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Avante Medical Surgical is a premier supplier of surgical equipment for the modern operating room.
Avante Patient Monitoring provides hospitals and medical facilities worldwide a reliable source for repair and refurbishment of patient monitoring equipment.
We maintain a complete line of parts for major brands such as Philips, GE, Toshiba, and Siemens equipment in a climate and static controlled environment
Factory trained engineers with custom Contract, time, and material offerings.
Our expert engineers are second to none
Avante Ultrasound provides a reliable choice for customers seeking effective solutions to rising costs in the healthcare marketplace.
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When her eldest son turned five she dove into the world of novels. She'd read romance novels for years, but couldn't relate to the flawless, saintly heroines in Christian romance novels. So she decided to write her own.
Snow Angel was born on a frosty night in an old farmhouse in Fishers, Indiana, where the cold floor gave plenty of motivation for the snow scene. Jamie loves to write late at night when the house is quiet and the darkness seems alive. Elizabeth and Noah had been playacting in her head for a long time, so the story went fast.
Ten years later Snow Angel was published and won the ForeWord magazine Romance Book of the Year winner, was a National "Best Books 2007" Awards winner, and a 2008 RITA Awards® Best First Book finalist. It was the beginning of her dream career.
Jamie and her husband Tony have been married for twenty-one years and live in Indianapolis with their three sons and a giant of a dog named Leo.
If she could only say one thing to her readers it would be, "Live the dreams God has destined you for!"
Hoping to save them, Alex and Gabriel travel to Italy by balloon. Fraught with danger on all sides and pressured by Gabriel's affliction to the breaking point, they must learn to work and fight together. The mysterious key is within their grasp, but they have yet to recognize it. This journey will require steadfast faith in God and each other -- a risk that will win them everything they want or lose them everything they have.
If you would like to read the first chapter of A Duke's Promise, go HERE.

subset: commoncrawl


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Before we congratulate our winners and honorable mentions, the Merry Makers here at Merry Monday would like to thank each and every one of our participants, Guest Designers and Featured Designers who have played with us this past year! We are wishing you and yours a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and all the best to you in 2015! The Design Team will be taking the rest of December to spend time with their families and friends so we will return January 5th with a brand new year and a brand new challenge! See you then!
What an amazing gallery of cards you created for the challenge last week! Thank you so much for playing along with us.
What an amazing gallery of cards you created for the challenge last week! Thank you so much for playing along with us.
Our winner this week chosen by Karren...
Congrats, Ardyth! We hope you will join us as a Guest Designer. Please email Bonnie at bonklass at gmail dot com. Be sure to put "Merry Monday Guest Designer" in the subject line.
And our Honorable Mentions were voted on as well, if you received a vote from a design team member, your card and link is below. Congratulations! We hope you will display your badge with pride! If you are viewing this in Google Reader, you may have to visit the blog to see the actual cards that are linked below.


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Social Psychology/Cognitive Social Psychology
Introduction[edit | edit source]
Cognitive Social Psychology is modeled after the perspective of Heider and Gestalt psychology; to understand the 'common-sense' ways in which individuals make sense of the self and the world
- unit of analysis was cognition
- theoretical aim to specify the processes involved in how cognitions are formed, stored, and changed.
- criticism: just what is included under the rubric 'cognitions' is unclear; are believing angels exist and knowing one's telephone number both cognitions? Are they the same or different?
(see Pepitone, Albert. 1999. Chapter in 'Reflections on 100 Years of Experimental Social Psychology'.)
Social neuroscience and Social cognitive neuroscience. These fields engage in the study of how the brain processes, understands, and is affected by the social environment on a neurological level. Social cognition.
Emotion and motivation[edit | edit source]
Philosophical approaches to the emotions have been around for a long time, written with explanatory depth in such writers as Thomas Hobbes, Aristotle and Jiddu Krishnamurti. Social psychological approaches use these perspectives as launching points from which further theories might proceed.
Hedonistic theory of action[edit | edit source]
This theory finds its roots explicitly from the philosophy of Epicurus, followed by philosophers like John Locke, Jeremy Bentham, and Ludwig von Mises (among many others). The hedonistic theory (or psychological hedonism) states that human action occurs when:
- The actor is compelled to increase their pleasure by achieving a goal, or
- The actor is compelled to relieve the burden of uneasiness by achieving a goal.
Psychological hedonism has a fundamental place in most theories of action, most notably behaviorism, praxeology, and psychosocial theory.
[edit | edit source]
Erik Erikson conceived of a psychosocial developmental theory as an extension of Freudian psychodynamic developmental theory. The psychosocial model, called the "psycho-social theory of the self", is meant to be used to explain the most important variables in bodily development, and how they might relate to socialization. It includes:
- The erogenous zones on the body which provide stimulation. For example, the oral, anal, and phallic zones. Can also be expanded to non-erogenous zones of the body, including cerebral-cortical, loco-motor, sensory-motor, respiratory, muscular, and kinesthetic;
- The psychosexual mode, or the actions associated with each zone. For example, retention and elimination for the anal zone;
- The psychosocial modality, or the social analogy that can be associated with each respective mode. For example, "anal-retentiveness";
- The meaning, or preferred external objects associated with each mode and zone.
With this addition, Erikson made steps towards a developmental theory that was both psychological and sociological. Psychosocial theory helps to explain what kinds of goals the social actor may develop.
All of the above theories have provided models by which we might describe the subject of emotions, but more needs to be said in order for the researcher to explain and predict them. Pivotal questions include, "When and why do people have feelings?", "Are emotions themselves a cause of action, or are they mere epiphenomena (or illusions)?", and "How does the brain work to create social emotions?"
Maslow's hierarchy of needs[edit | edit source]
Affect control theory[edit | edit source]
One attempt to explain human emotional behavior has come in the form of affect control theory, which states that people in a situation will try to maintain any initial feelings or impressions that they have, rather than try to change them.
Three schools of the emotions[edit | edit source]
There are many ways in social psychology that have been used to study emotions. There is the social constructionist approach of James Averill and Rom Harre, and the realist approach of Paul Ekman and his study of facial expressions. In cognitive emotion theories there are the contesting works of Lazarus and Zajonc.
Social constructionist emotion research uses cultural evidence and review of historical documents. For instance, it's hard to find a western equivalent for Japanese emotion of amae. Another example often used is the emotion of acide, which has disappeared from European discourse in the 15th century.
Emotion and sequence[edit | edit source]
The main debate in the cognitive school has been about the sequence of events. In other words, a main concern has been: does cognition trigger emotion or does emotion trigger cognition?
The conventional view on this issue is that first a person will feel an emotion, and second, that emotion will compel an action.
However, Willam James's theory of the emotions says the reverse: that we first experience physical feelings in our bodies that we afterward interpret as emotions. If one sees a bear in the woods and decides to make a run for it, then one interprets oneself later on as being scared because one's heart, respiration, and feet are functioning faster. Lately Antonio Damasio has revived Willam James' emotion theory in an updated version.
James' theory of emotions can be considered physiological as well as social, for he emphasizes the situational aspects that arouse emotions. Examples William James makes use of include music, aesthetic experiences, and moral judgements.
"These [subtler emotions] are the moral, intellectual, and æsthetic feelings. Concords of sounds, of colors, of lines, logical consistencies, teleological fitnesses, affect us with a pleasure that seems ingrained in the very form of the representation itself, and to borrow nothing from any reverberation surging up from the parts below the brain.[...]
A glow, a pang in the breast, a shudder, a fulness of the breathing, a flutter of the heart, a shiver down the back, a moistening of the eyes, a stirring in the hypogastrium, and a thousand unnamable symptoms besides, may be felt the moment the beauty excites us. And these symptoms also result when we are excited by moral perceptions, as of pathos, magnanimity, or courage.[...]
In all cases of intellectual or moral rapture we find that, unless there be coupled a bodily reverberation of some kind with the mere thought of the object and cognition of its quality; unless we actually laugh at the neatness of the demonstration or witticism; unless we thrill at the case of justice, or tingle at the act of magnanimity; our state of mind can hardly be called emotional at all. It is in fact a mere intellectual perception of how certain things are to be called[...]" (Principle of Psychology part II, 468 - 471) all italics added
Spindle neurons[edit | edit source]
Recent research by John Allman has suggested that a certain kind of neuron in the brain may be responsible for the social emotions of humans and primates.
Applications[edit | edit source]
Whatever the theory of motivation, it will likely shed some light upon broader social issues such as Alienation and Depression.
Social perceptions[edit | edit source]
The ways in which people perceive and make judgments about events in the world.
- Attribution theory
- This field of social psychology is concerned with the ways in which people explain (or attribute) the behavior of others. It explores how individuals "attribute" causes of actions either to the actors involved or to situations -- in other words, whether or not an observer judges an actor to have had control over the act and its consequences.
- One discovery in this field is that it is normal for people to place blame upon others when some harm befalls them, but they are more likely to blame situations when the harm is upon themselves. Those suffering from depression do not seem to be susceptible to the same error.
- Social comparison theory
- A theory created by Leon Festinger which postulates that people are more likely to compare their own situations and wellbeing to that of those who they are most similar.
- Attitude formation
- An area of research that inquires into the attitudes and values people come to have. One question of particular interest is, "Do attitudes cause actions, or vice-versa?" Two theories which argue this question are reasoned-action theory (Fishbein) and self-perception theory (Bem), respectively.
- Theory of mind module
- Research and experimentation has recently come to suggest that part of the human mind is innately specialized in creating and processing an awareness of other minds. This "module" is thought to be absent for subjects with autism.
- Pattern recognition and chaos
- Human beings have a perceptual inclination towards finding patterns out what they sense, even if what they sense is noise. This desire for pattern-making can also manifest itself in a desire for social and intellectual orderliness. However, the extent to which the perceptual inclination towards orderliness leads to social and intellectual dispositions of the same kind requires further study. It may just as well be said that human beings, in the pursuit of creative endeavors, thrive upon some degree of chaos.
- Types of belief systems
- Belief systems can be structured according to certain variables: systematicity, empirical relevance, adaptability to new information, tolerance of competing beliefs, degree of commitment required to maintain, and style of belief organization.


