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Despite the challenges of working in the public sector, a new generation of CIOs is making itsmark with change and creativity.
What enables some CIOs to make sweeping changes, while others struggle to have an impact?
Some CIOs find themselves swimming upstream against a turbulent combination of dysfunctional organizations and political leaders scared of technological change. Yet across the country, a pool of new talent is entering the CIO ranks -- many bringing private-sector experience to their new roles -- and finding themselves in a position to instill real change. These CIOs are making progress, in part because they have developed a sophisticated understanding of the political and business objectives of their jurisdictions and made clear how the IT organization can play a constructive role.
Public CIO's editors chose six of these leaders to profile, because they are emblematic of a new type of government IT executive focused on innovation, and in some cases extending the definition of the traditional CIO's role.
The Entrepreneur
Vivek Kundra
Chief Technology Officer, Washington, D.C.
Long before he became Washington, D.C.'s chief technology officer (CTO) in 2007, Vivek Kundra knew there were shortcomings with the district's use of technology.
"My dad has taught at Calvin Coolidge High School here for 16 years," said 33-year-old Kundra. "When I was in college, I would spend a considerable amount of time helping him with his school computers because IT wouldn't show up. I have known about the dismal state the public school system's technology was in for many years."
Hired last year by Mayor Adrian Fenty to make big changes in how the district uses technology, Kundra is combining his experience working as the assistant secretary of commerce and trade for Virginia and as an executive of Evincible Software, a startup company that develops digital and electronic signature software.
In essence, he is trying to bring the startup mentality to the public sector. One of his first discoveries as CTO was that people going for coffee in Washington's Dupont Circle had more computing power from their laptops than the average police officer. "I thought we had to look at the market forces allowing computing power in our homes -- let's get that for our police officers, our health and human service workers and our schools," said Kundra.
One approach is cutting back on large-scale development projects for office headquarters in favor of more mobile tools for field staff. Another is turning to low-cost solutions such as Google applications, open source tools and Software-as-a-Service. Kundra is convinced that by becoming an early adopter of breakthrough technology, the district can improve government operations and service delivery.
Why spend millions on enterprise applications, he reasons, when district workers can use low-cost Web tools, such as Intuit's QuickBase, for collaboration?
"I am comfortable making bets and accepting that some of those may fail," Kundra said, "while realizing that the ones that succeed we can scale easily and realize real structural value."
The key, he said, is to focus on the business process. An example of Kundra's approach is a procurement Web site for the construction of an evidence warehouse for the police department. Built in a few days with open source tools and YouTube video clips, it allows citizens to see the potential bidders, their location, solicitation and RFP information. Citizens can also see video clips of the mayor and city administrator explaining the process. "We can do in days what could take months or years traditionally," he said. "It's more competitive and open to the public."
One of Kundra's goals this year is to work with leaders to transform the district's schools by changing how curriculum is delivered and to get children excited about technology. Another goal is using more business analytics in public safety.
Kundra said part of his challenge is battling elements within city government that have a vested interest in the status quo. "Government has tended to try to solve problems by huge software development projects that are five years long, and historically these have failed," he said. "They mean employment and job security to some people, but I am changing the debate to value. My approach is to go after the core of the problem, to look at how the employees do their jobs and then look for how we can effect change."
The Consolidator
Michael Locatis
CIO, Colorado
Michael Locatis is preparing for the challenge of a lifetime -- consolidating Colorado's IT operations.
After a year of preparation and outreach to stakeholders, he thinks he's got it all covered. Locatis has plenty of experience on his side, having led the city and county of Denver through a consolidation as its CIO. The three-year effort to unite 20 disparate IT departments into a single citywide Technology Services Division won a Public Technology Institute technology solution award. "I think we were able to improve delivery of constituent services and re-engineer business processes," he said.
The fresh perspective of a private-sector approach helped him make those changes, he believes. "Of course, now that I've been in the public sector for four and a half years, I'll probably be considered a public-sector guy," said Locatis.
In fact, the 49-year-old's experience with consolidation reaches back to his days in the commercial sector. A longtime executive of Time Warner Cable, he said the company was growing so fast through mergers and acquisitions that it was a portfolio of 32 cable companies under one umbrella. As senior director of enterprise technology strategy, Locatis led the standardization of customer service delivery systems.
Of course, he realizes that consolidating state IT services may present a bigger challenge than Time Warner or Denver. "[Colorado] had a history of problems with failed and underperforming projects," he said. "It was recognized that basic things were broken and that other states were recognizing tremendous benefits from consolidation."
As in other states that have consolidated, each agency in the executive branch was making its own siloed technology decisions. "There was no enterprise architecture or procurement leverage," he said. An independent study found that the state has 40 data centers, when it probably should have two or three. "There's been no sense of shared services," Locatis said.
He believes the gradual four-phase shift to a centralized IT organization will alleviate many of these problems. Among his first moves were hiring an enterprise architecture team leader and the development of new governance structures. "We can do a much better job of vendor selection, rolling out large IT projects and prioritizing them," he said.
Having led Denver's consolidation, Locatis learned that political and employee-relationship issues must be addressed head-on. Hired in January 2007, Locatis agreed with Gov. Bill Ritter to spend time studying the state's challenges and building bipartisan support for consolidation before approaching the Legislature for approval in 2008. "We studied what other states have done and hired independent groups to do assessments," he said.
His team created a 250-page change-management plan to go along with the legislation for creating the consolidated IT organization, which was working its way through the Legislature in spring 2008. "It maps out the operational consequences and possible pitfalls," Locatis said. His management team held town hall-style meetings to get input from the state's 1,100 IT employees and put hundreds of pages of consolidation-related documents on its Web site. "We're trying to be as transparent as possible," he said, "and I think it will pay off."
Although he may be an agent of change, Locatis gives much of the credit to the governor for the state's willingness to innovate. "In a state that has not seen such change in decades, you need the executive support of someone like Gov. Ritter," he said. "If I didn't have that, I wouldn't be able to move on this so quickly, or perhaps at all."
The Consensus Builder
Laura Fucci
CIO, Clark County, Nev.
Laura Fucci admits when she left her position as CTO of MGM Mirage in December 2006 to become CIO of Clark County, Nev., she didn't realize the size of the challenge awaiting her.
The previous CIO had been gone several months, along with half of the IT management team. Forty of 120 IT positions in her centralized IT organization were empty. "I also came from an IT organization that was very centralized to one that is federated, so it requires more collaboration and a lot of herding cats," she said.
Clark County faces many challenges itself. The size of New Jersey, it's one of the fastest-growing counties in the country, adding 5,000 residents a month. Home to the Las Vegas Strip, the area sees 40 million tourists each year. The rapid development pace puts a strain on county services and the IT infrastructure that supports them.
But all those challenges played into one of Fucci's strengths: team building. The 45-year-old, who earlier in her career worked in IT for engineering firm CH2M Hill, describes herself as a consensus builder. "Some new CIOs come in and it's 'my way or the highway,'" she said, "but I come from employee-empowered and employee-owned companies. I like it when staff members bring ideas to the table."
Her first order of business was breaking down barriers, not just between central and federated IT groups, but within centralized IT itself. "I spent the first year building bridges and burning down walls," Fucci said. "I started a technology-collaboration forum between distributed and centralized IT to work on issues and standards."
Fucci believed that before focusing on how new technologies could be applied to solve some of the county's problems, she had to shore up IT service delivery. "You have to walk before you can run," she said. She believes building credibility is the most important thing for a new CIO. "You have to prove that you will indeed do what you had said you would do," said Fucci.
Using the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) framework, her team prioritized the top 10 actions it could take to improve customer service. "We brainstormed over what we needed to deliver and how to measure it," she said. "Since then, we have made significant improvements. We study metrics each week and get feedback from the county manager and other executives."
Fucci is also re-establishing a defunct project-management office, which she says will give her group greater visibility and help identify risks before projects go off course.
"What tends to happen is that IT gets enamored with a tool, and you end up with it sitting on a shelf without a plan for how it solves any particular problem," she said. "I am working to change that mentality so that we understand the problem before we buy the tool."
As is fitting for Las Vegas, she regularly assesses the county's willingness to experiment. Her previous employer, MGM Mirage, made extensive use of leading-edge technology and was not opposed to taking risks.
"In a county government situation, spending taxpayer dollars, there's a more conservative attitude," she said, "and I am constantly gauging the business side's willingness to try new things."
Mr. Net-Centric
David Wennergren
Deputy CIO, U.S. Department of Defense
David Wennergren's passion for the projects he undertakes is apparent to anyone who spends five minutes talking to him about IT's transformative potential.
Apparently his enthusiasm is contagious because Wennergren has led teams to success on complex projects in the U.S. Department of Defense.
As former CIO of the Department of the Navy, he led a cross-branch identity management effort he calls the largest smart card deployment in the Western hemisphere. "It sets the stage for other developments in cyber-security and digital signatures," Wennergren said.
He also pushed the Navy to take an aggressive approach to creating e-business operations to eliminate labor-intensive paper processes. The Navy's Enterprise Software Initiative approach to leveraging its buying power has since been adopted by the federal government as the General Services Administration SmartBuy program.
These accomplishments and others got Wennergren, 50, promoted in November 2006 to deputy assistant secretary of defense for information management and technology, and deputy CIO.
The challenge of working on strategic issues across all military branches appeals to Wennergren. "I always preach continuous learning; I had some learning to do myself in moving to the larger organization," said Wennergren. Because the Department of the Navy has two branches, the Navy and Marines, he had some experience working across services. "Now I've just added the Army and Air Force to the mix," he said.
Helping lead the IT operations of a big organization is more about change management than about technology itself, Wennergren said, and he is focused on making defense operations more service oriented or net-centric. In short, he wants the best of both enterprise applications and small, local-project development.
"We are changing the way we buy and build software. We have to behave like an enterprise. We don't need 50 smart card solutions or 50 collaboration tools," he said. The enterprise can be responsible for tools everyone uses, freeing up agency developers to work on tools specific to their needs. As part of a net-centric data strategy, communities of interest are forming to make data visible and accessible to each other without jettisoning their legacy systems. For instance, a maritime domain awareness community of interest -- including the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Transportation, the Navy and Coast Guard -- is using a common format to share data from incompatible legacy systems.
Wennergren's influence extends beyond the Pentagon. As vice chair of the Federal CIO Council, he works on pertinent federal government issues. "None of us works in isolation," he said. "We all have cross-cutting initiatives, so it's important to come together to study the best practices." Two of his current focuses on the council are related: Web 2.0 tools and the Net generation. "The young people joining the IT work force today have different expectations about multitasking and the workplace," he said. "We have to learn how to be an employer of choice for them."
