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After fish kill in Chapin Lagoon, O-AT-KA Milk notified by DEC to improve spill prevention
O-AT-KA Milk Products was issued a notice of violation by the DEC on April 24 for chemicals and waste materials being spilled into a lagoon south of Ellicott Street.
The company is complying with all DEC demands and requirements for dealing with spills from its dairy processing plant at the corner of Cedar and Ellicott streets, said David Crisp, director of business development for O-AT-KA.
The spills were brought to the attention of the DEC by Attica resident John Volpe (pictured above), a Native American well known locally for his environmental work.
Volpe said he's concerned about the health and well being of the fish, turtles, frogs and other wildlife in the lagoon, which is part of a 110-acre wildlife refuge owned by Chapin Manufacturing. The creatures, Volpe said, are part of the chain of life.
"This is how we look at our own life," Volpe said. "These are our teachers. All of our relations means just that. They're all of our relations. You don't leave out a worm or an eagle or whatever. We're supposed to watch it and we're supposed to protect it. That's one of our jobs as among the people who walk this earth. It should be everybody's job."
Volpe shared documents he said show serious environmental damage to the lagoon, including photos of more than 100 dead fish and dissection photos taken of dead animals -- such as turtles, frogs and fish -- showing medical issues (Volpe emphasized several times that he and his helpers never killed any animals, but merely took for samples and evidence animals they found dead).
The DEC letter accuses O-AT-KA of violating its SPDES (State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permit and three sections of environmental law.
The letter specifically accuses O-AT-KA of causing a drop in water quality standards for pH, solids and water color from spills on at least six separate occasions. The spills, according to the DEC, contained milk and/or cleaning solutions.
The letter also specifically cites a fish kill of various species April 15.
O-AT-KA was accused of discharging water that causes or contributes to conditions in violation of state code; discharging industrial waste in violation of state code; and discharging pollutants at a frequency or volume in excess of permitted standards.
The company was given until May 7 a turn over a document called "Best Management Practices" as well as a summary of response actions, investigations and corrective measures taken for each reported spill since August 2013.
By yesterday, O-AT-KA was required to complete a facility review and submit a corrective action plan designed to prevent or minimize potential damage from future spills.
The DEC also required O-AT-KA to install a continuous recording pH meter.
Crisp said O-AT-KA has been fully compliant with the DEC's requirements, an assertion confirmed by Linda Vera, spokeswoman for the DEC in WNY.
"O-AT-KA has taken a number of actions to mitigate and prevent additional discharges," Vera said.
Crisp said a DEC official was on hand one day recently when an alarm sounded from the new system indicating there was an increase in pH in the outflow line to the discharge pipe and the officials saw firsthand that plant workers responded immediately to correct the problem.
"It really comes down to how dedicated O-AT-KA is to the highest level of environmental protection," Crisp said. "That's why we're working with the DEC to assure O-AT-KA is in compliance with the SPDES permit."
There were two spills of milk, Vera said. One in August and another in October. She said steps were taken to prevent future spills and there have been no similar discharges since October.
"The remaining incidents were related to cleaning solution discharges," Vera said. "Action was taken after each incident to determine the source, and O-AT-KA added monitoring equipment and changed practices to mitigate the issue. During DEC's early May inspection, the probable source was identified. A deteriorated flooring in one of production areas allowed cleaning/disinfection solution to seep into a deteriorated pipe beneath floor. O-AT-KA is taking necessary actions to repair piping and floor."
It's still possible O-AT-KA could be fined for the spills, but the DEC has made no determination yet on further enforcement actions, Vera said.
One source we spoke to for this story suggested we look at the notice of violation delivered to O-AT-KA in context of how many DEC violation notices are handed out locally in a year, suggesting that there's nothing remarkable about a company getting a letter of violation.
According to the DEC's database of spills, there have been 76 incidents reported in the past 12 months in Genesee County. Eight of those have been tied to O-AT-KA, which more than any other source in the county. Only three of those spills -- where the size of the spill is known -- involve 100 gallons or more, and two of those involve O-AT-KA. Those are a spill of 125 gallons of milk product in August 2013 and 3,000 gallons of sodium hydroxide in January.
There were 48 incidents countywide reported in the prior 12 months, none involving O-AT-KA.
The series of spills has been a concern to Chapin, CEO Jim Campbell said, and company officials have met several times with O-AT-KA officials to review the measures taken to prevent future problems.
The 110-acre preserve includes nature trails available to employees and the area is teaming with wildlife, Campbell said. Andris Chapin, a family owner and chairman of the board, is keenly aware of environment issues, Campbell said, and once a year takes interested employees on a nature trail walk through the preserve.
The company also has an environmental manager. He is Mark Volpe, who is also the plant manager and is John Volpe's brother.
Campbell said Chapin is confident O-AT-KA is responding appropriately. It's his understanding, he said, that O-AT-KA has spent more than $100,000 on preventative measures. He said O-AT-KA has recently brought in new executives with a good deal of technical experience in environmental issues.
"They've done a great job and have a great solution in place," Campbell said.
John and Mark Volpe started monitoring and measuring the Chapin's 110-acre habitat in 2008, acquiring and maintaining detailed records on the species and quality of life in the preserve.
It was through that process that John Volpe became increasingly concerned about spills from the O-AT-KA plant, which he said go back further than the August 2013 date covered by the DEC letter.
As he saw more and more environmental damage to the lagoon, he began raising concerns to the DEC, to the point, he believes, that some officials at the DEC started trying to avoid his phone calls.
In his workshop at his home in Attica, Volpe showed dozens of presentation boards displaying charts and tables documenting discharge dates, water temperatures, pH readings and photos of dissected animals and dead fish.
When Volpe found dead fish, he and his helpers photographed where each fish was found, collected them, brought them back to Attica, weighed and identified the species of each fish and photographed each one individually.
The dead fish included sunfish, bullhead and bass.
The DEC was slow to act on contamination issues at the lagoon, contends Volpe.
"Why didn't the DEC do this and cite them sooner so maybe these fish would still be alive?" Volpe said. "This is not the first fish kill. We've had other fish kills."
Volpe's wife caught in a net one bass near death. It was blind, had lost all its slime and was emaciated. The Volpes have nursed it back to health. It's eating again and its eyes have cleared of the haze that covered the pupils. The fish has become more active in its tank.
The blindness and loss of slime is a result of a high pH in the water as well as sodium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide reaching the lagoon.
Volpe is also concerned about the water temperature in the lagoon, which he said was above 60 degrees in March (he takes the water temperature every day) and the turtles and frogs need the water below at least 50 degrees to hibernate.
There is also evidence of frogs "toxing out," Volpe said. The toxins in the water cause their legs to shoot straight out, become rigid and they can't jump. Eventually, they die.
Volpe was arrested in February and accused of illegal possession of protected turtles and birds of prey.
The DEC had known for years and years about Volpe's conservation efforts involving wildlife, his friend and supporter Mike Bastine said during a meeting at Volpe's house. It was only after Volpe started making waves about O-AT-KA that the DEC decided to come down hard on Volpe.
"If you look at the implications from the spills that he has documented, that has a much greater impact on the environment than the violations they subjected him to," Bastine said. "Is the issue really about protecting the environment and the animals and the life around us? No, not really.
"They think if they can shut that part of his work down, he's going to go away and say, 'they beat me,' that he'll have to throw in the towel because he can't defend himself. They're hounding us saying we need a permit to hold a feather or care for turtles, but that's our responsibility and that's our custom. It's our job. It's our duty to step in an assist."
In her e-mail response to a series of questions, Vera did not respond to the accusation that Volpe has been targeted for enforcement because of his O-TA-KA complaints.
She said the DEC had been monitoring O-AT-KA independently of Volpe, but found his work helpful.
"DEC's actions have been ongoing, and are not dependent on Mr. Volpe's findings," Vera said. "However, some of the discharges discovered by Mr. Volpe, have provided assistance in mitigating the discharges and investigating potential sources."
Volpe said he's also concerned because the lagoon sits over the Batavia's aquifer. All of the city's water is pumped from wells in the area. He thinks the contaminants could seep into the aquifer.
City Manager Jason Molino said that really isn't a concern. Even if any contaminants reached the aquifer, the city treats all of its water before it's distributed.
Molino's confident, he said, the DEC has things under control.
"We've spoken with O-AT-KA and the DEC," Molino said. "I think the DEC is aware of the situation and has responded to it and are in constant communication with O-AT-KA. Otherwise, it's outside our jurisdiction."
This photo is from Genesee County's GIS map. The photographs that comprise the map were taken in April 2013. The Chapin Lagoon is in the lower left. O-AT-KA's plant is in the upper right. There is a dirt road that Hanson Aggregates uses running from Ellicott Street. Beside it is a drainage ditch, which apparently is how runoff from O-AT-KA reaches the lagoon. We have no confirmation of what the milky white substance is in the lagoon, but there is no spill around that time period reported in the DEC database.
Sign by drainage pipe that runs under Ellicott Street to a stream that runs to the Chapin Lagoon.
One of the no trespassing signs marking the property line of Chapin's 110-acre wildlife refuge.
Was there any fine involved for this type of fish kill..
Further enforcement action, if any, is pending.
(Added a graph to the story clarifying.)
This is a good blog post and it's quite well-balanced.
Excellent job on the research and presenting a complicated issue to us that don't have the time to do this research. Thanks Howard. These types of stories are important.
I hope the DEC leaves Mr. Volpe alone as well. I agree with Mr. Bastine "If you look at the implications from the spills that he has documented, that has a much greater impact on the environment than the violations they subjected him to," Bastine said. "Is the issue really about protecting the environment and the animals and the life around us? No, not really."
The DEC has no problem for fining you for hunting or fishing without a license,they can even put you in jail for that...If you can get fined for speeding or not wearing a seatbelt ,i would hope that they would impose a fine that would be able to replace all the many fish killed and damage done to this pond..Years ago i use to fish in that pond..Hate to see it destroyed because of lax measures on the DEC and O-AT-KA Milks part...Glad to know that there are good people such as John Volpe who catch these type of things and expose it to the public..
Like Mark, years ago I use to fish that lagoon. It was filled with small Northern Pike. We use to call them hammer handles. I was very shallow and so loaded with fish that you would get a strike on every cast.


