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Los Alamos National Laboratory
Networks, smart grids: new model for synchronization
Networks of individual oscillating nodes often spontaneously synchronize and begin to oscillate at a coherent frequency. From heart cells to flashing fireflies to electric power grids, coupled oscillator networks are common in the natural world, but the conditions that allow these systems to synchronize are not well understood. The exact threshold from incoherence to synchrony is unknown. A Los Alamos scientist and collaborators developed a surprisingly simple mathematical model that accurately predicts synchronization as a function of the parameters and the topology of the underlying network.
Significance of the research
The team proposed a unique, concise, mathematical model for synchronization of dynamic networks. This model has many benefits including the following:
- Significantly improves upon the existing models advocated
- Is provably exact for various interesting network topologies and parameters
- Is statistically correct for almost all networks
- Applies to synchronization phenomena in physics, biology and engineered oscillator networks
The researchers envision that their method could be applied to assess synchronization and robustness quickly in electrical grids under volatile operating conditions.
Research achievements
The scientists illustrated the validity, accuracy and practical applicability of their model in complex network scenarios and in smart grid applications. "Smart grid" refers to technology to modernize utility electricity delivery systems, using computer-based remote control, sensing and automation.
The researchers used 10 IEEE power network test cases to examine the correctness and the predictive power of their synchronization model. IEEE had designed the large-scale electrical grid network test cases as benchmark models for power flow and stability studies. Under nominal operating conditions in electrical grids, the power generation is optimized to meet the forecast demand while obeying the AC power flow laws and respecting the thermal limits of each transmission line.
The researchers validated the synchronization condition in a volatile smart grid scenario that included fluctuating loads with random power demand, renewable energy sources with severely fluctuating power outputs and fast-ramping generation and controllable loads. In this test case, a series of events, caused by the loss of a generator and increased power demand, caused a loss of synchronization and outage of a transmission line that would precipitate a blackout. The team's calculations confirmed the validity, the applicability and the accuracy of the synchronization condition in the complex power network scenarios.
The research team
Scientists on the research team are Michael Chertkov of LANL's Physics of Condensed Matter and Complex Systems group and Florian Dörfler and Francesco Bullo of University of California, Santa Barbara. The journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA published their findings. Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) funded the Los Alamos research, which supports the Lab's Energy Security and Global Security mission areas and the Information, Science, and Technology science pillar.
Caption: Schematic of an electrical power production and distribution system. Credit: DOE.


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I was reminded that on Saturday morning and afternoon, there will be a lot of streets closed downtown for the very long, but highly entertaining, St Patrick's Day Parade. Of course, I was reminded in case anyone wants to attend the Wine Fest Auction and Luncheon at the Hilton. But you all know what I'm thinking. If you plan on ending up in a hotel on Friday night after the Grand Tastings, consider the street closings when parking. Since the parade also tends to last several hours, you also need to consider the street closings if you're heading downtown for the afternoon Grand Tasting.
Starting at 8:00am Saturday, these streets will be closed :
Starting at 10:30 am, the following additional streets will close:
Last year we just embraced the parade wholeheartedly. I recommend a huge breakfast at Hathaway's, then cut under the parade and through the parking garage to end up topside on Fountain Square. Then you can just relax and enjoy the fun and occasional oddity of the parade.
You can join us on the Square again this year, as we meet up with the Hoperatives, MommyBits, and several other bloggers. We'd love to see you!
Wine Competitions Wine Book Club (WBC) Wine Judging Reviews Readings Whiskey Watch France Games Weblogs Wine Clubs Books RIP Repost WBW #65 Wine Glossary Wine Maps TasteCamp Web/Tech Marketing Uncategorized Legislation Recipes Florida Recession Wine Meet the Winemaker Greatest Hits Drink Pink! (BCRF) Holiday Current Affairs Television Spirits Photos Wine Shop Wednesday Contests Scotch & Whiskey History Disney Wine Tech Food and Wine Pairings Mad Men Monday Guest Writers Pop Culture Food and Drink Wine Blogs Knowledge Entertainment Dinner and Drinks Life Charity Benefits News Beer-Guy.net Special Events Beer WBW Local Wineries Cocktails Wine Shops Restaurants Travel Wineries Wine Notes Wine Events Weekly Cincinnati Wine Events Wine Misc Local Tastings Cincinnati
Krystal Pepper Memorial Scholarship Fund
Raising money for a scholarship fund in memory of Michelle's little sister who passed away in 2007

subset: commoncrawl


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Principal Investigator(s):
Ecological studies suggest that rare taxa (forms of life) are more likely to go extinct than abundant ones, but the relationship between rarity and extinction in the fossil record is poorly understood. The goal of my research is to use the fossil record of marine organisms to examine the link between rarity and extinction across both background and mass extinction events. I'm focusing specifically on mollusks (including clams and snails) that lived along the Atlantic coast of the U.S. during the past 65 million years. To accomplish this, I will collect data on fossil abundance, habitat, and geographic range from the field, museum collections, and paleontological literature. This research is important because it's one of the first attempts to explore the relationship between fossil abundance and extinction and will contribute substantially to our understanding of fossil diversity along the Atlantic coast of the U.S.
Project Page


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Syracuse rolls past Connecticut
This time, Scoop Jardine was ready when Syracuse was tested by a heated rival.
Jardine hit three 3-pointers and a layup in the closing minutes to break open a tense game, finishing with a season-high 21 points to lift the second-ranked Orange to an 85-67 victory over slumping Connecticut on Saturday.
Jardine managed just three points on 1-of-7 shooting during a 64-61 overtime victory against Georgetown on Wednesday. But the senior guard came up big against the Huskies, making 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to stop a Connecticut charge in the second half.
"I was in the right position to make a shot and I did," Jardine said. "And then the second one, I was confident because I just made one. That kind of took them out of what they wanted to do."
Jardine's long-range prowess sent the Orange (25-1, 12-1 Big East) on a 19-3 spurt as they earned their fifth consecutive win since losing at Notre Dame. The victory also whipped the crowd of 33,430- the largest of the season and fourth largest in Carrier Dome history – into a frenzy.
"We shot the ball with confidence, and also shot the right shots," Jardine said. "There's times when we had the right shots, but we might rush it because we're getting into it with the crowd. We were settled in with the big crowd because we had one on Wednesday, so we knew what it was."
Jardine was 8 for 9 from the field and had six assists against only one turnover.
Syracuse shot 59.3 percent and hit 10 of 16 from beyond the arc to offset UConn's 8-of-19 effort from long range.
"I think offensively, this is the best we've played all year," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. "We made a lot of shots. When you make a lot of shots, the game gets a lot easier. If we had shot a normal percentage, we would've gotten beat."
Connnecticut trailed the entire second half but closed to 63-61 on a free throw by Tyler Olander with 6:26 to go before the Orange went on one of their signature runs. They had a 23-point spurt at North Carolina State and two 19-0 surges this season.
The atmosphere wasn't quite the same because Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun was missing. He sat out his third straight game since taking an indefinite medical leave due to spinal stenosis, a painful condition in his lower back. Associate head coach George Blaney once again ran the team in his absence.
It was Blaney's turn to shake his head afterward.
"It's certainly (Boeheim's) deepest team," Blaney said. "Whether or not it's his best team, the rest of the season will tell you that. I have not seen one of his teams be deeper than they are. When they get in trouble, they can isolate so many different people that can just beat you."
"We got it to 63-61 and we got a little careless both offensively and defensively," Blaney said. "And then it got away. You can't have a lapse for a couple of minutes."
Jeremy Lamb scored 18 points for Connecticut (15-9, 5-7), which has lost six of seven. Ryan Boatright had 14, Andre Drummond 13, and Shabazz Napier finished with 11 points and seven assists before fouling out late.
Dion Waiters scored 18 points for the Orange, and C.J. Fair finished with 14 points and a career-high 12 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. Kris Joseph had 15 points.
Syracuse has won four of five against Connecticut, the only loss coming in overtime in last year's Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden. The Huskies went on to win their third national championship last spring, but Kemba Walker is an NBA rookie now and the team has struggled despite the return of four starters from last year.
Coming off an embarrassing 80-59 loss at Louisville on Monday night, the Huskies gave a game effort against Syracuse.
"We definitely fought this game," said Lamb, who was 2 of 10 on 3-pointers. "There were plenty of times they hit us and we hit back. Then in the last 2 minutes they stepped it out, but the game wasn't as bad as the score says."
Syracuse also had a spirited effort on the glass, enjoying a 31-29 rebounding edge after Boeheim blasted the team following an abysmal showing against the Hoyas. The Orange had been beaten on the glass a combined 170-109 in four of its previous six games – against Pittsburgh (40-28), Notre Dame (38-25), West Virginia (40-21) and Georgetown (52-35).
This one was a game of swings.
After the Huskies closed to 54-52 on Olander's three-point play midway through the second half, the Orange rallied. Fair hit a baseline jumper, Joseph drained a 3, and Waiters fed Fair for a dunk in a span of just over 2 minutes to boost the lead to 61-52.
Napier and Lamb hit 3-pointers to key a 9-2 spurt that kept the Huskies in it after trailing 43-34 at halftime.
Syracuse finishes its own version of rivalry week on Monday night at Louisville, which has beaten the Orange seven straight times.
"This is an extremely tough 10-day period," Boeheim said. "We had to go down to New York (to play St. John's), play Georgetown, play Connecticut and now play Louisville. It'll be a great game down there on Monday."


