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Hazmat on the Highway? Maintenance Is Ready!
Every minute of the day, vehicles carrying hazardous materials are traveling District 7 freeways. Inevitably, there will be spills. A LOT of spills. Fortunately, our maintenance crews are ready.
[Click on photos to enlarge and read captions.]
By the time you read this article today, chances are pretty good that there has already been a hazardous materials (hazmat) spill somewhere in District 7. If it hasn't happened yet, it probably will before the day is out. Hazmat spills aren't an occasional occurrence here. They happen almost every day.
That sounds a little scary – and for good reason. Hazardous materials are dangerous, and there are more hazmat spills here in District 7 than in any other district. But we have highly trained maintenance staff who know how to handle hazmats safely, efficiently and effectively, protecting both Caltrans employees and the traveling public.
So what exactly is a hazmat? There are nine classifications of hazardous materials: explosives, gases, flammable liquids, flammable solids, oxidizers and organic peroxides, toxic material and infectious substances, radioactive materials, corrosive materials, and the catchall "miscellaneous dangerous substances." A hazmat can be a solid, liquid, gas or combination of these states.
District Hazmat Manager Willie Perales has a more practical definition: "Simply put, it's a material that can cause harm when it's outside its normal containment," he said. "If it can hurt you, it's a hazmat."
Fuel spills make up about 90 percent of hazmat spills in District 7. Such spills might result from overturned tankers, jackknifed big rigs, even passenger car collisions. Whether the spill is two gallons or two thousand, it's still a hazmat. "There is no magic number when you're dealing with hazmats. We have to clean it up," said Perales.
There is also a staggering variety of non-fuel hazmats: batteries, pool chemicals, cleansers, medical waste, meth lab materials, propane, pesticides, paints, even some spirits. And then there's the just plain bizarre hazmats. Remember the house that was being transported on the Hollywood Freeway (US 101) until it hit an overpass in September 2007? It, too, was a hazmat due to the asbestos and lead-based paint it contained.
The wide variety of hazmats and the high frequency of spills in District 7 is due in large part to the sheer volume of trucks in this region. "With all the port traffic in the district, almost every material known to mankind is on a truck on one of our freeways," said Roger Castillo, maintenance manager, hazmat, storm water and culvert inspection. "The scary thing is that a lot of times we don't know what they're hauling when a spill occurs."
Many trucks carry "mixed loads" that don't have one of those diamond-shaped placards on the back that specifically identify the contents. That's often true of vehicles like grocery trucks, UPS trucks, and trucks headed to big-box retailers such as Target and Walmart. The quantities of individual products are too small to require a hazmat placard. But should such a truck get into an accident, the contents could mix, creating a potentially lethal combination.
All maintenance staff receive Hazmat Training so they know what to do when (not if) they encounter a hazardous spill on the freeway. There are two levels of training. Everyone below the level of leadworker receives instruction in First Responder Awareness (FRA). FRA training focuses on safe approach, isolation of the hazmat, and notification of the appropriate people. Leadworkers and supervisors receive more extensive training, known as the First Responder Operational (FRO) level. When a spill occurs, FRO staff assess the situation and determine how the cleanup should proceed. To protect our workers and the public, all spills are assumed to be hazardous until proven otherwise.
When a spill occurs, one of the first things maintenance staff will do after isolating it – often in cooperation with other agencies – is notify the spiller. "Legally, it's their responsibility to handle the cleanup," said Perales. "We contact the responsible party and say, 'You've spilled something on the freeway. You're responsible for cleaning it up.'"
And they're legally responsible for paying for it, too – not just the cleanup itself, but also for traffic control, damage to the highway and any other costs incurred by the department related to the spill.
About half the time, the spiller will handle the cleanup. If they don't have the resources to do so, usually Caltrans will take care of it. For a typical spill of a known substance – let's say, 50 gallons of gasoline – Maintenance has the expertise and resources to handle the cleanup. They'll come out with absorbents, pads and recovery drums, clean up the spill and reopen lanes as quickly as possible.
For spills that neither the spiller nor Caltrans is equipped to handle – usually because it's too big or it's a particularly dicey substance – Maintenance has a list of vendors available to handle the cleanup. Staff will contact a vendor nearby with the required expertise.
"There are a lot of good hazmat contractors in this area," said District Hazmat Manager Doug Johnson. "They respond very quickly and are very competitive in their pricing. If you're in a rural area, it might take three hours just to get a contractor out to the scene."
While most surface spills are cleaned up in a matter of hours, if a hazmat gets into the drainage system or groundwater, the cleanup process can take days, weeks, even years. "Ultimately, it's up to us to make sure it's done properly, no matter how long it takes," said Maintenance Manager for Maintenance Support Richard Gordon.
Cleaning up hazmat spills is not without its rewards. There's a sense of satisfaction that comes from protecting the public, the environment and freeway system, said Perales. But maintenance crews never lose sight of what the haz in hazmat stands for.
"Working on the freeway is dangerous enough," said Castillo. "Hazmats throw a whole other monkey wrench into it. That's why safety is so important. We all want to go home at night."


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Harry Potter Spells, For All You Wizards & Witches!
Next time your boss gets you riled up, or someone gets under your skin. Just remember! These spells might come in handy for all of you with magical powers out there! Give it a try!
Meteolojinx Recanto (MEE-tee-OL-uh-jinks re-CAN-toh)
Antidote to spells that change the weather.
Morsmorde (morz-MOR-druh)
It conjures up the dark mark of Voldemort

subset: commoncrawl


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With many applications already supporting SVG output such as Geoserver, Mapserver and Arcims(?), historically the low uptake of SVG in a GIS sense has been a result of users being required to download the plugin (current SVG use at 12%, in comparison to 97% for flash, or 94% for java [source]) .
With native SVG support coming for IE v7 and Firefox 1.5, you would expect SVG GIS usage to exponentially increase and maybe even become a defacto standard, at least for viewing simple vector data.
I must admit i have had limited use with SVG, but I can definately see this little niche becoming more mainstream. I will leave you with some interesting SVG links for anyone keen to have a look at its capabilities. I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts for the future with SVG.
Interesting times ahead ..
Carto.net repository. Great info, recommended.
Directionsmag article on SVG GIS. Good introduction and background
Arcview / ArcMap -> SVG converter
AMRI GIS Some very good SVG utils and examples
Mapinfo TAB -> SVG Converter


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What kid doesn't like smoothies?
Umm... my kid.
I used to buzz up gloriously pink and purple concoctions with berries and yoghurt and milk. And his little nose would turn up at them all. When he wouldn't eat any food, I thought it would be guzzled down. But no. His Dad's milkshakes, full of icecream, yes. Our home-whizzed smoothies, no.
And then it hit 40 degrees, and Dear Boy and I spent hours wandering through the air-conditioned shopping centre. And I succumbed to store-bought smoothies. And then he succumbed to the want of whatever I was having. Smoothie downed. And that was my in. I dusted off my blender and piled in all the good stuff from the fridge. More smoothies downed. Success.
The best ingredient for our smoothies, by far, are frozen grapes. Not only have we been living on them on the super-hot Melbourne days, but they ice up the smoothie beautifully. They're best in non-dairy smoothies like our current favourite, a tropical green beauty.
There are no real measurements or rules for the ingredients - just keep the banana to a minimum as it will overtake the flavour of the smoothie. The more ice you add the more like a slushie this becomes - some days that's exactly what we're after.
This basic recipe lends itself to extras: mint is perfect, but coriander or parsley work if your kid is used to more savoury drinks; avocado, mango or even a dash or two of coconot milk will help make it extra creamy; celery, kale or other green leafy veg would work too but take the flavour profile a little too close to "dirt" for my boy's tastes.
One step at a time.
On the rare occasion that there are any leftovers, I stick them straight into an ice-cube tray and freeze them. Dear Boy is loving his "green hearts, Mummy" at the moment - finally getting some use out of this cute little number I found at IKEA over a year ago (the fish version remains resolutely useless).


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Technically, Acer is adding a new netbook model to the U.S. Aspire One lineup so I guess you could call it "next-generation," but I see it as a bigger version of the old generation. ;) Essentially, the AOD150 is mostly the same under the hood as the original, but offers a 10.1-inch display instead of an 8.9-incher and a 6-cell battery standard. At this point, the Intel Atom N280 and GN40 are either available or just around the corner, so I would have hoped to see an upgrade in the CPU. Still, $349 is a decent value for these specs and minor improvements:
- 1.6GHz Intel Atom (N270) + Intel GMA 950
- 1 GB of RAM
- 160 GB hard drive, 5400 RPM
- Windows XP with SP3 (note, I don't believe there is a version with Linux available; at least not yet)
- 1024xs600 resolution
- Three USB ports, 802.11g, integrated webcam (still no Bluetooth)
- 2.95 pound weight and 10.2" (W) x 8.0" (D) x 1.31" (H) in size.
For the money, this is a pretty solid bit of hardware. With the extra room, Acer was able to move the mouse buttons from the sides of the trackpad to below it, which is a more traditional placement. They kept the properly placed, correctly sized Right-Shift key too. Thank you, I say. Thank you.
You should be able to find the bigger Aspire One at Acer retailers and online here in the U.S. now. Our mates in the UK have already a crack at this netbook. Anyone across the pond have some hands-on thoughts to share? Are you getting the previously promised up to 7 hours of battery life and maximum fun? :)