That gets back to the team-building skills and passion he brings to the job: As Wennergren sees it, in order to have an impact on such a large organization, he has to be a positive force for change and create a sense of urgency. "Many people are comfortable staying where they are because it's what they know and are good at," he said. "If I am going to get people to step out of their comfort zone, I have to be fully committed to the change, but also a good listener and have a desire to help those people unleash their potential."
The Innovator
Hardik Bhatt
CIO, Chicago
From the first day Hardik Bhatt became Chicago's CIO in February 2006, he felt comfortable pursuing innovation because Mayor Richard M. Daley blazed the trail. "The mayor has been at the forefront of innovation, from the creation of Millennium Park, to taking over the school system, to appointing a 21st Century Commission to determine how government should change to be more responsive," Bhatt said.
As soon as he became CIO, Bhatt made a proposal to Daley, not to innovate in terms of new products, but to take on complex cross-departmental challenges the city faces "whether technology is at the forefront of the solution or not," he said. He even renamed his department the Department of Innovation and Technology.
Besides traditional IT solutions, Bhatt is working on issues you might not expect a CIO to handle. One example is dealing with vacant buildings, which often become havens for gangs and drug dealers. Traditionally the issue involved nine city departments, and often the problem was passed from one to another, Bhatt explained, while citizens grew frustrated at the slow response. "We reached out to constituents and traced the issues from their calls through the system," he said. "The problem was really communication between departments. First we had to streamline the business process; then we could consider how to use technology to solve it."
Bhatt, 35, believes his mix of private-sector consulting work, a master's of business administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and previous IT work for the Chicago Police Department provided a great mix of experiences to prepare him to be CIO.
"They exposed me to the subtle differences between government and the private sector," he said. It may take the city longer to buy new technology than the private sector. "But I understand we are spending taxpayers' money," said Bhatt. "For us, often the biggest return on investment is citizen benefit, and sometimes that's hard to calculate in hard dollars."
In terms of using technology to communicate with Chicago residents, Bhatt boils down the city's approach to i-government, e-government and m-government. I-government means sharing information with residents. "We have so much data," he said. "I think it is imperative to share it with citizens. We are making everything map-based, so you can see crime data, restaurant health-code violations and road closures in your neighborhood."
E-government encompasses improving city Web pages and making it easier for residents to conduct city transactions online. M-government means bringing mobility tools to employees; workers fixing potholes, for instance, can get route maps on handhelds, take photos and give immediate coordinates via GPS. It will also translate to developing systems to allow citizens to pay parking tickets or water bills via their cell phone.
Besides all the efforts to work on city business processes, Bhatt is also involved in a citywide effort to deal with an issue he knows firsthand: the digital divide. "I had such a hard time accessing technology myself in school in India in the 1980s and early 1990s," he recalled. "We had a college with 160 students and only four computers to share."
The city, he said, has started by putting $250,000 into grants to 10 nonprofit organizations to begin a process of saturating the city with digital resources to see what difference it can make.
"I have experienced the digital divide myself," Bhatt said, "so this issue has always been close to my heart."
The Smart City Architect
Steve Reneker
CIO, Riverside, Calif.
Few CIOs get the opportunity to influence their cities' growth like Steve Reneker has.
The Riverside, Calif., native took the city's top IT job in 2006, after a two-year stint working at Dell Inc., and has become an integral figure in a project called SmartRiverside.
"The goal is to make us more of a high-tech city," explained 47-year-old Reneker, who has been named SmartRiverside's executive director. The economic development aspect started as a portal to attract and retain business to the Southern California city of approximately 300,000, known as state's citrus industry birthplace. The effort grew into a task force providing high-tech companies with assistance, including tenant improvements, helping with company relocations and low-interest mortgages for employees.
Reneker is also leading an ambitious wireless broadband Internet access network project with AT&T, for which the city government is the anchor tenant. As of spring 2008, the network is 80 percent built and in testing, he said. Coinciding with the Wi-Fi project, Reneker is leading a digital-inclusion program to offer citizens refurbished PCs so they can take advantage of the free Wi-Fi access. "I thought if we're going to do this, we should make sure we're benefiting the entire community," he said. "We expect 20,000 to 25,000 households to take advantage."
Reneker, who previously served as Riverside County's CIO, said he took the city CIO post because he saw a "dream team" of talented people leading the city. "A lot of it comes down to being in the right place at the right time," he said. "We have the dynamics of an elected official base that is technology oriented as well as other leaders who understand its importance."
Besides his work on the SmartRiverside project, Reneker has made sweeping changes to how the city handles IT. He renegotiated some IT outsourcing contracts and established a project-management office and a new governance process. "Now all IT projects are prioritized by an executive technology committee," he said. "I think it's been very effective."
The city has a new data center and through virtualization, the city has reduced its number of servers from 225 to 75. Riverside is also working on a service-oriented architecture.
Priorities for the rest of 2008 include expanding the number of online services available to the public and focusing on how technology can better serve public safety officials.
Reneker is most proud of the digital inclusion project and hopes it can be replicated across the country. "In a way, it's part of a larger effort to make sure our citizens can compete with workers in Asia and Europe," he said. "We have to work to improve our standards of literacy and computer skills."
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Posts Tagged Pinterest
Publicis Kaplan Thaler Nabs 2 Mashies Awards for Citi Bike App
Posted by PublicisUSA in Our Work on October 11, 2013
NEW YORK CITY, NY (October 11, 2013) – Advertising executives, brand marketers and press recently gathered at New York's Altman building to celebrate the winners of Mashable's inaugural Mashies awards, honoring the best and most creative work in digital marketing. Publicis Kaplan Thaler received two Mashies, Best Branded App and Best New Brand for their work with Citi Bike, New York City's bike share program.
Todd Wasserman, Mashable's business editor noted in a recent post, "The rising prominence of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and others has led to a more complex array of media choices, but has also rebooted our traditional view of marketing. This is no longer a one-way conversation with consumers. It is a real-time dialogue in which brands can be upended by an ill-conceived tweet or a rogue YouTube posting. In such an environment, we think marketers deserve kudos for making the right calls and applying creative solutions. That's why we've created The Mashies, which are designed to recognize the very best marketing in social media. The Mashies will highlight thought leadership in such categories as Best Real-Time Marketing, Best Use of Twitter, Best Branded Vine and Best Use of Facebook, among others."
Guest judges combed through hundreds of submissions to select the best. Winners were selected by Mashable's editorial team and an outside panel of industry leaders.
"The fact that Publicis Kaplan Thaler won in the best branded app category against some of the best digital agencies in the country says everything about how far this agency has come and our emerging digital expertise," said Rob Feakins, Publicis Kaplan Thaler's Chief Creative Officer and President.
New York City fundamentally changed when over 300 stations and 5,000 bikes were introduced. Since New Yorkers don't always react well to change, the entire program had to be easy to use, or Citi Bike would never truly be embraced. Publicis Kaplan Thaler created a simple way for riders to locate available bikes wherever they were in the city — The Citi Bike mobile app. At a glance, riders are able to locate nearby stations and the ratio of bikes to empty docks. The app also offers full station details, riding tips, turn-by-turn directions to anywhere in the city and a timer to help riders avoid late fees. The app also utilized a partnership with The New York Times to help riders unlock the city and discover parts of the city they've never seen before. Riders can also notify friends where they are headed on Citi Bike.
The highly successful app has reached over 130,000 downloads, garnered positive attention from media outlets like The Huffington Post, The New York Times and Daily News and has allowed riders to travel over 5 million miles.
Publicis Kaplan Thaler
Chief Creative Officer – Rob Feakins
Executive Creative Officer – Jim Kotulka
ACD/Art Director – Chris Smith
ACD/Copywriter – Brian Bellanca
Art Director – Nadia Kamran
Art Director – Rodrigo Romariz
User Experience – Rob Philibert
Strategy – Mike Taylor
Project Management – Ann Neilsen
Project Management – Jeff Lipson
Project Management – Joseph Murphey
A list of all Mashies Award winners can be found here.
About Publicis Kaplan Thaler
Publicis Kaplan Thaler is a fully integrated advertising agency with digital, social and technology at its core. With over 650 employees, it is the flagship of Publicis Worldwide in the USA, the North American operating unit of Publicis Worldwide, the largest global agency network within Publicis Groupe. The Agency's blue-chip client roster includes: Procter & Gamble, CITI, Nestlé, Merck, Pfizer, TriHonda, Wendy's, L'Oréal, AFLAC, and NAPA Auto Parts, among others. To learn more about Publicis Kaplan Thaler, follow @PKTtweets, like on Facebook or visit pkt.com.
About Mashable
Mashable is a leading source for news, information & resources for the Connected Generation. Mashable reports on the importance of digital innovation and how it empowers and inspires people around the world. Mashable's 20 million monthly unique visitors and 6 million social media followers have become one of the most engaged online news communities. Founded in 2005, Mashable is headquartered in New York City with an office in San Francisco.
About Citi Bike
Citi Bike is New York City's bike sharing system. Intended to provide New Yorkers and visitors with an additional transportation option for getting around the city, bike sharing is fun, efficient and convenient. A bike sharing system consists of a fleet of specially designed, sturdy, very durable bikes that are locked into a network of docking stations sited at regular intervals around a city. The bikes can be rented from and then returned to any station in the system, creating an efficient network with many possible points and combinations of departure and arrival. With thousands of bikes at hundreds of stations, Citi Bike will be available for use 24 hours a day, all year 'round. The station network will provide twice as many docking points as bicycles, assuring that an available dock to return your bike is always nearby. Citi Bike will be operated by NYC Bike Share LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alta Bicycle Share. Alta is a unique company focused solely on operating large-scale bike share systems. System equipment is provided by Public Bike System Company (PBSC), which created the first solar-powered bike share system in the world, and has close to 20,000 bikes on the street globally. Bike systems in the Alta/PBSC family include London, Washington, D.C./Arlington, VA; Boston, MA; Minneapolis, MN; Melbourne, Australia; Chattanooga, Tennessee, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal, Canada with Chicago and San Francisco geared to launch.
@PKTTweets, ACD, achievement, ad agency, advertising, AFLAC, agency, Alta Bicycle Share, Altman Building, Ann Neilsen, Arlington VA, art director, award, best, Best Branded App, Best New Brand, bike share program, Boston MA, brand, Brian Bellanca, business editor, campaign, Canada, Chattanooga TN, Chicago, Chief Creative Officer, Chris Smith, Citi, Citi Bike, communications, Connected Generation, consumers, convenient, conversation, copywriter, Creative, creative director, creative excellence, Daily News, dialogue, digital, digital expertise, digital marketing, downloads, editorial team, efficient, entrants, Executive Creative Director, Executive Creative Officer, Facebook, flagship, fleet, honor, Huffington Post, industry leaders, Instagram, integrated advertising agency, Integrated Campaign, Jeff Lipson, Jim Kotulka, Joseph Murphey, judges, kudos, L'Oreal, lead the change, London, marketing communications, Mashable, Mashies, Melbourne Australia, Merck, Mike Taylor, Minneapolis MN, mobile app, Montreal, Nadia Kamran, NAPA Auto Parts, Nestle, New York City, New York Times, NYC Bike Share LLC, online news, Ottawa, P&G, PandG, panel, Paris, Pfizer, Pinterest, pkt.com, Procter & Gamble, Project Management, Public Bike System Company, Publicis, Publicis Groupe, Publicis Kaplan Thaler, Publicis USA, Publicis Worldwide, Publicis Worldwide in the USA, real-time, Rob Feakins, Rob Philibert, Rodrigo Romariz, San Francisco, social media, solar-powered, stations, strategy, submission, thought leadership, Todd Wasserman, Toronto, transportation, Twitter, user experience, Washington DC, Wendy's, YouTube
Publicis Worldwide is the largest global network within Publicis Groupe.
U.S. offices include: New York, Seattle, San Francisco, Dallas, Boise and Indianapolis.

subset: commoncrawl


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agriculture, science and practice of producing crops and livestock from the natural resources of the earth. The primary aim of agriculture is to cause the land to produce more abundantly and at the same time to protect it from deterioration and misuse. The diverse branches of modern agriculture include agronomy, horticulture, economic entomology, animal husbandry, dairying, agricultural engineering, soil chemistry, and agricultural economics.
Sections in this article:
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Agriculture: General


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This is completely not druid related. Whatsoever. Actually it's only tangentially WoW related for that matter.
Last night I finally got footage of Valiona and Theralion to put together a guide video for the encounter (I actually got footage of Nef too – but we lost our add tank about 5% and I was summarily smooshed by the adds, so I canned the footage and figured I'd try next week…which pretty much turned out to be a huge mistake). I was pretty excited about it and had planned to work on the audio recording tonight when I got home from work. However, apparently Friday the 13th and my computer had different plans for me.
This morning when I went to log into my computer and check the forums before heading to the officer, my computer completely locked up. It let me log in just fine. But then everything froze. I was able to ctrl-alt-delete and select "task manager", but once the selection was made everything froze again. So I restarted my machine.
Only it didn't restart.
I got an error message telling me that it could not boot and that I needed to insert the boot disc and try again. Uh. Okay? So I simply attempted to restart my machine again. And got the same error message. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKK. This is NOT happening. It just can't be. Mostly, because I can't deal with it happening right now.
But it is.
I got Brade out of bed, as I started to panic, and stated "just so you know if this isn't fixed when I get home, I'm pretty much going to lose it". To which he gave me a look that could only say "are you fucking kidding me woman, I'm not a miracle worker here". Which, you know, is fair. Because he's not a miracle worker, and pretty much knows less about this shit than I do. So as I left the house for work, already 10 minutes later than I should have, he was lovingly unplugging SATA and power cables to my hard drives and plugging them back in to see if it was just something loose causing the problems.
It wasn't.
And so he loaded my PC up into his car so I could come by and pick it up on my way home from work and deliver it to our local computer shop. Because there was no way I was going to be able to lug that monster alienware case down the stairs to get it to my car. Hell, I might not even make it from my car to the door – which would have resulted in me having to be a complete weenie and embarrassingly go in and ask one of the repair guys to come and fetch it from my car for me.
Of course, Brade, knowing that I'm pretty much a ticking bomb with the stress of the upcoming move, let me know that he's going to try to make time to deliver my broken computer during his lunch for me. Which means that the computer guys can start diagnosing it faster. It also means that I don't have to be that wimpy girl and fail at being able to move my own PC from point A to point B.
Now, my biggest fear is that my hard drive is fried. Not that I can't replace it, because that's really not going to be a huge deal. In fact, I can get a bigger, faster hard drive in its place, which would be cool. But rather because I haven't backed up anything on that hard drive…ever. Yup, I've 250 gigs of un-backed up shit. You see, this PC didn't agree with my ancient external hard drive, and I was pretty much too cheap/lazy to get a new external for back up purposes – and thus I have no external drive holding all my precious shit that I don't want to lose. So if my hard drive is toast (which I'm really hoping isn't the case), I'm going to have to pray that the geniuses at the computer shop and recover some of my data. I am also going to be swinging by costco tonight and picking up that 1tb external for seventy bucks that I've been looking at for the past two months and saying "you know, I really should pick one of these up in case something ever happens to my machine".
But that? That's not even the WORST of it. No, the worst of it is that in preparation for the move, I've already packed all of my back up discs and programs. Yes, they are now living in one of probably half a dozen different boxes. So if the issue is a kaput hard drive, I'm going to have to go unpack in order to get my machine set back up again. My windows discs, my office discs, photoshop, vegas, etc. And I'm going to have to redownload FRAPS and that program that found after searching google that let me extract and read .ogg files. Set up filezilla again so I can upload onto the server hosting the guild website – and pray I took good notes for which passwords went with which thing. Not to mention that I will have to re-install vent, which means trying to recall exactly wtf my administrator password is.
So, as you can see, pretty much just a huge fucking mess. That I pretty much can't really deal with right now. I mean, obviously I can, but really? Not so much.
At least I've got a laptop that is almost as powerful as my desktop to work with in the interim? The silver lining, I suppose?
But it also means no Valiona video until the repair guys are done holding my machine hostage and I can get everything back up and running again. 😦


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The following announcement was posted to the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) mailing list by Jan Meisels Allen and is republished here with her permission:
Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) introduced legislation that would require the 2030 US census to add questions about gender identity an sexual orientation. The focuses is to expand data collection so that the LGBTQ community is fully accounted for in government resources.
In addition, the bill entitled, Census Equality Act, would require the American Community Survey to added questions on these topics to the 2020 version. Every year 3.5 million households talk this in-depth questionnaire.
The press release may be seen at:
There are 14 co-sponsors—all Democrats who signed on the bill.
While at the time of this posting no bill narrative was added to the Legislative Pages of Congress, here is a link to the pdf: https://www.harris.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Census%20Equality%20Act.pdf.
Jan Meisels Allen
Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee


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From Distant Lands
I have a temporary housemate in the form of a Viennese couchsurfer. He's currently spending a couple of months travelling around China before starting a PhD in physics (coincidentally) some time soon. Chinese long-distant transport being what it is his bus, due to arrive in at 22.30, was a little delayed and when at midnight I got a text saying they'd just passed a sign saying 150 km to Beijing I headed back to my side of the city from the bus station to get some sleep before going to meet him. At 2.30 am we met up after a successful all-Chinese conversation over the phone with a taxi driver, explaining where to go and then we quickly crashed out.
He's staying in Beijing for about 4 days, so seeing all the major sites in the day before we're meeting up in the evening to experience some of the delights of the Beijing nightlife.
As he's into rock I thought that we could head to a local music venue which has a decent selection of local bands and thought that the number of biker-looking Chinese guys and girls looked promising for the forthcoming music. After being thoroughly beaten at pool by a burly, bearded Chinese rocker the first band came on. Unfortunately this particular Chinese bluegrass ensemble, though technically very talented, exuded absolutely no personality in their music whatsoever and when we got to the medley of Benny Hill with circus music we called it quits and took our beer elsewhere. In fact elsewhere was just next door at club D-22 which was looking distinctly more interesting. With films playing quietly projected over the stage, dimly lit with drum kit waiting in the wings, this promised more than the previous venue. Indeed the first act of the night was a bizarre mix. A guy with a guitar, with floppy hair and a lurid, rose patterned polyester top, though Chinese he sang his wonderfully melancholic songs with a voice somewhere between Dylan and Chris Difford (Squeeze). Gently enthusiastic if completely self-indulgent it was a fun set. Next came the Sino-version of the Beach Boys and the elastic, nervous looking singer gave a couple of fun renditions in between taking big drags on his cigarette. At this point it was getting late so we had to make a move, F, wanting to get up early to go and see the great wall.
Things have been really hectic for me recently with several projects deciding whether to take off or not. In particular a recent paper by Csaba Csaki looks to have some really important implications for AdS/QCD so I'm seeing where this can be taken.
As well as attempting to accelerate my own language learning and continuing to take the ever-enjoyable English corner once every two weeks I'll be starting to teach a private lesson once a week to a former TV presenter which should be fun.
Anyway, time being what it is I have many things to do before the weekend which itself promises some interesting activities, which I shall endeavor to talk about when I can.


text:
Windows 8 Consumer Preview's handling of photographs is a slick, centralized, and very much a tablet-like experience. The Photos app gives users fluid, near-instantaneous access to your pictures, for which the app is to be credited, but certain common features are missing at this point, and others that are included don't work evenly across the app.
When you pull up Photos from the Metro interface, you are shown four discrete boxes: one for your locally stored pictures, and one each for your SkyDrive, Facebook, and Flickr accounts. Clicking on each of these boxes takes your through a short login process, and after you've given the program your credentials, the home Photos screen will populate each box with photos pulled from that account.
Unfortunately, there's no way to add photos from any other services. We found the spartan Settings menu let us turn each of the accepted types of accounts off to keep them from showing up on the main Photos screen if we didn't want to use or display them.
We couldn't get either the Flickr or the Facebook boxes to work, but the SkyDrive bin was fully functional (Microsoft editor Peter Bright notes his Flickr and Facebook accounts work perfectly). When we set up the app with our SkyDrive account, the relevant box was immediately populated with pictures, and not just from the Pictures folder; any image that existed in our SkyDrive came down into the Photos app. This happened immediately without needing any further setup or setting changes; from then on, if we added a photo to our SkyDrive, it appeared in the SkyDrive bin instantly.
Photos display in a large-format single row, and you can scroll through them from left to right with a scroll bar along the bottom, or click on a photo to enter full-screen and then page through them. For users with only a few photos or photosets, this could be fine, but for those with large, unorganized photo libraries, it could be a tedious setup for navigating.
The Photos app itself doesn't let you do any photo organizing, but instead inherits the organization from its sources. If your Pictures folder or SkyDrive have subfolders with a set of pictures in a folder, that folder will be represented by one photo once inside the bin, with the name of the folder and the number of pictures printed underneath. Clicking on the photo opens the folder and expands its contents as a left-to-right scrollable set. This is a bit subtle at first, but once you get it, it's a great way to deal with batches of files without having to look at Explorer or filenames.
What's most impressive about this app is how quickly it all happens. The fluidity would be expected by tablet and smartphone app users, where content always seems to shift around without hesitation or regard to its size. But on a PC, programs are often bloated, taking a long time to open, reindex everything they're supposed to know about, and then display. Even after it all loads, scrolling through can be choppy and slow to catch up.
But in Photos, we get none of this lag. The app comes up instantly, with hundreds of photos ready to browse. Scrolling is super-smooth, even with a ton of photos to go through. We tried to bog the program down with a few hundred megabytes of pictures, but to no avail.
While you see pictures as gray boxes if you do a long jump with the scroll bar, the app catches up as soon as you hesitate. Not all of the photos are ready in real time, but it's very, very close. This isn't to say it would be impossible for really gargantuan photo libraries to bring the app to its knees, but we doubt the app will struggle with any typical library.
As far as what you can do with a photo or set of photos, your options are very slim at the moment—so slim that it would trouble us a little if this wasn't a preview. You can only select groups of photos from one of the four sources—no mixing and matching. Once a photo (or photos) is selected, you can set it as an app tile or lock screen, delete it, or start a slide show of the selections (in the SkyDrive bin, the "delete" button turns to "view on SkyDrive" which brings you into Internet Explorer). From the charms menu that pops open on the righthand side, you can search whatever set of photos you're in, or share the selected photos via email, with one exception: SkyDrive photos for some reason can't be shared via the app's Share tool.
While cross-pollination between services seems to be a no-no right now, there is opportunity here for the Photos interface to allow us to move pictures between the services. For instance, it could let us select a bunch of photos from the Pictures folder and upload them to an album on Facebook or a folder in SkyDrive without having to shuffle back to the Desktop and deal with browser interfaces.
The pared-down functionality above is what's so wildly divergent from the Photo Gallery program that comes with Live Essentials. Photo Gallery gave us no end of ways to organize and fix our photos: rating, flagging, descriptive tagging, people tagging, geotagging, auto-adjust, straighten, reduce the noise, tweak the color, and on and on. Frankly, most of these are fidgety options we never get around to using anyway. The Windows 8 Photos app removes all of this functionality, and currently can only collect and display pictures.
Microsoft has warned that it is still early in the Consumer Preview, and all its features are subject to change. We expect to see an improved, rounded-out version of Photos at launch, at least one that allows for sharing photos from SkyDrive or selecting pictures across services to display in a slideshow. But the extreme feature cuts that have occurred between Photo Gallery and Photos makes us wonder whether many of the editing functions may be left out of Photos and implemented in a different app altogether.
You can download and install the Windows 8 Consumer Preview yourself to check out Photos and provide feedback to Microsoft, or watch for our continuing coverage here at Ars.


text: We are pleased to announce that Heidi Dowding has joined Dumbarton Oaks as part of the inaugural class of the National Digital Stewardship Residency (NDSR) program. Created by the Library of Congress in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the NDSR program enables ten recent graduates of master's programs in relevant fields to complete a paid nine-month residency with the aim of advancing their digital stewardship knowledge and skills in real-world settings. Starting in September 2013, the NDSR residents will be embedded in institutions throughout the DC area, including Dumbarton Oaks. For the complete list of NDSR recipients and host institutions, visit: http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2013/13-120.html.


text:
Austria's renewables target of 34% puts it in fourth place after Sweden, Latvia and Finland as the countries with the highest shares of renewables in end-energy use by 2020. For wind energy, the action plan asks for another 2.3GW to be installed by 2020, bringing the total to 3.3GW.
The plan and energy strategy are based on stabilising end-energy use at the 2005 level of 26.3 million tonnes of oil equivalent (mtoe). But while the strategy assumes a 1.7 mtoe increase in renewables to 2020, the plan targets only a 1.4 mtoe rise. The ministry says it is concentrating mainly on more efficiency in energy consumption and on ecologically acceptable expansion of hydropower stations, as these measures will not increase costs to industry and households.
The other renewables, including wind, are heavily supported but not yet ripe for the market, it states. An average household pays EUR50 a year to support renewables and the total burden on households and industry is currently about EUR340 million, according to the ministry. Austria's renewables lobby is disappointed by the targets. It believes Austria to be capable of a 4.3 mtoe increase by 2020 and thinks that wind should provide an additional 0.45 mtoe of energy rather than the 0.24 mtoe envisioned under the energy strategy.


