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Texas Attorney General and Wichita Falls native Greg Abbott ignited an overflow crowd in Wichita Falls, Texas, today, Feb. 18 by emphasizing his concern for Texas children getting the best education possible, his defense of gun rights and religious rights of individuals. Rock star Ted Nugent provided a rousing introduction of the gubernatorial candidate to loud applause.
Lines extended out the door of the Eighth Street Coffeeshop and wound around the corner down Indiana Street as people waited to see Abbott, who was born in Wichita Falls. Fire marshall rules limited the number of people allowed inside the building, according to several observers.
"Ted Nugent and I have been fighting for your Second Amendment rights. As Attorney General I have been involved in two cases that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court fighting for your Constitutional rights to bear arms. We won both times guaranteeing your second amendment rights. Ted Nugent and I were both on a national television program when we were in Katy, Texas, in western Harris County, close to Houston. Are you familiar with the Piers Morgan show?"
Several people said yes.
Abbott joked, "Then I would ask you, why are you watching that show?"
The crowd responded with applause and enthusiastic cheers.
"I told Piers Morgan Americans stopped debating the British about our bearing arms back in 1776 and we're not starting over now!"
The crowd responded enthusiastically by clapping their hands and cheering.
He also addressed the voter identification issue.
"I've sued Eric Holder himself. Eric Holder is trying to prevent Texas from enforcing our border identification laws. We have that law to prevent cheating in the voting booth. We've had dead people voting. Live people voting twice. Foreign nationals voting illegally. I'll tell you what. I will take this issue to the Supreme Court."
He recalled as "a child I attended First Christian Church of Wichita Falls. My grandfather was a preacher in Electra. I have relied on God. An atheist walked across the capitol grounds and said we should take the Ten Commandments momument down. I argued that case in the Supreme Court and won. That monument of the Ten Commandments is still standing in Austin!"
The crowd cheered loudly once again.
'"I will keep the state number one in the nation in job creation. Texas has been ranked the top exporting state. Texas has been rated the top state for creating jobs. Out of the top 10 cities in the nation seven of those cities are in Texas As your governor I will keep Texas exceptional!"
"Our priorities in Texas are wrong when we stop a valedictorian from praying during his speech, but we don't stop the drug cartels smuggling drugs into the state."
He also committed to improving the educational system. He siad, "That means stop forcing teachers to teach for standardized tests. It means I will drive a stake through the heart of CSCOPE! I will never allow Common Core into this state!"
"Texas is ranked number one for job creation. We are number one for energey. I believe it is time Texas is rated number one in education!"
"Not longer after I left Wichita Falls I was in Houston jogging when a huge tree fell on me, paralyzing me. There were two things helped me piece my life my back togher. One, is God. Two was that wife. We had been married only two years when I had the accident. The doctors literally glued the pieces of my back back together. They put steel rods in my back. Many politicians will claim they have a spine of steel. I really do have that!"
"People are coming to Texas like never before from California. One businessman told me taxes are too high in California. Impossible to do business there anymore. Now that they've been in Texas two years he realizes the myths of Texas are true. Texans have a freedom that Californians and people of other states simply cannot comprehend. I will pledge to keept Texas free as governor!"
This statement was received with loud applauces and cheers.
"We need to keep Texas as red a state as this shirt here," he said referring to red shirt a person in the audience was wearing.
"Do not wait until tomorrow to vote. Send a message to Barack Obama and his operatives who are working to turn Texas into a blue state for Wendy Davis and vote today. You can early vote today at the courthouse only a few blocks from here."
If elected Abbott will be the first native of Wichita Falls to live in the governor's mansion. James V. Allred, was a resident of the city when elected, but he was born in Bowie, 45 miles southeast of this city.
As the top law enforcement officer in the state he has vigorously defended children by orchestrating the prosecution of FLDS leader Warren Jeffs and several of his lieutenants for sexually assaulting underage girls. He has also argued successfully in front of the U.S. Supreme court defending religious and Second Amendment liberties. Abbott is a strong advocate for thr right to life movement and believes in the protection of the unborn babies.
Anyone interested in receiving free updates of future Wichita Falls Law Enforcement articles may click on the subscribe link adjacent to this article.
Suggested Links
- Greg Abbott: a brief biography of the attorney general from Wichita Falls to the U.S. Supreme Court
- Greg Abbott: Texas voter ID law implemented immediately
- Greg Abbott: Overcame paralysis
- Greg Abbott: Prosecutes Medicare fraud while runs for governor
- Greg Abbott: CLEAT endorses Wichita Falls native for governor


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Only 25 minutes away by train from Bruges, the university city of Ghent is far less touristy but just as attractive. It's a lovely place to stroll around, especially by the canal, which reminded us of Amsterdam with the historic buildings, colourful flower boxes and bikes lining the cobbled paths.
Photo of the Week: Ghent's Canal
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subset: commoncrawl


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Monday, 12 July 2010
Fun with Journal Table of Contents (TOCs)
With print serials, a classic way to keep up with new journal content is to skim the Table of Contents (TOC) of a journal issue. This form of serendipitous browsing not only provides an overview of current content but can lead to unexpected discoveries. It is limited, however, since you can only scan one TOC at a time and you need access to the print publication to do so. As journals have migrated to digital formats, however, the static TOC has become dynamic and STM publishers provide various ways to present them. These modes of distribution not only facilitate access bu offer new ways to present the information embedded in TOCs.
A classic way to get digital TOCs is by signing up for email alerts. You then receive periodic listings of TOCs for one or more serials with hyperlinks which typically go to the journals' home pages. Nearly all the major publishers – Nature Publishing Group (NPG), American Chemical Society (ACS), and IEEE are just a few examples – provide email alerts, sometimes with the ability to customize them to fit particular search queries.
Email alerts for TOCs are handy but if you don't want this sort of content filling up your mailbox, you can sign up for RSS feeds of TOCs and then browse them at your leisure in a feed readers such as Google Reader or Bloglines. These generally free tools enable you to organize your RSS feeds into folders by topics, publications, and other facets and provide an efficient means of scanning multiple TOCs at all once. You can also pick up feeds in some email programs and via mobile devices. In addition, you can embed RSS widgets into web pages, blogs, and other Web 2.0 media. Tools like Yahoo Pipes lets you to combine feeds from multiple publications (the sample linked from here combines feeds from three journals focusing on nanotechnolog).
A useful tool for identifying TOC alerts in your target subjects is provided by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the U.K. Its complimentary Journal Table of Contents Service has compiled TOC feeds for thousands of scholarly journals. You can screen for these TOCs by title, subject, and publisher, then select the journals that interest you, and view the feeds for their TOCs; clicking on an entry will take you to the journal's site, and if they are in the Tufts collection or are open access, you can view the full text. You also export your selections as an OPML (Outline Processor Markup Language) file, which is an XML-based format for exporting and importing RSS feeds to and from feed readers. A recent subject search on engineering retrieved feeds for 765 titles divided into 10 major categories as defined by Ulrich's Periodicals Directory; many of these titles are the top journals in their respective fields and are available in the Tufts collection. JISC also provides an option to set up an account so that you can save your TOCs and view them from within the JISC portal rather than through a feed reader.
Another notable aspect of the migration of TOCs to the digital world concerns the use of multimedia. Print journals in the biology and chemistry realm in particular are noteworthy for including images and pictograms in their TOCs – for scientists focusing on a particular structure, this provides for faster and more meaninful scanning than text might provide. The online variants of TOCs can take this further by providing TOC images as slide shows or 3D animations, as evidenced by, for example, the TOC of ACS Chemical Biology.
The examples listed above are just a sampling of how TOCs can become a useful research tool and as publishers of STM journals work with new web-based technologies, more applications will doubtless emerge.


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Troilus and Cressida
by William Shakespeare
Analysis: Plot Analysis
Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes shake up the recipe and add some spice.
Make Love Not War
Troilus wants to hook up with Cressida, not fight in some dumb war that's been dragging on for the last seven years. Problem is, Cressida's been playing hard to get. Meanwhile, the Greeks wish their best warrior (Achilles) would come out of his tent and fight, but Achilles is playing hard to get, too. Basically, in the exposition, Shakespeare sets up and develops two separate plots (a love plot and a war plot). Confused? Don't worry—that's what the rising action is for.
Rising Action
Your Cheatin' (and Dyin') Heart
Cressida is traded to the Greeks and betrays Troilus with a dude named Diomedes. Also, Hector kills Achilles' lover/ bestie, which really irks Achilles. Meanwhile, Troilus battles Diomedes but, uh, nothing really happens. Now we're all ready to see what happens when Achilles storms out of his tent for the big climax.
Sword It Out
Troilus' battle with Diomedes may have been anti-climactic, but Shakespeare finds a good substitute when Achilles and his gang of Myrmidons mow down Hector. Our hero is slain: definitely a climax.
Falling Action
Remind Us Not to Tick This Guy Off
A guy like Hector deserves some props but Achilles is totally disrespectful when he has the dude's corpse tied to a horse so it can be dragged through the dirt. Now we're seeing the effects of all the upsetting climax: dishonor, dishonor, and more dishonor. We're not exactly expecting a happy resolution.
So Long, Troy
Now that their best soldier and military leader is dead, Troy isn't looking so good. Bummer, right? Well, Shakespeare can't just leave well enough alone. In the last lines, Pandarus tells the audience that he hopes we all get an STD and die. Gee. Thanks. Way to wrap it up, guys.


