text:
When you have Creed Botique on speed dial.
When your husband (with whom you share an ebay account) threatens to change the password so you can't bid on any more perfume.
...when I'm wiling to trade my iPad for a bottle of Creed Royal Oud. :-/
Today during attending a lecturing on History, I heard a word 'Tsar' and I almost say to the person next to me that it smells great, but I think it mean 'Tsar of Russia' not 'Tsar the perfume'
***My favourite from my collection***
-------- Amouage: Tribute Attar, Jubilation XXV, GoldMan
------ Serge Lutens: Chêne, Tubéreuse Criminell, Ambre Sultan
-------- Les Exclusifs de Chanel: Sycamore, Coromandel
------ Tom Ford Private Blend: Noir de Noir, Tobacco Vanille
------- Hermès: Terre D'Hermès Parfum, Ambre Narguilé
------ EDP Frederic Malle: Carnal Flower
-------- Neela Vermire Creations: Trayee
------ Parfum MDCI: Invasion Barbare
Ya, true dat, I have two perfume shops as contacts on my cell phone, lol. And I think that's normal. lol.
When Ebay's, Amazon's recommendations for you are all perfume listings.
Last edited by kalli; 1st June 2012 at 07:11 PM.
You know your obsessed when every spare area in your office is covered with racks of test tubes, reagent bottles, and bottles of absolutes. The refrigerator emanates the most lovely aroma--I only wish I could bottle it.
When you wait impatiently for a bottle to arrive and when it finally does, you're already onto the next "must have" bottle.
When you can't go to bed, wake up, do lauundry, sit and stare, or do anything in your day without wearing some sort of scent. (I can remember in the beginning of my obsession when I counseled myself to take breaks from applying perfume on some days... Those days are long gone!)
When you dream about a perfume and can smell it in your dream!
When you shower several times a day just to have a "fresh canvas" for application
When you obsessively wonder what everyone around you is wearing...and ask them
Lol when you can automatically convert USD, GBP, Euro, currency to your local currency in your head because you NEEDED to on many occasions
Not blinking an eye at a two hour road trip to see what may or may not exist in Dallas... or a 6 hour trip to Houston KNOWING something.. something must be there worth buying...
When you don't give a damn about anything other than receiving that next frag in the mail.
... you can smell each review but are affraid to talk about it.
When you buy an Extra fridge to put them all in, even though this is Alaska, and never gets hot.
When your other half makes a special stand for you to display your samples all pretty
When you haven't got enough in your Paypal account, but bid anyway, and JUSTIFY it!!
When you add Amouge Homage (the big bottle) to your must have list.
When you assign personalities and voices to each fragrance.
I can think of more, but its feeling uncomfortable now
I know I'm obsessed when I make a significant contribution to The Nature Conservancy and agree to meet with them to see about sustainability of the Himalayan musk deer. I want to be able to use natural musk without contributing to the extinction of a species.
when the last thing you think about before going to sleep is the next fragrance you plan on purchasing
I remembered an incident that fits right in with this thread.
In 2004 i researched and discovered Flowerbelle Blanca to be a very popular fragrance, on some site or other. I bid and won, the only bottle on Ebay.
In 2011, decided to try and find some more. Sadly, it was discontinued, but i found a vague link to three of their other frags. The only place i could find it was a German website. I do NOT speak German, but undaunted, and armed with trusty Google translate, and my copy/paste function, i spent several agonising and stressful hours, copying and pasting the order forms into the translate box. I ordered a bottle of each, one was Rouse, one was Leilac, i forget the other. I successfully managed to get the checkout complete, but was not asked for credit card details. the bloody thing was a whole lot of gibberish i tell you. So, panicked, the next day, i rang Germany on my cellphone, and speaking slowly, and enunciating each word very carefully, asked how to pay for my purchases. I then sent a international money order. I received a most beautiful package in the mail. That was a hair raising experience, but demonstrates how far i will go.
- - - Updated - - -
And here we go, Flowerbelle Korol a mere 19 euros, unbelievable they still have some. Looking at it now, i can't beleve i had the determination to plough through that. Especially after i gave them away months after.
Last edited by Scent-imental; 9th October 2012 at 05:09 AM.
...when you use your mobile at the store to look up notes or compare prices to eBay/Amazon before thinking about purchasing.
nice thread I laughed too much reading this
When your fragrance refrigerator is full and your food refrigerator is empty
It is 10:40 P.M., Saturday night, and I am ob BN. Sounds obsessive to me.
When you own a semi-professional photography and/or even film studio, almost exclusively in order to take pictures and/or short films for your "Post a picture of your scents"-thread, but also for blogs, your personal website and/or personal profile on socializing sites, for Youtube postings (not that I've done it so far, but hey, never say never).
You may have even me beat on this one. I do have a special refrigerator for scents filled with 400 or so vials of essential oils, absolutes, and aroma chemicals. In a corner of the room is a table filled with glass-stoppered bottles and test tubes. Small bottles of ambergris rest in the sun while musk grains (from a sustainable source) macerate in sandalwood oil. In my efforts to track down real Mysore sandalwood, I've hunted 5 different varieties, only one of which suits the bill. I've almost ruined myself over oud and have a dozen or so varieties (albeit in very small amounts). When I sit in Starbucks, I'm not only reading books about perfume but have smelling strips stuck between the pages and give those a sniff along with my cappuccino.


text:
LONDON, June 20 (UPI) -- Britain's deputy prime minister said it is inevitable that homosexuals will be allowed to get married and the government supports the idea.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said in a video presentation to supporters of gay marriage that civil institutions in Britain support couples in love regardless of their orientation.
"All couples should be able to make that commitment to one another, regardless of who they love," Clegg said in the online video for the Out4Marriage campaign.
Support for same-sex marriages is not universal in Britain, The Daily Telegraph said Wednesday. Proposals to change the law on marriage have run into opposition from the Church of England and Roman Catholic Church as well as conservatives in Parliament.
But Clegg was not deterred.
"We brought forward our proposals -- they have provoked a heated debate," he said in the video. "But these are proposals about when and how to open up civil marriage to gay and lesbian couples. It's not a matter of 'if' anymore."

subset: commoncrawl


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Difference between revisions of "ASUS Zenbook UX31E"
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=== Touch Pad ===
=== Touch Pad ===
There are different versions of the UX31, some have Sentelic and some have
There are different versions of the UX31, some have Sentelic and some have - Touch pads.
==== Touch pads ====
Touch & Scroll works out of the box. Clickpad functionality does not. (However, using two and three finger touches for right an middle click works fine).
Touch & Scroll works out of the box. Clickpad functionality does not. (However, using two and three finger touches for right an middle click works fine).
Revision as of 21:53, 8 March 2013
This page contains instructions, tips, pointers, and links for installing and configuring Arch Linux on the ASUS Zenbook UX31E Ultrabook. (There is probably little/no difference with his 11" little brother, the UX21E)
- 1 Installation issues
- 2 Compatibility
- 3 Power Management
- 4 Additional resources
Installation issues
If you get an error trying to format partitions when installing Arch try adding this line to the kernel parameters
Touch Pad
There are different versions of the UX31, some have Sentelic and some have Elantec - Touch pads.
Elantec Touch pads
Touch & Scroll works out of the box. Clickpad functionality does not. (However, using two and three finger touches for right an middle click works fine).
If higher pressure must be applied to your touchpad in order to function properly, tweak the following properties according to your needs [1]
synclient FingerLow=5 synclient FingerHigh=15
Alternatively, edit your
Section "InputClass" Identifier "touchpad catchall" Driver "synaptics" MatchIsTouchpad "on" MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*" Option "TapButton1" "1" Option "TapButton2" "3" Option "TapButton3" "2" Option "VertTwoFingerScroll" "1" Option "HorizTwoFingerScroll" "1" Option "FingerLow" "5" Option "FingerHigh" "15" EndSection
Sentelic Touchpads
The Sentelic Touchpad drivers have been added to the 3.2 kernel, so it should work out of the box by now. Since 3.4 this supports scrolling and multi-touch features. (In case of problems with the touchpad after resume see Suspend to RAM.) However it seems that two finger tapping and two finger scrolling are incompatible. To have both working you must use one of the following two patches.
ReubenBond has made contact with a sentelic representative who has provided him with official documentation on putting the device into absolute positioning mode. The latter can be accessed here: http://fsp-lnxdrv.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/fsp-lnxdrv/trunk/doc/fsp_packet.txt?revision=43&view=markup
This looks very promising and ReubenBond is committed to developing a driver in the next few weeks. This is all referenced in the forum https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=125262&p=2
Saaros's driver works well for two finger and side scrolling and is fairly straight forward to apply and build. Unfortunately however, it does slightly impede normal functionality, pointing does not seem quite as accurate, tapping does not seem quite as sensitive and tapping and dragging/selecting can be quite tricky. This code should eventually be accepted into the official kernel: https://github.com/saaros/sentelic/issues/2.
Works out of the box
HDMI Out
There seems to be an issue whereby having an HDMI device plugged in at boot results in the screens being switched and also the laptop screen not coming on. To make this more bearable you can automate switching HDMI on with the following udev rule and script:
ACTION=="change", SUBSYSTEM=="drm", RUN+="/usr/sbin/hdmi-plugged"
#!/bin/bash export XAUTHORITY=/home/$USER/.Xauthority export DISPLAY=:0 /usr/bin/xrandr -display :0 --output eDP1 --auto --output HDMI1 --auto --above eDP1
Colour Profiles
Colour accuracy on the Zenbook is not very good. There is a UX31E ICC profile on the Noteboocheck review. However, I find that too green using xcalib and so use the UX21E version.
Works fine with the ath9k driver, included in the kernel since 2.6.27.
Edit rc.conf as root and add
ath9k to the
MODULES array.
Unstable Wireless when using Network Manager
Some users experience connection drops when using wireless. For some users this can be fixed by setting the wireless connection's BSSID (usually the router's MAC address). This only works if your wireless connection only has one access point as the BSSID is unique for each access point.
An alternative solution is to disable the ath9k driver ani feature, to do this use the following :
echo 1 > /sys/kernel/debug/ieee80211/phy0/ath9k/disable_ani
In order for the bluetooth device to be recognized properly you need this patch: http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.bluez.kernel/18801
There is also a kernel in the AUR which includes this: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=57197
Ethernet - USB adapter
The Ethernet USB adapater which comes with the ASUS UX31 and UX21 models is the Asix "USB to Fast Ethernet" adapter, model AX88772B. At the present, the device is not recognized by the currently available kernels. However, the source for the driver for Linux Kernels 2.6.38 and later can be downloaded at the following link: AX88772B Linux Driver v4.2.0: http://www.asix.com.tw/FrootAttach/driver/AX88772B_772A_760_772_178_LINUX_Driver_v4.2.0_Source.zip.
Once downloaded, the source needs to be compiled. First unzip the file as follows:
unzip AX88772B_772A_760_772_178_LINUX_Driver_v4.2.0_Source.zip
Next, go into the unzipped directory and compile the source as follows:
cd AX88772B_772A_760_772_178_LINUX_Driver_v4.1.0_Source make
Install the just compiled module:
sudo make install
Finally load the module:
sudo modprobe asix
That's it. You should be able to connect using a wired connection now.
Solid State Drive
Check Solid_State_Drives
Power Management
Suspend to RAM
The USB modules must be unloaded or the laptop will not come out of sleep mode.
SUSPEND_MODULES="xhci_hcd ehci_hcd uhci_hcd"
If you have patched the kernel to enable multitouch with the Sentelic touchpad, the touchpad may stop working after resume. In this case add the psmouse module to the list.
SUSPEND_MODULES="xhci_hcd ehci_hcd uhci_hcd psmouse"
PCIe ASPM
Do not add the following option to the kernel line
dmesg | grep -i "acpi fadt"
ACPI FADT declares the system does not support PCIe ASPM, so disable it.
i915_enable_rc6 will improve battery performance significantly. To enable it, add the following option to your kernel line.
To check the current state of all
i915 parameters execute as root (bash)
for i in /sys/module/i915/parameters/*;do echo ${i}=`cat $i`;done
Module parameter details
modinfo i915
You may suffer sudden shutdowns if you run a kernel prior to 3.3.0-rc6. To fix this, you have to upgrade or patch your kernel (see the bug report on freedesktop: https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=44867, patches at the end, read the Eugeni Dodonov's messages).
Note that kernel 3.3-rc6 should not yield hard-shutdowns any more but that you still have to enable it explicitly by appending i915.i915_enable_rc6=1 to the kernel line.
Additional powersavings
Configure Laptop_Mode_Tools and do not forget to check CPU_Frequency_Scaling


