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Hi! Learn some really useful idioms and listen to an authentic interview with a native speaker in this episode of Luke's English Podcast.
Right-click here to download.
The King's Speech / Stammering
This episode is about The King's Speech – an excellent film which recently won 4 Academy Awards at The Oscars, including the award for Best Actor for Colin Firth. In the film Colin Firth plays the part of King George VI, who had to overcome a difficult stammer and become a strong leader of Great Britain at the beginning of The 2nd World War. A stammer is a speech problem which makes the stammerer (the person who has the stammer) unable to produce words or sentences clearly. For some stammerers, it is almost impossible to speak without long pauses and the inability to produce some words clearly. Basically, it prevents many people from speaking and therefore has a strongly negative affect on their lives. There are millions of people in the world who suffer from a stammer, and their struggle is not often discussed or understood fully. The King's Speech is a very high profile movie, and has brought the subject of stammering back into the public eye.
This is quite a long episode with lots of detail and content. Here is what to expect from the episode:
A. Some background information to the story of The Kings Speech
B. An interview with a member of the British Stammering Association, which is a charity for people who have a stammer. In the interview he talks about the story of King George VI, the importance of the film for stammerers, and the subject of stammering. I explain what the man says in the interview, and clarify it for you
C. Useful vocabulary: I teach you some commonly used idioms which feature the words 'mouth' and 'tongue'
This is definitely a useful podcast episode! You should listen to all of it several times to really get the benefit of it.
A. Some background Information
The King's Speech is a true story of King George VI and his struggle with a speech impediment, or 'stammer'. Here is a definition of 'stammer' from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (which is available free online here http://dictionary.cambridge.org/):
verb /ˈstæm.ər/
to speak or say something with unusual pauses or repeated sounds, either because of speech problems or because of fear and anxiety
[+ speech] "Wh-when can we g-go?" she stammered.
He dialled 999 and stammered (out) his name and address.
Synonym: stutter
noun [C usually singular]
Robert has a bit of a stammer.
(Definition of stammer verb from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
In the film, prince George has suffered from a very strong stammer ever since he could speak. His family would correct and punish him when he stammered. As a result, George suffers from a terrible lack of confidence, particularly when speaking in public. He cannot speak in publis as it causes him to stammer uncontrollably, causing total shame and embarrassment to all around. When he addresses the public it is a shocking and disappointing failure on a national level. This happened at a time when people were not sympathetic to someone with speech problems and in a king it would have been a huge sign of weakness. But, George must become the King when his country is about to go to war with Germany, so he has to learn to overcome his speech impediment in order to regularly address the public over the radio.
So, he takes speech therapy from a therapist called Lionel Logue. It is a tremendous struggle but together they manage to develop a relationship (between a king an an 'ordinary' man) which helps the king to learn to speak to the public in a confident manner. It's a fantastic film about human struggle, challenge and bravery.
Here's the trailer for the film:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzI4D6dyp_o&w=640&h=390]
B. The interview with a member of the British Stammering Association
This is an interview with a man who has a stammer. He has obviously overcome his speech problem and you can hear in this interview that he is now a clear speaker of English. Sometimes he has difficulty with individual words, but it does not prevent us from understanding what he says.
Here are the questions I ask you before the interview on the podcast: (you will find the answers further down the page)
1. How many high profile stemmerers have we had in the UK since George VI died in 1952?
2. How many decent films about stammerers have there been?
3. How have stammerers been shown in films?
4. What does The Kings Speech show people who don't stammer?
5. Is the film historically accurate?
6. What do we know about stammering now?
7. Was the stammer caused by something that happened during his childhood?
8. How did his family and staff deal with George's stammer?
9. How did this make him feel?
10. With today's knowledge, what is the best way to help people with stammers?
11. What did George VI's therapist do that the speaker's (interviewee's) therapist didn't do?
12. What made George VI a difficult client?
13. What will The King's Speech do for stammerers and non stammerers?
14. What is the danger about the near future?
Here is a video of the interview (it starts after 20 seconds): Answers below
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwuJklTw-Yw&w=480&h=390]
Transcript of the Video (Thank you Piotr from Poland)
[16:40 – The King's Speech movie – a stammerer's view]
Hello, I have a stammer.
There hasn't been really high profile stammerer in the UK since king George VI died in 1952, a very long time ago, nor has there been a decent film featuring someone who stammers.
Generally speaking, we have been shown as figures of fun (ha ha). As a result of this and many other inaccuracies very few people know anything much about stammering.
But now at last we have "The King's speech", potentially Oscar winning film, which shows people who don't stammer how life can be if you do. And Colin Firth does an incredibly realistic job of conveying how it is to be stuck in a block with no control over your speech, part of the audience staring at you and part staring at the ground. No film has ever done that before.
So it should be very helpful in terms of creating some greater understanding between stammerers and non-stammerers. But we need to remember that the action takes place about seventy five years ago, so it is history. From what we know, it's a fairly realistic reenactment what was going on at that time.
Things are different now of course. We know that stammering it's a symptom of a condition in which the brain's neural circuits for speech have not wired normally. So the king would have been born with a neural propensity to stammer, it wasn't caused by some deep rooted psychological problem. His character and behaviour would have been partly affected by this inability to say what he was trying to say, not vice versa.
It's quite interesting there was a research exercise on at about the same time which is come to be known as the "monster study" in which a group of orphan children were cruelly encouraged to stammer. At the end of the exercise, none of them grew up stammering, but several of them developed psychological problems.
Of course, speech therapy techniques has changed considerably. When he was a child, stammering was thought to be a defect. So, the future king was corrected and even punished by his family and staff which made him very self-conscious and tense about speaking and that surely would just make his stammering even worse. Today where it is available and it's available everywhere. Early intervention allows the vast majority of those very young children at-risk of persistent stammering to talk fluently for the rest of their lives.
Some adults do find ways to control their speech, but there is still no cure. The King continued to stammer, but as we see in the film, Logue helped him to control his stammering when he was making formal speeches. I must say though that the last time I went to see a speech therapist, she didn't encourage me to swear. But then… I'm not a king, you understand. And that really is the main point of this film. It was how Lionel Logue found a way to form a relationship with a client, whose upbringing had made him reluctant to discuss anything personal.
As stammerers, we are one ideally equipped to stand up and change so many misconceptions. But we need to try. "The King's speech" will give stammerers and non-stammerers a kind of a permission to talk to each other. It will be the greatest opportunity, I've ever seen, for this often embarrassing subject to be discussed openly and on such a broad scale.
So for all our sakes, please grasp it with both hands, talk about it. But remember that the opportunity will only last for a short while. After that, there is a danger that stammering will slip back into being inaudible and invisible. We don't want that to happen. So if you feel you'd like to help, please stay tuned. But in the meantime, I just like to say: "Thank you for listening".
1. How many high profile stammerers have we had in the UK since George VI died in 1952?
2. How many decent films about stammerers have there been? (none)
3. How have stammerers been shown in films? (they have been shown as figures of fun)
4. What does The Kings Speech show people who don't stammer? (it shows how life can be if you do)
5. Is the film historically accurate? (yes – it's a fairly realistic reenactment)
6. What do we know about stammering now? (it's a symptom of a condition in which the brain's neural circuits for speech have not wired normally)
7. Was the stammer caused by something that happened during his childhood? (no – he was probably born with it)
8. How did his family and staff deal with George's stammer? (they corrected him and punished him)
9. How did this make him feel? (very self conscious and tense about speaking)
10. With today's knowledge, what is the best way to help people with stammers? (early intervention)
11. What did George VI's therapist do that the speaker's (interviewee's) therapist didn't do? (he encouraged him to swear – to say rude words like f*ck and sh*t)
12. What made George VI a difficult client? (his upbringing had made him reluctant to discuss anything personal)
13. What will The King's Speech do for stammerers and non stammerers? What will The King's Speech do for stammerers and non-stammerers? (it will give them permission to talk to each other about stammering – "for all our sakes, please grasp it with both hands, talk about it")
14. What is the danger about the near future? (after a while, stammering will slip back into being inaudible and invisible – "please stay tuned")
Here is some information about the video interview
n The King's Speech, Colin Firth did an incredibly realistic job of conveying how it is to be stuck in a block with no control over your speech. No major film had ever done that before, and I'm sure it has been helpful in terms of creating greater awareness of something which is largely inaudible and invisible in our society.
But there is still a great deal of ignorance about why we stammer, and very inaccurate assumptions are made about our characters. We are not ideally equipped to stand up and change these misconceptions, but we need to try. The King's Speech has given everyone – stammerers and non-stammerers – a kind of 'permission' to talk to each other about stammering. It has been the best opportunity, almost in living memory, for this often embarrassing subject to be discussed openly and on such a broad scale. So, for all of our sakes, please keep talking about it!
For an interview with Colin Firth about his role as the King, please go to www.stammering.org/colinfirth.html And for more information on The Monster Study, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_study
If you want to know more about the National Appeal for Change, or to make a donation, please go to www.stammering.org/change
If you want to talk about helping in some other way, please send a message to Leys Geddes through the speakingout2 channel on YouTube or by emailing email@example.com
If you are in the UK, and want help with your speech, please ring the British Stammering Association helpline on 0845 603 2001 or visit www.stammering.org
The BSA is the national charity and is run by people who stammer, for the benefit of all those whose lives are affected by stammering.
If you live outside the UK, and want advice about stammering/stuttering – or simply want to learn more – you can still go to www.stammering.org or to any of these other leading sites: www.stutterisa.org (International Stuttering Association), www.stutteringhelp.org (USA), www.stutteringhomepage.org (USA) or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stammering.
If you like to see an adaptation of this video, spoken in Swedish, please go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB9TDLkovm4
C. Useful Vocabulary – Idioms with the words 'mouth' and 'tongue'
I thought it would be appropriate to teach you some commonly used fixed expressions which feature these two parts of the body which are so important for speech. Here are the idioms with examples and definitions. All this for free? You lucky people!
"Me and my big mouth!"
-use this when you have said something you shouldn't have said, like when you give away a secret by accident. "Oh, me and my big mouth!"
"to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth"
-this means to be born into a rich family. It is often used to complain about people who are born into a rich life.
"Prince William doesn't know what it is like to work hard like normal people. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth."
"don't look a gift horse in the mouth"
-use this to say that you should accept a gift without checking it for problems first. Don't look for problems in the gift too much, just accept it. "I didn't want to accept my uncle's old car, but he told me not to look a gift horse in the mouth"
"live from hand to mouth'
-this is when someone lives on very little money – they spend the money they earn and can't save anything. "There's no way we can go on holiday this year, we are living from hand to mouth"
"melt in your mouth"
-use this to describe delicious food that is so soft and tender that it feels like it is melting in your mouth. "The steak here is so delicious, it just melts in your mouth"
"put your money where your mouth is"
-show that you really mean what you say, by doing it rather than just talking about it. "You're always talking about running a marathon, so come on, put your money where your mouth is. Why don't you run the London Marathon with me next year?"
"Keep your mouth shut! / Shut your mouth!"
-this means 'shut up' or 'don't way anything'. It's a bit rude. "When the police arrive, just keep your mouth shut, all right?!"
"to leave a bad taste in your mouth"
-for food it means that it tastes disgusting and the bad taste stays in your mouth. We can also use it to describe a bad experience, which leaves us feeling bad afterwards. "The argument just left a bad taste in my mouth"
"Watch your mouth!"
-be careful what you say!
"by word of mouth"
-use this to say that information is transferred by people talking to each other. "Publicity for the film spread by word of mouth"
"to put words into someone's mouth"
-this means to suggest that someone has said something which in fact they haven't said. "I didn't say that! You're putting words into my mouth!"
"to bite your tongue"
-this means that you stop yourself saying something
"When he asked me about the missing biscuits, I just bit my tongue and kept quiet"
"has the cat got your tongue?"
-use this to challenge someone who is unable to say something, keeping quiet
"So, what about the missing biscuits then? Huh? What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"
"mother tongue"
-your first language
"English is not his mother tongue"
"on the tip of my tongue"
-this means you can't quite remember the word – you can nearly remember it
"What's his name? Errrmmmm…. wait, I can remember… oh! It's on the tip of my tongue! Oh, no, I can't remember"
So, that is it for this episode. There's a lot of content here for you. I recommend you listen to this episode several times. Try to use the idioms and other words you have learned here. Use them in conversation, or just say a few sentences to yourself. Personalise the sentences. Use the idioms to talk about your own life and experience. This will help you learn it.
You could donate some money to me to help me with the podcast, but really I think it would be better to donate money to help people in Japan who are suffering from the terrible tsunami which struck last week. There are many many people who have no food, shelter or electricity. Search on google for your local charity organisation, or give money here http://www.redcross.org.uk/japantsunami/?approachcode=68816_googlePAD10JpTs&gclid=CNqNvd-70acCFdFX4QodMVXiDA .
You could save some lives.
Thanks for listening.


