text:
I got the new servo today to replace my busted pitch servo that came with my CX2 in the original box. Horizon tech support took the proper steps to make me happy by not wasting too much of my time and keeping me grounded for as little as possible.
EVERYTHING WORKS NOW! This chopper flies pretty well. I upgraded the inner shaft to the aluminum head and also upgraded to the aluminum bearing that fits on the top of the outer shaft.
The CX2 is really easy to take apart and put back together. E-flight really thought of everything when it came to making a quality micro-heli.
I got the Police body mod. It looks great. The original red looks cool too but I wanted to salut the donut eaters.
I can't wait to get the alumium swash and lower head, which are currently on back order from Horizon.
It would be a nice option if Horizon sold the CX2 with all of the blue-anodized aluminum parts installed. The plastic parts are kind of crappy.
My little Yorkie digs the CX2. I thought that she would be afraid of the thing, but she actually enjoys watching it fly around the room. Maybe I should get a mini-Yorkie that can fit in the CX2 cockpit?
BCX2 Review
Finally got a chance to play with the BCX2. Here's my review...
Out of the box it had massive 'toilet bowl effect'. Tail was quite twitchy. Flybar seemed very loose in the holder. Tightened the flybar screw to make up the play. Both blades were a little off balance, and corrected them with some tape. I think balancing the lower blades had the most effect on reducing TBE, however it was still slightly present. Decided to adjust the pots. I think the best way to set the pots is lower the gain completely and adjust the trim pot till it's as perfect as can be. Play with the gain, slowly increasing it and watch it do solid tail locks, however slight tail drift still seemed to always be present. Lowered the gain completely and left it. I actually like it without any gain - I feel more in touch with the heli. TBE was now minimal. Response was very slow so I moved the servo arms out to the middle notch (two notches out), but that was way too much and I actually had a blade clash on a quick side-to-side maneuver. The upper/lower blades are closer together than the Lama, so I might have to tone down my 'extreme' maneuvering. Moved the servo arm back one notch (one up from stock) and think that's the best place for it. Removed the weights from the flybar so it took that 'inertia' feel away and like it like that. I might trim the flybar distance down like I did on my Lama and see how it takes it.
Overall it looks and feels like a higher quality heli than the Lama. Is it worth the extra cash over the Lama... Still on the fence with that, but the DSM no-glitch setup leans me to yes, BCX2. There's less play in movable parts, design and manufacturing seem more solid. It's slightly quieter than the Lama, as the Lama also has a slight metalic whine to it. Removing the tail canopy makes it even quieter (and a nice bit lighter). The new DSM tx/rx was awesome! No glitches at all! I love the stubby antenna. I don't care the way the batteries load in the heli, but that will be fixed when stersman's skids and CF tail boom come in - I want to use all my leftover Lama batteries that don't fit in the BCX2 battery carriage. Alternative is to just tape, velcro, or rubber-band them but I don't want to have to mess around with CG placement right now. Installed the motor heatsink and it did well in dissipating some heat - I recommend everyone putting one in. It's a good idea to use the thermal grease. Left the other aluminum parts in the box until something breaks or I want to experiment them in. I prefer the breakaway blade setup and literal breakaway flybar the Lama has. Blades seem to get nicked much easier than the Lama. I might remove the flybar screw later to let the flybar breakaway on crash instead of bending in place, which I have to then take out anyway to straighten. I haven't spent enough time on it to see if the 4-in-1 debated heat issue is a problem for my setup.
That's it for now, until I find something worth noting! Now if someone could only design a co-axial that could go inverted......
ok so i actually flew this thing last night. flew decent but i have to mess with the drift a bit. now for my stupid question of the day. it spins, left/right and backwards smooth as hell. how can i adjust it to go forward? even with the trim all the way up and full stick it barley wants to go.
I broke down and bought one last night.
First flight I trimmed it out and adjusted the proportional and gain.
Second flight I was doing fast (this is a relative term!) figure-8's around the living room!
I just went and bought two more packs for it! This thing is fun!
I bet I have over 50 flights logged by the end of the weekend.
The funny thing is, I've been buying my helis in reverse-order and buying the tougher helis first!
So now I've got:
Blade CX2
Blade CPP (upgraded from a BCP)
Maxir SE
T-Rex SE
In January I'll have been flying helis for one year exactly...
It appears as though the heli is shaking a little bit more on initial power up.
Should I try and adjust the servo linkage?
This is a bit daunting as this is day 2 with my first ever heli...
monkeywrencher, adjusting the pushrods will have no effect on vibration. Don't touch them!
Vibration means that a spinning part is out of balance. Something is bent, or broke. You must inspect the BCX closely to find it.
The flybar must be straight. Unless you've bent it real bad, it should be easy to straighten it.
Nicks and broken blades will cause vibration. A bent rotor shaft will cause vibration. Finding a bent shaft usually requires disassembly.
There are two reasons to adjust the pushrods: you want faster control response (less stability) or you've run out of trim adjustment on the right stick.
Once you have the BCX holding a stable hover, look at the right stick trims, if they are close to center, don't adjust the pushrods. If the trims are far off center, or you can't get enough trim to hold a stable hover, then adjust the pushrod lengths.
I even pushed the trim all the way forward and it still flys back at me.
If I have the right stick neutral it would fly straight back at me.
My first reaction was that maybe I bent the rotor shaft but I don't know if I hit hard enough for that and I am a bit reluctant to pull out the rotor shaft, (I know I will eventually ).
Considering it's day 2 I'm already a little too familiar with the parts than I would like to be Also no one would ever mistake me for an engineer so I appreciate the help!
I just found this note for those having a loose 4-in-1:
well i found out that the battery was getting caught so it asnt all the way forward. that fixed it a little. i started doing touch and goes on a snack table in my living room. i got good at it and thought i can do a fast one. i missed the table and went hell bent down the stairs and broke the top bar off the heli. off to the hobby shop tommorrow i guess
Hi everyone! Let me give you a little of a different perspective. I am a CX2 owner and also a Hobby Shop owner. I was actually one of the first to fly the cx2 in my area as I opened the boxes when they got to the shop. After multiple flights with the cx I couldnt wait to get my hands on the cx2. Unfortunately after hundreds of flights the only things that we have found different from the cx to the cx2 is the radio(DSM), gain pot, and body. I am a huge fan of the DSM so that alone made me jump on the cx2.
My initial experience and upgrades:
I was like a kid on Christmas morning when I was opening the box. I already had batteries from the cx charged and got it ready to fly within 60 seconds. I didnt worry about binding the radio as it was already. I took it off and flew it around. I was really impressed with how stable mine was right out of the box. The tail started drifting towards the end of the first battery. I pulled the front canopy off and adjusted the pot and had it stable and non tail rotating in less then a min.
Let me say with my cx2 being a demo in the shop puts a little more damage on it then most typical people, plus when we are slow in the shop we get a little crazy with what we try. But there is nothing like having someone that has NEVER flown before try flying it. Some people get it amazingly fast others no chance. I might hook up the training cord to another radio to save some damage .
I was actually the first to break something on it and it was the top off of the inner shaft immediately replaced with the alum one (link)
Next the lower blade mount went when I was doing landings and touch and goes on a 4 inch square box that was about 4 feet tall. Lets just say one of the skids hit but not the other. Replaced the lower mount with the MicroHeli alum one (link). I love this mount looks great and works great. By the way the stock screws from your broken lower mount will work in the alum mount so you dont have to use those absurdly small setscrews.
Up next will be the MicroHeli alum swash plate (link). I havent broke this just yet but I know it is coming! Eflight will have their own out in late January (link) for slightly less then the Microheli one. I dont like the finish look of it as compared to the other. I am sure will work fine.
I would have included blades in this list but that goes without saying. Only other injury was actually to my hand from saving a customer from his own flying, it took a small bit out of my hand.
I love this heli! It has made me want to fly it. I bought another charger so I could have lots of fun!
With the CX2 I really only suggest people buy a second battery and extra blades before they leave the shop. We also try to get people to open the box and let us show them how to fly and trim the tail.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Unfortunately I haven't been found a schematic which identifies the parts as they sit I have been looking at the parts list in the manual. Any info where a newbie could go? I'm getting it slowly but for me a pic is worth a thousand words...
Thanks again..
ugg, ok so im about to make a great deal to anyone. the replacement upper rotor shaft seemed to be out of round from the package. i thought it looked ok on runup thinking that maybe i just was looking at it wrong. well i was right on takeoff it shot out of control and now i have to change 2 blades. im thinking with all the trouble i have had with heli's the last year i should just cut the line and take my losses. so if someon wants a cx2 slightly used and a cp pro fully decked out also slightly used but never crashed pm me.
|Thread Tools
|Similar Threads
|Thread Starter
|Last Post
|to buy or not to buy the blade cx2
|Coaxial Helicopters
|Jul 10, 2009 12:01 AM
|Blade CX2 Tx's - Can they be adapted to fly indoor/park flyers
|Electric Plane Talk
|Apr 19, 2009 08:52 PM
|How to program my dx7 to fly blade cx2?
|Coaxial Helicopters
|Sep 23, 2007 10:13 AM
|How do I use my ICE to charge my batterys for blade CX2???
|Electric Heli Talk
|Jan 26, 2007 02:02 PM
|How to learn to fly inverted with the Blade CP?
|Micro Helis
|Apr 05, 2006 01:59 PM


text:
The Witcher 2 - Statement from CDPR
As with the last one, CD Projekt Red has responded about the recently released leaked Witcher 2 footage:
More information.
I'm loving this advertising campaign.
This is only the second time I've ever seen something like this happen.
Hey, who can blame CDP? "Leaked" information always draws a lot more attention than, say, a "press release".
I don't know - maybe I'm too cynical.
Igromir would be… Gamepeace? :D
Dunno what will CDP do… But my only problem with this is - I like this Withcher2 leakage thing. And I'll definetly buy that game. So no harm done.
Next vid please! :D
The assumption that this is on purpose is fair but for the video's bad quality. Often "leaked" footage is a bit higher quality; it could be digitally leaked in HD, after all
мир = world or peace
(I believe it also used to mean light and society. Makes Tolstoy's title of War and Peace all the more interesting)
I would probably purchase The Witcher 2 even had I not seen a single screenshot.
quite. the best advertising for the witcher 2, is the witcher.
Maybe other developers don't do game demonstrations in Russia. Its like going on a Pirate ship and showing off some booty.
I am going to buy it too even if it is TW1 in everything but with a new story .
Actually TW1 in everything (plus the engine improvements) with a new story would be
a very good scenario. Topped only by TW1 in everything + engine improvements + more
complex branching quests (promised by the new engine PR). But I'll take option one any
Just hoping they don't screw the formula of the first one too much if all else fails…
I just woinder who did it and even more interesting : Why ?
I mean the filming & leaking.
One must have had a goal in mind, otherwise it would have been nothing but wasted effort. Imho.
Well, the first one was a video only for commercial partners, so it's not a leaked in the usual meaning "they stole directly from us". It was more like a confidential trailer which someone tought nice to share with the Tube.
This one… Just look at it. It's clearly filmed by someone who's trying to hide his cam from the speaker, so why can't we believe it can be an actual leak?
|All times are GMT +2. The time now is 03:17.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.10
Copyright ©2000 - 2017, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
User Alert System provided by Advanced User Tagging (Lite) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2017 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
Copyright by RPGWatch

