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Health Care Reform at the End of Life: Giving With One Hand But Taking With The Other
by Kathy L. Cerminara, J.D., LL.M., J.S.D.
Tucked within the historic Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) are at least two relatively unheralded provisions that impact the end-of-life care. No, they do not establish death panels to determine which citizens no longer merit health care expenditures. Nor do they cut off health care coverage for the most elderly senior citizens. Rather, they relate to hospice care, which is primarily funded through Medicare. In addition to revising payment methodology and imposing quality reporting measures, the legislation on one hand opens the door to easing patients' paths toward election of hospice care. On the other hand, however, it also imposes a new requirement on hospice recertification. The result may be that Congress has given with one hand while taking with the other.
A Concurrent Care Demonstration Project
The sense in which Congress has given with one hand is of great importance. In section 3140, the PPACA authorizes a three-year-long Medicare Hospice Concurrent Care demonstration project. In other words, beginning as soon as the Secretary of Health and Human Services can establish the program, as many as 15 hospice programs nationwide will be participating in a study to determine whether patients benefit when Medicare authorizes payment for receipt of concurrent curative treatment and hospice care. Currently, patients must forego curative treatment before Medicare will fund hospice services, but the demonstration project will allow the government to determine whether patient care, quality of life and cost-effectiveness improve if patients need not make such a choice. (Another section of the PPACA, 2302, simply amends current law to eliminate the requirement of such an election on behalf of children, through Medicaid and CHIP programs.)
The current requirement that patients forego curative treatment before Medicare will fund hospice services is consistent with the reason that Medicare initially began covering hospice services. Hospice became a Medicare-covered benefit in 1983 primarily because Congress saw it as cost-effective, and, generally speaking, foregoing expensive curative treatment in favor of less-intensive hospice services will reduce overall costs.
The trade-off does not work as smoothly as one might expect, however, and in fact studies have demonstrated that it causes confusion likely resulting in health care professionals' failures to recommend hospice as soon as they could. In many important respects, the tradeoff is based upon a false dichotomy, since some treatments are curative in certain situations but simply palliative in others. Moreover, the effect of the forced choice is to require patients to have accepted the inevitability of death before accessing services that, in fact, could be of immense help long before that time. Additionally, asking patients from certain cultures (Hispanics and African-Americans in particular) to choose comfort care to the exclusion of life-prolonging treatment may be incongruent with their culture and beliefs. As a result, the imposed tradeoff is a barrier to access even for those who want to experience the benefits of hospice, such as pain control and symptom management, social and emotional support and spiritual services.
The demonstration project the PPACA authorizes could show that eliminating the dichotomy between curative and palliative care, as some scholars and policy analysts have proposed,[1] improves patient care and quality of life. Moreover, accessing hospice services while still clinging to some hope through curative treatments could actually result in fewer health care expenditures overall. The demonstration project may, and some believe is likely to, reveal that patients do not have to make a drastic choice, but can instead ease into acceptance of hospice services, are likely to discontinue futile curative treatments earlier than they might have otherwise. The result would be that fewer resources go toward expensive last-chance treatments overall.
Required Face-to-Face Visits for Recertification
If Congress "gave" with that hand, however, it seems to have "taken" with the other in the PPACA. Section 3132 of the PPACA imposes tighter controls on hospice recertifications beginning on January 1, 2011. The general rule is that a patient must be declared to be terminally ill, defined as being within six months of death if the disease takes its usual course, to be certified into hospice care. This does not mean, however, that a patient is limited to receiving six or fewer months of hospice benefits. Rather, a patient may be recertified for continued hospice care as long as he or she continues to be terminally ill. Beginning on January 1, 2011, such recertifications may occur only after face-to-face encounters between patients and hospice physicians or nurse practitioners, and there will be medical review of recertifications in hospices with especially high rates of recertification.
As one might expect, this change stems from cost concerns. In 2008, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) expressed concerns about the potential for fraud and abuse among hospices, especially for-profit ones. It recommended, and in 2009 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) promulgated, regulations that increased the amount of documentation required for initial certifications and subsequent recertifications of patients as terminally ill. MedPAC also recommended, but CMS declined to promulgate, regulations that practitioners demonstrate that they had actually visited patients when recertifying their terminal conditions. Congress has now imposed that requirement, thus taking the decision whether to do so out of the administrative realm.
Congress undeniably has a valid purpose -- eliminating fraud and abuse and thus saving money – for its attempts to ensure that all certifications and recertifications are valid. Testimony at MedPAC hearings and statistics in the MedPAC report on these issues support a conclusion that many in the industry are gravely concerned about lack of accountability for certifications and recertifications. While being lenient in certification and recertification benefits patients, resources are limited, so there must be a system in place to guard against fraudulent certifications and recertifications.
Congress should also, however, be mindful of the law of unintended consequences. Testimony before MedPAC and comments CMS received on its proposed regulations revealed concerns about the burdens imposed on practitioners by requiring face-to-face encounters for recertification. Especially in rural areas, it is not always easy or practical to visit all patients in person in order to recertify a condition that is indisputable based on prior experience with the patients and their medical records. Requiring visits under those circumstances likely imposes costs over and above the value of the additional reliability of the recertifications. Additionally, comments to CMS indicated some concern about whether physicians and nurse practitioners would become uncomfortable recertifying patients who hadn't shown noticeable signs of decline, in case recertification of such patients would be questioned during any medical review that occurred. It is unclear that evidence of fraud and abuse attributable to improper recertifications actually outweighs the possible chilling effect of the new requirements.
Concluding Thoughts
In conclusion, then, this commentary has zeroed in on two provisions affecting hospice care that are buried among the historic changes the PPACA made to America's health care system overall. In one of the provisions, the authorization of a Medicare Hospice Concurrent Care demonstration project, Congress may be paving the way for another historic change. Should the demonstration project support the arguments of proponents of concurrent curative treatment and hospice care, it could result in elimination of a regulatory requirement that currently prevents some patients from accessing hospice care as soon as they could. On the other hand, however, Congress has enacted into law a requirement that CMS had declined to impose regulatorily and that could chill hospice recertifications. Predicting death is not an exact science; some would say, only half-jokingly, that the only time a physician can determine with certainty the beginning of the "six-months-to-live" period is to wait until the patient dies and count backward from the date of death. Inevitably, then, many patients appropriately will be recertified for hospice care. Imposing a barrier negatively impacting practitioners' ability or willingness to recertify could result in less hospice care for patients who qualify for and could benefit from it.
[1] See Alina M Perez & Kathy L. Cerminara, La Caja de Pandora: Improving Access to Hospice Care Among Hispanic and African-American Patients, 10 Hous. J. Health L. & Pol'y 101 (forthcoming 2010); Kathy L. Cerminara, Pandora's Dismay: Eliminating Coverage-Related Barriers to Hospice Care, __ Fla. Coastal L. Rev. __ (forthcoming 2010); Alexi A. Wright & Ingrid T. Katz, Letting Go of the Rope-Aggressive Treatment, Hospice Care, and Open Access, 357 N. Engl. J. Med. 324, 325-27 (2007); Brad Stuart et al., CHOICES: Promoting Early Access to End-of-Life Care Through Home-Based Transition Management, 6 J. Palliative Med. 671, 671 (2003); Haiden A. Huskamp et.al., Providing Care at the End of Life: Do Medicare Rules Impede Good Care?, 20 Health Affairs 204, 211 (2001).


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subset: commoncrawl


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'A tiger resides in 'slight man' Tendulkar'
A tiger resides inside the "little" frame of Sachin Tendulkar, feels former Australia batsman Matthew Hayden.
"I probably first heard Sachin's name in the early '90s. The one thing that always stuck in my mind about Sachin was that his size never ever matched his status," writes Hayden in the book Sachin - Cricketer of the Century by Vimal Kumar, which will hit the stands in the first week of March.
"He was an incredibly slight man for someone who was such a huge brand within the game. It wasn't until I really played against him that I understood that there was a tiger that lay within him: he was a very competitive little man," he adds.
Image: Book cover of 'Sachin - Cricketer of the Century'
'Tendulkar has a better record than Ricky Ponting'
Hayden recalls an interesting incident from the 2008 Test series in India.
"My favourite Sachin moment was at the Mohali Test where he broke the world record for the most number of Test runs. There was so much excitement around the ground that the fireworks actually stopped play for the better part of 20 minutes, whilst the smoke cleared away."
Writing in the same book, former Australia coach John Buchanan compared Tendulkar with Australia great Ricky Ponting, who was a contemporary of the Indian.
"Statistically, Tendulkar has a better record than Ricky Ponting. If Tendulkar is far more orthodox, far more classical and technical, Ricky is a little more unorthodox," he explained.
'Sachin has an exceptional ability to relax'
Buchanan, however, felt it was difficult to choose between Tendulkar and Ponting.
"Sachin definitely is a better player of spin bowling, more so on the challenging and spin-friendly wickets of the sub-continent," he said.
"I would have loved to see Ricky's domination over spinners in the same way as Sachin's, and vice versa, the Master's audacity on the front foot like the Tasmanian's against the best fast bowlers.
"Only if these two qualities were exchanged in their respective games could either of them have bettered Sir Bradman's Test average," he added.
Buchanan praised Tendulkar's mental toughness.
"Sachin has an exceptional ability to relax and can switch on and switch off with ease without any fuss. To get away from cricket and can come back recharged year after year for decades has been really marvellous. The Master has been the greatest exponents of doing that."
Image: Sachin Tendulkar
Photographs: BCCI