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subset: commoncrawl


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text: With strong black outlines made from enameled brass Israel born and New York based artist Ron Gilad defines spaces of miniature architecture. Sometimes only a corner, sometimes a whole facade, the spatial fragments of his series 'SPACES ETC.' seem to question our relationship with the architectural environments. Trained as an industrial designer at the prestigious Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem Ron Gilad primarily worked on furniture, products, and tabletop objects. Today he obviously moves with between disciplines and materials.


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119 members45 Comments 4 Likes
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please watch this video through this link to see the value of people in islam and islamic countries.How is the feeling of this girl after this? what does she feel about islam and Allah? how can she…Continue
Tags: islam, humanrights
Started this discussion. Last reply by Jim DePaulo Sep 27, 2010. 4 Replies 0 Likes
Please watch this photo through the link below of Islamic women in an Islamic country, they pray. The question is: why does God (Allah) do such things? What does he get of that doing?What is the…Continue
Started Aug 31, 2010 0 Replies 0 Likes
There is misunderstanding; I didn't mean that the world will be unified geographically as some of you thought; I meant it will be unified intellectually. I meant one day atheism will spread around…Continue
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Started this discussion. Last reply by AgeOfAtheists14 Sep 2, 2010. 1 Reply 0 Likes
Exploitation of Nature by Religion"Aggrieved and offended nature""Reason speaks"A lot, Religion exploits the availability of the natures' objects and ascribe them to God, while the existence of those…Continue
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muhab samer has not received any gifts yet
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Everything has a beginning and inevitably has an end. Whatever we let our imagination run back millions and millions of years, it is inevitably there is a beginning of the formation of anything. If there is no beginning of anything, that means, that thing is not exist, or it is unavailable or it is illusion. That speech corresponds or fits (God). When was he formed or created? And where? Before the creation! If there is no time or place of his formation or creation, that means…Continue
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Spaghetti & meatballs
Get everyone to help rolling meatballs and you'll soon have one supper on the table and another in the freezer
Nutrition and extra info
- Sauce and meatballs can be frozen
Nutrition: per serving
- kcal870
- fat37g
- saturates13g
- carbs95g
- sugars13g
- fibre5g
- protein46g
- salt1.34g
- 8 good-quality pork sausages
- 1kg beef mince
- 1 onion, finely chopped
Onions are endlessly versatile and an essential ingredient in countless recipes. Native to Asia…
- ½ a large bunch flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
One of the most ubiquitous herbs in British cookery, parsley is also popular in European and…
- 85g parmesan, grated, plus extra to serve if you like
Parmesan is a straw-coloured hard cheese with a natural yellow rind and rich, fruity flavour. It…
- 100g fresh breadcrumbs
- 2 eggs, beaten with a fork
The ultimate convenience food, eggs are powerhouses of nutrition packed with protein and a…
- olive oil, for roasting
Olive oilol-iv oyl
Probably the most widely-used oil in cooking, olive oil is pressed from fresh olives. It's…
- spaghetti, to serve (you'll need about 100g per portion)
For the sauce
- 3 tbsp olive oil
Olive oilol-iv oyl
Probably the most widely-used oil in cooking, olive oil is pressed from fresh olives. It's…
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 4 x 400g cans chopped tomato
- 125ml red wine (optional)
- 3 tbsp caster sugar
- ½ a large bunch flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
One of the most ubiquitous herbs in British cookery, parsley is also popular in European and…
- few basil leaves (optional)
First make the meatballs. Split the skins of 8 good-quality pork sausages and squeeze out the meat into your largest mixing bowl.
Add 1kg beef mince, 1 finely chopped onion, ½ large bunch flat-leaf parsley, 85g grated parmesan, 100g fresh breadcrumbs, 2 beaten eggs and lots of seasoning. Get your hands in and mix together really well – the more you squeeze and mash the mince, the more tender the meatballs will be.
Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7.
Roll the mince mixture into about 50 golf-ball-size meatballs. Set aside any meatballs for freezing, allowing about 5 per portion, then spread the rest out in a large roasting tin – the meatballs will brown better if spaced out a bit.
Drizzle with a little oil (about 1 tsp per portion), shake to coat, then roast for 20-30 mins until browned.
Meanwhile, make the sauce. Heat 3 tbsp olive oil in your largest pan. Add 4 crushed garlic cloves and sizzle for 1 min.
Stir in four 400g cans chopped tomatoes, 125ml red wine, if using, 3 tbsp caster sugar, ½ a large bunch flat-leaf parsley and seasoning. Simmer for 15-20 mins until slightly thickened.
Stir in a few basil leaves, if using, spoon out any portions for freezing, then add the cooked meatballs to the pan to keep warm while you boil the spaghetti (you'll need about 100g per portion).
Spoon the sauce and meatballs over spaghetti, or stir them all together and serve with extra parmesan and a few basil leaves, if you like.
Recipe Tip
Freezing togetherTo freeze together, mix the roasted meatballs into sauce and freeze in portions. Defrost thoroughly overnight in the fridge, then heat in a covered pan until the sauce and meatballs are piping hot.
Recipe Tip
Freezing separatelyTo freeze separately, put sauce in freezer bags, but open-freeze the uncooked meatballs on a tray, then wrap in cling film once hard. To cook, defrost meatballs and cook as above, or roast from frozen at 180C/160C fan/gas 4 for 30 mins, then shake and increase oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7 for 10 mins more. Defrost sauce and bring to a simmer in a pan before serving.
Recipe Tip
Variation: Spanish-style meatballsSwap the Parmesan for 1 tbsp smoked paprika in the mince mixture, sizzle 140g finely diced chorizo in with the garlic for the sauce and leave out the basil. Serve with some roast potatoes and salad.


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My neighbor is a reality TV star. Brent Bruns II, who with his family appeared on such intelligent National Geographic Channel programs as Doomsday Preppers and Doomsday Castle, decided to settle down in our neighborhood and open a rock & roll-themed bed and breakfast. Alas, he's now selling it to go into the marijuana business.
(That, or the property is in foreclosure owing to nobody having an interest in staying at a rock & roll-themed bed & breakfast, or vacationing in my neighborhood. We're not sure if this arrest on a strangulation charge had something to do with it; it's only his latest in many brushes with the law.)
Anyway, ol' Brent II is banking on Florida voters approving medical marijuana here, something 70% of us support but our Republican governor is trying to quash. The auction is taking place right now down the street; you can check out the full listing here as well (with a photo gallery) as a detailed description of each room's decor here, which the auction company conveniently titled "stupid.PDF." Sample:
Woodstock Cottage
Private cottage in the back of mansion with queen bed, 3 person shower, newly remodeled bathroom central air, living room, semi kitchen with microwave and small fridge all tricked out to be psychedelic, access to wifi and cable, no tv
If you really want that Ronnie James Dio-autographed guitar, I can probably walk down and bid on it for you.


text:
A new satellite to keep tabs on Earth's changing landscape rocketed into orbit on Monday, ensuring continuation of a 40-year-old photo archive documenting urban sprawl, glacial melting, natural disasters and other environmental shifts.
The eighth and most sophisticated Landsat spacecraft blasted off at 1:02 p.m. EST (1802 GMT) aboard an unmanned Atlas 5 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The launch was broadcast on NASA Television.
The so-called Landsat Data Continuity Mission, or LDCM, will join the sole operational 14-year-old Landsat 7 spacecraft in providing visible and infrared images from an orbital perch 438 miles (705 km) above Earth.
The satellites circle the planet every 99 minutes, relaying pictures showing details down to about the size of a baseball diamond.
The images, which are distributed at no charge, are used by federal, state and local governments and planning boards worldwide to monitor crops, assess damage from fires, floods and other natural disasters as well as to track coastlines, glaciers and other areas impacted by global warming.
"LDCM will continue to describe the human impact on Earth and the impact of Earth on humanity, which is vital for accommodating 7 billion people on our planet," project manager Ken Schwer, with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, told reporters during a preflight press conference.
Monitoring food production, for example, is essential to sustaining Earth's growing population, added Thomas Loveland, a senior scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey, which is partnered with NASA on the Landsat program.
"Our federal programs that map the type and extent of crops needed to understand what the food supply will be and the impact on the market will benefit greatly from this," Loveland said.
Landsat's commercial customers include Google, which uses the images in its popular virtual Google Earth program, and the insurance industry which, for example, taps Landsat data to assess risk exposure to wildfires in the western United States and gauge crop production.
The Landsat program has been providing imagery since the first satellite's launch in 1972. LDCM was built by Orbital Sciences Corp.
Once operational, the satellite, which cost NASA $855 million, is expected to relay 400 images per day to ground stations in South Dakota, Alaska and Norway.
The Atlas rocket is manufactured and launched by United Launch Alliance, a joint partnership of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.


