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1. About us
we are a team of professional writers that pride ourselves on providing the highest quality content, news and updates of all things related to education.
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2.2. We do not allow visitors to our website to copy, distribute, sell or store our content without our consent. We also strictly forbid the resale of content on this website without prior notice from us. If you need more information on how you can reprint or republish part of our content or the entire site then please contact us directly.
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UT/TT Poll: Fewer Voters See College as a Necessity
Texas voters are supportive of some potentially major changes in public education, from providing incentives to people who want to be teachers to allowing more local control over standards and curriculum, according to the University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.
Meanwhile, fewer of them are convinced that a college degree is a necessity. Only 28 percent said a college education is necessary for a person to succeed in today's work world, while 68 percent said "there are many ways to succeed ... without a college degree." That's a big change from the UT/TT Poll of May 2010, when 42 percent called college necessary and 56 percent said there are other paths to success.
"Universities have to be careful about their pricing structure, about their return on investment," said Daron Shaw, co-director of the poll and a professor of government at UT-Austin. He mentioned successful people who didn't get college degrees to illustrate the point. "The leverage that colleges have over young people is limited," Shaw said. "You can be Bill Gates or Steve Jobs."
Jim Henson, co-director of the poll and head of the Texas Politics Project at UT-Austin, said the movement in the numbers from 2010 to now is significant.
"When I look at the top line on that, what I see, at first cut, is the impact of four years of people talking about increasing tuition rates and increasing student debt and a difficult economy that has seemingly reduced the benefit of a college degree," he said. "The skepticism is much stronger among Republicans and conservatives than among Democrats and liberals."
Voters are open to an array of proposed education reforms, including school voucher programs, more charter schools, higher pay for teachers, increased funding for public education, encouraging new teachers to enter the profession, cutting standardized tests, more online learning, statewide pre-kindergarten and greater local control over schools.
But not all reforms are created equal. While 69 percent said incentives to choose teaching as a career would be "extremely" or "somewhat" effective, only 51 percent gave those marks to voucher and expanded charter programs. Higher pay for teachers was attractive to 67 percent, and reducing the number of standardized tests was judged effective by 66 percent.
At least 30 percent of the poll respondents judged four ideas to be either "not very" or "not at all" effective: statewide pre-K, school vouchers, increased school funding and expanding the number of charter schools.
Asked to choose a single reform from the list that would be most effective, 20 percent chose increased funding for education, while three selections each got 14 percent support: creating a school voucher program, reducing tests and allowing more local control.
The selections have a partisan tang to them. Voters who identify themselves as Republicans chose increased funding, more local control and vouchers as their top three choices. For Democrats, the top three were increased funding, reduced testing and statewide pre-K. And those who identify themselves as Tea Party voters chose vouchers, local control and more charter schools.
"What you end up with is a representation of the supposedly conservative viewpoint of charters and vouchers against the Democratic variations on spending," Shaw said. "A majority for vouchers really stands out, and a seventh of the electorate thinks that would be the most effective reform."
The University of Texas/Texas Tribune internet survey of 1,200 registered voters was conducted May 30 to June 8 and has an overall margin of error of +/- 2.83 percentage points. For this survey, we have shortened the time between polling and reporting the results to get a more timely measurement of sometimes rapidly changing public opinion. For questions of likely Republican primary voters, the margin of error is +/- 4.37 percentage points; for likely Democratic primary voters, +/- 4.75 percentage points. Numbers in the charts might not add up to 100 percent, because of rounding.
This is one of several stories on the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. Thursday: The statewide general election races and a peek at the 2016 presidential primaries. Friday: Texans' views on various officeholders and candidates, on the state of the state and the country, and on the Tea Party. Yesterday: Which major party candidates for governor would do a better job on big issues, and most important problems facing the state and the country. Tomorrow: Voters' views on immigration and the Affordable Care Act. Texas voters on a range of social issues.
Information about the authors
Learn about The Texas Tribune's policies, including our partnership with The Trust Project to increase transparency in news.

subset: commoncrawl


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What is the Triple Crown?
The goal of the Triple Crown is twofold. First and foremost, the mission is to raise funds for two organizations dedicated to maintaining climbers' access: the Southeastern Climbers' Coalition and The Carolina Climbers' Coalition. These two organizations have been instrumental in the acquisition of land for the climbing community, in a region that is riddled with access issues. Secondly, this unique event will once again provide a tremendous opportunity for vendors to promote the sport of bouldering, which has quickly become the focus of the ever growing climbing community.
How do I participate?
Triple Crown is a series of bouldering events at three of the premier boulderfields in the Southeast. The series kicks off in the fall beginning with Hound Ears in Boone, NC, moves on to Stone Fort in Chattanooga, TN and then concludes at Horse Pens-40 in Steele, AL.
You can register for any of the individual comps. See the registration page for detailed information. Register as early as possible, space is limited and this event fills up FAST!
Hound Ears
October 5, 2024
Stone Fort
October 19, 2024
Horse Pens 40
November 23, 2024


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Government threatens to seize products if company doesn't comply
WASHINGTON—The notorious hair straightening products company, Brazilian Blowout, has received its first official warning from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has stated that the products are 'adulterated' and mis-branded.
The company has until Sept. 12 to comply with the FDA's directives, otherwise the products could be taken off U.S. shelves and further injunctions could be filed against the company.
The FDA is asking Brazilian Blowout to reduce the level of formaldehyde from its products and change its misleading labels and advertising, which state that the products are formaldehyde-free.
The FDA conducted their own sample analysis of the product, and found dangerously high levels of the liquid form of formaldehyde, ranging from 8.7-10.4 percent. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires an occupational hazard alert at levels higher than 0.1 percent.
Dangers of Formaldehyde
Formaldehyde, commonly found in a number of "Brazilian style" keratin-based hair straighteners, is extremely dangerous and a known carcinogen. The FDA reports that salon workers and consumers have already reported a number of injuries to the FDA, including eye disorders, nervous system disorders, respiratory tract problems, chest pain, vomiting and rash.
Labeled As No Formaldehyde Or Formaldehyde Free
Michael Roosevelt, acting director in the FDA's Office of Compliance states in the letter to the company, "Brazilian Blowout is an adulterated cosmetic because it bears or contains a deleterious substance that may render it injurious to users under the conditions of use prescribed in your labeling." He continues, "Brazilian Blowout contains the liquid form of formaldehyde, methylene glycol; however, the product label declares that the product contains 'No Formaldehyde' or is 'Formaldehyde Free.' This declaration renders your product misbranded because it is a false and misleading statement."
The National Healthy Nail And Beauty Salon Alliance
Since the beginning of the controversy almost one year ago, the National Healthy Nail and Beauty Salon Alliance (Alliance) has called on the FDA to take swift action with a national recall.
"We thank the FDA for issuing this highly anticipated warning. Stylists need to know about the dangers of using this toxic product on a day to day basis," said Women's Voices for the Earth's executive director Erin Switalski, on behalf of the Alliance.
"Brazilian Blowout can no longer lie to the public about their contents and continue to claim their product to be safe. Brazilian Blowout has until Sept. 12 to make this right, or else the FDA can and should serve an injunction against the company for willfully endangering public safety," said Miriam Yeung, executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum.
Banned In Australia, Canada, Ireland, France & Germany
Brazilian Blowout and similar products have been banned in Australia, Canada, Ireland, France and Germany, U.S. OSHA has issued a national hazard alert, and the cosmetics industry's own safety review board came out with an opinion critiquing the safety of hair straighteners using formaldehyde. This year the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released its long-awaited report on formaldehyde, confirming the EPA's determination that formaldehyde causes cancer in humans. Yet, manufacturers have done little to address these concerns.
Broken Regulatory System
"If consumers have been wondering why they've still been able to get Brazilian Blowouts despite so much troubling news, the answer is because our regulatory system is broken," says Anuja Mendiratta, a representative of the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative. "Laws that are supposed to protect consumers and workers simply aren't enough. Even when a product has clearly been shown to poison people, the FDA has little authority to take immediate meaningful action in the case of cosmetics."
The National Healthy Nail and Beauty Salon Alliance has demanded that the FDA immediately recall Brazilian Blowout and similar products. However, the FDA can only issue a "voluntary recall," meaning that the government cannot mandate the removal of dangerous products from the market. These lax regulations are under scrutiny, and are being rectified in the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011, which is currently being debated in Congress. The new law would set safety standards for chemicals used in personal care and salon products before they reach the marketplace, and phase out toxic ingredients such as formaldehyde found in the Brazilian Blowout.
More About The Alliance
The National Healthy Nail and Beauty Salon Alliance (Alliance) works to increase the health, safety, and rights of salon workers by reducing their toxic chemical exposure through engaging in strategic movement building, policy advocacy and media efforts nationwide. The Alliance is a joint project of the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative, National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum, and Women's Voices for the Earth. www.nailsalonalliance.orgPlease follow us on Twitter at: https://Twitter.com/HairBoutique. I look forward to meeting new people from all walks of Twitter and learning from their Tweets.


