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Chase Media Group Media Kit
Download Chase Media Group Media Kit (PDF)
Chase Media Group (CMG) is a multimedia products company, integrating print, online and digital solutions to grow small business sales through awareness, effective positioning and compelling offers for advertising, printing and direct mail. CMG consists of 5 divisions: The PennySaver, Chase Press, Chase Inserts, Chase Direct Mail, and Chase Interactive Media (formerly Yorktown e-Publishing), combine to deliver focused audiences to customers through a powerful multimedia approach.
CMG offers direct mail and full scale commercial printing solutions and its new digital product business units: Chase Clicks, providing comprehensive search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) solutions; and Chase Mobile Media for mobile text advertising. Other product business units offered are Chase Promotional Products (personalize promotional products), QponsToGo (special section inside the PennySaver and online), Low Cost Sites (websites at a low cost), and our latest, Garage Sale PennySaver (garage sale mobile app).
The company challenges traditional price sensitive markets with a quality approach to all work and a customer service commitment that anticipates and outperforms expectations.
Chase Media Group further distinguishes itself by ensuring the success of all stakeholders, from employees and vendors of the customer, by its commitment to collaborative optimal results.


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Today after a long period of trial the ECLAP Social TV appeared on Samsung Smart TV
ENG: ECLAP on http://www.eclap.eu is distributing more than 180.000 content objects, coming from more than 32 prestigious European institutions: images, video, documents, audio, ebook, ePub, animations, slides, playlists, collections, 3D, braille music, annotations, etc. The ECLAP Smart TV application and chanel provides you access to video and images. ECLAP is a network making use of advanced tools for the production and dissemination of the rich performative arts European heritage.
ITA: ECLAP su http://www.eclap.eu distribuisce più di 180.000 contenuti, provenienti da più di 32 prestigiose istituzioni europee: immagini, video, documenti, audio, ebook, ePub, animazioni, diapositive, playlist, collezioni, 3D, musica braille, annotazioni, ecc L'applicazione ECLAP smart TV fornisce l'accesso a video e immagini. ECLAP fornisce strumenti avanzati per la produzione e la diffusione del patrimonio europeo delle arti performative.
This results in a cultural enrichment and promotion of European culture, and improve learning and research in the field of performing arts. ECLAP started as a co-funded project by the European Union ICT Policy Support Programme as part of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme. ECLAP is covering performing art key areas, such as metadata and content modelling, mapping metadata standards, semantic enrichment, IPR management tools, business models, ingestion and integration of end-user contributions, education and leisure tools, digital libraries tools. If you have any questions or would like to find out more about ECLAP tools and services, please contact email@example.com or visit our website at http://www.eclap.eu/.
Today after a long period of trial the ECLAP Social TV appeared on Samsung Smart TV

subset: commoncrawl


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LARAMIE, Wyo. – Colton Iverson scored 20 of his career-high 29 points in the first half to pace Colorado State to a 78-56 win over Wyoming on Wednesday night.
Dorian Green added 18 and Greg Smith had 12 for Colorado State (23-7, 10-5 Mountain West). Larry Nance Jr. had 16 and Derrious Gilmore chipped in with 12 for Wyoming (18-12, 4-12), which has lost five straight.
Colorado State, the top rebounding team in the nation, out-rebounded Wyoming 35-11.
Earlier in the day, Luke Martinez, the Cowboys' leading scorer, plead not guilty to one count of aggravated assault and battery for allegedly kicking an unconscious man in the face during a fight outside a Laramie bar Dec. 30. A trial is set for Aug. 26.
Martinez led Wyoming to a 12-0 start but hasn't played since hurting his hand in the fracas and then being suspended. The Cowboys are 6-12 without him.


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Bublé's Bride Dons Three Gowns!
Bublé's Bride Dons Three Gowns!
Longtime bachelor, Michael Bublé got married on April 8th to Argentinean actress Luisana Loreley Lopilato de la Torre who wore three different gowns to celebrate her marriage! The couple participated in a civil ceremony on the 6th, where Luisana wore an adorable short violet dress with crystal detailing.
The couple is also rumored to be having a second reception in Vancouver, British Columbia, near Bublé's Canadian hometown. We can't wait to find out the dresses she'll be wearing then! For similar looks to Luisana's fabulous selections, check out our BadgleyMischka Jeri Gown, Monique Lhuillier Tiered gown, and the Caroline Herrara 32805 gown.
I love the versatility of the Carolina Herrera gown below. The bottom part of the gown easily detachs off, which gives the bride a gorgeous short dress to wear for the cake cutting or as her going away outfit and even better yet…What a great dress to wear again on her anniversary!!


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ORLANDO, Fla. – Dirk Nowitzki banked in a 15-foot jumper with 5.9 seconds left and scored a game-high 28 points to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 100-98 victory over the Orlando Magic on Friday night.
Jameer Nelson scored 24 points to lead Orlando. Ryan Anderson added 21, and Dwight Howard finished with 19 points and 15 rebounds.
The Mavericks trailed by 15 points in the third quarter before rallying in the final period, aided by a plethora of turnovers by the Magic. Jason Terry had 10 points in the quarter and 17 in the game. Delonte West and Shawn Marion each added 15.
Orlando had 16 turnovers, which led to 20 points for the Mavericks. The Magic lost to Dallas for the sixth straight time at home.
The Mavericks improved to 2-19 this season when trailing entering the fourth quarter.
The Magic had two chances to tie or win the game possession, but Hedo Turkoglu missed a jumper from the wing and Anderson's tip-in trickled off the back of the rim as time expired.
Orlando led by just seven entering the final period before the Mavericks, sparked by a surging Terry, tied it at 89 with 5:58 to play in the game.
The Magic helped Dallas get back into the game committing six of their 16 turnovers in the period.
Things got heated down the stretch as Nowitzki and Anderson went right at each other.
Anderson was called for a blocking foul guarding Nowitzki that drew the ire of Magic fans with 4 minutes left. But he gave Orlando a small cushion on the other end with an offensive rebound and put back to make it 95-91.
Dallas wasn't done, though.
A 3-pointer by West brought them to within 97-96 and after a foul by Anderson, West's two free throws put Dallas on top by a point.
A missed jumper by Nowitzki put the ball in Nelson's hands, who was fouled going in for a layup on the other end. He only connected on one of his two ensuing free throws, though, giving the Mavericks their final shot with 25.1 remaining.
The Magic were the more active team offensively early in the first half, taking their biggest lead at 32-19 in the opening minutes of the second quarter.
A 12-0 Mavericks run that featured seven points by Nowitzki got it down to a point before the Magic found their footing again and took it back up to double-digits. Orlando would up taking a nine-point edge into the locker room.
Nowitzki led all scorers with 18 in the half. Anderson topped the Magic with 12 points.
Notes: With Louisville and Kentucky set to meet in the Final Four on Saturday, Magic F Earl Cark, a former Cardinals standout, said he has full confidence in his underdog alma mater. But he didn't make any prop bets with teammates and former Wildcats Daniel Orton and DeAndre Liggins. "Nope. Straight cash," Clark said. ... Dallas coach Rick Carlisle received a technical foul in the second quarter. ... Mavericks C Brendan Haywood, who has missed seven straight games with a right knee sprain, returned to the starting lineup. ... Band members from the Red Hot Chili Peppers sat courtside.