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What's New
- Optimized for the iPhone and iPod Touch (5th generation)
- Correction of minor bugs
- Various improvements
App Description
The EXTENDED EDITION has finally arrived!
- New puzzles
- New scenes
- New objects
- New mini-games
- New characters
- An improved interface, brought to life with the collection of key objects
- An improved gaming experience
- A longer life span
The fabulous tale of Aladin completely revised!
Aladin, a young orphan, lives in the Orient. His only wealth lies in his small house and an old ring, that formerly belonged to his father. As Aladin has to steal to survive, he wishes deep inside he will become a rich man, to be worth the Princess Jasmine's attention. A strange dark sorcerer seems to be willing to help him. But in the country of the Geniuses, Aladin will have to act carefully...
Look for food, avoid the stallholders, find the marvels' cavern lost in the desert, enjoy the Genius' magic powers and find out what the mysterious secret kept in the Palace is!
Use the Hint: a shiny halo helps you to find one of the objects.
No more hints? Not enough time? Find the bonus stars hidden in the scenes to get more hints or time!
Escape in the oriental deserts, explore the souks, admire the marvels in the famous cavern or the prestigious Palace...
- 40 places to observe
- Mini-games: puzzle games
- 3 profiles management
- Best scores on line
- Search of objects (list, to collect)
- Help: zoom on selected screens, limited number of reloading hints, bonus stars
- Magnificent sets: high resolution images
- Retina Display (on iPhone/iPod)
- Game Center
You have a comment, an opinion, a question, a proposition about one of our games or apps?
Send an email to [email protected]
join our Facebook fanpage!
You have a technical issue?
Contact [email protected]
App Changes
- May 22, 2011 New version 2.1
- April 26, 2011 Price increase: $0.99 -> $2.99
- September 27, 2011 New version 2.4
- October 07, 2011 Price decrease: $2.99 -> $0.99
- October 10, 2011 Price increase: $0.99 -> $2.99
- October 14, 2011 Price decrease: $2.99 -> $1.99
- October 27, 2011 Price increase: $1.99 -> $2.99
- December 16, 2011 Price decrease: $2.99 -> $0.99
- January 25, 2012 Price increase: $0.99 -> $2.99
- July 29, 2012 New version 2.5
- August 24, 2013 New version 2.6


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White Pines State Park
Located in the heart of the Rock River valley, the 385-acre White Pines Forest State Park is the south boundary of the historic Chicago-Iowa Trail. Today, the park is perfect for family getaways to enjoy hiking, fishing, camping and picnicking. With serene, picturesque beauty, and modern lodge facilities amidst a beautiful forest, there is no better place to retreat from the everyday routine than the open spaces at White Pines.
Along the meandering banks of Spring and Pine creeks, this scenic haven has magnificent trees that share moss-covered cliffs, strung with trailing vines. In season, colorful beds of blossoming trout lily, solomons seal, bloodroot, blue-eyed grass, spring beauty and hepatica are everywhere.
Among the park's most interesting features are the concrete fords that span the creeks, allowing visitors to drive through the flowing streams, with an accessible path leading to the stream bank for wildlife watching and fishing.
Camping and picnicking are popular at White Pines, with shaded picnic areas along Pine Creek and more than 100 campsites and youth group campgrounds available, with advance reservations through www.reserveamerica.com.
White Pines Inn, originally constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, has modern amenities. There are 13 one-room cabins and three cabins with four rooms. The White Pines Inn Restaurant features homemade delicacies, banquet facilities, and a dinner theater. For lodge reservations, call 815-946-3817 or go online to www.whitepinesinn.com.
White Pines Forest State Park has seasonal archery and firearm deer hunting and, when snow covers the ground, cross country skiing trails.
6712 W. Pines Rd. Mt. Morris IL 61064
815-946-3717Visit Website


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This is excellent ! The lighting is great and the tone of the whole thing is superb ! I want to know what the pixels are hiding though dammitt !
scary and great! :D
Is it delicious cake?
teh boobzors!
what is it hiding?????
Oooh, hidden brain!
I think it's her heart. ^.^


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Meeting women used to be a real challenge for me. I'm not the most outgoing guy, and chatting up a perfect stranger has never exactly been my strong suit. But that's all changed now. You see, I've always loved cats for their easy companionship, but I wish I had gotten one sooner, because they come with a fantastic added benefit: They're the best way to get to know women who magically appear in your living room.
It used to be that when an attractive woman materialized in my apartment, I'd clam up completely. I couldn't just start talking to her out of the blue, and what would I even say if I did? Well, my cat, Oreo, changed all that. These days, when a woman steps out of nothingness into my living room, I don't have to lift a finger. She'll come to me—and my four-legged wingman.
It's almost too easy.
I'm telling you, guys, cats are instant conversation starters. Now when a woman who didn't exist a second earlier is suddenly lying on my couch, I can just wait for her to ask me what my cat's name is and if it'd be okay if she pet it. Finding that "in" was always my biggest hurdle. Not anymore. Seriously, a cat's like a magnet for every hottie that spontaneously manifests herself in your home.
There was this one absolutely gorgeous woman whom I'd see under my bed from time to time. But I knew that anything I'd say to her out of the blue would sound awkward, creepy, or just plain dumb. Well, two days after I got Oreo, I saw her again, flat against the floor under my box spring. She crawled right out and said, "Awww, who's this guy?" Then we were talking and smiling, and after a while we just sort of had to introduce ourselves.
Boom! Ice broken.
And your cat can work its magic pretty much anywhere—living room, kitchen, bedroom, even a hallway. I don't brush my teeth or wash the dishes without making sure Oreo's nearby. I never know if the love of my life is going to be standing right there in the shower or leaning on the counter by the sink, but I'm ready no matter what. I mean, I might bump into several women just while walking to get a shirt out of the closet, and if my cat's mojo is really working, I might have three or four phone numbers in my pocket before I even head out my front door in the morning.
You only get so many chances to find your soulmate. One day, that girl you always see standing next to your floor lamp might not be there. The beautiful brunette who always seems to be sitting on your nightstand will have moved on, and you'll wonder if she's now with some other guy who did what it took to meet her. Well, don't miss out. Get to the animal shelter and adopt yourself a furry little friend today.
Then just sit at home and wait.


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Alpha 9
Events Featuring: Alpha 9
You Might Also Like
Get Freaky Festival 2023
Get Freaky Festival 2023 coming to Salt Lake City on October 27th, 28th and 29th at The Great Saltair! Three nights of music, costumes and dancing!
Ages: 18+
Transmit Festival 2023
Transmit is back on air! Our annual broadcast returns to Salt Lake City on 11.25.2023!
Ages: 18+


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Cervical cancer was once one of the most common causes of cancer death among women in the United States, but today many cases of cervical cancer are prevented through widespread use of the Pap test.
Two vaccines are also available to prevent infection by some strains of human papillomavirus (HPV), a major cause of cervical cancer. The vaccines are approved for females (and males) ages 9 to 26.
Cervical cancer tends to develop in midlife; most women are diagnosed with cervical cancer before the age of 50; about 20 percent are older than 65 (American Cancer Society, 2010 statistic). Early cervical cancer and precancerous conditions of the cervix have no symptoms. This assessment will help you determine your relative risk for cervical cancer. This assessment is valid for women between the ages of 21 and 69 who have had sexual intercourse at least once and who have not had a hysterectomy with removal of the cervix.
Based on the information you provided, you have one or more risk factors for cervical cancer. A risk factor is any condition or behavior that increases your likelihood of developing a disease. Having a risk factor does not necessarily mean you will develop a disease, however. Knowing what your risk factors are helps your health care provider schedule appropriate screenings and recommend preventive measures.
For cervical cancer, the primary risk factor is infection with certain high-risk types of HPV or human papillomavirus, which causes genital warts. Other secondary risk factors also come into play. Based on the answers to your assessment, your risk factors, if any, are listed below.
The information you provided suggests that you have none of the common risk factors for cervical cancer covered in this assessment. Your results show the following preventive factors that decrease your likelihood developing cervical cancer by varying degrees:
Your results indicate you have one or more secondary risk factors for cervical cancer:
Your results also indicate the following preventive factors that decrease your risk of cervical cancer by varying degrees:
The most important risk factor for cervical cancer is being infected with the human papillomavirus (HPV). Most women diagnosed with cervical cancer have this virus. HPV is passed on through skin contact with an infected part of the body, usually on or near the sexual organs, the ACS says. Your risk for getting this virus increases if you have sex at an early age, if you have more than one sexual partner during your lifetime, if your partner has had multiple sex partners, or if you have sex with uncircumcised males.
HPV refers to a group of more than 100 types of viruses that cause genital warts. Only a few of these viruses cause cervical cancer; about half of all cervical cancer cases are caused by only two types, HPV 16 and HPV 18, the ACS says. Yet most women who are infected with these types of HPV don't develop cervical cancer.
HPV infection does not always cause warts or other symptoms, so you can pass it to another person without knowing it. Although condoms protect against many sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), they don't offer total protection against HPV, the ACS says. This is because HPV can be passed on by skin contact with an infected area of the body that can't be covered with a condom. Even when no warts are present, HPV can reside in the skin and be passed on. A vaccine that protects against infection with HPV 16 and 18 is expected to be approved in the near future.
According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), other factors that increase your risk for cervical cancer are:
The increased use of the Pap test has dramatically reduced deaths from cervical cancer. Pap tests find early cancers or changes in the cells of the cervix that could lead to cancer. Cervical cancer develops slowly, usually taking years to progress from a precancerous condition to cancer. For many women, the precancerous changes will not progress to cancer or will go away without any treatment. Precancerous conditions can be treated, preventing cancer from developing.
The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that:
To make sure your Pap test results are accurate, the ACS says to avoid the following:
A pelvic exam is not a Pap test, but both are done during the same office visit. The Pap test is usually done first. For the Pap test, the health care provider inserts an instrument called a speculum into the vagina to hold it open, then gently scrapes or brushes the cervix with another instrument to remove a small number of cells. This sample is sent to the laboratory. During a pelvic exam, a health care provider checks the health of a woman's uterus and ovaries by feeling them through the abdomen. For the exam, the provider inserts two fingers into the vagina and presses to steady the uterus; the other hand pushes on the abdomen to feel the uterus and ovaries. A pelvic exam cannot find cervical cancer in its early stages or abnormal cervical cells.
A health care provider may suggest one of the following treatments for precancerous changes of the cervix or for cancer found only in the outer layer of cells the cervix (cancer that has not invaded deeper tissues):
For more advanced cancers, a cone biopsy may be done first to establish the cancer diagnosis. In a cone biopsy (conization), a cone-shaped piece of tissue is removed from the cervix. Treatment for more advanced cancers may be hysterectomy, internal or external radiation, chemotherapy, or a combination of these.
This information is not intended as a substitute for professional health care. Always consult with a health care provider for advice concerning your health. Only your health care provider can do a thorough disease risk assessment or determine if you have cervical cancer.
References for Cervical Cancer
This assessment is not intended to replace the evaluation of a healthcare professional.


