text:
Cotton crop consultants say farmers across the Belt can't afford to underestimate the devastation they face from herbicide-resistant weeds.
"We have to take it seriously," said Paul Pilsner, who works the upper Texas coast area for Coastal Crop Consulting. "We began to see waterhemp escapes about six years ago," Pilsner said Tuesday during the Cotton Consultant's Conference, part of early activities at the 2011 Beltwide Cotton Conferences in Atlanta.
"High rates of glyphosate would not control waterhemp," he said. Pilsner recommended that cotton farmers use residual herbicides to augment over-the-top applications. "We need to use a full residual package. Resistant weeds will spread from two or three fields to two to three counties. And we need to be concerned about resistant weed seed production."
Pilsner said growers also should watch for resistant johnsongrass.
Brant Baugh, Texas AgriLife Extension integrated pest management specialist in Lubbock, Texas, says Palmer amaranth is the area's top weed problem, followed by marestail. He said resistance has not been identified in either of those weeds yet.
"Our farmers are still using pre-emergence herbicides and some are still deep-breaking land every four to five years. Also, some growers north of Lubbock practice crop rotation."
Baugh said climate also may help delay resistance. "We have a shorter growing season in the High Plains so we have fewer generations of Palmer amaranth."
David Hydricks, Hydricks Crop Consulting in Jonesboro, Ark., said farmers are pulling out hooded sprayers to treat herbicide resistant pigweeds. "And we are chopping weed escapes," he said.
LibertyLink cotton adds another tool to weed resistant management, he said.
Palmer amaranth is the number one resistant weed problem for North Carolina cotton, said Billy McLawhorn, McLawhorn Crop Service. Marestail is number two.
"We can't overstate how bad resistance can be," McLawhorn said. "And it continues to spread. ALS herbicide resistance is coming in as well. Most farmers are using pre-emergence herbicides and we are getting more aggressive."
Hooded sprayers
He said using hooded sprayers and keeping residuals "overlapped on the ground" to prevent pigweed from getting established are important options.
"A few growers are taking drastic measures to control pigweed. Some are resorting to using moldboard plows on land that's been in conservation tillage. And they really don't want to do that. They're also using other herbicides and chopping weeds."
He said harvest machinery moving from a field infested with resistant weeds into a clean field spreads the seed and the problem.
Consultants and the farmers they work for face other challenges.
Pilsner said 2010 was a tough year for pest management in south Texas. "We had the highest number of fleahoppers I've seen since I've been checking cotton," he said. A warm, wet winter may have aided survival rate.
After the fleahoppers, farmers had to deal with Creontiades in larger than usual numbers. "Fortunately, they are not hard to kill."
Stink bugs and plant bugs also posed some problems and he and other consultants expressed concern over potential pest resistance to Bollgard II cotton.
Feral hogs
Pilsner said one of the most damaging factors for south Texas crops the past few years has been a feral hog infestation. "They are wearing out milo and corn," he said. "Feral hogs can wipe out a corn field."
Some corn acreage may revert to cotton this year because of hog damage, he said.
"Farmers in south Texas are also looking at Pima cotton. Some new varieties look really good."
Baugh said climate remains the number one yield limiting factor for High Plains cotton producers. "If we get 1 to 2 inches of rain in July and August, we usually make high yields," he said.
Variety selection is the second most important factor, Baugh said. "We have new ones coming, but farmers tend to base variety decisions on too little information, especially regarding nematode and Verticillium wilt tolerance. Losing Temik will be a factor," he said. He cautioned farmers to keep track of nematode infestations.
Baugh said farmers too often base fertility decisions on the price of fertilizer. "It should be based on field need. Dryland fields last year that had been fertilized for the first time in five years made two bales per acre."
He also recommended growers take deeper samples, 18 inches to 24 inches. "We can sustain yields with deep nitrogen."
Timing fertilizer
He said fertilizer application timing also makes a difference, especially in an area where rainfall can leach away nutrients applied early. "Apply one-third of the recommended amount in March or April and the rest before full bloom."
Baugh said zinc levels fell last year following heavy summer rains and recent samples "have still been low."
Baugh said High Plains cotton farmers spend more money on thrips control than on any other insect. "Again, losing Temik hurts. We get 14 to 18 days control with seed treatments."
He said bollworm resistance in Bt cotton is "a concern for High Plains cotton farmers."
Hydrick said variable rate fertilizer application is a practice than can make money "for the grower, the consultant and the dealer. We can reduce cost and increase yield."
He said 2010 cotton yields in Arkansas were "well above average. ST5458 and DPL 0912 were the top producers. We also had a rain-free harvest and no boll rot. We have a lot of questions for 2011."
McLawhorn said the 2010 cotton crop in North Carolina was "better than average with good grades. The very late varieties did well."
Temik continues to play an important role in insect control, especially for thrips, he said. "It's been a lot more profitable to use than seed treatments." Worm pressure was also "higher than ever," he said.
McLawhorn anticipates precision agriculture will play an increasingly important role in crop production. "Advantages include accurate delivery and accurate rate," he said. "It is an excellent tool if used thoughtfully.
"Downside includes problems associated with poor sampling and interpolation which can cause uniformity problems. Potassium deficiency or over or under liming are also concerns. We also need a better understanding of variable rate nitrogen application. We need to see more widespread use of yield monitors," he said.
McLawhorn said farmers need "more proven varieties for the Ignite system and more data on varieties before widespread use."


text:
Resources for SLG Leaders
In-Service Training SessionsThe purpose of the in-Service training is for the trainers to communicate with SLG leaders. The trainers give guidance on how to lead effectively ensuring that students get the most out of the sessions. The training also gives a chance for the leaders to ask questions and update the co-ordinator and the trainer on the success of their sessions. There are 4 in-service training sessions in a term.
Contact InfoCoordinator:Navneet firstname.lastname@example.com SLG CoordinatorC1007‐ AbbotsfordExt-4116Trainer:Derek email@example.com‐ AbbotsfordExt-4683
Tips from former SLG leaders
Online Resources for SLG Leaders
Great Online Crossword / Word Search Puzzle Maker:Discovery Education; Online Puzzle Maker
Good for Vocabulary, Mix and Match, Etc.:Teacher's Corner

