
All data is based on documents downloaded from Regulations.gov. The first table shows mentions: all documents that include the name of the company anywhere in the document or document metadata. The second table shows submissions: all documents where the submitter metadata included the company name. Each table shows the top 10 dockets, ranked by number of occurrences.
Matches are based on a search for the company name. Variations in the company name, such as acronyms, nicknames or alternate names may cause documents to be missed. The mention of a company name in a document may be incidental and does not necessarily indicate that the company has any relevance to the document. Company names that are common English words may erroneously match with text that is not referring to the company.
Not all agencies submit public comments to Regulations.gov. For a list of participating and non-participating agencies see here. Agencies that do submit to Regulations.gov have varying levels of accuracy and completeness.
Regulations and public comments can be downloaded in bulk here.
The tables show occurrences of "Intertek Testing Services" in public comments on proposed federal regulations.
Mentions in Document Text
- Mentions
- Agency
- Docket
- Date
View all mentions data for Intertek Testing Services
- Toggle 2 EERE Energy Conservation Program for Certain Industrial Equipment: Commercial Clothes Washers 2012
- Toggle 2 EPA Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; California; 2007 South Coast State Implementation Plan for 1997 8-hour Ozone Standard and 2007 State Strategy 2011
- Toggle 2 EPA California Transport SIP for the 1997 ozone and 1997 PM-2.5 standards - Prongs 1-2 (Significant Contribution to Nonattainment, Interference with Maintenance) 2011
- Toggle 1 FDA To refrain from taking administrative action against intertek by dismissing them as an Accredited Person for 510(k) review under the FDA Modernization Act of 1997 without due process 2012
- Toggle 1 USCG Electrical Installations in Hazardous Areas 2012
- Toggle 1 GSA GSA; General Notices 2012
- Toggle 1 EPA California Transport SIP (Prong 3 - PSD) 2011
- Toggle 1 USCBP Re-Accreditatons and Re-approvals as Commercial Gaugers and Laboratories: Interek Testing Services 2011
- Toggle 1 PHMSA In the Matter of A.M. Pyrotechnics, LLC 2011
- Toggle 1 EPA Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans, California 2007San Joaquin Valley 8-hour Ozone Plan and 2007 State Strategy 2011


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Odgren: Upon further review, should be murder two
Rule 25(b)(2) of Massachusetts criminal procedure, which permits a trial judge to modify a jury verdict, was focus of todayâs hearing in the case of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. John Odgren, who was convicted two months ago of murdering 15-year-old James Alenson. Without suggesting any similarity in importance, Rule 25(b)(2) works somewhat like the instant replay rule employed in the National Football League.
Superior Court Judge S. Jane Haggerty, listened intently to arguments pertaining to a defense motion to change the jury verdict from first degree murder to second degree. But, as with an NFL coachâs challenge of a ruling on the field, it typically takes compelling evidence to change the decision of a trial jury.
From where I sat in the Middlesex County courtroom, the defense arguments were many times stronger than those of the prosecution. Even so, it is surely questionable whether the evidence will be considered by the judge to be strong enough to convince her to overrule the juryâs verdict and reduce the conviction to second degree murder, which would make Odgren eligible for parole after 15 years.
Without denying the tragedy of Jamesâs murder or the pain that it caused his family, there are many reasons why John Odgren does not fit the mold of the âworst of the worstâ kind of murderer for which life sentences are designed and clearly warranted.
Odgren was 16-years-old at the time of his offense. And even the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that juveniles, by virtue of their lesser degree of emotional and neurological development, are not as culpable as adults, even in the case of heinous crimes. Simply put, teenagers may look like adults, dress like adults, and kill like adults, but they reason like children. This doesnât imply that juvenile murderers are not responsible or shouldnât be punished severely, but just not to the same degree as adults.
As reflected in Odgrenâs assault on James Alenson, juveniles typically act impulsively and spontaneously without fully considering the consequences for themselves, much less their victims. Just moments after he repeatedly and brutally stabbed Alenson, Odgren realized what he had done, and frantically tried to find help to save James from dying.
In todayâs hearing, Assistant District Attorney Marguerite Grant pointed out that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that age alone is not an appropriate basis for reducing the sentence. That may be, but in this case, age is not the only factor. Odgrenâs array of mental disorders -- including Aspergerâs Syndrome, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety and ADHD -- combined with his age to limit his capacity for cold-blooded planning and shrewd premeditation.
