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YUM! Brands, Inc. (YUM), together with its subsidiaries, operates quick service restaurants in the United States and internationally. Dividend stock has paid dividends since 2004, and has increased dividends for 8 years in a row.
The company's last dividend increase was in September 2012 when the Board of Directors approved a 17.50% increase in the quarterly distribution to 33.50 cents /share. The company's peer group includes McDonald's (MCD), Burger King (BKW) and Domino's Pizza (DPZ).
Over the past decade this dividend growth stock has delivered an annualized total return of 21.10% to its shareholders.
The company has managed to deliver a 12.60% average increase in annual EPS since 2002. Analysts expect YUM! Brands to earn $3.27 per share in 2012 and $3.67 per share in 2013. In comparison, the company earned $2.74/share in 2011. Over the next five years, analysts expect EPS to rise by 14.27%/annum.
The company's long-term earnings will be driven by its international segment, where it expects to open new restaurants. The company owned over 14,500 restaurants internationally and 4,500 in China. In total, Yum! Brands had approximately 37,000 restaurants. Chinese units are expected to generate 5% in annual same-store sales growth. Yum! expects to keep increasing the number of restaurants in the double digits in order to capitalize on the growth in emerging middle class there. Rising incomes are making Yum!'s brands even more affordable for an increasing number of people. In fact, the consuming class is expected to double over the next 10 years, going from 300 million to at least 600 million people, as significant urbanization continues.
With this tailwind, Yum! Brand's new-unit development pace should continue at a high rate, and same store sales should continue to grow. India could be another major source of growth as well. The company believes that its new unit progress with KFC in India is very similar to what they saw in China during its first 10 years. Currently, Yum! owns approximately 450 units in India, and plans to add 150 units in 2013. Overall, the company expects to increase international units by 3%-4%/year, with same store sales exceeding 2%.
Although the US units have not been as hot as the international segment, they have a lot of room for growth also. The company is just getting started with introducing breakfast menu items, and also increasing hours of operations. The number of units has declined from 18,500 in 2007 to 18,000 by 2011.
While the recent reports have not been overly optimistic, I believe that the best acquisitions are made when there is blood on the streets. The third quarter report showed sharply lower sales in the company's China stores for last 2 weeks of 2012 due to the poultry supply situation. This is not an issue that affects just Yum! however, although the media has found it easier to focus on a single target. The company now expects slight decrease in EPS in 2013, although long-term prospects are still bullish. The company is in the process of performing a comprehensive view of Chinese operations, in order to strengthen supply chain, ensure better quality assurance and implement the Shanghai FDA report recommendations. Restoring consumer confidence would probably take time, and there might be a few more earnings dissapointments over the next few quarters, before the tide turns back up
The company generates a very high return on equity, which never fell below 50%. I generally want to see at least a stable return on equity over time.
Ever since Yum! Brands started paying dividends in 2004, it has managed to increase them at a fast clip. The quarterly dividend has increased from 5 cents/share in 2004 to 33.50 cents/share by 2012. Over the past five years, dividends have growth by 17.80%/annum, which is faster than earnings growth.
The dividend payout ratio increased from 0% in 2002 to 40% in 2012. This is a direct result of Yum!'s initiation of a dividend policy, and raising distributions at a faster rate than earnings. Future dividend growth would likely be closer to the growth rate in earnings per share. A lower payout is always a plus, since it leaves room for consistent dividend growth minimizing the impact of short-term fluctuations in earnings.
Currently YUM! Brands is trading at 18.30 times earnings, yields 2.20% and has a sustainable distribution. The stock is a little richly valued for my taste, and I would probably try to buy some on dips below $54/share. Of course, if the stock price is flat in 2013, but dividends increase to 40 cents/share, my entry price would increase to $64 /share. It is important to remain disciplined, and only invest in the best companies at the best prices. The issues with Chinese poultry supply would most probably present investors with an attractive opportunity to acquire a great long-term holding at depressed valuations.
Full Disclosure: Long YUM and MCD
Relevant Articles:
- Dividend Investing Goals for 2013
- Nine Income Stocks Delivering Dividend Increases to shareholders
- Why I am not worried about the Fiscal Cliff and Dividend Tax Increases
- How to choose between dividend stocks?
- Dividend Growth Strategy for Retirement Income
Friday, February 8, 2013
YUM! Brands (YUM) Dividend Stock Analysis
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a magi welcomes the first of the heavens and makes a call from the front but when no one answers he goes to the back and knocks on the door and waits, but when no one answers he knocks again a third time and accidentally opens the door and sees a stranger in midst looking back also. but the stranger in the midst recognizes the one knocking at the back and calls out to Him "Master!" "I've been invited but no one is here." let us both wait for a time given to be outside. and lets us keep both doors open to let the host know that we've entered. while waiting… the host shows with up with four undivided guests that know the two witnesses waiting outside, and calls out to them both "Master!" to be the times given to the two witnesses who were invited just for a short time.
Time, Times and a half of Time
Published by Athenanonymous
n The Beginning; (The Word) in the beginning, the word created; the universe, male and female, and they created Heaven on Earth; husband and wife; as the earth formed thus; man and woman; creators of the human race: "One creation under God." the eastern gates rise early, yesterday dawns before a third of heaven falls. and if the morning, evening, and rising stars wax and wane during the new moons. then the three wise men("Trinitatis"); the Mahdi, Buddha, and Christ; become the resurrection and bright morning star rising out from the underworld. when the Angels of God, saw the light reappear through the window pane they gathered around the two that were laboring under the sun. and when God saw the two garden keepers laboring together the Spirit of God created thus; the Spirit of Water flow and balance sea level between two firmaments; who become man and woman. and who becomes the image of them. who become they. who are in flesh and Spirit of God's blessing. then we saw the light of God's creation; that becomes the lesser and the greater of the two; as the moon became the greater light that was given so that she could be seen during the day and night. and the sun that was married to the moon became the lesser of the two that shines forever and ever. Amen. View all posts by Athenanonymous

subset: commoncrawl


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ld prints
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defthm, etc., which
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proofs-co, so that you may redirect this
commentary while still interacting via
See proofs-co.
``Standard-co'' stands for ``standard character output.'' The
initial value of
standard-co is the same as the value of
*standard-co* (see *standard-co*).


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Thursday morning, the US Open golf championship returns to California for the first time since the thrilling 2008 tournament featuring an injured Tiger Woods and an inspired Rocco Mediate at Torrey Pines in San Diego.
The 2012 US Open is one of the four "majors" or biggest events on the PGA tour each year. This year, it will be played at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, which has hosted the Open several times in the past. Jack Fleck won there in 1955. 11 years later, Billy Casper captured the national championship at Olympic. Scott Simpson was victorious at the San Francisco course in 1987. Then, in 1998 at Olympic, Lee Janzen won the second of his two US Opens.
The US Golf Association has already got people talking about one of their first- and second-round pairings. Past Open champion Tiger Woods will be paired with this year's Masters champ Bubba Watson, and former Masters and PGA champ Phil Mickelson, who told PGATOUR.com he likes the pairing.
"I get excited to play with Tiger, I love it," Mickelson said. "I think we all do. He gets the best out of me. I think when it's time to tee off on Thursday I'll be ready to play. One of the issues I've had this year I've been a little mentally lethargic on Thursday and Friday. I won't be this week."
Woods won his second PGA victory of 2012 at the Memorial tournament early this month, and appears to be ready to contend for his 15th major. But Woods told USA TODAY this week don't look for a lot of conversation between himself, Watson, and Mickelson.
"I think this is one of those championships that I think the guys talk the least to one another because it's so difficult," Woods said.
US Open courses are notoriously difficult. The holes are longer, the rough deeper, and the greens faster. They are often the most difficult tests that professional golfers face.
Defending US Open champion Rory McIlroy has had an up-and-down season so far in 2012. The Northern Irishman won the Honda Classic in early March. But since then, he's been inconsistent, shooting over par in the final two rounds of the Masters and not making consecutive cuts at the Players Championship and the Memorial.
However, last weekend, he finished tied for seventh at the FedEx St. Jude Classic in Memphis and got some positive feedback, according to USOpen.com.
"It was a really good idea that I went there. I definitely feel more comfortable about my game going into this week [than] if I hadn't have played. So I'm happy that I did," McIlroy said on Tuesday.
The 2011 US Open champ is paired for the first two rounds with Lee Westwood and Luke Donald, two men who are still looking for their first win in a golf major.
Another golfer to keep an eye on will be Jason Dufner, who has won twice in the last seven weeks. He won his first PGA Tour title at New Orleans, then followed it up with victory No. 2 at the Byron Nelson.
The youngest golfer in the 112th US Open field will be 14 year-old Andy Zhang, who was born in China, but now lives in Florida. He qualified as an alternate and got into the tournament when Britain's Paul Casey withdrew.
Every year, the US Open is contested on a very challenging layout. This year is no different, with an interesting note about the Olympic course: the 16th hole measures 670 yards, the longest hole in US Open history.
The first two rounds of the US Open will be televised on both NBC and ESPN. Coverage on ESPN begins at 12 noon Eastern time Thursday. At 3 p.m. Eastern, NBC will provide coverage until 5 p.m. Eastern. Then, ESPN will come back with more golf from 5-10 p.m. Eastern time. This schedule will be repeated on Friday.


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2016 Mazda 3
There are many inspirations, but still confused about the choice of a car.. Choosing a car is actually easy, you just need some inspiration. We give tips and suggestions to choose the car that suits you. 2016 mazda 3 is one of the 17 galleries that we pack in Mazda.
You need to know a lot before you choose your dream car, One of them determines the type of car as needed (city car, SUV, family car, etc.). The type of car that suits your needs makes you satisfied. Choose carefully because your satisfaction is everything.
Is there a shadow to choose a dream car? The idea of 2016 mazda 3 is packed in 17 unique and great galleries. We hope that we can inspire you to make decisions with the 2016 mazda 3 post. If you want more car inspiration with different designs and styles, you can see our other gallery. Do not hesitate, immediately select the gallery below!.