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Jeffrey Glen Jones, age 48, died Tuesday, September 10 in Miami, Florida. Jeff was born August 27, 1965. Graduated Clio High School and went on to be a PFC in the US Army. He was an artist and loved music. Survived by parents, Marge and Ron Jones; sister, Cheryl Wilson; son, Michael Jones; a granddaughter, and many Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Nephews and Nieces. Memorial service held at his sister's home at 6209 Coldwater, Flushing, MI September 22 from 4-7.
The My Memorials Facebook app allows you to:


text:
WINNIPEG — Mike Reilly doesn't expect the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to roll out the red carpet for him to run all over on Friday.
Just because the Edmonton Eskimos quarterback scrambled for more than 100 yards in a 25-7 victory last week doesn't mean he is getting geared up to do it again in Friday's rematch.
"It's tough to beat a team twice and when you play against them right away, they remember the loss pretty well because it just happened," said Reilly, who also threw for three touchdowns in the front end of the home-and-away series. "They have a very good defence and they played us tough, especially in the second half."
Last week, 89 of Reilly's 113 rushing yards came in the first half, including a 45-yard draw play, before the Bombers made adjustments at halftime.
So Reilly may need to rely on more gun and less run this time around.
Though, the Bombers aren't taking anything for granted.
"They can always surprise you. They can use a new scheme or come up with another type of quarterback run," said Bombers head coach Tim Burke. "But they did a good job of game planning last week.
"We had a check for the quarterback draw early in the game and we didn't get to it, which is really weird because normally your linebackers, the first thing they look at is the backfield you would have thought they would have noticed there wasn't a back in there.
"So we should have had the check and been all right on that one, and they got us with his long run on a mid-line option and we just didn't do our job accordingly.
"Obviously, we've worked on all those plays and they know we have and I'm sure they'll have some sort of twist for us."
The key for Winnipeg lies in pressuring and containing Reilly at the same time.
"That's the key every week, is trying to get to the quarterback," Burke said. "One of the biggest factors in the outcome of the game is the sack ratio, which team gets the most sacks. The other one is turnover ratio, and then the last one is big plays."
The only time this year the Bombers won the turnover battle was two weeks ago, when they knocked off the then-CFL-leading Saskatchewan Roughriders. That one was a sack-fest where the Riders defence was out-sacked by a tally of 8-7.
Last Saturday, however, the Bombers league-leading sack squad lost both those battles to Edmonton, turning the ball over four times to none, and trailing 4-3 in sacks.
In a team meeting on Monday, Eskimos head coach Kavis Reed listed those statistics at the top of a white board under 'Why We Won.'
"The telling story with sacks is that drives end with sacks," Reed said. "Steve (Daniel) from the CFL Statistics department helped me during the off-season and that is the most telling stat for an offence.
"It's a 1-in-52 chance of scoring a touchdown (on a drive) when you concede a sack. And if you check the CFL this year, drives end with sacks — you're either punting the ball or something else bad happens, so we rank it very high."


text:
Guest Bio
Richard Marrs
Dr. Richard "Rick" Marrs is the director of the Master of Divinity/Residential Alternate Route (RAR) programs and associate professor of practical theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. Marrs was called to the Concordia faculty in the fall of 2006, previously serving as the dean of faculty from 2010-13 and director of continuing education and parish services from 2007-09.
His areas of interest and expertise include pastoral care and counseling and Christian reconciliation.
Before coming to the Seminary, he served at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Junction City, Kansas, from 2000-06, first as a vicar then as a pastor. He was a professor psychology and counselor at St. John's College in Winfield, Kansas (1983-86; admissions counselor 1982-83); and Concordia University Chicago, River Forest, Illinois (1986-98). He also has done counseling, clinical and consulting work with Lutheran Child and Family Services; the Baldwin Center for Psychological Services; the Center for Applied Psychology and Forensic Studies; the Kansas State University Counseling Center; Rapha (a Christian inpatient psychiatric group); Concordia University, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Lutheran Special Education Services; and various districts of The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod (LCMS).
Marrs received certification for pastoral ministry (RAR) in 2001 and his Master of Divinity from Concordia Seminary in 2008. He also holds an associate's degree from St. John's College (1978), a bachelor's degree from Concordia University Chicago (1980), a master's degree in counseling from the University of Kansas (1985) and a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from Loyola University of Chicago (1994).
Marrs has contributed the new introduction to the reprint of Walter J. Koehler's book (1982, 2011) "Counseling and Confession: The Role of Confession and Absolution in Pastoral Counseling" (Concordia Publishing House). He also has authored several Bible studies, articles and training programs for the LCMS website. He co-authored "The Lesson Organizer Routine", a special education learning strategy trainer, for the University of Kansas' Edge Enterprises, which has sold more than 20,000 copies. Marrs is currently working on a book project entitled "Making Christian Counseling More Christ-centered", which will focus on the relevance of a Lutheran Law and Gospel dynamic in Christian counseling. He and Robert Kolb also are co-authoring an article about Lutheran contributions to the theology of Christian psychology.
Marrs is married to Laura, who works as head of research services at Concordia Historical Institute. They have two adult daughters, two sons-in-law, and two grandchildren. He grew up on a family farm in southern Kansas. He coached the Seminary's varsity tennis team from 2007-16 and still enjoys playing tennis. He also competes nationally in stair climb races.


text:
Tonabersat in the Prophylaxis of Migraine With Aura
This study has been completed.
Minster Research Ltd
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
First Posted: May 31, 2006
Last Update Posted: August 31, 2009
University of Copenhagen
Information provided by:
Minster Research Ltd
- Full Text View
- Tabular View
- No Study Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
No Study Results Posted on ClinicalTrials.gov for this Study
|Study Status:
|This study has been completed.
|Study Completion Date:
|August 2008
|Primary Completion Date:
|August 2008 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)


text:
Corky Siegel's Chamber Blues
featuring Matthew Santos
Saturday, Aug 31, 2013 7:30 PM CDT
(6:30 PM Doors)
SPACE, Evanston, IL
Purchase Tickets
Additional Information
Matthew Santos is a musical force whose etherial vocals earned him a Grammy nomination for his role on Lupe Fiasco's million-selling "Superstar." Santos, now a highly regarded singer in his own right, has previously collaborated with Siegel in Chamber Blues events. Master percussionist Frank Donaldson has been a fixture with Chamber Blues for two decades. His resume includes stints with Archie Bell & the Drells ("Tighten Up") and the Ramsey Lewis Trio for eleven years as well as work with Curtis Mayfield, Ray Charles, Bill Withers and the Chicago Jazz Ensemble.
The Saturday, August 31st event, a melange of blues, classical, pop, jazz, rock and world music starts at 7:30 PM and is billed as "a stellar night of extraordinary musical fireworks." None of the principals has any doubt that the evening will live up to its billing.


text:
SDM-IMD & Texas A&M University tie up for 'Student Exchange Program'
The SDM Institute for Management Development (SDM-IMD), Mysore has signed an agreement with Mays Business School, Texas A&M University, for a student and faculty exchange programmeTweet
-- The SDM Institute for Management Development (SDM-IMD), Mysore has signed an agreement with Mays Business School, Texas A&M University, for a student and faculty exchange programme.
According to Mr. Ramesh Venkateswaran, Director, SDM-IMD, "The institute has always aimed to offer the best education to its students. Our associations with such globally recognized institutes will give our students a wider perspective to the world of business management which is very important for their growth."
According to the agreement, up to four students from SDM-IMD would get an opportunity to spend a semester and attend courses at Mays Business School. An equal number of MBA students from Mays would be invited to study a semester in SDM-IMD's award-winning campus in Mysore.
As an alternative, the agreement also envisions undergraduate students from Mays attending a five-week summer programme focused on conducting business in India, at SDM-IMD, during May-June. The exchange will also encourage institutions to promote the exchange of faculty for teaching and collaborative research programmes. Earlier this year, the institute had signed a similar agreement with the Global Management Education Institute of Shanghai University.
While Texas A&M was considered the '1st overall national university' in the US (Washington Monthly 2007), the Mays Business School's MBA programme was considered the 8th best-administered program, with the 8th best campus facilities (The Princeton Review, 2007). Forbes (2007) considered it the eighth best public programme, 22nd overall.
Notes to Editor
The SDM Institute for Management Development, Mysore is a part of the Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara Educational Trust, and has been in management education for over a decade. The trust itself runs over 40 educational institutions including higher education centres in medical, engineering, dental and management sciences. The trust is also involved in charity work and social upliftment.
SDM Institute for Management Development (SDM-IMD), Mysore has carved a niche as the pioneer of management teaching practices. The institute is considered to be one of the best B-schools in India, doing consistently well on key parameters in many B-school surveys. SDM-IMD possesses more than a decade of experience in setting the standards of management education. With an ever-growing repertoire of campus placements, SDM-IMD is considered as an institution that empowers future managers for improving effectiveness and adding value to organisations in India and abroad.
For more information, visit www.sdmimd.ac.in


