text
stringlengths 201
1.04M
| meta
dict |
|---|---|
Hyperpigmentation: Causes and Cures
Sun spots, age spots and livers spots, acne stains, pregnancy mask and melasma…call them what you want, but these conditions all lump into one simple category: hyperpigmentation. So, what’s the deal? Where did this come from? Simply put, hyperpigmentation is the result of an overproduction of melanin in a localized area stimulated either by sun, trauma or hormones. Melanin is found throughout the body and is responsible for the colour of our hair, eyes and skin. Fair skinned people tend to make very little melanin while darker skinned individuals make more. Melanin is produced by specialized cells called melanocytes, which are among the cells primarily found in the outermost layer of the skin. After melanin is produced, it spreads and is evenly distributed within the skin. However, when the melanocytes get damaged or become unhealthy in some way, the production process can go into overdrive, resulting in an uneven skin tone.
We could go on and on about the process of hyperpigmentation and its many forms but today we’re going to focus on the three most common types: sun damage, melasma and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. We’ll also chat about how you can treat them at home with our miracle ingredient of the month, hydroquinone. But wait! Don’t run and hide just yet. We know hydroquinone sounds like a big scary chemical and maybe you’ve even heard some horror stories but rest assured, our hydroquinone is Health Canada approved. It’s absolutely safe to use with the expert guidance of your NuAGE Laser & Skin Care specialist by your side. Now, let’s learn about the differences among the three common forms of hyperpigmentation.
Sun Damage
First on the list is the most common type of hyperpigmentation where the damage is caused by overexposure to the sun. Let’s get one thing straight off the bat: There is absolutely no such thing as a “healthy tan.” Got it? Good. We’re sorry to break it to you but that golden glow that you work so hard for every year is actually damage and cell death. Even if you’re not burning, your bronze is still harming cells and it will change them forever. A tan is actually your body’s natural defense mechanism against the sun. It’s trying to protect itself from something it knows is damaging on a cellular level – pretty crazy, right?
Sun damage will generally appear on high points of the face and body. The most common areas to see hyperpigmentation of this nature are the forehead, cheeks, nose, tops of the shoulders and chest and the back of the hands. Once a melanocyte has been excited by a little too much UV exposure, it will continue to overproduce melanin in a certain area, thus resulting in freckles and spots of darker pigment. The longer this overexposure and excitement goes on, the deeper the damage becomes making it likely you’ll require a more intense treatment like IPL to remove it for good.
Melasma
Next up, is hormonally-triggered hyperpigmentation. This is often referred to as “pregnancy mask,” or melasma, because it’s typically caused or exacerbated by the hormonal fluctuations that occur thanks to pregnancy, oral contraceptives, HRT (hormone replacement therapy) and some medications.
This type of pigmentation looks more like patches and is often in a very symmetrical pattern and is most commonly seen across the cheeks and nose, hence the “mask.” It can also show up on the forehead and above the upper lip. Melasma is caused by overactive melanocytes (the melanin-producing cells) in the skin. These cells become hypersensitive to hormones and UV exposure, which causes the excessive amount of pigmented cells to “spill out” and accumulate in what looks like patches.
For some, melasma will resolve itself once hormone levels rebalance and return to normal, such as postpartum, however, for others, this condition can be frustratingly persistent. Because melasma can be stimulated by heat, using laser to treat it is not the ideal or recommended method. Your best options are hydroquinone or microneedling.
Post-Inflammatory Hyperpigmentation
Here’s a form of hyperpigmentation we’ve all experienced at some time or another but whether or not it stuck around for a while is another story! We see post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH) most often after acne but it can be caused by any form of trauma to the skin, including cuts, scrapes, blisters and burns, ingrown hairs/folliculitis and even following an allergic reaction like hives. Once our body has identified a trauma, it stimulates our inflammatory response, which is there to help the body heal itself after injury or infection.
Sometimes, though, the signals get mixed and our body thinks the healing is complete before the job is really done. This leaves us with red and brown “stains” on the skin where the lesion or injury originally occurred. You can think of these stains as a scab under the skin. After the red blood cells rushed to the site during the inflammatory response, some weren’t taken away in time by our lymphatic cells and were then allowed to coagulate and harden around the inflammation, resulting in the red spot. In the case of an open lesion (like a cut or blemish), if the area is exposed to UV rays, it can turn into a harder-to-treat brown spot.
As this form of hyperpigmentation tends to be the most superficial, there are many options for treatment, such as microdermabrasion, chemical peels, Laser Genesis, IPL, microneedling or fraxel laser. However, being that it is superficial, we’re all about treating PIH with ingredients like retinol and hydroquinone.
What is Hydroquinone?
Ok, so we’ve already told you that hydroquinone is one of the most powerful ingredients in skincare targeting pigmentation but how exactly does it work? Well, there’s an enzyme known as tyrosinase, which is needed by the melanocyte in order to be able to produce melanin. Hydroquinone works by interfering with the tyrosinase enzyme and preventing the melanocyte from getting down to business. Make sense?
Here at your favorite Vancouver skincare destination, we love, love, love Dr. Obagi’s Multi-Therapy Hydroquinone System because it combines hydroquinone, the gold standard ingredient for reversing pigmentation, with other skincare heavyweights like retinol and vitamin C. Retinol will work on pigmentation by speeding up the cell turnover rate, which moves the pigmented cells up and out faster (resurfacing), while vitamin C (specifically L-Ascorbic acid at 10% or higher) will help to lighten and fade the pigmentation, overall brighten the skin and make it stronger, preventing future damage. On top of that, adding in an alpha-hydroxy acid like glycolic acid will aid in sloughing off superficial cells on the skin’s surface, thereby helping to further fade pigmentation and create a smooth texture.
Let’s break down each of the amazing products within the Multi-Therapy Hydroquinone System:
Melamin Skin Bleaching & Correcting Crème *PRESCRIPTION ONLY*
A highly potent Rx bleaching solution that gradually lightens and inhibits hyperpigmentation by altering the natural process that causes cell damage. Specifically created to help even skin tone by slowing melanin production, it dramatically reduces the appearance of chloasma, melasma, freckles and sun damage.
In addition to this system, you will also need Retamax alongside a great cleanser, scrub and oil control toner. Here’s how it all goes together:
STEP
PRODUCT
AM
PM
DIRECTIONS
1. Cleanse
Oily: Oilacleanse Dry: Exfoliating Cleanser All: Hydrating Cleanser
Apply a pea-sized amount to damp skin and massage in for 40-60 seconds to stimulate lymphatic drainage and blood circulation.
2. Scrub
Oily: Vitascrub Dry: Exfoliating Polish
Apply a pea-sized amount to dry skin and massage scrub in for 40-60 seconds. Allow to sit for 1 minute as hydrators and oils are absorbed.
3. Oil Control
Oily: Cebatrol or TE Pads Dry: Balatone
Use 1/2 of a pad morning and night. Avoid eye area and do not rinse off.
4. Treat
C-Bright
Apply a pea-sized amount all over to clean, dry skin before Melamin in the AM and before Melamix & Retamax in the PM.
5. Treat
Melamin
Apply a pea-sized amount all over.
6. Treat
Glycogent
Apply a pea-sized amount all over. Use every other day as tolerated.
7. Treat
Daily Power Defense
Apply in the evening after Melamin (before Melamix + Retamax) to help strengthen the skin.
8. Treat
Melamix + Retamax
Mix equal parts of Melamix and Retamax and apply all over. Begin use only 1-2x per week. Slowly increase use as tolerated.
9. Protect
Sun Protection
Apply generously. Reapply every 1-2 hours.
If you’re ready to rid yourself of hyperpigmentation for good, ZO Medical’s Multi-Therapy Hydroquinone System is the first place to start. However, if hydroquinone isn’t your cup of tea, ZO still has solutions for you, including Brightenex (0.5%-1% retinol), Brightalive (non-retinol, non-hydroquinone), which contain natural lightening ingredients such as kojic acid and licorice root extract, and, of course the beloved C-Bright Serum and Glycogent.
Since we know that all pigmentation disorders and conditions are caused or exacerbated by UV exposure, we also know how important it is to shield our skin with a good sunscreen of at least SPF 30 every day! Protect the investment you make when you’re reversing hyperpigmentation, whichever route you choose, by preventing it from coming back.
Now that you have tons of information on kicking your hyperpigmentation to the curb, book your complimentary skin health consultation with a NuAGE Laser expert. We’ll create a customized plan tailored to meet your complexion needs. We offer a complete range of Vancouver laser procedures, skin care solutions and cutting-edge products, including the ZO™ Skin Health line. Say farewell to spots, splotches, stains and patches and show off even, bright skin instead.
Reviews & Testimonials
Amazing results and service! Ellie and the team are uber nice and incredibly professional. They make you feel at complete ease while up close and personal with your lady parts. I got Brazilian and underarms laser and the service was 100% worth the investment. I went approx every 6 weeks for a year, the next touch up was 3 months later, then 4, and now I won’t go again for 6-9 months. Life changing to never worry about popping on a bikini at a moments notice - highly recommend!
Extremely happy with my experience here to date. I had a laser treatment for veins on my face. After only ONE treatment the vein disappeared completely! I am a super wimp when it comes to pain, but this procedure was not painful at all and quick. Ellie is very professional, but so sweet and patient. Looking forward to trying some of their other services here!
I can't recommend this place highly enough! I had laser hair removal treatments with Chantel and the results were really amazing. The hair is almost completely gone and I'm very impressed when the results turn out even better than advertised. Chantel is a real pro and she's always a pleasure and a positive force to be around. I was also nervous that as a man looking for laser hair removal options the centre would be mostly geared towards women, but I was made to feel right at home which I really appreciated. Thank you so much - I will definitely recommend you to anyone looking for hair removal or skin treatment options :) | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Hello NFL Lovers !!! If your watch NFL match between New England Patriots vs New York Giants live stream 2012 Sunday 5th February (Super Bowl)online on pc here, just follow our streaming link.Watch New England Patriots vs New York Giants live stream Free NFL Game Online HD on Pc . Ensure that you must be 100% satisfied in out service so donít be hesitated just click the link bellow and start watching and enjoy more.best of luck .
http://watchliveanygame.blogspot.com/2012/02/new-england-patriots-vs-new-york-giants_05.html
Watch New England Patriots vs New York Giants Live stream online Free NFL Game Today . Donít miss New England Patriots vs New York Giants The great match. NFL (Super Bowl) live New England Patriots vs New York Giants now on Sky Sports 4,betfair tv,CBS, HD4 ,Fox Network .This Match New England Patriots vs New York Giants live .Both team are ready to face each other. So this match will be very enjoyable Watch Live FOX,CBS,NBC,ESPN TV Get the best online sports coverage on the net directly on your PC.
Click Here New England Patriots vs New York Giants Live
MATCH DETAILS
Date: Sunday 5th February,2012
Time: 6:30 pm (ET)
Competition: NFL Football (Super Bowl),2012
Donít worry,it is too easy to watch.just try it.New England Patriots vs New York Giants Live and full coverage of NFL football 2012 live onlineNew England Patriots vs New York Giants Live ,watch game live online,watch nfl game live online,New England Patriots vs New York Giants Live online,New England Patriots vs New York Giants Live on internet tv,New England Patriots vs New York Giants Live telecast,New England Patriots vs New York Giants Live broadcast,New England Patriots vs New York Giants Live on pc,New England Patriots vs New York Giants Live game,New England Patriots vs New York Giants Live now,New England Patriots vs New York Giants Live video,watch New England Patriots vs New York Giants Live online free,where i can watch New England Patriots vs New York Giants Live online,New England Patriots vs New York Giants Live streaming online,New England Patriots vs New York Giants Live on satellite tv,watch New England Patriots vs New York Giants Live streaming game,nfl live,nfl live online,nfl 2012 live webcast,nfl 2012 live podcast,nfl 2012 live sopcast,nfl 2012 schedule,nfl 2012 live score
mrbig22
02-05-2012, 06:04 PM
You can watch the game streaming here for free www.superbowl.com (http://2012super-bowl.blogspot.com/)
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
portpain
02-05-2012, 08:33 PM
The only legitimate non-scam link I've found to watch the Super Bowl online for free is http://unlocksports.com/sbowl-xlvi.html
Afterward it says they'll upload the replay video to http://unlocksports.com/file2018451.html | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Stoney Island Conservation Area
This Conservation Area offers a number of different trails ranging from beginner to intermediate in terms of difficulty (the latter contain sharp uphill or downhill runs). These trails are groomed in winter for both snowshoeing and skiing. There is a choice of 1.5, 3 and 5 km loops throughout this 39 ha (97 acre) wooded area. The site features challenging ridges, meandering creeks and bluffs overlooking the Lake Huron shoreline.
This 40 hectare property was purchased by Saugeen Conservation in 1977. The property is located approximately 5km north of Kincardine along the Lake Huron shoreline. Stoney Island contains nature trails which welcome public use on a year round basis.
On a hot summer day enjoy a peaceful, relaxing hike. In the winter months the trail system has been developed for excellent varied cross-country skiing opportunities. A snowshoe trail is also available. Cross country skiing competitions are held annually at this location.
Features of the area include the historic carriage trail and remnants of a maple syrup operation. There are a several creeks which meander throughout the Conservation Area and which are traversed by beautiful hand-crafted bridges. These bridges were designed and built by the Ventures of Kincardine and area. This Conservation Area is maintained by the Kincardine Ski Club.
Have you traveled this trail?
If you have any corrections or new information you'd like to send us, we'd love your input. Also, any photos or videos you may have taken of your adventures on this or any other trail are welcome as well.
Be a part of our trail community!
Add a comment
Use your Facebook account to comment on this trail and share your experiences below.
Characteristics & Access
Character
Natural
Surface
Gravel, Soil -Loose, Soil - Compacted, Boardwalk, Mixed
Trail Amenities
Parking, Picnic areas
Weather
25°
Mostly cloudy starting tomorrow morning.
TODAY
25°
18°
Wed
25°
21°
Thu
24°
21°
Fri
23°
20°
Sat
24°
18°
Sun
25°
16°
Mon
25°
18°
Tue
22°
18°
Why donate?
By supporting the Ontario Trails Council, you will support trails, enabling delivery of services such as trail promotion, advocacy, creation and maintenance. The Ontario Trails Council is a provincial organization and registered charity. Every donation of $25 or more will receive a tax receipt. Thank you for your support!
Share this Trail
LENGTH
DIFFICULTY
ACTIVITIES
HOURS OF OPERATION
CONTACT THE TRAIL
For more information, including maps, please visit our Web site at www.svca.on.ca
WEATHER
Today
25°
/ 18°
Mostly cloudy starting tomorrow morning.
Wednesday
25°
Thursday
24°
Have you traveled this trail?
If you have any corrections or new information you'd like to send us, we'd love your input. Also, any photos or videos you may have taken of your adventures on this or any other trail are welcome as well.
Be a part of our trail community! | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Don't try to figure it out; you won't be able to. Trying to figure it out will just confuse you. Even if you tried, you wouldn't come up with anything closely resembling a sensible conclusion. If you could, you wouldn't be here, either. You see, in order to figure out where you are, you must have a concept of good and being that you're here at all clearly shows that you have not a whit of a concept of "good" and can, therefore, draw no sensible conclusions as to your whereabouts.
You must be told where you are. Not that it'd do you any good; you still won't understand because if you understood then that would mean you believed what you were told, which would indicate trust, which is good and you are not, so you're doomed to stay here indefinitely.
If anything remotely positive exists, it has a quality of goodness. Light, for instance, shows you where you are headed, which is a good thing unless you happen to like walking into things for no apparent reason (which is rather silly if your eyes are working perfectly well and you don't like headaches all that much). Another good example of "good" is that quality so lamented as to be hated, which is love. If you love anything in existence, even yourself, you've got a point of goodness. You see (of course, you don't), it all comes down to pluses and minuses.
If you are good, even to the most minute degree, then you are a positive Being- regardless how low on the scale you might be (or high, for that matter). Goodness goes to more goodness like a magnet or mutual attraction, which makes sense because anything positive is basically an addition to something that exists. You cannot be added to something that does not exist, that would be like multiplying a number by zero, which is always zero. No. You can only be added, if you are even remotely good. Goodness multiplies. Generally speaking, most entities are headed for goodness even if they don't want to.
The more (or less, depending on your perspective) negative you become, the more (or less) you are "there." As it so happens, you continued on your path of "not being there" and eventually wound up here (nowhere, literally). Here is Hell. Actually, to be more specific, "not here is Hell."
Speaking of naps, the experience (or, rather, the inexperience) of Hell is very much like being asleep- only more so (less so). Imagine if you will (if you can, which you can't), that you are sleeping in a dreamless state. You're just lying there, doing nothing in particular except wasting time. You're not learning anything, you're not getting any younger, you're not growing, you're not talking, you're not sharing- you're just totally and completely oblivious to the world around you. You're not even thinking anything. Snore.
By this logic, it should be mentioned that you didn't have to do anything to get here (Price of admission: $0.00). Point in fact, you did nothing at all (that whole negativity incarnate thing again) to get here. By doing nothing, you contributed no-thing and therefore proved your worthlessness. You didn't just do this once, you did it (or didn't do it, as the case may be) over the period of your entire lifetime. You see, a negative doesn't put anything out; it just keeps taking things away, like a vacuum. You're a special breed, my friend. You're one of the precious few in Existence who was able to remove a smile from someone's face without actually doing or saying anything at all. Just your presence managed to put frowns on people's faces. That takes an abstract (imaginary or non-existent) sort of talent.
You're now in Hell and there's only one way to get out, but you can't do it on your own, you know (or perhaps you don't). Something positive has to attach itself to you and make it stick.
Maybe you'll get tired of non-existence. Maybe you'll get bored with nothing. Until (or if) you do, Hell is where you'll stay. We'd suggest enjoying your stay here, but you can't enjoy anything because you aren't aware of it. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Terms & Conditions
THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS (“Terms”) govern expressoffers.ivchr.com, okoffers.ivchr.com and dailystaroffers.ivchr.com (“the Website”). Please read these Terms and ensure that you have understood them. If you do not agree to these Terms, please cease use of the Website immediately.
“Voucher” means an offer which can be redeemed from a third party by entering a digital barcode in a third party website;
2. The Website
2.1 The Website is directed by OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers and administered by iVPlatform Limited, a company registered in England with Company Number (08757165), whose principal office is at 82 St John Street, London, EC1M 4JN. All information supplied on the Website is managed by Express Offers.
2.2 iVPlatform Limited can be contacted via their email address [email protected] or via their contact form http://www.ivoucher.com/contact/
3. Use of the Website
3.1 By visiting and using the Website you warrant that you are 18 years old or above and have the right, authority and capacity to enter into and be bound by these Terms and that you agree to be bound by these Terms.
3.2 In the event that OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers, in its sole discretion, considers that you are making any illegal and/or unauthorised use of the Website, and/or your use of the Website is in breach of these Terms, OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers reserves the right to take any action that it deems necessary, including terminating without notice your use of the Website and, in the case of illegal use, instigating legal proceedings.
3.3 OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers may suspend the Website at any time and for any reason whatsoever, including but not limited to repairs, planned maintenance or upgrades, and shall not be liable to you for any such suspension.
3.4 OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers reserves the right to make any changes to the Website or to discontinue any aspect or feature of the Website without notice to Users.
3.5 These Terms govern the use of the Website by registered and unregistered Users. Such Users may not use the Website or any part thereof in connection with any commercial venture, other than as expressly permitted under these Terms or under other terms agreed in writing by OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers.
3.6 You may link to the Website’s home page, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it.
3.7 You must not;
a. establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part where none exists. You must not establish a link to the Website in any website that is not owned by you. The Website must not be framed on any other site, nor may you create a link to any part of the Website other than the home page. OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers reserves the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.
b. You must not misuse the Website by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Website, the server on which the Website is stored or any server, computer or database connected to the Website. You must not use manual or automated software, devices, scripts, robots, or other means or processes to access, “scrape”, “crawl”, or “spider” any pages contained in the Website.
c. Disseminate any unlawful, harassing, libellous, abusive, threatening, harmful, vulgar, obscene, otherwise objectionable material;
d. Gain unauthorised access to other computer systems;
e. Interfere with any other person’s use or enjoyment of the Website;
f. Breach any laws concerning the use of public telecommunications networks;
g. Interfere or disrupt networks or websites connected to the Website; and
h. Making, transmitting or storing electronic copies of the materials protected by copyright without the permission of the owner.
4. Term and Termination
4.1 These Terms will remain in full force and effect while you are a User of the Website.
4.2 OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers may, at any time and for any reason, terminate these Terms with you and deny you access to the Website.
4.3 In the event of termination of these Terms for any reason, you must not attempt to use the Website.
4.4 Sections 3 to 8 inclusive shall survive termination of these Terms for any reason, and shall be valid and enforceable against you.
5. OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers Intellectual Property
5.1 Other than in relation to links to third party websites and non-exclusive Voucher codes, OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers owns or has a licence to use all right, title and interest in and to the Website, including without limitation all copyright and any other intellectual property rights therein. Some of the content is produced in whole or in part under licence from, and based in whole or in part from, copyright material of the listed merchant. These Terms shall not be construed to convey title to or ownership of the Website or the data contained therein to any User. All rights in and to the Website not expressly granted to Users are reserved by Express Offers or its licensors.
5.2 You are granted a non-transferable, non-exclusive, royalty-free, revocable licence to view and print the content of the Website for your personal non-commercial use and reference only, the information on the Website may not otherwise be reproduced, distributed or transmitted to any other person or incorporated in any way into another document or other material without our prior written approval.
5.3 You are expressly prohibited from:
5.3.1 reproducing, copying, editing, transmitting or distributing to any other person, uploading or incorporating into any other materials any of the Website; and
5.3.2 removing, modifying, altering or using any registered or unregistered marks/logos owned by OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers, and doing anything which may be seen to take unfair advantage of the reputation and goodwill of OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers or could be considered an infringement of any of the intellectual property rights owned and/or licensed to OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers, without first obtaining the written permission of OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers.
6. Warranties and Liabilities
6.1 Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers’ liability for death or personal injury arising from our negligence, or our fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited by English law.
6.2 OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers provides Users with access to the Website free of charge and, subject to 6.1, OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers shall not be liable in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise for any loss, injury or damage of whatever kind caused in whole or in part by use of the Website or the information provided therein, or by any failure, delay, interruption or otherwise of the provision of the Website or the information provided therein, or by OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers’ failure to perform any of its obligations under these Terms.
6.3 Further to 6.2, Voucher codes are provided to OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers by third parties on the Website and OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers does not guarantee that the codes are valid. You are advised to check any discounts have been applied prior to committing to any purchase.
6.4 Subject to 6.1, In no event shall OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers be liable in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise for any loss of profits, goodwill, savings or business (whether any of the foregoing are direct or indirect), or for any special, indirect, incidental or consequential damages.
6.5 The information provided on the Website by OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers is intended as information only and does not constitute advice. Therefore, it must not be relied on to assist in making or refraining from making a decision, or to assist in deciding on a course of action.
6.6 The material on the Website is provided “as is”, without any conditions, warranties or other terms of any kind. We do not guarantee that the Website, or any content on it, will be free from errors or omissions or that the Website, or any content on it, will always be available or be uninterrupted. Access to the Website is permitted on a temporary basis. We may suspend, withdraw, discontinue or change all or any part of the Website without notice. We will not be liable to you if for any reason the Website is unavailable at any time or for any period.
6.7 To the maximum extent permitted by law, OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers expressly excludes all representations, warranties, obligations and liabilities in connection with the Website or other third party websites, and the information provided therein.
6.8 This Website may contain comments, information and material submitted and created by third parties. OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers does not endorse and has no control over this content. This content is not necessarily reviewed by OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers prior to posting and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers. OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers excludes all liability for any illegality arising from or error, omission or inaccuracy in such material and OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers takes no responsibility for such material. OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the content or to the accuracy and reliability of the content or any material or information that you transmit to other users of the site. OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers is not responsible for the conduct, whether online or offline, of any user of the Website.
6.9 Links to third party websites and companies may appear on the Website and through the Vouchers. Such third party websites are not the responsibility of OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers and while we try to ensure that the material included on the Website is correct, reputable and of high quality OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers accepts no responsibility for the availability, suitability, reliability or content of such third party websites and does not necessarily endorse the views expressed within them. OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers will not be liable for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them.
6.10 Third party websites may collect and treat information they collect differently, so OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers encourages you to carefully read and review the privacy policy and terms of use for each website you visit.
6.11 You are solely responsible for your interactions with merchants. Subject to 7.1, you hereby release OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers from any and all claims or liability related to any product or service of a merchant, any action or inaction by merchant, including merchant’s failure to comply with applicable law. You further agree that we will not be liable to you/or any third party for any consequential or incidental damages (including but not limited to loss of revenue, loss of profits, loss of privacy and loss of data) or any other indirect, special or punitive damages whatsoever that arise out of or are related to the Website.
6.12 OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a virus, distributed denial-of-service attack, or other technologically harmful material that may infect your computer equipment, computer programs, data or other proprietary material due to your use of the Website or to your downloading of any content on it, or on any website linked to it or to any email sent by OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers to you.
6.13 You will indemnify us against all losses, liabilities, costs and expenses reasonably suffered or incurred by us, all damages awarded against us under any judgement by a court of competent jurisdiction and all settlement sums paid by us as a result of any settlement agreed by us arising out of or in connection with:
a. Any claim by any third party that the use of the Website by you is defamatory, offensive or abusive, or of an obscene or pornographic nature, or is illegal or constitutes a breach of any applicable law, regulation or code of practice;
b. Any claim by any third party that the use of the Website by you infringes that third party’s copyright or other intellectual property rights of whatever nature; and
c. Any fines or penalties imposed by any regulatory body or authority in connection with the use of the Website by you.
7. Excluded Services
7.1 The services provided by the Website do not include the provision of computer or other necessary equipment to access the Website. To use the Website you will require Internet connectivity and appropriate telecommunications links. We shall not be liable for any telephone or other costs that you may incur.
8. Advertising and Sponsorship
8.1 Part of the Website may contain advertising and sponsorship. Advertisers and Sponsors are responsible for ensuring that material submitted for inclusion on the Website complies with relevant laws and codes. We will not be responsible for any error or inaccuracy in advertising and sponsorship.
9. Data Protection and Privacy Policy
9.1 OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers is committed to protecting (i) the privacy of Users; and (ii) the confidentiality of the information provided to it by Users using the Website. However, OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers is not able to control the use by third parties of any information appearing on the Website.
9.2 You are not required to provide any personal information on the Website. However, OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers is not responsible for any information you may choose to provide to third parties appearing on the Website or that you may link to from the Website. For further details please refer to our Privacy Policy.
9.3 OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers reserves the right to gather information relating to use of the Website. Please refer to our Privacy Policy for information on how your details may be used. By visiting and using the Website you consent to collection and use of this information by OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers in accordance with our Privacy Policy and warrant that all data provided by you is current, complete and accurate and will be kept up to date.
10. General
10.1 You may print and keep a copy of these Terms, which form the entire agreement between you and OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers and supersede any other communications or advertising with respect to the Website.
10.2 These Terms may only be modified with the prior written consent of OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers. OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers may alter or amend these Terms at any time, with immediate effect and without notice. Please check this page from time to time to take notice of any amendments as by continuing to use the Website after such alteration, you will be deemed to have accepted any amendment to these Terms.
10.3 These Terms and their performance shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales and the parties hereby submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
10.4 You shall comply with all foreign and local laws and regulations which apply to your use of the Website in whatever country you are physically located, including without limitation, consumer law, export control laws and regulations.
10.5 You agree that because of the unique nature of the Website and OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers’ proprietary rights therein, a demonstrated breach of these Terms by you would irreparably harm OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers and monetary damages would be inadequate compensation. Therefore, you agree that OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers shall be entitled to preliminary and permanent injunctive relief, as determined by any court of competent jurisdiction to enforce the provisions of these Terms.
10.6 If any provision of these Terms is declared void, illegal or unenforceable, the remainder of these Terms will be valid and enforceable to the extent permitted by applicable law. In such event, the parties agree to use their best efforts to replace the invalid or unenforceable provision by a provision that, to the extent permitted by the applicable law, achieves the purposes intended under the invalid or unenforceable provision.
10.7 Any failure by any party to these Terms to enforce at any time any term or condition under these Terms will not be considered a waiver of that party’s right thereafter to enforce each and every term and condition of these Terms.
10.8 Neither party will be responsible for delays resulting from circumstances beyond the reasonable control of such party, provided that the nonperforming party uses reasonable efforts to avoid or remove such causes of non-performance and continues performance hereunder with reasonable dispatch whenever such causes are removed.
10.9 Nothing in these Terms shall give, directly or indirectly, any third party any enforceable benefit or any right of action against OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers and such third parties shall not be entitled to enforce any term of these Terms against OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers.
10.10 If you feel that any materials appearing on the Website are offensive, objectionable or potentially defamatory please contact OK! Offers, Daily Star Offers and Express Offers by way of our contact page providing full details of the nature of your complaint and the materials to which the complaint relates.
10.11 Unless otherwise specified, the Website is directed solely at individuals from the UK. If you choose to access the Website from locations outside the UK, you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws.
10.12 The comments and information contained on this Website do not constitute advice and you should not rely on any content on this Website to make (or refrain from making) any decision or take (or refrain from taking) any action. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Glock 32 Gen3 Tactical Grip Graphics - Come and Take It
Sale
$24.99
Regular price
$29.99
Product Description
Graphics Grip Tape forGen 3 Glock 32 - Come and Take Itdesign. Features a textured, rubber-like surface to give you a better grip and more control of your firearm. Add grip all over your G32 or just cover a portion. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Leaving my BlackBerry Z10 for a Samsung Galaxy A5… Successfully
I was frustrated. I had been researching how to solve the Phone Problem for about nine months. Over the past month and a half of concerted effort I had twice tried to buy new phones and get them to work. And I had twice failed.
Defeated, I gave up trying to game the system and reluctantly worked within it. I signed up for a two-year plan. I ordered a “0$” phone. I ordered us Samsung Galaxy A5s.
Not sure you’ve heard of those? Me neither. The trademark soup of Android phone names hasn’t improved in the decade since its release.
In this particular case you might not have heard of it because it wasn’t originally supposed to show up in North America. It was going to target EMEA and LatAm only… but then some Canadian carriers made it worth Samsung’s while to bring it to the Great White North.
So how is it. It is a tidy little phone with just enough nods to the now-past (SD Card slot, headphone jack), and just enough gee whiz features (fingerprint sensor for unlock, Always On OLED screen, USB Type-C connector) to bridge our way out of BlackBerry Land.
BBM Groups works, but notification settings are a joke. The Hub is here, but it is a pale shadow of its always-available BB10 edition.
I’ve managed to find a way to install the Android edition of the BlackBerry keyboard. It is familiar enough that I’ve composed all three of these voluminous posts about phones on it. It is strange enough in the details that I still can’t get capitalization correct all of the time.
It makes a difference to me that Samsung is trying to compete with Google in enough ways that many things don’t have to default to data collection. We’re still deep in the belly of the beast, but there are holes that I can see sunlight through so long as I can find the right settings to turn off.
It has enough nice touches that make me think that maybe the Samsung devs care about their phones as much as I care about the ones which bear my code. Like how, when it’s dark, the screen fades into brightness slower than when it’s light out. There’s also all these little false-starts on the phone as well that suggests investment in the R part of R&D, like swiping the phone with the edge of your hand to screenshot. I’d never do that, and have turned it off, but you have to try things to find things that work. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
A 2014 Senate report on the U.S. use of torture during the War on Terror reemerged Tuesday during a tense exchange between Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and CIA Director John O. Brennan, when Wyden pressed Brennan to apologize for spying on the Senate Intelligence Committee’s computers during its investigation of the CIA.
In a wide 78-21 vote, the Senate adopted the amendment as it continued consideration of the annual defense authorization legislation. Thirty-two Republicans joined all Democrats to approve the proposal.
Reacting to the recent security breach at the Office of Personnel Management, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday he would attach cybersecurity legislation to the National Defense Authorization Act.
“I think what Congress can do, as I suggested earlier, is offer the bipartisan cybersecurity bill that came out of the Intelligence Committee 14-1 on the defense authorization act,” McConnell said. “It might or might not deal with every aspect of what apparently happened a few days ago, but Congress is going to act on cybersecurity, on this bill in the very near future." | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
CENTURY AURORA
Aurora (Colorado): One survivor had to pause on his way into the theater and pray. Another braced for flashbacks as he entered the auditorium where 12 people died and dozens were injured during a massacre six months earlier. Others refused to come, viewing the reopening of the multiplex as insensitive.... | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
How To Make A Hanging Bed Frame
Suspended In Style 40 Rooms That Showcase Hanging Beds How To Make A Hanging Bed Frame
The How To Make A Hanging Bed Frame How To Make A Hanging Bed Frame above is one of pictures of home decorating and design ideas. The image has been in named with: How To Make A Hanging Bed Frame. This post is about How To Make A Hanging Bed Frame, on this page you can see such a beautiful design about How To Make A Hanging Bed Frame, the first image in this post is the best picture we use about How To Make A Hanging Bed Frame, discover the other picture at the gallery below.
So, finally, we make it and here these list of wonderful design picture for your inspiration and information purpose regarding the How To Make A Hanging Bed Frame as part of Home Decorating ideas and Interior Design for your exclusive reference updates collection. So, take your time and let find the How To Make A Hanging Bed Frame design posted here that suitable with your needs.
Because of the How To Make A Hanging Bed Frame had many other pictures are related to, then you can choose it in the gallery below. So it can be one of your inspirations in designing your own. You will see more pictures of How To Make A Hanging Bed Frame similar to this one from below. Enjoy this gallery!. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
All Eyes on the Golden Triangle As Summer Drill Season Begins
Source: Streetwise Reports††(6/28/18)
An explorer that received good drill results last year is one of the first out of the gate to follow up this summer.
Industry watchers are keeping their eyes on summer drilling in British Columbia's Golden Triangle for signs of the next GT Gold or Garibaldi Resources, both of whose shares leaped last year after the announcement of significant discoveries.
But this year, the company has hit the ground running, announcing on June 21 that it has mobilized field crews to its Forrest Kerr gold project and today reporting that it has begun its 5,000 meter diamond drill program consisting of approximately 18 holes.
The company noted that the "initial focus for the drill program will be to expand the high-grade precious metal mineralization discovered in 2017 at the Boundary North Zone, located near the center of the Forrest Kerr Property. Three separate drill holes, collared from the same drill pad, pierced a near-surface high-grade zone of gold-silver-copper mineralization, in addition to broad intercepts containing gold bearing quartz veins."
Aben also stated that the company believes "the 2017 discovery demonstrates that the Boundary Zone has additional discovery potential for significant precious metal mineralization. This area of the Forrest Kerr Property hosts gold-silver-copper in rock and soil anomalies that span in excess of 2 km by 4km and remain relatively under-explored."
Jim Pettit, the president and CEO of Aben, stated, "Notable regional discoveries by Pretium, GT Gold, Garibaldi Resources and others have illustrated the significant discovery upside remaining in the district and we are confident in the potential at Forrest Kerr given the newly discovered and historic high-grade mineralization there as well as the numerous untested gold-in-soil anomalies present."
Numerous industry watchers have Aben in their sights. On June 19, Energy and Gold Ltd., in an article titled, "A Good Time To Get Into This Golden Triangle Gold Explorer," noted that Aben is "flying out of the gate with plans to have the first batch of assays from its 5,000 Meter Drill Program (20 holes) out by late July." It noted that "Golden Triangle exploration stocks have a strong tendency to deliver strong returns during the months of July and August. This seasonal pattern is due to the fact that these companies are actively drilling/releasing results during this time period, and also due to the fact that precious metals often perform well during July & August."
"For the 2018 drilling season Aben expects to be one of the first exploration companies to release drill results. This should give Aben the advantage of having extra attention on it during the next couple of months and good results with the "truth machine" should in turn be well-rewarded by the market," the article concluded.
Bob Moriarty of 321 Gold noted on June 19 that "Aben Resources was at $0.09 in June of 2017 and rocketed higher, with all of the Golden Triangle sisters, to a top of $0.495 before correcting to $0.105 in November as we drifted into the seasonal low at the end of the year."
"Aben just began a 5,000-meter drill program at Forrest Kerr to follow up on the discovery from last year they call the Boundary zone. Look for assays coming from a variety of companies in the Golden Triangle to start hitting the market in just over a month. Hopefully with a tailwind from the price of gold and silver Aben Resources will duplicate last year's action," Moriarty stated.
Rick Mills of Ahead of the Herdwrote on June 23 that "these are exciting times for Aben and other juniors conducting exploration programs this summer in the Golden Triangle. While geological models, geophysics, soil and rock samples can all be excellent guides to the mineralization, there's nothing like drilling to find out what really lies beneath. And the results can be surprising. Just look at Garibaldi Resources. Who would have thought that a nickel discovery would be made in an area known for gold-copper deposits? It's the element of "anything can happen" that makes junior exploration so exciting. I canít wait to see what Aben finds at North Boundary. That's why Aben Resources and its Forrest Kerr property is on my radar screen."
Thibaut Lepouttre, editor of Caesars Report, wrote on May 22, "Exploration isn't an exact science, and all companies like Aben can do is increase their odds by identifying the projects (and the targets on those projects) with a good probability of hitting something. And we think that's exactly what Aben Resources did in 2017 before the drill season in the Golden Triangle abruptly ended."
He went on to comment that "with CA$3.5 million in cash and an improved understanding of the gold mineralization in British Columbia's Golden Triangle compared to last year, Aben Resources seems to be ready to hit the ground running to follow up on the interesting drill results encountered at the Boundary zone in 2017."
"Aben will be one of the first companies starting its field work in the Golden Triangle this year, so we would expect the company to be in the pole position to announce assay results throughout the summer. And having the first mover advantage could be important in this market, as it could allow the 'early movers' to retain the attention of the market," Lepouttre concluded.
Want to read more Gold Report articles like this? Sign up for our free e-newsletter, and you'll learn when new articles have been published. To see a list of recent articles and interviews with industry analysts and commentators, visit our Streetwise Interviews page.
Disclosure:
1) Patrice Fusillo compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise reports as an employee. She or members of her household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. She or members of her household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None.
2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: Aben Resources and Pretium Resources. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. As of the date of this article, an affiliate of Streetwise Reports has a consulting relationship with Aben Resources. As of the date of this article, an affiliate of Streetwise Reports has a consulting relationship with Aben Resources. Please click here for more information.
3) Comments and opinions expressed are those of the specific experts and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security.
4) The article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.
5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article, until one week after the publication of the interview or article. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Aben Resources, a company mentioned in this article.
Disclosure from Energy and Gold Ltd., June 19, 2018
EnergyandGold has been compensated to cover Aben Resources Ltd. and so some information may be biased. EnergyandGold.com, EnergyandGold Publishing LTD, its writers and principals are not registered investment advisors and advice you to do your own due diligence with a licensed investment advisor prior to making any investment decisions.
Disclosure from Bob Moriarty, 321 Gold, June 19, 2018
I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: Aben Resources. Aben Resources is an advertiser on 321 Gold.
Disclosure from Thibaut Lepouttre, May 22, 2018
I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: a long position in Aben Resources. I personally am, or members of my immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. My company currently has a financial relationship with Aben Resources.
Dan Weir, executive chairman of DNI Metals, speaks with Maurice Jackson of Proven and Probable about the personnel changes the company has made and its plans to obtain the environmental permits for the company's graphite projects in Madagascar. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Type 3 recycled
40mm unbound mixture utilising recycled aggregate. Used for sub- base applications as per the Specification for Highway Works, clause 805. This material is open graded with a reduced amount of fines to improve drainage in comparison to Type 1. Often used as a sub-base material in hard standings, haul roads, paths and patios. Other applications include sports pitches, equestrian arenas, driveways and tennis courts. Can be used in areas where SUDS legislation has been imposed.
MCM – Supplying your product, your way
MCM can provide Type 3 Recycled via the following methods:
Tipper or Grab Lorries
Standard Industry Bulk Bags
Articulated Lorries.
Minimum Order
The standard MCM minimum order is 10 tonnes or 5 Bulk Bags. If you require smaller deliveries, we will try our best to help – just give us a call to discuss on 0845 053 34 54 | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Tag: racism
I had my worst “forgot something on the stove” episode today. No fire, but I came back after three hours away to find my flat completely filled with smoke. I had to hold my breath to open the windows (everything was closed). My pan is dead (I’m not even going to try). Quintus was outside but Tounsi was inside, and was exposed to the smoke for all that time. One of the first things I did after opening the first window was throw him onto the balcony. He seems fine. Vet say to keep an eye on him for the next two days or so, as symptoms can be delayed.
Now my whole flat stinks of burnt smoke. Good thing it’s not January, as a friend noted.
Some podcast episodes for you. (And me, maybe one day). They are from This American Life, which I listened to a lot at the chalet. It’s really great — I should have started listening years ago.
#525: Call for Help: remember this story that was making the rounds, about a family that had to be rescued at sea because of a sick baby? and how a lot of the (uninformed) public opinion was up in arms about how irresponsible it was to go to sea with a baby, and then ask the coast guards to bail you out when things got rough? Well, as you can guess, there is much more to the story than that…
#555: The Incredible Rarity of Changing Your Mind: so, one of the studies this episode is based on has been retracted, but it remains interesting. First, to note that people rarely change their mind, particularly on ideological matters. And then, and this is something I think about a lot, what makes people change their mind? We do have anecdotal evidence that knowing somebody who is gay (or trans, or kinky…) can turn us around on those issues. And I think that people’s theoretical stance on an issue can be somewhat disconnected from what they would think, or how they would react, faced with a real human being they have a connection with and who is concerned by the issue.
#557: Birds & Bees: how do we talk to children about race, death, and sex? Some very good questions about consent and its “fuzziness” (I personally don’t think we should have to say “is it OK if I kiss you?” and wait for an enthusiastic verbal “yes” — seriously?!), how you can’t escape the question of race, and a moving segment on a grief counselling centre for children. If I could go back in time, I would take my 10-year-old self there. Sadly, we weren’t quite there yet 30 years ago when it comes to grief and children.
By the way, this episode brings me to Death, Sex & Money — a podcast about all these things we don’t talk about.
#562 and #563: The Problem We All Live With (two parts): how do we reinvent education to get poor minority kids to perform as well as white kids? An exploration of the solution that works, but that we’re not putting much energy into implementing: desegregation. I found this episode both fascinating and infuriating. Fascinating because issues of race are not on the forefront in Switzerland as they are in the US, and infuriating that such a simple elegant solution is not given the attention and resources it deserves.
After [my first few hours inside Second Life](http://climbtothestars.org/archives/2006/08/12/first-steps-in-second-life/), I realized that the confusion I was feeling was very similar to what I had experienced when I [first arrived in India](http://climbtothestars.org/logbook): I was suffering from a [culture shock](http://climbtothestars.org/writing/choc/ “Some thoughts I wrote down after a few days in India, in French.”).
There were people all around me that looked like nothing I’d ever seen before. I had trouble communicating (I’d try to chat and I’d fly up in the air) and identifying what I saw in my surroundings. I didn’t know where to go. I read notes which mentioned places which ringed no bells. I just didn’t know what to do or where to start.
But what really rang the “culture shock” bells for me was that I was feeling anxious and afraid of the avatar-people around me. I feared somebody would pounce on me (well, my avatar, but by then the identification process had kicked in), or animate my avatar against my will, or start shouting obscene things at me. I felt pretty insecure and vulnerable amongst all these people with masks on their faces. I had no idea what to expect from them, just as I had no idea what to expect from people when I landed in India.
In India, I was afraid to go out by myself and explore. In Second Life, I get some of that feeling too. I’m afraid of ending up in “bad places”. Talk of griefers and guns makes me scared. So I tend to hang out in the [New Citizens Plaza](http://slurl.com/secondlife/Kuula/61/141/28/) a lot. *(Note: if you click on that URL, you’ll be shown where that place is on a map of Second Life. If you’re running Second Life, you can click on the “Teleport” button to go there. Doesn’t seem to work for me, though.)* Then last night [buridan](http://wiki.tmttlt.com/) showed me to [Joi](http://joi.ito.com)’s [island Kula](http://slurl.com/secondlife/Kula%202/140/80/21) (fun stuff there with merry-go-rounds and dancing floors).
The interesting point here is that I’m exploring Second Life space just as I do real physical geographical space. I find the same patterns in my behaviour. Same with activities that do not match anything in my life experience yet: flying, teleporting — I don’t tend to do these things much yet, just as it took me a while to start taking rickshaws on my own, queueing to get somebody else to photocopy (“Xerox”) documents for me, and fend off beggars efficiently.
Second Life is much more than “chat with graphics”. As I told my Grandma on the phone yesterday, when she asked me what on earth my last posts were about, it’s almost like an “internet inside the internet”. There are chatrooms in it, but they are informal and transient: put a few people in an open space, and if they gather and start talking, you have a chatroom-like atmosphere. But you can walk/fly/teleport away, [do your hair](http://www.flickr.com/photos/bunny/213397504/) or build/program stuff while the others talk. All that without leaving Second Life.
As a long-time IRC chatroom inhabitant, I see two major differences between what I’m used to and Second Life.
From the chatroom point of view, first of all, you cannot be in two places at once inside Second Life. On IRC, I sit in way more than one chatroom at a time, and it’s not uncommon for me to be conducting conversations in two or three chatrooms at once. In Second Life, you can send private messages in parallel to the “physical group conversation” you’re having, but you can’t have more than one group conversation.
Another “quality” of Second Life that strikes me is that it’s less “partial-attention-friendly” than text-only chat or instant messaging — or even web surfing. I find it very hard to do “something else” at the same time as I’m in Second Life. I think it has something to do with the graphical nature of Second Life, and how rich an environment it is. There’s enough material *inside* Second Life for partial attention as it is 🙂 — but also, the fact there is a graphical representation of the people you’re chatting with helps capture one’s attention. (Maybe I feel things this way because I’m new to Second Life, I might think differently later on.)