Still, the state argued that premeditation was only one of the theories under which the jury returned a first-degree murder verdict. According to the juryâs decision, the murder was also extremely cruel. There is no doubt that to the Alensons, and in the empathic response of the jurors, the senseless loss of life was indeed a cruel twist of fate. But the cruel and sadistic killers that Iâve encountered in my work do not immediately after their crimes curl up and cry, âOh God, what have I done?," or seek to assist their victim.
In a statement to the media, the Alensonâs wrote, in part: âOur family misses James every single day. James was kind to everyone he knew and met, he was loving and sincere. As a family, the pain and suffering of having your child murdered is indescribable, to know James suffered and died alone at the hands of someone else and to live with that knowledge, is terrible. To hear that John Odgrenâs imprisonment is unfair or cruel when he is the one who murdered our beloved son is unthinkable to us.â
We all sympathize with the Alensonâs grief. And no one questions the fairness of Odgrenâs imprisonment. It is, however, the ineligibility for ever being considered for parole that seems excessive, at least to those of us who believe that juvenile criminals, given the right circumstances, deserve a second chance. With maturation and treatment, there may be a time when John Odgren can and should return to free society, and that should in no way diminish the horror and tragedy surrounding James Alensonâs death.
It will be a while until Judge Haggerty rules on the motion to reduce Odgren;âs verdict, much longer than those NFL referees take âunder the hoodâ reviewing video replays. In the NFL, coaches rarely prevail even when the evidence seems to be persuasive. Likewise, Rule 25(b)(2) challenges, although successful on occasion, represent "an uphill battle," as Defense Attorney Jonathan Shapiro characterized it.
Whatever the outcome of todayâs hearing and any future appeals there may be, the Odgren case should be evidence enough for our state legislature to rethink the youthful offender statute that mandates all murderers ages 14 and over to be tried and sentenced as adults. Many states around the country have reconsidered the wisdom of the automatic transfer of juveniles to the adult courts as well as the logic for sentencing juvenile murderers to life without parole. Even Texas has abolished such sentences for juveniles. It is time for Massachusetts, at one time considered to be a progressive leader in juvenile justice policy, to do the same.
Author's note: You can follow me on twitter at @jamesalanfox for notifications of new blog postings. Also, you can find me on the Web at www.jamesalanfox.com or contact me by e-mail at firstname.lastname@example.com.
The author is solely responsible for the content.


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NEWPORT–After a tight start, Craftsbury's girl's basketball team opened up their play in the second quarter, and handed the UCA Crusaders a 44-20 loss to open up the season.
"The girl's effort was huge," said coach Rick Thomas. "We want to be a pressure-up team, work our defensive sets, and create offense off of our defense. That is our signature, that is how we want to play."
As mentioned, things were close early, as the score was at 3-2 UCA for a while before the girls stated to get into the flow of the game.
JAY – The second of a series of economic development meetings was held at the Jay Peak Resort Wednesday, bringing together a coalition of state officials, educators and other interested parties. The meeting was chaired by Pat Moulton Powden, Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Commerce, who focused on getting all parties to work together.
"It takes a team to do this and do it well," Moulton Powden stated in her opening remarks. "We're going to set a template here in the Northeast Kingdom.... If we can do it here, we can do this anywhere in the country."
NEWPORT CITY – On any given day, the sound of soothing music comes from the speakers of a nearby MP3 player and the low hum of a potter's wheel fills the air. It's just a typical day for Diana Poulin of Muddy Water's Pottery on Elm Street.
Prior to opening her Elm Street workshop and retail shop six months ago, Poulin rented space from Doug Hamblett off East Main Street.
"I decided that I really loved it. It was time to build my own studio, so here I am," said Poulin.
DERBY LINE, VT - The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) notified customers of the Border Lodge Credit Union by letter yesterday that the NCUA placed the credit union into "involuntary liquidation" on Nov. 30, 2012.
The National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF) insures each member account up to $250,000 and certain retirement accounts up to an equal amount. The insurance is good for 18 months following the seizure.
Because of the liquidation, customer accounts are now held by NCUA.