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The Enterprise Forum was founded in 1997 by Andrew Cumpsty and Alistair Burt through a desire to ensure business involvement in the Conservative Party's policy development. Its aim is to improve the quality and flow of information between the business community and the Conservative Party. Alistair Burt was the first Chairman of the Enterprise Forum. Andrew Cumpsty took over from Alistair Burt as Chairman after Burt's re-election to Parliament in 2001.
The first formal meeting, by the Enterprise Forum was with Peter Lilley MP, the then Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party. Since that time the Enterprise Forum has had virtually every front bench Conservative Politician speak at one of its meetings.
The Enterprise Forum's members are businesses and organisations that want to engage on policy with the Coalition Government or before 2010, the Conservative Party. Membership includes commercial organisations (including FTSE 100 companies and SME's), trade associations and charities.
The programme of events is determined by the policy priorities of the member organisations. The majority of meetings are held under the Chatham House Rules.
Additionally, the Forum also engages with key policy stakeholders outside of the Conservative Party. These have included Director Generals at the CBI, Deputy Governors at The Bank of England, the Liberal Democrats and the First Minister of Northern Ireland.
The President of the Enterprise Forum is The Lord MacLaurin of Knebworth DL. Vice-Presidents of the Enterprise Forum are Alistair Burt MP (Founder and former Chairman of the Enterprise Forum), David Gauke MP, Malcolm Harbour CBE, Margot James MP and Mark Prisk MP.
The Enterprise Forum is run by an unpaid board of senior directors drawn from business and industry (see biographies opposite)
Former directors of the Enterprise Forum that have gone on to become MPs are David Gauke MP, Stephen Barclay MP, Oliver Colvile MP, Alan Mak and Laura Sandys.
Julie Girling MEP is the representative for The Enterprise Forum in The European Parliament. The Enterprise Forum holds regular European Parliament update meetings in London and Brussels.
|Executive Members
|Lord MacLaurin of Knebworth DL President
Lord MacLaurin of Knebworth, DL, is one of the country's leading businessmen. His career began in the late 1950s with Tesco and he rose through the ranks to become Managing Director and then Chairman from 1985 to 1997. He joined the Vodafone Board in January 1997 and was made Chairman in July 1998 and during his career he has been on the Boards of Enterprise Oil Plc, Guinness Plc, National Westminster Bank Plc and Whitbread Plc. He is currently a non-executive director of the investment bank The Evolution Group Plc and a member of the Supervisory Board of Heineken NV. Lord MacLaurin will retire from the Vodafone Board at the conclusion of the Company's Annual General Meeting on 25 July 2006. Upon his retirement he will become Chairman of the Vodafone Group Foundation. He is also Chairman of the council of his old Public School Malvern College and a Trustee or patron of several charities.
His interests are cricket (he was chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board 1996-2002), golf, horse racing.


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Publication Date: September 2016
Pages: 42
|Member Price
|Nonmember Price
|Individual Download
|$0 / €0
|$25 / €23
|Which format is right for me?
This revised edition of the ISPE Pest Control Handbook was edited by the Factory Auxiliary Issues Subcommittee in the Manufacturing Management Community of Practice (COP) of the ISPE Japan Affiliate. It considers fundamental concepts and policies for the control and management of pests in pharmaceutical manufacturing sites.
The Handbook is intended to assist organizations in following "Ministerial Ordinance on Standards for Manufacturing Control and Quality Control for Drugs and Quasi-drugs (GMP Ordinance)" and "Application of PIC/s GMP Guide (Administrative notice regarding PIC/S GMP Guideline)" issued by MHLW and PMDA of Japan, which relate to the basic management of pharmaceutical manufacturing and associated quality management standards.
It does not stipulate regulations on control criteria for pest control. In cases where alternative methods are deemed appropriate based on rational evidence those methods may be employed.
The Handbook was created in the context of GMP best practices, and the original English translation was reviewed by the Guidance Document Committee. Consequently, its information is valuable for any facility using GMPs worldwide.
Leveraging Statistics in the Process Validation Lifecycle
Thursday, 27 Jul 2017 07.07
Explore Bio Innovations and More at the 2017 ISPE Annual Meeting & Expo
Wednesday, 26 Jul 2017 09.07
Outcomes that Matter: Benefits of Implementing the Process Validation Lifecycle
Tuesday, 25 Jul 2017 10.07


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Organizers pleased with newly combined showPosted on
Despite a slight drop in attendance, the 2009 Strictly Sail Pacific & Powerboat Expo was deemed a success, with exhibitors reporting quality traffic and strong sales.
The newly combined show brought together more than 250 sail and power exhibitors from April 15-19 at Oakland's newly remodeled Jack London Square. Exhibitors praised the new sail and power format.
"The combined show was an excellent move and offered great value for both sailing and powerboat enthusiasts," said Trish D'Anna, owner of D'Anna Yacht Center, in a statement. "We've received several promising prospects from the show, and we are looking forward to the start of the spring season."
Jorgen Bateman, director of sales for the Northern California Marine Association, said combining the two shows was a positive step for the industry and allowed organizers to achieve greater reach in their marketing efforts.
"The sailing activities and show features helped us create a bigger, more exciting event and reach attendees interested in both sail and power," he said in a statement.
Overall attendance was reported at 12,100, compared to 13,200 last year. Still, Jonathan Banks, executive director of Sail America, said everyone was pleased with the results considering the state of the economy and the dramatic drop in attendance that other boat shows have experienced this year.
"The strong attendance underlines the importance of boat shows and the continuing passion people have for sailing and other boating activities," he said in a statement.
Craig Fecker of Cruising Yachts said he was pleased with the marketing efforts of the show and reported positive reception from attendees.
"The show has been excellent," Fecker said in a statement. "The response we've received is the first indicator for us that the market may be moving in a positive direction."
Next year's show is scheduled for mid-April at Jack London Square.


