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Recap: 'The X Factor' Final 4 - Performances
It's Final 4 time on "The X Factor."
But really, if we're being honest, it's time for the Top 2 -- Carly Rose Sonenclar and Tate Stevens haven't let anybody else in since voting began -- and then Emblem 3 and then, somewhere in the distance, Fifth Harmony. The stratification in this "X Factor" season was established early and other than the occasional minor blip -- Vino Alan's elimination was no more or less random than how high he'd be polling previously -- nothing has changed. It was a fantastic idea for "X Factor" to reveal vote ranking, but it was also a horrible idea. Everybody wants to believe that voting on these shows is fluid and that one great performance can turn somebody from an underdog to a star, but that probably isn't the case at all.
So what difference could Wednesday's show possibly make? Do we really think that Tate and Carly Rose can be displaced in the finale?
Let's see how the performances go...
8:03 p.m. ET. Only three acts are advancing tomorrow. But really, that means only one act is being eliminated.
8:04 p.m. Poor Demi. No more singers. Lucky America. No more Cece Frey.
8:05 p.m. Mario Lopez has instituted a "leaderboard blackout." No standings tomorrow night.
8:07 p.m. And we also have a performance blackout. Or at least we're getting no performances before our first ad break.
8:10 p.m. "Glee" is doing "It's a Wonderful Life" tomorrow? Ugh.
8:11 p.m. Two performances apiece tonight: One is a contestant's choice and the other is... Kinda a contestant's choice.
Singer: TATE STEVENS
Song: "Bonfire"
My Take: Wow. That's a lot of fake tires bouncing around behind Tate on the videos screens. A tire fire is not a bonfire. Ask Springfield. Ah, there's the gouts of fire, too. I like how L.A. Reid tried advising Tate to go higher and show more range, pretty much moving that he hasn't listened to Tate all season long. His voice goes where it goes and where it won't go, he drops the melody an octave. And this particular song is another example of Tate working comfortably within his five-or-six note range. It's a good, well-executed up-tempo country performance that has been arranged to avoid any of his potential vocal liabilities. You can hear Tate cut three or four higher notes off early because he just can't hit and sustain those notes. And it doesn't matter. Because Tate's fans aren't looking for him to be Bruno Mars. They're looking for him to be pretty much exactly what he was.
The Judges Say: Britney doesn't think it was Tate's best. The crowd boos. Demi Lovato disagrees and calls it a winning performance. Simon congratulates Tate for not singing something mushy, calling it one of Tate's best performances. Simon adds that Tate looks like a man who believes he can win. "It was the most fun I've had since I've been doing this show," L.A. Reid says. Britney leans over to display her cleavage and says something about what she wanted to see.
Singer: CARLY ROSE SONENCLAR
Song: "Your Song"
My Take: Awww... Tate sang his song for his friends. Carly Rose is singing her song for her dad. I bet she's going to sing it well. Carly Rose spent the past couple weeks singing newer songs to try to convince the judges that she's contemporary. This is Carly Rose returning to her Old Soul roots. She's been so dedicated to showing how big her voice is, while this is about texture and phrasing. This is an entirely new arrangement/cover for me, not beholden to the original at all. Do I think this is really the sort of song that any sane person would put on an album released by a $5 million new 13-year-old artist? No. But if you compare what Carly's doing vocally here to the hilariously monochromatic performance Tate gave 10 minutes ago... Well, it's a joke. She's oodles better than anybody else this season and we could just let her win now. But that hat and those pants? Never again.
The Judges Say: L.A. Reid thinks it was a risky and difficult song, but she did things with the song he's never heard before. Demi's happy she has no more contestants, because she's 100 percent trustworthy. And Demi's trustworthy opinion is that Carly Rose is predictable, but that this was her favorite song. "I'm confused," Simon says correctly. Demi tries clarifying, but mostly fails, so she just calls Simon old. "I thought that was a beautiful version of a fantastic song," Simon says, but he also thinks she can do better. Britney shows off her cleavage and is proud.
Singer: EMBLEM 3
Song: "Baby I Love Your Way"
My Take: Guh. I hate it when acts on shows like this whine about how badly they want to do original songs and how they have all of these original songs that make them seem completely different, but then when they get the chance to pick a song, they don't take advantage. If you think you're an original artist, own it. Otherwise, you look even more like poseurs than you did before. It makes me appreciate the heck out of Chris Rene and Astro last season. They said they were original artists, so they did originals. Instead, Emblem 3 is just doing a snoozy, Sub-Sublime Peter Frampton cover. After showing that the guys spent time in "choreography," it's laughable that they're doing the exact same thing they do every week. Is there a verse at the end that's original? I don't recognize it, but it's also not memorable enough for me to Google and see if they just did a little mash-up. The little choreography mashup that has two of the guys bumping into each other mid-chorus is definitely the most entertaining part of a performance that still has the girls squealing.
The Judges Say: L.A. Reid thinks that this was their $5 million moment. He calls their performance "inventive." Britney says that the performance felt "special" and that it would be unfair to call them a boy-band. And this was exactly what Demi was looking for. "If this doesn't get you into the final, nothing will," Simon says. That last comment may be true. Everything else? Whatever. Does L.A. Reid not remember the first two or three weeks of raving over each and every Emblem 3 performance? What was that about if *this* is the first time he saw them as stars?
8:50 p.m. The girl standing next to Mario Lopez in the mosh pit is going to be really embarrassed when she watches this back and sees herself getting lost in Mario's dimples from a foot away.
8:51 p.m. Nobody in the mosh pit is looking at Khloe Kardashian-Odom with anywhere near that level of affection.
Singer: FIFTH HARMONY
Song: "Anything Can Happen"
My Take: The gals are taking that "Fifth Unison" crack to heart and they swear they're doing more harmony this week. Instead, they're doing more stagecraft. Are they pretending they're dolls at a tea party? Or that they're in Wonderland? I'm really confused by the aesthetic they're going for here. The initial staging is dreadful. when in doubt, why would you make people sing from a sitting position? The lack of projection is predictable. There are moments of attempted harmony, but it comes only in spurts around the usual solos. Once again, I'm kinda wishing that Dinah Jane had just advanced as a solo artist. Leaving aside how un-spectacular the vocals are, this is absolutely evolves into the most entertaining overall performance Fifth Harmony has given. There are moments of playfulness and choreographed movement that show that Simon is finally getting comfortable letting them loose just in time for their elimination. Given the choice between what Emblem 3 did and what Fifth Harmony did, I may find myself becoming a Fifth Harmony fan.
The Judges Say: L.A. Reid calls it the best vocal performance they've ever done. "I loved everything about it. It was like magic when you got up there," Britney says. Demi calls it "cute" and praises their sparkle. Simon tells Fifth Harmony that they're underdogs and it'll take a miracle for them to get into the finale, but "anything now can happen."
8:59 p.m. For me, Carly Rose Sonenclar won the first round, but I don't think I need to pretend I haven't totally made up my mind. None of the other three acts can do what Carly Rose did on that first song. Not even close. And the advantages the other acts have over her don't especially interest me.
9:03 p.m. "It's quick, huh?" Mario Lopez says of the rapidly approaching finale. Actually, it has seemed like a million years.
9:04 p.m. Now time for song selected by the contestants *with* their mentors... Except that apparently it's just the mentors, really.
Singer: TATE STEVENS
Song: "Fall"
My Take: Awww... Pandering. Tate keeps talking about how this performance is all about his wife. And coincidentally this was their anniversary. But why the heck is Tate wearing his hat at his anniversary dinner at a seemingly nice restaurant. Sigh. Because this song is all about Tate's wife, you can tell that Tate really means this. This is a slightly rangier song than the past couple we've heard Tate tackle. There are a couple nice lower notes and some less-nice falsetto. I'd love to hear Tate do more with the low stuff and less with the falsetto. This is a lower energy performance than his first of the night, but I think it's much better. This sounds like a recording voice. People will vote for Tate and his crying wife, not that you ever had any doubt.
The Judges Say: Britney says Tate has hit and missed, but that was a direct hit. Demi envies Tate's wife. Simon reassures Tate that he'll never have to go back to his old job and that he's done enough to make the finale. L.A. Reid tells Britney that Tate hasn't missed.
9:18 p.m. Audition for "X Factor" next year. PLEASE. Otherwise, Simon Cowell will continue to only be able to list successful artists who came from the *British* "X Factor." And that shames us all.
Singer: CARLY ROSE SONENCLAR
Song: "Imagine"
My Take: Ew. Ew. Ew. Awful song choice, Britney. Ew. "Imagine" is a great song, but why are you making Carly Rose do it? And does Carly Rose *actually* playing the piano, or does Britney merely think she plays the piano? It looks like she can, indeed, play the basic notes. Go Carly. I just don't take kindly to any song choice that would make me compare Carly Rose Sonenclar to David Archuleta. Carly Rose is mighty relieved when she's able to stop the piano ruse, detach her microphone and start wailing. I don't need so much showing off in my covers of "Imagine," thank you very much. I'll just place all of the blame for this on Britney and move on. And I'd add that even that's probably my least favorite Carly Rose performance of the season, it's still a vocal that nobody still standing, or previously eliminated, could have done.