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Bacchanal season kicks off
BY 11:00 pm Friday, the parking lot at the New Mas Camp was full to capacity as hundreds of 'socaphiles' turned out for Bacchanal Le Masquerade which opened its 2013 season.
Bacchanal Jamaica was celebrating its 25th anniversary.
Fans worked up a sweat to the pulsating soca beats of Trinidad's DJ Private Ryan and homeboy DJ Sanjay who played the latest hits such as Patrice Roberts' A Little Wine and Bunji Garlin's She Ready and Differentology.
At the ticket booth, patrons over 18 years old were given armbands which allowed them to purchase liquor. Those under 18 were granted entry but without armbands.
"Bacchanal keeps me coming back for 10 years as soca music is very electrifying and has a vibe like no other. Carnival time is definitely my favourite time of the year," said 31-year-old Audrey Morrison.
Similar sentiments were expressed by 27-year-old Melissa Pinnock, a self-described soca addict for more than a decade.
Attendants at the costume booths were busy throughout as patrons scouted for costumes to be worn at the Road March on April 7.
It was approximately 2:15 am when the 'massive' made their way toward the exit, ending the first session of a busy Bacchanal season.
The Bacchanal Fridays fete continues on February 22 featuring Trinidad and Tobago's DJ Dawg Slaughter of Excalibur International Disco and local favourite DJ Smoke.
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Fleta Page Google+
Fleta Page is a reporter at The Canberra Times.
Canberra spring pollen count could hit extreme levels
Fleta Page Spring weather is on its way to Canberra, but hay fever sufferers should prepare the antihistamines as pollen counts are set to soar.
Hail hits north Canberra
Fleta Page Canberrans can expect a quiet night with light rain and just a chance of thunderstorms on Tuesday.
Possible lightning storm, but no real rain forecast for ACT
Louis Andrews, Lisa Cox, Fleta Page Canberra could be headed for a day of weather extremes, with a storm predicted for later today after hours of heightened fire alert.


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Recent Article in the Pioneer Press
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Oh one more thing, Gevlon completely puts off spell threads in his post as being a worthless way to make gold with tailoring since so many people try to do it. This couldn't be further from the truth. The profit ranges on spell threads (including the rares) is often 20-50 gold a piece and the brilliant spellthread (requiring reputation to learn) can sell for 100-200 gold profit each.
Diversity is the key to every profession. Sell cloth, sell bags and sell threads to avoid putting all your eggs into one basket like Gevlon tends to do. It's also important to improve upon the manner in which you go about collecting materials for your crafting professions. Be sure to explore every avenue for obtaining mats before stating that a market is not profitable on your server.
Inscription Part Two
While we're on the topic of fail Goblin strategies, I recently received an email from yet another player who has taken my advice on how to deal with undercutting goblins in the inscription market... buy them out using the knowledge of which glyphs are the most popular against them.
Rob continues...
"This is a perfect example of your buy low sell normal mantra that's worked wonders for me. I've never really invested into flipping and I'm not great at market control, but I've managed to make my money easily enough.
The first 20 or so comments on this post have been very interesting, here are my thoughts on them (too big for a comment):
It takes 45 seconds to make a netherweave bag so that's 75 bags per hour. A bag should make at least 3 gold profit each, but on many servers you can post at 48 hours and make 6-20 gold profit.
If you count afk crafting time (something most goblins completely write off as not counting towards gold per hour) at a minimum of 3 gold profit you will make 225 gold in an hour crafting 75 bags. If you make the more normal value of 12 gold per bag then you will make 900 gold per hour. Also, the demand for these items allows you to post for several gold over the lowest person at 48 hours and still sell quite often.
Netherweave cloth that goes below 6 gold a piece could be purchased by anyone and turned into netherweave bandages to be vendored for profit. I doubt cloth remains at all times at 4-5 gold a stack on his server, it sounds like a complete lie made up to simply write off netherweave bags. Every day I find people posting netherweave cloth for cheap from leveling in outland, but that doesn't make it the 100% PCT value in auctioneer nor does it stop me from buying all the cloth I see below 7 gold a stack. NOTE: I messed up here, it takes 40 cloth for the 20 bandages so it's really 3 gold per stack. Even still, seeing 4-5 gold netherweave is ridiculously cheap, you may want to consider crafting and disenchanting items from the cloth.
Bag markets MOVE quite a bit throughout the week. One day netherweave bags could go from 20 gold to 10 gold and frostweave bags could go from 40 gold to 70 gold. Materials tend to reflect this and go up and down to about the cost of a bag. The trick is hitting the peaks with bags and buying mats during the valleys.
With regards to frostweave bags and infinite dust, on some servers the dust you create on your own can be sold for more gold than you would get back using it on fostweave bags. However, getting back to diversity, it is better to not put all your dust up and instead sell some dust in the form of bags in order to get gold back faster from your initial investment. If you want to talk about absolute best use of infinite dust well enchanted vellums are the real winner but it's far better to diversify and make gold from multiple markets.


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Meg Volk, Associated Press
Several years ago, while giving a sales demonstration to a woman in Sandy, Utah, I was interrupted by this question: "Are you Mormon?" I responded with "Yes, I am." She seemed somewhat surprised. "I thought maybe you were, but you seem too cool to be a Mormon." I wasn't offended as I've heard similar comments before; still, I always wonder if they mean that as a good or bad thing. "You just seem really personable and not judgmental," she said. I told her it was genuine.
Then the dreaded "Utah Mormon" conversation proceeded. She related how she recently moved from her home state of Montana to Utah and was impressed by how the neighbors came by, said hello and welcomed her. However, once they realized she wasn't a member of the church or wasn't familiar with the words "Relief Society," they became less friendly, and she's now lucky to get a wave at the mailbox. I was embarrassed and apologized for their inconsiderate behavior.
Come on! This doesn't happen anymore, does it? She's exaggerating or has an ax to grind with the church. I would relate similar experiences to my old boss who is an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and he would say the same things. Unfortunately, they do happen, continue to happen, and this woman wasn't biased; she was a sweet person who grew up with Mormon friends who were accepting and never had issues with her beliefs. There are some who do genuinely have an ax to grind, and who knows, perhaps lack of inclusion just might be a part of the reason. Not much different than being the kid no one plays with at recess.
My old Scoutmaster, when living in Idaho, told me a family moved into his cul-de-sac and neighbors dropped by to welcome them. One woman baked a loaf of bread and gave it to the mother still warm and told her the ward meeting times. She replied with, "What's a ward?" The neighbor, realizing she wasn't one of them, grabbed the loaf of bread and left. Seriously! I asked if he was sure this wasn't somehow embellished, and he replied that was what happened the lady literally took her bread back!
As Latter-day Saints, do these stories infuriate you as they do me? Are we doing ourselves or the gospel any favors with this kind of behavior? While these may be extreme examples, the "I can't play with you because my parents say you're not Mormon" situations still exist.
One woman who was a Presbyterian told me she had to take her young children across town for play dates because they were the only non-LDS people in the neighborhood. Now I don't necessarily hear these things all the time, but occasionally is often enough, and I have heard my share. I've heard from others who have also felt accepted here. ... I could hear those comments all day.
I find it odd when members who have embraced the title of a "peculiar people" don't always accept that in others, especially in areas that are largely LDS. For those who have always lived in Utah, the "Utah Mormon" euphemism is truly a negative, and not just toward nonmembers, either. I experienced it in a different way upon moving back as a teenager after having left years prior as a toddler. Before we moved back, my father, who is a Utah native, was somewhat jokingly told by others that they hoped we kept our testimonies after we moved to Utah.
We came from an area with few Mormons — those who were knew everyone else who was. We weren't a lot different from others except we didn't smoke, drink and had "Sunday clothes" we wore once a week. Most friends were non-LDS. You did what you did because you wanted to, not because it was expected. Home and visiting teaching as well as collecting fast offerings weren't a walk through the neighborhood, but something that took miles of driving and several hours of your time.
- Responding to Trump, Clinton says he has 'no...
- 1st edition Book of Mormon sells for $52,500...
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- Picturing history: Historic Kirtland
- Man creates violence, responsible for ending...
- Mormon youth leader dies on trek outing in...
- Mormon youth leader dies on trek outing... 73
- Defending the Faith: The challenge... 29
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- Trump to top evangelicals:... 19
- 7 conservative Christians who are not... 11
- Responding to Trump, Clinton says he... 10
- LDS family stars in new TLC show,... 9
- Family of scholars: Utah family... 9


