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Alexander von Humboldt's journey to becoming the preeminent scientist of his day had many possible starting points. But July 16,1799, the day that he, a Prussian naturalist, and his friend Aimé Bonpland, a French botanist, disembarked from the Pizarro in the South American city of Cumaná, capital of Nueva Andalucía, is as good as any.
From Europe, the explorers carried the finest scientific equipment available and something even more valuable: Spanish passports. A boon rarely awarded to foreigners, the documents assured them safe passage through Spain's New World viceroyalties and allowed them to "make astronomical observations, measure the height of mountains, collect whatever grew on the ground, and carry out any task that might advance the Sciences."
Crucially, the imprimatur of the Spanish government also guaranteed the support of local officials for a scientific adventure that would take Humboldt and Bonpland through what is now Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, and Cuba. What they learned about the physical landscapes, peoples, and economies of Spanish America, especially the little studied interior of South America, advanced the world's knowledge of the region and transformed how Europeans perceived the New World.
Humboldt's original plan had been to go first to Cuba, but a chance decision put him in Cumaná on the coast of Venezuela. In his Personal Narrative of a Journey to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent, Humboldt recounted that illness had struck the Pizarro as it approached the West Indies, killing one young man from Asturias.
"Though it had not been proved that the fever was contagious I thought it more prudent to disembark at Cumaná," he wrote. "We spent a year in this part of the world. Had not the fever broken out on board the Pizarro we would never have explored the Orinoco, the Casiquiare and the frontiers with the Portuguese possessions on the Río Negro." These explorations would put to rest a European debate over whether there really was a waterway connecting the Orinoco and Amazon river systems. In 1745, the French explorer Charles Marie de La Condamine, who had mapped the Amazon basin, reported that a Jesuit priest told him of using the Casiquiare to connect to the Río Negro, a tributary of the Amazon, but intellectuals who had never left Europe disputed La Condamine's claim.
When Humboldt landed in South America, he was twenty-nine and had already made a name for himself through his geology and botany writings. Well educated and well connected, the young aristocrat traveled in the same intellectual circles as Schiller, Goethe, and Moses Mendelssohn. Humboldt and his older brother, Wilhelm, studied at the University of Göttingen, and, before joining the Prussian Department of Mines, the younger Humboldt trained at the Freiberg School of Mines in Saxony.
Following his mother's death and the receipt of his inheritance, Humboldt left his government position to pursue the traveling scientist's life. Greatly influenced by Georg Forster, a friend from Göttingen, who had circumnavigated the globe on Captain James Cook's second voyage, and spurred by what he called "an uncertain longing for what is distant and unknown," Humboldt tried for two years to join a government-sponsored research expedition.
Opportunity after opportunity fell through, and travel became harder to arrange as Napoleon Bonaparte's grasp on the Continent tightened.Finally, in March 1799, Humboldt convinced Spain's monarchs to allow him—using his own money—to explore their colonies. Their permission launched the first inland exploration of South America since La Condamine's.
Before leaving from the Spanish port of La Coruña, Humboldt had written to Karl Freieslaben, a friend from his mining-school days. With characteristic enthusiasm, he said, "I shall try to find out how the forces of nature interreact upon one another and how the geographic environment influences plant and animal life. In other words, I must find out about the unity of nature."
To attempt such an ambitious scientific synthesis, Humboldt would need a vast amount of anthropological, archaeological, astronomical, botanical, climatological, economic, geological, geographical, and zoological data. Fortunately for him, Humboldt lived at a time when advances in the natural sciences and improvements in instrumentation made it possible to contemplate a scheme that would be grandiose even with twenty-first-century equipment and knowledge.
During his five years in Latin America, Humboldt marked the course of rivers, measured mountains, recorded the vocabulary of indigenous languages, studied the artifacts of the Aztec and other civilizations, and collected economic data, most notably in Cuba. To get what he was after, Humboldt traversed vast llanos inhabited by desperadoes and paddled wild waterways in a forty-foot canoe crammed with twelve men, monkeys, a mastiff, and equipment that included chronometers, barometers, telescopes, thermometers, eudiometers, compasses, sextants, magnetometers, dipping needles, and reference materials. In the Cordillera de los Andes, Humboldt walked along roads traveled centuries before by the Inca and climbed nearly to the top of Mount Chimborazo, reaching a dizzying height of more than 19,000 feet.
With its volcanoes and waterfalls, crocodile-infested waters and jungles, the interior of South America provided plenty to marvel at and much to fear. Humboldt received a shock from an electric eel and nearly poisoned himself with curare, a plant-derived toxin used by Amazonian Indians to bring down prey. Bonpland had to save him from a near drowning because Humboldt could not swim, and, when he was uncomfortably close to a jaguar, Humboldt noted, "There are moments in life when it is useless to call on reason." Although scared, he remembered to walk—not run—away.
Humboldt's New World adventure ended in 1804 with a visit to the United States, where he was feted in Washington and Philadelphia. The connections he made there—among them Thomas Jefferson and James Madison—were added to a growing network of international correspondents, who kept him abreast of all things scientific in Europe and the Americas.
Instead of going home to Berlin, Humboldt joined the large community of scientists in Paris and set about the monumental task of putting his findings on paper. His decision to write mainly in French was a smart one, says Vera Kutzinski, professor of comparative literature at Vanderbilt University and director of the Alexander von Humboldt in English Project. "He would have limited himself pretty dramatically if he had written only in German."
A polymath who needed little sleep, Humboldt embarked on a suitably expansive publishing career. He wrote, he drew, he devised maps and charts and whatever else was needed. An obsessive reviser, he brought out Voyage to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent in twenty-nine lavish folio editions and numerous smaller abridged editions between 1805 and 1834. Armchair explorers lapped up his adventures, and poets, presidents, and painters sought out his books, delighting in writings that reflected the crispness of Enlightenment thought, a Romantic sense of the sublime, and the values—though not the bloodshed—of the French Revolution.
Humboldt's books were packed with new intelligence. His Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain is a broad survey of Mexico, including maps. "For forty years it guided a succession of exploring expeditions into what would become the American Southwest," says Laura Dassow Walls in The Passage to Cosmos.
The Personal Narrative, which Humboldt wrote at the behest of admirers, is about as close as readers would get to the inner Humboldt. Friendly and sociable—one contemporary went so far as to say he had mastered "the art of talking to perfection"—the explorer was also "an intensely private person," who notably destroyed much of his personal correspondence, writes Aaron Sachs, author of The Humboldt Current.
In writing his Personal Narrative, Humboldt strove for "a high-minded scientific decorum that forbade him from violating anyone's privacy, including his own. It would not do to spill his emotions all over the paper," says Walls. So, a not-so-personal Personal Narrative, yet the book served as the definitive guide for other intrepid spirits. "If you really want to have a notion of tropical countries, study Humboldt," wrote Charles Darwin, who knew parts of the Narrative by heart.
Darwin may well be the most famous of Humboldt's scientific devotees, but Humboldt's capacious understanding of the natural world and commitment to collecting vast numbers of data points and, most important, finding meaning in them, drew legions of admirers, among them Charles Lyell, Louis Agassiz, Franz Boas, and Samuel Morse. So great was Humboldt's influence, the middle years of the nineteenth century are now considered the era of Humboldtian science.
Latin Americans and Europeans are more likely to know of Humboldt's legacy than people in the United States, where place names—among them, Humboldt Avenue in Milwaukee; Humboldt, Tennessee; Humboldt River, Nevada; and Humboldt County, California—are the main reminders of the man considered by many to be the father of modern geography. His star may rise again with the efforts of the Alexander von Humboldt in English project. Kutzinski and her colleagues are preparing key parts of Voyage to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent for publication by the University of Chicago Press. Political Essay on the Island of Cuba, which was edited by Kutzinski and the University of Potsdam's Ottmar Ette, came out in 2010, and this January Views of the Cordilleras and Monuments of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas will be released. Fully annotated and containing all sixty-nine illustrations from the French original, Views of the Cordilleras is the first complete English translation of this work. The Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain is also slated for future publication.
For each of his books, Humboldt wrote in a distinctive style. The Personal Narrative, possibly the most widely read of his works, provides adventure and a running commentary; in Cuba, we see an exacting scholar. Although he spends some time on description—Havana for him was one of the most pleasant and picturesque ports in tropical America—this work is laden with data tables, tracking temperature, population by race and free or slave status, export figures for rum, molasses, and sugar, and import figures for alcohol. He even made new maps of Cuba, placing towns and cities in their proper places and charting the coastline.
In Cuba, Humboldt wrote prolifically about the condition of slaves on the island and sought to demonstrate that slavery could not be justified even on economic grounds. "Slavery is possibly the greatest evil ever to have afflicted humanity, no matter if one focuses on the individual slave ripped from his family in the country of his birth and thrown into the hold of a slave ship or considers him as part of the herd of black men penned up in the Antilles."
Humboldt called for a gradual end to slavery and suggested that laws be enacted to equalize the populations of black men and women on sugar plantations and grant freedom to slaves who had served fifteen years. He proposed that profits be shared with slaves to give them an incentive to increase agricultural wealth and that public funds be set aside to buy slaves' freedom. Humboldt's ideas so infuriated officials in Havana that they banned his book.
Kutzinski characterizes Views of the Cordilleras as "Humboldt's most experimental book." Originally conceived as a picture atlas, it contains a collection of shorter pieces that can be read as stand-alone essays rather than as a continuous narrative. In some essays in Views, Humboldt delights his readers with stories like that of el correo que nada (the swimming postman). This Peruvian mail carrier regularly swam for two days down the Chamaya and Amazon to deliver letters safeguarded in a turban upon his head. "It is quite rare for this postman to lose letters or get them wet on his way from Ingatambo to the residence of the governor of Jaén."
Other pieces read like extended but elegantly written scientific abstracts. In "View of Chimborazo and Carihuairazo," Humboldt addresses a seemingly dry topic: the relative sizes of European and South American peaks. After pointing out that many Andean peaks are indeed higher than Mont Blanc, the tallest mountain in the Alps, Humboldt takes a poetic turn: "On the South Sea coasts, after the long winter rains, when the air has suddenly become more lucid, Chimborazo appears to the observer like a cloud on the horizon; it stands out from the neighboring peaks; it looms above the entire Andes range just as that majestic dome, Michelangelo's work of genius, looms above the ancient monuments that surround Capitoline Hill." It is the sort of description that spurred artists like Frederic Edwin Church southward to paint.
Throughout his works, Humboldt was always tossing around fresh ideas. For instance, in his Essay on the Geography of Plants, Humboldt painstakingly described which plants were found at particular elevations on Mount Chimborazo, anticipating the field of plant ecology.
Today, it seems patently obvious that it is important to know how organisms are distributed in ecosystems, if only to meet agricultural, silvicultural, and conservation needs. But Humboldt encouraged his readers to think about big-picture biogeography over time. In Views, he wrote, "The unequal distribution of animals across the globe has had a profound impact upon the lot of peoples and their more or less rapid march toward civilization."
Humboldt's foundational assumption, according to Walls, is that "neither humans nor nature can be understood in isolation." For him, "nature was never merely background but played an essential role in the development of human societies."
Again and again, Humboldt challenged European notions about a continent that to some degree had been shaped by people who had never set foot in South America. He was up against a prevailing view that the Americas had no history to speak of, says Kutzinski. There were people who believed that the continent had only risen in relatively recent geological terms and that its lands were inhabited by uncultured hordes.
Humboldt argued that the old and new worlds are the same geological age. The "same succession of rocky layers" appears in both hemispheres, he wrote. "The micaceous schist, or the different gypsum and sandstone formations in the mountains of Peru date from the same periods as their counterparts in the Swiss Alps. The entire globe appears to have experienced the same catastrophes."
In Views of the Cordilleras, Humboldt drew on his own travel observations, information from European collections and archives of the Spanish viceroyalties, the relaciones of the conquistadors, and histories created by Mestizo and Nahua writers to comment on the Mesoamerican world. Hieroglyphs, costumes, myths, Aztec genealogies, and languages all caught his attention, and calendars were, as Humboldt said, "among all the monuments that seem to constitute evidence that the peoples of Mexico had at- tained a certain degree of civilization by the time of the Spaniards' arrival." About an Inca trail in Peru, Humboldt said, "this roadway can be compared with the most beautiful Roman roads."
A self-conscious European "unlikely to go native," as Kutzinski puts it, Humboldt did not fully embrace everything he saw, but he argued for the relevance of Latin American culture. His statement that "we no longer consider as unworthy of our attention anything that diverges from the style that the Greeks bequeathed to us through their inimitable models" can be seen as a direct challenge to the European sense of cultural superiority.
When Humboldt began his explorations, he faced what Walls called "a wall of ignorance in Europe and North America alike of the most basic realities of Spanish America, its peoples, and cities no less than its geologyand geography, flora and fauna."
His Latin American writings broke down that wall by providing factual information. Just as important, Humboldt's methods of doing science influenced a number of significant U.S. ventures, among them the Wilkes expedition to study the Pacific, Joseph Nicollet's mapping of the Upper Mississippi, and John Charles Frémont's explorations of the Rockies and California. At the end of the nineteenth century, John Muir, a great admirer of Humboldt, joined the railroad magnate Edward Harriman's expedition to study Alaska.
Despite the fame he gained from his southern forays and the influence he wielded, Alexander von Humboldt was broke by 1827, made penniless covering book production costs. Forced by financial necessity, he left Paris to take a position in King Frederick Wilhelm III's service. During his Berlin years, Humboldt continued fieldwork—this time in Russia—and worked on Cosmos. The five-volume masterwork that capped his career was a grand attempt to integrate methods and findings across disciplines in order to explain connections among phenomena, the very problems he first wrestled with in South America. "He keeps coming back to the trip to the Americas time and again," says Kutzinski. "It is a touchstone . . . it is always there, always on his mind."


