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Chocolate Clusters
Salty, crunchy, and chocolaty, these bite-sized candies are easy to whip up whenever you need a treat.
Level: Easy
Yield: 3 1/2 dozen
- 2 c. semisweet chocolate chips
- ¼ c. peanut butter
- 2 c. cornflakes
- ½ c. crushed potato chips
- ½ c. unsalted peanuts
- In a large glass bowl, microwave chocolate chips and peanut butter on High 30 seconds; stir. Repeat until melted.
- Mix in cornflakes, potato chips, and peanuts; drop by tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheet lined with waxed paper. Refrigerate until hard.
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text: My name is Lulu the English bulldog. They say I have a wonderful personality. My kisses are wet and slobbery. When I roll over on my back, mommy will rub my tummy and I fall right asleep. I will do anything for food. It's my most favorite thing. Yummy treats and sometimes things that aren't meant for eating. I run and jump and play and snore. My favorites toy is my rubber chicken! I love new people. I get to show off my pretty pink toes mommy paints for me.Add to Favorites

subset: commoncrawl


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May 22, 2014
It is high time that we paid more creative attention to energy. It is the common denominator of all activity, and its availability, transformations and usability are defined by immutable physical laws which have been termed "The Constitution of the Universe" – the Laws of Thermodynamics.
The extent to which economics in general and energy economics in particular take note of and align value with thermodynamic performance has been a significant though peripheral theme over the past 150 years
The extent to which energy prices reflect value or risk is becoming an important area of focus, and we believe that a consideration of thermodynamic performance (i.e. the lifetime energetic efficiency of different fuels) might represent a useful tool for those seeking to scale and value renewables production.
We recently published an approach to identifying this efficiency – Entropic Valuation.
This idea analyses the efficiency by which a variety of solar derived energy sources (solar PV and lithium-ion storage, biomass, coal, oil and natural gas) capture, store and render incoming solar kilojoules.
Using this analysis a new picture of value and efficiency emerges. For example, if we consider the conversion of solar kilojoules into usable kilojoules, then solar PV is circa 100,000 times more efficient than oil.
If we put this into price terms, e.g. pricing each incoming solar KJ at a nominal cost of $1 then the cost differences are striking, e.g. a KJ from solar PV would be $10, but a KJ from oil would be $1.1m!
The whole piece can be seen here (it's a quick read): http://www.forumforthefuture.org/greenfutures/articles/energy-economics-if-thermodynamics-mattered
Of course, fossil fuels represent a powerful "bang for the buck" in terms of concentrated, transportable energy – however, the notion that they are more energetically efficient than solar PV can only be asserted if we ignore the process by which they were formed, and the impacts of their use.
We believe that entropic analysis should be the manner by which, in the future, we compare, judge and value energy sources.
Technologists and new economy entrepreneurs might have a powerful role in using such ideas. The ability to conceptualise and create new models of business, of production and of utility represent skills essential for moving our production and supply system away from burning stolen fossil time towards harvesting the "real time" solar bounty (84 Terawats) we receive freely from the Sun each day.
Best regards,
Greg Reply:
May 22nd, 2014 at 11:33 am
That's an interesting approach Joss and I think it definitely has some merit. However, as a practical matter, I don't think most people are concerned with total entropic efficiency as they are with the cost today. Fossil fuels are cheaper simply because we benefit from the millions of years that natural forces took to produce them.
That seems to be changing and most analysts tend to see 2020 as a year of inflection for solar. Hydrogen and other approaches seem a bit further off, but you never know…
On thing that is clear is that efficiencies are being uncovered across the energy value chain, from production to storage to installation to usage. Any way you slice it, that's a good thing.
– Greg
Joss Tantram Reply:
May 22nd, 2014 at 11:56 am
Dear Greg,
Thank you for your reply and for your kind words.
I also think you are right that most people aren't concerned with total entropic efficiency. Our contention is that perhaps they should be!
Certainly the geological time investment is a "sunk cost" representing a de-facto production subsidy from prehistory and it could certainly be argued that we shouldn't concern ourselves overmuch about this, just consider it as a happy accident.
However, there is an element to which this hidden subsidy blinds us to the fact that our industrial systems can make far better use of such wonderful complex polymers than burning them in a one-time uses, giving us a wholly false sense of their value.
One of the reasons that we started to explore this is issue was to provide a new "and another thing" argument about fossil fuels – focussing upon an area of energy that is little touched upon, especially in energy economics – its origination.
Of course such entropic analysis reinforces what we already know, that using scarce and dirty energy is not a very good long term plan. Nevertheless, we think that entropic optimisation may provide an interesting design parameter that might help drive energy technology. In addition connecting industrial process and technology design to a fundamental physical law seems like a pretty sensible idea to me.
Of course what we really need technologists to develop are production processes that use energy as effectively and safely as biological processes already do… and beyond that to crack artificial photosynthesis, then solar power would be really something!
We have some dreams about such technologies here: http://www.terrafiniti.com/blog/more-life-now-a-manifesto-for-rejuvenative-technology/
In the meantime, roll-on the inflexion point for safe, clean, everlasting (almost) energy from the sun.
Thank you again,
Greg Reply:
May 22nd, 2014 at 11:59 am
Yes, the artificial photosynthesis thing is really exciting. There was a lot of talk about it a few years ago and I know Exxon and Craig Venter have a joint venture, but haven't heard much lately.
Please let me know if you come across anything.
– Greg
May 22, 2014
Dear Greg,
Artificial photosynthesis is fantastically exciting, but it seems to be one of those things that us perpetually "just around the corner", forever 7 to 10 years away.
The ecologist part of me feels that in order to achieve artificial photosynthesis (at the level of sophistication employed by plants) would require a quantum leap of understanding from where we are now.
That doesn't mean that we couldn't develop production systems that would align more towards natural production approaches – getting our heads around hyper aggregation would be a start.
I recently asked an entomologist friend of mine with an interest in these things how close we are to cracking and applying some of nature's techniques and she said we are still a long, long way away. We can mimic, in a gross fashion, some of the performance characteristics (e.g. learn from gecko's feet and to stick to ceilings) but a long way from stuff like safe room temperature chemical synthesis or matter production.
Still, I promise to keep a look out and to remain optimistic!
Best regards,
Greg Reply:
May 22nd, 2014 at 1:44 pm
Apparently, Exxon invested $800 million in Craig Venter's "artificial life" approach, so hopefully it may really be 7-10 years away. However, as I mentioned, I haven't heard much about it since the initial breakthrough.
ARPA-e seems to be doing a lot of early stage stuff along these lines as well. I guess we'll just have to wait and see…
– Greg
June 8, 2014
Another excellent post. How about a future exploration of solar and wind energy storage and transmission? I've read that these are the big challenges and areas that need investment and breakthroughs.
Greg Reply:
June 8th, 2014 at 9:38 am
Good point. Those definitely are important areas.
– Greg


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I've always kept my distance from strange dogs – many of man's best friends are wary of photographers and postmen. But "Chucho," a 7-month-old mutt, was thrilled to see me walk outside the Royal Cafe in Albany. I guess he figured a little love from a photographer would pass the time nicely before the main event of leftovers.
This dog body language appears to be very friendly, and it's a great invitation for a belly rub.
See and purchase more work from Frederic Larson
Mystical San Francisco Photography book with Herb Caen


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Mad. Sq. Eats for Spring 2016 is underway, and here are the vendors
Madison Square Eats is underway again in the open space just west of Madison Square Park (around 25th Street and 5th Avenue), and this spring 2016 food market runs from April 30th until May 27th, from 11am until 9pm daily.
As most of you know, it features dozens of food stands offering up lunch and dinner takeaway options of all types of cuisine for about $8-$10 each. It's perfect for an outdoor lunch, afternoon snack or casual dinner.
- Bangkok Bar
- Bar Suzette
- Beatrice Burger
- The Cannibal
- Calexico
- Chingu
- Gotham Poke
- Hill Country Barbecue
- Hong Kong Street Cart
- Ice & Vice
- ilili Box
- Inday
- La Sonrisa Empanadas
- Macaron Parlour
- Masa
- Mayhem & Stout
- Melt Bakery
- Melt Kraft
- Nunu Chocolates
- Ono Hut
- Paella Shack by Barraca
- Palenque
- Red Hook Lobster Pound
- Sigmund's
- Squish Marshmallows
- The Truffleist
- Two Tablespoons
The event is hosted by UrbanSpace and the Madison Square Park Conservancy.[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="549"] Melt Kraft[/caption]


