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cybertrash needed a new web page design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 24 designs submitted by 13 freelance designers.
Hey guys, how is everyone =)
I have hosted several successful contests on sitepoint/99designs so I'd thought I give it another try!
The site is http://www.buffalolambdas.com . In simple, it is an Asian fraternity. You can think of a fraternity like a clan, crew or just a group of people who share common interests. If you are still unsure of what a fraternity is you can wikipedia it. This organization is more of a "social" thing then a "professional" thing.
Our Main Goal of the website:
Is to attract new members. We want people to look at our site and think "wow these guys are at the top of their game, maybe i should check them out."
Style I am looking for…
I want the site to look professional, but not professional
to the point where it gets boring. I still want it to look modern, trendy, and
The sections are Home, About, Rush, Roster, Media,
Guestbook, Forums. The navigation can be either vertical or horizontal.
should include the following words from most
important to least important. The more important it is, the more it should
stand out!
- Lambda
Phi Epsilon
- Nu
- University
at Buffalo
Colors should be a mixture of mainly blue, black, and white.
Our Symbol:
you can use it if you want. Not required.
Here are some of my favorite sites of the same organization
but different schools:
I want our site to be better but not similar. Need something
FRESH and CREATIVE!
If you have any questions, just ask!
*This is only for the main page psd*
- Fresh, crisp web 2.0
- Splash/Landing page if possible.
- Nice Icons for the navigation.
- It should be 50% trendy and 50% professional.
- Main colors = blue/black/white
- I just need the main page PSD. no coding, no content pages!
- Don't want to copy the other sites. I list them to show you an idea of the style i am looking for.
- Nothing too boring!


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Welcome to the Secrets page called "Meet the Industry Professionals". Here you will be able to see and hear the company executives who design and sell home theater and audio components. This will let you put a face with the companies whose products you buy. Secrets is the first A/V publication anywhere in the world to have such a page. Clicking below will take you to the companies we have interviewed at different times.
In some cases, the questions are in text form to save bandwidth, and the answers are in video form, downloaded to your computer for playing. In other cases, the entire interview, including the questions, is in video form. Your players should play the videos and audio in streaming format. If they do not buffer first, you may have to click the pause button for a few seconds to let your computers download enough of the video ahead of the player to prevent hesitation during playback.
Click on Selection Below:
CEDIA - September, 2007 - Denver, Colorado
CES 2004 - January 8 - 11, 2004 - Las Vegas, Nevada
Home Entertainment 2003 - June 5 - 8, 2003 - San Francisco, California
CES 2003 - January 9 - 12, 2003 - Las Vegas, Nevada
CES 2002 - January 7 - 11, 2002 - Las Vegas, Nevada
CEDIA - September, 2002 - Minneapolis, Minnesota
Editor's Appearances on TechTV
Secrets Solutions - Instructional Videos

subset: commoncrawl


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Message Board
Judith E. French Message Board
Talk about the novels, new and used books that French has written!
Author French's Book Reviews
The Conqueror
Love Spell, Dec 2003, 5.99, 320 pp. ISBN: 0505525712 No one has come close to conquering the mountainous twin kingdoms of Bactria and Sogdiana. After Darius and the Persians fell, Bactria went next. Now Alexander the Great and his Macedonian horde have reached Sogdiana where he offers the current ruler a deal. Knowing the impossible has happened, Oxyartes is ready to negotiate terms though his warrior daughter Roxanne wants to fight to the dea...


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Walk In Tubs For Seniors in Escondido CA
Walk In Tubs For Seniors in Escondido CA
Escondido Walk-In Bathtubs - Serving Escondido and surrounding areas. Highly trusted for over 15 years!Call Now! (855) 667-6852
Home > California > Walk In Tubs For Seniors in Escondido CA
Walk in bathtubs are becoming a common item for making the entire bathroom in Escondido, CA accessible for those with limited mobility and disabilities. Why have walk in bathtubs gained so much popularity? There are several reasons.
Obviously, the most prominent reason for the popularity of walk-in bathtubs is the added accessibility. Instead of having to step up and over the side of the tub like traditional bathtubs, walk in bathtubs have a door on the side that opens down close to the floor. The controls are easy to reach and the bottom of a walk in bathtub also has a no slip safety textured floor. These features keep bathing a safe and independent activity of daily living.
