text:
- Sword of Hisou's Power Level: 40/100 - ACTIVE
- Borogove's Starting Power Level: 615 Concepts
- Concepts Gained in this post: 1 x 3 x 3 = 9
- Concepts Added to Weapons in this post: 9
- Weapons Created in this post: 0
- End Concept Power Level: 615 + 9 - 9 = 615 Concepts
- Current Rate of Charging: 9 Concepts per turn at the start of the post, 18 Concepts per turn by the end.
- Current Weapons: Black Lightning Sword x2 (Total energy of each: 29 Concepts, 3 from its base makeup tripled by Muramasa, 9 from Masamune recycled to Muramasa and then tripled by another Muramasa, 3 from Wind, Lightning, and Void, all tripled by Muramasa, and 1 each from Fire, Water, and Aether, as well as from the Light and Ice Concepts. 3 additional Concepts for the "One of Two" concept added to each.) each bearing Muramasa, One of Two, Wind, Lightning, Void, Fire, Water, Light, Ice, and Aether concepts, both destroyed this turn.
Sword of Hisou (Total Energy: Off the charts) bearing Double Masamune, with 1 Concept Fire, Water, Earth, Ice, Lightning, Wind, Light, and Darkness concepts and a 2 Concept Aether concept added this turn.
For a moment, it seemed like the Archer had won. He smiled slightly, pleased that his monumental usage of 150 Concepts and near-death at the hands of his own bomb hadn't been in vain. And yet, that smile swiftly turned to a look of distaste as something all too familiar happened. The enemy's body reformed, he stood up, and proceeded to tap into some sort of high-level energy, gleaming gold in the light of a second sun which he'd just created, apparently just because he could. Tch. A super form. So this was his second trump card, huh? Why is it that everybody I fight has the power to grow massively in strength and regenerate themselves from certain death? I swear, if he's just summoned some kind of god to back him up like the last guy, I won't stop with just destroying the planet this time. I'll- Oh, well that's just great. He just threw the sun at me.
It stood as testament to the tremendous speed of the projectile that, despite the distance Borogove had placed himself at to avoid the explosion, the attack took very little time to reach him. So little, in fact, that, overbalanced as he was from just blocking his own bomb, he had no choice but to brace himself, crossing his swords over his body and powering up as best he could to avoid the attack. He could feel the overwhelming heat of the thrown sun even before it reached him, and yet, heat only served to give him power-
Or at least, he thought that way until, to his bafflement, his swords began to crack and fall apart almost instantly, shattering into dust as the projectile threatened to engulf him. Frantically, he raised his hands - now engraved with several runes, as the blade-dust had touched his arms in several places, as well as the hilts having been in his hands at the time - and, snapping his fingers, activated all of them at once. "BIND!" He roared, and in the instant before the sun consumed him, a blazing ward of power took shape, the defending wall of his own soul. Flashing with light, it shattered a few moments later, but this time, the sun was sent hurtling away along with it.
Slowly rising to his feet, Borogove gasped for breath. Even with the destructive force of the sun kept from reaching him, the sheer impact had sent him skidding back for several feet, knocking the wind out of him. Glancing at his opponent, he found his eyes met by a literal swath of destruction, a giant trench melted into the earth by the sun that had just passed through it. Oh, and the world was on fire now. But, more importantly, he noticed, much to his annoyance, that the sun was starting to come back around for another pass, weakened but not stopped.
That... was not any element I've ever seen before. It seemed to be some sort of bizarre fusion between Fire, Lightning, and Water, but... There was something strange about it. Something happened to it just before it broke my swords. It seemed to... change forms, maybe? Or rather, a part of it dissipated. Does it sacrifice a part of itself to deal damage? No, it burned through the earth just fine. But when it met my swords and my barrier, and had some of its energy absorbed, I could feel it. Some of it changed into something else. So... it can only exist at an exact level of energy? Well, no need to find out the hard way. Since he's breaking out his A-Game, I don't need to hold mine back any longer! Reaching out to his side as he thought, the Archer cast away the broken off handles of his shattered swords, and then extended his grasp into the rippling golden vortex that was already taking shape behind him. In an instant, what remained of the snow in the air and on the ground was converted to a whirling tempest of scarlet mist that collapsed around Borogove, whirling upward and inward until it finally vanished, revealing him standing with his most powerful sword in his hand. The sun, striking against the outside of this scarlet tempest, was turned away yet again before it could reach him, but again it failed to be destroyed.
"Heavenly Blade," He said, smirking as he felt power rushing into him. "Sword of Hisou." Swiftly dispatching nine concepts from his reserve, he added one of each element save void, which was incompatible with the blade's holy nature, to the sword. While, he supposed, this might have been a problem, since he needed the void to harm his enemy, the Sword of Hisou had its own mechanic to get around that problem. With its enemy's spiritual body analyzed, the Sword took on an aspect specifically designed to counter both the enemy's defenses and his newfound power. Concept: Physical-type, Anti-Energy. With this, everything Borogove did, no matter how obviously magical, would be considered "real" by his enemy's armor, and be able to damage it. And, at the same time, his energy absorption capabilities would be massively increased, allowing him to move the enemy's plasma away from the exact point of duality at which and only at which plasma was able to exist, transforming it into something his enemy couldn't use against him. In short, he now had an offense and a defense that would be able to counter his enemy's. The question was... did he have enough energy in store to use those powers? Well, judging by the fact that the enemy's sun was coming in for yet another pass, largely unaffected despite being blocked twice... The Archer wasn't sure.
Great. Looks like I'll have to use that after all.


text:
Maybe it's a sign that I'm eating too much Mexican candy, but when I go into the Latino Market, the guy who runs the register laughs and reaches for the Bubu Lubus on the counter in the same way a bartender starts to pour a regular's drink as soon as he walks in the door.
There is just one thing I can't figure out. There are two cashiers who are there on different days. Both are muy amables – one is a man, the other is a woman – but somehow it seems the price comes out different depending on who checks me out. Either the hombre is giving me a "cute gringa discount" or the mujer is charging me a "stupid gringa tax".
I've never asked either of them. I figure it all balances out.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Federal judge stays Joseph Paul Franklin's execution
Federal judge » New execution protocol in Missouri and killer's competency are cited.
By Jim Salter | The Associated Press
First Published Nov 19 2013 09:19 am
(Courtesy photo) Karma Ingersol, left, and Terry Jackson-Mitchell, two anglo-mestizo mudsharks,
were with David Martin and Ted Fields (niggers) when serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin righteously
gunned the two men/Beasts of the Field down as they were leaving Liberty Park on Aug. 20, 1980
where they had plumbed the two mudsharks' nether depths and stanky skanky orifices with theys'
floppy telegonic black-snakes.
St. Louis -- A federal judge in Missouri on Tuesday granted a stay of execution to murderer Joseph Paul Franklin just hours before his scheduled death, citing concerns over the state's new execution method.
U.S. District Court Judge Nanette Laughrey ruled that a lawsuit filed by Franklin and 20 other death row inmates challenging Missouri's execution protocol must be resolved before he is put to death.
The state appealed Laughrey's ruling to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis on Tuesday night, though it wasn't clear how quickly that court would rule. A second lower court federal judge, weighing a separate defense appeal contesting Franklin's competency to be executed based on his mental illness, also granted a stay and said the issue needs "a meaningful review."
Laughrey's 14-page ruling criticizes the timing of the state's changes to how it carries out capital punishment, specifically its plan to use for the first time a single drug, pentobarbital. It also takes issue with a plan to acquire the drug from a compounding pharmacy.
Laughrey wrote that the Missouri Department of Corrections "has not provided any information about the certification, inspection history, infraction history, or other aspects of the compounding pharmacy or of the person compounding the drug." She noted that the execution protocol, which has changed repeatedly, "has been a frustratingly moving target."
Franklin, who has been diagnosed as mentally ill, didn't seem to fully understand the stay, said Jennifer Herndon, his attorney.
"He was happy," she said. "I'm not really convinced that he totally understands that he was going to die."
Franklin, 63, was scheduled to die at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday for killing 42-year-old Gerald Gordon in a sniper attack outside a suburban St. Louis synagogue in 1977. It was one of as many as 20 killings committed by Franklin, who targeted blacks and Jews in a cross-country killing spree from 1977 to 1980.
Among his victims were David Martin, 18, and Ted Fields, 20. Franklin gunned down the two black men as they were leaving Salt Lake City's Liberty Park with two white women on Aug. 20, 1980.
Karma Ingersol, one of the women with Martin and Fields when they died, said Tuesday she was devastated by the stay.
"His words are hurtful. He needs to be silenced, to be done away with," she said. "There's no closure for me. No closure and no forgiveness."
Terry Jackson-Mitchell, the pair's other companion, said: "I'm at peace no matter what happens."
Johnnie Mae Martin, David Martin's mother, opposes the death penalty.
She said Tuesday had been a day of sadness as she thought of Franklin awaiting execution.
"There is a time for everything and now wasn't the time. I don't know if he needs to apologize to more people or what but tonight wasn't his time," she said. "I just hope he'll be at peace."
Her daughter Denna Lightner responded to news of the stay with an "Amen."
Earlier Tuesday, she had asked for a letter to be delivered to Franklin expressing her forgiveness.
Lightner said the fact that Franklin had apologized and "come to know the Lord" in recent years allowed her to let go of anger over her brother's murder.
"I'm fine with whatever happens now," she said.
"My only hope it that all families connected to the slayings ... find comfort during this turbulent journey."
Like other states, Missouri long had used a three-drug execution method. Drugmakers stopped selling those drugs to prisons and corrections departments, so in April 2012 Missouri announced a new one-drug execution protocol using propofol. The state planned to use propofol for an execution last month.
But Gov. Jay Nixon ordered the Missouri Department of Corrections to come up with a new drug after an outcry from the medical profession over planned use of the popular anesthetic in an execution. Most propofol is made in Europe, and the European Union had threaten to limit exports of it.
The corrections department turned to pentobarbital made through a compounding pharmacy. Few details have been made public about the compounding pharmacy, because state law provides privacy for parties associated with executions.
Throughout this litigation, the details of the execution protocol have been illusive at best," Laughrey wrote. "It is clear from the procedural history of this case that through no fault of his own, Franklin could not resolve his claims without a stay of his scheduled execution date."
She added: "Franklin has been afforded no time to research the risk of pain associated with the Department's new protocol, the quality of the pentobarbital provided, and the record of the source of the pentobarbital."
The stay pleased The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri.
"Simply put, the state of Missouri is playing games by continually making last-minute changes to its protocol and hiding important information that the public needs to evaluate the execution plans," ACLU executive director Jeffrey A. Mittman said. "Treating the important constitutional issues at stake here, in such a cavalier manner, is a disservice to the people of Missouri."
It also pleased Franklin's daughter, Lori Gresham, who said she had spoken with her father earlier Tuesday but they had not talked about the execution.
She said she was "ecstatic."
"I'm so grateful," she said.
In a Nov. 13 Salt Lake Tribune interview, Franklin said he remained hopeful his sentence would be stayed and that he would have an opportunity to make amends to his victims and work to undo the bad "karma" he had created. "I would be really great to have that opportunity."
He described his own transformation during 33 years in prison as "a miracle."
"I've made an effort to try to change myself and become a better person," he said, mostly by studying world religions.
But in an interview with Fox 2 this week, reporter Tom O'Neal asked Franklin whether he deserved to die for his crimes.
Franklin paused and then said: "To tell you the truth, I actually think I do, yeah. I cannot say no to that question."
Tribune reporter Brooke Adams and correspondent Peg McEntee contributed to this story.


