So when she tied the knot last year, she spared no detail. She walked down the aisle in a flowing ivory gown with a long veil and lacey bolero jacket. Ten flower-toting bridesmaids and seven groomsmen were in the wedding party. And after the ceremony, 100 guests dined on beef tenderloin, clams casino and a three-tier vanilla cake.The cost, including a fireworks show during the reception, was $45,000.
Heller-Wells wasn't some blushing new bride, though. When the retired registered nurse, 64, wed her husband, Clyde, a small-business owner who is 65, it was her second time at the altar."I met my Prince Charming. He swept me off my feet," says the Clearwater, Fla., widow whose first husband died in 2003. "We're hoping this will be the last marriage. Why not celebrate?"
Only a few years ago, it was considered in poor taste for a bride over age 55, particularly if she had been previously married, to do things like wear a fancy wedding gown, rock out to a DJ at the reception or have the groom slip a lacy garter belt off of her leg. But those days are gone: Older couples no longer are tying the knot in subtle ways.
The trend in part is being driven by a desire to emulate the lavish weddings of celebrities of all ages. But it's also one of the results of a new "everything goes" approach that does away with long-held traditions and cookie-cutter ceremonies in favor of doing things like replacing the first husband-and-wife dance with a group reenactment of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video. That's left older couples feeling less self-conscious about shelling out serious cash to party like their younger peers.
"The rules are out the window ... whether it's what you're wearing or the cake you're serving," says Darcy Miller, editorial director of Martha Stewart Weddings, a wedding magazine. "Sixty is the new 40 and that is reflected in the wedding."
Couples age 55 and older made up just 8 percent of last year's $53 billion wedding business. But that number has doubled since 2002, according to Shane McMurray, CEO of turquoise beads, which tracks spending trends in the wedding industry.
It's in part because more couples are marrying in their golden years.In 2011, women ages 55 and over accounted for 5.2 percent and men in that age range made up 7.9 percent of the more than 2.1 million marriages performed in that year in the U.S., according to Bowling Green State University's National Center for Family and Marriage Research, based on analysis of census figures. That's up from 2001 when 2.6 percent of new marriages performed were among women in that age group; for men, it was 6.6 percent.
And those older couples spend more. That's because they're usually empty nesters who don't have the same worries as their younger counterparts: They aren't saving for their first home, for instance, and they aren't burdened by huge student loan debts they must worry about paying off.
As a result, older couples dish out about 10 percent to 15 percent more than the cost of the average wedding, which was $25,656 last year, down from the pre-recession peak in 2007 of $28,732, according to The Wedding Report.
That's meant big business for companies that cater to brides and grooms-to-be. Zaven Ghanimian, CEO of Simon G. Jewelry, which sells engagement rings and other jewelry to about 900 small stores across the country, says men in their late 50s and older have been investing more on engagement rings. A few years ago, they were spending $1,500 to $2,000; now, they're shelling out $4,000 to $8,000.
And at David's Bridal, the nation's largest bridal chain with 300 locations across the U.S., business from older couples has doubled in the past two years, compared with modest growth for the younger age group, says Brian Beitler, the chain's chief marketing officer. And while older customers represent only two to three percent of overall sales, the company expects that figure to keep growing.
And they're a lucrative bunch. David's Bridal, which is based in Consohocken, Pa., says older brides spend about $700 to $800 on gowns, including accessories like necklaces. That's higher than the $500 to $600 that customers in their twenties and early thirties typically spend.
But older brides aren't just spending more, they're spending differently. For instance, in the past, older brides tended to stick with special-occasion dresses, but now they want more traditional wedding gowns."She's our dream bride," says Catalina Maddox, fashion director at David's Bridal. "She wants everything that the 25-year-old bride wants, but more."
The trend is so prevalent that David's Bridal is looking at ways to better connect with the older China beads. In fact, its store in Danbury, Conn. recently held a bridal fashion show at a nearby nursing and rehabilitation facility; the event was a hit with the residents, the store says.
"It really sparked something," said Jenna McNamara, the assistant store manager at David's Bridal in Danbury, Conn., which has noticed residents in nearby retirement homes as customers for either weddings or commitment ceremonies. "We realized this was something huge."
Terry Hall, fashion director at Kleinfeld's, the New York City bridal salon that has the nation's biggest selection of designer bridal wear under one roof with more than 1,000 designs, also has seen a change in attitude in the last year or so among the older set. He said business from that group has doubled.
Hall says Kleinfeld's older clients are spending $4,000 to $7,000 for a gown. That compares with the average purchase of $3,500 for the under-30 set.
"They used to be subtle," Hall says. "Now, they're saying, 'Who cares? It's my day.' They want the dress."That's especially true for older first-time brides.
At 64, Yolanda Royal, who lives in Irvington, N.J., is preparing for her first wedding next July. After living with her partner for 20 years, he popped the question in May. The couple plans to spend about $11,000 on the reception for about 100 people, but for Royal, it's all about the dress. After that's secured, the other details will fall in place, she says.
Royal, a nursing attendant, was at David's Bridal in the Manhattan borough of New York City with her 41-year-old niece on a recent Friday, trying on white wedding gowns that had small trains. Royal, who says she wants something "sexy," tried everything from off-the-shoulder to strapless designs.
"For my wedding, for my day, I want the dress I want," says Royal, who did not want to give details about the gown she settled on because she wants to surprise her future husband. "I really don't think about age. I think age is something that people shouldn't think about. It's all about your life and the way you feel. I feel good about myself and my life."
That's not to say that some brides planning big weddings aren't getting any pushback from their friends or relatives. For instance, Joan Hunter, a 76-year-old widow for 33 years, is planning a big wedding with her fiance Guido Campanile, an 87-year-old widower, for October.
The couple is spending $10,000 on the reception, which will be held at a wedding hall. They are planning to have 10 people in the wedding party, including her two grown sons, ages 56 and 54, who will be giving her away, and her 5-year-old great grandson who will serve as the ring bearer. The couple also hired a DJ and a florist who is creating a floral arch.
But when Hunter first told her sons of her plans, they thought she was "crazy." They wondered why she wasn't just eloping to Las Vegas. "I told my kids that this may well be my last big party," says Hunter, who lives in Rosemead, Calif. "I'm really young at heart. I just wanted to do something that everyone would remember."Still, the older bride has limits. She plans to throw a bouquet and is considering wearing a garter belt, but she will not be wearing white. Instead, she's planning to don a taupe gown she purchased at David's Bridal.
Read the full products at http://www.bestjewelrybeads.com/!
Monday, September 2, 2013
Gallery Ten artists reunite
The event reunites 12 artists who exhibited the now-closed Charlene 's Gallery Ten, which was located at the site. Several of the artists provide demonstrations.
Joe Hernandez of Illinois, who initiated ArtFest in 2000, is returning to demonstrate firing raku pottery. Ray Kapfamer of Madison will paint pastels, and Chris Meissner of Milwaukee will demonstrate the cold-wax method of encaustic painting.
Other participating artists are Anne Nikolai Kloss of Waukesha, with her beaded jewelry; Norm Knott, Rockford, Ill., rhinestone-encrusted assemblages; Kris Franzke, Milwaukee, mosaics; Denny Moutray, Gills Rock, photography; Shannon Molter, Milwaukee, books, bags and dog bowls; Dee Santorini, Rockford, Ill., raku pottery; Mark Haberle, West Allis, oil paintings; Marcia Nickols, Door County, paper collages; and Sue Donohoo of SooHoo Designs, Baileys Harbor, wearable art.
New at ArtFest this year is the food tent provided by Bayside Bakery and Cafe, serving sandwiches and made-from-scratch bakery. Box lunches can be made up to order.
Gills Rock Coffee will be open for extended hours, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., offering specialty coffee drinks and showcasing its first-prize-winning Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie. The coffee shop also features the artwork of Nickols inside.
Door County Advocate photographer Tina M. Gohr visited the festival Saturday and captured the images above.The price of gold touched $1,420 an ounce last week, a 3?-month high, as escalating tensions in the Middle East, volatile currency markets and renewed demand for jewelry in China and India pushed prices higher.
Gold has rebounded 15 percent to $1,396 an ounce since sinking to $1,212, its lowest level in almost three years, on June 27. A gain of 20 percent or more would put the metal back in a bull market.
Gold’s resurgence follows a rough ride this year. It slumped 4.8 percent in the first quarter of 2013 as the economic outlook improved and inflation remained subdued.For many years prior to that, Beads factory, like hedge funds, bought the metal as a way to protect their investments against rising prices and a slumping dollar. They feared that the Federal Reserve’s stimulus program could cause prices to rise. But inflation remained subdued and that reduced the need to buy gold. Also, signs in January that the dollar was strengthening diminished the appeal of owning gold.
Then in April, the bottom fell out. A proposal that Cyprus sell some of its gold reserves to support its banks rattled traders, prompting concern that other weak European economies might sell and flood the market.
Gold plunged by $140 an ounce, or 9 percent, on April 15 as investors unloaded their holdings. That was the biggest one-day decline in more than 30 years. While the price of gold is still down 17 percent this year, the metal is on the rise.One of the reasons people buy gold is that it offers an alternative to more traditional financial assets, says Mike McGlone, director of research at ETF Securities, a provider of commodity-based exchange-traded funds. When financial markets get jittery, investors often buy gold because it is considered one of the safest assets that can easily be converted to cash.
As the stock market soared this year, by as much as 20 percent, investors had less need to hold gold. That has changed in the past four weeks. The S&P 500 index has lost 4 percent since reaching an all-time high of 1,709.67 on Aug. 2. Traders are concerned about when and by how much the Fed will pare its stimulus, a major driver of the rally.
Strife in Egypt and Syria has also reminded investors that it’s a dangerous world out there: wars can spread and oil prices can spike, hurting economies and stock markets. Investors want to return a little insurance to their portfolios these days.
The Fed appears close to reducing its $85 billion in monthly bond purchases, and that has stirred up currency prices worldwide, particularly in emerging markets. Investors had previously borrowed in dollars at low rates and then invested in faster growing economies in Asia and Latin America.
When customers of Plowsharing Crafts bring home an intricately carved statue or a blanket bursting with color, they are not only making the world a prettier place, but a better place, as well.
“I think it makes the local community look at how they are consuming,” manager Kelly Rae Ramoser said. “They learn that how they spend their money really matters. In general, we really don’t think about how we spend our money and where it goes, and that is such an important part of what we do.
Since 1985, growing out of a missionary project through the St. Louis Mennonite Fellowship, Plowsharing Crafts has provided the St. Louis/Metro East area with handmade craft items from the Third World, providing income to skilled artisans around the world by marketing their products.
This “fair trade” strategy creates opportunities for socially marginalized producers, supports safe working conditions, combats the exploitation of child labor, and provides fair and equal pay for artisans, helping build trust and a sense of community that reaches across borders and oceans.
“The committee at our church was aware of the Fair Trade organization, Ten Thousand Villages, and were looking to do a project in the community,” executive director Rich Howard-Willms said. “This was very much a step of faith; I came in with no retail experience, just the interest and agate beads. We are very pleased with how it has grown through the years.”
“I got plugged into Plowsharing while I was in college,” she said. “My boyfriend and I visited every time we were in the Loop, and he bought his Christmas gifts there.
“I live in Edwardsville, so I am a part of this local community. I love the idea of getting my area involved in fair trade, and I really enjoy getting to know the faces that come in day after day. I am the only paid employee. Everyone else donates their time.”
Artisans who create the sandals, wall decorations, and more are paid 50 percent up front, allowing them funds for materials, time and to feed their families, and then the remainder is paid upon completion of the products.
“People often ask us how much of the money goes to the artisans,” Ramoser said. “We tell them not one penny, because they have already been paid and received the benefits. That makes us very different from the (corporate mindset). These artisans do not have to wait and rely on us to sell the product.
“We are very passionate about what we do. Our volunteers believe in what we are doing here as well and can talk about it to our customers, which is important. Education is also key to what we do.”
Plowsharing Crafts is in partnership with Ten Thousand Villages, the oldest and largest fair trade organization in North America, as well as other vendors such as SERRV, Global Crafts, Bright Hope International, UPAVIM, Mountcastle International, Venus Imports and Equal Exchange.
Read the full products at http://www.bestjewelrybeads.com/!
Joe Hernandez of Illinois, who initiated ArtFest in 2000, is returning to demonstrate firing raku pottery. Ray Kapfamer of Madison will paint pastels, and Chris Meissner of Milwaukee will demonstrate the cold-wax method of encaustic painting.
Other participating artists are Anne Nikolai Kloss of Waukesha, with her beaded jewelry; Norm Knott, Rockford, Ill., rhinestone-encrusted assemblages; Kris Franzke, Milwaukee, mosaics; Denny Moutray, Gills Rock, photography; Shannon Molter, Milwaukee, books, bags and dog bowls; Dee Santorini, Rockford, Ill., raku pottery; Mark Haberle, West Allis, oil paintings; Marcia Nickols, Door County, paper collages; and Sue Donohoo of SooHoo Designs, Baileys Harbor, wearable art.
New at ArtFest this year is the food tent provided by Bayside Bakery and Cafe, serving sandwiches and made-from-scratch bakery. Box lunches can be made up to order.
Gills Rock Coffee will be open for extended hours, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., offering specialty coffee drinks and showcasing its first-prize-winning Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie. The coffee shop also features the artwork of Nickols inside.
Door County Advocate photographer Tina M. Gohr visited the festival Saturday and captured the images above.The price of gold touched $1,420 an ounce last week, a 3?-month high, as escalating tensions in the Middle East, volatile currency markets and renewed demand for jewelry in China and India pushed prices higher.
Gold has rebounded 15 percent to $1,396 an ounce since sinking to $1,212, its lowest level in almost three years, on June 27. A gain of 20 percent or more would put the metal back in a bull market.
Gold’s resurgence follows a rough ride this year. It slumped 4.8 percent in the first quarter of 2013 as the economic outlook improved and inflation remained subdued.For many years prior to that, Beads factory, like hedge funds, bought the metal as a way to protect their investments against rising prices and a slumping dollar. They feared that the Federal Reserve’s stimulus program could cause prices to rise. But inflation remained subdued and that reduced the need to buy gold. Also, signs in January that the dollar was strengthening diminished the appeal of owning gold.
Then in April, the bottom fell out. A proposal that Cyprus sell some of its gold reserves to support its banks rattled traders, prompting concern that other weak European economies might sell and flood the market.
Gold plunged by $140 an ounce, or 9 percent, on April 15 as investors unloaded their holdings. That was the biggest one-day decline in more than 30 years. While the price of gold is still down 17 percent this year, the metal is on the rise.One of the reasons people buy gold is that it offers an alternative to more traditional financial assets, says Mike McGlone, director of research at ETF Securities, a provider of commodity-based exchange-traded funds. When financial markets get jittery, investors often buy gold because it is considered one of the safest assets that can easily be converted to cash.
As the stock market soared this year, by as much as 20 percent, investors had less need to hold gold. That has changed in the past four weeks. The S&P 500 index has lost 4 percent since reaching an all-time high of 1,709.67 on Aug. 2. Traders are concerned about when and by how much the Fed will pare its stimulus, a major driver of the rally.
Strife in Egypt and Syria has also reminded investors that it’s a dangerous world out there: wars can spread and oil prices can spike, hurting economies and stock markets. Investors want to return a little insurance to their portfolios these days.
The Fed appears close to reducing its $85 billion in monthly bond purchases, and that has stirred up currency prices worldwide, particularly in emerging markets. Investors had previously borrowed in dollars at low rates and then invested in faster growing economies in Asia and Latin America.
When customers of Plowsharing Crafts bring home an intricately carved statue or a blanket bursting with color, they are not only making the world a prettier place, but a better place, as well.
“I think it makes the local community look at how they are consuming,” manager Kelly Rae Ramoser said. “They learn that how they spend their money really matters. In general, we really don’t think about how we spend our money and where it goes, and that is such an important part of what we do.
Since 1985, growing out of a missionary project through the St. Louis Mennonite Fellowship, Plowsharing Crafts has provided the St. Louis/Metro East area with handmade craft items from the Third World, providing income to skilled artisans around the world by marketing their products.
This “fair trade” strategy creates opportunities for socially marginalized producers, supports safe working conditions, combats the exploitation of child labor, and provides fair and equal pay for artisans, helping build trust and a sense of community that reaches across borders and oceans.
“The committee at our church was aware of the Fair Trade organization, Ten Thousand Villages, and were looking to do a project in the community,” executive director Rich Howard-Willms said. “This was very much a step of faith; I came in with no retail experience, just the interest and agate beads. We are very pleased with how it has grown through the years.”
“I got plugged into Plowsharing while I was in college,” she said. “My boyfriend and I visited every time we were in the Loop, and he bought his Christmas gifts there.
“I live in Edwardsville, so I am a part of this local community. I love the idea of getting my area involved in fair trade, and I really enjoy getting to know the faces that come in day after day. I am the only paid employee. Everyone else donates their time.”
Artisans who create the sandals, wall decorations, and more are paid 50 percent up front, allowing them funds for materials, time and to feed their families, and then the remainder is paid upon completion of the products.
“People often ask us how much of the money goes to the artisans,” Ramoser said. “We tell them not one penny, because they have already been paid and received the benefits. That makes us very different from the (corporate mindset). These artisans do not have to wait and rely on us to sell the product.