subset: commoncrawl


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How to Find Meaning and Money in Your Work
I left Yale during the fall semester of my junior year fully intending to come back. Seven years later, even though I was technically still "on leave," I arrived at my 5-year college reunion as a party crasher. But I didn't feel sheepish coming back. I was just excited to have a good time with some old friends. I was pained to discover just how miserable many of them were. Many of my classmates had defaulted to law school, some were living at home. A few people had cleared the high bar to get low-level jobs in the Obama administration, and they were deeply frustrated at how powerless they felt in such powerful positions.
I'd heard of the "quarterlife crisis," but what was going on with these people seemed like a more permanent problem. My friends had had all this crazy ambition and talent in college, this freewheeling ability to invent and imagine. But it seemed like they hadn't found anywhere to use it, and so for most of them, it was as if they had spent their life building and learning to fly a plane and, now that they were in the air, they didn't quite now where to land.
According to the International Labor Organization, as of 2010, 211 million people around the world were officially out of work. When we factor in the underemployed and those who have given up looking for a job, the number climbs much higher. In the U.S., only 54 percent of 18-24 year-olds have a job. And if there isn't a radical shift in the direction of our economy, there will be no relief: According to some estimates, in the next 10 years, only 300 million new jobs will appear to greet the billion young people entering the workforce all around the world.
In this desperate landscape, millions of us are resigning ourselves to work that hurts us, hurts others, and damages the planet. We're wasting our greatest assets. We have a deep, dim sense there's something else we're meant for, but we don't know exactly where the opportunities are or how to access them.
Figuring out what to do with your life isn't just about self-examination—it's about examination of the world you live in. Theologian Frederick Buechner puts it this way: "Your vocation is where your greatest passion meets the world's greatest need." It takes a conscious act of imagining beyond what you see, connecting what you read and what you understand about the world to the actual life you lead.
We need to genuinely believe that things can change, that what once seemed impossible is now within reach. Arriving at that perspective is largely a matter of seeking and claiming our options, from the tiniest task-related choice, to the sweeping global choices we make as a culture. Do we really have to trade our time for money for something we don't believe? Do we have to settle for being unhappy at work just because we have the pressure of bills to pay?
There's another path—one that doesn't always impart a specific job title, where meaning can become a method to achieve financial stability, where our instinctive emotional response to the injustices in our world lay the foundation for a long-term career. In analyzing the stories of people who have successfully re-directed their lives (we call them Rebuilders), Dev Aujla and I identified four stages their paths share in common:
Stage 1: The Wilderness
The first stage of every path to Making Good is recognizing and acknowledging a problem. In our hundreds of interviews with people sorting through the complex emotions this stage brings up, self-doubt was one of the most significant barriers to moving forward. They had identified a problem (or 20), but they just weren't sure what they could do about it, where they could start. It was a combination stemming from a lack of direction and that feeling of being stuck.
It's tempting to cling to our barriers and obstacles when we feel like giving up. There's a distinct comfort in victimhood—you don't have to risk anything, people extend you sympathy, and you get to feel the private satisfaction of being right when someone does you wrong. It's like shutting off the alarm on a cold morning and drifting back to sleep. Except all our options shut down. We surrender our power. Some of our excitement, our spark, our capacity to do something meaningful in our short time on earth slips away.
We don't control the broader economy, and we often don't control the facts of our lives, but we can always control our response to them. That response is where our power lies, and to leverage it, we need to be conscious of our perspective. Our perspective on the world has immense power over our state of mind, just as the media's perspective has a profound impact on society. Both are creations of our mind, and the gap between how we see ourselves today and how we want to see ourselves is the path we need to travel to build a meaningful career.
The path that Rebuilders are on is a nonlinear track that introduces career freedom, variety, and opportunity custom-cut to your abilities. On the mapless road, each episode offers new skills, challenges, and contacts that will contain a clue to the next episode.
We can rarely feel the connection of one moment to another while we're living it, but with a little perspective, we come to see the inspiration and causation that propel us forward. The truth is you don't begin your career at one particular time. Everything that you have done to get to this point—what you have learned, the people you have met, your time off, your work experience—has brought you here. Even people in the most traditional fields will credit their success to unplanned turns, to ideas that surprised them. You have to trust that doing good work and doing it earnestly will carry you from one sustaining project to the next, that just because there's no corporate ladder to ascend doesn't mean there's no future work for you. The skills and experiences you pick up along the way only make you more prepared for the next challenge you'll face, and the path that evolves to carry you through will indeed be a path—a nonlinear career path. It's about the constantly evolving now.
Stage 2: Finding Your Special Powers
Magazine profiles of the most creative, the most powerful, the most up-and-coming movers and shakers can give us the impression that life just feels different for really successful people. Sometimes what we read about them seems to suggest that they've always had a clear path, one step after another, all stemming from some grand epiphany where they felt chosen for their work. It was as if they were clueless and then one morning they had this experience and, boom, there it was, their life's purpose clear as daylight, driving them straight toward the magazine on the kitchen table.
Who's Building the Do-It-Ourselves Economy?
Corporations aren't hiring, and Washington is gridlocked. Here's how we take charge of our own livelihoods.
Thinking this way can make us feel like if we haven't been discovered, then we probably aren't worthy of great things. But when you talk to people who have achieved a level of success, you find out they, too, are caught up in that long, unfolding process of figuring out who they are, what they know and don't know, and how to get paid. The truth is that neat epiphanies rarely occur.
The path to success isn't as clear-cut as it may sound in the magazines. When a story is written about what you're working on one day, it will be abbreviated, summarized, and centered around a point from where it all began—even though your work will be a much more gradual process.
The second stage is about finding your edge, the special power that we all possess. We start the search by looking back at the experiences that have gotten us here today. By looking back, you can begin to uncover a story, your story, and find out that you actually do have a unique edge, in spite of a nagging insecurity about not being good enough, not being ready enough. But what we need to understand is that in spite of that feeling, we are already in the middle of the work that we need to do. We are already living our "real" lives.
We have been making choices for our whole lives— whether we are aware of it or not. In fact, all of the choices that you have made up until this point have brought you to this point. You aren't at the beginning—you are already in the middle. You are the perfect person to make the next move. If you are waiting for a moment to start, if you are waiting for some sort of signal to tell you that you can begin, you are missing out on what is happening right now.
Stage 3: The Kin
Study after study shows that we're happier when we're together, but sometimes it can be hard to find your people, your tribe, your community. Maybe your family and the community you grew up in don't seem to support the values or passion you hold dear. Schools and work environments are too often designed for competition, not connection and collaboration, breeding a cliquish and alienating environment.
Most of us start off into the Wilderness with just one or a few friends who understand what we're going through. We have late-night conversations and long walks to make sense of all the confusing things. We become stronger as we accumulate more friends. So the question is: How do we find our people?
There are hundreds of ways to find larger groups of people with shared values and purpose. Here's a starter list of two quick ways to get you into your community:
- Take the online offline. There are online networks and organizations for almost every interest. It's great to be involved in these sites and networks, but look for opportunities to take the online networking offline as fast as you can. Go to bar nights, potlucks, film screenings, conferences, community association meetings, or open houses of these networks with the goal of finding just one other simpatico person to come to future events with you.
- Bring it to your town. Look for events that are going on in other towns or cities that attract the people that you want to be hanging out with. Contact the organizer or host organization and sign up to be a local organizer or part of the team that is bringing it to your community. You now have permission to get in touch with as many people as you can and have an organization offering you some support to get started. Whether it is a TEDx event, ChangeCamp, or a Meetup event, there are great opportunities to get to know people.
When you do find true community, it can feel like a homecoming, like the discovery of a new family you didn't know but was there all along. In these communities, you will find friendship, comradeship, and a kind of unity of purpose. These are the people who will drop everything to help when you're in need, with whom you can share some laughs and commiseration when choices seem unknown. Your community is made up of those who will help you land a job when you're broke, partner with you when you want to launch a new company, or at least have a drink with you on a patio.
Before long, if you're not there already, you'll end up being a part of multiple communities based around workplaces, conferences, Listservs, and who knows what else. For now, consider that you are already part of a broad movement of Rebuilders, and you aren't doing it alone. Your community is actually everywhere. There's a growing acceptance of this trackless track and more and more people that can help you bridge between the different steps on our nonlinear paths.
Stage 4: The Tests
As we find our edge, discover our communities, and accept the path we have begun to walk down, we need to stop and look around. You are figuring out how to live your purpose and living it at the same time. Stage 4 is about finding yourself in those moments when things feel like they are in chaos and learning to take a deep breath and find that personal power inside to get up, get out, and carry on.
These are our moments of truth—a time to conquer our fears and find the power within us to overcome the obstacles we face, regardless of how overwhelming they may feel. At certain moments in all of our lives, we are called to lead.
When the dreams we have for ourselves match the reality of our experience, we're living our purpose. These moments of leadership aren't always about being in the spotlight. They aren't always about presenting to thousands or asking for millions of dollars. They are often quiet moments as we are getting dressed to leave or are making notes in preparation for a call. We know that what we are doing is right, but it feels so uncomfortable that all we want is for someone to come down from above to answer our hesitant wondering about whether we're doing the right thing with a confident Yes.
Change starts with the simple belief in progress. And to participate in progress, we have to take hold of the millions of choices that come together to create the arrow of change. The world needs your best self. You need your best self right now.
How worker co-ops are expanding despite the rust-belt economy.
Working fewer hours could save our economy, save our sanity, and help save our planet.
In the work you do each day, how do you distinguish truth from fraud, build community, and speak up for what's right?


