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Because it was designed to live in the urban jungle and never travel beyond 40mph, the Enfield 8000's 7-inch (non servo assisted) drum brakes seemed perfectly satisfactory in 1974…
…but they were never going to be too useful on my Flux Capacitor project. For although it will weigh significantly less than the lead-acid batt laden 975kg original, mine will probably be crossing the quarter mile drag strip finish line north of 100mph. And then you have to stop the thing before you run out of road.
The Enfield's 7-inch rear drum brakes had already been binned when Webster Race Engineering remodelled the rear chassis to fit the new custom built Ford 9-inch race axle. This came complete with beefy drums capable of stopping something made in Detroit weighing closer to two tons. Pretty substantial, then.
The front end was a bit more complicated. We saw no reason to seriously alter the Hillman Imp front wishbone suspension, as it is strong and easy to set-up since fitting the AVO adjustable dampers/springs.
The problem lay with the fact that Hillman Imps were never fitted with disc brakes, and we needed disc brake stopping power up front. I don't know when the last time you looked, but there aren't many rear wheel drive cars in the world that have 10-inch wheels.
After dismantling the hub assembly and doing weeks of head scratching (pretending to know what to do), I was put in touch with performance brake gurus AP Racing, who loved the Flux Capacitor and were happy to get involved upgrading its anchors.
AP is a name that can be found on many race cars throughout the world, and what those guys don't know about stopping isn't worth worrying about. AP expert engineer Kevin McDonnell then discussed my project at length with one of their distributors BG Developments.
I have to take my hat off to BG Developments (01527 873716) boss David Fuller, who really went out of his way to help. Based in Bromsgrove, these guys specialise in custom machining or restoring older car brake systems. Back in time they were charged with building the brakes on Ford's original GT40s, and not long ago were recommissioning the anchors on Tyrrell's ground-breaking six wheeler P34 Formula One car.Â
David asked me to post him a wheel, the hub and stub axle assembly – then give him two weeks. Sure enough, a fortnight later BG Developments had created something truly amazing. David personally drove the parts to my house and we sat down over a cuppa to admire a disc brake conversion that was so pretty it was almost a crime that most of it will forever be hidden behind a wheel.
So how did BG Developments make a disc conversion from scratch for an oddball car with small wheels (albeit upgraded from 10-inch to 12-inch front rims)? Simple really. They machined up bespoke 267mm x 10mm cast iron disc rotors, as milling down an existing disc wasn't an option – as nothing came close in size.
Then using CAD BG drew out a bracket for where a caliper could mount onto the disc, which was then CNC machined out of aircraft grade 2014 T6 aluminium and anodised to match the caliper.
In my case BG used an AP Racing caliper usually found on the front of a Caterham – monoblock aluminium with lightweight piston. This was then carefully machined down in places to clear inside the 12-inch Wolfrace Slot Mag wheel.
And then to my favourite components – the featherlight CNC machined caliper mounts. These took three CNC operations to complete, each one 6 minutes. Where the bracket bolts to the caliper is where things are manually machined for clearance and shape. It's beautifully detailed, and somewhat upsetting that these bits are hidden from view when they're bolted on.
I am proud to report that all of the brakes were designed and built in Great Britain. Hurrah.
As I was mid-house move during this part of the project Tim Glover at Roadhouseretro (who did the Enfield's body, paint and reassembly) let me fit the disc conversion at his premises. It was the perfect chance to photograph the little 2.84-metre yellow peril next to Cadillac land yachts.
Against a backdrop of rockabilly music and Tim's perverted dogs, I set to work fitting the disc kit fresh from BG Developments. The side which I had had to remove the stub axle (to send to BG) needed new bolts, but these were quickly sourced through local fastener firm Welland Supplies.
I don't fancy having worn steering components when racing at 100+mph, so decided whilst the track rod ends were disconnected I'd investigate a possible upgrade. I'd read on a few forums that the original spindly Hillman Imp rod ends could be upgraded to fully adjustable beefier Ford Fiesta items, so ordered a pair from Imp guru Malcom Anderson (who happens to live 5 miles from where my parents live). You can see the difference in size here.
Once the stub axle was back on, the custom machined backing plate could be bolted to the three existing holes in the stub axle. It looks like an original factory upgrade.
Then the hub could go back on (with regreased bearings), including the original Enfield speedo drive.
The disc goes over the wheel studs and locates onto the hub with two countersunk screws.
The caliper simply connects to the mounting bracket with two allen bolts, with the Ferodo racing pads located in place with a pair of simple spring slips.
The whole job was done within an hour, helped by the fact all disc conversion parts bolted up like they were factory fitment.
BG Developments managed to squeeze the biggest caliper they could inside the 12-inch wheel, and they weren't lying. I've had to remove the stick-on balancing weights from inside the wheel rim as they were fouling the caliper!
Next week I'll explain how we had some glassfibre bumpers moulded for the Flux Capacitor, the sticky front tyres I'm using and the mammoth rewiring job for lightness and LED lights.
Thanks for reading and thanks again to the Flux Capacitor's sponsors Adrian Flux Insurance, npower and Red Maple IT consultants. Without them I wouldn't have got this far…