“We are very passionate about what we do. Our volunteers believe in what we are doing here as well and can talk about it to our customers, which is important. Education is also key to what we do.”
Plowsharing Crafts is in partnership with Ten Thousand Villages, the oldest and largest fair trade organization in North America, as well as other vendors such as SERRV, Global Crafts, Bright Hope International, UPAVIM, Mountcastle International, Venus Imports and Equal Exchange.
Read the full products at http://www.bestjewelrybeads.com/!
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Frequency 8 Takes the Kandi Kids
If you've been in San Francisco for any significant amount of time, chances are good that you've at least heard of the Frequency 8 crew. Since the '90s, the outfit's done a lot to further the position of trance in the Bay Area via its lavish raves, record label, and now-shuttered Haight street record store. Not being too familiar, I enlisted the help of a good friend of mine who grew up in the genre. I asked him if he wanted to to go the party, and his response captured the theme of enthusiasm that began to course through the rest of the night: "F-8!? No way! I used to drive down from Sac just to go to their parties, that's what got me into dance music!"
We had a group of about five situated in the middle of a packed dancefloor at DNA Lounge. We stood out like sore thumbs, wearing drab clothes next to the clubland equivalent of a tropical aquarium. Everywhere there was eye-piercing color: neon blue, bright red tracing off the edge of a light glove, flashes from highlighter yellow glowsticks, and mounds of multi-colored "kandi" bracelets -- fog did little to obscure the rest. The music was melodically lush, but played at an arrhythmia-inducing speed. It was trance. The DJ, Thomas Datt, moved like an orchestra conductor, emulating the superstars of the late-'90s with carefully chosen poses that gave the illusion he was controlling every element from the patter of high-hats to the genre's tell-tale rushing drops. Below him, a flat-white geometric construction reflected psychedelic scenery of endless clouds, '80s vector graphic mountains, and other assorted digital landscapes. Two girls in white bikinis and feather boas walked by, their mouths a garble of confusing rainbows generated by LED-saturated pacifiers.
One of the most startling things about the night was how young everyone was. Going into this blind, I assumed that Frequency 8, being one of the older trance crews, would draw an gemstone beads. This wasn't the case; instead everyone present appeared to be between the ages of 18 and 21, with relatively few outliers -- those who were older blended in by virtue of the kandi kid subculture's fixation on pre-teen accoutrements. This had a nice fringe benefit in that none of the bars were ever busy, though I imagine that says more about the consensus choice of substance than anything else. Age aside, it was a very diverse crowd, with the aforementioned kandi kids mingling easily with a misfit assortment of anime otaku, unabashed Redditors, furries in full garb, and a troop of people clearly invested in totally losing their minds.
Trance as a musical genre, when listened to for long enough in a club setting, has a weird effect at high volume. It sucks you into its swirling melodies and ambient wafts of synthesizer. It's immersive in a way that's similar to techno, though the feeling is more dreamy. At the front of the room, a small group of partiers rested standing against the stage with their heads tucked into their arms. I felt my own consciousness drift away into the music, catching myself five or 10 minutes later almost dozing off to the monotonous ebb and flow of the rush. It was at that point that we decided to gather our wits and leave the main room for a while to visit "The Observation Deck," the party's second room dedicated to hardcore, gabber, and drum 'n' bass.
I'm not the most eloquent notetaker while out reviewing these parties. Looking back though, my one sentence about the upstairs room seems relevant: "worm of pure energy, drilling thru my ear." This was indeed a much more hardcore experience than the comparatively pleasant dream music of the main room. It was pure aggression, with a similar crowd hyping themselves up and pogoing to blasting hits of 180 BPM+ hardcore. The DJ, whose name I didn't catch, mixed these sounds on the fly in truly old-school fashion with the crustiest looking box of vinyl records I've seen in the wild. Hyper remixes of Skrillex's "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" mingled with more esoteric fare, but proved a huge hit with a dancefloor that rarely wavered throughout the night. Eventually the music switched, moving towards futuristic interpretations of drum 'n' bass with little bits of dubstep thrown in for good measure. The aggression was awesome, but even better was the earnest party spirit and unironic punk ethos that filled the air.
By the time we made it back to the main room, the tempo had caught up with the music upstairs. Now it was Scott Brown on the decks and he was working fast to cram in as many heavy-hitting hard-trance tracks as he could before the 2 a.m. cutoff. Booming hoover basses and near incomprehensible kick drum patterns flashed from the subwoofer in five-minute blurts before melting into gooey synth pads played beatlessly as interludes. With each track he pushed faster, playing a string of tracks that included Captain Tinrib vs Mars & Mystr?'s "Save the Rave," Art of Trance's "Madagascar," and Mars' "Pachelbel 8000." Throughout it all he wove in a repeating spoken word vocal that affirmed again and again, "You're rocking with the best!"
They got burned on their sensationalist claims that hydraulic fracturing caused flaming faucets. They were sunk by their own studies showing that fracking was responsible for groundwater contamination. They've sent in the Justice Department to harry the biggest names in the industry over so-called anti-competitive practices. Now the government's newest assault on the practice comes from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which is proposing new, stricter regulations on the sand that's used in the fracking process.
Fracking, which has been done for more than 60 years, is a process in which drillers pump large amounts of Wholesale beads, fluids, and chemicals deep into the ground under high pressure and cause the shale rock to crack. The fluids contain sand or ceramic beads called proppants that prop open the fissures and allow the gas and oil to flow more freely.
But as the practice has grown exponentially, environmental activists and regulators suggest that the sand itself presents a health hazard to workers much the way asbestos does. Silica isn't like beach sand, but rather is a much finer, purer material. Imagine clouds of dust billowing up when a saw cuts through concrete, and you get the idea of what they're suggesting workers are breathing in.
While the Obama administration estimates 700 lives a year can be saved by putting new rules in place, industry representatives say the current regulations already adequately protect workers because they reduce or completely eliminate the risk of breathing in the fine particulates. Moreover, the cost of the new regs would be huge. The new rules also apply to industries outside oil and gas, and the metal-casting industry alone says they will cost about $1.5 billion annually to implement.
Under the proposal, companies would have to cut in half the amount of silica exposure currently allowed for general industry and maritime workers, and by 80% in the construction industry. Part of the problem with the new rules, however, is there is a dearth of certified labs available that can measure the levels of silica dust OSHA wants to reduce them to, though the agency has magnanimously said it would be willing to delay the lab requirements for two years to allow the industry to catch up.
Read the full products at http://www.bestjewelrybeads.com/!
We had a group of about five situated in the middle of a packed dancefloor at DNA Lounge. We stood out like sore thumbs, wearing drab clothes next to the clubland equivalent of a tropical aquarium. Everywhere there was eye-piercing color: neon blue, bright red tracing off the edge of a light glove, flashes from highlighter yellow glowsticks, and mounds of multi-colored "kandi" bracelets -- fog did little to obscure the rest. The music was melodically lush, but played at an arrhythmia-inducing speed. It was trance. The DJ, Thomas Datt, moved like an orchestra conductor, emulating the superstars of the late-'90s with carefully chosen poses that gave the illusion he was controlling every element from the patter of high-hats to the genre's tell-tale rushing drops. Below him, a flat-white geometric construction reflected psychedelic scenery of endless clouds, '80s vector graphic mountains, and other assorted digital landscapes. Two girls in white bikinis and feather boas walked by, their mouths a garble of confusing rainbows generated by LED-saturated pacifiers.
One of the most startling things about the night was how young everyone was. Going into this blind, I assumed that Frequency 8, being one of the older trance crews, would draw an gemstone beads. This wasn't the case; instead everyone present appeared to be between the ages of 18 and 21, with relatively few outliers -- those who were older blended in by virtue of the kandi kid subculture's fixation on pre-teen accoutrements. This had a nice fringe benefit in that none of the bars were ever busy, though I imagine that says more about the consensus choice of substance than anything else. Age aside, it was a very diverse crowd, with the aforementioned kandi kids mingling easily with a misfit assortment of anime otaku, unabashed Redditors, furries in full garb, and a troop of people clearly invested in totally losing their minds.
Trance as a musical genre, when listened to for long enough in a club setting, has a weird effect at high volume. It sucks you into its swirling melodies and ambient wafts of synthesizer. It's immersive in a way that's similar to techno, though the feeling is more dreamy. At the front of the room, a small group of partiers rested standing against the stage with their heads tucked into their arms. I felt my own consciousness drift away into the music, catching myself five or 10 minutes later almost dozing off to the monotonous ebb and flow of the rush. It was at that point that we decided to gather our wits and leave the main room for a while to visit "The Observation Deck," the party's second room dedicated to hardcore, gabber, and drum 'n' bass.
I'm not the most eloquent notetaker while out reviewing these parties. Looking back though, my one sentence about the upstairs room seems relevant: "worm of pure energy, drilling thru my ear." This was indeed a much more hardcore experience than the comparatively pleasant dream music of the main room. It was pure aggression, with a similar crowd hyping themselves up and pogoing to blasting hits of 180 BPM+ hardcore. The DJ, whose name I didn't catch, mixed these sounds on the fly in truly old-school fashion with the crustiest looking box of vinyl records I've seen in the wild. Hyper remixes of Skrillex's "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" mingled with more esoteric fare, but proved a huge hit with a dancefloor that rarely wavered throughout the night. Eventually the music switched, moving towards futuristic interpretations of drum 'n' bass with little bits of dubstep thrown in for good measure. The aggression was awesome, but even better was the earnest party spirit and unironic punk ethos that filled the air.
By the time we made it back to the main room, the tempo had caught up with the music upstairs. Now it was Scott Brown on the decks and he was working fast to cram in as many heavy-hitting hard-trance tracks as he could before the 2 a.m. cutoff. Booming hoover basses and near incomprehensible kick drum patterns flashed from the subwoofer in five-minute blurts before melting into gooey synth pads played beatlessly as interludes. With each track he pushed faster, playing a string of tracks that included Captain Tinrib vs Mars & Mystr?'s "Save the Rave," Art of Trance's "Madagascar," and Mars' "Pachelbel 8000." Throughout it all he wove in a repeating spoken word vocal that affirmed again and again, "You're rocking with the best!"
They got burned on their sensationalist claims that hydraulic fracturing caused flaming faucets. They were sunk by their own studies showing that fracking was responsible for groundwater contamination. They've sent in the Justice Department to harry the biggest names in the industry over so-called anti-competitive practices. Now the government's newest assault on the practice comes from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which is proposing new, stricter regulations on the sand that's used in the fracking process.
Fracking, which has been done for more than 60 years, is a process in which drillers pump large amounts of Wholesale beads, fluids, and chemicals deep into the ground under high pressure and cause the shale rock to crack. The fluids contain sand or ceramic beads called proppants that prop open the fissures and allow the gas and oil to flow more freely.
But as the practice has grown exponentially, environmental activists and regulators suggest that the sand itself presents a health hazard to workers much the way asbestos does. Silica isn't like beach sand, but rather is a much finer, purer material. Imagine clouds of dust billowing up when a saw cuts through concrete, and you get the idea of what they're suggesting workers are breathing in.
While the Obama administration estimates 700 lives a year can be saved by putting new rules in place, industry representatives say the current regulations already adequately protect workers because they reduce or completely eliminate the risk of breathing in the fine particulates. Moreover, the cost of the new regs would be huge. The new rules also apply to industries outside oil and gas, and the metal-casting industry alone says they will cost about $1.5 billion annually to implement.
Under the proposal, companies would have to cut in half the amount of silica exposure currently allowed for general industry and maritime workers, and by 80% in the construction industry. Part of the problem with the new rules, however, is there is a dearth of certified labs available that can measure the levels of silica dust OSHA wants to reduce them to, though the agency has magnanimously said it would be willing to delay the lab requirements for two years to allow the industry to catch up.
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Meet 7 Women who redefine Independence
I still remember that post her accident and the subsequent treatment at AIIMS, Arunima tried to meet me several times, but I was travelling. The day I reached Jamshedpur, she called again and said she would come to meet me the next day. I didn’t take her seriously. How would she get the tickets so soon? But she reached. That was the day, I realised how focused she was.
When we met, she told me she wanted to climb Everest. I was stunned! Sometimes I still can’t believe it. I told her, by setting such a goal she had already climbed her first Everest.
I asked her to come for the Tata Steel Adventure Foundation (TSAF) outdoor leadership program. We tried to create a motivating, positive and supportive atmosphere for her. It didn’t happen overnight. In the beginning, the team held her hand and took her up and jewelry findings. Later we trained her with load, increasing it gradually. Then we taught her to walk on ice and finally took her to 13,000 feet to test her physiology on high altitudes. It took one year for her to prepare.
The journey wasn’t easy, but she converts every problem into an opportunity. If she found something difficult, she would want to do it again. Looking at her zeal and courage, we presented her details to our MD and sponsored her Everest climb. I also told the MD of the company we had tied up with in Khatmandu that he should not show her pity, but understand what she is made of and support her. She dragged herself physically, but did it.
Mom never lets people know of her worries. We grew up in a very protective environment. Only when I was around 10 years old, did it register that things were amiss. I learnt of my fathers’ addictions even later, around age 16. My sister and I didn’t see the rough side, but when you’re living at your maternal grandmother’s house, and your dad’s fine through the day (he used to drop us to school every morning), but you’re kept away from him in the evening, you know something is wrong.
Mom’s focus was on fending for the family and ensuring that we move up in life. Her day started at 4 am, so in a lot of ways our grandma mothered us. Mom started a business with jams and crystal beads wholesale. Later she put up a small kiosk selling tea, coffee and snacks at a marina in Chennai. Then came the first major turning point for her — getting a contract from the National Institute of Port Management. She had to be there full time, because footfalls ranged from hundreds to thousands.
Every day we saw her getting tougher and tougher. Realizing the kind of ordeal mom was going through for us, our bond with her grew very strong. Today, when I’ve joined the business and deal with skilled labour, I often ask her, ‘How did you handle these people?’ I guess her strength lies in her straightforwardness; she’ll tell you things to your face if she thinks something’s wrong. At the same time, she easily senses if you’re not fine and will act on it.
I was always interested in the food industry, but knowing the kind of struggle it requires, she didn’t want me to pursue it. Moreover, inspired by travel tales of the navy officers I met, I joined the navy, and worked for a Norwegian company. During the time I was away, my sister and she grew very close. She wouldn’t tell me she missed me, but managed to find a way to reach me even on the ship. I was the only person aboard to get a call every week. When my sister and her husband expired due to an accident, soon after their wedding, mom went completely out of line. She stopped going out for three to four years. It was difficult to see her that way, and watch twenty years of her hard work go unattended, so I decided to take it up. When I made mistakes, she advised and corrected me but didn’t resume work.
FICCI came to us at this point of time; the award was a complete game changer. A regular person just works to make a living, not to get media limelight, but the award made mom recognize her own achievement. Colleges invited her to speak on entrepreneurship. Seeing that so many people looked up to her, she realized she that shouldn't get bogged down. She became active again. Now, she doesn’t micro manage because she wants me to grow, but advices me and monitors things from time to time.
But Suzy fought every odd that life threw at her. People who stayed around her before the accident were now out of sight. Suzy didn’t lose hope. She focused on ‘what next.’ Confidence and optimism led her to the path of becoming one of the most successful stock traders in the Asian market, in 2005. Today, Suzy runs a very successful celebrity talk show, conducts motivational lectures for NASA scientists, is a TED speaker and runs an NGO (Shraddha) for spinally injured children. She has adopted two children whose parents died of spinal injury. Coming from a middle-class background, she may not have the luxuries of life but she has peace of mind.
'Is baar beta paida karna, sab theek hoga (this time, make sure you give birth to a son then everything will be sorted)’ is what my mother-in-law said when she first, heard I was pregnant with Pooja. God had already blessed me with a daughter so my family didn’t want a girl child again. When Pooja was born in 1985, no one visited us, in the hospital, for three days. I didn’t have a change of clothes for Pooja or for myself. Finally, on the tenth day, my husband came to take us home. But, clearly, we were not welcome. He would often tell me to get rid of Pooja; send her to an orphanage. I had to choose between my husband and Pooja. I chose my daughter. ‘This girl will make me proud,’ is what I told my husband while parting ways.
With Rs.82 in my pocket, I began a new life in Mumbai with Shubhra and Pooja. I would cook some food, leave two glasses of milk and lock them up at home before stepping out to office. In the need to give the best to my daughters I decided to leave them back in Mumbai with my mother and move to a better-paying job, in Goa. Often, Pooja would call, cry over the phone and ask me to come back to Mumbai. When I moved back to India after 4-5 years, I was happy to see Pooja grown up into a strong-minded and independent girl. I remember, in school, when her friends would ask about her father, she would simply say, ‘he’s away on the ship.’ Pooja has never questioned me about her father. She would share her feelings, her insecurities with Shubhra, who was an anchor to her.
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When we met, she told me she wanted to climb Everest. I was stunned! Sometimes I still can’t believe it. I told her, by setting such a goal she had already climbed her first Everest.
I asked her to come for the Tata Steel Adventure Foundation (TSAF) outdoor leadership program. We tried to create a motivating, positive and supportive atmosphere for her. It didn’t happen overnight. In the beginning, the team held her hand and took her up and jewelry findings. Later we trained her with load, increasing it gradually. Then we taught her to walk on ice and finally took her to 13,000 feet to test her physiology on high altitudes. It took one year for her to prepare.
