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Bug Labs: Hacks and Apps
You may have read about Bug Labs, the open-source modular gadget company, in Mike Diehl's article in the August 2008 issue of Linux Journal (see Resources). We're back to tell you a bit more! In this article, I fill you in on some general information about BUG, including our latest news, and then provide some ideas about what you can do with BUG.
BUG is a modular, open-source system for building devices. Four modules can be snapped into the BUGbase, which has an ARM 1136 MX31 embedded processor. BUG runs a 2.6.27 version of the Linux kernel and a distribution customized from Poky Linux, which is derived from the OpenEmbedded distribution. OpenEmbedded is a distro specifically for embedded systems. It cross-compiles the JVM and other language runtimes. In addition, thousands of other packages (applications, libraries and so on) are available and can be compiled for BUG using the BitBake program.
At BUG, open source doesn't mean only source code, but also flexibility and the power to choose. As Mike Diehl wrote in his previous article, it's easy to ssh into BUG. After logging in, you'll be at the BusyBox shell, and from there, you can get into the filesystem, install and run software, killall and more (though we don't recommend that last one).
We want users to be able to choose the language they prefer, the interface they favor and the modules that accomplish their goals. The modules currently for sale are the BUGview (full-color touchscreen LCD), BUGmotion (motion sensor/accelerometer), BUGlocate (GPS), BUGsound (audio) and BUGvonHippel (our breakout board with serial, general I/Os, I2C, SPI, DAC, ADC and more). BUGvonHippel was named after Dr Eric von Hippel of MIT for his contributions in the Open Source movement and his book called Democratizing Innovation.
Coming out in the next few months will be the BUGwifi (which also includes Bluetooth), BUGbee (802.15.4 protocol) and BUG3g GSM (3G), to be followed by the BUGprojector (pico) module. Additional specifications for our current modules are located on our Web site (see Resources).
To connect all these modules and communicate with the kernel, we export I2C, SPI, UART, I2S, camera and display interfaces in our own BMI (Bug Module Interface) wrapper to make the device as flexible as possible. You then can put any module into any slot (and yes, they're hot-swappable), creating your own open-source gadget or prototyping platform, bottom-up style.
BUGs are also flexible with what language you can use to code. We support Java, C, Python and Ruby on BUG, but you can write in any language you want, so let us know when you've got brainfork working.
Although we encourage other languages, you also should be prepared to dig around for packages or write a few libraries. One of our developers recently wrote a tutorial on our Community Blog (see Resources) for building C/C++ programs on the BUG. This example uses a Python program called BitBake, along with build description files called recipes, to generate executable programs and other artifacts meant for a specific computer architecture. Recipes are the metadata about how a program is built and provide a way for all packages to be deployed consistently. Finally, this allows for the BitBake program to create an image containing the entire operating system.
When installing new packages on BUG, you can use the ipkg program to install from BUG's shell. Ipkg is analogous to yum or apt-get in other Linux distributions and provides a simple way of installing new software on BUG. We maintain a repository of programs for BUG on our Web site (see Resources).
What else can you do with BUG? Technically speaking, you can do anything you want with a BUG; it's a fully programmable embedded computer. We realize that's a little vague. Because BUG is open-source, imagine morphing any handheld device into your own open-source version running on Linux, allowing you more options than its closed-source counterpart.
Another use is the ability to create hardware without having to solder or go through numerous manufacturing headaches. You can use the BUG as a prototyping system to create and re-create solutions to your problems. And, of course, you can create a new device that isn't available from your local Best Buy or Radio Shack.
Our apps page (see Resources) includes Java apps uploaded by our community and the Bug Labs team. Looking through the current applications is the best way to get an idea of what can be done with BUG. Although many of these apps are proof of concept, these examples show off some of BUG's possibilities. Finally, BUG has a growing community of users who have defined new BUG capabilities both within hardware and software. A handful of community members even have created their own modules, made with our schematics and CAD files found on our Resources and Documentation wiki (see Resources).
Each module has a Hello World app as well as many proof-of-concept applications. These are useful for seeing what each module is capable of. For example, BUGmotion can store the data it gets from three different axes (X, Y and Z) and detect motion in various programmable ranges. Simply by using this module with a BUGbase, you could program BUG and toss it into your luggage before a flight to chart the data from each axis as it gets jostled around. Keep in mind the rechargeable battery life is currently three to four hours without AC power.
BUGview is useful, for example, if you'd like to check out a terminal directly on your BUG, although the keyboard is difficult to type on without tiny fingers, so we recommend using a Bluetooth keyboard via the BUGwifi or USB via BUGvonHipple.
You also can program BUGview to act as one large button that can send data to other modules and change color as feedback that the button has been pressed.
BUGlocate can be used to gather data about wherever your BUG is or stowed in your car to monitor your teenager's driving patterns (though that seems a bit Big Brother for us).
BUGsound can play files saved on the SD card. Coupled with the accelerometer, it can make different noises when held in different positions. Search for the Phunky app on our apps page for more details.
BUGwifi opens up many options, from connecting different devices via Bluetooth to sending messages to your Twitter account when motion is sensed.
BUG3g GSM also will broaden the horizons of data transferring capabilities. Data can be sent to or from your phone or other devices. Imagine your doctor writing you a prescription on a BUG and having the data immediately sent to your patient file and your pharmacist—with encryption of course!
A lot of interesting apps come about due to networking capabilities. BUG comes with its own Web server and allows you to query each module's data by accessing the corresponding Web service. For example, you can connect your BUG to your network, put http://10.10.10.10/service/picture (default IP address of BUG) in your browser, and see a JPEG format picture taken with BUGcam2MP. BUG uses RESTful Web services and HTTP operations to manipulate the resources it provides. Making data available in this way is important as applications rely more and more on different devices communicating.
In addition to using the existing Web services, you can implement your own Web service or Web front end using Java servlets. For example, we recently made a BUGbot—BUG with wheels attached. We created a Web page served from the BUGbot that could control the direction and speed of the device. We then used the BUGbot to drive around the office snapping pictures. The BUGbot was easy to make. We attached a motor shield to the BUGvonHipple module, hooked that up to some wheels, put a tripod on the wheels and a BUG on the tripod. With the Wi-Fi module (BUGwifi) attached, this BUGbot also can upload the captured images to Flickr or Twitter.
Many familiar libraries have been ported to BUG, allowing for the type of functionality you'd expect on any Linux machine. For example, the popular open-source computer vision library OpenCV runs on BUG. OpenCV allows for applications to gather and analyze data from images and video streams. With OpenCV, you can use BUG for blob detection and tracking for physical computing applications. OpenCV also enables BUG to do face, figure and motion detection for security applications.
Our sysadmin at BUG got a SIP phone running on his BUG and wrote about the possibilities with IPv6 and BUG on our Community Blog: IPv6 allows for host-to-host communication. Host-to-host can mean BUG-to-BUG, PC-to-BUG, BUG-to-PC, BUG-to-(other device), (other device)-to-BUG, BUG-to-(some Web service) and, of course, (some Web service)-to-BUG. Maybe more. The BUG SIP phone consists of a BUG and the BUGvonHippel module with a headset attached through the USB port on the BUGvonHippel. To have a BUG SIP phone, you'll need a SIP software client, a SIP provider and the open-source Asterisk PBX. With enough network bandwidth, the quality is clear with little to no lag time.
While we're on the topic of data communication, R-OSGi was created by Jan Rellermeyer and Michael Duller, and it stands for Remote OSGi. This application allows servers to connect via remote access transparently. Bundles are able to move through the network as if they were a local service. This application is not only important to BUG, but to the Java community as well. A Bug Labs developer used R-OSGi to create a camera app that could bind to any camera on the local network dynamically. R-OSGi allows this to occur in a general way, so that any application's dependencies can be provided transparently by another R-OSGi-speaking device.
Music server is an application that uses BUGwifi and BUGsound. Music files are stored on the BUG's miniSD card and can be accessed via an IP address. You can point your phone or another computer to the BUG's IP address and choose a song to play from across the room or possibly (configured correctly), across the continent. Integrated audio/MP3 support doesn't exist in phoneME, so it uses madplay, a command-line MP3 player. Songs can be played directly through the audio module connected to speakers or headphones—the audio module contains a line-in, line-out, mic and headphone jack.
Another useful app that was created by a member of our community is the GPSAlarmClock. This app is programmed to make a sound when a destination is reached rather than a certain time. This uses the PositionHelper class with an OSGi service to help with its accuracy. The GPSAlarmClock can be helpful if you have a long train commute or road trip (provided you're not driving).
Chris Wade, an active community member also known as cmw, ported Quake to his BUG. He hacked it together using QuakeSDL. The full instructions are available on his Web site (see Resources), but it's as simple as downloading the binary and extracting it, then executing it. He recently added mx31 support to QEMU, which allows us to run the BUG in a fully virtualized environment. Unfortunately, QuakeSDL doesn't support joysticks, so Wade took matters into his own hands by hacking the guitar from Guitar Hero to run as a joystick for Quake. Rumor has it Ms PacMan is coming next.
Bug has been learning a lot from the Open Source community, so we understand the importance of giving back to that community. We give back in a few ways. We're active in the OpenEmbedded community, and our art director even created the new look for the OpenEmbedded Project. Our head of software is an Eclipse contributor, and many of our engineers participate in the Eclipse community. We expose and discuss all of our code (all available in our svn repository), projects and hacks openly in hope that someone else runs across answers to their questions. We open-source all the driver work we do, contribute code to the Concierge OSGi Project and submit defect reports for a number of open-source projects. We also have given back to various Linux project communities, such as the Linux wireless community Libertas. Many of our engineers can be found posting and responding to discussions about FOSS Java on ARM with topics on OpenJDK with Tarrent and the phoneME JVM in Jalimo.
Another way Bug Labs gives back is through our Test Kitchen. This is a small electronics lab located at our office in New York, open to the public from 12pm–7pm, Monday–Friday. Folks are welcome to bring their own projects (whether it involves BUG or not), use the various microcontrollers in the lab or just show up to play with a BUG. We also encourage groups like Make:NYC and other similar groups to use the Test Kitchen for their events. The purpose of an open space for hacking and tinkering is to promote collaboration and creativity, share thoughts and learn from each other. We ask that you schedule a time when planning to come in by sending e-mail to firstname.lastname@example.com.
If you have any further questions about BUG, we're on IRC daily at #buglabs on Freenode. Our dev team is ready to help, and our community members probably will chime in with their advice as well. Check back with us often; updates occur regularly.
"The BUG: a Linux-Based Hardware Mashup" by Mike Diehl, LJ, August 2008: www.linuxjournal.com/article/10125
Bug Labs: buglabs.net
BUG Community: community.buglabs.net
BUGrepository: repo.buglabs.net
BUG Wiki: buglabs.net/wiki
Community Applications: buglabs.net/applications
Quake on the BUG Base: bug.cmw.me
Bug Labs Team Member Alicia Gibb is a researcher and rapid prototyper. As Bug Lab's Gadget Wrangler, she administers the Test Kitchen for exploring the innovations available with modular technology components. She recently took a UNIX class where the guy/girl ratio was 2:6. Back up. Reread. Girl Power!


text: Certificate in Medical Billing and Coding Program Admissions Curriculum Accreditation The Certificate in Medical Billing and Coding is a fully-accredited online, six-course certificate program offered by Drexel's College of Nursing and Health Professions. It is designed for those who want to the field of medical billing and coding or enhance their current careers in medical billing and coding for hospitals, clinics, medical offices, nursing homes, health insurance organizations and others. Students learn principles of medical billing and coding related to the three main coding manuals: CPT, ICD-9-CM, and HCPCS. ICD-10 is targeted for implementation in fall 2015. Program Length and Certification Opportunities Depending on the number of courses you take per quarter, the certificate program can usually be completed within one year. Those students who are currently holding transferable credits from another college can inquire whether those credits and the credits earned from this program may be applied as toward the 180 quarter credits (or 120 semester credits) required for the fully online BS in Health Services Administration degree. Completion of this Certificate in Medical Billing and Coding program qualifies students to sit for the following national certification exams: American Medical Billing Association (AMBA) CMRS exam and become a Certified Medical Reimbursement Specialist (CMRS) American Academy of Professional Coder's (AAPC) Certified Professional Coder's (CPC or CPC-H) board exam American Health Information Management Association's (CCS or CCS-P) board exam Key Program Features and Benefits Fully accredited by Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools Flexible as the courses are all online—you need never come to campus and can complete it at your own pace Apply what you learn in your work. Learn the three main billing and coding manuals (CPT, ICD-9-CM, and HCPCS) and prepare to sit for the national exams Drexel is a recognized name in health care education Affordable special tuition rates are available for online students. Special tuition rates also apply for employees of partnering corporations and members of partner professional associations. Admission Requirements A completed application At least one official transcript (from either high school or a previously attended college) Instead of hard copy transcripts, your previous institution can supply official electronic transcripts directly to Drexel University Online through a password secured link or website (use our email address, firstname.lastname@example.com.) Use our Transcript Lookup Tool to assist you in contacting your previous institutions. COMPLIANCE The College of Nursing and Health Professions has a compliance process that may be required for every student. Some of these steps may take significant time to complete. Please plan accordingly. Visit the Compliance pages for more information. Tuition and Fee Rates: Please visit the Drexel University Online Certificate in Medical Billing and Coding page. Curriculum Degree Requirements Online Course Schedule Plan of Study Accreditation MSA: Accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. www.middlestates.org

subset: commoncrawl


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I have no idea why this cake is called a hummingbird cake. I did a quick search on the web and came up with no definitive answer. Some say that this cake is so good that you will hum while eating it. Others say that birds are drawn to sweet nectar and the sweetness of pineapple is reminiscent of nectar. I found a lot of references to the cake being of Southern US origins but no one knows for certain. The ingredients were as varied as the theories on the name. But most recipes seem to have pineapple and banana, but I also saw some recipes which included coconut, mango and nuts (mainly pecans).
I got this recipe from Emily Luchetti's Four-Star Desserts cookbook and she got it from an Australian chef who used to serve this cake in her Perth cafe. I opted for a basic cream cheese frosting to top my cupcakes. But no matter the origin or ingredients, this is a wonderful tropical inspired cupcake. And it's made even prettier when topped with a dried pineapple "hibiscus flower". I wish I could take credit for the pineapple flower idea, but I learned about it from "the Martha". Maybe my crepe cake would've been better with flowers?
Hummingbird Cupcakes
Adapted from Emily Luchetti's Four-Star Desserts
(makes 24 cupcakes)
3 cups all purpose flour
2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground allspice
3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups diced banana (no larger than 1/4-inch dice)
1 1/4 cups diced fresh pineapple (1/4-inch dice)
Preheat oven to 350F. Line 24 (3.5-4 fl oz capacity) muffin wells with paper cupcake liners.
Sift flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and allspice into a large mixing bowl. Stir in melted butter, eggs and vanilla until just combined. Gently fold in pineapple and banana.
Fill the muffin wells about 2/3 to 3/4 full. Bake until golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean, about 23 to 27 minutes. Allow cupcakes to cool in muffin pan for about 5 minutes and then gently remove them from pan and let them cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
(enough to frost 24 cupcakes)
One 8-ounce brick of cream cheese, softened at room temp.
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened at room temp.
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
With an electric mixer or with a wooden spoon, beat cream cheese, butter, lemon juice and vanilla until light and creamy. Beat in the powdered sugar until well combined. Frosting can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 days. Bring to room temperature before frosting your cupcakes.
Dried Pineapple Flowers
From Martha Stewart
(makes 2 dozen "flowers")
2 large or 4 small pineapples
Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone sheets.
Peel pineapple and remove the "eyes" with a melon baller. Leave the center core. Using a sharp knife, cut pineapple crosswise into very thin slices. (You can use a mandoline to slice your pineapples if they are small.)
Transfer pineapple slices to baking sheets. Bake until tops look dried, about 30 minutes.
Flip slices and bake until completely dried, 25 to 30 minutes more.
Pinch the center of each dried pineapple slice to shape into a cone (it's easier to pinch you've left the core). Let cool in a clean egg carton (or something similar) to form flowers. Refrigerate in an airtight container up to 3 days.
~ Because of the cream cheese frosting, I store the frosted cupcakes in refrigerator. I would let them sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes before serving.
~ In addition to cinnamon, I used a bit of allspice in my cupcakes. I think pineapple goes really well with allspice. Feel free to leave it out.
~ My pineapple slices were a bit on the thick side since my pineapple was too ripe. Thinner slices would be better.


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TexasSure - Insurance Verification
TexasSure is designed to reduce the number of uninsured drivers and cut costs for responsible Texans, who now pay almost $900 million a year to protect themselves against those with no coverage. Currently, an estimated 20 percent of Texas drivers are uninsured.
The automated database is a joint project of Texas' departments of motor vehicles, insurance, public safety and information resources, and quickly identifies vehicle owners without mandatory insurance coverage.
More information about insurance verification is available on the TexasSure website.
Received a Notice?
If you received a notice, your vehicle identification number (VIN) may be incorrect on either your title or insurance policy.
Compare the VIN on your insurance policy to the one physically located on your vehicle (usually on the driver's side dashboard).
- If the VINs do not match, contact your insurance agent to correct the problem.
- If the VINs match, then the information may be wrong in our database.
Check for discrepancies on your Certificate of Title, if you have it, then complete the Form VTR-270 and submit it along with your title to TxDMV for correction.
Otherwise, you may need to contact your lienholder to correct the problem.
- If you no longer own the vehicle listed on the TexasSure notice, please submit a vehicle transfer notification online.
Vehicle Transfer Notification.


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EDL*509 - Leading School Improvement
(6 cr.) This course analyzes the characteristics of effective schools and the leadership theories and concepts related to the change process. Participants examine the application of these theories and concepts to the practice of improving the work of the school and the achievement of students. Case studies focus on the analysis of schools in need of improvement, the specific issues facing the schools, data analysis techniques, effective leadership practices, strategic planning, financing improvement plans, and evaluation processes. The role of teacher-leaders within the school improvement process is emphasized.


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Guided By Voices?
We'll be playing in Kent, Ohio this Saturday May 5th, 2012 at the Stone Tavern 110 E. Main St. in Kent. The show starts at 9. We go on later than that, though. Come and see Mick Hurray's head float through the air!
I got an interesting email the other day that went like this:
I read Hardcore Zen when I was in college about 8 years ago, thought it was pretty excellent and then promptly forgot about it. In between my mind exploded, I was diagnosed with probably every major mental illness that existed and I've been drugged to the gills by people who think they are 'helping'. I heard voices and still do occasionally.
The only thing besides a really incredible wife that has really helped me not put a bullet in my head is meditation and Buddhism, even though I hate almost everyone and everything that surrounds it. After losing my mind a few times, I remembered reading somewhere something to the effect of "I don't understand why people that hear voices listen to them. I'd tell them to fuck off and get a body". And for a long time, I thought, whoever this guy is a total fucking asshole who has no idea what he's talking about. It's about as funny as a dead baby joke to someone who actually has a dead baby., It's bad advice, too.
So a few days ago I'm in a hippy-dippy used bookstore and I found your book and read it again. And it resonated with me much more than it had 8 years ago, it's a fantastic book and it's wonderful to hear someone else's frustrations with the bullshit that surrounds Buddhism. And then I found the quote that had stuck with me so long - in your book - and it sort of reflected everything else about Buddhism - that most people in these communities don't know shit about mental illness, they're just terrified of it and want to get away from it.
Why am I telling you this? Not to pin the blame on you over one fucking sentence in a book you wrote years ago and not because I believe you are intentionally perpetuating this prejudice. Because if you consider yourself a teacher, I want to tell you that statements like these, while funny and true, cut deep. They drive away people like me that need to know reality and need to know they aren't alone at the same time that many mental-health practitioners are pushing shitty drugs and Orwellian doublespeak under the banner of mindfulness.
This is how I replied:
I just recorded the audiobook version of Hardcore Zen and when I came to that line I wanted to change it. This was before I even read your email. But I left it in because I feel really strongly that people who change works of art suck. Like George Lucas did with Star Wars. Ugh!
The reason I wanted to change it is that I'm now a lot more aware of the realities of mental illness than I was in 2003. So I realize now that joke is not really very good. On the other hand, it's an honest statement of what I thought at the time. I feel like that's often useful even when it's wrong. Does that make sense? If people are put off by that statement, maybe they should be. It shows that I don't have all the answers and people ought to know that.
Anyway, I know now it's not as easy as what I wrote. I think I knew it at the time too. I think possibly what I was getting at was the Buddhist notion that you have to learn not to believe your own bullshit. Not everyone hears actual disembodied voices. But everyone tells themselves things & then believes those things. We all need to learn to tell ourselves to fuck off.
I'm really sorry the statement caused you trouble. I'm glad you're getting better now.
The issue of meditation and mental illness is really complex, especially these days. Traditionally, Buddhists have almost always touted meditation as a better treatment for mental illness than the standard medical methods. For example, somewhere in Shobogenzo Dogen gives a list of advice for practitioners. One of these is, "Don't take medicine for mental illness."
Of course the medicines prescribed for mental illness in Dogen's time (13th century CE Japan) were not like the ones we have today. It's hard to even imagine what he might have been referring to. Nor was mental illness understood in the way we understand it today. Which isn't to say we have a complete understanding of it even now. But I think it's safe to say our understanding of metal illness today is objectively better than it was in Dogen's time.
Even so, these days a lot of meditation teachers still insist that meditation is a better treatment for mental illness than drugs. I tend to agree somewhat but only with some very significant reservations. I think ultimately, in the very long term, if one is extremely committed to meditation practice, with an exceedingly patient and loyal teacher, that meditation is probably a better way to go. But I think it's extremely rare for all these conditions to come together. For example, I don't think I could be patient enough to deal with a student who was seriously mentally ill no matter how dedicated he was. It also depends on the severity of the illness in question. These days medication for mental illness is prescribed for a lot of people who really don't need it. That's a whole debate in itself, which I'm not going to get into.
There are a lot of people who really need these medications just to have any semblance of a normal life. There are a lot of people who might benefit from meditation, but who will not dedicate themselves to it enough for it to be really effective. In the real world it isn't always possible to establish ideal conditions.
It's kind of like dieting and exercise. I think it's pretty clear that the best, most natural, least complicated way to slim down is through diet and exercise. But it's a very different thing for someone who is twenty pounds overweight than it is for someone who is three-hundred pounds overweight. Somebody who weighs 450 pounds might die before diet and exercise could have a significant effect — even though he can take off twenty pounds through diet and exercise just like a slimmer person. He may therefore need something more drastic. Meditation and mental illness work something like that. But this is still a very incomplete metaphor.
In case people don't get the joke with the video above, I was referencing a series called Ask Roshi. You can find several examples on YouTube. There's one about The Law of Attraction in which Genpo tries to draw in fans of The Secret. There's one on Why We Suffer in which Genpo identifies himself on screen as a "Zen Master." Like I've said before, anyone who would use such a term except as a joke doesn't have a single clue what Zen is about. These videos each have well over 10,000 views.
It's really warped what the general public thinks is significant and serious in terms of Zen or meditation in general. I aim to spend the next couple years doing some significant damage to this bullshit.


text:
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Sir Joshua ReynoldsBiography
In this way, Joshua Reynolds became a painter. In his own mind he soon saw himself as more than a painter, more even than a great painter. He would dedicate himself to the task of raising the prestige of British painters so that they would be accepted in aristocratic society, as leading men of letters already were. It was a large ambition for a young artist, but he never abandoned the goal, and to a remarkable extent he attained it.
In Hudson's "portrait factory" in London, where he entered a four-year apprenticeship, Joshua mastered the mechanical tricks of the trade so quickly that after about two years Hudson agreed to let him begin an independent career as a professional. Reynolds then left London to paint portraits at Plympton, but upon the death of his father in 1746 he set up housekeeping with his two unmarried sisters at Plymouth Dock (now Devonport). In making this move Joshua knew exactly what he was doing. To become a fashionable painter and raise his calling to high social status, he realised that he must make aristocratic friends, and Plymouth Dock, a Navy base, was a good place to begin. In those days nearly all British Navy officers belonged to the aristocracy.
For nearly three years Joshua worked doggedly, producing portraits that ranged from poor to good; the best were in no way extraordinary. He painted the local gentry and a good many naval officers, and his pleasant, earnest personality made many friends. But the big opportunity he was waiting for did not come until 1749 when a squadron commanded by a young nobleman, the Honourable Augustus Keppel, put into Plymouth to repair storm damage. Reynolds painted the commodore's portrait, which turned out to be the best he had done so far, and the two men became fast friends. When the squadron was seaworthy again, Keppel invited the artist to sail with him to the Mediterranean.
Reynolds left Keppel's ship at the Balearic island of Minorca, then a British stronghold. There he painted enough portraits to finance another step in the career he had planned for himself - a pilgrimage to Italy, the fountainhead of European art. He would study the old masters, especially Raphael. Then he would return to England and convince his countrymen that he could not only paint in the grand Italian manner but that he could do it more successfully than any of his British predecessors. He landed at Leghorn in January 1750 and headed for Rome, where he stayed for two years before visiting Florence, Bologna, Parma and Venice.
In Italy Reynolds did very little painting. He had not come to learn technique, which he felt he already knew. His program was analogous to that of the scholars of his period who read and reread Greek and Latin authors in order to stock their minds with apt quotations from Homer or Virgil and allusions to events in ancient history. He would cram his mind instead with images from Italy's glorious tradition of art. By spending hours in palaces and religious buildings where classical statues and paintings by the old masters were on display, Reynolds memorised faces, expressions, gestures, the arrangement of points of interest, and the uses of background light and shade to enhance the effect of figures in the foreground.
No doubt Reynolds would have liked to return to England to paint famous scenes from the Bible or classical mythology, as the old masters had done. But he was a practical man, and he knew only too well that such "history pictures" by British artists would not sell. Wealthy Englishmen paid large sums for pictures in the grand Italian manner by Continental artists, but from native British painters they still bought almost nothing but portraits. Reynold's plan, therefore, was to use his own adaptation of the grand Italian styles of history painting in doing likenesses of English sitters. If his idea met with success, he hoped it would influence other British painters. Thus England's aristocrats might gradually come to recognise that native-born artists were capable of creating fine works other than portraits and accept them on a higher level.
In 1753 Reynolds was back in London to put his carefully thought out plan to the test. His first picture to attract public notice was a full-length portrait of his friend Commodore Keppel striding along a storm-lashed shore. It was no accident that the commodore's pose almost exactly duplicated that of the famous ancient Greek statue, the Apollo Belvedere. Nor was it an accident that the commodore's pose was almost identical to the one that Allan Ramsay - who was then the leading painter in London and who had also studied in Italy - used earlier for his well-known portrait of the Scottish chieftain Norman MacLeod. By painting a portrait similar to Ramsay's, Reynolds intended to demonstrate that he was the better artist, with a new and more vibrant way of bringing the grand Italian styles to British portraiture.
He succeeded exactly as he had planned. Augustus, Viscount Keppel won spectacular acclaim and put Reynolds in enormous demand as a portrait painter. By 1755 the demand for Reynold's work was so great that he had painted more than 100 portraits. Not all were heroic or attempted to be; many were mere "heads", which cost less than a full-length likeness. But when Reynolds got a commission for a full-length portrait, especially when the sitter was a high-ranking nobleman, he usually painted him in a pose adapted from a well-known classical or renaissance model.
Few people in 18th century Britain regarded this practice of using the creations of the old masters to glorify English sitters as a form of artistic plagiarism. Indeed it was admired and applauded. While envious rivals of Reynolds sometimes whispered that he was making a fortune out of the concepts of other artists, the critics, connoisseurs and picture buyers did not see it that way. They agreed with Reynolds that he was naturalising on British soil the noble tradition of the grand Italian style.
This early success made Reynolds London's leading painter. He had brought to British painting a new versatility, but to his mind this was not enough. To accomplish the rest of his declared purpose of raising the social prestige of British painters, it would be necessary to set an example for them. Now he must make influential friends in the highest ranks and move conspicuously in the best society. As his fortunes improved, he advanced to successively larger houses where he could entertain impressively and he made a special effort to cultivate men of letters, who had already succeeded in elevating their social status.
His most important conquest was Dr. Samuel Johnson, the acknowledged ruler of London's literary life. Johnson was fourteen years older than Reynolds was, but the two became lifelong friends, and Reynolds often declared that Johnson was his source of wisdom and inspiration. Reynolds was a middle-class provincial with no formal education beyond his father's grammar school, and Johnson's endless conversation, full of classical allusions and rolling, latinised sentences, was as good as an Oxford education. Other intimates of Reynolds included Oliver Goldsmith - poet, novelist and playwright - and Edmund Burke, a leading statesman as well as a man of letters. Encouraged and perhaps coached by his literary friends, Reynolds began to write articles on art and aesthetics for the Idler, a literary magazine.
Business continued to flood into his studio. In order to handle the deluge - sometimes more than 150 portraits in a year - he employed a good deal of help. In the manner of Hudson, but never as mechanically, Reynolds planned and blocked out the portraits and painted the faces and other crucial parts himself. Under his watchful supervision his assistants did the rest, especially the clothes and backgrounds.
Shortly after the accession of George III, in 1760, Reynolds bought a large house in Leicester Fields (now Leicester Square), in the most fashionable part of London. There he built a splendid gallery to show his pictures. The mansion in Leicester Fields became one of London's leading intellectual and social centres. There Reynolds kept open house, limited of course, to people of standing. To the house came the eminent statesmen of the day, the most famous writers, musicians and philosophers, the nobles and aristocrats, the most dazzling beauties of society and the theatre. Few painters came; although Reynolds had set himself up a model for other British artists to emulate and was kind to artists in need of a helping hand, he never allowed himself to be close friends with a painter who might become a rival.
No 18th century British artist was as fiercely dedicated to the cause of British painting as Reynolds was. Curiously enough, the snobbish and sometimes pompous Reynolds harboured a modesty about his own talent - and therein lay his strength. He began his career believing that he was an average painter who could rise to greatness by studying classical artists and European masters and applying their themes, compositions, settings and even their costumes to portraiture. This conviction became the driving force in his crusade to link British painting, which had little tradition of its own, to important European art thorough the ages. It also fuelled his own work; while striving to duplicate the grand manner of the past, he never stopped trying to improve as a painter. And his range of creativity suggests that he achieved excellence despite his theories rather than because of them.
In 1768, when the Royal Academy of Art was founded to promote the fine arts in Britain, Reynolds was a natural choice for President. The Royal Academy was not only a lobbying body for artists and the home of an immensely important annual selling exhibition, but it was also the official art school. For the next twenty years, Reynolds combined his practice as a painter with the task of running the Academy. In 1769, taking his pedagogic functions very seriously, he delivered the first of his annual Discourses to the students of the academy in which he set forth the idealistic, moralising principles of academic art. His authority in the Academy was paramount and with his fifteen Discourses (delivered over the next two decades) he became the official spokesman of the Academy's thinking, and to an extent was personally responsible for developing its theory. The lectures were later published as The Discourse on Art and have become the classic expression of the academic doctrine of the Grand Manner.
In 1764 Reynolds founded the Literary Club, which included essayist and critic Samuel Johnson, actor David Garrick, statesman Edmund Burke, writer Oliver Goldsmith, writer James Boswell, and dramatist Richard Brinsley Sheridan. By this time, Reynolds had done more than any other artist had to raise the public profile and the social standing of the fine arts in Britain. In 1769 he was knighted by George III, and in 1784 he succeeded Allan Ramsay as painter to the king.
Reynolds is credited with more than 2000 portraits. Unfortunately, his use of bitumen (or asphalt) and experimental pigments and methods made some of his colours fade prematurely. Reynolds ceased to paint, because of failing eyesight, in the summer of 1789 and he died in London on the 23rd of February 1792.
contributed by Gifford, Katya


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Weather Blog: From snow showers to more cold
Thank you for stopping by the Weather Watch 12 Blog! Winter continues to extend its icy grip on southeastern Wisconsin. Snow showers and more cold remain in the forecast early this week. In today's blog we discuss how long the snow and cold stick around.
Let's start with the snow showers currently scattered across the area. The snow showers will linger into late Sunday afternoon. Snow accumulation will stay on the light side with totals ranging from a trace(flurries) to possibly a half inch. Most areas will see little to no snow accumulation.
The RPM computer model forecast at 5pm Sunday shows a few snow showers near Milwaukee, but overall very little snow.
Snow showers will give way to a few lake effect flurries or a stray snow shower Sunday night and Monday. The heavy snows stay well south of Wisconsin over parts of Missouri, central Illinois, and then into Indiana and Ohio. For once we miss the plowable snow!
While we miss the main snow band, we will not escape the cold. A reinforcing shot of cold air will spill across the Midwest an sink all the way to Florida early this week! A couple things to keep in mind when viewing the map below. The average high in Milwaukee is now 45 degrees and the average high in Fort Myers, FL is now 81 degrees.
The unseasonably cold late March airmass will result in daytime highs in the low to mid 30s in southern Wisconsin for Monday and Tuesday. The NAM computer model temperature forecast map valid at 4pm Tuesday is shown below. Notice the cooler than average weather extends from the Midwest to Florida. Many locations in Florida will see highs in the 50s and 60s!
By Wednesday morning at 7am the chill will drop morning lows to the 20s over our area. Look over Florida where lows will sink to the 30s and 40s over a majority of the state.
The frigid late March temperatures will gradually moderate to around 40 in southeast Wisconsin by late week, and possibly into the 40s by next weekend. A chance of rain or snow will enter the forecast either Saturday or Sunday. April 1 is the Brewers home opener and if the front clears the area by Monday morning dry conditions should prevail. At this point expect highs in the 40s. If winds are off Lake Michigan highs may be stuck in the 30s.
For the latest weather information watch WISN 12 News, and for updates throughout the day follow me on Twitter @jnelsonweather
Have a great day!
Jeremy Nelson


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Over the course of his life, Harmon Gaskins twice married widows named Mrs. Jones. He first married Melissa Rouse Jones, widow of Clayton Jones, and second married Mary McCutchen Jones, widow of Matthew Jones. For nearly forty years, Harmon Gaskins and his family lived near Five Mile Creek, about six or seven miles northeast of present day Ray City, GA.
Harmon Gaskins was one of the early pioneers of Berrien County, originally settling along with his father, Fisher Gaskins, and brothers John and William near present day Bannockburn, GA. They made their homes on the west side of the Alapaha River about 16 miles distant from today's Ray City, GA location.
Born in Beaufort, South Carolina around 1808, Harmon Gaskins was the youngest son of Rhoda Rowe and Fisher Gaskins, and a grandson of Thomas Gaskins, Revolutionary Soldier. Fisher Gaskins and his family appear there in Beaufort District in the Census of 1810. That same year, when Harmon was perhaps two years old, his mother died. His widowed father packed up the five young children and moved the family back to Warren County, GA, where the family had lived prior to 1807. There, on January 17, 1811 his father remarried. Harmon's new step-mother was Mary Lacy. Her father, Archibald Lacy, was also a veteran of the Revolutionary War. His stepmother's brother, the Reverend John B. Lacy, would later become a prominent Primitive Baptist Minister
It was about this time that Harmon's father, Fisher Gaskins, began to expand his livestock operations. Soon he was looking to acquire good land on which to raise his growing herds of cattle. By 1812, Harmon's father had moved the family to Telfair County, GA where there was good grazing land for his cattle. His father was very successful in the cattle business and soon had large herds, not only in Telfair County, but also in Walton and other surrounding counties where good natural pasturage could be had.
Around 1821, Harmon's father moved his family and cattle yet again, this time to the newly created Appling County, GA, south of the Ocmulgee River. Harmon Gaskins, now a lad of 12 or 13 years, moved with the family.
By the end of 1825, the Georgia Legislature formed the new county of Lowndes out of the southern half of Irwin County. It was around that time or shortly thereafter, Harmon's father brought his cattle herds and family father south into that portion of Lowndes County that would later be cut into Berrien County. Fisher Gaskins (Sr.) brought his family into Lowndes County and settled west of the Alapha River perhaps a little south of the present day Bannockburn, GA, and about 15 miles north of the area where William A. Knight, Isbin Giddens, and David Clements were settling their families above Grand Bay.
Around 1832, Harmon's father moved farther south into Florida where it was said that there was even better pasture land for cattle. Harmon stayed behind, as well as his brothers, William and John.
Harmon Gaskins married about 1835 and first established his own home place on the Gaskins land near Gaskins cemetery. Harmon Gaskins, and his brothers William and John, were among Captain Levi J. Knight's Company of men who fought in the Indian Wars of 1836. Many published accounts of the pioneer skirmishes with Native Americans at William Parker's place on the Alapaha River and at Brushy Creek have been related on the Ray City History Blog.
In the late 1830s, Harmon Gaskins moved his family to a location near Five Mile Creek, about six or seven miles from present day Ray City, GA. The Census of 1850 shows the Harmon Gaskins place was located next to the farm of Mark Watson, which was in the area of Empire Church. Harmon Gaskins kept his residence here until 1875, when he decide to build a place nearer the Alapaha River. Just two years later, Harmon Gaskins died and was buried at the Gaskins Cemetery, Berrien County, GA.
Sixty years after his death, the Clinch County News ran an account of Harmon Gaskins life in Berrien County:
The Clinch County News
April 23, 1937
Harmon Gaskins – 1808-1878
This the youngest of the three sons of Fisher and Rhoda Rowe Gaskins, was born in 1808, and began life for himself as a laborer on the farm of a neighbor, Mrs. Clayton Jones. He was about grown when his father decided to move to Florida; and ere long he was in love with Mrs. Melissa Jones, widow of Clayton Jones. Mrs. Jones' husband had moved to this county from Emanuel County along with the Sirmans family of Clinch and Berrien counties. Her husband died about 1830 or 1832 and left her with three children, viz; Irving Jones and Henry Jones and Harriet who later married Wm. M. Avera. The daughter Harriet was only about two or three years old when her father died, she being born in 1829. Mrs. Melissa Jones was an illegitimate daughter of Miss Martha (Patsy) Rouse who later became the wife of Jonathan Sirmans of this [Clinch] county. The father of this illegitimate child was named Rowland, a fair-haired, blue-eyed Scotch-Irish man of handsome mien and who deceived the youthful maiden and went away never to return. This illegitimate child grew up and married Clayton Jones in Emanuel county, and they came to Berrien county about 1825, and he died about 1830-2 as already stated, leaving his widow possessed of a home and farm and with five children to take care of. Harmon Gaskins, about her age, but a little younger, after working for her on the farm a year or two, proposed marriage and was accepted and they were married about 1835.
Their first child Rhoda was born Jan. 17, 1837, at the old homestead which was located on the Willacoochee Road leading east from Nashville by way of Avera's Mill 7 miles east of Nashville and near the Gaskins Graveyard.
The early life of Harmon Gaskins was not different from that of other pioneers' sons growing up in the atmosphere of frontier life. He was reared to live the chase and many were the conquests made by him in company with his father and brothers of the wild beasts that then abounded and roamed through the country. Like his father and brothers, he became the owner of a vast herd of cattle, and from the proceeds of sales of his beef-cattle each year he was able to save up gold and silver which in his hands stayed out of the channels of trade for years at the time. He was inured to the hardships of life as it then existed. His only mode of travel was horseback unless he had to make a trip to a distant trading-point for supplies that could not be produced on the farm. In such event of a trip, the horse was hitched to a two-wheeled cart of his own construction he being an excellent blacksmith and wheelright; and journey made in company with two or three neighbors situated like himself. They drove their carts sitting astride their horses, and took rest-spells by occasionally walking by the side of the horse. Such trips had to be made to St. Marks, Fla., or to old Center Village in what is now Charlton county. An occasional trip would be made to Savannah but most of the trips were made to the other points named; these trips were usually about once a year, and would last a week or ten days.
After the birth of two or three children the homesite of Harmon Gaskins was moved to a different location on the same lot of land and for many years he lived near Five-Miles Creek just east of his first location. This was his home until about 1875 when he decided to locate on a lot of land which he had owned for several years lying nearer the Alapaha River and east of his old home. Here he constructed a plain log dwelling and began the work of making a new home for himself and family, renting out the old home-place. He died at his last location.
After the death of his first wife, Mr. Gaskins was married to Mrs. Mary Jones, widow of Matthew Jones and daughter of Robert and Cornelia McCutcheon, pioneer citizens of Irwin and Berrien counties. By his two marriages, Mr. Gaskins had fourteen children – nine by his first wife and five by the second wife.
Harmon Gaskins' death was sudden and was deemed by his older children to appear to have been surrounded with peculiar circumstances. A suspicion arose that he was poisoned by his wife. This suspicion was nursed and grew in the minds of the children until it was determined several weeks later to have the body exhumed and a post mortem examination of the stomach made. The State Chemist failed to find any trace of poison and the decision reached that he came to his death by natural causes. This however engendered much bitterness and ill-feeling between the widow and her step children, and she entered suit for damages for slander. She was given a verdict for $1600.00. She later married Alfred Richardson by whom she had four children, and with whom she lived until a few years before her death in 1918.
Harmon Gaskins enjoyed but few and limited opportunities for obtaining an education. Nevertheless he was one of the best-posted men on political issues and economics of his time. He was a liberal subscriber to the newspapers of his day, and he had a good collection of books on history and other subjects of all of which he was a great student. His counsel was found to be safe and his judgement sound; he was often sought after by others. He was appointed one of the first judges of the Inferior Court of Berrien County, serving many years. After the court was abolished he served many years as Justice of the Peace. However, he never sought political office but rather preferred to stay home. He labored with his own hands as long as he lived, and put in a good day's work the day before he died.
At the death of his father in Columbia county, Fla., he inherited a large stock of cattle from the estate which ranged in Volusia and St. Johns counties, Fla., and until a few years preceding his death he made trips down there once a year for the purpose of rounding up the cattle, marking and branding the calves, and talking over his business affairs with those he had arranged to look after the herds. The men were usually men living in the neighborhood there and under their contract were to look personally after the cattle and pen them about three months in the spring and each summer in order to keep them tradable, and sell the beef steers in the summer, and bring the money from the sales to the owner. For this service the herder was to receive every fifth calf raised and these calves were marked and branded for the herder at the April round-up.
Incompetent and probably dishonest herders in due time began to appear among those entrusted with the care of the Florida herds, and this with the gradual failing of the range and the development of the country there and the influx of people, all worked to the detriment of the enterprise. The income from the cattle grew less each year until Mr. Gaskins decided to sell what he had left and let Florida cattle growing alone. Thus he sold out about 15 or 20 years before he died. After his death some sixteen hundred dollars in gold and silver coin and several hundred dollars in paper money was divided among his heirs after having lain in his trunk for many years.
The children by the first wife were:
(1) Rhoda, born Jan. 17, 18–, married first to Francis Mobley and after his death in the civil war she married Wm. M. Griner.
(2) Martha, married first to Thomas Connell who was killed in the civil war; second to William Parker who died three months later; third husband, Hardeman Giddens, was a first cousin on her mother's side.
(3) Nancy, married Solomon Griffin of Berrien county.
(4) Fisher H., married Polly Ann Griner.
(5) Harmon Jr. Never married, died a young man during the war.
(6) Rachel, married William Griffin.
(7) Sarah C., married Samuel Griner.
(8) Thomas H., married Rachel McCutcheon.
(9) John A., married Mary Bostick.
The children by the second wife were: Wayne and Jane who died in childhood; Harmon E. Gaskins, never married, living single in east Berrien county; William H. Gaskins and David D. Gaskins, The latter married Elsie Hughes.


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Temperature for August 1969
In August 1969 the average high temperature in Tampa, FL was 0.0°F, and this was 90.9°F cooler than the average of 90.9°F. The hottest day in August 1969 was 0 August when the temperature reached 0.0°F. Overnight the average temperature in August is 75.0°F and in 1969 the average overnight temperature was 75.0°F cooler at 0.0°F.


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If you're chasing quality cheap tyres in the Bibra Lake area, Associated Tyre and Wheel is the leading tyre and wheel store for new and second hand tyres and wheels. We have been in industry for over 18 years delivering quality workmanship together with expertise advice.
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Looking to change up my exercise routine, I ran a race Sunday that honored those in the military. The real honor came at the end when I cheered for Yuyri Zmysly, a man who doctors said could forever be in a vegetative state.
It was Salute Inc.'s "got freedom?" run. My crazy-runner-MILF friend texted me on Friday to see if I was running it. I smirked, running it, ha! I hadn't even *heard* of it. At 5:30 race morning, I decided to give it a go.
I left the boys at home and headed out. At the starting line, I stood there, feeling pretty proud of myself for leaving the boys to go run a 5K on a whim. (There was a 10K option, which naturally I didn't do.) Then the starting gun went off. And we were off.
The weather was cool and it was strangely foggy. I felt good the whole race and there was a quaint sense of community as several event volunteers were local high school kids or Girl and Boy Scout troops. Also, many people stood in their front lawns with their pajamas and morning coffee cheering us on. One woman even turned on her garden hose to mist us.
Soon the race was over. Me and my crazy-runner-MILF friend (who ran the 10K) were gabbing over bananas, when we noticed the crowd at the post-race party grew quiet and shuffled over to line the last few blocks of the course.
We followed suit and heard shouts of: "Here he comes!" "There he is!" Standing on my tippy toes, I saw him. He was in a wheelchair, his body was thin, his fingers were slender and gripped the air. Wow. I wonder what happened.
He had a mini-entourage around his wheelchair. Well before the finish line, they all stopped and a burly man stood in front of the chair. The man helped Yuriy to his feet, held out his arms for support as Yuriy took a step. We all held our breath.
His feet shuffled, his upper body jerked and he moved forward and onward and onward. We were clapping and cheering and after Yuriy passed us, we crowded the course and circled him. The finish line was still about a block away.
I looked at the 6-foot-tall, ripped man next to me. The tears in his eyes matched those in mine. He gave me a faint smile. I kept clapping. Yuriy kept walking.
The finish line seemed far away, this wasn't a ceremonial finish, Yuriy was grinding out the end of this race like the rest of us did. He was willing his body to do what he wanted, he was pushing its boundaries.
With each shuffle, we got louder in our cheers and our tears were now freely flowing. Then he did it.
Retired Marine Cpl. Yuriy Zmysly, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, finished the 5K. He did it just five years after suffering a brain injury at a military hospital that left him unable to speak, see or walk.
Yuriy Zmysly walked crossed the finish line, showing that the human spirit is unconquerable.
Thank you Yuriy and to all the servicemen and women for their valiant hearts and sacrifice.
(For more information on Yuriy and his amazing story of love and triumph, click here.)


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The team split up early on - one half worked on the K2 site, where 7 Seymouria bones had been uncovered previously. Last night, we wondered if the find was a fluke, or if there was more to be discovered.
The answer - definitely more to be found. The team at K2 uncovered two distinct horizontal layers, about 2 feet apart, each with it's own Edaphosaurus remains. Even more astounding - the fossils are in place, not eroding out of the soil.
The first Edaphosaurus fossils found at K2 by Chris Flis - evidence that there is much more to this site than we thought. The team worked back into the layer horizontally, uncovering several other Edaphosaurus fossils, including an ankle bone and several ribs. UPDATE - As further fossil evidence emerged, this was later determined to be part of a Diadectes fossil. You can see how that conclusion was reached here.
So, this individual is still resting as he died and was covered over by soil 285 million years ago. By taking directional and GPS readings of the fossils' locations, the team can figure out how the body was manipulated by external forces after death - like river currents.
Dr. Bakker holds an unusually large Edaphosaurus vertebrae - "It just leapt out and yelled 'bonzai!!'" - as Chris Flis and Kathleen Zoehfeld continue to excavate horizontally into the geologic layer in which it was found. Perhaps they'll discover even more of this individual tomorrow.
In addition, the team found a wide diversity of other Permian species, including Captorhinus, Seymouria, Diadectes, Diplocaulus, Eryops - and Dimetrodon, in the form of 9 shed teeth, proof that the Texas Finback was feeding here, most likely on Daffys. A very rare, very small Dimetrodon toe bone was also found.UPDATE: In this video, Dr. Bakker explains what has been uncovered as a new layer in the K2 site.
The biggest question from this site is posed by the multiple Edaphosaurus individuals - there are multiple deaths and multiple burials of a very rare species, in one spot. Why?
The braincase of an Eryops; the round pitted surface on the right is a tooth socket.
The other half of the team headed out to Edge - a site a few miles away that was discovered on the Teachers' Expedition last summer. A complete Dimetrodon hip was uncovered on the surface, and this half of the team worked on prospecting the entire canyon in which Edge is located, to find additional sites that should be excavated.
Dr. Bakker and Chris Flis look for more coprolite in front of a partial view of the Edge canyon.
What they found was coprolite - and lots of it, in all different colors (coprolite is stained by whatever surrounds it). Said Dr. Bakker, "I didn't know coprolite could be so beautiful and abundant - wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. It just looks cool. To find such abundant evidence of where Xenacanthus lived - it's beyond our wildest imagination."
A handful of prehistoric shark poop. The characteristic spiral can be seen in the middle-most piece. According to Dr. Bakker, this site was "happy shark time. They weren't being preyed on where they ate."
Hundreds of perfect examples - uncrushed, with the recognized spiral pattern - were found. They range in size, but none are particularly large. According to Dr. Bakker, this means that "there was age segregation among the sharks here. This was a middle school for sharks." No poison spines are found here - which is unusual as well. David Temple, who discovered the site, will post a description of the experience here tomorrow.
They also found a site with Dimetrodon fin spines in place, next to a vertebra.
A Dimetrodon vertebra also found today at Edge. The horizontal line shown in the middle of the fossil represents the characteristic "pinching" that identifies it as a Dimetrodon.
At another, they found a fossil Calamites - a large leafy plant with beautiful striations, or fine lines, throughout the leaves, as well as fragments of petrified wood that might be large enough to tell us what kinds of trees were growing here in the Permian.
Fragments of petrified wood found at a new site in the Edge canyon.
Overall, the Edge environments are completely different from K2. At Edge, no shed teeth were found; the Dimetrodon site represented only one individual, rather than the many individuals of many species found at most other sites; bones are articulated, with pieces that are still attached or that easily click together; and reduction zones are present - tiny green areas in the red soil representing the presence of organic material - like worms or roots - that prevented the soil from oxidizing. There is also lots of sandstone - each layer represents the river overflowing its banks, covering any dead animals and facilitating the process of fossilization, but also preventing these animals from being eaten - which makes figuring out their ecosystem more difficult.
The team regrouped toward the end of the day to focus on excavating the K2 site, and to prospect at Nicole - a nearby site where many Lyserophian burrows have been found. Another giant Edaphosaurus vertebra was found at this site as well, along with what might be fossilized shark cartilage.
Possible shark cartilage found at the Nicole site.
A tiny vertebra found at the main K2 site this afternoon; Dr. Bakker believes it to be the smallest he has ever seen.
As if that weren't enough excitement for one day, they also found lots of big, very clear arthropod footprints in pale blue-gray sandstone just as the sun set - the first such tracks found at this site.
As Dr. Bakker said today, and as we are all discovering, "every site has its own character; and yet, there are patterns." Check back with us tomorrow to see what other patterns are developing.


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Sprouted Granola Coco Crunch, 1 lb. instructions
- Brand:Go Raw
- Size/Form:1 lb.
- Ship Weight:1.05
- Servings:8
- Dosage:2 oz.
- Flavor:Coco Crunch
Go Raw - Sprouted Granola Coco Crunch¬Ý- 1 lb. (454 g)
Go Raw Sprouted Granola Coco Crunch is truly guilt-free granola. Enjoy gluten-free, nut-free, vegan, sprouted, raw goodness in this super-charged, nutrient packed powerhouse of deliciousness. Organic cacao and vanilla combine with nutritious seeds, like hemp and buckwheat groats - add to that dashes of coconut and Celtic sea salt and you've got a tasty treat that satisfies anytime of the day. Sprouting seeds multiplies powerful nutrients and unlocks enzymes, to super-charge digestion and support optimal health. Keeping it raw¬Ý- gently dried, not cooked - helps preserve the health benefits of every ingredient. Get healthy and Go Raw!
- Gluten Free
- Wheat Free
- Nut Free
- Vegan
- Certified Organic
- Kosher
Why Eat Raw Foods?
Raw foods are loaded with enzymes that help the body to properly digest and assimilate food for optimal nutritional value. Cooking destroys these essential enzymes. Raw food is alive.
Keeping the Essential Nutrients You Need All of Go Raw's products are truly living foods, created with a gentle dehydration process that's kept at an average of 98 degrees F to maximize enzymes, nutrition and flavor.
But What Do Enzymes Do? Nutrient molecules enter the active site of the enzyme, after which the enzyme breaks down substance into smaller more useable products. These new products are essential for cells to do their best work.
Tasty Benefits Eating an enzyme rich raw-vegan diet can have many benefits including:
- Increased energy
- Weight loss
- Clearer skin
- Mental clarity
- Better and more restful sleep
- Overall healing
It's Alive! Plant our products in the ground and watch them grow! As seeds, they are still alive!
Frequently Asked Questions
What does "raw" mean? When food is labeled as raw, it means that none of the ingredients have been heated to a temperature above 118°F in order to preserve all of the enzymes contained in the plant that would be destroyed by the extreme heat of cooking.
Why eat raw food? Heat changes the molecular structure of food, and destroys most or all of the food's beneficial enzymes and renders its nutrients mostly unusable. Enzymes help the body to properly digest and assimilate food for optimal nutritional value. Although the body is capable of making enzymes it is believed to have a finite amount, and over time, the amount of available enzymes diminishes. Studies show that consuming living enzymes (i.e. raw food) can help conserve the body's energy, reduce disease-causing stress and support a healthier digestive system.
What foods make up a raw food diet? Raw foodists eat fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds, and usually a combination of them all.
What's the best way to transition to a raw food diet? There's no one answer to this question—everyone is different, and therefore there's no formula that can be applied to every person. For instance, some people feel the need to research the lifestyle extensively before making the first move, while some people will be comfortable jumping right in.
Go Raw definitely would point out that making changes too fast can be detrimental to overall success, as such a drastic change in eating style can make the transition difficult. It's one of the reasons they started the Go Raw L.I.F.E. Center in San Diego. They wanted to provide pre-made, raw food meals that are not just delicious, but easy for their customers to collect and enjoy at their convenience. The meal programs are set up to give both newcomers and experienced raw foodists the right amount of food for the right length of time.
Why are the Snax and Cookies so small? Go Raw founder, Robert Freeland, designed them to fit well in all sizes of hands, from children up to adults.
How do you get them so perfectly round? When Robert Freeland was starting Go Raw, he realized that the commercially made dehydrators were not up to the demands he was making on them, so he designed his own. The round shape is a proprietary part of his dehydrators.
What makes Go Raw different from other raw food companies? Go Raw's products are always made from organic, top-grade ingredients. They are, and will always be, vegan, gluten free, nut free and minimally processed. They refrigerate their ingredients and stock, even though it's not absolutely necessary. They control their own processing and packing so that they have complete control of every product from when the ingredients enter their plant to when they leave as Go Raw products.
What if I have an allergy to gluten? Go Raw have their own dedicated production plant in Northern California that is completely gluten free, wheat free, nut free, dairy free and soy free, in addition to being raw, vegan and kosher. They don't make other companies' products, nor do they process any of their ingredients outside of their own plant—that way their customers can trust their products.
What if I have an allergy to nuts? Go Raw have their own dedicated production plant in Northern California that is completely nut free, gluten free, wheat free, dairy free and soy free, in addition to being raw, vegan and kosher. Although it is not a true tree nut, if you have an allergy to coconut, please note that many of their products use coconut.
What does gluten free mean, and why is it important? Go Raw products are made without any ingredients containing gluten, a protein found in grains such as wheat and all Triticum species, including spelt, kamut, durum, barley, oats and their crossbreed varieties. Gluten is known to cause inflammation in the small intestine of people with celiac disease, and causes additional problems in digestion for many others.
Do Go Raw products contain genetically modified ingredients? The term GMO stands for genetically modified organism, and Go Raw refuse to use plants that have had their genetic material, or DNA, deliberately altered to carry new traits. A large movement has started against GMO foods due to concerns that they may impact human health and the environment's natural order.
Isn't buckwheat wheat? No, the name is very misleading—it's not a cereal grain or a grass. Buckwheat is actually related to rhubarb and sorrel, and its "grain" is actually the dried fruit of the plant. However, when dried or ground, it acts very much like wheat and other cereal grains, which is why we use it in our granolas.
What is agave nectar? Agave nectar is produced from the blue agave, a large plant with long, spiked leaves that thrives in southern Mexico. The nectar has a low glycemic profile, making it a healthy alternative to sugar and safe for some diabetics. As the plant is processed at low temperatures, under 118°F, agave nectar is considered a raw food. Go Raw only use 100% pure agave nectar from reputable sources.
Don't you need to melt chocolate to make it? Raw cacao is made by dehydrating the cacao bean (the fruit of the cacao tree) at low temperatures and then grinding it into a powder. Because it is a powder, the cacao can be mixed with other ingredients without heating it. By keeping the cacao raw, Go Raw's chocolate retains higher levels of anti-oxidants, all vitamin C, phenethylamine (or PEA, the neurotransmitter that gives you the warm, loving feelings), omega-6 fatty acids and seratonin. In fact, raw cacao contains the highest level of anti-oxidants, including magnesium and chromium, of any whole food.
About Freeland Foods
Freeland Foods is a team of amazing individuals who are dedicated to revolutionizing the food industry. They are committed to perfecting their "process". It starts with the seeds - finding the best, local when available - testing and inspecting - soaking in filtered water - rinsing and cleaning - then sprouting for up to four hours. The sprouts are then mixed with the highest quality raw, organic ingredients they can find. They hand spread the mixture onto trays and then load them into their custom built dehydrators where they'll sit for up to two days at an average temperature of 98 degrees.
Their Pledge Provide the healthiest, most flavorful foods ever made. No nonsense. No gimmicks. The finished product is then packaged in house on their dedicated equipment then stored and shipped in their facility. They love what they do and they're always looking for new ways to improve. They look forward to any feedback or suggestions you may have.Finally, a snack we can all feel great about. Made without any added sugar, oils, flour or animal products of any kind, these little bites manage to satisfy those cravings and can be highly addictive! Treat your sweet tooth with something your whole body will thank you for.
Suggested use
Enjoy with cold Almond Milk! To best preserve each product, refrigeration is recommended but not required. Keep out of direct sunlight and away from insects.
|Go Raw - Sprouted Granola Coco Crunch - 1 lb.
Allergen Caution: Contains sesame seeds, coconut.
Manufacturer info
2235 Mora Drive
Mountain View, CA, Phone: 650-962-9299 Fax: 650-962-9099
About Go Raw
Freeland Foods is a team of amazing individuals who are dedicated to revolutionizing the food industry. We are committed to perfecting our "process". It starts with the seeds - finding the best, local when available - testing and inspecting - soaking in filtered water - rinsing and cleaning - then sprouting for up to four hours. The sprouts are then mixed with the highest quality raw, organic ingredients we can find. We hand spread the mixture onto trays and then load them into our custom built dehydrators where they'll sit for up to two days at an average temperature of 98 degrees. The finished product is them packaged in house on our dedicated equipment then stored and shipped in our facility. We love what we do and we're always looking for new ways to improve. We look forward to any feedback or suggestions you may have.
*The products and the claims made about specific products on or through this site have not been evaluated by LuckyVitamin.com or the United States Food and Drug Administration and are not approved to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease. The information provided on this site is for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for advice from your physician or other health care professional or any information contained on or in any product label or packaging. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosis or treatment of any health problem or for prescription of any medication or other treatment. You should consult with a health care professional before starting any diet, exercise or supplementation program, before taking any medication, or if you have or suspect you might have a health problem.


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At least 73 people in 18 states have been sickened with salmonella poisoning after eating cucumbers imported from Mexico, government health officials said Thursday.
The potentially tainted cukes have been removed from the market and the two firms involved -- Daniel Cardenas Izabal and Miracle Greenhouse of Culiacan, Mexico -- were placed on import alert Thursday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The cucumbers were distributed by Tricar Sales Inc. of Rio Rico, Ariz.
Cucumbers from the firms will be denied access to the United States until the suppliers show that they are not contaminated with salmonella, including the salmonella Saintpaul strain detected in the current outbreak.
The biggest concentrations of victims were clustered in Western states, including 28 from California and nine from Arizona. Fourteen people have been hospitalized. Reports show that illnesses occurred between Jan. 12 and April 6, though more could still be detected.
Most people infected with salmonella bacteria develop diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps within one to three days of eating contaminated food. The illness typically lasts four to seven days, and most people recover without treatment. However, some people may require hospitalization. Most at risk are children younger than 5, older adults and people with weakened immune systems.
Related stories:


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The Wixel is a great general-purpose module from Pololu. By taking advantage of the feature-rich CC2511F32 microcontroller from Texas Instruments, the Wixel provides integrated 2.4 GHz wireless communication, 32KB of Flash memory (29KB available), 4KB of RAM, a full-speed USB interface and 15 general-purpose I/O lines (including 6 analog inputs). A single Wixel can be used as a computer-interface device such as a USB-to-serial adapter, and it can even serve as the main controller for your system. With two or more modules, you can take advantage of the Wixel's wireless capabilities to build wireless networks.
The Wixel features a built-in USB bootloader that can be used in conjunction with Pololu's free Wixel Configuration Utility software to upload custom programs or precompiled, open-source apps to the Wixel (no external programmer is required). A growing selection of free apps lets you turn the Wixel into whatever you need for your current project. No programming experience or compiler software is required to use these apps; simply download a different app to re-use the Wixel in your next project.
For example, the Wireless Serial App turns a pair of Wixels into a wireless USB/TTL serial link, useful for communication between a microcontroller and a PC, or two microcontrollers. That app uses a bit rate of 350 kbps and is capable of transmit/receive up to 10KB per secord at a range of up to 50 feet. You can use it to make a robot remote control, or to allow robots to talk to each other. Multiple serial links can be used simultaneously on different channels.
See the Wixel GitHub Page for the current selection of apps as well as the configuration tool.
The Wixel comes with breakaway headers that can be soldered to the board. It does not use the WiFi/Bluetooth/Zigbee protocols. It uses a proprietary ChipCon protocol compatible with the CC2500 transceiver, the CC2510Fx family, and the CC2511Fx family of chips from Texas Instruments.


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Dailies in MoP curently are droping too much money and are spawning too fast. I've seen alot of boxxer and bot farming MoP daily mobs. Bot are harder to spot while boxxer cant be baned nor complained. I tried doing the same on my warior, its an unlimited pulling of everything then 3 shoting with aoe skill then aoe looting. I had earned 2.5-5k gold an hour with it.
I seen one on illidan 5 man warlock boxxed spaming there aoe all over the quest area. People are already complaining cause he is taging all the mobs required to complete the daily. He never left till next day and the reports never seem to be working anymore.
They need to nerf this daily mobs gold drops. To stop people from farming the area. They did it on catalism...they should do the same in MoP. Nerf the gold drop, Thanks


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Shelley Lee
Psychic Advisor
Special rate: 10 minutes for $30 (save $10) ; 15 minutes for $40 (save $20). Please ask before we go to hire, Rate has to be adjusted before hire.
With the help of your guides and my own, I will answer all of your questions with 100% honesty. Please be advised that the answer you receive may not be what you want to hear, but I cannot work any other way. I will deliver my answers with respect and caring. I am here to help you. The result of any reading can be emotional, and the work that I do is meant to help guide you. Readings are serious business. They are not for "Fortune Telling". My intention is for the greatest good of all concerned. There will be times when some of the information that you receive may not make sense to you at the time. Often times our hearts get in the way of our Heads, and you may not recognize something that makes perfect sense until later. This is very common. Be kind and gentle with yourself, know that NO ONE can ever tell you 100% what your future is, nor what your needs are.
I do not have any special degrees in my field. Just experience and practice since I was a young child. Coming from a family that has been so open minded and helped to nourish my psychic side really helped. I am very qualified to help you with your situation, as I have helped thousands over the past 25+ years.
25+ years of experience helping thousands of people and I know I can help you too. Rated 5 stars on all sites I am listed on. My experience ranges from visions to feelings, to actually hearing the voice of guides. I cannot control how the information comes out, but it will come out in one of those ways.
513 Reviews: 510 Excellent 2 Satisfactory 1 Unsatisfactory
Very compassionate and insightful. THanks.
Shelley is cool, kind and accurate. What more could you want? :D
thanks Shelley you are awesome! been years you showed me how accurate you are!
Awesome reading, very precise and clear!
thanks Shelley!


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Face: Sudden numbness or weakness in the face or one side of the body.
Arm: Sudden numbness or weakness in arm or on one side of the body.
Speech: Difficulty speaking or seeing.
Time: Time is important to protecting brain damage. Call 911 if these symptoms occur suddenly or are accompanied by the loss of vision, the loss of balance with dizziness or the worst headache of your life, with no known cause, both sudden and severe.


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The NCAA's new rules on targeting resulted in six players getting ejected during the first weekend of the season, including one that was later overturned by video replay, the Associated Press reported on Monday.
NCAA coordinator of officials Rogers Redding said official totals on the number of targeting penalties would not be available until Tuesday. But with one game still left to be played Monday night, Redding says the early returns seem to indicate there was not an uptick in the number of penalties called for targeting compared to last season.
Tulane cornerback Lorenzo Doss, Oregon cornerback Terrance Mitchell, Texas A&M cornerback Deshazor Everett, California defensive lineman Chris McCain and Indiana State defensive back Carlos Aviles were the culprits. The latter three's penalties occurred in the second half of their games so they will be forced to sit out the first half of their next contest.
One player, Colorado State linebacker C.J. James, had his penalty overturned after a video review.
So far, it doesn't look like the worries about the new rule are merited. For five players to miss a half out of all the players in college football seems a small price to pay for a greater emphasis on safety. Besides, Everett and McCain won't really be missed this week since their teams are scheduled to take on FCS patsies.
Still, the vagueness of the rule has the potential to bite some teams in the behind at some point. Let's just hope it's applied with as much restraint and common sense the rest of the way as it was in week one.


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The beauty of a book club assignment is that I end up reading something I would not normally have chosen. I didn't think I would like this one much, but it actually is a unique novel — a bit of a cross between Catch-22 and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, full of dark humour and absurdity, but also quite moving. The author spent 10 years in a mental health institution herself which lends authenticity to her observations.
Set in a London mental hospital called Dorothy Fish, 'N' is the narrator (speaking in a North London accent) and tells us all about life inside this institution where she has been a patient for thirteen years. N fears being declared well and being discharged because Dorothy Fish is all she's ever known. Enter Poppy Shakespeare. Poppy is very sure that she is not mentally ill and has no need to be there. N agrees to help her "work the system". But in this world things begin to seem upside down indeed. Who is sane and who is not? N and Poppy embark on a quest with devastating consequences.
The novel brilliantly explores the medical, social, financial, legal, and stigma issues facing the mentally ill in the 1990's, putting the whole system under the microscope. The mental health system seems a bit mad itself! Let's hope it has improved since then! I think our book club will have a very good discussion! Here is a short interview with the author:
The book reminded me of an old Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise movie called Rain Man. Dustin Hoffman plays an autistic savant who inherits his father's multi-million dollar estate, much to the chagrin of his abrasive and selfish brother, Tom Cruise. Charlie didn't even know he had a brother! As Charlie gets to know his autistic brother (purely for greed), he gains not only a brother, but a whole new view of the world and relationships that is vastly different from the high-flying high-speed one he has known so far. Again, the viewer is left pondering 'who is the challenged one' here?


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Patricia Drury via Flickr
A statue of St. Malachy of Armagh (1094-1148) stands on the grounds of St. Malachy Catholic Church in Sterling Heights, Mich. Centuries-old prophecies that have been attributed to St. Malachy are causing a stir due to Pope Benedict XVI's surprise abdication announcement.
Just when you thought it was safe to go out of the bunker, there's a fresh wave of doomsday buzz over a purported 12th-century prophecy suggesting that the next pope will be the last pope before the end of the world. St. Malachy's "Prophecy of the Popes" has no credence in the Roman Catholic Church, but its effect could well be longer-lasting than the hype that surrounded the 2012 Maya apocalypse — especially if the papal conclave goes with one of the favored candidates for Benedict XVI's successor.
The text that's been attributed to Malachy came to light in 1595, in a book by Benedictine monk Arnold de Wyon. Supposedly, Malachy experienced a vision of future popes during a trip to Rome in 1139, and wrote down a series of 112 cryptic phrases that described each pope in turn. The text was said to have lain unnoticed in Rome's archives until Wyon published it.
Doomsday fans have found ways to link each phrase to a corresponding pope through the centuries. That includes John Paul II, who is associated with phrase No. 110, "From the labor of the sun," because he was born on the day of a solar eclipse and was entombed on the day of a solar eclipse as well. Benedict XVI, No. 111, is supposedly "glory of the olive" because some members of a branch of the monastic order founded by St. Benedict are known as Olivetans.
Then there's No. 112: "In the extreme persecution of the Holy Roman Church, there will sit ... Peter the Roman, who will nourish the sheep in many tribulations; when they are finished, the city of seven hills will be destroyed, and the dreadful judge will judge his people. The end."
The end? This could be the beginning for a doomsday meme that hangs over a whole generation, if it's taken seriously. There's already a 586-page book about the coming apocalypse, titled "Petrus Romanus." One theologian, Michael K. Lake, is quoted as saying that "Catholic and evangelical scholars have dreaded this moment for centuries."
In fact, the Catholic Church doesn't put any stock in the prophecies, for a variety of reasons. One of the biggest red flags is that no mention was made about the papal prophecies until the 1590s — not even by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, a close friend of Malachy's who wrote his biography and hailed his gift of prophecy. And then there's always the biblical dictum that no one knows the day or the hour for doomsday — a rule of thumb that works for believers as well as non-believers.
Most experts have concluded that the text was made up to boost a 16th-century cardinal's bid to become pope.
But if the coming papal conclave really wanted to drum up the doomsday talk, as well as sales for "Petrus Romanus," all they'd have to do is elect one of the leading candidates: Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson, a member of the Roman Curia. Even though church tradition would forbid any pope from taking the name Peter II, Turkson could arguably be described as Peter the Roman. Others suggest that he could be the "young red black one" mentioned in the similarly cryptic doomsday prophecies of Nostradamus.
Whomever the conclave picks, there'll surely be a way to connect him somehow with "Peter the Roman" — after all, isn't every pope a successor to St. Peter, based in Rome? "Any pope can be thought of as the latest Peter in the line," Tom Horn, one of the authors of "Petrus Romanus," said a couple of months ago on the "Coast to Coast AM" radio show.
Which means we might have to deal with 2012-style doomsaying as long as the next guy is in office. What do you think?
Dearly departed doomsdays:
- Asteroid Apophis won't hit us in 2036
- No gloom or doom as Maya begin new age
- Rapture 'fail' sparks fresh worries
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
This story was originally published on Tue Feb 12, 2013 6:20 PM EST