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This 15 inch handguard makes an excellent choice for your AR-10 rifle build. This is a great choice among rifle handguards for longer-barreled .308 rifles. This handguard has been hard coat anodized black for aesthetics and durability. This handguard is made from high grade 60/61 aircraft aluminum. If you're building your own AR-10, you've come to the right place. This 15 inch handguard is a keymod style handguard perfect for any .308 gun. It's long length and keymod design allow many accessory options. Keep shopping our rifle parts online to discover the rest of our selection of rifle handguards. We also offer .308 AR-10 build kits, AR-15 rifle kits, pistol kits, and much more. Shop all of our gun parts online today.
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Part 1 of this signal chain power optimization series discusses how power supply noise can be quantified to identify which parameters of signal chain devices it affects. An optimized power distribution network (PDN) can be created by determining the actual noise limits the signal processing devices can accept without affecting the integrity of the signals they produce. In Part 2, this methodology is applied to high speed analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters, where it demonstrates that lowering noise to a necessary level does not always equate to higher cost, increased sized, and lower efficiency. These design parameters can actually be met in one optimized power solution.
This article focuses on another part of the signal chain—the RF transceivers. Here, we check the sensitivity of the device to the noise coming from each power rail to identify which ones need additional noise filtering. An optimized power solution is provided, which is further validated by comparing its SFDR and phase noise performance to the current PDN when attached to the RF transceiver.
Optimizing the Power System for the ADRV9009 6 GHz Dual RF Transceiver
The ADRV9009 is a highly integrated, radio frequency (RF), agile transceiver offering dual transmitters and receivers, integrated synthesizers, and digital signal processing functions. The IC delivers a versatile combination of high performance and low power consumption demanded by 3G, 4G, and 5G macrocell time division duplex (TDD) base station applications.
Figure 1 shows the standard PDN for the ADRV9009 dual transceiver. The PDN consists of an ADP5054 quad switcher with four linear regulators. The goal here is to see what performance parameters of the power distribution network can be improved, while producing noise that does not degrade the performance of the transceiver.
As shown throughout this series,1, 2 quantifying the sensitivity of ADRV9009 to power supply noise is necessary to optimize the PDN. The ADRV9009 6 GHz dual RF transceiver requires five different power rails, namely:
- 1.3 V analog (VDDA1P3_AN)
- 1.3 V digital (VDDD1P3_DIG)
- 1.8 V transmitter and BB (VDDA_1P8)
- 2.5 V interface (VDD_INTERFACE)
- 3.3 V auxiliary (VDDA_3P3)
Figure 2 shows the Receiver 1 port PSMR results for the analog rails (VDDA1P3_AN, VDDA_1P8, and VDDA_3P3). For the digital rails—VDDD1P3_DIG and VDD_INTERFACE—the maximum injected ripple we could produce with a signal generator did not produce spurs in the output spectrum, so we don't need to worry about minimizing ripple on those rails. Modulated spur amplitude is expressed in dBFS where the maximum output power (0 dBFS) is equivalent to 7 dBm or 1415.89 mV p-p in a 50 Ω system.
For the VDDA1P3_AN rail, the measurement was taken at two different branches of the transceiver board. Notice that in Figure 2, PSMR falls below 0 dB at <200 kHz ripple frequency, indicating that ripple at these frequencies produces even higher modulation spurs in the same magnitude. This means that below 200 kHz, Receiver 1 is very sensitive to even the smallest ripple that the VDDA1P3_AN rail produces.
The VDDA_1P8 rail is divided into two branches in the transceiver board: VDDA1P8_TX and VDDA1P8_BB. The VDDA1P8_TX rail reaches a minimum PSMR at 100 kHz at around ~27 dB, corresponding to 63.25 mV p-p of 100 kHz ripple, resulting in modulated spurs of 2.77 mV p-p. VDDA1P8_BB measures a minimum of ~11 dB at a 5 MHz ripple frequency, equivalent to 0.038 mV p-p spurs produced by 0.136 mV p-p of injected ripple.
VDDA_3P3 data shows that at around 130 kHz and below, PSMR falls below 0 dB, which indicates that the RF signal at Receiver 1 is very sensitive to noise coming from VDDA_3P3. The PSMR for this rail rises as the frequency increases, reaching up to 72.5 dB at 5 MHz.
In sum, the PSMR results show that among the power supply rails, VDDA1P3_AN and VDDA_3P3 rail noise are the most worrisome, contributing the most significant ripple content coupled to Receiver 1 of the ADRV9009 transceiver.
Figure 3 shows the PSRR performance of ADRV9009 for the analog supply rails. VDDA1P3_AN's PSRR is flat at ~60 dB up to 1 MHz, and it slightly falls to a minimum of ~46 dB at 5 MHz. This can be viewed as a 0.127 mV p-p of 5 MHz ripple that produces a 0.001 mV p-p spur riding the LO frequency together with the modulated RF signal.
The PSRR for the VDDA1P8_BB rail of the ADRV9009 bottoms out at ~47 dB at 5 MHz, while the VDDA1P8_TX rail's PSRR doesn't fall below ~80 dB. In the spectrum below 1 MHz, the PSRR of VDDA_3P3 is higher than the shown 90 dB. The measurement is clipped at 90 dB as the maximum injected ripple up to 1 MHz is 20 mV p-p—not high enough to produce spurs above the noise floor of the local oscillator. The PSRR for that rail is higher than what's shown below 1 MHz, and as the frequency increases, it drops to 76.8 dB at 4 MHz, its lowest value in the 10 kHz to 10 MHz range.
Similar to the PSMR results, PSRR data shows that the majority of the noise coupled to the local oscillator frequency, particularly above 1 MHz, comes from the VDDA1P3_AN and VDDA_3P3 rails.
To determine if a power supply can meet noise requirements, the ripple output of the DC power supply is measured, resulting in a waveform plotted across 100 Hz to 100 MHz frequency range, like that shown in Figure 4. To this spectrum, an overlay is added: the threshold at which sideband spurs will appear at the modulated signal. The overlaid data is obtained by injecting sinusoidal ripple into the specified power supply rail at several reference points, to see what ripple levels produce sideband spurs, as discussed in Part 1 of this series.
The threshold data shown in Figure 4 to Figure 6 are for the three supply rails to which the transceiver is most sensitive. The power rail spectra are shown for various DC-to-DC converter configurations, with and without spread spectrum frequency modulation (SSFM) enabled or additional filtering via LDO regulator or low-pass (LC) filter. These waveforms are measured at the power supply board to give room for additional margin that is greater than or equal to 6 dB below the noise limit.
Figure 4 shows the spur threshold for the VDDA1P3_AN rail along with the measured noise spectrum for various configurations of an LTM8063 µModule® regulator. As shown in Figure 4, using the LTM8063 directly powering the rail with spread spectrum frequency modulation (SSFM) disabled produces ripple at the LTM8063's fundamental operating frequency and harmonics that exceed the threshold. In particular, the ripple exceeds the limit by 0.57 mV at 1.1 MHz, indicating that some combination of postregulator and filter is needed to suppress the noise coming from the switching regulator.
If only an LC filter is added (no LDO regulator), the ripple at the switching frequency just reaches the maximum allowable ripple—there's probably not enough design margin to ensure top performance of the transceiver. Adding an ADP1764 LDO postregulator and turning on the LTM8063's spread spectrum mode lowers the fundamental switching ripple amplitude and its harmonics over the entire spectrum, and the noise peaks due to SSFM in the 1/f region. The optimum result is achieved by turning on SSFM, and adding both an LDO regulator and LC filter, which reduces the remaining noise caused by the switching action—leaving an ~18 dB margin from the maximum allowable ripple.
Spread spectrum frequency modulation spreads noise over a wider band, thereby reducing the peak and average noise at the switching frequency and its harmonics. This is done by modulating the switching frequency up and down by a 3 kHz triangle wave. This introduces new ripple at 3 kHz, which is taken care of by the LDO regulator.
When SSFM is enabled, the resulting low frequency ripple and its harmonics are apparent in the VDDA_1P8 and VDDA_3P3 output spectrums shown in Figure 5 and Figure 6, respectively. As shown in Figure 5, the noise spectrum of the LTM8074 with SSFM enabled provides a minimum ~8 dB margin to the maximum allowable ripple for the VDDA_1P8 rail. So no postregulator filtering is necessary to meet the noise requirements on this rail.
Figure 6 shows the noise spectrum for various configurations of the LTM8074 µModule regulator, along with the maximum noise requirements for the 3.3 V VDDA_3P3 rail. For this rail, we're examining the results using the LTM8074 Silent Switcher® µModule regulator. The LTM8074-only configuration (no filter or LDO postregulator) produces noise that exceeds the limit regardless of whether spread spectrum mode is enabled or disabled.
The results of two alternate configurations meet the noise specification with >6 dB margin: the LTM8074 without SSFM enabled plus an LC filter, and the LTM8074 with SSFM enabled with an LDO postregulator. Although both meet the requirement with sufficient margin, the LDO postregulator solution gets the edge here. This is because the VDDA_3P3 rail also provides the 3P3V_CLK1 clock supply, so a reduction of 1/f noise is relatively more important, as noise here could translate to phase jitter in the local oscillator if not addressed.
Optimized Solution
Based on the outcome of tests above, Figure 7 shows an optimized solution that would give >6 dB noise margin when used on an ADRV9009 transceiver board.
Table 1 shows the comparison of the optimized PDN to the standard PDN. The component area reduction is 29.8%, and the efficiency has increased to 69.9% (from 65.7%) with an overall power saving of 0.6 W.
|Current PDN as Shown in Figure 1
|Optimized PDN as Shown in Figure 7
|Improvement of the Optimized PDN from the Current PDN
|Component Area
148.2 mm2
104.0 mm2
|Overall Efficiency
|Power Loss
To validate the efficacy of this optimized power solution—in terms of systematic noise performance—a phase noise measurement is performed. The optimized solution in Figure 7 is compared to the control case—an engineering release version of the ADRV9009 evaluation board, namely the AD9378 evaluation board using the PDN shown in Figure 1. The same board is used, but with the PDN as shown in Figure 7, and the phase noise results were compared. Ideally, the optimized solution meets or exceeds the data sheet reference graphs.
Figure 8 shows the phase noise results of the AD9378 evaluation board with the standard ADP5054-based power supply compared to the results from the same board using a power supply based on the LTM8063 and LTM8074. The µModule power solution has slightly better performance of around 2 dB vs. the ADP5054 power solution. As seen in Figure 8 and Table 2, measurement results for both power solutions are significantly lower than the data sheet specs due to the use of a low phase noise signal generator for the external local oscillator.
|Offset Frequency (MHz)
|Phase Noise (dBc/Hz)
|Data Sheet Specifications
|Evaluation Results
|LTM8063 and LTM8074
The transceiver's SFDR measurement using both power solutions, as shown in Table 3, shows comparable performance for both power solutions, except for LO = 3800 MHz where ADP5054's switching ripple starts to produce modulation spurs on the carrier signal output spectrum, as seen in Figure 9.
|LO Frequency (MHz)
|SFDR (dBc)
|Data Sheet Specifications
|LTM8063 and LTM8074
|LTM8063 and LTM8074
Different requirements for various applications could demand further improvement or changes in the power distribution networks of the evaluation boards. Being able to quantify the noise requirements of signal processing ICs provides a more effective way of designing its power supply or even just optimizing the existing power solution. For high performance RF transceivers such as the ADRV9009, setting up noise injection in the PDN to identify how much power supply noise is tolerable helped us make improvements in space requirements, efficiency, and, critically, thermal performance over the current PDN. Keep following this power system optimization series for succeeding entries.
1 Pablo Perez, Jr. and Patrick Errgy Pasaquian. "Optimizing Power Systems for the Signal Chain—Part 1: How Much Power Supply Noise Is Tolerable?" Analog Dialogue, Vol. 55, No. 1, March 2021.
2 John Martin Dela Cruz and Patrick Errgy Pasaquian. "Optimizing Power Systems for the Signal Chain—Part 2: High Speed Data Converters." Analog Dialogue, Vol. 55, No. 2, April 2021.
Delos, Peter. "Power Supply Modulation Ratio Demystified: How Does PSMR Differ from PSRR? " Analog Devices, Inc., December 2018.
Delos, Peter. "Transceiver Phase Noise Teardown Informs Performance Capability with an External LO." Analog Devices, Inc., October 2019.
Naeem, Naveed and Samantha Fontaine. "Characterizing the PSRR of Data Acquisition μModule Devices with Internal Bypass Capacitors." Analog Dialogue,Vol. 54, No. 3, July 2020.