The journey wasn’t easy, but she converts every problem into an opportunity. If she found something difficult, she would want to do it again. Looking at her zeal and courage, we presented her details to our MD and sponsored her Everest climb. I also told the MD of the company we had tied up with in Khatmandu that he should not show her pity, but understand what she is made of and support her. She dragged herself physically, but did it.
Mom never lets people know of her worries. We grew up in a very protective environment. Only when I was around 10 years old, did it register that things were amiss. I learnt of my fathers’ addictions even later, around age 16. My sister and I didn’t see the rough side, but when you’re living at your maternal grandmother’s house, and your dad’s fine through the day (he used to drop us to school every morning), but you’re kept away from him in the evening, you know something is wrong.
Mom’s focus was on fending for the family and ensuring that we move up in life. Her day started at 4 am, so in a lot of ways our grandma mothered us. Mom started a business with jams and crystal beads wholesale. Later she put up a small kiosk selling tea, coffee and snacks at a marina in Chennai. Then came the first major turning point for her — getting a contract from the National Institute of Port Management. She had to be there full time, because footfalls ranged from hundreds to thousands.
Every day we saw her getting tougher and tougher. Realizing the kind of ordeal mom was going through for us, our bond with her grew very strong. Today, when I’ve joined the business and deal with skilled labour, I often ask her, ‘How did you handle these people?’ I guess her strength lies in her straightforwardness; she’ll tell you things to your face if she thinks something’s wrong. At the same time, she easily senses if you’re not fine and will act on it.
I was always interested in the food industry, but knowing the kind of struggle it requires, she didn’t want me to pursue it. Moreover, inspired by travel tales of the navy officers I met, I joined the navy, and worked for a Norwegian company. During the time I was away, my sister and she grew very close. She wouldn’t tell me she missed me, but managed to find a way to reach me even on the ship. I was the only person aboard to get a call every week. When my sister and her husband expired due to an accident, soon after their wedding, mom went completely out of line. She stopped going out for three to four years. It was difficult to see her that way, and watch twenty years of her hard work go unattended, so I decided to take it up. When I made mistakes, she advised and corrected me but didn’t resume work.
FICCI came to us at this point of time; the award was a complete game changer. A regular person just works to make a living, not to get media limelight, but the award made mom recognize her own achievement. Colleges invited her to speak on entrepreneurship. Seeing that so many people looked up to her, she realized she that shouldn't get bogged down. She became active again. Now, she doesn’t micro manage because she wants me to grow, but advices me and monitors things from time to time.
But Suzy fought every odd that life threw at her. People who stayed around her before the accident were now out of sight. Suzy didn’t lose hope. She focused on ‘what next.’ Confidence and optimism led her to the path of becoming one of the most successful stock traders in the Asian market, in 2005. Today, Suzy runs a very successful celebrity talk show, conducts motivational lectures for NASA scientists, is a TED speaker and runs an NGO (Shraddha) for spinally injured children. She has adopted two children whose parents died of spinal injury. Coming from a middle-class background, she may not have the luxuries of life but she has peace of mind.
'Is baar beta paida karna, sab theek hoga (this time, make sure you give birth to a son then everything will be sorted)’ is what my mother-in-law said when she first, heard I was pregnant with Pooja. God had already blessed me with a daughter so my family didn’t want a girl child again. When Pooja was born in 1985, no one visited us, in the hospital, for three days. I didn’t have a change of clothes for Pooja or for myself. Finally, on the tenth day, my husband came to take us home. But, clearly, we were not welcome. He would often tell me to get rid of Pooja; send her to an orphanage. I had to choose between my husband and Pooja. I chose my daughter. ‘This girl will make me proud,’ is what I told my husband while parting ways.
With Rs.82 in my pocket, I began a new life in Mumbai with Shubhra and Pooja. I would cook some food, leave two glasses of milk and lock them up at home before stepping out to office. In the need to give the best to my daughters I decided to leave them back in Mumbai with my mother and move to a better-paying job, in Goa. Often, Pooja would call, cry over the phone and ask me to come back to Mumbai. When I moved back to India after 4-5 years, I was happy to see Pooja grown up into a strong-minded and independent girl. I remember, in school, when her friends would ask about her father, she would simply say, ‘he’s away on the ship.’ Pooja has never questioned me about her father. She would share her feelings, her insecurities with Shubhra, who was an anchor to her.
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Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Cyberattacks on rise as credit
It's a sad fact of modern American consumer life. Every time we swipe
a piece of plastic at a gas station, grocery store or anywhere else,
we're vulnerable to virtual pickpockets.Increasingly, credit and debit
card numbers have become commodities sold by cyberthieves who harvest
them from banks, businesses, restaurants and retailers.
"The sophistication of these attacks is unprecedented," said G. Mark Hardy, president of National Security Corp., a Tampa, Fla.-based cybersecurity consulting firm.Last year, targeted attacks on businesses jumped 42 percent, according to security software firm Symantec. Attacks spiked 31 percent among companies with fewer than 250 employees.
In recent years, restaurants, grocery stores and even the city of Sacramento, Calif., have had their computer systems hacked or compromised.It's part of a shift from mass attacks by computer viruses, worms and other cyberthreats to more pinpointed, targeted infiltrations, say online security experts. The attackers, often located overseas, "find this method more effective because it allows them to fly under the radar and avoid drawing widespread attention to their malware," Brian Burch, vice president of consumer and small business marketing at Symantec,Buy Silicone IPAD Case at wholesale prices from leading Chinese wholesalers, said in an email.
Small businesses are frequently targeted because they often lack adequate security practices, said Burch. Additionally, because small firms often partner with bigger organizations, cybercriminals "sometimes use them to gain access to a larger company."Typically, thieves who steal the data from retailers and other targets aren't the ones who use it to rack up fraudulent charges. "There's an underground ecosystem for the sale, transfer, purchase and exchange of stolen credit card and debit card information," said security expert Hardy.
Retailers that process credit card transactions must follow the industry's safe-practices guidelines, known officially as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards. The so-called PCI guidelines require retailers who accept credit and debit cards to maintain a computer network firewall, employ tough passwords and take other precautions.Retailers who don't comply face fines of up to $100,000 per month and can be held financially responsible for fraud investigations and compensation to victims.
Unfortunately,Our top picks for the Winbo Iphone Headset and gear, said Hardy, retailers can do all the right things but still get attacked."It's like wearing your seat belt, putting your kid in a car seat and having air bags in your car," said Hardy. "You can still be hit by someone driving through a red light."Under PCI standards, retailers can't hold onto a card's PIN, the three-digit security code or sensitive information stored in a card's magnetic stripe. In any card transaction, the company's software must automatically delete that information.
Companies can, however, keep a card holder's name, account number and expiration date, such as when they ask your permission to retain the information for automatic payments, subscriptions and the like.While the PCI standards are considered a good starting point, there are additional layers of software and computer security precautions available, say computer security experts. Among them: Change default passwords so they're not easy to guess, restrict the use of PCs involved in processing card transactions so that employees surfing the Web don't unwittingly pick up computer viruses, and train cashiers to look for plastic devices stuck into card readers to steal information.
Students and young adults with only small incomes would do well to avoid credit cards. It might be better to opt for a debit card that is linked to a transaction account. That way, you will spend only the money you have and incur only minimal account-keeping fees.
Credit cards can be convenient, especially when travelling overseas and making purchases online. And a credit card can be good to have in case of an emergency. But unless credit cards are used wisely, they will be very expensive. For starters, foreign purchases will usually have a foreign transaction or currency conversion fee of 2 per cent to 3 per cent. And then there are the eye-watering interest rates charged on late payments.
Those interest rates on credit cards can be more than 20 per cent a year if the debt on the card is not paid off in time. Usually, the marketing for the cards will say the cardholder has up to 55 days to pay off the card without being hit with interest.What is not well understood is that with most cards the whole debt has to be paid off by the due date to avoid interest. In other words, even if part of the debt is paid off by the due date, the interest will apply to the entire debt.
Regardless of whether the whole debt is repaid, the card requires a certain minimum amount of the debt to be paid off each month.There are penalties in failing to pay the minimum. The interest could be charged back to the purchase date and the interest-free period could be cancelled on further purchases.
You should also be aware that paying for a taxi or booking a flight with a credit card is likely to incur a surcharge. Paying by debit card sometimes incurs a smaller surcharge or no surcharge at all.For those who get into trouble with their credit cards, the credit-card companies have a ready solution: the balance transfer offer, where a card has a low-interest or interest-free period on the balance that is transferred.
Sources said that the government is moving in this direction with a view to modernize the distribution system as well as check the misuse of permits by persons other than those for whom they have been issued on health and various other grounds.
"It was seen that very often people other than the permit holder would approach the licensed outlets with permits like ration cards and take away the liquor. This meant that the liquor was being consumed by someone else instead of the person for whom it was meant. Secondly, the introduction of smart card and biometric system will help in streamlining the inventory records and monitoring the regular sale Custom Winbo silicone bracelets and Silicone Wristbands,of liquor," said an official.
He disclosed that quite often, instances of pilferage by lower rung staff deployed at sales outlets also come up. The system will help check this practice.
At present there are around 50,000 registered liquor consumers in Gujarat. These include around 20,000 ex-servicemen who procure their quota from the CSD canteens in defense establishments. The remaining 30,000 civilian permit holders obtain their quota from the licensed outlets.
There are 26 licensed outlets in Gujarat and majority of them are in the four big cities of Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot. "In fact these outlets are in only 11 of the 26 districts of the state. The permit holders residing in the other cities have to travel inter-district to get their quota," said the official.
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"The sophistication of these attacks is unprecedented," said G. Mark Hardy, president of National Security Corp., a Tampa, Fla.-based cybersecurity consulting firm.Last year, targeted attacks on businesses jumped 42 percent, according to security software firm Symantec. Attacks spiked 31 percent among companies with fewer than 250 employees.
In recent years, restaurants, grocery stores and even the city of Sacramento, Calif., have had their computer systems hacked or compromised.It's part of a shift from mass attacks by computer viruses, worms and other cyberthreats to more pinpointed, targeted infiltrations, say online security experts. The attackers, often located overseas, "find this method more effective because it allows them to fly under the radar and avoid drawing widespread attention to their malware," Brian Burch, vice president of consumer and small business marketing at Symantec,Buy Silicone IPAD Case at wholesale prices from leading Chinese wholesalers, said in an email.
Small businesses are frequently targeted because they often lack adequate security practices, said Burch. Additionally, because small firms often partner with bigger organizations, cybercriminals "sometimes use them to gain access to a larger company."Typically, thieves who steal the data from retailers and other targets aren't the ones who use it to rack up fraudulent charges. "There's an underground ecosystem for the sale, transfer, purchase and exchange of stolen credit card and debit card information," said security expert Hardy.
Retailers that process credit card transactions must follow the industry's safe-practices guidelines, known officially as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards. The so-called PCI guidelines require retailers who accept credit and debit cards to maintain a computer network firewall, employ tough passwords and take other precautions.Retailers who don't comply face fines of up to $100,000 per month and can be held financially responsible for fraud investigations and compensation to victims.
Unfortunately,Our top picks for the Winbo Iphone Headset and gear, said Hardy, retailers can do all the right things but still get attacked."It's like wearing your seat belt, putting your kid in a car seat and having air bags in your car," said Hardy. "You can still be hit by someone driving through a red light."Under PCI standards, retailers can't hold onto a card's PIN, the three-digit security code or sensitive information stored in a card's magnetic stripe. In any card transaction, the company's software must automatically delete that information.
Companies can, however, keep a card holder's name, account number and expiration date, such as when they ask your permission to retain the information for automatic payments, subscriptions and the like.While the PCI standards are considered a good starting point, there are additional layers of software and computer security precautions available, say computer security experts. Among them: Change default passwords so they're not easy to guess, restrict the use of PCs involved in processing card transactions so that employees surfing the Web don't unwittingly pick up computer viruses, and train cashiers to look for plastic devices stuck into card readers to steal information.
Students and young adults with only small incomes would do well to avoid credit cards. It might be better to opt for a debit card that is linked to a transaction account. That way, you will spend only the money you have and incur only minimal account-keeping fees.
Credit cards can be convenient, especially when travelling overseas and making purchases online. And a credit card can be good to have in case of an emergency. But unless credit cards are used wisely, they will be very expensive. For starters, foreign purchases will usually have a foreign transaction or currency conversion fee of 2 per cent to 3 per cent. And then there are the eye-watering interest rates charged on late payments.
Those interest rates on credit cards can be more than 20 per cent a year if the debt on the card is not paid off in time. Usually, the marketing for the cards will say the cardholder has up to 55 days to pay off the card without being hit with interest.What is not well understood is that with most cards the whole debt has to be paid off by the due date to avoid interest. In other words, even if part of the debt is paid off by the due date, the interest will apply to the entire debt.
Regardless of whether the whole debt is repaid, the card requires a certain minimum amount of the debt to be paid off each month.There are penalties in failing to pay the minimum. The interest could be charged back to the purchase date and the interest-free period could be cancelled on further purchases.
You should also be aware that paying for a taxi or booking a flight with a credit card is likely to incur a surcharge. Paying by debit card sometimes incurs a smaller surcharge or no surcharge at all.For those who get into trouble with their credit cards, the credit-card companies have a ready solution: the balance transfer offer, where a card has a low-interest or interest-free period on the balance that is transferred.
Sources said that the government is moving in this direction with a view to modernize the distribution system as well as check the misuse of permits by persons other than those for whom they have been issued on health and various other grounds.
"It was seen that very often people other than the permit holder would approach the licensed outlets with permits like ration cards and take away the liquor. This meant that the liquor was being consumed by someone else instead of the person for whom it was meant. Secondly, the introduction of smart card and biometric system will help in streamlining the inventory records and monitoring the regular sale Custom Winbo silicone bracelets and Silicone Wristbands,of liquor," said an official.
He disclosed that quite often, instances of pilferage by lower rung staff deployed at sales outlets also come up. The system will help check this practice.
At present there are around 50,000 registered liquor consumers in Gujarat. These include around 20,000 ex-servicemen who procure their quota from the CSD canteens in defense establishments. The remaining 30,000 civilian permit holders obtain their quota from the licensed outlets.
There are 26 licensed outlets in Gujarat and majority of them are in the four big cities of Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot. "In fact these outlets are in only 11 of the 26 districts of the state. The permit holders residing in the other cities have to travel inter-district to get their quota," said the official.
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Elegy of a race car driver
Sometime after 10:30 on a Thursday morning in May, after he'd had his cup of coffee, Dick Trickle snuck out of the house.Our top picks for the Winbo Iphone Headset and gear, His wife didn't see him go. He eased his 20-year-old Ford pickup out on the road and headed toward Boger City, N.C., 10 minutes away. He drove down Highway 150, a two-lane road that cuts through farm fields and stands of trees and humble country homes that dot the Piedmont west of Charlotte, just outside the reach of its suburban sprawl. Trickle pulled into a graveyard across the street from a Citgo station. He drove around to the back. It was sunny. The wind blew gently from the west. Just after noon, he dialed 911. The dispatcher asked for his address.
The funeral was four days later. It was small. There weren't many people. Maybe 50, mostly family. A few were old crewmembers from Wisconsin and Kansas City. Kenny Wallace, a driver who made Dick Trickle his mentor, was there. So was Kenny's older brother Rusty, the former Winston Cup champ who used to call Dick every Monday. Mike Miller and Mark Martin, both drivers, came. Nobody else from NASCAR did. Dick wanted it that way.
There was no eulogy. The pastor only said a few words. But he didn't go on long. Soon, everybody had left the church and headed down the road to Dick and Darlene's place in Iron Station. Kenny hugged Dick's son Chad.
The suicide. That didn't seem like Dick at all. People who knew Dick had heard something was wrong. A lot of them weren't sure what it was. Kenny asked Darlene if she'd seen this coming. No. She had no idea anything was wrong until a Lincoln County sheriff's deputy pulled into her driveway on Thursday afternoon.
After Dick shot himself, Chad called Kenny. Darlene wants you at the funeral, he said. "You know," he said next, "we're all big Kenny Wallace fans." That sounded like a Dick Trickle call. There weren't many short phone conversations between Kenny and Dick. If the phone would ring and Dick's name was on the caller ID, Kenny would think twice about answering if he didn't have an hour to talk. But they still talked all the time. Dick was still giving him advice. Back in 2011, Kenny called to talk about his new Nationwide Series race team. He told Dick he'd lost some weight. He was ready. You've got a new car now, Dick told him. Do not change your driving. Let the car do the work for you. Kenny had 11 top 10s and finished seventh in points, his best showing in years.
The calls started to slow down. Kenny wasn't sure why. Dick really didn't talk about it. In 2011, Kenny's father, Russ, an old-school racer who won a lot around St. Louis,Custom Winbo silicone bracelets and Silicone Wristbands, died at age 77. Your dad lived a great life, Dick said. He was in pain, but he's fine now. Dick could justify anything, but Kenny thought it was odd how quickly he'd made sense of his father's death.
After Dick's funeral, Kenny had an idea. "Darlene, maybe we should make some T-shirts," Kenny said. New ones. With Dick Trickle's name on the front. Just something so his fans could remember.
