text:
Last week we heard three announcements that together could have a big influence on what servers will look like in the years ahead. First, Intel announced updates to nearly its whole line of server processors. Then HP announced it is shipping the first servers in its Project Moonshot family of microservers, which should allow for multiple different kinds of small servers. Finally, IBM unveiled its Flash Ahead initiative, a plan to ramp up the use of flash storage in servers, led by a new family of all-flash storage systems. Individually, each was interesting, but taken together they suggest that the server world is dramatically transforming.
One thing to note is that unlike PCs, server sales remain fairly strong. Gartner says server revenue is expected to grow 3.5 percent year over year in 2013, with shipments rising by 4.9 percent. But within that, there are some big changes. More and more, the largest Web scale companies are designing their own servers, often having the big Taiwanese ODMs (original design manufacturers) create custom servers just for them.
Intel's New Processors
Of last week's announcements, Intel's new server line was in some respects the most conventional. The company showed off new chips across a huge range for servers, from Atom chips aimed at microservers to the Xeon E7, aimed at huge four- to eight-socket machines.
The company announced that specific versions of its Atom 1200 processor, known as Centerton, are now available and was part of the HP Moonshot launch. This is a 32nm dual-core processor family that will come in a range of speeds from 1.6GHz to 2.0GHz, and with a thermal design power (TDP) from 6.1 to 8.5 watts; it can address up to 8GB of RAM, more than many competing microserver chip designs.
This will be followed later in the year with a 22nm version chip called Avoton, built on a new microarchitecture known as Silvermont. Intel says this will offer a 50 percent performance improvement and will include an integrated Ethernet controller. The company also announced Briarwood, a 32nm version aimed at the storage market, and Rangely, an upcoming 22nm version aimed at network and communications infrastructure.
For small traditional servers, Intel talked about the next version of its Xeon E3 family, a 22nm based on the Haswell architecture expected to show up in the Core desktop and laptop parts in the next couple of months. Like the existing E3 based on the Sandy Bridge architecture, the new E3-1200 v3 is mostly a desktop chip repurposed for small, single-socket servers. It will be available later this year in dual- and four-core versions. Intel says the lowest TDP will be 13 watts, down from previous versions.
The processor I see most in servers aimed at the traditional corporate market is the Xeon E5, designed for single- and dual-socket servers. The workhorse of the line is the Xeon E5, which accounts for most of the servers that company. The current version is based on a design known as Sandy Bridge-EP and goes up to six cores. Intel last week said a 22nm version, known as Ivy Bridge-EP, will be available in the third quarter, and will have up to eight cores.
Finally, for the high-end, Intel announced a new version of its Xeon E7 with up to 10 cores, aimed at four- and eight-socket servers. This processor, known as Ivy Bridge-EX, is due in the fourth quarter and will enable up to 12TB of RAM in an eight-processor configuration.
What takes this to another level is Intel's announcement of a plan for a new rack scale architecture with a design that involves separate subsystem level modules for CPU, memory, storage, and networking, with its own photonics and server fabric. The idea, as is typical with such designs, is a denser but more flexible, server design. We've seen lots of individual makers announce their own rack systems, and recently a more open approach (called Open Rack), so it will be interesting to see whether Intel can make headway with its own design.
HP's Moonshot
HP's announcement last week of the availability of the first entries in its Project Moonshot servers was somewhat anticlimactic as we already knew these products would use the Intel Atom 1200 (sometimes called "Centerton") chips. Still, the concept is certainly compelling.
In the first offering, known as the Moonshot 1500 server enclosure, will be a 4.3U device that can fit 45 Atom-based server cartridges. HP is already running Moonshot servers on its website and said running the whole site on such servers should only take the energy required by 12 60-watt light bulbs. Overall, the company said Moonshot servers should use up to 89 percent less energy, 80 percent less space, and cost 77 percent less than traditional servers.
HP will offer future server cartridges based on different architectures including other Intel processors, those from AMD, and perhaps most interestingly, ARM-based server vendors, including AppliedMicro, Calxeda, and Texas Instruments.
Around the announcement, AppliedMicro said its X-Gene will be the first ARM 64-bit SoC, featuring eight high-performance cores operating at up to 2.4GHz. Calxeda said its servers will feature four ECX-1000 processors, running at 1.4GHz, each with 4GB DRAM of addressable memory.
We've seen some ARM-based servers recently, but it may well take a big vendor such as HP to make this much more mainstream. ARM servers today often have more limited memory capacity than Intel servers (since most are 32-bit, topping out at 4GB), but 64-bit versions of ARM processors are coming with much better addressable memory. ARM's backers talk about providing server performance with much less power requirements, although Intel and AMD are working to reduce X86 power use as well.
So far, such microservers seem to be most widely anticipated for applications such as running websites, which tend to be more IO intensive than processor bound. If the economics could work on larger applications though, it could be a real game changer.
IBM Goes All Flash
Finally, last Thursday I attended an event where IBM declared that flash memory is at a "tipping point," making all flash systems economic and practical for a variety of applications. The company announced it will spend $1 billion in research and development on flash-based solutions, and said it is establishing a dozen "centers of competency" to run proof-of-concept scenarios to show the performance of flash.
But the most tangible product was a new line of flash memory storage arrays based on technology the company acquired from Texas Memory Systems. These are 1U units that fit into a server rack, with each unit capable of holding 12 2TB modules. That means each unit can store up to 20TB of flash memory at RAID 5 or 24TB of flash at RAID 0. A single rack can hold up to a petabyte of flash storage. That's a lot.
Specific models include the FlashSystem 820 and 810 based on "eMLC" flash and the FlashSystem 720 and 710 based on higher-priced SLC flash. (IBM says enterprise MLC flash is good for 30,000 read-write cycles, while SLC is good for 100,000 such cycles. The actual NAND flash memory comes from Toshiba.)
Steve Mills, IBM's senior vice president and group executive for software and systems, noted that over the past 10 years, CPU performance has improved eight to 10 times, DRAM performance seven to nine times, network speed 100 times, and bus speed 20 times, but disk speed is only 1.2 times better. With flash, he said, you could get more consistent latency—down to 100 microseconds, and thus more consistent performance.
Just as important, he said the overall system cost for a large system with flash could be up to 30 percent less than a system with standard storage due to lower environmental and power costs, higher storage utilization, a need for fewer servers, and thus lower maintenance and software license fees.
He noted that while cheap disks within an enterprise storage system might cost only $2 per gigabyte, high-performance disks could cost $6 per gigabyte. For the highest-end, performance related applications, hard drives could cost $30 to $50 per gigabyte because applications will only use the outer edges of the drives to reduce the travel time of the hard drive head. In contrast, the street price of IBM's new FlashSystems would be about $10 per GB, which makes them more efficient. (Obviously, the price of enterprise storage is much higher than raw memory or consumer-grade disks.)
A demo compared a system withfour4 of the FlashSystem 820 units running on a Power 780 server with 128 cores and DB2 against a similar configuration with either 18 racks with 5000 hard drives or with eight racks of more conventional storage, including 2500 hard drives and 128 SSDs. IBM claimed the flash system used 37 times less power, and cost 11 times less. The flash system provided more than 43,000 transactions per section, and over 1.3 million IOPs. IBM claimed a full rack of the servers could provide up to 22 million IOPs.
A variety of customers talked about using early versions of the system, including representatives from Sprint, Kroger, Thomson Reuters, and Vion Corporation (which sells systems to government agencies). Not surprisingly, they talked about improving response time while reducing space and power consumption.
In general, they agreed that there is still a big place for traditional storage but the all-flash arrays make sense in more places than generally perceived.
The Changing Server Market
Taken together, these three announcements (and other similar plans we've heard of over the past few months) point to how the server market may change over the next few years. These in turn will lead to all sorts of new questions for companies that want to deploy servers.
There are many new rack and fabric announcements: AMD has its Freedom Fabric as part of its SeaMicro acquisition; Intel had this week's announcements; and the Open Compute organization has its Open Rack standard. Individual server vendors have their own proprietary solutions, including HP both with the Moonshot servers and with its long-standing rack solutions, which compete with offerings from IBM, Dell, and Cisco. This will bring more competition into these designs.
We've already seen new kinds of server processors—not just high-end chips, but now more mainstream processors and even low-power ones aimed at microservers. The mainstream market may not be quite as dominated by x86 as it has been, as new ARM-based server chips come to market. Companies will have to determine which type of processor will prove to be most appropriate for specific applications.
Flash storage has been gaining ground, though in the data center, mostly as either a server-side add-in board or as a lower tier in a multi-tiered storage array. Now all-flash solutions are getting more competitive. Meanwhile, with server processors able to handle more RAM, we're likely to see more completely in-memory solutions.
Until recently, most companies buying a server largely had a fairly limited number of choices: rack or standard servers; dual or quad-sockets; Cisco, Dell, HP, IBM, or some smaller vendor; and which Intel processor fit the bill. Now there will be more options and more choices and the result will change how many data center servers are designed.
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Chicago Style
The Chicago USB Flash Drive offers a sleek silver center and a colored edge. One of our bestsellers, it will give your brand a memorable appearance. Available in any color, the Chicago Style USB Drive is certain to reflect your brand in a way you never thought imaginable! Ask us to show you some free virtual images of this drive with your logo today!
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subset: commoncrawl