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Paintballers 4 Autism along with Style Supply our proud to announce the creation of the 2012 Paintballers 4 Autism gear. We are now taken preorders for the new gear. For 2012 we are offering the following gear:
Headband: $25
Podbag: $30
Barrel Bag: $15
Mini Jersey: $15
Pro Style Jersey: $90
The Paintballers 4 Autism 2012 Jersey was designed by the talented staff at Forgotten Muse Media. Style Supply will be producing the gear.
Our soft goods are one of our main ways of raising money throughout the year. With your support we can continue to aid those less fortunate. We continue to support Autism Speaks along with various local Autism groups to help those in the community.
Our goal is to continue to help in a small way funding for research along with being able to help those already afflicted with autism in 2012. With your support by buying our gear you too will also be helping those with autism.


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- Social Security Card
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- Utility or credit card bill issued in the past 90 days
- US or US Territory birth certificate or certified copy filed with a state office of vital statistics or equivalent agency in the individual's state of birth
- Unexpired standard photo driver license from any state including NJ and the District of Columbia
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Note: Please be sure to bring any applicable name change documents that may be related to your selected documents.
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If this product is currently in stock and if you order by 1pm your order will be despatched the same day. If the product is not in stock you will be contacted.
Single Spare or Replacement Integrated Controller/Vibrating panel for Ice-Vibe boots.
LED light indicator for battery level and setting.
Connects to a micro-usb charger only.
This item is not compatible with mini-usb chargers that came with Ice-Vibe boots bought before November 16th 2018. If you need a new panel for your Ice-Vibe boots, you will need to upgrade your charger kit.
Sold per single Panel.


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Kim Kardashian won't let daughter North West wear make-up until she's 12. The glamorous reality TV star, who recently followed her younger sister Kylie Jenner into the beauty game with her own make-up line, is known for her dramatic cosmetics looks, like contouring and highlighting.
Although four-year-old North is a fan of playing around with her mummy's make-up products and brushes, Kim says her little one won't be allowed out with her face made up for another eight years. "Probably 12," she told beauty vlogger Desi Perkins during a YouTube tutorial when asked when she would permit North to wear make-up out. "That's when I started to get into it, and then when I was, like, 14, my dad got me make-up lessons, and they video-taped it and showed us how to put on liner and lashes."
Kim Kardashian will let her daughter North West start wearing make-up at the age of 12
While most women cringe at their teenage make-up looks, Kim actually learned a lot from her cosmetics classes, and the colours she wore then even influenced the shades she favours now. "They were really just into actual contour and concealer, all kind of nude monochromatic looks, which is so my vibe and probably why I like the kind of make-up that I like," she recalled.
Kim previously revealed that her and Kanye West's eldest child was a big beauty fan, and had her own make-up brushes before she even hit her second birthday. During an appearance on Live! With Kelly And Michael in 2015, Kim said North loves playing with beauty tools. And while chatting to People that same year she further divulged: "She can open my blush, put the brush in and put it on her cheek. Today, she was opening my lipstick. She puts it up to her lips like she knows what she's doing!"


