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The 2012 identity of NFL teams gets clearer through each week.
That's important when laying down the dough because it makes deciphering which underdog is capable of the upset—with of course, a little help from the spread.
Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints are a prime example, after having collected victories over the San Diego Chargers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. By no means are those stellar wins like what the New York Giants did to the San Francisco 49ers, but it proves NOLA's capabilities.
With an explosive offense and record-setting quarterback, let's check out Brees' Saints and the rest of Week 10 in pro football.
Note: All lines are courtesy of FootballLocks.com. Spreads may change before each game's kickoff so be sure to check back throughout the week for just in case purposes.


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Kolkata: England humiliated India once again on Saturday as the visitors were close to register another big victory over the hosts, restricting them to 239 for 9 on day four of the third Test and trailing by just 32 runs.
And if Ravichandran Ashwin hadn't dug deep with his effort of unbeaten 83, India would have lost the match by an innings on the fourth day itself. The offspinner, who also took three wickets in England's first innings, showed the application that his team-mates lacked as he, along with Ishant Sharma (10), kept England at bay.
Ashwin brought up his third Test fifty by hitting two back-to-back fours off Swann. His 37-run partnership off 108 balls for the ninth wicket and an unbroken 42-run stand off 63 balls for the last wicket with Pragyan Ojha (3*) erased England's lead of 207 and made sure that England would have to bat again.
The visitors ripped through the Indian batting in the second session, picking up six wickets for 59 runs to put the hosts reeling at 145 for 6 at tea, still 62 runs behind England's first innings score of 523.
Graeme Swann started India's downfall as he bowled Virender Sehwag (49) through the gate on the first ball after lunch. Gautam Gambhir (40), who seemed to have got his confidence back a little by launching Monty Panesar for a six and a four just before lunch, became tentative again, prodding at everything outside his off stump and getting anxious to get to the other end. His nervousness cost India the wicket of their most successful batsman of the series - Cheteshwar Pujara - when he called the batsman for a single which was never available.
But instead of getting more determined after running Pujara out and getting a lifeline from the third umpire, Gambhir wafted outside his off stump again to a full delivery by Steven Finn and Matt Prior did the rest, taking a one-handed catch diving to his left.
Sachin Tendulkar got the usual reception from the Kolkata crowd when he walked into the middle probably the last time in his career. But he was caught by Jonathan Trott at slip when he prodded half-heartedly to a Swann delivery that went straight after pitching on length.
Yuvraj Singh's brief stay at the wicket was cut short by James Anderson, who sent the left-hander's off stump cartwheeling when he couldn't manage to bring the bat down to a ball that kept low. MS Dhoni's dismissal reminded the way he got out in England last year, poking at a length delivery and getting out in the slips. The Indian skipper didn't even trouble the scorers.
Finn continued to get the reverse swing after tea, tempting Virat Kohli (20) to play away from his body and and getting him nick to Prior. He trapped Zaheer lbw to a full delivery. Ishant dug in well but was bowled again by Panesar.
Earlier, after making the short work of England's tail, picking up the remaining four wickets for just 14 runs, India reached 86 for 0 at lunch, still trailing the visitors by 121 runs. Sehwag (49) and Gambhir (33) were at the crease at the break.
Sehwag, who was in visible pain after what appeared to be a knee injury, was spared when he was on seven. He poked at an Anderson length delivery as the ball went between the slips where Swann didn't commit himself to the catch, while Alastair Cook couldn't grab it as the ball went to the fence.
Getting a good start, the Indian openers didn't spare the England bowlers, attacking them with every given opportunity. The two didn't let either Panesar or Swann to set after England, who started the morning on 509 for 6, could only add 14 runs to their overnight lead of 193.
India would have hoped to wrap up the England innings early and Pragyan Ojha provided just that, getting Swann (21) caught at slip by Sehwag on the second ball of the day. Zaheer Khan too got the wicket on his second delivery when Prior (41) prodded at a delivery outside off, giving Dhoni his 200th catch in Test cricket.
Anderson hit Zaheer through covers for four and glided him for a couple through mid-on but was foxed by Ashwin, who had him caught at slip and trapped Panesar lbw for a duck immediately after. Ashwin will be on a hat-trick when he comes on to bowl in England's second innings.

subset: commoncrawl


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Earl & Geraldine Heuer Foundation Supports Burroughs Elementary
In May 2014 4th grade students from Burroughs Elementary visited the Hayes Center. During their visit students had the opportunity to visit both the Hayes Home and Museum. Their visit to the Hayes Center was made possible due to the generous sponsorship of the Earl & Geraldine Heuer Foundation. The entire experience was part of the Hayes Presidential Centers Curriculum Connections program. Teachers who brought their students to the center this year commented that Without the support we would not be able to go to the center. The students learned from the Curriculum Connections DVD presentations and were excited to get there to see some of the items. To thank their sponsor, the Earl & Geraldine Heuer Foundation students from Burroughs Elementary wrote thank you notes, one of these is show above.
Designed as a three-part "satellite classroom" experience, Curriculum Connections provides each teacher with two educational DVD resources for classroom pre and post visit activities. Created by the Hayes Center staff, the fully-narrated DVDs complement the learning experience of students onsite visit. Exploring Ohio's Past : A Visit to the Hayes Presidential Center features the Hayes Center's original documents, photographs, artifacts, and the physical environment of Spiegel Grove. Fully aligned with Ohio s Academic Content Standards, Curriculum Connections also encourages students critical thinking skills and creativity through its How Can We Learn More? follow-up activities.
Hayes Presidential Center Development Director Kathy Boukissen is seeking additional sponsors for school systems that do not have adequate funding for a visit. For more information about Curriculum Connections or to donate to the program contact Kathy at 419-332-2081, ext. 226 or email her at email@example.com.


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Suspect arrested in death of man run down in Daytona Beach
Nightclub clash leads to man's death
UPDATED 5:48 AM EDT Jul 19, 2013
A suspect accused in the death of a man run down in a parking lot was taken into custody Thursday, police officers in Daytona Beach said.
The suspect was identified as 32-year-old Michael Edmonds.
Christopher Farmer was killed in May while walking home from a bar on Seabreeze Boulevard.
Officers said Farmer and a friend had words earlier with the driver of a red car that later slammed into Farmer and raced off.
Detectives arrested Edmonds at 5:30 p.m. during a traffic stop as he was driving away from a home.
Edmonds was serving probation on drug crimes.
Related: Florida mug shots
Copyright 2013 by WESH.com All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Jonathan Spector and Wade Elliott
28 Sep 2016
Exclusive Blues Loyalty...
Join members of the first-team squad for our junior Blues Loyalty Event at The National SEA LIFE Centre in Brindleyplace, Birmingham on Tuesday 25 October from 6.00pm-8.30pm.
22 Sep 2016
Boss - We've learnt...
Gary Rowett says he is confident that with the quality of summer signings he made this year, he will not have to as be as 'reactionary' when the transfer window re-opens again in January.
22 Sep 2016
Gary Rowett - We can be...
Gary Rowett says that with the playing personnel that he now has at his disposal, he is able to make more effective changes during games.
20 Sep 2016
Former Blues duo...
Ex-Blues playing favourites Paul Devlin and Ian Clarkson have taken up new roles at the Club as matchday ambassadors.
19 Sep 2016
Boss - Ryan Shotton is...
Gary Rowett says that Ryan Shotton's impressive performances for Blues are welcome but unsurprising considering the ability the 27-year-old defender has
13 Sep 2016
Reaction: Reading 0 Blues...
Gary Rowett reflects on another good away result for Blues
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Almost $1,500 for two days of work sounds pretty good, right? Don't tell that to a group of video production students at North Heights Alternative School.
After nearly two months of work on public service announcements to encourage students to stay in school, the students lost all of their work just two days before the contest deadline.
"To walk into my class and tell them and see the looks on their faces, it was amazing," said Mark Williams, a North Heights English teacher who oversaw the project.
After digesting the bad news, the students got to work and quickly produced videos that won a combined $1,450 in a student video contest hosted by KACV-TV, Amarillo Independent School District and Panhandle Twenty/20, Williams said.
The video projects were the last phase of a $20,000 American Graduate Community Engagement Project grant KACV-TV received from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, said Linda Pitner, general manager for KACV-TV and Amarillo ISD board member.
Contest organizers announced the winners of the contest Thursday at Palo Duro High School. Winners in individual, group, class and special salute categories received cash prizes for their work.
The individual, group and class winners were determined by about 2,000 online votes, and the special salute winners were determined by the contest organizers, Pitner said.
Skyla Taylor, 18, a senior at North Heights Alternative School, won $225 in prizes for her "Don't Lose Your Voice in the Crowd" video.
She said she hopes to use her winnings to purchase a Canon Rebel camera she would use as a film student at the University of North Texas.
Taylor said she wanted her video to persuade students to stay in school.
"Dropping out of school hurts the student's entire future, and so we wanted to come up with ways that students would realize it's going to harm them," Taylor said. "Staying in school is vital to everything in their life."
Williams said the students he worked with also had a vested interest in the project beyond potential prizes.
"They knew kids that dropped out that shouldn't have, that should've gone on to do bigger and greater things," he said. "I think in some small way each of them had someone in mind they were filming for these."
Pitner said KACV-TV will work with some of the students to produce their videos into public service announcements that will air on television this spring.
Jensen Porter, a Palo Duro High School journalism teacher whose classes won a combined $600 in prizes, said he thought the project worked well because students could communicate to the intended audience better than adults could.
"I'm not the coolest person in the world, and they know what would connect with teenagers far better than I do," Porter said.