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Guaranteed Broker/Agent Referral Program
We appreciate all referral opportunities from real estate Brokers and Agents on both the residential and commercial side. That is why our property management offices nationwide offer our "Professional Alliance Guarantee".
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If a client mentions or expresses a desire to buy or sell a rental property, we notify the referring realtor immediately. We will NEVER try to solicit your client as a buyer or to secure their listing. Contact our property management company for more information about our agent referral program and what we do to ensure your clients remain your clients for life!
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text:
The domain within your query sequence starts at position 191 and ends at position 294; the E-value for the Methyltransf_11 domain shown below is 3.6e-6.
Methyltransf_11 |
PFAM accession number: | PF08241 |
Interpro abstract (IPR013216): | Methyl transfer from the ubiquitous S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) to either nitrogen, oxygen or carbon atoms is frequently employed in diverse organisms ranging from bacteria to plants and mammals. The reaction is catalyzed by methyltransferases (Mtases) and modifies DNA, RNA, proteins and small molecules, such as catechol for regulatory purposes. The various aspects of the role of DNA methylation in prokaryotic restriction-modification systems and in a number of cellular processes in eukaryotes including gene regulation and differentiation is well documented. This entry represents a methyltransferase domain found in a large variety of SAM-dependent methyltransferases including, but not limited to:
GO function: | methyltransferase activity (GO:0008168) |
This is a PFAM domain. For full annotation and more information, please see the PFAM entry Methyltransf_11


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Monitoring your mirror farm
There are a number of helpful tools and techniques you can use to monitor the health of your mirror farm.
Performance monitoring using JMX metrics
Java Management eXtensions (JMX) is a technology used for monitoring and managing Java applications. JMX can be used to determine the overall health of each mirror node and the mirror farm. The following statistics are most important to monitor:
Hosting tickets on mirror nodes
Mirror hosting tickets on the primary
Incremental sync time on mirror nodes
Snapshot sync time on mirror nodes
As always its important to monitor your nodes for disk space, CPU and memory.
For more information and a complete list of JMX metrics, see Enabling JMX counters for performance monitoring.
Synchronization and consistency
A repo-hash endpoint is provided on both the mirror farm and the primary server. It's used to check the consistency of a mirror farm and nodes with respect to the primary. This is the same endpoint that Mirror farm vet uses to repair any inconsistencies that come up, such as the result of a missing a webhook. There are some important considerations to keep in mind when using this endpoint:
The endpoint,
, is available on both the primary and the mirror nodes. It returns a stream of JSON containing acontent
hash for each repository. Thecontent
hash is a digest of the Git repository itself, while themetadata
hash is a digest of the metadata that Bitbucket holds concerning the repository, such as the repository name.Content hashes or just metadata hashes are individually requested by calling
This is what the payload looks like:
{ "projects": [ { "id": 1, "public": false, "repositories": [ { "id": 1, "hashes": { "content": "082a2ffa1520447bb6c0072f9f9d850c76f111c0ff9a08cca8838b12b0ccc31a", "metadata": "b8fae6cb4704174f8dafae601355279950f921ba55b7620f4bdaa1280e735d14" } }, { "id": 2, "hashes": { "content": "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000", "metadata": "e80aeaf459a69e7000b9e785eb39640a5d929f7ec4f09512a9ab6fabf4a0c80a" } } ] } ] }
The process to generate content hashes while reasonably fast needs to run against every repository on the instance, for larger instances this could take quite some time so we make an optimisation. When a upstream is first upgraded to a mirror farm capable version a "empty" content hash is generated for each repository this appears as
as can be seen in thecontent
attribute of the second repository above. When the farm vet encounters a repository with a content hash of0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
it considers that repository up to date.A mirror will only return entries for the project or repository it's mirroring. While the content returned from a mirror and the primary will be the same, the order of entries could be different. One way to sort the order consistently for diffing is to use the
queryjq '.projects | sort | .[].repositories |= sort_by(.id)'
The mirror synchronized webhook can be used to trigger builds as soon as the mirror has finished synchronizing. It's also useful for monitoring the repository in your mirror farm. Details of this repository event can be found in the Event payload page.
Monitoring the status of your mirrors
You can configure your load balancer to check the node's status using the /status
endpoint. A response code of 200
is returned if the mirror node is in a SYNCHRONIZED
state. If there are no nodes in the SYNCHRONIZED
state, a 200
response code will be returned for any mirror that is in one of the following states:
For customers who want a "strict" status endpoint we provide a plugin.mirroring.strict.hosting.status configuration property that when set to true, the /status endpoint returns a 200 response code only if the mirror is in the SYNCHRONIZED state. The setup for this configuration is outside the scope of the document. It is important to note that at least one mirror node should be accessible from the upstream server.
The table below displays each state and it's description:
状態 | 説明 |
STARTING | A Bitbucket application is starting. |
STOPPING | A Bitbucket application is stopping. |
BOOTSTRAPPING | The mirror component is started. |
BOOTSTRAPPED | The mirror has joined the cluster. If this is the first time the mirror farm has been connected to a primary, this is the state the application will wait in until it has been authorized. |
METADATA_SYNCHRONIZED | Project or repository metadata has been synchronized from the primary and Git repositories have started synchronization. |
SYNCHRONIZED | The mirror farm has synchronized all Git repositories from the primary. If new projects or repositories are added to the mirror farm this state will not change. It indicates that the initial set of projects or repositories that where configured at startup time have been synchronized. |
ERROR | There was an error starting the application node. |
When performing a GET
operation against the /status
endpoint, the returned data is made up of JSON with two properties, status
and nodeCoun
For example; {"state":"SYNCHRONIZED","nodeCount":"4"}