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|System: Xbox 360, PS3*
|Dev: Visceral Games and EA Montreal
|Pub: EA
|Release: March 26, 2013
|Players: 1-2 (co-op only)
|Screen Resolution: 480p-1080p
|Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Strong Language
While the story isn't exactly good—who would expect that from this sort of game?—it does provide a nonstop thrill ride of explosions, gunfights, and so-bad-they're-almost-good one-liners. The over-the-top bravado of the entire exercise is infectious once you learn to take it at face value, the music and sound effects capture the Michael Bay spirit, and the voiceover work is competent enough not to be distracting.
The graphics make nice use of the Frostbite 2 engine, too. Much like Crysis 3, The Devil's Cartel manages to show both the capabilities and the limitations of the current console generation. It looks amazing at times with the textures installed (1.5 GB on Xbox 360)—but plenty of minor hiccups are visible, too, and one can't help but think that it would look better on a good gaming PC.
The Devil's Cartel does have its share of minor issues, though. The co-op isn't drop-in/drop-out. (Fortunately, the checkpoints are frequent enough that you won't lose more than a few minutes of progress.) And competitive multiplayer has been removed, though the lengthy co-op campaign and leaderboards make up for it.
More problematic is that, for some bizarre reason, the developers departed from the Gears control scheme in a few awkward ways. Running isn't combined into the cover button, and sometimes you need to hold the cover button rather that just pressing it to execute contextual maneuvers. This will feel unnatural to Gears vets, and there's really no reason for it.
But perhaps the worst problem here is this: If there's a way to turn off the auto-aim, I haven't found it, and I spent quite some time searching every menu I could find. The feature is incredibly generous, too; if you're facing in the right general direction, pressing the aim button will instantly lock you to an enemy. This doesn't make the game any less fun, but it does make it far too easy on the normal setting, and there's no way to change your difficulty mid-game.
The auto-aim also renders the elaborate gun modification system much less important. From the main menu—but, irritatingly, not from the between-chapters menu—you can use the cash you've earned to buy more guns and outfit them with great accessories, including crazy stuff like front-mounted shields. You can also customize your operative and the mask he wears. But when your gun automatically aims itself, everything else is secondary. Simply put, this needs to be fixed in a patch.
But unless auto-aim is a dealbreaker for you, The Devil's Cartel is worth checking out—once you're done with Gears of War: Judgment, of course. The game sticks too close to its inspiration at times, but it still offers a meaty campaign loaded with non-stop action. If you enjoy Gears, you will enjoy this.
Robert VerBruggen
Contributing Writer
Date: March 27, 2013
Game Features:


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I think we live in the same area and I'm looking for a hitting partner. Look forward to hearing from you! --tom
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Hampton Inn Wabash hotels are provided below. Search for cheap and discount Hampton Inn hotel prices in Wabash, IN for your family, individual or group travels. We list the best Hampton Inn Wabash hotels & lodging so you can review the Wabash Hampton Inn hotel list below to find the perfect place.
Our website will also provide discounted Wabash, IN hotels/lodging that have similar star quality of Hampton Inn.Need a group/meeting discount? Get quotes from hotels in Wabash IN
How should we direct your call?


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Apartments in San Antonio!
A bright new addition to the community in San Antonio, Texas, the Haven at Blanco is a community that offers upscale comfort that feels like a return to the past when homes were spacious retreats from the toils of the day.
Spacious one, two and three bedroom apartment homes featuring elegant chef caliber kitchens, walk-in closets, private balconies or cozy sunrooms and full-sized washer and dryers included in every apartment.
We also offer a number of community features including a Free Access Wi-Fi Area, Door Side Valet Trash plus so much more. In addition, you can take advantage of our planned community events, which include a variety of social, educational, fitness and cultural activities.


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Armchair Quarterback by Doug Brown and Bren Ahearn
Design: Armchair Quarterback
Materials: Antique wingback chair, custom printed 100% cotton twill.
Designer: Doug Brown and Bren Ahearn - Manmade Workshop
"The Armchair Quarterback is the first piece produced by Manmade Workshop. It's an antique wingback chair that has been reupholstered in a new custom fabric design. The sporty flowers fabric is a gender blending design in pinks and blues that includes flowers composed of footballs and baseballs overlaid on a vibrant plaid. "
"The contemporary textile design fitted on the classic form of the chair results in a playful critique of traditional gender roles in a domestic scene. An up-cycled ottoman (found on the curb) is reupholstered in a similar sporty flowers pattern printed at a smaller scale in bright pink and blue. Rounding out this trio of Manmade Workshop pieces is the 5'x8' panel of sporty flower fabric stretched over a wood frame. Who says the art shouldn't match the furniture?!
Mandmade Workshop is a new design and art collaborative run by the husband-and-husband team Bren Ahearn and Doug Brown. First and foremost, we make things that make us smile, and in the process we hope to also make other people smile and think about how we treat each other and our planet."
Designer: Doug Brown and Bren Ahearn - Manmade Workshop Link: www.manmadeworkshop.com Location: Sacramento, CA
Previous Design
All Info
• Voting is open for four days on each design!
•All Design Leaderboard & Main Info Post
• Submission Form (until Sep. 21)
• Follow on Twitter - #ATShowcase
• About Design Showcase 2011: This September we're celebrating the best in undiscovered, new design for the home. We're taking submissions from independent and student designers from around the world and letting our readers vote on who they think has the best design. There's also a panel of august judges. Two winners will win $20,000 in targeted advertising placements on our sites to help launch their careers ($10k apiece).


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When 2 players play in the Multiplayer Option of Fifa09, its a peer to peer connection and once the game is over there is no record of the results.
Now what i need is something which shall hook to the game of fifa09 and record information as to when a game is initiated, joined, results/score, team selected and so forth.
To help the cause, i have stumbled across exactly what i am looking for in [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] where you can download a client "GamOn" which allows you to initiate FIFA09 within the application and after the match it sends records to some server whereby updating the gaming leauge information.
However its a propietary thing ..so it cannot be used....
My Research
The GamOn client has dedicated dll files for every game(for fifa09 its fifa09.dll) which supposedly does the hooking and after the match is over it updates the information to a server. (Tried to go through the decoded assembly of the dll but i am not really good in ASSEMBLY). The external functions of this dll seems quite trivial and maybe hooking to these functions and doing something might help the cause....not sure though...
There is another file dirtysock.dll which is installed along with the FIFA09 and after decoding the ASSEMBLY i saw that i has all the variables in the Strings section which we shall require.
So thats the jist of it. Please letme know whether anyone is interested to solve my problem and i am willing to compensate for the efforts.
BTW..i am not good in Programming/ASSEMBLY...
Regards Irfan
Keep Smiling.