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First of all, let's define what Harbeth offers and check it's what you're looking for. Harbeth loudspeakers are precision instruments and are used at home and in professional studios. They contribute very little of their own character hence they are of 'low colouration' design. Harbeths have outstanding clarity and naturalness in the critical middle frequencies and a wide dynamic range and are suitable for all types of music at a sensible replay level.
In evolutionary terms, music is a very new invention dating back only 35,000 years or so and is not, in practice, as analytical a 'test source' as one might hope for. Our auditory system has been honed by evolution for the interpretation of human vocal sounds, not music. Most loudspeakers are coloured to greater or lesser extent, and the use of recorded speech is devastatingly revealing of loudspeaker artifacts in a way that music, unfortunately, is not. With some practice you can become really skilled at interpreting recorded voice on conventional loudspeakers so that buzz words like "nasal", "beaky", "quacky" and "honky" become self-evident. Note that these adjectives, often used to describe loudspeaker artifacts, are those associated with the mouth, nose and chest - not of musical instrument.
Alexander Graham Bell discovered at the start of the electric sound age that the 'telephone band' of only about 300Hz to 3kHz was of paramount importance to our ears. Later, when A.M. (long and medium wave) radio was invented, this bandwidth was opened a little for better reproduction of music - but only by a little. So, by definition, the majority of musical energy falls in an audio band equivalent to that of disconnecting the tweeters on your loudspeakers. It also means that the defining quality of a loudspeaker system is not at the extremities of the 20Hz to 20kHz audio band but in the lower-middle through to the 'presence' region: only about one quarter of that full audio band.
You can form at much of your final opinion of a loudspeaker's capabilities before you have played the first note of music if you use male and female speech and vocals as a test source. You don't have to know the real voice in person but it's ideal, of course, if you can make your own test tape of a familiar voice, recorded outside on a windless day with a really good microphone - a subject in itself. Replaying speech backwards, or spoken in an unfamiliar foreign language also breaks the emotional associations between the sounds of the words and their meaning, and aids analysis.
Whilst there are many examples of technically excellent recordings there are few recordings which can be trusted as having captured the bloom and warmth of the performance without processing, equalisation and the use of large numbers of spot microphones to showcase individual instruments. A concert really isn't like that at all: live sound is warm, lush and clean, has a huge dynamic range in reserve, and the instruments intermingle into a floating curtain of sound that is quite unlike most people's impression of home hi-fi.
If you play an acoustic instrument, remember that when you play your own instrument that you are listening in its nearfield. This is a much 'harder' sound than a listener in the audience would experience and it would be tempting for you to select a speaker that mimics that more intense sound. But be sure to switch back to a speech recording again - and you'll reset your internal frame of reference.
Piano can be revealing not only of the big details but the micro detail in the decay as the notes fade into the silence in a large hall. But as with so many instruments, much depends upon the recording. A piano in a small room (or even one in the concert hall with a microphone under the lid, close to the strings), will sound so different to a concert piano, in a big hall with the lid open. Blues, jazz, folk, or 'easy listening' music with simple instruments and vocal is also interesting and revealing of stereo positioning and depth in a different way to large-scale performance with lots happening at once.
Do not use solo pipe organ music to critically evaluate loudspeakers because no matter what problems the speaker may have, the harmonic structure of pipe organ seems to be sympathetic to loudspeaker defects and will tell you nothing about the underlying problems (if any) of the speaker in the middle and upper frequencies. Conversely, brass instruments are really revealing of cone colouration due to their rich harmonic structure, and showcase Harbeth's RADIAL cone technology. Conventional cones soften the transients of brass instruments as you will hear for yourself.
A good salesman will play you recordings that highlight and complement (or disguise?) the characteristics of a particular speaker or recording. Do not be embarrassed about bringing a stack of CDs or disks with you to the hi-fi shop and be sure to make an appointment in advance. You will need lots of time and a good dealer will expect this, and make a date for you.
Above all guard against being impressed because natural sound, as you would hear it in the hall, is not 'impressive' in hi-fi terms except in its lightness of touch and freshness. Good loudspeakers should create a curtain of sound and not push the performers on to your lap. Really good speakers are impressive in the way they reproduce the small details, the micro tones in music, and not by how loud or attention grabbing they are. One of the remarkable characteristics of Harbeth's RADIAL cone technology is that no matter what they are tasked with reproducing, they just don't fog over the details as conventional cones do - listen out for that.
You can find more about the recording process and a detailed analysis of the typical subjective characteristics of hi-fi and studio monitor loudspeakers in our Designer's Notebook Chapter 7: The curtain of sound. Why not keep a printed copy to hand when you evaluate loudspeakers?
There is no such thing as a 'perfect speaker' - it all depends what you want the speaker to do for you. Do you want it to spice-up the recording? To give you the immediacy of a front row seat? To project high frequencies with a glass-like cutting edge? A thumping bass end? In that case, I regret to say there is nothing in the Harbeth line-up that will really suit your taste.
We're all about natural sound and we have achieved that by a unique combination of superior drive unit technology, carefully executed crossover design and thin-wall cabinet technology.
DRIVE UNITS: The Harbeth RADIAL™ drive unit is a masterpiece of clarity and purity of tone. There is no transducer like it - and there is no drive unit that outperforms the RADIAL technology because no other manufacturer has comprehensively investigated the matter of what makes a perfect drive unit. Read about RADIAL™ here.
CABINET SYSTEM: Harbeth cabinets are crafted from thin (typically 12mm) panels which, by virtue of their profile, lend themselves to being internally acoustically damped in a way that is impossible with conventional 'thick wall' panels such as 18mm (3/4 inch) chipboard or MDF. We work harmoniously with the knowledge that the human ear is intolerant of buried resonance in the middle frequencies to steer panel resonances out of the critical band and into the Region of inaudibility.
The 'thin-wall' box concept was thoroughly researched by Harbeth's founder at the BBC and we've stuck with it because it works despite the high cost and difficulty of assembly from individual wood panels - and the cabinetmaker's insistence that we should abandon the removable front and back and go for an 'all-in-one' locked solid cabinet. We could - but it would then NOT sound like a Harbeth.
[See also Q14].
NATURAL REPRODUCTION: Thanks to our speech-based origins in broadcasting, humans are extremely sensitive to the quality of, and energy distribution through, the all-important 'speech band' (see Q1). This runs from about 100Hz right up (and through) the crossover region and beyond into the high frequencies. The importance of making this band sound 'right' (in side-by-side comparison with the original, live sound) is absolutely critical to 'the Harbeth sound', and it is the purity and unforced nature of the way we execute that band that sets a Harbeth apart from all others. A Harbeth has a lightness of touch and clarity without even a hint of hardness - which is, of course, exactly what you would hear at the recording venue.
CROSSOVER DESIGN: It is fundamentally risky to divide-up the audio spectrum and feed it to different drive units such as a bass/min and tweeter. To sound natural, this will entirely depend upon the blending of the sound waves from these two physically different sources in your ear. So, we spend most of our design time adjusting the crossover until the roll-up of the tweeter and roll-down of the bass/mid is seamless, because this is mandatory to fool the listener's ear into believing that he's actually at the recording hearing the sound live.
PLAY AT A REASONABLE LEVEL: Harbeth speakers are deliberately designed to sound just like real life when played at a normal, reasonable level. They do not need to be driven hard and unlike many other speakers that do not need to be pushed to 'come alive'. We have achieved this with an understanding of how the human ear perceives sound and this is reflected in the energy balance across the band. We all have a responsibility to protect our ears and the best way to achieve this is by listening at a normal level and to a sound that doesn't have a character of its own: that's the Harbeth sound.
All Harbeth speakers work best when well away from walls and other reflective surfaces in what is known as 'free-space'. The smallest Harbeth is the HL-P3ESR, and it too needs unobstructed space around it.
There are two general approaches to the design of a loudspeaker system at the lowest frequencies below, say, 100Hz. Our approach is to design the speaker to have a flat response when the speakers are used a reasonable distance from nearby surfaces. Another design philosophy (one that we do not subscribe to at Harbeth) is to deliberately design the speaker so that it has a weak bass and needs the low-end augmentation of a nearby wall or corner to re-balance the sound.
The quality of sound that can be achieved in a small room can be very good if the room is well furnished and has an even sonic decay with frequency and/or you listen in the speaker's near-field to reduce the influence of reflections. If you have such a room, then most Harbeths will work even in, say 3m x 3m. If your room has a hard, reflective unfurnished surface, then perhaps the HL-P3ESR in a close-listening set-up will get the best out of a difficult environment.
Equally important to the size of the room is how well damped it is. A large well damped room will sound better than a large 'lively' room unless by great good fortune the resonances in the lively room are sufficiently randomised that they do not draw attention to themselves - this is rare.
If the listening room has problems, then these really do have to be sorted - or at least tamed - to get the best out of your listening. Acoustic problems tend to be at the low end (boom) and in the mid/high band (splash echoes etc.). Boom is usually related to the construction of the walls - even relatively solid plasterboard walls do resonate (thump them with the palm of your hand and you'll hear it) on their battens. Basements under listening rooms are a serious problem, as the air in the basement forms a resonant cave that will be set-off into resonance by certain notes in the music (the same effect as blowing across a beer bottle).
Problems in the mid/high frequencies are related to reflections off hard surfaces which when they arrive at your ears create confusion. Solution: turn hard surfaces into soft ones, either permanently or temporarily before a listening session with removable curtains and rugs. A decision will have to be made just how far cosmetics - and budgets - will allow, but optimising the listening space is a challenging and time consuming science. Fortunately, humans are very adept at 'hearing-through' the room and we can adapt to most environments providing that there are no serious standing-waves or slowly-decaying frequency bands that stand out in relief against the room's average decay.
Far less than you might think! This is really two questions . . . a) how much power do I need to generate the loudness I want and b) how easy a load are the speakers. Agree? a) We all know that it's nice to have a big engine so that we can occasionally 'put our foot down' but what is the real relevance of all that power for normal town motoring? We have a social responsibility to our neighbours (and to our own ears) and I've always found that 100W per channel or so has provided a really loud sound on those rare occasions when the neighbours are out and the mood takes me! But for normal use - 20 or 30W in a small room really can be loud. b) When we are designing the crossover network we're acutely conscious that many of our users are far from the factory, do not speak English and have a wide choice of amplifiers none of which we will be able to test. So we've always been sure to design Harbeths so that they have an easy, benign electrical load and will work with just about any credible mainstream amplifier in the world.