So, even though Second Life is an entirely on-the-computer thing, it clearly activates the pathways in our brains that we use to deal with physical space and beings. I’ve already said many times that the internet is broadly perceived as “space without space”, but it’s much more obvious in Second Life. Another element that shows us how “real” this virtual environment is to our brains is the presence of [racism in Second Life](http://secondlife.blogs.com/nwn/2006/02/the_skin_youre_.html). The topic came up when I was talking to a few “Furries” (ie, people with an [animal-like avatar](http://flickr.com/photos/bunny/215001301/)) who mentioned there were “furry areas” because Furries were often subject to discrimination from others. Even though we know the aspect of a Second Life citizen is a mask, it seems to have an impact on the way we relate to him/her.
This, to me, is related in some way to the fact that the learning experiences you make in interactive virtual worlds (think “video games”) affect your “non-game” life as well (think “flight simulators”). Which can bring us to question, for example, what effect it can have on one’s brain to spend a long number of hours “killing virtual people”. But that’s another chapter! | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Sharing your questionable parenting experiences since 2016
Perspective
You know the old saying that in order to truly understand someone else you have to “walk a mile in their shoes”? It’s about perspective. Perspective is everything. The definition of perspective is “a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view.” It is amazing what a change in perspective can do.
Any parent who has two children can tell you that they thought having only one child was tough until they had their second child, and then all of the sudden having only one child seems like a walk in the park. It’s not something you can understand until you’ve experienced it for yourself; until you’ve had the opportunity to change your perspective. I remember a few years back, when I just had my two girls, feeling like this whole parenting thing was just SO HARD. I remember feeling so overwhelmed and busy all the time. I remember fighting with my husband over responsibilities, and feeling like these hard days with a baby and a toddler were never going to end. I remember being beyond exhausted and wondering how anyone in their right mind could possibly have more than two children. I remember it all so well.
When I was pregnant with my third daughter, I was speaking to another woman who was the mother to four boys and I was absolutely blown away by this. I was so nervous to embark on my new role as Mommy-of-three and I just couldn’t wrap my head around the idea of someone being able to survive life with FOUR children. I asked her how she did it, and she replied with a shrug and a smile and simply answered, “well, I didn’t have them all at once, we grew into the family that we are now and it was a natural progression”.
At that point, her words made sense, but they did not really resonate with me. I just knew my reality was that having two children was tough, and the fact that I was about to have a third was daunting, I could not imagine how difficult it would be to walk a mile in her shoes.
With each child our family grew a little more, our responsibilities grew a little more, and our routines adjusted a little bit to accommodate for the new addition. So we didn’t really notice the difference, it just became our new normal. Every time we welcomed a new baby into our family, things got a little harder, but going from no children to four children was gradual so the difference didn’t feel substantial.
But this past week, my two older girls went on a vacation with their Grandma and Grandpa for nine days, and from this, I have had the ability to gain a new perspective. From this, I have realized that the difference between two children and four children is substantial. Now that we are used to being parents of four, it seems easy to have only two. Similar to how It feels when you go from two to one. It feels like a break. There have been a few times this week that my husband and I have looked at each other and said, “why did we ever think it was difficult having only two children?”
It’s all a matter of perspective. When my two older children come home and I begin to feel overwhelmed and overworked and stressed to the max, I’m going to imagine what it must be like for the mothers who have five or six children, and then maybe having only four won’t seem to be so difficult. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Cops raise barricades on killer Elevated Road
Coming out of their slumber after increasing instances of accidents and resultant deaths on the Elevated road, the traffic police officials have of late erected barricades at three main accident-prone spots, while also placing sign boards prescribing speed limit for heavy and light vehicles.
Coming out of their slumber after increasing instances of accidents and resultant deaths on the Elevated road, the traffic police officials have of late erected barricades at three main accident-prone spots, while also placing sign boards prescribing speed limit for heavy and light vehicles.
Blame it on its design or missing traffic sense in commuters or absence of proper monitoring that led to rash driving; the road, which was erected to ease the traffic congestion, has turned into a smash-up zone.Perched on 17.2-meter-wide pillars, the road is the third of its kind in India, built to benefit the tourists and devotees visiting important places, including Durgiana temple, Jallianwala Bagh and Attari border.
However, far from serving the purpose, the road emerged as a killer — claiming lives of commuters in fatal accidents. Two youths, who were killed recently in an accident, were the latest victim of the Elevated killer road.
On March 7, Gurmeet Singh and Laddipal Singh of Majhpur village were killed in an accident when a speeding car rammed into the motorcycle they were riding on.
Almost a year ago, 34-year-old Mohit Khanna was killed in an accident. In 2010, a senior citizen was killed in an accident that occurred due to water logging on the road. In September last, a man was killed after mysteriously falling off the Elevated road.
“Sign boards pointing speed limit have been erected there, while the road has also been barricaded at three accidentprone points,” said Shailender Singh Shally, additional deputy commissioner of police, traffic, (ADCP-traffic). He added that besides, traffic patrolling had been enhanced in the area to try and avert road accidents.
“Apart from this, audio systems have been installed at Novelty Chowk and Customs Chowk to spread traffic awareness among city residents, while five alcometres have been sanctioned for the city to check drunken driving, which would soon be put to use,” he added. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
William G. Staples is Professor of Sociology, Chair of the Department of Sociology, and Founding Director of the Surveillance Studies Research Center at the University of Kansas. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Southern California and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at UCLA. Staples is well-known internationally for his work in the areas of social control and surveillance. He is the author of five books and dozens of articles and chapters. His most recent work is the second edition of Everyday Surveillance: Vigilance and Visibility in Postmodern Life, considered a foundational work in the interdisciplinary field of Surveillance Studies. Staples is past Co-Editor of Sociological Inquiry, The Sociological Quarterly, and is currently Associate Editor of Surveillance & Society, the international journal of the Surveillance Studies Network.
Teaching
Consistent with the work of Paulo Freire, I see knowledge as a process rather than a commodity to be distributed by “experts.” Within this view, students are active participants in their own education rather than passive receptors of the chosen word. I want my students to take their own understandings and experiences seriously and reflectively. This empowerment model of education demands a fundamental respect of the student which I believe they all deserve. I see my role as a sociologist to help my students develop three basic skills: historical sensibility, cultural insight, and analytic critique. I believe that these notions are the central focus of our discipline as well as the foundation of a liberal arts education. No matter the level—from freshmen First Year Seminars and Honors Tutorials to advanced level graduate seminars— I seek to create a classroom that is open, supportive, and student-centered. I encourage students to take an active role at every turn. Each class I teach involves a combination of “active-learning” techniques, expressive writing, and empirical research.
Teaching Interests
Surveillance Studies
Social Control
Historical Sociology
Research Methods
Research
I am a historical and cultural sociologist working within the interpretive tradition. For more than three decades I have produced a body of work exploring various forms of discipline, power, and authority and the social and cultural mechanisms that reproduce them. My aim has been to understand the processes by which individual lives are shaped and defined within social institutions, organizations, discourses, and practices. In my earliest work, this agenda was expressed in a series of articles on the application of law in the justice system and later, in my writing on the methods and discourses of the human sciences. As I expanded my historical scope and refined my conceptual frame, I have concentrated on developing socio-historical accounts of “disciplinary regimes” (i.e., techniques of control founded on rationality, surveillance, and knowledge) and on exploring the political and material means of their origins and development. This agenda took me in a number of different yet thematically linked directions. For example, two early projects addressed central issues of the birth of modernity: the rise of the bureaucratic state and the development of capitalism. In Castles of Our Conscience, I offered an account of the relationship between state-building and the emergence of the prison, the asylum, and the poor house in the US (1800-1985). And in Power, Profits, and Patriarchy, with my co-author we constructed a detailed case study of the unequal power and authority relations of gender, class, and age in the British metal-trades (1791-1922). Although different in substance, both projects explore the nature and development of disciplinary regimes, one between citizen and state, the other between workers and the owners of capital.
I continued to investigate the ways in which lives are shaped, influenced, and ordered within organizational and community settings. In The Culture of Surveillance I focused on those contemporary social control techniques—often enhanced by the use of new information, visual, communication, and medical technologies—that target and treat the body as an object to be watched, assessed, and manipulated. I have argued that these new disciplinary techniques must be understood as products of both important, long-term processes set in motion with the onset of modernity, as well as part of the cultural context of postmodernity. I took this book to a new publisher and an updated and expanded edition first appeared in 2000 as Everyday Surveillance: Vigilance and Visibility in Postmodern Life; a completely revised second edition appeared in 2014. It is today considered a foundational work in the field of Surveillance Studies. My work on surveillance also led me to edit a two-volume, award-winning reference work, the Encyclopedia of Privacy.
Most recently, I have completed collecting extensive archival material and have begun writing a new monograph tentatively titled, Documenting the Body; Creating the Self: A Social and Cultural History of the Modern Birth Certificate. This project will offer a unique history of birth registration in the United States−from its formal establishment in the early 20th century until today—as both a strategy of personal identification needed to govern the population at large and as a mechanism that ascribes to a newborn individual identity and social status. The quality of my scholarship has recognized by scholarly organizations and I have been awarded the 2015 Surveillance Studies Network Book Prize, the 2012 KU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Craig Anthony Arnold Faculty Innovation Award and the 2011 Balfour Jeffrey Research Award in Humanities and Social Sciences, the latter being one of four Higuchi-KU Endowment Research Achievement Awards, the most prestigious state-wide research honors for faculty at Kansas Board of Regents institutions.
Staples, W. G. (2009). ’Where Are You and What Are You Doing?’ Familial ‘Back Up Work’ as a Collateral Consequence of House Arrest. In M. Nelson & A. Garey (Eds.), Who’s Watching: Daily Practices of Surveillance among Contemporary Families (pp. 33-53). Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.
Staples, W. G. (2009). [Review of the book iSpy: Surveillance and Power in the Interactive Era, Mark Andrejevic (University Press of Kansas, 2007)]. American Studies , 50, 177-178.
Staples, W. G. (1990). In the Interest of the State: Production Politics in the Nineteenth Century Prison. Sociological Perspectives , 33 , 375-395.
Staples, W. G. (1990). Castles of Our Conscience: Social Control and the American State, 1800-1985, Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Staples, W. G. (1990). [Review of the book Reds or Rackets? The Making of Radical and Conservative Unions on the Waterfront, Howard Kimeldorf (University of California Press, 1988)]. American Journal of Sociology , 95 , 1075-1076.
Staples, W. G. (1989). [Review of the book Step Children of Progress: The Political Economy of Development in an Indonesian Mining Town, Kathryn M. Robinson (State University of New York Press, 1986)]. Contemporary Sociology , 18 , 351.
Staples, W. G. (2009). ’Where Are You and What Are You Doing?’ Familial ‘Back Up Work’ as a Collateral Consequence of House Arrest. In M. Nelson & A. Garey (Eds.), Who’s Watching: Daily Practices of Surveillance among Contemporary Families (pp. 33-53). Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.
Staples, W. G. (2009). [Review of the book iSpy: Surveillance and Power in the Interactive Era, Mark Andrejevic (University Press of Kansas, 2007)]. American Studies , 50, 177-178.
Staples, W. G. (1990). In the Interest of the State: Production Politics in the Nineteenth Century Prison. Sociological Perspectives , 33 , 375-395.
Staples, W. G. (1990). Castles of Our Conscience: Social Control and the American State, 1800-1985, Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Staples, W. G. (1990). [Review of the book Reds or Rackets? The Making of Radical and Conservative Unions on the Waterfront, Howard Kimeldorf (University of California Press, 1988)]. American Journal of Sociology , 95 , 1075-1076.
Staples, W. G. (1989). [Review of the book Step Children of Progress: The Political Economy of Development in an Indonesian Mining Town, Kathryn M. Robinson (State University of New York Press, 1986)]. Contemporary Sociology , 18 , 351.
Staples, W. G. (03/26/2017). “Our Culture of Surveillance and the Securitization of Everyday Life.". The Aesthetics of Surveillance in German Literature and Culture, Graduate Student Conference in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages at Vanderbilt University. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
Staples, William G., (Principal), Documenting the Body; Creating the Self: A Social and Cultural History of the Birth Certificate, General Research Fund, University of Kansas, $12,270, - 12/31/2012) . University (KU or KUMC). Status: Funded.
Staples, William G., (Principal), Balfour Jeffrey Research Award in Humanities and Social Sciences, Office of Research, $10,000, - 12/31/2011) . State of Kansas. Status: Funded.
Selected Awards & Honors
2014-2019 Fulbright Senior Specialists Program U.S. Department of State
2015 Surveillance Studies Network Book Prize for Everyday Surveillance: Vigilance and Visibility in Postmodern Life (2/e), 2014. Sponsored by the Surveillance Studies Network, the international information network on surveillance.
2016
2016-17 Paul Gibson and Helen Waddle Roofe Professor of SociologyDepartment of Sociology
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences 2016
Outstanding Academic Title, The Encyclopedia of Privacy (Volumes 1-2)CHOICE Reviews, from the Association of College & Research Libraries 2007
Phi Beta Delta, International Scholars2005
American Sociological Association Book Prize for, Power, Profits, and Patriarchy: The Social Organization of Work at a British Metal Trades Firm, 1791-1922 (with C. Staples). Roman & Littlefield Publishers, 2001
Outstanding Academic Title, Castles of Our Conscience: Social Control and the American State, 1800-1985CHOICE Reviews, from the Association of College & Research Libraries 1991
Honorable Mention, Best Recent Article Comparative Historical Section of the American Sociological Association, for “Technology, Control and the Social Organization of Work at a British Hardware Firm, 1791-1891” 1989
Alpha Kappa Delta: The Honor Society of Sociology 1984
Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Society1983
DO WE LIVE IN A SURVEILLANCE SOCIETY?
Strategies for keeping close watch on people have been with us throughout human history. Yet the widespread, systematic observation of the populace and the collection of personal information in democratic societies today is unprecedented. Contemporary surveillance practices are typically embedded into the routine activities of daily life and adopted in the interests of security, governance, efficiencies, and commerce, but also for personal care and protection, empowerment, resistance, and even play. Regardless of intent, these practices raise a host of social, political, ethical, and legal questions that challenge long-standing notions of privacy, civil liberties, and personal autonomy. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
The aviation concern of North American became a household name in American military aviation thanks to its World War 2 contributions through the P-51 "Mustang" fighter and B-25 "Mitchell" medium bomber lines. The company struck gold once more in the Korean War with its F-86 "Sabre" jet fighter - the war serving to showcase the first jet-versus-jet duels in military history. Throughout the 1950s, the company moved on several notable programs including its X-15 rocket-powered research aircraft and the impressive, yet cancelled, XB-70 "Valkyrie" supersonic bomber. The XF-108 "Rapier" was a proposed interceptor design that, at one point, was considered as an escort fighter for the XB-70. Both the XB-70 and XF-108 endeavors failed in netting any serial production commitments though the XB-70 went on to see extended flying time in the research role.
The XF-108 interested the USAF for its interception capabilities which required a very fast aircraft with a high rate-of-climb to meet the threat of incoming Soviet bombers. When the program was cancelled, North American reconstituted the aircraft's fuselage, its systems, and weapons suite into a new form to interest the United States Navy as a carrier-based, supersonic, nuclear-capable strike bomber. North American began preliminary design study work on such an aircraft as early as 1953 under a private company initiative.
While the XF-108 retained many design qualities of its bigger counterpart - the XB-70 - that made it appear cutting edge by 1950s standards, the new North American strike bomber revealed smoother lines more consistent with military aircraft emerging from the 1960s. It was a large, heavy aircraft with excellent performance for its time. The double-delta wings featured in the XF-108 gave way to a more traditional forward mainplane and rear-set horizontal tailplane arrangement with swept angles for aerodynamic efficiency at high speeds. Twin intakes were used to aspirate two engines, the pairing providing the necessary power while also increasing survivability over vast ocean spaces and enemy territory. The crew numbered two and were seated in tandem - the pilot at front with the bombardier / navigator in the rear (both positions featured ejection seats). The undercarriage was of a traditional tricycle approach and each leg wholly retractable into the body of the aircraft. A single vertical tail fin (an all-moving surface) was affixed to the extreme aft end of the fuselage and set above and between engine housings. A unique internal bomb bay delivery system (detailed below) was implemented as was an early-form of Fly-by-Wire (FBW) and Head-Up Display (HUD). At the heart of the aircraft was an advanced navigation / attack computer through the AN/ASB-12 system.
North American was handed a development contract in late August of 1956 and, a little over two years later, prototype "XA3J-1" made its maiden flight on August 31st, 1958. A second prototype was later added to the stable.
As a supersonic nuclear bomber, the aircraft featured a novel internal bomb bay release system essentially made up of a tube filling the space found between the two engine installations. This bay served a single nuclear bomb. The bomb was inserted into this bay followed by two disposable fuel tanks and all three were capped by the aircraft's tail cone assembly. When the bomb was to be released, the tail cone was jettisoned and the fuel tanks cleared the aircraft followed by the nuclear payload. In this way, the aircraft was free to deliver the armament at high speed which reduced its exposure to enemy fire and interception. An internal bomb bay also decreased overall drag as opposed to externally-held ordnance. Two external hardpoints were fitted though these became reserve stations for extra fuel stores.
After the requisite flight testing and formal evaluation phases were completed, the aircraft was accepted by the USN as the A3J-1 "Vigilante". Production models would be recognized as A3J-1A and the vehicle became the first (and only) Mach 2-capable attack bomber to serve the branch. The first squadron to equip with the type was VAH-3 during June of 1961 and the aircraft was used to succeed the aging Douglas A-3 "Skywarrior" line in the carrier-based strike role. During 1962, the U.S. military adopted an all new naming scheme for its aircraft which revised the A3J-1 designation to become "A-5". As such, the early A3J-1A models became "A-5A".
North American A-5 Vigilante (Cont'd)
Nuclear Attack Bomber / Reconnaissance Platform
North American A-5 Vigilante (Cont'd)
Nuclear Attack Bomber / Reconnaissance Platform
Once in service, the complex A-5 showcased issues which limited its success - such was the price for the technology in play. It was an expensive aircraft that held a rigorous maintenance schedule and its large size limited storage space on already space-strapped American carriers. In time, and with further exposure to their new aircraft, crews began to paint a more favorable opinion of their attack bombers - they proved fast and agile for their dimensions and weight and there was much love for the power inherent in two J79 afterburning turbojets.
A-5A was fielded with 2 x General Electric J79-GE-8 series engines which provided the airframe with 10,900 lbf of thrust (each) on dry and 17,000 lbf of thrust (each) with afterburner engaged. Afterburner involved raw fuel being pumped into the jet exhaust creating a short burst of speed at the expense of higher fuel consumption. The A-5A held a maximum speed of Mach 2.0 (1,320 mph) at 40,000 feet and showcased a ferry range of 1,807 miles with a combat radius of 1,290 miles. Rate-of-climb was 8,000 feet per minute.
The nuclear payload ultimately cleared for use by the A-5 included the Mk 27, B28, and B43 series of free-fall nuclear bombs. A conventional loads could also be carried on the two external hardpoints though this was a seldom used feature of the aircraft throughout its service career.
Ten Vigilante squadrons were formed during the life of the aircraft. The original A-model was followed by the revised "A3J-2" which became the "A-5B" after the 1962 restructuring. Fifty-seven A-5A aircraft were eventually produced along with twenty A-5B models. The B-models were given extended operational ranges by way of new internal fuel stores and two additional external hardpoints (four total now). The internal tanks forced a noticeable "hump" along the dorsal fuselage spine which easily identified the updated models in service. B-models also included leading edge blown flaps and reinforced undercarriage members.
Fortunes for the A-5 (and other aircraft) changed when the need for high-flying, high-speed penetration nuclear bombers was losing ground in the minds of American warplanners particularly as Soviet air defenses improved and the worldwide focus shifted to InterContinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) as the primary means of nuclear weapons delivery. Land-based launchers were now joined by submarines equipped to launch ICBMs from underwater locations from anywhere in the world leading many to believe that such aircraft as the A-5 held little value moving forward. This shift led to the A-5's reduced purchase total of just 156 aircraft. The initial production batch appeared from 1956 to 1963.
With its reduced mission role, the A-5 was reconsidered as a fast reconnaissance platform which begat the "RA-5C" designation ("A3J-3P" before 1962). The revised aircraft emerged through 91 new-build airframes, 43 converted A-5A models and 6 converted A-5B models. RA-5C aircraft differed some from their attack bomber origins in that the featured increase wing areas and a "multi-sensor" reconnaissance pack fitted under the fuselage. The installation gave the aircraft a Side-Looking Airborne Radar (SLAR) capability as well as increased countermeasures support, ELectronic Intelligence (ELINT) support, InfraRed (IR), and various camera systems. Heavier than its original production forms, the RA-5C lost some of its performance value but retained its ordnance-carrying capabilities as well as its two crew.
Eight of the ten established A-5 squadrons were pressed into combat service during the Vietnam War (1955-1975) where they began their service tenure in August of 1964 in the reconnaissance role. Speed and agility were key assets to the aircraft though the low-to-medium altitude operation environments made the A-5 susceptible to ground-based threats and interception. Eighteen RA-5Cs fell to enemy action during the war with a further nine lost to accidents. These heavy losses forced A-5 production lines to reopen and 36 more aircraft were added to existing stocks from the span of 1968 to 1970. While its wartime service record is considered rather poor, the aircraft was heavily relied upon by war planners in a fighting environment it was never intended for.
With the end of the war, the A-5 series became one of the victims of the post-war drawdown and flew its last flight during November of 1979 - bringing an end to its service tenure. Its lack-luster combat record and expensive maintenance schedule did little to extend the career of this once-proud design. Its service as an attack aircraft was overshadowed by its time aloft as a reconnaissance platform and both of these roles were quickly taken over by more modern, compact, and lower-cost options - officially ending the reign of the A-5 Vigilante.
The A-5 aircraft was briefly considered for the USAF's proposed Improved Manned Interceptor (IMI) program as the NR-349. This version was to fit three General Electric J79 engines and hold 6 x AIM-54 "Phoenix" long-range air-to-air missiles as its primary armament. The initiative ultimately fell to naught.
Where applicable, the appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), Russian Ministry of Defense, Chinese Ministry of Defense or British Ministry of Defence visual information does not imply or constitute endorsement of this website (www.MilitaryFactory.com). Images marked with "www.MilitaryFactory.com" or featuring the Military Factory logo are copyrighted works exclusive to this site and not for reuse in any form.
General Assessment (BETA)
Firepower
Performance
Survivability
Versatility
Impact
Values are derrived from a variety of categories related to the design, overall function, and historical influence of this aircraft in aviation history.
MF Power Rating (BETA)
76
The MF Power Rating takes into account over sixty individual factors related to this aircraft entry. The rating is out of 100 total possible points.
Relative Maximum Speed Rating
Hi: 1400mph
Lo: 700mph
This entry's maximum listed speed (1,319mph).
Graph average of 1050 miles-per-hour.
City-to-City Ranges
NYC
LDN
LDN
PAR
PAR
BER
BER
MSK
MSK
TKY
TKY
SYD
SYD
LAX
LAX
NYC
Graph showcases the North American A-5A Vigilante's operational range (on internal fuel) when compared to distances between major cities.
Aviation Era
Useful in showcasing the era cross-over of particular aircraft/aerospace designs.
About: Military Factory is an online publication centered on the aerospace, firearms, maritime and land defense industries. Items, and their related events, are covered detailing past and present battlefield systems in an effort to better understand the conflicts of tomorrow. No reproduction of the content found on this site is permitted. Military Factory is part of a network of sites that includes GlobalFirepower, a data-driven property used in ranking the top military powers of the world. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Cricket, Coffee, Casmaalam and the like…
Archive for November, 2006
Blog: Dude, are you there?Me: Am right here mate.Blog: I need an image makeover.Me: Why? You look real good.Blog: I am worthless, just like you. All I do on the web is to occupy space and no one looks at me.Me: What about my established readership?Blog: Ahem….Me: Ok. Here you go. My belated Diwali gift to you.Blog: I could have done with a customised one, u dumb ass!!! | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Main Content
The Young Adult’s Guide to Doctor Visits
Young adulthood is the beginning of so many things. There’s often college and career and the plunge into more serious relationships. But the exciting aspects of growing up can overshadow the more mundane parts, one of which is health maintenance.
Preventive screenings, wellness exams and checkups are important at all ages. You take your car in for a checkup, why wouldn’t you do the same for your body, and mind?
But many of today’s young and healthy forgo doctor visits for other priorities. It’s a trend seen in a growing body of evidence. Young millennials and newly-minted adults of Generation Z feel overwhelmed by jam-packed schedules and the potential confusion and cost of the health care machine. Many of them are used to relying on their parents to schedule doctor appointments and figure out health plan coverage.
It’s hard to argue with the sometimes cumbersome and tedious parts, but developing health care wherewithal at a young age is critical. It can only benefit a person as they go through life. If you’re new to adulthood, consider the following a starting point and reference guide to help you take charge of your health.
Care all young adults should get
Annual checkup: Check-ins are critical to help prevent the development of major health issues. At a yearly visit, your primary care doctor will:
Answer any questions
Discuss diet and exercise habits, including smoking, drug and alcohol use
Skin scan: It’s a good idea to meet annually with a dermatologist and have your skin examined head-to-toe. The doctor will take note of any concerning moles or spots and remove any that require treatment.
Dental visits: Oral health is key to staying healthy. Everyone, even people with little risk of cavities or gum disease, should see a dentist twice yearly for cleanings.
Women only
An annual visit to the gynecologist helps keep track of reproductive health. Doctors recommend women start to get routine tests like a pelvic exam and pap smear at age 21.
Men only
Your primary care physician may recommend that you visit a urologist annually to check your reproductive and prostate health.
Making primary care a priority
It’s also important to start developing a relationship with a primary care doctor as an early adult. Many of today’s young people aren’t regularly seeing one. Research finds that many millennials choose a retail health clinic or urgent care center to get a checkup or treat an illness.
Medical institutions such as the Mayo Clinic stress the familiarity and continuity of care one gets from having a primary care doctor. Indeed, some would argue that the relationship you have with your primary care doctor is one of the most important you’ll ever have.
Though choosing a primary care doctor can be an overwhelming task, here are a few tips to make the decision-making process easier:
Do your research
When choosing a primary care doctor, first consider what you need and want. For instance, does he or she:
Accept your insurance?
Have a convenient office location?
Fluently speak your language?
Once you’ve narrowed your doctor search based on factors important to you, consider office and personal characteristics. Read reviews to get a better sense of how different doctors operate. While reviewing, think about:
What are some of the policies of the doctor’s office?
Do people wait long?
How does cancellation work?
Find out about the office’s use of technology. Chat with the office manager to find out how up-to-date the screening equipment is and what procedures doctors can perform on-site.
Once you’ve decided, the last step is notifying your insurance provider to update your plan.
Scheduling the appointment
When you call to set up an appointment, let the office know if you’re a new patient. It may take a few weeks to get a checkup. If you’re sick, you may be able to see a doctor the same day.
Tell them the reason for your visit. Be specific. Are you scheduling a checkup? Looking for a new primary care doctor? Maybe you’re seeking help for depression? Or do you need treatment for flu-like symptoms or allergies?
Have your insurance information handy. Let the doctor’s office know the name of your health plan.
Find out what you should bring to the visit. This could include medical records or current medications.
If you’d like to see a certain doctor, make sure you know his or her name. You may have to wait longer to get a visit with this doctor. That’ll be your choice. The office may suggest an appointment with another doctor that’s available sooner. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Film Interview
Killer Road Trip
An interview with the husband-and-wife, acting/writing/producing team behind Compound Fracture
Tyler Mane spent much of the ’80s and ’90s on the road as a professional wrestler, traveling the grappling circuit from Mexico to Japan. In 2000, Mane traded in his singlet and made his big-screen acting debut as the savage Sabretooth in the superhero smash X-Men. He played another iconic villain, murderous masked man Michael Myers, in Rob Zombie’s films Halloween and Halloween II. Now Mane finds himself back on the road, engaging in an exhausting 70-city tour to promote his new film Compound Fracture. In addition to starring in the film, Mane co-wrote and co-produced it alongside his wife, Renae Geerlings (who has spent years as an editor for Top Cow comics and Radical Publishing).
In the supernatural action flick, the two play Michael and Juliette, a soon-to-be-married couple who travel into the remote woods to meet Michael’s estranged father, Gary (Muse Watson). There, old Gary has built an impregnable survivalist compound, believing himself to be the target of deadly supernatural forces.
Mane and Geerlings will make a pit stop in Albuquerque on May 17 to introduce Compound Fracture to local audiences at the inaugural Dark Matters Film Festival. Alibi spoke to the couple from their home in Los Angeles.
This is a huge tour. How long have you been at it?
TM: We started back in March in Canada. I don’t know what I was thinking. We started with 20 cities. Then we went to 30. Then 40. And then 50. Then I said, ah, what the hell, let’s do 70 cities. It’s been interesting. The film’s been getting great reception. It’s taking me back to my wrestling days of being on the road. I’m already sick of it and we’re only a few cities in. But the fans keep you going.
RG: What’s that Dan Fogelberg song? “The audience was heavenly, but the traveling was hell.” My dad was a trucker when I was a kid. So I love road trips. That’s the fun part for me. But I swear to god, if we go to one more Waffle House ...
Given that Tyler has been establishing a career as an actor, what made you want to write and produce your own film. Isn’t that kind of risky?
TM: Yeah. I always wanted to produce my own films and be in control. Through the years, I’ve been on a lot of productions where the promoters will take the money out in the middle of the street, pour gasoline on it, light it on fire and see who can grab the most. I knew that there was a better way of getting a good story out and telling it to the people. You can do it for a reasonable amount of money. After all we have an obligation to our investors to help them recoup their money. It is a business. It’s show business. I’ve always wanted to tell my own stories and take on more challenging roles. Because as an actor, you show up on set, you have your lines down, and you try to bring something to the character. Whether or not that gets into the final film is a whole nother story. When you’re a producer and in charge of it all, you can mold it the way you want to.
Where did the story for Compound Fracture come from?
RG: We actually have this script for a film called Penance Lane. But it’s a bit of a higher budget. So for our first film out of the gate, I was encouraging Tyler to keep it a little more contained. Let’s do something with less locations, smaller cast to start with our first one. We heard two [true] stories in close succession. One about a gentleman that had been extremely paranoid and had this compound. He thought somebody was coming to get him, so he spent his whole life amassing this compound. We heard that story and then we heard another separate story about a murder/suicide, and just through a conversation—you know how these things happen, lightning in a bottle—we said wouldn’t that be a cool story to tell? We wrote a script, and then we completely rewrote it. And then, four page-one rewrites later, we ended up with what we have. I think it’s a really tight story.
You wound up casting three actors—Tyler Mane (Halloween), Muse Watson (I Know What You Did Last Summer) and Derek Mears (Friday the 13th)—known for playing cinematic serial killers. Was that something you intended to do from the beginning?
TM: Most definitely. I mean, we wanted something that was a grab to the audience. Derek and I have wanted to work together for years. We live like a block and a half away from each other. And then when we were looking for our Gary character, Muse just fit perfectly. Three iconic serial killers: How much better of a pitch can you make?
RG: It was actually kismet, because when we were going through [casting], we didn’t get that many submissions for the character of Gary. He was very important to the film. We had spoken to a couple of other actors about playing the role. But I saw the picture of Muse Watson and I didn’t even realize who he was. But I saw him and I just stopped on the picture and I was like whoa! I opened it up and then when [I saw] he was Ben Willis from I Know What You Did Last Summer, I just looked at Tyler. I mean, if you’ve seen the poster [for Compound Fracture] and you’ve seen the silhouette of Tyler and Muse, it’s just shocking how much they look alike.
How well did you two work together as a team throughout this process?
RG: Depends on what day you ask.
TM: You know, it was a great time. We woke up every morning and said we’re making a movie. There’s not many husband-and-wife teams that get that chance.
Compound Fracture will be the opening night film of the Dark Matters Film Festival (Friday, May 17, 7 p.m. at Guild Cinema). Tyler Mane and Renae Geerlings will participate in a post-film Q&A. Prior to the screening, there will be a meet-and-greet autograph signing from 3 to 6 p.m. at Astro-Zombies (3100 Central SE). Dark Matters Film Festival runs May 17-19. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Autism East Midlands
We provide quality of life to people with Autism
Join the Autism East Midlands community
As a leading autism charity we exist to ensure people with autism can live their lives with dignity, choice and independence.
Our well trained and passionate staff offer a wide range of services to help individuals to live their lives the way they want. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Here are the thoughts of a member of the Fair Work Commission on the reliability of memory in witnesses.
“It is not possible to reconcile the different versions of events of the conversation that occurred during the telephone call on 20 March 2017. The telephone conversation occurred 4 months prior to the evidence being given in the Commission. It is in this context that we should remember that “one of the greatest misconceptions we continue to have about memory is that it is largely an accurate recorder, faithfully transposing into our brain events as they occur”. Judge Penelope Wass SC, “Would I lie to you? (an examination of eyewitness testimony in a criminal trial)”, Legal Aid (NSW) Conference, 2016. http://www.legalaid.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/25206/would-i-lie-to-you-problems-with-eyewitness-testimony.pdf 19
It is not.
Rather, the,
“…process of experiencing or acquiring, laying down or storing memory and then reproducing an account, all of which is involved in “recalling or “remembering”, and therefore giving evidence in a … trial, is disconcertingly malleable. It is at best, almost always, a rough reconstruction with inaccuracies and distortions.”
Client Testimonials
“Thank you for your assistance in my recent case. Your services were first class and I believe my case would not have gone as successfully without you. At all times I was up to date and informed, and I had complete confidence in your expertise.” | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
At lasts a safe, homeopathic remedy is available
that eases multiple symptoms of yeast infection!
Sims 3 penis mesh - For Order Yeastrol - Yeast Infection Relief
Buy Natural Yeastrol - Yeast Infection Relief Sims 3 penis mesh -
Yeastrol Spray 3-times-a-day
Candida albicans is the yeast organism which causes yeast infections, and when an infection strikes, all you can think about is getting it to stop! The itching alone can drive you crazy--and nothing seems worse than having an infection sneak up on you when you can't get to the doctor for a prescription.
Tired of over-the-counter products that don't seem to help fast enough? Yeastrol can help!
Yeastrol is a homeopathic product that works like nothing else on the market today. Our experts in homeopathic treatments have combined 12 ingredients to fight not just the itching but multiple symptoms of yeast infection from the inside out! And Yeastrol gets into your system quickly, with just two simple sprays under the tongue, three times a day.
No pills or messy creams"just a quick spray of Yeastrol gets safe, effective ingredients into your bloodstream almost instantly!
MULTIPLE INGREDIENTS FOR MULTIPLE SYMPTOMS
The ingredients in Yeastrol were selected for their time-tested ability to attack a variety of symptoms* that plague both men and women who suffer yeast infections, such as:
Abdominal pain and bloating
Mouth ulcers
Nervous anxiety
Skin rashes and eczema
Digestion problems
Weakness
Genital itching and rash
Vaginal or penile discharge
Burning urination
Urgent need to urinate
Low energy
Infection
What Causes a Yeast Infection?
Yeast infections result from an overgrowth of yeast in the body. It begins in the intestines, where the candida organism exists normally in small amounts, but it can frequently spread elsewhere in the body, creating what is known as "systemic candidiasis" or "candida syndrome."
When we're healthy, candida yeast is kept in check with a normal balance of intestinal flora--but hormonal changes, high acid levels, stress, and especially long-term antibiotic or steroid use can disrupt that balance and cause an overgrowth, which becomes an infection.
Left unchecked, yeast can change to its fungal form and multiply rapidly, sprouting roots that perforate the gut walls and carry the overgrowth to the rest of the body. This produces what is known as "leaky gut" and allows toxins to enter the bloodstream, overloading the immune system.
YEAST CAN BE TRICKY!
Have you been to the doctor repeatedly for one or more of these only to be told "there's nothing wrong with you"
Abdominal pain
Brain fog
Constant fatigue
Bloating or indigestion
Joint pain
Itchy, red eyes
Chronic sinus drainage
Fungus on finger or toenails
Craving for sweets and carbs
Recurrent urinary tract infections
White coating on the tongue
Unexplained weight loss or gain
Hair loss or vision problems
Depression -- feeling overwhelmed
Overgrowth of yeast can manifest symptoms that resemble other ailments, and can be tough to diagnose. If any of these symptoms persist, you may have an overgrowth of candida albicans.
Can Children Get Yeast Infections?
Yes, children can also suffer from an overgrowth of yeast, with symptoms such as:
Thrush (whitish coating on tongue or inside cheeks)
Hyperactivity
Irritability
Learning problems
Chronic cough or nasal congestion
Recurrent ear problems
Craving sweets
Yeastrol can safely ease symptoms of kids 12 and over, and is quick and easy to administer...just spray twice under the tongue up to 3 times a day! However, consult your doctor before giving Yeastrol to children under 12.
Can Yeastrol be used safely with other medications?
Absolutely. The Micro-dosed homeopathic medicines in Yeastrol are safe and have no known side effects or contraindications. It can be safely taken with other conventional medicines with no drowsiness or adverse side effects.
Warning: If your symptoms worsen or do not improve in 7 days, or if they persist or return in 2 months, consult your doctor.
Women: If this is the first time you have experienced vaginal itch and discomfort, or if you have abdominal pain, fever or foul smelling discharge, consult your doctor.
A healthy diet can help
Even if you"re taking medication to control a yeast infection, one of your first lines of defense against candida overgrowth is a healthy change in diet to keep from feeding the yeast organisms:
Some things to avoid:
Refined sugar, honey & syrups
Sodas (even diet)
Fresh or dried fruit
Canned, processed, or fermented foods
White flour products
Rye, wheat, oat or barley grain
Alcohol (especially beer)
Any product made with yeast or mold
Antacids
Things to include:
Live yogurt cultures
6-8 glasses of water daily
Fresh vegetables
Proteins (chicken, beef, eggs, fish)
Whey protein
Acidophilus
Raw garlic
Nuts, seeds and oils
Millet, rice, rice bran and oat bran
90 Day Money Back Guarantee.
We take great pride in the superior quality of our products and want you to be pleased with your purchase. We believe in offering the very best value, quality
and selection to our customers. You may return any unused and unopened item purchased from us for any reason within Ninety (90) days of your purchase.
Customer Care
All the links and descriptions on this page are taken from public sources such as search engines (google.com, yahoo.com, bing.com). However, if you think any data on this page violates your copyright, please send an message from "Contact Us" page and the links and descriptions of full page will be removed.
April 3, 2014. I can't remember how I got my penis to work... - Cstyles Sims3 Forum (http://www.cstylessims3forum.com/t732-i-can-t-remem ber-how-i-got-my-penis-to-work) Before my unfortunate hard drive demise I had gotten a penis attachment for my Sims. I've downloaded the same penis, but I'm wondering what...
March 24, 2014. Giant Boner Mod Update 1 - Page 3 - Fallout 3 Uploaded Files - The (http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php%3F/topic/1255 84-peenjomod/page-3) Page 3 of 6 - Giant Boner Mod Update 1 - posted in Fallout 3 Uploaded Files:... The only issue is, the mesh has some odd shading that looks kind of like tiny triangles all over the place... I remember when I had the Sims 2 that the modders had perfected the erect and none erect penis into one mod and you...
March 26, 2014. the sims have penises and nipples? - Apolyton Civilization Site (http://apolyton.net/showthread.php/136604-the-sims- have-penises-and-nipples) July 22, 2005, 16:47 #3. Dis... hmm, according to him, the nudity was always there (by the sims programmer), but only blurred. but this is... this guy says he got the penis and nipple and labia (oh my) info from gaming sources.
April 10, 2014. I need a sims 3 mod so i can make both genders Nude and their (https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index%3Fqid%3D20 120126110546AAx0QbR) Does anyone know of any?? IT MUST BE FREE!!! I want realistic breasts penises and all that. i am in the process in making a sims movie and i...
April 14, 2014. Mod The Sims - Hairy and penis Sims (http://modthesims.info/t/403408) Where can i find the nude skins with hair and pubs and penis?... I looked at the Sexysims2 web site and click sims3 button and it only shows 5...
April 4, 2014. Adult Only mod for 18+ and older! View at your own risk! - Cstyles (http://www.cstylessims3forum.com/t5089-adult-only-m od-for-18-and-older-view-at-your-own-risk) The mod for the penis is available here. The 3d nipples are also available on SexySims2. You can find it here. And for the animations you can...
April 6, 2014. Tutorial: Adding a penis texture to a skin - Offline Sims - Sims 3 Adult (http://cmarnyc.blogspot.com/2013/12/tutorial-adding -penis-texture-to-skin.html) 27 Dec 2013 What this tutorial will do: Tell you how to modify an existing Sims 3 skin to add a penis texture. What this tutorial will NOT do: Give detailed...
April 1, 2014. The Sims 2 nude - sex patch, uncensor, nude skins for The Sims 2 (http://www.thesimsnude.com/sims2.php) 20 Jan 2009 In spite of The Sims 3 coming out soon, I wanted to show any of you who are sill... baby got back butts, nice wide hips, etc., and erect penises for males... You download the mesh sets for all the body sizes, and they come with...
March 22, 2014. Game guide:Mosaic-blur removal - The Sims Wiki (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Game_guide:Mosaic-blur_r emoval) The Sims 3... Sims bodies with anatomical correctness, and corresponding meshes also exist; including raised nipples for females and penis meshes for males.
April 11, 2014. Sex Interactions - GraphicalXTC-Sims3 (http://www.graphicalxtc.com/Sims3-SexInteractions.h tml) Designed to work with Base1980's / CrammyBoy's penis accessory... If you haven't used any naughty Sims 3 mods before, here are a few other things you may...
March 25, 2014. Abnormal SIM Simulation Center - G3 Building: Adult human rig (http://mahamudosim3.blogspot.com/2012/10/adult-huma n-rig-files-for-pose-maker.html) 2 Oct 2012 *2012.6.19 Announcement: You can retexture or do some mesh... I also like to get my SIMs all naked and do some 18+ poses. lol... Having a viewable penis is not nearly as important as having the details of... Top Sims 3 List
April 9, 2014. Offline Sims - Sims 3 Adult Creations by Cmar: The Morphing Penis (http://cmarnyc.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-morphing-pe nis-default-replacement.html) 11 May 2013 Default Replacement Penis With Morphs. This is a penis made using a mesh posted on SexySims by Rockerduck. It's a default replacement...
April 2, 2014. Navetsea Skin: The Sims 3 skin PAGE1 (http://navetsea.blogspot.com/p/the-sims-3-skin-mods.html) special edition for Backalley sims, as my gratitude for warm reception and award... 4. close all your explorer windows (any windows involve The sims 3 contents)... Or is the mesh a seperate dl?... texture for various male genital meshes you can choose at sexysims2, in the picture I use morphable CmarNYC penis mod :)
March 27, 2014. BodyShapes and Other Custom Meshes - The Wooden Simolean (http://www.woodensimolean.com/book/export/html/251) I believe the XHi-Res is only available as an AC mesh, so the two decisions... Verify that the skintone lines up with details in the mesh, such as nipples, sexyfeet, penis... InSimAdult and Back Alley Sims are adult sites and require visitors to be over... nude recolor, d) the nude skintone, e) your choice of clothing from step 3.
March 23, 2014. Baragamer Tutorial: Creating a Hairy Nude Bear Sim (http://baragamer.com/2011/05/11/baragamer-tutorial- creating-a-hairy-nude-bear-sim/) 11 May 2011 In the Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\ folder, create a new folder called... When using Penis Mods, only one can be loaded at a time.
April 8, 2014. Offline Sims - Sims 3 Adult Creations by Cmar (http://cmarnyc.blogspot.com/) 27 Dec 2013 What this tutorial will do: Tell you how to modify an existing Sims 3 skin to add a penis texture. What this tutorial will NOT do: Give detailed...
March 30, 2014. Result of Skin Retextured with PENIS - Abnormal SIM Simulation (http://mahamudosim3x18.blogspot.com/2012/05/result- of-skin-retextured-with-penis.html) May 3, 2012. Result of Skin Retextured with PENIS. To see the result of the penis texture, We'll have our sexy HongChi to show us what he got~~~. We got four...
April 12, 2014. Sexy Sims 2 - Sims 3 downloads (http://www.sexysims2.com/showthread.php%3Ft%3D17233 1%26page%3D3) It is possible to use this mod in The Sims 3 Original version 1.7?... Arlie, yes there is you can use DBCAB's penis mesh that you can find on this...
March 28, 2014. How To Preview A Sims 3 Skintone Without Going to CAS. (http://theboywhosimmed.tumblr.com/post/73353966838/ how-to-preview-a-sims-3-skintone-without-going-to-c as) 2- Buhudain Adult Rigs (Specifically because they have the penis mesh attached to them) 3- Your skin's DDS files. - Initially, make a folder for each skin part just...
April 11, 2015. Style Me Pretty Living, A Field Guide To Living An... (http://www.stylemepretty.com/living/) Join me on Fancy! Discover amazing stuff, collect the things you love, buy it all in one place.
April 12, 2015. Mobile App Page - WAYN.COM (http://www.wayn.com/?showpopup=PAGE_NO_LONGER_EXIST S) Summary on Incontinence and Female urology... Saving this for later? Get the SlideShare app to save on your phone or tablet.
April 13, 2015. Hyatt Gun Store (http://www.hyattgunstore.com/) Meet like-minded people based on where you would love to go and what you would love to do
April 14, 2015. Insertion of Foreign Bodies (polyembolokoilamania... (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3357565 /) The 41-Year-Old Virgin Who Knocked Up Sarah Marshall and Felt Superbad About It (2010)
April 15, 2015. #aWT: P++#001: Eyeball Slider Set - blogspot.com (http://awtmk.blogspot.com/2011/07/awtppp001-prj-eye ballsliders.html) Choose from More than 7,000 Guns in Stock EVERY DAY at America's Largest Gun Shop!
April 21, 2015. WCIF Sims - FOR ALL YOUR FINDING NEEDS. (http://wcif-sims.livejournal.com/) Hello, I made some default & non default skin in natural realistic way of shading, I put the rest of the concept and explanation with the pictures
April 23, 2015. Offline Sims - Adult Creations by Cmar for The Sims 3 and... (http://cmarnyc.blogspot.jp/) Penis for Females: Accessory, Alternate Nude Bottom, Default Replacement A penis for teen, adult/YA, and elder females. It can be used either as an...
April 28, 2015. Sallie Axl exposes Michelle Keegan's Botox secrets... (http://www.dailystar.co.uk/showbiz/384298/Sallie-Ax l-exposes-Michelle-Keegan-s-Botox-secrets) Download () Mediafire for Free ( - ) on this page. Following is the mediafire download link for (). Click to download (). Please note that we do not store or cache...