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Boulder, Colo., USA This month, GSA's top geoscience journal, Geology, has posted 30 new articles ahead of print. Locations studied include Bhutan; the James Bay Lowland of Canada; Mount Taranaki, New Zealand; Fort Stanton Cave and Carlsbad Cavern, New Mexico, USA; the Quelccaya Ice Cap, Peru; the Nile Delta; and Mars. Topics include methane hydrates, microbial micro-tunneling, fibrous diamonds, climate change, cosmic rays, and maars. Also in Geology: the first application of CARS microscopy to the geosciences.
Highlights are provided below. GEOLOGY articles published ahead of print can be accessed online at http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/early/recent. All abstracts are open-access at http://geology.gsapubs.org/; representatives of the media may obtain complimentary GEOLOGY articles by contacting Kea Giles at the address above.
Please discuss articles of interest with the authors before publishing stories on their work, and please make reference to GEOLOGY in articles published. Contact Kea Giles for additional information or assistance.
Non-media requests for articles may be directed to GSA Sales and Service, firstname.lastname@example.com.
Large normal-sense displacement on the South Tibetan fault system in the eastern Himalaya
F.J. Cooper et al., School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA. Posted online 4 Sept. 2012; 10.1130/G33318.1.
The Himalayan mountain range is Earth's most dramatic example of continent-continent collision. As expected, the majority of faults within the range are contractional, stacking up thrust sheets as the topographic front develops. However, the range also contains a family of extensional faults, the South Tibetan fault system (STFS), that does not fit typical models of contractional mountain building. The importance of this extensional deformation in the development of the Himalayas is unclear because geoscientists do not know exactly for how long the STFS has been active or how much displacement it has accommodated. In this study, F.J. Cooper and colleagues integrate ASTER remote sensing data and field observations to map the areal extent of the extensional STFS in northwestern Bhutan and estimate a minimum displacement across it of approx. 65 km. This measurement is comparable to displacement estimates on the major thrust faults of the eastern Himalaya, and suggests that normal faulting has played a fundamental role, perhaps as important as thrust faulting, in the evolution of the mountain range. These results are consistent with the idea that the STFS and the Main Central thrust system to the south collectively sustained Miocene southward extrusion of the metamorphic core of the Himalaya.
Glaciation of North America in the James Bay Lowland, Canada, 3.5 Ma
Cunhai Gao et al., Ontario Geological Survey, Sudbury, Ontario P3E 6B5, Canada. Posted online 4 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33092.1.
Glaciers expanded in the Northern Hemisphere three to four million years ago (Ma) during the middle Pliocene. However, given a climate much warmer than today during this geological episode, a key question remains unanswered: Did glaciers extend into the midlatitude lowlands or were they restricted to the circum-arctic continents and mountains like today? Knowing whether extensive glaciations occurred during the middle Pliocene is critical for a better understanding of Earth's climate history and the cause of amplified ice growth and decay beginning in the late Pliocene (3 to 2.6 million years ago). A record obtained recently from a buried, deep bedrock trench in the James Bay Lowland, Canada (5249.5'N, 8352.5'W) indicates the deposition of till by an early ice sheet, and hence continental glaciation, in the midlatitude lowlands about 3.5 million years ago (3.6 to 3.4 million years) on the basis of paleomagnetism measurements and a pollen-derived biostratigraphy. After the glaciation, rapid warming permitted warmth-loving trees now exotic to the area to grow, including oak, hickory, sweetgum, and cypress. Furthermore, pollen data from the overlying lake sediments indicate alternating Carolinian deciduous and boreal evergreen forests under a climate that oscillated and cooled gradually during a prolonged postglacial period from 3.5 to 3.0 million years ago.
Forecasting catastrophic stratovolcano collapse: A model based on Mount Taranaki, New Zealand
Anke V. Zernack et al., INR, Massey University, Private Bag 11 222, Palmerston North, New Zealand. Posted online 4 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33277.1.
The life cycles of andesite stratovolcanoes are characterized by episodic edifice growth and regular large-scale collapse. This behavior has dominated the past 130,000 years of volcanic activity at Mount Taranaki, where 14 catastrophic edifice failures have produced debris avalanche deposits of up to 7.5 cubic kilometers. The timing and magnitudes of these failures are uncorrelated with Last Glacial climate fluctuations and gradual changes in magma composition. Furthermore, similar debris avalanche deposit characteristics suggest similar proto-edifice structures, collapse trigger mechanisms, and runout path characteristics. Since internal and external conditions can be considered constant over long periods of time, large-scale collapses appear to be governed primarily by the magma-supply rate. Based on this conclusion, Anke Zernack and colleagues developed a simple steady-state volume-frequency model that allows the definition of natural edifice stability limits and forecasts of both the maximum likely event scenarios and decadal or millennial likelihoods for the most hazardous process known at stratovolcanoes. In the Mount Taranaki case, the maximum potential size of a collapse at present is estimated to be 7.9 cubic kilometers, while the maximum interval before the next collapse is less than 16.2 thousand years. The current annual collapse probability is around 0.00018 with the most likely collapse being a small one (less than two cubic kilometers).
Provenance and tectonic evolution of Ganderia: Constraints on the evolution of the Iapetus and Rheic oceans
Cees R. van Staal et al., Geological Survey of Canada, 625 Robson Street, Vancouver, British Columbia V6B 5J3, Canada. Posted online 4 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33302.1.
The provenance of the microcontinents Ganderia and Avalonia in the northern Appalachians, the time of their rift-drift, and the tectonic mechanisms responsible for their Early Paleozoic transfer from West-Gondwana to ancestral North America (Laurentia) provide estimates for the width, timing, and rates of opening and closing of the Early Paleozoic Iapetus and Rheic oceans. Opening of the Iapetus Ocean was estimated to have taken place at a rate between 2 and 5 cm per year, whereas the Rheic Ocean opened at a rate of about 9 cm per year in a back-arc position, following the rifting and drifting of Ganderia and Avalonia away from Gondwana towards Laurentia. As a result, the active, leading edge of Ganderia accreted to Laurentia about 455 million years ago, closing the main tract of the Iapetus Ocean. The drift of the trailing edge of Ganderia and Avalonia had slowed down to approx. 5 cm per year after 470 million years ago due to opening (approx. 4 cm per year) of a backarc basin, which may have achieved a width of 800 km. Closure of the latter back-arc basin led to accretion of the Gander margin to Laurentia by about 430 million years ago. Opening and closing of the Iapetus and Rheic oceans was largely driven by slab pull and slab rollback.
Allophane detection on Mars with Thermal Emission Spectrometer data and implications for regional-scale chemical weathering processes
E.B. Rampe et al., NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas 77058, USA; and Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA. Posted online 4 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33215.1.
E.B. Rampe and colleagues model regional thermal-infrared data from the martian surface with poorly crystalline aluminosilicate weathering products, allophane, and high-SiO2 gel, in the spectral library. Models suggest that allophane and gel are present in several low-albedo martian surfaces. The presence of allophane indicates that these surfaces experienced low-temperature chemical weathering at low water-to-rock ratios and neutral to mildly acidic pH. Previous models of chemical weathering on Mars have suggested that acidic alteration has occurred on a global scale for the past 3.5 billion years. However, the presence of allophane indicates that mildly acidic to neutral chemical weathering has been an important regional-scale aqueous process on Mars.
Tracking the relict bases of marine methane hydrates using their intersections with stratigraphic reflections
Richard J. Davies et al., Centre for Research into Earth Energy Systems (CeREES), Dept. of Earth Sciences, Durham University, Science Labs, Durham DH1 3LE, UK. Posted online 4 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33297.1.
Methane hydrates trapped in sediment in oceans can melt due to changes in pressure and temperature, but the hard evidence for this in our oceans is scarce. Being able to track episodes of methane hydrate melting is very important because they could be caused by previous episodes of global warming and in turn release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Understanding the link between methane hydrate melting and global warming has significant scientific and societal importance. Richard Davies and colleagues show that seismic reflection data can essentially take a photo of the past positions of the base of the methane hydrate -- therefore recording episodes of methane hydrate melting. In the dataset we present the bases of the ancient hydrates have left a regular pattern of semi-circular concentric rings in the sediment -- reminiscent of tree rings -- but these are on a giant scale extending for 20 km along the African ocean margin. Their discovery means geoscientists may be able to test whether there are interdependencies between methane hydrate melting and climate change.
Climatic backdrop to the terminal Pleistocene extinction of North American mammals
Victor J. Polyak et al., Earth & Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, 200 Yale Boulevard, Northrop Hall, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, USA. Posted online 4 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33226.1.
The cause of extinction of the large mammals that once roamed across the North American continent during the Pleistocene is part of a long, ongoing debate. Victor Polyak and colleagues report on evidence for a terminal Pleistocene drought in the southwestern United States from the study of Fort Stanton Cave stalagmites and Carlsbad Cavern shelfstone, New Mexico, USA, starting just before 14,500 years ago and extending to the Younger Dryas around 12,900 years ago. Uranium and carbon isotope values (delta-234U and delta-13C) from 14,500 years ago to the top of the stalagmite 11,400 years ago rose abruptly and significantly, supporting the drying conditions that halted stalagmite growth. Shelfstone that rims (now dry) pool basins in the Big Room of Carlsbad Cavern represent periods when the basins were full to the brim. All shelfstone samples analyzed are older than 13,500 years ago, also supporting drying conditions at the terminal Pleistocene. The high-resolution record obtained by Polyak and colleagues indicates that thousands of years of dry climate must have taken a toll on the large mammals in southwestern and other regions of North America. They suggest that this drought was extensive, and in combination with the prior intense glacial period, was a major factor in the extinction.
Sulfur isotope evidence for a Paleoarchean subseafloor biosphere, Barberton, South Africa
N. McLoughlin et al., Dept. of Earth Science and Centre of Excellence in Geobiology, University of Bergen, Allegaten 41, N-5007 Bergen, Norway. Posted online 4 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33313.1.
The Archean sub-seafloor has been proposed as an environment for the emergence of life with titanite microtextures in pillow lavas of the Barberton Greenstone Belt South Africa, argued to be the earliest traces of microbial micro-tunneling. In this paper, N. McLoughlin and colleagues test the geochemical evidence associated with these approx. 3.45 billion-year-old candidate traces of life. Previously reported carbon linings in the titanite microtextures could not be found, despite the high-sensitivity of the nano-scale ion microprobe (NanoSIMS) mapping technique. This lack of organic linings in both the type- and fresh drill core samples raises questions about the biogenicity of the microtextures and their formation by Archean endolithic microbes. However, independent geochemical evidence comes from sulfide grains discovered in these samples that exhibit pronounced sulfur isotope fractionations and points to sulfate reducing microbes inhabiting the Archean sub-seafloor. Thus, McLoughlin and colleagues show that in-situ sulfur isotope analysis provides an alternative approach to investigating the possibility of an Archean subseafloor biosphere that is independent of the titanite microtextures.
A subseafloor carbonate factory across the Triassic-Jurassic transition
Sarah E. Greene et al., Dept. of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, 3651 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA. Posted online 4 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33205.1.
The end-Triassic mass extinction is associated with a paucity of preserved carbonate -- a possible consequence of ocean acidification. This study by Sarah Greene and colleagues examines three Triassic-Jurassic marine sections which contain unique early diagenetic carbonate, i.e., carbonate that grew within the sediment soon after deposition. Diagenetic features are "secondary" and therefore commonly ignored because they obscure the primary sedimentary record and are presumed to contain no useful information about the overlying ocean environment. The team's examination of these unusual carbonate features reveals that they grew just below the sediment-water interface (likely under acidic conditions) nearly concomitant with primary sediment deposition. Thus, carbonate burial in the shallow sub-seafloor, a previously unheralded pathway in the carbon cycle, is a carbonate sink of unknown size and may be a predictable consequence of ocean acidification, whereby carbonate precipitation first returns within the sediment before recovering in the water column.
A 1600 yr seasonally resolved record of decadal-scale flood variability from the Austrian Pre-Alps
Tina Swierczynski et al., GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section 5.2, Climate Dynamics and Landscape Evolution, Telegrafenberg, D-14473 Potsdam, Germany. Posted online 4 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33493.1.
A flood time series reaching 1,600 years back into the past, for the first time at seasonal resolution, is reported from Lake Mondsee, an annually laminated sediment record in Austria. A novel methodological approach based on microscopic sediment analyses allowed Tina Swierczynski and colleagues to separate spring/summer floods from local mass movements in the sediment record. The flood time series exhibits a pronounced decadal-scale variability with a series of six 30-50-year periods of high flood activity evidencing a non-stationary behavior of flood frequencies. The observed flood episodes culminated around the middle of the first millennium A.D. and the first half of the last millennium. Flood frequencies during the last century remained moderate. No simple relationship between temperature and extreme hydro-meteorological events is seen, because flood frequency was lowest during both the warmest period of the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the coldest decades of the Little Ice Age, whereas most floods occurred during transitional phases of climatic cooling. This is likely a consequence of changes in atmospheric circulation patterns and their regional effects in the northeast European Alps. These results imply that anticipation of future flood frequencies under global warming remains a complex challenge necessitating consideration of potential changes in large-scale atmospheric circulation.
Long-term growth of the Himalaya inferred from interseismic InSAR measurement
Raphal Grandin et al., Ecole Normale Suprieure, UMR 8538, F-75231 Paris, France. Posted online 18 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33154.1.
The Himalayan range is a major tectonic plate boundary that slowly accumulates strain and occasionally breaks during large earthquakes that release immense amount of elastic energy. Yet, the mountain range continues to grow, suggesting that a fraction of the tectonic deformation accumulates irreversibly in the long term. Using satellite-borne radar data, Raphael Grandin and colleagues measure the strain accumulating across the Himalaya in a period devoid of major earthquake. They show that contemporary uplift in Central Nepal accumulates to the south of the region of long-term uplift. Their observations bring support to a model of mountain growth involving a flux of crustal material across the thrust plate interface. The underlying Indian plate abandons sheets of rocks below the Himalayan domain as it gets underthrusted, thus sustaining the long-term growth of the mountain range.
Unraveling the complexity of deep gas accumulations with three-dimensional multimodal CARS microscopy
Robert C. Burruss et al., U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia 20192, USA. Posted online 18 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33321.1.
Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS) microscopy is an important method for label-free, molecule-specific imaging in the life sciences. CARS is a nonlinear optical analog of Raman spectroscopy but is more than 10,000 times more sensitive. Robert C. Burruss and colleagues present the first application of CARS microscopy to the geosciences. This non-invasive method is not only molecule-specific (e.g., methane, carbon dioxide, water, higher hydrocarbons, etc.) but also allows for rapid recording of vibrational Raman spectra (showing pressure effects, hydrate formation, etc.), even in highly fluorescing samples such as crude oil inclusions. The simultaneous recording of second harmonic (revealing crystallographic features) and two-photon fluorescence (revealing aromatic hydrocarbons) images allows -- for the first time -- their correlation with molecule-specific imaging. As an illustration, Burruss and colleagues apply CARS microscopy to the study of fluid inclusions in deeply buried sedimentary basins. This allowed them to identify separate gas sources, timing of generation, migration, and mixing, as well as potential contributions from the deep crust or upper mantle. There are significant implications for other broad areas of geosciences including mineralogy, paleobiology, and geochemistry. Burruss and colleagues believe that these broadly applicable imaging methods will potentially transform the characterization of geological materials.
Archean mantle fluids preserved in fibrous diamonds from Wawa, Superior craton
Evan M. Smith et al., Dept. of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of British Columbia, 6339 Stores Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada. Posted online 18 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33231.1.
Evan M. Smith and colleagues studied fluid inclusions in 2.7-billion-year-old fibrous diamonds. Fibrous diamond is an impure variety of diamond with a high content of micron-sized fluid inclusions. This variety is the only type of diamond that routinely carries fluid inclusions, and is therefore of great importance for understanding mantle fluids. However, most fibrous diamonds were formed relatively recently in earth history, probably less than 500 million years ago. Thus, the fluids in fibrous diamonds studied to date are also relatively young. This is the reason the Archean age of the samples presented in this study is significant. Smith and colleagues' findings show that the Archean diamond fluids are potassium-, sodium-, and chlorine-rich and bear a strong resemblance to fluids in younger diamonds. The resemblance suggests a uniformitarian view that the mantle processes that created the Archean fibrous diamonds were the same as those that have operated more recently. Strontium isotopes strengthen this view and point toward a convecting mantle or kimberlite-like source for the fluid. Additionally, trace element measurements show that the chlorine-rich nature of the fluid makes it capable of accumulating europium and creating mantle "europium anomalies" that may be mistaken as a signature from shallower, crustal rocks.
Tracking halogens through the subduction cycle
Mark A. Kendrick et al., School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia. Posted online 18 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33265.1.
This study by Mark Kendrick and colleagues tracks the movement of volatile elements like iodine and chlorine, during the subduction of tectonic plates beneath arc volcanoes, such as those that form the circum-Pacific "Ring of Fire." The fate of iodine during subduction is of special interest because it is an essential element for life that exists in very few geologic materials. Iodine dissolved in seawater is incorporated into organic matter and the mineral serpentine that forms close to the seafloor. It was originally assumed that volatile elements, like iodine, are efficiently removed from subducting plates and returned to Earth's surface through volcanism, and that Earth's oceans originally formed by volcanic outgassing of the mantle. In contrast, new data presented by Kendrick and colleagues demonstrate that a limited proportion of seawater-derived volatiles bypass arc volcanoes and are transferred to the deeper mantle during plate subduction. The presence of seawater-derived iodine in the mantle supports the recent view that modern seawater has a complex origin and may have been extensively cycled through Earth's mantle by the forces of plate tectonics over much of Earth's 4.5 billion year history.