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Person of interest in Desia Rae George case charged in Ramseur bank robbery
Matthew Jones, 34, faces robbery charge
A man wanted for questioning in the case of a missing Carroll County, Va., woman has been arrested in connection with a bank robbery in Ramseur.
Matthew Steven Jones, 34, was taken into custody Thursday morning following an April 29 incident at Fidelity Bank at 6856 Jordan Road.
Officials said Jones asked for an attorney and would not provide a statement to them.
Jones was charged with common law robbery, said Randolph County deputies, who are assisting Ramseur police.
No one was injured in the robbery, which led to a roughly 90-minute lockdown of nearby Ramseur Elementary School.
Randolph County officials notified Carroll County officials of Jones' arrest since he is a person of interest in connection with the disappearance of Desia Rae George, 33, of Fries. George hasn't been seen since April 15.
Jones and George were boyfriend and girlfriend, and Jones is the father of George's 2-month-old girl, family members said.
George's family is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information that can help solve the case.
Anyone with information on George's whereabouts is asked to call the Carroll County Sheriff's Office at 276-728-4146 or 236-5119.
Investigators are looking other possible suspects in connection with the robbery, deputies said.


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Portrait of a Rare Bookseller: Charley Calkins
If you're the kind of book addict who hangs out in used bookstores, who has a mental map of every used bookstore within a certain radius of wherever you happen to be passing through, who has a certain thing about first editions and signed first editions, who can tell the quality and depth of a used bookstore by the sheer smell of the place…chances are (here in Door County) you may have run into a bookman by the name of Charlie Calkins sometime, checking out the shelves at Peter Sloma's "The Peninsula Bookman" in Fish Creek, or Kubie Luchterhand's, "Caxton Wm .Books Ltd." (12037 Hwy 42 Ellison Bay. Charlie, of medium-build, gray hair, gray beard, friendly smile, hearty laugh, is probably the most affable guy in the shop, looking for anything and everything on Wisconsin.
He's a kind a peripatetic bookman/dealer. Here, there, everywhere. An affable guy of medium build, gray hair, friendly smile and hearty laugh. No particular bookshop of his own where he can be found on the premises. Just some rental spaces in various malls (the Peninsula Antique Center, 7150 Hwy 42, in Egg Harbor) and a phone number and an e-mail address where you can find him, tell him of your wants and needs. That is all he requires—and he'll be out there looking/searching for you. Charlie Calkins, bookman extraordinaire, always in the hunt.
Sometime he's just grazing, looking to enhance his stock–checking for titles he doesn't have, or doesn't have enough of; sometimes he's waiting to be surprised (a rare Wisconsin book he never expected to find); and sometimes he's on particular mission (notes In hand, memories in his head) looking for a special order–maybe that writer-guy up in Ellison Bay, who's always got him on the search for something: a signed, first edition, of Hjalmar R. Holand's autobiography, MY FIRST EIGHTY YEARS, a first edition of Fred L. Holmes' OLD WORLD WISCONSIN, a copy of Virgil J. Vogel's, INDIAN NAMES ON WISCONSIN'S MAP, to mention just a few.
People with obsessions always interest me. Especially collectors. Especially the book 'crazed.' I relate to those for whom enough is never enough. In Charlie Calkin's case (Wisconsin books and 'paper' his priority) I discovered a very knowledgeable friend with a good nose for obscure books. A rare bird. Not to mention a rare bookman in an odd 'business' who is a story unto himself.
How does someone get into this kind of business?
"At the time I got started selling," Charley will tell you, " I had been teaching a course entitled The Geography of Wisconsin for about 25 years. During that period I had developed a very substantial professional library of books related to Wisconsin. I would loan books to students, and for whatever reasons the books would not come back to me. As I went to rummage sales, flea markets, estate sales, and library used books sales, I would buy duplicates and triplicates of books loaned to students to maintain my "supply".
"One day my wife said, "Charlie, what are you going to do with all of those Wisconsin books in our basement?" At about the 'ame time as my wife's rather pointed question (read " Get rid of some of those books!!!"), a former neighbor and friend who managed an antiques mall suggested that I begin selling my surplus Wisconsin books through that venue. And so, my life as a used, out-of-print and rare bookseller began. This was in 1994. As a professional geographer, it only seemed natural that I should add a very important tool of our "trade"–the map–to my inventory, and I began selling gently used Wisconsin maps, as well.
"The first request I ever received for a specific book came from a lady who wanted to give it to her father for Christmas. I remember the book very well; the title was TM, THE MILWAUKEE ELECTRIC RAILWAY AND LIGHT COMPANY, an out-of-print book that is a history of Milwaukee's electric rail network. As I recall the book was selling at the time for $125.00.
"At the outset I had no more than about 500 items in my inventory. That number has grown very substantially over time. Today I would estimate that my inventory numbers about 5,000 books and countless maps and pieces of ephemera. In this regard we are back where it all began. Now my wife has broadened her question asks: "What are you going to do with all of that paper stuff in our basement?" The used book business (the book business period) is not what it used to be, given the internet, Amazon.com, etc. How has all this affected the personal, old fashioned book business of Charlie Calkins?
"When I began buying books, the so-called "bible" of the trade was a national publication called AB Bookman's Weekly, which offered both books for sale and books wanted sections. The rapid rise of the internet as a formidable competitor in this regard soon brought about the death of that publication, because the internet sped up the process of buying and selling books. Moreover, the internet brought together buyers and sellers from a much larger –actually a worldwide–geographic area"
You don't enlist Charlie's friendship and services for any book on the latest bestsellers list, or for whatever book Oprah may be pitching at the moment. Charley's customers, percentage-wise, probably can't even be calculated.
But if you're a lover of Wisconsin history and culture, Charlie's probably your man, no matter how esoteric the subject, how obscure the publication.
"Any form of the printed word, now, is of interest to me," says Charlie "so long as it pertains in some fairly direct way to Wisconsin. In addition to books and maps, I look for advertising, photographs, ephemera and a whole host of related material. Of particular interest to me are two related kinds of publications that I look for and in which I specialize. Wisconsin county histories and plat books (which contain land ownership maps) are always on my want list. They are becoming very hard to find in decent condition any more, and, as a result, tend to be very expensive Over the years I have gained somewhat of a reputation as a Wisconsin paper specialist and often get requests for all sorts of both common and unusual paper-related items. As is the case with most dealers, "the hunt" is really fascinating for me. You just never know what is out there waiting to be discovered.
"My customers, in general, tend to be people who have a strong interest in some aspect of the history of Wisconsin or are especially interested in the local history of some place within the state. The interest in some local area is commonly tied to family members who once lived there. I commonly get requests for the history of some town, township, or county that makes mention of a particular family member by name. I guess that you could term this " the roots phenomenon". Also people want to acquire plat maps that show grandpa's farm or the property of some other relative. Genealogists are folks with this kind of interest, especially."
Let's suppose one is new to Door County and wants to learn more about it through early books and pamphlets. Where does one begin? What does a Wisconsin rare bookman like Charlie Calkins suggest a new resident purchase?
Or better yet, what might comprise a collectible (highly collectible?) shelf of Door County books that reflect the local history, culture…a real sense of place?
"To begin with, one should know something about the physical fundament of this rather unique place. A good start would be F. T. Thwaites and Kenneth Bertrand's article titled "Pleistocene Geology of the Door Peninsula, Wisconsin," which appeared in BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA, vol 68, 1957, pp. 831-880.
"For a general understanding of the flora of the area, JOURNEYS IN GREEN PLACES by Virginia Eifert would fill the bill in a non-technical way. Roy Lukes' ONCE AROUND THE SUN would give one a sense of what might be called the seasonal rhythms of nature in Door County.
"If one was serious about developing a good Door County library, a must would be Hjalmar Holand's HISTORY OF DOOR COUNTY, WISCONSIN; THE COUNTY BEAUTIFUL, originally published in 1917 and now very hard to find in the first edition. Thankfully this two volume set was reprinted in 1993 by Wm. Caxton Ltd of Ellison Bay and is readily available. On a lighter note, the same author self-published OLD PENINSULA DAYS, more of an anecdotal history of the county, which has gone through several different editions and re-printings.
"To gain and understanding and appreciation for the coming together of land and life in Door County, Norbert Blei's book–DOOR WAY–is must reading.
"There are several rather unique institutions here and to know something about them is essential. In this regard, for example, Fulkerson and Corsin's THE STORY OF THE CLEARING and Lukes' THE RIDGES SANCTUARY are good places to start. One of my favorite series of books is titled DOOR COUNTY ALMANAK. Five different numbers make up the series. Whereas number one deals with a variety of topics, numbers two through five treat orchards, fishing, farms, and tourism/transportation, respectively in considerable detail and from many different angles. Water is a topic of great importance in and around Door County, and it has received considerable attention in the written word. I would recommend Walter and Mary Hirthe's SCHOONER DAYS IN DOOR COUNTY and KEEPERS OF THE LIGHT by Steven Karges, which treat water-related topics in most interesting ways. The titles suggested would be a good start on a basic Door County bookshelf. There are many other possibilities if one is so inclined. If you acquire all of these titles and still have money left to spend on Door County books, please get in touch, and I will be most happy to sell you other titles.
"One of the titles I could have also recommended for a basic Door County library of books but did not was Charles I. Martin's HISTORY OF DOOR COUNTY, published in 1881, and this date makes it one of the very earliest books treating the area. It is a very rare book; I have an extensive Door County collection, and I do not own a copy. As a matter of fact, I have been looking for a copy for over 25 years and have never ever seen a copy for sale!"
As to the other increasingly rare and valuable books on the county…and if one had, say, a few hundred dollars to 'invest: in a rare or rare Door County books, what would Charley advise?
"There are so many very valuable items in this regard, it is difficult to identify just a few. In general though, imprints from the Territory of Wisconsin between 1836 and 1848 are in demand and quite expensive."
As for one particular Wisconsin item Charlie favors above all others?
"My personal favorite is the ILLUSTRATED HISTORICAL ATLAS OF WISCONSIN, published in 1881 by H. R. Page & Co. of Chicago. Please remember that by profession I was a geography professor with an abiding interest in maps. This atlas addresses that interest in detail for my native state. All of the maps are hand colored and they are beauties. I spend hours studying the maps."
I wonder about a day-in-the-life of a Wisconsin rare bookman like Charlie. The range of territory he might cover in Wisconsin, the Midwest. How much time he might spend on this a day, week, month? Does he have the territory 'mapped' in his own mind? Does he know exactly what he's looking for? Just browsing, hoping to be surprised? Does he carry a list? A notebook? What's the joy/satisfaction in all this?
"There is no single 'day-in-the-life of Charlie Calkins', " he explains. "Rather there are several different "typical" days (plural) in my role as a bookseller. One day may be spent at a flea market such as the Elkhorn Antiques Flea Market held in Elkhorn, Wisconsin or Maxwell Street Day located in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, looking for items to buy and resell. Another day may find me at an auction somewhere within a radius of 200 miles of Waukesha, my home. An estate sale within the Milwaukee metropolitan area may occupy a good part of yet another day, because something of interest may be advertised. An antiques dealer friend and neighbor and I will spend a day or two a month going to antiques mall and shops in southern Wisconsin looking for "sleepers" to buy and, in turn, resell. Let's not forget the possibilities at rummage sales. There is never a dull moment. "The hunt" is really the fun part of this business. No dealer that I know really enjoys spending time researching and pricing items. It's the hunt!!! You never know what you might find at the next stop."
This is a fascinating bookman providing a valuable service for a very small minority of customers. And for any reader wishing to make contact with Charlie, the search for him goes something like this—in Charlie's own words:
"I sell through several different antiques malls. Currently I have booths in malls in Waukesha, Milwaukee, Watertown, and in Door County I am located at Peninsula Antiques Center just south of Egg Harbor. At present I do not sell on the internet and probably will not do so in the future. I do not relish spending time in front of a computer; I would rather be out looking for items. People who frequent antiques malls find my booths, because normally I am the only one selling the kind of merchandise that I do, and my booth kind of jumps out at them. Moreover, people who see my books and maps refer me to family and friends from whom I receive inquiries about items they are wanting to buy. At all of my booths, I have business cards and they find their way into the hands of many people. I get phone calls (262-547-6572) or emails (email@example.com) routinely from folks looking specific items. If I do not have the item in stock, I will search for it. With luck, I can find that elusive title and make someone very happy. Satisfied customers keep returning."