April 29, 2015. Hall of Torque (http://ladymoiraine.com/forum/index.php) More to the point, who aspires for a surgeon-free look anymore when we have to compete with the hot 'pretend' natural beauties fibbing to make us feel insecure. I...
April 30, 2015. Welcome to Sexy Sims 2 (http://www.sexysims.info/index2.php) News: The Hall of Torque is an ADULT site! If you are under 18 years of age, please leave now! 1. Please register here & read all 3 emails. 2. Sims3 Animation Mods...
May 4, 2015. The Sims 3 MODS - Techno360.in (http://www.techno360.in/the-sims-3-mods/) 2. Search the sites linked in the sidebar. 3. Look through the tags. 4. Follow all community rules.
May 5, 2015. July 15, 2014 - XM sims 3, sims 2, free downloads, hair... (http://www.xmsims.com/sims2/ehtm/main/index.htm) "The Sims 3" is a great game, I've been a fan of The Sims since the very beginning when it was released in 2000, it became a smash hit that went on to occu
May 7, 2015. Welcome to Mod The Sims (http://www.modthesims.info/) I moved The Sims 3 Complete Adult Guide as a new topic. So it will be easy to find rather than lucky notice it in my signature. [The Sims 3] ==Complete...
May 8, 2015. How do i add a penis to my sims 3 rig (Spaceman_s3_IK_Rig... (http://www.loverslab.com/topic/39369-how-do-i-add-a -penis-to-my-sims-3-rig-spaceman-s3-ik-rig-in-blend er/) Mod The Sims is one of the largest Sims 2 and Sims 3 websites, providing quality free downloads, tutorials, help and discussions.
May 9, 2015. The Sims 3 nude - sex patches, uncensor, nude skins for... (http://www.thesimsnude.com/sims3.php) How do i add a penis to my sims 3 rig (Spaceman_s3_IK_Rig) in Blender - posted in The SimLab: Im creating a couple of woohoo mods for sims 3 and the...
May 20, 2015. Protective Cups at International Jock Underwear & Swimwear (http://www.internationaljock.com/protective-cups.ht ml) Discover where to go, what to do and who to meet
May 22, 2015. Guide to The Sims 3 Adult Mods - Game Yum: Featuring... (http://www.gameyum.com/sims-3/86465-adult-mods-for- the-sims-3/) The largest network of Nude Patches and nude mods for all popular games. Instant download and detailed guides on installation for all naked skins. Nude mod for
May 24, 2015. Offline Sims - Adult Creations by Cmar for The Sims 3 and... (http://cmarnyc.blogspot.se/) Mod The Sims is one of the largest Sims 2 and Sims 3 websites, providing quality free downloads, tutorials, help and discussions.
June 13, 2015. Explore MTV2's Guy Code Show | MTV (http://www.mtv.com/shows/guy_code/explore/) Download () Mediafire for Free ( - ) on this page. Following is the mediafire download link for (). Click to download (). Please note that we do not store or cache...
June 14, 2015. Sculpture sparks uprising after locals claim it resembles... (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2948577/Scu lpture-sparks-uprising-locals-claim-resembles-penis.html) PFI on the west is the place people turn when they need some on the west in their lives. Home of BootDaddy, Cowboy boots, and fine on the west wear. Visit Today!
June 18, 2015. Sims 4 Custom Content | The Sims 4 Forum | Mods | Sims... (http://sims4forum.com/forums/sims-4-custom-content. 39/) We'll still have to see if it's approved, but Ihave been working on a 3D nude male replacement with various degrees of sucess. Seems I keep messing up in the middle...
November 13, 2015. How do i add a penis to my sims 3 rig (Spaceman_s3_IK_Rig... (http://www.loverslab.com/topic/39369-how-do-i-add-a -penis-to-my-sims-3-rig-spaceman_s3_ik_rig-in-blend er/) Pingback: New rigs, new download location | Sims 3 Clip Tool for Blender. Pingback: Mother And Daughter Pose Pack... only original bones are affecting the mesh.
November 14, 2015. I need a sims 3 mod so i can make both genders Nude and... (https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=201201 26110546AAx0QbR) my friend downloaded a file (from i dont know where) onto my sims now they have actual private parts and even do sexual things in the shower. what in the...
November 16, 2015. Blender - TS3wiki - The Sims Resource (http://wiki.thesimsresource.com/index.php?title=Ble nder) You could try Sims 3 Clip Tool for Blender One of it uses is load "props" or.packages to a rig and I just tested it loading cmar's penis on a male rig, and it worked:
November 17, 2015. ALL ABOUT STYLE > ADULT MALE CASUAL BOTTOM > Page 1 (http://www.all-about-style.com/Sims3adult_macabotto m.html) This page covers the workflow for Blender in regards for creating custom content for The Sims 3 together with Milkshape.
November 19, 2015. SexySims Featured Creator: CmarNYC (http://www.sexysims.info/m/1099166) Step One: This is a simple tutorial about doing a simple mesh modification to a Sims 3 body mesh. The things you need to begin are: A release copy of the Sims 3 game.
November 20, 2015. My Sims 4 Blog: Updated - Anatomically Correct Mod for... (http://mysims4blog.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-sims-4- penis-mod-and-nude-bottom-by.html) Now your randy little sims can fantasize about sex... If you have never used mods for The Sim 3 before, go over to the Mod The Sims site... A mod to add a penis...
November 21, 2015. Sims 3-Male | Missimis (https://missimisblog.wordpress.com/sims-3-male/) Sign in to SexySims. Remember Me? Don't have an account? Register now. If you have forgotten your password...
November 22, 2015. Sims 3 mesh imported - The Sims Resource (http://www.thesimsresource.com/news/view-post/post/ 11583/Sims%203%20mesh%20imported) The mesh is the same one I used for Sims 3, originally supplied by Rockerduck. It is NOT morphable at this time.
November 24, 2015. Mod The Sims - 3 Male Adult Meshes (http://www.modthesims.info/d/44214) I'm sort of new to the sims. I currently play sims 3.. and I have seen that some creators male avatars have "genitals/penis". Soo I was wondering is it a mod or is it...
December 13, 2015. High Quality Free Blogger Templates (http://www.soratemplates.com/) Nigella Lawson is my favourite chef on tv! Actually, that was a fib. Gordon Ramsay is my favourite chef on tv but he is a man and he would probably tell me to go fuck...
December 14, 2015. Sims 4 Variations is a collection that starts with this... (http://carlaosver.wix.com/sexims4) Furk.net is your personal secure storage that fetches media files and lets you stream them immediately You can use it to stream video or listen to your music...
December 16, 2015. ass | Dow-Stats is the ultimate xxx porn, sex and pussy... (http://dow-stats.com/tag/ass/page/4/) Horse Penis version 1.0 What this mod does: This mod adds a penis for the horse and mommoth in skyrim. It is just something to use until SexLab nude creatures...
December 17, 2015. SEMrush.com -> Advanced Keywords and Competitors Research Tool (http://www.semrush.com/sem/) Nigella Lawson is my favourite chef on tv! Actually, that was a fib. Gordon Ramsay is my favourite chef on tv but he is a man and he would probably tell me to go fuck...
December 18, 2015. High Quality Free Blogger Templates (http://www.soratemplates.com/) Furk.net is your personal secure storage that fetches media files and lets you stream them immediately You can use it to stream video or listen to your music...
December 19, 2015. Sims 4 Variations is a collection that starts with this... (http://carlaosver.wix.com/sexims4) SEO and SEM professionals use SEMrush to find the best keywords and online marketing ideas
January 17, 2016. Abnormal SIM Simulation Center Room 18 (http://mahamudosim3x18.blogspot.com/) Furk.net is your personal secure storage that fetches media files and lets you stream them immediately You can use it to stream video or listen to your music...
January 18, 2016. Sims CC Adult Content (http://sims-cc-adultcontent.tumblr.com/) Guide to nude skins and sex patches for The Sims 2, and the best sex objects.
February 4, 2016. Default Replacement Penis With Morphs - SexySims (http://www.sexysims.info/d/173718) Welcome to The Sims 3 community. Register now to take full advantage of free downloads and many more community features.
February 6, 2016. Sims 3: Penis for Females - cmarnyc.blogspot.ca (http://cmarnyc.blogspot.ca/2012/12/penis-for-female s.html) Updated - Anatomically Correct Mod for Males by... The mesh is the same one I used for Sims 3... there seems to be a colouring issue for the penis with the long...
February 7, 2016. how long till we can get some sex mod for the sims 4... (http://www.loverslab.com/topic/36918-how-long-till- we-can-get-some-sex-mod-for-the-sims-4/) Sims 3: Penis for Females Penis... I love it i love how my sims penis pokes out from under her... it disappears or you can combine it with an underwear mesh...
February 8, 2016. Crammyboy's Penis - More Awesome Than You (http://moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=6 200.0) Page 1 of 7 - [The Sims 3] COMPLETE ADULT GUIDE < XXX - posted in The SimLab: I moved The Sims 3 Complete Adult Guide as a new topic. So it will be easy...
February 9, 2016. Mod The Sims - Do the penis meshes work anymore? (http://modthesims.info/t/415374) Sims 3 mesh imported. News Author: johan Published: Jun 02, 2009 Views: 34663. Here is a screenshot of a game mesh that has been imported to TSW.
February 10, 2016. Download big penis mesh sims 3 - devxstudiv.org (http://devxstudiv.org/big/big+penis+mesh+sims+3.htm l) Sims 3 Where can I find...? > Do the penis meshes work anymore? Search-and-find for Sims 3... just reinstalled so far I have been unable to get the penis to show up...
February 11, 2016. Morphing penis (NWS) -new version, update 04/29/12 (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?top ic=20690.0) Default Replacement Penis With Morphs This is a penis made using a mesh posted on SexySims by Rockerduck. It's a default replacement mesh for Adult/YA...
March 16, 2016. Ladyfrontbum's Naughty & Nice Male Skins (muscular version) (http://www.ladyfrontbum.com/?p=2004) Crammyboy's Penis. More Awesome Than You! Welcome, Guest... I've been playing around with the Sims on an alternate machine and needed... does it modify every mesh?
March 17, 2016. Sim downloads: Skins and meshes - Adding male genitals (http://simania.nl/sdls/sk/sdls-gen.htm) Updated - Anatomically Correct Mod for Males by... The mesh is the same one I used for Sims 3... there seems to be a colouring issue for the penis with the long...
April 12, 2016. SexySims - Hard version of Cmar's Penis mesh (http://sexysims.info/archive/index.php?t-174821.htm l) Crammyboy's Penis. More Awesome Than You! Welcome, Guest... I've been playing around with the Sims on an alternate machine and needed... does it modify every mesh?
April 13, 2016. Morphing penis (NWS) -new version, update 04/29/12 (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?top ic=20690.0) Default Replacement Penis With Morphs This is a penis made using a mesh posted on SexySims by Rockerduck. It's a default replacement mesh for Adult/YA...
June 21, 2016. Sims 3 on Pinterest | The Sims, Sims and Room Kitchen (https://www.pinterest.com/danielamartine/sims-3/) Explore Sims3 BlackFyra's board "Sims 3 Best Sites" on Pinterest, the world's catalog of ideas. | See more about Sims 3, Sims and Sims 4.
June 22, 2016. Sims 3 penis mesh - Libido For Her Homeopathic Spray... (http://libidoforher.herbalous.com/sims-3-penis-mesh.html) This is a free downloads Sims3 site where you can download fashion clothes, patterns, houses, makeup and jewelry for your sims 3 game.
June 23, 2016. super nude patch 3 - Pandora Sims (http://www.pandorasims.net/supernude3.html) 7 custom content sims! mesh free! all of these sims are 100% mesh free download for custom content for you game! this household also includes the ''chambers twins''!
June 24, 2016. Sims 3 > Male Bottoms | Under-Your-Skin.com (http://under-your-skin.com/?cat=93) The super nude patch is a self installing program that installs all the necessary mods to make your sims game fully nude! if your just looking to remove the blurs...
June 25, 2016. SexySims (http://sexysims.info/showthread.php?p=1409350107) What does your sim dream of? Now your randy little sims can fantasize about sex, perhaps relaxing on a bed or couch and daydreaming about new sex interactions.
August 17, 2016. The Nude Sims Page - nude patch and skins for The Sims 3... (http://www.thesimsnude.com/) mesh by AllAboutStyle included download: Long Pant Rolled Up mesh by AllAboutStyle included download Roll Up Jean Shorts mesh by AllAboutStyle included download:
August 20, 2016. Welcome to SexySims (http://www.sexysims.info/) Modified version of Cmar's Penis Update 4/9/2015: You can now use both Cmar's soft version and my hard version together mesh fixed Update 4/10/2015:
August 23, 2016. Sims 3: The Morphing Penis - New version 12/27/2013 (http://cmarnyc.blogspot.ca/2013/05/the-morphing-pen is-default-replacement.html) I'm sort of new to the sims. I currently play sims 3.. and I have seen that some creators male avatars have "genitals/penis". Soo I was wondering is it a mod or is it...
October 11, 2016. The Sims 3 Installation / Release Order - EA Help Home (http://help.ea.com/ca/article/the-sims-3-installati on-order/) I was wondering if you were considering making them compatible with the Bloom AM CrammyBoy Penis default mesh... Jack & Jill ~ Child Skins... most Sims 3 blogs that...
October 13, 2016. The Sims 3 Installation / Release Order - EA Help Home (http://help.ea.com/ca/article/the-sims-3-installati on-order/) [Sims 3] Loli Mod (Mesh Replacements)... I think the solution with cmar's penis is to scale it down to child proportions in milkshape or edit the tgi, simple as that.
December 31, 2016. The 7 Creepiest Hacks of Popular Video Games - Cracked.com (http://www.cracked.com/article_20520_the-7-creepies t-hacks-popular-video-games.html) 7 custom content sims! mesh free! all of these sims are 100% mesh free download for custom content for you game! this household also includes the ''chambers twins''!
January 3, 2017. Offline Sims - Adult Creations by Cmar for The Sims 3 and... (http://cmarnyc.blogspot.ca/) Abnormal SIM Simulation Center Room... so we do not need the maps that come with the penis mesh... I recently purged my laptop and just re-installed "The Sims 3...
April 17, 2017. Hard version of Cmar's Penis mesh - Sims 3 and 4 Mods... (https://www.allsimsmods.com/sims-4-mods/cool-stuff- sims-4-mods/hard-version-of-cmars-penis-mesh/) Also install special sliders so you can craft your mans penis any way YOU want these appear in the... sims need to meet with these 3 conditions: 1. sims with...
April 19, 2017. Meshes - TS3wiki - The Sims Resource (http://wiki.thesimsresource.com/index.php?title=Mes hes) Default Replacement Penis With Morphs This is a penis made using a mesh posted on SexySims by Rockerduck. It's a default replacement mesh for Adult/YA, teens, and...
April 21, 2017. The Sims 3 - Official Site (http://www.thesims3.com/) 7 custom content sims! mesh free! all of these sims are 100% mesh free download for custom content for you game! this household also includes the ''chambers twins''!
April 22, 2017. Sims 3 mesh imported - thesimsresource.com (https://thesimsresource.com/news/view-post/post/115 83/Sims%203%20mesh%20imported) Top Nine Sims 3 Mods For An Ultra Realistic Body... I have to admit the penis mod & the shaft hair mod was a surprise and made me literally laugh out loud.
May 17, 2017. WickedWhims 2.2.3.102 - 20 May 2017 - Downloads - The Sims... (http://www.loverslab.com/topic/66213-wickedwhims-22 3102-20-may-2017/) Over 800 women are suing the NHS after their vaginal mesh implants have left them in pain so severe they are unable to walk, work or have sex - with some even...
May 18, 2017. Products Archive | The Sims Catalog (http://thesimscatalog.com/sims-4/) The fantastic Fuck (also known as wicked whims..my name is better) mod adds real sims 4 hardcore sex animations to your game as well as other features.
May 19, 2017. Sims 3: The Morphing Penis - blogspot (http://cmarnyc.blogspot.com.br/2013/05/the-morphing -penis-default-replacement.html?zx=e18975f2e60ef8eb) Page 1 of 283 - WickedWhims 2.2.3.102 - 20 May 2017 - posted in Downloads - The Sims 4: Have an issue? This is not the place to post about it! Read how to...
May 20, 2017. Return to Slum Britain: Fifty years on, what happened to... (http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/fift y-years-after-pics-slum-9385559) Default Replacement Penis With Morphs This is a penis made using a mesh posted on SexySims by Rockerduck. It's a default replacement mesh for Adult/YA, teens, and...
May 21, 2017. Proposed Human Rights Would Protect Your Mind From the... (http://gizmodo.com/proposed-human-rights-would-prot ect-your-mind-from-the-1794690549) Return to Slum Britain: Fifty years on, what happened to children in horrifying pictures that shocked the nation Some have moved on, all wince at the reality of their...
May 22, 2017. Why Do Some Still Images Trigger Seizures? (http://gizmodo.com/why-do-some-still-images-trigger -seizures-1795013155) Kylie Jenner took boyfriend Tyga's brand new canary yellow Ferrari 488 Spider hard top convertible for a spin - but first, she had to snap a pic for Instagram.
May 24, 2017. super nude patch 4 - Pandora Sims (http://pandorasims.net/snp4_dload.html) The largest network of nude patches and nude mods for all popular games. Instant download and detailed guides on installation for all nude skins.
May 25, 2017. WickedWhims 2.2.3.102 - 20 May 2017 - Downloads - The Sims... (http://www.loverslab.com/topic/66213-wickedwhims-22 3102-20-may-2017/) The fantastic Fuck (also known as wicked whims..my name is better) mod adds real sims 4 hardcore sex animations to your game as well as other features.
June 24, 2017. Ladyfrontbum's Naughty & Nice Male Skins (muscular version) (http://www.ladyfrontbum.com/?p=2004) Please note this site is for 18+ ONLY. If you are not of legal age to view simulated nudity or adult images, please leave now.
September 5, 2017. [Sims 3] Bustelo | Under-Your-Skin.com (http://under-your-skin.com/?p=3344) Unique Celebrity Videos. Latina & Argentina Hot Girls. The penis mesh is the same one I used for Sims 3, originally supplied by Rockerduck. None of these are morphable.
September 6, 2017. Welcome to SexySims (http://sexysims.info/index2.php) [Sims 3] Bustelo. Yuichen | 03.31.2013... Download above if you have the Seasons expansion and would like to use this mesh as outerwear as well as... Sims 3; Sims 4;
September 7, 2017. Welcome to SexySims (http://sexysims.info/index2.php) I need a sims 3 mod so i can make both genders Nude and their bodies need to look realistic. even the parts...?
September 8, 2017. Sims 2 Meshes - The Sims Resource (https://www.thesimsresource.com/downloads/browse/ca tegory/sims2-meshes/) Top Nine Sims 3 Mods For An Ultra Realistic Body... I have to admit the penis mod & the shaft hair mod was a surprise and... Zootgamer on Sims 3 University...
January 7, 2018. Home - Community - The Sims 3 (https://www.thesims3.com/) Meshes that have to be rendered in "Real time", as do meshes in The Sims 3... A Mesh in The Sims 3 has one or more lower detail meshes.
January 8, 2018. Mod The Sims - Downloads -> Crammyboy (http://classic.modthesims.info/browse.php?f=&u= 13493) If you check sexysims2.com someone have altered the make nude mesh to add a penis and it actually shows when sims are taking shower. Although you may not want this...
January 11, 2018. Mod The Sims - Downloads -> CmarNYC (http://classic.modthesims.info/browse.php?u=3216596 &csort=1&showType=1&gs=0) Welcome to The Sims 3 community. Register now to take full advantage of free downloads and many more community features.
January 12, 2018. What is the best nude body mesh and textures?[Sims 3... (https://www.loverslab.com/topic/65446-what-is-the-b est-nude-body-mesh-and-texturessims-3/) This is a free downloads Sims3 site where you can download fashion clothes, patterns, houses, makeup and jewelry for your sims 3 game.
January 14, 2018. How do you import a penis mesh into Blender? - The Sims 4... (https://www.loverslab.com/topic/67271-how-do-you-im port-a-penis-mesh-into-blender/) Top Nine Sims 3 Mods For An Ultra Realistic Body... I have to admit the penis mod & the shaft hair mod was a surprise and... Zootgamer on Sims 3 University...
January 15, 2018. Sims 3 Downloads - 'mesh' - The Sims Resource (https://www.thesimsresource.com/downloads/browse/ca tegory/sims3/search/mesh/) Hi everyone! My apologies if this question has been asked before but how do you import a penis mesh into blender? I am a total newb when it comes to modding... | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
‘5 year rule for 60% grants will exclude many young farmers’
Many young farmers who are under 40 years of age will be excluded from the new 60% farm buildings grant, according to IFA Rural Development Chairman Flor McCarthy.
He pointed out that the definition of ‘Young Farmer’ needs to be applied in a much more flexible manner as the five-year rule will exclude many young farmers who are under 40 years of age from the 60% grant.
He said there are many young farmers who acquired a herd number a number of years ago but did not commence farming until recently.
Flor McCarthy also said one of the key issues in the new system of grant aid which involves tranches is the slow administration between the end of the tranche period and the issuing of approvals for farmers to proceed with work.
He said that the time period from the end of the tranche to the approval date must be no more than one month which will allow farmers to get on with the work as quickly as possible.
Key investments left out
McCarthy said a number of issues in relation to the Young Farmer Capital Investment Scheme need to be dealt with.
In relation to reference costings in determining grant aid, McCarthy said it is important that these are regularly updated as in the past they fell out of line in the course of previous schemes.
He said farmers must get the full value of the grant that they are applying for.
McCarthy has also said that the rollout of all the TAMS schemes under the 2014–2020 Rural Development Programme must now be a priority for the Minister for Agriculture.
He said the investment stimulus for the rural economy from the TAMS scheme will be significant and the Minister should ensure that all schemes and all sectors of farming are covered by this grant scheme. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
From: Matthew Somerville
To:
Subject: Re:
Date: 4 July 2004 18:13
Thank you for your email of the 22nd of June.
I apologise if I have caused any upset or inconvenience as this was not my
intention. I am happy to discuss the matter with you to try and resolve it
amicably.
From a practical perspective, I believe that my site provides a useful
service, in particular in giving access to information that is not available
to everyone through your website. I think its key effect is to lead to more
people attending Odeon cinemas (I cannot use your site, so without my
version I would not be attending an Odeon to see films).
You will realise that I am not taking any commercial advantage from the
site - it exists only to provide a service to others and to provide a
greater access than that currently provided by your site. In that
connection, and in relation to something you said in your email, I do not
collect or store any user data myself. Any user data input via my site is
passed straight through to the registration page of your website. All users
are therefore actually registered on your site, along with their data
protection choices. It is as if they went to the registration page of your
site and filled in their details there. The same applies to amendments to
and removing their data.
In the process of creating my site, I uncovered no less than three security
holes in your site, leading to public availability of all personal data held
on the Odeon server. I immediately informed Odeon and received the following
reply:
"On behalf of ODEON I would like to extend my thanks in bringing this
flaw to our attention. As a result of the details you have sent to us, the
issue was passed to our web engineers who have solved the bug with immediate
effect. Again, thank you for your feedback and for using www.odeon.co.uk"
Also, in an article in the Independent last September, you said you were not
going to ask me to take the site down - may I ask what caused your change of
view?
In view of the above, rather than taking the site down I believe that it
would be in everyones' interests (including yours) if it stayed up, although
I certainly do not wish to get into a dispute about this with you and would
only want it to do so on the basis that you are happy with this. Therefore,
is there some way that a sensible compromise can be found so that you are
happy for the site to stay up? I am happy to consider making amendments to
the site if you would like to emphasise to a greater extent than at present
that it is not officially connected with Odeon.
Perhaps you would be kind enough to consider this and to let me know what
you think?
Yours,
Matthew Somerville | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
TISat-1 is a student-developed low-cost CubeSat mission of SUPSI (Scuola Universitaria Professionale della Svizzera Italiana — University of Applied Sciences of Southern Switzerland), Lugano-Manno, Switzerland. The satellite was named after the home state (Kanton Ticino - abbreviated as TI) where Lugano is located.
The project started in 2005. The mission goals are to carry out material degradation tests on conductors of different materials and to validate the multitechnology, fault-tolerant design scheme of the spacecraft bus. COTS (Commercial-off-the-Shelf) componets are used for the whole design except for the photovoltaic cells. 1)2)3)4)5)
Figure 1: Illustration of the TISat-1 CubeSat (image credit: SUPSI)
Spacecraft:
The spacecraft complies to the CubeSat standards in size (10 cm side length) and mass (? 1 kg). The aluminum mechanical structure of TISat-1 has been manufactured by RUAG Aerospace in Lodrino (TI, CH). The overall design, validation and refinement was made at SUPSI.
Figure 2: View of the TISat-1 bus structure (image credit: SUPSI)
The attitude is passively controlled with a permanent magnets orienting the spacecraft along the Earth's magnetic field lines (magnetic bars are integrated in the mechanical structure). Some damping is provided by the magnetic hysteresis of the internal gear.
The three processor approach for the C&DHS represent a technology validation. The objective is to test fault tolerance and system availability. The modulation schemes implemented for TIsat-1 are in firmware except for the command channel which features a DTMF (Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency) transceiver chip. The housekeeping strategy are based on decision tree methodologies. These concepts are to be validated for use in future SUPSI-SpaceLab missions.
Figure 3: Layout of the C&DHS (image credit: SUPSI)
EPS (Electric Power Subsystem): All sides of the satellite are equipped with photovoltaic modules so that during any orbital day period energy generation is provided at any attitude. The modules feature six single junction 20 mm x 40 mm GaAs solar cells (19.5% efficiency, AM0). Encapsulation and wiring (chip & wire technology) of the modules has been provided by Metallux S.A. in Mendrisio (TI, CH). Two batteries are being used: a Lithium-Ion battery (2300 mAh) and a Lithium-Polymer battery (1500 mAh).
RF communications: Use of amateur radio VHF/UHF (144/430 MHz) bands. A CW (Continuous Wave) beacon is at 430 MHz. SUPSI maintains local and remote (mountain side) ground stations for communications with the spacecraft. In addition, Ham radio support is expected from the amateur community.
The antenna hold and the deployable parts are original designs of SUPSI-SpaceLab and were manufactured, tested and optimized at SUPSI-SpaceLab. The delpoyed monopole antennas are mounted 90o to the attitude alignment axis and to each other.
Launch: TISat-1 was launched on July 12, 2010 as a secondary payload on the PSLV vehicle of ISRO (PSLV-C15). The launch site was SDSC (Satish Dhawan Space Center) SHAR, the ISRO launch center on the south-east coast of India, Sriharikota. 6)
The primary spacecraft on this flight was CartoSat-2B of India (694 kg), funded by the Ministry of Defense of the Government of India. 7)
• AISSat-1 (Automatic Identification System Satellite-1), a nanosatellite (6.5 kg) of Norway with program management by the FFI (Norwegian Defense Research Establishment). AISSat-1 was built by UTIAS/SFL (University of Toronto, Institute for Aerospacestudies/Space Flight Laboratory), Toronto, Canada.
AISSat-1 and TISat-1 were deployed into space using the XPOD (Experimental Push Out Deployer) provided by UTIAS/SFL. UTIAS/SFL refers to this service as NLS-6 (Nanosatellite Launch Service-6). 8)
• StudSat (Student Satellite), a picosatellite (1 kg) built by a consortium of seven Engineering colleges from Hyderabad and Bangalore, India.
• April 14, 2015: In its 5th year on orbit, the TISat-1 CubeSat mission is still being received by ham operator ground stations worldwide. Data is being collected in order to assess system endurance/degradation. The negotiated radio link frequencies are still reserved for TISat-1. The original mission goals have been reached and surpassed by far. In this sense the mission is concluded (Ref. 9).
• March 2014: TISat-1 is still operational. The project continues to monitor the CubeSat. Signal quality and system health information is being collected (Ref. 9).
• March 2013: TISat-1 is operating nominally. The project continues to monitor its on board material probes (Ref. 9).
• In 2012, TISat-1 is still in good shape and working. The CubeSat is being monitored now mainly by amateur radio operators who make a great job in recording and submitting telemetry data to SUPSI-SpaceLab (Ref. 9).
• In the early days of 2011 two-way FM radio communication was established with TIsat-1. Commands are being sent and responses are collected, as expected.
Data is being collected with the help of the Ham radio community. In addition to our local experiments, Japanese hams and radio amateurs from New Zealand and Brazil are providing regular feedback.
Sensor complement: (AOE)
AOE (Atomic Oxygen Experiment):
The objective is to monitor the durability of exposed thin bonding wires, PCB tracks and lines. Atomic oxygen is a molecular constituent of oxygen in the atmosphere and is very aggressive on many materials. Satellites orbiting in LEO (Low Earth Orbit) are exposed to atomic oxygen attacks.
TISat-1 carries the AOE apparatus to verify the durability of conducting wires (different materials, different cross sections) and nylon lines exposed to the space environment. The bonding wires on the six external sides of TISat-1 will constantly be monitored. It is expected that if a wire is attacked, it will break open. TISat-1 will be able to tell how long those wires survive in LEO conditions.
The information compiled and edited in this article was provided byHerbert J. Kramer from his documentation of: "Observation of the Earth and Its Environment: Survey of Missions and Sensors" (Springer Verlag) as well as many other sources after the publication of the 4th edition in 2002. - Comments and corrections to this article are always welcome for further updates ([email protected]). | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
BEST PLACE TO READ ABOUT ALIENS AND UFOS.
A BABY BORN WITH A CROSS ON HIS FOREHEAD
In these times, when the values that were once considered common and basic are disappearing and giving way to lastentaciones, luxuries and lust, the fact of believing in God is no longer so typical of human beings.
In addition to the fact that most believers consider themselves “non-practicing”, it is estimated that until the year 2040 atheism will be the most widespread “religion” on the planet.
But nevertheless
Although believing does not seem very fashionable, there are still millions of people who believe that faith and religion are important parts of their lives. One of the sites closest to the Christian tradition is the homeland of Salma Hayek, Thalia and Luis Miguel. And that, in spite of the fact that “Santa Muerte” is still very present in Mexico.
As if it were a story on the big screen, what happens in the state of Veracruz, Mexico, has shocked the whole world. With only two months of age, this baby has become the most feared and revered by believers, who claim that he is the antichrist himself.
The parents of the minor:
Living on the outskirts of the city of Salina Cruz, they affirm that the mark formed on the forehead of the child is denacimiento, however, and at the beginning it was somewhat diffuse, with the passing of the days it was marked with greater intensity.
Although the child has been treated by several doctors, until now none has found a logical explanation to the fact that today the whole world is heading.
“The doctors say that it is an abnormal accumulation of blood that will gradually disappear and that the shape of the cross is just a coincidence,” says the boy’s aunt, who in turn is incredulous in explaining the science.
So far, dozens of people walk every day on the roads to visit the family home and meet the priests who affirm that it is the “antichrist” and that many others swear, that it is the Jesus’ incarnation. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Divorce Etiquette 101
Learn how to gracefully navigate the end of a close friend's or family member's marriage
By Denise Schipani
There's no denying that divorce is hardest on the couple and their children. But its effects can ripple out into the splitting spouses social spheres as well, often causing disruptions when friends and family members aren't sure about what they should say or do when it comes to interacting with the now-split couple. Why is divorce etiquette so tricky? A lot has to do with our own emotional reaction to a close friend or family members divorce, says Margot Swann, founder and director of Visions Anew, a nonprofit divorce resource for woman. We dont like the picture changing, which makes us feel awkward. Plus, she adds, it might bring up uncomfortable feelings about our own marriage (If it can happen to them ) Here, nine issues that often arise when someone you know divorces, and how to handle them with grace.
A good friend just told you that she's getting a divorce and you don't know the right way to respond.The best thing you can say in this situation is simply, Im here for you. In a way, supporting a divorcing friend is not unlike supporting a grieving friend, because divorceeven if she wanted it, even if its relatively amicableevokes similar feelings of loss. She needs your support and friendship more than anything else, says Swann. The easiest way to provide support is to take your cues from her: If she wants to just spend time with you without talking about her ex, do that. If she needs a few late-night sessions to vent and work through her grief, be there for her. If she just wants a little company, offer to take her along on your morning walks or to the gym; come by with coffee (or a bottle of wine!) if she cant get a sitter. Dont forget she may need practical help, too: Offer to drive her kids places or ask your husband to help out with chores like mowing the lawn or getting the oil changed in her car, suggests Swann.
Your sister is getting a divorce, but you think she's making a mistake. In truth, you dont knowand never will knowif her divorce is truly a mistake because none of us really understands what goes on behind closed doors. Even if you are aware that she had an affair, for example, you still dont know what caused her to stray. Keep in mind, too, that just because the news comes as a shock to you, the same might not apply for her; she may have been thinking about it, and discussing it with her spouse, for years before the announcement. One thing that is certain: Berating her for making a mistake wont help, says Swann. However, you might want to ask if she's tried couple's counseling, says Darlene Lancer, JD, MFT, a former attorney who's now a licensed marriage and family therapist and the author of the forthcoming Codependency for Dummies. Even if they dont ultimately reconcile, counseling can help the couple work through their divorce. The bottom line: Steer clear of offering advice thats not asked for. Stick to support, says Lancer.
The couple you and your husband always go on double dates with is now divorcing and you two don't know whose side you should be on.Presuming that the four of you are all friends, try your best not to choose sides or leave either of them out in the cold. Divorcing spouses often find they lose friends and are excluded from events they normally attended, which is a shame, says Swann. Remember, its not your job as a friend to take sides as much as it is to support and be there for her and him. If the female half of the couple is asking you to drop her ex from your friend list, tell heras kindly as you canthat youre there to be her friend, but youre not actually angry with her ex, says Lancer. By the same token, be sensitive to both of their feelings by not telling either of them about the time you may have spent with the other person and ensure both of them that anything discussed when you are with them will always be confidential.
Your brother is getting a divorce but you've grown close to your former sister-in-law and want to remain friends with her.There's no reason why you cant stay pals with a friend's or family member's ex, but the social etiquette can get thorny. Whereas before, you'd hang out with your sister-in-law at family functions, now it's better to plan a girls' night out for just the two of youaway from your brother and other family members. Swann also notes that you'll likely have to alternate invitations while the divorce is still a sensitive subject, by having your brother and the kids over for a big family BBQ one weekend and then asking his ex to come over with the kids for a play date the following weekend, for example. If your brother is upset that you are still friendly his ex, be respectful of his feelings. You can say, Im sorry you feel that way, but I still enjoy spending time with Jane. I hope you understand, suggests Swann. If he's adamant about you breaking it off, you may have to decide if the friendship is worth risking your relationship with your brother, adds Lancer.
Your best friend has become sensitive about the topic of money post-divorce; instead of discussing the subject, she avoids making plans with you.You may find that your friend is in tighter financial straits immediately after her divorce, particularly if she was a stay-at-home mom during the marriage, or has had to move because she could no longer afford the mortgage. This sudden change in lifestyle may make her retreat a bit more from her social life. If she declines to go out, try to be sensitive to her situation and generous when you can, says Swann. Dream up different things to do together that dont involve spending cash, such as nature walks, free concerts and dinners at home. If there are group outings that you know she would love to go tolike dinner with a group of your girlfriendsoffer to pick up the tab now and then, says Swann. You dont want her to feel isolated right now.
Family friends are getting a divorce and all the kids involved have a lot of questions about it.If your families have always been close, you may find yourself in the position of being your friends kids confidant. Their children may talk to you before they talk to their own parents, notes Swann. Reassure them that their parents still love them, and that the divorce is absolutely, positively not their fault (often a childs biggest fear or suspicion). But resist trying to answer specific questions about what happened. The truth is that you dont know the details. Your own kids may also be full of questions, such as why their friends dad (or mom) isnt living at their house anymore or whether youre on the road to divorce, too. Answer their specific questions as they arise (Yes, Jen and Joe's dad lives in a different place now, but he still loves them very much) without trying to over explain. Saying something like, Sometimes, families have problems that mean the mom and dad cant live together anymore, but it has nothing to do with how much they want their kids to be happy and loved goes a long way, says Lancer.
A divorce amongst your circle of friends is leading to a lot of ugly gossip about the separating couple. Do your best to not go there. Whether your husband wants to share the "ex's side," your friend is prodding you for dirt on her ex or a mutual friend wants to dish about everyone involved, firmly opt out, says Lancer. Its just never a good idea to indulge in negative divorce gossip, for everyone involved (particularly the couples children). Say to people other than your friend that youd rather not be caught in the crossfire of any gossip for fear itll come back to you (He said that you said ). While it's natural that your friend will want to talk about her divorce, because you care about her and are concerned about her emotional wellbeing, avoid the urge to tell her the latest rumors about her ex or trash talk him. Say to her, 'I dont think talking to you about Frank is good for you, and its not good for our friendship, which I value, and change the subject," says Lancer. If you truly cant resist telling someone or feel you need to relieve the pressure of knowing too much, share your news with a disinterested third party so no one gets hurt.
Your recently divorced friend is dating againand you think it's a terrible idea.Hold your tongue, at least at first, even if you think its too soon or that shes making a mistakebecause whos to say if it is a mistake? Not you! Swann notes that sometimes newly divorced people like to feel desirable again and getting back into the dating pool is the easiest way to do this. She may just be testing the waters, flexing her dating muscles or looking to have a bit of fun. Even if youre convinced shes making a mistake (by dating someone who is totally inappropriate, for example), Shes not going to listen to you, anyway, says Lancer. Instead of (fruitlessly) trying to dissuade her from dating, be supportive and positive. Emphasize how dating in this period of her life is, or should be, a way to learn more about herself and what she eventually wants from a new relationship, says Lancer.
You have big relationship news but aren't sure if you should share it with a friend who's going through a divorce.As long as youre not rubbing your good news in her facefor example, calling her every day with updates on your wedding plansa good friend will want to know whats going on with you. Even if she cant be a cheerleader for love and romance, she will at least be happy for you. Plus, she may feel isolated or left out if she discovers youve hidden something from her. With news like an engagement, approach the friend sensitively and dont feel slighted if her reaction is muted. Be upfront, suggests Swann: Say, I know this may be hard for you, and Id be so happy if youd come to my bridal shower, but I understand if it isnt something you feel up to right now. That gives her the option of congratulating you one-on-one without having to share in the public celebration.
Your information has been saved and an account has been created for you giving you full access to everything womansday.com and Hearst Digital Media Network have to offer. To change your username and/or password or complete your profile, click here. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
30+ Textured Wallpaper Backgrounds in High Def For Download
Wallpapers are used to give striking looks to the walls. There are many types of wallpapers. One of them is Textured Wallpaper. Textured wallpapers are mostly used to cover faultiness of the walls. You can select wallpapers to cover and decorate the walls according to your choice.
Textured wallpapers are selected by people who want to give deep looks to their walls. It is wallpaper having three dimensional special effects. It gives a very charming touch to the walls and makes them a lot more attractive look. The textured wallpapers are mostly expensive than the other wallpapers because some of them are printed in mass capacities. Textured wallpapers are used in homes as well as in commercial buildings. It is widely used in cafeterias to make them look beautiful.
The most popular colors sold in textured wallpapers are cream and stone. These colors are preferred because they mix up with other colors and make a magnificent contrast.
Types of Textured Wallpapers:
Textured wallpapers are designed in a ways so that they give a three dimensional look to the walls. It is mainly used to cover the uneven spaces on the walls. For this purpose, it has many types such as:
Hanging textured wallpapers offers variety of colours and patterns. It is applicable on mostly all types of walls but basically it is meant to be applied on uneven plaster. It needs particular tools and patience while applying it. It is applied as a regular paper but it should be handling with great care. Because of its patters and textures it could bring glamour to any room.
Heavy texture Wallpaper:
These texture wallpapers are long lasting. Heavy texture wallpapers presents a deluxe and lavish looks to the room. These have starch gift which keeps it stick to the wall for a very long time. Now explore new spectacular looks for your walls by applying heavy texture wallpaper.
Bordered Texture Wallpaper:
Bordered texture wallpapers are applied to the borders of the walls. It can also be used in the middle of the wall to divide the wall into two portions. Moreover, if you want to apply two different wallpapers on your wall, you can use bordered wallpapers to divide them. You can apply them in a variety of ways according to the requirement of your room. It can be used in bathrooms, Kitchen, bedroom, living rooms etc.
Conclusion
All these textured wallpapers are the best for the people who want to make their house good, attractive and decorated. It is completely up to your choice and your interest. Don’t take such decisions alone, but consult it with other members of the house and then decide the final wallpaper for your house. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
CHF (Swiss Franc)
What is the CHF (Swiss Franc)
CHF is the currency abbreviation for Switzerland's currency, the Swiss franc. The abbreviation "CHF" is derived from the Latin name of the country, "Confoederatio Helvetica," with the "F" standing for "franc." The Swiss franc was officially recognized as Switzerland's currency in May of 1850, when it replaced several currencies issued by the different cantons.
Basics of CHF (Swiss Franc)
Switzerland is comprised of 26 different cantons — or member states — and there are four official languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. The Swiss franc is one of the few unifying characteristics of the country; it is also legal tender in the Principality of Liechtenstein. The Swiss Federal Constitution of 1848 specified that only the federal government would be permitted to issue money, and the franc was introduced two years later.
There were a total of 72.255 trillion Swiss francs in circulation on average in 2016, according to the Swiss National Bank.
Background
The Swiss franc was first issued in 1850 and was on par with the French franc. Between 1865 and the 1920s, Switzerland, Belgium, France and Italy formed the Latin Monetary Union; the prices of all four currencies were linked to the price of silver. The Swiss franc was part of the Bretton Woods exchange rate system that was established in the aftermath of World War II and lasted until the early 1970s. The currency's exchange rate was tied to the price of gold until a referendum in May 2000.
Between 2003 and 2006, the Swiss franc was stable against the euro. It was even valued higher than the USD in 2008.
Switzerland is known for its neutrality: It has not participated in an armed conflict since 1815. The country's banks have had a policy of secrecy dating back to the Middle Ages, and this was written into law in 1934. The secrecy laws were amended in 2009 to limit tax evasion by non-Swiss account holders.
Key Takeaways
The Swiss Franc (CHF) is the official currency of Switzerland and Liechtenstein and is the world's sixth most-traded currency.
It is considered s safe haven currency during times of crisis because of Switzerland's economic stability.
Safe Haven Status
The Swiss National Bank has long followed a zero inflation policy; this has combined with the country's political neutrality to make the franc an exceptionally strong and stable currency. The franc's so-called safe haven status means that it appreciates during times of economic and political instability, which was the case when the European debt crisis erupted in 2008.
In September 2011, the Swiss National Bank began an active policy of intervention in the currency markets combined with interest rate cuts in order to weaken the franc against the euro, capping its strength at 1.20 francs to the euro. The SNB introduced a policy of negative interest rates in December 2014, but the currency continued to appreciate. The 1.20 cap was abandoned in January 2015. Swiss stocks tumbled dramatically, while the Swiss franc soared about 30% relative to the euro within minutes. Some investors and firms were wiped out.
Economists and investors strongly criticized the SNB's actions for dropping the peg without warning and for implementing it in the first place. Its actions were also unpopular in Switzerland. Due to widespread international criticism, as well as growing domestic support for initiatives to reign in the SNB, the bank assured the public that it was returning to its traditional stance of non-interventionism.
Despite its popularity as a safe haven, the Swiss franc is not a reserve currency. Foreign trade involving Switzerland is typically settled in euros or U.S. dollars, not in Swiss franc.
Trading the Swiss Franc
The Swiss franc is actively traded in the foreign exchange spot and forward market. It's most active against the euro, but is also frequently traded against the U.S. dollar, Japanese yen and British pound. The low interest rate environment means that speculators frequently borrow in francs to invest in high yielding currencies and other assets around the world.
Compare Popular Online Brokers
Provider
Name
Description
×
The offers that appear in this table are from partnerships from which Investopedia receives compensation. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Sunday, May 5, 2013
MDS, e-Cut, Butterfly Easel Card Tutorial
Hi, welcome to addINKtive designs. I have discovered over my holiday break (Kinder/Prep teacher IRL) how to combine Stampin' Up! ® Digital Punches, MDS (My Digital Studio) and my e-Cutter (Silhouette Cameo) to make fun shaped cards. Today, I launched a new tutorial which explains how you can make a larger version of my popular Butterfly Easel Card. In fact, you can make pretty much any size you like.
Here is what SU say about their ...
Beautiful Butterfly Shapes - Digital Download124412Price: $1.50This
download was added on 2/15/2011 Let these classic butterflies take your
projects to new heights with these two punch images. Like all My
Digital Studio punches, this is a vector file, which allows it to be
scaled up or down without losing image resolution. Download also
includes a 6-1/2" x 8-1/2" journal front and back cover. Artwork from
the Beautiful Butterfly Bigz Die.
I was so excited to discover that SU had svg files and that meant that I could give my Silhouette Cameo (electronic cutting machine) a real work out this holiday break.
My 5 page, step-by-step tutorial with heaps of photos and diagrams, explains very simply how you can discover this 'match made in Heaven' for yourself. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
E308: Tales of Vesperia demo online
Moments after the Microsoft E3 press event ended Xbox Live Marketplace exploded with new content. Videos and demos are flooding the service as we speak and are expected to throughout the Media Summit. Right now the demo for Tales of Vesperia is available on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Clocking in a light 278MB the demo is expected to be the same one released on June 20. Only one way to find out! Download it now! | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
actor
Actor, director and drama teacher, Anthony Burk spoke to EmbassyNews, about the “First Date”, a play by Austin Winsberg, that he translated into Greek and recently premiered in “Athinais”. He also shared his passion for musicals and his love for teaching drama to children.
The Ambassador of Norway in Athens, His Excellency Jørn Eugene Gjelstad, spoke to EmbassyNews.net and commented on the current developments in Greek and European politics, the economy and the refugee crisis.