Walk in bathtubs have many added luxury features. Walk In Tubs For Seniors If you are looking for a jetted whirlpool tub, you can find it in a walkin bathtub. Other premier features include a heater, neck rest, massaging water controls, contoured back, and built in seat. By incorporating these features into an accessible walk in bathtub, those with limited mobility or other handicap disabilities are given the opportunity to enjoy a relaxing bath.
Walk in bathtubs are high quality construction bath fixtures. Since the tub contains a door, extra care has to be taken in the design of the structure. The door of a walk in bathtub has a water tight seal to prevent leaks. While this may seem like a potential area for problems and maintenance, most Escondido, CA companies have a lifetime guarantee on the door seal feature as an assurance of quality.
[ssyelp location="Escondido CA" term="Walk-In Bathtubs" limit="10"]


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The volume of IPv6 traffic, though still small, has grown steadily over the last year. Although most federal agencies missed the Sept. 30, 2012 deadline for enabling the new protocols on public facing Web sites, they are slowly adopting IPv6. Hurricane Electric, which bills itself as the world's largest native IPv6 backbone, has announced that it has connected more than 2,000 IPv6 networks.
But the world still is waiting for a reason to make the move. To date, the main reason for transitioning to the new Internet Protocols is that you have to. The Office of Management and Budget told agencies in 2010 that they had to enable IPv6, and the pool of available IPv4 addresses is drying up. Anyone who wants large blocks of new addresses now must get them in IPv6.
So far, however, the new protocols are being used pretty much like the old ones. When will we see a killer app that will make people want to use IPv6, and what will it be?
There has been a lot of talk in the last decade about the improved security that can be achieved with IPv6, the new Internet of Things it will enable and the benefits of true end-to-end connectivity once everyone gets rid of Network Address Translation (NAT). A global organization such as the Defense Department stands to benefit from access to a nearly endless supply of IP endpoints that could be used to monitor, track and control millions of things anywhere in the world. But despite changes such as the rapid growth of mobile devices, we still are using IP devices pretty much the same way we have for years. Screens are smaller, keyboards are virtual and there is some location-specific functionality, but a mobile device essentially is a little IPv4 PC.
Owen DeLong, IPv6 evangelist for Hurricane Electric, obviously is a fan of the new protocols. He thinks doing away with NAT will be a good thing. So what does he think the killer app for IPv6 will be? "None," he says. People don't feel they are missing anything with IPv4 now, and the benefits of a new set of Internet Protocols are too complex for today's short attention spans. "It's not something you can explain to the average user in a 10-word sound bite," he said.
But the interesting thing about killer apps is that, like the Spanish Inquisition, no one expects them. They are unplanned and become part of our lives before we know it. Is the next one already out there?
Are there any innovative uses of IPv6 by your agency or office? Has anyone found a use for the protocols that enables some functionality that was not practical before? Do you have a problem that you think IPv6 can solve? Drop me a line at firstname.lastname@example.com and tell me if the new protocols are being used, how they are being used, or how you would like them to be used. Maybe we can identify a driver for the move to IPv6.
Posted by William Jackson on Mar 14, 2013 at 9:39 AM
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Printable Format
Console Gaming!! Lots of us still have to use 3G/4G and even Satellite for Xbox-Live or PSN. These devices are ready, and us gamers are ready, but the consoles are not! Can't communicate easy with Strict/Moderate Nat. That causes huge lag issues, even with the new 4G speed.
The killer application of IPv6 is the ability to communicate with the IPv4 Internet
I feel the best Killer Application for IPv6 is using Multicast (Which does not run on the Internet today) to deliver TV or Radio channels. Multicast should be enabled and should be Mandatory on the Internet with IPv6. I would feel this should be driven forward.
I propose VoIP will be that killer app. As IPV4 continues to live, NAT boundaries increasingly spring up like weeds -unpredictable, and potentially damaging to VoIP deployment. And, VoIP can be "green field" with complete system deployability independent of existing IPv4 resources.
One common refrain at IPv6 Summits is that the "killer app" for IPv6 is continued Internet after about 2016. IPv4 is becoming increasingly fragile and broken (esp. by CGN and continued growth of central routing tables from smaller and smaller allocation chunks). First Internet growth has already pretty much tapered off. See charts at RIPE. The Future is IPv6, or no Internet. You choose.
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Diego Rivera
1886, Guanajuato, Mexico
1957, Mexico City, Mexico
During the 1920s Diego Rivera helped establish a nationalist painting style in Mexico that reflected the nation's indigenous forms and symbols as well as its renewed political vitality.