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Welcome to the Donegal Insurance Group
On behalf of Donegal Insurance Group, I'm pleased to welcome you to our website and thank you for your interest in our company. For more than 130 years, Donegal has been steadfast and unwavering in our commitment to meeting the comprehensive property and casualty insurance needs of the communities in which we operate. Through custom-tailored insurance products, we're proud to support our policyholders through life's celebrations, its challenges and everything in between.
I'd encourage you to visit the Who We Are section of our website where you'll find specific information on Donegal Insurance Group, including office locations, corporate structure, career opportunities for future Donegal team members and a walk back in time through our history.
Current Donegal policyholders can access their insurance policy information at their fingertips through our Customer Services section. Through this secure portal, you can view policy billing information and pay premium bills online. (Note: No registration is necessary to make an online credit card payment; simply select Make a Payment.)
Considering placing your insurance with us? Visit our Products section for a breakdown of the policies we issue and the coverages they provide. Select Find An Agent to Get a Quote to locate an independent agency near you who represents our group of companies.
Here at Donegal, community engagement is a pillar of our culture. We live and work in your communities, and are ever-cognizant of the positive impact we want Donegal to have on them. That's why we're proud to roll up our sleeves and get to work through on the ground volunteer projects with our neighbors. Learn more about Donegal's community commitment and the growing list of organizations we support through our Community Involvement page.
Elsewhere, we have devoted the Investors portion of this site to our publicly traded entity, Donegal Group Inc. (DGICA). Here, you'll also find quick access to our Annual Reports, press releases, financial statements and stockholder services.
On behalf of the entire Donegal team, we thank you for your interest in Donegal Insurance Group. As we look to the future, our focus remains steady on the five words that have built Donegal's reputation as a leader among regional property and casualty insurance organizations: There when it matters most.™
Kevin G. BurkePresident


text: As we begin to enter hotter and longer days this summer, it means that cookouts, BBQs, pool parties, and concerts are going to fill up a lot of our time. If you're lucky enough, this summer you will be responsible for hosting one of those events or maybe even something bigger. In this article, we have put together a list of ideas and tips for how to throw a summer party year after year that everyone will enjoy. The best parties are all inclusive. They have food, drinks, games, and everything in between. However, that's just it! The most important part of throwing a successful party is everything that is included in that 'in between.' Since most of these parties happen during the day, you have to consider providing shade for your guests. Tent season just began if you haven't noticed the graduations happening everywhere. You can get yours by renting one from your local rental company. Don't wait to give them a call as tents are among the most popular rental items on the market. It can get hot and the last thing you want is for people to feel uncomfortable or for one of your guest to risk injury. The second popular item you should rent for your party are tables. People need a place to eat, play cards, and you need a spot to put all of the food and drinks. Your local dealer will have a multitude of options including specialty tables such as poker tables. The next step is to consider renting collapsible chairs. These come cushioned or un-cushioned and in many different colors. People prefer to sit down when they eat, and we're not talking about on the floor or in the grass. Rent some chairs for people to take a load off under that big tent and to relax and enjoy the atmosphere you have brought to them. Don't be afraid to think outside the box when throwing your next party. Tents, tables, and chairs are easy to handle, but what's going to set your party apart from the rest is the décor. Décor is where rental companies are the strongest. They have everything you can think of regardless of size, color, and style. All you have to do is visit or call, and they will most likely have it in stock or recommend an appropriate substitute. Items such as colorful polysolid linens, DJ equipment, carnival games, cotton candy or snow cone machines for the kids, utensils, and grillware can all be rented this summer at little cost to you. The best part of renting is that it saves time, space, and money. Look at it as an opportunity for you to give something special to your guests that they won't often get anywhere else. Don't be average, and think beyond what's considered normal for a party. Go the distance and rent your party equipment this summer so that you and your guest can have an amazing time. Pick up the phone and lock down your summer party rentals today!


text:
FAQ 17. How and why was Ekklesia formed, and by whom?
Ekklesia was set up by Jonathan Bartley in 2002, out of his experience of a theological training course (Workshop) which introduced him to the Radical Reformation tradition and which produced a major change in life and orientation around the question of faith and politics. The aim of Ekklesia was to inject "a new way of thinking" into debates about religion and society.
Simon Barrow, at that time working with Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI), started cooperating with Jonathan in 2003, and became co-director of Ekklesia in July 2005.
They have brought a range of allies and partners on board – often people from very different backgrounds.
Jonathan comes from evangelical stock, was formerly director of a Christian Democrat organisation, and worked for Conservative PM John Major. Simon has a strong ecumenical pedigree, once convened a network of the Christian Left, and has a background in labour movement politics.
Simon and Jonathan were joined more recently by Symon Hill, a Quaker Christian with a strong background in the peace movement, who has also taught on Workshop, and by valued editorial associate Jill Segger.
Together with their associates and partners, they are working to develop new paradigms for Christian social engagement - beyond predictable labels and alliances.


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Why Is Gutter Maintenance So Important?
Gutters are an essential part of your home's protection against water damage.They work together with your roof to divert rain water away from your home's foundation.
When gutters become clogged with debris they can no longer perform properly, and your home becomes vulnerable to water damage. Prolonged neglect can lead to complete failure and collapse of the gutter system, as well as water damage to the home's exterior and landscaping.
Every year, residents of Massachusetts spend thousands of dollars repairing exterior wood trim, drywall, and landscaping that has been compromised due to clogged gutters and downspouts. Having your gutters cleaned regularly ensures proper water flow and protects the integrity of your home.
Don't wait until you have costly repairs!
Protect your home with regular preventative maintenance.


text:
When June comes to call, some people like to look back at the first half of the year and see where they came from as they plot the way forward through the rest of the year. Here at the Belltown Burlesque Revue we not only approve of this approach, we're going to do it one better! We're going to spend an evening looking at the roots of the neo burlesque movement through the lens of classic burlesque! It's an evening of tributes to those who laid the foundation we dance upon and a celebration of the classic bump and grind.
The Belltown Burlesque Revue: Where We Came From is on June 14th on the very eastern edge of Belltown in Seattle at the Re-Bar.
The Belltown Burlesque Revue: Where We Came Fromstars The Shanghai Pearl!
Paying tribute to our roots with are Angie Z from Miami, Tamara "The Trapeze Lady", Miss Violet DeVille, Sailor St. Claire, Olatsa Assassin, Jesus la Pinga, Cirquesse, Shae Dravenmore, and Betty Fish. The Dyke with the Spikes, Lilith von Fraumench is our Mistress of Ceremonies.
Doors open at 6:30 pm, seating at 7:00 pm, show at 7:30 pm. Tickets start at $13 and are available through BrownPaperTickets.com and $15 day of the show.
Posted in: Shows
Tags: Belltown Burlesque Revue, burlesque, classic burlesque, The Shanghai, Angie Z, Tamara the Trapeze Lady, Violet DeVille, Sailor St. Claire, Olatsa Assassin, Jesus la Pinga, Cirquesse, Shae Dravenmore, Betty Fish
Get notified when a new post is published.


text:
I have listed a new property at 44 2422 HAWTHORNE AVE in Port Coquitlam.
Without a doubt, the best location in the complex. Quiet corner unit with a south/west exposure. This well laid out floorplan offers all the flexibility a buyer could want. Fully rain screened with newer roof with great family-oriented neighbourhood and meticulously managed strata with healthy contingency reserve fund. Recent major improvements: new roof, new sundeck with new metal white-baked railing, new rainscreen, new windows and new gutters, new lawn and new common lightings. Located in the center of Port Coquitlam! Close to the West Coast Express, schools, Gates & Lions parks, shopping and recreation. A large 2-car tandem garage and ample visitors parking space.


text:
Technaflora B.C. Bloom, 1 lt
The B.C. Hydroponic Nutrients are a power-packed trio for nurturing generous vegetative crops and extraordinary floral growth. B.C Boost, B.C Bloom and B.C Grow are complete, professionally formulated, highly concentrated fertilizing agents. B.C Grow and B.C Bloom contain a full complement of micronutrients, which are bolstered by the added calcium and iron in B.C Boost. This remarkable three-part fertilizer is easy to mix and control, with simple-to-follow mixing instructions printed on every label.


