text:
Bartolo Colon pitched seven effective innings to end a three-start losing streak and Curtis Granderson connected for a two-run homer, leading the Yankees over the Athletics 7-5 on Sunday.
Eduardo Nunez hit a two-run double and catcher Russell Martin was in the middle of everything for the Yankees. They beat All-Star lefty Gio Gonzalez and returned to their winning ways against the A's when Mariano Rivera staved off a rally in the ninth with a bit of good fortune.
Hideki Matsui's fifth hit, which matched a career high, loaded the bases with one out in the ninth. Josh Willingham cut it to 7-5 with an RBI single, the only run Rivera has allowed in 22 outings at home this season.
David DeJesus then hit a liner to first baseman Mark Teixeira, and pinch-runner Ryan Sweeney broke for second. Sweeney was easily trapped off the bag for a game-ending double play.
A one-run loss Saturday snapped New York's 11-game winning streak against Oakland. But the Yankees rebounded behind Colon, taking two of three meetings over the weekend. The Athletics have lost 10 straight series to New York, an Oakland record against any club.
Matsui tormented his former team again, going 5 for 5 with two doubles and an RBI for the A's. The day before, he homered and scored twice in a 4-3 victory.
The broiling heat subsided a bit, with a game-time temperature of 85 degrees following readings of 93 on Saturday and 100 on Friday night.
A brief shower in the eighth cooled off the crowd of 45,586, just as Oakland mounted a comeback attempt with three doubles off All-Star setup man David Robertson. Kurt Suzuki's second two-bagger of the game cut it to 6-4, but Rivera retired Cliff Pennington on a broken-bat grounder to end the inning.
Rivera finished up to reach 25 saves for the 15th consecutive season, extending his major league record.
Nunez manufactured an insurance run in the eighth, scoring without a throw on Derek Jeter's RBI groundout against a drawn-in infield. That came against an erratic Joey Devine, who appeared to have trouble gripping the ball again, just as he did while sweating profusely Friday night.
Andruw Jones had a pair of RBI singles for New York, a big league-best 29-6 in day games. The Yankees have won 16 of 18 against Oakland and 26 of 31 matchups overall since the start of the 2008 season.
The A's are 7-26 in their last 33 road games.
Colon (7-6) allowed two second-inning runs and scattered eight hits for his first win since July 2 against the Mets. The 38-year-old right-hander had dropped three straight starts since winning four in a row.
Gonzalez (9-7) lasted 4 2-3 innings, the second time in three starts he's failed to get through five. Before that, he had pitched into the sixth in every outing this year.
Nunez's two-run double over Willingham's head in left put the Yankees ahead 3-2 with two outs in the fourth. An athletic play by Martin helped them protect that slim lead in the fifth.
With a runner on first and two outs, Matsui doubled into the right-center gap. Granderson cut the ball off just in front of the warning track and started a long relay. Second baseman Robinson Cano's throw home was high, but Martin made a leaping grab and came down in time to tag a sliding Eric Sogard on the hip.
Colon clapped his approval, and New York was out of the inning.
Jeter drew a leadoff walk from Gonzalez in the bottom half and Granderson drove a full-count pitch into the second deck in right for his team-leading 27th homer.
Jones added an RBI infield single with two outs to make it 6-2.
Martin also singled twice, stole a base and threw out a runner attempting to steal. He scored on Nunez's double and Jones' two-out single in the second.
Pennington had an RBI single for the A's in the second and Sogard added a run-scoring double.
NOTES: Oakland RHP Tyson Ross, on the disabled list since May 20 with a strained left oblique, was slated to throw 65-70 pitches in a rehab start for Triple-A Sacramento. But interim manager Bob Melvin wouldn't commit to putting Ross back in the rotation once he's healthy. "We'll see how it plays out. We have five guys right now," Melvin said. "These things have a way of working themselves out. But certainly there's some time before we get there and once we get there, we'll see where we're at." … Matsui also had five hits for the Yankees on July 22, 2007, against Tampa Bay. … Oakland tied a season high with 15 hits. … 3B Scott Sizemore was rested and replaced in the lineup by Sogard, who gave up on a very playable popup with a shift on against Teixeira in the sixth. … New York reliever Rafael Soriano (right elbow inflammation) was scheduled to pitch for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre as part of his rehab assignment. If he comes out of that outing OK, he could pitch again Monday. And if the Yankees are happy with his stuff, he could be activated soon after that. … Jeter was the DH, with Nunez starting at SS. … Sunday was the 28th anniversary of the famous "Pine Tar game" between the Royals and Yankees.


text:
Is game six do-or-die for Boston Celtics?
Now the Celtics. They led, 3-0. They let it get away, losing Game 4 in overtime. In Game 5 Wednesday in Orlando, they were spanked. When the game was finished, they had two guys with concussions, one who was ejected, and a few others hurting.
We wonder if this might be the sports god taking revenge for what the Red Sox did to the Yankees in 2004 — the 3-0 comeback to end all 3-0 comebacks. Is this Garden gag of 2010 some kind of macabre payback for the Biblical revival of the Idiotic gang, who shucked 86 years of hard-luck hardball?
Don't go to that dark place, people. Not yet. The Celtics are going to win tonight. They have a healthy Big Three. They have Rajon Rondo ready to answer Jameer Nelson. They have Kendrick Perkins, granted a stay by the NBA's behavior police.
HoopsVibe's Call: There's no reason to panic, but there's cause for concern in Boston.
After all, the Bruins, the city's beloved NHL team, held a 3-0 lead over the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. The Bruins are now golfing, while the Flyers advanced to the Stanley Cups Finals against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Of course, the Celtics were up 3-0 and seemed on cruise control to the NBA Finals. Then the Magic appeared, winning the last two games.
Tonight, however, is do-or-die for Boston. Winning a game-seven clincher in Orlando, after dropping a 3-0 lead, might be too much, even for a veteran Celtic squad that plays air-tight defense.
Is game six a must-win for Boston? Get at us in the comment box below with thoughts.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
New Age Posters and Prints
Your source for the best metaphysical posters and prints
Top of Menu
Browse by category, search by keyword (see left column), or click on any of the items below to view the larger image. With thousands of posters and prints available, you are sure to find a suitable selection, capable of creating a more relaxing and pleasant atmosphere in your favorite room.
Also, for an additional fee, any poster or art print can be beautifully mounted on wood or framed. Your order will be proficiently processed, filled, and shipped by AllPosters.com. They will also provide splendid and complete customer service. For more details, just check our ordering information section.
Copyright © Occultopedia


text:
Visit campus to learn what Hawkeye has to offer you!
Registration for Summer/Fall 2019 opens Monday, March 25. Priority Registration ends April 2.
Register Today
Walk-In Advising is available for Liberal Arts, Business Administration, Criminal Justice, and Pre-Health March 25–29.
See Walk-In Registration Dates and Times
Keep your kids entertained this summer with STEM activities that are fun, productive and creative! Registration is OPEN!
Learn more
Now open!
Students Page
Faculty & Staff Page
Alumni & Donors Page
Make a Gift
Update your contact information and tell us your story. We're so excited to hear from you!
Update Your Contact Information
Enter into a drawing for a $25 gift card.
All fields marked with * are required.


text:
If you want to watch Divx embedded Videos in your browser, like they used to be offered by Stage6, you can use the mozilla-mplayer package with the following customizations:
Install the package mozilla-mplayer.
In /etc/mplayerplug-in.types you need the lines
video/divx:divx:DivX Media Format;
video/vnd.divx:divx:DivX Media Format;
and in /etc/mplayerplug-in.conf you need the line
Don't start your browser before you've made these changes, otherwise you need to uninstall the plugin, start the browser, exit it, reinstall the plugin and then it should work. This works in Opera and Firefox for me.
Update: Unfortunately this does not work on all pages, some seem to check specificly for the divx.com plugin, which of course won't work...


text:
90-year-old illegal Irish immigrant Josephine Stout, who had been living in the U.S. since she was a toddler in the 1920s, passed away on Monday just a few weeks before officially becoming an American citizen.
It was only discovered in 1999 that Stout wasn't a legal US citizen when a routine check into her status file after she applied for public aid found that she was undocumented.
It would take a staggering 12 years and a search across two continents to gather the necessary documents to prove that Stout was, in fact, in the US legally since she was a young child.
"My grandmother always believed in her heart that she was an American," granddaughter Sandi Stout said to the Chicago Tribune on Tuesday morning as she sat in the living room of the North Lawndale apartment she shared with her grandmother Stout.
After the long search to gather Stout's documents, Breandan Magee, the executive director of the Chicago Irish Immigrant Support social services organization, submitted Stout's paperwork for naturalization in December 2012.
Ordinarily, a person has to wait five years after receiving a green card to apply for citizenship, but the process for Stout was expected to just take a few months because she had her five years more than ten times over at that point.
As Stout's health was failing, Magee asked immigration officials to take the unusual step of expediting Stout's application in January, said Marilu Cabrera, a spokeswoman at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The agency was in the process of doing so when Stout died.
Magee said his organization has received donations for Stout and was using that money to pay for her final expenses.
"She was delighted to become a green card holder," Magee said. "Josephine was a woman who showed such great fortitude. In my eyes she was indicative of that fighting Irish spirit you see in so many women of her generation."
Her amazing story was told in the Chicago Tribune. Records show that Stout was born in a poorhouse in Ireland and that she traveled from there in 1923 on the passenger ship RMS Franconia and that she was aged one and a half.
Back then, landed emigrants were considered resident aliens but Stout's parents never went through the paperwork for her.
That hardly mattered until 1999 when Stout, after falling on hard times due to several family tragedies, applied to have public assistance.
She could not produce evidence of her citizenship other than a social security number and was denied.
Suddenly she was an undocumented immigrant, approaching 70 with seven grandchildren she was raising after her daughter was killed in a robbery.
"What did I know about being from Ireland?" said Stout. "I don't even have an accent. I have always said, 'I am an American, period.'"
She was forced to collect cans as Irish government officials, alerted to the case, tried to find her original birth certificate.