text:
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Call: 01491 836546
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Kerastase Fluide Purifiant provides regulating and detoxifying care for dandruff-prone scalps. This formula purifies, soothes and rebalances flaky scalps providing long-lasting elimination of dandruff. The scalp is left feeling refreshed while the hair is left feeling clean and naturally soft.
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text:
Free Conservation Lecture on Oiled Wildlife Rehabilitation
February 25, 2014 – Join us on Wednesday, March 12 at 7 p.m. to learn about wildlife rescue and rehabilitation during Sequoia Park Zoo's conservation lecture titled "When the Fuel Hits the Feathers: Oiled Wildlife Rescue in California ".
Humboldt State University is a member of the California Oiled Wildlife Care Network, a statewide collective of trained wildlife care providers, regulatory agencies, academic institutions, and wildlife organizations working to rescue and rehabilitate oiled wildlife in California. The network is recognized as a world leader in oil spill response, rescue, rehabilitation, and research, and is an outstanding example of what is possible when diverse institutions and organizations work together toward a common goal.
In this talk at the zoo, Tamar Danufsky, Museum Curator and Marine Wildlife Care Center Coordinator in the Department of Wildlife at HSU, will present information about the network and past oil spills on the North Coast. Ms. Danufsky will discuss how the rehabilitation process works, why it is appropriate to rehabilitate oiled wildlife, and what happens to the rehabilitated wildlife once it is returned to the wild after cleanup.
"Our continuing reliance on oil for fuel means we can expect more oil spills in the future. The groundbreaking oil spill response infrastructure we have in California allows us to effectively respond," says Danufsky. "I am looking forward to sharing the details of how we rescue oiled wildlife, and how the public can get involved."
In addition to managing the HSU's oiled wildlife response facility, Ms. Danufsky has curated the HSU Wildlife Department's Museum for the past 13 years. She received her Master's degree from HSU studying shorebirds on Humboldt Bay, and has participated in oiled wildlife response in Humboldt, Southern California, and the San Francisco Bay area. Before coming to Humboldt, Ms. Danufsky worked at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and has done field work with seabirds, raptors, blackbirds, black bears, and black beetles.
The talk will take place in the Zoo's classroom in the Secrets of the Forest building at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 12, and a reception will be held half an hour beforehand. There is no charge to attend, and both Zoo members and non-members are invited. Enter through the main Zoo gates.
For more information:
Contact: Gretchen Ziegler, Zoo Manager
Phone: 707-441-4227
E-mail: ten.o1466831793ozkra1466831793paiou1466831793qes@r1466831793egana1466831793mooz1466831793