text:
Artist description:
Launch your dreams and hopes into the air and watch them soar. And sometimes get violently tossed about. But they continue on their path.
Java Draw Created Aug 02, 2012 640 x 460px Unless noted Copyright 2012 dudo.
We encourage you to submit a comment and let the artist know what you think of this drawing. Please log in or join to post a comment.
Post a comment
very cool drawing......
Late- But congrats :) It's a lovely drawing.
This is a really neat drawing! Congrats on the win! 5h
Congrats on your winning! this is such a brilliant drawing i love it ^.^
good job! 5h :)
Very very nice!!!!! Congratulations on your win for this wonderful drawing!!!! :-D
Congrats! You deserved to win, totally! ^^ I love the pose and the way the balloons are the only thing red. It really catches your attention. Keep drawing!
Congratulations! This drawing was chosen as a winner of the Inspiration drawing competition. You will be contacted via your registered email address with details about claiming your prize. Apologies in the delay for posting the winners and thank you.
awwwwwwwwwwwwww, wha a glorious sense of freedom..magical...5/5..
wow that's so cool... totally reminds me of a quote from house on mango street.... really amazing concept... :D just awesome


text:
Small Business Utilization
The Greater Southwest Regional Office of Small Business Utilization (ROSBU) is your first point of contact for information on how to do business or how to obtain a contract with the federal government. We serve businesses, federally recognized tribes and tribal organizations in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.
ROSBU provides support to businesses wanting to understand the process involved in doing business with GSA. Also provided is information about various government contracts and procurement opportunities, planning, implementing and coordinating programs to help GSA meet its socio-economic contracting goals.
ROSBU is proactive in ensuring that small businesses have the maximum practicable opportunity to compete for and receive government contracts, and advocates for: small, small disadvantaged, Section 8(a), woman-owned small, HUBZone small, veteran-owned small, and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses as well as federally recognized Native American tribes and tribal organizations.
The Greater Southwest ROSBU's mission is to promote increased access to GSA's national procurement opportunities. To ensure inclusion of regional small businesses, ROSBU:
- Develops and administers small business programs designed to nurture business opportunities and promote business growth;
- Maintains a proactive outreach program that includes training on federal contracting and events such as new vendor orientations, matchmaking sessions, conferences, and seminars, making it possible for the small business community to network with key contracting experts;
- Provides information on the agency's procurement opportunities;
- Implements small business policies and manages programs as required by public law in order to nurture entrepreneurial opportunities;
- Monitors regional small business goals to ensure that small businesses are included in prime contract awards and subcontracting;
- Provides information about various government contracts and the Small Business Goals Program, general business counseling and marketing advice concerning current bidding opportunities with GSA and how to access and navigate Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) and other e-Tools; and
- Partners with the Small Business Administration (SBA) to conduct Compliance Reviews to ensure prime contractors are complying with the small business policies as outlined in the Federal Acquisition Regulations.
The ROSBU is responsible for the scope of small business programs mandated by law. GSA, like every federal agency, is required by the Small Business Act of 1953, as amended by Public Law 95-507, to establish an office that reports to and advises the head of the agency on the implementation, functions and duties under this act.
GSA provides onsite support to the Federal Emergency and Management Agency (FEMA) and other response agencies in all activities related to emergency response operations. For more information on how your small business can be considered as a potential provider during these situations, please visit the For Vendors Offering Relief Supplies page.
The shortcut for this page is www.gsa.gov/r7smallbusiness.


text:
Pajhwok reporter
Article Images
NEILI (Pajhwok): Providing contradictory figures, provincial officials in central Daikundi province have said cases of suicide among women and violence against the gender have increased in the province. Daikundi is a traditional province where 40... read more
GARDEZ (Pajhwok): High Peace Council (HPC) officials say contacts with the Taliban are more frequent than ever and negotiations with the insurgent group are ongoing. HPC officials made the remarks at a meeting here with religious scholars, tribal... read more
GARDEZ (Pajhwok): A newly built 50-bed hospital in Zurmat district of southeastern Paktia province has partially damaged due to its poor construction. The hospital, a 230 million afghanis project, was inaugurated by former Paktia governor, Zalmai... read more
GARDEZ (Pajhwok): At least 15 Taliban insurgents have been killed and two others wounded during an airstrike in the Janikhel district of southeastern Paktai province, an official said on Thursday. Abdullah Hasrat, the governor's spokesman, told... read more
TALOQAN (Pajhwok): Three Afghan Local Police (ALP) personnel have been killed and two others wounded in Khawaja Ghar district of northeastern Takhar province, an official said on Tuesday. Mohammad Omar, district's administrative chief, told... read more
GARDEZ (Pajhwok): Police in southeastern Paktia province on Thursday claimed rescuing five children from being smuggled to Pakistan for militancy training by three smugglers. Paktika police chief Brig. Gen. Toryalai Abdani told reporters here... read more
TALOQAN (Pajhwok): Unidentified gunmen have shot dead the intelligence chief for the Warsaj district of northeastern Takhar province, officials said on Wednesday. Police spokesman Maj. Abdul Khalil Aseer told Pajhwok Afghan News that the... read more
TALOQAN (Pajhwok): Four police officers have been arrested on the charge of stealing weapons from the Kafgan district police station in northeastern Takhar province, an official said on Saturday. Police spokesman Maj. Abdul Khalil Aseer told... read more
FARAH CITY (Pajhwok): Five Taliban insurgent have been killed and seven others wounded as a result of a clash in western Farah province, an official said on Monday. Police spokesman Iqbal Bahir told Pajhwok Afghan News the militants attacked... read more
FARAH CITY (Pajhwok): At least six people were injured when police opened fire on a passenger bus in Bala Bolok district of western Farah province on Wednesday, eyewitnesses said. The incident took place on Farah-Herat highway in Farah Rood... read more


text:
Event Equipment Hire
Events Exhibition, Promotional Ideas
Exhibition, Promotional Ideas. Exhibition Ideas including exhibition stand ideas include cash grabbers, giant buzz wires, photo booth hires and unique entertainment.
When you're planning a visit to an exhibition alongside some of the very best competitors in your field you need to stand out. This isn't just by displaying your products and services to the best of your ability but also by attracting people to your stand with unique and interesting stand ideas.
With exhibition ideas from fun leisure, you are guaranteed to tick all the boxes and make you stand a talking point for the entire exhibition.
We specialise in interactive games such as giant buzz wire, fairground games and side stalls.
Stand furniture such as LED seating and poseur tables are also ideal for attracting guests but also keeping them on your stand.
For a real show stopper maybe consider items such as the digital graffiti wall or mobile climbing wall.
Whatever your budget, space on site and requirements Fun Leisure UK will be more than happy to help you.


