text:
Too often, so many "Best Of" CDs contain what amounts to a collection of cuts from albums that, on their own terms, weren't worth buying — a single cut and a dozen songs of absolute crap.
Or so we think.
As conscientious music buyers, we buy the "Best Of" CD in an attempt to avoid buying an entire collection, assuming we're getting the "Best Of" as determined by the artist's record company or some other dimwit who has decided they've decided what you'll consider what's best by the band, disregarding the gems by the band. Worse yet, some worthless weasel has decided that a band deserves a "Best Of" designation due to their years of assaulting our ears and our spare moments of avoiding that band's crap.
As a service to my readers (or as a way to irritate a lot of people), I present you with the Worst Of the Best Of: Those collections of hits and knock-offs that should be avoided at all costs, to avoid embarrassment (and someone like me identifying the worthless cur in your collection, in an announcement as welcome as genital warts on a wedding night) or save you precious coinage when you could have purchased something worthwhile.
You'll thank the IMS in the end, I assure you.
Strictly Commercial: The Best of Frank Zappa. Yes, commercial, but hardly the best and barely anything I'd want to hear as far as Zappa's output. Indeed, a Zappa "Best Of" release is about as much as an oxymoron as "Pagosa night life," Chimera, like the Black-Winged Snipe or the left-handed Skyhook. "Best Of" Zappa barely scratches the surface and the cuts on this disk, while "Strictly Commercial," are hardly the songs that matter to anyone looking for an introduction to the man's genius. Skip this and purchase a score of Zappa (and Mothers) disks.
The Best of Billy Joel: Really? Was there anything he did that resembles real Rock and Roll? If there was anything Joel produced that didn't elicit at least a slight gag reflex, please alert me and we can listen to that cut over a slice of white bread slathered with Ragu. Until then, send this disk flying towards the back 40 and fill it full of buckshot; spare the clay pigeon.
Ultimate Yes: Ultimate migraine. Between Jon Anderson's hideous screech, Rick Wakeman's onanistic manipulation of the keyboards and the rest of the band's plodding, prog-rock pretensions, a minute of this tripe is like an evening trapped between two stoners discussing theories of The Pyramids, aliens and Eleanor Roosevelt's breasts. If you're intent on playing this disk, do so with the engine running and the garage door closed; we'll figure out why it was important to you at the inquiry.
Legend — The Best of Bob Marley and the Wailers. A disk for people who don't really like reggae but believe they need a Marley disk to impress their friends. Sure, all the Marley songs you've ever heard are here, all overplayed and redundant in their own way, with the collection a complete disservice to arguably the most influential musician in the world (even more than Elvis or the Beatles). A true "Best Of" Marley collection would include at least a half dozen disks and even those would be impoverished and not worth owning with the availability of his individual albums.
Light & Heavy: Best of Iron Butterfly. Owning this disk is like framing and displaying that freshman year report card for the semester you pulled a .25 GPA. This disk is a testament to the fortitude of the sound engineer who, apparently, enough drugs in his system to tranquilize a herd of elephants, still managed to stay vertical at the mixing board. Including 21 cuts of some of the most pointless and moronic sludge ever recorded, the collection doesn't even include the LP version of "Inna-Gadda-Da-Vida" — as interminable as any Grateful Dead self-indulgent noodling — but the "single version" which, in its very existence, verifies that humans are not nearly as evolved as we'd assumed. Living Inna-Gadda-Da-Vida Loca translates into "A quart of tequila and a quaalude won't get me through this garbage" without a power drill and several well-placed targets along the scalp.
Hold the Line: The Very Best of Toto. Fly to Africa, eat some monkey brains, catch a nice case of Ebola and then chart the progress of your decaying flesh with a cheap digital camera. Print your favorite photos from that process and glue them onto pieces of cardboard, all tied together with old shoestrings. Your "Best Of" photos, chronicling your lesions and oozing scabs will be immensely more entertaining and socially relevant than anything included in this collection. "I bless the rains down in Africa," indeed; a nice dose of Ebola is preferred.
Tom Waits — Greatest Hits. Owning this is like buying a .44 Magnum and a box of Nerf bullets. I can only imagine that this exercise was the result of some meretricious contractual obligation that Waits was unprepared to argue away. Ill-conceived and essentially useless, this collection forsakes truly great songs ("Goin' Out West," "The Earth Died Screaming," "Filipino Box-Spring Hog," among dozens of others) for some truly baffling choices. It's as if some record executive hired his idiot nephew to pick whatever he liked and the kid made hash marks on the back of Waits' albums while playing "Metal Gear Solid 4." Waits deserves much, much better.
Very Best of John Coltrane, is not just a lie but a damned lie: At best this collection is a Reader's Digest sampler for a twisted rest-home version of musical chairs, at worst, a proud declaration of ignorance regarding Coltrane's expansive and inestimable genius. There's no excuse not to own dozens of Coltrane CDs and even less excuse to own this expression of absolute disrespect for an American treasure. Owning this disk makes one as about as cool as Tucker Carlson astride a plastic pink pony.
1 — The Beatles, is OK, I guess, if you're 14 years old and your parents think an evening of Lawrence Welk is a nifty way to kill a couple of hours, but how realistic is that (and is Lawrence Welk even broadcast anymore?)? I remember this disk topping the charts about a decade ago and thinking that, in this age of easily digestible information, broken down into fruity and chewable Flintstones vitamins, "1" was a perfect example of how distracted our society had become. A race of shattered skulls, continuing to run face first into tree after tree while the forest remains obfuscated. Apparently millions of listeners bought this shameless attempt to continue to milk the Beatles cash cow but the only purpose for owning this disk is to hand it off to our alien overlords and saying, "Listen to this and get back to me when you can tell me what you think of these guys."
Best of the Beast, Iron Maiden. No true metalhead would own this and the only purpose I can think of for releasing this collection was to give it space on countless jukeboxes in pool halls.
Made in the Shade, Rolling Stones, was a cynical attempt by the Rolling Stones to make a few more million dollars and skirt the fact that they had done far too many drugs in the early '70s. Drawing cuts off of two great albums (Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street) and two mediocre albums (It's Only Rock and Roll, Goat's Head Soup), Made in the Shade was released as a way to mollify fans and make a few bucks while the Stones dragged themselves out of their most debauched and demoralizing period. Unfortunately, Jagger and Richards would not redeem themselves for a few more years, nearly going over the edge with the halfhearted Black and Blue, rising back to something of their former stature with the cocksure Some Girls. Skip Made in the Shade, buy Sticky Finger and Exile on Main Street (truly, two essential albums) and if you absolutely must own the rest of the cuts on this travesty, purchase them off iTunes.
Playlist: The Very Best of the Spin Doctors, is a groove-infused, hippy-dippy whippit fest of putrid mid-'90s jam-band excess. These guys didn't do anything remotely memorable or notable and to there's any "Best" here is like choosing between puking in the shower or in bed.
Every Breath You Take: Classics (the Police). I don't know what is more amazing: that these guys managed to sell so many records or that they had so many people that they were a "new wave" band. If edgy haircuts and skinny ties make the "new wave" band then I guess you could include Huey Lewis and the News and Hootie and the Blowfish in that category (and you'd be dead wrong). The Police were, from start to finish, a band that produced some passable pop music and gave millions of teenagers an excuse to puff up their dos and dye them blue. I shouldn't be so hard on the Police except for the fact that they gave us Sting, the most annoying, nauseating pap-producer to hit the carousels of middle-aged women attempting to stay hip and young, a Vegas lounge act for the geriatric Gen X set.
Enough. It was a good friend who led me down this path and, this far into it, I'm beginning to realize that the Worst of the Best of is an infinite road, a moebius strip of mediocre and mindless music that, not worth listening to when it was first released, is even less worthy on a Best Of compilation.
Either bands are far too great to require a Best Of compilation and their output should be recognized on the merits of individual works or bands are so inept and awful that a Best Of compilation is a painful reminder of a bad idea gone horribly wrong.
Perhaps the age of the MP3 player has made the era of the Best Of compilation as dead as cassette tapes. Unfortunately, I don't have faith in that evolved state. While my music snobbery may be insufferable, my savvy regarding the recording industry's infinite capacity for greed refuses to bury the dead an rotting cur. And, in the words of H.L. Mencken, "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public."


text:
Sounds of the Woods by Nadinoo & WishWishWish09:27
Director & Producer WishWishWish Cinematographer & Colourist Miguel Santana Designer & Stylist Nadia Izruna Model Rosalind Jana...
I love a good collaboration, especially one involving one of my favourite designers Nadia of Nadinoo and a blog I've been a long time reader of, WishWishWish. Nadia and Carrie worked on this short film featuring the latest Nadinoo A/W 12 collection and depicting the three Nadinoo girls - Pixie, Lula and Fleur.
Check out some behind the scenes pictures on Nadinoo blog here.
12 comments
I also love this video! Carrie's projects never lack beauty.ReplyDelete
x Michelle | thefeatherden.net
I Love It!ReplyDelete
The Bootlace
i love this video!ReplyDelete
I love this video! Such beauty! Hey i am a beginner photographer, check out my blog http://thepublicdollhouse.blogspot.com/ReplyDelete
lovley video!ReplyDelete
That video was so beautiful. I think I've fallen in love with every part of it!ReplyDelete
Carmen Ri.
like Carmen said, So beautiful!ReplyDelete
That was just so breathtaking :) the cinematography, the location, the clothes are perfection <3 if only life was as simple as that,:)ReplyDelete
enchanting! love their hair-do <3ReplyDelete
so dreamy! and i love emiliana torrini!!ReplyDelete
So so lovely.ReplyDelete
Loved it! It makes me want to a forest right now...ReplyDelete

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Monster 350-pound RB has serious wheels, earns scholarship with Hawaii
It's not particularly surprising that David Fangupo is a Division I college football recruit. After all, the Kailua-Kona (Hi.) Kealakehe High senior stands 6-foot-2 and roughly 350 pounds … before a big meal. What is surprising is that he is expected to play running back starting next year at his home state's largest university, with Fangupo agreeing to sign a national letter of intent with Hawaii once he is academically cleared to do so.