text:
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text:
Sisters' Summit Convenes
The annual meeting of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious concluded with no clear indication of the sisters' response to calls for reform.
ST. LOUIS — When the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) met Aug. 7-10, anticipation was high that the sisters would announce whether or not they would cooperate with reform of their organization mandated by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).
Throughout the annual four-day assembly in St. Louis, LCWR leaders sent mixed signals, but, in the end, they made no decision and opted instead to keep "dialoguing" with Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle.
Archbishop Sartain had been appointed by the CDF to oversee the reform of the LCWR that was announced April 18. He was given the mandate to revise LCWR statutes, review its plans and programs, create materials to provide sisters with "a deepened understanding of the Church's doctrine of the faith," review and guide application of liturgical norms and texts, and review LCWR links with affiliated organizations.
The four-year "Doctrinal Assessment" of LCWR had identified several concerns, including "serious theological, even doctrinal errors" in talks at LCWR annual assemblies, "policies of corporate dissent" and "certain radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith in some of the programs and presentations."
The LCWR had reacted with surprise and indignation to the CDF mandate for reform.
A June 1 statement from the LCWR national board said that "the assessment was based on unsubstantiated accusations and the result of a flawed process that lacked transparency," "the sanctions imposed were disproportionate to the concerns raised," and the mandate had "caused scandal and pain throughout the Church community and created greater polarization."
Yet Cardinal William Levada, the former prefect of the CDF, who had talked to LCWR leaders for years about the doctrinal problems, told John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter on June 12 that the process had been fair and transparent.
That interview occurred on the same day that the cardinal had met with LCWR officers to address their concerns about the assessment. He said that in those four years of discussions there had been no progress.
"In some ways, and I used this phrase today, it seems to me like a dialogue of the deaf. Sometimes people have different images of dialogue. For some, dialogue is an end in itself, while for some of us it's a means to an end," Cardinal Levada said.
In a July 17 interview on National Public Radio, Franciscan Sister Pat Farrell, LCWR president, had said that the LCWR may not be able to comply with the mandate, and she explained: "We have been, in good faith, raising concerns about some of the Church's teaching on sexuality, human sexuality, the problem being that the teaching and interpretation of the faith can't remain static and really needs to be reformulated, rethought, in light of the world we live in and new questions, new realities as they arise."
The following week, Bishop Leonard Blair of Toledo, Ohio, was interviewed on NPR. A member of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Doctrine, he had conducted the assessment for the CDF and has been appointed to assist Archbishop Sartain in conducting the LCWR reform.
When asked about "dialogue" with the LCWR, he replied, "If by dialogue they mean that the doctrines of the Church are negotiable and that the bishops represent one position and the LCWR presents another position, and somehow we find a middle ground about basic Church teaching on faith and morals, then No. That's — I don't think that's the kind of dialogue that the Holy See would envision."
No Fireworks
So, the stage was set for fireworks at the LCWR assembly, but the fireworks did not ignite.
Indeed, the Aug. 10 statement issued by the LCWR assembly said, "The officers will proceed with these discussions [with Archbishop Sartain] as long as possible, but will reconsider if LCWR is forced to compromise the integrity of its mission." That mission had been defined by Sister Pat in her presidential address to the assembly as "to give ourselves away in love, particularly to those in greatest need."
Though Archbishop Sartain had offered to attend the assembly, he was told by LCWR that his presence "would not be helpful."
After the LCWR said it would continue dialogue with him, Archbishop Sartain issued a statement the same day in which he praised the accomplishments and dedication of women religious, saying: "Religious women have made a lasting contribution to the well-being of our country and continue to do so today. For that they deserve our respect, our support, our thanks and our prayers."
Then he addressed the assessment: "Along with the members of the LCWR, I remain committed to working to address the issues raised by the 'Doctrinal Assessment' in an atmosphere of prayer and respectful dialogue. We must also work toward clearing up any misunderstandings, and I remain truly hopeful that we will work together without compromising Church teaching or the important role of the LCWR. I look forward to our continued discussions as we collaborate in promoting consecrated life in the United States."
The day after the assembly adjourned, Archbishop Sartain came to St. Louis for a two-hour meeting with the LCWR national board.
That meeting went well, according to an Aug. 13 LCWR press release that reported Archbishop Sartain "listened carefully" as LCWR board members expressed their concerns and feelings about the CDF report "with great openness and honesty."
According to the press release, the archbishop said he wanted to learn more about LCWR members' experiences and understandings of religious life, and LCWR agreed to provide him with helpful resources.
Archbishop Sartain did not make any public comment about that meeting and was not available for interview, according to Mercy Sister Mary Ann Walsh, director of media relations for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Some speculation has circulated that the new prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, German Archbishop Gerhard Müller, will not be as interested in pursuing the assessment as was the American Cardinal William Levada, who retired from the CDF in July at age 76.
In a July 20 interview with Catholic News Agency, Archbishop Müller was conciliatory when he said he wanted to work with the LCWR as "sisters and brothers of Christ … not like a political party or a human organization."
However, he continued, "We cannot have negotiations about revealed truth. … We are in communion with the Church only insofar as we accept the whole and the complete revelation of Jesus Christ, all the doctrine of the Church."
The press release added that the LCWR officers plan to meet with Archbishop Sartain again "later in the fall."
Ann Carey is the author of
Sisters in Crisis: The Tragic
Unraveling of Women's
Religious Communities.
- Keywords:
- August 26-September 8, 2012


text:
(Site updated September 24, 2020)
E-Maculation is dedicated to emulation of the classic Macintosh computer in Mac OS X, Windows and Linux. This is possible through the use of emulators such as SheepShaver, Basilisk II, Mini vMac, Qemu and PearPC.
We host a number of setup guides. To emulate a G4 PowerPC-processor based Macintosh and install up to Mac OS 9.0.4, read about setting up SheepShaver for Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux. To read about emulating an older Apple machine with an 68xxx processor, try our guides to setting up Basilisk II. To emulate an even older Macintosh (a Mac Plus running System 6), check out our guide to setting up Mini vMac. We also host a number of guides dealing with specific issues.
Big Forum update!
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text:
Banjoman Bruce: His strings sing
Somehow through all my years of music listening and appreciation, the banjo has never really struck my fancy. However, the lack of intriguing musicentric events this past weekend left me with two options: see something old and familiar, or see something new and educational. I opted for the latter and found myself at the Prism Coffeehouse for the fourth in a series of 10 banjo classes/performances.
The series chronicles the evolution of the banjo from its roots in Africa through its travels in Europe and the Americas– past and present. The banjo can provide rhythm and melody ranging from deep hollow bass sounds to ethereal higher notes that tell stories about people ranging from African tribesmen, Celtic highlanders, and slaves to batteaux boatmen... and the gentlemen I heard play at the Prism Coffeehouse on October 10.
The pity I felt for all people, regardless of their musical tastes, who were not in attendance, lasted only briefly, for I was quickly mesmerized by the technique so dazzlingly on display.
Brent Van Deverer played two songs. His peaceful stoicism and song choice created a very relaxed atmosphere, and the warm response he received made me appreciate the pleasures of the Prism's intimate quarters.
Course instructor Joe Ayers elaborated on the passage of the banjo and banjo music through almost every continent, verbally and musically illustrating the variation of the influences of all the places this instrument has traveled; from the long drawn-out notes of the slave field selection to the speed-picking of 20th century Appalachia.
It was all there. Every genre of modern music could find roots in the banjo. After a little more audience education, the Prism and The Virginia Folklife Program at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities presented Bruce Molsky.
Molsky, a New Yorker, is indeed a master, but the feeling I got from the banjo/bluegrass community was that no one really overvalues one particular player; rather, they celebrate every musician's contribution to keeping this instrument alive.
It took obvious willpower for the audience not to noisily enjoy the music by tapping feet and clapping hands. Occasionally the irresistible foot tapping got loud enough to distract from the music, but it was always on beat.


text:
"Featured Image zoomer" and "Image thumbnail viewer II"
http://www.dynamicdrive.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=56864 , http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamici...thumbnail2.htm
I have both scripts working however when I switch the main image via Image thumbnail viewer II, the Image zoomer script stops working. I don't know if it has anything to do with the order of the scripts being called but that was just my thought. Any ideas or solutions?


text:
Senior Form 2nd - Chui Hiu Laam
Dear Cherry and Mr. Mak,
As a student who is going to graduate from Carmel Holy Word Secondary School, I would like to express my gratitude to Cherry and Mr. Mak who have supported me through my secondary school life.
Jet black hair, small nose, an adorable dimple … you are my best friend Cherry. You are a friendly girl with bright eyes. Your eyes shine when you smile. Being in the same class for three years, we hung around together every day but still, we loved to call each other after school. I always got a smile from you. I have become more optimistic because of you. Sharing happiness and sadness, we know each others' secrets as well. I love the feeling of being with you. You wrote notes to encourage me after every examination. You understood me and listened to my problems. Thanks for spending time with me. It is hard to find words to express my gratitude. I want to say "thank you" from the bottom of my heart.
I also want to thank Mr. Mak who is the most dependable teacher I have ever met. It was very kind of you to be my guide in my life and in my study. A teacher touches lives forever. You are very funny but strict sometimes. You made the lessons interesting and grabbed the attention of students. Your voice is soft but powerful, that is because of your confidence.
Loving running and playing basketball, you are well-built and healthy. You have often helped me when I am in trouble and taught me how to deal with different kinds of problems. I value the insights and guidance you provided. I am proud to be one of your students.
Helped by both of you, I have developed a genuine passion for being a cheerful and considerate person. I do appreciate your constant encouragement. I will always be grateful to you for all your support and inspiration. Thank you. I will treasure you in my heart.
Yours sincerely,
Sausage Chiu


text:
Table of Contents
What Is Hepatitis A?
Hepatitis is an inflammation, or swelling, of the liver. Alcohol, drugs (including prescription medications), poisons, and some viruses can all cause hepatitis. Hepatitis A is a liver disease caused by the hepatitis A virus (HAV).
Worldwide, Hepatitis A outbreaks tend to occur every now and then and are often related to contaminated food or water. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1.4 million people become infected with HAV each year.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), rates of hepatitis A in the US have dropped 95 percent since the hepatitis A vaccine was introduced in 1995. Nevertheless, in the US, almost 100 people die each year from complications of HAV (e.g., liver failure). People at the highest risk of death from HAV include those with existing liver disease and people over the age of 60.
Hepatitis A does not cause chronic (long-term) illness like hepatitis B and hepatitis C do, and most people who get HAV can expect a full recovery.
There is very little specific information available regarding the effect of hepatitis A on women living with HIV (HIV+). However, research involving men living with HIV suggests that it may take longer for people living with HIV to recover from HAV. Having HAV does not increase a person's chance of getting HIV.
How Is Hepatitis A Spread?
Hepatitis A is transmitted or spread when you take something into your mouth that has been contaminated by the feces or stool of an infected person. This could be by consuming food or drink prepared by an infected person who did not wash her/his hands after using the bathroom, or through oral-anal sexual contact.
Prevention of HAV
Clearly, good personal hygiene and proper sanitation are key to preventing HAV. It is important to wash your hands with soap and water each time after using the bathroom, after changing a diaper, and before preparing and eating food. It is also important to thoroughly wash fresh fruits and vegetables with clean water before eating.
If you are visiting a resource-limited country, it is especially important to follow these tips:
- Do not drink the water or eat the ice unless it is has been sterilized or is commercially bottled. This applies to water you use to brush your teeth or any ice that may be in sodas, juices, or other beverages.
- Do not eat raw fruits and vegetables sold in the streets or at local markets without first cleaning them with clean (bottled or sterilized) water
Getting vaccinated for HAV is another wonderful way to protect against the virus. In the US, the HAV vaccine is approved for use in people 12 months old and older. The HAV vaccine is safe for use by people living with HIV, pregnant women, and women who are breast-feeding.
The HAV vaccine is given in two shots over six months. Some people living with HIV who have low CD4 counts may need either a higher dose of these two shots, or additional shots to complete their HIV vaccination. You can also get a combined hepatitis A and hepatitis B (HBV) vaccine. The combination (HAV + HBV) vaccine requires three shots over six months. It is important to follow through and get all your shots in order to be fully protected.
The vaccine is recommended for people living with HIV, as well as for those who live in or are traveling to areas with high rates of HAV. It is also recommended for men who have sex with men, injecting and non-injecting drug users, persons with blood clotting disorders (for example, hemophilia), and persons with chronic liver disease (including hepatitis B or C). Children living in regions of the US with high rates of HAV should also be immunized.
After a non-immunized person has been exposed to HAV, giving an injection of immune globulin can prevent infection. This is called post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP. Immune globulin contains antibodies against HAV, which provide short-term protection against infection. Immune globulin can be given before and within two weeks after coming in contact with the virus. In 2007, the CDC changed the US guidelines to allow the use of not only immune globulin but also the hepatitis A vaccine to prevent infection after exposure in healthy persons aged one to 40 years.
Diagnosis and Treatment
A blood test for antibodies to HAV is the only way to be certain if someone is infected with hepatitis A. The time between exposure to HAV and the development of symptoms is called the incubation period. The incubation period for HAV ranges from 20 to 50 days. This means that infectious people can spread the disease well before they are aware they have it. The incubation period becomes shorter as people get older.
Hepatitis A is an acute disease, which means that symptoms start suddenly and usually last no more than six months. Signs of HAV include:
- Jaundice (yellowing of the skin, eyes, and mucous membranes)
- Dark-colored urine
- Stool that appears pale and clay like
- Fatigue (extreme tiredness)
- Muscle and joint aches
- Loss of appetite
- Nausea
- Diarrhea
- Fever and chills
- Vomiting
- Pain in the liver area, which is just below the right ribcage
Some people who get hepatitis A have no symptoms at all, while others think they have the flu. There is currently no treatment for HAV, however rest and proper nutrition can relieve some of the symptoms. It usually takes about two months to recover, but one or two out of ten people may have a longer or relapsing course that could last up to six months.
Aside from supportive care and rest, it is important to stay away from alcohol and medications that are harmful to the liver while recovering from Hepatitis A. If you have any questions, it is important to contact your health care provider.


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Odds of getting new kidney uneven
People with kidney disease are more likely to be added to the waiting list for a kidney transplant if they've had a previous heart, lung or liver transplant, a new study suggests.
Most patients don't get "listed" for a kidney transplant until they've been on dialysis. But more than one in three patients with prior organ transplants got on the kidney waiting list before they needed dialysis, according to researchers who examined a U.S. registry of transplant recipients.
Such preemptive listing is known to improve survival chances, but happened only in about one in five kidney disease patients who hadn't received a transplant previously.
"This certainly may not have been intentional in any way but raises a serious ethical concern related to justice," said Kerry Bowman, a clinical ethicist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Canada, who was not involved in the research.
More than 85,000 Americans are currently listed for a new kidney, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
Getting a kidney transplant depends mainly on how long a patient has been on the list, whereas for hearts, lungs and livers, the sickest patients get top priority, said Dr. Titte Srinivas, who led the new study.
"People can wait for years before they get a kidney," said Srinivas, of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. Of those older than 60 years, he added, "about half of them won't live to be offered a kidney."
The new study, published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, followed more than 330,000 people placed on the kidney waiting list between 1995 and 2008.
The number of candidates who'd had previous heart, lung or liver transplants more than tripled during that period, reaching almost 5,000 in total.
Women had better odds of being added to the list, as did patients who were white, had private insurance or had received a previous organ transplant.
One possible explanation, the researchers write, is that patients who've already had one transplant are in close contact with their transplant centers, where the doctors might recognize the need for a new kidney before a primary care doctor would.
"Physician advocacy is a positive aspect of medicine but cannot trump the elements of justice built into waiting lists," Bowman told Reuters Health in an e-mail. "Justice is the foundation and goal of transplant waiting lists and transplant ethics in general. Policy and procedures in this domain need attention on ethical grounds."
Srinivas said doctors might speed up things, wittingly or unwittingly, because patients with previous organ transplants tend to do poorly when holding on for a new kidney. On average, his results show, these people survived less than four years -- or about half as long as those on the waiting list who hadn't received a previous transplant.
"I don't think anybody is doing something really unfair," he said.
Dr. Gail Van Norman, an anesthesiologist and bioethicist at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, said the uneven odds of making the waiting list could also reflect the type of patients who've had an earlier transplant.
"They are generally savvy, mainstream healthcare consumers, probably even before they received a transplant," Van Norman, who was not part of the new study, said in an e-mail to Reuters Health.
"It is well known that the transplant system is biased toward white, middle-to-upper class patients," she said. "They also have fewer fears about healthcare and are more likely to seek it out. They trust doctors more."
At this point, the best patients can do is pay attention to their kidney health, Srinivas said. And if they've had a prior transplant, he advised, they should be ready to accept lower-quality organs -- such as those from diabetic donors -- in order to up their chances of getting a kidney as soon as possible.
SOURCE: http://link.reuters.com/cew98n Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, online September 2, 2010.


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Because there is no international security problem that can't be ameliorated with drones, the Obama administration has deployed its platform of choice to perform reconnaissance over Syria.
We'll get to the Iranian warships. The drones – according to Pentagon officials, a "good number" of them – are reportedly being used to collect information on Bashar al-Assad's crackdown on his people. They will provide supporting evidence to justify an international intervention in Syria. The US officials say the intelligence collection is not a precursor to military operations in Syria.
The US has actually done this before. During the gruesome internal conflict in Rwanda (back in the Clinton administration), when Hutus were massacring Tutsis, the US dispatched military reconnaissance aircraft to collect intelligence on the fighting. We have also, of course, operated drones over Somalia and Yemen at various times in the last decade, both to collect intelligence and to target terrorists. But in Syria, the interested parties include Russia, Iran, China, and a collection of Islamist groups.
The US administration's interlocutors are not wrong to wonder if sending in the drones is a preparatory measure for sending in troops to intervene: the intelligence collected by tactical drones is more immediate, dynamic, and ephemeral than that gathered by standoff collection assets. If you want to know what Assad's overall posture is, you use the standoff assets; if you want to know what his forces are doing on a moment-to-moment basis, you use operational-level (e.g., Predator) or tactical drones. (If there are a "good number" of drones being used, most of them have to be operational or tactical drones – and are probably Predator operational-level drones, with good range and altitude.)
Meanwhile, as if on cue, the Iranian warships that stopped in Jeddah earlier this month have transited the Suez Canal – without any prior brouhaha in the press – and arrived in Syria. They are in Syria exactly a year after their last visit, and presumably will offload weapons and/or ammunition from the supply ship Kharg, which is accompanying the Iranian destroyer. Reporting from a Syrian defector (see last link) indicated that last year's Iranian naval task force delivered weapons and ammunition to the Assad regime.
The ships' arrival makes Iran the third foreign government that has been able, without hindrance, to enter a Syrian port and offload whatever it wants, in spite of the sanctions being imposed on the Assad regime. Hugo Chavez has delivered diesel fuel to Syria since the sanctions were imposed, and Russia, besides sending her carrier task force to Syria during its recent deployment, used a commercial cargo ship to deliver arms to Syria in January. The sanctions thus look pretty perfunctory (not to mention perforable).
Could a US drone be shot down over Syria? Yes, the capability is there. I don't assess that Assad wants to do anything so provocative, and Russia – the supplier (and very possibly the current operator) of anti-air missiles in Syria – will want to keep things calm as long as possible. But drones watching Syria will inevitably end up watching Russian forces there, and at a certain point Russia may well find that intolerable. If a combination of Assad's and Moscow's preferences should cause them to want to exclude the drones, the question will really be whether anyone thinks President Obama would retaliate for a drone shoot-down or two.
There are too many variables in this situation to predict narrowly which direction things will go. The reason for that is largely that the Obama administration's policy is to avoid securing an outcome with the use of US power. If the US will not seek a particular outcome, we will be consigned to waiting on others to do so. There are many players, and numerous potential reactions. The permutations of hostility and resistance along the way are endless.
What should the US do? Our first principle should be that Assad must go, but that principle can't stand on its own. It would not be better to have a new government of Islamist radicals than to have Assad in power. It matters who takes over, and how.
A key problem, however, is that we have put our chips on Muslim Brotherhood groups and the brokerage of the Erdogan government in Turkey. That is a very bad policy move, one guaranteed to generate enemies (Russia, China, Iran) for our non-policy policy while giving nations like Saudi Arabia less reason to endorse our activities. We can't make the Muslim Brotherhood good for the Middle East by throwing our weight behind it.
Doing so is, in fact, wasting and diluting the power we still have. If the US policy were to fence in and discourage the Muslim Brotherhood, while bolstering liberalizing elements instead — elements that exist in every nation of the Middle East – we would make it more desirable for a nation like Russia to collaborate with us on the Syria problem. Russia is the one nation that could directly help us to get rid of Assad; if one of our top objectives were to ensure that the follow-on government was not taken over by Islamists, we and Moscow would have that key objective in common.
The only way to secure a positive outcome in Syria is to use US power, under US strategic direction, to do it. This has never necessarily meant military intervention, but it does necessarily mean acting with purpose and determination, rather than throwing random reconnaissance assets into the fray while handing the political problem over lock, stock, and barrel to the Arab League and the UN. Even after the non-intervention intervention in Libya, there is still a level of respect for US power; it would still be possible for America to foster a good outcome in Syria by bringing together the positions of the various parties.
We cannot exclude Turkey, the Arab League, or Russia from Syria, but the US could establish limits on what they can hope to do there. For the sake of the Syrian people and regional stability, one of the two most important things in ousting Assad is preventing an Islamist takeover. (The other is fostering a positive character for the follow-on government of Syria.) Liberalization of the Muslim Middle East faces obstacles under any kind of regime, but radicalization is most likely under Islamism. There are elements in the Arab League (and in the larger OIC as well) that want an Islamist takeover as little as Russia does; there is common ground to be found if the US is willing to take leadership.
We have not been, however. The Obama administration has chosen an ideological course of passivity as regards concrete political outcomes, combined with courtship of third-party Islamist groups. This is an exceptionally bad approach. Nothing this administration does is a conventional use of US power – and that is why Assad is still mowing down his hapless people while his allies deliver fuel and arms to him without let or hindrance from NATO or the United States.
J.E. Dyer's articles have appeared at Hot Air's Green Room, Commentary's "contentions," Patheos, and The Weekly Standard online.


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Swing'n early in St. Lucie
The Mets' bats have jumped on the Astros early. How can Houston go 18 straight spring games without a win? That is some serious March Madness!
Two familiar faces are back in the clubhouse today as Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado arrived back at Spring Training but aren't expected to play until next week.
They may have had the last laugh following news of David Wright's injury in last nights meaningless World Baseball Classic game. I really hope NO team has to stomach a devastating injury by the time this thing wraps up. The pageantry of this event has been wonderful but a significant player shelved, on a contending club, would be terrible black eye.
~ Ben Wagner


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Artist Releases
ABOUT Linda Perry
Born on April 15, 1965, in Springfield, MA, Linda Perry spent her youth struggling with kidney disease and then addiction before focusing on music. Growing up in an artistic and musical household, the young Perry displayed a good share of musical talent and interest from an early age. During her teenage years, Perry floundered in school and tried unsuccessfully to form several bands in the San Diego area. A drug problem prevented the singer/guitarist from starting off her career at an early age, but after a few close calls and a move to San Fransisco in the late '80s, she cleaned up and began making some real artistic and professional gains.
During this period, Perry discovered and refined her powerful singing voice. Part Grace Slick, part Johnnette Napolitano, but unique in her own right and a little quirky, it didn't take long before Perry's solo performances at various Bay Area nightclubs were attracting the attention of scenesters and fellow musicians. One such musician was Christa Hillhouse, who was in quest of a new lead vocalist for her group 4 Non Blondes. Hillhouse asked Perry to join up with her outfit, which also included Shauna Hall and Wanda Day. Perry agreed to give it a try and it wasn't long before 4 Non Blondes were being courted and eventually signed by Interscope Records. The group's debut, Bigger, Better, Faster, More, was released on Interscope in 1992. After a very slow start sales-wise, the David Tickle-produced album began to break in 1993 when a modern rock disc jockey in Las Vegas began spinning "What's Up?" Interscope then began pushing the song, which had by this time developed a life of its own. A video was produced and MTV took an immediate and prolonged shine it, giving the band massive exposure. As "What's Up?" became a huge international hit, 4 Non Blondes seemed to be everywhere.
During a period of about two years, Perry and her bandmates appeared on the Airheads and Wayne's World 2 soundtracks, released two more singles and accompanying videos (for "Spaceman" and "Dear Mr. President"), toured the globe, appeared on Carpenters and Led Zeppelin tribute releases, and finally appeared on Roger Daltrey's televised 50th birthday party, which ended up being their final performance. While working on their follow-up to the six-million-unit-selling Bigger, Better, Faster, More, Perry left the group due to personal problems within the band. After departing 4 Non Blondes, Perry began work on some solo material and formed her own label, Rockstar Records, which later signed Stone Fox and 2 Lane Blacktop.
Perry also began a producing and session career by joining Stone Fox in the studio and helping out on former Bangle Susanna Hoffs' self-titled solo disc. Perry herself was joined by the likes of Grace Slick, Lisa Germano, and Sheryl Crow producer Bill Bottrell on In Flight, her 1996 solo debut. Darker, and more dynamic than her work with 4 Non Blondes, Perry came into her own as an artist on this exceptional recording. Released on Interscope, In Flight was perhaps too dour or sincere to capitalize on the alt-pop success of 4 Non Blondes and the record was hardly noticed by critics, radio, or fans.
After In Flight, Perry moved to Southern California and continued working on production and film projects, as well as running her label. In 1999, she released her second solo effort, the stripped-down, almost bluesy After Hours. A fine vocalist, writer, and musician, Linda Perry has led a serious and occasionally subversive career, punctuated by her individualism and sense of artistic purpose.
There is no current news for this artist.
Artist Info
Upcoming Tour Dates
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|cardinal: Pantone 201
rgb(164, 16, 52) crimson
I'll post market design related news and items about repugnant markets.See also my Game theory, experimental economics, and market design page. I have a general-interest book on market design: Who Gets What--and Why The subtitle is "The new economics of matchmaking and market design."
|cardinal: Pantone 201
Thumbs down!
Fantastic, Al!! We are really looking forward to having you over here.
Congratulations, Al!
Congrats! Enjoy the weather!
Congratulations, Al. A big loss for future Harvard grad students, but I am sure you will have a great future at Stanford.


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Need a reading, mandala or some jewelry? Check it out.
Los Angeles (CNN) -- Michael Jackson's mother will be called back to testify by AEG Live as its last witness in their defense of Katherine Jackson's wrongful-death lawsuit on Monday, an AEG Live lawyer said Wednesday.
AEG Live lead attorney Marvin Putnam said he would question the 83-year-old Jackson family matriarch "about the absurdity of the damages" she wants the jury to award if they decide the concert promoter is liable in the pop icon's death.
A Jackson lawyer argued that AEG Live's "intent is to show the lawsuit's purpose is greed," while the judge suggested that any mother could be expected to say "there is no amount of money that would substitute for the loss of her son."
Putnam has frequently cited in interviews a "statement of damages" letter sent to him by a Jackson lawyer last year capping possible damages at $40 billion, but the judge ruled that he could not refer to it in court because it was not a sworn filing in the case.
Jackson lawyer Kevin Boyle pointed out that the lawsuit complaint only says that damages would be "according to proof at trial," based on testimony by several expert witnesses who have testified.
Katherine Jackson and grandchildren Prince, Paris and Blanket contend that AEG Live is liable in the singer's death because it negligently hired, retained or supervised Dr. Conrad Murray, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. AEG Live argues that Jackson chose and controlled Murray and that its executives had no way of knowing about the dangerous treatments he was giving him in his bedroom.
Jackson expert Arthur Erk -- a certified public accountant who has managed and audited the business affairs of many top artists -- testified that he was "reasonably certain" that Jackson would have earned at least $1.5 billion from touring, endorsements and sponsorships had he not died from a propofol overdose preparing for his comeback tour.
"It is very difficult to assess the value of the King of Pop," Jackson lawyer Deborah Chang told the judge Wednesday. "How do you even do that?"
The non-economic damages suffered because of Michael Jackson's death could be enormous considering "what happened to Paris Jackson," she said.
Jackson's 15-year-old daughter attempted suicide in June and remains in a treatment program.
The $40 billion estimate made last year was not a court filing but was a "best guess" before the expert reports were completed, Chang said.
Jackson lawyers seemed to welcome the prospect of AEG Live calling their client as their final witness, considering how jurors reacted when she was on the stand in July. Jurors leaned forward and paid close attention during her two days of testimony as the last witness in their case.
"Why are you here?" Jackson lawyer Brian Panish asked her.
"Because I want to know what really happened to my son," she said. "And that's why I am here."
Panish asked Jackson how it made her feel to be asked probing and personal questions about her family by AEG Live lawyer Marvin Putnam.
"It makes me feel real bad, because my son was a very good person," she said. "He loved everybody. He gave to charity. He was in the Guinness Book of World Records for giving to charity."
in July, she told jurors she filed the wrongful death lawsuit against AEG Live "because I want to know what really happened to my son."
If jurors decide that AEG Live is liable in Jackson's death, they could award damages based on the loss of the mother's and children's relationship with him and the amount of money he was unable to earn because his life was cut short.
After AEG Live rests its case -- which lawyers indicated would happen Monday -- the Jackson lawyers would have a chance to call several rebuttal witnesses. Closing arguments in the trial, which began in April, could be heard as soon as next week.
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|Online MIPT programming contest
|<PREV Problem:
Analyzing the run-time complexity of algorithms is an important tool for designing efficient programs that solve a problem. An algorithm that runs in linear time is usually much faster than an algorithm that takes quadratic time for the same task, and thus should be preferred.
Generally, one determines the run-time of an algorithm in relation to the `size' n of the input, which could be the number of objects to be sorted, the number of points in a given polygon, and so on. Since determining a formula dependent on n for the run-time of an algorithm is no easy task, it would be great if this could be automated. Unfortunately, this is not possible in general, but in this problem we will consider programs of a very simple nature, for which it is possible. Our programs are built according to the following rules (given in BNF), where <number > can be any non-negative integer less than 2000:
The run-time of such a program can be computed as follows: the execution of an OP-statement costs as many time-units as its parameter specifies. The statement list enclosed by a LOOP-statement is executed as many times as the parameter of the statement indicates, i.e., the given constant number of times, if a number is given, and n times, if n is given. The run-time of a statement list is the sum of the times of its constituent parts. The total run-time therefore generally depends on n.
The program constructed according to the grammar given above. Whitespace and newlines can appear anywhere in a program, but not within the keywords BEGIN, END, LOOP and OP or in an integer value. The nesting depth of the LOOP-operators will be at most 10.
Output the run-time of the program in terms of n; this will be a polynomial of degree < 10.
Print the polynomial in the usual way, i.e., collect all terms, and print it in the form
Runtime = a
*n^9+ . . . +i
*n^2+ j
Runtime = 0.
Sample Input
BEGIN LOOP n OP 4 LOOP 3 LOOP n OP 1 END OP 2 END OP 1 END OP 17 END
Sample Output
Runtime = 3*n^2+11*n+17
Sample Input
BEGIN OP 1997 LOOP n LOOP n OP 1 END END END
Sample Output
Runtime = n^2+1997
from Valladolid, 1997
© acm.mipt DevGroup
The page was generated in 190ms


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4 Possible Cases Of Botulism Reported In Amarillo
A possible Botulism outbreak in Amarillo? The City of Amarillo Public Health Department has 4 possible cases, and warns citizens of the symptoms of Botulism. Although Botulism is rare, if left untreated, it can be fatal! If you're experiencing any of the following symptoms, contact your doctor.
The signs and symptoms of botulism can include:
• Difficulty swallowing
• Double or blurry vision
• Slurred speech
• Heavy or droopy eyelids
• Muscle weakness progressing from head to toe
The Health Department urges citizens experiencing the symptoms listed above to contact their doctor, especially if the symptoms seem to be getting worse.
The City of Amarillo issued the following press release at 11:06am today:
"December 11, 2013
One suspected case of botulism was reported to the City of Amarillo Department of Public Health (DPH) last Friday afternoon. During the subsequent investigation over the weekend, three additional possible cases were discovered. Botulism is a rare but serious paralytic illness caused by a nerve toxin that is produced by a bacterium and is typically contracted by ingesting a food containing botulism toxin. Left untreated, botulism can be fatal.
The signs and symptoms of botulism can include:
• Difficulty swallowing
• Double or blurry vision
• Slurred speech
• Heavy or droopy eyelids
• Muscle weakness progressing from head to toe
Each of the four identified cases remains hospitalized. Treatment for botulism can include the administration of botulism antitoxin. So far, two patients have met the treatment criteria and received the botulism antitoxin. They are improving slowly. All four patients know at least one of the other ill patients; three have had social contact at a local residence. No definitive link between the cases and a specific restaurant, workplace, school or church has been identified. Nor has any specific food or contaminant been identified to date. Because the source of the toxin is still unknown, we are asking doctors and patients to watch for these signs and symptoms so that we can respond promptly to potential additional cases.
The City of Amarillo DPH and Environmental Health (EH) continue to investigate these cases and are communicating daily with the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) as well as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta. Earlier this week, DPH and EH submitted food, environmental, and clinical samples for testing to state and federal laboratories. Test results are expected in the next few days. Please contact your doctor if you are experiencing the symptoms listed above, especially if the symptoms are worsening.
Physicians and other health care providers who have patients that fit the criteria for botulism are asked to report the cases to the City of Amarillo Department of Public Health immediately by calling Carrie Carlton: 378-6327 or Amber Sable: 378-6340. You may also fax information to 378-6306.
Dr. Roger Smalligan, MD MPH
Health Authority"


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Denis Dubourdieu is all at once a scientist, a vineyard owner and a wine maker. Educated as an agronomist, an Œnology Professor at the University of Bordeaux since 1987, he has concentrated his research studies on yeasts, aromas and colloids.
He is considered as one of the top specialist in the winemaking process and the ageing of white wines.
Nevertheless the work of his team has also greatly contributed to deepening our knowledge of red wines aromas.
Simultaneously, Denis Dubourdieu runs the family vineyards. He is also a consultant to numerous wine producers in France and abroad.
The great purity of aromas that marks his style can be detected in his wines.
The whites (dry or sweet), with a bursting fruit aroma, are slender and mineral; they combine power and freshness in an infinite youth.
The reds, deeply coloured, are plenty of fruit and spices; they blend with perfect harmony sweetness of the taste with the fullness and depth of silky and refreshing tannins.
Although irresistible while young, their longevity is astonishing.


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BANGOR, Maine — Maine Sports Hall of Famer and local DJ Dana Wilson pleaded no contest Thursday at the Penobscot Judicial Center to possessing child pornography.
Wilson, 62, of Brewer decided to plead no contest to one count of possession of sexually explicit material, a Class C crime, as his jury-waived trial was scheduled to begin.
There is no plea agreement, according to Michael Roberts, deputy district attorney for Penobscot County. A sentencing date was set for July 16.
District Court Judge Gregory Campbell accepted Wilson's plea and found him guilty of the crime.
Wilson rushed from the courtroom as soon as Campbell gaveled the proceeding to a close.
Wilson was indicted June 27, 2012, by the Penobscot County grand jury on a charge of possession of sexually explicit material. He initially pleaded not guilty Aug. 8, 2012.
Roberts told the judge that at least 16 sexually explicit videos were found on Wilson's computers. The prosecutor also said that they showed prepubescent children involved in sexually explicit activities with adults.
Outside the courthouse, Roberts said that Wilson, who had no prior criminal record, did not produce child pornography. The prosecutor also said that no Maine children were depicted in any of the material found on Wilson's computers.
Defense attorney Jeffrey Silverstein of Bangor said that Wilson decided not to go to trial after two family members were subpoenaed by the prosecution.
"He was determined to avoid putting his family in a position where they had to testify," Silverstein said.
The attorney also said that " there was no suggestion that Mr. Wilson was ever a danger to the community."
Wilson remains free on $1,000 unsecured bail with conditions that include his having no contact with children under the age of 16.
The investigation into Wilson began in February 2011, Brewer police Detective Sgt. Jay Munson said the day Wilson was indicted.
"We found no evidence of any local children or what appears to be local children [on Wilson's computer]," Munson said last year.
Wilson has a disc jockey business and has provided music for dances sponsored by Brewer Parks and Recreation and area schools for many years, Munson said.
Monitoring of child pornography sites by law enforcement officials outside Maine led to an Internet address owned by Wilson, according to a previously published report.
Wilson was inducted into the Maine Sports Hall of Fame in May 2012 for his basketball feats at Bangor's Husson College, where he graduated in 1974. Wilson averaged nearly 35 points per game his senior year, best among all NCAA Division III schools that year, according to the hall.
Wilson faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. He also would be required to register as a sex offender for 10 years and could be prevented from spending time with minors as a DJ.
Roberts said after Wilson entered his plea that a typical sentence for someone convicted of possession of sexually explicit material who had no prior record would be 2½ years with all but six months suspended and two years of probation. A condition of probation most likely would be that the individual have no unsupervised contact with children under the age of 18.


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Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. The proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties. For jewelry, the most commonly used percentages of copper and zinc is 67% and 33%. This mixture helps the brass become stronger and more durable than copper alone, which allows for superb electroplating quality, and thus, it is the perfect combination for fashion jewelry.
Plating:Galvanic Plating, Single-Tone
Galvanic Plating is a process that uses electric currents applied to two opposite poles (negative & positive) in a tank of solution which contains the dissolved material of the coating. The product is attached to the negative pole and powered with a negative charge, while the metal dissolved in the solution is powered with a positive charge. The product then attracts the positive-charged metal in the solution, and thus, creating a thin coating of the desired material.
Single Tone is when a piece of jewelry has only one type/color of plating.
Center Stone Type:Synthetic
Synthetic stones are created artificially in a factory or laboratory, but have the same physical, chemical and optical characteristics as their natural counterparts. These stones usually have high luster, and is difficult to tell the difference from natural stones with the naked eye
Center Stone Name: Cubic Zirconia, AAA Grade CZ, Glass
AAA Grade CZ is a manmade stone, in which its refractive index, dispersion and hardness is extremely close to those of a natural diamond. It also creates more flashes of color, giving it a fiery and brilliant appearance.
Glass is a non-crystalline amorphous solid that is often transparent and has widespread practical, technological, and decorative usage. Glass was used extensively during the Middle Ages. Anglo-Saxon glass has been found across England during archaeological excavations of both settlement and cemetery sites. Glass in the Anglo-Saxon period was used in the manufacture of a range of objects including vessels, beads, and windows, and was also used in jewelry.
Center Stone Color: Clear, Blue, Sapphire
Center Stone Size: 6.5, 4.5(mm)
Stone Cuttings:Oval
Weight(approx): 11.80 (g)