text:
SHADEZ Adult B-Gold Polarised Sunglasses
Shadez Adult B-Gold Polarised sunglasses are the new trend to protect yourself in style. Premium swiss designed polarised sunglasses coming in different colours. Be edgy with our coloured lenses and our large choice of fashionable colours.
- Ultra-lightweight durable materials.
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- Resistant and stylish in all occasions.
- 100% UVA UVB protection, polarized lenses.
- Includes a cleaning cloth, a pouch and a case for your everyday use.
- Frame Material: Polycarbonate
- Lenses Material: Polarised
- Category Protection: Cat. 3
- Paint/Coating: Rubber Paint


text:
Even for Preschoolers, Healthier Hearts May Mean Healthier Brains
TUESDAY, Feb. 23, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- The link between heart-lung fitness and brain health may begin at an early age, new research shows.
The study revealed that 4- to 6-year-olds who could walk farther during a timed test also scored higher on tests of thinking abilities and other measures of brain function.
Most studies of the link between brain health and heart-lung ("cardiorespiratory") fitness have focused on older kids and adults. The new findings suggest that this link is evident even earlier in life, according to the researchers.
The study included 59 preschoolers who walked as far as they could in six minutes. They were then given tests to assess their intellectual abilities and how well they could focus. Mental flexibility was also checked in 33 youngsters.
"Preschool children with higher estimated cardiorespiratory fitness had higher scores on academic ability tasks related to general intellectual abilities as well as their use of expressive language," said study co-leader Shelby Keye. She is a doctoral student in kinesiology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
"They had better performance on computerized tasks requiring attention and multitasking skills, and they showed the potential for faster processing speeds and greater resource allocation in the brain when completing these computerized tasks," Keye said in a university news release.
The findings don't prove that heart-lung fitness improves thinking abilities in young children, but it adds to growing evidence that the two are closely linked, even as early as 4 years of age, according to the study authors.
Previous research has linked heart-lung fitness in older kids and adults with the size and connectivity of brain areas that play an important part in thinking and reasoning (or "cognitive") skills.
"But it isn't yet known at what point in the developmental trajectory of childhood this relationship emerges," Keye said.
The researchers also noted that, like older kids and adults, preschoolers aren't getting daily recommended levels of physical activity.
"This is worrisome, since brain development of core cognitive control processes begins in early childhood and continues well into early adulthood," said study co-leader Naiman Khan, a professor of kinesiology and community health.
The report was published online recently in the Journal of Clinical Medicine.
More information
The American Academy of Pediatrics has more on physical fitness.
SOURCE: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, news release, Feb. 4, 2021
The news stories provided in Health News and our Health-E News Newsletter are a service of the nationally syndicated HealthDay® news and information company. Stories refer to national trends and breaking health news, and are not necessarily indicative of or always supported by our facility and providers. This information is provided for informational and educational purposes only, and is not intended to be a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.