Nile Delta's sinking past: Quantifiable links with Holocene compaction and climate-driven changes in sediment supply?
Nick Marriner et al., CNRS, CEREGE UMR 7330, Europle de l'Arbois, BP 80, 13545 Aix-en-Provence cedex 04, France. Posted online 18 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33209.1.
The Nile Delta hosts about two thirds of Egypt's population and 60% of the country's food production. Global warming and human impacts have sharpened focus on the delta's potential resilience to present and future changes. Nick Marriner and colleagues use data from more than 100 cores to quantitatively reevaluate the drivers of Nile Delta surface dynamics and sediment mass balance during the Holocene. Their reconstruction demonstrates that over the past 8,000 years, two important contributors to changes in Nile Delta mass balance have been sediment compaction and orbitally forced changes in sediment supply. Between 8,000 and 4,000 years ago, spatially averaged sedimentation rates were greater than subsidence, meaning that delta aggradation was the dominant geomorphological process at the regional scale. By contrast, during the past 4,000 years, a sharp climate-driven fall in Nile sediment supply, coupled with the human-induced drainage of deltaic wetlands, has rendered the delta more sensitive to degradation by sea-level rise and extreme flood events. Although the current predicament of the Nile delta -- starved of significant sediment input since the completion of the Aswan High Dam -- is without precedent for the Holocene, these new mass balance data suggest that the Nile delta has a particularly long history of degradation by climate-driven changes in sediment delivery and human impacts.
Tectonic erosion in a Pacific-type orogen: Detrital zircon response to Cretaceous tectonics in Japan
Kazumasa Aoki et al., Dept. of Earth Science and Astronomy, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan. Posted online 18 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33414.1.
In order to constrain the Cretaceous putative tectonic erosion in Japan, we conducted high-resolution U-Pb dating of detrital zircons of the Cretaceous sandstones and metasandstones from southwestern Japan by laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). These results suggest that the tectonic erosion likely occurred twice in the Cretaceous subduction-related margin around Japan.
Lake sediments record cycles of sediment flux driven by large earthquakes on the Alpine fault, New Zealand
Jamie D. Howarth et al., Dept. of Geography, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand. Posted online 18 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33486.1.
In mountain environments, large earthquakes are important drivers of erosion because they trigger extensive landsliding, which can be hazardous for society and infrastructure. However, the magnitude and duration of enhanced landsliding triggered by large earthquakes is not well understood because the long recurrence times between events generally preclude any direct observation of landscape responses. Jamie Howarth and colleagues present a new approach for addressing this issue, using lake sediments to reconstruct the duration and magnitude of the landscape response to earthquakes on the Alpine fault, New Zealand. Their data show that an elevated sediment flux from catchments adjacent to the Alpine fault persists for approximately five decades after each of the last four large earthquakes. These post-seismic landscape responses were responsible for 27% of the erosion in the lake catchment over the past 1,100 years. Howarth and colleagues conclude that Alpine fault earthquakes are one of the most important drivers of erosion in the Southern Alps and that the response to these events represents considerable delayed hazard that persists long after an earthquake.
Reconstructing Greenland ice sheet runoff using coralline algae
Nicholas A. Kamenos et al., School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK. Posted online 18 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33405.1.
The Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) contains the largest store of fresh water in the northern hemisphere, equivalent to about seven meters of sea level rise. Currently available GrIS melting records are about 50 years long and reveal that melting has increased since the records began. However, to understand if this recent melting, and subsequent runoff into the sea, is part of a natural see-saw melting pattern or if it represents a sudden increase in melting rates, records spanning longer than 50 years are needed. At present, these do not exist. Nicholas Kamenos and colleagues have developed a technique that allows them to reconstruct historic melting rates of the GrIS by determining past changes in the salinity of Greenland's seas: the more the GrIS melts, the less salty the seas become. They demonstrate this technique by reconstructing melt from part of the GrIS since 1939 and observe that since the mid-1980s, there has been a pronounced increase in melting and runoff, possibly in response to atmospheric warming. This technique will enable the production of longer melt records to understand how recent melting rates compare to historic melting rates and what is driving the melting patterns.
U-Pb zircon crystallization age of the Muslim Bagh ophiolite: Enigmatic remains of an extensive pre-Himalayan arc
M. Ishaq Kakar et al., Centre of Excellence in Mineralogy, University of Balochistan, Quetta, Pakistan. Posted online 18 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33270.1.
India wasn't always an Asian superpower, when the dinosaurs roamed the planet, an ocean separated India from Asia. Very little of this ocean remains, but on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the largest piece of this ocean (named Tethys) is preserved. New ages from rocks from crystallized magmas in this piece of Tethys date, for the first time, the age of this ocean to 80 million years old. The chemistry of these rocks also shows that they formed as India travelled north and the ocean began to be subducted.
The interface-scale mechanism of reaction-induced fracturing during serpentinization
Oliver Plmper et al., Physics of Geological Processes (PGP), University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1048, Blindern, N-0136 Oslo, Norway. Posted online 18 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33390.1.
The hydration of mantle olivine to form serpentine (serpentinization) is arguably the most important metamorphic hydration reaction on Earth as it has fundamental repercussions on geophysical and geochemical processes. As serpentinization relies on the addition of water fluid pathways through an originally impermeable rock need to be created. Although these pathways can be created by tectonic stresses there are ample indications that the reaction itself can fracture the rock. Until now, however, the mechanism linking processes at the reaction interface with fracture propagation that allows km-scale areas of the Earth's uppermost mantle to be serpentinized has not been fully understood. By combining evidence from the microstructural characteristics of olivine serpentinization with theoretical considerations, Oliver Plumper and colleagues have identified a microstructurally consistent, self-propagating fracturing mechanism. They suggest that the chemical reaction of olivine to serpentine is powerful enough to fracture an original impermeable rock.
Flemish Cap-Goban Spur conjugate margins: New evidence of asymmetry
Joanna Gerlings et al., Dept. of Earth Sciences, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2, Canada. Posted online 18 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33263.1.
Joanna Gerlings and colleagues present the results of deep seismic surveys across the Flemish Cap-Goban Spur conjugate margin pair, which they use to infer rifting style and breakup. Profiles on both margins extend into oceanic crust, hence making it possible to observe the complete history from continental rifting through to the formation of initial oceanic crust. Their results indicate that asymmetric structures are formed during all stages of rifting, breakup, and complex transition to oceanic spreading. This result contrasts with a previous interpretation of the conjugate margin pair's rifting style, which was in support of symmetric rifting. The differing nature of the two ocean-continent transition zones is particularly striking. For Flemish Cap, the results show a wide region of highly thinned continental crust. In contrast, results for the Goban Spur transition zone indicate a primary composition of exhumed serpentinized mantle.
Revised conceptual model for maar-diatremes: Subsurface processes, energetics, and eruptive products
Greg A. Valentine and James D.L. White, Dept. of Geology, 411 Cooke Hall, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14260, USA. Posted online 18 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33411.1.
Maars are volcanic craters cut into the landscape, caused by highly energetic, explosive interactions between magma and groundwater or surface water. The craters are surrounded by low profile rings of volcanic ejecta deposits and underlain by funnel-shaped bodies of debris known as diatremes. An existing, widely accepted model for maar-diatremes assumes that magma-water explosions begin at shallow levels and move downward during the volcano's lifetime, resulting in ejection of material from progressively deeper levels in the subsurface. Greg A. Valentine and James D.L. White propose a new model in which explosions occur at a range of depths throughout an eruption. Only shallow explosions eject material, while deeper explosions do not erupt but cause mixing of deep and shallow materials within the diatreme.
Widespread loess-like deposit in the Martian northern lowlands identifies Middle Amazonian climate change
James A. Skinner Jr. et al., Astrogeology Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, 2255 North Gemini Drive, Flagstaff, Arizona 86001, USA. Posted online 18 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33513.1.
Identifying packages of rock and sediment in the Martian northern lowland that clearly illustrate the type and timing of geologic events through time is tenuous, despite their covering nearly one-third of the planet's surface. By mapping and measuring topographically subtle landforms, we identify a previously unrecognized sedimentary unit in the Martian lowlands that post-dates more widely recognized planar rocks and sediments by more than 2 billion years. The new unit, named the Middle Amazonian lowland unit (mAl), forms scattered and low-relief patches, is defined by subtle marginal scarps, has mean average thickness of 32 meters, and occurs in the northern mid- to high-latitudes of Mars. Craters located atop topographic promontories and nested arcuate ridges surround unit mAl, indicating current outcrops are vestiges of a more extensive deposit. James A. Skinner Jr. and colleagues propose the unit accumulated at the same time, and at the expense of, the erosion of layered ice and sediment that makes up the north polar plateau. Ice volume estimates correspond to global water volume thicknesses of 14-91 cm and 72-460 cm for modern and past unit mAl extents, respectively. This work connects ancient sedimentary processes to climate change scenarios that occurred before those implied by current orbital models.
Linking orography, climate, and exhumation across the central Andes
Jason B. Barnes et al., Dept. of Geological Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA. Posted online 18 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33229.1.
Reconstructing the co-evolution of mountain uplift and orographic rainfall patterns is important for understanding the dynamic interactions between Earth's surface and climate. This new study by Jason Barnes and colleagues illustrates how this is becoming possible using a novel combination of techniques, including climate modeling and isotope data that reconstructs a landscapes' history of deformation and erosion. Barnes and colleagues suggests that central Andes topography reached threshold elevations (greater than 75% modern) necessary to trigger the onset of precipitation patterns similar to today's rain shadow (wet on the east, dry on the west) about 15 to 11 million years ago. This improved history provides an important new context for understanding the evolution of the Andes and the Amazon basin, the most biologically diverse region on Earth.
Crustal structure and rheology of the Longmenshan and Wenchuan Mw 7.9 earthquake epicentral area from magnetotelluric data
Guoze Zhao et al., State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics, Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100029, China. Posted online 18 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33703.1.
The Longmenshan (LMS) in the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau is anomalous since it has formed despite low convergence and slip rates and without the development of a foreland basin. The devastating 2008 Wenchuan (Mw = 7.9) earthquake has renewed debate about the tectonics of the LMS. A magnetotelluric (MT) study reveals a high conductivity layer (HCL) at a depth of ~20 km beneath the Eastern Tibetan Plateau that terminates ~25 km west of the LMS faults, which is fluid-rich and mechanically weak. Beneath the LMS, a high resistivity zone extends through the entire crust, but with a zone of low resistivity in the vicinity of the Wenchuan hypocenter. MT data, combined with other geological and geophysical observations, support geodynamic models for the uplift of Eastern Tibet being caused by southeast directed crustal flow that is blocked by stable lithosphere beneath LMS leading to inflation of the Eastern Tibetan Plateau. This rigid high resistivity backstop not only provided a block to flow, but also may have accumulated stress prior to the earthquake. The MT observations provide new insights into the generation of Wenchuan earthquake, which occurred in a region with low convergence rates prior to the earthquake.
Drilling reveals fluid control on architecture and rupture of the Alpine fault, New Zealand
R. Sutherland et al., GNS Science, PO Box 30368, Lower Hutt 5040, New Zealand. Posted online 18 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33614.1.
Scientific boreholes into geological faults that have ruptured during recent earthquakes reveal a damaged zone of fractured rock around the principal slip surface, but little is known of how faults look just before an earthquake. To address this question, a team of international scientists drilled into the Alpine Fault in southern New Zealand, where there is a 30% chance of a magnitude 8 earthquake during the next 50 years, according to Berryman et al. 2012 (Science). New scientific-drilling results from New Zealand show that the Alpine Fault has repeatedly shattered during earthquakes, then healed, then shattered again. The fault is currently in its fully-healed pre-earthquake state. The chemical reactions between rock and water that heal the fault have created a low-permeability alteration zone that is suggested to play a fundamental role in the mechanics of fault movement and earthquakes. The low-permeability rock in the Alpine Fault is a barrier that stops water passing through it, and also creates a pressure chamber around the fault. If water pressure within the fault were to build up for some reason, water could not escape and the pressure would stay high. Increased water pressure weakens the fault and may cause slip, which causes the water pressure to increase even further. This feedback mechanism means that once a fault rupture starts, it may grow into a large earthquake that releases all of the energy stored in surrounding rock. One intriguing suggestion from the drilling is that the Alpine Fault may be a massive subterranean dam, holding back high-pressure water within adjacent mountains. The water pressure drop across this dam is comparable to stress drops during earthquakes, and may, therefore, be an important factor in earthquake nucleation that has not been fully considered.
Rock uplift rates in South Africa from isochron burial dating of fluvial and marine terraces
Erica D. Erlanger et al., Dept. of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA. Posted online 18 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130.G33172.1.
Although southern Africa has not experienced active tectonics since the breakup of Gondwana more than 100 million years ago, it has a very high continental interior and a steep escarpment. Some have argued that this high and steep topography indicates ongoing uplift. To test this idea, Erica Erlanger and colleagues use a new method based on isotopes produced by cosmic rays to date a set of river terraces and a raised beach on the South African coast. They show that uplift over the past several million years has been slow and steady, consistent with the persistence of high topography over 100 million year time scales.
Mild Little Ice Age and unprecedented recent warmth in an 1800 year lake sediment record from Svalbard
William J. D'Andrea et al., Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964, USA. Posted online 18 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33365.1.
The Arctic region is currently undergoing large changes due to anthropogenic global warming. Anticipating future changes requires understanding how the arctic climate system has behaved in the past. William D'Andrea and colleagues generated a summer air temperature record for the west coast of Svalbard, Norway (High Arctic). The temperature record is based on trans-fat molecules (alkenones) that are produced by algae in the lake and are preserved in lake sediments. Volcanic ash layers from known eruptions were used to determine the age of the lake sediments; neither approach had previously been used at such a high latitude site. The results indicate that the summer warmth of the past 50 years, recorded by both man-made thermometers and the alkenones, was unmatched in Svalbard in the course of the past 1,800 years, including during the so-called "Medieval Warm Period." Furthermore, the Little Ice Age (LIA) summers of the 18th and 19th centuries on Svalbard were not particularly cold, even though glaciers occupied their maximum Holocene extent. The results suggest that increased wintertime snowfall, rather than cold temperatures, was responsible for LIA glaciations on Svalbard and that increased ocean heat transport into the Arctic via the West Spitsbergen Current began around 1600 A.D.
Late glacial fluctuations of Quelccaya Ice Cap, southeastern Peru
Meredith A. Kelly et al., Dept. of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755, USA. Posted online 18 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33430.1.
During the last glacial-interglacial transition, approx. 18,000-11,000 years ago, there were rapid, millennial-scale climate changes in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. However, there are relatively limited data as to how these changes affected tropical regions. What happened in the tropics is important for defining the mechanisms that influenced these climate events. Meredith A. Kelly and colleagues provide a precise radiocarbon chronology of the re-advance and rapid recession of Quelccaya Ice Cap, located in southeastern Peru, during the last glacial-interglacial transition. These new data demonstrate that the southern tropical Andes experienced a rapid change from relatively warm and dry conditions to colder and wetter conditions between 12,800 and 12,400 years ago. The timing of this cold/wet event overlaps with, but does not correlate directly to, rapid climate changes documented in the middle-to-high Northern and Southern latitudes. However, the warming about 12,400 years ago at Quelccaya is contemporaneous with a slight warming over the Greenland Ice Sheet and in the northern tropical Atlantic Ocean.
Twentieth-century warming revives the world's northernmost lake
Bianca B. Perren et al., Laboratoire Chrono-Environnement, UMR CNRS 6249, Universit de Franche-Comt, 25030 Besanon cedex, France. Posted online 18 Sept. 2012; doi: 10.1130/G33621.1.
This paper by Bianca Perren and colleagues examines evidence of recent climate change and atmospheric pollution from the northernmost lake in the world, Kaffeklubben S, on the north coast of Greenland. Lake sediment cores show that siliceous algae (diatoms and chrysophytes) were initially present in the lake 3,500 years ago but disappeared around 2,400 years ago with colder conditions, permanent lake ice cover, and inferred sub-zero local summer temperatures. At the same time, local glaciers readvanced, landfast sea ice became permanent, and the northernmost culture in the world (Independence II Paleoeskimo culture) disappeared from the area. Starting around 1980 A.D., diatoms and chrysophytes reappear in the lake in unprecedented numbers, which track rising summer temperatures. However, Perren and colleagues find no evidence for atmospheric pollution, which suggests that recent climate change is solely responsible for the profound biological changes underway in North Greenland. This paper underscores the importance of biological thresholds in response to climate change (both cooling and warming) and adds an important geographic and climatic end member to our understanding of ongoing climate change.
|Contact: Kea Giles
Geological Society of America