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Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Bitty Twins Wardrobe
27 comments:
- Jen @ My Own Road said...
Wow I love it all! Did you come up with all of the clothing patterns yourself? You did a great job
- March 30, 2011 at 12:48 PM
- Louisa said...
What awesome outfits you made! I really love the shoes!
- March 30, 2011 at 12:57 PM
- Rachel said...
The outfits look fantastic! My daughter has a set of bitty twins and I've been trying to make them clothes as well. I can't wait for patterns!
- March 30, 2011 at 1:01 PM
- Caroline @ The Feminist Housewife said...
Wow, you did an AMAZING job with these outfits! They are all SO cute. I'm sure your daughter absolutely loves them.
- March 30, 2011 at 1:20 PM
- Emily said...
wow, you are like the coolest mom ever!!
- March 30, 2011 at 1:25 PM
- Christie // lemon squeezy home said...
Wow! These are so stinkin' cute! I'd say you nailed them, getting them just like the real ones! Great job! Small items like that are so hard to sew, as well!
- March 30, 2011 at 1:42 PM
- Megan said...
Wow! Such an amazing job!!! You have so much talent. I was impressed when I saw the first set of clothes, but the sets just kept coming! Too cute, and I love the suitcase!
- March 30, 2011 at 1:51 PM
- nest full of eggs said...
the lace dress is fabulous !!!
- March 30, 2011 at 1:55 PM
- chris said...
Kalleen, you did a fantastic job. I am inspired! I've been meaning to make clothes for my daughter's dolls. Now to make it more of a priority.
- March 30, 2011 at 2:16 PM
- Randi~Dukes and Duchesses said...
What an awesome mom! Those argyle outfits are too cute.
- March 30, 2011 at 2:41 PM
- Homemade Heather said...
Oh My Gosh! You did such an amazing job! What a fun momma your are! Thanks for sharing!
- March 30, 2011 at 3:20 PM
WOW!!! What a great birthday gift! I love the clothes - you did such an amazing job!! Can't wait to see the patterns!
- March 30, 2011 at 3:37 PM
- MariahSmile said...
Great job! All the clothes are so cute!
- March 30, 2011 at 5:42 PM
- Larissa@Just Another Day in Paradise said...
That is amazing. What a labor of love. I bet you were so giddy after it was done.
Great job.
Just Another Day in Paradise - March 30, 2011 at 7:14 PM
- Elizabeth said...
Realy You make memories fot your dauther.. She tells her children how great it was, with her birthday, what her mom made for her.!
- March 31, 2011 at 4:59 AM
- Unknown said...
Those look great! What a special gift for your daughter! My Mom made the clothes for my Samantha American Girl doll. She bought a folder of patterns from the company so that her versions of the typical Samantha clothes came out looking just the same. I'm not sure if it was more cost efficient to make them herself, but I certainly enjoy the extra love that went into my doll's clothes. :-)
- March 31, 2011 at 8:14 AM
- Ginger said...
Great gifts! She will no doubt cherish those baby dolls for years to come--and the personalized doll clothes will become the best part of the memory!
- March 31, 2011 at 8:58 AM
- Whitney said...
So precious! You're an awesome Mama! And those dolls are such good models! ;)
- March 31, 2011 at 9:25 AM
- Unknown said...
Love all the clothes and the suit case to hold the. I also love your daughter strawberry shortcake birthdat hat!
I am having a giveaway on my blog. $20 store credit from My Carrie Creations to get a backpack withyour kids favorite disney characters.She also has a strawberry shortcake backpack. All you have to do is leave a comment.
http://houseonashwelllane.blogspot.com/2011/03/20-store-credit-from-my-carrie.html - March 31, 2011 at 10:08 AM
- Jess@craftiness is not optional said...
these are fantastic Kalleen! Great job re-creating the first outfits! and i love all the other ones too...those shoes are adorable!
- March 31, 2011 at 11:07 AM
- Morgane @ Bear,Dolly and Moi said...
very cut set of twins, with an amazing wardrobe, I especially like the beach ensemble.
- March 31, 2011 at 1:14 PM
- Deanna said...
Such wonderful work, and what a great (and cute!) storage idea. I'm just beginning to dabble in making American Girl doll clothes. You're such an inspiration!
Deanna @ shadytreediary.com - March 31, 2011 at 9:41 PM
- Joseph said...
Super cute. Will you maike some for Audj?
- April 2, 2011 at 8:40 AM
- ~Beth D. said...
- This comment has been removed by the author.
- April 5, 2011 at 12:12 PM
- ~Beth D. said...
he pictures show how much she loves them! Great job!!
I haven't been able to 'wow' my son just yet. - April 5, 2011 at 12:13 PM
- CraftyHourMom said...
These are adorable!! My younger sisters have AG dolls and Bitty Twins, and they are wondering if you ever got around to posting your patterns?
Thanks! - September 7, 2012 at 4:30 PM
- Deirdre said...
Can I just say that your creations are AMAZING! Well done on recreating their "meet" outfits - stunning. Off to check if you scanned the patterns as I have to make clothes for my niece's bitty twins for her Birthday!
- March 12, 2013 at 10:15 AM

subset: commoncrawl


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On May 3, 1971, at 5 pm, All Things Considered debuted on 90 public radio stations.
In the more than four decades since, almost everything about the program has changed, from the hosts, producers, editors and reporters to the length of the program, the equipment used and even the audience.
However there is one thing that remains the same: each show consists of the biggest stories of the day, thoughtful commentaries, insightful features on the quirky and the mainstream in arts and life, music and entertainment, all brought alive through sound.
More information about All Things Consideredis available on their website.
All Things Considered is the most listened-to, afternoon drive-time, news radio program in the country. Every weekday the two-hour show is hosted by Ailsa Chang, Mary Louise Kelly and Ari Shapiro. In 1977, ATC expanded to seven days a week with a one-hour show on Saturdays and Sundays.
During each broadcast, stories and reports come to listeners from NPR reporters and correspondents based throughout the United States and the world. The hosts interview newsmakers and contribute their own reporting. Rounding out the mix are the disparate voices of a variety of commentators.
All Things Considered has earned many of journalism's highest honors, including the George Foster Peabody Award, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award and the Overseas Press Club Award.