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(CNSNews.com) - Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, says he wants a list of all AIG employees who received retention bonuses.
The firm has received $170 billion in taxpayer-funded bailouts, and it is under fire for the $220 million in retention bonuses paid to employees in its financial products division. The most recent payment of $165 million was awarded last Friday.
"We will be asking for the names," Frank said at the beginning of a hearing at which AIG Chairman Edward Liddy was called to testify. "If Mr. Liddy declines to give us the names, then I will convene the committee to vote a subpoena for the names. So we do intend to use our power to get the names of the people here."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other Democrats said on Tuesday that Congress will force executives of American International Group to pay back at least some of the bonus money, but it's not clear how that could happen.
Frank on Wedneday complained that the AIG contract "appears to have been signed in contemplation of serious losses." He noted that the bonuses were to be awarded whether the firm made money or lost money.
"As for retention – no I do not think these are the people you want to retain." Frank said. It would be better for people who did not make the mistakes undo them.
Frank told the hearing he has urged Treasury Secretary Geithner, "Let's exercise our ownership rights, and let's bring a lawsuit as the owners against people who in fact did damage to the company." The federal government now owns 80 percent of the company.
Chairman Liddy, who had led the troubled company for just a few months, called some of the executive bonuses "distasteful."
"We are meeting today at a high point of public anger," Liddy said in testimony prepared for the hearing. "I share that anger," he said.
The retention bonuses -- ranging from $1,000 to nearly $6.5 million -- were not his idea, and Liddy himself is not getting a bonus.
(The Associated Press contributed some of the information used in this report.)
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She felt an unmistakable snap. She knew immediately, from painful experience, what it was.
Kaya Turski, a slopestyle skier and winner of three consecutive gold medals at X Games, had blown the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee. It was early August, during training on the summer snow at Mount Hood in Oregon, and Turski didn't complete the full two rotations of a 720-degree spin. She hit the ground before she was ready. Snap.
In the cold echo, Turski's Olympic dream was apparently dead. The 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, were exactly six months away. The 25-year-old had blown ACLs before, and she knew the months and months of convalescence. A comeback in time seemed impossible.
But elite sport in Canada has changed, a legacy of the success at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, where an infusion of government and corporate money coupled with ambition produced Canada's best Olympics: 14 golds, the most of any country in the history of the Winter Games.
For Turski, a swirl of cash and medical support coalesced, the type that did not exist a decade ago.
Led by the privately backed B2ten and supported by government money through the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association and Own the Podium, the slopestyle skier is in the midst of an extraordinary recovery.
In fact, after the glow of victory faded in Vancouver and the cheering crowds dissipated, Own the Podium – the program at the centre of the push to victory – redoubled its efforts.
While corporate funding fell off, the federal government poured more money in: Canada has staked a larger pile of cash to reach the podium in Sochi through Own the Podium than in Vancouver.
Counting the rest of the money Ottawa spends on winter athletes and organizations, more than $100-million has gone to the push toward Sochi.
The investment promises to pay big dividends again. Infostrada, a sports-data consultancy in the Netherlands, predicts Canada will be third in medals, the same as Vancouver – but with a total of 34, eight more than 2010, ranking ahead of the United States and behind Norway and Germany.
Such a result would solidify Canada's position among the very top winter sports countries, even as larger competitors such as the U.S. and Germany spend greater sums for similar outcomes.
There is, however, a worrisome undercurrent Canadians will not see when they watch the Games on television. There are cracks.
Elite-level funding remains robust, but as winter sports groups have failed to attract new dollars from corporations, there is far less money to support younger athletes.
The medal piles of 2010 and 2014 may be a distant memory in 2018, when the Winter Olympics move to Pyeongchang, South Korea.
"At the elite level, we're in the ballpark but at the bottom end – that's the reality," says Ken Read, the former downhill skier who was director of winter sport at Own the Podium from spring of 2010 through last March. "Sochi will be positive. Canadians will be pleased. But if you look deeper, there's reason to be very concerned."
For now, for Canada's best, the money is there. And it has lifted Turski from the vise grip of a season-ending injury. After she went down at Mount Hood, she undertook a novel surgery, involving a synthetic ligament inside a graft of tissues from a cadaver, conducted by Robert Litchfield in London, Ont.
Turski then relocated to Vancouver from her Montreal home and, backed by a team of therapists at the newly opened Fortius Sport & Health facility, is in a full-time accelerated comeback. The plan is to be back on snow in December, and atop the slopestyle course in the Caucasus Mountains near Sochi in mid-February.
Just getting to that point would be an amazing result for a woman who was one of Canada's top gold-medal favourites before she was injured.
"I'm working with some of the greatest minds in Canada," Turski says. "It's something I'm grateful for every day."
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Cameron Park CA (SPX) May 08, 2007
During its studies of Saturn and its moons and rings, the Cassini spacecraft has revealed spectacular new mysteries -- most of them involving Titan and Enceladus, both of which have turned out to be even more complex, spectacular and enigmatic than had been expected before the flight. But the purpose of any space probe is to solve existing mysteries as well as revealing new ones; and during its first 2 1/2 years orbiting Saturn, Cassini has already accumulated evidence allowing us to state probable answers to two of the biggest puzzles about the Saturn system.
One I will write more about soon is the puzzle of the longevity of Saturn's rings. Before the flight, there were several different physical reasons to think that they could not have existed at all for more than a few hundred million years -- which would mean that the spectacular event that created them must have occurred, by pure chance, only a few hundred million years ago, despite the fact that Saturn has been around for 4.5 billion years.
This was possible, but the odds were against it. And Cassini has uncovered as many as a half-dozen different lines of physical evidence very strongly suggesting that instead the rings have had their lifetime extended for as much as billions of years by a process called "ring-particle recycling", which has paradoxically greatly prolonged their overall lifetime while producing continuous changes in all the details of their structure.
The other puzzle which Cassini seems likely to have solved already is the mystery of Saturn's "two-faced" moon Iapetus -- despite the fact that Cassini will not be making its first close fly of the 1440-km wide Iapetus until Sept. 10 of this year. Although so far it has not yet come closer than 123,000 km to Iapetus (which is in a distant orbit 3.5 million km from Saturn that is modestly tilted by 7.5 degrees into the bargain, making it hard to arrange flybys of it by Cassini), even its distant observations have given us very strong clues to the solution of the puzzle.
This is a mystery that has endured ever since Jean-Domenique Cassini first discovered the moon in 1671. Cassini noted immediately that Iapetus was far fainter and harder to see on one side of its orbit around Saturn than the other -- and he correctly concluded that this was because the "leading face" of Iapetus (the side of it facing forward along its orbital path, which faces toward the Sun and toward us during half the moon's orbit) was as dark as coal in color, while its "trailing side" (which we see during the other half of its orbit) was a bright whitish shade. In fact, until the 1970s this was the only hint we had about the surface features of any moon in the Solar System except our own.
The obvious question is: what could have turned Iapetus into such a harlequin moon? There were two families of possible explanation: "exogenic" (in which Cassini's color was produced by the fact that one side of it had been hit by something from outside the moon), and "endogenic" (in which the great dark patch had been produced by an geological eruption of dark material from Cassini's subsurface onto its light-colored icy surface -- or, conceivably, the other way round).
When Voyager 1 flew through the Saturn system in November 1980, its distant photos of Iapetus' disk allowed human eyes to directly see the dramatic difference in its sides' colorations for the first time; and Voyager 2 gave us a better, though still distant, view when it flew within a million km of Iapetus nine months later. But these photos provided startling self-contradictory evidence for and against both the exogenic and endogenic explanations.
The Voyager photos showed a quite sharp border between the dark region (now officially named "Cassini Regio") -- which reflects only 4% of the sunlight that hits it -- and the light region, which has an albedo of fully 60%. They also showed that the dark patch was centered almost precisely on the center of Iapetus' leading face -- which pointed very strongly against an exogenic origin, since it would be wildly stretching chance to assume that such an eruption had just happened to occur in that precise place.
This also argued equally strongly against one exogenic explanation in which a great meteoroid had happened to hit Iapetus in just that place and blown away its light-colored surface in one place to expose an underlying dark layer (or that the meteoroid itself had been made of dark material). It pointed, instead, toward an alternate exogenic theory first suggested by Steven Soter in 1974.
In Soter's theory, infalling meteoroids had been blasting material off Saturn's distant little moon Phoebe -- an object obviously captured into orbit around Saturn at some point in its career rather than being originally formed as a moon, since it goes around Saturn in a "retrograde" direction (opposite to both Saturn's rotational direction and the paths of all its other inner moons).
Bigger bits of ejecta blasted off Phoebe by these impacts would tend to take up orbits fairly close to Phoebe, and indeed might often eventually crash back into it. But very fine dust ejecta particles would have their orbits around Saturn radically changed by two other factors.
Those were the pressure of sunlight on the grains (which would speed them up on one side of their orbits and slow them down on the other, making their orbits gradually more elliptical so that they would tend to swoop in closer to Saturn), and the "Poynting-Robertson effect" -- a subtler result of the fact that any object moving perpendicularly to the direction of sunlight has the photons hitting it at a very slight forward angle and so slowing it down -- makes them gradually spiral in closer and closer to Saturn in general.
The result of these two effects is that much of Phoebe's dust ejecta eventually hit Iapetus' leading face at high speed. The fact that Phoebe's orbit is in the reverse direction to Iapetus' means that such dust grains hit Iapetus at fully 6 km per second -- a fact which, as we'll later see, is important in itself -- but if they were orbiting Saturn in the same direction as Iapetus, their impacts would also be spread out much more evenly across its whole surface instead of being concentrated on its leading face. And so, by this theory, Iapetus' leading face has been "sandblasted" by Phoebe dust over the eons.
But while this theory nicely explains the perfect symmetry of Iapetus' dark patch around its leading face, there are other features of that dark Cassini Regio that showed up in the Voyager photos that it does not explain.
For one thing, if this simple version of the theory was right, then the entire leading hemisphere of Iapetus should be dark and the entire trailing hemisphere should be much lighter.
But the Voyager photos showed that the dark Cassini Regio is actually shaped instead like a saddle -- it doesn't stretch up to Iapetus' polar regions at all; while in the low-latitude equatorial regions, its edges actually hook around fully 200 km onto Iapetus' trailing hemisphere on both sides. And there are quite a few isolated craters on the trailing side -- located near the hemispheres' boundary line -- that have dark floors, as though the meteors that had created them had blasted after all through a thick ice crust on Iapetus to expose an underlying dark subsurface stratum.
There is also the "Moat" -- a huge 250-km crater located near the hemispheres' boundary -- that complicates matters further by having a light-colored center surrounded by a dark ring running completely around the crater at the foot of its inner walls, so that it looks like a huge dark circle.
Moreover, it was hard to see how enough dirt could have been blasted off Phoebe over the eons (even given its low gravity) to spray-paint half of the much larger moon Iapetus so darkly.
Finally, Earth-based near-infrared spectra in the 1990s showed that Iapetus' dark region had a distinctly more "reddish" tint than the surface material of Phoebe -- in fact, colorwise it was a better match to Saturn's next moon inwards, the little hamburger-shaped Hyperion that orbits just a short distance beyond Titan (and tumbles rotationally in every direction as a result of Titan's tidal tugs on its irregular shape, instead of keeping one face pointed loyally toward its home planet like all other close-in moons in the Solar System.
Could Hyperion possibly have spray-painted Iapetus in some way, instead of Phoebe? Or did those dark-floored craters on Iapetus' bright trailing side indicate that Cassini Regio really had been the result of a huge eruption of dark material from inside Iapetus -- an eruption that, by fantastic chance, just happened to be centered on Cassini's most forward-facing point?
In short, Iapetus -- at the time of Cassini's arrival in Saturn orbit -- was a classic scientific detective story in which the clues pointed confusingly in all directions and contradicted each other: a perfect "impossible crime".
Anyone who reads mystery stories, however, knows perfectly well that in an impossible crime, the Great Detective eventually points out that everyone has been looking at the clues in the wrong way, and that -- looked at from another point of view -- they point firmly toward the real criminal.
In Part 2 of this story, we'll see how Cassini's observations of Iapetus -- even from a long distance -- have together provided the clues that scientists needed to put together a single, nicely unified explanation of that moon's bizarre coloration.
Bruce Moomaw is our first "Space Blogger" at www.spaceblogger.com Feel free to create an account on SpaceBlogger and discuss this issue and more with Bruce and friends.
Editor's Note: The first edition of this article described the moon Iapetus as Lapetus - with a capital L rather than a capital I. It was a font typo mistake where a correctly cased capital I in Arial font appeared to be a lower case L. It was then transferred all the way through the production processed - including the imaging stage where several "Lapetus moon" search results came back with many good looking shots of the moon 'Lapetus'. An unfortunate mistake - but one that is entirely explainable within the context of text production processes. Typos and misspellings are a regular feature of all publishing operations, and to be perfect to the point where there is a zero error rate is something all publisher's might aspire to, but accept will never actually be achieved in the real world - only in the blogsphere - which was where this article was meant to have been published as a Bruce Moomaw SpaceBlogger report - see the corrected version and a place to comment further here.
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Making The Discovery, Exploration And Application Of Space Science Missions Easier
Cameron Park (CA) (SPX) Mar 29, 2007
As I said in my last entry, Dan Goldin's use of the "Smaller and More Frequent" philosophy for space science missions gave the scientific exploration of space a useful second wind -- especially as applied to the Discovery and Explorer programs, in which a series of small Solar System probes (for Discovery) or Earth-orbiting scientific satellites (for Explorer) were to be very frequently launched, each mission under a low pre-announced cost cap, with the specific missions being selected from a wide range of different scientific proposals sent to NASA by various competing teams of scientists and engineers.
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This sublimely crafted piece exude contemporary glamour and is perfectly illustrated by this full finger geometric ring. The triangle and the circle rings are interlinked by a hidden chain. A true investment piece, this understated design will carry the same impact for years to come.
Product code: DK.2594/R/WCZ/BG - Need help? Contact us
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Parcel volumes increase 13% year on year
To cope with the increased demand, we have made key investments in our business, including;
Service Centres
We have recently opened 5 new 'super' Service Centres in Alfreton, Farnborough, Northampton, Livingston, and Selby. Each centre has been chosen for proximity to major motorways and town centres to enable us to run our deliveries efficiently. This has also created 160 new jobs, from drivers to support workers. We have plans to continue our investment and open additional service cerntres in the future.
Investment in our vehicles is essential to the smooth running and efficiency of our business. We have focused on investing in eco-start Mercedes, which have a greater fuel economy and help to reduce our carbon footprint. We have also added double deck trailers and more Yodel branded vehicles to our fleet.
Digital Improvements
Every year we continue to develop our IT. This year our website and customer communication have been a key focus for us.