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Hewlett-Packard on Thursday said it will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad tablets and smartphones. It also confirmed that it is exploring the possible spin-off or sale of its Personal Systems Group (PSG), which dominates the global PC market.
The company's board of directors has authorized HP to explore options for the PSG unit. "HP will consider a broad range of options that may include, among others, a full or partial separation of PSG from HP through a spin-off or other transaction," the company said in a statement.
HP also confirmed it was in talks to acquire analytics software vendor Autonomy, though it did not provide further details. Reports from Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal earlier on Thursday put a $10 billion price tag on such a deal.
HP's Personal Systems Group, which sells PCs, tablets and smartphones, has the company's lowest profit margin although it accounted for nearly a third of HP's overall revenues in 2010. PC sales -- particularly consumer products -- tend to fluctuate more than business solutions and services as they are more sensitive to seasonal buying trends and economic trends, said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.
"By spinning off PCs, HP could effectively isolate potentially volatile financial numbers and their effect on its more stable, higher-margin businesses," King said.
HP is following in the footsteps of IBM, which spun off its PC business to Lenovo in 2005 to focus on the higher-margin software and services business. HP may also feel pressure from Apple, which has released highly profitable consumer products such as smartphones and tablets. Apple's tablets have hurt PC shipments, a market that HP dominates as the world's largest PC vendor.
HP is cutting its losses in the smartphone and tablet market quite speedily: it unveiled its TouchPad tablet and new smartphones with much fanfare only in February.
HP's PC business has been marginally profitable, but the margins have shrunk over the years, said Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates.
"It certainly goes against Carly Fiorina's theory of 'all's well together,'" Kay said. HP bought PC maker Compaq for $25 billion in 2002 when Fiorina was CEO.
Meanwhile, the possible purchase of Autonomy would be "completely in keeping with the increased focus on software and business solutions that HP's board had in mind when they hired [CEO] Leo Apotheker," said King.
Based in San Francisco and Cambridge, Massachusetts, Autonomy provides a variety of portal, enterprise search, content management and analysis tools to organizations.
"Autonomy focuses mostly on search and analytics of unstructured data and databases, which includes information that typically can't be captured within traditional relational databases," King said. It has grown a healthy business in the enterprise content space: Autonomy reported revenue of $870 million for 2010.
Traditionally, HP's enterprise services and hardware sales have dwarfed its software sales. For fiscal 2010, services generated almost $35 billion in net revenue and enterprise hardware generated $18.5 million, while software brought in $3.5 billion. Autonomy's sales could push that figure past the $4 billion mark
While starting in the enterprise search space with in-house technology, the company expanded its software portfolio through its acquisitions of Verity in 2005 and Interwoven in 2009. It also acquired informational governance software from CA Technologies in 2010.
Such a software portfolio would be "a natural complement to HP's efforts and technologies" in the enterprise content space, King said. It would dovetail particularly well with HP's Vertica database and 3PAR data storage products.
The software would also give HP a foothold in the emerging big data space, where it could build systems to compete with EMC's Greenplum and IBM's Netezza. "Both [of those] companies consider Big Data a market with a potentially huge future," King said.
In March, then-newly appointed HP CEO Apotheker announced that HP would concentrate more efforts on the data analytics and big data markets.
The PC business is the first obvious domino to fall as Apotheker tries to bring profitability to the company, said Ezra Gottheil, senior analyst at Technology Business Research.
"It's a much more exaggerated consequence of the [direction] the company decided to go with Leo Apotheker. Clearly the board wanted higher margins," Gottheil said. However, "HP will be challenged to drive software to be the kind of generator of profit that it is at IBM," Gottheil added.
But HP does potentially have something to lose if its PC business goes away -- such as some of the leverage it has in buying high-end server parts, Gottheil said.
(Joab Jackson in New York contributed to this story.)


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Time to leave @WhatsApp now! Which alt messenger do you prefer? #Signal (@whispersystems), @ThreemaApp or @telegram?
— Raffael Vogler (@joyofdata) December 1, 2015
LOCF and Linear Imputation with PostgreSQL
This tutorial will introduce various tools offered by PostgreSQL, and SQL in general – like custom functions, window functions, aggregate functions, WITH clause (or CTE for Common Table Expression) – for the purpose of implementing a program which imputes numeric observations within a column applying linear interpolation where possible and forward and backward padding where necessary. I'm going to progressively add and explain those constructs, step by step, so no problem if you are new to the scene. I am very much interested in input regarding potential downsides of the implementation and possible improvements.
Illustrated Guide to ROC and AUC
(In a past job interview I failed at explaining how to calculate and interprete ROC curves – so here goes my attempt to fill this knowledge gap.) Think of a regression model mapping a number of features onto a real number (potentially a probability). The resulting real number can then be mapped on one of two classes, depending on whether this predicted number is greater or lower than some choosable threshold. Let's take for example a logistic regression and data on the survivorship of the Titanic accident to introduce the relevant concepts which will lead naturally to the ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic) and its AUC or AUROC (Area Under ROC Curve).
Neural Nets with Caffe Utilizing the GPU
Caffe is an open-source deep learning framework originally created by Yangqing Jia which allows you to leverage your GPU for training neural networks. As opposed to other deep learning frameworks like Theano or Torch you don't have to program the algorithms yourself; instead you specify your network by means of configuration files. Obviously this approach is less time consuming than programming everything on your own, but it also forces you to stay within the boundaries of the framework, of course. Practically though this won't matter most of the time as the framework Caffe provides is quite powerful and continuously advanced.
GPU Powered DeepLearning with NVIDIA DIGITS on EC2
In this tutorial I am going to show you how to set up CUDA 7, cuDNN, caffe and DIGITS on a g2.2xlarge EC2 instance (running Ubuntu 14.04 64 bit) and how to get started with DIGITS. For illustrating DIGITS' application I use a current Kaggle competition about detecting diabetic retinopathy and its state from fluorescein angiography.
Convolutional Deep Neural Networks for Image Classification
For classification or regression on images you have two choices:
- Feature engineering and upon that translating an image into a vector
- Relying on a convolutional DNN to figure out the features
Guide to EC2 from the Command Line
This tutorial aims at guiding your first steps at controlling your EC2 instances from the command line. It is by no means even remotely complete but it will give you an impression of the basic structure and concepts, so you can quickly fill in the gaps for your personal use case. The tutorial starts with setting up your account and forges a bridge from requesting a Spot instance, over exchanging files with it, hooking up additional storage, to finally terminating it. I am not though explaining interaction with the AWS web console – we'll only resort it for some initial configuration. As usual the target audience are Linux users but the AWS CLI tools are pretty much identical for Windows.
Statistics on Votings in Bundestag
Edward Snowden – source:
There can be no faith in government if our highest offices are excused from scrutiny – they should be setting the example of transparency.
A Guide on OCR with tesseract 3.03
Tesseract is tough … so tough indeed, even Chuck Norris would have to check the manual twice. Not kidding you. Okay, so this article aimes at structuring what I needed to learn about tesseract to OCR-convert PDFs to text and how to train tesseract for application to new fonts. Let me dampen your expectations – you *will* have to read further texts (esp. the official documentation) to actually perform successful training! This text is describing usage of tesseract 3.03 RC on Ubuntu 14.04. Tesseract is also available for other Linuxes and Windows – the work flow will be mostly the same across OSes – of course some commands I use are though specific to Ubuntu. Also mind that tesseract 3.03 is considerably different to 3.02, which again differs from 3.01 as well – the changes are partially more fundamental than what you might expect from the version numbers.
Introduction to OpenCPU for R on EC2 with Python
OpenCPU is (simply put) a server implementing a RESTful web API for remotely executing R functions and retrieving results. In this tutorial I am going to showcase how OpenCPU can be installed on an EC2 instance running Ubuntu 14.04. Python and its requests package come into play for the purpose of conveniently handling HTTP communication. First and foremost thanks to the effort Jeroen Ooms put into developing OpenCPU and composing its documentation the whole process is comparatively easy and painfree.
OAuth 2.0 for Google (Analytics) API with Python Explained
In this tutorial I am going to explain how OAuth 2.0 works and how to apply it for interacting with Google Analytics API using Python. Google provides for that purpose a Python package – which so far only supports Python 2 though … well.
OAuth2 seems to be quite a mess at first and Google's documentation on this subject is not that well organized in my opinion. So with this article I do my best to save you the sweat I had to invest. After all it's not that complicated anyway, as you will probably agree.