Most of the stories people tell about Dick Trickle aren't quite right. They aren't wrong, but they just aren't what they appear to be. He was bowlegged, and walked with a slight limp. That must be from a lifetime of crashes, right? Wrong. There was that commercial from 1997 where Dick Trickle talked about a contest for guessing the winner of the Napa 500. "A little tip," he smirked, "it's gonna be me." Instantly, text flashed on the screen: Dick is 0 for 243 in Cup races. "And remember, November 16th could be a real big day." That's 0 for 243, the screen said. If you saw that, and didn't know much about racing, you'd get the impression that Dick Trickle never won anything.
Same thing if you watched SportsCenter in the early '90s. You'd hear Dick Trickle's name alongside a litany of middle to back-of-the-pack finishes. Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann thought the name sounded like a joke, so they said it as often as they could after NASCAR highlights. "I thought, Well, this guy's not any good,'" Patrick told SPIN magazine in 1996, which pointed out Trickle's last place finish in the Daytona 500 that year. "But he's a good old boy and he really represents what NASCAR used to be. He just loves to drive." Patrick and Olbermann weren't the only people who kept referring to Dick Trickle by his full name. Announcers did it. Fans did it. At the track, only his wife called him Richard. To everyone else, Dick Trickle had that three-syllable cadence that made you want to say the whole thing, like Kasey Kahne or Ricky Rudd. At first, it's funny, then familiar and finally it just feels easy, not formal. When you say Dick Trickle, you know a story is coming.
When Dick Trickle finally got to NASCAR, to the biggest stage he'd ever been on,Buy Silicone IPAD Case at wholesale prices from leading Chinese wholesalers, he was fading. By that time, people had attached a lot of labels to him, some true, some half true and some not true at all. Hard drinking. Hard partying. Hard living. Veteran. Journeyman. Chain smoker. Respected by racers and loving fans who could appreciate who he was and what he'd done, he had become a caricature to many, misunderstood by a new group of people who only saw him as a coffee drinking, cigarette smoking, old-school racer. If you were one of them, you might think that Dick Trickle wasn't good enough to hack it in NASCAR. That he never got the chance to run in the Cup series as a young man. And that too, like so many of the labels, is not quite right either.
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The funeral was four days later. It was small. There weren't many people. Maybe 50, mostly family. A few were old crewmembers from Wisconsin and Kansas City. Kenny Wallace, a driver who made Dick Trickle his mentor, was there. So was Kenny's older brother Rusty, the former Winston Cup champ who used to call Dick every Monday. Mike Miller and Mark Martin, both drivers, came. Nobody else from NASCAR did. Dick wanted it that way.
There was no eulogy. The pastor only said a few words. But he didn't go on long. Soon, everybody had left the church and headed down the road to Dick and Darlene's place in Iron Station. Kenny hugged Dick's son Chad.
The suicide. That didn't seem like Dick at all. People who knew Dick had heard something was wrong. A lot of them weren't sure what it was. Kenny asked Darlene if she'd seen this coming. No. She had no idea anything was wrong until a Lincoln County sheriff's deputy pulled into her driveway on Thursday afternoon.
After Dick shot himself, Chad called Kenny. Darlene wants you at the funeral, he said. "You know," he said next, "we're all big Kenny Wallace fans." That sounded like a Dick Trickle call. There weren't many short phone conversations between Kenny and Dick. If the phone would ring and Dick's name was on the caller ID, Kenny would think twice about answering if he didn't have an hour to talk. But they still talked all the time. Dick was still giving him advice. Back in 2011, Kenny called to talk about his new Nationwide Series race team. He told Dick he'd lost some weight. He was ready. You've got a new car now, Dick told him. Do not change your driving. Let the car do the work for you. Kenny had 11 top 10s and finished seventh in points, his best showing in years.
The calls started to slow down. Kenny wasn't sure why. Dick really didn't talk about it. In 2011, Kenny's father, Russ, an old-school racer who won a lot around St. Louis,Custom Winbo silicone bracelets and Silicone Wristbands, died at age 77. Your dad lived a great life, Dick said. He was in pain, but he's fine now. Dick could justify anything, but Kenny thought it was odd how quickly he'd made sense of his father's death.
After Dick's funeral, Kenny had an idea. "Darlene, maybe we should make some T-shirts," Kenny said. New ones. With Dick Trickle's name on the front. Just something so his fans could remember.
Most of the stories people tell about Dick Trickle aren't quite right. They aren't wrong, but they just aren't what they appear to be. He was bowlegged, and walked with a slight limp. That must be from a lifetime of crashes, right? Wrong. There was that commercial from 1997 where Dick Trickle talked about a contest for guessing the winner of the Napa 500. "A little tip," he smirked, "it's gonna be me." Instantly, text flashed on the screen: Dick is 0 for 243 in Cup races. "And remember, November 16th could be a real big day." That's 0 for 243, the screen said. If you saw that, and didn't know much about racing, you'd get the impression that Dick Trickle never won anything.
Same thing if you watched SportsCenter in the early '90s. You'd hear Dick Trickle's name alongside a litany of middle to back-of-the-pack finishes. Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann thought the name sounded like a joke, so they said it as often as they could after NASCAR highlights. "I thought, Well, this guy's not any good,'" Patrick told SPIN magazine in 1996, which pointed out Trickle's last place finish in the Daytona 500 that year. "But he's a good old boy and he really represents what NASCAR used to be. He just loves to drive." Patrick and Olbermann weren't the only people who kept referring to Dick Trickle by his full name. Announcers did it. Fans did it. At the track, only his wife called him Richard. To everyone else, Dick Trickle had that three-syllable cadence that made you want to say the whole thing, like Kasey Kahne or Ricky Rudd. At first, it's funny, then familiar and finally it just feels easy, not formal. When you say Dick Trickle, you know a story is coming.
When Dick Trickle finally got to NASCAR, to the biggest stage he'd ever been on,Buy Silicone IPAD Case at wholesale prices from leading Chinese wholesalers, he was fading. By that time, people had attached a lot of labels to him, some true, some half true and some not true at all. Hard drinking. Hard partying. Hard living. Veteran. Journeyman. Chain smoker. Respected by racers and loving fans who could appreciate who he was and what he'd done, he had become a caricature to many, misunderstood by a new group of people who only saw him as a coffee drinking, cigarette smoking, old-school racer. If you were one of them, you might think that Dick Trickle wasn't good enough to hack it in NASCAR. That he never got the chance to run in the Cup series as a young man. And that too, like so many of the labels, is not quite right either.
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Cover for a growing business
Listen to the insurance jeremiahs and they will tell you one thing:
growth is a double-edged sword and a growing business tied to an
insurance policy not adjusted for that growth is a dangerous
combination.Even the simple act of moving has its risk implications. If
you've moved into larger premises to accommodate new staff, you should
review the lease agreement and your current policy, says GIO's senior
leader, commercial portfolio, Leigh Smith.
If you are starting to use subcontractors as part of your business, there is a risk you may be liable for injuries to them in the course of their work for you."Workers compensation insurance may not cover this exposure, so it's important to check with your insurer that you have public liability coverage for this potentially very costly risk.,
Smith says of equal importance is checking that each subcontractor has their own insurance in place for injuries or damage they may cause.The point of all this is if it's worth insuring a simple move, what other insurances might need to be added?Unless a business is extremely simple, it will almost invariably need the advice of a broker. This means that whatever policies he or she nominates, a back-end commission will be charged.
What do you get in return? The broker's role is to assess future risk and possible exposures and cover them with an array of insurances from a number of providers.We bring a perspective to the purchasing decision and analyse possible exposures, says Cameron Douglas, manager of client services at insurance brokers Marsh Australia. It's not just about purchasing the insurance but understanding a company's risk profile, and every small business will have a different one.
Most insurers in the SME market offer "business pack" insurance, which packages up the key covers. The pack might offer anywhere from five to 15 options. These tend to be the basics: fire, money loss, burglary and public liability.Douglas says that generally for cover of $5 million, insurance premiums would be equivalent to about 0.15 per cent of that sum assured. From that a broker would usually take anything from 15 to 22 per cent as his commission.
In restricting the hosts to 124 for nine in reply to their total of 135 for seven,Buy Silicone IPAD Case at wholesale prices from leading Chinese wholesalers, the tourists took the series 2-0 and moved up to second in the international rankings behind Sri Lanka.West Indies, the world T20 champions, dropped to fourth in what was yet another setback following hard on the heels of the 3-1 loss to the Pakistanis in the preceding one-day international series.
"It was a tough tour and credit must be given to everyone associated with the squad for the success that we have enjoyed here,Custom Winbo silicone bracelets and Silicone Wristbands," said a delighted Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez, who also played a key role with the ball in dismissing the dangerous but out-of-form Chris Gayle cheaply for the second time in two days."When we saw the pitch, we knew, with our four spinners, that any total of 135-140 would have given us a chance, and so it worked out."
An unbeaten 46 by man of the match Umar Akmal and 44 from opening batsman Ahmed Shehzad paced Pakistan to a total that was always going to be challenging on a slow, turning surface ideally suited to the sub-continental team.Spinners Sunil Narine and Samuel Badree shared five wickets for the West Indies in what would prove to be an ominous precursor of the task the home side had to face in the quest to get a share of the honours.Of course, circumstances drastically change premiums. Insuring a plastics factory C with the very real risk of fire C may cost as much as 0.75 per cent of the sum assured, while a less risky business in a suburban office block may only require premiums equivalent to 0.08 per cent. A comprehensive SME insurance policy should end up costing no more than $5000 to $6000, Douglas says.Leigh Smith at GIO adds in other noteworthy insurances, such as those covering new equipment and building insurance to match the total replacement cost of equipment and contents if lost in a single event. Increases in stock and changes in revenue also need to be considered, as well as the effect of staff increases.
Your insurance should cover the cost of replacing all your stock if it was to be completely lost," Smith says. "Fortunately, many policies offer an option for seasonal increases to account for business trends, but you should check this is available and appropriate for you.
A spokesman for QBE mentions general covers such as motor vehicle, personal accident, employee dishonesty, professional liability, theft, money, glass, machinery breakdown and tax audit insurance, as well as some of the more occupation-specific covers such as marine transit.The two big policies that brokers tend to stress are business interruption cover and trade credit insurance.Many tend to think of business interruption as a catastrophic event such as a fire or flood, but this is not always the case.
An example is a food poisoning event in a restaurant which results in the reduction of customers for an extended period of time, says QBE.Trade credit insurance is designed to protect the lifeblood of business C its cash flow. It is of particular importance when you consider that, on a typical balance sheet, uninsured debtors represent an average of 40 per cent of a business's current assets, QBE says.
Douglas at Marsh asserts that in the building industry in particular suppliers regularly go out of business, which creates a domino effect across the sector.
This kind of insurance is either very hard to get or extremely expensive, he says. The more a builder worries, the more he will want to insure and the higher the premiums become.
Two other insurances that are gaining traction among small businesses are key personnel insurance to cover valuable personnel loss and cyber-crime insurance, which covers malicious attack by third parties as well as the loss of conOur top picks for the Winbo Iphone Headset and gear,fidential information from databases.
Read the full products at http://www.winbogifts.com/products/ear-cap.html.
If you are starting to use subcontractors as part of your business, there is a risk you may be liable for injuries to them in the course of their work for you."Workers compensation insurance may not cover this exposure, so it's important to check with your insurer that you have public liability coverage for this potentially very costly risk.,
Smith says of equal importance is checking that each subcontractor has their own insurance in place for injuries or damage they may cause.The point of all this is if it's worth insuring a simple move, what other insurances might need to be added?Unless a business is extremely simple, it will almost invariably need the advice of a broker. This means that whatever policies he or she nominates, a back-end commission will be charged.
What do you get in return? The broker's role is to assess future risk and possible exposures and cover them with an array of insurances from a number of providers.We bring a perspective to the purchasing decision and analyse possible exposures, says Cameron Douglas, manager of client services at insurance brokers Marsh Australia. It's not just about purchasing the insurance but understanding a company's risk profile, and every small business will have a different one.
Most insurers in the SME market offer "business pack" insurance, which packages up the key covers. The pack might offer anywhere from five to 15 options. These tend to be the basics: fire, money loss, burglary and public liability.Douglas says that generally for cover of $5 million, insurance premiums would be equivalent to about 0.15 per cent of that sum assured. From that a broker would usually take anything from 15 to 22 per cent as his commission.
In restricting the hosts to 124 for nine in reply to their total of 135 for seven,Buy Silicone IPAD Case at wholesale prices from leading Chinese wholesalers, the tourists took the series 2-0 and moved up to second in the international rankings behind Sri Lanka.West Indies, the world T20 champions, dropped to fourth in what was yet another setback following hard on the heels of the 3-1 loss to the Pakistanis in the preceding one-day international series.
"It was a tough tour and credit must be given to everyone associated with the squad for the success that we have enjoyed here,Custom Winbo silicone bracelets and Silicone Wristbands," said a delighted Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez, who also played a key role with the ball in dismissing the dangerous but out-of-form Chris Gayle cheaply for the second time in two days."When we saw the pitch, we knew, with our four spinners, that any total of 135-140 would have given us a chance, and so it worked out."
An unbeaten 46 by man of the match Umar Akmal and 44 from opening batsman Ahmed Shehzad paced Pakistan to a total that was always going to be challenging on a slow, turning surface ideally suited to the sub-continental team.Spinners Sunil Narine and Samuel Badree shared five wickets for the West Indies in what would prove to be an ominous precursor of the task the home side had to face in the quest to get a share of the honours.Of course, circumstances drastically change premiums. Insuring a plastics factory C with the very real risk of fire C may cost as much as 0.75 per cent of the sum assured, while a less risky business in a suburban office block may only require premiums equivalent to 0.08 per cent. A comprehensive SME insurance policy should end up costing no more than $5000 to $6000, Douglas says.Leigh Smith at GIO adds in other noteworthy insurances, such as those covering new equipment and building insurance to match the total replacement cost of equipment and contents if lost in a single event. Increases in stock and changes in revenue also need to be considered, as well as the effect of staff increases.
Your insurance should cover the cost of replacing all your stock if it was to be completely lost," Smith says. "Fortunately, many policies offer an option for seasonal increases to account for business trends, but you should check this is available and appropriate for you.
A spokesman for QBE mentions general covers such as motor vehicle, personal accident, employee dishonesty, professional liability, theft, money, glass, machinery breakdown and tax audit insurance, as well as some of the more occupation-specific covers such as marine transit.The two big policies that brokers tend to stress are business interruption cover and trade credit insurance.Many tend to think of business interruption as a catastrophic event such as a fire or flood, but this is not always the case.
An example is a food poisoning event in a restaurant which results in the reduction of customers for an extended period of time, says QBE.Trade credit insurance is designed to protect the lifeblood of business C its cash flow. It is of particular importance when you consider that, on a typical balance sheet, uninsured debtors represent an average of 40 per cent of a business's current assets, QBE says.
Douglas at Marsh asserts that in the building industry in particular suppliers regularly go out of business, which creates a domino effect across the sector.
This kind of insurance is either very hard to get or extremely expensive, he says. The more a builder worries, the more he will want to insure and the higher the premiums become.
Two other insurances that are gaining traction among small businesses are key personnel insurance to cover valuable personnel loss and cyber-crime insurance, which covers malicious attack by third parties as well as the loss of conOur top picks for the Winbo Iphone Headset and gear,fidential information from databases.
Read the full products at http://www.winbogifts.com/products/ear-cap.html.
High Praise for Google's Video-Streaming Chromecast
How much does it cost to turn your dumb TV into a Smart TV?Just $35
with Googles new Chromecast. The low price has led the innovative
streaming device to sell out on Amazon and Best Buy, just a day after it
was announced.Chromecast, a device that is about the size of a USB
flash drive, plugs into the HDMI port of your television and it lets you
send internet video from almost any screen (phone, tablet or computer)
to your TV.
This is Googles next attempt to enter the video streaming market, which includes more expensive competitors like Roku and Apple TV that range from $50 to $100. As Gizmodos Managing Editor, Brian Barrett,Buy Silicone IPAD Case at wholesale prices from leading Chinese wholesalers, points out, the Chromecasts biggest asset is its $35 priceEven if you use it twice and never look at it again, it will have been totally worth it, Barrett said. When's the last time you could say that about any gadget, ever?
Netflix is one of the first apps that is compatible to play with Chromecast, and for a limited time Google had offered to give away three months of free streaming Netflix with the purchase of its device.But Google announced that it would end the promotion Thursday, according to the Los Angeles Times. "Due to overwhelming demand for Chromecast devices since launch, the 3-month Netflix promotion is no longer available," Google said in a statement.
Despite Forbes contributor Jason Evangelhos call for you to Go out and buy one, you cant on most online outlets because they are already sold out, as of Thursday afternoon. But you can still purchase one now through the Google Play Store.Chromecast doesnt use a remoteit is controlled by your phone or computer, so you dont need to learn a new interface, Evangelho wrote. Thats a big advantage because there are no unfamiliar buttons or menus; you can open the YouTube app on your iPhone, press the cast button, and it will begin playing on your television.
And thats a huge benefit of the Chromecastyou can use your iPhone (and other Apple products) to control it because it is multiplatform, PC Magazines Damon Poeter said. While Apple TV only works with iPads,Custom Winbo silicone bracelets and Silicone Wristbands, iPhones and Mac computersall Apple devicesGoogle has not constricted its device to its own products. All phones and tablets running iOS or Android are compatible with Chromecast. You can also control it from a Mac or Windows computer via the Google Chrome internet browser.