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Are you tired of seeing cockroaches crawling around your space? Are you unable to sleep properly because of bed bugs biting? If you are facing any pest issues, it's time to find a solution. Pests can be extremely harmful. They do not only bite, damage property, and destroy things but also pose a serious threat to health. To treat this problem of pests, you can get in touch with a reputed Pest Control Company. Sulekha offers a list of 6 Pest Control Services in Rohtak that can help you get rid of harmful pests like cockroaches,& mosquitoes, bees, termites, bed bugs and other insects.
Our Professional's follow strict Safety Measures
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- Aarogaya Setu App compliant
Types of Pest Control Service
- Residential Pest Control: Timely professional pest control services help to eliminate and get rid of various pests such as termites, cockroaches, ants, lizards and more. With the right techniques and products, you can avail effective and efficient services for a pest-free home
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Feather and Fan Tube Scarf
Making this scarf as a tube makes it reversible and extra warm. This is a fun twist on the old feather and fan pattern.
5″ wide, 60″ long
17 stitches and 23 rows = 4 inches in stockinette
6.6 oz (432 yards) of soft worsted weight yarn
Size 8 (5 mm) 47″ circular needle (for magic loop) or set of size 8 (5 mm) double pointed needles
Yarn needle
k = knit
p = purl
k2tog = knit two together
yo = yarn over
Cast on 54. Join to knit in the round. Divide stitches with 18 stitches each on three double pointed needles or 27 stitches each side for a magic loop. Repeat the round directions across the round.
Rnds 1 and 2: k
Rnd 3: k2tog three times, (yo, k1) six times, k2tog three times
Rnd 4: p
Repeat rounds 1 – 4 until the scarf measures 60″ or desired length. Cast off with a rnd 4. Weave in ends.
Color Changes:
The scarf can be made in a solid color. If desired, color changes can be made between repeats. Example has color changes every six repeats.
12/17/2015 – replaced a broken link for Magic Loop method


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Samsung Combination file Benefits and Advantages
- Repair the IMEI number in Samsung devices
- Very Useful in the Remove Gmail account in many Samsung models
- Bypassing Google Accounts in many models
- Downgrades Firmware version in Samsung models
- Enable USB debugging
- Remove any security FRP / Re-activation lock
SAMSUNG Firmware
refers to the applications and operating system that control how a Samsung Smartphone operates. It is called firmware rather than software to highlight that it is very closely tied to the particular hardware components of a device. Firmware updates are sometimes provided by a company as a way to fix bugs or introduce new functionality.


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Razer Edge: Impressions and Thoughts
by Vivek Gowri on January 14, 2013 2:40 PM ESTI spent a fair amount of time at CES playing with the Razer Edge, mostly because it was one of the more intriguing new products on the show floor. (Shield was another one, but Nvidia sadly kept it in a glass cage.) As recapped in our announcement post, it's a 10.1" tablet that packs an ultra-low voltage Ivy Bridge CPU and an Nvidia GT 640M dGPU and comes with a gamepad accessory that turns it into the world's largest GameBoy Advance. This, for a tablet, is a ridiculous amount of power. I've always been someone who appreciates insanity in mobile technology design, and the insanity of a 45W power envelope in a 10" form factor is something that I respect.
The Edge on its own is pretty intense - 0.8" is really thick for a tablet, with a general sense of chunkiness that starkly contrasts the extremely svelte Blade. The intake and exhaust vents are put to the test in any extended gaming, and one of the units on the show floor that had been continuously running Dirt 3 for the previous few hours was....warm. It'll be hard to tell how close to thermal equilibrium the Edge gets until we get one in our labs, but I expect it to throttle significantly at some point.
17W Core i5 and i7 parts were chosen instead of the new 7W Y-series CPUs due to the higher clock speeds and better turbo capabilities of the U-series processors. The SSD has not yet been finalized, with different drives in all the prototypes that I played with. The display panel is in fact an IPS panel, which my announcement post was mistaken about (I was misinformed initially during the CES pre-briefing, but Razer's engineering team corrected me). It looks pretty decent, and the capacitive touch panel was pretty responsive. The 1366x768 resolution matches up with most of the other 10.1" Windows tablets we've seen, and was likely chosen in lieu of 1080p so that the GT 640M LE could comfortably game at native resolution.
There's a 40Wh battery on board, with an extended 40Wh extended battery that fits in the gamepad and notebook docks. (It's a 14.8V 2800 mAh battery, for an exact capacity of 41.44 Wh). 80Wh is a ton of battery for a device this small, but when stressed, it'll go quickly. A rough estimate of the internal components gives us a basic estimate of 40W power draw (17W CPU, 22W dGPU, in most gaming situations figure a 50% load on CPU and 100% load on GPU, add about 10W for display, wireless and other miscellaneous stuff) and we're sitting at an hour of gaming on the internal battery and 2 hours with the extended pack. Obviously, turning down settings to reduce system load, brightness, and the intensiveness of the game being played will affect these figures - Razer quotes a range of 2-4 hours of mobile gameplay. Normal battery life should be in the 3-5 hour range on the internal battery and about double that with the extended pack.
The gamepad controller essentially works like an Xbox controller, with intuitive controls and built-in force feedback. It's pretty cool, I feel like it's something I would have absolutely killed for when I rode the bus to school every day back in my early undergrad days. The tablet clips into the gamepad, which essentially envelops the tablet like a case, and then you're off. I spent my fair share of time playing Dirt on it, and it was just great. Control layout is identical to the 360, and the analogs and triggers are responsive. Razer definitely knows how to put a good 360 controller together, as evidenced by the Sabertooth, so this came as no real surprise. The setup adds a bit of heft to the tablet, to the tune of roughly 3.25 pounds, but for the amount of mobile gaming potential it brings, I'd say it's a relatively small loss. The only downer was the $249 price point on the accessory.
The keyboard dock, on the other hand, was kind of a disappointment. It's definitely a work in progress and isn't expected to ship until Q3 (the gamepad and docking station will ship alongside the Edge in Q1), but it's a clunky piece of kit with a currently not-very-good keyboard and a pretty unrefined hinge/latch design. I'll chalk the flex down to the handbuilt state of the prototypes but the key sizing is way too small - instead of going edge to edge like most netbooks, there's a border left around the keyboard that results in tiny keys. The keys absolutely need to be bigger for any semblance of a decent typing experience. There's a lot of improvement that can be done here; I suggest the design team pick up a Transformer laptop dock or a late-model Eee PC and borrow liberally from that keyboard design. ASUS has absolutely perfected the 10.1" keyboard, so it's not a bad idea. I'm not going to rake Razer over the coals on a product that clearly isn't anywhere near finished yet though, so let's move on.
The docking station was set up with an LCD TV and a pair of Sabertooth controllers in multiple places in the Razer CES booth, as well as their meeting suite. In all cases, the display was set to be mirrored, presumably to ensure that the games were played at the internal panel's native 768p and not 1080p (where performance would understandably struggle). I'm still really interested in tossing an Edge + dock on my desk with a 24" display and a Bluetooth keyboard/mouse, it seems like one of the more viable 2 pound desktop replacements around.
Pricing slots in at $999 for the base i5/4GB/64GB model, $1299 for the i7/8GB/128GB Pro model, and $1499 for the Pro plus Gamepad bundle. Doubling capacity to 256GB will run you an extra $150 for the Pro models. If you don't want anything other than the tablet, the base model is a pretty good deal, but once you start adding accessories you might as well spring for the Pro bundle and resign yourself to paying Razer's typically expensive peripheral costs. They don't even try to deny that the Blade, the Edge, and all of their keyboards and mice are pricey - Razer has cultivated a premium brand ethos, and it's done pretty well for them thus far.
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jibberegg - Monday, January 14, 2013 - link
I love the push-the-envelope-until-it-breaks insanity of this product. I feel like finding out what their margin is and just giving that to them, just for making it. Innovation like this is just what most of the PC industry is lacking. Good on Razer! -
monstercameron - Monday, January 14, 2013 - link
A ulv trinity a8-4555 (19W) or an a10-4655(25W) would be cheaper(less board real estate and complexity), have better battery life and run cooler while performing about 25%(guesstimate) slower than the gt640le, why go intel nv? -
lmcd - Monday, January 14, 2013 - link
More like one of the Trinity-refresh chips (whatever they're called), A10 version ULP. That's what I'd prefer, personally. -
RoninX - Monday, January 14, 2013 - link
Vivek, was the tablet with the gamepad attached reasonably sized for use in a typical coach class airline seat? -
VivekGowri - Monday, January 14, 2013 - link
Yeah. Actually, Razer's CEO tweeted a picture from his seat on the flight back from Vegas, it looked perfectly comfortable. The footprint isn't much bigger than an Eee PC or Transformer, just way thicker. -
RoninX - Monday, January 14, 2013 - link
Cool -- I saw the pic of the Edge with the keyboard dock on the CEO's page, but I wasn't sure whether the extra width added by the gamepad would be an issue. -
Kevin G - Monday, January 14, 2013 - link
If there ever was an ideal use-case scenario for Thunderbolt, this would be it. Separate the GPU into the controller design, complete with its own battery and cooling system. That'd allow the main tablet to be thinner and more portable. This would also allow the controller to contain things like full sized USB ports and HDMI that can limit the thickness of a typical tablet.
This would also allow them to update the tablet and controller/GPU on different cycles or diversify the product line up. Want AMD graphics? Just redesign the controller. nVidia comes out with new 700 series mobile parts? Update the controller. Want Haswell but the GT640 is good enough for you? Just update the tablet.
The flexibility also opens up a slew of options for desktop docking solutions too. -
Inteli - Monday, January 14, 2013 - link
I don't like Thin tablets. I want for my tablet to be nice and thick. Sure, a thin tablet is more portable, but the thick tablet fills your hand more. I think your idea is interesting, but not something I want to see on THIS Tablet. -
RoninX - Monday, January 14, 2013 - link
Another alternative would be to put all of the hardware and batteries into a laptop case (which could fit under the seat in front of you), and have the handheld part just be a display with a game controller connected via HDMI and USB. -
manwdaplan - Monday, January 14, 2013 - link
Then when it is docked you could run it in SLI. That way you would not have problem running it at 1080P. So when it is docked it could be a decent gamer on a external monitor, and when it is not docked it will work on its display at 720P


