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So we've been talking about science and getting people excited about science. You've probably already heard that Latinos are more likely to use social media sites and to access the Internet from mobile devices than other groups are. But the number of Latinos involved in developing the technology is not where many people would like it to be. Hispanics only make up about 4 percent of the people working in the computer industry, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Oscar G. Torres is trying to change that. He organizes hackathons at which Latinos are able to display innovative ideas and work collaboratively. He hopes this will open doors for even more Hispanics to pursue careers in tech. And Oscar G. Torres is with us now. He's the cofounder of Miner Labs Inc. That's a platform that creates a virtual storefront on mobile devices. Welcome, thanks so much for joining us.
OSCAR G. TORRES: Oh, happy to be here.
MARTIN: Well, first, can you clear something up for us? You know, a lot of people hear the word hacker and they think that that's somebody who breaks into computer systems and steals information - a criminal essentially, but you're saying that's not the case. Could you explain what is a hacker?
TORRES: Yeah, absolutely. That word sort of got a bad term from the news and the media. The reality - a hacker is somebody who analyzes systems and then figures out how they work and repurposes them for a different purpose. So, like, let's say you find a computer program that you like, you might study how it works and then repurpose that program to do something else. And that has become more possible with things like open source technology, which is, you know, just programs, algorithms that you can recycle into - to do different things.
MARTIN: How did you get interested in this field? You're also an artist, too, I want to mention, in addition to a hacker. You've been exhibited around the world actually. So how did you get interested in tech and working in this field?
TORRES: Yeah, making the leap from fine arts, it really happened in grad school at NYU. There I got the chance to start working with open source frameworks and open source code, and then that's when I realized there was this whole brand-new exciting world of coding and development. Sooner than later, I started joining hackathons. And actually, hackathons were the bridge for me as an artist and technologist to entrepreneurship. So it was - I feel like that was a very interesting part. And now that I've experienced that, I want to sort of share that experience and hope that others can do the same.
MARTIN: You organized a hackathon at the LATISM Conference. LATISM stands for Latinos in tech innovation and social media. You organized something called El Hackathon at this one this year. Tell us about it. What actually happens there?
TORRES: Yeah, it's really interesting because when I joined LATISM in 2011, the innovation part of LATISM I felt was sort of lacking. So I had a few conversations with Ana Roca and a few of the organizers and voicing my opinion about the lack of innovation, or just people in the group that sort of innovated. There's a lot of consumption happening in the Latino community. But once I got involved in the entrepreneurship world, I realized that, hey, where are all the Latinos?
And there are a lot of Latinos in entrepreneurship but there's very few in the tech industry, which I hope to change hopefully through these hackathons. So what happens at hackathons is that, normally, you come up with a theme - in this case we had education, health and business as the theme - so basically, you organize, put out a call to action, an invitation for hackers of all sorts who come in and then participate in these hackathons, which usually lasts around 24 hours, 38 hours, I mean, you know, there's different time periods. And then in that short time span, hackers take an idea and then make a prototype or a potential product that then they present to a group of judges. Then, you know, the judges pick the best project that they liked and then they awarded the prize.
MARTIN: How does this get more people motivated to join the field or to get into the field? I mean, assuming you have to have a basic skill set to be there to begin with, right?
TORRES: Yeah.
MARTIN: How does this enhance people's involvement in this field and bring more people into the field?
TORRES: Yeah, I think, first of all, it brings awareness to people that don't normally know how innovation happens, how new technology comes to be. So basically, hackers are not just only computer programmers, they can also be designers or entrepreneurs. For example, there's a big, you know, thing happening right now where this visual - I call him visual hacker, Banksy's just taking the art world by storm and doing graffiti. Likewise, entrepreneurs can come into hackathons, visual designers and then work - collaborated with computer programmers and sort of create this new prototype. And the part of the hackathon is the demo time. So sometimes hackers get anywhere between one and five minutes to present their idea.
And I think really exposing a group like LATISM, where all of these conference-goers - you know, hundreds and hundreds of people - were witnesses to what happened in these 24 hours. And then to see an idea working in front of them and, you know, something that might seem, like, took months to build and it was just built overnight, it really encourages people to sort of be curious and start poking around and seeing how these things work and how technology works. And sort of bringing awareness that, hey, maybe technology is not as hard as it seems to be. And people can actually create new ideas in a short period of time. And that's what I'm trying to encourage - for people to get involved, for somebody who doesn't know what innovation is to sort of just come in and take a look. And if you're a businessperson, a designer, just get involved and start learning how this new innovative - this innovation process works, and then hopefully get involved.
MARTIN: You've won several hackathons yourself, including a major one at TechCrunch in 2012. Can you tell us about the idea your team came up with?
TORRES: Yeah. So I had many ideas. What happens at hackathons is you just meet people and start throwing ideas at them, and then if they like an idea - you know, it's like a back-and-forth and then eventually, before you know it, you create something new. What I created for TechCrunch was this hack called Thingscription. So basically, a website where you can subscribe to anything like razor blades, and T-shirts, you know, underwear, whatever it is - soap.
And then once you subscribe, you would get the products every, you know, every week or every two weeks. So that was the general idea. Then the other ones were photo projects. And then my current startup, Miner Labs Inc. - Minerapp.com - came from Startup Weekend, which is a hackathon where the main attraction is to business developers, entrepreneurs, to come in and collaborate with hackers, and then come up with this new idea and make a business out of it.
MARTIN: Well, that sounds exciting. Keep us posted on what you're doing, what's exciting. I'm trying to think of what I want to subscribe to. But Dunkin' Donuts is already down the street, so maybe I don't need it for that.
TORRES: Yeah. Definitely. And check out Minerapp.com. We're going to be mobile storefronts, you know, that's going to be the future. Mobile consumption's increasing, so it's going to be the easy way for businesses to sell and market anywhere through mobile devices. And then for consumers to find, you know, pop-up storefronts at malls or destination airports and see what vendors are selling around those locations.