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• WE BELIEVE: digital communication is becoming the noise and physical connection is the new way to stand out - that's why we sell our cards in boxes of 24
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• OUR PRODUCT: Ritzy Rose cards are designed, printed and produced in small batches in Ohio - from our hands to yours since 2010
• DETAILS + STUFF: our thick, silky, super-writable cardstock is cut precisely to 4 x 5.5 inch cards, A2 envelopes included - perfect to mail or hand out
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MoneyTimes - April 24, 2012
Posted by Jill Kerby on April 24 2012 @ 11:22
What is the soaring price of gold and silver telling us?
By the time you read this, the price of gold and silver may have fallen back a little, or by a lot. Or maybe it will have kept going up.
Precious metals seem to have a mind and momentum of their own at the moment, but their price is simply reacting to the growing awareness all over the world that the 'great correction' continues: during the boom years too many governments – and banks - made too many promises they couldn't keep. Too many ordinary people bought too much property and other stuff with too much credit that they cannot repay.
In Ireland, we know how it turns out when you have no choice but to own up to your – collective - borrowing and spending mistakes – your economy keels over and your state goes bust.
The people who are driving up the price of gold and silver these last few weeks are now worried that it isn't just the Greeks, Irish and Portuguese who are bust, but maybe…sharp intake of breath …maybe the Americans too, whose budget deficit is $1.7 trillion and the national debt, $13.4 trillion. The US economy is in danger of a having a stroke.
The ratings agency S&P may not have much credibility left after the way they kept rating toxic, subprime mortgage bonds as a triple AAA risk during the boom years. But last week's warning that the USA might not continue to deserve its top rating (which of course it does not) if it doesn't get it's hyperbolic national debt under control, still came as a shock.
'The Emperor has no clothes' is what the rating agency was actually saying. And once that observation spreads, you have to wonder if the game is up and the 40 year experiment of an entirely fiat global currency system is also coming to an end.
The Chinese, who hold trillions of dollars and Treasury bonds in their reserves, responded by also expressing concern about US debt and deficits. Aware of the threat that rising price inflation the government has recommended that Chinese people start buying gold with their savings. Purchases have quadrupled on last year's volumes.
And in a most significant US move, one that many observers believe also had an impact on the latest price spike, the $19.9 billion dollar University of Texas Investment Management Fund – the second largest endowment fund after Harvards' – has spent nearly a billion paper dollars to buy 6,643 bars of 24 carat gold bars. Not much of a vote of confidence is the greenback.
When the price of gold hits $1,505.34 an ounce (or €1,032.74) and silver, $46.16 an ounce (or €31.66) as it did when I wrote this article, you can be certain that investors will take profits and the prices will fall back. (Summer is often the 'low' price season.) Since silver has an industrial utility it has a tendency for bigger peaks and falls. Some people will look forward to those dips as a buying opportunity.
I have been writing about gold's steady climb in this column for the last seven years. It cost about $550 dollars an ounce back then. Silver, about $7. The physical metals haven't changed at all since then, except perhaps that with each year they become a little bit more rare and costly to extract. What has changed, is the amount of additional dollar bills (and pound notes, euro, yen, yuan, etc) that central banks have printed out of thin air. It isn't so much that the lumps of gold have become more valuable…but rather that the world's paper money has become increasingly worthless.
Gold has always been considered a store of value and until the First World War was even an acceptable method of exchange. Until 1933 in the United States, every 20 dollar bill could be exchanged for an ounce of pure gold. After the Second World War, only countries could exchange their dollars for gold. After August 1971, the United States, already spending more than it was earning, went off the modified gold standard entirely and substituted the US dollar as the world's reserve currency.
Since then, politicians – everywhere – have been spending beyond all their people's means because they were no longer obliged to limit their spending and the volume of currency they issued against their reserves of gold and silver.
So vast is national debt, that governments can only issue more debt and print more paper currency. It is why global retail price inflation is such a risk.
Gold is not cheap anymore, not like it was back in 2005. But nor is it in a bubble.
How many family members or friends do you know who have bought gold or silver coins or bullion? (Or exchanged their euro for Perth Mint certificates – gold held in Australia, see Goldcore.com).
The price will go up and down. But when everyone is buying gold (and not selling their scrap gold!) and every other story in the media is about gold and every dinner party is chatting about it – just like we did about property during the boom – that's when gold will be in a bubble.


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I just went over and did a bit of Mother's Day shopping on Harrison Street. Surprisingly, it was pretty active. Merchants were upbeat. The goods and services were lovely indeed. For those of you that have not visited this area, you are missing stylish women's apparel, jewelry, art work and of course, The Buzz. Harrison Street Gallery Walks, held the third Friday (from 6-9 p.m.) of every month, are a great way to get to know the area. Consider it my invitation to you. It is the most unique shopping area in our village.
Unfortunately, it is probably that only invitation that you will receive.
Certainly, it doesn't appear that anyone in Village Hall is going out of their way for the over 40 merchants in the Harrison Street Arts district.
For those of us that live in the neighborhood, it is no secret that the village gives a cold shoulder to the merchants in our neighborhood. I have personally spoken to current village hall staff and past board members who dismiss the area out of hand. While Oak Park is pouring tens of millions of dollars into Harlem, Lake and Oak Park Avenue, it gives little or nothing to merchants and, by extension, area residents. We are simply forced to go it alone in the Harrison Arts District. This all sounds pretty shortsighted to me.
It must be a case of a short memory for the big Harlem-Lake-Oak Park Avenue spenders in Village Hall. How long ago was it that downtown Oak Park suffered from huge vacancy rates and the lack of anything that can even modestly be called first class merchandising? How many restaurants failed at the site of the prosperous and tasty Papaspiros?
Today, you can get a bad burrito (Chipotle), dreadful steam table Chinese food (Panda Express), dresses and sweaters for women that were over produced for Target (Dress Barn), bad fleece shirts (Old Navy) and bad fleece shirts that are over priced (Gap). What would we do without progress!
My point is, if you want to be as far sighted as that fabulous Whiteco project and the rest of the incredibly expensive development that our tax dollars are at least partially supporting, we'd better also be thinking a bit out of the box and find some of the low priced and out of the way opportunities that incredibly expensive consultants might neglect to tell us about.
Maybe the new village board needs some other incredibly expensive consultants that specialize in out of the box and low priced opportunities. Or, they could walk a few blocks south of Village Hall and find out what a gigantic opportunity they are currently disregarding. Buy some jewelry, get a Late, do some Yoga, meet some of the merchants that you are currently disregarding. The walk will do you good.
While we have some new board members, we still have a staff that is only interested in a very small portion of our beautiful village. To me, this is just another example of a village staff that is out of step with the desires of the village citizens. The last board got voted out for doing the staff's bidding instead of the bidding for the citizens of Oak Park. At least in my neighborhood, this is a commonly held belief. Let us hope that the new board acts in a slightly more independent fashion.
Harrison Street is a golden opportunity. It is a gateway to our community. It is worthy of a recent mention in the New York Times. By disregarding Harrison Street, the village not only turns its back on the merchants in the area, but turns your backs on the area's homeowners.
? Jay Arbretman is a member of the Harrison Street Arts District


