text:
Brothers was the 34th pick in the Major League Baseballl First Year Player Draft, going to the Colorado Rockies in the supplemental round held at the end of the first round Tuesday night.
The event was held by the National Bison Cllub.
"This is a great day for Lipscomb athletics," said Philip Hutcheson, director of athletics. "My lingering memory of Rex is from what I saw after the last game of the season in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament. When we lost the game to Jacksonville Rex was the first player out of the dugout to shake hands. That says a lot about what kind of guy he is."
He was the third player selected by the Rockies in the first day of the three-day draft. The Rockies tabbed Tyler Matzek, a left-hander from Capistrano Valley (Calif.) High School, at No. 11. They closed out the first round with Tim Wheeler, an outfielder from Cal State-Sacramento. Brothers has had several talks with the area scout for the Rockies. He is expected to travel to Denver in the next couple of weeks for a physical. He also has to sign a contract.
There are a couple of options for Brothers in terms of teams this season. He could be assigned to the Casper Ghosts, the Rockies Rookie League team in Casper, Wyo. Another option is the Tri-City Dust Devils, located in a Pasco, Wash., a Class A team. Both teams start their seasons June 23.
"The Rockies are still busy with the draft," said Brothers. "When it is over I expect them to talk more with me about this summer. I want to get the contract done so I can get out and play.
"I'm glad I am in the National League. I want to get the chance to hit again."
The lunch crowd included Butch Stinson, a draft pick for the Bisons in 1973 who played in the Chicago White Sox organization. During the lunch, which featured a question-and-answer session with Brothers and Lipscomb coach Jeff Forehand, moderated by Hutcheson, there was a special call. Bo McLaughlin, a first round pick from the Bisons by the Houston Astros in 1975, called from the Rockies draft room. McLaughlin serves as pitching coordinator for the Rockies organization.
Brothers once again commended the coaching staff and his teammates for their influences on his career.
"The older guys showed the right way to get things done," said Brothers. "I want to have that same type of influence."
Brothers is listed as living in Chapel Hill, Tenn. Vanderbilt left-hander Mike Minor was selected No.7 in the first round by the Atlanta Braves. Minor is also from Chapel Hill and played at Forrest High School. Brothers started his high school career at Community High School in Unionville and then played for Shelbyville Central High School.
"The first time I played against Mikey was in a travel team game for 13-and-14-year-olds. He hit me in the back with a pitch. The next time I came up to bat I hit him in the toe with a land drive. I don't know if he remembers that or not. We played Forrest when I was at Community and they always won. We played Forrest one time when I was playing for Shelbyville and we beat them 10-0.
"I texted him during the draft and wished him well."
Hutcheson presented Brothers with a number of gifts, including a camouflage Bible. Brothers is an avid hunter and fisherman. He was also presented books on behalf of the athletics department and the coaching staff.
In closing Hutcheson cited Colossians 3:23 which states, "And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men." "I think you have done that during your Lipscomb career," said Hutcheson.


text:
Manteca Unified School District, CAHome Menu
Activities Calendar
Use the Category Sort Below
All schools have their own activities calendar page. All activities are also shown here. Use the "category" link below to select which school's calendar you wish to view.
Student Break - Closed to the Public
- Date: -
Return to full list >>

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Video game consoles ebb and flow like any other piece of technology in this world, rising and falling in popularity based on the latest-and-greatest system and the next must-have game. The evolution is so quick that we often forget there was a time when Nintendo was the king, when the PlayStation was considered groundbreaking for using compact discs, and Sega was still doing something other than milking that blue hedgehog for all he's worth.
Needless to say, video games have come a long way from the heyday of cartridge-based functionality and 2D, side-scrolling masterpieces. But just because a game is old doesn't mean it's no longer fun — nothing gets a party going like Diddy Kong Racing, after all.
What is emulation?
That's where emulators come in. An emulator is a piece of software for your computer that functions as a virtual console, allowing you to play ROM files that work in a similar fashion to digital copies of your favorite cartridges or discs. Most of them do so by recreating the correct environment for games to function, often by using demanding games to determine how API calls should be rendered. As you might imagine, emulating newer consoles becomes tricky without high-end hardware, but even Android smartphones can emulate some older consoles.
The software is pretty easy to obtain — many emulators are freeware distributed as zip files, after all — but downloading your ROM files online presents a legal quandary since you might not actually own the game in question.
The issue is one of intellectual property. Emulators on their own aren't illegal to use, they're simply a custom compiler for certain applications. The actual game files, on the other hand, are a different story. Depending on where you are in the world, the laws regarding personal backups may vary, but the rule is generally that it's okay to have a digital backup of a game you already own a copy of. Sites that host or share torrent links to copies of games do so for users who don't have the means to back up cartridges or discs themselves.
The exception to this rule is the MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) program, which catalogs classic arcade titles and makes them available as an act of historical preservation. If you just want to play those titles, look no further.


text:
Pour Me Some More (Date Night)
Saturday, August 12
per painter
Learn more
Come with a date and paint two
creations, one scene.
No Refund and Class Credit Policy:
(Based on class start time)
Due to the custom nature of ALL of our classes, NO REFUNDS will be issued for reservations. However, if you cancel with at least 48 hours' notice your payment will be turned into a store credit that can ONLY be used for a future class within 30 days. Please email us (email@example.com) to cancel.
If you no-show for a class that you have a spot reserved, or don't give at least 48 hours' notice, you forfeit your reservation payment. Seats are transferable, but you need to notify us at least 3 hours prior to a class with the name change.
CLASS MINIMUM: If a public class does not meet the minimum of 10 painters, you may be notified and we will fully refund or reschedule your class.
LATE ARRIVAL POLICY: Arrivals more than 15 minutes after painting session has started are welcome to paint, but will need to catch up on their own.
By purchasing your seats you confirm agreement with this policy.


text: Seller: collector08888 (1,748) 100%, Location: Flemington, New Jersey, Ships to: Americas, Europe, Asia, AU, Item: 253378908270 Ancient Egyptian scarab restrung with mummy beads, 18" long. Nile Art has over 25 years expertise and guarantees the authenticity of every piece sold. Visit Collector08888's AboutMe Page. Check out my other items! Be sure to add me to your favorites list!


text:
Health IT Security: What Can the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Contribute?
Andy Oram is an editor at O'Reilly Media, a highly respected book publisher and technology information provider. An employee of the company since 1992, Andy currently specializes in open source, software engineering, and health IT, but his editorial output has ranged from a legal guide covering intellectual property to a graphic novel about teenage hackers. His articles have appeared often on EMR & EHR and other blogs in the health IT space. Andy also writes often for O'Reilly's Radar site (http://oreilly.com/) and other publications on policy issues related to the Internet and on trends affecting technical innovation and its effects on society. Print publications where his work has appeared include The Economist, Communications of the ACM, Copyright World, the Journal of Information Technology & Politics, Vanguardia Dossier, and Internet Law and Business. Conferences where he has presented talks include O'Reilly's Open Source Convention, FISL (Brazil), FOSDEM, and DebConf.
A dazed awareness of security risks in health IT has bubbled up from the shop floor administrators and conformance directors (who have always worried about them) to C-suite offices and the general public, thanks to a series of oversized data breaches that recentlh peaked in the Anthem Health Insurance break-in. Now the US Senate Health Committee is taking up security, explicitly referring to Anthem. The inquiry is extremely broad, though, promising to address "electronic health records, hospital networks, insurance records, and network-connected medical devices."
Read more..


text:
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Legal issues - what are the DEFINITIVE laws
- ColinOldnCranky
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Legal issues - what are the DEFINITIVE laws
Postby ColinOldnCranky » Sat May 22, 2010 10:22 am
What is the definitive law for electric bikes? On paths? On the road? Much is reported but seldom sourced.
For example, My understanding in WA is that the 10kph is not associated with 200w electric bikes but is, rather, a limit on the capability of gophers and such that have a motor in excess of 200w and would otherwise require a license. But head onover to http://www.inmycommunity.com.au/news-and-views/local-news/Police-warn-bike-riders/7540577/ and the two issues are merged into one.
"MOTORISED bicycles with engines of more than 200W and capable of travelling at more than 10km/h are classified as motorcycles under the Traffic Act, making it illegal to ride them on paths or the road, even with a valid driver's licence."
I have trolled around the WA Govt acts and regs site but thiere is much I have not found.
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Re: Legal issues - what are the DEFINITIVE laws
Postby Joeblake » Sat May 22, 2010 2:21 pm
Looked at in that light, it's a pretty grey area to be sure.
It would seem that it would be possible to be charged if I were doing (say) 35 km/h but the motor was not working, since it is governed to only 16 km/h.