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Freezing Fun
Thanksgiving was a wonderful time of family and fun. We took a break from "formal" activities and focused more on preparing to be with family.
A few days before Thanksgiving, we had a bout of cold weather. Since seasons are a hot topic with us right now, I thought it would be fun to add to our weather knowledge. So, we did a science experiment.
One morning I checked the outside temperature and it read 31 degrees Fahrenheit. Mason loves to check the temperature outside so he knew this was on the cold side. I then asked the baiting question…
Do you know what happens to water below 32 degrees Fahrenheit?
This, as planned, sparked his curiosity. I put roughly an inch of water in a plastic bowl and set it outside on our porch. I told Mason that water turns to ice when the temperature is below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. (In hindsight I would have let him discover this on his own rather than telling him.) His eyes grew wide and a huge smile crossed his face. He wanted me to put the bowl where he could see it and keep an eye on it. After two hours I brought the bowl inside and the top had frozen, but there was still liquid underneath. He thought that was neat. We put it outside for another hour and brought it in to observe it once again. This time all of the water was frozen.
This brought on more curiosities, and he asked if he could take it out. He spent a good deal of time feeling it, turning it over, and yes, even licking it! We talked about why it was beginning to melt since we brought it inside and he was touching it. He decided he wanted to wrap it in some towels to see what would happen. Once we did, it took a longer time to melt since it was now insulated.
All in all, this was a great teachable science moment
– both for seasonal changes and for a liquid turning to a solid. I had such fun watching him observe and experiment and investigate. He was soaking up knowledge and I was soaking in the moment. (of course I was so into this, I didn't even think to take pictures)
Here are a few activities we did over the last two weeks…
Assess Writing Uppercase Letters
- I was curious to know where Mason was in free writing his uppercase letters A-Z. I knew he was improving on tracing dashed letters, but I wanted to know if he could produce them correctly without the aid of tracing. To assess this, I had him write the letters on a chalkboard as I named them. I was looking for if he knew how to form the letters as opposed to neatness, so the chalkboard and large chalk did just fine for us. > He did great. =)
Sight Word Sundaes
- This is a cute printable that gives another fun way to practice sight words. This week, Madison (2 yrs) would build the sundae and Mason would read the words as we put the pieces away.
(click here for Sight Word Sundae download)
Identify Oklahoma
- I found a very nice printable map of the United States at mrprintables.com (click here). I had been looking for a map that I could print on cardstock to keep around as a reference, and/or cut apart as a puzzle – though we haven't gotten to that stage yet.
- I wanted to assess if Mason could recognize the state of Oklahoma (our home state). He did and was also able to identify two other states. A+ for that assessment!
Season Recognition
- We did the water experiment as described above.
- We also found an activity that consisted of 12 pictures representing all four seasons and Mason had to sort the pictures into the correct season. (I would give recognition of where I found this activity, but I cannot remember where I found it!)
Icicle image courtesy of Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net


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Most days I eat lunch at my desk and, more often than not, I'm working on the computer at the same time. I try my best not to get anything on my keyboard, but inevitably some crumbs fall in between the keys and, well, spills happen.
Using a damp towel and a can of air duster to clean up the grime does an okay job, but, as a neat freak, I feel like it's never clean enough, especially in places I can't reach. (I may or may not have gone so far as to ransack the IT department for a clean keyboard back in the day.) Fortunately, there's now a better solution for germaphobes like me, as well as families with multiple kids, Internet cafes and anywhere else with shared computers.
This past week, I got a kick out of spilling soda, ketchup and other food onto keyboards — all for the sake of testing the Logitech Washable Keyboard K310 and the Kensington Washable USB/PS2 Keyboard with Antimicrobial Protection. Both keyboards cost $40, and can be washed with soap and water, allowing for a more thorough cleaning.
Both of them shined — quite literally — in testing, but the Logitech accessory features a design that makes it easier to wash in between the keys. And it's quite stylish, so it would be my first pick for home or personal office use. The Kensington, meanwhile, has a more standard keyboard layout, but includes antimicrobial protection to prevent bacteria growth, so it's great for use in shared work spaces like schools and hospitals.
The keyboards are optimized for use with Windows computers. The Logitech works with machines running Windows XP and higher, and the Kensington works with Windows 95 and above. Both will be compatible with the upcoming Windows 8.
I tested them with the 15.6-inch Vizio Thin + Light notebook running Windows 7 and an external display. The keyboards connect via USB (the Kensington also comes with a PS/2 connector) and a quick set-up wizard will walk you through the process within minutes. I also tried them out on my MacBook Pro, and was able to type without problem. But some functions, like the Windows Start button and hot keys, will not be applicable to Macs.
I started with the Logitech, which sports a chiclet-style design and features white buttons and a dark-gray base. Though functionality is important, I also like a product that looks good, and I would not mind showing off the Logitech in my home office.
There's enough spacing between the keys that you can more easily remove small pieces of dirt or debris, even without water. The company includes a removable cleaning brush on the bottom of the keyboard, so you can wipe away dust and clean those extra-hard-to-reach places.
The Logitech can be submerged in up to 11 inches of water for a maximum of five minutes at temperatures less than 120 degrees Fahrenheit. The only part of the keyboard that can't be placed under water is its USB cable. There is a cap attached to the cable that you can use to protect the USB connector from errant splashing, which was a nice touch. But don't try to take a shortcut by sticking this in the dishwasher, or you might be watching $40 go down the drain. It's also recommended that you use dish soap, but no alcohol disinfectants.
Now for the fun part: I spilled a variety of items onto the keyboard, including Heinz ketchup, orange juice and crumbled-up Triscuits. But my amusement soon turned into disgust, so I ran the keyboard under warm water in my kitchen sink, and the goo washed off right away with very little need to use a brush or sponge.
Resisting every urge to reach for the sponge and dish soap, I did another test where I left some of the liquids on a little longer to let them set. It required some gentle scrubbing, but in the end, the keyboard came out clean.
The characters on the keys are laser-etched and UV-protected, so Logitech says they won't wear off after numerous washings. There are drainage holes on the back of the keyboard along the bottom and sides where the water can run off. After air-drying it overnight on a dish rack, the Logitech keyboard worked just fine.
As for the keyboard itself, I thought the layout was roomy and the buttons provided snappy feedback. There are 103 keys in total, including a dedicated number pad, and for Windows machines, the function keys offer quick access to your email, search, media and other applications. The Logitech can also be angled at eight degrees using tilting legs on the back.
The Kensington has a more traditional keyboard layout with 104 buttons (it has one extra Windows Start button compared to the Logitech), and comes in white or black. It, too, is roomy, but its keys don't spring back as quickly as the Logitech's does. The Kensington's design is also clunkier and duller than the Logitech.
And, because this keyboard's buttons are closer to each other, it's more difficult to clean up congealed liquids from between the keys, and crumbs settle into the well beneath the buttons. I performed the same food-spill tests as the Logitech, and for removing sticky substances, I found that using a brush is best, but one is not included in the box. Running warm water through the keyboard took care of most of the small particles.
With the exception of the USB cable, the keyboard's electronics are sealed against water, so you can immerse the Kensington in four inches of water at 130 degrees Fahrenheit for up to 40 minutes, max. Because the USB cable should not contact water, the keyboard is also not dishwasher-safe.
Drain holes are strategically placed throughout the keyboard, including the arrow keys and function buttons, and it's ready to use as soon as it's dry. I left it to air-dry overnight, and there were no problems when I plugged it back into the Vizio.
One nice feature of the Kensington is that it's coated with antimicrobial resin to prevent growth of mold, mildew and fungus. Unlike the Logitech, this keyboard will stand up to harsher cleaning solutions, including bleach and disinfectant.
The extra layer of protection makes the Kensington a good candidate for use in shared places, where more than one person will be touching the keyboard. But, for personal use, I'd choose the Logitech Washable Keyboard. It's easy to clean and pleasant to use, and its sleek design is an added bonus.