When using the competing Apple TV streaming feature, youre locked into the video app on your phone while you watch it on TVyou cant switch apps or the video will stop.Our top picks for the Winbo Iphone Headset and gear, Chromecast solves that problem by allowing users to multitask and open any other applications on their second screen while the TV continues to play.A nifty feature, which is not currently offered in competing devices, is the Chromecasts ability to turn on the TV, switch to the proper TV signal input, and automatically start playing your video just by pressing one button on your tablet, GigaOMs Janko Roettgers said.
No product is perfect on the first launch, and Chromecast has its share of drawbacks as well, according to Mashables Emily Price. Its biggest downfall is the amount of content, she said, because it is currently limited to YouTube, Netflix, Google Play, and Chrome (which is a feature still being tested). Competitors offer other services including Hulu and HBO Go. You also cant watch any photos or videos that you have stored on your phone on the TV screen with Chromecast either.One of the misconceptions is that all you need to do is plug it in to the TV and youre ready to go; but thats not the case, Barrett noted. Chromecast wont charge through your TV so you need to power it via a USB cable.
The Corsair was one of the more disappointing, though, coming in consistently with significantly lower speeds in the random read test than its peers. It manages to come in with a middle-of-the-pack performance for the random write test, but is also slightly off the pace for the larger file tests.
The Seagate is a similar story, looking even worse than the Corsair for the random read tests, and giving a middling performance for random write. It did well internally for the large file write test, though.
The Kingston SSD really didn't like being mounted in our old 2009 MacBook Pro. When connected over Thunderbolt, it delivered good speed - for the smaller random read tests, it was a leader - but when connected to the SATA II interface in the laptop, it consistently delivered around half the speed of the others.
The OCZ Vertex 4 was thoroughly disappointing in the random read tests, coming consistently bottom for all but the smallest tests. But it wiped the floor with all the others for the random write tests. Sadly for it, read speed is more important for home users.
The Samsung is built for reading, not writing. It offers leading (or near it) read speeds across the board, but the reverse is true for write speeds. This makes it great for casual users, then, but professionals will want to steer clear.
Read the full products at http://www.winbogifts.com/products/keychains.html.
This is Googles next attempt to enter the video streaming market, which includes more expensive competitors like Roku and Apple TV that range from $50 to $100. As Gizmodos Managing Editor, Brian Barrett,Buy Silicone IPAD Case at wholesale prices from leading Chinese wholesalers, points out, the Chromecasts biggest asset is its $35 priceEven if you use it twice and never look at it again, it will have been totally worth it, Barrett said. When's the last time you could say that about any gadget, ever?
Netflix is one of the first apps that is compatible to play with Chromecast, and for a limited time Google had offered to give away three months of free streaming Netflix with the purchase of its device.But Google announced that it would end the promotion Thursday, according to the Los Angeles Times. "Due to overwhelming demand for Chromecast devices since launch, the 3-month Netflix promotion is no longer available," Google said in a statement.
Despite Forbes contributor Jason Evangelhos call for you to Go out and buy one, you cant on most online outlets because they are already sold out, as of Thursday afternoon. But you can still purchase one now through the Google Play Store.Chromecast doesnt use a remoteit is controlled by your phone or computer, so you dont need to learn a new interface, Evangelho wrote. Thats a big advantage because there are no unfamiliar buttons or menus; you can open the YouTube app on your iPhone, press the cast button, and it will begin playing on your television.
And thats a huge benefit of the Chromecastyou can use your iPhone (and other Apple products) to control it because it is multiplatform, PC Magazines Damon Poeter said. While Apple TV only works with iPads,Custom Winbo silicone bracelets and Silicone Wristbands, iPhones and Mac computersall Apple devicesGoogle has not constricted its device to its own products. All phones and tablets running iOS or Android are compatible with Chromecast. You can also control it from a Mac or Windows computer via the Google Chrome internet browser.
When using the competing Apple TV streaming feature, youre locked into the video app on your phone while you watch it on TVyou cant switch apps or the video will stop.Our top picks for the Winbo Iphone Headset and gear, Chromecast solves that problem by allowing users to multitask and open any other applications on their second screen while the TV continues to play.A nifty feature, which is not currently offered in competing devices, is the Chromecasts ability to turn on the TV, switch to the proper TV signal input, and automatically start playing your video just by pressing one button on your tablet, GigaOMs Janko Roettgers said.
No product is perfect on the first launch, and Chromecast has its share of drawbacks as well, according to Mashables Emily Price. Its biggest downfall is the amount of content, she said, because it is currently limited to YouTube, Netflix, Google Play, and Chrome (which is a feature still being tested). Competitors offer other services including Hulu and HBO Go. You also cant watch any photos or videos that you have stored on your phone on the TV screen with Chromecast either.One of the misconceptions is that all you need to do is plug it in to the TV and youre ready to go; but thats not the case, Barrett noted. Chromecast wont charge through your TV so you need to power it via a USB cable.
The Corsair was one of the more disappointing, though, coming in consistently with significantly lower speeds in the random read test than its peers. It manages to come in with a middle-of-the-pack performance for the random write test, but is also slightly off the pace for the larger file tests.
The Seagate is a similar story, looking even worse than the Corsair for the random read tests, and giving a middling performance for random write. It did well internally for the large file write test, though.
The Kingston SSD really didn't like being mounted in our old 2009 MacBook Pro. When connected over Thunderbolt, it delivered good speed - for the smaller random read tests, it was a leader - but when connected to the SATA II interface in the laptop, it consistently delivered around half the speed of the others.
The OCZ Vertex 4 was thoroughly disappointing in the random read tests, coming consistently bottom for all but the smallest tests. But it wiped the floor with all the others for the random write tests. Sadly for it, read speed is more important for home users.
The Samsung is built for reading, not writing. It offers leading (or near it) read speeds across the board, but the reverse is true for write speeds. This makes it great for casual users, then, but professionals will want to steer clear.
Read the full products at http://www.winbogifts.com/products/keychains.html.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
GCAA final report links
The UAEs General Civil Aviation Authority has issued its final air
accident investigation report on the crash of the UPS cargo plane that
crashed on September 3, 2010, in the desert outside Dubai.On that tragic
day, at about 7:51pm local time, United Parcel Service Flight 6, a
Boeing 747-400F, crashed while attempting to land at Dubai International
Airport.The flight had departed from Dubai approximately 45-minutes
earlier as a scheduled cargo flight to Cologne, Germany, but the flight
crew declared an emergency and requested an immediate return to Dubai.
The airplane impacted inside an Emirati army base near a busy highway
intersection, approximately nine miles from Dubais international
airport. The two flight crew members were fatally injured.
The report published yesterday, says that the investigation concludes with reasonable certainty that the location of the fire was in an element of the cargo that contained, among other items, lithium batteries.The UAE GCAAs report states that the fire began in the section of the cargo that included a significant number of lithium type batteries and other combustible materials and added that the fire escalated rapidly into a catastrophic uncontained fire.
The 322-page report into the crash, which killed both pilots, points to the presence of lithium batteries in the cargo as a possible reason for the ignition that then engulfed to other combustible material around. It is possible that a lithium type battery or batteries, for reasons which cannot be established, went into an energetic failure characterised by thermal runaway and auto ignited starting a chain reaction which spread to the available combustible material, the report concludes.Malfunctioning lithium batteries have been more recently linked with the temporary grounding of the entire fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft after a fire in the battery of a parked Japan Airlines 787 aircraft was reported, followed by an emergency landing of an All Nippon Airways 787 due to smoke emerging from its lithium battery.
Lithium batteries have a history of thermal runaway and fire, are unstable when damaged and can short circuit if exposed to overcharging, the application of reverse polarity or exposure to high temperature are all potential failure scenarios which can lead to thermal runaway, the GCAAs report maintains.Once a battery is in thermal runaway, it cannot be extinguished with the types of extinguishing agent used on board aircraft and the potential for auto ignition of adjacent combustible material exists.
The report states that investigators found no items other than the lithium batteries capable of causing the fire among the debris. The cargo identified on scene included clothing, machined parts and subassemblies, flashlights, gun parts, costume jewellery, cases for electronic equipment, USB flash drives, un-populated circuit boards, espresso makers, automotive entertainment and navigation systems,Winbo silicone bracelets bike frames, pellets for injection moulding, wrist watch components, rubber bracelets, cell phones, MP3 and MP4 players, mannequin heads, wigs, shoes, the report states.
No items posing a flammable fuel load or capable of acting as an ignition source were visually identified except for batteries and battery containing devices, it adds.The report also maintains that shippers of some of the lithium battery cargo loaded in Hong Kong did not properly declare these shipments in addition to not providing test reports as mandated by the UN Recommendations to verify that such these battery designs were in conformance with UN Modal Regulations.
At some point prior to the fire warning, contents of a cargo pallet, which included lithium batteries, auto-ignited, causing a large and sustained cargo fire which was not detected by the smoke detectors when in the early stages of Pyrolysis, the investigation concludes.The uncontained cargo fire directly affected the independent critical systems necessary for crew survivability. Heat from the fire exposed the supplementary oxygen system to extreme thermal loading, sufficient to generate a failure. This resulted in the oxygen supply disruption leading to the abrupt failure of the Captains oxygen supply and the incapacitation of the captain, the report states.
The progressive failure of the cargo compartment liner increased the area available for the smoke and fire penetration into the fuselage crown area, it says. The rate and volume of the continuous toxic smoke, contiguous with the cockpit and supernumerary habitable area, resulted in inadequate visibility in the cockpit, obscuring the view of the primary flight displays, audio control panels and the view outside the cockpit which prevented all normal cockpit functioning,Our top picks for the Winbo Iphone Headset and gear,Buy Silicone IPAD Case at wholesale prices from leading Chinese wholesalers, it adds.The UAE GCAAs investigation report lists the sequence of events that led to the tragic crash of the Boeing 747-44AF aircraft.
On September 3rd 2010, a Boeing 747-44AF departed Dubai International Airport on a scheduled international cargo flight to Cologne, Germany.Twenty two minutes into the flight, at approximately 32,000 feet, the crew advised Bahrain Area East Air Traffic Control that there was an indication of an on-board fire on the Forward Main Deck and declared an emergency.
Bahrain Air Traffic Control advised that Doha International Airport was at your ten oclock and one hundred miles, is that close enough?, the Captain elected to return to DXB, configured the aircraft for the return to Dubai and obtained clearance for the turn back and descent.A cargo on the main cargo deck had ignited at some point after departure. Less than three minutes after the first warning to the crew, the fire resulted in severe damage to flight control systems and caused the upper deck and cockpit to fill with continuous smoke.
The crew then advised Bahrain East Area Control [BAE-C] that the cockpit was full of smoke and that they could not see the radios, at around the same time the crew experienced pitch control anomalies during the turn back and descent to ten thousand feet.The smoke did not abate during the emergency impairing the ability of the crew to safely operate the aircraft for the duration of the flight back to DXB.
On the descent to ten thousand feet, the captains supplemental oxygen supply abruptly ceased to function without any audible or visual warning to the crew five minutes and thirty seconds after the first audible warning. This resulted in the Captain leaving his position. The Captain left his seat and did not return to his position for the duration of the flight due to incapacitation from toxic gases.
The First Officer[F.O], now the Pilot Flying [PF] could not view outside of the cockpit, the primary flight displays, or the audio control panel to retune to the UAE frequencies.Due to the consistent and contiguous smoke in the cockpit all communication between the destination and the crew was routed through relay aircraft in VHF range of the emergency aircraft and BAE-C.
BAE-C then relayed the information to the Emirates Area Control Centerin the UAE via landline, who then contacted Dubai ATC via landline.As the aircraft approached the aerodrome in Dubai, it stepped down in altitude, the aircraft approached DXB runway 12 left, then overflew the northern perimeter of the airport at 4500 ft at around 340 kts . The PF could not view the Primary Flight Displays or the view outside the cockpit.
The Pilot Flying was advised Sharjah International Airport was available at 10 nm. This required a left hand turn, the aircraft overflew DXB heading East, reduced speed, entering a shallow descending right-hand turn to the south of the airport before loss of control in flight and an uncontrolled descent into terrain, nine nautical miles south west of Dubai International Airport.
Read the full products at http://www.winbogifts.com/products/luggage-tag.html.
The report published yesterday, says that the investigation concludes with reasonable certainty that the location of the fire was in an element of the cargo that contained, among other items, lithium batteries.The UAE GCAAs report states that the fire began in the section of the cargo that included a significant number of lithium type batteries and other combustible materials and added that the fire escalated rapidly into a catastrophic uncontained fire.
The 322-page report into the crash, which killed both pilots, points to the presence of lithium batteries in the cargo as a possible reason for the ignition that then engulfed to other combustible material around. It is possible that a lithium type battery or batteries, for reasons which cannot be established, went into an energetic failure characterised by thermal runaway and auto ignited starting a chain reaction which spread to the available combustible material, the report concludes.Malfunctioning lithium batteries have been more recently linked with the temporary grounding of the entire fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft after a fire in the battery of a parked Japan Airlines 787 aircraft was reported, followed by an emergency landing of an All Nippon Airways 787 due to smoke emerging from its lithium battery.
Lithium batteries have a history of thermal runaway and fire, are unstable when damaged and can short circuit if exposed to overcharging, the application of reverse polarity or exposure to high temperature are all potential failure scenarios which can lead to thermal runaway, the GCAAs report maintains.Once a battery is in thermal runaway, it cannot be extinguished with the types of extinguishing agent used on board aircraft and the potential for auto ignition of adjacent combustible material exists.
The report states that investigators found no items other than the lithium batteries capable of causing the fire among the debris. The cargo identified on scene included clothing, machined parts and subassemblies, flashlights, gun parts, costume jewellery, cases for electronic equipment, USB flash drives, un-populated circuit boards, espresso makers, automotive entertainment and navigation systems,Winbo silicone bracelets bike frames, pellets for injection moulding, wrist watch components, rubber bracelets, cell phones, MP3 and MP4 players, mannequin heads, wigs, shoes, the report states.
No items posing a flammable fuel load or capable of acting as an ignition source were visually identified except for batteries and battery containing devices, it adds.The report also maintains that shippers of some of the lithium battery cargo loaded in Hong Kong did not properly declare these shipments in addition to not providing test reports as mandated by the UN Recommendations to verify that such these battery designs were in conformance with UN Modal Regulations.
At some point prior to the fire warning, contents of a cargo pallet, which included lithium batteries, auto-ignited, causing a large and sustained cargo fire which was not detected by the smoke detectors when in the early stages of Pyrolysis, the investigation concludes.The uncontained cargo fire directly affected the independent critical systems necessary for crew survivability. Heat from the fire exposed the supplementary oxygen system to extreme thermal loading, sufficient to generate a failure. This resulted in the oxygen supply disruption leading to the abrupt failure of the Captains oxygen supply and the incapacitation of the captain, the report states.
The progressive failure of the cargo compartment liner increased the area available for the smoke and fire penetration into the fuselage crown area, it says. The rate and volume of the continuous toxic smoke, contiguous with the cockpit and supernumerary habitable area, resulted in inadequate visibility in the cockpit, obscuring the view of the primary flight displays, audio control panels and the view outside the cockpit which prevented all normal cockpit functioning,Our top picks for the Winbo Iphone Headset and gear,Buy Silicone IPAD Case at wholesale prices from leading Chinese wholesalers, it adds.The UAE GCAAs investigation report lists the sequence of events that led to the tragic crash of the Boeing 747-44AF aircraft.
On September 3rd 2010, a Boeing 747-44AF departed Dubai International Airport on a scheduled international cargo flight to Cologne, Germany.Twenty two minutes into the flight, at approximately 32,000 feet, the crew advised Bahrain Area East Air Traffic Control that there was an indication of an on-board fire on the Forward Main Deck and declared an emergency.
Bahrain Air Traffic Control advised that Doha International Airport was at your ten oclock and one hundred miles, is that close enough?, the Captain elected to return to DXB, configured the aircraft for the return to Dubai and obtained clearance for the turn back and descent.A cargo on the main cargo deck had ignited at some point after departure. Less than three minutes after the first warning to the crew, the fire resulted in severe damage to flight control systems and caused the upper deck and cockpit to fill with continuous smoke.
The crew then advised Bahrain East Area Control [BAE-C] that the cockpit was full of smoke and that they could not see the radios, at around the same time the crew experienced pitch control anomalies during the turn back and descent to ten thousand feet.The smoke did not abate during the emergency impairing the ability of the crew to safely operate the aircraft for the duration of the flight back to DXB.
On the descent to ten thousand feet, the captains supplemental oxygen supply abruptly ceased to function without any audible or visual warning to the crew five minutes and thirty seconds after the first audible warning. This resulted in the Captain leaving his position. The Captain left his seat and did not return to his position for the duration of the flight due to incapacitation from toxic gases.
The First Officer[F.O], now the Pilot Flying [PF] could not view outside of the cockpit, the primary flight displays, or the audio control panel to retune to the UAE frequencies.Due to the consistent and contiguous smoke in the cockpit all communication between the destination and the crew was routed through relay aircraft in VHF range of the emergency aircraft and BAE-C.
BAE-C then relayed the information to the Emirates Area Control Centerin the UAE via landline, who then contacted Dubai ATC via landline.As the aircraft approached the aerodrome in Dubai, it stepped down in altitude, the aircraft approached DXB runway 12 left, then overflew the northern perimeter of the airport at 4500 ft at around 340 kts . The PF could not view the Primary Flight Displays or the view outside the cockpit.