MARTIN: Well, I would also like to hear more about some of the things - when we next get together about some of the education ideas that you came up with at El Hackathon at the LATISM Conference. I mean, education was the theme, so I'd love to hear more about what you come up with there. Oscar G. Torres is cofounder of Miner Labs Inc. He joined us from our bureau in New York. Oscar, thanks so much for joining us.
TORRES: Absolutely, thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


text:
Flame retardants are chemicals which are added to many materials to increase their fire safety. For example, many plastics are highly flammable and therefore their fire resistance is increased by adding flame retardants in order to reduce the risk of fire.
On this website you find information about the different kinds of flame retardants, which role flame retardants have in fire safety and which advantages and disadvantage their use has.
Clariant Corp. maintains this website (see impressum). You can find more information on Clariant's flame retardant range at www.exolit.com

subset: commoncrawl


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Anytime you leave your home; you leave it vulnerable to some different attacks and calamities. From fires, floods and other disasters to home burglary or even vandalism. There are some ways you can protect your home when you are away, however. Here are five ways to keep your home protected when you aren't home.
Consider investing in a home security system
While there are some smart home appliances on the market today that help you do everything from cutting down on energy costs to remote monitoring your home, there is no substitute for a monitored home security system. While smart home systems will notify you via cell phone if anything is amiss, they are dependent on you being available and with adequate cell phone service. Monitored systems can protect you from fire, flood, robbery and even vandalism. Smoke detectors are the easiest way to add fire prevention to your home and live monitoring makes it one of the best means of protecting your home when you are away.
Automated lighting
A dark home is a prime target for burglars and thieves. Automated lighting will ensure that your home is well lit even when you are not home. Adequate security lighting is one of the best deterrents there is for ne'er-do-wells. Don't forget to set a timer on an interior lamp or two as well to give the impression someone is home even when no one is.
House sitters
Having a neighbor water plants, feed pets or "keep an eye on things" while you are away is great, but there is no substitute for having a live human being in your home while you are away. While you may have lights on timers for when you are merely late getting home, leaving for several days or more is a different proposition. It's always best to leave your house occupied at all times.
Arrange for mail and papers to be held
There is no surer sign of an empty residence than mail and newspapers that pile up when you are away from home. Make sure and have correspondence and papers held, so no one knows that you are away.
Stay in touch with neighbors that are home often
Your neighbors can be one of the very best security features for your home, mainly if they are home more often than you. You may not necessarily appreciate overly nosy neighbors. However, having an extra set of eyes watching over your property when you away never hurt either.
Keeping your home protected when you are away is a relatively simple proposition with a little forethought and preparation. Investing in some necessary security and home protection equipment and staying in touch with neighbors are some of the best things you can do to keep your home a safe, happy home.


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A Brief History of the Baseball
The development of the baseball, from shoe rubber and lemon peels to today's minimalist, modernist object
From the fields and stadiums, to the uniforms, to the statistics, baseball is good design. There's no better evidence of that than the iconic white and red ball. With its pristine white surface and high contrast red stitching, today's baseball is a beautiful union of form and function, an almost ideal Modernist object. But it didn't start out that way. The baseball didn't emerge fully formed when the first batter stepped up to the first plate. Like the football, it's hard to attribute its invention to one person, especially considering that in those heady, mustachioed, pre-professional days of baseball, balls were made by cobblers from the rubber remnants of old shoes, with rubber cores wrapped in yarn and a leather cover – if you were lucky. In some regions, sturgeon eyes were used instead of melted shoe rubber. In the 1840s and '50s, it was anything but an exact science and pitchers often just made their own balls. Obviously, there was some variety in size and weight that resulted just from the nature of the handmade process and separate regional developments.
The differences extended from the center of the core to the surface of the leather wrapping. One of the more prominent cover designs wrapped the wound core in a single piece of leather tied off with four distinct lines of stitching, earning it the apt nickname "lemon peel." These balls were smaller –about six inches in circumference compared to today's nine- and they were lighter (in weight), darker (in color) and softer (in softness) than those used today. And the game was a little different too. In the earliest games, runners could be thrown out by getting "soaked," or hit directly with a ball by a fielder – a rule still occasionally practiced on playgrounds and sandlots. These light, compact balls with rubber (or fish-eye) cores were much "livelier" than today's balls – that is to say, the could be hit further and bounce higher. The result was a scoreboard that looked like something from a basketball game.
In the mid 1850s, ball clubs in the New York area elected to standardize the ball's weight at 5.5-6 ounces and its circumference at somewhere between 8 and 11 inches, resulting in a larger, heavier, less lively ball. There was obviously some room for variety, but it was the first step toward regulation.
Throughout the 1850s and '60s, the ball (and the rules) continued to evolve but there was still plenty of room for variation – more rubber in the core and a tighter winding resulted in a "live" ball while less rubber and a loose wind yielded a "dead" ball. Of course, home teams made the balls best suited to their own strengths and style of play. Ball selection was a key strategy and a critical benefit of home-field advantage. Visiting teams with big hitters would, more often than not, find themselves playing with a "dead" ball.
There is some debate about the origin of the 2-part "figure 8" cover that we we know today. Some baseball historians say it was first developed by a shoemaker's son named Ellis Drake, who supposedly put the design together with some of his father's scrap leather in an effort to create a more resilient cover. If this is true, Drake failed to patent his idea and others started producing similar designs. Others give credit to Colonel William A. Cutler, who may have invented the familiar stitching in 1858 and sold it to one of the first baseball manufacturers, William Harwood. Regardless of who created it, the figure 8 became the dominant ball thanks to Harwood & Sons, who built the first factory dedicated to baseball production in Natick, Massachusetts, and was the first to mass-produce the figure 8 design.
In the 1870s, the fluctuating size and weight of the fluctuating was stabilized to something very similar to the one we know and love today, which is officially,and rather vaguely, mandated by the MLB by rule 1.09:
The ball shall be a sphere formed by yarn wound around a small core of cork, rubber or similar material, covered with two strips of white horsehide or cowhide, tightly stitched together. It shall weigh not less than five nor more than 5.25 ounces avoirdupois and measure not less than nine nor more than 9.25 inches in circumference.