Rivera received his formal training in Mexico City, where the seeds of his populist philosophy were planted. In 1907, he was awarded a scholarship to travel and study in Spain, France, and Italy. He returned to his home country some fourteen years later, and quickly became a leader of the muralism movement that flourished after the end of the Mexican Revolution.
Like his colleagues, Rivera painted allegorical depictions of traditional indigenous culture and the dignity of the working class, as well as utopian visions of the future under socialism. Between 1930 and 1940, he painted murals in San Francisco, New York, and Detroit that focused on industry and social progress through technology.
Rivera, a notorious womanizer, was married three times — most famously to the painter Frida Kahlo.


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Saturday, Saint Timothy's Lutheran Church participated in Operation Inasmuch, a day of service celebrated each spring by congregations of Lutheran churches in South Carolina. The effort is inspired by the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 25 that "inasmuch as we serve the least of these we serve Him."
This past weekend, I participated in the first organized race event of my life and what a special race I chose. The annual Cooper River Bridge Run is in its 37th year of life and saw approximately 40,000 people cover 6 miles of pavement and asphalt to cross its finish line this Saturday.
Recently, the Camden Historic Landmarks Commission (CHLC) and the city of Camden certified 1707 Broad St. as an historic landmark.
Judges at Western Carolina University (WCU) in Cullowhee, N.C., crowned Lugoff-Elgin High School's (L-EHS) Winter Guard, Utopia, the Carolina Indoor Performance Association champions on March 29. L-EHS dance teacher Sarah Price is the guard's director, assisted by Rebecca Richbourg and Chase White.
At its Tuesday meeting, the Kershaw Board of School Trustees received a report on the portion of Phase 2 of the Kershaw County School District's (KCSD) facilities equalization plan regarding North Central area schools. KCSD Executive Director for Operations Billy Smith led the presentation which included the following items:
When it comes to tanning, fake is OK with me. Wait, let me clarify, fake in the sense of spray tan or self-tanners, not tanning bed fake. I think one realization I've come to over the years is that skin care is absolutely essential as I grow older. This includes moisturizing daily and always wearing sunscreen.
Kershaw County Special Olympics, as chairman Billy Newman explained, is a chance for athletes to have fun and for the community to come closer together. Newman and co-chair Cleatus Ray have led the organization of this annual event for the past three years. This year, it will be held April 11 at Camden Military Academy (CMA) beginning at 9 a.m.
By HALEY ATKINSON
"Ecstatic" would be the only word to adequately describe the reaction of Camden High School (CHS) Principal Dan Matthews on Wednesday after his school was named a 2014 Palmetto's Finest award winner.
Two blind soprano singers will perform in a special concert at the Fine Arts Center (FAC) of Kershaw County to benefit the National Federation of the Blind of South Carolina (NFBSC). The Blind in the Musical Arts will take place April 12 at 7 p.m. and will feature blind recitalists Sarah Massengale and Jessica Ewell.
Two blind soprano singers will perform in a special concert at the Fine Arts Center (FAC) of Kershaw County to benefit the National Federation of the Blind of South Carolina (NFBSC). The Blind in the Musical Arts will take place April 12 at 7 p.m. and will feature blind recitalists Sarah Massengale and Jessica Ewell.
In this changing world, I occasionally find myself looking for the things that last. What I mean is, basically everything from the way we do business to entertainment to communication has been revolutionized over the past 20 to 30 years with the advent of computers and the Internet. Computers are awesome, but there are times you just need a person rather than a machine to help you out.
Mt. Pisgah Elementary School (MPES) Principal David Branham has a philosophy of how academic success in students can be predicted. For Branham, academic success is based on how much time a student spends reading both in and out of school. MPES currently has a very successful reading program in place, Branham said.
Ron Blackmon, a member of the Kershaw County Board of School Trustees, wants to know why discussions on recreation programs and school consolidations never seem to include Midway Elementary School (MES).
Page 5 of 17
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Budget deficits, global trade issues, and maintaining political awareness of agriculture's importance will be key challenges in the new Congress, says Tom Sell, deputy staff director for the House Agriculture Committee.
"We've been very fortunate the last five years to have huge surpluses in the Treasury, which is one reason we were able to get congressional approval for more than $30 billion in ad hoc payments to farmers," he told members of the Southern Crop Production Association at their annual meeting at Charleston, S.C.