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Photographs: Fabian Bimmer/Reuters Siva Govindasamy and Tommy Wilkes
A decade after low-cost carriers led India's air travel boom, full-service airlines are gearing up for a battle for premium passengers that only the deep-pocketed are likely to win.
Flag carrier Air India, which has only offered premium travel, will face more competition from second-largest airline Jet Airways, which on Monday said it would ditch its budget unit and focus on the full-service market amid mounting losses.
The carriers are also bracing for Vistara, a venture between Singapore Airlines Ltd and conglomerate Tata Sons Ltd which will start flying in October.
The competition in the full-service sector is heating up with no guarantees there will be enough passengers willing to pay higher prices to sustain three carriers in a market where low-fares dominate and where airlines struggle to make a profit.
Full service vs no-frills: Indian carriers brace for sky wars
Photographs: Courtesy,Kprateek88/Wikimedia Commons
"There will be a bloodbath. The competition is only going to become more intense," said Amber Dubey, head of Aerospace and Defense at consultancy KPMG.
A large, and increasingly affluent, population make India one of the world's most attractive air travel markets.
Passenger numbers have risen 13 percent a year since 2003, a rate analysts say outpaces most other markets.
But intense competition and higher operating costs mean Indian airlines lost a combined $1.77 billion last year and are projected to lose up to $1.4 billion this year, according to data from industry consultancy Centre for Aviation (CAPA).
That compares with the $18 billion profit airlines globally are expected to make this year, up from last year's $10.3 billion, International Air Transport Association data shows.
Full service vs no-frills: Indian carriers brace for sky wars
Photographs: Reuters
Low-cost carriers like Indigo, SpiceJet and GoAir have cornered two thirds of the domestic market, and were joined this year by a joint venture between Malaysia's AirAsia Bhd and Tata Sons Ltd.
Full-service carriers compete for the remainder one-third domestically, and with foreign carriers like Emirates, Qatar Airways, British Airways, Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Lufthansa on international routes.
Increasingly, they must also battle each other.
"There is demand at the upper end in India but it is nothing like the demand at the bottom end," said Kapil Kaul, chief executive for South Asia at CAPA. "You now have three airlines competing for the same customer."
Full service vs no-frills: Indian carriers brace for sky wars
Photographs: Punit Paranjpe/Reuters
Air India is the most unprofitable carrier, but is also the one most likely to survive the battle for passengers because of government support.
The carrier, which received a $5.8 billion state bail-out in 2012, halved its operating losses in the 2013-2014 fiscal year to 21.2 billion rupees ($353 million) by restructuring its operations over several years and cutting costs.
It retired older aircraft and introduced fuel-efficient planes such as the Boeing 787, and plans to add new Airbus A320s and Boeing 737s.
Air India also finally joined the Star Alliance group of carriers this year, allowing it to leverage the network of, and traffic feed from, partners such as Lufthansa, United Airlines and All Nippon Airways.
Full service vs no-frills: Indian carriers brace for sky wars
Photographs: Reuters
"The Indian government owns us. Just like any other promoter, they will pump money into their investment," said a senior Air India executive who did not want to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
"Do you think the government will allow us to fail after investing so much money?" he added.
Jet Airways, which has yet to turn a profit since 2007, said it would focus solely on full-service to gain market share. It barely survived a battle with Kingfisher Airlines, which folded in 2012, and its balance sheet is shored up by Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways, which bought a 24 percent stake this year.
"It is impossible to keep a foot in both markets when there are strong competitors on both ends," said a Jet executive who declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
Full service vs no-frills: Indian carriers brace for sky wars
Photographs: Reuters
Etihad offers Jet an extensive international network via Abu Dhabi.
Jet will receive its first 787s from 2015 and is likely to order new 737s to replace its existing ones. It aims to return to profitability by 2017.
Executives at the SIA-Tata venture Vistara say the full-service airline is focusing on a "neglected" sector in India.
Growth, however, has been faster at the low-cost segment compared to full service airlines and government policies to build airports in less-developed cities, where passengers tend to be more price-conscious, will favour budget carriers.
Full service vs no-frills: Indian carriers brace for sky wars
Photographs: Reuters
CAPA data shows that compounded annual passenger numbers were up 30.9 percent at IndiGo, 20.6 percent SpiceJet and 19.5 percent at GoAir between 2008 and this year, outpacing the single-digit growth at Jet and Air India.
The intense competition across all sectors will likely result in fewer airlines in India, analysts say.
"We expect consolidation over the next 12-18 months. At the current level of air travel penetration, the Indian market can only support at the most four strong pan-Indian airlines," KPMG's Dubey said.
(Additional reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee in MUMBAI; Editing by Miral Fahmy)


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Understanding Upgrade from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2010
Applies to: Exchange Server 2010 SP3, Exchange Server 2010 SP2
When you're upgrading your existing Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 organization to Exchange Server 2010, there's a period of time when both Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2010 will coexist within your organization. This section discusses key points about both the upgrade process and coexistence as they apply to the Client Access, Transport, and Mailbox server roles.
You can only deploy Exchange 2010 in an Exchange 2003 organization that operates in native mode. Use Exchange System Manager to change the Exchange organization to native mode on an Exchange 2003 server, as follows:
Start Exchange System Manager. Click Start > Programs > Microsoft Exchange > System Manager.
Right-click the organization, and then click Properties.
Click the General tab, and then, under Change Operations Mode, click Change Mode. Click Yes if you are sure that you want to permanently switch the organization's mode to native mode.
For more information, see the following topics:
Checklist: Upgrading from Exchange 2003
Upgrade from Exchange 2003 Client Access
Upgrade from Exchange 2003 Transport
Upgrade from Exchange 2003 Mailbox
For more information about the Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2010 planning and upgrade process, see the following topics:
Exchange 2003 - Planning Roadmap for Upgrade and Coexistence
Understanding Upgrade to Exchange 2010
Managing Deployment of Exchange 2010
Exchange Server Deployment Assistant
© 2010 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.


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- Parliaments
- Elections
- Data on women
- Data on Age
- Specialized Bodies
- Data tools
- About
United Kingdom
House of CommonsHouse of Lords
House of Commons
Specialized body - Women's caucus
State Pension Inequality for Women All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG)(May 2016)
See other specialized bodies
Women's Health All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG)(May 2016)
Women and Work All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG)(June 2015)
The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Women in Parliament(January 2010)
Women, Peace and Security All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG-WPS)(January 2006)
Women and Enterprise All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG)
Formal or informal
The caucus is open to male MPs
The caucus is cross-party
Issues dealt with by the caucus
To provide a cross-party forum in which to hold the government to account on the issue of transitional arrangements to compensate 1950's-born women
who are affected by changes to the state pension age and to campaign on issues around the state pension age.
who are affected by changes to the state pension age and to campaign on issues around the state pension age.
Contact information for the Committee
Alison Trew - Age UK
Tavis House, 1-6 Tavistock Square
United Kingdom
+44 20 3033 1226
+44 20 7219 4316


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Image Awards, Grammys & BAFTAs Recap
Image Awards, Grammys & BAFTAs Recap
by Kam Williams
Awards Season Heats Up over Busy Weekend
Big Winners: Black-ish, Adele and La-La Land
The NAACP, Grammys and British Academy Awards were all handed out this weekend. The festivities kicked off with the Image Awards, a Friday and Saturday event with only the second night being televised.
The sitcom Black-ish (6) took home the most TV trophies, Beyonce' (5) garnered the most in music for her concept album, "Lemonade," while the gay empowerment drama Moonlight (4) landed the most among the movie entrants.
On Sunday, Adele (5) dominated the Grammys, win
ning for Album ("25), Record, Song ("Hello") and Solo Performance of the Year. In the process, she beat out Beyonce', who only prevailed in the Music Video and Urban Contemporary categories.
Meanwhile, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts was staging its award ceremony across the pond. La La Land (5) continued its victory tour, adding notches to its belt in the Best Picture, Actress (Emma Stone), Director (Damien Chazelle), Original Music and Cinematography categories.
Factoring in the results of these three shows, it's hard to say which film has the best chance to give La La a run for its money at the Oscars. Moonlight has certainly received the second most accolades on the awards circuit, although box-office favorite Hidden Figures might be building momentum.
And you can't count out Fences, between the highly-lauded performances of co-stars Denzel Washington and Viola Davis, and the pressure being put on the Academy to be more ethnically inclusive after snubbing minorities entirely a couple years in a row. The Oscars will air live on ABC-TV on Sunday, February 26th at 8:30 pm ET and will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.
For complete lists of the winners, visit:
NAACP Image Awards: http://www.home.naacpimageawards.net/nominees/
Grammy Awards: https://www.grammy.com/nominees
BAFTA Awards: http://awards.bafta.org/


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Last week was an emotionally heavy week, for several reasons. I'll talk about one of those reasons in today's post.
I'm an itinerant United Methodist pastor, and this year it was my turn to move. I said goodbye to beloved brothers and sisters in Christ—and friends—to whom I've given much of life over these past five years. After I preached my farewell sermon, on Acts 20:17-27, the church presented the following video tribute as a parting gift to me. It's the best gift anyone has ever given me!
In addition to heartfelt tributes from many of my parishioners, two of my heroes in the faith—genuine heroes—contributed to the video: N.T. Wright and Paul Zahl.
As longtime readers of the blog may guess, Wright, more than any living person, is responsible for what I've called my "evangelical re-conversion," an experience that began around the time I started this blog in 2009 (even if it took another year or so to complete).
Wright, a retired bishop of Durham in the Church of England, is a world-renowned New Testament scholar—not to mention, for what it's worth, the most famous. How many Bible scholars, after all, were able to match wits with Stephen Colbert on his old Comedy Central show, for instance?
But it was Wright's massive book The Resurrection of the Son of God that turned my life around. Here was Wright, an evangelical who has spent his long career within the world of mainline, critical scholarship—a world in which I was immersed for three years in seminary—offering an energetic defense of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, along with the scriptures that bear witness to it. His writing gave me a greater confidence in the authority of scripture at a time in my life when I needed it. He also helped me understand how seamlessly the gospel fits within the story of Israel and the Old Testament.
His writing affirmed for me classic doctrines of faith that were minimized or neglected in seminary—such as penal substitutionary atonement, Final Judgment and hell, a literal Second Coming, and the infallibility of scripture—if not without much nuance and qualification. Still, Wright's qualifications never come from a place of skepticism about the reliability of scripture, only his effort to be more faithful to it. How can I not respect that?
So I love Wright and owe him a debt of gratitude. God used him to make me a more faithful follower of Jesus today—which is to say, a happier, more joy-filled person. And here he is, from his home near St. Andrews in Scotland, congratulating me on my new appointment!
My other hero of faith in the video is Paul Zahl, a retired Episcopal minister and theologian. For the past four years, the Very Rev. Dr. Zahl has been "living in my head" through his preaching, his writing, and (especially) his podcasts. More than anything, Zahl helped me fall in love with Jesus again. (As you hear in the video, this has been a theme of my recent preaching—not a coincidence.) He did so by enabling me to reconnect with a part of myself I lost too many years ago: that gawky 15-year-old who once wore the cover off his 1984 NIV Study Bible. "To find God," Zahl said—paraphrasing Meister Eckhart—"you have to go back to where you lost him." Or, put another way, to make sense of your life, you have to go back to that point in time—for me, around age 19 or 20—at which life stopped making sense. Truer words! And his reflections on those words in one of his podcasts—drawing on both Citizen Kane and the great Burton Cummings of the Guess Who—changed my life! Only Zahl could say, without irony, that if you want to understand what God's love is like, "You need to listen to more Journey." Indeed!
That these two men—who've helped shape me into the pastor and person that I am today—were part of this tribute moved me deeply!
And for good measure, because of my abiding and long-suffering affection for my alma mater, Georgia Tech, and my beloved Yellow Jackets, head basketball coach Josh Pastner offers his well-wishes.
(Special thanks to my friend and brother Matthew Chitwood for reaching out to all these people and putting this video together.)