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In a diversity action by respondent administrator against petitioner insurer for recovery under the double indemnity provision of a life insurance policy issued in Michigan to respondent's decedent, who was killed in Illinois, the District Court ruled that under Illinois conflict-of-laws rules Michigan substantive law applied and that under that law petitioner was liable only for ordinary benefits. On respondent's appeal the Court of Appeals reversed the judgment that under Michigan law petitioner was liable only for ordinary benefits and also held that petitioner's failure to cross-appeal precluded it from arguing that Illinois law applied, under which it would also be liable only for ordinary benefits. Held: The Court of Appeals erred because petitioner's argument was no more than "an attack on the reasoning of the lower court," and as such required no cross-appeal. United States v. American Ry. Exp. Co., 265 U.S. 425, 435 .
Certiorari granted; 524 F.2d 376, vacated and remanded.
This is a diversity case. Petitioner (the insurer) issued a life insurance policy in Michigan to Dean E. Cane providing for double indemnity if Cane's "death was the result of an injury sustained while the insured was a passenger in or upon a public conveyance then being operated by a common carrier to transport passengers for hire . . . ." Cane was killed in Illinois by a freight train while crossing a railroad track in order to board a commuter train which had not yet arrived at the station. The insurer paid Cane's estate ordinary benefits, but denied liability under the double indemnity provision of the policy. [426 U.S. 479, 480]
The administrator of Cane's estate (respondent) sued the insurer in the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to recover benefits under the double indemnity provision. The District Court held that under Illinois conflict-of-laws rules, the law of the situs of the contract (Michigan) applied, and that under Michigan law the insurer was liable only for ordinary benefits. The administrator appealed. The insurer argued in the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit that the District Court's application and interpretation of Michigan law was correct, and alternatively that Illinois conflict-of-laws rules required application of Illinois - not Michigan - substantive law in this case, and that under Illinois substantive law its liability was also only for ordinary benefits. The Court of Appeals reversed, 524 F.2d 376 (1975), but without reaching the question of which State's substantive law would be applicable under the Illinois conflicts rule. The court held that the insurer was precluded from arguing on appeal the applicability of Illinois substantive law, because it had not cross-appealed from the District Court's ruling that Michigan law applied. Id., at 379 n. 1.
The Court of Appeals' decision on this issue is plainly at odds with the "inveterate and certain" rule, Morley Co. v. Maryland Cas. Co., 300 U.S. 185, 191 (1937), of United States v. American Ry. Exp. Co., 265 U.S. 425, 435 (1924), where a unanimous Court said:
Because the Court of Appeals did "not reach the issue nor express any opinion on the effect of the tort claim conflicts of law doctrine" of Illinois, 524 F.2d, at 379 n. 1, we think it "appropriate to remand the case rather than deal with the merits of that question in this Court." Dandridge v. Williams, 397 U.S. 471, 476 n. 6 (1970). Accordingly, the petition for writ of certiorari is granted, the judgment of the Court of Appeals is vacated, and the case is remanded for further proceedings in conformity with this opinion.
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Lexicon of Polish cultural connotation: Ch – Christmas Eve2010/12/24 17:05:00 Written by EwaMaslowska
The Mystery of Christmas Eve in Poland
'Silent night, Holy night,
All is calm; All is bright…"
The night of 24th to 25th December was celebrated long before Christ in all civilisations of the solar cult. The mystery of the night consists of elements of ancient agricultural rituals, All Souls Day celebrations, and Christian religion practices.
Christmas Eve night, in Polish Wigilia, opens a new period in nature, coming as it does around the winter solstice, and announces the birth of the 'sun' in the Christian religion – the son of justice, the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
In Poland, Wigilia is celebrated especially solemnly. The mystery of the night appears in all aspects: time, place, food and people's behaviour.
The signal to start the Wigilia supper is not dictated by the clock, but rather by the appearance of the first star in the sky, which reminds us of the comet that appeared over Bethlehem to announce the birth of Christ and guide the shepherds and the three kings to the stable.
The celebration takes place at home, where all the members of the family meet for the Wigilia supper. The ceremony starts with the opłatek, a thin white wafer, the symbol of the holy bread. Each member of the family – and guests, of course – takes a wafer, and they offer it to each other one by one, each breaking off a small piece and exchanging special best wishes for the coming year. The breaking of the symbolic bread is meant to bring peace to the whole house and provide the family with enough bread for the coming year to share with others. The wafer is even given to pets and animals at the farms, as they were present at Christ's birth. There is an old belief that animals can speak at midnight.
After the opłatek, the solemn supper begins. This supper is unique. Firstly, it is meatless (a tradition connected with the ancient celebration of All Souls Day). Next, the menu in particular. It must consist of something from the garden (vegetable salads and a special dessert from poppy seeds); from the field (potatoes, grain, i.e. bread); from the orchard (fruit, nuts); from the forest (mushrooms, honey,cranberries); and something from the water (fish, especially carp and herring). There are thirteen traditional dishes on the table, as there were twelve apostles and Christ.
The table is covered with a white tablecloth under which is put some hay to remind us that Christ was born in the stable in poverty. There must always be one spare place at the table for an unexpected guest, a custom connected with the old belief that the souls of the dead members of the family might visit home that evening.
The traditional menu varies according to the region and family customs, but usually, for starters, there is herring prepared in several ways, a vegetable salad and cold fish. Then soup is served – mushroom soup or red barszcz (borscht) with traditional uszka (small, baked pierogi with mushroom stuffing). For the second course, there is usually fried or baked fish prepared in several ways: with a wine sauce, vegetables, herbs, mushrooms, and so on, and served with potatoes and a dish of cabbage with mushrooms, or in some regions simply many kinds of pierogi.
There are two traditional Christmas cakes: makowiec, a strudel with poppy seeds, and piernik, a cakemade from honey with spices, cinnamon and ginger. There is also a dessert made out of ground poppy seeds with fresh cream, eggs, honey, raisins and almonds served with cookies. There should also be a cranberry kisiel (a kind of jelly) and compote made from sun-dried fruits such as plums, pears (and sometimes with figs). The abundance of food on the table should bring family prosperity for the coming year. The dishes made from poppy seeds, especially, symbolise plenty, bringing abundance and wealth.
After the dessert, there is time for singing carols and receiving Christmas presents. If there are children at the family, they await the arrival of Święta Mikołaj (St Nicolas or Father Christmas) bearing presents. If there are no children, the presents are put under the Christmas tree.
The Christmas tree decorations are powerfully symbolic. The lights bring God's blessing on the house. The bright and colourful glass balls are to protect the house against evil and bring joy and happiness. The colourful chains are for strengthening family relations. The pierniki cookie decorations provide abundance, while apples bring health and beauty to the girls and women of the family. If you eat a nut from the Christmas tree, it has the magical power of bringing love to you.
The ceremonial Wigilia supper, the Christmas tree lights and the carol singing together create the extraordinary joyful climate of the holy night. The ceremony lasts till midnight when the whole family goes to church to Christmas Mass.
The next two days of Christmas are also unusual but don't have this unique and magic charm of the Polish Christmas Eve.
What is your Christmas?


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Today's 11 a.m. news conference with University of Colorado at Boulder and Pac-10 Conference officials will be available via live streaming at www.CUBuffs.com.
The news conference will feature Pac-10 Commissioner Larry Scott, CU President Bruce Benson, CU-Boulder Chancellor Phil DiStefano, CU Board of Regents Chairman Steve Bosley and CU-Boulder Athletic Director Mike Bohn. The news conference will be held on the Byron R. White Club Level at Folsom Field.


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데님 자수
원본 사진
Julia Kuzenkov
데님 자수
이 효과는 높은 해상도를 갖는 이미지를 생성할 수 있습니다
Denim or jean jackets and pants have been in fashion for decades influencing generations of people. Over the time, people have tried to customise their jackets and pants in various ways to stand out. Now there is an easier way to customise by creating an embroidered text on a jean jacket. Choose from seven different colours and write a custom message on the denim jacket with help of PhotoFunia. Try it today and share it with your friends.


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Leonard Sweet & Willis Harman: "Spiritual Sciences"
Willis W. Harman is quoted favorably in neoevangelical Leonard I. Sweet's online book, Quantum Spirituality: A Postmodern Apologetic:
"New Lights must catch the waves of a spiritual Gulf Stream taking them into unknown regions of what Nobel laureate/philosopher/London School of Economics professor Karl Popper and electrical engineer/Stanford University professor Willis W. Harman call the 'Spiritual Sciences.'"6 ( p. 218)
Here Sweet introduces the concept of the "Spiritual Sciences." He would have Christians believe that this is a necessary part of the journey to enlightenment, to becoming "New Lights." Willis Harman describes his concept of "spiritual sciences" in an interview with Jeffrey Mishlove, Ph.D.:
"Then there's a fourth level, which I would call the spiritual sciences, and we don't have very good representations of that yet, although some of the Tibetan Buddhist psychological work certainly would qualify as part of that. There are certain things in the Gnostic tradition of Christianity that would, and transpersonal psychology." TWM, SCIENCE AND RELIGION with WILLIS HARMAN, Ph.D. [Emphasis added] [http://twm.co.nz/harm_scirel.htm]
A more in-depth definition of "spiritual sciences" can be found at ASTROMIND - Cognitive Research and Development, a mind development and research lab. This definition clearly demonstrates the occult nature of this so-called "science." [http://www.astromind.com/articles/sciences.html]
"Spiritual Sciences
"Spiritual science focuses on integrating and unifying the substance of reality. It teaches the importance of action, feeling, awareness, collective observation, active detachment and the scientific practice to create more freedom, existence and being. It produces true visionaries through the skillful utilization of creativity, intuition, initiative and intent. Mastery of this discipline leads to great vision and spiritual illumination. The following is a list of various traditions within the field of spiritual science.
"Agni Yoga.
Alistair Crowley.
Arhatic Yoga.
Asparsha Yoga.Astanga Yoga.
Bhakti Yoga.
Carlos Castaneda.
The Sorcerer's Way.
The Headless Way.
The Fourth Way.
Gnosis.Hatha Yoga.
Hindu Yoga.
Integral Yoga.
Jnana Yoga.
Karma Yoga.
Kriya Yoga.
Kripalu Yoga.
Kundalini Yoga.
Lambika Yoga.
Laya Yoga.
Mantra Yoga.
Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism.
Power Yoga.
Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO).
Raja Yoga.
Sahaja Yoga.
Sankirtan Yoga.
Shiva Yoga.
Siddha Yoga.
Sri Adi Da Avatar.
Free Daism.
Surat Shabd Yoga or Nada Yoga.
Taraka Yoga.
Theravadan Buddhism.
Tibetan Buddhism.
Yantra Yoga.
Yoni Tantra.
Zen Buddhism."
The Truth:
Leonard Sweet's introduction to "Spiritual Sciences" does not lead Christian believers into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ but leads into the same esoteric state as yoga. Believers in Christ are not called to catch the waves of a spiritual movement but rather we are exhorted to grow up "unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ." (Ephesians 4:13-15)
Stay tuned!