All Harbeth speakers need to be lifted off the floor and to an operational height by placing them on some sort of stand. None of our speakers will work correctly on shelves or close to nearby surfaces because the sound waves generated by the speakers will be acoustically coupled to (or trapped by) those surfaces, and re-radiated into the room. This will disturb our intended frequency balance of the speakers especially at low and middle frequencies where the speaker is omni directional. It's important to know what we use when designing and measuring our speakers. To achieve a quasi-anechoic measurement of the speaker (i.e. one which is as little influenced by the local acoustic environment as possible) we elevate the speaker high above the ground on a single thin pole. This provides as much air around the speaker as possible. There are many views about the materials from which the stands are fabricated - which could include steel, plastic or wood, as to whether tubular sections should be filled with sand or lead shot whether the stand should be an open-frame or a more enclosed structure. In our opinion, the primary matter is one of safety: whatever stand you select must be stable and must prevent the speaker toppling over, especially when there are children at home. Following that, we would put the height as the next most important factor: getting the speakers as high off the floor as possible and so that your ear is level with the tweeter optimises your listening experience. As for solid or lightweight construction, both approaches have merit depending on whether one wants to contrast the thin-wall cabinet system or to compliment it. We recommend Skylan stands from Canada. Good stands. Friendly people to deal with. You could of course try an make your own, in which case a little detective work as to the optimim height, construction etc. may well be advisable. As for spikes - we go to a great deal of trouble to ensure that the cabinets are perfect, and it never feels quite right to see that spikes between the top of the stand and the underside of the cabinet have punctured the veneer. A small ball of Blue-Tak (or similar) seems a much more elegant solution, but you should experiment. What matters is what sounds best to you. Please read the User Guide on the important subject of stands. To repeat: your stands must be stable.
As mentioned in Q5b above, there is a vast selection of amplifiers available. Our responsibility is to make sure at the design stage that Harbeth speakers are as benign a load as possible to give the user the most amplifier options. This means that the load is designed to be non-reactive which is indicative of a stable design and of universal suitability. As you will see from the Impedance-curves (see at the foot of the product pages) most Harbeths are a 6-8 ohm load which should work well with just about any credible amplifier.
An often overlooked characteristic of power amplifiers is 'ageing'. That means that the performance of the amplifier will permanently drift away from the 'as new' specification with the passing of time due to the ageing characteristics of the components especially when the amplifier runs hot.
Amplifiers should be re-tuned during their working life - perhaps every 5-10 years? - to be sure that the frequency response, distortion and noise specs are as intended. Some designs have self-tuning circuitry and are less effected by ageing, but wet-type capacitors do inevitably dry out and this can not be fully self-corrected. Vintage amplifiers can be great fun to own but common sense says that after 25 or more years all electronic systems need specialist servicing to return them (close) to original specification.
The specialist hi-fi cable industry offers the consumer a vast array of solutions to the problem of connecting audio equipment together. This is surely a very good thing. Ignoring cosmetics, there seem to be two main approaches to the design of speaker cables.
One cable design approach involves the deliberate manipulation of the measurable physical properties of the cable (resistance, capacitance and inductance) to alter the load that the amplifier sees. This would maximise the contribution of the cable to the overall sound. We are not really comfortable with this route, since it is surely length dependent and so the sonic results are rather unpredictable. It may well 'spice-up' the sound, but is it right and is it consistent, week in, week out?
The opposite cable design philosophy states that the cable be designed to minimise its contribution to the overall sound, probably by minimising the basic physical characteristics of resistance, capacitance and inductance. This seems a sensible goal to aim at in an audio listening system that is designed to be as neutral as possible. As far as the BBC are concerned, those Harbeths installed there are wired with modest conventional cable and that seems good enough for their purposes.
The best approach seems to us to be experimentation with cables but having a long-term reference to fall back onto, such as humble 79 strand (or similar). Work with your dealer to find the best solution for your unique set-up.
There is much awareness of ' the environment' now, but in fact, with our traditional approach, we've been environmentally aware for nearly thirty years. Resources are scarce, and we all have a duty to husband those resources as carefully as we can for the benefit of future generations. It is a primary consideration when designing and manufacturing Harbeth speakers that when used with care, they will be their owners final loudspeaker purchases. It is true that real woods are used for the veneers, but looked at in the long-term, the logs that yielded those veneers have been put to the best possible use on Harbeth cabinets. The same approach runs right through the product: we know that a Harbeth customer buys once (or actually, many buy a second or even third additional pair for other rooms) and our approach is to minimise the risk of breakdown, and maximise your long term pride of ownership. Yes, that could reflect in what is now known as 'over-engineering' but quality always costs a little more. Word of mouth has always been our primary sales route. If you are happy, that enthusiasm will inevitably rub off on others. That is surely how it should be. For the professional customers we offer a Trade-up service which allows us to recycle components to professional users wherever possible.
Listening fatigue describes the experience that non-Harbeth users report whereby after some minutes, hours or days (depending upon an individuals sensitivity) certain sonic characteristics of their speaker system will become very irritating. Fortunately, the ear is fairly forgiving of mild colouration in the lower registers, but where the ear's sensitivity peaks-up, in the upper midrange and lower treble, even low-level 'buried' resonances can be intensely irritating, whether or not they can be readily identified by conventional frequency response measurement. If the speaker designer is foolish enough to rely on his test equipment at the expense of critical listening then he is in the wrong: the ear must always be the final arbiter of colouration and listening fatigue. Surely the paramount design objective, above all others, must be the avoidance of listening fatigue by whatever design means is necessary and regardless of cost, complexity or inconvenience. A truly high fidelity loudspeaker simply can not and must not sound fatiguing at all, and yet, very many so-called 'studio monitor' speaker are extremely fatiguing to listen to the point of physical pain after just a few minutes even though their first impressions were reported as "enhanced clarity", "exceptional realism" - that experience often reverses after prolonged exposure. Truly natural-sounding loudspeakers do not sound spectacular, except in their contrast to our (negative) preconceptions of how conventional speakers sound. Real-life sound draws attention to itself for its lightness of touch and unforced projection. As has been known for at least 40 years, any serious evaluation of loudspeakers for use in a professional environment must involve extensive confidence building evaluation to be sure that listening fatigue is not detected by any listener under any conditions. Unfortunately, the commercial constraints nowadays has contracted the entire 'loudspeaker evaluation' to a listening exposure of a few minutes, and completely neglected longer term fatigue evaluation with serious overall commercial consequences even underlying Health and Safety issues.
We introduced the bi-wire terminal arrangement back in 1988 when it was an in-vogue way of wiring and it remaines a feature of the Super HL5plus. The original thinking was promoted by Martin Colloms in Hi-Fi News and Record Review magazine but, as we belatedly discovered once we'd started shipping the HL Compact to Japan, Toshiba Corporation already had a patent on bi-wiring, and they set about enforcing it through their Intellectual Property lawyers. An agreement was struck with them and we continued.
It is claimed that by separating the feeds to the tweeter section of the crossover from that to the bass section and bringing the wires together at the amplifier, cross-contamination of the signals would be minimised with sonic benefits. We frequently reconsider whether the benefits of bi-wiring are worth the cost, complexity and risk of miswiring as any theoretical benefits must surely be at or on the system's noise-floor. It is probable that the bi-wiring terminals will eventually become uneconomic to provide.
The 'sensitivity' of a speaker system derives from the power of the magnet, the driver's surface area, how far it will move, and the mass of the cone. If the magnet, surface area and excursion are defined, then the only variable that the designer can play with is the moving mass.
There is a temptation to 'spec-up' the sensitivity, solely because of the misplaced perception (in some non-technical quarters) that the higher the dB rating per Watt of input power 'the better'. Thirty years ago, when power amplifies were limited to about 15 or 20W, speaker efficiency was important, but as powerful amps are very inexpensive now, there are far more important design goals.
The moving mass is primarily defined by that of the cone plus its (rubber) surround in approximately equal proportions. The surround acts as a damper, and this could be thinned down or replaced with foam (which disintegrates with time) but the damping effect would diminish, and the cone would not be properly terminated. Hence, we use as much damping as we need, and this fixes the sensitivity. All speaker designers face this dilemma - we put sensitivity as the least important design consideration - and sound quality first.
There is much myth, folklore and misunderstanding about this subject.
The 'BBC dip' is (was) a shallow shelf-down in the acoustic output of some BBC-designed speaker system of the 1960s-1980s in the 1kHz to 4kHz region. The LS3/5a does not have this effect, neither in the 15 ohm nor 11 ohm, both of which are in fact slightly lifted in that region.
According to Harbeth's founder, who worked at the BBC during the time that this psychoacoustic effect was being explored, the primary benefit this little dip gave was in masking of defects in the early plastic cone drive units available in the 1960's. A spin-off benefit was that it appeared to move the sound stage backwards away from the studio manager who was sitting rather closer to the speakers in the cramped control room than he would ideally wish for. (See also Designer's Notebook Chapter 7). The depth of this depression was set by 'over-equalisation' in the crossover by about 3dB or so, which is an extreme amount for general home listening. We have never applied this selective dip but have taken care to carefully contour the response right across the frequency spectrum for a correctly balanced sound. Although as numbers, 1kHz and 4kHz sound almost adjacent in an audio spectrum of 20Hz to 20kHz, the way we perceive energy changes at 1kHz or 4kHz has a very different psychoacoustic effect: lifting the 1kHz region adds presence (this is used to good effect in the LS3/5a) to the sound, but the 4kHz region adds 'bite' - a cutting incisiveness which if over-done is very unpleasant and irritating.
You can explore this effect for yourselves by routing your audio signal through a graphic equaliser and applying a mild cut in the approx. 1kHz to 4kHz region and a gradual return to flat either side of that.
Everything in the universe resonates, and that definitely includes loudspeaker cabinets! Some resonances are rather useful - such as the fundamental resonance of the air mass inside the cabinet which acts as a spring against the bass/mid diaphragm (cone) and when correctly proportioned, permits a good system bass response. Other resonances are not so useful or desirable, but result from Newton's Second Law of motion: 'every action has an opposite and equal reaction'. For example, as the cone moves inward, the cabinet must, by definition, push back against it, and this sets up peaky resonances inside the cabinet structure which are measurable outside the cabinet with suitable equipment.
At the design stage of a speaker system we need to be aware of the contribution of the cabinet walls to the overall sound perceived by the listener, even if not in the system's frequency response curves. At certain frequencies, untreated wood will be so acoustically transparent that sound waves will pass through it from inside the cabinet as if it is almost invisible; at some (and hopefully different) frequencies the combination of the panel's stiffness and mass will encourage it to sympathetically resonate with notes in the music. Taming these panel resonances is extremely time consuming at the design stage, and demands great attention to the smallest details of the cabinet construction, measuring equipment much trial-and-error. Whatever solution one arrives at, the best one can achieve is to suppress a panel's output and/or to steer it into a frequency band where it is either inaudible or benign: this implies at the bottom end of the audio spectrum.
It is self evident that if the 'raw' untreated panel is thin, that damping that applied damping will have a proportionately greater beneficial effect than if the panel is thick, where no amount of conventional surface damping can adequately suppress latent peaky resonances. The superiority (although at very high cost) of the 'thin wall' panel philosophy was invented and used by the BBC from the 1960's, backed up by measurements and Research, and is, to our mind, the best overall solution for an acoustically quiet mid band, where the ear is extremely sensitive to buried resonances.
As Alexander Graham Bell discovered when working on telephony, the audio bandwidth for the perfect conveyance of human speech need only be about 300Hz to 3000Hz, (the "midband", equivalent to the medium wave (AM) radio bandwidth) and anything beyond that does not aid intelligibility at all.