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Top 10 Hideaways & Inns
Top 10 Hideaways & Inns from National Geographic.
From the National Geographic book The 10 Best of Everything
Auberge du Soleil
Rutherford, California
Napa Valley's magical wine country is the backdrop for this elegant hotel, opened in 1985. The accommodations feature Mediterranean decor; guests have their choice of rooms in the main building or several private cottages on the hillside. The restaurant offers a wine list that reflects the best of the area. At the spa, therapists use special herb-infused oils made from plants and herbs growing in the garden. There's a heated pool here, as well as a sun deck.
The Inn at Little Washington
Washington, Virginia
For two decades, Patrick O'Connell and Reinhardt Lynch have run this renowned hotel in the foothills of the Blue Ridge. Its 15 charming rooms and suites are meticulous in their details, including one decorated in the exotic style and color of the Far East, and another with its sun-drenched reading room. The luxurious, highly decorated restaurant—one of the top in the world, its cuisine a delectable mix of classical French and modern—is the place to take anyone you want to impress.
Ashford Castle
Cong, Ireland
Located in the heart of County Mayo in western Ireland, this luxurious castle, dating from the 12th century, is as romantic a place as one could desire. Rooms are decorated in cheerful pastels. The hotel has two dining rooms and three bars; a very traditional afternoon tea is served in the drawing room. An interesting array of activities is offered outdoors; there are three running trails, two tennis courts, archery and falconry lessons, and a tour boat that docks at the castle's jetty twice a day to ferry guests across Lake Corrib. The resort also provides tours led by pony-drawn carriages or traps around the grounds.
Pangkor Laut Resort
Pangkor Laut, Malaysia
Truly isolated in the middle of the Straits of Malacca, where the only noise comes from clacking palms and the gentle surf, Pangkor Laut is the true definition of paradise. A collection of Malaysian-style luxury villas dot this privately owned island located three miles (five kilometers) off Malaysia's west coast. Only 250 guests reside at Pangkor Laut at any given time. These lucky few are served by 400 staff, including 50 gardeners who make sure that every flower looks its best on the perfectly manicured grounds. This is the place to lounge in complete bliss.
Fearrington House Inn
Pittsboro, North Carolina
Located south of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Fearrington House Inn represents old-fashioned Southern hospitality. Built around a white clapboard farmhouse constructed in 1927, the inn has 32 rooms and suites, each individually decorated with antiques, original artwork, and fresh flowers. Afternoon tea and a full breakfast are included in the room rates.
Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons
Gret Milton, Oxford, England
One reason many people come to this contemporary hotel is to take classes at the Raymond Blanc Cookery School. The chef has established a reputation as the maker of amazing dishes; many of the ingredients are grown right in the Manoir's magnificent gardens, where Blanc grows more than 90 varieties of vegetables and 70 types of herbs. The 32 rooms and suites are in the main house and garden wing; those in the main house are furnished in a more traditional style; those in the garden wing look more contemporary.
The Point
Saranac Lake, New York
This rambling lodge used to be a country estate for the Rockefeller family. Located on a lake in New York's wild Adirondack Mountains, the resort is the perfect combination of wilderness and civilization. The 11 rooms—spread out in four buildings—have stone fireplaces and eclectic mixes of antique and (of course) Adirondack furniture. Guests can hike or swim in warm weather and tackle winter sports such as cross-country skiing in the cold.
- Nat Geo Expeditions
Hotel Splendido
Portofino, Italy
Situated in possibly one of the prettiest spots in Italy, Hotel Splendido overlooks the sparkling blue Mediterranean Sea. Most of the 65 rooms have water views. The restaurants' cuisine is top-notch; chefs use products from the hotel's olive grove. Eat outside on the terraces or inside in elegantly decorated rooms.
Las Ventanas al Paraíso
Los Cabos, Mexico
The name of this ultraprivate, luxury resort means "window to paradise," which is right on in this case. Tucked in between desert and ocean, its white hacienda-style casitas descend toward the beach and feature Jacuzzis, terra-cotta fireplaces, and rough-hewn wood accents. The dazzling windows of each suite are fashioned from rainbow glass created by local artisans; each balcony comes equipped with telescope to scan for whales or stars; and each minibar is personalized according to a questionnaire guests fill out before arrival. There's also a spa (one treatment uses gems and crystals), plenty of excellent food (including a separate pet menu), and infinity pools that seem to disappear into the ocean.
Le Manoir des Impressionistes
Phare du Butin, Honfleur, France
One of Normandy's most elegant and prestigious inns, Honfleur was visited by such noted artists as Boudin and Baudelaire, Monet and Courbet, in search of pastel-filled morning and filtered afternoon light—an impressive estate where Impressionism was born. High on a hill, overlooking the English Channel on a green frosted grassy knoll, the inn is surrounded by sunflowers, filling any traveler's notebook with memorable impressions. Terra-cotta floors, fabric-covered walls, and sumptuous meals; the family Boelen offer a congenial welcome.


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Patagonia Mens Line Logo Ridge Pocket Responsibili-Tee in Cone Brown
Patagonia Mens Line Logo Ridge Pocket Responsibili-Tee in Cone Brown
Sale Sold out
Regular price $45.00
Regular priceUnit price per
Sale price
The Line Logo Ridge Pocket Responsibili-Tee® is made from a comfortable 50/50 blend of recycled cotton/postconsumer recycled polyester. The fabric reduces our need for petroleum to make raw materials and cuts landfill and incinerator waste. Original artwork is screen-printed using PVC- and phthalate-free inks. Taped shoulder seams for comfort and fit retention. Fair Trade Certified sewn.
- Patagonia T-shirt with the lowest carbon footprint
- Taped shoulder seams for comfort and fit retention
- Made with 100% recycled fabrics
- Screen-print inks are PVC- and phthalate-free
- Fair Trade Certified sewn
- Patagonia original art