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LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — A woman who advertised "vampire face-lifts" and other cosmetic procedures she wasn't licensed to perform was arrested after a suspicious death at a Southern California beauty salon, police said Thursday.
Licensed massage therapist Sandra Gonzalez, 45, remained jailed on $10,000 bail Thursday night on suspicion of possessing a controlled substance. She was under investigation by homicide detectives with assistance from the California Medical Board and the Los Angeles County coroner's office, Long Beach police said in a statement.
Hamilet Suarez, 36, was getting cosmetic injections Wednesday at Areli's Barber Shop & Beauty Salon where Gonzalez rents a room when she went into cardiac arrest, police said. Paramedics arrived and took her to a hospital, where she was later declared dead.
Police would not immediately say what procedure Suarez was having done or what may have killed her.
"Until the report comes back from the coroner, we can't determine if it was the procedure or if any drugs possibly administered caused her death," police Sgt. Megan Zabel told the Long Beach Press-Telegram.
Investigators at the salon found medical equipment and controlled substances used for cosmetic procedures that Gonzalez was advertising but not licensed to perform, police said. They included "butt augmentation," "lip augmentation," and "vampire face-lifts," where a gel-like substance derived from the patient's own blood is injected to reduce wrinkles.
Gonzalez has been performing the procedures at the salon for about a month and may have been practicing previously elsewhere, police said. They urged any other patients to contact both police and their doctor.
Police did not know if Gonzalez had hired an attorney. After-hours phone messages left at the salon and a number listed in her name were not immediately returned.


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Changes to Citi Field for 2010 season
Here's the release from the Mets:
The New York Mets today announced additional enhancements to Citi Field for the 2010 season that raises the profile of club history and elevates the fan experience at their new home.
The Shea Stadium Home Run Apple has been relocated to Mets Plaza in front of the Jackie Robinson Rotunda, offering fans a central meeting point. The popular piece of Mets history will also be available anytime before or after games for photo opportunities.
Topps baseball cards showing the Mets lineup of the day's game will sit atop the escalators and stairs in the Rotunda. Oversized vintage baseball cards of Cleon Jones, Dave Kingman and Robin Ventura will be among those featured on Topps displays on the first and third base sides of the Field Level.
Following a successful inaugural season, Union Square Hospitality Group's Blue Smoke and Box Frites concepts will open additional locations in the Promenade Food Court along with a second Big Apple Brews, featuring 30 Anheuser-Busch products.
The 1969 and 1986 World Champion Mets will be celebrated at the Champions Club, formerly known as the Ebbets Club, on the Field Level behind home plate. Photographs from those memorable seasons will decorate the space, with the first base side honoring the 1986 team and the third base side saluting the 1969 club.
"These changes along with the opening of the Mets Hall of Fame & Museum, reflect our ongoing desire to enhance the fan experience and showcase Mets history," said Dave Howard, Executive Vice President, Business Operations, New York Mets. "Our fans told us what they wanted to see, and we will continue to respond to their feedback as we further refine the ballpark."
The previously announced renaming of Citi Field's VIP entrances will be completed for Opening Day. Hodges VIP, on the first base side of the ballpark, is marked both inside and outside with imagery of the legendary Mets manager Gil Hodges. Seaver VIP, on the third base side, features photos of Mets Hall-of-Fame pitcher Tom Seaver. Stengel VIP, at the left field entrance, displays imagery of the first manager in team history, Casey Stengel.
Banners of Mets players from all eras including Ed Kranepool and Edgardo Alfonzo have been added to Mets Plaza and in the parking lots. Inside the ballpark, the centerfield scoreboard "Lets Go Mets" sign facing the field and the "Home of the Mets" sign on the opposite side both now use the Mets script logo.
The outfield bridge on the Field Level will be dedicated Shea Bridge during a pre-game ceremony on Opening Day. Naming the bridge after William A. Shea honors the man who brought National League baseball back to New York after the Dodgers and Giants left for California in 1957 leading to the creation of the Mets.
A limited number of tickets to Opening Day, Monday, April 5 against the Florida Marlins at 1:10 p.m., are available through the purchase of Season Tickets and Plans by phone at (718) 507-TIXX and at Mets.com or LosMets.com.


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If you got a minute, could you please surf a few pages of the following URL and let me know whether it feels fast or not from your location. The server location is Germany.
http://winmtr.sourceforge.net/ is a nice little Windows program with which you can check routes from you to a web server.
If you have WinMTR, or would like to install it, could you test hetzner.de with WinMTR as well and post these 3 numbers? X hops, X % packet loss, XXX ms