I certainly wouldn't want to go before a court using that article as a reference, but I'll have a bit of a dig around myself and perhaps we could start up a thread with links to definitive legislation in each state, and see if we can make some sense of it all.
Bertrand Russell
- KenGS
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Re: Legal issues - what are the DEFINITIVE laws
Postby KenGS » Sat May 22, 2010 2:47 pm
bicycle means a vehicle with 2 or more wheels that is built to be propelled by human power through a belt, chain or gears (whether or not it has an auxiliary motor), and—
(a) includes a pedicab, penny-farthing and tricycle; but
(b) does not include a scooter, wheelchair, wheeled recreational device, wheeled toy, or any vehicle with an auxiliary motor capable of generating a power output over 200 watts (whether or not the motor is operating);
Helmets! Bells! Rego!
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Re: Legal issues - what are the DEFINITIVE laws
Postby Joeblake » Sat May 22, 2010 3:26 pm
(It's quite big, about 400 pages)
Bertrand Russell
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Re: Legal issues - what are the DEFINITIVE laws
Postby DarrylH » Sat May 22, 2010 3:44 pm
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Re: Legal issues - what are the DEFINITIVE laws
Postby Joeblake » Sat May 22, 2010 3:47 pm
And one from Western Australia (fact sheet, not legislation)
http://www.transport.wa.gov.au/cycling_ ... _bikes.pdf
Bertrand Russell
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Re: Legal issues - what are the DEFINITIVE laws
Postby blkmcs » Sat May 22, 2010 4:22 pm
Road Traffic Act 1974
Preliminary Part I
s. 5
power assisted pedal cycle means a vehicle designed to be
propelled through a mechanism operated solely by human
power, to which is attached one or more auxiliary propulsion
motors having a combined maximum output not exceeding 200
A power assisted pedal cycle is defined as a bicycle here
Road Traffic (Bicycles) Regulations 2002
3. Interpretation
(1) In these regulations, unless the contrary intention appears —
bicycle means —
(a) any 2 wheeled vehicle, not being a scooter, that is
designed to be propelled solely by human power;
(b) any 3 wheeled vehicle, intended for use on a road, that is
designed to be propelled solely by human power; or
(c) a 2 wheeled or 3 wheeled vehicle that is a power assisted
pedal cycle;
However the definition changes here
Road Traffic Code 2000
Part 1 Preliminary
r. 3
bicycle means a vehicle with 2 or more wheels that is built to be
propelled by human power through a belt, chain or gears
(whether or not it has an auxiliary motor) —
(a) including a pedicab, penny-farthing and tricycle; but
(b) not including a wheelchair, wheeled recreational device,
wheeled toy, scooter or a power-assisted pedal cycle (if
the motor is operating);
So it appears that when the motor is off it is a bicycle but when the motor is on it is something else, haven't found out what yet.
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Re: Legal issues - what are the DEFINITIVE laws
Postby x8pg2qr » Tue May 25, 2010 11:30 am
Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch
Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch
- KenGS
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Re: Legal issues - what are the DEFINITIVE laws
Postby KenGS » Tue May 25, 2010 12:16 pm
blkmcs wrote:So it appears that when the motor is off it is a bicycle but when the motor is on it is something else, haven't found out what yet.
You are looking at laws from three differnt times: 1974, 2002 and 2000
Presumably the latest definition (2002) supersedes the others. You need to check which is current
Helmets! Bells! Rego!
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Re: Legal issues - what are the DEFINITIVE laws
Postby aussiejeff » Thu Jun 03, 2010 7:27 pm
blkmcs wrote:In WA a power assisted pedal cycle is defined here.Road Traffic Act 1974
Preliminary Part I
s. 5
power assisted pedal cycle means a vehicle designed to be
propelled through a mechanism operated solely by human
power, to which is attached one or more auxiliary propulsion
motors having a combined maximum output not exceeding 200
Being complete tosspots when it comes to knowing ANYTHING about electric motors, they have conveniently neglected to accurately define "maximum output" as being (a) Continuous or (b) Peak power. Currently, electric motors for bicycles are mostly rated at their CONTINUOUS power output (ie a power setting that can be maintained almost indefinitely without incurring any damage whatsoever to the motor or windings).
These ratings are usually VERY conservative for obvious reasons of offering a "reliable" product that should give many trouble free years of service (though some manufacturers of "cheaper" quality motors might be pushing the "rating" envelope a bit!)
What these "authorities" who set the laws fail to realise is that a motor rated, say, at 36V 200W with a 14A controller that has a natural unloaded max speed of 25kph will pull approx 540W going uphill under max amps!! So much for their "maximum output" rubbish. If 200W really WAS to be the maximum "peak" output under max load, the continuous rating would have to be down around 80W or so - not enough to pull the skin off a runny custard, let alone even think of climbing ANY sort of slope - clearly NOT desirable!!
Obviously, there needs to be a National approach to this, with Federal laws overriding state bumpf. Having all these stupid, confusing, illogical and wildly varying state laws really is madness and certainly does us no credit in the eyes of international tourists IMO. The sooner this situation is resolved, the better we can all get on with enjoying the benefits of e-biking without having to worry about whether we are "legal" or not...
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Re: Legal issues - what are the DEFINITIVE laws
Postby hartleymartin » Fri Jun 04, 2010 12:26 am
http://raleightwenty.webs.com - the top web resource for the Raleigh Twenty
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Re: Legal issues - what are the DEFINITIVE laws
Postby glowwormbicycles » Wed Sep 15, 2010 6:43 pm
- it has to have pedals
- it has to be below 200W (but we don't know what that means or how to measure it)
- it can go whatever speed it wants
What is not generally agreed upon in NSW is whether or not a throttle is legal. My opinion is that it is legal, but the confusion comes from the fact that a judge once declared a certain electric scooter (with pedals) as illegal because the motor was the primary source of the scooter's power. IMHO, he judged this way because it was clearly not what was intended by the laws (it was a motor scooter with full fairing and little pedals, weighed 70kg and could go 40km/h on motor alone and was probably around 2000W peak output), but it was too difficult to declare it above 200W because they (RTA and NSW Police) didn't know what that meant or how to measure it, so instead used his discretion to declare that the vehicle in question did not have an 'auxiliary motor'.
Just because a judge said that doesn't mean a throttle that can make an ebike move by itself is categorically illegal, it would be up to a judge in each case to decide if the ebike had an 'auxiliary motor' or not.
My philosophy on these things remains the same:
If it's reasonably low powered and not too fast and if it looks like a bicycle, then the Police won't notice or care and other users of the bike paths won't complain. Furthermore, in front of a judge it would like just like a pedal assist bike and you'd be fine. When the new laws come in, if ever they do, we might be able to say the same as above except replace 'reasonably low powered' with something definitive and 'not too fast' with 25km/h. But other than that, little will change. Sure there are many borderline ebike/mopeds/scooter cases but I'm not that interested in those ones and once the 25km/h law comes in, they'll be ruled out.
And those horrible petrol powered things - they aren't illegal by default but they have little chance of being below 200W and they attract attention from police and the public, so they tend to get in trouble. The reason more people don't end up in court with those is they generally self destruct (the petrol bikes and or the people) before the local cops stop them enough times to take it further.
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Re: Legal issues - what are the DEFINITIVE laws
Postby Joeblake » Wed Sep 15, 2010 7:04 pm
glowwormbicycles wrote:
Just because a judge said that doesn't mean a throttle that can make an ebike move by itself is categorically illegal, it would be up to a judge in each case to decide if the ebike had an 'auxiliary motor' or not.
As a court reporter, I have worked on many cases where previous decisions by judges (even in other countries eg UK) are quoted as precedent law in Australian courts. Once a decision has been made by one decider of fact, it's usually easier for second court to follow that precedent. That's not to say a subsequent case can't overturn a previous decision, but it usually means that more work has to be done, by both counsel and judges, to get the interpretation changed.
Bertrand Russell
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Proposal to change definition of power assisted cycles
Postby alan101 » Wed Sep 22, 2010 11:01 am
I've been posting content on a national proposal to change the definition of power assisted cycles (includes ebikes) in a Bicycle Victoria forum thread. I favour the 50 watt (0.07hp) increase in power to 250w (0.34hp), but find the 25kmh speed limit and pedalec throttle system abhorrent. I currently ride a 200w Jamis ebike up to 34kmh, before the motor fizzes and I just let go the throttle and crank it. This is usually with a tail wind or off a RR hill. I was doing a regular 200w ebike 1-2x/wk 34.4km (one way) commute in 1'15" Werribee to Melb CBD for 2 years, and recently retired. The legislation proposal was work-shopped by NSW RTA, and currently (9/2010) resides with fed Dept of Infrastructure, Road Safety Standards Unit.