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These bold compositions are meant to make your home happy. Don't forget to take deep breaths from your nose and smile.
Made in the United States.
Details: Black Frame is a contemporary classic matte black wood sized 1.25 inches (H) x 0.75 inches (W). White Frame is a contemporary classic matte white wood sized 1.25 inches (H) x 0.75 inches (W). Art Block is a glassless, handmade, wood grain finish, and the wood is a green sourced product and is made in the USA. Art Blocks arrive ready to mount with a user-friendly hanging kit. Printed as a archival digital ink jet print on Epson's 260g Lustre paper. Print is a 250gsm Epson Ultra smooth fine art paper with a natural white matte finish.
AHAlife is committed to help you live a conscious and inspired life.
Many of the items you discover here are exclusive to AHAlife, which is what makes our community of designers and artisans so special.
If you find one of our products anywhere else for less than it's being sold on our site, we will match it.
Our dedicated Support Team is here to help. Reach out any time at:


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Saturdays - Ricks After Dark
Rick's DFW now Featuring $6 Lunch with a Beer Special
Each and Every Guest that arrives at Ricks Cabaret DFW is treated as a VIP Guest. Our Las Vegas Style Host/Hostess will meet and greet you in our lobby and escort you and your party to one of our many main floor tables. You will enjoy 360 degree views of Non-Stop Showgirls on our 4 stages of continuous Live Entertainment. Your senses will be invigorated with innovative lighting and sounds provided by the industries top Gentleman's Club Disc Jockey's, not to mention the "Worlds Most Beautiful Women" appearing nightly.
A Las Vegas style center bar concept is the centerpiece of our main floors social activity, while our bars are tended by the area's sexiest top mixoligist creating one of kind libations in true Ricks Cabaret Style. The main floor of Ricks Cabaret DFW is a lively and fun party atmosphere with world class hospitality and service on each and every visit. Bottle Service, Fine Wines, Champagne and collection of fine cigars from around the world are all available upon request.
Enjoy the Ultimate in Service/Hospitality and Entertainment in our
Champagne Ultra Lounge. This stylish and ultra modern area features
private seating areas for the concerning gentleman. The finest in
the world's top champagnes are waiting on ice for your arrival. You
may also make selections from the wine and spirits bottle menu. Our
Las Vegas Style Host/Hostess have been trained to anticipate all of
you special needs and service your table in a discreet and
unobtrusive manner. The lounge is perfect for wining and dining your
best client and is known as the place to conduct business. Show your
associates what the "Art of The Deal" is really all about. The Ultra
Lounge at Ricks Cabaret DFW is truly a one of a Kind Experience. For
extra discretion this area of the club has a privet secluded
entrance and complimentary Limo Service is available to and from all
DFW hotel properties and direct pick-up from all terminals of the
Dallas Fort Worth International Airport .


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New 2019 KiaOptima EX Sedan
- Stock: 35710
- Fuel Economy
- 27.0/37.0 mpg City/Hwy
- Exterior Color
- Ebony Black
- Interior Color
- Black
- Body/Seating
- Sedan/5 seats
- Transmission
- 7 speed automatic with auto-shift
- Drivetrain
- front-wheel
- Engine
- 1.6L I-4 cyl
Kia Optima
Highlighted Features
- Blind spot sensor
- Lane departure
- Distance pacing cruise control
- Leather upholstery
- Automatic temperature control
- Emergency communication system
- Wireless phone connectivity
- Parking sensors
Detailed Specifications
Dealer Notes
2019 Kia Optima EX Ebony Black FWD 7 Speed Dual Clutch DCT 1.6L 4-Cylinder Turbocharged Black Leather. 27/37 City/Highway MPG
Proudly serving: Winchester, Lexington, Paris, Nicholasville, Georgetown, Carlisle, Richmond, Berea, Cynthiana, Morehead, Grayson, Mt. Sterling, Ashland, Versailles, Frankfort, Dry Ridge, Cincinnati, Louisville, Somerset, London, Hazard, Pikeville, and all of greater Kentucky.
Proudly serving: Winchester, Lexington, Paris, Nicholasville, Georgetown, Carlisle, Richmond, Berea, Cynthiana, Morehead, Grayson, Mt. Sterling, Ashland, Versailles, Frankfort, Dry Ridge, Cincinnati, Louisville, Somerset, London, Hazard, Pikeville, and all of greater Kentucky.
KBB.com Consumer Reviews
- 5.0
Great Vehicle and Value
By Magna42 on Monday, December 04, 2017I own a 2017 and prior to this vehicle I owned a 2012. I would still have the 2012 if it waasnt totaled. As pleasant as the 2012 was the 2017 is much better. More equipment, but a few strange ommissions/changes (relatively minor). The 2017 is head and shoulder quieter than the previous mode. The steering though is little vague, though I understand that theres a firmware fix for that. All in all I am pleased with the Optima and would buy another if the need arose.
- 5.0
This is the only car that had everything I wanted
By Larry on Saturday, October 21, 2017With the SXL trim, its the Audi A6 for smart people. All the features I wanted. European ride - check, ample power-check, high tech goodies-check, reliable brand - check, dealers willing to deal - check, good on gas - check, regular unleaded- check, looks great - check, 10 year power train, FIVE YEAR BUMPER TO BUMPER!! (who does that?) Kia just tries harder, copying the best of every other brand. I shop from brands that try harder. Why be a sucker?
- 5.0
Value, value, value
By Jimmy D. on Thursday, April 21, 2016As we searched the landscape for a mid-sized sedan, we tested the Sonata,Fusion, Camry and Accord and found the 2016 Kia LX to be the best "bang for the buck" product. Kia has tweaked the suspension to give the Optima a ride similar to the type you would experience in the premium priced sedans. It is very quiet and handles well. We opted for the "convenience package" which includes blind spot sensors, back-up assist and a twelve-way drivers side seat with memory. Having owned a Camry and several Accords this car surprised us. Very well-built and solid all the way around. The 2.4 liter four has plenty of zip and with three driving modes included it's a fun drive. Rated at 39 mpg on the highway and with less than 1000 miles on it I got 38 mpg on a recent all highway drive. The seats are comfortable and the cockpit is spacious. Several people have commented that it seems like a full-sized car on the inside.


text:
Pembaruan Traffic Shaping : Bandwidth maksimal, ping minimum! unduh sekarang: www.cfos.de/download
Get a free cFosSpeed and cFos Personal Net license!
Help us to complete our
router guide
Help us to complete our router guide .
How to solve Internet congestion when many users share one Internet connection?
In restaurants, hostels, hotels, guest houses, on university campuses, office environments - whenever a lot of people share the same Internet connection - this Internet connection is often congested and the users experience up to several seconds of delay.
Here cFosSpeed can make a huge difference by prioritizing the traffic to and from the Internet. For example it can detect if a user uploads a bunch of photos or if some device downloads a big software update. cFosSpeed will slightly delay these big data uploads or downloads by reducing the bandwidth by about 1-2%. This reduces the ping time of the whole Internet connection, which allows highly responsive web browsing or even media streaming / VoIP phone calls and game traffic.
The effect of this setup was verified by the German computer magazine
c't - magazin für computer technik , Issue 18/2018, Pages 152-155, Copyright by Heise Medien:
Windows 10 als Router mit Internet Connection Sharing
The usual state of most shared Internet connections.
This configuration will result in severe connection delays when some of the connected devices start massive up- or downloads, e.g. saving new photos or videos to cloud storage or downloading software updates. The problem can be solved by using the original router (Router A) for the Windows PC only and buying a cheap second WLAN router (WLAN Router B) for shared access.
The new configuration with cFosSpeed prioritizing the entire Internet traffic of the WLAN network.
To improve overall performance, you may want to install an additional Ethernet port on your Windows PC to connect to Router A. We always recommend to use cable connections, since they produce less latency than WiFi.
Extended configuration with cFosSpeed, second LAN connection for improved latency and an additional WLAN Router B2 to increase range.
Connecting the WLAN router
Connect the WAN port of WLAN Router B with the network port of the Windows PC
Setting up the Windows PC
: Newer versions of Windows 10 have a bug which may stop Internet Connection Sharing from working after a reboot.
By using our freeware tool cFosICS you can fix this.
Setting up the WLAN router
This particular instruction is for the ASUS RT-N12E, which we chose for its moderate price and easy setup. Nevertheless, this kind of connection sharing should work with any other WiFi access router available at your place.


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Next weekend is the biggest advertising event of the year: the Super Bowl. The entire nation will gather around their televisions, split roughly between people watching for the game and people watching for the commercials.
But now you don't even have to watch the big game to know what the commercials will be. Companies are putting out commercials early or, even worse, teasers for ads that are longer than the ads themselves. They're also sending out kits to journalists that hint at their commercials.
That's where I have a problem.
In the past, part of the fun of watching the Super Bowl for non-football fans, other than gorging on chicken wings, was checking out the brand new commercials that were making their premiere. The surprise was part of the fun. As a non-football fan myself, I looked forward to the ad breaks so I didn't have to pretend like I cared what Wes Welker did, or what a Wes Welker is.
All that's changed now that ads have gone from incredibly expensive to small-country-GDP insane.
Corporations, and especially automakers, need to make their multi-million dollar investment worthwhile. That means they've taken to making ads for their ads so we'll tune in for their ads. These ads are designed to prep us for the real ads and are two or three times longer than the commercial they're prepping us for.
Sometimes they release the ad ahead of time on YouTube. And in order to watch that ad on YouTube, you'll probably have to watch another ad before that ad. Selling ads for ads. It's a crazy world we live in.
Last year, Honda tried to convince everyone that an all-new Ferris Bueller movie was going to be released. If only that were the case. The buzz was all for the brand new CRV. It was dishonest, although the build up to the commercial was actually far better than the commercial itself, which I found super boring.
Volkswagen just released a 1:30 teaser for an ad that wil probably be no longer than one-minute in length. It features nearly every person on YouTube that was caught on camera in the middle of a mental breakdown. VW used Star Wars focused ads the last couple of years, both of which were major hits although readers of this site new they were coming.
Mercedes' teaser for their ad involves model Kate Upton and a soapy car. It's also the only time I think anyone has ever said that a car wash featuring a Sports Illustrated cover model was a disappointment.
Just yesterday we received a box from Kia to promote their Super Bowl ad. Inside it had a copy of "The Wheels on the Bus," freeze dried ice cream, and a card that announces the birth of a commercial. I assume it's an ad for one of their new cars. Apparently it will feature "space babies."
All of this pre-Super Bowl hype ruins the Super Bowl ads for me. It was exciting to watch a commercial break and not know what was up next. Now the surprise is gone. You know exactly what will be in each commercial break.
Nearly every ad that had a teaser last year ended up being a disappointment, largely because I knew what to expect. In fact, there was only one ad that we didn't know much about, and it was Chrysler's "Half Time in America" with Clint Eastwood. Guess what? It gave me goosebumps and was not only the best car ad of the game, but arguably the best ad of the year.
It's not like I'm blaming the car companies and other advertisers for trying to get the most of their Super Bowl ads. As far as crimes go, this is pretty minor. Much like how "Black Friday" starts at midnight on Thanksgiving, "Super Bowl Sunday" has become a multi-week affair and it's all because of money.
And we tend to be complicit with automakers' Super Bowl ad teasers because they can be clever and and they bring awareness to their cars and to cars in general. I'd argue it's even more important than the Detroit Auto Show, which is why we write so much about it. If we post the teaser there's a chance people will come back to this site to see the ad when it's up.
The good news is non-football fans no longer have to watch the Super Bowl. The bad news is that the age of enjoying Super Bowl commercials is nearly over.