The year 1876 welcomed the first game in the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs and a standardization of rules and regulations – including a standard ball. That same year a Boston Red Sox pitcher by the name of A.G. Spalding retired after winning 241 of 301 games in just a four-year career. He pitched every game with balls he made himself. When he convinced the National League to adopt his ball as its standard, an empire was born. Spalding's company would continue to produce the official baseball of the National League for 100 years.
Early professional baseball was marked by incredibly low-scoring games – thanks in large part to the ball. Balls were were soft and became softer during the course of a game and were used until they unraveled, resulting in fewer big hits and lower scores. This was the original "dead-ball" era of baseball.
In 1910 the cork-core ball was introduced into Major League play. As Popular Mechanics explained at the time, "the cork makes possible a more rigid structure and more uniform resiliency. It is said to outlast the rubber center balls many times over, because it will not soften or break in spots under the most severe usage." More importantly though, it could be hit. With the introduction of the livelier cork ball, league-wide batting averages jumped almost immediately. After a few years, however, pitchers began to adapt (and develop a few tricks) and numbers began to level out – until Babe Ruth started hitting balls out of the park; dead-ball era came to a final, stunning end. Ruth started something and baseball enjoyed a live-ball renaissance that actually had nothing to do with the ball, despite popular conspiracy theories that a new, more lively "rabbit" ball was secretly introduced into play in 1920 to increase hitting.
The next big innovation came in 1925 when Milton B. Reach patented the "cushion cork" center, in which a a sphere of cork is surrounded by a black semi-vulcanized rubber, which is then surrounded by another layer of red rubber. In 1934, the American League, which favored live balls and big hitters, and the National League, known to use thicker, looser balls that favored pitchers, agreed on a standard ball. As noted in a great article on the baseball's history from Bleacher Report, the composition of this new "medium ball" was revealed for the first time in The New York Times:
Major league baseballs start with a core of cork mixed with a small amount of rubber. This is covered by a layer of black rubber, then by a layer of red rubber. It is then ready for the winding process, where yarn is added to the core. This is done on a revolving machine…in a humidity- and temperature-controlled room.
Yarn windings consist first of 121 yards of rough gray wool, forty-five yards of white wool then 53 yards of fine gray wool and finally 150 yards of fine white cotton. After these layers have been added to the sphere, it is coated with rubber cement. Then two pieces of horsehide in the shape of the figure '8′ are hand-stitched with red thread to cover the ball.
….Each ball has 108 hand-stitched double stitches in its cover. A finished ball weighs from 5 to 5 1/4 ounces and measures not less than 9, nor more than 9 1/4 inches.
With a few exceptions, the baseball really hasn't changed that much since then.
Surprisingly, the process hasn't changed much either. All 108 red stitches on Major League baseballs are all still stitched by hand, although ball consistency has improved with new technology – materials are now stored in temperature controlled facilities and balls are wound under constant tension to eliminate "soft spots" and guarantee a uniform surface. Also similar to years past: every season is different from the last. Some seasons see a lot of home runs while others see pitchers locked in battle. So far this year, teams have scored the fewest runs per game (4.22) since 1992, when it was 4.12. Granted, the hot summer months where the balls soar through the humid air have yet to come, but it looks like the men on the mound have the upper hand.
"Evolution of the Ball," Baseball Digest (July 1963); Peter Morris, A Game of Inches: The Stories Behind The Innovations that Shaped Baseball (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006); Josh Chetwynd, The Secret History of Balls (Penguin, 2011); Zack Hample, The Baseball: Stunts, Scandals, and Secrets Beneath the Stitches (Random House, 2011); Zachary D. Rymer, "The Evoution of the Baseball from the Dead ball Era Through Today," Bleacher Report (June 18, 2013); 19th Century Baseball


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Judge Jones, JP 1-1
Justice of the Peace 1-1
8301 S. Polk St. Ste. 2100, Dallas, Texas 75232
(972) 228-0280 Main • (972) 228-2737 Fax
Se Habla Español
Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, Part V Rules of Practice in Justice Court
Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, Chapter 15
Texas Rules of Evidence
Thomas G. Jones, Justice of the Peace for Dallas County, participated in the PTA for 11 years before deciding to run for election to the DISD Board of Education. Concerned about his own daughter's education and that of other students, Mr. Jones said, "We have to try to come up with some new and creative ways of getting our children to "drop in on education and not to drop-out".
Mr. Jones served two terms on the School Board (1987- 1992). And from January 1991, to June 1992, Mr. Jones served a dual capacity as School Board Representative, District VI and Justice of the Peace, (Precinct 7) now Precinct 1 Place 1. In June 1992, Judge Jones decided not to seek re-election to the school board.
His career experience includes, having worked for the U.S. Department of Education-Office of Civil Rights for ten years and for the Wilmer-Hutchins School District. He also has served on several city and county boards, including two years on the board of the Adult/Child Learning Center. He is a member of St. Luke Community United Methodist Church.
In 1980, he was honored with the Carnegie Hero Award for risking his life to rescue a man from a burning truck.
Mr. Jones earned an undergraduate degree from Dallas Baptist University and a master's in Urban Studies from the University of Texas at Arlington.
Born in Decatur, Texas Mr. Jones is a graduate of DISD Schools. He and his wife Carolyn's only child, Regina, is a graduate of Carter High School and Prairie View A. & M. University, and a December, 1997 graduate of Texas Wesleyan University School of Law. Also, Judge Jones is the proud grandfather of Jay Logan Taylor.
Precinct 1, Place 1 is the busiest court in the state but is still known as the People's Court.
You must be on the network to see these links.


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Fitness Retreat ReBoot Camp Retreats |
"Get Busy Living, or Get Busy Dying."