text:
In 2011, the event industry experienced a seismic shift toward experiences with relevant content. Brand messaging, continuity, and consistency became paramount, and organizations moved away from unnecessary glitz, glamour, and their accompanying spending in favor of cohesive, targeted, on-brand experiences. Companies could no longer rely exclusively on entertainment and the "wow" factor to engage attendees and change behavior. Substance-driven experiences became the "wow" factor, and it was very effective.
Over the last several years, media reports have been published (such as David H. Freedman's Inc.com article, "The Future of Advertising Is Here" on August 1, 2005) that estimate that the number of brand messages audiences consume each day makes them numb to the vast majority. Target audiences can no longer accept empty branding; rather, they require meaningful, actionable messages that are on brand and on point across all marketing initiatives—including events, public relations, and marketing communications. Companies are recognizing the need for authentic, focused content that supports and drives the branding so that all messages are strategically aligned.
The economic downturn has highlighted the importance of ensuring that brand messaging is the same across all platforms. Because companies are focused on spending smarter, every dollar needs to have focused impact, as companies don't have the resources to promote their brand with multiple messages. Furthermore, creating brand consistencies leads to cost efficiencies. There's no need to reinvent the wheel—messaging elements can be repurposed across many platforms, resulting in greater brand immersion, more powerful messages to drive behavior, and a stronger ROI.
To accomplish this difficult but not impossible task, more communications agencies are collaborating closely with their clients to ensure that creative pieces, messaging, scenic elements, event technologies, and digital engagement programs support the goal of brand continuity. For instance, client branding and messaging extend from pre-event communications to event signage to programming to environmental design to entertainment to accommodations to post-event surveys to social media, and everywhere in between.
An event is no longer just an event, but a cohesive experience that immerses the target audience with brand authenticity and consistent messaging, by design, with no clear beginning, middle, or end. Beyond that, event teams are working with PR, marketing communications, advertising, and sales teams to shape the messaging and create cohesive brand experiences that occur beyond just a live event, a press release, a news story, or printed collateral, and integrate all those elements and more. With this cross-platform strategy, companies can reach their audiences no matter how they consume the message.
We are at a tipping point, and the trend of establishing brand continuity and consistency throughout the entire experience will become a cost of entry for event producers in 2012 and beyond. The traditional definition of live events indicates that there's a start and a stop. What we do is create an ongoing experience that has lasting impact well before the first day of an event, and long after people go home. Companies that employ strategically focused cross-platform strategies will thrive, and those that ignore this critical trend will be left behind.
—Scott Cullather, founder and managing partner, inVNT, New York, @scullather


text:
Results 1 to 10 of 10
Finished my tsunami pump ugrade for my '08 SUPRA Sunsport 22V. I wanted to post pictures of the project along with directions on how I did it. This system will eliminate the sprinkler valves, filter and RULE pump. The only thing I used left over from the stock system was the ball valve and intake grate. You will need to completely remove the entire stock manifold/sprinkler valves, cut the wiring, remove filter and RULE pump.
First, I had to remove the intake grate from the boat and grind down the scupper. With this setup you will not be using sprinkler valves anymore and the tsunamis will not prevent water from entering into the bags while plaining the boat/driving. The vented loops are used to help alleviate the bags from filling.
After you have grinded the scupper off the intake grate, re-install onto the boat by sealing with 3M Marine Silicon 4200. Make sure and remove it from the boat! dont try and grind it on the boat, I can gaurantee you will do damage to the bottom of your boat/gel coat! and wear eye protection and long sleeves when grinding. Brass slivers will be flying all over the place. I also chose to put duck tape around the intake grate before removing it, this helps with scratching and also makes it nice when you apply the silicone after re-installing without making a mess of everything.
The manifold I used is 3/4" brass, I bought all the parts at Home Depot. I chose brass because it is strong for this applications, wont rust and a much better alternative than PVC. It is more expensive, but the last thing you want it have your manifold crack and start taking in water in the bilge area. You can see by the pictures it sits very low to the bottom of the boat. It was a tight fit, but my main concern was having it low to the bottom which I accomplished. You need to have the tsunami pumps close to the bottom of the boat because they are not self priming. They need to be below the water draft line on the outside of the boat to create pressure to force water into the pump. I had no priming issues at all, hit the fill switch and you are good to go. Unlike the stock RULE pump that will not prime at times unless you drive the boat, and even this method did not always work.
Once the manifold is put together and installed after the ball valve, you need to screw on the tsunami pumps. This is also a great time to extend the wiring on the pumps, it will make it much easier than waiting until they are mounted by the bottom of the boat. I would add about 1 ft of wire to each wire, this should be plenty to reach the wires from the sprinkler valves. Obviously everything that is threaded needs pipe dope or teflon tape wrapped around the threads to prevent leaking.
After this the wiring will easily match up, just reconnect the stock wires to the tsunami's. Does not matter which wire you connect. The wiring from the RULE pump can just be capped of, you will not need this anymore. Make sure and connect the proper wiring to the pump you want to fill a certain bag with. They had the wires marked right, left and center on the stock wiring harness.
Now you are ready to install your vented loops. I chose to mount them on the rear wall of the ski lockers as high up as possible. The higher up the better. I also mounted the center ballast vented loop right next to the drivers side vented loop. Wakemakers recommends mounting it under the front dash, I chose this route because it was easier and seems to work fine. I figured if it would not fill up the rear bags, why would it fill up the center bag??? my theory proved correct, no problems with center bag filling.
Now you are ready to connect your hoses to the vented loops and tsunami pumps. I used 1" hose clamps and 3/4" no-kink bilge line, the stuff is bullet proof and wont kink and is easy to work with. I used an additional 25 feet of hose to make all the new connections. You will also need (3) double male barbed 3/4" fitting to attach the new bilge line to the existing ballast line. This makes it a lot easier not having to re-route the entire fill line. I picked up 5 or 6 of them just to have a few extras on hand incase I needed them. You can always return the ones you dont use.
You will run the hose from the tsunami to the vented loop, back into the bag. Pretty simple, and the drains will not have to be touched seeing as each bag already has its own drain pump on it. I would recommend replacing the stock drain tube with the new 3/4" no-kink line, this will eliminate any headaches of pinching the line from a full bag. (had this happen to me once, it sucks). You will need a couple 3/4" double male barbed fittings to attach the no-kink bilge line to the existing stock drain lines. I would cut it just behind or near the sidewall and re-run the no-kink from this point. The 3/4" double male barbed fittings are available at Lowes, wakemakers did not sell them.
The last item you need to replace is the 3 amp fuses on the fuse panel under the dash. If you crawl on your back and look up to the right side of the dash area you will see a fuse bank with 6 fuses. They are clearly marked with 3. There is also three other fuses that already are using 5 amp fuses, dont do anything to these, they are for the drain pumps. The 3 amp fuses will need to be replaced with 5amp fuses or else you will start to blow fuses when filling. The sprinkler valves you replaced used very little amperage to operate, the Tsunamis run at about 2 amps, so 5 is a good choice. 3 amps is a little close to the max output and eventually you will blow a fuse. Its also not a bad idea to keep some of these handy on your boat just incase you end up needing one on the water. They can be purchased at any automotive store.
One other recommendation is to vent the bags, Supra did not do this. It will make a huge difference in filling them and not having air pockets and loosing ballast weight. Typically you loose about 20% from air pockets. All you need to do is run a line from the extra plugged fitting on the bag to the end of your drain line with a "Y" connector and one way check valve. The check valve is used to stop water from entering back into the bag when emptying. Try and get it as close to the end of the line near the exit hole out the side of the boat. This will also help the bag drain when it is completely full, letting you know it has reached capacity. And of course the biggest advantage to let all the air push out while filling. I have done this to all three of my bags. Tie each bag into the drain line it is using. Make sure you have the extra vent plug on your bag, some have them and some dont. If you dont have the extra one you will have to purchase an entire new bag.
After this you are finished and good to go. The tsunami's will pump 13.4 GPM per bag, much faster than the stock RULE system. The 3/4" intake is good for about 38-40 GPM. So it will accommodate the necessary flow for all the three pumps running at once. Tsunamis are reliable, easy to use pumps. The nice thing about aerator style pumps over impeller driven is aerator pumps will not burn up when ran dry. Impeller pumps when ran dry will burn up and need to be re-built.
I chose the tsunami's over the JABSCO pumps (they use in malibu and mastercraft) because the tsunami 800's put out 13.4 GPM compared to the JABSCO at 9 gpm, so you are getting a little more flow. In my opinion, the Tsunami's will probably outlast the JABSCO pump. And if you do need to ever replace one they are only about $30. JABSCO pumps are running about $235 each. The JABSCO pumps also use 9 amp per pump, and the Tsunami is less than 2 amps per pump. All 3 Tsunamis running at one time do not equal the amount of amp draw one JABSCO pump uses. I just could not see that much benefit using it in this application, especially since the Supra has seperate drain pumps already installed for each bag. Another problem with the JABSCO pumps is when the impeller goes bad, water will drain out of the sacs.
Hope this gives some useful information, I know its a great upgrade from the stock system. In my opinion, well worth the $300. Total install time for me was about 7 hours. I lake tested this system last week and hod no problems with it filling or having the bags fill up when the system is not being used and the boat is being driven. If you choose to also vent the bags, it will be an additional $150 worth of parts to do this.
Jason at wakemakers help me build this system, I ordered everything from them. Unfortunately the adaptors for the stock manifold they sent me did not fit, that is why I built my own out of brass. My stock manifold would not have worked because there was not enough space to fit the tsunami's down below near the bottom of the boat. Jason has been very helpful and I would highly recommend them to get your parts and any questions you might have for them.
Parts list:
3 Tsunami 800 ballast pumps
3/4" Male barbed fitting that will screw on exit port on Tsunami pump
20-25 ft of 3/4" no kink bilge line (I call it no-kink, its ribbed)
3 3/4" double male barbed fittings
A bunch of 3/4"-1" hose clamps
Solder gun/wire connectors to extend wiring on pumps
Extra wire (5 ft max) to exend wiring on pumps
3 Vented loops
Brass Manifold parts or Supra Manifold (my supra manifold would not fit the pumps correctly by the bottom of boat)
3m Marine 4200 silicone
Pipe dope or teflon tape
Tie straps to secure wiring
Electrical tape
Grinder to grind off intake scupper/vice to hold intake grate
Safety glasses/long sleeve shirt while grinding
5 amp fuses (3 of them)
If you are venting the bags:
3 "Y" or "T" connectors to tie into your drain line
3 one way check valves
3 male quick disconnect fittings (goes into extra port on bag)
3 female quick disconnect fittings (with red tab, goes on bilge line)
3 3/4" double barbed male fittings
Extra 3/4" no-kink bilge line
More hose clamps
Website is www.wakemakers.com
Here are a couple more pics...
Yes, the wires from the sprinkler valves will power the tsunami's with no problems. I chose the 800's because there was not a huge GPM difference between the two and the 800's are already setup for 3/4" which was much less headache. But you could definitely use the 1200 series (1" plumbing) if you wanted to make all the adaptors and fittings and get more GPM's.
Yes, the vented loops are there to prevent any water from entering the bags when you are driving the boat. The tsunami's will not prevent water from entering the system, this is the reason from grinding off the scupper at the bottom of the intake. If you dont grind off the scupper it will force too much water into the system and the vented loops will not be able to hold back the pressure. The vented loops create an air pocket that will stop the water from entering into the bag, kind of a syphoning effect. Not sure if it is the same system as the nautique's use or not. Not to familair with that boat at all.
If you dont grind the scupper off, you can manually close the ball valve when not using the system and it would work. I just did not want the headache of having to life up the seat and turn it on/off after filling the bags.
*** If you have more questions, please ask up... happy to answer and try to lend a hand. This is a great upgrade for this boat, I always hated those sprinkler valve/one pump system. I will try and take some better pictures this week and post them up.
You are correct about the 1200's, I was discouraged by wakemakers to use them because of the difficult thread pattern they have used to match anything up to it. According to wakemakers they did not see a significant difference in fill times from the 800 to 1200 model.
Good luck with your install, post some pictures when you are finished. When its all done its a much better system than the stock setup. I think it might even be better than the '09 JABSCO setup because aerator pumps last forever and can be run dry without damaging them, unlike the impeller style that will burn up if ran dry. Plus, the tsunami's put out more GPM's than the JABSCO's and cost much less (Tsunami - $35, JABSCO - $265).
This is why the '08's and older have seperate drain pumps on each bag that are aerator pumps. I was surprised Supra/Moomba did not leave the drain pumps in place just for the sake of not having someone burn there pump up when they drain the bag. Definitel improvement on the impeller pumps, but if the sensor fails it will burn the pump up. Surprised they did not use the Jabsco to fill and the aerator pump to drain the bags. Guess time will tell how it works.
I hope your JABSCO's hold up well for you. They are nice pumps, and work great as long as they never run dry.
P.S. I saw your picture of you surfing, nice wake! although, dude come on out to California so you can loose that wetsuit!!!!
I also forgot to mention, another reason I selected the Tsunami's over the JABSCO pumps was the AMP draw. The JABSCO pumps draw about 9 amps per pump x 3 = 27 amps. Tsunami 800's use 1.8 amps per pump x 3 = 5.5. You are using less amps with all 3 tsunamis running than one JABSCO pump. This is significant, especially if you are draining/filling without the boat running.
08-10-2009, 09:22 PM #7Senior Member
- Join Date
- Apr 2009
- Posts
- 233
Nice work. Since you redid the whole system, did u consider upgrading everything to 1" (hoses, fittings, etc.)? I believe the intake pipe is 1", isn't it?Al
2006 Mobius LSV
I chose the 800's because I was happy with 39 GPM, but it would only get better with the 1200's. It was easy to make a manifold for the 800's (NPT thread) and its a clean looking setup. I know you can use the 1200's, it requires multiple fittings. Either way, its such a huge performance upgrade from the stock sprinkler valve setup.2008 SUPRA Launch 22 SSV
2011 Malibu VLX
2013 Malibu VLX
Good info, thanks! Do you think it's possible to open the intake hole to be larger? If not, maybe getting an intake with a larger diameter opening? http://www.jamestowndistributors.com...t.do?pid=12113Dan
08 LSV Mods