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The Department of Faculty Diversity is responsible for supporting the recruitment, retention and promotion of underrepresented minority faculty at UT Dallas with an aim to improve the climate and networking among University faculty. The department creates programs to help tap the pipeline of qualified minority candidates and works closely with other departments, deans, search committees and the Provost's Office. The department supports a campus-wide faculty mentoring program in close collaboration with the Galerstein Gender Center, the faculty mentoring committee and the associate provost for faculty development.
The Department of Institutional Diversity Initiatives (DIDI) is chartered with creating the strategies to enhance communication on diversity related topics within the UT Dallas community. In collaboration with Human Resources, we aim to increase diversity awareness by offering ongoing diversity training. Our office supports the development of new programs through identification of external funding to specifically address the unique issues and challenges affecting the under-represented stakeholders.
The Department of Community Engagement's mission is to foster collaborative partnerships with area school districts, community colleges, community organizations and area businesses to increase student diversity at UT Dallas, and to increase the visibility of the University among underrepresented minority populations in the region. The department hosts many college access programs to help first generation students and parents maneuver the college enrollment process and promote the benefits of higher education. The Department of Community Engagement also coordinates the Diversity Scholarship Program.
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The Galerstein Gender Center provides an open door to a welcoming, supportive haven for students, staff and faculty. We provide meeting, reception and study space, and a lending library with gender-related books and videos. We also offer professional counseling services, provide student scholarships, internships, volunteer opportunities and organizational advising. In partnership and collaboration with campus departments, the community and corporate sponsors, we develop an annual calendar of programs and events designed to highlight gender issues, such as LGBTQ education, child care and parenting, diversity and mentoring, women's history and research, and the support and advancement of women in science, technology, engineering and math.


