text:
When I first came across the web as a computer scientist in the mid-90s, I was struck by the sheer volume of information online, in contrast with how hard it was to find what you were looking for. It was then that I first started thinking about search, and I've been fascinated by the problem ever since.
We've made tremendous progress over the past 22 years, making Google Search work better for you every day. With recent advancements in AI, we're making bigger leaps forward in improvements to Google than we've seen over the last decade, so it's even easier for you to find just what you're looking for. Today during our Search On livestream, we shared how we're bringing the most advanced AI into our products to further our mission to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.
Helping you find exactly what you're
looking for
At the heart of Google Search is our ability to understand your query and rank relevant results for that query. We've invested deeply in language understanding research, and last year we introduced how BERT language understanding systems are helping to deliver more relevant results in Google Search. Today we're excited to share that BERT is now used in almost every query in English, helping you get higher quality results for your questions. We're also sharing several new advancements to search ranking, made possible through our latest research in AI:
We've continued to improve our ability to understand misspelled words, and for good reason—one in 10 queries every day are misspelled. Today, we're introducing a new spelling algorithm that uses a deep neural net to significantly improve our ability to decipher misspellings. In fact, this single change makes a greater improvement to spelling than all of our improvements over the last five years.
Very specific searches can be the hardest to get right, since sometimes the single sentence that answers your question might be buried deep in a web page. We've recently made a breakthrough in ranking and are now able to not just index web pages, but individual passages from the pages. By better understanding the relevancy of specific passages, not just the overall page, we can find that needle-in-a-haystack information you're looking for. This technology will improve 7 percent of search queries across all languages as we roll it out globally.
We've applied neural nets to understand subtopics around an interest, which helps deliver a greater diversity of content when you search for something broad. As an example, if you search for "home exercise equipment," we can now understand relevant subtopics, such as budget equipment, premium picks, or small space ideas, and show a wider range of content for you on the search results page. We'll start rolling this out by the end of this year.
Access to high quality information during COVID-19
We're making several new improvements to help you navigate your world and get things done more safely and efficiently. Live busyness updates show you how busy a place is right now so you can more easily social distance, and we've added a new feature to Live View to help you get essential information about a business before you even step inside. We're also adding COVID-19 safety information front and center on Business Profiles across Google Search and Maps. This will help you know if a business requires you to wear a mask, if you need to make an advance reservation, or if the staff is taking extra safety precautions, like temperature checks. And we've used our Duplex conversational technology to help local businesses keep their information up-to-date online, such as opening hours and store inventory.
Understanding key moments in videos
Using a new AI-driven approach, we're now able to understand the deep semantics of a video and automatically identify key moments. This lets us tag those moments in the video, so you can navigate them like chapters in a book. Whether you're looking for that one step in a recipe tutorial, or the game-winning home run in a highlights reel, you can easily find those moments. We've started testing this technology this year, and by the end of 2020 we expect that 10 percent of searches on Google will use this new technology.Deepening understanding through data
Sometimes the best search result is a statistic. But often stats are buried in large datasets and not easily comprehensible or accessible online. Since 2018, we've been working on the Data Commons Project, an open knowledge database of statistical data started in collaboration with the U.S. Census, Bureau of Labor Statistics, World Bank and many others. Bringing these datasets together was a first step, and now we're making this information more accessible and useful through Google Search.
Now when you ask a question like "how many people work in Chicago ," we use natural language processing to map your search to one specific set of the billions of data points in Data Commons to provide the right stat in a visual, easy to understand format. You'll also find other relevant data points and context—like stats for other cities—to help you easily explore the topic in more depth.
Helping quality journalism through advanced search
Quality journalism often comes from long-term investigative projects, requiring time consuming work sifting through giant collections of documents, images and audio recordings. As part of Journalist Studio, our new suite of tools to help reporters do their work more efficiently, securely, and creatively through technology, we're launching Pinpoint, a new tool that brings the power of Google Search to journalists. Pinpoint helps reporters quickly sift through hundreds of thousands of documents by automatically identifying and organizing the most frequently mentioned people, organizations and locations. Reporters can sign up to request access to Pinpoint starting this week.
Search what you see, and explore
information in 3D
For many topics, seeing is key to understanding. Several new features in Lens and AR in Google Search help you learn, shop, and discover the world in new ways. Many of us are dealing with the challenges of learning from home, and with Lens, you can now get step-by-step homework help on math, chemistry, biology and physics problems. Social distancing has also dramatically changed how we shop, so we're making it easier to visually shop for what you're looking for online, whether you're looking for a sweater or want a closer look at a new car but can't visit a showroom.
If you don't know how to search it, sing it
We've all had that experience of having a tune stuck in our head, but can't quite remember the lyrics. Now, when those moments arise, you just have to hum to search, and our AI models can match the melody to the right song.
What sets Google Search apart
There has never been more choice in the ways people access information, and we need to constantly develop cutting-edge technology to ensure that Google remains the most useful and most trusted way to search. Four key elements form the foundation for all our work to improve Search and answer trillions of queries every year. These elements are what makes Google helpful and reliable for the people who come to us each day to find information.
Understanding all the world's information
We're focused on deeply understanding all the world's information, whether that information is contained in words on web pages, in images or videos, or even in the places and objects around us. With investments in AI, we're able to analyze and understand all types of information in the world, just as we did by indexing web pages 22 years ago. We're pushing the boundaries of what it means to understand the world, so before you even type in a query, we're ready to help you explore new forms of information and insights never before available.
The highest quality information
People rely on Search for the highest quality information available, and our commitment to quality has always been what set Google apart from day one. Every year we launch thousands of improvements to make Search better, and rigorously test each of these changes to ensure people find them helpful. Our ranking factors and policies are applied fairly to all websites, and this has led to widespread access to a diversity of information, ideas and viewpoints.
World class privacy and security
To keep people and their data safe, we invest in world class privacy and security. We've led the industry in keeping you safe while searching with Safe Browsing and spam protection. We believe that privacy is a universal right and are committed to giving every user the tools they need to be in control.
Open access for everyone
Last—but certainly not least—we are committed to open access for everyone. We aim to help the open web thrive, sending more traffic to the open web every year since Google was created. Google is free for everyone, accessible on any device, in more than 150 languages around the world, and we continue to expand our ability to serve people everywhere.
So wherever you are, whatever you're looking for, however you're able to sing, spell, say, or visualize it, you can search on with Google.


text:
Free Standard Shipping with any online purchase of $75 (merchandise subtotal is calculated before sales tax and after any discounts or coupons). Excludes orders shipping items with shipping surcharges. Orders that qualify for Free Standard Shipping will reflect shipping discount in cart. If you select a shipping method other than Standard, shipping charges will apply.
Standard Shipping fee for orders under $75 is a flat rate of $7.99. Items with a shipping surcharge will also include the flat rate if Standard Shipping is chosen. Flat shipping rate is subject to change at any time. If you select a shipping method other than Standard, additional shipping charges will apply.
The Paper Store does not ship to Hawaii or Alaska at this time.
Limited shipping offers are not valid on prior purchases. Shipping offers may be modified or concluded at any time.
Add a trendy touch of inspiration to your bracelet stack with this comfortable stretch bracelet from the Little Words Project! The stunning crystal beads offer plenty of color and texture, and the letter beads spell out "FAMILY" - perfect for anyone with strong family bonds.
Vendor Style: 12WFAMMSH1
Pinch to Zoom

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Grand Theft Auto V sold 11.2 million units on its release day, grossing $1B in its opening weekend – more than four times the highest-grossing film. How did video games become such big business and change the way an entire generation spends its leisure time? It started back in 1972, and it started with Pong – Al Alcorn's first engineering project and an accidental runaway hit. Pong's simplicity and arcade success drove Atari to bring the arcade into the home, and video games became the gateway drug to computer literacy for an entire generation of people.
But Atari's reign at the top didn't last for long. With so many consoles, so many games, and developers unwilling to pare down its platform selection, the video game industry crashed in 1983. In swooped Nintendo, a Japanese conglomerate with a Disney-like discipline for imagining family-friendly characters and addictive gameplay. Donkey Kong and Super Mario Bros. reinvigorated the industry, and by 1990, after the release of their handheld Gameboy, Nintendo boasted a baffling 95% market share.
A succession of usurpers came at Nintendo, starting with Sega and their Genesis console. They made a name for themselves as an edgy group of renegades: promoting women to executive leadership positions, taking over whole towns to earn retail space, developing combative advertising campaigns, and all-but ignoring Nintendo's target demographic. When Sega chose not to go jointly create a console with Sony, though, Sony struck out on their own with the PlayStation – effectively killing Sega's console business. Microsoft's Xbox soon followed, and video games became the megalithic industry it is today. With VR, AR and new markets opening up all over the world, the game is just beginning … even after all these years.
"If anyone can do what you're doing, you don't really have a strategy."
What you'll hear in this episode
- The video game that sold 11.2 million copies in 24 hours
- An arcade game that broke because it worked a little too well
- There's a connection between the women's liberation movement and Pong
- That time Atari took their first home console to a toy show and sold nothing
- "Leave luck to heaven."
- Two plumbers, a hedgehog, and a giant gorilla
- The pocket calculator on a bullet train that kickstarted an industry
- Let's go to the front lines of the console wars
- How do you make Wal-Mart wish it never said no?
- Why more companies should have a "Golden Chicken Award"
- Console wars, Part II
- The new version of Pong that 2017 desperately needs right now
Guest List
- Nolan Bushnell Is a technology pioneer, entrepreneur and scientist. He is best known as the founder of Atari Corporation and Chuck E. Cheese Pizza Time Theater. Over the past four decades he's founded numerous other companies including Catalyst Technologies, Etak, Androbot, ByVideo.
- Blake Harris Is the author of Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation.
- Tegan Jones Is the co-host of the gaming/lifestyle podcast "Sass Effect." She's also an editor for Gizmodo Australia, Kotaku Australia and Lifehacker Australia.
- Steven L. Kent Is the author of The Ultimate History of Video Games. He's contributed to publications such as the Seattle Times, Electronic Games, Computer Entertainment News, USA Today and the Chicago Tribune. He also writes military science fiction novels.
- Tom Kalinske Is the former CEO of Mattel, Matchbox, and president and CEO of Sega of America, Inc. and Leapfrog. He is currently the Executive Chairman of Global Education Learning, a company dedicated to children's education in China.