text:
Playing this video requires the latest flash player from Adobe.
Download link (right click and 'save-as') for playing in VLC or other compatible player.
The experimental violation of Bell inequalities using spacelike separated measurements precludes the explanation of quantum correlations through causal influences propagating at subluminal speed. Yet, it is always possible, in principle, to explain such experimental violations through models based on hidden influences propagating at a finite speed v>c, provided v is large enough. Here, we show that for any finite speed v>c, such models predict correlations that can be exploited for faster-than-light communication. This superluminal communication does not require access to any hidden physical quantities, but only the manipulation of measurement devices at the level of our present-day description of quantum experiments. Hence, assuming the impossibility of using quantum non-locality for superluminal communication, we exclude any possible explanation of quantum correlations in term of finite-speed influences.


text:
Several news sources, including BBC News and The Mirror, have today picked up on comments by former Doctor Who star David Tennant in the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine, where he gives his backing to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the Labour Party. He also criticises the Conservative Party, particularly opposition leader David Cameron.
In the magazine, published last Thursday, Tennant is quoted as saying:
"I would still rather have Gordon Brown than David Cameron... I would rather have a prime minister who is the cleverest person in the room, than a prime minister who looks good in a suit. I think David Cameron is a terrifying prospect... a regional newsreader who will jump on whatever bandwagon flies past. I get quite panicked at the notion that people are buying his rhetoric, because it seems very manipulative to me. Clearly, the Labour Party is not without some issues right now and I do get frustrated. They need to sort some stuff out, but they are still a better bet than the Tories."
Tennant appeared in a party political broadcast on behalf of the Labour Party during the 2005 General Election campaign. Although he has made critical comments about the Conservative Party in the past, including in the Radio Times, this is the first time that his political stance has been widely reported by the mainstream media.


text:
Currency Displayed in
Hover over image to zoom
Sorry, these are no longer available, nor do we have a substitute part number
Write review
We promise to never spam you, and just use your email address to identify you as a valid customer.
This product hasn't received any reviews yet. Be the first to review this product!
This old reel came in a bag of pieces to us and needed a new bail wire and bail …
This reel came to us with a stripped drag knob and center shaft....the customer …
This customer sent us a Hardy L.R.H. Lightweight with the spool seized on the …
Copyright 2019 Mikes Reel Repair. All Rights Reserved. Sitemap |
Toll Free 1-888-404-1119.
Mikes Reel Repair
#108-31060 Peardonville Rd.
Abbotsford, BC, V2T6K5
All prices are in USD.
Compare Now
Click the button below to add the 879364T30 - VariMAX HANDLE ASSEMBLY to your wish list.


text:
Centrally located in the city of Chula Vista, between Downtown San Diego and the Mexico border. We are just minutes away from the world-famous San Diego Zoo, San Diego Convention center, Sea World, beaches, Olympic Training Center and Coors Amphitheatre, among other San Diego Highlights.
By accessing our web site, you've just completed the first leg of you journey. Now let us take you the rest of the way by helping you explore your travel options - online. Because when you rely upon us you know we're always behind you with the kind of customer service that puts your satisfaction first. So if all this is as important to you as where you're going, we're ready to help - and that includes answering your questions.
world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."
-- St. Augustine, 4th Century A.D.
Copyright 2004, Travel Inn San Diego


text:
DRIER and brighter weather conditions were expected across West Yorkshire today after yesterday's heavy sleet and snow fall cause travel disruption across the county.
The Met Office said last night that rain, sleet and snow should gradually be confined to the south east of the Yorkshire and Humber region.
Drier and brighter conditions with scattered wintry showers were due to develop further north and west.
It is set to be cold and bright across Yorkshire tomorrow and Monday, with scattered wintry showers and overnight frosts.
A reported 80 schools were closed across West Yorkshire yesterday as residents across the county woke up to a blanket of snow.
Forecasters warned that the sleet and snow which caused traffic chaos across Yorkshire and hit flights to and from Leeds Bradford Airport was set to continue last night.
Both carriageways of the M62 near Huddersfield were closed for a short time yesterday afternoon after a crash involving a car and a lorry.
Police and fire crews were called to the incident on the westbound M62 near junction 23 for Huddersfield just before 1.30pm.
The eastbound and westbound carriageways of the M62 were closed for a short time at the accident scene to allow the Yorkshire Air Ambulance to land on the motorway.
One male casualty, who suffered non life-threatening injuries, was flown to Leeds General Infirmary for treatment.
As a result of the forecasted snow Highways England has issued a HE Severe Weather Alert for Snow and customers are advised to take extra care when travelling due to the increased risk of adverse driving conditions.The Highways Agency
Leeds Bradford Airport was closed for a time yesterday morning. It later reopened, though many flights were delayed. The greatest snowfall, up to 3.9in, hit the Peak District and the Pennines yesterday as daytime temperatures in northern England struggled to reach 4C in Leeds and Manchester, and 3C in Bradford. At Newby Head in Hawes, North Yorkshire, a council gritter had been working to clear five inches of snow on the road.


text:
About NIJ
What's New
All Topics A-Z
Contact Us
Text size:
Print this page
E-mail this page
On this page find information about:
One important goal of research on teen dating violence is to understand which youth are more vulnerable to experiencing violence in their relationships. Identifying youth at risk for violence increases the likelihood of early intervention and prevention. Researchers seek to identify the risk factors indicating an increased likelihood for dating violence and the protective factors that buffer against dating violence. Risk factors and protective factors can be found across multiple contexts or domains, including factors specific to an individual, peer group or social group, relationship, or community/environment. Multiple risk factors and protective factors may be at play within a relationship. Researchers have begun to focus on identifying which risk factors and protective factors most strongly relate to teen dating violence.
In an NIJ-funded study of 5,647 teens (51.8 percent female, 74.6 percent Caucasian) from 10 middle schools and high schools (representing grades 7 to 12) throughout New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, researchers identified several factors related to increased risk for dating violence. The researchers focused especially on cyber abuse but found that the following factors related to multiple forms of abuse:
Learn more from:
Another NIJ-funded study examined multiple risk factors among 223 at-risk, low-income teens in central Virginia. The study first examined potential risk factors that each partner could bring to a relationship. These factors could be grouped into four broad categories:
When examined together, risk factors that could be changed (e.g., having delinquent peers) related more strongly to dating violence than risk factors that could not be changed (e.g., exposure to maltreatment in childhood).
The study also examined certain relationship-specific factors that might be associated with increased violence within the relationship:
An NIJ-funded longitudinal study of 1,162 students in the Midwest examined factors that led teens to engage in bullying, sexual harassment and dating violence while in middle and high school.
The researchers found that youths who bullied other students while in middle school were more likely to engage in more serious forms of interpersonal aggression connected with dating and romantic relationships as they grew older. But the connection between bullying others in middle school and perpetrating teen dating violence in high school was not direct. Instead, bullying behavior in middle school predicted bullying behavior in high school, which, in turn, was linked to perpetrating teen dating violence.
In middle school, aggression toward a sibling was a predictor of bullying behavior for both girls and boys. For girls, family conflict and having delinquent friends were also predictors of bullying behavior. For boys, family conflict was not a predictor of bullying behavior, but both having delinquent friends and self-reported delinquency were predictors.
Among high school students, researchers found direct links between those who bullied and those who perpetrated teen dating violence. Female teens who bullied others were likely to perpetrate sexual, verbal and physical dating violence. Male teens who bullied others were likely to perpetrate verbal and physical dating violence.
Read an abstract and access the final report,
Bullying, Sexual, and Dating Violence Trajectories From Early to Late Adolescence.
NIJ-funded research also has examined factors related to victimization among a national sample of 1,525 Latino teens. Results revealed that being a victim of one type of violence might place teens at risk for other forms of violence. Many victims of dating violence also were victims of crime or of peer/sibling violence. In addition, even after accounting for the fact that young people were often victims of multiple forms of violence, dating violence, in particular, was associated with delinquency.
This study also identified two factors that might help to protect against dating violence among Latino teens:
Learn more from:
Overall, findings from NIJ-funded studies suggest a need to screen for teen dating violence and provide intervention programming among youth who have experienced other forms of violence or who have engaged in delinquent behaviors.
Teen dating violence has been associated with negative psychosocial health behaviors, but we cannot say definitively that teen dating violence causes negative health outcomes. Much of the research is correlational. Nevertheless, research can determine whether youth who experience dating violence are also at risk for negative psychosocial health behaviors. Knowing what types of health behaviors are associated with teen dating violence can help service providers better recognize and adequately respond to the needs of teens who experience dating violence.
The NIJ-funded study of dating violence among 5,647 teens from middle schools and high schools (representing grades 7 to 12) throughout New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania identified two psychosocial health behaviors associated with teen dating violence:
Similar findings emerged from a national study of relationships among 1,525 Latino teens. Researchers controlled for a total count of the number of different types of victimization that the participants experienced, including conventional crime and peer/sibling victimization. After controlling for total victimization, dating violence remained associated with depression and hostility:
National Institute of Justice, 810 Seventh Street, NW, Washington, DC 20531