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Buy Whole Teff: One-Pound Quantities
On our buying guides we typically compare different vendors and make a recommendation based on price and quality. When buying teff in small quantities, particularly when you are new to teff and just trying it out, we recommend buying locally to save on the cost of shipping. Nearly any health food store or health-oriented market will carry teff either in bulk open bins or on their shelves with other packaged grains. This will be your most affordable option.
However, if you are remote or just need to purchase a small quantity today without leaving your computer, you will find your best deals through this link. Prices do change, so we hesitate to list them, but that marketplace is the most competitive in the United States and typically offers the best deal for a one-off small purchase.
Buy Teff Flour: One-Pound Quantities
We have the recommendation for buying teff flour as for whole teff in small quantities: buy it locally if you have access. If not, check out your options here and be careful not to have a coronary over shipping costs — buy other items while you are there to help defray the cost of shipping.
Buy Bulk Teff — Brown Teff
Teff is typically purchased in small quantities by consumers, but if you are shopping for larger bulk quantities of teff, the vendor below is an excellent one. The prices are subject to change — we do try to keep them updated.
|10 lbs
|25 lbs
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A dog that licks or chews on its feet, rubs its face as if itchy, scratches under its front legs and in the groin area, and licks its anal area excessively may be telling you that it has atopic dermatitis. It starts with a little inflammation, then generalized itching, called "pruritis," leading to scratching. Next comes hair loss, often followed by a skin infection with bumps.
"The immune system is overreacting to something," says Patrick Hensel, Dr.med.vet., a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Dermatologists and associate professor of dermatology at the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine in Athens.
Chronic atopic dermatitis is almost always due to an allergy of some kind, and typically begins between 6 months of age and 3 years.
"Every dog [who has it] is allergic to something," says Hensel, who received his veterinary degree in Germany. "The problem is to figure it out. It can be tricky." For most dogs, a source of the allergy such as a food ingredient or something in the environment can be identified. Sometimes it starts with the bite of an insect, such as a mosquito or even a fly.
If your dog has clinical signs of atopic dermatitis, the particular cause will be dependent on where you live. "Here in the Southeast, we have a totally different set of allergens than in the West," Hensel says. To complicate matters further, a combination of things can cause the allergic reaction and genetics also play a role, he adds.
Chinese Shar-Pei, Wire Fox Terriers, Golden Retrievers, Dalmatians, Boxers, Boston Terriers, Labrador Retrievers, Lhasa Apsos, Scottish Terriers, Shih Tzu and West Highland White Terriers can be predisposed to atopic dermatitis, but Hensel says there is no official recommendation regarding the breeding of dogs with allergies. A lot depends on when a particular dog is exposed to a specific allergen, he says. The Merck Veterinary Manual notes that "prevalence within a breed is largely dependent on the genetic pool and region."
Although neither the American Veterinary Medical Association nor the American College of Veterinary Dermatologists currently has an official recommendation, Hensel says that a breeder with a severely allergic dog should consider not breeding it.
Food First
In the Southeast where Hensel teaches and practices, at least 90 percent of his dermatitis patients have one or more allergies. Part of that high number, however, is because of the humidity and heat in that part of the country. "We are a high-allergy region in general," he says.
When a dog shows up at his veterinary college clinic with signs of atopic dermatitis, "The first thing we do is rule out other diseases, parasitic diseases" or any skin infections. "If we rule that out, and these animals are still pruritic, then the next step is to rule out a food allergy." Food and environmental allergies "look very, very similar," he says.
While research says that about 10 percent of dogs with atopic dermatitis have food allergies, "I personally believe it's much higher," he says. More than that percentage of the dogs seen at the university clinic have food allergies. Hensel thinks that's because of the protocol the dermatology team follows. "You get a higher response when you follow it strictly."
First the dog is fed something it has never eaten before, such as rabbit or kangaroo, called a "novel protein." A hydrolyzed diet, one in which protein such as soy or chicken are pre-processed, can also be used. However, Hensel says it's important to use a veterinary prescription diet, rather than an over-the-counter one, because ingredient control is more stringent. The dog must eat this restricted diet for a minimum of eight weeks, he says. During this time, it can have no table scraps and no dog treats of any kind. Even medication in a capsule – if the capsule is made of gelatin – can alter the test results. "Then we can start introducing ingredients," Hensel says, with the team "challenging" the dog with its previous diet to see if clinical signs of the dermatitis re-emerge.
Chicken, beef and dairy products are the most common food allergens, he says, with a dog "occasionally" reacting to corn or soy.
If the dog ultimately reacts to an ingredient added back to the diet, it will "dramatically help" if it doesn't eat that ingredient in the future. The dermatitis may be controlled simply by never allowing the dog to eat that item again. However, "Even though we say it's controlled, it doesn't mean they'll always be normal," Hensel says. For example, the dog may go along fine for months or longer, then get bitten by a flea, and again, the dermatitis will flare up.
When that happens, an antihistamine, such as Benadryl, may be enough to get the inflammation under control and stop the reaction from growing. Or it may not, but a few days of prednisone tablets should clear it up, Hensel says.
Then the dog will be fine again, until there's some other assault on its immune system.
If the food allergy test reveals no allergy, the next step is to test for environmental allergens.
House and Yard
Pollen, grasses, trees, dust mites, danders and all kinds of things can cause an allergic reaction, resulting in atopic dermatitis.
Tests to identify which one is affecting an individual dog come in two forms, Hensel says. The preferred is a skin test. Simply put: "You inject a small amount of allergen into the skin, then see if there's a reaction," he says. However, most non-specialized veterinary practices use allergy tests performed on the dog's blood to look for allergen-specific antibodies. "Neither test is perfect," he says, "but we believe so far that skin tests are more reliable than blood tests."
Once the dermatologist knows what they are, desensitization, referred to as "allergy shots" begins.
Such skin tests often determine that a dog has a combination of allergies. Photo courtesy of Patrick Hensel, Dr.med.vet.
Although it can vary depending on the patient, Hensel says, most dogs receive injections with increasing amounts of the allergen every other day for 25 days, then once a week. "There's a 70 to 80 percent success rate" with this method, leading to at least a 50 percent improvement in clinical signs. "Again, it's not perfect," Hensel says. It may take six to nine months for that improvement to take place. Once it does, the dog is rechecked every three months for a year. "We then decide whether we want to continue or stop it. If there is complete control, we reduce injections to every other week. The question is can we take them off the vaccine at some point? Many clients don't want to go off after the animal is under control."
If the decision is made to discontinue the allergy shots, occasional flare-ups can be expected. The goals then are "to keep the animal comfortable, reduce their itch and inflammation," Hensel says. Again Benadryl can defuse the flare-up, but if not, prednisone usually does the job.
For dog owners who don't want to go through the intense process of desensitization, the cyclosporine "can be effective for long-term control," Hensel says.
When Nothing Works
Unfortunately, approximately 10 to 20 percent of dogs' dermatitis has no identifiable cause. In those cases, it's a matter of keeping the inflammation down as much as possible and trying to keep the dog as comfortable as is realistic.
Fortunately, atopic dermatitis is a "hot potato" in veterinary dermatology, Hensel says, so there's a lot of research going on at lots of veterinary schools all across the country and internationally. That research is looking at the condition on all fronts from how to better diagnose allergies to topical drugs that might help dogs whose allergies can't be identified to a "big push," Hensel says, to create a skin barrier to prevent allergens from invading through the skin.
Right now, "there are products to basically restore the skin barrier," he says. Some you apply with an applicator; another is a spot-on that you apply weekly after a bath. "As an adjunct treatment, they are often beneficial," he says. "Clients say the skin is less dry, and the coat is shinier."
Despite prevalence of atopic dermatitis and all of the interest in it within the veterinary research community, "We still don't know a lot," he says. "We know the basics, but it's a much more complex thing than we believed it was."
Dogs that have been diagnosed also benefit from eating a high-end diet with a high fatty-acid content, he says. And it's important that they remain on a diet that works for them, without the addition of treats or table food that aren't hypoallergenic for the particular dog. While there is some suggestion that probiotics can be helpful, he, personally, hasn't had any experience with them. Depending on where the dog lives, it may need year-round flea preventives. A house with fewer rugs, draperies and carpeting can help, as they can trap allergens, creating more exposure.
"Every patient is different," Hensel says, so finding what works and sticking to it are the keys to control.


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According to ayurveda texts - men who are very active in sex are at a greater risk of losing energy and nutrients. Loss of energy and nutrients may lead to erectile dysfunction, low libido and poor semen quality and quantity.
Unhealthy semen or abnormalities in semen lead to infertility in men. According ayurveda unhealthy semen is known as dooshita shukra. When vitiated doshas affect semen, the semen loses its ability to fertilize egg.
Testosterone hormone is produced by testicles in men. It is responsible for development of male sexual characters like physical strength, muscle mass, body shape, body hair, deep voice, sexual function etc. Erectile dysfunction occurs when testosterone level is reduced. But this is not the only cause for erectile dysfunction.
Males begin to produce Sperm during Puberty. At this time, the male hormone (Androgen) testosterone produced by testes, stimulate the sperm production.
Most men are aware of the injurious effect of smoking on their well being. Scientific experiments and statistics have shown that smokers lose an average of 10-15 years from their life expectancy.
Medical research has consistently shown that smoking is most likely a major cause of Erectile Dysfunction (ED). Erectile Dysfunction is also colloquially referred to as 'impotence' (a term of much wider import encompassing multifarious dysfunctions of the male reproductive system).
The testes are two glandular organs, which secrete the semen; they are suspended in the scrotum by the spermatic cords. Testes are suspended outside the abdominal cavity in the scrotum,
Low sperm count, reduced sperm motility and malformed sperms are main causes for male infertility. There are various biological and environmental factors which affect sperm count, motility and morphology. Many of these factors have been mentioned in ayurvedic texts. The causes of low sperm count are briefly explained below.
As men approach middle age they experience a dip in their libido. Libido means desire to have sex. Many factors are responsible for low libido in men.Psychological:
Major cause for male infertility is low sperm count, low sperm motility and a large number of malformed or abnormal sperms. Various environmental and biological factors affect the sperm count.


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Author: Pete
Location: Brisbane, Australia
LAND HO!!!!! After 10 days crossing the Tasman Sea, Tayrona pulls safely into Brisbane, Australia!
Miranda spotted land low on the horizon this morning and shook me from my graveyard-shift-induced slumber. There it was, Australia. After two years of sailing west towards this moment it was pretty much impossible to hold back. A solid, "LAND HO!" burst forth from Miranda. Okay, it was me, but she was pretty excited too.
It took a full day to navigate around Moreton Island and into the Brisbane river. Once you see land, it's another sixty miles into port. It's pretty much the slowest day ever. Just… grinds… Didn't help that we had a head wind of fifteen knots and choppy irksome waves on the bow that made Tayrona lurch and stagger like a prize fighter on a losing streak.
For a while it looked like the day would be stretched out to grueling eternity, but once we were in the lee of the island the waves smoothed out to zilch and our new course provided a favorable wind angle. We unfurled the sails and shot off at eight knots. I was so happy that we didn't have to motor Tayrona in on her last landfall like some kind of clunky trawler. She wants to sail in!
And sail we did. Sunset 'round these parts is five-thirty, and the cloudless day afforded a blazing, clear sunset as we approached the Brisbane River.
We dodged a few cargo ships making for sea, and then navigated five miles up river in the dark. Is green on the right here, or is that the other way around? We eventually tied up at the Riverside Marina quarantine dock and were checked in by customs despite the late hour.
I'm incandescent. We made it. We sailed to Australia.