It's something Andy Dufresne says to Red in a memorable scene in the movie The Shawshank Redemption. I have always loved that quote, but not until Mike's Reboot Camp™ did I really embrace its true meaning. For the first time in a long time, Mike had me feeling like I was living. While most of my vacations in the past had proved to be a nice temporary escape from reality, this unique journey helped me define a new reality, cherishing and appreciating what really matters. What started as a much needed getaway, quickly evolved into an adventure of self-discovery, self-confidence, self-awareness and self-awakening. During the trip I was in constant awe of my surreal surroundings—the jawdropping sunsets, the picturesque beaches, the clear water, but truthfully I was more in awe of Mike and his unwavering commitment to me. Mike made it his personal mission to remind me about valuing the quality of my life, to re-connecting with the things that matter, to finding my way to a healthier path. His knowledge and insight were equally as impressive as the sunsets. Most of all, he believed in me, and in turn I believed in me.Joining the Reboot Camp ™ was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I am truly grateful for the experience, for Mike's dedication, and for the much needed perspective and energy it afforded me. |


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I recently learned that the writer Jay Bennett died last year at the age of ninety-six. He was the author of the novel Deathman, Do Not Follow Me (1968), a book that I read and reread endlessly when I was twelve or thirteen.
In 2003 I happened to think of the novel, found a copy in a library, and found that many details and bits of dialogue — a description of a girl putting on her glasses to read in class, a conversation about Bob Dylan — were still lodged in my memory. I soon bought my own copy of Deathman, an ex-library copy. (An ex-library copy is to my mind the best way to read a book from one's youth.) I wrote Mr. Bennett a letter and received, via his son, a reply. I felt as though I had paid a longstanding debt.
Wikipedia has a detailed article about Jay Bennett.
A related post
Out of the past (On going back to the books of one's youth)
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Jay Bennett (1912–2009)
By Michael Leddy at 9:58 AM
comments: 5
- Pete said...
2009 was a tough year for artistic Jay Bennetts:
Though the writer obviously lived to a ripe old age, unlike the musician. - April 06, 2010 10:26 AM
- Michael Leddy said...
Yes, the loss of ex-Wilco Jay Bennett was deeply sorrowful. He lived right down the block from my daughter, as we learned only after his death.
- April 06, 2010 10:34 AM
- Daughter Number Three said...
I saw that book as a young person, but for some reason never read it. I will have to get a copy. We should all write to authors we loved as young people.
I agree that ex-libs are the best! - April 06, 2010 7:13 PM
- Michael Leddy said...
Daughter Number Three, I'm so happy to have such a like-minded reader. I'd like to read about your experiences along these lines, if you write about them.
- April 06, 2010 8:05 PM
- Elaine said...
I always thought I'd like to write to E.B. White--_Charlotte's Web_ was a gift from my great aunt on my 9th birthday, and I read, reread, rereread it. I read it aloud to all of my classes, I read it aloud to my own children. And when I had to write a letter of condolence to the husband and sons of my friend and co-author, I quoted the last two lines of the book.
Wish I had not left it too late. - April 07, 2010 9:18 AM


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This summer, All Things Considered is looking at the lives of Men in America and how things have changed — or haven't. Part of that is redefining masculinity, so the show asked me to ask guys about the stuff they equate with manliness today. (Submit your own stories in the form below.)
I started my very unscientific investigation on a Friday night at a Washington, D.C., barbershop. Fresh Cut owner Bernard Fernandez chose his Buick. He fixed it up himself and says that first car meant freedom and independence; a way to get to and from work and a paycheck. "That's manly!" Fernandez says.
"It didn't have nothing but one seat in it, that was the driver's seat — anybody else rode in it, they just rode on milk crates. I had a lot of fun in that car."
When I asked on Twitter, one of you picked a BabyBjorn as your object because you tweeted that you didn't feel like a man until you had a kid. Others mentioned motorcycles, chainsaws and even a "man pan" (that's a heavy cast iron pan for those who are curious; I know I was).
When I posed the question to writer and rapper David Lee, he immediately thought of what he should say.
"I should pick something like a watch or a boot, perhaps a battle-ax," he says.
Lee is a New Yorker who writes Gumship, an online men's guide to Asian lifestyle and entertainment. He ultimately voted against the battle-ax and went with a bathrobe as his masculine object. But his is no Hugh Heffner-esque robe. The blue terry cloth Adventure Time cartoon robe hits around midthigh, and Lee says it represents the luxury of being a man today.
"I think we're at a space in time where men are openly loving My Little Ponies, embracing cartoons, still playing video games, and we're really dictating what it means to be a man," he says. "Everyone's confused whether or not they're being ironic or not, and that's so luxurious, you know?"
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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(and grasp just about anything)
Often times you have no idea what bolt heads you're going to encounter and dragging along a full set of sockets is a pain. Now this travels with the cordless drill set for use on the impact wrench. For a general task it's just the thing. I'm sure it's size could be an issue in more detailed work like automotive or boat work. But for general needs it's very handy. I disassembled a sectional sofa last week and used it on four different bolt heads. Didn't have to bring a socket set or size up the bolts and gather sockets that might be in the ballpark. Love it. Extension has a little wobble built in by design I assume. Helps for when you don't have the head quite centered and the drill moves about. I'm guessing that anything my cordless can drive, won't break this thing. Wouldn't want to try breaking a rusted bolt with it though. If a breaker bar is out, go get a socket.
I use this only as a home tool as needed, but for that it works excellently. It hasn't rusted or been damaged or fallen apart. The bit that keeps it attached to the wrench is very tight, so it doesn't fall off. The only downside is if the bolt is very tight, or rusted in place, etc. the bolt will sort of get wedged between the individual pins while tightening/removingand be a huge pain to dislodge. I assume that's a problem with any universal key, but I haven't used others, so can't say for sure. So if you can afford a good socket key set, I would recommend that, and have this as a backup. Overall excellent product so far.
This is one of those products that gets little use and indeed is hard for me to remember I have it when I need it. I've needed to use it only one time in year or so I've had it but it probably paid for itself in that one usage. i had stripped a caliper bolt trying to break it free and was simply stuck. I remembered this tool, tried it, and it worked! I had to keep a lot of pressure inward on the socket head to help it grip the stuck bolt while at the same time trying to use my other arm/hand to apply pressure to turn this gripper but it was surely a time and $$ saver when it worked.