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We're very excited to have Malcolm Gladwell back to BlackBerry World as a keynote speaker! Malcolm Gladwell is the author of four books, a staff writer with The New Yorker magazine since 1996 and was recently named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People. I was lucky enough to be able to speak with him in advance of BlackBerry World – I hope you enjoy it!
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|Version 1 (modified by 9 years ago) (diff),
Narcissus - A tool for team reflection
Working effectively in groups is hard, particularly for projects that span some months. Groups can be derailed by a range of problems including poor leadership, poor communication, failure to monitor progress, and social loafing. Learning to work effectively in a group is a difficult but necessary measure to ensure group success.
Groups using electronic support tools provide huge amounts of trace data, which has the potential to provide the group with insights into the effectiveness of their own operation. The Narcissus project exploits this data to support the groups. The approach is to use an interactive visualisation to mirror the activities of the group members, which gives them the opportunity to see the dynamics and progress of their group.
Bugs/Feature Requests
Existing bugs and feature requests for NarcissusPlugin are here.
If you have any issues, create a new ticket.
Download the zipped source from [download:narcissusplugin here].
You can check out NarcissusPlugin from here using Subversion, or browse the source with Trac.
[narcissus] cache_dir = /path/to/cache/directory cache_manager = yes cache_max_size = 10000000 cache_min_size = 5000000 cache_max_count = 2000 cache_min_count = 1500 ttf_path = /path/to/ttf/font [components] narcissus.* = enabled narcissus.narcissus.narcissusplugin = enabled
Recent Changes
- 16461 by rjollos on 2017-04-04 07:22:57
Fix indentation
- 11889 by rjollos on 2012-08-03 08:42:17
Refs #10222: (0.2dev) Use the trac.config API for retrieving trac.ini options.
- 11887 by rjollos on 2012-08-03 06:40:40
Refs #10222: Re-import from the mercurial repository http://vandor.it.usyd.edu.au/hg/narcissus-plugin
Author: chai_research?
Maintainer: chai_research?