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- About this Journal ·
- Abstracting and Indexing ·
- Aims and Scope ·
- Annual Issues ·
- Article Processing Charges ·
- Articles in Press ·
- Author Guidelines ·
- Bibliographic Information ·
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- Table of Contents
International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks
Volume 2013 (2013), Article ID 294967, 6 pages
Correction of Nonlinear Frequency Sweep in Frequency-Modulated Continuous-Wave Laser Range Sensor
1School of Information and Communications, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, 261 Cheomdan-gwagiro, Buk-gu, Gwangju 500-712, Republic of Korea
2Department of Information and Electronics Engineering, Mokpo National University, Yeongsan-ro, Cheonggye-myeon, Jeollanam-do, Muan-gun 1666, Republic of Korea
Received 1 February 2013; Revised 10 June 2013; Accepted 11 June 2013
Academic Editor: Tai-hoon Kim
Copyright © 2013 Soo-Yong Jung et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
We propose a linearization method for reducing the effect of nonlinear frequency sweep in a frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) based laser range sensor. In FMCW laser range sensors, nonlinear frequency sweep can severely degrade the measurement accuracy because it gives the system ambiguity when determining the target range. In general, voltage controlled oscillators (VCO) which are used for frequency modulation show nonlinear frequency sweep property even though the input voltage signal is a linear ramp signal. To solve this problem, we adopt an additional fixed delay structure to extract the nonlinearity and compensate it. The proposed linearization method has been worked out through the numerical process and the simulation, and this method effectively eliminates the nonlinear frequency sweep problem.
1. Introduction
Laser range sensors are remote distance sensing devices with typical applications, such as solid-target detections, 3D vision, localization, and robotics [1–3]. To determine the distance, projecting an optical signal onto an object and processing the reflected or scattered signal are performed in laser range sensors. Conventionally, pulsed time-of-flight (TOF), phase-shift measurement, and frequency-modulated continuouswave (FMCW) are considered as major techniques for laser range sensors [4]. Pulsed TOF range sensor determines the distance by measuring the round trip time of the optical pulse signal. This method provides high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and shows good performance; however high cost and large size are the drawbacks [5, 6]. Phase-shift range sensor determines the distance using phase difference between reference and reflected signals. Using this method, simple and low cost laser range sensor can be realized. However, intermediate frequency drift and influence of the crosstalk degrade the performance of the phase-shift technique [7, 8].
To avoid these problems, we focused on the FMCW laser range sensor. In an FMCW laser range sensor, a sinusoidal signal with a constant rate of frequency change is transmitted, and this signal is reflected by a target. The frequency difference between the transmitted and the reflected signals, called the beat frequency, contains the distance information. As long as the frequency sweep is linear, the beat frequency is focused at a single frequency, and the target distance can be easily extracted. However, in practice, the linear frequency sweep profile is not easy to obtain. If there is nonlinearity in the frequency sweep, the beat frequency is not focused at a single frequency, and it is difficult to determine the exact range [9–11]. There are several techniques for linearization of the frequency sweep, and most of them focused on the linearization of the voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) frequency sweep because it is the crucial nonlinearity source of the system. The techniques are mainly of two types: one is open-loop correction [12, 13] and the other one is closed-loop correction [14–16]. The open-loop correction method modifies the VCO tuning voltage properly to get a linear frequency sweep using a look-up table. However, since the frequency is controlled only by an open-loop system, inevitable frequency drifts, due to temperature, environmental conditions, aging, and so forth, cannot be compensated for. The closed-loop correction method adopts a phase locked loop (PLL) circuitry to linearize the frequency sweep. However, because PLLs are dynamic systems, any changes in the system input will cause the output not to follow immediately but to exhibit some transient behavior. Such errors in the output frequency will have a negative influence on the FMCW measurement result.
To solve these problems, we propose a method for correction of frequency-sweep nonlinearity in a signal processor instead of linearization of the VCO frequency sweep. For linearization, an additional fixed delay structure is adopted, and the frequency-sweep nonlinearity is extracted and used for compensation. We validate our linearization method with numerical analysis and computer simulation.
2. Nonlinearity Correction Method
In FMCW technique, a transmitter produces an FMCW signal, that is, a sinusoidal signal with a constant rate of frequency change. This signal is backscattered by a target and goes back to the emitter. Beat frequency which is frequency difference between transmitted signal and backscattered signal contains the distance information.
In intensity-modulated FMCW laser range sensor, a laser diode (LD) transmits an optical signal with direct modulation, and a VCO is adopted for frequency modulation. The output signal frequency of the VCO is controlled by input voltage. If the input voltage of VCO is a ramp signal, an optical signal with a constant rate of frequency increase is generated. This optical signal is backscattered by a target and goes back to a photo detector (PD) which can transfer optical signal to electrical signal. Using a mixer and a low pass filter (LPF), a signal with beat frequency is extracted. Then the distance of the target can be expressed as where is the round trip time of the optical signal, is the speed of light, is the beat frequency, is period of the ramp signal, and is frequency sweep range of the VCO. In third term of (1), , , and are known parameters, and the beat frequency, , is determined by the target distance. If the frequency sweep is linear, the beat frequency is constant as long as the target range is not changed. However, in practice an exact ramp-like frequency profile is not easy to obtain. If there is nonlinearity in the frequency sweep, it makes problem because the beat frequency is not constant, and it is difficult to find exact range.
To solve the nonlinear sweep problem, we propose equipping the FMCW laser range sensor with an additional fixed delay structure, as depicted in Figure 1.
As shown in Figure 1, a fixed delay structure is added for linearization. When a voltage ramp signal is given to the VCO, the angular frequency of the VCO output signal can be expressed as where is the initial angular frequency and means the tuning rate to be compensated due to nonlinearity. For simplicity, assuming , the following equation shows the phase of the VCO output signal: where is the initial phase. Then, the VCO output signal can be written as where is the amplitude of the VCO output signal. This signal is modulated to the laser diode and transmitted to the target. Practically, the LD output optical power is a nonlinear function of the input electrical signal. Although we can minimize the nonlinearity by modulating the input signal in the linear region of LD, the residual components can remain. The output from the LD is shown in (5) for a third-order nonlinearity, where is the optical modulation index, and and are device dependent nonlinearity coefficients [17]: where , and . Then, the reflected signal detected by PD is expressed as [18] where is the received optical signal, is responsivity of the PD, is constant of proportionality, is a mode number, is the target range, is a reflection coefficient, is the photosensitive area of the PD, FOV is a field of view, and is the round trip time of the transmitted signal. The VCO output signal and the reflected signal are multiplied through a mixer, and a signal with the beat frequency is obtained after LPF, expressed as
A frequency detector is used for detecting the frequency of the signal after LPF. A reciprocal frequency counter can be used as the frequency detector. Because the reciprocal frequency counter measures the period for one cycle of the waveform, it can support high resolution and very fast readings. Also, a Schmitt trigger circuit can be used at input stage of the frequency detector so that noise does not cause spurious edges. Because frequency is derivative of phase, the angular frequency to be detected is expressed as
As we can see in (8), if the tuning rate is constant, then the angular frequency difference, , is equal to the product of the round trip time and the tuning rate. Because can be detected by the frequency detector and the tuning rate is a known value, it is easy to find the round trip time, and we can extract the range of the target. However, usually, the frequency sweep of a VCO is not perfectly linear; that is, the tuning rate is not constant. Then, the beat frequency cannot give the exact round trip time.
To solve this problem, we added a fixed delay structure for obtaining the tuning rate. The frequency detector can detect the frequency difference between the VCO output and delayed output signal, expressed as where is the time delay in the fixed delay structure and is much smaller than the frequency sweep time of the ramp signal. In (9), can be detected by a frequency detector with the time delay. Thus, using the ordinary differential equation, the tuning rate, , can be calculated as
Because the time delay is much smaller than frequency sweep time of the ramp signal as mentioned above, is larger than in (10). Accordingly, the tuning rate can be
The derivative of the tuning rate can be obtained from (9) and expressed as
Using (8) and (12), we can obtain a quadratic equation for , which is expressed as
The solutions of (13) are expressed as
There are two solutions, and the solution in the detectable range is selected. The obtained round trip time is constant over the measurement time, lying between the maximum round trip time and the frequency sweep time. In (14), can be any value of the measurement time. The target range can be obtained using a simple relation between distance and time expressed as
3. Results and Discussion
We evaluate the proposed method using a computer simulation. The frequency sweep range and sweep time of a ramp signal are 500 MHz and 1 ms, respectively, and the measurement time slot is 0.2 to 1 ms. Figure 2 shows the simulation condition.
To evaluate the proposed method, we modeled a nonlinear frequency sweep and applied it to the FMCW laser range sensor. Figure 3 shows three kinds of frequency sweep patterns for each tuning rate.
We modeled one ideal linear and two kinds of nonlinear sweep patterns. Table 1 lists the tuning models.
When the target range is 30 m, the beat frequencies and obtained target range for each case are shown in Figures 4(a) and 4(b), respectively. As shown in Figure 4(a), when the frequency sweep is linear, the beat frequency is focused at a single frequency, 100 kHz, and the target range, 30 m, can be easily obtained. However, when the frequency sweep is nonlinear, it is difficult to extract the exact beat frequency, and the measurement accuracy is degraded. For case II, the obtained target range in the measurement time can vary between 15 and 34 m, and, for case III, the obtained target range can vary between 12 and 58 m, as depicted in Figure 4(b).
Two kinds of nonlinear frequency sweep patterns are applied in the proposed method. Figures 5(a) and 5(b) show the simulation results of the obtained target range plotted against the measurement time after linearization for case II and case III, respectively. As we can see that, in both results, the target range is almost constant over the measurement time and can be obtained successfully.
4. Conclusions
We have proposed a linearization method using an additional fixed delay structure in intensity-modulated FMCW laser range sensor. For correction of the nonlinear frequency sweep problem, a fixed structure was adopted to extract the tuning rate, and the target range was calculated using the obtained tuning rate. We modeled three kinds of frequency sweep patterns and applied them to the FMCW laser range sensor. When the frequency sweep was linear, the beat frequency was focused at a single frequency, and the target range was easily extracted. On the other hand, when the frequency sweep was nonlinear, there were multiple frequency components that could not extract the exact target range. From the proposed linearization method, the simulation results clearly showed that the proposed method effectively eliminates the nonlinear frequency sweep problem and improves the measurement accuracy.
This work was supported by Priority Research Centers Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2009-0093828), and by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Grant funded by the Korean government (MEST) (no. 2011-0017081).
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Ayan Mukherjee
22 Ayan Mukherjee Articles
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Yogen Shah
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Awards season has official begun with a stylish start. All eyes were on the fashionable ladies (and gents!) of the night and each stylish attendee featured looks more stunning than the next. While there were many notable looks on the red carpet, many starlets chose to sport a more relaxed glam look for tonight's festivities. Effortless and textured up-do's were seen throughout and I've rounded up the best up-do's of the evening.
Sarah Michelle Gellar
My favorite of the night, Sarah's voluminous, messy up-do wonderfully complimented her chic black and white Sachin + Babi Spring 2014 dress. Pulling hair up and away in a fuller look drew attention to her luxurious brown smoky eye and fresh faced beauty look.
Lucy Hale
Lucy's elegant yet graceful up-do appropriately fit the young star's style. A low, messy and modern bun was framed by loose waves parted in the middle. While a pulled back hairstyle may sometimes read too mature, the textured and unforced style made it more fresh and current.
Anna Faris
Anna makes the ponytail glamorous and chic once again. Brow-grazing fringe bangs and face-framing wisps highlighted her texturized ponytail. While the look still looked polished, a slightly backcombed crown made the otherwise simple style a bit more glam.
Allison Williams
GIRLS star, Allison Williams glimmered on the red carpet in a polished low ponytail. Known for her luxurious brunette locks, Allison chose to go for a sophisticated side parted, low style to set off her rich purple and cream dress. For an unexpected touch, long, dramatic side swept bangs framed the look.
Which hairstyles were your favorites?


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The biggest movie awards of the year have been handed out and "12 Years a Slave" received this year's highest honor, best picture. Like all the other best picture nominees, this movie was re-released in theaters in anticipation of the big night and in theaters, it has grossed more than $140 million. After finally seeing this movie, it is clear to see why such an honor was bestowed upon this movie.
This movie is the adaptation of the 1853 memoir of Solomon Northup, a New York free African American kidnapped and sold into slavery. The novel was adapted for the screen by John Ridley, who is known for "Red Tails" and "Three Kings", and which won him the Oscar this year for best adapted screenplay. Director Steve McQueen, a British filmmaker, created a visual, harsh realistic adaptation of Solomon's life that although did not win him a director Oscar win, overall it's what helped get this movie the best picture win. His win for the Academy Award for best picture made him the first African American filmmaker to ever win that honor.
Solomon Northup's story surely isn't unique during this time in pre-Civil War America. African Americans in the North could live as free men, while in the south they were slaves, bought and sold as property. In 1841, Northup was kidnapped in Washington DC and sold into slavery and being unable to produce "papers" proving who he was, he had no rights and suffered a horrible injustice. Chiwetel Ejiofor ("Children of Men" and "2012") presents a moving portrayal as a free man who loses everything and must fight not only to survive but hopefully one day be free again.
Northup ends up in Louisiana, being forced to use the name "Platt" and it is told that he is a runaway slave from Georgia. A plantation owner William Ford purchases Northup and he treats him moderately descent, although potentially deadly circumstances cause Ford to sell Northup to another plantation owner Edwin Epps. Epps (Michael Fassbender), unlike Ford, is a merciless plantation owner who beats his slaves should they not pick 200 pounds or more cotton a day. Epps distorts the Bible claiming such actions as beatings are biblically based.
Fassbender, known for "Inglourious Basterds" and "X-Men: First Class", delivers a chilling portrayal of Epps. He is mean, ruthless and heartless, treating all of his African American slaves with no dignity. Patsy (Lupita Nyong'o) is a hard working female slave who regularly picks 500 or more pounds of cotton a day and has the "favor" of Epps. Nyong'o won the Oscar for her portrayal of Patsy. Her character is constantly pushed to the limits by the work in the fields and the repeated rapes of her master at night. Nyong'o's portrayal of Patsy sheds light on the many struggles these female slaves of the time dealt with on a daily basis. Audiences struggle with her and Northup as they witness all of the harsh realities they had to endure simply to survive.
A powerful story and moving performances by all involved is what audiences continue to respond to with this movie. Audiences will be moved, outraged and astonished with the harsh reality of just how unfair conditions were during this time. Northup is just one representation of the time of a free man, kidnapped and forced into slavery. It makes one speculate of just how many other stories such as his existed during this time. History reminds us where we have been and sadly, slavery is a horrible event in the history of America. These movies, such as this, serve to remind us of where we have come from and just why exactly we would not want to go back to such a time.