I've seen this product advertised on Facebook as well as on TV and wondered if it really worked or if it was a piece of junk. Well, it really does work and it's amazing. This is not a product that you have to have but it's a product that makes life a lot easier. When installing and I hook you can always use a screwdriver and twist and twist and twist to tighten it or you can pop this in your drill and have that installed in a second. Definitely helps you save time energy and effort.
I've seen this tool advertised for years but never thought much of it like all as seen on TV type tools. I'm paralyzed and only have the use of one hand so I decided to try this one size fits all kind of tool because going up and down a ladder already is difficult enough. Lo and behold, it did exactly what I needed to do when screws and bolts that have been painted and or around it off were able to be removed. There are tricks to everything and make sure you try to center whatever you are trying to remove in the center of the socket especially if attached to your drill or impact is probably the only helpful information I can pass on. Simply put, it did exactly what I needed done.
Worked as advertise but I feel like it should go deeper to cover all kinds of job. It is a handy tool to keep in the tool box.
I have been searching for this very tool.
I'm tired of guessing and trying various sockets when working on the car. This won't fit every exact large bolt, but it does fit the more common ones.
The packaging was perfect, it arrived on time and I expect the durability to last for years.
This tool is perfect for those people who do not like to have a garage full of tools and want something to help in simple home repairs. It is versatile in the way that it unscrews most things and you do not have to constantly change sockets. Of course this is not a complete replacement for regular tools. The product size is limited to a specific range of sizes but for the most part it will come in handy for most things around the house. Due to the nature of how this product works, I do not recommend using it to repair anything that requires a lot of torque ( fixing a car). Overall a nice handy tool to have. I hope this review helps.
Review is based on common sense. Best tool for small house hold jobs. Not to be used as a replacement for impact sockets. If you can grab it then it can be removed or used for install. I have had this for several months and have used it quite often.
Like a lot - I work on guitars and amps and there are many nuts & bolts that periodically need tightening (but not over-tightening).. This will snug them up faster than anything else - most times I don't even use a wrench, just the socket itself by hand. It may seem trivial to figure out which diameter a nut or bolt needs, but multiply that by 20+ times a day and you will save time and trouble. Very satisfied.
I use this when installing audio equipment. Of course, I have to be very careful not to over-tighten binding posts with it, but it greatly increases the speed at which I can work while hooking speakers up to amplifiers and AV receivers. The tool seems robust and like it will last me many years.
When you need to remove or install something that is odd shaped this is the wonder-tool. I wasn't convinced until I tried it. Now I'm afraid every time someone else tries it I won't get it back. Even bought one for my mom! Could live without it but I don't want to!
This tool can be attached to my screwdriver with multiple bits. It makes skate truck lock nut adjustments easy, and can also tighten the wheels. It is light enough to haul around and attached to my screwdriver I can do just the right torque. I was shopping for a socket wrench set, but this obviates that purchase for me. It sure does grab!
I bought this for my Dad who has macular degeneration and can't see well. He just loves it because he does not get frustrated trying to line everything up. It allows him to work on things he otherwise could not! I will be buying one for us as well.
This is a miracle tool - well made, versatile works on any size, any design, and you can use it for so many things! It is the best tool in my toolbox and I am a Lady!!!
Great tool to be used on special conditions where you do not have the right tool. I do not need to have a different socket from 7mm to 19mm!!!! This will do the job
I am a small woman and sometimes I get fatigue quickly and sockets or bits get difficult to remove and switch out. Tho stool is the perfect answer. I wish I owned it a long time ago...
A versatile addition to any toolbox. It's so nice to have this; it keeps me from having to run to the garage and search for the right size socket. I bought this for my husband, but we all love this tool!
In my case I needed to apply lots of force and it didn't hold up to that. Under normal use it can be extremely handy, saving you time picking up the different sockets as you work through the task at hand.
Got this for as a present for my husband. He sure does like it. He has used it multiple times. I have used it once and it worked like a charm. I would recommend it.
My dad mentioned these being cool so I ordered one for him as a gift not knowing what it does. Once it arrived he showed me and he's right, they're very cool.
The single best tool I have. All you need is this socket, vice grips and a couple of screwdrivers to solve most issues. Strong and versatile. I bought a short handled wrench to use with it. Highly recommend.
Crazy useful! This just saved me hours while putting patio furniture together. I recommend this to everyone who cares about saving their knuckles from pain. Lol.
Would like it to be deeper but it works pretty well. I've used these on my lathe, drill press and band saw to make adjustments and it's worked pretty well.
I use this to tighten the hex nuts on guitar head stocks. It is FANTASTIC for this. One size, no matter for bass or guitar, and it seems well Made.
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Hard News: Five further thoughts
446 Responses
First ←Older Page 1 2 3 4 5 … 18 Newer→ Last
Bart Janssen, in reply to
It's also hard not to hold Cunliffe responsible for the fact that Labour's gone through so many leaders in that time period.
+1 He has been the destabilising force under previous leaders.
giovanni tiso, in reply to
I'd love a moratorium on (public) political polling during the election campaign. I think the perception that the Nat victory was in the bag turned a lot of people off voting. And it encourages horse-race journalism, which debases all of us.
Italy has such a law. I am fond of it.
Jack Harrison, in reply to
It makes democratic sense.
BenWilson, in reply to
That is to announce the end of the Labour Party as it has existed since 1931, when it first got over 30% and 1935 when it first went into government with 46% of the vote.
That actual Labour party ended long ago, when I was a kid. What we've had since is a different thing, a slightly more socially progressive and slightly less economically hard-line neoliberal party. And maybe there is actually only room for one party like that in government, and it's called the National Party.
I'm not surprised that you have been suggesting for years that Labour should become more like them, just as I would be happy if some miraculous turn of events caused National to abandon it's long term plan of turning NZ into a mirror of the US-in-decline.
It might even be wise for them, so long as you predicate "them" as being a bunch of self-serving politicians, rather than the people that they represent. Definitely we could get something that looks like a democracy because it changes hands back and forth between two wealthy cliques.
But that is most certainly NOT the Labour party you were talking about in your quote above, and it is absolutely not a Labour party I would support.
Bart Janssen, in reply to
Agree with 1-4.
