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Sorry for the lack of blogs lately folks—it's been a whirlwind of activity at Casa de Goodman between getting an awesome agent for my newest book (which is currently "out for submission"—love it!!!), school starting back up, and, in much sadder news, my grandfather dying.
I considered writing about him, but this is a humor blog (For anyone who may be new to my blog or who may have missed the fact that the entire thing is intended to be funny, that's what I'm here for—entertainment value only. Most of what I do here is satire, designed to exaggerate and make fun of myself. The narrator of my blog is a caricature, not an accurate representation of me as a person. I take events from real life and twist them out of proportion to make them funny through hyperbole.), and Grandpa loved nothing better than a good laugh, so I figured the best tribute I could give him was to stick to my normal posts.
(This was referenced in my uncle's eulogy because my grandfather was, in fact, buried with his five wood. And Grandpa would have been laughing the hardest of anyone in the room at the reference.)
And there IS something else big going on at Casa de Goodman right now. I'm just not supposed to know about it.
The boyfriend and I are rapidly approaching the one year mark of our relationship. In common parlance, known as an "anniversary." And while prior to meeting him, I was staunchly in the school of advising everyone to wait before committing to anything, I've switched teams and now hit for camp "When it's right, it's right." (Did I mix too many metaphors there? I feel like I'm yelling, "Hit a touchdown!" at a baseball game… oh well…)
Maybe it's because I'm a little older. Maybe it's because everyone I see is checking my left hand with unabashed frequency. Maybe it's because six (yes, count them, SIX) of my Facebook friends currently have profile pictures of themselves kissing their significant other with an engagement ringed-hand in the shot. Or maybe it's all of my relatives repeatedly asking "So nu ven?" (Which is apparently Yiddish for, "When's it gonna happen?".)
But whatever the reason, I've turned into the girl I never expected to be. The girl who is absolutely DYING to get engaged.
I still don't want a real wedding. My dream wedding is still Rabbi Elvis in Vegas with NONE of you invited. But my best friend has vowed to stalk me and bring both my mother and grandmother to Vegas with her if I elope without telling her, and I am fully aware that if my mother and grandmother are not at my wedding, the level of Jewish-guilt/wrath will make the ten plagues look pleasant. So I'll probably do some version of a real wedding, but that's not what I'm interested in right now.
Right now, I've turned 100 percent into Gollum (but with better hair and makeup… although I may go on his diet plan if my mother plans to force me into a puffy white dress), desiring nothing more than that precious, precious ring.
Which probably wouldn't have happened if I didn't happen to know that he already has it. Yes. Sorry, honey, your secret is out.
You see, like all good Jewish girls, my grandma (or bubbe if you will) has a jeweler friend who has been telling me since I was five to go to her when it was time to get engaged. Actually, she's probably been saying that since before I was five, but I only remember it starting then. I'm picturing her cooing into my cradle, Sleeping Beauty-godmother style, "And when she's old enough, I'll give her the gift of a gorgeous diamond at a wholesale price."
And while my grandmother claims she's able to keep a secret, with all the hullabaloo surrounding my grandfather being in the hospital, there was no keeping the secret that she and the boyfriend went shopping.
So now, because I know he has it, and because he knows that I know he has it, the boyfriend has begun an active campaign of torturing me. Okay, maybe it's not an active campaign, but it feels like it. Because whenever I try to get any kind of a hint as to when he's going to pop the question, the only answer he'll give me is that he loves giraffes and monkeys that throw poop.
Like he's started texting me with emojis of monkeys and poop.
|Actual text from the boyfriend. Which I interpret to mean, "Kisses to you, my angry chicken baby, monkeys throw poop and push penguins into volcanoes." Perfectly logical in every way.
Which yes, makes me laugh, but I'm not even sure if he's ACTUALLY saying these things or if my weirdo girl lizard brain has gone completely Gollum-style ring crazy and if I'm just hearing utter gibberish whenever he ISN'T talking about the ring.
It also doesn't help that there are a very limited amount of hiding places in our apartment, and when I can't sleep at night (which is a frequent occurrence), I feel like there's this odd, pulsating, diamond-like object calling to me from his dresser. I won't get near it, because I know the pull of the One Ring is strong. But I can sense its presence.
And the only thing that he WILL tell me is that he's planning something special. And I want to let him do this his way and let him make it special. So I know better than to go looking, and I'm trying not to talk about it too often.
By which I mean that I've limited my questions about when we're getting engaged to three times per hour. Relationships are full of compromises, people!
Lucky for him, my romantic standards are notoriously low. For which we can thank my parents, who got engaged when my mother told my father to "defecate* or get off the pot."
*"defecate" was not the word that she used.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that is the super romantic story of how my parents formed the union that created me. So I've warned the boyfriend that as long as I don't have to use that particular expression, anything at all that he plans will be magical and wonderful and romantic.
Even if it DOES involve monkeys throwing their poop.
Thank you, mom, for instilling me with such low expectations when it comes to romance.
Which means that until he decides to make his move, I'm planning to wait patiently. Okay, as patiently as I can. But at least he knows I'll say yes.
And for the rest of you, LEAVE ME THE HECK ALONE! ASKING ME WHEN HE'S GOING TO DO SOMETHING AND CHECKING MY RING FINGER EVERY THREE SECONDS IS TURNING ME INTO A PSYCHOPATH!
K thanks!
(And if you still haven't gotten the message that this is satire and are sitting there reading this thinking, "Oh my God, her poor boyfriend! Why does he put up with that girl?", you should know that he reads my blogs before I post them, totally gets my sense of humor, and loves me for the crazy weirdo that I am—just like I love him for the crazy weirdo that he is. It's a match made in crazy weirdo heaven. Which makes sense, since my crazy weirdo mom* and his crazy weirdo aunt* set us up. Crazy weirdo yenta-devised love all around!)
*Neither of you is a crazy weirdo. Please don't hurt me. I love you guys! ❤


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Most Ambitious Turnaround Project Yet for 'Bar Rescue'
Nightlife expert Jon Taffer joins Lunch Break ahead of the premiere of a new season of his show "Bar Rescue" to discuss the turning around struggling bars, and his efforts to help bar co-owner Terence Tubridy stage a comeback after Hurricane Sandy.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
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Audi that I need to think what's the right tempo what's the appropriate type of music and my interest in us so I only a week at their virtue by the federal government from music management to achieve the desired on the arts and hospitality property ... that sells like the ... dried up like that ... it ... music is the science of beats per minute courage my and content courage ... it from too low for too long you for a new leaf ... if my energy is too high too long to get tired ... so I have to take you through an energy change and an after party to music and content rock hip hop classic country ... the thicker demo in reality im trying to put this on her first kiss ... so the trick is if I was ... there ... anything more ... violent that the music is the reaction to music makes ... what would you guys have done if the show hadn't come along ... oWriMo which ... he was on putting one has been it would be that as as good ... really jaunt ... Jones and analytical guy ... is a numbers guy ... what's the difference in Rockaway Beach breezy point ... was he opened us up to a national audience ... um something that our city and state government hasn't done ... and I can match on the money ... the money we the summer does not ... it's the focus of rocky beach ... this beachfront community in New York City ... everything is between the two of you a few minutes the people who think that aside from the fact that it did get a drinking problem of art that ... people thinking about how I'm some point this out straight I watched the show I can do this one read whenever the street if you begin to think about ... it for the first is the retail store ... products portal by the minute ... they can people purported wasted two core businesses managing costs by the moment ... that's very unique and very high pressure ... profits don't match the recall of our business people to ... withdraw would cost fifty cents to make a fortune ... his rent and utilities his insurance does a million other costs attached to it ... fortunately profitable ... you can lose a lot of money to block the half to be of and manage costs and you have to have the money ... to ride the bumps when you don't ... sort of people all the time the open bars for the first time ... and they run out of money before they were and how to manage a very good point what I hear your analogy I consider bargains it's like a baby ... and you hold wouldn't really and it's been a wake you up its cameras when the Fed ... is can cost you money ... eventually the baby gets older and starts telling you what it is that he hopes to listen to it ... and changing and make no changes ... to that the CBO freshen up then you're good to ... right guys thanks so much for

