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After two wild days on Wall Street, investors appear to be taking a breather on Wednesday.
U.S. stock futures edged up slightly ahead of the opening bell, showing little reaction to a weak manufacturing report.
Italy continues to be a worry, as concern about political gridlock caused a big sell-off in global markets earlier this week. But Fed chairman Ben Bernanke's comments and a pair of solid economic reports on Tuesday soothed those worries, and stocks staged a big rebound.
Heading into Wednesday, investors were focused on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, showing that orders for durable goods orders dropped $11.8 billion, or 5.2%, in January. This was a steeper decline than the 3.5% decrease projected by economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
Boeing (BA)'s Dreamliner issues and the decline of defense spending appear to have played a role in the drop. Excluding transportation, new orders would have increased 1.9%. Excluding defense, new orders would have decreased 0.4%.
Also on Wednesday, Bernanke will be back on Capitol Hill to give testimony before the House Financial Services Committee.
Marc Chandler of Brown Brothers Harriman said that Bernanke's comments will dominate investors' attention.
"Even though his prepared remarks will be identical to yesterday's, the Q&A will be different," said Chandler. "The looming sequester and the new risks from Europe give Bernanke additional fodder for his defense of the Fed's long-term asset purchases."
Related: The myth of the Great Rotation
Meanwhile, a bond auction in Italy drew solid demand for €6.5 billion worth of medium and long-term debt. That helped push European markets higher.
In the U.S., investors are likely to be focused on Apple's (APPL) annual shareholders meeting.
Firms including retailerTJX (TJX) are scheduled to report quarterly results in the morning, while Sturm Ruger (RGR), Groupon (GRPN) and J.C. Penney (JCP) are up after the bell.
Related: Fear & Greed Index edging toward neutral
Shares of Priceline (PCLN) were up more than 4% in premarket trading after the online travel site beat profit forecasts.
First Solar (FSLR) shares sank sharply in premarket trading after the renewable energy firm missed sales forecasts.
Related: Defense stocks in the crosshairs
Asian markets ended mixed. Japan's Nikkei lost 1.3%, while the Shanghai Composite added 0.9% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng increased 0.2%.


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We plant lots of iris bulbs at Perch Hill; they're beautiful and successful in pots, at the front of borders, or in grass. Our carefully chosen range of iris bulbs and rhizomes has something for everyone. Our Iris hollandica are a taller variety that are invaluable for providing drifts of colours to keep your garden interesting for the whole of May, Iris sibirica are easy to grow and good for naturalising and the delicate reticulata varieties are perfect in pots as a reminder of the warmer days to come.Read More

subset: commoncrawl


text: Strong fine thin tips, 11 0mm in length. This tweezer style is a medical stainless steel composed of C, Mn, Cr, Mo and V that provides an excellent resistance to corrosion and a good resistance to salt. Although not as hard as Carbon steels, this style offers excellent resistance to corrosion. This magnetic alloy supports temperatures of around 400°C (DIN 50914) and is suitable for autoclave sterilization at 180°C.


text: First of all, this was an awesome article and the best How-To I've done yet. Got my webserver up and running and hosting my first site. The web-ftp function works great but I would like to connect to my site directly with dreamweaver or another ftp client but my ftp username/password are not working. I am using the user account that I created as Admin. Any suggestions would be great as I have reached a bump in the road. I read another thread here that was similar, and the guy said he logged into his admin account, and removed ftp access, saved, and then rechecked ftp access, and resaved, and it worked for him. I tried that but when i uncheck ftp access and save......I go back to it, and it is still checked, it's like it won't let me uncheck ftp access. Please help...lol


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Rockbox Ports are now being developed for various digital audio players!
Sorry to go off topic here guys, just wanted to clear up i wasn't having an issuethat i just didn't know what i was doing ..there IS a bug that exists between the two.
Page created in 0.477 seconds with 23 queries.


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François Bauchet
Designer of furniture, objects and tableware ; scenographer and interior architect.
He was elected 'créateur de l'année 2002' at the Salon du Meuble de Paris.
In 2000, the Musée des Arts décoratifs organised a personal exhibition centring on his work.
Since 1999, he has collaborated with the agency and gallery Kreo, for whom he regularly designs new collections.
From 1984 to 1998, he worked with galerie Neotu, where he regularly presented new collections.
In 1985, he worked on a project for the petit café de la fondation Cartier in Jouy-en-Josas, for whom he also fitted out offices in 1987. That same year, he was invited to participate in the Documenta de Kassel. Various fitting-out projects followed : windows and reception furniture for the Centre d'Art de Vassivière in the Limousin, a reception area for the Musée d'Art et d'Industrie de Saint-Etienne, studies into 'inter-quartier' relations, 'Du jeu de mail à la basse ville' for the city of Dunkerque, exhibition and café furniture for the galerie du jeu de Paume, and furniture, walkways and follies for the parc du château d'Azay-le-Rideau'
His furniture and objects are currently being produced by the following companies : Kreo, Cinna, Ligne Roset, Ercuis and Haviland.


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Started in 1993, the ACT Veterans Cycling Club was formed to cater specifically for veteran racing cyclists in the Canberra area. Veteran category for cycling is 35 and over for men and 30 and over for women. Road races are held throughout the year at a number of different venues in and around the A.C.T. Track races are run during the summer months at Queanbeyan Park. All competitors are graded or handicapped in relation to their performance and fitness and new members receive particular attention to ensure they race in a group compatible with their ability. The club aims to promote friendly competition in cycle racing so that both newcomers and experienced riders in all age groups can enjoy this great sport in a safe and sociable environment.
A message from the President
I'm very proud to launch the new website that's designed to be mobile friendly.
The ACT Veterans Cycling Club (or just "the vets") has been running since 1993 and was formed to cater specifically for veteran racing cyclists in the Canberra area. Veterans are defined as 35 years old and over male cyclists and 30 and over for women. Our "most mature" members are in their 70s. The Club has around 350 members.
The Club supports three types of racing, road, criterium (or crits) and track racing. During the winter season, March to October, races are held every week on Saturday afternoon. In the summer season, October to March, road races are on Sunday mornings, Criterium racing on Tuesday afternoons (at the excellent Stromlo track) and track racing is conducted at Narrabundah on Wednesdays.
No hi tech or expensive equipment is necessary to get started but bikes must be roadworthy and helmets that comply to AS 2063 are mandatory for all events.
The Club is affiliated with the Australian Veteran Cycling Council Inc. (AVCC) which allows us to keep membership fees low. All financial Club members are covered by insurance for accidents that occur while training or racing.
Whilst all members are graded or handicapped in relation to their performance and fitness, the policy of the club is to avoid any elitism and ensure all riders receive equal recognition, regardless of age, gender, ability or experience.
I'm very proud of the friendly ethos of the Club. We welcome new members and, if you're new to riding, racing or even trying a new form of racing, like I am with the track, there's always some willing hands to teach you the ropes.
Our club is as much about the riding as it is about the after ride debrief. I also encourage members to invite new riders to participate in "bunch" or social rides. It's a great way to meet new friends, learn skills and work on your bunch etiquette.
As the President I also encourage members to volunteer for race marshalling and positions on the Board. The Club relies on a few hardy and wonderful individuals that volunteer their time week in week out to keep us all having fun. Please consider signing up for a marshalling course, becoming a race director or helping us out on the Board. Without these amazing volunteers there is no Club.
Finally I'd like to thank Allan Bontjer for his work on the previous web site and Andrew Remely for his work developing the new web site.
Dougal Torrance
President– ACT Veterans Cycling Club
February 2017
Keep in touch with the latest news. Members also receive the news a weekly email. The Bleat has it all.