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This article is published in the Ecologist, Sustainable Business, and the April edition of Energy World.
When Thanet wind farm off the Kent coast opened to great fanfare last September, it was no surprise that Energy Secretary Chris Huhne was there to cut the ribbon. At 300 megawatts (MW), Thanet is the world's largest offshore wind farm, and offshore wind is central to Britain's energy policy. The government is counting on it to deliver the bulk of its target to generate around a third of UK electricity from renewables by 2020 – a stretching six-fold increase from today.
Building wind farms offshore makes perfect sense: that's where the wind blows hardest, and where turbines are least likely to raise NIMBY hackles. And the potential is vast. According to a report from the Offshore Valuation Group, a government-industry body, if Britain exploited just a third of the practical offshore resource by 2050, it could produce the energy equivalent of a billion barrels of oil, avoid over a billion tonnes of CO2, become a net electricity exporter and create 145,000 new jobs.
The prize is huge, but offshore wind is also fraught with difficulties. At sea wind turbines are constantly battered by the stronger wind and the waves, which makes them more likely to break down and harder to fix when they do. They are much more expensive to install and maintain – costs have risen over the past decade, rather than falling as you might expect, according to a report from the UK Energy Research Centre – and that makes projects difficult to finance. Although the rate of construction is forecast to rise strongly over the next few years, it still falls short of the pace needed to hit the government's renewables targets.
All of this creates an urgent need to produce more energy from each turbine, meaning they must become both more powerful and more reliable than their land-based predecessors.
But some experts doubt whether turbines can grow much further using existing materials and technologies. Growth in the power rating of new models has stalled over the past five years, according to Peter Jamieson, Principal Engineer at Garrad Hassan, the renewable energy consultancy, after rising exponentially for decades. While the industry talks of building a 10MW machine, the biggest operating offshore today is just 5MW. He suspects the plateau is due to a curious property of wind turbines: the bigger they get, the less economic they become.
That's because the energy turbines generate depends on the size of the area swept by the blades, and the area of a circle is proportional to the square of the radius. So as you increase the length of the turbine blades, the electricity and income generated rise to the power of 2. But longer blades need bigger gearboxes, generators, towers and foundations, which expand in three dimensions, so weight and material costs increase to the power of 3. "If turbines are going to be more powerful", says Jamieson, "they need to lose weight".
This is forcing the industry to rethink almost every element of turbine design. "In ten years' time offshore wind turbines could look very different from the ones we have today", says Professor Feargal Brennan of Cranfield University Offshore Engineering Department, who has helped develop a new vertical axis turbine design.
At the same time, offshore turbines must become much more reliable. Repairing a turbine on top of a 100 metre tower is far harder at sea than on land, and can be delayed by bad weather and a scarcity of floating cranes – which all cuts energy production and adds cost. The gearbox, with many moving parts working under great stress, is particularly prone to fail; the Thanet project was delayed two years because of gearbox problems with the developers' preferred model at another offshore wind farm. The industry has spent a lot of effort developing alternative approaches, but until now they have all come with major drawbacks including extra weight and expense.
Gearboxes were necessary only because turbine blades move slowly – at about 15RPM – and because early turbine developers used off-the-shelf industrial generators that need to spin at around 1500RPM. You can do away with the gearbox if you replace the relatively small high speed generator with a low speed one, but these 'direct drive' machines need up to twenty times more electromagnets to deliver the same power, and are therefore bigger and heavier. The largest direct drive generator – also the world's biggest onshore turbine – is a 7.5MW machine made by Enercon of Germany that measures 12 metres in diameter. The company refused to answer questions about whether its design is too heavy to grow any further.
To reduce the weight of direct drive machines, other manufacturers such as Siemens, and Goldwind of China, have replaced the heavy electromagnets made of wound copper wire with powerful permanent magnets made from neodymium, a rare earth metal that is naturally highly magnetic. This makes the generator more efficient, smaller and lighter, but the downside is that rare earth metals are, well, rare.
It's not that there is any shortage underground, but production is now concentrated in China, which controls 97% of the world's supply and has a policy of restricting exports. There are large deposits in the US, Russia, Australia, Greenland, and Tanzania, and a number of supply deals have been announced recently, but new mines will take many years to develop. The British Geological Survey and other forecasters predict shortages within the next few years, and these look likely to worsen as green technologies proliferate (see box).
BOX: Green technologies and rare earth metals. Wind turbines that use permanent magnets need about 300 kilos of neodymium per MW, and hybrid vehicles 1kg each for their electric motors. Assuming all wind turbines were made with permanent magnets, a back of the envelope calculation suggests global neodymium production of about 20 thousand tonnes per year would need to double just to provide the wind capacity required to meet the International Energy Agency's 450 Scenario, which holds global warming to 2C. It would have to double again to supply the 750 million hybrids and plug-in hybrids also demanded by the Scenario.
If shortages do emerge and send the neodymium price soaring, carmakers could outbid the wind industry for supplies, according to a report by consultants Oakdene Hollins. That's because if the price of neodymium rose, say, tenfold, it would make far less difference to the final price of a car that needs just 1kg than to a 10MW wind turbine that needs three tonnes. "If you are developing a permanent magnet turbine you should certainly be concerned", says Nick Morley, the report's author.
But if the industry seems confounded at every turn, several solutions are now on the horizon, which each claim to unblock the way for double-digit megawatt turbines.
One recent idea has been to adapt the superconductor technology used in MRI scanners and specialized electricity transmission cables. Superconductors are materials that offer zero electrical resistance when cooled to very low temperatures, which means a superconducting wire can carry 100 times more current than a copper wire of the same diameter. And that means superconductors can be used to make electromagnets with an even higher power-to-weight ratio than neodymium permanent magnets.
American Superconductor has designed a 10MW direct drive turbine called the SeaTitan based on superconducting magnets cooled to around minus 240C that it claims will transform offshore wind market. The company says the machine will weigh the same as a 5MW direct drive turbine with conventional electromagnets, yet produce twice as much power. This could cut overall investment costs by 20% or more, and allow turbines to grow much larger. "Conventional turbines have a real hurdle at around 5-6MW", says company spokesman Jason Fredette, "but superconductors open the way to 20MW machines".
So far the SeaTitan exists only on paper. The company has not yet built a prototype, although it has successfully demonstrated the technology in a 36MW superconducting ship motor it built for the US navy (an electric motor is just a generator working in reverse). American Superconductor says it expects to build the first SeaTitan 'in the next few years' and enter volume production by 'mid decade'.
Another superconductor manufacturer, Zenergy Power of Germany, has also designed 10MW machine, and has begun to build a 500kW prototype with a British company, Converteam, which it expects to finish next year. Chief executive Jens Müller is confident of securing the funding to build the full-sized machine and claims the technology will be fully established by the end of the decade. "The challenge now is to industrialize the supply chain", he says.
Superconducting turbines are intended to slash the weight and increase the power of large, low speed generators, but that's only necessary if you have got rid of the gearbox. An alternative approach would be to stick with the traditional high-speed generator – which is small and well proven – and try to replace the gearbox with something lighter and more reliable.
One obvious contender is hydraulic transmission, which is widely used where a fast, steady source of power like a diesel engine has to drive slow, heavy and irregular work – in diggers or rock crushing machinery for instance – the problem of wind turbines in reverse. But the drawback is that hydraulics are typically very inefficient: even in the best systems, scarcely 80 percent of the energy pumped in does useful work, and the rest is lost to the process. But now a small British company, Artemis Intelligent Power, thinks it has cracked this with a computer controlled hydraulic transmission technology it calls Digital Displacement.
With Digital Displacement the wind turbine blades are connected to a cam shaft that drives a series of hydraulic piston-cylinders arranged around it. These pump fluid through a pipe to drive the cylinders of two hydraulic motors, which in turn drive a pair of standard high speed generators. A computer controls how many of the cylinders are used from one millisecond to the next, using only as many as needed at any given moment, creating an infinitely variable transmission ratio. This dramatically raises the efficiency to well over 90%, and the company hopes to reach 95% eventually. It also means the system can respond instantly to changes in wind speed and keep the generators running at exactly the right, steady speed to deliver grid-quality power – however wild the gusts. That in turn means a Digital Displacement machine can dispense with the expensive power electronics that almost all other turbines need to do that job. Because the system contains far less steel than a gearbox it weighs about half as much, and that should help produce more powerful turbines. "We see our technology getting more competitive as machines get bigger", says managing director Win Rampen.
Mustafa Kayikci, of Manchester-based energy consultants TNEI, whose PhD thesis was on how to incorporate wind power into electricity grids, is impressed with the Artemis approach. "It's not proven yet", he says, "but it could be the ideal solution".
The Japanese engineering giant Mitsubishi Heavy Industries seems to agree. Last December it bought Artemis as part of a £100 million deal, and plans to incorporate Digital Displacement in North Sea turbines by the middle of the decade. "This is a massive vote of confidence in our technology", says Rampen.
However much weight newer turbine designs can shed, they would still sit atop a 100 metre tower. And some say that's the real problem: not so much the weight per se, but where you put it. Structurally conventional wind turbines are "trying to hold up a sledgehammer in the wind" says entrepreneur Theo Bird, the founder of Wind Power Ltd, a British company developing a turbine that turns conventional thinking if not on its head, then at least on its side.
Today's turbines make life difficult for themselves by putting all their weight at the top of a long lever that the wind is constantly trying to knock down. That creates huge forces that will ultimately limit the size and power of all conventional machines, says Bird. His answer is the Aerogenerator X, a 10MW vertical axis design featuring two diagonally outstretched arms with rigid sails at the end, which is shorter and wider than a normal turbine. There is no tower, and the arms rotate horizontally around a base that houses the generating equipment. Because the weight is concentrated at the bottom of the structure it is not so critical, and this means the design could work with any type of generator or gearbox. It also makes the structure more stable, meaning the foundations can be smaller. The company claims its machine would be half the cost of a conventional turbine, but refuses to disclose detailed figures.
The Aerogenerator would have a number of practical benefits. The generating equipment should be much easier to access and maintain, cutting downtime and cost, and the stability of the design makes it well suited to floating platforms that could operate in deeper water where the wind is stronger. And critically the design also lends itself to much larger machines. "Vertical axis machines are not limited by the strength of existing materials in the same way as conventional turbines", says Professor Feargal Brennan of Cranfield University Offshore Engineering Department.
Cranfield was part of a group of British universities and specialist engineering companies that helped Wind Power develop the Aerogenerator, with funding from the Energy Technology Institute (ETI), whose remit is to bring the cost of offshore wind down to the level of onshore. Wind Power is waiting to hear if the ETI will fund the next phase of detailed design work, but either way Bird plans to build a 1MW machine in 2012, and a wind farm of 5MW machines by 2015. "It's a pretty whacky concept at first sight, but we've really kicked the tyres and we're very convinced it's plausible", says Professor Brennan. "It could be a game changer".
Maybe so, but there could be stiff competition for that title from superconductors and hydraulic transmission – and a rash of other developments. Clipper is developing the Britannia, a prototype 10MW machine with an improved gearbox that reduces loads by a factor of four; EDP of Portugal will test turbines on floating platforms this year; and Gamesa is leading a Spanish industry study to research the technologies needed to build a 15MW machine. While the challenges of offshore wind remain formidable, the industry is not short of ideas.