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Gnocchic ( from gnostikos, "learned", from Ancient Greek: γνῶσις gnōsis, knowledge; Arabic: الغنوصية al-ġnūṣīh) and Gnocchi (from the Italian word nocchio, meaning a knot in wood,[12] or from nocca (meaning knuckle).[13] I) is the belief that the material world should be shunned and the Pasta world (FSM's world) should be embraced. Gnocchic ideas influenced many ancient restaurants and cuisines which teach that Gnocchis (variously interpreted as satiety, fullness, hunger free, etc.) may be reached by practicing pasta making to the point of personal poverty, sexual abstinence (as far as possible for hearers, completely for initiates) and diligently searching for wisdom by helping others consume pasta. However, practices vary.In Gnocchicism, the world of the demiurge is represented by the lower world which is associated with matter, flesh, time, molecules and more particularly an imperfect, ephemeral world. The world of the FSM is represented by pasta and sometimes meatballs, and is associated with the soul and perfection. The world of the FSM is eternal and not part of the physical. It is impalpable, and time doesn't exist there. To rise to the FSM, the Gnocchic must reach the "knowledge" which mixes pasta making, sauce preparation, cheese expertise, and the secrets of history and the universe.
Most of the teachings of this sect have been handed down from the translation of the sacred restaurant napkins of Rome which though only 3 of 15 can be deciphered and translated, contain these lines:
1.1 Gnocchi are sacred. Pay honor to this most holy of pastas.
1.2 There is a supreme monadic divinity, source — this figure is known under a variety of names, including "Pleroma" (fullness, totality) and the Flying Spaghetti Monster
1.3 This world is an inferior simulacrum of a higher-level reality or consciousness. The inferiority may be compared to the technical inferiority of a painting, sculpture, or other handicraft to the thing(s) of which those crafts are supposed to be a representation.
1.4 The estimation of the world, owing to the above, is flawed but it can be as good as the quality of pasta being consumed and served might allow.
1.5 The path to the FSM lies through the stomach and taste buds
1.6 Inferior cheeses are not permitted
1.7 Semolina must be used in moderation
1.8 Working pasta dough by hand is a necessary part of Gnocchic worship.
1.9 Good red wine is always appropriate
While the original Roman text ends here, centuries of scholars and chefs have debated the full meaning of these words and have tried to fill in the missing tenets. Of particular interest is tenet 1.8 which some have proposed as the ultimate distillation of worship. If Gnocchics hold that the divine is reachable though pasta and Gnocchi comes from the word meaning knuckle, then there is no more direct or complete path to worship than getting ones knuckles dirty making excellent pasta.
Gnocchics and Gnocchicism
Submit your scriptural writings for inclusion in the Loose Canon, and your tales of ancient FSM Lore, as well as any other FSM-related writing you may have.
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- pieces o'nine
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Re: Gnocchics and Gnocchicism
You have obviously given this a great deal of thought. Have you considered submitting a thesis for a Doctorate of Pastafarianism?
Pastafarian Theology Doctoral Theses
Pastafarian Theology Doctoral Theses
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Re: Gnocchics and Gnocchicism
I wonder then if there are aGnocchi-stics as well?
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Re: Gnocchics and Gnocchicism
pieces o'nine wrote:You have obviously given this a great deal of thought. Have you considered submitting a thesis for a Doctorate of Pastafarianism?
Pastafarian Theology Doctoral Theses
I actually have and I may well do so. I first wanted to float the tenets and make certain that the Gnocchic sect was not already well covered in the literature or in the forums.
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13 Celebrity Advocates for Families
With the 2009 Golden Pacifier Awards, we give props to Angelina Jolie, M.I.A., Barack Obama, Sarah Palin and more.
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Covering Kids Award: President Barack Obama
Can you hear them clapping, Mr. President? Eleven million children who'll giggle, laugh, and live long, healthy lives -- a few needle pricks notwithstanding -- thanks to you, who signed the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) into law on February 4, 2009, just two weeks and two days after being sworn into office. The reauthorization of SCHIP, twice vetoed by former President George W. Bush, allocates $30 billion in federal funding to provide health care for kids whose families don't have coverage. Now, respectfully, can we do something about those measly maternity leaves?
Tell us what you think about our Golden Paci nominations!
(Photo courtesy of jurvetson, CC Licensed)
Righteous Nursers Award
We can't get enough of the loud, proud, breastfeeding crowd, so let's shine the spotlight on three lactation champions. Snaps all around for Kelli Roman, the mom who first stood up to Facebook's ban on breastfeeding photos. Her petition, "Hey Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!" has to date attracted almost a quarter million members plus nursing photos. Next, applause for the Marin Breastfeeding Coalition, a California advocacy group that launched a head-turning awareness campaign in January: These lactivists decked their 'hood with life-size cutouts of nursing women; the figures, which earned many second looks, informed gawkers that "when breastfeeding is accepted, it won't be noticed."
Tell us what you think about our Golden Paci nominations!
Righteous Nursers Award
Last but not least, props to Angelina Jolie, whose November '08 W magazine cover pic, shot by her guy, Brad Pitt, shows her nursing one of their twins. Thanks, Angie, for making it indisputable: Breastfeeding is beautiful.
Bottles Up Award: Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise
The busybody brigade included pediatricians and the paparazzi, and the whispering was loud and clear: Suri had to be bottle-broken, and fast. For nipples' sake, how could she be sucking on a ba-ba at 2 1/2? Did the couple known as TomKat, who smiled shamelessly as shutterbugs snapped their daughter holding a long-outgrown Evenflo -- in one pic she held a bottle in each fist -- not know how it would ruin her? Tooth decay and misalignment, speech impediments, and a lifetime of questionable drinking habits were all forecast for the celebritot. Kudos to Katie and Tom, who kept on with the p.d.b.b. (public display of baby bottle, that is) until they felt their child was ready to stop. The no-bottle-after-baby's-first-birthday rule is one so many of us break!
Tell us what you think about our Golden Paci nominations!
At Your Service Award: Operation Shower
A girl needs a lotta love while her little bun bakes -- and she might need extra if her guy's keeping the peace in the Middle East. "I wanted to recognize the price military wives pay, being alone while they prepare to give birth," says LeAnn "Lena" Morrissey, who, with cofounder Kris Jackson, started Operation Shower (operationshower.org) in 2007. Through their Shower in a Box and Unit Wide Shower programs, they've shipped boxes packed with tiny shirts, bath products, and other goodies to mothers-to-be across the country, and brought together pregnant women on large bases like Fort Bragg to be gifted with supplies and support. In all, with donations from Wal-Mart and other new-family outfitters, Operation Shower has surprised nearly 250 women whose partners are deployed.
Tell us what you think about our Golden Paci nominations!
One Hot Mama Award: Salma Hayek
"It's a lie! It's not true!" Salma Hayek exclaimed to Oprah, taking to task the some-would-say-myth that if you breastfeed, the baby weight disappears. "The only reason people lose weight like that when they're breastfeeding -- it's that they're not eating and they're breastfeeding, and this is not good for the baby," she declared. We give this glimmering paci to Hayek for her sane, honest attitude about postbaby weight loss; for her work with UNICEF in Africa ensuring kids there receive the tetanus vaccine; and for just being a real, cool mom. Salma, we love ya!
Tell us what you think about our Golden Paci nominations!
Little Lungs Award: Jonathan Winickoff, M.D.
Smoke gets in your eyes... lungs, skin, the sheets, and the sofa. And that's why Jonathan Winickoff, M.D., an assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, and his team coined the term "thirdhand smoke," blowing the lid off the "secondhand smoke" theory that puffing tobacco out of sight protects spouses and kids. On the contrary, toxic cigarette residue sticks to objects and people, making it impossible not to pass on exposure. "The only real way to protect your infant is for everyone in the home to stop smoking," explains Dr. Winickoff, whose work led to an American Academy of Pediatrics program called CEASE (ceasetobacco.com) and new quitting initiatives that aim to reach parents in pediatricians' offices and hospital maternity wards. For turning the futures of babies everywhere from hazy to healthy, we salute him with a hearty, clear-lunged shout-out.
Tell us what you think about our Golden Paci nominations!
Way to Rock a Due Date Award: M.I.A.
Let's think back to what we did on our due dates. Ate. Paced. Complained. Counted our stretch marks. Complained some more. And definitely did not put on a tight, sheer, polka-dot dress, storm the 2009 Grammys, and tear up the stage with Jay-Z, Kanye West, T.I., and Lil' Wayne. Nope, that was 31-year-old Brit rapper M.I.A., a.k.a. Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam. M.I.A. delivered a baby boy (no, his name's not Ickitt) three days post-performance, on February 11. A perfect encore to an unforgettable show.
Tell us what you think about our Golden Paci nominations!
(Photo courtesy of ethanhein, CC Licensed)
Moms in the House Award: Governor Sarah Palin and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
The political road is a pitted one for all who travel it, but we have to hand it to both Sarah Palin and Kirsten Gillibrand for letting nary a bump slow them down! Alaska Governor Palin gave birth to son Trig, now 1, four months before being picked by John McCain as his '08 VP candidate; she sprinted the campaign trail baby on hip -- no eye bags or milk leaks in sight. New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand offered stiff Supermom competition. The former Congressional representative endured a 13-hour House committee session the day before giving birth to baby Henry last May (she left work to a standing ovation!). A week after her child's 8-month birthday, Gillibrand was tapped to fill the senatorial slot vacated by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
All politics aside, we present them this happy, slobbery pacifier: They seem to have found the magic formula for doing it all.
Tell us what you think about our Golden Paci nominations!
(Photo courtesy of geerlingguy, CC Licensed)
Smarty Pants Award: The E*Trade Baby
Smart and sassy (we laughed our muffin tops off when he calmly spit up in front of the Super Bowl's 97.4 million viewers), not to mention market savvy, this kid and his financial commentary make us think twice about the future. For better or worse, the E*Trade tot is a hilarious reminder that today's little poopers will be running the world when we're the ones in diapers.
2008 Stinky Diaper Awards: Celebs We Don't Admire
2007 Golden Paci Awards
7 Celebrities Who Have Adopted
Tell us what you think about our Golden Paci nominations!