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Looking for some fun indie games to keep you warm on a cold winter's night? Look no further than the Snow Storm Bundle from Indie Royale, offering hours of enjoyment even if you're snowed in! Featured in this action packed bundle are 6 great indie games, valued at over $55, including a challenging science fiction point-and-click adventure from Wadjet Eye & XII Games, Resonance; a RPG-heavy city builder from Tilted Mill, Hinterland; Naked Sky Entertainment's 3D mechanical platformer, RoboBlitz; a high-speed and addictive arcade game, StarDrone, and more!
First up is unique and fresh sci-fi adventure game Resonance available for Windows on Steam, Desura and DRM-free, developed by XII Games and offered thanks to Wadjet Eye Games. Resonance offers an old school pixel art aesthetic and challenging puzzles, not to mention unique game mechanics that include the ability to control all four characters and an inventory system that tracks short term and long term memories. Destructoid praises Resonance for its "fantastic interconnected stories, wrapped up in a grand mystery with four interesting protagonists. What's not to like?"
Next up is Tilted Mill Entertainment's city building game with RPG elements, Hinterland, available for Windows on Steam, Desura and DRM-free along with its OST! Play in a randomly generated fantasy world which offers immense replay value while you loot, level and build with fast paced RPG combat and strategic base building! Gamershell calls Hinterland "an accessible yet deep-reaching strategic adventure."
Also featured is a 3D mechanical platformer with physics based puzzles RoboBlitz, available for Windows Steam, from Naked Sky Entertainment (plus its OST!) Play Blitz, a robotic technician on the Space Cannon Facility of the Opera Point Orbital Defence Station and defend your factory from a band of invading mechanical brains through a host of action packed levels. IGN calls RoboBlitz an "enjoyable sci-fi romp that combines a quirky location and some physics based puzzles to create one of the most enjoyable surprises of the year."
The next game that you won't wanna miss is a standout arcade game from Orb Games, StarDrone, already a hit on PlayStation Network, and now available for Windows on Desura and DRM-free with its OST. Play all 50 levels of this high-speed action thriller with a mix of arcade action, pinball, breakout, physics and collect-the-objects and you'll be hooked! Games Radar says "StarDrone has got us right where it wants us. As an addictive action puzzler that combines pinball, tractor beams, outer space, maze exploration, and blowing enemies to smithereens, it executes at a high level."
The next game in this wintery bundle is PAX10-winning Arcade RTS Project Aftermath from Games Faction, available for Windows Steam, Desura and DRM-free. Lead a group of commanders to kill lots of enemy units and enjoy light role playing and constant nail biting action. Play up to 4 heroes and get the most "goop," in order to take advantage of special powers, but make sure you don't use too much or you won't make it to the next level! Rock Paper Shotgun says of Project Aftermath "Here's a cool indie RTS that you really should take a look at right away: Project Aftermath. It's a squad-based sci-fi combat game, with power-wielding heroes and ongoing objectives, large maps, puzzling tactical conundrums, and little squads of brightly coloured laser-wielding dudes following your heroes..."
Last up is RobotRiot from Retromite, available for Windows on Desura and DRM-free (plus its OST!) This classic shooter/platformer offers over 20 action packed levels, exciting power-ups and weapon-upgrades, retro art and a great chiptune soundtrack. Play a robotic repossession agent that disables ships from the inside enabling your employer to tow them in as just compensation for unpaid debts and fight epic bosses and a multitude of enemies. Kotaku praises RobotRiot saying it "offers nice pixel-art graphics, fun gameplay, and its own little personality... I can't recommend it enough!"
Finally, those who pay $8 USD or their currency equivalent during the Snow Storm Bundle will get an ambient electronic album from Miles Tilmann of Dino Run creators Pixeljam, in the form of 'Planeteri'! Included with the album is a PC/Mac executable co-created by Fernando Ramallo (Panoramical) that provides a unique visualization for each track - and any music you plug into it!
You can find more information on the Snow Storm Bundle, including real-time statistics and its current price, on its official website or via its Facebook and Twitter pages. Grab this bundle now while the price is still low (unless kind purchasers lower the price) so that you'll have hours of indie games to entertain you even if you're snowed in!


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For Global Peace with Social Justice in a Sustainable Environment
Joe Matthews has not received any gifts yet
I am a gandhian scholor & having deep knoledge in gandhian philosphy. Now I am working in Gandhi Research Foundation Jalgaon. I am editor of bio monthaly magzine 'Khoj Gandhiji Ki' I am requesting for friendship. By which we can do job for piece for world.
© 2023 Created by Clayborne Carson. Powered by


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It appears that Everex, the same company that sent Wal-Mart shoppers into a tizzy of values with its Linux-based gPC , now has its sites set on the Asus Eee PC with a new ultra-portable dubbed the "Cloudbook." The device will feature a 7-inch screen and the same Linux gOS found in the gPC. A 1.3 megapixel webcam is also rumored to come standard. Additional image and info after the break.
In order to reduce costs, the device will utilize a 30GB hard drive as opposed to the flash storage found in the Eee PC. It will also be powered by a 1.2GHz Via C7 ULV processor — unlike the Eee PCs 900MHz Celeron. Other rumored specs include 512MB of RAM, built-in wired and wireless Ethernet interfaces, a 4-in-1 card reader, a pair of USB 2.0 ports and DVI-out. There is also a developers' version that features a touchscreen UI, Skype phone and alarm clock module (similar to the NanoBook). Nothing is set in stone here, including the specs, but the device is expected to ship on January 15th for $400. The developer's version may arrive as early as the January 1st —although pricing info is not yet known. [Linux Devices via Electronista]


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Reservation Deposit
A 25% or 50% (depending on property) deposit must be received upon the time of reservation, the remaining balance needs to be paid 30 days prior to your arrival.* (If reservation is booked within 30 days prior to check-in, transfer should be made in full).
Refund Policy
Update July 28, 2021
We understand the need for increased flexibility in travel planning right now. To help our valued guests, we offer the following special policy for our Costa Rica vacation rentals & services.
Please note that cancellations made 60 days or more, prior to arrival will receive a refund equivalent to 85% of their deposit. Cancellations made within 30 -60 days prior to arrival will receive a credit for the house, equivalent to 85% of their deposit, valid for up to one year from cancellation. Cancellations within 30 days of arrival are non refundable unless the dates can be re-rented for the same amount as the original reservation.
Holiday dates and BPM Festival are excluded from this cancellation policy, All holiday dates and BPM Festival (Jan 10-20, 20222) are non-refundable.
We would also like to encourage all our guests to purchase travel insurance for a peaceful and worry free vacation.
Check-In & Check-Out
Check-in time is between 3 and 10 pm. | Check-out time is 10 am. If you would like to request a late check-out, please confirm in writing with the Vacation Rentals of Tamarindo staff ahead of time to ensure we don't have any one-day turnovers.
Security/Damage Deposit or Damage InsuranceEither a damage voucher with a hold on your credit card will be needed before your check in or a $500/$1000/$2000 (depending on property) rental security deposit is required 30 days before your arrival, which will be refunded to the same credit card the deposit is taken from, provided nothing is broken or missing. If something does get broken or turns up missing or house rules were broken, the value of these items will be taken away from the security deposit.
Occupants & Visitors
With the exception of guests registered in the original booking number, outside visitors not pre-approved with Vacation Rentals of Tamarindo are not allowed at any time inside the premises.
We are a strictly non-smoking rental. We ask that you not smoke in the house at all. If evidence of smoking, such as the smell of cigarettes inside the home and/or cigarette burns on the furniture, is noticed by the cleaning crew there will be a $500 damage assessment.
Pets are strictly not allowed unless otherwise discussed and approved in writing with Vacation Rentals of Tamarindo. We have some pet-friendly homes, ask our reservations agents which homes are pet-friendly and they will help you find one and explain you the rules.
Volume & Noise Control
Our properties are part of beautiful residential neighborhoods where other residents mutually respectful of each other's privacy. We ask that you please refrain from having raucous late-night parties and especially from playing loud music or making excessive noise after 10 pm. or before 8 am.
Personal Belongings
We ask that the occupants take full responsibility for securing their personal belongings. Please lock your valuables whenever leaving the house. Vacation Rentals of Tamarindo is not responsible for any lost or damaged personal items.
AC, Electricity & Water
Vacation Rentals of Tamarindo is an ecologically minded business, we ask that you obey the following guidelines in regards to conserving energy: When using the air-conditioning units please remember to turn them off when not in use and keep usage to a minimum. Also please turn off all lights when you leave any room.


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VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Father Robert Sirico has been courting controversy for most of his adult life.
In the early 1970s, he was a radical activist in California, campaigning for left-wing causes with the likes of Jane Fonda and her then-husband, Tom Hayden. Later in the decade, he returned to the Catholic faith of his childhood and eventually became a priest.
But if he found inner peace, he did not cease stirring things up. He had, by then, discovered the works of Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek and other economists of the "Austrian school," who expounded the virtues of free-market capitalism.
As Father Sirico (@robertsirico) recounts in a new book, "Defending the Free Market: The Moral Case for a Free Economy," he concluded not only that the free market was the most efficient system for the distribution of resources and their transformation by human creativity; he also decided that capitalism was essentially compatible with the principles of justice, peace and charity in Catholic social teaching.
That belief was and remains unconventional within the church, and it has earned Father Sirico, 61, and his Michigan-based think tank, the Acton Institute, fervent fans and detractors.
At the U.S. bishops' general assembly in November, Bishop Earl A. Boyea of Lansing, Mich., proposed that the committee on international justice and peace retain Acton as an expert consultant. But retired Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston accused Acton of insufficient regard for the church's social magisterium. The archbishop said Acton had dismissed the 1891 encyclical "Rerum Novarum," and particularly the document's affirmation of workers' right to unionize, as "time-framed" and "not applicable today."
Father Sirico says Archbishop Fiorenza's criticism was based on a misunderstanding of remarks the priest had made earlier in the year.
"'Rerum Novarum' is applicable today because it articulates timeless truths of the Catholic faith and the insight and the expertise that the church has into the human condition," Father Sirico said, but "there are features of any encyclical that are bound by its historical context." The document's very title refers to "new things" in the period's social and economic life that Pope Leo XIII wrote the encyclical to address, the priest said.
"The church consistently has taught that workers have a right to organize," Father Sirico said, yet it does not follow that white-collar workers in 21st-century America face problems comparable to those of factory workers under late 19th-century "savage capitalism."
That argument exemplifies Father Sirico's more general insistence that applying principles of the church's social teaching is a matter of prudential judgment, allowing for a range of legitimate approaches, including market-based solutions.
Father Sirico said he co-founded Acton in 1990 to "help bring sound economics to good intentions," a mission that includes advising theologians and religious leaders. Even with the best intentions, he said, "ignoring economic realities" can lead to the "unintended harm of other people."
For instance, he argues, the church's teaching that all people should have access to good health care does not necessarily translate into support for government health insurance. Making the government the main health care provider, he said, "cuts out the knowledge base (of) a competitive pricing market," raising the costs of services.
Father Sirico also suggests that dangers to religious freedom — such as the Obama administration's requirement that the health insurance plans of Catholic institutions cover contraception and sterilizations, in violation of the church's moral teaching — are inherent in "welfare-state" social service programs under government control.
While not denying the moral failures of capitalism, Father Sirico cites Blessed John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI to argue that the "problem with capitalism is not the economic system as such but the distorted values that may be present among actors in a market economy." He says that business people need strong moral formation to ensure that the right values, rather than the market's supposed dictates, determine their investments and other choices.
"The church doesn't uphold or endorse or canonize any economic model," Father Sirico said, making it clear that in his own value system, faith trumps economic philosophy.
He calls the work of Ayn Rand, one of the most popular and influential proponents of free-market economics, a "false gospel" of "radical individualism."
"She's looking for Jesus Christ but she rejects all of the fundamental principles of Christianity, such as human solidarity, even a clear sense of human dignity," he said.
On the other hand, Father Sirico cheers the recent decision by the U.S. bishops to endorse the sainthood cause of Dorothy Day, whose holiness he finds manifest in her service to the poor and her reverence for the sacraments. Never mind that the founder of the Catholic Worker movement hardly shared his enthusiasm for the benefits of capitalism.
His arguments for a free-market economy and market-based approaches to social problems are not articles of faith, Father Sirico says, but merely contributions to the church's larger effort to serve the common good.
"What's happening right now in the Catholic Church in the United States, and to some extent around the world, is that there is a new way to speak about Catholic social teaching, and that's exactly what Catholic social teaching allows us to do," he said.
"On issues of life, on issues of marriage, those are critical non-negotiables," he said. "On the other questions, you see bishops, you see laypeople, you see academicians having this vibrant debate."
— By Francis X. Rocca Catholic News Service
Learn more about Fr. Robert Sirico and the Acton Institute: www.acton.org