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Hubble and Tired Light Theories
In 1929, Hubble formulated a law that the velocity of a receding galaxy is proportional to its distance to the Earth. The Hubble relation held in all directions suggesting to de Sitter that the Universe was consistent with the expansive metric of Einsteins theory of general relativity. However, others thought the Hubble redshift was caused by mechanisms without Universe expansion. Zwicky proposed that galaxy photons redshift because they lose energy as they scatter upon collision with cosmic dust particles (DPs) before entering the Earth, a redshift theory called Tired Light. See www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tired_light. Recently, Ashmore extended Tired Light to loss of energy in galaxy photons upon collisions with electrons. See www.lyndonashmore.com/.
Objections to Tired Light theories are generally based on the argument that scattered light should blur the galaxy image, and therefore are dismissed because the images are clear and not blurred. See www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/tiredlit.htm. However, claims that Tired Light theories do not explain all the predictions of Big Bang cosmology should be set aside because there is no mandate in science that any theory must totally stand alone, e.g., the anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) in the current epoch may be simply explained by the static Universe in the current epoch having nearly uniform temperature everywhere of about 2.726K.
Alternative QED Induced Light Theory
An alternative to the Hubble and Tired Light theories is the theory of QED induced redshift caused by the absorption of galaxy light in DPs. QED stands for quantum electrodynamics. See http://www.nanoqed.org/ at "Dark Energy and Cosmic Dust" and "Reddening and Redshift", 2009. QED theory asserts the redshift Z is spontaneous upon the absorption of light. Here Z = (Lo – L)/L, where L is the wavelength of galaxy light and Lo is the wavelength of the light emitted from the DP.
QED induced redshift may be understood by treating the absorbed galaxy photon as electromagnetic (EM) energy confined within the DP geometry. Recall from quantum mechanics (QM) that photons of wavelength Lo are created by supplying EM energy to a QM box with walls separated by Lo/2. For a spherical DP of diameter D, the QED photons are produced at a wavelength Lo = 2Dn, where n is the index of refraction which for the typical DP of amorphous silicate has n = 1.45. Hence, DPs having D = 0.25 microns redshift the Lyman-alpha line at 0.121 microns to a red line at 0.725 microns with Z ~ 5. If the QED induced redshift in DPs at Z = 5 is erroneously interpreted by the Hubble law, the galaxy recession velocity is 95 % of the speed of light when in fact the Universe is not expandingl.
Tolman Test and Supernovae Spectra Aging
Shortly after the Hubble discovery, Tolman devised a test to distinguish between a static and expanding Universe. See www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolman_surface_brightness_test. In a static Universe, the light intensity of an object drops inversely with the square of its distance from the observer, but the apparent area of the object also drops inversely with the square of the distance, so the brightness given as the intensity per unit area of the object is independent of the distance. However, if the Universe is expanding, astronomers claim the brightness is reduced by the fourth power of (1+Z). In 2001, Lubin and Sandage showed the redshift gave a reduction in brightness by the cube of (1+Z). Although the brightness is not reduced by the fourth power of (1+Z), the conclusion was the brightness test is consistent with the reality of Universe expansion.
However, there is a problem with the Tolman test because the brightness B of an object in the static Universe is not assumed reduced by absorption in DPs. By QED theory, a single interaction with a DP emits light at wavelength Lo = (1+Z)L. Therefore the brightness Bo at the observer is Bo = hc/Lo = hc/L(1+Z) = B/(1+Z), or the object brightness is reduced by (1+Z), but not by the cube of (1+Z) as measured. Closer agreement is found for multiple interactions, e.g., for N interactions, B drops inversely with the product (1+Z1)(1+Z2)…(1+ZN), where ZK is the redshift for interaction K.
The Tolman test aside, the aging of Supernovae spectra is found to drop inversely with (1+Z) at the observer. See Blondin et al. at www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/tiredlit.htm. For spectra defined by brightness/unit area, Bo = B divided by the respective wavelength. Equivalence is found by Bo/Lo = B/L(1+Z). Hence, QED theory for the spectra at the Supernovae is consistent with the measured spectra showing an inverse drop by (1+Z).
Time Dilation of Supernova Light Curves
Tired Light theories are claimed unable to explain the observed time dilation of Supernova light curves at high Z redshift, i.e., nearby supernovae that take 20 days to decay will take 40 days to decay when observed at redshift Z =1 See e.g., www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/tiredlit.htm. However, redshift in the QED theory differs from Tired Light in that it is proportional to the number of DPs in the light path that in turn is proportional to the total dust mass emitted in the Supernova explosion. Time dilation in observing Supernova explosions is nothing more thermal cooling of the dust mass, i.e, at high Z the Supernovae having larger dust mass takes a longer time to cool than at low Z. Hence, QED redshift theory based on DPs is consistent with Supernova light curves.
ISM Lights
A more compelling argument that DPs are the source of redshift of galaxy light is found on a far larger scale everywhere by the visible (VIS) light observed throughout the Universe. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is known to permeate the Universe including the interstellar medium (ISM). Indeed, astronomers explain the infrared (IR) spectra measured in the ISM by the thermal emission following the increase in temperature in DPs upon the absorption of single UV photons. But this is unlikely, because an increase in DP temperature is negated by the QM restriction that the specific heat of DPs vanishes. Also unlikely is VIS light produced in DPs by photoluminescence (PL) because a single UV photon is more likely to be absorbed anywhere in the DP than at the PL color center.
Without thermal emission and PL, the IR and VIS spectra can only be produced by QED induced redshift upon the absorption of single UV photons in DPs. VIS colors in the ISM require DPs having D < 0.5 microns while IR spectra depend on larger DPs found in molecular clouds. Similar to the Hubble redshift of galaxy light, the vivid ISM colors observed are produced without Universe expansion, e.g., single UV photons at 0.15 microns absorbed in a D = 0.125 to 0.25 micron silicate DPs, blue to red light corresponding to wavelengths from 0.362 to 0.725 microns is produced at redshift Z from 1.41 to 3.83. ISM light does not depend Universe expansion.
1. The measured Hubble redshift Z is caused by DPs and has nothing to do with an expanding Universe. DPs make moot the existence of dark energy because it is no longer necessary in a static Universe.
2. Tired Light theories based on scattering are likely to produce blurring of the object image. QED theory based on absorption and not scattering do not produce blurring.
3. QED theory does not agree with brightness reduction to the cube of (1+Z) in the Tolman test, but is found in agreement with the (1+Z) reduction in aged Supernovae spectra.
4. QED theory based on redshift of DPs is consistent with the observed time dilation of Supernova light curves.
5. The vivid VIS color variations in the ISM are caused by variations in DP diameter D and far less likely by PL from the chemical composition of the DPs. Larger DPs necessary to produce the IR spectra are found in molecular clouds.

