text:
Say What?!?
Some time ago, I was in an engineering meeting and we were discussing bandwidth and data rates. I was waxing eloquent about how various IP blocks could deliver data at a rate of such and such megabytes per second. I had just started my discourse and was building up to a full head of steam to deliver my prima facie case when one of the engineers in the room interrupted me and said "You mean mebibytes per second?" I stopped for a moment squinted and wrinkled up my face and said to him whilst giving my very best 'snooty waiter' impression, "Excuse me?" He then demurely repeated himself because I was giving him 'that look' that bespoke me thinking quite loudly "Seriously?!? You just interrupted me when I was about to deliver a masterful and insightful comment?" Those of you who know me know 'the look' I am referring to that precedes me sucking all the air out of the room, but I digress – He said again "You mean mebibytes per second…you know…power of two and all that?" Everyone in the meeting then turned to look at me, and not unlike watching a tennis tournament, waited to see how I was going to return the rather clumsily served ball. I did what every well heeled, hot-blooded engineer would do in that case and simply volleyed with a "Yeah…" and continued on my merry way with my brilliant, although now somewhat tarnished, point.
Now, two things were running through my head during this rather odd exchange. Either this engineer had just said the word 'megabytes' twice the way Elmer Fudd would say it and therefore he had a speech impediment that I had never noticed before, and it was therefore prudent of me to not mock him and say very slowly and distinctly "yes…
M E G A B Y T E S" with the emphasis on the 'G' –or- perhaps I had no idea what the heck he was talking about and it was best to just nod and move on, because after all whilst unlikely it was possible that…well, you know.
I went back to my office and promptly decided to "research" this complete mispronunciation of the word 'megabytes'. Most of you probably thought I ran to Google as fast as frat boys to a keg – admit it…there's no shame in that…but I say 'nay nay' (RIP John Pinette). Instead I went to the place that I always go to when I want 'real' answers – not answers 'paid for' by the highest bidder (ouch…too soon?) Yes folks…I went to the 'Dark Web' which filled the void when Silk Road was "shut down".
The answer to "are mebibytes a real thing?" came back very slowly and with a deet deet deet sound, you know the way computers work in the movies (because of the Matrix, Hollywood directors still think REAL computers connect to each other through telephone hard lines and run at 1200 baud (n,8,1)) but surprisingly my answer from the Dark Web did come back at like two characters per second and in green text– I guess it took that long because the folks running the dark web can't see what the heck they are doing and are always running around looking for a flashlight. Here is the answer – are you ready? NO – it was not 42 – stop that! It was "B L A M E T H E I E C". Ooh…now I was getting somewhere!
So, what is this IEC…this oozing behemoth, this fibrous tumor, this monster of power and expense hatched from the simple human desire for engineering order? How did allegedly smart people spawn a vast, rampant cuttlefish of dominion with its tentacles in every orifice of the body of engineering policy? (my apologies to P.J. O'Rourke)
OK…so the International Electrotechnical (not a real word I fear) Commission, or IEC as they like to be called (because they are tired of people telling them that Electrotechnical is not a real word) have been around for 108 years (by way of contrast my Uncle Milton was around for 100 years and he always left "well enough alone" – which is probably why he was around for 100 years) and is comprised of 10,000+ engineers from 82 countries and they historically gave us the SI units from which such illustrious units as meter, kilogram, second, Kelvin, and candela were derived. OK…so they also gave us radian, hertz, newton, pascal, joule, watt, volt, farad, Celsius, lumen, and… (I GET IT…they are smart people) – but THIS TIME they have gone TOO FAR I tell you!!! The megabyte is sacrosanct. How in the world did this happen? WHAT IN THE NAME OF ALL THINGS BINARY HAPPENED?
Blame the Hard Drive
There is a very famous saying that I applied liberally here to this tragedy. "Follow the money…" Yep…in this case it absolutely turns out to be true – "Money Mangled the Megabyte". So…let's just hop into our "way back" machine and head to the heady days of PCs when people bought hard drives to upgrade their computers. Yes…a time of flux capacitors, proton packs (don't cross the proton streams), Donkey Kong and Teddy Ruxpin (don't judge).
It is the good old 80s and hard drive sizes were measured in mere megabytes…amazingly enough there was at one time a 32MB hard drive size limit 'barrier' in MS-DOS 3.x. I won't go into a long winded discussion about this barrier – because someone else has already done so – click here for more info on this mind numbingly fascinating subject. Users had a huge hunger for bigger hard drives and they could buy them from peddlers advertising in Byte or PC Magazine and they often found when their hard drives arrived that they had to concern themselves with a dizzying array of complications like the fact that their new hard drives were physically organized into things like cylinders, heads, and sectors. Now, I know that this is a bit difficult, but try to imagine such a thing as a 40MB hard drive (which cost ~$1000 at the time).
An example 40MB hard drive could have a 'physical' layout of 640 cylinders, 8 heads and 17 sectors per track with 512 bytes per sector. So that means that this hard drive had 4 "platters" with eight 'heads' that would rotate itself into and out of the gap between the cylinders and "fly" just above the magnetic field stored on the platters (top and bottom) – kind of like an old phonograph but without physically touching the media. The data was stored in concentric circles and each of these concentric circles was called a 'track' – So if you had 640 'cylinders' – the heads could seek discretely to one of the 640 concentric tracks on the platter. Each 'track' was further subdivided into 17 sectors – with each sector storing 512 bytes.
So, let's do the math…640 cylinders x 8 heads x 17 sectors x 512 bytes per sector = 44,564,480 bytes. Now…stay with me here…because this is the important bit. The hard drive manufacturers would divide 44,564,480 by 1,048,576 (which in my book is a MB) because it is a power of two – 220 – which is what we computer folks like to think in when we think of computery types of numbers and this results in a product of ~42MB – which is what the hard drive manufacturers would then claim was the capacity of the hard drive. I am now climbing up onto my soapbox – so beware.
In the world that I come from it is quite simple.
1KB = 1,024 bytes or 2^10 bytes
1MB = 1,048,576 bytes or 2^20 bytes
1 GB = 1,073,741,824 bytes or 2^30 bytes
1TB = 1,099,511,627,776 bytes or 2^40 bytes
I don't want to argue about this because this is the way it was from the beginning, is now and should be until we no longer need these units. I am now climbing off of my soapbox.
OK…back to our regularly scheduled programming. The only rub was that in the good old days hard drives were fairly non-intelligent and they had to be 'physically' formatted by the hard disk controller. This little gem of technology was typically sold separately or already pre-installed in the computer (in the case of an upgrade). Again…I won't go into the lengthy discussion surrounding this but you can find out more here should you so choose. Once the physical format was completed it was up to the user to then apply the operating system's file system to the hard drive in a process called 'logical' formatting – those of you who are over forty and used to use DOS surely remember the venerable fdisk and format utilities right? During this logical formatting process, bad sectors might be found on the hard drive because hard drives are notorious for having some contaminants or imperfections on the platters that prevent data from being read or written to a particular physical location. In this case, these bad spots were simply marked 'bad' by the logical formatting utility and the file system just worked around them. Yes – this process resulted in 'diminished' storage capacity – but the amount of space reduction was miniscule because it represented the actual physical bad spots on the disk at the time – which were typically negligible in a brand new hard drive. OK…got all that?
Now…another KEY thing to note here is that DOS and Windows reports (and likely always will??) storage device capacities as a "power of two" – which means 1MB = 1,048,576 bytes and so on…see and remember my 'soapbox' list above. This is a VERY important piece of information to remember.
Time passes and hard drive technology advances at an almost breakneck pace. Now we are in the 90s. A time of Furbys, Beanie Babies, Pokémon and the rise of the hipster and the swelling of the dot com bubble. Hard drives have become more and more intelligent until eventually – they start handling their OWN bad sectors instead of having to rely on the operating system to 'work around' bad sectors. So in short, the hard drive simply reports back to the operating system how much storage is on the hard drive and there is no longer any tedious mucking about in hyperspace with cylinders, heads and sectors.
So – how was this accomplished? Several ways actually, but the practical upshot is that the hard drive simply 'reserves' sectors that are good – taking them away from the true physical storage capacity of the device – and makes them available for bad sector 'remapping' meaning that a few sectors of each track are reserved for the remapping of bad blocks. Now…another interesting thing about hard drives is that bad spots on a hard drive can begin to 'grow' and start showing up in places where they weren't detected before. That means that you can't just reserve a fixed number of good sectors ahead of time to replace the actual number of bad sectors on the hard drive. Instead, you have to come up with a very good estimate of how many sectors are likely to go bad over the life of the drive and reserve enough good sectors for those "sure to appear" bad spots as well. Ah…did the light bulb come on? NOW we start getting a glimpse of the crux of the problem…right?
This reservation of sectors on every track to handle bad block remapping obviously results in a reduction of the actual usable space on the hard drive. These new more intelligent hard drives report how much 'real' storage space is on the hard drive taking into account the reserved blocks for error handling. So, once you connect the hard drive to your computer, your 100MB hard drive that you paid so much money for now actually shows up to the operating system as 93MB because ~7MB was reserved for bad block handling. Your 100GB hard drive suddenly becomes a 93GB hard drive and your 1TB hard drive becomes a 931GB hard drive. Are you mad yet? Well you might not have been – but a whole LOT of people were HOPPING mad. Mad enough to actually file a lawsuit against Western Digital (a leading hard drive manufacturer) over this very issue. Click here to add a little additional color to the matter.
So, the whole thing kind of went down like this. The hard drive engineers went to marketing and said "We have good news and bad news…"
Marketing folks said, "Good news first…" (They are always the optimists)
Engineers: "Our customers will never see bad blocks ever again on our hard drives…we fixed that."
Marketing: "Great!!! What is the bad news?"
Engineers: "The hard drives are going to show up to the operating system smaller then you want them to be."
Marketing – now furrowing their brows: "How much smaller?"
Engineers: "Small enough that you better not go out there saying that they are 512MB hard drives any more. They will be more like 498MB hard drives."
Marketing: "Seriously?! We can't do that…we can't say 498 we have to say 500…we ALWAYS round up…it's the way of our people."
Engineers: "Well…don't say we didn't warn you…"
Marketing: "Fine…we will figure it out." (which is code for "we are going to round up anyway" – but they still round down the price from $800 to $799.99 which makes the consumer think it's really only $700…right?)
However, somewhere on this long dusty road of storage technology a very smart marketing person figured out that a megabyte doesn't really HAVE to be 1,048,576 bytes…what if it was…say…1,000,000 bytes? Now the logic behind this is "if we say 100MB then since the hard drive thinks in power of two which means 104,857,600 bytes it should give us enough room factoring in bad block handling to say…" Well Mr. or Ms. Customer – you DO actually have an effective 100,000,000 bytes of storage which is in our book 100MB!" and therefore they just went ahead and stuck 100MB in the ads and on the box. In effect the marketing folks simply just changed the definition of a megabyte from 1,048,576 bytes to 1,000,000 bytes. Voila – problem solved and off to lunch.
Now those of you who are 'engineering minded' will do the math and say…wait 104,857,600 bytes is still less than the 7MB delta in your previous paragraph – so you STILL would have less than 100,000,000 actual usable bytes. Clever catch…I kinda hoped you wouldn't notice that – but since you did…I would like to point out that the ACTUAL physical storage is still based on cylinders, heads and sectors even though they are no longer exposed to the user. Based on this method of storage organization a 100MB hard drive would usually have more storage capacity then a perfect 100MB and often times would hold 107MB or more once the numbers were run – so redefining 100MB to mean 100,000,000 bytes held sway – this is particularly true as you get to bigger drive sizes. Now…enter REALLY big hard drives and the problem compounds. Like I mentioned above – with a 1TB hard drive – when you factor in error handling and improper definitions – you might actually end up with a 1,000,000,000 byte drive (Terabyte) instead of a 1,099,511,627,776 byte drive (which you might have been expecting). Worse still Windows is going to tell you that the drive you just hooked up to your PC is actually a 953MB hard drive…and well ain't that special? That is a delta of almost 100 billion bytes that you thought you bought no matter HOW you slice it (assuming you think 1TB is a power of two…which it is). This is a pretty big flippin' deal and the proverbial fur started flying.
The IEC??
Now…enter the IEC.
In 1998 – this issue was somehow brought to their attention. Perhaps they could smell this issue coming from 5823 miles away. At any rate…I suspect that some rather high paid lawyer was looking for some legal justification to use at trial to defend the hard drive marketing folks' declaration that they unilaterally changed the term MB from what we ALL know to be 1,048,576 bytes to 1,000,000 bytes.They searched high and low and came across the IEC and dared to ask THEIR opinion (this of course, after asking everyone from the plumber's union to their favorite chefs in San Francisco what they thought). After some highfalutin debate by the appropriately ordained IEC committee, I am quite sure that some engineer (NOT a computer programmer mind you) – said – "Well y'all…like we HAVE defined kilo to mean 10^3 and mega to mean 10^6 and giga to mean 10^9 for like something like 100 years give or take – like you know…the kilometer, kilogram, and so on…you feel me here?" I imagine the debate went something exactly like that…led by a quite brilliant California valley girl who went to a very nice engineering college in Alabama and has hip hop leanings (the girl…not the college).
At this point, I am sure the illustrious committee handling this weighty matter agreed and said unanimously "yep…you are exactly right our brilliant fearless leader and your logic is flawless. A megabyte is now hereby and forever 1,000,000 bytes (and at that somebody then banged a gavel to add weightiness to the proceeding)…now that THAT is settled…what's for lunch?" Someone else at this point must have spoken up and said "Wait!!! We have to come up with a unit that the computery minded people can use to mean 1,048,576 bytes…after all…we just took away their precious megabyte." Anxious to get to their buffet they must have not spent too much discussing this particular point because what they came up with was…and it is hard to type this with a straight face, much less SAY it with a straight face…the MEBIBYTE which they also cleverly abbreviated as 'MiB' (which silly me…I always thought was an abbreviation for 'Men in Black').
So what was the rationale for the made up word mebibyte? The IEC folks just took the starting letter of the word 'binary' and jammed it into the word megabyte replacing the 'g' with the 'b' and inexplicably replacing the 'a' with an 'i' apparently for some feeble attempt at engineering humor. I mean…perhaps 'mebabyte' would have been better than 'mebibyte'…it's arguable – but any improvement in the term would have been…well…an improvement. As an aside…I am using Microsoft Word to write this tome and it keeps telling me that 'mebibyte' isn't actually a word…the spell checker is having fits so that tells you how well accepted this silly unit is. But…the IEC didn't stop there…oh no…they went "all in" and just went ahead and messed up the REST of our venerable units.
So…what did our friends at the IEC come up with? Here is the table:
Want to know my take on all this nonsense? 'Kibibyte' sounds like a treat for dogs. 'Yobibyte' sounds like a cartoon character. 'Mebibyte' and 'Tebibyte' sounds like a cartoon character trying to say megabyte and terabyte. 'Gibibyte' and 'Zebibyte' sound like folks who used to mess with the twelve tribes of Israel from the Bible. Don't get me started on what 'pebibyte' sounds like…
So…there we have it. That is the story of how "Money Mangled the Megabyte"…I was going to call this "How I Met Your Mebibyte"…but for some reason an alliterative title appealed to me more. Now we have this "official" silly sounding set of units that more and more computery people are thinking we have to use. Worse still there is an increasing number of people who think a megabyte is 1,000,000 bytes. It maketh me sad. I say "Viva La Megabyte!!!!" -the power of 2 megabyte…you know…1,048,576 bytes…oh..never mind-.