text:
PORT ANGELES — The Clallam County Bar Association has rated Cathy Marshall, a candidate for Clallam County District Court 1 judge, above three-term incumbent Rick Porter.
Marshall, an assistant attorney general for the state Attorney General's Office, received an overall average rating of 2.85 out of a possible top score of 4 to Porter's 1.83 rating, the bar association said in a statement.
The surveys were tabulated Aug. 7.
Porter, saying Friday he was upset he could not observe the count and that only bar association members could participate, conducted his own survey, tabulating those results Aug. 6.
He and Marshall are vying for the judgeship of Clallam County District Court 1, which covers the Port Angeles and Sequim areas — the east side of the county — in the Nov. 4 general election.
In his own poll, Porter came out on top, 3.56 out of a possible top score of 4 to Marshall's 1.9.
Marshall, the bar association president, said Friday she did not take part in formulating or processing the surveys or organizing the candidates forum for lawyers that preceded it.
She dismissed the results of Porter's poll.
"It's the act of a desperate man who has control issues," she said Friday in an email.
"I think I'm a viable candidate, and he sees that, and that's making him a little anxious," Marshall said in an interview. "I think he's a little nervous."
Marshall, who has been an assistant state attorney general for nine years, said she was "honored" by the bar poll results.
She asserted that the results show that lawyers who work in Porter's own court "have faith in my work and my commitment to the law and to fairness."
The bar poll showed Marshall scored higher in three categories on a scale of 1 to 4: judgment and objectivity; demeanor and temperament; and competence, experience and legal ability.
The overall performance score was an average of how the candidates were rated overall by each attorney.
The survey was mailed to all of the association's 74 lawyers, 47 of whom responded.
Porter's survey, paid for by the Committee to Re-elect Judge Porter, was mailed to 42 lawyers, and he received about half of the surveys back, he said Friday.
The surveys were mailed to all the lawyers from Clallam County listed in the phone book, Porter said.
Respondents scored Porter higher in all four categories on a scale of 1 to 4: judicial experience, trial experience, administrative ability and legal ability.
Porter said he conducted his own poll because only dues-paying bar association members were allowed to vote.
That meant four of six attorneys who work on his campaign, including him, were thus unable to vote.
Porter said he also was upset that neither he nor anyone from his campaign was able to observe the vote tabulation, opening up the specter of "potential manipulation" of the ballot results.
"Unless they have something to hide, why would they refuse to let us watch them count the ballots?" Porter said.
"The way they run the bar poll, it only takes a few people to manipulate those results to swing the votes by a significant margin," he added.
He said in a news release announcing the results of his poll that "members are allowed to vote in a bloc (i.e., a small groups of lawyers give one person all 'ones' and the other all 'fours' in order to skew the results."
In a subsequent interview, Porter said the bar association poll was more subjective than objective.
"It allows the attorneys to vote in a way that advances their political agenda," Porter said, adding that he would have allowed observers to watch his campaign supporters conduct the tally of his own survey.
Port Angeles attorney Simon Barnhart, a bar association past president, coordinated the organization's survey.
At first, Barnhart planned to allow Porter's campaign representatives to observe the tally, then changed his mind.
"On reflection, I determined it would not be in the best interest of the process to have observers because that could lead to chaos, not necessarily in this particular instance but looking forward," Barnhart said.
Potentially having "a room full of people" watching the surveys being tallied did not appear workable, he added.
"Moreover, it didn't seem necessary," he said.
"This isn't an election. It seems a little overblown to me.
"This is an evaluation process the bar association provides to its members."
The tallying of surveys has never been an open process for about three decades of such surveys, Barnhart said.
"I don't believe I've ever seen a dialogue of this nature, where a candidate was challenging the credibility of the people conducting the evaluation process and challenging the evaluation process itself in this way."
There are 137 lawyers in Clallam County, including 117 who are actively practicing law, said Debra Carnes, spokeswoman for the Washington Bar Association.
Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at [email protected]