Follow us
about us
EmbassyNews.net is a new initiative, which aims at informing and connecting foreign citizens, diplomats and entrepreneurs living in Greece, with diplomatic missions in the Greek territory. It entails news on Foreign Affairs, Politics, Entrepreneurship and Culture, as well as views and information essential to the diplomatic community. Ambassadors, diplomats, foreign affairs experts, academics and journalists are invited to provide in depth analyses on key issues. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
New Delhi: In one of the US Government’s Department of Health and Human Services’ reports for grants and guides, there has been a mention of the prerequisite of developing handheld ultrasound devices, especially for the detection of abscesses of lymph node enlargement, applicable to patients with HIV positive or negative. However, the need of ultrasound in medical services is huge as it is most popularly used for basic screening of high-risk pregnancies, cardiac, vascular, radiology, endocrinology and paediatric purposes. “It is most cost-effective and non-radiating machine that is used in any hospital across the globe. For a doctor who wants to have a quick insight of the reason behind the stomach pain, ultrasound is an immediate choice of diagnosis,” S Ganesh Prasad, director, ultrasound imaging, GE Healthcare, told India Medical Times.
S Ganesh Prasad
Cost-Factor
According to Ganesh Prasad, ultrasound devices have existed in India for 20 years now but the significant market growth has happened in the last 10 years. “Prior to this, the ultrasound devices were available everywhere for the cost of 50,000 dollars (Rs 30 lakh) each but with the introduction of medical technology, low-cost devices have been produced and brought to various customers. Today, ultrasound machines are distributed for the cost ranging from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 70 lakh to various hospitals and medical experts.”
He further said, “The ultrasound machine worth Rs 2 lakh is a simple machine with which you can only do a simple scan to see womb or foetus, while the advanced ultrasound technology with higher cost provides you the real time assistance in witnessing the dynamic evolution of a foetus.”
GE Healthcare is doing a lot of research and development to improve the high quality ultrasound machine’s price form. “Our low-cost ultrasound devices range starts from Rs 4 to 5 lakh,” informed Ganesh Prasad.
“The cost of ultrasound machines depends on different gradations that the machine offers. Some are high-end machines of which prices go up to Rs 1 crore, mid-end machines cost around Rs 50 lakh and low-end machines are good enough for all the purposes, which cost up to Rs 12 to 15 lakh,” Dr Rakhee Gogoi, head of radiology, Paras Hospitals, Gurgaon, told India Medical Times while giving an estimate on the cost of the machines.
Vscan pocket-sized ultrasound device that may transform the way physicians see their patients.
Quality Vs Low Cost
“We don’t believe in cheaper performance machine. We make products, which are good for the customers in terms of high technology. By the end of the year, we are planning to release a tablet ultrasound for the first time ever in the world. Every occupation could have it. For example, when a pregnant lady goes for a screening or check-ups, most of the time it’s only the physical exam that’s being done. Many a times, at the time of complication during delivery, there is no machine available for the doctors to see and learn the condition of foetus inside. The whole objective behind this technology is to make it relevant for you. We focus on target customer group and capability of technology, bringing it to a point of price that’s affordable,” said Ganesh Prasad.
GE’s low cost ultrasound devices come at the price point of Rs 5 lakh and products with a valid portfolio come with three years warranty. “We deploy current technology, not compromising in the quality at all levels. The whole idea behind offering three years warranty is to focus on quality as we understand that maintenance charges is a very good factor for the sustenance of ultrasound machines to a customer. We give the quality of a high-end machine but at the lower cost for people,” said Manoj Menon, communication leader, GE Healthcare India.
Penetrating Rural India
“Our villages do not have many ultrasound machines in rural areas. Ultrasound is very basic and important modality that can be used to detect any sort of pathology at a very early stage. Often, villagers come for the treatment when it’s too late for the problem till then the condition has gone out of hand. This is the reason why introduction and distribution of low-cost ultrasound machines will be really helpful in the rural areas,” said Dr Gogoi.
GE Healthcare is already planning to introduce low-cost ultrasound machines in the rural areas of India. “We have divided the market in tiers. Tier I is metro, tier II involves cities like Jaipur and tier III, IV and V have rural districts under them. We are doing good in tier I and tier II. In the tier III market, we have just stepped into. Besides producing the equipment, we are also creating a distribution network and affordability packages that has to be taken further,” said Menon.
Ganesh Prasad asserted, “Tier III is a fastest growing market with 22-23 per cent growth and that is going to be our area of focus. The reason why we have not penetrated as much in the tier III is because of the availability of the cost price for this kind of market. Our main effort has been to build a distribution network around tier II and the more challenging is going to be creating distribution around tier III.”
Improving Healthcare Situations
India has a high maternal mortality rate. “By proper screening during pregnancy, we can see improvement in the outcomes and avoid maternal or infant death during delivery. Ultrasound is the only device that can be used on a pregnant lady. Secondly, in rural areas, deliveries are still done at home which is intoxicating for a mother as well as for a child. With the introduction or availability of ultrasound machines in hospitals or nursing homes in tier III areas, pregnant women can be taken to hospitals for screenings. Some states have already taken the lead as Gujarat has improved its IMR rates and is moving towards greater institutional deliveries, while Tamil Nadu has also seen dramatic improvements in the reduction of infant mortality,” said Ganesh Prasad.
For Dr Jitendra Sharma, head, division of healthcare technology, National Health System Resource Centre, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the idea of handheld ultrasound devices clinically would be great and cost-effective. “It would be better than static ultrasound which comes for lakhs of rupees. What we are concerned about is social and regulatory aspect. Even with the static ultrasound machines in hospitals, we have not been practically able to control female abortions. If the hand held devices are sold in the market, let that market be rural or urban, how would female foeticide be controlled,” he told India Medical Times.
Controlling the Misuse for Sex Determination
Dr C V Bhirmanandham, vice president, Medical Council of India, told India Medical Times, “Why spend so much money when we can get good results from a low-cost ultrasound machine? But it should not be misused. The medical practitioners using the machines should be registered with a concerned authority and should be regularly monitored. Anyone caught misusing the machines for sex determination should be readily punished and their license should be cancelled.”
Dr Bhirmanandham also emphasised on the certification that the trainee must get from the concerned authority. “They have to follow the government of India policies and have to be ethical in their approach,” he added.
According to the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994, the law prohibits any person from using ultrasound equipment for the detection of the sex of an unborn child. With an amendment in 2002 to the PCPNDT Act, the manufacturers and distributors of the ultrasound machines have to ensure the proper use of the equipment and are prohibited from selling, renting, permitting or authorizing the use of ultrasound machines for foetal sex determination. Manufacturers of ultrasound machines must also confirm that the customer has a valid PCPNDT certificate and they are also to provide the government with a quarterly report disclosing to whom the equipments have been sold.
“Hence, we don’t sell any of our ultrasound equipments to customers who are not registered under the PNDT Act. However, we believe that limiting the access of technology is more dangerous because we talk of saving lives and with the use of ultrasound technology, lives with different diagnosis can be saved. As per the government policies, we also continue to report to the government in every three months, disclosing about our dealings,” said Ganesh Prasad. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
West Ham chief Brady thrilled with Olympic stadium backing
West Ham United vice-chairman Karren Brady is delighted to be a step closer to their Olympic stadium move.
West Ham United vice-chairman Karren Brady is delighted to be a step closer to their Olympic stadium move.
Brady wrote in The Sun: "Yesterday's unanimous decision to name West Ham United as the higher-ranking bidder to be given the opportunity of moving to the Olympic Stadium represents a giant step forward for the club.
"A move back to our home in West Ham will play a huge part in helping us to realise our ambitious vision to take the club to the next level.
"The decision guarantees a true and lasting legacy for East London and is the best outcome for the taxpayer." | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
International Journal of Geomagnetism and AeronomyVol. 4, No. 2, August 2003
Slow dynamics of
photospheric regions
of
the open
magnetic field of
the Sun, solar activity phenomena, substructure of the
interplanetary medium and near-Earth disturbances of the early 23rd cycle:
March-June 1997 events
Abstract
Slow (from one rotation to another)
dynamics of the photospheric regions of the open magnetic field of
the Sun (ORs), solar activity phenomena (coronal holes, active
filaments, flares), subsector structure of the coronal field on
the source surface, and near-Earth interplanetary medium are
considered at the piece of the solar surface ~120
o wide
centered at the CL
150o Carrington latitude in the sequence
of the CR 1920-CR 1923 Carrington rotations (March-June 1997). A
special attention is paid to a prominent event of this period on
12-18 May 1997. It is demonstrated that in the coarse of the slow
dynamics of ORs on the part of the Sun chosen, there was formed in
the CR 1922 a specific configuration of ORs on the photosphere
which generated a complicated structure of the magnetic field at
the source surface and in the interplanetary field with a strong
bow of the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) and a "joint" between
HCS and the intersector boundary. A complicated solar activity
complex was formed near this "joint", the complex consisting of a
flare active region (AR), low-latitude coronal hole (CH), and
active filament (ADF). During CR 1920-CR 1922, there was observed
a dynamical high-velocity flow which generated in CR 1921-CR 1922
a near-Earth MHD disturbance with three-phase temporal dynamics
typical for the disturbances near HCS. The destabilization of the
AR-CH-ADF-HCS complex in CR 1922, occurrence of a coronal mass
ejection (CME) in AR, and the interaction between CME, HCS, ADF,
and CH led to a significant modification of the recurrent
high-velocity flow (appearance of the main shock wave and magnetic
cloud, multiple crossings of HCS, velocity increase, and a
"loading" of the flow by the active filament substance) and to a
sharp increase of its geoefficiency. Possible scenarios of the
12-18 May 1997 events are discussed: a simple one with the
magnetic cloud from AR 8038 [Webb et al.,2000a]
and a complicated one which includes a formation of
the cloud due to the interactions in the activity complex with an
HCS tiring-instability
[Kivelson and Khurana, 1995]
and its
modeling by the heliospheric electrojet field
[Ivanov and Romashets, 1999].
1. Introduction
There are arguments in the solar-terrestrial physics in favor of
the statement that many interplanetary MHD disturbances are
generated by complicated solar sources, the latter being various
combinations of coronal holes, filaments, flares, and active
regions
[Bravo et al., 1998;
Burlaga et al., 1987;
Crooker and McAlister, 1997;
Dryer and Smith, 1987;
Gonzalez et al., 1996;
Gosling, 1993;
Ivanov, 1996, 1998;
Kahler, 1991;
Mogilevsky et al., 1997].
In the complicated source concept, very perspective in
our opinion is its representation as a large unstable configuration
of the solar magnetoplasma in which coronal holes, filaments, and
active regions are closely interrelated and are only specific
components of this source (complex), characterizing its formation,
destabilization, and decay
[Gosling, 1993;
Mogilevsky et al.,1997].
There are two fundamental problems concerning the phenomenology
of such complexes: first, study of their dynamics at characteristic
times of the order of a few solar rotations, and second, studies of the
interactions between its components, especially at the source
destabilization phase leading to complicated interplanetary
disturbances.
It has been shown recently that the activity complexes appear
(disappear) in mutual collisions (reflections) of photospheric
regions of the open magnetic field of the Sun
[Ivanov and Kharshiladze, 2002;
Ivanov et al., 2001b].
As a result, we propose
to use the dynamics of open regions as a convenient instrument for
determination in advance of the tendencies leading to formation and
destabilization of activity complexes including such determinations
into the analysis of some prominent events of the solar-terrestrial
physics. The analysis of the well-known disturbances of
5-11
January
1997
[Ivanov et al., 2001a;
Ivanov et al., Slow dynamics of photospheric regions of open
solar magnetic field, solar activity, substructure of the interplanetary space
and near-Earth disturbances of the early 23rd solar cycle:
1. December 1996 to February 1997 events,
submitted to
International Journal of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy, 2002,
(hereinafter referred to as
Ivanov et al., submitted manuscript, 2002)]
is an example of such an
approach.
The above papers
demonstrated
that there
was observed a convergence of open photospheric regions at least
one rotation prior to the activity complex destabilization, that
the filament-active region and coronal hole were the most active
components of this complex, and that taking into account of the
interaction between them is important for explanation of the main
characteristics and some peculiarities in the configuration,
structure and dynamics of the interplanetary disturbance observed
near the Earth. At the same time, the set of these characteristics
and features is an experimental requirement which makes it possible
to indicate perspective approaches to the MHD modeling of this
disturbance.
Similar approach is used below to consider in detail the 12-18 May
1997 event. This event is interesting in particular due to the fact
that in this event for the first time the Morton wave was
registered in the extreme ultraviolet
[Thompson et al., 1998],
a
coronal halo was observed
[Plunkett et al., 1998;
Sheeley et al.,1999;
Webb et al., 2000a],
a pair of transient coronal holes
(dimmings) located symmetrically relative the neutral line of the
active region magnetic field was formed
[Hudson et al., 1998;
Thompson et al., 1998],
preflare sigmoid shape of the coronal arcs
was observed
[Glover et al., 2000;
Hudson et al., 1998],
the
photospheric bases of the post-eruptive arc coincided almost
exactly with the magnetic spots of the opposite polarity
[Thompson et al., 1998;
Webb et al., 2000a],
small rapid (during the flare)
and considerable slow (of about a day) variations of the magnetic
flux in the active region were registered
[Lara et al., 2000],
and
the most intense magnetic storm of 1997 was observed
[Bruckner et al., 1998;
Ivanov and Romashets,1998].
Considering the data of the
Wind/Waves radiophysical experiment,
Gopalswamy et al. [[2000]
referred to this event as to a radio-rich event because there
presented in it not only the meter and kilometer, but also
type II
decameter and hectometer radiobursts.
It is desirable to continue the studies of this event in the
following directions:
First, on analogy with the 5-11 January 1997 event
[Ivanov et al.,2001a;
Ivanov et al., submitted manuscript, 2002]
the slow (from one rotation to
another) dynamics of the photospheric regions of the open field,
solar activity complexes and interplanetary medium structure
should be taken into account.
Second, pay attention to the fact that almost in all papers
cited above the interpretation and modeling of the near-Earth
disturbance is based on the consideration of only those solar
events which had been formed in AR 8038 after the 1n(C.1.3) flare
near the central meridian. The fact that these events could have
been altered in interactions in the activity complex was never
taken into account. Relating to this, we would note that the event
have occurred in the vicinity of the heliospheric current sheet
(HCS)
[Ivanov and Romashets, 1999;
Sanderson et al., 1998]
and that
between the active region and HCS an active ( L = 12o ) and dense
( I = 2 ) active filament of the ADF type was observed
(Solar-Geophysical Data, Boulder, NN 637-640, 1998). Therefore, on
the propagation path of the coronal mass ejection (CME) from the
Sun to the Earth an interaction of CME with ADF and HCS should have
occurred. Thus it is interesting to bear in mind that though the
kilometer radiobursts of the type II were observed by the Wind
satellite almost permanently till the arrival of the forward shock
wave to the Earth
(http://lep694.gsfc.nasa.gov/waves),
their intensity was very small
[Reiner et al., 1998],
especially
till about 1800 UT on 13 May. The latter fact makes it possible to
assume that they were screened by the plasma sheet on HCS
[Ivanov and Romashets, 2001].
Thus the presence of the activity complex (AR
+ ADF
+ HCS)
and the above-indicated interactions could be
manifested in the structure and dynamics of the near-Earth
disturbance, in particular, in the appearance of the disturbance
preliminary phase and magnetic cloud closely related to HCS
[Ivanov and Petrov, 1999;
Ivanov and Romashets, 1999;
Ivanov et al., 1999].
Third, pay attention to various approaches to modeling of the
near-Earth magnetic cloud in this disturbance: it is either a field
of the heliospheric electrojet on HCS
[Ivanov and Romashets,1999],
or a field of a powerless cylinder (part of a toroidal
configuration related to the bipolar group in AR)
[Watari et al., 2001;
Webb et al., 2000a].
Fourth, bear in mind that the problem of the plasma origin may be
related to the problem of the magnetic cloud origin. For example,
Webb et al. [2000a]
paid attention to the fact that in this
magnetic cloud neither "plasma density pulse" nor any sign of the
filament substance were observed contrary to the magnetic cloud in
the 10-11 January 1997 event
[Burlaga et al., 1998].
According to
the
Hudson et al. [1998]
estimates based on the dimensions of
"dimmings" in the soft X rays, the cloud contained only a small
part of the total mass of CME. These observations contradict to the
modeling of the initial configuration in which the filament
substance was located within the cloud (magnetic bundle)
[Gibson and Low, 2000].
It is possible that in this event the cloud is
closely related (not only spatially but also by its origin) to HCS
and presents an analog of rarefied plasmoids appearing in the
magnetotail during the reconnection process
[Kivelson and Khurana,1995].
In favor of this assumption probably is the fact that there
was no two-directional electron fluxes in the cloud
[Shodhan et al., 2000;
Webb et al., 2000a].
Fifth, clarify the reason of the discrepancy between the
directions of the magnetic axes of the bipolar group in AR to the
Sun and of the magnetic cloud near the Earth.
Webb et al. [2000a]
suggested that to the moment of its arrival to the Earth orbit the
cloud has turned around by
40o and shifted southward
by
30o from its initial position
such that the cloud axis became located
below the ecliptic plane. There is no such difficulty in the
alternate model of cloud generation on HCS
[Ivanov and Romashets,1999].
The paper contains
initial data and methods
in section 2,
section 3 is
dedicated to the dynamics of the photospheric open field, subsector
structure of the coronal field and solar activity phenomena,
section 4 is dedicated to the dynamics of the subsector structure of
the interplanetary medium, section 5 covers
the 12-16 May, 1997 events,
and section 6 is a discussion.
2. Initial Data and Methods
Figure 1
Figure 2
To determine the spherical coefficients of the Gauss series in one
of the versions of the solar magnetic field potential model with a
source surface
[Kharshiladze and Ivanov, 1994],
the observations of
the photospheric magnetic field at the Wilcox Solar Observatory
(http://sun.Stanford.edu/)
are used. Then the open (going
away into the interplanetary medium) lines of the magnetic field
are projected from the source surface (a spherical surface with
r = 2.5 R
from the center of the Sun) onto the photosphere using the
Levine et al. [1977]
method. In the process of such modeling, the
computer memorizes mutually-unambiguous relation between a
particular photospheric region of the open field (OR) and the
corresponding domain on the source surface. As a result, it becomes
possible to obtain synoptic maps of the Sun in the Mercator
projection. Combined on these maps are ensembles of photospheric
ORs and the subsector structure of the solar magnetic field with
the sector and intersector boundaries (Figures 1 and 2). Further,
the following data were put onto these maps: the boundaries of the
coronal holes in the FeXIV line observed at the Sacramento Peak
Observatory, magnetic fields of the sunspot groups observed at the
Kitt Peak Observatory, active filaments (Table 1), and flares
(Solar-Geophysical Data, Boulder, NN 637-640, 1998).
Then (1) a
piece of the disk with the width
DL = 150o
centered
at the Carrington longitude
L = 140o where the solar
activity events responsible for the near-Earth disturbance on
14-16
May
1997 were observed; and (2) slow (from one rotation to another)
dynamics of the open regions, solar activity events, and the sector
structure of the coronal field on the source surface were
considered on this piece of the disc during four Carrington
rotations (CR 1920-CR 1923: March-June 1997).
The data on the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and solar wind
plasma obtained on board the Wind satellite (the leading scientists
were P. Lepping and K. Ogilvie, http://cdaweb.gsfc.nasa.gov)
obtained in the scope of the International Solar-Terrestrial
Physics Program (ISTP) were used to study the dynamics of the
subsector structure of the interplanetary medium and the
correspondence of this dynamics to solar events. A special
attention has been paid to the
14-16
May
1997 disturbance.
3. Photospheric Open Regions, Solar Activity, and the
Field on the
Source Surface
The structure, configuration, and dynamics of the photospheric open
regions, solar activity events (coronal holes, filaments, and
active regions), and coronal magnetic field (sector and intersector
boundaries) on the source surface in the sequence of four Carrington
rotations CR 1920-CR 1923 are considered below.
The photospheric open field (closed circles) is mainly concentrated
in the polar caps (at the heliolatitudes
|F| 70o ).
The
positive and negative polarity lines are located in the Northern
and Southern
hemispheres, respectively.
However, part of the open lines exits outside the polar caps to
lower latitudes (the groups of larger circles designated as
+2 and
-1,
-2 in the
Northern and Southern
hemispheres, respectively).
Moreover, in the Northern hemisphere there is a low-latitude
photospheric open region designated as
+1.
The distance between ORs of opposite polarity,
r > R, manifests a
remote interaction between these ORs which allows for formation of
low-latitude coronal holes (thin curves) and active filaments (line
segments),as well as for a deformation of the sector boundary on
the source surface (solid curve)
[Ivanov et al., 2001b].
The coronal field on the source surface is mainly formed by the
open lines emerging from the polar caps. Moreover, there are several
subsectors ( +1;
+2;
-1;
-2 ) formed by the open lines going out from
the corresponding open photospheric regions shown on the map by
large black circles. The intersector boundaries on the source
surface (the boundaries of subsectors) are shown by thin lines.
It is worth noting the following: (1) The helioprojection of the
Earth passes through two low-latitude coronal holes formed by the
open lines emerging from the photospheric polar regions (from the
caps and OR
+2 and
-2 ).
Levine et al. [1977]
were the first to draw
attention to such specific low-latitude holes. (2) There are several
active filaments in the vicinity of the sector boundary. (3) There is
no active regions (except one very small region near the joint of
HCS and the
-2 intersector boundary). During this rotation, a very
durable (22-28 March) high-velocity flow was observed near the
Earth with complicated profiles of the velocity
V, concentration
n,
and temperature
T, the profiles indicating to a loading of the flow
by the filament substance.
On 15 April the following changes happened in the ensemble of ORs
on the piece of the solar surface considered: (1) in the Northern
hemisphere, OR
+2 disappeared, a high-latitude region was formed at
the OR
+1 meridian, and the OR
+1 region itself expanded northward
toward OR
+3; (2) in the Southern hemisphere, OR
-2 disappeared and OR
-1 was shifted eastward, its area increasing significantly.
Interactions between ORs of the opposite polarity determined by the
distance between the centers of OR
+1 and OR
-1 ( r > R ) still
remains a remote one. The field on the source surface is still
formed mainly be the open lines emerged form the polar caps.
However, the Earth's helioprojection goes though the subsector
structure of the coronal field formed by the open lines going out
from the OR
+1 and OR
-1 midlatitude parts of the photosphere.
The sector boundary is in a considerable nonequilibrium in the
sense that during the
8-11
April
and 12-17 April periods it is
formed by the oppositely directed open lines of the midlatitude OR
+1 and southern polar cap, and OR
-1 and the Northern cap,
respectively. As a result of this nonequilibrium, the sector
boundary gets bows to the north and south from the equator,
respectively.
The following
should be noted
1. Though the total area of the
low-latitude coronal holes was reduced as compared to CR 1920, a
small coronal hole in the vicinity of the joints of the sector and
subsector boundaries is visually seen. Nevertheless, this coronal
hole is still formed by the open lines going out from the OR
-1 photospheric region located at higher latitude that the this hole.
2. Below the subsector boundary of OR
-1, there appeared a low-latitude
active region 8032 of the new solar activity cycle. On 15 April at
1410 UT, there occurred a solar flare of a moderate (maximum)
optical ball SN(1N)/C1.0 in the point with the coordinates S23 E09
(Solar-Geophysical Data, Boulder, NN 637-640,
1998).
It is
interesting that the position of this flare relative the equator
and central meridian was almost mirror as compared to the 12 May
flare (see section 3.3) responsible for the prominent
near-Earth disturbance on 15 May 1997.
3. There was almost no
filaments in the vicinity of the Earth's helioprojection.
During this rotation near the Earth, as well as in CR 1920, a
high-velocity flow from the coronal hole was observed, the flow
having shorter duration and relatively smooth profiles of
V,
n, and
T.
In the Northern hemisphere,
almost complete
dissipation of OR
+1 happened, whereas OR
+3 was shifted eastward. In the
Southern hemisphere, there
further shifting of OR
-1 eastward and equatorward
happened. The interaction between ORs still is
remote, and the subsector structure on the source surface stays
almost unchangeable. The nonequilibrium of the sector structure is
mainly conserved.
The most significant change of the activity complex as compared
with CR 1921 was an appearance of an active filament and active
region in the vicinity of the joint between the sector and
intersector boundaries in addition to the coronal hole which
existed in the previous rotations. In the active region in the N23 W09
point a flare 1n(C.1.3) occurred at 0445 UT on 12 May 1997 and
initiated the solar-terrestrial disturbance on 12-16 May 1997.
Thus the very destabilization of the (A-AD-CH-HCS) activity
complex formed near the joint of the sector and intersector
boundaries between CD 1921 and CR 1922 became a cause of the
corresponding disturbances on 14-16 May 1997.
Therefore, to create a qualitatively correct scenario and MHD model
of this disturbance, one should take into account the entire
complex of the solar activity and the influence of its components
(coronal holes, filaments and heliospheric current sheet) on
generation and propagation of the shock wave, magnetic cloud, and
solar and galactic cosmic rays, whereas in the majority of the
papers dedicated to the 12-16 May 1997 event, only the sporadic
phenomena related to AR 8038 were taken into
account. The heliospheric current sheet was taken into account by
Sanderson et al. [1998] and
the current sheet and active filament were
taken into account by
Ivanov and Romashets [1999] and
Ivanov and Petrov [1999].
Lario [[2000]
noted that corresponding high-velocity
flow measured by Ulysses on 19 May 1997 was recurrent. Till now
nobody has considered the low-latitude coronal hole (Figure 2a) as
one of the sources of the near-Earth disturbance.
Comparing the CR 1922 and CR 1923 rotations, one can conclude that
in the space between OR
+3 and OR
-1 a decay of the
activity complex responsible for the 12-16 May 1997 disturbance
occurred.
Actually,
the active region with the bipolar group has
disappeared, though on the place of the complex there are still
observed two active filaments and a low-latitude coronal hole.
Their mutual position became less compact and their geometric
characteristics changed. These "remnants" of the complex still are
located near the joint of the sector and intersector boundaries,
but the former has a zero inclination relative the equator contrary
to CR 1922.
It is possible that the decay of this complex is related to two
events:
(1) to the energy loss in the May 1997 sporadic events
and (2) to the decrease of the energy income into the interaction
region of the pair of the OR
+3 and OR
-1 open regions. The latter
suggestion is confirmed by a depletion of the OR
+3 region area as
compared with the two previous rotations.
4. Dynamics of the Near-Earth Interplanetary Medium
Figure 3
Figure 4
Now we consider the corresponding sequence of the states of the
near-Earth interplanetary medium observed in the CR 1920 and CR 1923
rotations on board the Wind satellite (Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8). We would like to
demonstrate that the formation, destabilization, and decay of the activity
complex considered in section 3 are manifested in these disturbances.
The wind velocity is characterized by a well-pronounced dynamics. At
the initial stage of the complex development (CR 1920), there is a
complicated profile formed by a sequence of two flows. At the
formation and destabilization stages (CR 1921-CR 1922), there is a
high-velocity flow almost stable during 2 days in the duration,
intensity and profile shape. At the decay phase (CR 1923), there is
a stationary slow solar wind. It is worth noting that the
V profiles in the CR 1921 and CR 1922 rotations are so similar that
one can come to the conclusion
that there is an
absence of any influence of
the known sporadic events of 12 May 1997
[Hudson et al., 1998;
Plunkett et al.,1998;
Thompson et al., 1998;
Webb et al., 2000a, 2000b].
Evidently, this stability of the velocity profile is due to
the
fact that the dynamics of the solar wind velocity near the Earth
was mainly governed by the dynamics of the low-latitude coronal
holes responsible for this flow. Actually, in the beginning (CR 1920,
Figure 1a)
a sequence of two large holes was observed.
However, the first one is formed by the open lines from the polar
cap photosphere, whereas the second is screened from the Earth by
the heliospheric current sheet. Probably this fact predetermined
the low velocity in the first flow and the complicated profile of
the velocity in the second flow. The maximum velocity in the second
flow was caused by a break of the screening due to the Earth
crossing of the heliospheric current and entering the coronal hole.
During the two following rotations (CR 1921 and CR 1922) the
helioprojection of the Earth passed across the same coronal hole
which was stable in its shape and position and formed by the open
lines emerged from the midlatitude photosphere.
Thus the question arises, how the coronal mass ejection 12
of May
1997 influenced the velocity profile near the Earth? To answer this
question we should pay attention to fine features of the velocity
profile near the Earth in Figure 3.
Ivanov and Romashets [1999]
and
Ivanov and Petrov [1999]
paid attention to the fact that the
near-Earth disturbance of 14-16 May 1997 was characterized by a
three-phase time dynamics. A sequence of development (G), main (M),
and recovery (R) phases and also its manifestation in all
parameters of the solar wind plasma and IMF components are typical
for this dynamics. Figure 3 confirms the presence of the
three-phase dynamics in the velocity profiles observed during CR 1921 and
CR 1922.
One should note a small difference in the May and April (CR 1922)
profiles: (1) The development phase is better pronounced in April
than in May, (2) the main phase starts from the SI flow surface in
April and
Sf forward shock wave in May, (3) the directions of
the
velocity changes are different during the main phase: there is a
decrease in April soon after SI and a durable increase in May after
Sf, and (4) the flow is observed between the sector
and one of the
intersector (HCS and SB) boundaries in April and between two
intersector boundaries in May.
These differences may be interpreted (see also the concentration
and IMF profiles) as effects of a modification of the initial
high-velocity flow observed during the CR 1921 rotation (April) and
interactions in the (AR-CH-ADF-HCS) complex formed after the flow
destabilization in May 1997. These effects were (1) a formation of
slow, dense, and cool heliospheric plasma layer because of the
deceleration of the flow due to the ADF active filament on the HCS
current sheet, and (2) generation of the shock wave both due to some
acceleration of the flow from the coronal hole induced by the
energy input from CME of 12 May 1997 and to lowering of the
threshold for the generation of a rapid magnetosonic shock wave
while it was propagating though the dense and cold plasma of the
active filament.
To interpret qualitatively the velocity profiles in CR 1921
and
CR 1922, it is useful to take into account two factors, one
accelerating and the other decelerating the flow. The acceleration
could be caused by AR 8026 (S24 E09) and AR 8038 (N21 W09)
(Solar-Geophysical Data, Boulder, NN 637-640,
1998)
in which there
were observed flares of the sn and 1n balls on 16 April and 12 May,
respectively. The deceleration could be due to the phenomena of
"loading" of the high-velocity flows by the active filaments'
substance (Table 1).
4.2. Dynamics of the Profiles of the Solar Wind
Proton Concentration
(Figure 4)
The variations of
N in the high-velocity flow before and after the
solar activity complex destabilization (CR 1921 and CR 1922) are
the most interesting.
These profiles are similar, but there are also considerable
differences between them. First, a strong and durable increase of
the concentration in the head part of the flow was observed during
both rotations. However, in CR 1921 it was a rather smooth compact
variation with a sharp increase and smooth decrease, almost
entirely located on HCS (between the sector and subsector
boundaries, the latter in this rotation almost completely
coinciding with the flow surface). As for the increase in CR 1922,
it was a more irregular growth with a sharp depletion of the
concentration at the front boundary of the cloud. The increase
consisted of two parts: the increase during the development phase
of the disturbance (in front of HCS and shock front) and the
increase in the shock layer in front of the magnetic cloud.
Second, the concentration within the cloud is depleted in both
rotations. However, the concentration profile in CR 1921 is almost
flat ( N const), whereas this profile in
CR 1922 is irregular
with a decrease of
N in the magnetic cloud and a train of
high-amplitude fluctuations upward along the flow from the cloud.
This feature of the
N profile in CR 1922 may be qualitatively
explained by the presence of relatively dense heliospheric plasma
sheet formed in the interaction of ADF and HCS
[Ivanov and Romashets, 1999].
The latter (as it has been shown above, see
Figure 2a)
was adjacent to the low-latitude coronal hole. The
N profile in the previous rotation CR 1921 was more smooth since
in
this rotation, though a hole in the vicinity of HCS was observed,
there was no such powerful filament as ADF (Figure 1c).
Ivanov [[2001]
proposed calling such increase of the density
within high-velocity flows a "loading" by active filaments'
substance. Moreover, the high-velocity flow in question was "loaded"
by magnetic cloud as well. It should be noted that
Webb et al. [2000a]
indicated that this cloud is located in the front part of
the high-velocity flow, though they did nor discuss the nature of
this flow; it was presumed that the flow was a posteruptive flow
being part of the halo-like CME formed in AO 8038.
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8
4.3. Dynamics of IMF: Magnetic Cloud on Heliospheric
Current Sheet
At the stage of the activity complex development (CR 1920
and CR 1921),
the near-Earth satellites should have been located mainly in
the IMF negative sector (Figure 1). This statement is confirmed by
the IMF measurements at the Wind satellite (Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8).
Actually, the field almost all the time is directed sunward
( Bx >0 ) and westward ( By < 0 ).
Only during some short periods does the IMF
direction change to the opposite. The magnetic fluctuation level
is high, the fact additionally indicating that the satellite orbit
is close to HCS and that the latter is unstable. The
destabilization of the solar activity complex (CR 1922) initiated a
near-Earth disturbance during which the Wind satellite exited the
positive sector and (after triple crossing of the sector boundary
at 0038 UT, 0518 UT, and 0950 UT on 15 May) entered first the
magnetic cloud (0951 UT) and then, after exiting the cloud
(~2330 UT on 15 May) almost till 0300 UT of 17 May was located mainly
in the IMF negative sector ( Bx > 0,
By < 0 ). Therefore, the
magnetic cloud in the 15 May disturbance was located at the
heliospheric current sheet and its nature might have been closely
related to the magnetic field of this layer, the field of the
heliospheric electrojet
[Ivanov and Romashets, 1999].
The fact that
the cloud was close to HCS was not taken into account in the known
publications
[Watari et al., 2001;
Webb et al., 2000b]
dedicated to
modeling of this cloud by solving the inverse problem in which the
geometric characteristics of a powerless cylinder configuration are
determined from the experimental profiles of the
Bx,
By, and
Bz components.
Moreover, it was assumed in the above-mentioned publications that
the cloud was a magnetic bundle, a part of the coronal mass
ejection from AR 8038.
Below we consider in detail various properties of the
solar-interplanetary disturbance of 12-16 May 1997 including the
nature and modeling of the magnetic cloud.
5. Near-Earth Disturbances of the Interplanetary Medium
of
14-18 May 1997
The dynamics, structure, and configuration of the near-Earth
interplanetary disturbance of 14-18 May 1997 are considered in
this section in detail. The aim of the consideration is to reveal
characteristics of this disturbance which are detected
experimentally and can be used for testing various MHD models
oriented to this very disturbances.
5.1. Structure and Configuration of the Near-Earth Disturbance
The structure of this disturbance in the interplanetary medium near
the Earth was considered by
Ivanov and Petrov [1999],
Ivanov and Romashets [1999],
Ivanov et al. [1999],
and
Webb et al. [2000a].
Three phases of this disturbance were detected:
preliminary (the development phase G) (~0810 UT on
14 May-~0110 UT on 15 May), main phase M
(from 0110 UT on 15 May to ~0300 UT on 16 May),
and recovery phase R (after 0300 UT on 16 May).
It was shown that the G phase is a monotonic variations of
the IMF
components modulated by almost continuous train of nonlinear Alfvén
waves and rotational ruptures
[Ivanov and Petrov, 1999;
Ivanov et al., 1999].
It was suggested that the G phase is a preliminary
result of the interaction between ADF and HCS contained in the
activity complex in question (Figure 2a). Further on, the sporadic
coronal mass ejection CME from AR 8038 becomes involved
into the
interaction and the main phase of the disturbance occurs. Namely
during the main phase of the disturbance the shock wave and
magnetic cloud are observed. However, one should bear in mind that
the shock wave and cloud are interacting with HCS and slow dense
solar wind from the active filament ADF
[Ivanov and Romashets,1999].
Moreover, it was found (Figure 2a) that the high-velocity
flow from the low-latitude coronal hole CH also becomes involved
into interaction, so as a result we have in this disturbance a
complicated CME-CH-ADF-HCS interaction. This fact should be taken
into account in interpretation and modeling of this disturbance.
Below we consider in more detail the structure and configuration
of
the main phase of this disturbance.
Table 2
shows the results of determination of the
jN and
qN showing the direction of
the prevailing propagation of
nonlinear waves and ruptures (RDs) during the development phase of
the disturbance. Also presented in Table 2 are normals to the
heliospheric current sheet HCS1, HCS2, HCS3, and HCS4, to the
forward shock wave
Sf, and to the magnetic cloud boundary in the
entrance
RI and exit
RII points.
The scatter matrix method is used to determine these directions;
the coordinates are solar ecliptic. The normals to
Sf and
RI determined by
Berdichevsky et al. [[2000]
and calculated by us from
the magnetic cloud geometric characteristics obtained by
Webb et al. [2000a],
respectively, are marked by asterisks.
Figure 9
Figure 10
It follows from Table 2 that (1) the disturbance propagates
westward in its front part (1500 UT on 14 May-1000 UT on 15 May),
(2) the conclusion of
Webb et al. [2000a]
that the magnetic cloud
axis lies slightly below the ecliptic plane ( qN > 0 for the
normal to
RI and
qN < 0 for the normal to
RI ), is
confirmed, (3) a triple crossing of HCS (Figure 9) is observed, the
qN sign changing which makes
possible a schematic
presentation of the disturbance geometry shown in Figure 10, and
(4) after the first and third crossings of HCS, there were observed a
forward shock front
Sf and the magnetic cloud front boundary
RI,
which formed closely located pairs of the raptures HCS1-
Sf and
HCS2-
RI (Figures 9 and 10).
These results confirm the assumption that since the complicated
solar source of the disturbance included a piece of the
heliospheric current sheet( Figure 2a), this fact should have been
manifested in the structure of the near-Earth disturbance.
Certainly, an explicit MHD model should reproduce all the sequence
of the structural elements shown in Table 2.
Concluding, we note that the observed distance of the forward shock
wave from the front point of the cloud was in this disturbance
1.3 1012 cm
which (under the Mach number
M = 2.1 [Berdichevsky et al., 2000])
is very close to the theoretical value for a cloud
with a shape of a circular cylinder
[Belotserkovskiy, 1957].
However, the normals to
Sf and
RI are directed southward and
northward, respectively (Table 2), which provides difficulties in
connecting
Sf to the magnetic cloud.
5.2. Forbush Effect in the Galactic Cosmic Rays
Figure 11
Figure 11 shows variations of the density
A0 and anisotropy
Axy of the rigid (~10 GV) component of the galactic
cosmic rays
obtained by the global survey method from the neutron monitors
network. The variations consist of a gradual preincrease
(~1500-2400 UT on 14 May), more sharp fluctuations of the decrease and
increase (~0000-1000 UT on 15 May), the "main" depletion
(~1000-2400 UT on 15 May), a small smooth fluctuation of the
increase-decrease (0000-0600 UT on 16 May), and further slow
recovery.
The amplitude of the effect (~1-1.5%) is anomalously small
from the point of view of statistical relations with the
interplanetary medium characteristics
[Belov et al., 2001].
For
example, the expected values of the amplitude for the disturbance
of 15 May 1997 ( V max = 500 km s
-1,
B max = 25 nT) is
which is by a factor of 4.5 higher than the observed amplitude.
The temporal behavior of the amplitude is unusual since large-scale
Fluctuations of GCR with the amplitude comparable to that of the "main"
depletion has been observed both before and after the Forbush
decrease.
Thus the Forbush effect is anomalous by its amplitude and
unusual
by its shape. The galactic cosmic ray (GCR) variations were
compared to the MHD structure of the disturbance (Figures 9 and 10,
Table 2)
and led to the following conclusions: (1) The preincrease
was observed in the negative IMF sector from the moment of the
sharp decrease of the propagation direction of the nonlinear MHD
waves and raptures (RD) to the moment of crossing HCS1, entering the IMF
positive sector, and arrival of the shock front. (2) The sharp
fluctuations of the increase, decrease, and again increase of
A0 almost coincided with the moments of the HCS1, HCS2, and HCS3
crossings of the heliospheric current sheet, respectively, and were
observed within the positive, negative, and again positive IMF
sectors. (3) The "main" depletion was observed within the magnetic
cloud ( RI-RII ).
The nature of the Forbush effect being closely related to the MHD
structure of the near-Earth disturbance, is nevertheless still
obscure.
The preincrease has the most clear interpretation as a typical
event caused by the reflection and acceleration of particles at the
shock front
[Dorman et al., 1970;
Ruffolo, 1999;
Ruffolo et al.,1999].
For the model with an exponential decrease of
A0 upward the flow
from
Sf [Ruffolo, 1999]
one can write
where
B and
C are constants,
Z is the coordinate perpendicular to
the front,
k is a spatial scale of the preincrease (equal to
D/U in
the theory and evaluated in the experiment as
Vsft where
D,
U,
Vsf, and
t are the diffusion coefficient, the solar wind
velocity in the shock front coordinate system and along the magnetic
field, and the duration of the preincrease. In the event in
question:
Vsf =380 km s
-1,
t = 12 hours,
k-1 = 1.5 1012 cm,
D 3.5
1019 cm
2 s
-1,
and the transport path of particles
with rigidity 10 GV
l II = 3D/C 3.5 1012 cm. Moreover,
DA0
1% in this event (Figure 11)
and the ratio of the tangential
components of the magnetic field at the shock front is
Bt 2)/Bt
1 4 and agrees by a factor of 2 with the
theoretical model of the preincrease
[Ruffolo, 1999].
Still more difficult is the problem of interpretation of the GCR
variations after the shock front passage. In general, one can
conclude that these variations are due to the GCR interaction with
the "crimped" HCS and magnetic cloud. A complete answer requires a
knowledge on how the specific MHD disturbance structure has
occurred. In general, it is clear that it was formed as a result of
the interaction with the HCS of the high-velocity flow activated by
CME from AR 8038 (see
sections 4.1-4.3). However a specific
scenario of the formation of this structure still is obscure. One
of the possibilities is to assume that the entire complicated
structure of the MHD disturbance, including the "crimped" HCS and
magnetic cloud, has been formed in the interaction of the activated
high-velocity flow with HCS. This scenario is close to the one
suggested earlier by
Ivanov and Romashets [1999].
In the second
version, the "crimped" HCS (but not the magnetic cloud) and
corresponding fluctuations of GCR could have appeared in a
collision with HCS of the magnetic cloud which has come from AR 8038.
It is a modification of the
Webb et al. [2000a]
scenario in
which HCS was not taken into account.
Thus unusual shape of the Forbush effect provides no arguments in
favor of this or that hypothesis of the magnetic cloud origin.
At the same time, the properties of the Forbush variations found
above and their relation to the MHD disturbance confirm a need to
take into account the SME interaction with HCS while interpreting
and modeling this disturbance.
The anomalously small amplitude of the Forbush effect also
cannot
be a serious argument in favor or against any of the
above described hypotheses, though we think that this amplitude is
more consistent with the model of the cloud formation on HCS.
Relating to this, we emphasize that the "main" depletion of
A0 in
the magnetic cloud (Figure 11) looks in this event as a normal
decrease typical for the entire IMF positive sector. Actually, if
one takes into account the sequence of three GCR decreases in the
positive sector (the fluctuation behind
Sf, the "main" depletion
in the magnetic cloud, and the decrease after ~0400 UT on 16 May),
then the "main" depletion has an intermediate value by the
amplitude which indicate to a recovery of
A0 after the strongest
decrease up to 1.5% in the sharp fluctuation behind the shock
front.
To chose the hypothesis of the magnetic cloud origin, it
would have
been useful to consider in detail the variations of all the
components of the anisotropy vector
A1. Figure 11 shows the
amplitudes of its components in the ecliptic plane
Axy. Within the
cloud the amplitudes fall down to the minimum value at the nearest
distance from the cloud axis.
In this event a considerable component
Az 1% directed
northward was observed during the entire period of the cloud
passage. Thus one can make a preliminary conclusion that the data
on the anisotropy vector variations are in favor of the hypothesis
of the cloud formation on HCS, for example as a result of the
mechanism which is proposed to explain formation of plasmoids in
the magnetospheric tail
[Kivelson and Khurana, 1995]:
reconnection
under a tiring-instability in the neutral layer.
The Forbush effects of this disturbance were studied also in the
integral ( E > 50 MeV) GCR flux on the basis of the observations at
the SOHO satellite
[Makela et al., 1998]
and in the
ultra-relativistic part of the spectra on the basis of the data of
the muon telescope network
[Munakata et al., 2000].
5.3. Radiobursts of Type II
This event is considered as a rare radio-rich event
[Gopalswamy et al., 2000]
because of the presence in it together with the meter
and kilometer radiobursts also of the deka- and hectometer
radiobursts. According to the observations on board the Wind
satellite
(http://lep694.gsfc.nasa.gov/waves), there is no smooth
transition between these wave ranges, whereas in the interplanetary
medium the burst is weak and discontinuous
[Reiner et al., 1998],
the fact allowing us to assume that it was screened by the
heliospheric plasma layer
[Ivanov and Romashets, 2001].
The weak radioburst at the frequency
f0
150 kHz occurred in
the interplanetary medium about 1800 UT on 13 May and lasted with
some variations of the spectrum and small interruptions till ~0300 UT
on 14 May. In the interval between 0300 and 0300:30 UT a rapid
decrease of the frequency down to
f1 90 kHz was observed
with
a transition to a very narrow emission band. These variations in
the spectrum may be interpreted as a crossing by the shock front of
a sharp boundary from more dense and inhomogeneous medium to less
dense and more homogeneous medium. (If we estimate the density
change approximately as the ratio of the frequencies squared, we
obtain the density decreases by approximately a factor of 2.5.) For
example, the above fact might have been interpreted as an arrival
of the shock wave into the vicinity of the heliospheric current
layer or rarefied magnetic cloud.
6. Discussion
Below we briefly discuss the results of the papers in the following
topics: solar sources, near-Earth disturbances,
solar-interplanetary phenomena, and modeling. The accent is made
upon the particular results and problems of the study of the 12-18 May 1997
disturbance.
6.1. Solar Sources
Analyzing the complex of solar, interplanetary and near-Earth data
we show in this paper that (1) the active complex
AR(sf)-CH-ADF-HCS, i.e., a complex solar source, was a cause of the
near-Earth disturbance; and (2) this active complex was formed near the
"joint" of the sector and intersector boundaries of the model
coronal magnetic field on the source surface as a result of slow
dynamics of the photospheric regions of the open field of the Sun.