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|Joey Mazzarino
Gulliver is a seagull who is Big Bird's penpal. He appears in Sesame Street Episode 4021, when he comes to the street to meet Big Bird. Gulliver is accustomed to the segregated nature of his neighborhood, where birds only play with birds, and is initially frightened of and prejudiced towards Snuffy and the rest of the street's inhabitants.
However, Big Bird and Snuffy teach him that different species can be friends, whether they have feathers or not, and that one meets people, bears, and monsters the same way one meets birds, by saying "How Do You Do?" Gulliver is relieved and overjoyed to meet everyone, regardless of race, creed, or lack of beak.


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My explanation is very vague please bare with me.
I know some basic java.
I would like to make a program that grabs images from a site.
the site is http://example.com/database1/image001.jpg which open to the link and contains the image only.
the database contains up to X amount of image and increments by 1. Example 001.jpg,002.jpg... to 100.jpg.
I don't really know how to start making this program.
How to access the browser/saving the images/redirecting to somewhere on my hard drive.
*I don't want to go and right click save for over 100 images =(. And i'm kind of curious on how to program this.


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"This generous and inventive book is a delight to read, an evocation of the power of friendship to sustain, encourage, and embolden us. Join the sisterhood!" —Karen Joy Fowler, author of The Jane Austen Book Club
"I read The Wednesday Sisters in one delicious gulp. With a smart, entrancing voice, Meg Waite Clayton sweeps us into the world of the tumultuous 1960's and beyond, and gives us the gift of five young women coming into their own as friends, mothers, wives and writers. The Wednesday Sisters takes their writing group as its core, and up until the last page, I found myself fervently rooting for each of them as if they were my friends too." — Lalita Tademy, author of Red River and Cane River
"Long before there were book clubs and play dates, there were the Wednesday Sisters–a group of women whose shared love of literature transports them above the pains and pitfalls of ordinary life. While these women may seem like typical suburban housewives, each character has an intriguing secret and a rich interior life that drew me into the story and held me there. This remarkable group of women demonstrates that no matter what period of history in which we live, no matter what race, creed or class we are, no matter what pains we endure, our one unifying salvation can be books. And this book reminded me of why I love to read."— Lolly Winston, author of Good Grief and Happiness Sold Separately
I simply could not put down The Wednesday Sisters. I gave my heart to Meg Clayton's vivid characters, and I read their intertwined stories breathlessly. Move over, Ya-ya sisters!—Amanda Eyre Ward, author of Forgive Me and How to be Lost
"Meg Waite Clayton gives us a group of spunky women–mostly young, married mothers–who make the unlikely decision in 1967 to form a writers' group. Their diverse journeys over the next years in their writing and in their lives add up to a compelling and deeply moving testament to the power of women's friendships. I simply couldn't put The Wednesday Sisters down until I'd turned the last page." —Ellen Baker, author of Keeping the House
"Richly intelligent, deeply felt and incandescently original, Clayton's book is a rhapsodic story of female friendship, set against wildly changing times and mores. Not only is the book heartbreaking, funny, and undeniably smart, but truly, this is the kind of book you don't just want to pass on to all your friends. You have to."—Caroline Leavitt, author of Girls in Trouble and Coming Back to Me


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The fantastic shoes, the sparkly hued balls, the "in your face" body twirl you do as you turn to face your crowd following a strike.
Bowling remains something we all like to do, whether we do it for sport, nostalgia, or simply to heave heavy round objects toward glow-in-the-dark pins while music blares late into a weekend night. So when National Bowling Day rolls around -- yep, we said rolls, rolls like a three-holed, 14-pound beauty with plenty of backspin -- we take notice.
The day is Saturday, September 5th, and at bowling centers across the land people have their eyes on the pins, plus one common goal: break the world record for most games bowled in a single day. There is also a Bowl.com coupon (check to make sure your local alley is participating in the coupon deal) and other good bowling-ish to-dos to spare.
U.S. & World
Will we dress up as our favorite bowling alley denizen, the Dude? Or will we gussy up a la "Grease 2" and do a bit of shimmying around the lanes? Until they ask us to stop.


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VA operates the nation's largest integrated health care system, with more than 1,700 hospitals, clinics, community living centers, domiciliaries, readjustment counseling centers, and other facilities.
Attention A T users. To access the menus on this page please perform the following steps. 1. Please switch auto forms mode to off. 2. Hit enter to expand a main menu option (Health, Benefits, etc). 3. To enter and activate the submenu links, hit the down arrow. You will now be able to tab or arrow up or down through the submenu options to access/activate the submenu links.
Contact Us
VA administers a variety of benefits and services that provide financial and other forms of assistance to Servicemembers, Veterans, their dependents and survivors.
VA operates 135 national cemeteries in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Burial and memorial benefits are available for eligible service members, Veterans, and family members.


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In my quest for healthy recipes, it made sense to try meringues, since they are fat-free and very low in calories, being made from just egg whites and a little sugar, with cream of tartar to stabilize them, and maybe a little flavoring if you like. Plus, I had egg whites needing to be used since I used a bunch of yolks only for orange curd.
I've never been a big lover of meringue, and will always pass on pies topped with meringue. It's just not my thing. I'd rather have a lemon or chocolate pie with nothing on it at all, or just a little whipped cream, then a towering 5-inch layer of mushy meringue. Even if it's nicely swirled with pretty browned peaks.
However, I wanted to give the cookies a try, and see if it would change my mind. So I whipped up the whites with a little cream of tartar and almond extract, and then kept on whipping them as I sprinkled in a little sugar. I was amazed at how much volume they acquired as they turned into stiff, glossy peaks. When they were stiff enough to hold their shape, I piped them onto a silpat-lined baking sheet in little stars, swirls and hearts. Then they went into a very low 200-degree oven to bake for a two hours, after which they emerged looking very pretty and elegant.
Jamie tasted one and said they tasted like packing peanuts. I have to admit, I kind of agree. I do like the slightly sweet, melt-in-your-mouth thing that they do after getting past the styrofoam aspect, and they're crisp and light as air just as they should be, but I'm sorry, they're just not a real cookie, in my opinion.
To make them a little more palatable, I dipped and drizzled them with a tiny bit of bittersweet chocolate and sprinkled them with a pinch of coarse sea salt. That improved them tremendously, and we ate a whole bunch of them with very little guilt (on the day that we spent a whole Saturday in our PJs, drinking mimosas and watching episodes of Entourage). This entire batch of cookies in fact has only 540 calories, which is about 10 calories per cookie, depending on how small you pipe them.
Even so, I'm not positive I'll be making them again, since chocolate-covered styrofoam still isn't really my thing any more than wet, quivering meringue is, but for those of you out there who do like meringue cookies, then you will enjoy these! :)
Meringue Cookies with Bittersweet Chocolate and Sea Salt
printable recipe
- 2 egg whites (let sit at room temperature for 1 hour)
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/4 teaspoon flavoring (almond, vanilla or peppermint extract are good options)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 ounces dark bittersweet chocolate
- pinch of coarse sea salt
Preheat the oven to 200 F. Line 2 baking sheets with silpat liners or parchment paper. The meringue is very sticky, so you must use silpats or parchment.
In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and extract and beat until soft peaks form. Continue beating on medium to medium-high as you gradually sprinkle in the sugar. Whip the egg whites until stiff and glossy and they easily hold their shape. The meringue will be very sticky. (If you pipe them onto the baking sheet and they spread out or lose their shape, then they have not been whipped long enough.)
Scoop the meringue into a pastry bag fitted with a star tip. Pipe the meringue into various shapes, as big or as small as you like, about 1 inch apart. They won't spread during baking, so they can be fairly close together.
Bake for 2 hours, rotating the pans halfway through. After two hours, turn the oven off, crack the oven door open and let the cookies sit in the warm air until they are thoroughly dry. (Note, if you bake these on a humid or rainy day, they may not dry out and will end up sticky.)
Set cookies on a wire rack to cool, then melt the chocolate and dip or drizzle it over the cookies, finishing them with a sprinkling of sea salt. Let sit for an hour at room temperature until the chocolate sets, before serving.
Yields anywhere from 30-50 cookies.
Weight Watchers Points Plus Value: 4 points for 1/4 of the batch (16 points for the entire batch of cookies)
Recipe from Curly Girl Kitchen


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Regular readers of this blog know that in the last fiscal year, the federal budget deficit fell, as spending declined and revenues increased.
Lately those who've incorrectly claimed that spending has surged tend to be people who have long opposed the programs most Americans strongly like and want funded.
Now there's more evidence that America's fiscal house continues to improve.
According to the Wall Street Journal's MarketWatch:
The U.S. government ran a budget deficit of $260 million in December, the Treasury Department reported Friday, bringing the total shortfall for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 to $292 billion. Receipts in December were $269.5 billion, while the government spent $269.7 billion in the month. Year to date, the deficit is 9% lower than in the first three months of the prior fiscal year. The U.S. government's fiscal year runs from October to September.
Figures like these reflect a healing economy with lower unemployment. As long as Congress doesn't do something daft like refuse to raise the debt ceiling or pursue big austerity-oriented cuts, a recovering economy will lead to more drops in the budget deficit.
More could to be done to stabilize our deficit to GDP ratio, but news like this shows claims of near-term fiscal catastrophe are far overblown.