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On the face of it, keeping fluids contained seems like a simple job. Your fridge alone probably has a dozen or more trivial examples of liquids being successfully kept where they belong, whether it's the plastic lid on last night's leftovers or the top on the jug of milk. But deeper down in the bowels of the fridge, like inside the compressor or where the water line for the icemaker is attached, are more complex and interesting mechanisms for keeping fluids contained. That's the job of seals, the next topic in our series on mechanisms.
Packing it In
One of the simplest seals is packing, or compressing some sort of flexible material into a space to control the flow of a fluid. Packing probably dates to at least the time when humans began making boats more complicated than a simple dugout canoe, in response to the fact that it's really difficult to keep water from leaking between two pieces of wood. Ship seams have been caulked with fibers like hemp and cotton soaked in pitch or tar for millennia.
A more complex seal, in the form of a stuffing box around the tiller post of an inboard rudder, extended the concept of caulking into a more dynamic environment. A tiller post is a vertical shaft that penetrates the bottom hull of a vessel and connects the submerged rudder to a tiller or other steering gear. To staunch the flow of water through such a gaping wound, a stuffing box was built inside the hull around the shaft and packed full of old rope fibers, rags, bits of sailcloth — anything fibrous and compressible. Soaked with tallow or fat for lubrication and water repellency, the stuffing was compressed with a gland around the shaft that was tightened down under screw pressure or using wedges. Stuffing boxes are still used to this day for all kinds of shafts that penetrate a vessel's hull, including where the propeller shaft exits the stern, in which case the assembly is called a stern gland.
Maritime tradition has stuck with compression packing. While far from perfect, compression packing seals are cheap and easy to engineer, and so still see service to this day. Compression seals are used in water pumps and as a seal around the pump shaft to keep the process fluid controlled. While the materials used have come a long way, with highly engineered Teflon and graphite packing replacing hemp and lard, the basic technique is still the same — squeeze the packing as tightly as possible around the shaft to make it hard for fluid to penetrate. Hard, but not impossible — compression packing always leaks to some degree. Packed joints therefore require constant maintenance, including frequent tightening of the gland to maintain compression and eventually replacement of the old packing with fresh material.
Sealing the Deal
Ongoing maintenance costs and the tendency of compression packing to wear out the shaft they are wrapped so tightly around are two of the biggest drawbacks to these seals, and so other types of seals for rotating shafts were invented. Your car engine has a ton of seals, but the ones that can cause you to have a really bad day when a mechanic tells you you've "blown a seal" are the crankshaft seals. There are usually two, one where the crankshaft exits the crankcase at the rear to connect to the transmission, and one at the front where the crank pulley that runs the water pump, alternator, and other engine accessories exits. Seals are needed around the crankshaft because the crankcase is full of oil; the seals keep the oil inside the engine while allowing the crankshaft to rotate and run the car.
Crankshaft oil seals are known as radial shaft seals or lip seals, where a flexible material is formed into a ring that fills a space between the stationary part (the crankcase in our example) and a rotating shaft (the crankshaft journal). Like compression packing materials, lip seals were once made from natural substances like leather, but today elastomeric substances like Viton and Buna N are used. Most modern oil seals are composite mechanisms, too, with the elastomer bonded to a metal case that can be pressed into a recess in a crankshaft in an interference fit.
Radial shaft seals seem simple enough, but there are several critical factors in designing a seal that'll work. Aside from choices like material compatibility with the process fluids and heat ratings, the geometry of the flexible lip is crucial to the design. Looked at in cross-section, the lip forms a triangular profile with the apex touching the shaft at a single contact point. The angle of the lip on the wet side of the seal must be steeper than the angle on the dry side, so that hydraulic pressure from the process fluid (oil in our crankshaft example) tends to force the seal tighter around the shaft. Process fluid pressure is a major consideration as well — too much and the lip can deform enough to increase the contact area, causing premature wear and failure. That's why we're warned that too much oil in an engine can be just as bad as too little — more volume means more pressure, leading to the classic "blown seal" symptom of leaking from either the front or rear of the engine.
For viscous process fluids like grease, a plain elastomeric lip seal might suffice. But thinner fluids generally need extra circumferential force to help keep the lip in firm contact with the shaft. Such seals are likely to incorporate a garter spring into the lip to preload the seal on the shaft and to help make up for any irregularities in the shaft. Garter springs also help compensate for any radial oscillations of a shaft.
We've only touched on a few of the hundreds of types of seals for both dynamic and static applications here. The engineering behind them is pretty interesting, though, especially when you realize that it all started with a box of greasy rags.
Featured image source: American High Performance Seals


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Election leaflets from Mr Matthew Brown
We don't have any leaflets for Mr Matthew Brown. That won't do. They must have some right?
Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to find us one and photograph it for posterity.
- Put a call out on Twitter or tweet the party directly
- Ask friends on Facebook
- Go rummaging through the bin


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In order to expand the Isuzu truck market as well as improve the quality of customer service more conveniently and synchronously, Isuzu Vietnam officially announces "Invitation to apply for Isuzu 3S Truck Authorized Dealer (i-TRUCKS) in the Southern region" in below cities & provinces:
– Ba Ria – Vung Tau, Binh Phuoc, Binh Thuan, Lam Đong, Tay Ninh
Hạn cuối nhận hồ sơ: 31/12/2022
Some basic criteria:
– Location: priority on main national highways or areas where transportation and warehousing industries are concentrated. Besides, trucks are not prohibited.
– Legal entity: private companies, subsidiary companies, or enterprises affiliated to economic groups with independent legal entities.
– Business field: professions according to Vietnamese law, priority is given to candidates who have experience or are operating in the field of automobile and truck business.
– Infrastructure: have owned land or leased long-term land (at least 5 years); site area from 4,000 m2, minimum width of frontage 40 m.
– Credit limit: from VND 40 billion
We hope that Dealers and Partners can apply or introduce potential candidates to IVC to accompany & develop the Isuzu i-TRUCKS 3S Authorized Dealer system in Vietnam.
Please contact via below information:
695 Quang Trung, Ward 8, Go Vap District, HCMC
1.Mr. Trần Thiện Thắng – Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Phone: +84 979 600 698
2. Lê Thị Kiều Oanh – Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Phone: +84 915553633
Sincere thanks & best regards,


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STS-116 MCC Status Report #20
8:30 a.m. CST Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2006 Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas
STS-116 MCC Status Report #20
Space Shuttle Discovery astronauts will leave the orbiting laboratory today after four successful spacewalks, delivery and installation of a new segment of the International Space Station's main truss and reconfiguring the station's power system.
During their eight days docked to the station, the shuttle crew also dropped off more than two tons of additional equipment and supplies and a new station crew member.
After some final equipment transfers between the two spacecraft, Discovery crew members will bid their station colleagues farewell. Hatch closing is scheduled for 12:57 p.m. CST. Undocking is to occur at 4:09 p.m.(5:09 EST - 1009 UTC)
With Pilot Bill Oefelein at the controls, Discovery will slowly move away from the station. A partial fly-around of the station will give the crew a look at the orbiting laboratory, with its new P5 spacer truss segment and the port wing of the P6 solar array fully retracted and firmly secured in its retention box.
Discovery will begin its departure from the area at about 6 p.m. The crew is to begin its scheduled sleep period at 10:47 p.m. Landing is scheduled for 2:56 p.m. CST Friday at Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
Highlights of docked operations include the four spacewalks. Mission Specialist Bob Curbeam participated in all of them, giving him the record for the number of spacewalks during a single shuttle mission. He teamed up with Sunita Williams, the new station crewmember for the third spacewalk, and with Mission Specialist Christer Fuglesang for the other three.
The first spacewalk was for the P5 truss segment installation, the second and third focused on the power reconfiguration, and the fourth was dedicated to completing retraction of the port solar wing of the P6 truss.
The P6 arrays were deployed in late 2000. On Wednesday almost half the port wing was retracted, leaving 17 bays out. Saturday spacewalkers Curbeam and Williams helped retract six more bays. In a dramatic Monday spacewalk, Curbeam and Fuglesang helped complete the retraction.
Discovery crewmembers -- Commander Mark Polansky, Oefelein and Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick, Curbeam, Fuglesang, Joan Higginbotham and Thomas Reiter, the European Space Agency astronaut from Germany who will be coming home after about six months in space -- were awakened at 7:47 a.m. CST to "The Zamboni Song," performed by the Gear Daddies. The song, dedicated to the entire crew, was requested by the training team who sent a message to Oefelein saying they had arranged for him to fly the shuttle half a lap around the station.
Aboard the station, Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Williams got their wakeup tone at 8:17 a.m.
The next STS-116 status report will be issued Tuesday afternoon or earlier if events warrant.
participants (1)
Arthur Rowe


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Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Jerry Yang sent earlier today an internal memo to Yahoo's staff where he communicated the reduction of at least 10% of Yahoo's global workforce by year-end (that would be about 1,400+ employees).
Here's the memo:
From: Jerry Yang
To: "email@example.com"
Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:20:21 -0700
Subject: update
i feel it's important for me to reach out to you after our earnings announcement, and before our all hands meeting tomorrow.
we as a company have been through a tremendously challenging year; and managing the increasingly turbulent global advertising climate has been an important focus for the last three months.
throughout the first three quarters of 2008, we have been balancing between investing in our top priorities, and managing our cost structure. beginning in september, with the help of Bain & Co., we initiated a series of steps to determine how we can become more efficient and productive as an organization.
we heard from you through the YEES survey, and through your suggestions on backyard, and we've identified many areas that we all feel we can improve upon. our productivity efforts, based in part on what we heard from you, will involve initiatives such as streamlining our organizational structure through reducing layers and increasing spans of control, and eliminating redundancies. longer term structural efficiencies include consolidating facilities, improving procurement, and standardizing our global technology platforms.
today as part of our q3 earnings release, we said that our goal is to reduce our current annualized cost run rate of roughly $3.9 billion by more than $400 million before the end of 2008. we are targeting non-headcount expenses wherever possible, such as facilities and outside services. however, because compensation expenses are the single largest part of our costs, we anticipate a reduction of at least 10% of our global workforce by year-end.
affected employees will be notified of layoffs in the next several weeks. we understand that hearing this news now creates uncertainty, but we are moving ahead in a way that balances speed with a clear focus on accomplishing what is necessary to set the organization up for long term success. going forward it will continue to be important for us to make the right decisions to keep our business efficient and strong.
having layoffs is very difficult, particularly in light of all we've experienced this year. but we don't take these decisions lightly, and are committed to treating affected employees fairly, offering severance and outplacement services.
the steps we are taking are not easy for us as a company, but as we become more fit as an organization, decision-making will be faster and it will be easier for us all to get more done and stay focused on our strategy. these changes will also prepare us to better deal with the macroeconomic downturn. as with previous downturns, yahoo! continues to be a place where consumers turn for information and communications, and is an integral part of their internet day. as the global economy improves in the future, i certainly believe that we will be stronger and benefit from the actions we are taking now.
as always, i thank you for all you do as yahoos.
Disclaimer: This page contains affiliate links. If you choose to make a purchase after clicking a link, we may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!