text:
We collect information from you when you register on our site, place an order, subscribe to our newsletter or respond to a survey.
When ordering or registering on our site, as appropriate, you may be asked to enter your: name, e-mail address, mailing address or phone number. You may, however, visit our site anonymously.
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text:
13x19 B&W, COLOR PRINTING
Epson Stylus Photo R3000
Sets the Standard
By MIKE PASINI
The Imaging Resource Digital Photography Newsletter
Review Date: June 2012
As soon as our Canon Pro-1 review was published, we heard from Epson. You really should take a look at our R3000, they said.
Indeed, the R3000, which beat the Pro-1 to market by several months, has a lot going for it that the Pro-1 does not. Ethernet, for one. And a small pigment droplet size, too.
Like the Pro-1, it's a 13-inch printer but it handles roll paper, too. Closed up, it's quite a bit more compact.
And like the Pro-1, it can print color or black and white images, swapping matte and photo black ink cartridges.
List price is $849.99 but Epson itself sells it for just $649.99, a significant bargain compared to the $999.99 Pro-1.
Epson lists the highlights of its R3000 as:
• Pigment ink technology. Epson UltraChrome K3 with Vivid Magenta Ink Technology (delivering intense blues and violets and improved skin tones) for either color or black-and-white prints
• Individual high-capacity ink cartridges. Nine large 25.9ml individual ink cartridges
• Advanced media handling. Consistent, reliable performance with front-in, front-out paper path; Cut sheets up to 13 inches wide, 13-inch roll paper; supports photographic and fine art paper, canvas, art boards (up to 1.3mm thick) and CD/DVDs
• Unparalleled connectivity. Hi-Speed USB 2.0, wireless 802.11n and 100 Mbit Ethernet support
• Auto-switching black inks. Enjoy the highest black density and superior contrast on glossy, matte or fine art papers from either Matte or Photo Black ink; driver indicates which to use based on paper type; switching is done at the printer's control panel
• Leading-edge image-quality architecture. Smooth color transitions and outstanding highlight and shadow detail with AccuPhoto HD2 imaging technology
• Precision 9-color, 8-channel print head technology. MicroPiezo AMC, one-inch wide print head with ink-repelling coating for accurate dot placement and reduced maintenance
• Professional control. Advanced Black-and-White Photo Mode to create neutral or toned black-and-white prints from color or monochrome images; ICC profile support is available for many third-party papers
While that's Epson's list, we can certainly confirm it matched our experience of the R3000's highlights, with particular appreciation for the paper feeding approach, ink set and connectivity.
SPECIFICATIONS | Back to Contents
Print Specifications
- Printing Technology: Advanced Micro Piezo AMC print head with ink-repelling coating technology, 8-channel, drop-on-demand, inkjet print head
- Nozzle Configuration: 180 nozzles x 8
- Minimum Ink Droplet Size: 2 picoliters. Variable Droplet Technology can produce up to 3 different droplet sizes per print line
- Maximum Print Resolution: 5760 x 1440 dpi
- Maximum Printable Area: Maximum paper width: 13 inches; Maximum cut-sheet size: 13x19; Minimum cut-sheet size: 3.5x5; Maximum printable area: 13x44
- Photo Print Speed: 8x10 in approx. 1 min 33 sec; 13x19 in approx. 2 min 30 sec
- Warranty: One-year limited warranty in the U.S. and Canada with additional extended service plans, including exchange/repairs plans and replacement plans available.
- Maximum Paper Size: Main top-loading feeder holds up to 13x19-inch sheet and up to 120 sheets plain; 30 sheets photo; Front media path holds up to 13x19, single sheet manual feeder designed for fine art paper and media up to 1.3mm thick; CD/DVD (using included tray)
- Borderless Sizes: 3.5x5, 4x6, 5x7, 8x10, A4 (8.3x11.7), letter (8.5x11), 11x14, 12x12, B (11x17), A3 (11.7x16.5) and Super B (13x19) sizes
- Ink Type: Pigment-based Epson UltraChrome K3 with Vivid Magenta ink technology
- Ink Palette: 9-color Photo or Matte Black, Cyan, Vivid Magenta, Yellow, Light Cyan, Vivid Light Magenta, Light Black, Light Light Black
- Ink Cartridge Configuration: Auto-Switching Black Ink Technology. Standard Black ink conversion times are Matte to Photo Black in approx. 3 min 30 sec and Photo to Matte Black in approx. 2 min sec. Ink used during conversion is Matte to Photo Black approx. three milliliters and Photo to Matte Black approx. one milliliter. An economy mode unique to the R3000 uses one milliliter instead of three milliliters to flush Matte.
- Connectivity: Hi-Speed USB 2.0, 100Base-T Ethernet, Wi-Fi Certified (802.11n only)
- Operating Systems: Windows 7 (32-bit, 64-bit), Windows Vista (32-bit, 64-bit), Windows XP, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Mac O X 10.5.x to 10.7.x
- Printer Language: Epson ESC/P2R2 raster photographic drivers standard
- Temperature: Operating at 50 to 95 degrees F; Storage at -4 to 104 degrees F
- Humidity: Operating at 20 to 80 pct. (no condensation); Storage at 5 to 85 pct. (no condensation)
- Sound Level: Approx. 38 dB according to ISO 7779
- Rated Voltage: AC 110 to 120V
- Rated Frequency: 50 to 60 Hz
- Rated Current: 0.6 A/110 to 120 V
- Power Consumption: Printing requires approx. 21 W while Sleep Mode uses less than 3.5 W; Energy Star compliant (Tier 2)
- Safety Standards: UL1950, CSA 22.2 950 FDA, EMI: FCC Part 15 subpart B class B, CSA C108.8 class B, AS/NZS 3548 class B
- Dimensions: When printing, it's 24.2 x 32 x 16.7 (WxDxH) and when stored, it's 24.2 x 14.5 x 9 (WxDxH)
- Weight: 35 lbs.
The retail box includes:
- Epson Stylus Photo R3000 Photo Printer
- Power cable
- Ink Cartridges: Photo Black UltraChrome K3 ink cartridge (T157120), Cyan UltraChrome K3 ink cartridge (T157220), Vivid Magenta UltraChrome K3 ink cartridge (T157320), Yellow UltraChrome K3 ink cartridge (T157420), Light Cyan UltraChrome K3 ink cartridge (T157520), Vivid Light Magenta UltraChrome K3 ink cartridge (T157620), Light Black UltraChrome K3i ink cartridge (T157720), Matte Black UltraChrome K3 ink cartridge (T157820), Light Light Black UltraChrome K3 ink cartridge (T157920)
- Roll paper holders
- Roll paper holder accessory
- CD print tray and software
- Accessory box
- USB and Ethernet cables not included
- Printer documentation
- CD-ROM with printer drivers and software
The vigilant reader will notice there's no gloss optimizer in the ink set. More about that below.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS | Back to Contents
Epson lists Windows 7 (32-bit, 64-bit), Windows Vista (32-bit, 64-bit), Windows XP, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition and Mac OS X 10.5.x to 10.6.x as the supported operating systems.
But our tests were done on several versions of Mac OS X 10.7.
We had none of the trouble installing the software that we had with the R2000, we're happy to say.
But we did have a problem installing the drivers on a second machine. The solution to that was simply to reset the printer system. That, unfortunately, removes all your printers. But we hadn't cleaned house in a while. And we only mention it here in case your housekeeping suffers similar enthusiasm. It really has nothing to do with the R3000 itself.
CONSUMABLES | Back to Contents
The high-capacity (25.9ml) 157 cartridges list for $31.49 each. Amazon sells them for $29.95 or the whole set for $265.95. If you use the Imaging Resource Amazon affiliate program, you'll help support reviews like this.
Photo Black ink is optimized for printing on glossy sheets (including glossy, luster, satin and semigloss finishes). Matte Black is designed for matte finishes and fine art media. Your usage of these two inks will depend on what paper you use.
Paper costs will vary depending on the sheet you select, of course. The R3000 can handle a variety of media, including printable CDs.
For the review, Epson sent us a representative sample of papers. Those included:
- Epson Pro Velvet Fine Art Paper
- Epson Ultra Premium Lustre
- Epson Signature Worthy Sample Pack with Hot Press Bright, Hot Press Natural, Exhibition Fiber, Cold Press Bright, Cold Press Natural, Velvet Fine Art, Ultra Premium Lustre
- Printable CDs (but not waterproof)
But as part of our comparison with the Canon Pro-1 we also printed on a number of third-party art papers including:
- Moab Entrada Natural
- Moab Slickrock Metallica Pearl 260
- Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl
- Ilford Galerie Smooth Gloss
- Kodak Ultra Studio Gloss
- Museo Silver Rag
We used the R3000 ICC profiles for those papers supplied by the manufacturers on their respective Web sites. And our results were uniformly excellent. So if you happen to read somewhere (as we did) that you can only use Epson paper, consider the source deluded.
HARDWARE TOUR | Back to Contents
Compact as it is, the R3000 has a lot of secret compartments.
The paper support on top is the most obvious of them. You simply rotate it on its hinges before pulling out its two extensions. It only needs two because the well into the printer is quite deep. Note also the rubber bumpers on the inside lid to grip the sheet.
The front output tray is the next obvious. The cover drops down so you can pull our the extensions. Note the orange bracket on the inside on the side of the control panel and remove it. But don't discard it. Epson calls it a transportation lock. You'll want to reinstall it if you move the printer.
In that same compartment is the gray manual feed tray for thick paper (up to 1.3mm, in fact) and the CD tray. You press in the indent with the three bumps to drop it into position. The drop-down tray allows for the full release of the feed rollers so you can easily slip a thick sheet of fine art paper into the printer.
There are, in fact, two sets of rollers for borderless printing: the main drive rollers and the secondary set of star rollers on top required for borderless images, which leave no marks on the paper.
We really liked the fine art feeding, finding it the best of any Epson printer we've used and preferring it to Canon's various approaches as well. What we particularly liked about it was that you could get your hands on both ends of a 13x19 and snug it up to the side guide, confident it was parallel to the printer. Most just let you line up the front edge and hope it's parallel.
The proof of this approach's superiority came when we had only a quarter inch of an image printed on a nice piece of fine art paper before the job aborted. We'd canceled printing for some reason that now escapes us. Rather than waste the sheet, we reloaded it and reprinted. There was no misregistration of the image.
To actually load paper in that tray, you have to open the rear paper support. That's on the back of the printer. It opens just a bit, dropping down into the printer slightly, so you can pull out the two extensions
The rear support is also used for roll paper, which exits the printer on the output tray in front. But with roll paper, you leave the extensions in and hook the roll paper holders (with paper already attached to them) where the orange labels indicate. In addition to paper, you can also load canvas on the roll holders.
The back of the printer is where you'll find the power connection (to the left) and the USB and Ethernet connection (to the right of center). In front, there's a PictBridge USB port as well.
Although it isn't immediately obvious, the whole top of the printer swings up to reveal the ink compartment in the front left. A gray latch on the cover releases when you push it toward the back of the printer.
The front top right panel hosts the R3000 controls. The Power button is at the left with an Ink status indicator and Delete button next to it on the right. They are just left of the LCD, which itself borders the four-way navigator with an OK button in the center. A WiFi status indicator and the Back button are to the right of that. All of the buttons are quite large with deep indents. That's a good thing.
INSTALLATION | Back to Contents
We found the end of our work table a good location for the R3000. There was plenty of room behind it and even more in front. It doesn't seem to need more than a few inches in the back but it does eat up space in front to deliver the 19-inch sheets.
We followed the instructions on the handy installation poster.
Removing all the blue tape in all the compartments can be quite a challenge. We missed a couple on the back securing the rear support.
Don't forget about the transportation lock, either. And do save it in case you have to move your printer.
Next we connected the power cable and turned the printer on.
Time to load the cartridges. We opened the top lid and released the ink compartment cover. The bays are clearly labeled.
Epson recommends shaking the cartridges before installing them. Then there's a small yellow tape to pull off before you insert the cartridge into the bay.
A slot on the cartridge guarantees you won't put it in the wrong bay. We tried. No go. But you'll have to remember to actually snap the cartridge down to fully seat it. The small release seems seated prematurely and there's no red LED to confirm you've seated the cartridge. So push down.
When you close the cartridge cover and then the top cover of the printer, the ink system is primed. This gives you a chance to open the rear paper feed and drop some letter-size sheets in. Move the outside paper guide in, too. And don't forget to open the output tray and extend the extensions.
A progress bar on the LCD will let you know how things are going. It takes a while. Check your email.
We wanted to connect the R3000 to our router, making a WiFi connection rather than an Ethernet or USB connection. But if we were not testing the printer, we would prefer that Ethernet connection for its speed.
Epson recommends using a USB cable to create the WiFi connection. They don't supply one and, it turns out, it really isn't necessary. You can do it from the control panel. So that's how we did it.
It really isn't hard. It would have been harder to dig up a USB cable, really. You just have to know your router's password. The R3000 will automatically find your router. And it can even log in magically with a couple of options we never use. All we had to do was pick our router, put in the password and the connection was made.
We printed the network report just to see if the printer could actually print. It didn't do a head alignment as part of the setup, which we would have found strange except the head on the R3000 is far from the ink cartridges, so installing a cartridge has no effect on alignment. And, in fact, the R3000 printed our black and white network status page just fine.
So we continued with the software installation on Mac OS 10.7.
That went very smoothly and didn't take more than a couple of minutes. We installed the drivers and utilities, which is the default, but added Print CD and the User's Gide.
Before finishing the install, we printed a test sheet, which came out fine. We were ready for action.
We didn't have as much trouble setting up the R3000 for a print job as we did the R2000, a reflection on our own confusion. Experience helps, apparently.
As we usually do, we worked with the R3000 from Mac OS X rather than Windows. While the issues are similar, the process is a bit different.
Unlike many other printers, the R3000 has a variety of feeding options plus a large selection of compatible paper sizes and surfaces. You have to get all of those ducks in a row every time you print to get 1) a sheet to be printed and 2) the results you expect.
Adding to the fun is that there are multiple listings for Paper Size and both Paper Size and Source are expressed in a one-line description in the driver. And just to stir the pot, the option to print borderless (and whether to automatically enlarge to do it) are also in there.
We did stumble now and then on the paper size names. There are quite a few in the Epson driver and it's pure guess work selecting one. Fortunately the preview gave us a hint when we were way off base, showing odd margins or poor layout.
Saving a configuration didn't particularly help us keep all of these options aligned, either.
The Basic Guide makes the process for Mac OS X clear:
- Select the R2000 as the Printer
- Pick the appropriate Paper Size (with a Borderless option if you want)
- Set the Orientation (landscape or portrait)
- Use Print Settings to set the Media Type to the sheet you are using (which depends on the Paper Size setting)
- Continue with Print Settings to set other options
You have more work to do if you let the printer manage the color (which also lets you tap into some Epson technologies), but we prefer to manage color in our image editing software. That way, we can select the appropriate ICC profile for the paper we're using.
That was itself a challenge using Photoshop CS6, which insisted we were trying to print without a profile when we selected some third-party profiles. The workaround we used was to pick an Epson-supplied profile for a similar finish. Photoshop CS6 didn't complain about that and our results, if not exactly matched to the sheet, were reliable.
THE CONTROL PANEL | Back to Contents
Compared to the Pro-1's two button front panel, the R3000 has an airliner's dashboard with a color LCD, four-way navigator, Delete and Back buttons.
It might seem a bit retro to have an actual control panel on a big, network printer but you do actually have to visit the printer now and then when you have to load fine art paper or switch blacks.
The advantage of the LCD is that it not only provides a menu system but it also provides a nicely-illustrated help system. So when it's time to front load a heavy sheet, you don't have to look up the procedure in the manual. Just step through it on the LCD.
That was particularly helpful when we wanted to print a CD. All we had to do was click the Right arrow button until that option was displayed and follow the instructions. Which, as these things go, were pretty simple. Drop the CD into the black plastic carrier, slide it onto the gray tray, align it to the notch and tell the printer it's ready.
Ultrachrome K3 Inks. The K3 inkset is a palette of eight active inks, three of which are black. There is no gloss optimizer in the K3 inkset because the inks themselves include a resin.
In addition, the darkest black ink swaps out depending on the paper with Photo Black used for glossy sheets and Matte Black for uncoated stock. Epson says its microcrystal encapsulated Photo Black can be used on any surface but the non-resin, self-dispersing Matte Black delivers a darker black on matte and fine art papers by not sinking into the sheet quite so much.
While the driver will advise you which black is preferred, you have to make the switch at the printer using the control panel.
There's been quite a lot of online grumbling about the amount of ink wasted when switching between Photo Black and Matte Black. Going from Matte to Photo takes 3 milliliters and going from Photo to Matte takes 1 milliliter. Why?
Epson explained that Photo Black, with resins incorporated into it, works on any paper but Matte Black, with no resin and chemistry designed to avoid sinking into uncoated sheets (and will consequently sit on glossy paper without drying, which is why Epson flushes three milliliters of it when you switch back to Photo Black), only works well on uncoated papers. So you don't have to clear Photo Black from the ink line as much as you do have to clear Matte Black.
However, Epson pointed out, among the Setup options on the printer itself, there is a Black Ink Change setting that lets you select between this Standard flushing and an Economy flushing that only uses one milliliter to flush Matte Black instead of three milliliters. We found it interesting that the option wasn't two milliliters but one milliliter, suggesting three milliliters does a more than thorough job.
For black and white printing, you have three tones in the ink set: a very light black (Light Light Black), a Light Black and Photo or Matte Black. The advantage to using tritone monochrome printing over quadtone color printing in monochrome is the elimination of a color cast not only at the time of printing but also as the print ages.
In addition, Epson claims the Light Light black significantly reduces gloss differences, especially combined with the high-gloss microcrystal encapsulation technology of the K3 ink set and its unique screening algorithms. Finer pigments and precise ink laydown minimize gloss variation, in short.
You'll still have an issue where you don't lay down ink, however, as in blown-out or specular highlights. The print driver option to enable Highlight Point Shift will print very lightly in the highlight area to avoid this in black and white prints. This is the one area in which a gloss optimizer helps.
For color prints, you can use the Levels command in most image editing software to shift the output level down from pure white at 255 to something short of that.
Epson has also revised the magenta component of the inkset, referring to it as Vivid Magenta and Vivid Light Magenta. Using these magentas instead of, say, the orange ink in the R2000, expands the range of blues and purples while warming skin tones, Epson told us.
With yellow, two densities of cyan and two of magenta delivering a wide color gamut, the K3 inkset relies on the three densities of black to deliver a stable gray balance much like gray undercolor removal in offset printing in which less color ink is used in preference for black. The technique avoids laying 100 percent of yellow, cyan and magenta down under black areas (which produces a color much like mud), relying instead on black to cover.
Gloss level is improved with a special resin in the K3 inkset that improves the smoothness of the printed surface.
Pigment Agitation. With the ink stored in an immobile tank, how does the R3000 agitate the pigment so it doesn't all settle at the bottom of the tank? You can actually hear it agitate the ink using a pressurization system borrowed from the Epson 3800. It sounds a bit like a vacuum cleaner every now and then as the pigments are stirred up in the tank using fluid pressure.
Print Head. The R3000 uses the same print head as the R2000. That's the MicroPiezo AMC, one-inch wide print head with ink-repelling coating for more accurate dot placement and reduced maintenance.
AccuPhoto HG. Epson's AccuPhoto HG image technology was created with the Rochester Institute of Technology's Munsell Color Science Laboratory. The HG stands for High Gloss.
Using an advanced mathematical architecture and screening technology, it optimizes the use of each ink color to maximize color gamut, providing smoother color transitions and ensuring consistent color under different lighting, actually calculating the metameric index.
Epson claims AccuPhoto HG can produce "truly photographic prints" even with high-speed and in lower resolution print modes.
It isn't an option in the print driver, however, unless you let the printer manage color. We never do that, preferring to use an ICC profile in Photoshop for the ink and paper and manipulating color there.
There's no proof like pudding, so we quickly put the R3000 to work. We were particularly interested in comparing its output to the Canon Pro-1 prints we'd been producing.
First Prints. To get familiar with the printer, we ran off half a dozen quick prints. Three 8x10 Velvets from Lightroom 4 beta and three 13x19 Lustres from Photoshop CS5, one of which we sent 16-bit data to the printer. We'd printed only one before (on the R2000). A good mix.
Then we tried 4-inch roll paper. No sale. Unlike the R2000, the R3000 won't let you hang a short roll on the back. You have to have a full-width roll.
Epson told us that narrower rolls aren't supported because the support tray is in the way. It preferred to have a front-loading fine art mechanism than support 4-inch roll paper.
So we moved on to black and white on art paper, loading the paper through the front art paper slot. The LCD will confirm that art paper can be loaded. Just slide it in. It will pop out the back (which you opened) so you can carefully align it to the front scribe mark and side guide. Then press OK so the printer can actually load the paper. When it has, be sure to push in the front loading tray and pull out the output tray.
We printed on a matte fine art paper. Or wanted to. The driver complained that the black ink cartridge wasn't correct. In fact, we had been printing on lustre, which uses the Photo Black cartridge. For a matte paper, we needed Matte Black. The driver dialog did indicate that was the ink to use.
But the driver complained, "The black ink cartridge differs from the one installed in the printer. Change the black ink cartridge in the printer." We were a little confused, but the manual came to the rescue explaining we have to walk over to the printer and use the Menu system to actually switch black inks.
That takes a few minutes to flush the supply lines.
We had a job queued so as soon as the ink switch had been completed, the job started printing.
Dueling Pianos. We fired off the same image file to both the R3000 and the Pro-1, both using the same papers (using the paper manufacturer's ICC profiles for that sheet on that particular printer).
It was interesting. So interesting, we asked for a vote. So this isn't just our opinion but a consensus.
Everybody noticed the R3000 uncoated black and white prints had more contrast and more detail. That smaller droplet size apparently matters. And though both printers feature a matte black, Epson's was clearly more dense. So the R3000 delivered better tonality and detail on monochrome matte prints.
It was, frankly, a significant difference. Guests didn't blink an eye before picking the Epson prints over the Canon.
We also printed a set of portraits on Ilford Galerie Smooth Perl using Ilford's ICC profiles for both printers. The file was printed first to one printer then the other, with only the driver settings changed. So they were the identical image on the same paper.
The results were very hard to tell apart. Virtually identical. We did notice very slight gloss variation on the Canon prints, but only when we angled the image to look for it. And the Epson prints did produce more saturated color, which was only noticeable on things like T-shirt lettering and vivid package printing. Skin tones were spectacular on both.
One of the virtues of the Pro-1 is it hardly ever produces a lousy print. Right out of the box, the results are impressive. We have to say the R3000 matched that experience for us -- but we have to add that it has quite a few more options and it's easy to get lost in the driver.
Glossies. We had two images taken at City Lights Bookstore that seemed to go well together. Both were of windows, but one showed the interior, the daylight illuminating books on a table by the window, and other showed the view over lower rooftops out its window.
We used Ilford Galerie Smooth Gloss on these with Ilford's ICC profiles. But we printed the set both in color and in black and white.
Epson claims the image is stable out of the printer, but our room lighting isn't as bright in the evening as it is in the day. So we held off evaluating the images until we had good sunlight. We had excellent detail in the shadows and highlights of both versions of the prints and a glowing color that matched the weather that day.
They were, in short, just perfect.
The Bridge. Newsletter subscribers have been treated to our Just for Fun series describing an evolving black and white project.
We started with a 12-panel 13x19 printed on Moab Entrada Natural. At first we thought the black and white print was a bit greenish. Epson suggested it might be a profile issue. This is another of those driver settings that you can get lost in. The workaround is, in general, to try Velvet Fine Art for cold, bluish papers rather than Radiant White (which is what Moab itself suggests) and use Ultrasmooth Fine Art in Advanced Black and White Photo mode for natural white papers with no brighteners.
The problem is commonly seen when printing the U.S. flag's blue field. If it looks purple, you'll want to pick a different profile.
The most recent episode recounted our poster prints of the Golden Gate Bridge on its 75th anniversary.
We did two versions of the original image, a square black and white taken with an Olympus E-PL1. The simpler version is a straight monochrome image. The other version is a split-toned image using four tones.
The image itself was taken just a few days before the anniversary but looks for all the world as if it were taken 75 years ago. Credit the black and white palette and the square aspect ratio. And the setting, which with the golden Marin headlands in the background and low tide in the foreground did not betray the era.
But even the split-tone image, which ranged from black to red to blue to yellow and colored the bridge's dark tones in red and the water in blue, had a colorized antique effect.
We really couldn't pick between them. Nor could anyone else.
Printed on Museo Silver Rag, they both stopped visitors to the bunker in their tracks.
CD Printing. Epson recommends burning the CD or DVD before printing it, which makes sense to us.
Loading the CD is as simple as loading fine art media. You drop the gray tray, put a CD in the black CD insert, line it up to the mark and watch the printer load it. The LCD guides you through the process so you don't have to remember.
We had a CD design ready to go in Epson's Print CD, so we let it fly.
Oddly enough the driver wanted Matte Black rather than Photo Black, so we had to switch blacks before we could print. But after we did that, the R3000 printed the CD without a complaint -- and very quickly.
In our Pro-1 review, we expanded on CD printing, mentioning alternative sofware and supplies (like waterproof media).
iPrint. Epson has its own solution for iPad owners who want to print photos to an Epson WiFi printer or all-in-one. It's called iPrint.
We installed it on an iPad 2 and gave it a whirl. It can access your photos from your Camera Roll or Photo Stream, of course, but it can also grab them online from Evernote, Google Docs, Dropbox or Box.
You actually print from iPrint itself rather than from a print dialog box in your favorite applications. We grabbed a shot from our Photo Stream.
What we really liked about it were the extensive print options, much like the print dialog you're used to seeing from a desktop application.
You can select a printer if you have more than one, Page Size, Media Type, Layout, Print Quality, Copies and Advanced Settings (Paper Source, Monochrome or Color, Print Date, Brightness, Contrast, Saturation).
No need to install your printer, either. The app looked around and found the R3000 before we knew it.
And our test print came out perfectly the first time we tried it. Very nicely done.
The R3000 handled everything we threw at it. And we threw everything at it.
But "handled" doesn't quite cover it. Whether it was the help system accessed from the LCD or the front-loading thick media paper path or the generous ink capacity, the R3000 exhibited a grace and competence we appreciated more and more.
That's because we printed on it more and more. We had the Pro-1 right next to it but we kept sending our images to the R3000. Color prints were nearly identical, as we pointed out, but there was no comparison between the monochrome images. The R3000 blew the doors off the Pro-1 for black and white printing.
It was also a little more civilized in normal use. We didn't have nearly the wait time we have on the Pro-1 when the printer has been idle a few days as it primes the pump.
We haven't seen a better 13x19 fine arts media printer that does both color and black and white. The R3000 sets the bar. Very high.