text:
Raw granola is one of the first dishes that many raw foodists try to make at home. It makes sense: granola is a crowd pleaser, and the raw versions don't tend to taste all that different from the cooked ones, so it's a great transition food. The downside is that dehydrators are usually called for; the upside is that raw granola offers more texture and more satiety than a smoothie (of course this depends on the smoothie), which means it's a comforting and convenient breakfast option for those who are stumped for raw breakfast ideas (that doesn't include CR readers, who get tons of breakfast ideas from yours truly!)
The fact that I did not attempt a raw granola until last week is pretty weird, given how popular the stuff is. And now that I have made it, I imagine it'll become a habit, since I absolutely loved the results. As the title of this post suggests, I won't be doing much to alter my recipe: it turned out wonderfully, at least to my taste. This granola is rich in protein, healthy fat, and just the right amount of sweetness, and it has a wonderful cinnamon flavor that enhances the whole dish. It's also very easy to make, especially since most of the proportions work in thirds.
As usual, you can turn this into a regular oven recipe without any fuss. Just bake it at 350 until it has started to get toasty and crispy—I'd say about 30-40 minutes. Enjoy.
Choosing Raw Granola (raw, vegan, gluten and soy free)
Yields about 3 cups
1 cup soaked and dehydrated buckwheat
2 tbsp ground flaxseed
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup dried, chopped apples
1/3 cup maple syrup (agave is also fine)
1 tbsp coconut or flax oil
2 tbsp water
1 tsp cinnamon
Dash nutmeg
Dash salt
1) Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
2) Whisk together the maple syrup, water, coconut oil, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Pour over dry ingredients and mix them well with your hands. If you'd like to make a sweeter granola, you can add another tbsp maple syrup, or a few drops of stevia; the amount listed is intended only to add gentle sweetness and to bind the granola together.
3) Dehydrate at 115 degrees for about 10-12 hours, or until granola is sticky but adhering firmly. Refrigerate till ready to use; this will help maintain crunch and texture!
It's heavenly with blueberries, bananas, and almond milk—not to be missed!
Can't wait for your reactions.
Apartment update! Not much has transpired since yesterday, so I'll refrain from showing you progress photos that don't earn the name. That said, my clothing and bedding has been (mostly) put away. Aside from my horror at how much clothing I own, this is a big accomplishment. So glad you guys like the new place as much as I do.
Hasta manana!


text:
Jerry Rice: Calvin Johnson 'has a lot of work to do' to be greatest ever
- Hall of Famer holds most of NFL%27s major receiving records
- Megatron could rival Rice%27s numbers ... if he can maintain his current pace for another 200-plus games
Jerry Rice has seen the arguments about whether he's still the greatest receiver ever, and he understands why the question is being asked. After all, record-breaking Detroit Lions wideout Calvin Johnson looks as unstoppable as any player in NFL history.
Until Johnson begins approaching Rice's career marks, though, the league's all-time leading pass catcher says he's not weighing in on the debate.
"I think it's great that they're still talking about me after my career's over. (Johnson) still has a ways to go," Rice, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, told USA TODAY Sports by phone Tuesday.
"We're just going to let this guy continue to develop, and if he should break the majority of my records or break all my records, I'll be the first one to congratulate him. But I know the sacrifice that you have to put into it. It takes a lot of dedication, a lot of hard work."
Rice, 51 and retired since 2005, remains by far the league's career leader in catches (1,549), receiving yards (22,895) and receiving touchdowns (197).
Johnson, 28, took down one of Rice's single-season records last season, racking up 122 receptions for 1,964 yards — 116 more than Rice had in 1995 with the San Francisco 49ers.
"I think (Johnson) has gotten so much better route running, and he doesn't just rely on his jumping ability anymore," Rice said. "That's why he's called Megatron. He's a hell of a lot (to handle) on that football field. Right now he's had about (63) touchdowns and he's going strong. I wish him the best. I know what type of work ethic he has. He's a complete player."
Specifically, Rice — who will be honored Thursday in Crawford, Miss., as part of the Hometown Hall of Famers program presented by the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Allstate at his alma mater, East Oktibbeha County High School — said Johnson has become more quarterback-friendly in his seventh NFL season.
PHOTOS: Best of NFL Week 10
Always a physical specimen at 6-5 and 236 pounds, Johnson is off his pace from last year, with only 53 catches for 904 yards and nine touchdowns in eight games (missing another because of injury). But he pushed another NFL record Oct. 27 with 329 receiving yards in a win against the Dallas Cowboys, 7 yards shy of Flipper Anderson's 24-year-old mark. (However, Johnson's 329 yards were the most ever in a regulation game; 40 of Anderson's 336 yards came in overtime.)
"When you're so dominant in college and you're such a big body, you're so physical and so unstoppable, you don't focus on just the little things. Now, I think (Johnson) wants to be the complete player," Rice said.
"I think the same thing with (New Orleans Saints tight end) Jimmy Graham — working on running your routes real crisp, coming out of your cuts and giving the quarterback an open lane where he doesn't have to try to squeeze the ball in there, and now he doesn't have to be as accurate and just place the ball on you.
"When you can do things like that, it's going to only make you better. It's going to make the quarterback better, because he's going to be able to see that lane and he knows he has an alley to throw it in there and that team's going to continue to win football games."
The Lions lead the NFC North with seven weeks to go, one year after finishing 4-12. And Johnson continues to add to his career numbers, which sit at 541 catches for 8,740 yards and 63 touchdowns in 100 career games. His 87.4-yards-per-game average leads all qualifying receivers.
Rice played 303 regular-season games over 20 seasons with the 49ers, Oakland Raiders and Seattle Seahawks. At Johnson's rate, his numbers over 303 games extrapolate to 1,639 catches, 26,482 yards and 191 TDs — besting Rice in the first two categories and coming close in the third.
Of course, few players can stick around as long as Rice, who had a 1,200-yard season at age 40 as the Raiders went to the Super Bowl and was still in the league at 42. He also played most of his career with Hall of Fame quarterbacks Joe Montana and Steve Young, a luxury Johnson did not have early in his career.
"I'm not going to say I'm the greatest of all time," Rice said. "But it's safe he has a lot of work to do."
Follow Tom Pelissero on Twitter @TomPelissero