The 250w/25kmh proposal is being driven by compliance issues in NSW; and not for promoting fitness, reducing traffic congestion or climate abatement. It is not in the best interest of the ebike genre. Adopting the EU standard is not culturally appropriate in Australia, and a lazy way to update our standard. The new legislation will affect the Australian Standard and Road law for the next 10 years. The process has taken 2 years to date, and is copying someone else's standard! Pedalec introduces undesirable ride characteristics with starting (power kicks in hard (AT) 6kmh) and at 23-25kmh power cuts out making it awkward in traffic. Bikes in traffic are safest when they are moving closest to traffic speed, and merge well with the flow.
For a paper trail on a proposal to update the 30y old Aust Standard that set 200w as the ebike limit (being power a fit male can output), see this thread.
'NSW looking at electric bike wattage limit':
http://www.bv.com.au/forums/viewtopic.p ... &start=150.
Another BV thread of general interest around ebikes is 'Bikes for the non-cyclist' :
http://www.bv.com.au/forums/viewtopic.p ... 58#p481358
Werribee ebiker
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Submission to Bicycle Vic Board re 250w/25kmh law: no
Postby alan101 » Thu Sep 30, 2010 12:46 pm
'The board received your submission and considered the matter at our meeting just last Monday (27/10/10). You will receive a letter of response but basically the board remains committed to the adoption of a single Australian standard for e-bikes as proposed by the NSW RTA and a speed limit at 25 kmh. There will be more detail about our reasoning in the letter you will soon receive'.
From a separate source I was told that my 13p submission was reduced to a single page and given to the board for consideration near the end of the meeting. I was not allowed to present a case before the board.
A few things come to mind with this. A Qld ebike manuf/retailer told me that regular bike retailers and the lycra brigade are the worst enemies of ebikes. This outcome rather endorses that viewpoint, although the link I make is tenuous. He also found that Bicycle NSW gave a similar deaf ear to his attempts to raise technical ebike issues.
The paper which I presented had 33 points, and 5 appendices of technical discussion. I don't believe the board have considered the ebike issue in any sort of informed manner. I had discussion with 2 ebike manuf/retailers, an ABC New Inventor, a UK pedalec expert and others whose opinions went into the submission. No one who appreciates ebikes thinks 25kmh pedalec speed limiting is good for the genre. So the question arises, who are the Bicycle Victoria Board supporting, because it isn't people involved with ebikes. The proposed standard represents a 25% decrease in ebike speed capability, in exchange for a 0.07hp increase in power to 0.34hp.
I wouldn't recommend ebikers joining Bicycle Victoria for representation.
This reply to me today from a UK pedalec expert, 'It's sad isn't it Alan, exactly the same as the sort of reply we get in Britain, "Thanks very much but we'll just carry on as we intended", so you already know what to expect in their full reply. This sort of governance makes a mockery of democracy, just blocking any participation in decision making, no matter how well informed'.
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250w/25kmh: ebike sector in Oz not consulted
Postby alan101 » Fri Oct 01, 2010 6:38 pm
What is substantively missing with this 250w/25kmh proposal in Oz is any discussion with the exisiting ebike sector. I've talked with EVS, who are now Australia's biggest ebike distributor (AustPost contract), and they're not happy about 25kmh speed limiting or pedalec throttle control. Elation in Qld was deeply dismayed with the process, and he's been going 5 years with ebikes.
The other bias in this legislative proposal is that pedestrian safety on shared paths is given high importance, leading to the 23-25kmh power cutoff to motor. It ignores that a cyclist can ride to the prevailing conditions. However, the benefit of bikes travelling >30kmh in traffic so they merge with the traffic flow easier is not addressed at all.
I now know that Bicycle Vic and Bicycle NSW are apparently bent on marginalising ebike capability with a 25% cutback in speed (the 23-25kmh power cutout to motor) in exchange for a 50 watt (0.07hp) gain to become 250w (0.34hp). This trade-off just doesn't stack up for existing ebike manuf/retailers and current users. On my 34km ebike commute (1'15"), it probably adds 20 mins.
This leaves the possibility that some big retail chain is holding sway, based on the sweet sell of 'great ebikes in every shop and elec-mechanics in every workshop' that I've heard. A bike mechanic here told me that the Aust bike sector is really quite small, and it isn't hard for individuals to push themselves up the food chain in bicycle groups. Funny I say quite small, because bikes have outsold cars the last few years.
UK pedalec expert replied to me (1/10/10)
That exactly parallels our experience, no-one in our e-bike sphere has been involved in discussion about the laws set by parliament and the EU agenda is mainly influenced by Holland where they have no hills to speak of but do have the largest proportion of bike users in any European country. For the Dutch 250 watts is plenty and being predominantly utility cyclists, 25 kph is plenty fast enough for getting the shopping and riding to school or work on local cyclepaths. For us in Britain having large areas dominated by hills and where commuting distances into our large cities can be long and mixed with motor traffic, we need both more power for climbing and 35 kph to keep commuting times and speeds sensible, but we have no way of getting those. This is why I so clearly understand your situation and frustration.
On the other hand I can see why the EU is guided the way it is. The Dutch with just 16 million population buy around 350,000 e-bikes a year currently. Britain with 60 million population buys 20,000 in a good
year, so of course it's the Dutch they are mainly guided by since their e-bike buying and usage rate is nearly 50 times that of Britain's. The other low countries and Germany also have very high e-bike sales, and indeed those countries also have very much higher ordinary bike usages too, so it's understandable they get much more say than us.
There's another reason why Britain won't get any increase out of Europe, we've already had one on speed and are about to get a second one, this time on power, meaning our chances of a repeat on those is minimal. Our original EAPC regulations were for 200 watts and 12 mph (19 kph) assist power limit, but some while ago to nearly harmonise with the EU the assist limit was raised to 15 mph (24 kph) and we are about to have the 250 watts finally made fully legal.
I'm sure you are right about major players being the influence there. With the main e-bike sources being China, Japan and now Germany, the latter two already having 250watt and 25 kph laws and China producing to those standards, the pressure from business interests is mainly going to be for low cost conformity, not expensive diversity.
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Chinese law, Japan and EU ebikes.
Postby alan101 » Sat Oct 02, 2010 9:57 am
From personal email with UK pedalec expert, 2/10/10.:
The Chinese legal position has been high power with low assist speed, their so called e-bikes are in fact what we would think of as mopeds with rudimentary pedals. Generally approaching 700 watts rating and scarcely needing pedals, the assist limit is 12 mph but that's been universally ignored, 20 mph being common. I was aware that they were tryng to crack down now, but with not much success. Of course in some of their towns and cities e-bikes are totally banned and in other main centres they are banned from certain routes on the grounds that they > hold up cars!
Japan has long had a large domestic market for e-bikes, exports being from Yamaha and Panasonic, mainly to Taiwan and Europe. I knew they hardly appeared there in Australia due to their 250 watts rating. Yamaha were our largest selling Japanese brand for a long time, but the position has reversed with a number of European and Swiss makes using the Panasonic units and Yamaha only represented by the use of their unit in the Hungarian Gepida e-bikes. In mainland Europe's cycling countries Chinese e-bikes sell very much less these days, the market dominated by the European and Swiss brands, plus Giant of Taiwan. One main reason for that is the sophistication of the pedelec systems on the throttle-less Japanese and European designs, Chinese pedelec controls being mostly crude rubbish and general bike quality iffy. This comment from "Blew it" in our forum illustrates what I mean, the Kalkhoff Sahel being Panasonic > powered and German quality:
"After climbing Blunsdon hill, I popped into the E-bike shop for a cuppa. While they were brewing up, I went for quick spin on a £2.5K hub-motored bike, talk about chalk and cheese. After riding Sahel for
four days the difference was immediately noticeable. Crude power delivery, harsh ride even though it had front suspension, nowhere near as nice to ride."
If you do get the pedelec only law I'm sure your market will change too, our British one also drifting strongly towards the European made bikes now. Europe is increasingly getting it's own power units too, the direct drive Sparta unit, the Daum now and of course the long established Heinzmann, plus new entrants from Bosch, Siemens and Smart (Mercedes). Japan also has Sunstar, Dapush and Shimano motors now added to Panasonic and Yamaha. There's a new Swiss hub motor appearing in some French and German bikes and Canadian BionX sales are currently expanding rapidly in Europe. Exciting times!