text: Mark Hahn wrote: >> What I like about APT (the Debian package manager) is the dependency checking and conflict resolution capabilities of "aptitude", which is more robust than > > I'm curious - how does a conflict happen, and how is it resolved? > I guess that this must have to do with packages which specify particular versions of packages they depend on, or perhaps minimal > versions of them. but a conflict seems to imply that you'd have a package which ultimately has conflicting dependencies. Hello, Mark. Debian has a very large range of packages, some of which are known to conflict a priori because they solve similar problems, but they are maintained by different people with different objectives. Each package maintainer has a responsibility to declare known conflicts with other packages. However, the permutations of packages that could be combined in an installation are also very large. APT tracks files that are used in all packages and automatically detects conflicts. The APT conflict resolver suggests strategies to solve problems like this, and also the dependencies that are caused by package upgrades. It's not a new idea, but it works very well. This statement is in the current Debian release notes: "2.1.1 Package management aptitude is the preferred program for package management from console. aptitude supports most command line operations of apt-get and has proven to be better at dependency resolution than apt-get. If you are still using dselect, you should switch to aptitude as the official frontend for package management. For etch an advanced conflict resolving mechanism has been implemented in aptitude that will try to find the best solution if conflicts are detected because of changes in dependencies between packages." http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/release-notes/ch-whats-new.en.html > how often does this happen, and is it mainly the result of misconfiguration? It doesn't happen very often, but when it does "aptitude" has got me out of several deep holes... It's not because of misconfiguration. It's because the 'topological' map of package dependencies is complex, and not all possible interactions between all packages can be anticipated because the search space of package combinations is extremely large. > and resolution is simply having multiple version of some depended-on package installed, right? Sounds so easy, doesn't it ;-) >> the older "apt-get". I previously ran Red Hat 5.3->9 and I've used both "up2date" and "yum". Neither of these is as capable of resolving package conflicts and dependencies as APT. I used APT for RPM when I ran RH9 for exactly this reason. > > hmm, I've never had any problems with yum. Fair enough, but I found that it placed more of the burden of package management on me than I wanted. APT for RPM was wonderful by comparison. I used it for several years until the Fedora Legacy Archive stopped supporting RH9. At this point I had already been evaluating Debian on one of our Beowulf servers, but I decided to use Ubuntu instead. Best wishes, Tony. -- Dr. A.J.Travis, | mailto:ajt at rri.sari.ac.uk Rowett Research Institute, | http://www.rri.sari.ac.uk/~ajt Greenburn Road, Bucksburn, | phone:+44 (0)1224 712751 Aberdeen AB21 9SB, Scotland, UK. | fax:+44 (0)1224 716687

subset: commoncrawl


text:
We've all been there. The evening comes around and you're looking at what to have for dinner. Domino's Pizza is one option that's utilised regularly and their apps for Windows Phone is a superb way to order that personalised main course. The team behind the app has recently pushed through an update that adds notifications and fixes a few bugs affecting consumers residing in the UK.
The new push notifications in version 188.8.131.52 will enable Domino's to fire through deals and promotions to tempt you inside for a cheese-filled crust. Available for both Windows Phone 7 and 8 in the UK and Ireland, consumers are able to order and customise their pizza, add any sides or extras and then checkout without having to ring up your local or fetch the wallet (if you're a PayPal customer).
Other features already sported by the app include NFC, voice commands and Live Tiles. So go on and download Domino's Pizza from the Windows Phone Store for free (this is the UK version, folks).