text:
Finding Balance
Lee Bird '86 has a demanding career and busy family life, but keeps his cool. by Jeff Candura '01
Lee Bird '86 had a problem. It was the beginning of the school year. His oldest child, a high school senior and member of her school's water polo team, came home to report that all of her games this year were scheduled at 4:00 in the afternoon on weekdays—not the best time for a top executive at an international retailer to slip out of his office.
But family has always been even more important than work for the driven Bird, so he did what he had to do and rearranged his schedule on game days. Four months later he reported excitedly, as if he was announcing the latest quarterly sales numbers to a packed board room: "I made it to over 80 percent of the games."
The reason he missed the other 20 percent of his daughter's water polo games was that he was traveling for his job—something he both accepts and regrets. Frequent travel is part of a career that has required him to move his wife, Linda Partridge Bird '86, and children—now numbering seven (yes, seven)—11 times, to 7 different states, over the past 20 years. Even thinking about this may be exhausting to some, but even after all the disruption Bird seems to be both calm and content.
The Duxbury, Massachusetts, native always knew he wanted a career in business. When he was shopping for a college, he says, he was looking for four specific attributes: small class sizes, a finance major, a great campus, and a swim team. He found all of those at Ithaca College, but he ended up on South Hill almost by mistake. "I was being recruited for swimming by Syracuse," Bird recalls, "so I decided to add a day on to the trip and look at Ithaca. I ended up liking Ithaca better than Syracuse."
Bird credits Ithaca's multidisciplinary undergraduate experience as being key to his career successes. Along with his business classes and being a member of an all-American swim relay team (he was a backstroker), Bird golfed with the club team, worked in the equipment room at the Hill Center, and was the office assistant for his swim coach. At one time he even worked chasing down stray lacrosse balls during practices. Dana Professor of Business Administration Raquib Zaman, who has kept in touch with Bird since his student days, remembers him as a personable, honest, and conscientious student; being on the swim team never kept Bird from attending morning classes or making sure that all his work was of the highest quality. Zaman laughs to remember a moment when Bird's school spirit or devotion to the swim team may have gotten the best of him: "At one time," says Zaman, "he had a haircut that proudly displayed 'IC.' "
The hair grew out, but there is no doubt that Bird's competitive spirit carried over from the pool to the boardroom. "The desire to beat the competition in swimming is the same as the desire to beat the competition in business," he says. He also notes that as an athlete, one focuses on individual performance first, giving as much as possible to one's team, and he believes the same is true of the business world.
Bird has spent time at some of the powerhouses of American industry, including Ford Motor Company and Gateway. In 2001 he took the job of chief financial officer of Old Navy, then rose quickly to become a vice president at Old Navy and then chief operations officer of Gap North America, and soon after was named the executive vice president of new business development.
But Bird always seems to be looking for another challenge, which is part of the reason he left Gap in March 2006. "I left not really knowing what I would do next," says Bird. "So I took some time to be with my family, go down to San Diego, go surfing. I looked at a number of options, and this came up and fit a lot of the things we were looking for."
What came up was an opportunity to become the president of Nike Subsidiaries, based in Beaverton, Oregon. This puts Bird in charge of a motley crew of brands: Nike Bauer Hockey, Cole Haan, Hurley, Converse, and Exeter Brands.
"The diversity of the position was one of the things that attracted me to the job," Bird says. "I have worked in a lot of industries in the past: aerospace, computers, banking, apparel, automotive. I get a lot with this one job."
Consumer product companies fit Bird's competitive mentality, perhaps because you can easily look at your sales each day and judge where you are in relation to your competitors. "You always checked your time in swimming: when you hit the wall you looked up at the clock," Bird says. "Same with this: you get your scorecard every day."
Bird laughs that it is probably good he likes working retail because he has a lot of kids (Ainsley, 5; Samuel, 7; Emily, 10; Haley, 12; Lewis, 14; Wesley, 17; and Ashley, 19), who need a lot of stuff. The Birds are Mormon, and the religion, Bird says, encourages people to have large families. With the oldest now a sophomore at Brigham Young University, Bird quickly adds, "But we also know that [our family is] done, with seven now, nine total, well, that's a lot of people."
Lee Bird may have the future of multibillion dollar global brands resting, at least partially, on his shoulders, but at any given moment he could be dispensing advice to a college student, teaching a 17-year-old girl how to drive, helping a 10-year-old with long division, or watching Sesame Street with a 5-year-old. So when you ask him about juggling work and family you expect to hear how hard it is, how little time he has to spend with his kids, and how he has had to put his career on hold at various times. But Bird manages to keep all the balls in the air, almost perfectly aligned. He is quick to credit his religion with helping him keep his priorities in check.
"Our religion believes that family is the central unit of society, and I believe that my roles as a husband and father are critical to that," says Bird. "My religion has taught me how to be a better husband and father. I don't wear my religion as a badge, but it does set my moral compass." Almost nonchalantly, he adds, "My weekends are sacred. I have very rarely worked a Saturday or a Sunday. I have worked maybe six Sundays in my career. When I'm home, I'm home. I check all my work issues at the door."
Bird prides himself on being a good employee almost as much as he prides himself on being a good husband and father, and he admits that Nike is a high-performance company that requires a lot of its employees. Though throughout his career he has usually worked 50- or 60-hour weeks, he and his family are still able to spend "quality" time together during the week at their home outside of Portland. But that does not mean it has been easy. Nike does more business internationally than domestically, requiring Bird to schedule both early and late telephone calls. Also, four out of the five brands that Bird leads are headquartered outside of Oregon, meaning Bird's travel schedule can be daunting. In just over two weeks this winter, Bird's responsibilities with Nike required him to travel to the NHL All-Star game in Dallas, to Kansas to lunch with Governor Kathleen Sebelius and the CEO of Payless ShoeSource, to New York to meet with Cole Haan executives, and to the Daytona 500. But whenever his travel schedule at Nike allows him to be home, Bird and his family start off the day with a family devotional and end it by eating dinner together. "We may just eat a little late," he says.
As with all parents with young children, Lee and Linda Bird fill up their "free" time shuttling their kids (to school and soccer and basketball and swimming), but they constantly focus on simplifying their life. Bird asks for feedback from his kids on how he is doing as a father, even having them fill out a "performance evaluation" every two years. Bird had always focused on spending time with his family as a group, but recent feedback from his kids has caused him to try and spend more time with each child individually—not always easy when there are seven of them. "It is a constant effort to be a good husband and father, and I work hard to be both," says Bird. But Bird knows that like business and athletics, a family requires teamwork.
"I wouldn't be anywhere without my wife, Linda." Linda made the choice to be a stay-at-home mom, a role that Bird says does not always get the credit it is due. He is also quick to point out proudly that Linda had the higher grade point average at Ithaca College.
One part of Bird's career has been tough for his family: the moving. "It's hard, very hard, to leave friends behind," Bird admits. But he manages to find a silver lining: "It has required us to get closer to each other, so that has been a side benefit—not in the original plan, but good."
It is clear that Bird relished the opportunity to work for Nike. The position would not only put him at the head of a variety of different companies, but also allow him to shape the future of Nike by giving him control over acquiring new companies. And as a former athlete he looked forward to working with the likes of Lance Armstrong, Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods, and Tony Stewart—all of whom are spokespeople for the company.
But this wasn't his decision alone. The Bird family took a vote, with everyone's preference counting equally, on whether or not to move to Oregon from San Francisco and take the Nike job. It ended 7-2 in favor of moving, with two of the children voting to keep the family in California. After living on a "gentleman's farm" outside of San Francisco for the last five years, the Birds have started to settle down in Oregon. They have six acres with room to grow food and raise animals. Even those members who cast the dissenting votes have flourished, says Bird, in a place he says has "a West Coast life-style with Midwest values."
Which perfectly suits this East Coast native with a competitive streak, who likes to work, surf, and make it to all his kids' games.
2 Comments
This feature was forwarded to me by a colleague. Lee's dedication and balance is very impressive.
I used to work for Lee several years ago and can say he was an outstanding mentor professionally. The lesson I remember most is the following quote Lee has told numerous potential bosses: "You can have my mornings, or my evenings, but you can't have both."


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Hopefully the weather outside won't be frightful, but at least you'll have Dave Matthews to keep you warm when he hits the road this winter.
On November 30, Dave and the band will kick off their tour in East Rutherford, NJ. The ten-date east coast tour will make stops in Louisville, Kentucky, Boston, MA and Brooklyn, NY playing the hits along with new songs from their latest album, Away From The World.
Tickets go on sale to the public this Friday, October 5, but fans will get a chance to buy their tickets a day early through the band's website.
Check out the band's tour dates below.
November 30 East Rutherford, NJ—IZOD Center
December 1 East Rutherford, NJ—IZOD Center
December 4 Louisville, KY—KFC YUM! Center
December 5 Chicago, IL—United Center
December 7 Toronto, ON—Air Canada Centre
December 8 Uncasville, CT—Mohegan Sun Arena
December 9 Boston, MA—TD Garden
December 11 Duluth, GA—The Arena at Gwinnett Center
December 12 Raleigh, NC—PNC Arena
December 14 Charlottesville, VA—John Paul Jones Arena
December 15 Charlottesville, VA—John Pau Jones Arena
December 18 Baltimore, MD—1st Mariner Arena
December 19 Manchester, NH—Verizon Wireless Arena
December 21 Brooklyn, NY—Barclays Center
December 22 Philadelphia, PA—Wells Fargo Center
– Shannon Carlin, CBS Local
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McKayla Maroney Is Impressed With Her Endorsement
U.S. Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney sits down with WSJ's Christopher Farley to talk about her endorsement of 7 Up 10, saying that, in spite of what internet memes may suggest, the new line of low-calorie sodas does impress her. (Photo: Getty)
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
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Like many other power systems around the world, Australia's electricity industry is rapidly transforming. This is being driven by a transition to low emissions generation, the rise of rooftop solar and large scale wind generation. New technologies and changing human behaviour are also having a significant influence on this change. Click on this short video to understand how it all works!energy security, emissions, video, electricity, generation, technology, consumers, battery, energy explained
LEGO is especially popular at this time of year, they make iconic toys and even movies, but it's their commitment to renewable energy and sustainability programs that makes them a global leader.International, consumers, emissions, innovation and technology, renewables, wind, technology
We are currently experiencing a comprehensive shift in how we source, use and store energy. But this dynamic age owes a debt to 19th century Australian innovators like Henry Sutton, who helped develop the world's first storage battery.electricity, battery, innovation and technology, people stories, renewables
Australia's power system is in the midst of significant transformation. Not sure what we mean? Well check out our animation that visually explains the change in generation within the National Electricity Market (NEM) since it was established in late 1998!electricity, gas, battery, hydro, wind, solar, renewables, generation, consumers, video, emissions, energy explained
The third quarter of 2018 (Q3 2018) was one of records for the energy sector, according to AEMO's latest Quarterly Energy Dynamics (QED) report.national electricity market, Wholesale Electricity Market, electricity, report, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Victoria, Tasmania, news, media release
From the Paris End down to the Docklands, there are now two attention grabbing architectural LED light displays book-ending Collins Street.Victoria, electricity, innovation and technology, renewables, solar, weather, video
The Energy Security Board (ESB) was established in August 2017 by the COAG Energy Council to coordinate the implementation of the reform blueprint produced by Australia's Chief Scientist, Dr Alan Finkel AO.energy security, energy explained
Over two days, 300 stakeholders – political leaders, regulators, energy producers, disruptors, and users – come together for the nation's highest-level discussion of Australia's multiple energy challenges and opportunities.Audrey Zibelman, electricity, energy security, consumers, cyber security, innovation and technology, national electricity market, renewables, solar, video, technology, news
If you have access to an electric vehicle (EV) you can now travel along the world's longest electric super highway in a single state.ARENA, Queensland, battery, innovation and technology, renewables, vehicles
The future of energy will be digital. Blockchain technology will create new people centric energy markets using software that enables customers to set their buy and sell rates for distributed energy online.technology, innovation and technology, consumers, distribution


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Heather Graham is sexy and single ... and loving every minute of it!
The blonde beauty covers Vegas magazine where she talks about reprising her role with the "Wolfpack" in the "Hangover Part III," never getting married and her ... desires.
Graham has been linked to tons of A-list actors (James Woods, Leonardo DiCaprio, the late Heath Ledger, Russell Crowe and Matthew Perry, to name a few) ... but she's thrilled that she never took the plunge.
"I'm not against it," she says. "I would definitely do it if I was in the right situation. I would like to be with someone I could settle down with and be with for the rest of my life. But I don't feel like I need to...I kind of feel like I dodged a bullet," she adds.
"I'd rather be happily single than unhappily married. In the meantime, I'm having a lot of fun."
Heather has nothing bad to say about her famous exes -- admitting that they weren't the best matches for her.
"I think everyone I've dated has been great, but maybe not the most compatible match...I do have some great stories; I've definitely lived...Maybe [I will tell them] when I'm 80 and everyone's dead!," she tells the mag.
The 43-year-old was also brought up pretty conservative, which at times was a struggle for her when taking on more risque roles (ala "Boogie Nights") ... but she's definitely figured out what she wants in life!
"I was taught to be demure," she says, "so it was harder for me to learn how to stand up for myself and go, 'What do I want? What are my desires?'"
So what does she want? "Good sex!"
Heather's such a gem. Are you excited for the new "Hangover" flick? Sound off below and check out the latest trailer!