subset: commoncrawl


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These tracks show the regions that are enriched in GAGA Factor (GAF) and Pipsqueak (Psq) in Drosophila S2 cells based on the Occupied Regions Genomes from Affinity-purified Naturally Isolated Chromatin (ORGANIC) profiles. Only reads with an estimated fragment length of 50 bp or less (len25) were used to create the read coverage tracks.
The datasets were retrieved from the Gene Expression Omnibus database at NCBI under the accession number GSE45672. The peak calls for GAF and Psq were obtained from Supplemental File 1 of the manuscript by Kasinathan S and colleagues.
Kasinathan S, Orsi GA, Zentner GE, Ahmad K, Henikoff S. High-resolution mapping of transcription factor binding sites on native chromatin. Nat Methods. 2014 Feb;11(2):203-9.


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Shopper numbers on UK high streets at highest since pandemic
08 Jul 2021
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Mid-market rates 2024-07-19 03:00 +0200


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[Suva, Fiji 7 August 2013] The impact of corruption and the challenge of fighting corruption are well known to citizens and observers of the Pacific.
In recognizing the importance of fighting corruption, the United Nations has commenced a 4 year USD4.3 million Pacific Regional Anti-Corruption Project.
The Project, funded by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), is being jointly implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The UNDP-UNODC Pacific Regional Anti-Corruption Project helps Pacific Island Countries fight corruption by supporting the ratification and implementation of the UN Convention against Corruption.
The Project builds on recent progress by Pacific governments to address corruption, with nine countries in the region – Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu now having ratified the Convention.
The Project is raising awareness and increasing understanding among political leaders across the region on international anti-corruption standards, including the requirements of the UN Convention.
The Pacific Regional Anti-Corruption Project is also working with communities and the private sector to actively engage in the fight against corruption.
UNDP-UNODC support is also assisting Pacific Island governments to identify and implement reforms including developing and enhancing their anti-corruption policies, laws and institutions.
The joint UNDP-UNODC Project encompasses anti-corruption efforts in the Cook Islands, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
The incoming Manager of the UNDP Pacific Centre, Peter Batchelor said, "Corruption continues to be one of the most significant barriers to poverty reduction and sustainable development both in the Pacific and around the world. This Project is designed to respond to the unique needs and challenges of fighting corruption in Small Island Developing States of the Pacific, drawing on international lessons and experiences".
Jeremy Douglas, UNODC's Regional Representative for East Asia and the Pacific said, "Corruption is a global phenomenon, and international experience highlights the need for having dedicated resources and expertise to address this multi-faceted challenge. This partnership brings together for the first time in the Pacific the combined capacity of UNODC and UNDP, to help Pacific Island Countries fight corruption for the longer-term benefit of their people".
166 countries plus the European Union have now become States parties to the UN Convention against Corruption.