text:
The following list provides the names of the Confederate general officers killed in the American Civil War, the battle in which they received the wounds, and is organized by the position they held in the Confederate forces.
General Albert Sydney Johnston Killed at Shiloh.CORPS COMMANDERS
Lieutenant-General Thomas A. Jackson Killed at Chancellorsville.DIVISION COMMANDERS
Lieutenant-General Leonidas Polk , Killed at Pine Mountain.
Lieutenant-General Ambrose P. Hill, Killed at Fall of Petersburg.
Major-General William D. Pender Killed at Gettysburg.
Major-General J. E. B. Stewart, Killed at Yellow Tavern.
Major-General W. H. Walker, Killed at Atlanta.
Major-General Robert E. Rodes, Killed at Opequon.
Major-General Stephen D. Ramseur, Killed at Cedar Creek.
Major-General Patrick R. Cleburne, Killed at Franklin.
BRIGADE COMMANDERSBrigadier-General John Pegram, Killed at Hatcher's Run.
Brigadier-General Robert S. Garnett Killed at Cheat Mountain.
Brigadier-General Barnard E. Bee, Killed at First Bull Run.
Brigadier-General Francis S. Bartow, Killed at First Bull Run.
Brigadier-General Felix K. Zollicoffer, Killed at Mill Springs.
Brigadier-General Ben. McCulloch, Killed at Pea Ridge.
Brigadier-General James Mcintosh, Killed at Pea Ridge
Brigadier-General William Y. Slack, Killed at Pea Ridge.
Brigadier-General Adley H. Gladden, Killed at Shiloh.
Brigadier-General Robert Hatton, Killed at Fair Oaks.
Brigadier-General Turner Ashby, Killed at Harrisonburg.
Brigadier-General Richard Griffith, Killed at Savage Station.
Brigadier-General Charles S. Winder, Killed at Cedar Mountain.
Brigadier-General Samuel Garland, Jr, Killed at South Mountain.
Brigadier-General George B. Anderson, Killed at Antietam.
Brigadier-General L. O'B. Branch, Killed at Antietam.
Brigadier-General William E. Starke, Killed at Antietam.
Brigadier-General Henry Little, Killed at Iuka.
Brigadier-General Thomas R. Cobb, Killed at Fredericksburg.
Brigadier-General Maxcy Gregg, Killed at Fredericksburg.
Brigadier-General James E. Rains, Killed at Stone's River.
Brigadier-General Roger W. Hanson, Killed at Stone's River.
Brigadier-General E. D. Tracy, Killed at Port Gibson.
Brigadier-General E. F. Paxton, Killed at Chancellorsville.
Brigadier-General Lloyd Tilghman, Killed at Champion's Hill.
Brigadier-General Martin E. Green, Killed at Vicksburg.
Brigadier-General William Barksdale, Killed at Gettysburg.
Brigadier-General Lewis Armistead, Killed at Gettysburg.
Brigadier-General Richard B. Garnett, Killed at Gettysburg.
Brigadier-General Paul J. Semmes, Killed at Gettysburg.
Brigadier-General J. J. Pettigrew, Killed at Falling Waters.
Brigadier-General Preston Smith , Killed at Chickamauga.
Brigadier-General Benjamin H. Helm, Killed at Chickamauga.
Brigadier-General James Deshler, Killed at Chickamauga.
Brigadier-General Carnot Posey, Killed at Bristoe Station.
Brigadier-General Alfred Mouton, Killed at Sabine Cross Roads.
Brigadier. General Thomas Green, Killed at Pleasant Hill.
Brigadier-General W. R. Scurry, Killed at Jenkins Ferry.
Brigadier-General John M. Jones, Killed at Wilderness.
Brigadier-General Micah Jenkins, Killed at Wilderness.
Brigadier-General L. A. Stafford, Killed at Wilderness.
Brigadier-General Abner Perrin, Killed at Spotsylvania.
Brigadier-General Julius Daniel, Killed at Spotsylvania.
Brigadier-General James B. Gordon, Killed at Yellow Tavern.
Brigadier-General George Doles, Killed at Bethesda Church.
Brigadier-General W. E. Jones, Killed at Piedmont.
Brigadier-General C. H. Stevens, Killed at Peach Tree Creek.
Brigadier-General Samuel Benton, Killed at Ezra Church.
Brigadier-General John R. Chambliss, Jr, Killed at Deep Bottom.
Brigadier-General J. C. Saunders, Killed at Weldon Railroad.
Brigadier-General Robert H. Anderson, Killed at Jonesboro.
Brigadier-General John Morgan, Killed at Greenville, Tenn.
Brigadier-General Archibald C. Godwin, Killed at Opequon.
Brigadier-General John Dunnovant, Killed at Vaughn Road.
Brigadier-General John Gregg " Darbytown Road.
Brigadier-General Stephen Elliott, Jr., Killed at Petersburg.
Brigadier-General Victor J. Girardey, Killed at Petersburg.
Brigadier-General Archibald Gracie, Jr. Killed at Petersb'g Trenches.
Brigadier-General John Adams, Killed at Franklin.
Brigadier-General Oscar F. Strahl, Killed at Franklin.
Brigadier-General S. R. Gist, Killed at Franklin.
Brigadier-General H. B. Granberry, Killed at Franklin.
Brigadier-General James Dearing, Killed at High Bridge.
Source: Regimental Losses in the American Civil War, 1861-1865" by William F. Fox, Lt. Col. USV


text:
mnp13 wrote:PetieMarie22 wrote:Petie had her first Flyball class on Sunday and she did very well! I'm not sure what she liked more though, the game or the BARKING! LOL! Anybody have suggestions on where to get a flyball harness with a handle? I'm having a hard time finding one with a handle.
PM Hoyden and see if she makes them, I'm not sure if she does or not.
Canine outfitters makes a nylon flyball harness, I have one for Sawyer.
Missy from Brown Dog Design Harnesses made a custom one for Score...


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Back in the United States (Matt Britten)
We are in Washington/Dulles for the next two hours until our flight leaves for Miami and everyone is fairly exhausted. However, after a 14-hour flight from Kuwait, what's a couple more hours??
The evening in Kuwait was uneventful after my last post; we made it through the hustle and insanity of Kuwait City Airport check-in, then I grabbed a coffee from Starbucks, Fredi and Larry picked up some souvenirs at the Harley-Davidson Kuwait store, then as a group we crushed 54 McNuggets, 5 large fries and a chicken sandwich at McDonald's (yes, there's even a McD's in Kuwait City Airport and it's just as bad for you).
Here in Washington DC it's chilly outside and the ground is covered in snow. Amazingly it felt more like home 7,000 miles away. A few of us had aspirations of some early Monday sight-seeing in DC, but I think exhaustion may have gotten the better of us for now. I have had a chance during the layover to check in with a few of the many people we met during our trip to Kuwait and Iraq. I may now officially have a friend from every state in the U.S., which I suppose can't be a bad thing when you're traveling and looking for a good place to eat!
I am looking forward to getting home, seeing my fiance, sleeping in my own bed, preparing for Caravan and FanFest (which starts next week!) and downloading tons of video and photos from the trip. It may take a day or two, but check out Marlins.com throughout the week for updates..trust me, you will want to see some of this!
I'll see many of you back home soon!


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"Between sounds of music there are gaps of silence. The authentic music consists not of sounds, but of the gaps. Sounds come and go; those gaps remain. And music can make you aware of those gaps more beautifully than anything else; hence I have to say that music comes next to silence. But it is possible even the musician may not be aware of it, unless his music is his meditation too. Then, soon, the shift from sounds to silence." (Bagwan Shree Rajneesh, aka Osho)
Pan-Asian instrumental new age steppers, featuring our man Deuter, himself, in full-tilt metaphysical enlightenment mode. A woodwound percussive medley for us Tomorrow People. Ecstatic-dancing to Pure Moods/Tubular Bells is admittedly something of the vibe, here, but...And blame it on personal Rajneesh fascination; I've been dropping into Basho's Pond here lately, a bit more than I might even like to admit. These tracks were all recorded during live Satsang celebrations at the now-infamous Rajneeshpuram in eastern Oregon, late 1985. A "cult favorite", if you will.
Chaitanya Hari Deuter, Govindas, Deva Renu, Nivedano & Rupesh : Basho's Pond (Rajneesh Music, 1985)
Watch Rajaneeshpuram on PBS. See more from Oregon Experience.