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Almost one month after Hurricane Sandy, some storefronts in the Rockaways—the seven-mile stretch of beachfront below Brooklyn—are alight at night, but many small businesses are still boarded up. Floodlights illuminate intersections, and cop cars and sanitation crews line streets piled with debris. Some 9,700 people here are still without power. Tattered American flags dangle in the wind by Breezy Point, where more than 100 homes were destroyed by fire at the height of the hurricane.
This is a tough and proud community, home to more than its share of police and firefighters, who again find themselves coping with life in a disaster zone. But in every crisis lies an opportunity—and with the influx of cash and the need to rebuild comes a rare opportunity to renew and strengthen this historic community.
The Rockaways have long been one of the great slumbering secrets of New York City. The same stretch of beach that is home to multimillion-dollar houses in the Hamptons extends 100 miles west, within walking distance of the A train.
In the late-19th century, this was one of the premier seaside resorts in the nation, so much so that Herman Melville wrote in the opening chapter of Moby-Dick: "Why did the poor poet of Tennessee, upon suddenly receiving two handfuls of silver, deliberate whether to buy him a coat, which he sadly needed, or invest his money in a pedestrian trip to Rockaway Beach?"
The waters here have a deep draw. In the early-20th century, a mixture of Irish, German, and Jewish immigrants transformed the neighborhood into a middle-class seaside escape, with thousands of modest but much-loved bungalows.
But decades of bad city planning turned what has been called "Hamptons West" into a shadow of its former self, a patchwork of disjointed communities punctuated by four major public housing projects, isolated more than an hour by train from Manhattan.
Out of tragedy can come renaissance, with the right leadership right now. And Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Governor Andrew Cuomo, and federal disaster funds together offer a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rebuild the Rockaways better than they were before, back to their full potential.
"For decades, Rockaway has been overlooked by administration after administration in City Hall," says Robert Hardt, the political director of NY1 and a longtime resident. "Despite the neglect, more than 125,000 people live here, and millions more come every summer to visit the beach and the neighborhood. Mayor Bloomberg can just hand Rockaway a box of Band-Aids or he can come up with his own Marshall Plan for the peninsula. Revitalizing the Rockaways would be a fitting legacy for a mayor who's always dreamt of being a master builder."
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani started the resurgence of neighboring Coney Island with ambitious rezoning and the construction of a minor-league-baseball stadium for the Brooklyn Cyclones. Bloomberg doubled down on the effort there, and now the difference is night and day in that historic home to carnival rides and beachfront leisure.
Now the opportunity exists for Bloomberg to extend his legacy permanently with the wholesale rebuilding of the Rockaways. The project could come to define his third term. Working with Cuomo, he can begin to address one of the most politically thorny issues in New York—the need to update our public-housing stock, much of which has lived beyond its expiration date.
Disaster-area designation can allow the city and state to tear down and rebuild time-worn existing concrete structures that do not fit the location and provide residents with brand-new housing within a public-private mixed-use structure, returning an organic balance and neighborhood grid to the community. The damage caused by the Lindsay-administration-era bulldozing of 30 blocks' worth of private homes can begin to be healed. It is a potential win-win for everyone.
The successful oceanfront Arverne-by-the-Sea development can serve as a model and keystone community. Despite continued construction, the mixed-used development seems to have weathered the storm well. Other makeshift post-Sandy innovations, such as a regular fast ferry to Manhattan, could eventually be made permanent, perhaps along the same without-fee lines that residents of Staten Island enjoy.
The Bloomberg administration's Rapid Repairs outreach to individual homes has earned generally high marks from local residents, but it could be just a first step to a more ambitious and lasting rebuilding of a once and future great urban oceanfront community.
There is no reason the Rockaways could not be a major destination location again. After all, it still has the same beach and breezes. It will need, like much of New York, defenses against rising tides and apparently increased storm surge. But the neighborhood could take architectural inspiration from Seaside, Fla., and other innovative New Urbanism experiments in human-scale community building. In the process, the city might inspire many commuters to return to New York and expand organic sidewalk culture communities within our rapidly growing metropolis, which is expected to hit 9 million residents in the next two decades.
Amid all the daunting destruction, it can be difficult to dream big, because so many small but pressing problems and heartbreaks remain. But now is the time for bold leadership to make long-term investments.
The Rockaways should be the crown jewel of New York City's 578 miles of waterfront. Then future generations might not only remember the destruction of Hurricane Sandy, but the civic resurgence it inspired it its wake.


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In which Amy and Janiece enjoy rolled tacos from the local Taco Chop for lunch:
Hmmm....Rolled Tacos!
Next stop: Liquor and Junk Food Shopping!
Very Important Business in San Diego, Part II
Friday, May 9, 2008 Posted by Janiece at 12:28 PM
1 comments:
- Cindi in CO said...
Okay. I must have Mexican food within the next 24 hours, or I will die. Just die.
Thanks a lot.
- May 9, 2008 at 4:20 PM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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History has not given its fair share of credit to the amazing women who have pushed humanity forward. Here we highlight 11 amazing women you should have learned more about in school.
1.Rani of Jhansi
2.Sojourner Truth
3.Margaret Thatcher
4.Queen Nzingha
5.Empress of Wu Zetian
6.Queen Kittur Chennamma
We could not find a video about Queen Chennamma because (just evidence of the clear bias against women in Academia). She was one of the first Indian leaders to take action against the tyrannical and oppressive British. She led an armed rebellion and was eventually arrested and never released by the British. Nonetheless, she ignited a spark the eventually led to the Independence of India.
7.Anne Bonny
8.The Kahina, Queen of the Berbers
9.Tennessee Celeste Claflin
Tennessee Claflin is another amazing woman that you should have learned more about in school – but didn't. There aren't any videos of her either. She's kind of a double whammy – she was one of the first women to open a Wall Street firm – a woman and a Wall Streeter, no wonder the academics don't like her….we love her though and think you should learn more about this trailblazing woman.