The Judges Say: L.A. Reid thinks the piano-playing took her "artistic credibility up a notch." Demi thought it was amazing and not predictable. Simon would have kept Carly at the piano. He thought the staging "made a beautiful song fussy." I tend to agree. Britney thinks it's time for Carly Rose to compete with the biggest stars in the world.
9:35 p.m. Way to make it sound like the judges tore Tate and Carly Rose to shreds, Khloe.
Singer: EMBLEM 3
Song: "Hey Jude"
My Take: One of the members of Emblem 3 is named "Keaton." I'd forgotten they had names. This week is all about Keaton. The other two members don't matter at all. That's what I've learned from the pre-performance clips. So however this goes, I'm blaming Keaton. Why was this the song Simon chose for Emblem 3? There are some nice harmonies here and because the guys are just sitting down, the absence of choreography is refreshing. Kinda. And look! There's Keaton! He's no Paul McCartney! That was better than the Frampton performance earlier.
The Judges Say: "You actually are teen heartthrobs like the Beatles," L.A. Reid says stupidly. Britney calls it an A-Level performance. Demi suggests that they have the potential to become the Beatles. Simon's proud of them.
9:44 p.m. Did two "X Factor" judges just compare three surfer himbos to The Beatles? That did just happen, right? Gracious. This show is entirely off the rails.
Singer: FIFTH HARMONY
Song: "Impossible"
My Take: Wow. This is cynical. The ladies of Fifth Harmony are going to rehash a previous performance, singing a little of it in Spanish *entirely* to pander. I get that Fifth Harmony is going to be eliminated if they don't give the audience a cattle prod to the hindquarters. But still... Other than the title word in the chorus, this isn't even Fifth Unison. This is 95 percent rotating solos. As they actually try harmonizing at the end, there are some painful notes. That was a step back for Fifth Harmony. They needed more than that. That's the nail in the coffin.
The Judges Say: L.A. Reid thought the song choice was lazy. "I would be really surprised if you guys are here next week," Britney says, dropping the boom. Demi says it'll come down to their fanbase, but she's worried. Simon loved the Spanish parts and he says that Fifth Harmony has been one of the strongest acts of the night. I'm not sure who Simon thinks should go home if Fifth Harmony stays.
9:55 p.m. I can't see anybody other than Fifth Harmony going home.
Who'd you like tonight? Who's being eliminated tomorrow?


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FirstEnergy (FE +1%) will close six of its older coal-fired power plants by September due to anticipated costs of complying with recently finalized U.S. environmental rules. FE also revises how it accounts for pensions and other post-retirement benefits, leading it to adjust higher its 2011 EPS guidance to $3.63-$3.65 from its earlier estimate of $3.30-$3.50.
FirstEnergy (FE +1%) will close six of its older coal-fired power plants by September due to...
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Comments (1)
ETF Hub
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subset: commoncrawl


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John Davies' funeral will take place on Tuesday 15 January 2013 at 9.30am at South Lanarkshire Crematorium, Sydes Brae, Blantyre. G72 0TL.
John was a founding member of EK Cricket Club and, amongst other things, a regular watcher of the rugby club along with a number of other cricketers. He also served on the Sports Club Committee for a number of years.
Health issues prevented him in recent years from being around the club as much as he would have liked.


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Men's Health
Too Much Iron in Your Blood?
May 1, 2000 (Atlanta) -- At a time when blood banks report dangerously low supplies, the best argument for rolling up your sleeve is still to do someone else some good. But if University of Florida researcher Jerome Sullivan, MD, is right -- and there's new evidence to suggest he is -- giving blood could also save your life.
Here's why. Each time you give blood, you remove some of the iron it contains. High blood iron levels, Sullivan believes, can increase the risk of heart disease. Iron has been shown to speed the oxidation of cholesterol, a process thought to increase the damage to arteries that ultimately leads to cardiovascular disease.
Recommended Related to Men
Listening to Andy Garcia talk about his son's latest hobby, you get the sense that a toy caboose is just as important to the actor, director, and musician as the release of his latest feature film, Ocean's Thirteen, which opened last month to fanfare, here and abroad. "He plays a lot of trains," Garcia says of the 5-year-old aficionado, and then adds with gravitas: "He's an avid collector." Unlike some of his overtly ambitious, publicity-seeking peers, Garcia, 51, is a private man who treasures...
Read the Andy Garcia Puts Family First article > >
Sullivan has long suspected that blood iron levels help explain why a man's risk of heart disease begins earlier than a woman's. Women lose blood -- and lower their iron levels -- each time they menstruate. Men, on the other hand, begin storing iron in body tissues starting in their twenties, which is just about the time their heart attack danger begins to climb. According to Victor Herbert, MD, a hematologist at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, there are normally about 1,000 milligrams of iron "stored" in the average adult man's body but only about 300 milligrams in a premenopausal woman's. Once women stop menstruating, however, their iron levels -- and their heart disease risk -- begin to climb, eventually matching that of men.
Not everyone's convinced by Sullivan's notion. "I do not believe there is proof of an association between iron level and the risk of heart disease in men with normal iron metabolism," says Peter Tomasulo, MD, a director at the International Federation of Red Cross Societies. "The data is preliminary at best." Most scientists, in fact, still think estrogen is probably the most important reason why women are protected from heart disease until they reach menopause.
But several recent findings lend support to the possibility that iron levels play a role. In research reported last year in the journal Circulation, Swedish scientists found that men with a genetic abnormality that causes slightly elevated blood iron levels had a 2.3-fold increase in heart attack risk. A second study published in the same journal found that women with the abnormal gene were also at greater risk of cardiovascular disease. Together, Sullivan believes, those studies offer new support for his iron hypothesis.


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The Touch is a cool-looking new way to control Adobe Lightroom, either using your Magic trackpad or your iPad. It's a small app that runs alongside Lightroom (or Final Cut Pro X) and lets you control it using all manner of gestures, taps, and swipes, letting you focus less on which slider to grab and more on looking at the image itself.
Give Your Videos And Indie Projects Award-Winning Effects With Autodesk's New Smoke
Visual editing software Smoke may now be in the clear for prosumer or indie filmmakers.
Autodesk's latest version of Smoke will cost $3,495 and you can run it on your MacBook Pro. While that same wad of cash may still be enough to get you a cruddy used car, that's about one-third the $15,000 price the California-based multinational was asking for the previous version of the software released just last year. The more affordable price may put cool effects like green screens and 3D within reach.
Apple Promises To Add Multichannel Audio Editing & More To Final Cut Pro X This Year
Apple has promised to issue a major update to Final Cut Pro X "sometime during 2012" that will deliver a number of new features, including multichannel audio editing, dual viewers, and more, to its professional video editing software. The Cupertino company provided all the details to producer, editor, and director Larry Jordan.
Avid Launches Semi-Professional Video Editing App For The iPad
Avid has been making professional video editing software for decades, and with the introduction of the "pro-sumer" Final Cut Pro X, many industry leaders have turned back to Avid for their editing needs.
Interestingly, Avid has launched an official app called Avid Studio for the iPad. With more features than the iMovie iPad app, Avid Studio is the first semi-professional editing tool to hit Apple's tablet.
Apple's Final Cut Pro X Fiasco Means Adobe's Video Tools for Mac Grow 45%
Disgruntled video editors who were unsatisfied with their Final Cut Pro X purchase earlier this year seem to have turned to Adobe's products instead. The company's video tools for Mac have seen a 45% growth year-over-year, undoubtedly thanks to the fiasco that surrounded Apple's latest Final Cut following its release.


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About HP Renew and HP Refurbished Systems
The HP Renew Program is a worldwide strategic initiative that's specially designed to offer a large discount on current technology to companies who are looking for great hardware for a better price. With an extensive portfolio of fully remanufactured (HP Refurbished), high-quality HP products backed by their original warranties, HP Renew offers this alternative to help you extend both your HP portfolio and your IT budget. Only products that have been through HP's rigorous, nine-step refurbishment process are offered through HP Renew.
Save 25-70% through this program!
HP Renew and HP Refurbished Products have been restored to original hardware specifications by HP certified technicians and are sourced from cancelled or duplicated orders, customer returns (often unopened or "no trouble found"), overstocks and demo pool. All these products are factory sealed and come with a 1-3 year HP factory warranty. We ship anywhere in the USA!
http://alliancetechpartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/alliance-logo-highres.png 0 0 Bryan Ferrario http://alliancetechpartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/alliance-logo-highres.png Bryan Ferrario2016-01-30 15:09:032016-06-23 17:09:49Alliance Named to the Ingram Micro SMB 500
Alliance Named to the Ingram Micro SMB 500
Alliance Technology Partners was added to the Ingram Micro…
http://alliancetechpartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/shutterstock_1106785701.jpg 270 714 Bryan Ferrario http://alliancetechpartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/alliance-logo-highres.png Bryan Ferrario2015-04-09 10:00:012016-06-23 17:10:48How Alliance's HP Renew Program Can Help You Save Up to 75% on Technology
How Alliance's HP Renew Program Can Help You Save Up to 75% on Technology
Are you looking to save money on the purchase of a computer or…


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UPGRADE: Please report anything out of the ordinary post-upgrade in this thread: http://www.orthodoxchristianity.net/forum/index.php/topic,66430.new.html
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Hello,Has the "Recent Posts" section of the forum homepage been reformatted?