text:
Used Truck - 2007 Chevrolet Silverado Classic in Fairbanks, Ak
About This 2007 Chevrolet Silverado Classic
Vehicle Location:
Fairbanks, Ak
Exterior Color:
Stock Number:
Fuel Economy Estimates
City MPG
Highway MPG
Combined MPG: 17
Estimated Monthly Fuel Cost: $130.88*
*Based on $1.78 per gallon and 15k miles per year.
Actual costs may vary.
Actual costs may vary.
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Seller's Description and Comments:
Located at North Star Auto Sales in Fairbanks, Ak. Call North Star Auto Sales today at 907-458-0593 for more information about this vehicle.
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2007 Chevrolet Silverado ReviewThis car review is specific to this model, not the actual vehicle for sale.
A brand-new example of an old truck.
Think of the 2007 Chevy Silverado Classic as a completely restored vintage truck. Or perhaps it's more like the discovery of a brand-new vehicle sitting in an old, abandoned warehouse.
Chevy Truck introduced an all-new line of Silverado pickups for 2007 and we love them. They just may be the best pickups on the market today.
At the same time, GM continued to churn out the old version, calling it the Silverado Classic. That's what you're looking at here. The 2007 Silverado Classic is exactly the same truck as the 2006 Silverado, which was essentially the same as the 2005, 2004, and 2003 models.
These previous-generation trucks are sold on the basis of price. The 2007 Silverado Classic models retail for about $2,000 less than the newer generation models. And that's not counting rebates and incentives.
The newer generation Silverado is vastly superior to the outgoing Classic by every measure and it will almost certainly hold its value better.
Still, the Silverado Classic is a solid truck. It certainly beats a used truck. It may be the most truck you can get for the money. And it's an especially good deal if you're buying it for someone else, such as an employee, to drive.
It rides well and handles well. It's quick and it's comfortable. Boxed and hydroformed frame rails give it a strong, rigid platform, like a rock, as its ads used to say. Heated leather seats, XM Satellite Radio and other options make long days spent in a Silverado Classic comfortable. And anyone who values a low load height should compare a two-wheel-drive Silverado Classic to the other full-size pickups; lifting heavy equipment into the back of high-riding trucks is hard on the back.
Like all full-size pickups, the Silverado Classic is available in a vast array of configurations: two-wheel drive (2WD) and four-wheel-drive (4WD); regular cabs, extended cabs, and crew cabs; short beds (6-1/2-foot) and long beds (8-foot). Three trim levels are available: W/T, LS, and LT, plus a sporty SS. Several grades of heavy duty models remain available, but this review focuses on the light-duty 1500 series, which offers payload ratings from 1,216 to 2,052 pounds. Silverado Classic 1500 models are available with a 4.3-liter V6, a 4.8-liter V8, a 5.3-liter V8, or a 6.0-liter V8.
Silverado Classic also offers the 1500HD, which represents a compromise between the light-duty 1500 series and the medium-to-heavy-duty (and correspondingly harder-riding) 2500HD and 3500 series. Avaialble only as a Crew Cab with a 6-foot, 6-inch bed (instead of the standard 1500 Crew Cab's 5-foot, 8-inch bed), the 1500HD hauls 3,129 pounds with 2WD, 2,838 pounds with 4WD, and tows up to 10,300 pounds. Power is provided by the big 6.0-liter V8 that's used in the 2500HD/3500.
Standard equipment on all Silverado Classics, even the most basic W/T (Work Truck, for $15,840), are AM/FM stereo, tilt steering, driver information center, a chromed front bumper, painter rear step bumber, and 17-inch painted steel wheels. Air conditioning is now listed as an option ($570). Extended Cabs ($21,465) come with automtic transmission.
Moving up to LS trim (starting at $20,075) adds air conditioning, cruise control, a CD player, cloth instead of vinyl upholstery, and an expanded list of options. LS Extended Cabs ($23,940) come with automatic transission, and Crew Cabs ($24,965) come with the 4.8-liter V8.
Silverado LT (starting at $23,350) is more luxurious, with carpeting, upgraded upholstery, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, and power windows, locks and mirrors. Again the Crew Cab version ($28,515) comes with more, including the 5.3-liter V8. LT2 and LT3 option packages add yet more equipment, but both price and specific content depend on cab style, driveline, and other factors. We suggest you see a Chevy dealer to sort it all out.
The Z71 off-road package ($360-550, depending on cab style and bed length) is offered only on 4WD trucks with LT trim; and includes special off-road suspension, skid plates, high-capacity air cleaner and distinctive decals and fender flares. Add a heavy-duty locking rear differential ($325), fog lamps ($140), and LT245/70R17 all-terrain tires ($200) for serious off-roading.
Silverado Classic SS ($33,280) is a performance model equipped with a high-output 345 horsepower Vortec 6000 6.0-liter engine designed for quick acceleration and relaxed cruising. SS gets a high-performance Z60 chassis package; optional 20-inch wheels and tires; and special exterior and interior trim. For the first time it is offered with 2WD as well as AWD, the former giving this performance truck an 8100-pound towing capacity.
A Hybrid option ($1,500) is available in several states. With its unique starter/generator combined with a 5.3-liter V8, the hybrid offers up to 10 percent improvement in fuel economy while delivering the same 295 horsepower and 335 pound-feet of torque as any other Silverado with the 5.3-liter engine.
Other options include XM Satellite Radio ($325), which provides CD-quality broadcast of 100 digital channels coast to coast. Crew Cab models offer a Panasonic DVD Passenger Entertainment System ($1,295) and rear-seat audio controls. Extended Cabs and Crew Cabs offer a power sunroof ($795). OnStar ($695) is also available, which puts a human being at your assistance at the press of a button any time of day. OnStar operators can unlock your doors remotely, and the system automatically calls for assistance if the airbags deploy.
Safety features on most 1500 models include dual-level front air bags, which are designed to provide an appropriate amount of inflation based on the severity of the crash. A passenger-s.
The styling of the 2007 Chevrolet Silverado Classic has an edgy angularity that the new Silverado has abandoned in favor of a smoother, more aerodynamicaly integrated appearance. The mid-size Colorado pickup still shares the Classic's bold design cues; but otherwise Chevy Trucks (Tahoe, Suburban, Avalanche, Silverado) have all moved on to the new look.
One of Silverado Classic's most distinctive features are the way its headlights angle down at the top, like the determined eyebrows of a Marine drill sergeant. A large band runs across the middle of the grille punctuated in the middle by a big, gold Chevy bow tie. All of this seemed smoothly integrated into the front end, at least until we saw how much more smoothly the new Silverado was put together. The Classic's flared engine hood and squared-off wheel openings continue its aggressive theme down the sides of the truck. In the rear are bulging taillamps that maintain the Chevrolet family look yet uniquely identify the Silverado Classic.
Silverado Classic's large door openings make getting in and out easier, and the door handles are big and easy to grab. Extended cabs come standard with four doors, though the rear doors open in the reverse direction and not as wide as we would like. Optional puddle lamps mounted beneath the big side mirrors light the ground along the sides of the truck, handy in the city as much as in the woods. Mirrors with redundant turn signal indicators are also available, warning drivers alongside or in your blind spot that you are moving over. Heavy-duty models have running lights on the roof, tailgate, and leading and trailing edges of their bulging rear fenders. They add visibility for improved safety. Plus they look neat.
Silverado Classic's bed features built-in tie-down brackets near the four corners. Indentations stamped into the inner bed walls can hold boards to form bulkhead dividers or a second floor for two-tier loading. The Silverado's load floor is 31.6 inches above the ground on 2WD models, and 33.7 inches with 4WD. That's relatively low, and low is good when loading heavy cargo. Standard-box beds are 78.7 inches long; long boxes are 97.6 inches long. Both are 64.8 inches wide at the floor. The Crew Cab's short box is 69.2 inches long and 60.2 inches wide at the floor. All three measure 50 inches wide between the wheel housings.
Inside, the Silverado Classic is roomy and comfortable. The seats are big and cushy, though we don't always find them comfortable for long trips. The standard front bench seat can seat three, giving Extended Cab and Crew Cab models a six-person capacity. It's split 40/20/40, available in cloth or vinyl, and the middle part folds down to become a center console/armrest. There's lots of front-seat head room and plenty of leg room, hip room, and shoulder room.
The back seat in Extended Cab models offers more room and comfort than expected. We wouldn't want to ride across the state back there, but three adults can fit and be reasonably comfortable for a short trip. The rear-seat bottom folds up to provide space for cargo, but it's still in the way when trying to carry a lot of stuff, and the floor is not flat. The entire rear seat assembly can be removed with a wrench and lifted out through the door when cargo capacity is more important than passenger space.
Crew Cabs offer roomy rear seats and additional interior cargo space. The back seats in Crew Cab models are very comfortable, similar to the rear seats in a Suburban or Tahoe. The rear seats can be flipped down, like those in a Suburban, to provide a big, secure cargo area.
Optional bucket seats are more comfortable and adjust every which way. We like both the premium cloth and the optional leather. The bucket seats are separated by a deep center console that holds lots of stuff. The top of the lid features a nice rubber-lined indention handy for small items, though it would be even better if the rubber was an insert that could be removed for cleaning. The top of the console is angled forward, which seems unfortunate because clipboards and other items placed there tend to slide off. A big coat hook makes picking up the dry cleaning easier.
The instrument panel features a large speedometer and tachometer. Smaller gauges to the right display oil pressure, water temperature, fuel quantity, and battery charge. HD models with the Heavy-Duty Trailering Package come with a transmission temperature gauge on the left. All use highly legible white-on-black graphics. Headlamps and taillamps turn on automatically when it gets dark. A Driver Information Center, located in the instrument panel cluster, provides various bits of information, including an available engine-hour meter.
Dual-zone climate controls are standard. The manually controlled system that comes on base models is a good, straightforward design. Manual sliders are used to adjust the temperature The available electronic climate controls are better, featuring two large knobs for driver and passenger. A large LED displays the mode and fan settings. It's a well-engineered system that's sophisticated yet easy to operate.
The stereo systems feature digital controls with large knobs for volume and tuning. It's a good setup, more attractive and more sophisticated than some earlier systems, but just as easy to use. XM Satellite Radio is a great addition for people who want minimal blab interrupting their music, or who like to listen to 24-hour news or sports channels like NPR, CNN or ESPN. Satellite radio also means you can drive across the U.S. without ever having to switch from your favorite stations.
The latest generation of OnStar (called Gen 6) is designed for improved hands-free operation, thanks to more intuitive dialing and improved voice recognition. OnStar is the leading provider of in-vehicle safety, security and information services in the United States and Canada. Using the GPS satellite network and wireless technology, OnStar features core safety services and Personal Calling that allows drivers to make and receive hands-free, voice-activated phone calls.
Driving Impression
The Chevy Silverado Classic feels tight and quiet, with little road noise or wind noise. Those are benefits of its stiff frame, which minimizes noise and vibration from the running gear. The rigid chassis allows the suspension to soak up and manage bumps, ruts and tar strips. The cab is stiffened by a magnesium beam behind the instrument panel and a lateral steel beam between the magnesium beam and the right side of the dash. This additional stiffening is designed to eliminate squeaks and rattles, and we haven't heard any.
The Silverado Classic rides more smoothly than the Dodge Ram. We drove a Silverado Classic 1500 2WD LS Extended Cab that rode very smoothly. Its long, 143-inch wheelbase contributed to the ride (and enhanced high-speed stability).
The Silverado Classic handles well on dry pavement, loose dirt, deep dirt, and off-road. It tracks straight at speed on dry pavement and it's stable on wet pavement. It holds its line when the rear wheels spin under acceleration, even when coming out of a low-speed turn on wet pavement. Steering is responsive and offers the right amount of feedback; there is a dead spot in the center when cruising, however, which Chevrolet says is designed to minimize steering corrections on the highway. Rack-and-pinion steering is used on Silverado Classic 1500's with 2WD. Four-wheel-drive and heavy-duty models use recirculating-ball steering.
The optional Ride Control Suspension is designed to enhance control when pulling a trailer. Press the Ride Control button when the truck is empty and the system firms up the shock damping, which reduces bouncing somewhat, although at the expense of increased harshness. When towing, Ride Control helps reduce the tendency of the truck to pogo as the trailer goes over bumps. It can also be used for better suspension control when driving off-road.
Four different engines are available for Chevy's light-duty pickups, so it's helpful to study power ratings, payload ratings, tow ratings, fuel-economy, pricing, and other data to choose the best engine for your needs. People talk about horsepower, but torque ratings better reflect how the truck will perform.
The V6 model is best for light-duty work when price and fuel economy are paramount; it also meets Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle, or ULEV, standards. But the two most popular engines are small-block V8s. The 4.8-liter V8 (294 cubic inches), which GM calls the Vortec 4800, is popular in base models and delivers 295 pound-feet of torque. It offers plenty of performance unless you're towing, hauling heavy loads, or driving at altitude; and it could definitely use more juice when trying to accelerate up hills.
The 5.3-liter Vortec 5300 V8 (327 cubic inches) generates 335 pound-feet of torque, enough grunt for all but the most demanding applications. It's the engine we prefer. It only rates 10 horsepower more than the 4800, but offers a lot more torque, over a broader range of speed. The 5.3-liter's fat torque curve is useful for light towing and hauling, but also makes the Silverado more fun to drive when commuting or out and about. Fuel economy is about the same.
All of these Vortec small-block V8s are based on the SB2 architecture introduced on the Corvette and extended to the Camaro and Firebird in 1999. Since 2003, they have featured Electronic Throttle Control for more precise, consistent throttle operation; new oxygen sensors offer improved reliability and reduced emissions during warm-up. All of Chevy's Vortec engines come with 100,000-mile platinum-tip spark plugs, sequential fuel injection, and 150,000-mile anti-freeze.
Larger engines are available for heavy-duty Silverados. The big Vortec 6000 6.0-liter V8, standard on 1500HD, 2500HD and 3500 models, delivers 360 pound-feet for pulling big, heavy trailers. A 330-horsepower, 8.1-liter V8 is available for heavy-duty models, as well as a 6.6-liter Duramax turbo-diesel V8, which now produces 360 horsep.
Reprieved for one final season, the Chevy Silverado Classic offers a lower-cost alternative to buyers interested in the bottom line. Roomy cabins, comfortable seats, a comfortable ride, and powerful engines make the Silverado a great work truck. The Hybrid option promises lower operating costs under certain conditions. A well-equipped LT Crew Cab can serve as a reasonable alternative to a family-size SUV.
NewCarTestDrive.com editor Mitch McCullough is based in Los Angeles.
Model Lineup
Chevrolet Silverado Classic 1500 2WD SWB Reg Cab ($15,840); 2WD SWB Ext Cab ($21,465); LS 2WD LWB Ext Cab ($25,915); LT 2WD LWB Ext Cab ($27,135); LS 4WD SWB Ext Cab ($27,250); LT 4WD LWB Ext Cab ($29,580); SS ($33,280); LT 4WD Crew Cab ($31,465).
Assembled In
Pontiac, Michigan; Flint, Michigan; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Oshawa, Ontario, Canada.
Options As Tested
Vortec 4800 V8 ($945); high capacity air cleaner ($25): power programmable door locks ($162); power windows and mirrors ($738); overhead mini console w/map lights;($55); remote keyless entry w/2 transmitters, panic button & content theft alarm ($170).
Model Tested
Chevy Silverado Classic 1500 LS 2WD Standard Box Extended Cab ($23,940).The Silverado Classic continues its reputation among owners as the 'strongest, most dependable and longest lasting truck on the road.' The Silverado Classic is the old model Silverado still in production. The Chevrolet 195hp 4.3-liter V-6 is standard in the Classic. There are also a a 285hp 4.8-liter V-8 or a 295hp 5.3-liter V-8. The SS version comes with an even more powerful 345hp 6.0-liter V-8. All Classics wither come with a four-speed automatic or five-speed manual transmission. Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Classics are a continuation of the previous model Silverado.
2660 Philips Field Rd.
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sparkly sequin top
Added Jan 4, 2013
by Inga 888
Dubai, United Ar...
This is my first attempt to make smth out of sequins. I must say it is ok to work with (just one machine needle broken!). And great easy way to dress up for holiday season. if you want to compete with the christmas tree, this it the way to do it :D
Material Notes
chiffon with sequins & silk lining
- Season
- Summer
- For
- Women
- Garment Type
- Tops
- Style
- Evening Wear
- Material
- Lace/Sequins, Silk
2 Comments Sign in to add a post
Jan 4, 2013, 06.11 PMby Mary Athey
Its lovely on you. I.ve made a few things with sequins and i just plow on breaking needles as i go lol x
2 Replies
Jan 5, 2013, 03.25 PMby Inga 888
yeah, I have seen your studio, your are a real sequin pro :)
Jan 5, 2013, 04.02 PMby Mary Athey
Lol. I don.t know about the pro bit but.i do love my sparkle lol. I.m actually sitting handsewing my dress for to.nite!! I.ve broken two packs of needles on this fabric so I.ve gave up. This fabric was ten times worse than the gold fishscale. Smaller sequins bigger.nightmare..i.just hope it dos.nt give me a whoops moment and come apart while.i.m out lol x
Jan 4, 2013, 05.59 PMby PeaceThyme
So, did you remove the sequins in the seam allowance or just work around them?
1 Reply
Jan 5, 2013, 03.27 PMby Inga 888
I know you are supposed to remove them but it's fine just sew through.
Add to Favorites 1 person added it
This project is based on
3/2011 Lace Tunic TopMake it