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Pedalec is bionic assist (UK)
Postby alan101 » Mon Oct 04, 2010 11:17 am
Yes I suppose my mail did show the good sides, but they are real. For example, pedelec means that power is only there while pedalling, meaning it's impossible for the police to tell by sight if the motor is assisting you when doing over 25 kph or whether you are doing it on your own. Pedelecs like the Panasonic and Yamaha crank/chain drive units don't have continuously running motors anyway, the systems are truly bionic. The motors are servo ones in effect, applying thrust pulses during each pedal downstroke on the torque sensor and accurately mimicking the leg muscles pressure on the pedals. In standard mode you have your normal strength doubled, in High Power mode it's multiplied to two and a half or three times normal strength depending on model. To up the assist speed on the hub gear models you just change the rear sprocket for less that £5, any assist speed limit from 17 to 20 mph available. You can't do that on a hub motor bike! Derailleurs not so flexible since that means changing the cassette cluster and there are limits for how far that can increase top gear unless a wide range hub gear is used, Rohloff, SRAM DualDrive or NuVinci CVT.
The 12 mph Chinese assist speed limit is with or without pedalling, the motor is supposed to cut at that, but none of them do. The gearing is usually single speed and very low, usually only possible to pedal to about 10 mph with legs spinning fast. This is what a typical Chinese e-bike looks like, this one sold in England with 250 watts only but 680 watts in China:
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Ebikes on Vic shared paths (w/ pedestrains)
Postby alan101 » Mon Oct 04, 2010 12:13 pm
With currently proposed 250w/25kmh legislation, ebikes would have pedalec throttle control to cut out power to the motor at 23-25kmh. This is largely predicated around pedestrian safety on shared paths. It ignores that riders have a brain and can ride to the conditions.
However, it completely misses that cyclists are safest in traffic when their speed is most closely matched to the traffic. In crowded city traffic, traffic may move at 40-50 kmh, so an ebike doing 32kmh is safer than someone on an unassisted bike riding at 12kmh. If you're riding a car's tail, no one is going to cross your path and cut you off.
My 200w Jamis ebike travels happily at 28-32kmh in up to 15kn (24kmh) headwinds. Speed drops to 24-26kmh in 15-25kn headwinds. For a 34km commute, the ebike gave you a good workout but also stamina to reliably cover the distance in 1'15".
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Some historic depth on 250w/25kmh legislative proposal
Postby alan101 » Tue Oct 05, 2010 5:37 pm
URL: http://alanparker-pest.org/
PEST (People for Ecologically Sustainable Transport) was created by a small group of transport activists in 1996 to promote the need for an ecologically sustainable transport system.
In the upper right hand corner of this URL, click on 'Recent publications' to view his lobbying work for ebikes.
He makes an interesting case that NSW RTA have mandated for limits on ebikes which have allowed some of the worst examples of ebikes and e-scooters to be sold in NSW, while simultaneously keeping out the best 250w ebikes from Japan and Europe. Japan, in particular, devised their ebike laws scientifically and with govt support to help specific population segments with low cost sustainable transport. NSW RTA failed to cite Japan's ebike reference material in it's reporting, and appear to have obfuscated against improved ebike standards in Australia for years.
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Ebikes for the elderly and disabled.
Postby alan101 » Sat Oct 09, 2010 12:13 pm
Comment from Melbourne ebike retailer. Sales to the under 40 year age group comprise a significant proportion of disabled persons. For a wheel chair bound child to be able to use a powered ebike to ride with his/her mates is wholly transformational. This group use ebikes out of necessity. Young people don't like the stigma attached to a mobility scooter, but are out in the thick of it with an ebike and no longer disabled. Specifically, this group require a throttle and not pedalec control.
An ebiker with 1 leg was mentioned, who is able to get moving with the throttle and then competently pedal. Otherwise, starting off is difficult. Good for his health and excellent transport. Generalise this across to older people who've got hip or knee replacements. Again, a throttle rather than pedalec control is preferred. Committed cyclists with injuries are another group that buy ebikes to get a leg over.
The UK are about to eliminate throttles and make pedalec power access standard to comply with EU regulations. The UK have major traffic issues, and yet are limited in devising local solutions by over-bridging EU regulation.
Current Australian regulations allow a throttle (good for controlling speed!). The proposed 250w/25kmh-limited PAC legislative revision would disallow a throttle and substitute pedalec controls. Pedalec is an added mechanical complication, potentially increasing weight and cost. Remember the KISS principal: keep it simple stupid?
I was recently made aware that in NZ, where 300w ebikes are common, an elderly or disabled person may access 600-650w ebikes with a doctor's recommendation. This states that the extra power is required due to physical disability. One imagines that the extra 300w power would give an extra 4-6kmh on the flat, but it's utility lies in helping weaker people with hills. A very common sense position. A 74y Aust ebiker with osteo arthritis told me about this.
He also mentioned that 2 years ago the Aust Bicycle Council (ABC, fed govt) were recommending a 300w power limit for ebikes, and he presented this to a transport conference in Wellington NZ. Some 9 mo later he got a letter thanking him for his input, and NZ had adopted the 300w limit they now have. Two years later and Australia still has a 200w limit, and ABC have knocked themselves down to a 250w/25kmh limiting proposition. The extra power (eg 650w max) for people with disabilities was a new concept to me, but one that totally makes sense.
(late entry) A German pedalec site posted this Shanghai trade show example of a pedalec trike for taking a partner out:
http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... echnik.htm
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Current 250w/25kmh Power Asstd Cycle leg'n proposal
Postby alan101 » Sun Oct 10, 2010 11:33 am
- 250 watt maximum power
- Power is only available when pedalling
- Assistance cuts out gradually up to 25 km/h
- Max 6 km/h twist and go power to assist starting
- To generally follow the EU standard EN19154
Two years ago the Australian Bicycle Council supported a 300w PAC maximum, which led to NZ adopting this limit. The current legal maximum for an ebike in Victoria is 200w with no speed restriction.
The current legislation is based upon a May 2009 draft report 'Power assisted pedal cycles proposal for a new AB vehicle definitions' by the NSW Centre for Road Safety. It was submitted in April 2010 by the NSW Road Traffic Authority, who coordinated with RTAs nationally, to (fed) Vehicle Safety Standards Unit, Dept of Infrastructure. The DoI contact is Steven Hoy (02 6274 7511, firstname.lastname@example.com). Mr Hoy's Director told me that if ebike capability were to be degraded by the proposed legislation, there will be an opportunity for public comment. With the level of insight shown into ebikes to date, I doubt that they would know if the legislation were up, down or sideways in relation to ebikes. More recent documentation is not publicly available.
The May 2009 (precursor) draft legislation is located at this URL:
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European Commission Proposes New e-Bike Category
Postby alan101 » Wed Oct 13, 2010 4:22 pm
News Bike Europe, Nov 2010
European Commission Proposes New e-Bike Category for Type Approval
BRUSSELS, Belgium - Last week the European Commission has published its long awaited proposal for the review of the type-approval legislation for mopeds and motorcycles which includes a new e-Bike category.
One of the key issues which the Commission wanted to address with its proposal was the lack of a legislative framework for vehicles fitted with new technologies. It was exactly in this context that the European Two-Wheeler Retailers Association (ETRA) had taken up the matter of e-Bikes with the Commission.
ETRA argued that e-Bikes could not be classified as mopeds and therefore needed to be taken into consideration separately. As a result of ETRA's work, e-Bikes are now acknowledged in the proposal and integrated in the new categorisation.
ETRA is pleased with the fact that the proposal is finally out and that it recognizes e-Bikes as vehicles that differ from mopeds and motorcycles. However, the proposal still leaves room for improvement. ETRA believes that the particularities of the e-Bike business have not been sufficiently taken into account. Even though the draft contains a new category for powered cycles, this category does not cater for all types of e-Bikes.
"The importance of this draft Regulation should not be underestimatedâ€, announced ETRA in a statement. "It will determine whether in the next few years the e-Bike market will have the possibility to develop to the full. ETRA is now preparing for consultations with Parliament, Council and Commission that should eventually result in a Regulation that will allow the e-Bike business to achieve its full potential.â€
Published (AT) 12-10-2010 Author : Jan-Willem van Schaik
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Tim Pallas MP, Vic Minister for Roads and Ports letter
Postby alan101 » Sat Oct 16, 2010 11:40 am
'The proposed new definition does not limit the speed of the bicycle to 25kmh as indicated by Mr Page, it simply cuts off power from the motor. The cyclist can still continue to pedal'.
'As part of the normal process to review proposed changes to the Australian Road Rules and national Vehicle Standards (ADRs), each jurisdiction and other interested parties will have the opportunity to review and comment on the proposals'.
'Victoria will evaluate the outcome of this review when it is completed and will participate in the ongoing development of a national approach to standards for power assisted bicycles. In this process, Victoria will be looking to ensure that the safety of all road users across the state are properly considered'.