text:
EL CERRITO — There's a wonderful moment in the new West Edge Opera production of "The Turn of the Screw" in which a pair of ghosts appear by the side of a lake. Looming large and eerily transparent in their unearthly bodies, they sing of earthly desires and torments.
Benjamin Britten's haunting 1954 chamber opera, adapted from Henry James' novella, isn't as often performed as the composer's large-scale masterworks such as "Peter Grimes" and "Billy Budd." But it casts a mesmerizing spell in this production, which opened Saturday at the El Cerrito Performing Arts Theater. Directed by West Edge general director Mark Streshinsky, it's a worthy addition to the many tributes being performed in the Bay Area this year in honor of the Britten centenary.
Britten and librettist Myfanwy Piper were drawn to the story of two orphaned Victorian children, the ghosts of the servants who haunt them, and the young governess who tries to deliver them from evil. Piper's libretto gives voice to the ghosts (who never speak in James' original), making them characters in the drama. Britten's ingenious score, structured as a prologue and 15 variations divided by orchestral interludes, is one of his most luminous creations, with shimmering strings, baleful woodwinds, harps and bells evoking the opera's otherworldly atmosphere of innocence and corruption.
In the opening scene, a male narrator tells us how the governess came to Bly, the English country house where the children, Miles and Flora, have been left by their perennially absent guardian. One condition of her employment is that she can never contact him.
Once she arrives at Bly, the governess meets Mrs. Grose, the elderly housekeeper, who reveals that Peter Quint, the master's former valet, spent extended periods alone with Miles and "had his will" with the former governess, Miss Jessel. Both Quint and Miss Jessel have since died, but the shadow of abuse — perhaps sexual, although it's never clearly articulated — remains a palpable presence.
Streshinsky has staged the opera for clarity, keeping the blocking simple and linking Britten's short episodes in a seamless flow. The director makes effective use of Jeremy Knight's video projections to evoke the English countryside, create the Bly interiors and imbue the ghosts of Quint and Miss Jessel with ectoplasmic effects. As the opera moved to its gripping conclusion, the results were potent.
On opening night, soprano Laura Bohn gave a thrilling performance as the governess. Vocally resplendent and dramatically acute, she sang with fresh tone in her early scenes, gradually shading the voice with a darker, edgier sound as the extent of her predicament came to light. Tenor Daniel Curran started the evening as an elegant Prologue and returned as the imposing ghost of Quint; both roles were written for Britten's partner, tenor Peter Pears, and Curran sang both with distinction. Buffy Baggott's plush mezzo-soprano was an asset as the insinuating and uncommonly glamorous Miss Jessel. Soprano Jillian Khuner exuded warmth as the kindly Mrs. Grose. As Miles and Flora, Milo Boland and Larkin Barnard-Bahn were both well-cast; alternate performances will feature Arman Marchiel and Amelia Meacham in the children's roles.
Music director Jonathan Khuner, leading a 12-member ensemble in the pit, conducted Britten's score with urgency, tightening the musical "screw" for maximum theatrical impact. For Britten aficionados, West Edge's production shouldn't be missed.
West Edge, by the way, is embarking on a new association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre. In his preshow remarks on opening night, Streshinsky said his company will present two concert performances of Samuel Barber's "Vanessa" at the Rep's Thrust Stage this fall; the cast will feature Marie Plette, Jonathan Boyd and Philip Skinner. Performances are Sept. 21-22; tickets will be available on the West Edge website starting Aug. 1.
By Benjamin Britten and Myfanwy Piper, adapted from the story by Henry James, presented by West Edge Opera
When: 8 p.m. Friday, 3 p.m. Sunday
Where: El Cerrito Performing Arts Theater, 540 Ashbury Ave., El Cerrito
Tickets: $20-$78, 510-841-1903, www.westedgeopera.org


text:
We got our first look at at Dell's Windows 8 line-up, including the Latitude 10 tablet, at a briefing in central London yesterday morning.
Running Windows 8 Pro, the 10in tablet is powered by an Intel Clover Trail processor and can run older programs designed for Windows 7 on the traditional Windows desktop. It's not exactly light at 725g, but it feels thin despite the 10.5mm thickness.
The processor is a dual-core chip and is paired with 2GB of RAM. Graphics are also provided by Intel, running at 533MHz.
The Latitude 10's screen has a resolution of 1366 x 768 just like many laptops, although at this screen size it equates to a density of 156ppi. That's lower than Apple's Retina display on the new iPad, but it still looked sharp enough in our short time with the tablet.
Viewing angles, brightness and contrast were all respectable on the pre-production model we saw (it's an IPS panel for those interested in the technical details) and, importantly for some people, there will be an optional Wacom stylus similar to the one used in the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1.
Uniquely, the Latitude 10 has a removable 29WHr battery, so you can simply swap it for a fully charged spare when you run out of power. Dell says you can hot swap batteries if the tablet is connected to the mains.
There's up to 128GB of storage thanks to an SSD, and also a full-size SD card for adding more. You also get a full-size USB port for connecting storage devices, a micro USB port for trickle charging the Latitude 10, a micro HDMI output and a 3.5mm headphone/microphone jack.
On the back are stereo speakers, and a sliding battery release.
There are dual microphones on the top edge, plus front and rear cameras. At the front is a 2Mp camera capable of 720p capture, while the rear one can take 8Mp photos and also has an LED flash.
Connectivity includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and, optionally, WWAN, although no details were given as to whether this would be 3G or 4G.
Security is a big focus, and the Latitude 10 has a Kensington-style lock slot. Most of the security features are optional, including hardware TPM, fingerprint scanner and Smart Card reader.
Various accessories will be available, including a combined Bluetooth keyboard and case, and a docking station with four USB 2 ports, gigabit LAN, full-size HDMI and audio outputs. The docking station is crucial for providing a seamless tablet-to-dekstop experience, Dell says.
Dell says the optional 60WHr lasts between 18 and 19 hours of mixed use, although this wasn't an official figure. We didn't see this battery, but it's likely to be twice the thickness of the standard 30WHr version we saw and may well stick out the back of the tablet.
No prices were announced for any of the Latitude 10 models, but we were told they would be available "with the launch of Windows 8", which we took to mean October 26.