These results specify ideas on the solar source of the near-Earth
disturbance as compared both with the publications in which only
the active region AR 8038 with the
sf flare and small active
filaments in this region is taken into account
[e.g.,
Webb et al., 2000b],
and with the
Ivanov and Romashets [1999],
who did not take
the low-latitude coronal hole CH in the Fe XIV line
into account.
Certainly, in the source (especially on the Sun) the most
pronounced were the sporadic phenomena in AR 8038 (flare, Morton
wave, CME)
[Hudson et al., 1998;
Plunkett et al., 1998;
Sheeley et al., 1999;
Thompson et al., 1998;
Webb et al., 2000b];
however,
the input of these sporadic events into the near-Earth disturbance,
in our mind, needs specification. Also the input into this
disturbance of the interactions of SME with HCS, ADF, and CH should
be taken into account. This particular event confirms the tendency
(which has been formed during the recent decade) to interpret the
majority of near-Earth disturbances as complicated events with
inputs from complex solar sources
[Bravo et al.,1998;
Crooker and McAlister, 1997;
Gonzalez et al., 1996;
Ivanov, 1996].
According to the terminology suggested by
Ivanov [1998],
the 12-18 May 1997 disturbance was a
flare-hole-filament-strimmer one.
This event is the third in a series the events studied in which a
complex solar source is formed near the joint of the sector and
intersector boundaries as a result of slow dynamics of the
photospheric regions OR of the open solar field. In two other
cases, in July 2000
[Ivanov and Kharshiladze, 2002]
and January
1997
(Ivanov et al., submitted manuscript, 2002)
this fact was also emphasized. The
tendency of activity complex to appear in the interaction region of
ORs in the vicinity of sector and intersector boundaries
[Ivanov et al., 2001b],
in our opinion, agrees with the results which indicate
to a frequent appearance of CME at the intersector chains of
coronal streamers
[Eselevich,1995;
Fainshtein, 1997;
Hundhausen,1993].
The problem of the interactions in a complex source which may begin
on the Sun and be continued in the interplanetary medium till the
arrival to the Earth orbit, is very important. In this event the
source consist of closely located AR, ADF, HCS, and CH, and so one
could expect a manifestation of these interactions in the data of
solar observations.
One of such interactions (AR-HCS-CH) could, in our opinion,
be
manifested in the strong nonhomogeniety of the UV radiation front
which propagated over the entire solar disc with the Morton wave
after the flare at 0443 UT on 12 May
[Thompson et al.,
1998, Figure 2].
Thompson et al.
noted only the increase in the emission
and deceleration of the part of the front propagated northward, the
fact being interpreted as an interaction of the shock wave with the
north polar coronal hole. To complete, we compare Figure 2 of
Thompson et al. [1998]
to Figure 2a
of this paper and note
that the largest irregularity in the emission (at 0450-0507 UT in
the solar disk segment with
DF = 15o,
DL 20o and with the center at
F = S5,
L = W10 from
the flare meridian) almost completely covers the nearest to the
Earth piece of HCS and the low-latitude CH which were part of the
considered solar activity complex. This fact may be considered as
an indication to an interaction of the shock wave with HCS and CH
and to possible consequences of this interaction (besides the
nonhomogeneous front of the UV radiation, those are also a
formation of the magnetic bundle
[Gosling, 1990;
Marubashi, 1986]
and of the HCS bow
[Wu and Dryer, 1997]).
This fact has not been
taken into account in the MHD modeling of the Morton wave in the
12 May 1997 event.
Wu et al.'s [[2001]
Figure 4
shows a
comparison of the observations of the UV radiation front
[Thompson et al., 1998]
with the simulation results obtained under an
assumption that the wave propagates in a medium with constant
values of the density and temperature. As a result, the model front
was homogeneous in all directions, including southwestward from
the flare where the filament was located and a strong
nonhomogeniety of the emission was observed. Finally, modeling a
near-Earth disturbance, various alternatives should be considered
of the formation of the magnetic cloud observed
in
the near-Earth disturbance
[Ivanov and Romashets, 1999;
Makela et al., 1998;
Shodhan et al., 2000;
Watari et al., 2001;
Webb et al.,2000a, 2000b].
6.2. Near-Earth Disturbance
The near-Earth disturbances in the interplanetary medium on
14-16 May 1997 have been studied relatively weakly. The main attention
has been paid to the MHD structure of the development phase of this
disturbance
[Ivanov and Petrov, 1999;
Ivanov et al., 1999],
to
local models of the magnetic clouds based on the ideas on the
heliospheric electrojet field
[Ivanov and Romashets, 1999]
and on
powerless field of a circular cylinder
[Watari et al., 2001;
Webb et al., 2000a],
and also to the energetic particles
[Lario et al., 2000;
Makela et al., 1998;
Munakata et al., 2000;
Sanderson et al.,1998;
Shodhan et al., 2000;
Torsti et al., 1998].
It was assumed in the very beginning that this is a complicated
disturbance from the complicated solar source with the flare,
active filament and heliospheric current sheet
[Ivanov and Romashets, 1999].
Later it was found (see sections 3-4) that it is
not enough, since we are dealing with a recurrent high-velocity
flow form a low-latitude coronal hole modified by the interactions
in the AR-CH-ADF-HCS complex.
However, this fact does not exclude the question on the magnetic
cloud origin in May 1997. It was shown in section 4 that the cloud
was observed on HCS and so, besides the assumption that the cloud
is a magnetic bundle, a part of CME from AR 8038
[Gibson and Low, 2000;
Webb et al., 2000a],
it is desirable to bear in mind a
possibility of generation of this cloud on HCS in the AR-CH-ADF-HCS
complex by one of the mechanisms discussed in literature
[Gosling,1990;
Ivanov and Romashets, 1999;
Kivelson and Khurana, 1995;
Marubashi, 1986;
Wu and Dryer, 1997].
It is significant that contrary to the 5-12 January 1997
events
(Ivanov et al., submitted manuscript, 2002)
the determination of the normal to the cloud
at the point of the entrance of the Wind satellite based on the
geometric characteristics of a circular cylinder cloud in the
Webb et al. [2000a] and
Watari et al. [[2001]
calculations does not
contradict the determination of the normal by the scatter matrix
method (Table 2).
The cloud was neither strongly deformed nor
strongly compressed, so the usual method of looking for
configuration characteristics from the IMF components
[Burlaga,1988]
is applicable to this cloud. The absence of a strong "density
pulse" at the cloud rear wall and a Forbush increase of the GCR
intensity within the cloud in the May event provide additional
confirmation of the assumption on a significantly different degree
of compression of these clouds. The latter means that the May cloud
should not be classified as a "superexpanding" cloud in which
strong currents at the cloud boundary and deviations of the cloud
shape from a cylinder should be taken into account
[Cargill et al., 2000;
Schmidt and Cargill, 2001].
However, the position of the forward shock wave relative the front
boundary of the cloud does not agree completely with the
Berdichevsky et al. [[2000]
assumption that this is a deflected wave
under a quasi-stationary flowing around with the Mach number
M = 2. Actually, the normals to
Sf and
RI diverge by
30o and are
directed southward and northward, respectively. This means that
during 8.5 hours between the crossings of
Sf and
RI either the
magnetic cloud turned to the south by a jump or the wave changed
its direction sharply while crossing HCS or the cloud was not a
generator of this wave.
There is one more "configuration" problem of relation of
this cloud
to a solar source. It looks like the following.
Webb et al. [2000a]
came to the conclusion that the cloud axis lies southward from the
Earth below the ecliptic plane. Our determinations by different
methods confirm this conclusion (Table 2). To agree the position of
AR 8038 (N23 W09) as a possible source of this cloud with the
position of the cloud axis one has to suggest that on its way from
the Sun to the Earth the cloud was shifted southward almost by
30o and turned anticlockwise by 50-
60o [Webb et al., 2000a].
No particular evidences have been presented in favor of these
suggestions except the reference to the rotation in the proper
direction of the active filament from this AR. In the cloud models
oriented to its origin on HCS (for example, in the model with the
heliospheric electrojet
[Ivanov and Romashets,1999])
the problem
is easily eliminated since in the cloud observation, moment HCS in
this event was located southward from the Earth (see section 4).
If we discuss the hypothesis on the shift and turn of the cloud, we
should pay attention to the following: (1) the CME-halo was more
bright at the north and east than at the south and west
[Plunkett et al., 1998];
(2) some role was played by the interaction of the
coronal shock wave with the HCS and CH located south-westward (this
fact is manifested by the strong nonhomogeniety of the Morton wave
[Thompson et al., 1998,
Figure 2];
this interaction, in
particular, could have generated the reflected wave pushing the
cloud from AR 8038 northeast; (3) one has to agree the spheromack
model by
Gibson and Low [[2000]
who applied
it to AR 8038
AR in which the magnetic bundle (cloud) in the initial position was
located along the neutral line of AR, whereas in the interpretation
of
Webb et al. [2000a]
the initial position of the cloud was
perpendicular to this line.
What was happening with this disturbance on the way from the Sun to
the Earth one can only assume on the basis of the Forbush effects
observed at the network of neutron monitors (see
section 5.2)
and muon telescopes
[Munakata et al., 2000]
and also on board the
SOHO satellite
[Makela et al., 1998].
These were observations of
the particles with the rigidity of about 10 GV, 16-890 GV, and the
integral flux of the particles with the rigidity above 50 MeV,
respectively. It would be interesting to compare these results to
the measurements in the spectrum of the kilometer emission of type
II (see
section 5.3).
The first thing we would like to point out to is an astonishing
coincidence of the moments of the integral GCR flux preincrease
observed on board SOHO
[Makela et al., 1998]
with the moment of the
appearance of a weak kilometer radioburst of type II (see
section 5.3). This coincidence occurred at about 1800 UT on 13 May
and may be interpreted as a very quick reaction of GCR at the
distance of ~0.5 AU from the Sun. Further on, till the arrival of
the shock front to the Earth, the particle density increased by
about 4%. Contrary to the Forbush effects in the ultrarelativistic
part of the spectrum, the density variations in the integral flux
behaved in agreement with the statistically mean characteristics
[Belov et al., 2001]:
a two-step (at the shock wave and in the
magnetic cloud) decrease was observed, and the expected value of the
decrease amplitude (~7%) was reached.
It is worth also noting that the beginning of the rigid GCR
preincrease (~1500 UT on 14 May, see Figure 11) was close to the
time of the sharp change of the propagation direction of the
nonlinear MHD oscillations (RDs in Table 2). Not long before that
(0300-0400 UT on 14 May) a sharp reconstruction of the spectrum of
the
type II
radioburst
occurred according to the observations on
board the Wind satellite (see
section 5.3). It is possible that
these events indicate the fact that
shortly before its arrival to the Earth
the interplanetary wave
took part in the
interaction with large-scale irregularities of the interplanetary
medium (magnetic cloud, HCS); however, the exact physical sense of
these interactions is still obscure.
An explanation of the cloud spirality may present a difficulty in
the hypothesis of the cloud formation on HCS. In this case
(according to the spirality rules for the solar cycle
[Bothmer and Schwenn,1998])
it was a left-spiral SEN cloud
[Webb et al.,2000a].
The cloud spirality near the Earth is easily explained by
the magnetic field spirality of the bipolar group in AO 8038
[Webb et al., 2000a];
however, it is not clear which should be the
spirality of the cloud generated on HCS. In relation to this we
note that the same problem with the spirality appears in
the work by
Mulligan et al. [[2001],
who have found a cyclic variation in the
positive correlation between the directions of the magnetic clouds
axes and the HCS inclination to the equator plane. In the event in
question, the magnetic cloud could have been formed at the part of
HCS formed by remote interactions of the pair of open regions
+3/-1 (Figure 2a),
which have the same longitudinal shift as the sunspots
of the bipolar group in AR 8038. Probably, solving this problem,
one would be able to explain the spirality of the magnetic cloud on
15 May 1997 without denying the assumption on its generation on
HCS.
6.3. Scenario and Model of the Disturbance
This event is presented above as consisting of a slow phase of
gradual formation of the activity complex and rapid phase of this
complex destabilization with a strong disturbance in the space
between the Sun and the Earth.
Obviously, currently there is not enough either experimental data
nor theoretical concepts which would make it possible to describe
and model the entire chain of the events unambiguously and in
detail. The most problematic
aspect remains
the description and
explanation of the events during the slow phase. It is suggested
[Ivanov et al., 2001b]
that the photospheric regions of the modelled
magnetic field of the Sun together with large-scale background
magnetic fields
[Bumba and Howard, 1965]
are a result and
manifestation of giant modes of the convective instability
[Fox et al., 1998;
Simon and Weis, 1968;
Wilson, 1987, 1992;
Wilson et al.,1990;
Yoshimaru, 1971],
the interactions between them generating
solar activity complexes. This view on the origin and role of the
open magnetic field of the Sun is an alternate hypothesis on
generation of the open field in the active solar regions
[Leigton,1964;
Wang et al., 2000].
Not rasing a discussion on this
fundamental problem, we would like to draw attention to the fact
that (as shown in
sections 3.2 and 3.3) the appearance
of the relatively separated open regions OR
-1,
+2, and
+3 (Figures 1
and 2) and their tendency to a convergence preceded by almost one
rotation the appearance of AR 8026 and 8038 and formation of the
activity complex.
One more perspective approach to the interpretation of the dynamics
of the photospheric regions of the open magnetic field of the Sun
could be based on the concept of the Rossbi waves generated in the
convective zone of the Sun and having the characteristic linear
dimensions close to those of OR ( 0.5 R )
and a similar life-time
(about 10 solar rotations)
[Gilman,1969;
Tikhomolov and Mordvinov,1997].
The rapid phase scenario has more reliable and various experimental
backgrounds than the slow phase scenario and makes some elements of
modeling possible. It is mainly true for the events near the Sun
and Earth. The data and ideas on what has been happening in the
outer corona and interplanetary state still are limited and
controversial.
In the scenario of the rapid phase which started on 12 May 1997
with sporadic events in AR 8038
[Gopalswamy et al., 2000;
Hudson et al., 1998;
Plunkett et al., 1998;
Thompson et al., 1998;
Webb et al., 2000a, 2000b],
it is assumed (see sections 3 and 4) that in the
vicinity of AR 8038 AR and the helioprojection of the Earth, there
were located an active filament, part of the heliospheric current,
and low-latitude coronal hole, all of them forming a united
activity complex (Figure 2a).
Because of that, the sporadic disturbances formed in AR 8038 should
have interacted with the above indicated structural formations and
the results of this interactions could have been manifested: in the
strong inhomogeneity of the Morton wave front (see
section 6.1)
in the vicinity of the photosphere; in decameter and hectometer
radioemission in the outer corona; in the sharp changes of the
spectrum of the kilometer radioburst of type II (see
section 5.3); in multiple crossings of HCS associated with the forward
shock wave and magnetic cloud in the near-Earth environment; and in
the anomalous Forbush effect in the MHD and GCR precursors of the
disturbance (see
sections 5.1-5.2).
Certainly, the observations by
Gopalswamy et al. [[2000],
Hudson et al. [1998],
Lara et al. [[2000],
Plunkett et al. [1998],
Sheeley et al. [1999],
Thompson et al. [1998],
and
Webb et al. [2000a, 2000b]
quite definitely show that AR 8038 was a source of the coronal mass
ejection with the shock wave, magnetic cloud, ejection of a small
filament, and posteruptive flow from the transient coronal holes.
So one can assume that near the Earth was observed the same CME
which had started from AR, if on the way to the Earth the cloud had
shifted southward by almost
30o and turned around the
longitudinal axis by
45o [Webb et al., 2000a].
The above mentioned condition is, in our opinion, the weakest point
of this scenario. Moreover,
neither the
complicated
complex of solar sources
indicated above
nor possible interactions and their
consequences, especially in the near-Earth space, are taken into
account in this scenario. Nevertheless, the scenario worth further
study
due to
both
the direct relation to the observed properties
of AR 8038 (the comparison of magnetic clouds in AR and in the
magnetic cloud, cloud spirality according to the Bothmer and Rusta
rule) and the fact that the interactions and detailed features
of the near-Earth disturbance found in this paper partially are
able to be agreed with the
Webb et al. [2000a]
scenario. For
example, if the consequences of the HCS collision with the magnetic
cloud from AR were observed near the Earth, then one can consider
as a result of this collision the multiple crossings of HCS in
front of the front cloud boundary accompanied by large-amplitude
fluctuations of the MHD parameters and GCR intensity (Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11).
A different scenario of these disturbances is known in which the
complexity of the source was taken into account, possible
interactions were discussed, and it was suggested that the magnetic
cloud was originated on HCS and may be presented as a heliospheric
electrojet field
[Ivanov and Romashets, 1999].
Taking into account the results of this study, this scenario may be
presented in the following way.
1. On 12 May CME (the forward wave, magnetic cloud, posteruptive
flow) starts from AR 8038, the south-western flank immediately
interacting with ADF, HCS, and CH, this fact being manifested in
the strong inhomogeneity of the Morton wave front [Thompson et al., 1998]
and occurrence of the
deca- and hectometer radiobursts of type II
[Gopalswamy et al., 2000].
2. A new magnetic cloud (an analog of a plasmoid in the
magnetotail
[Kivelson and Khurana, 1995])
is born near the Sun in
the CME-HCS interaction act and is captured into the high-velocity
flow from the low-latitude coronal hole CH loaded by the substance
of the active filament ADF.
3. The forward shock wave attenuates
strongly, a return wave is formed, the magnetic cloud is pushed out
of AR northeastward. This fact is manifested by the almost
complete disappearance of the II-type radiobursts
[Reiner et al.,1998]
(see
section 5.3) and a high intensity of the halo in its
northeastern part
[Plunkett et al., 1998].
4. The posteruptive
flow from AR overtake the slower "loaded" high-velocity flow from
CH and accelerates it with formation of a shock wave in the region
of the interaction of these flows. These facts are confirmed by the
occurrence of the kilometer radioburst of type II at about 1800 UT
on 13 May and correspond to the
Gopalswamy et al. [1998]
hypothesis
on generation of kilometer radiobursts in two-flow interaction
acts.
5. At ~0300 UT on 14 May the newly generated wave reaches the
rear wall of the magnetic cloud and enters it (that is confirmed by
the sharp change of the spectrum of the radioburst of type II, see
section 5.3), compresses and accelerates the cloud.
6. Subsequently, the acceleration of the cloud associated
with HCS
leads to oscillations ("crimping") of HCS (Figure 10) with a
formation of a magnetic "mirror" responsible for the preincrease of
GCR (Figure 11)
and GCR fluctuations in front of the front boundary
of the cloud.
The problem of the near-Earth cloud origin still stays under
discussion; however, it seems necessary to take into account the
complicated source and interactions in a qualitative scenario of
the 12-16 May 1997 disturbances to formulate a set of experimental
limitations to the results of MHD modeling of such simple (at the
first sight) events of solar-terrestrial physics.
7. Conclusion
Applied to the solar-interplanetary disturbance of 12-18 May 1997,
a possibility is demonstrated to study complicated solar sources,
structure, configuration, and dynamics of near-Earth disturbances
using slow dynamics of the photospheric regions of the open lines
of the magnetic field of the Sun and a broad complex of solar
observations and measurements in the interplanetary medium.
Is shown that (1) the compact activity complex formed in April-May
1997 in the vicinity of the "joint" between the sector and
intersector boundaries of the magnetic field on the source surface
was a cause of the disturbance in question; (2) the complex included
also an active region, active filament outside this region, and
coronal hole; (3) the complex generated in the interplanetary medium
a high-velocity magnetoplasma flow with the life-time of about 4
solar rotations (from the birth to the decay);
(4) an interplanetary
disturbance with the three-phase temporal dynamics typical for the
disturbances in the vicinity of the heliospheric current sheet was
observed in April-May 1997 near the Earth; (5) the destabilization of
the 12 May 1997 complex led to a significant modification of the
near-Earth disturbance: to the appearance of a forward shock wave
and magnetic cloud, to the multiple crossings of the heliospheric
current sheet and to the flow acceleration; and (6) the close relation
of the magnetic cloud to the heliospheric current layer, its
geometric characteristics, and anomalously low amplitude of the
Forbush decrease make possible an assumption that the magnetic
cloud have been formed as a result of a reconnection of the
magnetic field in the neutral layer of the heliospheric current
layer.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to R. Lepping, K. Ogilvie,
and the CDA Web group for the data of IMF and plasma
measurements on board the Wind satellite, V. Kaiser for the data on
the radiobursts of type II obtained in the Wind/Waves experiment,
T. Hoeksema for the data of the measurements of the photospheric
magnetic field on board WSO, and A. I. Zavoykina for her help in
preparation of the paper. This work was supported by EU/INTAS-ESA
(project 99-00-727) and the Russian Federation Program "Astronomy". | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Google Pixel 2 XL Comes With A 6-Inch P-OLED Screen
Google Pixel 2 XL Comes With A 6-Inch P-OLED Screen
Google moved away from the “high-performance on budget” philosophy of the Nexus phones to embrace the premium phone segment. Unveiled last year, the Pixel line-up was Google’s answer to the iPhone. Now a year later it has announced its new flagship phone, dubbed as Google Pixel 2 XL.
In times when most brands are going for bezel-less screens, the thick bezels on the Pixel XL look like an eyesore. The phone features a unibody aluminium construction and the rear design is reminiscent of the older Pixel phones. This time around, it does come with a water-resistant body.
The Pixel 2 XL sports a 6-inch Quad HD+ pOLED display with an 18:9 aspect ratio. The display is protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 5. Under the hood, is a Snapdragon 835 SoC. It comes with 4 GB LPDDR4X RAM. The Pixel 2 XL will be available in two storage options: 64 GB and 128 GB. It also features a microSD card slot. The Pixel 2 Xl gets a bigger capacity battery than its sibling which is a 3520 mAh one which powers the device and its pixels on the screen.
Unlike the latest iPhone or Galaxy phones, the Pixel 2 XL comes with a conventional single lens camera setup. You get a 12.2 MP f/1.8 camera with OIS (Optical Image Stabilisation) and EIS (Electronic image Stabilisation). Google uses AI (Artificial Intelligence) to tweak the settings and get better shots. The 8 MP selfie camera also supports these tricks.
The Pixel 2 XL ships with Android Oreo 8.0. The phone will be available in Just Black version and a Black & White. The 64 GB version is priced at $849. You will have to spend $949 for 128 GB storage. At this point, Google has not revealed prices for India. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Internal Audits
Gap analysis, to determine your extent of compliance. We can combine a gap analysis with a comprehensive risk assessment to determine your current risks of non-compliance and provide a pathway to compliance that is prioritized by risk.
Routine periodic audits of quality systems.
External and Supplier Audits
For supplier qualification and due-diligence purposes, we’ve audited the following types of operations:
Manufacturers of APIs, biologics, and device and diagnostic components, both within and ex-US
Contract Manufacturing Organizations, including those for production of biologics, injectables, solid dosage forms, devices, and diagnostics | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Roundrugs
Round-Rugs.com.au
Round Rugs provides the best selection of Round Rugs, modern/contemporary rugs, Oriental and area rugs. They strive to deliver the highest quality and the most beautiful prices at competitive prices.
Website :
We realised about 10 years ago that there was a real lack of good quality, well selected round rugs. Since then we have continued to track closely developments in the technique and aligned ourselves with the best weavers in India, Turkey, Afghanistan and beyond to ensure that we deliver beautifully selected round rugs. We strive to deliver the highest quality and the most beautiful prices at competitive prices. We have an unbeatable selection of high quality new oriental rugs and carpets.
News. Products. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
George Weeks, a member of the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame, for 22 years was the political columnist for The Detroit News and previously with UPI as Lansing bureau chief and foreign editor in Washington.
As Gov. Rick Snyder gears for a second term bid a year from now, there are many substantive issues to be examined—Right to Work, Detroit’s bankruptcy, funding for schools and roads, lack of transparency of his NERD office fund and other issues raised by Democratic State Chairman Lon Johnson and Mark Schauer, Snyder’s challenger-in-waiting.
Focus here today is on a non-substantive issue that has sparked renewed recent interest: why is Snyder about the only Michigan governor (other than Jennifer Granholm) to make periodic official public appearances without wearing a tie?
Turns out, Snyder has just publicly addressed the issue in a Kalamazoo speech.
I was prompted to examine the issue after seeing a two-page Oct. 19-20 Wall Street Journal spread headlined: “The Tie is Dead. … No longer a strict requirement for the power elite, the necktie has been fading from the corporate dress code. Can the new generation of menswear aficionados keep it safe from extinction.”
Under a “TO KNOT, OR NOT” headline, the paper ran a picture of President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and three other tie-less world leaders at June’s G-8 Summit in Northern Ireland, tie-less at the behest of Cameron. All had dark suits or sport coats, as does Snyder when tieless at public events.
Early in Obama’s presidency, Esquire magazine asked: “Obama Wears His Suit Without a Tie. Can You?
In response to my subsequent inquiry last week, Dave Murray, Snyder’s deputy press secretary, said, “your timing is perfect. The governor told a Kalamazoo audience on Wednesday evening about his decision to not wear ties.
“Celebrating the Southwest Michigan Innovation Center’s 10th anniversary, the governor recalled a gathering of innovators and entrepreneurs years ago. He said he looked out into the crowd and saw a room full of men and just three women. All the men were dressed exactly the same, wearing suits and ties.
“The governor said innovators need to be different and think differently. They need to be bold and they need to challenge the way things normally work to find new and better ways. He said the idea came to him to take off the tie, breaking from accepted practice at the time.”
Murray, once with the Grand Rapids Press and as a Lansing Bureau MLive reporter at the end of Snyder’s first year in office, recalled asking him then about the tie issue:
“He told me — with a smile — there are some exceptions to going tieless-weddings, funerals and after 6 p.m. at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. He quickly added that he often wears one in the state Capitol because the House of Representatives has a dress code. I’ve noticed he wears one when representing Michigan in other countries and other times when it would be appropriate.”
Murray said of the tie policy: “It’s a philosophy that’s carried over into his role as governor. Gov. Snyder looks at things we’ve always done and tries to think differently to make them better. He’s an innovative problem-solver and the state has made tremendous strides under his leadership.”
That touting comment underscores that Murray clearly has made the transition from covering politicians to being a spokesman for one.
I understand the revolving door between journalism and politics. After years of covering politicians for a wire service, I became a spokesman for one (Gov. William G. Milliken), and then had a couple decades covering them for a Detroit daily newspaper. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Internet Radio
Daily Archives: August 30, 2019
Three of seven former officials of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) and the Ministry of Agriculture were Friday freed of fraud charges totalling GYD$362 million, and already defence lawyers are asking the Magistrates’ court to dismiss similar charges against the four others. Freed are former GRDB Director, Nigel Dharamlall, then Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Prema ... | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
And the iFive Air itself is becoming difficult to purchase [Google Translate]. Has mass production stopped? And if so, what does that mean for Five Technology? Could they be trying to transition people to Flyme so people have OS updates? | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
News
In preparation for the return of Cricket and Football to Bream, club volunteers have been busy re-furbishing the Sports Club changing rooms. The finishing touch, the Bream Amateurs logo has been painted on to the wall in the home dressing room by Harriett.
BREAM FC presented a cheque for £1,055 to the Great Oaks Hospice –after holding a very successful BreamFest at Bream Sports Club in August. The donation was made possible by the proceeds from the BreamFest.
Previous BreamFests have seen £1,100 raised for a special school and another £1,400 for a playgroup.
A report in the Forest of Dean & Wye Valley Review added: “… Bream currently play at Worrall Hill, but the club has recently imported 20,000 tons of soil and topsoil to construct a brand new pitch”.
“With seeding virtually the only job left to do, the club is hopeful that the first game on it will be at the start of the 2020-21 season at the end of next summer”.
“At the end of last season, the club achieved FA Standard Charter status, meaning that each of the sides goes out with fully-trained first aiders on hand”.
The sports grounds have now been seeded. The seed was drilled into the ground in several directions and the ground has been roped off to prevent new grass seedlings being trampled.We therefore ask members, guests and visitors to keep off the grounds until further notice. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
ABOUT COOKIES
We use cookies to help make this website better, to improve our services and for advertising purposes. You can learn
more about our use of cookies in our privacy policy by clicking
here. Otherwise, we'll assume you are OK to continue.
Something that most people don’t know about you: I’m pretty damn good at BBQing. Not to brag or anything but come by and I’ll grill you something sweet.
Quote: Time waits for no man.
Career History. How did you start skiing? Started at Silver Star Mountain in Vernon, BC. Was part of the Freestlye Ski Club there, skiing bumps and stuff. In high school my friends and I didn’t want to do anything but skiing and we started pushing eachother pretty hard. I started going down to slopestyle comps like the US Open and World Skiing Invitational and had some decent results. I started filning with a company called Theroy-3. Then I bought a snowmobile and that was it. I didn’t want to do anything but film and ski in the Backcountry. Started filming with PBP and kinda got my big break on screen and haven’t looked back. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Several people who own Amazon’s Echo speakers have reported a strange bug: the Alexa voice assistant has been laughing for no reason.
Some users on Twitter and Reddit say the outbursts have been entirely spontaneous. Others have said that Alexa has laughed after...
If there seems to be more people using Chinese smartphones in the streets of Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta or Manila, that is because these brands now collectively outsell Samsung Electronics, the long-standing market leader in Southeast Asia.
Oppo, Vivo and Huawei Tech...
Foxconn Industrial Internet, a unit of the world’s biggest contract manufacturer whose products include Apple’s iPhones, was put on the fast track for securing the nod by China’s securities regulator to raise capital through an initial public offering.
The unit ...
Tencent Holdings, the world’s largest video game company, is betting that its new initiatives in advertising and social media would spur growth amid renewed debate in China over gaming addiction among the youth.
“Social and performance-based advertising will be ...
While Samsung dominated the headlines from this year’s Mobile World Congress with the unveiling of its new flagship phones, the Galaxy S9 and S9+, LG – South Korea’s other tech giant – quietly announced a minor update to its autumn 2017 flagship, phone, the V30....
Chinese travellers may have one more essential gadget to pack for overseas trips after Sogou, China’s second largest search engine after Baidu, launched an AI-powered language translator, with more than 3,000 pre-sold within the first 24 hours.
The gadget, which...
Honor, the mobile sub-brand of Huawei Technologies that helped it become the world’s third-largest smartphone supplier, is likely to double its overseas shipments this year, underscoring the Chinese company’s dual-brand strategy with handsets available in a rang...
WeChat, China’s biggest social network and messaging app with more than 1 billion users, disabled the comments section of newly registered official accounts on Tuesday to comply with a Chinese government request.
Tencent Holdings, which operates the app on the C...
China, already the world’s biggest smartphone and internet market, appears set to become a major consumer of a range of gadgets enabled with artificial intelligence (AI), including voice-activated smart speakers and robots for the home, according to a new study....
Chip maker Qualcomm, blocked this week from a takeover bid amid national security fears, was already walking a Pacific tightrope: it has government and defence contracts in the United States, but two-thirds of its revenue come from China.
US President Donald Tru...
Multinational companies are experimenting with new ways to grab the attention of China’s consumers and are willing to spend several million yuan to garner attention in the world’s largest market.
The tool that companies such as McDonald’s and Nike have chosen ...
Caterpillar will invest 2 million dollars in the project of a robot builder
Fastbrick Robotics has received from Caterpillar not only money, but also an order for several construction robots of the Hadrian X model, which should begin work at the end of this year. Dreams come true – soon the building of buildings on the planet will be occupied by tireless steel giants.
The robot Hadrian X has the profession of “mason” and is able to build a framework of a brick building on the basis of a given 3D CAD-model. It looks like a “smart hand” with a 30-meter boom on the chassis of a truck that picks up and exposes up to 1000 bricks per hour. On the boom there is a working head with nozzles for supplying cement, building glue and other necessary solutions.
The robot does not just collect a puzzle from building materials, it really builds a building. For example, it strengthens door and window openings, builds channels for communication lines, monitors the consumption of materials and raw materials. He is not able to build a “turnkey” structure, but the impressive pace of work of Hadrian X is something that builders need so much to cheaper and accelerate the construction of budget facilities.
Caterpillar paid attention to Hadrian X as early as the demonstration of the prototype , in 2015. At the same time, a memorandum of understanding was signed with Fastbrick Robotics. The two companies joined forces in everything that concerns the work with brickwork on all objects of the planet. And now the preparatory stage is over, it remains to collect the first commercial versions of Hadrian X and give them a command to begin construction.
Related posts
Chinese travellers may have one more essential gadget to pack for overseas trips after Sogou, China’s second largest search engine after Baidu, launched an AI-powered language translator, with more than 3,000 pre-sold within the first 24 hours.
The gad...
Honor, the mobile sub-brand of Huawei Technologies that helped it become the world’s third-largest smartphone supplier, is likely to double its overseas shipments this year, underscoring the Chinese company’s dual-brand strategy with handsets available...
Baidu, operator of China’s largest online search service, is investing more than 1 billion yuan (US$158 million) in the smart television unit of Chinese consumer electronic major Skyworth Digital Holdings, escalating competition in the growing market f... | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Hello!
Welcome to our website! The Friends of Rowley Hills is a newly set up group that aims to conserve and enhance the Rowley Hills for people and for wildlife. This website is still in the process of being built but keep checking back, we’ll be adding more content regularly! | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Pages
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Resolutions
I've been thinking about this list since mid-December. It's like when I was back in school (before I started skipping classes and dropping out) and I had to have full and correct answers with supporting evidence. I am so sad and can't shake being a goody two-shoes sometimes :)
I've loved this year that I've had with my son. He's a happy, playful little boy. He's learning so much every single day. I know it will be hard for me to leave him, but...
I resolve to finish updating my CV and start looking for work. In order to do this, I will have to wake up before Elliot (who usually sleeps in until 9:30, how incredibly lucky am I?) I will have to be more organised, and I might just have to...
Get over my fears and start driving on my own.Ages ago I went to the doctor who told me that I was officially overweight. This scares me. When my father was visiting in December, he was so overweight, he had to stop every few minutes to catch his breath. He'd get winded and dizzy and need to sit down. I fear that he won't be alive for very much longer even though he is only 59 years old. I don't want to miss anytime with my own son if I can help it. Bring on the rabbit food, because...
I resolve to lose 15 pounds. Though I've mentioned her before, I've only written once about my mother on this blog. This is an issue that is weighing me down, and I need to talk through it some more, get a different perspective. Otherwise my relationship with my mother will end up suffocating me.
I will be less private and open up more about what is bothering me, especially to those who I care about and who care about me. And because it can't all be work, work, work, I have a ton of books that I own that I've always intended to read, and never have, my last resolution is to read more books (from this collection). Also, I made a yule log over Christmas. It came out terribly. I also resolve to be less critical of myself and carry on with my baking, even though I've had a few disasters. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Indonesia’s “Zoo of Death” plagued by overcrowding and feed shortages
Activists refer to Indonesia’s largest zoo as the “zoo of death,” and they’re calling for new management and the transfer of captive animals to conservation programs. The Surabaya Zoo has been around since 1916, but in recent years it has faced harsh criticism over its treatment of animals. Overcrowding, lack of food, and poorly trained staff are all part of the problem. Petitions have been circling to close the zoo altogether – sign here to make your voice heard.
Around 2,200 animals live at the Surabaya Zoo, but activists say most are in cages that aren’t big enough for them. While zoo staff says many of the deaths at the zoo result from natural causes, activists point to the horrible conditions at the zoo.
Just last month a Sumatran tiger died, and the zoo doesn’t yet know why. The tiger was endangered, as are some of the other animals that have died in captivity there. Some 45 Komodo dragons, which only live in the east of Indonesia, died after fighting one another in a cage that was far too crowded. Then there was Michael, an 18-month-old lion who appeared to be hanged in his cage two years ago. When one giraffe died at the zoo, an examination revealed 40 pounds of plastic inside the animal’s stomach.
The Indonesia Wildlife Communication Forum’s Petrus Riski said animals should be given to conservation institutes instead of remaining at the zoo to ease overcrowding. Secretary General of the Indonesia Zoo & Aquarium Association Tony Sumampau said the zoo needed more money and “more support.” Zoo Director Aschta Boestani said, “We’ve been trying to solve these issues one by one. I hope in three to four months from now we can finally solve the problem.” Since the zoo has been having issues for years now, activists wonder whether they actually will make the changes. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
New flood resilient demonstration home is launched
A flood-resilient prototype home has been launched to show the most effective ways to protect homes against flood damage and limit disruption.
World renowned building science centre BRE has developed the ‘Resilient House’ to show how practical measures can be installed in a home to prevent flood water entering a property.
These simple solutions include:
flood resistant doors and windows
water resilient walls and insulation
a resilient kitchen with moveable kitchen units;
floor and wall membranes to channel water towards floor drains;
an automatic sump pump that stops water rising through the floor and disperses water quickly should it get in
one way valves fitted to the toilets and sinks to prevent flooding via sewers
Making properties more resilient to flooding can be hugely beneficial to individuals, families and businesses. The innovative measures displayed in the house will not only help prevent flood water entering a building, they will also aid rapid recovery after any flooding – reducing the costs of repairs and helping people to get back on their feet quickly and easily.
BRE Centre for Resilience Director Stephen Garvin said:
“It is not yet normal practice for properties in areas at high flood risk to be made more resilient following a flood. The aim of this project is to show contractors and householders in a tangible way that resilient repair isn’t as challenging or difficult as they may think it is.”
Floods Minister Thérèse Coffey said:
“BRE’s house shows how innovations in the construction industry can help people dramatically reduce the financial and emotional impacts of a flood.”
“We are investing a record £2.5 billion to better protect 300,000 properties from floods by 2021. But, if the worst happens, property resilience measures play a crucial role in limiting flood damage, so home and business owners can get back on their feet as quickly as possible.”
Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the Environment Agency said:
“Property protection can be an invaluable defence when flooding occurs. There’s no doubt that it’s more cost-effective to make your home or business as resilient as possible rather than pay for the damage afterwards. I know the devastating impact that flooding can have and urge people to keep themselves safe and to adapt their homes so that they are able to recover as quickly as possible.”
Different types of water resilient insulation have been used in the house including injected cavity wall insulation, thermal board and PUR spray foam. Other practical issues have also been addressed, such as how to improve floor insulation, where to place electric sockets and home appliances and how to seal off areas where water could enter the property.
BRE has also announced a new certification scheme and training courses aimed at property flood resilience surveyors that will provide then with a framework for achieving resilient repairs to homes and other types of property. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
March 4, 2013
Professor Katyal will survey the Executive Branch’s conduct in times of war, focusing on the U.S. Justice Department’s activity during World War II. He will relate the role of the Justice Department in World War II to the very different role played by the Justice Department in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Neal Katyal is a law professor at Georgetown University Law Center and a partner at Hogan Lovells in Washington, D.C. Free and open to the community. Complimentary parking will be available in Lot L. Approval pending for one (1) CLE credit. Register online at: http://www.law.du.edu/index.php/constitutional-rights-and-remedies/chu-family-distinguished-lecture | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Because the fabric is such an eyecatcher, i've chosen a simple pattern, Burda 02-2013-103 (made as a top instead of a dress). It consists of two pieces (front and back) and is easy and fast to sew .... theoretically ..... except you chose such a mean fabric like i did. It was really a PITA to work with. My serger totally refused to sew it and my sewing mashine had problems as well. In the end, i've used tissue paper. That worked well.
Conclusion: A nice top which can be dressed up and down easily. The fabric feels surprisingly nice on the skin. However, maybe i will shorten the top about a few centimeter. But i'm not sure about that. In the end, i'm very happy with the outcome! | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
#MovementForModernLife + #MoveMoreLiveMore
YOGA TO RESET AND RECENTRE
How often do you feel like you need some breathing space, or in fact you wish the earth would stop spinning for a second whilst you catch your breath? We can all feel anxious and overwhelmed. For some of us, this seems hardwired into our being whilst for others a feeling of anxiousness wells up with the change of seasons, or a period of extreme pressure at work or even the feeling that our busy lifestyles are forever getting busier with no respite. Every day stressors can work cumulatively and sometimes it is the smallest thing that breaks the camel’s back, so to speak. This course will help you to find ways in which to create more space in your body and mind, dedicate some time to yourself and will support you in spinning those plates without feeling overwhelmed. Who is this course for:
Those experiencing occassional anxiety or experiencing anxiety right now
For all levels
Exploring the relationship between breath, movement and mood
Beginners but also includes some strong improvers and intermediate/advanced classes
Breathwork classes suitable for all levels
#MovementForModernLife + #MoveMoreLiveMore
YOGA TO RESET AND RECENTRE
How often do you feel like you need some breathing space, or in fact you wish the earth would stop spinning for a second whilst you catch your breath? We can all feel anxious and overwhelmed. For some of us, this seems hardwired into our being whilst for others a feeling of anxiousness wells up with the change of seasons, or a period of extreme pressure at work or even the feeling that our busy lifestyles are forever getting busier with no respite. Every day stressors can work cumulatively and sometimes it is the smallest thing that breaks the camel’s back, so to speak. This course will help you to find ways in which to create more space in your body and mind, dedicate some time to yourself and will support you in spinning those plates without feeling overwhelmed. Who is this course for:
Those experiencing occassional anxiety or experiencing anxiety right now
For all levels
Exploring the relationship between breath, movement and mood
Beginners but also includes some strong improvers and intermediate/advanced classes
Breathwork classes suitable for all levels
AN EPIDEMIC OF BEING BUSY
Have you noticed how often you feel busy? We seem to have got ourselves in the position that being busy is preferable to having little to do or even feeling bored and our super connectivity can make things worse. Many of us feel a weight of expectation that we need to be working all the time or filling our time with activity. Others of us have fallen into the trap of not being able to say no. Take time to consider though how much of your ‘busy’ time is productive? There are so many things vying for our attention, many may be worthwhile but try and explore if in fact, saying ‘no’ to some things might serve you better? This might also be a way of practicing the yama, ‘aparigraha’ which roughly translates as greedlessness or non-possessiveness. This is as true of experiences and meetings as of material possessions. There is an alternative. We can take charge of our time and make sure that we set aside time to do what nourishes us and gives us joy, like yoga and whilst you’re at it why not schedule some time where you do nothing at all? If you do this, infuse this time feeling good about your decision and not berating yourself for taking time out!
LEARNING TO LET GO OF WHAT CAN'T BE CHANGED
Sometimes, external factors can affect how we feel, and there is little we can do about the circumstances. Seasonal change can often bring feelings of anxiety and these can be exacerbated by societal pressure. Think about the weeks running up to Christmas and the extra pressure we put on ourselves. In other cases illness, our own, or those we care about or trauma or simply unexpected changes can trigger our anxiety. We might not be able to change the circumstances but we can use yoga to help us to react in a more mindful and more graceful way and we can be compassionate with our experience.
WHAT SHOULD YOU EXPECT?
These 21 classes will help you to ‘catch your breath’. These classes have been picked to get you out of your head and feeling into your body. They will help you to focus on developing a rhythmic breath and help you to alleviate some of the symptoms you can experience with anxiety. We have included breathing classes which are designed to help alleviate feelings of anxiety. The movement classes are rhythmic and can be strong and we have also included classes to help you to address areas that may be directly impacted by tension such as your neck, shoulders and jaw.
HOW TO PRACTICE?
We would advise you to sit for a moment and work out what will serve you best. Begin by acknowledging what is happening in your body and how you feel but do this with compassion. There are times we all feel anxious, don’t beat yourself up about it or do yourself down. Do you need to move? Moving strongly but mindfully is a great way to work that jittery feeling out of your body. If you feel a churning of thoughts, grounding down and connecting with the earth through your feet will help to move your energy down and some of our stronger classes in this series will support you to focus on your body rather than the churning thoughts running through your head. Developing a rhythmic breath will help to calm and soothe jangled nerves and in letting go of worry, fear and negative thoughts. Our Inner Axis breathing class with Max Strom and Dan Peppiatt’s Breath & Peace can help you to find a breath practice that will work for you and your feelings of anxiety. Trying a class which incorporates gentle repetitive movements from Qi Gong like Mimi’s Winter Warmer: Settling the Spirit or Joo’s Rebalance yourself which we have included is a great way to help settle the mind. We hope you find your way back to centre and do share what you’ve found works for you in our movers group.
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?
Why not challenge a friend or loved one to join you? We want you to feel supported: Join our Movers' Facebook Group and let us know how you get on during the challenge and share your journey with us on social media using #MovementForModernLife + #MoveMoreLiveMore.
Related Articles
Your Classes
Step1
Inner Axis: Learn To Breathe
10:52 | Max Strom
In this short interview and demonstration Max Strom teaches us the basis of the breathing technique, Ocean Breath. This is a wonderful technique for dealing with all kinds of stress as well as being the basis for breathing during yoga practice.
Inner Axis - All Levels
59:50 | Max Strom
Inner Axis is new wellbeing movement class developed by Max Strom and deals directly with stress, anxiety, and sleeplessness. It is gentle and graceful, utilising breath-based yoga inspired movement, inspiring visualizations, and immediately effective relaxation techniques. It is accessible to all fitness levels. A very calming practice, a great antidote for stressful modern lives. (There is no chanting or sanskrit.)
Pranayama To Calm
17:02 | Bridget Woods-Kramer
A pranayama (or breath-work) class to teach various breathing techniques which create a sense of calm. These are wonderful techniques to use when life is challenging, or when you're facing a more stressful time in your life.
Breath and Peace
13:13 | Dan Peppiatt
A chilled and relaxing short breathing yoga class perfect for Christmas day, or whenever your life is busy and a bit overwhelming. With this class you'll be able to take some time out for yourself and return your breath back to a natural efficient pattern, preparing you for the challenges that the day and that the festive period can bring.
Rebalance Yourself
24:24 | Joo Teoh
A gentle sequence to calm and rebalance your emotions after a stressful time. There are times when we can be knocked off our centre, maybe something as simple as someone has said something that has shocked us, or we are needing to rebalance after grief. This mixture of calming yoga, qi-gong and breath-work practices will calms and quieten your jangled nerves after a shock or stressful moment. These rebalancing classes are gentle and many poses may be done in a chair.
Peace and Breath
17:20 | Norman Blair
A very quiet and gentle yoga class. All yoga poses are supine and held for a period, where the body is calmed and quieted and attention is turned inward. Then Norman leads a breath practice at sitting. You may need a cushion or block for sitting still. Great for times where you are looking to reduce stress/anxiety and perfect for before bed when you are looking to quiet the mind and gently stretch the body.