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Sentence Lesson 59
In this Sentence Lesson you will learn most common translations of everyday conversation. Try to practice with your friends.
Spoken English Tips: Learn English with a friend. You'll have someone you can practice with and you can motivate each other to study.
Try to share this post with your friends by clicking Facebook icon below.


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1When Jesus had finished teaching all these things, he said to his disciples, 2"In two days, as you know, it will be the Passover Festival, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified."
3Then the chief priests and the elders met together in the palace of Caiaphas, the High Priest, 4and made plans to arrest Jesus secretly and put him to death. 5"We must not do it during the festival," they said, "or the people will riot."
6Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon, a man who had suffered from a dreaded skin disease. 7While Jesus was eating, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar filled with an expensive perfume, which she poured on his head. 8The disciples saw this and became angry. "Why all this waste?" they asked. 9"This perfume could have been sold for a large amount and the money given to the poor!"
10Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said to them, "Why are you bothering this woman? It is a fine and beautiful thing that she has done for me. 11You will always have poor people with you, but you will not always have me. 12What she did was to pour this perfume on my body to get me ready for burial. 13Now, I assure you that wherever this gospel is preached all over the world, what she has done will be told in memory of her."
14Then one of the twelve disciples — the one named Judas Iscariot — went to the chief priests 15and asked, "What will you give me if I betray Jesus to you?" They counted out thirty silver coins and gave them to him. 16From then on Judas was looking for a good chance to hand Jesus over to them.
17On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus and asked him, "Where do you want us to get the Passover meal ready for you?"
18"Go to a certain man in the city," he said to them, "and tell him: 'The Teacher says, My hour has come; my disciples and I will celebrate the Passover at your house.' "
19The disciples did as Jesus had told them and prepared the Passover meal.
20When it was evening, Jesus and the twelve disciples sat down to eat. 21During the meal Jesus said, "I tell you, one of you will betray me."
22The disciples were very upset and began to ask him, one after the other, "Surely, Lord, you don't mean me?"
23Jesus answered, "One who dips his bread in the dish with me will betray me. 24The Son of Man will die as the Scriptures say he will, but how terrible for that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would have been better for that man if he had never been born!"
25Judas, the traitor, spoke up. "Surely, Teacher, you don't mean me?" he asked.
Jesus answered, "So you say."
26While they were eating, Jesus took a piece of bread, gave a prayer of thanks, broke it, and gave it to his disciples. "Take and eat it," he said; "this is my body."
27Then he took a cup, gave thanks to God, and gave it to them. "Drink it, all of you," he said; 28"this is my blood, which seals God's covenant, my blood poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29I tell you, I will never again drink this wine until the day I drink the new wine with you in my Father's Kingdom."
30Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.
31Then Jesus said to them, "This very night all of you will run away and leave me, for the scripture says, 'God will kill the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.' 32But after I am raised to life, I will go to Galilee ahead of you."
33Peter spoke up and said to Jesus, "I will never leave you, even though all the rest do!"
34Jesus said to Peter, "I tell you that before the cock crows tonight, you will say three times that you do not know me."
35Peter answered, "I will never say that, even if I have to die with you!"
And all the other disciples said the same thing.
36Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." 37He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee. Grief and anguish came over him, 38and he said to them, "The sorrow in my heart is so great that it almost crushes me. Stay here and keep watch with me."
39He went a little farther on, threw himself face downwards on the ground, and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, take this cup of suffering from me! Yet not what I want, but what you want."
40Then he returned to the three disciples and found them asleep; and he said to Peter, "How is it that you three were not able to keep watch with me even for one hour? 41Keep watch and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."
42Once more Jesus went away and prayed, "My Father, if this cup of suffering cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done." 43He returned once more and found the disciples asleep; they could not keep their eyes open.
44Again Jesus left them, went away, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. 45Then he returned to the disciples and said, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Look! The hour has come for the Son of Man to be handed over to the power of sinners. 46Get up, let us go. Look, here is the man who is betraying me!"
47Jesus was still speaking when Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs and sent by the chief priests and the elders. 48The traitor had given the crowd a signal: "The man I kiss is the one you want. Arrest him!"
49Judas went straight to Jesus and said, "Peace be with you, Teacher," and kissed him.
50Jesus answered, "Be quick about it, friend!"
Then they came up, arrested Jesus, and held him tight. 51One of those who were with Jesus drew his sword and struck at the High Priest's slave, cutting off his ear. 52"Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him. "All who take the sword will die by the sword. 53Don't you know that I could call on my Father for help, and at once he would send me more than twelve armies of angels? 54But in that case, how could the Scriptures come true which say that this is what must happen?"
55Then Jesus spoke to the crowd, "Did you have to come with swords and clubs to capture me, as though I were an outlaw? Every day I sat down and taught in the Temple, and you did not arrest me. 56But all this has happened in order to make what the prophets wrote in the Scriptures come true."
Then all the disciples left him and ran away.
57Those who had arrested Jesus took him to the house of Caiaphas, the High Priest, where the teachers of the Law and the elders had gathered together. 58Peter followed from a distance, as far as the courtyard of the High Priest's house. He went into the courtyard and sat down with the guards to see how it would all come out. 59The chief priests and the whole Council tried to find some false evidence against Jesus to put him to death; 60but they could not find any, even though many people came forward and told lies about him. Finally two men stepped up 61and said, "This man said, 'I am able to tear down God's Temple and three days later build it up again.' "
62The High Priest stood up and said to Jesus, "Have you no answer to give to this accusation against you?" 63But Jesus kept quiet. Again the High Priest spoke to him, "In the name of the living God I now put you on oath: tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God."
64Jesus answered him, "So you say. But I tell all of you: from this time on you will see the Son of Man sitting on the right of the Almighty and coming on the clouds of heaven!"
65At this the High Priest tore his clothes and said, "Blasphemy! We don't need any more witnesses! You have just heard his blasphemy! 66What do you think?"
They answered, "He is guilty and must die."
67Then they spat in his face and beat him; and those who slapped him 68said, "Prophesy for us, Messiah! Guess who hit you!"
69Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard when one of the High Priest's servant women came to him and said, "You, too, were with Jesus of Galilee."
70But he denied it in front of them all. "I don't know what you are talking about," he answered, 71and went on out to the entrance of the courtyard. Another servant woman saw him and said to the men there, "He was with Jesus of Nazareth."
72Again Peter denied it and answered, "I swear that I don't know that man!"
73After a little while the men standing there came to Peter. "Of course you are one of them," they said. "After all, the way you speak gives you away!"
74Then Peter said, "I swear that I am telling the truth! May God punish me if I am not! I do not know that man!"
Just then a cock crowed, 75and Peter remembered what Jesus had told him: "Before the cock crows, you will say three times that you do not know me." He went out and wept bitterly.
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Game Begins
May 11
Last Day to Join
May 24
Final Weigh-In
Jun 08 - Jun 09
The person who invites the most friends to join wins a pair of Nike Air Max Thea's AND a FitBit Flex Activity Tracker!
See full set of rules ›
Bet $25
to start
Lose 4%
in 4 weeks
Split the pot
How do you verify the weight loss?
For all official weigh-ins, you'll be prompted to submit your official starting weight. Our standard weigh-in process involves you submitting 2 photos: one of you standing on a scale in lightweight clothing (no shoes, hats, belts, watches, coats, or outerwear), and another of the scale's readout with your weigh-in word written on a piece of paper.
What you'll need
- A scale (preferably digital)
- A digital camera or smartphone
- A full-length mirror or someone to take your photo
Does this actually work?
Out of 1,039,224 DietBetters, 93.44% have lost weight during their challenges. Combined, they've lost 19,618,374 lbs and won $101,121,996. In other words...yes.
All results shown on DietBet are from actual users. Individual results may vary.Don't take our word for it
Success Story #126: Margaret
Lost 84 lbs
Won $667
"I loved the motivation from the other players, it wasn't about the money..."
Read MoreOver the past 11 years I have been married to an amazing man who is soon to be retired from 20 years in the Air Force. I had 2 amazing kids and I g...
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Lost 55 lbs
Won $1,585
"It's really is a way to reward yourself for losing weight."
Read MoreMy work life and social life leave me without a lot of "me" time! Because life has been so busy for a few years now, I ...
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Lost 62 lbs
Won $3,051
"Since playing DietBet games, my kids have been picking up on my healthy lifestyle changes."
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Lost 50 lbs
Won $4,349
"My husband and I are renewing our vows and I am able to fit into the dress of my dreams!"
Read MoreAfter injuring my back last year, I gained a lot of weight and was the heaviest I had ever been i...
Success Story #93: Jo
Lost 56 lbs
Won $2,071
"I thrive on competition and deadlines."
Read MoreI first started my weight-loss journey when I signed up for a free 5k in my area. I've never been a runner, but I knew I needed to make some change...
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Lost 166 lbs
Won $4,502
"I have peace of mind knowing that physically I can do almost anything that I want, and that my weight is no longer holding me back."
Read MoreThe moment I knew I needed to lose weight was in 2013, when I was living...
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Lost 71 lbs
Won $1,352
"Why do I win every bet? Losing is not an option. I am betting against myself."
Read MoreI am a 50 year old, single parent of a 16 year old. I have been fat my entire life, fattest kid i...
Success Story #164: Brittany
Lost 45 lbs
Won $341
"Being able to fit into smaller clothes puts a smile on my face."
Read MoreI got my "before" picture taken at work. When I went to pick it up, it was laid out on a company table with some other pictures and I couldn't find...
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Lost 85 lbs
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"Now, I wake up each morning actually excited to start the day."
Read MoreAbout two years ago, I was 270 pounds and absolutely miserable. I had no energy and was depressed about it.
Being overweight wasn't ne...
Success Story #148: Rick
Lost 81 lbs
Won $1,044
"What I liked best was the support of other participants in the game."
Read MoreI had a black belt in Tae Kwon Do when I graduated from college. But over the years, I let myself go and eventually reached my highest weight of 28...
Success Story #1: Brittany
Lost 32 lbs
Won $748
"I was able to have fun losing weight while making money."
Read MoreMy dad's side of the family is all overweight. They have high blood pressure, weak knees, diabetes, etc. I realized that I didn't want to end up li...
Success Story #119: Stephanie
Lost 50 lbs
Won $254
"Why not get paid to lose weight?"
Read MoreMy entire life I've been overweight. My parents were the type that wouldn't let you leave the dinner table until your plate was clea...
Success Story #177: Cat
Lost 44 lbs
Won $1,493
"I never feel like I'm alone - I can connect with players instantly for support!"
Read MoreI'm passionate about the outdoors, and have lived a very active life because of that. I&rsq...
Individual results may vary from Success Stories.