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Israel-Gaza News: Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip were exchanging fire Saturday in the worst bout of cross-border violence since an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas last year.
Israeli airstrikes have killed 11 people, including a senior commander from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an Iran-backed militant group, who was slain in a targeted attack.
Israel has carried out several deadly airstrikes, among them the targeted killing of a senior commander from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an Iran-backed militant group.
Militants have fired dozens of rockets at Israeli cities and towns, disrupting life for tens of thousands of people.
Here's a look at the latest round of violence:
Islamic Jihad is the smaller of the two main Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip, and is vastly outnumbered by the ruling Hamas group. But it enjoys direct financial and military backing from Iran, and has become the driving force in engaging in rocket attacks and other confrontations with Israel.
Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in 2007 from the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, is often limited in its ability to act because it bears responsibility for running day-to-day affairs of the impoverished territory. Islamic Jihad has no such duties and has emerged as the more militant faction, occasionally even undermining Hamas' authority.
The group was founded in 1981 with the aim of establishing an Islamic Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and all of what is now Israel. It is designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department, European Union and other governments. Like Hamas, Islamic Jihad is sworn to Israel's destruction.
Israel's archenemy Iran supplies Islamic Jihad with training, expertise and money, but most of the group's weapons are locally produced. In recent years, it has developed an arsenal equal to that of Hamas, with longer-range rockets capable of striking central Israel's Tel Aviv metropolitan area. Air raid sirens went off in the suburbs just south of Tel Aviv on Friday, although no rockets appear to have hit the area.
Although its base is Gaza, Islamic Jihad also has leadership in Beirut and Damascus, where it maintains close ties with Iranian officials.
Ziad al-Nakhalah, the group's top leader, was in Tehran meeting Iranian officials when Israel began its operation in Gaza on Friday.
This isn't the first time Israel has killed Islamic Jihad leaders in Gaza. The commander it killed Friday, Taiseer al-Jabari, replaced Bahaa Abu el-Atta who was slain by Israel in a 2019 strike. His death had been the first high-profile assassination of an Islamic Jihad figure by Israel since the 2014 war in the Gaza Strip.
Al-Jabari, 50, was a member of Islamic Jihad's "military council," the group's decision-making body in Gaza. He was in charge of the Islamic Jihad militant activities in Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip during the 2021 war. Israel said he was preparing to launch an anti-tank missile attack against Israel.
His death came on the heels of the arrest by Israel of a senior Islamic Jihad commander in the West Bank earlier this week. Bassam al-Saadi, 62, is a senior Islamic Jihad official in the northern West Bank. According to Israeli media, al-Saadi was working to deepen the group's reach in the West Bank and expand its capabilities.
Al-Saadi spent a total of 15 years over several stints in Israeli jails for being an active Islamic Jihad member. Israel killed two of his sons who were also Islamic Jihad militants in separate incidents in 2002, and destroyed his home during a fierce battle in the West Bank city of Jenin the same year.
"Once you will hit the commanders it will affect immediately all the organization," said Zvika Haimovich, the former head of the Israeli military's air defense force.
"It immediately creates a big mess in the Jihad."
Since seizing power in 2007, Hamas has fought four wars with Israel, often with support from Islamic Jihad fighters. Aside from a flare-up earlier this year, the border has largely been quiet since last year's 11-day war and Hamas appears to be staying on the sidelines of this current conflagration, which might keep it from spilling over into all-out war.
Islamic Jihad militants have challenged Hamas by firing rockets, often without claiming responsibility, to raise its profile among Palestinians while Hamas maintains the cease-fire. Israel holds Hamas responsible for all rocket fire coming from Gaza.
Hamas must walk a tightrope between restraining Islamic Jihad's fire at Israel while avoiding the ire of Palestinians if it cracks down on the group. Like in past flare-ups, Hamas will have the final say in how long — and how violent — this round of fighting will last.
The current fighting comes as Israel is mired in a protracted political crisis that is sending voters to the polls for the fifth time in less than four years in the fall.
Caretaker leader Yair Lapid took over earlier this summer after the ideologically diverse government he helped form collapsed, triggering the new elections.
Lapid, a centrist former TV host and author, lacks the security background many Israelis see as essential for their leadership. His political fortunes could rest on the current fighting, either gaining a boost if he can portray himself as a capable leader or take a hit from a lengthy operation as Israelis try to enjoy the last weeks of summer.
Lapid hopes to edge out former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a security hawk who is on trial for corruption charges, in the upcoming vote.


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Condair launches "Humidity Fights Flu" campaign
Humidification specialist, Condair, is launching a "Humidity Fights Flu" campaign to promote awareness that an indoor humidity level of 40-60%RH is very beneficial in combating airborne influenza infections.
Tim Scott, head of sales at Condair plc, comments, "There is overwhelming scientific evidence that person-to-person airborne flu infections are significantly reduced when indoor humidity is maintained at 40-60%RH. Yet there is still no legislative requirement for public places or healthcare facilities to manage their humidity levels appropriately and take advantage of this effective weapon in the fight against seasonal flu.
"The building services sector should not just accept this as an inevitable blight on our society every winter and ought to be doing more to address the spread of seasonal influenza through humidity control. Without humidification most indoor environments will drop below 40%RH for a substantial duration during the winter. It is in this dry danger zone that infectious airborne flu germs survive for many hours. It has been proven that maintaining a room's air at above 40%RH results in the airborne flu virus becoming deactivated five times faster, which results in a significant reduction in cross-infections, less absenteeism and improved occupant health."
As part of its Humidity Fights Flu campaign, Condair has published the summaries of 24 scientific studies on its website, which show the effect humidity has on health. The research on www.condair.co.uk/fighting-flu shows three humidity-related processes that inhibit the spread of airborne respiratory infections. Firstly, that when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs-out infectious particles, fewer of them remain airborne if the air is above 40%RH. Secondly, at 40-60%RH those remaining infectious airborne germs are rapidly deactivated due to chemical reactions with the salts and proteins contained within their host airborne droplet. Lastly, the studies show that our respiratory system's defence against airborne infection operates significantly better at between 40-60%RH.
Seasonal flu peaks when indoor humidity levels are at their lowest. Indoor environments where people are forced together for prolonged periods, like schools and educational establishments, offices and healthcare facilities are core battlegrounds in the spread of seasonal infections. This is particularly true of hospitals and GP surgeries where infected individuals are brought into close proximity with susceptible individuals.
A sharp rise in the cases of flu seen by GPs across England in the early weeks of 2018 suggest it could be the worst flu season for seven years. Nearly 22,000 people went to their GP with flu in the first week of 2018, according to the Royal College of GPs, and around 5,000 people were admitted to hospital, based on Public Health England figures for 22 out of 137 trusts. Similar trends have been seen in Scotland and Wales, with just over half of circulating strains believed to be the H3N2 strain known as "Aussie flu", after problems the virus caused in Australia's last winter.
Tim Scott, continues, "Even putting aside the building services sector's moral obligation to protect the health of its buildings' occupants, humidity control for health makes obvious financial sense. Staff costs typically account for 90% of business expenditure and respiratory infections are the primary cause of short term absenteeism. Combine this cost to the business economy with the financial burden seasonal flu has on our health service and the cost of humidity control as a preventative measure in offices, educational and healthcare facilities pales into insignificance."
Alongside the promotion of the scientific research, Condair's Humidity Fights Flu campaign will see free desktop hygrometers being offered to people working in offices, education and healthcare, so that they can monitor their indoor humidity levels and report their results to Condair. A similar survey of over 290 HVAC consultant and contractor offices across the UK and Ireland, carried out by Condair in 2017, saw that some offices were as low as 20%RH, with the average office being below the industry's recommended level at just 38%RH.