text:
Historic Crown Point Road / Indian Road
Site: V08-7
National Register Nomination Information:
One hiker's description of typical sections of the present Crown Point Road which winds through Vermont countryside between the Connecticut River from Fort No.4 to the North Springfield Lake Flood Control Reservoir is as follows:
One half mile north of the Cheshire Toll Bridge is a tablet set in stone marking the site of the ferry and block house. This is where the Crown Point Road crosses the Connecticut River from Fort No. 4 and starts winding its way over the Vermont hills toward Crown Point, New York, on Lake Champlain.
The hiker will take a logging road a few yards south of this marker and climb the hill about 1/2 mile to the old cemetery. From the small cemetery the hiker follows the logging road northwest about a mile to Interstate 91. One has to watch very closely for the orange paint marks on the trees which mark the road through the thick woods. At times some of the original logs that were used for the road-bed may be found. This type of road, with log crossways, is called a corduroy road, and was used to keep the heavy cannons out of the mud.
A few hundred yards past I-91 the hiker crosses Spencer Hollow Brook and climbs the hill through an open field to the Bullard place on the Spencer Hollow Road. For the next two miles the Crown Point Road follows closely, and sometimes exactly, the present town roads, Most all evidence of the old road is blotted out by more modern roads.
Just north of Peggy's spring the road takes to the open pastures, cuts across the corner by the old cemetery, and over the hill through more open pasture. On this section the hiker may see some evidence of the road where it cut into the land on the hillsides. There is an old corduroy road visible in the swamp.
The next section, in the Town of Weathersfield, from the golf course to the Crown Point Camping Area is a fine hiking trail through a heavily wooded area. Here much evidence of the old military road may be seen as the trail winds its way around and over the steep hillsides. Beyond the golf course the hiker must watch for the orange paint markers on the trees and rocks in the thick woods. This section is cleared by the boy scouts and the old Indian Road is very clearly defined in spots.
The wooded trail continues to a famous wild flower garden and through a gate in a deer fence through an apple orchard. From here one follows a dirt road north to marker then into the woods. It is a short walk to a small brook crossed by an old stone bridge. From here it is a fairly easy trail down the hill to a town road leading to the wild pine plantation that is now the Crown Point Camping Area. The road passes here through the northeast corner of the adjoining cemetery. The original ten mile marker on the Crown Point Road is still there about a half mile on the other side of Branch Brook.
The road continues for about 1-1/2 miles through North Springfield Lake Flood Control Reservoir over varying terrain. It closely parallels the original Indian Road most of the way through heavy woods where it has been designated by orange paint markers on the trees. In other places it follows newer dirt roads or open fields. Part of the original Crown Point Road is still evident in the reservoir area.
Preceding the Revolution, during the French and Indian War, one of the most frequently traveled "roads" in Vermont was by way of Lake Champlain, Otter Creek and the Black River. The southeastern part of this route was long known as the "Indian Road." In 1744 Fort No.4 was erected close to the Connecticut River in what is now known as Charlestown, New Hampshire. Its commander carried as a major responsibility a duty to keep scouts or rangers on the "Indian Road" to give notice of the coming of the enemy. In August of 1759 General Amherst sent 200 Rangers under command of Captain Stark to construct a road from Crown Point to Lake Champlain to Fort No. 4 through the wilderness. A road 20 feet wide was completed for 77-1/2 miles by 1760. In many places this road paralleled or coincided with the "Indian Road." The celebrated scout Major Rogers, of Rogers Rangers fame, is known to have traveled this route before and after completion of the road. From 1760 until the outbreak of the Revolution there was little use made of the Crown Point Road for military purposes. However, during the Revolution it was in frequent use and early in 1777 three New Hampshire regiments passed over the road to rendezvous at Ticonderoga, New York. It may be difficult for us today to recognize the very important part the Crown Point Road played in American history. First it was traced by Indians, then more sharply by Rogers, Stark and others in the establishment of the English speaking supremacy of the American continent. The facts of history are that the French had discovered and settled Canada and that the Indian tribes were there allies and hostile to settlers in New England where the English were trying to gain a stronghold. They had to hold New England and New York so as to control the routes to the West, Lake George and Lake Champlain, with their fortifications, were then regarded as of utmost importance. It is clear that the Crown Point Road, opening the door from Massachusetts and New Hampshire to these forts became a key in the defense, as troops and supplies could then be rushed to the fighting armies. There are three main reasons for remembering the Crown Point Road: first, it was largely instrumental in deciding the outcome of the French and Indian War and thus had significant military value; second, it helped to determine that this continent became English rather than French; and thirdly, we will remember the road because of the many names associated with it: Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys, Rogers Rangers, General Amherst and General Stark who, with an army of men subdued the wilderness and through their sacrifices and steadfastness willed us a heritage of freedom.
None listed.
DATE ENTERED: December 2, 1974.


text:
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Douglas Layman learned the auto business from the back to the front, working as a mechanic.
But when the opportunity came along to own a dealership, he jumped at the chance, but still preferred to get his hands dirty working on vehicles while his partner sold them.
When that partnership fizzled, however, Layman was determined to keep Autowerkz going.
It was a difficult transition, but hard work helped smooth it out, he said.
"I definitely had a lot to learn," Layman said. "I had to learn about contracts and bank financing and repos."
And when it comes right down to it, "I'd rather be in the back looking at the cars," he said with a grin.
It's been a bit of a haul to get the lot to where it is now, Layman said.
"When I started, I only had five cars out there on the lot," he said. "But I kept on investing. I kept putting money back into it."
He actually started off by selling vehicles on the side, investing in a couple, fixing them up and selling them before the opportunity to do it on a more formal basis arose.
And that worked out pretty well by showing him a different side to the auto business.
"I liked it better than wrenching," Layman said. "But I never thought I would own a car lot. It's different."
Once the novelty wore off, however, he couldn't resist getting back under the hood when he can.
Still, these days he has plenty of other duties keeping the lot going, like the never-ending search for inventory.
But Layman has a pretty easy way of selecting his cars: "I started by buying cars that I like," he said. "If it's a car I like and it's a car I wouldn't mind driving, then that's one I'll want to buy."
It's all turned into a well-tuned, successful formula that Layman plans to keep going for some time.
"I think it feeds off of itself," he said. "It's been going good."