text:
The debate over whether to change the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest High School in Jacksonville, FL (discussed in this post) is over, at least for now. Yesterday the Duval County School Board voted to leave things be. Here's a news story with the gritty details.
From the above-mentioned news item: "The board listened to passionate arguments from those on both sides. More than 140 people crowded into the meeting room, with another 20 watching the meeting on a television in the lobby." Sounds like a matter of pressing importance. Meanwhile, the school "has received two consecutive 'F' grades on state assessment tests."


text:
A Canadian teacher has been "relieved of her duties" after allegedly forcing an 8-year-old girl to eat food from a garbage can.
The incident started when the third-grader threw away an old banana at a French Catholic school in Ontario.
Teacher Renee Oettershagen picked it out of the trash, ate a piece and then "instructed my granddaughter to eat the rest," the girl's grandmother, Ann Marie Stewart, told CHCH.
The teacher said she was trying to teach the girl not to waste food.
But the girl's mother, Jordan Stewart, isn't happy. She's pulled her children from the school, and the Children's Aid Society is now investigating.
Oettershagen, who already had a disciplinary hearing pending on another matter, has since been fired.


text:
The NLL will hold a dispersal draft of players from the Arizona and Boston franchises on Monday, November 5th at 8:00 PM Eastern. Results will be posted live on the league's web site, www.nll.com. The draft will consist of three rounds, with the order of selection as follows:
First Round
1. Portland
2. New York
3. Philadelphia
4. Chicago
5. Edmonton
6. Toronto
7. San Jose
8. Minnesota
9. Calgary
10. Buffalo
11. Colorado
12. Rochester
Second Round
13. Rochester
14. Colorado
15. Buffalo
16. Calgary
17. Minnesota
18. San Jose
19. Toronto
20. Edmonton
21. Chicago
22. Philadelphia
23. New York
24. Portland
Third Round
25. Portland
26. New York
27. Philadelphia
28. Chicago
29. Edmonton
30. Toronto
31. San Jose
32. Minnesota
33. Calgary
34. Buffalo
35. Colorado
36. Rochester
On October 16th, the league cancelled its 2008 season when a deadline to reach a new collective bargaining agreement with its players' association was not met. When a new seven-year collective bargaining agreement was reached with the players' association on October 24th, efforts began to create a new schedule for the 2008 season. The original schedule had been lost with the October 16th cancellation.
Due to the unique business issues arising out of the cancellation of the original 2008 season schedule, Arizona and Boston were provided the option of electing inactive status for the 2008 season. The clubs were provided the option to re-enter in 2009 season by participating in the expansion draft or to receive back their rostered players from 2008. Arizona has chosen to re-claim their dispersed players for the 2009 season, while Boston has chosen not to re-claim their players following this season and will build their 2009 roster as an expansion team.
All of the players on both clubs are available in the draft with the exception of those who had already qualified as unrestricted free agents. Arizona has three such players in defensemen Brian Beisel and Peter Lough as well as forward Curt Malawsky. All three had qualified for unrestricted free agency prior to Arizona's opting for inactive status for the 2008 season. Boston does not currently have any unrestricted free agents on its roster.
On November 2nd, the league announced a new schedule for the 2008 season, which will open on December 29th, when Colorado hosts Calgary.
NLL Dispersal Draft
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text:
Looking for something to do this weekend? Here are five fun, family-friendly events happening around the Bay Area.
1) JAMband's October Halloween Bash!, San Francisco. Our final show in the series features a Costume Parade, followed by the award-winning, dance-inspiring, groovy family rock and roll of Charity and the JAMband. Enjoy Park Chalet BBQ and beverages while you sing your hearts out and rock your socks off on the grassy lawn…in costume this time! Sun., 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm. All ages. More info.
2) Jack O'Lantern Jamboree, Oakland. With more treats than tricks, this fun event just for kiddos will surely entertain your little ones. There will be face painting, balloon twisting, parades, goodie bags, treat stations, costume parades, unlimited rides, free giveaways, and the spooktacular Old West Junction Ghost Town! No passes of any kind will be accepted. Children's Fairyland. Sat., 10:00 am – 5:00 pm. $5/members. $10/non-members. All ages. More info.
3) Supernatural Halloween Party, San Francisco. Trick-or-treat your way through the Academy of Science at night, among "spook-tacular" animals, creepy specimens, and more. This fun-filled evening for all ages includes a costume parade, a live performance by the Crunchy Frog band, fanciful face painting by local Cirque du Soleil-style artists, a complimentary kid-friendly dinner, beverages, and ghoulishly good hands-on family fun. Proceeds from this special event help to support the Academy's educational outreach activities. Sat., 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm. $50/adults, $35/kids (0-17). All ages. More info.
4) Marin Country Mart Halloween Carnival, Larkspur.
Enjoy ghost storytelling, music by Tim Cain, face painting, a Halloween puppet show, and costume parade. Kids and parents can enter the pumpkin carving contest, too! Bring carved pumpkins to the big tent by 10:00 am that morning. There will also be Halloween crafts, treat bag making, pumpkin decorating, a hay maze, and cake and ice cream for all. Treat yourself to a fun day! Marin Country Mart. Sat., 9:00 am – 2:00 pm. Free. All ages. More info.
5) If You Give a Moose a Muffin Live Show, Redwood City. Watch a fascinating, live theatre performance based on the book by Laura Numeroff, If You Give a Moose a Muffin! If a big, hungry moose comes to visit, you might give him a muffin to make him feel at home. Has this ever happened at your house? In this hilarious sequel to The Magik Theatre's 2009 runaway hit If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, the young host is again run ragged by a surprise guest. Fox Theater. Sun., 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm. $20/adult, $15/child. All ages. More info.
The Friday Five is brought to you by RedTricycle, a website offering cool things for parents to see, eat, make and do with their kids around the Bay Area.
Follow Bay Area Moms on Facebook and on Twitter @bayareamoms.


text:
Partnering with an experienced SEO company also ensures you'll know how to handle unexpected changes, like algorithm updates or even penalties. Your website can get increased traffic with a little bit of effort and minimal initial costs. SEO in Orange Park, Florida brings numerous visitors to your website and can help you expand and explore different opportunities. Hence, SEO helps in accessing valuable customer data that would not have been possible otherwise. An SEO optimized website is fast, easy to use and compatible with mobile and tablet devices.
Why hire a SEO company in Orange Park, Florida?
In fact, many successful bloggers claim that most of their money comes from their email lists and not from social media or other medium. Social media popularity is good for SEO purposes and SEO brings more social media visibility. Website optimization comes with some tangible results, like new business or referrals, however one of the most important benefits comes in an improved knowledge and understanding of the industry you're in and the competition surrounding you. With a little bit of effort (and some money upfront to pay for SEO costs) you can watch your website get consistent traffic.
This may put your company in a position of needing to expand to a larger web server to accommodate the traffic and sales to your website. And since SEO also targets users who are actively searching for products and services like yours, the traffic resulting from SEO is more qualified than many other marketing strategies, resulting in cost-savings for companies. Search engines like Google will also be more likely to rank your site higher on the results page. If you are just discovering the advantages of Orange Park, Florida SEO, imagine how far you are from bypassing the competition!
What's the importance of Orange Park, Florida SEO?
SEO will help small business owners create a faster, smoother, and user-friendlier website. Top positions on the search engine result pages receive a majority of the impressions and clicks, so ranking in these top positions can result in significant traffic increases for your website. Invest time and money to get your website on top of the search engines and gain new customers while your business is closed! That's what SEO is about: make sure Google will see that your site is valuable for your target audience. How to generate leads after attracting visitors, is antoher business and also very useful. You may also be concerned that you aren't knowledgeable enough to handle these tasks, or that you won't be able to accomplish them quickly enough to make a difference in your site's visibility.
An SEO website works like having a 24-hour marketing team dedicated to your company. As you may already know, search engine optimization has become crucial for your website. Ranking in the top position on search engines which receive numerous clicks and impressions can significantly increase the traffic to your website. This clearly shows that SEO in Clay County, Florida is not just a luxury, but has now become a necessity due to the increasing competition. Overall, there are many benefits of SEO such as increased sales, profitability and success.
Consult with an SEO company near you:
- Laurel Grove
- Holly Point
- Camp Echockotee
- Meadowbrook Terrace
- Bellair
- Orange Park North Mobile Home Community
- Bellair-Meadowbrook Terrace
Can Orange Park, Florida SEO bring more visitors to my website?
The web is definitely one of fastest growing markets in World economy but it is not the only one. Imagine two businesses in the same niche, selling similar products at similar prices. You need to consider money spend on SEO as an investment and not a cost. If you own a gym and are trying to optimize for industry-lingo phrases like, "Isometrics" and "Plyometrics" instead of the more commonly known "tensions exercises' and "squats," you're excluding a large portion of internet users who have no idea what you're talking about. Unlike paid ads, your traffic will not drop to nothing when it stops. SEO for law firm gets rid of the need to have thousands of ads across the web.
Signing on with a proven SEO company in Orange Park, Florida 32073 not only gets your campaign moving quickly, but they're also there to answer questions, consult and weigh in on other online marketing techniques. Many will argue that building out an in-house team, though more work in the beginning, will be best for the long term and more cost effective. An SEO firm has the time and resources in order to give your strategy the attention it needs in order to be successful. If so, you're probably wondering what kind of benefits there are to working with an SEO agency, as opposed to handling your website's search engine optimization in-house. For example, link building can certainly help your authority, but the wrong kind of links can result in your site being penalized—and even removed from search engine results as punishment.