text:
- Italian Grand Prix
Who said what after practice for the Italian Grand Prix
Read what the teams and drivers had to say after practice for the Italian Grand Prix
- Race:
- Italian Grand Prix
CaterhamHeikki Kovalainen FP1 - 19th, FP2 - 18th
A much better Friday than we've had for a while. Right from the installation lap the car balance felt better and we're clearly more competitive here than we have been anywhere since Valencia. It's difficult to understand where the improvement has come from - the cars are in a very different configuration than Spa, Hungary, Hockenheim or Silverstone but that doesn't explain the difference in the feeling and the performance. We need to get a better understanding of why we're better here and then make sure we can translate that into being more competitive at every type of track. It's a positive feeling for everybody. Spa was not acceptable, that's clear, and when we don't really understand why we weren't competitive it's more difficult to sort out, but coming here we're back to the base level of performance we should have and now we need to build on that."
Vitaly Petrov FP1 - 20th, FP2 - 20th
"I think we are moving in the right direction and it's been a much better day for us than we had last week, or for a few races now. We ran both cars in different aero configurations so we could generate as much data as possible and the laptimes look pretty good. That gives us a lot to work on tonight, to prepare for quali and the race and it's good to see us getting back to where we want to be. After the ups and downs we've seen so far this year I don't want to make any predictions about where we'll end up on Sunday, or in Singapore or any of the races to come, but I think that if we carry on like we have today we'll be looking much better. That's a good feeling, for me and the team, and hopefully the similar weather conditions we'll have on track tomorrow will suit us so we can have another positive day."
FerrariFernando Alonso FP1 - 4th, FP2 - 3rd
"Today almost everything happened, with various mechanical problems and we did not manage to test everything we wanted, but all the parts that failed can be changed and thanks to Felipe we have all the information we need to do well in qualifying and the race. Even if today was complicated, it was still positive: it's good that everything happened today, because we must try and avoid any problems tomorrow and Sunday. I am optimistic about the car balance, which we did not have to change between FP1 and 2. I expect we will see different strategies in qualifying because there seems to be very little difference between the Medium and Hard tyres. In the race we will have to use both and so in the end it balances out. Compared to Spa, here we are on the pace, maybe we have a bit more downforce and make up a bit of time at the two Lesmos and the second chicane, while we are losing out in the first sector with the two long straights. We will analyse these details this evening and tomorrow we will try and improve also in terms of top speed, which was probably our weak point today."
Felipe Massa FP1 - 5th, FP2 - 4th
"A very positive day because I managed to make the most of the track time, completing all the programme we had planned for this Friday. I did a lot of laps on both types of tyre, in the morning and the afternoon, including a long run to evaluate the handling as well as possible. At the moment, there doesn't seem to be much difference between the two compounds in terms of performance, as we could also see from the other drivers' times, but we will have to see how it goes tomorrow, because the difference could become greater as the track conditions improve, which will be an important factor for qualifying and the race. I am also pleased with my lap times, as I was always up there with the quickest cars in both sessions. We will be trying to improve the car set-up still further tomorrow, but I am confident for the rest of the weekend. I am very pleased to be here in Monza in front of our fans and I really hope that this positive day is the right start to get a great result for them!"
Pat Fry, technical director
"The mechanics definitely did not have time to get bored today! We had various reliability problems on Fernando's car that meant he was unable to get through his planned programme. It's very unusual for us to have three problems in three separate areas - engine, brakes and gearbox - on the same day, therefore we will have to look very closely at what happened, to ensure it doesn't happen again. As far as the gearbox and engine are concerned, they were units we were not planning to use in the race, so we will not incur any penalties tomorrow. For his part, Felipe managed to do a lot of kilometres and gathered important data for the team, both on the different aerodynamic configurations and on the behaviour of the two compounds - Hard and Medium - which Pirelli has chosen for this race. From what we could see, the field is very close and adopting the right level of aero downforce will be a key factor in qualifying and the race. As for the tyres, it's hard to say from what we saw today which performs better: we still have an hour of free practice tomorrow to learn more."
Force IndiaPaul Di Resta FP2 - 7th
"A pretty standard afternoon session for me and I seemed to get in the groove quite quickly. The preparation we had done in the simulator was useful and the baseline set-up was not very far away from where we needed to be. We improved the car with each run so there's plenty of data to go through tonight to improve our performance before qualifying."
Nico Hulkenberg FP1 - 12th, FP2 - 8th
"It was nice to have a dry and straightforward Friday for a change so that we could get through our programme and complete some long runs. Overall we look in reasonable shape, although I'm not totally happy with the set-up yet. We learned a lot about the tyres and both the hard and medium are working well here. The other big decision to make tonight is what downforce levels we will use over the weekend."
Jules Bianchi FP1 - 16th
"I'm very happy with how things went today. I felt very comfortable in the car and had the confidence to really push and make the most of the programme. There was a lot of traffic on my first run, but the other two runs were better and I was able to complete some good timed laps. The team asked me to run some different aero levels to get a feel for the car and we made some small improvements between the runs. So I feel very positive and I want to thank the team once again for the chance to drive the car."
Jakob Andreason, chief engineer
"A productive day of practice, which has given us all the data we need heading into the weekend. There are still some balance improvements to be made, but the set-up programme ran smoothly and there were no issues with the cars. We ran Jules this morning and he did an excellent job evaluating the downforce levels and working on the baseline set-up. In the afternoon our focus moved towards longer runs to give us the tyre data and to help determine our approach for the rest of the weekend. We will go through the data tonight and then focus on qualifying performance tomorrow morning."
HRTPedro de la Rosa FP1 - 23rd, FP2 - 23rd
"Today we enjoyed two clean sessions that enabled us to try out different aero configurations and complete a comparison of tyre compounds and a long stint towards the end in preparation for the race. We faced no problems and were able to complete all the tests as planned. We can still improve the car for tomorrow ahead of qualifying but we've set a good base for the race."
Narain Karthikeyan FP2 - 24th
"We focused on testing different car set-ups and the car worked well with all of them. The shame is that we had to stop before the end because of an issue with the exhausts. It was a precautionary measure more than anything else and it will be fixed for tomorrow. But the best thing about the day was that I found a rhythm quickly and that the car performed well."
Ma Qing Hua FP1 - 24th
"It was an extraordinary experience and I'm happy with my performance. From the start I felt comfortable in the car and working with the team, and I accomplished all the targets we set ourselves. We started with quite a long stint on hard tyres and then we made changes to the set-up as I adapted to the F112. It was an important step for me, but also for motorsport in China since it's a very young sport there but with a great potential."
Luis Pérez-Sala, team principal
"I'm happy because Ma has taken another step in his development programme as a Formula 1 driver and he had a satisfactory debut. He did what was asked of him and showed clear progression, with no mistakes, to finish the session under the 107%. Pedro also improved throughout the day and we cut down the distance to pole position, which proves we're performing well. Narain found his rhythm immediately in FP2 but a problem with the exhausts forced us to stop before the end as a precautionary measure."
LotusKimi Raikkonen FP1 - 7th, FP2 - 6th
"It was an okay day. We tried a few different things with no issues and I'm happy with the car. Our long run pace was not too bad and we weren't too far away from the fastest lap set today either. There aren't many corners here, but running with low downforce means the grip is not as good under braking and cornering through the chicanes. It's not easy to get the perfect lap here but maybe we can improve tomorrow ; we shall see."
Jerome d'Ambrosio FP1 - 15th, FP2 - 12th
"Today went pretty well overall and it feels good to be back in the car. It's not an easy task stepping in at the last minute ; there's a lot to take in and with a low downforce track like Monza it can be quite tricky to find the limit, but we completed a busy schedule and put in a lot of laps which is a good start. It's difficult to say where we are right now, but we made steady progress between the two sessions and my aim for tomorrow is to take another step forwards and see where we go from there. So far so good."
Alan Permane, trackside operations director
"It's nice to have a straight-forward Friday with dry running ; it's our first for a while ! The lower downforce here means we focused on the various compromises ; getting the car to work in the corners, balancing the need for a soft car to ride the kerbs versus a stiff car to enable high speed change of direction and so on. We feel we've made good progress with the running we've had. Jérôme has done a great job ; chipping away at the time difference between him and Kimi without any problems while absorbing all the procedures and information we've thrown at him."
MarussiaCharles Pic FP1 -21st, FP2 - 22nd
"A very busy day for us today, perhaps even more so than usual as we had to follow a very comprehensive programme across the two cars to arrive at a good way to proceed from here. We tried lots of different things this morning so that in the break we could analyse the information and decide on a direction. This track is not easy to set the car up for and it involves a few compromises, but I think we have worked well to establish a good starting point. There is still more work to be done based on what we have learned here this afternoon and some things we can do to continue to improve the car."
Timo Glock FP1 - 22nd, FP2 - 21st
"First of all it's good to have stable weather conditions in Monza because this track is quite unique and we needed to do a lot of preparation work. We got through the programme quite well and evaluated the aero level of our rear wing options for here. We did a lot of back to back work with our Canada specification and our latest components seem the clear way to go, which again proves out our development direction. Overall the car felt okay and no problems with the long runs so far; the times were quite consistent. I'm happy with FP1 and FP2. A bit of fine-tuning perhaps but, in general, a good start and we will see what we can do from here now."
John Booth, team principal
"A very different Friday to the last one, as the weather has remained consistently hot and sunny and we have forged our way through quite a comprehensive programme designed to give us as many answers as possible to the numerous set-up questions posed by this track. It's a little bit of a conundrum for us, bearing in mind that we have struggled in low downforce trim before. Nonetheless, we are pleased with the start we have made and cautiously optimistic that we have ended Friday here in a more favourable position than we perhaps envisaged. That is down to the steps we have taken to try to overcome our low downforce woes since Montreal and also the very calm and disciplined approach of our engineers and their drivers. Fingers crossed we can continue this positive start."
McLarenLewis Hamilton FP1 - 6th, FP2 - 1st
"Monza is a beautiful circuit and the whole place has such great history - you really feel it as soon as you drive through the gates. And, of course, it's an absolutely stunning place on which to drive - the speeds are incredible and, when you get the flow right, it feels simply amazing. It's very, very quick. It's somewhat deceptive, too: a map of the track makes it look quite simple, but it's actually incredibly technical. It's also bumpy, which means it's incredibly difficult to nail those final thousandths on a quick lap. And that's really what today has been all about: we're trying to fine-tune the balance and find the tiniest amounts of time. It's extremely tight. Overall, today has been quite productive, and everything has gone smoothly. Hopefully, we're not in a bad position, although there are still things we can improve on the car for tomorrow."
Jenson Button FP1 - 2nd, FP2 - 2nd
"Monza is so different from anywhere else we drive. The straightline speeds are incredibly high - in fact there are four points around the track where we hit 200mph [322km/h]. It's been satisfying to get some dry running under our belts today, because we were able to gather a lot of useful information. We tried a few different directions with set-up this afternoon - and some were better than others - but we'll decide what works best before FP3 tomorrow and we'll make the necessary tweaks to get the balance right. I'm pretty comfortable with the car; you always want more, but we've done a reasonably good job today. Looking at the data, there are quite a few teams out there that look quick too: it's very close and that's going to make it an interesting race."
Martin Whitmarsh, team principal
"There's always a special magic in the air when the Formula 1 circus arrives in Monza - and today felt no different. Managing the perfect trade-off between drag and downforce is always a tricky balancing act here, and, while we've still to perfect the set-up we'll choose to run for the remainder of the weekend, we're pleased with the good progress we've made so far, and the useful amount of data we've successfully gathered.
"Inevitably, our focus now turns to that data, and processing it in order to make the wisest changes for tomorrow. Both Lewis and Jenson were pleased with their cars, but it's satisfying that both also feel they can extract more from the package. Nevertheless, we're mindful that the competition is snapping at our heels, and that there are a number of teams which could emerge tomorrow as favourites for victory. Additionally, moving away from what happened on track here today, and speaking more generally, it's worth noting that Jenson's victory in Belgium was our second win on the trot, Lewis having triumphed in Hungary.
"That's satisfying for a number of reasons - first because, in achieving that feat, we became the first team to have won two grands prix successively so far this season, and, second, because we accomplished that milestone on two circuits, Hungaroring and Spa-Francorchamps, whose comparative downforce set-up characteristics differ very markedly. So it would appear that our car is not only quick, but also quick on a wide variety of circuits. And that augurs well not only for our prospects of victory here at super-fast Monza, where you may be well sure we'll be aiming for a hat-trick of successive wins, but also for the remainder of the season."
MercedesNico Rosberg FP1 - 3rd, FP2 - 5th
"That was definitely a better start for us than in Spa. We were able to complete a lot of laps today and it seems that we have a good pace on high and low fuel levels. As always, it's difficult to say where we are compared to the others but I hope we can score some good points this weekend. It was great fun to drive on this amazing track, and I always like the special atmosphere here. Yesterday I went out on the old Monza track with a scooter which is great to see."
Michael Schumacher FP1 - 1st, FP2 - 10th
"I am quite happy with the practice sessions as we achieved a lot of reasonable work with regards to long runs which was our main focus today. We have a different aero package for Monza which seems to work well so it seems to be looking better than in the last races. During the sessions, we made progress as well so I am curious to have a look at the data we collected and learn the full picture. It's always nice to be back in Monza as I am still so warmly welcomed by all the tifosi. As I said earlier, I would like to say thank you for that and hope we can put on a good show tomorrow and in the race on Sunday."
Ross Brawn, team principal
"We've had a pretty good day and both Nico and Michael were reasonably happy with the balance of the car by the end of the second session this afternoon. We completed our planned programme, and have all the information and data that we needed on the different tyres and fuel levels, so now we will have a look and make our plans for tomorrow."
Norbert Haug, motorsport director
"A positive start to the weekend on this traditional high-speed track. Nico and Michael posted consistent lap times during their long runs in race trim on both Pirelli tyres. We seem to have a reasonable base to work from tomorrow."
Red BullSebastian Vettel FP1 - 11th, FP2 - 13th
"I think overall we are not as quick as we would like to be, so there's still work to do. I think we are more competitive in race trim, but we aren't where we want to be yet in terms of true pace. We ran through our entire programme, so we got a lot of information to go through and learn from."
Mark Webber FP1 - 9th, FP2 - 11th
"We're working hard, but we're not there yet. We were a bit more competitive on the longer runs in practice today. We're not normally the Friday World Champions, so we'll do some work now for tomorrow. We often find a good step ahead of qualifying."
SauberKamui Kobayashi FP1 - 14th, FP2 - 16th
"It was a bit of a difficult day. I didn't do enough running to decide on the settings and the downforce level. In the morning it was business as usual and also my first run in the second session was okay. But then, after we had made some changes, the car was bouncing an awful lot. I nearly spun on the straight. However, we identified the problem but could not fix it during the session. I think we have quite a lot of work to do tomorrow."
Sergio Pérez FP1 - 8th, FP2 - 9th
"The first free practice went alright and also in the second session we almost completed our programme, but I had to stop a few minutes early when the team called me in for some checks. Overall so far I have the feeling we are a bit behind expectations here. We lose quite some time on the straights and now have to find a good aero and set-up compromise. We definitely want to fight for the top ten in qualifying tomorrow."
Giampaolo Dall'Ara, head of track engineering
"The morning's session was okay. We were focusing on aerodynamics as you always do in Monza because of the special low downforce configuration. We did comparisons of rear wings and other parts. In the afternoon Kamui's session finished early because we had experienced a problem which we could not solve during the session. Actually after this we are not confident to continue with the planned programme and want to have a closer look at everything now. On Sergio's car we discovered something wrong on the data shortly before the end of the second free practice and decided to call him in as well."
Toro RossoDaniel Ricciardo FP1 - 17th, FP2 - 15th
"You come to Monza with a special low downforce package and the car always feels a bit different, moving around more and you are reaching very high speeds, so in terms of balance, it's hard to be happy here compared to circuits where you run much higher downforce. Therefore you need to change your approach a bit. However, we are still looking for some more speed and even if we have to accept it might not be perfect, I do believe there is room for improvement for the rest of the weekend. We made a couple of changes between the sessions, but we don't yet have a clear picture of where we are at the moment. It's nice to see so many people from our factory in Faenza here to support us."
Jean-Eric Vergne FP1 - 18th, FP2 - 19th
"This is my first time at Monza in a Formula 1 car and it definitely feels fast! I have been getting used to running with very little downforce and we still have some work to do to try and improve our performance level. The team did a good job today in terms of working through a packed test programme and now it's a case of studying the data, trying to work out the best car set-up for qualifying and for the race. I have to say that driving for an Italian team at Monza in front of such a big crowd, including many of our people from the factory added something special to the experience."
Laurent Mekies, chief engineer
"As always in Monza, like all the other teams, we have brought a one-off aero package for the STR7 and our first job this morning was to assess the new front and rear wings. After that, we looked at various set-up options, aimed at optimising the car in this low downforce configuration. We are not yet happy with the way the car has been performing around here and we will have to study the data overnight to see if we can get a bit more out of the package. Both drivers had very long runs in race configuration towards the end of the session and in terms of car reliability, it was a good day, allowing us to work through all our planned programme."
WilliamsPastor Maldonado FP1 - 10th, FP2 - 14th
"It was a productive day as we were trying some different configurations, especially with the aero levels. We completed everything we set out to do in the programme. There is still more speed to come and so tomorrow we will continue working to improve, so I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do."
Bruno Senna FP2 - 17th
"It was a difficult session. After not running in the morning I had a lot to do this afternoon, but we've been trying different things and I think we can find a good path. Hopefully the car will be even better tomorrow and we can iron out some of the technical details to improve for qualifying."
Valtteri Bottas FP1 - 13th
"We got lot of running today with the dry weather so it was great to get that under our belt. The track is brilliant as it's an old school circuit and very quick. The morning session was productive and we worked through all the tests we had planned."
Mark Gillan, chief operations engineer
"We have a lot data to dissect and interpret tonight from today's two sessions to ensure that we optimise the car for the race without compromising qualifying. We managed to get through the entire test programme, despite a hydraulic problem on Pastor's car which prematurely stopped his FP1 session. The mechanics reacted very quickly and we managed to get the car ready for the start of FP2."