text:
Marine demoted to private to end Haditha trial. Did military justice work?
| Washington
Did the US military justice system work?
That's the question defense analysts are asking on the heels of a Marine Corps judge's recommendation Tuesday that the sergeant in charge of a team of US troops responsible for killing 24 Iraqis, including seven children, receive 90 days confinement and reduction to the rank of private.
As a result of a pretrial agreement, however, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich will not serve any time in prison.
Staff Sgt. Wuterich was the final defendant to be tried in what became the infamous Haditha case. Seven other US troops were charged along with Staff Sgt. Wuterich for their actions at Haditha in 2005 and for allegedly obstructing justice afterward.
Six ultimately had their cases dropped, and one was acquitted.
Following closely on the heels of revelations about Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse, Haditha became synonymous with accusations that the US military was recklessly disregarding the safety of civilians and those in its custody.
After a roadside bomb killed one Marine and two others on the morning of Nov. 19, 2005, in the Anbar Province town of Haditha, Wuterich and his squad went on a rampage, allegedly in pursuit of a gunman who fired on them from a house after the explosion. Wuterich was accused of manslaughter, assault, and dereliction of duty for his role.
During the plea hearing Monday, Wuterich expressed regret for his decision to "shoot first, ask questions later." Throughout the trial, the defense team emphasized the fog of war and Wuterich's duty to protect his fellow Marines from harm.
Wuterich's plea bargain, struck by military lawyers, stipulated that he receive no more than three months in prison. He remains on active duty.
The sentence handed down by the Marine Corps judge, Lt. Col. David Jones, is only a recommendation, however. The final decision about whether Wuterich will serve jail time or not is ultimately up to the commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, Lt. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser. According to a Marine Corps statement, that decision will come "once he has fully reviewed the case."
But the very terms of the plea bargain in a case in which two dozen civilians were killed suggests that ultimately, history will likely conclude that in the case of Haditha, the military justice system didn't work, argues David Glazier, a professor of law at Loyola Law School Los Angeles and a former career US Navy officer.
"The justification for having a separate system of military justice is primarily to be able to maintain good order and discipline," he says. "That requires prompt investigation and punishment of wrongdoing."
It took six years to bring Haditha to trial.
"The first problem was failure in the chain of command to recognize that there was a potential crime," Mr. Glazier says. The commander in charge of Wuterich's unit "when he first heard the problem, refused to believe it. He said, 'Not my Marines.' "
In other words, loyalty to the troops trumped loyalty to the constitution, and resulted in failure "to conduct a meaningful investigation immediately," Glazier says.
It did not help, either, that after handing out condolence payments to the family members of Haditha victims, military lawyers then argued that the money tainted their eyewitness accounts. "To me, that defies logic," says Glazier.
Yet there is good reason that the investigation and trial took as long as it did, says Capt. Glenn Sulmasy, a judge advocate general and professor of law at the US Coast Guard Academy.
"The system is liberalizing even at the expense of affecting perceptions of this country," says Capt. Sulmasy.
For this reason, Haditha does not represent a failure of the military justice system, he argues, but rather the changing realities of 21st century warfare.
"The military justice system is fair, and most American warriors act in accordance with laws of war," says Sulmasy, author of The National Security Court System: A Natural Evolution of Justice in an Age of Terror. "Why did it take so long? That boils down to the political issues of warfare today."
This includes enemy fighters who dress as civilians, and a counterinsurgency focus on winning hearts and minds, he says.
Yet there remains the issue of culpability, Glazier says. The Haditha case – like Abu Ghraib and others before it – was surrounded with concerns that a relatively low-ranking soldier was taking the fall, while officers avoided any repercussions.
In this case, however, "It seems that objectively, the guy who was facing the serious charges" – in this case Wuterich – "was the senior Marine in the unit on the scene" and therefore "has the greatest responsibility. I don't think it's an injustice that subordinates were given a plea deal and asked to testify against him."
Ultimately, however, when the Marines took the stand in the trial against Wuterich, "They cast doubt as to whether or not the situation was clear cut. They had remorse. They said that looking back at it they realized the amount of killing they did was excessive," Glazier adds.
The jury, for its part, was comprised of military veterans who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan. For better or worse, this remains a necessary component of trying troops accused of war crimes, both Glazier and Sulmasy agree.
"It's almost impossible to get a civilian jury to ever convict" a soldier, Glazier says. These are "folks who are well aware of the fact that when the nation decided to launch these overseas wars they think, 'We didn't go to war; we didn't make those risks.' "
What was missing – and remains missing – is more realistic training for the troops who are headed to war, and a more blunt explanation of why the rule of law during combat is so vital, Glazier says. "A lot of folks think that these rules of law are humanitarian niceties," he notes.
So if it's a choice between protecting fellow troops whose lives may be in imminent danger or killing innocents, they protect their buddies, he adds.
"What has to be explained is that ultimately other soldiers and Marines are going to die if you violate these rules."
Haditha for example, resulted in "extra recruiting, extra financial support, and cousins of those who were killed joining the insurgency," Glazier says. "What you never hear presented is that these rules are designed to win the war – not to tie your hands."