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Exoplanet Kepler-19c makes itself known by its influence on Kepler-19b, a world scientists can see as it passes in front of its home star.
Usually, running five minutes late is a bad thing because you might lose your dinner reservation or miss out on tickets to the latest show. But when a planet runs 5 minutes late, astronomers get excited because it suggests that another world is nearby.
NASA's Kepler spacecraft has spotted a planet that alternately runs late and early in its orbit because a second, "invisible" world is tugging on it. This is the first definite detection of a previously unknown planet using this method. No other technique could have found the unseen companion.
"This invisible planet makes itself known by its influence on the planet we can see," said astronomer Sarah Ballard of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). "It's like having someone play a prank on you by ringing your doorbell and running away. You know someone was there, even if you don't see them when you get outside."
Both the seen and unseen worlds orbit the Sun-like star Kepler-19, which is located 650 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra. The 12th-magnitude star is well-placed for viewing by backyard telescopes on September evenings.
Kepler locates planets by looking for a star that dims slightly as a planet transits the star, passing across the star's face from our point of view. Transits give one crucial piece of information — the planet's physical size. The greater the dip in light, the larger the planet is relative to its star. However, the planet and star must line up exactly for scientists to see a transit.
The first planet, Kepler-19b, transits its star every 9 days and 7 hours. It orbits the star at a distance of 8.4 million miles (13.5 million kilometers), where it is heated to a temperature of about 900° degrees Fahrenheit (500° Celsius). Kepler-19b has a diameter of 18,000 miles (29,000 km), making it slightly more than twice the size of Earth. It may resemble a "mini-Neptune"; however, its mass and composition remain unknown.
If Kepler-19b were alone, each transit would follow the next like clockwork. Instead, the transits come up to 5 minutes early or 5 minutes late. Such transit timing variations show that another world's gravity is pulling on Kepler-19b, alternately speeding it up or slowing it down.
Historically, the planet Neptune was discovered similarly. Astronomers tracking Uranus noticed that its orbit didn't match predictions. They realized that a more distant planet might be nudging Uranus and calculated the expected location of the unseen world. Telescopes soon observed Neptune near its predicted position.
"This method holds great promise for finding planets that can't be found otherwise," stated Harvard astronomer and co-author David Charbonneau.
So far, astronomers don't know anything about the invisible world Kepler-19c other than that it exists. It weighs too little to gravitationally tug the star enough for them to measure its mass. And Kepler hasn't detected it transiting the star, suggesting that its orbit is tilted relative to Kepler-19b.
"Kepler-19c has multiple personalities consistent with our data," said Daniel Fabrycky of the University of California, Santa Cruz. "For instance, it could be a rocky planet on a circular 5-day orbit, or a gas-giant planet on an oblong 100-day orbit."
The Kepler spacecraft will continue to monitor Kepler-19 throughout its mission. Those additional data will help nail down the orbit of Kepler-19c. Future ground-based instruments like HARPS-North will attempt to measure the mass of Kepler-19c. Only then will we have a clue to the nature of this invisible world.
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Workout day, sort of
Everybody is kind of tired today, but everybody is in good spirits. Everybody's got their mind in the right spot. I haven't seen one person walking around here talking about how our season is over. We know we've got to win tomorrow, so that's all we're thinking about.
We didn't have a full workout today because of the bad weather, but all of the pitchers went out and threw. I did my normal routine. I think that's what everybody needed to do, was go do their normal routine. Or at least as much as we could without getting on the field. But everybody's on the up. We're doing good.
So the weather wasn't really a problem. They've got to deal with it too.
Time to bounce back
When I went out there in the ninth inning, my first playoff game, I was pumped up. I was excited. I felt like I had everything right where I wanted it. I wasn't nervous. It was pretty surprising to me how calm I was.
I just felt like I was right where I was supposed to be, and everything was going like it should. I got Manny Ramirez out, did what I wanted to. But something like what happened with James Loney, it happens.
I'll take a ball hit at Matt Holliday any time. He's going to do whatever he can.
After that, Casey Blake came up. 'Dunc' came out and told me not to give him anything good to hit. If I walk him, that's fine. That's what I ended up doing.
Then it was Ronnie Belliard. He hadn't done anything with a curveball all day or yesterday — every time I've faced him, really. It's just another one of those things. There's nothing you can do when the ball doesn't hit outfield grass and it goes through the hole. It could have just as easily have gone to Lugo or Brendan.
The pitch that Mark Loretta hit was a decent pitch. I went and looked at it. I pounded him in and it was blooped in. There's nothing you can do about those. Those aren't going to fall in that much. But still, that one did.
Now, we get on a plane to go back home. I think everybody knows that we've got to come out Saturday ready to go. Everybody will think about it tonight, and tomorrow we'll go work out and get back to normal on Sunday.
It's just about time to get started
Yesterday was an exciting day. I wasn't going home for the offseason, for the first time in a long time.
I got to the ballpark yesterday and had a good workout. I went out and threw a bullpen after pitching Saturday but not Sunday. I was happy with how it looked. Then we got on a bus to the airport.
It felt like it was about a six-hour flight out here, with a big headwind that slowed us down. But it went by quickly because I had the sixth season of "24" to watch along the way.
And then today, I got up, went downstairs to have some breakfast. We came to the ballpark and had a good day here. We had our meetings, went over the hitters from the Dodgers, and there you go.
It's exciting in the clubhouse right now on the day before the playoffs start. It's definitely exciting. There's a good feeling in here.


text:
RFI Damage to Laptop Computer
|Mar 4th 2013, 16:57
W0GWJoined: Apr 4th 1998, 00:00
Total Topics: 0
Total Posts: 0
I hope to place a mobile HF\VHF\UHF transceiver in my automobile. I also will procure antennas to transmit on 75 thru 144 meters. Please be so kind as to advise if RFI will damage my laptop computer. I know that police and other emergency vehicles have laptops in their vehicles but operate only UHF. Your kind help on this question will greatly be appreciated!
|Mar 5th 2013, 11:29
KJ3PJoined: Apr 4th 1998, 00:00
Total Topics: 0
Total Posts: 0
|I doubt that any actual damage would occur... the jarring of the vehicle poses a greater threat, in my opinion. But 100 watts on any frequency has the potential to interfere with a computer's operation. If it were me, I'd give it a try, starting with lower power first (10 or 20 watts?) and work up to full power.


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You have no items in your shopping cart.
Sewing Chest Limited
The Old School
Walkerith Road
East Stockwith
Registered address as above, in the United Kingdom
Company Registration Number 09508779
Customer Services Work Hours Monday to Thursday 9.30-3.30pm only and until 12.30 Friday.
Please EMAIL product queries. Urgent Enquiries: mobile: 07938712395
Queries and product information
Please email us directly, the contact form sometimes gets filtered! Our email address is: firstname.lastname@example.com
You will see a search box on the top of the site. Use keywords to isolate the items you are trying to find (do not use plurals!). You can also search for information on our terms and conditions as well, so if you want to know about shipping costs - type Postage! etc
We are unable to take payment or process orders over the phone. We have so many products we simply cannot remember the stock quantity or prices of everything, so our very clever website manages that side, enabling us to busy ourselves packing orders and getting them off to you in a speedy fashion! If you want your order quickly, PLACE the order, calling will only slow the process down!
It is not necessary to ask us to post as quickly as possible, because we always do! Please be aware, however, Royal Mail may not be quite so speedy and once we have posted your order its arrival speed is out of our control.
Orders are posted out MONDAY-FRIDAY only (excluding holidays).
Queries and product information


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Here's a great new way for you to support the Save Me Trust.
Save Me Trust Friends is a new way to reward our regular givers. The Save Me Trust relies entirely on donations from our supporters, community and businesses.
We know many of you would like to help us but cannot for many reasons. That's why we have introduced our new "Friends" scheme. Our Wildlife Friends will receive a polo shirt and a Save Me baseball cap. SMT Friends will also receive a regular newsletter - via email, keeping you fully informed about what has been happening. All this for just £5 per month or £60 per year.
'SMT Friends' makes an ideal gift for family and friends. We will send the membership pack to you or directly to your family or friends UK address with free postage and packaging. We can send around the world but will charge postage and packaging.
Becoming our friend is simple. You decide if an annual or monthly payment best suits you and then complete the Paypal form below. If you wish to send it as a gift, don't forget to provide us with your friend or families address details. If you require any further information or help please email email@example.com.


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Taking a break-a few members of VLC NVQ A Team...
I have always been a strong advocate for vocational/ applied languages. So when I had the opportunity to get involved in the moderation process with VLC, I jumped in.
NVQs in languages are so much more than a "BTEC in Languages"... The relatively recent introduction of BTEC courses in a wide variety of subjects has masked the fact that NVQs in languages have been around for a long time. Indeed, I qualified as an assessor in 1996-7... So why did schools take so long to see the learning opportunities it could offer their students? This is all the more puzzling for me as languages used to be compulsory and the GCSE certainly represents a thoroughly unsuitable language qualification for some students due to its lack of flexibility and roots in the "real" world.
What's the point?
• NVQs are based in practical business language but do not get too technical-they just make students aware that some generic language can be used in a business context too.
• They are more grown-up and develop new areas of experiences. Organising a business presentation is indeed very different from discussing the items of furniture in your bedroom...
• A real audience can be found and local links can be developed. Yes, it can mean some extra work... However, an experience like a work experience abroad certainly has a long-term impact on students' confidence and realisation of the skills needed to successfully fit in the world of work. (VLC do offer support with work experiences abroad)
• NVQs are recognized qualifications in education and industry. Level 1 and Level 2 qualifications are available, with leagues table points attached to them. It is also a flexible qualification for which students can be entered for separate skills at different levels if need be.
What about the resources?
Juliet Park and Wendy Adeniji have produced very detailed schemes of work to support the teaching and built-in assessment of NVQs at level 1 and 2. As all the teaching materials aim to prepare for standardised assessments, there is no worry that the Languages Standards might not all be met. The scheme is available in French, German and Spanish via VLC and ilanguages. VLC also offers training for teachers interested in running the scheme in their schools, also including a high level of post-training support.
What about the standards?
After getting directly involved in the moderation process, I can confirm that they are excellent!
All assessments aim to meet the UK Occupational Language Standards (formerly The National Language Standards, with the new standards being approved in May 2010 )
Whereas a student can pass a GCSE on 80% correct answers depending on the grade boundaries for the individual paper, NVQ assessments have to be 100% correct as students are given the opportunity to get feedback on their performance and act upon it. This means that in Speaking, the focus on pronunciation at both level 1 and level 2 will be one of accuracy where communication cannot be impeded at all by a very poor accent. In writing, as students are allowed to use dictionaries-like they would in real life-it also means that the expected level of spelling accuracy is very high.
What about reading and listening? The focus is on meeting the specific language standards and key details must be conveyed with a very high degree of accuracy.
With languages uptake at KS4 being an issue in most schools, more and more are using NVQs in Year 9 to ensure that student motivation is maintained and achievement recognised.
Definitely something to consider...