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Holdenone, LLC is a new, innovative company whose purpose is to bring fun, exciting and extraordinary concepts to the marketplace. All of our products are geared towards making life more enjoyable, while, at the same time, they are useful and practical.
Contact Info
Holdenone LLC
26 Harbor Park Drive
Port Washington, NY 11050
(888) 386-1288


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UV Neon Nail Polish
With a choice of hot colours, UV Reactive Neon Nail Polish can really make you stand out and add a glowing explosion to your nails. With brands such as Stargazer, La Femme and W7 all making neon nail polish it shows you how popular it is.
We try and test all of our nail polish and can confirm that none of them chip easily and all glowed under the UV lights. They are very bright and neon when not in the UV black lights so you could use it to just add a bright neon colour to your nails.


text: \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIngredients Needed: \n\n1 packet Apple Cherry Dip Mix\n\n1 pkg. yellow cake mix\n3 eggs\n1-1\/4 cups water\n1\/3 cup oil\n1 cup sour cream\n\nPreheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, place ALL ingredients. With an electric mixer, blend on low speed, then mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Pour batter into a greased bundt or tube pan. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until done. The cake is done when top springs back to touch or when a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean. cool slightly in pan and then invert onto a serving plate. Pour glaze over warm cake. Spoon any excess glaze from the plate back onto the cake.\nGlaze:\n\n1 cup powdered sugar\n1 Tablespoon maraschino cherry juice or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract\n1 to 2 Tablespoons milk, to reach desired consistency\n\nDownload Recipe Sheets


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Carnivore 2 Software update
RBSC has announced the big update for Carnivore2.
To avoid unnecessary questions please make sure to read the "readme.txt" file. We also have the illustrated English documentation for the cartridge.
All the files can be found in the Carnivore2 repository on GitHub.
List of changes:
15.03.2020 (required updates: FPGA firmware, Boot Menu, all utilities, DefConfig entry; the "Power-up fix" must be removed if it was implemented on board!)
- The new setup screen was introduced - slot configuration. It can be called with "O" hotkey or with "Enter". The new setup screen allows to run dual-slot configuration with flexible options selection for the master slot (you can choose what Carnivore2 built-in devices to enable). You can select 2 ROMs to run simultaneously. The only restriction for the slave slot is that it can run games with Konami4 and Konami5 mappers as well as small games up to 32kb without mapper. The slave slot becomes available if there's one unused physical slot in MSX and it is not occupied by another device
- The Boot Menu main page's UI was adjusted to have all main hotkeys easily visible. Also the Boot Menu now has the visible selection for master and slave slots called "Dual-Slot". The entry for the master slot can be selected by pressing "1", the entry for the slave slot can be selected by pressing "2". The "D" key clears the selection as well as Autostart entry
- The DefConfig's settings were changed and the Boot Menu was adjusted so that when this default configuration is started, the Boot Menu remains in the primary slot, allows the system to start and is always detectable by C2MAN and other utilities. The C2MAN and C2MAN40 utilities now write the adjusted DefConfig entry into the directory when you optimize directory entries from the Service Menu
- A new setting has been added into the Configuration screen to set the desired frequency at startup. A user can choose between 50Hz, 60Hz and the default computer's frequency (no forcing, this is marked as "--"). The setting is saved into the configuration EEPROM. Now the "F" button in the Boot Menu only temporarily switches the frequency between 50Hz and 60Hz
- The Configuration screen got yet another new setting - "Dual-reset on cold boot". It makes the computer restart twice after the cold boot. This is necessary to make sure that the cartridge is fully initialized when a computer is just powered on. So it is recommended to enable the dual-reset feature
- The C2CFGBCK utility no longer does the BIOS ROM shadowing and therefore starts faster
- The Boot Menu's data section has been heavily optimized to have space for more features. The repeated characters are now output with a macros (this saves space). The data for Boot Menu's screens is now written in the last two 8kb blocks of the first 64kb FlashROM block. This saves a lot of space.
- The firmware now reports its internal version in the configuration registers (3 bytes) in ASCII format (only starting from v2.30)
- The cartridge now outputs the actual versions of the Boot Menu and the firmware during the cold boot and then either reboots a system again (dual-reset) or continues to the Boot Menu
- The cartridge will not work in slot 0 and slot 3, it will output a message and halt a system if it detects that it's used in those slots
- The IDE BIOS has been changed to Nextor 2.1.0 Beta 2. This is a stable version with many bugfixes and new features provided by Konamiman
- The Configuration screen got another new setting - "Disable FMPAC stereo". It disables the stereo output of FMPAC from Carnivore2's audio socket
- The Boot Menu now detects that it is running on Korean or Arabic MSXs and in case it is not compatible with those systems, it will output a message and will try to boot to DOS after 10 seconds. In such a case a compatible Boot Menu (BOOTCMFC.BIN) should be installed into the cartridge (see the "Special" subfolder in the repository for the compatible version of the Boot Menu
- ROMs can be selected with the "Space" key in the Dual-Slot screen. Pressing space will allow to cycle through compatible ROMs for each slot. After the full cycle there will be an "empty" selection to keep the slot vacant. In addition, the master slot can also use the "Konami SCC+" configuration. So you can run SCC+ games in the slave slot and enjoy SCC+ and a game on a single cartridge. When the master slot's expansion is enabled, any of its devices (RAM, FMPAC, IDE) can be enabled or disabled with the "Space" key
- The autostart countdown can be skipped with "Space" key. The same applies to the message about the incompatible Boot Menu
- All screens now support joystick. The joystick's directions are interpreted as cursor keys and the buttons are interpreted as "Space" or "ESC". Please see the readme.txt for more info
- In the PSG/PPI settings the "Space" key now enables or disables the PSG and the "Enter" key enables or disables the PPI clicker. This is done to better support joystick usage in this screen
- During the autostart countdown joystick buttons allow to either skip the countdown and start an entry or to cancel the countdown and go to the main menu. Please see the readme.txt for more info
- The Boot Menu detects Russian network modules and halts a system to prevent conflicts
We have a few non-critical issues in this release, that will be addressed in the next version. If you would like to report a bug or ask for a new feature, please feel free to create a ticket through the Carnivore 2 Issues Tracker