Of course, for music we prefer a wider band, but only if the audio quality is clean. Considering 'real' music as opposed to electronically synthesized music, there is very little information below about 50Hz and above about 12kHz as a proportion of the total energy in the music. Typical domestic listening rooms are neither big enough nor well damped enough to allow very deep, clean bass so it is just as well that our ears can fill in the missing bottom end without us having to struggle to reproduce it.
Far more important for the *perception* of a solid bass response is a good output in the 50-150Hz band which can be achieved in almost all rooms even with a small system like the HL-P3ES2/Monitor 20, at a sensible drive level.
Of course, for the 'cinema sound experience', different rules may apply but we are concerned here with the natural reproduction of music, not special effects.
No: the only component part of a Harbeth loudspeaker that can change as a result of the exercise known as 'burning-in' is the resin-doped cloth suspension that centres the neck of the cone in the magnetic field - sometimes called the 'spider'. Under the microscope, once the resin has been worked, it crazes into millions of small interconnected islands. This process is irreversible and takes only a few hours - or less, with bass heavy music played rather louder than normal. After that, the drive unit can be considered fully aged, and the resonant frequency has settled at its final value and will stay at that value.The ferrofluid used in Harbeth tweeters will become appropriately viscous after a few minutes operation. Neither the coils, resistors, capacitors, cables no any other part of a Harbeth speaker has any short-term ageing mechanism.
As discussed in Designer's Notebook Chapter 7, "When one hears reports of a loudspeaker 'needing an extended burn-in period, maybe hundreds of hours' this has little or nothing to do with the ageing process of the drive units but of the listener attempting to reprogram his fight-or-flight response. At the top of the design specification of all and every Harbeth speaker is that it must not be fatiguing to listen to hence, by implication it must not have an over-vivid phantom image".See also the User Guide section.
Harbeth speakers are hand made instruments. You are making a significant financial and emotional commitment when you buy them; they will form the core of your musical enjoyment for many years.
A Harbeth Authorised Dealer understands that once you are a Harbeth owner, you will not be buying loudspeakers again so he is highly motivated to serve you well. In turn, eventually you may well return to his store to explore your overall equipment and music needs. The best dealers become the respected advisors and partners-in-music to their customers.
We consider that 'lifetime relationship' to be an essential part of getting the most out of your hobby - and outlets that treat you with respect are rare thing these days so we have selected them for you. Dealers that truly serve their customers deserve to be supported both by us and by you.
Both throughout the UK and overseas in the World Service, the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) began purchaing Harbeth speakers in 1977. Today they are still the first choice for discerning audio professionals.
After the ending of a centrally imposed equipment mandate in the mid 1990's and the demise of Rogers, Harbeth developed into the primary long-term supplier of quality studio monitors across the BBC and took responsibility for servicing and maintaining their Rogers LS speakers. The number of installed Harbeths in the BBC has steadily increased in applications which were previously reserved for the BBC's own LS3/5a (Monitor 20), LS5/9 (Monitor 30) and LS5/8 (Monitor 40) monitor loudspeakers.
The Harbeth sound is natural, neutral, uncoloured and extremely easy to work with for hours on end at a moderate listening level, just as were the BBC's own LS series speakers. Other monitors brands have different characteristics. Not only do Harbeth monitors boast an uncoloured sound, but they are fatigue-free, a vital consideration for professional engineers who can spend long days in front of their studio speakers.
During any one day, over 20 million UK viewers can be unwittingly hearing audio mastered on Harbeth speakers, along with millions more overseas.
*Listen carefully to the sound balance of the BBC's Crimewatch which are sound-balanced on Harbeth's mighty Monitor 40.1 loudspeakers, as are the ITV hit shows The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and The Cube.
Harbeth have a reputation for sound quality underpinned by the BBC engineering legacy. All Harbeth speakers are first and foremost designed to be used (and are used) as serious professional instruments. There are many beautifully styled skimpy tower speakers (mainly for AV use) but none of them could or would be used by a professional sound engineer demanding the best in sound quality.
Physics dictate that where sound quality is paramount, the drive units need to be of certain size to move sufficient air that the listening experience is life-like. This then sets the minimum dimensions of the cabinet, especially the cabinet width. Harbeth's skills with thin-wall cabinet panels then work with and controls cabinet resonances (everything in the universe has a natural resonance frequency) making a big, warm, low-coluration natural sound. Other construction techniques give other sound characteristics.
No, we use top-quality conventional components in all Harbeth circuit boards selected for their actual values, long-term stability, physical size and availability. Conceivably, other alternative components could be substituted by the user but only after very careful evaluation which would necessitate accurate professional measurement equipment.
We do not recommend Harbeth users open or modify any part of a Harbeth speaker system because this would invalidate the Warranty. It is very doubtful that the performance could be improved although it could certainly change.
If you play your Harbeths at a sensible level, you do not knock or damage them or their drive units and you keep them in a normal 20°C ambient environment away from heat sources, then past experience has shown that they should still be working well in very many years. In that time they will have entertained you, watched your children grow up, pass through school and be on their way in life. There are no inherently stressed parts, and definitely no 'inbuilt obsolescence'. Buy once - and get on with the really important part of owning quality hi-fi equipment: the music.
There is no such thing as a universally applicable loudspeaker. What would make a great speaker for a PA stack at a football stadium or in a disco would not have characteristics suitable for natural hi-fi reproduction. As they say 'horses for courses'.
It is definitely true that at the concept stage the loudspeaker designer has to balance the speaker's characteristic with the target application he has in mind. Pop music has a very different spectral energy and intensity to classical music, and is often played loud; jazz falls somewhere between these two and in common with speech is replayed at a lower level. If the designer anticipates that his users will play loud, then durability and the ability to withstand peaks has to be top of the list whatever the consequences for fidelity.
Conversely, Harbeth speakers put fidelity first, and this defines the maximum loudness envelope - far above what most Harbeth users would play at - but not as high as a pop music fan would like to endure, hour after hour.
So, Harbeth speakers are suitable for teasing out detail from all types of music and are optimise to sound natural and full at a reasonable (and neighbour-friendly) level: they do not need to be pushed hard to make a wonderful involving sound.
As explained in Q22, the loudspeaker designer's first conundrum concerns the listening level his users will listen at and the acoustic characteristics of the listening space. A broadcast control room is typically the same size as a living room at home, and with a very similar acoustic and reverberation signature. The listener sits about the same distance from the speakers and the replay level is very similar, and moderate.
So, a loudspeaker designed to fulfil BBC requirements makes the perfect loudspeaker philosophy for critical listening at home.
All Harbeth tweeters are made in Norway by SEAS, the masters of tweeter design. Some models use tweeters using a formed aluminum diaphragm; some use the Excel system with the soft diaphragm.
There are advantages and disadvantages to both types: the aluminum dome is highly repeatable, reasonably priced and within its operating band is very linear with a piston-like performance. The softer dome material is a very advanced composite and offers a carefully contoured response right through the audio band with a gentle roll-off at ultrasonic high frequencies, but at a much higher cost.
There is nothing inherent in the construction of these units that means that one technology is necessarily superior to another - so much of the perceived characteristics of a tweeter are in fact those of the crossover and integration with the bass/mid unit.
100% of all Harbeth loudspeaker systems are designed and hand made in England, at the Harbeth factory in Lindfield by the same small team. Likewise, all Harbeth cabinets are made in the UK by experienced craftsmen.
On average, Harbeth produce around 10 pairs of speakers a day, rather less if they are the larger models. Alan Shaw is personally responsible for planning production and has been using the same MRP system to this effect since 1991. The lead time for new sales orders is about 10-12 weeks.
This question is ambiguous. If you mean what are characteristics of the electrical filters, the answer is around 12-18dB per octave. If the question refers to the acoustic transfer function as 'seen' by a measurement microphone, the answer is of around 18-24dB per octave.
Yes. In fact, the perfectly integrated mid/high transition and the clean well balanced overall response means that record surface clicks and plops do not draw attention to themselves: they do not have the hard edge that is often associated with such an impulse response. Listening to less than perfect LPs become much more enjoyable and less stressful. The overall clarity and resolution speaks for itself.
The painstaking one-hundred year uphill path from wax cylinder, through 78s, then analogue tape, vinyl, CD and finally DAT steadily improved resolution, lowered noise and distortion and increased playing time.
Each generation offered more audio performance. But Digital Compact Cassette (DCC) of the early 1990s confirmed to the music industry that hi-fi enthusiasts' resistance to data compression was just a obstruction to commercial progress, easily dismissed and sidelined.
From DCC onwards the audio-quality argument had been lost: with each future system offering less quality. Mini Disc became a huge success, extensively used in broadcasting (despite very heavy data compression and worries about encode-decode-re-encode) and that in turn begat MP3. For all practical purposes, consumer audio quality peaked in 1983 with CD. These now are the golden days for audio quality but, with CD sales in decline, we can not assume that CDs will always be readily available.
It is extremely unlikely that the audio quality available to the consumer will ever exceed the standard of today's CD, nor, perhaps, does it need to. It is certain that the consumer seems to values convenience - and cost - over absolute quality. LP, at its best and under ideal conditions, also offers a good-to-great quality. Digital Audio Tape, an excellent format, was the final uncompressed format but inconvenient and susceptible to damage. It didn't last long in consumer circles and was resigned to data storage uses.
If we take CD quality as our yardstick for "as good as it gets" we can do some simple maths which puts the whole scene in perspective:
The CD-audio format supports two channels. Each channel has a sampling frequency of 44,100 times per second at which a 16 bit data word is generated for each channel.
So, 2 x 44,100 x 16 = 1,411,200 bits of data are generated every second to describe the audio waveform; a data stream pouring off the CD players optical pick-up of 1.41Mb per second.
In round numbers, when you download an MP3 file described as, say, "128k' (=128,000), we can compare that data flow with CD's 1.41Mb/second (=1,411,200). Since 128,000 is less than 10% of 1,411,200 we can say, approximately, that encoding this MP3 file has ignored 90% of the fine detail in the audio master tape. This is justified by the experts who derived the encoding methods behind data compression as information 'not being of significant importance to the musical detail'.
MPEG Layer 2, on which DAB is based, is an early, and now virtually obsolete, lossy-compression system dating back some many years. It was designed to be of good quality at a bit rate in excess of 192kb, which, by today's standards of compressed audio, is a high bitrate. Most BBC stations are at (far) lower bitrates, some as low as 80kb: mobile phone quality.
DAB, just like analogue FM, sharply cuts off all output above 15kHz regardless of bit rate. Therefore, broadcast BBC Radio 3, even at 196kb/sec. has an bandwidth 5kHz less than CD.
The quality of the BBC service over Freeview/satellite has not been critically evaluated, but could, in theory be better (or worse) than that of DAB. In our opinion, despite the excellent user choice and features, the general audio quality of DAB in the UK is extremely disappointing and probably lower, on average, than a good FM signal. DAB should not, under any circumstances, be used as a critical audio source.
Here is an evalation undertaken at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), including a contribution from the BBC concerning the audio quality of low-bitrate codecs:
Harbeth does not use foam surrounds on its drive units. Whilst it is true that foam surround are much lighter than rubber, they deteriorate rapidly in tropical conditions and eventually the drive unit fails.
The acoustic performance of the surround is critical to the overall sound, surprisingly so at the upper end of the bass/midrange driver's response. The rubber surrounds used on the Harbeth-made 8" bass/midrange driver (woofer) are made from an optimised chemical combination engineered and manufactured in the UK by specialist rubber chemists.