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The HPSDR Project
Q. I have a question that is not covered in this FAQ. How/who do I ask?
A. After searching for an answer and not finding it, usually the best way is to post your question on the HPSDR Discussion List (reflector). This allows two things to happen: (1) it permits someone other than the very busy developers to answer he question if they can, and (2) it allows everyone on the list to gain the benefit of any reply.
Q. How do I get in direct email contact with project leaders?
A. The project leaders are active on the HPSDR Discussion List and you may contact them by posting a message to the list.
Q. What is the status of the various boards or modules?
A. Here's the scoop on some as of May 23, 2009:
ATLAS - in production, order through http://tapr.org PINOCCHIO - in production, order through http://tapr.org OZY - 1st production run - Sold out - PCB are available. Order through http://tapr.org JANUS - 1st production run - currently being shipped. Order through http://tapr.org MERCURY - 1st production Order through http://tapr.org MERCURY-EU - alpha - see Gerd, DJ8AY PENELOPE - 1st production run - Sold Out - PCB are available Order through http://tapr.org, available from Gerd, DJ8AY LPU - in production - available in kit form. Order through http://tapr.org ALEX - Pre-production PENNYWHISTLE - Pre-production EXCALIBUR - Pre-production PANDORA - Pre-production
All others - in various stages of design/development -- see their wiki pages or the HPSDR website.
Q. What modules would I need to get a working HPSDR transceiver on the air?
A. It is important to remember the goals of HPSDR. All modules are not meant to be combined together to make a "single flavor" HPSDR transceiver. A number of different combinations will be possible (examples: Horton or Mercury for the receiver). How the modules are used and combined are in the hands of the experimenter/builder. Some users may not even wish to make an entire transceiver out of the modules (example: SDR1000 owners who only want to use Atlas, Ozy, and Janus to replace their sound cards).
In the words of Phil Covington, project leader for a number of the modules, "HPSDR was not formed to be a manufacturer of finished Ham Radio equipment. Its primary purpose is to develop a High Performance SDR in a modular fashion by experimentation with various methods."
If your only goal is to get "on the air" with an SDR transceiver, there may be cheaper and/or easier routes to achieve this goal (Softrock or Flexradio).
If your goal is high performance software defined radio with a "roll your own" mentality, then the HPSDR modules should enable the creation of your own high performance SDR transceiver.
Q. Will the modules be offered in kit or assembled form, and what about cost?
A. Atlas and Pinocchio are offered as a bare board and kit of parts. Ozy and Janus are offered either bare board or assembled and tested. A hard to get partial parts kit is being offered or Janus. Future module costs to be determined.
Q. Will Ozy and Janus "bare boards" be available?
A. Bare boards (not kits of parts) are available through TAPR.
Q. Why doesn't TAPR offer a kit of parts or at least the hard to obtain parts for Ozy or Janus?
A. A partial kit of harder to obtain parts is being offered for Janus. Potential users may certainly get together for a group buy on other parts needed to complete the boards. There are several reasons for TAPR (or HPSDR) not offering complete kits: (1) being an all-volunteer organization, it would take tremendous manpower to break the parts down to individual kits and package them, (2) there is a very large support problem for kit builders whose boards do not work when completed, and (3) the cost of a kit of parts would be about equal or may exceed the cost of an assembled and tested board.
Q. Will the Gerber files (PCB artwork) be available for anyone's use?
A. Yes. They are released under the new TAPR open source hardware license called OHL. The board designer may restrict to non-commercial use. The OHL license was finalized and approved in May 2007. For License information see Open hardware license or Non-Commercial hardware license.
Q. Why not put OZY and JANUS on a single board?
A. The overall HPSDR project design philosophy has been to partition the design into modules small enough to allow experimentation with part and design changes and to be able to put together a system meeting individual needs. Putting the ADC chip with associated circuit on the Janus board allows a future (and hopefully better) chip to be used on a similar board, but keeping Ozy for the interface and control. Flexibility is the goal.
Q. How much better will the Ozy-Janus combination be in terms of performance when used with the SDR-1000 in place of a sound card such as the Delta 44?
A. To be determined -- but of course, we expect better results. There are some preliminary results on the wiki and in the discussion list.
Q. Will a Ozy-Janus-Atlas combination work with my PowerSDR software used for my Flex Radio SDR-1000 in place of a sound card in my PC?
A. Yes, that was one of the early goals of the HPSDR group. Phil, VK6APH, did confirm with Gerald and Eric at the Flex-Radio meeting at the Dayton Hamvention 2007 that Ozy/Janus will be fully supported in future releases in their 'mainstream' releases of PowerSDR. Bill, KD5TFD, will be working with Eric from Flex to accomplish this. At this point it is not known exactly when, and what version the support will begin, but it will happen. Direct all questions regarding Janus/Ozy to the HPSDR Discussion List (and NOT the Flex-Radio list), as folks have been doing and admirably responding. The arrangement with Flex-Radio required the donation of a working Ozy/Janus to Flex-Radio and this has been accomplished after TAPR approved the expense.
Q. What will be an appropriate software for companions like Janus + Ozy + Phoenix + (Alex??) ?
A. These boards, and also with the addition of Mercury, will run using PowerSDR. --Phil VK6APH
Q. Is the HPSDR project going to use Windows or some flavor of Linux?
A. Yes! (Eventually both, that is...but, currently, the supported OS is WinXP). There is currently work being done for Linux and dttsp.
Q. What are the recommended minimum system requirements for the PC I will use for the HPSDR?
A. USB 2.0 is a requirement. Currently, the OS recommendation is WinXP. Windows 2000 is NOT recommended as the USB 2.0 stack on Windows 2000 is just too slow.
At this time, there are no solid recommendations for minimum CPU or RAM that are based on actual testing with HPSDR hardware of how low we can go.
FlexRadio does have Minimum Recommended PC Configurations for systems using the PowerSDR software. Since the HPSDR hardware may use PowerSDR, these specs are probably a good guide to what would be advisable for the HPSDR. FlexRadio's numbers from their website are as follows:
Processor: Min: 1.5GHz Recommended: 3.2GHz+ or greater
Memory: Min: 512MB Recommended: 1GB+ (use the fastest RAM available)
Q. What user name and password do I use to access the HPSDR svn repository?
A. None is required for reading the SVN, only required to place something in the repository. The IP address of the repository is shown on the resources page of the main HPSDR.org website.
Q. Will HPSDR be developed for higher frequencies like those used for satellite and space communications, e.g. VHF, UHF and Microwave?
A. There is a group doing SDR for microwave: [1] Current HPSDR projects could certainly be used as an IF for a transverter, but there is nothing going on with HPSDR that is specifically aimed at microwave.
The HPSDR Wiki
Q. Do I need to log in?
A. Those who contribute by editing the wiki need to have a login.
Q. How do I get a account? (a login)
A. Request it from the wiki system operator, email: Dave, KV0S
Q. What if I find that a correction is needed in the wiki?
A. Reports such as this are welcomed by the wiki system operator, email: Dave, KV0S
ATLAS Backplane
Q. What is the recommended means of powering ATLAS?
A. Demeter. Until Demeter is available...
The ATX 20 pin power connector on the Atlas board enables the use of standard PC power supplies. (Please Note: There is no reason that you cannot utilize a non-PC power supply regulated and wired to provide the proper voltages to the 20pin connector. A non-PC power supply could also enable custom current limiting of the voltages going to the 20 pin connector, an advisable setup when testing or prototyping boards plugged into ATLAS. An analog power supply may be an attractive option for users particularly concerned about spurious emissions in the HF band which some low cost PC power supplies may produce.)
If you choose to use an ATX computer power supply care should be taken that the -12V current requirement is met. (Note of warning: some versions of the attractive picoPSU do not provide proper -12V current capacity. Check before you buy.)
As a reference for current requirements (reported by Bill Tracey May, 11, 2007), Ozy/Janus used by a SDR100 had the following current usage:
Ozy/Janus +12v: 200 ma +5v: 180 ma -12v: 70 ma
Obviously additional boards connected to the Atlas board will increase these numbers.
Projections of current requirements for other boards are(as reported by Phil Harman, June 6, 2007):
Penelope +12v: 200 ma +5v: 300 ma
Mercury +12v: 200 ma +5v: 500 ma
Q. Will the Atlas be offered assembled?
A. Probably not. It is fairly easy to assemble with a very minimal amount of surface mount parts. There are quite a few solder pads due to the 96 pin connectors. If you are not able to do this work yourself, our advice is to ask on the HPSDR Discussion List (reflector) to see if you can pay someone to do the work for you.
Q. Can solder paste and a hot air heat gun (or oven) be used on Atlas for "all those connections" ?
A. It is possible, but at least one report indicates problems with the center row on the connectors. If considering doing this, we suggest you ask on the discussion list. If anyone has had success or failure, please report it to the wikisysop so we can update this reply.
Q. Will a larger (or smaller?) number of slots version be offered?
A. Possibly, if the need and demand warrant. Nothing is in the plans right now (as of May 2007).
Q. I don't see assignment of all the bus pins. Is there a list somewhere?
A. Some are not assigned a function yet, due to the developing nature of the HPSDR project and the use of the FPGA.
PINOCCHIO Extender
Q. Availability?
A. The bare board and connectors are now available from TAPR http://tapr.org
Q. Will the USB connection from Ozy to my PC require anything special in terms of USB port specification or drivers?
A. A USB 2 connection will be required on the PC. Most modern PCs have this as standard. With MS Windows, for the USB driver we are using the LibUsb-Win32 library which is a free download from http://libusb-win32.sourceforge.net/ A Linux version is also available, see http://www.linux-usb.org/ and http://libusb.sourceforge.net/ . Experience will tell us if there are any problems with certain types of USB2 ports.
Q. Why do we need a "configuration device" when the software can just load the FPGA via USB and the Cypress CY7C68013 (FX2) chip? The schematic shows the programming pins connected from FX2 GPIO pins to FPGA.
A. It does load via USB and this is how OZY is normally used. BUT, there will come a time when someone wants to use the OZY without PC attached and the configuraton device allows this possibility.
Q. Is the design of Ozy such that it can be used for other purposes than SDR?
A. We certainly hope so and expect that some will use it as a learning tool or development platform for other projects not even remotely related to SDR. It provides an inexpensive piece of hardware for many purposes.
Q. Is Janus a "sound card" ?
A. NO! The usual meaning of a sound card is one which plugs into a personal computer (ISA, PCI, or other bus). The Janus module plugs into our Atlas bus and contains some of the components of the usual sound card. It also requires the Ozy or similar interface to use it in applications which call for a PC sound card.
Q. Will I be able to use Janus for other non-SDR sound applications with my PC?
A. In theory, Yes! This will require a Windows or Linux driver; there is no reason one can't be written, we just need a volunteer!
Q. Why are there no input RF filters on the Mercury PCB?
A. This is due to the multi-function nature of the Mercury board. Whilst primarily a high performance HF (and VHF/UHF in alias mode) receiver, Mercury can also be used for other functions. For example, it can be used as a high performance 0-55MHz spectrum analyzer, sampling oscilloscope and VNA (by using Penelope as the signal source for the VNA and also as a tracking generator). In these cases it is desirable not to have any RF filtering before the ADC on Mercury.
When used as a receiver the amount of filtering will vary depending on the antenna system the user has. For most situations with say an HF beam or dipoles the natural frequency response of the antenna may provide adequate filtering. For the user with a high performance broadband antenna e.g. a rhombic, or very strong local signals, then additional filtering may be required.
An external set of filters will be provided as part of the Alex project.
Additionally, HPDR is a journey and not a destination! We fully expect higher performance ADCs to be come available in the future. These newer devices will still require some form of input filtering. By using external filters the cost of replacing the ADC board is reduced.
Q. Why are there no output RF filters on the Penelope PCB?
A. This is due to a number of reasons. Firstly, whilst Penelope is primarily an HF ( and VHF/UHF on alias) exciter it can be used for other functions. For example, when used with Mercury it can form a low level signal source as a tracking generator or VNA. For these functions the lack of output filters is an advantage.
Secondly, Penelope generates RF directly at the desired output frequency by synthesizing the required RF waveform using a DAC. The lack of mixers, DDS, frequency synthesizer etc means the output spectrum of Penelope is particularly clean. In fact the spurious output at 0.5w meets the FCC requirements without additional filtering.
Thirdly, Penelope is an exciter. Whilst we expect it will be used by QRP operators as is we also expect it to be used to drive a higher power amplifier. In the latter case the user will most likely provided external filtering as part of this power amplification.
Fourthly, Penelope does provide a 55MHz LPF that can be placed in circuit after the DAC and prior to the 0.5W PA. If desired the user can add external bandpass filters here. Alternatively, the filter can be bypassed and/or an external VHF/UHF filter fitted such that the alias output of the DAC can be used on the higher bands.
Fifthly, if is desirable to use LPFs that may be also be used before Mercury. The IP3 performance of Mercury is very good and using small inductors, that are quite acceptable for removing the harmonics from Penelope, results in a significant degradation in IP3 performance.
An external set of filters will be provided as part of the Alex project.
Additionally, HPDR is a journey and not a destination! We fully expect higher performance DACs to be come available in the future. These newer devices will still require some form of output filtering. By using external filters the cost of replacing the exciter board is reduced.
Project leaders, developers, documenters: feel free to contribute answers -- especially where it says "TBD" or "Answer pending."
General Readership: have a suggested question that should be here? Email: Dave, KV0S


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In the spring 2005 issue of California Wild, the magazine of the California Academy of Sciences, NCSE's executive director Eugenie C. Scott, a Fellow of the Academy, discussed creationism in California, in a piece entitled "In My Backyard." A section of the article briefly described controversies over evolution education in the Roseville, California, schools over the last few years.
Subsequently, Larry Caldwell, a Roseville resident active in those controversies, filed suit against Scott and NCSE, alleging that "false statements about Caldwell in the Scott Article are defamatory per se, since they expose him to hatred, contempt, ridicule, or obloquy ...." Scott and NCSE obtained pro bono legal representation from Robert Mahnke and Warrington Parker III of the San Francisco office of Heller Ehrman LLP.
Caldwell also threatened lawsuits against California Wild and a number of people who quoted from or posted links to the article on California Wild's website. In response, California Wild removed the article from its website in June. Caldwell also has an ongoing suit against the Roseville Joint Union High School District for allegedly violating his civil rights during those controversies.
Scott corrected a small number of errors in a letter to the editor published in the summer 2005 issue of California Wild, including some of which Caldwell had complained. When that letter appeared, various creationism-promoting institutions accused NCSE of a "campaign of disinformation" and a "pattern of making false claims and character attacks," uncritically repeating Caldwell's allegations. On the contrary, NCSE contends that it has well earned its reputation as the most important and reliable source for information on the creationism/evolution controversy.
NCSE is pleased that California Wild has now posted a corrected version of "In My Backyard" on its website. To enable readers to decide for themselves whether the corrected errors were minor, as Scott contends, or outrageous, as Caldwell contends, NCSE is posting the following corrected version of the article with the changes indicated. We believe that the evidence speaks for itself.
Deletions are shown in
strikeout and additions in green.
In My Backyard
Creationism in California
by Eugenie C. Scott
November 2004 March 2002, a school district in Cobb County, Georgia, pasted an antievolution disclaimer into its biology textbooks. The disclaimer read, in part, "Evolution is theory, not fact," meaning that evolution was speculation, rather than a foundational idea of science.
Evolution, after all, is the idea that the universe has had a history: that stars, galaxies, planets and living things have changed through time, and that living things have a genealogical relationship. Although scientists argue about the details of how evolution occurred, none argue over whether evolution took place. That a school board felt it had to make an antievolution gesture just seems so nineteenth century. Many Californians chalked up this example of the persistent creationism/evolution controversy to the fact that it happened in, well, Georgia. They were no doubt thinking, I'm glad this problem is not in my backyard.
But alas, no. California has had its share of creationism/evolution clashes too.
The state is in fact the home of the largest creationism organization in the country, the Institute for Creation Research, based in Santee, east of San Diego. And, lest northern Californians start feeling smug, two of the leaders of the Intelligent Design (ID) creationism movement have connections with the University of California, Berkeley. Retired Boalt Hall law professor Phillip Johnson is a chief architect of the ID political and rhetorical approach, and Jonathan Wells, author of the best-selling antievolution screed Icons of Evolution, received his PhD from the university's Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. ID up and comer Jed Macosko, now in the department of physics at Wake Forest University, also did postgraduate work in Berkeley, where he taught a class (which, gratefully, did not carry science credit) called "Evidence for Design in Nature."
At the National Center for Science Education (NCSE), we monitor the creationism/evolution controversy and provide information and advice to those who want to keep evolution in classrooms and creationism out. Over the years we have seen school board candidates run on creationist platforms. We have seen textbooks declared to contain "too much evolution," or rejected because they don't "balance" the teaching of evolution with teachings from the Bible. We have had calls from teachers wondering what to do about the instructor down the hall who refuses to teach evolution, or who brings personal religious views into the classroom. And we have had calls from students complaining about teachers openly proselytizing during class time.
Local school districts are where most curriculum decisions are made. Because our center has had considerable experience advising school boards and parents on creationism/evolution issues, we receive many calls about school boards that want to limit the teaching of evolution in some way, including passing "theory not fact" policies such as were recently the issue in Georgia. Parents often pressure board members to add intelligent design to curricula, while some ministers invited to school assemblies use the opportunity to gain converts to creationism.
Charter schools, freed from some bureaucratic constraints, sometimes try to stretch the science curriculum to include creationism. Problems don't occur only at schools: informal science centers like zoos, science museums, aquaria, and national parks are also sites where evolution gets questioned. Visitors may protest evolution being presented without qualifiers ("some scientists believe") or argue against the presentation of the Earth's age as ancient.
These incidents occur across the country, not just in Bible belt areas. They are more likely to arise in small towns and suburbs than large urban settings: problems in California occur more frequently in places like Hemet, Vista, Morgan Hill, San Juan Capistrano, Chester, and Weed, than in San Diego or San Francisco. Small towns and suburbs are naturally more homogeneous. If that homogeneity includes a sizeable degree of religious and political conservatism, the environment is ripe for the eruption of a creationism/evolution controversy. Battles are usually triggered by events such as science textbook adoptions, the writing or revision of state science education standards, and school board elections.
During the early decades of the 20th century, creationists made it a crime to teach evolution. In 1925, the statute's legitimacy was tested when John Scopes was tried in Dayton, Tennessee for defying the law. Scopes lost, the laws stayed on the books, and publishers swiftly eliminated evolution from high school textbooks. It returned in the 1960s thanks to a movement to reform science education. In 1968 the Supreme Court struck down antievolution laws – which weren't being enforced anyway – and the teaching of evolution brought forth a new form of antievolutionism, "creation science."
Creation science proposes that the universe appeared all at once in its present form a few thousand years ago, and that this biblical literalist view is supported by scientific data. No substantial change in astronomical or biological phenomena has taken place since then, they say. The face of the earth was shaped by a real Noah's Flood, which deposited all the sedimentary deposits in the world, carved the Grand Canyon, pushed up the Rockies and the Himalayas, and gouged out the oceans.
In the late 1970s and early 80s, so-called "equal time" legislation was introduced in at least 24 states – including California – that would require the teaching of "creation science" if evolution were taught. The argument was that if creationism could be made scientific, it deserved to be taught in the public schools.
Conservative Christians, whose theology requires some degree of biblical literalism, are the driving force behind American antievolutionism. They make up a substantial number of Americans: polls estimate religious conservatives comprise anywhere from 25 to 40 percent of the population. However, the majority of American Christians belong to denominations rejecting biblical literalism. Catholics, according to official doctrine, believe that God created through evolution, while mainstream Protestants accept some variants of this idea.
Because no empirical evidence supports such views, creation science concentrates instead on the supposed shortcomings of evolutionary science. Evolution didn't happen, they claim, because the second law of thermodynamics supposedly prevents natural phenomena from becoming more complex over time. This law is used to argue against the universe originating in the "Big Bang," the evolution of complex life, and the development of biological diversity. Gaps in the fossil record are regularly trotted out, while the gradual transitions in the fossils of birds, whales, humans, and many other animals are ignored. Natural selection, based on random variation of genetic material and adaptive differential reproduction, is said to be too weak a mechanism to account for complexity. Any argument against evolution is considered evidence in support of creationism.
Creation science literature presents the teaching of both creation science and evolution as good pedagogy. Teach the students both views, and let them decide, they urge. But science is not a democratic process. All theories are not created equal. Science, in fact, is highly discriminatory. It discards explanations that don't work. The idea that everything appeared all at one time in its present form was rejected as science even before Darwin. It is not good pedagogy to teach students erroneous information: it wastes time, and confuses students as to the scientific consensus.
The "fairness" argument has been extremely successful for antievolutionists. Fairness and equal time deservedly are important American cultural values, and most Americans respond favorably to them. Many citizens do not realize that these otherwise valuable sentiments are irrelevant to decisions about what to teach in the science classroom. If there were other scientific theories explaining what evolution explains, scientists would be teaching them.
Efforts to mandate the teaching of creation science were brought to a halt by the Supreme Court's 1987 Edwards vs. Aguillard decision concerning a Louisiana equal time law. The Court declared creation science to be a religious idea and that advocating it would unconstitutionally promote religion in the public schools. Creation science as a legal strategy was over, although creation science as a social movement has continued to grow and spread.
Since then, a new strategy known as "Intelligent Design" has come into being. It grew out of the Edwards decision itself, which noted that it was legal to teach "scientific alternatives to evolution." Proponents of ID proclaimed it to be one such alternative.
Unlike creation science, ID makes no fact claims about the origins of the universe, or the history of Earth, or of life on Earth. Instead, it proposes that some things in nature are too complex to have been formed from natural causes and therefore must have been produced by "an intelligence." Some structures showing an unexpectedly high level of organization (e.g., the first life forms, or cellular structures such as the flagella of bacteria) are inferred to be too complex for chance to have brought them about.
Of course, no evolutionary biologist ascribes the bacterial flagellum or other complex structures to the chance assembly of parts: natural selection is a mechanism that can generate complexity, and there may be other mechanisms not yet discovered. This last brings up another problem with ID: most scientists appreciate that we do not yet understand everything there is to know about the natural world. But if a natural cause for something is not known (indeed, there is no scientific consensus on the origin of life, or the evolutionary assembly of the bacterial flagellum) it's not helpful to throw up one's hands and say, "I don't know! God must have done it!" The scientific approach would be to say, "I don't know, yet," and keep looking.
ID does not identify the "intelligent agent" and nothing is said about how or when or with what this agent created life. This "creationism lite" makes no claims about the origin of Grand Canyon by Noah's Flood, or a 10,000 year old Earth. This avoids immediate rejection by the scholarly community, and accommodates a wide variety of antievolutionists, including biblical literalist/young earth supporters as well as more moderate Christians. But most ID literature merely asserts the failure of evolution to explain complexity, and makes no attempt to provide an alternative model. It is a variant of the creation science maxim that "evidence against evolution is evidence for creationism."
In recent years, the main think tank of ID, the Seattle-based Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, has shifted to advocating that "evidence against evolution," or EAE, be taught rather than ID. It's a tacit admission that there is no evidence for their position. Perhaps ID proponents began to realize that design implies a designer, an agent, and that judges would figure out pretty quickly that the intended agent was God. Once proposals for teaching ID were recognized as a back door way of teaching "God did it," the Center realized, such policies would be declared unconstitutional. Better to convince students that evolution didn't occur and let them conclude that the only reasonable explanation left is creation by God.
The history of creationism has followed a pattern. First, creationists attempted to ban evolution, then to teach creation science, next to teach ID, and now (most commonly) they lobby to teach EAE. The creationism/evolution controversy that occurred in the northern California community of Roseville during 2004 is a microcosm of this history.
Roseville is a community of about 92,000 people about 20 miles from Sacramento. For several years a school board split between moderates and conservatives has argued over evolution, sex education and other hot educational issues. In 2001, one school board member proposed requiring the teaching of creation science. In a letter to the community she wrote, "I believe God has given us these scientists and this information at this time to use for this exact purpose."
In June 2003, the Roseville district was choosing a textbook for high school biology courses. One local citizen, Larry Caldwell, protested that the book favored by teachers took a "one-sided" approach to teaching evolution. Like all commercial textbooks, the Holt, Rinehart, and Winston textbook includes evolution but no creationist or antievolution content. Caldwell said that the textbook did not invite students to "think critically" about the subject of evolution and he and other citizens offered a stack of supplemental
books and videotapes instructional materials that would redress the book's deficiencies. These were an odd mixture of ID and creation science : DVDs including: a videotape promoted by the Discovery Institute; a young-earth creationist book, Refuting Evolution by Jonathan Safarti Sarfati; and the Jehovah's Witness book Life: How Did It Get Here? By Evolution or Creation? Thanks to its free distribution, this book is probably the most widely-circulated creation science book in the country . It is unknown who submitted the creation science materials, while Caldwell submitted the video as well as materials written by ID proponent Cornelius Hunter. Reportedly, the creation science books were not considered further by the district.
District teachers strongly opposed these materials. The board, even with a 4-1 antievolutionist majority, found it difficult to
mandate promote their use over strong educator rejection, but they persevered. At the next meeting, they declared that the creationist materials would be "recommended" but not required, and that each school could decide whether or not to use them the submitted materials. This was to provide an opportunity for creationist parents to lobby teachers and administrators. The board district office also organized an "information session" for teachers on the supplementary materials led by Caldwell and ID supporter Cornelius Hunter, a local engineer and author of several religiously-oriented antievolution books and articles.
The polite but unconvinced teachers suggested the supplementary materials be sent to scientists at the University of California, Davis, California State University, Sacramento, and Brigham Young University (one of the school board members is a Mormon) to review the materials and Caldwell's analysis of the Holt textbook.
The scientists' report unanimously declared Caldwell's supplementary materials unscientific.
His Hunter's comments about evolution in the textbook analysis did not express professional scientists' view of evolution. One scientist wrote of Caldwell's Hunter's "gross misunderstanding of the nature of science." Another, in exasperation, wrote, "... consider that the thousands of us who practice evolutionary biology daily might just not be such blind fools as to miss the 'flaws' that Hunter thinks are fatal to what we do." The most "positive" comment from the scientists' critiques was that one of the ID videos might have some educational value as "a tongue-in-cheek example of weak argumentative strategy and pseudo science." The school district administration agreed not to adopt the materials.
But the district administration's rejection was not the same as rejection by its board of education. Caldwell filed a complaint against the district and claimed that the adoption of the Holt textbook did not follow the rules because parent input in the process was inadequate. He also proposed that the board consider a policy he drew up, which he called the "Quality Science Education" policy, which was an EAE approach couched in the language of critical thinking. Quoting the California State Board of Education Policy on the Teaching of Natural Sciences (1989), it read, in part,
…because "nothing in science or in any other field of knowledge shall be taught dogmatically [and] scientific theories are constantly subject to testing, modification, and refutation as new evidence and new ideas emerge" teachers in the Roseville Joint Union High School District are expected to help students analyze the scientific strengths and weaknesses of existing scientific theories, including the theory of evolution.
Months passed while the board studied the issue, heard citizen commentary, and repeatedly postponed the vote. Letters to the editors of regional newspapers appeared in abundance. Citizens complained that the board was spending too much time and money on creationism, and not addressing bread and butter issues such as funding and class size. Twenty-eight of the 32 science teachers in the district signed a petition against the policy and a sister proposal to set up antievolution centers in libraries. The board, apparently exhausted from the almost year-long struggle, voted 3:2 against instituting the policy.
In the November 2004 elections, one of the anti-evolution incumbents
was voted out of did not run for office re-election and two new members were elected. The board shifted its focus to what they considered more pressing issues. Creationism in Roseville seemed, finally, to be a dead issue.
But in January of 2005, Larry Caldwell sued the district and certain administrators for not providing him due process. A district teacher sighed, "here we go again."
Meanwhile, back in Cobb County, Georgia, parents angry at the inclusion of the textbook disclaimer sued and won the first round in Federal District court. The school board has appealed the decision. And in Dover, Pennsylvania, parents sued their school board over its policy requiring the teaching of ID and EAE (worded as "gaps/problems in Darwin's theory").
Although California is on the cutting edge of scientific research, proponents of teaching creationism in the public schools are nonetheless banging on the doors. Even in the Bay Area, we have small towns and suburbs with substantial minorities of religious conservatives who do not like evolution. If a parent asks a teacher, "you aren't going to teach evolution, are you?" the teacher may decide — because the curriculum is overstuffed with topics anyway — that it is easier to not get around to teaching evolution.
Antievolutionists recently ran for school boards in Castro Valley and Modesto. California is not immune to creationism and antievolutionism – it is in our backyard.
Eugenie C. Scott is Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education, which actively supports the teaching of evolution in schools and fights a constant battle against the dark side.