text:
Waynesfield-Goshen falls to Lehman Catholic
WAYNESFIELD — All week, Waynesfield-Goshen head coach Gary Spencer said that Friday's contest with Sidney Lehman would likely come down to how the Tigers strength, matched up against the Cavaliers strength, their defense.
"Something had to give," Spencer said.
It was the Cavaliers defense that won out in a convincing 21-7 win. A week after Waynesfield seemingly had emerged as the team to beat for the NWCC title, Lehman came in with its best performance of the season to throw the conference race into a free-for-all.
"It is not often you get second chances," Lehman head coach Dick Roll said after the game. "This was our second chance. You don't get a second second chance. This is the best game we have played in two years. This is the type of football we like to play.
The Lehman team looked small coming out of the locker room, boasting only six guys not heir roster that even touched the 200-pound mark. But they packed a punch like 300-pound all-pros over the entire course of the game.
"Watching films I was worried about this team all week," Spencer said. Fort Loramie beat them 35-0, but you couldn't tell it watching the film. Lehman fumbled four time when they were close to scoring. They came in here tonight and hit harder and played harder. They brought it to us.
After it had seemed the Tigers had solved their turnovers woes from its early season games by not turning over the ball last week, they reverted to their old ways, turning the ball over six times. Quarterback Garret Miller was intercepted five times and the Tiger fumbled three times, losing the ball once. The turned the ball over not heir first three possessions and netted only 21 yards of offense.
"We are not a team that can turn the ball over that much and get away with it with our style of play," Spencer said.
After punting on their next possession, it seemed the Tigers may have finally broken out of their slump on their fourth possession. Miller hit receivers for two long passes, a 21-yarder to Eli O' Leary and then a 56-yard scoring toss to Lee Turner that gave the Tigers a 7-0 lead to take into halftime. For a half, the Tigers had survived a half in which they turned the ball over four times and and punted twice in seven possessions.
However, on Lehman's second drive of the second half they were able to take advantage of good field position to tie the score. Starting on the Waynesfield 46-yard line, Andrew Girardi and John Husa took turns tearing off chunks of ground yardage on an 11-play drive that took up more than seven mints of the clock.
After forcing Waynesfield to punt after six plays, Lehman used the quick method for their second score when Nick Rourke hit Andrew Westerheide for a 64-yard pass to make it 13-7.
Waynesfield drove the ball down the field on the ensuing possession to the Cavalier 39-yard line, but Husa's interception thwarted the drive. Lehman ran off another four minutes that climaxed with a Girardi eight-yard score.
Lehman's Mitch Slater intercepted the ball not he first play of the answering drive to seal it for Lehman.
Spencer said his team simply just has to bounce back from the performance and get ready for Ridgemont for next week's game. Ridgemont has been the surprise of the NWCC, sporting the league's best mark at 5-1. They are tied in a three-way lead with the Tigers and Fort Loramie at 2-1 in the league while Fairbanks and Perry are a half-game behind at 1-1.
"I told the kids in the locker room that this one is over and they have to get over it in their minds," Spencer said. "I hope it hurts a little so they get back to doing what they need to do.
The Cavaliers were the first team to keep Tiger running back Gabe Hennon under 100 yards, as he was held to 83 yards on 19 carries. The Tigers 154 total yards was by far their lowest output this season.
The Cavaliers, however, had no problems moving the ball. Gilardi ran for 143 yards and Rouurke passed for 123 as Lehman finished with 328 total yards.


text:
MP AUTO1919 E. Main St
Grand Prairie, TX 75050
View on Google Map
Contact Us
Call Us Now
(972) 237-1530
Estimated By E.P.A.
Clean title, 2 doors, automatic, 5 cylinders, a/c, radio c/d player/ mp3/ auxiliar connection, power windows, power doors locks, power mirrors, power steering, black color, gray cloth interior, 95496 miles, Call.- 972-237-1530
Get the best car loan for you!
fast, free, secure online auto loan application APRs as low as: 3.99% *W.A.C.
Fast, convenient online financing.
Competitive rates and terms.
We make your buying experience more streamlined and less stressful.
At MP Auto we put you in touch with over 50 lenders guarantying you the best possible financing for your new vehicle. Apply online today using our secure application form. Once your information is received, we will review your application, research what's available to you, and contact you to explain your options.
* MP Auto offers Financing Products as an added value services to our customers, all products are services by third party providers and are subject to credit approval and key stipulations such as vehicle characteristics, including amount, term and vehicle age. Special restrictions may apply.
We offer pre-owned coverage policies to protect your investment and give you peace of mind. These warranties are accepted by most service facilities and franchise dealerships nationwide. Details and prices on our complete line of warranty agreements are available upon request.
Our goal at MP Auto is to always give you the best options and peace of mind to protect your investment.


text:
Over the last three months of this year, Congress faces the critical challenge of addressing the scheduled expiration of $5 trillion in tax cuts passed under Presidents Obama and Bush, currently slated for January 2013. In addressing this challenge, Congress will have to decide who needs the most help. So the real question is: Who will have a better 2013, moms or millionaires?
A study released today from the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities lays out the perils of helping millionaires at the expense of helping moms. Eliminating the expansion of middle-class tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit, and the American Opportunity Credit will increase the burden for half a million families and over 1 million children. Moms rely on these credits to meet the needs of their families.
Congressional proposals geared towards helping millionaires instead would increase the deficit by over $1 trillion while providing enormous benefits for just a handful of the state's residents. Only 1.4% of the state's families and 2.5% of the state's small businesses will benefit from the extension of the Bush-era tax breaks. Only 140 families—less than 0.2% of the state's population—would benefit from the proposed inheritance tax cut. Their average tax cut would exceed $1 million, in contrast to the $2,000 in tax credits a poverty-line family of three would receive under the Senate plan.
Given the state's rising unemployment and a stagnating economic recovery, eliminating these credit expansions and increasing the burden on working moms and families would be the worst possible policy to pursue. Let's help moms instead of millionaires.


text:
Why a 4 year term would be madness
A 4 year term?
See, here's my problem with a 4 year term. Because we have no upper house and only have a unicameral system that means little old NZ has the most powerful Parliament in the democratic world.
Our MPs can read any crazy bullshit they like straight into law, no other Parliament has that level of unchallenged power. I want you to ask yourself a very simple question - do you really want Politicians to have even MORE power?
You want to extend the vast power they have, for another year? We have so few checks and balances in the NZ system, and this Government are furiously busy defanging our watchdogs into lap dogs, to extend the time a Political Party can stay in power with the most powerful Parliament in the world gives me the creeps.
The baseless argument being pursued by all Politicians (except Hone I think) is that a 4 year term will allow them to focus on the big issues. Are we really that stupid? The Parliamentary system we have allows them to implement any thing they like, giving them an extra year of that power isn't going to change the focus onto long term, it just allows them to do more.
Why is is that NZers love to hand power over to authority? Whether it is the bloody Police with their vast new search and surveillance powers, or the TPPA which will give American Corporations unfettered access to our economy or now Politicians wanting another year of power.
Our weird love to be masochists in our own country never ceases to amaze me.


text:
Editor's note: William Bennett and Seth Leibsohn are authors of the recently published book "The Fight of Our Lives: Knowing the Enemy, Speaking the Truth, and Choosing to Win the War Against Radical Islam." Bennett is a CNN contributor and a fellow of the Claremont Institute; Leibsohn is a managing partner with the consulting firm Leibsohn & Associates.
(CNN) -- Sixty-six years ago on May 1, Americans learned Adolf Hitler was finally dead. On May 1, President Barack Obama announced Osama bin Laden was killed. Until Sunday night, no international figure's death had been so sought since 1945.
Since the 1990s, bin Laden had declared war against the United States. By and large, most Americans did not take that declaration seriously until nearly 10 years ago, on that bright September day, made dark by bin Laden and his league of terrorists. But long before bin Laden's declarations and actions, terrorism had been directed against, and afflicted upon, Americans. Bin Laden's death is a welcome victory and much-hoped-for news in our long fight, but it is not the end of the fight.
Before September 11, 2001, terrorists and terrorism had struck at America, both at home and abroad. But September 11, 2001 was different in both scale and means. It was the worst terrorist act in the history of the world. And the world was changed. Even after Sunday evening's news, the world will remain changed by what bin Laden had wrought.
Terrorism, state-sponsored violence and the advanced technology available to radical Islamists and other extremists does not necessarily require a large organization to kill large numbers of Americans. One young man with a car packed with TNT, as Fouad Ajami pointed out in "The Foreigner's Gift," can kill massive numbers of Americans. And, unless and until the death of bin Laden is seen as a new beginning and a new seriousness in our war against radical Islam, more Americans will be killed. Let us hope that new beginning and seriousness commenced on May 1, 2011.
Several things are important to keep in mind just now, lest we think the war ended Sunday night.
1. Terrorism will not stop, take a break or recede with this news. Palestinian terror didn't stop when Yasser Arafat died; it didn't even stop when he supposedly renounced terrorism. A lot of fuel animates the Islamist complaint against America and the West: Bin Laden was one part of it.
2. Al Qaeda itself has metastasized far beyond bin Laden, in operations, in doctrine, in command. The terrorist movement of al Qaeda has long ago superseded bin Laden himself.
3. It is entirely possible we will see an uptick in terrorism in the name of al Qaeda. Terrorist operatives who affiliate under al Qaeda's brand will likely want to prove it is still alive and active.
4. Even if there were no al Qaeda terrorists, let us not forget, until 2001, no terror group killed more Americans than Hezbollah. Hezbollah was known as the A-team of terrorism and al Qaeda the B-team. The war is nowhere near over; indeed, Iran and Hezbollah are as strong as ever, and who knows what kinds of leaders are waiting to fill what kind of vacuum bin Laden's death has created.
5. Finally, although it has been the subject of a lot of criticism, let us say a word of praise for President George W. Bush's terrorism detainee policies (and, more important, reconsider the ending of such policies). Not only did they lead us to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (the operational director of September 11), they led us to the compound where bin Laden and his couriers were living in Pakistan.
On Sunday, Obama completed a part of what Bush began. But there is still much to do, as there is still a great number of enemies -- lethal, amorphous, violent and widespread -- set on killing as many Americans as possible. Our enemies are confined to no region. They obey no rules. And they esteem death over life.
The president was right Sunday night when he said, "Justice has been done." But there is still much justice to undertake as there is still a great deal of injustice aimed at us.
The opinions in this commentary are solely those of William Bennett and Seth Liebsohn.