JAY–After a fantastic season in his first year at the helm of the North Country girl's hockey team, coach Clause Paul's squad has added even more horsepower to an already potent line-up.
The Falcons have gotten stronger in every facet of the game, from defense, to offense, but most notably, in goal.
Last season Tara Langmaid did an admirable job of stepping into Meghan Simpson's skates after Simpson went down due to injury, but at times her inexperience showed.
NEWPORT – It's a win. The Orleans County State's Attorney has dismissed the charge of trespassing against Barton Chronicle publisher Chris Braithwaite.
In a statement published on the Barton Chronicle website (http://bartonchronicle.com/), Braithwaite said: "It is my hope that journalists who find themselves in a similar situation will bear this case in mind when they are ordered to leave the scene of important public event."
Attorney Phil White had filed a new motion to dismiss the case after receiving documents subpoenaed from Green Mountain Power (GMP).
NEWPORT CITY – A recount that took place at the Orleans County District Court House yesterday showed the Republican Mark Higley did retain his House seat in Montpelier.
Results after November's election showed Higley had won over his Progressive opponent Katherine Sims 920 to 887.
This time results showed that Higley won 924 to Sims' 892.
"I respect the results and I congratulate Mark on a successful campaign and wish him the best of luck," said Sims, who had called for recount. "With a race that close, I think it's prudent to follow things all the way through."
NEWPORT – Sen. Robert Starr of North Troy and Senator elect John Rodgers brought some good news and bad news to the North Country Union High School Facilities Planning Committee Tuesday evening.
The committee, which is comprised of board members, community members and project officials, is studying potential "no frills" renovations, as well as work to bring the school in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Principal Bill Rivard emphasized the needs with a Powerpoint presentation that showed photographs of some of the troubled areas.Â
NEWPORT–After a seventh place finish in their return to full time varsity status last year, the North Country wrestling team is hoping that this season's team can build on that success and do even better during the 2012-2013 campaign.
"I think we have a good chance of doing a lot better this year than last," said coach Chris Mandigo. "Last year we won a couple of dual meets, this year I expect to do a lot better."
NEWPORT CITY – In the dark of the night, a large cruise ship made its way from Burlington to its new home on Lake Memphremagog Tuesday.
The 42-ton ship, soon to be renamed The Northern Star, will begin offering tours on the lake in the spring of 2013.
The boat is 65 feet long and holds 49 passengers.
Prior to operating on Lake Champlain, it ran on waterways in Virginia.
"What a project," said Chris Johansen, president of the Memphremagog Navigation Company, as crews skillfully hoisted the ship off a large trailer.


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Don't rush #BRAI Bill and #UnsafeGMOs. Extend deadline for public comments.
Though it looks like normal food, it is not the same.
GM food is not only different, but has been proven to be unsafe for consumption by numerous independent studies. Despite unanswered questions around the very need for GM food, shockingly, the Indian government seems hell-bent on thrusting it on us.
Genetically modified (GM) food is created unnaturally by taking genes of organisms like bacteria, viruses, spiders or even humans, stringing these together and inserting them into other unrelated organisms like cabbage, brinjal, potatoes, maize, rice etc.
GM is not safe
Numerous studies have proven that GM food could lead to various illnesses. GM in our food and farming is a threat to our food safety and farm livelihoods. This harm cannot be reversed or corrected once it is introduced into our farming and food cycle.
But Government of India has prepared a Bill to give easy access to GMOs to enter India's farms, food and environment. The Bill is being pushed by large corporations that want to control our food and seed. The Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill will provide a new single-window, fast-track regulatory authority for approving GMOs.
Politicians and State governments have opposed this Bill.
The BRAI Bill is so flawed that numerous Parliamentarians cutting across party lines, State Governments and the public have asked the Government not to introduce the Bill. However, without paying heed to any of this, the BRAI Bill was introduced in the Parliament.
This controversial Bill is currently with the Standing Committee on Science & Technology in the Parliament of India. This Standing Committee has now granted 30 days' time for the citizens of India to provide their feedback.
30 days time is too little time.
The deadline expires on July 10 and it is impossible to get meaningful participation by public, in giving their views and suggestions from across the country by then. In fact, the Bill has not even been made available in local languages.