text:
La Crosse man arrested after running from police
Grady Corcoran faces several charges
LA CROSSE, WI (WKBT) — A 21-year-old La Crosse man who had a felony warrant was arrested on several charges after he ran from police Thursday afternoon.
La Crosse police say an off-duty officer saw Grady Corcoran as a passenger in a vehicle near 11th and La Crosse Street around 3:40 p.m. and alerted the dispatch center.
On on-duty officer then stopped the vehicle in the area of 10th and Grove Street. Police say Corcoran then ran from the vehicle through an alley and neighborhood yards. He continued into a wooded area just south of the marsh area and east of the skate park, where he stopped running and cooperated with officers.
Corcoran faces several charges, including felony probation warrant, possession of drug paraphernalia, and resisting/obstructing an officer.22759090


text:
- Description
DetailsDimensions: Width 800mm. Depth 296mm. Height 1100mm. Supplied Flat packed, with an approximate assembly time of 30 minutes by 1 person(s). Weight: 14.5kg. Additional specifications available on request.
Delivery Information
Delivery is Free to UK Mainland but Scottish Highlands and islands may incur a surcharge, please ask before ordering.


text:
CPV Canada Development ULC received court approval in January to complete its acquisition of the development assets of Interwind, which was part of Toronto-based SkyPower Corp.
SkyPower sought court protection from creditors last August, and since then has been undergoing a court-supervised sell off of its assets.
The company changed its name to Interwind after finalising a sale of its solar development assets that included the SkyPower trade name. Financial details of CPV's purchase have not been released.
The pipeline has a potential of about 5000 MW, says CPV vice-president Braith Kelly, but how much of that will comes to fruition has yet to be determined.
"It's a significant portfolio of projects in development and obviously we will sort through, ultimately, the projects that we've acquired to determine which ones we want to pursue," he says.
"But obviously it provides a significant jumpstart to our Canada program. The situation being what it is with Interwind, there are real economies in going at it this way."
CPV is active in the Canadian power market, most notably as a developer of natural gas-fired facilities in Ontario. But it is also developing wind, says Kelly.
The company has 6100 MW of wind generation projects under site control in North America, 1800 MW of which are in advanced development. It also has 4300 MW of thermal generation in its pipeline.
The CPV acquisition is the latest in a series of deals tied to the unravelling of Interwind's business. In November, the court approved the sale of the company's 50% interest in Scotian Windfield Partners Corp, to Emera Inc., a Canadian energy company whose holdings include Nova Scotia Power.
Scotian Windfield has a power purchase contract with the utility for the 30 MW Digby wind project and is developing other projects in the province.
Also in November, the court approved the sale of Interwind's 27 MW Fermeuse wind project in Newfoundland to Vancouver-based Elemental Energy Inc.
Interwind's inventory of 134 GE Energy 1.5 MW turbines have been sold to Invenergy, a wind developer based in Chicago and active in Canada.
The financial details of all of the transactions remain confidential.


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text:
Cell phones enable people to communicate almost regardless of where they are located. Since the main phone communication method is via voice, however, those who are deaf or hard of hearing need to use some alternate form of communication since vocal communication would be problematic. In Sweden and Japan, for example, there is enough bandwidth and cellular computing power to transmit full video of individuals speaking sign language to one another. In the US, bandwidth constraints and low phone power is not enough to allow for an intelligible conversation. New work by a team of engineers at the University of Washington has found a way to overcome this problem; the result is the MobileASL project, which allows people to communicate using American Sign Language (ASL) over cell phones.
While deaf individuals can communicate via non-verbal text messaging, SMS suffers from the lack of ability to convey other nonverbal cues that ASL offers. "Video is much better than text-messaging because it's faster and it's better at conveying emotion," said Jessica DeWitt, a UW undergraduate in psychology and a collaborator on the MobileASL project who is deaf.
The team at Washington, led by Prof. Eve Riskin, first tried to simply use low-resolution video that could be transmitted over the slow US networks. The quickly found that the video quality was no where near good enough to carry on a meaningful ASL conversation.
ASL uses more than just the motion of the hands: facial expressions convey important grammatical information, and the hands can point to various locations in three-dimensional space around the speaker—something difficult to capture on a two-dimensional video regardless of transmission speed. When thinking about carrying on an ASL conversation, one must also keep in mind the differences in the fluency of the speakers. A native ASL speaker will be able to fill in the blanks in choppy video in a way similar to how people fill in the holes in a poor cellular voice connection. Taking this all into account led the researchers to find a middle ground, capturing the details at a high enough quality for a meaningful conversation, while not exceeding the bandwidth readily available.
Since the hands and face are the most important parts of the body when communicating using ASL, the researchers came up with a methodology that allowed a high-quality encoding of the hands and face to be transmitted along with a low-quality encoding of the remainder of the body. The process used multiple steps to encode the video in real time using the x264 encoding standard. The software first identifies the important regions of the video using a skin detection algorithm, then by computing motion vectors determines how small the various macroblock levels must be to capture the areas of high motion in detail.
While some areas of the United States have access to the higher-speed 3G networks, not all do, so the researchers feel that the ability for everyone to communicate on 2G networks should be available. "The faster networks are not available everywhere," said doctoral student Anna Cavender. "They also cost more. We don't think it's fair for someone who's deaf to have to pay more for his or her cell phone than someone who's hearing."
The technology is working on a lab scale, but is not available to the public yet. A 20-person field trial is starting to get underway in Seattle, and the team is currently looking for volunteers.
Further reading (viewing):
- YouTube video explaining the MobileASL project
- Press release from the University of Washington
- Found via The Chronicle of Higher Education


text:
This week Alan's Sepia Saturday post shows the front cover of a 1930 Chevrolet brochure, so I wondered if I had some appropriate vehicle photos in Great Granny's album – I thought I might have used them all in a previous Cars post (including a car made in Scotland by women for women) and found this
This is the Galloway saloon made by women, but look – curtains in the back! More information on the Galloway can be found on on the Old Classic Car website. Noted on the back of the photo is "Hovingham Sept 1928″ – Alan's neck of the woods.
This vintage tourer seems to have been just the job for touring as here we have it again, this time the note on the back says "The Trossachs Road 21/22 Sep 1928"
I wonder if the driver is the same man – he's wearing plus 4's as in the previous photo, which makes me think he was a huntin' shootin' type. The trousers remind me of a corny Scottish postcard from my childhood, which they probably still sell today. It showed a cartoon of a hunter proudly returning from the hill with a stag which he had killed. Someone asks "Did you shoot him in the Trossachs?" and he replies "No, right between the eyes". GROAN!
For other similar posts, nip along to Sepia Saturday and see what's going on, or why not post one of your own? It doesn't have to be Sepia, just share one of your old photos with us.
PS: Wordpress have just congratulated me on my 50th post – have I really gassed on so much? 🙂