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Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread - Secret Recipe Club
Occasionally, it turns out to be a good thing that I can't read a calendar. A few weeks ago, I made this assignment for the Secret Recipe Club, then very carefully queued up the post. To go live last Monday. Luckily, I noticed other members talking about it being group C's week. I quickly readjusted the publish date.
Then last Tuesday I came down with the plague. Or the flu. Whatever. Baking or anything else that had to do with the kitchen became totally out of the question. Good thing I can't read a calendar.
So with that, I give you what I wrote almost 2 weeks ago. Enjoy.
Have I explained the SRC lately? Once a month I get to make and post about a recipe from another member's blog. This month I was assigned Curious Cuisiniere, hosted by Sarah.
When Sara's not working (at a bakery!), she and her husband travel and try local cuisines. When they are home, they test and work on recipes, experimenting with flavor combinations along the way. They believe that food should and can be both delicious and healthy.
Which brings us to their recipe for Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread. Nothing says warm, happy home like the scent of baked cinnamon ... pretty much anything! Especially when cinnamon is gently swirled with raisins throughout a warm, yummy bread.
|Buttered cinnamon raisin bread and a cup of chai ... heaven!
Sara's version of this almost dessert-like but not quite as sweet as cake-like bread is baked with butter. To be honest, cinnamon-raisin bread practically cries out to be shmeared with butter before consuming
Sara's also includes a surprise ingredient: white whole wheat flour. Until now, I did not know that white whole wheat flour was available to home bakers. Unlike most breads made with whole wheat flour, white whole wheat is lighter, both in density and color. If/when you try a slice of bread made with it, you can't really tell the difference. Then why bother using it? Well, Dear Reader, it makes that delicious bread you lovingly baked from scratch that much more healthy. And delicious. I'll have to try some in my very next batch of challah. I'm hooked.
Be sure to lightly grease the rolling-out surface ... yes! ... even if you use a silicone baking sheet! The dough, at least mine anyway, stuck a bit to the silicone sheet until I gave up, scraped off the dough, then lightly spritzed the sheet with cooking spray. To avoid the same problem with the rolling pin, I also lightly spritzed the top of the dough before rolling out. Worked like a charm.
Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread
Slightly Adapted from Curious Cuisiniere
Yield: 1 9×5 loaf
1 cup (8 fl oz) rice (or soy) milk
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted margarine
3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 cup (2 oz.) warm (comfortably, not hot) water
1 pkg. active instant dry yeast
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
3 1/2 cup all purpose flour (plus up to 1/4 cup more, if needed)
cooking spray
2 Tbl. ground cinnamon
1/2 to 1 cup black raising, depending upon how much you like raisins
2 cups water (for soaking raisins)
1 Tbl. margarine, melted and cooled slightly
Heat rice (or soy) milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until it just begins to steam (a skim might or might not form). Avoid letting it boil. Remove from heat, then add margarine, 1/2 cup of the sugar and salt; stir until dissolved. Set aside to cool to room temperature (or just barely warm) to avoid killing the yeast later.
In the large mixing bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve yeast in warm water. Allow to sit for 4-5 minutes until mixture becomes foamy. Add cooled-down "milk" mixture, eggs, all of the white whole wheat flour and 2 1/2 cups of the all-purpose flour.
With the mixer fitted with dough hook, knead on low for two minutes, stopping every so often to add remaining cup of all-purpose flour, a 1/4 cup at a time and scraping down the sides as needed, until a soft dough forms. Increase speed to #2 (or the speed suggested by the mixer manufacturer) for 8 more minutes. Meanwhile, grease another large mixing bowl with cooking spray.
Form dough into a ball, then place in prepared bowl. Cover with wax paper or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft-free area until doubled in bulk, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Punch down dough. Lightly spritz a silicone sheet or counter top with cooking spray, then plop dough on; let dough rest 5 minutes while you combine remaining sugar with cinnamon in a small bowl. In another small bowl combine raisins with the soaking water (to plump them a bit). Lightly spray a 9x5 loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.
Roll dough into a ½ inch thick rectangle (about 9 inches x 13ish inches). Brush with half of melted margarine, then sprinkle with half of cinnamon sugar mixture.
Drain raisins and pat with a towel to dry. Toss raisins with remaining cinnamon mixture and sprinkle evenly over dough.
|Raisin mixture could have been spread closer to side edges.
Starting from one of the short ends, roll dough gently, but tightly, jelly-roll style. Carefully pick up and nestle into a prepared loaf pan, seam side down. Brush the top of the dough with the melted and cooled margarine.
Cover with wax paper or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft-free location until doubled (about 45 minutes). About 15 minutes before the end of the rising time, preheat oven to 400F.
Uncover loaf and bake for 30-35 minutes. Check bread after 15 minutes to see if top is browning too fast. If so, tent loosely with aluminum foil. The bread is done, after removing from its pan, when an instant thermometer poked into the bottom (so as not to ruin the lovely crust) registers about 180F, or sounds hollow when gently tapped on the bottom with your knuckles.
Turn out loaf onto cooling rack; let cool before slicing. If desired, toast slices before serving.