This is an issue that concerns our food and our nation.
1. We are asking the concerned Committee to extend this feedback period from 30 days to 90 days.
2. We are also asking the Committee to hold countrywide consultations so that citizens can participate and give their opinion on a Bill that affects India's farming, our food and its safety.
Please join us in asking the Science & Technology Committee to extend the deadline for public feedback on the BRAI Bill. Sign this petition and join us in demanding safe food and sustainable farming for India.
This is with regard to the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill 2013, on which your Committee has sought views and suggestions of the public, by giving 30 days' time for the same.
We believe that 30 days is too short a time to get adequate and necessary public participation on a legislation of this gravity, given the raging controversy in India (and worldwide) on modern biotechnology, as well as this proposed piece of legislation.
The technology that the proposed Authority is mandated to regulate is controversial the world over and a majority of countries have chosen not to deploy modern biotechnology in their food and farming systems. Serious problems with the technology have emerged in countries that have adopted it including trade ramifications causing massive losses for farmers and others.
Against this backdrop, it is unacceptable that the BRAI Bill converts promotion into regulation, and proposes a fast-track single-window clearance system for Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). We would like to bring to your attention that for the past few years, numerous Parliamentarians and State governments have been urging the government not to introduce the Bill. On the day the Bill was tabled, there was opposition. The process that led to the Bill being referred to your Committee was contentious too. While the Minister who tabled the Bill wanted the Bill to be sent to a Joint Committee of both Houses, given the fact that this is a vast subject spanning Agriculture, Health, Commerce and so on and given the fact that many Parliamentarians have been asking for the withdrawal of the Bill, the Bill was referred to your Standing Committee.
As you are kindly aware, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture in its report titled Cultivation of GM Food Crops: Prospects and Effects tabled in August 2012, after a detailed analysis of over two years, stated the following:
• The Committee feel that regulating biotechnology is too small a focus in the vast canvas of biodiversity, environment, human and livestock health, etc. and a multitude of other such related issues. They have, therefore, already recommended in a previous Chapter setting up of an all encompassing Bio-safety Authority through an act of Parliament, which is extensively discussed and debated amongst all stakeholders, before acquiring shape of the law. (Section 8.120)
As regards greater public involvement, the National Advisory Council (NAC) chaired by Mrs. Sonia Gandhi has drafted guidelines for pre-legislative consultations; it has recommended a multi-stage pre-legislative consultation process based on the principles of "transparency, equity and inclusiveness". It has recommended that any draft Bill should be made available proactively in the public domain for at least 90 days for public comments and after that a consultation process with all stakeholders should also be done. According to the NAC draft, "the need for such a policy of consultation is necessary, to evolve from a representative democracy to a participatory, deliberative democracy; particularly for accountability to the people in the formulation of law and policy".
The BRAI Bill, as you are well aware, affects every citizen in the country and encompasses issues related to human and animal health, food and environmental safety, livelihoods in the farming sector, trade security and above all, food and seed sovereignty. Therefore, it is imperative that before making recommendations, ample time and opportunity is provided for wide dissemination of the Bill and also sufficient time is granted for people to respond.
We believe that various sections of society should have their views heard by the Committee, through widespread consultations that you hold around the country.
We would like to draw the attention of the Committee to the fact that another Bill related to India's Biosecurity, which is also seeking views and suggestions, is open for feedback for more than 30 days.
In keeping with ideal democratic traditions and practices, and considering the complexity, concerns and widespread implications of the BRAI Bill, we strongly urge the Committee to:
• Increase the time limit for gathering public views and suggestions to at least 90 days;
• Ensure that the Bill is available to citizens in local languages, and actively disseminated through various channels.
• Schedule and hold consultations across the country with a wide section of the society to ensure an inclusive, transparent and equitable process, rather than a Delhi-centric process and
• Ensure that a transparent process is put in place for the Standing Committee deliberations on this legislation.
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Policy Topics
Medicaid Glossary
Medicaid Terms Defined, A-Z
Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) or Program of Assertive Community Treatment (PACT):
An evidence-based, outreach-oriented service delivery model for people with severe and persistent mental illnesses. The program uses a 24-hour per day, 7-day per week team approach and delivers comprehensive community treatment, rehabilitation, and support services to consumers in various settings including their homes, work and within the community. Provider teams are typically comprised of psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, substance abuse treatment specialists, vocational rehabilitation counselors and peer counselors.