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vivs wrote:Upgraded to 28 this AM in hopes it would take into account the Adobe Flash updates of 2 days ago. Ive been unable to figure out how to update correctly. I've installed the new version of Flash on my PC (win xp) and followed the links that Iron gives me for updating, and now also upgraded to 28, but in all cases I still get a warning bar saying flash needs to be updated. Can someone point me at the correct way to update flash for Iron?
Thank you for your help, and thank you to the developers for a great product!
where did you see the warning bar ?
first uninstall all flash players
then install from the adobe site


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NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge has sided with a UBS AG UBSN.VX request for arbitration in a proposed class-action lawsuit seeking overtime pay brought by three former financial advisers at a brokerage unit of the bank.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones in Manhattan marks the latest legal skirmish over contract clauses that require arbitration. The court battles follow a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision handed down last year.
Arbitration provides companies a way to resolve disputes with employees and customers privately outside the courts.
Plaintiffs' lawyers contend that so-called "class-action waivers" in arbitration agreements prevent workers from suing employers because of the cost of going it alone.
In the UBS case, the plaintiffs argued the waivers in their contracts conflicted with Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's arbitration rules that say class-action claims may not be arbitrated.
Jones found that FINRA rules recognize that parties can enter into agreements beyond the scope of its code and do not affect enforcement of those agreements.
"The court accordingly finds that there is nothing within the FINRA rules which would preclude enforcement of the arbitration agreements between the parties," Jones said.
Jones also rejected the plaintiffs' contention that the arbitration agreements were unenforceable.
The lawsuit, filed in March, names Eliot Cohen, Philip Ricasata and Charles Shoemaker as the plaintiffs suing on behalf of a group of current and former financial advisers at UBS. They accused UBS of violating the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and California state law by not paying them overtime.
Jeffrey Smith, a lawyer for the plaintiffs at law firm Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz said: "We're disappointed in the result and we're reviewing the opinion."
Megan Stinson, a spokeswoman for UBS, said the company was "pleased with today's result."
Contracts that require brokers to waive class-action rights and pursue compensation claims in individual FINRA arbitrations are becoming more common, said Marc Dobin, a securities arbitration lawyer in Jupiter, Florida, who represents brokers.
The purpose is to discourage brokers from filing claims, but the strategy could backfire for big brokerages, which could face potentially thousands of individual overtime cases.
"Instead of fighting one war with a unified enemy, they could be fighting 1,500 battles across the country," Dobin said.
In April 2011, the Supreme Court enforced contract provisions between two consumers suing a unit of AT&T and the company that required arbitration, and waived their ability to bring a class action.
While the AT&T case was about consumer rights, companies have since sought to apply it to employment cases such as the one facing UBS.
Apart from employment, Charles Schwab Corp (SCHW.N) also used the Supreme Court ruling to add a new provision to millions of account agreements in October precluding customers from starting or joining class-action lawsuits against the brokerage.
FINRA is pursuing a disciplinary case against Schwab, arguing that FINRA rules do not allow arbitrators to hear class action cases. Its rules also restrict brokerages from limiting investor rights to file court cases in certain situations.
The case is Cohen, et al., v. UBS Financial Services, Inc., et al., U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, 12-02147.
Reporting By Nate Raymond and Suzanne Barlyn.; Editing by Martha Graybow and Andre Grenon


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|These phots were submitted by David Rucker.
Click on the thumbnails below to go to the page with that
picture. You will need to use your broswer's "BACK"
button to return to this page. The "HOME" button at the
bottom of the page with return you to the home page.


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switzgal wrote:moon.cherry.twilite wrote:In Eclipse, I cry every time I read that last conversation between Bella and Jacob. Especially when he says "Love you more" and "You know how much I wish it was enough." I feel that Bella and Jacob's storyline was actually more tragic and heart-breaking than Edward leaving Bella in New Moon. Because with Edward, there was always the chance that he'd come back and we KNEW that he still loved her. But with Bella and Jacob, you know that it was impossible from the very beginning...or maybe, it was over even before it began.
I agree. I cried more during the Jacob/Bella parts than the Edward leaving part in NM.
I think it's because we knew that Bella was in love with Edward the entire time and that Jacob had no chance yet he was so sweet to her and they just got along so well.
Oh Jake, every time I read any of the parts in the book with him suffering it makes me cry.
I just finished rereading Ethics in Eclipse again and cried.
Oh I cry so much at the end of Eclipse... Its just so sad, whenever I decide to read Eclipse again I start to get all emotional! A few weeks ago I was reading Eclipse and sitting on my bed and at the ending I starting crying so much I just love that part though its just so emotional and sad but its BEAUTIFUL!..... Some people think that Jacob is unscensitive and all that but I think that Eclipse proves them WRONG. Evertime I read Eclipse I know why I decided to be a proud supporter of TEAM SWITZERLAND!!!! Because EDWARD AND JACOB are both the best and very sweet..... I've cried more over Jacob than Edward also because I too knew in the back of my head that Edward wasnt going to leave and not end up coming back he had said all those times that he could not live without Bella so I knew he wouldnt just leave like that..... Ohhhh NOW I THINK IM GOING TO CRY!!! *starts to tear and quickly submits post and runs for tissues.*


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Better get back on that ledge, failed and cynical writers of America — Marilyn Hagerty, the North Dakota food critic who rocked the elitist New York media with her cordial review of an Olive Garden in Grand Forks and then took the city by storm during a whirlwind visit, is in talks with Anthony Bourdain and Harper Collins for a book deal, probably one commensurate in size with the mix of shock and dismay that Hagerty experienced when she realized her unassuming review had "gone viral."
The Washington Post reports that, after handling the effete disdain then subsequent ironic praise of the national media with poise, dignity, and some inspirational David Lynch quotes, she's garnering more and more publicity, including a segment with Anderson "The Silver Fox" Cooper. The book deal, says the Grand Forks Herald, would be a collaboration between Hagerty and Bourdain, who, if they play off of each other just right, could become this generation's Siskel and Ebert...of food critics. Though this project is still in its pupal stage, it's never too early to start suggesting titles. My vote is for something including the phrase "endless breadsticks" because that would be way meta.
Olive Garden restaurant reviewer Marilyn Hagerty in talks for book deal [The Washington Post]
Marilyn mania not going away [Grand Forks Herald]


text:
Premier Foods' Hovis boss quits after a year
Williams was appointed last November by Premier Foods' chief executive Michael Clarke. He was responsible for directing the restructuring the bakery division – including its Hovis brand.
A Premier Foods spokeswoman said: "Iwan Williams advised the business a while ago that he would like to move on next year to pursue other opportunities."
Geoff Eaton
Yesterday (November 29) Sky News reported Williams' decision may have been influenced by the appointment last month of Geoff Eaton as chief operating officer.
Speaking at the time, Clarke said: "Geoff's energy and experience will be critical in helping us unlock value in bread and build further momentum in our grocery division. I very much look forward to working with him."


text:
Blogged By: De De Tillman
Source & Story Credit: Yahoo News – Claudine Zap
Photo Credit: guestofaguest.com
Posted: Monday June 11, 2012 @ 4:40 p.m PST
Queen Elizabeth II's granddaughter was nominated to join the U.K. team for the London Olympics.
The equestrian will compete on her horse, High Kingdom.
The 31-year-old said in a statement, "It's awesome to be given this opportunity," adding, "I am really excited and can't wait to kick on and get him there."


text:
OMAHA, Neb. — An economist says a survey of bankers in 10 Midwest and Plains states suggests the regional economy is losing steam.
The Rural Mainstreet Index dropped below growth neutral in the February survey, hitting 48.4, compared with 50.8 in January and 56.1 in December.
The survey indexes range from 0 to 100, with 50 representing growth neutral. A score above 50 suggests growth in that factor in the months ahead.
Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he says the overall index's decline shows that "areas of the nation highly dependent on agriculture and energy are losing economic steam."
Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.


text:
LONDON—Guitarist Mark Knopfler has cancelled two shows in Russia in protest over what he says is a crackdown on human rights groups in the country.
The former Dire Straits front man is scrapping the June gigs in Moscow and St. Petersburg following raids on the Russian offices of groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, according to a post on his website Friday.
Russian authorities raided hundreds of non-governmental organizations last month to make sure they comply with a law requiring many of them to register as "foreign agents."
The government says the law is designed to curb foreign meddling, but critics say it is intended to stifle dissent.
Knopfler had planned to play in Moscow on June 7 and in St. Petersburg a day later.