text:
It's only a matter of time until the consumerization of IT bleeds over from your non-IT employees into your IT department. While this may sound far fetched, iPad like systems, such as appliances or workload optimized systems, are already finding a foothold in your IT datacenter, and it's not about to stop.
Consumerization of IT is here to stay
As InfoWorld's Galen Gruman explains, the consumerization of IT is in full force with employees choosing hardware and software that best meets their needs without regard for corporate IT standards. The trend started well before Salesforce.com, iPhones and iPads made their way into the enterprise, but these three technologies are important because they highlight the choices being made by employees. These choices are often markedly different from the choices an IT professional would tend to agree with when making corporate purchase decisions.
All three technologies offered fewer choices and were less open than the alternatives already in use within a given IT department. Terms like walled-gardens or lock-in were often associated with Salesforce.com, the iPhone and iPad in their early days of enterprise usage. In many respects, these concerns still apply. And yet, all three technologies have somehow found their way onto the corporate standard list. This doesn't mean that these are the preferred technologies in every case, but they have a role to play within today's modern IT department.
The value versus control spectrum
Consumerization of IT hits close to home for me. I started to type this post on my iPad and then later on my Macbook Air. I use both for work purposes at varying times, and both are my personal devices.
It occurred to me that in choosing an iPad and a Macbook Air I made choices that I'd never have expected making even 2 years ago.
For the better part of 15 years I'd purchased hardware and software that I could tinker with and had broad control over. However, the "it just works" nature of the iPad and performance, portability and yes, the aesthetics, of the Macbook Air became important decision factors.
By going to a Mac after years on a PC, most of my applications, tools and custom scripts stopped being useful. I have fewer choices of applications and much lower configurability on my Macbook Air and iPad. It wasn't a painless transition. I still need to keep a Windows 7 and VMware Fusion license around as my tax program of choice only supports Windows.
However, the value I perceived from a simpler to use and better integrated system helped me get over my historical approach to IT systems and software. I highly doubt that I'm alone in this progression on the spectrum of control and configurability versus integrated system ease of use and performance.
Growing use of appliances and workload optimized systems in datacenters
The very same concerns I had when considering an iPad or Macbook Air are relevant for IT professionals tasked with doing more with less. The notion of giving up control and choice is often viewed in a negative light by IT professionals. But, when the value of a workload optimized system is considered, especially if it's based on open standards, the attractiveness of these systems begin to outweigh the reduced control and configurability.
The very same professionals reading this blog and running countless IT departments are happily toting iPhones, iPads, Samsung Galaxy Tabs or Macbook Airs. The ease of use and performance at certain tasks that these integrated systems provide is bound to affect standard decision making in their IT roles.
Think about all the time and effort spent on building systems from piece parts, applying fixes and upgrades to individual pieces of the system. How much more valuable work could you do for your company if you didn't spend hours or months on these tasks? How much time do you spend keeping your iPad up to date? Virtually no time at all.
This idea clicked for me a few months ago, and it'll take hold with more and more IT professionals. Some will ignore the logical conclusions, while others will question whether their current approach to building, maintaining and upgrading systems is optimal for every situation. Note however, here is no reason to think that the growing use of workload optimized systems means the end of the custom built systems market. Both types of systems have a role to play in a modern datacenter.
For instance, appliances are already a growing part of the IT landscape. IT has long been comfortable with appliances for important, but non-differentiating layers of the IT stack, such as firewalls.
Customers are increasingly looking at appliances for higher value IT capability like business analytics. Oracle's Exadata and IBM's Netezza Twinfin are two appliances that have been growing by narrowing choice and configurability while optimizing for a particular task. In fact, Oracle made a point of highlighting the growth of Exadata as a bright spot in an otherwise disappointing quarter.
While we're likely decades away from replacing your systems of choice with a big fat tablet device, the consumerization of IT will increase the willingness of IT professional to adopt appliance and appliance like systems in enterprise datacenters. Is your IT department ready for this shift?
I should state: "The postings on this site are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies, or opinions.


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KALFAKIS Model hobbies started in 1966.
Today we service our customers from two locations in Athens.
From Galatsi district and from down town Athens
KALFAKIS head quarters at
Protopapadaki str.67, post code 11147, Galatsi - Athens
Contact us :
tel. +30-210-6468220, +30-210-6411708, fax +30-210-6400380,
email: firstname.lastname@example.com
opening hours
Monday, Wednesday : from 09:00 to 17:00
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday : from 09:00 to 20:30
Saturday : from 10:00 to 15:00
since 1988, this have been the hot spot of Hobby Modeling of Greece. Well known all over Greece, voted in 2004 by the major newspaper KATHIMERINI of Athens as one of the 100 hottest spot of Athens. KALFAKIS Hobby Shop attract so strong all modelers that by 2011 there have another 10 hobby shops immerged around our location.
Contact : tel. +30-210-3642889, e-mail : email@example.com map location
Monday, Wednesday : from 09:00 to 15:30
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday : from 09:00 to 14:30 and from 17:00 to 20:30
Saturday : from 09:00 to 15:30
our History
KALFAKIS Hobbies started operations in 1966 when Costas Kalfakis with the support of his father Parashos realized the dream of the very fist ever established hobby shop in Greece. Pioneers in the real sense, we offered to the Greek public the true philosophy of hobby modeling. For the first time ever in Greece, we introduced to the hobby enthusiasts a wide range of models, special colors, decals, books, tools, materials and airbrushes to help the hobby to grow national wide.
By now Greece can present exceptional modelers that their work has become famous at the world's modeling competitions, winning fist class prizes. We feel that we played a great role for this to happen.


text:
For the first time in my life, I purchased a vehicle all by myself. Even before I was married, my parents made the arrangements and I just paid for my vehicle. In marriage, my spouse heard my requests and made the decision. But when my van was diagnosed to cost more in repairs than it is worth when running well, I knew it was time to look for a decent used vehicle.
I began scouring Craigslist and looking at most every mini-van that was listed. Fairly quickly it became clear what I would and would not be able to afford in a van. It's always a bit hard to reconcile what I want, with what I can reasonably afford. So, I narrowed my search and determined some markers that I would look for:
- No older than my existing 2002 model.
- As close to 100,000 miles as possible.
- No known mechanical issues.
- Rear air vents for the kiddos.
- At least one "amenity" like auto sliding doors or dvd player.
- Could be paid for in cash or feasibly paid in full by the end of the year.
It was oh-so-tempting to 'upgrade' to a van with more perks than my budget could reasonably afford, but I'm very thankful that I refrained from overspending. Once again, I see God providing before I knew about my need.
The experience of researching, test driving and purchasing a vehicle was a new one for me. If I was not divorced, I would not have had a big part in the task and so there is a sense of victory in having accomplished the purchase. Many thanks to my father who listened to me recount my test-driving, received many emails describing vehicles and finally helped me locate the chosen vehicle in the backwoods of East Tennessee. I take full ownership of my purchase, but I would not have found it without his persevering navigation skills.
I love being a mini-van-mama!