Case Management:
A close observation of a patient's progress by a health care professional who takes on the role of the case manager. Case management usually consists of the creation of a long-term treatment plan that guides a patient from the beginning of his or her care, perhaps starting in a hospital setting, through the patient's discharge, via a "discharge plan", and details follow-up care and actions, such as regular appointments and therapy etc.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS):
The federal agency in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) responsible for the administration of Medicaid, Medicare and State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). This agency was formerly known as the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA).
Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment Services (EPSDT) Programs:
One of the services that states are required to includes in their basic packagers for all Medicaid-eligible children under age 21. EPSDT services include periodic screenings to identify physical and mental conditions as well as vision, hearing and dental problems. EPSDT services also include follow-up diagnostic and treatment services to correct conditions identified during a screening without regard to where the state Medicaid plan covers those services with respect to adult beneficiaries.
Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Waiver or 1915c Waiver:
After the enabling section in the Social Security Act, this waiver authorizes the Secretary of HHS to allow a state Medicaid program to offer special services to beneficiaries at risk of institutionalization in a nursing facility or facility for the mentally retarded. These home- and community-based services, which otherwise would not be covered with federal matching funds, include case management, homemaker/home health aide services, rehabilitation services, and respite care. They also include, in the case of individuals with chronic mental illness, day treatment and partial hospitalization, psychosocial rehabilitation services, and clinic services.
Institution for Mental Diseases (IMD) Exclusion:
An IMD is a facility of more than 16 beds in which at least 50% of the residents have a primary diagnosis of a mental illness. The IMD exclusion is a rare instance in which Medicaid law prohibits federal contributions to the cost of medically necessary care furnished by licensed medical care providers to enrolled program beneficiaries.
Long-Term Care Services:
Long-term care is typically necessitated by disabling conditions that require nursing care or constant supervision. Long-term care is the implementation of professional assistance with the activities of daily living, such as dressing, eating, bathing and taking medication. Many different services are included in long-term care such as institutional care, i.e., nursing facilities, or non-institutional care such as home health care, personal care, adult day care, long term home health care, respite care and hospice care.
Managed Care Organizations (MCOs):
An entity that has entered into a risk contract with a state Medicaid agency to provide a specified package of benefits to Medicaid enrollees in exchange for monthly capitation payment on behalf of each enrollee.
Medicaid Buy-in Programs:
Programs designed to encourage a return to work while securing Medicaid health care coverage for individuals with disabilities. Eligibility for Medicaid Buy-In Programs is determined at the state level. Four basic criteria are used in evaluating an individual's eligibility: age/citizenship & residency; disability; employment; and, income and resource levels. In addition, to qualify for a Buy-In Program an individual must be deemed disabled under the definition of disability used for determining eligibility to Social Security's SSI and SSDI programs, or an individual must prove a disability through a state's disability determination process. Moreover, an individual must be involved in an activity for which they are legally paid.
Medical Advisory Committee:
A public advisory group charged with advising the State's Medicaid agency and the State Department of Health and Social Services on policy and program changes to the Medicaid program.
Medically Needy Populations:
A Medicaid eligibility group that is optional and is composed of individuals who qualify for coverage because of high medical expenses, commonly for hospital or nursing home care. These individuals meet Medicaid's categorical requirements – i.e., they are children or parents or aged or individuals with disabilities – with an income that is too high to enable them to qualify for "categorically needy" coverage. Instead, they qualify for coverage by "spending down" – i.e., reducing their income by their medical expenses. States that elect to cover the "medically needy" do not have to offer the same benefit package to them as they offer to the "categorically needy."
Optional Populations and Optional Services:
Describes Medicaid eligibility groups or service categories that states may cover if they so choose and for which they may receive federal Medicaid matching payments at their regular matching rate or Federal Medicaid Assistance Program (FMAP). About half of all federal Medicaid funds are used to match the cost of optional services or optional populations.
Personal Care Services:
Medicaid personal care services are an optional Medicaid benefit provided to individuals who are not inpatients or residents of a hospital, nursing facility, intermediate care facility for the mentally retarded, or Institution for Mental Disease (IMD). Personal care services may include a range of human assistance provided to persons with disabilities and chronic conditions of all ages to enable them to accomplish tasks that they would normally do for themselves if they did not have a disability.
Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee (P&T Committees):
Originally, P&T Committees were developed to select drugs for formularies of health care institutions or health plans. Over time, their roles have evolved into improving the process of medication management and helping to reduce the risk of medication error.
Preferred Drug Lists (PDL):
Indicate which drugs providers are permitted to prescribe without seeking prior authorization. For drugs not included on the PDL, providers must obtain approval from the state Medicaid agency before the drug can be dispensed. Decisions regarding which drugs to include on a PDL are usually based on the Medicaid program's assessment of relative clinical benefit within a therapeutic class and judgement about the value to the state based on total costs, including all manufacturers' rebates.
Preferred Provider Organization (PPO):
An organized network of healthcare providers, typically reimbursed on a discounted fee-for-service basis. Coverage may or may not be available outside of the network for a higher co-payment.
Purchasing Pools:
Due to the rise in numbers of prescription drugs taken by individuals and increasing drug costs to states that result, some states are joining together, either with employee health plans within the state or with other neighboring states, to create drug purchasing pools. These pools allow states to negotiate manufacturer discounts based on bulk rates.
Rehabilitation Option (Rehab Option):
Covered Medicaid Rehab Option services may include educational services, peer services, family education, social and recreational activities, and substance abuse services. Services covered under the Rehab Option must be designed to assist individuals with a serious and persistent mental illness to achieve their highest degree of independent functioning and recovery.
State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP):
A federal-state matching program of health care coverage for uninsured low-income children. In contrast to Medicaid, SCHIP is a block grant to the states; eligible low-income children have no individual entitlement to a minimum package of health care benefits. Children who are eligible for Medicaid are not eligible for SCHIP. States have the option of administering SCHIP through their Medicaid programs or though a separate program (or a combination of both).
State Mental Health Planning Council:
States are required to develop and implement comprehensive mental health plans for adults with serious mental illness and children with serious emotional disturbances. State plan implementation must be monitored and progress reported annually. The primary vehicle for plan creation and implementation are State Mental Health Planning Councils. Typically, State Mental Health Planning Councils represent consumers, families, and advocacy interests.
Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (TEFRA) or the Katie Beckett Option:
Allows states to extend Medicaid coverage to certain disabled children in their homes rather than in institutions. To qualify for TEFRA benefits, the child must be disabled according to the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) definition of disability and must meet the medical-necessity requirement for institutional care. Children who live in institutions or who receive extended care in institutions are not eligible in the TEFRA category.
Think Tanks:
Public policy research organizations that examine current and future challenges and offer options for meeting them. Some think tanks have a broad scope of research while others focus on specific issues. Think tanks may specialize in partisan research or may be impartial, they may also perform advocacy work. Regardless of their focus, think tanks inform the debate over public policy issues for the policy makers, the public, and the media.


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Application Information
Scholarship Overview
This scholarship is for graduates of Flushing High School in Flushing, Michigan, who are pursuing further education in college and/or vocational school. To qualify for this scholarship, applicants must have a B average or higher as their overall high school grade, demonstrate financial need, and demonstrate extracurricular excellence.
How easy is it to apply?
Not too bad
This scholarship's application process may have items such as essays that could take a couple hours.
How much competition is there?
Relatively little!
This scholarship has a relatively low number of applicants.
GPA: Is this you?
- 3.0
Financial Need: Is this you?
Financial need will be considered.
Class Year: Is this you?
- High school senior
Home State: Is this you?
- Michigan
High School: Is this you?
- Flushing High School


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Au stabilization and coverage of sawtooth facets on Si nanowires grown by vapor-liquid-solid epitaxy
In: Nanoletters, Jg. 8 (2008) ; Nr. 9, S. 3065–3068
Zeitschriftenaufsatz / Fach: Physik
Fakultät für Physik » Experimentalphysik
Zentrale wissenschaftliche Einrichtungen » Center for Nanointegration Duisburg-Essen (CeNIDE)
Si nanowires grown in UHV by Au-catalyzed vapor−liquid−solid epitaxy are known to exhibit sidewalls with {112}-type orientation that show faceting. To understand the origin of the faceting, Au induced faceting on Si(112) surfaces was studied in situ by spot-profile-analyzing low-energy electron diffraction. With increasing Au coverage at 750 °C, the Si(112) surface undergoes various morphological transformations until, at a critical Au coverage of about 3.1 × 1014 atoms/cm2, a phase consisting of large (111) and (113) facets forms, similar in structure to the nanowire sidewalls. This phase is stable at larger Au coverages in equilibrium with Au droplets. We suggest that Si nanowire surfaces exhibit this structure, and we derive the Au coverage on the two types of facets.