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MOTHER is a photo book of Brian Felix's mother. Brian, armed with a camera, documented several special moments attempting to capture the moment. The photographs he's developed form a portrait of his mother at the time and hint at her future. Each photograph stands alone on a page.
I'm a photographer, adventure & people lover based in the greater New York City area. Rice Krispies & Raisin Bran are my favorite cereal. I love Snickers, Reeses & Bacon (not at the same time). I draw on the napkins at restaurants, I brake for yard sales & flea markets, I count the folds when I roll up my sleeves & read magazines back to front. I love music, photography, cycling & I'm in to making myself smarter, stronger & faster. I drink more beer than I'd like to admit, and a little bit less coffee. Nice to meet you.
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The Film:
In the last decade, there has been an explosive amount of young adult literature that has been brought to the screen. Of course, some of these have been better than others. On the higher end of the spectrum, you'll find book-to film adaptations like the "Harry Potter" and, so far, "The Hunger Games" series, while on the lower end you'll find shiny vampires. Now the trend continues with another series that I, and no doubt several others, had never heard of before it hit the screen, the "Divergent" trilogy, based on the books by Veronica Roth.
Set many years after a devastating war has destroyed much of the world, we find that Chicago has been walled off to protect themselves from what's outside the city. The residents have divided themselves into five different factions, each representing what kind of people they are: warrior, intelligent, selfless, etc. Beatrice (Shailene Woodley), whose family is mainly Abnegation (helpers of others), is getting closer to the day where she must decide which faction she wants to join. In order to help, everyone takes a test that determines which faction they are suited for, but in the end the choice is up to them. However, her test is inconclusive, meaning that her mind goes for several different choices. People like this (Divergents) are deemed dangerous, so she is told that it's best to keep it secret from everyone.
On the big day, she makes a rather rash decision to join the Dauntless (warrior/police) faction, which puts her on a path of intense training that will determine if she's fit to be a member. The danger here is that, if she is below a certain cutoff line, she will be thrown out of the faction, and thus become one of the "factionless," a group that pretty much sits around and does nothing. As her training progresses, her results raise a few red flags that cause others to become suspicious of who Beatrice (renamed "Tris") is. If she is discovered, it could mean her death, but she has little choice but to take matters into her own hands when she discovers that one of the factions is planning a major takeover of the government.
Obviously Roth took a lot of influence from Suzanne Collins' "Hunger Games" books (young female protagonist fighting against the powers-that-be in a future dystopia), just like Collins was heavily influenced by Koushun Takami's "Battle Royale" and its film adaptation (despite her completely laughable claim that she'd never heard of it), so there's not a lot here that we haven't already seen before. The only differences in source material are rather minor, so much so that they aren't what really affect one's enjoyment or dislike of the film.
What does affect it though is the way they are told. "Hunger Games" is paced relatively well, moving things along at a decent speed and doing a good job at keeping you engaged in the story. "Divergent" has major problems with this area. It struggles to keep the story on track and moving forward, diverting large amounts of time to a series of stretched-out training sequences that feel as though they take up half the movie on their own. All of this simply leads up to the standard confrontation with their enemies that leaves one with a very unsatisfied and indifferent feeling, which is not a good way to wrap things up when you're hoping to bring the audience back for two more films.
Another major issue it has to deal with is the fact that Tris is just not that interesting of a character. She makes the random choice of joining the Dauntless faction, despite having the obvious choice of lying low in the Abnegation faction in order to escape detection, so it's hard to root for her even from early on. What follows is the obligatory training sequence where we discover that she's stronger and more resourceful than she thought she was, which, as already mentioned, just leads to the bland finale. As the character we're supposed to be the most emotionally invested in, she doesn't evoke very much sympathy, mainly because she feels like nothing but a stand-in "young female hero." We should be with her every step of the way, cheering her on as she tries to take down the bad guys, but given that she just doesn't do very much, it becomes rather hard to do so.
In the end, unfortunately we must add this to the lower end of the young adult literature adaptations. On the whole, it just feels extremely banal, probably because "Hunger Games" has been doing nearly the same thing (and doing it better) recently. That's not to say that a similar story couldn't work if it were told well, but the problem is that it's not told well. There are large portions of it that could have been trimmed down considerably, which would have helped make it a much tighter film, instead of allowing the audience to lose interest as it wanders about. However, it doesn't look like the studio is allowing these hindrances to stop them from moving forward (i.e. it made some money) as the next book is already being adapted. I suppose all we can do now is hope that it gets better from here.
"Divergent" arrives on Blu-ray in a 2.40:1, 1080p High Definition transfer of excellent quality. Despite much of the film being somewhat dark, the picture remains perfectly sharp throughout the 139-minute runtime. On the other hand, the 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio is extremely soft, so a large volume adjustment is needed in order to hear the dialogue at an acceptable level. However, as usual, once this is done, you are treated to a pretty good audio track that has little to complain about. Overall, there's nothing major here to hinder your experience in either area.
Special Features:
Audio Commentary with Director Neil Burger: A commentary track from the director that shows that he doesn't really have anything interesting to say about the film, so you can easily skip it.
Audio Commentary with Producers Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher: These two have even less to say about the film than Burger, so this is easily skippable as well.
Bringing Divergent to Life: A fascinating 40-minute look behind the scenes at the making of the film that features interviews with cast, crew, and the author. Definitely worth taking a look at.
Faction Before Blood: An intriguing featurette that has the cast and crew discussing the world that the film is set in. Another one that's worth watching.
Deleted Scenes: About five minutes of deleted scenes that don't add anything to the film, so they're not particularly worth seeing.
"Divergent" is a banal experience that suffers from a stretched-out plot and uninteresting characters. Fans of the books may be able to take away a little more from the film, but everyone else will likely find themselves constantly checking their watch as the 139-minute runtime drags on. Ironically, a little divergence from the predictable plot would have done wonders for it. There's not a single minute where you can't tell exactly where the film is going, and for that, it becomes just another forgettable cinematic experience, one that won't have you anxious to find out what happens next in the trilogy any time soon.
Score: 2.5/5
Available on Blu-ray and DVD starting tomorrow.
Recent Blu-ray/DVD releases: Noah, Dom Hemingway, Transcendence, The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, Cesar Chavez, Rio 2, Under the Skin, Open Grave, Deadly Eyes, Jodorowsky's Dune, Lake Placid, Nymphomaniac, Afflicted, House of Cards: Season Two, The Lego Movie, Ernest & Celestine, 13 Sins, Joe, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Tim's Vermeer, Alan Partridge, RoboCop (2014), Alexander: The Ultimate Cut,
Now playing in theaters: Get on Up, How to Train Your Dragon 2
Follow me on Twitter @BeckFilmCritic.


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The TOP 3 HABITS THAT MOTIVATE BURGLARS ARE:
- Finding – (Unlocked Doors & Window).
- Finding (Valuable Left in Plain View)
- After Commit A Burglary, Going Back To That Same Neighborhood & Finding More Residents & Business in the Habit of Leaving Their Doors & Window Unlocked & Having Their Valuables in Plain View.
When the 3 situations above exist, you will find burglaries increasing.
Whenever you remove the 3 situations above, you will find burglaries decreasing.
When we post on Social Media for an area to beware of potential burglaries, we are NOT saying that that particular area is a bad area. NO. We are only Alerting the Community that certain Criminal are being Motivated by the 3 circumstances listed above.
Please Be Alert & In The Habit of:
- Locking Your Doors & Windows
- Keeping Your Valuables Concealed & Secure
- Asking Your Neighbors to Do The Same