text:
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HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (Dec. 2, 2008) - Make no mistake, ETSU senior forward Kevin Tiggs (Flint, Mich.) loves playing the Marshall Thundering Herd.
Though junior guard Mike Smith (Vandalia, Mo.) iced the Buccaneers 76-72 win over Marshall thanks to a pair of free throws with 5.6 seconds left Tuesday night inside Cam Henderson Center, it was Tiggs' game and career-high 31 points that powered ETSU to the victory. In three career games against the Thundering Herd, Tiggs - who was heavily recruited by Marshall - has scored 81 points, having combined to score 50 against Marshall in two meetings during the 2007-08 season.
"What can you say about Kevin Tiggs, he was just great tonight," said ETSU head coach Murry Bartow, whose team improves to 4-3 on the year. "Coming on the road and beating a Conference USA team is something for us to build on. It's still early in the year, but we did a lot of things well tonight."
Led by Tiggs' 13-of-18 shooting effort, the Bucs hit an impressive 55 percent of their shots from the field, and were 46.7 percent from beyond the 3-point arc. In addition, ETSU also held its own against the Herd inside, being out-rebounded just 32-26, but outscoring the Herd 42-16 in the paint. Tiggs was joined in double figures by Smith, who finished with 16 points and six rebounds, while senior guard Courtney Pigram (Memphis) had a game high six assists.
Early in the first half, the Bucs managed to avoid the offensive drought that it experienced in their last game at Bradley - when ETSU was down 17-2 in the first few minutes. Instead, several inside shots and two baskets from Tiggs led to an 8-7 lead for ETSU with 15:43 left in the first half. The Bucs extended the advantage to 17-10 by the 11:34 mark, but coming out of the media timeout, the Thundering Herd proceeded to produce a 10-3 spurt to tie the game at 20-20 with 7:20 remaining.
The game stayed back-and-fourth over the next five minutes before a layup by Pigram, and a steal and score by Tiggs, helped power a quick spurt and the Bucs pulled ahead 39-30 with less than a minute to play. After a 3-pointer from Marshall's Darryl Merthie cut the edge to six, Smith hit a desperation 3-pointer from the right wing as time expired to make it 42-33 at the half.
The second half started in nightmare fashion for the Bucs, with Marshall going on a 16-4 run to take the lead 49-46 on a 3-pointer by Damier Pitts with 13:20 left in the game. The Bucs responded and retook the lead thanks to a pair of 3-pointers from freshman guard Jarvis Jones (Memphis), with the second coming at the 11:52 mark and making the score 52-50 in favor of ETSU. The Bucs extended the lead to 59-53 with 7:8:30 left on a short jumper by Smith, but the Herd came right back and later took the lead 65-64 on a 3-pointer by Shaquille Johnson with 3:41 left.
The Bucs responded though, going on a 7-0 run to make it 71-65 when a layup by freshman post Isiah Brown (Miami, Fla.) found the bottom of the net with 39 seconds remaining. From there, Tiggs scored on a layup, hit a foul shot, and Smith ended the game with two from the charity stripe.
Brown and senior forward Greg Hamlin (Flint, Mich.) also played well for the Bucs. Brown finished with six points and six rebounds, while Hamlin had eight points, five boards and four assists.
The Bucs will return to action in the fourth of five straight road games Friday night at Mercer, opening their 2008-09 Atlantic Sun Conference slate against the Bears at 7:30 p.m. in Macon, Ga.