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Interactive Viewing Triggers Targeted For Summer Adoption
Gary Arlen
Coding that triggers interactive viewing experiences can be embedded into broadcast signals and will hasten TV stations' ability to offer integrated, complete interactive services.
By January, the first stage of this "trigger" process may be elevated to "candidate standard" status at the Advanced Television System Committee, with a view toward summer adoption of the technical plan.
Integrated triggers would prompt smart TV sets to display content-related details, such as story-line information or star backgrounds, and, more significantly, advertiser enhancements, such as local dealers and promotional details.
But there are hurdles, including predictable challenges from the cable TV industry, which may opt not to retransmit the embedded triggers, and possibly from advocacy groups that don't want to re-allocate some of the digital bandwidth reserved for closed captioning, which is where the envisioned triggers would ride. Moreover, some broadcasters and program producers may object to the clutter on the primary big screen that the triggers could create.
As a Consumer Electronics Association executive stated, right now, "We're just trying to make it work." He points out that it's not clear if the software in all smart TV sets can be updated to handle the trigger directives, noting that many manufacturers use proprietary systems for enhanced content displays.
At the center of the "trigger" plan is the opportunity for broadcasters to insert a tiny data stream into their digital signals. When that data hits a smart TV, it would trigger an app to pop up on the screen, providing enhanced information similar to what is now available via third-party services on a tablet or smartphone being used by two-screen viewers. The data would ride in an underused portion of the 3D closed-captioning segment, as defined in the Consumer Electronics Association's 708-D standard.
LG Electronics smart TV user interface "The key element is that broadcasters [deliver data] to cause things to happen on the viewer's TV set," explained Rich Chernock, chief science officer at Triveni Digital and chair of the ATSC's Technology & Standards Group (TG1), which is developing the trigger plan. Through testing, the ATSC group has found that the triggers will work on new 3D TV receivers and will be "backward compatible" so that older digital TV sets "wouldn't get confused."
"Since the captions are carried within the video stream, you want them to be tightly bound, to go wherever the video goes," Chernock said. "We came up with an extension of the 708 [standard] for 3D. By design, these triggers are very small, under 100 bytes.
"It's a very convenient way to carry data. It will make it through a lot of distribution systems since it's part of the video," he said.
The signals could trigger an Internetconnected smart TV (now about 40 percent of the TV market) to recognize a "Triggered Downloadable Object" (TDO), Chernock explained. The TDO resembles Java Script, HTML and other Internet coding, and tells the receiver "to put things on any screen," he added.
"When we first started this, the notion of second-screen viewing [on tablets or smartphones] hadn't picked up," said Chernock. He insists that the goal of the plan is to "allow broadcasters to keep control" of the total viewing experience.
Another factor, of course, is how to allow smart TV viewers to avoid such intrusions into their viewing. The ATSC plan is expected to include a feature that allows a viewer to override or eliminate the on-screen inserts if they choose to do so.
Among the challenges to ATSC's plan is the reality that "a lot of people see TV without a broadcaster feed or with data stripped out," Chernock acknowledged. His committee is addressing the barrier via technologies such as Automated Content Recognition (ACR), which senses that triggers are in the video stream through digital fingerprinting or watermarking technology. He believes fingerprints are the most likely solution.
"Once you build that infrastructure, you can do anything you could do with triggers in the signal," Chernock said. "Broadcasters can cover their bases by feeding triggers and also installing ACR systems" to deliver total video plus enhancements on one screen.
ATSC hopes to distribute a first ballot for the trigger candidate standard within the coming month. A prototype and trials will take place during spring.
"There's a lot of drive behind this, and it will probably be pretty quick," Chernock predicted.
Future discussions will include labeling, so that buyers of smart TV sets that have the storage capacity to handle such services will know about their single-screen multidelivery options.
While the ATSC plan is aggressive, similar— but non-compatible—trigger initiatives are underway via the "Hybridcast" venture in Japan and "Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV" (HbbTV) in Europe.
ATSC President Mark Richer agrees with Chernock's view that these broadcast triggers are ripe for a global approach and that use of core technologies, such as apps and browsers, will generate economies of scale.
One of the goals of such plans is to let program producers and advertisers author once and then use their enhanced content on multiple platforms, including broadcast delivery.
"There are a number of things we're bundling together, including triggers, advance video coding and non-real-time standards to download content files as well as linear TV," Richer said. He pointed out that the triggers could enable a smart TV "to go out to find something on the Internet or drill down into specific content."
Richer, who also chairs the new Future of Broadcast TV international alliance, said that ATSC plans to organize a working group to develop an implementation strategy for trigger technology. He expects the group will include broadcasters and consumer electronics makers, emphasizing that the current developments are part of the ATSC 2.0 project.
One objective is to pull together technologies such as the data triggers in the 2.0 version, and then move it over to the future ATSC 3.0 platform as that takes shape in 2014. Richer expects that the future ATSC 3.0 version will be more closely integrated with the global "Future of Broadcast TV" activities.
Hence, the upcoming development of TV trigger technology can become part of a larger, potentially global, venture into broadcast interactivity.
Gary Arlen is president of Arlen Communications LLC, a media/telcom research firm. He can be reached email@example.com.
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Gary Arlen, a contributor to Broadcasting & Cable, NextTV and TV Tech, is known for his visionary insights into the convergence of media + telecom + content + technology. His perspectives on public/tech policy, marketing and audience measurement have added to the value of his research and analyses of emerging interactive and broadband services. Gary was founder/editor/publisher of Interactivity Report, TeleServices Report and other influential newsletters; he was the long-time "curmudgeon" columnist for Multichannel News as well as a regular contributor to AdMap, Washington Technology and Telecommunications Reports; Gary writes regularly about trends and media/marketing for the Consumer Technology Association's i3 magazine plus several blogs.
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Necklace Length - (Including Silver Chain and Clasp)
1st Gemstone: Chrome Diopside
Gemstone Cut: Faceted Wheels
Gemstone Color: Green
Approximate Gemstone Size: 4 - 6.5 mm
2nd Gemstone: Ethiopian Opal
Gemstone Cut: Faceted Rondelle
Gemstone Color: White
Approximate Gemstone Size: 4.5 - 6.5 mm
Approximate Necklace Weight: 25.75 Gram (Varies as per Length)
Metal: 925 Sterling Silver
Plating: 0.5 Micron Rose Gold
Approximate Metal Weight: 1.36 Gram
Closure: Lobster Claw 8 MM
Design: Beaded
Jewelry Type: Necklace
• Remove jewelry when showering or bathing. This is particularly important when on the beach, in the sea and in chlorinated water.
• Avoid wearing jewelry when doing physical work such as housekeeping, gardening or exercise.
• Never expose jewelry to household cleaning products, especially bleach and highly reactive solutions.
• Avoid spraying perfume, hairspray on the gemstones or pearls as it jeopardises the integrity of the material.
• Remove jewellery when applying make-up, creams to avoid the residue getting into the texture or gemstone setting.Any residue dulls the shine of your ring.
• Keep away from extreme temperatures and humidity.
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This Week in Genea-Blogging
This was a great week for posts from the Southern California Genealogy Jamboree, and now the posts from IGHR at Samford have started - too many to list here, but keep your eye out!
If only I were this organized...
The New Genealogist shares his/her experience in "Keeping track of [resultless] searches." Good advice, good methodology.
Bury me there
J. D. Wilson at Stone Gardens has featured an unusual type of graveyard: "Ben & Jerry's Flavor Graveyard, Waterbury, Vermont."
Some addictions are good!
Geniaus tells us why she is "Addicted to the Tablet." She has provided so many reasons and illustrations for her addiction that I may move that iPad up a notch (= forward a year) on my Christmas list.
Got any good suggestions for Patti?
That would be Patti Browning at Consanguinity, who offers to give "My Kingdom for a Good Genealogy Flowchart Program." There are some good suggestions in the comments, too.
Which is best for you?
At Family Search's TechTips, Denise Barrett Olson discusses the most common web browsers and which features set them apart from one another in "The Web Browser" - very useful information for the genealogist who wants to maximize effectiveness in web use.
Randy has quite a long list....
and that's not a good thing in this case, because it is a list of "Some Sparsely Indexed Census Databases on Ancestry.com." I have suspected this of some of Ancestry's card catalog databases I have used. Another gripe I have is about mis-indexing, particularly in the case of the World War I Draft Registration Cards. Several times I have clicked on a link for an ancestor's card, only to pull up someone else's card. I realized right away that I just had to keep clicking on the forward or backward arrow to find my ancestors' cards, but still, it's irritating.
Carol also has a list - a little list - and she's making it work for her
At Reflections from the Fence, Carol has figured out how to get the most out of the To Do lists and events list function in her Roots Magic program - check it out in "The Small To Do List - How to Stretch It."
A question and an answer
Tonia Kendrick at Tonia's Genealogy asks and answers the question "What can you learn from a DAR application?" She provides an excellent overview of what you most likely will and will not find and gives examples from her own ancestor's application.
Interesting question and comments
At Marian's Roots and Rambles, Marian Pierre-Louis' question "Do You Prefer Books or Microfilm?" elicits some thoughtful answers, and she has an interesting take on how she plans to combine the two to best effect.
For more suggested blog reading,
check out "Follow Friday Gems" at Deb Ruth's Adventures in Genealogy, "Follow Friday: This Week's Favorite Finds" at Jen's Climbing My Family Tree, and "Monday Morning Mentions" at Lynn Palermo's The Armchair Genealogist.
This Week I Started Following This Blog:
Leaves of Heritage Genealogy
Friday, June 17, 2011
Follow Friday Newsletter: 17 June 2011
5 comments:
Thank you for the mention! :)ReplyDelete
Greta, Thanks for the weekly roundup. I always find some tip or tidbit worth follow up on! Best, MarianReplyDelete
Thanks for mentioning my "little lists".ReplyDelete
Thanks for the shout-out!ReplyDelete
NG, Marian, Carol, and Tonia - You are all so welcome - thanks for stopping by!ReplyDelete
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Some people celebrate the holiday at home, and some eschew Valentine's Day altogether. We believe that the best bang for your buck when it comes to Valentine's day is a little vacation. Everybody has a different idea about what constitutes a romantic Valentine's Day Vacation, so here's a list to help you get started!
For more advice, we also have articles on Cold Weather Date Ideas and New Years Resolutionscontinue reading


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I had a chance to sit down with China Miéville to talk about his latest novel, Kraken, as well as his thoughts on nerd pop culture. Turns out he's got some pretty strong opinions about JJ Abrams and Joss Whedon.
I reviewed Kraken here, and members of the io9 book club already had a chance to chat with Miéville online here, where he answered many of our questions about his previous novel The City & The City at great length, so be sure to check it out.
Because he loves to play with genre conventions, I asked Miéville where he sees Kraken's tale of multiple apocalypse scenarios fitting into the fantasy and science fiction traditions.
He replied:
There's a brilliant bit in Light by M. John Harrison where he has this idea about alien starships that work according to physics that contradict our own - but they all work. I liked the idea of doing a fantastic version of that epistemological anarchy. With contradictory theologies, you're going to end up with a Darwinian struggle of competing truths, or a marketplace of competing truths.
I'm trying to treat that idea fairly cheerfully. Kraken is a comedy. It's a bleak romp, a disorganized comedy. The cult collectors are [part of the humor]. All of these ideas are old fantasy ideas: secret organizations in the police, the squid cult, the end of the world. I wanted to acknowledge they were established ideas and cheerfully riff on them.
In Kraken, Miéville introduces a new magic system, city magic, to the body of magic systems he's already established in previous books. I asked how he saw these systems fitting together.
Miéville explained:
Each big magic system [in my books] is self contained and rigorous. They're literalizations of theories of how the world works. But in Kraken, it feels different. The basis of magic in Kraken is about the persuasiveness of metaphor. If you can say to the universe that this thing is like this other thing and slide from simile to metaphor, the universe will listen and will change its nature. I'm taking the making of connections and literalizing that as a magical force . . . it's sort of a D&Dification of [Thomas] Pyncheon.
Did he think of the competing cults as a metaphor for internecine arguments between leftist groups, which is a topic he's dealt with in previous books? He said no:
Not so much consciously. I'm normally conscious about left political writing, like in The Iron Council. Consciously it was about debates between different theologies. I would like to abjure the comparison between leftist groups and cults.
One of the ideas that Miéville returns to repeatedly in books is the peculiar magic of cities, so I asked him what exactly is the magic of cities to his mind? Why are cities such potent sources of magic in his work?
He replied:
I don't have any fantastic insight, but I think it's simply that cities to varying degrees are amazing palimpsests of history and cultures. They're coagulated together, a mixing of social norms. I like the temporal dislocation of cities, where you get 17th century buildings next to 21st buildings in London. The world is divided between people who like fractured mixed up stuff, and those who like clean aesthetic totality. I'm more the former.
The majority of humanity now live in cities. They are the site of most political and financial drivers - that's just a fact of economy. They are the site of this kind of chaotic aggregation of ideas that's going to translate into a sensation of the fantastic. That's why fantastic city fiction is so strong – it's about translating enchantment into a modern urban environment.
We began to talk about the difference between genre fiction and literary fiction, and somehow got onto the topic of JJ Abrams and Joss Whedon. Miéville feels that Abrams' career has been all about marketing, unlike Whedon. He said:
I've never met [JJ Abrams]. I am not a member of his fan club or anti-fan club. I disliked Cloverfield a very great deal. I disliked Star Trek intensely. I thought it was terrible. And I think part of my problem is that I feel like the relationship between JJ Abrams' projects and geek culture is one of relatively unloving repackaging - sort of cynical. I taste contempt in the air. Now I'm not a child - I know that all big scifi projects are suffused with the contempt of big money for its own target audience. But there's something about [JJ's projects] that makes me particularly uncomfortable. As compared to somebody like Joss Whedon, who - even when there are misfires - I feel likes me and loves me and is on some cultural level my brother and comrade. And I don't feel that way about JJ Abrams.
And then, you know I just had to ask Miéville about giant monsters. He's got a terrific giant sea monster in The Scar, and Kraken is filled with giant squid imagery. Turns out he has a special love of the animated Godzilla. Here is what he said - something that could truly only be captured on video:


text: For over 50 years, Northern Colorado law firm, Lyons Gaddis, has served businesses, local governments, families and individuals like you in the Greater Denver area and throughout Colorado. Our firm was founded in 1972 by a group of lawyers who were also business and community leaders, with a mission to provide excellent legal services to the growing area of Northern Colorado. Lyons Gaddis has grown in both size and depth of experience over the past four decades. We now serve as trusted counsel to great organizations, companies and individuals over a wide range of industries and stages of growth - from large local governments to publicly-traded companies to individuals like you. Our attorneys understand the financial and business pressures that you face, and focus on creating strategies and solutions to resolve your case or transaction quickly and efficiently.