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Peyton Manning to play in Nationwide's Memorial Tournament pro-am
Peyton Manning is hitting the green again.
The newly retired quarterback and Nationwide spokesman will participate in the Pro-Am of the Nationwide Invitational at the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, next month.
The Pro-Am will be held June 1, the day before the start of the tournament, which will feature top-ranked players such as Jason Day, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy, among others.
This is typically when the Broncos go on their annual golf outing, so perhaps this is part of Manning's new routine in retirement.
Read more…


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Stefan Sydor Optics in Chili owns at least $4 million worth of new high-tech equipment, an investment it completed last year to better meet its global customers' changing needs for precision optics. Since then, business has continued to climb and the company wants to expand, but the shortage of skilled workers is hampering its growth.
As a longtime partner of Sydor Optics, Monroe Community College is grappling with a different challenge: It is not producing enough graduates to fulfill the workforce demands of advanced manufacturing employers in the region, despite its accelerated job-training programs and the steady increase in enrollment in its optics program over the past two years.
Now, with $14.6 million in federal funds for a new statewide job-training initiative that MCC will lead, the tide is about to turn.
The Training and Education in Advanced Manufacturing Educational Pathways Project partners 30 SUNY community colleges with hundreds of employers and trade groups across the state, including Sydor Optics, to help displaced workers and unemployed military veterans get the training and credentials they need for high-wage, high-tech jobs within the manufacturing industry in two years or less.
Taking a public-private partnership approach, the TEAM initiative capitalizes on the strengths of each school, employer and region in a collective effort to bolster the workforce pipeline and re-energize the state's economy.
Led by MCC, the consortium of community colleges will jointly develop uniform core and specialty curricula, including fast-track coursework, that meet local industry needs and reflect industry standards. Coupled with access to online learning and relevant support services, it will build educational pathways that lead to a degree or certificate in advanced manufacturing and a certificate in a subspecialty, including optics and nanotechnology, so that students can bring diverse skills to the workplace.
The curricula also will prepare students for certification exams that lead to industry-recognized credentials.
But their education and training don't have to end there. These valuable credentials will enable graduates to continue their education as they seek to advance or move laterally within an organization.
The Manufacturers Alliance of New York and the Manufacturers Association of Central New York, along with other industry associations and employers across the state, will be involved from project design to implementation to placement and employment for eligible workers. They will serve as key partners to validate curricula, develop and implement learn-and-earn strategies, raise awareness of the industry sector, and facilitate job placement.
The curricula will be replicated across the SUNY community colleges and industry sectors in counties stretching from Erie in Western New York to Suffolk on Long Island. Job training is anticipated to start next year. The goal of the initiative is to serve at least 3,000 of New York's Trade Adjustment Assistance-eligible individuals and unemployed veterans and connect them to employers who are ready to hire.
With the state experiencing high unemployment, manufacturing plays an important role in New York's economic recovery. Currently, about 50,000 manufacturing jobs are unfilled statewide because of a lack of qualified workers. Many of these positions require associate degrees, certificates or industry credentials.
A strategic public-private partnership is an essential component in the job-training initiative to ensure that students graduate with skills that are immediately relevant in the 21st-century workplace and to spur economic growth. It is also critical to the long-term success of the initiative. In working together, the partners will leverage their inherent strengths and resources to create innovative ways of recruiting and building tomorrow's workforce that will keep manufacturing alive and well and sustain economic prosperity.
The SUNY consortium's community-based approach has drawn praise from U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis. During her visit to MCC in September, she called it a "winning strategy" that serves as a model for other states.
Employers across New York are already aware of the value of public-private partnerships. Gov. Andrew Cuomo's regional economic development councils have demonstrated what higher education and business can accomplish by working together to develop long-term strategic plans for regional economic growth.
Under MCC's leadership, the SUNY consortium and manufacturers including Sydor Optics together will help put thousands of displaced workers and veterans back to work in viable manufacturing careers. The statewide effort is another step toward creating a prosperous future for our families, our communities and New York.
Anne M. Kress is president of Monroe Community College. Jim Sydor is president and owner of Sydor Optics and an MCC alumnus.
10/12/12 (c) 2012 Rochester Business Journal. To obtain permission to reprint this article, call 585-546-8303 or email email@example.com.


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O'Hagan's 5K Series at the Viaduct Harbour
Tuesday, 26 March 2019
Viaduct Harbour, Auckland
The O'Hagan's 5K on Tuesday, 26 March 2019 is part of a series run on Tuesday nights starting at 6pm from O'Hagan's Irish Bar at the Viaduct Harbour in Auckland.
The entry fee is $10. Every finisher receives a free beer, wine or OJ and goes into the spot prize draw at 7pm. Register at O'Hagan's from 5.15pm.
O'Hagan's 5K Series
- Next in series (2 April 2019)
- Previous in series (19 March 2019)


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Following last Saturday's 1-1 draw at Toronto FC, the Houston Dynamo will have an opportunity to extend their home unbeaten streak to 36 games in all competitions when they host the Colorado Rapids Sunday afternoon at BBVA Compass Stadium. In our latest edition of This Week, Eddie Robinson looks back at the dramatic draw at BMO Field and previews Sunday's match vs. Colorado.
Tickets for Sunday's match are still available and can be purchased at HoustonDynamo.com/Tickets or by calling (713) 276-GOAL.


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2011 I was awarded the Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) designation.
also an Accredited Commercial Professional (ACP) Remax exclusive designation , RE/MAX Hall of Fame, Platinum Club and Chairman Club
Life Time Achievement Award
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God of My Life
>> Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Only in love can I find you, my God.
In love the gates of my soul spring open,
allowing me to breathe a new air of freedom
and forget my own petty self.In love my whole being streams forth
out of the rigid confines of narrowness and anxious self-assertion,
which makes me a prisoner of my own poverty and emptiness.
In love all the powers of my soul flow outward to you,
wanting never more to return, but to lose themselves completely in you,
since by your love you are the inmost center of my heart,
closer to me than I am to myself.
But when I love you,when I manage to break out of the narrow cirle of self
and leave behind the restless agony of unanswered questions,
when my blinded eyes no longer look merely from afar
and from the outside upon your unapproachable brightness,
and much more when you yourself, O Incomprehensible One,
have become through love the inmost center of my life,
then I can bury myself entirely in you, O mysterious God,
and with myself all my questions.
- Karl Rahner SJ
This is a Jesuit prayer so profound and full of faith and love in God that simply explains that only in love can man find God. I really love the words in this prayer as they are very powerful and can really be felt. I hope I had Fr. Rahner's eloquent words to express my love for God yet words seem to abandon me. Perhaps it is because I have not really and totally surrendered myself to Him who is Mysterious and All-Knowing. As a Christian, I still consider myself as lacking or inadequate in faith. I admit I still have a lot to learn and the journey is still long until I can finally say that I have buried myself entirely in God. I am still seeking for answers to the many questions in life. It is said that if you entrust everything to God, then you need not ask questions but instead, completely give Him control of your life. But human as I am, I still have the tendency to reason and choose my will over God's. I know I still have a lot to learn. And I know that I have to one day break out of my narrow-mindedness and allow God to rule in my life so that I may totally feel His Most Sacred Love for me.
May God bless us always.
Read more...


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Tell us about why you love space exploration, what got you excited in the first place, what inspires you, or whatever you would like to share with your community of space fans!
Share Your Story
We're looking for images you've taken of your sky—whether those images are of galaxies captured through a telescope or perhaps pictures of an incredible night sky, an eclipse, a star party, or a rocket launch. We can't guarantee that we'll publish every image and story—but we will look at each and every one and will showcase as many as possible here on our website and a few might make it to our magazine, The Planetary Report. We look forward to seeing your Sky.
DSLR photo of moon using 114mm reflector scope😊😊😊😊
Flipped image of the Moon due to being taken through a reflecting telescope one summer evening.
A starry night under Orion's watchful gaze. (N.Ireland UK)
Browse Full Archive
June 11, 2019
Hey!! I'm just a Canadian hip-hop cat trying to make a difference. Bill Nye has always been an inspiration to my everyday efforts to do the right thing. My mother has an animal rescue business and my father was a big inspiration to me in my musical efforts. He passed away from cancer in 2016 and since then I've felt a yearning to be a part of something bigger. I work as a welder in a vehicle assembly plant near Toronto, Ontario. Seems ironic my job is probably one of the main contributors to climate change and yet here I ... more »
June 10, 2019
I, along with a few others here in the UK, are trying in a very short space of time to raise capital to show the University of Dundee, Scotland that there is practical, alternative funding and future for the DSRS facility in its' 50th Year of service and its' 40 years of archived satellite data / imagery. Is this useful for Climate Change Research? It's Funding Grant was not renewed by the UK, Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). If we achieve funding for the short / intermediate term it allows time for securing long term funding. The Alert came from ... more »
March 21, 2019
As Opportunity Mission (anticipated as a 90-day mission) has just shut down after 11 years of exploring (2008-2019) and over 26 miles on the surface of Mars, I present several of the interesting Opportunity images. Images courtesy NASA/JPL/Cal Tech/Cornell U and other space agencies. Thousands of images. All camera setups on the Opportunity are stereo pairs so as to capture left/right images. Front Haz Mat Cameras, Rear Haz Mat Cameras, Navigation Cameras, Panoramic Cameras, and the science/micro imaging cameras. Take time to look and have some fun.
1. Opportunity Rover- Space Agency artist conversion
2. Scenic Color Conversion ... more »
The Planetary Society organizes space-related contests as a fun way to get the public involved with space exploration.
Become a member of The Planetary Society and together we will create the future of space exploration.
Help advance robotic and human space exploration, defend our planet, and search for life.