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To understand what to do with a windfall or extra disposable income when it comes to paying down a mortgage or investing the money, we need to discuss and understand the concept of opportunity cost.
What Is Opportunity Cost?
The concept of opportunity cost takes into consideration the total financial impact of the use of funds when applied in different ways, to be able to compare the effectiveness of how it is best to use them. The opportunity cost considers the risks involved, the potential reward, as well as the tax implications of the choices.
Risk Versus Reward Evaluation
All investments have risks. When comparing the potential earnings from an investment against the savings of mortgage interest, only the investment side has any downside risk. If you pay down the mortgage, there is a 100% certainty that the loan will reduce and the interest paid will go down. You can calculate the saving on the interest and know the exact amount.
If you invest those same funds, there is always a risk that the investment money can be lost or the investment returns are lower than expected. Moneywise did a comparison of using money to lower a mortgage versus investing in the S&P 500 stock market index over 43 years from 1971 to 2013. For 26 of those 43 years (60% of the time), paying down the mortgage was a better financial move.
Tax Implications
The tax implications involve the impact of the mortgage interest deduction, and its effect on reducing federal income taxes, and the cost of paying capital gains tax on investment profits.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 reduced the possibility for many people of benefiting from an itemized mortgage interest deduction because the standard deduction increased. For comparative purposes, most Americans pay capital gains at the current rate of 15%.
Take the tax savings from the mortgage deduction, if you can use it, and compare this to the investment income, less the applicable capital gains taxes. Ask your tax accountant to do the calculation for you if you cannot do this yourself.
For some, paying down a mortgage is more beneficial than investing. Paying down a mortgage certainly has less risk. Be sure to consider paying down high-interest credit card bills first. That is always a wise idea because the interest rate charged on credit cards is so high.
Every person's financial circumstances are somewhat different so there is no standard answer when comparing paying down a mortgage to investing the same amount of money. Each person needs to do this calculation of the opportunity costs, to be able to apply their extra funds in ways that are most beneficial for them.
If you are in the market for a new home or interested in listing your current property, be sure to contact your trusted real estate professional to discuss current financing options.


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The Bible speaks of three kinds of pleasure. There is lustful pleasure, the lust of the flesh, and Scripture says it is sinful and wrong. There is legitimate pleasure, which is not wrong, but we are not to become so preoccupied with its activities that it takes the place of God. Then there is a third kind of pleasure, lasting pleasure. Do you have that kind? It does not depend on circumstances or feelings. It is the pleasure that runs deep and comes from the Spirit of God.
Prayer for the day
Almighty God, may my pleasure always come from being filled with the joy of Your Holy Spirit.