But not 5.5 is the one I'm least sure about, tbh.
I really don't know about 5 either. Annecdotally I think it's a bad idea, but Labour is going to have to do some serious research to figure it out.
My 2 cents: I think the major difference in success stems from the right's ability to appeal to naked self interest, and the left's complete failure to understand that as a motivator for voters. Talking about 'fairness' as a concept whether it's rich-poor divide or capital gains tax or whatever will only take you so far, because it's largely a conceptual argument, and more so largely asking people to 'give'. People are not in the mood for that, if they ever really were in a sense of an actual existing voting block. Current economic environment more so, so the more the middle get squeezed, the more they are heading for the right.
The Left are exclaiming: why on earth are people voting against their own self interest? And then suggesting they've just been fooled by John Key's 'anesthetist' smile. Balls. Problem is the left haven't actually given middle NZ anything to vote for except for the self satisfaction of walking around feeling like you've made the world more 'fair'. Sure, the increasing rich-poor divide is the fundamental social issue of our time, but you can't just sit there explaining statistics like a university professor. The leadership of the left simply don't seem to embody these concepts in any kind of visceral way. There's no zeitgeist. I feel like I'm being told how I should feel rather than actually feeling it.
That's why the guts have gone out of the blue collar vote.
I think we on the left see the altruistic side of things as more a motivator than it actually is, and we expect it to have an effect on people than it does. Worse, it sounds like out of touch elitism to make all these conceptual arguments, rather than embodying the 'man/woman of the people'/'one of us' type figure that the left need so desperately, and John Key inhabits so totally at the moment. Jesus, it's not hard to take that ground back. The man's not magical.
Myles Thomas, in reply to
Everything this guy says needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. He seems to be constantly on message for his team, and his aims are strongly against a left resurgence. Pay no attention unless you want to be drawn into a room of mirrors and maybes.
Does anybody know how many eligible voters are in the Maori electorates? And what is the rough number of people in each electorate across the country? Is it about 35,000 ??? Just curious because from my perusal of the Auckland electorates the safe (understatement) National seats were all getting around 30,000 turning out vs around 22 to 23,000 in places like Mangere, Manurewa, Manukau East... While the Maori turnouts were around 17-18,000.
Jack Harrison, in reply to
You have to face the result without anger, hard to do, but essential.
Labour did what you suggest, we never saw them. We had a cloud, a domination of print and video on a problem with our democratic system.This was not a comfortable election, governing power has been given with many reservations.
2. The Maori electorates are now effectively Labour's Heartland.
This is a huge problem for Labour.
Maori, I believe, are far better represented with an independent voice/party in Parliament.
And Labour for some, will struggle to be considered a truly centrist party whilst they contest and hold the majority of the Maori seats.
Unfortunately, I believe there are a large number of pakeha New Zealanders who are prejudice - who object to ToW issues/status and the Maori seats.
Jack Harrison, in reply to
Maori regionalism is a big part of Maori culture. The regions see things differently , Under a democratic process it's obvious . Ngapuhi haven't settled because they are a huge iwi, with hapu that want to do their own bidding .Some hapu up north are bigger than some iwi who have already settled. Maori had its own kingdoms, like old england, scotland, wales and ireland , well before empire democracy arrived.
Katharine Moody, in reply to
Maori, I believe, are far better represented with an independent voice/party in Parliament.
In having an independent voice in Parliament, the Maori strategy should be to develop their brand; during the period between elections recruit more and more tangata whenua to transfer from the general to the Maori roll; eventually stand candidates in general electorates as well and seek co-governance through ensuring that in this MMP environment they always hold the balance of power.
I think the French called it revenge of the cradle.
Jack Harrison, in reply to
Maori, of course have a special interest in the laws because they are a treaty partner who haven't been partnered to their expectations .That's probably why we hammer the treaty of waitangi in schools and public institutions. Maori found this place.
Downbeatdan, in reply to
Right on Peter Cox. The Left have to look at how to plug into the base human instinct to choose what's best for oneself. Watching parents vote for a party which will make their children's tertiary education highly expensive, and a massive debt mountain is a prime indication of that.
Unfortunately, the million non-voters are most likely the ones who would in fact benefit from the policies of the left. Youth, uneducated in low quality jobs,, those on benefits for mental and physical health reasons.. How are they going to be galvanised into action, to even vote? Perhaps they just cant see where their interests lie, or perhaps the daily struggle for survival takes priority over political engagement. -
Kumara Republic, in reply to
I'd love a moratorium on (public) political polling during the election campaign. I think the perception that the Nat victory was in the bag turned a lot of people off voting. And it encourages horse-race journalism, which debases all of us.
To what extent do polling companies and horse-race journalism influence voter behaviour, as opposed to merely reporting the news? We need nothing less than a Royal Commission a la Leveson/Finkelstein to find out.
Barry Jenkin, in reply to
Talk about getting to the nub. Exactly. Unless you are female in which case you better be called Helen. Just an HC groupie.She was my tutor at Auckland U. I still owe her an assignment.
Jack Harrison, in reply to
I don't think left or right can feel happy with a million not voting. As you say, how would they vote if engaged. A million people is a lot, the voting drive failed .
And we know those one million people will have issues in the next 3 years and sensible statistical profiling means we know that a significant amount of them will need state laws to be in their favour. However you didn't vote for anything.
Katharine Moody, in reply to
Maori regionalism is a big part of Maori culture. The regions see things differently
This is a big part of the problem - the regions are dying. The future of Maori is in the cities where their majority live. And their majority aren't on the Maori electoral roll - another problem.
Jack Harrison, in reply to
Don't come to Auckland. It's a stuffed isthmus. Regions are very important in any nation .
BenWilson, in reply to
The leadership of the left simply don't seem to embody these concepts in any kind of visceral way. There's no zeitgeist. I feel like I'm being told how I should feel rather than actually feeling it.
That's a fair analysis.
1. Christ, what a shellacking. Click around Harkanwal Singh's Herald interactive. In electorate after electorate, polling place after polling place, National won at least a plurality of the votes. Even where voters collectively chose to return their Labour MPs to Parliament, they generally gave their party votes to National. Labour won the party vote in only five general electorates. I don't think it's viable for Cunliffe to stay on after this.