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Are you a remarkable employee? Do you know what a remarkable employee is? Do you know what to look for when you're hiring a remarkable employee?
Some physicians are fortunate to have one staff person with them through their whole career – my pediatrician did. Others have turnover, multiple staff and hiring is an ongoing issue. At 2Ascribe Inc., we know that getting the right person for the right job is critical for your business. Often times, physicians turn to 2Ascribe medical transcription when they have a change in personnel – either as a long term stable solution, or as a stop gap measure until they can hire someone new. While we'd prefer you to use 2Ascribe long term for your medical transcription services, we hope that this article will help you to make 'good hires' for your practice.
Remarkable employees – by Jeff Hayden
Great employees are reliable, dependable, proactive, diligent, great leaders and great followers… they possess a wide range of easily-defined—but hard to find—qualities.
A few hit the next level. Some employees are remarkable, possessing qualities that may not appear on performance appraisals but nonetheless make a major impact on performance.
Here are eight qualities of remarkable employees:
1. They ignore job descriptions. The smaller the company, the more important it is that employees can think on their feet, adapt quickly to shifting priorities, and do whatever it takes, regardless of role or position, to get things done.
When a key customer's project is in jeopardy, remarkable employees know without being told there's a problem and jump in without being asked—even if it's not their job.
2. They're eccentric… The best employees are often a little different: quirky, sometimes irreverent, even delighted to be unusual. They seem slightly odd, but in a really good way. Unusual personalities shake things up, make work more fun, and transform a plain-vanilla group into a team with flair and flavor.
People who aren't afraid to be different naturally stretch boundaries and challenge the status quo, and they often come up with the best ideas.
3. But they know when to dial it back. An unusual personality is a lot of fun… until it isn't. When a major challenge pops up or a situation gets stressful, the best employees stop expressing their individuality and fit seamlessly into the team.
Remarkable employees know when to play and when to be serious; when to be irreverent and when to conform; and when to challenge and when to back off. It's a tough balance to strike, but a rare few can walk that fine line with ease.
4. They publicly praise… Praise from a boss feels good. Praise from a peer feels awesome, especially when you look up to that person.
Remarkable employees recognize the contributions of others, especially in group settings where the impact of their words is even greater.
5. And they privately complain. We all want employees to bring issues forward, but some problems are better handled in private. Great employees often get more latitude to bring up controversial subjects in a group setting because their performance allows greater freedom.
Remarkable employees come to you before or after a meeting to discuss a sensitive issue, knowing that bringing it up in a group setting could set off a firestorm.
6. They speak when others won't. Some employees are hesitant to speak up in meetings. Some are even hesitant to speak up privately.
An employee once asked me a question about potential layoffs. After the meeting I said to him, "Why did you ask about that? You already know what's going on." He said, "I do, but a lot of other people don't, and they're afraid to ask. I thought it would help if they heard the answer from you."
Remarkable employees have an innate feel for the issues and concerns of those around them, and step up to ask questions or raise important issues when others hesitate.
7. They like to prove others wrong. Self-motivation often springs from a desire to show that doubters are wrong. The kid without a college degree or the woman who was told she didn't have leadership potential often possess a burning desire to prove other people wrong.
Education, intelligence, talent, and skill are important, but drive is critical. Remarkable employees are driven by something deeper and more personal than just the desire to do a good job.
8. They're always fiddling. Some people are rarely satisfied (I mean that in a good way) and are constantly tinkering with something: Reworking a timeline, adjusting a process, tweaking a workflow.
Great employees follow processes. Remarkable employees find ways to make those processes even better, not only because they are expected to… but because they just can't help it.
Jeff Haden learned much of what he knows about business and technology as he worked his way up in the manufacturing industry. Everything else he picks up from ghostwriting books for some of the smartest leaders he knows in business. @jeff_haden
We hope you enjoyed this article. At 2Ascribe, we endeavour to offer articles that support, and are of interest, to our clients and prospective clients. Please check our website www.2Ascribe.com for more articles ranging from general interest, health and wellness and medical transcription tips. 2Ascribe medical transcription is located in Toronto, providing medical transcription services across Canada.


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In recent years, airlines have been cramming more seats onto planes and squishing passengers ever closer to one another. The entire airport experience isn't much better, with overcrowded eateries and bookshops, as well as tightly packed lines of people queuing up at check-in counters, at security checkpoints and on the jet bridge for boarding.
But that's not the case anymore.
"Airports are empty. The flights are empty," said physician Frank Garcini after stepping off a recent flight from Phoenix at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.
"I was traveling on a small airplane with probably 40-something seats, and there were only six passengers on the flight," he said.
"I think life as we know it has changed" because of the coronavirus, Garcini said, adding that airlines will need to adapt. "I anticipate that the standard operating procedures in the future will change because of our new reality."
Social distancing in the airport
Few industries have been hit as hard by the coronavirus pandemic as the airlines. With the number of people flying having plummeted more than 90% since the beginning of March, U.S. airlines have slashed their flight schedules and parked half their fleets, more than 3,000 planes in all.
The few planes that are flying are almost empty, averaging just 17 passengers per domestic flight, according to the industry group Airlines for America. And now, to try to ensure the safety of the passengers they do have, airlines are making changes.
Most U.S. carriers are requiring passengers and crew members to wear masks or facial coverings in gate areas and on flights.
In the terminals, airports are taking other steps to protect passengers and employees, such as putting tape or markings on floors to help people remain at least 6 feet apart when waiting in line.
"We put up sneeze guards throughout the terminal between customers and employees [and] at the gate when you scan your boarding pass," said Mike Hanna, vice president of operations for United Airlines at O'Hare airport.
"We're encouraging customers to scan their own boarding pass as well, so we're not handling their documents. We're also limiting the number of people going down a jet bridge at one time so they can also separate and socially distance themselves," Hanna explained.
"Like I'm in a Twilight Zone episode"
On a recent day at O'Hare, passengers arrive free of traffic jams, with none of the usual chaos at the curb. Inside the terminal, there are no mobs of people dragging roller bags while they try to figure out which interminable line to get into. It's just a sea of empty check-in kiosks and counters, with a dozen or so airline and airport employees milling about, with no passengers to assist.
With so few people in the airport, social distancing is easy. Normally packed gate areas have scores of empty seats. There are no lines to worry about, and if there were, tape on the floors mark how to space 6 feet apart.
It's eerily quiet in the terminal, the normal frantic bustle replaced by an unsettling calm.
"I feel like I'm in a Twilight Zone episode, kinda. It's like, super-eerie" says 21-year-old Quinn Scannell, who was living in Madagascar but had to leave as the borders there closed.
Other travelers include students who were studying abroad, people going to visit ill or anxious family members and those whose work is essential.
Among them is Kension Edwards, 47, a medical-equipment service technician from Raleigh, N.C.
"What we're workin' on, it's important for lots of people, so my way of doing my part, I guess," Edwards says. With no long lines and with airplane middle seats blocked out, there are fewer headaches for him in traveling now.
"It's nice having the extra room, but it's still a little bit scary because I think [the coronavirus is] a little bit worse than people thought at first," he says.
"As much separation as possible"
United is more thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting airplane interiors by using electrostatic cleaning, a process in which electrostatically charged cleaning fluids are sprayed throughout the cabins. The disinfectant "then begins to wrap around armrests, chairs, tables, etc. throughout the aircraft, and that helps to expand our coverage when we actually spray disinfectant," Hanna said.
"Some people call it a fogger, but it's not really a fogger," he added. "But it really covers very, very well."
Like most airlines, United is also taking steps to create physical distancing on planes.
"We definitely are blocking out middle seats, and where we have two seats on an aisle, we're doing them alternating window, aisle, window, aisle, to drive as much separation as possible," Hanna said.
Even with middle seats blocked off, a recent Delta flight from Los Angeles to Detroit was the most crowded plane that frequent travelers like Johannes Pulst-Korenberg had seen in weeks.
"Planes were ghost towns as of the past couple weeks that I've been traveling, and now it's like a third of seats [are full]? A fourth?" he said.
With airlines cutting so many flights from their schedules, some of the few flights that remain have been getting fuller in recent weeks.
Pulst-Korenberg is a neurologist splitting his time between LA and Philadelphia, something he says sounded like an OK plan before COVID-19.
"And now with COVID, it's a little more awkward, although I still feel fundamentally safe because I wear a good mask and I know how to use it," he says. "I am a little concerned though. I definitely don't trust the average person to not fly when they're sick, and if you have the sniffles, it's not going to prevent you from getting on a plane.
On this flight, nobody dares to sniffle, and everyone wears a face covering. When a flight attendant passes out a snack pack, a strange thing happens: Passengers eagerly dig past the Cheez-Its to get to the coveted Purell wipe inside. Jabar Akbar has a surgical mask he picked up on the job.
"I'm a nurse from Los Angeles, headed to Connecticut to help with the coronavirus epidemic," Akbar says. He has been traveling constantly since March, volunteering to work at hospitals hard hit by COVID-19.
"I want to be on the front line. I think that's where my skills are best served," he says.
Plexiglass, touchless technology and "immunity passports"
Social distancing on planes right now is relatively easy because air travel demand is next to nothing. But what about when large numbers of people start flying again?
"In the long term, that's a business model that cannot be sustained," said Nick Calio, president of Airlines for America, in a Senate commerce committee hearing on Wednesday on the impact of the coronavirus on the aviation industry.
Aviation industry analyst Marisa Garcia explains that blocking out or removing middle seats would reduce the number of seats airlines could sell by about one-third, sharply reducing revenue or forcing the airlines to raise prices on other seats to make up the difference.
"It would force a reduction of capacity on all aircraft to the point where air fares would probably skyrocket, increasing as much as, over 50%," Garcia said.
Airlines and airplane manufacturers are looking at other ways to protect passengers from the spread of the coronavirus and other communicable diseases. Some suggest plexiglass dividers between seats or turning the middle seat around to face the rear of the plane. The Italian aircraft-interior design company Aviointeriors has drawn up plans to combine those ideas with a kind of plastic capsule that would surround each seat.
"So, you might still have three passengers seated together," Garcia says. "But there would be a plastic bubble between you, if you will, that still allows you to feel comfortable, but it would protect you in addition to a mask you might wear or if you were to remove the mask to eat or drink."
Any such solution would cost the airlines plenty, and right now U.S. airlines are burning through cash at a rate of $10 billion a month. But there are less expensive changes, such as using touchless technology so passengers and employees don't have contact during interactions and transactions, temperature scanning of travelers as they go through security or board the plane, and requiring "immunity passports" that would indicate if a passenger had recently been tested for the virus and cleared.
But regardless of which changes are adopted, it's safe to say a new normal will be coming to air travel and it will be unlike anything we've experienced before.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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Christmas Special Trailer – The Snowmen
Christmas Special Trailer – The Snowmen
A look at the trailer for the Doctor Who Christmas Special Trail, introduced by Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman.
'The Snowmen' has been revealed as the title for this year's movie-scale Doctor Who Christmas special, and the episode that will introduce the new companion, a new look for the Doctor and a new monster that will have families shivering behind their sofas.
Starring Matt Smith as the Doctor, and introducing Jenna-Louise Coleman as new companion Clara, The Snowmen will follow their adventures as they embark on a mission to save Christmas from the villainous Doctor Simeon (Richard E Grant) and his army of icy snowmen.
Fans also got a sneak peak at a new costume for the Doctor, revealed in an exclusive trailer on Children in Need, while a special prequel showed the impact of the loss of the Ponds, with old friends Vastra, Strax and Jenny trying to persuade the Doctor not to give up on adventures.
Steven Moffat, Lead Writer and Executive Producer, said: "The Doctor at Christmas is one of my favourite things – but this year it's different. He's lost Amy and Rory to the Weeping Angels, and he's not in a good place: in fact, he's Scrooge. He's withdrawn from the world and no longer cares what happens to it. So when all of humanity hangs in the balance, can anyone persuade a tired and heartbroken Doctor that it's time to return to the good fight? Enter Jenna-Louise Coleman…"
Matt Smith, who plays the Doctor, commented: "For this year's Christmas special we have the wonderfully villainous Richard E Grant as Doctor Simeon – as well as lizards, Victorian assassins and deranged warriors from the future, who all return to convince the Doctor that he should board the TARDIS again and save the world. Add to that Jenna-Louise Coleman, and so begins the Christmas Special 2012. I hope everyone enjoys it!"
The BBC Cymru Wales produced drama will return to BBC One in December, with a further eight epic episodes in spring next year.