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Thursday, October 7, 2010
Taco Soup and Garlic cheese biscuits
Last night I made Taco Soup for dinner. Scott's not a big soup fan so I rarely make soup but we both REALLY liked it. I'll be making this a LOT this winter! It's easy and very filling! And YUM!
2 lbs ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 14.5 oz can whole kernel corn
2 16 oz cans of ranch style beans (I only used one can because I'm not a bean lover & it was fine)
* Maybe not everywhere but I know here - you find cans at the grocery store of ranch style beans. If you don't have those - substitute pinto or black or whatever you like.
3 cans of diced tomatos (maybe substitute 1 can rotel if you like spicy) (I got the garlic/onion kind and I think it gave it great flavor)
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 pkg Hidden Valley dressing mix
Brown and drain meat. Saute onions for a few minutes. Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Add chili powder, salt and pepper to taste. Simmer 1-2 hours. I topped it with shredded cheese!
Garlic Cheese Biscuits
2 1/4 cups bisquick
2/3 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 tsp garlic salt
Combine ingredients and make drop biscuits by just dropping spoonfuls on a sprayed pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Such a great side!
30 comments:
- T said...
Can you elaborate on ranch style beans? I've never heard of them or at least I don't think I have. Thanks! It sounds fabulous and I'm bookmarking this page!
- October 7, 2010 at 12:52 PM
- Amy said...
I make my taco soup a little different. I put one can of diced tomatoes and one can of rotel. 1 can of black beans and 1 can of pinto beans. I also use mexican corn and Hidden Valley Ranch dip.
There are so many different tweaks to this recipe. But it is absolutely one of our winter/fall favorites!
- October 7, 2010 at 12:56 PM
- Cecilia said...
We love Taco Soup here too! It's a great one for the crock pot too which is nice. I'll have to try it with garlic cheese biscuits, we usually add sour cream and serve with tortilla chips!
- October 7, 2010 at 12:57 PM
- crowell22 said...
I have a wonderful soup recipe that is SO easy to make absolutely ANYONE can make it...not to mention, it is delicious!!! It's chicken tortilla soup, perfect for the winter.
1 can chicken (I typically cut the chicken into smaller pieces, it comes in chunks)
1 family sized can chicken and rice soup
1 can ranch style beans
1 can rotel
1 can creamed corn
Pour everything together into a crockpot and cook for an hour or two...serve on top of crushed tortilla chips and top with cheese.
It's amazing, I promise it will change your life! :)
- October 7, 2010 at 1:44 PM
- caryn said...
I was wondering about the Ranch Style Beans as well, never heard of them up here in New England.
- October 7, 2010 at 2:05 PM
- Melissa said...
That sounds delicious! I have a hubby who hates the word casserole too - I now use "bake" as a substitute. ;-)
- October 7, 2010 at 2:32 PM
- Lyndsay said...
This sounds very similiar to my Taco Soup except I use black beans and garbanzo beans. Not sure what ranch beans are! :) We also do more mix ins at the end such as black olives, sour cream and fritos! Yummy!
- October 7, 2010 at 2:38 PM
- Sonya said...
i make those biscuits only I use ginger ale in place of the milk...makes them so much tastier!
- October 7, 2010 at 3:06 PM
We make taco soup all the time! We serve it with white corn tortilla chips and use it more as a "dip". We just scoop up the soup with the chips. No spoons needed. Works great for football parties too! Ours goes like this:
1 pound ground beef
1 onion
taco seasoning mix
2 cans mexican style stewed tomatoes
1 can corn
1 can pinto beans
Brown beef and onion. Dump in the rest. I usually cut up the stewed tomatoes as they cook.
Top with cheese and sour cream and scoop with white corn tortilla chips!
- October 7, 2010 at 3:12 PM
I LOVE Taco Soup. My recipe has more diced tomatoes and rotel plus I put frito corn chips on the bottom of bowl before I put the soup in the bowl. Then I top with cheese and sour cream. Yum!
- October 7, 2010 at 3:37 PM
- Nicole said...
Ranch style beans? Never heard of it. Must be a southern thing...us "Pacific Northwesters" don't have all the good food that you do down there. We just got a Sonic about an hour and half away from us and we were so excited! LOL! I'm gonna try the biscuits tonight for dinner. Sounds yummy.
- October 7, 2010 at 3:46 PM
- happymomof2 said...
I've never heard of ranch style beans either. But I am so looking forward to trying this recipe, sounds yummy and easy:) Thanks for sharing!
- October 7, 2010 at 6:10 PM
- Kaelin said...
My family (especially my hubby) LOVES Taco Soup (we call it taco chili). I am going to have to look for the ranch style beans! We've never used them before.
- October 7, 2010 at 6:12 PM
- Valerie said...
I have that same recipe... we call it taco junk. :)
- October 7, 2010 at 6:32 PM
- Meghan said...
Kelly, I love taco soup! It's almost time to make it here in California too. I usually just get whatever beans are on sale about 3 cans. But, you should definitely try a can of hominy in it. I had never had it before, and it took some getting used to because of that, but now I love the taste of it! Thanks for the inspiration, Meghan
- October 7, 2010 at 6:46 PM
- Shannon said...
My taco soup recipe is very similar I use a can of Pinto beans and a can of chili beans, and diced tomatoes and rotel as well as corn, the env of ranch and the env of taco seasoning. It actually came from a Weight Watchers recipe using the leanest meat, and it was only 2 points per cup.. And it is even better the next day!
- October 7, 2010 at 8:06 PM
- Holly said...
Ooohh! This sounds really good! I will be trying it very soon!
- October 7, 2010 at 8:22 PM
- Carolynn said...
I love taco soup! My recipe doesn't have onion in it--just 1 lb ground meat, can of ranch style beans, can of Rotel, can of shoe peg corn( drained), can of black beans, taco seasoning and ranch dressing packet. Also 3 cans of water using the rotel can. We serve it over tortilla rounds and top it with cheese!
- October 7, 2010 at 8:49 PM
- The Kelleher Family said...
Kelly we have Ranch style beans here in California and they are yummy! This sounds great I think I will have to try it out... thanks!
- October 8, 2010 at 10:56 AM
- annalee said...
this is our exact same recipe and now you have me drooling over your picture of it and wanting to make it for dinner tonight! mmmm:)
- October 11, 2010 at 1:45 PM
- Laura Lee Drum said...
I think I've made that before and it's delicious! It freezes really well too! I'd love if you would take a look at my recipe blog and follow me if you'd like!
- October 11, 2010 at 5:48 PM
I made this the other night, and we liked it, too. My husband is the world's pickiest eater and he doesn't like "casseroles or soups" either. I called it Taco Chili. He liked it, but he still picked out any larger tomato chunks.
- October 17, 2010 at 6:08 AM
I made this other night and it was fantastic! :-) Thank you so much Kelly for the different recipes! It's nice to be able to try something new. The only thing different I did was add sour cream on top since we use it on Tacos!
- October 18, 2010 at 10:53 AM
- Alli Upndown said...
I made this tonight and loved it!!!
As a single girl who is always on the go, I also love that it made a lot of leftovers! Always looking for meals that freeze well. thanks Kelly!
- October 21, 2010 at 8:33 PM
- tiffanyturtle said...
Livin' here in the Big D, can't believe the rest of the world isn't subjected to the isles and isles of Ranch Style Beans. They are everywhere in the grocery stores!!! Well, at least they do take up a lot of the Can Section....
- November 5, 2010 at 1:24 PM
- Lisa Rusczyk said...
I think I could do this?
- April 28, 2011 at 6:58 AM
- Fash Boulevard said...
wow. totally have to try this. thrilled I stumbled upon your blog. I'm following, I hope you will as well. I started my blog a little over 3 months ago after graduating from college in the south and moving across the country to LA. The site's all about celebrity fashion from the point of view of an LA stylist. I'd love if if you'd stop by to see multiple post a day on all the latest celebrity fashion news. Any support would be awesome. Thanks love. xoxo
- June 20, 2011 at 10:58 AM
For you non Southerners!
Ranch style beans are one of several Conagra products...usually refering to original ranch style beans or with jalapenos! Just "google" it!
Ro-Tel is just plain great canned tomatoes with jalapenos!
Southern does not always translate well!
If you do not understand sweet tea you are lost!
- February 14, 2012 at 9:17 PM
- Baju Muslim said...
nice your blog
- March 3, 2012 at 8:39 AM
- jhon mithous said...
dear you have done a fantastic job here.
- June 29, 2012 at 12:52 AM


text:
Why choose Louisiana
for Higher Education?
The benefits of a Louisiana higher education degree are endless! Whether choosing an Associate's degree at one of our Community and Technical Colleges, a Bachelors, Masters, or Ph.D. at one of our four-year institutions, or even a professional degree at one of our medical or law schools your educational experience at any Louisiana public institution is guaranteed to positively impact your future. Read More >>
Welcome to the Louisiana Board of Regents Website – your online resource for higher education in Louisiana. Our site contains a wealth of information, ranging from data and statistics to the latest news and developments in higher education.
Read More »
The Board of Regents, a state agency created by the 1974 Louisiana Constitution, coordinates all public higher education in Louisiana. This includes the Louisiana State University System, the University of Louisiana System, the Southern University System, and the Louisiana Community and Technical College System. The Board of Regents believes that a robust public postsecondary education system is critical in order to enhance Louisiana's social and economic environment. Through statewide academic planning and review, budgeting and performance funding, research, and accountability, Regents strive to ensure that all students have access to high-quality educational opportunities.
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11.04.2016 – TOPS Winter Quarter/Spring Semester FAQs
11.04.2016 – POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT - Communications Manager
11.03.2016 – November 2016 Regents Recap
10.31.2016 – Northeast Louisiana RalloTour Presentation
10.31.2016 – Northwest Louisiana RalloTour Presentation


text:
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text:
This is an incredibly efficient trap. The first one we tested cleared a kitchen in one day. Suspicious that something else might have been the cause, we opened the trap to find some 200 flies in it.
Each trap will hold 10 times that number and is effective for a month or more. The non-toxic lure is irresistible to fruit flies and the entire trap can be discarded in your regular garbage when its time is up.
Set of two traps. Each trap measures 4" x 4" x 2". Made in USA.