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The Northern California Earthquake Data Center, a joint project of the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory (BSL) and the U.S. Geological Survey at Menlo Park, serves as an online archive for various types of digital data relating to earthquakes in Central and Northern California. The NCEDC is located at the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, and has been accessible to users via the Internet since mid-1992.
The primary goal of the NCEDC is to provide a stable and permanent archival and distribution center of digital geophysical data for networks in Northern and Central California. These data include seismic waveforms, electromagnetic data, GPS data, strain, creep, and earthquake parameters. The seismic data comes principally from the Berkeley Digital Seismic Network (BDSN) operated by the Seismological Laboratory, the Northern California Seismic Network (NCSN) operated by the USGS, the Berkeley High Resolution Seismic Network (HRSN) at Parkfield, the EarthScope USArray Transportable Array stations in Northern California, the various Geysers networks, and selected stations from adjacent networks such as the University of Reno, Nevada network and the Southern California Seismic Network (SCSN). GPS data are primarily from the Bay Area Regional Deformation (BARD) GPS network and the USGS/Menlo Park GPS surveys. The collection of NCSN digital waveforms dates from 1984 to the present, the BDSN digital waveforms date from 1987 to the present, and the BARD GPS data date from 1993 to the present. The BDSN includes stations that form the specialized Northern Hayward Fault Network (NHFN) and the MiniPBO (MPBO) borehole seismic and strain stations in the SF Bay Region. Additional seismic and strain data from the EarthScope Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO) and the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD) are also archived at the NCEDC.
The NCEDC also provides support for earthquake processing and archiving activities of the Northern California Earthquake Management Center (NCEMC), a component of the California Integrated Seismic Network (CISN). The CISN is the California regional organization of the Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS).
By its nature, data archiving is an ongoing activity. In 2007-2008, the NCEDC continued to expand its data holdings and enhance access to the data. Projects and activities of particular note include:
Archiving current BDSN (Section 1), NHFN (Section 3), and Mini-PBO (Section 3) (all stations using the network code BK) seismic data is an ongoing task. These data are telemetered from 47 seismic data loggers in real-time to the BSL, where they are written to disk files, used for CISN real-time earthquake processing, and delivered in real-time to the DART (Data Available in Real Time) system on the NCEDC, where they are immediately available to anyone on the Internet. In September 2004, the NCEDC began to archive continuous high frequency data (80 Hz and 100 Hz) from all of the BDSN broadband, strong motion, and strainmeter sensors. Previously, 20 Hz and lower rate data channels were archived continuously, and high frequency data was archived only for events. In early 2006, the NCEDC started to receive all of the BK stations in real-time and make them available to users through the DART. All timeseries data from the Berkeley networks continue to be processed and archived by an NCEDC analyst using calqc in order to provide the highest quality and most complete data stream to the NCEDC.
NCSN continuous waveform data are sent in real-time to the NCEDC via the internet, and are made available to users in real-time through the NCEDC DART. NCSN event waveform data, as well as data from all other real-time BSL and collaborating networks, are automatically collected by the NCEMC waveform archiver and stored at the NCEDC for event review and analysis and for distribution to users. All NCSN and NCEMC data are archived in MiniSEED format.
The NCEDC also maintains a list of historic teleseismic events recorded by the NCSN, since these events do not appear in the NCSN catalog.
A description of the successive improvements in the acquisition of NCSN data, leading to the acquisition of complete NCSN waveform data in early 2006, can be found in the 2005-06 BSL Annual Report. We have made significant progress this year in the NCSN continuous waveform archiving project by reading, converting and archiving NCSN seismograms from all NCSN tapes for 2003 through early 2006. Figure 3.23 shows the total data volume by year.
The history of upgrades to the acquisition and archival of HRSN data can be found in the 2005-06 BSL Annual Report.
In early 2006, the NCEDC started to receive the HRSN 20 Hz data and a subset of the 250 Hz data in real-time for distribution through the DART. The NCEDC continued to archive continuous 250 Hz and 20 Hz data streams from the HRSN tapes written in Parkfield and processed at the NCEDC. In early 2007, the BSL established a radio telemetry link from the HRSN recording center at the California Department of Forestry (CDF) in Parkfield to Carr Hill, and started to telemeter all HRSN continuously to UCB. These data are fed into the NCSN backup Earthworm system at Carr Hill, and are also routed through the USGS Parkfield T1 circuit to USGS/MP and through the NCEMC T1 circuit to the BSL for real-time processing by the NCEMC earthquake processing system. The data are also made available to users through the NCEDC DART and are continuously archived at the NCEDC.
EarthScope began installing broadband stations for the Transportable Array component of USArray in California in 2005. The NCEDC started acquiring telemetered continuous data from the Northern California and surrounding stations as they were installed, and is archiving these data to support users working with Northern California seismic data. These data are made available to users using the same data request methods as all other continuous data waveform data at the NCEDC. The Transportable Array stations have a limited operational timespan of 18 to 24 months, after which they will be relocated to new sites across the country. Data from these stations were delivered to the NCEDC as they were received by the BSL for distribution through the DART. The USArray station feed to the BSL was discontinued in late November 2007 when the stations were relocated to new sites outside of California.
The NCEDC is one of two funded archives for PBO EarthScope borehole and laser strain data. Strain data are collected from all of the PBO strain sites and are processed by UNAVCO. MiniSEED data are delivered to the NCEDC using SeedLink, and raw and XML processed data are delivered to the NCEDC using Unidata's Local Data Manager (LDM). The MiniSEED data are inserted into the NCEDC DART and are subsequently archived from the DART. UNAVCO provides EarthScope funding to the NCEDC to help cover the processing, archiving, and distribution costs for these data.
The NCEDC is an archive center for the SAFOD event data and will also process the continuous SAFOD data. Starting in July 2002, scientists from Duke University successfully installed a three component 32 level downhole-seismic array in the pilot hole at the EarthScope SAFOD site in collaboration with Steve Hickman (USGS), Mark Zoback (Stanford University), and the Oyo Geospace Engineering Resources International (GERI) Corporation. High frequency event recordings from this array have been provided by Duke University for archiving at the NCEDC. We converted data from the original SEG-2 format data files to MiniSEED, and have developed the SEED instrument responses for this data set. Continuous 4 KHz data from SAFOD are written to tape at SAFOD and are periodically sent to the BSL to be converted, archived, and forwarded to the IRIS DMC. SAFOD EarthScope funding to the NCEDC is to cover the processing, archiving, and distribution costs for these data. A small subset of the continuous SAFOD data channels are also incorporated into the NCSN, are available in real-time from the NCEDC DART, are archived at the NCEDC, and are forwarded to the IRIS DMC. In March 2008, SAFOD installed a Guralp broadband and accelerometer package in the Pilot Hole, which sends continuous data at 200 samples-per-second to the NCEDC.
The University of Reno in Nevada (UNR) operates several broadband stations in western Nevada and eastern California that are important for Northern California earthquake processing and analysis. Starting in August 2000, the NCEDC has been receiving and archiving continuous broadband data from four UNR stations. The data are transmitted in real-time from UNR to UC Berkeley, where they are made available for CISN real-time earthquake processing and for archiving. Initially, some of the stations were sampled at 20 Hz, but all stations are now sampled and archived continuously at 100 Hz.
The NCEDC installed Simple Wave Server (SWS) software at UNR, which provides an interface to UNR's recent collection of waveforms. The SWS is used by the NCEDC to retrieve waveforms from UNR that were missing at the NCEDC due to real-time telemetry outages between UNR and UC Berkeley.
In early 2006, the NCEDC started to archive continuous data from the UNR short-period stations that are contributed to the NCSN. Both the broadband and short-period UNR stations contributed to the CISN are available in real-time through the NCEDC DART.
The NCEDC continues to archive and process electric and magnetic field data acquired at several UC Berkeley sites. The BSL operates both magnetic and electric field sensors at PKD and SAO. Through a collaboration with Dr. Simon Klemperer at Standord University, we acquire magnetic and electric field channels at BSL sites JRSC and BRIB, and magnetic field channels at site MHDL. The three magnetic field channels and either two or four electric field channels are digitized at 40 Hz, 1 Hz, and 0.1 Hz, and are telemetered in real-time along with seismic data to the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, where they are processed and archived at the NCEDC in a similar fashion to the seismic data.
Using programs developed by Dr. Martin Fullerkrug at the Stanford University STAR Laboratory (now at the University of Bath), the NCEDC has computed and archived magnetic activity and Schumann resonance analysis using the 40 Hz data from this dataset. The magnetic activity and Schumann resonance data can be accessed from the Web. This processing was halted in mid 2005 due to problems with the code and will be resumed when the problems have been identified and corrected.
The NCEDC also archives data from a low-frequency, long-baseline electric field project operated by Dr. Steve Park of UC Riverside at site PKD2. These data are acquired and archived in an identical manner to the other electric field data at the NCEDC.
The NCEDC continues to archive GPS data through the BARD (Bay Area Regional Deformation) network of continuously monitored GPS receivers in Northern California (Section 5). The NCEDC GPS archive now includes 67 continuous sites in Northern California. There are approximately 50 core BARD sites owned and operated by UC Berkeley, USGS (Menlo Park and Cascade Volcano Observatory), LLNL, UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, Trimble Navigation, and Stanford. Data are also archived from sites operated by other agencies including East Bay Municipal Utilities District, the City of Modesto, the National Geodetic Survey, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
In addition to the standard 15 second or 30 second continuous GPS datastream, the NCEDC is now privately archiving high-rate 1 Hz continuous GPS data from the 14 stations in Parkfield and from 10 BARD stations. The high-rate Parkfield data are collected by UNAVCO as part of the PBO Nucleus. The Parkfield data are available via anonymous FTP from the NCEDC but are currently not included in the GPS Seamless Archive (GSAC), since the GSAC does not currently handle both high-rate and low-rate data from the same site and day.
The NCEDC continues to archive non-continuous survey GPS data. The initial dataset archived is the survey GPS data collected by the USGS Menlo Park for Northern California and other locations. The NCEDC is the principal archive for this dataset. Significant quality control efforts were implemented by the NCEDC to ensure that the raw data, scanned site log sheets, and RINEX data are archived for each survey. All of the USGS MP GPS data have been transferred to the NCEDC, and virtually all of the data from 1992 to the present has been archived and is available for distribution.
The Calpine Corporation operated a micro-seismic monitoring network in the Geysers region of Northern California. Prior to 1999 this network was operated by Unocal. Through various agreements, both Unocal and Calpine have released triggered event waveform data from 1989 through 2000 along with preliminary event catalogs for the same time period for archiving and distribution through the NCEDC. This dataset represents over 296,000 events that were recorded by Calpine/Unocal Geysers network and are available via research accounts at the NCEDC.
The Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL), with funding from the California Energy Commission, currently operates a 22 station network in the Geysers region with an emphasis on monitoring seismicity related to well water injection. The earthquake locations and waveforms from this network are sent to the NCEDC, and the locations are forwarded to the NCSN so that they can be merged into the NCSN earthquake catalog. In August 2007, the NCSN installed an Earthworm system at the Geysers to receive continuous LBL Geysers data, and this system provides event waveforms in real-time for the NCEMC earthquake procssing and the NCEDC event archives. The event data from LBL Geysers event waveforms collected from April 2004 to August 2007 will be associated with events from the NCSN catalog and will be included with the existing waveforms for these events.
Over the last 30 years, the USGS at Menlo Park, in collaboration with other principal investigators, has collected an extensive low-frequency geophysical data set that contains over 1300 channels of tilt, tensor strain, dilatational strain, creep, magnetic field, and water level as well as auxiliary channels such as temperature, pore pressure, rain and snow accumulation, and wind speed. In collaboration with the USGS, we assembled the requisite information for the hardware representation of the stations and the instrument responses for many channels of this diverse dataset, and developed the required programs to populate and update the hardware database and generate the instrument responses. We developed the programs and procedures to automate the process of importing the raw waveform data and converting it to MiniSEED format. Since these data are delivered to the NCEDC on a daily basis and immediately archived, these data are not inserted into the NCEDC DART.
We have currently archived timeseries data from 887 data channels from 167 sites, and have instrument response information for 542 channels at 139 sites. The waveform archive is updated on a daily basis with data from 350 currently operating data channels. We will augment the raw data archive as additional instrument response information is assembled by the USGS for the channels and will work with the USGS to clearly define the attributes of the ``processed'' data channels.
In 2004, the NCEDC started to archive broadband and strong motion data from 15 SCSN (network CI) stations that are telemetered to the Northern California Management Center (NCEMC) of the California Integrated Seismic Network (CISN). These data are used in the prototype real-time state-wide earthquake processing system and also provide increased coverage for Northern California events. Since the data are telemetered directly from the stations in real-time to both the SCSN and to the NCEMC, the NCEDC archives the NCEMC's copy of the data to ensure that at least one copy of the data will be preserved.
In early 2006, the NCEDC started to continuously archive all of the selected SCSN short-period stations that are contributed to the NCSN. All of these data are available in real-time from the NCEDC DART.
Northern California: The NCEDC provides searchable access to both the USGS and BSL earthquake catalogs for Northern and Central California. The ``official'' UC Berkeley earthquake catalog begins in 1910 and runs through 2003, and the ``official'' USGS catalog begins in 1966. Both of these catalogs are archived and available through the NCEDC, but the existence of 2 catalogs has caused confusion among both researchers and the public.
In late 2006, the NCEMC begun to archive and distribute a single unified Northern California earthquake catalog in real-time to the NCEDC through database replication from the NCEMC's real-time systems. The NCEDC developed and tested the required programs used to enter all previous NCSN catalog data into the NCEDC database. In 2008, we migrated all of the historic NCSN catalog, phase, and amplitude data from 1967 - 2006 into the NCEMC catalog. In addition, we spent considerable effort addressing the mapping of phase data in the BSL catalog to SEED channel names. We plan to merge the BSL catalog with the NCEMC catalog to form a single unified Northern California catalog from 1910 to the present. The BSL and the USGS have spent considerable effort over the past years to define procedures for merging the data from the two catalogs into a single Northern and Central California earthquake catalog in order to present a unified view of Northern California seismicity. The differences in time period, variations in data availability, and mismatches in regions of coverage all complicate the task.
Worldwide: The NCEDC, in conjunction with the Council of the National Seismic System (CNSS), produced and distributed a world-wide composite catalog of earthquakes based on the catalogs of the national and various U.S. regional networks for several years. Each network updates their earthquake catalog on a daily basis at the NCEDC, and the NCEDC constructs a composite world-wide earthquake catalog by combining the data, removing duplicate entries that may occur from multiple networks recording an event, and giving priority to the data from each network's authoritative region. The catalog, which includes data from 14 regional and national networks, is searchable using a Web interface at the NCEDC. The catalog is also freely available to anyone via ftp over the Internet.
With the demise of the CNSS and the development of the Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS), the NCEDC was asked to update its Web pages to present the composite catalog as a product of the ANSS. This conversion was completed in the fall of 2002. We continue to create, house, distribute, and provide a searchable web interface to the ANSS composite catalog, and to aid the regional networks in submitting data to the catalog.
In 2005, the NCEDC relocated its archive and distribution system from McCone Hall to a new state-of-the-art computer facility in a new seismically braced building on the Berkeley campus. The facility provides seismically braced equipment racks, gigabit ethernet network, air conditioning, and power conditioning. The entire facility is powered by a UPS with generator backup.