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Achievements Of The 19th Century:
A Century Of Achievement
Marvelous Machinery
Light And Heat Including Photography
Mining And Metallurgy
Read More Articles About: Achievements Of The 19th Century
( Originally Published Early 1900's )
"Give me a fulcrum on which to rest, and I will move the earth," said Archimedes when he discovered the lever. The modern engineer has found a standing point and he literally moves the earth not, it is true, in its place among the stars, but in that he brings every part of the universe nearer to the other and bends the forces of nature to his own purposes. The progress of the science of engineering is shown by its specialization during the Century. Mining and electrical engineering are treated elsewhere, Here it is the intention to tell of the progress in civil engineering during one hundred years and also to trace the development of steam, gas, and water power by the mechanical engineer.
All industries are indebted to the engineer. Civil engineering ranks among the learned professions, and mechanical engineering has ceased to be classed as a trade. It is the engineer, that magician of the Nineteenth Century, who binds the world together with the steel rails of the railway and the electric wire of the telegraph. He builds mammoth machines which will crush a ton of granite or crack an egg with equal ease; he has made use of the secrets of the elements, and realizes the imagery of Job in that he measures the mountains and rides upon the whirlwind. Gleaning the theories and facts from the scientists, who ferret out the secrets of nature, he makes use of them for the benefit of industry. No problem daunts the engineer of to-day; no feat is so impossible that he is not ready to essay it. He annihilates space and matter. The spirit of the mountain and the demon of the deep have not terrified him. The deepest valleys and the highest mountains are his playthings ; he bridges the one and tunnels through the bowels of, the other. He lifts great masses weighing thousands of tons with the ease with which a man will lift his finger. The feats fabled of the eastern genii are eclipsed by his everyday performances. "The high object of our profession is to consider and determine the most economic use of time, power, and matter," said a famous American engineer. That there will be further progress in this direction is certain, but it will be a marvelous Century that can show half so great a progress as has been made in that which is now closing.
To no industry has the engineer given a greater share of his art than to that of perfecting everything connected with railroading, and it is chiefly in the United States that this development has taken place. The steel rail as we know it today is in itself a wonderful piece of engineering. Thirty-five years ago the rail was of wrought-iron and shaped like a pear-head, but its evolution under the hands of the engineer has made it of steel and fitted it in every way for the work that it has to perform. Simple as it it, there is a reason for every curve, dimension and angle. It is made expressly for the purpose of sustaining its heavy loads and standing the impact of the count-less blows it receives.
So, too, the location of the railroad and the determination of exactly where every foot of the track shall be laid is an engineering feat. In the early days it was thought impossible for a locomotive to climb grades. The engineer has found just what grades the locomotive will climb and locates his track accordingly. Tunnels and great rivers were supposed to present practically unsurmountable obstacles, but the patient work of the engineer has shown that the greatest mountains might be pierced and the greatest chasms bridged. Railways can be built wherever it is profitable to build them.
Engineers of the olden time worked with stone, while those of to-day use steel. Fifty years ago bridges were built almost entirely of wood and stone. As long ago as 1779 the first iron bridge in England was built, and with 100-foot span and 370 tons of iron used in construction, it was the wonder of a generation, although it seems puny enough compared to the great Forth bridge of to-day, with 51,000 tons of steel. How conditions have changed since 1779 is shown by the fact that since 187o it has been a law in Russia that no bridges shall be made of wood. Yet the Howe wooden truss bridge of 184o was regarded as a wonder in its day, and some of them are still doing excellent service, the most famous being Wernberg's "Colossus," with 240 feet span over the Schuylkill.
Small streams were bridged at first and then the larger rivers were crossed, until now there is talk of bridging the English channel, making a railway journey possible from London to Paris, and the bridge would probably be built were it not that it would destroy the military advantages possessed by England through its insular position. In the United States alone there are now over 3,000 miles of bridgework, enough to form a highway across the Continent. This progress has been made possible by the use of iron and steel, the application of new theories of forces. The first attempt to use iron exclusively for long spans was the tubular bridge. Stephenson and Harrison had finished in 1849 the high-level bridge at Newcastle-on-Tyne. The first iron bridge in the United States was built at Frankfort, N. Y., in 1840.
By the introduction of the suspension bridge a great stride was made in bridge-building. Telford, a Scotch engineer, designed the first bridge across the Menai Straits in 1818, and it was opened in 1826, with a span of 579 feet and a roadway 100 feet above the water level. Other suspension bridges followed of increasing size. The general principle of the suspension bridge is exemplified in a chain hanging between two fixed points on the same level. If two chains were placed parallel to each other a roadway for a bridge might be formed by laying planks across it, but the ascent and descent would be necessarily steep. No amount of force could stretch the chains perfectly level, as even a small piece of straight cord cannot be stretched horizontally in a perfectly straight line. It was a happy idea to hang the roadway from the chains, for then the roadway would remain perfectly level if built so as to be level after the curve had been figured. The suspension bridge built by Roebling in 1852 had a span of 800 feet. It was followed by the Clifton bridge, opened in 1864. The Clifton bridge at Niagara Falls, and the bridges at Pittsburg and Cincinnati are of this type. The largest of all is the Brooklyn bridge, erected at a cost of $15,500,000, and having a clear water-way of 1,595 1-2 feet. It was begun in 1870 and opened May 24, 1883. Each cable contains 5,296 parallel (not twisted) galvanized steel oil coated wire, closely wrapped into a solid cylinder 15 3-4 inches in diameter, and the permanent weight suspended from these gigantic cables is 14,680 tons.
The favorite form of bridge-building at present is the cantilever system, the first metal bridge of that type being Shaler Smith's cantilever over the Kentucky River, erected in 1877. The principle of the cantilever is very simple. A powerful structure of steel, in shape not unlike the walking-beam of a paddle steamer, rests upon a pier. The weight on one side balances that on the other, but the arms of the two cantilevers do not meet. Imagine an engine's walking beam thirteen hundred feet long almost a quarter of a mile resting upon its center so that it projects in either direction 675 feet. Next fancy two such cantilevers so placed that their ends leave an abyss of 350 feet between them. This space is filled with an ordinary girder bridge, the ends of the two cantilevers serving as piers. The Forth bridge, built on this principle and opened in 189o, is the largest spanned bridge, having a length of 8,098 feet. It is composed of three double cantilevers; a central one of 1,62o feet resting on a pier built on the Island of Inchgarvie, two 1,514 feet in length joined to the central cantilever by girders of 350 feet span. The highest elevation of the bridge is 361 feet over the piers. Fifty-one thousand tons of steel were used in the construction of the bridge and fifty-six lives were lost during its erection, which occupied seven years and gave employment to as many as 5,000 men at one time. The total cost of this bridge, which is across the Firth of Forth at Queensbury, Scotland, was $16,000,000. The bridge at Memphis, Tenn., is the longest cantilever bridge in the United States, the greatest of its three spans being 720 feet.
Improvements in sinking the foundations have been nearly as great as those in raising the superstructure. The caisson is an application of the diving-bell that has simplified the work of sinking piers, and a German inventor has recently devised a process by which soft earth can be frozen and then dug out as if it were solid rock.
Modern engineering has made tunneling a comparatively simple operation. The tunnel is as old as the bridge, but its development has been no less remarkable. The early tunnels in the Century required the expenditure of an enormous amount of time, but new devices for rock-boring and the removal of soft earth have simplified matters. One of the earliest known tunnels, said to have been constructed to drain the plateau on which stands the City of Mexico, pierced the Nochistengo ridge for six miles. It was destroyed during a flood and was replaced by an open cut in 1608. But it required more than a century to build that tunnel with the devices then in the possession of engineers. The work was done almost entirely by hand and although the workmen were paid only 9 cents a day, the cost was $6,000,000. Aside from the free workmen all convicts sentenced to hard labor were put to work on the tunnel, which cost the lives of more than 100,000 workmen.
Nowadays machinery has replaced hand labor to a great extent, and there is no such great sacrifice of men required. This has made possible the building of tunnels of great length. The machine rock drill, invented by J. J. Couch, an American, in 1849, was first used in tunneling Mont Cenis, and made possible the Hoosac tunnel. Mont Cenis tunnel was long one of the wonders of the world. Nearly eight miles in length, it extends from Madane to Bardonneche under the Col de Frejus. The work was begun in 1857, with rock-boring machines, but these proving impractical, for four years the workmen drilled holes and blasted the rock by manual labor. Improvements in the machinery invented by Couch then made possible the use of machinery. Before the ma-chines were employed progress could be made at the rate of eighteen inches per day; towards the close, when the rock-boring machinery was in full working order, as much as 400 feet per month was excavated. From 1857 to 186o by hand labor alone 1,646 meters were excavated; from 1861 to 1870 the remaining 10,587 meters were completed by machine.
Most remarkable of completed tunnels is the St. Gothard, piercing the Alps. Work was begun in September, 1872, at each end, and it is a remarkable feat of civil engineering that the two openings met, in spite of the difficulty of the survey, with a variation of only 2 inches horizontally and 13 inches laterally. The tunnel is 9 I-2 miles long and cost about $700 per lineal yard. The first passenger train ran through the tunnel on November I, 1881, thus making possible the passing of the Alps at a point where before it had been possible only to mountaineers. Hannibal himself could not have led an army over the Alps at that point. The motive power of the rock-drilling machines was actuated, as was the case with the Mont Cenis tunnel, by compressed air, and the power used for compressing the air was a head of water.
The Simplon tunnel, though begun in this Century, will not be completed until the next. It will supersede the Simplon Pass road, begun in 1800 by Napoleon, who wished a military road to Italy and built it in six years, at an expenditure of $4,000,000 and the loss of innumerable lives. The Simplon tunnel will be 12 I-4 miles long, making it the longest in the world. Brandt rotary hydraulic drilling machines are to be used, and the pressure will be from 1,000 to 1,500 pounds to the square inch. Six or eight machines will be used at each heading. The Brandt machine has three cutting points like claws, with a lightly rotary movement, and works by hydraulic pressure.
The rock-boring machine known as the Burleigh, perfected in 1837, gave a great impetus to tunneling. It looks like a big syringe, supported upon a tripod, and is worked by compressed air. It eats holes two inches in diameter in solid granite, and makes honeycomb of it as easily as a schoolboy would demolish a small sponge cake. It pounds away at the rate of 200 strokes a minute, in which time it progresses forward about twelve inches, keeping the holes free of the pounded rock. The principal feature of the machine is that it imitates in every way the action of the quarryman in boring a rock. An-other type of rock-boring machine is the diamond drill, which surpasses all others in the rapidity with which it eats its way through solid rock.
Rock-boring is comparatively easy nowadays. When soft material is encountered the work is more difficult, it being necessary to keep the material from clogging the excavation already made. A device has been invented to overcome this, and it was used in the railroad tunnel under the St. Clair River at Port Huron. It is called a shield, and is generally used in cities for smaller tunnels. In the St. Clair tunnel a great cylinder weighing more than 6o tons, 20 feet in diameter, and 16 feet long, was driven into the blue clay, which constituted the entire bottom of the river, with as great ease as cakes of soap can be carved out of a general mass. Inside this "shield" twenty-two men worked removing the dirt. As fast as the shield was pushed forward, which was 2 feet at a time, the clay thus brought inside was dug out to the end of the cylinder. Then the hydraulic jacks were again started and slowly but irresistibly the immense iron tube moved another two feet into the solid earth ahead of it. Each jack had a power of 3,000 tons and the combined power behind the shield was more than 400,000 tons.
When water floods the work there is great risk. It was necessary to pump 2,000 gallons of water a minute to prevent the flooding of the Kilsby tunnel, and in the construction of the Severn tunnel in England (1873-85), which has a length of 4 1/3 miles, the tunnel was flooded for a year by the tapping of a large spring, and the erection of permanent pumping engines was made necessary.
The canals of the Century are not the greatest in length. There is one in China nearly 700 miles long, the longest in the world, that dates back to the Thirteenth Century. The era of canal opening in the United States began early, and the Erie canal running from Albany to Buffalo is 351.8 miles in length, and was opened in 1825. But these canal enterprises have been dwarfed as engineering enterprises and in importance by the Suez canal, which is regarded by many as the greatest engineering feat of the world. While the ancient Egyptians did not cut directly through the isthmus, Herodotus describes a canal from Suez to the Nile, but it became clogged with sand, and until DeLesseps dug his great ditch it was regarded as necessary for all ships to make the journey around Africa to reach the Indies. The isthmus made necessary a journey of 15,000 miles, and a glance at the map of Africa will show the enormous saving in time which it effects. The journey around Africa was so great that it was to avoid this that Columbus, ignorant of the size of the world, made his journey westward that led to the discovery of America.
The story of the canal is a thrilling romance. It was conceived by DeLesseps in 1834, twenty years before he got his concession. Then followed intrigues and diplomacy with Turkey and foreign powers before he could get permission to work. Then it became necessary to raise the enormous capital of $92,000,000 which it cost. In spite of the obstacles the objections were finally overcome and the canal built, being opened in November, 1869.
The Suez canal is 88 geographical or about T00 statute miles long. The engineering difficulties were enormous.