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The Baltimore skyline is iconic: The National Aquarium's blue waves and the World Trade Center's five-sided building have been depicted in places as varied as Robert McClintock paintings and local body art. The Domino Sugar sign is — well, it's the Domino Sugar sign. It's priceless. Exelon Corp.'s Baltimore office, proposed to be built on the old Allied Chemical site in Harbor Point, would alter that skyline forever. In that context, it too needs to be iconic.
The proposed office building has been treated by the mayor's office as simply a necessity of the Exelon merger with Constellation Energy. Instead, why not treat this as an opportunity to create an iconic building on what is arguably the best piece of waterfront property in the Inner Harbor? Why not host an international design competition to build the new building — and bring world-class architecture to our waterfront?
From the Eiffel Tower in Paris, to the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, to the Freedom Tower in New York City, a competitively chosen design captures the hearts and minds of a city's people at a specific point in their collective history. When the Chicago Tribune outgrew its office space in 1922, the company launched an international design competition, seeking to build "the most beautiful and distinctive office building in the world." Baltimore's citizens should be afforded that same opportunity. We certainly deserve it.
Why not ask the best and brightest building designers to explore the site's potential and envision what will surely grow to be a landmark of Baltimore? Why not decide together how to grow the trademark of Baltimore? Why not ask for the best for our city? This opportunity comes perhaps once in a generation.
Our leaders were right to think about jobs and the city's economy. But they weren't thinking about how to use this new building to bring world-class architecture design to one of the best-known waterfronts in the country. They weren't thinking about how the community could and should be engaged in deciding how our skyline should look. With a little vision, the mayor's office can bring not only jobs and tax revenue but the prestige our famed waterfront deserves.
This is also a unique opportunity for Exelon. Hosting an international design competition for the prominently located new Baltimore office would help shake off the firm's post-merger PR blues. Baltimore citizens will have something to be excited about, rather than lamenting the loss of our city's last Fortune 500 company — or the increases in our energy bills.
After all, Exelon is now one of Baltimore's largest employers. Its office building, because of its location and the buzz around the merger, will surely be a signature structure on our waterfront. Wanting to provide Baltimore's citizens with the best-designed addition to our skyline is one way for Exelon to show true commitment and respect for its new regional home. Such a gesture would be a mark of exemplary corporate citizenship.
Exelon has already announced the interior designers, structural engineers, and LEED consultant for the new building's construction, demonstrating commitment to fulfilling the state's and the city's request. I say, let's ask the mayor's office to pause for just a minute and reconsider.
I've lived and worked in Baltimore for nearly three decades. I'm proud of what this city has accomplished in that time, and I believe that together, we can accomplish so much more. This is a unique opportunity for Baltimore. Let's not let it go to waste.
David L. Warnock is a founder and CEO of Camden Partners, a private equity firm located in downtown Baltimore. He is chairman of the Center for Urban Families, a workforce development organization in Baltimore, and chairman and co-founder of Green Street Academy, a Baltimore City public school. His email is firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Adapter Kit Provides microSD Card, miniSD Adapter and Standard SD Adapter
In a Single Package Compatible With Most Mobile Phones That Have Card Slots
BARCELONA, SPAIN, Feb. 12, 2007 - SanDisk® Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) today introduced the microSD™ Multi SD™ Kit, bringing together in one package a microSD flash card with a miniSD™ adapter and a standard SD adapter, at the 3GSM World Conference 2007, where SanDisk is demonstrating products in booths 7C62 and 8C74.
The microSD Multi SD Kit removes confusion for consumers and retailers in selecting the correct card for a mobile phone, because the kit supports all mobile phones with SD-based card slots. According to SanDisk research, 87 percent of the latest mobile phone models with card slots are designed for either microSD, miniSD or standard SD.
"Consumers, when shopping for memory cards, don't always know what type of SD slot is in their mobile phone. The microSD Multi SD Kit makes the purchasing decision a snap, because the card is guaranteed to fit-either directly through a microSD slot, or by using the adapters for miniSD or standard SD slots," said Jeff Kost, vice president and general manager of mobile consumer solutions for SanDisk. "Retailers also get a break, because sales associates can focus on the benefits of added capacity rather than worrying about compatibility."
The kit makes it easy to enjoy music, photos, video clips and personal files on multiple devices. For example, a large video clip could be downloaded through a laptop computer and transferred to the microSD card using the kit's standard SD adapter. The microSD card could then be placed in a phone with either a miniSD or microSD slot. The kit is also compatible with personal electronics other than mobile phones, including SD digital cameras, as well as SanDisk's Sansa® e200 series, Sansa® Connect™, Sansa® Express™, and Sansa c200 series of MP3 players. This flexibility makes it more likely consumers will use their portable devices, especially mobile phones, to enjoy music, photos and video.
The microSD Multi SD Kit comes in three capacities: 512 MB, 1GB and 2GB.* The product is available now in Japan. It will be available in the United States and Europe in March. Pricing in the U.S. and Europe has yet to be announced. The product may be sold under other names outside of Europe.
SanDisk is the original inventor of flash storage cards and is the world's largest supplier of flash data storage card products, using its patented, high-density flash memory and controller technology. SanDisk is headquartered in Milpitas, California, and has operations worldwide, with more than half of its sales outside the U.S.
*1 gigabyte (GB) = 1 billion bytes; 1 megabyte (MB) = 1 million bytes
SanDisk's web site/home page address: www.sandisk.com
SanDisk's product and executive images can be downloaded from http://www.sandisk.com/corporate/mediakit/
SanDisk, the SanDisk logo and Sansa are trademarks of SanDisk Corporation, registered in the U.S. and other countries. Sansa® Express™ and Sansa® Connect™ are trademarks of SanDisk Corporation. microSD, miniSD and SD are trademarks. All trade names are either registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective holder(s).
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, including expectations for new product introductions, specifications, applications, markets, pricing, customer acceptance and customers that are based on our current expectations and involve numerous risks and uncertainties that may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate. Risks that may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate include among others: market demand for our products may grow more slowly than our expectations or there may be a slower adoption rate for these products in new markets that we are targeting, and the other risks detailed from time-to-time under the caption "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports, including, but not limited to, Form 10-K and our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. We do not intend to update the information contained in this press release.
Solid Ground
Gijs Roeloffzen
+31 23 533 40 99
SanDisk Corporation
Mike Wong
(408) 801-1240