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Regular Member Meeting 2014 01 14
From HacDC Wiki
Time and Location
- January 14, 2014
- Called to order at ______ by ______
- Members present:
- Others present:
- Quorum?
- Quorum met?
Approval of Previous Meeting's Minutes
Regular Member Meeting 2013 11 12
Regular Member Meeting 2013 10 08
Regular Member Meeting 2013 09 10
Regular Member Meeting 2013 08 13
Director Reports
President's Report
Vice President's Report
Treasurer's Report
Here is the financial summary spreadsheet for December 2013: File:HacDC Financials 2013 12.pdf. One prospective member (not yet voted in) has started paying dues. Longtime member and generous contributor Tim Collins has resigned his membership. Several members haven't paid their dues for a couple of months, and since they've been unresponsive over e-mail it's unclear whether they intend to resign.
Project Awesome
Here is the Project Awesome spreadsheet for December: File:HacDC PA Projects-2013 12.pdf. I'm able to declare a $200 dividend and add $132.29 to our un-earmarked reserves. There were 16 votes, unchanged from the previous month.
Secretary's Report
Director-at-Large Reports
Shawn Nock
Project Awesome Reports
Project LASER
Project BYZANTIUM
Project KITBUILD
Project SUPPLIES
Healthy and stable at ~$1.4k.
Recent Purchases
- Glass sheets for Prusa Mendel.
Project EXPANSION
Only $145 after two months. At this rate, it will take another three months to buy a vertical bandsaw.
If you are holding one of the 3.783 votes for SUPPLIES, please consider voting for EXPANSION instead.
Project SPACECAM
Member Reports
Basement Shelves & Cleanup
Members are encouraged to discuss floor plan options with mirage335 after the meeting.
Personally, mirage335 has invested a lot into expanding HacDC capabilities, and doesn't see the following as particularly beneficial to those efforts: 1) Cutting down the new shelves without first providing an adequate alternative. 2) Unduly bureaucratizing new materials or equipment at HacDC.
Feel free to skim over the rest of this section during the meeting.
The Debate
Despite a full CAD model, lengthy comment period, and general consensus that the shelves should be built, all well in advance of their construction, suggestions have emerged to cut down the new shelves, among other things.
Please consider:
- If the shelves were not built, we would still be doing nothing effective about lack of storage, cleanup, or equipment workstations, probably for several more years.
- Cutting down the new shelves could delay cleanup and equipment workstations more months and years. Every project risks non-completion.
- Alternative uses for the basement are going nowhere at that rate anyway.
- Smaller shelves will not give us any unused storage space, leaving no room for growth.
Also, it is worth noting:
- AFAIK, HacDC is paying very little rent for that basement, among other things I might say on that point.
- About $300 and four person-days of effort have gone into the shelves. Jeopardizing that needs something to show for doing so.
- Those who want something dramatically different can build it, demonstrate that it works, and THEN propose removal of older solutions.
- Personally, I have put in at least several hundred hours cleaning up the space as well as maintaining HacDC's 3D printer and laser cutter. At least half that time was wasted due to lack of maneuvering room, a problem these shelves are needed to solve.
On the positive side, there are some more reasonable ways to address concerns raised in the debate, outlined below. Also, next time I propose something like this (if ever...), dimensions will be included in the render image.
At a cost of approximately $43.17, we can add wheels to the shelves capable of supporting 1.6 metric tons. Additional wheels or fixed supports can be fitted later.
Since some concerns have been raised about placing more than a metric ton on wheels, this should probably be done only if members absolutely insist on pushing the shelves against a wall.
Floor Plans
Floor plans are still in progress, derived from the Solidworks 3D models published on github. Other members are invited to explore alternative layouts using these files.
Also, the tables and carts modeled are not only speculative, but intended to be shared with both rooms in the basement. At any time, members could push the carts out of whichever room is most in use, or perhaps even temporarily outside.
Policy Changes
Some have objected to HacDC storing anything at all, and others have proposed unduly bureaucratic processes. While this probably is not a growth-oriented viewpoint, the need for a more effective, well publicized disposal policy, may be. I have been attempting help out by drafting such a policy.
Features include:
- Specific "Stays at HacDC Criteria" with time limits.
- Going-out-pile and rotation processes.
- Disposal processes.
- Conflict resolution (BOD approval).
However, since there is still a lot of debate over this policy, I suggest it not be voted on yet.
Flex Replicator
Multi-tool desktop factory platform. CNC Mill, Laser Cutter, 3D printer, and more, all simultaneously.
Design mechanically complete design. MDF print surface will be added, along with brackets and laser-safety walls. Should be able to build one of my own within the month.
Optical Table CNC
We have been recently donated about $1k worth of large aluminum extrusions. We now have the resources to build full gantry on the Optical Table at minimal expense. Soon as that Optical Table is on its feet, will outfit it with a variety of milling/extruding/lasering tools. Similar to the Flex Replicator, but much larger at 8' x 4' , and likely accurate to 0.5 microns.
We should then be able to make large wood frames, print hundreds of objects in a week, etc.
This is urgently stalled by the HacDC cleanup. Lack of a large area CNC has recently cost at least 150 hours of my time at HacDC while maintaining 3D printer and laser cutter, and more projects are waiting.
We have a really cool product, however, some temporary proprietary concerns are keeping me from discussing it fully. Suffice it to say, it will be really cool when HacDC can publicly declare "yeah, that came from us!"
Biosignal Amplifier
SigBlockly has been released. This graphical programming environment eases C development for signal processing and control systems tasks.
Host driver software is therefore nearly finished. Once libsndfile has been integrated properly, users will have an ultra-high-performance two-channel 'plug-and-play' USB ECG/EMG/EEG.
Thursday Meetings
The Thursday biohacking meetings have been getting quiet, but the core members still occasionally drop by and express interest. With the biosignal amplifier nearly finished, and hopefully more tools deployed at HacDC, we should be able to resume other projects.
WYSE Terminals
Created persistent USB stick image for the WYSE terminals, documented at Linux_on_Wyse_Winterm_S10_Thin_Clients. Trick is to use an old version of syslinux.
Tested about two dozen units. Surprisingly, all are functional, capable of USB and presumably PXE booting.
Request the additional 30 units mentioned by David Whiteis make it to HacDC. Planning to deploy these at HacDC as thin clients for a high-end server.
myDAQ and myDSP
Special thanks to Ahmed Aden for making a special trip to bring the myDAQ and myDSP back to us.
Have 3 giant fresnel lenses from old projection TVs. If we can use the badly scratched Fresnel upstairs out-of-focus in the light gathering optics, we only need one more of these lenses from old projection TVs craigslist.
Also, a modular pallet-and-rail will be used for the optics this time. The prototype frame that has been taking up space in the workshop is no longer useful, and was disassembled for that reason.
Occupancy Sensor
The hardware and firmware at HacDC are still working, but eryc's server no longer is. We need a new server to accept and publish the data.
In the long term, a new occupancy sensor based on the raspberry pi will replace the existing system
Old Business
From December agenda
- Zach purchased materials for basement shelves, and should now be reimbursed up to $400 (exact receipt value is not known to mirage335).
- Approving another $75 will allow wheels to be added to the shelves. That is not to say the wheels will be added just because their budget was approved.
- Katie proposes we allocate $100 for our traditional holiday gift to the security guard. Update (Dec. 22): ITG has provided the $100 gift to the guard; this proposal includes reimbursing him.
$600 for shelves to mirage.
- Quorum not met, could not vote.
Honorary Memberships
The Doctor
The Doctor is one of the founding members of Project Byzantium and one of the largest contributors to the project. He has made numerous other contributions including donating time and equipment to improve the space, and helping us to network with other individuals and organizations with shared interests.
Bradford Barr
Former President of HacDC. He is also headed off the SF. Brad has been a long-time supporter of HacDC's mission. He donated a lot of time to HacDC over the years including teaching a number of classes on a variety of topics from Python to lockpicking to yo-yos.
R. Mark Adams, PhD
Long time member and contributor to the space.
New Business
New Members
Adjourned at ________


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Back to Original Markers
Neutral Gray 0 Original Marker (N0) COPIC
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COPIC markers are versatile double-ended refillable markers with fast-drying, permanent non-toxic ink. The original COPIC marker is ideal for calligraphy, airbrushing and graphic arts applications. The square, rounded-edge barrel features a broad nib on one end offering smooth, consistent coverage for large areas, while the fine nib on the other end allows for easy detail work. Both nibs are replaceable.
Shipping & Returns
Most orders of in-stock items ship within two business days, "warehouse only" and "out of stock" items usually ship within two weeks, and "special order" items can take four to six weeks. Read the full shipping policy.
You can return unopened, resalable merchandise within 30 days for both online and in-store purchases, with some exceptions. All returns of undamaged items are subject to a 20% restocking fee, except for easels which are subject to a 50% restocking fee. Read the full return policy.