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• Fourth Quarter Sales of $8.1 Billion and EPS of $0.91
• Record Cash Flow from Operations of $3.9 Billion and Free Cash Flow of $3.3 Billion in 2009
• Company Reaffirms 2010 Full-Year Financial Guidance
MORRIS TOWNSHIP, N.J., January 29, 2010 -- Honeywell (NYSE: HON) today announced full-year 2009 sales of $30.9 billion vs. $36.6 billion in 2008. Earnings per share were $2.85 vs. $3.76 in the prior year. Free cash flow was $3.3 billion (cash flow from operations of $3.9 billion less capital expenditures). Free cash flow conversion (free cash flow divided by net income) was 155% of net income for the full-year.
Fourth quarter sales were $8.1 billion versus $8.7 billion in 2008. Earnings per share were $0.91 versus $0.97 in the prior year fourth quarter. Free cash flow was $1.1 billion and cash flow from operations was $1.3 billion. Fourth quarter free cash flow conversion was 154% of net income.
"Honeywell continues to execute well, as evidenced by our strong fourth quarter finish and record free cash flow generation in 2009," said Honeywell Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dave Cote. "Despite a challenging year, we delivered on our financial commitments, while continuing to invest in new products, geographic expansion, and key process initiatives. The benefits from these investments give us strong momentum entering 2010. We introduced more than 600 new products last year and expanded our footprint in key emerging regions. While we continue to plan conservatively for 2010, we are encouraged by the improving order trends and stabilization in many of our end markets. Our focus on having great positions in good industries combined with our leading technologies linked to key mega-trends such as energy efficiency, safety, and security will drive growth at Honeywell as the economy recovers."
Honeywell also reaffirmed its previously stated 2010 sales guidance of $31.3-32.2 billion, earnings per share of $2.20-2.40 and free cash flow of $2.4-2.7 billion (cash flow from operations of $3.1-3.4 billion).
Fourth Quarter Segment Highlights
• Sales were down 18% compared with the fourth quarter of 2008, primarily due to lower volumes in the commercial aerospace aftermarket, original equipment sales to Business and General Aviation and Defense sales, partially offset by higher original equipment sales to large air transports and logistics services.
• Segment profit was down 20% and segment margin decreased 60 bps to 18.6%, primarily due to volume declines, partially offset by cost savings initiatives and benefits from prior repositioning actions.
• Honeywell Technology Solutions Inc. (HTSI) won a $257 million contract from the Army Sustainment Command to provide logistics services for U.S. Army personnel in Iraq. For the next five years, Honeywell will provide logistics planning, supply services, maintenance management, and management of housing, facilities, property, and construction activities at 11 locations in Iraq for the 402nd Army Field Support Brigade.
• Honeywell's Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) for helicopters received technical design and production approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
• Honeywell will provide the fuel-efficient 131-9A Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) to Air Arabia, the first and leading low-cost carrier in the Middle East and North Africa, in a deal worth $36 million. The Honeywell 131-9A APUs will be included on new A320 purchases through 2016.
• The U.S. Army will purchase additional Honeywell T55 engines and fielding kits for Chinook helicopters. More than 5,300 T55 engines have been built and the fleet has accumulated more than seven million hours of global operation.
Automation and Control Solutions
• Sales were down 4%, compared with the fourth quarter of 2008, resulting from slower economic growth in the U.S. and Europe, partially offset by the favorable impact of foreign exchange, continued growth in emerging regions, and the net favorable impact from acquisitions and divestitures.
• Segment profit was up 5% and segment margins increased 130 bps to 14.7% driven by cost savings initiatives and benefits from prior repositioning actions, more than offsetting the unfavorable impact of lower volumes and inflation.
• Building Solutions secured a $79 million renewable energy and building retrofit program with Eastern Illinois University. It combines energy-efficient facility upgrades with one of the largest biomass-fueled heating plants on a university campus and will help to reduce maintenance, improve infrastructure, and save approximately $140 million in energy and operating costs over the next two decades.
• Honeywell was awarded an $11.4 million grant from the Department of Energy (DOE) as part of the largest single energy grid modernization investment in U.S. history. The grant was awarded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and Honeywell was one of only four non-utility companies to receive funding. Honeywell will use the grant to support a critical peak pricing response program to help commercial and industrial customers of Southern California Edison (SCE) automatically implement energy management strategies to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Honeywell has won an additional $82 million as a result of DOE grants over the past 18 months to fund efforts across its businesses in renewable energy, electric batteries, and biofuels.
• Scanning and Mobility signed a multi-year agreement with UPS to deploy nearly 100,000 mobile computers – making it one of the largest wins in the AIDC industry. UPS will replace its entire worldwide fleet of mobile computers with Honeywell products.
• Process Solutions introduced a set of solutions, including a facility-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reporting dashboard, that can help U.S. process manufacturers comply with a new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation requiring specific facilities to track and report GHG emissions. The dashboard can meet this requirement in a simple, cost-effective, low-risk manner, and provide flexibility as environmental, regulatory, and operating conditions change in the future.
Transportation Systems
• Sales were up 13% compared with the fourth quarter of 2008, due to higher volumes of turbochargers globally and the favorable impact of foreign exchange.
• Segment profit was up from $6 million to $72 million and segment margins increased 670 bps to 7.4% driven by cost savings initiatives, benefits from prior period restructuring actions, and higher volumes.
• Turbo Technologies was awarded new platform wins with customers including Ford, Peugeot, Volkswagen, BMW, and Perkins, estimated at approximately $1 billion in revenue over the life of the programs. The platforms span the European, Asian, and U.S markets for both gasoline and diesel passenger and commercial vehicle applications and are expected to launch beginning in 2011.
• Honeywell continues to benefit from a high win-rate on attractive new turbo gas and turbo diesel platforms in 2010. The company unveiled its groundbreaking 3.5L EcoBoost on the Lincoln MKS, MKT, and Ford Taurus SHO, as well as the VNT™ DualBoost turbocharger on Ford's F350 all-new 6.7-Liter V-8 Power Stroke diesel engine.
Specialty Materials
• Sales were down 5% compared with the fourth quarter of 2008, resulting from lower volumes and the unfavorable impact of pass-through raw material price declines at our Resins and Chemicals business, partially offset by higher petrochemical catalyst sales and modest market recovery and inventory restocking within our Electronic Materials business.
• Segment profit was up 56% and segment margins increased 670 bps to 17.0% due to lower material costs, pricing initiatives, and cost savings initiatives.
• Specialty Materials announced it will establish a new 400,000 square-foot Technology Center in Gurgaon, India, to expand its global research capabilities in refining, petrochemical, and other technologies to better serve customers in the region. The center will open later this year and will house pilot plants for developing and demonstrating refining and petrochemical process technology developed by Honeywell's UOP business, and process and applications development for fluorine products and nylon materials.
• Honeywell's UOP signed an agreement with China National Petroleum Corp. to collaborate on a range of biofuel technologies and projects in China. The two companies will collaborate to demonstrate existing biofuel technology to produce green transportation fuels using feedstocks available within China.
Honeywell will discuss its results during its investor conference call today starting at 8:00 a.m. EST. To participate, please dial (719) 325-4921 a few minutes before the 8:00 a.m. start. Please mention to the operator that you are dialing in for Honeywell's investor conference call. The live webcast of the investor call will be available through the "Investor Relations" section of the company's Website (https://www.honeywell.com/us/en/investor). Investors can access a replay of the conference call from 11:00 a.m. EST, January 29, until midnight, February 5, by dialing (719) 457-0820. The access code is 6436779.
Honeywell (www.honeywell.com) is a Fortune 100 diversified technology and manufacturing leader, serving customers worldwide with aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes, and industry; automotive products; turbochargers; and specialty materials. Based in Morris Township, N.J., Honeywell's shares are traded on the New York, London, and Chicago Stock Exchanges. For more news and information on Honeywell, please visit www.honeywellnow.com.
This release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that we or our management intends, expects, projects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Such statements are based upon certain assumptions and assessments made by our management in light of their experience and their perception of historical trends, current economic and industry conditions, expected future developments and other factors they believe to be appropriate. The forward-looking statements included in this release are also subject to a number of material risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to economic, competitive, governmental, and technological factors affecting our operations, markets, products, services and prices. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results, developments and business decisions may differ from those envisaged by such forward-looking statements.
Robert C. Ferris
(973) 455-3388
Investor Relations
Elena Doom
(973) 455-2222