No, you're just going insane.
Yea, cosmetic changes were employed. Please feel free to comment about it; if the board doesn't like it, I'll gladly revert back to what it was.Robert
While we are 'tweaking' the interface, it would be nice to alphabetize the "Users Logged on Today" section.
I actually like the time-based arrangement.... Sometimes it's useful for me, when looking at a dialogue in a thread or an argument that is brewing, to see when various parties have last logged in, to see if they've seen the recent arguments or not.
If the new version were realtime and without delay, I'd agree; but it is/was not.
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Daisy Lowe
Daisy Lowe in a Calvin Klein Denim Jacket
Model Daisy Lowe was pictured while walking her dog with a friend in Primrose Hill, London a couple of days ago.
Daisy wore a double denim outfit, pairing together a Calvin Klein light wash denim jacket and some dark blue skinny jeans. I love the edgy, underground vibe that this look has. It's definitely very fitting for the London music scene! Buy similar pieces online at Shopbop.com.
Images courtesy of WENN.com.
Florence Welch & Daisy Lowe in Levi's Denim Shorts
Florence Welch and Daisy Lowe were seen out walking together in the East Village area of New York.
Florence and Daisy both wore a pair of Levi's cut of denim shorts. Florence wore hers with a green tee and loafers while Daisy chose a striped tank and flats. Who do you think wore the shorts better?
Images courtesy of Pacificcoastnews.com.


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1968 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible SS/RS "Recreation"
The Paint: Marina Blue, base/coat, clear/coat
The Engine: 396 CID rebuilt, with


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Comments about 'Boaters, residents concerned about dropping water levels at Bear Lake'
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"(There's) nothing prettier than Bear Lake," England said.
"They call it the Caribbean of the Rockies, and it really is."
I beg to differ. It's a cold climate, the economy stinks and most people visit for only a few hours. The raspberry blight made it so raspberry shakes are made from berries from California (used to be Cache County just over the hill) and therer's no decent way to get there from the Wasatch Front. Other that that, I guess it's an ok place.
- 6:22 p.m. April 18, 2013
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The economy of the city is not really that big a deal compared to the drop in
lake levels in all water reservoirs and lakes in the state. We can attribute the
drop in levels of lakes and reservoirs in the lap of the state governemnt and
its quest to become an overpopulated desert.
Development doesn't happen in any desert and for a reason, its not sustainable even if you steal water from 2,000 miles away.
Utah is so depleted of its water resources they are contemplating and planning a renewed effort to put in a $trillion dollar pipe line from the Colorado or Green rivers again to maintain over development.
Then he must consider that 90% of millions of gallons of water oil companies will use every year to frack the gas and oil out of shale is not recoverable or reusable and will require a hazardous waste disposal site.
Climatic rains and relinquishment is dependent on evaporation and if evaporation declines in ground or lakes like it has, then we have climatic change in recovering evaporated water. We have sucked ourselves dry.
- 4:53 a.m. April 19, 2013
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Agreed. It's just like the Caribbean except:
- The water is freezing.
- There's no tropical fish.
- No palm trees.
- No yummy drinks on the beach.
But other than that, it's just like the Caribbean.
- 9:09 a.m. April 19, 2013
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It would have been nice to have got a good winter that would have filled the
reservoirs but we got what we were dealt. I think the spectacular beauty of
Bear Lake is the water color. Being on the lake on a sunny day when the water
appears to glow from below is awesome.
@My2Cents - Several points - the drought has been the principal driver of lake levels dropping. The uses of Bear Lake, in particular, have changed very little over the past 100 years. They have largely been for agriculture and are controlled by water rights and agreements with the other states the river flows through. A trillion dollars is a lot of money - surely you've grossly overstated things. And I have no idea what the last paragraph means, but I see you posted at 4:53 a.m. so maybe that explains it.
- 6:52 a.m. April 20, 2013
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Agree but I also think this area has the water capacity to support a lot more people than are currently here. The secret..... get rid of the dang lawns. I don't know the numbers but I wouldn't be at all surprised if lawn watering accounted for at least 50% of our water usage. That's probably sacrilege though, lawns are the American way after all. ;)
- 8:31 a.m. April 23, 2013
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|Thursday, Jul 28, 2016, 01:11:24 PM
Thursday, January 06, 2005
Books: Florida by Christine Schutt
Girl deconstructed
By John Ziebell
The fiction category of this year's National Book Award generated a lot of noise surrounding not the nominated texts themselves but the fact that the committee ignored a celebrity-rich field--for literary fiction, that is--in favor of five obscure female authors from New York City. The decision spurred novelist and essayist Tom McGuane to observe that, with so narrow a set of attributes, this year's NBA might be renamed "The Municipal Book Awards." Although novelist Lily Tuck took home the prize, much of the literary attention was focused on Florida, the first novel by teacher and short story writer Christine Schutt, whose 1996 collection Nightwork drew critical accolades.
Florida is not so much a novel as a collection of vignettes that follow the fractured path to maturity of its narrator, Alice Fivey. Florida is a psychological rather than a physical place, the name Alice's mother uses for the foil-lined suntanning bed in which she spends her winter days, the dream destination of a young, whole family. But Alice's father died in an accident--or killed himself--when Alice was 5--or 6, or maybe 7; while the details are inexact, her continuing obsession with his absence is overpowering. Her mother, after whom she is named, is institutionalized when Alice is in her early teens, leaving her to be shuttled between the homes of her wealthy relatives, a childless aunt and uncle and stroke-ravaged grandmother.
Alice is not facing an easy path. With no friends her age, she seems cursed to forever measure her worth by the inconsistent responses of the adults in her life. Her best friend is the family driver and handyman; her greatest influence is a high school teacher, Mr. Early; the only lover Alice discusses in any detail is 20 years her senior; her father continues to die in her dreams. In the novel's most poignant passages, the relationship with her mother that she always longed for is finally restored, but sadly coincides with the beginning stages of the older Alice's physical and mental deterioration.
As far as language goes, Schutt privileges poetry over exposition, most often successfully. But lyricism is not automatically its own reward; some of her sentences resemble a figurative steeplechase, and a few--"Roses red forever were embedded in the door knobs noiselessly turned"--squat like elegant little sphinxes on the page. Consider the sentence that begins "Mama had used overcooked bacon for a bookmark or a hair pin..."--sure, we know what this means before we reach the period, but why would a writer as exacting as Schutt not offer readers a more graceful construct?
Another issue lies in the elliptical nature of the storyline itself. What made Ray Carver better than other so-called minimalist writers was that he almost always understood exactly what needed to be left out of a story, the precise image or idea or moment that the reader had to fill in. Schutt lets readers intuit perhaps too many things. We can assume that Alice finds enlightenment and some sort of salvation in books, for example, but it seems that we should also get some specific insights from a troubled girl who grows up to be a teacher. Alice might be successful as a template for every kid who had a troubled childhood, but as a character seems frustratingly incomplete.
Every novel is a collage of fragments, but some works function differently than others. In the world of spare, lyrical fiction, we expect the fragments to develop cohesion out of chaos; reading the story is, in a way, like assembling a jigsaw puzzle of an Impressionist painting. Schutt's book, while marvelously poetic and emotionally evocative, is more random than chaotic, its pieces sharing only a limited relevance. No matter how hard you work, what's left is simply a bunch of pieces; they might be individually striking, and similarly patterned in blues and yellow, but there's simply not enough of them to re-create the picture of the bridge on the cover of the box.


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McCain activated from PUP, while team also signs cornerback and releases tight end.
While it's way too early to make any judgments or predictions regarding the final 53-man roster, the Dolphins rookie quarterback is off to an impressive start in camp.
The Pro Bowl defensive end's practice reps in team drills have been limited early in camp in his return from an Achilles injury that cut short his 2015 season.
While the defensive end was reinstated by the NFL on a conditional basis Friday after serving a year suspension in 2015, Head Coach Adam Gase said he had no idea when Jordan might start practicing.
This was the first of five training rides in the lead up to DCC VII on February 11, 2017.
The news was announced on "The Audible," the team's new 30-minute produced show live streamed on Dolphins.com, the Dolphins app, Facebook Live and Periscope that features unique perspectives on the team with long-form conversations, interviews and social media interaction where fans will have the ability to ask questions and take part in the discussion.
Running back Jay Ajayi was projected as the clear-cut starter at running back before the arrival of Foster, but regardless of what happens he said he was going to focus on his own work during training camp.