text:
This sale has ended
Shopping cart (0 item)
A Bright Boutique Update
Bold Armchairs, Stools, Lanterns + More
As winter chills begin to dwindle, your quarters deserve a fresh, bright update to reflect the weather outside! This carefully-curated collection of armchairs, ottomans and eclectic accents presents a bevy of options for effortlessly reinvigorating any drab space. Whether opting for a single cotton candy pink stool, mixing and matching tangerine and dandelion armchairs or adding a ornate mirror or vibrant lantern - creating a modern, punchy ambience is effortless. Velvets, sponge, bamboo, seagrass and glass form the exotic fabric mix, with block colouring presenting a worth of styling possibilities.
Product added successfully


text:
Three representatives from Portsmouth's Public Works Department met with the selectmen on Nov. 1: Peter Rice, director; Brian Goetz, deputy director; and Terry Desmarais, Jr., city engineer.
Rice introduced Goetz as the day-to-day to-do person since Rice's promotion to director; Desmarais' responsibilities are in the sewer and water areas.
There was discussion of the upcoming demolition of the old water treatment plant on Freshet Road. While the selectmen expressed concern that the demolition hadn't been done before Freshet Road was rebuilt this past summer, the engineers reported that the old concrete will be used on site, reducing the weight of the refuse to be hauled away. At any rate, the selectmen were assured that the contractor for hauling would be responsible if the road were damaged.
Goetz reported that a geophysical investigation with hydrologic studies is underway as the City of Portsmouth studies whether to replace the three wells Portsmouth draws from along Johnson Creek in Madbury. Half a million gallons of water per day are drawn from these wells. (Portsmouth has also 3 wells at Pease, 2 in the city, and 1 in Greenland.)
Two and a half to three million gallons per day are taken from the Bellamy Reservoir. Normally 3 1/2 mgpd are needed for Portsmouth and the regional municipalities it serves with water, and mid-week the need can get as high as 5 1/2 to 6 mgpd, Goetz said.
When Selectman Bruce Hodsdon asked if Portsmouth were looking for additional water sources, Goetz described the steps which have been taken to "optimize what we have." A study done ten years ago changed the way leak detection is handled; water savings have been instituted thru a rainbarrel program; billing has been tightened ,
resulting in users' being more careful of use; generally, a public education program has been helpful.
The engineers reported that a baffle in the reservoir had been cut - an act of vandalism. They stressed that those using the reservoir for recreation purposes need to be mindful of the fact that it is a source of public water.
They plan to post the area more clearly and add floating buoys at places which are off-limit to recreationists.
The selectmen advised them to keep the Madbury police aware of any transgressions, assuring them of the town's cooperation.
The Conservation Commission noted on Oct. 29 that the New Hampshire Association of Conservation Commissions is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the passage of House Bill 252 in 1953. This bill authorized the establishment of conservation commissions by cities and towns.
This was of special interest here because Eloi "Dan" Adams of Madbury was the lead proponent of the bill. He served two terms in the New Hampshire Legislature.
"Dan" lived on Route 108, where he worked a big farm, and he was a County Agricultural Agent for 32 years. He was very active in town affairs, serving 28 years as a selectman and 9 years on the school board. He was also the author of the book, "Madbury - Its People and Places".
A special election will take place on Dec. 17 in order to fill a vacancy left when Philip Ginsburg moved out of Durham.
Since only two people filed to run for the office, a primary is not needed. The candidates are Republican Diedre Lepkowski of Madbury and Democrat Amanda Merrill of Durham. Voting will be from 3 to 7 p.m. on Election Day.
One may register to vote with the Town Clerk until Dec. 5, at a session of the Supervisors of the Checklist on Dec. 7 or on Election Day. Absentee ballots may be had from the Town Clerk's office.
Nov. 12 - The Madbury Historical Society not only hosts presenter Glenn A. Knoblock with an illustrated lecture on New Hampshire Cemeteries and Gravestones, but MHS member Carolyn Ramsbotham will report abouy unmarked graves of black people who lived here in the 1800s. Gather at 7 p.m. at the Town Hall; stay for a social hour. Knoblock comes courtesy of the N.H. Humanities Council.
Nov. 13 - The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services will open its public hearing at 7 p.m. in the Town Hall when it will hear the application of New England Recycling for a state Standard Solid Waste Permit.
Nov. 16 - A Ham and Bean Supper will get underway at 5 p.m. in the Town Hall, served by the Madbury Church folks until 6:30. Varieties of beans, salads, breads, beverages, and homemade pies, along with Calef's ham and hotdogs. All for $9, adults, while children under 12 will eat for FREE from a menu listing macaroni and cheese, applesauce, boxed juice and ice cream with sprinkles.
MADBURY DAY isn't until next June 14, but Nancy Pape is looking for a co-chairman, especially for that last week before the big day. If you can help, call her at 743-4976.


text:
While privacy legislation languishes in Congress, a number of states enacted new laws in 2014 to strengthen data breach notifications in the wake of the highly publicized data breaches at Target Corp., Neiman Marcus, and other retailers. Three states – Florida, Kentucky, and Iowa –enacted new laws in 2014, with another one in California on the verge of being signed.
On August 27, the California legislature sent a bill (AB 1710) to the governor to expand requirements for maintaining reasonable security practices and procedures to businesses that maintain, in addition to those that own or license, the personal information of California residents. The bill requires that if the party notifying consumers of a data breach is also the party responsible for the breach, the party must offer free identity theft prevention and mitigation services to consumers for one year if the breach might have exposed Social Security numbers or driver's license numbers.
Florida's new law (SB 1524), which went into effect on July 1, is one of the strictest in the country. It requires notice to the state attorney general and affected state residents within 30 days unless "good cause" is shown for the delay. It mandates notice of breaches of a user name or e-mail address, along with a password or security question and answer, for an online account. It also requires consulting law enforcement if the business or state agency suffering the breach decides not to notify.
The prospects for Congressional action on data breach legislation have narrowed significantly as a result of disagreements within industries over who bears the costs of notification, and between business groups and privacy advocates over the need for state preemption. Those disagreements center around a bill (S. 1976) by Sen. John Rockefeller (D-WV) that would authorize the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to enforce new rules requiring retailers and other companies to protect sensitive consumer data, such as credit or bank account information, and to notify individuals in the event of a breach. The FTC has been criticized for taking enforcement actions against just a small percentage of the hundreds of data breach cases it has investigated.
At a Technology Policy Institute Forum in Aspen, Colorado on August 18, FTC Commissioner Julie Brill noted that the agency has initiated 53 data security settlements under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, which prohibits "unfair and deceptive" trade practices. However, at a hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee in March, FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said legislation was needed to grant the FTC civil penalty authority, Administrative Procedure Act rule-making authority, and jurisdiction over non-profits organizations.
"Under current laws, the FTC only has the authority to seek civil penalties for data security violations with regard to children's online information under [the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act] or credit report information under the [Fair Credit Reporting Act]," Ramirez said. "To help ensure effective deterrence, we urge Congress to allow the FTC to seek civil penalties for all data security and breach notice violations in appropriate circumstances."
Likewise, she said, "enabling the FTC to bring cases against non-profits would help ensure that whenever personal information is collected from consumers, entities that maintain such data adequately protect it."
The Washington Policy Brief is an online advisory that contains brief summaries of recent legislative and regulatory issues that may affect the records and information management profession. Further information about the issue is accessed by clicking on the link provided at the end of each summary.
Want to sign up to receive an e-mail version of the Washington Policy Brief? It's free! Just tell us a little about yourself and you'll receive a monthly dose of the latest in legislation, regulation, and more.


text:
Articles by Lindsey C. Swanson
Other Publications (1)
Articles by Lindsey C. Swanson in JoVE
Detection of Post-translational Modifications on Native Intact Nucleosomes by ELISA Bo Dai1, Farida Dahmani2, Joseph A. Cichocki3, Lindsey C. Swanson2, Theodore P. Rasmussen3 1Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University, 2Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Connecticut, 3Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Connecticut Nucleosome ELISA (NU-ELISA) is a sensitive and quantitative method to detect global patterns of post-translational modifications in preparations of native, intact nucleosomes. These modifications include methylations, acetylations, and phosphorylations at specific histone amino acid residues, and hence NU-ELISA provides a global proteomic assay of the overall chromatin modification states of specific cell types.
Other articles by Lindsey C. Swanson on PubMed
Natural and Artificial Routes to Pluripotency The International Journal of Developmental Biology. 2010 | Pubmed ID: 21404178 Pluripotent cells of the blastocyst inner cell mass (ICM) and their in vitro derivatives, embryonic stem (ES) cells, contain genomes in an epigenetic state that are poised for subsequent differentiation. Their chromatin is hyperdynamic in nature and relatively uncondensed. In addition, a large number of genes are expressed at low levels in both ICM and ES cells. Also, the chromatin of naturally pluripotent cells contains specialized histone modification patterns such as bivalent domains, which mark genes destined for later developmentally-regulated expression states. Female pluripotent cells contain X chromosomes that have yet to undergo the process of X chromosome inactivation. Collectively, these features of very early embyronic chromatin are required for the successful specification and production of differentiated cell lineages. Artificial reprogramming methods such as somatic nuclear transfer (SCNT), ES cell fusion-mediated reprogramming (FMR), and induced pluripotency (iPS) yield pluripotent cells that recapitulate many features of naturally pluripotent cells, including many of their epigenetic features. However, the route to pluripotent epigenomic states in artificial pluripotent cells differs drastically from that of their natural counterparts. Here, we compare and contrast the differing routes to pluripotency under natural and artificial conditions. In addition, we discuss the intrinsically metastable nature of the pluripotent epigenome and consider epigenetic aspects of reprogramming that may lead to incomplete or inaccurate reprogrammed states. Artificial methods of reprogramming hold immense promise for the development of autologous cell graft sources and for the development of cell culture models for human genetic disorders. However, the utility of artificially reprogrammed cells is highly dependent on the fidelity of the reprogramming process and it is therefore critically important to assess the epigenetic similarities between embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells.