The minimum depth is 26 feet, and this was necessary because of the size of the vessels which would use it. Its average width is 25 yards. It had to be dug through sand, and it was made possible only by the invention of dredges to do the work. But for these the canal would never have been built through the sand. These dredges were the contrivance of one of the contractors. The use of the dredging machines was prepared for by digging out a rough trough by spade work and as soon as it had been dug to the depth of from six to twelve feet, the water was let in. After the water was let in the steam dredges were floated down the stream, moored against the bank and set to work. There were two kinds of dredges. One, known as couloir, was a large barge of wood supporting an endless chain of heavy iron buckets which scooped up the mud and sand which was discharged through pipes onto the embankment. Smaller movable dredges were also used which discharged the mud and sand on barges, which were divided into compartments fixed on trucks, and, raised by steam, were placed on an inclined plane that carried the mud to the shore. Many were the problems of engineering which were solved during the construction of the canal.
Another great canal is the one connecting the North Sea and the Baltic, running from the mouth of the Elbe to the gulf of Kiel. Begun in 1887, it was opened in 1895. It is 6o miles long and has a depth of 28 feet and a width of 197 feet, being sufficient to float the largest vessels of the German navy. The working plant consisted of ninety locomotives, 2,473 cars, 133 lighters, 55 steam-engines, and 8,600 men. The Manchester canal, which has made Manchester a seaport, is another great canal enterprise of the Century. Thirty-five and a half miles in length, it was opened in 1893, and has a depth of 26 feet and a width of 172 feet.
By the use of shields and dredges the engineers have sunk great piers, effected wonders in sanitary engineering, built sewers and jetties, using marvelous machinery, often invented expressly for the purpose. The levees built along the banks of the Mississippi and other rivers have been triumphs of engineering skill, and have saved thousands of lives from floods, although the loss of life is still great.
By the skill of the engineer, aided by the architect, tall buildings, rivaling the tower of Babel, rear their heads skyward in the great cities. Buildings of eighteen and twenty stories have ceased to be uncommon. They have been made necessary by the congestion of the great cities, for when from $150 to $300 a square foot is paid for land it is necessary to build tall structures in order to pay interest on the ground and the cost of the building. There was a limit beyond which structures of brick and wood might be built, but the use of iron and steel made it possible to build taller structures, two or three times the height of those possible by the old method The new method of construction known as the skeleton frame construction, does away with the use of brick and masonry except as a thin shell. Steel beams support the walls of each story and these are framed between columns, permitting thin walls even at the base. The frame work of iron and steel being erected, the masons and carpenters can work on all floors at once and build from top and bottom. Great as have been the improvements in construction, the erection of these buildings calls for the highest engineering skill. The Manhattan Life building in New York, which is twenty-three stories high, weighs 21,000 tons, and there is a pressure of wind estimated at 2,400 tons against its exposed sides, while the total weight, including tenants and furniture, is not far from 31,000 tons. It is necessary to so construct these buildings that the settling from the weight may be accurately estimated. A twenty-story structure will have sixteen elevators that will travel 120,000 miles in a year on 14 miles of wire ropes. From 30 to 50 miles of electrical wire serve to light the building and supply telephone connections for the two or three thousand people who live in the great edifices, while miles upon miles of steam pipes supply the tenants with water. In such buildings one may attend to every want without budging from them, there being post-office, express offices, telegraph offices, and other such conveniences, as well as restaurants and every kind of shop, except, perhaps, livery stables and feed-stores.
It is difficult to foretell the future of the construction of such buildings, but it is predicted that within a score of years they may reach thirty and forty stories in height.
Two of the most interesting pieces of engineering of the Century are the Eiffel tower and the Ferris wheel. The first, erected in 1889 as the crowning glory of the Paris Exposition and a triumph of French skill, was the idea of Gustave Eiffel. It is 985 feet high, contains 7,300 tons of iron, and cost $1,000,000. The appearance of the Eiffel tower is familiar to every one, and it is scarcely possible to convey any adequate idea of the great net-work of bracings by which each standard of the columns is united to form the loftiest structure in the world.
The engineering feat of the World's Columbian Ex-position held at Chicago was the Ferris wheel, the invention of G. W. G. Ferris, of Pittsburg. It is an enormous "merry-go-round," as the machine at country fairs is called, and the novelty consisted in its magnitude, which called for the highest engineering skill. The great wheel is 250 feet in diameter; and to its periphery were hung thirty-six carriages, each seating forty persons. At each revolution 1,440 people may be raised into the air and from that elevation afforded a splendid prospect, besides an experience of the peculiar sensation, like that of being in a balloon, when the spectator has no perception of his motion, but the objects beneath him appear to have the contrary motion; that is to say they seem to be sinking when he is rising and vice versa. Begun in March, 1893, the structure was completed in three months at a cost of $325,000.
Though the steam-engine itself is an invention of the previous Century, its application to everything under the sun is an achievement of the Nineteenth Century. The Century has also been remarkable for the attempts to get the greatest possible return from the fuel employed with the least possible waste, which followed the general recognition of the principle of the conservation of energy allusion to which is made in another part of this volume. The energy stored up in coal is converted into heat energy in the process of combustion, and transferred with various losses to steam. This is made by suitable engines to yield up some proportion of its heat energy for conversion into mechanical motion. More energy than the coal supplies it is impossible to obtain as energy of motion, and engineers with a clear realization of this principle have abandoned all schemes for the solution of the perpetual motion problem. The criticism of an engine is therefore on the returns which it yields for the expenditure of fuel. The inventions of the Century have been in the direction of the elimination of friction from the working parts and the employment of methods of construction that give greater power for a small total weight.
As Watt in the last Century found the steam engine an imperfect and wasteful arrangement for utilizing only a small portion of the energy of the steam supplied to it and by the invention of his condenser and then by making the engine double acting, made it really a steam engine; so a great step forward was taken by Woolf in 1804, when he developed the compound engine from the crude ideas of Hornblower of 1781. Using steam of fairly high pressure Woolf expanded it to several times its original volume by cutting off the supply before the end of the stroke in a small cylinder. Its chief advantage is that it limits to a great extent the waste which results from the heating and cooling of the metal by contact with hot and cooler steam. This is the greatest improvement in the steam engine since the time of Watt, but its advantage was not recognized until about the middle of the Century, when the discoveries of McNaught in 1845 and of Cowper in 1857, made possible the use of high-pressure steam, and compound expansion became more and more general. In marine engineering, where economy of fuel is of greatest importance, we find triple and even quadruple expansion engines, while the idea is recognized even in the locomotive engines of today. The 'first triple-expansion engine was made by Kirk in 1874.
In other directions the progress of the steam-engine has been in features of mechanical detail and its growing application to nearly every use.
The higher pressure of engines gave rise to a new problem, that of the strength of boiler, cylinders, and accessory connections necessary to withstand the enormous internal pressure of the steam. Improved quality of adaptability of iron and steel have made this possible, and steam boilers step by step have developed to their present form. Manual labor was used almost exclusively in this work until 1885, the boilers being of wrought iron and riveted by hand. Mild steel boiler plates and machine riveting have to a great extent succeeded these, although, in spite of the fact that hand-riveting is much slower, there are those who contend that it is better.
During the last few years the tubulous boiler has been introduced. This is made so that it has no large internal space and can thus be used for heat at high temperatures. It more nearly approaches the theory of Sadi-Carnot, evolved in 1824, which is that the efficiency of any heat engine has its maximum limit fixed by the range of temperature employed with the working substance.
Gas and petroleum engines have gained their development during this Century. Street's engine in 1794 was on the principle of internal combustion, to which they owe their origin, and was worked by the combustion of vaporized oil and turpentine. In engines of this type the working substance is heated by its own combustion in the motor cylinder, and because of the greater range of temperature employed they are of higher efficiency. The water jacket introduced by Brown in 1823, to keep the cylinder cool and prevent the rapid degradation due to heat, and the improvements of Lenoir have made them practicable. The Otto gas engine, introduced in 1863, was noisy and mechanically defective, but the Otto silent of 1876 has proved a powerful rival to small steam-engines. Air sufficient for combustion is mixed with gas and a temperature of about 1,600 centigrade, with a pressure of 100 pounds per square inch is obtained, with the expenditure of only twenty-four cubic feet of gas per horse power per hour. This is more economical than any small steam engine. But with larger engines the advantage is with the coal engine, except where natural gas is used. Gas is used in engines just as it is used in grates, stoves, and ranges, always on a comparatively small scale, where the high price is offset by cleanliness and convenience. A gas engine means only the turning on of a stop-cock and it comes to full speed in a minute or two and hence where small power is used or the large power is intermittent, the gas-engine is most economical.
Petroleum and gasoline engines, which have been successfully applied to horseless carriages, being the favorite method of propulsion for these vehicles work on the same principle as the gas engine. Instead of the simple admission of gas a sprayed jet of oil is broken up by compressed air playing on it in a nozzle. It is then further heated and fully vaporized by the hot products of the exhaust. The chief objection to the oil engine is its odor.
During the last half Century the improvements in steam-power have increased its use nearly fifty-fold. The growth of the use of steam has been from an effective horse power of 1,65o,000,000 tons horse power in 1840 to 9,850,000,000 in 1860 to 55,580,000,000 horse power in 1895, according to Mulhall's estimates. Of this total steam power, the United States and Great Britain together possess more than half that of the world, the horse power of the engines of the United States being 16,940,000,000 and that of the British engines 12,970,-000,000.
An interesting and important illustration of the economy in the application of steam-power to mechanical contrivances is the steam-hammer. Large forge hammers had been in use actuated by steam before Nasmyth's invention in 1842, but they were worked in an indirect manner, the hammer having been lifted by cams and other expedients, which rendered the apparatus cumbersome, costly, and wasteful of power on account of the indirect way in which the original source of the force namely, the pressure of steam had to reach its point of application by giving its blow to the hammer. The range of the fall of the hammer being only eighteen inches, there was a rapid decrease in the energy of blow in proportion to the size of the piece of iron. There was no means of controlling the force of the blow. Nasmyth hit upon the idea, when he received an order for the forging of a shaft for the paddle wheels of a steamer, the shaft to be three feet in diameter, a greater size than could be accommodated in any forge hammer in England. In a few minutes he hit upon the idea which has done more to revolutionize the manufacture of iron and steel than any other inventions that could be named, excepting those of Cort and Bessemer. For four years the hammer was not used outside of his shop, although now it is an absolute necessity in every engineering workshop. Owing to its vast range of power forged iron-work, by its means, can now be executed with a perfection not previously possible. Anything can be done with it, for the strength of the blow is regulated at will and the most minute details of machinery as well as the most gigantic parts are forged with its aid. At Woolwich arsenal there is a steam hammer, built in 1874, the falling portion of which weighs forty tons and which can strike a blow with a force of ninety-one tons.
The main feature of the steam-hammer is the direct manner by which the elastic power of steam is employed to lift up and let fall the mass of iron constituting the hammer, which is attached direct to the end of a piston-rod passing through the bottom of an inverted steam cylinder placed directly over the anvil. The steam is admitted below the piston, which is thus raised to any required height within the limits of the stroke. When the communication with the boiler is shut off and the steam below the piston is allowed to escape, the piston with the mass of iron forming the hammer _attached to the piston-rod falls by its own weight. This weight in large steam-hammers amounts to several tons, and the force of the blow will depend jointly upon the weight of the hammer and upon the height from which it is allowed to fall. The steam is admitted and allowed to escape by valves moved by a lever under the control of the work-man. By allowing the-hammer to be raised to a greater or less height, and by regulating the escape of the steam from beneath the piston, the operator has it in his power to vary the force of the blow. Men who are accustomed to this tool exhibit their perfect control with such ac-curacy that a watch may be placed face upwards on the anvil and a moistened wafer on it. The hammer will descend and pick up the wafer without cracking the crystal. Yet it may be a hammer capable of striking a blow of eighty tons.
Water-power has been used for thousands of years as a motive power, but its practical development has come within the last Century. The utilization of the vast forces has been greater, especially since water-power has been used as means for the furnishing of electricity, yet at the present time not 5 per cent of the water-power of the world has been rendered available for use, and the great Niagara Falls was not made to work until the last decade of the Nineteenth Century. While the modern turbine is the evolution of ages the principal developments were made during this century. J. Fourneyron in 1827 and St. Blasien in 1837 made great improvements, but in 1855 A. M. Swain, a mechanic who had been employed at the Lowell machine shop, conceived an idea which is the prototype of all the modern turbines; by combining the inward and downward flow wheels, curving the buckets both laterally and vertically he increased the efficiency of the water-wheel by 50 per cent. The gradual improvements since the time of Fourneyron in 1827 have served to furnish turbines of -equal power in one-half the space and at one-fifth the cost, an enormous economy of power. The cumbersome mechanism required to use the water of a high fall has been replaced by simple mechanism that makes use of a small fall. Of water as a means of the generation of electricity allusion will be made in the story of miscellaneous electrical achievements.