A 3 para extract of my 13/10/10 reply to Ms Gillard's office follows:
'The 23-25kmh power cutout to the motor being proposed has 2 genesis. One is that NSW has a vocal pedestrian advocate, and the original Australian Bicycle Council (fed govt) proposal for 300w ebikes has got watered down to 250w and 25kmh speed limiting as a tribute to him. This ignores that cyclists in traffic are safest when their speed is most closely matched to surrounding traffic. A cyclist riding the rear quarter of a 40kmh car is less likely to have someone cut across his/her path, or accelerate to turn left across the cyclist's path than a 12kmh rider'.
'The second issue I've heard a couple of times is that adopting the EU standard 250w/25kmh is the easiest and least costly way to get a power increase for Australian ebikes. This legislative proposal has been going on for 2 years, with NSW RTA doing the startup work; with another year probable before the legislation comes into effect. Three years to copy an existing standard is very lame! There is a lock step movement who only want a 250w/25kmh standard, and it's probably because setting up a new Australian Standard is felt to be a costlier option'.
'The existing Australian Standard is 30 years old, and the new one is meant to last for the next 10 years. The world has changed immensely in 30 years. Ebikes use 1% of the caloric energy in fuel to move a person compared with a car. The ebike offers huge benefits across health, climate abatement, regional dislocation, and traffic calming. It would be worth doing a decent revision of the Australian Standard, and this would include utilising the full potential that ebikes offer rather than this current nobbling proposition. The nobbling is so nanny state micro-management, and a typical RTA over-reaction to a new and evolving mode of transport. The fed Dept of Infrastructure's Vehicle Safety Standards unit are currently looking at how the legislative proposal affects the Australian Standard'.
I'll add here, that Mr Pallas's response mirrors that which a representative of the Australian Retail Cycle Traders Association gave to me in a phone conversation. That is, 'the 25kmh peedalec limit simply cuts off power from the motor. The cyclist can still continue to pedal'. This is very indicative of people who have never ridden an ebike. Ebikes weigh between 18-40kg, depending on construction and particularly battery type. Mine weighs 22kg with bell, lights, mudguards, rack and Li-ion battery. The weight of an ebike holds it's speed down to a max 2-4kmh more than what the motor helps it achieve when pedaling vigorously; and then wind resistance kicks in above 30kmh. So my 200w ebike does a max 34kmh pedal assisted when the motor just fizzes out, and if I let go the throttle and grab the bar extensions I can crank it up to 36 kmh for 1-2km. So when the pedalec's motor is cutout by design at 23-25kmh, then pedaling like mad might get you to 25-27kmh. So people who that tell you one can always pedal up the speed basically have no concept of how ebikes work, are sadistic, or both.
Note that Beach Rd (Melb) weekend road bikers do 40-45kmh when applying themselves, and can have a good chat at 35kmh. An appendix in my 13p submission of early Oct 2010 to Ms Gillard and Mr Pallas explains the speed self-limiting characteristic of ebikes, and follows:
Introduction. Bicycle Victoria Forum member Kens did (2) 100km bike rides on the weekend, went to work Monday and Monday evening did this work. He has an electronics engineer background, but currently works in IT. He doesn't have an ebike, although has considered having one previously. He's dispassionate about the 25kmh pedalec cut-off question, and did this to look at ebike motor characteristics.
We had earlier interacted thus. (Ken) RE.'Brushless motors which are a bit after my time as they rely heavily on electronic control. Basically their power peaks at half their absolute maximum speed whilst torque is maximum at stalling speed. I'm interested to see if there is an optimum for both speed on the flat and climbing. I suspect not, so you need to design for one or the other.'.
(Alan) 'My Suzho Bafang brushless hub motor uses somewhere around 1:14 gear reduction in the hub (3 nylon planetary gears). Gearing lets the motor rev high, but give torque at wheel speed. It makes a noise like 'a tram starting off' below 26.5 kmh, and then is happily in it's torque range around 27-32kmh and really does nothing (beyond it's torque curve) >34kmh. There is an electronic controller in my rack soft pack in front of the battery, which a thumb throttle controls'.
Ken's treatise was then developed: Interesting that you mention a torque curve. As I understand it, a DC Motor (brushed or brushless) has a linear torque vs rpm "curve". Max torque occurs at stall and zero torque at maximum rpm. This is the same with our human legs by the way.
So there is a power curve where maximum power occurs at 1/2 max rpm and half max torque. If I recall right its due to the back EMF produced in the windings - a voltage that is generated that opposes the battery voltage and reduces the current and therefore the torque (since torque is proportional to current).
The power curve is an inverted parabola so what you are calling as a torque range is really a power range. This has interesting implications regarding speed limiting because as you go faster you need more power but the DC motor starts to lose power above 1/2 max rpm. Note: I'm assuming the electronic controller for a brushless DC motor does not do anything fancy to overcome this (e.g. by tweaking the voltage)
Context. The rpm figures used below are at the hub of bike wheel, so after any gearing internal to the motor. Broad parameters are motor doing eg 5400 rpm and wheel 360rpm using a 1:14 planetary reduction gear in the hub motor assembly.
Assuming a 250W hub motor on a 26inch wheel, then 60 wheel rpm translates to 7km/h. So you could design your motor to have peak power at about 300 wheel rpm which allows a 100kg rider+bike to cruise on the flat at 36km/h. This would basically be its top speed (except downhill) since any faster requires more power but you are already at peak. But going uphill would be an issue because a 4% grade at that speed requires some 630W and 8% requires over 1000W.
You could instead design peak power to occur at 180 wheel rpm or 22km/h (so max rpm is 360). At 300 wheel rpm you would be getting (I think) around 140W - not enough. At 270 wheel rpm you get 190W which would keep you going at 32km/h which then becomes your top speed on the flat. On a 4% grade at 180 wheel rpm you are still short of the 307W you need (without pedalling) and well short of the 540W you need for 8%.
So as you can see, as you design more for climbing hills you reduce your top speed on the flat. So speed limiting circuitry is really unnecessary - its an inbuilt characteristic of the motor unless you have specifically designed it for speed on the flat and no climbing ability.
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Negative impact of over-zealous state bike interventions
Postby alan101 » Sat Oct 16, 2010 12:12 pm
From sociologist Dave Horton, Lancaster University,UK on Copenhagenise forum.
URL: http://www.copenhagenize.com/2009/09/fe ... otion.html
- 'Efficacy at the aggregate level. Do helmet promotion campaigns make cycling more or less safe, overall? There is evidence that cycling levels decline when helmets are promoted and collapse when they become compulsory (Liggett et al 2004, 12). Australia, the first country to make cycle helmets compulsory, witnessed a post-compulsion fall in levels of cycling of between 15 and 40 per cent (Adams 1995, 146). According to 'the Mole' (2004, 5), in Melbourne 'compulsion reduced the number of child cyclists by 42% and adults by 29%'. Because cycling tends to be safest where there are many cyclists (Jacobsen 2003), and most dangerous in places with few cyclists, and because helmet promotion campaigns reduce the overall numbers of cyclists, helmet promotion increases the risk of cycling. The relationship between increased cycling and increased safety appears to be confirmed by the experiences of the Netherlands and Denmark, which have high levels of cycling, very low rates of helmet wearing, and low rates of death and serious injury among cyclists'.
In the context of ebikes, mandatory power cutout to the motor at 23-25kmh makes the ebike slower in traffic. Hence, is more disposed to drivers cutting of the cyclist; eg a driver accelerating in front of the rider to turn left and cut the cyclist off. Similarly, if the ebiker travels faster he/she will have less traffic to contend with for a given journey distance. In my 34km commute from Werribee to Melb CBD, the 25kmh motor limit would add 20 mins to my current 1' 15" trip time. I would therefore use my motorcycle instead, leaving me open to acquiring lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, obesity and heart disease. That's not in the traffic portfolio, so road traffic authorities don't have any problem with that.
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Saris Bones 2 bike carrier, black, no. SAB2-BL
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Saris reckon that the Bones is "The World's best selling rear rack" - it's sold in over 30 countries. This is very likely - it's definitely the best designed rear-door-fitting rack that we've ever tested, from the point of view of ease of fitting and use, and it must fit as wide a range of vehicles as any on the market. It's also uniquely stylish and individual.
Saris reckon that the Bones is "The World's best selling rear rack" - it's sold in over 30 countries. This is very likely - it's definitely the best designed rear-door-fitting rack that we've ever tested, from the point of view of ease of fitting and use, and it must fit as wide a range of vehicles as any on the market. It's also uniquely stylish and individual.
Saris Bones. A quirky name for a one-off design, but that's because Saris have the patents on several unique and very clever features. The Saris Bones 2 will carry two bikes safely on the majority of hatchbacks, estates, MPVs, saloons and convertibles, using three straps per side - top, bottom and middle - to hold the carrier stable and firm. It's very quick and easy to set up and to fold flat again when not in use. The anti-sway straps, a Saris exclusive, make a real difference, and holding the bikes at different heights should also help prevent important components from rubbing against each other. We think it's great.