text:
MemberCount: 2099Free Members: 1184Pro Members: 823JV Partners: 91
Member Login
The All In One
Text Ad Exchange
Featuring Slide Up Viral Adz,
New Traffic Exchange, New Viral Store!
And Email EVERYONE That Joins After You!!
Plus...Grab an
$129 Ads Pack,
and Free Pro for the first 750 Members!
From: Debbie Penner
is the day you take charge of your advertising! Look we all know that
Text Ad Exchanges work wonders for advertising, signups, and list building... At
SendOutAds, get awesome advertising, and commissions! If you want to succeed online, then you need to build your list, and promote your business effectively! That is what SendOutAds is all about...
Advertising your business opportunities!
We have taken the best of all advertising sites and combined them into one effective advertising machine! With our Slide Up
Viral Adz, your websites and affiliate links are exposed virally across the net, and you will be able to build your list and earn commissions virtually on autopilot!
With our brand new viral store, you get commissions when one of your referrals makes a purchase of anything in
the store! We will be adding items into the viral store on
a regular basis with quality e-books, software, graphics, and more top
products as they become available.
Forget plug-n-play! Get commissions on autopilot, when your referrals make a purchase!!
And the big kicker...Upgraded members.. You can email
EVERYONE that joins after you! Yes that's right folks, you can email the site list with a credit link, every 7 days for
Pro members. For JV partners, you can email the site list every 3 days!
Oh, before I forget, how much does
this cost? Nothing...Nada...Zilch! No credits, or points required for
We currently have over 27 different ways for you to advertise your sites and offers, and we even included a way for you to have your very own sign-up bonuses via The Transfer
Advertising Feature! Surf the new traffic exchange now included at Send Out Ads, and if you upgrade to JV, you
can promote up to 4 different primary business opportunities to your referral members via an Extra Bonus
Join as a free member, and take us for a test drive! Advertise your sites with Super Solos, Contact solo ads and other advertising options,
or you can also Upgrade your account to JV partnership via the one time offer, and receive a monthly advertising package, and get instant Viral
Adz and Text Adz Credits!
Here is
what you get as a monthly bonus for being a JV partner of SendOutAds.
5 Solo Ads
5 Traffic Links w/200 clicks
5 Banner Ads w/2000 views
3 Hot Links w/5000 views
1 Login Ad w/1000 views
An advertising package valued at over $100 every month!!
Featuring Viral Adz!
Advertise your websites across the net while building your referrals at the same time!
With our slide up viral adz system, you can get maximum results with minimal effort. Simply place your ads into our system and you will soon
receive massive exposure across multiple sites.
We even encoded your affiliate URLs into the adz, so you can build your
list at the same time by referring
others to SendOutAds!!
The following
features are available to members, depending on your chosen membership
Member Bonuses
members are invited
to use promo codes: Columba
and freepro and you will be provided 3
Solo Ads, 3 Banner Ads, 3 Traffic Links, 2 Headline Ads, 2 Ads-Plus Ads,
2 Button
Ads, 1 Premium Ad, 2 Block Ads, and 2 Hot Links! Plus 500
Viral Adz Credits,
and 500 Text Ads Credits! And a Free Pro Account!
is Everything You Could Ever Want in an Advertising, Safelist, Traffic Exchange, Software & Download Store, or List
Building Site!! We Have What You Need To Succeed!
Make the Choice!
No Boxbe, or Any Kind of Auto Reply Email Address on Signup!
10000 points on joining
800 points for every solo ad click
4000 points for every referral
Post 20 times a day
13.50 for every Paid JV Referral(excluding OTO)
50 % Commission On ALL Referral Purchases
Price: $27.00 Lifetime
4000 points on joining
500 points for every solo ad click
2000 points for every referral
Post 10 times a day
$6.25 for every Paid JV Partner Referral
20 % Commission On ALL Referral Purchases
Price: $13.50 Lifetime
1000 points on joining
200 points for every solo ad click
1000 points for every referral
Post 1 times a day
$2.70 for every JV Partner Referral
10 % Commission On ALL Referral Purchases
Price: Free
NO AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail, Earthlink, Comcast, ATT Email Addresses( You Won't Receive The Confirmation Email )
Free Members Signup
Username (no spaces):
Member Type:
Terms and Conditions |
Spam Policy |
Privacy Policy |


text:
A great follow-up to Independence Day weekend is a Downtown New Bern ArtWalk, which is scheduled Friday.
A great follow-up to Independence Day weekend is a Downtown New Bern ArtWalk, which is scheduled Friday.
As always, there are new exhibits, live entertainment and a good time to stroll the downtown shops, galleries and restaurants.
Works by members of the Twin Rivers Artists Association are on exhibit Friday through the end of August at the Duffy Exhibit Gallery of the North CarolinaHistoryCenter.
The Duffy Gallery is the primary exhibit space for Craven Arts Council & Gallery while renovations continue at the Bank of the Arts on Middle Street.
The Rivertowne Players will also perform one or two numbers from �Damn Yankees� at the History Center at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m.
New Bern Civic Theatre�s Saax Bradbury Players open �Romeo to Go� Friday evening at the Pollock Street Athens Theatre.
New to the ArtWalk is the New Bern Convention & Visitors Center, where the band �Hot Buttered Grits� will perform from 7 to 9 p.m.
The Next Chapter Bookstore on South Front Street will host artist Linda Hastens.
Ballantyne Framing and Art returns to its new location at 220 Craven St.
The Greater Good Gallery, also on Craven Street, will hosts its usual large of array of artists and exhibitors for another Bohemian Night.
Carolina Creations on Pollock Street features the works of watercolorist Janet Dixon, with an exhibit titled �Red, White and Blue.�
New Bern ArtWorks & Company opens a show with the work of artists Joanne Geisel.
MJs Raw Bar & Grill will feature work by Angela Canaan.
For information on the ArtWalk, visit cravenarts.org on the web.
Here is a sampling of the week�s other offerings:
The New Bern-Craven County Public Library hosts �Design A Peep!� Tuesday, using materials supplied by the library. Registration for the 2 p.m.program is required, and space is limited. Sign up at the library�s information desk or call 638-7807. The contest is Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
�Groundbreaking BINGO!� is Saturday at 1 p.m.with prizes. It is free in the Hayden H. Jones Auditorium.
Ratio Theatre Company�s new program �Theatre for Young Audiences� will offer the children of New Bern an opportunity to experience professional theater and classic literature.
The free summer sessions are for ages 3 and up, and run Tuesdays and Thursdays, beginning this week through Aug. 8 at Union Point Park. Times are 10 to 11 a.m.
The sessions will include plays that are written and produced specifically for young audiences, with elements of interactivity and group participation.
It will include classic tales as well as new and fun presentations, such as �The Ransom of Red Chief� this Tuesday and Thursday.
On the web: ratiotheatre.org or call 626-0358.
Six Twin Rivers Artist Association members will exhibit work as the July Artists of the Month at the New Bern-Craven County Public Library in New Bern.
The artists include Jan Ebbinge, Cheryl Ashe, Carl Hultman, Beth Conley, Mimi Dixon and Roy Jackson.
An opening reception is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday. The public is invited.
Black Owl Guitars has joined forces with Surf, Wind & Fire in downtown New Bern to present �Kanikapila,� a ukulele jam session on Thursday.
The store is at 230 Middle St. in New Bern.
�Kanikapila� starts at 6:30 p.m. and will continue until the food, drinks and songs run out, according to the organizers. Snacks will be provided. Bring your own beverage.
There is no admission. The public is welcome. Call 288-5823 or 649-5455 for additional information.
Bear Town Market�s upcoming Beer Garden event is the Jesse Stockton Band on Friday night.
Beer Garden events are open to Bear Town Market members and their guests. Annual memberships are available for $1.
The Eastern Carolina Workforce Development Board and the New Bern-Craven Public Library are offering a life-enhancing opportunity to job-seekers.
On Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., there is a hands-on session, with instruction in the Worldwide Interactive Network system using WorkKeys as a pre-test in preparation for taking the Career Readiness Certification.
The session is at the library on Johnson Street in New Bern, and refreshments will be served after the session.
Contact Susan Payne at the library by calling 638-7807 or Rita Garshak, business services representative, Eastern Carolina Workforce Development Board, at 636-6901.
New Bern Civic Theatre�s youth troupe � the Saax Bradbury Players � opens �Romeo to Go� Friday evening at the Pollock Street Athens Theatre.
There will be four performances at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, along with July 19 and 20. Two afternoon matinees are features, Sunday and July 21.
Tickets are $14 in advance, $16 at the door and $10 for students and active duty military with ID.
The local show is directed by Georgie Blackerby and produced by Chelsey McCotter.
Call 633-0567 for ticket information or order on the web: newberncivictheatre.org
The annual Down East Bellydance & Drum Fest returns to Eastern North Carolina Friday through Sunday in New Bern.
It is three days of drumming, workshops, shows, shopping and fun at several locations.
On Friday, there will be workshops and a kickoff �Hafla� beginning at 4:30 p.m. at Mickey Milligan�s on Trent Road. It includes African drumming at 5 p.m. and a jam at 8 p.m.
There will be workshops and vendors available Saturday at the Stanly Hall Ballroom on Craven Street. Also Saturday, there is a gala show at 8 p.m. at Grover C. Fields Performing Arts Center at 8 p.m.
More workshops are available Sunday at Stanly Hall, from 7:30 a.m. through late afternoon.
For information and prices, on the web: kaitlynbellydance
The Jones County Health Department hosts a Health and Safety Fair on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Jones County Civic Center near Trenton.
The objectives of the fair include increasing health awareness and disease prevention for the community and county employees by providing health screenings, educational information and related activities; provide disaster preparedness information; and increasing awareness of local, state and national health services and resources.
Agencies and businesses are invited to showcase their services.
Contact James Franks at 448-9111, ext. 277.
Courtyard by Marriott and Wheelrock Entertainment welcome Jeff Miller, an acoustic looping master, singer and songwriter for his third tour at Trent River Coffee Company Saturday from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Tickets can be purchased at Trent River Coffee Company at 208 Craven St. or by calling 514-2030. For more information, call Lee Wheeler at 639-1644. Seating is limited. Tickets sold out for the 2011 and 2012 shows.
Charlie Hall can be reached at 252-635-5667 or firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
I'm not sure what you were doing this time last year, but a few of you might have been drooling over the Chanel Sports store that temporarily took over the fashion house's Spring Street (NYC) boutique, and sold goods such as surfboards, footballs, and this tennis racquet:
What do you think of the racquet? Tell us.
(via ISF)


text:
No products
$0.00 Tax
$0.00 Total
We ship everywhere in the U.S. and many countries internationally. Packages are generally dispatched within 2-6 days after receipt of payment and are shipped via U.S. Postal Service by Priority Mail or First Class Mail with tracking number. If you prefer delivery by another carrier, an additional cost may be applied, so please contact us if you would like to choose another method. Whichever shipment choice you make, we will provide you with a link to track your package online.
Shipping fees include handling and packing fees as well as postage costs. Handling fees are fixed, whereas transport fees vary according to total weight of the shipment. We advise you to group your items in one order. We cannot group two distinct orders placed separately, and shipping fees will apply to each of them. Your package will be dispatched at your own risk, but special care is taken to protect fragile objects.
Boxes are amply sized and your items are well-protected.
Due to the nature of custom printed apparel, we can not accept returns or exchanges of any items unless the merchandise is misprinted, materially flawed, or defective. In addition, please note that sizing can vary between manufacturers and styles. We can not be responsible for the purchase of incorrect sizes and will not be able to accept returns for this reason once the garments are printed.
Our hotline is available 24/7Contact our hotline


text: pamphlet "find the full joy of music by playing ... on a Hammond Organ. The pamphlet is in good condition, undated but the photos appear to be 1950-1960 hair styles and dress. Booklet is in good condition. Will mail media rate to your zip. will accept money orders, cashier checks and or personal checks with UP to 10 days to clear.