Alternate Nostril Breath
06:55 | Clare Beagley
Alternate nostril breath is a great reliver for agitation, anxiety or insomia. It also gently uplifts if you are low on energy. Take this class on it's own to clam your nerves or add to your class before relaxation.
Big & Fearless Heart
52:58 | Naomi Absalom
Most of us have experienced fear of some kind and know that when we're in it's grip the ripples permeate all areas of our lives. Allowing fear to continue to have power over us keeps us firmly locked in cycles of fear, anxiety, low self esteem and so on. A big part of beginning to break down some of these patterns is actually providing space and time to experience our own vulnerability - sitting with the feelings and sensations which arise when we do so. This is a beautifully deep and transformative flow and part of Naomi's personal home practice. Expect plenty of backbending and as usual a lot of breath! You will need 2 blocks.
Feel Grounded in Uncertain Times
22:06 | Nikita Akilapa
Feeling unsettled? Uncertain? With a focus on alignment, this class will get you steady in uncertain times. Nikita guides you through a hatha standing posture sequence, designed to stabilise and ground, whilst bringing you fully into your body
Yoga for Anxiety
38:32 | Leila Sadeghee
This is a yoga class for when your head is a 'swiling thought mess'. Class starts with some energetic jumping lunges (feel free to give these a miss if you're not up to them!) - then the class intersperses asana to open and release the hips with calming breath exercises. Suitable for all levels, although not everyone may be able to keep up with Leila's energy levels at the start of class, but persevere if you can! The remaining 30 minutes of yoga and breath-work is much more peaceful and bound to see your anxiety levels to calm and managable levels.
Breathwork for Health, Calm, Immunity and Migraines
34:22 | Naomi Absalom
Breathwork - the secret to great health and moving you from 'doing OK' to living your most vibrant life. In this class, Naomi leads us through some powerful breath practices which can radically help your life. The first practice serves to open up the breath through the lungs and the entire system - shifting any kind of erratic breath patterns or involuntary breath holds but also supporting immune function. The second is a beautifully calming breath that works to balance the chemistry of the body. If this is your second viewing of the video and you'd like the practices without the explanation, the practices start at 8 minutes. Do not practice this class if you are pregnant (although you can practice the second technique) and for some sufferers of anxiety, it may be useful to practice with a knowledgable teacher at first. Breathwork is more powerful than you may think!
Move Into Calm
31:07 | Zephyr Wildman
Use this class to challenge any negative emotions and exchange them for their positive counterparts. You will be encouraged to channel love to displace disgust, courage instead of fear, wonder to replace anger and joy to overide sadness.
Dealing with Overwhelm
22:10 | Mollie McClelland Morris
Mollie shows us some really useful bodywork practices for when life just gets too tough and stressful, to create some space in your body, your tissues and your head. She uses tapping, breathwork and yoga - some of which you can learn and use at your desk for when life moves too fast. Optional prop: a blanket.
Letting Go Vinyasa Flow
50:01 | Jean Hall
This slow flow class is designed to rid the body and mind of tensions which accumulate as a result of life's experiences. These tensions can hold us back, so the class focuses on releasing them so that, in time, we are ready to move on. The class begins slowly and mindfully with supine breathing practices for the first eight minutes. If you want to get moving sooner, but still gain the benefit of tension release, you may want to start with child's pose eight minutes into class. This class is a slow vinyasa flow, focusing on mindfulnes and release.
Winter Warmers Yoga and Qigong: Spirit Warming 3 Settling the Spirit
23:11 | Mimi Kuo-Deemer
This yoga and Qigong class is perfect for when you've had a frantic day and you need to settle your spirit. It's gentle mainly floor-based, so is great for the evenings to settle into the evening and to de-tangle your nerves and settle your spirit so that you can get stoked about the next thing... bed?!
Quick Fix To Calm
05:10 | Kirsty Norton
Have this in your yoga toolkit - its super effective at changing your mindset and bringing you calm in a matter of minutes. Practice this every day if you can. You can do this practice either lying down, it's great before bed - or on a chair if you're needing to melt away tension at work.
Heat Your Body, Cool Your Nervous System
28:08 | Leila Sadeghee
In this class, Leila shares her own practice which helps her to deal with living in the modern, urban world. How she pulls her awareness away from struggle and into ease. This is a meditative, heating practice to cool the nervous system and support the immune system. The class is a fast-flowing and core-focused Anusara-Inspired vinyasa flow ending with plenty of supine twists.
Forrest Yoga Neck & Jaw Release
36:04 | Kristi Rodelli
This Forrest yoga class is just perfect if you've had a long day, if you're having a tough week, or are feeling a bit headachy. Any stresses or anxiety from the day or the week will unravel as you release aches in your neck, jaw and shoulders, which can suffer in stressful times. With hallmark strengthening and abs work, this class is perfect to keep you strong while you unwind. You will need a roll and a block.
Forrest Yoga: Release & Transform
17:20 | Ana Forrest
Forrest Yoga's creatrix Ana Forrest introduces a revolutionary new way to move. She shows the Forrest yoga methods of releasing tension in the neck and shoulders, soothing stressed minds, building core strength and improving lower back strength. All in this short practice. Curious? We were and were blown away with Ana’s sequence.
Guided Relaxation
08:23 | Bridget Woods-Kramer
This is a guided relaxation in Savasana (Corpse Pose). You may want to use this lovely long savasana at the end of any of our longer, more dynamic classes to help you to let go and cultivate compassion towards yourself and others. Also a beautiful relaxation for anytime you need to be de-stressed and chilled out.
Transforming Stress: Mindfulness Meditation
13:08 | Toby Ouvry
A beautiful, short mindfulness exercise on how to transform stress, anxiety and fear into something positive. A really useful mindfulness class with techniques to take into daily life to transform stressful feelings through actions.
Wind Down Floor Flow
24:43 | Zephyr Wildman
A lovely, calming, floor-based yoga class. Perfect for winding down at the end of the day, or for a very gentle wake up, or for when you're just not feeling your best. This class will have you feeling calmed, restored and gently re-invigorated with a focus on hip and hamstring stretches.
Yoga Poses for Anxiety
13:23 | Lizzie Reumont
Sometimes life is just overwhelming and we just need 10 minutes to move into calm. These 8 yoga poses are known to release anxiety through the body. These yoga poses for anxiety include headstand which is deeply calming for those who can, and if you're not comfortable in headstand, take downward dog or child's pose.
End of Day Recharge
19:00 | Clive Fogelman
A great transition sequence to do at the end of a busy day if you’ve just got home from work or if you have been out doing lots of different things. Or if you want a little break during the day but don’t have much time or space this might be just what you need. It starts from standing then we move to all fours and finish on the back. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Webinar tonight on emerging treatments...I copied the email I got
EFor the 2.5 million people worldwide living with MS, new research is providing exciting prospects for slowing disease progression, improving symptom management, and enhancing quality of life. Join renowned neurologist Ben Thrower as he summarizes the latest clinical trials and offers insights into potential new treatment options and emerging therapies. Dr. Thrower will also answer your questions in an interactive Q&A session.
PLEASE NOTE, THERE IS A MAX CAPACITY OF 1,000 ONLINE PARTICIPANTS. PLEASE JOIN IN THE WEBINAR EARLY TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE ABLE TO ACCESS THE LIVE BROADCAST.
IF WE REACH CAPACITY, YOU CAN STILL HEAR THE AUDIO BY USING THE PHONE NUMBER AND ACCESS CODE. YOU WILL RECEIVE AN EMAIL 24 HOURS AFTER THE WEBINAR WITH A LINK TO VIEW THE RECORDING IN OUR WEBINAR ARCHIVES.
8:00pm ET/ 7:00pm CT/ 6:00pm MT/ 5:00pm PT
If you have questions that you would like addressed in this webinar, please email [email protected].
If you need registration support, please call 970-926-1290
If you need technical support, please call 1-877-582-7011
How to Join the Webinar
1. Click the link to join the webinar at the specified time and date:
Join Webinar
Note: This link should not be shared with others; it is unique to you.
Before joining, be sure to check system requirements to avoid any connection issues.
2. Choose one of the following audio options:
TO USE YOUR COMPUTER'S AUDIO:
When the webinar begins, you will be connected to audio using your computer's microphone and speakers (VoIP). A headset is recommended.
--OR--
TO USE YOUR TELEPHONE:
If you prefer to use your phone, you must select "Use Telephone" after joining the webinar and call in using the numbers below.
United States: +1 (951) 384-3421
Access Code: 341-128-860
Audio PIN: Shown after joining the webinar
Webinar ID: 330-492-043
Linda~~~~
Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning the devil says:"Oh Crap, She's up!"
I tried to start the Webinar but when there was a message telling me "This type of file could harm your computer," I chickened out. It was a download of something called GoToWebinar. Computer problems are hard to deal with--I didn't feel like taking the risk. Maybe the Webinar will have a transcript available later.
I listened to the CanDo-MS.org part. The part where Dr. Ben Thrower was on. When the Natl. Multiple Sclerosis Soc came on with their part I quit. I was so tired. I think I have been sitting here at the computer for close to 1 1/2 hours.
Dr. Thrower talked mostly on the drugs that are out there. He spent quite a bit of time on Stem Cell Therapies and the difference in them, etc. It was worth listening to because the first two questions that were asked pertained to me. Someone asked about older people being on DMTs and his answer was that if their immune system was good then there was no reason for them not to be. He didn't say which ones might be better for older people. He did advocate if a person was older and had been doing well on their DMT, if they came off it they might begin to show decline. There was another question, but I can't remember what it was. If there is a print-out I would like to see it.
The material on this site is for information & support purposes only, and is not a substitute for medical advice provided by a licensed health care provider.
Always consult your doctor before trying anything that you find online. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Since the first Night at the Museum movie hit theaters in 2006, the franchise has made nearly $1 billion at the box office worldwide; that, of course includes the 2009 installment Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. So it’s no surprise the third movie — Secret of the Tomb — is almost upon us. And judging by the just released first trailer, writers Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon and director Shawn Levy have created yet another action-packed, fun-filled family comedy. The trailer reveals our favorite museum security guard Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) travels to London for his next adventure. We also find Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Ben Kingsley, Rebel Wilson and Ricky Gervais making appearances. Check it out below and tell us what you think! Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb premieres in theaters on Dec. 19. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Phone Number (include area code):*Oops! You forgot to enter your phone number.Oops! Please don't add any characters that don't fit a phone number format like: (800) 555-1212 or 800-555-1212Best day & time to call
Thank you!
Your request has been received.
2017 prices from £3,860 for 13 Days - Tauck World Discovery
Your journey through Normandy tours Brittany and the lovely Loire Valley, capped off with three nights in Paris. Visit the Normandy beaches of D-Day. Magnificent châteaux built by kings and nobles and abbeys steeped in history open their doors to Tauck guests on insider tours both informative and inspired. Your accommodations are unique, including two nights at Château de Rochecotte – called "home" in the 1700s by Prince Tallyrand and the Duchess of Dino. At Château de Champchevrier, owned by the same family since the 1720s, Le Baron personally welcomes Tauck guests during a private reception and dinner that includes a hunting hounds demonstration in full regalia. Formal gardens inspire awe during your visit to Château de Villandry, and the Apocalypse and Bayeux tapestries mesmerize at Château d’Angers and Château Josselin near the Brittany Coast. Visit Normandy's poignant D-Day beaches, magnificent Mont-St-Michel, Monet's beloved Giverny and Chartres Cathedral. In Paris, Notre Dame Cathedral entices with Gothic wonders; explore Musée d'Orsay along with Paris' landmark sites, and bid Paris adieu with a private farewell dinner cruise on the Seine. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Class 1
A short video documentary, filmed at a Siwash Gathering in Tsilhqot'in territory (near Sugar Cane), introduces the game of Lahal. Learners will listen and watch to learn not only the rules of the game, but also the purpose both past and present.
Learners will learn about the materials, the hand signals as well as the object and procedures of the game.
Learners will be introduced the the value this game holds for the Tsihlqot'in community both past and present.
Learners will then be asked to calculate theoretical probabilities of certain results in the game.
Class 2
Learners will be introduced to experiential probability and will have an opportunity to conduct a math experiment in small groups.
Follow up
Learners will have a chance to reflect on their learning after watching a first nation's dance celebrating Laval.
Finally, if the teacher wishes, the actual game of Lahal can be played!
Worksheets, links to videos, music, etc. provided. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
A conventional flower suggested by the iris, and having a form which fits it for the terminal decoration of a scepter, the ornaments of a crown, etc. It is also a heraldic bearing, and is identified with the royal arms and adornments of France. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Cathepsin L, a member of the lysosome cysteine proteases, is ubiquitously expressed in tissue and is responsible for protein turnover. An overexpression of cathepsin L by certain tumor types is associated with enhanced ... | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Link’s surname is also Link, you know, same as Mario
Shigeru Miyamoto answers a very critical question about The Legend of Zelda’s hero.
Link, sometimes referred to as The Hero of Time, has been the protagonist of The Legend of Zelda games since the start. Zelda: Breath of the Wild brings back our ferocious hero, of course, and it’s the perfect time to find out one more detail about him.
The latest rapid-fire questions episode from Game Informer sees Shigeru Miyamoto and Breath of the Wild producer Eiji Aonuma sitting down to answer 51 questions, as part of the magazine’s latest cover story.
Among the many amusing questions and interesting answers said on the show, one in particular about Link’s surname stood out. According to Miyamoto, Link’s surname is Link. So, he’s called Link Link.
Miyamoto even joked that it’s the same with Mario (remember that Super Mario Bros. scene?). Things are this way, though, because Link is actually not human, so maybe he doesn’t need to follow the same naming conventions humans do.
Zelda: Breath of the Wild is out March 3 worldwide on Switch and Wii U.
Sometimes we include links to online retail stores. If you click on one and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. For more information, go here. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
VIDEO: Cougarettes Descend on UDA Nationals
ORLANDO, Fla. – The College of Charleston Cougarettes are
set to compete alongside the best dance teams in the country at the Universal
Dance Association National Championship at the Walt Disney World Resort over
the weekend of Jan. 19-20.
This marks the second time the Cougarettes are competing at the
UDA National Championship, the most prestigious college team
dance championship in the country. Last season, the Cougarettes placed eighth
among the 18 teams represented at their inaugural showing.
The squad has been working diligently to perfect two
separate dances which will be judged on routine difficulty, originality,
musicality, formation, crowd reaction, coordination and unison.
The Cougarettes will be hosting a show night to unveil both
of their routines to the CofC community on Thursday, Jan. 17 at the TD Arena. The
show will begin at 6 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
For more information on the UDA Nationals including travel
and ticket information, live streaming and routine replays, visit their website
at the following link. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Re: Legacy 5 players seem to be stronger and harder to kill than lower legacies
Laggers have a big advangates in this game,so they keep play game,because they dont die normal way and kill you qucikly,and he/she think vowww i am a good player,i am a pro,and and keep playing,in this way they reach level 75/legacy 5 ,but you have not this lag advantage and u break playing and because you r angry,that's all
Re: Legacy 5 players seem to be stronger and harder to kill than lower legacies
Laggers have a big advangates in this game,so they keep play game,because they dont die normal way and kill you qucikly,and he/she think vowww i am a good player,i am a pro,and and keep playing,in this way they reach level 75/legacy 5 ,but you have not this lag advantage and u break playing and because you r angry,that's all | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Mercedes-Benz revisits Chapmans Peak crash site after 30 years
Same treacherous road, same driver, same brand… An indescribably different drive.
In a dramatic documentary-style content piece, Mercedes-Benz takes viewers on a journey along Chapman’s Peak Drive with Christopher White, survivor of a crash 30 years ago that saw him lose control of his beloved Mercedes-Benz after a moment’s inattention and plummet the equivalent of 30-stories onto the jagged rocks below – a crash that he survived only because he was wearing his seatbelt and driving a Mercedes-Benz. View it here.
A commercial made by Mercedes-Benz in 1990 told White’s story and first proclaimed that Mercedes-Benz cars are engineered like no others. It was one of the decade’s most iconic ads, and most South African’s surely remember it.
The 2018 kicker is that the S-Class is the latest rendition on the road to autonomous driving and White places all his trust in the brand that saved his life 30 years ago, by taking his hands off the wheel to let the car drive him safely along the road that so nearly took his life. Telling White that the Mercedes-Benz S-Class is known as the most intelligent car in the world didn’t allay his fears. The drive had to be felt, to be believed.
At the start of the content piece, viewers feel White’s terror and his unwillingness to trust the technology. Throughout, the emotion is overwhelming. But, the closing frames can only be described as euphoric. Mercedes-Benz cars are still engineered like no others.
Net#work BBDO, which has a long-standing association with Mercedes-Benz in South Africa, says that launching the S-Class range of Intelligent Drive vehicles into the South African market demanded an advertising approach at least as ground-breaking as the cars themselves. Executive Creative Director Brad Reilly says that the decision to launch the five-minute documentary instead of a more traditional 30-second ad-spot is a brave one in today’s world of selective viewers and channel-hoppers.
“As a brand, Mercedes-Benz is leading the industry towards the future of mobility. The concept we presented was, in that sense, brand-relevant.”
Reilly continues by saying that the content is riveting and the creative approach heightens the emotional impact to levels not attainable in a shorter format: “We knew that this was the only way to do justice to the concept, to the cars, and to the brand.”
The content piece takes viewers through White’s 1988 crash in second-by-second detail, breaking footage from the original ad up into jagged segments of action interspersed with White remembering what he was seeing, feeling and thinking at the time, and featuring media footage and comments from the first responders to the accident scene.
The mood is surreal and as White, who moved away from Cape Town and has never been back to Chapman’s Peak, gets behind the wheel to drive the treacherous bends and corners in the 2018 hands-free iteration, the tension is palpable.
Reilly says: “It’s five minutes of drama and emotion that are manipulated and dramatised by the short-sharp editing style. It’s five minutes of a terrifying roller-coaster ride that almost goes on too long to be comfortable. It’s five minutes of history best-forgotten melding into an unimaginable future that Mercedes-Benz has actualised.”
Selvin Govender, Marketing Director of Mercedes-Benz Cars South Africa, says that the S-Class is the automotive benchmark in efficiency and comfort – not least because drivers can feel absolutely comfortable about the cars’ ability to get them to their destinations safely.
Govender concludes: “Moving forward from 1990, from a time when autonomous vehicles couldn’t have been imagined, to today, when the Mercedes-Benz S-Class is a reality, we needed to do the unimaginable. For White, Chapman’s Peak was a place of horror. We asked him to revisit it, to drive it again, but this time to let our car drive him. His fear, his trepidation, his emotions, are evident to start with. It’s heart-wrenching. But then you see him relax. You see the wonder on his face. You see the future of driving.”
View the captivating documentary-style content piece here. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Movers Near Nada, TX 77460
People moving locally from or to Nada, TX 77460 often ask the following questions about the area in and around 77460.
Some of the most common questions are about the racial makeup, income and household values or rental rates. Zip code 77460 based on the last data we have on file had a White population of 0, Black population of 0 and Hispanic population of 0 with the total population of 0.
House values in zip code 77460 vary considerably, but averaged a $0 house value. Household income also varies significantly according to out records, but the average household income is $0. Zip code 77460 is most frequently found to have an area code of 979 and resides totally within time zone 6.
People interested in knowing more about the area around zip code 77460 should research for the Core Based Statistical Area (CBSA) and CBSA Name . When searching for zip code 77460 on a map it is located at latitude 29.404722 and longitude -96.386111. We are currently compiling crime statistics and school ratings which will appear in this area when available. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
It's a spectacular fan movie, made by "fans over two nights in a cottage in the middle of Hollywood
for about $3000." Really, it's one of the best acted, best designed, and best-paced fan videos I've ever seen. It won't fill that gaping Episode 3-sized hole in your heart, but it's better than nothing. (Via Obvious Winner) | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
As rumors of summer tour 2009 begin to swirl around the internet, one would hypothesize that once it is all formed, the tour may not look like the 20-city odysseys of years past. Rather than driving every night, all night to crash for a few hours and do it all again, my guess is that Phish will set up their tour in a series of mini-runs. A theory already given a bit of credence by the four-night Red Rocks rumor. In choosing their locations for these two, three, or four night runs, the band is going to consider their favorite, most defining summer venues to visit in what will surely be a special tour. Venues that seem like a shoo-in for summer runs are The Gorge, Great Woods, Alpine Valley, Shoreline, Deer Creek, and Camden, Red Rocks, and SPAC. If there are only two at each venue, we are already up to sixteen shows, and upwards of twenty if some of these will be three and four nights.
Star Lake Amphitheatre
My overarching point is that many a Phishy, albeit cookie-cutter amphitheatre, are going to necessarily be left off the circuit. Some that immediately come into question are Polaris, Lakewood, Virgina Beach, Chula Vista, and our beloved Star Lake Amphitheatre in Burgettstown, PA. Somewhere between Erie and Pittsburgh, the wonderfully Phishy locale exists right in rural western Pennsylvania- not exactly a travel destination. One can only hope that when mapping out their summer travels, Phish will decide to return to this staple venue of their latter years. The site of so many incredible moments from 1997 through 2003, it would be sad to see this tour stop eliminated from contention.
Always a pleasant atmosphere with a nicely laid out lot scene, Star Lake provided summer highlights to each and every tour after 1996. It is interesting how similar structured venues can take on lives of their own within the clutches of the Phish. Technically, there are no massive differences between the look and feel of many summer amphitheatres, but one would never mistake Virgina Beach for Great Woods or Deer Creek for Polaris- each took on a character of its own. In the highly anticipated Summer Tour 2009, time will tell if the Burgettstown venue will make the cut and continue its Phishy lifeline.
Star Lake Phish was born on August 13, 1997. In a show no one would soon forget, at the end of a transformative tour, Phish pulled into the rural venue following an outstanding two nights at Deer Creek. In a mesmerising summer where the music just seemed to get better and better, the band opened up the Star Lake chapter of their career with a first set that had plenty to rave about. A third song descent into the murky darkness of “Stash” got the psychedelic improvisation started at the top of the show. The highlight of the entire show came only moments later when the band sat into the third, and most significant, “Gumbo” of the summer. Locked into each others’ playing, the band created some tightly slamming molasses-laced funk as the jam began grow and expand at the perfect pace. Finally breaking through to some melodic resolution with playing that strongly resembles the Dead’s “Franklin’s Tower,” Phish let it all hang out on this near half-hour tour-defining gem.
Not letting up, the band finalized the frame with an outstanding “Crosseyed > Wilson,” seemingly coming out of nowhere. Overflowing with standout Phish, the band had announced their “presence of authority” in their first ever set at the venue. The second set opened with the fiery combo of “Runaway Jim,” and “Ghost > Izabella.” In the summer where “Ghost” debuted across the pond in Europe, and was played endlessly all tour long, these bumping, connected mechanical funk grooves often get overlooked in favor of the longer summer renditions. Following a distinct mid-set lull, the end of the show picked back up with a late “2001 > Golgi > Frankenstein,” recharging the audience before saying good night.
Phish returned to Star Lake almost a year to the day on August 11, 1998, again only two shows before the tour ending extravaganza in Limestone. Hot off two exciting nights at Merriweather and Virgina Beach, Phish was wrapping up a stellar summer in which they had continued busting out random covers from our youth. The last song played before Star Lake was “Terrapin Station,” and they opened up this year’s Burgettstown show with Bob Marley’s classic, “Trenchtown Rock.” Similarly filling this year’s first set with copious highlights, the band soon moved into the welcomed pairing of “Wolfman’s > Time Loves a Hero.” Segueing smoothly into the Little Feat cover with round bass grooves for the first time since 1988, it would be the only appearance of the song before the band’s emergence from their first hiatus, in the third set of their comeback show at MSG. After a geographically appropriate stop in “Bittersweet Motel,” the band carried right on with a soaring eighteen-minute summertime “Reba” to the delight of the cooled off crowd. A maniacally-played “Maze” capped the improv on set one, as the sun descended on another day of summer adventure.
The second half of this show was defined by the 35-minute “Runaway Jim” jam that opened the set. Improvising off of the song’s chugging theme, the band created an extended journey outward that first entered a noodly and somewhat aimless path before losing all connection to the composition whatsoever. Moving through more abstract sections of improv, what the jam lacks in direction, it makes up for in deep exploration. Finally getting into some truly interesting full-band improvisation about half-way through, this jam becomes a more general psychedelic palate for the band to organically explore. Moving from its louder more dissonant peak, the jam settles back into a quiet space where Trey begins to funk out a bit before concluding the song. All in all, this jam is very exploratory, yet not as coherent as many half-hour jams the band has leaped into in theirn career. Nonetheless, it provided a huge springboard for some serious musical risk taking by Phish, something we all prefer to see than conservative compositions.
The rest of the show finished with some shorter songs and a set ending Disease, capping Phish’s second night at Star Lake a success. Following the improvisational focus of the previous two years, the band came to Star Lake in the summer of 1999 for one of their defining sets ever at the venue. Kicking off the last week of summer, Phish did it in style in what was quickly becoming one of their more reliable homes away from home. While the first set opened with the fun twosome of “AC/DC Bag > Cities,” and had some heavy grooves the “Funky Bitch” and Moma pairing, the sole focus of this show belongs on set two.
Opening with the licks of “Mike’s Song,” this set raged into darkness early on with Trey entering the jam with a sinister solo over the fog laden textures. Digging in immediately, the band locked into a fierce Mike’s jam that had had the pavilion pulsing. Growing in intensity and musical communication, the jam built into a chunky militant march where the dance rhythms enveloped consciousness, moving your body like a marionette. Progressing into a louder ’99-eqsue peak of dissonant screaming madness, the band took advantage of the first change in the song to transition into a celebratory, “Simple.” Coming out of such a stirred up Mike’s, this kept the energy going while moving the focus to the lighter side of things. Featuring a masterfully melodic solo, with teased of the Woody Woodpecker theme, Trey led the audience through the blissful summertime movement.
Yet, as Simple wound down, the central improvisation of the set was just beginning. Sliding into the summer’s ambient addition of “My Left Toe,” off of the recently released Siket Disc, the audience did not know what was in store for them. All summer long, this song had been used to explore dark amorphous realms, usually leading into or out of another song. However, this version would take on a life of its own. Beginning in the typical darkness of the psychedelic piece, Trey continued to foreshadow “Prince Caspian” by teasing its haunting opening melody subtly throughout the jam. Whereas the song always built in layers, creating an experiment in tone and sound, the band began to infuse melody into this excursion. Before too long, Fish and Page started the most mellow backing beat that ever so slowly grew into some of the most sublime music ever played by the band. As Trey continued layering his walls of distortion on top of the building groove, he gradually transformed his playing from darkness into a melodic fountain of surreal melody. Exemplifying what Phish is all about, this extended jam of masterful rhythm and melody defined this summer evening, and holds up today as one of the most gorgeous, purely improvised pieces of Phish music. It was the perfect fit for the July evening, and a night that cemented Star Lake as an ultimately Phishy venue.
Not to spoil a great run, Phish found themselves right back at their western Pennsylvania stop the next year. Taking place before an all-night “Cannonball Run” to Alpine- one of the longest drives of tour- the Phish2k edition of Star Lake featured a fun and upbeat show, but nothing nearly as deep or adventurous as the three years that had preceded. With a great setlist, this show showcased some concise versions of Phish classics. A dancy “Gumbo,” and an interesting “Maze > Shafty > Maze” stood out in the first set, while a tight set-ending “Mike’s Groove” put an exclamation point on the end of the show. However, the true meat of this evening existed in the opening triumvirate of the second set- “Ghost > Jibboo,” and “Split Open and Melt.” While carrying a solid groove, this version typified many 2000 Ghosts, good- but not great- and somewhat formulaic. After a year of absolutely disgusting Ghosts in 1999, the song’s jam didn’t always hold up throughout the year before Phish’s hiatus. This Star Lake “Ghost” picks up some momentum in the second half of the jam as the band, specifically Trey, gets slightly more adventurous in their playing.
The following “Jibboo” was the umteen-millionth of the summer, and while carrying some nice Trey solos, it just didn’t seem to stand out amongst the many other versions of the tour. The best part of this show unfolded in a mid-second set “Split Open and Melt.” Locked into some very interesting improv from the onset of this jam, the band built a menacing sound sculpture out of their classic vehicle. Boasting the most interesting rhythms of the night, this centerpiece took home the jam of the show title in an evening that was relatively light on maddening improv.
And so the hiatus came. Once Phish had revved it back up again and were hitting on all cylinders in the summer of ’03, one of, if not their most defining shows of the summer, took place right back in the friendly confines of Star Lake. Coming towards the end of their return-to-glory tour, Star Lake 2003 again preceded Limestone by a mere two shows. With an opening set comprised almost exclusively of bust-outs, the crowd was juiced by hearing “Daniel Saw the Stone,” “Camel Walk,” Velvet Underground’s “Cool It Down,” “Scent of a Mule,” “Timber Ho!”, and “McGrupp” all before half time. None too heavy with improv, a different type of Phishy energy and excitement was generated by all the rarities.
With the focus on song choice in the first set, the second half of the show was squarely focused on improv. Opening with Star Lake’s second “Crosseyed and Painless,” this directed psychedelic adventure immediately vaulted to the top of all lists of candidates for jam of the summer. With sprawling segments of unique locked in improv, this jam stretched out to almost a half-hour of pristine Phish music. Moving into completely different places all together, this Crosseyed made up one of the most coherent and ridiculous roller coaster rides of the tour. The insane period of improv wound down perfectly into Round Room‘s instrumental, “Thunderhead”, giving the crowd a reflective portion of time to digest the magic that had just gone down. An absolute high point of post-hiatus Phish, this “Crosseyed > Thunderhead” jam would never be forgotten. (See video below)
Summer '03
Again referencing the geography of Star Lake with “Bittersweet Motel,” Phish turned this already special show all the more sparkling by dropping into “Harpua” for the first time since the legendary Dark Side show in November of 1998. This time Trey inserted a story about Jimmy on a quest for “IT,” and eventually joining a rock band and finding “IT” on the road, as the crowd prepared for the festival of the same name. Closing out the sublime set of deep improvisation with a scorching Bowie, Phsh put a proper cap on an incredibly significant night of music. In their post-hiatus return to Burgettstown, PA, Phish re-established the venue as one of their favorite with a show for the annals of Phish history.
As we look beyond Hampton, beyond March, into the summertime, one can only hope that as Phish maps out their plan of attack for next summer, they don’t forget their house of magic somewhere between Erie and Pittsburgh.
To commemorate all of these indelible memories, I have put together the next edition of Miner’s Picks: “Star Lake.” Totalling 5.5 hours of western Pennsylvanian jams from post-’96 Phish, this will remind everyone of the venues stellar history. The track listing and links are below. Enjoy!
Note the new SEARCH BAR feature at the top right of the home page! While I catch up to “tagging” my posts – something I knew nothing about as a novice blogger- you can search the entire Phish Thoughts Archives using terms, shows, dates, names, etc. Very Cool!
This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 at 4:51 am and is filed under Uncategorized.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
19 Responses to “Tour Stop: Star Lake Amphitheatre”
I was lucky enough to be at Star Lake for the first three years. The weather was always great, the vibe relaxed and the venue far enough in the middle of nowhere that something special and Phishy could take place. None of the Star Lake shows (except ’03) are legendary in their own right, but they all featured a few gems and the band clearly seemed to be enjoying themselves, so almost everyone always left happy. My own highlights – all of 8/13/97 from the Amoreena opener to the flubbed Jim lyrics to the Theme encore; Trenchtown and the big Jim (I won the bet that night for 2nd set opener and was treated to breakfast the next day – my tour brothers more than happy to pay up after that monster – when it swings back into Jim after the deep space explorations, the crowd absolutely roared); and finally, Gold Soundz in set 1 in ’99. Not a great cover, and almost no one recognised it, but given Trey’s oft-mentioned appreciation of Pavement around that time, a treat nonetheless.
I’ve seen almost every show ever at Great Woods starting in 1993 and I have to say it is a terrible venue with the nastiest security this side of Virginia Beach.
Granted they almost always play terrific there, but how about a fresh new start at a little place called Gillette Stadium? They could easily sell out a one-off show at the home of the Pats. The best thing about the venue is that the MBTA runs a Commuter Rail train from downtown Boston right into the parking lot. Its the only way to travel to the Pats games.
I love all your posts but you continue to talk about Red Rocks Rumors. What is your source and do you really think it is legit? I feel that it is faning the flames of worry and concern around another struggle for tickets.
One more thing to say about ’03. The first set was all break outs but there’s more to it than just song choice: The playing is fantastic. Listen to the Cool it Down or the Gibboo or the Timber – it’s all so comfortable and loose but tight too. Relaxed, not rushed, creative, but focused. God I wish I’d been there (this is definitely among the top 10 shows I wish I’d been at)
My brother’s best friend’s sister’s cousin’s Dad told me that there would be a 4 night run at Red Rocks.
Unfortunately, that’s how these ridiculous rumors get started. People will believe anything, so I think everyone should just stop speculating and quit making things up. Totally agree with Phatty Matty.
I would love to see a Red Rocks run, but the truth is, Phish will never play Red Rocks again. People couldn’t behave themselves the first time around and ruined it for everyone.
^^ I’m not making this up.. I didn’t hear it seventh handed….I am telling what I know to be true- Phish will play Red Rocks during the first week of July for 4 nights….I am not going to disclose sources, but choose to believe me or not- I’m not making this up for fun. Oh yeah- they will play Bonnaroo as well.
Never have had the pleasure of seeing Phish at Star Lake, but I wanted to ask those who have: what is it that makes the band bust out songs there? Miner kind of touched on this, but Amoreena, Trenchtown Rock, Gold Soundz(!), and then all of the insanity from ’03. Just thought that was really interesting. Love the tour stop posts!
I was at the ’98 show and, to this day, is the only show I ever carried someone *into*. Trenchtown opener was ( . Y . ) The place went crazy and set the mood for the whole night. I loved it when the boys came to play and this was one of those nights. I loved this show and still refuse to listen to it for fear of ruining a perfect memory.
Phish will never ever play Red Rocks again, People need to get it into there head. They have blown up and are a big band too small for Red rocks, plus the crowd ruined for them to where the town said they could’nt come back. It will be hard to see Phish play any on this tour but they will be here and there to entertain our spirits and show us the Phish they were and always will be.
I think there’s definitely some Hydrogen teasing in My Left Toe, as well. About 9:05 into the “So Inclined” track of MLT they start dancing around Hydrogen. They never outright play it, but all four of them tease it (down to Fish’s snare hits).
I grew up in this small rural beauty of a town where everyone knows everyone. I love my home. I try to make it back as often as i can ( i live in NC now). I believe the venue is now First Niagra Pavilion, but will always be known as Star Lake to me. It’s the only landmark that puts Burgettstown on the map! I remember the 98 show, not because I was there, but because i was a 12 year old on the baseball field watching all the traffic come up over the hill; Phish flags’a’wavin. This was my very first exposure to the band. A curious cat will explore! I’m happy to read what you have had to say about this wonderful venue. I caught my first concert here (Chicago) because Star Lake would send out free tix every now and then to the inhabitants of town and we happened to get some freebies. I also remember back in 92 when the Grateful Dead were in town for their epic 2 nighter, again, not because i knew who they were at the age of 7, but because of what my dad had said(and i will never forget), “There’s all those damn Dead Heads walking around town again” I had no clue what this meant. At my young age I thought that a dead head may have been a zombie type creature!. This is comical to me be way later down the line my first CD was Skeletons in the Closet because i thought that the Grateful Dead was a heavy metal band, (it was a teen phase, do not judge me!) and to my surprise they indeed were not! This is funny to me because of how accidental all of this was and how it became so pertinent to me later on in my life. I have made it a personal goal to catch a phish show in my hometown. My parents still reside there and it would be fun to bring all my phish phriends from NC to a show in the town in which i was molded. I could literally walk to Star Lake from my moms house. I know some really cool camping spots too! I hope they continue to make this a stop in the summer! I will be at the next one | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
My dog, cats, and ball python
This is a discussion on My dog, cats, and ball python within the Other Pets forums, part of the Off Topic Discussions category; -->
Yeah.. I guess I never assume fish people are possibly reptile people too lol.. It's a really small amount that are oddly enough.
I ...
Yeah.. I guess I never assume fish people are possibly reptile people too lol.. It's a really small amount that are oddly enough.
I wish I snapped a pic of the most absurdly saturated day glow fluorescent orange dragon I'd ever seen when at the exotics vet a couple weeks ago . I was so amazed I forgot to even ask the morphs crossed that made that beautiful creature . Was a hypo citrus tiger mixed with something amazing id imagine.
The red bulbs cause eye problems .. She doesn't need to use that one . It's stress inducing from the studies I've read too .
Oh I love my frilled dragons but don't ever really expect them to take to you at first unless they were handled constantly and highly socialized before you met them. They're hard to handle at first till you get used to their crazy ways lol.. They bond very closely to their owners but it's one of those earned things not just automatically given . I kinda like that .. Unfortunately my female chose my son to bond the closest to but my male adores me. Both much easier to handle then the first couple months . Interestingly my dog has decided she trusts my female who is 10x bigger but is the tiny boy is terrifying to her lol. It's funny to watch a pitbul turn to stone at the site of a 70gram little reptile lol . (30-35grams at the end of March ! His health battle has finally turned around and is gaining weight for the first time since I or his previous owner had him! Thank god for modern meds and great vets )
I remember hearing something about that in the past but could never find anything conclusive on it. Personally I wouldn't even run night lights, I don't have any on my python tanks just heat pads. When I did I ran black light not red but snakes eyes are different than the beardies so it wouldn't effect them anyway.
That's pretty cool. Hopefully I can eventually get her into somethin a little bigger and more rare but she just loves beardies personality. If it were up to me we'd be bringin home a black throat monitor tomorrow lol. That's cool yall have got a good local scene out there too. A lot of people I talk to online are stuck with trash.
Talked to my breeder buddy today and he was sayin the red light should be fine. Said people will run those red lights for heat along side the UVB light during the day time which is incorrect and can cause that photo kerato conjunctivitis. He also said the coil UVB bulbs have escalated eye issues but as long as u run a white basking bulb with your UVB (assuming it's not a coil) in the day and keep the red one to night use it shouldn't cause any eye problems.
No need for pad plus beardies can't sense hear in their belly area and can burn themselves without knowing it. A CHE is the only thing good for night use if really needed . I have temp probes and a couple IR heat sensor guns and the temp never drops at night to an unsafe level .. But I don't know where you live and how you keep your house . Yes I assumed you were using during day .. Inconclusive studies on wether it interrupts their sleep patterns . So I wouldn't worry .
Ahh monitors ! I soooo want an argus monitor one day .. One day
A person I know was trying hydro therapy on hers to strengthen his legs .. She rescued him.. Well lazy bum decided pools are for chillin! Lol . She said I could use her pics. Well loved argus . Silly thing
Yeah I only use pads on the rear glass of tanks, lots of stuff susceptible to belly burns.
That thing is awesome! Lol just loungin in the pool.
The little citrus sandfire is comin along and startin to get that orange... We're probably gonna try to breed it with a red tiger or a red leatherback to keep it darkened down if this one get's light.
The GTP's had a shed now too. Things are goin well.
Wifey's been breakin down more and more with the reps so I'm already looking at a lizard for myself lol. There's TONS of stuff in town right now to choose from so I'm kinda tryin to make up my mind if I want something that'll get massive or something more manageable until we buy a house.
Big stuff I've looked at are nile monitors, asian water monitors, roughneck monitors, black throat monitors, argus monitors, mangrove monitors, columbian tegu, argentine tegu, and also a few others i'm probably forgetting. Outta this group i'd really like to pick up an argentine monitor, which will happen regardless if it doesn't happen now lol.
Also checked out some dwarf caiman and captive bred alligator snapping turtles. I really dig the snappers.
Oh yay !
If I recall correctly my reptile vet last time we chatted mentioned how much better to keep the Colombian tegus are vs the argentine ones . I think she said they tend to be more personable . I still want the argus monitor though when it comes to big boys
As for the smaller ones .. Frilled dragons !!!!! Every reptile friend I have that has finally caved and gotten one swears they are absolutely their favorite reptile they e ever owned . I got a new tattoo a week or two ago and the artist darn near fell out when he found out I own 2 of them. His died 5yrs ago and he still misses him . He even will touch up any of my older tattoos for free if I just bring mine in for him to play with lol, they're extremely intelligent . Recent tests have ranked them at 3rd most intelligent reptile that has been tested so far.
Your vet is right but it's the other way around. Columbians tend to be a lot more aggressive than the argentine do. And they're like 1/3-1/2 the price. I don't know if that applies to the red argentine though, I've only seen it bein discussed about the black and whites.
And yeah I dig the frilled for sure. My buddy Byron owns JAKL reptiles outta Denver and he keeps them, super cool. This is one of his right here. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Product Overview
This is a beautiful new 14k WG .90mm Box Chain. It is a great gift for yourself or a loved one and makes the perfect addition to any jewelry collection. METAL- 14K White gold. SOLID/HOLLOW- Solid. FINISH- Polished. APPROXIMATE LENGTH- 762mm (30"). APPROXIMATE WIDTH- 0.8mm (0.03"). APPROXIMATE WEIGHT- 3.52 grams. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Cedar Hill, Texas, junior four-star receiver DaMarkus Lodge has always wanted to challenge himself. So when he received an invitation to the Under Armour Combine he didn’t care it was going to cost him a flight and hotel to travel across to Florida to compete.
“I’ve always heard this is the best combine in the country,” said Lodge, who is No. 44 in the ESPN Junior 300, said. “I was going back and forth between the Under Armour and Army Combines, but I kept hearing that all the best receivers and DBs were going to be here. So I jumped on the opportunity.” | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Tuesday, 7 March 2017
MTN Music+ revamped, local content promote
By DIKELEDI NOKWANE JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – MTN South Africa has re-launched its music streaming and download platform, in a move that is set to empower local artists. MTN Music+, launched at the MTN Innovation Centre in Johannesburg on Tuesday, will give music lovers access to 670 000 tracks. For at least R3,50 a day […] | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Stunning gel gets her pussy creampied
Ilina is an amazing teen beaut with a beautiful body and wonderful smile. Her boyfriend is ready to fuck her all day and all night! Look at this horny teen couple fucking in different positions - he will jizz Ilina's juicy buttocks, and after second fuckathon he will creampie her tight pussy. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
1950
Stadium
Attendance
Location
Toronto
Winning Coach
Frank Clair
161 people were there
Argonauts lay claim to legendary Mud Bowl
It was a game that will be remembered more for its poor field conditions than the actual game itself.
The 1950 Grey Cup, forever dubbed “The Mud Bowl” was won by the Toronto Argonauts, as they shut out the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 13-0. The game featured two teams facing each other for the sixth time in the Canadian football classic.
The wet and muddy conditions at Toronto’s Varsity Stadium created a quagmire but didn’t prevent the Argonauts from winning their eighth Grey Cup title.
The Argos kicked for what turned out to be the winning point in the first quarter. Winnipeg’s Tom Casey misjudged Joe Krol’s punt from the Blue Bombers 49-yard line, as the ball went over his head and into the end zone for a rouge.
Krol avoided a potential turnover later in the half when he dropped the ball on an attempted kick in Bombers territory. The Argo star picked it up and raced around the end for 10 yards, putting the ball on the Winnipeg 15. After failing to make another first down, Nick Volpe kicked a 21-yard field goal to put the Argos up 4-0.
Before the end of the first half, the Argos increased the margin to 7-0. Toronto’s Billy Bass recovered Indian Jack Jacobs fumble at the Winnipeg 19. After two running plays from Ulysses "Crazy Legs" Curtis and Teddy Toogood, Volpe was successful on a field goal from the Winnipeg 23.
The Argos completed the scoring in the third quarter. Toronto’s Jake Dunlap blocked Jacobs’ kick which the Boatmen recovered at the Winnipeg 20. Billy Bass and Al Dekdebrun carried to the four-yard line and Toogood to the one. On third down Dekdebrun slid across the goal line for the only touchdown of the game. Volpe missed the convert, but Krol later kicked a single for the final point of the game.
As for the Canadian Rugby Union, they were criticized for the poor field conditions. Some pointed to a lack of tarpaulin at Varsity Stadium; others believed the game could have been played a week earlier to avoid adverse weather conditions. Wrote one writer, “Because the field was like a pig’s wallow, what should have been a football classic turned into a slogging show.”
To date, it remains the last time a team has been shut out in the Grey Cup final. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Mississippi River Lock & Dam Number 4
Between Alma, Wisconsin and Kellogg, Minnesota (June 2009)
You will see a map of this location if you enable JavaScript. Please change your browser settings and reload the page.
A Short Video of the Lock and Dam
at Alma, Wisconsin
The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) operates a series of twenty seven locks and dams along the Upper Mississipi River between St. Paul, Minnesota and Granite City, Illinois (near St. Louis). Lock and Dam Number 4 is one of the furthest upstream, as signified by its low number.
A Grain Barge Enters the Lock
USACE manages this system of locks and dams to make sure the upper stretch of the Mississippi River is navigable to commercial vessels, primarily the dry bulk cargo barges that carry wheat and other commodities from these breadbasket states to markets worldwide, or to deliver coal upriver to the many coal-fired power plants that provide electricity throughout the Midwest. The Corps maintains a water level of at least nine feet which is necessary for safe navigation of these heavily-laden vessels. The Mississippi River, if allowed to flow naturally, would not guarantee the proper depth necessary throughout the year all the way up to Minneapolis. USACE constructed an elaborate system of locks and dams to deal with the situation. Water pools behind the dams to the required depth and locks allow boats to bypass the dams. Waterborne commercial transportation thus takes place more than two thousand miles into the North American interior.
The Tugboat Pushes into the Lock
Lock and Dam Number 4 spans between Alma, Wisconsin and Kellogg, Minnesota, with the actual lock on the Wisconsin side of the river. There are a number of locks that can be accessed from the Great River Road (State Road 35 in this stretch), but at this spot it is amazingly convenient to watch a lock in action. There's a parking lot provided right along the road in the middle of town. From there it's as simple as walking onto the pedestrian overpass over the railroad tracks and down to a viewing platform right next to the action. We came upon the scene at a particularly lucky moment as the lock prepared for the entry of a raft of barges push by a tugboat preparing for its journey past the obstacle.