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Copying, Cloning, and Marshalling in .NETby Shawn Van Ness
I hate to admit it, but as a veteran C++ programmer and COM aficionado, I've spent an embarrassingly large part of the last decade thinking about how the objects in my code will be copied, duplicated, and marshalled from one place to the next. In other words, I spent a lot of time pushing bits around. These days, I'm spending more time with C# and the .NET environment, which offer a wide spectrum of language features and runtime services that make the art of programming vastly simpler, in almost every conceivable fashion -- but still, I find myself wondering about the precise semantics of all the various copying, cloning, and marshalling mechanisms at play in my code.
Even after spending the last few years with the C# language, I recently found it worthwhile to step back and analyze what happens in some very simple scenarios, such as copying a value from one variable to another, or passing those variables as arguments to a method call. And that is the focus of this article. Boring? Hardly -- consider the following questions:
- Why do so few system-defined types provide "copy constructors?"
What does it mean to pass a reference-type parameter with C#'s
Why is
System.MarshalByRefObjecta base class, rather than an attribute (or interface)?
- Does a value-type object still have pass-by-value semantics when it's boxed?
What's the deal with
System.String? It's a reference-type, but it seems to have pass-by-value semantics.
Related Reading
.NET Framework Essentials
Throughout this article, we'll contemplate zen koans like these, and more. We'll
start slowly, with a review of value-types and reference-types in .NET. Then
we'll move on to more advanced terrain, deconstructing the
interface, and even scratching the surface of .NET's remoting architecture to
explore the concept of marshalling.
Copying, Cloning, and Marshalling: Then and Now
C++ programmers saw the concept of the "well-behaved class" evolve to describe things like copy constructors, assignment operators, virtual destructors, and how these things should be applied to classes. Failure to conform to these guidelines of well-behavedness might produce compile-time errors or (far worse) run-time leaks that are terribly difficult to debug.
Thankfully, .NET languages like C# and VB.NET free us from all of this complexity. Or do they? A quick search of Google.com for "C# and 'copy constructor'" turns up quite a few developers who are a little uncertain! And rightly so -- the .NET runtime environment has its own set of rules and regulations that control an object's copying, cloning, and marshalling behavior. Some of these are outlined in Table 1. When you add the concept of boxing into the mix, .NET has (arguably) the most complex cloning and marshalling semantics of any language or runtime environment ever conceived.
Table 1: The cast of characters
|Base class for value-types, which have pass-by-value semantics
|Interface by which objects support creating clones of themselves
|Protected method that represents the ability of all objects to duplicate themselves
|Attribute by which objects declare their support for serialization
|Interface by which objects control their own serialization (and marshalling!)
|Base class for objects that are accessed from remote app domains via proxy
But before we look at all of these mechanisms in action, let us start at the beginning, with a quick review of .NET's distinction between value-types and reference-types.
Value-types vs. reference-types
I still remember being introduced to Java for the first time. I was attending an informal brown-bag presentation, wherein one fellow was trying to convince his coworkers (C++ programmers, the lot of us) that Java was the way of the future. "Just imagine -- no more pointers!" he said. I'd only just seen a glimpse of the language, but it sure looked a lot to me like everything was a pointer. And, sure enough, that turned out to be pretty much the case. Java brought fantastic productivity gains, but at the cost of terrible performance for a lot of applications (mainly due to its excessive use of the heap and incessant dereferencing of pointers).
The architects of .NET attempted to learn from Java's mistakes in this regard by
creating a framework-wide distinction between reference-types and value-types.
Put simply, value-types are those that derive from
System.ValueType (either
directly or indirectly) and reference-types are those that do not. In C#,
value-types are declared using the
keywords, and reference-types declared with the
keyword. But neither of those distinctions are very helpful. The real
difference in most programmers' minds is that value-types have pass-by-value
semantics, and reference-types have pass-by-reference semantics.
The easiest way to see the difference is to write a few lines of code: make two copies of a variable, and try to modify them independently.
Listing 1: Simple copying of value- and reference-types in C#
struct MyStruct { int x; } // value-type!
class MyClass { int x; } // reference-type!
MyStruct s1 = new MyStruct(37);
MyStruct s2 = s1;
s2.x = 73;
MyClass c1 = new MyClass(37);
MyClass c2 = c1;
c2.x = 73;
Console.WriteLine("s1:{0}, s2:{1}, c1:{2}, c2:{3}",
//output: s1:37, s2:73, c1:73, c2:73
Stepping through this simple code in a debugger, you can see that the value-type
variable (
MyStruct s1) is copied by-value into
s2, while the reference-type variable (
MyClass c1)
is copied by-reference into
c2. So, modifying the value of
also modifies the value of
(because they're really the same value).
But what about boxed value-type objects? Somewhat surprisingly, the topic of
boxing does not have any real relevance here -- this is because the very act of
boxing a value-type variable involves making a memberwise copy of the variable,
from the stack onto the heap (and unboxing, vice versa). So value-type objects
are passed by value, even to destinations typed as
(For more background on boxing, see the References section for links to Eric Gunnerson's articles on the topic.)
Passing a Variable as a Method Parameter: Value-types vs. Reference-types (Again)
For ordinary method calls (no
parameters, and no marshalling -- all of which will be discussed later), passing
a variable as an argument to a method (or property) is logically equivalent to
declaring another variable of the same type, and assigning its value to the
newly-declared variable.
No surprise, there. For both value- and reference-types, a shallow copy of the variable is made. For value-types, this means a member-wise copy is created. For reference-types, only the reference is copied (resulting in two references to the same object, as we saw earlier).
However, the situation is somewhat altered if the method parameter is decorated
with either the
keyword. In those cases, for value-type parameters, a pointer to the object is
passed to the method (thus allowing the method body to alter the value of the
original object). This technique is known as passing a parameter "by
reference." This should be fairly intuitive (at least to former C++
programmers, who will see it's just like passing a pointer-type parameter; or
using the
[out] attribute in COM). Of course, many programming languages make
this distinction in one way or another, not just those whose names begin with
the letter "C."
But what does it mean to pass a reference-type "by reference"? Isn't the
parameter already being passed by-reference, simply by virtue of not deriving
System.ValueType? Should we perhaps expect a compiler warning, or an
error? No -- put simply, the
keyword means the same thing for reference-types as it does for value-types: a reference
to the variable is passed to the method, rather than a shallow copy. For
classes (reference-types), this means a reference to a reference. This allows
the method to discard and reallocate the caller's variable (or even set it to
null). Again, the analogy in the COM and C++ world is
passing a pointer to a pointer.
keyword has very nearly the same semantics as
ref. However, unlike
ref, the method implementation is obligated to
instantiate and initialize a new variable, for which the caller has a pointer.
Effectively, this gives
out parameters the same semantics as a property or
method's return value.
The Diminished Role of "Copy Constructors" in C#
Now that we've seen how the default variable-copying semantics in .NET work, you're all probably wondering how to override this behavior to create full, rich, deep copies of your objects (rather than squeak by with the dull, shallow copies provided by the runtime).
For example, imagine a class that represents a node in a doubly-linked list. Each node object contains a reference to the previous node, and the next node (or perhaps a null pointer, if the node is the first or last in the list). Clearly, a memberwise copy of any single node would not be desirable! Figure 1 illustrates the tragedy that would ensue, if a shallow copy of the head node were inadvertently made:
|Figure 1: Deep vs. Shallow Copying
Back in the days of C++, this is where so-called "copy constructors" and "assignment operator overloading" came into play. Now, it's true that in C# you can define a constructor that looks and feels very much like a C++-style copy constructor -- and several classes in the FCL do this -- but the truth is they probably shouldn't bother, because they can't overload the assignment operator.
Rather, a system-defined interface exists for classes and structs to declare to
the outside world that they support "deep copy" semantics. This interface
System.ICloneable, and it has a single method:
Clone. It doesn't get
any simpler.


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I would rather have my head sewn to a carpet than discuss the Kingdom Hearts storyline.And I would rather donate my left testicle to science than try to play through the original Mass Effect again.
lol hell yes. hockey night in canada theme is the best theme ever
When Cluthlu saves the World hits you guys should have Zeboyd on.Love the podcast for its extensive discussion into game play mechanics. Hope it stays more regular.


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|San Jose, Calif.
|High School:
|The Harker School
|Computer Science
2013-14: Overall record: 14-26...NFC record: 8-13...went 9-4 in the "C" pool of the New England Championship (2/22)...ranked 40th at The Big One Invitational (11/2)...generated a 7-5 ledger in her NFC debut (11/16) by blanking UMass and New Hampshire while adding a win over Boston University...registered a 2-1 outing against St. John's and defeated foes from Yale and Brown at the Brandeis Invitational (12/8)...picked up a win over Tufts at the NFC season finale (1/25)...topped opponents from Stevens and Hunter to finish with a 2-5 mark at the Eric Sollee Invitational (2/2)...recorded a victory over Brandeis at the Beanpot (2/12).
Off the Fencing Strip at MIT: Majoring in computer science.
High School: A 2013 graduate of The Harker School...finished third at the Central California Women's Foil Junior Olympic qualifier...was 11th at the 2011 Junior Olympic qualifier...earned a varsity letter in water polo...National French Honor Society...Art Club president...Programming Club treasurer...SanDisk Scholarship.


text: Xe Lite is a healthy alternative to traditional energy drinks. It provides natural energy from 28% juice, guarana, green tea, yerba mate (for a quick boost), and Palatinose™ for longer lasting energy. Xe Lite is free of sugar additives such as high fructose corn syrup, glucose, and sucrose. It does not contain artificial colors, flavors, or sweeteners and, best of all, it is preservative-free. In a review of over 30 energy drinks currently available, including the top selling energy drinks, 97% contained at least one of the above additives. Many of the products reviewed contained several of these ingredients. Xe Lite is purely a healthier, more natural energy beverage.