text:
- Acupuncture and NAET Center8229 Boone Boulevard
Suite 402
Vienna, VA571-306-8389 Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Clinic Hours
Mon9 am - 5 pmWed9 am - 5 pmFri9 am - 5 pmSat9 am - 3 pm
Latest Articles:
- • Enjoying Summer's Bounty •
- • Your Summer Garden Checklist •
- • A Guide to Summer Self-Care •
- Sign up to receive news and updates and get my free report:"The Top 10 Reasons to Try Acupuncture"
Tag Archives: prostate
Acupuncture for a Healthy Prostate
Prostate health might not be at the top of every guy's health checklist but it's important for men to get checked and get checked early if they have a family history of issues or cancer. And while it isn't talked about very much, there is some promising research showing acupuncture is an effective treatment option for prostate health issues.
Posted in Acupuncture, prostate health
Also tagged acupuncture, cancer, seniors, tcm
Comments Off on Acupuncture for a Healthy Prostate
Seven Ways Acupuncture Can Help Men's Health
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a complete medical system that has been around for nearly 3,000 years. It combines nutrition, herbs, acupuncture and other modalities to help keep the body functioning properly, while also treating any ailments that might occur. TCM has been used to treat both men and women, regardless of their age, and TCM is frequently becoming the
Posted in Acupuncture, Men's Health, Traditional Chinese Medicine
Also tagged father's day, health, heart, men
Comments Off on Seven Ways Acupuncture Can Help Men's Health
Acupuncture and Prostate Health
Whether you are looking to reduce your risk of prostate disease or treat an existing condition, acupuncture may be able to help. Because of its holistic approach, acupuncture can help relieve symptoms associated with prostate problems like frequent and painful urination.
A report titled Traditional Chinese Medicine and Prostate Health published by Pacific College found Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to
Posted in Acupuncture, Men's Health, Wellness
Also tagged cancer, health, men
Comments Off on Acupuncture and Prostate Health


text:
MakeIndex License
MakeIndex Distribution Notice
Copyright (C) 1989 by Chen & Harrison International Systems, Inc.
Copyright (C) 1988 by Olivetti Research Center
Copyright (C) 1987 by Regents of the University of California
Pehong Chen (email@example.com)
Chen & Harrison International Systems, Inc.
Palo Alto, California
Permission is hereby granted to make and distribute original copies of this program provided that the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved and provided that the recipient is not asked to waive or limit his right to redistribute copies as allowed by this permission notice and provided that anyone who receives an executable form of this program is granted access to a machine-readable form of the source code for this program at a cost not greater than reasonable reproduction, shipping, and handling costs. Executable forms of this program distributed without the source code must be accompanied by a conspicuous copy of this permission notice and a statement that tells the recipient how to obtain the source code.
Permission is granted to distribute modified versions of all or part of this program under the conditions above with the additional requirement that the entire modified work must be covered by a permission notice identical to this permission notice. Anything distributed with and usable only in conjunction with something derived from this program, whose useful purpose is to extend or adapt or add capabilities to this program, is to be considered a modified version of this program under the requirement above. Ports of this program to other systems not supported in the distribution are also considered modified versions. All modified versions should be reported back to the author.
This program is distributed with no warranty of any sort. No contributor accepts responsibility for the consequences of using this program or for whether it serves any particular purpose.
There is no standard license header for the license


text:
Burn Lab Pro®:
Empowering champions.
For competitive weightlifters, training in a calorie deficit is brutal.
Team USA powerlifter Natalie Johnson knows the physical demands of cutting weight in such a high energy sport.
She can't afford to feel fatigued in the gym.
Discover how Burn Lab Pro® helps Natalie stay powerful right up to competition day.
"Entering a calorie deficit can be exhausting!"
Natalie Johnson
Getting competition ready is a challenge in itself...
Before Natalie even grips the bar, she must be in peak physical condition.
Not just feeling strong and full of energy. But also making her weight class.
With no room for error.
It could be the difference between a championship-winning lift - and not lifting at all.
Weightlifting is a really high energy sport. I don't have time to be feeling sluggish.
Burn Lab Pro® will be your driving force.
A ground-breaking fat-burning formula designed to protect and preserve muscle mass - even during a calorie deficit.
Supporting harder, more intense training. So, you can burn more calories. And realise your body goals quicker.
I noticed my recovery getting better and energy levels were higher. My numbers on the scale kept improving.
"I could put in the same amount of work but get accelerated results."
Natalie Johnson
Which is what we all want, right?
Because let's be real - shifting body fat is tough!
And there's only ONE way to do it...
You cut calories in the kitchen. And build muscle in the gym.
Burn Lab Pro® is designed for performance, not cheating.
Burn Lab Pro® is not designed to replace your diet and training - but to compliment them. Making BOTH work better.
Helping you to get your workouts done. And to stick to your diet.
Because nobody ever sculpted a perfect six-pack laying on the couch watching Netflix, with a box of donuts in their lap.
Drive the final nail in the coffin of unwanted body fat.
If you're already doing the work, Burn Lab Pro® can take your fat loss to the next level.
Unleashing a range of research-backed benefits that can supercharge the results of ANY fitness-driven fat loss program.
Burn Lab Pro® is the world's cleanest and most effective stim-free fat-burning support.
A potent stack of premium grade nutrients. In advanced forms and clinical range doses. That combine to blast through calories and nourish muscles long after your workout is over.
Boost intensity and endurance during workouts
Support muscle growth and quick, healthy recovery
Protect, preserve and promote your lean muscle gains
Blaze through more calories every session
Stabilize energy and control appetite
Break down fat cells for energy, not muscle
Put Burn Lab Pro® to the test for 30 days - risk free!
We make some big claims about Burn Lab Pro®.
But talk is cheap. You want results, right?
After all, you're here to get ripped. Not ripped off.
So your first order is covered by a 100% Money-Back Guarantee.
You're invited to put it to the test for a full 30 days. If you can't see and feel the results by then, we'll refund your money. No questions asked.
One phone call, one email and it's done.
Burn Lab Pro® is the only fat loss formula you will ever need.
At this stage no-one would blame you for reaching straight for the ORDER NOW button.
You've read the claims. Heard what Team USA competitive weightlifter Natalie Johnson has to say.
You may already be itching to see what Burn Lab Pro® can do for you.
But please don't overlook the science.
Read on to learn more about the ground-breaking nutrition technology behind Burn Lab Pro®.
The ingredients, the dosages, the synergies. And what makes it the cleanest and most effective fat-burning support on the market.
Burn more fat, build more muscle than with diet & exercise alone
Burn Lab Pro® supercharges 3 key pathways that work in synergy to produce dramatic lean-muscle body results:
Burn Lab Pro® helps you burn more calories during exercise & at rest, blocks fat storage and improves appetite control.
Burn Lab Pro® boosts strength, endurance and intensity during exercise for greater fitness gains and more calories burned.
Burn Lab Pro® preserves muscle through calorie-restricted training, improves lean muscle growth and accelerates recovery.
Maximize results from any fitness driven fat loss program
Keto, low-carb & paleo diets
Fasted cardio
Body recomposition
Calorie restriction diet
Cutting phases
Day training (Jitter-free!)
Intermittent fasting
Belly fat reduction
Strength training
Today's greatest stim-free fat burners in 1 formula
Coleus Forskohlii root (10% forskolin), 375 mg
World's greatest natural ingredient for burning fat & building muscle at the same time.
Chili Pepper Extract (2% capsaicinoids), 75 mg
Red-hot fat incinerator maximizes calorie burning & minimizes calorie intake 24/7
ß-Hydroxy ß-Methylbutyrate (from Calcium HMB), 1500 mg
Training intensity amplifier preserves & builds muscle across all fitness programs.
NutriGenesis® GTF Chromium
Cultured Glucose Tolerance Factor (GTF) Chromium, 90 mcg
Optimizes insulin to block fat storage, boost fat burning, stabilize energy & control appetite
Black Pepper Extract (95% piperine), 3.75 mg
Thermonutrient boosts metabolism to accelerate fat-burning & maximize nutrient absorption.
Premium quality Burn Lab Pro®
is super-clean
Burn Lab Pro® is the purest, most efficient and sophisticated fat burner ever developed, containing only:
Burn Lab Pro® formula
Safe, research-backed ingredients only, all in top-shelf forms and clinical-range dosages.
Vegan-friendly, prebiotic-infused capsules made from pullulan (fermented tapioca).
Natural rice powder flow agent for manufacturing (other brands use weird synthetics).
Thanks to its clean design across the board, Burn Lab Pro® is healthy, easy on the stomach, and safe for anyone to take, every single day.
"Burn Lab Pro® helped me to become world champion."
Aljamain Sterling
Nobody faces tougher weight cuts than MMA fighters.
Bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling will drop as much as 30 lbs before a fight.
But still needs to be at peak strength and fitness every time he steps into the Octagon.
That's why Burn Lab Pro® is Aljo's cutting tool of choice.
The unique formula is designed to protect and preserve muscle mass during a calorie deficit.
Burn Lab Pro® helps keep more muscle and burn more fat. I hit my target easier and a lot faster.
Your fat-burning journey starts here.
Next stop, shredded!
If you're looking for that 'finished' look, this is your hammer and chisel. Sculpt your masterpiece with Burn Lab Pro®.
Don't forget...
Your first order is covered by a full money back guarantee. If you don't see results after 30 days,
you'll get a full refund.
No questions. No quibbles. No worries.
- Safe & Secure Checkout
- 30 Day Money-Back Guarantee
- Worldwide Shipping, Fast
© 2019 - 2024 Opti-Nutra Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
7 Clarendon Place, Royal Leamington Spa, CV32 5QL, UK.
*The statements on this page have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent disease.
**Burn Lab Pro® is designed to be taken in conjunction with a diet and exercise program. Always consult with your doctor before starting any fitness program or any nutritional supplement regimen.