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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Pat Riley made his pitch. And now, LeBron James wants time to think.
The Miami Heat president met with the four-time NBA MVP on Wednesday afternoon in Las Vegas, two people familiar with the situation told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because neither side publicly disclosed details of the meeting. James, his agent Rich Paul, Riley and Heat executive Andy Elisburg were at the meeting, said one of the people.
James has not made a decision and will not make any announcements before Thursday, a person said, adding, "He wants to meet with his family."
So now, Miami waits. So does Cleveland. So, too, does just about the entire NBA — because once James picks the Heat or the Cavaliers, the teams believed to be serious suitors for his services, the domino effect of other free agent moves will surely follow.
The meeting in Las Vegas lasted for more than an hour and took place more than two weeks after James opted out of his contract and elected to become a free agent, and the day before free agents may begin signing contracts.
James spent part of his day before the meeting at his annual skills academy with some of the nation's top high school and college players, interacting and observing workouts. That was part of the reason why Riley had to fly across the country to make the meeting happen, with hopes that he would return to Miami from the gambling haven with a huge win — keeping James in Heat colors for at least another season.
Several teams have met with Paul during the free-agent process, but it appears James has only one decision to make: Cleveland or Miami, the same choice he pondered four years ago when he decided play with the Heat. With James, the Heat won four Eastern Conference titles and two NBA championships.
The Cavaliers didn't sit idle waiting for James and Riley to meet.
Cleveland created salary-cap space earlier Wednesday with a three-team trade with the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets, ensuring they have enough to offer the James a maximum contract.
But James had said he would meet with Riley and the Heat before making his decision.
The meeting came nearly three weeks after Riley addressed reporters following Miami's loss to San Antonio in the NBA Finals, when he insisted that the Heat needed to make some adjustments to get better — but didn't need a massive rebuilding job to stay at a championship level.
"You've got to stay together if you've got the guts, and you don't find the first door and run out of it if you have an opportunity," Riley said on June 19. "This is four years now into this era, this team, four finals. It's only been done three other times before. And two championships. From day one to the end, it was like a Broadway show.
Sort of ran out of steam, and we need to retool. We don't need to rebuild, we need to retool, and that's what we're going to do."
If James leaves, it'll be more than a retooling project that awaits Miami.
Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh — the other members of Miami's "Big 3" of the past four seasons — are also free agents, and neither has given any hint as to what they will do, though it's still expected Wade will not leave the Heat. Miami has just two players under contract for next season, one of those on a partially guaranteed deal. The Heat have also reached agreements with forwards Josh McRoberts and Danny Granger, as well as the draft rights to guard Shabazz Napier, but there's still plenty of jobs to be filled.
And the Heat have mostly been in a holding pattern while waiting for James to make his next decision
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Pat Riley made his pitch. And now, LeBron James wants time to think.


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1986 Chevy Camaro Z28 IROC-Z - Greek Mythic
Joe Garofalo's 1986 IROC Actually Exists and is the Real Deal
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We're pretty sure everyone has heard of a unicorn, but for the uninitiated, it hails from Greek mythology. It's a completely wild woodland creature that bears resemblance to a white horse with a single, straight and twisted horn protruding from its forehead. It's a symbol of grace and purity, but has a ferocious side, too.
Probably the most well-known aspect of the unicorn's lore is its elusiveness. Sure, everyone talks about them as if they're real, but no one has actually ever seen one, let alone taken one for a ride! OK, mythology lesson over, and here's where unicorns become relevant. You see, Joe Garofalo's '86 Camaro IROC-Z had been nicknamed as such for its elusiveness, certainly not due to anything but the owner's insatiable need to find more speed.
Joe bought this car in high school, and it probably means more to him than life itself. "I bought the car in 1997 while I was in 10th grade. It was 100 percent stock with a 5-liter Tuned Port motor and a 700-R4." Clearly that wouldn't last long as any hot rodder knows. Sound familiar?
"I couldn't just leave it the way it was. It was a bit of a dog. I began with headers and gears. Then during high school and soon after graduating I started visiting my auto shop teacher, Mr. Roth, to show off all my new bolt-ons."
While that was impressive for a high school kid, Joe quickly graduated to a 383 TPI stroker and then slapped on a ProCharger. That was the bee's knees for a little while, but the little TPI motor just wasn't up for the challenge and Joe installed yet another motor—a traditional 355 small-block with AFR heads and a TPIS MiniRam intake paired with the ProCharger and a T56 tranny.
"I went through so many 700-R4s with that stroker and ProCharger that it just made sense to throw in a stronger T56." It wasn't just weak trannies that couldn't keep pace with Joe's ravenous need for muscle flexing. He told us he got so sick of breaking rear gearsets that he stepped up his game to a Moser 9-inch with 4.10 gears and forgot about it.
Soon, even all that wasn't enough, "I got sick of the small-block oil leaks and sold off all the parts. I took the money and bought an aluminum-block 5.3 LS motor and a set of 241 casting heads." Joe ditched the truck intake in lieu of an LS1 unit and in went an LS2 cam for a little more oomph. The plan was set in motion when he purchased a Turbonetics TC 78 turbo and still had a little coin left over. Joe estimates that he should make 650 hp at 18 psi. That seems fairly reasonable considering how many high-ponied turbo LS builds we've seen. "I have to thank Nate at One Guys Garage for the engine harness and Carl over at Lancer Automotive for the help in taming this beastly concoction."
"It took so many years to build all the engines, swap all of the transmissions and rearends that my friends began to call it The Unicorn because you may have heard of it but never see it!"
Since Joe figured out his power concerns (for now) he was free to spend some time on the rest of the car and address important issues—like how to stop this beast when it gets all riled up. He decided that form and function can go together through a set of PBR C6 Corvette calipers and discs up front and an LS1 F-body set for the rear. The wheels are a sharp set of 18-inch C5 Z06 replicas wrapped in Nitto tires measuring in at 275/35-R18, with Koni reds to plant the rubber to the road. Joe beefed up the suspension with Granatelli LCAs, a PHR torque arm, and then added a set of subframe connectors for increased stiffness.
The interior is straight up business. The radio? What radio? We don't need no stinking radio! A/C and other creature comforts? Gone. Climbing in over the rollcage and sitting in the matching red Corbeau seats you are reminded that this is strictly a driver's car. The full array of Auto Meter gauges keeps Joe abreast of the imperative information but beyond that, it's all adrenaline.
"I had so many friends in high school that had Camaros and Trans Ams, that all I wanted to do was burnouts." With a silly amount of turbo'd LS power on tap, Joe can do all the burnouts he wants.
The final aspect of the unicorn parable that you may not be familiar with is its viciousness. Considering the beauty and regal nature of the unicorn it seems odd to think that if threatened, it becomes a most cantankerous and ferocious creature, not stopping until it or you are dead (pretty gnarly, eh?). It's best just to leave well enough alone, capisci? So, you might want to bring your A-game if you want to lock horn with Joe's IROC. And if you're lucky enough and don't tempt fate by getting on The Unicorn's bad side, you might get a glimpse of this rare beauty. And now that Joe has a lot of his gremlins worked out, we hope that this rarity becomes a familiarity.
"It took so many years to build all the engines, swap all of the transmissions and rearends that my friends began to call it The Unicorn because you may have heard of it but never see it!"