text: Starter Test Plot Roundup January 25, 2013 08:39 PM Tweet In central Illinois, the test plots ran several starter attachments and fertilizer blends. TAGS: Marketing, Overseas December 18, 2014 By Margy Eckelkamp Director of Content Development, Machinery Pete Email For success early with young plant growth, the Farm Journal Test Plots focus on starter fertilizer With the correct management moves, starter fertilizer can give a corn crop a boost as well as advance maturity. Farm Journal Field Agronomists Ken Ferrie and Missy Bauer led efforts to examine starter rates, products and placement. Ferrie ran test plots looking at starter placement and rates, and Bauer wrapped up a multi-year study on starter fertilizer. Site for Success The key to maximizing the response to starter fertilizer is placing the right nutrients in the right zone. "It's important to put phosphorus close to the young root system," Ferrie says. "On the flip side, when a crop needs nitrogen, it can be placed further away or even dribbled on top and be effectively taken up by the plant." At two locations in Central Illinois, Ferrie and his team tested the following attachments that offer a range of placements relative to the seed: Huckstep shoe, ¾" beside by ½" below the seed; Schaffert Generation 2 fertilizer disk, 2" to the side of the seed; Yetter 2959 injection coulter, 2" beside by 1" below the seed; Yetter 2968 row-unit mount in-between fertilizer opener, 2" beside and slightly below the seed; and the Keeton Seed Firmer in-furrow. These attachments were also used in plots in 2011, except now the Schaffert Gen 2 features a nozzle and it has replaced the Gen 1 that applied fertilizer with a hose dragging behind the row unit. [See "Strategic Placement," Farm Journal, February 2012.] "On average, we could expect a 7 bu. to 10 bu. response to starter beside and below the seed and a 3 bu. to 5 bu. response to in-furrow application. In 2012, we saw some 11 bu. and 12 bu. responses to adding pop-up alone," Ferrie says. However, applying starter in-furrow carries risk. While one location showed a significant response, there were problems in a few situations with in-furrow fertilizer in spring 2012. "This past year we had double the amount of starter burn calls due to the dry conditions," Ferrie says. The seed roots, the first to emerge, can be impacted by banded fertilizer placed nearby. The early uptake provides a quick visual response. The fertilizer placed farther away comes in contact with the crown roots, and those results are evident when the plant is older. "From our studies, I've seen that pop-up can provide that first boost for the plant and then banded fertilizer placed to the side and below the surface can give it a second-round growth spurt early in the season," Ferrie explains. "The in-between placement is the shoe, which can catch the seed roots but because it is close to the seed it carries higher risks with higher rates." When the plant takes up more nutrients earlier, growth accelerates and pushes maturity forward. The 10 bu. to 12 bu. responses to pop-up could have been due to pushing that hybrid into a more favorable time for pollination. In the eastern Corn Belt, Missy Bauer concluded a multi-year starter test plot program in 2012 looking at fertilizer blends and placement options. "Most likely changing the maturity put this hybrid in a sweet spot at the end," Ferrie explains. "We had another field where the response to starter was strong, but adding pop-up didn't dramatically change yield. That lends me to think that the extra push from the pop-up didn't put this hybrid in a significantly different pollination time." Ferrie says there are two keys to placement: put the nutrients where the plant can access them and don't disrupt the seed. "No matter what you do with starter application, be careful to not change the planting depth or seed spacing," he says. "If you bring up moist soil with an upfront, row-mounted attachment, use a scraper on the depth wheels to maintain uniform depth. Otherwise, moist soil collects on the depth wheel and changes the planting depth." Farmers also must keep in mind their purpose for applying the fertilizer. "This crop wasn't demanding as much up-front nitrogen," Ferrie says. "As a result, we saw a much stronger response to the phosphate compared with nitrogen placed for early uptake by the plant." Crop rotation is a factor to consider with starter placement and rate. Both of the test plot fields were corn following soybeans. "We can dribble nitrogen off the back of the row unit to help meet the nitrogen needs on the surface, but we can't put phosphate in the same place and expect a timely response," Ferrie says. "Nitrogen is a mobile nutrient. While rainfall might distribute nitrogen in the soil profile for use by the plant, phosphorus is stable and stays where it's placed." Feed A Hungry Crop We can't talk about starter fertilizer without discussing the phosphorus and nitrogen blend rate. "A lot of farmers ask, what's the right mix for my starter blend," Ferrie says. "When talking about starter, you have to keep the corn plant happy." To learn more about meeting the needs of the corn plant, the plot evaluated blends with three placements: on top, the Huckstep Shoe and the Yetter 2959—all with and without pop-up. "In 2012, we saw that adding more nitrogen to our blend didn't increase yields," Ferrie says. "It didn't matter if we added 7 lb. or 29 lb. of nitrogen to the program, it didn't mean more yield. Nitrogen wasn't the limiting factor." As farmers consider mixes, Ferrie encourages them to consider their management program—step back and say, what do I need more of, phosphate or nitrogen? Ferrie encourages farmers to never let corn have a bad day, but although starter can help give a crop a strong start and meet early nutrient demands, that starter blend has to meet the needs of the crop. Despite the tough growing season, every test plot is harvested with a calibrated yield monitor and scale cart for data analysis. "We have to keep in mind that starter is a way to supply what that young plant needs, and in some cases that might just be phosphate, like we saw in these corn after soybean fields," he says. "However, when fields have a high carbon penalty, or a high demand for nitrogen, we need to incorporate that in our starter program." Ferrie also reminds farmers that for something as immobile as phosphate, applying it in the root zone is key. Whereas nitrogen can be applied on the surface. Pass the Baton In a relay race, the baton must be handed off from one runner to the next in a smooth fashion. The same is true when meeting the nutrient demands of a young corn plant as it switches from the seed root to the crown roots. Wrapping up a multi-year study focusing on starter fertilizer, Bauer's 2012 harvest yielded lessons in early growth and advancing maturity. The starter studies were conducted in southern Michigan in multiple fields and replicated three or four times at each site. With placement 2" beside and 2" below the seed, treatments included 19-17-0 at 15 gal. per acre, 21-12-0 at 15 gal. per acre, and 28% at 10 gal. per acre. All treatments had 1 qt. per acre of chelated zinc. In addition, each analysis was compared with and without pop-up, in-furrow fertilizer, which was 3 gal. per acre of 6-18-6 treated with Avail. The check had 28% dribbled on top of the surface at 10 gal. per acre. "We were looking for early season growth response," Bauer says. "Taller, bigger plants with more mass." In 2011 and 2012, Bauer measured the plants at the V4 growth stage. The two-year average showed that the more phosphorus applied, the better the response to increasing plant height. "Adding pop-up made a difference in all blends," she says. "Having more phosphorus available to the seed roots by placing it in furrow makes a difference." Also at V4, Bauer measured the phosphorus uptake—a combination of the percent phosphorus in the tissue test and the dry weight of the plants. In 2012, the 21-12-0 with 10 lb. per acre less P2O5 (the form of phosphorus present) than the other starter blend was able to keep similar levels of phosphorus in the plant. Adding pop-up increased and resulted in similar uptake levels regardless the amount of phosphorus in the 2" beside and 2" below placement. In 2011, a cooler and wetter spring than 2012, phosphorus levels in the plant decreased as phosphorus rates decreased, with a much bigger jump compared to the control. "Environment plays a big role in starter fertilizer response. The cooler, wetter years often have a bigger response in early growth to starter fertilizer, phosphorus and placement," Bauer says. "Placing the phosphorus close to the seed root with in-furrow pop-up increased the level of phosphorus in the plant, sometimes up to 50%." Adding pop-up to a starter program can lead to an early season response, advancing maturity to an earlier pollination and quicker dry down at harvest. "Starter fertilizer can advance maturity and jump-start tasseling—in some cases as much as five to seven days earlier. Farmers should consider that eight out of 10 years it'll be a good thing to advance maturity," Bauer says. "This advancement in maturity can be seen in ear samples prior to black layer where the milk line is more advanced. At harvest, the corn was drier where the pop-up was applied." In 2011, Bauer found that starter fertilizer pushed corn into an unfavorable pollination period. Treatments that also included starter applied in-furrow pollinated earlier in hotter weather compared to treatments with only starter applied 2" beside and 2" below the seed. "The difference in the ears comes from kernel abortion," she says. "If we pollinate at a worse time it may lead to more kernels aborted." In 2009, advancing maturity and getting to tassel and pollination sooner increased yields in some cases nearly 15 bu. per acre and led to 1.3% drier corn at harvest with the addition of pop-up. Bauer reminds farmers that advancing maturity with starter fertilizer can often be a good thing, but it is important to understand the weather conditions at pollination through R3 (milk stage). The biggest takeaway from her studies have been the importance of early phosphorus uptake. "Phosphorus needs to be close to the roots but not necessarily in a large quantity." Bauer says. "There wasn't much yield difference between the 19-17-0 and 21-12-0 treatments. But there was an advantage, from 2.5 bu. to 7 bu. per acre, to starter with phosphorus compared with 28% alone. The biggest yield response to applied phosphorus came in management zones with medium level soil test results." She cautions farmers on two things: be careful cutting phosphorus levels in starter fertilizer if soil test levels are low to medium, and remember there is always a risk with putting fertilizer near the seed, especially in dry conditions and sandy soil. Thank You to Our Test Plot Partners AGCO, Ed Barry, David Webster, Luke Olson, Reid Hamre and Lindsey Pettyjohn; Farm Depot and Mark Laethem; Case IH, Dan Klein, Kyle Russell and Ryan Schaefer; Central Illinois Ag and Kip Hoke; Great Plains Manufacturing, Tom Evans, Doug Jennings and John Sites; Kinze Manufacturing and Susanne Veatch; Marco N.P.K. Inc.; New Holland, Mark Hooper, Gary Wojcik and Paul Canavan; Williams Farm Machinery and Dave Gloor; Schaffert Manufacturing and Paul Schaffert; Trimble, Sid Siefkin and Brian Stark; OmniStar and John Pointon; Unverferth Manufacturing and Jerry Ecklund; Wells Equipment; Versatile and Adam Reid; Yetter Manufacturing, Pat Whalen and Scott Cale; The Andersons, Jan Finch and Jeff Balsley; Mike McLaughlin, Steve McLaughlin and Cole Dooley; Don Schlesinger; Bob Kuntz; Terry Finegan; Bob and Mary Kochendorfer; LDK Farms and Leon Knirk; Crop-Tech Consulting, Brad Beutke, Isaac Ferrie, Jason Kienast and Justin Zeeb; and B&M Crop Consulting, Vicki Williams, Gary Cooper and Megan Tomlin. To see photos of how starter fertilizer impacts early growth, pollination timing, kernel abortion and the difference in milk line, visit www.FarmJournal.com/starter_test_plot You can e-mail Margy Fischer at email@example.com. Back to news


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Measure R Dodges Another Bullet
Though I'm not wild about the approach, it's actually pretty normal for a judicial proceeding. The logic is as follows:
If the voters reject Measure R, then the Court need not decide whether it was legal.
If instead the Court of Appeals removed Measure R from the ballot, and the Supeme Court found later that Measure R was actually proper, then the voters would have been deprived of the opportunity to vote on it, thereby either necessitating an expensive special election, or precluding voters from extending the term limits of those Clowncil Members coming up for re-election in March 2007.
Personally, I would have preferred that the Court rule on the merits. Having seen Judge O'Brien in action myself -- I tried a case before him -- I'm confident he analyzed the issue correctly and reached the right result.
Anyhow, please do go and vote "no" on Measure R and Measure H.
Labels: proposition r


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Notice Monday 30th Jan: Weather permitting, the nest platform and cameras are due for a maintenance inspection and adjustment on Tuesday afternoon (1-2pm onwards). We are grateful to Sam and Daryl from Acclimbatize who have kindly offered to do this maintenance work on our behalf, and whose feet you may occasionally see in our webcams. We're looking forward to meeting them tomorrow (all of them, not just the feet). Derbyshire Police have been given advance notice of our planned maintenance, lest anyone mistakenly rings them to report suspicious activity in the vicinity of a peregrine's nest! Please be aware we have switched cameras on our webpages. One now shows the view from the faulty camera which fell from its mount during the winter. We need to be able to see the image over our smartphone in order to adjust it and ensure the new camera position is suitable.
Recently we received photos of a peregrine taken by Roger Browne in Croydon, Surrey, UK.
It has a reddish ring on its left leg - the same colour (and leg) that we ring our Derby juveniles with. Roger asked: 'Could it be one of your Derby birds?'
|Derby colour ring - the first one ever put on (in 2007) Photo NB(DWT)
To our dismay, we have also learnt recently that orange-coloured rings have been used on peregrines in other counties, albeit with a different lettering system. This is quite disappointing as until now we had thought our colour rings were distinctive. It seems that ringers in London and Lincolnshire might have thought the same as us, too.
For details of Tony Grantham's leaving service and presentations, please see the previous post.