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A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
That's how the process of coming to be the newest author for Wiley Publishing seems to have gone, even though the initial contact was only in late April.
Back then, I received a mysterious email in my inbox asking if I would be interested in writing The WordPress Bible. Fascinated, I immediately responded back and the conversation began.
We have had an agreement in principle for several weeks and now that the contract is official, I feel comfortable talking publicly about the deal – though the details of the deal will remain undisclosed.
I'm excited about writing this book. As many of you who have been with me for these more than five years know, I began the process of writing a book with my friend and colleague Jeremy Wright back in 2005. Honestly, I don't think either of our hearts were in that book and we amicably agreed with the publisher that we wouldn't complete that project. Sort of a shame in itself, but all for the better.
That project gave me a little window into the life of an author. Overcoming writers block. Roadmapping chapters. Communication at all time with project editors. Stylesheets. Deadlines. All that jazz.
At that time, I was much less mature as a writer so it was a huge challenge to write effectively and for an audience. At that time, I was a much more free-spirited author writing often elaborate (and possibly poetic) prose which might not have been the right fit for a book of that nature. Today, I still am the best damned writer around (kidding) but know when to turn it on and off and how to write an effective 4000 word article or a 140 character tweet.
Today, I approach The WordPress Bible with some fear and trepidation. Currently, the book is marked at around a cool 700 pages. And oh yes, it has to be done in October. Yikes!
What this effectively means is that for the next four months, I will be spending monumental amounts of time doing nothing but writing. I'm considering disappearing to the mountains once a month for 3-4 days just to write.
During the process, I am going to continue to work with my clients to deliver valuable WordPress solutions for their businesses. In the past week, I have secured 3 more clients that I will be able to work with over the next few months.
I want to thank Stephanie McComb at Wiley for believing in me and reaching out to me in April. This will be a great addition to the Bible series. I also want to thank Lynn Haller from Studio B for helping me through the process and running valuable interference during the negotiations. Anyone looking to write a book should reach out to her to represent you. Authors should usually have agents and she's a great agent.
I can't wait for this book to hit the shelf. It's going to be an invaluable resource for WordPress users, themers and developers of all range of skills and will be a "must order".


text: February Facts: Things You May Not Know February is often associated with Valentine's Day, but there are also plenty of facts about February that you may not know. Facts you may be very interested in. February has its own birthstone, sign and so much more. Fun Facts about February's History There is so much more to the month of February than Valentine's Day celebrations. February is the shortest month on the calendar, with just 28 days. Every four years, each leap year, February gains a day, going from 28 to 29 days. As of 2001, February is also known for being the month of the Super Bowl. It is held on the first Sunday of February (I.e. Super Bowl Sunday). If you aren't much of a sport's fan but your significant other is, be patient, for the romance is near. Give your sport's loving partner the first weekend of the month, and you'll get to binge on rom coms on the second. February is also "National Junk Food Month." Binge on all the yummy snack food without all the guilt. What is Super Bowl Sunday without chips, dip and chicken wings? An additionally acceptable binge involves eating all those Valentine's Day treats. Among February's more flashier facts are the sparkles that coincide with the month. February's Birthstone February's birthstone is the Amethyst. This purple gem has an intriguing and captivating look. However, the beauty of these gems goes deeper than its overall appearance. It is a symbol of deep love, happiness, sincerity, wealth and humility. Once admired as the "Jewel of the Gods," Amethysts are traditionally worn by Bishops/ Farmers. Understandably so, as Amethysts are believed to protect crops against hailstones and locusts. This elegant gem is the official gemstone of Ontario and the official gem of Wednesday, Jupiter and people born with the sign of Pisces. Speaking of... February Babies, Here's Your Sign. If you are born in February, your sign is either the Aquarius or the Pisces. These signs have similar characteristics but overall different personalities. Ironically enough, the two signs are often very compatible, romantically. Before we dive deep into what attracts the two signs, let's learn more about them as individuals. Anyone born between the 1st and the 18th of February fall under the Aquarius sign. This sign differs from many because it categorizes people on both ends of the spectrum. Some Aquarians are introverted and of quiet nature, while others are energetic and eccentric. They are a very progressive sign. Aquarians pride themselves on honesty and intellect. Due to their strong intellect, Aquarians are prone to think outside of the box and work hard to find solutions to issues. They are free thinkers and are very independent. They do things their own way and are very openminded. They are prone to question theories and are always looking to learn something new. February babies born between the 19th and the 28th fall under the Pisces sign. Pisces thrive on elevating others and their talents instead of focusing on people's flaws. They are a more positive group. They like to keep things real and authentic, working hard to get to know a person's personality before coming to any conclusion about them. They are among the least superficial signs. It's what is on the inside that counts. Pisces' friendships often consist of sincere, quality people, as they are drawn to what is in a person's heart. They are very emotional people, who always seek a deeper connection to the people they care about. Their highly vibrant personalities and low maintenance nature make them easy people to get along with. The Aquarius and Pisces signs have many distinct differences. One is very strong-willed, while the other has a more sensitive soul. While their characteristics may vary, they often find common ground intellectually. If you and your partner share February as your birth month but have differing signs, don't worry. You may just be a perfect fit for each other. The Aquarius and Pisces signs differ, but they have a common middle ground that breeds very healthy relationships. Your differences may even help the two of you find peace in the other. February's Birth Flower February babies, violet may not be your color, but it is your birth flower. Violets are a bright purple flower, found in 500-600 species. These bold beauties can also be found in blues, whites, creams and even in multicolor blooms. Violets are the state flower of Rhode Island, Illinois and New Jersey. They are asymmetric. They consist of five heart-shaped petals. This makes them even more ideal to represent the month that houses Valentine's Day. One interesting fact about violets is that they contain both the male and female floral reproductive organs. This allows some species of flowers to self-pollinate, while others still need insects to pollinate. They look so good you could eat them, literally. Violets are used in a variety of savory dishes. They are of great use when it comes to making sweet garnishes. Funny enough, they are nutritious too. They are loaded with Vitamin C. They have even more than most vegetables. Vitamin C is good for the immune system and a person's overall health. Additionally, the violet flower has a beautiful fragrance that is envied by many. It is often used in perfumes, lotions and oils. All ideal gifts to give for Valentine's Day. If you are interested in taking some violets home or sending some to a person you love, talk with our florists at Wild Strawberry & More in Mason, MI, . We even offer same-day delivery. Share the love and the beauty of violets for someone's February birthday. It is a fun and meaningful gift that any February baby is bound to appreciate. Back to Blogs


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Now we have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, SnapChat, and other platforms...so many ways in which to express ourselves and dive deeply into the themes of the High Holy Days. And so here we are….I've added #ElulGram to the #BlogElul family and the borders of this project are so wide that they reallly don't exist at all. This project is really whatever YOU want - however YOU want to spend your time preparing yourself for the holiest season in the Jewish calendar.
Elul -- that wonderful and terrifying month that precedes the High Holy Days. A month of introspection and considering, a month of personal reflection and preparation.
Who can participate? ANYONE. It's yours. I gift it to you. Elul is for anyone and everyone.
How could one do it? You don't have a blog… No worries. Maybe you have Facebook or Twitter? Maybe you're a big fan of Instagram? Be creative and find your own path! Maybe you don't want to do it daily. Maybe you just want to dip your toe into the experience, or just read (and share?) what others write. It's totally up to you. I always love to see the creative things that the #BlogElul community comes up with.
There are no rules. I provide the topics (see graphic or below for text) for each of the days of the month. Use the hashtag to share your post (I like to put it in my titles) and share other people's posts as well. This could be a way to revitalize your blog, kickstart a new project, or even just get yourself ready for the holidays! I know that lots of people use #BlogElul as a spiritual exercise each year, and I'm so proud to be a part of their yearly journey through Elul.
And what about #ElulGram? This one is even more interpretive. Photos, art, illustrations, quotes -- what kinds of images can you put together to explore and interpret these High Holy Day themes? You don't have to limit your picture-sharing to Instagram (even though I totally appropriated the name), you can use any image-sharing site you'd like, such as Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. Whatever you do, tag it with #ElulGram so we can call share and follow.
These themes and ideas are broad and open, and again -- remember, there are NO RULES except the ones you make for yourself!
And yes, I know that the dates include Shabbat. I personally don't blog/tweet/Facebook on Shabbat, but I will post before and after Shabbat. You can do whatever you like!
Are you going to play along? Let me know! Leave me a comment here, send me a tweet, or send up a signal fire.... Feel free to grab my pretty badge to announce to the whole world that you're Blogging Elul. If you let me know that you're doing it, we can cross-post, or guest-post, or even just do some virtual hand-holding as the days grow closer to Tishrei. I'll try to link to as many posts and pics as I can - won't it be amazing to all share in the Elul journey together?
I'm looking forward to sharing this journey with you. Elul begins on Sunday, September 1 (it's always on time), so I wanted to give you a head start if you're going to pre-write some of your posts.
I hope that our shared preparation for 5780 brings meaning and hope, inspiration and enlightenment for all of us.
The list:
Elul 1: Decide
Elul 2: Seek
Elul 3: Prepare
Elul 4: Choose
Elul 5: Commit
Elul 6: Want
Elul 8: Hear
Elul 9: See
Elul 10: Forgive
Elul 11: Trust
Elul 12: Count
Elul 13: Remember
Elul 14: Learn
Elul 15: Plan
Elul 16: Pray
Elul 17: Awaken
Elul 18: Ask
Elul 19: Speak
Elul 20: Fill
Elul 21: Love
Elul 22: End
Elul 23: Begin
Elul 24: Hope
Elul 25: Change
Elul 26: Create
Elul 27: Bless
Elul 28: Give
Elul 29: Return