The currently installed NCEDC facilities consist of a mass storage environment hosted by a Sun V240 host computer, a 100 slot LTO-2 tape library with two tape drives and a 20 TByte capacity, and 50 TBytes of RAID storage, all managed with the SAM-FS hierarchical storage management (HSM) software. A Sun system provides Web services and research account access to the NCEDC, a dual Sun 280R processor provides data import and export services, and a Sun V20Z computer is used for quality control procedures. Two AIT tape libraries are used to read NCSN continuous data tapes. A 64-bit Linux system hosts a database dedicated to providing data to external users. Two Sun Opteron processors provide additional data processing support for the NCEDC.
The hardware and software system is configured to automatically create multiple copies of each timeseries file. The NCEDC creates one copy of each file on an online RAID, a second copy on LTO2 tape which is stored online in the tape library, and a third copy on LTO2 tape which is stored offline and offsite. All NCEDC data are online and rapidly accessible by users.
The NCEDC operates two instances of its Oracle database, one for internal operations and one for external use for user data queries and data distribution programs. The databases are synchronized using multi-master replication.
The NCEDC developed a GUI-based state-driven system calqc to facilitate the quality control processing that is applied to the continuously archived data sets at the NCEDC.
The quality control procedures for these datasets include the following tasks:
Calqc uses previously developed programs to perform each function, but it provides a graphical point-and-click interface to automate these procedures, and to provide the analyst with a record of when each process was started, whether it executed correctly, and whether the analyst has indicated that a step has been completed. Calqc is used to process all data from the BDSN network, and all continuous broadband data from the NCSN, UNR, SCSN, and HRSN networks that are archived by the NCEDC. The remainder of the continuously archived data are automatically archived without any analyst interaction.
The NCEDC is developing programs and procedures to replace waveforms collected for event analysis in near real-time with QC-ed waveforms from the UCB QC-ed waveform archive. This procedure will also be used to augment the NCSN event-based waveform collection from 1991 - 2006 with the appropriate waveforms from the UCB seismic networks.
The NCEDC parametric database schema for storing earthquake event information was adopted by the CISN for use within the Northern and Southern California earthquake processing centers as well as the NCEDC and SCEDC. Through the efforts of the CISN Standards Group, this schema continues to be enhanced to address new requirements of the CISN.
The most significant database development this year has been the migration of the entire NCSN earthquake catalog, phase data, and amplitude readings into the NCEDC database. In collaboration with the NCSN, we developed the programs and procedures necessary to migrate the 1967-2006 NCSN catalog into the CISN parametric schema and have been performing quality control procedures on the data prior to entering the catalog into the database. In support of this project, the NCEDC developed the dbselect program which can search the database, retrieve earthquake information, and optionally recreate full Hypoinverse files. The dbselect program is now used in the NCEDC web-based catalog search interface.
The NCEDC continues to support the Northern California Earthquake Management Center (NCEMC) by providing information and resources vital to the NCEMC's role of rapid earthquake analysis and data dissemination. The NCEDC receives earthquake parametric data in real-time from the NCEMC real-time systems and provides real-time access to the NCEDC database for jiggle, the CISN event analysis tool. The NCEMC continues to support the maintenance and distribution of the hardware configurations and instrument responses of the UCB, USGS/MP NCSN, and other seismic stations used by the NCEMC. During 2002-2004, the NCEDC and NCSN jointly developed a system consisting of an extensive spreadsheet containing per-channel information that describes the hardware of each NCSN data channel and provides each channel with a SEED-compliant channel name. This spreadsheet, combined with a limited number of files that describe the central-site analog digitizer, FIR decimation filters, and general characteristics of digital acquisition systems, allows the NCSN to assemble its station history in a format that the NCEDC can use to populate the hardware tracking and instrument response database tables for the NCSN.
The NCEDC instrument response schema represents full multi-stage instrument responses (including filter coefficients) for the broadband data loggers. The hardware tracking schema represents the interconnection of instruments, amplifiers, filters, and data loggers over time, and is used to describe all of the UC Berkeley and USGS stations and channels archived at the NCEDC.
The NCEDC has developed XML import and export procedures to provide better maintenance of the hardware tracking information and resulting instrument responses for stations in our database. When changes are made to either existing hardware or to station configurations, we export the current view in XML format, use a GUI-based XML editor to easily update the information, and import the changes back into the database. When adding new stations or hardware, we can easily use information from existing hardware or stations as templates for the new information. This allows us to treat the database as the authoritative source of information, and to use off-the-shelf tools such as the XML editor and XML differencing programs as part of our database maintenance procedures.
All NCSN event waveforms originally collected with the USGS CUSP processing system have been converted to MiniSEED, and are available along with the UC Berkeley data and data from the other networks archived at the NCEDC in full SEED format.
Additional details on the joint catalog effort and database schema development may be found at http://www.ncedc.org/db
The NCEDC continues to use the World Wide Web as a principal interface for users to request, search for, and receive data from the NCEDC. In fall 2005, the NCEDC acquired the domain name ncedc.org. The NCEDC's Web address is now http://www.ncedc.org/
The NCEDC provides users with searchable access to Northern California earthquake catalogs and to the ANSS world-wide catalog via the web. Users can search the catalogs by time, magnitude, and geographic region, and can retrieve either hypocenter and magnitude information or a full set of earthquake parameters including phase readings, amplitudes, and codas. Moment tensor results are now being added to the NCEMC California earthquake catalog.
In addition to the metadata returned through the various data request methods, the NCECD provides dataless SEED volumes and SEED RESP files for all data channels archived at the NCEDC. The NCEDC currently has full SEED instrument responses for 12,989 data channels from 1,909 stations in 20 networks. This includes stations from the California Geological Survey (CGS) strong motion network that will contribute seismic waveform data for significant earthquakes to the NCEDC and SCEDC.
We have ported and installed the IRIS SeismiQuery program at the NCEDC, which provides a common interface to query network, station, and channel attributes and query the availability of archived timeseries data. We have provided both IRIS and the SCEC Data Center with our modified version of SeismiQuery.
The DART (Data Available in Real Time) represents the first step in NCEDC's effort to make current and recent timeseries data from all networks, stations, and channels available to users in real-time. The NCEDC developed DART in December 2005 to provide a mechanism for users to obtain access to real-time data from the NCEDC. All real-time timeseries data streams delivered to the NCEDC are placed in MiniSEED files in a Web-accessible directory structure. The DART waveforms can be accessed by Web browsers or http command-line programs such as wget, a FISSURES waveform server, and a Berkelely-developed Simple Wave Server (SWS) which provides programmatic access to the DART data by specified SEED channel and time interval. We will be providing users with a client program to retrieve data from the SWS in the near future. The DART currently provide assess to the most recent 30 days of data.
We are using the Freeorb software, an enhanced version of the open-source orb software developed by the IRIS-funded Joint Seismic Project (JSP), as the primary method for delivering real-time data to the NCEDC and into the DART. The freeorb package implements an object ring buffer (ORB) and orbserver, which provides a reliable storage ring buffer and an interface for orb client programs to read, write, and query the orbserver. Orbserver clients running at the NCEDC computer connect to remote orbservers at the BSL and USGS/Menlo Park, retrieve the MiniSEED timeseries data records, and write them to daily channel files in the NCEDC DART. Strain data from the EarthScope PBO network are delivered to the NCEDC using SeedLink and are inserted into the DART using a similar SeedLink client program.
The NCEDC developed an automated data archiving system to archive data from the DART on a daily basis. It allows us to specify which stations should be automatically archived, and which stations should be handled by the NCEDC's Quality Control program calqc, which allows an analyst to review the waveforms, retrieve missing data from stations or waveservers that may have late-arriving, out-of-order data, and perform timing corrections on the waveform data. The majority of data channels are currently archived automatically from the DART.
In a collaborative project with the IRIS DMC and other worldwide datacenters, the NCEDC helped develop and implement NetDC, a protocol which will provide a seamless user interface to multiple datacenters for geophysical network and station inventory, instrument responses, and data retrieval requests. The NetDC builds upon the foundation and concepts of the IRIS BREQ_FAST data request system. The NetDC system was put into production in January 2000 and is currently operational at several datacenters worldwide, including NCEDC, IRIS DMC, ORFEUS, Geoscope, and SCEDC. The NetDC system receives user requests via email, automatically routes the appropriate portion of the requests to the appropriate datacenter, optionally aggregates the responses from the various datacenters, and delivers the data (or ftp pointers to the data) to the users via email.
In 2002, the NCEDC wrote a collaborative proposal with the SCEDC to the Southern California Earthquake Center, with the goal of unifying data access between the two data centers. As part of this project, the NCEDC and SCEDC are working to support a common set of 3 tools for accessing waveform and parametric data: SeismiQuery, NetDC, and STP.
The Seismogram Transfer Program or STP is a simple client-server program, developed at the SCEDC. Access to STP is either through a simple direct interface that is available for Sun or Linux platforms, or through a GUI Web interface. With the direct interface, the data are placed directly on a user's computer in several possible formats, with the byte-swap conversion performed automatically. With the Web interface, the selected and converted data are retrieved with a single ftp command. The STP interface also allows rapid access to parametric data such as hypocenters and phases.
The NCEDC has continued work on STP, working with the SCEDC on extensions and needed additions. We added support for the full SEED channel name (Station, Network, Channel, and Location), and are now able to return event-associated waveforms from the NCSN waveform archive.
In order to provide Web access to the NCSN waveform before the SEED conversion and instrument response for the NCSN has been completed, the NCEDC implemented EVT_FAST, an interim email-based waveform request system similar to the BREQ_FAST email request system. Users email EVT_FAST requests to the NCEDC and request NCSN waveform data based on the NCSN event ID. Initially, the NCSN waveform data was converted to either SAC ASCII, SAC binary, or AH format, and placed in the anonymous ftp directory for retrieval by the users. EVT_FAST event waveforms can now also be provided in MiniSEED format and are now named with their SEED channel names.
The FISSURES project developed from an initiative by IRIS to improve earth scientists' efficiency by developing a unified environment that can provide interactive or programmatic access to waveform data and the corresponding metadata for instrument response, as well as station and channel inventory information. FISSURES was developed using CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) as the architecture to implement a system-independent method for the exchange of this binary data. The IRIS DMC developed a series of services, referred to as the Data Handling Interface (DHI), using the FISSURES architecture to provide waveform and metadata from the IRIS DMC.
The NCEDC has implemented the FISSURES Data Handling Interface (DHI) services at the NCEDC, which involves interfacing the DHI servers with the NCEDC database schema. These services interact with the NCEDC database and data storage system and can deliver NCEDC channel metadata as well as waveforms using the FISSURES interfaces. We have separate FISSURES DHI waveform servers to serve archived and DART data streams. Our FISSURES servers are registed with the IRIS FISSURES naming services, which ensures that all FISSURES users have transparent access to data from the NCEDC.
Since 1997, the NCEDC has collaborated with UNAVCO and other members of the GPS community on the development of the GPS Seamless Archive Centers (GSAC) project. This project allows a user to access the most current version of GPS data and metadata from distributed archive locations. The NCEDC is participating at several levels in the GSAC project: as a primary provider of data collected from core BARD stations and USGS MP surveys, and as a wholesale collection point for other data collected in Northern California. We helped to define database schema and file formats for the GSAC project and have produced complete and incremental monumentation and data holdings files describing the data sets that are produced by the BARD project or archived at the NCEDC so that other members of the GSAC community can provide up-to-date information about our holdings. Currently, the NCEDC is the primary provider for over 138,000 data files from over 1400 continuous and survey-mode monuments. The data holdings records for these data have been incorporated into the GSAC retailer system, which became publicly available in late 2002.
In addition, the NCEDC is archiving and distributing high-rate 1 Hz GPS data from 10 BARD stations in addition to the normally sampled 15 second or 30 second data. These high-rate data are now publicly available to the entire community.
The NCEDC is a joint project of the BSL and the USGS Menlo Park and is funded primarily by the BSL and the USGS Cooperative Agreement 07HQAG0013. Additional funding for the processing and archiving of the EarthScope PBO and SAFOD data were proviced by EarthScope subawards EAR0350025-06 through UNAVCO and 18036080-28436-F through Stanford University.
Doug Neuhauser is the manager of the NCEDC. Stephane Zuzlewski, Rick McKenzie, Mario Aranha, Nicolas Houlie, Bob Uhrhammer, Jennifer Taggart,and Peggy Hellweg of the BSL and David Oppenheimer, Hal Macbeth, Lynn Dietz, and Fred Klein of the USGS Menlo Park contribute to the operation of the NCEDC. Doug Neuhauser and Peggy Hellweg contributed to the preparation of this section.
Berkeley Seismological Laboratory
215 McCone Hall, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-4760
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An enlightened concept in pH control, a crystallized pH adjuster for the professional & hobbyist. For soil, soilless, hydroponic, hydroorganic & foliar applications. For use with organic & synthetic fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides.
Note: Calibration Buffer Solutions are available separately.
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Last year I posted some 1950s advertising art by a female illustrator of the mid-20th century named Winnie Fitch.
After doing some research online I was pleased to discover that Winnie Fitch has a website. I managed to get in touch with Winnie's family and a correspondence began.
Not long thereafter, a large manila envelope arrived, bulging with black and white and colour copies of Winnie Fitch's work from all the different periods of her career.
Also enclosed; some photos of Winnie and a letter detailing her career. Winnie's husband, musician and composer John Houston, kindly jotted down copious notes on the items he'd sent. For instance...
Here's a wonderful shot of Winnie and her friend Jo Alice during their art school days...
Just a year after graduating, Winnie Fitch was already hard at work in the industry. Here is her cover for the 1950 Marshall Field Co. Christmas catalogue.
From the Leo Burnett Company's Chicago office, where she freelanced, Winnie produced charming illustrations for many of America's best known and favourite brands.
Her accounts included Rice Crispies, Mars Candy Bars, Dial Soap...
... Dole Pineapples, Pillsbury Pancakes and many others...
... all appearing in wide circulation national magazines like Life, Look and Seventeen. There were also corporate sponsored booklets and brochures. Below, a gorgeous little cover illustration for a 1958 Kimberly Clark Corporation booklet.
Winnie's work was not restricted to advertising alone. She began getting assignments from book publishers early in her career. Here is the cover of the 1952 book, You and Your Amazing Mind, for Children's Press...
... and the from the following year, for the University of Chicago Press.
Winnie collaborated on both books with her then-husband, Joe Phelan. Many more book projects would follow.
Tomorrow: Winnie Fitch in the 1960s.
* Winnie Fitch and John Houston's website
* Winnie Fitch's art prints are available for purchase at imagekind.com
Celebrating illustration, design, cartoon and comic art of the mid-20th century.
Tuesday, February 04, 2014
Winnie Fitch in the 1950s
6 comments:
That Dial Soap ad really grabbed me when you first posted it. Glad there's more Winnie Fitch to come! Wonderful work. Looking forward to tomorrow's post. :)ReplyDelete
- Anonymous11:11 PM
How did you first become aware of Winnie and her work from so long ago?ReplyDelete
Just curious.
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Whether going to a sporting event on a warm summer evening or traveling to a ski resort during the winter, check weather forecasts and be prepared with an emergency supply kit in your vehicle. Hazard-specific information is outlined on the following pages.