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The fantastical murals of San Francisco's Mission District are an intriguing dialogue between artists and their city that you can easily experience on foot. On any given day in Clarion Alley, tourists from all over the world mingle with field-tripping students (and the homeless). Start at the Mission Street end of Clarion Alley, then exit at Valencia Street and head south (turn left). Check out the murals all the way to 20th Street. Typically, walk one or two blocks (east or west) to view. Murals include "Vamos Gigantes" (19th Street between San Carlos and Lexington streets), "MaestraPeace" (18th between Linda and Lapidge streets) and "Mission Pool" (Linda Street at 19th Street). Or take one of four mural tours offered by Precita Eyes ([415] 285-2287; no tour more than $15), a mural arts organization in the Mission.
The bed. Welcome to the time machine. The Inn (943 S. Van Ness Ave.; [415] 641-0188; doubles from $175) is an 1872 Victorian with a twist: a sheltered garden where you can soak in a rustic, old-style hot tub in the middle of San Francisco. In spring, jasmine intoxicates. Its grand parlors overflow with antiques and warmth. My friends enjoyed eating the buffet-style breakfast and stepping out into the heart of the Mission.
The meal. Mosey over to the Bi-Rite Market (3639 18th St.; [415] 241-9760) for a salami sandwich. The $7.99 beauty, an assortment of salami, is built on a rustic baguette, slathered with house-made romesco sauce and plumped with provolone. For dinner, walk one block up to Pizzeria Delfina (3611 18th St.; [415] 437-6800; $10.75-$17) to partake of perfectly charred Napoletana pizza. I became one with the arancini ($7 for seven), made with saffron risotto.
The find. Stopping at Paxton Gate (824 Valencia St.; [415] 824-1872) is a bit like stopping for afternoon tea at the Addams family mansion. Anomalies of taxidermy await you, such as a unicorn head ($4,000) and acrobatic mice. After that, the vintage-inspired gift cards of ammonites and birds felt safe, so we all bought some.
The lesson learned. Weather changes continually in San Francisco.
The tab. Excluding transportation, about $525, including $175 a night at the Inn and about $73 for pizza and multiple plates of arancini.


text:
Men's cotton piquet long-sleeved polo shirt
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The Scuderia Ferrari long-sleeved polo shirt is characterized by a sophisticated and bold design. It comes with a concealed zipper.
The new men's polo shirt is made of cotton piquet and features tone-on-tone inserts on the shoulders and sleeves, which are emphasized by the visible stitching. The slightly stretchy cotton and side slits ensure an optimal fit, in addition to the ergonomic cuts on the shoulders and along the sleeves. The rib knit collar is lit up by the line on the edge in a contrasting color, which is the same shade as the inside of the collar. Attention has been given to the details of every feature of this model, such as the front opening with concealed zipper and pull tab customized with the iconic Ferrari Shield.
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text:
Shakira Performs at FIFA Women's World Cup + Promotes Education for Women
Shakira performed a killer set at the FIFA Women's World Cup, baby bump and all. She's a lot like her 'Beautiful Liar' duet partner Beyonce, isn't she?
The 'Hips Don't Lie' songstress performed in Azerbaijan for the official closing of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup. The performance was met with some controversy, however. Human rights organizations Amnesty International and Sing for Democracy previously urged Shaki and fellow performer Rihanna to pull out of their shows to protest the free speech abuses the groups claim Azerbaijan commits against its citizens and press. Still, Shaki marched on -- and for a good cause.
Shaki was on hand at the event as part of her role as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. The Colombian hip-shaker met with a group of teen girls from the UNICEF-sponsored U-17 soccer league to encourage education for women and girls. She also chatted about using sports as a tool to stay healthy and fit, because a sound mind and a sound body will carry them far.
"Sport is a particularly good way of reaching out to girls as well as boys, and can provide them with opportunities to connect with others socially," Shakira said. "Sport, like education, can help girls become equal players in society."
Shakira wasn't just excited for the show for the sake of the show, though: She was also overjoyed at having the bun in her oven (it's a boy!) onstage with her. She tweeted:
In a few minutes it will be our baby's first time on stage and precisely at a football event! Magic Shak
— Shakira (@shakira) October 13, 2012
What a lucky baby! Too cute! She later congratulated the winners of the game:
Congrats to the French team for winning the FIFA female cup! I enjoyed seeing you in front of the stage cele instagr.am/p/QvD0oyIjpC/
— Shakira (@shakira) October 13, 2012
Watch Shakira Perform 'Waka Waka' at the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup
Watch Shakira Perform 'Loca' at the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup


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Frequent fliers traveling through Bob Hope Airport can now expect an even quicker passage to their gates during certain times of the day.
With cooperation from the Transportation Security Administration and funding from Southwest Airlines, the airfield is using an "Experienced Travelers" lane in Terminal A for frequent fliers during peak hours, usually from 6 to 7 a.m. daily.
The airport began using an existing lane exclusively for frequent fliers on Feb. 5, said Denis Carvill, a deputy executive director at the airport
Airport officials will monitor its use over the next three months, he added.
"We have these high volume periods of time during the day when the lines get backed up a little bit," Carvill said. "During those times, Southwest will actually have somebody monitor who goes down this lane."
Carvill said that the frequent flier designation is handled by the airlines. For example, Southwest's A-List program is set up for passengers who take more than 25 flights a year or meet a certain number of points.
"Southwest told me they have a higher number of frequent fliers in Burbank than in any other airport in the nation," Carvill said.
The priority lane will be used during the morning rush hour, which is caused by the airport's voluntary curfew of no flights from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., said airport spokesman Victor Gill. Airlines often kick off their schedules right at 7 a.m., so that there's a rush of flights — and passengers — around that time.
Gill said TSA employees have reported that wait times during the 6-to-7 a.m. rush hour average 13 minutes in Terminal A, and only seven minutes in Terminal B, except when unusual circumstances occur such as a screening machine malfunction.
Gill said Terminal B gets hit with another rush from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., when wait times average 12 minutes.
During non-peak hours, wait times in both terminals average five minutes, which is a major selling point for the airport, Gill said.
"It doesn't hold a candle [to other airports], and that's one of our competitive advantages," Gill said. "That's why [passengers] come here. It's, generally speaking, a very quick trip through the security checkpoint."
Gill said the priority lane was created mostly to accommodate desires by Southwest, US Airways and JetBlue to provide a service for their frequent customers.
The new lane has been a success, said Southwest spokeswoman Rhonda Ramirez in a statement. She declined, however, to say how many of the airline's frequent fliers come through the airport.
"Our customers have been extremely responsive to the lane, providing positive feedback on the added benefit," Ramirez said.
Follow Daniel Siegal on Google+ and on Twitter: @Daniel_Siegal.