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Click on picture to return to Native American Photographs Gallery I
Links to other pictures in this gallery are listed below picture.
If you are thinking of using this image, please read this. Thank you.
We have some beautiful cradleboards for sale on our sister site. All come with a certificate of authenticity.
If you decide to use this list below as navigation, then please avoid pressing the mouse button on the large picture above, as this will result in returning you to the main gallery page and not the next picture.


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Welcome to Valley Learning Center
If you are a parent looking for the best early childhood education programs in the Phoenix area, you can trust Valley Child Care & Learning Centers for your daycare and early learning needs. The quality of our infant, toddler, and preschool programs is unmatched by any other child care facility in the area. Our priority is always to provide your children with a safe and welcoming environment that is staffed with qualified and caring teachers. Since we opened the first of our 10 early childhood learning centers in 1967, our company has always been the leader in the metro Phoenix area for infant, toddler, preschool, and early education programs. Valley Learning Centers is here to provide parents with the finest child care and early education services in Phoenix, so give us a call to learn more and enroll today!


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If the brightness of a sunny day has you squinting, it's time for some shades. The glare from the sun while doing daily activities can be dangerous to your eyes. Having the proper eye protection is crucial to good eye care.
With so many styles available and so many fashion statements made, it is easy to forget that sunglasses actually serve a purpose…protecting us from the sun. Many people fail to realize the importance of eye protection.
We should start thinking of sunglasses like we do sunscreen. Glasses, like sunscreen, help keep harmful UV rays from your eyes. Exposure to the sun in excess can cause cataracts to develop which can in turn lead to other eye problems. Other painful eye conditions can occur as well as several types of eye cancer.
Just as we should apply sunscreen in not only the summer months but winter as well, the same is true for sunglasses. They should be worn year round. Especially true when participating in winter sporting, sunglasses are important enough to wear at other times as well. The glare of the sun seems to bounce off snow and water. This type of glare can cause damage to unprotected eyes.
Because of these potential risks, we should remember to not only protect our eyes, but our children's as well. Children can learn to wear sunglasses at a young age which then sets a habit in for later wearing. Establish a routine of wearing sunglasses whenever going outdoors. It is a small task that can greatly reduce the chance of eye damage in the future.


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Jody and Elizabeth Raley announce the birth of their daughter at 3:19 a.m. on Sept. 22, 2010 at Ephraim McDowell Hospital in Danville.
Ella Claire weighed 7 pounds, 5 ounces and was 20.5 inches in length.
Maternal grandparents are Charles Dudley and Shirley Tapp.
Paternal grandparents are Joe Denny and Janice Raley.
Maternal great-grandparents are Leo and Regina Carrico and Dudley and Georgia Mae Tapp.
Paternal great-grandparents are the late Tom and Agnes Edelen and the late Dennis and Virginia Raley.
Denise Mattingly and Carl Mattingly of Springfield announce the engagement and forthcoming marriage of their daughter, Jessica Brooke Mattingly, to Benjamin Everett Riley, son of Rita and Everett "Hop" Riley of Springfield.
Mattingly is a 2009 graduate of Washington County High School and is employed at Mordecai's in Springfield.
Riley is a 2005 graduate of Washington County High School and is employed at O'Reilly Auto Parts in Lebanon.
Candace Lynn Livers and Thomas Michael Koopman Jr. were united in marriage on July 24, 2010 at 6:30 p.m. at St. Dominic Catholic Church in Springfield.
She is the daughter of Jane and Dan Livers of Springfield.
He is the son of MariBeth and Thomas M. Koopman Sr. of Cincinnati, Ohio.
The ceremony was performed by Fr. Trumie Culpepper Elliott.
The maid of honor was Cassie Livers. Bridesmaids were Bess Warren-Hill, Michelle Birch Wells, Kelly Eckstein and Katie Koopman. Serving as flower girls were Sarah Koopman and Brianna Crabtree.
Jeremy and Joy Thompson of Willisburg announce the birth of their son on July 29, 2010 at 1:35 p.m. at Central Baptist Hospital in Lexington.
Gabriel Jeremiah weighed 9 pounds and was 19.5 inches in length.
He was welcomed home by a sister, Gabrielle Joy.
Maternal grandparents are James and Betty Burkhead of Willisburg.
Paternal grandparents are Allen and Julia Thompson of Chaplin.
Maternal great-grandparents are the late Olson and Effie Scott and the late Bud and Myrtle Burkhead.
Rita and Everett (Hop) Riley of Springfield announce the engagement and forthcoming marriage of their daughter, Emily Riley, to Nick Cunningham, son of Libby and Ned Cunningham of Russell Springs, Ky.
Riley is a 2004 graduate of Washington County High School and a graduate of Elizabethtown Community & Technical College. She is employed at Norton Suburban Hospital in Louisville as a registered nurse in ICU.
Heather Roby and Wesley Carrico were wed at 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 18, 2010 at St. Dominic Catholic Church in Springfield.
She is the daughter of Bruce and Marcia Roby of Hancock County, Ky.
He is the son of Forrest and Faye Carrico of Springfield.
The double-ring ceremony was performed by Father Culpepper Elliott.
The maids of honor were Rebecca Sexton and Brittany Hamilton. Bridesmaids were Andrea Carrico, Katie Thomas and Michelle Simon. Serving as flower girl was Morgan Roby, niece of the bride.
Hope Renee Mitchell and Charles Brian Curtsinger were united in marriage July 21, 2010, at 5:30 p.m. on the beach in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. Samuel Blowes was the officiant. A reception followed at the Ramada Plaza Beach Resort in the Forum room overlooking the gulf.
The bride is the daughter of Stuart and Pam Mitchell of Willisburg. She is the granddaughter of the late Charles and Lois Griffieth and the late Vance and Gerri Bishop.
Holli Magness Yates and James "Mikie" Yates
Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Magness and Mr. and Mrs. Joe B. Yates invite you to share in a celebration honoring the marriage of their children, Holli Magness Yates to James "Mikie" Yates.
The wedding will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30, 2010 at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 2013 Bardstown Road, Springfield.
Julie Ann Carrico and James Paul Vittitow
Allen and Denise Carrico of Bardstown announce the engagement of their daughter, Julie Anne Carrico, to James Paul Vittitow, son of Susan and Danny Downs of Bardstown and Jeff and Susan Vittitow of Boston.
Carrico is a 2003 graduate of Washington County High School and is currently a student at Elizabethtown Community College.
Vittitow is a 1995 graduate of Washington County High School and is self-employed.
Peyton Grace Carrico
Laurie and Jeff Carrico of Springfield announce the birth of their daughter on Oct. 3, 2010 at Hardin Memorial Hospital in Elizabeth-town.
Peyton Grace weighed 8 pounds, 7 ounces and was 20 inches in length.
Copyright © 2019
The Springfield Sun is your source for local news, sports, events and information in Springfield, KY, and the surrounding area.


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Tactisling Transport Pack Features A Sling Over-The-Shoulder Strap, Which Can Swing To The Front For Quick & Easy Access To Important Compartments. In Addition The Tactical Pack Is MOLLE & Hydration Compatible With A Water Repellent Lining.
- 600 Denier Polyester
- Overall: 20" x 12.5" x 5"
- Padded Mesh Back, 2 Large Zippered Pockets, 2 Open Top Pockets, Multiple Pouches, Top and Side Carry Handles, Cinch Strap and Hook & Loop Field
- Black, Coyote Brown, Olive Drab


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It would be tempting to say Chiefs tight end Tony Moeaki can't catch a break.
But actually, he catches too many of them.
According to Randy Covitz of the Kansas City Star, Moeaki suffered a shoulder fracture in Saturday night's preseason game, and there's no word on how long he'll be out.
Late preseason injuries are nothing new for Moeaki, who missed the 2011 season after blowing out his knee in the last preseason game.
He wasn't a stranger to injuries in college either, but has been a productive player when well. The Chiefs signed Anthony Fasano in free agency and drafted Travis Kelce, so it won't impact the team as much this time through.
But it's another blow for a player who showed considerable promise.