text:
Published Jul 25, 2017
Diamonds aren't the only thing that last forever. Tell us where you'd go to get inked for life.
Cakes, cookies, brownies, fruit pies. Who bakes up the most mouth... see the Top 5 →
When the hardest choice is sweet or savory, you know you're in for a treat... see the Top 5 →
Whether you take a Bloody Mary or coffee with your eggs benedict, we know... see the Top 5 →
Shopping, dining, spas and, yes gambling draws you in, but what casino... see the Top 5 →
There's nothing like a delicious meal followed by a fortune cookie! Who's... see the Top 5 →
The 2017 Sacramento A-List awards are based on more than 84,000 votes from local Sacramento-area experts.


text:
I say that I have a wealth of information on Louann Lightner, but all I really have is the basic facts: birth, children, where she lived and death.
Louann was born October 24, 1844 in Russiaville, Indiana, a small city not far from Kokomo, Indiana. She was the third of six known children to Daniel D. Lightner and Polly Seward.
Daniel was a state senator for Howard County, Indiana during the Civil War and was an avid abolitionist, despite having been born in Virginia, a slave state. There is enough information about Daniel to warrant his own post.
Louann married Charles O. Johnston in Howard County, Indiana on April 22, 1863.
Based on the above information I have the following "due-outs" for Louann:
1. Find her obituary.
2. Request a photo of her headstone through Findagrave.com
2. Request a photo of her headstone through Findagrave.com
3. Search for her in the Hobart, Indiana newspaper to find out more about who she was.
This post is part of my on-going goal of 2013 to research each of my 32 3rd great-grandparents more in-depth. Louann is #16 on my list.


text:
WarcraftRealms.com is a content and community based site giving players a place to stay in touch, trade, recruit, guild site hosting and much more! Stay tuned for more functionality!
For now, you can check out the Census data provided by the Census UI mod from http://www.pieragostini.com/ian/fun/wow/mods/Census.htm.
The forums are also up and can be found here:forums.
It would be great if you would help update the census information. Click on the submit data link to learn more!
There is much more to come so stay tuned!


text:
April 15, 2010
Available now for pre-order at your favorite comic shop are two totally different (and totally excellent) graphic novels from Top Shelf! The mature-readers heavyweight this month is The Playwright from writer Daren White and artist Eddie Campbell, a gorgeous fully-painted romantic comedy about the sex life of a celibate middle-aged man -- it's a witty blend of cynicism and sweetness, from the award-winning artist of Alec and From Hell.
Also featured is the hilarious fourth adventure in the infectiously goofy Johnny Boo series by James Kochalka, Johnny Boo and the Mean Little Boy. In their latest episode, Johnny Boo and Squiggle meet a new friend who loves to play games -- but as you can guess, some of his games aren't very nice! Our heroes learn a few lessons about making friends, getting revenge, and changing your pants.
Place your orders now for these two beautiful, hardcover books... June'll be here before we know it!
by James Kochalka
by Eddie Campbell and Daren White
Mobile Site Go to Full Site
Top Shelf Productions® and the Top Shelf logo are registered trademarks of Top Shelf Productions, Inc. All rights reserved.
Site by Clixel


text:
Photo by OvertimeCook
I'm a amateur wannabe photographer. I write my own recipes, I style my own food, but one thing I don't do very well is take my own photos. If its a sunny day, I rely on daylight, say a prayer and use my limited photography knowledge. My fellow food blogger and friend Miriam from OvertimeCook takes all her own photos and she understands more photography jargon than the spices I have in my pantry. So when I heard that Miriam was visiting in my area, I pulled out my camera and lights and invited her to dinner. Well, more like to teach me to take better pictures of dinner.
The best place to find inspiration for dinner is from recipes posted by members of CookKosher. I loved the sound of Oven Roasted Mustard Potatoes and decided to make it that evening.
Looking through the reviews I tweaked the recipe based on what other members wrote. I reduced the oil to 2 tablespoons oil, and used a little less mayonnaise and mustard. I cubed the potatoes and tossed it to a 9x13 inch pan to bake. By the time Miriam showed up we were ready to shoot these beauties.
Photo by OvertimeCook
Thanks member Rabash for a great side dish! To the rest of you, keep on posting recipes and don't forget to post reviews!


text:
| Page 1 of 1
|[ 5 posts ]
Rocket Constructor
Joined: Sat Sep 25, 2010 8:39 pm
Posts: 6
Or is it?
The other day I was interested in learning benefits (and possible negatives) of launching a rocket via a plane like that which is used by scaled composites versus a ground launched VTVL approach such as that advocated by AA.
My expectation was that launching a rocket plane gives the "best of both worlds" whereby you get the benefits of an air breathing plane in the thicker atmosphere of lower altitudes and an outperforming rocket engine that can accelerate much quicker than if launched from the ground. Let's face it - on the surface the whole challenge of rocket propulsion is that it takes a huge amount of force to actually get a vehicle up there and wouldn't starting a little closer to the finish line help a lot?
What I found, however, was not what I expected.
To do my analysis I used equation 4-16 from Rocket Propulsion Elements, 8th Edition (Sutton and Biblarz) to calculate final cutoff velocity (vf) and then solve for distance.
Neglecting for air friction vf is equal to:
vf = -c *ln(1-mf) –g*tf+v0
c = time averaged effective exhaust velocity
mf = propellant mass fraction
g = average gravitational attraction
tf = time of cutoff
v0 = initial velocity
Using data publicly available from the scaled composites 2004 flights (I would have preferred to use AA data were it available) I found that a Rocket Propelled Plane launched at 45000ft (13,716 meters) with an initial velocity of 59 m/sec (215 kph) reaches a max altitude of approximately 106.7km (13.7km launch height + 93km climb).
The same rocket engine launched vertically from the ground would obtain a max altitude of approximately 82km or 24.7km less than the air launched plane.
Subtracting the 13.7km launch height advantage of the Rocket plane means that an air launch gained only an aggregate 11km in altitude versus the ground launch. This is clearly not a lot.
In fact looking at these numbers further I found that the ground launched plane would need roughly 10% more Force to match the performance of its air-launched counterpart.
Not exactly a huge advantage if you ask me.
While this simple analysis doesn't take into account drag or the different flight vectors of a vertically versus air-launched vessel, however, it does raise some interesting questions mainly: "what exactly are the benefits of a space plane?"
Without further analysis I can't say for certain but I'd suspect the high-drag re-entry, which uses almost no rocket propulsion is a huge plus. This in comparison to the relatively small but still significant force needed to slow down an AA engine via retro-rockets. There is also a reusability argument but I think both organizations do this pretty well so I won't try to raise any new points there.
While the effect of drag was purposely excluded in the above example it probably would become a more significant factor in a real-world test. Particularly, because the air-launched plane was deployed where pressure was significantly less then on the earth's surface the effect of drag would also be much less. This would allow the air launched rocket to accelerate much faster than its ground based counterpart.
Anyway this all got me thinking so I thought I'd throw it out there to get some more insight.
What do you think?
Do the benefits of space planes really outweigh those of their ground based counterparts?
|Back to top
Space Station Commander
Joined: Thu Oct 27, 2005 7:44 am
Posts: 707
Location: Haarlem, The Netherlands
It's not just about performance. With a carrier plane, you can fly around any adverse weather, or, for orbital launches, fly to a more advantageous launch point closer to the equator. Also, if something goes wrong with the spacecraft, you can glide back to the ground and you have some time to figure out the problem and get down safely. If you launch from the ground and something goes wrong in the first few seconds, then that's pretty much it, you don't have enough altitude to recover.
On the other hand, a modular rocket has advantages of economy. You can make lots of modules, and take advantage of efficient mass production, since all your craft are the same. It's hard to imagine more than a handful of WK2s ever being built (one for each launch location), with maybe twice as many SS2s, while a hundred or so AA modules is not so much of a stretch. Commonly used sounding rockets go up to 300 to 400km, for which I'd guesstimate you need tens of the current modules.
Say, can you feel the thunder in the air? Just like the moment 'fore it hits – then it's everywhere
What is this spell we're under, do you care? The might to rise above it is now within your sphere
Machinae Supremacy – Sid Icarus
|Back to top
Launch Director
Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2008 4:17 pm
Posts: 17
This topic was covered about a year ago by Jonathan Goff on his space themed blog Selenian Boondocks.
I would suggest that you read his posting
Orbital Access Methodologies Part VI: Air-Launched Glideforward TSTO
Indeed you may find each of the entries in that series informative and if you have a spare hour I would suggest that you read them all.
Category Archive for 'Orbital Access Methodologies
|Back to top
Rocket Constructor
Joined: Sat Sep 25, 2010 8:39 pm
Posts: 6
thanks for this trance. will do!
|Back to top
Rocket Constructor
Joined: Sat Sep 25, 2010 8:39 pm
Posts: 6
So I read Jonathan's articles on orbital access methodologies and I have to say it was well worth the time. Actually it was an extremely good read and I spent way way more than an hour with these thanks again Trance for the recommendation!
If you haven't read them and are interested in some not too techie thoughts on cost-conscious ways to access space I would (also) highly recommend them.
The main point I took from Jonathan's articles is that to cover any significant distance you have to look at TSTO (Two Stage to Orbit) propulsion designs and then it becomes a matter of figuring out how to cost-effectively get the first & second stages back.
Jonathan used the cutoff velocity equation (this is the same one I used in my first post) to rationalize this. His line of thinking is that because there is an exponential relationship between mass-ratio and cutoff velocity dropping as much of that weight as possible via staging is highly desirable.
This also got me thinking about the benefits of staging versus not staging so I decided to take my basic model for cutoff velocity and refine it to calculate more closely the effect of average gravitational attraction as the distance from the earth's surface increases.
Then I used these values to derive distance and acceleration, mashed the whole thing up and basically figured out how far a rocket engine would go. These analyses lead me to 3 conclusions:
1) Mass Ratio is absolutely without a doubt the most important factor in space flight. Adding more propulsion, if it is equivalent to mass, yields literally no gain final velocity. Obviously there is a benefit to payload capacity but it just serves to re-highlight the "lower-end" opportunities of private space flight.
2) Unless you have a really good mass ratio it's pretty hard to get more than a few thousand kilometers up.
3) Staging seemed to provide about a 33% performance boost over an equivalent non-staging flight (eg. same characteristic velocity, propellant mass fraction and burn time).
Conclusion 1 -
I used a propellant mass fraction of 90% for 2 flights. The first at 90 kg of propellant and 10kg of dry mass and the second at 90,000 kg of propellant and 10,000 kg of dry mass. All other variables were kept the same. Both yielded the exact same cutoff velocity albeit with the later vehicle having a much larger payload capacity.
Conclusion 2 -
This can be inferred by simply looking at the first part of the equation for cutoff velocity ln(1-mf) but it takes plugging in a few numbers for it to really sink in that it's basically impossible to launch a vehicle beyond a few hundred km unless you have a propellant mass fraction of at least 90%. Even with this you'll need a pretty decent specific impulse to start getting up to 5,000 km or greater. And unless you have a superb specific impulse and mass ratio you aren't going to get much further than that.
Conclusion 3 -
To come up with my 33% number I took a relatively simple scenario: 1 rocket with 90 kg of propulsion and 10 kg of dry mass firing for 180 seconds with a 2943 m/sec characteristic velocity (essentially a 300 Specific Impulse). As a single stage the cutoff velocity was 5177 m/sec.
For the 2 stage scenario I took the same variables and split them between the stages. For stage one I arbitrarily chose 60 kg of fuel mass (Mass Fraction of 60%) firing for 90 sec or half the burn time of its single stage counterpart. The first stage resulted in a cutoff velocity of 1858 m/sec.
For the second stage I took the remaining fuel 30 kg (100kg total - 65kg 1st stage - 5kg dry mass second stage) firing for the other 90 seconds, which resulted in a final velocity of 6933 m/sec or a 33% improvement over its single stage counterpart.
I'll confess I didn't look at this in too much depth but given the argument that staging provides a significant bonus to vehicle velocity I'm really curious to know more.
In particular, the number one question on my mind is what ratio of propellant mass fraction per stage gives the best total velocity? Also, what sort of performance boost does each stage give? I'm sure this tails off at some point but it would be really interesting to analyze the effect of 2 vs 3 or more stages.
Anyway… that's enough of me blabbing.
Do you agree with this analysis?
How can mass fractions be allocated to provide the optimal cutoff velocity when staging?
At what point do stages cease to be useful?
ps – I'm more than happy to share the math behind these conclusions if anyone is interested. Just let me know.
|Back to top
| Page 1 of 1
|[ 5 posts ]
Moderators: James Bauer, Ben, John Carmack, Matthew Ross
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests


text:
You have no items in your shopping cart.
Regular Price:
Special Price
Address:375 Rivertown Drive, Suite 500, Woodbury, MN 55125
Toll-Free:(833) 3-FOSMON
Phone:(612) 435-7508
Fax:(612) 435-7509
Working Days/Hours:Mon - Fri / 9AM - 5PM US Central Time Zone, GMT-6
Get all the latest information on Events, Sales, and Offers. Sign up for newsletter today


text:
…a true story stranger than fiction…
I'm sure you/ve heard of "dowsing" or "water witching" a method of finding water in rural areas using brass rods or forked sticks. The "dowser" holds his locator of choice and follows what seems to be an unnatural directional pull of their locator. People close to the land believe in such things and the educated scientist types scoff saying it is all hokum.
What I am about to relate to you is absolutely true. An impossibility. But it happened nonetheless…
It was in 1957, when I was a junior in high school, when my dad came home with a tale about a 'Water Witch' or Dowser. His boss at work had told him about this old man named Kon Muttrick who lived in a town called New Era who went beyond the Forked Stick method of seeking water that most so-called 'Water Witches" used.
I told my high school buddy Harley about this guy and we found it difficult to believe that such an event could happen as described. We decided to make a Day of it and go up and see this guy….tell him we were making a science project and report on the Dowsing Phenomenon.
So, off we went. Drove to New Era, Michigan, where the guy lived and inquired (as we were told to ) at a certain small store for directions to Kon Muttrick's farm.
We pulled into the barnyard and, sure enough, here was this old man, probably in his sixties…bib overalls…gray hair…had that look of The Land that a lifetime of hard farming brings onto a man. He looked a lot like Walter Brennan's character "Amos McCoy" featured on an old TV program The Real McCoys.
We told him our fabrication and asked him for a demonstration of his abilities.
"Well, y'know…I know where all th' water is on my proppity is…won't be a real test." he said.
"Yes, sir, we know, but our teacher says that dowsing can't be done and we hear you have a most unusual way to do it."
What I relate to you now is quite impossible. But I saw it with my own eyes, in broad daylight…
He gave Harley a pocketknife and told him to cut a Sassafras sapling that was about 12 feet high, about 1.5" thick at the base.. Sassafras saplings grow like weeds in western MI and tend to grow really straight. After cutting this treeling very close to the ground he was instructed to trim all the branches off it except for "the brush" at the top. It was at this point about ten feet long I'd say.
The old man then waved in the general direction that he said an underground stream ran and took the trimmed sapling in his hands. He held it vertically with the 'brush' touching the ground. Without any motion from his hands, the cut, sky-pointing. tip started gently whipping back and forth. but in an odd, one sided, back and forth.
When he went in the direction he'd said the water was, the whipping action started to resemble a fishing pole with a fish on it, i.e. it was starting to flex one sidedly in the direction of where he'd said the water lay…. move in the opposite direction and the bending would lessen. As he moved toward where the one sided flexing indicated it became a real chore for him to hold the sapling as it bucked.
"Now, watch this, boys" he said and he moved in the direction of the alleged underground stream and the sapling bent over into a 'U' until it audibly snapped above his hands!!!
We, of course, were dumbfounded.
Oh, to have had a video camera in those days.
Old Kon claimed he could tell which sparkplug was mis-firing on a car by touching them with his left hand. If he were to touch them with his right hand he'd get shocked like anyone else.
He claimed it was a Gift from God and would not charge you if you wanted him to 'witch' your land for water. He did require that you, as an act of faith, have a drilling rig hired and ready on the site. His hardest find he said was a place so barren that the only live wood (a necessity) he could find was a small live bit of brush less than a foot long. It worked, however.
Curiously bigoted for one claiming a 'gift from God' he "wouldn't work it fer niggers or injuns…"
Strange, strange man…


text:
We already shared Alexa Chung's fierce nail art from Barneys New York's celebration for designer Guillaume Henry of Carven Tuesday, but you don't think she was the only fabulous gal there, do you? Naturally not, which is why we're giving you a gallery of chic-to-the-max pics of some of our favorite style stars—think Jane Keltner De Valle, Cory Kennedy, and, of course, Barneys' new Women's Fashion Director, Amanda Brooks. Amanda and Alexa together is enough to send us into a style coma!
Click through to peep the looks, and read our cute Q&A's with Amanda and Alexa!


text:
The first victim in a shooting rampage earlier this week said he believes the gunman came to his house in Northport in a case of mistaken identity.
The first victim in a shooting rampage earlier this week said he believes the gunman came to his house in Northport in a case of mistaken identity.
Bruce Bankhead, 30, said Thursday that the gunman came to his house looking for a black man, used a racial slur and then opened fire when Bankhead indicated he didn't know who the man was talking about.
"I said 'Who?' That's when I saw him pull the gun out and he started shooting," Bankhead said in a phone interview with Jay Reeves of The Associated Press.
Bankhead, who is white, said that he has a black roommate who shares a nickname with one of the 17 victims shot less than an hour later at the Copper Top bar in Temerson Square in downtown Tuscaloosa.
Suspect Nathan Van Wilkins, 44, has been charged with 18 counts of attempted murder and two counts of shooting into an occupied building and is suspected of setting at least two fires late Monday night and early Tuesday morning.
Investigators were still working to determine what sparked the violent crime spree.
"We're exploring all possible motives at this time," Sgt. Kip Hart, assistant commander of the Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit, told The Tuscaloosa News. "There is a possibility that this may be mistaken identity — we haven't completely ruled that in or out.
"We have spoken with all of the occupants of the house, which has led us down some other avenues that we need to explore to complete this aspect of the investigation."
Bankhead and two of the Copper Top victims remained hospitalized Thursday.
Mario Winkler and Renardo Jackson were injured when the gunman fired 11 shots into the bar in the downtown Temerson Square area.
Winkler remained in serious condition and Jackson was in fair condition at DCH Regional Medical Center on Thursday.
Bankhead said he underwent surgery earlier this week and will have another. A bullet tore through the side of his torso, causing internal damage.
Bankhead said he didn't know the man who knocked on his door Monday night. After the shooting began, he ran back through the house and jumped out a window that faces into his backyard. The man fired a barrage of bullets at the front of the house, then followed Bankhead to the back and opened fire again. There were more than a dozen bullet holes in the house.
Bankhead said he was trying to lead the gunman outside to keep him from harming a roommate who was in another room. The roommate was not wounded.
Once in the backyard, Bankhead said, "I lay down on the ground and played like I was dead."
After the shooting, the residents noticed someone had carved "KKK" into the hood of two of their cars and the metal box that covers the electrical panel on the side of the house.
Police have said they have not been able to verify a racial motive for the shooting. Court documents filed Wednesday that describe the shooting at the house do not mention the slur or the carvings.
Bankhead's black roommate, Andrew Clements, told Reeves he had been at the Copper Top before the shootings there. He said he knows the brother of Wilkins' ex-wife. He said he's seen the two men together and that they appear to get along.
Clements said he isn't acquainted with Wilkins and that mistaken identity is his only guess as to why the gunman came to their house.
"That's the only logical thing I can think of. I don't even know the guy," he said.
Investigators spent Thursday interviewing anyone with possible information about the case, Hart said. The unit is working with Northport and Brookwood police departments to connect the two reported fires to Wilkins.
Wilkins is suspected of setting fire to a truck at a Northport mobile home park before the shooting at the Northport house. That truck belonged to a former co-worker at Capstone Oilfield in Brookwood, from which Wilkins was fired after getting involved in a fistfight last spring. He is suspected of going to the business on Alabama Highway 216 just after 3 a.m. Tuesday, pulling three work trucks into the metal building and setting fire to them.
Investigators began receiving calls after releasing surveillance video from Temerson Square that identified Wilkins as the possible shooter. They went to his home on Buckhead Drive in Northport and found the door open, according to court documents. Inside, they found the same kind of Wolf ammunition that was used in the Northport and bar shootings.
Wilkins walked into a FedEx store in Jasper at about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday and told the owner that he was the person responsible for the Tuscaloosa shootings. Police took him into custody and brought him to the Tuscaloosa County Jail, where he was placed on suicide watch. He is being held on $2 million bail.
He will be represented by the public defender's office, which declined to comment Thursday. Wilkins has requested a preliminary hearing, but a date had not been set as of Thursday.
The Copper Top, located in the downtown Temerson Square area, plans to reopen today. A marquee sign above the door this week read, "Thanks for your support. Open Friday."