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Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper's bell of an approaching looter.
Ayn Rand (1905 - 1982)
Source: Atlas Shrugged, 1957
Contributed by: Zaady
So you think that money is the root of all evil? Money is a tool of exchange, which can't exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil? . . . Not an ocean of tears nor all the guns in the world can transform those pieces of paper in your wallet into the bread you will need to survive tomorrow. Those pieces of paper, which should have been gold, are a token of honor. . . . Or did you say it's the love of money that's the root of all evil? To love a thing is to know and love it's nature. To love money is to know and love the fact that money is the creation of the best power within you, and your passkey to trade your effort for the effort of the best among men.
Source: Francisco d'Anconia, in Atlas Shrugged, 1957
You're not sorry. You could've been here if you made the effort. But when did you ever make an effort for anybody but yourself? You're not interested in any of us or in anything we do. You think if you pay the bills, that's enough, don't you? Money! That's all you know. And all you give us is money. Have you even given us any time?
Source: (Atlas Shrugged 40)
But you say that money is made by the strong at the expense of the weak? What strength do you mean? It is not the strength of guns or muscles. Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think. Then is money made by the man who invents a motor at the expense of those who did not invent it? Is money made by the intelligent at the expense of the fools? By the able at the expense of the incompetent? By the ambitious at the expense of the lazy? Money is made - before it can be looted or mooched - made by the effort of every honest man, each to the extent of his ability. An honest man is one who knows that he can't consume more than he has produced.
Source: (Atlas 383)
Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.
Or did you say it's the love of money that's the root of all evil? To love a thing is to know its nature. To love money is to known and love the fact that money is the creation of the best power within you, and your passkey to trade your effort for the effort of the best among men. It's the person who would sell his soul for a nickel, who is loudest in proclaiming his hatred of money - and he has good reason to hate it. The lovers of money are willing to work for it. They know they are able to deserve it.
Source: (Atlas 384)
. . . there's nothing of any importance in life - except how well you do your work. Nothing. Only that. Whatever else you are, will come from that. It's the only measure of human value. All the codes of ethics they'll try to ram down your throat are just so much paper money put out by swindlers to fleece people of their virtues. The code of competence is the only system of morality that's on a gold standard
Source: (Atlas 98)
I am rich and proud of every penny I own. I made my money by my own effort, in free exchange and through the voluntary consent of every man I dealt with - the voluntary consent of those who employed me when I started, the voluntary consent of those who work for me now, the voluntary consent of those who buy my product. I shall answer all the questions you are afraid to ask me openly. Do I wish to pay my workers more than their services are worth to me? I do not. Do I wish to sell my product for less than my customers are willing to pay me? I do not. Do I wish to sell it at a loss or give it away? I do not. If this is evil, do whatever you please about me, according to whatever standards you hold. These are mine. I am earning my own living, as every honest man must. I refuse to accept as guilt the fact of my own existence and the fact that I must work in order to support it. I refuse to accept as guilt the fact that I am able to do it and do it well. I refuse to accept as guilt the fact that I am able to do it better than most people - the fact that my work is of greater value than the work of my neighbours and that more men are willing to pay me. I refuse to apologize for my ability - I refuse to apologize for my success - I refuse to apologize for my money.
Source: (Atlas 446-7)
Money alone is absolutely good, because it is not only a concrete satisfaction of one need in particular; it is an abstract satisfaction of all.
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 - 1860)
I'm proud to be paying taxes in the U.S. The only thing is I could be just as proud for half the money.
Arthur Godfrey (1903 - 1983)
Copyright © 2016 Gaiam, Inc.


text:
Why does CO2 keep leaking around my keg lid?
There is a very simple way to fix this. Turn the lid around. Keg lids are more like an egg then an oval. One part is wider than the other, but it can be very difficult to tell. Make sure that you have your regulator turned up to at least to 10 PSI before doing anything. Kegs will not seal unless there is at least 10 PSI forced onto the parts (lid, poppet valves, etc.) If that is not the problem then we need to make sure the lid is on correctly. The nice thing is there is a certain way to tell every time if you have the lid on correctly.
This is the way to tell if you have the lid on correctly:
- Face the keg with the gas 'in' post to your right.
- Insert lid into opening.
- Pull lid handle so that it points toward you when sealed.
Note: If this does not work take a look at the condition of the o-ring. If it is cracked, or has dips, the lid may not seal correctly. Replace if needed.


text:
All In A Day's Work
Court Square Theater To Host 24 Hour Project
Bourbon Barrel Congress, a band with an old-time, bluegrass feel, is one group slated to perform during Court Square Theater's 24 Hour Project, which is slated to begin at 5 p.m. Jan. 24. (Photo by Courtesy Photo)
Shekinah, a local a capella group, will also perform during the 24 Hour Project, inspired by an event Michael Weaver attended in Portland, Ore. (Photo by Courtesy Photo)
Chris Howdyshell will be among area artists slated to perform during the 24 Hour Project Jan 24-25 at Court Square Theater. (Photo by Courtesy Photo)
While residing in Portland, Ore., in 2011, Harrisonburg native Michael Weaver witnessed something he had never before seen while at the annual Time-Based Arts Festival: a solo performer staging an…
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text:
Oscar Lee Dragon
Position: RB
Height: 6-0 Weight: 214 lbs.
Born: March 2, 1950 in Madera, CA
High School: Chowchilla
College: Arizona St. (school history) (Dragon college stats)
Drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the 17th round (423rd overall) of the 1972 NFL Draft.
Weighted Career AV (100-95-...): 0 (15060th overall since 1950)
Other SR Links: College Football at Sports-Reference.com
Output includes all passing, rushing, and receiving plays.See all Oscar Dragon Super Bowl plays using the Super Bowl Play Finder


text:
The author began her writing/publishing career in Chicago, where she lived for 30 years before moving to San Francisco. She has worked in all aspects of magazine, newspaper, book, and technical documentation publishing. Joyce has a degree in Creative Writing from Columbia College, Chicago and is a graduate of the Master's Program in Creative Writing at San Francisco State. Her Blurb book library continues to grow.
Comment posted.
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blooming Published June 26, 2012
Water Side Published September 29, 2010
Love and other confusing stories Published July 25, 2010
Elocution by Lillian Heslip Published March 06, 2010
Seeing San Francisco Published January 26, 2010
Live ~ in Chicago Published December 13, 2009
*Mind Jazz* Published December 27, 2008


text:
Controversy in the courts
Fees, and particularly revenue sharing arrangements,
are the focal point of the recent spate of lawsuits
brought about by, among other law firms, the St.
Louis-based firm Schlichter, Bogard & Denton.
So far that firm has filed suit on behalf of employees
from more than a dozen Fortune 500 companies,
including General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman,
United Technologies, Lockheed, Caterpillar, John
Deere, Unisys, Boeing and International Paper.
The companies targeted by the law firm generally
have 401(k) plan assets in excess
of $2 billion.
It would be nice to think that altruism is the law firm's underlying motive for engineering these lawsuits. Plan participants deserve to pay the lowest fees possible to ensure a decent retirement. But Stephen Saxon, an attorney with Groom Law Group, paints a different picture.
"They're not an ERISA firm," he said at the ASPPA 401(k) Summit. "They won a ton of money in asbestos litigation. They won all these asbestos cases and they're looking around for the next area and they found it in the ERISA area."
It's clear that the issue of 401(k) fees is upfront and center in various government forums. But there seem to be two schools of thought about how much you and I need to know about fees. If it's so hard for service providers to explain fees to plan sponsors, how in the world can anyone explain fees to simple folk like you and me?
Focus on fees to participants
This concern will be addressed this spring, when the Department of Labor is expected to propose new disclosure rules for plan participants. At long last, we may be able to get a handle on the expenses in our company retirement plans. Or maybe not. Some people argue against too much disclosure.
"What I want when I look at my
401(k) plan, if I do at all, I look
at net investment performance," says Saxon.
"I don't look at what the custodians get
paid, the record keepers get paid. I don't look
at what the investment managers get paid. I'm
looking at whether I'm making money. Are these
funds performing well or not? And so requiring
loads and loads of financial information about
all these fees separately, each separate fee disclosed,
would put folks in an information-overload situation."
But what if, like right now, we're facing a volatile market situation and our investments are heading south? How much of this can we attribute to a declining Dow and how much to burdensome fees? At this point we have no way of knowing whether we're getting fleeced by fees or by turbulent market forces.
Reish argues in favor of more fee disclosure rather than less. "I can't imagine that openness and honesty would ever result in a problem -- unless people are overcharging for their services. While that would be a problem for them, it would be good for plan fiduciaries and participants to have that information and, informed in that fashion, to reduce the fees and costs of the plan."
Longtime financial journalist Barbara Mlotek Whelehan
earned a certificate of specialization in financial planning. If
you have a comment or suggestion about this column, write to Boomer


text:
How to JailBreak iOS 6 on iPhone 4 iPod Touch 4G
For Apple Lovers here is the Easy to Follow Steps to JaiBreak iOS 6 into iPhone and iPod Touch Devices . This is very simple , but if you're a newbie for doing this , make sure you take backup of your devices.
>> Apple announced iOS for iPhone , iPad ,iPod Devices
Also , Before you doing this process , Keep the Battery Fully charged on your iPhone / iPod Devices .
Things Needed :
– RedSnow for Mac : Download Here
– RedSnow for Windows : Download Here
– IPSW : Download here
Steps to JailBreak iOS 6.0 Beta 4
1. After you downloaded the Redsn0w App from the above link , Run the program as the Administrator .
NOTE: For Windows Vista or Windows 7 users , Just right click Redsn0w and set compatibility to windows XP Sp2 and then run it as the administrator .
2. Click " Extras ", followed by " Select IPSW " and point Redsn0w to your iOS 6 IPSW ( Download from Apple's Developer portal : http://developer.apple.com/ )
3. Back to main screen , click "Jailbreak"
Enter DFU mode by following these easy steps:
Hold down the home and power button together for a total of 10 seconds , After ten seconds , now continue holding home button alone for about 20 seconds .
4. Now ,from the Screen Select install SSH and other options except "Install custom bundles" .
5. It'll take few min to complete , wait untill it finish and reboot .
6. Now Close Redsn0w ( Exit ) and Run Redsn0w Again , go to "Extras" on the very first screen , click "Select ISPW" and browse for your iOS 6 IPSW and " JailBreak " followed by reboot and Enter DFU mode .
If you want to reboot your iOs devices , you have to follow the above steps each time .
Video Tutorial for : How to Jailbreak Apple iOS 6 on iPhone & iPod
Thats it ! You've now Successfully Jailbreaked iOS 6.0 Beta 04 on iPhone 4 , iPhone 3S and on iPod Touch 4G Devices .
tags: how to jailbreak apple iphone,steps to jailbreak ios 6 on iphone 4,ipod
Hope you like it, and have something to day ? Share it via comments 🙂
You may also read :
– Apple iPhone 5 Features and Price Details
– How to Root Samsung Galaxy S3 Mobile using CWM
Don't forgot to share this on Facebook , Twitter & Google + .