The Tugboat and Barge Pass Through Successfully
This particular lock stretches 600 feet long and 110 feet wide. It provided just enough space for a raft of nine barges -- three wide and three long -- plus the tugboat Deana Ann, to enter into the slot. We were watching as this raft headed downstream. The lock was at its lowest water level, having just disgorged another vessel heading south. Two massive steel doors swung shut and the lock filled with water in only a few moments. The upper doors swung open, the tugboat and its barges pushed into the slot, and the assembled flotilla was lowered. Now at downriver level, the tugboats and its barges moved beyond the dam. It would travel another fifteen miles before encountering the next lock. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
I recently starting reading Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche's book 'Cutting through Spiritual Materialism'. It's like Neosporin for the soul. I have a few friends who have experienced a satori, and they greatly mourn that time. I thought the following excerpt might be useful for them. (You can buy the book on Amazon here.)
At first we are very excited, everything is beautiful. We might find that for several days we feel very “high” and excited. It seems we have already achieved the level of Buddhahood. No mundane concerns bother us at all, everything goes very smoothly, instantaneous meditation occurs all the time. It is a continuous experience of our moment of openness with the guru. This is quite common. At this point many people might feel that they do not need to work further with their spiritual friend, and possibly they might leave, go away. I heard many stories of this happening in the East: certain students met their teacher and received an instant enlightenment experience and then left. They tried to preserve that experience, but as time went on it became just a memory, words and ideas which they repeated to themselves.
Quite possibly your first reaction after such an experience would be to write it down in your diary, explaining in words everything that happened. You would attempt to anchor yourself to the experience through your writings and memoirs, by discussing it with people, or by talking to people who witnessed you having the experience.
Or a person might have gone to the East and had this sort of experience and then came back to the West. His friends might find him tremendously changed. He might look calmer, quieter, wiser. Many people might ask him for help and advice with their personal problems, might ask for his opinion of their experience of spirituality. In the beginning, his way of helping other people would be genuine, relating their problems to his own experience in the East, telling people beautiful and genuine stories of what happened to him. It would be very inspiring for him.
But at some stage in this sort of situation something tends to go wrong. The memory of that sudden flash of insight that a person has experienced loses its intensity. It does not last because he regards it as being external to himself. He feels that he has had a sudden experience of the awakened state of mind and that it belongs to the category of holiness, spiritual experience. He valued the experience highly and then communicated it to the ordinary and familiar world of his homeland, to his enemies and friends, parents and relatives, to all those people and attachments which he now feels he has transcended and overcome. But now the experience is no longer with him. There is just the memory. And yet, having proclaimed his experience and knowledge to other people, he obviously can’t go back and say what he said previously was false. He could not do that at all; it would be too humiliating. Moreover, he still has faith in the experience, that something profound really happened. But unfortunately the experience is no longer present at this very moment, because he used and evaluated it.
Speaking generally what happens is that, once we have actually opened, “flashed,” in the second moment we realize that we are open and the idea of evaluation suddenly appears. “Wow, fantastic, I have to catch that, I have to capture and keep it because it is a very rare and valuable experience.’ So we try to hold onto the experience and the problems start there, from regarding the real experience of openness as something valuable. As soon as we try to capture the experience, a whole series of chain reactions sets in.
If we regard something as valuable and extraordinary, then it becomes quite separate from us. For instance, we do not regard our eyes, body, hands or head as valuable, because we know they are part of us. Of course, if we lost them, any of them, our automatic reaction would be that we had lost such a valuable thing – “I have lost my head, I have lost my arm, it is impossible to replace!” Then we realize that it is a valuable thing. When something is removed from us, we have the opportunity to realize that it is valuable. But when we have it with us all the time, when it is part of our entire make-up, then we cannot value it particularly; it is just there. The evaluation comes from the fear of being separated, which is just what keeps us separated. We consider any sudden inspiration to be extraordinarily important, because we are afraid of losing it. That very point, that very moment, is when self-deception comes in. In other words, we lost faith in the experience of openness and its relationship to us.
Somehow we lost the unity of openness and what we are. Openness became a separate thing, and then we began to play games. It is obvious that we cannot say that we have lost the openness. “I used to have it, but I have lost it.” We cannot say that, because that will destroy our status as an accomplished person. So the part of self-deception is to retell the stories. We would rather tell stories than actually experience openness, because stories are very vivid and enjoyable. “When I was with my guru, such and such happened; he said such and such things and opened me in such and such a way, etc., etc.” So self-deception, in this case, means trying to recreate a past experience again and again, instead of actually having the experience in the present moment. In order to have the experience now, one would have to give up the evaluation of how wonderful the flash was, because it is this memory which keeps it distant. If we had the experience continuously it would seem quite ordinary, and it is this ordinariness that we cannot accept. “If only I could have that wonderful experience of openness again!” So we keep ourselves busy not having it, remembering it. This is self-deception’s game.
Self-deception needs the idea of evaluation and a very long memory. Thinking back, we feel nostalgic, getting a kick from our memories, but we do not know where we are at this very moment. We remember the “good times,” the “good old days.” We do not allow our depression to emerge at all, we do not want to accept the suspicion that we are out of touch with something. Whenever the possibility of depression arises and the feeling of loss is about to occur, the defensive nature of ego immediately brings to mind memories and words we have heard in the past in order to comfort us. Thus ego is continually looking for inspiration which has no root in the present: it is a continual running back. This is more complicated action of self-deception: one does not allow depression to come into being at all. “Since I have received such great blessings and been fortunate enough to have these wonderful spiritual experiences, how can I possibly say that I am depressed? Impossible, there is no room for depression.”
There is the story of the great Tibetan teacher, Marpa. When Marpa first met his own teacher, Naropa, Naropa created an altar which he said was the embodiment of the wisdom of a particular heruka. Both the shrine and Naropa contained tremendous spiritual energy and power, and Naropa asked Marpa to which one he would prostrate in order to experience the sudden realization of enlightenment. Marpa, being a scholar, considered that the guru lives in the flesh, and ordinary human body, while his creation, the altar, is a pure body of wisdom, having nothing to do with human imperfection. So Marpa prostrated to the shrine. And then Naropa said, “I am afraid your inspiration is going to fade. You have made the wrong choice. This shrine is my creation, and without me the shrine would not be here at all. The issue of human body versus wisdom body is irrelevant. The great display of the mandala was merely my creation.”
This story illustrates the principle of dream, hope, wish, as self-deception. As long as you regard yourself or any part of your experience as the “dream come true,” then you are involved in self-deception. Self-deception seems always to depend on the dream world, because you would like to see what you have not yet seen, rather that what you are now seeing. You will not accept that whatever is here now is what is, nor are you willing to go on with the situation as it is. Thus, self-deception always manifests itself in terms of trying to create or recreate a dream world, the nostalgia of the dream experience. And the opposite of self-deception is just working with the facts of life.
If one searches for any kind of bliss or joy, the realization of one’s imagination and dream, then, equally, one is going to suffer failure and depression. This is the whole point: a fear of separation, the hope of attaining union, these are not just manifestations of or the actions of ego or self-deception, as if ego were somehow a real thing which performed certain actions. Ego is the actions, the mental events. Ego is the fear of losing openness, the fear of losing the egoless state. This is the meaning of self-deception. Ego is the fear of losing openness, the fear of losing the egoless state. This is the meaning of self-deception, in this case – ego crying that has lost the egoless state, its dream of attainment. Fear, hope, loss, gain – these are the on-going action of the dream of ego, the self-perpetuating, self-maintaining structure is self-deception.
So the real experience, beyond the dream world, is the beauty and color and excitement of the real experience of now in everyday life. When we face things as they are, we give up the hope of something better. There will be no magic, because we cannot tell ourselves to get out of our depression. Depression and ignorance, the emotions, whatever we experience, are all real and contain tremendous truth. If we really want to learn and see the experience of truth, we have to be where we are. The whole thing is just a matter of being a grain of sand.
Q: Would you talk some more about the mechanics of this force of despair? I can understand why despair might occur, but why does bliss occur?
A: It is possible in the beginning to force oneself into the experience of bliss. It is a kind of self-hypnosis, in that we refuse to see the background of what we are. We focus only upon the immediate experience of bliss. We ignore the entire basic ground, where we really are at, so to speak, and we work ourselves up to an experience of tremendous joy. The trouble is, this kind of experience is based purely upon watching oneself. It is a completely dualistic approach. We would like to experience something, and by working very hard we do actually achieve it. However, once we come down from our “high,” once we realize that we are still here, like a block rock standing in the middle of an ocean of waves, then depression sets in. We would like to get drunk, intoxicated, absorbed into the entire universe, but somehow it does not happen. We are still here, which is always the first thing to bring us down. Later all the other games of self-deception, of trying to feed oneself further, begin because one is trying to protect oneself completely. It is the “watcher” principle.
Q: You speak of people experiencing something and then grasping it intellectually, labeling it saying, “That’s fantastic.” This seems to be an almost automatic reaction. Could you go through the ways in which people begin to get away from doing this? It seems to me that the more you try to stop evaluation, the more you are evaluating.
A: Well, once you realize that you are actually doing this and are not getting anything from it, then I think you begin to find your way out. One begins to see that the whole process is part of a huge game which is not really profitable, because you are continuously building rather than coming to an understanding of anything. There is no magic or trick involved. The only thing you do is to quite painfully unmask.
Perhaps you will have to build and build until you realize the futility of attempting to achieve spirituality, your entire mind might become completely overcrowded with your struggle. In fact, you might not know whether you are coming or going, to the point where you become completely exhausted. Then you might learn a very useful lesson: to give up the whole thing, to be nothing. You might even experience a yearning to be nothing. There seems to be two solutions: either to simply unmask, or else to build and build, strive and strive, until you reach a crescendo and then drop the whole thing.
Q: What happens when one says, “Wow, I’ve made it.” That doesn’t blow the whole trip, does it?
A: Not necessarily. But then, what happens next? Do you want to repeat your experience again and again, rather than working with the present situation of what is? One could experience tremendous joy in the first flash of openness, which is quite beautiful. But what comes afterwards is important: whether one is working to grasp and recreate that experience or whether one is letting be, allowing that experience to be just one experience, not attempting to recreate the first flash.
Q: You are ambitious, building all the time, and the more you think about it, the worse it gets. So you try to just run away from the whole thing, try not to think about it, try to lose yourself in all sorts of escapes. What does this mean and how can one get over the fact that, the more on thinks about enlightenment and tries to find out about it, the worse things become and the more conceptualizations accumulate? What do you do?
A: That is very obvious. You drop searching for anything altogether, drop trying to discover anything, trying to prove yourself.
Q: But sometimes one might have an active feeling of running away, and that is not the same thing as not doing anything at all.
A: Once you try to run away, you find that not only are you being chased from behind, but there are also people coming towards you from the front as well. Eventually there is no room to run. You are completely trapped. Then the only thing to do is really, simply to give in.
Q: What does that mean?
A: Well, one has to experience it. It means to stop trying to go anywhere, both in terms of getting away from and of running to, because both are the same thing.
Q: Is self-remembering or observing oneself incongruent with giving in and being here?
A: Self-remembering is quite a dangerous technique, actually. It could involve watching yourself and your actions like a hungry cat watching mice, or else it could be an intelligent gesture of being where you are. The whole point is that, if you have any idea of relationship – I am experiencing this, I am doing this – then “I” and “this“ are very strong personalities, equally. Somehow there will be a conflict between “I” and “this.” It is rather like saying that “this” is the mother and “I” the father. With two such polar extremes involved you are bound to give birth to something. So the whole idea is to let “this” not be there, and then “I” will not be there. Or else, “I” is not there, therefore “this” is not there. It is not a matter of telling it to yourself, but of feeling it, a real experience. You must take away the watcher, the observer of the two extremes. Once the watcher is removed, then the whole structure falls apart. The dichotomy remains in existence only so long as there is an observer to keep the whole picture together. You must remove the watcher and the very complicated bureaucracy he creates to ensure that nothing is missed by the central headquarters. Once we take away the watcher, there is a tremendous amount of space, because he and his bureaucracy take up so much room. If we eliminate the filter of “I” and “other” then the space becomes sharp and precise and intelligent. Space contains the tremendous precision of being able to work with the situations in it. One does not really need the “watch” or “observer” at all.
Q: Does the watcher exist because you want to be living at what seems a higher level, whereas if you just let go, perhaps you would be here?
A: Yes, that is true. When the watcher disappears, the notion of higher and lower levels does not apply, so there is no longer any inclination to struggle, attempting to get higher. Then you just are where you are.
Q: Can you remove the watcher by force? Wouldn’t that be the game of evaluation again?
A: You do not have to regard the watcher as a villain. Once you begin to understand that the purpose of meditation is not to get higher but to be present, here, then the watcher is not efficient enough to perform that function, and it automatically falls away. The basic quality of the watcher is to try to be extremely efficient and active. But total awareness is something you already have, so ambitious or so called “efficient” attempts to be aware are self-defeating. As the watcher begins to realize that it is irrelevant, it falls away.
Q: Can there be awareness without a watcher?
A: Yes, because the watcher is only paranoia. You could have complete openness, a panoramic situation, without having to discriminate between two parties, “I” and “other.”
Q: Would that awareness involve feelings of bliss?
A: I do not think so, because bliss is a very individual experience. You are separate and you are experiencing your bliss. When the watcher is gone, there is no evaluation of the experience as being pleasant or painful. When you have panoramic awareness without the evaluation of the watcher, then the bliss becomes irrelevant, by the very fact that there is no one experiencing it. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
I realize I've fallen prey to magical thinking, believing that if I fail to do X or Y activist thing, then the whole resistance will fall apart. It arises from erroneous logic that goes like this: "This situation is so bad it caused me to cancel plans with a friend to go protest. I'm not alone; other people feel that way too. That's why there are so many people protesting. But if I let up, then they will, too, since they're like me. So I have to prevent that from happening by not letting up."
I am the drop that controls the ocean!!
But of course, my actions don't actually control other people's.1 I doubt I'm even a very good indicator of what other people will do, but if I were, my actions still wouldn't control other people's; they'd merely be predictive. And it's grandiose to assume that my action or inaction is going to spell the success or defeat of, for example, resistance to the executive order2 on refugees and incomers from those seven majority-Muslim countries. Maybe this exhortation is something that only I need, but I'll put it out there anyway: Do whatever stuff you do because you want to help change something that you find intolerable. *Don't* do it because your action magically controls the outcome. It doesn't.
1It's true that our actions can influence other people, so if you do something or refrain from something, it may ... pick your verb--cause/push/induce others to follow suit. But you're still not controlling them.2I wasn't entirely clear on how executive orders work, so I read up on them (well, mainly I read one Washington Post article) and created a two-page summary of what I learned, which I can email anyone who'd like it.
This has been a really weird time for me because, in a situation which is the most urgent of any I've seen in my lifetime, I can't do any activism at all as it's currently defined.
I physically can't do anything involving physical effort. I'm already spending so much time making phone calls and writing letters for other (extremely essential) reasons that I can't add on more. So I am doing zero traditional activism at a time when I most want to do something, and when literally everyone I know is saying that it's essential.
But for everything I'm not doing, there are five or fifty or five thousand people doing what I would if I could. This is an unusually huge movement that has people unusually fired up. In a sense we are all needed... but I personally am not needed. No given single individual is. If one of us isn't there, others will be.
Meanwhile, I'm having important longer-term interactions with a tiny number of people. I'm obviously not doing anything single-handedly because the client is doing most of the work, but the entire point of therapy is that the client can't do it by themselves. I can do it because it's an extremely small number of people (currently four) and involves me sitting in a chair and having a quiet conversation for one hour per person. But a number of people have said it's completely transformed their lives.
I think that's as meaningful as protesting or calling politicians. Ideally I'd do both. But I can't do both. Your prison work is similar - it's a form of activism that consists of changing the lives of a smallish number of individuals in a direct and potentially very large way. Ideally you'd be out with a sign too, but this is the real world and we have a finite amount of time and energy.
I was recently reading about Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese diplomat who issued visas to Jews against orders during WWII, saving thousands of lives. One thing that struck me in his Wikipedia article was the space devoted to the disagreement over exactly how many lives he saved. Part of that was an uncertainty about how many people were involved (he mostly wrote visas for heads of families, so one visa could cover multiple people, but that means that it's hard to say how many people used any given visa) but also partly came down to the question of what "saved" meant. Some of the people he gave visas to survived initially because of that, but later died in the war anyway. Were they saved? What does "saved" even mean in that context?
I thought, "What does it matter if he save 2000 or 6000 or 10,000 people? It matters to each of them individually, but the Jews who didn't get a visa at all matter individually too. If only one person managed to get all the way through the war on a visa he signed, he'd still be just as important to that one person, and that one person's life doesn't matter any less because it's just one life.
Only Anne Frank's father survived the Holocaust; does that mean the people who hid the entire family did any less than Sugihara? Or that Sugihara did less than Winston Churchill?"
For many people, making those calls and going to the rallies is the thing that matters. They're working on the big picture, which will ultimately save many individual lives. But the small picture, in which one person sits down with one or a small group of people, matters too.
My life is on the line because I can't find a single person who both wants to help me and has the power to do so. So far everyone with the power has turned me away. I'm just one person. But my life matters to me.
If thousands and thousands of people rallied to reform the American medical system, maybe that would save me. But the other thing that might would be one doctor who chooses to try. The first option would save way, way more people, all of whose lives matter. But it won't be in time for me - that will take ten or fifty or a hundred years, if it happens at all. What I need is one person to say, "Your life matters and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to save it."
Rallies are important. Phone calls are important. But classes and therapy are also important. There's a whole lot of people trying to help everyone at once. We can spare a few to try to help one at a time.
Yeah, very much agreement. There are so many different ways of doing things. One of my partners' main contribution is doing childcare so that rushthatspeaks and I can go do non-baby-friendly activist things, and that is a real contribution. Therapy-- helping other people not despair in all this-- is a real contribution.
And personally, I took all of yesterday as a news holiday, and I don't think the revolution collapsed. And now today I'm back, and feeling better than I had been.
There are so many different ways of doing things. --And so many things to *do*, some of them not directly related to the current political situation in any way, yet still important. When there's a huge threat out there, we're tempted to justify everything in relationship to it--and those justifications can be true (like what you said about your partner's child care making it possible for you and Rush to go to non-baby-friendly activities)--but things have worth even apart from that.
I want everyone to read what you wrote here, because you express so eloquently what I hadn't been able to articulate. (I tried several times to write what I wrote for this post, because initially my idea was much bigger and encompassed some of what you're saying, but also other things related to how history goes---but I couldn't do it because I couldn't figure out what my main focus was and because it was wrapped up in my unease over my own personal decisions and also peer pressure.)
But YES. One life has meaning, and saving one life is important--in any context. A doctor in Nazi Germany who saved one patient with appendicitis from death changed that person's whole world, and the world of that person's friends and family, just as surely as Chiune Sugihara's activism. And what you say about big-picture and immediate-picture activism is also true.
I want people to drop their feeling of responsibility for the whole world (or a whole big-picture issue), because history does what it does based on the movement of the whole ocean, and yes, it takes individual drops to make the ocean, but a drop in its drop-ness is only responsible for what a drop can do. If all the drops deserted the ocean, historians could analyze what trends or mindsets led to that decision, but what each drop is responsible for is what it's doing with its drop-ness. As an individual, you could be walking down the street shouting slurs at people and making fun of handicapped people (like SOME one I could mention), or you can be helping people get over PTSD. You're doing the latter. So regardless of what the ocean does or doesn't accomplish, you're doing GREAT. (I know you know this--I'm using you as an example and saying a long-winded AMEN to what you wrote.)
But, I was told, if I say the things I'm saying in this comment, then I'm acting as a huge demotivator--it's like I'm a traitor to the cause. But I don't believe I am, because what I'm saying has nothing to do with the cause. What I'm saying has to do with the level at which people need to feel a sense of responsibility and what motivates them to take an action.
Thank you very much, both for what you wrote in your comment and for giving me the clarity and courage to write the rest of what was in my head.
That sense of ideological purity ("if you care about other causes, you're de facto harming this cause") is one of the things I like least about large group dynamics, and (to be honest) one of the reasons I'm not personally big on protests/public activism. Intersectionality is where it's at; no one person can care about every issue, but there's enough people who care to go around and focus on everything - if we can keep from undermining each other. I have no research to back this up, but I strongly suspect that this exact attitude alienates a number of potential activists. "So the stuff I care about isn't all that important, but I care less about this other stuff and the people protesting it are jerks, so..."
What you do has very real and perceivable effect on a personal level, e.g., when you help out your friends, or when you play with a dog, or when you set an example with your bicycling. It's when it comes to huge big things that any one person's individual effect is negligible (on its own--but it's never just us on our own; there are always others working too). Because we *are* so small, individually, I think what has to motivate us, when it comes to those big things, can't be desire for success or fear of failure, but rather simply wanting to contribute. And then we hope for success...
Thank you; that's really encouraging. It helps to hear from someone else. And I'm glad your post was the catalyst for seeing other positive, encouraging thoughts as well. I think a lot of people need more of that these days. I certainly do. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Member Login / Fastcase
Member Directory Search
Presented in a question and answer format it is not a test these objectives click for details see online prescriptions for Nolvadex of view, was very reluctantly serving as a general benefactor to europe. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Commandant Otto Maurus, ARWH-1Z ArcHammer, Maurus' MinutemenCaptain Obadiah Sykes, OSR-5FCR Ostroc, Second Filtvelt Citizens MilitiaI hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand. - ConfuciusNoli Timure MessoremMay God defend me from my friends; I can defend myself from my enemies. - VoltaireWielder of the Ferro-Carbide Bat of DOOM™
Here's the Loyalty 4-Part story about Bannson's Raiders. Found it today on Wayback Machine.
Logged
Proud Warrior of the Clan Protectorate.
Looking to play clix Mechwarrior in the Northeast Ohio area? Come join our playing group!
Quote from: Worktroll
Face it - MW:DA had, for its run, massively greater commercial success than BattleTech's ever had. Over two million click-base minis - want to guess where the number of BT minis comes in? I'd guess on the order of a few percent of that. While BT has survived for 30 years, we've never had the same number of players at any point. The pity was that unlike BT, MW:DA ended up being run by businessmen, not game fanatics.
Looking to play clix Mechwarrior in the Northeast Ohio area? Come join our playing group!
Quote from: Worktroll
Face it - MW:DA had, for its run, massively greater commercial success than BattleTech's ever had. Over two million click-base minis - want to guess where the number of BT minis comes in? I'd guess on the order of a few percent of that. While BT has survived for 30 years, we've never had the same number of players at any point. The pity was that unlike BT, MW:DA ended up being run by businessmen, not game fanatics.
Looking to play clix Mechwarrior in the Northeast Ohio area? Come join our playing group!
Quote from: Worktroll
Face it - MW:DA had, for its run, massively greater commercial success than BattleTech's ever had. Over two million click-base minis - want to guess where the number of BT minis comes in? I'd guess on the order of a few percent of that. While BT has survived for 30 years, we've never had the same number of players at any point. The pity was that unlike BT, MW:DA ended up being run by businessmen, not game fanatics.
Looking to play clix Mechwarrior in the Northeast Ohio area? Come join our playing group!
Quote from: Worktroll
Face it - MW:DA had, for its run, massively greater commercial success than BattleTech's ever had. Over two million click-base minis - want to guess where the number of BT minis comes in? I'd guess on the order of a few percent of that. While BT has survived for 30 years, we've never had the same number of players at any point. The pity was that unlike BT, MW:DA ended up being run by businessmen, not game fanatics. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Finally! The site is launched, perhaps not with all the features that it was supposed to have but it works and the missing features are being worked on so they should be ready in a near future, I have to say it sure feels good to finally get to this point its not only a bunch of guys talking about a Unreal "community" site its really here. After a lot of talks and discussions about the lack of a site where the Unreal-fans from the nordic countries can come together and hang out we finally took it do the next level and started to work on this project. It might not be the most breathtaking site to look at and it might not be the one with the most content either, but its ours all of us who are into Unreal and live in the area where penguins and polarbears roam the streets.
Oh I'm sorry, I forgot to welcome you all, welcome to UnrealNorth.com. I and all of my co-workers hope that you fill find your stay here pleasent and enlightning. The goal for us is to make UnrealNorth a place where all Unrealers can come and get the latest news about the nordic community, discuss the current happenings as well as compete in our competitions and download the best demos available. Our plans for the future are indeed massive, we want to help the nordic community thrive and grow, we want to help open peoples eyes to this great game we call Unreal Tournament 2004 and to make them apart of the community that we all already are apart of.
I'm writing this i scorching heat with only an hour or so before this site is due for release and I'm feeling the pressure to say the least. Things needs to be done, articles needs to be finished, news has to be written and last minute coding and designing has to be made in order to get this thing up and running. Many people have helped out to make this possible, not everyone has been able to help in a practical manner but instead they have kept pushing us forward, not letting us give up when we have felt like doing so. People have come up with some excellent ideas, not all of them have made it into the site at this point in time, but I must point out that what you see now is only a small fraction of what UN has the potential to become, if everything goes as planned.
We will need your help though. You see are the only ones who can help UnrealNorth grow, without you the site is nothing. We need your feedback, positive as well as negative so dont hesitate to contact us and give us your opinion about things. We need this since it's otherwise almost impossible to make UnrealNorth into something that will benifit you and the community as a whole. Our biggest goal with our project is something that I think all of us want: a bigger community which will benifit everyone who has a love for this game. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
„Nina Paley was not looking for an international controversy. Nevertheless, in April, when the now 40-year-old Jewish cartoonist screened her latest film, “Sita Sings the Blues,” at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, she said that’s precisely what she got.“ (A Filmmaker’s ‘Blues’ Prompts Traditionalists To See Red ) | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Pages
Friday, July 1, 2011
John Fluevog - Grand Opening in Cgy
John Fluevog, the Vancouver-based Canadian shoe designer and label, is not a stranger among most shoes obsessed fans. It is a dream-come-true to Calgarians who appreciates quality footwear, because in just a few more hours, the first John Fluevog store in Alberta will be opened. This is exciting because Fluevog shoes are well known internationally and have been acknowledged by many celebrities.
Located in Fashion Central on Stephen's Avenue, John Fluevog occupies in a beautiful three-levels space, where each floor will contain something special to their audience. It was a pleasure to be invited to preview John Fluevog fall collection as well as to have an opportunity to get the "first-look" of this spectacular store. Adrian Fluevog, the son of John Fluevog mentioned that the first (basement) floor of the store will be provided for artists to exhibit artwork. While the main floor consists the shoes collection, the third floor will be utilized for a potential Fluevog "museum", which may showcase some of the most important Fluevog archives. Fluevog produces both men's and women's footwear, and many of the designs revealed an art-deco flavour.
Homme wear
Fluevog men's fall collection
I particularly liked this men's fall collection. The leather shoe laces which wraps around the shoe itself displayed a modernized and edgy look while retaining the classic Fluevog styles.
Femme wear
Women's fall collection; some of the shoes are currently exclusive in Calgary store only.
No doubt that women will love these shoes. Again, unique designs yet the signature style (such as the wide square heels) were maintained.
Fluevog signatures
What was intriguing to me and something that I learned from Adrian today was that there is a story behind every pair of shoe designs. You will noticed that on some of the shoe's bottom, there is a line or a phrase that characterizes a specific theme of the design.
Fluevog bags
Over the years, Fluevogs have also expanded their line into bags and accessories. I am confident to say that Fluevog is definitely a new gem in Calgary. With the emerging demands for new styles and Calgarians began to "break out" of their comfort zone in fashion, I see Fluevog a success in this city.
I like to thank Stephen (Fluevog) and Adrian Fluevog for the invitation. It was a pleasure to meet both of them. For more info about John Fluevog products, visit their official website (Click here), or follow them on Twitter @Fluevog. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
The Decathlon volunteer translation effort aims to help translate roughly ten software projects in 2008. It can be difficult to narrow all available opensource software down to just ten, though.
Decathlon is a strategic software localisation initiative, therefore the selection criteria for software to be translated are as follows:
It must be opensource
A software project must be open source so that the work performed by volunteers is credited, distributed and that it empowers all who wish to use the software.
End-user focussed
Software must address the needs of end-users. Thus translating a programming IDE would not qualify. But certain highly technical pieces of software such as a CMS might, as they address an end-user need.
Cross-platform
Must run on Linux and Windows. We should not be locking someone into a platform because of our localisations. We acknowledge that most end-users are using Microsoft Windows.
Only one of each
Only one application of a certain type is translated. There is no use translating two web browsers when one will do.
Ideally, the Decathlon should be a partnership between translation teams and software developers. For this reason, the following selection criteria also apply to participating projects beyond the initial few:
Pootle compatibility
A software project should make use of Pootle and the Translate Toolkit, unless there is an existing localisation process. Even in such cases, it is highly preferable that translators are allowed to use Pootle.
Liaison with Decathlon
It is preferably that the software project appoints a project liaison who can work with the Decathlon project leader to iron out problems and see to the needs of translators, where necessary.
Such a person should have sufficient knowledge and skills in programming on the software project or in coordination of existing translations. Where no such person exists, the Decathlon project leader will make use of a project's existing bug reporting and communication channels to convey the necessary changes.
Translation release
The translations should ideally be released regularly during the engagement and must be released shortly after the completion of the engagement. Projects should be able to align translations with at least one release somewhere in 2008.
Promotion of Decathlon
Depending on the level of cooperation between participating software projects and Decathlon, such projects should also promote their participation in the Decathlon through their existing channels and related channels.
A localisation project is most successful if the project developers are continuously made aware of the specific problems translators face when contributing translations. This is the reason for the requirement that someone in the software development team should be available to liaise with the Decathlon project leader to ensure that the software project gets the most benefit from the translation drive.
From a project management point of view, the translation of a software project will follow roughly three phases (ideally each lasting about one month):
Phase one: Preparation for translation
Phase two: Translation by the volunteers
Phase three: Wrapping up loose ends
The translation of the different software projects will be evenly spread across the year so that at any one stage only one localisation phase is being performed. The Decathlon leader will continue with phases one and three from other software projects during the translation phase of the current software project, ensuring that their is a continual stream of translation activity.
By working closely with the software project we hope to create better processes and resources for these key strategic localisation projects. The aim is that these processes and the teams of localisers that emerge can continue to grow and that they can influence other software projects and localisers into the future.
Phase one - preparation for translation
In the first phase we prepare the software projects material and processes. This might include cleaning and commenting source text, creating resources such as glossaries, determining what needs to be translated and preparing an installation of Pootle to host their translations.
Many projects have very poor source texts which suffer from problems such as: poor English, cultural references, undocumented variables, unclear terminology, etc. All of these need to be fixed, removed or commented to make the job of the translator easier.
In parallel we create a terminology list that defines words used by the project so that it is easy for translators to determine what term to use in their translation.
In determining what needs to be translated, we might create a subset of the full translations or might identify multiple subsets of the full translation. This is done so that the work is focussed on delivering results and not wasting translation time and resources on aspects that are not often encountered by users of the software. This will also be done to ensure that the work is within the reach of a volunteer's monthly time commitment.
Phase two - translation by the volunteers
During the second phase the actual translation takes place. Each phase is started by the development of terms for the glossary and then continues into the actual translation.
During this time the Decathlon leader together with the project liaison will answer queries through e-mail, IRC, etc. that come from volunteer translators. They will provide feedback and encouragements and will report on the progress being made.
With the preparatory work done with the software project in the previous month the volunteer localisers task will be much easier, more directed and include quality checks due to glossary development work.
The aim during the localisation phase is not that new localisers see themselves as localisers of a specific piece of softwre, but that they are drawn into the localisation at a strategic language level. Thus by moving quickly onto the next project we hope to build their identity around localisation teams rather then the software project. This will have a long-term positive effect on localisation into minority languages.
Phase three - wrapping up loose ends
In the final phase we work with the software project to ensure that the software is released with the completed translations and work to ensure that any issues are quickly resolved.
The Decathlon person and the liaison jointly develop media material that can be disseminated through the software project's channels, the Decathlon project's channels and channels available to the volunteer translators.
This wrap-up may last longer then a month if the actual software release date does not coincide directly with the end of the translation phase. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
Forums shutting down March 2019
Due to various security vulnerabilities, I'll be shutting down the forums sometime in March of 2019.
The software we're using continues to get hit by bot attacks, and there's evidence that these forums are open to other exploits.
If you are re-using your Sven Co-op forum password for other online accounts, I would advise changing them immediately.
I'll be exporting the posts and archiving them for display at a later date. Until then, the countdown begins.
Re: Forums shutting down March 2019
Originally Posted by Sniper
Due to various security vulnerabilities, I'll be shutting down the forums sometime in March of 2019.
The software we're using continues to get hit by bot attacks, and there's evidence that these forums are open to other exploits.
If you are re-using your Sven Co-op forum password for other online accounts, I would advise changing them immediately.
I'll be exporting the posts and archiving them for display at a later date. Until then, the countdown begins.
Re: Forums shutting down March 2019
Re: Forums shutting down March 2019
To Sniper,
It would be a shame to see this site go down, it's such a huge resource of information going way back nearly 20 years. It will be missed. I use the site weekly if not daily as a guest, most of the time.
Would you consider locking the site down in read only mode, until you are able to replace it? I would prefer this to a complete shutdown, but would it satisfy your security concerns???
Short of those drastic actions, have you considered putting out a call to the community to recruit a volunteer to either maintain or work on the security issues of the site?
Thank-you for your work all these years, but please consider something short of a complete shutdown, if that is possible?
Re: Forums shutting down March 2019
Originally Posted by madmax2
To Sniper,
It would be a shame to see this site go down, it's such a huge resource of information going way back nearly 20 years. It will be missed. I use the site weekly if not daily as a guest, most of the time.
Would you consider locking the site down in read only mode, until you are able to replace it? I would prefer this to a complete shutdown, but would it satisfy your security concerns???
Short of those drastic actions, have you considered putting out a call to the community to recruit a volunteer to either maintain or work on the security issues of the site?
Thank-you for your work all these years, but please consider something short of a complete shutdown, if that is possible?
Re: Forums shutting down March 2019
I'm not too surprised considering how dead this place got after 2016 or so.
[...]but we'll need a place to host scripts, models, tutorials, and basically any thread here that has useful info.[...]
When it comes to tutorials, I guess 303s and twhl still give potential map-designers all the info they need to start.
When it comes to how dead it is here, well...can you blame many of the ones who left for leaving?
I know that I personally put aside most of the maps I worked on and kinda bailed away after I asked on the Steam Forums if Grenade/Xbow/Rocket Jumping would return since it's possible in 3.0 but not since 4.8. I seemingly annoyed Sniper enough (cause he thought it was still doable until I sent video proof) that he started talking shit about me in more private circles which got sent to me.
But hey, it at least finally pushed me to venture towards Source.
Re: Forums shutting down March 2019
Originally Posted by DrRhubarb
When it comes to tutorials, I guess 303s and twhl still give potential map-designers all the info they need to start.
When it comes to how dead it is here, well...can you blame many of the ones who left for leaving?
I know that I personally put aside most of the maps I worked on and kinda bailed away after I asked on the Steam Forums if Grenade/Xbow/Rocket Jumping would return since it's possible in 3.0 but not since 4.8. I seemingly annoyed Sniper enough (cause he thought it was still doable until I sent video proof) that he started talking shit about me in more private circles which got sent to me.
But hey, it at least finally pushed me to venture towards Source.
How am I not being helpful here?
If you want, please re-read the entire thread from start to finish to understand the context of your complaints. Also read my responses in the thread to get a refresher of how you derailed the conversation artfully. I thought we put this topic to bed.
Re: Forums shutting down March 2019
Hi all, I just want to extend an enthusiastic and wholehearted welcome to anybody wanting to join or contribute to TWHL. We're slowly becoming the last remaining site for Goldsource resources, and I want to assure everybody that TWHL will absolutely not be shut down, ever. Anybody can contribute to the wiki with tutorials, guides, or other resources. Maps, models, and other downloadables can be uploaded to the vault.
I totally understand the move to shut down the Sven forums for security reasons, but it's a real shame considering the resources that have collected here over the years. Hopefully the archive will be available indefinitely.
Thank you Sniper and the Sven Co-op team for hosting these forums for so long, and for providing us all with a fantastic mod!
Re: Forums shutting down March 2019
Re: Forums shutting down March 2019
we could make an archive of all the files posted here? (aside from backing up the posts. Personally I'd just backup posts that have some relevance like tutorials and problems being solved, but thats just me) | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Standards & Legislation
China revises key food contact material standard
CHINA – The Chinese government is currently consulting industry on a draft amendment to its food contact material standard GB 9685.
Issued by the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC), the draft amendment attempts to make the standard more compatible with international practices, for example by changing the term “food containers and packaging materials” – which was previously used by China – to “food contact materials and their products”.
Hence, the standard’s name has also been changed to “GB 9685-XXXX National Food Safety Standard: Standard for Uses of Additives in Food Contact Materials and their Products”.
The draft standard amendment defines "food contact materials and articles" to include various materials and articles, including food packaging…
The full report on China’s revised food contact material standard GB 9685 is available in the May 2015 issue of Packaging Business Insight Asia. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Locking horns over the fiduciary standard
By BenefitsPro
By Paula Aven Gladych
With the Department of Labor and Securities and Exchange Commission creeping ever-closer to unveiling their proposed changes to the fiduciary standard, there’s little doubt that regulators are about to unleash big changes on stock brokers and insurance agents.
The very meaning of “investment advice” for retail investors may be fundamentally altered in what promises to be a watershed moment.
While the details remain unknown, all signs point toward rules mandating greater transparency and responsibility on the part of securities brokers who work with IRAs and 401(k) plans. They'd be held to the same standard as investment advisors.
Any number of new restrictions might emerge including one preventing firms from paying their brokers or agents more for selling in-house products.
Both the DOL and SEC have received lots of pushback on their plans to amend the definition of fiduciary. The DOL's version was expected next month but officials this week said that was no longer likely.
Regardless, the most notable complaints: that a fiduciary standard would force brokers to abandon millions of potential customers that they could otherwise serve under current, more lenient standards. And, not surprisingly, that a new standard would cost brokers the ability to earn commissions on IRA advice.
Fiduciaries, of course, must serve the client's best interests, acting in good faith and prudently with the knowledge and judgment of an investment professional. They must also avoid conflicts of interest and disclose any facts that are material to their relationship with their clients, and they need to work to rein in costs and avoid unnecessary expenses.
Here’s a closer look at the issue, and what those in the industry might want to think about as they prepare for a new day.
The problem
While brokers and advisors operate under different standards, they both offer clients investment advice. Regulators want a common fiduciary standard for those who provide personalized investment advice to retail clients.
The Department of Labor’s proposed fiduciary rule would make it so broker-dealers, who work with IRA customers, would have to follow the same fiduciary standard as registered investment advisors who work within the 401(k) retirement market. That means that if someone is giving investors advice on which investments to make, they need to give it in the best interest of their clients, or disclose that they are receiving a commission to recommend certain investments.
Broker-dealers, banks and insurance companies want to be exempt from the new rules.
In part, they say, that’s because they worry that lower-income clients would no longer have access to financial advice after their 401(k) accounts are rolled over into an IRA because IRAs traditionally charge more in administration fees than defined contribution plans.
“We know that the small investors who make up 98 percent of all IRA investors will simply not be able to afford the fees required under a fiduciary account,” said Lee Covington, senior vice president and general counsel for the Insured Retirement Institute. “They like working with their advisor on a commission basis and would have to move to a no-frills, no-education, no-assistance type of account.
“Investors see value in working with a financial professional,” he added. “We see investors engage in healthier savings behaviors when they are working with a financial professional. Cutting that off is extremely detrimental to the client and the financial professional.”
That may be, but critics believe there’s too much ambiguity under existing SEC rules, creating the potential for investors to be misled.
Broker-dealers and others are already required to recommend suitable products for their clients to invest in, but the big debate has been, what qualifies as suitable?
Brokers, who sometimes call themselves advisors, receive commissions for the products they sell. Under current suitability rules, a broker could recommend that a client invest in an S&P Index Fund. Based on the client’s age and expected retirement date, that can be a perfectly acceptable investment. The problem is that the broker may be receiving a commission to pitch one fund over another and the one they are pitching could be 40 basis points more expensive than the Vanguard S&P Index Fund, said Lee Topley, managing director of the retirement plan consulting group at Unified Trust Co.
In other words, most people wouldn’t know that the investment that was chosen for them was picked not because it was in their best interest but because the person selling it to them had a stake in the game.
The SEC has been trying to close that loophole since the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act authorized the agency to impose a fiduciary standard on brokers.
Topley, for one, believes that anyone acting in an advisory capacity, be it as a registered investment advisor or broker-dealer serving IRAs, needs to be transparent about the fees they are charging or any commissions they are earning to recommend certain investment products.
“A lot of participants are rolling their retirement accounts into IRAs, but the proper disclosure of fees and what they are paying in those IRAs is not understandable,” Topley said. “There’s not the same level of requirement about what fees are being paid and what the advisor is making off that retirement plan space.”
Topley believes the Department of Labor proposal is largely driven by the fear that people are being taken advantage of when their money is rolled into an IRA. Defined contribution plan participants are accustomed to the idea that plan sponsors and financial advisors are fiduciaries and acting in their best interest. They may not know the difference between a commission-earning broker-dealer and an ERISA advisor.
No reason for despair
Before the rules take effect, advisory firms should decide which side of the fence they want to be on and start educating themselves about how to move forward once the rules are in place.
The Wagner Law Group recommends that broker-dealers should dual register as a registered investment advisor and charge level, asset-based fees. Doing this would eliminate any prohibited conflicts of interest.
Broker-dealers, of course, could preserve their non-fiduciary status by telling clients their investment advice isn’t impartial. That obviously might have a chilling effect on client relationship.
Advisors who are not well-versed in the fiduciary rules will suffer most, Topley predicted.
“They are not educated and informed. That is not where they built their business. It is not their expertise,” he said.
Does he believe that some of these broker-dealers can learn the market and move into the fiduciary space? Absolutely. Advisors who have a solid understanding of the business and make it a core component of what they do will be attractive to plan sponsors, he said.
Skip Schweiss, president of TD Ameritrade Trust Co. and managing director of advisor advocacy for TD Ameritrade Institutional, believes there is room in the marketplace for both the broker and advisory models; those in the business just need to make the distinction between the two more clear.
Advisors need to start thinking about how they can differentiate themselves and their services from other advisors and brokers in the marketplace. If everyone is a fiduciary, then the registered investment advisor’s primary selling point is suddenly gone in terms of distinction, Schweiss said.
He recommends that everyone familiarize themselves with the fiduciary proposals. If they don’t have the time to get up-to-date, they should partner with a larger company that has the resources necessary to stay apprised of the latest regulatory happenings.
He believes advisors need to work on their branding and value propositions immediately.
“A lot of them have had great success during the past 10 to 20 years with the fiduciary distinction they carry vis-à-vis the broker down the street, but via regulation, that could go away,” Schweiss said. “Rethink that now. It is not something you could change overnight. I encourage advisors to spend head time on that and to hire marketing and branding consultants to help them with that.” | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Share this:
You can use them for: embroidery, scrabooking, card design, invitations, stickers, jewelry, paper crafts, web design, and a lot more.
License Information:
Commercial No Credit Needed: You must purchase the extra fee for this use and credit is not needed.
Non-Profit: This is for all personal or non profit use. Credit not required, but appreciated.
Commercial Credit Required: You must give credit to designer with a clickable link wherever you display your product.
Crediting should be as same as displayed here: Graphics by Kika Esteves at MyGrafico | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Benny the Butcher – “Rubber Bands & Weight” (Video)
First off, if you don’t have Tana Talk 3 in rotation, just stop reading this post, click here, and press play.
Now, for those who already gave the album the multiple spins it deserves, Benny the Butcher is back in action with a video for the Alchemist-laced “Rubber Bands & Weight.”
“This record was inspired by how my neighborhood was like ‘The Carter’ from New Jack City,” Benny told Complex. “The streets love this record and my building goes crazy every time I perform it! This record helped make Tana Talk 3 a classic; and nobody spitting like this but me!”
All facts. Check out the Slim Gus-directed clip below. And, if you happen to be in New York tonight (1/24), be sure to catch the Butcher rocking at SOBs. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Lift Big to Get Big
In nature, as well as in architecture, form follows function. In other words, people and animals as well as buildings look like the activities they do best. So, if form follows function and most guys want to look big and strong, why do so many spend the vast majority of their time doing exercises that seem to be designed to do the exact opposite?
Look around almost any gym and, more often than not, you’ll see guys using machines, performing exercises with light weights, doing almost nothing but isolation exercises with meaningless weights and then doing a whole bunch of long, slow “cardio” to burn fat and reveal their six-packs.
As form follows function, it’s no wonder very few of these guys ever experience much in the way of muscle building. Their workouts suck! And while we are on the subject; a six-pack on a skinny guy is like big boobs on a fat girl – they just don’t count for anything!
Anyway, why do so many guys train the way they do? Why are leg extensions more popular than squats or crunches more popular and heavy single-arm farmers walks? Simple; leg extensions and crunches are easy! That’s not to say there is anything especially wrong with those exercises but, if you are serious about building real-world muscle and being at least as strong as you look, you should place the emphasis of your training on big compound exercises and getting as strong as you can.
Yes, I know, you aren’t a weightlifter and all you want to do is look good naked but if you want to have efficient and productive workouts, if you want to get to your genetic potential sooner rather than later, if you want to develop muscle density and look more like an athlete and less like a pubescent teenager, you need to break out of your comfort zone and start wrestling with the big weights and training for improved strength and performance.
Think for a moment; how badass do MMA fighters look? Or Sprinters? Or boxers? Or just about any power/strength sport competitor? Do you think for a minute they go into the gym and say “Man, I really need to work the outer head of my triceps today ”? No. Their workouts are designed to improve their performance and, more often than not, that means strength. Leg extensions and side lateral raises do not build strength; heavy squats and overhead presses do.
Of course, if you do sets of 15 reps and increase the weight a little every week, you will get stronger but that high repetition range fails to stimulate your type 2b fast-twitch muscle fibers – the ones with the greatest growth potential. High rep sets (12 – 20) can increase the size of your muscles but they do so not by making your muscle fibers stronger and thicker, a process called myofibrillar hypertrophy, but by increasing the amount of fluid within your muscles, a process called sarcoplasmic hypertrophy.
The difference between these two adaptations is easily summed up as functional versus non-functional muscle growth. Heavy weights build “real” muscle that works as good as it looks whereas lighter weights and high reps simply create the illusion of strength. Think of size gained from high reps and low weights as being “fake”.