The Dolphins practiced for approximately 90 minutes at the revamped Baptist Health Training Facility at Nova Southeastern University, where fans got to enjoy the new canopy covering the stands and providing shade.
The quarterback's wife, Lauren, gave birth Sunday to a baby boy who came in at 7 pounds, 9 ounces.
See exclusive images as the Dolphins hit the field for the first day of Training Camp at the team's headquarters at The Baptist Health Training Facility at Nova Southeastern University.
The Dolphins began training camp Friday morning on a hot, clear day and what follows are some observations and insights after a practice that lasted just under two hours.
Dolphins defensive end may join team at training camp; NFL to evaluate progress before start of season
Ross used the word "excited" to talk about Head Coach Adam Gase, who is beginning his first training camp with the Dolphins after being hired in January.


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Lovely baby is crawling on the bed
Credit: Leren Lu
Creative #: 158499147
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Lovely Baby Is Crawling On The Bed Stock Photo0-11 Months,Babies Only,Baby,Baby Clothing,Babyhood,Black Hair,Childhood,Close-up,Color Image,Crawling,Curiosity,Day,Effort,Growth,Headshot,Horizontal,Human Body Part,Human Mouth,Human Tongue,Indoors,Joy,Knit Hat,Learning,Looking At Camera,Motion,New Life,One Baby Girl Only,One Person,People,Photography,Portrait,Real People,Sticking Out Tongue,TaiwanPhotographer Leren LuCollection: DigitalVision Lawren LuSix months old.


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"Best Clock Repair Shop" - Bay Guardian, 1996
A clock is a precision instrument, designed to track the passage of that most ephemeral and yet vital of elements: time. Ensuring the proper function of a clock requires skills honed over many years, a steady and precise hand, and an extensive knowledge of the illustrious history of timekeeping. Ensuring these qualities in the company you've selected to repair and maintain your clocks can be a difficult matter. Without references from friends or acquaintances, you're left in the dark. Your best option, then, is to make experience your first criterion. And no clock repair shop in the Bay Area has more experience than Dorian Clair Clock Repair. Owner Dorian Clair is an old hand at keeping hands moving, gears meshing and clicking, and cuckoos cooing – all in perfect time. He has been repairing clocks and doing quality work since 1954. That's experience on which you can rely.Give us a call today. We'll be happy to provide you with a free estimate and consultation.
From a cuckoo clock to a tower clock, we have the expertise and experience to get and keep your vintage clock running and on time!
We specialize in repairing, cleaning, and overhauling any and all antique clocks. We are the shop that other clock shops go to for help!
Take a step back in time to precise and professional clock repair for timeless antique clocks. Please contact us with your needs.
YP Reviews
Dorian Clair Clock Repair
1301 Sanchez Street
San Francisco, CA 94131
San Francisco, CA 94131
(415) 648-8680
(415) 648-8680
(650) 731-6912
(650) 731-6912
Business Hours
Monday - Saturday
10:00am - 4:00pm
10:00am - 4:00pm
In Business Since 1954
We Are a Proud Member of the National Association of Watch
and Clock Collectors
and Clock Collectors


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"FAISALABAD - The City where I Spent My Childhood" Faisalabad by Pakistaniguy
Faisalabad Travel Guide: 19 reviews and 21 photos
Faisalabad formerly known as 'Lyallpur' city is the third largest city of Pakistan with an estimated population around 1,977,246 in 1998.
It is situated in the North Eastern Part of Pakistan. Faisalabad is in a cotton and wheat growing Area.
It is also an important transportation and commercial center, especially for grains, cloth, and ghee (clarified butter). Manufactures include textiles, pharmaceuticals, chemical fertilizer, bicycles, textile machinery, hosiery, flour, sugar, vegetable oil, and soap.
The city was founded by Sir James Lyall c.1895 and named in his honor. Punjab Agricultural University, several colleges affiliated with the University of Punjab, and numerous experimental farms and cattle-breeding stations are in Faisalabad.
It is still emerging as a modern city of 21st century but nowdays it is going through a phase when places change from big villages to modern cities and it can be seen from all the buildings and sites in Faisalabad. This is one of the interesting features of this city.
I visited this city thrice this year. Now lets continue our virtual trip to Pakistan's Third largest city.
- Pros:A true example how Pakistanicities converted from bigger villages to main cities.
- Cons:Industrial city, very few sight seeing places, In comparision with other Pakistani cities there is not much history of this city.
- In a nutshell:Its the thrid largest city of Pakistan and but it not something must see. If you are travel by train then u may add one day trip to Faisalabad.
Reviews (9)
Chicken Prawns Sause to be served alongwith Rice. more travel advice
My friend from Z�rich, Swiss_Spirit (Christof) sitting in the restaurant and waiting for the food to be served. more travel advice
The Entrance of the restaurant is very nice. It is decorated by the Chinese decorations and there is a little garden... more travel advice
In Fsd, one of the major problem which tourist face is the unclean drinking WATER ! make 101% sure u drink clean Nestle... more travel advice
Comments (7)
faislabad is it is a bit untidy wat do u think ???? . faislabad has good sight seeing places ....like the local shops and ols houses......and universities...so i would just want to say the the best city in the world could posssibly make is ISLAMABAD
Another good page Umer, ....but how many chinese restaurant..!!..:-)))
excellent umer, i m still xploring ur pages. this one on fsd is good too. do'nt u think daewoo's service rwp-fsd is good? coz u mentioned that never come there by bus :)
Very informative page, congratulation for your extensive work, on all your pages! Thank you very much!
These are some great VT pages, Umer- lets hope the Indo-Pak conflict gets resolved and fellow countrymen can travel safely
Useful information (as about saving the stomach...), but we would like to see even more about the city and its sightseeings...
Great tips! But: are there no "Must See" place in Faisalabad??
Pakistaniguy's Related Pages
Faisalabad Travel Guide
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Latest Activity in Faisalabad
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- Mississippi tobacco budworm and bollworm trap numbers fall slightly in early June compared to late May.
According to a June 7 report by Fred Musser, MSU research entomologist, "bollworm and tobacco budworm trap counts were somewhat lower this week compared to last week. Bollworm counts are higher than last year, but lower than the five-year average counts. Tobacco budworm counts are among the lowest recorded during the last fiveyears. Based on these counts, silking corn will likely have some corn earworms, but pest pressure should not be very severe."
To read the entire report, see here.


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Hank Shepard Jr., PER
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Steve Arlitt
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Cornucopia Festival 2013 will be held in the stunningly beautiful grounds of Burton Agnes Hall, one of Britain's finest stately homes, built at the end of the 16th century.
This year, all tickets will include unlimited admission to the grounds and gardens of this magnificent building including access to the giant garden games and huge maze.
The Cornucopia Festival will offer local food and beer (9 different real ales last year), a fantastic line-up of music, a green fair, plus loads of space for camping, caravans and motor homes, all in a idyillic rural setting
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Ferguson elected not to fuel rumours surrounding Zaha or Chelsea duo Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole, all of which have been aired this week, during his press conference prior to Sunday's Barclays Premier League match against Liverpool.
"There is nothing to report," said the Scot.
"It is January for goodness sake and you (the media) are all getting desperate for a story. But there is no story to tell you."
However, it seems the interest in Zaha is genuine, even if no announcement is imminent.
It is understood that should the transfer take place then 20-year-old winger Zaha would remain with current club Crystal Palace for the remainder of the season before formally arriving at United in the summer, in a similar arrangement to the one agreed when United signed Chris Smalling from Fulham in 2010.
That part of the deal is sure to appeal to Palace, who are fighting to earn promotion back to the Premier League for the first time since 2005, and possibly explains why United have emerged above Arsenal and Tottenham as such strong favourites to secure Zaha's services over past few days.
Zaha, who won his first England cap during the November friendly against Sweden, would also fit the general template United have worked to until the arrival of Robin van Persie, namely investing in younger players and helping them through the final stages of their development, as they did so successfully with Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney to name but two.