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Online Panel Discussion Feb 17: What is an optimum hardware/software configuration for CAD?
Experts CAD users join technical experts form SolidWorks, AMD and Dell to discuss how to help you as a CAD user, figure out what you need to do with hardware and software to become more competitive. Basically to do more in less time, and to not get bogged by technical setups and idiosyncrasies. When you get the combination right, the technology becomes invisible and you spend your time (presumably billable) on producing mechanical or engineering designs or presenting those designs to managers or clients in the most compelling way.
This is an actual panel discussion, not a series of canned marketing presentation. As an attendee you can ask questions about the best setup for your work, mobile vs desktop, trends in CAD, etc. Depending on time, these questions will be posed to the panel or answered individually via chat.
Cadalyst is hosting and I'm moderating. I intend to bring questions from readers of this site. So it should be interesting.
Register to attend at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/792240344.


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The Guitar Hero fad has been dead for a while, but people still believe that learning to play guitar, at least a couple of popular riffs, will make them look cool. They're probably right too, but actually learning to play guitar isn't as easy as it may seem and it's not as fun either.
Guitar Hero is fun, but you don't actually learn anything. A new website, called GuitarBots, aims to give you the best of both world, the fun of playing a rhyming game and the satisfaction of playing a real guitar.
The concept is simple, all you need is a computer with a mic. On the screen, you'll get a track with instructions on what notes to hit. As you play, the game listens to what you're playing, you get points for how well you do.
You do need the Unity Web Player for the site to work, which means you're out of luck if you're on Linux. Unity is a 3D game engine used by plenty of smaller developers.
You can play for five minutes for free each day, though you can increase that to up to one hour, by inviting friends for example.
For $9.99, €7.47 a month you can play as much as you like. That may seem a little steep, but it's much cheaper than any guitar lessons.


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Here's something that has been going on for a while but has only just appeared on my radar. I have not personally experienced it as of yet, as I play on one of the lower population LOTRO servers and mercifully it has a smaller percentage of assholes. It would appear that one of the daily Hytbold quests in Snowbourn has the player fishing for an Avanc. If your bags are full when doing the quest you get an envelope that allows you to summon the Avanc, as part of the overflow mechanics. It would appear that there are no restrictions regarding the summoning of the Avanc, thus there have been incidents of it being released in low level public areas. The Avanc is level 85 and has 22K morale. (Picture courtesy of Yirak).
So imagine the scene. You're quietly perusing through the listing on Auction House in Bree, minding your own business. Then from out of nowhere a level cap beasty appears and the next thing you know death awaits you with nasty big pointy teeth. At first glance it can seem funny and may even raise a wry smile. It's just a prank some may claim. I'm sure "Where's you're sense of humour" will be trotted out at some point in the proceedings. However, if you take a moment to consider wider possibilities it may not be so funny.If some one has purchased from the in-game store a buff or a boost and it is active when Mr. Avanc shows up, then that player dies and ends up out of pocket. The prank has now cost you real cash. A sudden and unexpected death in a safe zone may also cost a player a deed title such as "undying". There may also be repair costs to consider. Suddenly this starts looking like a case of deliberate griefing.
Now there is a perfect opportunity for people to get bogged down in semantics with this issue. Is it griefing or an exploit? I'm sure you'll find a legion of forum pedants who will happily debate that point with you. The fun police and the humour liberation front are also currently going head to head with regard to this so called prank. As far as I'm concerned I'd file this activity under miscellaneous assholery. I also think Turbine needs to address it. The key point for me is that this could cause someone to lose money and that is patently unacceptable. Being inconvenienced by an idiot is one thing. Having you pocket indirectly picked is another altogether.