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Andrew W. Young Books
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Original price was: $15.00.$13.50Current price is: $13.50.
The Let's Study series of commentaries are concerned with the ways in which the teaching of Scripture can affect and transform our lives today. Understanding the Bible's message and applying its teaching are the aims—exposition of Scripture written in the language of a friend, seated alongside with an open Bible. A Group Study Guide is included in each volume.
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In a nutshell, biochar is a way of recycling carbon from the air, where we have too much, back into our soils, where we have too little to maintain the agricultural productivity we will need in the coming decades. Plants absorb carbon dioxide from the air during photosynthesis, and transform it into carbohydrates and a variety carbon-based molecules to create their leaves, branches, stems and roots.
Every year, plants absorb and retain about 60 gigatonnes of carbon, while decomposing biomass releases about the same amount of carbon to the atmosphere as CO2. If we prevent some of that biomass from decomposing, by converting it to biochar, and use it to improve soil fertility, we're helping to address the issues of climate change and food security. See our biochar overview page here.
Our novel horizontal bed kiln offers precise control over temperature and residence time. These parameters can be regulated to produce a wide variety of thermally decomposed biomass end products with very consistent characteristics across each particle at production scale. This kiln can produce torrefied biomass, wood vinegar, biochar of various types, and activated carbon. Read more here.
Biochemistry occurs at a molecular level. So we've focused on developing efficient technologies to very consistently produce optimal carbon-based molecular structures that are known to enhance soil fertility and plant productivity. We produce these humic molecules in a range of products, including torrefied biomass, biochar, wood vinegar, and biomass-derived humic and fulvic acid. Our rationale is here.
We've put a lot of thought into our approach. The 3 dimensions of our formula for success are biochemical, technical and financial. In the biochemical dimension, our focus is on meeting core principles of soil fertility. In the technical dimension, our devices and processes are engineered to be optimally efficient and reliable. Our precision in the biochemical domain creates genuine value. Our effort to reduce capital investment, operating and maintenence costs in the technical domain positively affects the bottom line. And the fact that our devices produce multiple revenue streams is geared to ensure financial success. To find out more, please contact us.
For optimal soil fertility benefit, biochar should be produced with a gentle, low temperature pyrolysis. Almost all small scale techniques available on the internet expose biomass to high temperatures, except this one! Learn to build this kiln, and the principles behind its design, with our step by step instructions.
To optimize the soil fertility benefits of biochar, it should be produced at temperatures between 300° and 550° C, the char particles should be reduced in size, and they should be composted with nutrient rich biomass, or oxidized with a light acid wash to maximize CEC and charged with mineral fertilizers. Our guide and explanation is here.
Plants are adapted to thrive in soils that contain biologically decomposed biomass (BDB). The advantages of using thermally decomposed biomass (TDB) instead of BDB in soils are 1) properly prepared TDB has a much higher charge density resulting in a higher CEC compared to BDB, which can result in the retention of much more plant nutrients, 2) from 50% to 85% of the carbon in the original feedstock becomes highly stable in TDB, compared to 0% to at most 4% becoming moderately stable in the case of BDB, 3) the complete TDB process is much faster, taking from hours to a few months if co-composting is used to arrive at a finished substrate, whereas it will generally take years to decades for BDB to become stable humic matter in soils.
While there are compelling benefits to using TDB instead of, or with, BDB or "compost", we need to be very careful of our tendency to misunderstand things through oversimplification. The word "biochar" has come to be used, or misused, to refer to any type of charcoal, with the implication that it always makes plants grow better, just because it's called "biochar". This is not true. If we instead call it "thermally decomposed biomass", and aim to duplicate the properties of biologically decomposed biomass in our substrate, we are on a much more solid foundation. See our Rationale and Biochar Preparation pages for details.
The idea that char could be used to improve the fertlity of soils arose from the discovery of and research into Terra Preta soils in the Amazonian basin. Terra Preta is extraordinary for a number of reasons. Tropical soils don't accumulate organic carbon because it is too hot and too humid, and hence they are very infertile for agricultural plants with shallow root systems. Dying biomass decomposes directly to CO2 in a matter of weeks. As such, tropical soils are shades of yellow, orange or red in color. Terra Preta is black, very rich in carbon and plant nutrients, the end product of compost piles combining char and biological waste that were created by Amerindian tribes up to 5000 years ago. The char particles are very small, most being between 10 and 20 micrometers, and those in the topsoil horizon are aggregated to clay particles and a rich variety of minerals and labile organic matter. Terra preta is both remarkably fertile and remarkably persistent, particularly given its location in a tropical environment.
Our Biochar Preparation recommendations attempt to replicate the way in which Terra Preta soils were created and have evolved over time, combining our modern understanding of soil fertility with the careful observation of Terra Preta's characteristics. Read more about Terra Preta here.


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Rock this Coffe, Teach, Repeat t-shirt in any color of your choice.
Coffee, Teach, Repeat
$22.99 Regular Price
$20.69Sale Price
All items on this website are custom and made to order. Therefore, no refunds will be issued. If you have an issue with a product you ordered, please reach out to The Cre8tive Side within 3 days of receiving your product so that we may attempt to correct the issue.


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Kids with croup have a virus that makes their airways swell. They have a telltale "barking" cough (often compared to the sound of a seal's bark) and a raspy voice, and make a high-pitched, squeaky noise when they breathe.
Most kids with croup get better in a week or so.
At first, a child may have cold symptoms, like a stuffy or runny nose and a fever. As the upper airways — the voice box (larynx) and windpipe (trachea) — become irritated and swollen, a child may become hoarse and have the barking cough.
If the airways continue to swell, breathing gets harder. Kids often make a high-pitched or squeaking noise while breathing in — this is called stridor. They also might breathe very fast or have retractions (when the skin between the ribs pulls in during breathing). In the most serious cases, a child may appear pale or have a bluish color around the mouth due to a lack of oxygen.
Symptoms of croup are often worse at night and when a child is upset or crying.
The same viruses that cause the common cold also cause croup. Most often seen in the fall, croup can affect kids up to age 5.
There are two types of croup, viral croup and spasmodic croup, both of which cause the barking cough. Most cases of croup are viral.
Health care providers listen for the telltale cough and stridor. They'll also ask if a child has had any recent illnesses that caused a fever, runny nose, and congestion; and if the child has a history of croup or upper airway problems.
The doctor might order a neck X-ray if the croup is severe and slow to get better after treatment. In cases of croup, an X-ray usually will show the top of the airway narrowing to a point, which doctors call a "steeple" sign.
Most cases of croup are mild and can be treated at home. Try to keep your child calm, as crying can make croup worse.
For a fever, medicine (acetaminophen or, only for kids older than 6 months, ibuprofen) may make your child more comfortable. Ask your health care provider how much to give and follow the directions carefully.
Breathing in moist air can help kids feel better. To help your child breathe in moist air:
Your child should drink plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration. If needed, give small amounts of liquid more often using a spoon or medicine dropper. Kids with croup also should get lots of rest.
Some kids need a breathing treatment that can be given in the hospital or a steroid medicine to reduce swelling in the airway. Rarely, kids with croup might need to stay in a hospital until they're breathing better.
Most kids recover from croup with no lasting problems. But some kids — especially those who were born early, or have asthma or other lung diseases — can be at risk for problems from croup.
Call your doctor or get medical care right away if your child:
Reviewed by: Rachel S. Schare, MD
Date Reviewed: Feb 21, 2021
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Set of 20 ready-to-use Hand Drawn Black & Gold HEARTS Instagram Story Highlight Icons by IuliiaPresets. Transform your Instagram profile with these beautiful highlight icon covers for your Instagram stories!
How it works:
– This is an instant digital download Instagram highlights, no physical product will be shipped.
– After purchase, you have to download a PDF file with a link to Dropbox.
– Download Instagram icons directly to your mobile device, tablet or computer by link (without .zip).
– Enjoy!
– 20 Instagram Highlight Stories Icons (jpg files – 1080×1920 px)
Due to the nature of digital downloads no exchanges or refunds will be made.
Make sure you read all product information carefully before making a purchase.
If you have any questions, please contact me and I will be happy to help you!
Stay In Touch:
Instagram: @iuliiapresets
Email: support [a] iuliia.store
Important: There is no refund/exchange/cancellation for the purchases with digital items!
©2022, IuliiaStore, All Rights Reserved
Do not copy or redistribute!


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This theme is now WooCommerce friendly! This means you can use WooCommerce to sell stuff like books, tee-shirts, gift cards, or anything else you can dream up. This theme isn't focused on custom shop design, but WooCommerce does a TON of amazing stuff out of the box and this theme will work seamlessly with it.
Here is an example of the stock WooCommerce import.


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Introducing the DropTop; our next locking bike fork mount that grows upon years of feedback and use. The DropTop utilizes a TPU overmolded shim to allow for both 12mm and 15mm axles to fit without the need for switching shims out. It is based upon the same clamshell design as the DriveShaft series, which allows for easy loading and adapts to minor differences in axle diameter or contouring. The DropTop also includes mounting holes for both horizontal and vertical mounting orientations, it replaces both the DriveShaft HM and DriveShaft Track Mounts.
- The only locking thru-axle track mount for truck and van tracks
- Compatible with 12mm, 15mm, & 20mm thru axles up to 110mm wide (for 20mm, shims must be removed)
- Vertical and horizontal mounting positions
- TPU overmolded shim eliminates the need to switch out shims for 12mm or 15mm axles
- Anti-Theft: TPU surface provides sufficient friction to stop the axle from being removed when DropTop is firmly clamped and locked
- Can fit QR bikes with our 9mm QR with Dummy Axle - sold separately
- Wide mouth opening to easily load your bike and a locking T-Bolt that adjusts for a tighter hold so the thru-axle cannot be removed when locked
- Carries 1 bike, up to 45 lbs
- Lock core, keys, and Track Hardware Included
- For 9x100mm quick release or bolt on axles only, you can use the Dummy Axle with your DropTop.
Fitment Note: Due to the nature of the DropTop clamp not bracing the fork legs outward, there will be play when used with Mavic Speed Release and Specialized 12mm forks with an oversized non threaded fork leg. For those instances, please use a HotRod instead
Fitment Note: DropTop is NOT compatiblle with Lefty fork mount from Cannondale. RockyMounts does not have a compatible mount for Lefty at this time.