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Dinner Menu
Kitchen Sink Pork Nachos
with our homemade pico, queso, sour cream, lettuce, peppers, cheddar, and bar-b-q sauce
- $7.99
- Chicken, Turkey Or Beef Add $1.00
Loaded Queso & Chips
fresh-made queso loaded with smoked sausage served with crispy tortilla chips and fresh pico de gallo
- $7.49
- Queso And Chips Only $5.49
Bar-b-q Quesadilla
slow-smoked pork with jack cheese, roasted corn and pico de gallo
- $6.99
- Any Other Smoked Meat Add $1.00
1 pound of bite-sized smoky perfection
Smoked Pork Hot Links$7.49
our original hot links with our scratch-made pimento cheese
Hand-breaded Onion Rings$5.99
colossal rings, hand-breaded and served golden brown
Chicken Tenders$8.49
marinated, hand-breaded, southern-fried and served with fresh-cut fries
Smoked Buffalo Wings$7.99
8 jumbo wings, hot or mild, served with our scratch-made ranch or bleu cheese dressing
Creamy Spinach & Artichoke Dip$7.49
scratch-made parmesan cream sauce, with spinach, artichokes, sour cream, jack cheese, and served with homemade pico de gallo and chips
Soups & Salads
ranch, honey mustard, vinaigrette, bleu cheese, bar-b-q ranch, 1000 island
Soup 'n Salad$7.99
Soup Of The Day
- Cup $3.49
- Bowl $5.49
The Garden Salad
a fresh mix of hand-cut lettuce, homemade croutons, cheddar, smoked bacon, almonds, cucumbers, and grape tomatoes
- Regular $6.29
Classic Greek Salad
fresh mix of hand-cut lettuce, pepperoncini, feta, olives, cucumbers, red onion, roasted red peppers, and tomatoes
- Regular $6.29
The Company Salad
fresh mix of hand-cut lettuce, cucumbers, shaved red onion, homemade croutons, shredded parmesan cheese, and grape tomatoes tossed in buttermilk ranch
- Regular $6.29
Chopped Southern Salad
fresh chopped lettuce, grilled vegetables, pecans, bacon, cucumbers, tomatoes, and cheddar tossed in vinaigrette
- Regular $6.29
Salads - Top It Your Way
the pig in the garden
Pulled Pork
- Regular $7.79
- Entrée $9.49
Smoked Chicken
- Regular $8.29
- Entrée $9.99
Southern Fried Chicken
- Regular $8.29
- Entrée $9.99
Grilled Chicken Breast
- Regular $8.29
- Entrée $9.99
Smoked Beef Brisket
- Regular $8.79
- Entrée $10.49
Smoked Turkey Breast
- Regular $8.79
- Entrée $10.49
Bar-b-q Bakers
Pig In The Potato Patch
topped with our original pulled pork and loaded with bacon, butter, sour cream, scallions, cheddar, and bbq sauce
- Regular $7.49
- Entrée $8.49
Bar-b-q Bakers - Bar-b-q Meats
wanna be a rule breaker? substitute any of our bar-b-q meats
Smoked Beef Brisket
- Regular $8.49
- Entrée $9.49
Pulled Chicken
- Regular $7.99
- Entrée $8.99
Smoked Turkey Breast
- Regular $8.49
- Entrée $9.49
Ribs, Plates, Combos
served with two scratch-made trimmings
Classic Spare Ribs
our spares are well-marbled for a deep, rich flavor. patiently brined, smoked and served with pride
- 1 Pound $11.99
- 2 Pounds $16.99
- 3 Pounds $23.99
Baby Back Ribs
lean and tender. our babies are covered in our signature rub and slow-smoked. they are pure smoky goodness
- Little Baby $11.99
- Half Baby $16.99
- The Big Baby $23.99
Beef Brisket Plate$13.99
perfectly marbled and lightly seasoned then cooked real, real slow for maximum flavor
Pork Hot Link Plate$12.29
seven seasonings and three types of peppers create a mildly spiced and original flavor
Turkey Breast Plate$13.99
our poultry seasoning was crafted to pair perfectly with the mellow flavors of hickory smoke
Hickory-smoked Ham Plate$12.29
old-fashioned, mildly cured ham, patiently smoked on the bone to keep it juicy and flavorful
Slow-smoked Bar-b-q Chicken Plate
long hours, gentle hickory smoke and our original poultry rub combine for the juiciest, most flavorful chicken anywhere
- 1/2 Chicken $13.99
- 1/4 Chicken (leg And Thigh) $9.79
The Pulled Pork Plate$12.29
classic pork shoulder gently covered in our signature rub, slowly smoked, then hand-pulled so every bite is the leanest, most tender, and most flavorful you've ever tasted
Scratch-made Trimmings
not-so-naked potato $4.49. hand-breaded onion rings $3.99. house salad (garden, greek or company) $4.49. substitute not-so-naked potato or house salad for additional $1.99 and onion rings for $1.49
Baked Beans$2.49
Creamy Coleslaw$2.49
Potato Salad$2.49
Fresh-cut Fries$2.49
Mashed Potatoes$2.49
Mac The Cheese$2.49
Fresh Fruit$2.49
Slow-cooked Collards$2.49
Creamed Spinach$2.49
Cinnamon Apples$2.49
Vegetable Of The Day$2.49
From The Southern Kitchen
hichory-grilled steaks, farm-raised catfish, marinated chicken breasts
The Smokeshop Chop
bone-in pork loin, brined for 24 hours with fresh herbs and garlic, then smoked whole, cut to order and finished on our hickory-fired grilled. with two trimmings
- Double Bone $18.49
Hickory-grilled Ribeye$18.49
perfectly marbled ribeye prepared on our hickory-fired grill. served with a not-so-naked loaded potato and choice of house salad
Chicken Tender Plate$12.99
hand-breaded, southern fried with your choice of scratch-made sauce. with two trimmings
Hickory-grilled Chicken Breast Plate$13.49
lean chicken breast, marinated and hickory-grilled. with two trimmings
Karl's Catfish Plate
pure u.s. farm-raised catfish filets, hickory-grilled or southern fried. with two trimmings
- One Filet $11.49
- Two Filets $15.99
The Original Bar-b-q Sandwiches
served with a scratch-made trimming. choose old-fashioned bun, wheat bun or sourdough
Our Original Pulled Pork$8.29
we start with the classic pork shoulder and our signature rub, then we let time, experience and hickory smoke do their work. then it's hand pulled for absolute pork-fection
Pulled Chicken$8.49
we start with great chicken then make it even greater with low heat, hickory smoke and our original poultry rub that was carefully crafted to pair perfectly with our classic sauce
Turkey Breast$8.99
lean, moist and tender. our original poultry rub brings out the mellow flavors of hickory smoke
Smoked Ham$8.29
old-fashioned, mildly cured ham, patiently smoked on the bone to keep it juicy and flavorful
Beef Brisket$8.99
lightly seasoned, so the rich flavors of our perfectly marbled beef and slow hickory smoke shine through
The Double Decker$9.49
pulled pork plus beef brisket, served with one scratch-made trimming
Southern Sandwiches
served with a scratch-made trimming
Turkey Breast With Honey Mustard$8.99
lean, hickory-smoked turkey breast with lettuce, tomato and our oh-so-good, scratch-made honey mustard on an old-fashioned bun
Hickory-grilled Chicken$8.99
a juicy and lean chicken breast, marinated and hickory-grilled. topped with lettuce, tomato, and mayo on sourdough
Hickory-smoked Chicken Salad
made with our hickory-smoked chicken and served with lettuce and tomato on a wheat bun
- $7.49
- Add Bacon $0.50
Classic Pimento Cheese$7.29
a picnicker's paradise. our homemade pimento cheese is crafted with hand-grated cheese and roasted red peppers. topped with crisp lettuce and tomato on sourdough
Karl's Catfish Blt$9.49
a fresh filet of pure u.s. farm-raised catfish. your choice of golden fried or hickory-grilled then topped with smoked bacon, lettuce, tomato, and tartar sauce on sourdough
Hickory-grilled Chicken Club$9.49
marinated chicken breast, hickory-grilled and topped with bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayo, swiss and cheddar cheeses on sourdough
The Country Club$9.49
hickory-smoked ham and lean turkey breast with smoked bacon, lettuce, tomato, and topped with swiss and cheddar cheeses on sourdough. for a truly southern experience, try it with our homemade pimento cheese
Hand Crafted Burgers
served with a scratch-made trimming. add bacon $0.50
The Hamburger Dave$7.99
classic with lettuce, tomato, fresh-cut onions, pickles, ketchup, mustard, mayo, and american cheese
The Southern Burger$7.99
topped with smoked bacon, cheddar, grilled onions, pickles and our famous bar-b-q sauce
The John T. Pimento Cheeseburger$7.99
topped with lettuce, pickles, tomato, and our homemade pimento cheese, crafted with fresh-grated cheese and roasted red peppers
The Burger 1920$8.99
inspired by the way burgers were served in the roaring '20s with fresh-ground beef, melted american cheese, thinly sliced onions, pickles and mustard
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text:
Definition of enthral in English:
(US enthrall)
verb (enthrals, enthralling, enthralled)[with object]
1Capture the fascinated attention of: she had been so enthralled by the adventure that she had hardly noticed the cold
More example sentences
- Still, she was pretty, and pretty seemed to be enough to enthrall Fabian's attention.
- On the way here, she had been enthralled, mesmerised, spellbound by the area.
- The story enthrals you from the first page to the last as the plot unravels at a speedy pace.
captivate, charm, enchant, bewitch, fascinate, beguile, entrance, enrapture, delight, attract, allure, lure;
win, ensnare, dazzle, absorb, engross, rivet, grip, transfix, root someone to the spot, transport, carry away, hypnotize, mesmerize, intrigue, spellbind, hold spellbound
informal get under someone's skin
fascinating, entrancing, enchanting, bewitching, captivating, charming, beguiling, enrapturing;
delightful, attractive, alluring, winning, dazzling, absorbing, engrossing, memorable, compelling, riveting, readable, gripping, exciting, transfixing, transporting, hypnotic, mesmerizing, intriguing, spellbinding
informal unputdownable
enthralment (US enthrallment) noun
- Example sentences
- I turn away and feign sudden enthrallment by the display behind me to buy a little time as I debate whether to say hello.