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Custom Autosound's USA-230 is an excellent choice for classic car or truck enthusiasts looking for a more affordable radio without sacrificing quality electronics and a classic stereo look. It has been designed to fit in the stock dash without any modifications required. The USA-230 has the same appearance and all of the features offered in our USA-630 model simply without USB port, iPod dock and CD changer control. The USA-230 does provide an auxiliary input which can connect to iPods, iPhones, satellite radio tuners or any other device with a headphone jack. It also boasts 4 Channel RCA pre-outs and a digital display with electronic tuner, 16 station pre-sets and a 4-way fader..
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precleanse balm
precleanse balm
Deep-cleansing balm-to-oil melts away impurities and make-up from skin. Achieve cleaner, healthier-looking skin with the Double Cleanse regimen that begins with PreCleanse Balm. This water-activated, balm-to-oil version of our top-selling oil cleanser deconstructs layers of excess sebum (oil), waterproof make-up, environmental pollutants and residual product buildup on skin. The Botanical Biolipid Complex locks in hydration and reinforces the skin barrier while Apricot Kernel Oil helps nourish skin. Use the included cleansing mitt to thoroughly cleanse debris from the skin's surface, allowing your recommended Dermalogica Cleanser to deliver even more effective cleansing results. Ideal for normal to dry skin. Safe for use around the eye area. Store at room temperature.
- Removes excess sebum (oil), sunscreen, make-up and pollutants
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Squeeze tube to dispense product onto cleansing mitt or directly to dry palm of hand. Massage product into dry skin using circular motions. Add water to emulsify. Rinse and follow with recommended Dermalogica Cleanser to complete the Dermalogica Double Cleanse. Store at room temperature.
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Dermalogica is dedicated to maintaining the accuracy of the ingredient lists on this website. However, because ingredients are subject to change, we cannot guarantee that these lists are complete, up-to-date and/or error-free. For an accurate listing of ingredients in each product, please refer to your product packaging.