Use this page to order the black Bones 2. We know that most of the pictures show the blue Bones 3; we'll photograph the Bones 2 and the other colours in due course.
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Saris doesn't publish an up to date European application guide. We've used our best judgment in linking this product to specified vehicles where strap on racks are known to be suitable, but it's up to you to be confident about the stability before using the rack, and of course to read the fitting instructions very carefully, and to do as instructed. If there's doubt about the strength of the mounting for the Upper hooks - for example you must never hook them onto glass - then you should use the Saris Hatch Huggers, listed below. If we know that these are required, we have already selected them for you. Many cars require a lighting board (shown as an option below) and number plate when using this rack as the bikes may obscure the lights and/or number plate.
Many cars require a lighting board (shown as an option below) and number plate when using this rack as the bikes may obscure the lights and/or number plate.
Saris specify that you must EITHER use the 'Hatch Huggers' (listed below) in place of the lower hooks OR place the lower hooks inside the boot (detailed in the instruction manual).
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text:
Rio (US - BD RA)
Gabe falls out of a very high tree while attempting to dance with pretty birds...
During a poacher raid in a Brazilian rainforest a baby blue macaw is captured and sold to a little girl in Moose Lake, Minnesota. Named 'Blu', the macaw (Jesse Eisenberg) and girl, Linda (Leslie Mann) grow up together. Living indoors in the frozen north, Blu never learns to fly, and is generally a bit of a shut-in. One day an ornothonisist named Túlio (Rodrigo Santoro) informs Linda that Blu is the last male of his kind, and suggests he be taken to Rio de Janeiro where he can be bred with a captive female named Jewel (Anne Hathaway). Both Linda and Blu are hesitant, but eventually agree, and accompany Túlio back to Brazil, where Blu meets Jewel, only to find out the two macaws have nothing in common beyond their species. Things are further complicated when Blu and Jewel are kidnapped and chained together.
Some day a major studio will grow the balls required to make an entirely wordless animated animal adventure. Disney threatened to do it with 2000's Dinosaur, Pixar pulled off half a wordless animated robot adventure with Wall-E, and the best parts of Blue Sky's Ice Age films are always the relatively self-contained Scrat sequences, but no one ever has the courage to leave audiences entirely without traditional language dialogue. It seems that a bird-based adventure set in the rain forest with a strong musical presence would be ideal, and when we watch the animal protagonists of Rio through the human characters eyes we get a glimpse of what might have been. The dialogue is also generally not very good, and simple expressions, glances and squawks could've sufficed in almost every case. Sure, there are a few interactions that require dialogue to make total sense, but none of these are important to this rather plot-sparse production, and what we're left with is yet another perfectly entertaining, and perfectly forgettable Blue Sky motion picture.
The people at Blue Sky may need some lessons in writing and developing original concepts, but their animators continue to impress, and at this point have really developed a distinct set of skills. They don't do emotions as well as Pixar, and DreamWorks seems to be pushing for the epic scale crown with stuff like How to Train Your Dragon, but Blue Sky's character animation is top of the line. The character work is so good at points that it overcomes some really obnoxious performances, especially on the parts of will.i.am and Jaime Foxx. With the sound off Pedro and Nico are actually pretty funny, which of course just goes to help prove my 'this would be better without dialogue' point. The majority of the vocal performances are reasonably solid, but Flight of the Concords performer Jemaine Clement steals every scene as the birdly villain. Clement is so amusing I assume he wrote much of his own dialogue (apparently animation tests were made using dialogue from the show). Generally speaking it's difficult to care too much about any of the characters, but the humans are the biggest waste of space, and the human heavy scenes are usually a bore in terms of character, plot, and even animation.
At the very least, just below the amusing character animation, Rio pays homage to the beauty of Brazil, both the natural landscapes (rain forest, sandy beaches), to the contrasting cultures (tourists and the wealthy, versus the poor). The film was directed by Carlos Saldanha, a born native of Rio de Janeiro (who originally pitched the film as being about a penguin in Ipanema, but changed the main character to a macaw after Happy Feet and Surf's Up were released in quick succession), aims his effective animator's eye sharply at the area, presenting a surprisingly complex and epic cartoon representation similar to that of 2005's Robots, which he co-directed with Chris Wedge ( Robots being another visually sumptuous, but unfunny, generally shallow-minded animated film). Not surprisingly the Rio de Janeiro presented in the G-rated Rio isn't nearly as devastated by poverty as the real Rio, but the screenwriters do touch on the slums and crime, and even make one of the human protagonists one of the 'lost boys' of Brazil. There's no mistaking this bird adventure for City of God or anything, but I appreciate the effort in not glossing over the crappy parts of the otherwise very pretty city.
Here comes another one of those boring video section were I simply verify that, yes, this direct digital 1080p Blu-ray transfer looks pretty much perfect. Rio is a celebration of vibrant, eyeball melting colours, so clearly Blu-ray is the way to go for this particular title. The whole movie is swimming in bright, primary hues, with the beach umbrella crashing and Carnaval sequences standing apart from the pack. The production really embraces the 3D format (I assume, this is the 2D copy I'm reviewing), and pushes the digital depth of field to some gorgeous extremes, and in many scales. The flying scenes are the obvious frontrunners in this respect, but the sequence that introduces the thieving marmosets gets my vote for contrasting elements, like candy coloured tourist garb, shiny bits of gold and silver, and lush background forests. Details are always sharp, but the animators mostly chose edges and contrasting hues over texture to maintain the generally more cartoony look. Feathers are an exception, and are effectively different from bird to bird, defining each animal's character beyond body shape and colour. Compression noise is practically non-existent, just watch the footage on the special features for a comparison.
More surprises pile up as I reveal that the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack is also pretty much flawless. The film tears through the gate with a massively noisy musical number, complete with multiple channel vocal harmonies, and impossible to resist rhythm sections that attempt to blast your LFE equipment to pieces. As a system shower-offer this sequence is enough to give the whole disc a pass. Music holds such a large sway over the production that the flying and chase scenes aren't exactly top of the line in terms of sound effects editing, but there's enough air rush to appropriately convey movement and scale. There is a small problem with the dialogue track maintaining consistent volume. Usually the mix is solid, but there were a few times the vocals blared louder than expected, often mid scene. Jemaine Clement's performances are especially loud, and all the musical performance sequences are a bit center heavy for my taste. As stated, music plays a massive role in the film (almost as big as that of George Miller's Happy Feet), and not so surprisingly the music works much better when it sticks pretty strictly to classic samba roots, the major exception being 'Pretty Bird', which was co-written by Jemaine Clement.
The disc starts with a pleasant surprise – an animated short staring Scrat the…whatever Scrat is, from the Ice Age films (2:40, HD). Technically this is a trailer for Ice Age: Continental Drift, but anyone that has seen any of the Ice Age movies knows that the Scrat bits are the best bits, and that nibbles are better than mouthfuls, so enjoy this short, and skip the movie next year. On the actual menu extras start with a deleted scene entitled 'Fruit Stand' (1:30, HD), which is presented with final voice work, temp effects, and in storyreel form. 'Explore the World of Rio' is an interactive map of Rio de Janeiro, including the city, the jungle, the stadium and the beach. Each location features a series of video and text-based extras, and image galleries that describe the real life location. 'Saving the Species: One Voice at a Time' (25:30, HD) takes a little time to interview the director, crew and voice cast in EPK form. It's quite pleasant, and briefly covers the vocal and animation processes, including improv, and filming video reference. I'm guessing it played on the Fox Movie Channel or something. 'The Making of Hot Wings' (8:00, HD) is a behind the scenes look at will.i.am producing a song for the film, including him recording Jaime Foxx, and discussing his love of Samba music (critical discussion is not his strongest suit, apparently). 'Boom-Boom Tish-Tish: The Sounds of Rio' (13:30, HD) explores the film's musical roots, including the hiring of the legendary Sergio Mendes as the executive music producer, and an all-star team of musicians. The last sizable featurette is 'The Real Rio' (9:30, HD), a look at the process of capturing the city in CG animation form. The disc also features 'Canival Dance-O-Rama', a sort of dance lesson/game, a 'Welcome to Rio' music video, a 'Telling the World' music video, a 'Rio de Jam-eiro Jukebox' option, 'Postcards from Rio' creator, a trailer, and an 'Angry Birds Rio' trailer, mash-up, and clue video.