text:
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Fight Results From Friday's Show in Montebello
In a place where many of the best fighters in Southern California started their pro careers, several prospects performed at Quiet Cannon golf course in Montebello, California on Friday.
From lightweights to middleweights several prospects at the All Star Boxing event performed to expectations. Who will be the next Mikey Garcia, Murat Gassiev or Isaac Dogboe who all entered the boxing ring at this same venue early in their careers?
A lightweight clash saw Michael Norato (7-0) win by unanimous decision after six rounds against veteran Luis Gerardo Avila (8-17-3). No knockdowns were scored as the tall lefty Norato kept his undefeated streak intact.
In a middleweight match, North Hollywood's Martin Saldana (10-0, 5 KOs) stopped Juan Jose Valenzuela (5-13-2) in the third round when the referee stopped the fight. Valenzuela has not won a fight in two years after eight fights.
Welterweight prospect Jhon Sanchez Leon (6-1-1) won by knockout in the fourth round of a bloody fight over David Morales (2-3-1). Head butts caused cuts on both fighters but a badly swollen eye on Morales forced the fight to be stopped at two seconds of the fourth round.
Vardges Vardanyan (6-0) won by unanimous decision after four rounds in a super welterweight clash against veteran Tavorus Teague (6-25-4), who despite many losses has a lot of skills. Vardanyan was making his third appearance at the Quiet Cannon and brings a lot of fans.
A super featherweight contest saw Roger Gutierrez (7-3-2) and Emmanuel Castro (2-5-1) fight to a split draw after six rounds. The judges scored it 59-55 for Gutierrez, 55-59 for Castro and 57-57 for the split draw.
A featherweight match saw Alexis De Luna (4-0) defeat Daniel Bastien (4-12) by unanimous decision after four rounds. De Luna fights out of Bakersfield, Calif. and is only 18. Bastien was the first opponent who lasted the distance against De Luna.
Photo credit: Al Applerose
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The Top Ten Lightweights of the Decade: 2010-2019
The lightweight decade 2010-2019 was a disaster. Far and away the weakest list I have compiled so far; it was also far and away the most difficult to compile. Two excellent fighters, fit to grace any list, open at nine and ten but they made the tiniest handful of appearances at the poundage in the decade. Eight to four are populated by interchangeable lightweights whose ordering is confused by a 2012 robbery that has seen the "loser" of that contest edge in front of the "winner" adding to an already confused picture. The result is our seeing fighters who engender a sense of "what's he doing there?" as high as number four.
Towering over this hot mess are the top two for the decadal division, two giants of the sport about whom it is a pleasure to write, and a clear number three.
Despite the foibles of lightweight there were also some excellent fights to run the ruler across on the way to ordering them. So, without further apologies here are the top ten lightweights for the last decade.
Ratings are by Ring between 2010 and 2012 and TBRB from 2013 to 2019.
10 – Juan Manuel Marquez
Peak Ranking: Ch. Record for the Decade: 6-2 Ranked For: 18% of the decade
I am arguably reaching in placing Juan Manuel Marquez at ten given the limited contribution he made to the lightweight decade, but it must be borne in mind that Marquez was the decade's first legitimate, lineal lightweight champion. Lightweight gave us but three champions in the decade and certainly room can be made for all of them here.
Marquez had previously stopped the younger, fresher, purportedly stronger Juan Diaz in nine rounds in 2009 in what I rate his career's best performance until that time but nominated to re-match him in July of 2010, probably unnecessarily. Marquez was once more brilliant, his jab never better, Diaz clearly wary of the uppercut that had hurt him so in their first fight.
Marquez mopped up his lightweight title run against Michael Katsidis in November of that same year. Marquez didn't just beat the younger, stronger Katsidis, he became just the second man to stop the Australian, the quickest ever to do so.
This fight was also noteworthy as being veteran broadcaster Jim Lampley's finest moment and we will give him the final word on Marquez at lightweight, and as we won't be seeing him again in this series, Marquez generally (my italics):
"If it comes down to the question of whether you can courageously apply your technique…bet on Juan Manuel Marquez. He knows how to do that better than anyone in boxing."
09 – Mikey Garcia
Peak Ranking: 1 Record for the Decade: 22-1 Ranked For: 27% of the decade
Mikey Garcia is a splendid fighter but one who seems to have spread himself a little thin divisionally speaking. He swept into lightweight, established himself as the number one contender, remained divisionally ranked until the end of 2019 but fought hardly a contest within 135lbs.
The work he did do there though, was significant, two fights enough to establish him as one of the pre-eminent lightweights of the timeframe.
Most impressive was his January 2017 knockout victory over Dejan Zlaticanin. Zlaticanin, himself coming off impressive back-to-back stoppages of Franklin Mamani and Ivan Redkach, was an undefeated strapholder; Mikey established his world class jab within seconds and lost not a minute of the eight they completed. The uppercut and hook combination for the knockout made for the best stoppage of the lightweight decade.
Robert Easter, himself a contender for the number ten spot, was a second undefeated fighter who was ranked in the top five laid low by Garcia. Easter though, offered stiffer resistance, doing well with his own jab and even winning a few rounds on the way to a lop-sided decision loss. Garcia fought an aggressive, disciplined fight against a much taller and longer opponent leaving no doubt as to the winner, dropping Easter with a gorgeous, penetrating right hand in the third.
Lightweight certainly would have benefited from more Garcia but what he gave was good enough to see him creep in at nine.
08 – Ricky Burns
Peak Ranking: 2 Record for the Decade: 16-6-1 Ranked For: 32% of the decade
Ricky Burns traded on heart and durability but the thrashing that the great Terence Crawford handed him in March 2014 is not one he recovered from. Dejan Zlaticanin sent him scurrying from the division in his very next fight.
In the months before his brave decision to match Crawford, however, Burns turned in one of the more impressive runs of the lightweight decade between 2011 and the summer of 2013. It began with Michael Katsidis, the former lightweight titleholder who had been laid low by Juan Manuel Marquez one year earlier. Katsidis never recovered from the beating Marquez laid upon him, but descriptions of him as shot proved as wide of the mark as those who installed Katsidis as a favourite. Katsidis turned in a fine pressure performance and Burns needed the combination of jab and body attack he deployed to win a much, much closer fight than the judges saw. Ricky's remains one of the most underrated jabs of the decade at lightweight or elsewhere.
Ranked contender Moses Paulus went next and here Burns turned in perhaps his best defensive performance. A victim of the fashionable "earmuffs" approach to defence, Burns showed himself here capable of parrying and blocking as well as shutting the shop and waiting. He arguably put these two strata of his skillset – the careful offence, the dynamic defence – together just once in his career, against Kevin Mitchell, then still ranked among the world's ten best lightweights. Burns countered well that night and although far from difficult to hit he made himself hard to hit clean. It was probably the difference-maker as he drew Mitchell into a war he could not hope to win, dusting him off in four exciting rounds.
Finally, he stopped Jose Gonzalez in nine before going off a cliff in a fashion more familiar in speedsters than technically adept workhorses.
07 – Antonio DeMarco
Peak Ranking: 1 Record for the Decade: 10-7 Ranked For: 28% of the decade
Antonio DeMarco fights on and in fact has two fights planned this year. This has been to the great detriment of his paper record.
In the early part of the decade, the part which he fought at lightweight, he lost just twice, once to the doomed figure of Edwin Valero and once to Adrien Broner, both of whom beat him clean but DeMarco is in possession of a pair of wins that make Broner's ranking above him questionable still. Key among them is his 2011 stoppage of Jorge Linares.
On the surface, this is the type of win to rappel into the farthest reaches of this list. Linares would become one of the finest lightweights of the decade and his name carries meaning whatever the context; but it is the context of this fight that prevents DeMarco climbing much farther.
Linares had never boxed twelve rounds when he met DeMarco and despite dominating early, he was cut up badly by DeMarco's clean punching born of consistent pressure. Suffering the attentions of a faster, more talented fighter, DeMarco did the only thing he could, stepping in the fire zone and pressing; eventually Linares began to give ground. When a lacerating straight broke his nose in the sixth, the whole fight changed and when DeMarco cut him over the right eye in the seventh, his night became desperate. Suffused with blood, Linares was compromised in the eleventh from footwork to defence to his beautiful, gliding offence; the referee, perhaps prompted in part by the blood pouring from the face of Linares, stopped the fight.
It needs to be remembered who Linares was at this point of his career. He had been stopped in a round in 2009 and would be stopped in two with facial damage in his very next fight. This was the Linares that DeMarco broke down, not the storied veteran that Vasily Lomachenko would face years later. It is an impressive win, but DeMarco needs more for the spot.
Fortunately, he has it. After taking out gatekeeper Miguel Roman in five, DeMarco was matched with John Molina in a fight billed as an exciting shootout between evenly matched and exciting fighters. DeMarco blasted him out in a round. His power-punches were booming equalisers that laid more talented fighters low.
06 – Adrien Broner
Peak Ranking: 1 Record for the Decade: 20-4 Ranked For: 18% of the decade
It is unpleasant to see Adrien Broner, a serial failure at the highest level and seemingly a horror of a human being ranked above the likes of Garcia and Marquez, but assessing legacy must be blind. Broner is well into double figures for contests at lightweight and picked up the same number of ranked contenders as the two part-time decadal lightweights ranked at nine and ten – so he belongs, there is no debate to be had about that.
And, to be fair to him, his biggest win is a beauty, being his 2012 victory over Antonio DeMarco. DeMarco may have been on the slide but marginally. He remained a cagey, balanced, firmly planted southpaw, difficult to fight and harder to beat. Broner out-waited DeMarco and countered him, took a narrow lead in the early rounds before throwing more heavy punches the later the fight went. It became a beatdown, DeMarco failing to find the timing that would counter his opponent's speed earlier in his career.
Three months later, Broner was nearly as impressive blasting out number eight contender Gavin Rees in just five rounds. In the aftermath Rees called him the best fighter he had ever met and predicted he would go all the way to the top. That hasn't happened – for reasons too many to cogitate here – but he did enough to rank among the ten most accomplished lightweights of the decade.
05 – Brandon Rios
Peak Ranking: 1 Record for the Decade: 12-5 Ranked For: 18% of the decade
Things have been messy and difficult up until this point – now that get very messy and very difficult. Brandon Rios was awarded an official decision over Richar Abril in 2012 but he did not beat him; this was an outright robbery. Rios is not credited for that win here.
That fight is dealt with in detail in the entry below; for the moment, take my word for it and we will look at why it is reasonable for Rios to rank top five despite the Abril fight being treated here as a loss.
First and foremost is his defeat of the excellent Miguel Costa, world's number one contender in February of 2011, lain low by a career's best performance from Rios. Costa bossed Rios early, moving off him and tattooing him with power punches; Rios followed stoically but lost every one of the first five rounds. Focused and prepared, Rios seemed merely inconvenienced by the powerful punches of a world class competitor and there was something inevitable about what remains a dramatic collapse from Costa in the mid-rounds; in the tenth, battered and unresponsive, he was rescued by the referee as Rios clubbed him into submission with meathook shots.
Either side, Rios turned in impressive stoppage victories over ranked men Anthony Peterson and John Murray. Best-for-best, this adds up to near parity between Rios and Broner, but Rios claimed more quality names at the poundage; it edges Rios in front of his fellow American despite the Abril fight.
04 – Richar Abril
Peak Ranking: 1 Record for the Decade: 8-2-1 Ranked For: 44% of the decade
If you scour the internet, you might be able to find the single ringside scorecard that had Richar Abril's 2012 fight with Brandon Rios a draw; every other scorecard by ringsiders had the fight for Abril, some of them by margins as wide as 120-108.
Every ringsider, that is, outside of two of the officials paid to score the fights.
What we can only hope was the abject stupidity of Glenn Trowbridge and the infamous Adalaide Byrd (both still judging fights today folks) cost Abril the win that night but here, I am taking the rare step of ignoring the official decision, something I have only done on one other occasion in the course of this series. Almost all ringsiders agree, and the film demonstrably shows, this was an Abril win.
It was not an exciting fight, partly due to its one-sidedness. Abril shelled up in close and Rios, who failed to make weight, threw cuffing shots apparently incapable of penetrating. In the second half of the fight, Abril closed with great awareness, carefully to consistently outland Rios in every round, defensively sound, offensively alive to opportunity.
Either side of his defeat of Rios, Abril defeated the same man who defined Brandon's lightweight run, Miguel Acosta, and contender Sharif Bogere in a filthy, badly refereed contest. In essence, his legacy at the weight echoes that of Rios almost exactly, with one exception: he beat Rios.
Abril is not an inspiring figure. He boxed in a dry, careful fashion that did not endear him to fans but he excelled at controlling his opponents and there is no way to rank him below Rios given how dominant he was over him in their fight. That puts him in the top four.
03 – Jorge Linares
Peak Ranking: 2 Record for the Decade: 20-4 Ranked For: 35% of the decade
Jorge Linares was "one for the most fantastic boxers I have ever saw in my life" according to the great Emanuel Steward and you can see what he means. Linares is as beautifully balanced, as well co-ordinated as any lightweight seen this decade, outside of the top two. Lithe, quick-handed, and a fine selector of punches, he began the decade anointed by the then pre-eminent Freddie Roach, spending his spare time sparring with the legendary Manny Pacquiao.
Then it went wildly wrong. Linares had his faced ripped apart by the punches of Antonio DeMarco in 2011 and then Sergio Thompson in 2012. It was a long way from these losses back to the top but Linares made it, in the main by travelling to the UK and battering her best lightweights. His winning streak ran to thirteen fights.
Key among them was his 2015 victory over Kevin Mitchell. Mitchell, who had restored himself from both personal and professional strife with a quite remarkable performance against Daniel Estrada, was once again ranked among the world's top ten. Linares has struggled when hurt throughout his career, but when dropped by Mitchell in the fifth, Linares, who had been struggling a little in the third and fourth, remained concentrated. He didn't enjoy the rest of that fifth round, but he escaped it and instead of crumbling he crumbled Mitchell, cutting him up and stepping in to take over in the eighth then patiently closing the blinds in the tenth.
It was a fine turning of the corner by a fighter who would go on to deliver on some of his seemingly limitless potential, firstly against an inspired Anthony Crolla, once more in the UK, who he beat close then, re-matched and dropped on the way to a wide decision victory. Finally, Linares, a road-warrior if ever there was one, invited Luke Campbell over to the USA and squeaked past him in a brilliant strategic joust.
Linares was a real enigma. Skin so thin it might as well be used to pack the meat that constitutes his face, he has literally fallen apart in the ring; soft of chin, he has been blown out. The fighter that Manny Steward saw all those years before probably never emerged, but he still appears special enough to edge out Abril.
Take note though, he is not a "natural" divisional decadal number three and there is real distance between Linares and the fighter that ranks number two.
02 – Terence Crawford
Peak Ranking: Ch. Record for the Decade: 26-0 Ranked For: 15% of the decade
Terence Crawford is a genius in the ring, and we watched the emergence of that genius at lightweight. 2014 was the year and almost all the meaningful damage that the Nebraskan did to the 135lb division was done in that year.
I was glued to his March dissection of Scotsman Ricky Burns and it was painful to watch my countryman dismantled so completely, Burns complaining about Crawford's control of distance and angles in a gracious post-fight interview. In truth, Burns had boxed beautifully to make so many of the rounds in what was a clear, wide victory for Crawford so close, but we did not know then what we know now: Crawford is one of the best fighters in the world.
At the end of 2014 when he welcomed number two contender Ray Beltran to his native Omaha, this was clear. Beltran had outfought and arguably been robbed of a victory over Ricky Burns when he visited Scotland for what was a hotly disputed draw but there were multiple classes between he and Crawford when they met that November. Crawford did mostly what he liked, and what he liked, from round two, was to box as a southpaw, jabbing with impunity, bringing Beltran forwards onto punches and in doing so shutting his opponent's offence down almost completely. In the final round Beltran, who had not won a single round on my scorecard, threw around twenty punches, even though his only route to victory was by knockout.
In between his wide defeats of Burns and Beltran, he dispatched Yuriokis Gamboa in the ninth. These were three technical mis-matches in one year against quality opposition after which he departed for 140lbs.
This is enough to make him a clear number two, but in all honesty were his numbers and opposition not enough to get him over that line, it would still be difficult to see him lower. Crawford was imperious.
01 – Vasily Lomachenko
Peak Ranking: Ch. Record for the Decade: 14-1 Ranked For: 15% of the decade
Ranked for almost an identical number of weeks throughout the 2010s, Vasily Lomachenko was also given, like Terrence Crawford, to taking a close look at his opposition in the opening round.
Another thing these two have in common is that their visitations to 135lbs were relatively brief. We will meet no other divisional decadal number one with so few fights at the poundage – having only met legitimately ranked men at the poundage however, Lomachenko has done enough to clearly seal up the number one spot. He has but one peer and has clearly edged that peer out.
Gatecrashing the division meeting none other than Jorge Linares helped. This had the appearance of rash, even careless matchmaking, a duel, essentially, to determine the finest lightweight of the decade. It appeared careless matchmaking, certainly, when Lomachenko was dropped in the sixth walking carelessly onto a straight punch that clearly hurt him.
But Lomachenko isn't like other fighters. He had learned over the course of a monumental amateur career that he had the innate toughness to support his genius; Lomachenko re-took his feet and blasted Linares out in the tenth.
He certainly hasn't looked back. Jose Pedraza, the world's number three lightweight at that time, made it through a nightmarish eleventh to take Lomachenko the distance in 2018 but it was a wide, hurtful loss for the brave, world class Puerto Rican. Anthony Crolla went next and was stopped in just four rounds, his first stoppage loss since 2012. Luke Campbell, ranked number seven just as Crolla had been, seemed to be having a better evening but he won just two rounds and was on the receiving end of some savage combinations in making it to the final bell.
Lomachenko learns his man's range then abuses it, hovering just within or just outside it, using his quick reflexes and beautiful, consistent slipping to keep him safe while he deploys what has become one of the best body-attacks in the sport. Predicting him is impossible, which forces fighters to try to take the play away from him, which leaves them open for the widest variety of counters in boxing this century.
It is mildly frustrating then that he and Crawford never met in the ring. Had it happened, that ring would have contained as much skill as any since Roberto Duran defeated Ray Leonard.
The other lists:
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Berchelt TKOs Valenzuela in Mexico City
Mexico's Miguel Berchelt hammered his way to a decisive knockout victory over fellow Mexican Eleazar Valenzuela in a non-title light fight on Saturday.
After nearly nine months off, WBC super featherweight titlist Berchelt (38-1, 34 KOs) unraveled a withering body attack including numerous low blows but Valenzuela remained upright in front of a sparse TV studio audience until he could take it no longer.
Berchelt used a seven-punch combination to knock the senses out of the very tough Valenzuela who hails from Sinaloa. The referee saw enough and stopped the fight with Valenzuela leaning against the ropes with a dazed look.
The champion from Cancun used a triple left hook in the first round to floor Valenzuela and it looked like the fight would not last more than two rounds. But Valenzuela, a sturdy veteran, bored into Berchelt to keep him off balance and was able to stop the momentum.
It did not last.
A vicious attack to the body sapped the energy from Valenzuela who has fought many elite fighters in the past, but none like Berchelt. He was able to batter the veteran round after round.
Valenzuela sought to reverse the momentum with some combinations of his own. Berchelt opened up with some combinations from the outside and cracked his foe with some skull-numbing blows that clearly affected Valenzuela's senses. The referee wisely stopped the fight at 1:03 of the sixth round to give the win to Berchelt by knockout.
The victory opens the door to a potential clash with featherweight world titlist Oscar Valdez of Nogales, Mexico who has a fight of his own planned next month. Both champions are promoted by Top Rank.
Other Bouts
Omar Aguilar (18-0, 17 KOs) bushwacked veteran Dante Jardon (32-7, 23 KOs) within a minute of the first round to win by technical knockout. A barrage of blows by Ensenada's Aguilar opened up the fight and a four-punch combination forced the referee to stop the super lightweight fight with Mexico City's Jardon against the ropes.
A battle between super bantamweights saw the taller Alan Picasso (14-1) out-hustle Florentino Perez (14-6-2) in an eight round clash between Mexican fighters. Mexico City's Picasso fought effectively inside against the shorter Perez of Monterrey and was able to maintain a consistent pace. Neither fighter approved the use of a jab but Picasso was more effective inside with body shots and uppercuts and dominated the last half of the fight. The six judges scored in favor of Picasso.
The WBC instituted the extra judges as a means of tabulating score cards efficiently. Three judges scored from the television studios and another three judges scored from the USA. It was the second time WBC judges officiated remotely and all six scorecards were official.
Photo credit: Zanfer Promotions
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Boxing Odds and Ends: Big Baby Miller, Roberto Duran and More
Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller just can't keep his hands out of the cookie jar. It was announced today (Saturday, June 27) that the jumbo-sized heavyweight from Brooklyn tested positive for a banned substance, forcing him out of a July 9 fight at the MGM Grand "Bubble" against Jerry Forrest. The story was broken by Mike Coppinger of The Athletic who breaks more hard news stories than any other boxing writer.
Miller, needless to say is a repeat offender. He failed three different PED tests in a span of three days for three different banned substances leading into his planned June 2019 match at Madison Square Garden with WBA/IBF/WBO world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. That cost him the fight and a reported $5 million-plus payday. Andy Ruiz filled the void and scored an historic upset.
When the first test came back positive, Miller wailed that he was the victim of a faulty test. "My team and I stand for integrity, decency and honesty and will fight this with everything we have," he said in a prepared statement. He later changed his tune. "I messed up," he said.
In a story that appeared on these pages, Thomas Hauser noted that Big Baby had a history of PED use dating to 2014. In that year, he was slapped with a nine-month suspension by the California Athletic Commission following a kickboxing event in Los Angeles.
Counting this latest revelation, it's five strikes for Big Baby. He's taking quite a roasting right now on social media. Some of the harshest criticism is coming from his fellow boxers.
Assuming that Top Rank can't find a replacement for Miller, this is another tough break for Jerry Forrest, a 32-year-old southpaw from Virginia with a 26-3 (20) record. Forrest was scheduled to fight hot prospect Filip Hrgovic on April 17 on a card at the MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, a show swept away by the coronavirus outbreak. Forrest has been matched very soft throughout his career, but he acquitted himself well in his lone previous TV appearance, losing a split decision to undefeated Jermaine Franklin on "Showtime: The New Generation." The decision was controversial.
There's talk now that Carlos Takam is angling to replace Big Baby. The French-Cameroonian, a former world title challenger who turns 40 in December, was billed out of Henderson, Nevada, in his last ring appearance that saw him winning a unanimous decision over fellow greybeard Fabio Maldonado in Huntington, NY.
When it comes to Murphy's Law ("anything that can go wrong, will"), there's no sport quite like boxing. Just ask Bob Arum. The most mouth-watering matchup in his ESPN "summer series" fell out this week when Eleider Alvarez suffered a shoulder injury in training, forcing a postponement of his July 16 date with Joe Smith Jr. The match between Alvarez (25-1, 13 KOs) and Smith (25-3, 20 KOs) would have been a 12-rounder with the winner guaranteed a shot at the vacant WBO light heavyweight title, a diadem that Alvarez previously owned.
Joe Smith Jr, a Long Island construction worker once dismissed as nothing more than a club fighter, won legions of new fans in his last start, a one-sided (to everyone except one myopic judge) win over Jesse Hart in Atlantic City.
Cancelled matches have become a recurrent theme in ESPN's semi-weekly boxing series. The very first card in the series lost what shaped up as its most competitive fight when Mikaela Mayer tested positive for COVID-19, scuttling her bout with Helen Joseph. In subsequent weeks, the manager of Mikkel Les Pierre tested positive for COVID-19 as did WBO junior lightweight champion Jamel Herring. Those bad test results forced the postponement of two main events. Then earlier this week, hot lightweight prospect Joseph Adorno was lopped off Tuesday's card after feeling sick after coming in overweight at the previous day's weigh-in.
The undercards of the Tuesday/Thursday ESPN fights have left something to be desired, but that's understandable. As Bob Arum noted in a conversation with veteran boxing scribe Keith Idec, Top Rank's matchmakers Bruce Trampler and Brad "Abdul" Goodman have had a hard time fleshing out the cards because with so many gyms closed there's a shortage of boxers who are in shape to fight on short notice. Then there are the COVID-19 travel restrictions and (something Arum did not acknowledge) budgetary restrictions more severe than an ordinary Top Rank card. Most of the undercard fighters have come from neighboring states such as Utah, saving Top Rank the cost of air fare. Fighters from faraway places, with some exceptions, were already training in Las Vegas.
Kudos to the entire Top Rank staff for keeping boxing alive during these challenging times.
It's old news now, but Panamanian boxing legend Roberto Duran, 69, tested positive for the coronavirus and was hospitalized in Panama City with a viral infection. There's been no update on his condition but his son Robin Duran wrote on Instagram that his father is not having any symptoms beyond those associated with a common cold. We will update you when new details become available.
Duran's hospitalization came just a few days after the 40th anniversary of his first fight with Sugar Ray Leonard in what would say was Duran's finest hour. They met on June 20, 1980 at Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
Duran won a unanimous decision. Converting the "10-point must" system into rounds, Duran prevailed by scores of 3-2-10, 6-5-4, and 6-4-5. As Yogi would have said, you could look it up.
Check out more boxing news on video at The Boxing Channel
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Recreational vehicle manufacturer Fleetwood, ignoring bad news about the motorhome industry, released the 2009 Southwind Class A gas RV in Minnesota last week. Apparently designed for folks who really want a Prevost coach but don't quite have the scratch, the Southwind packs the looks and luxury of a bus into a front-engine chassis powered by either a Ford 6.8-liter Triton V10 or an 8.1-liter Vortec from GM. Of course, you're gonna want to have a gas card with a healthy limit. Full release below the jump.
2009 Brings New Look and Luxurious Features to Fleetwood's Popular Southwind Class A Gas Motor Home
RIVERSIDE, Calif., July 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Fleetwood Enterprises' RV Group, a leading producer of recreational vehicles, announced the release of its 2009 Southwind Class A gas motor home, which was unveiled to consumers during FMCA's summer rally in St. Paul, Minn. last week.
2009 marks a lifecycle change for Southwind that includes new contemporary front and rear cap designs, one-piece windshield, and automotive dashboard with iPod docking station.
"The 2009 Southwind has a whole new look — both inside and out — designed to appeal to RVers looking for a more luxurious gas motor home," said Paul Eskritt, President of Fleetwood's RV Group. "In St. Paul, customers and dealers openly expressed their enthusiasm about the modern interior decor, wealth of amenities and the overall style of Southwind, so we are excited to see how it does in the marketplace."
Interior highlights on the 2009 Southwind include power front privacy shade and curtains, color rear-vision system with optional side-view cameras, new cabinet and drawer hardware styling, overhead and bedroom LCD TVs, and home theater system.
Exterior highlights include hydraulic leveling system by Power Gear(R), 30"-wide entry door, side-swing luggage doors in most basement locations, and beautiful DuPont(R) full-body paint.
This fall, the 2009 Southwind offering will expand to include a new curb-side, full-wall-slide floor plan (35J). This beautiful model features a 32" mid-ship LCD TV; 26" LCD TV in the bedroom, a spacious dressing area; large walk-thru bath; and optional 12-foot, u-shaped, mega-lounge/dinette.
For more information about the 2009 Southwind, or any Fleetwood RV products, please call 1-800-322-8216 or visit http://www.fleetwoodrv.com/.
[Source: PRNewswire]