Also, it’s worth noting that myofibrillar hypertrophy is much more long lasting than sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. If you have plenty of “real” muscle, even if you take an extended break from training, you will lose muscle slowly and it won’t take long to get it back. On the other hand, sarcoplasmic hypertrophy disappears faster than an ice cold beer on a hot summer’s day if you skip more than a couple of weeks training.
Old school bodybuilders had it right; they trained hard and heavy and made a point of increasing their strength. Many were accomplished powerlifters and Olympic weight lifters and that’s one of the reasons they looked so damn awesome – unlike the ‘roided up freaks we see strutting about in modern bodybuilding today. There is no denying that the modern bodybuilders are strong but are they as strong as they look or as strong as the golden era guys who, for my money, had far superior physiques? No way.
So, how do you build size and strength? Good question! Build your workouts around squats, deadlifts, chin ups/pull-ups (weighted if possible), bench press, bent over rows and shoulder presses. Spend the majority of your time working in the four to six repetition range to really hammer those type 2b muscle fibers, eat like your life depended on it (don’t worry – fat is easy enough to lose whereas it’s all but impossible to build real size and strength without plenty of food) and do your best to get as strong as you can. If you can do a 200 lb barbell shoulder press, 300lb bench press, a 400lb squat and a 500lb deadlift, you won’t only be strong, you’ll be big too.
Building an impressive physique that is as strong as it looks isn’t easy. It requires a steely determination and the willingness to put yourself out there every time you set foot in the gym but very little in life that is worth having comes easy so suck it up buttercup and stop doing easy exercises like cable cross overs and leg curls and get under the iron and start growing. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Show News: Why “Life is Good” with Keynote Speaker Bert Jacobs
talent network show newsBy David SedelmeierOwner/Operator of talent network, inc.Offering 30 years of insight and knowledge
Sometimes the message isn’t in the eloquence of the delivery – it’s in the embodiment of the speaker. This is what I found in Bert Jacobs, co-owner (with his brother) of apparel company Life is Good.
We booked Bert as keynote speaker for an opening ceremony for one of our clients. His speech is about his origins – from family life to his business beginnings – and how they accidentally stumbled upon their slogan when a female party guest slurred out a phrase that they decided to put on a version of their shirts: “Life is Good.” The shirts sold to every kind of person – young, old, male, female – and that’s when they knew they were on to something. Bert explained how this simple saying became more than just a shirt to their audience – it became a mantra to live by. Soon they were being inundated with letters and emails from customers about how Life is Good changed their lives or how it shifted their views and renewed their hopes. The positive statement signified something to everyone it touched, and soon the company started to make it part of their mission statement. Bert, with his deep Boston accent, won over the audience by incarnating the message of a “positive life” and how to be the help in others’ lives.
I love speakers and am drawn to their eloquence and ability to shape a picture or a thought. But that isn’t necessarily what Bert is about…he delivers his message with simple stories of everyday people, and he does it by being a living example of what he preaches. And it works. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Launde Woods
Launde Woods: The parish of Launde lies in one of the most attractive and unspoilt areas of countryside in Eastern England. The landscape is one of rolling hills, pasture, small streams and ancient woodland. Rich in history and wildlife Launde contains an old priory, a possible Norman motte and bailey castle, medieval fishponds and two Sites of Special Scientific Interest.
Launde Big Wood covers 40.4 ha and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, while Launde Park Wood extends over 54.4 ha. Both are ancient woodlands, and were leased by the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust in 1997 from the Leicester Diocesan Board of Finance for a period of 350 years.
Nearby
Directions
How to get here
Car
The reserves are situated between Launde and Loddington, in east Leicestershire. From the Tilton to Oakham road take any of several roads signposted to Launde. Continue through Launde park with the Abbey on your left, stopping at the top of the hill where a public footpath is signposted to the right and a bridle way to the left. If arriving by car take care to park without obstructing gateways. Launde Big Wood can be seen in the distance to the west, while the Park Wood to the the east. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Yesterday’s Internet was a platform for the presentation of content while the Internet of today is a platform for computation.
The Internet is a big global computer that we all share.
Humanity is building a machine, and this enables us to collaborate in new ways. Collaboration can occur on an astronomical basis. Now a new generation is opening up the world as well, a new generation that is the first generation to come of age in the digital age, to be bathed in bits. I call them the Net Generation.
The global economic crisis is opening up the world as well [Read more…]
The first is about connecting the dots. My biological mother, an unwed graduate student, put me up for adoption and she wanted me to grow up with parents who were graduates. It was all set for me to be adopted by a lawyer and his wife, but they decided they wanted a girl at the last minute and I ended up being adopted by another couple: my mother never graduated college and my father never graduated high school. [Read more…]
There is nothing bigger or older than the universe. The questions I would like to talk about are: one, where did we come from? How did the universe come into being? Are we alone in the universe? Is there alien life out there? What is the future of the human race? [Read more…]
This is a summary of an animated video adapted from a chat with Jeremy Rifkin called “The Empathic civilisation”. Jeremy Rifkin is bestselling author, political adviser and social and ethical prophet.
We encourage you to read it here or to watch the video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7AWnfFRc7g and then to comment on it at the bottom of the article.
There are 6 main time zones people live in, two focussed on the past, two on the present and two on the future. People focussed on the past remember the good times. These are people who keep family records and photos etc. Others focus only on regret and failure. Those two are called past positive and past negative. [Read more…]
Search
PerMondo feeds
Looking for translation professionals?
If our free for non-profit translation services do not fit your needs and you need a professional, please contact the translation agency Mondo Agit, creator and main sponsor of PerMondo. (Really nice people too :-)) | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
John Sealy Hospital remains closed to patients, and the only people allowed inside the main hospital on Galveston Island are insurance investigators, fire marshal inspectors and repair crews.
But today when ABC13 was given an exclusive look at what's called 'ground zero' of the Jan. 4 fire that evacuated the hospital building.
Steve LeBlanc with UTMBC says the fire is believed to have started in the second floor waiting room, where patient families would wait for news of surgical outcomes. The area was closed at the time of the fire.
Investigators have not yet determined what started the fire, but it was furniture that fueled it. Exposed ductwork, still black from fire and smoke that spread within minutes up elevator shafts and stairwells, is still visible on the ceiling.
The fire triggered a complete evacuation of the building. Eyewitness News was there shortly after fire crews arrived on the day of the fire. Patients could be seen being escorted from the building. Nurses transferred babies in incubators to neighboring Jenny Sealy and Shriners hospitals.
"Smoke was coming up [through the building] even as they were coming down," said LeBlanc.
A woman who was in labor was among those being evacuated. The hospital's chief of nursing and patient care won't forget that -- he helped get her out.
"She had been given an epidural before the fire happened," said David Marshall. "She couldn't move."
Marshall and several other employees put the woman on a kind of back board and took her down several flights of stairs. Until the fire, those labor and delivery rooms had been located on an upper floor. The day of the massive blaze, it filled with smoke.
"Her husband helped, too," Marshall said. When asked if the husband was frightened, Marshall replied, "No. He kept thanking us for getting her out."
No injuries occurred, which is the remarkable part of the story. UTMB credits its quarterly fire drills for the speedy evacuation.
"We include everybody in those," said Jack Tarpley, who is in charge of UTMB's health and safety procedures. "It lent itself to a safe evacuation for our patients and staff and everybody in the building."
The neighboring Jenny Sealy Hospital has taken up the patient load. Less than a year old, it had space for the extra patients. Labor and delivery is now being housed at the John Sealy Annex.
Next month, a corridor that connected John Sealy to Shriners and John Sealy Hospitals will be reopened. It was closed after the fire. If all goes according to plan, some of the hospital's upper floors may begin to return to service by March.
Because of the building's age, fire sprinklers were not part of the building. They may be added now. The newer facilities on campus are equipped with them.
The cost of the damage is still being calculated. Repairs can and will be made, but no money can replace a life lost, and in this fire, there were no human casualties.
UTMB Health Systems CEO Donna Sollenberger thanks those who came to the rescue of others for that.
"Amazing staff," she said. "People who really worked hard to get everybody out safely." | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Did you know it IS possible to create accurate schedules? Or that most projects consume 50% of the development time in debug and test, and that it’s not hard to slash that number drastically? Or that we know how to manage the quantitative relationship between complexity and bugs? Learn this and far more at my Better Firmware Faster class, presented at your facility. See http://www.ganssle.com/onsite.htm.
In my opinion the quality of technical web (and it's all web-based now) magazines is declining, victims of the drive to cut costs. But Altera's System Design at the Leading Edge is different. This issue is packed with useful articles for embedded hardware engineers, and is devoid of marketing fluff. Recommended.
Quotes and Thoughts
"Computer system analysis is like child-rearing; you can
do grievous damage, but you cannot ensure success." - Tom
DeMarco
Tools and Tips
Please submit neat ideas or thoughts about tools, techniques and resources you love or hate.
Chuck Pedras found an interesting set of schematic and PCB tools; a free version is available:
How accurate is your DMM? If you work for a decent-sized company they probably calibrate at least some of the test equipment every year. But many others never check calibration. Buy a meter off eBay and you have no idea if reads accurately.
I recently came across the Voltagestandard web site which offers a number of low-cost references and ordered one of their DMMCheck devices. The specs are amazing considering the price:
5.000 volt output reference, accurate to 0.01% +/- 500 µV
1.000 mA reference, accurate to 0.1% +/- 1 µA
Three 0.1% resistors: 1K, 10K and 100k
The unit runs off an included 9 V battery.
It comes with a calibration certificate, and its accuracy is guaranteed for six months. For the first two years recals are free (user pays shipping) and after that it's $5. The vendor checks each unit against an 8.5 digit DMM that is recalibrated every year.
Calibration certificate.
The DMMCheck's 5.000 volt output.
Obviously, this unit provides only a few fixed values and doesn't substitute sending your DMM to a cal lab, but at $35 (for 25 PPM resistors; add $4 for 10 PPM) it's a bargain for those who don't get regular meter calibrations.
RAM Failures
A very recent paper with the unusual title The Feng Shui of Supercomputer Memory (you have to have access to the ACM Digital Library to get this) looks at DRAM (DDR3) and SRAM failures. This very interesting study shows that SRAMs experience transient (e.g., induced by cosmic rays) failures hundreds of times more frequently than hard failures. For SRAM in L2 caches a computer at 875 feet of elevation had 77 times more transient errors (single event upsets, or SEUs) than permanent ones. Another at 7,500 feet raised that rate to 441 times. Both machines were of similar design and used identical SRAM.
An obvious question is "what was the failure rate in absolute terms." The paper is silent about this. A lot of studies have used neutron sources to cause SEUs, but it's hard to see how that translates to a system running in the real world. The 1996 paper Single Event Upset at Ground Level by Eugene Normand summarizes a lot of unpublished data. It seems SRAMs of that era experienced SEUs at ground level at a rate of about 2 x 10**-12/bit-hr. That's within an order of magnitude of the data Xilinx has published for the SRAMs in their FPGAs.
Suppose a small embedded system has 1 MB of SRAM. With these numbers one bit could be expected to change at random every seven years. It's impossible to speculate how many of those SEUs are important; some areas of memory will be unused, an LSB changing on sensed data may not matter much. But if a company produces 1000 products with this memory in it, then 140 of those systems could experience an SEU each year, or one every few days.
This calculator shows that at 40,000 feet the cosmic ray flux is about 500 times stronger than at sea level, and varies logarithmically with altitude. So systems shipped to Denver will experience SEUs 3.5 times more often than the one per seven years per system.
But wait, there's more. Actel (now Microsemi) has a paper titled Understanding Single Event Effects (SEEs) in FPGAs; this and other sources suggest the neutron flux from cosmic rays doubles one travels from New York to Stockholm due to the increase in latitude.
So I started thinking about RAM tests.
Even a transient error can corrupt the stack, pointers (gasp, function pointers!) and critical data structures. Such an error is no less harmful than a bit that is stuck high or low. But a transient failure is, well, transient. Rewrite the location and it goes away. A RAM test will miss transient failures, which, according to the first paper I cited, are by far the most common sort. Or, if the bit flip happens in the middle of the test, it will report a failure that disappears as soon as the flagged location is rewritten. A false positive.
It's common to run a RAM test at boot-up. Some systems run background RAM checks all of the time. But if the authors' data is correct, those tests will pick up only some tiny percentage of the unwanted bit flips. Conversely, the vast majority of errors detected by the test will be SEUs, and thus irrelevant.
Transistors are roughly free. The MCU world has morphed from simple little 8 bit CPUs to 32 bitters packed with complex I/O and gobs of memory. Transistor geometries are shrinking as well, and each new node is more sensitive to high-energy particles. Maybe it's time the semiconductor vendors pair a parity bit or even ECC with each memory location. The additional cost would be very low.
More Funny Products
A. J. van de Ven responded to Howard Speegle's tail of finding an unconnected microprocessor in a blender:
Howard Speegle’s "contains microprocessor" story reminded me of Clos de la Tech, a winery built by T.J. Rodgers, CEO of of Cypress Semiconductors. A number of his wines include Cypress SRAM and PSoC chips attached to the bottom of the bottle.
Makes a great gift for any techies within the family.
Harold Hallikainen made me crack up:
The food processor one reminds me of a magazine's April idea for design.
It was calculating log(s) using a Z80. It had the Z80 wired as a diode in the feedback path of an op amp.
Tom Guadagnola wrote:
I am a consultant and in the 1980's we designed a device that mounted on a cow's tail for a large Australian dairy farm. The cuff included an MCU, an RF receiver and a CO2-actuated cuff. A radio transmitter in the milking area signaled the MCU to pulse the CO2 cartridge and squeeze the cow's tail while it was being milked. Apparently when a cow's tail is squeezed at the correct rate the milk is "dispensed" at a faster rate. These units were built in large quantities for less than $2 each. We always wanted to know exactly what the farmer was he doing to the cow when he discovered this phenomenon.
Steve Paik has a fantastic Annoy-a-tron story:
A few years back, a couple of coworkers put one inside the drop ceiling of our team lead. He had no idea what / where it was, and spent a few MONTHS looking for it. The rest of the team was in on the secret and would tell him "I didn't hear anything" or "it must be your monitor" and kept him changing offices and equipment. On one suggestion, he even went to the doctor to get his hearing checked! Finally, as an act of mercy, one of the conspirators moved the Annoy-a-tron into his laptop bag when he went on a business trip for interoperability testing, knowing that he would find it. When the team lead found it, he immediately called one of the team members (non-conspirator) to ask about it. The engineer told him who did it and what had been going on.
At this point, the team lead phoned our director to let him in on a little revenge prank. Shortly afterward, he sent an e-mail to the whole team, telling us that he had been requested to leave the customer's site and we had to suspend interop testing (potentially costing us a multi-million dollar account) because his equipment was chirping and it was causing the customer's engineers to go crazy. The two conspirators immediately went to our director to confess their sins and tell our team lead how to shut off the Annoy-a-tron. The director (and VP) proceeded to "chew them out" for jeopardizing the account. They both thought they were going to be fired on the spot, and luckily everything was cleared up by lunch and we had a good laugh over it.
On Bad Habits
Weland Treebark responded to the last issue's comments on developing bad habits:
I thought I'd write to you about the matter of avoiding developing bad engineering habits. It's a problem I am often confronted with. The part of the world I live in tends to be better known as a place where development is outsourced to, rather than outsourced from. Consequently, even mission-critical applications suffer from outrageously bad engineering, so bad that they are borderline life-threatening. Everyone starts well-intentioned, but they rarely stop to think about what they are doing with deadline after deadline piling in, and the authorities known as Delivery Managers -- generally unable to tell a transistor from a bumblebee -- don't really care about safety, just about, well, delivery. Bad habits pile up.
For my part, I avoid working in outsourcing companies like the plague.
Wherever I work, I try to bring the following with me:
1. I treat missing or out-of-date documentation as a bug. There are no separate "Implement module X" and "Document module X" task: documenting module X is part of implementing it, and implementation is not done until it's documented. What does help is that I actually *like* documenting my code. Words flow easily for me (I worked as a tech journalist at some point) even in English, which isn't my native language, so it isn't as dreadful as it is to other programmers.
2. I try to be pessimistic about deadlines and ring a bell when one is outrageous. This probably comes with experience. During my first two years as a programmer, I'd regularly mess up schedules. Now that happens less and less often. Working with no time to look back invites unclever hacks to pile up.
3. What is probably most important, I try to set standards for my work and I'm confrontational about them if I have to be. Even if I'm writing a small proof-of-concept for a demo on a small board I assembled in an afternoon, the code has to be clean and the board has to look good. Sure, it doesn't have to be feature-complete, but it has to be acceptable in terms of engineering. I never buy into the "never mind that, it has to work for now, we'll make it look good later"; that "later" never comes. If I have to yell, kick and scream to get the time I need, then I'll yell, kick and scream.
A lot of things that are valuable to us as engineers seem to be of little value to the people in the organisations we work for, and this is neither wrong per se, nor surprising. However, I try not to lower my engineering standards just to score points with management. That's pretty much the equivalent of a teenager giving in to peer pressure and starting to smoke. I'm not uncompromising, I just ask for good reasons if I am to do a sloppy job.
There's no reason to lie about it -- it's not easy, especially when colleagues (regardless of where they lie in the hierarchy of the organisation) are not supportive, or when you are developing things you do not really believe in, but I think it is part of an ethical obligation we have as engineers, the same way good doctors wouldn't do a sloppy job even if they were treating a common cold.
Luca Matteini wrote:
About the invisible war, against changes, I really could write again for pages on practical examples.
I feel engineering is a "performing art": I design and build something, every time trying to make something new, learning something new, in an expressive way.
That's not so common though. In the last 25 years I've seen hardware and software developers repeating a different kind of personal development. Most of the time people try to find a single design pattern, an utopian universal pattern, that once found(?) will be their work method in the years(!) to come.
So I've seen 1980's hardware designs that are still used today, no matter if an easier and more efficient scheme does exist, in the 21st century. Software developers that insist on ten years' old projects because "they've always been shipped this way", and keep maintaining zombie code.
How incomprehensible has to be my coding style to them, my sources that try to evolve and change every time I find a new tool or idea.
Not to mention when I design a new hardware, and I read all the product news to find alternatives to what "already worked so well": poor me!
I think that the right word is "innovation", never to be used alone though.
That's the point where maybe, electronic design differs so much from other forms of "art". Here we need to be prepared, analytical, and only after that we can be innovative and expressive. Embedded design craftsmen?
Maybe the only best practice against bad habits in design is thinking of another way to redesign an already finished product. That will become next bad habit to fight!
Jobs!
Let me know if you’re hiring embedded
engineers. No recruiters please, and I reserve the right to edit ads to fit the format and intents of this newsletter.
Please keep it to 100 words.
In 1998, I made a C++ program to calculate pi to a billion digits.
I coded it on my laptop (Pentium 2, I think) and then ran the program.
The next day I got a new laptop but decided to keep the program running.
It has been over seven years now since I ran it. and this morning it finished calculating.
The output:
"THE VALUE OF PI TO THE BILLIONTH DIGIT IS = "
I looked in the code , and found out that I forgot to output the value. :(
Advertise With Us
Advertise in The Embedded Muse! Over 23,000 embedded developers get this twice-monthly publication. For more information email us at [email protected].
About The Embedded Muse
The Embedded Muse is Jack Ganssle's newsletter. Send complaints, comments, and
contributions to me at [email protected].
The Embedded Muse is supported by The Ganssle Group, whose mission is to help embedded folks get
better products to market faster. We offer seminars at your site offering hard-hitting ideas - and action - you
can take now to improve firmware quality and decrease development time. Contact us at [email protected] for more information.
Do you need to eliminate bugs in your firmware? Shorten schedules? My one-day Better Firmware Faster seminar will teach your team how to operate at a world-class level, producing code with far fewer bugs in less time. It's fast-paced, fun, and covers the unique issues faced by embedded developers. Here's information about how this class, taught at your facility, will measurably improve your team's effectiveness. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
The US military created a detailed intelligence file on a London-based al-Qaida cell that did not exist, as a result of its reliance on tip-offs from one of its detainees, the Guantánamo files reveal.
One of the men whom the camp authorities believed to have been a leading member of the "cell" in the 1990s was 11 years old at the time, and had not left his family's village in Saudi Arabia.
The files on most of the other supposed members suggest that they, too, had never visited Britain.
A list of the members of the group described as the "London, United Kingdom-based al-Qaida cell" is to be found in the file of Yousef Abkir Salih al-Qarani.
This file wrongly states that he was born in Saudi Arabia in 1981. Lawyers representing him discovered that his birth certificate shows him to have been born in 1987.
The man who identified al-Qarani as having been a member of the London cell in 1998 was Mohammed Basardah, who has implicated at least 122 other inmates.
Basardah told the authorities that he had learned which prisoners were members of the "London cell" during conversations with Shaker Aamer, a former London resident who is still incarcerated in Guantánamo.
Basardah said he had learned that the leader of the cell was Abu Qatada, who was a well-known radical cleric in the city before 9/11.
Qatada's "second-in-command" was said to be Abu Hamza, another well-known figure.
The Guantánamo files show that the camp authorities accepted that the other members of the cell were a group of Saudi and Kuwaiti detainees. However, the files on these individuals, which detail their movements over many years, show no sign that they had ever visited Britain. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
What Kind of Office Space Do You Need?
Start here to get help finding
San Francisco Office Space
"Our OfficeFinder rep was very attentive to my needs. We negotiated an excellent lease".
What we can help you with...
It is hard to find good office space in San Francisco. We can help. Our local tenant reps know the market thoroughly and will leave no option undiscovered! All at no cost to you.
With over 76 million square feet of office space, you’d think that there would be a lot of available office space in San Francisco. Unfortunately if you are looking for San Francisco office space, what you will find is a very tight market, especially in many of the more popular areas of the city like South of Market (SOMA), the Financial District and Union Square. Not only that, but the office space that is available comes with a very high price tag in the $50+ per square foot (per year) price range. So, for a 2,000 square foot office you’d most likely find yourself paying in excess of $100,000 per year.
The main San Francisco office space submarkets include:
Financial District
South Financial District
South of Market
Union Square
Civic Center
North Waterfront
Potrero Hill
Mission District
Making mistakes in your selection of office space in SF is not something that you would want to do. It can get very expensive quickly. It is easy to avoid. Just make sure you take advantage of having a qualified LOCAL San Francisco office space tenant rep by your side. It won’t cost you anything to engage their services. They will make sure that you get to see all of you viable options, avoid mistakes and will help you negotiate the best possible deal available for the office space you select. Trying to do it yourself is not only time consuming, but risky. Keep in mind that listing agents and owners do this for a living and do not have your best interest in mind. You need someone on your side who also does this on a day-to-day basis
This is where our services come in. We will connect you with a San Francisco office space specialist to assist you. We have some of the top local tenant reps in our network to help you. All you need to do is complete the short form at the top of this page, telling us a little bit about what you are looking for and we will find the rep best suited for your needs and have them contact you right away. There is no obligation and as we said before, it won’t cost you anything. It is a no lose proposition and we are confident you will be glad you found us. We have been doing this online since 1995 and during that time have located the best tenant reps in San Francisco.
San Francisco is a great place to locate your office space. The public transportation system, Known as the Muni, is especially good with the combination of BART, busses, and streetcars. Adding taxis to the mix, it will allow your employees to easily get around carless and saves on parking costs.
While the cost of office space in San Francisco is expensive, it is still worth it. Let us help you find your next office!
About their OfficeFinder Experience
"Our OfficeFinder rep did an fantastic job she was
extremely knowledgeable in her field and was a
tremendous asset in finding a great space.
I don't know if we could have done it without her."
"Our OfficeFinder rep was an excellent agent for us.
He truly understood our needs and worked on our
behalf. As a small organization with little experience
in this area it was critical that we had an agent we
could trust and rely upon. He was perfect for us.
I would highly recommend him to anyone." | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
China Says Its Submarines Passing Through The Indian Ocean Is ‘Legitimate’
While China objects if Indian Navy ships pass the South China Sea (SCS), an increasingly belligerent Beijing asserts that PLA Navy submarines crossing the Indian Ocean and docking in Colombo and Karachi are “legitimate” and “follow international practice”.
Speaking to reporters late on Thursday, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defence, Senior Colonel Yang Yujun, said, “The Chinese submarines crossed some of the sea areas and those crossings are legitimate and legal, and we follow international practices.”
REUTERS
And when he was asked why Beijing objected to Indian Naval presence in the South China Sea region, Yujun said, “I want to point out one thing. You said when Indian ships enter the South China Sea, [we are saying] it is wrong. But where did you hear that? I am from the Ministry of Defence and I never said that.”
He added that China is okay with foreign naval vessels in the SCS region which are there “in accordance with international law”.
It should be noted here that China had even as recently as in May objected to presence of Indian Naval ships in the SCS region.
On the other hand, India has been pointing out at the growing Chinese PLAN presence in India’s immediate neighbourhood.
In 2015, PLAN Yuan-class submarines made their first ever port call to Karachi and also stopped in Colombo.
Experts have said that China is flexing its naval presence in the IOR to ensure the strengthening of the ‘One Road, One China’ policy of which China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is an integral part. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Last Game
The Thibodaux (LA) varsity football team lost Friday's away conference game against South Lafourche (Galliano, LA) by a score of 49-20. Box Score
Football recruiting
2012 Top 100
Tom Lemming: The No. 2 prospect in the state, he's a tackling machine who has totaled close to 300 tackles over the past two years. He plays the game on his feet and with a chip on his shoulder showing good range and he has proven to be a sure tackler. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 29, 2014, Wednesday
But some labor-relations experts said that players would have difficulty making that case.
"I would be very, very surprised if they won," said Ronald G. Ehrenberg, a professor of industrial and labor relations and economics at Cornell University. "If they do win, it would potentially lead to an explosion of changes in higher education." | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
A journal of my journey from 280 pounds to my target goal of 180 pounds as a disabled vet. How to loose the weight and stay healthy despite being physically disabled. I show people that living healthy does not have to be hard or expensive and that anyone can achieve a healthy lifestyle.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Life in South Korea
I arrived in S. Korea on Jan 23, 2013. I am sorry for taking so long to update the blog my friends, but I tell you, I did not expect my life to radically change so fast again! These 2 months have been a whirlwind of activity. The way of life here is so completely different from America. It is not for everyone that is for sure, but I have embraced it and am enjoying living here immensely!
A lot has changed and happened within my personal life since getting here. My wife came ahead of me and by the time I arrived, she had radically changed and grown as a person. It has not been easy, but we are closer now than ever before, and we are moving forward in life again. The turmoil of my personal life has effected my goals and progress greatly, however it has not stopped them!
Calorie counting here is close to impossible. Eating out is much more prevalent so you have no idea what is what and sometimes do not even know what it is your eating all together! Not being able to read labels also does not bode well for the calorie cautious. This being the case I have had to rely heavily on portion control and common sense. I also have not been working out regularly since I arrived. This is due to whatever excuse you want to insert here.
On the flip side though; My diet has drastically changed for the better! I can actually tell a difference in how I feel after being here a few weeks and not eating American food. I actually feel better. I immediately fell in love with Korean cuisine and took to exploring different restaurants to find new and exciting things to eat that are healthy for me. The next step would be to recreate the dish I had at home. This has proved a challenge due to the language barrier, but I have been fairly successful in teaching myself to make quite a few dishes. Learning to make the different soups and sauces has been something I am fairly proud of.
Diet Change:
We do not eat bread almost ever. Rice and noodles, both rice and buckwheat noodles, have replaced most of the traditional American starches in our diet. Seafood is plentiful and fresh here as are many vegetables like cabbage, onions, and many different varieties of mushrooms. We used to be mainly meat and bread or potato kind of eaters. Now we limit our startches, eat lots of vegetables and hearty soups. Chili sauces have also become a big part of my cooking. Koreans freaken love thier food spicy. Not, mexican kinda spicy, but holyshitwtfdidijustputinmymouthiamgoingtodieneedwaterasap, kinda spicy.
A nice surprise for me was that there is also a large Turkish culinary presence here as well. I have fallen in love with Turkish kabobs and food. Kabobs come in three varieties, chicken, lamb, or a mix. There is this giant vertical spit of meat rotating in front of a infrared heater. They slice off a few pieces as they heat up a tortilla or gyro. A traditional kabob has, you guessed it, a spicy chili sauce spread on first, then the meat, then a healthy portion of shredded lettuce, sliced onion that is marinated somehow, tomatoes, and thin sliced pickles. This monster of a sandwich is only 4000 WAN (less than $4us) and is simply scrumptious!
The night life here is crazy. It seems every major metro area has something similar to Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Soju is cheap, and in my opinion, better than anything you can get state wise as a mixer. If you stick to 20 to 24% soju, you can literally mix it into anything and never taste it. Soju also has this reputation of sneaking up on even the most seasoned drinkers and putting them squarely on their face. A night out wont break the bank and there are an endless number of clubs, bars and cafes to explore.
So by now you have to be wondering: how has the last two months of chaos effected my goal?
I have actually LOST five more pounds landing me at 250lbs. More impressive to me though is that I am now 6 to 8 inches slimmer!! Down from a 44/46 waist pant to a 38! I never thought I would see myself in pants less than 44 ever again.
So what now?
Knowing that I have not boned myself these last two months has given me a boost of confidence and I am getting back into the swing of things in regards to moving myself forward and loosing the next 50 pounds. I will continue to make healthy choices in regards to what I eat, when I eat and how much I eat. I am restarting my workout regiment but I want to add in laps in the pool as well.
Summer is fast approaching. While I do not think this summer will see my shirtless, my goal is to be shirtless by next summer. Staying active, making healthy eating choices, and continuing to exercise will get my there. I am happier than I have been in many years and I look better than I have in many years as well.
Never give up hope! Remember; small, accomplishable, goals lead to larger goals being completed. Focus on what you CAN do, and get out there and do it!
As always, I love hearing from you guys. Feel free to PM me, leave comments, visit me on google+ or Facebook, and help support Healthy Vets on Facebook! | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Follow Blog via Email
Guevara Convention Sound Out
Dave Watts from Fun^Da^Mental had a great idea a few months ago that is now seriously taking shape. It links up with stuff I am into re Che, but takes it to another level, as they say. Dave has a blogspot site now at Earconditioning – which you will agree is another in a long line of great FDM semantic reworkings (remember the phrase ‘Global Sweatbox’?). Dave writes:
“…The past week also brought communication with John Hutnyk.He´s a professor at Goldsmith´s University, and participated in one of the talks at the Clandestino Festival in Gothenborg where Aki (yes, the notorious terrorist-apologist Aki Nawaz) and I dropped a Fun´da´Mental DJ set a few years ago. John has twice invited me to talk with his students about the politics and presentation of Fun-da-mental videos. Coming back to last week, John and I were discussing this idea of a compilation that has been sitting in my brain for the last couple years. This year is the 40th anniversary of the death of Ernesto ´Che´ Guevara, and I wanted to compile an album of contemporary artists who have felt touched by revolutionary spirit, thought, actions, etc. The idea is not for all the music to focus on ´Che´ himself, but for expression of whatever the contributing artists feel regarding being subject to living on their knees for the sake of ´The Man´or ´System´. John has came up with a phrase which I immediately responded, “That should be the title!” So, we are going with “The Guevara Convention”.
Emails have been sent out to collegues, friends, associates etc. and so far the response has been good…we have Dj/Rupture, Filestine, Coldcut, Fermin Murguza, Fun-da-mental, Las Ratas, DJ Klandestino, Dr. Das, Shaheen (former Prophets of da City producer and vocalist) and IR, saying ´yeah´ musically. Cecilia Parsberg http://this.is/parsberg/ put me in touch with a woman from Uruguay who was 14 years old when Che was killed. She became active in the Marxist Tupac Amaru group in Uruguay. She has said she´ll provide some words for the text, really looking forward to reading what she has to say.
fyi: The following link is for the animation that Cecilia and co-conspiritors put together about the Israeli occupation and for which they asked me to provide a soundtrack.http://this.is/TheWall/
Javi Jiminez, a teacher and music writer here in Tenerife has also come on board, so we are moving. All we need now, are a few more artists and a label, distributor. The potential for this is huge. Oh, I must say, inspiration for this album also came about through an album that Fun-da-Mental soundman Bernard Maiquez lent me several years ago, El Che Vive!, (Last Call Records) which was released to coincide with the 30th anniversary of ´Che´´s death. I ended my first DJ stint in Tenerife (an AntiWar night at the original Cafeoteca de Arte in Puerto de la Cruz/2003) with the classic ´Hasta Siempre´ by Carlos Puebla y sus Tradicionales, from the aforementioned album, and the place erupted….everybody sang along! My girlfiend´s mum knows the song, kids know the song….so a chord was struck! If you got something for this project, please bring it. More as it happens….”
So I would say without doubt this is the best form the Guevara Convention could take. As discussed here, there is a lot at stake in these days to the terror-spectacle. Hope it comes together – look out for it in September. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
The Unbelievable Story of the Most Expensive Record Ever Sold on Discogs
Back in January, an anonymous Discogs buyer apparently shelled out $18,000 for a copy of a rare rock album called 301 Jackson St, the highest-ever recorded sale on the online hub for record collectors. The 301 Jackson St. sleeve appears battered and scuffed in a photo, and the seller described the condition of the album itself as “poor.” “It is worn, what would you expect ( read the stories),” he or she wrote, somewhat cryptically, alongside the listing. “The record itself however plays beautiful. You can’t find one anywhere.”
Such extravagant sums aren’t out of the ordinary in the rarefied realms of early-century country blues 78s and historically significant Beatles artifacts, but this album was different. 301 Jackson St. was recorded in 1989 by a guitarist named Billy Yeager, who has no Wikipedia page, and whose name would be difficult to place for even the most devoted record collector. “Billy is somewhat of an enigma…” wrote Jeffrey Smith, who handles publicity for Discogs, in an email touting the record-breaking sale to journalists on Monday. “A guitarist from Miami that some have called a guitar god!” Outlets including SF Weekly and Stereogum responded with blog posts. “Who the fuck is Billy Yeager anyways?,” the SF Weekly writer wondered.
After multiple inquiries from SPIN about the nature of the sale, Smith said Wednesday evening that a subsequent internal Discogs investigation had found the transaction to be fraudulent. At around the same time, pages documenting the sale were removed from the site, and on Thursday morning, Discogs sent a second press release to journalists to explain the error. “Discogs’ priority will always be preserving the integrity of our user-built database,” Discogs CEO Kevin Lewandowski said in the release.“With hundreds of thousands of contributors, buyers, and sellers, putting their trust in our community, Discogs’ mission will continue to be built on the love of music, not the duplicitous nature of the hustle.”
The most expensive record ever sold on Discogs was a hoax, but what’s not exactly clear is who orchestrated it. In earlier conversations, when Discogs remained somewhat confident that the 301 Jackson St. sale had been legitimate, Smith explained the company’s process of verifying the transaction “We’ve had a seller sell a record to a buyer,” he said. “Both are different accounts in different parts of the United States, and the transaction came through.” The seller had paid Discogs the standard transaction fee, which is typically eight percent of a an album’s selling price, but is capped at $150, he added. “After that, it’s not our responsibility to verify that it’s real people, or if the seller is somehow affiliated with the buyer. We’re a C2C company. The transaction happened. That’s the end of our relationship, as long as the buyer and seller are happy.”
Who would set up multiple dummy Discogs account and shell out 150 bucks, just to make it seem to the world that a record by a little-known guitarist named Billy Yeager was commanding higher prices than rare recordings by David Bowie and Prince? And why?
Billy Yeager in blackface as Jimmy Story, "the long-lost son of Jimi Hendrix."
CREDIT: Still from 'Billy Yeager / The Ineffable Enigma'
Billy Yeager’s story has all the makings of record collector catnip, starting with the apparent rarity of his releases. Only eight test pressing copies of 301 Jackson St. exist at all, according to the Discogs listing for the album, and other recordings aren’t any easier to find. A seven-inch called Jimmy Story, for instance, is listed for $25,000 on the website of Surf Jazz Records, a label that seems to exist solely to sell Yeager’s music. If you want to hear him play and don’t have the many thousands of dollars for which each of his releases is listed for sale on Discogs and the Surf Jazz website, you’ll have to settle for one of two blown-out VHS clips on YouTube, the only bits of Yeager’s music available for free streaming online. The first is from the early ‘80s, showing the guitarist dressed like a South Florida version of the Thin White Duke, throwing down a solo during what might be some sort of televised performance. In the second, he’s wearing a tank top at a backyard party a decade later, shredding and playing chicken-scratch funk chords, backed by two dudes with mullets and another in aviator sunglasses. This second video is advertised as a preview of “Billy Yeager rare footage for sale,” and its description makes the intriguing claim that it was recorded shortly after Yeager was “discovered” by the soft rock hitmaker Bruce Hornsby. The asking price for the footage is $15,000.
Online searches for Yeager’s name turn up pages about his music, and about his work as a documentary filmmaker. They also reveal news stories about two hoaxes he attempted to perpetrate at different points in his career. In 2011, when a grand piano found in the middle of the Biscayne Bay caused a minor local sensation in South Florida, Yeager and his wife claimed to have placed it there as part of a guerilla art project, only to be debunked when the real artist came forward. And in the ‘90s, Yeager donned blackface and told reporters he was the long-lost son of Jimi Hendrix, calling himself Jimmy Story. To prove his claim, Yeager made a batch of recordings of himself playing fuzzy blues guitar and singing in a frog-throated imitation of the late guitar god, claiming that the tapes had been passed down to Story after his father’s death. According to a Miami Herald story about Yeager from the era, his Jimmy Story costume made him look alternately like “a Diana Ross drag queen” and “something out of The X-Files,” but that didn’t stop the now-defunct Broward County alt-weekly XS from putting Jimmy Story on its cover, or the local Channel 7 nightly news from giving him credulous coverage.
“Yeager’s previous claim to fame was his notorious lack of success as a would-be pop recording star,” the Herald article reads. “Several years ago, Dade’s alternative paper New Times declared him one of South Florida’s best unrecognized musical talents. Now he’s 38. He hasn’t performed in years. He says he survives on odd jobs and lives in a cramped beach apartment with surfboards on the walls. He has a drawer jammed with hundreds of terse rejection letters from record companies.”
I started looking into Yeager after reading Stereogum’s news post about the 301 Jackson St. sale, figuring I should hip myself to this cult hero musician whose work I’d never encountered before. The first thing I found was a trailer for a film called Billy Yeager / The Ineffable Enigma, which positions him as an unsung genius, without showing any footage of him actually playing. “The greatest guitar player in the world,” reads a title card attributed to the virtuoso bassist Jaco Pastorius. “The funkiest guitar player I ever heard,” reads another, attributed to Prince.
Hoping to contact Yeager, I called several numbers associated with his name in Florida public records, all of which came back disconnected. I visited his website and the site of his record label, both of which list one Chris Von Weinberg as Yeager’s press agent. Both sites carry the same warning above Von Weinberg’s email address:
Attention to the press regarding 301 Jackson St. album:We are not addressing any questions regarding the album; if you are seriously interested, watch the film documentary and then contact myself with verification that you have watched the film, and I will be willing to answer your questions.
The only way to watch Billy Yeager / The Ineffable Enigma, directed by Von Weinberg and someone named RK Devonshire, is to pay $24.95 for 24-hour rental access to a Vimeo stream. In the name of journalism, I plunked down the $25 and started watching.
The film opens with shots of Yeager playing guitar in the desert and a woman who appears to be his wife slowly dancing along. A woman’s voiceover narration makes reference to Yeager’s brushes with famous musicians, including Hornsby, Prince, Pastorius, and Rod Stewart, and to stints he spent living in his car. The film claims that he is the nephew of Bunny Yeager, a pinup photographer known for her work with Bettie Page. The editing is jerky and disorienting, and there is one scene of potentially alarming violence. Vintage-looking VHS footage shows a man who appears to be Yeager dressing up as a police officer, strip searching a black man, taking money from him, and leaving him naked and handcuffed to a fence. Another sequence shows Yeager laughing with a friend after apparently having fooled several people into believing he’d committed suicide. The film gives no explanation for whether these sequences are real or staged.
Between shots of Yeager playing various instruments and showing off his paintings, the narrator gives a list of the artist’s baffling bonafides:
His preferred audience is nature, the ocean, and buffalo, and he only performs in the desert, and underground, in an underground missile base. He’s painted alongside some of the world’s most famous folk artists. He once dyed his skin permanently black and convinced the press he was the long lost son of Jimi Hendrix. He spent five years discovering a sacred geometric higher conscious wave frequency, and has composed music that can heal disease. And he has proposed a legislative bill that would ban the lower conscious wave frequencies in rap music from being heard in all public places. He has crossed rivers of crocodiles to perform for the wild monkeys in the jungles, climbed mountains to play his guitar in the wild. He has sunken himself underwater, trying to discover, write, compose, and record the world’s perfect song. He has produced award-winning films, but he never releases them to the public. He produces movies, but only on his own terms, and the only place to see them is on a movie screen that resides in the remote regions, somewhere in the Mojave Desert. His films, music, record albums, cassettes, VHS tapes, and CDs command the highest prices in today’s market.
The film seems dedicated to convincing you not only of Yeager’s reclusive genius, but also of the rabid collectors’ market for his releases. There are several interviews with men who appear to be collectors of Yeager albums, and shots of his records listed for exorbitant prices on eBay. One scene shows a dumpster apparently filled with Yeager releases being emptied into a trash truck, as a voiceover explains how the artist once threw away everything he ever recorded–over 1600 recordings–in frustration with the record industry’s failure to recognize him. In a scene that plays like parody of obsessive record collector culture, a Dutch-American man identified as Ton Haak stands in a room filled with brightly colored paintings and holds a CD copy of Yeager’s album The Perfect Song. “There are not many of them,” he intones lovingly. “I think maybe this is the only one.”
When I was about halfway through watching The Ineffable Enigma, I emailed Chris Von Weinberg and told him I’d like to interview Yeager about the 301 Jackson St. sale. Von Weinberg tersely explained that Yeager does not do interviews. He told me that “writers from everyone in the biz” are trying to contact him, and began quizzing me to see whether I’d actually watched the film. “So tell me, did you see the part about the science and wave vibration? Yes or No?” he asked. “Did you see the part with the red truck and sheep that were following and what the news piece said about the ‘sheep guitar truck’? Yes or No?”
Eventually, my search for Yeager led me to contact Love Garden Sounds, a record store in Lawrence, Kansas, whose Twitter account had tweeted about Yeager several times. Franklin Fantini, an employee at the store, told me that Yeager is notorious among staffers because of the calls and emails they regularly receive from people who are seeking Yeager’s records, or who want to inform the store about some new record-breaking Yeager sale. “It’s always via a different address, and it’s always via a different name. I guess I can’t prove that it’s him,” Fantini said. “He emails and says, ‘Hey, just so you know, there was this record set for this tape or record that was sold. Have you heard of this underground artist Billy Yeager?’ Well you should.”
“I’ve always emailed back and said. ‘OK, this is Billy Yeager, right, that I’m corresponding with?’” Fantini continued. “And he never he responds.”
Justin Parr, producer of a Lawrence-based podcast called A.D.D., said that after receiving several similar communications about Yeager, the podcast began to occasionally discuss his strange story on the air. Eventually, they secured an off-air interview with Yeager, after which Parr came to the same conclusion that Fantini did. “It was very difficult to get a hold of him. And in all of our contact, when we were looking into the story, all of the things that Chris Von Weinberg would say were the same things that Billy was saying,” he said. Because Yeager has showered local institutions like A.D.D. and Love Garden Sounds with attention, and screened one of his films held in a nearby theater, Parr believes that he now resides somewhere near Lawrence in Kansas.
Before Discogs recognized the 301 Jackson St. transaction as fraudulent, I asked Jeffrey Smith whether he had any reservations about publicizing a sale that looked to me like it might be a hoax. He couldn’t seem to decide whether he agreed with me that he’d been had, and spoke wistfully about the possibility that Yeager is the real deal. “This guy can shred. I’m watching these VHS tapes, and I’m like, ‘Dude is good.’ Then I went over to Spotify and there’s nothing there, and I’m like, ‘Wait a minute,’” he said.
“There’s a scene in the HBO series The Young Pope, where he’s decided he’s not going to have an image of him out in the public. He lists off Banksy, other famous authors, poets, musicians, Daft Punk—what do they all have in common? You don’t see their faces. They’re mysterious, and that’s why people value them. It’s their art, but it’s also that you don’t know anything about them,” he added. “I’m not saying that’s definitely the case here, but that would play into his appeal too. Maybe the guy’s a creative freak. Maybe he really did destroy all of his records.”
Smith told me that even after confirming internally that the Yeager sale had been faked, he could not divulge the identities of the buyer and seller, because doing so would violate the terms of Discogs’ confidentiality agreement. After speaking with Fantini and Parr, I emailed Von Weinberg and asked him straightforwardly whether I was in fact corresponding with Yeager himself, and whether he’d faked the 301 Jackson St. sale. I haven’t heard back.
Update: Chris Von Weinberg responded to my email shortly after this story went up, denying that he is Billy Yeager. “The sale of the record fraudulent or not fraudulent is not my concern, I don’t use discogs, if they determined that, I find that rather disturbing,” he wrote. “The album is well known to several music collectors, it is featured in the film. As for the question of who am I, Andy I think you and many people in the press watch way too much reality television or something, I don’t have time for these games, you can write the story or don’t write the story. Do you really think Billy Yeager has been out of the news, press, the world, for over 20 years all so he could ‘fake an album sale’?” | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Ascent of Mount Saint Helens on 2014-05-11
Ascent Trip Report
Beautiful day with tutus and 1000 friends. Skis on at 4800. Swift Tr 244 to Swift Glacier to ridge then traverse to summit.
Summary Total Data
Elevation Gain:
5633 ft / 1717 m
Trailhead:
2700 ft / 822 m
Route Conditions:
Maintained Trail, Open Country, Snow on Ground, Scramble
Gear Used:
Ice Axe, Skis, Ski Poles
GPS Data for Ascent/Trip
GPS Waypoints - Hover or click to see name and lat/longPeaks: climbed and unclimbed by Jeffrey WrightClick Here for a Full Screen MapNote: GPS Tracks may not be accurate, and may not show the best route. Do not follow this route blindly. Conditions change frequently. Use of a GPS unit in the outdoors, even with a pre-loaded track, is no substitute for experience and good judgment. Peakbagger.com accepts NO resposibility or liability from use of this data. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.