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Following on from an earlier post from Carl, I have read the Gform Column Input section of the help.
Within my themes functions.php file I now have the following:
<?php add_filter("gform_column_input_2_4_1", "set_column", 10, 5); function set_column($input_info, $field, $column, $value, $form_id) { return array("type" => "select", "choices" => "First Choice,Second Choice"); } ?>
Form ID is 2
Field type is list
Field ID is 4
Field contains 2 columns (1 & 2)
Column I want drop-down in is 1
I would expect to see column 1 now showing as a drop down with the values First Choice & Second Choice being available, but I do not.
Can anyone point out my error?


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Jose Aldo is undeniably one of the greatest fighters on the planet.
While approaching his superfight with Frankie Edgar at UFC 156 this Saturday night, Aldo sports a 21-1 MMA record and five straight featherweight title defenses.
But this is a superfight, folks. And even with a resume as strong as Aldo's, he has reason to worry.
Edgar is no joke. He was an undersized champion at lightweight, and he hasn't been dominated since he suffered the first loss of his MMA career against Gray Maynard in 2008.
So what does Edgar offer that will keep Aldo up late at night? What questions do fans have for Aldo as he preps to defend his title for a sixth time?


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Main Content
There's nothing better than the crisp air of autumn and Oklahoma Sooners football. With the changing colors of the leaves comes the changing of the sleeves, so make it a point to sport this Quick Toss T-shirt by Majestic. This long sleeve tee features a school name in a distressed print over a Oklahoma helmet and wordmark. Don't let your Sooners pride fall when the weather begins to cool down!
- 50% Cotton/50% Polyester
- Distressed screen print graphics
- Imported
- Officially licensed collegiate product
- Tagless collar
- Long sleeve
- Screen print graphics
- Imported
- Brand: Majestic
Sooners Customers also liked:
Special event items are produced by manufacturers only after the outcome of a game or event. These are advanced sale items and will ship immediately after they are received in our warehouse.
Manufacturer direct items are shipped directly from the manufacturer. These items are not available for international or expedited shipping.
Customized items can be personalized with options such as your name, your favorite number, and/or designs. Some options may be limited by league rules.


text: I was actually able to just stop, years ago. I do occasionally get an urge for a soda every so often and I usually keep some Virgil's zero (stevia sweetened) cola and/or root beer in the house. The thing about most commercial soda is that they have a high salt content which makes you thirstier (and is then masked by the amount of sugar added), thus you drink more. Virgil's doesn't have this affect on me. Usually half a bottle is all I want. I'll then stick the other half in the fridge and drink it later or the next day, sometimes forgetting altogether.