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The embattled porn-trolling operation known as Prenda Law is in hot water, largely due to a tough sanctions order penned by US District Judge Otis Wright. That order required Prenda to pay $81,000 in sanctions and also referred lawyers connected to the group to criminal investigators.
But Wright's court is far from the only venue where Prenda filed its mass-copyright lawsuits, and now that Prenda's cases are winding down, other judges are showing their displeasure with Prenda. Yesterday in San Francisco, US District Judge Edward Chen took Prenda lawyer Paul Duffy to task in a case called AF Holdings v. Navasca. The case featured a shoddy investigation into Navasca's alleged infringement and produced unsupported claims that Navasca had deleted evidence, Chen asserted.
Chen isn't Judge Wright—his style is extremely low-key—but he might be just as upset about the whole situation. It was clear yesterday that he's inclined to award legal fees, and he is considering a motion for sanctions against Prenda as well.
A second San Francisco hearing about Prenda paying legal fees was scheduled for this morning in front of US District Judge Samuel Conti. But Conti scuttled the hearing a few days ago, indicating he's ready to decide the issue based on the papers alone.
"A serious question... about the whole business model"
Navasca is a San Jose-based Prenda defendant represented by Nicholas Ranallo, a defense lawyer who has already won a modest award of attorneys' fees from Prenda and seen that case through appeal.
The Prenda motion was the last one considered on Chen's civil calendar Thursday. In the gallery, Ranallo waited from the front row; a few rows behind sat observers from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which has been watching Prenda cases.
Eventually, AF Holdings v. Navasca was called, and Judge Chen's clerk dialed Paul Duffy on a speakerphone. Duffy answered and was immediately apologetic. His garbled voice was broadcast through the speakerphone into Chen's cavernous courtroom on the 17th floor of the San Francisco federal building.
"I thought today's hearing was canceled," Duffy said, after stating his name for the record. "I sincerely apologize."
Chen got straight to the point.
"Frankly I don't see why fees should not be awarded here, given the findings obtained in this court as well as other courts, including Judge Wright's," he said. "This case proceeded without proof of standing. There were also questions about identifying Mr. Navasca as an infringer without sufficient investigation. Other assertions, like improper spoliation, were never proven or supported. Then there's the whole question of motivation. There's a serious question raised about the whole business model here... [about whether] this is a business model to generate income through coerced settlements. If there's a case that warrants fee shifting, this certainly seems to be one of them."
Then Chen invited Duffy to say something that might change his mind.
"Counsel admitted that he [Navasca] engaged in spoliation of evidence," said Duffy. "Including evidence of infringing activity."
This was Duffy's first attempt at ameliorating the damage that had been done over the months. It was repetitive, and it went precisely nowhere. Duffy was talking about the defendant's use of CCleaner, a hard-drive maintenance program that Duffy tried to suggest was used to delete important evidence. It's an argument he's been bringing up for months, and it didn't stop him from losing an SF case earlier this year. Chen wasn't hearing it again.
"That software program was in place before this lawsuit was filed," Chen said, sounding tired already.
"The defendant did not remove the software!" said Duffy. He spoke quickly, his words running over each other, blaring through the speakerphone. "And in terms of the business model—that Central District case [in Judge Wright's court], it's under appeal. We dispute, obviously, a large number of the claims that the court made."
There's nothing wrong with getting defendants to settle before a trial, Duffy added.
"It would be discriminatory to prevent plaintiffs in infringement cases from seeking settlement," said Duffy. "In another US district court the judge specifically acknowledged, it's an appropriate business model to seek settlement in copyright infringement cases—digital piracy cases—with John Doe defendants."
"Here AF [Holdings] didn't even prove standing," said Chen. The judge was referring to the disputed copyright assignment at the root of the case. It was signed by Alan Cooper, a former property caretaker for John Steele, the man pointed to as a key Prenda player. Cooper later denied having signed the papers.
"That's very much in dispute," said Duffy. "It's a 'he said, he said' about the individual who signed AF Holdings' [assignment]. The individual did not challenge the signature until Mr. Steele ejected him from his property, then all of a sudden repudiated his signature. There is a factual issue about whether the person who signed it actually signed it. We believe he did."
"I've not seen a case yet where AF Holdings has been able to prove to any court's satisfaction that this was not a case of either identity theft or forgery or something of that nature," said Chen. "I know you dispute this on behalf of your client. Is there a case where you have prevailed on this issue?"
"There's not a case where we have not prevailed," insisted Duffy, referencing a Prenda case in Arizona. Cooper—or "the individual," as Duffy called him throughout the hearing—took a year and a half to make his claims of identity theft before essentially becoming a stooge of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "When he was evicted from the property, he became a cause célèbre! Then he was flown to various proceedings around the country to dispute his signature... The only time that Mr. Cooper testified, in the Central District of California, there was not an opportunity to cross-examine him."
A review of the March 11 hearing in Wright's court shows that Cooper actually was cross-examined by a lawyer representing former Prenda associate Brett Gibbs. The opportunity for another Prenda representative to do a cross-examination was lost because neither Duffy nor other Prenda-linked lawyers showed up to that hearing.
As for Cooper, he didn't make any complaints about his identity being stolen because for a year and a half, he had no idea it was going on, said Ranallo. "There's not any dispute that as soon as he found out about it, he began disputing his signature," he said.
Prenda said to plant its own porn
Chen then moved on to the Neville declaration. That document, filed in another case, accused Prenda of actually seeding porn on The Pirate Bay so that it could be downloaded—and Prenda could go after the downloaders.
"Does AF [Holdings] dispute that allegedly infringed-upon material was uploaded?" Chen asked.
"AF absolutely disputes that," said Duffy. "The software it uses to monitor... does not allow it to upload or download any type of material. The software that it used does not allow it to do the things that Mr. Neville says occurred."
"Mr. Neville's declaration says it's the link to the particular swarm that was posted by this sharkmp4 user," said Ranallo. "I don't think this particular tool is 100 percent of the issue. People are being directed to the swarm that contains that file."
Then Duffy changed tack and began attacking Neville and Cooper themselves.
"His affidavit is very shaky as far as whether he has the qualifications to make the statements he does," said Duffy. Then he started going back to Cooper. "He waited until he was being evicted by Mr. Steele from his property, where he was contacted by an attorney from the EFF about being represented."
Duffy's voice was coming through garbled, and he was hard to understand to begin with. On top of that, he spoke quickly and began repeating himself. He started to launch into another attack on Cooper that began with the phrase "substance abuse" when Chen cut him off.
"Before you go there, I didn't hear your response to the Neville declaration and the use of this mechanism to direct users to the file in question. Are you denying that? I haven't seen evidence in contravention of that."
"The plaintiff disputes that because the software does not allow us to upload or download," Duffy repeated. "Mr. Neville is not an expert. I believe he's a graduate student somewhere. There has been no attempt to qualify him as an expert."
"Has there been a declaration filed denying the gist [of Neville's declaration]?" asked Chen.
"Mr. Neville is not qualified as an expert, even remotely!" said Duffy.
Chen then asked why Duffy didn't state in writing, under oath, that Neville was wrong.
"I have your opposition brief here and I'm looking about it," Chen said. "You take on his declaration—you argue about it. You say his opinions are worthless, purely conjectural, that they don't make logical or economic sense. [But] I don't see any factual matter submitted. You had a full two weeks to respond." He turned to Ranallo. "Has Prenda ever filed a substantive response to Mr. Neville?"
"Not to my knowledge," said Ranallo.
"That is simply false!" Duffy barked through the speakerphone. "Prenda Law is not representing AF Holdings in the Florida case where [the declaration] was submitted, nor the Georgia case."
But Duffy was "splitting hairs" on that point, said Ranallo. The case where the Neville declaration came in was listed on Prenda Law's own website.
"We don't list the affidavit in question on our website," said Duffy. "I didn't have any notice of that. Or the attachments."
This line of "know nothing" argument tired Chen again. "Well, in any event this affidavit was filed in this case and was quite detailed. You didn't seek to submit any substantive declaration in opposition. I'm going to take the record as it is."
"Thank you judge, and thank you for your indulgence," said Duffy.
The argument Thursday was solely about whether Ranallo should be awarded legal fees, which seems likely to happen. Fee shifting is more common in copyright cases than in other types of litigation. In this case, Ranallo has requested $23,554.05 in fees. He has also filed a motion for sanctions, which will be considered separately.
If he wins any of that sum, it will be his second fees win against Prenda, which has already been ordered to pay $9,425 in another SF-based case that it failed to appeal. Ranallo hasn't seen any of the money yet, though.
"Definitely, it's a good start to a hearing when the judge says he's inclined to grant the motion," said Ranallo, reflecting briefly on the proceeding out in the hall. "But I think even if fees are awarded, collection will be an issue. Sanctions might be more important as far as putting responsibility on people who should bear it. I think it's pretty clear, that's Mr. Steele and Mr. [Paul] Hansmeier."


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Microsoft Excel® 2016Microsoft Office Excel® 2016 is a powerful tool you can use to create and format spreadsheets so you can more easily analyze data, share information, and make more informed decisions. Excel 2016 has much of the functionality and features seen in previous versions, but with several new features and enhancements such as new chart types, the ability to import from outside sources, one-click forecasting, 3-D mapping, and more. You will learn how to create rich data visualization, PivotTable views, professional-looking charts, print media, hyperlinks, and worksheet web pages.
Microsoft PowerPoint® 2016Microsoft Office PowerPoint® 2016 gives you many ways to create and present your ideas in a visually appealing way. You will learn to create your own professional-looking presentation using custom shapes, animations, Smart Guides, and templates. You will learn to use Presenter View to show a full slide to your audience on one display while you view your slide notes and see upcoming slides on a second screen. You will also learn how to collaborate with colleagues by sharing your presentation electronically, easily managing version histories.
Microsoft Word® 2016Microsoft Word 2016 combines a comprehensive set of writing tools to create and share professional-looking, dynamic documents using familiar writing, reviewing, and data integration capabilities. Students will learn how to navigate Microsoft Word 2016 software and use the many design features available in the program. Our Microsoft Word 2016 course will show you how to create and edit professional-looking documents for a variety of purposes and situations, whether at home or on the job.
WordPressWith WordPress, you can create brilliant, highly customizable websites and blogs with just a few clicks. Thousands of plugins and a personal publishing system provide everything you need to create stunning web pages. Our WordPress course provides you with basic knowledge of how the software is structured, how to organize your web page or blog as well as themes for creating the perfect look and feel for your content. Get ready to be introduced to the world's most popular content management system for websites… WordPress!
Microsoft Word 2013Microsoft Office Word 2013 combines a comprehensive set of writing tools to create and share professional-looking, dynamic documents using familiar writing, reviewing, and data integration capabilities. Students will learn how to navigate Microsoft Office Word 2013 software at the feature and functionality level. Our Microsoft Office Word 2013 course will show you how to create and edit professional looking documents for a variety of purposes and situations.
Microsoft PowerPoint 2013Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2013 gives you more ways to create and share dynamic presentations with your audience than ever before. Exciting new audio and visual capabilities help you tell a crisp, cinematic story that's as easy to create as it is powerful to watch. This course will introduce you to the new features in PowerPoint 2013 including the new wide-screen theme, easier view zooming and slide management, inserting and tracking of comments, hyperlinking and creating web pages with PowerPoint.
Microsoft Excel 2013Microsoft Office Excel 2013 is a powerful tool you can use to create and format spreadsheets, and analyze and share information to make more informed decisions. With the Microsoft Office Fluent user interface, rich data visualization, and PivotTable views, professional-looking charts are easier to create and use. You will learn how to print spreadsheets, add hyperlinks, save worksheets as web pages, and more!
Keyboarding Made EasyLeave hunt-and-peck to the chickens. Effective and efficient keyboarding is more than tapping the correct letter. Our course teaches you to react to letters instead of finding them on the keyboard. This breakthrough guide brims with step-by-step exercises for keyboarding with ease. Develop your digital dexterity with our Keyboarding Basics course.