"But those days are gone; this year, we're facing a $150 billion federal budget deficit."
Even though those payments were desperately needed by an agriculture beset by Depression-era commodity prices and Freedom to Farm legislation that "didn't have any real support and didn't provide a safety net for farmers," Sell said, "this wasn't the best way to run things from a government perspective, from the farmers' perspective, or from the perspective of bankers who help finance the nation's farmers.
"Fortunately, there was a budget surplus and we were able to make our argument successfully."
The 2002 farm bill, which provides a safety net for farmers, was "something we all felt good about, because it will provide a stability that agriculture didn't have before, and it's better than having to go to Congress every year to beg and plead for ad hoc assistance."
In the global policy arena, Sell said, the United States is in the process of renegotiating the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), scheduled for completion in 2005, and negotiations are ongoing with the World Trade Organization (WTO).
"All these negotiations are important to agriculture, to the chemical and fertilizer industries, and we've got to keep a sharp eye on these talks in order to protect our interests in terms of access to foreign markets and dealing with regulatory issues."
Maintaining a high level of awareness for U.S. agriculture's importance to the nation and the world will continue to be a challenge, Sell said.
"In the House of Representatives, each of the 435 members represents about 600,000 people. Only about 80 of those members represent rural areas. For any ag legislation to pass, 218 votes are needed.
"This means we have to continue working very hard to help all those members from non-rural districts to understand agriculture, its key role in the nation's economy, and its needs for a strong future. It's not easy to convince members from New York or other urban areas of the importance of agricultural legislation."
Sell also cautioned that "just because the Bush administration is friendlier to agriculture doesn't mean we can rest on our laurels. We're going to have to defend this farm bill in the years ahead, particularly on the issue of payment limitations."


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How to Record Guitar: A Quick Guide
Recording guitar is a common enough studio task, but getting it right - specially at home studios - require some good know-how. Check this guide with the best tips to get started!
Guitar is one of the most common instruments in the western world. However, capturing it's various tones can be, by turns, very frustrating and incredibly rewarding. knowing what you want to achieve from the guitar is one of the most important things, because different recording techniques will give you different results - it's a matter of knowing what will be right for the song.
We'll separate this guide in two parts: recording acoustic guitars, and recording electric guitars.
To start with, it's always important to use a new set of strings. It's one of the simplest, but the most important step to getting the sound right. Old strings will sound dull, fresh strings will sound brighter and give you a brighter sound.
The other thing you need to know, which not everyone recording at home does, is to get some good sound insulation. The room where you record will have a massive impact on the final result, because the sound bounces on the walls - that's why any proper recording studio ever, will always have great acoustic treatment. Of course, you don't need to go crazy about it, and there are simple and affordable solutions, such as the Auralex Roominator kit. The SE Electronics Instrument Reflexion Filter is another great tool to help you in these matters.
If you're really serious about your recording, and have the money and the space, we can't recommend Vocal Booths enough. They are the best solution for creating the perfect recording environment, short of going into an actual studio!
There are many different ways of mic'ing an acoustic guitar, and it depends on what you want to achieve. Here's a breakdown of the most common points you should pay attention to:
If your song has a sparse arrangement, you'll probably want a fuller, warmer sound - and the best way to achieve this is by using two mics when recording your acoustic guitar.
If the mix, on the other hand, is busy, it'll be easier to just keep it simple and use one mic when recording your guitar.
The best mics to record an acoustic guitar with are Condenser Microphones. What you'll want will be Large Diaphragm Condenser Mics, to be more specific. Know all those great acoustic tracks you know and love, from Bob Dylan to The Beatles to Oasis? That's what they all used!
If you're using just one mic, NEVER place the mic bang in front of the acoustic sound hole - this is not the best placement at all! It'll give you a muddy, bass-heavy sound.
If you're just using one mic, the best position is 15cm away from the guitar, in front of the 12th fret.
If you're using two mics, you'll need to follow the "3-1 rule": the distance between the mics should be at least 3 times the distance between each mic and the guitar. In another words - if each mic is distant 15cm from the guitar, the distance between mics should be at least 45cm.
If you're using two mics, place you at the base of the guitar, pointing towards the sound hole, and place the 2nd mic right up the neck - even as far as the 5th fret. this way, the mics will capture a wide range of tonalities which you can then mix later.