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Fifteen Years after Tobacco Settlement, States Falling Short in Funding Tobacco Prevention: Q&A with Danny McGoldrick
Dec 10, 2013, 11:36 AM
On November 23, 1998, 46 states settled their lawsuits against the nation's major tobacco companies to recover tobacco-related health care costs, joining four states—Mississippi, Texas, Florida and Minnesota—that had reached earlier, individual settlements.
These settlements require the tobacco companies to make annual payments to the states in perpetuity, with total payments estimated at $246 billion over the first 25 years.
Yesterday a coalition of health advocacy groups released the latest edition of A Broken Promise to Our Kids, an annual report on state use of tobacco funds for tobacco prevention and cessation efforts. As in years past, the report finds that most states fall short in the amount of money they allocate to prevent kids from smoking and to help current smokers quit.
The groups that jointly issued the report include the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Lung Association, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights.
Key findings of the 2013 report include:
- Over the past 15 years, states have spent just 2.3 percent of their total tobacco-generated revenue on tobacco prevention and cessation programs.
- The states this year will collect $25 billion from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend just 1.9 percent of it—$481.2 million—on tobacco prevention programs. This means the states are spending less than two cents of every dollar in tobacco revenue to fight tobacco use.
- States are falling short of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) recommended funding levels for tobacco prevention programs. Altogether, the states have budgeted just 13 percent of the $3.7 billion the CDC recommends.
- Only two states—Alaska and North Dakota—currently fund tobacco prevention programs at the CDC-recommended level.
To discuss the ramifications of the latest edition of the Broken Promises report, NewPublicHealth recently spoke with Danny McGoldrick, vice president of research at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
NewPublicHealth: Can you give us some background on the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement?
Danny McGoldrick: This is the 15th anniversary of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, when 46 states and the District of Columbia settled their lawsuits against the tobacco companies mostly to recover the costs that they'd incurred treating smoking-caused disease in their states. Four other states had settled individually with the tobacco companies prior to the Master Settlement Agreement, and so this provided for some restrictions on tobacco company marketing; they promised never to market to kids again, which is ironic, but it also resulted in the tobacco companies sending about $250 billion over just the first 25 years of the settlement for the states to spend as they saw fit. They left that to the province of the state legislators and governors to decide how those funds should be spent.
NPH: Why do states do with the funds not used on tobacco prevention and cessation efforts?
McGoldrick: States have used a portion of the funds to deal with budget deficits as well as a number of other things, some worthy programs. But what they haven't done is fund tobacco prevention programs at anywhere near the levels recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which provides guidance not only on the amount of money the state should spend for these lifesaving and moneysaving programs, but also the science behind exactly what kind of programs to run.
These are science-based interventions that we know work when funded and implemented properly. They consist of hard-hitting media campaigns that get the word out about the dangers of tobacco use in ways that resonate with kids and with smokers to encourage them to quit. They include community-based programs that reach people where they live, work, play, and learn with messages about tobacco use, again preventing kids from starting and encouraging smokers to quit and involving young people in talking to each other about not only the harms of tobacco, but the role of tobacco companies in targeting them. And finally, they include help for smokers who want to quit. And there's a science behind each of these interventions, but when we put them together in a comprehensive program we know they work through reduced tobacco use among both kids and adults.
NPH: On average, what percentage do the states use? Is that a good number? Does that really tell us that most states tend to use the same percentage of funds?
McGoldrick: It really varies because states are different sizes and they spend the money in different ways. What we look at is how states are spending relative to what the CDC recommends, and it's a pretty dismal picture. Overall, states are spending only about 2 percent of the $25 billion they received in the most recent fiscal year from their master settlement payments and their tobacco taxes. This is just a travesty. Only two states are funding at the level the CDC recommends—those are North Dakota and Alaska—and only four more at spending at even half the level that the CDC recommends—those are Delaware, Wyoming, Hawaii and Oklahoma. So almost half the states, 24 states, are spending less than 10 percent of what the CDC recommends for these programs that we know work and that they have the money for. Three states are spending less than 1 percent of what the CDC recommends—New Hampshire, Alabama and Missouri. New Jersey is spending no state dollars on tobacco prevention.
So, when you look at it in terms of what the CDC recommends, when you look at it in terms of what the states are getting in terms of all of this revenue, when you look at it compared to what the tobacco companies are spending to get people to smoke and when you look at it compared to what we're spending treating tobacco-caused disease, it just makes no sense that states aren't doing a better job keeping the promise of the tobacco settlement.
NPH: What are the key recommendations for what states should be doing?
McGoldrick: We know that states have a lot of issues that they're dealing with and programs that they need to fund, but it would only take about 15 percent of the revenue that states are taking in from their master settlement payments or their settlement payments and their tobacco taxes to fund these programs. So that should be priority one and would still leave tens of billions of dollars to fund other important programs in the state.
It really is penny wise and pound foolish not to invest this money because we know that states not only save lives by investing in these programs, but they save health care dollars. Tobacco-caused diseases are a big reason for the health care crisis in our states. We spend almost $100 billion every year treating tobacco-caused disease in this country, all of that absolutely and completely preventable. So when you invest in these programs, you not only save lives, you not only save kids a lifetime of addiction and premature death, but you actually reduce your healthcare costs so these programs pay for themselves. Our governors and legislators are not only not doing the right thing with the money—they're not doing the smart thing for their own budgets. It's really unbelievable that they could not only save lives but actually save money in the long run by investing in these programs, and they're just making shortsighted and foolish decisions.
This commentary originally appeared on the RWJF New Public Health blog.