text:
If you've come to this site, you're most likely a writer looking for help. You may want a critique on a manuscript, or your manuscript edited, or someone to help you with your writing career (or lack of it), or you might need specific advice on your writing craft.
I divide my time between writing, teaching and working with writers.
These are some of the questions I'm regularly asked as a writing coach:
* How can I get published?
* Should I self-publish?
* What is wrong with my manuscript?
* How can I improve or edit my manuscript?
* Do I really need an agent?
* I've been writing for ages with no success – should I give up?
* Am I a real writer? How do I prove it to my family and friends?
* How do I find time to write?
* I want to achieve my writing goals but I don't know where to start or how to create a plan.
My definition of a writing coach is someone with the experience to critique effectively, but who is also keenly interested in helping committed writers to achieve their goals and dreams. This might involve a constructive, honest critique, advice on a 5-year plan, or it might be a mentoring agreement.
I offer:
* critiques (fiction, poetry, children's and YA fiction, picture books, verse novels)
* structural editing and copy editing
* goal setting and strategy sessions, including 5-year plans
* mentoring
* help with marketing your book, or yourself as a writer
* articles and ebooks about writing and goal setting via my ebooks4writers site (my ebooks are called Tough Guides!)
I also write articles on Medium about writing skills and editing.
Have a look around this site – find out more about me, what kinds of editing I offer and what each consists of, and ask any questions via my contact form.


text:
The Mammoth mountains are calling!
"Winter" in California will soon be wrapping up, and everybody knows what that means! Only a few more chances to grab your boards (the other ones) and head up to Mammoth for some fresh powder, sun, and shredding. A short drive from anywhere in Cali, Mammoth mountain will make you forget that you are even on the West Coast. With it's beautiful scenery, amazing resorts, and plenty of runs to choose from, it's a guaranteed good time.
Source: Boardworld Youtube Channel


text:
**Bulk Buy 12 bars**
** Please be mindful this product may melt during warm/hot weather. Keto Direct will not offer returns/ exchanges if the product melts during transportation. Please refrigerated them once you receive the product.**
High Protein
Low Sugar
Low Carbohydrate
Digestive Support
Gluten Free
Naturally sweetened
100% Natural
And they are super delicious!!!


text:
An operation targeting cocaine trafficking routes from South America and Africa into Europe has led to the seizure of more than 1.7 tonnes of drugs, some EUR 1.4 million in cash and 91 arrests.
Operation COCAIR IV, led by the World Customs Organization (WCO), and supported by INTERPOL and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), also resulted in the recovery of more than 10 tonnes of counterfeit medical products and around 35 kilogrammes of illicit wildlife products, including rough and worked ivory.
During the nine-day operation (26 October – 3 November) nearly 100 seizures were made at 30 international airports across Africa with 181 kg of cocaine 1,700 kg of cannabis and 40 kg of methamphetamine recovered.
In addition to intelligence-led controls, including profiling passenger lists, law enforcement officers also carried out additional checks on postal items, freight, aircraft and crew members.
The operation comes under the umbrella of Project AIRCOP, an European Commission and Canada funded initiative to improve controls at international airports by enhancing cooperation between drug enforcement services through communication via WCO's CENcomm and INTERPOL's I-24/7 secure systems.
Prior to the operational phase, a training session was held in Libreville, Gabon where INTERPOL and WCO provided specialist training to nearly 50 officers from the participating countries on a range of issues including risk analysis and product identification.
Countries which took part in Operation COCAIR IV: Benin, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Dominican Republic, France, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Jamaica, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo.


text:
Product Description
Saddle shown in Pinerolo Version
For toplines with a moderately defined wither and prominent shoulders, slightly rising to the croup. Has an extra wide gullet for wider withers.
The new SELVA dressage model benefits from a new concept panel system that features 'SUPPORT PANELS' to optimize weight distribution and increase freedom of shoulder for a precise fit.
All saddles have custom options for flaps, tree width, panel density and more. Please contact us at 888-637-8463, or email us for further information.
Your saddle is a vital piece of equipment for you and your horse, and the fit should be checked on a regular basis. Young horses, in particular, should be regularly monitored. The investment in a well fitting saddle will help your horses? development during those important early years.
Changes in condition, illness, injury or a new stage of training are a few of the factors that can influence the fit of a saddle. Any signs of resistance during work or unwillingness to be saddled can be an indication that something is wrong.
Saddle fitting is very complex and should always be carried out by a knowledgeable and trained fitter. The tips below can be used as a short guide to establishing if a check could be necessary.
What to look for:
The saddle should sit level on the horses' back and the panels should sit evenly without bridging. Saddles that tip forward or tilt backward when placed on the horse indicate that the fit needs to be checked. Wool flocked panels should be equally stuffed (no lumps or dips) and not too hard.
There should be adequate clearance in the wither area.
The gullet should be a minimum of 7.5-8cms wide and the same width from pommel to cantle.
Not only should the saddle be checked but also the equipment used with it?
Girths should always be kept clean, in good condition, and be an anatomical shape to avoid pressure and friction in the sensitive elbow area. Avoid using a girth with too much elastic. Any elastic used should be strong and have several layers. With soft elastic, it is sometimes difficult to tell how much you are tightening the girth and this can lead to over girthing.
All pads used under the saddle should be of a good, firm, quality textile, and shaped to fit the horses' back. They should also be long enough so that the pad does not end underneath the saddle as this will cause pressure points.
The FLOCKING
Amerigo MPS panels are made with a unique mixture of synthetic fibers and can be made with different levels of volume to suit each horse. Each panel is produced individually by hand and requires great skill to ensure that two equal panels are produced. Such a panel system provides many advantages in terms of fit for the horse. The absence of any ?ends? or performed stitching (gussets) on the horse, with the panels blending out away from the horse, and becoming flattened and wider with use, means that they offer a very precise and individual fit, even if used on many horses.
Saddle Trees
All Amerigo saddles are made with wooden spring trees, available in a wide selection to fit many different types of horses and riders precisely. The reinforced head iron is conceived to adjust the saddles accurately when this is required.
The Amerigo Vega saddle line is made using a specially created synthetic tree incorporating a tempered steel head iron. It reflects the most popular measurements and has produced a very flexible saddle that is suitable for many horses and riders.
Saddle Pads
All pads used under the saddle should be of a good, firm, quality textile, and very importantly also shaped to fit the horses? back, particularly in the wither area. Pads that are completely straight cut will be pushed down by the saddle and cause pressure, which can lead to sore spots either side of the sensitive wither. Hard edges from the attachment straps can also cause soreness if they press against the horse. All pads should also be long enough so that the pad does not end underneath the saddle as this will cause pressure points.
Saddle pads should not be used to correct poor saddle fit but they can be used very constructively when seen as being part of the saddle solution. Jumping horses in particular benefit from the use of sheepskin pads under the saddles to protect the area under the stirrup bar by absorbing the kinetic energy generated by the landings. During the landing phase, the horse has a short moment when the forelegs are on the ground, the head is raised, and the hind legs still in the air. At this moment the rider's weight is completely supported by the stirrup bar, and therefore also the area of the horse directly underneath it. The use of a sheepskin pad with a well fitting saddle helps to absorb the impact of this part of the landing. Horses that are not wary of the landing impact jump rounder and more relaxed. We also recommend the use of a sheepskin pad in cases of ?hollow? or pronounced withers, as well as during recovery phases where muscle condition has been lost due to rest after injury or illness. By compensating the horse with the use of the pad the saddle can be made slightly wider and allow the horse room for muscle development underneath the saddle in the shoulder area without it being pinched or being made sore.
Hair Rub in Winter
Due to the brittle nature of the coat hairs in Winter and during the coat change in Spring, a lot of horses suffer from hair rub in certain areas including the saddle area. This is very rarely due to the saddle not fitting correctly and generally not painful. Mostly these areas are caused by the pads used under the saddle rubbing the hairs as the horse moves. Horses that move freely through their backs will have more movement towards the back of the saddle, and therefore rubbing is more likely to be visible. Rubbing that is more pronounced on one side or the other is a result of the tendency of the horse to be bent slightly more to one side than the other. This is a normal situation and is not an indication that the saddle does not fit correctly. We advise ensuring that any pads used do not have any hard edges or stitching and if the sheepskin pad is used directly on the horses skin, it is very important that the pad is kept clean and dry to avoid the sheepskin fibers forming small areas of knotted fibers, which can also cause rubbing, particularly if the horse is fully clipped. Please follow the manufacturers cleaning recommendations carefully.