Rio is a forgettable hunk of animated entertainment, but has enough going for it to make it worth at least a single viewing. The imagery is gorgeous and colourful, the character animation is intricate, the chase sequences are exhilarating, and Jemaine Clement makes a great evil Cockatoo. It's all enough to make enduring the dull plotting, and lack of laughs worth the effort. This Blu-ray release is vibrant and sharp, sounds pretty good (never overly impressive), and features a few amusing extras.
*Note: The images on this page are not representative of the Blu-ray image quality.
Review by Gabriel Powers
JackJackMN Member Join Date: January 2006 Location: United States Posts: 629
I really enjoyed this film. It looks and sounds amazing. Maybe it has a soft spot in my heart since I am from Minnesota. I the music is great, the animation is beautiful, colorful. I think it is worth a watch.
All ages admitted
Disc Details
Release Date: 2nd August 2011
Discs: 3
Disc Type: Blu-ray Disc
RCE: No
Video: 1080p
Aspect: 2.40:1
Anamorphic: No
Colour: Yes
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English, DVS 2.0 English, Dolby Digital 5.1 Spanish and French
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Extras: Deleted Scene, Explore the World of Rio, Saving the Species: One Voice at a Time, The Making of Hot Wings, Boom-Boom Tish-Tish: The Sounds of Rio, Carnival Dance-O-Rama, Music Videos, Jukebox, Postcards From Rio, The Real Rio, DVD Copy, Digital Copy
Easter Egg: No
Feature Details
Director: Carlos Saldanha
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, George Lopez, Jaime Foxx, will.i.am
Genre: Animation and Comedy
Length: 96 minutes
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Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Geometry Homework
An arc of up to 90 degrees can be approximated by a single cubic Bezier spline reasonably well. To find an appropriate approximating spline we set the start and end points of the spline to match the arc and then can find the middle two points using the following formula, where A is the start angle and B is the end angle:
h = 4/3 * tan ((B - A)/4)
pt1 = {center.x + r*cos(A), center.y + r*sin(A)}
pt2 = {center.x + r*cos(A) - h*r*sin(A), center.y + r*sin(A) + h*r*cos(A)}
pt3 = {center.x + r*cos(A) + h*r*sin(B), center.y + r*sin(A) - h*r*cos(B)}
pt4 = {center.x + r*cos(B), center.y + r*sin(B)}
This approach works quite well and is currently used by cairo. However, the problem with this approach is that it requires converting to polar coordinates and then back to Cartesian ones. This conversion is slow because it requires the use of trigonometric functions.
Fortunately, this paper gives a solution that avoids the conversion to polar coordinates:
ax = pt1.x - center.x
ay = pt1.y - center.y
bx = pt4.x - center.x
by = pt4.y - center.y
q1 = ax*ax + ay*ay
q2 = q1 + ax*bx + ay*by
k2 = 4/3 (sqrt(2*q1*q2) - q2) / (ax*by - ay*bx)
pt2.x = pt1.x - k2*ay
pt2.y = pt1.y + k2*ax
pt3.x = pt4.x + k2*bx
pt3.y = pt4.y - k2*by
Unfortunately, there is no explanation, derivation or proof for this formula. Even more problematic, the formula for k2 becomes less stable as pt1 approaches pt4, becoming NaN when pt1 equals pt4.
Therefore, the homework problem has two parts:
1. Give an explanation or derivation for the formula for k2 provided above.
2. Provide a similar formulation for pt2 and pt3 that doesn't degenerate as pt1 and pt4 become close or prove that one doesn't exist.
The best answer will be credited in the new cairo stroking code.
17 comments:
- Zack Weinberg said...
I spent a bunch of time staring at this problem for rounded rectangle drawing in Mozilla's Thebes wrapper. You might find the big long comment starting at http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/gfx/thebes/src/gfxContext.cpp#806 helpful, and the papers cited there (especially the one by Michael Goldapp; doi:10.1016/0167-8396(91)90007-X). Unfortunately, it's not available online for free. And I have no idea about the numerical stability when the two arc endpoints are close.
Incidentally, it would be great if Cairo had direct support for SVG elliptical arcs as path segments...
- October 14, 2009 at 12:24 PM
- Boris said...
First off, your formulas for pt2 and pt3 don't match the paper's. The paper has, for example:
pt2.x = pt1.x + center.x - k2*pt1.y
This is clearly bogus, if I understand how this stuff is supposed to work, since that gives the wrong direction at pt1. Your formula for pt2 is more likely to be correct (though your formula for pt3 seems to have bx and by switched).
- October 14, 2009 at 2:05 PM
- Boris said...
OK. So the formula for k2 there gives exactly the same value as the formula for h, up to sign. I didn't check the signs, but they should be checkable without too much trouble.
Proof: The 4/3 is the same in both formulas and can be dropped for purposes of comparing the two values. If R is the radius of the circle, then we have:
q1 = R^2
q2 = R^2 + R^2 cos (B - A)
(since q1 - q1 is just the dot product of (ax,ay) and (bx,by), and the two vectors both have length R and have angle B-A between them.
|ax*by - ay*bx| is just the length of the cross product of the two vectors considered as three-dimensional vectors, and has magnitude R^2*|sin(B-A)|. I'm going to drop the absolute value; this is where you'd need to check your signs.
Now we have (ignoring the 4/3):
k2 = (sqrt(2*R^2*R^2(1 + cos(B-A))) - R^2 - R^2*cos(B-A))/(R^2*sin(B-A).
All the R^2 go away, and we are left with:
k2 = (sqrt(2(1+cos(B-A)) - 1 - cos(B-A))/sin(B-A)
Now we use the identity: 1 + cos(x) = 2cos^2(x/2) to get:
k2 = (2cos((B-A)/2) - 2cos^2((B-A)/2)) / sin(B-A)
and then use sin(2x) = 2sin(x)cos(x) to get:
k2 = (1 - cos((B-A)/2))/(sin((B-A)/2)
Now use 1 - cos(x) = 2sin^2(x/2) and the sin(2x) formula again to get:
k2 = sin((B-A)/4)/cos((B-A)/4)
and we're done.
At least an explanation, right? ;)
- October 14, 2009 at 2:47 PM
- Boris said...
As a note, you could turn my explanation into a derivation by simply running the steps backwards, as long as |(B-A/2)| < pi/2 and B-A != 0.
- October 14, 2009 at 2:52 PM
- Brendan said...
I'll try the challenge...but is there a reason you're using cubic splines? Jim Blinn's excellent "How many ways can you draw a circle?" gives a great selection of circle (and arc) drawing algorithms, most of them for vector displays...perfect if you need to decompose the arc into line segments.
- October 14, 2009 at 4:03 PM
- Boris said...
Jeff, what's the actual input into the algorithm here? Is it the center and the two arc endpoints? Or the two angles A and B? Or something else?
- October 14, 2009 at 4:06 PM
- Brendan said...
rethinking this, maybe you use cubic splines because you can transform just the 4 points? if you do want to check out Blinn's article: page 5 and 6 have two of the better algorithms, but...
Google Books: How Many Ways Can You Draw A Circle?
- October 14, 2009 at 4:15 PM
- Brendan said...
Boris, the cairo api has
void cairo_arc(cairo_t *cr, double xc, double yc, double radius, double angle1, double angle2);
- October 14, 2009 at 4:21 PM
- Jeff Muizelaar said...
The input is the center and the two end points for the arc.
This code will not necessarily be used for implementing cairo_arc because that already use polar coordinates. The Cartesian version is for round joins and caps.
- October 14, 2009 at 5:47 PM
- Jeff Muizelaar said...
@Brendan: We convert arcs to cubic bezier splines because that's what's supported by cairo's path format. There's been talk of keeping arcs as arcs instead of approximating them by splines. However, the additional curve type adds complexity.
Interestingly enough, Postscript had support for arcs but this was removed in PDF.
- October 14, 2009 at 6:12 PM
- Jeff Muizelaar said...
I've quickly skimmed through the paper by Goldapp. He gives the tan(a/4) formulation in the "Hermite-type approximation" section. The other formulations, although potentially more accurate, seemed more complicated than they were worth.
Also, as far as I could tell, the formulations he gives all use polar coordinates?
- October 14, 2009 at 6:19 PM
- Zack Weinberg said...
You can derive from the "Hermite type approximation" a constant α and and some formulas that let you calculate any given quarter-circle without any polar coordinates. A diagram would probably help: see here Basically, given the center point C and the desired radius, you can derive the other three points of the bounding square, A, B, D. B and D are the Bezier endpoints, and the constant α lets you calculate the control points P and Q trivially - the notation α(D→A) means "form the vector from D to A, then multiply it by α".
You then have to cut up the Bezier if you don't want the whole quarter-circle, but I believe that can be done with no trig either.
- October 14, 2009 at 10:46 PM
- Jeff Muizelaar said...