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Mum in a Million
What is it?
'Mum in a Million' with a wooden laser cut heart on the front.
Greeting card designed by Alljoy Design in Dublin
What size is it?
A6 card with recycled map envelope, packed in biodegradable corn starch cellophane. Blank inside
How can I get it?
You can collect your items in the shop in georges street, dublin (map), or we can deliver it straight to you or your someone special anywhere in Ireland or the rest of Europe (delivery info here). If you want it sent further afield drop us a line and we can arrange that for you. If you are cutting it fine we also have an next day delivery option anywhere in Ireland.
want it gift wrapped or to add a message?
Let us know in the Cart comment box!
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Users User Manager Edit
Allows an administrator to create a new user or edit an existing user.
In this screen, you have the ability to create a new user (if you clicked on the 'New' button in the User Manager), or edit an existing user (if you selected a user and clicked on the 'Edit' button in the User Manager, or clicked on the name of a user).
How to access
To edit an existing user, navigate to the User Manager (Users → Manage). Then
- click on the name of the user or
- click on the check box for the user and click on the Edit button.
To create a new user,
- select Users → Manage → Add New User from the menu or
- click on the New button in the User Manager.
Account Details
- Name. Enter the name of the user.
- Login Name. Enter the login name (Username) for the user.
- Password. Enter the password for the user.
- Confirm Password. Confirm the user's password.
- Email. Enter an email address for the user.
- Registration Date. Registration Date of the user.
- Last Visit Date. Date the user visited the site last time.
- Last Reset Date. Date and time of last password reset.
- Password Reset Count. Number of password resets since last reset date.
- Receive System Emails. (Yes/No) If set to yes, the user will receive system emails.
- User Status. (Blocked/Enabled) Enable or block this user.
- Require Password Reset. (Yes/No) If set to yes, the user will have to reset their password the next time they log into the site.
- ID. Record number in the database.
Assigned User Groups
Basic Settings
- Backend Template Style. (Use Default/Hathor - Default/isis - Default) Select the template style for the Administrator Backend interface. This will only affect this User.
- Backend Language. (Use Default/English (United Kingdom)) Select the Language for the Administrator Backend interface. This will only affect this User.
- Frontend Language. (Use Default/English (United Kingdom)) Select the Language for the frontend interface. This will only affect this User.
- Editor. (Use Default/Editor - CodeMirror/Editor - None/Editor - TinyMCE) Editor for this user.
- Help Site. (Use Default/English (GB) - Joomla help wiki/Français (FR) - Aide de Joomla!) Help site for this user.
- Time Zone. (Use Default/Abidjan/Accra/Addis Ababa/Algiers/Asmara/...) Time zone for this user.
At the top left you will see the toolbar:
The functions are:
- Save: Saves the user and stays in the current screen.
- Save & Close. Saves the user and closes the current screen.
- Save & New. Saves the user and keeps the editing screen open and ready to create another user.
- Cancel. Closes the current screen and returns to the previous screen without saving any modifications you may have made.
- Help. Opens this help screen.
Quick tips
- Name, Login Name, and Email are required.
- If you did not fill in a particular language, editor, help site and/or time zone, the default settings from the Global Configuration, Language Manager and/or Template Manager are set.
Related information


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Lotus Flower Thai Restaurant Taunton
The Lotus Flower Thai Restaurant in Taunton offers Thai food of the very highest quality whilst using only the freshest of ingredients. The menu is extensive and dishes can be adjusted to your requirements. We also cater extensively for Vegetarians and guests with special dietary requirements. The Lotus Flower invites you to sample a true taste of Thailand through its exquisite cuisine. Whether hot and fiery or comparatively mild, harmony is the guiding principle behind Thai cuisine.
- Warm Welcome in relaxed Thai village style atmosphere
- Healthy food - Finest ingredients - Cooked to order (mild, medium, hot)
- Large menu choice including :- A La Carte, Vegetarian & Vegan menu (Tofu available) ,Mid week special offer, special deserts
- Good selection of refreshments including :- Thai, European, Australian, South African & Chile wines. Also available is Thai beer (Singha, Chang), Singapore beer (Tiger) and Thai Sabai wine (Spritzer) along with soft drinks & a spirits bar (Jasmine Tea, Coffee..etc)
- Private function room available - Advance booking necessary. Pre-order requirements recommended
- Takeaway available
- All prices are VAT inclusive. There is no service charge. Gratuities at customers discretion
- Payment - Cash & Major credit cards accepted
We look forward to the pleasure of your company. Our address is:-
Lotus Flower Thai Restaurant
89-91 Station Road
Lotus Flower Thai Restaurant
89-91 Station Road
01823 324411