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These beautiful yellow wildflowers can be seen from the trail in James E Grey Preserve, New Port Richey, Florida.
Hello, I Barbara Bowen of B A Bowen Photography and I have a passion for the outdoors. I enjoy bringing you high quality photos from the most pristine places of Natural Florida, Georgia, and other places I explore. I hope you enjoy my photos as I paddle down the crystal clear waters of Florida's natural springs in my Kayak or hike down an off the beaten path trail that has been untouched by human development. I enjoy Florida/Georgia wildlife, wildflowers, and natural scenes at their best and I certainly enjoy showcasing them for you! Thank you for visiting my site! If you have any questions about photos or are requesting Image Licensing, I can be contacted at: firstname.lastname@example.com or by phone at 727-234-5804. Images...
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MCAT Prep Test
Utilizing MCAT Prep Tests for MCAT Prep
MCAT is a common admission test program by the American Association of Medical Colleges, for admission to the accredited medical schools in the US and Canada. The test is very serious business for the aspiring medical student community, and is an exam that demands systematic studying and dedication for one to crack it. Based on the individual strengths and preferences, the preparation can take different routes- self study, formal review programs through traditional classroom setup, or online studies. Whatever be the mode of preparation chosen, taking a preparation test is the best way for a student to understand or analyze his/her strengths and abilities.
Taking practice tests regularly is a highly critical aspect of preparation, as this helps the candidate check on the progress and focus more on the required areas. It is recommended that prospective medical students start their preparation by taking an initial mock test, so that an accurate picture of one's plus and minus points is available to work on, right from the start.
MCAT Preparation
As for any other admission test, MCAT is something for which one just cannot do last-minute cramming. Systematic preparation for a minimum of three months is what many people recommend. Many people start their preparation right along with their undergraduate courses, as well. And a study plan is definitely going to help, whether one chooses to study on his/her own or take up a professional review program. AAMC recommends obtaining a copy of the Official Guide to the MCAT Exam, as a preliminary step. A visit to the AAMC MCAT website is also essential, as this is a place filled with all that you need to know about the exam. The AAMC website also has practice tests for free and a few tips and tricks that might come handy for preparing well and taking the exam.
In case of self study, one needs to take extra care that all required materials are available. Plenty of materials are available these days both online and offline. Second hand books, online webinars, seminars, videos, etc. are additional resources that one can make use of. Students should take care to review and get the basics clearly, right from the beginning. Enough time should be allotted to the study of each of the different sections of the test based on an individual student's strong and weak areas.
When joining a review program, candidates should select a program that best suits their requirements, timings, and personal style. Starting from big names like Princeton Review, Berkley Review, and Kaplan, to smaller providers, there is a large number of customizable courses or review programs available for preparation. One can choose a crash program, intensive long duration program, online program, individual tutoring, small group tutoring, tutoring for only one section of the exam, etc. as the case may be. Many professional review programs also supply candidates with enough materials to read and practice.
Prep Tests
Attempting a mock test at regular intervals should be an essential part of the study plan. As part of formal preparation programs, tests are conducted regularly by the provider to assess the progress of the students and also to enable them practice completing the test on time. However, those who prepare on their own, should make it a point to take the preparation test on their own. This way, one can not only do self assessment and make changes to the study plan accordingly, but also train oneself to complete the test within the given time. The more number of practice tests one takes, the more easily one should understand the pattern and flow of the exam; and this is going to help while taking the real exam.
Professional program providers like Princeton Review and Kaplan conduct free sample test papers locally and online. Detailed test results with tips to improvement are the advantages of these programs, and might be quite beneficial for students. The AAMC MCAT website also offers a free test online. Here are a few links to some of the other tests online:
- http://www.princetonreview.com/medical/free-mcat-practice-test.aspx
- http://www.kaptest.com/MCAT/Explore-the-MCAT/Anatomy-of-the-MCAT/mcat-practice-test.html
- http://www.mcat-prep.com/practice-mcat-cbts/
- https://www.testpreppractice.net/MCAT/Free-Online-MCAT-Practice-Tests.aspx
The official e-MCAT practice tests are considered as good as real tests as they simulate the real exams in almost all aspects. These tests are the best way to gauge one's potential performance in the actual exam. These practice tests are prepared using questions from previous exams and follow the same pattern as the original exam. There are 52 questions each from Physical and Biological Sciences, 40 from Verbal Reasoning, and 2 Writing Samples. Some of these practice tests are available for free, while others can be purchased online. The official e-MCAT tests are available at: http://www.e-mcat.com/
Some of the salient features of the official e-MCAT practice tests are mentioned below:
- They consist of questions from previously conducted exams.
- They can be customized to meet the candidate's study requirements.
- The settings can be adjusted to simulate actual test conditions, like the timeline, or level of ease.
- They can include the solutions or answers, and the questions can be answered sequentially or in a random order.
- They provide detailed score reports on all objective type questions.
- Unlimited practice option is available for detailed review and study.