text:
Two Camden men whose German Shepherds were seized by Kershaw County Animal Control (KCAC) and the Camden Police Department (CPD) recently filed a civil suit claiming their constitutional rights were violated.
The Kershaw County School District has received an additional $300,000 grant on top of the $5.7 million Safe Schools/Health Students (SS/HS) grant the county received a year ago to combat the influence of gangs.
Do you belong to a clique?
Members of the Kershaw County Board of School Trustees expressed their discontent Tuesday with extremely early morning school bus pickup times. Some school bus pickup times begin as early as 5:10 a.m. in Kershaw County.
Several years after Carolina Café moved into its current downtown Camden location, the owner of the popular cafe says it is now planning to move into a new location as early as next week.
When Dr. Lawson Lewis started his solo ophthalmology practice in Camden on July 11, 1977, there were only three people helping him in his office.
I don't know about you, but I'm sick of hearing about divorce.
Eighteen months ago, Eat Smart Move More (ESSM) of Kershaw County decided to place "Share the Road" signs on Kershaw County roads in an effort to raise motorist awareness of cyclists. Local cyclist Ralph Nugent played an active role in the efforts by helping to identify dangerous areas where he felt signs were needed.
As the high school football season in Kershaw County begins to heat up, so has the decades-long, deep-seated rivalry between Camden High School (CHS) and Lugoff-Elgin High School (L-EHS).
As the sweltering summer temperatures slowly begin to cool down, another running season is getting ready to heat up.
Blaney Elementary School (BES) science lab teacher Tonya Jackson isn't one to brag.
Page 15 of 15
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text:
Originally Posted by westin
lol. Or make him/her do a full days work with Opera. :-P
This means WAR ! YOU HEAR ME .. WAR !
On the topic-
if you just want to play around you can put command prompt with shutdown switch (be smart here) in the startup entries..
Parth Maniar,
*Thank you GOD*
Greater the Difficulty, SWEETER the Victory.
Believe in yourself.
Hmmmm, interesting!
From my experience, more recent versions of Windows will try to warn you if you are running out of disk space, so you generally get a chance to reboot into safe mode and clear stuff out.
All HDDs come with their own operating system, microcode or "firmware".............a bit like the BIOS of a MoBo?
I managed to destroy my first machine with it.... I'm not kidding; I accidentally double clicked on this thing because it wasn't zipped for some reason, and I instantly hit the power button, while staring at the monitor showing a DOS window, and when I turned the machine back on, nothing....
That suggests that you didn't fill the HDD...............I am willing to bet that your little proggy flashes the HDD firmware such that the BIOS sees the drive as something quite different from what it really is?
I have never tried it of course, but perhaps using the manual settings for the HDD in the BIOS setup might get it recognised? Obviously, the autodetect and preconfigured settings won't work.
The other option would be to try to persuade the HDD manufacturer to give you the program to re-flash the firmware for that particular model.
AFAIK you cant format a full hard drive...its pooched...as I believe to format it you need room to write the MFT
I would use this:
That will wipe the drive completely and leave it in an empty and unformatted state.
If I wanted to recover data I would use this first:
This just boots externally and reads the drive at a low level..........doesn't use MFTs or any Windows stuff. It rips the files and tries to re-assemble them.
Oh what exactly are the laws of sending people some malicious batch files? like deleting registry files? isn't it their fault if they open up a .bat file?
But it is you who will have committed the felony offence
what exactly are the laws of sending viruses?
Pretty much the same as for a drive-by shooting? = felony?
Thanks Nihil
I knew there was probably something that may recover it....I am not so much involved with that stuff anymore...I have people that do that
I have used data recovery tools for corrupted drives etc...pen drives...undelete tools etc
When I was training for my certs many many moons ago ...NT4 Server...we had a prank that we used to put in the startmenu..where when the user logged on a window would pop up and ask are you sure you want to delete C:\WINNT...and it would then to look like it deletes all the files.....and then a window pops up ....are you sure you want to restart now....and then the screen would go black....hahahahah. Nothing actually happened to the machine...and by hitting esc you could exit the bugger.
Oh...and lets not forget the old BSOD screen saver....
Last edited by morganlefay; February 12th, 2010 at 02:53 PM.
Originally Posted by nihil
Don't even think about it...............the days of boys having fun have long gone.
Schools, colleges, employers, and the law take a very dim view of this sort of thing and totally overreact in many cases.
I don't see how you can say that knowing I've been using computers to my advantage, with impunity, going on for the last decade.
Oh...and lets not forget the old BSOD screen saver....
Yes................now a quasi-official Microsoft product.............just in case you can't get any real ones of your own
ByTe!................where's the good stuff like this from the Linux community?
And why can't I set the Opera crash screen as my screensaver?
They have the BSOD screensaver for Linux. People are always asking me if there is something wrong with my computer when it comes on. heh.
It is part of the XScreensaver package.
Last edited by westin; February 12th, 2010 at 11:24 PM.
\"Those of us that had been up all night were in no mood for coffee and donuts, we wanted strong drink.\"
The HD filler works by making a bunch of copies of itself and misc folders over and over again until it's full. The one that screwed the disk itself, heh, BIOS itself didn't work for fixing either. Like I said, I've still never seen anything like it before.
Hi gore,
The one that screwed the disk itself, heh, BIOS itself didn't work for fixing either.
That would seem to confirm my suspicion that it actually flashed the HDD's firmware?
If you are feeling brave:
Seagate HDD firmware:
// Off Topic but about HDDs//
If you try to repair a drive by replacing the "motherboard" do check that it has the same firmware version or it won't work
Replacing the board on Fujitsu drives probably won't work anyway as the firmware is uniquely identified to the drive in at least some models.
// //
Originally Posted by morganlefay
ahh...good luck with that
AFAIK you cant format a full hard drive...its pooched...as I believe to format it you need room to write the MFT
Dont know for sure...maybe some other OS can do it...but I doubt it
I am a windows girl
i think if you overwrite the whole drive with killdisk it would still work ill have to find an old drive and try that , but all the persons data would be gone
Originally Posted by gore
Basically I kept my HD killer, a few of the more interesting Viruses I came across, some trojans, back doors, and of course the HD filler, and ONE .exe that I still haven't figured out.
I've always been interested in that exe, haha. Ever since I joined AO. Have you ever attempted to reverse engineer it? To see what it is actually doing? What about running it in a virtual machine, on an old HD?
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text:
The past year at Spartanburg County government was relatively quiet.
The past year at Spartanburg County government was relatively quiet.
County leaders chalk up the lack of controversy to a steady hand at the helm. The new county administrator, Katherine Hubbard, has finished her first year as leader of county government.
At the close of 2011, she inherited a county reeling from several tumultuous events: the Cleveland Park train wreck in March; the ensuing dissolution of the parks commission and firing of the parks director, Jeff Caton; spiraling overtime costs at the county jail; and an audit revealing unsettling leadership problems and inefficient practices in several county departments.
Describing the county as a finicky orchestra, County Council Vice Chairman David Britt said Hubbard has been a deft conductor of county business.
"When it's led by a conductor who doesn't know what he's doing, you get a mess," he said. "Katherine is really all the things we've needed for a long time."
The county is akin to a business with a $180 million budget, and its shareholders are the taxpayers of Spartanburg County. The executive officer, Hubbard, plays the role of financial wizard, hiring director, public relations manager and deal-maker.
"She has to deal with seven elected officials whom she answers to, and of course plenty of other elected officials she deals with throughout the county," said County Council Chairman Jeff Horton. "To tell us no politely, she has a unique way of doing that."
Hubbard has just one public complaint from council members.
When council was interviewing applicants for administrator, Britt said he turned to Bill Banning, county council chairman in Lexington County, where Hubbard was then county administrator. Britt said Banning told him the only thing he had to worry about with Hubbard was letting her work herself to death.
Regularly at work before 7 a.m. and often still in the office after 5 p.m., Hubbard has a full schedule of meetings daily, making her seem inaccessible to some.
Coming from a background in planning, she's spent a lot of time this past year establishing plans, prioritizing spending and filling out a management team at a county that had six vacant positions.
Still, she has yet to announce a major new initiative.
"Those will come," Hubbard said. "There's nothing wrong with taking a breather to assess where you are, especially when you've gone through the type of economic crisis we've gone through the past five years. There should be no one apologizing for pausing and taking stock to see where we go from here."
This year, Hubbard and county government will face several challenges:
u County planners will update Spartanburg County's comprehensive plan and could propose changes to land management ordinances.
u County transportation officials might look to redesign interchanges, and on-ramps and off-ramps for a smoother, safer and more business-friendly transportation environment.
u Despite efforts by Hubbard and Sheriff Chuck Wright to divert inmates from the county's jail to a home detention program, jail overcrowding continues to be an issue in Spartanburg.
u Hubbard still needs to find a permanent solution to replace the temporary agreement between Greenville and Spartanburg counties to share animal control services.
u And Hubbard still needs to hire a new parks director, and a building and fire codes director.


text:
Nuggets center JaVale McGee out indefinitely with fractured left leg
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DENVER – Nuggets starting center JaVale McGee is out indefinitely with a stress fracture in his lower left leg.
Team spokesman Tim Gelt said X-rays revealed the stress fracture in McGee's left tibia on Sunday.
McGee has been chronically bothered by soreness in the tibia, the inner and typically larger of the two bones between the knee and the ankle.
Timofey Mosgov figures to get his first start of the season in McGee's place when the Nuggets play at Utah on Monday night. J.J. Hickson also could see his minutes increased in McGee's absence.
The Nuggets are off to a 1-4 start under new coach Brian Shaw, who replaced George Karl last summer.