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October 15, 2007
15, 2007 at 2:00 p.m. in the Commissioners' Room, 7th Floor, Wake County Courthouse,
Raleigh, North Carolina. Members present were Commissioners Lindy Brown, Joe Bryan,
Paul Coble, Kenneth M. Gardner, Harold H. Webb, and Chairman Tony Gurley.
Commissioner Betty Lou Ward participated by conference call.
Attorney, Mr. Scott Warren; and the Clerk to the Board, Mrs. Susan Banks.
Chairman Gurley called the meeting to order.
County Manager David Cooke introduced and recognized Gladys C. Smith from the Register of Deeds, Shirley M. Drake with Community Services Department, and Charles L. Young from the Sheriff's Office, who will retire on November 1, 2007.
In Honor of Robert McGehee
Chairman and CEO of Progress Energy
Commissioner Bryan reported there will be a memorial service held for Robert McGehee on Tuesday, October 16, 2007. He presented a resolution honoring Robert McGehee, for the Board's consideration.
Upon motion by Commissioner Bryan, seconded by Commissioner Webb, the Board voted unanimously to adopt the resolution honoring Robert McGehee.
Wake County Board of Commissioners Resolution
In Honor of Robert McGehee
Chairman and CEO of Progress Energy
Commissioner Brown offered a proclamation for Project Homeless Connect Day in Wake County.
Upon motion by Commissioner Brown, seconded by Commissioner Gardner, the Board voted unanimously to adopt the Proclamation for Declaring October 25, 2007 as Project Homeless Connect Day in Wake County.
Upon Motion by Commissioner Webb, seconded by Commissioner Brown, the Board voted unanimously to approve the items for consent.
Ę Phillips & Jordan (primary)
Ę Ashbritt Environmental (secondary)
Ę Crowder- Gulf (secondary)
Upon motion by Commissioner Ward, seconded by Commissioner Brown, the Board voted unanimously to authorize the County Manager to enter into a Memorandum of Agreement with the North Carolina Ballet for funding from the Occupancy and Prepared Food Tax Revenues.
Draft as of October 9, 2007
This Agreement entered into this 15th day of October 2007, by and between the County of Wake (County) and the North Carolina Ballet (the Ballet).
WHEREAS, the Ballet seeks public funding to help fund the acquisition of a rehearsal and studio facility; and,
WHEREAS, the acquired facility will continue to enhance the cultural and arts facilities and services in Raleigh and Wake County; and,
WHEREAS, the County has levied room occupancy and prepared food and beverage taxes as allowed by law, and,
WHEREAS, the County and the City of Raleigh (the "City") entered into an agreement entitled "A Revised Interlocal Agreement Between Wake County and the City of Raleigh Regarding Use of Countywide Room Occupancy and Prepared Food and Beverage Taxes dated September 5, 1995" (the "Revised Agreement"), setting out the projects to receive funding from these taxes; and,
WHEREAS, on September 19, 2005 the County and City approved the Tenth Amendment to the Revised Agreement (attached hereto as "Attachment B" to provide funding up to two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) for acquiring the facility; and,
WHEREAS, in August 2007 the Ballet revised its request (attached hereto as "Attachment C") to seek public funding to assist with the purchase design and construction of scenery and costumes for the Ballet's recent productions of Monet Impressions and other ballet performances in the 2007 through 2008 seasons; and,
WHEREAS, on September 4, 2007 the Wake County Board of Commissioners approved the revision to the request; and,
WHEREAS, on September 5, 2007 the Raleigh City Council approved the revision to the request; and,
NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual promises and covenants contained herein the County and the Ballet agree as follows:
3401-131 Atlantic Avenue
Raleigh, North Carolina 27604
Lisa Jones, Executive Director
PO Box 550
Raleigh, North Carolina 27602
David Cooke, County Manager
This instrument has been pre-audited in the manner required by the Local Government Budget and Fiscal Control Act.
Finance Director
Mr. Emmett Curl, Revenue Director, said this is the final step in adoption of the Schedule of Values. He reviewed the public hearing and meetings as required by General Statute.
Upon motion by Commissioner Webb, seconded by Commissioner Gardner, to issue an order adopting the Schedules of Values for 2008 countywide revaluation including any changes and recommendations and to direct the Revenue Director to publish an ad in the newspaper once a week for the next four weeks stating schedules have been adopted and are open for inspection in the Revenue Department.
Commissioner Bryan asked if these notices would run in smaller community newspapers besides the News and Observer. Mr. Curl said the notices would run in the News and Observer according to the General Statute requirements. Commissioner Brown asked if an effort could be made to place these notices in the smaller community papers. Mr. Curl said if that was the Board's desire he would make an effort to get it in the other papers.
The motion passed unanimously.
Mr. Mike Aull presented the request to surplus the county-owned property located at 1109 Buckingham Road in Garner. He stated that in 1994 Wake County purchased a residential dwelling located at 1109 Buckingham Road in Garner for $94,000. The approximate 2,500 square foot dwelling was acquired for purposes of providing temporary shelter for 5 12-year old male and female youths pending placement by Human Services in a more appropriate setting based upon their individual needs. It was determined that these needs could be met by the placement of these children in foster care; therefore, in 2000, the program was discontinued. Upon discontinuing this program, the house was rented to Carolina Behavioral Health, a contracting agency providing services for children with therapeutic mental health needs. Carolina Behavioral Health changed its legal operating name to AARO and continued to lease the property. In August 2006, AARO's State operating license was pulled by the Human Services Local Managing Entity, and in September 2006 the lease was terminated. In addition to problems associated with program operation, AARO had a history of rent nonpayment leading to questions about their ability to provide adequate program funding. Wake County Human Services has determined that it has no further identified needs for the property.
Commissioner Ward asked what happened to the children in the Carolina Behavioral Health when the funds were pulled from this program. Mr. Aull said the funding was not discontinued but the license was pulled from the program. He stated Bob Sorrels, with Human Services, could provide the information about the children.
Upon motion by Commissioner Brown, seconded by Commissioner Gardner, the Board voted unanimously to declare the property located at 1109 Buckingham Road in Garner, NC (Tax ID# 0084466) as surplus County property and to direct staff to solicit offers for the purchase of the property in accordance with NC General Statute ¦160A-269.
Mr. Aull said they would solicit offers on the property and then return to the Board for action.
Ms. Betty Parker, Real Estate Services for Wake County Public Schools System (WCPSS), presented a school site for E-27 within the target ring. She stated staff worked with Fuquay-Varina Town Hall staff to see if they were aware of any properties available. The best site was determined to be located on Herbert Akins Road. They discussed the town needs with staff of Fuquay-Varina. With 44.78 acres available on this site, there was flexibility of use of the site. This site could be used for two school sites, one elementary and one middle school. Town Manager Hedrick said the town supports this proposal. Ms. Parker proposed using this site for two schools with an intermediate use of space for a town park until ready to proceed with the middle school. They need the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) to see if the road improvement costs to provide an additional access for Herbert Akins Road are within an acceptable range should additional access improvements be required by NCDOT to accommodate both an elementary and middle school. There needs to be a determination that with any final NCDOT recommendations, the prototype middle school will still work on the site. They also need assurance that the costs of stormwater management for the additional middle school would be within an acceptable range. If this does not work, Ms. Parker will work with Fuquay on other sites. She stated how much she appreciated the Town staff and officials cooperation.
The Town of Fuquay-Varina has indicated that if the site is determined to not be a cost effective use for a middle school, the Town has indicated willingness to partner with the Wake County Public Schools System I the acquisition of the property for future Town Community Park. The Town supports the partnership with the schools for this property to be a future school site or and for future school and park acquisition opportunities in the Town's jurisdiction.
On June 5, 2007, the Wake County Board of Education entered into an agreement for the purchase of approximately 44.78 acres for an Elementary School (E-27) at a price of $50,000 per acre, totaling $2,239,000. The property has been appraised by a State Certified MAI appraiser for purposes of supporting the contract purchase price of $50,000 per acre. A copy of this appraisal has been provided to the Commissioners.
There are currently three (3) options available to WCPSS for the acquisition of this property:
1) Acquire the 44-acre site as proposed and maintain ownership of the entire property for a collocated elementary school and a future middle school, if it is determined that it is a cost effective middle school site. In the interim period the middle school site would be used by the Town of Fuquay-Varina for parks and recreation purposes.
2) Should it be determined that building a middle school at this location is not cost effective, subdivide the proposed park site from the elementary school site and enter into an interlocal agreement with the Town for cost sharing in the acquisition of the property.
3) Should the Town be unable to commit the funding necessary for the partnership with WCPSS to purchase this property, and a middle school is not feasible in this location, subdivide the proposed park site from the elementary school site and dispose of the site as surplus property by the WCPSS.
The following summarizes the availability and anticipated improvements required to support site development:
Water is available along Herbert Akins Road south of the site near James Slaughter Road and will need to be extended. Estimated cost for the extension of water service is $170,000. Sewer will be brought to the northwestern corner of the property by the Town of Fuquay-Varina in conjunction with other development in the area. As is typical for new school construction, NCDOT will recommend that the total length of the school property along Herbert Akins Road be widened to three lanes with curb-and-gutter and sidewalk for the elementary school. Estimated cost for these road improvements is $185,000.
WCPSS typically budgets $375,000 for off-site infrastructure for new elementary schools and $650,000 for new middle school off-site infrastructure. The off-site infrastructure costs shown above total $355,000. Additional information and due diligence will need to occur to adequately determine the ability and costs to co-locate an elementary and middle school. It is anticipated that co-location would be a cost savings in terms of the off-site infrastructure cost.
Site Concept Plans are attached that depict the layouts of the site and proposed configuration of site components for both the Elementary and Town Community Park concept and the Elementary and Middle School concept.
The elementary school is scheduled to open for the Fall 2009 School Year.
Chairman Gurley said this is an excellent proposal in partnering with the Town of Fuquay-Varina.
No action was taken. The second reading will be on the November 5, 2007 agenda for Board action.
Mr. Sig Hutchinson expressed his excitement about the bond issues passing last week. He reported 7 out of 10 people voted for the $187 million in bonds for Libraries, Wake Tech and Open Space. He spoke of how the citizens have shown their concern for quality of life in Wake County by approving these bonds. He thanked the voters for their approval.
Mr. Hutchinson provided the Commissioners with a Halloween bag with a jar enclosed which was filled with Hersheys candy kisses. Mr. Hutchinson then spoke of the Marks Creek area project and how the landscape needs to be preserved or it will be lost. This project could be the Umstead Park of the East. As a result of this acquisition, there will be 1,000 acres of protected area known as the Marks Creek Area. He said the jar of 100 kisses represents 100 acres each, which would represent Lake Myra. He said this watershed is an incredible resource for Wake County. Chairman Gurley thanked Mr. Hutchinson and the voters of Wake County for their assistance in passing the bonds.
Mr. Mark Edmonson reported this as a request to acquire 50.61 acres and provided an illustration of the property. The LCL property has closed. The Medlin property is 50.61 acres. Wake County, in conjunction with Triangle Land Conservancy (TLC) and The Trust for Public Land (TPL), has identified the Marks Creek area of Wake County as a priority preservation area. These partners have prioritized 4,400 acres of land in the Mark's Creek Watershed for acquisition as part of the Phase I priority preservation area. The primary goals of the Mark's Creek project are to protect and preserve water quality and wildlife habitat, conserve unique natural areas and to retain the rural scenic and historical values of this area of Wake County.
To date, eleven (11) tracts have been purchased in the Marks Creek area, totaling 950 acres. The subject property is located within the boundaries of the Marks Creek watershed on the Sandy Branch tributary just east of Marks Creek. This farm is contiguous to the previously acquired Pleasants Farm, the Triangle East Sportsman Club and the Edgerton Open Space Tract. Acquisition of this Medlin tract will put the total acreage preserved in Marks Creek to just over 1,000 acres.
TPL has negotiated the acquisition of this farm. The contract sales price is $18,000.00 per acre. The property has been surveyed at 50.61 acres, for a final sales price of $910,980.00. The subject property has less than one acre considered to be "wetlands". The seller has retained ten (10) acres to the east of the subject property. The sales price per acre has been verified by a certified appraiser and is consistent with the County's recent purchases in the Marks Creek area.
This project is eligible for partial Clean Water Management Trust Fund reimbursement. Typically, the reimbursement is for flood prone areas only. The application cannot be made for these funds until February of next year. Based on the Open Space Bond passing the October 9th vote, sufficient funding for this acquisition is included in the Open Space Element of the County Community Improvement Program. This transaction has been reviewed and endorsed as presented by The Open Space and Parks Advisory Committee (OSAPAC), and the Land Acquisition Review Committee (LARC).
There is also a parcel owned by Mr. Medlin's sister who they will be talking to later but she is not ready to move on this now. This is a beautiful piece of land.
Upon motion by Commissioner Bryan, seconded by Commissioner Brown, the Board voted unanimously to authorize the County Manager to execute a purchase agreement for the Medlin Open Space Tract of approximately 50.61 acres for $910,980.00, subject to terms and conditions acceptable to the County Attorney.
Commissioner Bryan spoke about this being a great day for Wake County with the approval of acquiring this property and the completion of 1,000 acres of open space.
Susan J. Banks, CMC
Clerk to the Board


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STAFF at St Mary's Hospital in Orford celebrated the 15th anniversary of their parent company, St George Healthcare Group with a five-a-side tournament and fun day.
Mixed teams of staff and patients at the specialist brain injury centre took part in the comeptition, which was eventually won by Dalston Ward the low secure brain injury ward, at Orford Jubilee Neighbourhood Hub.
The hospital therapy team also organised outdoor games and helped raise £450 for the charity Headway, in the afternoon.
A spokesman added: "The day was enjoyed by everyone and was a great opportunity for patients and staff to bond in a relaxed environment, and even throw wet sponges at operations director Alan Malin."