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Alzheimer's Association Champions
and Zenith members share why they
got involved with our mission.
Learn More
Darlene Shiley - Running time 2:38
How Association funds are used
Learn More about the giving societies within the Alzheimer's Association.
Alzheimer's Association meets all 20 Better Business Bureau Charity Standards
April 4-6, 2016
Alzheimer's Association Advocacy Forum
Washington, D.C.
July 24-28, 2016
Alzheimer's Association International Conference® 2016 (AAIC®)
Toronto, Canada
Note: Dates and places subject to change.
Please contact Danielle Engel via e-mail or call 312.604.2453 for further information.


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25% off Home Decor & Mugs with code HOMESTUFF
black and white body face human people
Beautiful Tone and Composition :)
thank you mas sofyan :)
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iPhone Touch ID Protector
Package ➸
Touch ID Protector X 12 + Cleaning Cloth + Dust Remover Sticker+ Box
Compatible Model ➸
iPhone 5S
iPhone SE
iPhone 6
iPhone 6S
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Each package including 12 pieces of Touch ID Protector so you can share with your friend & family!
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Price ➸ RM20
Effective 1st April 2015, all goods and services may be subjected to GST 6% upon checkout.
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MCIL Multimedia Sdn.Bhd.(515740-D)


text:
The recommended product is of equal or better value to your current selection.
CrystalClear® pHusion™
Plants & Snails are excluded from our Shipping Promotions. Shipping fees for Plants & Snails are a flat rate charge of $9.95.
CrystalClear® pHusion™ helps maintain fish health and appearance with natural electrolytic supplements to lower pH levels slowly. CrystalClear® pHusion™ will reduce pH levels no more than 0.2 points per application protecting fish from harsh pH swings. Changing pH levels more than 0.5 within a 24 hour period could harm aquatic and plant life.
The included scoop is 1 ounce.
Drastic changes in pH may cause algae blooms, fish and plant stress and possibly death. Test the pH levels in your pond to make sure it is within the safe range (6.5 - 8.0). Since pH levels fluctuate throughout the day, keep track of the pH over the course of 5-7 days around the same time 2-3x a day.
Failure to determine the natural fluctuations in your pond's pH may result in an unnecessary and possibly dangerous altering of the pH. Apply CrystalClear® pHusion™, only when you have determined your pond has high pH levels. Once pH has been brought to a safe level, use pHGuard™ to stabilize your pond preventing future pH swings.
Apply 1 oz per 1,000 gallons of CrystalClear® pHusion™ directly into your pond. CrystalClear® pHusion™ may be applied up to every 3 days at the prescribed rate until pH levels come into safe range of 6.5-8.0
When used in accordance with label directions CrystalClear® pHusion™ is safe for fish, plants, birds and domestic animals that may drink from the pond.
Here are the replacement parts for CrystalClear® pHusion™.
The first step towards effectively treating any pond weed is proper identification. CrystalClear® pHusion™ is recommended for use against each of the weeds listed below. Click on your desired weed for more information and alternate control options.
Learn how to apply pHusion™ in this informational video.
© 2018 The Pond Guy®, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Call 866-766-3435. We do our best to avoid errors in pricing and products, but we reserve the right to correct them.


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I Don't Need to Be the Center of Attention
Personal Stories, Advice, and Support 86 People
Too Loud and Off the WallI can't stand loud people and drunks who are daffy ducking it, to get attention.I guess they're having fun but it's annoying.The loudest person in the restaurant, the drunken relative at the table..UGH ! I don't want to be ignored but where is the middle ground? Should...
wiseowl 61-65, F 0 Nov 23, 2008
I Don't Need To BeNah, being the centre of attention is not what I'm really looking for or want. If it leads to this, well it is not cause I wanted it but it happened. I like being reserved and I want to be my own centre of attention. :P
Whateverrrrr 36-40, F 1 Mar 30, 2011
In FactI'd rather never be the center of attention. It just makes me insecure.
SpiritOfTheRabbit 36-40, F 0 Oct 18, 2010
AttentionI like the attention when everything is about me, but i can go off and be alone. I don't need anyone to give me recognition. I survived 20 something years with very little i am sure i can survive another 20 just fine. So i don't need to be the center of attention even though i...
Arorin 22-25, M 4 Responses 0 Mar 28, 2010


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'CSI Miami' Actress Emily Procter
Emily Procter has appeared on shows such as "Friends" and "The West Wing," but even better she fronts and 80's cover band called White Lightnen. She is also an avid poker player, a game that her father taught her when she was young. If she tastes like a gin and tonic she might just be the best woman ever.
A word from Emily: "It's not a bad idea to be single."
Well yes, if you're an attractive blonde woman being single can be a delight. If you're a blogger it can be nightmare wrapped continually in Saturday night shame.
More pics of Emily YEAAAAAHHHHH!!! after the jump.