Labour won 24.69% of the party vote but won 38.03% of the electorates (27 from 71). Up 5 from 2011 where they won 22 from 70.
National won 42 from 70 in 2011, and 41 from 71 in 2014.
Party vote Labour 27.5% vs National 47.3%
Electorate wins Labour 31.4% vs National 60%2014
Party vote Labour 24.7% vs National 48.06%
Electorate wins Labour 38% vs National 57.7%So whilst Labour's party vote dropped a few percent their candidates did better than 3 years ago partly at the expense of the Maori Party but also National saw a little dip. That's probably more fuel for the problem being a lack of leadership for Labour. As in leader + policy.
Katharine Moody, in reply to
Maori, of course have a special interest in the laws because they are a treaty partner who haven't been partnered to their expectations .
Co-governance, the Treaty intention in words, but never in action.
Labour have never in my experience ever co-governed with their Maori caucus. If they did, they'd have co-leaders - one from the general roll, one from the Maori roll.
Personally, given the crisis we have in constitutional terms, I'd like to see a bicameral Parliament here someday and think it would be totally appropriate in respect of the Treaty for the other House to be a House of Iwi (kind of a House of Lords equivalent in powers). No ability to make laws but an ability to send laws back to the House of Representatives (at least that's how I understand it works in the UK, but I'm not a constitutional expert) where the Maori seats are abolished. Point is, Maori should have a true shared governance function - I don't see how the Maori seats have ever been of serious benefit to Maori or to NZ.
So, digging in the old numbers myself. I always consider the enrolled non-voters just as much as the voters, people staying home can change.
National's got 37.0% of the electorate this time. That's all of them, really. No one stayed home. They haven't had that good in ... forever.It's short of the 39.4% that Labour/Alliance got in 1999 (dropping to 33.1% post-Afghanistan). But it's bigger than any other pre-election deals in MMP.
In context, FPP elections were won on about 27%. MMP elections have dragged that up to about 37% minimum, thus it's much harder to govern alone. National have done it though.
Labour-Green is not a government in waiting, the numbers simply are not there. They've got 28% for three elections in a row (assuming specials trend Green like usual). Whatever the Greens grab from National in the short term (which they do), Labour loses again in the long term. It's not going to work. I'm Green, it's sad, get real.
What Labour got is essentially irrelevant. I mean, the left has never recovered from Afghanistan. National did not have the numbers in any way until 2007. Brash & racism didn't matter, Labour got it back. But they've never recovered the losses from their left in the Alliance.
Māori/Mana hold around 1.5% on top of that 28% for L/G, the Māori seats are relatively small beans in MMP without that overhang, it's useless to Labour, it's such a low vote with the low life expectancy (ouch, but true, so many too young to vote, so few old, not to mention the new prison rules). They'd be better with them as overhangs.
The gap in turnout, to get Labour 37%, is to the left of Labour. They need an Alliance-like party to soak up the conservative socialist vote while they hunt down soft-bellied National party voters. That's their government-in-waiting. The Alliance-Green split seems to work, grabs those namby-pamby liberals as well as the church-goers. Keeps them out of National, but the left is absent and Labour cannot abandon the centre-right "i've got mine" vote to National by hunting it.
And if the left just got old and voted National instead, then there is no majority for Labour anywhere outside where National sits. They need to move in.
They can try to dump old respected MPs in safe seats into in a new party, drag in whoever else they can dig up from the past, pull in SC and whatever else is running loose, put in some of that young blood from the ruins of Mana, declare themselves pacifists and socialists, and see if it polls.If there's no left when it's real, when it's a government-in-waiting again, when it's got respect and suits and ties and attends the right churches, then fuck it, get on with being National-lite with the asshole tax policies and you get to at least protect the schools and hospitals.
Dylan Reeve, in reply to
To what extent do polling companies and horse-race journalism influence voter behaviour, as opposed to merely reporting the news? We need nothing less than a Royal Commission a la Leveson/Finkelstein to find out.
The more I think about polling the more I simply can't see the point in it. At best it offers us a pointless prediction about the outcome of an event that is going to end up the way it does, regardless.
We get nothing from a poll besides an inaccurate and ultimately pointless snapshot of opinions that may well change anyway. The stories that are generate from these polls are equally pointless - they offer no substance and are reporting on imaginary figures that then hopefully further influence the imaginary figures.
At worst polls affect the outcome of the election they are supposed to measure. Surely some percentage of people make their decisions (who to vote for, whether to vote at all) based, at least partially, of the results of polls that are meant to predict those same peoples' actions.
I honestly can't see any good reason to have published polls like that during the election.
Regarding point 5, coalition with Greens, interesting idea.
The Greens have everything Labour need: a progressive outlook (tax the rich); appeal among younger voters; and a philosophy which is widely shared across a range of economic and social strata: the environment is finite, and worth protecting. Labour's neo Marxism-on-a-good-day philosophy won't compete with that in the foreseeable.
Labour have clout history and experience.
Sometime, the Greens are just goings to have to run candidate campaigns: Metiria in Dn North, and possibly some other good folks in urban seats, and possibly Coromandel or somewhere (did I read they beat Labour in the PV in West Coast of all places?).
Perhaps Matthew Hooton would prefer the two parties have a cup of tea. But coalition would be far more effective. And fairer to both voters and candidates. And more aligned with the parties' own values. And maybe even demonstrable of a better, more LabourGreenish way of doing stuff.
In other words, Green cannot grow but at Labour's expense.
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European Copyright Leak Exposes Plans to Force the Internet to Subsidize Publishers
Clerk Note: With the drip-drip-drip of boring legislation, the mighty rock of freedom is cracked. Follow the money.