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Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Res Completa: Aestlight Shawl
Pattern: Aestlight, by Gudrun Johnston
Yarn: Shepherd's Lamb organic wool from a farmer's market in Santa Fe, 2 skeins of Indigo
Needles: US 6 circs
Start to Finish: July 19-24, 2009
Mods: Because I used a DK weight yarn and didn't think I'd have enough to follow the pattern exactly as written and simply create a bigger shawl, I thought I'd get my math on and recalculate things to fit my yarn. So, for the center triangle I only worked until there were 40 loops, which made it about the same size as the pattern's center triangle (calculated from gauge) and also gave me the number of stitches needed to do the Bird's Eye Lace evenly later on. After the Bird's Eye Lace and surrounding garter stitch border, I kicked myself because it appeared that I would have had enough yarn to do a bigger center triangle and a larger shawl. So I added another little panel of Bird's Eye (4 repeats), started on a second garter stitch border and kicked myself again. Totally right the first time, and I had nowhere near enough yarn to do the pretty border. And because I tend to be anti-ripping (when I rip, I end up not picking up the stitches correctly and messing something up 100% of the time), I just kicked myself a third time and bound off. I really do like it this way, but I'd love to make one true to pattern as well.
P.S. I have a confession to make. I originally made this as a gift, but loved it so much that I kept it. It's just so cozy...and such a pretty blue... Ugh, I am a selfish knitter!!!
P.P.S. I absolutely love all of Gudrun's designs. Am almost done with an Audrey In Unst from the new Twist Collective...
P.P.P.S. According to the label, this yarn is organic and was dyed with chemical-free dyes and was processed organically and they make a big deal about using a non-petroleum soap to wash it. But I also noticed that, though the wool comes from sheep in New Mexico, it was spun by a plant in Vermont. Though I fully appreciate the all-natural and low-environmental-impact state of this yarn, doesn't shipping it back and forth between New Mexico and Vermont come with a pretty big carbon footprint (because I'm pretty sure they didn't walk it there)? Or am I being too critical?
22 comments:
- Lolly said...
I love Gudrun's designs too - she is so talented. And I love seeing designs like hers in capable hands like yours! beautiful blue!
Completely understand where you are coming from on the yarn footprint... I have considered this several times, especially with some of the yarns from South America. Since you did buy it at a farmer's market, you are helping that seller and the local economy, but there is also the impact of the travel. I would like to think that it evens out, but I just don't know... I think it is a choice that each person has to make.
Cheers~ - September 9, 2009 at 7:08 PM
- Cyn said...
Hee! I actually like your version much better than the original, regardless of whatever self-kicking caused it to be that way. In fact, now I kind of want to make one...
- September 9, 2009 at 7:10 PM
- barefootrooster said...
oooh, this is lovely. love this blue. and i think your point is an important one -- it does stand to reason that a yarn producer/seller who emphasizes the importance of non-petroleum based soap would at least talk about the fuel consumption/transportation cost in this production process. there are ways to thoughtfully engage these issues (carbon offsets, for example) and thus, be consistent.
none of that, however, changes what a lovely blue this is. i do not blame you for keeping it! - September 9, 2009 at 7:54 PM
- the Lady said...
Ha ha ha!!! No, you are not being too critical. I think the footprint of yarn is HUGE. And good on you for realizing it. Maybe the more people who realize it and tell their concerns to the wholesalers and producers, maybe the more truly local yarn options we'll have.
Now then - as to your not ripping, I feel ya, cause I am lazy 1/2 the time. But not because of not picking up stitches correctly! My dear! You must practice and get over this hurdle! You'll be on fire once you realize you can rip anything back successfully. It will help with all the future knits - you won't have a closet full of unworn sweaters you didn't rip back and so don't like! Trust me on this. Get some help. I'll help you if you like. Or practice on a swatch. Get with someone who can do it successfully and help you out.
I met a crocheter who doesn't knit for the same reason - she doesn't understand how to get the loops back on the needle correctly. I think this is sad, and something that can be changed.
And - bravo for working with math and stuff! Fun!
And there is nothing wrong with being a selfish knitter. It's like appreciating your own cooking or jokes - most people won't be as good at it as you are. - September 9, 2009 at 10:44 PM
- Kathleen Dames said...
Your shawl looks lovely! And I hear you on the selfish knitting, though I just gave my Ishbel to my SIL - I loved it, but it was really perfect for her.
Green Mountain Spinnery (guessing that's the company that spun the yarn) is well-known for their very green process, so your yarn producer may have felt it was worth a slightly larger carbon footprint to get the yarn to such a small-footprint place for processing. Small mills are difficult to come by, so beggars can't always be choosers, and not all of those mills will process other folks' fiber. - September 10, 2009 at 5:45 AM
- Jodi said...
Just beautiful! I'm in a similar yarn quandary with my Damson shawl.
Finding a micromill to spin to one's specs can be tough. There are a few boutique mills a bit closer (WI, OR, MI), but Green Mtn. Spinnery is definitely known for best practices. We do what we can and hope for the best. - September 10, 2009 at 6:27 AM
- Team Knit said...
Gorgeous shawl!! No wonder you decided to keep it, it's beautiful!! And that blue is perfect on you. I think the yarn is great, given that the majority of yarn out there is shipped across the planet, dyed with harsh chemicals and tonnes of water wastage, and then shipped around the planet again. Yours is at least organic and chemical free, and it's travel is only in North America(Mexico- US). As awesome as it would be to live down the road from an organic merino/alpaca farm where they spin and dye everything with natural products, it's not always possible!
- Julie - September 10, 2009 at 7:24 AM
- Eliza said...
you are so productive! Gorgeous shawl! Love the color and pattern!
and yes, about the carbon footprint. There is a wind powered spinnery in Maine, and the owner was complaining about someone who shipped their wool to him from somewhere in Europe, and the he was supposed to ship it to someone in Washington State. It sort of defeats the purpose. - September 10, 2009 at 9:43 AM
- Mr Puffy's Knitting Blog: said...
It's beautiful - and the perfect color on you - there's no question you couldn't possibly give this away!
I believe she has designed a cowl which I intend to make. Something called....it doesn't come to me.
I'm not a big one for ripping either - love how it came out! Awesome save. - September 10, 2009 at 10:34 AM
- Sophy said...
it's beatiful! and really, you have a talent for picking the prettiest colors for your projects!
- September 10, 2009 at 10:39 AM
- Teresa said...
Keeping the good ones makes total sense, man - I'm entirely that way meself (although truthfully, it's not difficult to keep them all for me when I only ever knit for me...)
It looks lovely, and very cozy indeed! Your version is beautiful. - September 10, 2009 at 11:03 AM
- Jacey said...
It's okay to be a selfish knitter sometimes. You should keep it if you really love it. Your mods turned out well, and I like it in the thicker yarn. I've got this one in the queue as well, but I haven't picked out my yarn yet.
- September 10, 2009 at 12:58 PM
- Journeying Five said...
love it! the colour is really good!
- September 10, 2009 at 10:11 PM
- Gudrun Johnston said...
It looks great and such a lovely colour for you too!
Can't wait to see your Audrey! - September 11, 2009 at 4:53 AM
- Claire Allison said...
That blue is wonderful, and the shawl looks so good on you. It was meant to be yours! Don't feel bad and knit something else for that person. :)
- September 11, 2009 at 1:05 PM
- Philigry said...
oh, i love this one. i need to add it to my list. with jeans and boots...(and a shirt, of course!) i love that look.
- September 11, 2009 at 6:04 PM
- peaknits said...
What a gorgeous shawl! Thank you for the links!
- September 13, 2009 at 11:07 AM
- larissa said...
i absolutely love the modifications your made! and the DK weight is perfect here! now I want to knit one - using your mods. i love the simple garter edging.
- September 13, 2009 at 11:25 AM
- Sayschnicklefritz said...
No way are you being too critical; you've simply pointed out somethign we should all be aware of: low-toxuicity dyes may be good for teh enviroonment, but should we really pat ourselves on the back if the energy used to get the wonderful products to us may be more polluting than the aforementioned dyes? Sometimes I think we should just cut ourselvess some slack and buy the yarn that we like, regardless of dying or treatment methods.
Congratulations on the shawl. I LOVE my Aestlight, too! - September 14, 2009 at 1:20 PM
- Lisa Stepi said...
I love that pattern! Yours is great.
- September 15, 2009 at 9:06 AM
- keri said...
Gorgeous shawl!
I agree with you on the footprint thing - I often think that spinning my own yarn helps a little bit but then you still have the rather large fiber generation footprint. Perhaps the most eco friendly thing is to shear our own sheep, process it, then spin it and knit it? Quite time consuming but an interesting proposition. =) - September 16, 2009 at 3:34 PM
- Jessica said...
Your shawl is beautiful!
I'm working on one of these & have 60 stitches on the base triangle myself... and already I'm getting tired of it.. maybe I'll do what you did & intentionally do more than one panel of birdseye lace... especially since I only have one skein of fingering weight yarn.. that'll give me room to stop if I see the yarn supply is running low...
Though I could always dye another skein later on as I still have some dye left... - September 26, 2009 at 10:18 PM


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DILLON, Colo. -- The icy doors have opened wide and people are pouring through the frozen hallways and gazing upon the chilly parapets of the famous Ice Castles in Colorado.
Ice Castles is a frozen attraction — now in its third year in Dillon — created by professional ice artists who build structures using hundreds of thousands of icicles.
The cold construct is created by hand placing hundreds of thousands of icicles, generated on site at a rate of 10,000 per day during peak construction weeks.
According to site managers, some portions of the castle currently reach heights of about 30 feet but by the end of the season in march, there will be portions that tower closer to 50 feet in height.
This family friendly attraction welcomes guests to enjoy frozen thrones, ice-carved tunnels, slides, fountains and more.
Management of the Dillon Ice Castles estimates that annually approximately 100,000 visitors cycle through the wintry attraction.
Adult tickets cost between $17-$21 for general admission. For more information, including parking, FAQs and more on ticket pricing, visit the Ice Castles website here.
This story was originally published by Jon McMichael at KOAA.


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SEATTLE – Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) finished work Wednesday on its long-delayed Windows Vista operating system, and said the software would be broadly available Jan. 30.
The announcement means Microsoft will meet — just barely — its revised goal of putting Vista in consumers' hands in the first month of 2007.
Windows Vista's code was released midmorning Wednesday to manufacturing — a step that allows the company to begin making the copies that will be distributed with PCs and sold at stores, said Jim Allchin, co-president of the Microsoft division that includes Windows, in a conference.
• Get all your high-tech headlines in FOXNews.com's Home Computing Center.
"This is a good day," Allchin said.
Microsoft had previously said it would release Vista to big business clients at an event at the Nasdaq Stock Market on Nov. 30, and Allchin reiterated Wednesday that corporations who buy Windows licenses in bulk will get the new system this month.
That's also in keeping with the company's revised release schedule.
The release will be the first major upgrade in more than five years to the operating system that powers most of the world's personal computers.
Vista boasts improved graphics, more effective tools for finding documents, pictures and other items on personal computers, and a new Internet browser, among other changes.
The software has been plagued by delays, the most recent of which was blamed in part on efforts to improve security. Microsoft products are a near-constant target of Internet attackers, and the company is often in the uncomfortable position of having to plug holes in its products.
Allchin cautioned that Vista will still face some security threats because attackers are growing more sophisticated. But he said a rigorous testing process and changes that make it harder for attacks to jump from one Vista-powered computer to the next should reduce those problems.
In its quest to get Vista out the door, Redmond-based Microsoft also has had to scale back some of its original goals, including scrapping a more sophisticated method for sorting and organizing data.
Analysts have said that scaling back the system could hurt the company if people don't see enough reason to upgrade.
The most recent delays also forced Microsoft to miss the holiday season, potentially dealing a blow to computer makers and retailers who may have been hoping for the new system to boost gift sales.
Microsoft and computer manufacturers are offering holiday shoppers coupons good for a free or discounted Vista upgrade.
It's not clear how quickly big businesses will start using Vista. It can often take months if not years for companies to test a new operating system and make sure it will work well with the other programs they rely on.
Allchin said Microsoft is providing tools that allow companies to test for compatibility problems more quickly than with past Windows releases. He also said he hopes the security improvements would drive companies to upgrade faster.
Microsoft shares rose 3 cents to close at $28.98 Wednesday on the Nasdaq Stock Market.


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At QualityUsedEngines.com, we know that when your cars engine fails, there are only a few options and lets face it most of them are not very desirable. You can either buy an overpriced new engine, or purchase an affordable used one. Because we have access to the largest used engine inventory in the USA, we make it easy to find a replacement motor for your car, truck, van or SUV. By filling out the used engine quote or calling 866-319-1643, you are ensured to get a great price, low mileage engine delivered right to you. We supply many of the most popular Domestic and Import engines, just check out our list below.