subset: commoncrawl


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Billed as an event where the future direction of Microsoft (and its partner network) would head in the next 3-5 years I thought it worth heading to London for the 'Technical' Day. It was a 2 day event but day 1 on Tue 1st November 2016 was billed as 'Business Day', so of course I booked in for the geek chic on the 2nd Nov.
It was a well organised event at the Excel centre, smooth check-in & badge print out and well staffed. A little crowded outside the single escalator everyone was trying to use straight after lunch to get up to Levels 1 through to 3, which is where the breakout session were held in various meeting/seminar rooms. You are suposed to use the 'Future Encoded' app to set a schedule and browse the timetable/sessions – the app was pretty rubbish, it kept showing me day 1 (no way to change it) and didn't work properly until day 2 actually arrived. Without the app you are stuck – no printed copies just dashboard screens outside each meeting/seminar room with the schedule for the remainder of that day for that room only.
You had the chance to explore the Expo area on Level 0 prior to the main AM keynote session. As well as the Bloodhound SSC they had a DeLorean, a RR engine and a HoloLens 'VR' area. It was lablled VR, silly really when MS themselves do not consider it Virtual but Mixed Reality – MR.
The Keynote
The main stage was occupied by Andrew Spooner from MS as the host, the hall was 2 thirds full (in contrast at closing keynote it was less than half). We had Joseph Sirosh (MS VP, via Amazon in 2013) talk about data, AI/Machine Learning – not all that great. Next Katja Hoffman talked about Project Malmo, an AI project and the progress her team has made. For me Chris Messina was the standout, his stuff on bots was interesting and has inspired me to look further especially into the social aspects of combining a chat interface (Messenger, WhatsApp) with service/retail opportunities.
Abe Davis (PhD researcher) claimed the work his group were doing – extracting sound/music via just silent video (using the movement of plants/objects in reaction to sound) – was for nice, rosy beneficial purposes. For me it was purely surveillance, surveillance, surveillance. To be able to (eventually) video someone from 100m away, then use the slow-motion capture video of vibrations to their coffee cup to extract local speech was very impressive, but i see no real commercial application except spying!
I will say if the onscreen subtitles are in fact real time and using MS tech then that was impressive, some forgivable errors but generally very responsive and in tandem with speakers!
Lunch – I had prepared and had some with me. The queues were too long, we only had 45 minutes. Plenty of eating places however and much quieter later on.
Breakout Sessions:
I decided to hedge my bets as I could only choose 1 of 20-25 sessions in each time slot. First I went to the 'IDENTITY DRIVEN SECURITY & CYBER CRIME PROTECTION" (Dan Noakes, Zane Freame) expectig something useful. Instead I was hit by a (rather poor) sales pitch for MS's Enterprise Mobility & Security (EMS) offering now based in the Cloud (the Azure one!). The big demo was where an end user with a ubqiquitious device (e.g. iPad) was accessing Office365 email to read a sensitive corporate message, the take away was supposed to be 'protection' of said email by Ctrl+V, then Ctrl+P into say Twitter, or Facebook. So they tried to paste a sentence from the email into twitter and it would not allow a paste. Awesome! NOT. I immediately thought of 3 ways my own non-IT literate wife would use to bypass that, which in order of difficulty are
- Re-type the entire sentence
- Screenshot the email and send as JPG
- Use your smartphone to snap your 'iPad' screen & simply share wherever you wish
Of course there are many more ways (print to PDF anyone?). I had now hopes pinned on my next session "FULL CLOUD MIGRATION & ACTIVE/ACTIVE HYBRID CLOUD" (Carl Holt). It was hosted by Kemp Technology who then proceeded to spend the next 45 minutes telling my why I should buy their 'load balancing' solution over anyone elses (e.g. Brocade, F5). These are called Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs). I didn't learn anything about Cloud Migration that was technical or really meaningful, it was a pure sales pitch and how we are faster, better and more efficient.
Then came the session hosted by one of the 3 highest tier sponsor partners 'Risual', titled 'DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION, THE RISUAL WAY' (Brian Cain, John Pittaway). Now hoping to get some insight to see how they actually did transform someone from slow/robust IT to fast Digital IT I should have known I would be disappointed. No technical information provided, this session was perfect for Day 1 ' the Business day' and talked more about business processes leading to digital rather than any deep technical information.
Closing Keynote
The closing keynote was 2 things – Hololens and 3D printing.
Roger Walkden talked about Hololens from the MS world view, real life applications on how processes, services, efficiencies could be realised. All commercial dev, asking the crowd to go and create content for Hololens.
Avi Reichental (external speaker) then had the bulk of the keynote and talked a lot about 3D printing, especially on improvement both in terms of complexity and scale. Also cost reduction too. There were some nice videos of very promising use cases (cheap fabricated housing, medical enhancements) but as usual the reality is that commercial drivers would be more important for driving innovation in 3D printing than social ones. I see this picked up more by the Defence/Aerospace industry than anyone else.
Overall closing keynotes were OK but longer than needed with a cry out for both for those still in attendance to 'go out, innovate, do stuff and help us sells lots of this Hololens stuff'.
I didn't stay for drinks/networking, there was really no point. I walked through the Expo and only spoke to people for those orgs that interested me in terms of my current role & future direction. The Lenovo iBook was a neat concept, but don't see mass market appeal, MS only had 2 Hololens headsets so the queue times were silly, and there wasn't much else. Overall, I won't be attending a free event like this one again, I suppose my expectation was more TechEd than Sales 101, so for me best avoided in future and maybe consider a paid event in the future in the vein of VMworld.
It does however make me think what Fujitsu Forum (held in Munich and Tokyo) is like in comparison.


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Express. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express.
Rodgers still confident of going fourth
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers still believes his side have a terrific chance of qualifying for the Champions League this season.
The Reds boss insists closing a nine-point gap on fourth-placed Tottenham is tough but not insurmountable, particularly as they face many of their closest rivals at Anfield.
"We have nine points difference but we can do it, there is no question about that," he said. "It is a lot of points to make up but we will fight and accept the challenge in front of us."
He added: "We have had a lot of tough games and we have a lot of what we would consider our big rivals for those (Champions League) positions to play at home. Our form at home is getting better, we are scoring goals and are defensively strong so we sense a real opportunity.
"I believe if we continue to play how we have been and retain that focus and mentality we have a terrific chance. It is going to be very tough but it is not something which is impossible."
Liverpool's unwanted record this season of not beating a side in the Premier League's top 10 has been used as a stick to beat them with. Critics have argued the Reds do not have sufficient quality or consistency to make a push for the top four.
However, the next two months will be pivotal as of their eight league matches only one - Tottenham at home - is against a team they can rightly call rivals for a place in Europe's elite club competition.
Starting with West Brom at home on Monday they face Swansea, Wigan, Spurs, Southampton, Aston Villa, West Ham and Reading before the return to Anfield of former boss Rafael Benitez and his Chelsea side on April 20.
It is a perfect opportunity to silence the doubters and put together a run of results which could see them feature in a top-four challenge which seemed unrealistic at the start of the campaign.
"Once we reach the 10 games-to-go mark you are getting to the business end of the season and if we keep progressing like we are then that will make me happy," added the Reds boss. "But it is more longer term than that. We will fight and give everything we can to get the results to keep our performance level improving."


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News | November 9, 1983
IRAS Discovers New Phenomena's
A variety of new phenomena in the universe, including unexplained celestial objects and rings of dust within the solar system, have been discovered in data from the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), joint project of the United States, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
Some of the major IRAS results reported today are: Detection of unidentified cold astronomical objects; discovery of "infrared cirrus" clouds in interstellar space; infrared views of the Milky Way, and detection of large amounts of infrared radiation from visually inconspicuous galaxies.
Launched by NASA on Jan. 25, 1983, from the Western Test Range in California, IRAS carries highly sensitive, cryogenically cooled infrared astronomical telescope, which is conducting an all-sky survey of objects in the universe that radiate infrared energy. Its detectors are cooled to about 2.5 degrees above absolute zero (2.5 degrees Kelvin, or -270 degrees Celsius, or -455 degrees Fahrenheit) by superfluid helium, making the instrument the coldest man-made object ever flown in Earth orbit.
The first stage of the IRAS all-sky survey was completed in August. second look at the sky is now under way to achieve 99.8 percent reliability for objects observed by the telescope. This final stage of the survey will continue until the telescope's coolant is exhausted in early January 1984.
The orbiting telescope has detected more than 200,000 infrared sources, fraction of which have not yet been correlated with previously known objects.
Early in the mission, small region of the sky was scanned repeatedly to provide the IRAS scientists with basis for understanding the subsequent data. In this so called "minisurvey," 8,709 sources were detected and confirmed, of which 133 cold, point like sources were selected for further study. Most of these could either be correlated with already known objects or otherwise identified. It has not been possible to reach definite conclusions for some of the objects which are located in crowded regions of the sky. Nine objects remained in uncrowded regions of the sky, however, that could not be correlated with known sources, nor could evidence be found that they had been previously detected in any other sky survey.
The nine objects, which are quite cold (less than about -220 C, -364 F) do not cluster either around the planes of the Milky Way or the solar system. Since the initial analysis of the unidentified objects in the minisurvey, dozens more have been found in the main survey.
The nature of the objects cannot be determined without more information about their distances; additional IRAS and other observations are required to allow approximate distances to be derived. Half the objects have been reobserved six months after they were initially discovered, and are at distance of more than 6,000 astronomical units (one AU is 93 million miles). The distances of the other objects have yet to be determined.
If the objects are within the Milky Way, IRAS scientists speculate that some that appear near clusters of sources or in regions of star formation may be protostars (newly formed stars). Others that appear more isolated may be old stars obscured from view by thick shells of circumstellar material. In either case, they would be unusual in that they are colder than most objects of either type.
An intriguing possibility is that these objects are galaxies detectable only at infrared wavelengths and exist far beyond the Milky Way. Their very low temperatures are similar to the temperatures determined for distant spiral galaxies. No spiral galaxies have been detected in visible light at the locations of the nine objects. Therefore, if they are galaxies, they have unusually large ratios of infrared-to-optical emission -- about one hundred to one or more.
IRAS has also discovered three narrow, continuous rings of dust within the solar system. These new features of the solar system may be the result of countless asteroid collisions in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter at distance from 2.3 to 3.3 astronomical units (200 to 300 million miles) from the Sun. It is also possible that single, catastrophic collision between two solar system objects, such as between an asteroid and comet or between two asteroids, produced the two outer bands of material.
IRAS mapped infrared emission from this interplanetary dust at wavelengths from 12 to 100 microns. (One micron is 1/25,000th inch.) The dust is also known as the zodiacal dust since it lies mainly in the zodiacal or ecliptic plane in which the planets travel.
The temperature of the dust is -123 to -73 degrees Celsius (-189 to -99 degrees Fahrenheit). This characteristic, in addition to the symmetry and position of the bands with respect to the ecliptic plane, associate them in space with the main-belt asteroids, according to IRAS scientists. The central band may be permanent feature of the solar system, since it would be constantly replenished by dust from asteroid collisions.
Rather special conditions are required to form the two outer bands that are seen about nine degrees above and below the broad central band. According to the comet-asteroid collision scenario, comet approaching the Sun at about nine-degree angle smashed into one of thousands of asteroids in the main belt. After many orbits around the Sun, the remaining dust would spread evenly around the asteroid belt along part of spherical surface extending nine degrees on both sides of the ecliptic. Each particle would orbit in plane, tipped with respect to the ecliptic, that includes the Sun. The resultant distribution of dust appears as two parallel bands since each orbiting particle spends more time at its most distant point from the ecliptic rather than closer to the plane. The estimated amount of material in the bands corresponds to the mass of an asteroid one kilometer in diameter.
IRAS has found that much of interstellar space is littered with wispy clouds of dust, termed "infrared cirrus" by the science team, which are believed attributable to dust particles found in interstellar space within our Milky Way galaxy. Viewed in the 100-micron wavelength region of the spectrum by IRAS, the sky appears largely highlighted by these cloudy features. Because of its temperature, IRAS scientists believe the cirrus consists mainly of graphite (carbon) particles, formed in the outer atmosphere of stars and heated by starlight.
Left unexplained at present is another component of background infrared radiation spread more broadly across the sky as whole. Its intensity and temperature will be determined when all the IRAS results have been processed and analyzed.
The Sun is located in the outer part of the Milky Way disk, about 30,000 light-years from the center. The space between the stars in the disk contains clouds of gas and dust that block our view in visible light. However, infrared light, because of its much longer wavelength, moves through this dust with very little attenuation, allowing view of distant regions within the galactic plane.
Images assembled from IRAS observations near the nucleus of the galaxy show, in addition to the nucleus, molecular clouds such as Sagittarius B2, seen for the first time at 12 and 25 microns. In addition, the images at 60 and 100 microns show the "infrared cirrus," described above, as wisps of material all along the plane and extending into much of the sky.
IRAS observations have revealed many infrared emitting galaxies, previously seen only as inconspicuous smudges in the most sensitive photographic atlases.
In the minisurvey, which sampled only one percent of the sky, more than 80 galaxies were found that are faint optically but very bright in infrared light; some emit 50 times as much energy in the infrared as in the visible. For comparison, the infrared luminosity of the Milky Way is roughly equal to its visible luminosity. To achieve better understanding of the energy sources and physical conditions within these galaxies will require further studies with other telescopes.
Spiral galaxies were found to exhibit wide range of ratios between their visible and infrared luminosities. The infrared emission in normal galaxies is thought to be measure of the rate at which new stars are forming, so the wide range in infrared to visible luminosity ratios is believed to reflect similar range in the fraction of galaxy's mass being formed into stars.
A detailed study of the Andromeda galaxy, our nearest neighbor giant spiral, has shown that much less star formation is occurring there than in most spiral galaxies, and far less than in our own galaxy.
IRAS observations have pinpointed the locations of current star formation processes in Andromeda to be occuring predominantly in the outer dust lanes at roughly 30,000 light years from the center. The luminosity of these regions represents only four percent of the total energy emitted by this galaxy.
IRAS has found numerous small clouds of molecular gas and dust that are sites of formation for stars like our Sun within 650 light-years of Earth.
In the last decade, studies with Earth-based telescopes have shown that giant stars, ten times more massive and thousand times more luminous than the Sun, are forming within large clouds of gas and dust. But before IRAS, little could be learned about the formation of smaller stars - those like the Sun -- because of their faintness.
IRAS has peered into these clouds and observed globules consisting of few hundred solar masses of molecular hydrogen gas that could collapse under their own weight to spawn stars of about the same size as the Sun.
The IRAS all-sky survey has found that many nearby dark clouds harbor newly formed stars in stage of evolution much like that of the Sun when it formed 4.6 billion years ago.
The visible light from newly formed star is hidden from view by the material left over from its formation. The curtain of obscuring dust is, however, heated by absorbed starlight much warmer than most matter in interstellar space. It is this heat from the hidden star that IRAS is able to detect.
One object that is probably much like our early Sun has been found within dark molecular hydrogen cloud called Barnard 5. The object, one of four detected within the cloud by IRAS, is radiating at about 10 times the rate of the present-day Sun, at temperature between -243 to +227 degrees (-405 to +440 degrees F). It appears to agree with theories of stellar formation, which suggest that star, like the Sun, goes through an extremely luminous phase in its first hundred thousand years of existence.
Two other objects within the cloud appear to be slightly more mature young stars, separated from the molecular cloud itself, but still hidden by the warm dust (about -70 degrees or -100 degrees F).
The fourth object within Barnard 5 is more enigmatic. It may be no more than clump of material at the edge of the cloud, or it may be very cold, dense part of the cloud (about -250 degrees C, -418 degrees F), starting its collapse into another star. More sensitive observations with greater spatial resolution are planned to understand this object.
In another cloud, called Chamaeleon I, 70 sources were detected. Of these, 17 resemble objects in Barnard 5 - either stars deeply embedded within the cloud or stars clear of the cloud but still dust-enshrouded. Twenty-five objects were shown to be cool clumps of material, some perhaps about to collapse into stars. The rest were either normal stars unrelated to the cloud or were impossible to identify because of confusion with emission from other sources. VEGA
In studying observations of the bright star Vega, which was being used as standard source to calibrate the telescope, IRAS scientists discovered evidence of system of solid material orbiting the star. The telescope detected infrared emissions from large solid particles that are gravitationally bound to the star. The particles have probably grown from material left over after Vega's formation and may resemble meteoroids, zodiacal dust, and other solid material found in our solar system.
The discovery provides the first opportunity outside the solar system for scientists to study directly the phenomena that lead to formation of planetary systems around stars. Vega may represent relatively early stage of planetary formation, where the material is accreting into larger particles, or it may have evolved along path very different from that followed by the solar system.
Since the discovery, IRAS astronomers have searched for other stars that might also possess orbiting material. The search is complicated, however, by several factors. Excess infrared radiation from star does not in itself mean that the star possesses orbiting material, according to IRAS astronomers. Other types of processes are known to produce excess infrared emission. Conversely, planetary system around star may not produce significant infrared excess. Our solar system, for example, would be difficult to detect by its infrared excess because most of the material is bound up in planets, which, because of their small surface areas relative to their volumes, radiate much less infrared than material like dust and small grains. In addition, there are only few stars as bright or as well studied as Vega; thus an unusual infrared excess that might identify star as good candidate for possessing planetary-like system would not be obvious around most other stars. To date, this search has turned up number of interesting candidates but no other confirmed Vega-like system.
IRAS has discovered five new comets, detected extensive envelopes of dust around comets not previously known to be dusty, and observed long, thin, invisible trail of cometary debris from the well-known comet Tempel 2.
It has also discovered new object, designated 1983 TB, which appears to be the parent body for the Geminid stream of meteors, which is seen in December. If this is true (and current observations should make this clear), then 1983 TB may be the sixth comet discovered by IRAS. Most of the major meteor streams have been associated with parent comets; for example, the Orionid shower on Oct. 21 is thought to be produced by debris in the orbit of Halley's Comet. Prior to the discovery of 1983 TB, no comet had been found to account for the Geminid shower.
The rapid detection of comets by IRAS is performed with the aid of computer programs developed jointly by the IRAS project at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and Leicester University. The great success of IRAS in detecting comets, beginning with IRAS-Araki-Alcock, is due to its extreme sensitivity and to the infrared emission from small, sun-warmed dust particles in the coma and tail. Detection of comets as faint as 17th visual magnitude (which would require visual telescope of 20-inch diameter or larger for detection) is providing data to revise our present estimates of the total population of small comets.
Most of the findings reported today are summarized from IRAS papers that have been accepted by the Astrophysical Journal for publication in March 1984. Some of the results discussed today are too recent to have been included in the submitted papers.
Based on findings to date, IRAS scientists believe additional new information about the universe will certainly be revealed as the processing and analysis of IRAS data continue over the next several years.
The Infrared Astronomical Satellite was developed and is operated by the Netherlands Agency for Aerospace Programs (NIVR), the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the United Kingdom's Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC). The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory operates the tracking station and preliminary science analysis center in England. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is the U.S. management center for the project.
News Media Contact818-354-5011


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Behind SPANISH OAKS gate, this rare 39.269 acres on both sides of Barton Creek offers ultimate privacy and location. Thirty minutes to downtown Austin or the airport. Custom-built 5 bedroom home. Beautiful covered outdoor living areas overlooks the pool and the creek. Large guest house with its own garage. Sport court, pool and spa. No HOA fees. Ag exemption in place. Barn and pasture is home to cows but can accommodate horses. Perimeter fenced. Opportunity to own a rare piece of Austin. Lake Travis ISD.
Golf Course Private, Trash Pickup - Door to Door
Electricity on Property, Propane
Attached Spa/Hot tub, In-Ground Pool
Ceiling-Beam, Ceiling-Cathedral, Ceiling-High, Double Vanity, Garden Tub, Indoor Utilities, Separate Shower, Walk-In Closet, Skylight, Wet Bar, Window Treatments
Bar Ice Maker, Built-In Oven(s), Double Oven, Disposal, Dishwasher, Microwave Oven, Refrigerator Sub-Zero Type, Stainless Steel, Trash Compactor
Family Room, Gas Log Fireplace, Wood Burning
Barbecue, Barn/Stable, Curbs, Gutters Full, Horse Facilities, Patio-Covered, Sport Court, Storage
Cul-De-Sac, In Golf Course Community, See Agent
|Price Reduced
|$201,000 (2.18%)
|Price Reduced
|$700,000 (7.07%)
|Price Reduced (from $10,500,000)
|$600,000 (5.71%)
Property Listed by: Kuper Sotheby's Itl Rlty
The information being provided is for consumers' personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested in purchasing.
Based on information from the Austin Board of REALTORS® (alternatively, from ACTRIS) from September 14th, 2020 at 4:00pm CDT. Neither the Board nor ACTRIS guarantees or is in any way responsible for its accuracy. The Austin Board of REALTORS®, ACTRIS and their affiliates provide the MLS and all content therein "AS IS" and without any warranty, express or implied. Data maintained by the Board or ACTRIS may not reflect all real estate activity in the market.
All information provided is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified.


text: Professor Zafar Shaikh is dedicated to share his deep knowledge in all the subjects related to Mechanical Engineering. As he has his diploma in Mechanical Engineering, and has earned his B.E in Automobile Engineering from Mumbai University following by his M.E in Mechanical Engg. And thus he is passionate about teaching all the core concepts related to Mech. He successfully accomplished projects on cooling tower & off-roader vehicle in his B.E. Further his M.E. projects includes case studies on Nano particles, Nano-technology & Microstructure. He will be responsible for the tangible concept clearing process when you will learn Drawing. Thus he has presented a set of interesting videos covering each subject in detail.


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† Specifications and pricing are subject to change.
Dealer sets the actual destination charge, your price may vary.
Click on product to zoom.
Mirror Coated Matte Spark Black
**Curb weight includes all necessary materials and fluids to operate correctly, full tank of fuel (more than 90 percent capacity) and tool kit (if supplied).
KAWASAKI CARES: Read Owner's Manual and all on-product warnings. Always wear a helmet, eye protection and proper apparel. Never ride under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Adhere to the maintenance schedule in your Owner's Manual. ©2020 Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A.
Specifications subject to change.
The Ninja H2™R motorcycle is a closed-course riding use only model and is not manufactured for use on public roads, streets or highways. All usage of this vehicle should be limited to riding on a closed-course.
Parts designed specifically for the Ninja H2R are for closed-course riding use only and cannot be purchased without proof of H2R ownership (product registration, VIN confirmation, etc.).
The exhaust sound level of the Ninja H2R at the time of factory shipment is 120 dB/A using Auto Cycle Union (ACU) guidelines. It is the owner's responsibility to confirm that noise regulations of closed courses permit vehicles reaching this level of exhaust sound. Changes to the exhaust system may alter performance and sound level.
As a closed-course riding use only model, specific procedures must be followed when riding and maintaining the Ninja H2R:
The standard tires are designed exclusively for use on a closed-course. These specialty tires are not designed for oval or partial oval course use and may not be suitable for other courses or conditions. Kawasaki recommends that you follow the tire manufacturer's instructions and warnings, and that you consult the tire manufacturer to select the appropriate tires for the course or riding conditions.
Computer controlled systems including KIBS, KTRC, KCMF, KLCM, Kawasaki Engine Brake Control, and KQS are tuned with the standard tires. Use of tires other than the standard tires could affect performance of these systems.
Front: Bridgestone, Racing Battlax V01F Soft
Rear: Bridgestone, Racing Battlax V01R Medium
To prevent loss of tire grip, always use tire warmers to heat tires prior to riding the Ninja H2R. Cold tires do not provide sufficient grip and may cause loss of vehicle control and/or a crash which could result in injury or death.
When storing the Ninja H2R, always use front and rear motorcycle stands that keep both tires off the ground. This will prevent tire deformation and adverse impacts on performance.
In addition to regular periodic maintenance, service inspections are required every 15 hours of engine operation above 8,000r/min (rpm). These service intervals are monitored through the vehicle's ECU with service messages displayed on the multifunction meter. (See Owner's Manual for additional information)
The Ninja H2R is sold "as-is" with no warranties, express or implied. The purchaser accepts all responsibilities concerning cost of service, maintenance and repairs.
Supercharged production sportbike that combines street qualities of hypersport, supersport and sport touring bikes.
Supercharged production hypersport streetbike.
Supercharged hypersport for closed-course riding use only.
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The Bounty Parenting Club has released its annual list of Most Extraordinary Baby Names, and it it is quite extraordinary indeed. Trends include: common nouns that are not human names, other nouns that have been misspelled, abstract concepts and companies.
Lisa Penney, spokesman for Bounty, told the Daily Mail, "Celebrities are renowned for choosing unusual names for their offspring, and our records show that some parents are following this trend in an effort to stand out from the crowd with a name no other child is likely to have in the playground." But then she cautioned, "Parents do need to bear in mind that a really individual name can be a lot to live up to if you don't grow up to be rich or famous!" Um, someone please tell that to LOHAN THE BOY.
The most unusual boys' name list included Victory, Prosper, Perseus, Luck, Kassius, Lohan, Bramwell and Denton. (DENTON!!!) The most unusual girls' list had on it Tea, Vogue, Tru, Pinky, Pheonix, Puppy, Purdy, Pepsi, Peppa and Nirvana. From this we have gleaned that literally any word or trademarked phrase can become a human name if you just put your mind to it. The power of the human spirit and imagination is simply unimpeachable.
With that in mind, here are some predictions for the Most Extraordinary Baby Names of 2014:
- Merkin
- Wife of Bath
- Scrilex
- Pestilence
- Birkenstock
- Cronut
- Lucifer
- Placenta
- Squirrel
- Hoobastank
- Dorito
- iPhone 4S
- Medoosa
Image via szefei/Shutterstock.


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Site: Littlejohn Coliseum (Clemson, SC)Date: Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012Time: 2:00 PMVideo Stream: TigercastRadio: WCCP 104.9 FM (Roy Philpott, Kanetra Queen)Livestats: ClemsonTigers.com Tickets: Click for ticket promotions
CLEMSON, SC – The Clemson women's basketball team will play their first game following final exams when they take on Radford (5-4) at 2:00 pm on Sunday in Littlejohn Coliseum. Clemson (1-7) has won all four meetings with the Highlanders all-time, but they have not met since 1991.
There are numerous ways for fans to come and be involved at the game, as the university recently announced ticket promotions for the holidays. Clemson also offers the video broadcast live for free online at ClemsonTigers.com on TigerCast.
Clemson defeated Radford in four straight seasons from 1988-1991, including once in double-overtime on the road during the 1989-90 season.
The Lady Tigers are holding opponents to 59.0 points per game, and have been one of the best in terms of taking care of the ball. Clemson is averaging just 16.0 turnovers per game, the second-fewest in the league.
Nikki Dixon leads the team in scoring at 11.3 points per game, and ranks eighth in the ACC at 2.4 steals per game. Freshman Jonquel Jones is second in the ACC in rebounding at 10.0 per outing, is fourth in blocks at 2.1 per game, and has also chipped in 9.7 points per game.
Quinyotta Pettaway also returns after missing last game due to illness. She is averaging 7.5 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, which also ranks in the top-ten in the ACC.
Aisha Turner has also been quietly productive during her time at the point, with a 21:5 assist-to-turnover ratio. She had seven assists and one turnover in the most recent outing last Sunday.
After playing Radford, Clemson will travel to Myrtle Beach, where they'll take on Providence as part of the CresCom Bank Holiday Invitational on Wednesday at 9:00 pm. After the midweek contest, Clemson will host Samford on Dec. 22 in their final non-conference game of the season.
September 30, 2020


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American Cheese Burgers
450 g (1 lb) minced beef
2 tsp Schwartz American Barbecue Simply Shake
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 medium egg, beaten
50 g (2 oz) Cheddar cheese
Mix the minced beef, American Barbecue Seasoning, Worcestershire sauce and egg together in a large bowl. Cut the cheese into 4 cubes.
Divide beef mixture into 4. Place the cheese in the centre of each and mould the meat into a burger shape.
Grill on the barbecue for 10-15 minutes, turning occasionally.
Serve in a sesame bun with salad, ketchup or mayonnaise.
Makes 4 servings.
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Kobe Bean Bryant (born August 23, 1978) is an American professional basketball player who plays shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Bryant enjoyed a successful high school basketball career at Lower Merion High School, where he was recognized as the top high school basketball player in the country. He decided to declare his eligibility for the NBA Draft upon graduation, and was selected with the 13th overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets, then traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. As a rookie, Bryant earned himself a reputation as a high-flyer and a fan favorite by winning the 1997 Slam Dunk Contest.
Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal led the Lakers to three consecutive NBA championships from 2000 to 2002. A heated feud between the duo and a loss in the 2004 NBA Finals was followed by O'Neal's trade from the Lakers after the 2003–04 season. In 2003, Bryant was accused of sexual assault after having sex with a hotel employee in Colorado. In September 2004, prosecutors dropped the case after his accuser refused to testify, and Bryant had to rebuild his image while becoming the cornerstone of the Lakers franchise. He led the NBA in scoring during the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons, setting numerous scoring records in the process. In 2006, Bryant scored a career-high 81 points against the Toronto Raptors, the second most points scored in a single game in NBA history, second only to Wilt Chamberlain's 100 point performance in 1962. In the 2007–08 season, he was awarded the regular season's Most Valuable Player Award (MVP). After losing in the 2008 NBA Finals, Bryant led the Lakers to two consecutive championships in 2009 and 2010 and was named NBA Finals MVP on both occasions.
As of July 2011, Bryant ranks third and sixth on the league's all-time post-season scoring and all-time regular season scoring lists, respectively. He is also the all-time leading scorer in Lakers franchise history. Since his second year in the league, Bryant has started in every NBA All-Star Game that has been held with thirteen All-Star appearances, winning the All-Star MVP Award four times (2002, 2007, 2009, and 2011). Bryant is tied for the most All Star MVP Awards in NBA History. He is a thirteen-time member of the All-NBA team and eleven-time All-Defensive team, and is the youngest player ever to receive defensive honors. At the 2008 Olympics, he won a gold medal as a member of the USA national team. In 2009, Sporting News and TNT named Bryant the NBA player of the 2000s decade.


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|The Wicked Witch of the West melts after Dorothy dumps a bucket of water on her. Illustration by William Wallace Denslow from the original The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, 1900. Image available at Wikimedia Commons.
When solutes are in water, they like to be evenly spread out. This is pretty easy if you just have a glass of water with salt in it. But let's say you put a membrane in this glass that allows water, but not salts, to pass through it. Now if you put saltier water on one side of the membrane and less salty water on the other side, what do you think would happen? If the salt can't cross to the less salty side, then the water will cross to the more salty side.
|If a membrane holds more salt (pink dots) on one side than the other, the water will
move to the side with more salt so that the salt and water can be evenly spaced out.
|If a cell is hyperosmotic to its environment, the water will move into it and salts will
leak out so that the salt and water can be evenly spaced out. Eventually, the cell
won't function properly unless it can reabsorb some of these salts.
|A freshwater ramshorn snail has nightmares about kids with salt-shakers.
Image by Alan R Walker at Wikimedia.


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OTTAWA — For the first time since taking office in 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives have put their imprint on Canada through a budget that includes major changes to pensions, industrial research, immigration, energy and the size of government.
The development came Thursday, as Finance Minister Jim Flaherty introduced a budget touted by the Tories as a forward-looking plan to foster Canada's economic strength in the long term.
The fiscal blueprint, although identifying $5.2 billion in annual cuts to program spending within a few years, falls short of the austerity package that some had feared.
"Our government is looking ahead, not only over the next few years, but also over the next generation," Flaherty told the Commons in his budget speech.
"We are avoiding foreseeable problems while seizing new opportunities in the global economy. The reforms we present today are substantial, responsible, and necessary. They will ensure we are focused on enabling and sustaining Canada's long-term economic growth."
The $276-billion budget comes nearly one year into the government's majority mandate, and the Conservatives say they are using it to make ambitious reforms.
Among the highlights:
- The Old Age Security (OAS), the backbone of the country's public pension system, will be changed, starting in 2023, so that the age of eligibility is gradually increased to 67 from 65. The controversial change will affect Canadians under the age of 54.
- Government funding and incentives on industrial research will be shifted to promote commercial innovation to boost the economy.
- Environmental reviews of major oil, gas and mining projects will be shortened to ensure the ventures get off the ground sooner to promote economic development, and some reviews will be handed to the provinces only.
- The immigration system will be reformed to process applicants faster and emphasize getting skilled immigrants into the country to fill vacant jobs.
- Government program spending will be slashed by $5.2 billion within three years, a 6.9-per-cent reduction of the $75 billion in programs that were reviewed.
- Within the public service, 19,200 jobs will be eliminated over three years (4.8 per cent of the workforce), including 600 senior executives.
- The federal deficit, forecast to be $24.9 billion for the fiscal year ending this month, will be eliminated by 2015-16.
- The country's economy is forecast to grow by 2.1 per cent this year and 2.4 per cent next year.
- The military's budget will be cut by $1.1 billion within three years, while the Foreign Affairs Department will see its funding cut $168 million by 2014-15. Foreign aid will be sliced by $378 million within three years.
- Charities will be required to provide more information about their political activities and their funding from foreign sources.
- There are no major tax reductions and the government says there are no tax increases.
- The employment insurance system will be retooled to cap premium increases and to introduce pilot projects that remove "disincentives" for people on EI to also find work.
- The penny will removed from circulation this autumn, saving the Canadian economy about $11 million a year.
- The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the country's national broadcaster, will see its government funding slashed by $115 million — about 10 per cent.
One of the most significant changes is on Old Age Security.
Flaherty said Canadians are living longer and that the government had to act to ensure the sustainability of the retirement system for future Canadians, although the parliamentary budget officer and other pension experts argue the system is sustainable.
"We have to be realistic," Flaherty told reporters. "We want to make sure that the OAS is there for people in the future . . . It has to keep up with the times, quite frankly, with the longevity of people."
This is Flaherty's eighth budget and it comes after months of economic uncertainty worldwide. The debt crisis in Europe has sparked concerns about another global recession, and the economic picture in the United States has been showing signs of improvement after months of uncertainty.
Flaherty reiterated the message that Harper has been declaring — that Canada's economic future is tied to its ability to become a trading nation worldwide and to sell its most prized assets — natural resources — to regions such as Asia.
"Our goal is to strengthen the financial security of Canadian workers and families, to help create good jobs and long-term prosperity in every region of the country," said the finance minister.
"Still, it is not enough simply to maintain Canada's advantage among the major advanced economies. We must also position Canada to compete successfully with the world's large and dynamic emerging economies. In a changing global economy, we must aim higher. We must avoid falling behind. We must realize the enormous potential of our great country."


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Prince Alwaleed bin Talal: An Ally Frets About American Retreat
Influential Saudi royal Prince Alwaleed bin Talal talks about the U.S. debacle in Syria, the Iranian threat, and 'this perception that America is going down.'
'The U.S. has to have a foreign policy. Well-defined, well-structured. You don't have it right now, unfortunately. It's just complete chaos. Confusion. No policy. I mean, we feel it. We sense it, you know."
Members of the Saudi royal family have voiced their displeasure with the Obama administration's approach to the Middle East through private channels and recently in public as well. None of them puts it quite like HRH Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Alsaud....
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The Rolex GMT-Master is an icon in the world of watches. It has been reliably displaying two time zones to pilots and globetrotters for over 60 years. Collectors and fans cannot get enough of this watch, making it a safe investment for years to come.
Originally developed for pilots and produced until 1999, the Rolex GMT-Master has become an icon. Like its fellow Rolex siblings, the Submariner and Daytona, this watch with GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) functionality is one of the most highly sought-after collector's watches worldwide. Notable characteristics include a second hour hand, which makes a full rotation once a day, and a bidirectional, 24-hour bezel. With the help of these extra components, you can view the time in two time zones simultaneously. This feature makes the watch perfect for businesspeople, politicians, and pilots traveling long distances across time zones.
The GMT-Master made its film premiere in 1964 in the James Bond film Goldfinger. Pilot Pussy Galore, played by actress Honor Blackman, wears the watch in many scenes, including one in the cockpit and while kissing Agent Bond. Actor Tom Selleck, famous for his role in the TV series Magnum, P.I., also had a GMT-Master. The watch is easy to identify with its blue/red bezel, earning it the nickname "Pepsi." Jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie also wore a version of this watch.
The former leader of Cuba, Fidel Castro, was a Rolex fan as well. He was wearing a Submariner when he seized power in 1959 and later added a Day-Date to his collection. He had a variety of GMT-Master models, including the watch with reference number 6542 without a crown guard as well as the reference number 1675 with a crown guard and black bezel. Rolex was founded in 1905 by Hans Wilsdorf and remains one of the most famous and successful independent Swiss watch manufacturers to this day.
|Reference number
|Price (approx.)
|Period of Production
You can purchase a pre-owned Rolex GMT-Master for as little as 7,400 USD. Early models from the 1950s with the reference number 6542 are extremely rare, thus making them highly coveted and expensive. Prices vary greatly depending on the watch's condition and history and can range anywhere from 30,800 to 123,300 USD. The successor model, ref. 1675, was in production for about 20 years and is much easier to find. Set aside around 15,000 USD for a Rolex GMT-Master with this reference number. In the last five years, prices for the ref. 1675 have risen drastically. Watches from the 1980s and 1990s are the least expensive. A stainless steel Rolex GMT-Master with the reference number 16700 can be found for less than 8,600 USD, for example. Its predecessor (ref. 16750) costs closer to 11,100 USD since it was only produced in the 80s and is much harder to come by.
The Rolex GMT-Master II has a practical feature not found on "normal" GMT-Masters: Its hour hand can be set independent of the other hands. This makes setting the local time much easier and makes it possible to display a third time zone. Even so, the GMT-Master II is not necessarily more expensive. You can buy a first generation model from the 80s, also known as the "Fat Lady" (ref. 16760), for around 9,900 USD. At about 9,000 USD, its successor with the reference number 16710 is even less expensive. The current Rolex GMT-Master II with a black ceramic bezel and the reference number 116710LN goes for a relatively affordable 8,400 USD pre-owned and almost 9,600 USD in mint condition. The value of these watches has remained stable over time.
The so-called "Rolex Batman" with a blue and black bezel and the reference number 116710BLNR is one of the most hotly sought-after GMT-Master models. Never-worn examples cost almost 11,000 USD, which is above the list price. In fact, this stainless steel watch is so popular that long wait times are par for the course when buying from offline retailers. A highlight of the current collection is the "Pepsi" version, which is listed under the reference numbers 116719BLRO (white gold) and 126710BLRO (stainless steel) . The latter was first announced at Baselworld 2018 with a Jubilee bracelet, the caliber 3285, and a list price of 9,200 USD. Expect to pay around 32,600 USD for the white gold model. Pre-owned pieces cost about 2,500 USD less. Considering this model of the Rolex Pepsi has a list price of almost 43,200 USD, you can get quite a good deal shopping on Chrono24 and will save almost 25% off the official list price. The version in 18-karat yellow gold only costs 28,000 USD, though it features a black bezel with gold markers. The list price for this model comes in at over 36,900 USD.
The bicolor editions in stainless steel and 18-karat gold are only slightly more expensive than the stainless steel models. They are truly a good bargain, considering how much watch you get for the money. You can purchase a never-worn Rolex GMT-Master II ref. 116713LN for 12,100 USD, while a pre-owned model costs only 10,700 USD. Those who like a bit of 80s style will find the perfect companion in one of these stainless steel and gold bicolor watches.
Originally, the Rolex GMT-Master was geared toward pilots and frequent travelers who needed to keep an eye on multiple time zones. Today, anyone who likes this luxury watch can indulge themselves. Your profession or intended use for the watch no longer plays a major role. At the same time, every Rolex watch is an expression of taste, prestige, and success. Thanks to its recognizability and the brand's fame, everyone will know what an extraordinary watch you are wearing at a glance. Since they are no longer in production, the original GMT-Master is especially attractive for lovers of vintage Rolex watches.
If you would prefer a current model and aren't looking to split hairs over the details, the GMT-Master II is a great choice. This watch offers excellent quality, functionality, and exceptional precision, all at a fair price. The beloved three-hand Rolex Submariner without a date display costs only 1,200 USD less than the current GMT-Master II in stainless steel with a black bezel.
The GMT-Master has been on the arms of pilots and world travelers for over 60 years. Its story began in 1955, when Rolex introduced the four-handed timepiece for the first time. Rolex had received a request from Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) to develop a watch with a second time zone. Pan Am made the GMT-Master their official watch. Flight crews received models with black dials, while the ground staff's watches had white dials.
Rolex had already designed a watch featuring 24 time zones all the way back in the mid-1940s. However, for the first GMT-Master with the reference number 6542, they stuck to a two-time-zone construction, as requested by Pan Am. This resulted in a tidy and unmistakable watch. What was its trick? An additional hour hand made one full rotation per day and pointed to the corresponding time on a 24-hour bezel. The bezel could be set so that the red 24-hour hand displayed the current time back home.
The bezel was first available in blue/red and nicknamed the "Pepsi Watch" in reference to the American beverage company. Later, Rolex also began producing black/red ("Coke") and all-black versions. The bicolor bezel symbolizes day (red) and night (blue or black). This allowed, for example, Fidel Castro to know if his brother Raúl was sleeping or at his desk in Havana while he was visiting Moscow. The three central hands for hours, minutes, and seconds displayed the local time.
The first versions of the GMT-Master had plastic bezels. They featured a Bakelite inlay, a plastic developed by Leo Handrik Baekeland. Rolex used this material to minimize reflection. However, it could not adequately withstand the strains and temperatures of the cockpit. Therefore, it was soon replaced with an aluminum inlay. Models with Bakelite bezels are incredibly rare and treasured by collectors.
Like the Submariner from 1953, the first editions of the GMT-Master did not feature a crown guard. The Cyclops lens for the date display was optional, and the watch was waterproof to 50 m (164 ft). In 1960, the second generation of the GMT-Master with reference number 1675 replaced the first. The newer models can be identified by their crown guards and larger bezels.
The watch with reference number 16750 replaced the 1675 series in 1981. With this new model, Rolex began using their new in-house caliber 3075, replacing the previous 1565 and 1575 calibers. Since Rolex only produced this reference number until 1988, it's a very rare watch and popular amongst collectors. Scratch-resistant sapphire glass replaced Plexiglass, which amassed scratches quickly. From then on, they used the reference number 16700, powered by the caliber 3175. Towards the end of the 1990s, Rolex began using Superluminova instead of tritium to illuminate their watches. A short time later, the company ended production of the GMT-Master. Since then, they have exclusively produced the GMT-Master II.
The GMT-Master II joined the Rolex family in the early 1980s. The watch with reference number 16760 featured sapphire glass and a red/black bezel, which gave it its nickname: Rolex Coke. Its new caliber, the 3085, was also notable. This movement allows the wearer to independently set the hour hand when the crown is pulled out halfway. In this crown position, the wearer can also set the date. The minute hand and second 24-hour hand can be set when the crown is pulled out completely. Previously, moving the bezel in both directions was the only way to set the time back home, for example. Due to its large, thick case, the watch earned the nickname "Fat Lady." As the first GMT-Master II, the watch is very popular with collectors.
The watch was refined in 2007, though the design remained faithful to the classic Rolex look. This dedication to classic aesthetics is part of their key to success. One of the most obvious changes was the black ceramic bezel. In comparison to the metal bezel used on earlier models, it is much more scratch resistant.
In 2013, Rolex reintroduced bicolor black/blue models. Another new detail was the Triplock winding crown with three sealed zones to improve water resistance. The Rolex caliber 3186 now powers the watch. Like all Rolex automatic movements, the 3186 meets the criteria set by the Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC). The movement features a blue Parachrom hairspring made from a zirconium-niobium alloy, a typical Rolex characteristic. It's unaffected by magnetic fields and is much more resistant to temperature variations and shocks than normal hairsprings. Thanks to the spring's upraised last coil and reduced curvature, the so-called Breguet overcoil, it can 'breathe' more freely, improving the watch's precision. High-precision regulation occurs via Microstella nuts on the balance rim instead of a regulator – another typical Rolex characteristic.
In addition to the stainless steel GMT-Master, Rolex also offers versions in white or yellow gold as well as in a bicolor gold and stainless steel design. Nicknames like "Eye of the Tiger," "Nipple Dial," and "Root Beer," reference distinctive features in certain models. Models with gold/brown bezels and brown dials are known as "Root Beer" or "Eye of the Tiger." Watches nicknamed "Nipple Dial" have raised, gold indices filled with tritium.
The GMT-Master has been accompanying pilots on their trips around the world for over 60 years. It was improved upon by the GMT-Master II, which has been available since the 1980s. Rolex originally developed this watch with a second time zone for the US airline Pan Am and their personnel. The watch's functionality, precision, and reliability also impressed many NASA astronauts. A few of them wore GMT-Masters on their Apollo missions, although the Omega Speedmaster Professional is the agency's official watch. The GMT-Master has developed into a coveted collector's item over the years, and Rolex watches are generally stable investments. Celebrities and heads of state have contributed to the watch's reputation and raised it to cult status.


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CALGARY, AB. – The Western Hockey League announced today that Tri-City Americans forward Justin Feser is the Denny's WHL Player of the Week.
Feser collected eight points, scoring five goals and three assists to go with a +7 rating, in three games over the past week helping the Americans to a 3-0-0-0 road record.
On Friday, November 2, the Americans welcomed the Everett Silvertips to the Toyota Center. Feser collected two assists and was named the game's 1st Star as the Ams' edged the 'Tips 3-2. The next night, Saturday, November 3, the Red Deer Rebels were in the Tri-City area to face the Americans. Feser scored two goals and was the games 1st Star in the Americans 5-2 win over the visiting Rebels. To wrap up a busy home-stand, the Ams' hosted the Vancouver Giants on Sunday, November 4. Feser scored his fifth career hat-trick, finding the net three times, added one assist and for the third straight game was named 1st Star as the Ams' downed the Giants 9-1.
Feser currently sits 12th among all WHL scorers with 23 points (13 goals, 10 assists) in 20 games played. The Americans currently hold top spot in the WHL U.S. Division with a 12-6-1-1 record for 26 points.
A 20-year-old from Red Deer, AB, Feser is playing his fifth straight year with the Tri-City Americans. Originally a 9th round pick by the Ams' in the 2007 WHL Draft, Feser has gone on to appear in 299 WHL regular season games collecting 270 points (124 goals, 146 assists) and 142 penalty minutes.
The WHL has also nominated Eric Williams of the Spokane Chiefs for the CHL Goaltender of the Week Award. Williamsposted a 2-1-0-0 record this past week with one shut-out, stopping 75 of 79 shots faced for a 0.949 save-percentage and 1.42 goals-against average. Williams, a 19-year-old from Langley, BC, helped the Chiefs to wins over the Seattle Thunderbirds (8-2) and the Everett Silvertips (5-0).


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LUCENA, Daniela. A few Considerations on the Materialist Aesthetics of Asociación Arte Concreto-Invención. Aisthesis [online]. 2012, n.51, pp.57-77. ISSN 0718-7181. http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-71812012000100004.
The following paper analyzes key aesthetic ideas from the avant-garde theoretical production of the Arte Concreto-Invención, a group that in the mid-40s revolutionized the Argentinean art field with a disruptive artistic and political proposal. As noted by the artists themselves, the aesthetic-political program of Concrete Art begins from the premises of historical materialism. While its basics are framed in Marxist aesthetics, this categorization can be too wide for our analysis, due to the variety of proposals and conceptualizations that can be included within. That is why this paper will aim to define the specificity of the Argentinean aesthetics of concreteness in relation to other aesthetics that define or consider themselves Marxists. The work includes a review of primary sources that haven't been deeply considered, focusing primarily on the writings that Tomás Maldonado drawn between 1944 and 1954, which is where the artist defines his art proposal by arguing with other artists, intellectuals and other ways of understanding the relationship between art, reality and social transformation.
Palabras clave : Materialist Aesthetics; Art; Revolution; Socialist Realism.