text: Apr 10, 2014 16:06 Discovery says Wallenda's next walk is in Chicago Discovery says Wallenda's next walk is in Chicago This June 23, 2013, file photo released by Discovery shows Nik Wallenda walking across the Grand Canyon for Discovery Channel's "Skywire Live With Nik Wallenda" at Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. (AP Photo/Discovery, Tiffany Brown, File) DAVID BAUDER| AP Television Writer April 3, 2014; 11:19 a.m. Comments NEW YORK (AP) — Nik Wallenda is taking his high-wire act to the Windy City. The Discovery network said Thursday the aerialist will attempt a tightrope walk in Chicago this fall, probably in November. Discovery will televise the event live, just as it did last year when Wallenda's walk across the Grand Canyon area of Arizona drew more than 10 million viewers. Discovery President Eileen O'Neill would not say exactly where Wallenda will walk as the network is still involved in the permit process. Chicago is home to the 1,451-foot Willis Tower, the nation's second-highest building. Like other networks, Discovery has seen the business advantages of high-profile live events. Get The Advocate in your inbox Subscribe


text:
- Location:
- Party Albums:
- 5
Top of the Morning--A St. Patrick's Day Brunch (29 photos)
Sign In or Register Now
Top of the morning to you! This St. Patrick's Day brunch was so fun to put together and
serve. Green and gold were the natural colors to build the party
around. I used a bunch of shades of green when designing the
printables so that I'd have a lot of flexibility when picking out
decor and food to match them. And of course--GOLD. You can't have a
St. Patrick's Day party without gold!
While I'm not sure exactly what "top of the morning" means, it made
for a fun theme to plan foods around. My goal was to keep the foods as
dye-free as possible--I wasn't too keen on dumping a bottle of green
food coloring into the pancakes. Spinach was an easy way to color the
pancakes naturally and sneak some veggies into the kids at the same
time. The green bell pepper shamrocks and golden scrambled eggs were
a bright and delicious addition to the menu. The fruit salad was a big
hit--we used kiwi, green grapes and pineapple. Instead of dyeing the
rice krispie treats and homemade marshmallows, I opted for bright
sprinkles (in my mind, that made them slightly less dyed!) I was a bit
smitten with the pretzels--the chocolate pots of gold and shamrocks
were too cute. My pride and joy were the macarons--lots of practice
went into making the darling little shamrocks and sweet lemon circles.
This is such a fun and quick party to put together! The backdrop cost
less than $10 to make and really brightened the space. The food can be
as easy or complicated as you want. Store bought rice krispies and
marshmallows are just as fun as homemade one and the seasonal Easter
candy has lots of green and gold options this time of year. The
printables are all available in our Etsy shop for instant download.


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Horton Kirby, Kent
Historical Description
Horton Kirby, a village and a parish in Kent. The village stands on the river Darent, 1 mile SSE of Famingham station on the L.C. & D.R., and 4 ½ miles SSE of Dartford. It has a post office under Dartford; money order and telegraph office, South Darenth. Acreage of parish, 2840; population, 1551. The manor was held at Domesday by Anschitill de Eos, under Bishop Odo; remained with the family of De Eos till the time of Lora, called the " Lady of Horton," and went by marriage with her to the family of Kirkby, who previously owned adjacent lands. . Horton Castle was founded soon after the Conquest by the De Eos, was rebuilt in the time of Edward I. by Eoger de Kirkby, seems to have been either rebuilt again or largely restored and altered at a subsequent period, and is now represented by very considerable remains. Franks is a fine Tudor edifice, was built in the time of Elizabeth by Alderman Bathurst, and has been restored at great expense. Extensive paper mills are at South Darenth. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury; gross value, £230 with residence. The church is mainly Early English, but has a modern tower; is cruciform, with the tower rising from the intersection; has arcades round the interior of the transepts, and contains some remains of Roman pavement An Anglo-Saxon burying-ground was discovered at South Darenth in 1872. A refuge home for boys was built-in 1867 at a cost of £23, 000.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Old maps of Horton Kirby are available on the old-maps.co.uk site, and a current map is available on the Streetmap.co.uk site.
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Kent newspapers online:
- Kent & Sussex Courier
- Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald
- Dover Express
- Kentish Gazette
- Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald
- Kentish Chronicle
- Maidstone Telegraph
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Kent, 1619 is available on the Heraldry page, as is also The Visitation of Kent, 1663-68.


text:
College Hockey:Raiders keep on rolling
Saturday's game between Colgate and St. Lawrence featured two teams heading in the opposite direction. Both the red-hot Raiders and struggling Saints kept going their respective ways, as sophomore Kyle Baun's first collegiate hat trick extended Colgate's unbeaten streak to seven games, and dropped St. Lawrence's skid to nine games without a win.
The win moved Colgate into a tie for second place with idle Quinnipiac. The Raiders' seven-game unbeaten streak is tied with travel-partner Cornell for the third-best in the nation, trailing only Minnesota and Boston College. Colgate hosts Union and travels to Quinnipiac next month, two games that should have significant implications for the top of the standings.
Rivals take it to another level
Union's 4-3 win over Harvard Friday moved the Dutchmen ahead of Quinnipiac for sole possession of first place in ECAC Hockey. But that was a mere footnote by the end of the weekend, as the end of the annual Mayor's Cup with Rensselaer dissolved into a massive brawl once the final whistle sounded.
Videos of the incident showed that shoving started as soon as the Engineers won a last-second faceoff in their zone to seal a 2-1 victory over the Dutchmen and escalated as Rensselaer players came off their bench to celebrate.
Referees handed out 125 minutes worth of penalties after the game, including game disqualifications to Union's Matt Bodie and Eli Lichtenwald and Rensselaer's Mike Zalewski and Luke Curadi. Those penalties come with an automatic one-game suspension.
Dutchmen coach Rick Bennett and RPI coach Seth Appert had to be restrained by officials and members of the teams and coaching staffs later. That scuffle appeared to have been touched off by a shove from Bennett. Check out videos and more here.
Bennett was suspended two games by Union, while a spokesperson for ECAC Hockey said the league was reviewing video of the incident as well as talking to game officials and would hand out any additional discipline early this week.
With Bennett suspended, assistant coach Joe Dumais will coach the Dutchmen on their North Country road trip next weekend. Bennett will not travel with the team.
It's a shame this incident marred a much-needed win by struggling RPI team that ended the Engineer's ten-game losing streak against Union. I don't pretend to know the ins and outs of both programs, but both Bennett and Appert seem to run things the right way, and both are professional and accessible when dealing with the media. Each apologized after the game. Still, it was an embarrassing incident for both teams.
It's also never a good sign when you make Deadspin.
League race shaping up?
There's still nearly a month let in the regular season, but several different tiers of teams are starting toform. Eight ECAC teams have an overall record of .500 or better, with the exception of St. Lawrence, Princeton, Dartmouth and Harvard.
Quinnipiac and Union are the front-runners for the top two spots. After that, the final two first-round bye positions are up for grabs. Colgate appears to have forced itself into the picture for a top-four spot, while someone from the group of Clarkson, Yale or Cornell will likely take the last one. Brown might be a sleeper team for a top-four spot, but it looks more likely the Bears will finish somewhere fifth through ninth, which would still be good enough to give them home ice in the first round for the second time in as many years.
They'll probably be joined by Rensselaer, who was picked first in the media preseason poll. The Engineers rebounded with a pair of wins this weekend, but likely have too much ground to make up for a first-round bye. Barring a late-season surge, Dartmouth, Princeton, Harvard and St. Lawrence should be on the road for the playoffs.
The following is a self-policing forum for discussing views on this story. Comments that are derogatory, make personal attacks, are abusive, or contain profanity or racism will be removed at our discretion. USCHO.com is not responsible for comments posted by users. Please report any inappropriate or offensive comments by clicking the "Flag" link next to that comment in order to alert the moderator.
Please also keep "woofing," taunting, and otherwise unsportsmanlike behavior to a minimum. Your posts will more than likely be deleted, and worse yet, you reflect badly on yourself, your favorite team and your conference.