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Fri 17th Oct 2014, by Bethany Lawrence | Tutorial
Pursuing a dream career can be a daunting task for most hopefuls wanting to break into any industry, but for students wishing to enter the CG field, they have good reason to be cautious.
Because of company closures, mass employee layoffs, and bankruptcy in the industry, there are simply not enough stable jobs to go around for animators and artists. So to the new graduate, getting a foot in the door can be a challenge. The good news is that a dream job is possible with the right know-how. You need to know exactly what employers are looking for in your application and reels.
Joining us at CG Society is Pam Hogarth, who has spent almost 30 years in the world of visual effects; 25 of which doing marketing, education and career guidance. She worked at LOOK Effects as a Director of Marketing, and still continues to work with LOOK when guiding their publicity and marketing. Before LOOK, Pam spent 12 years helping to build Gnomon School of Visual Effects. During this time she advised, taught, and placed hundreds of aspiring artists.
Pam runs a workshop with CGSociety educating the secretive facts of the industry ('You as a Brand') from putting together job applications to what the industry will expect to see in you. Pam has generously compiled a top ten list for the new graduate.
Networking isn't just about knowing your teacher, and there are several great ways to connect with people in the industry. Going to networking events (and not just standing in the corner with a drink in hand) is one effective way, by talking to experts and asking them your questions. Familiarity in this industry is definitely a plus, when a future employer can put a face to a name. Attend as any many workshops, events, classes, and find as many people in your area related to your industry as possible.
If you live in a remote location, sometimes connections can't be possible, and work can be harder to find as people within the industry are more inclined to hire people who are local. Relocation may have to be considered, but be aware of where you are going. For example, Los Angeles is ridiculously expensive for a new graduate, and could have your savings wiped in a week. So if the industry is your passion, be aware that relocation could be a decision you may need to make in the future. It is also suggested that if you are an overseas applicant thinking of moving to a different country, you must thoroughly research into Green Cards and Visas. Some countries only have a limited amount, and it can be extremely competitive to obtain one.
There is no better way to both network and get advice than connect with people who have been in a similar situation as you. Find graduates, talk to teachers, and get their advice on your current situation and what they would recommend in terms of entering the CG field. You will not only be able to form a suitable plan to suit yourself on what you wish to do, but you may gather tips from various people on what not to do when trying to enter the field.
Be aware that although Disney and DreamWorks may seem like a dream gig, they often have hundreds and hundreds of willing artists at their disposal, and therefore have no need to hire a graduate with a smaller portfolio. Middle to lower end companies however, may have a better chance of hiring you as they do not have the necessary funding that a high end company can afford. Aiming for these companies will offer you your best chance at success.
Past student of Pam Hogarth, Joost van Schaik's demo reel.
Experience isn't just available for graduates, and by getting some extra experience ahead of your fellow students, this builds you up a portfolio that employers will be able to determine from the moment you graduate. Experience can come in all shapes or forms, paid and unpaid, but every project will be valuable. There are also many things in the industry you simply cannot learn from just a course. Employers often will find a student who has put in extra effort during their studies to get real world experience more innovative and impressive than ones who have simply completed their courses.
Similar to getting ahead early, there is nothing more invaluable than taking an internship role within your industry. Most often they are unpaid, but rarely, you can strike lucky. Not only will you build up a portfolio, but you will also be slowly putting together an address book of contacts that have worked and communicated with you personally. While other graduates of your level will have a piece of paper, you will have a whole toolbox of valuable materials for your career.
The industry is a fast paced environment and is constantly changing, and therefore employers are looking for candidates who can handle more than one task. It is great to specialize- but lots of companies may be using the same skills, and what can make YOU stand out is if you have something different to offer. It will also give you a wider hunting ground for jobs, and generally will make yourself more employable.
Nightmare interviews where candidates applying for DreamWorks have exclaimed: "I love Finding Nemo!" aren't as uncommon as you may think. Get familiar with your company before your interview. Find time a day or so ahead of the interview and really research exactly who the company are, what work they've produced, their greatest achievements, and perhaps some of the head persons in your industry. Know enough so that you can give a brief summary.
The resume has for too long been assumed to be the paper that will get you the job you seek. This is a common misconception. How you should be thinking is that the resume is your ticket to an interview. Remember that a resume has a very simple yet daunting task: You must get a solution to the company you are applying for in under 3 pages. Don't tell them everything, but tell them enough to be interested in interviewing you. When you get to the interview, then you can bring out your other achievements.
Evaluate your thoughts on a career in the CG industry- are you doing it out of passion, or money? If money is your answer, perhaps this fast paced industry may not be for you. As with any job, there are times it is going to be stressful or boring, and doing a career you will not love is just going to not only kill you, but be a disappointment for someone who genuinely is passionate about their work and can't enter the field.
Past student of Pam Hogarth, Boyo Frederix's 2014 Demo Reel.
It is no secret that this industry is extremely competitive, and many students back out because of the pressure. While trying to break in, you must have a very thick skin to deal with rejections, work long hours, and may never have time for leisure. But you will get there. If you can keep sight of your career, show enough commitment, keep to your goals and work at your career bit by bit, you will eventually reach your working goals.
The 'You as a Brand' workshop focuses on career building through weekly classes hosted by Pam. She has reminded everyone that anyone of any level is welcome, from beginner to professional, and more information can be found below or on the CG Society Workshops page on when the next course is to begin.
Finally, Pam sends a note of assurance to all artists feeling a little daunted by the industry that no matter what, stick to your guns and persevere, as you never know what may be just around the corner. As long as you work hard and are truly passionate about what you do, you may find that climbing the employment ladder will get easier and easier with each rung.
Below is a one-hour Q&A recording, in which Pam talks about what will be covered in her upcoming CGWorkshop and answers questions about the course, your resume, reel and portfolio.
Pam has also launched a new seminar program as cofounder named Conduit Seminars, in which she and recruiter Debra Blanchard Knight give seminars on more tips of the trade. At CGSociety, Pam's next class of 'You as a Brand' will begin early in 2015. For more information, visit the links below:
Pam's 'You as a Brand' workshop - will start in early 2015