text: RugbyPower and passion HorseracingThe story of Ireland's thoroughbreds You're standing in a stadium with the roars of 80,000 other spectators in your ears. You're not entirely sure about the rules of the game, but you're riveted by the speed, the ferocity, of what's going on below. In Ireland, sport is passion. This might explain how a small island makes such a big impact on the sporting world. Our athletics champions have led us to gold. Our golfers have captained Europe in the Ryder Cup. In 2015, we won the Six Nations Championship. This all stems from the sporting spirit that's deeply embedded in our culture, whether playing on home turf or the international stage. Sporting values Gaelic games are Ireland's amateur sports, but there's nothing amateur about the style of play. Every September, tens of thousands of fans, bedecked in their county colours, make the pilgrimage to Dublin's Croke Park to see the All-Ireland Football and Hurling Championship finals. Fans celebrating after a match The spectators' roar of approval is a wave of sound that reverberates around the vast arena. Chris Van Ryan, photographer at the All-Ireland Hurling Finals 2014 Meanwhile, rugby's annual 6 Nations championship is a highlight of the sporting calendar, pitting the world's best rugby players against each other in a battle of blood, sweat and tears for the coveted trophy. And all over the island, the buzz and excitement of horse racing is palpable. You don't have to place a bet to have fun: the people and atmosphere are enough to guarantee a great day out. What makes Ireland such a great place to experience sport? It's the people, the sense of community. Catch a GAA or rugby game anywhere on the island, from local matches to the biggest events: the enthusiasm for the game is the same at all levels. On match days, stadiums are a pulsating cauldron of sheer passion. It will give you goosebumps and make your heart flutter. Speaking of a flutter, Ireland is the best place to be if you fancy one. After all, we are known as the Land of the Horse. It's woven deep into the fabric of Irish culture, and our world-class horse racing events prove it. The Galway Races, the Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse, and the Northern Ireland Festival of Racing at Down Royal are just three showstoppers on the equestrian calender. After the winner has passed the post and the final whistle's blown? Join the locals for a chat and a hearty meal at the local pub, with a celebratory drink to boot. Want to delve deeper into sport in Ireland? Explore the history of the GAA at the Croke Park museum. Make for Killarney and soak in the sights at one of Ireland's most scenic racecourses. How about taking a deep breath as you stand in Limerick's Thomond Park stadium, home of the legendary Munster team? No matter where you go in Ireland, you can feel the thrill of the game in the air. More to explore CyclingGet off the beaten track and on your bike. Pick your path and cycle your way around some of our world- famous cycling routes. WatersportsIn Ireland it's water, water everywhere so make a splash: dive, canoe, kayak or simply cruise your way around the island. WalkingIreland may be small but from bogs to beaches, valleys to peaks, there's a terrain to suit everyone. Time to strap on your hiking boots.