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Mercury Marine unveils electronic controls making the operation of five-engine and six-engine boats easier and more precise
Miami, Fla. — Today at the launch of the Miami International Boat Show, Mercury Marine, the world leader in marine propulsion, introduced a new suite of technological solutions for controlling five- and six-engine arrays of outboard boat engines. The announcement further reinforces Mercury's leadership position in making boat operation more intuitive and enjoyable.
With a growing segment of the recreational boating market shifting toward larger vessels powered by multiple large-horsepower outboards, Mercury is leading the way in providing not only high‑performance and durable engines but also state-of-the-art solutions to enhance boaters' experiences.
Mercury's new fully featured system natively supports five- and six-engine applications that provide functionality in four major areas:
- Digital throttle and shift (DTS) controls,
- Heading and route features of electronic steering,
- Active Trim, and
- Mercury's Joystick Piloting for Outboards technology.
"We specifically engineered these solutions to address the unique dynamics and properties of operating five- and six-engine setups on larger boats," said Kris Neff, vice president of global category management and strategic planning. "To match or exceed what we've already been doing with two- to four-engine arrays required significant research and software programming to maximize the contribution of each engine in various maneuvers and throttle settings."
Digital Control and Shift (DTS) capabilities include:
- Shadow Mode control, which uses two control levers to operate a triple-, quad-, five- or six-engine application;
- Single-lever Mode, which allows for all engines to be operated from a single control lever;
- Troll Control, providing very precise low-speed control in 10 rpm increments;
- Cruise Control, which is a precise rpm or speed controller;
- Dock Mode, which remaps remote control full-throttle response to 50 percent, allowing for more precise limited power for close-quarters maneuvering;
- Helm Transfer, which transfers control to a secondary control station; and
- Throttle Only Mode to either warm up the engines or increase alternator output for charging batteries.
Electronic Steering brings additional features, including:
- Dynamic steering feel, offering easy steering at low speeds and stiffer steering at higher speeds;
- Heading control, which allows the boater to lock in the vessel's heading and adjust it in 1- and 10-degree increments; and
- Fully integrated autopilot, or "Route" feature, which allows the boater to navigate to an active waypoint or follow an active route.
Joystick Piloting for Outboards and Active Trim are also available and add the following capabilities:
- Skyhook, enabling the boater to lock the vessel's position and heading so the boater may tend to fishing lines, wait on a drawbridge, etc.;
- Drifthook, enabling the boater to lock the vessel's heading while allowing it to drift;
- Heading Adjust, allowing the boater to adjust heading, while the boat is engaged in Skyhook or Drifthook, in 1- and 10-degree increments;
- Bowhook, enabling the boater to lock the vessel's position while allowing the heading to swing on the wind and/or water currents; and
- Active Trim, which automatically trims all the engines to their optimal trim angle based on speed.
Many of these features require the use of a seven-inch or larger screen on Mercury's VesselView user interface, which displays data on all five or six engines on one screen.


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When you browse this website, cookies are placed on your browser. For some of them, your consent is required. Click on each category of cookies to enable or disable their use. To take advantage of all the features offered by our site (sharing articles on social media, advertising in line with your interests, improving the site thanks to browsing statistics, etc.). We recommend you to keep the different categories of cookies activated.
A room for sales representatives/ and people passing through A meeting room


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Thanks to the super sleuthing abilities of @Dr-Omega and abhijit, we have a first peek at a new bird coming to the Angry Birds franchise. Based on the picture posted by Rovio on their social media channels, it definitely seems to be a female pink bird (also being called the "Girlie Bird")! This would be the first undeniably-female Angry Bird (since Jewel is a separate character who joined the Birds in Rio, and there is a cloud of controversy regarding the White Bird's gender — though Rovio has addressed that before).
Update August 8th: We now know that the pink bird will appear in the Angry Birds Seasons Back to School update. This article also contains more info about the pink bird's power / ability.
Back to topic. Here, we will only post the images that Rovio themselves have posted on their social media channels. But if you want a true spoiler, check out ToyWiz.com. They only sell Rovio-official plushies, so I think it's pretty legitimate. Note that the product description is quite inaccurate, but other than that, you get the idea of roughly what the bird may look like.
I am guessing Rovio will continue to post teasers about this, and at this time there is an innumerable number of questions about this bird. What app will it first be released in? What apps will it inevitably be released in? When will it appear? What will its ability be? In any case, it will be exciting to watch for!
Update Aug. 07: A special thanks goes out to Rick Keyser who presented a truly-inspired guess to the release of the Female Pink Bird (now being called the "Girlie Bird" after some additional merchandise was found). His idea is that the Pink Bird will be released in a new episode of Angry Birds Seasons centered around the Chinese holiday of the Qixi Festival. This holiday, sometimes called Chinese Valentine's Day, revolves around a love story, occurs at night (thus the caption "Who turned out the lights?"), and involves magpies. What's better? Qixi Festival this year occurs on August 23rd, which fits the bill in oh-so-many ways. It's a Thursday (Rovio's favorite day to release updates, apparently). It's about 2 weeks away, which is within the realm of Rovio's teaser lengths. And finally, it a Far Eastern theme, which has been a major theme of the 2012 "Seasons" packages and part of Rovio's expanding market. Is all this definite? Absolutely not. But we love to speculate since Rovio loves to tease.
Thanks to @lostgreybird, @dr-omega, and @oldmanbird for their contributions as well.


text:
Adweek Breaking Information In Advertising, Media And Know-how
It includes e-mail advertising and marketing, search engine advertising (SEM), social media advertising and marketing , many kinds of display advertising (including internet banner advertising), and cell promoting Like different advertising media, internet advertising regularly entails both a writer, who integrates ads into its online content, and an advertiser, who offers the ads to be displayed on the publisher's content material. All the sites listed under are high in each Alexa ranking and Google PageRank In the event you publish adverts on certainly one of these categorized websites, you may get a high likelihood of someone viewing your ad and make constructive response. If you're desirous about advertising on our websites please contact e-mail protected and point out Wirral Council in your e-mail.
The show advertising spending will decline search ad spending within the US. Online advertising formats as banner adverts, video, rich media and sponsorship will account for the most important share of digital advert spending: forty seven.9{79ca30469d1dfeae9cc9bd4dc487cbe3605cd586d62715aef616363b0fe898f6}, value $32.17Billion.
With some platforms corresponding to Facebook or the Google Show Network – you do not bid on keywords as a lot as you audiences, but the identical principle applies – focusing on the niches leads to a more effective advertising marketing campaign. Founded in 2003, Small Business Tendencies is an award-successful online publication for small enterprise house owners, entrepreneurs and the individuals who interact with them.
Usually, banner adverts are positioned in excessive site visitors web sites that offer fascinating or useful content. The Digital Citizens Alliance not too long ago released a report: Good Cash Nonetheless Going Unhealthy †which describes the continuing use of respectable promoting at pirate websites in 2014.
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Welcome to the Family International's Home page
About Us
Who We Are | The Family International (TFI) is an online Christian network of individuals in 75 countries, committed to sharing the message of God's love with others. Learn more about us
What We Do | Members strive to share a message of faith and hope for all nations and to make a difference in their local community. Read our mission statement
Why We Do It | Love is God's solution to the problems the world faces, even in the complex and challenging world we live in today. Love put into action is the greatest service to humankind. Visit our community site


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OutKast's André 3000 (pictured) has angered anti-gun campaigners in the US by claiming he'd like to buy his nine-year-old son a weapon.
The rapper/actor is quoted as saying: "I would want my son to carry a gun when he gets older. It's just something you have got to have if you want to be safe."
André's son, Steven, was unavailable for comment. Anti-gun campaigners have, quite obviously, reacted angrily to such a statement.
A spokeswoman for the group Mothers Against Guns commented:
"André 3000 is idolised by large numbers of young children throughout the world. He is glorifying gun culture which has taken over the world and taken our children away from us. To say he is going to encourage his son to carry one around when he is older is despicable."