The Pilot Flying was advised Sharjah International Airport was available at 10 nm. This required a left hand turn, the aircraft overflew DXB heading East, reduced speed, entering a shallow descending right-hand turn to the south of the airport before loss of control in flight and an uncontrolled descent into terrain, nine nautical miles south west of Dubai International Airport.
Read the full products at http://www.winbogifts.com/products/luggage-tag.html.
Samsung's 840 EVO solid-state drive reviewed
Samsung is one of the biggest names in technology. The Korean giant
makes everything from vivid 4K televisions to powerful smartphones to
cutting-edge washing machineswith accompanying Android apps, of course.
You can't throw a rock in an electronics store without hitting at least
half a dozen Samsung products.Your odds of striking a PC equipped with a
Samsung SSD are pretty good, too. The company claims 60% of
SSD-equipped PCs shipped this year will have Samsung drives. Samsung's
SSDs are also popular components on their own. In the US, the firm says
it makes up 36% of the market for branded solid-state drives.
A lot of Samsung's recent sales have come from the 840 Series. Over 2.5 million of these entry-level drives have sold worldwide, and for good reason. The 840 Series offers solid performance at extremely affordable prices. It does have a weakness, though. The drive's TLC NAND costs less per gigabyte than the MLC flash typically used in consumer SSDs, but its write performance is somewhat compromised by the higher bit density.Samsung has attempted to address that shortcoming with its next-generation successor to the 840 Series. The 840 EVO features a faster controller, newer TLC NAND, and a dedicated write cache populated with speedier SLC flash. There's a second layer of caching that leans on system memory, too.
Despite these enhancements, the 840 EVO retains the budget-friendly pricing of its predecessor. We've been testing one pretty much around the clock for the past few days. Let's see how it stacks up.If you look at Samsung's semiconductor businesses, it's no wonder the company is a formidable force in the SSD market. Samsung is the biggest flash producer in the world, after all. It also has expertise in customizing multi-core processors and fabricating DRAM, allowing the firm to produce all the component parts of a modern SSD entirely within its own facilities.
Most of the Samsung silicon inside the 840 EVO is second-generation TLC NAND. These chips are fabbed on a 19-nm process, just a small step down from the 21-nm node used for the 840 Series' flash. The new NAND conforms to the same 400Mbps Toggle DDR 2.0 specification as the old chips.Perhaps to avoid the negative connotations associated with TLC memory, Samsung refers to the 840 EVO's NAND as three-bit MLC. That's technically correct: TLC flash has three bits per cell, one more than MLC memory and two more than the single-bit SLC stuff. The higher storage density makes TLC NAND cheaper to produce, since more gigabytes can be squeezed out of each wafer. However, it also reduces the NAND's write performance and endurance.
I explained the challenges associated with TLC NAND in our 840 Series review, so I'll just give you the Coles Notes here. Understanding the problem requires some knowledge of how flash memory works. NAND cells are written by causing electrons to tunnel into an insulated floating gate. The negative charge associated with these electrons defines the data in the cell, and the range of possible voltages is independent of the number of bits.
Because there is some cell-to-cell variance in the silicon, writing to the NAND involves a verification step that reads the contents of the cell.Buy Silicone IPAD Case at wholesale prices from leading Chinese wholesalers, Reading entails applying a series of control voltages to hone in on the charge in the floating gate. In TLC NAND, that charge can represent one of eight possible values between 000 and 111. MLC NAND only has to contend with four values between 00 and 01, while SLC is limited to two: 0 and 1. The more bits per cell, the more iterative steps are required to verify the data, slowing the write process.As flash memory accumulates write/erase cycles, electrons get trapped in the gate insulator, reducing the range of voltages that can be used to represent data. This shrinkage is especially troublesome for TLC NAND, which has to contend with more bits within that narrowing window. Increasing the number of bits per cell lowers its write/erase tolerance.
NAND cells are made even more vulnerable by smaller process geometries, which reduce the thickness of the insulator layer. Samsung claims the 19-nm flash used in the 840 EVO is just as resilient as the 21-nm chips employed by the 840 Series, though. According to the official reviewer's guide,Our top picks for the Winbo Iphone Headset and gear, the 840 EVO's NAND should endure "at least 2,500" write/erase cycles. That's an impressive figure for 19-nm TLC chips, but we shouldn't be surprised. Samsung makes a lot of flash, and only the best dies are selected for use in its solid-state drives. The firm says its SSD-grade TLC NAND has 20X fewer bad blocks than the flash bound for lesser devices, such as USB thumb drives.
Although most of the 840 EVO's flash is configured with three bits per cell, a small slice of each die is addressed as single-bit SLC NAND. This portion of the flash is dedicated to TurboWrite, a buffering technology that caches host writes before transferring them to the drive's main storage. The SLC cache promises higher write speeds than the TLC main storage, particularly for sequential transfers.Winbo silicone bracelets
TurboWrite funnels all downstream traffic through the SLC cache. Writes only bypass TurboWrite if the buffer is full. When the drive is idle, cached writes are transferred out of the buffer and into the TLC NAND.
The size of the TurboWrite cache varies based on the 840 EVO's total capacity. The 120 and 250GB models have 3GB reserved for TurboWrite, while each higher-capacity variant adds another 3GB to the cache. According to Samsung, 3GB is enough to accelerate "everyday performance scenarios." Even the smallest TurboWrite cache is considerably larger than the 1GB buffer employed by SanDisk's Extreme II SSD. The Extreme II is the only other SSD we've seen with an SLC cache.
Due to the lower bit density of SLC NAND, the flash footprint of the TurboWrite cache is three times higher than the buffer's capacity. For example, the 250GB model's 3GB SLC cache consumes 9GB of TLC NAND. With the exception of the 120GB model, the TurboWrite cache monopolizes 3.5% of the drive's total flash capacity. The smallest member of the family devotes 7% of its flash to TurboWrite.
TurboWrite is responsible for the 840 EVO's slightly lower capacities (250GB instead of 256GB, for example). The 840 Series comes in similar sizes, but it doesn't have a fancy SLC cache. The older drive does, however, overprovision additional capacity to replace bad blocks caused by cell failures. Samsung says its initial TLC endurance estimates were conservative, and that the NAND is robust enough to repurpose the extra overprovisioned capacity for TurboWrite.
Read the full products at http://www.winbogifts.com/products/silicone-ipad-case.html.
A lot of Samsung's recent sales have come from the 840 Series. Over 2.5 million of these entry-level drives have sold worldwide, and for good reason. The 840 Series offers solid performance at extremely affordable prices. It does have a weakness, though. The drive's TLC NAND costs less per gigabyte than the MLC flash typically used in consumer SSDs, but its write performance is somewhat compromised by the higher bit density.Samsung has attempted to address that shortcoming with its next-generation successor to the 840 Series. The 840 EVO features a faster controller, newer TLC NAND, and a dedicated write cache populated with speedier SLC flash. There's a second layer of caching that leans on system memory, too.
Despite these enhancements, the 840 EVO retains the budget-friendly pricing of its predecessor. We've been testing one pretty much around the clock for the past few days. Let's see how it stacks up.If you look at Samsung's semiconductor businesses, it's no wonder the company is a formidable force in the SSD market. Samsung is the biggest flash producer in the world, after all. It also has expertise in customizing multi-core processors and fabricating DRAM, allowing the firm to produce all the component parts of a modern SSD entirely within its own facilities.
Most of the Samsung silicon inside the 840 EVO is second-generation TLC NAND. These chips are fabbed on a 19-nm process, just a small step down from the 21-nm node used for the 840 Series' flash. The new NAND conforms to the same 400Mbps Toggle DDR 2.0 specification as the old chips.Perhaps to avoid the negative connotations associated with TLC memory, Samsung refers to the 840 EVO's NAND as three-bit MLC. That's technically correct: TLC flash has three bits per cell, one more than MLC memory and two more than the single-bit SLC stuff. The higher storage density makes TLC NAND cheaper to produce, since more gigabytes can be squeezed out of each wafer. However, it also reduces the NAND's write performance and endurance.
I explained the challenges associated with TLC NAND in our 840 Series review, so I'll just give you the Coles Notes here. Understanding the problem requires some knowledge of how flash memory works. NAND cells are written by causing electrons to tunnel into an insulated floating gate. The negative charge associated with these electrons defines the data in the cell, and the range of possible voltages is independent of the number of bits.
Because there is some cell-to-cell variance in the silicon, writing to the NAND involves a verification step that reads the contents of the cell.Buy Silicone IPAD Case at wholesale prices from leading Chinese wholesalers, Reading entails applying a series of control voltages to hone in on the charge in the floating gate. In TLC NAND, that charge can represent one of eight possible values between 000 and 111. MLC NAND only has to contend with four values between 00 and 01, while SLC is limited to two: 0 and 1. The more bits per cell, the more iterative steps are required to verify the data, slowing the write process.As flash memory accumulates write/erase cycles, electrons get trapped in the gate insulator, reducing the range of voltages that can be used to represent data. This shrinkage is especially troublesome for TLC NAND, which has to contend with more bits within that narrowing window. Increasing the number of bits per cell lowers its write/erase tolerance.
NAND cells are made even more vulnerable by smaller process geometries, which reduce the thickness of the insulator layer. Samsung claims the 19-nm flash used in the 840 EVO is just as resilient as the 21-nm chips employed by the 840 Series, though. According to the official reviewer's guide,Our top picks for the Winbo Iphone Headset and gear, the 840 EVO's NAND should endure "at least 2,500" write/erase cycles. That's an impressive figure for 19-nm TLC chips, but we shouldn't be surprised. Samsung makes a lot of flash, and only the best dies are selected for use in its solid-state drives. The firm says its SSD-grade TLC NAND has 20X fewer bad blocks than the flash bound for lesser devices, such as USB thumb drives.
Although most of the 840 EVO's flash is configured with three bits per cell, a small slice of each die is addressed as single-bit SLC NAND. This portion of the flash is dedicated to TurboWrite, a buffering technology that caches host writes before transferring them to the drive's main storage. The SLC cache promises higher write speeds than the TLC main storage, particularly for sequential transfers.Winbo silicone bracelets
TurboWrite funnels all downstream traffic through the SLC cache. Writes only bypass TurboWrite if the buffer is full. When the drive is idle, cached writes are transferred out of the buffer and into the TLC NAND.
The size of the TurboWrite cache varies based on the 840 EVO's total capacity. The 120 and 250GB models have 3GB reserved for TurboWrite, while each higher-capacity variant adds another 3GB to the cache. According to Samsung, 3GB is enough to accelerate "everyday performance scenarios." Even the smallest TurboWrite cache is considerably larger than the 1GB buffer employed by SanDisk's Extreme II SSD. The Extreme II is the only other SSD we've seen with an SLC cache.
Due to the lower bit density of SLC NAND, the flash footprint of the TurboWrite cache is three times higher than the buffer's capacity. For example, the 250GB model's 3GB SLC cache consumes 9GB of TLC NAND. With the exception of the 120GB model, the TurboWrite cache monopolizes 3.5% of the drive's total flash capacity. The smallest member of the family devotes 7% of its flash to TurboWrite.
TurboWrite is responsible for the 840 EVO's slightly lower capacities (250GB instead of 256GB, for example). The 840 Series comes in similar sizes, but it doesn't have a fancy SLC cache. The older drive does, however, overprovision additional capacity to replace bad blocks caused by cell failures. Samsung says its initial TLC endurance estimates were conservative, and that the NAND is robust enough to repurpose the extra overprovisioned capacity for TurboWrite.
Read the full products at http://www.winbogifts.com/products/silicone-ipad-case.html.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Mega-magnet draws close to Fermilab
A monster magnet is making its way from the East Coast to Fermi
National Accelerator Laboratory, where scientists say it will be used to
study subatomic particles.The Muon g-2 ring is scheduled to arrive in
Batavia on Friday after more than a month on the road, traveling from
its former home at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island.
Scientists at Fermilab plan to replicate a 1990s Brookhaven experiment that could identify areas where our understanding of physics is incomplete, and see if there are hints of particles that haven't been seen before,Winbo photo framesThis vertical Cable Organizer can be mounted to either. said Fermilab spokesman Andre Salles.The magnet consists of three interconnecting rings of aluminum with superconducting coils inside that allow scientists to create a precise magnetic field. It's the only magnet like it in the world, used to trap tiny particles called muons, Salles said.
Muons, produced when an atom is smashed by bombarding it with protons, are notoriously difficult to study because they only exist for 2 millionths of a second. Fermilab has the world's most powerful muon beam, so the move was made to bring together the equipment to produce the most precise data, he said.The move cost $3 million, but building a new magnet would have cost Fermilab $30 million, Salles said.
Engineers worked closely with lab physicists to figure out how to transport the delicate magnet without allowing it to twist even 2 millimeters, which would render it unusable.After traveling by barge around the tip of Florida, the magnet landed Saturday in Lemont, where it was put onto a truck for the final leg of the journey, which will occur at night between Tuesday and Friday.
Monster Magnet is back! The band has confirmed an October 15th North American release date for their new album entitled "Last Patrol" via Napalm Records. Today, Monster Magnet has unveiled the artwork and track list for the release. Dave Wyndorf and Phil Caivano produced Last Patrol, while Evil Joe Barresit mixed the album with additional production duties handled by Matt Hyde. The artwork was created by Johun Sumrow with consultation coming from Chris Ryall and designs by Ryan Clark for Invisible Creatures Inc. The album will be available as a Limited Edition CD, standard CD, 2LP and digital format.
In support of "Last Patrol," Monster Magnet will be embark on a full-blown North American Tour! Although the band has toured Europe relentlessly over the past decade, this is Monster Magnet's first full North American tour in over 10 years! The band is eager to hit the road in the states for the first time in what seems like forever. Prepare to hear Monster Magnet classics and new cuts from "Last Patrol" for the first time live! Support will come from Prosthetic Records artist Zodiac. The tour is scheduled to kick off November 14th in Grand Rapids, MI and will run through December 14th in New York, NY (see dates below).
Frontman Dave Wyndorf checked in with his thoughts about Last Patrol: "Last Patrol is a return to our roots in terms of vibe and recording style.I was looking for an option toCustomizable Ear Caps to wear with my half. It's full-on psychedelic space-rock with a 60's garage feel, recorded almost exclusively with vintage guitars, amps and effects in our hometown of Red Bank, NJ. The songs are a kind of Space-Noir, tales of cosmic revenge, peaking libidos, alienation and epic strangeness. It's a weird trip through the back alleys of a dark, retro-future, which not by coincidence very much resembles my own life. (laughs) The lyrics aren't fantasy really, rather a recounting of my musings on, observations of and general emotional reaction to my life and environment during a 1 week writing period in February of 2013. But I tend to use the vernacular and imagery of science fiction and surrealism to express myself and that's where these lyrics get trippy. There's also our cover version of Donovan's "Three Kingfishers" which I thought fit the mood of the album."
"Last Patrol was produced by Phil Caivano and myself with an effort to bring a home grown feel to the whole affair. We had been doing smaller projects out of Phil's 'Studio 13' recording space and I really felt comfortable there so it was the natural choice on where to record the next full-scale Monster Magnet album. Phil and I grew up together and have a shared love of some very particular vintage music and styles. And everybody in the band played their asses off on this one."
Disc golf is a flying disc game in which individuals throw a flying disc at a metal basket that is equipped with chains to stop the disc. According to the Professional Disc Golf Association the objective of the game is to traverse a course from beginning to end in the fewest number of throws of the disc.
The sport, which has similar course layouts, scoring structure and concept as its sister sport which it is named, has seen increased interest over the last decade. While it was first invented in 1959, the sport reached its modern form in the 70s and has only seen widespread acceptance beginning around 2000, since which the number of registered players has more than doubled.
Colfaxs disc golf course was built as a nine-hole course in 1998 with funding from the Kiwanis Club, the city and other community organizations. Over the next several years it was expanded into a full 18-hole course, and one that would become known as one of the most challenging in the state.
We come out here because of the challenge. This course really gets our blood going and then well go play Newton or another course afterwards, said Kaleb Sharp, a Dallas Center resident who travels to Colfax to play regularly. The course feels like it is designed for a left-handed person with the way the holes bend and curve most courses are the opposite, so you have to adjust.
The course weaves over several acres of public land, letting players hike more than two miles of trails with constant elevation changes as they play the course. The fairways are often slimmer on the Colfax course than a disc golf player is used to. While some courses will have wide expanses of short-cropped grass, the Lewis Club Park course boasts many holes with a path no wider than 15 feet to the chagrin of many players.
Read the full products at http://www.winbogifts.com/products/bottle-opener.html.
Scientists at Fermilab plan to replicate a 1990s Brookhaven experiment that could identify areas where our understanding of physics is incomplete, and see if there are hints of particles that haven't been seen before,Winbo photo framesThis vertical Cable Organizer can be mounted to either. said Fermilab spokesman Andre Salles.The magnet consists of three interconnecting rings of aluminum with superconducting coils inside that allow scientists to create a precise magnetic field. It's the only magnet like it in the world, used to trap tiny particles called muons, Salles said.
Muons, produced when an atom is smashed by bombarding it with protons, are notoriously difficult to study because they only exist for 2 millionths of a second. Fermilab has the world's most powerful muon beam, so the move was made to bring together the equipment to produce the most precise data, he said.The move cost $3 million, but building a new magnet would have cost Fermilab $30 million, Salles said.