text:
antiphonal, clef, custos, Elizabeth Peterson, Feast of the Vigil of the Octave of Christmas, first nocturn, hymn, Introit, James T Svendsen, Latin, mass, matins, medieval, musical notation, Nativity of Christ, parchment, Proper of Time, psalm, Psalm 19, Psalm 2, sequence, Spain, The University of Utah, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Yahweh
(Dominus dixit ad me: Fill-)
us meus es tu.
Ego hodie genu-
i te. Ps(alm). Quare fre-(muerunt gentes)
In sole posuit…
(The Lord Yahweh has told me):
"You are my son.
Today I have become your father"
Ps(alm). Why (have the nations raged)?
In the sun
tabernaculu(m) su-
u(m) et ipse ta(m)qua(m)
spon(n)sus precede(n)s
de thalamo su(o) (exultavit)
In the sun he pitched his tent
and like a bridegroom
coming out of his pavilion/bedroom
has exulted…"
The first psalm was sung at the Introit early in the mass at midnight on December 25 celebrating the Nativity of Christ. The second was sung as the Sequence later in the mass. The oblong diamond indicates that a letter (usually an "M" or "N") is missing in the text. The musical notation contains a "do" clef at the beginning of each line and a custos or "guard" at the end of each line.
~Transcription, translation, and commentary by James T. Svendsen, associate professor emeritus, World Languages and Cultures, The University of Utah
MS chant frag. 2 — Parchment leaf from an Antiphonal, 16thc. Spain, the Proper of Time, Feast of the Vigil of the Octave of Christmas (1 Jan), Matins, First Nocturn.
~Description by Elizabeth Peterson, associate professor, Dept. of Art & Art History, The University of Utah, from Paging Through Medieval Lives, a catalog for an exhibition held November 2, 1997 through January 4, 1998 at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts.


text:
With the Cello Mobile international WiFi hotspot rental, you'll stay connected all over the world when you travel. You can connect up to 5 WiFi enabled devices to the international pocket WiFi device. Browse the web, respond to emails or use Skype/FaceTime freely without having to worry about overages or roaming fees. Cello Mobile makes it easy to connect with friends, family and business associates from wherever your travels may take you. Because our service works on all major networks in any country, you don't need to look at a coverage map, there will be virtually no spot without coverage. You will get it delivered before you travel abroad!
Where are you Traveling?
Select Multiple Countries From The Dropdown Menu Above
Or you can select your country destination from the list below
Traveling To Multiple Countries? Please Select The Countries From The Dropdown Menu Above.
What Customers Recently Said...
Displaying 10 of 253 product reviews |
The International WiFi hotspot device is a late model wireless hotspot portable router (approximately half the size of a regular cell phone) that you carry with you in your pocket, luggage, attaché case, etc. and it thereby allows you to connect any WiFi-enabled device to it. The WiFi hotspot is fully activated and ready to go so as soon as you land abroad, turn it on and it works! Connect up to 5 devices at once so you can use phones, tablets, laptops, etc. simultaneously and enjoy the freedom of unlimited email, browsing, etc. because it's a pay as you go international WiFi plan, you don't have to worry about overage or roaming charges. You only pay for the actual days abroad.


text:
Building and Modifying Source RPMs
Building and Modifying Source RPMs
The tool used to rebuild RPM packages is the same command-line tool used to manage them: rpm. This article gives an overview of the build process, starting with a little bit of history to explain why the packaging system works the way it does.
There are many good reasons for rebuilding RPM packages. You may not be able to find a binary RPM that works well with your distribution. Source RPMs (also called SRPMs) are often much more adaptable to different distributions and architectures than binary RPMs. You might also want to change the options that the software was compiled with or even change the software itself. Finally, using SRPMs can help protect you from malicious packages because you can look at all the source code.
Philosophy of RPM
Before diving into the details of rebuilding packages, it helps to learn some of the philosophy behind the package manager as well as something about the development methods commonly used with open source software.
In the Unix and Unix-like world, open source software has historically been distributed in the form of TAR files that contain the source code necessary to build the software on your machine. Sometimes these bundles of files include readily executable binaries. Often, however, you are expected to compile the software and install it yourself using the source files in the TAR. Because there are various versions of Unix-like operating systems from different vendors, the software has to be written so that it can compile for many different OS versions and platforms (processors).
RPM is derived from this heritage of starting with source code from TAR files and, from that, producing working software. What differentiates RPM from other packaging systems is that it tries to automate the steps required to go from the author's original source code to a very easy-to-install package. This was done to make it easier to maintain a distribution of Linux, which might include hundreds or even thousands of packages. Therefore, although the automation provided by the package-building system is essential to a distribution vendor, it also provides some important benefits to the end users of the software—they can use the same automated steps to rebuild the software on their own machines.
Working with Original Sources
One overriding philosophy of RPM is that it can be used to rebuild—from original sources obtained from the Internet—software that runs effectively.
Getting software to run on a particular machine or version of OS often requires that changes be made to the software. To help others who might want to use the software on similar machines, a developer makes changes and then submits the modifications back to the original author of the software in the form of patches. The original author often includes the changes in the next release of the software. Sometimes, however, the author doesn't have the time or inclination to include new patches; therefore, subsequent releases of the software need to have the same set of patches applied to get them to compile again on the target platform.
The philosophy behind RPM is to provide clean sources plus patches. "Clean sources" means that an SRPM is expected to be shipped with an exact copy of the sources that the original author provided. Because these sources may not meet the needs of the packager's audience, the packager can also include patches to be applied to the clean sources. Patches are short files that instruct a tool called patch how to change one source tree into another. For instance, the patch may include instructions to delete several lines of code, add a new file, and modify the documentation. Any text file can be manipulated using patch, and RPM also provides mechanisms for distributing new versions of binaries if these are required.
There are many advantages to providing the clean sources plus patches rather than just providing the patched sources. By providing clean sources, the user can more easily verify that the program received is what it claims to be. It also makes it much easier to rebuild the package when a new version of the software becomes available.


text:
Ubisoft and Marvel Entertainment have joined forces to develop a video game based on the popular Avengers characters and other heroes and villains from the Marvel Universe.
Developed by Ubisoft Quebec, "Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth's" interactive environments are inspired by iconic Marvel comic artwork and the Secret Invasion storyline. The game will be released this fall for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft with Kinect for Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii U system.
"We are excited to team up with Marvel Entertainment to bring some of the most iconic comic book characters from the Marvel line-up to life in motion-gaming," said Tony Key, US senior vice president of sales and marketing at Ubisoft. "Fans of the Marvel universe and superhero games are going to love the extensive combinations of characters, motion-controlled moves and competitive gameplay."
"For the last few years, Marvel has positioned itself to deliver the absolute best in entertainment, be it in film, animation, comics or games," said Andreea Enache-Thune, senior vice president of games and digital distribution at Marvel. "Partnering with Ubisoft is a big part of that ongoing movement. We are confident that Ubisoft's talent matches Marvel's own commitment to making the "Avengers: Battle for Earth" the best in the motion-controlled gaming category."
"Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth" features 20 different characters, including Avengers such as Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America and Thor, as well as other fan-favorite super heroes and super villains from the Marvel Universe.
For more information on "Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth," please visit: www.AvengersBattleForEarth.com.


text:
The new OS update has started rolling out and Mac users can update it for free.
Apple announced macOS High Sierra, the latest release of its desktop operating system, and is now available as a free update.
With macOS High Sierra, Mac users gain powerful new core storage, video and graphics technologies. Apple claims that its new file system ensures efficient and reliable storage, and support for High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) that brings stunning 4K video at lower file sizes.
Metal 2 powers its virtual reality content creation with a faster performance. The Core ML developer framework makes it easy to create apps with powerful machine learning that predict, learn and become more intelligent. macOS High Sierra also includes a number of refinements to the apps Mac users enjoy every day, including Photos and Safari.
New features in macOS High Sierra include:
Apple File System (APFS)
APFS is a new, advanced storage architecture providing an extensible foundation to support new features and future storage technologies on the Mac.
APFS brings support for the latest high-capacity storage devices and delivers enhanced performance, security and reliability.
With APFS, common operations such as copying files and directories are nearly instantaneous.
Data is protected from power outages and system crashes thanks to advanced data integrity features.
APFS currently supports every Mac with all‑flash internal storage — support for Fusion and HDD Mac systems will be available in a future update.
High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) Support
HEVC (H.265) is a new industry standard that enables extremely efficient compression, streaming and playback of video.
HEVC enables users to watch 4K video files at full quality, while requiring 40 percent less storage space than the current H.264 standard.1
With HEVC, Apple is enabling high-quality 4K video streaming on networks where only HD streaming was previously possible.2
Hardware acceleration on the new iMac and MacBook Pro delivers incredibly fast and power-efficient HEVC encoding and playback.
Developers like Adobe, Blackmagic Design, GoPro and more are joining Apple in adopting HEVC.
Metal 2
Metal is Apple's advanced graphics technology and the fastest, most efficient way to tap into GPU power on the Mac.
Metal 2 supports next-generation experiences like machine learning used in speech recognition, natural language processing and computer vision.
Metal 2 features a refined API and improved performance that's helping developers, including Unity, Epic, Valve, Pixelmator and more, accelerate their future apps.
With the combination of Thunderbolt 3 and Metal 2, the most demanding Mac users can now access powerful external GPUs.
Core ML
With Core ML, Apple brings the power of machine learning to all Apple developers, enabling the creation of entirely new kinds of apps.
Core ML takes full advantage of Metal and Accelerate, delivering incredible power, speed and efficiency to machine learning operations such as computer vision, natural language and support for convolutional and recurrent neural networks.
All of the computation and processing driven through Core ML is done on-device in a way that respects customers' data and privacy.
Developers are already using Core ML to enhance apps like Pixelmator Pro, which uses machine learning to detect and understand various features within images and create intelligent editing solutions.
Virtual Reality Support
macOS High Sierra adds support for VR content creation for the first time, enabling developers to create immersive gaming, 3D and VR content on the Mac.
Leading VR companies are working with Apple to drive VR innovation on the Mac with features coming later this year.
Valve is optimizing its SteamVR platform for macOS and enabling connection of the HTC Vive headset, while Unity and Epic are bringing their VR development tools to macOS.
Later this year, Final Cut Pro X will add support for professional 360-degree VR workflows with the ability to import, edit and export 360-degree video on the Mac.
Photos Update
An updated, always-on sidebar and new filtering and selection tools make photo organization quick and easy.
A refreshed editing UI includes powerful new editing tools like Curves, for fine-tuning contrast, and Selective Color, for making adjustments to a specific color range.
Live Photos can now be edited with fun effects, like Loop, Bounce and Long Exposure, and users can also choose a different key photo.
Third-party editors like Photoshop, Pixelmator and other apps can be launched from Photos, with edits saved back to the Photos library.
Support for third-party project extensions provides access to printing and publishing services from Shutterfly, WhiteWall, Wix, ifolor, Mimeo and Mpix from right within the app.
Additional app refinements:
Safari stops media with audio from automatically playing in the browser, and Reader can automatically open articles in a clean, uncluttered format.
Intelligent Tracking Prevention in Safari detects and eliminates cookies and other data used by advertisers for cross-site tracking, to help keep a user's browsing private.
Siri on the Mac responds with a more natural voice and learns music preferences, creates custom playlists and answers music trivia when using Apple Music.
Touch Bar on MacBook Pro gets new Control Strip options plus an improved color picker and more video controls.
Notes adds simple tables, allowing a user to type in cells, make edits and move rows and columns.
Spotlight provides flight status information, including departure and arrival times, delays, gates, terminals and even a map of the flight path.