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Monday marked the debut of Intel's third-generation processor family–code-named Ivy Bridge–but the first round of 13 of the quad-core chips was reserved for high-end desktops and laptops. These first-round chips will not go in mainstream computers or even trendy Ultrabooks.
The processor upgrade is not far behind for Ultrabooks, however; the first Ivy Bridge Ultrabooks should be hitting retail shelves the first week of June.
The date will be June 5, to be precise, according to Scott Pendrey, a desktop product manager at Intel, as quoted in a Techworld report. Despite the six-month gap between today's unveiling of the Ivy Bridge processors and the Ivy Bridge Ultrabook launch, Techworld writes that Intel's "real target for Ivy Bridge processors is Ultrabooks."
Considering the new chips' main advantages over the second-generation Sandy Bridge processors, I'm inclined to agree. Ultrabooks–and laptops in general–seem to be the real winners when it comes to upgrading to Ivy Bridge. PCWorld benchmarks of the Ivy Bridge processor found moderate CPU performance gains–but, more importantly for laptop users, improved performance and longer battery life. Intel Vice President Kirk Saugen told BBC that both performance and power efficiency are improved by 20 percent in Ivy Bridge when compared to earlier Sandy Bridge processors.
The biggest improvement, though–also significant for Ultrabook and mainstream laptop buyers–is seen in graphics benchmarks. For very intensive laptop gaming (e.g., running games like Skyrim or Crysis 2), you'll still need a discrete graphics card, but Ivy Bridge's impressive integrated graphics can handle most videos, games, and graphics smoothly–saving you $50 or more for a discrete video card.
Intel recently announced 75 Ultrabooks are in the works, including touchscreen hybrids, and that the price of Ultrabooks will drop to $699. However, AMD "Trinity" ultrathin laptops are expected to compete against Intel Ultrabooks on both graphics performance and pricing. So expect this summer to be a very hot one for laptop buying.
Follow Melanie Pinola (@melaniepinola) and Today@PCWorld on Twitter


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Custom Fields
Notes: This one is probably entirely wasted on most people who didn't grow up in Enid Blyton's British Empire of the 20th Century. I love George really, so please don't come and haunt me!
Recent comments
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Jolly good!
Posted by nomdeboardie (guest) on Fri 17 Sep 2010 15:14:45 BST
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You will be expecting me to write slash fiction next, won't you. Shudder.
Posted by Michael Lawrie on Wed 10 Jan 2007 05:57:23 GMT
Adam| show fullshow summary
...but where was Timmy?
Posted by Guest on Sat 11 Jun 2005 01:57:57 BST
Adam| show fullshow summary
Setting George and Anne up was a masterstroke!
Posted by Guest on Sat 11 Jun 2005 01:56:49 BST
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Add bootchart boot logger functionality to busybox
- Summary
- Add bootchart boot logger functionality to busybox
- Proposer
- Tim Bird
It would be nice to add bootchart functionality to busybox. Most distributions now have bootchart available as a package, which allows an administrator to see machine resource usage and process startup times, for the system bootup. The existing bootchart boot logger, however, is a shell script, which consumes too much resources when running on an embedded platform.
The Android system includes bootchart boot logger functionality in it's 'init' program. It would be nice to include similar boot logging functionality built into busybox.
The feature would be to grab information from various /proc files, and save them into the files expected by bootchart, for a duration specified as a parameter to the 'init' applet of busybox. The duration parameter could be passed as an environment variable from the kernel, copied from the kernel command line, or set in a specially-named file. (Note that the latter two are used in Android. It would probably be good to keep compatibility with the Android method of parameter passing, just to avoid confusion.)
Note that the code for this in Android 'init' is licensed under the Apache license. It's less than 400 lines of C code.
The benefit of this is that it would allow easy visualization of embedded system bootup information.
Related work
- Bootchart - http://www.bootchart.org/
- Android init and bootchart
Contractor candidates
- Rob Landley
- Denys Vlasenko
- others


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Jaguars would trade Jones-Drew, at the right price
Jaguars G.M. David Caldwell has said he won't trade running back Maurice Jones-Drew. It's possible that the rest of that statement should be "for a bowl of soup and an ugly hat."
Per a league source, a deal would indeed be done, at the right price.
In many respects, that's obvious. Any player could, in theory, be traded if a big enough package is offered.
For Jones-Drew, it's unclear what the Jaguars would want. But two weeks and two days remain before the trade deadline; if injury or ineffectiveness prompts a contender to take a chance on Jones-Drew in the hopes of improving their roster for a playoff run, the deal could go down.
Either way, it's hard to envision Jones-Drew returning to Jacksonville in 2014, unless he has no other viable options. He has been the face of the franchise for the last few years, but the franchise is in dire need of a facelift. And every other type of cosmetic and corrective surgery imaginable.


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The Nike+ SportWatch GPS powered by TomTom(R): Never Run Alone Again. THINK LESS, RUN BETTER: Put on your Nike+ SportWatch GPS, go outside and run. The Nike+ Sensor is optional. Tap the screen to mark laps and activate the backlight during your run, and personalize the data that you want to see during your run. For direct connect, USB contacts are built into the watch strapjust plug the watch directly into a USB port on your computer to upload run data and recharge the battery. ENHANCED ACCURACY: Using GPS by TomTom with the Nike+ Sensor, you can start tracking your run instantly, and get accurate speed and distance information, indoors or outeven if the GPS signal gets interrupted. The Nike+ SportWatch GPS by TomTom tracks your time, distance, pace, heart rate and calories burned. It also shows your mapped route, with pace data, and changes in elevation on Nikeplus.com. And it's heart-rate monitor compatible with the Polar Wearlink+ Transmitter. YOU'LL NEVER SLACK AGAIN: View your Nike+ history (up to 50 runs) and PRs, and set automatic Run Reminders when a run hasn't been logged in the past five days. Run a personal best, receive an Attaboy. You can also find new routes, set personal goals and access training programs on Nikeplus.com.
Brand : Nike


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Pretty silk sweater makeover
I took a big tuck out of the center back, since it was just too much too big to take in the side seams. I tapered it so I took more out of the waist than out of the neckline. I cut down the center front and used some vintage navy cotton hem braid to finish the edges. There's enough room that I could add hook and eye closures (I think I will next time I sit down to a good movie. I hate hand sewing!).
I also added some decorative shapes and trim out of vintage ric rac. I love using the old stuff since it's 100% cotton! Here's how it turned out:


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Handmade Paper Greeting Card with Blossom, 15cm x 10cm
Handmade in a workshop in Berlin, these beautiful laser cut cards are true works of art.
The outside card is created from 100% recycled cotton fibres, with paper inserts from recycled paper. These delicate handmade cards are produced from completely sustainable sources.
Please note; these cards are sold individually.
Dust with a clean dry cloth. Do not get wet.
Approx H: 15cm
Approx W: 10cm


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Woman flees California wildfire on bike with 70-pound dog in duffel bag
SANTA ROSA -- When a wildfire forced her to flee her home on a bicycle early Monday morning, a California woman used a duffel bag as a makeshift sidecar for her 70-pound pit bull, according to KTXL.
"You don't even see a resemblance of what it used to be," said wildfire survivor Natasha Wallace. "Everything was gray, everything was destroyed and it went for miles."
Wallace, a Santa Rosa Junior College soccer player, was studying until nearly 2 a.m. Monday. On her way home, she saw the fire from the freeway and immediately realized she needed to evacuate.
"I would never part ways with my dog. ever," Wallace said. "That's my ride or die. Oh my God, literally.
Wallace shoved Bentley, her 4-year-old pit bull, into her Honda and drove down the road -- within minutes, she was stuck in traffic.
"(The fire) was coming faster than I could leave in traffic, so I went back and got my bike," Wallace remembers.
She also grabbed a duffel bag which she used as a makeshift sidecar for her 70-pound best friend.
"So I grabbed my dog and I told him, 'Hey man this is serious, you need to just sit in the bag.' And he, he hopped right in," Wallace said.
After she made it down the road a few miles ahead of the fire, a man in a truck pulled over and took her and Bentley the rest of the way out.
"I just want to say thank you to him. Paul Johnson," Wallace said.
Thursday night, Wallace was reflecting on how lucky she was, not only to have survived the fire but to have people around to help.