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Hedonism is a school of thought that argues that pleasure and happiness are the primary or most important intrinsic goods and the proper aim of human life. A hedonist strives to maximize net pleasure (pleasure minus pain), but when finally gained of that pleasure, either through intrinsic or extrinsic goods, happiness remains stationary.
- Etymology and lexicon
- Sumerian civilization
- Ancient Egypt
- Classic schools of antiquity
- The Cyrenaic school
- Epicureanism
- Mohism
- Christian hedonism
- Hinduism
- Utilitarianism
- Contemporary approaches
- Michel Onfray
- Abolitionism
- Hedonism as a scientific basis for long term future forecasting
- Criticisms
- References
Ethical hedonism is the idea that all people have the right to do everything in their power to achieve the greatest amount of pleasure possible to them. It is also the idea that every person's pleasure should far surpass their amount of pain. Ethical hedonism is said to have been started by Aristippus of Cyrene, a student of Socrates. He held the idea that pleasure is the highest good.
Hedonism is a sub philosophy of utilitarianism, which says to act in a way that maximizes utility. Hedonists equate pleasure with utility and believe that pleasure is the master of all humankind, and acts as the ultimate life goal. Hedonists believe that there are only two motivators of human action, pleasure and pain, and that decisions should only be made that further our pleasurable experiences and minimize or completely eliminate our painful ones.
Etymology and lexicon
The name derives from the Greek word for "delight" (ἡδονισμός hēdonismos from ἡδονή hēdonē "pleasure", cognate with English sweet + suffix -ισμός -ismos "ism"). An extremely strong aversion to hedonism is hedonophobia.
Sumerian civilization
In the original Old Babylonian version of the Epic of Gilgamesh, which was written soon after the invention of writing, Siduri gave the following advice "Fill your belly. Day and night make merry. Let days be full of joy. Dance and make music day and night [...] These things alone are the concern of men", which may represent the first recorded advocacy of a hedonistic philosophy.
Ancient Egypt
Scenes of a harper entertaining guests at a feast was common in ancient Egyptian tombs (see Harper's Songs), and sometimes contained hedonistic elements, calling guests to submit to pleasure because they cannot be sure that they will be rewarded for good with a blissful afterlife. The following is a song attributed to the reign of one of the Pharoahs around the time of the 12th dynasty, and the text was used in the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties.
Classic schools of antiquity
Democritus seems to be the earliest philosopher on record to have categorically embraced a hedonistic philosophy; he called the supreme goal of life "contentment" or "cheerfulness", claiming that "joy and sorrow are the distinguishing mark of things beneficial and harmful" (DK 68 B 188).
The Cyrenaic school
The Cyrenaics were an ultra-hedonist Greek school of philosophy founded in the 4th century BC, supposedly by Aristippus of Cyrene, although many of the principles of the school are believed to have been formalized by his grandson of the same name, Aristippus the Younger. The school was so called after Cyrene, the birthplace of Aristippus. It was one of the earliest Socratic schools. The Cyrenaics taught that the only intrinsic good is pleasure, which meant not just the absence of pain, but positively enjoyable sensations. Of these, momentary pleasures, especially physical ones, are stronger than those of anticipation or memory. They did, however, recognize the value of social obligation, and that pleasure could be gained from altruism. Theodorus the Atheist was a latter exponent of hedonism who was a disciple of younger Aristippus, while becoming well known for expounding atheism. The school died out within a century, and was replaced by Epicureanism.
The Cyrenaics were known for their skeptical theory of knowledge. They reduced logic to a basic doctrine concerning the criterion of truth. They thought that we can know with certainty our immediate sense-experiences (for instance, that I am having a sweet sensation now) but can know nothing about the nature of the objects that cause these sensations (for instance, that the honey is sweet). They also denied that we can have knowledge of what the experiences of other people are like. All knowledge is immediate sensation. These sensations are motions which are purely subjective, and are painful, indifferent or pleasant, according as they are violent, tranquil or gentle. Further they are entirely individual, and can in no way be described as constituting absolute objective knowledge. Feeling, therefore, is the only possible criterion of knowledge and of conduct. Our ways of being affected are alone knowable. Thus the sole aim for everyone should be pleasure.
Cyrenaicism deduces a single, universal aim for all people which is pleasure. Furthermore, all feeling is momentary and homogeneous. It follows that past and future pleasure have no real existence for us, and that among present pleasures there is no distinction of kind. Socrates had spoken of the higher pleasures of the intellect; the Cyrenaics denied the validity of this distinction and said that bodily pleasures, being more simple and more intense, were preferable. Momentary pleasure, preferably of a physical kind, is the only good for humans. However some actions which give immediate pleasure can create more than their equivalent of pain. The wise person should be in control of pleasures rather than be enslaved to them, otherwise pain will result, and this requires judgement to evaluate the different pleasures of life. Regard should be paid to law and custom, because even though these things have no intrinsic value on their own, violating them will lead to unpleasant penalties being imposed by others. Likewise, friendship and justice are useful because of the pleasure they provide. Thus the Cyrenaics believed in the hedonistic value of social obligation and altruistic behaviour.
Epicureanism is a system of philosophy based upon the teachings of Epicurus (c. 341–c. 270 BC), founded around 307 BC. Epicurus was an atomic materialist, following in the steps of Democritus and Leucippus. His materialism led him to a general stance against superstition or the idea of divine intervention. Following Aristippus—about whom very little is known—Epicurus believed that the greatest good was to seek modest, sustainable "pleasure" in the form of a state of tranquility and freedom from fear (ataraxia) and absence of bodily pain (aponia) through knowledge of the workings of the world and the limits of our desires. The combination of these two states is supposed to constitute happiness in its highest form. Although Epicureanism is a form of hedonism, insofar as it declares pleasure as the sole intrinsic good, its conception of absence of pain as the greatest pleasure and its advocacy of a simple life make it different from "hedonism" as it is commonly understood.
In the Epicurean view, the highest pleasure (tranquility and freedom from fear) was obtained by knowledge, friendship and living a virtuous and temperate life. He lauded the enjoyment of simple pleasures, by which he meant abstaining from bodily desires, such as sex and appetites, verging on asceticism. He argued that when eating, one should not eat too richly, for it could lead to dissatisfaction later, such as the grim realization that one could not afford such delicacies in the future. Likewise, sex could lead to increased lust and dissatisfaction with the sexual partner. Epicurus did not articulate a broad system of social ethics that has survived but had a unique version of the Golden Rule.
It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and well and justly (agreeing "neither to harm nor be harmed"), and it is impossible to live wisely and well and justly without living a pleasant life.
Epicureanism was originally a challenge to Platonism, though later it became the main opponent of Stoicism. Epicurus and his followers shunned politics. After the death of Epicurus, his school was headed by Hermarchus; later many Epicurean societies flourished in the Late Hellenistic era and during the Roman era (such as those in Antiochia, Alexandria, Rhodes and Ercolano). The poet Lucretius is its most known Roman proponent. By the end of the Roman Empire, having undergone Christian attack and repression, Epicureanism had all but died out, and would be resurrected in the 17th century by the atomist Pierre Gassendi, who adapted it to the Christian doctrine.
Some writings by Epicurus have survived. Some scholars consider the epic poem On the Nature of Things by Lucretius to present in one unified work the core arguments and theories of Epicureanism. Many of the papyrus scrolls unearthed at the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum are Epicurean texts. At least some are thought to have belonged to the Epicurean Philodemus.
Mohism was a Chinese philosophical school of thought founded by Mo Ti or "Mozi" in the 5th century BC. It paralleled the utilitarianism later developed by English thinkers;. It brought importance to the idea of universal love and extending love and kindness to all of mankind. As Confucianism became the preferred philosophy of later Chinese dynasties, starting from the Emperor Wu of Han, Mohism and other non-Confucian philosophical schools of thought were suppressed.
Christian hedonism
Christian hedonism is a controversial Christian doctrine current in some evangelical circles, particularly those of the Reformed tradition. The term was first coined by Reformed Baptist theologian John Piper in his 1986 book Desiring God: "My shortest summary of it is: God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. Or: The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying him forever. Does Christian Hedonism make a god out of pleasure? No. It says that we all make a god out of what we take most pleasure in." Piper states his term may describe the theology of Jonathan Edwards, who referred to "a future enjoyment of him [God] in heaven." In the 17th century, the atomist Pierre Gassendi adapted Epicureanism to the Christian doctrine.
Concept of hedonism is also found in the Hindu scriptures.
Utilitarianism addresses problems with moral motivation neglected by Kantianism by giving a central role to happiness. It is an ethical theory holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes the overall good of the society. It is thus one form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined by its resulting outcome. The most influential contributors to this theory are considered to be the 18th and 19th-century British philosophers Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. Conjoining hedonism—as a view as to what is good for people—to utilitarianism has the result that all action should be directed toward achieving the greatest total amount of happiness (see Hedonic calculus). Though consistent in their pursuit of happiness, Bentham and Mill's versions of hedonism differ. There are two somewhat basic schools of thought on hedonism:
Contemporary approaches
Contemporary proponents of hedonism include Swedish philosopher Torbjörn Tännsjö, Fred Feldman. and Spanish ethic philosopher Esperanza Guisán (published a "Hedonist manifesto" in 1990).
Michel Onfray
A dedicated contemporary hedonist philosopher and writer on the history of hedonistic thought is the French Michel Onfray. He has written two books directly on the subject (L'invention du plaisir : fragments cyréaniques and La puissance d'exister : Manifeste hédoniste). He defines hedonism "as an introspective attitude to life based on taking pleasure yourself and pleasuring others, without harming yourself or anyone else." "Onfray's philosophical project is to define an ethical hedonism, a joyous utilitarianism, and a generalized aesthetic of sensual materialism that explores how to use the brain's and the body's capacities to their fullest extent -- while restoring philosophy to a useful role in art, politics, and everyday life and decisions."
Onfray's works "have explored the philosophical resonances and components of (and challenges to) science, painting, gastronomy, sex and sensuality, bioethics, wine, and writing. His most ambitious project is his projected six-volume Counter-history of Philosophy," of which three have been published. For him "In opposition to the ascetic ideal advocated by the dominant school of thought, hedonism suggests identifying the highest good with your own pleasure and that of others; the one must never be indulged at the expense of sacrificing the other. Obtaining this balance – my pleasure at the same time as the pleasure of others – presumes that we approach the subject from different angles – political, ethical, aesthetic, erotic, bioethical, pedagogical, historiographical…."
For this he has "written books on each of these facets of the same world view." His philosophy aims for "micro-revolutions", or "revolutions of the individual and small groups of like-minded people who live by his hedonistic, libertarian values."
The Abolitionist Society is a transhumanist group calling for the abolition of suffering in all sentient life through the use of advanced biotechnology. Their core philosophy is negative utilitarianism. David Pearce is a theorist of this perspective and he believes and promotes the idea that there exists a strong ethical imperative for humans to work towards the abolition of suffering in all sentient life. His book-length internet manifesto The Hedonistic Imperative outlines how technologies such as genetic engineering, nanotechnology, pharmacology, and neurosurgery could potentially converge to eliminate all forms of unpleasant experience among human and non-human animals, replacing suffering with gradients of well-being, a project he refers to as "paradise engineering". A transhumanist and a vegan, Pearce believes that we (or our future posthuman descendants) have a responsibility not only to avoid cruelty to animals within human society but also to alleviate the suffering of animals in the wild.
In a talk David Pearce gave at the Future of Humanity Institute and at the Charity International 'Happiness Conference' he said "Sadly, what won't abolish suffering, or at least not on its own, is socio-economic reform, or exponential economic growth, or technological progress in the usual sense, or any of the traditional panaceas for solving the world's ills. Improving the external environment is admirable and important; but such improvement can't recalibrate our hedonic treadmill above a genetically constrained ceiling. Twin studies confirm there is a [partially] heritable set-point of well-being - or ill-being - around which we all tend to fluctuate over the course of a lifetime. This set-point varies between individuals. [It's possible to lower an individual's hedonic set-point by inflicting prolonged uncontrolled stress; but even this re-set is not as easy as it sounds: suicide-rates typically go down in wartime; and six months after a quadriplegia-inducing accident, studies suggest that we are typically neither more nor less unhappy than we were before the catastrophic event.] Unfortunately, attempts to build an ideal society can't overcome this biological ceiling, whether utopias of the left or right, free-market or socialist, religious or secular, futuristic high-tech or simply cultivating one's garden. Even if everything that traditional futurists have asked for is delivered - eternal youth, unlimited material wealth, morphological freedom, superintelligence, immersive VR, molecular nanotechnology, etc - there is no evidence that our subjective quality of life would on average significantly surpass the quality of life of our hunter-gatherer ancestors - or a New Guinea tribesman today - in the absence of reward pathway enrichment. This claim is difficult to prove in the absence of sophisticated neuroscanning; but objective indices of psychological distress e.g. suicide rates, bear it out. Unenhanced humans will still be prey to the spectrum of Darwinian emotions, ranging from terrible suffering to petty disappointments and frustrations - sadness, anxiety, jealousy, existential angst. Their biology is part of "what it means to be human". Subjectively unpleasant states of consciousness exist because they were genetically adaptive. Each of our core emotions had a distinct signalling role in our evolutionary past: they tended to promote behaviours that enhanced the inclusive fitness of our genes in the ancestral environment."
Hedonism as a scientific basis for long-term future forecasting
Russian physicist and philosopher Victor Argonov argues that hedonism is not only a philosophical but also a verifiable scientific hypothesis. In 2014 he suggested "postulates of pleasure principle" confirmation of which would lead to a new scientific discipline, hedodynamics. Hedodynamics would be able to forecast the distant future development of human civilization and even the probable structure and psychology of other rational beings within the universe. In order to build such a theory, science must discover the neural correlate of pleasure - neurophysiological parameter unambiguously corresponding to the feeling of pleasure (hedonic tone).
According to Argonov, posthumans will be able to reprogram their motivations in an arbitrary manner (to get pleasure from any programmed activity). And if pleasure principle postulates are true, then general direction of civilization development is obvious: maximization of integral happiness in posthuman life (product of life span and average happiness). Posthumans will avoid constant pleasure stimilation, because it is incompatible with rational behavior required to prolong life. However, in average, they can become much happier than modern humans.
Many other aspects of posthuman society can be predicted by hedodynamics if neural correlate of pleasure will be discovered. For example, optimal number of individuals, their optimal body size (whether it matters for happiness or not) and the degree of aggression.
Critics of hedonism have objected to its exclusive concentration on pleasure as valuable.
In particular, G. E. Moore offered a thought experiment in criticism of pleasure as the sole bearer of value: he imagined two worlds - one of exceeding beauty and the other a heap of filth. Neither of these worlds will be experienced by anyone. The question, then, is if it is better for the beautiful world to exist than the heap of filth. In this Moore implied that states of affairs have value beyond conscious pleasure, which he said spoke against the validity of hedonism.