text: I just picked up my second AR and have filled most of the gaps in my wish list. There are three things I've been wanting and in order they are: Reliable pocket gun in a 9mm or bigger caliber AK47 .45 ACP If I could take out #1 and 3 on that list at once, bonus! A bit of info: I carry every day, every where and sometimes my G27 (IWB) is impractical for the situation, but I deal with it and carry anyways. I have been looking into a pocket gun for my days when I have to dress up, ect. While pocket draw isn't ideal, and neither is a 5 or 6 round mag, I'd feel a lot more comfortable with that than no gun. I have been looking at the Kahr cm9 and cm40 (or pm) and at the cw40. I have held both and the cw is definitely a bit bigger. How practical would it be for pocket carry versus a cm40? Is there another .45 I should be looking at? Anybody have a preference? Thanks in advance for the help!


text:
About This Activity
This activity is closed to further registration.
Toddler will learn the basics of Dance all while having fun and making new friends in the process. All Classes will then get Practice Sessions included in the cost in February for a Recital to be performed on February 26th.
When: January 4th-January 25th Every Wednesday (4 Classes)
Time: 5:30 P.M. - 6:15 P.M.
Where: The Station Recreation Center Activity Room
Ages:18 months - 3 years
Registration Period: September 1st-January 3rd
Fee: $45 per session
Class Instructor: Amy Shipman
Activity Secondary Category
Child (1-7)
The Station Activity Room
Organizer Info
City of Moore


text:
It's no small secret that Mississippi is loaded with running backs for the class of 2006 with no less than five Division-I caliber players in various high school backfields.
Premium Content
Subscribe today to read the full article and get everything Rivals has to offer.
- Member-only message boards
- Exclusive highlights and recruiting interviews
- Exclusive coverage of Rivals Camp Series
- Breaking recruiting news


text:
This is just what we need: a breastfeeding reality show! No, this isn't a joke. The production company that brought you Dance Moms is conquering a new aspect of extreme child rearing and this time, it's the practice of breastfeeding toddlers that is the focus.
The Observer reported that Collins Avenue is developing a reality show that will expose the world of moms who nurse their children past one year of age. While many moms chose to breastfeed during the first year of their babies' lives, typically weaning is done around the time of the child's first birthday. But some families opt to continue this ritual well into the toddler years.
The decision to breastfeed a baby and for how long is very personal. Can't we keep it that way? Why do we need to expose every aspect of our personal lives for the world to see? This is baffling. A reality show about extreme nursing is about as necessary as a show where adults run around an obstacle course getting hit by giant balls and plummeting into water features...oh wait, that is already available for our viewing pleasure.
Of course everyone will have an opinion about breastfeeding children into toddlerhood and beyond. On the one hand, a show of this nature may have the benefit of making some moms who nurse their older children feel less strange. Although if you are breastfeeding a four-year old, it is doubtful other people's opinions of you are too concerning. On the other hand, some people may find the idea of nursing a child who can read and write completely abhorrent.
Either way, we must be running out of good material for shows if this is what's on the horizon. That being said, should the show turn out to be a great success, how about a spin-off series about parents who still sleep in the same bed as their 12-year olds?
No matter what your view of this topic is, would you watch a breastfeeding reality show? Tell us below in the comments section!


text:
Okay guys, so you may have read my last gold post and thought, "That's great and all, Jae, but, where exactly do you expect us to start? What are the most helpful mods? Any quick tips? What are the best professions to use?" Well, don't worry, I didn't intend to leave it there. I was in the same position as those of you who are just starting out at some point, not knowing where to start, and I fully intend to help you get to a point where you are able to make enough income to play comfortably, how much you end up making purely depends on how much time and effort you put into it. You can spend an hour here or there and make enough to cover raiding costs, and then some.
I think it's best if I start from the beginning. If you're looking for professions, the best ones will be any that you can use to craft things. That would be: Tailoring, Blacksmithing, Leatherworking, Jewelcrafting, Alchemy, Enchanting, Inscription, Engineering. Gathering professions are a nice bonus if you want them. Personally, I like having them, but they aren't the best way to make gold strictly speaking. However, I really believe it's down to personal preference. Every profession has its' own way to make a bit of gold so choose whichever you prefer and I'll cover how to use them effectively in a later post.
Bank Alts
The first thing I do, regardless of my level, on any server, is to create a bank alt. I give it a name that I might give a character (rather than Jaedialt, or Wgrtdf) or perhaps recycle an alt I don't play anymore, run it to the nearest city (or maybe I'll create a Blood Elf and make my way to Undercity or Orgrimmar. I personally think that Undercity is the best for Horde bank alting, and Ironforge for Alliance), and leave it near the auction house. I make sure it has some gold, buy all of the bank slots, and fill them and every bag slot with either 20 slot or 16 slot bags, depending on how much gold I have and then log out.
This character is there to enable you to mail any useful items you might want to keep or sell to stop your bags from clogging up too much while you're questing or grinding. You can always return the mail later on if need be. If you have a lot of auctions, you might even consider putting a guild together purely so you can have access to the guild bank to store anything you don't have space for, you can let your friends join to use the guild tag, or keep it purely for guild bank purposes. My personal guild bank currently has 4 tabs, and I'm considering buying a 5th. The extra space is just too awesome.
Auction Mods
After your space is set up and ready to use, you may want to look into getting a few mods. They aren't a necessity, of course, but they do make auctioning a lot simpler, and make it a bit easier to contend with the people who seem to sit there doing their auctions all day, and all night.
Personally, I like to use Postal, Auctioneer, QuickAuctions, Market Watcher, Auction Profit, and Skillet on my crafting characters. I only use these mods (except for Postal, which is useful anyway) on my bank alt as it saves memory on the characters that don't need them.
Very often, I will have a few hundred mails in my mailbox. You're only able to open 50 every minute, and Postal really helps with that. With its' 'Open All' function, you can leave it to open those 50 mails while you alt tab or read a book for the minute. It has a countdown as well on the mail symbol so if you choose to watch the mailbox, you're able to see when it's ready to be refreshed. Emptying the mailbox is possibly the most tedious part of doing your auctions, thanks to Postal, it's just a tiny bit less tedious.
Auctioneer has many useful features. One of its' main uses is of course scanning the auction house, if you scan regularly enough ((every 12 hours is ideal, but whenever you get chance works, you can do a quick scan with the double arrow but if your PC can't quite take it, the longer scan does the same job, just might need 10 minutes of AFK time)) you will be given an average market price for each item. These average prices are particularly useful when working out how much an item should go for if it's perhaps too low, or too high, or if there isn't any of that item up at the time. BeanCounter can be used to search for an item to see your sale history. It can tell you your past sales and buyouts, which you might find useful. This guide will help you to use Auctioneer to check for items selling below the vendor price, and also for items that may be worth buying to resell.
I like to use QuickAuctions3 as well as Auctioneer. Once you've set it up, adding different groups and price settings for each of your regular auctions, you can basically use the 'post' and 'cancel' buttons, and the most work you end up doing is waiting for the mailbox to refresh. The 'cancel' button cancels any of the items you've added to QA3's groups which have been undercut, so that you can put them back up as the lowest priced auction. This is particularly great if you're in the glyph market, but don't knock it for any others you might dip your toes into. Follow this guide to help you set it up.
AuctionPrice tells you how much gold your current auctions are in total. Of course, if everytime I put up auctions they sold I'd be very very rich ingame, but it's nice to see roughly how much gold is sitting there, this is purely there for my own curiosity and isn't really important.
Market Watcher as well is nice to scan for particular items and watch the market trends. I tend to watch for raw materials, mostly uncut gems, cloth, herbs, Frozen Orbs. Anything you might buy a lot of is useful to keep an eye on.
Skillet is basically a change to the default crafting UI. I'm not a huge fan of the way Skillet itself looks, but it's very useful if you're crafting a few things. I only really use it on my Inscriptor and my Jewelcrafter, as it allows me to queue up whatever I want to craft, and then make it, which is nice when I'm checking which gems I'm low on, or which glyphs are selling well at that point in time.
Aphroditi's guide to the auction house, and more auction tips are very decent posts which have been very helpful to me in setting up Auctioneer and Market Watcher, I recommend you take a look.
Starter Cash
We all need to start somewhere, and there are many different ways you can get yourself a bit of starter cash. It all depends on how you'd rather spend your time doing so. If you want to, you can start off by using the vendor and resale options of Auctioneer, but if not, here are a few more options.
Vendor Items
One of the often overlooked methods of gaining a bit of gold, though it's something people have been doing for years, is to buy vendor items, and resell them on the auction house. A lot of people don't want to go trekking around looking for everything they need or want, and will pay a little extra to buy them from the auction house instead, saving them a bit of time. My favourite post detailing which vendor items to grab, along with maps for where to find them all, is this one. It is well detailed and easy to follow. People are willing to pay as much as 60g for certain patterns. Take the cooking recipes from the wandering caravan in Desolace, it's a pain to find, and when you do the recipes are all 'rare spawn', only costing a few silver to buy. Don't forget vendor pets – if you are able to grab pets from the other faction to sell on your faction's auction house that's brilliant, if not, don't worry, same faction pets will sell as well ((Stormspire Netherstorm, Shimmering Flats Thousand Needles, Org, Eversong Woods, UC, TB, Darn, SW, Elwynn Forest, Exodar, Dun Morogh, Tournament)).
Personally, I like to complete quests. You can gain a fair amount of gold from completing your Northrend quests ((Grizzly Hills, Zul'Drak, Scholazar Basin, Storm Peaks, Icecrown)), and if you have more than one character at max level and a lot of patience, that's a few thousand gold you can get, guaranteed. While you do those, you can work on opening up a few daily quests, Sons of Hodir and the Argent Tournament ones especially. If you enjoy, or at least can tolerate, questing for money, 25 daily quests per day will get you a few hundred gold per character, it all depends on how much time and patience you have to spare. Don't forget the weekly raid and Wintergrasp quests, not only do these give a fair bit of gold, but the emblems and honour they give are useful for gold makers (see below).
Gathering Professions
If you use gathering professions, be sure to pick up any materials you see while you're flying around, even if you don't have any crafting professions yet, selling these raw can get you a bit of starter gold, or perhaps you'd prefer to save them to use to level your professions or craft into things that will make a little more gold than the raw materials themselves. If you happen to be a miner, Titansteel bars are still profitable as well.
Random Dungeons and PvP
Another reasonable way to get some starter gold is to do a few random dungeons. The first one you do each day at level 80 will give you 2 Emblem of Frost and 26g, after that they grant 2 Emblem of Triumph and 13g. Remember to check the average price of Dream Shards on your server in order to know which blues are worth disenchanting, and which are worth greeding. A lot of the things you'll pick up while doing the dungeons can sell, and if you don't need the gear, you can turn 20 Emblem of Triumph into 20 Emblem of Heroism and then into Cardinal Rubies/Majestic Zircons/King's Ambers. These you can either sell raw for around 100-130g each, or cut them and sell them for a little more. 10,000 honour can be traded in for gems as well. If you have any spare Stone Keeper's Shards that you don't need, make sure you turn them into honour (30 shards = 2,000 honour, and the tokens you get are BoA so you can send any from your alts to your main and vice versa), and of course you can do random battlegrounds too, you're able to queue from anywhere in Azeroth, so perhaps grind a little while you queue (this also counts for random dungeons).
If you really want to, there are plenty of good grinding spots, you just have to find the best ones. I find the Fire and Air Elementals on the Elemental Plateau in Nagrand are brilliant, on my server I could sell Motes of Fire for about 6g each, and Primal Air is still going for about 60g each, it's useful for a few enchants, Cat's Swiftness is still the best raiding enchant for a lot of physical classes without Engineering. Check other economy blogs for posts giving tips on the best places to farm.
Selling Professions
Finally, while you're idling in cities chatting to people, reading blog posts, or whatever you do while you idle, remember to offer your professions in trade. Usually a crafting fee will be about 10g per craft, I stick to this for epic gem cuts, however, certain crafts might get you a bit more, so for some professions you might find it a little better to ask for tips, because some people might tip for a little more than you might be expecting. You will get people tipping 5g, but it seems to be quite rare, and therefore worth trusting in people's generosity. For example, I have the Blood Draining recipe and I tend to get tips of anywhere between 50-250g for it because it's fairly rare, or at least difficult to find people who actually respond. I still sometimes get 100g tips for crafting the Death Chill Cloak, for which I'd probably ask for about 15g if I put a fee on it. Just make sure you're polite, people are less likely to tip if you refuse to pop to Orgrimmar/Ironforge (you can politely say that you're waiting for somebody in Dalaran), if you're rude and demanding, chances are they won't be so generous. If they try to trade you without tipping, gently remind them, sometimes they forget, sometimes they're just testing their luck, most often they will apologise and give you a little gold for your help.
Stay tuned for whenever I get off my arse to write another one!