text:
Return to shop
Hello Folks, This is Robert Sells and I invite you to plan a trip to Galax, Va. this year. There will be some great Bluegrass and Old Time Music for you to listen to. Call me today to make reservations 276-236-0300
Always dreamed of owning a place in the mountains? Now you can, Check out the website below and then come see what we have to offer.
See you in the Blue Ridge Mountains!
Just south of Winston Salem, NC
Great Place for RV Rallies, Lots of Local Attractions


text:
The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz
The story of programming prodigy and information activist Aaron Swartz. From Swartz's help in the development of RSS to his co-founding of Reddit, his fingerprints are all over the internet. But it was Swartz's groundbreaking work in political organizing combined with his aggressive approach to information access that ensnared him in a two year legal nightmare. It was a battle that ended with the taking of his own life at the age of 26.
Aaron's story touched a nerve with people far beyond the online communities in which he was a celebrity. This film is a personal story about what we lose when we are tone deaf about technology and its relationship to our civil liberties.
Director: Brian Knappenberger
Executive Producer: Brian Knappenberger
Producer: Brian Knappenberger,
Screenwriter: Brian Knappenberger
Music: John Dragonetti
Director Bio
Brian Knappenberger is a writer, director and producer who has created award winning investigative documentaries and feature films for PBS FRONTLINE/World, National Geographic, Bloomberg Television and the Discovery Channel. His films include We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists, Life After War and A Murder in Kyiv.
Public Film Contact
Brian Knappenberger
Luminant Media


text:
Kevin Roose reports:
Lazin-Ryder is one of a number of Twitter users who are using homegrown methods to make their tweets self-destruct. He says that having his tweets disappear automatically makes Twitter feel more conversational and casual, and less like a professional pressure-cooker.
"Tweets are passing things," he said. "I don't laminate and frame my note-pad doodles, why would I preserve my tweets for all time?"
Full Story: Fusion: Meet the tweet-deleters: people who are making their Twitter histories self-destruct
I've been thinking about doing this, but I also really like using Timehop to explore old tweets. Split between Ephemera and atemporality.
(via Ellis)
See also:


text:
Citing the usual sources-who-shall-remain-nameless, Bloomberg reports what everyone's been assuming all year — that Microsoft's going to launch its next game system sometime in late 2013. All that seems left to deduce, then, is when Microsoft's going to lift the curtain: at the E3 video games expo in June, or a Microsoft-specific event.
I was hoping they'd wait another year or two, frankly, since nothing about the Xbox 360 feels dated to me, but assuming 2013's now inevitable, here's what I'd like to see a new Xbox-whatever-it's-called embrace.
Don't make graphics the selling point. I don't care about better graphics. Not the way I used to, back when all the cool kids had 3dfx video cards and pass-through cables, and ran special executables to make Quake and Tomb Raider look extra-nifty on PCs.
You can make the argument that Skyrim and Oblivion were just prettier versions of Morrowind, that Grand Theft Auto IV was an easier-on-the-eyes repeat of Grand Theft Auto III, that BioShock was a mass-market version of System Shock and that both Halo 3 and Halo 4 were Halo re-skinned (settle down, I liked Skyrim, GTA IV, BioShock and those two Halos plenty).
I'm just saying that if what's next amounts to Call of Duty: Photo Ops or The Graphically Mind-Blowing Scrolls or Halo's Awesome New Polygon Parade, well, that hamster wheel's getting pretty tiresome, isn't it? For all the guff we give the Wii about its last-gen hardware, some of the most interesting games this generation — hello Super Mario Galaxy, Xenoblade Chronicles, Metroid Prime 3, The Last Story and Zelda: Skyward Sword — are on Nintendo's no-one-plays-it/can't-do-HD/still-better-selling-overall console.
Besides, I'm ready for something like Call of Duty: Not Tactically Brain-Dead at this point, aren't you?
Don't over-think Xbox LIVE. My favorite thing about the Xbox 360 isn't the games, it's the game-space they live in: the colored-tile interface, the simple but efficient friend system, the achievement hunt and gamer score overlay, Xbox LIVE Arcade and Xbox LIVE Marketplace's top-notch indie fare. Whatever's next still has to live in 1080p-land, just like the Xbox 360 (it'll be awhile before we're running ultra-HD TVs, and current HD has a lowest common denominator of 720p). Given how well Xbox LIVE and the Xbox GUI work already, I'm not sure we need a radical reinvention when the next Xbox arrives.
Unbundle stuff that isn't intrinsic to Xbox LIVE. Netflix isn't. Neither are Hulu Plus, Skype, YouTube or Amazon Instant Video. Sony got this right on the PlayStation 3 by drawing a friendlier paywall between free and paid apps. Microsoft continues to get it wrong, however much it wants to crow about Xbox LIVE's financial success. Of course you're going to pay $60 a year for all the other legitimately Xbox LIVE-paywalled features — stuff like Party Chat, Cloud Storage, Xbox Music and most of all, multiplayer/matchmaking. It's the principle that's galling: having to pay to access apps no one else charges for. (Alternately, just scrap the dichotomy and make Xbox LIVE membership a requirement, period — you'd probably tick a few people off, but at least you'd be consistent.)
Fix Kinect. I've never been a great fan of Kinect as shipped — not in the living room, anyway. It may be a creative boon for tinkerers on the PC side, no argument there, but as a gestural interface, it's more like The Clapper 2.0 (even as a voice command interface, it's still slower and less dependable than a remote). Of course Kinect's going to improve, but if Microsoft wants my vote, I want real accuracy — none of this shoddy 75%-of-the-time stuff. When I'm not rolling it out for party-novelty-hour, it's just too sloppy. And regardless of any of that, please understand that I will never, ever want to play air-Gears-of-War (but that yes, I'd love to play controller-free, family-style games that work all of the time).
Don't just roll out Apple TV, Xbox-style. Apple TV, Roku, Google TV, existing game consoles — no one's got the interactive TV thing figured out yet. Part of the problem, whatever the business arguments for or against, is that people really want a la carte TV programming from a live TV box — to subscribe to HBO and Showtime, say, but not CBS, ABC or NBC, or to have CNN and C-SPAN but nothing else. Trouble is, providing anything like a la carte service is currently out of Apple's and Microsoft's and Google's hands.
Barring that, people at least deserve streaming content portals that don't routinely shuffle content in and out (as both Netflix and Hulu do) because of licensing/financial issues. Whether Xbox TV turns out to be a standalone, budget-priced, Windows 8 set-top that only plays casual games or it's included in the core system, if it's just another overlay for Netflix, Hulu and Amazon, with live TV folded in and a few nifty interactive features on the side, the only place we're boldly going is the status quo.
This rumor about augmented reality glasses makes me nervous. I know Google's already teasing the tech, but anything I have to wear while gaming, especially around my head…let's just say we're all pretty gun-shy after decades of awful "virtual reality" gear, not to mention the recent stereoscopic 3D craze (arguably a gimmick to sell TVs and charge a premium for movie tickets). If this is happening, it can't be gimmicky, and it can't be like Kinect, i.e. novelty before functionality.
Blu-ray would be nice, but isn't necessary. Sure, Blu-ray and DVD still offer extras streaming providers don't, like commentary tracks and making-of featurettes, but I'm tired of upgrading each time the standard changes (just wait until ultra-HD arrives). Yes, the next Xbox needs more media space so we're not seeing multi-disc games or ugly compressed video (hello Final Fantasy XIII), but as Nintendo's shown, you can accomplish that without embracing a playback standard. Were it between having Blu-ray playback and lopping $50 or more off the retail price tag, I'll vote for no Blu-ray.
Make sure it's good and finished. Don't pull a Wii U and force everyone to download a massive day-one patch as soon as they connect to the Internet, which even then doesn't provide all the functionality you hyped beforehand.
Yes please, call it simply "Xbox." What else is there to say? I'm tired of numbers. And it's a whole lot simpler than "Xbox Begins."