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If you're a consulting engineer who frequently designs generator installations or a facility engineer who manages generators that supply power to your building(s), you're undoubtedly familiar with NFPA 110. But are you aware of the specific testing requirements for components of an emergency power supply system (EPSS) under this standard? If not, it's time to get up to speed. Let's take a look at what's involved with following the "letter of the code" as it relates to routine testing during design or upon building commissioning.
EPSSs are designed to be the reliable backup when electric utility power is lost. Considerable cost is invested on a typical EPSS installation to provide power for life safety lighting and critical power in buildings. There are also installations in many facilities — where entire buildings are served by emergency power — that can cost hundreds, thousands, or even millions of dollars to supply emergency power.
In many instances, once the emergency system components are installed and commissioned, they're not tested properly or as frequently as they should be. Generators may be routinely started and allowed to run for short periods of time, but load is not placed on the generator set through switching of the building transfer switches because of the impact to building equipment and occupants. Other times, transfer switches and other electrical components that are part of the system are not exercised, which, by the way, is a Code violation.
NFPA 110 requires you to perform routine tasks and provide documentation to ensure system reliability.
NFPA 110 background
NFPA 110 is the "Standard for Emergency and Standby Power Systems." It defines an EPSS as, "A complete functioning source of electric (emergency) power of the required capacity and quality, coupled to a system of conductors, disconnecting means and overcurrent protective devices, transfer switches, and all control, supervisory, and support devices up to and including the load terminals of the transfer equipment needed for the system to operate as a safe and reliable source of power."
In existence since 1976, the NFPA 110 Committee has focused on issues that occurred after the New York City blackout on July 13, 1997. This includes addressing the demand for guidelines for the assembly, installation, and performance of the electrical power systems supplying critical and essential needs during primary power source outages and establishing necessary equipment requirements to achieve a suitable and reliable on-site auxiliary electrical power source.
Formally adopted in 1985, the NFPA 110 document created the framework for prototype testing and maintenance requirements. Since then, additional testing requirements have been added to include installation and operational maintenance as well as testing beyond the generator — transfer switch(es), batteries, and breakers serving the electric utility and emergency power supplies are now required to be tested periodically to conform to the latest edition of NFPA 110, which has three categories for classifying an EPSS (EPSS Classification).
Section 8.3 of the 2005 Edition of NFPA 110 requires maintenance and operational testing to be performed "to ensure to a reasonable degree that the system is capable of supplying service within the time specified for the type and for the time specified for the class." It describes the method for developing a maintenance and testing program as well as recordkeeping of EPSS components.
Section 8.4.1 states, "EPSSs, including all appurtenant components, shall be inspected weekly and exercised under load at least monthly." Section 8.4 as a whole goes into detail about testing procedures and requirements for specific components (click here to see Table); however, the monthly load requirement bears the most impact on a facility.
Reality check
What happens when you transfer loads served by the EPSS? There is a potential for many challenges posed by a power interruption to occur during a normal open transition transfer. Although the loss of power can be merely a second or two during the transfer from the normal to emergency source, the building mechanical systems and equipment can be significantly affected.
There are many potential building system issues that can arise during transfer between the building normal and emergency power supplies. When certain systems/components are served by an EPSS, problems and solutions may include the following:
Fire alarm system. Many fire alarm systems have latching troubles that require a reset, such as when power supplies (supplemental notification appliance circuit panels) lose the normal power source or are switched at the automatic transfer switch (ATS). You can mitigate this situation through some minor fire alarm panel reprogramming. There can also be problems with voltage transients that occur during ATS switching. Installation of in-line surge suppressors will help mitigate these issues.
Building automation system (BAS). There are potential issues with power supplies that fail on BAS panels, causing them to lose their program and go into default mode when the ATS switches. This can be mitigated through the implementation of a regular preventive maintenance program for battery checking and replacement. In addition, delays during power switching to equipment connected to the BAS can have detrimental effects in the building coordination with damper and HVAC system interlocks, pumps and motorized valve operation, etc., especially when not all components are connected to the same source of power. For example, dampers may close if they sense a loss of power, but a fan could continue to run at full speed, potentially causing a hazardous scenario and damage to the system.
Variable-frequency drives (VFDs). Tied to the BAS, many VFDs will need to be programmed to "ride through" or catch the equipment they serve "on the fly" to prevent a complete shutdown and restart upon a loss of power or ATS switching. One example of where this is critical is where the VFD serves fume hood exhausts, and loss of negative pressure can pose a safety or health hazard to building occupants as it could allow toxic gas to be released into a room. Another situation could be an operating room where a change in room pressure could introduce contaminants into the space.
Research equipment. There is a potential impact on research areas that are served by emergency power. Running extended periods on the generator could result in damage to sensitive equipment due to potential voltage fluctuations under varying load conditions. Because loss of data and/or research can be devastating, installing voltage regulation equipment can help reduce your risks.
Ultralow/refrigeration equipment. Some equipment of this type requires a manual reset of a local alarm or even the equipment itself upon any loss of power.
Gas cabinets. There are interlocks and safeties installed on many gas cabinets to reduce or eliminate a safety risk. Loss of power, even for a few seconds, can lock gas cabinets out and disconnect power to any equipment being used, costing downtime and loss of revenue for the time the monthly EPSS testing occurs.
Computer/communications. Computer servers are often connected to the EPSS in today's technology-driven society to allow for research and voice over IP to continue to be maintained. If an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is not installed upstream of the server equipment, it will experience a hard reset upon the ATS switching. This is important to note, because buildings today are advanced — and losing communications can impact facility services.
EPSS components. There is a potential for equipment mechanical failure on older components (particularly ATS) with regular exercising. Routine switching can greatly reduce life expectancy of equipment that is greater than 20 yr old.
Minimizing EPSS testing impact
Approaches to mitigating the impact on your facility range from specific to broad. The implementation depends largely on the extent of work required to address the particular needs of your facility.
For large facilities with intertwined systems, there are two widely used approaches for entire single-point EPSS integration. The first is UPS and flywheel technology, which uses specific equipment to fill the time gap between source switching. When a UPS option is selected, power quality can also be improved by using a double-conversion online interactive-style unit. Flywheel technology uses inertia to provide a mechanical (kinetic) energy storage source for a very short period of time. Both of these options are expensive, take up floor space, and require floor loading consideration — and require their own routine maintenance. However, they do adequately address switching problems and are well suited for new installation and retrofit applications where space is available.
The second option, using a closed transition ATS, synchronizes and momentarily (<50 msec) parallels the electric utility and generator sources. Installing this equipment at the ATS or immediately downstream (load side) offers a one-stop installation. This is a fairly expensive option requiring engineering calculations to be performed to ensure the electrical system fault currents are considered. It does not, however, have the same routine maintenance a UPS or flywheel requires. This type of approach is best suited for new construction but can be used in renovations.
Dollars and sense
Equipment to reduce the effect of ATS switching can be expensive to purchase and install — not to mention costly to maintain. An overall assessment of each facility and life-cycle cost analyses will assist in determining the best approach to resolving switching issues.
It should be noted that operational maintenance and testing can bear even greater costs over the long term than addressing the switching of ATS. Required monthly testing will cost both in used fuel and personnel time. For example, a 200kW diesel generator loaded 50% and tested for 30 min. will consume approximately 10 gal of fuel per month. In addition, personnel policy may require that the EPSS be monitored during the duration of the test and documentation of the EPSS be performed, which may take an hour per month. While this may not seem significant for a single building or facility, in a university or other type of large campus-style facility (where there may be as many as 100 generators powering academic buildings, research buildings, office buildings, and residence halls), the costs for NFPA 110 compliance can be staggering.
Benefits of regular EPSS testing
Monthly testing of the EPSS and placing load on the generator set through ATS switching will burn more fuel, reducing the possibility of microbe issues in diesel tanks and wetstacking and slobber in diesel generators. It will also allow for load trending and provide information on the system capacity for any future additions or modifications.
Overall, routine EPSS testing and proper preventive maintenance will allow you to be better prepared for catastrophic events, natural disasters, and rolling blackouts. In addition, Code required testing of EPSS should be considered during design to resolve recurring and potentially costly disruptions to building systems and occupants.
Loomis, P.E. is a senior electrical engineer with Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. He can be reached at [email protected]


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June 28, 2013 – Today, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Robert Barham announced a fisheries closure effective immediately for additional areas of Grand Terre Islands.
Tar mats located during ongoing surveys were removed this week in the intertidal and subtidal areas of Grand Terre Islands. Some of those mats were in areas that are already closed, however some additional closures were required.
The area closed is as follows:
That portion of state outside waters seaward a distance of one-half mile from the shoreline from the southwestern shore of east Grand Terre at -89 degrees 54 minutes 04 seconds west longitude; thence eastward along the shoreline to the southeastern shore of Grand Terre at -89 degrees 51 minutes 39 seconds west longitude; thence eastward along 29 degrees 18 minutes 46 seconds north latitude to -89 degrees 51 minutes 19 seconds west longitude.
Effective with the closure, no person shall take/possess or attempt to take any species of fish for commercial purposes from waters within the closed area. The possession, sale, barter, trade or exchange of any fish or other aquatic life from the closed area during the closure is prohibited.
All commercial fishing is prohibited in the closed areas. Recreational fishing is limited to recreational rod and reel fishing which includes licensed charter boat guides.
Prohibited Commercial Fishing Activities:
- shrimping
- trawling
- skimming
- butterflying
- crabbing
- flounder and garfish gigging
- cast netting
- oyster harvesting
- gill netting
- hoop netting
- minnow trapping
- rod and reeling
- jug lining
- bow and arrow
- purse seining
- set lining
- spear gunning
Prohibited Recreational Fishing Activities:
- crabbing
- shrimping
- flounder gigging
- cast netting
- bait seining
- bow fishing
- spearing
- snagging
- dip netting
Closures of recreational and commercial fishing have been implemented based on the best information the Secretary of the Department receives from field biologists and staff.
Click here for a map detailing this closure:
To view the latest updates on the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill please visit: www.wlf.louisiana.gov/oilspill
The Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is charged with managing and protecting Louisiana's abundant natural resources. For more information, visit us at www.wlf.louisiana.gov, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ldwffb, or follow us on Twitter @LDWF.
For press inquiries, contact Laura Wooderson at firstname.lastname@example.com or (504)430-2623.


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Chancery, United States Embassy, Montevideo, Uruguay
Chancery and Embassy
Separated from the banks of the Rio de la Plata by a road and pedestrian thoroughfare, the Chancery of the U.S. Embassy sits on a trapezoidal plot of land. The plot measures 85,000 sq. ft. by one source (Carter Wiseman, "The Architecture of I. M. Pei", 307) or 85,800 sq. ft. according to another (Philip Jodidio, Janet Adams Strong, "I. M. Pei Complete Works"). A wall, broken only by a guardhouse, surrounds the building. The building is five stories in total, including an underground garage.
A three-story rectangular box on a one-story pedestal, the building has a central atrium that rises from the entrance to the roof. The upper section is made of vertical, thin slabs of exposed, grey, reinforced concrete. The lower section, on the ground floor, has a smaller footprint than the upper section. Twelve thin steel and concrete columns are aligned with the perimeter of the upper section, giving the impression that the upper section floats atop the columns. The facades of the upper level are a grid pattern of square, recessed windows, each with a low, recessed sill delineated by a horizontal line of thin concrete. The longer façade has twenty-three windows and the shorter, eleven, with three stories.
Regarding the interior, there are exposed concrete walls in the reception area and, as of 1971, interior doors were fitted with "heavy steel shutters which roll down like curtains…steel grills on runner can close off all stairways" (Erlandson, K5).
July 4, 1966 to December 3, 1969.
Overlooking the Rio de la Plata, the Chancery is built on the Rambla, a beachfront avenue running along the mouth of the river and the Atlantic Ocean. Built in the 1940s, the Rambla provided public parks and pedestrian paths along the river, as well as a seaside road for automobile traffic.
While details of the construction of this embassy are unavailable, it is likely that Pei was experimenting with using concrete to support the structure, instead of steel (Canell, 145). Gaining inspiration from a co-worker and fellow designer, Araldo Cossutta, who had used this technique in the building of the Denver Hilton in 1956, Pei helped establish concrete as a lighter, less expensive, but versatile material. In his later work, the concrete used was often poured on site into handmade molds created especially for his projects (Canell, 146).
As American hegemony solidified economically, militarily, and diplomatically, embassies attempted to project transparency with the use of Modernist, "glass and steel box" (Wharton, 42) structures representing welcoming, open democracy. With the changing political landscape of the 1960s, however, the FBO began to place embassy security above architectural design. Using exposed concrete as the façade of the building and encircling the structure in a wall emphasized security as a burgeoning priority for the FBO and for American diplomats in Montevideo. After the Embassy's completion, political upheaval continued in Uruguay until the early 1980s.
Now a prosperous, peaceful country, America and Uruguay continue to enjoy strong diplomatic ties. With the reconstruction of the adjacent Rambla public space, funded by the U.S. government, the Embassy has attempted to project a more welcoming exterior to the people of Uruguay.
The embassy is considered a piece of Brutalist architecture (Wharton, 42), taking its inspiration from Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and Alison and Peter Smithson. Unadorned and purely functional, the buildings are often identified as "fortress-like" (Erlandson, K5). Reyner Bahnam, an "apologist" (Webster, 24) for Brutalism, described the buildings as having a "clear exhibition of structure…[and] services" (Webster, 30). Often made of concrete, construction was meant to be relatively inexpensive, ideal for countries attempting to rebuild after World War II. An offshoot of Modernist architecture, Brutalism espoused ideals of simplicity over adornment, with an "anti-art polemic" (Webster, 24) governing design in public housing and buildings. During the design and construction phases of the embassy, Pei also designed and built the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, CO (1961-1967) which exemplifies his use of cubist elements and his "breakaway from the Bauhaus approach" (von Boehm, 60). In 1965, Pei was chosen by Jacqueline Kennedy to design her late husband's library in Massachusetts, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library (von Boehm, 55). The East Wing of the National Gallery was another project, built on The Mall in Washington, D.C. and completed in 1978. When describing his goal for the gallery, Pei explained that it had to be "in harmony" with its stately surroundings but still cater to the challenges of modern museums including storage, a place for rotating exhibits, and a section for conservation (van Boehm, 64). Internationally, Pei's projects are numerous, including his work for the Bank of China, an iconic tower of reflective glass and steel, located in Hong Kong and completed in 1989. His most famous project was the renovations to Le Grand Louvre, in which he redesigned the museum interiors as well as the Cour Napoleon, adding the glass and steel pyramid entryway (1983-1989). Pei's prolific career spanned from 1949 to 2009. Throughout Pei remained concerned with light in the design of his buildings, explaining, "Without the play of light, form is inert and space becomes static" (von Boehm, p. 38). The creation of motion, a person's desire to move from one point to another within a structure, is another important element of his work. He has stated that a structure must be "exciting" and believes part of his job is to "motivate…people to look and explore" (von Boehm, 38).
In the 1950s, as American hegemony proliferated international politics, architects in the Office of Foreign Building Operations, now the Bureau of Overseas Building Operations, preferred Modernism as the architectural style to represent America abroad. Juxtaposed with the "Stalinist Grandeur" and "ponderous architectural ornaments" (Loeffler, 8) of the Soviet Union, Modernism, as a style, was conducive to light, open buildings, meant to represent transparency through the democratic process (Loeffler, vii). "Architectural modernism became linked with the idea of freedom after the war" and American architecture proved a "leading proponent of the modern movement." (Loeffler, 5)
Pei had been included on a list of architects for consideration of embassy contracts by the AAC (Architectural Advisory Committee), which aided the FBO in their projects. The list, written by Henry Shepley, had been drawn up in March of 1954, before Pei was a prominent architect (Loeffler, 152). Despite youth and relative inexperience, Shepley and the AAC were willing to "take risks with…architects who had never before completed commercial or institutional projects" (Loeffler, 151), allowing for untested architects such as Pei to be awarded the coveted commision.
Architects in the FBO were faced with the unusual task of working with politicians to create buildings. Location of building sites, the cost of construction and design of American embassies all fell under the purview of the elected officials in Congress. The U.S. Embassy in Montevideo cost an estimated $4 million (Erlandson, K5). In some instances, the architectural design was sacrificed for budgetary, political, or defense concerns.
In the case of this Chancery, FBO design policy changed to take security risks into account starting in 1961 (Loeffler, 11), during the planning phase of the building. Pei's design "suffered repeated changes to its program affecting the size and shape of the embassy, and according to its architect, compromising its design." (Loeffler, 239). While not explicitly stated in Loeffler's book, it is possible that the conflict between Pei and the FBO was exacerbated when the defensibility of the proposed embassy was called into question. Ultimately, Pei "disowned his FBO work over design differences" (Loeffler, 159).
The political situation in Uruguay changed rapidly in the 1960s through the 1970s, adding to the concerns surrounding security for the embassy. Active during the construction of the Embassy, the Tupamaros, a Communist guerrilla organization, carried out a series of kidnappings, taking foreign diplomats hostage. In 1971, only two years after the opening of the embassy, a consultant for the CIA in Latin America, Dan A. Matrione, was kidnapped and killed in Montevideo.
The Embassy's architecture has received negative criticism from architectural journals and U.S. national periodicals. In an article in The New Statesmen, it is described as one of the "brutalist structures of massive raw concrete" (Wharton, p.42) similar to other American embassies built in the 1960s and alludes to its fortress-like, aggressive nature. The Baltimore Sun relates that the Embassy nickname, as of 1971, was "The Fortress" (Erlandson, K5). In her book, Architecture of Diplomacy, Loeffler posited that the "ponderous proportions and use of exposed concrete combined to produce an undistinguished building that brought no credit to the United States." (Loeffler, 239).
Pei's U.S. Embassy in Montevideo is a building spurned by architectural critics and generally disliked by the Uruguayan population (Martignoni, 40) but the work that continues within it remains useful and important to fostering good relations between America and Uruguay. The attempts at making the structure's footprint less imposing through partial greening and creation of public space immediately adjacent to the outer walls of the Embassy have been mostly successful, as regular use of the public space makes evident.
Allen, Barbara. "Designed Diplomacy". Industrial Design. Jun. 1970, vol.17, N. 5, p. 38.
Cannell, Michael. I. M. Pei: Mandarin of Modernism. New York: Carol Southern Books, 1995.
Erlandson, Robert A. "Fortress built for diplomacy." The Baltimore Sun Nov. 7, 1971: K5.
Jodidio, Philip, and Janet Adams Strong. I.M. Pei: Complete Works. New York : Rizzoli : Distributed to the U.S. trade by Random House, 2008.
Loeffler, Jane C. Architecture of Diplomacy : Building America's Embassies. New York: Princeton Architectural Press., 1998. Feb. 12, 2013. http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/lib/columbia/docDetail.a... .
Martignoni, Jimena. "Security on the Rambla." Landscape Architecture Feb. 2007: p. 40.
Von Boehm, Gero. Conversations with I. M. Pei: Light is the key. Munich: Prestel, 2000.
Webster, Helena, ed. Modernism Without Rhetoric: Essays on the work of Alison and Peter Smithson. London: Academy Editions, 1997.
Wharton, Annabel. "Empire building" New Statesman; Jan 31, 2005; 18; ProQuest. p. 41.
Wikipedia. "Dan A. Mitrione". Feb. 12, 2013. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Mitrione
Wikipedia. "Tupamaro". Feb. 12, 2013. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupamaro_National_Liberation_Movement
Wiseman, Carter. The architecture of I. M. Pei : with an illustrated catalogue of the buildings and projects. London : Thames and Hudson, 1990.