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The NFL is "moving beyond its talks with the two long-running choices for stadium sites in Los Angeles and is now exploring additional locations," according to Daniel Kaplan of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Sources said that the league has "had direct talks" with Dodgers Owner Guggenheim Partners about the "possibility of a football stadium at the baseball team's Chavez Ravine home." The talks were "only exploratory." League approval "has never come" for the proposed stadiums from AEG and Majestic Realty President & Chair Ed Roski, as the NFL is "not fully comfortable with either site." The downtown L.A. location "does not comport to the NFL's preference that a team control the building." Roski's site, while only 20 miles outside L.A., is "considered by many unglamorous and difficult to access." Among the two locations, AEG's downtown Farmers Field site "has been the perceived front-runner." But sources said that the AEG sale process "has not seen bidders willing to place much value on the company's proposed stadium." The league now is "looking at many of the same spots it scoured for years before the Roski-AEG locations dominated discussions, including Chavez Ravine, Hollywood Park, and several other sites with Roski's City of Industry and AEG's Farmers Field still in the mix as well" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 2/25 issue).
Daytona Int'l Speedway is in the midst of a planned renovation that includes the grandstands, but track President Joie Chitwood said that the injuries sustained by fans during Saturday's Nationwide Series race could "prompt a redesign that might include sturdier fences or stands further away from the on-track action," according to Mark Long of the AP. At least 28 fans were injured when part of Kyle Lawson's No. 32 car went over the catch fence and into the stands. Chitwood said, "It's tough to connect the two right now in terms of a potential redevelopment and what occurred. ... If there are things that we can incorporate into the future, whether it's the current property now or any other redevelopment, we will." Long noted DIS officials "decided not to rebuild the collapsed cross-over gate" prior to yesterday's Daytona 500. The gate allows fans "to travel between the stands and the infield before races" (AP, 2/24). In Daytona Beach, Ken Willis writes there are "two guarantees" coming out of the Nationwide Series wreck. The first is "every track on the circuit will take another look at their catch-fences and if they have any doubts at all, will do upgrades." The second is DIS officials will "revisit any initial schematics for the proposed grandstand renovations." Once the insurance agents "meet with Risk Management, the new grandstand layout may include a wider buffer and taller fence" (Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL, 2/25).
KANSAS FEELS GOOD WITH STATUS QUO: In K.C., Randy Covitz notes in 12 years of NASCAR racing at Kansas Speedway, no car "has ever gone airborne." Kansas Speedway President Pat Warren said, "You can't ever say never in a situation like that, but because it's never happened, I'm pretty confident that our place, just because of the differences between the two tracks, we're probably okay. But, you never know." Daytona is a 2.5-mile superspeedway while the tri-oval at Kansas measures just 1.5 miles (K.C. STAR, 2/25).
Univ. of North Carolina AD Bubba Cunningham is "interested in renovations that would modernize the Smith Center and provide more 'revenue drivers,'" according to Andrew Carter of the Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER. The UNC men's basketball team is in its 28th season "playing at the Smith Center." Improvements have been made "over the years -- a video ribbon board debuted this season, and in recent years the sound and lighting systems were replaced -- but the basic interior of the building has largely remained unchanged." Cunningham said that he is "interested in adding luxury suites to the Smith Center, which was built before such amenities became commonplace in indoor sports arenas." Cunningham said, "We have suites and club seats in football (at Kenan Stadium) that work. But we have an iconic structure here. You have to be very careful on how you do that. I think we want to make sure that the fans get the experience they expect when they come to a premier place." Cunningham said that there "have been 'no serious discussions' about when the renovations might begin or what they might include." He added that those discussions "would begin after the basketball season ends" (NEWSOBSERVER.com, 2/24).
In Miami, Rosenberg & Beasley reported Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez on Friday met with Dolphins Owner Stephen Ross and CEO Mike Dee to "discuss the proposed stadium rehabilitation" of Sun Life Stadium. Dolphins spokesperson Ric Katz said that the team is "hopeful" the Miami-Dade County Commission will approve a May 14 date for a referendum on the proposed $400M in renovations, "time enough to get South Florida in play for Super Bowl 50." NFL owners are "slated to meet on May 22 to pick the site of the 2016 Super Bowl" (MIAMI HERALD, 2/24).
CHARLOTTE'S WEB: A CHARLOTTE OBSERVER editorial stated NFL Panthers Owner Jerry Richardson "feels his name is being tainted" in his request for $125M from the city of Charlotte to help pay for renovations to Bank of America Stadium. The Charlotte City Council's "dash for cash is making him look bad." The council's proposed tax increase would bring in close to $1B, about $875M "more than the Panthers requested." Sources said that Richardson is "annoyed that the city is using his request as a springboard for raising taxes more than necessary" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 2/25).
WASHINGTON HEIGHTS: In DC, Ben Sumner noted the Verizon Center's decibel meters "are back." The decibel meters were "popular fixtures at the old Capital Centre, and fans have been asking for years to bring them back." But it "wasn't as easy as simply buying one and plugging it in." Nearly two years "of research and implementation went into the project." Fine tuning "delayed the unveiling, which was originally scheduled for the season opener." The meter currently is "only used at Capitals games, but the Wizards have expressed interest" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 2/22).


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Kristen Stewart to star in Chanel film
Which Karl Lagerfeld directs, of course
Kristen Stewart is taking her relationship with Chanel to the next level. After appearing in a recent Chanel campaign and "gambling" at the label's Haute Couture show, the 25-year-old actress is now starring in a Chanel film made for the house's next Métiers d'Arts presentation.
The great multi-tasker and Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld directs the film of course because, well, why not? "They make so many movies about Chanel, why can't I make one?" he tells WWD. Shot in film director Luc Besson's Paris studio, the short film revolves around an actress (Kristen) who is playing Coco Chanel in a fictional biopic.
"She played it really, really mean. You only see her in tests and she's complaining about everything. She's mean with the director; mean with the producer," Karl describes Kristen and her character. We say, who better to play a malcontent actress than Kristen, eh?
The film will premiere at Chanel's Métiers d'Arts show in Rome on 1 December.
Related: Kristen Stewart is the face of Chanel handbags


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Camarillo Springs Fire: Sunset, Day 2
It has burned through at least 18,000 acres, including Sycamore Canyon and Wood Canyon, which used to have deer, bobcats, butterflies and wildflowers in them. Now I'm sure they're a charred mess. I don't even want to know what they look like, to be honest.
I'm pissed that our firefighters didn't have the resources they needed right out of the gate to get this thing under control before it mushroomed into a habitat-killer. I'm going to be even more pissed if I find out it was arson, which wouldn't surprise me given that at least two fires have been started near freeways heading uphill — this fire and the one in Chevy Chase canyon in Glendale, not far from where I grew up.
Yeah, I know conventional wisdom is that it's all about the Santa Ana winds, but we've had this weather pattern for at least a year now and this is the first time a bunch of fires have sprung up out of it. I've heard someone tossed a lit cigarette out of their window too. Really? Someone is stupid enough to do that right where it would catch an entire canyon on fire on a day when the Santa Anas are howling?
I suspect arson. But even if it was arson, I remember the times where we had enough forestry resources to be pro-active about brush clearance and fire breaks.
Not this time. And it sucks.
- Pink and mirrors
- Bet you wish you could do this


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games you've played
will be shown here.
Have Fun!! :)
The competition is fierce. You've fought long and hard to get this far. You're gonna have to keep on winning to make it to the top. Six of the best international players have gathered to compete for a fortune in cash, plus the prestige that comes with winning the RAD RACKET trophy. As you walk out onto the court a tense hush comes over the crowd. You pick up your favorite racket, you feel butterflies in your stomach and sweat on your palms. You're ready to give it everything you've got. Your advesary glares at you from across the court. Both are confident but there will be only one winner.
Download Rad Racket-DeluxeTennis 2 ROM to PC


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Social Media Addiction (Part 2)
Social media has changed the very nature of the world that we are living in. Take the fact that Facebook alone has 1.11 billion users or that 21% of the world's active internet users are said to access Twitter every month. Not only has social media usage continued to increase exponentially, but it has become more visible, with people accessing the internet by mobile phone having increased 60.3% to 818.4 million over the last 2 years. Everywhere we go we are surrounded by people Tweeting, sending Facebook updates, watching YouTube videos, connecting on Google+, networking on LinkedIn and much more besides.
(Courtesy of www.businessgrow.com)
Last Friday shortly after finishing posting Social Media Addiction (Part 1), I went to the cafe near my house. It was the usual scene, a lengthy queue of people, all fiddling with their mobile devises. There were Blackberrys', iPhones', Androids' and a smattering of Samsung Galaxy S3s'. In front of me a teenaged girl was typing into her mobile. Leaning forward I could see she was sending a Tweet on Twitter. It said,
'In Starbucks, so many choices :?'
A short while later the barista asked for her order. The girl, still typing on her mobile was oblivious to the question and the barista was forced to repeat the question two more times, before she finally looked up and turned her attentions to the menu board.
Over a minute had passed when I said to her, 'In your own time.'
She glared at me and then ordered an 'extra hot cafe latte with soy milk.'
After which she typed another Tweet, which I knew was about me. I knew this because I was peering over her shoulder, but she noticed and said, 'excuse me,' in a theatrical tone, shielding the phone from my view, as she continued typing and I was left wondering what the Tweet said, what smiley she used and the choice of hashtag – #somepeople, #rude or #goaway perhaps. Or some other colloquialism that has been trending recently, more than likely instigated by Justin Bieber.
From my table where I sit drinking a cafe mocha with normal milk, I can see the girl taking a photograph of her extra hot cafe latte with soy milk and then she's on her mobile again, no doubt Tweeting the details before posting the picture on Facebook and Pinterest.
(Courtesy of ejiu111.wordpress.com)
All around me it's the same story. School children crowded around a table, all typing feverishly into their mobile phones. A mother Tweeting incessantly, her toddler in a high-chair beside her mimicking each gesture, pressing imaginary buttons on the surface in-front of him with chocolate stained fingers.
It is at this moment that I find myself asking if we are all addicted to social media and I continue to contemplate this for quite sometime, whilst sipping my mocha and at the same time viewing my Twitter Feed on my iPhone screen.
Perhaps addiction is merely a matter of consumption vs communication and as communicating is not consuming it is not addiction. At any rate is it not better that people are kept busy fidgeting with their hand-held devices than fiddling with cigarettes, bottles of spirits and syringes. Though there are instances where people appear to have mastered doing both at the same time. A Youtube video (now removed) was an instructional video by a girl living in some remote Montana prairie town on how to Tweet with one hand whilst at the same time with the other preparing and smoking a meth pipe.