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Evocative scenes of '80s Britain are captured in this new book
Striking images of a Britain fading into the past abound in a book bringing together a series of photographs by Paul Graham.
Originally self-published by Graham in 1983, A1 – The Great North Road is a portrait of the nation seen from the A1, from London to Edinburgh.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdAs well as paving the way for a new generation of colour photographers upon its initial publication, the book documents the vast socio-political changes across the country under Margaret Thatcher, and offers a new way of thinking about our nation today: the political divides between North and South, our relationship to domestic travel, and the regional inequalities along one road.
A1 – The Great North Road was Paul Graham's first book. It had a startling impact on British photography, using the tradition of social documentary with a fresh approach to colour.
Cafe Assistants, Compass Cafe Colsterworth, Lincolnshire, November 1982 (photo: Paul Graham)
Graham travelled repeatedly along the Great North Road with a large-format camera, to record the people, buildings and landscape of early '80s Britain.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdThe award-winning photographer has previously had solo exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Tate and Whitechapel galleries in London.
Now rare, Graham's 1980s trilogy of books is being republished by MACK this month. The publication will be accompanied by a show at Huxley Parlour in London in October.
The book, which comes in embossed linen hardcover, costs £40. Visit mackbooks.co.uk/products/a1-the-great-north-road-br-paul-graham for details.
Interior, John's Cafe, Sandy, Bedfordshire, April 1981 (photo: Paul Graham)
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Hide AdLorry Driver, Beacon Services, South Mimms, Hertfordshire, May 1982 (photo: Paul Graham)
Great North Road Garage, Edinburgh, November 1981 (photo: Paul Graham)
Tony, Tower Cafe, Caldecote, Bedfordshire, May 1982 (photo: Paul Graham)
Couple on Day Trip, Washington Services, Tyne and Wear, May 1982 (photo: Paul Graham)
Bus Converted to Cafe, Lay-By, West Yorkshire, November 1982 (photo: Paul Graham)
Ferrybridge Power Station, West Yorkshire, November 1982 (photo: Paul Graham)