text:
LUST-HAVE | Korres Jasmine Eau de Toilette
I LOVE this… Because it's a complex and alluring alternative to the watery, weightless fragrance trend. Whether, like us, you're at peace with a scent unassigned to man or woman, or you prefer to leave a cloud of feminine sweetness or masculine musk wafting in your wake, one of the three Korres scents will woo you. In a moment of olfactory brilliance, Korres has found three ways to bottle the Mediterranean mystique. £38, 100ml


text:
Accused Sartell Shooter Held on $2,000,000 Bail
ST. CLOUD -- A St. Cloud man made his first court appearance on charges he shot and killed a man outside the Sartell Sprint Store Thursday.
23-year-old Demetreus McGinnis has been charged with second degree murder in the death of 20-year-old Maurice Galvin Jr. Galvin was shot in the chest and later died at St. Cloud Hospital.
The judge ordered McGinnis held on $2,000,000 unconditional bail or $1,000,000 bail with court conditions.
The defense argued for $50,000 bail. They argued McGinnis was working at the Sprint Store Thursday when two men came to the store to rob him. According to the defense, Galvin pulled out a gun and threatened McGinnis. A struggle ensued and Galvin was shot in the chest.
But, Stearns County Assistant Attorney Will Brost says McGinnis was selling what is believed to be drugs and with his previous aggravated robbery convictions, there is a public safety concern because McGinnis qualifies as a dangerous offender.
McGinnis was returned to jail and his next court hearing has been scheduled for March 28th.
One side note, police still haven't found the gun used in the shooting.


text:
The intermediate filament is one of the three major filament families that comprise the cytoskeleton in vertebrate cells. The name of the filament refers to its diameter size (8 to 12 nanometers), which is intermediary between the diameters of the other two cytoskeletal filament varieties (actin filaments and microtubules). Intermediate filaments are designed to withstand significant amounts of tension and are less likely to disassemble and reassemble in the cell than other cytoskeletal filaments. The filaments are, therefore, relatively permanent cell structures and tend to be most prominent in cells exposed to significant physical stress. Indeed, when cell cultures are exposed to certain chemical treatments, microtubules and actin filaments disappear, but many networks of intermediate filaments remain structurally unchanged. Thus, intermediate filaments appear to be particularly vital in maintaining cell shape.
The cytokeratin intermediate filament network in a culture of MDOK cells, illustrated above, was visualized by fixing an adherent culture in methanol, followed by treatment with mouse anti-cytokeratin (pan) monoclonal antibodies and goat anti-mouse Fab fragments conjugated to Cy2. Prior to fixation, the cells were exposed to MitoTracker Red CMXRos for one hour, and the culture was subsequently counterstained with Hoechst 33258 to image DNA in the nuclei. Images were recorded in grayscale with a QImaging Retiga Fast-EXi camera system coupled to an Olympus BX-51 microscope equipped with bandpass emission fluorescence filter optical blocks provided by Omega Optical. During the processing stage, individual image channels were pseudocolored with RGB values corresponding to each of the fluorophore emission spectral profiles.
© 1995-2019 by Michael W. Davidson and The Florida State University. All Rights Reserved. No images, graphics, software, scripts, or applets may be reproduced or used in any manner without permission from the copyright holders. Use of this website means you agree to all of the Legal Terms and Conditions set forth by the owners.
This website is maintained by our


text:
Librsvg 2.13.2 was released late last night, it has a rewritten text subsystem and now supports trefs, it also judges the size of unspecified sized images far better and parsing should be a little more robust with malformed input. Also, dimensions specified in the SVG that are specified relative to the viewport or dpi are handled far better. Internally it's a hell of a lot cleaner as we consolidate the core in preparation for DOM level 1 support. Dynamic SVG support is getting very close with recent work, I sure hope people actually use it when we support it. Also this version has improved external reference support when used with the rsvg command, the command line utility is no longer worse than the x program/browser plugin at handling relative paths for resources.
I installed Tango a few days ago, I find it to be very nice, though to be honest I think I'll switch back to Gartoon soon since it's just so much of an awesome theme. For some reason I'm not to fussed on those grey folders, but that's just personal preference. Despite the grey folders, I think it possesses style, consistency and class. Now I think about it, I'm not fussed on the "lock screen" icon either but you know, worse things happen at sea. Tango also lead to my weirdest experience ever on bugzilla when I fixed a bug relating to tango but everyone else involved did not want to let me close it because I refused to acknowledge that it was a major problem before I fixed it. I don't know if this was sort of like a Alcoholics Anonymous step one of twelve where recovery cannot be made unless the problem was acknowledged. Or maybe everyone finally got sick of my insufferable arrogance and are trying to teach me a little humility, I don't know.
While I'm talking about bugs I've fixed, I'm amazed to see Philip Langdale making a second blog mention about a single closed bug in librsvg, especially when that bug was invoked by the misspelling of "in" as "id" in the document in question. Of cause we are grateful that this bug has been disclosed so it could be fixed, because our library should not crash on any input, no matter how unlikely. But to be honest I still don't get why the file in question was not adjusted by simply having a single line changed to work around the bug (and make the file make a lot more sense) but then again that's none of my business. I guess he's just trying to let everybody know that the crash isn't his fault, which is very fair in this situation. By the way, the version of librsvg 2.12 that fixed that problem came out in Ubuntu a couple of days after it was reported iirc. But then again, this may be just another case of me trying to understate the severity of bugs for my own personal gratification.
Magic Eye renderer
I renamed my deformed pattern stereogram renderer "Palantír", which is like the most awesome name for a renderer ever (in my personal opinion). I havn't actually brought out a version with that name, but I wanted to boast about the name I'm using anyhow. I sure hope Tolkien's estate doesn't have a crack team of lawyers out to kick my butt over this though. The next version to be released will use diffuse lighting for preview generation instead of making a heightmap. I've modified it to be able to render things in front of the focal plane, so they actually pop out at the viewer when seen with crossed (rather than diverged) eyes. As far as I know, I'm the first person to ever create images like this which is really cool and it is all open source of cause. You can see the stanford bunny in this way here.
I still don't have my cheap Nokia 770 yet, which sucks because I've already written stuff for it. It's probably because I live in Australia, I might have to get one by proxy.