text:
A Circular Economy
Moving toward a more circular economy requires shifting away from a take-make-dispose consumption model. Keeping resources circulating from use to reuse in the economy requires rethinking how something historically viewed as waste might instead be a valuable resource.
Reclamation and Recycling
Shaw continues to be an industry leader in the reclamation and recycling of end-of-use carpet, and as we continue to drive innovation into our business, we look for new solutions to pieces of the puzzle that continue to challenge us.
Shaw has formed partnerships with reclamation partners throughout the U.S. to create an extensive network to bring used carpet (ours and our competitors) back to be reincarnated into its next life. Creating that network has been no easy feat, but we now have a reclamation partner within a 50-mile radius of 75 percent of the U.S. population.
To ensure this network continues to thrive, there needs to be a financially viable market for the materials these collectors reclaim. That means that we must be able to recycle carpet created with many different types of fiber. This was the focus of much of our 2013 and culminated with the announcement of Evergreen Ringgold, a facility that will allow us to recycle nylon and polyester carpet. Evergreen Ringgold adds to Shaw's portfolio of recycling solutions.
Through this ongoing commitment, Shaw has reclaimed more than 700 million pounds of carpet since 2006. As part of our portfolio of recycling processes, reclaimed carpet has three potential pathways back into the economy: into new carpet, as an ingredient material for other manufacturers' products such as automotive parts, or converted into energy at our Re2E facility helping to power our manufacturing operations. Our focus on turning waste into a resource is best exemplified by our expansive and long-standing carpet reclamation and recycling efforts.
Turning Plastic into Bottles and Carpet
Not only do we convert reclaimed carpet into new products, but we also use fiber made from recycled plastic drink bottles to create residential carpet products, thus converting one industry's waste product into a resource in our manufacturing processes. On average, we recycle three billion or 160 million pounds of plastic drink bottles annually at our Clear Path Recycling facility, a join-venture with DAK Americas. Fiber made using recycled PET from Clear Path is used in Shaw's ClearTouch residential carpet products. This not only keeps a significant volume of waste out of the landfill, but saves enough energy to power over 20,000 U.S. homes each year.
Additionally, Shaw continues to repurpose waste from our own manufacturing processes. Shaw's approach to waste, reclamation, and recycling begins with a focus on not creating waste in the first place. Wherever possible, we seek ways for "waste" to become a resource in our own production cycle or as part of another manufacturer's feedstock.
We have set a goal to reduce total waste sent to landfills by 100 percent by 2030. So we are on a constant quest to find the best options to reuse, recycle or otherwise divert materials from the landfill. In 2013, we completed the first full year using our sophisticated Material Resource Management (MRM) system. This centralized system, which is operational in all of our plants, provides a consistent protocol for categorizing, measuring and channeling materials previously identified as waste. The system continues to improve the accuracy of our metrics – to ensure we are capturing our true impact more completely – and is instrumental in helping us identify common sources of waste that can be converted into a resource.
This business approach to waste naturally drives us to seek continuous improvement. As a result of MRM and other efforts, in late 2013, we kicked off initiatives to address our two biggest landfill items: associate trash and a process byproduct that previously had no other known use. In the instance of associate trash, we began piloting a new process that expands the type of material that we recycle, and we are making it easier for associates to recycle many of the items that previously would have ended up in the trash. For the process byproduct, recycling partners helped us identify an industrial use for the product. With both initiatives beginning in the third quarter, we only saw incremental change in our waste stream in 2013, and we expect both of these programs to have a significant impact on the amount of waste we send to a landfill in the coming years.
We also continued existing programs including using waste materials from manufacturing as energy to power our operations and invest


text:
Polarisation of the Cosmic Microwave Background
A visualisation of the polarisation of the Cosmic Microwave Background, or CMB, as detected by ESA's Planck satellite over the entire sky.
The CMB is a snapshot of the oldest light in our Universe, imprinted on the sky when the Universe was just 380 000 years old. It shows tiny temperature fluctuations that correspond to regions of slightly different densities, representing the seeds of all future structure: the stars and galaxies of today.
A small fraction of the CMB is polarised – it vibrates in a preferred direction. This is a result of the last encounter of this light with electrons, just before starting its cosmic journey. For this reason, the polarisation of the CMB retains information about the distribution of matter in the early Universe, and its pattern on the sky follows that of the tiny fluctuations observed in the temperature of the CMB.
In this image, the colour scale represents temperature differences in the CMB, while the texture indicates the direction of the polarised light. The patterns seen in the texture are characteristic of 'E-mode' polarisation, which is the dominant type for the CMB.
For the sake of illustration, both data sets have been filtered to show mostly the signal detected on scales around 5° on the sky. However, fluctuations in both the CMB temperature and polarisation are present and were observed by Planck on much smaller angular scales, too.


text:
Osun the elegant Phone Case With Card Holder
Osun the elegant Phone Case With Card Holder
Regular price
Regular price
Free Shipping Today
Unit price
This phone case-cardholder combo will keep essential items safe in one place. Trust the polycarbonate to keep it impact-resistant through regular wear and tear. Create your flashy designs, print them all over the exterior, and choose between a glossy or matte finish. If your customers buy it as a present, gift packaging is available. Compatible with iPhone 13, and Samsung Galaxy S21, S22 models.
View full details
.: Slim form and lightweight design
.: Magsafe compatible
.: Clear, open ports for connectivity
.: One card storage
.: Available with a glossy or matte finish


text:
While Charlestown celebrated the Bunker Hill Day and all the history that goes along with it, the city of Boston scheduled a much needed upgrade for the Freedom Trail.
Mayor Martin Walsh announced that $50,000 will be spent to replace 2,000 feet of the painted sections of the historic Freedom Trail in Charlestown, Downtown Crossing, and the North End, with a new thermoplastic treatment. The multi-colored strips are being applied with heat and are expected to last up to eight years, improving on the time consuming and inefficient seasonal painting of the non-bricked areas of the historic way.
"The Freedom Trail is a Boston landmark and its visibility is important for visitors," said Walsh. "As the City enters its peak tourism season, the newly laid pathway will guide our residents and tourists to popular destinations, and also save the City money in future costs associated with the annual painting of the path."
The thermoplastic strip is red, white, and blue-gray, approximately 10-inches wide, and will be laid through crosswalks and on the concrete sections of the painted trail throughout Charlestown, Downtown Crossing and the North End. The bricked areas of the Freedom Trail will not be impacted by the striping project. The Department of Public Works project is being done at a cost of $50,000.
"Over 4 million people enjoy the Freedom Trail and our great city's historic sites annually," said Freedom Trail Foundation Executive Director Suzanne Taylor. "The Department of Public Works' new brick-resembling treatment will stand the test of time and help residents and visitors navigate the Freedom Trail to experience each of the Trail's 16 sites year-round."
The project began at the end of May at Congress Street where it meets City Hall, and will be completed at the end of June (weather permitting). A second expansion of the project will include installing the striping on repaired sidewalk segments.
The Freedom Trail is a 2.5-mile path that traces through Charlestown, Downtown Boston and the North End leading to 16 nationally significant sites like the USS Constitution at the Navy Yard. The Trail passes by a variety of historic sites, including museums, meeting houses, churches, a ship, historic markers, parks and burying grounds, all telling the story of the American Revolution.


text:
Recent results from diverse air, ground, and laboratory studies using both radiometric and in situ techniques show that the fractions of black carbon, organic matter, and mineral dust in atmospheric aerosols determine the wavelength dependence of absorption (often expressed as Absorption Angstrom Exponent, or AAE). Taken together, these results hold promise of improving information on aerosol composition from remote measurements. The main purpose of this paper is to show that AAE values for an Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) set of retrievals from Sun-sky measurements describing full aerosol vertical columns are also strongly correlated with aerosol composition or type. In particular, we find AAE values near 1 (the theoretical value for black carbon) for AERONET-measured aerosol columns dominated by urban-industrial aerosol, larger AAE values for biomass burning aerosols, and the largest AAE values for Sahara dust aerosols. These AERONET results are consistent with results from other, very different, techniques, including solar flux-aerosol optical depth (AOD) analyses and airborne in situ analyses examined in this paper, as well as many other previous results. Ambiguities in aerosol composition or mixtures thereof, resulting from intermediate AAE values, can be reduced via cluster analyses that supplement AAE with other variables, for example Extinction Angstrom Exponent (EAE), which is an indicator of particle size. Together with previous results, these results strengthen prospects for determining aerosol composition from space, for example using the Glory Aerosol Polarimetry Sensor (APS), which seeks to provide retrievals of multiwavelength single-scattering albedo (SSA) and aerosol optical depth (and therefore aerosol absorption optical depth (AAOD) and AAE), as well as shape and other aerosol properties. Multidimensional cluster analyses promise additional information content, for example by using the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) to add AAOD in the near ultraviolet and CALIPSO aerosol layer heights to reduce heightabsorption ambiguity. 1 Previous results on connections between aerosol type
and remotely sensible properties Recent research (e.g., IPCC 2007; Myhre, 2009) has emphasized that assessments of aerosol effects on climate require globally distributed information not just on aerosol amount (as conveyed, e.g., by maps of aerosol optical depth (AOD)), but also on aerosol characteristics such as size, composition and optical properties, including especially absorption. Kaufman et al. (2002) and Yu et al. (2009) have shown that it is possible to retrieve useful information on