text:
Running for the world
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Every football team has a player who personifies their side. He is usually a favourite with the fans. Often he fulfills a key role in the team. Sometimes he supported the club as a boy. Always he is willing to give his all.
The burly striker scored one and laid on another when Inter beat Sao Paulo in the Copa Libertadores final in August and he will be hoping for more of the same in Japan next week when he leads his side into FIFA's Club World Cup.
Internacional go into the competition as underdog to Ronaldinho's Barcelona. But Fernandao will not allow himself or his teammates to be overawed by the glamorous Spaniards and certainly not by Ronaldinho, whose love of Inter's closest rivals Gremio is well documented.
'Obviously Barcelona have a great team but they are not unbeatable,' said the 28-year old former Marseille striker. 'In the 2003 World Club Championship Boca Juniors were champions when they overcame the millionaires of Milan. Last year Sao Paulo beat Liverpool. We will go to Japan with lots of respect for Barcelona but we don't fear them.'
Inter can take heart from recent results in the annual competition. After losing seven of the eight games between 1995 and 2002, Latin teams have found their more competitive edge in recent years, winning two of the last three, including last year when Sao Paulo surprisingly overcame Liverpool 1-0.
Fernandao believes Inter are well placed to keep that run going and become the fifth Brazilian team to win the trophy after Flamengo, Gremio, Santos and Sao Paulo. They will attempt to do so without many of the players who won them the Libertadores in August.
A handful of players who impressed European scouts with their performances in the tournament have left the club: central defender Bolívar went to Monaco, midfielder Tinga headed to Borussia Dortmund and left-footed defender Jorge Wagner and quick-footed forward Rafael Sobis both went to Real Betis.
Coach Abel Braga moved quickly to replace them, bringing in Indio, Hidalgo and Iarley, who won the tournament with Boca Juniors in 2003. They, along with some promising youngsters and a few stalwarts like Fernandao, are more than capable of giving Barcelona a run for their money, the burly captain said.
'Tinga was a key player for us but we managed to compensate for his leaving with some tactical changes and with the performances of Wellington Monteiro and Alex,' he said.
'We also felt the loss of Sobis, Jorge Wagner and Bolivar but the signings of Indio (who replaced Bolivar), Hidalgo (who took over from Jorge Wagner) and Iarley (the former Boca Juniors star brought in to replace Sobis) were important.'
'They will clearly be important players for us in the World Club Championship but the team was already there and I believe we can reach the same high standards in Japan that we reached in the finals of the Libertadores.'
Just as he did in the final weeks of their Libertadores campaign, Braga rested some of the team's big names in advance of their Asia trip. Sao Paulo tied up the league with two games still to play and Braga took the opportunity to blood some young players.
Possessing an assured first touch and a clinical finishing ability, he showed sufficient maturity in that one match to convince Braga he was worth a place in the 23-man squad for Japan. He could well line up alongside his captain on Dec. 13 in Inter's first match against the winner of the Auckland-Al Ahly match.
Whoever, partners Fernandao will be made aware of the importance of the title and of equalling the feat of their city rivals Gremio, who beat Hamburg 2-1 in 1983. Inter silenced much of their rival's crowing when they won the Libertadores and equalled Gremio's feat. Now, old hands like Fernandao are using Gremio's 1983 triumph to gee themselves up.
'Right now, everything that serves as an incentive is good,' Fernandao said.
'Anything that can give us a boost is good, because I think that the title is in the details. You can be sure that we are using everything possible to motivate ourselves. We had a great year and we want it to be even better.
'We want to win the world title.'


text:
In 2016, engaging one's brain is more a luxury than a necessity.
Sense and critical thought don't matter anymore. Raw feelings trump all.
And of course, those feelings are more important than anything else. It matters not whether there is any correlation with facts or intention to harm. Just act like a victim and get outraged.
As it happens, Toowoomba is the latest target. The whole town. It is, apparently, a festering cesspool of hatred. One of Australia's worst, in fact.
Aboriginal activist Dr Stephen Hagan this week let spray at the regional Queensland town.
"Toowoomba is the most racist city in Australia," Dr Hagan told the Sunshine Coast Daily.
Put it on Toowoomba's welcome sign.
The atrocity to spark such vitriol was committed by the local Terry White Chemist. They put up a sign encouraging shoppers to "Experience a White Christmas" and situated golliwog dolls underneath it.
A bit stupid? Sure.
But a terrible, racist crime that uncovers the deep-seated hatred of Aborigines harboured by all 114,000 Toowoombans?
"Words can't describe this behaviour in the 21st century," Dr Hagan said. "I can understand it in the 1960s but to do it today is inexcusable."
This is what people mean when they talk about political correctness gone mad.
A whole city and a local pharmacy have been dragged through the mud for something that in the grand scheme of things means absolutely nothing.
No one was harmed by the golliwogs. No one broke down in a fit of tears because they felt targeted.
This incessant picking apart of every action or blunder is becoming tiresome.
Believe it or not, humans are fallible. We don't always get it right. Sometimes we make silly mistakes or crack inappropriate jokes — that's part of life.
But some people have deemed themselves so superior that they can sit in judgment over the rest of us. They analyse every word, finding inferences that aren't there and taking offence on behalf of those who are meant to be offended but actually aren't.
Bing Crosby wasn't singing a hymn of white supremacy when he recorded White Christmas and the fellow who put the golliwogs on the stand wasn't on a mission to demean black people.
It's like when the lynch mob set upon US talk show host Ellen DeGeneres for tweeting an edited photo of her on Usain Bolt's back.
"This is how I'm running errands from now on," the tweet read. Out came all and sundry to jump on the offence bandwagon.
"So riding on his back like a mule, a horse as some form of property is fun to you," was one response.
The media joined in for their share of the indignation, too. Meanwhile, Usain Bolt saw the funny side and retweeted it.
Yawn. Just another day in the outrage machine.
How about looking for genuine racism to combat rather than just shaming someone to assert your own virtuousness?
"Education is the main tool to combat racism," Dr Hagan said.
Indeed. But making mountains out of molehills and branding a whole town racist isn't education.
It's abuse and it only hurts your cause.
Originally published as Yawn. Just another day in the outrage machine


text:
KEMPTVILLE -- The Dimitrius Underwood experiment appears to be all but over.
The Renegades are expected to cut the former first-round NFLer either this weekend or Monday, given that the best thing coach/GM Joe Paopao has said about the quiet defensive lineman through two weeks of camp is that he's been "okay."
With Underwood -- and even a remote possibility that he could lapse into the dangerous mood swings his bipolar disorder can cause -- being "okay" isn't even close to being good enough.
Paopao said Underwood played the fourth quarter of Thursday's pre-season game in Montreal, and seemed surprised reporters didn't notice a 6-foot-6 giant along the line.
Stats takers at Molson Stadium didn't either, as Underwood was not credited with a single one.
Perhaps the most glaring deficiency in Ottawa's game against the Als was an inability to stop the run. Montreal rushed for 209 yards, not counting the minus-16 hung on QB Ted White, and 70 of it came on four carries by some rookie named Fred Talley -- in the fourth quarter.
Underwood doesn't fit into the Renegades scheme. A natural end, they have reserved one side for sack specialist Ray Jacobs and currently have veteran Keaton Cromartie fending off returnees A.C. Collier, John Turntine and Kai Ellis at the other.
The arrival yesterday of 11-year CFLer Johnny Scott, a noted run stopper, would seem to take care of one tackle spot, while Jerome Haywood has the other. Non-import Ottawa boys Marc Pilon and Cam Legault will also figure largely along the interior.
And so it is that a little more than one decade later, another ex-NFLer with a large reputation has failed to crack the Ottawa roster.
Unlike the case of Dexter Manley, the Gliebermans aren't likely to try to save Underwood from deportation.
NEWS AND VIEWS: Don't believe for a moment that the notion to trade Matt Kellett to a needy team with two first-round picks just popped into the head of Als GM Jim Popp five minutes before the draft began. Nope, Popp knew Ottawa had lost a number of Canadians to free agency and ratio-wise couldn't afford to go with an American kicker -- and that the rookie GM here would have been uncomfortable entering camp with recovering cancer patient Sandro Sciortino as his only experienced option at such an important position. Paopao can't blame Popp for pulling a fast one on him -- but he probably should never trust him again either ... Who would have ever thought we'd see Anna Kournikova perform at the Corel Centre before another visit by either Pavel Bure or Sergei Fedorov? The Legendary Nights Tennis Classic Sept. 24 will also include John McEnroe, who is nowhere near as nice looking ... Working at Golf Town in Kanata is the second best hockey player his parents ever produced: Henric Alfredsson ... Almost as startling as a 27-16 loss to the Renegades is the fact the Alouettes were handed 16 of the game's 24 penalties. Wonder if Don Matthews' power of intimidation is starting to wear off? ... Renegades allowed three sacks and made two of their own, by Pilon and Collier.
CONNECTING DOTS: Worst thing about the (U.S.) national spelling bee championship that was on TSN this week? Getting hooked on the thing, then having to wait until next year for another one. So that's what the other channels are showing during the Stanley Cup finals? ... Another fan-friendly move by the Gliebermans -- $12 to get into Thursday's pre-season game against Montreal ... Swinging a hammer (that will look remarkably like a golf club) in helping to build Roger's House Monday at Kanata Golf and Country Club will once again be a full field of generous sponsors and hackers, as well as an impressive array of celebrities. The list includes, in no particular order: Shaun Van Allen, Todd White, Mike Fisher, Ron Tugnutt, Dan McGillis, Chris Neil, Matt Bradley, Jeff Hunt, Kent Manderville, Pat Kavanagh and Eric Tillman. As a special treat, Brad Fritsch is taking time from an exceptional run on the Canadian Tour (his stepping stone to a career on the PGA Tour) and will set up on an as yet to be determined hole to help out all foursomes. More info is on the Swing For Kids tournament website.


text:
By Jack Wilber, MathWorks
Combining the vertical take-off and landing capabilities of a helicopter with the flight capabilities of a turboprop, the BA609 is unlike any civilian aircraft the team—or anyone else—has ever developed. As a result, the BA609 engineering team began with many more questions than answers. How could they be sure that the system would perform as expected prior to test flight?
Could they build in sufficient redundancy to satisfy stringent safety and flight requirements? Could they keep the empty weight low enough to satisfy the range needed to reach remote oil platforms in the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico? Could a civilian tiltrotor provide a cabin quiet and smooth enough for executive transport?
To tackle the unknowns, the BA609 development program focused on extensive modeling, simulation, and analysis. Before the first liftoff the BA609 had already undergone several design iterations based on more than 1,000 hours of piloted testing in the BA609 simulator and iron bird facility.
While the BA609 is designed for medium-sized fixed- and rotary-wing transport operations, it has a wide range of potential missions. As a result, design requirements were stringent and extensive. The BA609 would have to provide the necessary vertical lift, speed, altitude, and range while ensuring excellent conventional response handling and minimizing pilot workload.
Once the requirements were defined, Bell systems engineers began the system and functional analysis phase. Simulation played a critical role at this early stage, enabling the team to evaluate different aircraft configurations in architecture trade studies.
Starting with some very basic assumptions, the team used Simulink to model and simulate high-level characteristics of the BA609 and its flight control system (FCS). They then simulated the model to evaluate different aircraft configurations. David King, BA609 Analytical Integration Leader, points out, "To reach aircraft configuration decisions effectively, you must use an iterative approach. The ability to make rapid changes and simulate them quickly using Simulink was a big advantage for this kind of rapid prototyping."
King and his colleagues performed complex analyses of structural components and control algorithms. In one case they evaluated the effect of turbulence on the BA609's barbell-like weight distribution. With its engine masses positioned at the wingtips, the BA609 has multiple aeroelasticity modes (states that maintain structural stability under varying aerodynamic loads). Bell engineers built filters into the FCS feedback system to dampen oscillation and ensure a sufficient stability margin when the aircraft encountered turbulence. Using MATLAB and Control System Toolbox, they developed and implemented the filters and generated expected filter output for use in future verification tests.
Bell Helicopter provided their suppliers with working Simulink models in addition to standard requirements specifications. These models helped them communicate requirements to suppliers while enabling the suppliers to test their software more effectively before delivering it to Bell.
Simulation played a key role in the system testing of the baseline FCS code. From the models they used for simulation, Bell engineers automatically generated FCS code using Real-Time Workshop. By comparing results from the automatically generated code with the code running on the flight control system hardware, they verified and validated system behavior before conducting flight tests.
The Simulink models showing the functional aspects of the software will be part of the package that Bell submits to the Federal Aviation Administration for DO-178B level A certification of the BA609. King says that the Simulink models and automatically generated code will provide an additional advantage: "To satisfy the DO-178B verification requirements for level A, we need an independent version of the flight control system that processes inputs and produces actuator commands. The code we automatically generate using Real-Time Workshop gives us an independent version to meet that requirement."
The BA609 team used Simulink and Real-Time Workshop to create a complete hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing environment that incorporates a physical model of the BA609. The "iron bird" enables test engineers to evaluate the real-time capabilities of the FCS. Just as importantly, the HIL test rig lets pilots work with the actual controls and interact with all the key flight systems from the cockpit.
Pilots "fly" by viewing simulated displays and operating real controls, including real stick and force-feel systems. Stick movements send fly-by-wire signals to the FCCs to move the actuators. The simulator then computes airframe aerodynamics, engine dynamics, and other metrics before sending feedback to the FCCs via sensor inputs.
Pilots use the iron bird to train on the system before flight tests. Bell plans to use a similar system to provide training for civilian pilots. A high-fidelity simulator, which pilots can use to attain a BA609 Type Rating, must simulate everything from aeroelastic properties to weather and runway traction.
"It's a big task," King says. "The simulation development work using MathWorks tools will be a big part of it."
One morning in March 2003, King, Brooks, and their colleagues sat in the telemetry room at Bell's Flight Research Center in Arlington, Texas. Starting with little more than a blank sheet of paper, they had designed, modeled, and simulated the first civilian tiltrotor in the world. They were about to watch it take flight.
The confidence the team had gained through rigorous simulation enabled them to remain relatively calm—at least until the BA609 lifted off. "I was amazed at how stable it was," Brooks remembers. "For me it was a unique moment. I had never been part of a program that started from scratch and went to flight like that. 'Thrilling' is the most understated word I can think of to describe it."
The BA609 performed flawlessly, enabling test pilots to complete 14 flight hours during nine flights in the first month.
King notes, "Simulations and a rapid, iterative approach enabled us to minimize the unknowns and ensure that we had established enough margin that when we ran into a surprise we could continue to have a safe flight test program—and run it with unprecedented efficiency."
Like a helicopter, the BA609 takes off and lands vertically. Once aloft, the nine-passenger aircraft flies like a turboprop—and at nearly twice the speed of a helicopter. After the mid-air conversion from helicopter mode to airplane mode, which takes about 20 seconds, the BA609 rapidly reaches a cruising condition of 275 knots (509 kph).
With the ability to take off and land without a landing strip, a range of 700 nm (1,296 km), and the ability to fly in icing conditions and extreme climates, the BA609 has many potential uses, from executive transport to oil exploration, search and rescue, and emergency medical services.
The maiden flight of the BA609 tiltrotor launched a long list of aviation technology firsts, including:
Published 2006 - 91406v00


text:
Barrie and Tony Drewitt-Barlow, fathers-of-five, enjoyed the christening of their five-month old twins yesterday at the Baptist Church in Danbury, Essex.
The couple, who made legal history when they fathered their older twins, became parents to Dallas and Jasper this year using a surrogate mother. They already have three other children, twins Aspen and Saffron (now ten-years-old) and Orlando, seven.
The couple have frequently hit the front pages, and they admit they've 'angered church groups over the years'. However, the family is Christian and therefore feels it is important that they go through the christening ceremony.
The couple has dealt with plenty of abuse and homophobia after their decision to become a family. They first hit the headlines in 1999 when they used donated eggs and a surrogate mother in the USA to become parents to their older twins.
They consequently became the first British children to be registered as having two fathers and no mother.
The same surrogate mother was used four years later for Orlando, however they couple have not fallen out with her following an argument. Tracey McCune accused the couple of raising 'spoiled brats' who regularly wear designer clothes, perfume and diamonds.
Source: Daily Mail


text:
The Storeless Pop-Up Store
We tend to take for granted that the leasing of space is the one constant in our business, our one set of assumptions that are safe from change. Change seems to encroach but not actually threaten — traditional commercial real estate models have opened up to flexible and temporary arrangements such as pop-up stores, but this is still a development concerning the leasing of physical space. Can technology possibly remove even that baseline retail requirement?
The answer is yes.
The rise of mobile technology in point of sale support – systems such as The Square that turn any smart phone into full POS systems taking credit cards – has enabled retail business to take place whenever and wherever social media can get the word out.
The ramifications for retail can be huge, and need to be tallied up. First, the equation of finding and valuing retail space – even as a flexible or temporary sublet – now has to accommodate the options of foregoing rooftop cover altogether. What was inconceivable just months ago is now a viable option for a prospective tenant.
Leases, too, need to catch up with this new reality – exclusives or other clauses relating to a tenant's business or hours have not been written with today's market in mind and need a review.
Finding ways to ride technological waves to profitability is our industry's eternal challenge. Adding value to space, to research, to branding and to prospects only deserves more stress as the days pass and the old models fade.