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Israel Record
Modern Israel is an open, democratic, multi-racial society. The essence of Israeli society is the "Law of Return," legislation enacted in 1950 that grants every Jew the right to return to Israel and, upon entry, to automatically become an Israeli citizen. The country's raison d'etre is the "ingathering of the exiles" and providing safe haven and shelter to all Jews who need it. Members of other faith communities may apply for Israeli citizenship as they would in any other country.
Israel is home to a widely diverse population from many ethnic, religious, cultural, political and social backgrounds. Over half of its Jewish population is native-born with the rest from 102 different countries around the world. Israel's beautiful and rich mosaic contributes to the vibrancy and vitality of Israeli society. It also poses challenges to achieving peaceful coexistence among Jews in Israel.
Between 1948 and 1951 alone, 688,000 immigrants came to Israel, doubling the existing population. In the early years of the state, most immigrants came to Israel fleeing persecution; Holocaust survivors came from post-war Europe as well as Jews escaping persecution in Arab and Muslim countries. These immigrants brought with them different political and cultural traditions ranging from democracy to dictatorships, equality between the sexes to a patriarchal society.
For most of its history, Israel was defending its very physical existence and the elements binding all Jews shared history, religion and commitment to the survival and stability of the Jewish state superseded the divisions among Jews. Today, as Israel is forging peace with its neighbors, the elements dividing Jews are resurfacing in Israeli society. Furthermore, in Israel there is no clear separation of religion and state. In the early years of the state, Prime Minister Ben-Gurion achieved what has become known as the "status quo" regarding many religious matters. In recent years, the status quo has been challenged and the issue of religious pluralism in particular has caused controversy and strife.
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Israel Record Front Page | Israel Front Page


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Jill Trigg scored 12 points and recorded six steals when Keyport defeated Point Pleasant Beach, 40-37, in Keyport.
Gabi Piccini and Rachel Trigg each finished with eight points and eight rebounds for Keyport, which opened the game on a 16-4 run. Ashley Kelly led Point Pleasant Beach with 10 points.


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Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson Responds: I'll Stay on My PathLaurie White
Discipline from his television network won't deter Phil Robertson from standing by his beliefs, he says, surprising no one.
It's been a few days since A&E put the Duck Dynasty patriarch on "hiatus" from the show for comments he made in a GQ interview about gay people and African-Americans. The Robertson family released a statement this week, saying that they stood with their father and weren't sure the show could go on.
While some of Phil's unfiltered comments to the reporter were coarse…Phil would never incite or encourage hate. We are disappointed that Phil has been placed on hiatus for expressing his faith, which is his constitutionally protected right. We have had a successful working relationship with A&E but, as a family, we cannot imagine the show going forward without our patriarch at the helm. We are in discussions with A&E to see what that means for the future of Duck Dynasty.
Phil himself had been quiet, until he granted the UK's Daily Mail exclusive access to a Bible study where he spoke on Sunday. While he said "I love all men and women. I am a lover of humanity, not a hater," he stayed on message, calling homosexuality a sin, sex in general a dangerous proposition, and detailing how sinners can be saved by the Christian path. He went on to say:
"We murder each other and we steal from one another, sex and immorality goes ballistic. All the diseases that just so happen to follow sexual mischief … boy there are some microbes running around now. […] Sexual sins are numerous and many, I have a few myself. So what is your safest course of action? If you're a man, find yourself a woman, marry them and keep your sex right there…Common sense says we are not going to procreate the human race unless we have a man and a woman. From the beginning Jesus said, 'It is a man and a woman.' Adam was made and Eve was made for this reason. They left their fathers and mothers and united to become one flesh, that's what marriage is all about."
Phil Robertson's firing has ignited a national discussion of the First Amendment, the right which his family and many of his supporters claim was violated by firing from A&E. This is simply inaccurate, given that people are held accountable by their employers every day for saying things that are offensive or against the beliefs of the organization. The right to say something does not remove the risk of punishment for it from private entities, which is a detail people miss when they call natural consequences violations of free speech.
Many fans have brought up the public reaction to the Dixie Chicks several years ago, when lead singer Natalie Maines criticized President George W. Bush. The country music fan base, a demographic very much like Phil Robertson's supporters, had the band removed from country radio by sheer volume of negative reaction for doing just what Phil Robertson did — speaking their minds. How is this different, other than in subject matter? Maines has her own thoughts on the matter, including that A&E's punishment is based in concern for ratings and profit, and that they must have known his personal opinions before they were published in a magazine.
Are we up in arms because the Duck Dynasty guy thinks homosexuality is evil or because he said it out loud?
— Natalie Maines (@1NatalieMaines) December 20, 2013
One thing is very clear: Phil Robertson and Duck Dynasty have some serious support, and Phil is sticking to what he believes:
"We are a bunch of rednecks from Louisiana, but I am not uneducated, I have a degree from Louisiana Tech. But this week I have been called an ignoramus. This week I have been asked, 'Is this the first time you have brought up sin?' I said, 'Are you kidding? I have been traveling to and fro spreading this message … I have made hundreds and hundreds of speeches and you can pick them apart and the center has always been Jesus Christ. Do many people get up and walk out? Yeah, all the time, do I hold it against them? No. Anybody can get up and stop listening. We are all just humans on this planet."
Put that way, it's pretty simple. Do I have to like what Phil Robertson says? No. Does he have a right to say it? Yes. Does A&E have a right, as a private employer, to remove people from its ranks who don't represent what they care to impart to the viewing public? Sure. Does everyone have to like it? No. Can we get up and stop listening or hunker down and listen extra? Absolutely. Up to you.
"Well we've had a quite a quiet week, shot some ducks, done some shopping, ignited a national controversy," Robertson's son Pastor Alan said during the Bible study, not clarifying whether they'd be back on the air in full or in part in the new year. Entertainment Weekly reported that Phil's footage will remain intact when the series kicks off again in January, and with an average 14.6 million viewers, including DVR playback, the franchise is certainly a huge moneymaker for both parties. Massive restaurant chain Cracker Barrel rolled back their boycotts of Duck Dynasty merchandise after negative customer responses just two days after they made the decision to yank them, so the pull of public opinion is strong on this one.
I'll be interested to see how this plays out, but if I were to make a wild stab at a prediction, I'd say that there's a good chance the Robertson family will be back intact on televisions everywhere in 2014. The EW source said that there was hope that the furor would die down over the holidays, and everyone would be ready to carry on after that, as proof (or not) of the value of even bad publicity.
No matter what happens, I'm pretty sure there will be coverage.
Image credit: Facebook


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Uller Trails
For the ultimate in scenic beauty and challenging skiing, the Uller Trail with its 30 km and Krankala Spur with an additional 5 km surpass all others. The trail winds through the Penokee Range to Montreal, with shorter spurs that offer you great scenery without the distance.
Free Admission
- Yes
Trail Length (miles)
- 19
Cross-Country Skiing/Snowshoeing Trail Type
- Groomed
- Hilly
- Tracked
- Wooded
- Yes


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It sounds like a lot of fun, and organizers of the first Bellwood-Antis Shoot-A-Way Basketball Competition are banking on the fact that it certainly will be.
The event, sponsored by the Bellwood-Antis Girls High School Basketball Booster Club, will be held on Saturday, Nov. 10 in both the Bellwood-Antis High School and Bellwood-Antis Middle School gymnasiums.
The event will offer participants a chance to try their basketball shooting skills using the Shootaway Gun, an apparatus which stands 12 to 13 feet high and features a net on top of it spanning eight feet wide. The Shootaway Gun is marketed nationally out of the town of Upper Sandusky, Ohio - a Columbus suburb.
Competition will be held for males and females in four age brackets - grades 7-8, grades 9-10, grades 11-12, and an open division for high school graduates and adults.
The competition is open to any and all interested participants, regardless of their school affiliation.
Registration for the event is only $25 per person and will enable each participant to take 50 shots from a stationary position and 50 more from a rotating or transitory position on the basketball court. For $5 more, two participants can enter a doubles competition and compete as a team of friends, or even as father-son, mother-son, father-daughter, mother-daughter teams.
Fact Box
Bellwood-Antis Shootaway Competition
When: Saturday, Nov. 10.
Where: Bellwood-Antis High School and Bellwood-Antis Junior High School gymnasiums.
Starting times: Registration begins at 8 a.m. on the day of the event. On-line pre-registration is encouraged by Nov. 1 by sending name, grade, contact email address and phone number to firstname.lastname@example.com.
Eligible: Boys and girls in grades 7-12 from any school district. High school graduates and adults can compete in an Open Division.
Entry fee: $25 per participant. An additional $5 enables each participant to compete in doubles competition.
A total of four Shootaway Guns will be used in the competition in the two gymnasiums, but more will be available, if needed, according to Bob Crook, the fund-raising director for the Bellwood-Antis High School Girls Basketball Booster Club. Crook did most of the legwork that was involved in bringing the Shootaway Competition to this area.
"I think it's a good thing to have before the basketball season starts,'' said Crook, whose daughter, Ellen, is a junior player on the Bellwood-Antis girls varsity basketball team. "I know the guys who own [the Shootaway Gun] company, and it just came to me to try something different than the traditional elementary or junior high school basketball tournament [to raise funds.]''
The Shootaway Gun is a device that operates on rollers. In the stationary competition, players can pick one spot on the court from which to shoot at the net. In the rotating competition, players will shoot at the net from several different spots on the court.
The Shootaway Gun has been used by many big-name collegiate basketball coaches - among them Michigan State's Tom Izzo - and is a fine tool to get players ready for actual competition.
"The Shootaway Gun is the best basketball scoring machine to date,'' Bellwood-Antis girls basketball coach Jim Swaney said. "This basketball shooting machine will act as an automatic rebounder, instantly rebounding a made or missed shot and providing a direct return pass for another shot.''
The Shootaway Gun can fire up to 1,800 shots per hour, and features an optional computerized scoreboard that counts and displays successful shots, total shots, and shooting percentage.
"The Booster Club purchased these guns,'' Swaney said. "I don't think anybody in this area has held any competition with the Shootaway Guns, and that's what we're looking to do - promote the Shootaway Guns a little bit - and offer competition for individuals in divisions from grade 7 through adults.''
Swaney is ideally hoping that the event will attract up to 10 to 12 participants in each age group.
"The thing that's really nice about it is that kids will compete against players from schools that they normally wouldn't compete against - like an Altoona High School player competing against a player from Juniata Valley,'' he said. "We're trying to get people in here from as many different school districts as we can.''