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How to Convert MOV to WMA
March 28, 2013 12:57 pm / Posted by Jack Fisher to Audio Tips
Follow @jackfishrain
Apart from MP3, WMA is another popular audio format; it holds high quality audio content which is even higher than that compressed to MP3 in the same size. WMA can be used on Windows Media Encoder, RealPlayer, Winamp and some other platforms, some devices now can play WMA files directly. If you get some MOV videos and want to convert them to WMA, you will need a professional MOV to WMA Converter to help you. Below is a solution.
WMA Converter is a great tool to convert videos and audio to WMA format with ease. With this app, you can easily convert MOV and other files like MP4, WMV, MKV, M4V, FLV, AVI, etc to WMA with high quality audio content remained. Besides, it provides editing functions for you to split, join audio files as you wish. If you are a Mac user, you can try Audio Converter for Mac.
Secure Download
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Guide on how to convert MOV to WMA
Load MOV videos
After installing and running the MOV to WMA Converter, hit "Add Files" to import MOV videos to the app. Batch-converting is enabled, so you can add multiple files to the program at one time.
Mac version enables you to drag and drop the files to the program directly.
Choose WMA as output format
WMA is the default output format, so, you do not need to set otherwise. And if you need to convert MOV to other format like AAC,AC3,M4A, MP3, etc, this MOV to WMA Converter can also help you do the job.
Convert MOV to WMA
Finally, when all settings are done, click "Convert" to start MOV to WMA conversion. A bar will show pop up to show you the status of the conversion and when it is done, a message will direct you open the folder you've saved the generated files, then you can transfer the output .wma files to this app or other Windows apps to play and check the length and quality of the files.


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World's Finest Classic & Traditional Jazz Musicians at North Carolina Jazz Festival at Wilmington Hilton Riverside Hotel
Wilmington Hilton Riverside Hotel
North Carolina Jazz Festival
301 North Water Street
Wilmington, NC
Sat, February 9, 2013
7:30 pm
33rd Annual North Carolina Jazz Festival @ Wilmington Feb. 7-9, 2013, featuring classic jazz by world renown jazz musicians. Thurs evening features Frank Bongiorno's Tribute to "Charlie Parker" with Strings and Banu Gibson's New Orleans Hot Jazz -15 world renowned All-star musicians perform. Thursday concert 7:30-10:30 pm. Fri. & Sat. concerts 7:30-midnight featuring 7 sets each night with a different leader for each set – classic & traditional jazz. $15 -students & $25-military all nights; Thurs. gen. adm. $35; Fri. & Sat. $50 gen adm. Tickets: www.ncjazzfestival.com 910-793-1111 firstname.lastname@example.com and at Audio Lab, Oleander Dr....
Gerry White uploaded this event on December 11, 2012
About Bucky Pizzarelli
Live Reviews
DVD/Film Reviews
CD/LP/Track Review
- Moonglow by Andrew Velez
- Flashes: A Lifetime in Words and Music by Joel Roberts
- One Morning in May by Mike Neely
- April Kisses by Mike Neely
Passionate Guitars
Chesky Records
Diggin' Up Bones
Chesky Records
Arbors Records
Flashes: A Lifetime...
Arbors Records
Swing Live
Chesky Records


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Palermo director Giorgio Perinetti said flop Mauro Boselli "is the symbol of those who arrived in January."
The Sicilians had a chaotic campaign, as Perinetti started in charge, then was replaced by Pietro Lo Monaco and brought back again just days after the January transfer window closed.
"Boselli is the symbol of those who arrived in January," Perinetti told Mediagol today.
"His poor form is explained by the precarious fitness levels with which he got here. The mid-season signings are very far behind the other players."
Argentine striker Boselli is owned by Wigan Athletic, but joined Palermo on loan in January and has failed to make a mark.
"We're still trying to figure out what Mauricio Sperduti can do. He was presented to us as a winger, but we're not sure if it's for a 4-3-3 or a 4-4-2. He is difficult to place in our current 3-5-2 system, as he doesn't really belong in the side."
Perinetti effectively confirmed the Sicilians will not be taking up any option to buy Boselli outright at the end of the season.
Meanwhile, he also confirmed Matias Silvestre is staying at Inter despite his poor campaign.
"There is no 'if' here – Inter signed Silvestre on loan with mandatory option to buy. It is their duty to buy him. We don't have to discuss anything, it is all in the contract they signed."
See the latest Serie A predictions and betting tips with Eurotips.co.uk [12]


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The rumors that have been building over the past few days were just confirmed as Republican Rep. Bob Turner sent out a press release saying he is going to challenge US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand this year.
"I will travel to the Republican State Convention in Rochester later this week and humbly ask for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate. I will respectfully ask for the Conservative nomination a few days later at that Party's convention. I have made my intentions known to the other Republican candidates in this race," Turner said.
Turner is the 4th candidate now along with Wendy Long, Rye Town Supervisor Joe Carvin, and Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos. It is unclear if any of the current candidates are going to move aside now that Turner is in the race.
In the statement, Turner makes it clear that redistricting factored into his decision.
"I ran for the House six months ago as a private citizen fed up with what is happening in Washington. I could not sit and watch career politicians sink my nation deeper into economic crisis. Brooklyn and Queens voters, of all political parties, graciously responded by sending me to Congress. It now appears that their district has been eliminated."
A quick programming note. We will be taking Capital Tonight on the road to Rochester on Friday, for what is now a much more exciting state GOP Convention.


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Fabulous Find: Organic Cotton Spa Washcloth Set
Of the many things I have bought on Etsy, this is one of my favorite items by Spotted Cow Soaps. These wonderful washcloths are fantastic for people with allergies and while the artist recommends hand washing these, I have put them in the machine several times and they come out fine. Check them out here: … [Read more…]


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Brendan and I interacting first thing in the morning (before my shower and coffee as you can tell!)
Yes this is the cutest kid on the planet.
Proud dad Chad and son Brendan in front of a fountain in KC.
Chad, Brendan, and I playing in a fountain (yes, all of us).