For more balanced results, when using two mics, the best bet is to use Stereo Matched Pairs
And don't forget! When recording direct to your computer, you must use a good Audio Interface where to plug your mic.
Recording electric guitars takes a completely different aproach, since you'll be dealing with much greater sound pressure levels, coming from your speaker cabinet.
Again, you'll just need some good Acoustic Treatment, as the room where you'll record will affect the final results dramatically. Raising the amp from the floor, using an Amp Stand, can help you, too.
The best mic when recording an electric guitar, to get a good sound from your speaker cabinet, will be a dynamic microphone. Dolphin Music has a great selection of Instrument Microphones, of which the Shure SM57 is the most commonly used mic when recording electric guitars.
Experiment, to fin dthe best spot to record your guitar - place the mic towards the edge of the speaker cone, and then move it towards the centre, for brighter sounds.
If you're using more than one mic, you may use a condenser microphone a few feet away from the amp, to capture more of the room ambience.
If you don't have great mics or a great amp, there's nothing wrong with using just an amp simulation box, such as the popular Line 6 Pod. Check some affordable Line 6 Pod solutions here.
It's good to keep your mixing options open, and have the option of a wider tonal variation, by DI-ing the guitar and splitting the signal, so you can both mic the amp and record the signal straight through an amp simulation tool such as the Line 6 Pod.
Remember to always use a good audio interface and you're on your way to achieving great results! Good luck and have fun!
Check the new GUITAR RECORDING section of our website, with all the best gear to record your guitar, including microphones, interfaces and audio treatment solutions.
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Mega Man 7 Walkthrough and Guide
Welcome to the Mega Man 7 Walkthrough where our team of contributors will help you work through the game via a step-by-step tutorial. A Gamewise walkthrough aims to take you all the way through the game to 100% completion including unlockable quests and items.
If you are stuck on something specific and are unable to find any answers in our Mega Man 7 Walkthrough then be sure to ask the Mega Man 7 Forum / Community for help and advice in the discussion box below and they will get back to you as soon as possible with an answer!
Finally, if you have been playing Mega Man 7 and wish to help other users, feel free to sign up and start contributing!
Mega Man 7 Overview
Mega Man 7 is a platform game developed by Capcom and released on Super Nintendo Entertainment System.


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jessica blade - taking turns
kristen, bree, and jessica are beat from a long day of shopping. jessica has a new man in her life and wants to show him off. they all enjoy some wine and a proceed to check out his apartment and view. then it gets kinky when the girls see the couple getting really close and displaying some pda. the girls end up taking turns with the cock, and have a good time riding it too. i guess some things are meant to be shared.


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Complete taillamp bulb kit. Includes enough bulbs to replace all the bulbs in both your taillamp assemblies.
Kit includes:
Adding items to your shopping cart and placing an order is only an intent to purchase. We will not charge you for anything until we can ship the products you ordered (if paying by credit card. PayPal is a prepayment method.) We will do everything we can to fill your order in a timely manner. You can cancel your order at any time prior to shipment.
This item is an Kit-On-The-Fly product. It consists of multiple component products that are all pulled together at the time of shipping.
Additional component stock typically takes 15 days or less to arrive and get be available for shipping.


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Happy Birthday, Brad Pitt!
Brad Pitt turns 45 today and the LA Times just did a nice piece on him.
"I doubt time and gravity will be as kind as I was to myself," Brad says with a smile. "It just made me think about the ticking clock. Am I in mid-life? Am I halfway there?. . . . Do I have 10 years, five years? And so what are those moments going to be that I do know I have, which is now?"
His latest movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, is out in theaters on Christmas Day. I saw a screening of it earlier this week and it is fantastic. It may be Golden Globe nominated for Best Drama but there are so many built-in hilarious moments as well. The entire cast does such a superb job — Brad, Cate Blanchett, Elle Fanning. JJ approved!!!


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Gulf Coast joins export coal rush
An island in Galveston Bay better known for flounder fishing and the Seawolf submarine park is the latest link in a chain of ports mobilizing to ship American coal out of the country.
The Texas, Mexico & Pacific Railroad LLC, a short-distance rail company headquartered in Galveston, has signed an option agreement with the Galveston Board of Wharves to build a pricey railway bridge and tracks to a new coal terminal on Pelican Island, where as much as 15 million tons of coal could be exported yearly.
In choosing a Gulf Coast port, developers likely will avoid the opposition that has confronted efforts in Washington and Oregon where environmentalists and other groups vigorously are fighting proposed coal export operations.