text:
I'm sure by now I've managed to piss off just about everyone in Boulder--or at least those without any sense of humor--but I digress (deeply and possibly regrettably so), because what I set out to write about is a speck of color and flavor in the otherwise snow white town (88% by last count) where once landed Mork. What I am referring to is Pupusas Sabor Hispano, that I manged to fortuitously find while driving back from a wedding in Niwot.
Leaving said wedding (of my friend who conceived the name of this blog) and heading South on Highway 36, I joked to my wife that I was going to stop in Boulder--I believe these were my exact words: "To look for some tacos." I turned South on Boulder's Broadway despite her almost taunting laughter and within several blocks came to a screeching halt in front of Pupusas Sabor Hispano.
Granted, Pupusas are not tacos, but this I figured, was close enough. As the saying goes, when in Boulder, taco-seekers can't be choosers.
I have to say that I was not expecting great things. Again, we were on Broadway in Boulder not E. Colfax in Denver, and this part-Mexican, part-Salvadoreño restaurant was fully catered to the local population, replete with gaudy parrots, Diego Rivera replicas and even a mini-sized version of a yellow casa serving as entrance to another dining area that was intended, I imagine, to give one the pleasant illusion of dining in some idyllic tourist town like San Miguel de Allende.
But I will say that the staff was incredibly friendly (something harder to find at times on Colfax) and Spanish-speaking. And they did not roll their eyes given that we strolled in at five minutes to closing.
We ordered two pupusas with chicharron. Of course. The chicharron in a typical pupusa is pressed and grilled in a way that it becomes a delectable paste of twice-fried, smashed pork skin. (Those words sound so delicious that they merit re-writing: "Twice-fried, smashed pork skin.") It is amazing and undoubtedly the best way to enjoy pupusas, although at Sabor Hispano there was too little of it--either that or it was overwhelmed with the queso. Nevertheless it was a respectable pupusa, and I savored every bite, still smiling at my dumb luck in finding this place.
The rajas con queso also was heavy on the queso, and the rajas, or thin strips of green chile (or bell pepper of some sort) were not spicy in the least. Even doused in the traditional Salvadorean slaw and sweet tomato salsa, this was least favorite of the pupusas we had that night.
The calabaza, or zucchini pupusa was completely overrun with cheese flavor, but of the three was cooked the best, with bits of browned cheese on the edges and more crispy, browned spots on the masa itself. The over-cheesing, which seemed to run rampant that late night at Sabor Hispano, was especially unfortunate in this case because it completely drowned out the delicate flavor of the calabaza.
Calabaza in the top left corner. Apologies for the bad pictures.
I know the Boulder food craze is centered around its award-winning fancy foodie fare, but to me restaurants like Pupusas Sabor Hispano are at the heart of any town claiming a "food scene". And although these cheese-heavy pupusas were not the best I've had around Denver, it was at least a pupusa, which in the grand scheme of eating is in itself a good thing. I can't wait to see what I happen across next time I find myself wandering aimlessly (that is how I usually wander) again through the dark streets of Boulder.


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Enjoying alpine to the fullest
I know most of you don't care about my alpine fetish, but this goes out to my fellow alpine users :-)
Pine was almost dead for years and likely because of that I never reconsidered optimising my mail-usage. With alpine's rebirth I have been busy improving my daily overload of personal messages.
One of the things I was loosing considerable time with was attachments. I often get non-text attachements (like RPMs, Word documents, PDF, archives) and to remotely look at them was a major pain (save attachement, remember name, copy to local machine or somewhere shared, then open to find out it was useless). Especially when you just need a small piece of information, the drag of going through this often caused me to "bounce" my mail to Google Mail and use the browser. And even for patches, it could be better.
So yesterday I revisited my ~/.mailcap file and improved it to only use terminal applications and now it includes the following entries:
### antiword
application/msword; antiword -t %s; copiousoutput
### cat
application/pgp-signature; cat %s; copiousoutput
### cdiff (needs coloroutput)
text/x-diff; cdiff %s; needsterminal
text/x-patch; cdiff %s; needsterminal
### elinks (needs input)
application/xhtml+xml; /usr/bin/elinks -force-html %s; needsterminal
text/html; /usr/bin/elinks -force-html %s; needsterminal
### mc (needs input)
application/x-7zip; /usr/bin/mc %s#u7z; needsterminal
application/x-bzip2; /usr/bin/mc %s#utar; needsterminal
application/x-gzip; /usr/bin/mc %s#utar; needsterminal
application/x-patch; /usr/bin/mc %s#patchfs; needsterminal
application/x-rpm; /usr/bin/mc %s#rpm/CONTENTS.cpio#ucpio; needsterminal
application/x-tar; /usr/bin/mc %s#utar; needsterminal
application/zip; /usr/bin/mc %s#zip; needsterminal
I can now just go inside archives and RPMs (using midnight commander), I can look inside Word documents, HTML messages can be browsed and patches are colorized ! Only PDF files needs some more love and attention. To summarize, I rule :-)
(Leave your Thunderbird and Evolution remarks to yourself please. No swearing either !)
Useful stuff
I'm a mutt user, but the mailcap rules work just the same. I'm already using antiword but I'm still having trouble with PDF files. I'd be quite interested to see your solution.
By the way: The following might be useful too. It's only usable for very, very simple excel documents, but it's better than nothing: application/vnd.ms-excel ; /usr/bin/xls2csv %s ; copiousoutput
xls2csv: command not found
Cannot find what project provides this xls2csv convertor. Do you have a project-name or package-name ?
My PDF handling for mailcap is below, the problem is that the error-output is not silenced by the -q option as the help indicates. The PS output is ok, but not amazing.
The benefit of converting to HTML and then sending it to elinks, is that layout is much better and you can follow links.
### pdf (needs input)
application/pdf; pdftohtml -q -p -hidden -nodrm -stdout %s | elinks -force-html; needsterminal
application/postscript; ps2ascii %s; needsterminal
Let me know if you can improve it :-)
Wrap it in a shell script
The obvious approach would be to wrap the command in a shell script, and then redirect pdftohtml's stderr to /dev/null.
#! /bin/sh
# my-pdftohtml
pdftohtml -q -p -hidden -nodrm -stdout "$@" 2>/dev/null
That would be the expected behaviour...
...if only it would be sending this output to stderr (which it does not).
[dag@horsea ~]$ pdftohtml -q -p -hidden -nodrm -stdout centos-nl.pdf 2>/dev/null | grep 'Error :' | uniq -c
777 Error : Bad color


text:
Vista offers patients the option of a positron emission tomography (PET) scan, which is an imaging test that uses a radioactive substance called a tracer to look for disease in the body.
A PET scan shows how organs and tissues are working. This is different than magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT), which show the structure of and blood flow to and from organs.
A PET scan can reveal the size, shape, position, and some function of organs. This test can be used to:
Several PET scans may be taken over time to check how well you are responding to treatment for cancer or another illness.
A PET scan uses a small amount of radioactive material, called a tracer, which is injected into a vein, most often on the inside of your elbow. The tracer travels through your blood and collects in organs and tissues. This helps the radiologist see certain areas of concern more clearly.
You will need to wait nearby as the tracer is absorbed by your body. This takes about an hour. Then, you will lie on a narrow table that slides into a large tunnel-shaped scanner. The PET up detects signals from the tracer while a computer changes the signals into 3-D pictures. The images are displayed on a monitor for your doctor to read.
You may be asked not to eat anything for 4 - 6 hours before the scan, but you will be able to drink water.
We also can help you through this process if:
Always discuss the medicines you are taking, including those bought without a prescription. Sometimes, medications may interfere with the test results.
You may feel a sharp sting when the needle with the tracer is placed into your vein. A PET scan causes no pain. The table may be hard or cold, but you can request a blanket or pillow.
An intercom in the room allows you to speak to someone at any time. There is no recovery time, unless you were given a medicine to relax.
A normal result means there were no problems seen in the size, shape, or position of an organ. There are no areas in which the tracer has abnormally collected.
Abnormal results depend on the part of the body being studied. Abnormal results may be due to: change in the size, shape, or position of an organ; cancer; infection; or problem with organ function.
The amount of radiation used in a PET scan is about the same amount as for most CT scans. Short-lived tracers are used so the radiation is gone from your body in about 2-10 hours.
Tell your doctor before having this test if you are pregnant or breast feeding. Infants and babies developing in the womb are more sensitive to radiation because their organs are still growing.
Rarely, people may have an allergic reaction to the tracer material. Some people have pain, redness, or swelling at the injection site.
It is possible to have false results on a PET scan. Blood sugar or insulin levels may affect the test results in people with diabetes.
Most PET scans are now performed along with a CT scan. This combination scan is called a PET/CT.
For more information or to schedule an appointment, please call:
(800) 500-4014
Vista Medical Center East
1324 N. Sheridan Road
Waukegan, IL 60085


text:
A Collatz sequence is the sequence where, for a given number n, the next number in the sequence is either n/2 if the number is even or 3n+1 if the number is odd. See Problem 21 for more information.
Let c(n) be the sequence for n, and p(n) be the peak value of that sequence. For a given threshold nmax, find the highest peak value max(p(n)) for all Collatz sequences starting with integers between 1 and nmax.
function pmax = peakOfPeaks(nmax)
for i=1:nmax
tmp=[tmp j];
while j~=1
if mod(j,2)==0
tmp=[tmp j];
tmp=[tmp j];
if pmax
This solution will fail for nmax = 2; so I had to swap the order of two lines. See Solution 1088355.
I only feel justified in doing this because the previous best answer was a look-up table. :P
Clever pattern, but still gaming the system. This is not the absolute highest Collatz peak as you go to infinity. Yuval, you should be ashamed of submitting this without apologies.
This really doesn't solve the problem it's just gaming the results.
Ooooooh this is evil.
Return elements unique to either input
614 Solvers
Longest run of consecutive numbers
939 Solvers
620 Solvers
1870 Solvers
422 Solvers