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Last updated: July 11, 2017
Cell phone, text messaging update: The Kentucky Office of Highway Safety is making an upgrade of the state distracted driving laws a top legislative priority in 2017. "Cell phones are a tremendous problem in the state," executive director Noelle Hunter maintains.
Hunter says Kentucky's current texting & driving law "is not working as it should." The 2011 law is written so that if a driver does not admit to texting, "they can say I was using my GPS; I was dialing a phone number — and both of those are acceptable under the way the statute is currently written," Hunter told WKYT.
In 2013, Gov. Steve Beshear used his administrative powers to toughen the state distracted driving laws after the 2013 Legislature failed to approve his plan for the three-point penalty.
Current prohibitions:
- Text messaging prohibited for all drivers while the vehicle is in motion. Fines are $25 (first offense) and then $50, plus court costs. Three points vs. driver's license.
- Use of personal handheld electronics banned for drivers under 18 years of age. (Fines same as above, plus drivers with restricted licenses must wait 180 days to apply for regular license.)
- School bus operators barred from unofficial use of cell phones while transporting children.
Read the Kentucky texting & driving law | Read about the Kentucky seat belt laws
Legislation: Cell phone & text messaging (2016):
House Bill 156: Seeks to punish distracted or careless drivers who cause harm to "vulnerable users" of public roadways. Fine: $6,500 to $12,500 plus up to a year in jail and license suspension of up to six months. (Flood)
Legislation: 2015 cell phone & text messaging:
House Bill 66: Would outlaw use of handheld personal communication device by all drivers. Exempts GPS use. Fine: $25 (first offense), then $50. Dead. (Burch)
Distracted driving notes (2015)
State Rep. Tom Burch was back in 2015 with a plan to bar use of handheld cell phones by Kentucky drivers. "You can't drive and talk on the phone at the same time and think you're driving responsibly," said Burch, who previously filed the distracted driving bill but saw it fail. Fines under his House Bill 66 start at $25. Time ran out on the bill, however.
The statewide conviction rate for texting & driving fell to only 38 percent in 2014, the state Administrative Office of the Courts reports. Drivers can say they were engaged in a variety of smartphone uses without running afoul of the texting law, officials say.
Law officers handed out 1,873 citation under Kentucky's distracted driving law in 2014, the Administrative Office of the Courts reports. That's way up from 2013 because of federal funding for a crackdown.
There were 53,344 distracted driving crashes reported in 2014, with 167 fatalities. Overall, 667 people lost their lives on Kentucky roadways, preliminary numbers for the year show. The Kentucky Office of Highway Safety vows "to maintain our focus on distracted driving."
State Rep. Tom Burch, sponsor of HB 66, says a cell phone bill may not become law in Kentucky because, "Most legislators want to talk on the phone while they are driving."
Bill Bell, head of the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety, agrees: "A lot of your more conservative representatives and senators are against this type of legislation," he told the Courier-Journal. "But my argument is, we're talking about highway safety."
2014 legislation: Cell phone & text messaging:
House Bill 33: Would increase fines for texting & driving in Kentucky to $50 (first offense) and then $100. Would outlaw dialing cell phones in school zones or highway work zones. As amended, allows for hands-free operation. Would direct half of fine revenue to Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center at UK. OK'd by the House in a 62-32 vote of Feb. 28. Failed to advance in the Senate. (Mills)
2014 distracted driving notes
As of midyear 2014, more than 1,200 texting-and-driving citations had been written in Kentucky. That figure already tops the roughly 800 tickets handed out last year. Almost 7,200 accidents were linked to distracted drivers in 2013, State Police report. 22 people died in those crashes. The increased ticketing comes as the state has added three-point demerits to the licenses of convicted distracted drivers.
Fewer than 50 citations per year are written under the Kentucky law that bars use of cell phones by drivers under the age of 18, according to an analysis of distracted driving ticketing by LEX18-TV.
The House approved a plan to double texting & driving fines but the distracted driving bill did not make it out of committee in the Senate during 2014. It also would have barred motorists from dialing cell phones while in school zones or highway work zones. State Rep. Terry Mills' bill was OK'd in a 62-32 vote of Feb. 28.
Gov. Steve Beshear backed Mills' plan during the State of the Commonwealth Address in January. "Given the vulnerability of schoolchildren and construction workers, we need to consider creating 'no-phone zones' — areas where drivers aren't allowed to talk on phones while driving," the governor said.
State Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer says he'll oppose the plan to bar use of cell phones in school zones and highway work areas. He told the Herald-Leader that government is already "overly intrusive in our day-to-day lives."
2013 legislation: Cell phone & text messaging:
House Bill 294: Would add 3-point penalty against driver's license of violators of distracted driving laws. Approved by the Transportation Committee on Feb. 28. (Mills, Riner)
HB 332: Would assess 3 points against driver's license of violators of distracted driving laws. (Riner)
2013 distracted driving notes
"Highway safety has been a major emphasis of our administration," Gov. Steve Beshear said in announcing the 3-point penalty for texting drivers in early August. He used his administrative powers to toughen the state distracted driving laws after the 2013 Legislature failed to approve his plan for the three-point penalty. House Bill 294 cleared the House Transportation Committee but never made it to a final vote in the House. (Another bill sought to add the same penalty.)
The three-point penalty for distracted driving is now being assessed against the license of those who text and drive in Kentucky. The points, which were added to existing fines in November, could lead to license suspension and higher auto insurance rates for those convicted of text messaging and driving.
Beshear backed 2013 legislation that would have added the points to the $25 fine for first offenders, but the bill did not make it to a final vote in the House. In announcing the distracted driving points Aug. 7, the governor said the danger of texting & driving was too great to wait.
Teen drivers need fewer points than adults for license suspension, so license loss would result after three convictions.
The governor unveiled the new three-point penalty at the 2013 Kentucky Life Savers Conference. "We want to make sure that Kentuckians refrain from this dangerous activity and today we're going to be letting drivers know that we're serious about this," he told the annual gathering of safety experts and emergency responders.
A Transportation Cabinet official said the three points were part of "an aggressive approach towards getting drivers to put down their cell phones and other text message-related devices."
"We have long recognized that cell phone use is a factor in a high number of highway crashes," said Kentucky Transportation Secretary Mike Hancock, the governor's representative for highway safety. No bill proposing a ban on handheld cell phone use was proposed in 2013, however. A Kentucky cell phone bill filed in 2010 was ignored by lawmakers.
Distracted driving killed 171 people in Kentucky during 2012, State Police say. That's almost a quarter of state traffic fatalities blamed on electronic device use and various other forms of driver inattention. The number of fatalities was up from 2011, when 144 deaths were linked to distractions. About 35,600 accidents were blamed on distracted drivers in 2012.
Just under 1,000 tickets were handed out in the first year under the distracted driving prohibitions that took effect in 2011. From Jan. 1, 2011, to Feb. 6, 2013, police wrote 976 tickets, court records show. Jefferson County, by far the most populous in Kentucky, led the state with 126 citations, according to a May 2013 report in the Lexington Herald-Leader. About a fifth of Kentucky counties issued no distracted driving tickets.
Kentuckians for Better Transportation, a safety group, is lobbying lawmakers in hopes of having tougher distracted driving penalties approved by the 2013 General Assembly.
Kentucky's ban on texting while driving is nearly impossible to enforce, police and prosecutors told the Courier-Journal in March. About a quarter of tickets have been dismissed, the Office of the Courts said. State Rep. Tom Riner, D-Louisville, told the newspaper that the law is effective "even though we're seeing some of these (tickets) thrown out." Riner sponsored 2013 legislation to add a 3-point penalty to distracted driving convictions.
2012 distracted driving notes:
About 53,600 crashes in Kentucky were blamed on distractions during 2012. There were 14,700 injuries and 174 fatalities, according to the Office of Highway Safety. Kentucky State Police issued 558 texting citations in 2012, up from 313 tickets the year before.
Police wrote 313 citations for violations of the Kentucky distracted driving laws during 2011. About 150 tickets were written in the first six months of active enforcement of Kentucky's distracted driving law, local reports say.
Police began writing tickets Jan. 1, 2011. The ban on texting by all drivers actually took effect in July 2010. Statewide law also bans use of all personal communications devices by drivers under 18.
As the 2012-13 year began, State Police cautioned motorists in school zones to put away the wireless electronic devices. Distracted drivers in school zones are among the worst threats to children, KSP says. "Texting while driving and using a cell phone often take a drivers attention from the road," Trooper Michael Webb says. "Many times inattentive drivers may not see stops signs, reduced speed limit signs or even the flashing lights of a school bus."
In 2011, just under 50,000 crashes in Kentucky. were linked to distracted driving. The 49,821 collisions included 144 fatalities. Cell phone use while driving was cited in 1,040 accidents, with eight deaths. There were 21,350 teen driving collisions resulting in 4,152 injuries and 63 deaths. Kentucky prohibits use of personal handheld electronics by drivers under age 18.
2010 legislation:
HB 415: Outlaws text messaging for all drivers and bans the use of personal communications devices by motorists under the age of 18 with learner's permits. Fines are $25 (first offense) and then $50, plus court costs. Approved by the House and Senate on April 1, and then signed into law by the governor on April 15. (Incorporates SB 23, below.) The law took effect July 15, with a warning period that lasts until the start of 2011. Latest action: Full enforcement began Jan. 1, 2011.
SB 23: Would prohibit texting while driving on Kentucky's roads and highways. Would ban the use of personal communications devices by motorists under the age of 18 with learner's permits. Bill was ported over to HB 415, above, and approved by the House and Senate. (Harper Angel)
HB 43: Would ban texting while behind the wheel. Also seeks to outlaw use of all personal communications devices by drivers under the age of 18 (amendment). Fines $20-$100. Approved by the House Transportation Committee on Jan. 26 and then by the full House on Feb. 4. Advanced to the Senate. (Richards, Riner)
HB 27: Would outlaw text messaging in Kentucky for all drivers and ban the use of cell phones by motorists under the age of 18. Fine of $50. (Nelson)
HB 232: Seeks to outlaw text messaging and use of handheld cell phones by all drivers. Cell phone use OK with a hands-free device. Fines $20-$100 after a first-violation warning. Did not clear committee. (Burch)
2010 distracted driving notes:
Gov. Steve Beshear's signing of the new distracted driving law was no surprise. He said April 1, 2010: "The texting bill is a common-sense bill to protect all Kentucky drivers. Regardless of whether you personally text while driving, another nearby driver may be distracted by typing out a message." He banned texting for state employees in 2009.
Rep. Tom Riner, sponsor of HB 415, said after it became law: "If citizens knew all the obstacles facing its passage, they would agree that the final passage of HB 415 was nothing short of a miracle." Riner, D-Louisville, said the law was "guaranteed to save lives."
In 2009, more than 200 fatalities on Kentucky's roads and highways were blamed on distracted driving. The total number of accidents pinned on inattentive drivers totaled 57,000.
Rep. Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, saw his HB 43 clear the House Transportation Committee on Jan. 26, 2010, and then the full House on Feb. 4. The House vote was 80-16 with all opposition coming from Republicans. The text-messaging plan went on to the Senate.
Rep. Keith Hall, D-Phelps, was opposed to HB 43 until the night before the vote. That's when his wife was involved in a serious accident while distracted by her ringing cell phone. "That'll give you an epiphany," he told the House the next day. "That'll give you a wake-up call." Hall voted yes.
Sen. Denise Harper Angel, D-Louisville, author of the anti-texting plan SB 23, says: "Communicating through electronic devices has become important in our daily lives, but drivers need to understand the dangers of texting while driving. Statistics indicate that a person texting while driving is 23 times more likely to be involved in an automobile accident."
Gov. Beshear on Dec. 16, 2009, issued an executive order prohibiting Kentucky government employees from texting while driving state vehicles. It does not cover drivers' use of cell phones. "You can obviously continue to view the roadway while you are talking on the telephone. You have to take your eyes off of the roadway when you're trying to text message," Beshear said. "With nearly 34,000 civilian employees, state government can and should demonstrate leadership in reducing the dangers of text messaging while driving. I'm committed to leading by example." The texting ban is now in effect.
Rep. Rick Nelson, D-Middlesboro, who introduced HB 27, was the author of last session's HB 46 (below).
In the past two years, more than 400 people in Kentucky died in distracted driving-related accidents, a state report showed. In 2008, 24 teenagers died in Kentucky because of distracted driving.
2009 Kentucky cell phone / texting legislation:
HB 41 (BR 135): Would ban use of wireless communication devices by drivers not employing a hands-free device. Died in committee.
HB 46 (BR 267): Would ban use of all wireless communication devices by drivers under 18, regardless of whether a hands-free device is employed. Died in committee.
2009 legislation notes:
HB 41, from the 2009 session, called for the use of handheld personal communications devices as a secondary offense, with fines between $20 and $100. Including but not limited to cell phones and text messaging devices. The sponsor was Rep. David Floyd, R-Bardstown.
HB 46 was sponsored by Rep. Rick Nelson. The ban for drivers under 18 would have included cell phones and text messaging devices, regardless of whether a hands-free accessory is in use. Motorcycle and moped riders also would have been prohibited from use of wireless devices. Young offenders would have been subject to an additional 180 days of waiting to get a more advanced driver's license.
"(Teen drivers) are at a stage of their driving career where they're not as experienced," Nelson said. "So maybe we can save some teenage lives and stop some accidents."
Lexington Herald-Ledger columnist Tom Eblen wrote about texting and cell phone laws: "Remember when drunken driving was treated with a wink and a nod? It took high-profile campaigns by Mothers against Drunk Driving and other groups to make it socially and legally unacceptable.
"What will it take to make us acknowledge the danger of gadget-impaired driving?"