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Ask: The price at which a dealer offers to sell. Assay: A test to ascertain the fineness and weight of a precious metal. Austrian 100 Corona: Re-strike bullion gold coin containing .9802 ounce of gold. Avoirdupois: A system of weights for commodities except precious metals, stones, and drugs. One avoirdupois ounce equals 28.35 grams or 437.50 grains. B Bear market: market in which the primary trend is down. Bid: the price at which a dealer is willing to buy. BU: brilliant uncirculated, used to describe a coin in new condition. Bullion: precious metals in the form of bars that are at least 99.5% pure. Bullion coin: a coin with a symbolic face value but trades at a price relative to its intrinsic value. Bull market: a market in which the primary trend is up. C Call: the right, but not an obligation, to buy a commodity or a financial security on a specified date in the future. Canadian Maple Leafs: modern bullion coins minted by the Royal Canadian Mint. Cash market: see spot market. Centenario: see Mexican 50 Peso. Coin: a stamped piece of metal of a known weight and fineness issued for commerce. Coin of the realm: a legal tender coin issued by a government, meant for general circulation Comex: one of the world's major commodities futures exchanges where gold and silver are traded. The Comex is in New York City and is a division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Commemoratives: legal tender coins or medallions usually minted of gold or silver to commemorate themes, events, places, or people. Commodity pool: a venture, usually a limited partnership, in which buyers contribute funds for the purpose of buying commodities. Correction: a decline in prices following a rise in a market. Contango market: a normal futures market in which prices are higher in the succeeding delivery months than in the nearest delivery month & nbsp; Opposite of backwardation. Cover: to offset a short futures or options position. D Derivative: a financial instrument derived from a cash market commodity, futures contract, or other financial instruments. Derivatives can be traded on regulated exchanges or over-the-counter. Futures contracts, for example, are derivatives of hysicals commodities, and options on futures are derivatives of futures contracts. Double Eagles: U.S. $20 gold coins used as legal tender 1850-1933. Double Eagles contain .9675 ounce of gold and come in two designs: the St. Gaudens (Walking Liberty) and the Liberty.
Face value: the legal monetary value stamped on a coin. See symbolic face value. Fiat money: paper money made legal tender by law, although not backed by gold or silver. Field: the open area or background on a coin. Fineness: the purity of a precious metal measured in 1,000 parts of an alloy: a gold bar of .995 fineness contains 995 parts gold and 5 parts of another metal. Example: the American Gold Eagle is .9167 fine, which means it is 91.67% gold. A Canadian Maple Leaf has a fineness of .999, meaning that it is 99.9% pure. Fine weight: the metallic weight of a coin, ingot, or bar, as opposed to the item's gross weight which includes the weight of the alloying metal. Example: a 1-oz Gold Eagle has a fine weight of one troy ounce but a gross weight of 1.0909 troy ounce. Forward transaction: purchase or sale for delivery and payment at an agreed date in the future; similar to a futures contract, except that forward transactions are not subject to the standardized procedures and regulations of a commodities futures exchange. Futures contract: an agreement made on an organized exchange to take or make delivery of a specific commodity or financial instrument at a set date in the future. G Gold standard: a monetary system based on convertibility into gold; paper money backed and interchangeable with gold. Good delivery: the specification that a bar of precious metal must meet in order to be acceptable for delivery at a particular exchange. Good delivery bar: a bar of gold or silver that is acceptable for delivery against a metals contract. Grading service: a company that grades numismatic coins. Generally, graded coins are encapsulated in plastic, a procedure called "slabbing." PCGS and NGC are the two dominant grading services in the United States. Grain: earliest weight unit for gold. One troy ounce contains 480 grains. Gram: the basic unit of weight of the metric system. (31.1035 grams = one troy ounce.) H Hedge: a transaction initiated with the specific intent of protecting an existing or anticipated physical market exposure from unexpected or adverse price fluctuations. I Intrinsic value: the value of a coin's metal content. Inverted market: a situation in which prices for future deliveries are lower than the spot price. Also known as backwardation. K Kilo bar: a bar weighing one kilogram (32.1507 troy ounces). Kilogram: 1,000 grams (32.1507 troy ounces). Koala: Australian platinum coin, minted since 1987, .995 fine. Krugerrand: South African gold coin. L Legend: the inscription on a coin. Liquidity: the quality of being readily convertible into cash. London fix: two daily bidding sessions in London of five major gold firms, at which the price of gold is "fixed" or set. Luster: a frosty appearance on the surface of a coin, usually an uncirculated coin. M Market value: the price at which a coin or bullion item trades. Medallion: a round piece of metal resembling a coin but not a "coin of the realm." A medallion may be issued by a government or private mint. The Engelhard 1-oz silver prospector is a privately-minted medallion. Mexican 50 Peso: gold coin first issued in 1921 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Mexico's independence. The Mexican 50 Pesos in the bullion coin market normally are restrikes, minted from 1943 onward. Weight: 1.2057 troy ounce,.900 fine. Metric ton: 1,000 kilograms or 32,151 troy ounces. Mint mark: a letter or symbol stamped on a coin to identify the minting facility where it was struck. Mint State: describes a coin in uncirculated condition. Modern issues: current coins, whether struck for circulation or for sale to buyers or collectors. MS-60: the lowest grade of Mint State coins. Higher-grade coins are labeled MS-61 up to MS-70. Coins showing wear are graded below MS-60 and fall into grades from AU down to G, with G being a coin showing great wear and AU being a coin showing little wear. N Noble: modern platinum bullion coin issued by the Isle of Man since 1983. Nugget: modern gold bullion coin minted by Australia, .9999 fine. Numismatic coins: coins whose prices depend more on their rarity, condition, dates, and mint marks than on their gold or silver content. Numismatist: coin collector. NYMEX: the New York Mercantile Exchange, a future exchange where platinum and palladium are traded. O Option: the right, but not an obligation, to buy or sell a commodity or a financial security on a specified date in the future. Ounce: a unit of weight. In the precious metals industry, an ounce means a troy ounce equal to 31.1035 grams. P Pennyweight: an American unit of weight for gold in which one pennyweight equals 24 grains or 1/20 of a troy ounce. Physicals market: a marketplace in which the physical product is traded, as opposed to a futures market where "contracts" are traded and physical delivery of the product may or may not take place. Planchet: a blank piece of metal used for stamping a coin or medallion. Platinum Eagles: modern platinum bullion coins minted by the U.S. Treasury. Premium: the dollar amount or percentage a coin sells over its intrinsic value. Example: the American Eagle typically sell at a premium of 8% to 15% over spot, subject to change, depending on market availability. Proof: a coin produced using special dies and planchets that results in a sharpness of detail and a virtually flawless surface, usually mirror-like fields. Proof coins are produced for the collector market. Put: an option that gives the owner to right to sell a commodity or a financial security on a specified date in the future. R Restrike: officially issued reproduction of a former circulating coin. Reverse: the back of a coin. S Short sale: the sale of an asset for future delivery without possession of the asset sold. Silver
Eagles: modern 1-oz silver bullion coins. Sovereign: English gold coin with a face value of one pound sterling
and a gold content of .2354 ounce. Spot market: a market in which delivery and payment have to be made within two working days of the transaction date. Spread: the difference between the buying price and the selling price of a precious metal coin or trading unit. Symbolic face value: nominal value given to legal tender coins sold for their metal content. Example: the 1-oz Gold Eagle carries a $50 face value but sells for the value of its gold content plus a premium of 8% to 15%, while the market is volatile. T Tola bars: gold bars measured in tolas, the most popular of which is the 10-tola cast bar (3.75 troy oz). Although manufactured in Europe, tola bars are traded primarily in the Middle East, India, Pakistan, and Singapore. Troy
ounce: unit of weight for precious metals. One troy ounce equals
31.1035 grams or 480 grains. One troy ounce equals 1.09711 avoirdupois
ounce. Uncirculated: a coin in new condition, sometimes said to be "brilliant
uncirculated" or "BU." The term is often used interchangeably
with Mint State. Yield: a measure of the annual return on an investment expressed as
a percentage. |
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with guests Kathleen McGee, Adam Pateman, & Katie Ellen Humphries!
June 12, 2015
Comedy Bucket is the only show in town where comedians are guaranteed to talk about what's on your mind. Everyone who attends this show will receive a slip of paper, on which they can write anything… anonymously. You don't sign it, no one looks at it. Straight into the bucket it goes and what comes out is comedy gold… hopefully. A talented crew of jokers will attempt to perform comedic alchemy, right before your very eyes. Whatever you're thinking about, whatever crosses your mind. Write it down and see what happens. The best comics. The best laughs. Monthly at Hot Art Wet City.