text:
The Donnigans series, book 2
by Marie Harte
by Marie Harte
Genre: Spicy Contemporary Romance
Gavin Donnigan left the Marine Corps a shell of a man, hounded by guilt for deaths he couldn't prevent. But teaching a self-defense class at the local gym brings some stability to his life―along with a gorgeous woman who won't give him the time of day.
Zoe York lost her twin sister to a freak car accident a few months ago. She's been struggling to bury her grief, but it isn't until she signs up for a self-defense class with its distractingly hot instructor that she begins to come out of her shell again. With the memory of her sister telling her to live a little, Zoe decides a fling with buns-of-steel Gavin Donnigan might be just the thing.
Soon they're sparring both in and out of the gym. And for the first time in a long time, each is looking forward to tomorrow.
"Wasn't sure if you liked coffee or tea, but thought I couldn't go wrong with cocoa."
The moment seemed like a freeze frame from the most romantic scene ever. She still tasted chocolate. The moon overhead lit everything with a preternatural glow. The scents of earth and lavender and Gavin filled her head, until she could focus on nothing but him.
"Gavin?" She didn't know what she was asking him for, but the promise of safety in his eyes drew her closer.
"I'm gonna kiss you now," he said, his voice low, warm.
She nodded.
He leaned closer at the same time she did.
Their coming together felt amazing. Perfect. Right. The kiss shook her. Deep, sensual, yet not as close as she wanted. His tongue swept her mouth, caressing while he took charge of the embrace. But not once did he overwhelm her. Instead, she followed him, sip for sip, and let the rush of her heartbeat pull her into a tide of longing she couldn't suppress. Not now, surrounded by all her favorite things.
"Gavin," she murmured when he kissed his way from her mouth down her cheek to her throat.
He pulled her to him, but their clothes kept them too far apart. Gentle bites down her throat ended in a soft kiss that caused a full-body shiver.
"Cold?" he whispered as he straightened.
She shook her head, unable to speak, and blinked into his shuttered gaze. Then he made everything worse. He tucked her head under his chin and hugged her with affection. No way she could chalk this up as a gambit to get her to bed, not when he had the gall to make her feel.
With a sigh, he ended the embrace and pulled back. "Now show me which ones I can pull and which ones I can't." He nodded at the third flower bed they hadn't gotten to yet, not winded or affected by their kiss, apparently. Hell. Zoe couldn't feel his heartbeat through their clothes, but hers raced like a thoroughbred intent on taking the Triple Crown.
The bastard had the nerve to wipe a clean thumb over her lower lip, causing that thoroughbred to run past the finish line with no signs of stopping.
"I have the urge to flip you again, right here," she rasped. For starting something he wouldn't finish. And for making her want to finish it, regardless of their newness.
He smirked, as if reading her mind. "I know. I can't stop thinking about us in the gym either."
"That's not what I meant."
He wiggled his brows. "I think it is. Next time I'm flat on my back, I'll be thinking only of you, mistress."
"You're such a pain."
"I know. It's a gift."
She wanted to smack him, so she did. When his laughter ended, she pulled him close and planted a kiss on him that had him panting and grabbing for her—but this time she had the presence of mind to disentangle herself. "Now," she said, her voice hoarse, "grab that trowel and let's get back to work."
He kept staring at her mouth. "Trowel?"
She groaned, because she wanted to get back to that kiss as well. "Why me?"
✯✯✯✯ ...the power to break your heart and heal it.
Over the years, I have become a fan of Ms. Harte's contemporary romances. Sure her stories have a tendency to get steamy but behind all the foreplay lie some deeply meaningful messages. In the case of Gavin and Zoe, theirs is a quest for hope. Gavin lost his fighting for a world that he feels like a stranger in. Nightmares and guilt are his constant companions in a world filled with loneliness and despair. For Zoe, her anguish lies in losing a piece of soul. The death of her twin has left her searching for who she is and what comes next in her life. The loneliness is overpowering and the pain cuts deep for both, but the oddest thing happens. Out of the darkness, they find strength in each other. Just The Thing has the power to break your heart, but between the author and her awesome lead characters it also has the will to heal it. by Isha C. on July 04, 2017 via Kobo
✯✯✯✯ This is a very nice, fast paced romantic comedy that actually deals with the side effects of grief as well as PTSD and survivor's guilt. I enjoyed both Gavin and Zoe although Gavin's behavior was a little juvenile at times for a thirty-two year old man. His family's prank war was hilarious and entertaining but I felt like there were moments that it overtook the story. However, my heart hurt for Gavin when he had to face his past and make a decision on how to deal with it. Zoe's character remained strong and dedicated. She was willing to do whatever Gavin needed to find healing.
This was a fun read with some serious moments, plenty of humor, and some extra spicy bedroom play. No real epilogue and the ending sets us up for Gavin's sister Hope. by carvanz on July 3, 2017 via Barnes and Noble
✯✯✯✯✯ Love Gavin & Zoe's Story!!!
Just the Thing is the 2nd storyline in the Donnigan Family following Gavin Donnigan and Zoe York. It is a contemporary journey between two grief-stricken wounded souls that find each other, connect and fall in love. Their journey to each other is not easy; their emotional experiences, thoughts, dialogue and chemistry is very real. You experience a wide range of emotions while reading Just the Thing. It has it all and MORE! It is a very substantial story; you are witness to the power of love, laughter, familial bonding & pranks and satisfying sex. I laughed out loud at the humor Marie Harte so cleverly weaves within moments of pain, love, grief, passion and very scorching sex between Gavin & Zoe. Gavin & Zoe are two people that are relatable to men & women in this day and age. Marie Harte eloquently deals with real world issues of Survivor's Guilt and PTSD within Just the Thing. Marie Harte weaves magic in creating the Donnigan Family – you want all of them to be your own Family!! Like, her first Donnigan Story - A Sure Thing, I did not want Just the Thing to end...ever. Marie teases us at the end of the Just the Thing with a peak into sister Hope Donnigan's story that will be coming out next. *I received an e-version ARC of Just the Thing and I LOVE the Donnigan's so much, I bought A Sure Thing & Just the Thing in paper format also!! by Anya Z.on July 9, 2017 via Amazon
✯✯✯✯✯ In JUST THE THING by Marie Harte, Zoe York has always played by the rules. She never takes risks and has always played it safe. However, when her twin sister suddenly dies, it throws her life into turmoil. Her sister was the kind of person who always had fun and always encouraged Zoe to live a little. Now alone, Zoe is looking at her life and trying to decide how to honor her sister's memory by moving forward in a manner that takes her out of her comfort zone so she can try new experiences.
Gavin Donnigan is teaching a self-defense class Zoe is taking at the local gym. He loves women and in particular thinks Zoe is banging hot. The only problem–she won't give him the time of day. He tries his best lines on her, but she does not seem interested. Other women seem to enjoy his company, but the woman who really intrigues him barely glances his way. This is so frustrating.
JUST THE THING is book 2 in The Donnigans Series and is about two people who have each hit a crisis in their lives. Zoe is reeling from her sister's death and trying to figure out what to do next. Gavin is a former Marine who is recovering from being wounded both physically and mentally while serving his country. He's trying to get his life together and fears it will not happen. Keeping his past relationships light and flirty has helped him get through some really tough times, but he realizes that won't work with Zoe. The more he gets to know her, the more he dreams of having a normal life. He needs to address the post traumatic stress disorder he suffers from before he can even begin to think of having the kind of life he really wants.
I really enjoyed this book by Marie Harte. My heart went out to both main characters who suffered such horrendous losses. However, even when things got hard, they kept putting one foot in front of the other, facing their demons until finally, they both realize just how much stronger they are when they are together. This is a great book to start off your summer by reading. by BPoston via Romance Junkies Book Reviews
Meet the Donnigans
With the eldest Donnigan brothers adjusting to civilian life, their younger sister constantly in trouble, and their little brother clueless about life in general, falling in love is the last thing on anyone's mind...
Can this Bossy Badass Marine...
The Marine Corps was everything Landon Donnigan ever wanted in life...until a bullet sent him home with a medical discharge. Teaching a self-defense class at the gym is old-hat for a marine, but when he meets sexy Ava Rosenthal, his combat skills are useless for protecting his heart.
Be her Mr. Right?
Ava can take care of herself and likes quiet, bookish men-not muscular warriors who think women need to be coddled. But Landon is more than he seems, and when they come together, the results are explosive.
Releasing in 2018, date TBD
On the cusp of turning thirty, Hope Donnigan is getting her life together. She's working in a job she likes, has good friends, and has finally stopped dating Mr. Wrong. Entirely. So she should have no problem ignoring J.T. Webster. He's big, bad, and totally what she should be steering clear of.
J.T. fell for the hot blonde months ago at his sister's wedding. Having seen what love did to his father, he's never felt close to a permanent relationship with a woman. But Hope gets to him. When he agrees to be her pretend boyfriend to annoy her mother, he never expects their fake relationship will be better than anything real he's ever had. Before he knows it, he's falling in love and not sure what to do about it.
But someone else wants Hope all to himself, and that someone isn't happy about J.T. being in the picture. Soon, J.T. and Hope will have to deal with a secret admirer, her protective family, his annoyed sister, and their feelings for each other, which aren't so pretend. But sometimes, there's only one thing to do when you're falling in love. And that's let yourself go.
Caffeine addict, boy referee, and romance aficionado, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Marie Harte has over 100 books published with more constantly on the way. She's a confessed bibliophile and devotee of action movies. Whether hiking in Central Oregon, biking around town, or hanging at the local tea shop, she's constantly plotting to give everyone a happily ever after. Visit Marie's website and fall in love.