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Pest Control Rosemont CA
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Located in Sacramento County, California, Rosemont CA is a predominantly suburban residential neighborhood that is part of the Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville Metro Statistical Area. Even though it has a fairly low population, the surrounding environment and climatic conditions are favorable for a number of pests to breed and become problematic once they get a chance to invade your residential or commercial property.
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Why Motley Crue's 'You're All I Need' Was Banned by MTV
As the multi-platinum sales Mötley Crüe racked up throughout the '80s can attest, they definitely weren't opposed to courting the mainstream. But in their early days, they were also always just a little too dangerous for prime time — as they demonstrated with the banned first cut of their video for 1987's "You're All I Need."
For the clip, which you can watch below, the band hooked up with director Wayne Isham to depict the dark imagery of the lyrics, which outline the violent end of a doomed relationship. Filming in black and white, Isham told the story of a man and woman whose destructive bond is severed when he kills her — and then, after destroying their home, is taken in by police. It's the kind of story we've all seen play out countless times, both in Hollywood and in real life, but as far as network execs at MTV were concerned, it was too violent to air.
"There's a positive and negative side to everything," Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx noted in a statement after the video was rejected. "That includes the music and videos of Mötley Crüe. But some people seem to focus only on the negative.
"'You're All I Need' doesn't condone or exploit this tragedy," Sixx added. "It clearly shows how one life is destroyed and another ruined forever. And it's probably a lot less graphic than much of what we see on the 6 o'clock news every night."
At the time, the band's Girls, Girls, Girls album was already well on its way to its eventual quadruple-platinum certification, and they'd already been through something similar with MTV over the original video for the record's title track. Understanding that any publicity is good publicity, Sixx added, "Mötley Crüe has had a good relationship with MTV for years. We're just sorry they can't see things from our point of view."
Watch Motley Crue's 'You're All I Need' Video
Interestingly, as Sixx would later relate in his Heroin Diaries memoir, "You're All I Need" was inspired by some real-life violent impulses. Convinced his girlfriend at the time had been cheating on him with actor Jack Wagner, who was then enjoying a taste of pop stardom with his hit single "All I Need," Sixx wrote his own song — then played it for his ex.
"I took the cassette over to her apartment and I didn't say anything. I just had a little cassette player and I just played it for her, and she started crying, and I walked out the door," Sixx later told Rolling Stone. "I was like, 'Well now, that's that.'"
That wasn't quite that: Sixx admitted in his book that he hired "some local bikers" to ambush Wagner outside the studio and "break [his] kneecaps, then tell him Nikki Sixx sends his love" — but according to his version of events, nothing ended up coming of it. As Sixx told it, Wagner coincidentally happened to fall and break his knee while filming, which was enough to prompt a tearful call from his ex accusing Sixx of making good on his threat — and presumably put an end to the vendetta.
"You're All I Need," meanwhile, didn't end up getting much of a boost from all the controversy. Although the title track added another crossover hit to the group's growing list, this was the rare late '80s power ballad to whiff on the charts, making it no higher than No. 83 on the Billboard Hot 100 and missing the rock radio charts completely.
Mötley Crüe would have to wait until their next album, 1989's Dr. Feelgood, to score a big ballad with their Top 10 "Without You" — and a video featuring zero murders or arrests.
Top 50 Classic Heavy Metal Albums
Think You Know Motley Crue?


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8-Bit Commodore Systems, Original Manuals & Software...
Commodore 8-Bit computers, full systems, and the original manuals & software shipped with the systems.
Multiple purchases will be combined to give the best possible shipping costs. The website engine will try to calculate this, but often, because of the way both size and weight and number of units purchased can effect the cost, the price given may be too high. We always review the final package and can often get a better cost on the day.
If this is the case we will send a PayPal refund after dispatch.