text:
Corporate Cash Helps Fund Obama Inauguration Festivities
(NEW YORK) -- In reversing President Obama's position on accepting corporate sponsors for this weekend's official inaugural festivities, the official inaugural committee has permitted a number of companies with interests pending before the federal government to donate.
They include such familiar blue chip names as AT&T, Microsoft and Coca Cola, but also such lesser-known companies as United Therapeutics, a biotech firm based in Silver Spring, Maryland.
United Therapeutics has in recent years been lobbying the Food and Drug Administration, so far without great succes, to grant approval of a drug the company developed to treat a lung disorder.
In October, when an FDA ruling questioned whether the oral version of the drug did anything to slow the progress of pulmonary arterial hypertension, the company's CEO told reporters that company executives would "continue using our best efforts to gain approval [of the version of the drug] … and we will focus on doing so within the next four years."
How political contributions figure into the company's strategy is unclear. Andrew Fisher, the company's Chief Strategic Officer and Deputy General Counsel told ABC News in an email, "We're not providing any comment on this topic."
But United Therapeutics has been more aggressive than most in its support of Obama, and those contributions came at a time when the president softened his opposition to corporate money in politics. This summer, after Obama backtracked on a ban against corporate money at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., United Therapeutics stepped up.
The biotech company was the sixth largest corporate donor to the administrative arm of the convention host committee, called New American City, Inc., only finishing behind such financial giants as Bank of America, AT&T and Duke Energy. The company gave $600,000, according to contribution records.
The company's CEO has also been a major donor to the Democratic Party, and to Obama's campaign, giving more than $125,000 in the past four years.
Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, which advocates for transparency in the way politics is financed, said the decision to allow corporate money is just one of several changes in the way Obama has approached financing inaugural events. Gone also are self-imposed caps on the amounts that individuals can donate. And, Krumholz said, the inaugural committee has back-tracked on the level of transparency displayed in 2009, when Obama was first sworn into office.
"This inauguration and, particularly the funding of it, stands in stark contrast to the previous inauguration," she said.
The changes are consistent with a subtle shift in the way Obama has handled touchstone issues surrounding money and politics. Obama was once a critic, for instance, of the so-called Super PACs that were established to raise unlimited funds to support campaigns. But in his 2012 reelection bid, Obama advisors set up an organization, Priorities USA, for just that purpose.
Krumholz said she believes corporate donors, in particular, warrant scrutiny.
"I think that with all these corporations, they are giving because they see that contributions to the inauguration, to the convention, to the campaigns, to all these different pots of money might be beneficial to their corporation and to their legislative policy agenda in Washington," Krumholz said. "It's not natural for a corporation, which has to uphold and protect its bottom line, to be making contributions out of altruistic reasons or to support democracy. They have reasons which I think bear scrutiny."
Krumholz's group researched the backgrounds of the corporate donors and found that more than 300 registered lobbyists worked on behalf of five large corporate donors to the inauguration -- AT&T Inc., Microsoft Corp., energy giant Southern Co., biotechnology firm Genentech and health plan manager Centene Corp. -- to influence legislation and government policy.
Parties other than the official inaugural balls are not covered by this money. Dozens of other parties have private sponsorship.
The Presidential Inaugural Committee has published the names of all of its donors on its website, though Krumholz notes that the list does not include basic identifying information, such as the donor's employer or address, and it does not say how much money any donor has given.
The list includes a number of the president's close friends and longtime supporters, as well as familiar Democratic Party patrons, including a number of labor unions.
The American Federation of Government Employees, the American Postal Workers Union, the International Association of Firefighters, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, the Laborer's Union, the Sheet Metal Workers International Association, and the United Food & Commercial Workers, all ponied up with support.
A document identifying the rewards for major donors, first reported by The New York Times, spells out how those who provide the most money will have had greater access this weekend. Individuals in the top package who gave $250,000 and institutional donors who gave $1 million are identified as "Washington" donors, (as opposed to "Adams" or "Jefferson" donors, who gave less) and are entitled to such perks as tickets to the "Co-Chairs Reception," entry to the "Road Ahead" meeting for the president's top supporters, "VIP tickets to the Candle Light Celebration at the National Building Museum" and two reserved bleacher seats for the Inaugural Parade.
Efforts to reach the inaugural committee this weekend have been unsuccessful. According to the Sunlight Foundation, which has also been tracking money at the inaugural festivities, officials with the Presidential Inaugural Committee have been tight-lipped about the details of the finance effort. They quoted Brent Colburn, communications director for the 2013 Presidential Inaugural Committee, as telling reporters that the committee, by listing donors on its website, has attempted "to go above and beyond that and add a level of transparency."
In December 2012, when ABC News first reported Obama's position switch on corporate donations, a spokesperson for the inaugural committee said all donors would be vetted and that donations from lobbyists or political action committees (PACs) will not be accepted.
"Our goal is to make sure that we will meet fundraising requirements for this civic event after the most expensive presidential campaign in history," spokesperson Addie Whisenant said then.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio


text:
Online UK Workforce Management Software provides a business or company with the tools necessary in effectively managing their workforce: time and attendance, communications, collaboration and payroll are all key elements in successful UK Workforce Management software. The UK Workforce Management Software here is offered under the SaaS (Software as a Service) model, meaning that the software is web based, hosted on the Cloud and can be accessed when needed through a client or web browser. If you're looking for similar online software like UK Workforce Management Software, consider our Recruitment and Employee Scheduling Software categories.
No results found.
This page was last updated 23 August 2018 20:13


text:
Gluten-Free Menu of the Week: Homemade Vegetarian Corn Potato Soup Recipe in the Pressure Cooker
Gluten-Free soft foods: 1. Microwaved Sweet potato with butter, salt, pepper and lot of yogurt in a mash, sauteed tofu with cheese and guacamole. 2. Sauteed tofu scramble with nutritional yeast/ground almond not-parmesan and mushrooms 3. After mostly Recovered- Corn Tortillas stuffed with fresh corn, beans, salsa, and cheese.
My apologies for my absence for the last two menus of the week. I always try to post a menu on Sunday and then twice during the week, but with spotty internet service as we moved to a new apartment, I just wasn't able to. And, unfortunately, it just didn't make sense to do a menu plan as meals have largely been consisting of restaurant fare and frozen gluten-free Amy's meals.
I did manage to post two recipes somehow:
Japanese-fusion Avocado Onigiri Rice Triangles
Fresh Pineapple Spring Roll, Soy-Free Garlic-free Peanut Sauce and Nut-free Sweet Chili-garlic sauce
One of my favorite people, Cheryl of Gluten-free Goodness, is hosting the gluten-free menu of the week and the ingredient of the week is garlic. Unfortunately, somehow pregnancy has made me very sensitive to garlic (even though I formerly loved the stuff) and it just isn't agreeing with me. I look forward to seeing what others do with this ingredient, though, and maybe I can join in after Baby Yum joins us and pregnancy is no longer playing havoc with my taste buds and constitution. The sweet chili-garlic sauce recipe I made for my gluten-free potluck above is perhaps the only valid entry I have for her theme… Here's my sadly garlic-light menu for the week:
Monday: American
Homemade Cream of Tomato Soup
Homemade Gluten-free bread
Wednesday: Mexican
Vegetarian Enchiladas
Thursday: Chinese
Veggie Stir Fry
Friday: Italian
Veggie Pizza
You can find more great menus with Org Junkie.
If being 8 1/2 months pregnant, moving, and celebrating the forth of July weren't enough this year, I also had an unfortunate incident involving a very painful cracked tooth that took real food off the menu when I suddenly had to have the tooth removed. EEK! Luckily I have the best husband in the world that kept me well supplied in hot (lukewarm) GF cereal, smoothies, ice cream and yogurt. Kozy Shack Rice Pudding went down very nicely, and I also enjoyed many a mashed sweet potato and even some nice sauteed scrambled tofu. I asked the DH to make me a soup, and fresh corn in the grocery store inspired him to channel a favorite in Japan- Cream of corn soup. Because he is my hero, he decided to try making it in the pressure cooker to soften the potatoes lightening-fast. He also pureed it to create one of the silky-smoothest vegetarian soups I've ever had. Because there is sodium in both creamed corn and bouillon, do be cautious when adding salt. I recommend adding any salt AFTER the soup is pureed. Naughtiness with sodium aside, this is one of the tastiest soups I have had in a long time and it made me love our pressure cooker and my wonderful DH all the more. Hungry yet?
Japanese-Style Cream of Corn Soup in Pressure Cooker Recipe
1/2 stick butter
1 onion, sliced
1/4 cup sweet rice flour
4 cups water
1 can (15 oz) cream style corn
kernels from 2 ears of fresh corn
2 cubes Gluten Free Not-chicken bouillon
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
2 cups lowfat milk (we use Organic 1%)
Parisien Bonnes Herbes (Penzey's Spice Blend including chives, dill, basil, tarragon, chervil, and white pepper*) to taste
salt and pepper to taste (cautious with the salt- between the cream corn and bouillon it is easy to over-salt… perhaps best to season at the end)
Fresh basil to garnish (optional but adds delightful flavor)
Fry onions and butter on low heat in a pressure cooker with the lid off. Add flour and stir for a few minutes to make a nice roux. Add remaining ingredients to pressure cooker and bring to a boil. Put the lid on the pressure cooker, reduce the heat to low, bring it up to pressure and let it cook for 6-10 minutes. Release the pressure using the quick release, season as needed, make sure the potatoes are cooked through. If they are not soft, simmer soup until they are soft. If you like, for a very smooth, creamy soup you can then let it cool slightly and then blend in a blender.
*if you don't have this herb blend, use another green dill-based blend you like or any of these dried herbs listed to taste.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