text:
Published in PC Hardware
Kabini chipset is Yangtze
by Fuad Abazovic on24 January 2013
- font size decrease font size increase font size
USB 3.0, SATA 6Gbps support
AMD's Kabini APU should be the world's first x86 quad-core SoC and these four Jaguar cores should provide an important step up compared to Zacate E-series Bobcat cores.
Kabini becomes very relevant when you factor in the fact that Intel won't have a quad-core Atom before some point in 2014. AMD could clearly end up in a comfortable lead for at least a few quarters.
The new AMD essential desktop chip codenamed Kabini features AMD Turbo Core overclocking technology and DirectX 11.1 enabled Radeon 8000 series graphics. It supports DDR3 1866 and comes in the FT3 BGA package, at last in its desktop variant. Graphics wise, it is fully capable of killing any Atoms Intel could throw at it.
The chipset behind Kabini is codenamed Yangtze and we mentioned it last year. Yangtze features support for two USB 3.0 ports, along with two SATA 6Gb/s ports for modern hard drives and SSDs, as well as xHCI 1.0 and SD / SDIO 3.0 protocol for SD card support.
Both quad-core and dual-core Kabini chips can be expected to land in June, fitting 15W to 25W TDP envelopes depending on the number of cores. It is safe to assume that Jaguar cores can bring some significant speed increase over the E-series Bobcat 40nm cores and having affordable 28nm entry level parts can make AMD a lot more competitive in the latter part of 2013.
The good news for both Intel and AMD when it comes to essential desktop and notebook parts is that Windows RT will continue to lack compatibility with millions of applications written for x86 processors.


text:
Chickens can't fly, but if this brood of a cappella singers can raise the funds, it'll be flying to the Cook Islands in March 2014 for a cultural exchange of songs and comedy.
The feather-clad quartet Tone Deaf has been performing for kids in the Ashland School District for the past 15 years and has made countless other appearances at fundraisers, community events and schools all over Southern Oregon.
"Singing in chicken suits shows kids this can be fun. You don't have to be there singing Mozart. You can be silly if you want," says Michael Biggs, a tenor.
The fowl act is also part of a larger flock, the Salem SenatAires, which took 12th place in an international competition held in January in Canada.
Tone Deaf includes Biggs, Al Robins, a baritone, Tom Walker, lead singer, and Doug Borngasser, a bass. Together the men cluck it up as they parody familiar songs with precision harmony and plenty of shtick thrown in for good measure.
Recently Robins' wife and group manager, Janet, contacted the Ministry of Education for the Cook Islands about having Tone Deaf sing to all the schools on the islands, about 29 total.
"I don't know how they are going to get everyone together," says Al Robins, "but most of the schools are on the main island, Rarotonga."
The biggest challenge for the group is the airfare.
"It's near Tahiti. It's next to nowhere, and it's relatively expensive per flight," says Biggs.
The quartet has set up a crowdfunding account at www.gofundme.com/3jsjqk and plans to do some fundraising during its annual holiday show in Ashland.
"So many schools are losing their music programs so they are really trying to bring music in. We do that with the Harmonizers," says Biggs, referring to Tone Deaf's membership with the Rogue Valley Harmonizers.
"We're part of the larger Barbershop Harmony Association, and they are just a great organization promoting a cappella singing to kids all over the world," says Robins.
It's possible that the Barbershop Harmony Association will match the amount the singers raise on their own.
"We really want kids to say, 'that's really fun,' " Robins says. "You don't have to be the absolute best singer in the world if you can keep pitch and sing with other people. So that's what we're doing in the Cook Islands, we're going to bring barbershop harmony there. They have a rich tradition of a cappella singing in the Cook Islands. Most of it's sacred but it's really beautiful. So they are going to teach us some stuff, and we'll teach them some barbershop."
To add to the cultural exchange, Borngasser plans to bring his 11- and 13-year-old children with him and try to get them to go to school in the Cook Islands for at least one day.
"Neither one of them seem very excited about going to school in a new place," he says.
For the Tidings Cafe, the quartet performed "Come Fry With Me," a parody of the Frank Sinatra tune.
Why chicken suits?
"The chickens were random," says Walker. "Mike was at a garage sale."
"There they were, they had this light glowing upon them," says Biggs. "I quickly called Al and says, 'Oh, my God! We have to change everything, I just found it!' "
The band is trying to book as many gigs as possible to raise money for the trip, even though that means performing in hot chicken suits in the middle of summer.
"One of the comments we get is that we're like live-action Muppets," says Biggs.
"No shame. If you have pride and ego, find another quartet," adds Robins.
The poultry posse will perform for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Green Show at 6:45 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 25, at the festival courtyard in Ashland.
Reach reporter Mandy Valencia at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
Cami Front Embellished Lace Crop Up Slim Straps Spaghetti Sleeveless wzzr7v8Eq
Grow your business through insights
With Pinterest Analytics, you can see what Pins people like, what they save from your website and learn more about what your customers really want. You just need a business account to get started.
Important information about your business
Valuable details about your audience
Sleeveless Lace Up Embellished Front Cami Straps Spaghetti Slim Crop Actionable insights for Pinterest
Simple stats, right on your Profile
Ready to get started?
If you've still got questions about using Pinterest Analytics, take a look at this detailed guide or visit our Help Center.


text:
Friday, February 26
By the Time I Get to the Phoenix Open
BY THE TIME I GET to Phoenix and the Phoenix Open I'll be, um, retiring? As I mentioned to a fellow golf blogger, I've never been to the tournament.
The event has been around forever and through several name changes, most recently called the FBR Open and now the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Before that it was simply the Phoenix Open and Phoenix Open Invitational, except for in 1950 when they called it the Ben Hogan Open. I'm guessing that was because of Hogan's near-fatal car accident that occurred shortly after he departed the 1949 Phoenix Open.
In 1967, Glen Campbell sang "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," a Jimmy Webb song that reached number three on the pop charts. In the opening, Glen sang, "By the time I get to Phoenix, she'll be rising. She'll find the note I left hanging on her door." When I go to Phoenix, I won't sing about it. (People will be glad about that.) And I seriously doubt that I'll leave a note, although that would be kind of cool. "Hey, y'all. Gone out for a while. Went to Phoenix Open. Turn off the burner if I forgot to." Maybe, instead, I'll just tweet and update my Facebook status.
Oh, and by the way, Glen is a golf nut. In fact, he hosted his own PGA Tour event, the Glen Campbell Los Angeles Open from 1971 to 1983. Absolutely true. And Glen never lost a guitar because he always put his name on it. OK, I'm not as certain about that, but it could be true. Check out the neck on his guitar.
−The Armchair Golfer
2 comments:
- Japan-Australia said...
Great post!!
I love the Phoenix open as well. Phil Mickelson has won it a few times, hasn`t he?
- stoxrising said...
I find it an opportune moment in "Golf history" to submit this about my old dear friend Ben Hogan. Our friendship spanned the last 33 years of his life and we both shared kinship to Hogan's Alley in Dublin, Texas. The original alley that dated back to 1920.
But being able to say this in a place away from the mainstream media and as a simple person that comes to speak highly of a wonderful man.
Be Hogan wanted to be remembered first as A Gentleman and A Golfer second.
Mr. Hogan, I remember the way he wished and wanted.
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
Health & Fitness Professionals and Creative Marketing
|Date Added: February 25, 2009 04:13:58 PM
|Category: Health
|As a personal trainer you have a virtually untapped market of potential clients at your fingertips. The medical exercise and post-rehabilitation markets offer a vast pool of referrals from physicians and healthcare providers that, with the right technical skills and business savvy, any trainer can take advantage of to grow his or her business to new heights. Working to position yourself so that providers pass your name along to their patients is well worth the effort, and all that is required is a little creativity on your part. So who are these people? Most trainers are familiar with the standard "post rehab" client, but theyfor more detials:-www.insomnia-battle.com.never widen their view of all the others that could benefit from their services. The medical exercise demographic is often overlooked. These individuals can have one or more conditions, including: neurological (such as balance issues or multiple sclerosis), metabolic (such as diabetes or obesity), pulmonary (emphysema, asthma), cardiovascular (such as hypertension or heart disease) and many, many more. Put simply, anyone who regularly visits or interacts with a treating health professional or who has been discharged within the past 6 months could use you. That's a lot of people. Think about it: every time that individual interacts with their health care provider, that provider is in the best position to pass your name along to their patient. They want what's best for their patient, and if you can make the provider understand the benefits of using your services you'll start getting referrals. Lots of them. for visit detials:-www.bad-breath-secrets.com.Many providers don't truly understand the benefits a personal trainer could offer their clients. It's your job to make them see the light. With Baby Boomers aging with each day that goes by, this market has the potential to grow amazingly fast. Boomers especially want to stay strong and independent as long as possible, and are more than willing to spend their money on "alternative medicine" that will enable them to do that. They realize that health insurance is not the "healing umbrella" that it used to be, and if they see value in your service they'll put their money your way. Once they see you as a valuable member of their healthcare team you'll be well placed for a long, healthy relationship. Positioning yourself as a valuable resource with healthcare providers and their patients can offer big returns in the years to come. www.tips-getting-healthy.com www.headache-happyness.com
No Comments Yet.
You must be logged in to leave a Comment.