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I give poe credit for sparking me to make this thread.
i think the dinos....especially a certain purple one.....would make GREAT additions to the large beast line!!!!
I give poe credit for sparking me to make this thread.
i think the dinos....especially a certain purple one.....would make GREAT additions to the large beast line!!!!
I want NA Skeletor and Rio Blast and I want them now!
Tyrantisaurus was one of my favorite toys as a kid too. It's nice to see some other who appreciate him.
I really hope they make him even though he can't really be re-used for anything.
I could make things easy for Matty and just tell them to gather every MotU Bible, sketchbook, napkin drawing, "altered state" concepts and anything left over from the Big Jim line and make it for me.
Then I will be a happy MotU collector.
Sure il take anything motuc
Check out the Masters Of The Galaxy Podcast. And also check out Masters of the Galaxy Facebook page
Follow me on Twitter.... BrianOzone
My feedback threadhttp://www.he-man.org/forums/boards/...or-Brian-Ozone
HELL YES! give me gigantisaur too since they're making unmade prototypes! !!!
I think Bionatops was my favourite sculpt of the three dinos, but I had loads of fun with all of them, esp Tyrantisaurus action feature. you know I had that damn droid up till a few years ago, I may still have it but I can't find it!
Last edited by krosfyah; February 18, 2010 at 08:48pm.
CHECK OUT MY BRAND NEW WEBSITE for my Akil and Saltfish comic strip, more to come soon!
I've got everything that I need, right in front of me! Life's a happy song people!
Fear is faith in failure
Tyrantisaurus Rex has always been my favorite beast from the vintage line. The sooner we get him, the better.
Proud supporter of the Snake Men.
Most Wanted: Slave Girl, Lizorr, T-Rex, Great Black Wizard, rest of New Adventures, MOP Demons, Dream Mistress.
Most Wanted Filmation: Ileena, Twiggets, Dragoon, Widgets, Dark Dream, Lady Valtira, Count Marzo, Chimera.
No Slave Girl? Watch us hurl!
A barbaric world without slave girls? That's truly barbaric!
I may be in the minority here, but generally speaking, I just don't like the idea of Dinosaurs in MOTU.
It would be one thing if they had made up some kind of dinosaur-ESQUE prehistoric creatures for MOTU that would have some similar features to dinosaurs, but would have been different, original, and "alien" in their own right.
Something about just plain, straight up dinosaurs that are the exact same species of dinosaurs from Earth in MOTU on Eternia just doesn't seem right.
They should have done something to make them more unique to MOTU specifically.
Now, that doesn't mean that I am protesting them making this kind of thing in MOTUC. It was a part of MOTU history, so it's fair game. And the truth be told there is a good chance I would get it anyway despite my opinion on the topic. But, still, something about plain old traditional dinos in MOTU just does not seem right.
senator kool-ade man has floor "OOOOOOOOHHHH YEAH!!!"
Senator Macho Man has the floor " OOOOOHH YEEEEAH BROTHER"
the oh yeah's have it
tyrantisaurus... no thanks. but maybe i'll take a bionatops!
Sure, there are tigers, but they made them seem more unique or "alien" (meaning not of our world) by making Cringer/Battlecat green with yellow stripes, Panthor purple, etc.
The Snakemen kind of work since they aren't just plain old straight up snakes.
As for Gorillas, I assume you are referring to Gygor, and honestly I actually have mixed feelings about him as well.
If dinosaurs were made for MOTUC, at this point in time i think i'd pass. Not sure why but they just don't strike me as something i'd want (i'd much prefer if a vehicle was released).
I'd be up for one. One of my favorites from 200x was the Raptor Skeletor had.
I try to forget but the pain won't go away. Never forget, Never forgive.
Famous last words: "But I had a coupon!"
It's actually "beasts" like this that support my reason for not wanting an All-In 2011 subscription. I think Tyrantisaurus is terrible. I really only want the main mounts/steeds,(Battle Cat, Panthor, Greyskull's Lion, Clawdeen, and Swift Wind), for the beasts and the occasional creature like Gygor or a Shadowbeast.
I don't think I even like Stridor or Mantisaur. I guess I don't like the "mechanical" looking beasts.
Not interested in dinosaurs, since i didnt even kow they existed in the line. Which is no suprice since they came out when the fan follwing was dying down
I must still be a 5 year old boy at heart because I still love dinosaurs. It may get to the point that I don't have enough room for all of these great beasts/mounts, but for right now, I'd love some MOTUC dinos.
Id love a purple dinosaur but its gets me thinking that the purple t-rex with robotic parts and wepaonry reminds me of one of my all time favorite villians, Beast Wars Megatron ....YES.
my problem with the dinosaurs is that they're just so...plain.
It's not even like Dino Riders, where they had cool armor strapped to 'em.
Tyrantisaurus Rex....shoots a wheel out of his chest or something; it's actually very dull.
Now, if the Horsemen do something to make 'im cooler, then fine.
Course then, we'd be hearing "THE HORSEMEN RAPED MY CHILDHOOD; THEY'RE KILLING TEH LIEN!!!!!!!!!!!!"
now if they actually have bios that connect them with everything else...(sigh) yeah, I'll get 'em..
"Whoever says money is evil...doesn't have it"- Boiler Room
Eventually . . . but right now there are so many more desired beasts and vehicles in the line that I would rather the dinosaurs be held back for a while.
I'd like to see all the dinos get made!!
To the people who say Dinosaurs don't fit in MOTU, I say that the main strength of MOTU is that it's a good fit for almost any concept. I remember Roger Sweet saying something to the effect that the concept behind MOTU was that it could be anything.
I love the idea of dinos on eternia!


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BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—A lawyer for Eric Rudolph said Tuesday the imprisoned Olympics bomber claims to be on a hunger strike to protest his treatment behind bars.
Bill Bowen, who represented Rudolph after the man was charged in a deadly abortion clinic bombing in Birmingham, said he received a letter from Rudolph last week saying he had stopped eating and was refusing medical treatment at the federal prison in Florence, Colo.
Rudolph, whose brother recently published a book based on the inmate's writings, said he has been transferred into a loud section of the prison that houses mentally unbalanced prisoners, Bowen said.
"He thinks it is punishment for his writings," said Bowen.
Rudolph's letter was postmarked March 15 and arrived last week, Bowen said. The attorney said he has had no further communication with Rudolph to find out whether he was still refusing food.
Chris Burke, a spokesman with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, declined to comment on Rudolph's condition or treatment inside the so-called "supermax" prison in Colorado. But Burke said prison rules do not prohibit inmates from sending letters that are published by people outside.
Relatives and supporters sometimes take Rudolph's messages and spread them. His brother recently published a 394-page book based on Rudolph's writings.
Rudolph, 46, announced the hunger strike on a website that often posts his messages, blaming his messages for his transfer into an undesirable area.
"Despite having a clean record, I have been moved to what they call the 'bug range,' which houses chronic trouble makers, most of whom are mentally ill. (They) bang and yell all day, tearing themselves apart; producing an atmosphere of chaos and noise," said the note.
Rudolph pleaded guilty to bombing the 1996 Olympics park in Atlanta and a Birmingham abortion clinic. He spent more than five years on the run before being captured in 2003 near his home in Murphy, N.C.
The Colorado prison where Rudolph is held houses the system's most dangerous prisoners. They include convicted terrorists; Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski; and Terry Nichols, convicted as an accomplice to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
A federal prosecutor said Rudolph won't be allowed to keep any profits from the book, which was taken off a sales website shortly after it appeared.


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CHIPLEY � A Washington County resident questioned a county commissioner�s request for a job description during Thursday�s Board of County Commissioners meeting in Chipley.
CHIPLEY � A Washington County resident questioned a county commissioner�s request for a job description during Thursday�s Board of County Commissioners meeting in Chipley.
Skyla Carter of Chipley told the commissioners she had concerns about county interviewing policies that were raised when she requested emails of county officials through the Florida Sunshine Law.
In the e-mails, Commissioner Lynn Gothard asked Heather Finch, former human resources director for the county, to send her a copy of the public safety director job description, but to send it to a different email account.
Currently the county does not have a public safety director, since the retirement of Roger Hagan in December.
�I was concerned about the email being sent to a different address,� Carter said. �I had made a request for all emails about the public safety director position, and I was wondering if there were any emails I didn�t receive.
Gothard said she knew what Carter was talking about.
�I sent Heather an email asking her to send a copy of the job description to me,�
Gothard said.
Her husband, Washington County Fire Chief Al Gothard, has many professional contacts and he would be able to spread the word that the county was looking for a public safety director. �He knows several qualified professionals and he could pass on the information to them,� Gothard said.
The job description and advertisement of the job opening had already been published, Gothard said. �We were wanting to get as broad a selection of candidates as possible, there was nothing underhanded about the email.�
Gothard said at the meeting on Thursday that she �in no way got involved in the hiring process during the search for a public safety director.�
However, according to a March 22 letter written by Emergency Management employee Connie Welch to Lynne Abel, emergency management coordinator, Gothard had plans to create a public safety director position and she had a person in mind to hire for that job.
�Soon after the election, Washington County Fire Chief Gothard was in my office and advised me of his and his wife�s plan for a Public Safety Division Director and he and his wife had the perfect person for the position in mind,� Welch wrote.
According to a letter to the board from Grant Coordinator Stacy Webb, dated March 27, Gothard had approached Carol Park and Webb on March 12 wanting to see the applications for the Public Safety Position.
�She was very demanding and came across as being forceful,� Webb wrote. �Carol and I looked at each other for a couple of seconds and after a brief hesitation, we reluctantly acknowledged her request and Carol escorted her into her office where the applications were kept in a safe and I proceeded to my office.�
According to the county attorney, applications for county jobs are public records and, minus social security numbers and health-related information, they are open to public inspection.
Also at Thursday�s meeting, the commissioners voted to rescind an earlier vote and move the Emergency Medical Services department out from under the purview of the public safety director.
At the Jan. 24 board meeting, it was Commissioner Gothard who made the motion to move the Emergency Medical Services back under the public safety director�s control per the county�s Proposed Progressive Governmental Structure chart, approved in 2008. After discussion, the commissioners voted at the January meeting to make the move, with Commissioner Joel Pate voting against the change.
On the organizational chart, in 2008 the EMS is listed under the Public Safety director, but in 2009 the chart was revised and EMS was moved out to be a department on its own.
The public safety director�s job description for the director�s position was to revert back to the old description and the job was to be re-advertised, per the commissioners� decision, the board decided on Thursday.


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Month: February 2014
Informania explores services for UAA's commuting students – Monday at 9am / Thursday at 5pm, on kruaradio.org, 88.1FM
Deb the Librarian interviews David Murdoch, UAA's Commuter Student Services Coordinator, this week on Informania. Tune in to 88.1FM or kruaradio.org on Monday from 9am-10am or Thursday from 5pm-6pm. Listen and learn!
This week on KRUA's Informania, Communication Instructor and Life Coach, Solveig Pedersen, explores communication and dating. Thurs. at 5pm on 88.1FM / kruaradio.org.
Informania explores undergraduate research award opportunities, and the Honors College, Thursday at 5pm on kruaradio.org / 88.1FM!
This week on Informania, O'Hara Shipe, Undergraduate Research and Recruiting Coordinator for the University Honors College, talks about Honors College courses and requirements, and the numerous undergraduate research awards available to UAA students!
The Honors College includes a series of seminar college courses, some which qualify for General Education Requirements (GER). Can anyone be part of the Honors College? You do need at least a 3.0 grade point average (gpa), and there is an application process that students go through to become part of the Honors College. Are you eligible and interested? Their website address is http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/honorscollege/, or you can stop by to see O'Hara in Rasmuson Hall (RH), Room 115, or call 786-1086 for more information.
Undergraduate Research Awards
Do you have a great idea for a project, product, scientific exploration? You may be eligible to receive an Undergraduate Research Award. This award can help students take an idea and move it toward a reality. There are two deadlines for awards in the Spring Semester 2014, one is February 28, and the other is April 24. O'Hara encourages students to find a faculty mentor to help guide the process to success. She is also available to answer questions. O'Hara can be reached at 786-1086, or in the Honors College office, Rasmuson Hall, Room 115.
Unsure about what undergraduate research means? You may explore the variety of student undergraduate research projects completed by UAA students during the 2013 Spring and Fall semesters at the Undergraduate Research and Discovery Symposium, April 17 and 18, 2014. For more information, go to http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/honorscollege/ours/Symposium/index.cfm
O'Hara, herself, has experienced success conducting undergraduate research while a student (and hockey player) at Brown University, so when she shares her insight it is from firsthand experience! O'Hara has been through the challenging and useful process of creating the proposal, which includes a summary of your idea, and a budget. Support is here for you, UAA students!
Remember, if you can imagine it, you can become it! All the best, Deb
Songs played on Informania Monday, February 3, 2014, include:
Information, by Dredg, and Soul to Squeeze by Red Hot Chili Peppers.