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Featured News - Current News - Archived News - News Categories
The next meeting of the Niagara County Builders Association will be Wednesday, Sept. 12, at the Lewiston Village Pub, 840 Center St., Lewiston.
The board will meet at 5:30 p.m.; cash bar begins at 6:30 p.m. and the dinner meeting at 7 p.m. RSVP at 693-5736 by Sept. 7.
The Builders Association held its annual picnic at the Five Senses Nature Park in Wheatfield. Scott Cottrell won the 50/50 drawing. Beck & Sons Trucking won the annual nail-driving event.
The group is already making plans for a spring Parade of Homes event.


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Why settle for any old color when you can savor fresh-squeezed hues like Dark Gray, Blue, Pink, Green, Light Gray and Orange that give a sharp new edge to sophistication? The pure aluminum body of the PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital ELPH is an inspired medium for bold expression, enhancing every gleam of color from the slim profile to the subtle curves that create a visual "softness" you can almost feel. When design takes a confident detour, your world goes along for the ride.
10.0 megapixel resolution makes it a breeze to print large size images with clarity and detail.
With the PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital ELPH, dramatic, personal pictures have never been easier to shoot and share. This 10.0-megapixel camera lets you create impressive, large photos of family and friends you'll be proud display. The high-resolution images taken by the SD1200 IS Digital ELPH can be enlarged up to 13" x 19".
The PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital ELPH is equipped with Canon's acclaimed Optical Image Stabilizer Technology that automatically detects and corrects camera shake - one of the leading causes of fuzzy or blurred shots. Even when zoomed in, you can get the steady, crisp, brilliant images you'll be proud to shoot and share. And Canon's Optical Image Stabilizer Technology is so convenient to use. It functions perfectly with or without a flash.
Large, crisp 2.5-inch PureColor LCD II and wide viewing angle.
The PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital ELPH gives you a large 2.5-inch LCD screen for excellent control when framing your shots. Canon's PureColor LCD II offers spectacular color, resolution and contrast even when viewed at an angle. The screen is highly durable and easy to see in any light with a scratch-resistant, anti-reflective coating. It also features Night Display for easy viewing in low light - a perfect feature for gathering friends and family around to see your images.
Smart AUTO intelligently selects the proper settings for the camera based on 18 predefined shooting situations.
Just set the Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital ELPH to Smart AUTO and you're ready for maximum enjoyment from your picture-taking every time. It's a relaxing and satisfying way to shoot because you can completely concentrate on your subject knowing that the camera has the technical details covered. Advanced Canon technology intelligently analyzes your situation and shooting conditions. Then it automatically selects an appropriate setting from 18 specially defined settings. So whether you're photographing flowers, a captivating sunset, or your friends at the park, you can be confident that you're getting dramatic, memorable images.
Shooting Modes
Advanced presets for the best possible photos under certain conditions. With 17 Shooting Modes, you're ready for whatever shot comes your way.
DIGIC 4 Image Processor has evolved Face Detection Technology that tracks the faces of moving subjects and lets the shooter enter the frame seamlessly with the Face Detection Self-timer.
iSAPS Technology is an entirely original scene-recognition technology developed for digital cameras by Canon. Using an internal database of thousands of different photos, iSAPS works with the advanced DIGIC 4 Image Processor to improve focus speed and accuracy, as well as exposure and white balance.
A Face Detection Self-timer automatically detects an increase in the number of faces and makes the appropriate adjustments. For instance, to include the photographer's face in a group shot, there's no need to rush in. Just put the camera on a stand or tripod, specify Face Detection Self-timer, and the camera will wait for the photographer's face to get on-camera before it takes the shot. Motion Detection tracks moving subjects in a much larger range, and the Servo AF retains focus on a moving subject after the shutter button is pressed halfway - allowing you to wait for the perfect shot without refocusing.
Intelligent Contrast Correction
DIGIC 4 also makes possible the i-Contrast (Intelligent Contrast Correction) system, which controls the compensation level in pixel units to brighten dark areas while leaving bright areas unchanged for better images where the main subject is dark, and more natural transition. The PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital ELPH can even use i-Contrast in playback mode to adjust images that were shot without the setting activated.
Red-eye Correction provides three options for removing red-eye from subjects in flash pictures.
1) Red-eye Correction during shooting actually identifies and corrects red-eye in human subjects as pictures are taken.
2) The PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital ELPH can be set to automatically detect and correct red-eye during image playback.
3) You can manually locate any red eyes in a scene during image playback on the LCD screen, and command the camera to remove them.
Life doesn't give you second chances to capture special times. That's why the PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital ELPH features an ISO 1600 setting that reduces the effects of camera shake and sharpens subjects in low-light situations, giving you greater shooting flexibility. ISO can be expanded to 3200 when you select ISO 3200 Special Scene mode.


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Charlie Sheen's Pentagon Questions Remain Unanswered
News anchors claimed new footage would 'shut him up' then looked disappointed as a few grainy images were played
Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones/Prison Planet.com | May 17 2006
Amidst the back slapping and salivating that preceded the release of the 'astounding' new images from the Pentagon, Fox News and others took the opportunity to bash Charlie Sheen one more time, claiming that the hot new footage they were about to play would shut him up for good.
When the images finally were released after two hours of lavish build-up, the noticeable disappointment of the Fox anchors betrayed the fact that these people probably like to drive slow past bloody car wrecks. The 'footage' if it can even be described as that does not show a large commercial airliner and if anything is worse than what we already had.
It certainly does not answer any of the questions Charlie Sheen asked on the Alex Jones Show back in March.
"Show us this incredible maneuvering, just show it to us. Just show us how this particular plane pulled off these maneuvers. 270 degree turn at 500 miles and hour descending 7,000 feet in two and a half minutes, skimming across treetops the last 500 meters," said Sheen.
"I understand in the interest of national security that maybe not release the Pentagon cameras but what about the Sheraton, what about the gas station, what about the Department of Transportation freeway cam? What about all these shots that had this thing perfectly documented? Instead they put out five frames that they claim not to have authorized, it's really suspicious."
The FBI seized no less than 84 separate video tapes from cameras dotted around the Pentagon area under national security and refuses to release them to this day, despite claiming that none of the tapes show Flight 77 hitting the Pentagon.
A FOIA request for the release of all 84 tapes has been made and is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit but the government is clinging onto those tapes.
Why won't the government release the tapes if they don't show anything? Perhaps the answer is in the question.
On the other hand the government could be lying (surely not!) and the tapes could contain crystal clear footage of Flight 77 hitting the Pentagon. In an attempt to debunk the entire issue, this footage would be held back and released at a convenient time to coincide with the crescendo of the 9/11 truth movement. It is important to warn 9/11 researchers of this possibility and carry it as a proviso whenever discussion of Flight 77 is aired.
The only thing we can say for certain is that the smug news anchors and editorials out today, including one from the Washington Times which claims the footage 'dispels conspiracy theories,' have egg all over their faces for hyping this footage when in reality it is nothing more than a few foggy moments that will only lead to increased speculation as to what exactly happened at the Pentagon.
Infowars.com is Copyright 2006 Alex Jones | Fair Use Notice