text:
10 Actually Awesome Kitchen Countertop DIY Projects
Creating your own countertops may seem intimidating — but we've rounded up 10 stylish DIYs that demystify the process. Your kitchen will look brand-new in no time!
1. Above: DIY Concrete Coated Countertops by Little Green Notebook
2. Faux Marble Countertops by Batchelors Way for Remodelaholic
3. DIY Butcher Block Countertops by This and That
4. DIY Live Edge Wood Countertops by Modfrugal (This is obviously a bathroom, but the concept could be adapted to a kitchen.)
5. DIY Installing Stainless Steel Countertops by The Home Project
6. Poured Concrete Countertops by DIY Network
7. Faux Carrera Marble Countertops by Gorgeous Shiny Things
8. DIY Wide Plank Butcher Block Countertops by Simply Maggie
9. DIY Granite Countertops by DIY Network
10. Reclaimed Bowling Lane Countertops (!) by Green Homes Of Maine
Re-edited from a post originally published 7.08.2014 - cm


text:
by Tom Utescher
As is their custom, the scullers from Chestnut Hill Academy and Springside School skipped the first installment of the annual Manny Flick races back on March 20, but in their debut last Sunday in the second edition of the series, a number of the Blue Devils and Lions showed that they're already up to speed. Penn Charter rowers also ventured out on the Schuylkill for the first time last weekend.
In two different flights of the JV quad, Chestnut Hill placed first and second, while the Devils' varsity quad finished third in its race later on. Springside raced two boats in the same section of the varsity quad, with one winning easily and the other taking third place.
Both the CHA and Springside squads have new head coaches this spring, but the new skipper for Springside, Bruce LaLonde, is already well known to everyone in the CHASS program. LaLonde rowed for Marietta College in Ohio, but soon came east and has now been a fixture on Boathouse Row for decades. Acknowledged for his expertise in boat maintenance and repair as well as rowing instruction, he is the longtime boatman at the University Barge Club, home to the CHA and Springside crews.
LaLonde was coaching Chestnut Hill Academy rowers as far back as the early 1980's, and in the mid 1990's he was instrumental in getting the Springside program underway. Most recently, he coached the novice rowers for Springside.
The new CHA mentor, David Savoie, came east across the Alleghenies much more recently. He grew up in central Ohio and rowed for Dublin High School, then went on to Denison University, where he graduated in 2008.
The following year he was the men's freshman coach at the University of Notre Dame, and helped with recruiting for the Irish, as well.
He then decided to explore career options in Philadelphia, where his brother, Tyler, is a member of the Pennsylvania Ballet. In 2010 he was assistant crew coach for the Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, in Bryn Mawr. A tri-athlete, he trains other endurance athletes and also works as a freelance photographer.
In CHA's first race last Sunday, an all-junior crew of (stroke to bow) John Olson, Mike Calistri, Terence Jones, and Carl Delcato captured first place in their flight of the JV quad, and with a time of 4:59.98, they were the only boat in either race to make it under the five-minute mark. In the other flight, CHA (5:09.80) edged out Friends Select for second place, thanks to sophomores Seth Bakes, Mark Anspach, Jordan Wang, and Alec Horter.
CHA seniors Zach Baron and Drew Ansel finished fourth out of six twosomes in the varsity double event. Malvern Prep, year-round scullers, dominated the varsity quad races, winning both flights. CHA made a respectable showing for its first time out, coming in third of six vessels in its flight and getting edged out of the second spot in a sprint against St. Joe's Prep, 4:40.60 to 4:41.55. Junior Drew Adubato was the stroke for the Blue Devils, who had seniors Laddy St. George, Walt Palmer, and Griffin Horter in the other three seats.
In the girls varsity quad, Springside and Conestoga were clearly the cream of the category, as the Lions and Pioneers raced in different flights and each won easily. Springside seniors Verity Walsh (three seat) and Taylor Apostolico (two) and juniors Jen Sager (stroke) and Anna Valciukas (bow) posted a time of 5:21.92 to beat runner-up Friends Select by 24 seconds in the first flight, and Conestoga won the second section in 5:17.24.
In the first flight of the event a second Springside quartet was timed in 5:50.38, good for third place. Here the stroke was junior Mozelle Rosenthal, and ahead of her were sophomore Chelsea Richardson, junior Allie Schreffler, and senior Rose Donahue.
The Lions also raced a JV quad staffed by four sophomores: Paris Baldante, Victoria Byron, Anna Rose Bedrosian, and Marguerite Zabriskie. They finished fourth in their flight, which was won by – who else – Conestoga.
Penn Charter's rowing program was revived two years ago after laying dormant for decades, and the Quakers are still playing catch-up. At last Sunday's regatta there were fifth-place finishes for sophomores Heidi Zisselman, Claudia Stedman, Tara Malone, and Katie O'Malley in the girls' JV quad, and for a varsity quad containing seniors Alix Azizi and Jenna Maurer and juniors Tess Reinhold and Samantha Kapnek.
PC finished fourth in the boys' varsity quad with a line-up featuring sophomores Spencer Grant and Kevin Kelly, and unrelated seniors Riley Brown and Alex Brown.


text:
This slide show covers just one weekend's worth of items surrendered to TSA at Los Angeles International Airport.
Cleverly doubling as a handbag, this chic little number is bad-ass with class. You can simultaneously clutch the clutch, and go whamo to the bad guys. The weekend's haul also included a coffee mug with a brass-knuckle handle.


text:
I would like to think that the internal contradictions of Islamism will bring down regimes such as that of Egypt's Mohammed Morsi. Today the New York Times reports on Egypt's shortages of food and fuel, a story that David Goldman has cornered for quite a while. If only we were to impose appropriate conditions in return for the financial aid that we provide — and if only we sought to achieve pursue the goal — the Islamists might join the Soviet Communists on the ash heap of history, at least in Egypt.
Tbe evil nature of the Islamist regime is on display for all with eyes to see. In a story running inside the Times, Kareen Fahim and Mayy el Sheikh report on the trials of an Egyptian satirist (photo above) at the hands of Egypt's public prosecutor:
Egypt's public prosecutor on Saturday ordered the arrest of a popular television satirist on charges that included insulting President Mohamed Morsi and denigrating Islam, the state news agency reported, a move that amplified criticisms that the Islamist government is moving aggressively to stifle freedom of expression.
The satirist, Bassem Youssef, who hosts a widely watched show modeled on "The Daily Show," has been the subject of numerous legal complaints filed by Islamist lawyers and citizens who took umbrage at Mr. Youssef's skewering of Egypt's political class, including Mr. Morsi, his loyalists and the opposition.
But the arrest warrant seemed to represent a sharp escalation of the campaign against Mr. Youssef, with the public prosecutor appointed by Mr. Morsi lending official credence to the complaints. In the nine months since Mr. Morsi took office, his government and the Muslim Brotherhood have endured withering and frequently strident criticism from Egypt's private news media outlets. Mr. Morsi has been accused of responding with measures that recall the previous authoritarian leaders, including prosecuting critics, confiscating newspapers and placing sympathetic journalists in state news media organs.
Last week, the public prosecutor, Talaat Ibrahim, ordered the arrest of five anti-Islamist activists on charges that they had used social media to incite violence against the Muslim Brotherhood.
Shortly after the warrant was announced Saturday, Mr. Youssef confirmed on Twitter that he had been summoned and said he intended to visit the prosecutor's office on Sunday. "Unless they were so kind as to send a police wagon to pick me up today, and save me the transportation," he added.
It was not immediately clear which episodes of Mr. Youssef's program, which is watched by millions of people on television or on the Internet, had prompted the warrant. Al Ahram, the state newspaper, said Saturday that prosecutors had considered the testimony of 28 complainants and had examined four episodes.
One complainant accused Mr. Youssef of denigrating Islam and disturbing security, and demanded that the state take "deterrent measures against him so that others with weak resolve wouldn't dare to insult Islam." The unnamed critic also accused the television host of insulting the president, including by "diminishing his stature domestically and abroad."
At last word, according to the Times, Yousef has posted bail.


text:
St-Pierre 'would love' to help Hardy in future fightsBen Blackmore November 16, 2012
Georges St-Pierre has labelled England's Dan Hardy a "world class fighter", and promised to help the Brit ahead of future fights in the UFC.
Hardy has been brought in - not for the first time - to work with St-Pierre ahead of the Canadian's UFC 154 main event against Carlos Condit. Hardy has fought both men and his style is not dissimilar from that of Condit.
St-Pierre's Tristar team has a good relationship with The Outlaw who is currently rebuilding his own welterweight career after defeat to GSP sent him on a four-fight losing spiral.
Back-to-back wins have got Hardy moving in the right direction, but he still has areas for improvement - particularly with his wrestling. GSP is the best in the business when it comes to wrestling-for-MMA, and the champ says he would definitely help Hardy with future camps.
"Absolutely. I'd love to. I've trained with him before," St-Pierre told ESPN.
"Dan Hardy is a great martial artist, he's a world class fighter and he fought Condit [in the past]. He's also the same shape as Carlos, similar size, so it was great to bring him in and train with me."
St-Pierre has also worked with team-mate Rory MacDonald, whom he predicts "will win" against BJ Penn when the pair meet in December.
For now, though, GSP's focus is on Condit, his first opponent since a 19-month spell on the sidelines due to injury. The champion admits he is nervous, but he will not view victory over Condit as anything more special than any of this previous wins.
"It's always special, but it's another fight," St-Pierre said. "Fighting Carlos, he's the main guy, he's the best guy right now. That's the challenge."