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Racegator is the new kid on the block offering a two-speed transmission for dirt track racers for a great pirce. We take a look to see if this could be your next transmission.
Lots of dirt track racing classes don't have a requirement in the rule book that an "OEM style" transmission must be used. This means instead of dragging an old Saginaw out of the junkyard or purchasing an aftermarket T10, you can use a transmission designed around the needs of a racer and not a design that must be modified to withstand the rigors of racing.
The result is a general transmission design that has been developed to take maximum advantage of the conditions most often found in dirt track racing. The typical dirt racing transmission is a two-speed unit designed for simplicity, toughness, and light weight. To minimize rotating weight, it actually does away with the traditional clutch and instead uses a very small clutch inside the transmission body. Limiting the transmission to two speeds also significantly reduces rotating mass. Low gear is typically used only to get the car out of the pits, and high gear is 1:1 direct drive for maximum efficiency when it comes to transferring the torque created by the engine to the rear wheels.
Honestly, there is nothing new about this style of transmission. It has been around for years and is produced by a number of different manufacturers. What is new, however, is a brand-new player on the scene that is manufacturing two-speed dirt track racing transmissions for significantly less than the current going rate. Most two-speed dirt transmissions currently sell for between $1,500 and $1,700, but this new unit by RaceGators Transmission is going for right at $1,200.
To be able to charge this much less means that this transmission is an import, but that's hardly unusual with racing components these days. But we're told that each transmission is checked by a gear specialist here in the States to ensure that the quality is up to standard. Currently, every transmission is being torn down and completely rebuilt, but RaceGators' specialist-located in Mooresville, North Carolina-told us that he has seen zero problems so far and that it is probably not necessary.
We also took notice because this new transmission has already proven itself in the only place that really matters: the racetrack. Dirt Modified driver Kyle Strickler became the first driver to take the RaceGators transmission to Victory Lane shortly after it was introduced when he won the NDRA Modz Dirt Modified race at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway in November 2011.
This new RaceGators transmission is aimed at Dirt Late Model, Dirt Modified and Sportsman classes. In fact, the uncoated version of this transmission has already been approved by the IMCA for competition. To find out if this new transmission might be a viable option for you in your next race car, we had one torn down and took a close look at each component. Truthfully, if you're familiar with this style of transmission, you won't be surprised by anything you see here. The RaceGator isn't trying to pack in the innovations. Instead, it's trying to make its name by supplying dirt track racers with a transmission with the performance and dependability they are used to at a significantly reduced cost.
From the Driver Seat
In the course of working on this story, we had the opportunity to speak with Dirt Modified driver Kyle Strickler, who recently won an NDRA Modified event at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway. We wanted to see if the less-costly transmission required more maintenance or a gentler driving style.
"No," he answered simply. "I didn't treat this transmission any differently than I did any of the others that I've raced, and it did exactly what I expected it to. From the driver's seat, you cannot tell what you have in the car, and obviously, it is capable of winning races. I haven't done anything special with the maintenance, and it hasn't given me any trouble." Strickler does recommend, however, that anyone using a two-speed dirt transmission for the first time make sure they understand how to properly operate one. "I've seen guys burn up the clutches before they even got out on the track because they didn't understand how to drive with this transmission," he says. "And that's understandable because they work just about opposite of the way every other transmission does."
Strickler has a great point because operating any transmission like this isn't exactly intuitive. Every two-speed transmission has four states of operation: Neutral, First gear, High gear, and Reverse. But the RaceGators transmission and all other transmissions like it don't use the clutch to disengage the gear.
Instead, putting the transmission into either First gear or Reverse and then pressing the clutch actually engages the gear. High gear is a 1:1 direct drive, so the clutch isn't used there.
So, for example, if you're exiting the pits to get onto the track, here's how the process would work. First, without placing your foot on the clutch, bump the gear selector into Reverse. Now press the clutch and give the car a little gas to back up. When you are ready to stop, release the clutch and apply the brakes if necessary.
Once the race car is stopped and with your foot still off the clutch, put the transmission into Low gear. Apply the clutch and enough throttle to get moving and drive until you get onto the track. With your foot still on the clutch, accelerate to around 3,000 rpm or so, release both the clutch and the gas, shift into High gear, apply the gas and get ready to go racing. If you need to stop, simply bump the gear selector out of gear and brake to a stop without engaging the clutch.
A transmission like this can handle gobs of horsepower reliably because the clutch isn't engaged at all during racing action. But the clutch's small size also makes it vulnerable to abuse. When driving in First or Reverse, always be careful not to feather the clutch. Instead, engage the clutch quickly and control your speed with the throttle. It can be a bit of an adjustment to get used to at first, but once you get the hang of it driving a transmission like this will become second nature.
RaceGators does offer a powder coatedcase and tailhousing option. This isn't legal for IMCA classes (yet), but the powdercoating does make cleaning easier. Best of all, this upgrade only adds 30 bucks to the total bill.


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Here and Now at Lyons Weir Gallery
Photos by G. Various Artists.
Unfortunately, I caught the really cool group exhibit "Here and Now" at Lyons Weir Gallery (at 524 West 24th Street) in New York on its final day. The mixed media show was really cool, so enjoy these photos here and now!
Erykah Badu is art! I think you'd better call Tyrone!


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A recent headline on Reuters read: "Subculture of Americans prepares for civilization's collapse." The subsequent story documented a subculture of Americans who refer to themselves as "preppers." As the story stated, "Some are driven by a fear of imminent societal collapse, others are worried about terrorism, and many have a vague concern that an escalating series of natural disasters is leading to some type of environmental cataclysm."
I saw this story the day after I met Don Daily, 73, in the parking lot at the Bolsa Chica wetlands. For the past several months, I'd noticed a red van parked in the far corner of the lot in the morning when I took my walk. More noticeable, however, was a strange-looking, 40-foot antenna reaching up into the sky, attached to the van, resembling a sort of reverse Christmas tree shape.
The tower elicited glares and stares from many in the parking lot, and so one day when I saw a man in a black watch cap tinkering with the base of the tower, I stopped to talk to him. This was my introduction to Daily.
"I'm a spy for the FBI!" he laughed when I introduced myself. Evidently, more than one person has asked Daily what he's up to, and that's become his joke reply. People also ask him if he's monitoring bird activity.
But, as he will explain, he co-designed this interesting tower structure, and he is no more than a very motivated ham (or amateur) radio enthusiast who is concerned that whenever some form of societal interruption hits, people will no longer be able to communicate. "Ham radio to the rescue!" he chuckled once more.
Daily told me he was set up 20 years ago in this very same spot with a monstrous 120-foot antenna tower, conducting tests as he does today. "I'm trying to improve this antenna out here," he said seriously. "I talk all over the world each day to people, then log all of the averages to measure how the antenna is working. Conditions vary each day due to sun spot cycles, but I learn more each day about the tower's effectiveness."
The former electrical mechanical maintenance engineer is joined most mornings by an old high school chum, Mike McCurdy, who meets Daily before dawn to set the tower up and often sticks around until about 9 p.m. to help dismantle it.
The history of ham radio goes back to the late 19th century, and Daily has been a devotee since he was a teenager. In fact, he also tells me that he still feels like a teenager when he's out setting up his tower (no small feat, but he's in fantastic physical shape, and works out just about every day).
Today, his biggest concerns are terrorist threats and national disasters, and he believes that if the power grids go down, ham radio will be an important way for people to communicate. So that's why he's out there every day, putting his new tower to the test, logging each hour to analyze how his signal is functioning. Daily likes this particular parking lot because he says the lack of power and abundance of salt water both work to bolster his signal strength.
So should we, as a society, have to deal with some sort of catastrophe, natural or otherwise, know that a ham radio expert is on the case, just in case, right on Pacific Coast Highway near the entrance to Bolsa Chica State Beach.
Also, a note on two upcoming events. All are invited to the Central Library from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday to meet and greet 15 authors and illustrators as part of the annual Authors Festival organized by the Friends of the Children's Library (FOTCL). These authors are coming to the library after spending a day in residence at local schools, sharing their love of reading and writing with students. Barnes & Noble will be selling the authors' books, so it's a great chance to come out and get them signed. I'll be appearing at the event (and at Sowers Middle School earlier in the day), so come by and say hi.
There will also be an awards ceremony to honor the 30 students chosen as winners of the "Living in the Library" writing and illustrating contest sponsored by the FOTCL and the Sand Scribes children's writing group. The Authors Festival is funded by a generous grant from the Employees Community Fund of Boeing California.
Also, on Monday evening KinderVision will be hosting its annual banquet at SeaCliff Country Club. Join Major League Baseball Hall of Fame host Rollie Fingers and fellow Hall-of-Famer Goose Gossage, with former stars Al Downing, Bobby Grich and lots of other players for a fun night. I will be there and plan on hosting the Q&A with the players. And they even give you a free baseball for autographs. For information, contact Sheila Comparan at (714) 843-6080 or email her at email@example.com.
KinderVision is the national personal safety education program that helps protects kids from sexual exploitation and abduction, and it's already hosted some wonderful events here in Huntington Beach.
CHRIS EPTING is the author of 18 books, including the new "Hello, It's Me: Dispatches from a Pop Culture Junkie." You can write him at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Boone County REMC Community Room
Monday, November 11, 2002
Pursuant to Notice given all members of the Board of Directors via Electronic Mail, the Monthly Meeting convened and was called to order by President Wallace.
A written agenda, Treasurers Report and Grant Report were passed out by John.
Board Members present: Jane Brandenburg, Chad Martin, Terry McCain, Dave Truitt, and John Wallace. Also in attendance was one of our new members Mr. Jeff Papa.
ITEM I - System Administrator/ Content Report: A busy couple of months for Terry. The Fall General election went well. The by precinct summaries were uploaded around 9:00 pm in the Clerks Office - far ahead of all other areas in the state. Primary week of May 5th was the busiest time for access to the site as far as looking at election results. The Fall election was about the 2nd busiest week - from Nov 8th on. Sometimes people still try to look for a week or so after the election at the results. Both the Lebanon and WEBO schools are right in there after the election as far as frequency for access to the site.
To date, there have been 2,990,437 requests (hits) on the BCCN site. There are 76 MB of data transferred in an average day. The National Association of Retired Federal Employees (Indy chapter) is now on BCCN. We are hosting their site and the domain is being directed to the site. There are several Boone County members of NARFE. The Lebanon Fire Department would like to take their page and turn it into a site, and Terry is working with them to get that set up. The Zionsville band is working on a site also. Private school: The community education page has grown - community education link has been added and a list of private schools within the county, as well. The Boone County Economic Development site has had some TLC the past couple weeks from Terry, and she will help Boone EDC maintain their site. The Community Foundation scholarships are being updated - Barb is meeting with all of the guidance counselors on the updates for this busy time of year for college applicants. The updates can be taken straight from the page for the application process. Access Indiana had recently upgraded some of their systems and had forgotten to add secondary DNS for BCCN back in to their operations. This error was found because the staff at the libraries in Lebanon and Thorntown were having problems with emails they were sending out.
John asked how many people accessed the site the night of the election ? New member Jeff Papa related that by going to our website about every question he and his family had for their move to Boone County was answered by our site. Chad related that WEBO has a new technical director that should be invited to be a part of the organization. John was pleased that Terry was working with the Boone Economic Development Corporation - that is a real plus. We all agreed. We should still try to get the Town of Zionsville on line with some basic municipal/town information so that all of the Boone County municipalities would be located throughout our site.
ITEM II - Treasurers Report: John presented a handout with expenditures and income since the last Board Meeting. John gave the report in Rebeccas absence. Grant $ left to spend is zero ($ 0.00). The term of the grant has expired and all funds have been accounted. $19.29 of the grant was left over and was transferred to the general fund after the conclusion of grant activities.The Check requests as written since the last meeting totaled $ 9,362.07. Deposits of $50.00 were made for two new members to the organization. See attached report prepared by her to list the activity since the last meeting. John said we should be in search of grants on a continual basis. No money has been spent from the General Fund. $16,689.59 remains in the general operating fund which has had income of $4,095.02 to date.
ITEM III - Lilly Grant: John submitted a final report of the Grant Activity to Lilly Endowment. He also gave a copy to Lisa John at the Community Foundation. John updated Jeff, our new member, with a synopsis of what the original grant had done. There was a $50,000 grant allowed to help disseminate information. It helped to buy a new server for BCCN which is housed at the Lebanon Schools Admin. Office. Promotional items were used for three trade shows and advertising in the newspapers, and we bought some equipment for some area libraries (Tri-County). This grant is now done. Look for others ! Says John. Terry suggested Debbie Cranfill at the Zionsville Chamber be provided with some promotional CDs - John will ask how many she may like to have. The tourism council may be able to use these as well.
ITEM IV - Policy regarding .com domains: Terry has come up with an easy method of hosting sites with virtual domains on BCCN. We have several we now host. There would be a fee associated depending on the circumstances. The planned procedure would be easier when handled in this fashion. Several Non-profits have a .com address despite the fact that .org is available to serve them. These people could have a .org point to the BCCN page. Chad asked if the organization should have both .com and .org ? Terry and John have come up with a way to allow this to work. The Zionsville Chamber office is somewhat of a problem. The language will be worked out and an on-line vote will be taken. Dave explained that there should be some disclaimer inserted for any .org who may not necessarily be a 501(c) approved not for profit organization due, in-part, to the question of deductibility of contributions to the respective organization.
ITEM V - Vacant Board Seats: We need to fill two (2) positions. Carl Corson and Marcy Tranbarger board seats are vacant. The Library will need to fill their position. Should we approach another Library ? - the Community Foundation ? The Hussy Mayfield Library ? Z=ville Library has quite a bit of activity, Linda White or Karen Niemeyer are suggested as possibilities to fill the vacancy. John explained the on-line voting process to Jeff. May be some ideas before the next Board Meeting in January. The Annual meeting will be in March 2003.
OTHER STUFF: The new magnets ordered had a slight problem. The pencils were also slightly messed up - a space was inserted where it should not be. Terry happened to have them with her and retrieved them from her car. The group viewed them and could not discern any differences. Terry showed the Board the new BCCN digital camera. A similar model was purchased for the Boone County Senior Citizens and presented to Sue Ritz, the Executive Director. Sue will share this with other organizations which was a wish we had extended to her.
The meeting adjourned at 1:20 p.m.
[BCCN | About BCCN | By-Laws | Membership & Fees | Acceptable Use Policy | Minutes | Board of Directors]
Last updated: 18 April 2003/tlm.
This page maintained by BCCN.