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Dec 20, 2010
Dec 20, 2010
BFC announces provisional list of designers at London Fashion Week
Dec 20, 2010
Dec 20, 2010
The British Fashion Council (BFC) today announced the provisional schedule of designers who will be showcasing their autumn/winter 2011 collections at London Fashion Week (LFW) in February.
Returning to show on schedule this season are luxury British brand Aquascutum and Temperley London, who celebrate their 10th anniversary. They will join current LFW catwalk designers including Antonio Berardi, Burberry Prorsum, Jonathan Saunders, Matthew Williamson and Pringle of Scotland, as well as our emerging BFC NEWGEN sponsored by Topshop talents.
New to the presentation schedule for February are J. JS Lee and Les Chiffoniers.
British heritage menswear brand, Alfred Dunhill, will show at London Fashion Week, hosting an intimate style salon show on Tuesday evening as a prelude to Menswear Day, Wednesday 23rd February.
Showing at LFW's dedicated Menswear Day for the first time is Cassette Playa, who will be showcasing her luxury streetwear collection on the catwalk.
Modern menswear tailoring label Mr Start and luxury heritage brand Bally will debut at London Fashion Week in February. Both will show their collections on the presentation schedule for Menswear Day.
London Fashion Week will run from Friday 18th – 23rd February 2011 and will be located at Somerset House, Strand WC2.
Somerset House, London
Copyright © 2023 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.


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- United Kingdom
- United States
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Benelux
- Brazil
- Canada
- China
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- India
- Indonesia
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Korea
- Mexico
- New Zealand
- Pakistan
- Philippines
- Poland
- Russia
- South Africa
- Spain
- Taiwan
- Turkey
- iHaveNet.com: Europe
by George Friedman
Europe's financial crisis has unleashed forces that herald the European Union's fragmentation.
I have focused on the growing fragmentation of Europe. Recently, the murders in Paris prompted me to write about the fault line between Europe and the Islamic world. I wrote about the nationalism that is rising in individual European countries after the European Central Bank was forced to allow national banks to participate in quantitative easing so European nations wouldn't be forced to bear the debt of other nations. I am focusing on fragmentation partly because it is happening before our eyes, partly because Stratfor has been forecasting this for a long time and partly because my new book on the fragmentation of Europe — Flashpoints: The Emerging Crisis in Europe.
This is the week to speak of the political and social fragmentation within European nations and its impact on Europe as a whole. The coalition of the Radical Left party, known as Syriza, has scored a major victory in Greece. Now the party is forming a ruling coalition and overwhelming the traditional mainstream parties. It is drawing along other left-wing and right-wing parties that are united only in their resistance to the EU's insistence that austerity is the solution to the ongoing economic crisis that began in 2008.
Two Versions of the Same Tale
The story is well known. The financial crisis of 2008, which began as a mortgage default issue in the United States, created a sovereign debt crisis in Europe. Some European countries were unable to make payment on bonds, and this threatened the European banking system. There had to be some sort of state intervention, but there was a fundamental disagreement about what problem had to be solved. Broadly speaking, there were two narratives.
The German version, and the one that became the conventional view in Europe, is that the sovereign debt crisis is the result of irresponsible social policies in Greece, the country with the greatest debt problem. These troublesome policies included early retirement for government workers, excessive unemployment benefits and so on. Politicians had bought votes by squandering resources on social programs the country couldn't afford, did not rigorously collect taxes and failed to promote hard work and industriousness. Therefore, the crisis that was threatening the banking system was rooted in the irresponsibility of the debtors.
Another version, hardly heard in the early days but far more credible today, is that the crisis is the result of Germany's irresponsibility. Germany, the fourth-largest economy in the world, exports the equivalent of about 50 percent of its gross domestic product because German consumers cannot support its oversized industrial output. The result is that Germany survives on an export surge. For Germany, the European Union — with its free-trade zone, the euro and regulations in Brussels — is a means for maintaining exports. The loans German banks made to countries such as Greece after 2009 were designed to maintain demand for its exports. The Germans knew the debts could not be repaid, but they wanted to kick the can down the road and avoid dealing with the fact that their export addiction could not be maintained.
If you accept the German narrative, then the policies that must be followed are the ones that would force Greece to clean up its act. That means continuing to impose austerity on the Greeks. If the Greek narrative is correct, than the problem is with Germany. To end the crisis, Germany would have to curb its appetite for exports and shift Europe's rules on trade, the valuation of the euro and regulation from Brussels while living within its means. This would mean reducing its exports to the free-trade zone that has an industry incapable of competing with Germany's.
The German narrative has been overwhelmingly accepted, and the Greek version has hardly been heard. I describe what happened when austerity was imposed in Flashpoints:
But the impact on Greece of government cuts was far greater than expected. Like many European countries, the Greeks ran many economic activities, including medicine and other essential services, through the state, making physicians and other health care professionals government employees. When cuts were made in public sector pay and employment, it deeply affected the professional and middle classes.
Over the course of several years, unemployment in Greece rose to over 25 percent. This was higher than unemployment in the United States during the Depression. Some said that Greece's black economy was making up the difference and things weren't that bad. That was true to some extent but not nearly as much as people thought, since the black economy was simply an extension of the rest of the economy, and business was bad everywhere. In fact the situation was worse than it appeared to be, since there were many government workers who were still employed but had had their wages cut drastically, many by as much as two-thirds.
The Greek story was repeated in Spain and, to a somewhat lesser extent, in Portugal, southern France and southern Italy. Mediterranean Europe had entered the European Union with the expectation that membership would raise its living standards to the level of northern Europe. The sovereign debt crisis hit them particularly hard because in the free trade zone, this region had found it difficult to develop its economies, as it would have normally. Therefore the first economic crisis devastated them.
Regardless of which version you believe to be true, there is one thing that is certain: Greece was put in an impossible position when it agreed to a debt repayment plan that its economy could not support. These plans plunged it into a depression it still has not recovered from — and the problems have spread to other parts of Europe.
Seeds of Discontent
There was a deep belief in the European Union and beyond that the nations adhering to Europe's rules would, in due course, recover. Europe's mainstream political parties supported the European Union and its policies, and they were elected and re-elected. There was a general feeling that economic dysfunction would pass. But it is 2015 now, the situation has not gotten better and there are growing movements in many countries that are opposed to continuing with austerity. The sense that Europe is shifting was visible in the European Central Bank's decision last week to ease austerity by increasing liquidity in the system. In my view, this is too little too late; although quantitative easing might work for a recession, Southern Europe is in a depression. This is not merely a word. It means that the infrastructure of businesses that are able to utilize the money has been smashed, and therefore, quantitative easing's impact on unemployment will be limited. It takes a generation to recover from a depression. Interestingly, the European Central Bank excluded Greece from the quantitative easing program, saying the country is far too exposed to debt to allow the risk of its central bank lending.
Virtually every European country has developed growing movements that oppose the European Union and its policies. Most of these are on the right of the political spectrum. This means that in addition to their economic grievances, they want to regain control of their borders to limit immigration. Opposition movements have also emerged from the left — Podemos in Spain, for instance, and of course, Syriza in Greece. The left has the same grievances as the right, save for the racial overtones. But what is important is this: Greece has been seen as the outlier, but it is in fact the leading edge of the European crisis. It was the first to face default, the first to impose austerity, the first to experience the brutal weight that resulted and now it is the first to elect a government that pledges to end austerity. Left or right, these parties are threatening Europe's traditional parties, which the middle and lower class see as being complicit with Germany in creating the austerity regime.
Syriza has moderated its position on the European Union, as parties are wont to moderate during an election. But its position is that it will negotiate a new program of Greek debt repayments to its European lenders, one that will relieve the burden on the Greeks. There is reason to believe that it might succeed. The Germans don't care if Greece pulls out of the euro. Germany is, however, terrified that the political movements that are afoot will end or inhibit Europe's free-trade zone. Right-wing parties' goal of limiting the cross-border movement of workers already represents an open demand for an end to the free-trade zone for labor. But Germany, the export addict, needs the free-trade zone badly.
This is one of the points that people miss. They are concerned that countries will withdraw from the euro. As Hungary showed when the forint's decline put its citizens in danger of defaulting on mortgages, a nation-state has the power to protect its citizens from debt if it wishes to do so. The Greeks, inside or outside the eurozone, can also exercise this power. In addition to being unable to repay their debt structurally, they cannot afford to repay it politically. The parties that supported austerity in Greece were crushed. The mainstream parties in other European countries saw what happened in Greece and are aware of the rising force of Euroskepticism in their own countries. The ability of these parties to comply with these burdens is dependent on the voters, and their political base is dissolving. Rational politicians are not dismissing Syriza as an outrider.
The issue then is not the euro. Instead, the first real issue is the effect of structured or unstructured defaults on the European banking system and how the European Central Bank, committed to not making Germany liable for the debts of other countries, will handle that. The second, and more important, issue is now the future of the free-trade zone. Having open borders seemed like a good idea during prosperous times, but the fear of Islamist terrorism and the fear of Italians competing with Bulgarians for scarce jobs make those open borders less and less likely to endure. And if nations can erect walls for people, then why not erect walls for goods to protect their own industries and jobs? In the long run, protectionism hurts the economy, but Europe is dealing with many people who don't have a long run, have fallen from the professional classes and now worry about how they will feed their families.
For Germany, which depends on free access to Europe's markets to help prop up its export-dependent economy, the loss of the euro would be the loss of a tool for managing trade within and outside the eurozone. But the rise of protectionism in Europe would be a calamity. The German economy would stagger without those exports.
From my point of view, the argument about austerity is over. The European Central Bank ended the austerity regime half-heartedly last week, and the Syriza victory sent an earthquake through Europe's political system, although the Eurocratic elite will dismiss it as an outlier. If Europe's defaults — structured or unstructured — surge as a result, the question of the euro becomes an interesting but non-critical issue. What will become the issue, and what is already becoming the issue, is free trade. That is the core of the European concept, and that is the next issue on the agenda as the German narrative loses credibility and the Greek narrative replaces it as the conventional wisdom.
It is not hard to imagine the disaster that would ensue if the United States were to export 50 percent of its GDP, and half of it went to Canada and Mexico. A free-trade zone in which the giant pivot is not a net importer can't work. And that is exactly the situation in Europe. Its pivot is Germany, but rather than serving as the engine of growth by being an importer, it became the world's fourth-largest national economy by exporting half its GDP. That can't possibly be sustainable.
Possible Seismic Changes Ahead
There are then three drivers in Europe now. One is the desire to control borders — nominally to control Islamist terrorists but truthfully to limit the movement of all labor, Muslims included. Second, there is the empowerment of the nation-states in Europe by the European Central Bank, which is making its quantitative easing program run through national banks, which may only buy their own nation's debt. Third, there is the political base, which is dissolving under Europe's feet.
The question about Europe now is not whether it can retain its current form, but how radically that form will change. And the most daunting question is whether Europe, unable to maintain its union, will see a return of nationalism and its possible consequences. As I put it in Flashpoints:
The most important question in the world is whether conflict and war have actually been banished or whether this is merely an interlude, a seductive illusion. Europe is the single most prosperous region in the world. Its collective GDP is greater than that of the United States. It touches Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Another series of wars would change not only Europe, but the entire world.
To even speak of war in Europe would have been preposterous a few years ago, and to many, it is preposterous today. But Ukraine is very much a part of Europe, as was Yugoslavia. Europeans' confidence that all this is behind them, the sense of European exceptionalism, may well be correct. But as Europe's institutions disintegrate, it is not too early to ask what comes next. History rarely provides the answer you expect — and certainly not the answer you hope for.
Available at Amazon.com:
Flashpoints: The Emerging Crisis in Europe
The French Intifada: The Long War Between France and Its Arabs"
The New Drivers of Europe's Geopolitics is republished with permission of Stratfor."
"The New Drivers of Europe's Geopolitics"