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AUDIO(4I) | Ioctl Requests | AUDIO(4I) |
— generic
audio device interface
An audio device is used to play and/or record a stream of audio
data. Since a specific audio device may not support all functionality
described below, refer to the device-specific manual pages for a complete
description of each hardware device. An application can use the
ioctl(2) to determine the current audio
hardware associated with /dev/audio.
The audio framework provides a software mixing engine (audio mixer) for all audio devices, allowing more than one process to play or record audio at the same time.
It is no longer possible to disable the mixing function. Applications must not assume that they have exclusive access to the audio device.
The audio mixer supports multi-stream Codecs. These devices have DSP engines that provide sample rate conversion, hardware mixing, and other features. The use of such hardware features is opaque to applications.
Digital audio data represents a quantized approximation of an analog audio signal waveform. In the simplest case, these quantized numbers represent the amplitude of the input waveform at particular sampling intervals. To achieve the best approximation of an input signal, the highest possible sampling frequency and precision should be used. However, increased accuracy comes at a cost of increased data storage requirements. For instance, one minute of monaural audio recorded in μ-Law format (pronounced mew-law) at 8 KHz requires nearly 0.5 megabytes of storage, while the standard Compact Disc audio format (stereo 16-bit linear PCM data sampled at 44.1 KHz) requires approximately 10 megabytes per minute.
Audio data may be represented in several different formats. An
audio device's current audio data format can be determined by using the
ioctl(2) described below.
An audio data format is characterized in the audio driver by four parameters: Sample Rate, Encoding, Precision, and Channels. Refer to the device-specific manual pages for a list of the audio formats that each device supports. In addition to the formats that the audio device supports directly, other formats provide higher data compression. Applications may convert audio data to and from these formats when playing or recording.
Sample rate is a number that represents the sampling frequency (in samples per second) of the audio data.
The audio mixer always configures the hardware for the highest possible sample rate for both play and record. This ensures that none of the audio streams require compute-intensive low pass filtering. The result is that high sample rate audio streams are not degraded by filtering.
Sample rate conversion can be a compute-intensive operation, depending on the number of channels and a device's sample rate. For example, an 8KHz signal can be easily converted to 48KHz, requiring a low cost up sampling by 6. However, converting from 44.1KHz to 48KHz is compute intensive because it must be up sampled by 160 and then down sampled by 147. This is only done using integer multipliers.
Applications can greatly reduce the impact of sample rate conversion by carefully picking the sample rate. Applications should always use the highest sample rate the device supports. An application can also do its own sample rate conversion (to take advantage of floating point and accelerated instruction or use small integers for up and down sampling.
All modern audio devices run at 48 kHz or a multiple thereof, hence just using 48 kHz may be a reasonable compromise if the application is not prepared to select higher sample rates.
An encoding parameter specifies the audio data representation. μ-Law encoding corresponds to CCITT G.711, and is the standard for voice data used by telephone companies in the United States, Canada, and Japan. A-Law encoding is also part of CCITT G.711 and is the standard encoding for telephony elsewhere in the world. A-Law and μ-Law audio data are sampled at a rate of 8000 samples per second with 12-bit precision, with the data compressed to 8-bit samples. The resulting audio data quality is equivalent to that of standard analog telephone service.
Linear Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) is an uncompressed, signed audio format in which sample values are directly proportional to audio signal voltages. Each sample is a 2's complement number that represents a positive or negative amplitude.
Precision indicates the number of bits used to store each audio sample. For instance, μ-Law and A-Law data are stored with 8-bit precision. PCM data may be stored at various precisions, though 16-bit is the most common.
Multiple channels of audio may be interleaved at sample boundaries. A sample frame consists of a single sample from each active channel. For example, a sample frame of stereo 16-bit PCM data consists of two 16-bit samples, corresponding to the left and right channel data.
The audio mixer sets the hardware to the maximum number of channels supported. If a mono signal is played or recorded, it is mixed on the first two (usually the left and right) channels only. Silence is mixed on the remaining channels
The audio mixer supports the following audio formats:
Encoding | Precision | Channels |
Signed Linear PCM | 32-bit | Mono or Stereo |
Signed Linear PCM | 16-bit | Mono or Stereo |
Signed Linear PCM | 8-bit | Mono or Stereo |
μ-Law | 8-bit | Mono or Stereo |
A-Law | 8-bit | Mono or Stereo |
The audio mixer converts all audio streams to 24-bit Linear PCM before mixing. After mixing, conversion is made to the best possible Codec format. The conversion process is not compute intensive and audio applications can choose the encoding format that best meets their needs.
Note that the mixer discards the low order 8 bits of 32-bit Signed Linear PCM in order to perform mixing. (This is done to allow for possible overflows to fit into 32-bits when mixing multiple streams together.) Hence, the maximum effective precision is 24-bits.
The device /dev/audio is a device driver that dispatches audio requests to the appropriate underlying audio hardware. The audio driver is implemented as a STREAMS driver. In order to record audio input, applications open(2) the /dev/audio device and read data from it using the read(2) system call. Similarly, sound data is queued to the audio output port by using the write(2) system call. Device configuration is performed using the ioctl(2) interface.
Because some systems may contain more than one audio device,
application writers are encouraged to query the
environment variable. If this variable is
present in the environment, its value should identify the path name of the
default audio device.
The audio device is not treated as an exclusive resource. Each process may open the audio device once.
Each open(2) completes as long as there are channels available to be allocated. If no channels are available to be allocated:
flags are set in the
open(2) oflag
argument, then -1 is immediately returned, with
errno set to EBUSY
nor the
flag are set, then
open(2) hangs until the device is
available or a signal is delivered to the process, in which case a -1 is
returned with errno set to
.Upon the initial open(2) of the audio channel, the audio mixer sets the data format of the audio channel to the default state of 8-bit, 8Khz, mono μ-Law data.
If the audio device does not support this configuration, it informs the audio mixer of the initial configuration. Audio applications should explicitly set the encoding characteristics to match the audio data requirements, and not depend on the default configuration.
The read(2) system call copies
data from the system's buffers to the application. Ordinarily,
read(2) blocks until the user buffer is
filled. The I_NREAD
ioctl (see
streamio(4I)) may be used to
determine the amount of data that may be read without blocking. The device
may alternatively be set to a non-blocking mode, in which case
read(2) completes immediately, but may
return fewer bytes than requested. Refer to the
read(2) manual page for a complete
description of this behavior.
When the audio device is opened with read access, the device
driver immediately starts buffering audio input data. Since this consumes
system resources, processes that do not record audio data should open the
device write-only (O_WRONLY
The transfer of input data to STREAMS buffers
may be paused (or resumed) by using the
ioctl to set (or
clear) the record.pause flag in the audio information
structure (see below). All unread input data in the
STREAMS queue may be discarded by using the
STREAMS ioctl. See
streamio(4I). When changing record
parameters, the input stream should be paused and flushed before the change,
and resumed afterward. Otherwise, subsequent reads may return samples in the
old format followed by samples in the new format. This is particularly
important when new parameters result in a changed sample size.
Input data can accumulate in STREAMS buffers very quickly. At a minimum, it will accumulate at 8000 bytes per second for 8-bit, 8 KHz, mono, μ-Law data. If the device is configured for 16-bit linear or higher sample rates, it will accumulate even faster. If the application that consumes the data cannot keep up with this data rate, the STREAMS queue may become full. When this occurs, the record.error flag is set in the audio information structure and input sampling ceases until there is room in the input queue for additional data. In such cases, the input data stream contains a discontinuity. For this reason, audio recording applications should open the audio device when they are prepared to begin reading data, rather than at the start of extensive initialization.
The write(2) system call copies data from an application's buffer to the STREAMS output queue. Ordinarily, write(2) blocks until the entire user buffer is transferred. The device may alternatively be set to a non-blocking mode, in which case write(2) completes immediately, but may have transferred fewer bytes than requested. See write(2).
Although write(2) returns
when the data is successfully queued, the actual completion of audio output
may take considerably longer. The AUDIO_DRAIN
may be issued to allow an application to block until all of the queued
output data has been played. Alternatively, a process may request
asynchronous notification of output completion by writing a zero-length
buffer (end-of-file record) to the output stream. When such a buffer has
been processed, the play.eof flag in the audio
information structure is incremented.
The final close(2) of the file descriptor hangs until all of the audio output has drained. If a signal interrupts the close(2), or if the process exits without closing the device, any remaining data queued for audio output is flushed and the device is closed immediately.
The consumption of output data may be paused (or resumed) by using
the AUDIO_SETINFO
ioctl to set (or clear) the
play.pause flag in the audio information structure.
Queued output data may be discarded by using the
STREAMS ioctl. (See
Output data is played from the STREAMS buffers at a default rate of at least 8000 bytes per second for μ-Law, A-Law or 8-bit PCM data (faster for 16-bit linear data or higher sampling rates). If the output queue becomes empty, the play.error flag is set in the audio information structure and output is stopped until additional data is written. If an application attempts to write a number of bytes that is not a multiple of the current sample frame size, an error is generated and the bad data is thrown away. Additional writes are allowed.
The I_SETSIG
ioctl enables asynchronous notification, through the
signal, of input and output ready condition
changes. The O_NONBLOCK
flag may be set using the
fcntl(2) to enable non-blocking
read(2) and
write(2) requests. This is normally
sufficient for applications to maintain an audio stream in the
It is sometimes convenient to have an application, such as a volume control panel, modify certain characteristics of the audio device while it is being used by an unrelated process.
The /dev/audioctl pseudo-device
is provided for this purpose. Any number of processes may open
/dev/audioctl simultaneously. However,
read(2) and
write(2) system calls are ignored by
/dev/audioctl. The
ioctl commands may be issued to
/dev/audioctl to determine the status or alter the
behavior of /dev/audio. Note: In general, the audio
control device name is constructed by appending the letters
"ctl" to
the path name of the audio device.
Applications that open the audio control pseudo-device may request
asynchronous notification of changes in the state of the audio device by
setting the S_MSG
flag in an
STREAMS ioctl. Such
processes receive a SIGPOLL
signal when any of the
following events occur:
ioctl has altered the device
state.The state of the audio device may be polled or modified using the
ioctl commands. These commands operate
on the audio_info structure as defined, in
, as
/* * This structure contains state information for audio device * IO streams */ struct audio_prinfo { /* * The following values describe the * audio data encoding */ uint_t sample_rate; /* samples per second */ uint_t channels; /* number of interleaved channels */ uint_t precision; /* number of bits per sample */ uint_t encoding; /* data encoding method */ /* * The following values control audio device * configuration */ uint_t gain; /* volume level */ uint_t port; /* selected I/O port */ uint_t buffer_size; /* I/O buffer size */ /* * The following values describe the current device * state */ uint_t samples; /* number of samples converted */ uint_t eof; /* End Of File counter (play only) */ uchar_t pause; /* non-zero if paused, zero to resume */ uchar_t error; /* non-zero if overflow/underflow */ uchar_t waiting; /* non-zero if a process wants access */ uchar_t balance; /* stereo channel balance */ /* * The following values are read-only device state * information */ uchar_t open; /* non-zero if open access granted */ uchar_t active; /* non-zero if I/O active */ uint_t avail_ports; /* available I/O ports */ uint_t mod_ports; /* modifiable I/O ports */ }; typedef struct audio_prinfo audio_prinfo_t; /* * This structure is used in AUDIO_GETINFO and AUDIO_SETINFO ioctl * commands */ struct audio_info { audio_prinfo_t record;/* input status info */ audio_prinfo_t play; /* output status info */ uint_t monitor_gain; /* input to output mix */ uchar_toutput_muted; /* non-zero if output muted */ uint_t hw_features; /* supported H/W features */ uint_t sw_features; /* supported S/W features */ uint_t sw_features_enabled; /* supported S/W features enabled */ }; typedef struct audio_info audio_info_t; /* Audio encoding types */ #define AUDIO_ENCODING_ULAW (1) /* u-Law encoding */ #define AUDIO_ENCODING_ALAW (2) /* A-Law encoding */ #define AUDIO_ENCODING_LINEAR (3) /* Signed Linear PCM encoding */ /* * These ranges apply to record, play, and * monitor gain values */ #define AUDIO_MIN_GAIN (0)/* minimum gain value */ #define AUDIO_MAX_GAIN (255) /* maximum gain value */ /* * These values apply to the balance field to adjust channel * gain values */ #define AUDIO_LEFT_BALANCE (0) /* left channel only */ #define AUDIO_MID_BALANCE (32) /* equal left/right balance */ #define AUDIO_RIGHT_BALANCE (64) /* right channel only */ /* * Define some convenient audio port names * (for port, avail_ports and mod_ports) */ /* output ports (several might be enabled at once) */ #define AUDIO_SPEAKER (0x01) /* built-in speaker */ #define AUDIO_HEADPHONE (0x02) /* headphone jack */ #define AUDIO_LINE_OUT (0x04) /* line out */ #define AUDIO_SPDIF_OUT (0x08) /* SPDIF port */ #define AUDIO_AUX1_OUT (0x10) /* aux1 out */ #define AUDIO_AUX2_OUT (0x20) /* aux2 out */ /* * input ports (usually only one may be enabled at a time) */ #define AUDIO_MICROPHONE (0x01) /* microphone */ #define AUDIO_LINE_IN (0x02) /* line in */ #define AUDIO_CD (0x04) /* on-board CD inputs */ #define AUDIO_SPDIF_IN (0x08) /* SPDIF port */ #define AUDIO_AUX1_IN (0x10) /* aux1 in */ #define AUDIO_AUX2_IN (0x20) /* aux2 in */ #define AUDIO_CODEC_LOOPB_IN (0x40) /* Codec inter. loopback */ /* These defines are for hardware features */ #define AUDIO_HWFEATURE_DUPLEX (0x00000001u) /* simult. play & cap. supported */ #define AUDIO_HWFEATURE_MSCODEC (0x00000002u) /* multi-stream Codec */ /* These defines are for software features * #define AUDIO_SWFEATURE_MIXER (0x00000001u) /* audio mixer audio pers. mod. */ /* * Parameter for the AUDIO_GETDEV ioctl * to determine current audio devices */ #define MAX_AUDIO_DEV_LEN (16) struct audio_device { char name[MAX_AUDIO_DEV_LEN]; char version[MAX_AUDIO_DEV_LEN]; char config[MAX_AUDIO_DEV_LEN]; }; typedef struct audio_device audio_device_t;
The play.gain and
record.gain fields specify the output and input volume
levels. A value of AUDIO_MAX_GAIN
indicates maximum
volume. Audio output may also be temporarily muted by setting a non-zero
value in the output_muted field. Clearing this field
restores audio output to the normal state.
The monitor_gain field is present for compatibility, and is no longer supported. See dsp(4I) for more detail.
Likewise, the play.port, play.ports, play.mod_ports, record.port, record.ports, and record.mod_ports are no longer supported. See dsp(4I) for more detail.
The play.balance and
record.balance fields are fixed to
. Changes to volume levels for
different channels can be made using the interfaces in
The play.pause and record.pause flags may be used to pause and resume the transfer of data between the audio device and the STREAMS buffers. The play.error and record.error flags indicate that data underflow or overflow has occurred. The play.active and record.active flags indicate that data transfer is currently active in the corresponding direction.
The play.open and
record.open flags indicate that the device is
currently open with the corresponding access permission. The
play.waiting and record.waiting
flags provide an indication that a process may be waiting to access the
device. These flags are set automatically when a process blocks on
open(2), though they may also be set
using the AUDIO_SETINFO
ioctl command. They are
cleared only when a process relinquishes access by closing the device.
The play.samples and record.samples fields are zeroed at open(2) and are incremented each time a data sample is copied to or from the associated STREAMS queue. Some audio drivers may be limited to counting buffers of samples, instead of single samples for their samples accounting. For this reason, applications should not assume that the samples fields contain a perfectly accurate count. The play.eof field increments whenever a zero-length output buffer is synchronously processed. Applications may use this field to detect the completion of particular segments of audio output.
The record.buffer_size field controls the amount of input data that is buffered in the device driver during record operations. Applications that have particular requirements for low latency should set the value appropriately. Note however that smaller input buffer sizes may result in higher system overhead. The value of this field is specified in bytes and drivers will constrain it to be a multiple of the current sample frame size. Some drivers may place other requirements on the value of this field. Refer to the audio device-specific manual page for more details. If an application changes the format of the audio device and does not modify the record.buffer_size field, the device driver may use a default value to compensate for the new data rate. Therefore, if an application is going to modify this field, it should modify it during or after the format change itself, not before. When changing the record.buffer_size parameters, the input stream should be paused and flushed before the change, and resumed afterward. Otherwise, subsequent reads may return samples in the old format followed by samples in the new format. This is particularly important when new parameters result in a changed sample size. If you change the record.buffer_size for the first packet, this protocol must be followed or the first buffer will be the default buffer size for the device, followed by packets of the requested change size.
The record.buffer_size field may be modified only on the /dev/audio device by processes that have it opened for reading.
The play.buffer_size field is currently not supported.
The audio data format is indicated by the sample_rate, channels, precision, and encoding fields. The values of these fields correspond to the descriptions in the AUDIO FORMATS section of this man page. Refer to the audio device-specific manual pages for a list of supported data format combinations.
The data format fields can be modified only on the /dev/audio device.
If the parameter changes requested by an
ioctl cannot all be accommodated,
ioctl(2) returns with
errno set to EINVAL
and no
changes are made to the device state.
All of the streamio(4I)
ioctl(2) commands may be issued for the
/dev/audio device. Because the
/dev/audioctl device has its own
STREAMS queues, most of these commands neither modify nor
report the state of /dev/audio if issued for the
/dev/audioctl device. The
ioctl may be issued for
/dev/audioctl to enable the notification of audio
status changes, as described above.
The audio device additionally supports the following ioctl(2) commands:
is performed on the final
close(2) of
is issued. This allows programs to
automatically modify these fields while retrieving the previous value.
As with AUDIO_SETINFO
, the settings
managed by this ioctl deal with a logical view of the device which is
private to the process, and don't necessarily have any impact on the
hardware device itself.
Certain fields in the audio information structure, such as the
pause flags, are treated as read-only when
/dev/audio is not open with the corresponding access
permission. Other fields, such as the gain levels and encoding information,
may have a restricted set of acceptable values. Applications that attempt to
modify such fields should check the returned values to be sure that the
corresponding change took effect. The sample_rate,
channels, precision, and
encoding fields treated as read-only for
/dev/audioctl, so that applications can be
guaranteed that the existing audio format will stay in place until they
relinquish the audio device. AUDIO_SETINFO
return EINVAL
when the desired configuration is not
possible, or EBUSY
when another process has control
of the audio device.
All of the logical device state is reset when the corresponding I/O stream of /dev/audio is closed.
The audio_info_t structure may be
initialized through the use of the AUDIO_INITINFO
macro. This macro sets all fields in the structure to values that are
ignored by the AUDIO_SETINFO
command. For instance,
the following code switches the output port from the built-in speaker to the
headphone jack without modifying any other audio parameters:
audio_info_t info; AUDIO_INITINFO(); info.play.port = AUDIO_HEADPHONE; err = ioctl(audio_fd, AUDIO_SETINFO, );
This technique eliminates problems associated with using a
sequence of AUDIO_GETINFO
followed by
The physical audio device names are system dependent and are rarely used by programmers. Programmers should use the following generic device names:
An open(2) call will fail if:
or O_NONBLOCK
flag was set in the open(2)
An ioctl(2) call will fail if:
ioctl are invalid or are not
supported by the device.SPARC X86
Obsolete Uncommitted
close(2), fcntl(2), ioctl(2), open(2), poll(2), read(2), write(2), dsp(4I), streamio(4I), attributes(7)
Due to a feature of the STREAMS implementation,
programs that are terminated or exit without closing the audio device may
hang for a short period while audio output drains. In general, programs that
produce audio output should catch the SIGINT
and flush the output stream before exiting.
July 8, 2018 | OmniOS |