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Electrical noise can be reduced or eliminated by using chokes, shielded isolation transformers, dedicated circuits, and shielding.
In protecting our sensitive electronic equipment from electrical noise, is there a set of priorities we can follow? The answer is YES, thanks to the work of the writers and teachers of the industry's power quality consensus standards: FIPS PUB 94 and the IEEE Emerald Book. Our being alerted to noise-related events has given us guidelines to solve many of the problems.
Noise on the phase conductors
For those situations where electrical noise is traveling on our phase conductors, we know we'll need a device in series with the circuit. This device may be as simple as a coil or choke, which offers a "kickback" to high-speed switching surges while letting the power frequency pass through. Or, the device may have to provide other functions, such as voltage stabilization or continuous energy supply to the load in question.
The former device, which is an inexpensive fix for high-speed noise on wires, is similar to a balun (a small choke coil used in the telecommunications industry to protect signal circuits).
The latter device fits into the area of power conditioning tools such as voltage regulators, line conditioners, motor generators, and UPS systems.
As you can see, we have a great range of choices. However, we also have a wide window of costs. A note of caution here: Because noise on phase conductors may not be your main problem, don't focus too much attention here. You may miss other more important areas of noise rejection.
Noise circulating in the ground
Over the years, we've come to respect this type of noise far more than we ever expected. We knew there was electrical noise circulating in our grounds, but we never saw the effect of such voltage levels until they overpowered the signal levels of our digital logic systems. (Remember, these signal levels have gotten smaller and smaller with advanced systems.) When our digital signal drivers and receivers began to send shutdown messages while trying to operate on false noise voltages, we rightly increased our concerns about this kind of noise. We began investigating how to stop the noise from disrupting and/or damaging our systems.
Remember, we're dealing with a highspeed burst of noise, or a high-frequency impulse usually seen between a neutral wire and the equipment case ground. This phenomenon is proof that we have multiple ground references for our sensitive system.
As with noise on phase conductors, a balun can be used here, but as a common-mode choke slowing down or softening the impact of the circulating noise. We can also use a shielded isolation transformer in our power circuit; this device will turn around the high-frequency burst that is traveling on the phase conductors and looking for ground potential. In effect, an shielded isolation transformer redirects common-mode noise back into the noncritical areas of our building's wiring. This device is a recommended, modest cost complement to any power circuit supplying digital power supplies.
Transient voltage surge suppression
For noise traveling on metallic pathways, we shouldn't forget transient protection methods used for power and signal conductors, particularly when these metallic conductors enter and leave areas of transient voltage danger, such as the earth. Here, our protective tool is designed to shunt the damaging noise burst into the ground and away from circuits for sensitive electronic equipment.
By using a series of protectors (some at higher voltages; some at lower voltages), this protection scheme, along with the inductive capacity of our facility, will attenuate and reduce the noise transient to a non-disruptive level.
What about induced noise?
While we're able to insert devices into our conductors and wiring system to counter noise traveling on our phase and/or ground conductors, what do we do about induced noise? This is electrical noise that couples itself onto circuits that are physically near to each other.
The most obvious answer is that we have to impose some protective material between the noise and the devices requiring protection. In other words, we have to provide a shield of some sort. This, in fact, is the generic answer to mitigating the effects of induced noise.
First, let's consider the simple case of insulated wires near each other. As shown in Fig. 1 (on page 31), bursts of noise are coupled through the air from one wire to an adjacent one. The noise travels between the two wires by means of an electric field, which is established by the flow of current in one wire (noted by arrow along wire). It's coupled into the second wire by the electric field that's circling both wires (noted by curved arrows). Remember your basic electricity and the right hand rule: Current in the direction of the thumb and a field of force in the direction of the fingers.
Whatever the force effect that may arrive at the second wire, it has to come from the noise effect of the first wire. This is the same as was detailed in our example of Part 2, where we had the primary and secondary wiring of a noise-rejecting transformer running in the same through. The noise in the primary wire was coupled onto the secondary wiring.
The recommended way to help cancel this induced noise effect is to use a dedicated circuit, as shown in Fig. 2. In this single-phase example, we have one hot wire, one neutral wire, and one or two ground wires, all serving one load and all enclosed in one metallic conduit. With this installation, we've accomplished two things. First, we've kept individual circuits apart from each other. This is especially important if the circuits are serving dynamic loads that are subject to high-speed pulses or sharp changes in operation.
Second, we've enclosed each circuit in its own shield, if you will, namely the metallic conduit. It will deflect and absorb the field energy.
Shielding of a wider scope
Shielding can take the form of metallic conduit, as noted above, or it can take the form of a large screen that covers all six surfaces of a room that's full of sensitive equipment. This screen can be shielded wire or even what is called "mu" metal to protect a workstation or terminal. Whatever the form used, the principle is the same: Block the effects of air-transported disturbances and redirect conducted disturbances.
Based on prior experience, almost all data and signal circuit providers and users adamantly stress the importance of shielding. However, many installations are calling for unshielded construction where shielding has been the norm. Our advice is: Be careful when removing this excellent protection. Let's cite a case history to emphasize the point.
A downtown high-rise building located in a major city was having problems with its unshielded telephone handsets. We first tried to identify and eliminate the electrical noise on the handset wire (the cord from the handset to the wall outlet) and were unsuccessful.
We then tried to identify the frequency of the noise and its possible origin. The noise was found to be in the FM broadcast range and was coming into the building on one of its sides, and only on certain floors.
Obviously, shielding the entire building would be too costly a solution. Thus, the phone manufacturer was contacted for possible suggestions for shielding the individual handsets. The solution was a special shield design for each handset and a special plug attachment, all at a nominal expense.


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Dutch counter-terrorism officials confirmed this week they are seeking to take an Internet radio station accused of broadcasting jihadist propaganda off the air.
The Amsterdam station, Radio Ghurabaa, last week published what it said was an email Netherlands' National Coordinator for Counter-terrorism and Security Dick Shoof sent to its service provider, Versio, asking the hosting company to review whether the station was breaking its terms of service.
The email accused Radio Ghurabaa of spreading "jihadist ideology" and propaganda with the "aim of winning the hearts and minds of Muslims to a very radical ideological variant of Sunni Islam" and encouraging listeners to fight in Syria.
The station, it noted, broadcast lectures of Muslim scholar Anwar al-Awlaki, the American son of Yemeni parents who was accused by U.S. authorities of involvement in recruiting for al-Qaida before being killed in a 2011 drone strike in Yemen.
A spokesman for the security coordinator confirmed to Dutch broadcaster NRC Tuesday the email was genuine, adding while the anti-terror agency was "annoyed it had been leaked," it didn't dispute its content.
"It fits with our policy to alert Internet service providers if they are working with a website that is spreading such messages," the spokesman said.
Internet provider Versio was unavailable for comment Monday, NRC reported.
Radio Ghurabaa -- launched only weeks ago -- is seeking to induce Dutch youth to travel to Syria to perform holy war, describing it as an "obligation" while glorifying al-Qaida, Shoof asserted.
Listeners, it said, were told the "infidel West" is an "enemy of Islam" through the lectures of militant preachers such as al-Awlaki.
Belgian newspaper De Standaard reported the station features long hours of sermons and Arab male choirs without instrumental accompaniment, dotted with sound effects including explosions, swords being drawn from sheaths, marching soldiers and galloping horses.
A course on the life of the Prophet Muhammad, narrated in English by al-Awlaki, was also on the station's schedule.
Radio Ghurabaa said on its website it was being "demonized" by the anti-terror chief and denied issuing calls to jihad.
"Nowhere we have made such call, nor will we make such a call," the station's operators wrote. "It is an individual's choice as to whether or not to go -- we have nothing to do with it and would not want too."
While agreeing they have broadcast al-Awlaki's lectures, the station noted "these readings are not prohibited" and contended they were played to place them in a historical context and because they were in English.
"Is (Shoof) saying history classes in high school about World War II contain hate speech toward the Germans? No. Why are Islamic history lessons any different?"
Shoof told Dutch broadcaster BNR he would be willing to speak directly with Radio Ghurabaa and ask it "to engage with us and to see to what extent it is willing to adjust" its programming.
The station responded with another post on its website saying it had already sought a dialogue with Shoof but had been rebuffed because it was "standard operating procedure" to go through the Internet service providers in such cases.
"Anyway, Dick, we eagerly await your response," the post read. "Too bad this only came to mind afterwards."
Via SyndiGate.info
Copyright © UPI, 2019. All Rights Reserved.


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Zipp SL Speed Carbon Stem
Select style & size:Select options
- Carbon, 100mm/-6degsale $92.75
Tech Specs
Light and stiff got married
Zipp doesn't hesitate to extend its craftiness beyond its signature aerodynamic wheels. This SL Speed Carbon Stem is a prime example of Zipp's quest to reshape bike componentry from bottom to top. The most notable aspect of this stem is its ethereal lightness (a mere 102 grams in 100mm length). Being this light, Zipp uses exacting construction standards and some forward thinking to maintain the same top-notch level of performance and durability you'd find on Zipp's other race-day products.
The SL Speed Carbon stem has rearward facing stem bolts, similar to what we've seen on Oval stems in the past. On Zipp's design, the bolts thread directly into a two-piece carbon/titanium faceplate. On the backside, the single-bolt steerer clamp appears standard in every way, but Zipp found, through product testing, that normal fasteners don't always seat properly in their bores when the clamp is torqued to spec onto the fork steerer tube. To alleviate this, Zipp added self-aligning washers to ensure positive contact between the stem and the shoulders of the fasteners. This minute detail is one that allowed Zipp to create the main structure of the SL Speed Stem from 100% carbon fiber, without any co-molded alloy parts.
The Zipp SL Speed Carbon Stem uses uni-directional carbon fiber, laminated in such a way as to have incredible torsional stiffness to resist twisting when you're really cranking on the bars in a sprint or uphill. It has a 31.8mm clamp diameter and is available in six lengths from 80 to 130mm in 10mm increments. The stack height at the steerer clamp is 40mm and the stem is angled at +/- 6 degrees. Please note that this stem does not include a top cap.