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Gert Wiescher studied graphic design at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin. After detours through Paris, South Africa, and Barcelona (where he designed the OECD-Pavillion for the Osaka World Expo), he returned to Munich to work as an art director for such clients as Paulaner, Phillip Morris, and Peugeot. Wiescher also helped to introduce IKEA to the German market.
In recent years, his interest in type design has increased, resulting in a number of unique fonts influenced by historical and calligraphic models.


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Jie is a Postdoctoral Associate in the Perceptual Science Group @ MIT, working with Dr Ruth Rosenholtz. Her present work investigates peripheral vision and the related perceptual and cognitive functions, e.g. visual search, crowding, attentional allocation and visual-short memory.
She received my PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience in 2010 from Brandeis University, where she studied visual short-term memory and visual attention. She utilized both behavioral, computational modeling and electrophysiological techniques to assess the fidelity of visual short-term memory for stimuli as simple as Gabor patches, as well as more complex stimuli such as synthetic faces and unfamiliar Mandarin names.


text: Character Analysis Jones Like George III to the American colonists or Czar Nicholas II to the Russian revolutionaries, Jones is the embodiment of the tyranny against which the animals rebel — and with good reason. An inept farmer and slovenly drunkard, Jones cares little for his Manor Farm and the animals who live there. The novel's first paragraph describes Jones forgetting (out of drunkenness) to shut the popholes for the hen-houses but remembering to draw himself a glass of beer before "lumbering" off to a drunken sleep. The fact that the rebellion is sparked by Jones' forgetting to feed the animals adds to the overall impression of him as an uncaring master. For the remainder of the novel, he is portrayed as an impotent has-been, unable to reclaim his own farm and idling in a pub until his eventual death in an inebriates' home. Long after Jones has been driven from the farm, the pigs invoke his name to scare the other animals into submission. Squealer's question, "Surely, comrades, you do not want Jones back?" elicits a knee-jerk reaction in the animals, who fail to realize that the spirit of Jones has returned, despite the farmer's physical absence.


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Burberry Hits New York With Celebu-Fest
Last night Burberry had a celebu-fest to celebrate its addition to the New York skyline. Penn Bagley was there. Blake Lively was there. Carla Gugino was there. Helena Christensen was there. Milly Simms was there. Justin Long was there.
Here's the video. Here's the pictures. We just thought you'd like to know.
by Steve Hall May-29-09 Click to Comment
Topic: Brands, Events
Topic: Brands, Events