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There is one argument regarding free will which seems to come up time and time again, and it deserves a response. There was the week before last Sunday School linked blog making it, and the blog in the title. The basic argument is that since our brains are made of physical matter/particles/molecules/etc, and therefore play by the rules of chemistry/physics, there can be no free will since these tend to be deterministic. Unfortunately, it's a not a very good argument, and I will dare the next person making it to run their brain through a meat grinder. Hey, nothing's lost, right? :)
The error in the argument is the underlying assumption that nothing can be more than the mere sum of it's parts - the body is molecules, molecules are physics, the body is physics (gross oversimplification of the argument, I know). However, this is akin to saying that the Brazilian rainforest is a collection of trees, L'Étranger is letters on paper, the Internet is TCP/IP, or the Dance of the Knights is sound waves; Technically all those statements are correct. But all of those things are clearly more in aggregate than the individual components which make them up, you simply cannot get the sum from adding bottom up. On the other hand, if you take a top down approach it's quite clear that as you start subtracting one unit, more than one unit is lost from the total, and the same applies to organic life. The best illustration of the principle is probably the network effect.
That is not to say that our brain is capable of some sort of metaphysical activity per se (nor that there aren't good arguments against free will), only that the physical sciences may not be best tool for analyzing whether or not we are able to make non-determined/free willed choices. My feeling is that attempting to answer questions of 'why' with the answers of 'what' is misguided. We are products of nature with certain emergent properties, and free will may be the result of our conscious self awareness.
Views: 230
This is deeply interesting. I can't help quoting Hitchens when he was asked "do you believe in free will?".......
I have no choice but to
I know some people are of the opinion that if it was possible to know the position and velocity of all matter that it would be possible to determine what will occur next. There are two arguments against this. Firstly Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, which says that it's impossible to measure a particles position and velocity, thereby the measurements are impossible. I know this isn't exactly a counter-argument but its close. The second most definite argument is the case of virtual particles. These are opposite particles that come into existence and quickly destroy each other. But hypothetically if these come into existence near a black hole and one is withing the event horizon it will be captured by the black hole and the other could escape, thereby staying in existence. As no one can predict where these particles occur nor the frequency they appear, the system (universe) is never continuous and not travelling along a pre-determined path. A scientifically heavy answer but hey, its valid!
If we don't not have free will, what kind of will do we have? If it isn't deterministic and also not supernatural then how does our will come about? Really the only thing left would be randomness, which still isn't free.
Also, all those things ARE simply what you said they are. They all require a mind to make them anything more than that, and there is your missing piece of the equation.
All life, human and non human, is aware of (seeing), understanding, doing and saying according to what is called interest span. Only half of life is understanding about what is going on around them and the other half is doing and saying within what can be described here as a causation from an area of activity life that came before within what would be linear time.
Life that is understanding about what is being seen and experienced can be said to have an ability to use information that is placed so to position them into what is complete knowing about what they are seeing and experiencing with activity which is movement and communication. This is what has been referred to as free will, however, life can only do what it understands to it moment to moment. Not all life is understanding to them at all moments and when what an existence has received to them about what they are seeing and experiencing is grossly mistaken they are only experiencing a feeling that is not continuable moving them over (vision, attention span) to another sight to understand something else. It is interesting to know how we understand, do and say as always. Existences that are going around with understanding life that can understand to physically continue within activity where sights and sounds are never experienced as loved, have a body posture, once awareness life is moved off, that will do what some in science understand related to decomposition or entropy. This is to say reduced to liquid hydrogen and this life is purposeful toward future repostionings according to vocabulary that is understandable at a doing something different circulation (like a spin down) activity place.
If you are understanding life, the parts of this that is interesting you can go over to something in your area and be available to see and know how it relates within images and words that you understand yourself with. There is nothing experienced as random within life that "steps up" this way.
@Sean: Never heard of virtual particles in relation to black holes before, that was really interesting. Thanks!
@Michael: They aren't simply what I said they are, it's the combination of all aspects which makes the whole, and by subtracting you will lose more information than you take away due to interaction (perhaps apart from the rainforest, it is the weakest illustration, but a play on 'not seeing the forest for the trees'.)
@Wholely: Two words come to mind, forced medication.
Sean is talking about liquid hydrogen (existing like confetti) and there is an area for this life inside of what is holes (it is an for separation having many presentations) purposeful for breaking down life that will not use itself whole continuously.
There is not a way to lose information which is communication. Information exists either whole as knowledge or broken in piece and placed within divided branes (see M-Theory)
Relating to terrorism ARCus, there is an area for that. You are interested in seeing Noah's activity within a current presentation. See if you can come together with a whole knowing about what was being done and said within that creation happenstance that is happening here.
@Isaac: The argument you made I was referring to was:
"Brains are essentially large systems of atoms, which mean that what's going on there is all chemical and must obey the laws of physics."
I did note that you didn't use determinism, and I agree that the best starting point is to draw no firm conclusions as to the underlying laws of nature in regards to this. My argument was that even if the laws of nature are deterministic it does not immediately exclude free will.
@Wholey - I was talking about electron-positron pairs as proposed by Dirac, not hydrogen. As for the rest of your piece I'm lost as to understanding the point your trying to make. And especially about information existing as knowledge or broken in pieces and placed within divided branes. M-theory is an extension of string theory and considering that according to this theory strings are the fundamental components of particles, how can a fundamental particle be refereed to as knowledge or broken knowledge?
Relating to virtual particles or liquid hydrogen which moves about within holes that are not being provided any light. When an awareness is moved there these are called string experiences where there is no orientation given to an existence within an experience that is not tolerable. Under these conditions what is a separated consciousness that was understanding parts of something called nervous system information through integrations, is repositioned to what it can always see and know about completely.
If you can imagine holes that are filled with communication life that is arranged perfectly uniting all of your interests conducted to you when you see what is interesting now within the experience of truth (the opposite of string experience, liquid hydrogen when it is not in pieces), this is how you will always know something within the continuous universe.
You don't know how to "tell yourself something" and participate in seeing and knowing about your interests that will be added to perpetually. In other words, a quiet central nervous system is the required operating system. The experience "upstairs" of, "There is nothing happening not the same as before."
Sean, It is liquid hydrogen or negative energy that exists in what is called black holes. Liquid hydrogen or negative energy is the smallest unit of broken and breaking life. Back and forth it can be caused to understand a communication, but this is not knowledge. Life comes to united knowing about their interests and experiences through a process of relating information together across activity places where they understand to go. Some have refereed to this as sagacity, however, within what is written about that and how to use yourself within it, it is not complete. United knowing is only placed within your ability to go over to an interest that is experienced positively and is able to be related to what you have understood before completely and then built upon. Within this you are then participating within the continuous circumstance. This is discussing understanding ability and you would have to be able to use the information where you are to experience it as interesting and able to be done.


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weekend wishes
Happy Thursday! Don't forget to stay updated with our travels by following my Instagram.
Hope everyone has a warm and relaxing weekend.
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6 comments:
I can only dream about warm weekend ...ReplyDelete
But it can still be relaxing .
Happy Thursday to you too! And Happy Easter!ReplyDelete
This picture is amazing. I love the minimalist feel with the drama added through the magazine.
love simple images like this one. it's such a pretty place around here. :)ReplyDelete
I don't know that we'll be warm this weekend (in Chicago) but I'll definitely try to relax! you too!
I have really enjoyed your holiday photos on Instagram!ReplyDelete
please please please post your travel itinerary when you return! we want all the details! :)ReplyDelete
I'v really enjoyed your holiday photos on Instagram. Makes me wanna pack my bags and get on the next plane to Koben!ReplyDelete
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Antakya and around
The city of ANTAKYA, 45km south of İskenderun, stands on the site of ancient Antioch. Its laidback pace, cosmopolitan outlook and subtly Arab atmosphere make it a unique destination. Flanked by mountains to the north and south, it sits in the bed of a broad river valley planted with olive trees; a welcome visual relief after travelling from the drab flatlands surrounding Adana.
Antakya is split in two by the Asi River, known in ancient times as the Orontes. Recent developments along the riverbank are slowly transforming the stretch into a fetching (if traffic-ridden) thoroughfare, bordered by flowerbeds, palm trees, fountains and cafés. The eastern bank is home to old Antakya, a maze of narrow streets that still offer glimpses of traditional Turkish life – clusters of men perched on low stools in their doorways sipping tea, and the odd scruffy horse dragging a dilapidated wooden cart laden with goods. Best of all is the food, which thanks to the city's Arab heritage is among the best, and most varied, in Turkey.
Brief history
Antakya was founded as Antioch in the fourth century BC by Seleucus Nicator, one of the four generals between whom the empire of Alexander the Great was divided. It soon grew, and by the second century BC it had developed into a multi-ethnic metropolis of half a million – one of the largest cities in the ancient world and a major staging post on the newly opened Silk Road. It also acquired a reputation as a centre for all kinds of moral excess, causing St Peter to choose it as the location of one of the world's first Christian communities, in the hope that the new religion would exercise a restraining influence. Indeed, the patriarchy of Antioch became one of the five senior official positions in the organization of the early Christian Church.
Despite being razed by earthquakes during the sixth century AD, Antioch maintained its prosperity after the Roman era. Only with the rise of Constantinople did it begin to decline. In 1098, after a vicious eight-month siege and a savage massacre of Turks, the Crusader kings Bohemond and Raymond took the city in the name of Christianity. They imposed a Christian rule that lasted until Antioch was sacked by the Mamluks of Egypt in 1268. By the time the Ottomans, under Selim the Grim, took over in 1516, Antioch had long since vanished from the main stage of world history. At the start of the twentieth century, the city was little more than a village, squatting amid the ruins of the ancient metropolis. After World War I, Antakya, along with most of the rest of the Hatay, passed into the hands of the French, who laid the foundations of the modern city.
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