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Arthur (Art) W. Walrabenstein
May 28, 1923 – Oct. 14, 2013
Arthur (Art) W. Walrabenstein, 90, of Sister Bay, passed away peacefully Monday, Oct. 14, 2013, at Cardinal Ridge in Sturgeon Bay after a long illness.
He was a friendly and kind man who never met a person he didn't like. Art was born May 28, 1923, in Waukesha to Arthur H. and Maude (Pratt) Walrabenstein. He adored his younger sister, Edna. He served his country during World War II and was stationed in the South Pacific in the United States Army, arriving home from the Army on Christmas Eve 1945. He married Betty Steffen in 1947 and had two daughters, Donna and Susan. Art and his brother-in-law, Homer Walls, owned A&A Trucking Company and General Cartage in Waukesha until his retirement in 1985. He moved to Sister Bay after retiring from the trucking company and worked as a starter at Peninsula Golf Course until this past July. He devoted his life to the happiness of his wife of 66 years, Betty. As a youth, he was an avid baseball player. He enjoyed golf and was an ardent Packers fan.
Besides Betty, he is survived by his two daughters, Donna (Dan) Danielson and Susan Walrabenstein; his sister, Edna Walls; and many nieces and nephews.
Visitation will be held from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1, at Alexander's Restaurant, 3667 Highway 42, Fish Creek. A military burial will occur in Waukesha at a date and time to be determined.
In lieu of flowers, donations are appreciated to Old Glory Honor Flight, 4650 W. Spencer St., Appleton, WI 54914; or the First United Methodist Church, 121 Wisconsin Ave., Waukesha, WI 53186.
Casperson Funeral Home's website, www.caspersonfuneralhome.com, will have updates as well as a place for online condolences.


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WASHINGTON — Democrats on the House Committee on Homeland Security on Thursday downplayed the significance of a highly critical report that highlighted a series of law enforcement communications gaps preceding last year's Boston Marathon bombing.
A day after the review was released by committee Chairman Michael McCaul of Texas, Democrats gave vague answers as to why they declined to endorse the report, or, in some cases, even read it.
"There is nothing particularly new or significant in it," Representative Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Homeland Security, said in a statement. "Information sharing and intelligence gaps are well known. We have discussed them at committee hearings, and we all need to work on fixing them."
Only one of the 14 Democrats on the committee signed onto the report: Representative Bill Keating of Bourne. The seven Republicans who hold leadership posts on the committee signed on, calling Democratic objections petty partisanship. Keating has bemoaned his colleagues' dissent, saying the focus should be on the families affected by the attack and on preventing another incident.
Congressional reports are often released without fanfare, and not all of them have formal committee votes. In this case, however, the review was highly anticipated as the first official accounting of how the FBI, Customs and Border Protection, and other agencies handled information relating to one of the suspected bombers, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, during the two years before the April 15, 2013, bombing at the Marathon finish line.
The report offered greater detail of how federal authorities missed opportunities to further question Tsarnaev, who was killed before he could be captured. It recommended several changes, including enhanced secondary checks of suspects at airports and greater cooperation between federal authorities and local law enforcement.
Rather than being an impetus for change, the report so far has become another example of Washington's inability to overcome its partisan divide. Democrats now are complaining that they were not included in the report's preparation.
"Democrats did not sign on to the report because the final redacted version was not shown to our members or myself," Thompson, who declined requests for an interview, said in the statement. "Up until [Wednesday], it was a moving target."
Republicans adamantly deny that they withheld information from Democrats on the committee. They also confirmed that Thompson's staff was on a committee fact-finding trip to Russia and submitted changes that were incorporated into the final version of the committee report.
"The Democratic members had the opportunity to sign on, and the report has been available for weeks," said Charlotte Sellmyer, a spokeswoman for the Republican-led committee. "The Democrats contributed to the report and traveled with the Republican staff to Russia as part of the investigation."
Representative Cedric Richmond, a Democrat from Louisiana, said through a spokesman that he wasn't aware that a report was in the works, even though the committee has had several public hearings and distributed copies of a draft report in December to various federal agencies.
"Yesterday was the first time we'd seen or heard about the report," said Brandon Gassaway, a spokesman for Richmond.
The House committee is planning to hold a hearing on the report on April 9. Adam Comis, a spokesman for the Democratic members of the committee, said Thompson planned to attend the hearing and he left open the possibility that Democrats would join in making other recommendations after other reviews are completed.Matt Viser can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com. Noah Bierman can be reached at email@example.com.


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Looking for age-appropriate book recommendations, author interviews, and fun activity ideas? Check out our podcasts.
Home › Classroom Resources › Calendar Activities
Calendar Activities See All Calendar Activities
Not your everyday calendar, here you can find important events in literary history, authors' birthdays, and a variety of holidays, all with related activities and resources that make them more relevant to students. View by day, by week, or by month.
November 20, 2018
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein was published in 1974.
Students are introduced to a Silverstein verse and asked for their impressions. They then draw that they imagine when they read one of his lines and then write a line or two to continue the passage.
Grades 1 – 12
Types of Calendar Activities
Authors & Texts
Birthdays, publication dates, and more
Historical Figures & Events
Notable people and happenings in history
Holidays & School Celebrations
Special days and how to observe them
Literacy-Related Events
Celebrations that promote and encourage literacy


text: gamedev2 February 13, 2018 0 Author James Brady James founded Destination Android and writes about sports for Vox Media's SB Nation. He is a mindless jerk who will be first against the wall when the revolution comes. Write A Comment Cancel Reply This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.