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Liz and I were so fortunate to meet Edward Bess in person at Bergdorf's last week. As we were walking through the magical beauty floor, we found him standing near a counter of his beautifully formulated makeup line. Even more incredibly, he offered to do our makeup. I took some pictures for you to enjoy–and we hope that you do!
First of all, Edward Bess is even more charming and knowledgable in person than we had imagined–and we are some of his biggest fans. A prodigy, his taste level and expertise is incredible. Also, his personality is so pleasant and easy-going–he had us laughing along with him throughout. If you could choose anyone to do your makeover, Edward Bess would be a most delightful (and talented) choice.
Edward began with Liz's eyes–he explained that cleanups are so much easier if the color product somehow migrates. We were so lucky to try his new Edward Bess Eye Primer. This product, which comes in three different shades, is distributed via a brush pen to the lid. Above, the product is coming out of the tube before it is smoothed out (with fingers or the built-in brush). It creates a blank canvas on the lid, drying to an opaque matte finish. I noticed that both Liz's and my eye makeup lasted beautifully until we removed it much later that evening. The finish is amazing. I cannot wait until this product is available in the next 2-3 weeks. I need it.
With a few exceptions, nearly all of the color products used on both Liz and I were from the Edward Bess Back to Basics Palette ($75). Although I realized that this was a very versatile travel palette, I was stunned to see how easily Bess could use this palette to create our "you but more glamorous" looks. With just a few of his brushes and his fingers, Edward used some of his collection's favorite colors. You can see Sabrina's review and swatches of this palette here at The Beauty Look Book.
The eyeshadows were used to create a very natural eye, using the neutral colors on the lid, and the darker shade just above the crease. Edward used his Edward Bess Luxury Eye Brush ($40) (pictured with the palette, above, which I couldn't resist buying).
A little Edward Bess Defining Eye Liner ($29)….
More work on the eye area:
And bringing some color under the eyes:
Edward gave Liz incredibly long, defined lashes with his Edward Bess Lash Designer Volumizing Mascara ($30):
Edward mixed his Edward Bess Platinum Concealer ($38) with a touch of his moisturizing Edward Bess Black Sea Deep Hydration Cream ($90) to do Liz's under eye area. He also used a mix of this moisturizer with his Edward Bess Sheer Satin Cream Compact Foundation ($60), which he dabbed on Liz with fingers. Although I don't own this foundation yet, it did provide a very lightweight, moisturizing feel. The finish was lovely. I do own at least three of the Platinum Concealers, which I keep at home, work, and in my purse. It has amazing coverage and the quality is excellent. I'm discontinuing the use of the Cle de Peau stick concealer in favor of the Edward Bess.
He then began to dab on the blush and highlighter from the Back to Basics Palette to add subtle color to Liz's cheeks:
He used very soft lipstick and pencil on lips:
Edward then used the South of France Quad Royale ($45) applied with his Luxury Face Brush ($56) to add a glow to Liz's complexion. This quad gave Liz a very natural sheen–really, we couldn't leave the counter without picking one up for her.
The Beauty Look Book's review and swatches of the South of France Quad Royale are here. If you love a soft, subtle, beautiful glow, this is a must have.
I hope you enjoyed this little essay–we certainly felt very fortunate to have met with Edward Bess. What an enormous talent–I cannot wait to see what else he will be releasing in the coming months.


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Today is the launch of the Gold version of the BlackBerry 10.1 SDK for Adobe AIR. Thank you to everyone that has been helping us test it so far! For a full list of API updates and fixes, please head over to the release notes.
Port your AIR apps
Re-compile your existing BlackBerry PlayBook AIR applications to BlackBerry 10. If you're already using the fuse component set that debuted with the BlackBerry PlayBook SDK for Adobe AIR, the port should be quick and easy. You can get more details from this blog post.
For more details on what's coming after Gold for the BlackBerry 10 SDK for Adobe AIR, please visit our Adobe AIR roadmap.


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Returns & Exchanges
Any queries regarding your order must be made within 2 days of receiving it. We do not normally give refunds if you simply change your mind or make a wrong decision. We only accept returns of the tea item sent to you by mistake or not in good condition. Additionally, the goods have to be returned in their original, resaleable condition with all of its packaging materials. Before returning goods that meets the above condition, please contact us with your purchase details including the invoice number and we will provide you with information on how to return the item at no charge to you.


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Manufacturers perfect corn cob harvesters
Agricultural equipment manufacturers will continue testing corn-cob-harvesting equipment this fall in an effort to perfect the machines in advance of a projected increase in demand for corn cobs.
Poet LLC in Sioux Falls, S.D., is scheduled to continue testing and demonstrating corn-cob-harvesting equipment in November. Last year, the company teamed up with equipment manufacturers to harvest cobs from 4,000 acres of farmland in South Dakota. Poet plans to use cobs to produce cellulosic ethanol at the company's planned $200 million biorefinery in Emmetsburg, Iowa, which is slated for completion in 2011. Poet is working with multiple companies to develop cob-harvesting technologies, including Vermeer Corp., Kinze Manufacturing Inc., SmithCo Manufacturing Inc., Demco, Agco Corp., Claas of America Inc., Deere & Co., and CNH America LLC, according to Doug Berven, director of corporate affairs at Poet.
Chippewa Valley Ethanol Co. LLLP scheduled corn-cob-harvesting demonstrations in October across 5,000 acres in Minnesota, the company said. It's working with the University of Minnesota West Central Research and Outreach Center in Morris, Minn., under a $250,000 grant from the Minnesota Department of Commerce, the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute, and the Minnesota Corn Research and Promotion Council to educate farmers about cob harvesting, and to evaluate techniques. The university's WCROC plans to create a cob-collection video and a "how-to" guide for farmers. Both CVEC and the University of Minnesota, Morris recently commissioned cob-fed biomass gasification systems.
Pella, Iowa-based Vermeer was one of the manufacturers that participated in both demonstrations with its prototype CX770 Cob Harvester, a wagon-style cob collector that trails behind the combine to collect grain and cobs in one pass, according to Jay Van Roekel, segment manager for Vermeer. Van Roekel said he expects demand for cob harvesters to pick up within the next 15 months. "If it was ready today, I think we could sell it today," he said.