European Copyright Leak Exposes Plans to Force the Internet to Subsidize Publishers
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/08/european-copyright-leak-exposes-plans-force-internet-subsidize-publishersBy: Jeremy Malcolm
Date: 2016-08-26
A just-leaked draft impact assessment on the modernization of European copyright rules could spell the end for many online services in Europe as we know them. The document's recommendations foreshadow new a EU Directive on copyright to be introduced later this year, that will ultimately bind each of the European Union's 28 member states. If these recommendations by the European Commission are put in place, Europe's Internet will never be the same, and these impacts are likely to reverberate around the world.
The 182-page document identifies three general objectives—ensuring wider access to content, adapting copyright exceptions to the digital and cross-border environment, and achieving a well-functioning marketplace for copyright. In this initial article we examine the recommendations that fall under the third of these three objectives, which are amongst the most alarming proposals, including new obligations on Internet platforms, and new copyright-like powers for news publishers.
More specifically, this article will look at two of the proposals for what the Commission calls "upstream" problems, or difficulties faced by copyright owners in extracting value from the use of content online. We'll deal with other parts of the document in later posts.
"Sharing of Value" Proposal Exposes Rightsholder Greed
The assumption that copyright owners should be entitled to share in any value created by online platforms is never really examined by the Commission. The theory is that because online platforms are doing rather well in the digital environment, and because traditional publishing industries are doing less well, this gives the publishers some kind of claim to share in the profits of the platforms. It's a questionable starting point, and as we'll see, the recommendations that flow from it are ill-considered and harmful.The first of the two problems that copyright owners supposedly face in extracting such value is that there is a large amount of user-generated content uploaded by users to sharing platforms, and that European law does not place an obligation on platforms to proactively police this content for possible copyright infringement, but instead relies on the latter to identify that the material has been uploaded without authorization and to request its removal. That existing law strikes a reasonable balance, similar to Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in the U.S.
Major entertainment companies characterize this as a problem because it means that copyright owners have less ability to ask online platforms to pay licensing fees for their content. In the case of user-generated content platforms (think YouTube and Soundcloud), the platform can simply offer to remove a copyright-owner's content rather than paying for it—or, in practice, to voluntarily offer a compromise such as YouTube's Content ID that automatically scans uploaded content and shares ad revenues for content identified as the copyright owner's.
As for platforms that offer access to their own library of content (think Netflix and Spotify), rightsholders contend that they may be willing to pay less in order to remain competitive with the user-generated content platforms. In either case, major copyright holders contend that platforms should be paying them more for the content that the platforms make available online.
The European Commission's proposed solution, however, is worse than the supposed problem. The Commission is proposing that user-generated content platforms should be forced to seek, in good faith, to conclude private agreements with copyright owners and to put in place "appropriate and proportionate content identification technologies". In short, the use of something like YouTube's Content ID system is being made compulsory.
This is a treacherous idea for many reasons, but just to give two:
- Automated systems, no matter how technically sophisticated, can never replace human judgment about whether user generated content infringes copyright. This is because copyright exceptions that exist in the United States (such as fair use) and in various forms across Europe (such as quotation, parody, and news reporting), mean that not every act of copying is an infringement. As a result, Content ID-type systems will inevitably misflag content, and wrongly allow a copyright claimant to monetize it or take it down.
- Content ID-type systems are extremely expensive. YouTube reportedly spent $60 million on the development of Content ID, but even if a new entrant would have to spend a small fraction of that on a similar system, that would still be an insurmountable obstacle to the majority of small and medium enterprises, and to non-profit organizations and users ranging from Wikipedia, all the way down to your brother who hosts a fanart messageboard on a desktop PC in his bedroom.
More broadly, this kind of insidious regime of private agreements pushed by government is the kind of cop-out from good lawmaking that EFF calls "Shadow Regulation"; a concept that we'll be introducing in more depth in subsequent Deeplinks posts, where we will give some other examples of the same. But in short, such agreements can embody the worst of all possible approaches, by combining the coercion of government regulation, with the lack of accountability of corporate self-regulation.
A Link Tax in Favor of News Publishers
The European Commission doesn't stop there, but also has a similarly ham-fisted proposal to address the declining revenues of news publishers from their print publications, which leaves them with fewer resources to continue to invest in journalism.We have previously agreed that this is a real problem. But where the Commission errs is to pin responsibility for this problem on the reuse of news content by Web platforms under exceptions to copyright; and it compounds this error by seeking to limit their use of such copyright exceptions going forward.
The Commission's proposal is to award publishers a new copyright-like veto power, layered on top of the copyright that already exists in the published content, allowing them to prevent the online reuse of news content even when a copyright exception applies. This veto power may last for as little as one year, or as many as 50—the Commission leaves this open for now.
This kind of veto power has been described as a link tax—notwithstanding the Commission's protestations that it isn't one—because when the publisher controls even the use of small snippets of news text surrounding a hyperlink to the original article, it essentially amounts to a tax on that link. The result, as seen in Spain, will be the closure of online news portals, and a reduction in traffic to news publishers.
A new wrinkle on this link tax proposal is that the Commission also proposes that publishers who have received a transfer of copyright from authors should also be entitled to collect revenue from whatever copyright levies member states may impose to "compensate" authors for use of their content under copyright exceptions. The notion that "compensation" is needed for users exercising their rights under copyright is a thoroughly perverse one, as we have previously explained. This addition to the link tax proposal is a gift to copyright collecting societies that will further increase the cost and complexity of lawfully reusing content.
What Happens Now?
The impact assessment is not yet a draft law, but it is a crystal clear indication from the European Commission about the content of the law that is is proposing to develop as a draft for approval by the other European institutions, namely the European Parliament, and the Council of the European Union. Users will have further opportunities for input into the proposals when they reach that stage.But we'll have the best chance of stopping these misguided proposals if European officials are alerted to our concerns right away. They need to understand that Internet users won't accept the "Shadow Regulation" of intermediaries by requiring them to enter into expensive and error-prone arrangements with copyright owners for the automating flagging of user content. Neither will they accept a new "link tax" for news publishers that could stifle the dissemination of news online.
The article is reproduced in accordance with Section 107 of title 17 of the Copyright Law of the United States relating to fair-use and is for the purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
Posted by Vatic Clerk at 1:33 AM
Thanks to Vatic Clerk at: http://vaticproject.blogspot.com