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20 years since I last used an Amiga 500, the thing I still think about most is balls. Bouncing balls.
Your mate would turn up at your house after tea with a blue diskette in his blazer pocket. The label would be torn off and the legend "DEMO" scrawled across it. You'd slot the disk in and boot up. Moments (OK, several minutes) later, a cacophony of crunchy, 16-bit rave would be blasting from your speakers and, on screen, a chrome ball would be floating over a checkered board.
You'd watch in silent awe, Space Dust crackling in your open mouth.
In the early years of home computing every wave of technology was its own mini-revolution. But there was one period that introduced more innovation than a dozen Apple keynote events.
Towards the end of the 1980s, after the Sinclair Spectrum but just before PCs became popular, it was the age of the Amiga.
Back to the Future
In 1982, three Florida dentists had US$7 million to invest. Video games were scorching hot at the time; the future of entertainment.
They would provide the seed capital for David Morse, a former Marketing VP from Tonka Toys, and Atari alumni Jay Miner to start a new company to build a killer games console. It was a radical idea, but Miner's ambitions went above and beyond.
"I had wanted for years to build a super personal computer based around the Motorola 68000," Miner told Amiga User International in 1988. "Atari had turned me down and here was my big chance."
Conveniently, Miner's team neglected to tell their investors about this part of the plan.
Two years later, with the US$7 million spent and debts mounting, Amiga had a prototype codenamed "Lorraine" to show off at CES. Typical of engineering lead design, the Amiga architecture was all there, but the machine didn't yet have a case. It was still a bunch a components laid out on plugboards.
But it worked. Miner's team wrote a multi-tasking demo at the show, dubbed "Boing". It displayed a 3D ball with real-time physics, bouncing on a grid. In 1984, it was the most advanced demonstration of graphics and processing capability on a system of its size. The show's collective gobs were smacked.
The buzz created by "Boing" was too late for the dentists, though. In an extraction as brutal as any wisdom tooth removal, they pulled their funding.
It was the best thing that could have happened for the Amiga 500.
Commodore sails to the Rescue
"Commodore came along and bought Amiga and saved us," Jay Miner told Amiga User International in 1988. "Commodore was very good in the beginning."
Canadian company Commodore had a strong track record in home computing. According to RJ Mical, a lead software engineer at Amiga, the new owners invested US$27 million into R&D. Feeling flush, the team's first step was to quickly polish up the Lorraine prototype, put it in a box and bring it to market as the Amiga 1000. That was done and dusted within 12 months.
The second step was to strip back and optimise the Amiga 1000, creating the compact home computer system Jay Miner had envisaged right from the beginning. Five years in the making, the first Amiga 500 shipped in 1987.
The Amiga 500 boasted a wedge-shaped design with an integrated keyboard. It was a popular form factor at the time, shared with contemporaries the Acorn Archimedes and the Atari ST.
With an RF adaptor that enabled you to plug the machine into any telly, joystick ports at the back and an integrated floppy disk drive, the Amiga 500 was compact and lightweight enough to chuck in your school bag. Armed with a stack of contraband disks, cracked by pirate crews like RZR or Paradox, it was all you needed for a Saturday afternoon of black market gaming round your mate's crib (actually, his bedroom).


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Sri Lanka, Middle East & Maldives Jobs & Job Seekers !
Getting through a Job Interview - How to Sell Yourself in a Winning Style
If you are unable o find a job having faced many interviews it is high time you looked at yourself and be prepared with a better approach for your next topjobs interview. First thing you should understand that it is not a suprise that you do not suceed in a job interview where the subject vacancy does not match or require your existing qualifications & experience. Therefore first you need to be more careful with your job applications because blindly applying to each and every vacancy advertisement will not gain you anything as you are not likely to be called for an interview. Therefore before applying for a job you need to check whether you meet the minimum criteria specified in the job advertisement. Most of the time in Sri Lanka, when a job advertisement is published then employers get so many applications and they will shortlist the candidates based on the minimum qualifications. Therefore you need to be concerned if only you have failed despite you had all the essential qualifications and experience.... continue reading
|How to Write a Winning CV
Having a common CV to be applied for any vacancy may not be the best way of doing it. It is important to have a specific CV for a specific vacancy. This is because different companies look for different skills and competencies in candidates even if the vacancy is for the same vacancy. For instance one company's expectations from an Accountant might differ from another. Writing a CV for a specific job is not always as easy as you might think as it requires some research & writing skills. First you need to read the vacancy advertisement thoroughly and understand what the employer is exactly looking for. Then you need to do some research on the company where the vacancy exists. You need to analyze the qualifications, skills and competencies the company is looking for.... continue reading
Interview Questions
It is not easy to guess what specific questions will be asked at an interview. But there are some common questions which are generally asked by interviewers. Although these questions my be the same, the best answers for these questions may be different. Therefore it is important to be prepared for the suitable answers for these common questions in the light of the available information about the company, vacancy and its responsibilities. For instance an interviewer may ask "how do you get best out of your staff?" To answer to this question well, you may have to have some idea about the culture within the company and its management style. Therefore collect as much information as possible about the company, vacancy & its responsibilities. Here is a list of some common questions asked in interviews. We have not provided you the answers as there are no uniform answers... continue reading


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Kevin McHale Gossip
Kevin McHale gossip, latest news, photos, and video.
So This Is Christmas
Written by Duana Here we are, almost a half-season of Glee under our belts. I've spit some flames, I know I made lots of you mad but also thank you for all the love for last week's post about Rachel. Here's my bargain for this week. Full Story
Where's Garrett?
TRON: Legacy premiered in London last night. Both Olivia Wilde and Jeff Bridges were there to support it. Also several members of the Glee cast. But no Garrett Hedlund. With movie budgets these days, overseas markets are a big deal. The UK market is a big deal. And for the film's lead not to show. Full Story
Losing Glee?
I watched the Madonna Glee episode last Sunday before leaving for Barbados. On Twitter I noted that it was fun, the music, remembering the songs... and that's it. Many of you emailed asking about my thoughts, why I never blogged about the episode afterwards. Well... what's there to say? Michelle perhaps said it best when she emailed Duana and me last night after catching up on Glee and wrote: "I'm afraid I'm falling out of love with it". Full Story
Three Glee in Canada
Cory Monteith came home to Vancouver last week for the Opening Ceremony. He went back to LA and couldn't stop talking about his amazing Olympic experience so when Glee gave them the weekend off, Mark Salling and Kevin McHale decided to fly up here too. They told Matthew Morrison (he spent time in Vancouver in the past and he wanted to visit again) so it was the three of them, Glee all over the city. Full Story
Glee Wheels
Only one more sleep and Glee comes back. Jumpy claps! Tomorrow's episode focuses on Artie and his backstory. Also his penis. No, for reals. Great interview here with Kevin McHale who plays Artie about his hidden talents and about the musical numbers featured in the new episode. Full Story


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Welcome to Issy-les-Moulineaux OTN City Hub
The city of Issy-Les-Moulineaux works on So Mobility project, to improve urban transports and to traffic and public transports. The long-term plan of Issy is to build a multimodal transport application, making it possible to have a quick and clear picture of the transport situation at any given moment, ideally with real time data.
Open Data
Explore Open Data harvested and harmonised by the City Hubs. Whether you're a citizen, business owner, city administrator or developer, the site provides over 100 datasets to help you understand the city and develop solutions to transport related problems.
Discover what you can do with data in just a few clicks. OTN makes it easy for you to create your own map that can be easily used and embedded in your own websites. With OTN you can take more informed and cost-effective management decisions. No technical experience needed!
Learn how to create a visualisation
Now you can create visualisations concerning your organisation's data. Read our quick start manual and learn how to create a visualisation today!
Below you can find examples of map compositions developed with the OpenTransportNet tools. Click to view the gallery and links to already created maps.
Download our Guide and see how it is done
Preview the project user guide here and get ready to create maps, apps and services according to your own bussiness or city needs
Test and use the platform


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Tuesday January 28, 2020; 06:52 pm EST
It's worth the work to attract these birds to your backyard
The goldfinches in my back yard are a real treat this year, borrowing their brilliant yellow from the Maryland flag our Preakness winner will wear.
I've tried luring them with plastic, tube feeders in past years to no avail.
This year, I hung two white, mesh feeders, or socks, filled with nyjer seed, and watched the bright birds flock to them.
Goldfinches are attracted to sunflower seeds, but they prefer the nyjer seed imported from India. Nyjer seed needs to be kept fresh and dry to maintain its oil content.
I buy in bulk to save a few bucks, since it gets expensive when the birds flock to the feeders, dining daily in dozens. A constant food supply must be served to keep them around.
Finicky eaters, goldfinches don't like stale or moldy feed. After it rains, you'll want to shake feeders free of water, circulating the air and drying out the seed.
Goldfinches don't like crowds, either. They will often fly away when other species crowd around a feeder.
I spread two mesh feeders a few feet apart for better results and more finches.
"They're fickle and not loyal to one yard," said Wild Bird Center of Annapolis owner Julie Curd. "If the feeder runs out, they will find another food source."
Her words ring true.
Ours emptied while we were on vacation, and it took several days before they came back around, slowly, one at a time.
Last week, Hubby, holding a pair of binoculars, shouted from the kitchen window.
"My Lord, they're clinging to the feeders like ticks on a dog," he said.
That dozen was our highest count at one time on two feeders.
But I've watched videos and heard stories where that number can be doubled, tripled or more.
Goldfinches have an interesting flight call with four syllables that can be likened to potato-chip. When they sing, it's often in chorus
Spring males are brilliant yellow and shiny black with a bit of white. Females are more dull but identifiable by their conical bill, pointed, notched tail, wing bars and lack of streaking.
I have a male and female couple who eat together first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening, one on each mesh sock.
Goldfinches often flock with pine siskins, which frequent our feeders, too.
I work at attracting these birds, but we're paid off in gold.