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WEST COTE BLANCHE, La. (AP) —Coast Guard officials said an oil rig exploded off the coast of Louisiana, sending four people to hospitals Friday while two others were believed to be missing.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan Lally, a spokesman for the Coast Guard, did not immediately have information on the conditions of those taken to hospitals.
The rig, a production platform owned by Black Elk Energy, is about 25 miles southeast of Grand Isle, La.
There was no immediate word if any oil had spilled from the platform.
Coast Guard Capt. Peter Gautier told WWL TV that 28 people were believed to be aboard the rig.
Gautier said the platform was not actively producing oil and it is not believed there is any chance for a major environmental disaster.
He said initial reports were that maintenance workers were cutting into a pipe and that oil may have escaped, causing the explosion.
Lally says two helicopters, an airplane and small boats were sent to the area. He did not know if the fire caused by the explosion had been put out yet.
The platform is a production platform, unlike the Deepwater Horizon rig, which was drilling an exploratory well for oil giant BP in mile-deep water well to the east of Friday's reported explosion.
A spokesman for Black Elk Energy could not immediately be reached for comment.
Black Elk is an independent oil and gas company headquartered in Houston, Texas.
The company's website says it holds interests in properties in Texas and Louisiana waters, including 854 wells on 155 platforms.
Credit: The Associated Press


text:
Rule #1 - Be Patient - Rule #2 - Don't ask when, if you don't contribute - Rule #3 - You have coding skills - LinuxMCE's small brother is available: http://www.agocontrol.com
- Media director with 1 nic and DHCP
During my time with LinuxMCE (over a year now) I have seen issues such as this pop up and most of the time they seem to be caused by:1. the filesystem of the media drive2. bad hard drive3. bad network hardware cables, connections, routers etcI don't recall one single instance where LinuxMCE software was actually the cause of the problem.FWIW,Krys
what filesystem do you use on your FreeNas drives?
you should at least try sharing out a folder on another system (eg a Windows box), letting LinuxMCE add that as another media source, then dropping one of the media files you have had problems with onto that share. Now you can play the same media, with the same MD using the same GB switch, but completely eliminating the NAS (NIC, file system, drives, samba implementation, etc). This is a quick way of eliminating the problem, as if you have the same problem again, you can say with authority it isn't the NAS. Then you can turn your attention to the MD and networking (MD NIC and switch)....


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an open source cognitive humanoid robotic platform
funded by the EU Commission under the Cognitive Systems and Robotics program
The iCub is the humanoid robot developed at IIT as part of the EU project RobotCub and subsequently adopted by more than 20 laboratories worldwide. It has 53 motors that move the head, arms & hands, waist, and legs. It can see and hear, it has the sense of proprioception (body configuration) and movement (using accelerometers and gyroscopes). We are working to improve on this in order to give the iCub the sense of touch and to grade how much force it exerts on the environment.


text:
It seems that for some people to feel truly free
they find it necessary
to keep someone else in shackles.
It seems that for some people to feel truly free
they find it necessary
to keep someone else in shackles.
Raising poultry and angora rabbits in California
Proving the existence of the extraordinary
One day at a time...
Musings about living with depression and anxiety
perspective on the spectrum
Photography, fiction, humor, opinions, and whatever else I feel like posting
Life with borderline personality disorder + mental illness
Hey, Nice to meet all of you, my name is Heather. I have BPD. I am here to share my everyday struggles with you, be a support for you, and I am here to chat with you if you want to chat...:)
Our Children Are Sacred
~ Short Stories, Flights of Fancy and Everyday Anecdotes ~
I want out of the labels. I don't want my whole life crammed into a single word. A story. I want to find something else, unknowable, some place to be that's not on the map. A real adventure.
The Calm Side of Me
single dads, single moms, raising kids & much more


text: Go anywhere in style with the Eee PC™ 1215T Seashell - An excellent Netbook for multimedia enjoyment AMD New Thin& Light Nile Platform for superior processing performance. Excellent graphic performance AMD HD4250 Gfx chipsets with embedded AMD RS880M chipsets Massive 12.1" 16:9 HD LED-backlit glare-type display for multimedia enjoyment Enjoy Full HD 1080p video playback on a HDTV or big screen via a HDMI port Large Ergonomic chiclet keyboard for unsurpassed comfort Shop Modal header Elegant Seashell Inspired Design The Eee PC™ 1215T defies the notion of netbooks being designed just to cater to basic computing needs, with its impressive multimedia performance and modern features. The 1215T packs the AMD® Athlon™ K125 1.7GHz processor, specifically designed for thin and light computing needs, as well as the latest AMD® 'Nile' platform with an integrated AMD® Mobility Radeon™ HD 4250 class graphics processor to deliver a netbook with excellent multimedia performance capabilities. Full Multimedia Experience The next generation AMD® Mobility Radeon™ HD 4250 class graphics processor found in the Eee PC™ 1215T enables it to deliver a visual experience never before seen full multimedia on a netbook. Using ATI AVIVO™ HD technology with its specially designed second generation 'UVD' hardware video decoder embedded within the 1215T, enables smooth and crystal-clear playback of all the latest high definition video standards on either its 12.1-inch, LED-backlit 1366 x 768 HD widescreen display with the 16:9 display ratio, or via HDMI port, to view Full HD 1080p video on large screen displays. Ergonomic Chiclet Keyboard for Unsurpassed Comfort The Eee PC™ Seashell's chiclet keyboard is more comfortable and less fatiguing to type and combined with its larger form factor, the extended wrist rest and means it's easier to type on for prolonged periods of use. Long Lasting, Efficient Connectivity The Eee PC™ 1215T comes with a large 6-cell battery for 6 hours battery life**, and with up to 320GB* of internal hard drive space and a 60 day trial of unlimited Asus Webstorage, there is ample storage space for hours upon hours of multimedia. The 1215T's built-in 0.3M Pixels webcam lets you video-conference with business associates a world away, while the latest 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0* wireless technologies ensures that you're well-connected even when you step out of the office. Innovative and Helpful Software ASUS Express Gate launches into its own OS within a few seconds, giving you the fastest possible way to get online. From here there's access to online email, photo sharing services, YouTube™ and Skype™. Should the unfortunate happen and the main OS develops problems, by simply pressing the F9 key and selecting the recovery option, your ASUS netbook will completely restore the OS to its factory fresh state. *Availability is dependent on selected model, country or operator support. Check with your local ASUS website for more details.** Battery life may vary by configuration, usage model and devices used.***All specifications are subject to change without notice. Please check with your supplier for exact offers. Products may not be available in all markets.