- Self-gratification and enthralment to the trivial increasingly characterize society.
- Those of us who enjoy this genre have been captivated by themes so gripping, stories so mature, and characters so cool that we can't help our enthrallment.
For editors and proofreaders
Line breaks: en|thral
Definition of enthral in:
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= trending


text:
Kane County Recycling Events
The Kane County Electronics Recycling Program has been suspended. See articles below.
Part 1 - Kane County Suspends Free Electronics Recycling After 'Overwhelming' May Event
Part 2 - So, What's Next For Kane County Electronics Recycling?
Document Shredding Event - Nov 12, 2016
MRK Group Electronic Recycling events:
2016 - 4th Friday of each month; 9am - 5pm
Please enjoy these informative and entertaining videos created in partnership by Kane County Information Technology and Kane County Environmental Resources.
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|27. März 2012
|16. Juni 2006
|17. Juni 2005
|Auch veröffentlicht unter
|Andrea Pietro Titli, Michele Di Gangi, Aleck Ferrari, Roberto Prato, Monica Badella, Fabio Forno, Andrea Carlevato, Loris Valera, Luca Tessitore, Giovanni Malnati, Giuseppe Portelli
|Ursprünglich Bevollmächtigter
|Fondazione Torino Wireless, Instituto Superiore Mario Boella Sulle Tecnologie Dell'Informazione E Delle Telecomunicazioni
|Zitat exportieren
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patentzitate (9), Nichtpatentzitate (8), Referenziert von (2), Klassifizierungen (12), Juristische Ereignisse (3)
|Externe Links: USPTO, USPTO-Zuordnung, Espacenet
This application is a national stage filing under 35 U.S.C. §371 of International Application No. PCT/EP2006/063279, filed on 16 Jun. 2006, which claims priority to European Patent Application No. EP 05013154.9, filed 17 Jun. 2005. International Application No. PCT/EP2006/063279 was published under PCT Article. 21(2) in English. The above-referenced applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.
The present invention generally relates to a method and a system for estimating the position of a wireless mobile unit and further relates to applications using positional data reflecting the position of the wireless mobile unit.
The rapid advance of microelectronic techniques has initiated the development of compact, highly efficient communication units receiving and/or transmitting information over wireless transmission channels. As a result, in many applications enhanced data connectivity and improved user mobility is offered, while at the same time user friendliness may be improved owing to missing cable connections and the like. Moreover, the wireless technology in combination with the widespread availability of the wireless connectivity in shared spaces offer countless opportunities for the provision of intelligent location based services for users of mobile devices. For example, mobile phones may be used for coarsely estimating the position of an end user, wherein the estimated positional data may then be used in sophisticated applications, such as forwarding positional data to police or fire brigades in case of an emergency indicated by activation of a specified routine within the mobile device. In other cases, positional data of a plurality of mobile units moving within a confined area, such as a building, may be required with a reasonable spatial resolution. It turns out, however, that the computation of the user position within confined areas, such as buildings and the like, is often cumbersome and errorprone and may also require specifically designed equipment on the mobile side, thereby contributing to cost and complexity of a corresponding positioning system. Moreover, conventional positioning systems designed for local area applications may not always scale well, when the number of mobile units to be tracked may become moderately high.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a technique for estimating the position of mobile units within a locally confined area with reduced complexity and with the potential of high scalability with respect to the number of mobile units to be tracked.
In view of the problems identified above, the present invention provides, according to a first aspect, a local positioning system. The system comprises a plurality of sensor elements, each of which is located at a defined position within a confined area. Each sensor element is configured to wirelessly transmit a sequence of communication signals for a wireless mobile unit within the area to identify an acknowledge signal in response to at least some of the communication signals of the sequence from the mobile unit and to provide a digital value on the basis of a result of the identification of the acknowledged signal. The system further comprises one or more averaging units configured to receive a plurality of the digital values for each sequence and to generate an average value on the basis of the digital values for each of the plurality of sensor elements. The local positioning system further comprises a control unit connected to each of the sensor elements and the one or more averaging units, wherein the control unit is configured to receive the averaged values from the one or more averaging units and to estimate a position of the mobile unit on the basis of the averaged values and the defined positions of the plurality of sensor elements.
According to the present invention, a highly efficient positioning system for confined areas, such as buildings, and the like, is provided, wherein constraints with respect to computational resources and data processing capabilities is maintained at a low level at the mobile unit side and also at the sensor side. The mobile units available on the market for short and long range application are per se designed so as to respond to specific communication signals. For instance, a wide variety of wireless units is available for data communication with local area networks and the like, which comply with specified communication protocols, such as the bluetooth standard, thereby providing for specified responsiveness of the mobile unit upon the detection of a specified signal received at the mobile unit. In the inventive local positioning system, the responsiveness of the mobile unit, which may therefore represent in some embodiments any commercially available hardware unit without requiring specific modifications, is exploited in that a digital value is generated at each of the sensor elements so as to provide a measure for a responsiveness of the mobile unit to a communication signal. Hereby, a plurality of communication signals may be released from each sensor element in the form of a sequence so as to "test" the responsiveness of the mobile unit over a specified period of time. By means of the one or more averaging units, a plurality of averaged values are generated which may more accurately reflect the degree of responsiveness, which may be considered as the coupling strength of the mobile unit to the respective sensor element, compared to the moderately coarse digital value produced by each sensor element for one or more of the communication signals of a specific sequence transmitted by a specific sensor element. Consequently, by using these averaged values, representing the responsiveness and thus, the coupling strength of the mobile unit to the respective sensor elements, the local position of the mobile units may be determined based on the known positions of the sensor elements, while hardware and/or software resources required at the sensor side are quite modest and, wherein in some embodiments of the present invention, mobile units designed for specific wireless communication applications may be used substantially without any modification. Consequently, the local positioning system of the present invention may be put into practice without requiring any activity at the user side, except for holding the mobile unit in an activated state. For example, many of the modern mobile phone devices are equipped with hardware and software resources allowing a data communication with local area networks and thus these resources may be readily used by the inventive local positioning system without requiring any further input from the user.
In another preferred embodiment, the sensor elements of the local positioning system are further configured to transmit their communication signals within the sequence at different transmit power levels. Including the capability of sending the communication signals of a specified sequence with at least two different power levels may significantly enhance the reliability of the plurality of digital values associated with a specified sequence of communication signals, since the responsiveness of the mobile unit depends on the distance from the specified sensor element. For this reason, at a reduced transmit power level, the mobile unit may not respond, thereby indicating an increased distance compared to a sensor element that receives the acknowledge signal for a lower transmit power level. For instance, each sequence may comprise a plurality of different transmit power levels so that a frequency of receiving an acknowledged signal may reflect the distance to the respective sensor element more reliably than "enquiring" the surroundings of a specific sensor element with a substantially constant transmit power level.
In a further embodiment, the digital value is provided in the form of a sensor signal including an identification of the specific sensor element that generated the digital value. Consequently, the control unit may reliably identify the source of the digital value, thereby enabling a reliable data communication between the sensor element and the control unit without losing the correlation between each digital value and the associated sensor element. In this way, irrespective of the communication medium and channels used for providing the digital values to the control unit, and irrespective of the number of the sensor elements connected to the control unit, each digital value is associated with well defined positional coordinates so as to allow a reliable estimation of the position of the mobile unit.
In one preferred embodiment, at least some of the sensor elements are configured to transmit the sensor signals to the control unit in a wireless manner. This configuration provides high flexibility in installing the sensor elements within the confined area without being restricted to cable connections. Moreover, a wireless connection to the control unit facilitates any rearrangement of the sensor elements with respect to modifying the spatial resolution and/or the overall coverage of the confined area. In some case, it may be advantageous to provide the sensor elements, at least those sensor elements having the capability for wireless data communication, with a non-stationary power source, thereby allowing for temporarily or permanently installing a plurality of sensor elements within a building or any other confined area without requiring significant modifications in the building.
In one preferred embodiment, at least some of the sensor elements are connected to the control unit via a cable connection. In this way, a highly reliable data communication may be established between the sensor elements and a control unit, wherein software and hardware resources at the sensor side with respect to data processing and data encoding may be kept at a low level. Moreover, a power supply and other additional communication links between the sensor element and the control unit may be established on the basis of the cable connection.