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Export 150 results:
Author [ Title] Type Year Filters: Author is Santiago Aja-Fernández [Clear All Filters]
"Groupwise myocardial alignment in magnetic resonance perfusion sequences", Proc of the XXIX CASEIB, Cáceres, Spain, pp. 437–440, 2011.
, "Harmonic Auto-Regularization for Non Rigid Groupwise Registration in Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging.", Congreso Anual de la Sociedad Española de Ingeniería Biomédica 2016, Valencia, Spain, 11/2016.
, "Hierarchical fuzzy systems with FITM", Fuzzy Systems, 2004. Proceedings. 2004 IEEE International Conference on, vol. 2: IEEE, pp. 767–772, 2004.
, "Homeomorphic Geometrical Transform for Collision Response in Surgical Simulation", Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, pp. 433–440, 2013.
, "Image quality assessment based on local variance", Proc 28th IEEE Int. Conf. Eng. Med. Biol. Soc.(EMBC), pp. 4815–4818, 2006.
, "Impact of MR Acquisition Parameters on DTI Scalar Indexes: A Tractography Based Approach", PLoS ONE, vol. 10, pp. e0137905, 2015.
, "Improving GRAPPA reconstruction by frequency discrimination in the ACS lines", International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery, vol. 10, issue 10, pp. 1699-1710, 2015.
, "Inference with fuzzy granules for computing with words: a practical viewpoint", Fuzzy Systems, 2003. FUZZ'03. The 12th IEEE International Conference on, vol. 1: IEEE, pp. 566–571, 2003.
, "Influence of noise correlation in multiple-coil statistical models with sum of squares reconstruction", Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, vol. 67, no. 2: Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company, pp. 580–585, 2012.
, "Influence of ultrasound speckle tracking strategies for motion and strain estimation", Medical Image Analysis, vol. 32, pp. 184 - 200, 2016.
, "Introduction to speckle filtering", Handbook of Speckle Filtering and Tracking in Cardiovascular Ultrasound Imaging and Video: IET, 2018.
, "Joint Groupwise Registration and ADC Estimation in the Liver using a B-Value Weighted Metric", Magnetic Resonance Imaging, vol. 46, pp. 1-8, 2018.
, "Joint Image Reconstruction and Phase Corruption Maps Estimation in Multi-Shot Echo Planar Imaging", MICCAI, Granada, MICCAI, 09/2018.
, "Joint LMMSE estimation of DWI data for DTI processing", Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention–MICCAI 2008: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, pp. 27–34, 2008.
, "Least squares for diffusion tensor estimation revisited: Propagation of uncertainty with Rician and non-Rician signals", NeuroImage, vol. 59, no. 4: Academic Press, pp. 4032–4043, 2012.
, "Local similarity measures for demons-like registration algorithms", Biomedical Imaging: From Nano to Macro, 2008. ISBI 2008. 5th IEEE International Symposium on: IEEE, pp. 1087–1090, 2008.
, "A MRI phantom for cardiac perfusion simulation", Biomedical Imaging (ISBI), 2012 9th IEEE International Symposium on: IEEE, pp. 638–641, 2012.
, "Matrix Inference in Fuzzy Decision Trees.", EUSFLAT Conf., pp. 979–984, 2005.
, "Matrix modeling of hierarchical fuzzy systems", Fuzzy Systems, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 16, no. 3: IEEE, pp. 585–599, 2008.
, "A Maximum Likelihood Approach to Diffeomorphic Speckle Tracking for 3D Strain Estimation in Echocardiography", Medical Image Analysis, pp. -, 2015.
, "Merging squared-magnitude approaches to DWI denoising: An adaptive Wiener filter tuned to the anatomical contents of the image", Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2013 35th Annual International Conference of the IEEE: IEEE, pp. 507–510, 2013.
, "Micro-structure diffusion scalar measures from reduced MRI acquisitions", PLOS ONE, vol. 15, pp. 1-25, 2020.
, "Multimodal fusion analysis of structural connectivity and gray matter morphology in migraine", Human Brain Mapping, vol. 42, issue 4, pp. 908-921, 2021.
, "NURBS for the geometrical modeling of a new family of Compact-Supported Radial Basis Functions for elastic registration of medical images", Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2010 Annual International Conference of the IEEE: IEEE, pp. 5947–5950, 2010.
, "Noise and signal estimation in magnitude MRI and Rician distributed images: a LMMSE approach", Image Processing, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 17, no. 8: IEEE, pp. 1383–1398, 2008.


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Hello, my name is Jody and I am addicted to vintage purses. I have so many in my stash, I can't keep any more. But I also can't resist buying them. I mean, someone has to save all the vintage from those dark closets and attics. Someone has to bring these marvelous handbags back to life, right?
These are recent estate finds, and it is really hard to let them go, but it will be good karma to share the wealth.....right?
And so, it is my sworn duty to offer you this incredible 50's faux leopard fur purse. It's a beauty and it's huge!
Or how about this deliciously sweet box purse, in a unique oval shape, also from the 50's.
But wait! How can you resist this pearlized pink teardrop shaped bag from the 1960's????
Or this unusual green alligator bag from the 50's?
Do you see my dilemma? They're like potato chips! If I keep one, I have to keep them all. Please help me! Purchase these poor lonely purses and give them a good home! You'll be so glad you did when strangers on the street ask, "WHERE did you get that bag?"
See these purses and more at Couture Allure Vintage Fashion .


text: A feature packed Metronome app for every musician. Made by the world's largest musical instrument manufacturer, built with all of the know-how that only Yamaha can provide. No matter what your level of musical ability you will find Yamaha's Metronome is easy to use. Whether you're a drummer, guitarist, pianist, producer, DJ, student, teacher or a live performer, in music timing is everything.


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History: How Hubble Came About
The Earth's atmosphere is the bane of astronomers. The idea of sending a telescope into space to avoid it was first proposed long before the first satellites were launched, long before anyone even dreamt of sending astronauts to space, German rocket scientist Herman Oberth was a pioneering thinker of his time and suggested a space bound telescope as early as 1923 in his book "Die Rakete zu den Planeträumen". A space telescope avoids frustrating problems such as cloudy and misty observing nights, the twinkling of stars even on clear nights and absorption of the ultraviolet and infrared parts of the spectrum.
It took many years before technology caught up with Oberth's idea. The American Lyman Spitzer proposed a more realistic plan for a space telescope in 1946 and lobbied for his idea for almost 30 years. In the 1970s NASA and the European Space Agency took up the idea and proposed a 3 metre space telescope. Funding began to flow in 1977 and it was decided to name the telescope after Edwin Powell Hubble who had discovered the expansion of the Universe in the 1920s. Although the Hubble Space Telescope was down-sized to 2.4 metres the project started to attract significant attention from astronomers.
The precision-ground mirror was finished in 1981 and the assembly of the entire spacecraft was completed in 1985. The plan called for a launch on NASA's Space Shuttle in 1986, but just months before, the scheduled launch the Challenger disaster caused a year long delay of the entire Shuttle programme. Hubble was finally launched in 1990 and the tension built up as astronomers examined the first images through Hubble's eyes.
As in all good adventures, success does not come easily: it did not take long to realise that Hubble's mirror had a serious flaw. A focusing defect prevented Hubble from taking sharp images — the mirror edge was too flat by a mere fiftieth of the width of a human hair. Over the next months scientists and engineers from NASA and ESA worked together and came up with a superb corrective optics package that would restore Hubble's eyesight completely.
A crew of astronauts carried out the repairs necessary to restore the telescope to its intended level of performance during the first Hubble Servicing Mission (SM1) in December 1993.
Although the four subsequent servicing missions were at least as demanding in terms of complexity and work load, SM1 captured the attention of both astronomers and the public at large to a degree that no other Shuttle mission since has achieved. Meticulously planned and brilliantly executed, the mission succeeded on all counts. It will go down in history as one of the highlights of human spaceflight. Hubble was back in business.
Since SM1 four other Servicing Missions have been carried out. During SM2 in 1997 two new instruments were installed. Servicing Mission 3 was split into two, leading to a slightly confusing numbering system: in SM3A, 1999, many of Hubble's crucial technical systems were exchanged, and in 2002 came SM3B when Hubble again got new science instruments.
Servicing Mission 4 (the fifth trip to Hubble by astronauts since launch) took place in spring 2009. During SM4, astronauts upgraded Hubble's scientific capabilities again, installing a new main camera and an instrument designed to help answer profound questions about the large-scale structure and origins of the cosmos. They also carried out a number of other maintenance tasks, including repairing the Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, both of which had broken down since the previous mission.
With the retirement of the US Space Shuttle in 2011, no further servicing missions will be possible. However with the telescope fully repaired and upgraded, it is expected to function well for around 7-8 years, possibly longer.
Hubblecast episode 41 tells Hubble's history through the personal stories of some of the scientists involved.