Engineers worked closely with lab physicists to figure out how to transport the delicate magnet without allowing it to twist even 2 millimeters, which would render it unusable.After traveling by barge around the tip of Florida, the magnet landed Saturday in Lemont, where it was put onto a truck for the final leg of the journey, which will occur at night between Tuesday and Friday.
Monster Magnet is back! The band has confirmed an October 15th North American release date for their new album entitled "Last Patrol" via Napalm Records. Today, Monster Magnet has unveiled the artwork and track list for the release. Dave Wyndorf and Phil Caivano produced Last Patrol, while Evil Joe Barresit mixed the album with additional production duties handled by Matt Hyde. The artwork was created by Johun Sumrow with consultation coming from Chris Ryall and designs by Ryan Clark for Invisible Creatures Inc. The album will be available as a Limited Edition CD, standard CD, 2LP and digital format.
In support of "Last Patrol," Monster Magnet will be embark on a full-blown North American Tour! Although the band has toured Europe relentlessly over the past decade, this is Monster Magnet's first full North American tour in over 10 years! The band is eager to hit the road in the states for the first time in what seems like forever. Prepare to hear Monster Magnet classics and new cuts from "Last Patrol" for the first time live! Support will come from Prosthetic Records artist Zodiac. The tour is scheduled to kick off November 14th in Grand Rapids, MI and will run through December 14th in New York, NY (see dates below).
Frontman Dave Wyndorf checked in with his thoughts about Last Patrol: "Last Patrol is a return to our roots in terms of vibe and recording style.I was looking for an option toCustomizable Ear Caps to wear with my half. It's full-on psychedelic space-rock with a 60's garage feel, recorded almost exclusively with vintage guitars, amps and effects in our hometown of Red Bank, NJ. The songs are a kind of Space-Noir, tales of cosmic revenge, peaking libidos, alienation and epic strangeness. It's a weird trip through the back alleys of a dark, retro-future, which not by coincidence very much resembles my own life. (laughs) The lyrics aren't fantasy really, rather a recounting of my musings on, observations of and general emotional reaction to my life and environment during a 1 week writing period in February of 2013. But I tend to use the vernacular and imagery of science fiction and surrealism to express myself and that's where these lyrics get trippy. There's also our cover version of Donovan's "Three Kingfishers" which I thought fit the mood of the album."
"Last Patrol was produced by Phil Caivano and myself with an effort to bring a home grown feel to the whole affair. We had been doing smaller projects out of Phil's 'Studio 13' recording space and I really felt comfortable there so it was the natural choice on where to record the next full-scale Monster Magnet album. Phil and I grew up together and have a shared love of some very particular vintage music and styles. And everybody in the band played their asses off on this one."
Disc golf is a flying disc game in which individuals throw a flying disc at a metal basket that is equipped with chains to stop the disc. According to the Professional Disc Golf Association the objective of the game is to traverse a course from beginning to end in the fewest number of throws of the disc.
The sport, which has similar course layouts, scoring structure and concept as its sister sport which it is named, has seen increased interest over the last decade. While it was first invented in 1959, the sport reached its modern form in the 70s and has only seen widespread acceptance beginning around 2000, since which the number of registered players has more than doubled.
Colfaxs disc golf course was built as a nine-hole course in 1998 with funding from the Kiwanis Club, the city and other community organizations. Over the next several years it was expanded into a full 18-hole course, and one that would become known as one of the most challenging in the state.
We come out here because of the challenge. This course really gets our blood going and then well go play Newton or another course afterwards, said Kaleb Sharp, a Dallas Center resident who travels to Colfax to play regularly. The course feels like it is designed for a left-handed person with the way the holes bend and curve most courses are the opposite, so you have to adjust.
The course weaves over several acres of public land, letting players hike more than two miles of trails with constant elevation changes as they play the course. The fairways are often slimmer on the Colfax course than a disc golf player is used to. While some courses will have wide expanses of short-cropped grass, the Lewis Club Park course boasts many holes with a path no wider than 15 feet to the chagrin of many players.
Read the full products at http://www.winbogifts.com/products/bottle-opener.html.
Virtual and traditional storage environments
SSD will continue to coexist with HDD, either as separate or
converged HHDDs. Where, where and how they are used will also continue
to evolve. High IO (IOPS) or low latency activity will continue to move
to some form of nand flash SSD (PCM around the corner), while storage
capacity including some of which has been on tape stays on disk. Instead
of more HDD capacity in a server, it moves to a SAN or NAS or to a
cloud or service provider. This includes for backup/restore, BC, DR,
archive and online reference or what some call active archives.
The generic idea with SMR is to increase areal density (how many bits can be safely stored per square inch) of data placed on spinning disk platter media. In the above image on the left is a representative example of how traditional magnetic disk media lays down tracks next to each other. With traditional magnetic recording approaches, the tracks are placed as close together as possible for the write heads to safely write data.
With new recording formats such as SMR along with improvements to read/write heads, the tracks can be more closely grouped together in an overlapping way. This overlapping way (used in a generic sense) is like how the shingles on a roof overlap, hence Shingled Magnetic Recording. Other magnetic recording or storage enhancements in the works include Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) and Helium filed drives. Thus, there is still plenty of bits and bytes room for growth in HDDs well into the next decade to co-exist and complement SSDs.
Another evolving storage feature that ties into HDDs is Data Integrity Feature (DIF) that has a couple of different types. Depending on which type of DIF (0, 1,This vertical Cable Organizer can be mounted to either. 2, and 3) is used; there can be added data integrity checks from the application to the storage medium or drive beyond normal functionality. Here is something to keep in mind, as there are different types or levels of DIF, when somebody says they support or need DIF, ask them which type or level as well as why.
Are you familiar with Advanced Format (AF)? If not you should be. Traditionally outside of special formats for some operating systems or controllers, that standard open system data storage block, page or sector has been 512 bytes. This has served well in the past however; with the advent of TByte and larger sized drives, a new mechanism is needed. The need is to support both larger average data allocation sizes from operating systems and storage systems, as well as to cut the overhead of managing all the small sectors. Operating systems and file systems have added new partitioning features such as GUID Partition Table (GPT) to support 1TB and larger SSD, HDD and storage system LUNs.
These enhancements are enabling larger devices to be used in place of traditional Master Boot Record (MBR) or other operating system partition and allocation schemes. The next step however is to teach the operating systems, file systems and hypervisors along with their associated tools or drives how to work with 4,096 byte or 4 Kbyte sectors. The advantage will be to cut the overhead of tracking all of those smaller sectors or file system extents and clusters. Today many HDDs support AF however by default may have 512-byte emulation mode enabled due to lack of operating system or other support.
Intelligent Power Management (IPM) is a collection of techniques that can be applied to vary the amount of energy consumed by a drive, controller or processor to do its work. These include in the case of a HDD slowing the spin rate of platters, however keep in mind that mass in motion tends to stay in motion. This means that HDDs once up and spinning do not need as much relative power as they function like a flywheel. Where their power draw comes in is during reading and write, in part to the movement of read/write heads, however also for running the processors and electronics that control the device. Another big power consumer is when drives spin up, thus if they can be kept moving, however at a lower rate, along with disabling energy used by read/write heads and their electronics, you can see a drop in power consumption. Btw, a current generation 3.5 4TB 6Gbs SATA HDD consumes about 6-7 watts of power while in active use, or less when in idle mode. Likewise a current generation high performance 2.5 1.2TB HDD consumes about 4.8 watts of energy, a far cry from the 12-16 plus watts of energy some use as HDD fud.
WatchApps are applications that can be synced with specific shows and are overlaid on top of the broadcasted stream as per the viewer's request. The Apps are available on Android or iOS-based tablets and smartphones, as well as on the TV screen (by using Comigo's STB middleware). They enable viewers to watch TV shows and interact with the viewed content and their friends, all at the same time.
Comigo's WatchApps platform transforms every show into an exciting experience and opens up new revenue generating opportunities for operators. Comigo has already been approached with numerous ideas for WatchApps, and believes firmly that a wider community of developers should develop future apps. As a result they provide a Software Development Kit (SDK) and Application Programming interfaces (APIs) that allow anyone to develop WatchApps. In addition to the SDK, Comigo provides operators with an advanced management system that allows them to review and assign WatchApps to specific programs,Winbo photo frames TV channels or timeslots.I was looking for an option to Customizable Ear Caps to wear with my half.
The WatchApps can be played on the TV set itself, so users do not have to move their eyes off the main screen. Additionally, they can operate the WatchApps on a tablet or smartphone that has been synced with the TV set, so as not to disturb the viewing of others that are watching with them.
WatchApps also opens many opportunities for a shared experience with friends. For example, if the user decides to buy merchandise, the platform enables them to invite his or her friends to buy the same product. This type of group buying can even lead to a lower price. The user can also choose to send a virtual champagne glass to friends, and can see Facebook or Twitter messages that relate to the show that the user is watching.
"Market reaction to our WatchApps platform has been fantastic," commented Dov Moran, founder and CEO of Comigo. "Not only does it enhance the viewer's overall experience, but it enables the operator to increase viewer engagement and monetize beyond the content. Using the WatchApps platform the operator can deliver services, information and capabilities which are relevant to the show".
The platform already includes a wide range of contextual applications such as: delivering real-time information on sporting events, displaying player stats, ordering related merchandise, linking to a show's Facebook page, Twitter feed and more. In addition, there are more general WatchApps such as news, weather, stock price tickers, and even a pizza-ordering App.
Read the full products at http://www.winbogifts.com/products/usb-flash-drive.html.
The generic idea with SMR is to increase areal density (how many bits can be safely stored per square inch) of data placed on spinning disk platter media. In the above image on the left is a representative example of how traditional magnetic disk media lays down tracks next to each other. With traditional magnetic recording approaches, the tracks are placed as close together as possible for the write heads to safely write data.
With new recording formats such as SMR along with improvements to read/write heads, the tracks can be more closely grouped together in an overlapping way. This overlapping way (used in a generic sense) is like how the shingles on a roof overlap, hence Shingled Magnetic Recording. Other magnetic recording or storage enhancements in the works include Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) and Helium filed drives. Thus, there is still plenty of bits and bytes room for growth in HDDs well into the next decade to co-exist and complement SSDs.
Another evolving storage feature that ties into HDDs is Data Integrity Feature (DIF) that has a couple of different types. Depending on which type of DIF (0, 1,This vertical Cable Organizer can be mounted to either. 2, and 3) is used; there can be added data integrity checks from the application to the storage medium or drive beyond normal functionality. Here is something to keep in mind, as there are different types or levels of DIF, when somebody says they support or need DIF, ask them which type or level as well as why.
Are you familiar with Advanced Format (AF)? If not you should be. Traditionally outside of special formats for some operating systems or controllers, that standard open system data storage block, page or sector has been 512 bytes. This has served well in the past however; with the advent of TByte and larger sized drives, a new mechanism is needed. The need is to support both larger average data allocation sizes from operating systems and storage systems, as well as to cut the overhead of managing all the small sectors. Operating systems and file systems have added new partitioning features such as GUID Partition Table (GPT) to support 1TB and larger SSD, HDD and storage system LUNs.
These enhancements are enabling larger devices to be used in place of traditional Master Boot Record (MBR) or other operating system partition and allocation schemes. The next step however is to teach the operating systems, file systems and hypervisors along with their associated tools or drives how to work with 4,096 byte or 4 Kbyte sectors. The advantage will be to cut the overhead of tracking all of those smaller sectors or file system extents and clusters. Today many HDDs support AF however by default may have 512-byte emulation mode enabled due to lack of operating system or other support.
Intelligent Power Management (IPM) is a collection of techniques that can be applied to vary the amount of energy consumed by a drive, controller or processor to do its work. These include in the case of a HDD slowing the spin rate of platters, however keep in mind that mass in motion tends to stay in motion. This means that HDDs once up and spinning do not need as much relative power as they function like a flywheel. Where their power draw comes in is during reading and write, in part to the movement of read/write heads, however also for running the processors and electronics that control the device. Another big power consumer is when drives spin up, thus if they can be kept moving, however at a lower rate, along with disabling energy used by read/write heads and their electronics, you can see a drop in power consumption. Btw, a current generation 3.5 4TB 6Gbs SATA HDD consumes about 6-7 watts of power while in active use, or less when in idle mode. Likewise a current generation high performance 2.5 1.2TB HDD consumes about 4.8 watts of energy, a far cry from the 12-16 plus watts of energy some use as HDD fud.
WatchApps are applications that can be synced with specific shows and are overlaid on top of the broadcasted stream as per the viewer's request. The Apps are available on Android or iOS-based tablets and smartphones, as well as on the TV screen (by using Comigo's STB middleware). They enable viewers to watch TV shows and interact with the viewed content and their friends, all at the same time.
Comigo's WatchApps platform transforms every show into an exciting experience and opens up new revenue generating opportunities for operators. Comigo has already been approached with numerous ideas for WatchApps, and believes firmly that a wider community of developers should develop future apps. As a result they provide a Software Development Kit (SDK) and Application Programming interfaces (APIs) that allow anyone to develop WatchApps. In addition to the SDK, Comigo provides operators with an advanced management system that allows them to review and assign WatchApps to specific programs,Winbo photo frames TV channels or timeslots.I was looking for an option to Customizable Ear Caps to wear with my half.
The WatchApps can be played on the TV set itself, so users do not have to move their eyes off the main screen. Additionally, they can operate the WatchApps on a tablet or smartphone that has been synced with the TV set, so as not to disturb the viewing of others that are watching with them.
WatchApps also opens many opportunities for a shared experience with friends. For example, if the user decides to buy merchandise, the platform enables them to invite his or her friends to buy the same product. This type of group buying can even lead to a lower price. The user can also choose to send a virtual champagne glass to friends, and can see Facebook or Twitter messages that relate to the show that the user is watching.
"Market reaction to our WatchApps platform has been fantastic," commented Dov Moran, founder and CEO of Comigo. "Not only does it enhance the viewer's overall experience, but it enables the operator to increase viewer engagement and monetize beyond the content. Using the WatchApps platform the operator can deliver services, information and capabilities which are relevant to the show".
The platform already includes a wide range of contextual applications such as: delivering real-time information on sporting events, displaying player stats, ordering related merchandise, linking to a show's Facebook page, Twitter feed and more. In addition, there are more general WatchApps such as news, weather, stock price tickers, and even a pizza-ordering App.
Read the full products at http://www.winbogifts.com/products/usb-flash-drive.html.
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Awards promote waste classification
While extreme cases have seen Chinese teens illegally sell their
kidneys for an iPhone, Wang Jie, a resident of Hangzhou, capital of east
China's Zhejiang Province, found an easier way to get one of the
must-have devices.
Wang, a senior student of Zhejiang University of Technology, won an iPhone 5 earlier this month for sorting garbage.At the end of March, a waste classification program was launched in three residential communities in Xiacheng District in Hangzhou. Residents amass credit, redeemable for prizes, for sorting garbage into different categories before disposing of it in their communities.The resident who gains the most points in a quarter is rewarded an iPhone 5, and whoever accumulates the most points in the year will win use of a vehicle for five years, said Sun Liping, director of the office which administrates Wang's community.
Sun introduced the scheme whereby an intelligent recycling platform registers the type of garbage a resident has and dispenses printed bar codes to stick to the bags of junk. When workers scan the bar codes while disposing of the bags, points are recorded on the residents' bank cards.Winbo USB flash drives wholesaleWang got more than 150,000 points through classifying garbage in the past three months, and he said his secret was to collect electronic trash like scrap computer mice, USB flash drives and cell phone batteries, which are worth many more points than any other household waste.
According to the requirements, a one-kg glass bottle can redeem 20 points, but a mobile charger or an abandoned USB flash drive gets 1,350 points."This method is aimed at raising people's consciousness of waste classification and encouraging more residents to sort waste when they are otherwise apt to throw it away without classification," Sun said, adding that the awarding of especially high points for electronics is because this waste can cause heavy pollution, a fact that people often overlook.
Monitoring data shows that the reward mechanism has been welcomed by residents, and people have liked participating in this activity, according to Wu Bingxin, the inventor of the intelligent recycling platform.More than 300 households have participated in the program so far, and the number of points amassed throughout the three communities has surpassed 1.5 million, Wu said, adding authorities will explore more ways to redeem the credit, which could attract more people to take part.
Although China has carried out waste classification for more than 10 years, it has not been widely accepted across the country. This new incentives mechanism has real potential to raise environmental awareness and initiative."Rubbish disposal is not only a duty of environmental departments or government, it also needs residents' support and participation," Sun said.
In Beijing, two communities,Our top picks for the Winbo Iphone Headset and gear, Lvjingxinyuan and Lvjingyuan, were chosen as trial communities to carry out a similar reward scheme from June. Every 50 points can redeem a coupon worth 10 yuan.Retirees, parents, white-collar workers, as well as children in Lvjingxinyuan and Lvjingyuan have participated in the activity.
The XEED WUX450 and XEED WX520 both have a 1.8x zoom projection lens that delivers virtually the same brightness throughout the entire zoom range. The all-new projection lens has a constant aperture of F2.8, resulting in almost no loss of brightness at the telephoto end of the zoom range (maximum 5% drop). This outstanding performance is a direct result of Canon's expertise in lens design, coupled with the fifth-generation AISYS optical system, which maximises the performance of the LCOS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) panels. LCOS technology produces fine, detailed images without the lattice effect sometimes seen on other projectors.