In a further preferred embodiment, the sensor elements are configured to provide the digital value as a binary value. Thus, the digital values provided by the sensor elements may reflect simple "yes" and "no" answers to the communication signals transmitted by the respective sensor elements. For example, a mobile unit may respond to the communication signals transmitted by a respective sensor element, since it may be well within a range of the sensor element that allows a reliable receipt of the communication signal. In this case, each digital value associated with a respective one of the communication signals may be represented by a "1" or "0" depending on the type of logic used. Owing to an increased distance to the sensor element or due to any interferences affecting the wireless transmission channel between the sensor element and the mobile unit, the sensor element may not receive an acknowledged signal for some of the communication signals of the sequence within a predefined time period and this situation may then be reflected by a "0" or "1". Although only two different quantitative levels for estimating the coupling strength of the mobile unit to the respective sensor element are provided, thereby, however, significantly reducing complexity of software and/or hardware resources at the sensor side, the one or more averaging units may nevertheless estimate a sufficiently reliable analog or quasi-analog value, that is, a value may be provided that has a resolution or step width, which is significantly "finer" compared to the initially binary representation. In combination with sensor elements having the capability of transmitting the communication signals at different transmit power levels, the process of obtaining a meaningful averaged value of increased accuracy may even be more efficient, since hereby the sequence of binary values may implicitly bear the information with respect to the different transmit power levels, that is, the sensor elements may be configured to vary the transmit power level according to a modulation scheme that is known by the control unit and this knowledge may be exploited at the control unit so as to identify a correlation between the sequence of "1" and "0", representing the responsiveness to the sequence of communication signals transmitted at different transmit power levels.
In other embodiments, the digital value may comprise a binary value, indicating the responsiveness to a communication signal at a specified power level, and may also comprise a digital representation of the specified power level. In this case, the sensor elements may independently select a specified transmit power level, since the control unit may track each different power level used for a specified communication signal. In some embodiments, the sensor signals may be configured so as to substantially randomly vary the power level during the sequence to thereby also enhance the accuracy of the digital value even though the binary representation is used for indicating the responsiveness to each of the communication signals.
In a further embodiment, the one or more averaging units comprise a respective averaging section for each sensor element. Due to this arrangement, a high degree of reliability is achieved since each sensor element has associated therewith a respective averaging section. Depending on the hardware configuration of the respective averaging sections, previously obtained averaged values and/or currently valid averaged values may be preserved, even if a control unit and/or the associated sensor element and/or other averaging sections may temporarily exhibit an invalid operational status. In one preferred embodiment, each of the averaging sections is included in its associated sensor element. With this configuration, a high degree of reliability may be achieved while the hardware and software complexity at the control unit is significantly lowered. For example, the averaging sections may be configured as analog and/or digital low pass filters receiving the binary bit stream corresponding to the responsiveness to the transmitted communication signals. The averaged value obtained from the low pass filter may then be communicated to the control unit, which may be performed simply as an analogous signal or as a digital signal, such as a pulse width modulated signal, thereby providing high transmission efficiency without requiring complex encoding efforts.
In other preferred embodiments, the one or more averaging units are included in the control unit. Hereby, the one or more averaging units may be implemented entirely in hardware or may be implemented as a combination of software and hardware. Thereby, the complexity at the sensor side is maintained at a very low level while hardware and/or software resources, typically being available at the control unit may advantageously also be used to create the respective averaged values. Moreover, by using the hardware and/or software resources of the control unit, a variety of filter or averaging algorithms may be used, or the averaged values for a large number of sensor elements may be provided within a very short time period so as to allow to track a large number of mobile units within the confined area.
In a further preferred embodiment, the control unit comprises an estimation section for estimating the position, wherein the estimating section has incorporated therein a calculation model based on a linear relationship of a distance of the mobile unit from a specific sensor element and the averaged value associated with the specific sensor element.
Thus, by means of the estimation section having implemented therein the linear model, the calculation of the position may be performed in a highly efficient manner thereby providing the potential for estimating the positions of a plurality of mobile units within a specified time. For instance, the positions of a large number of mobile units within a public building, and the like, may be updated within a few seconds or less or so as to be able to track the positions of the mobile units with a reasonable spatial resolution for typical velocities of mobile units within a building.
In a further embodiment, the control unit is further configured to estimate the position of at least one further mobile unit within the confined area while preserving the estimated position of the mobile unit. In this way, the positional data of a plurality of mobile units may be determined and used within a specified time frame. That is, irrespective of whether the prompting of a plurality of sensor elements with respect to a specified mobile unit may be performed in a parallel or serial fashion, positional data already obtained may be preserved so as to provide an overview of all mobile units being present within the range of the plurality of sensor elements in the specified time frame. In further advantageous embodiments, the system further comprises an interface for providing the estimated position to a platform connectable to the interface. According to this configuration, the position data obtained by the local positioning system may be used for applications run at the platform so as to provide location based services. For example, in one basic application, the number of mobile units may be estimated that are present in the confined area at given time intervals.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, a service system comprises a local positioning system as is described in any of the above embodiments or in embodiments that will be described in the detailed description later on. Moreover, this service system comprises a platform connected to the local positioning system so as to receive data regarding the position of the mobile unit, wherein the platform is configured to run one or more application routines for providing position sensitive services on the basis of the data.
In a further embodiment, this service system is designed for a location based service for indoor environments. For this application, advantageously existing mobile devices being equipped with local area network communication capabilities may be used in combination with the present invention, wherein moderately low complexity at the sensor side in combination with high flexibility regarding connectivity and installation issues of the inventive system provide for an excellent overall performance.
Advantageously, the data may at least indicate entering and/or exiting of the confined area by the mobile unit. As previously pointed out, by this configuration, the number of mobile units being present in the confined area may be estimated, wherein in some embodiments, the requirements with regard to computational resources are moderately low so that a corresponding overview may be accomplished for a large number of mobile units and/or for short time intervals.
In further advantageous embodiment, the system further comprises indication means for indicating service information that is produced by one or more applications. Hence, service information may be provided in a highly selective fashion based on the positional data, wherein acoustic, optic, or any appropriate indication means may be used to deliver the service information to a user. Advantageously, the indication means are configured to provide the service information in a localized manner.
In an advantageous embodiment, the indication means comprises a communication unit that is configured for wireless data transfer to the mobile unit. In this case, any service information may be communicated with high selectivity, whereby, depending on the type of mobile unit used, the communication hardware of those sensor elements may advantageously be used, which are determined to be closest to the mobile unit, thereby enhancing data transfer efficiency.
According to still a further aspect of the present invention, a method of estimating a position of a wireless mobile unit is provided. The method comprises transmitting from each of a plurality of defined transmit positions arranged within a confined area, a respective sequence of communication signals. Then, a responsiveness of the mobile unit to each sequence of communication signals is evaluated by a digital value established for at least some communication signals in each sequence. Moreover, digital values associated with a respective one of the sequences is averaged to generate an average value for each sequence of communication signals and finally, position data for the wireless mobile unit is determined on the basis of the averaged values and the defined transmit positions.
As previously stated, the present invention enables the creation of meaningful positional data on the basis of pure digital information with respect to the presence of a mobile unit in the vicinity of a sensor element. Based on the digital value, which is averaged, for instance by a digital low pass filter, the positional data may then be obtained with a spatial resolution in conformity with the number and spacing of the transmit positions used. Hereby, the sensor elements may be configured so as to "inquiry" the environment in a substantially continuous manner, i.e. each sequence transmitted from a respective sensor element may include a large number of communication signals, thereby allowing a substantially continuous tracking of mobile units in the vicinity of a specified sensor element. In other case, the sensor element may be controlled to transmit the communication signals in any desired time pattern as is considered appropriate for containing the desired positional data with a minimum of transmit power. Consequently, based on yes-no information for each pair of sensor element/mobile unit estimates of the position thereof may be obtained with a spatial resolution that depends on the plurality of the sensor elements within the confined area.
Advantageously, the inquiry of the sensor elements by means of the communication signals is performed at different transmit power levels, whereby mobile units located very near to the sensor element will tend to respond substantially always, while units father apart will tend to respond only when a higher transmission power is employed. Hence, the averaged value obtained on the basis of digital numbers crated by different transmit powers may reflect the distance between a respective sensor element and the mobile unit more precisely compared to providing the communication signals with a constant transmit power.
In a further advantageous embodiment, determining the position data comprises: considering each averaged value of a respective sequence associated with a respective transmit position as a measure of a distance of the mobile unit from the respective transmit position; obtaining the distance from each transmit position on the basis of the respective averaged values; and estimating a position of the mobile unit on the basis of the distances.
In one advantageous embodiment, determining the positioning data is performed on the basis of a model of ideal springs connecting the mobile unit with each of the transmit positions. In this case, a highly efficient and fast computation of the positional data is accomplished, thereby providing the potential for tracking a large number of mobile units within the confined area, wherein updating of the positional data is possible within any time frames associated with position changes that are typical for slowly moving mobile units as are, for example, carried by pedestrians.