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Back in '98 or '99 I was introduced to Tad Williams during deployment to Germany for infantry training. The Dragonbone Chair (and subsequently its two sequels) quickly committed me as a huge Tad Williams fan. I've read all of his fantasy novels and I collect his short story anthologies too. Even his Sci-Fi works are on my to-read list, which is saying something as I am quite the fantasy snob. There's a reason G.R.R.M. calls Tad one of his influences. His writing combines a deep creative genius with the prose and language to tell fantastic tales. As soon as I heard Williams was writing a new urban fantasy series, I got really excited and a little bit nervous too.
The Dirty Streets of Heaven is a novel in the urban fantasy sub-genre. Most of the time when I first hear about a new UF novel I am thrown off. I like Jim Butcher – the quintessential godfather of UF – but something about the genre just doesn't appeal to me as much as traditional fantasies do. I'll admit, when I first heard Tad was writing a UF novel, I cringed a little. Not much though as I know he can write anything and write it damn well. Instead of doing my typical likening it to Twilight (yes without ever even having read Twilight or its comparison in question), I caught and reminded myself , "Hey! This is Tad Williams!" I'm glad I did.
The setting is in the fictional city of San Judas in southern California. The Dirty Streets of Heaven transpires in modern day with angels and demons communicating and recording events via smartphones and the like. The story is rather fast paced (also a bit shorter than much of Tad's previous work) and this was one of those books I simply couldn't put down. It follows a winding plot that is patterned a lot like a mystery novel. I suppose this is fitting as the protagonist is a lawyer. He runs about the story gathering evidence to both understand the strange events that are transpiring and to save his own immortal soul. I had correctly guessed a fair share of the outcome as I read, but I never knew if my assumptions were actually right until the end.
We follow one point of view which is told in the first person throughout The Dirty Streets of Heaven. Bobby Dollar is an angel in a human's body. He is a good guy, but has a bit of a distrustful attitude toward other angels, especially those who are stationed up in heaven. He is a lawyer that fights for human souls after their bodies die. He defends to keep them from being successfully prosecuted against by one of hell's own attorneys. Success and they get to move on to purgatory or heaven. Failure and they go to that other place. Sadly, the poor soul is completely at the whim of their defense, the prosecution, and ultimately the judge who is fallible, yet their decision is eternal law. This may sound awfully Judeo-Christian. And well, it sort of is, but the characters in the book make sure the reader knows not any one of the religions were actually correct. Heaven and Hell are set up a lot like in Dante's Inferno and Paradiso, but there is no God's law that states, "Thou shalt be a [INSERT YOUR FAVORITE RELIGION HERE] or burn in eternal hell-fire." Quite the opposite is actually how Williams tells the story. In his words, anyone (even an atheist) who is a good person can move on to heaven. Being an agnostic atheist myself, I'm okay with that.
Tad William's writing style is simply perfect and I challenge anyone to debate this in the comments section (No, seriously, I'd love to hear your own opinions). He makes sure that every sentence of his that gets published is well thought and better told. Tad uses the perfect amount of description to paint a scene but doesn't bore his readers with endless details. His creativity lies in those details and they all come together like lavender and oil. I should mention that there are some graphic sexual scenes in this book. I'm a little embarrassed to say, but I really enjoyed them.
I proudly give The Dirty Streets of Heaven 5 out of 5 stars. I'm not surprised in the least and I can't wait for the conclusion of this two book series, Happy Hour in Hell.
You can buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/The-Dirty-Streets-Heaven-Volume/dp/0756407680/


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Despite the rise in calls to reverse deep defense cuts that will be triggered if the super committee fails to reach a deficit-cutting agreement, the actual chance of rolling them back is slim, according to a wide range of sources across the Capitol.
Nearly $500 billion in defense cuts will kick in starting in 2013 if the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction does not produce at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reductions by Nov. 23, and many Members have argued they would be a tough pill to swallow for American military forces. And Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned of sequestration's consequences in back-to-back classified briefings with Senators and Representatives last week, and Army Chief of Staff Ray Ordierno, who testified before the House Armed Services Committee last Wednesday, did the same.
Concerned GOP Sens. John McCain (Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.) sent a letter to the Pentagon on Thursday night requesting a detailed report of the impacts the cuts might have on national security, and they are working on fallback legislation to repeal and perhaps replace the defense cuts.
But all the commotion surrounding the painful cuts — which were designed as an incentive to force the super committee to act — likely will not produce a change to the policy that was enacted as part of a broader deal to increase the debt limit in August.
Even Republican leadership sources suggested that getting another bill affecting the federal budget through the House would be difficult, especially if it adds more to the deficit by not being offset. These same sources concede there is not much left in the domestic discretionary spending pot to cut.
And Democrats almost certainly will not agree to replace the defense spending savings with cuts to mandatory programs such as Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security.
Moreover, if legislation rolling back the cuts were to clear Congress, it is unlikely President Barack Obama would sign it.
Republicans have said they believe fighting to roll back the cuts would be a good message in an election year, cementing their party's place as the protectors of the military and national security. But this position now stands in contrast to the GOP's goal of deficit reduction — and that's a point Democrats are prepared to hammer home if Republicans push forward with repeal.
"In the end, you can only have a military you can afford, and if the Congress makes a decision that it can't cut spending the way the [Budget] Control Act provided in the super committee, then the sequester is the fallback and the sequester should happen," Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) said in a brief interview late last week.
Kirk, who said he is talking informally to McCain, put a high priority on the credit rating of the U.S. government.
"If you cripple the super committee, you'll lose the AAA credit rating of the United States, and if you obviated the sequester, you risk a further collapse in the credit of the United States, and you can well imagine a future where interest rates are at Jimmy Carter levels within a very short time," Kirk warned.
Graham sees the landscape differently: "We're not going to destroy the military because of a ratings agency."
McCain and Graham said they are not yet working with Senate leadership on their alternative, and it would be very difficult for leaders who agreed to the original deficit reduction plan in August to go back on their word.
In a roundtable with reporters late last week, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) dismissed the idea that Congress could get rid of the trigger, saying he feels bound to the plans for sequestration to which the House, the Senate and Obama agreed.
"Me, personally? Yes, I would feel bound. It was part of the agreement. And so either we succeed or we're in the sequester. The sequester is ugly. Why? Because we didn't want anybody to go there. That's why we have to succeed," Boehner said.
It's the depth of the "ugliness" that has increased the level of chatter about repealing the sequester in the first place.
"Cuts of this magnitude would be catastrophic to the military, and in the case of the Army would significantly reduce our capability and capacity to assure our partners abroad, respond to crisis, and deter our potential adversaries, while threatening the readiness and potentially the all-volunteer force," Ordierno told the House Armed Services Committee last week.
But perhaps no one has brought more attention to the idea of rolling back the defense cuts than Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), who sits on the super committee. Kyl has said repeatedly he would fight the cuts and has brought up the topic of defense in several open super committee hearings, including a Sept. 13 session in which he asked the Congressional Budget Office director whether defense cuts would risk unemployment in security industries and therefore "delay economic recovery." The budget chief said, "Yes."
Former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, a co-chairman of the president's deficit commission, told the super committee last week that rolling back the defense cuts would "be disastrous. I think people would look at this country and say, 'You guys can't govern.' ... They would think that we were on our way to becoming a second-rate power."
Given the vacuum being created by the super committee and its impasse yet again over taxes, Democrats in Congress were upset that Republicans have begun talking so openly about repeal, as if assuming failure.
"There seems to be a growing chorus on their side to roll back the trigger, which implies they're giving up prematurely and anticipating failure," said one Democratic aide. "It's playing with fire to try to claw back cuts we've already agreed to."


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OTTAWA - The federal government has begun visiting Employment Insurance recipients at home as part of an "examination" being conducted while the program undergoes an overhaul.
About 1,200 recipients are receiving invitations, in person, to appear at their customary EI interviews as part of the project, which wraps up next month.
Some EI recipients are already on edge, given the changes to the program that have seasonal workers fearing their benefits might be cancelled. The union representing federal employees, meanwhile, says it's concerned for the safety of its workers.
The federal government has confirmed the house calls.
"An examination to ensure the integrity of the Employment Insurance program is currently underway," Human Resources Development Canada told The Canadian Press in an email.
Federal employees have been making the unannounced visits since January, and have been hand-delivering requests for people to appear at the regular EI interview.
About 50 federal employees have been assigned to the project.
The sample of 1,200 EI recipients has been randomly selected from across the country, according to the government.
One of the people who received a personal visit was a seasonal worker in New Brunswick. The woman, who has worked for 35 years in a fish factory, agreed to speak with The Canadian Press on condition of anonymity.
She said that as she was getting home from running errands on Feb. 5, a civil servant arrived at her house.
"It surprised me when she asked for me. It kind of stunned me," the woman said.
"She told me: 'I came to bring you a form. You fill it out, and then I want to have an interview with you on Wednesday.' I told her, 'I'll be there.'"
As with everyone else receiving seasonal benefits, she is being asked to actively seek work in her off-months while awaiting the return to the fish factory.
"All I can do is work in a factory," she said.
"I'm going everywhere to look for work... There is none."
A New Brunswick group has taken up the cause of workers like her.
It says these visits from the feds are only adding fuel in a volatile climate, given the government's EI reforms.
"It's abusive," said Alma Breau-Thibodeau, of the Employment Insurance Action Committee In Defence of Workers.
"They're abusing us like crazy. We all feel targeted by this law. . . You know it's gone too far when you're being checked upon at home.
"We have telephones, you know. And post offices."
An NDP MP from New Brunswick, Yvon Godin, warned the government to stop the house calls — which he described as "intimidation."
He said people are angry and in no mood for a visit from the feds.
"I wouldn't recommend for representatives of the government to go knocking on doors right now. It's dangerous," Godin said.
He said it's wrong for the government to be placing its workers in that position.
A federal workers' union representative said she had already been concerned for all employees because of the controversy over the changes.
"The level of aggressiveness is rising and I'm worried about the safety of the members I represent," said Nathalie Paulin.
"We understand people's distress. We feel it too."
Last May, Human Resources Minister Diane Finley announced major EI reforms that are being phased in.
From now on, people who frequently claim EI are expected to accept any job for which they're qualified, within 100 kilometres of home, as long as the pay is 70 per cent of their previous salary.
They must also prove they're actively seeking work.
Detractors of the plan say it's particularly harsh on Atlantic Canada and Quebec, which have a number of seasonal industries.
Finley issued a statement this week downplaying the impact on people.
She said nobody will lose any benefits, as long as they take steps to try finding a job and accept a reasonable offer of employment.
Protests against the EI reforms are planned this weekend in a number of cities, especially in Quebec.
Also on HuffPost