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"Scams are everywhere," said Captain Christopher Mason of the 104 Precinct. "I don't care whether you're in Mayberry, Oklahoma or whatever, there are always people trying to capitalize on those who have good hearts."
He said that the 104th Precinct gets reports of fake Fed Ex deliverymen who attempt to force their way into homes once the door is opened. However, the most common scam in the neighborhood is criminals who pose as Con Ed workers to get into a person's home.
Typically, one individual will keep the homeowner occupied while a second individual enters the premises and begins stealing items.
However, Mason said criminals are constantly coming up with new ways of robbing people.
A 40-year Maspeth resident, who asked to remain anonymous, said at around 11 a.m. on Grand and 57th avenues last month, a man approached her with an envelope full of money and said he was interested in finding the owner.
Once she noticed a woman walking up behind her, she made her way quickly down a residential street to get away from the two. She said she is afraid for the community.
"I know a scam when I see one," she said after coming to this paper's offices with her story.


text: The third race on the Rally America National Championship schedule, Oregon Trail is the only 3 day rally event in the Championship that takes place in urban Portland, OR and through the Mt. Hood farmlands outside the city. With fast stretches combined with twisting foothill runs this rally is always packed with excitement. This rally offers fans the best rally viewing opportunities due to its accessibility and wide-open unobstructed areas.


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- The Bobble Brush ($3.99): Bobble water bottles are a favorite among reusable bottle fanatics. They don't break when dropped and have built-in filters. But with their narrow necks, they've been nearly impossible to clean. Luckily, the Bobble Brush is here to help! With its easy-to-grip handle, rubber bristles, and long shaft it makes it easy to reach every inch of your Bobble. The only downside: You'll have to purchase the brush separately from your bottle.
- ALEX Bottle ($25.99 for a 20 ounce size): The ALEX water bottle offers one of the most inventive solutions to keeping your bottle clean. Not only does the ALEX have a screw-top wide enough to fit cubes of ice, but it also unscrews in the middle of the bottle. This means that you can easily hand wash the two unscrewed halves. The ALEX has a leak-proof rubberized gasket along its middle and is dishwasher safe. Although these innovations are incredibly convenient, the ALEX dents when dropped and is more expensive than other choices.
- SIGG Cleaning Brush ($9.99) and Bottle Clean ($8.99 for 20 tablets): SIGG water bottles come in a myriad of colors and sizes but are notoriously tricky to clean thanks to their narrow necks and small openings. Luckily, SIGG has introduced two new ways to clean its bottles. Drop a SIGG cleaning tablet into your water-filled bottle and it fizzes the inside clean. The company's new cleaning brush can deal with any residual grime. The tablets aren't reusable, though, which means you'll be buying them for as long as your SIGG lasts (which the company claims could be 20 years).
No matter whether you're new to the scene or a reusable water bottle veteran, these innovations will have you cleaning your bottle in no time. Take a look at our other favorites from our Reusable Water Bottle Review.


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Find us on:
The Food and Drug Administration is giving important new safety advice to postmenopausal women and their health-care providers concerning drug products that contain estrogen.
Review Date: Tuesday, March 01, 2011
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
A goiter is an enlarged thyroid gland. Find out about the symptoms, causes, risk factors and treatments for goiters and realted thyroid conditions.
Review Date: Friday, July 11, 2014
Hormone Health Network
A growth disorder means that a child has abnormal growth — for example, growing much slower or faster than others the same age. Fortunately, many of these growth disorders can be successfully treated today.
Review Date: Monday, January 14, 2013
The Nemours Foundation
Find out what's known — and not known — about testosterone therapy for normal aging.
Review Date: Monday, December 01, 2014
Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
Learn how the endocrine system maintains and controls the body's metabolism, energy levels, reproduction, growth, development, and stress response.
Learn about the throid gland, and the role that thyroid hormones play in helping your organs work well and controlling how your body uses food for energy.
Note: Documents in PDF format require the Adobe Acrobat Reader®. If you experience problems with PDF documents, please download the latest version of the Reader®.
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New Volkswagen Golf Sportwagen for sale in Winnipeg, Manitoba
7 Matching Vehicles Found
MPG Disclaimer:
The L/100km ratings being used are based on the "Natural Resources Canada's Fuel Consumption Guide." Use for comparison purposes only. Your actual mileage will vary depending on how you drive and maintain your vehicle.
Prices are in accordance with Manitoba's all in pricing regulations. Prices do not include taxes or insurance. Pricing and payments do not reflect money down, factory incentives or trade credits. While great effort is made to ensure accuracy of the information on this site errors can happen so please verify details with one of our customer service reps. This can be done easily by calling/emailing or visiting us here at the dealership.


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Contact: Ursula Kroemer Leimbach / email@example.com / mobile: (760) 705-6919
Students in Mt. Diablo Unified School District have higher graduation rates,
lower suspension rates according to new California School Dashboard
New accountability tool includes several key indicators to provide greater picture of student and school progress
(CONCORD, CA – March 16, 2017) – Mt. Diablo Unified School District (MDUSD) students continue to increase graduation rates and decrease suspension rates, according to data released by the California Department of Education showing results from the new California Accountability Model and School Dashboard, now being field-tested throughout the state. The new accountability and continuous improvement system provides information about how local education agencies and schools are meeting the needs of California's diverse student population, based on a concise set of measures.
"Overall, we are pleased with the dashboard, and that it provides context to student performance by showing growth over time for students, schools and the district," said Dr. Nellie Meyer, Superintendent of MDUSD. "These results show there is much more to our students than a test score or a number. The dashboard shows data that helps us not only identify strengths, but really gives us an opportunity to drill down to those areas where students may be struggling and we can better see where or why. We look forward to the additional measurements that will be added including college readiness and school climate indicators."
Highlights include:
- Increase graduation
- Decreased suspension rates
- Grade 11 students scored gained 11.6 points in English Language Arts and 2.7 points in Mathematics
Areas of improvement include:
- Services to students with disabilities – MDUSD has a high population of students who are considered medically fragile or are high needs and are not on the traditional graduation trajectory
- Mathematics as measured in grades 3-8
There are three key components to the new dashboard:
Multiple Measures - Instead of relying exclusively on test scores as the previous accountability system did, this new system gives a snapshot of a manageable set of indicators, including high school graduation rates, career and college readiness, English learner progress and suspension rates, while still looking at test scores.
Focus on Equity - Under the previous system, data about student groups was too focused on test scores. The new system provides student group information on a variety of helpful indicators and puts it in one location. Having access to relevant information helps schools and districts understand where students are struggling and ensures staff can respond with resources.
Supporting Local Decision-Making - The Dashboard supports the state's Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), which gives districts and schools more flexibility in using state resources as outlined in each school district's Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). Districts and schools have access to the information they need to make the best local decisions about the education of children. New information will help principals, teachers, parents and community members pinpoint specific areas where schools are underperforming and need help. It will also help identify schools that are excelling and can help others by sharing their methods and practices.
In contrast to California's previous accountability system, which was based solely on annual standardized test scores, the School Dashboard considers several key indicators. Collectively, these indicators provide much greater context to how students and schools are doing.
State Indicators
Local Indicators
Instead of numeric scores and rankings, the California School Dashboard assigns colored performance levels. These performance levels are calculated based on how current performance compares to past performance.
The state goal for all indicators is to reach the green performance level.
The performance level (color) is not included when there are less than 30 students in any year used to calculate status and change. An N/A means that data is not currently available.
The Dashboard is being field tested before full implementation in fall 2017. Reports included in the field test are based on the latest state data available as of fall 2016, except for graduation data, which is based on the 2014-15 school year. As more indicators come online, the data will be added to the Dashboard. Future versions of the Dashboard will be published annually; its design and features will be changed over time based on user feedback.
California School Dashboard Report
The Dashboard contains reports that display the performance of local educational agencies (LEAs), schools, and student groups on a set of state and local measures to assist in identifying strengths, weaknesses, and areas in need of improvement.
California Model Five-by-Five Grid Placement Reports
The new accountability and continuous improvement system is based on a five-by-five colored table that produces 25 results using five colors. The reports display the schools' (by district) and student groups' placement on the five-by-five colored tables.
- California Dashboard presentation to MDUSD Board – February 27, 2017
Source: Mt. Diablo Unified School District
Source: California Department of Education (CDE)
- California School Accountability Model & School Dashboard website (English) (Spanish – PDF)
Source: California Department of Education (CDE)
- Fast Start Guide (English – PDF)
Source: California Department of Education (CDE)
Source: California Department of Education (CDE)
Source: Association of California School Administrators (ACSA)
# # #
Mt. Diablo Unified, located in Contra Costa County, is honored to serve approximately 32,000 students at one of more than 50 school sites in the cities of Clayton, Concord, Pleasant Hill; portions of Martinez, Pittsburg and Walnut Creek; and the unincorporated communities of Bay Point, Lafayette, and Pacheco. As part of a richly diverse community, MDUSD families represent numerous ethnic groups, speaking nearly 50 different languages and dialects. We are proud of our award-winning staff and extensive honors and recognitions for our innovative programs in Career Technical Education; Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM); extensive visual and performing arts programs; and rich foreign language and dual immersion offerings. MDUSD is also pleased to have launched its first middle college program, College Now, and will be opening its first International Baccalaureate program and three new regional magnet schools in 2017. Extensive student support services help ensure an inclusive culture of excellence and achievement for all students to help them prepare for success in college, career, and life. Learn more at http://www.mdusd.org/.