text:
United Flight Diverted Over In-Flight Movie Complaint
A United flight was diverted and a family with small children met by the FBI
Aprill 5, 2013— -- A United Airlines flight was diverted and a family with small children met by the FBI and removed from the plane, all because the parents asked that the movie "Alex Cross" be turned off from the overhead movie screens on their flight.
In a letter to The Atlantic Magazine, the family -- who have not been named -- said that on United flight 638 from Denver to Baltimore, the PG-13 movie was "Alex Cross," about a homicide detective that has violent scenes. The parents believed the movie was inappropriate for their 4- and 8-year old boys, but because it was being shown on drop down screens, they couldn't turn it off themselves.
"Alarmed by the opening scenes, we asked two flight attendants if they could turn off the monitor; both claimed it was not possible," the letter reads. One of the flight attendants said it was not possible to fold up the screen.
The letter states other passengers and even flight crew agreed the movie was not appropriate. Still, it could not be turned off. The family asked for the captain's name and were not given it, being told they could ask when they disembarked.
"Throughout these interactions the atmosphere was collegial, no voices were raised and no threats, implicit or explicit, of any kind were made. The flight continued without incident, while my wife and I engaged our children to divert their attention from the horrific scenes on the movie screens."
An hour later during the February 2 flight, the captain came on the PA and said the plane was being diverted to Chicago for "security concerns." The flight landed and a Chicago police officer boarded the plane and asked the family to come with her. The family was then questioned by the FBI.
"The captain, apparently, felt that our complaint constituted grave danger to the aircraft, crew and the other passengers, and that this danger justified inconveniencing his crew, a few of whom 'timed out' during the diversion, and a full plane of your customers, causing dozens of them to miss their connections, wasting time, precious jet fuel, and adding to United's carbon footprint. Not to mention unnecessarily involving several of Chicago's finest, two Border Protection officers and several United and ORD managers, and an FBI agent, who all met us at the gate."
The letter states the FBI questioning lasted less than five minutes and they were let go.
In a statement to ABC News, the airline only said, "United flight 638 from Denver to Baltimore diverted to Chicago O'Hare after the crew reported a disturbance involving a passenger. The flight landed without incident and the passengers were removed from the aircraft. We reaccommodated the customers on the next flight to Baltimore and have since conducted a full review of our inflight entertainment."


text:
Get Naked all over again.
We've spent a LOT of time getting Naked the past few years. We've done bronzy and taupey neutrals,
but we realized there was a whole spectrum of gorgeous, flushed pinks we hadn't explored yet. Rose based
hues look great on every skin tone. With 12 new shades, it's hard to choose favorites, but we
predict that Buzz (the pinkest of all the shades) will be a fan favorite. We're also partial to Nooner (a
stunning pinky-brown matte) and Dust (a pale metallic pink shimmer with amazing iridescent glitter),
which can be worn on the lids or used as a highlighter. And for an edgy, smoky liner, there's the aptly
named Blackheart—a super dimensional black matte flecked with red glitter.
Our Naked palette revolutionized neutrals forever—and went on to become one of the best-selling
palettes EVER. When fans demanded more, Naked2 delivered. Even now, three years after the frenzy
first started, the requests for "MORE Naked palettes!" keep coming. Finally, the wait is over. Urban
Decay launches Naked3, featuring 12 TOTALLY NEW (and insanely beautiful!) rose-hued neutrals. Our
previous Naked palettes have always included new shades, but this is the first time we've done a Naked
palette with 12 never-before-seen shades that aren't available anywhere else. Choose from every finish
imaginable: ultra-smooth mattes, gorgeous pearls and glimmering metallics. From the palest, shimmery
pink to deep, warm black, these neutrals will make you want to get Naked all over again.
the skinny:
Naked3 comes in an art-school-inspired tin case (reminiscent of the Naked2 palette)—in a gorgeous
rose-gold color that hints at the shades inside. Embossed on top with a big "Naked3" and cool facets
that beg to be touched, this case is sure to inspire lots of jealous stares.
Each Eyeshadow features our Pigment Infusion System™, the proprietary blend of ingredients that gives
every shade its velvety texture, rich color, serious staying power and blendability.
ST RANGE – pale neutral pink matte-satin
DUST – pale metallic pink shimmer with iridescent micro-glitter
BURNOUT – light pinky-peach satin
LIMIT – light dusty rose matte
BUZZ – metallic rose shimmer with silver micro-glitter
TRICK – light metallic pinky-copper shimmer with tonal micro-sparkle
NOONER – medium pinky-brown matte
LIAR – medium metallic mauve shimmer
FACTORY – pinky-brown satin
MUGSHOT – metallic taupe shimmer with slight pink shift
DARKSIDE – deep taupe-mauve satin
BLACKHEART – smoky black matte with rosy red micro-sparkle
Naked3 also includes a NEW double-ended Good Karma Shadow and Blending Brush AND an Eyeshadow Primer
Potion sampler with resealable samples of all four formulas (original, Sin, Eden and NEW anti-aging). Each sample
holds about a week's worth of primer!
Naked3 (SRP $52) is available from Sephora, ULTA and select Macy's stores. Or, online at sephora.com,
ulta.com, macys.com, beauty.com and urbandecay.com. In Store December 12th!


text:
The UMTC Campus Atheists, Skeptics, and Humanists has been busy. They recently had an event to mock homeopathy, and it has been written up in the campus newspaper. Unfortunately, they've smoked out the local kooks: the comments on the article are embarrassing. Look at this:
I am a whole hearted aficionado of homeopathy, discovered in the late 1700s by German physician Samuel Hahnemann. In the 1800s and early 1900s, homeopathy was widely practiced in the United States. There were many practitioners, medical schools, conventions all over the USA. It is such a successful method of treatment, doctors had a hard time making a living, and so eventually the American Medical Association succeeded in quashing it. It took me many years of trying to figure it out on my own before I finally came across a book by Dr. Don Hamilton about using homeopathy to treat illness in cats and dogs which helped me begin to understand how to choose the right homeopathic drugs and cure illnesses. It strikes me as silly that skeptics get so enraged by a medical art that so many doctors have spent their lives working on and that has so many documented successes. Glad to hear the University of Minnesota is helping patients discover true healing.
It doesn't work. It doesn't even make sense. I'm just going to let xkcd handle it.
There are also a couple of letters from our wretched Center for Spirituality and Healing in there. Strangely, they disavow any support for homeopathy. I don't understand how I can then take a quick look at the CSH faculty and find that at least three — Jacob Mirman, Paula Jelinek, and Karen Lawson are homeopaths. Weird. It's almost like lying is easy for quacks.
Feel free to leave comments on the MN Daily site. Our students, faculty, and staff clearly need some remedial instruction.
One other event is coming up, a debate. Aaargh. Between Dan Barker (Yay!) and …Hamza Andreas Tzortzis, the wacky deluded Muslim fanatic, on "Is Atheism or Islam more rational?" It's taking place in Smith Hall, room 100, on Thursday, 3 November at 8:00.
I have a feeling it's going to be ghastly. I may have to go, just to watch the foolishness explode. Also to catch any more silly claims about Islamic embryology.


text:
Are You Binge-Watching Your Way to Insomnia?
We know that spending hour after hour of couch potato time watching TV is bad for our health. Prolonged sitting raises the risk of obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, stroke and even dementia. Whether you're watching on a big-screen TV or your tablet computer, you need to take a break now and again and walk around. Or rig up a TV in front of your treadmill and get some exercise while viewing your favorites.
If watching too much TV is bad for us, does what we watch factor in as well? An intriguing new study from University of Michigan suggests that "binge watching"—viewing multiple episodes of a TV series without a break—may have a detrimental effect on sleep quality.
Not so long ago, binge watching wasn't even an option. Networks doled out one episode per week of a program, and that was that. But now, with streaming services, on-demand cable and whole seasons of TV series ready to check out from the library, it's possible to watch episode after episode, one after another.
The University of Michigan team studied the TV watching habits and sleep patterns of a group of college-aged people, and found that those who binge watched reported more tossing and turning at night, and more daytime fatigue than did the viewers who watched a variety of programming. For one thing, the ability to watch "just one more episode" tempts us to postpone going to bed, so we might not be getting the recommended amount of sleep.
And even if we do go to bed at a reasonable hour, said the study's lead author Liese Exelmans, binge watching can lead to poor-quality sleep. We have trouble settling down, our heart beats harder, and we have heightened mental alertness. Exelmans explains, "Bingeable TV shows have plots that keep the viewer tied to the screen. They become intensely involved with the content, and may keep thinking about it when they want to go to sleep."
Poor-quality sleep is linked with a host of health conditions—just about the same list that's linked with prolonged sitting. So, though it might be tempting to have your own Game of Thrones marathon so you'll be able to join the conversation when the final season starts, it's best to dole out the episodes more slowly. Do some channel surfing. Switch over to I Love Lucy reruns to wind down. Or better yet, read a book before bedtime.
Source: IlluminAge reporting on a study from University of Michigan.
The information in this article is not intended to replace the advice of your healthcare provider. Talk to your doctor or a sleep specialist if you are experiencing sleep problems.