text:
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Williams-Sonoma Parmesan-Black Pepper No-Knead Bread
I've been thinking about making no-knead bread for the past few weeks (because it's so easy and I'm so lazy), but I wanted something a little jazzier. I noticed a recipe for Lemon Rosemary NKB on the Williams-Sonoma web site, and thought that sounded good, but I didn't get around to going to the grocery store until I'd run out of time. But I saw the recipe for Parmesan-Black Pepper bread on the same site, and I had all the ingredients for that, so I got ready to bake. (This, by the way, must be the first bread I've ever made that has three hyphens in the bread title).
Well, of course, I immediately remembered why NKB has been so popular--it's so dang easy! Flour, yeast, salt, and water. Mix it up, and let it sit overnight. I added two teaspoons of freshly grated black pepper (that's a lot of pepper!), grated parmesan, and chunks of parmesan as well, so it took slightly more than three minutes. Maybe six.
After somewhere between 12 and 18 hours (I waited about 13 hours), you have a soft, spongy dough that's ready to be dumped out on a floured counter, where it can rest for 15 minutes. (Or 45 if you forget about it--I don't think that resting an extra half-hour hurts a person or a loaf of bread).
You shape it into something aproximating a boule, and place it on a cotton dishtowel that's been scattered with cornmeal. Strew some more cornmeal on top, cover it with another cotton towel, and go out and work in your garden for two hours until it's properly risen.
Obviously, you don't have to work in your garden, but you might as well.
At this point, you have already preheated a cast-iron pot. The directions say, "Slide your hand under the towel and turn the dough over, seam side up, into the pot; it may look like a mess [indeed it does], but that is OK [not really].
My other loaves of NKB have looked fine when removed from the oven, but this one looked like a mess when I put it in, and it never straightened out. I still don't understand why I have to put the ugly side up when I'm making this bread.
The recipe gets extremely optimistic at this point because it tells you that your bread will easily come out of the pan. But the people at Williams-Sonoma forgot that this variation of NKB has a cup of parmesan cheese in it, and that the lovely chunks of parmesan have browned and clung to the pan for dear life. It was a battle between me and the cheese, and the cheese was winning, but I took a break, sneaked back up on it, and I won.
This bread looks innocent enough, but it is very, very peppery, which is fine, if you like pepper. If you don't, you would probably want to cut back on the pepper.
As it happened, it was a good thing I made this bread today. I'm on the board of our neighborhood association, which just held a raffle to make money for a neighborhood art project. The first prize was at least $800 worth of wine. I sold some raffle tickets in my block. My friend Betty called me today and told me that she'd won first prize. I first said, "congratulations," then I said, "why don't you have a wine party tonight?" So she did, and I brought the black pepper parmesan bread, which went pretty well with the three bottles of wine that she opened.
--from adapted from recipe at williams-sonoma.com
3 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 t. yeast
1 3/4 t. salt
2 t. coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 c. granted Parmesan cheese
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese chunks.
1 1/2 c. plus 2 T. water
Cornmeal as needed.
Combine flour, yest, salt, black pepper, grated cheese and cheese chunks. Add water and stir until blended. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rest for 12 to 18 hours.
Place dough on slightly floured work surface. Sprinkle dough with a little flour and fold it over onto itself a few times. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and lest rest for 15 minutes.
Shape the dough into a ball. Coat a cotton towel with cornmeal. Put the dough, seam side down, on the towl. Dust with more cornmeal, cover with another cotton towel, and let rise about two hours.
Remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under the towel and turn the dough, seam side up, into the pot. If it looks messy, shake the pan to try to distribute the dough, but be aware that it may not turn into a perfect loaf. Cover with lid and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue baking until the loaf is browned, 15 to 30 minutes more.
Transfer pot to wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Turn pot on its side and gently loosen bread with metal spatula. It will come out, but it won't be easy.
Put cast-iron pot in oven and preheat to 450.
P.S. I just want to say that it's very hard to buy good bread, which is one argument for baking your own. Aside from a few excellent bakeries, most purchased bread is a disappointment. Case in point: I bought two "ciabatta rolls" from Whole Foods, which is a pretty good grocery store. The rolls were awful: tasteless and stale. They should be ashamed of themselves for selling such bad bread, but they're probably not.
24 comments:
- Melinda said...
Oh, that looks very good. I like peppery and cheesy bread, so I am sure to love it!
Why don't you just put your no knead to rise on a bed of cornmeal, that is scattered on parchment paper? Then you can easily drop the boule into the smouldering hot pot. I've made a billion (slightly less, if we are being totally correct)
of these and it has a terrific crust and zero fuss putting the darn thing in and taking it out.
Of course...this is only a suggestion. Cheers, from 'ole bossy-boots Melinda
Hi Marie and friends-
This bread looks great! Really beautiful, IMO. I like Melinda's idea about the parchment. I love it when clever and simple go together. :-)
*files this technique somewhere in the back of my mind for my three-hyphen-bread attempt*
Of course, after reading how Marie likes her rules (I think this is so cute, lol), I am glad she made the recipe as written. We'll all know to think of this next time.
Hope everyone has a great week!
Laura Lee
PS: I couldn't agree more about WF. I recently bought some of their bagels, which are "OK" when fresh, but decided to slice a few and freeze them for diffucult mornings when the toaster is all I can handle. Well, oddly enough, these were the WORST toasted bagels I have ever had. The texture was deflated and tough. Worst of all, the flavor somehow left the bread completely...and these were cinnamon raisin bagels.
I won't be doing that again, lol.
Laura Lee
- breadbasketcase said...
Why didn't I use parchment? 1. I forgot. It's been a while since I've made no-knead bread.
2. Even if I'd remembered, I probably wouldn't have used it because a: it's not in the recipe, and I'm the big rule-follower, remember? b: I've never had any trouble getting bread out of the pan before, and c: the parchment paper sometimes gets all wrinkly and makes the bread all wrinkly too (not that my bread was exactly beautifully shaped). If I had remembered AND I had considered how the bits of cheese were likely to stick to the pan, I would have used parchment. Where were you and your helpful suggestions when I needed them? It's just like Jim, who always says, "careful," after I trip or fall down.
Laura Lee,
Yes! I like rules! Thank you for remembering. I have never bought Whole Food bagels, and now I'm very grateful. I must make bagels again soon.
- Melinda said...
Hmmm.Yes. The old rule follower rule foiled you.
You always give me a good laugh. Why can't you live closer?
- breadbasketcase said...
I could ask you the same question.
By the way, I need a new project--have there been any suggestions for the next Lazy Bakers' recipe?
- Melinda said...
None yet. Have you got something in mind?
- breadbasketcase said...
No, but I'll take directions.
- Melinda said...
How about something as generic as cupcakes, but the cupcakes have to be fancy decorated but how ever you want to do it. We should be amused or bedazzled with the effort. The theme is 'summer'.
Do you like this idea or is it not enough rules? Too Marthaesque?
Hi Melinda & Marie,
If you are thinking of a project outside of The Lazy Baker's Club, how about something from RLB's pastry bible? With all the good summer fruit around, it might be a good idea.
Marie, I am always glad to see you tackle a project that is a bit scary since (1) you do a great job and there is something to learn for all and (2) your writing is so entertaining when you are challenged. I like how you handle little problems that you come across in a recipe. It makes me feel better when I, too, am stuck!
Just my two cents!
Laura Lee
- Melinda said...
I have no objections to doing something from the Pie and Pastry Bible. Love to and I have her book.
Up to you, Marie.
Hi Marie,
I wanted to write to you, but couldn't find your email, so thought I'd leave a comment instead. We at Wowzio have built some beautiful and engaging widgets for your blog.
These pull up content, images & user-activity from your blog automatically, auto update, and are free of charge. Please take a look at the "Panoramic Slideshow", "Live Activity" and "Feed Content" widget for your blog at
See Wowzio Widgets for Your Blog
I apologize for having to leave a comment, please note it is not my intent to spam you.
- breadbasketcase said...
Melinda and Laura Lee,
Am I worse at cake decorating or at pie crust? It's about six of one and half a dozen of another. But I'm game for either one, as long as you don't laugh. Oh, you can laugh if you want to.
Pinknest is really good at pie crust, so maybe she'd like to choose a pie.
Hi there-
I promise not to laugh, Marie. I cannot speak for Melinda or Pinknest, however. :-)
If you do not have the book and were thinking of purchasing it, I recommend Amazon. Before I bought my Pastry Bible, I tried to hunt down the best deal. I had a 40% coupon from Borders (I belong to their club) and once tax was added I think I saved all of $1 over the Amazon price. Plus, you qualify for free shipping. If you aren't planning on purchasing the book just now, I am happy to scan a recipe and e-mail you.
Let me know.
Laura Lee
- Melinda said...
Marie knows I like it it when she makes me laugh!
You have to ask Pinknest to pick out something.
- breadbasketcase said...
Laura Lee,
It's okay--you can laugh. Thanks so much for the offer--but I do have a copy of The Pie and Pastry Bible. It's not as well-used as The Bread Bible, because of my Fear of Piecrust. In fact, I was going to try going through the whole Pastry Bible, but then I thought about how Jim and I would look after eating a pie or two a week, and I abandoned the idea.
I'll see if Pinknest wants to choose.
Marie, I agree with your bread quality comment. One thing I find scary is when I open the napkin,and try the product in the "bread basket" at "good" restaurants. Makes me glad I bake bread.
- Jude said...
We have the same Lodge cast iron pot!
The big chunks of parmesan would be great on any bread. Yum.
- Doughadear said...
Hi Marie
Just got back from vacation (where I saw the implosion of the Spy Glass hotel which was across from the hotel we were staying - very impressive and the escape of Criss Angel - not so much) so I had to check what you had baked and read your delightful story that always makes me laugh. Although you may have not been happy with the shape I think it looks just fine. It must have been great with the wine.
- breadbasketcase said...
I have had some excellent bread in restaurants, but you're right--too often I've been sorry I even bothered with it, and I love bread (obviously).
I got the Lodge pot on Rose's recommendation, and I love it. It's not only wonderful for bread, but also for stews and soups. And so beautiful!
I read about the hotel implosion and Criss Angel's escape! I don't understand why they let him inside--just seems like there would be such mammoth iability issues.
Is this recipe available by weight? Volume is not really a good way to measure flour.
- breadbasketcase said...
I agree that weight is the better way to measure. This recipe was not available by weight.
If I'm not feeling too lazy, I just go to The Bread Bible's section on weight substitutions for volume, which tells me that 3 cups of flour is 15 ounces or 436 grams.
Hi, this recipe looks delicious. I don't have a cast iron pot, but I do have a cast iron skillet. Do you think the recipe would work in it? Thanks!!
- breadbasketcase said...
I think that a cast iron skillet would probably not be tall enough, although you could give it a try. I'd be more inclined to try any kind of Dutch-oven type of pot to make sure the bread had enough room to rise.