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Bundles & packs:
NEW Native Bundle Configurator!!
Global Bundle TDM
Analog Bundle
Global Bundle PRO TDM
Mastering Bundle
Individual plug-in information:
DUY31: Analyzer, GraphicEQ & Callibration - NEW!!!
DUY Silence - noise reduction
DUY DaD Tape (native)
DUY Magic Spectrum
DUY MagicEQ
DUY DaD Valve
DUY DaD Tape
DUY SynthSpider
DUY DSPider
DUY ReDSPider
DUY Shape
DUY Wide
Max DUY
DUY Z-Room
DUY31 - Analyzer, 31-band EQ & Room callibration -
is a suite of 3 amazing plug-ins: a frequency analyzer, a 31-band EQ with amazing extra features, and a white & pink noise generator, which will help you enormously with your mixing and mastering. You can even Callibrate your Room/studio/space!!
DUY Native Bundle Configurator -
Buy any combination of DUY EverPack, DaD Tape, MagicEQ, Magic Spectrum, DUY31 and DUY Silence. Configure your own Native Bundle!! For RTAS (OSX & WinXP), Audio Units, VST and MAS. High quality at an affordable price!
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Unwanted noise is a thing of the past. With the new
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DUY Magic Spectrum
A high-quality mastering tool, based on adaptative equalization, DUY Magic Spectrum allows you to perform Spectrum Matching, or even enables you to actually modify the frequency contents yourself with edition tools!! Amazing precision and versatility!
DUY DaD Tape (native)
Looking for the real analog sound? Award-winning DUY DaD Tape is now available for native systems too!! Get DUY DaD Tape in your mixes and become a pro. As Charles Dye would say: "I never mix without DUY's DaD Tape". For RTAS, AU, VST & MAS.
DUY MagicEQ
An incredible plug-in that automatically equalizes your audio and lets you polish the results at your own taste! This exclusive mastering software, with DUY's own proprietary technologies, is an easy-to-use high-quality plug-in. Native or TDM versions.
DUY Analog Bundle
Famous for its capabilities of warming up any kind of sound, DUY's Analog Bundle includes DUY DaD Tape, the renowned and award-winning tape simulator, and DUY DaD Valve, an impressive tube simulator. For TDM.
DUY Global Bundle PRO
If you're looking for a complete TDM and RTAS package that will solve all your studio needs, DUY Global Bundle PRO includes many DUY TDM and RTAS plug-ins!!! Tape, Valve, DSPider, Wide, Shape, SynthSpider, Max, Z-Room...
DUY Global Bundle
This is the ultimate solution for any TDM-based studio. DUY Global Bundle includes 6 amazing TDM plug-ins, useful for pro recording or mastering: ReDSPider, DaD Tape, DaD Valve, Shape, DUY Wide and Max DUY, all for TDM.
DUY EverPack for OSX (multi-host!)
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DUY DSPider
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Putin threatens to cut gas to Europe
MOSCOW — Vladimir Putin warned Europe on Thursday that it may face a shutdown of Russian natural gas supplies if it fails to help Ukraine settle its enormous Russian gas bill — a debt that far exceeds a bailout package offered by the International Monetary Fund.
The Russian president's letter to 18 mostly Eastern European leaders, released Thursday by the Kremlin, aimed to divide the 28-nation European Union and siphon off to Russia the billions that the international community plans to lend to Ukraine. It was all part of Russia's efforts to retain control over its struggling neighbor, which is teetering on the verge of financial ruin and facing a pro-Russian separatist mutiny in the east.
Putin's message is clear: The EU has tried to lure Ukraine from Russia's orbit and into its fold, so it should now foot Ukraine's gas bill — or face the country's economic collapse and a disruption of its own gas supplies.
The tough warning raises the ante ahead of international talks on settling the Ukrainian crisis that for the first time will bring together the United States, the European Union, Russia and Ukraine.
The U.S. State Department on Thursday condemned what it called "Russia's efforts to use energy as a tool of coercion against Ukraine."
Hundreds of pro-Russian protesters — some armed — were still occupying Ukrainian government buildings in Donetsk and Luhansk while authorities sought a peaceful solution Thursday to the five-day standoff. And in northwest Romania, U.S. and Romanian forces kicked off a week of joint military exercises.
The amount that Putin claims Ukraine owes is growing by billions every week — and his letter raises the specter of a new gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine that could affect much of Europe. In 2009, Moscow turned off gas supplies to Kiev in the dead of winter, leading to freezing cities across Eastern Europe as Russian gas stopped moving through Ukrainian pipelines to other nations.
In the letter, Putin said Ukraine owes Russia $17 billion due to the termination of gas discounts and potentially another $18.4 billion as a take-or-pay fine under their 2009 gas contract. He added that on top of that $35.4 billion, Russia also holds $3 billion in Ukrainian government bonds.
The total amount is far greater than the estimated $14 billion to $18 billion bailout that the International Monetary Fund is considering for Ukraine.
Putin warned that Ukraine's mounting debt is forcing Moscow to demand advance payments for further gas supplies. He said that if Ukraine failed to make such payments, Russia's state-controlled gas giant Gazprom will "completely or partially cease gas deliveries."
Putin told the leaders that a shutdown of Russian gas supplies will increase the risk of Ukraine siphoning off gas intended for the rest of Europe and will make it difficult to accumulate sufficient reserves to guarantee uninterrupted delivery to European customers next winter. He urged quick talks between Russia and European consumers of Russian gas.
"The fact that our European partners have unilaterally withdrawn from the concerted efforts to resolve the Ukrainian crisis, and even from holding consultations with the Russian side, leaves Russia no alternative," Putin said.
The letter was addressed to 18 heads of states in Europe, including Serbia and Bulgaria, which both rely on Russia for about 90 percent of their gas supplies.
Putin has been tightening the economic screws on the cash-strapped Kiev government since it came to power in February after Ukraine's Russia-leaning president fled the country after months of protest.
Starting this month, Russia state energy giant Gazprom scrapped all discounts on gas to Ukraine, meaning a 70 percent price hike that will add to the debt figure. Ukraine has also promised the IMF it will cut energy subsidies to residents in exchange for a bailout — which means gas prices were set to rise 50 percent on May 1 even before Putin's latest salvo.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk added to European fears of a disruption in gas supplies as he criticized Ukraine's national energy company Naftogaz of mismanagement.
"Naftogaz has 7.2 billion cubic meters of gas in underground storages while it is supposed to be 20 billion. It wasn't me who stole that gas," he said.
Energy Minister Yuri Prodan said earlier this week that Ukraine has not been getting any new gas pumped from Russia amid the pricing dispute, which means it has been relying on storage supplies it previously bought.
The effect of a possible halt in gas supplies could be harsh for Europe but probably not as severe as in January 2009, since Gazprom has built a new pipeline bypassing Ukraine and increased the capacity of existing ones.
The IMF has pledged the loans to Ukraine on condition it undertake economic reforms, with the United States and EU also providing support. The Ukrainian parliament on Thursday passed some of the necessary laws, including cuts in import duties.
The IMF loans, however, are likely to come in several tranches over two years while the Kremlin seems to be demanding the debt to be settled immediately.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Thursday that Washington is "taking immediate steps to assist Ukraine, including the provision of emergency finance and technical assistance." She added that the U.S. is also trying to encourage Ukraine's western neighbors to "reverse natural gas flows in the pipeline so that Ukraine can access additional gas supplies if needed."
In other news Thursday:
— Ukraine's acting president Oleksandr Turchynov said pro-Russian activists occupying government buildings in the eastern cities of Donetsk and Luhansk will not be prosecuted if they lay down their arms. Protest leaders defied the request to leave.
— Tensions were still high in Donetsk, where about 1,000 protesters stood outside the occupied building chanting "Russia! Russia!" Activists also reinforced the barricades, piling up rubber tires or building brick walls out of cobblestones. They have demanded a referendum on broader autonomy or even secession from the new Kiev authorities.
— Ukraine's Deputy Interior Minister Serhiy Yarovyi said authorities are still hoping for a compromise in both Donetsk and Luhansk but they reserve the right to forcibly seize the buildings.
— In northwest Romania, some 450 U.S. and Romanian troops and technical staff kicked off a week of joint military exercises, flying U.S. F-16 fighter jets alongside Romanian ones. Romania, Russia and Ukraine all border the Black Sea.
—NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen again condemned Russia for its annexation of Crimea as he visited Prague to assure the Czechs of support against any moves by Russia to expand its orbit of influence.
—The Council of Europe rights group voted to suspend Russia's participation for the rest of the year.
Vasilyeva reported from Kiev, Ukraine. Peter Leonard in Donetsk, Ukraine, Matt Lee in Washington, Karel Janicek in Prague, Lori Hinnant in Paris, Alison Mutler in Bucharest and Laura Mills in Moscow contributed to this report.
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Brady declared that he heard it fizzing away as it went down his throat, from the heat of his inside.
There is no bubbling, nor fizzing, nor any other noise or motion.
V found a calf's head in the larder, and it would make a fizzing Gorgon's head, but Mrs. Worfolk wouldn't let us have it.
Miss Todd felt that the school was fizzing over, and must find some outlet for its excitement.
You had to blink when looked at it; and you heard a fizzing sound just like the machine with a "scope" at the end of it.
How we crowd into cars and steamboats; a locomotive would well typify our fuming, fizzing spirit.
That word, that name over the music hall, fizzing and crackling in its hundred lights, seemed to hold him as by an eye of fire.
The fizzing sound was interspersed with one or two cracks, which intensified the alarm, but did not clear up the mystery.
The next proved to be an intermittent spring fizzing on the hot stove from a water-jar placed upon it.
Up and down the roadway, the thing zigzagged—back and forth—spitting a little and fizzing behind.
1660s, of imitative origin. Related: Fizzed; fizzing. The noun is recorded from 1812; meaning "effervescent drink" is from 1864.
A failure; fizzle: ''It was a big fizz,'' the ambassador said (1940s+)


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You have to give the Kossacks over at the Daily Kos an A for effort. They try, oh how they try, to convince each other that Obamacare is a success despite all evidence to the contrary. The result of their effort is pure unadulterated comedy as you can see in the optimistic title of their thread, "Obamacare enrollments double in last three weeks." Of course the source of their optimism comes from the pretension that Medicaid enrollments count as ObamaCare enrollments and the looky loos who have yet to make an actual payment also count as part of the total. However, who are we to spoil their party so let us now watch the Kossacks try a bit too hard to bubble over with joy:
Enrollments have doubled since the end of October, from 106,000 to more than 200,000. That figure comes from the 14 states that have set up their own exchanges, and will be higher when the federal numbers are added in.
If you count how many of those "enrollments" have actually paid, the answer would end your party pronto. However, proceed with your entertaining tidings of Obamacare joy:
The California surge is particularly noteworthy, accounting for about a third of the enrollments nationally, and also way ahead of what the state expected to see so early in the process. Likewise, Washington state is seeing huge increases, from 55,000 enrolled at the end of October to 98,000 in the first two weeks of November. Connecticut reports that 14 percent of its projected enrollments are complete. This leads all of the states to expect a huge number of enrollments post-Thanksgiving, as people make their decisions and sign up before the new December 23 deadline for January 1 coverage.
As we have seen, the California "enrollments" have yet to officially include one known paid enrollee. And since the Obamacare website has not even set up a payment system, the time frame for those who could overcome sticker shock and pay is much less than a month...if it is ever ready by then. Unfortunately for the Kossacks even some of those among its own ranks rain on their happy parade with an annoying reality check:
They're including Medicaid because it counts as new coverage.
To get an idea of how laughable the concept of "enrollee" is, let us take a look at some input from a Kossack "enrollee":
I'm one of the enrollees. But I'm still waiting for an email from the insurance company I selected. So I'm in some sort of limbo. Do we know how many enrollees have selected an insurance plan but like me are waiting to complete the process?
Later we learn that this "enrollee" has been in limbo for 3 weeks. How much longer will he have to wait? With the way the Obamacare website is (not) working, perhaps he will remain in limbo judging by this followup made by the Kossack "enrollee" to the insurance company he supposedly enrolled in:
I did call them. They had not received my application (gave them all the numbers, App and Case) they told me they had received a "batch" of applications they had not gone through yet. They are supposed to call me back when they figure it out.
Do not worry, they will figure it out in 24 business hours. And what one Kossack has figured out is the brutal truth of what an enrollment really means:
One reason for low reported enrollments could be because they aren't counted until the first payment is made.
The good news is that we do have one confirmed Kossack payment. Of course, the big question is if the payment was actually made to the right place:
I finally got through and selected a plan a few days ago. I was online with a live chat operator at the time, and he volunteered that I didn't have to pay until Dec. 15- coverage wouldn't start until Jan. 1 anyway. I told him, only half joking, that I wanted to improve my state's enrollment figures. Also, my current policy will be canceled 12/31, and I'll feel safer with a new one in hand. He replied that I should "do what I think is best." I thought that was a little odd……and went ahead and paid the first month's premium.
Didn't Shakespeare say something about a fool and his money are soon parted? Finally we have this unwelcome observation from an obvious party pooper:
This is almost become sad. This whole thread is people whooping it up over a really horrible number being doubled, to a less shitty number.
You can see more about the Kossacks "whooping it up" over Obamacare at the DUmmie FUnnies.