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LEXIS (Founder of Music Is My Sanctuary)
Lexis is a Montreal-based DJ and the founder of MusicIsMySanctuary.com + 24HoursofVinyl.com
Lexis has been one of the pillars of the Montreal music scene in the past 15+ years. He is one of the most versatile DJ's and influential tastemakers out there – always digging for future classics & forgotten treasures. He founded Music Is My Sanctuary in 2007 which has now grown into one of the best independent websites for lovers of next level music from all over the world. He also created the 24 Hours Of Vinyl project, a worldwide non-profit vinyl event, which has travelled to London, Paris, New York, San Francisco, and more.
Lexis' monthly radio show and mixes have gotten acclaim from the likes of Ninja Tune, Mixcloud (which voted him top 10 of the last three years), OkayPlayer, Vice, EgoTrip and Radio Nova. He hosts a bi-monthly radio show on Gilles Peterson's WWFM radio. He also collaborates with french producer Onra on a mix and event series called "Throw Em'Up" devoted to mid 90's R&B rarities.
In the past few years Lexis has shared worldwide stages and festivals with lots of artists from very different scenes: Theo Parrish, Gilles Peterson, DJ EZ, Floating Points, Kaytranada, Dam-Funk, Quantic and more.
NTS Radio
Worldwide FM (Gilles Peterson)
Red Light Radio
Rinse FM
Superfly FM 98.3 (Vienna)
Ninja Tune's Solid Steel Show
B92 Serbia
Lefto's Radio Show (Brussels)
Nasty FM (London)
CBC Radio & Radio-Canada
CKUT Montreal, CISM, CJLO
Laidback Radio (Belgium)
Worldwide Festival (2015-2016)
Dimensions Festival (2015-2016)
Southern Soul Festival – Montenegro (2013-2014)
Piknic Electronik Montreal (2008-2010-2011-2012-2014)
Igloofest (2013-2016)
Canadian Music Week (2013)
Nuit Blanche (2012-2013-2014-2015)
Montreal Jazz Fest (2012-2015)
TED Montreal (2012)
Pop Montréal (2010-2011-2013)
Poland – UK – Belgium – Switzerland – France – Austria – France – Serbia – Montenegro – Germany
Theo Parrish (Detroit, Sound Signature)
Dam-Funk (Los Angeles, Stones Throw)
Onra (France, All City)
Floating Points (UK, Eglo Records)
Shuggie Otis (US, Epic Records)
Kaytranada (Canada, HW&W Records)
Pearson Sound (UK, Hessle Audio)
Julio Bashmore (UK)
Paul Nice (NY)
Mark De Clive-Lowe (US, Tru Thoughts)
Lefto (Belgium, Brownswood Records)
Bonobo (Ninja Tune)
Africa HiTech (UK, Warp Records)
Zed Bias (UK, Tru Thoughts)
Blu & Exile (US)
El-B (UK, Ghost Recordings)
Kahn (UK, Gorgon Sound)
Quantic (UK, Tru Thoughts)
Mount Kimbie (UK, Hot Flush)
Roska (UK, Rinse)
Pursuit Grooves (US, Tectonic)
Mary Anne Hobbs (UK, BBC Radio 1)
RSD (UK, Tectonic Records)
Nickodemus (NY, Wonderwheel)
Take (Los Angeles, Alpha Pup Records)
Kris Wadsworth (Detroit, Poker Flat)
Jacques Greene (Montreal, Lucky Me)
Elaquent (Toronto)
Lorn (Ninja Tune)
BadBadNotGood (Toronto)
Waajeed (Detroit)
Dorian Concept (Austria, Ninja Tune)
Jazzanova (Germany)
Slum Village (Detroit)
Jose James (Brownswood, US)
Kid Koala (Canada, Ninja Tune)
Alice Russell (UK)
Shigeto (Ghostly, US)
Untold (Hemlock, UK)
Poirier (Canada, Ninja Tune Records)
Dj Vadim (UK, BBE Records)
DJ Day (US, The Do-Over)
Skratch Bastid (Canada)
Tortured Soul (New York)
Alexander Nut (Rinse FM, UK)
Silkie (UK, Deep Medi Records)
Ras G (Los Angeles, Brainfeeder)
Samiyam (US, Brainfeeder)
Teebs (US, Brainfeeder)
Dibia$e (US, Alpha Pup)
Kenlo (Canada)
Alaclair Ensemble (Canada)
Lone (UK, Werk Discs)
Soulphiction (Germany, Philpot)
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (New York)
XI (Orca Records, Toronto)
Christian Pronovost (Canada, Lost Heroes)
Lunice (Montreal)
45 King (New York)
Eddie C (Germany)
Groundislava (Los Angeles)
Soul Jazz Orchestra (Ottawa, Strut Records)
Amir ("Kon & Amir", New York)
and tons and tons of talented Montreal people!
Interview in Vice Magazine
DJ Set & Interview on B92 Radio Serbia
Interview in Cult Montreal
Interview in the Montreal Gazette
Interview in Ego Trip
Interview in Scion Magazine
Interview in La Presse (Montreal)
Interview in Longueur d'Ondes (France)
Interview in Urbania Magazine (Montreal)
Radio Interview on CIBL (Montreal)
Interview with Ghetto Erudit (Montreal)


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Sleepyguy, I never mind a good discussion and do not easily take offence. You are of course right, science will never be able to prove that every single orb is a light artefact. But it does offer pretty convincing evidence explaining orbs in general, and can reproduce them under controlled conditions. There is on the other hand, no evidence at all that any orbs are paranormal; this is an assumption, a theory, but nothing more. The question is, why would you want to hold the belief that there are two kinds of orbs, a perfectly natural variety and a paranormal type for which there is no evidence, if you could just as well assume that all orbs are in fact of the first variety? Or, to use Ockam's razor, why would you prefer the latter complex hypothesis to the former simple one, even though the latter doesn't explain anything extra?
Anything is possible in theory. It's possible that twelve green pixies live at the back of my garden, who go invisible anytime anybody looks. But why would I assume such a thing?
(Finally, OT in reply to your OT question: A point often made but rarely understood: the scientific method is not a belief. It is simply the only way we have of examining closely the likelihood of any statement on reality being true. Or do you know of another? It works for atoms as well as for orbs and smurfs (the evidence for the existence of smurfs is exactly as strong as that supporting paranormal orbs, so it is not very consistent to believe in the former but not in the latter). The scientific method has furthered human knowledge way beyond anything ever achieved by any religion or belief. It has doubled the life expectancy of an average westerner in less than 100 years time. It allows you and me to have this discussion from opposing sides of the globe. I stand by it because I am convinced that if everybody would stick to an evidence based worldview and rational thinking, and would be able to truly distinguish those from personal beliefs, the world would be rid of lots of unfounded bias and irrational fear and would generally be a much better place. We could then eradicate popular but evidently (empirically) wrong notions such as, 'Europe will be engulfed by Muslims', 'Allowing gay marriage will stop straight people marrying and result in less births', 'Death penalty works', or 'There is no connection between gun laws and gun-related crime').
PS. This thread is called 'Explanation for orbs'? Why does everyone want to close it as soon as explanations are offered that are impopular?
Edited by stevenedel, 13 November 2007 - 12:25 PM.


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Ooh, la, la! Go for WHOA with sexy black lace or a little pink underpinning for a flirtatious Valentine's Day night! Choose between our new lace Ella Gel, our Day to Night Silky Pant, our romantic Reese Pushup Bra, WHOA Fragrance, and more! Check out our favorites below!
What are your plans this Valentine's Day! Tell us, and comment below!
Looking for more great Valentine's Day gift ideas? Check out our Sweet and Sexy Gift Guide, our True Love Gift Guide, or our Candy Crush Gift Guide for other great romantic looks!


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The StartX Files: Seeing Linux Without Sight
Twenty Feet and a World Away
When I was a young lad--actually a scrawny little punk who would mouth off for any reason whatsoever--I would travel with my mother down to the Gulf Coast of Florida to spend the summer with my grandparents. These were essentially two-day trips, since there was little chance a single mother and her son were going to drive straight through from northern Indiana to southern Florida.
Invariably, our route would take us down I-75 through Chattanooga, Atlanta, and Tampa. One summer, after an uncle had moved to Memphis, we opted to saunter over and visit him, and came up north through Alabama. Which is how I found myself at the age of 15 in Tuscumbia, Alabama, trying to find the birthplace of Helen Keller.
I had read The Miracle Worker in school, of course. I was no expert on Helen Keller, but I knew the basic story: struck blind and deaf at the age of 19 months, Keller grew up to be a spoiled, wild child with little desire to communicate. After a meeting with Alexander Graham Bell, Keller's parents were introduced to teacher Anne Sullivan, who came to live with the six-year old and her family in Tuscumbia.
It was soon apparent to Sullivan that the Keller family, while well-meaning, indulged Helen far too much. Sullivan asked for permission to move into the cook's house, isolating Helen away from her family so they could get down to business. Soon after, Sullivan managed to get across the power of communication using the now-famous demonstration of spelling w-a-t-e-r on Keller's hands while immersing those hands in the flow of the running well pump.
It is a story many of us are familiar with, but it bears a review, because after reading that story and seeing the reality, I was struck with a very startling realization. When you read about that incident, you assume that the cook's house was fairly far away from the main house--something like four or five hundred yards or so. How else would Helen Keller be kept from her family?
But when you see the house for yourself, you find out that the two buildings are less than 20 feet apart. Students of history would realize this fact, since cook's houses were the working kitchens for many middle- to upper-class homes. They couldn't be that far away. In the book, it sounds as if Sullivan has transported her student to another world. But it was only 20 feet, with the famous well in-between the main house and the cook's house.
And it hit me, this scrawny little punk sweating in the Alabama sun, right there and then: the magnitude of what being blind must be like. It came all at once, and changed one of my perceptions forever. I cannot claim full knowledge of being without sight, of course--any sighted person who says that is an arrogant ass. But for one moment, standing by a hand-pumped well, I had a glimpse of what it must be like to be 20 feet and a world away.
- Skip Ahead
- 1. Twenty Feet and a World Away
- 2. Twenty Feet and a World Away


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Tim Sudall needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 52 designs submitted by 21 freelance designers.
Pacific Sky Wedding Films
Our company has been producing high end Wedding Films on the East Coast for 15 years and is now opening our Newport Beach, CA Studio. We are at the beginning of our design process and are starting off with a LOGO and hope to have a long standing relationship with our Designer.
Our target audience is a successful affluent 25-35 year old female who in engaged and seeking a modern upscale alternative to traditional wedding video.
This new logo will be presented on a white background website and should have the following qualities.
1) Sophisticated Elegance and an Upscale Feel
2) Targeted for our female market
3) Capture the flare and feel of the Pacific Coast.
4) I envision a 2 line logo but will consider any creative entry.
The logo should not feature cameras or film reels but more of a 5 Star Exclusives Resort Vibe.
THANKS for taking the time and I look forward to experiencing your talent.
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.