Pelican Island is a fierce contrast in uses, like so much of the land here.
Its 3,515 acres are home to Texas A&M University at Galveston and oceanography students cross to the island every day. Company logos and installations familiar to any Gulf Coast resident - Shell, Halliburton, and Baker Hughes - line one shore. A large section of the island is used for pumping in dredge material removed to maintain depth in the ship channels.
There also are acres and acres of green, bird habitat and prime fishing spots. With no plans yet drawn, it's too early to say how the coal facility may affect those.
For the coal to arrive from its source in the Rocky Mountains, the Texas, Mexico & Pacific must first build a railway bridge, with the cost heavily dependent on which of two suggested routes it follows: The rail company and its investors estimate they'll pay $600 million if it runs between Galveston and Pelican Island, $1.2 billion if it spans the longer distance across Galveston Bay from Texas City.
Texas, Mexico & Pacific Managing Director John Helsley said the company has not yet signed a contract with a particular coal mining company, but he's talking to half a dozen.
"We're getting calls from mining groups that want to export to China, Japan, Korea, Germany and India," he said.
Until recently exporting coal from the United States was not such big business. The fuel was needed at home. Now, U.S. coal customers are disappearing; power plants are closing at a pace few would have predicted a few years ago.
Shale gas alternative
But in Asia electrical grids are still ramping up to bring first light to hundreds of millions of people, and the new lights are often powered by coal.
"Here we are trying to get away from it, while other people are trying to get into it," says Helsley.
Producers can fetch stronger prices in Asia. There are several factors at work domestically: Shale gas has become economically competitive with coal in some places, and it burns cleaner, sometimes much cleaner, depending on which coal bed and which gas play are compared.
Federal regulators also acted last December on two decades of entreaties by child health experts to limit mercury emissions from electrical generating plants. Mercury is a fetal poison released when coal is burned in giant furnaces. Burning coal also releases significant amounts of climate-changing carbon dioxide.
No resident resistance
These issues are not always foremost on the minds of port directors whose concern is local economies. Investment in coal terminals brings fees and attracts dollars for other projects.
"A new rail connection would cause an explosion in development on Pelican Island," said Galveston Port Director Mike Mierzwa. "I have oil storage people who would take advantage of that. I have more and more cruise ships."
Galveston has become a major cruise home port. A five-day trip floats vacationers to Cozumel, Mexico, and back. Carnival Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean, Princess Cruises and, as of recently, Disney Cruise Lines, all sail from the island.
The Port of Galveston tried to develop Pelican Island with a liquefied natural gas import facility in 2004. Residents said the agency violated the state Open Meetings Act and sued. This time port officials have met regularly with residents, sharing initial sketches, which is all that exists so far.
"We haven't heard from them yet, but I'm sure they'll make themselves known," Mierzwa, the port director, says.
The railroad company plans to hire an engineering firm by Nov. 1, and an environmental review will follow.
Galveston isn't the only port on the Texas Gulf with coal export plans. Over the summer, coal giant Peabody Energy Corp. announced it would export through Kinder Morgan Energy Partners' Deepwater Terminal in Pasadena and the Houston Bulk Terminal in the Port of Houston.
Another major player, Ambre Energy, is looking at exporting coal through Corpus Christi; Cline Mining has also expressed interest.
"There is just so much coal that needs to be moved, it's really not competition," said Helsley of Texas, Mexico and Pacific.
The Sierra Club has published a report critical of the coal port expansion in Corpus Christi. Together with several residents, it also objected in public comments.
In Pacific Northwest
But this opposition pales compared with that in the Pacific Northwest where a coalition of 87 environmental organizations called Power Past Coal is fighting proposed coal export facilities in Washington and Oregon. In Bellingham, Wash., 800 people turned out in March for a meeting intended to merely lay out future environmental review for a large coal export terminal.
"The West Coast is shut down," says Helsley.
Some who object to exporting coal are concerned about local shoreline damage, or damage to fish habitat. But for many, it's about shifting emissions from the U.S. to Europe and Asia.
"Opening up the Powder River Basin to the export market will have a devastating effect on the climate and will lock in another 50 years of dirty investment in fossil fuel infrastructure," said Earthjustice attorney Jan Hasselman, who has led the legal work of the Northwest environmental coalition.