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Summary of Season 1 (2004) - 4 discs
Calm and confident "Dog Whisperer" Cesar Millan reveals the secrets to raising a pet that won't grow up to have issues in this fascinating National Geographic Channel series. The first season chronicles the rehabilitation of over 50 different dogs, from a chihuahua with a biting addiction to a towering Great Dane with a mortal fear of shiny floors. With Cesar's know-how, no misbehaved dog is beyond repair.
Show Details
- Cast
- Cesar Millan
- This show is
- Family-friendly, Feel-good


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So much has happened since!
2012, and its invigorating protests, its infuriating dead ends.
The Maple spring, its dedicated, heart-bleeding liberals, and the man whom I then had no idea would change my life for the better, and hopefully for good, too.
So the quick update is this: there is someone in my life who is amazingly good for me and makes me happy. I've been making a precarious but enriching living teaching at various levels for the past three years. I'm currently working towards yet another graduate degree.
There is also a cat pretending to be a chicken in my living room.
Life ain't easy, but it's good nonetheless. I found the stability I was looking for when I moved back home.
Small mercies. Blessings counted.
On on! As I would have said, back when I was in DKR. Much has changed, much is still the same, and I'm thankful.
Busy life means I may not be able to update very often, I'm sorry. Yet here I am.


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Report says Japanese panel manufacturers working on ultra-thin 6 inch screens for Q3
0. phoneArena posted on 08 Apr 2013, 00:45
Looks like 6 inches is the next goal for smartphone manufacturers, at least according to those omnipresent Taiwan component suppliers who say that Japanese screen manufacturers like Panasonic and Sharp are working on ultra thin panels for smartphones that will ship in the third quarter of 2013; the current record for screen size belongs to the 6.1 inch Huawei Ascend Mate...
This is a discussion for a news. To read the whole news, click here
1. XperiaUser (unregistered)
2. lyndon420 (Posts: 4956; Member since: 11 Jul 2012)
Get rid of the bezel and replace these lame capacitive (off screen) buttons with on screen ones like a true Nexus.
7. vincelongman (Posts: 5048; Member since: 10 Feb 2013)
For phablet they should use on screen buttons, but for large 4.7"-5" phones about the size of the HTC One and Galaxy S4 I'd still prefer capacitive or physical buttons. The S4 still could be small, like if the moved their logo to the home button, reduce the empty space and even smaller bezels for example. Through I also like the idea of dual front speakers.
3. HDShatter (Posts: 1021; Member since: 17 Jan 2013)
Could be for the intel phones coming out too. I think quad core baytrail is going to be the end of arm in flagships, the quad core baytrail is like 2x the power of a15.
4. AasifMalik (Posts: 2; Member since: 07 Apr 2013)
Toshiba already done it with whoping 2560x1600. Hope to see in Galaxy Note III. Buh it dint happen
5. AasifMalik (Posts: 2; Member since: 07 Apr 2013)
Why not Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, Lg, Sharp and Panasonic join forces to work together? I hope to see something great if it happen ever.
6. darkskoliro (Posts: 1090; Member since: 07 May 2012)
Used the Note and Oppo, have the Butterfly, felt the Z.
All I can say is: I miss the palm-fitting OneX+ I bought for my mate :(
8. EXkurogane (Posts: 863; Member since: 07 Mar 2013)
Even with no or minimal bezels, still too big. I know there's a market for such devices, but no thanks. Of course I can still use it but impossible for single handed operation.
9. iluvsmartphonexpdx (Posts: 48; Member since: 26 Mar 2013)
5 inches is big already... with Note around its still okay...but 6 inches? Really do we have to go that far??
10. xperiaDROID (banned) (Posts: 5629; Member since: 08 Mar 2013)
Next year, phablets will be going up to 7 inches, let's see how can our hands and pocket suffer from the PAIN!!!
11. EXkurogane (Posts: 863; Member since: 07 Mar 2013)
In 2 years you will see people holding a 10 inch 'phablet' by their heads when making phone calls and looking like a douchebag.


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2010-09-01 - In addition to the generator launched earlier this year for the economical doubly-fed system ABB is now introducing a new family of permanent magnet generators for 1.5 – 3.6 MW wind turbines. The new series offers an easy upgrade route to the next level of total power control and advanced grid compliance of the full converter concept.
PM generators are synchronous machines with rotor windings replaced by permanent magnets. This eliminates excitation losses in the rotor, which typically represent 20 - 30 percent of total generator losses. The main benefits are robust construction, high power output with small size, and high efficiency at all speeds. PM generators offer the highest annual production of energy combined with the lowest lifetime cost.
The new high speed generator family covers the power range 1.5 - 3.6 MW. The generators are in principle mechanically interchangeable with those used in present mainstream doubly-fed turbines, which make the task of upgrading to FC system easy. Their modular and adaptable turbine interface connections enable to fit it in most turbine designs of today. Features of the new generator also include a patented rotor design withstanding overspeeds up to 3000 rpm. ABB's optimized product platform and large-scale manufacturing experience using powerful magnets enable it to offer cost-efficient generators with fast delivery times.
ABB has experience in manufacturing all types of demanding motor and generator designs since 1889, and a strong reputation as a reliable supplier to the wind power sector. It is known for its proven generator - converter packages, as well as delivering a wide range of electrical components for wind power systems. Leading turbine manufacturers rely on ABB technology. Over the last 30 years ABB has supplied around 30 000 generators for wind turbines, totalling some 30 000 MW.
ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve their performance while lowering the environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 117,000 people.


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Sephora Pulls Kat Von D's "Celebutard" Lipstick Color
In between Kat Von D's Painted Love lipstick colors "Cathedral" and "Coral Castle" sat "Celebutard," an offensive name that caught the eye of Glee's Lauren Potter, as well as disability awareness groups.
The outcry was so powerful that it prompted Sephora to pull the shade from its site and stores.
"Really Sephora? Not cool," Potter tweeted on November 5th.
According to In Touch Weekly, the beauty giant then issued a statement online apologizing for their oversight:
"Thank you for calling this matter to our attention. We are deeply sorry that the name of this lipstick has caused offense, and we will be ceasing the sale of this shade both in our stores and online."
Von D, who didn't seem to grasp the magnitude of her degrading name selection, tweeted (and later deleted) her own version of a statement:
"At the end of the day, it's just a f**king lipstick," she wrote.


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It's rare that I re-post content from other blogs, but I liked Joe Hall's post on Marketing Pilgrim about Hippies being the future of Internet marketing because it completely jives with my Integrated SEO approach. He calls it "holistic" SEO, but we are talking about the same thing. Go read it if you have a minute.
In a nutshell, SEO is just one component of Internet marketing, which is but one piece of an overall marketing strategy. Additionally, SEO has many smaller components that form the whole such as link building, content creation, and site architecture. When properly synced, all of these layers work together to create a holistic, integrated marketing platform.
For the visually oriented, I submit exhibit A:
It's not the prettiest diagram, but it illustrates that SEO is just a subset of other strategic disciplines. Each strata have their own strategies and tactics but it all rolls up to support the larger marketing initiative.
Is this how you think about SEO? Is this how your in-house SEO or consultant thinks about it? The sooner you realize that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, the sooner you will achieve a higher level of understanding which will lead to greater success. If achieving a greater sense of understanding is your goal, I guess it is kind of a hippie thing after all. Peace.


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One of the first zipper hoodies we've done, and it's a doozy! Featuring the eight bar design worn by The Herd on the "Thousand Lives" tour and the Herd-as-Elefant logo on the back and front. Drawstring hoodie, heavy duty fabric and elastic cuffs to keep you toasty. A must-have for fans of the legendary crew.
The Herd Future Shade Zipper (Black/Mens)The Herd


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Nature Beauty Hill HD Wallpaper
Nature Beauty Hill HD Wallpaper
Nature Beauty Hill HD Wallpaper, Nature wallpaper, Nature hd wallpaper, Nature image, Nature, Nature picture, nature beauty, Cute nature images, HD wallpapers, HD images, Wallpapers, HD Photos, Desktop Wallpapers.
Within the various uses of the word today, "nature" often refers to geology and wildlife. Nature can refer to the general realm of living plants and animals, and in some cases to the processes associated with inanimate objects the way that particular types of things exist and change of their own accord, such as the weather and geology of the Earth. It is often taken to mean the "natural environment" or wilderness wild animals, rocks, forest, and in general those things that have not been substantially altered by human intervention, or which persist despite human intervention. For example, manufactured objects and human interaction generally are not considered part of nature, unless qualified as, for example, "human nature" or "the whole of nature". The words nature and natural are used for all the things that are normally not made by humans. Things like weather, organisms, landforms, celestial bodies and much more are part of nature. Scientists study the way the parts of nature work. Things that have been made by people are said to be manmade or called artifacts. (source: Wikipedia)


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