text:
Wes Fif, Hoodlym, Ill Essense (Street SMart Music) - Get It In Orlando
L reports "Wes Fif and his Street Smart fam show how it's done in Orlando, FL with the lead video from their "Public Enemies" mixtape, "Get It In Orlando." Mixtape drops Labor Day weekend.'
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


text:
The Living Sea
Harper and Row, 1963 - Science - 325 pages
A noted ocean explorer describes his underwater archeological finds, his diving expeditions, and an invention called a Diving Saucer
From inside the book
27 pages matching night in this book
Where's the rest of this book?
Results 1-3 of 27
What people are saying - Write a review
We haven't found any reviews in the usual places.
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
aboard Aldabra amphorae anchor animal Aqua-Lung bathyscaph boat bottom buoy cable Calypso Calypsonians camera Campanian canyon chamber coelacanth Conshelf coral creatures Davso deck deep Delmas depth divers Diving Saucer dolphins Dumas Edgerton Espadon eyes Falco Falco and Wesly Far-Sans feet long field fifteen fifty film find finished fins first fish five fixed flash flat floating flood floor Fr�d�ric Dumas free divers French Goiran Grand Conglou� grouper Houot hull hundred feet island jars Kientzy Laban lagoon launch layer L�andri light living looked Louis Malle Luis Marden Mah� marine Marseilles Mediterranean miles museum National Geogcaphic Society night nylon ocean Oceanographic orcas photograph pipe plankton Port Calypso Red Sea reef rock Romanche Trench sailed sand Saout scientific Serventi sharks shelf ship Simone sonar squids submarine surface swam swimming thousand feet took turned Ulysses undersea underwater whale winch wine wreck


text:
- Aug 27:
- 10 Daily Camera Pacesetter Award winners honored
- Aug 24:
- Logan Abbott: Youth Pacesetter
- Terry Benjamin: Lifetime Achievement Pacesetter
- Doris Candelarie: Education Pacesetter
- Stephen Christopher: Arts and Entertainment
- Win Franklin: Community Service
- Carlos Garcia: Business
- David Nesbitt: Science
- Joan Raderman: Quality of Life
- Ed Self: Environment
- Meet the people who make a difference in Boulder County
Constance Marie Holden is a busy lady.
On most days, Connie, as she's better known, can be found caring for others as part of her role as director of Oncology at Boulder Community Hospital.
Other days, she stays busy as a board member of the Colorado Music Festival and Center for Musical Arts and as a member of the Advisory Board for the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Colorado Health Science Center, the Boulder Valley Rotary Club and the International Work Group on Death, Dying and Bereavement.
Lately, she has spent a lot of her time building the Boulder chapter of The Conversation Project -- a community-wide effort based on the work of Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Ellen Goodman, that is dedicated to providing seriously ill patients with support in making end-of-life decisions.
Yes, Connie Holden holds a lot of titles, but her favorite is Grandma to her six grandkids.
But long before she had that privilege, during a hospital stay as a teenager, Holden realized what she wanted to be when she grew up:
"I was fortunate to have found my career at the age of 16."
Holden would go on to earn her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Master's of Science in Nursing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison before embarking on an impressive career in the health care field -- eventually landing in Boulder to pursue a job opportunity in 1994.
Upon arriving in Boulder, Holden quickly immersed herself in her new community.
She was present in Yamagata, Japan, when papers were signed linking Yamagata and Boulder as Sister Cities.
She served for six years as executive director at Boulder County Hospice, now True Community Care, where she made a career out of caring for terminally ill patients, a cause Holden has always been exceptionally passionate about.
Holden spent time as the interim CEO of the People's Clinic before the organization merged with Clinica Family Health Services, where she then accepted the role of Capital Campaign Manager -- and became the driving fundraising force for the organization.
"I feel so fortunate to have worked for organizations that are part of the fabric of this wonderful community," Holden said.
And although Holden has received many honors, she is especially proud to be the 2013 Medicine/Health Pacesetter.
"I'm humbled and honored, and I'm well aware of the people that have gone before me in receiving this award," she said. "I feel humbled to be part of the group."


text:
Sound cards have enormously improved today compared to those used in the earlier days. These advances offer a lot of features such as the ability to produce high quality sound with a variety of choices for gaming or entertainment.
Sound card is an electronic device used in computers. It is a computer expansion card that is capable of inputting and outputting audio signals to a computer or from a computer. It can be centrally controlled by means of using specific software.
Sound cards are mainly used for:
* Audio editing or mixing
* Video editing
* Inter-active multimedia
* PowerPoint presentations
* Playing DVDs
* Computer games
* Teleconferencing
Sound cards come with a digital to analog converter. This converts recorded audio to analog format. A TSR or RCA jack is used to output the audio to a headphone or amplifier or external sound system. It also has a line in connector which is exploited to get input signals from other sound devices like mini disc player, mp3 player, and cassette tape recorders. The connectors of a sound card are color coded. Plus, they include symbols so as to help users identify proper positioning of each jack. The audio coming from these devices is digitized, can be stored in the computer's hard drive and can be edited using audio editing software. A microphone connecter utilized to input voice recording or for voice chats is also common among many sound cards.
The installation of more than one sound chip in sound cards today can present higher data rates with various functionalities. They are able to generate optimized music and sound effects in real time employing the least data and CPU resources. Modern sound cards are capable of converting from Analog to Digital and Digital to Analog or AD/DA. They also feature more accessible connectors and have more than two channels available. These types of sound cards are mostly used for professional digital audio recording which requires a higher standard audio output.
On the other hand, ordinary sound cards only offer features for playback and casual use as compared to the professional sound cards. These are commonly used for homes, offices, and entertainment. These types of sound cards are limited with large sampling latency. That is, it takes a lot of time for its Analog to Digital Converter to process the conversion prior to transferring to a computer for storage. As a result, companies like Steinberg designed sound cards that are capable of managing multiple audios. However, consumer grade sound cards lack the features and qualities that professional audio requires.
During the early years, computers comprised of integrated sound synthesis chip which is built-in on motherboards. The chip is capable of producing wave tones with different amplitude. One of the computers which adapted this technology is the IBM PCjr which was released in the early 1980s. Later on, a clone of the IBM PCjr, the Tandy 1000 copied the features and improved it by adding capabilities like sound recording and playback. As early as 1990, plug in sound cards have been abolished by computer manufacturers. They then introduced a codec chip capable of AD/DA conversion which is included with PC motherboards. Most of these motherboards use the Intel AC97 specification.
With the development of technology in computer production, a wide variety of sound cards with more features have been introduced. One of these is the USB sound cards which can be plugged directly to a computer through an empty USB port. Cards which are USB 2.0 compliant are more adequate in data transfer and are adept in producing high quality sound. The PCMCIA card bus sound cards are one of the most recent advancements frequently used for laptops and notebook. This device offers great portability which is very ideal for mobile DJs.
The latest sound card technology available in the market today is the Xtreme Fidelity which was developed by Creative, the manufacturer of SoundBlaster series. The technology features comprise:
* Capability of producing a variety of sounds options through its Active Modal Architecture.
* Digital Signal Processor (DSP)
* Multiple processing engines
* 24-bit Crystallizer which prevents sound quality loss which due to 16-bit CD recording
Just like any computer part, a sound card needs a device driver in order to communicate with other devices of the computer and function properly with the operating system. Most manufacturers include the driver bundled with some audio applications and compiled in a CD.
By OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay


text:
Garth Brooks to Appear in Court Again Today
Garth Brooks has seen more than his share of ups and downs during the past week. Last Tuesday (Jan. 17) he appeared in a Rogers County, Okla. court to put to rest a dispute that has been running for more than 10 years. After about seven hours testifying on Friday (Jan. 20), Brooks is expected to appear in court for a third time today, this time to make his final plea. This all came during the same week he was proclaimed the best-selling artist of the Soundscan era.
The Oklahoma native went to court last week to testify concerning a lawsuit having to do with a $500,000 donation he made to the Integris Canadian Valley Regional Hospital in his home city of Yukon. His mother, Colleen Brooks, died of cancer in 1999, and Brooks claims that he made the donation under the pretense that the hospital was building a new wing and naming it after his mother. In 2009, when there was still no new wing, Brooks sued, demanding that the money be returned or donated to another charity. The hospital claimed there was never any such agreement.
In court on Friday, Brooks was emotional, according to ABC News. Tearing up when he spoke of his mother, Brooks said, "She was my buddy … I was her biggest fan," and "If anybody met her, [they] would have gotten to love her." He also pointed to the fact that his mother never had it easy while he was growing up.
"My mom was pregnant as a teenager," he said. "She had a rough start. She wanted to help every kid out there."
While Brooks apparently never had anything in writing with the hospital, he says they had a verbal agreement and he even saw mock-ups of the plans for the new wing. The jury will deliberate after today's court adjourns, and a verdict is expected to be reached as early as tomorrow.