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Red Bicycle Country Store & Flowers 2612 N Highway 162 #4, Eden, UT 84310
Local: 801-436-3794
- 2612 N Highway 162 #4, Eden, UT 84310
The FTD® State of Joy Head Table ArrangementW33-5084
A decadent arrangement of wedding day blooms that will have your head table looking as if it is set for royalty, this artistic floral display is a simply gorgeous choice for your celebration. Blush roses and Dendrobium Orchids are soft and sweet arranged beautifully amongst white hydrangea, white Hawaiian Dendrobium Orchids, green amaranthus, antique pink hydrangea, green hydrangea, and Queen Anne's Lace. Fresh, frilly, and done with a certain finesse that will make every guest take note, this stunning arrangement sets the tone for a perfectly amazing day! Approx. 11" x 101" x 13".
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So much work on Jaecheol Park's site. It looks like he has got a book of collected works. Only 26.50! Check SHIPS and ROBOTS.
Keywords: concepttanks concept tanks digital composite illustration design art work by korean concept artist jaecheol park tank military mechanical art
Monday, November 14, 2011
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it dosent even have wifi! or flac! and you give it 80%? are you bonkers?
Not far from the horizon is the Solo Neo from Brit hi-fi specialist Arcam. Last year, the company's Solo Music had a baby and it was called the Solo Mini. While we wait for Neo make an appearance and no doubt wow minimalists and audiophiles alike, a review of the Solo Mini seemed in order. Arcam Solo Mini System Arcam's Solo …
Why would anyone bother with sound quality if they're playing compressed lossy files?
It seems pretty stupid that you get more advanced audio on bluray now than CD.
16-Bit 44.1Khz was just something possible in the early 80s. Why are we still constrained by such low standards?
24-bit 96Khz should be standard across the board now.
I'll give you 24 bit - wasted on modern pop that's mastered for extreme loudness, but probably useful for orchestral recordings and stuff with genuine dynamic range.
But why 96KHz for domestic audio? I don't think 'Now That's What I Call Dog Whistles Vol. 3' is a big enough seller to warrant it.
High sample rates are handy at the recording stage to enable you to use cheaper anti-aliasing filters, but it's not like you are going to be able to buy hi-fi speakers capable of reproducing anything much over 20KHz, let alone 48KHz, even if you could hear it.
I happen to hear proper 24bit 96kHz recording and once you do it all start to make sense - how much is lost when it's downsampled to CD 16bit/44.1kHz.
World should move on to sell lossless 24bit/96kHz audio and in addition also LP ;) and if you want also crappy lossy version for your portable device.
One of the better high end audio folk in my opinon, now offer 24Bit downloads of tracks on their label... you can buy, at differing prices, different file type versions of each album.
As for actual 24Bit, in the tests i've tried, the majority of people genuinely can't tell the difference... and you do need a certain level of equipment for a real difference - all in my opinion of course... i'm perfectly happy with my Naim CD player, it blows most other units out of the water, and it doesn't play MP3, AAC, Ogg or Flac - yet still i survive. God only knows how.
Well it's nice to see that they are using a better than nessesary D/A converter, but considering that even the best audio converters are less than 20 Euros, one wonders what exactly makes that device so expensive.
The electronic parts of "High-End" are amazingly cheap.
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Oh dear lord, please never review a piece of hifi again!!
As for the price, it's a bargain for the relative performance in my opinion, but sadly in modern times people thing MP3 is hifi and that anything more than £50 a rip off.
Try partnering with some Focal Chorus 705v though, a significant improvement on the Arcam speakers - around the same price too. A speaker cable such as QED Qunex Silver adds a little more zip if you prefer, but personally Chord Odyssey is my preferred with that system. (and yes, thats REALLY expensive for just a piece of speaker cable too....)
...for speaker cables automatically disqualifies him/herself from being taken seriously when discussing audio gear.
The single requirement for speaker cables is that the conductor cross section be sufficient such that the series resistance can be considered negligible. For a 5 metre run, 2.5 sq mm is quite sufficient (having a total series resistance of about 0.07 ohms), even considering the fact that some of the more idiosyncratic speaker systems may have impedance dips as low as 3 ohms. Reactive effects (inductance and capacitance) can be safely neglected since the circuit impedance is very low, unless you're looking at *very* long runs. If one wants to be picky, one can use 4-conductor jacketed cable (with the conductors laid up in the shape of a square) so as to obtain a star-quad configuration. 3-phase mains cable works very well, and is very cheap.
Everything else (hyper-pure linear-crystal oxygen-free copper etc) is 100% hype. Copper used in run-of-the-mill electrical conductors is pretty pure as a matter of course, and the "linear crystals" are automatically obtained when the copper ingots are drawn to progressively thinner wire strands.
As a matter of fact, I dare anyone to distinguish the snake oil speaker cable of their choice from a run of suitably robust but very common and dirt cheap mains cable in a double blind test.
All those who worship at the altar of "high end" audio, I've got news for you.
The signals that make up your most prized recordings have travelled through tens of metres of cable that would cost a quid a metre at most, and often much less. On their way, they've encountered untold numbers of industry standard connectors that cost no more than a few quid apiece, and they've been routed through a truckload of top-of-the line recording gear whose signal path contains such diabolical things as op-amps, (gasp!) and electrolytic capacitors (aargh!). Lots of 'em.
Now ask yourself: Is spending 500 quid for a pair of hyper-duper "interconnects" with alleged magical properties, to carry the signal the last few feet from your CD player to your amp, really going to make one iota of difference?
"The signals that make up your most prized recordings have travelled through tens of metres of cable that would cost a quid a metre at most, and often much less. On their way, they've encountered untold numbers of industry standard connectors that cost no more than a few quid apiece"
There's also a high probability that your chosen listening material was mastered by someone listening to it on a pair of Mackie HR824* NF monitors (~1100 quid a pair), and/or a pair of Bayer DT100/150 cans (~100 quid).
If it's good enough for mastering the material, then (in my book) it's good enough for listening to it with...
(*or a pair of Yamaha NS10, if they're inclined to be passive)
There's low end audio, mid-range audio, high end audio and then there is audiophoolery (the pejorative term for those who buy $500 (or higher!) patch cables and suchlike).
High end audio doesn't always come for a high price. I've seen plenty of what would be very, very good audio equipment (clean internal design, built to do what it says on the tin) sold under house brands, less than totally well known brands or for a very low price. (Right now, if anyone's asking, a Sherwood RX-410x stereo receiver is an astounding value for the money, especially as one model still has a turntable input...and I think you can find them sold in much of the world.)
That said, I do agree wholeheartedly with what you said, and I too would definitely like to see some proper experiments against Obscenely Expensive Stereo Wire and decent quality cable. I have more than a sneaking suspicion that as long as any speaker wire, power cord or interconnecting cable is able to do the job and of reasonable manufacturing quality, it will sound as good as the Obscenely Expensive Stereo Wire. (Monster Cable fits very closely to the Obscenely Expensive Stereo Wire category. I certainly wouldn't buy it!)
Many years ago I aquired an Arcam Alpha 7 Amp and CD and a pair of KEF Coda 7 speakers. I still have 'em, very nice they are too and entirely adequate in a non acoustically perfect environment IMHO.
A mate of mine turned up for a listen and having had his ears educated went off for a think. A while later I went round to his place to find 800 quids' worth of Amp, 500 sovs of CD, a pair of AR100 speakers and several metres of sodding expensive cable. A quick listen later:
"Very nice, but there's something wrong with the right-hand speaker".
"<VAPOURS> No there isn't, it's all perfect!"
One shufty round the back later:
"Got it. You've biwired 'em but left the links on the right speaker, try it now.". Some listening later: "Yup, that's got it, spot on now!"
".........!!..............I can't tell the difference......."
The most important component in a HiFi system? Decent ears.......
Indeed... and you can see every technical explanation you like, but if, in a properly conducted blind test you can tell the difference between an expensive cable and a cheaper cable - does that make the expensive one wrong? A waste? Or do the aforementioned decent ears actually show that maybe, just maybe the difference is there.
As for the above where the source has travelled through metres of crap cable to get to there, that kinda depends on the component in question. If it's a 'cheap' unit - you're right.. but decent hifi does, surprisingly, use decent internal wiring also.
As for someone referencing Monster Cable, now that's just scary.... utter shite, i wouldn't use it if you gave it away. To reiterate, if you can hear the difference, who's place is it to criticise your decision? And further, by a proper blind test, i mean all placebo effect removed - listen to several, without knowing what is in use at the time and decide what works for you. Many won't hear the difference, many will.
Oh here we go, if you want to start an argument there's nothing quicker than audio quality (well except for religion, politics or vi vs emacs) Unless you can prove it in a double blind test I take any claims of the superiority of lossles vs lossy, bit rates and formats with a pinch of salt. Far too much of this is dominated by total oneupmanship and twatdangle. (Yes I archive in FLAC, what's your point...)
If there's a gripe to be had about the Solo it's that it doesn't have a digital input to that 24 bit DAC. That means if I want to hook my Squeezebox to it I need to either make do with its own DAC or run it through an external one. For that matter does the Arcam iPod dock pass the digital signal from the iPod to the Solo's DAC or do you get the iPod DAC's output?
My cloth ears were perfectly satisfied with my ancient audio system until the volume control started to get noisy. Then I started reading hifi equipment reviews again - ye gods what rubbish!
In modern high quality equipment, bandwith, noise and distortion figures etc etc may now be in the inaudible region, just as the difference between lossless v lossy encoding etc can be, but in a technical review at least these parameters should be explicitly confirmed.
Treating hifi amplifiers like guitar amps is clueless posing as is missing out a really valid point like the omission of direct access to the input of the high quality DAC.
Please, in a technical journal, can we have equipment reviews by qualified engineers.
End of rant, I'm off to get my soldering iron.
When it comes to "Audiophiles", the price they pay is equated to "quality". For those who actually understand electronics, price does NOT mean as much. Usually the vendor will charge what the traffic will bear, and when you stick an "audiophile" sticker on it, you can increase the price 3x or more. Obviously there are some people who will (foolishly in my opinion) pay the outragous price for such kit, but please count me out.
As for silly things like 24 bits and 96 kHz sampling rates, please! You can't hear it, so why bother. Even if you could hear 24 bits, getting ALL the circuitry to work at that level (144 dB signal to noise ratio) is a task in itself. Simple things like resistors that cost pennies (and are used in 24 bit systems) have more noise than that. It is VERY difficult to get circuits to work THAT quietly. As for the sampling rate, our old friend Mr. Niquist says that twice the highest frequency is enough, and more is a wasted effort, so why bother. Yes, we can build supersonic cars (and they will cost big bucks!), but when reasonable speeds are under 100 MPH, why waste money on useless things (but one of those Buggati Varons would be nice in my garage!).
Bottom line: Price is what you can get for the kit. No more, no less. If they can get £1000, I wish them well. They just won't get it from me!
As Nyquist discovered, with perfect anti-alias filters, the maximum recoverable analogue signal frequency is half the sampling frequency of the digital stream. There is no such thing as a perfect analogue filter so the major cost of a good DAC is the anti-aliasing filter. Given that a young human ear can fairly easily hear 22kHz, filter designs fo 44.1kHZ can be very complex to give the very sharp rolloff without sacrificing a flat response in the pass band. Upping the sampling frequency to 96kHz means that rolloff becomes less critical so the filter becomes cheaper. For the consumer, 96kHz should mean same quality cheaper or better quality for the same price.
With regard to 24 bit, it will lead to better dynamic range but, obviously, you wont hear it if your kit is made with 5%, carbon film resistors. That is why audiophile DACs (and other components) don't use these cheap, crappy resistors but choose better (more expensive) technologies that are less susceptable to noise, have lower parasitic reactance, etc. I have heard a side-by-side comparison of 'cheap' and 'audiophile' kit and you can hear significant differences. Having said that, I couldn't justify the exponentially more expensive price to the wife...
'Given that a young human ear can fairly easily hear 22kHz, filter designs fo 44.1kHZ can be very complex to give the very sharp rolloff without sacrificing a flat response in the pass band.'
A yes but if you resample - by interleaving samples between those 44.1Khz samples the lowest frequency you need to then filter of becomes doubled - do it again and it doubles again and so on - designing your roll off filter then becomes piece of piss - a simple RC network would do it.
Not sure where you got 22Khz from - the 44.1Khz sampling is from 2.2x max frequency (20Khz) and the little bit more was so it could be recorded onto (analogue) video tape as you got 3 bits per line IIRC for PAL or NTSC as line rate is very close.
Well Jim 4, in the seventies and eighties I worked for two different sound mixer manufacturers.
One used 5% carbon resisters and TLO72 op-amps the other used 2% metal oxide resistors and NE5534 op-amps.
Which had the better noise and THD specs? Oddly enough it was the one that used the lower quality components. I know because in both cases it was me that had to measure and document the specs of every sodding input and output channel.
surprisingly enough fibre optic cables do come in different levels of quality for light reflection, thus meaning noise can be added to a signal over a length of time/distance.
And coax cables aren't all 75ohms.
HDMI cables on the other hand just need a bit of gold plating and you're all set for up to 10metres... above that, you may want something a little better.