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GAO — FRENCH troops clashed with Islamist extremists firing rocket launchers outside the north Malian city of Gao, France's defence minister said on Wednesday.
Jean-Yves le Drian also said there had been "several hundred" jihadist fighters killed and "large" destruction of weapons, giving the first indication of the scope of the combat in an interview on Tuesday on France's BFM TV.
"It's a real war … when we go outside of the centre of cities that have been taken, we meet residual jihadists," Mr le Drian said on Wednesday on Europe-1 radio.
Gao has been held by French-led forces since late January, and Tuesday's clashes highlight complications for the intervention.
Mr le Drian said French aircraft were continuing air strikes every night on suspected militant arms depots and mine-making sites. On the ground, troops have found war materiel, weapons manuals and makeshift laboratories for making improvised explosive devices such as roadside bombs.
"We discovered preparations for a true terrorist sanctuary," Mr le Drian said.
France launched a swift military intervention on January 11 against Islamist extremists who had taken over northern Mali, imposing harsh sharia laws, and started pushing towards the capital, Bamako. A United Nations-authorised African force is starting to take over from French forces in cities seized at the outset of the intervention.
Mali's minority Tuareg nomads say they are holding several small northern towns, including the strategic city of Kidal, on the road to Algeria. French and Chadian troops entered the city on Tuesday, reports said.
Moussa Ag Assarid of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (NMLA) said its fighters also were holding the northeastern towns of Tessalit, Menaka, Aguelhok and Tinzawatten, as well as Kidal.
Trouble began in Mali, once a stable democracy in West Africa, with the latest in a series of Tuareg rebellions in the north last year. Poorly armed and demoralised Malian soldiers fled before their advance, then staged a coup in the capital, Bamako.
NMLA fighters joined up with Islamist militants linked to al-Qaeda and quickly overran all the main northern cities, including Timbuktu. But the secular fighters fell out with the Islamist extremists when they started imposing sharia laws, including amputating limbs and stoning deaths, and their rebellion was hijacked.
As the extremists have fled the French bombing campaign, it appears the NMLA fighters have returned. They claim to be willing to work with the French forces but not Malian troops they accuse of committing reprisal atrocities against the Tuaregs and Arabs.


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FLINT, Michigan — Despite what organizers call an "economic tsunami," the United Way of Genesee County still managed to exceed the fundraising goal for its 2009 campaign.
The organization came up with $2.9 million — $200,000 more than it expected.
The organization scaled back its goal from the $3.7 million it raised last year because of significant job cuts, losses and retirements from major companies such as General Motors and Delphi, which traditionally have been the major supporters of United Way. GM and Delphi contributed nearly $500,000 to the 2009 campaign.
Donations from payroll deductions from hundreds of large and small local businesses made up 90 percent of the total money raised, said Genesee County United Way Executive Director Ronald Butler.
The rest came from corporate gifts and other supporting foundations.
"We have an incredibly generous community," Butler said. "Despite the economic tsunami that has hit many of us, people are contributing all they can. Our numbers decreased from last year because there are less people working."
One of the United Way's major concerns continues to be the recent retirement of high-paid employees in major manufacturing companies and local schools.
"Even if new employees are giving the same percentage as those who they replaced, we are still receiving less because they are making less," Butler said.
One local agency said it would be without essential services if not for the United Way.
"The United Way funds are a critical 15 percent of our budget. We use that money to levy for more money from other resources," said Charles P. Tommasulo, executive director of the Family Service Agency of Mid-Michigan in Flint.
The group got $220,000 from the United Way last year to support family counseling, in-home elderly service and visually impaired programs.
"We really rely on all the help we can to provide for the elderly and to keep them out of nursing homes that cost nearly six times more than if we keep them in their homes," he said.
"I can't express enough thanks to all those who contribute to the United Way."
The Salvation Army of Flint, Boys and Girls Club and One Stop Housing Resource Center are some of the other two dozen organizations supported by the United Way of Genesee County.


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I know, I know. Today's all about Oscar nominations. But I still want to talk about the amazing day I had at the Moviefone house for Unscripted shootings. First, I get there and Heather Graham and Victor Rasuk have just finished taping an episode (for their movie 'Adrift in Manhattan'), and they came back to the greenroom to get their coats. They were both very cool, really friendly and all. And apparently Heather had asked Victor if he'd slept with some girl he'd mentioned as being a "big influence" on him, and he hadn't answered her, so she was like, "well, obviously the answer to that question is yes."
No sooner had Heather and Victor left, than in come Zooey Deschanel and Chris Klein for their Unscripted shoot, for their movie 'The Good Life.' They roll into the house with their entourage --and by "entourage" I mean a publicist and, for Chris, his girlfriend, 'Big Love' star Ginnifer Goodwin, and for Zooey, her mom. And Zooey and Ginnifer start talking about bread (Zooey avoids it, Ginnifer loves it), which leads to Zooey revealing that her mom makes a loaf of bread every day. And she sets up her mom and Ginnifer in a conversation about bread-making. Oh, and the NFL playoff game is on the big screen, so Chris tells Ginnifer to stay and watch it while he's filming. And she does, and texts him about it and when he comes back, she says, "Did I do good?" and he says, "You did" and leans over and gives her a nice big kiss. They are ADORABLE together.
So then, when they'd gone, Parker Posey comes in (for 'Broken English'); she loves the candy bins we have set up in the house and gets her picture taken in the Moviefone photo booth. And then it was Ryan Reynolds and Elle Fanning (Dakota's little sis) for their movie 'The Nines,' and then Sarah Polley came in with her producer to talk about her film 'Away From Her.' And then to top it all off, Crispin Glover stopped by to talk about his self-produced movie 'It's Fine. Everything Is Fine!'
As you might imagine, after so many star sightings, I was exhausted. I'm leaving Sundance tomorrow, so I'll be able to detox the excessive celeb-viewing out of my system shortly.


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schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:email@example.com ups.com...
> Hi
> I have several files inside a directory. I am trying to remove files
> through a C program. I want to remove all those, including the
> directory. I tried using remove() function call, but that doesn't help
> because the parameter needs to be the absolute file path including
> filename. And I want to delete all the files, the number of which
> varies everytime that directory is created.
> Please, help me out with this.
Get yourself a copy of the source code for rm and check what it does for
'rm -r',
or use something along the lines of
sprintf(cmd, "rm -rf %s", targ);
Bye, Jojo


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This page has been simplified so that it loads quickly. It is now just an index to other pages.
You can link to any item which is of interest to you.
Visit Bob LaFara's computer biography.
See a picture of Bob LaFara.
See a picture of a young Bob at an IBM650.
Read about my World War II experiences.
Learn about my software at:
Castle Oaks home page.
The background of the Castle Oaks page is a 3-D stereogram using a collage made from the Castle Oaks logo. If you want to learn how to view it, read and learn about 3-D stereograms.
On the Castle Oaks page you will find information about programs:
to help solve word puzzles (WORDFIND)
to make word search puzzles [HINTHUNT(TM)]
and a new word game [LOGOMAKI(TM)]
Visit the BOBSTUFF craft page.
Read about Irvington (a community on the East side of Indianapolis.)
Aunt Annie's craft page (a daughter.)
Another daughter's page.
A daughter's travel page.


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Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine/ Doctor of Veterinary Medicine – South Korea
Credential Name
수의학사 (Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine/ Doctor of Veterinary Medicine)
Entrance Requirements
General or Vocational High School Certificate of Graduation (12 years)
Length of Study
4 years
Generally compares to the completion of a first professional university degree in veterinary medicine.
Note: Bachelors of Veterinary Medicine/ Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degrees in South Korea generally require the completion of four years of continuous study in the faculty of veterinary medicine. In Canada, veterinary medicine degrees require in general at least two years of undergraduate study in science followed by four years of professional veterinary studies.
Terms and Conditions
This is not an assessment. Any recommendations obtained through this Education Overview Guide are not official and are for your information only. Employers, educational institutions and professional regulatory bodies require an official International Qualifications Assessment Service (IQAS) assessment.
Credential comparisons obtained through the Education Overview Guide are representative of common educational patterns within each country. They do not take into account the recognition status of the institution through which a credential was obtained, the authenticity of the documentation, or the particular pattern of education followed by an individual. As a result, an official IQAS assessment may differ from the recommendations published on this website.
IQAS recommendations are advisory only. Canadian employers, education institutions, and professional regulatory bodies are independent organizations. Because of this, they may make their own decisions on admission based on a variety of factors, which may include, but are not limited to, academic qualifications.