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Posted by ESC on May 27, 2003
In Reply to: Useful idiots posted by R. Berg on May 27, 2003
: : USEFUL IDIOTS - "The term 'useful idiots' has been attributed to Lenin, as a description of those mindless people in the Western democracies who would always finds ways to excuse whatever the Soviet Union did. Columnist Mona Charen's new book, 'Useful Idiots,' shows that such people are still with us." From "Exposing the 'Useful Idiots,'" a column by Thomas Sowell, Creators Syndicate, Inc., in The Courier Journal, Louisville (Ky.), May 27, 2003.


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NCSF and the Foundation are proud to announce two new and valuable publications: A Guide to Choosing a Kink-Aware Therapist, and the Therapists Guide to Polyamory.
Guide to Choosing a Kink-Aware Therapist, created by Keely Kolmes Psy.D. and Geri Weitzman Ph.D., will help people who engage in BDSM find a therapist who can accept them without judgement or prejudice. Some therapists cause more harm than good when they slap a label of mental illness on a client simply because they enjoy kinky sex.
"Over the years, I have received many calls from folks around the globe who wanted access to therapy that was respectful of their kink identity, but didn't know where to turn to find it," says coauthor Geri Weitzman, PhD. "We are excited to share this resource on finding kink-aware therapists with our community, in the belief that a warmly accepting therapeutic environment should be available to all."
"Therapy needs to be a place where you can feel safe to bring your whole self. I hope that our article is a helpful tool for kink-identified clients and the therapists who want to learn more about working competently with them," agrees coauthor Keely Kolmes, Psy.D.
The second publication has been years in the making: Therapists Guide to Polyamory was written by Geri Weitzman, Ph.D., Joy Davidson, Ph.D. and Robert A. Phillips, Jr., Ph.D., and edited by NCSF Foundation Chairman James R. Fleckenstein, B.A., and Carol Morotti-Meeker, M.S., M.L.S.P. This guide answers all of a therapist's questions about the purpose and practice of polyamory: everything from the motivations and benefits of polyamory, to emotional and social concerns such as discrimination and family disapproval are covered. Polyamorists can use this guide to explain their lifestyle to their therapist, and for therapists who understand that personal value systems may sabotage their goal of enabling their clients to explore options and life experience in a neutral or supportive way.
"For too long, polyamorous clients have consistently expressed concerns that their therapists completely failed to understand the clients' lifestyle choices at best; at worst, therapists immediately pathologized the clients' lifestyle and ascribed all of the clients' issues solely to the decision to have nonexclusive relationships," says NCSF Foundation Chairman Jim Fleckenstein. "This piece, written by three clinicians and thoroughly supported with three pages of references, should help put an end to this practice. I was deeply honored to have had the opportunity to co-edit this vital work."
NCSF is dedicated to ensuring that everyone can find a mental health professional who is understanding and supportive of alternative lifestyles, and believes these guides are an important addition to its Kink Aware Professionals referral list and the DSM Revision Project. A member of KAP recently wrote: "Thank you for operating this fantastic resource. All of my current clients have found me through the KAP database, which is helping me cultivate exactly the kind of practice I'd hoped for."
Also available on the NCSF website are the results of Second National Survey of Violence & Discrimination Against Sexual Minorities which found significant discrimination and persecution against BDSM practitioners. With over three thousand respondents, 37.5% indicated that they had either been discriminated against or experienced some form of harassment or violence. Over 500 comments were written by the respondents which have been gathered into "In Their Own Words" which documents the trauma experienced by those who have been persecuted.


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Xbox One Release: Tons Of Questions, Very Few Answers
from the confused dept
Unless, like me, you are looking at the release dates for the next generation of gaming consoles the way a starving hyena watches an approaching gazelle that's been eating nothing but butter for weeks, perhaps you're not up on all the information coming about regarding Microsoft's next console. Actually, as I'll discuss in a moment, even if you are paying constant attention, you probably still don't know a whole lot for sure. See, after months and months of speculation on possible features of the next Xbox, Microsoft stupidly decided to not firmly address any of that speculation at the release event for the Xbox One. The most troublesome in terms of bad press have been rumors about online connection requirements and how used games would be handled. I say press, but perhaps I should rather say non-mainstream press, because it's really been the smaller blogs and citizen journalists that have produced a roundly negative buzz for the Xbox One.
You would think that in a negative and uncertain climate that's been brewing for the past several months, Microsoft would use the official release press event as a way to clear all of this up. Good answers or bad answers, it's important that the public and the press have a firm understanding on what to expect out of the console. Aren't we constantly told that uncertainty is four letter word in economics and business? That's why it's so curious that Microsoft appears to have provided very little in the way of answers and what answers it has chosen to supply have been both contradictory and confusing.
So, let's take the two issues in order. First up is rumors about online requirements.
It turns out that the detail we were murkiest about was the one Microsoft themselves are the murkiest about. The official Microsoft party line on the day the company revealed the Xbox One: "It does not have to be always connected, but Xbox One does require a connection to the Internet."Welcome back. I say that because I assume you just spent the past fifteen minutes rereading that last sentence over and over again trying to figure out what the hell it means. As it turns out, the key word is "always." The Xbox One will require an internet connection at certain points, but it won't need to constantly be connected to function. So, what are those certain points? Well, nobody, including Microsoft, seems to know, which is strange of them to admit since it's their nun-punching freaking product. Microsoft executive Phil Harrison told Kotaku that he "believes" a connection is required once every 24 hours. Oh, and possibly one is needed in order to play a new game for the first time. Also when you first use the console. The lack of finality in these answers is astounding, particularly coming from a Microsoft executive giving interviews at the release event. Imagine going to your local auto show and having a Ford Motor VP telling you how wonderful their new car is, but can't firmly answer any questions about its motor or how many miles-per-gallon it gets?
And with the question of used games, we do no better. Harrison told one reporter:
"We will have a system where you can take that digital content and trade a previously played game at a retail store. We're not announcing the details of that today, but we will have announced in due course."Then told another:
"We will have a solution—we're not talking about it today—for you to be able to trade your previously-played games online."What you immediately notice is not only the lack of any specifics to one of the major questions hanging over the console like a set of rain clouds, but even these two non-answers are different. The first talks about used games being traded at retail stores, while the second seems to mention trading games online. That'd be a huge development if true, with some kind of Microsoft online trading platform threatening GameStop and other used game retailers. Speaking of which, reports are already surfacing that Microsoft is requiring agreements limited to select retailers to actually be able to buy and sell used games. If those reports are accurate, trading games will only be possible through those select retailers and the game publisher and Microsoft will take a massive cut of the transaction, leaving retailers with very little margin. The end results of this setup will be higher prices for used games and the inability for gamers to trade games with one another.
Still, as bad as that would be, Microsoft hasn't even officially confirmed that program either. Between that uncertainty and that of online connection requirements, it's no wonder the general public hasn't been keen on the Xbox One release yet. There is a market, sadly, for the kind of walled gardens and restrictive requirements discussed above. Apple's mobile devices prove that. But where Apple officially and boisterously owns those concepts, Microsoft's opaque stance on these questions can only mute any release buzz for their new console. It's high time the company got everyone on message.
Filed Under: always on, used games, xbox, xbox one
Companies: microsoft


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Sand Spring Baptist Church will host a New Year's Eve Southern Gospel Concert on Friday, Dec. 31.
Food will be served on the second floor of the fellowship hall beginning at 6 p.m.
The concert will start at 8 p.m. in the sanctuary and will end at 12:01 a.m.
Donations for food will be accepted.
A love offering will be taken for the groups during the concert.
Groups performing are The Hilltop Trio of Lawrenceburg, The Patriot Quartet of Salvisa, The Shireys of Columbia, S.C., and Steve Ladd of Nashville, Tenn.
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