The combination of LCOS technology and constant brightness is unique to Canon and gives system integrators maximum flexibility to use the device from various throw distances with no compromise on image quality or luminosity. The projectors are designed for maximum flexibility and include four corner keystone correction, which makes it easier to configure clear displays from any projection angle.
Hendrik Verbrugghe,Online shopping for Business Work Card holder from a great selection of Office Products. Marketing Director, Canon Middle East commented, "Within the segment, nothing comes close to the quality and brightness offered by the new XEED Compact Installation series. Our partners can now offer a compact projector with comparable features and performance to larger installation models, allowing greater flexibility when meeting the needs of customers."
The new series supports system integrators with quick and easy maintenance features. The air filter can be accessed without the use of any tools and the lamp can be replaced from the rear without uninstalling the projector, thereby preventing downtime and improving efficiency. Firmware updates can also be delivered via USB flash drives, meaning that essential updates can be applied without the need to return the device to a service facility.
Thanks to a brand new image processor, the models also include an array of advanced features that make them particularly suitable for multi-display applications. Registration adjustment allows installers to perfectly align the three RGB panels, effectively eliminating convergence issues. Hardware edge blending is now built-in, enabling system integrators to easily create panoramic images, with perfect blends between each projector.
Also launched today are two short throw models - the WUX400ST and WX450ST - based on the same hardware platform as the XEED WUX450 and XEED WX520, but with the addition of an all-new Canon short throw projection lens. These two projectors are designed for both front and rear projection installations and are especially suited to environments where space is at a premium, as well as larger venues where long cable runs are difficult or expensive to implement. A digital enlargement capability of 1.4x and no image distortion means they are perfect for short-throw scenarios where image quality is paramount.
DVI and HDMI inputs are provided across all models, with a picture-by-picture facility that allows simultaneous display of two separate digital image sources for maximum flexibility.
Hendrik Verbrugghe continues; "Canon is dedicated to helping system integrators provide bespoke projection solutions to their clients - whatever the environment or client brief. Our new XEED Compact Installation series offers all the features of an installation projector in a smaller chassis, whilst boasting best-in-class energy efficiency. In this way, we are providing the opportunity for our partners to target the installation market with a high quality and competitively priced product."
http://www.winbogifts.com/products/ear-cap.html
Wang, a senior student of Zhejiang University of Technology, won an iPhone 5 earlier this month for sorting garbage.At the end of March, a waste classification program was launched in three residential communities in Xiacheng District in Hangzhou. Residents amass credit, redeemable for prizes, for sorting garbage into different categories before disposing of it in their communities.The resident who gains the most points in a quarter is rewarded an iPhone 5, and whoever accumulates the most points in the year will win use of a vehicle for five years, said Sun Liping, director of the office which administrates Wang's community.
Sun introduced the scheme whereby an intelligent recycling platform registers the type of garbage a resident has and dispenses printed bar codes to stick to the bags of junk. When workers scan the bar codes while disposing of the bags, points are recorded on the residents' bank cards.Winbo USB flash drives wholesaleWang got more than 150,000 points through classifying garbage in the past three months, and he said his secret was to collect electronic trash like scrap computer mice, USB flash drives and cell phone batteries, which are worth many more points than any other household waste.
According to the requirements, a one-kg glass bottle can redeem 20 points, but a mobile charger or an abandoned USB flash drive gets 1,350 points."This method is aimed at raising people's consciousness of waste classification and encouraging more residents to sort waste when they are otherwise apt to throw it away without classification," Sun said, adding that the awarding of especially high points for electronics is because this waste can cause heavy pollution, a fact that people often overlook.
Monitoring data shows that the reward mechanism has been welcomed by residents, and people have liked participating in this activity, according to Wu Bingxin, the inventor of the intelligent recycling platform.More than 300 households have participated in the program so far, and the number of points amassed throughout the three communities has surpassed 1.5 million, Wu said, adding authorities will explore more ways to redeem the credit, which could attract more people to take part.
Although China has carried out waste classification for more than 10 years, it has not been widely accepted across the country. This new incentives mechanism has real potential to raise environmental awareness and initiative."Rubbish disposal is not only a duty of environmental departments or government, it also needs residents' support and participation," Sun said.
In Beijing, two communities,Our top picks for the Winbo Iphone Headset and gear, Lvjingxinyuan and Lvjingyuan, were chosen as trial communities to carry out a similar reward scheme from June. Every 50 points can redeem a coupon worth 10 yuan.Retirees, parents, white-collar workers, as well as children in Lvjingxinyuan and Lvjingyuan have participated in the activity.
The XEED WUX450 and XEED WX520 both have a 1.8x zoom projection lens that delivers virtually the same brightness throughout the entire zoom range. The all-new projection lens has a constant aperture of F2.8, resulting in almost no loss of brightness at the telephoto end of the zoom range (maximum 5% drop). This outstanding performance is a direct result of Canon's expertise in lens design, coupled with the fifth-generation AISYS optical system, which maximises the performance of the LCOS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) panels. LCOS technology produces fine, detailed images without the lattice effect sometimes seen on other projectors.
The combination of LCOS technology and constant brightness is unique to Canon and gives system integrators maximum flexibility to use the device from various throw distances with no compromise on image quality or luminosity. The projectors are designed for maximum flexibility and include four corner keystone correction, which makes it easier to configure clear displays from any projection angle.
Hendrik Verbrugghe,Online shopping for Business Work Card holder from a great selection of Office Products. Marketing Director, Canon Middle East commented, "Within the segment, nothing comes close to the quality and brightness offered by the new XEED Compact Installation series. Our partners can now offer a compact projector with comparable features and performance to larger installation models, allowing greater flexibility when meeting the needs of customers."
The new series supports system integrators with quick and easy maintenance features. The air filter can be accessed without the use of any tools and the lamp can be replaced from the rear without uninstalling the projector, thereby preventing downtime and improving efficiency. Firmware updates can also be delivered via USB flash drives, meaning that essential updates can be applied without the need to return the device to a service facility.
Thanks to a brand new image processor, the models also include an array of advanced features that make them particularly suitable for multi-display applications. Registration adjustment allows installers to perfectly align the three RGB panels, effectively eliminating convergence issues. Hardware edge blending is now built-in, enabling system integrators to easily create panoramic images, with perfect blends between each projector.
Also launched today are two short throw models - the WUX400ST and WX450ST - based on the same hardware platform as the XEED WUX450 and XEED WX520, but with the addition of an all-new Canon short throw projection lens. These two projectors are designed for both front and rear projection installations and are especially suited to environments where space is at a premium, as well as larger venues where long cable runs are difficult or expensive to implement. A digital enlargement capability of 1.4x and no image distortion means they are perfect for short-throw scenarios where image quality is paramount.
DVI and HDMI inputs are provided across all models, with a picture-by-picture facility that allows simultaneous display of two separate digital image sources for maximum flexibility.
Hendrik Verbrugghe continues; "Canon is dedicated to helping system integrators provide bespoke projection solutions to their clients - whatever the environment or client brief. Our new XEED Compact Installation series offers all the features of an installation projector in a smaller chassis, whilst boasting best-in-class energy efficiency. In this way, we are providing the opportunity for our partners to target the installation market with a high quality and competitively priced product."
http://www.winbogifts.com/products/ear-cap.html
Only eight housing projects apply for PCMC green tag
Despite the offer of tax exemptions, only eight housing projects have
been constructed as per the green rating system over the last
one-and-half years in Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC)
area. These eight projects recently applied for the green rating system
to get tax exemption, said an official.
The PCMC started the green rating system for new buildings from 2011. According to this system, the buildings will be given ratings on a scale of 1 to 5, depending on the number of eco-friendly measures taken. The developers get concession in premium charges paid to the civic body, while residents of green buildings are offered rebate in property tax once the green rating system has been applied.
Sanjay Kulkarni, executive engineer (environment cell) of the PCMC said the civic body offered premium concession to eco-friendly buildings depending on the green rating. For one-star rating, 10% concession, for two-star 20%, for three- 30%, for four- 40% and for five-star 50% premium concession is offered by the civic body. In addition 10% concession is being offered to all eco-friendly houses in general taxes. The civic body also provides the green building certificate to the owner, which has to be renewed every five years.
As per the property tax department officials, the eight housing projects are coming up at Chikhali, Moshi, Chinchwad, Pimpri, Ravet and Pimple Saudagar.The PCMC adopted the guidelines laid down by The Energy & Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi for rating green buildings in 2011. According to the system, the basic requirements of green buildings is that the buildings should be made of natural and eco-friendly resources. There should be adequate use of natural light and ventilation is a must to reduce consumption of electricity. While constructing the building, flyash bricks should be used. No waste should be released into the environment. The green rating system will help protect the environment and natural resources,Winbo USB flash drives wholesale added the civic officials. The most prominent feature of the system is that it stresses on importance of recycled water. An individual needs not more than 45 litres of fresh water for bathing, cooking and drinking purposes. If recycled water is used for other purposes, usage of fresh water and expenditure on purification process can be slashed significantly.
Attached to each tag is a two-part transportation permit that no longer requires hunters to seek out a game warden or other state wildlife official in order to make the necessary legal arrangements to transport harvested big game.Our top picks for the Winbo Iphone Headset and gear, Another addition is a signature line that must be completed before hunting. Without the tag holders signature, the tag is invalid.
A transportation permit is required when someone other than the legal tag holder is going to transport a big game animal harvested by the tag holder. For instance, if the tag holder chooses to stay behind to hunt birds, he can have a friend or family member transport his animal to a meat processor.
While not everyone will need a transportation permit, it will definitely make it much easier for a tag holder to follow state laws when having another person transport their legally harvested big game animal, said Doug Nielsen, conservation education supervisor for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. In past years the process was more complicated and could be time consuming.
To be legal, three people need be present to properly complete and witness the signing of the transportation permit, including the hunter, the transporter and a witness. The witness must sign, date and document the time he or she witnessed the transfer of the animal.Online shopping for Business Work Card holder from a great selection of Office Products. The tag holders copy of the transportation permit must remain attached to the tag in order to be valid.
NDOW would like to remind hunters that transportation by a person other than the hunter for all other game harvest limits, such as upland game, fish and migratory birds has not changed. Those hunters will still need to seek out a warden, license agent or other state wildlife official that have transportation permits in order to have another legally transport their harvested game. Locations of transportation permit vendors are listed in the back of the 2013 Nevada Hunting Guide.
Additionally, the city has authorized $27 million in federal and city funds to go to improvements to Central Avenue, the primary road into Harbor Point that will be extended with a new $10.5 million bridge. City officials note plans for the improvements have been in the works for years, and neighborhoods north of Harbor Point would also benefit from the improvements.
That all adds up to around $400 million in public assistance, even if one doesn't count the transportation funds. Whats more, the development wont begin contributing new taxes to city coffers until 2025 that year the developers expect to be caught up enough on their bond payments to begin contributing to Baltimores general fund for police, schools and other services.
City officials argue that the development is well worth the public investment. The mostly vacant 27-acre site of the former Allied Signal chromium plant is assessed at $10 million and generates about $250,000 annually in city taxes. That will increase to an assessment of $1.8 billion and an average of $19.6 million in annual property taxes, city officials say.
When completed, the site will generate as much as $38 million in property taxes. Thats money that will pay for city services across Baltimore could benefit from, officials say.Teams had until 4 p.m. ET on Monday to negotiate with the eight players who were tagged this year, and only one the Denver Broncos' Ryan Clady got himself a long-term deal. The other seven who received the tag must now play under the one-year offer, with the Buffalo Bills' Jairus Byrd the only one who hasn't signed the tender.
We worked very hard to come to a long-term agreement with Jairus, but unfortunately, were unable to reach one before todays deadline," Bills GM Doug Whaley said in a statement. "Our attention will now be focused on a one-year agreement with him and on training camp with our continued efforts to prepare our team for the upcoming season.
There were some discussions Monday between the Cincinnati Bengals and defensive end Michael Johnson, though those talks never came close to making either side optimistic, a source told FOX Sports. The same went with Kansas City Chiefs left tackle Branden Albert, whose representatives didn't have lengthy discussions with Chiefs brass Monday.
Defensive tackles Henry Melton (Chicago Bears) and Randy Starks (Miami Dolphins) seemed destined to play for their $8.45 million tenders from the jump. Melton told the Chicago Tribune early Monday there would be no long-term agreement before the deadline, so clearly there were no late discussions there.
Read the full products at http://www.winbogifts.com/products/keychains.html.
The PCMC started the green rating system for new buildings from 2011. According to this system, the buildings will be given ratings on a scale of 1 to 5, depending on the number of eco-friendly measures taken. The developers get concession in premium charges paid to the civic body, while residents of green buildings are offered rebate in property tax once the green rating system has been applied.
Sanjay Kulkarni, executive engineer (environment cell) of the PCMC said the civic body offered premium concession to eco-friendly buildings depending on the green rating. For one-star rating, 10% concession, for two-star 20%, for three- 30%, for four- 40% and for five-star 50% premium concession is offered by the civic body. In addition 10% concession is being offered to all eco-friendly houses in general taxes. The civic body also provides the green building certificate to the owner, which has to be renewed every five years.
As per the property tax department officials, the eight housing projects are coming up at Chikhali, Moshi, Chinchwad, Pimpri, Ravet and Pimple Saudagar.The PCMC adopted the guidelines laid down by The Energy & Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi for rating green buildings in 2011. According to the system, the basic requirements of green buildings is that the buildings should be made of natural and eco-friendly resources. There should be adequate use of natural light and ventilation is a must to reduce consumption of electricity. While constructing the building, flyash bricks should be used. No waste should be released into the environment. The green rating system will help protect the environment and natural resources,Winbo USB flash drives wholesale added the civic officials. The most prominent feature of the system is that it stresses on importance of recycled water. An individual needs not more than 45 litres of fresh water for bathing, cooking and drinking purposes. If recycled water is used for other purposes, usage of fresh water and expenditure on purification process can be slashed significantly.
Attached to each tag is a two-part transportation permit that no longer requires hunters to seek out a game warden or other state wildlife official in order to make the necessary legal arrangements to transport harvested big game.Our top picks for the Winbo Iphone Headset and gear, Another addition is a signature line that must be completed before hunting. Without the tag holders signature, the tag is invalid.
A transportation permit is required when someone other than the legal tag holder is going to transport a big game animal harvested by the tag holder. For instance, if the tag holder chooses to stay behind to hunt birds, he can have a friend or family member transport his animal to a meat processor.
While not everyone will need a transportation permit, it will definitely make it much easier for a tag holder to follow state laws when having another person transport their legally harvested big game animal, said Doug Nielsen, conservation education supervisor for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. In past years the process was more complicated and could be time consuming.
To be legal, three people need be present to properly complete and witness the signing of the transportation permit, including the hunter, the transporter and a witness. The witness must sign, date and document the time he or she witnessed the transfer of the animal.Online shopping for Business Work Card holder from a great selection of Office Products. The tag holders copy of the transportation permit must remain attached to the tag in order to be valid.
NDOW would like to remind hunters that transportation by a person other than the hunter for all other game harvest limits, such as upland game, fish and migratory birds has not changed. Those hunters will still need to seek out a warden, license agent or other state wildlife official that have transportation permits in order to have another legally transport their harvested game. Locations of transportation permit vendors are listed in the back of the 2013 Nevada Hunting Guide.
Additionally, the city has authorized $27 million in federal and city funds to go to improvements to Central Avenue, the primary road into Harbor Point that will be extended with a new $10.5 million bridge. City officials note plans for the improvements have been in the works for years, and neighborhoods north of Harbor Point would also benefit from the improvements.
That all adds up to around $400 million in public assistance, even if one doesn't count the transportation funds. Whats more, the development wont begin contributing new taxes to city coffers until 2025 that year the developers expect to be caught up enough on their bond payments to begin contributing to Baltimores general fund for police, schools and other services.
City officials argue that the development is well worth the public investment. The mostly vacant 27-acre site of the former Allied Signal chromium plant is assessed at $10 million and generates about $250,000 annually in city taxes. That will increase to an assessment of $1.8 billion and an average of $19.6 million in annual property taxes, city officials say.
When completed, the site will generate as much as $38 million in property taxes. Thats money that will pay for city services across Baltimore could benefit from, officials say.Teams had until 4 p.m. ET on Monday to negotiate with the eight players who were tagged this year, and only one the Denver Broncos' Ryan Clady got himself a long-term deal. The other seven who received the tag must now play under the one-year offer, with the Buffalo Bills' Jairus Byrd the only one who hasn't signed the tender.
We worked very hard to come to a long-term agreement with Jairus, but unfortunately, were unable to reach one before todays deadline," Bills GM Doug Whaley said in a statement. "Our attention will now be focused on a one-year agreement with him and on training camp with our continued efforts to prepare our team for the upcoming season.
There were some discussions Monday between the Cincinnati Bengals and defensive end Michael Johnson, though those talks never came close to making either side optimistic, a source told FOX Sports. The same went with Kansas City Chiefs left tackle Branden Albert, whose representatives didn't have lengthy discussions with Chiefs brass Monday.
Defensive tackles Henry Melton (Chicago Bears) and Randy Starks (Miami Dolphins) seemed destined to play for their $8.45 million tenders from the jump. Melton told the Chicago Tribune early Monday there would be no long-term agreement before the deadline, so clearly there were no late discussions there.
Read the full products at http://www.winbogifts.com/products/keychains.html.
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