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Perhaps the nation's capital should also be dubbed the City of Brotherly Love, at least for this Father's Day weekend.
One million fathers have been invited to stand united at Lincoln Memorial on Saturday, June 20, to participate in the National Rally for Responsible Fatherhood on Behalf of America's Children in honor of the centennial anniversary. The National Partnership for Community Leadership (NPCL) along with 40 other prominent fatherhood organizations nationwide will cohost the rally where fathers will take an oath of commitment to their kids and families to be responsible.
This united front comes a day after President Obama holds his first Town Hall meeting on fatherhood on Friday, June 19.
Attendees will enjoy performances by Grammy Award-winning and multiplatinum-selling group All 4 One, the Native American ensemble, Standing Buffalo singer, Colurs Performing Arts Group and more. Invited guests include award-winning journalist and founder of "Daddy's Promise" and other notables.—KNB
For more information, visit www.fathersdayrally.com


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All are welcome to learn more and join music ministry at St. Hubert! Music helps congregants worship the Lord during Mass and other liturgies.
Learn more about the music opportunities below, and get in touch.
High school age and older - prepare and perform choral music of many genres including gospel, traditional, contemporary and original compositions and arrangements. Seasonal studies of appropriate liturgical music.
Rehearsals for Adult Choir are Thursdays at 7:00 pm in the Music Room
Available to all parishioners with limited time commitments.
As the seasons change, temporary membership may fit the bill for you.
Available for all ensembles.
The Small Ensemble part of the Music Department is designed for all musicians - congregation-wide - who are interested in occasionally gifting the Assembly with their talents. This includes keyboardists, woodwind and brass players, percussionists, guitarists, harpists – just about any musical instrumentalist willing to come forward with the intent of further enhancing the depth our Liturgies. If you are not quite sure what to play, music arrangements can be created to meet your needs. Although some of the Church calendar seasons require less instrumentation than others, the majority of the year offers tremendous opportunity for musical expression and style.
Rehearsals: On an individual basis
Contact the
Individuals lead the congregation to new heights of singing and worshiping.
Occasionally, the cantor will solo for different liturgies, but it is NOT a requirement.
Men's voices. This Ensemble brings the music of past centuries into our beautiful contemporary setting. It displays the essence of our origins as a Church, and has become a very popular and honored addition to St. Hubert's Music Ministry.
Thursdays after the Adult Choir rehearsals in the Music Room at approximately 8:30 pm
Grades 3 through 8 - a variety of age and seasonally appropriate music ranging from Latin to contemporary. This ensemble catches the congregation's attention every time.
Thursdays from 6:00 to 7:00 pm in the Music Room
All ages welcome. This amazing ministry offers support to families and friends by their presence at funerals and various liturgies as needed throughout the church calendar.
Resurrection/Funeral Choir is "On Call"
8th grade on up - musical enhancement of liturgy by means of bells rung by hand. The music covers all genres of styles for all occasions throughout the regular choir seasons.
Bell Choir Rehearsals: Tuesdays at 7:00 pm in the Music Room.


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Moe's Meats and Bones is famous (in our minds at least) for carrying the best raw meat, whole bones, yummy treats, and CBD products that money or digital currency can buy. Use the search bar or category fields below to get started, add your products to the bowl, submit your order request, and we will get back to you via email to confirm your order.
We can ship freeze dried meats, treats, and CBD to any state. We do not ship frozen meat. Pickup for all products is in NE Portland, Oregon.


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We pride ourselves on working with some of the best specialists and professionals in their field and we're always interested in new talent.
You'll find our workplace a little different to other firms. We strive to create a dynamic, fun and attractive place to work and we are all very much part of a team.
If you are looking for a career with a modern, engaging law firm, wish to join one of the best property teams in the country, or are seeking a high-quality financial working environment, please give us a call. While we don't always advertise vacancies, we always invest in the right people.
If you are looking for a career with a modern, engaging law firm, wish to join one of the best property teams in the country, or are seeking a high-quality financial working environment, please give us a call.
Our values are the behavioural compass by which we interact with each other and our clients. They outline our desired culture and our focus for the future. They encourage us to be true and passionate about the services and skills that we offer, help us leverage our collective genius, and motivate us to be real, accountable and committed.
We continually strive towards being 'true' to the company, our colleagues and our clients. Our loyalty may be tested at times but its how we respond that matters. We care about reputation, and stay true to our word and our cause.
We always look to celebrate our successes and create a friendly and energetic environment that enables us to do our best work. We come to work to make a difference, and with the client first and foremost in our minds.
We show our passion for what we do by delighting our clients through the high quality of our work. Our clients expect us to demonstrate tenacity and drive when tackling their individual challenges. Our passion shows them we care.
In our fast-paced industry, we attack each day and challenge with renewed vigour. We own and deliver our targets with relish, and by being proactive, achieve our goals and succeed for our clients and support our colleagues.
No matter their standing in work or in life, every person matters. We welcome debate and an open forum where everyone is valued, expect high standards from ourselves and our colleagues and are always accountable for our actions.
We always approach our work with a holistic mindset, thinking outside the box of law or the confines of the transaction. We challenge the conventional and look at the wider landscape, as well as the immediate issue.


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On December 31, 2003 the entire editorial board of the Journal of Algorithms resigned due to pricing policies of Elsevier Press. Submissions that are currently in the review process will be handled as usual by that editorial board; accepted papers will continue to appear in issues of the Journal of Algorithms. No action is required by authors of papers that are currently submitted to Journal of Algorithms. However no new submissions to Journal of Algorithms will be processed by the current editorial board.
On January 21, 2004 the ACM Publications Board approved a proposal for a new journal dedicated to Algorithms, Transactions on Algorithms (TALG). TALG's editorial board is the editorial board that resigned from Journal of Algorithms. The three Editors of JALG, Zvi Galil, David Johnson and Don Knuth, are members of the new editorial board. I'm very happy to take over from them as Editor-in-Chief of TALG.
Material on the resignation:


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American Life in Poetry
Although this poem by North Carolina native Ron Rash may seem to be just about trout fishing, it is the first of several poems Rash has written about his cousin who died years ago. Indirectly, the poet gives us clues about this loss. By the end, we see that in passing from life to death, the fishs colors dull; so, too, may fade the memories of a cherished life long lost.
Speckled Trout
Water-flesh gleamed like mica:
orange fins, red flankspots, a char
shy as ginseng, found only
in spring-flow gaps, the thin clear
of faraway creeks no map
could name. My cousin showed me
those hidden places. I loved
how we found them, the way we
followed no trail, just stream-sound
tangled in rhododendron,
to where slow water opened
a hole to slip a line in
and lift as from a well bright
shadows of another world,
held in my hand, their color
already starting to fade.
First published in Weber Studies, 1996, and reprinted from Raising the Dead, Iris Press, 2002, by permission of the author. Copyright 1996 by Ron Rash, a writer and professor of Appalachian Cultural Studies at Western Carolina University, whose newest novel is Saints at the River, Picador Press, 2005. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. This column does not accept unsolicited poetry.Send comments to [email protected]