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|General data
|Year/s of production
|Number produced
|Giotto Bizzarrini
|Manufactured by
|Piero Drogo – Carrozzeria Sports Cars Modena
|Technical specifications
|539/61 Competizione – Steel tubular frame, oval cross section, tube frame
|2400 mm
|Front suspension
|Independent wheel suspension, double delta wishbones, coil springs, hydraulic telescope shock absorbers, anti-roll bar
|Rear suspension
|Rigid axle, half elliptical longitudinal leaf springs, double trailing links, hydraulic telescope shock absorbers
|Front track
|1354 mm
|Rear track
|1350 mm
|Front tyres
|6 x 16 in., Borrani wheels with wired spokes and central locking – three prongs
Tyres: 185 x 16 Disk brakes Racing
|Rear tyres
|6 x 16 in., Borrani wheels with wired spokes and central locking – three prongs
Tyres: 185 x 16 Dunlop Racing
|Front brakes
|Hydraulically operated disc brakes
|Rear brakes
|Hydraulically operated disc brakes
|Kerb weight
|Approx. 935 kg
|Body material
|Very thin aluminium
|Body type
|"Breadvan" body – two seats
|168Comp./61 – Colombo front engine
|Number of cylinders
|2953 ccm,
|Bore and stroke
|73 x 58,8 mm
|1 overhead per cylinder bank
|2 per cylinder
|Compression ratio
|Single ignition, outside sparkplugs
|Dry sump lubrication
|Maximum power
|Approx. 293 hp – 7.000 rpm
|Maximum torque
|Approx. 275 Nm (28 mkg) – 5.500 rpm
|6 Weber twin carburettors, type 38 DCN
|4 gears + rev.
|Top Speed
|Approx. 285 km/h
|Good to know:
Short Racing History:
"Breadvan" body:
Ferrari SpA, by Ferrari Classiche, issues Attestation for vehicles of historic interest to "Breadvan"
Maranello, 9 April – Ferrari SpA has recently issued an Attestation for vehicles of historic interest by the Ferrari Classiche department to the 250 GT Berlinetta passo corto (chassis 2819) nicknamed the "Breadvan". The special document, which has been available since 2009, is dedicated to Ferrari cars that, although they do not comply with the strict Ferrari Authenticity Certification criteria, have been deemed, as a result of their competition and/or international recognized show history, to be of historic interest. Amongst the cars of historic interest from Ferrari, the Breadvan is probably one of the most emblematic models, considering its peculiar configuration.
The Breadvan is a unique model and the result of a very particular story. The car left the factory in Maranello in 1961 as a 250 GT Berlinetta passo corto (short wheelbase) "Competizione", participating the same year in the Tour de France with Gendebien and Bianchi behind the wheel, before it was bought by Count Volpi di Misurata, who fielded it in the 1,000 km of Paris with Trintignant and Vaccarella with the Scuderia Serenissima.
In 1962 the Count instructed engineer Giotto Bizzarrini to re-design this car in order to compete with the 250 GTOs. Therefore the brakes and the suspension were modified and the car was fitted with an innovative and aerodynamic body, with a lowered engine, improving the car's performance. The nickname Breadvan was invented by the British press, due to the characteristic shape. The first race the car participated in this configuration was the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Abate and Davis in the year of its transformation, although the car didn't finish due to transmission problems. The Breadvan participated in several races with exceptional drivers like Scarfiotti at the 1,000 km of Paris until 1965 when it ran its last race, the Coppa Gallenga in Rome.
This department was set up in 2006 to provide owners of classic Ferraris with maintenance, repair and restoration services, technical assistance and authenticity certification. Thus far, over 1,250 authenticity certificates have been issued. The certification process involves researching the cars' original designs which are held in the Company's own technical-historical archive. The Certificate of authenticity is aimed at road-going Ferraris of 20 years of age and over as well as all limited edition and competition cars, Formula 1s included, regardless of their year of construction. The certification document officially attests to the authenticity of the car for which it is issued. This acts as additional guarantee of the car's status should the owner decide to sell it on. In 2009, Ferrari also introduced the new Attestation for vehicles of historic interest aimed at Ferraris that, although they do not comply with the strict Ferrari Authenticity Certification criteria, have been deemed, as a result of their competition and/or international recognized show history, to be of historic interest.
Of the restorations recently completed by Ferrari Classiche, five can be considered of particular relevance. The first two of these was the 250 GT (chassis no. 0419 GT), which won the Best Restoration prizes at the Villa d'Este and Cavallino Classic Concours d'Elegances. The second was the 250 GT Berlinetta passo corto (SWB, chassis no. 2735), driven to victory in four races in 1961 by Stirling Moss, who himself was present when the owner collected it from the Ferrari Classiche workshop. The other two were the 1955 750 Monza (chassis no. 0554), which was repainted in its original white livery with light blue central finish, and the Monoposto Corsa Indianapolis (chassis no. 0388), a unique 1953 single-seater developed as a prototype in preparation for the Indy 500 in which it never actually raced. It did, however, compete in several other events in the course of the 1950s. The most recent restoration work to be completed is the 250 LM (chassis 5845), year of construction 1964, winner at the 1965 Austrian GP held for Sport cars with a young and promising Jochen Rindt behind the wheel.


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Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Sometimes Frugality can be Taken Too Far
The cleaning was unpleasant and the trap still stunk afterwards. It wasn't until after I reset the trap and put it in place that I thought about how foolish it was to do all that work. The last time I checked, mouse traps at a local store range in price from about 50 cents to $2 for a "deluxe" model.
So now I consider mouse traps to be disposable. If there is the slightest bit of unpleasantness in trying to dislodge a dead mouse from a trap or clean it up, it goes in the garbage with the mouse. Now I catch 3 or 4 mice per year and happily buy new traps periodically. I'm still trying to figure out how they get in, but at least the disposal part of this job is easier now that I've looked at this more rationally.
12 comments:
What you need is one of them there ceiling cats.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 16, 2009 at 1:52 AM
Unless you have pets (and even if you do just be more careful) i found that using the poison was very nice.ReplyDelete
I had a house with some mice and used traps for a while. Then switched to poison (which disentegrates the mice) they went away much easier and faster.
Finding the entrance is a whole different story. Still not sure how they got in originally.
Good luck
Gene: I'd better use only one ceiling cat. Otherwise I might have to get a ceiling dog to deal with a ceiling cat infestation.ReplyDelete
Anonymous: I'll keep that in mind. For now I don't seem to have an infestation, but just the odd mouse that gets in.
Good point about excessive frugality. I like to save a few dollars as much as the next person, but because we are careful with the basics like spending less than we earn, we are able to afford simple "luxuries" (within reason).ReplyDelete
This kind of ties into your posts about marginal utility. I'm thinking specifically of the one about the two guys getting $24 from the beer company as a reward for trying the new beer. The rich guy enjoys the reward far less than the less wealthy guy.ReplyDelete
I encounter little dilemmas all the time, like is it worth it to spend an extra half hour walking to a different store to save $2 on a $12 purchase? Or is it worth waiting for a sale so I can buy an item for $13 instead of $16?
I think it's more complicated than just deciding whether to become $3 poorer than if I were to wait. There also seems to be a good feeling associated with getting a good deal, and a bad feeling associated with paying too much relative to alternatives.
This isn't exactly the situation with the mouse traps, of course. There is an element of marginal utility though. If your monthly income exceeded your expenses by only $10, you would be reluctant to buy a new trap, whereas the average person should just buy a new trap.
You could get a Ceiling snake to eat the mice too!ReplyDelete
Any vermin catching device is disposable in my opinion.
And as a follow up here is the DUMBEST idea for vermin control:ReplyDelete
WTF?!? Humanely catching vermin?
I did the exact same thing - dislodged a dead mouse and reused the trap. I learned my lesson after the first one.ReplyDelete
Gene: It can be difficult to come up with a general policy for how to handle these situations. However, I find that in most cases the answer is obvious if I actually think. The problem with my mouse trap experience was that I didn't think and just launched into frugal mode pointlessly.ReplyDelete
Big Cajun Man: I can understand that some people have a hard time killing anything, but the advice to catch the mouse humanely and then let it go bothers me. How many people will actually let the mouse go far enough away from houses that the mouse and/or its progeny won't end up in someone else's house?
Mat: I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one.
Don't do the poison though...the mouse dies in some obscure place in your ceiling and stays there to rot and smell. Then you have to spend more money on air freshener, which won't quite mask the smell of decaying mice. Stay with the trap.ReplyDelete
If you feel sorry for the little mousies, you can buy a live capture trap...and maybe even sell the mice to the pet store for a tidy profit. Wow, come to think of it, maybe this is a business opportunity!
Andy R: I definitely don't want hidden rotting mice around. They smell bad enough if I don't check the traps for a while. I don't think live capture traps are for me (even with the possible business opportunity!). If I forget to check it for a long enough time, a trapped mouse would starve to death. This is much less humane that just killing the mice in a standard trap.ReplyDelete
One of my favourite exchanges from Cheers (paraphrasing):ReplyDelete
Woody: I remember back in Hanover when we would get an infestation every year or so... we'd have to bomb the house.
Norm: Yeah, those bug bombs are a heck of an invention aren't they?
Woody: What the heck is a bug bomb?