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Wiggins, doping in spotlight as Giro starts
NAPLES, Italy (AP) — With cycling again shadowed by doping, Bradley Wiggins begins his possible attempt Saturday to accomplish that rarest of doubles — victories in the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in the same year.
The Briton followed his Tour de France triumph last year by winning the gold medal in the time trial at his home London Olympics. Now, Wiggins is the favorite for the three-week Giro.
He has declared all along that the Giro is his top priority this year, but earlier this week indicated he might challenge Froome instead of helping him in the Tour. Nobody has pulled off the Giro-Tour double in the same year since Marco Pantani 15 years ago.
Italy's Vincenzo Nibali is regarded as his top challenger in the Italian classic, while defending champion Ryder Hesjedal could also contend again.
Attention, however, remains on a Spanish court's decision Tuesday to destroy the blood bags seized in the 7-year-old Operation Puerto case.
Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes was found guilty of endangering public health and given a one-year suspended jail sentence in the case. But the World Anti-Doping Agency is considering a possible appeal of the ruling by Judge Julia Santamaria, who ordered the destruction of more than 200 bags of blood and other evidence gathered in police raids on Fuentes in 2006.
Two-time Giro winner Ivan Basso and Michele Scarponi, who was awarded the 2011 title after Alberto Contador was stripped of the honor in another doping case, were both banned in the Puerto case.
As for the race, it could come down to a contest between Wiggins' time trial ability and Nibali's climbing prowess — or vice versa: how each rider performs in his rival's strongest areas.
Nibali's biggest victory thus far remains the 2010 Spanish Vuelta title. In last year's Tour he finished third behind the Sky duo of Wiggins and Chris Froome. In the Giro, he clearly will have the home fans' support.
"The Giro has been our declared goal since the start of the season," Astana team manager Alexandre Vinokourov said. "We're all working exclusively to help Nibali win."
Wiggins won the opening-day time trial at the 2010 Giro in Amsterdam and wore the leader's pink jersey for one day before finishing 40th. His climbing, however, has improved drastically since.
Nibali was third in the 2010 and 2011 Giro and was moved up to second in 2011 after Contador's suspension. Having moved from Liquigas to Astana, Nibali no longer has to split leadership with Basso.
This will be the fifth Giro for both Wiggins and Nibali. They already went head-to-head in the four-day Giro del Trentino last month, which Nibali won while Wiggins struggled with mechanical problems in the final stage.
Hesjedal, meanwhile, has had a quieter buildup. But his combined skills of climbing and time trialing, with solid support from a strong and experienced Garmin squad, make him a threat.
While Froome, Contador and the injured Joaquim Rodriguez are absent, other contenders include 2011 Tour winner Cadel Evans, Basso, Scarponi and Robert Gesink.
"Our race will be about waiting and taking advantage of every bit of space to become protagonists," said Stefano Zanatta, team director of Basso's Liquigas squad.
The race begins with an 81-mile sprinting stage in downtown Naples, which should draw large crowds to watch the likes of Mark Cavendish, Matthew Goss, John Degenkolb and Daniele Bennati vie for the first pink jersey.
It's the first time in 10 years the race has opened with a sprinting stage. Cavendish, who has won a combined 36 stages at the Giro, Tour and Vuelta, is undoubtedly the man to beat.
But Cavendish won't have Alessandro Petacchi as a lead-out man. Cycling's ruling body has blocked the Italian's attempt to join the Omega Pharma-Quick Step team after announcing his retirement from the Lampre squad.
Wiggins could be in good position after Sunday's second stage, a 10.8-mile team time trial on the island of Ischia, a discipline in which his Sky squad excels. In all, there are three time trials for a total of 58 miles.
Remaining in the Naples region, Stage 3 travels along the picturesque Amalfi coast. The course then heads down into the southern region of Calabria before turning north again into Basilicata. After a few stages in central Italy, the serious climbing begins in the north.
Including an uphill time trial for Stage 18, there are eight major climbing stages, with the final week featuring legendary peaks like the Galibier (one of two stages passing through France), the Gavia and Stelvio (in the same stage) and the Giao pass and Tre Cime di Lavaredo peak in the next to last leg.
The race finishes in Brescia on May 26.
AP Sports Writer Steve Douglas in London contributed to this report.
Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


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Some 400 to 500 recreational vehicle campgrounds will be built in Shanghai and the other 20-plus cities in the Yangtze River Delta Region by the end of 2020, according to a tourism development plan.
Tourism authorities aim to turn potential consumption in the RV market into real consumer behavior by mapping out the plan, said Wang Jianming, an official with the Shanghai Tourism Administration who helped work out the scheme. The plan has passed experts' review and is expected to be officially launched in the second half of this year, English.EastDay.com reported.
About 20 of the campgrounds will be in Shanghai, according to Wang. Most will be built in suburban areas like Songjiang, Qingpu and Jinshan districts as well as near the future Shanghai Disneyland in the Pudong New Area.
With the emergence of the market, a number of cities in China, such as Beijing and Suzhou, have already constructed campgrounds. But there is no such campground in Shanghai.
"Shortage of campgrounds and specific routes have hindered its development in Shanghai, and it still takes some time for people to receive the relatively new type of tourism concept," Wang said.
Shanghai's scarce land resources and long approval procedure are part of the reason for the shortage, he said.
Most of those who own recreational vehicles in Shanghai are business people, athletes and entertainment stars. Wang estimates the figure to be in the hundreds.
Five tourism routes specially targeting RV users will be explored, according to the scheme. They will include tours around Hangzhou Bay and Taihu Lake.
Authorities estimate that an RV tour market valued at more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion) will gradually form in China over the next decade, including 3 million to 5.5 million consumers in the Yangtze River Delta Region.
Jing Zonghua takes charge of the Shanghai branch of the CRVC (Centech RVing Club), a Beijing-based recreational vehicle seller and rental service. He said the company's business is not good in Shanghai.
"The market lacks recognition and attention in the city," Jing said.
Shanghainese are prudent about purchasing such large vehicles, and the shortage of parking spaces is a problem, he said. Vehicle prices at his firm range between $66,000 and $110,000. It has six vehicles for rent but sometimes none of them is on the road.
Most campgrounds with power and water hook-ups for RVs also include facilities such as horse-riding spots and amusement parks. Jing said if developers do business only in recreational vehicle parking, they will fail. He said there is a wide range of facilities and service levels of RV campgrounds, as there is no standard in China.


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SAN FRANCISCO — After blowing its first chance to orbit Venus two years ago, Japan's Akatsuki spacecraft is ready for a comeback in 2015, mission scientists say.
The Akatsuki probe — whose name means "Dawn" in Japanese — was supposed to start circling Venus in December 2010, but its main engine conked out during a pivotal orbit-insertion burn, and the probe went sailing off into space.
While Akatsuki's main engine has been declared dead, the spacecraft should be able to achieve Venus orbit in November 2015 using its smaller attitude-control thrusters, team members say.
The hopes of mission scientists were buoyed in November last year, when these smaller engines performed a burn that set up the 2015 maneuver.
"We had never used these thrusters in this way," Takeshi Imamura of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, told SPACE.com here earlier this month at the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union. "Now we are confident we can conduct an orbital-insertion maneuver using these thrusters."
Akatsuki has some other issues to contend with, however. After missing Venus two years ago, it settled into a solar orbit that brings it closer to our star than mission managers had anticipated. As a result, the probe's temperature has been inching up more and more on its recent closest passes of the sun.
The mission team thinks those increases may be starting to level off. If that's the case, Akatsuki should survive the half-dozen close solar approaches it will make before November 2015, Imamura said.
The $300 million Akatsuki spacecraft launched in May 2010 along with JAXA's Ikaros solar sail, which successfully deployed in deep space. Akatsuki was supposed to spend two years eyeing Venus from above, studying its clouds, atmosphere and weather for clues about how Earth's so-called "sister planet" ended up so hot and seemingly inhospitable to life.
Akatsuki was originally slated to fly around Venus once every 30 hours. If the November 2015 maneuver succeeds, it will instead settle into a much more elliptical one-week orbit.
The probe could still do good science from such a long, looping path, Imamura said.
"We hope to still be able to do most of what we originally planned," he said.
Akatsuki was the second unmanned Japanese probe ever sent to visit another planet. The first was the Nozomi Mars orbiter, which failed to enter Mars orbit in 2003.
Follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall or SPACE.com@Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook and Google+.
- The 10 Weirdest Facts About Venus
- Photos of Venus, the Mysterious Planet Next Door
- Inside the Planet Venus (Infographic)
© 2013 Space.com. All rights reserved. More from Space.com.