Last night Boris suggested bisecting the angle twice and then computing the tan of it. This turns into the following, which seems to work pretty well:
vector_t mid;
mid.x = a.x + b.x;
mid.y = a.y + b.y;
double l = sqrt(mid.x*mid.x + mid.y*mid.y);
mid.x /= l;
mid.y /= l;
vector_t mid2;
mid2.x = a.x + mid.x;
mid2.y = a.y + mid.y;
k2 = (4./3.)*(-a.y*mid.x + a.x*mid.y)/(a.x*mid2.x + a.y*mid2.y);
Where 'a' and 'b' are the vectors from the center to the start and end points respectively
- October 15, 2009 at 7:51 AM
- Boris said...
mid2, not mid, in the numerator in the k2 calculation there at the end, right?
- October 15, 2009 at 11:04 AM
- Jeff Muizelaar said...
Yep, it should be mid2. I put that error in when manually inlining dot() and perp() to post the solution here. Interestingly enough it still passed the tests that I was running.
- October 15, 2009 at 8:36 PM
It would be very interesting to see the performance numbers comparing this algorithm to the existing code.
- October 18, 2009 at 6:01 AM
- Jeff Muizelaar said...
A quick and dirty comparison puts the polar coordinate version at about 1050 cycles and the new Cartesian one at about 360 cycles. So just under 3x faster.
- October 18, 2009 at 6:55 PM


text:
A group of 13 Marines received a warm welcome at O'Hare International Airport, where they were given a salute and an upgrade to first class.
While sitting in the USO of Illinois Lounge around 6 p.m. on Monday, American Airlines manager Linda Kozma, who works with the Veteran Military Employee Resources Group, learned that a group of 13 Marines making a five-day trip home from Afghanistan would be passing through O'Hare bound for San Diego.
US Marine Corps' Newest Mascot 'Chesty'
A Marine's wife had called the USO, hoping that perhaps the organization could get the Marines some Chicago pizza or Champagne upon arrival. With a limited window of time, Kozma and other volunteers scrambled to give the Marines a warm welcome.
"The city aviation department came in, firefighters, and police," Mary Frances Fagan, a spokesperson for American Airlines, told ABC News.
The fire trucks sprayed arches of water over the arriving plane in a water canon salute as it taxied. Then, American Airlines personnel and others greeted the Marines when they came off of their flight from Baltimore, forming a corridor of applause.
"We want these kids coming home to realize that they haven't been forgotten," said John Colas, a 74-year-old former Marine and USO volunteer, in an interview with the Associated Press.
VIDEO: Marine With PTSD Sues Harley Davidson
Once the group made its way to the next gate, strangers also expressed their support for the Marines.
"American Airlines has a policy of upgrading military personnel if seats are available," said Fagan. "We had six first-class seats free already. But then Linda got on the PA and explained to those in the gate area that she hoped they would help her welcome the returning Marines."
Seven passengers volunteered to give up their seats so that all service personnel could ride in first class to San Diego. Kozma told Fagan that the soldiers were very grateful and appreciative of all the effort taken on their behalf.
"While they didn't get the Chicago pizza and Champagne, I can tell you there is no doubt that in first class they were served whatever alcoholic beverage they chose," said Fagan. "They were greeted in style and escorted in style and people honored and recognized them for their service."


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On Friday, Casey Kotchman signed a free-agent deal with the Marlins, his seventh team in 10 MLB seasons. He was brought on, at least in part, because Logan Morrison is coming off knee surgery. Only now Kotchman will be out for at least a few days, too. During a drill yesterday, he accidentally ran into a pitching machine that was tossing infield pop-ups. But instead of letting the machine fall to the ground after the collision, Kotchman tried to grab it to keep it upright. He wound up gashing his left
index ring finger and had to get four stitches.
"It's probably not every day where you get your hand caught in a pitching machine, on a pop fly," he said.
Teammate Greg Dobbs interjected that Kotchman should have let the machine topple over.
"I'm trying to be a gentleman to the machine, and not throw it down to the ground," Kotchman replied.
And they say chivalry is dead. The pitching machine simply had no words to express its gratitude.


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Steve here from Pelagic Productions Ltd, a UW productions company I run out of New Zealand. I have been working in the dive industry full time since 1995 in various locations and as an UW camera operator (video) for TV and other productions since 2004. I shoot HD and more and more 3D for work.
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Girl Scouts of Northern Illinois is partnering with Sage YMCA to offer a Journey Camp to all girls in fourth and fifth grades. During the camp, girls will take center stage in aMUSE or gain new energy in Get Moving! The camp will be July 22–26, and July 29–August 2, 12:30–2:30 p.m., at Sage YMCA, 701 Manor Rd., in Crystal Lake. Girls should bring their own refillable water bottle.
Camp registration is $82 per registered Girl Scout; $94 per non-registered Girl Scout. The additional $12 registers girls as Girl Scouts and allows them to participate in this program and others throughout the summer! Families should visit www.sageymca.org to download enrollment forms, medical health forms, and releases which must be submitted at registration. Interested families may also register their girl for camp online at www.girlscoutsni.org. Limited financial assistance is available for qualified participants. Please contact MaryBeth Markwell at 847-741-5521, Ext. 7112, or email@example.com.
This camp is partially funded through the McHenry County Community Foundation. Funding supplies girls with Girl Scout Journey books, supplies, and financial assistance for participants.
About Girl Scout Journeys
Girls now have three series of National Leadership Journeys to choose from:
• It's Your World – Change It!
• It's Your Planet – Love It!
• It's Your Story – Tell It!
On every Leadership Journey, everything girls do—whether it's performing science experiments, creating art projects, cooking simple meals, or learning to protect the planet's water supply—is aimed at giving them the benefits of the Girl Scout Keys to Leadership: Discover, Connect, and Take Action.
A girl Discovers her special skills and talents, finds the confidence to set challenging goals for herself, and strives to live by her values. This includes being proud of where she came from as well as where she's going. A girl Connects with others, which means she learns how to team up, solve conflicts, and have healthy relationships. These skills help her in school right now and prepare her for any career she chooses in the future. A girl Takes Action and makes the world a better place, learning a lot about her community and the world along the way
About Girl Scouts of Northern Illinois
Girl Scouts of Northern Illinois serves over 18,000 girls and 5,500 adult volunteers in parts or all of Boone, Carroll, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Jo Daviess, Kane, Kendall, Lake, LaSalle, Lee, McHenry, Ogle, Stephenson, Whiteside, and Winnebago counties.
Through the Girl Scout Leadership Experience, girls in grades K through 12 are engaged in discovering themselves, connecting with others, and taking action to make the world a better place. Girls develop leadership potential by participating in age-appropriate activities that enable them to discover their values, skills, and the world around them. Activities in science and technology, business and economic literacy, and outdoor and environmental awareness provide girls with opportunities for fun and friendship while fostering the development of leadership skills and self-esteem. For more information on how to join, volunteer, reconnect or donate to Girl Scouts of Northern Illinois, visit www.girlscoutsni.org or call 1-800-242-5591.
About Preferred Partners
Sage YMCA is one of GSNI's Preferred Partners. GSNI often works with outside organizations to provide programming to local girls. When an organization chooses to partner with GSNI, they have visibility to over 23,000 girls and adults and thousands more parents across 16 counties in northern Illinois aligning with the largest organization for girls in the world!
There are three ways businesses and organizations partner with GSNI:
• Preferred Partner—Programming is associated specifically to the Girl Scout Leadership Experience and offered only to Girl Scouts.
• Community Service Opportunities—Projects or actions that benefit the community, giving girls a greater understanding of their local and global communities. Through community service, girls begin to understand issues in their community and work together toward improvement.
• Community Offering—Events or activities that are open to the public, or provide a discount or special offer to Girl Scouts. These events enhance the Girl Scout Leadership Experience and support the Girl Scout mission.
To learn more about how easy it is to become a community partner by offering activities tied to the Girl Scout Leadership Experience, contact Stacie Simpson at 815-235-8777, Ext. 7148, or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Everyone else has one, we need one too. Also, I want to post some things that aren't necessarily regular threads in the gallery.
First, some rules.
Rule 1. I give myself the authority to make rules.
Rule 2. Pictures here may be cross posted, on occasion, in the appropriate photo gallery section, since there isn't too much traffic here.
Rule 3. Pictures may demonstrate the superiority of the Olympus system, the photographer, or be fun but otherwise suck. Or anything in between.
Ok, enough rules... GO!
(I'll start off modestly, then the rest of you can show me how its done).
Moonset over Lake Schmiddel in Desolation Wilderness. E-410, 18-180mm lens at 180mm. f/11, ISO100, 1/13s, rock tripod. Converted to B&W in PP, then contrast increased.


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