In a further embodiment, the method further comprises determining a desired spatial resolution for tracking the mobile unit within the confined area, selecting a number and position of the defined transmit positions on the basis of the determined spatial resolution and positioning at least one position sensor at each of the plurality of transmit positions. Consequently, the position of the position sensors and thus, the performance of the local positioning system may be adapted to the application under consideration. For example, if substantially a yes/no information on the presence of a mobile unit within the confined area as desired, a corresponding "net" of sensor elements may be positioned at any entrances or exits of the confined area, whereas the interior may be substantially void of any sensor elements. Moreover, the spatial resolution may depend on the specifics of the confined area, such as architecture of the building, type of material used, such as thick walls and the like, number of visitors to be expected. Consequently, the positions of the sensor elements may be selected in conformity with these conditions and may also be adapted to the hardware configurations of the mobile units so as to enhance the overall efficiency of the system. In this way, the spatial resolution may be selected to approximately 10 meters or significantly less, such as approximately 2 meters or less, which may suffice for a wide variety of location based services in indoor environments.
Advantageously, a location based service may be provided by receiving the position data and providing information based on the position data. Consequently, information may be generated on the basis of extremely localized positional data and/or information provided by one or more applications may be supplied in a highly selective fashion, wherein the information may directly be presented in the vicinity of the mobile unit under consideration or may be provided in a way that the user of the mobile unit under consideration becomes aware of the information that is specifically relevant for his/her position.
Further advantageous embodiments, objects and advantages of the present invention are described in the appended claims and in the following detailed description, which may be studied in combination with the accompanying drawings so as to obtain a further standing of the present invention.
The architecture of the local positioning system is configured such that sensor devices search for mobile units in the surrounding space, thereby broadcasting inquiry packets, in preferred embodiments at different power levels, and listening for response. The collected responses are sent to a control unit in a form that allows the control unit to identify the respective sensor device that sends a specified inquiry report. The data transmission between the sensor devices and the control unit may be performed by any appropriate network connection including wireless and/or wired transmission channels. The information reported by a given sensor device with respect to one or more specific mobile units is digital in nature, that is, at any given time a mobile unit may either be reachable and thus responds to the inquiry packet or may not be reachable and thus does not respond to the inquiry packet. These elementary pieces of information are first converted into values of increased accuracy by averaging a plurality of digital information for any given sensor element/mobile unit pair. Finally, the average value of increased accuracy is converted into appropriate coordinates with a desired degree of precision which may be in the range of approximately 10 meters or significantly less such as one or two meters for typical indoor applications.
The sensor elements 110 a, . . . 110 c are operatively connected to averaging means 120, which in turn is operatively connected to a control unit 130. The averaging means 120 is configured to receive a plurality of digital values for each pair of a mobile unit 102 a, . . . 102 e and a respective sensor element 110 a, . . . 110 c and to provide for each mobile unit/sensor element pair an averaged value having an increased precision compared to the received digital values. For example, the digital values for each mobile unit/sensor element pair may be received in the form of a sequence of binary values, indicating the responsiveness of a mobile unit associated with the respective mobile unit/sensor element pair, wherein a sequence of binary values may include or may be preceded by an appropriate identification, enabling the averaging means 120 to assign a dedicated averaging section or channel to the respective mobile unit/sensor element pair. Advantageously, the averaging means 120 comprises hardware resources that enable the receipt of the digital values and the processing of these values in a digital fashion so as to provide the averaged value for each mobile unit/sensor element pair. For instance, the averaging means 120 may comprise software resources so as to act as a digital low pass filter, wherein a plurality of digital sequences received from the respective sensor element 110 a, . . . 110 c may be processed in parallel or sequentially, depending on the hardware configuration of the averaging means 120. Typically, the computational resources of the averaging means 120 are sufficient so as to process a plurality of digital sequences sequentially without significantly contributing to any performance loss, as the speed of data processing is significantly higher compared to the rate of providing the digital values for the respective mobile unit/sensor element pair.
In some illustrative embodiments, the averaging means 120 may be provided as distinct devices so that at least some of the sensor elements 110 a, . . . 110 c have included therein respective averaging sections. For example, some of the sensor elements 110 a, . . . 110 c may be equipped with hardware resources that allow the configuration of a variable or fixed number of averaging channels, wherein the capacity of averaging channels may be selected in conformity with system requirements. Thus, if a certain maximum number of mobile units 102 a, . . . 102 e is expected to be in the vicinity, that is within the range of one or more of the sensor elements 110 a, . . . 110 c, the hardware and/or software resources may be selected so as to offer a number of averaging channels corresponding to this maximum number of mobile units that may gather in the vicinity of the respective sensor elements. Consequently, the sensor elements 110 a, . . . 110 c, having incorporated therein respective averaging sections, may provide respective values corresponding to the number of mobile units within the range of the respective sensor elements and may then communicate the respective averaged values to the control unit 130. As a consequence, instead of transmitting a plurality of digital values for each mobile unit/sensor element pair to the averaging means 120, merely the averaged value for each mobile unit/sensor element pair has to be communicated to the control unit 130, thereby reducing requirements with respect to the data transmission from the sensor elements 110 a, . . . 110 c to the control unit 130. In other embodiments, the averaging means 120 may be included in the control unit 130, thereby taking advantage of the hardware and software resources provided by the control unit 130. The control unit 130, in turn, is configured so as to calculate an estimate of the positions of the mobile units 102 a, . . . 102 e on the basis of the averaged values supplied by the averaging means 120 for each of the mobile unit/sensor element pair and on the basis of the positions of the sensor elements 110 a, . . . 110 c.
Moreover, the data communication from the sensor elements 110 a, . . . 110 c to the averaging means 120 and/or to the control unit 130 may be accomplished by any other appropriate network 140, which may include one or more suitable transmission channels. In illustrative embodiments, the data communication network 140 connecting to the averaging means 120 and/or the control unit 130 may be established on the basis of a wireless communication channel, thereby exploiting the radio frequency or optical communication capabilities of the sensor units 110 a, . . . 110 c. In other embodiments, when data integrity and/or electro-magnetic interferences are considered an important aspect, the data communication 140 may be provided by a cable connection, such as in the form of metallic conductors, optical fibers and the like. It should be appreciated that the spatial resolution, that is the accuracy in position achievable by the system 100, essentially depends on the number of sensor elements 110 a, . . . 110 c and their specific positions within the confined area 101. Thus, installing the system 100 within a given confined area 101, such as public buildings, a mall, a hospital, an airport, a railway station, and the like, may require a reconfiguration of the sensor elements and/or the addition of further sensor elements so as to enhance the overall performance of the system 100. In this case, it may be advantageous to provide at least some of the sensor elements 110 a, . . . 110 c in the form of portable units, preferably with wireless communication capabilities so as to communicate with the average means 120 and/or the control unit 130, wherein in some advantageous embodiments, a power supply is incorporated in the portable sensor elements. In this case, a high degree of flexibility in adapting the configuration of the sensor elements 110 a, . . . 110 c, that is, the position and number of the sensor elements, to the specifics of the confined area 101.
With reference to
After receiving the inquiry report 111 a, . . . 111 c in the averaging means 120, which is shown in
In other embodiments, a different model may be used so as to calculate the positions of the mobile units. For example, the averaged values provided by the averaging means 120 may represent the intensity of the transmit power and may be considered as being inverse proportional to the square of the distance, assuming a substantially isotropic emission of the communication signals. Based on these assumptions, corresponding distances may be calculated and may then be used, in combination with the known positions of the sensor elements, to obtain respective positional data for each of the sensor elements.
In other scenarios, simply the number of visitors or mobile units may be monitored for any given point of time. Moreover, upon entering the confined area 201, the mobile units may be supplied with any informative messages so as to assist the carriers of the mobile units in performing their tasks within the confined area 201. In other situations, such as shopping malls and other shared spaces, the information source 260 may provide information so as to enable interaction of mobile units with each other and/or with nearby resources. For instance, employees of shopping malls may easily be identified by a user who is supplied with the information from the source 260.
In some embodiments, the information provided by source 260 may be communicated to the mobile units 202 a, 202 b in a highly localized fashion so that this information may be used by the specific mobile unit 202 a, 202 b, for which the information is of special interest. Hereby, the wireless communication capabilities of the sensor elements 210 a, . . . 210 i may be exploited in that the information as communicated to one of the sensor elements, for example to the sensor element being closest to the respective mobile unit, from which the information may then be transmitted to the mobile unit in a wireless fashion.
As a result, the present invention provides a local positioning system and a location based service system, which may, in some embodiments, not require the presence of any positioning specific piece of software on the mobile side, thus allowing the usage of custom, off the shelf devices. The spatial resolution of the local positioning system may be brought to a desired level by suitably placing wireless sensor element across the confined area of interest, whereby moderately low computational resources are required in the sensor elements, wherein even the wireless communication capabilities may be exploited so as to convey information to the averaging means or control unit, thereby allowing low cost, large scale deployment. In preferred embodiments, the positioning algorithm implemented in the control unit allows, for its simplicity and robustness, that a very large number of positions may be computed per second, thereby making the architecture suitable for densely populated structured buildings, such as airports, malls, and the like.
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|26. Febr. 2008
Owner name: FONDAZIONE TORINO WIRELESS, ITALY
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Owner name: ISTITUTO SUPERIORE MARIO BOELLA SULLE TECNOLOGIE D
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|4. Sept. 2012
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