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Romantic Getaways this Valentine's Day
Hey, guess what. Flowers and chocolates aren't the only way to tempt your Valentine. Romance needs a dash of the unexpected and an occasional visit to the unknown. The solution: this year, nothing says "I love you" like a room key. There are deals to be had, even last minute, so get moving and do something spontaneous and sexy. From Dublin and beaches of Bermuda to the California Coast and Colorado, these boutique hotels and intimate resorts are prepared to spoil you and your Very Significant Other with inspired getaways and indulgent overnighters made for memories.
Where better to spend Valentine's Day than in the Old World splendor of the very city where St. Valentine found his final resting place. One of Dublin's finest hotels, the five-star Merrion, a discreet collection of several Georgian townhouses, has created three different packages to meet the whims of lovers of all types. The "Real Love" package includes tickets to Tom Stoppard's the "Real Thing" at the Gate Theatre, as well as overnight accommodation, full Irish breakfast in bed, a bottle of chilled rosé champagne, Valentine's chocolates and a Champagne afternoon tea. Available February 13 to 15; priced €515 (approximately $714), per couple, per night. "Lasting Love" features an overnight stay, full Irish breakfast, a bottle of chilled Rosé Champagne, Valentine's chocolates and a bunch of red roses upon arrival. Available throughout February, priced at €380 per couple (approximately $527), per night. "All Loved Up" offers guests a luxurious double room with full Irish breakfast, a bottle of chilled rosé champagne and Valentines chocolates upon arrival, and a candlelit, three-course meal in The Merrion's Cellar Restaurant. Available Saturday, February 14; priced at €530 (approximately $735) per couple, per night.
A colonial-era hacienda lovingly restored by its owners, Hacienda Xcanatun is an evocative setting for a romantic respite located near Merida, the Yucatan's "white city" known for it's whitewashed historic buildings. In addition to allowing guests to celebrate for three nights and pay for just two, the boutique property's Valentine Escape for Two package includes a complementary candlelight "Food of the Gods" dinner, an innovative menu featuring local ingredients which celebrates the Mayans love affair with flowers and chocolate. Available February 11 through 19; priced at $500 per couple, Superior room;$570, Deluxe Suite; $630 in a Master Suite.
Kimpton Hotel's boutique property in LA's Westwood neighborhood, the Hotel Palomar, encourages intimate encounters with their "Rub the One You're With" getaway package. The romantic retreat includes an in-room massage class where couples learn from a professional massage therapist how to pamper through the art of touch. Other amenities include a take-home massage kit featuring Kerstin Florian organic botanicals, a welcome bottle of Champagne as well as deluxe overnight accommodations. Available February 1 through March 31; priced at $399 per couple, per night.
The newly opened Resort at Pelican Hill wants to indulge you and your amour at their swank resort in Newport Beach, CA. Spend the night sequestered in one of their spacious European-style villas, where you can sip Prosecco and nibble on chocolate-covered strawberries by the limestone fireplace or on your terrace overlooking the Pacific. Add a candlelit dinner or couple's spa treatment into the Valentine's Day mix or meander along the arroyos and coastline as you play a round on their Tom Fazio golf course (but only if both partners like to golf, right boys?). For those that want to go big in the sweep-her-off-her-feet department, the "Ultimate Engagement" package means the resort's Bentley fetches lovebirds anywhere in southern California, then chauffeurs them to a two-bedroom grandiose villa where a custom-tailored haute cuisine meal and a live musician await. In-room massages and breakfast in bed round out the perfect getaway. The 504-acre Italian-style resort, set on the dramatic coastline, boasts an iconic Coliseum Pool, the largest circular pool anywhere with tiered decks and luxurious cabanas. February means the whales are passing by so kick back with a fluffy cocktail on that padded lounge chair and make counting water sprays in the sunshine the most strenuous activity of the day. Well, second most… Specials run February 13, 14 and 15th, starting at $795 per night and up to $5000 for the Bentley extravaganza.
Jet off to Maui for a scintillating spa weekend at The Ritz-Carlton Kapalua. A surprise telelgram can be delivered to your room requesting your mate's presence and a personal spa concierge will help your paramour pick a perfect treatment. Running with the theme that Valentine's Day equals champagne and sweets, the resort's spa has several indulgent choices like their hydrating chocolate truffle body facial or a champagne sugar body scrub. Couples can also experience traditional Hawaiian bodywork called lomi lomi side by side, then sip champagne in sybaritic bliss. Such special treatments are discounted and available for the month of February, starting at $150 per person.
Thinking about getting engaged? 9 Beaches is an ideal romantic spot. This chilled out barefoot camp is spread over 18 private waterfront acres on the western-most tip of Bermuda. Surrounded by a sapphire sea and nine beautiful beaches, couples sleep in soft-sided luxury cabanas on stilts with views across the Atlantic Ocean. Several perch right over the water with Plexiglas floor panels to reveal tropical fish fluttering underfoot. In addition to all the delights on land, aquatic pleasures also abound: Hobie cats, catamarans, sea kayaks, snorkeling, windsurfing, and diving offer alternative activities for those who like to stay active–the perfect place to unwind with your loved one. There is even an on-site wedding coordinator if things go really well! Rates start at $205-570 depending on season and room type, includes breakfast only. For reservations call toll free 1-866-841-9009 or call the hotel directly at 1-441-239-2999 / Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
If you really want to get far away from it all, Chumbe Island is a marine sanctuary off the coast of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean, surrounded by one of the world's best preserved shallow reefs with over 200 species of coral and 400 fish set in a castaway environment. Eco-bungalows that look like wooden models of the Sydney Opera House jut out over coral rocks and turquoise waters, rising up in perfect harmony with their natural surroundings. Chumbe has all the attractions of an island paradise – teeming coral reefs, swaying palm trees, thick coral-rag forests and sublime cuisine – but it's as far removed from a typical holiday resort as you'll get. There are no cocktail bars, catamarans, swimming pools, televisions or even electricity. If you're looking for entertainment it's all provided courtesy of nature. After a day basking on the reef and looking down, at night guests can lower their portcullis and look up to reveal a dazzling blanket of stars spread out above them, making it an ideal place for both lovers and nature-lovers. For general information inquiries, call or fax: +255-(0) 24-2231040 or email: email@example.com / bookings: firstname.lastname@example.com.
For a romantic mountainside retreat, check into the elegant Hotel Jerome in Aspen. You and your loved one will feel like you have stepped back to a bygone era in this historic Victorian-style gem that was built in 1889. This sophisticated hotel has been elegantly restored and updated with luxurious finishings and features a magical three-story atrium with a cozy fireplace, individually decorated rooms with rich damask fabrics, king-size beds, down comforters, feather pillows, and 300-thread-count linens. The hotel's Fire and Ice special includes two nights in a one-bedroom suite, bottle of Champagne upon arrival, chocolate-covered strawberries at turndown, two 50-minute in-room couples massages, and daily breakfast for two at either Jacob's Corner or room service. If you make it out of the room and onto the slopes, the hotel has its own ski concierge to dry your boots and purchase lift tickets. Rates start at $1,775 per night.
For the ultimate in luxury travel, check into Parrot Cay. Located in Turks and Caicos, just a 30-minute boat ride from the capital of Provo, this luxury resort will definitely put you in the mood for love. With pristine turquoise waters, powder white sand, sumptuous restuarants, and luxurious interiors, it is easy to see why so many bold-face names have chosen to get married here. The sophisticated rooms perfectly blend a mixture of Balinese and Caribbean influences. The interiors reflect simplistic elegance: white muslin curtains surrounding the four-poster beds, zen-inspired black and white photos on the walls, and white wicker furnishings. For an unforgettable Valentine's Day, book a three-night Rejuvination Escape that includes daily breakfast, daily three-course lunch, daily three-course dinner, and one COMO Shambala massage per person. Rates through April 19 are $3,385 for a Garden View and $3,985 for and Ocean View room.
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2 Comments
The Caribbean has really that alluring factor that attracts people and celebrities to get hitched anywhere in this island
Hey,I'd go for island, For the hopelessly romantic, the island is the absolutely picture perfect for an unforgettable romantic getaways. do you agree.