text:
MGE Galaxy 3500 Empty Frame for Transformer 10-40kVA 400V Floormount
MGE Galaxy 3500 Empty Frame for Transformer 10-40kVA 400V Floormount
Empty transformer cabinet for use with third party transformers.
Includes: Installation guide
G35TEFXFM10K40H Features
MGE Galaxy 3500 Empty Frame for Transformer 10-40kVA 400V Floormount
Empty transformer cabinet for use with third party transformers.
Includes: Installation guide
Galaxy 3500 Features & Benefits
EU CoC for UPS
Ensures that UPSs sold in the EU are highly efficient
Total Cost of Ownership
Temperature-compensated battery charging
Prolongs battery life by regulating the charge voltage according to battery temperature.
Excellent footprint
Small UPS footprint provides maximum usage of valuable electrical room floorspace
Input power factor correction
Minimizes installation costs by enabling the use of smaller generators and cabling.
Environmental monitoring
Prevent equipment failure from a full range of threatening environmental conditions.
Built-in Web/SNMP management
Full-featured management via a Web browser as well as comprehensive management from a Network Management System.
Audible alarms
Provides notification of changing utility power and UPS power conditions
LCD graphics display
Text and mimic diagrams that display modes of operation, system parameters and alarms.
7x24 telephone technical support
Our experienced technical support engineers are available to answer your questions, giving you peace of mind knowing the help you need is there when you need it.
Multiple levels of service
With the option of packages or individual service components, our services are structured to allow you to pick and choose what you would like APC to do for you.
Battery replacement without tools
Enables fast battery replacement, lowering Mean Time to Repair (MTTR).
User-replaceable air filters
Enables quick and simple replacement of air filters.
Front-access servicing
Simplifies installation and UPS maintenance while minimizing space requirements.
Dual mains input
Increases availability by allowing the UPS to be connected to two separate power sources.
Hot-swappable batteries
Ensures clean, uninterrupted power to protected equipment while batteries are being replaced
Parallel-capacity capable
Increases total power capacity by using multiple uninterruptible power supplies simultaneously.
Advanced electrical features
Excellent power conditioning, very low harmonic distortion through IGBT rectifier, input power factor correction, and high power efficiency
Generator compatible
Ensures clean, uninterrupted power to protected equipment when generator power is used.
Automatic internal bypass
Supplies utility power to the connected loads in the event of a UPS power overload or fault.
Frequency and voltage regulation
Gives higher application availability by correcting poor frequency and voltage conditions without using the battery.
Product Distribution
Andorra, United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, Albania, Armenia, Netherlands Antilles, Angola, Argentina, Austria, Australia, Aruba, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Barbados, Bangladesh, Belgium, Burkina Faso, Bulgaria, Bahrain, Burundi, Benin, Bermuda, Brunei, Bolivia, Brazil, Bahamas, Bhutan, Botswana, Belarus, Belize, The Democratic Republic Of Congo, Central African Republic, Congo, Switzerland, Côte d'Ivoire, Cook Islands, Chile, Cameroon, Colombia, Costa Rica, Serbia and Montenegro, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Djibouti, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Algeria, Ecuador, Estonia, Egypt, Western Sahara, Eritrea, Spain, Ethiopia, Finland, Fiji, Falkland Islands, France, Gabon, United Kingdom, Grenada, Georgia, French Guiana, Ghana, Gibraltar, Gambia, Guinea, Guadeloupe, Equatorial Guinea, Greece, Guatemala, Guyana, Hong Kong, Honduras, Croatia, Haiti, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, India, Iraq, Iran, Iceland, Italy, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Cambodia, Saint Kitts And Nevis, South Korea, Kuwait, Cayman Islands, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Saint Lucia, Liechtenstein, Sri Lanka, Liberia, Lesotho, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Morocco, Moldova, Madagascar, Macedonia, Mali, Myanmar, Mongolia, Martinique, Mauritania, Malta, Mauritius, Malawi, Mexico, Malaysia, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Netherlands, Norway, Nepal, New Zealand, Oman, Panama, Peru, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Pakistan, Poland, Puerto Rico, Portugal, Paraguay, Reunion, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Sweden, Singapore, Slovenia, Slovakia, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Somalia, Suriname, El Salvador, Turks And Caicos Islands, Chad, Togo, Thailand, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Tunisia, TP, Turkey, Trinidad and Tobago, Taiwan, Tanzania, Ukraine, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Saint Vincent And The Grenadines, Venezuela, U.S. Virgin Islands, Vietnam, XF, Yemen, Mayotte, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe
item(s) added to your Cart
item(s) in Cart
Complete your Solution


text:
10 Awesome Karate Cats
Cats are obviously cute, but kitties can also be feisty little buggers. Truthfully, we can't really blame them given the fact that they're forced to dress up in chic couture and submit themselves to our crazy holiday antics. Come on, it's all in good fun! But now those felines are ready to fight back with-- wait for it-- karate.
That's right, folks! Cats are pretty talented when it comes to the game of martial arts. They know how to kick really high and do that complicated hand chopping thing we see in the movies. Seriously, just check out these 10 karate cats for proof. HIYAAAA!


text:
Training package on land, property and housing rights in the Muslim World
Over 20 percent of the world's population is influenced to varying degrees by Islamic principles, which intersect customary, informal and statutory land laws. Despite their relevance, global land reviews and interventions rarely consider the application of Islamic land principles. This ignores the complex and distinctive forms of land tenure particular to Muslim societies derived from Islamic principles that co-exist alongside more easily recognizable patterns.This training course addresses this knowledge gap and seeks to build capacity in the field as a vehicle for enhanced rights, empowerment and sustainability. It engages with the positive implications of Islamic dimensions of land for programmes broadly relating to land administration, land registration, urban planning and environmental sustainability. In particular, it focuses on opportunities for developing innovative and authentic tools in a range of specific areas and disciplines including Islamic family law, women's rights, inheritance systems, the waqf or Islamic endowment, human rights and development and Islamic credit/microfinance.
The course consists of eight modules recognizing the diversity across Muslim countries in land and property rights and the distinctive weave of Islamic, customary, secular and cultural practices in different countries and regions. This training course is designed as an introductory training module, which would enable participants to equip themselves with foundation principles, further disseminate the knowledge or train others. The end users of the course are intended to be policy makers or an audience at a beginners or undergraduate level, without any pre-requisite knowledge of Islamic land law but those with basic experience on land issues in the Muslim world. While the course is foundational, it is possible to adapt the course content for advanced learners through more rigorous reading and case studies, and prior exchange and dissemination of reports and materials from participants which exemplify their work or contexts. In selecting participants, ensuring geographical and gender distribution, a range of expertise and experience as well as diversity of ethnic and religious backgrounds would augment the mutual learning experience.


text:
My ant in Alaska; or how I spent my summer vacation--Web Exclusive
Buzzing with activity while the sun shines
As Alaska cools and hardens, many scientists are reacquainting themselves with their offices. Such is the case for Derek Sikes, the curator of insects at the University of Alaska Museum of the North. This summer, he traveled across Alaska, from Sagwon Bluffs to Sitka and many places between, including a trip to the Aleutians for good lateral coverage.
Sikes' tales of his recent insect explorations in Alaska have a Lewis and Clark feel. Scientists have inventoried the insects of Alaska for a long time, but those men and women were very few compared to the researchers studying caribou or the aurora. Because of this dearth of people looking for bugs, Alaska's rock crevices and tidal splash zones still hide plenty of undiscovered species. Sikes and his colleagues have added more than 1,000 to the Alaska list of insects (and have collected 20 that are new to science) since he moved northward and started work at the museum four years ago.
During the short period when insects are crawling, flying and hopping, he jumps at every opportunity to find more.
Sikes' summer of 2011 began with an ant road trip. His friend, North Carolina State University biology professor and natural history book author Rob Dunn, sponsored a trip around the state to duplicate an expedition an ant researcher made around in Alaska 30 years ago.
Sikes was out to sample the state of the state's ants in 2011. In following the path driven by the ant collector three decades ago, Sikes ventured about as far north as he could, bumping along the Dalton Highway to Sagwon Bluffs, about 60 miles shy of the Arctic Ocean. He found no ants there, but after flipping about 200 rocks at Happy Valley camp a few miles farther south, he found a nest wriggling with activity, and then another. He uncovered more ant nests beneath south-facing rocks near Toolik Lake. With help from ant-seeking volunteers who work at the UA Museum, Sikes was able to find about 30 species as he duplicated the travels of the biologist of the 1980s, from Sagwon Bluffs down to the Kenai Peninsula.
"We found ants everywhere he found them," Sikes said. "We want to know if any species are extending their ranges northward."
As with all his summer insect gatherings, Sikes and the people in his lab won't know what they've found until they sit down and sort out the tiny bodies carried back to Fairbanks.
Not long after the ant road trip, Sikes caught a plane for Adak and then boarded a ship to Kasatochi, in the middle of the Aleutian Islands.
Kasatochi blew up in 2008, morphing from a green seabird paradise to a gray pile of mud and ash. Sikes had the good fortune of spending a day on the island on year before it erupted, and he has returned the three summers since to observe how insects repopulate an earthen moonscape.
During three days on the donut-shaped island with a crater at its center, Sikes found and collected 25 species of insects, up from 18 the year before.
He discovered lots of midges that eat algae and a predatory fly that is now near the top of the Kasatochi food chain. He also carried home a sample of plant roots and stems that the eruption buried three years ago. At home, he stuffed the vegetation in a Berlese funnel, a device that uses heat to drive living things out of soil and plant matter. He was expecting nothing, but witnessed the emergence of two springtails and a mite. Sikes was shocked.
He still questions whether the tiny creatures survived the eruption and three years without food, water or oxygen.
"It's one of those extraordinary discoveries that requires extraordinary evidence," he said. "But, then, springtails are some of the most indestructible creatures on Earth. They can be frozen, and they can live through dehydration. They are the ones who would survive something like this."
From the Aleutian Islands (which, as far as anyone knows, do not host a single ant), Sikes made a few trips to Southeast Alaska. One was to the high country of Dall Island, where he found Alaska's first example of a primeval wingless insect known as a Dipluran. After that, he traveled to Sitka for a conference and beachcombed for intertidal insects in his down time.
Down time is something Sikes now has, since Alaska's insects are either frozen or are employing their own antifreeze or freeze-tolerant strategies to bide their time. They wait in silence until the sun will once again circle the northern horizon. Then, when the soft tundra is humming with wingbeats, Derek Sikes will again be on his knees, turning over rocks somewhere in the wilds of Alaska.
(This column is provided as a public service by the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, in cooperation with the UAF research community. Ned Rozell is a science writer at the institute.)