text:
It's the University of Arizona's first discovery of an exoplanet and wouldn't you know - it's one that's breaking all the rules! An international team of astronomers led by a UA graduate student have picked up the signature of a planet orbiting a single, sun-like star. While that's nothing new, the planet's position most certainly is: it's more than 650 times the average Earth-Sun distance away from its host!
Weighing in at about eleven times the mass of Jupiter, this non-conformist planet cataloged as HD 106906 isn't like anything in our solar system and defies conventional planet formation theories. "This system is especially fascinating because no model of either planet or star formation fully explains what we see," said Vanessa Bailey, who led the research. Bailey is a fifth-year graduate student in the UA's Department of Astronomy.
Image: This is an artist's conception of a young planet in a distant orbit around its host star. The star still harbors a debris disk, remnant material from star and planet formation, interior to the planet's orbit (similar to the HD106906 system). (Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech)
But just what are the "rules" of planet formation? For the most part, astronomers believe that planets similar to ours form relatively close to the parent star, taking shape from the disk of primordial gases and dust which envelope it. This formation is slow and doesn't lend itself well to giant planets forming at great distances. However, other theories postulate that giant planets could be the result of a quick, direct collapse of disk material. While this is a good notion, primordial disks aren't really known to house enough mass at their periphery to permit a planet like HD 106906 to form. In this instance, many alternative hypotheses have been suggested - including the formation of a "mini" binary star system.
"A binary star system can be formed when two adjacent clumps of gas collapse more or less independently to form stars, and these stars are close enough to each other to exert a mutual gravitation attraction and bind them together in an orbit," Bailey explained. "It is possible that in the case of the HD 106906 system the star and planet collapsed independently from clumps of gas, but for some reason the planet's progenitor clump was starved for material and never grew large enough to ignite and become a star."
According to Bailey, one problem with this scenario is that the mass ratio of the two stars in a binary system is typically no more than 10-to-1. "In our case, the mass ratio is more than 100-to-1," she explained. "This extreme mass ratio is not predicted from binary star formation theories -- just like planet formation theory predicts that we cannot form planets so far from the host star."
What really makes this rule-breaking discovery incredible is the fact that researchers can still detect the remnant debris disk of material left over from planet and star formation. "Systems like this one, where we have additional information about the environment in which the planet resides, have the potential to help us disentangle the various formation models," Bailey added. "Future observations of the planet's orbital motion and the primary star's debris disk may help answer that question."
Just how did the UA research team discover this unruly planet? Because it is only around thirteen million years old, it still glows red-hot with embers left over from its formation. It measures at approximately 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit - much cooler than its host star - and emits most of its energy in the infrared spectrum rather than in visible light. To get a direct image with the quality of the Hubble from the ground requires some very specialized equipment - adaptive optics. The team used the new Magellan Adaptive Optics (MagAO) system and Clio2 thermal infrared camera - both technologies developed at the UA - mounted on the 6.5-meter-diameter Magellan telescope in the Atacama Desert in Chile to take the discovery image.
UA astronomy professor and MagAO principal investigator Laird Close said: "MagAO was able to utilize its special adaptive secondary mirror, with 585 actuators, each moving 1,000 times a second, to remove the blurring of the atmosphere. The atmospheric correction enabled the detection of the weak heat emitted from this exotic exoplanet without confusion from the hotter parent star."
"Clio was optimized for thermal infrared wavelengths, where giant planets are brightest compared to their host stars, meaning planets are most easily imaged at these wavelengths," explained UA astronomy professor and Clio principal investigator Philip Hinz, who directs the UA Center for Astronomical Adaptive Optics.
Of course, all new discoveries require confirmation. In this case, the researchers were able to confirm the planet is gravitationally locked to its parent star by utilizing Hubble Space Telescope data taken eight years ago for another research program. Using the FIRE spectrograph, also installed at the Magellan telescope, the team confirmed the planetary nature of the companion. "Images tell us an object is there and some information about its properties but only a spectrum gives us detailed information about its nature and composition," explained co-investigator Megan Reiter, a graduate student in the UA Department of Astronomy. "Such detailed information is rarely available for directly imaged exoplanets, making HD 106906 b a valuable target for future study."
"Every new directly detected planet pushes our understanding of how and where planets can form," said co-investigator Tiffany Meshkat, a graduate student at Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands. "This planet discovery is particularly exciting because it is in orbit so far from its parent star. This leads to many intriguing questions about its formation history and composition. Discoveries like HD 106906 b provide us with a deeper understanding of the diversity of other planetary systems."
Original Story Source: University of Arizona Press Release
About Tammy Plotner - Tammy is a professional astronomy author, President Emeritus of Warren Rupp Observatory and retired Astronomical League Executive Secretary. She's received a vast number of astronomy achievement and observing awards, including the Great Lakes Astronomy Achievement Award, RG Wright Service Award and the first woman astronomer to achieve Comet Hunter's Gold Status.


text:
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