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Instructor Resources
The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths
Co-founder and co-editor of October magazine, a veteran of Artforum of the 1960s and early 1970s, Rosalind Krauss has presided over and shared in the major formulation of the theory of postmodernism.
In this challenging collection of fifteen essays, most of which originally appeared in October, she explores the ways in which the break in style that produced postmodernism has forced a change in our various understandings of twentieth-century art, beginning with the almost mythic idea of the avant-garde. Krauss uses the analytical tools of semiology, structuralism, and poststructuralism to reveal new meanings in the visual arts and to critique the way other prominent practitioners of art and literary history write about art. In two sections, "Modernist Myths" and "Toward Postmodernism," her essays range from the problem of the grid in painting and the unity of Giacometti's sculpture to the works of Jackson Pollock, Sol Lewitt, and Richard Serra, and observations about major trends in contemporary literary criticism.
About the Author
Rosalind E. Krauss, University Professor at Columbia University and an editor and cofounder of October magazine, is the author of The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths (1985), The Optical Unconscious (1993), The Picasso Papers (1999), and Bachelors (1999), all published by the MIT Press, and coauthor (with Yve-Alain Bois) of Formless: A User's Guide (Zone Books, 1997).
—J. T. Paoletti, Wesleyan University


text:
FREE SHIPPING on orders over $50.
Quantity Available:
Tech Lighting, headquartered in Skokie, IL, is known for their innovative lighting systems and exquisite lighting designs. Their passion for art, sophistication and imagination is balanced by rigorous testing and quality control in the creation of their line-voltage and low-voltage lighting, including the Tech Lighting FreeJack and monorail systems and track heads.
The Cheers Multi-Point Pendant is available with the following:
- 7 Clear glass shades
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- Low-voltage
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Finish: Antique Bronze, Chrome, Satin Nickel
Installation Type: Monopoint, Monorail, Two-Circuit Monorail, Freejack
- Seven 10 Watt 12 Volt Bi-Pin Low-voltage Xenon lamps (included).
Compare Brightness:
LumensThe amount of light that comes from a bulb, which has commonly been measured in watts. The more lumens, the brighter the bulb.
WattageA measurement of the power delivered to a component of an electric circuit (allowing a one-ampere current to flow through the component under the pressure of 1 volt.)
Bulb ShapeBulb shapes are denoted with a letter, which describes the shape, and a number, which indicates the size. The number indicates the diameter of the light bulb at its widest part in eighths of an inch.
BaseThe part of the bulb that connects to the fixture and its power supply. Bulb bases are denoted with the letter E, and a number which indicates the diameter of the bulb base at its widest part in millimeters.
VoltageIndicates how much voltage a bulb can accept via the fixture it's installed in.
Light Color TemperatureThe relative color from a light source, measured on the Kelvin temperature scale. Warm light is lower in color temperature (2700-3000 K) and cool, blue light is higher (5000 K).
Average Rated LifeThe average amount time that a bulb is expected to last.
CRICRI = color rendering index. This number, which can go from 0 to 100, measures the ability of a light or bulb accurately renders colors. The higher the number, the better, with most quality bulbs these days measuring at least in the 80s.
- Fixture: Height 16", Diameter 15"
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- Shade: Height 4", Diameter 5"
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Need help with some of our terminology? Check out Lumens' Lighting & Design Glossary.
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SUPERINTENDENT William R. Hite Jr., saying he had "few options," announced Thursday that the School District will recommend closing 37 schools as part of a plan to establish "a school system that is better run, safer and higher performing."
Calling it "a historic moment," Hite said his recommendations also included changing the grade levels of 23 schools and making other program changes affecting another seven. The total savings for the district could be up to $28 million beginning in 2014-15, he said.
The proposed changes will be presented to the School Reform Commission Dec. 20 and, if approved, would affect 17,000 district students, 45 principals and 1,168 teachers. The number of schools would drop from 237 to 199; one in six schools would be closed.


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Wellington Fitness Centre
$48 for a 20-Visit Concession Card (value $240)
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- Make some concessions this summer.
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Wellington Fitness Centre has been around since 2003, so they've helped a LOT of people achieve their fitness goals! You'll find top of the range equipment, from Precor bikes, treadmills, and cross-trainers. They also have a variety of machines and free weight equipment. With free parking on-site, there's no excuses to not go!
Bookings are essential to start your membership. Sessions are non transferable and can only be used by the original purchaser or gift recipient, as named on the concession card.
Wellington Fitness Centre
(04) 920 0206
Business in trade
Opening Hours
Seven days 6.00am - 10.00pm
ConditionsValid from Nov 25, 2012
Expires Mar 31, 2013
Limit: 1 for you and 1 gift for another
BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL. PLEASE CALL FOR AN APPOINTMENT. Adults only (18 years & over). All sessions must be used by Mar 31 2013. Must present coupon on arrival to receive concession card. No exchanges, no refunds, no cashbacks. Not to be used with any other offer. One voucher per person. Non transferable. Valid only for original purchaser or gift recipient.
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Swimming at Cliffs still open
By From staff reports
Published in News on September 11, 2012 1:46 PM
The lake at Cliffs of the Neuse State Park is still open. Days and hours are Friday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. Swimming and boating are allowed during these hours. The lake will remain open through...
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Ravens escape Steelers, take control in AFC North
PITTSBURGH -- In his first start in three seasons, Byron Leftwich earned mixed reviews.
Ben Roethlisberger's backup scored the Steelers' only touchdown Sunday, but he also threw an interception that led to a critical Baltimore field goal in the Ravens' 13-10 win at Heinz Field.
"Whatever procedure my brother had, I'm going to need," Ravens coach John Harbaugh quipped afterward. "Heart's beating a little faster after that one."
Leftwich appeared to injure his throwing shoulder stumbling into the end zone at the end of a 31-yard run that gave the Steelers a 7-0 lead. He was later evaluated for what the Steelers termed a rib injury after taking several hard shots, but he never left the game.
Leftwich was erratic all night, missing several open receivers and completing only 17-of-38 passes for 201 yards.
But in a defensive slugfest ultimately decided by special teams, Baltimore's Joe Flacco wasn't significantly better. Flacco completed 20-of-32 attempts for 164 yards without a touchdown or a field goal.
"It's never pretty in this game," said Harbaugh, whose team has beaten 12 straight AFC North opponents.
The Steelers (6-4) held advantages in total yards (311-200), first downs (17-12) and time of possession (32:29-27:09), but couldn't overcome an early coverage lapse and couldn't move the ball close enough to attempt a tying field goal at the end.
"Tough football game -- nip and tuck," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. "The difference is obviously that we didn't find a significant play, particularly in the waning moments."
After falling behind 7-0, the Ravens (8-2) got a field goal from Justin Tucker, then made a significant play of their own on special teams.
After a defensive stop, Baltimore forced a punt that Jacoby Jones returned 63 yards for a touchdown, slicing across the middle of the field and easily out-sprinting punter Drew Butler to the goal line.
That put the Steelers in catch-up mode, and they couldn't close the gap.
"They hate us," Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs told NFL Network on the field after the game. "We're the one team in the NFL they don't want to lose to, especially here. We just embrace the moment. We love being in the lion's den and we expect a 12-round heavyweight fight. We're gonna slug it out with them."
Leftwich, despite absorbing a beating from a Ravens defense that sacked him three times, led the Steelers to midfield twice in the fourth quarter, but both drives stalled and resulted in punts.
Third-string quarterback Charlie Batch warmed up on the sidelines in the fourth quarter, but Tomlin declined to make the move to Batch even after Leftwich bounced a second-down pass to a wide open Mike Wallace.
"I wasn't," Tomlin said when asked how close he was to making the switch to Batch. "(Leftwich) sustained some hits, but that's football, particularly when you're talking about this matchup."
Leftwich was sacked on the next play for a 7-yard loss, leading to a punt.
The Ravens were even less effective offensively, failing to score a touchdown and managing only 64 yards in the second half. Ray Rice managed only 40 yards on 20 carries as the Steelers out-rushed Baltimore 134-47.
But Flacco avoided a costly turnover and the Steelers coughed the ball up three times, twice on fumbles. One of those fumbles was charged to Max Starks as he tried to lateral on a desperation play at the end of the game.
The other, by Wallace after a catch, set up Baltimore's first field goal.
The loss leaves the Steelers two games behind the Ravens in the division, with a rematch coming in two weeks. Meanwhile, the Steelers head to Cleveland for the first of two second-half meetings with the Browns, and the Ravens visit the Chargers.
The Steelers would need a win next week and a Ravens loss to have a chance to pull even with Baltimore again the following week.
But it's likely they would have to win both games without Roethlisberger, who reportedly will miss at least three games with injuries suffered against Kansas City last week.
Leftwich made his first start since 2009 with Tampa Bay. He remained winless since 2006, when he went 3-3 in six starts for Jacksonville.
"I thought it was great," Tomlin said of Leftwich's performance. "We knew this was going to be a Baltimore-Steelers type football game. It was going to be nip and tuck. Obviously, not enough plays by him or by any of the rest of us to secure the victory."
JOHN DUDLEY can be reached at 870-1677 or email@example.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNdudley.