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Contract competition increasing at DHS, think tank says
Spending on basic research and development is a concern.
Contract competition at the Homeland Security Department has increased significantly, according to a new report that still warns inadequate spending on research and development may hinder DHS down the road.
The paper published Tuesday by the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that the majority of contracts that DHS has issued since 2006 were subject to some form of competition during the bidding process. The scholars studied this by looking at data from the Federal Procurement Data System and analyzing the number of offers the department received from bidders, the contract's funding mechanism and the type of contract vehicle used.
"Both total dollars and the share of DHS contracts awarded under competition with multiple offers increased significantly in 2010 and continued to increase in 2011, rising to a 51 percent share of overall DHS contract obligations," the report said.
The report also said the department had increased the share of contracts allocated to medium-size firms. While the biggest government contractors were still pulling in the largest amount of total money, the scholars found their growth had slowed substantially.
"Relative to the guidelines set forth by the Small Business Administration, DHS has been successful in proportionally and consistently awarding contracts to small businesses," the report said.
Guidance the Office of Management and Budget issued in March 2009 had substantially increased the use of fixed price contracts within DHS, according to the report. The need for expediency in the response to Hurricane Katrina had increased the number of combination contracts in 2005 and 2006, but that the number had fallen sharply in recent years, the report said.
"The sudden drop-offs in the combination, unlabeled and other categories in 2010 are likely responses to the Obama administration's guidance to firm up federal contracting practices within government," the report said.
The scholars also said DHS' low level of research expenditures may inhibit future capabilities. According to the paper, the department has spent less than $1 billion per year on research and development, with most of that money going toward "short-term development and testing efforts," instead of longer term basic research -- for instance, on technology or equipment development.
(Image via Gunnar Pippel/Shutterstock.com)


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When her interpretation of a traditional holiday scene loses Maris the annual ice sculpting competition, her favorite season takes a turn toward dismal. The rent is due and her landlady won't accept a fourth place ribbon. When the enigmatic Lord Brayce arrives with a last minute commission, Maris jumps at the chance. As her host's icy exterior begins to melt away, Maris finds there is far more to him than meets the eye and his attentions leave her wishing this particular job could last forever.
When Brayce's family arrives for the holiday, Maris is plunged head-over-heels into a world of secrets and an age-old conflict between brothers.
Can an ordinary girl survive at the center of a battle straight out of myth? And if her impossible suspicions are correct, what are the odds that Maris can win her prince?
A throat cleared nearby. Maris started, opened her eyes and nearly slapped the hand away on reflex. A man stood opposite her, and his long fingers stroked the sculpture she'd spent so many hours shaping. She clenched her jaw against the urge to chastise. He might be a judge, or a potential patron, but he had a lot to learn about ice.
She followed the hand with her eyes, willed it to lift away from the lines she prayed didn't blur at his attention. The heat from a finger—Maris cringed—could ruin her efforts in mere seconds.
"The epic battle." His voice held no hint of his opinion on the piece. It stated fact only.
Maris tore her gaze from his disobedient hand. She followed a tailored, indigo suit sleeve to the man's face, and found her words frozen in her throat. He had eyes that pinned you in place, clear blue, backed by an unnamed authority. She sensed little amusement when he smiled at her. His expression simply cracked.
He nodded toward the sculpture, and his finger pointed to the apex. Night black hair danced around his angular face with the gesture. "If I'm not mistaken," he continued. "You've veered slightly from the traditional formula."
"A small, artistic license." Maris' spine stiffened. As intimidating as the stranger looked, she felt compelled to defend her work. Years of school may have prepared her for criticism, but exposure hadn't lessoned the sting of it. "The Summer Prince would typically be ascendant." She pointed to indicate the sculpture's deviance. "I've chosen to feature his adversary, in honor of the season."
"Pardon?" She had to tilt her head back to meet his gaze. This time the smile held at least a trace of humor at the corners. His eyes flashed and held hers captive, frozen in a field of ice blue.
"I like it." His smile cracked wider, one end curling as he nodded again. "Wonderful."

subset: commoncrawl


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No two gigs are the same
Depending on the gig, bigger isn't always better when it comes to your rig. Shown here is Peter Thorn and his current "lean and mean" rig he's using on tour with Melissa Etheridge: A Jim Kelly Reverb head matched with a Suhr 2x12 on the left that he A/Bs with the Suhr SL68 head with a Divided By 13 2x12 on the right. Photo by Joshua Smith
Welcome to my first installment of "Tone Tips." I'm honored and excited to be a part of the fine publication that is Premier Guitar. For those who aren't familiar with me, I've primarily made my living as a touring sideman for the last 15 years, playing with such artists as Chris Cornell, Don Henley, Melissa Etheridge, and others. My goal with this column is to pass on some real world, practical knowledge that I've learned while touring. Sometimes the focus will be on equipment, sometimes on playing and performing, and sometimes on how I operate mentally on a day-to-day basis while touring. This month, let's discuss how to choose the right gear for a particular gig.
No Two Gigs Are the Same
It took me a while to realize that every
single gig I do is different—in every aspect.
The music is all certainly different, but in
many other ways, no two gigs are the same
because the dynamics of each tour varies.
Let's take travel, for example. You might be
flying everywhere on some gigs, traveling
by tour bus on others, or even faced with
traveling in a 15-passenger van with an
attached trailer on another.
The number of band and crew members varies from gig to gig as well. You might have your own tech, share a tech with another member, or have no tech at all. All these and other variables need to be looked at carefully when choosing what gear you'll use for a particular gig. Let's start with the audition...
Auditioning and Gear
You are always expected to bring your own
guitars, accessories, and pedalboard/effects,
but in my experience doing auditions, an
amp and cabinet will often be provided
for you. (You should, of course, always ask
beforehand.) The thinking is that providing
an amp will mean less setup and teardown
time between auditions, thereby facilitating
auditioning numerous guitarists. That said,
I have mixed feelings about using amps that
are provided at auditions.
Sure, using a provided rental amp means less stuff to carry to an audition and (arguably) less setup time, but you want to be as comfortable as possible when auditioning, and also put your best foot forward when it comes to your tones. I really try to make an impact at auditions, not only with my playing, but with my tones and attention to detail on specific sounds as well. For this reason, I always bring my own amp, though I will sometimes use a provided cabinet as long as it's of good quality. On some other occasions, I'll politely insist on using my entire rig. It will most likely take you less time to set up and get your tone dialed in using your own amp since you're already familiar with its controls and features.
You also want to bring the appropriate amp and guitars for the audition. Hypothetically, let's say you have an audition for Sheryl Crow's band. I wouldn't recommend using a pointy guitar with a Floyd Rose and EMGs through a Mesa Triple Rectifier amp! I'd bring a Tele, a Gretsch, or an SG, and for an amp, maybe an AC30, Twin Reverb, or possibly a tweed Bassman. Likewise, if it's a metal band you are auditioning for, you should bring gear that suits the music. I remember auditioning 30 bassists for a straight-up rock band I was in 10 years ago, and I could tell right away when a musician walked in and opened his case if he was a candidate or not. When someone pulled out a 6-string bass with the strap real high, I knew immediately he wasn't the guy. But when another guy came in looking like Billy Idol and pulled out a '70s P bass, I knew we were getting somewhere.
Once You've Got the Gig …
The music you play is certainly a primary
factor in dictating what gear you choose for
a specific gig, but let's talk about the other
factors to consider. Sometimes there will only
be one or two stage techs, and they have to
set up and tear down an entire stage full of
gear each night. Not only that, they have to
watch the band for onstage mishaps, handle
guitar changes, and more. In this type of
scenario when you don't have your own dedicated
tech, I'd recommend bringing a small,
simple rig, and trying to be as self-sufficient
as possible. The crew will thank you, and if
something goes wrong with your rig, it'll be
easier to troubleshoot yourself.
Another important consideration is the size of the band. I learned this the hard way. In one of my current gigs, there are two keyboard players, another guitarist, and sometimes a horn section. It's a fairly large band, but I have my own tech on this gig, which allows me the luxury of using basically whatever I want. When I first started the gig, I brought in my big wet/dry/ wet rig, which consists of a 12-space rack, a Suhr PT-100 amp head, a mono 4x12 cabinet for the dry signal that gets panned center, and two 1x12 cabs that get hard panned with stereo effects in them. The rig requires three mics with one on each cab, and it's an amazing sounding setup. But the other guitarist uses just a few pedals into a Peavey Classic 50 4x10 combo—one mic, mono in the house. Lo and behold, he was cutting through the mix much better than me! What I learned is that a bigger rig isn't always better. In a guitar/bass/drums trio, the wet/dry/wet rig (or another stereo rig of some sort) is fantastic. But in a larger band situation, it's easy to get lost in the mix, so I'd recommend a more focused, mono rig.
See you next month for more Tone Tips!
Pete Thorn is an L.A.-based guitarist, currently touring with Melissa Etheridge. His solo album, Guitar Nerd, is available through iTunes or cdbaby.com. Read more about his career at peterthorn.com.


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Divya Singh Amit Gautam
Dr Hima Gupta
R.G. Saha Diana Erudiyanathan
Cheryl Venan Dias Shilpa Tripathi
Dr. Bimal Jaiswal Dr. Richa Banerjee
Dr. Shubhada Marathe
M.P. Hrishikesh Jyoti Gupta
B. Nandhakumar
Prof. H.R. Appannaiah H.R. Ramanath
Dr. Mrs. M. Jeyarathnam
Dr. Francis Cherunilam
Dr. P.K. Sinha
O.P. Agarwal B.K. Chaudhuri
Prof. S.K. Sarangi
Dr. Bimal Jaiswal
T. A. S. Balagopal
J.S. Rathor B.M. Jani
J.S. Rathor Dr. B.S. Rathor
Dr. Khushpat S. Jain Apexa V. Jain
Ruby Ojha
H.R. Machiraju
Neelam Arora


text:
Types of roasts The coffee industry generally has four types of roast: high (or double) roast has a strong, slightly bitter burnt taste full roast has a less bitter taste, and without the burnt taste medium roast delivers a strong, full taste without the bitter taste light (or pale) roast gives a mild, smooth, delicate taste Amway's Espresso Coffee comes from the high, double roast, while the other coffees are medium to full roast.
- Made from 100% pure arabica beans.
- Air-tight sealed after careful roasting to preserve the full aroma.
- Evenly roasted beans are used as base.
- Coffee contains caffeine, a mild stimulant.
- Coffee is low in calorie, fat and carbohydrates.
- Filter coffee needs to be infused with hot water. The amount used is subjective and depends on individual taste. The most common mistake is not using enough quantity of ground coffee. For best results, the coffee should be brewed just off the boil (95–98°C) and should not be left on a warmer for more than 15–20 minutes.
- Any leftover coffee should be discarded.
- Suitable for use in any preferred infusion method.
- Also ideal as a base for recipes where liquid coffee is required.
No additional info
You could also be interested in the following products :


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At first glance, Kevin Rose of Digg's new startup Pownce is Yet Another Status Message Service (YASMS) like Twitter, Jaiku or Plazes. But really, its a collaboration app made for the most modern web. It's bound for adoption because the founders can drive word of mouth and its inherent virality. And perhaps what it does is less important than the three trends it represents.
Like others, the primary activity is messaging to your social network. You message to all your friends or public like others, or directly like typing "D Username" in Twitter at the beginning of a message, but also lets you select a subset of friends. Beyond messages, you can share links, files and events. Beyond doing this on the web, there is a Windows or Mac rich client.
The digerati and diggerati will probably rant away about how it doesn't have SMS or IM integration like Twitter, how the content is mundane (same thing with blogging five years ago), how it needs APIs and microformats (which it does, and hooks into Twitter, del.icio.us, Flickr, Upcoming and Facebook are inevitable), or just complain about adding friends again (Adding friends is the new zen). The design is slick on both the web and client and they will polish up key details like last names, comment threading like Jaiku, permalinks and need a more public space to explore.
What does it matter how one comes by the truth so long as one pounces upon it and lives by it? -- Henry Miller
But here's the three trends:
YASMS Gets and Ad Format -- I admire startups that launch with an actual business model. They have introduced a new Ad Format, a message broadcast into the stream with the Pownce icon (the green P in the above screenshot is an ad from PBwiki, I love wikis) that doesn't seem to persist. I didn't mind the ad from LaughingSquid (first I saw) in my peripheral attention. And if I did, I could pay to make it go away, but subscribing to the Pro version for $20/year and also be able to send files over 100MB.
AIR Gets a Viral App -- The client is built on the Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR), formerly Apollo and still in Beta. Pownce's virality will give AIR the airtime it needs for base of users to install it, making it easier for the next AIR client to come along. This should be AIR's showcase. That said, Pownce's model is what I call contained virality, where limits are part of the draw and when you are in you feel in (at least to share music, a hidden driver).
Consumer Collaboration Get Hip -- Anyone who follows the enterprise collaboration space will immediately see parallels with P2P collaboration apps like Groove or Shinkuro. Or IM, Skype and more directly enterprise IM like MindAlign. The key difference is group forming by social network and default modes of sharing more publicly. Pownce will appeal to a very different demographic, that's already collaborating on blogs, wikis and IM, and potentially full a space in between.
There are several vectors in which Pownce could go, or others could go towards including presence, location, public IM, security, indexing and integration. Pownce will have to open up invites soon (I'm out, please don't ask) to build its network effect before others encroach. It isn't unique enough to gain the continuous or at least partial attention of users for yet another client. Infrastructure costs will be greater than P2P. At the risk of breaking the design and making it too complex, Pownce should give serious thought to the role of standards and how they could be a client for Facebook.
Please, I don't have any invites.


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Joey Lawrence -- Whoa, I'm a Stripper!
Joey Lawrence Whoa, I'm a Stripper!
Joey Lawrence is taking it all off ... or most of it at least ... because the 90s heartthrob just inked a deal with the man-stripper crew at Chippendales in Vegas.
A rep for the beefcake brigade tells TMZ, the 36-year-old former "Blossom" star will don the legendary bow tie ... and not much else ... for a special engagement at the Rio from June 7th-24th.
We're told Joey will sing, dance ... the "whole nine yards."
Joey's celebrity MC predecessors at the famed strip show include 98 Degrees singer Jeff Timmons and former "Bachelor" star Jake Pavelka.
It's unclear how much Lawrence is getting paid for the gig -- but in those parts, there's only one currency ... singles.


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"Christmas has always been a very special day for as long back as I can remember," Ronald Reagan once wrote in a letter. "Maybe this was due to my mother and her joyous spirit about the day."
Although President Reagan could have spent his White House Christmases with family at his beloved ranch in Santa Barbara, Calif., he instead stayed in Washington, D.C. His sacrifice allowed Secret Service agents and other aides to spend Christmas at home with their families. He was a thoughtful person.
Reagan grew up in a desperately poor family. His father was a shoe sales clerk who had trouble keeping a job, partly because he was an alcoholic. "There were very few decorated trees in the years of my growing up. But never defeated, my mother would with ribbon and crepe paper decorate a table or create a cardboard fireplace out of a packing box. And she always remembered whose birthday it was and made sure we knew the meaning of Christmas."
His mother Nelle was an optimistic Christian woman who always looked for the positive side in every situation. President Reagan explained, no matter how bad things were for their family, his mother was always finding someone worse off than them. Reagan's most vivid early memory of his mother was of her with a covered dish taking it to a needy family. Nelle was always helping others.
Perhaps those lean years are one reason why Ronald Reagan once said a particular Christmas gift was especially memorable for him. It was his favorite gift and it came from his brother Neil. He called it "a gift truly in keeping with the spirit of the day." Neil had been struggling to find a suitable gift for his brother; they both were middle-aged adults and both men had successful careers.
Neil solved his dilemma by writing a letter. In the letter, Neil told his brother he had found a truly needy family with small children "who wouldn't go to bed with dreams of Santa Claus in their head." Ronald Reagan recounted how his brother Neil changed that and "became Santa himself, providing a Christmas from tree to turkey plus toys and gifts for all." Included in Neil's letter was a very detailed blow-by-blow account describing the "joy of the children and the grateful happiness of their mother."
This act of charitable giving by Neil reads like the end of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" and became President Reagan's most unforgettable Christmas gift. He called it "a gift that will never grow old," as he would re-read the letter or think about the family's reaction to Neil's generosity.
Helping and serving others gives true joy and happiness, not only to the recipient but even more so to the giver. Maybe Neil's gift was particularly touching to Reagan because he knew what it was like to go without.
Today, there are still families out there who are in difficult circumstances and they face a bleak Christmas. A gift like Neil's may be the perfect gift for you to give to that someone in your life who has everything. Your church or locally based charities such as the Salvation Army are aware of needy families. You could make a difference and receive special Christmas joy by giving to a family who has hit hard times. Then write a letter similar to Neil's describing the family's reactions and give it as a gift. This is the true spirit of Christmas.
On Christmas Eve 1984, speaking to the nation, President Reagan said, "families and friends across America will join together in caroling parties and Christmas Eve services. Together, we'll renew that spirit of faith, peace, and giving which has always marked the character of our people."
At the end of his tale, Dickens writes, "it was always said of [Scrooge], that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May this be said of all of us. And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!"
Merry Christmas!


text: Previously unknown paintings by Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall and Otto Dix are among a treasure trove of art – much of it believed to have been looted by the Nazis – found hidden in a Munich apartment. The vast collection, which experts say has "a value so high it cannot be estimated," was recovered in a raid by German tax authorities, in connection with an investigation into tax evasion, in February and March 2012. At a press conference in Germany on Tuesday, experts revealed that more than 1,300 artworks – many long feared lost or destroyed, and some which had never been recorded – had been discovered. Among the haul were paintings by Pablo Picasso, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Oskar Kokoschka, Canaletto, Pierre-August Renoir, Franz Marc and Gustav Courbet. "A total of 121 framed and 1,285 unframed works, among them works by famous artists, were seized," prosecutor Reinhard Nemetz announced. "There were oil paintings, works in india ink, pencil, watercolors, lithographs and prints." Nemetz said there were "concrete indications that [some of it] is so-called 'degenerate art' or stolen art." Art looted by Nazis 'found in German apartment' 'Degenerate art' Thousands of pieces of art condemned as "degenerate" by the Nazis were confiscated from galleries and private collectors in the 1930s and 1940s. Other works were stolen from Jewish families or sold for a fraction of their true value as the owners tried to flee the country. "The German government is supporting the state prosecution in Augsburg by supplying advice from experts in the field of so-called degenerate art and the entire issue of Nazi-looted art," government spokesman Steffen Seibert said. "But we cannot comment any of the issues of the ongoing investigation." The collection's existence only came to light this past weekend, with an article in the German news magazine Focus, which reported that that the pictures were found when customs police raided the rundown apartment in the Schwabing district of Munich last year. The recovered paintings are said to have been kept in storage in a secure warehouse in the city ever since. The Munich apartment where the artworks were found belongs to Cornelius Gurlitt, 80. Gurlitt's father Hildebrand was an art collector who dealt in works for the Nazis, according to art historians. Hildebrand Gurlitt had claimed the works were destroyed in Allied firebombing near the end of the Second World War. It is not clear how his son came to be in possession of the paintings. The authorities say Cornelius Gurlitt was unknown to them. He was not on any of the tax rolls and not even known by social security. No charges have been filed against Gurlitt, he is not under arrest, and the prosecutor said it is not clear which laws if any had been violated. Art historian Meike Hoffman, who has been cataloging the collection, said it contained important pieces of the highest quality – some of which were completely unknown. Art labeled 'degenerate' back on display in Germany Legal claims "To stand in front of these works, which have for a long time been thought missing, lost or destroyed and to see them in a relatively good condition – in part a little dirty, but not damaged – gives one a somewhat eerie feeling of happiness. "Many of the works were not known at all, previously, so they will have a big impact on research into the artists concerned, once the investigation is complete and they can be revealed publicly." The relatives of many Jewish families whose art collections were plundered during the Nazi era are now expected to launch legal action to try to reclaim their property. "We demand that the paintings be handed back to their original owners," said Ruediger Mahlo, representative of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany. Speaking to CNN before the full extent of the discovery became clear, Julian Radcliffe, chairman of the Art Loss Register, said it was "very encouraging… but there are tens of thousands of artworks still under dispute, so this is really just a drop in the ocean."


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Which NFL Team Has The Hottest Cheerleaders? [CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND]
It has come down to this– after a month of voting, arguing and staring much too long at pictures of women we've come to the final two teams in the 'Hottest NFL Cheerleading Squad' contest. While it's no surprise that the 'Ben-Gals' are the representative for the AFC, the NFC participant comes as a major shock with the 'Saintsations' beating out the Dallas Cowboys' cheerleaders who were the early favorite to win it all. Perhaps the hatred of the team from Texas swayed some voters? Guess we'll never know. Enough speculation, it's championship time.
Who will win the coveted crown of 'Hottest NFL Cheerleading Squad.' It's 'Who Dey' versus 'Who Dat!' Vote now!
[Click the team name to see a photo gallery dedicated to the squad.]


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Early Bengali Science Fiction
I thought I might risk going out on the limb of historical obscurities and share an article by Debjani Sengupta (PDF) I came across that talks about early Bengali science fiction writing.
The article is from the journal Sarai, which is published in Delhi. Some of the articles offer some truly impenetrable jargon -– even with writing on familiar topics (Bollywood, Call Centers, and so on). But there are also a number of well-written and informative articles on things like Parsi theater in Bombay in the 1800s that I would highly recommend.
On to Bengali science fiction. Even the fact that it existed as early as the 1880s may be a little shocking, since most studies of Bengali literature tend to center around Tagore -- who was extremely doubtful about modern technology. (Read his account of flying in an airplane here.) But the effects of the industrial revolution were being felt in urban India in the 19th century just as keenly as they were in Europe and the U.S., and at least some Indian writing reflected that. Probably the best, most enduring writing in this genre came from a single family –- Sukumar Ray (in the 1910s and 20s) and his son Satyajit Ray, who was a highly accomplished writer when he wasn't making making world class art films. But according to Sengupta the people who originated the genre in the 1880s were lesser known writers. For instance, the author mentions one Hemlal Dutta Rashashya:
Asimov's statement that "true science fiction could not really exist until people understood the rationalism of science and began to use it with respect in their stories" is actually true for the first science fiction written in Bangla. This was Hemlal Dutta's Rahashya ("The Mystery") that was published in two installments in 1882 in the pictorial magazine Bigyan Darpan, brought out by Jogendra Sadhu. The story revolved around the protagonist Nagendra's visit to a friend's house, a mansion completely automated and where technology is deified. Automatic doorbell, burglar alarms, brushes that clean suits mechanically are some of the innovations described in the story, and the tone is of wonder at the rapid automation of human lives.
It seems a little hard to imagine people writing about electric doorbells and burglar alarms in the 1880s in Calcutta, but there you have it. (Doorbells were actually invented in 1830, so maybe it's not that shocking.)
The genre really seems to get going with Sukumar Ray, who was by all accounts highly intellectually adventurous, even in the stories intended for children. (I did a short post on him here some time ago.) Like Lewis Carroll's "Alice" stories, Sukumar Ray's stories are full of mind-bending puzzles and language games. And it's quite likely that he was reading British writers like Arthur Conan Doyle and especially H.G. Wells as he was writing The Diary of Heshoram Hushiar:
Sukumar Ray (1887-1923) was probably inspired by Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World when he wrote Heshoram Hushiyarer Diary ("The Diary Of Heshoram Hushiar"). . . . It is a spoof on the genre because Sukumar is poking fun at the propensity of the scientist to name things, and that too in long-winded Latin words. He seems to be playing around the fact that names are arbitrarily conferred upon things by humans for their own convenience, and suggests that the name of a thing may somehow be intrinsically connected to its nature. So the first creature that Heshoram meets in the course of his journey through the Bandakush Mountains is a "gomratharium" (gomra in Bangla means someone of irritable temperament), a creature that sported a long woebegone face and an extremely cross expression. Soon the company comes upon another peculiar animal, not to be found in any textbook of natural sciences. They hear a terrible yowl, a sound between the cries of a "number of kites and owls" and find an animal "that was neither an alligator, nor a snake, nor a fish but resembled to a certain extent all three". His howls make Heshoram name him "Chillanosaurus" (chillano means to shout). Although just an extract, Heshoram Hushiyarer Diary is quite unlike anything written even in Bangla.
The cross-linguistic word-play ("Gomratharium" and "Chillanosaurus") is something that experimental modernist writers like James Joyce were doing in Europe in the 1920s too. That he was doing this suggests both that Ray was using Bangla quite confidently, and that he expected that his readership would be bilingual enough to recognize Latinate English words like "aquarium" and "tyrannosaurus."
Sukumar's son Satyajit was also quite playful with language in the short stories he wrote. His famous "Professor Shanku" (or "Shonku") stories are full of gadgets and devices with exotic names:
Satyajit Ray created Professor Shanku in 1961. The first SF featuring this eccentric hero was written for the magazine Sandesh and was called Byomjatrir Diary ("The Diary of the Space Traveller"). All thirty-eight complete and two incomplete diaries (the last one came out in 1992) narrate the fantastic world of Shanku's adventures, inventions and travels. Most of these stories are more than science fiction. They are also travelogues, fantasy tales, tales of adventure and romance. . . . His sense of humour makes him peculiarly human and his list of inventions is impressive. Anhihiline, Miracural, Omniscope, Snuffgun, Mangorange, Camerapid, Linguagraph -– the list is long and impressive. Some are drugs, some gadgets, some machines, but they all have human purposes and use.
There is a joyful self-deprecating quality to Professor Shanku, as seen in his early attempts to build a rocket for space travel:
The first [rocket] that he had built was unsuccessful and had come down on his neighbour Abinashbabu's radish patch. Abinashbabu had no sympathy for Shanku; science and scientists made him yawn. He would come up to Shanku and urge him to set off the rocket for Diwali so that the neighbourhood children could be suitably entertained. Shanku wants to punish this levity and drops his latest invention in his guest's tea. This is a small pill, made after the fashion of the Jimbhranastra described in the Mahabharata. This pill does not only make one yawn, it makes one see nightmares. Before giving a dose to his neighbour, Shanku had tried a quarter bit on himself. In the morning, half of his beard had turned grey from the effect of his dreams. Shanku's world is a real world, a human world. In his preparations for the space journey he has decided to take his cat Newton with him. For that he has invented a fish-pill. "Today I tested the fish-pill by leaving it next to a piece of fish. Newton ate the pill. No more problems! Now all I have to do is make his suit and helmet."
Ok, maybe the nightmare pill is a little bit on the darker side, but at least he tried it out on himself before dosing his neighbor. And the fish-pill that would allow him to take his cat along in outer space is a nice touch.
More Professor Shanku definitions are at the >Professor Shanku Wikipedia page:
Miracurall -- a drug capsule that cures any ailment except common cold Annihillin -- a pistol that simply annihilates any living thing. It does not work on non living things. Shankoplane -- A small plane capable of vertical take-off and landing and magnificent mileage Shankolite - the alloy by which shankoplane was made Omniscope - a combination of telescope and microscope Air-conditioning pill - a capsule that keeps the body temperature normal in extremes of climate. Somnolin - a sleeping pill that will work in any condition
I love the idea of a miracle pill that cures everything except the common cold. The A/C pill would probably also come in handy right about now in Delhi (where the temperature is 43.5 degrees C).
The question that comes up for me in looking at this material is first of all surprise that it's talked about so little with reference to modern Indian literature. The 'serious' figures like Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Rabindranath Tagore (in Bangla), and Mulk Raj Anand and R.K. Narayan (in English) are the names that tend to get referenced from before 1945. And after 1945, most literary critics have been interested in writers who dealt with political themes in their works -- the independence struggle, partition, wars, corruption, and so on. That Indian writers were also interested in space travel, the automation of everyday life, and robotics from an early point suggests that the literary scene was richer than most people think. Most of the Bengali science fiction in Sengupta's article is oriented to children, but it's clearly quite sophisticated -- entertaining for many adults in some of the same ways J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter is today.
[UPDATE: See a follow-up post here]


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Gasoline price spike has only just begun
Motorists should expect to pay upwards of $3.75 a gallon in the coming weeks as prices at the pump catch up with record crude, but relief may arrive by summer.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Gasoline has hit record levels - and experts say it will likely continue to soar in tandem with the skyrocketing price of crude.
The national average retail price for gas has risen about 30 cents in the past month to $3.279 a gallon, exceeding the all-time high set last year, according to the motorist organization AAA.
And experts say motorists should prepare to pay nearly $4 a gallon - and in some places even more than that - before the price of gas finally comes down in the late spring as high prices crimp demand.
The price of gasoline usually increases this time of year. Several factors contribute to the runup: Low refinery output due to maintenance, a switch from winter to pricier summer blends, and the looming high-demand summer driving season.
Experts say this time around the spike will be more pronounced, mostly due to the surging price of oil and, to a lesser extent, refiner's attempts to grow their profit margins.
"It's all crude," said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service. "The crude market is morbidly obese."
Oil prices - which account for 80% of the price of a gallon of gas - have jumped 20% in just over a month as investors pour money into commodities of all types.
Commodities like oil are seen as a hedge against inflation and the falling dollar - which has been trading at record lows - triggered by economic woes and interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.
Oil, already trading near $90 a barrel on the back of strong global demand, took off in February as the economy worsened and the Federal Reserve cut interest rates with crude now spiking to record highs on a near-daily basis - settling at a record $109.85 on March 13th.
But as oil prices rose gasoline prices stayed stagnant and profit margins enjoyed by refiners shrank. Now those profit margins have become so small refiners have little incentive to make gasoline.
"The refiners are saying, 'Hey we're not making any money,'" said Tim Statts, vice president of risk management for Summit Energy, a firm that buys energy for big users. "The gasoline price almost has to come up to continue bringing the product to market."
According to John Kilduff, an energy analyst at the trading firm MF Global in New York, refiners are making about $6 off of every barrel of oil they turn into gasoline. That's down from over $38 a barrel last spring.
Refiners are operating at just 85% capacity, down from a normal rate of around 90%, according to figures from the Energy Information Administration.
Killduff said the low operating rate is partly due to refiners being shut down for maintenance but also due to the small profits they're getting on gasoline.
"There's no market incentive to rush your unit back into production," he said. "[Gas prices] can't go any lower in relation to crude."
So how high will gas prices go?
While several areas will see prices over $4 a gallon, Kloza said he expects the nationwide average to peak somewhere between $3.50 and $3.75. Kilduff is calling for a high of $3.50, and Statts thinks we'll see the $3.30s.
All three analysts think prices will peak early, in April or May, then decline as the economy worsens and demand for gas - already flat or falling - continues to deteriorate.
"[The falloff in demand] that occurs around $3.25 a gallon takes a lot of the mojo out of gasoline," said Kloza. "These prices are real speed bumps for the economy."
By July 4, when many Americans pack up the sedan and head for the mountains or beach, prices could be back around $3. If anyone can still afford a vacation.
Issue #1 - America's Money: All this week at 12 pm ET, CNN explains how the weakening economy affects you. Full coverage.


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I am not a professional photographer, but I often play at "event photographer" for family events and sometimes informal work events. I find myself struggling with a desire to capture candid snapshots of the events that is contradicted by a desire to make sure the photos come out as good as they can.
How do people balance these two approaches? I'm afraid that if I ask people to move away from a window with a lot of glare, or to step over into better light, etc. it draws too much attention to the fact that I'm taking their picture and will cause the photos to feel too posed or forced. I love capturing people's natural expressions, but sometimes photos turn out horribly because I don't want to "interrupt the scene," as it were.
Are there any rules of thumb that professional photographers use to make sure they get the best-quality but still natural-feeling photos at events? Is it about the photographer's personality/ability to make people feel at ease? do you try to subtly change things about the setting to improve photo-affinity? Should I even try to get to events early so I can set things up the way I think they should be for optimum photographing? Should I just be constantly shooting and hope I get enough shots at the end of the day that turned out alright?


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The holidays are coming, and your business is ready. You have the snazzy site, the easy checkout, the social media campaigns. But how do you grab a bigger slice of the $64 billion that online shoppers are expected to spend this season?
Make people love you. Not only will they be more likely to buy this season, but there's a good chance they'll return after the holidays. Here are some tips on how to make it happen.
Give them personality
Beyond sales, promotions and free shipping, people want suggestions on what to buy. Online reviews and ratings are key, but so is a point of view, says Jen Handley, COO of Fizziology, which monitors consumer trends on social media. Provide interesting gift guides, unexpected finds or even guest bloggers who can make recommendations beyond the ordinary, says Handley. "Consumers don't know what's hot this holiday season until someone tells them."
Related: 8 must-have holiday toys
You should also offer advice on how best to use a product. Online bag retailer eBags.com boosts sales with 1,000 videos on its site. Designers talk on camera about their inspiration and show key product features and materials. One video featured designer Bernard Majeau talking about a wheeled duffel, which turned the bag into a top seller; in fact, more than half the people who viewed the video watched for more than three minutes.
"He has a bit of a geeky charm, which makes him believable, likeable, and trustworthy," says eBags cofounder Peter Cobb. "There's no doubt that people who watch the videos are far more likely to buy."
Get ideas from social
Think beyond Twitter (TWTR) blasts and Facebook (FB) "likes." Use social media to tap into what people want this holiday season to push the right products. "If you see argyle sweaters trending for your brand on Pinterest, Tumblr or Instagram, then feature those argyle sweaters more prominently online and in-store," says Apu Gupta, CEO of Curalate, a social analytics firm.
Related: Which social network is best for your business?
Fuel your fan base by posting consumer photos on your site and in social media. Services like Pongr, Pixlee and Stipple help businesses use images to market online.
Put real people behind your site
Most businesses line up the technology to handle the online holiday rush, but many fail when it comes to customer service, says Jordy Leiser, CEO of StellaService, which rates customer service of online retailers. Strive for the kind of word-of-mouth success Zappos built with service. Show your toll-free number on every page. Ramp up staffing to handle volume and expand your customer service hours. "Great customer service is the best marketing there is," Leiser says.
Related: Want loyal customers? Build a culture of saying 'yes'
Let them find you anywhere
Three-quarters of smartphone owners will browse on their phones this season, according to a Google survey. So it's vital to ensure your site works on mobile and that access to shopping carts is seamless between desktop and phones.
Cobb expects a quarter of eBags' traffic to come from smart phones this next month, so the company spent 11 months making sure its site worked well on every device. eBags resized images, changed the spacing, improved navigation and made links more obvious for mobile users. They also added the ability for customers to save their cart or email it to themselves for later checkout. "You need for it to be as easy as possible because otherwise people will bolt," Cobb says.


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NIMES, France (AP) — Almost at the line, Jack Bauer and Martin Elmiger were exhausted but could see it coming — their first Tour de France stage victory. Those last 50 meters, however, got in the way.
A bunch of sprinters leading the pack came speeding like a runaway train and plowed past the huffing breakaway duo in the final milliseconds. Stage 15 belonged to Norwegian speedster Alexander Kristoff, his second stage victory in this Tour.
The 138-mile (222-kilometer) stage went smoothly for overall leader Vincenzo Nibali of Italy. He made sure his main rivals couldn't claw back any time, and he kept his yellow jersey by finishing in the trailing pack.
After two days in the Alps, Sunday's stage offered some relief over a flat course from Tallard, southeast France's parachuting capital, toward Nimes, known for its Roman arena and bullfighting. More relief comes Monday — a second rest day.
This ride showed yet again on the Tour how mighty efforts so often go unrewarded.
Bauer is a New Zealander who had a better shot of holding off the sprinters than Swiss champion Elmiger. Bauer dropped his bike after the finish line, sat on the ground and cupped his face in his hands, crying. They had led nearly from the starter's gun.
"It's a fantasy for any cyclist to win a stage at the Tour and especially for a Kiwi cyclist, not many of us turn professional and not many of us get a chance to start the Tour de France," Bauer said.
The 29-year-old rider came to the Tour to help Garmin-Sharp leader Andrew Talansky, who dropped out before Stage 12 because of injuries from an earlier crash.
The pack perfectly timed its move on the breakaway duo and proved too strong. Bauer was pedaling with his last remaining strength, and when he looked back a last time they were already zooming by. He finished in 10th place, with Elmiger 16th.
"I really gave it absolutely everything, and as you can see from my meltdown at the finish I was pretty disappointed to come away empty-handed," Bauer added, noting he's usually a support rider. "I thought I had it, but then I realized in the last 50 meters that I had nothing."
The Swiss rider with IAM Cycling took it more in stride. This, after all, wasn't the first breakaway to fail in this Tour.
"I am not disappointed because I actually did not have the best legs today," Elmiger said. "Being caught by the pack is not so bad when you are convinced you have given everything. As I have already said three times this Tour after breaks have failed, one of these days the wheels will turn in my favor."
Kristoff, a Katusha rider who also won Stage 12, sighed in relief.
"It was a little bit late for comfort. It was very close," he said. "I thought I would be second. ... We turned on the gas."
"Of course, that's a pity for them, but I don't feel sorry for them," he said. "Normally, the break should never have had a chance, but they did. They were really strong guys. ... That must have been really hard."
With about 12 miles (20 kilometers) left, rain briefly doused the riders, though skies brightened by the end. A series of roundabouts and leg fatigue among the sprinters after the Alpine stages gave an advantage to the breakaway pair until the final seconds.
Nibali kept his main rivals for the Tour title at bay. He leads Spain's Alejandro Valverde by 4:37 while Romain Bardet of France is third, 4:50 behind. American Tejay van Garderen is fifth, 5:49 back.
Nibali, the leader of Kazakh team Astana, is in good shape to take the yellow jersey when the three-week race ends next Sunday in Paris. Some of his closest rivals have already said the race is now for second place.
The Italian has shown savvy — gaining time on cobblestone patches in Stage 2 — and nearly insurmountable dominance on high climbs. He won Stage 13's entree into the Alps and was second a day later, also in the snow-capped mountains.
On Sunday, Nibali showed he wasn't leaving any chances to his rivals. With about 39 miles (65 kilometers) left, he sped out of the pack and briefly took the lead.
"At that moment, there was a lot of side wind," he said. "I really didn't want to miss the good opportunity and try to move up into position ... because when there's wind, you have to be at the front."
More grueling climbs loom in the Pyrenees this week before the only individual time trial of this Tour on Saturday.
Norways Kristoff wins Tour stage; Nibali leads


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Trees Catch the Rain
Sep 27, 2013 at 10:10 AM 0 Comments
With some heavy rain forecast for this weekend, it's a good time to remember the important role trees are playing in capturing and soaking up the rain before it hits the pavement and washes in to our storm drains and rivers.
Portland is in good company with many other cities that support tree planting, green infrastructure and natural area preservation as part of clean water and stormwater management strategies. Seattle, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Vancouver, WA and others use stormwater fees to support tree planting.
Right now is prime time to sign up for new trees with Friends of Trees, or to think about Treebate if that's a better option for you. We need your help to add to the 32,200 trees planted since 2008, thanks to Friends of Trees and our other partners. Let's keep our urban forest growing for the future!
See Environmental Services Director Dean Marriot's letter to The Oregonian about trees here: http://blog.oregonlive.com/myoregon/2013/09/letter_treebates_contribute_to.html
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text: Anchorage artist and author Barbara Lavallee visits the Art Shop Gallery from 1 to 6 p.m. Saturday. Part of the gallery's annual Alaskan Summer Artist Series, Lavallee shows her new print, "Tying the Quilt." The gallery also has a selection of her books, her 2014 calendar and prints and originals. The Art Shop Gallery is at 202 W. Pioneer Ave.


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I bet a lot of us associate drones with stories of surveillance and international conflict. So why on earth are we featuring them at a family-friendly celebration of creativity?
To explain, here's what Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief at Wired magazine, founder of DIY Drones (an online community for people building their own unmanned aerial vehicles), and a speaker at the East Bay Mini Maker Faire, said in the New Yorker last year:
"The Internet was once a military thing, but we colonized it and took it away from them. Right now, drones are scary. I'd like to make them unscary."
Building your own drone is not only a way to learn physics, electronics and sensors, mechanical assembly, and how things fly, it's also a way to put a powerful technology in the hands of regular citizens, which makes for a better and safer society. It's also a way to feel what it's like to be a bird, to experience that amazing sensation of flying, safely, from the ground, when drones have eyes and share their view with you. And if you're still thinking about the military implications of this technology, here's Chris again in Wired earlier this year:
It's safe to say that drones are the first technology in history where the toy industry and hobbyists are beating the military-industrial complex at its own game.
Be at Studio One on the Mini Maker Faire grounds at Park Day School by 11 am next Sunday, October 14th, to hear Chris explain how and why he builds drones, and shows them off.


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Splendor 1920 ... cross stitch and embroidery with Aurifil!
When I designed Splendor 1920, I had images of the ladies of Downton Abbey doing their beautiful embroidery work that you see on the set here and there. I'm not sure if they would have done cross-stitch, but I was anamored by the look of it. So, I designed a piece that you can both embroider and cross stitch right on top of to embellish. The only problem was, I really wanted a way of giving you some sort of kit to just grab the colors and go. So, I contacted the fabulous people of Aurifil, and asked if they might be interested in doing a box set of 12 of the colors in the line. And much to my surprise, they said yes!
It's been a couple months coming, but I'm so happy to be able to show it to you now... A 12 spool box of 12wt Aurifil Cotton Mako threads for you to use with Splendor 1920 ... and any other projects you might see fit. It's awesome for both hand and machine stitching with a top stitch needle. I absolutely love this stuff, and I'm sure you will too.
The cross stitch piece in Splendor 1920 was designed to go from selvedge to selvedge. The thinking being, if you were to use the whole width for say, I child's dress, it would drape beautifully. The bottom part of the design features 3 border prints of differing widths and then the top part of the design is a tossed mix of cross stitch. I like the idea of using the borders for quilt borders, edges of skirts and coats, tea towels, pillows and so much more. I'll be showing you more of how it can be used on project in the days, weeks and months to come.


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U.S. Raid on Libya
Get writing ideas and topics with the Genealogy.com Biography Assistant
The U.S. alleged that Libya sponsored terrorist attacks on American citizens. What did he/she think the U.S. should do about this? Choose this Topic to outline how U.S. experiences with Libya may have influenced him/her.
Was the U.S. raid on Libya in 1986 a significant event for him?
- Why was he/she interested in the raid on Libya? Did he/she or someone he/she knew take part in the raid? Was he/she interested in that part of the world?
- The U.S. alleged that Libya sponsored terrorist attacks on American citizens at the Rome and Vienna airports on December 27, 1985--a charge Libya denied. What was his/her reaction to those charges and their denial? Whom did he/she believe?
- Was he/she living or traveling on that side of the world during this time? How did it affect him? Was he/she afraid to travel due to the terrorist attacks?
- The U.S. government decided to place sanctions on the Qaddafi regime in an attempt to ensure the safety of Americans living in Libya. What was his/her opinion of the sanctions? Did he/she think they would be effective?
- The U.S. later retaliated against the alleged Libyan bombings in Berlin by conducting bombing raids on targets in Tripoli and Benghazi. What was his/her first reaction to the news of the bombings? Did he/she support this decision? Why or why not?
- Was anyone he/she knew injured or killed in the bombings? What was the situation? Were they civilians? Were they in the military?
- After the crisis, it remained to be seen whether the U.S. approach to Libya had succeeded in curbing terrorism. What was his/her opinion on this? Did he/she think the U.S. had made progress? Was it worth the price?
Did he/she take part in the U.S. military raid on Libya?
- Which branch was he/she serving in? Who was his/her commanding officer? Who were his/her peers?
- Where had he/she been stationed before he/she was called to take part in the Libyan raid? What did he/she think when he/she found out that he/she would be taking part in these activities?
- Did he/she feel as if he/she was prepared for his/her duties? Did it turn out that he/she was prepared?
- What part did he/she and his/her peers play in the raid? How did his/her efforts affect the action as a whole?
- After leaving Libya, did he/she feel that he/she accomplished anything? What was it? What was his/her most vivid memory of this time? Specific people or places? A certain event?


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I'm developing a new site, and although I know enough basic programming to make the site, I'm not artistically inclined enough to make the site look nice. So, I was hoping I could get some suggestions or something on what colors and fonts go well together to make a nice looking website; only for the users experience.
So, does anyone have any suggestions, or sites that may help me learn about such a thing? I'm really just developing a basic site, so it can be basic colors, just nothing to dark or light I guess. I'm thinking somewhere in the middle.


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RADNOR, Pa., April 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- PVR Partners, L.P. (NYSE: PVR) today announced that it will release financial results for the first quarter of 2013 before market opening on Thursday, April 25, 2013 and hold a conference call to discuss those results on April 25, 2013 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The conference call will be publicly available via webcast on a live and replay basis. The text of the press release and links to the webcast will be available at PVR's website, www.pvrpartners.com, as well as through other electronic business news services.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110224/PH54022LOGO )
Interested parties are invited to listen to the conference call, during which prepared remarks by William H. Shea, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer, and other members of management will be followed by a question and answer session. Participants in the conference call who would like to ask questions may join by phone. Individuals who intend to listen only are encouraged to join the conference via the Internet.
Event: |
Conference call to discuss first quarter 2013 financial and operating results. |
Time: |
April 25, 2013 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. |
Internet: |
The webcast may be accessed directly at http://www.videonewswire.com/event.asp?id=93357. The webcast link is also posted in the "Scheduled Events" section of the homepage of PVR's website, www.pvrpartners.com. Listeners are encouraged to log on approximately 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start of the call to download and install or test any necessary audio software. |
Phone: |
Dial 800-860-2442 (international 412-858-4600) five to ten minutes before the scheduled start of the conference call and reference the PVR Partners call. |
Replay: |
An on-demand replay of the webcast will also be available at PVR's website shortly after the webcast. A telephonic replay of the call will be available through May 1, 2013. The replay can be accessed by dialing toll free 877-344-7529 (international: 412-317-0088) and using the replay code 10027573. |
PVR Partners, L.P. (NYSE: PVR) is a publicly traded limited partnership which owns and operates a network of natural gas midstream pipelines and processing plants, and owns and manages coal and natural resource properties. Our midstream assets, located principally in Texas, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania, provide gathering, transportation, compression, processing, dehydration and related services to natural gas producers. Our coal and natural resource properties, located in the Appalachian, Illinois and San Juan basins, are leased to experienced operators in exchange for royalty payments. More information about PVR is available on our website at www.pvrpartners.com.
Contact: |
Stephen R. Milbourne |
Director - Investor Relations |
Phone: 610-975-8204 |
E-Mail: [email protected] |
SOURCE PVR Partners, L.P.


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EXPLOSIVE Workout MONSTER! – Best of Michael Vazquez
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For Business inquiries contact me: email@example.com
Plyometrics, also known as "jump training" or "plyos", are exercises in which muscles exert maximum force in short intervals of time, with the goal of increasing power (speed-strength). This training focuses on learning to move from a muscle extension to a contraction in a rapid or "explosive" manner, such as in specialized repeated jumping. Plyometrics are primarily used by athletes, especially martial artists, sprinters and high jumpers, to improve performance, and are used in the fitness field to a much lesser degree.
Plyometrics includes explosive powerful training exercises that are trained to activate the quick response and elastic properties of the major muscles in the body. It was Initially made famous by Soviet Olympians in the 1970s, providing the core element in the strength programs of elite sporting athletes worldwide. Sports using plyometrics include basketball, tennis and volleyball as well as the various codes of football.
The term "plyometrics" was coined by Fred Wilt after watching Soviet athletes prepare for their events in track and field; he felt this was a key to their success. He began a collaboration with trainer Michael Yessis of Soviet (Russia)to promote plyometrics.
Since its introduction in the early 1980s, two forms of plyometrics have evolved. In the original version of plyometrics, created by Russian scientist Yuri Verkhoshansky, it was defined as the shock method. In this, the athlete would drop down from a height and experience a "shock" upon landing. This in turn would bring about a forced eccentric contraction which was then immediately switched to a concentric contraction as the athlete jumped upward. The landing and takeoff are executed in an extremely short period of time, in the range of 0.1–0.2 second. The shock method is the most effective method used by athletes to improve their speed, quickness, and power after development of a strong strength base.
Rather than using the term plyometrics to indicate exercises utilizing the shock method, it may be preferable to use the term explosive or true plyometrics which can be considered the same as the plyometrics originally created by Verkhoshansky. The shock method that he created was the result of studying the actions that occur in running and jumping. He found that the landings and takeoffs in these two skills involved high ground reaction forces that were executed in an extremely quick and explosive manner. For example, time of execution of the landing and takeoff in jumping was close to 0.20 second and in sprinting it was approximately 0.10 second.
Since one of the main objectives of the Soviet research was to develop practical methods of training to improve athletic performance, Verkhoshansky tackled the task of how these forces in explosive execution could be duplicated in an exercise. By doing exercises such as the depth jump, that he created, the athlete would enhance his ability in the takeoff and his resultant performance in the running or jumping event. He experimented with many different exercises, but the depth jump appeared to be the best for duplicating the forces in the landing and takeoff.
The second version of plyometrics, seen to a great extent in the United States, relates to doing any form of jump regardless of execution time. Such jumps cannot be considered truly plyometric (as described by Verkhoshansky) since the intensity of execution is much lower and the time required for transitioning from the eccentric to the concentric contraction is much greater. The term plyometrics became very popular with the publication of many books on the subject matter. It now appears impossible to go back to its original meaning and method of execution.
As a result, it is important to distinguish which type of "plyometric" exercise is used in order to determine its effectiveness and potential to receive the stated benefits. Though the name plyometrics is given to all jumps, not all jumps are plyometric.


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In this weekly series, Life's Little Mysteries provides expert answers to challenging questions.
A rough estimate based on geologic records indicates there's a 1-in-10,000 chance of a "supereruption" at Yellowstone during our lifetimes. However, given the erratic nature of volcanoes, that number doesn't mean much. The bulging pocket of magma swishing around beneath Old Faithful might never blow its lid again. Or, it might put on a surprise fireworks show next Independence Day. Scientists just don't know.
But if or when it blows, what will actually happen? Will it be the end of us all, or just a big knock to the tourism industry in Wyoming?
Each of the three past supereruptions of the Yellowstone hotspot spewed more than 1,000 cubic kilometers of magma into the environment — the benchmark of a "supervolcano." According to Jacob Lowenstern, scientist-in-charge at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, that's a large enough eruption to cover much of North America in an ash blanket of varying thickness.
"The ash is thick (more than about 30 centimeters of ash) near the eruption source and a small fraction of a millimeter once you move 2,000 miles away. It's fair to say that a trace of ash would be found over most of the United States, though it would only be thick enough to collapse roofs in the states closest to Yellowstone," Lowenstern told Life's Little Mysteries.
With enough warning, the states near Yellowstone could be evacuated, which would largely avoid a tremendous loss of life caused by the downpour of ash, the scientists said. But that's just in the short term; the aftermath would be the rub. For several days, ash would hang in the air, making it difficult to breathe. And that blanket of ash covering the country would smother vegetation and pollute the water supply, quickly leading to a nationwide food crisis. "A lot of people would perish," said Stephen Self, director of the Volcano Dynamics Group at the Open University in the U.K. He envisions American refugees lining up at the Mexican border. [5 Ways the World will Radically Change This Century]
Perhaps foreign governments would come to our aid and embark on a major ash cleanup operation, but without such an effort, inhospitable conditions would persist in the midwestern U.S. for about a decade. "The records show that [new] vegetation starts to take hold about 10 years after supereruptions. It depends on how much rainfall the area receives, as rainfall is the main way you clear ash off the land," Self said.
As for the rest of the world, it would face a few years of mild climate change caused by the supereruption's ash cloud, which would wrap around the globe, casting Earth in shadow for several days and altering the chemical composition of the atmosphere for a decade or so. However, recent research shows the global impacts of supervolcanoes are less severe than scientists once thought, and a Yellowstone supereruption might be especially unimposing because its magma contains minimal sulfur. Sulfur gas produces particles called aerosols, which can cool the climate by blocking sunlight.
"The huge volume of magma means there would still be some sulfur injected into the atmosphere, but work has shown that you reach a sort of limit in the amount of aerosols you can produce with sulfur gas. It means that our earlier suggestions that there would be a severe temperature change is not right," Self said. [What If Earth's Magnetic Poles Flip?]
Based on the new models, the scientists now think the vast majority of Earth's species would weather a Yellowstone supereruption just fine (except, of course, for those knocked out due to proximity of the initial blast). They don't see any evidence in the geologic record of mass extinctions coinciding with supereruptions, and they don't predict extinctions to result from such geologic events in the future.
"The last time Yellowstone erupted, no extinctions took place," said Michael Rampino, a biologist and geologist at New York University. "Supereruptions are not extinction-level events," he said, but added that they can obviously cause problems for civilization.
These are scientists' best guesses, but they probably won't be around to check their answers. Yellowstone's last full-scale outburst occurred 640,000 years ago, and the ones before that occurred 1.3 million and 2.1 million years ago — but each of these events was a tad smaller than the one before it. This geologic hotspot could be growing cold. Or it might have one last hurrah.
Follow Natalie Wolchover on Twitter @nattyover. Follow Life's Little Mysteries on Twitter @llmysteries, then join us on Facebook.
Copyright 2012 Lifes Little Mysteries, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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HOUSTON (AP) -- Convicted ex-Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling's more than 24-year prison sentence for his role in the once mighty energy giant's collapse could be reduced by as many as 10 years if a federal judge approves an agreement reached Wednesday between prosecutors and defense attorneys.
Under the agreement, which Justice Department officials say includes a previous court-ordered reduction of as much as nine years, Skilling's original sentence will be reduced to somewhere between 14 and 17.5 years.
The agreement still has to be approved by U.S. District Judge Sim Lake, who is set to hold a June 21 hearing in Houston to make the final decision on the length of Skilling's sentence.
Daniel Petrocelli, Skilling's attorney, says the agreement "brings certainty and finality to a long, painful process."
Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said the agreement will allow victims of Enron's collapse to finally receive more than $40 million in restitution. The ongoing status of the case has so far prevented the government from distributing Skilling's seized assets to victims, according to the agreement.
Skilling was convicted in 2006 on 19 counts of conspiracy, securities fraud, insider trading and lying to auditors for his role in the downfall of Houston-based Enron. The company collapsed into bankruptcy in 2001 under the weight of years of illicit business deals and accounting tricks.
Skilling has been in prison since December 2006 and is serving his sentence in a low security facility outside of Denver.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld his convictions in 2009 but vacated his more than 24-year prison term and ordered that he be resentenced, saying a sentencing guideline was improperly applied, resulting in a longer prison term.
The appeals court called for Skilling's sentence to be reduced to somewhere between 15.6 years to 19.5 years. Prosecutors agreed to a further reduction as part of their efforts to distribute the $40 million in restitution and resolve a case that's been investigated and prosecuted for more than 10 years.
"This agreement ensures that Mr. Skilling will be appropriately punished for his crimes and that victims will finally receive the restitution they deserve," Carr said.
Petrocelli said while the recommended sentence still would be more than double that of any other Enron defendant, all of whom have since been released from prison, "Jeff will at least have the chance to get back a meaningful part of his life."
Former Enron employee George Maddox, who lost $1.3 million in retirement savings when the energy giant collapsed, said Skilling's reduced sentence is unfair and means he won't "pay the full price" for his crimes.
"When I get up in the morning, I'm still mad at Jeff Skilling for what he did to us. And not just me, but hundreds of families that he put in poverty," Maddox said.
The 79-year-old Maddox, who lives in the East Texas town of Van, is now supporting his 16-year-old grandson and himself mainly on Social Security income. Maddox worked for 30 years as a plant manager with the company.
Philip Hilder, a Houston attorney who represented several ex-Enron executives who cooperated with prosecutors, called the agreement a "great result" for Skilling.
"It's not ideally what either side wanted. It was a reasonable compromise to put this matter behind everybody," he said.
Petrocelli declined to comment about when Skilling might be released from prison if the agreement is approved.
The U.S. Supreme Court said in 2010 that one of Skilling's convictions was flawed when it sharply curtailed the use of the "honest services" fraud law — a short addendum to the federal mail and wire fraud statute that makes it illegal to scheme to deprive investors of "the intangible right to honest services."
The Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors can use the law only in cases where evidence shows the defendant accepted bribes or kickbacks and that because Skilling's misconduct entailed no such things, he did not conspire to commit honest-services fraud.
The Supreme Court told a lower court to decide whether he deserved a new trial. The lower court said no.
Skilling, 59, was the highest-ranking executive to be punished for Enron's downfall. Enron founder Kenneth Lay's similar convictions were vacated after he died of heart disease less than two months after trial.
Enron's collapse put more than 5,000 people out of work, wiped out more than $2 billion in employee pensions and rendered worthless $60 billion in Enron stock. Its aftershocks were felt across the city and the energy industry.


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TechRadar Verdict
- +
Excellent performance Huge hard drive Sharp, colourful 1080p screen Interesting remote control gimmick Blu-ray drive
- -
Crap touchpad Bulky and heavy Underpowered speakers
Why you can trust TechRadar
These days we're seeing a lot more slim and light ultraportable laptops. Rising up against these size zero models is the Acer Aspire Ethos 8951G.
Like the Dell XPS 15z and the Macbook Pro 17 inch, this is all about packing in huge amounts of power, and who cares if it's on the chunky side. After all, as our mothers told us: it's not the outside, it's what's on the inside that counts.
As with the previous Ethos models, the Acer Aspire Ethos 8951G is an entertainment centre that's designed to sit on your desk at home.
Crushing the scales at 4.2kg, you wouldn't want to carry this laptop any further than the next room, to avoid popping a couple of vertebrae.
That said, we were impressed at how thin the Ethos is. Sure, 40mm can't really be described as 'thin', when you consider that the Samsung 9000 series measures just a smidgen over 10mm. But considering the girth of this machine, it's comparatively slender.
We also liked the smart design, which follows the XPS 15z's mantra of 'keep it simple'. The dark chassis has a brushed metal finish that spreads everywhere except the palmrests, and it looks as solid as it feels.
We didn't find any hint of flex no matter how hard we poked and prodded, which is to be expected at this price point.
One of the most interesting new features of the Ethos 8951G is the detachable touchpad. In previous models, the touchpad converted to a media control panel at the press of a button.
This laptop has the same gimmick. One push of the corner gives you fast access to the Clear-Fi application, which is a media hub for enjoying your photos, films and music. Another press brings up the play, skip, pause and volume controls, and a third press returns the touchpad to normal.
On the previous models this was nice, but of limited use as you had to be sat in front of the Ethos to use it. However, the Ethos 8951G lets you remove the entire touchpad by flicking a switch, so you can use it from across the room to control your media.
It's a smart idea that works well. Even when we positioned ourselves across the other side of the office, the laptop still responded perfectly to the infrared remote.
Of course, it isn't a perfect solution. You're limited to the basic pause/play/skip and volume controls, and if you wish to go full-screen or fiddle with other settings, you need to change back to touchpad mode and fiddle around.
While the touchpad works fairly well as a remote, it works rather less well as a touchpad. For some reason, the responsiveness is all over the place, with sensitivity levels dying as you slide your finger towards the edges.
In fact, swiping the right edge did nothing at all. We'd actually recommend using a USB mouse with this laptop, to avoid frustration.
Thankfully the keyboard is typically great for an Acer laptop. As usual, an isolation-style design has been used, with each key poking up through an individual hole cut in the Ethos 8951G's chassis.
It's a well laid out board and a great size for touch typing, despite the tiny left Shift key.
The arrow keys are sadly squashed beneath the right Shift key, which seems unnecessary considering the room Acer had to play with. Still, you do get a separate numeric pad, which is useful if you're a spreadsheet junkie.
Current page: Acer Aspire Ethos 8951G review: Overview
Next Page Acer Aspire Ethos 8951G review: Specifications


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Notice Number: NOT-OD-05-002
Update: The following update relating to this announcement has been issued:
Key Dates
Release Date: October 12, 2004
The goal of the NIH Roadmap is to accelerate and strengthen biomedical research enterprise. During consultation with the extramural scientific community that led to the development of the NIH Roadmap process, it was frequently mentioned that the criteria used to evaluate research grant applications were not placing appropriate emphasis on some important types of biomedical research (see http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/). The Roadmap Trans-NIH Clinical Research Workforce Committee proposed a modification of the NIH Peer Review Criteria for investigator-initiated research grant applications that would better accommodate interdisciplinary, translational, and clinical projects. The updated review criteria were adopted at the August 5, 2004 meeting of the Directors of the NIH Institutes and Centers. According to the schedule shown below, the updated criteria will replace the review criteria adopted on June 27,1997 (see https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/not97-010.html).
These updated review criteria will be effective for research grant applications received on or after January 10, 2005 that fall into the following categories:
Note: RFAs published before this announcement will continue to use the existing review criteria. RFAs published after this announcement will use the newly updated criteria (shown below) as a framework for the development of review criteria specific to the RFA.
Beginning with reviews in the summer of 2005, reviewers will be instructed to use the updated review criteria (shown below) as the basis for evaluating research grant applications and for assigning a single, global score for each scored application. The score should reflect the overall impact that the project could have on the advancement of science. The emphasis on each criterion may vary from one application to another; and an application need not be strong in all categories to be judged likely to have a major scientific impact.
Future RFAs and PAs, which will be published in the NIH Guide to Grants and Contracts, will incorporate and employ these updated criteria as the basis for evaluating all research applications.
Updated NIH Criteria for the Evaluation of All Research Applications
The goals of NIH'supported research are to advance our understanding of biological systems, to improve the control of disease, and to enhance health. In their written critiques, reviewers will be asked to comment on each of the following criteria in order to judge the likelihood that the proposed research will have a substantial impact on the pursuit of these goals. Each of these criteria will be addressed and considered in assigning the overall score, weighting them as appropriate for each application. Note that an application does not need to be strong in all categories to be judged likely to have major scientific impact and thus deserve a high priority score. For example, an investigator may propose to carry out important work that by its nature is not innovative but is essential to move a field forward.
1. Significance . Does this study address an important problem? If the aims of the application are achieved, how will scientific knowledge or clinical practice be advanced? What will be the effect of these studies on the concepts, methods, technologies, treatments, services, or preventative interventions that drive this field?
2. Approach . Are the conceptual or clinical framework, design, methods, and analyses adequately developed, well integrated, well reasoned, and appropriate to the aims of the project? Does the applicant acknowledge potential problem areas and consider alternative tactics?
3. Innovation . Is the project original and innovative? For example: Does the project challenge existing paradigms or clinical practice; address an innovative hypothesis or critical barrier to progress in the field? Does the project develop or employ novel concepts, approaches, methodologies, tools, or technologies for this area?
4. Investigators . Are the investigators appropriately trained and well suited to carry out this work? Is the work proposed appropriate to the experience level of the principal investigator and other researchers? Does the investigative team bring complementary and integrated expertise to the project (if applicable)?
5. Environment . Does the scientific environment in which the work will be done contribute to the probability of success? Do the proposed studies benefit from unique features of the scientific environment, or subject populations, or employ useful collaborative arrangements? Is there evidence of institutional support?
NOTE: Requests for Applications (RFAs), which are published in the NIH Guide to Grants and Contracts, may list additional elements, relating to the specific requirement of the RFA, under each of the above criteria. Additional Review Criteria: In addition to the above criteria, the following items will continue to be considered in the determination of scientific merit and the priority score:Additional Review Considerations
Budget: The reasonableness of the proposed budget and the requested period of support in relation to the proposed research. The priority score should not be affected by the evaluation of the budget.
For more information, including a side by side description of the changes, and frequently asked questions, see the OER: Peer Review Policy and Issues website (https://grants.nih.gov/grants/peer/peer.htm#documents).
Feedback and comments regarding the criteria may be left at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Inquiries regarding this notice may also be directed to:
Anthony M. Coelho, Jr., Ph.D.
Review Policy Officer
National Institutes of Health
6701 Rockledge Drive, Room 3533
Bethesda, MD 20892
Telephone: (301) 402-7543
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Weekly TOC for this Announcement
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices
Department of Health and Human Services |
National Institutes of Health (NIH) 9000 Rockville Pike Bethesda, Maryland 20892 |


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Gold nanotech breath test may show lung cancer early
A sensor made with gold nanoparticles can detect lung cancer in a patient's breath and may offer a diagnosis before tumors show up on an x-ray, Israeli scientists said on Sunday.
The device, which the developers say would be cheap enough for everyday use by family doctors, detected lung cancer with 86 percent accuracy and may offer a way to screen for a disease not usually diagnosed until it has spread and is no longer curable.
It uses sensors based on gold nanoparticles to detect specific compounds -- volatile organic compounds (VOC) -- that lung cancer patients have in high levels in exhaled breath.
Breath testing is already recognized as a way of linking specific VOCs in exhaled breath to a certain medical conditions. In 2006, researchers found dogs could be trained to smell cancer on the breath of patients with 99 percent accuracy.
Hossam Haick, one of the scientists working on the sensor, said he hoped it could soon allow doctors to have a simple test at hand to screen people during routine appointments.
Conventional diagnostic methods for lung cancer are unsuitable for widespread screening because they are expensive and occasionally miss tumors, Haick and colleagues wrote in Nature Nanotechnology.
This device is not at all expensive. The whole idea in this development was to devise something very sensitive, and very cheap and very portable, Haick, of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, told Reuters.
Lung cancer kills 1.3 million people a year and is the leading cause of cancer death across the world. Only 15 percent of patients live more than 5 years, in part because the disease is usually diagnosed so late.
The device developed by Haick and his colleagues is a nine-sensor array consisting of gold nanoparticles combined with different organic groups that respond to various VOCs released by lung tumors.
They tested 56 healthy people and 40 patients who had been diagnosed with lung cancer using conventional methods.
They found the sensor could distinguish the breath of lung cancer patients from the of the control group with more than 86 percent accuracy.
Haick said the patented device needed to be more rigorously tested and obtain approval from drug licensing authorities before it could go into production.
I would say that could take three to five years, he said.
Various other methods exist to measure VOCs, including a breath test using color spots, but existing techniques are often expensive, slow and sometimes require the breath to be concentrated or dehumidified first.


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FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is revising his controversial Internet "fast lane" plan after facing mounting pressure from consumer advocates and Silicon Valley giants.
Under the new proposal, it will still be okay for Internet service providers to charge companies like Netflix (NFLX) and Amazon (AMZN) for faster access to customers. But the FCC will ensure broadband companies like Comcast (CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable (TWC) won't put non-paying companies in a "slow lane," according to an agency official.
Confused? You're not alone.
The new proposal employs some strange logic. There can't be a fast lane without a slow-by-comparison lane. And Wheeler's plan isn't much of a revision of his former proposal. It's a restatement of his initial idea -- with an emphasis that the FCC will put its foot down if broadband providers abuse their new powers.
In a Friday letter to two pro-net neutrality groups Wheeler sought to reassure open Internet advocates that he won't let broadband providers run amok.
"If someone acts to divide the Internet between 'haves' and 'have nots,' I will use every power at our disposal to stop it," Wheeler wrote. That includes labeling broadband Internet a utility, he said, which would give the FCC far more power to regulate the industry. Referred to as the "nuclear option," that's extremely unlikely to happen, given Congress' oversight of the FCC and the powerful telecommunications lobby's staunch opposition of increased regulation.
Related story: The FCC's Internet fast lane affects you
The FCC is playing a tough balancing act. Regulators are trying to keep President Obama's promise in 2007: Keep Internet access equal for all. Websites aren't allowed to pay bribes to broadband providers for better service to customers.
At the same time, the FCC is trying to make consumer protection rules that pass legal muster. Last time it tried to impose open Internet "net neutrality" rules, the FCC got knocked down by a federal appeals court. Internet service providers argued they had a right to charge for faster service, and they successfully challenged the FCC's cited authority.
These new, revised draft rules don't please anybody. Broadband providers would likely challenge any attempt by the FCC to play referee on their turf. And net neutrality supporters won't be satisfied if broadband companies can offer faster connection speeds to one website -- and not another.
"I still have serious concerns about any proposal that would allow for pay-to-play deals, which are antithetical to net neutrality," said U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., who calls net neutrality "the free speech issue of our time."
Related story: Netflix's connection deal with Comcast is paying off
The FCC has declined to speak publicly about the revised proposal yet. An agency official confirmed the new draft rules, but they will not be released until the commission votes on them this Thursday.
Wheeler first unveiled his "fast lane" priority access proposal in late April. He and the FCC faced a major backlash from tech companies, including Amazon, Google (GOOG) and Microsoft (MSFT), who argue that paid priority deals provide an open door to discriminate against certain websites.


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I'm working on a big document, 100-200 pages. It's getting quite big mostly because of the images and that's a problem because I need to share it by email with my supervisors.
The draft mode doesn't insert images, instead blank zones where the image should be. That solves part of my problem. For the sections, I am actively working on, I kind of need to see the images. Is there a way to tell LaTeX that such section and such section should be non-draft, when I specified draft in the \documentclass
Otherwise I guess I could just compile the section I am working on, having only the relevant section with images. But that would screw my references and they can come in handy sometimes.


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Dreams of the Orient
"Islam has shrouded me with a magic that I will never be freed from," Julien Viaud alias Pierre Loti wrote in his 1892 novel Fantômes de l`Orient ("Phantoms of the Orient"), thereby describing his lifelong fascination with the Orient as he saw it: as inscrutable, sensual, and unchanging.
The Musée de la Vie Romantique in Paris has devoted an impressive, atmospheric exhibition to him, contextualizing the writer within the Orientalism of his time.
Around the world with the navy
Born on the French Atlantic coast in the town of Rochefort, Loti joined the navy at age seventeen and then traveled the world over the next forty-two years: Tahiti, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, China and Japan were just a few of his many stations along the way.
But his heart was attached in particular to one city, which became the muse to whom he devoted many of his literary works and where his fame still lives on as the namesake of a hotel, a café, and a school: Istanbul.
Following his first trip to the capital of the Ottoman Empire in 1876, he was drawn again and again to Istanbul, where he began his career as a writer.
Passion as an inspiration
In Istanbul he had an intense love affair with a young Circassian woman that lasted a few months. This dramatic episode in his life inspired his first novel, Aziyadehm, first printed in 1879 and published in German by Suhrkamp a few years ago.
Loti's writing style is already apparent in this first work. He skillfully combines autobiographical and fictive elements into a homogeneous plot that appeals to the reader's imagination and emotions, playing on a fascination for the exotic.
In the novel a young English naval officer falls in love with the wife of an Ottoman dignitary. He joins the Ottoman army in order to stay in the country and to be near her, only to leave her in the end out of a sense of duty to his family and his homeland. Ultimately he dies in the war against Russia. By then, his lover had all but succumbed to her sorrow and grief.
In real life Julien Viaud also left his Circassian "Aziyadeh," whose real name was probably Hakidje. When he went to look for her again years later, he learned that she had in fact died – of grief, legend has it.
Despite many other muses who followed, Aziyadeh remained a part of his fantasy, embodying for him up until his own death his deep fascination with "the Orient, as we dream of it," according to the novel's foreword by Bruno Vercier, an expert on Loti.
An eccentric personality
Loti traveled across the Oriental world, and then he began to bring it home with him bit by bit. Like the hero of his novel, he was bound to his home by family ties, spending long periods between travels in Rochefort.
Over the years, he gradually transformed his parents' home to match his ideal of an exotic Oriental life: a Japanese pavilion in the garden, a Chinese room and a Turkish-Ottoman salon in the house. He even had a whole mosque transported from Syria and rebuilt at his home in the tranquil town of Rochefort.
He was fond of being photographed in this Oriental-style décor, dressed as a Turk, an Albanian, or an Arabic Bedouin – thus exposing his vanity, his joy in masquerading, and his need to play different roles and take on new identities. This characteristic has been a source of ridicule, both during his time and since.
Fame and honor
Of the forty books he wrote over the course of his very prolific career as a writer, only a small fraction is available in German to date. In France, on the other hand, Loti received honor and attention already during his lifetime.
In 1891 he was accepted into the renowned Academie Française, the Hall of Fame for the French literati. The success of his books helped him pull his family out of the financial hard times they had in the meanwhile come upon.
During the First World War Loti became politically active. Already getting on in age, he took part in secret negotiations between France and the Sublime Porte, trying in vain to prevent the division of his beloved Ottoman Empire.
With the downfall of the "sick man on the Bosporus," Loti's nostalgic dream of a motionless, eternally still, and inertly sensually Orient also came to an end.
Julien Viaud died in France in 1923. Pierre Loti, however, remains one of the greatest stylists of the French language and one of the main representatives of literary Orientalism.
Susan Javad
© Qantara.de 2006
Translated from the German by Christina M. White


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BOSTON — No matter how well the Boston Bruins are playing at home, it doesn't seem to matter when the Colorado Avalanche come to town.
Ian Cole scored his first goal of season in his 500th career NHL game, backup goalie Pavel Francouz stopped all 16 shots he faced in relief and the Avalanche beat the Bruins 4-1 on Saturday night for their season-high sixth straight win.
"I guess Boston's a special place. I like it," said Cole, who made his NHL debut in the building on Nov. 6, 2010. "We've had some success here in the past. That's a great team over there; a really, really good team. It's a measuring-stick game for us. Now we have to keep moving forward."
Andre Burakovsky, Valeri Nichushkin and Gabriel Landeskog also scored for Colorado, which has won 11 of its last 14 games. The Avalanche posted their 11th win in their last 12 games in Boston, with their lone loss in the stretch coming in the last trip on Feb. 10 last season.
Francouz replaced starter Philipp Grubauer late in the first period. Grubauer left with an apparent injury after giving up a goal on four shots.
"You don't really have time to think," Francouz said. "You just grab your stuff and all of a sudden you're on the ice."
[snippet id=4745239]
Avalanche coach Jared Bednar didn't have an update on Grubauer after the game.
Chris Wagner scored for Boston, which lost its second straight and first in regulation at home this season after going 12-0-5. The Bruins were the NHL's last team without a regulation loss on home ice.
"It's a good run, but we'll get right back at it on Monday," Wagner said.
The Bruins are also the first professional local team to lose at home since the Red Sox lost to the Baltimore Orioles on Sept. 28. The Patriots are 5-0 at home this season, and the Celtics improved to 9-0 at the same building — TD Garden — on Friday. (The Revolution won their last home game on Sept. 29, and the Pride of the National Women's Hockey League are 9-0 at home.)
Jaroslav Halak had 16 saves for the Bruins.
Trailing 1-0, the Avalanche tied it when Nichushkin cut in alone, shifted around Halak and slipped a backhander that barely crossed the goal line ahead of Boston forward Par Lindholm's diving attempt to knock it away with his stick with 2:35 left in the opening period.
Immediately after the goal, Grubauer came off the ice and was replaced by Francouz. Grubauer slammed his stick onto the bench after he skated off.
Cole then made it 2-1 at 9:17 of the second period when he beat Halak with a blistering slap shot inside the far post from the left circle.
"It's playing with fire when you're trying to chase the game," Boston defenceman Brandon Carlo said. "It's the not the position we want to put ourselves in."
Burakovsky's 12th goal of the season made it 3-1 late in the second. The forward slipped into the Boston zone slightly ahead of Bruins defencemen Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk, who collided as they were trying to cut across the slot area. Burakovsky snapped off a shot from the left circle that slipped inside the right post at 18:21.
Seeking a spark from his lacklustre team, Boston coach Bruce Cassidy juggled his lines in the second period. Colorado outshot the Bruins 14-8 through two periods.
Boston had taken a 1-0 lead when Wagner, cutting in front of the crease, tipped John Moore's shot from the left point past Grubauer 13:14 into the game.
NOTES: Boston C Patrice Bergeron missed his seventh straight game with an upper-body injury. … Colorado D Cale Makar went to the locker room after taking a hit from Boston's Brad Marchand early in the third. … The Avalanche entered the weekend as the league's highest scoring team at 3.68 goals per game. … Colorado beat Boston 4-2 at home on Oct. 10. … Colorado is 8-1-2 against Eastern Conference teams. … The first two periods were penalty free.
Avalanche: Host Calgary on Monday in the opener of a three-game homestand.
Bruins: At Ottawa on Monday in the first of a four-game road trip.