text:
It wasn't that there were no people, but the people who
were tended to be in cars rather than in person. So the
streets were void of life, be that in a city or out in the
I am a photographer and a writer of fiction. I am of German origin living in London and am fascinated by the American Southwest. My stories are about people and my pictures are about expectations. http://marcusbastel.com
Comment posted.
mikejcdm says Very nice!
posted at 05:21PM Sep 14 PST
kelm_rose says
Thanks for your comments, I live in London and cycle everywhere so I am fully aware of the number of people maybe that is why i get so fascinated about those open spaces.
And yes it is on Tucson, both front and back cover are Tucson and i will be there again in April. Looking forward to it.
posted at 11:39PM Mar 15 PST
runningwild says you are taking some good pictures but they are of the countryside, what you are saying about cars is having a major impact on philosophy for development of cities in europe, where many now have pedestrian zones, no car days, increased use of public transport .. basically in europe we havee twice the number of people in half the space ...
posted at 10:17PM Mar 15 PST
jccushma says is that tucson, i reside in the old pueblo and that looks very familiar, couple of great pictures in there
posted at 07:37PM Mar 15 PST
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Escape 2013 Published December 10, 2013
Showcase 2011 Published March 18, 2012
A Cross Section Published March 24, 2011
But where are all the people (Softcover) Published March 17, 2011


text:
Craving Conquered!
I was absolutely craving Linguine alla Vongole (linguine with clams) last night. I don't know why, but sometime at around 3 P.M. the image of lovely clams, nestled in a pile of lovely pasta, covered in copious amounts of wine and garlic wouldn't stop nagging me. In fact, at 3:30 P.M., a colleague and I had a half hour long conversation about how most recipes skimp on the garlic and wine. We followed up that conversation with delightful stories of our local fish mongers... I love fellow foodies wherever they may be hiding.
Thankfully, the craving was easily fixed. In fact, besides the clams, I had everything at home at the ready. I'm guessing you might, too. Along with the pasta, we had a lovely fresh Caprese salad (tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper), and loaf of Italian bread (how else were you planning on soaking up all that amazing left over garlicky wine sauce?) It was the perfect warm weather meal and the next time we have people over, it's what I'll be making. All I'll need is some Gelato and fresh berries for dessert.
Feel free, as always, to make this recipe your own. More garlic? Sure. More wine? Yup. Crushed red pepper flakes? Go for it.
Linguine alla Vongole
- 1 lb linguine
- 8 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- Clams (2 dozen large, or 2 lbs smaller varieties like Manila, or even cockles)
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1/3 cup clam juice
- 1 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
- 2 tbs butter (or the "fake" stuff, like Smart Balance)
- 2 tbs olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup flour (for clams only)
- Fill a large bowl with 1/2 cup flour and very cold water. Let the clams soak in the bowl for 15-30 minutes. They will suck in the flour and spit out any grit or sand. This works with mussels, too.
- Meanwhile, set a large pot of salted water to boil. Slice the garlic and chop the parsley, set aside. Heat oil in heavy bottom pot, like dutch oven, add garlic and sautee until cooked through but not browned. Add wine, clam juice, and half the parsley; cook until boiling.
- Rinse and scrub the clam shells very, very well to rid them of any flour, grit, and sand (there is nothing worse then grit in your pasta). While pasta is cooking, place clams in pot and cover, shaking the covered pot gently every once in a while to help open clams. Cook the pasta about one minute less than you normally would and drain.
- Once clams have opened, place pasta in the sauce pot, add the butter, salt and pepper to your liking, and cook for about one minute or so, stirring everything together. Serve immediately. Remember to have that bread handy to soak up the left over sauce!
Absolutely one of my favourite dishes to make too! Must try this version, as it looks delicious!
Oh! You've made me a happy girl today, Duchess!!! I've wanted to make this dish for years but wasn't brave enough. I'm scared of seafood for some reason. But you've inspired me. I can almost taste that heavenly, garlicky sauce.
I second "Rambling Tart." Thanks for making this seems straightforward. I'm gonna do it!
Linguini with clams is how my dad judges every Italian restaurant. If it's not amazing, the restaurant is no good.
>Hello Duchess,We've selected you as our Foodista Food Blog of the Day for this May 24, 2011! Your blog for Linguine alla Vongole will be featured on the Foodista homepage for 24 hours. Since you are now a part of the Foodista Featured Blogger of The Day Community, we've created a special badge for you to display proudly on your blog sidebar. I couldn't find your email on your blog to send you the access code for the special badge, but I want to make sure you get it if you are interested. Please send me an email and I'll send it right away.We are really enjoying your blog and look forward to seeing your recipes, tips and techniques on Foodista! If you would not like to be recognized on Foodista please let me know and I will remove your blog from our queue.Cheers,firstname.lastname@example.com
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text:
First,hope to be long and useful DC forum participant.
My question is,I have several different 380 acp manufacturers,no choice get what you can get. I've fired all but Wolf and Blazer TMJ in my Sig p238. I'd like thought's from those who may have tried them thanks for any ideas.


text:
TUCSON – The Arizona softball team returns to action this weekend when it hosts the Fall Round Robin at Hillenbrand Stadium in its penultimate action of the fall.
UA welcomes Fort Lewis, Eastern Arizona and Scottsdale Community College for the two-day, five-game event.
Arizona competes in a doubleheader on Saturday, Oct. 26 beginning at 3:00 p.m. PDT. UA concludes the round robin with Scottsdale Community College on Sunday, Oct. 27 at 2:00 p.m. PDT.
The Cats went 5-0 in the fall-opening Arizona Fall Invitational, outscoring their opponents 63-6 in the process. Junior catcher Chelsea Goodacre hit eight home runs in 15 at-bats in the invitational while batting .867 and driving in 24 runs.
The games are free of charge and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. The scheduled times below may change based on the length of the previous contests. Follow @UA_Softball on Twitter for updates regarding timing of the games.
Fall Round Robin
Saturday, October 26
1:00 p.m. Eastern Arizona vs. Fort Lewis
3:00 p.m. ARIZONA vs. Eastern Arizona
5:00 p.m. ARIZONA vs. Fort Lewis
Sunday, October 27
12:00 p.m. Scottsdale Community College vs. Fort Lewis
2:00 p.m. ARIZONA vs. Scottsdale Community College


text:
Welcome to my website and thanks for dropping by!
This is about my interest in visual deep sky astronomy and has all kinds of stuff like observations, sketches, my astronomy travels, the odd article or two plus links to other astronomy websites. It's always 'work in progress' so please keep coming back.
You can find out more about me on the 'About' page but, in short, I live on the Isle of Wight, just off the coast of southern England, I am an avid deep sky observer, I use an 18 inch f/4.3 dob which is my main scope, plus an 8 inch f/6 and I also do a bit of solar observing.
Latest update 22nd April 2014 – visit to Siding Spring Observatory added to the blog.
2014 Observing sessions page added. 'Australia 2014′ added to Travels.
29th April 2014 – Removed Twitter link as I'm no longer on Twitter
Blog (usually!) updated more regularly.


text:
Q I'm thinking of starting a business on my own, can you please run through the different ways in which I can do this?
A Hugh Mulley, Associate Solicitor, Debenhams Ottaway responds.
There are two main ways of starting a business on your own, either setting up as a sole trader, or trading through a limited company. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Sole Trader:
The quickest and easiest way of getting started is as a sole trader. If you are a sole trader you are the business and the business' income will be treated as your income.
Advantages: other than registering as self employed with HMRC there are few formalities in getting started.
Disadvantages: (a) because you are the business, you are personally responsible for all of its debts and liabilities. If there is a problem with the business, you could be sued personally; (b) in some cases you may have less credibility than if you traded through a limited company; and (c) because the business' income is treated as your income, you may be unable to arrange your tax affairs as advantageously as if you traded through a limited company.
Limited Company:
If you set up a limited company (generally referred to as a "company"), whilst the company will be exclusively owned and controlled by you, you and the company will be separate legal "entities".
Advantages: (a) your responsibility for the company's debts and liabilities will be limited to the amount of money that you have invested in the company; (b) in some cases trading through a company may give you more credibility than trading as a sole trader; and (c) trading through a company may give you an opportunity to arrange your tax affairs more advantageously than if you traded as a sole trader.
Disadvantages: (a) there is more administration and paperwork required to set up and run a company, therefore running costs will be higher; and (b) as a company director you will have certain legal obligations which you will need to be aware of.