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About Miller Funeral Home
The caring funeral service directors at Miller Funeral Home provide specialized funeral solutions designed to meet the needs of each family. Trust is certainly their top concern and so they specialize in tradition funerals, simple cremation, grief support, urn selection, and military burial services which includes offering veteran burial flags. The memorial service director can guide you through all facets of the service; including memorial service flowers, casket choices, appropriate music selection, and local accommodations. The professional, devoted staff can help you in making burial service agreements, funeral arranging, and assist you through cremation choices.


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Roanoke, Va. – A new study reveals glory hole "goes both ways."
After thirty-five minutes of rigorous testing, Chinese scientists working undercover for The Elf Wax Times have concluded that a glory hole works in both directions.
"This law is the same for all glory holes, regardless of which direction they are drilled from, and regardless of the thickness of the barrier wall," concluded lead scientists Harry Johnson, drawing from earlier research conducted by Donna Short and Stacey Stuck.
Lead Elf Wax particle-physicist Charles A. Hungwell is the director of the Universal Study of Glory Hole Biotics (GHB) and administrator of many orgies, including the great Stonewall Inn Orgy of June 28, 1969. He said, "Regardless of where you are in space or time, and regardless of your position relative to the glory hole, the laws of physics are really quite consistent."
As well, he said, unlike with a black hole, what goes in the glory hole "does come out, nine times out of ten."
When questioned about the tenth percentile in which "nothing comes out," Mr. Hungwell blushed only to proudly announce his sex change, and that, almost as if by miracle, "no operation" would be necessary.


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Spanish Fork Outdoor Signs
VIEW GALLERYOutdoor signs are among the key indicators of whether your business will succeed or not. Fail to invest in eye-catching signage and your business will become practically non-existent. Acquire the best Spanish Fork outdoor signs from Visibility Signs & Graphics, and you'll see a dramatic rise in your customer traffic and average ticket.
Our exterior signs are crafted from premium materials by no less than expert signage professionals. We even have our in-house designers to ensure that you get the most out of your investment—aesthetics, functionality, and durability. More importantly, all of our outdoor signs can be customized to fit your goals and budget.
Regardless of the type of business you run, how big your business is, or where your store is located, Visibility Signs & Graphics can provide you with the perfect Spanish Fork outdoor signs. From towering pylon signs to attractive canopy signs, we can design, manufacture, and install the best type of signage that will increase your visibility and build your brand further.
Ready to give your business an outstanding storefront? Plan with our signage experts today!
Call Visibility Signs & Graphics at (801) 609-3022 for your Free Consultation with a Spanish Fork Outdoor Sign expert!
Storefront & Building Signs
It doesn't matter if you have a mom-and-pop shop or you're running a law firm; storefront and building signage is in demand for every business. Your signs serve as inanimate salespersons that will market your brand 24/7.
With storefront signs, you can let people know who you are and invite as many customers as possible to your business. They will provide your target market with a solid idea of what they'll experience doing business with you. If you have poor signage, chances are they won't trust that you can give them the highest value for their money.
Getting your building and storefront signs right can become overwhelming. The choices are practically limitless with all the available types, sizes, and display options. In order to help you find the best Spanish Fork outdoor signs for your specific business goals, Visibility Signs & Graphics will offer expert recommendations with your budget, location, target market, nearby competition, and surrounding traffic in mind.
Channel Letters & Dimensional Letters
These types of outdoor signs are extremely popular for their flexibility and versatility. Various businesses among different industries have no problem using channel letters and dimensional letters. They are professional-looking and can attract lots of potential customers even from a distance, especially if they come with LED illumination.
Channel letters and dimensional letters are individually cut signage elements that come in 3D form. You can choose to have them formed into letters, numbers, symbols, or logos based on your business needs. The only minor difference between channel letters and dimensional letters is that the former has a hollow inside where illumination can be incorporated while the latter doesn't.
Channel letters and dimensional letters will work well regardless of your business personality. With their versatility and 3D appearance, any business can have an attractive storefront that will establish their professionalism.
Lighted Signs
Lighted signs include everything from digital signs to LED signs, lighted cabinet signs, and illuminated channel letters. The main advantage of adding lights to your outdoor signs is the increased visibility that will make your business more eye-catching, even during nighttime.
LED signs are among our most popular illuminated signage. Made with flexible tubes that can be shaped into practically anything, they can mimic the retro look of classic neon signs without their high purchase and maintenance costs. More importantly, LED lighting stays more visible under broad daylight compared to neon lights that tend to blend with the sunlight.
Lighted signs are ideal for 24/7 and nighttime-operating businesses such as gas stations, convenience stores, movie theaters, bars, restaurants, etc.
Custom Sign Panels
These are solid panels that are fully customizable to display any message that you want. You can directly affix them on your storefront with the exact amount of information and the right type of graphics that you deem necessary. Since custom sign panels come in various sizes, you can opt to include as much or as little information as you want. The important thing is that your message and branding remain clear.
Sign panels can be made from cut vinyl incorporated on a metal plate. You can also opt for an acrylic panel with a lightbox and translucent print for a more memorable appeal. In addition to being versatile, custom sign panels are also cost-effective.
Sign panels will work well with small businesses, manufacturing plants, and other businesses that are looking for a customizable, practical, and budget-friendly storefront sign.
Canopy & Awning Signs
These unique outdoor signs can make your business stand out while protecting your storefront and visitors from the elements. Mounted directly on your building, canopy and awning signs provide some shelter at your entrance or front windows.
These signs are perfect for businesses that want to obtain a boutique feel in order to attract more customers. The stretched canvas, which is the typical awning sign material, can be utilized to display your business name, logo, and other messages.
Canopy signs are commonly chosen due to the boutique feel that they provide and are popular for salons, jewelry stores, specialty shops, galleries, hotels, and shopping centers that desire (or require) uniformity.
Monument Signs
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Much has been written about how insulting and depressing it is, more than a decade after the events of 9/11, to be met by "security theater" at our nation's airports. The current system appears so inane that one hopes it really is a sham, concealing more-ingenious intrusions into our privacy. The spirit of political correctness hangs over the whole enterprise like the Angel of Death—indeed, more closely than death, or than the actual fear of terrorism. And political correctness requires that TSA employees direct the spotlight of their attention at random—or appear to do so—while making rote use of irrational procedures and dubious technology.
Although I don't think I look like a jihadi, or like a man pretending not to be one, I do not mean to suggest that a person like me should be exempt from scrutiny. But other travelers fit the profile far less than I do. One glance at these innocents reveals that they are no more likely to be terrorists than walruses in disguise. I make it a point to notice such people while queuing for security at the airport, just to see what sort of treatment they receive at the hands of the TSA.
While leaving JFK last week, I found myself standing in line behind an elderly couple who couldn't have been less threatening had they been already dead and boarding in their coffins. I would have bet my life that they were not waging jihad. Both appeared to be in their mid-eighties and infirm. The woman rode in a wheelchair attended by an airport employee as her husband struggled to comply with TSA regulations—removing various items from their luggage, arranging them in separate bins, and loading the bins and bags onto the conveyor belt bound for x-ray.
After much preparation, the couple proceeded toward the body scanner, only to encounter resistance. It seems that they had neglected to take off their shoes. A pair of TSA screeners stepped forward to prevent this dangerous breach of security—removing what appeared to be orthopedic footwear from both the woman in the wheelchair and the man now staggering at her side. This imposed obvious stress on two harmless and bewildered people and caused considerable delay for everyone in my line. I turned to see if anyone else was amazed by such a perversion of vigilance. The man behind me, who could have played the villain in a Bollywood film, looked unconcerned.
I have noticed such incongruities before. In fact, my wife and I once accidentally used a bag for carry-on in which I had once stored a handgun—and passed through three airport checkpoints with nearly 75 rounds of 9 mm ammunition. While we were inadvertently smuggling bullets, one TSA screener had the presence of mind to escort a terrified three-year-old away from her parents so that he could remove her sandals (sandals!). Presumably, a scanner that had just missed 2.5 pounds of ammunition would determine whether these objects were the most clever bombs ever wrought. Needless to say, a glance at the girl's family was all one needed to know that they hadn't rigged her to explode. (The infuriating scene played out very much like this one.)
Is there nothing we can do to stop this tyranny of fairness? Some semblance of fairness makes sense—and, needless to say, everyone's bags should be screened, if only because it is possible to put a bomb in someone else's luggage. But the TSA has a finite amount of attention: Every moment spent frisking the Mormon Tabernacle Choir subtracts from the scrutiny paid to more likely threats. Who could fail to understand this?
Imagine how fatuous it would be to fight a war against the IRA and yet refuse to profile the Irish? And yet this is how we seem to be fighting our war against Islamic terrorism.
Granted, I haven't had to endure the experience of being continually profiled. No doubt it would be frustrating. But if someone who looked vaguely like Ben Stiller were wanted for crimes against humanity, I would understand if I turned a few heads at the airport. However, if I were forced to wait in line behind a sham search of everyone else, I would surely resent this additional theft of my time.
We should profile Muslims, or anyone who looks like he or she could conceivably be Muslim, and we should be honest about it. And, again, I wouldn't put someone who looks like me entirely outside the bull's-eye (after all, what would Adam Gadahn look like if he cleaned himself up?) But there are people who do not stand a chance of being jihadists, and TSA screeners can know this at a glance.
Needless to say, a devout Muslim should be free to show up at the airport dressed like Osama bin Laden, and his wives should be free to wear burqas. But if their goal is simply to travel safely and efficiently, wouldn't they, too, want a system that notices people like themselves? At a minimum, wouldn't they want a system that anti-profiles—applying the minimum of attention to people who obviously pose no threat?
Watch some of the TSA screening videos on YouTube—like this one—and then imagine how this infernal stupidity will appear if we ever suffer another terrorist incident involving an airplane.
Addendum (5/1/12):
Many readers found this blog post stunning for its lack of sensitivity. The article has been called "racist," "dreadful," "sickening," "appalling," "frighteningly ignorant," etc. by (former) fans who profess to have loved everything I've written until this moment. I find this reaction difficult to understand. Of course, anyone who imagines that there is no link between Islam and suicidal terrorism might object to what I've written here, but I say far more offensive things about Islam in The End of Faith and in many of my essays and lectures.
In any case, it is simply a fact that, in the year 2012, suicidal terrorism is overwhelmingly a Muslim phenomenon. If you grant this, it follows that applying equal scrutiny to Mennonites would be a dangerous waste of time.
I suspect that it will surprise neither my fans nor my critics that I view the furor over this article to be symptomatic of the very political correctness that I decry in it. However, it seems that when one speaks candidly about the problem of Islam misunderstandings easily multiply. So I'd like to clarify a couple of points here:
1. When I speak of profiling "Muslims, or anyone who looks like he or she could conceivably be Muslim," I am not narrowly focused on people with dark skin. In fact, I included myself in the description of the type of person I think should be profiled (twice). To say that ethnicity, gender, age, nationality, dress, traveling companions, behavior in the terminal, and other outward appearances offer no indication of a person's beliefs or terrorist potential is either quite crazy or totally dishonest. It is the charm of political correctness that it blends these sins against reasonableness so seamlessly. We are paying a very high price for this obscurantism—and the price could grow much higher in an instant. We have limited resources, and every moment spent searching a woman like the one pictured above, or the children seen in the linked videos, is a moment in which someone or something else goes unobserved.
2. There is no conflict between what I have written here and "behavioral profiling" or other forms of threat detection. And if we can catch terrorists before they reach the airport, I am all for it. But the methods we use to do this tend to be even more focused and invasive (and, therefore, offensive) than profiling done by the TSA. Many readers who were horrified by my article seem to believe that there is nothing wrong with "gathering intelligence." One wonders just how they think that is done.
There may be interesting arguments against profiling (or anti-profiling of the sort I recommend here), but I haven't noticed any amid the torrents of criticism I've received thus far. If there is an expert on airline security who wants to set me straight, I am happy to offer this page as a forum.
Follow Up Post:
Bruce Schneier's Response:


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The sensory tub was solar system themed but you can hardly tell in this picture.
Target dollar spot puzzle
Sorting geometric solids by color or shape
I don't know what this is called but the kids loved using their sense of touch to explore it
Smelling bottles made form dollar store salt and pepper shakers
Play dough
For Group time we took turns reaching into a bag to see if we could feel for the matching object that we chose.
We also did some taste testing. They all took this VERY SERIOUSLY! You would have thought they were at a wine tasting or something!
We also took a few walks in the garden to see what we could smell and see


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Since Erik spent a lot of hard work designing his new Supra Vega to be a solid skate shoe, he also wanted the shoe release party that was more for skateboarders instead of industry bros at the bar. So what better place to do it than a party and skate jam at The Berrics? The turnout was insane and the actual contest was nuts. Boards, bodies, dudes so psyched to shred they were landing tricks on the last dude to slam. Congrats to Andrew Pott and Gilbert Crockett for coming up on 400 bucks each, and look out for Lacy Baker who killed it and got 200. Thanks to everyone for coming out and Ellington for throwing such a rager!—Shad Lambert
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PPP's newest national survey finds that there has been very little change in public perceptions of Barack Obama since election day last November. 52% of voters in the country approve of the job he's doing so far, while 42% disapprove. Only 4% of people who voted for him last fall now disapprove of his performance, and just 10% who voted for John McCain now approve of his performance. By and large voters made up their minds about the President a year ago and there's been little to change that since he took office.
85% of Democrats but just 16% of Republicans think he's doing a good job. Independents are pretty evenly divided but with a slight lean toward Obama- 48% approving and 42% disapproving.
He's maintained high levels of approval with black voters (91%) and Hispanics (62%) but by a 49-44 margin more whites disapprove than approve of his work.
While Obama's overall popularity remains pretty strong his health care plan is not faring as well in the court of public opinion. 47% of voters say they oppose it with just 40% in favor. The problem for Democrats on this count is that the scientific data actually confirms the perception being created by the town halls that Republicans are stronger in their opposition to this than Democrats are in their support of it. 83% of GOP voters say they are against Obama's efforts while only 70% Democrats say they're supportive of them. Independents are also arrayed against them by a 49/35 margin.
One question we asked on this poll gives a good idea of how difficult it is to inform the public on this complicated issue. Medicare is obviously an inherently public program, but just for the heck of it we asked the somewhat tongue in cheek question of whether the government should 'stay out of Medicare.' 39% of Americans said yes with just 46% opposed. When such a large swath of the electorate claims not to even want government involvement with Medicare you can see what a tough sell Obama and Congressional Democrats have in convincing the public there should be a larger public role in the health care system.
We'll release the numbers looking at 2012 match ups for Obama tomorrow.
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Full results here.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
5 comments:
When you say "Voters" in your release, does your poll include "Registered Voters" or "Likely Voters" ?
- August 19, 2009 at 12:08 PM
- Tom Jensen said...
- August 19, 2009 at 12:09 PM
Should be interesting to compare your numbers tomorrow with the Marist release. They had Obama at 55-35 and ahead of Palin by 56-33.
You have Obama at 52-42, so that's probably a 10-15 point lead over Palin, while Huckabee will be trailing in the higher single digits and Romney somewhere in between. - August 19, 2009 at 12:17 PM
39% want the government to stay out of Medicare? 54% when including not sure? Really?
With a polling sample that ignorant, I'm shocked Obama is able to get over 50% approval. - August 19, 2009 at 12:26 PM
- Rasmus said...
Was there a Hawaiian who didn't know that Hawaii was part of the US?
- August 19, 2009 at 2:25 PM
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