For now, Gulf Coast coal export companies appear free to proceed, bound only by the vagaries of coal markets, and the considerable cost of transport all the way through the Gulf and Panama Canal. But not by public protest.
John Lambert and Chris Teachworth, 34, out for some afternoon flounder fishing on Pelican Island, considered that Galveston could use more business. "The thing is, coal is dirty," Lambert noted. "As long they're only moving it and it doesn't mess anything up."


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This article has been updated to clear up confusion, pointed out by a couple of readers, between Amazon's availability zones and regional centers.
Cloud computing providers such as Amazon Web Services are facing another test of reliability as Hurricane Sandy moves up the East Coast toward a date with two other significant weather systems. Weather forecasters are predicting a strong, wide, slow-moving storm that is likely to hit hard even in areas not in the storm's direct path.
Even in areas that won't see the worst of the storms (as of this writing, New England seems ticketed for the heaviest hit), a couple days of heavy rains and high winds are expected to take down trees and power lines, taking websites and Web services with them in some places. It's nothing new — AWS, for example, lost power to its Northern Virginia data center during June's derecho storm in in the Mid-Atlantic states, and with it service to some high-profile sites.
AWS, which claims 300 U.S. government agencies and 1,500 educational institutions as customers, has had other hiccups at its Northern Virginia center, including losing service in April 2011 to a remirroring problem, suffering a partial outage in June, and being hit with another outage earlier this week. Microsoft, another large cloud provider, has had a few problems of its own.
Outages happen. But can agencies that rely on cloud services do anything about it?
One way with AWS is to take advantage of Amazon's multiple availability zones, distinct locations within a regional hub that are insulated from each other, or even to spread services across more than one of AWS' eight geographic regions. So if service is lost in one zone or region it can be switched to another. Such services do come at a price, so for agencies, the question is whether the uptime is worth the extra money.
The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board has such an agreement with AWS for its Recovery.gov site, which allowed it to avoid the April 2011 outage while other sites went down, sometimes for days.
Agencies also could use multiple cloud providers, available through cloud brokerages, which gives them more flexibility in the event one provider loses service. And they other options, including their own private clouds, hybrid clouds or a cloud service provided by another agency.
The string of outages over the past 18 months or so has brought some attention to cloud's reliability, but it's not likely to stop agencies from moving to the cloud. The latest storm is just one more example of why, as with any IT system, a backup plan is necessary.
Posted by Kevin McCaney on Oct 26, 2012 at 9:39 AM
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Nice article. Today's businesses don't spend all their time thinking about the worst-case scenario. Still, with the number of natural disasters such as hurricanes and wildfires in just the last year alone, many companies are beginning to recognize that living without a disaster recovery plan is truly risky behavior.
Here's an interesting article talking about Cloud storage, backup and disaster recovery's importance in case of hurricanes or superstorms:
The real question is how does a particular cloud provider architect, deploy, and operate their systems. Each is different. You should choose your provider based on having geographic separation as a default with no scheduled downtime for maintenance, patches, and upgrades. Compare each providers uptime historical statistics being careful to compare apples to applies in how it is calculated (some are more transparent than others posting it publicly) to legacy on premise systems in terms of total uptime, availability, and mean time to recover. How do you know if your disaster recovery solution is as strong as you need it to be? It's usually measured in two ways: RPO (Recovery Point Objective) and RTO (Recovery Time Objective). RPO design target should be zero, and the RTO design target is instant failover. This is extremely costly and hard to do with traditionally onsite hardware, software, and bandwidth challenges. Plus many companies found theirs didn't even work under real conditions.
This article confuses Amazon Regions and Availbility Zones. AZs are close to each other and are not geographically redundant.
Just felt I should point out that availability zones do *not* provide geographical redundancy. They provides redundancy within a region (i.e. within the Herndon, VA data center) in that they divide the data center into constituent set of instances.
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Food Prototypes That Deserve Shelf Space
Many samples created just for the IFT Show could be supermarket or foodservice stars.
A tough economy didn't prevent ingredient suppliers from coming up with some great prototypes at the 2009 IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo, held June 6-9 in Anaheim, Calif. These products taste so good they should be in the supermarket with very little tweaking. This year we found 20 innovative options. Our apologies to those we missed because of limited time to wander.
Date & Almond Breakfast Bar
I couldn't keep my hands off the Triple Chocolate Brownie in the booth of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Decatur, Ill. It combined the company's Ambrosia chocolate chunks and DeZaan cocoa powder topped with chocolate fudge icing for true indulgence. But it was the Date & Almond Breakfast Bar that knocked my socks off. It contained VegeFull Cooked Navy Bean Powder, VegProlite wheat protein isolate to increase vegetable protein and NovaLipid soybean oil. I could definitely get hooked on these. ADM also prototyped Sweet 'n' Crunchy Sesame Mix, a sweet and salty snack, featuring Sweet 'n' Neat dry honey powder, 70 percent honey that is converted to a free-flowing powder through a patented drying process, and delivers the same flavor, color and sweetness in products where process or product constraints prevent the use of liquid honey.
Cargill Inc., Wayzata, Minn., had a whopping eight food and beverage prototypes to demonstrate how technical and flavoring challenges associated with formulating new products can deliver distinct consumer benefits (heart health, energy, sweetness). I particularly liked Light Blueberry Yogurt, which combined all three benefits. Sweetened with Truvia rebiana, Cargill's zero-calorie stevia leaf sweetener, the yogurt provides a health halo effect from the antioxidant-rich blueberries. One serving (170g) contains 14g of sugar compared to 30g for a typical sugar low-fat yogurt. Also healthy and scrumptious were the Cherry Walnut Clusters with CoroWise. They combine ripe cherry, sweet, creamy vanilla flavors, and CoroWise plant sterol esters, clinically shown to lower LDL cholesterol and backed by an FDA health claim.
I'm always looking for products that curb satiety, and found a great one at Parsippany, N.J.-based DSM's booth. The Blueberry Vanilla Crave Control Bar contains 6g of Fabuless DE powder, a natural ingredient clinically proven to create satiety and reduce calorie intake throughout the day. Before it had a chance to work, I scarfed down a Peanut Butter Dream Bar, which contains 1,000g of Tensvida milk protein peptide to help maintain healthy blood pressure. One bar per day can show results in as little as two weeks.
Mushroom Alfredo Sauce
According to Packaged Facts, gluten-free product sales have grown at an average annual rate of 28 percent since 2004, and reached $1.56 billion in 2008, due to increased diagnoses of celiac disease and larger numbers of people going gluten-free for perceived health benefits. But gluten-free in the bakery sector certainly has its challenges – particularly texture and shelf life. Bridgewater, N.J.-based National Starch Food Innovation's Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies (with a longer shelf-life) were smooth, moist and chewy – with no hint of grittiness and crumbliness. National Starch's culinologist Agnes Jones also served up two delectable Alfredo sauces made with Precisa Cream 50 to demonstrate how a dramatically fat-reduced sauce can still have appealing taste and texture. The was served over tricolor tortellini, and the chipotle manchego sauce was paired with black bean goat cheese ravioli.
Chef John Csukor, culinary expert for the Almond Board of California, Modesto, Calif., created a delectable California Almond Crab Salad, which resulted in long lines during the show. A classic northeastern Thai salad presented as a snacking lettuce wrap enlivened with California almonds -- it would delight any restaurant patron or could be a great option for a frozen food product. For dessert, Almond Kulfi, an ice cream-like Indian dessert with slivers of California almonds and saffron threads, gave attendees a new taste experience and idea for a healthy and unique product.
It was love at first bite for the Gluten Free Canape, Chicken Walnut Salad made with 71 percent whole/multigrain, gluten free bread from ConAgra Mills, Omaha, Neb. Featured was ConAgra's Gluten Free All-Purpose Multigrain flour. And for the latest in on-trend ethnic cuisines, Chapati Bread, made with ConAgra's Mumbai Gold Fresh Chakki Atta, Chicken Tikka Masala and Sustagrain Flour, made us feel we were dining in India, at least for a few treasured minutes.
California Almond Crab Salad
P.L. Thomas, Morristown, N.J., transported attendees to Asia with a menu that included Traditional Sushi Rolls – surimi with Tomat-O-Red natural red color with lycopene, wrapped with Kombucha seasoned rice and sweetened with stevia; High Energy Drizzles – and wasabi drizzled with kombucha, lavender, Rhodiola Rosea, carrageenan and soy sauce. Mixed greens with a sensational Antioxidant Dressing (pomegranate, acai, camu camu, rosemary Inolens, and kombucha) caught my interest. What a great idea for a value-added salad dressing. And for dessert, what could be better than a rich 100 percent organic San Francisco Irish Shortbread from Golden Gate Confections, complete with antioxidants.
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