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Caption: Latest Chandra image of Sgr A*. Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/MIT/F. Baganoff, R. Shcherbakov et al.
How long can you stare at an object? This Chandra image of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, known as Sagittarius A* (or Sgr A* for short)Sgr A* and the surrounding region is based on data from a series of observations lasting a total of about one million seconds, or almost two weeks. Such a deep observation has given scientists an unprecedented view of the nearby supernova remnant, known as Sgr A East, and the lobes of hot gas extending for a dozen light years on either side of the black hole. These lobes provide evidence for powerful eruptions occurring several times over the last ten thousand years. But this image also provides evidence that Sgr A* isn't a very good eater.
Astronomers have known this for quite some time. The fuel for this black hole comes from powerful winds blown off dozens of massive young stars that are concentrated nearby. These stars are located a relatively large distance away from Sgr A*, where the gravity of the black hole is weak, and so their high-velocity winds are difficult for the black hole to capture and swallow. Scientists have previously calculated that Sgr A* should consume only about 1 percent of the fuel carried in the winds.
However, it now appears that Sgr A* consumes even less than expected — ingesting only about one percent of that one percent. Why does it consume so little? The answer may be found in a new theoretical model developed using data from a very deep exposure made by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. This model considers the flow of energy between two regions around the black hole: an inner region that is close to the so-called event horizon (the boundary beyond which even light cannot escape), and an outer region that includes the black hole's fuel source — the young stars — extending up to a million times farther out. Collisions between particles in the hot inner region transfer energy to particles in the cooler outer region via a process called conduction. This, in turn, provides additional outward pressure that makes nearly all of the gas in the outer region flow away from the black hole. The model appears to explain well the extended shape of hot gas detected around Sgr A* in X-rays as well as features seen in other wavelengths.
The image also contains several mysterious X-ray filaments, some of which may be huge magnetic structures interacting with streams of energetic electrons produced by rapidly spinning neutron stars. Such features are known as pulsar wind nebulas.
The new model of Sgr A* was presented at the 215th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in January 2009 by Roman Shcherbakov and Robert Penna of Harvard University and Frederick K. Baganoff of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Source: NASA


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EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. – The Minnesota Vikings have finalized their trade of unhappy wide receiver Percy Harvin to Seattle. They've also released veteran cornerback Antoine Winfield and re-signed right tackle Phil Loadholt.
General manager Rick Spielman confirmed the moves shortly after the NFL market officially opened Tuesday.
The Seahawks are sending their first-round and seventh-round draft picks this year plus their third-round selection in 2014 for Harvin, whose final season with the Vikings was a rocky one despite their surprise 10-6 record and spot in the playoffs.
The decision to let Winfield go was startling, given how well he played at age 35 last year.
Loadholt has been the Vikings starter at his position for his whole career, missing only one game in four seasons.


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From: Slate.com
By Seth Stevenson
May 15, 2013
How did I end up naked in a stranger's apartment—floating in a saltwater tub, surrounded by darkness and silence—realizing that for the first time in my life I had achieved total mindfulness?
Let's begin our story in 1961, when Peter Suedfeld was a first-year psychology graduate student at Princeton. Another scholar in the department was running a "sensory deprivation" study that offered $20 to volunteer subjects. Suedfeld wanted the cash, so he agreed to be shut inside a pitch-black, soundproofed room for 24 hours, with only a bit of sustenance and a toilet to keep him company.
He couldn't handle it. "I was nervous, and I got itchy and jumpy," he says now. So he left early. He wasn't the only one. Many subjects panicked, and some even reported they'd had hallucinations.
Though (or perhaps because) he'd gotten spooked, Suedfeld became intrigued by isolation chambers. Sensory deprivation was a sexy field of study in the '50s and '60s, and Suedfeld began to organize chamber experiments of his own. Soon enough, he became aware of another isolation technique. A man named John C. Lilly—first at the Naval Institute, later at the National Institute of Mental Health—had pioneered the use of an immersion water tank. In early trials, the subject was completely submerged, wearing a breathing mask, with an air hose connected to a pump. In a later iteration, the subject simply floated in saltwater, on his back, in a coffin-like tank that was completely dark and silent.
Lilly became a cultish, Timothy Leary-like figure as his experiments grew more outlandish. He made attempts to communicate with animals (later dramatized in the Mike Nichols film The Day of the Dolphin) and became famously fond of entering his flotation tanks only after he'd dosed himself with powerful hallucinogens (later dramatized in the Ken Russell film Altered States). Suedfeld met Lilly and was impressed with his tanks—but not his methods. "He started out as a straight scientist," says Suedfeld. "But he got into taking drugs and thought he'd made contact with some sphere of consciousness beyond the normal. Thought he'd had conversations with Shakespeare and such. We didn't see eye to eye on how the tanks should be used. I always ran standard experiments with control groups and data and objective tests."
I had long ago seen Altered States, in which William Hurt devolves into a glowing, primordial beast after he indulges in a little too much tank time. But until I read a trend story about floating in the Wall Street Journal this February, I'd never realized it was possible to float in a non-scientific setting. Nor had it occurred to me that anyone would want to. I was suddenly intrigued: What could sensory deprivation do for me?
There are only a few places to float in New York City. I first tried La Casa, a day spa near Union Square, which features a tank in large part because co-owner Jane Goldberg loves to float.* On a weekday morning, I climbed the stairs to La Casa, took off all my clothes, and, after showering, stepped into a large tub inside an enclosed chamber. I slid the blackout door closed behind me, eased down into the water, and touched a button that switched off the lights. I was floating in total darkness and silence. The saturation of Epsom salts in the water made me unnaturally buoyant—my face, stomach, and knees an archipelago of islands amid the tub's ocean.
For what must have been the first 15 minutes, I wondered what I was doing there. I thought about my plans for that evening, stories I was working on, whether there was any food in the fridge back at my apartment. I felt bored. I felt silly. Like Peter Suedfeld in that chamber in Princeton, I even got jumpy. I had a brief urge to stand up, water dripping everywhere, and walk out.
Then a transformation began. If you've ever taken psychedelic mushrooms (and come on, who hasn't?) you might recall a certain feeling that arises as the drugs take hold. "Something is happening, something is happening," your body says to your brain, with mild urgency. I got a feeling akin to that while floating. My brain went a little haywire. When the storm passed, I found myself in a new and unfamiliar state of mind.
* * *
Suedfeld's studies have, over the years, shown that tank sessions can be used to treat autonomic nervous system problems like chronic pain, high blood pressure, and motion disorders. They can improve perceptual and motor skills in athletes, and creativity in artists. Suedfeld also claims that the tank shifts our brain's focus from its dominant to its nondominant hemisphere, which has various benefits. "But God only knows why hemisphere balance is affected," says Suedfeld. "We can't yet fit a brain scanner in a tank, or get the scanner wet for that matter."
For a tank newbie like me, not looking to cure physical disorders or win an Olympic medal, the more intriguing aspects of floating include 1) its possibly imagined, Lilly-esque potential to reveal hidden layers of consciousness within, and 2) its proven capacity to chill people out. Suedfeld happily acknowledges point two. "Anything related to psychological stress," says Suedfeld, "whether it's chronic tension headaches, insomnia, things with no known physical cause … after several floats, they really seem to improve."
It's the meditative, relaxing qualities of floating—even non-hallucinogen-enhanced floating—that eventually moved the practice beyond academia and into retail. Glenn Perry is perhaps the forefather of recreational tank use. Perry was a computer programmer in 1972 when he read Lilly's book The Center of the Cyclone and, soon after, saw an ad for a Lilly-backed floating workshop. "The first time I floated," says Perry, "I got out and I found that time had changed and my senses were totally different. I instantly knew I had to build my own tank. By the end of the week, I decided to build tanks not just for myself but for other people. John gave me the name Samadhi—which is a Sanskrit word meaning the state in which a meditator becomes one with the object of meditation."
After trying out several models, Perry settled on a tank that used 10-inch-deep water saturated with Epsom salts. He and his wife Lee opened a float center in Beverly Hills in 1979, renting out their five tanks largely to entertainment industry types. Michael Crichton came in to float when he had writer's block. Eventually, Crichton bought a tank of his own.
Between the Perrys' float center, John Lilly's 1977 book on the joys of floating titled The Deep Self, and the 1980 release of Altered States, flotation entered the popular consciousness. A November 1981 New York Times trend story was titled "Relaxation Tanks: A Market Develops." It quoted representatives from Samadhi and other tank companies, noting that the industry was raking in $4 million a year on sales and rentals. It reported that new float centers were opening across the country. It also listed a few notable private tank owners: Robin Williams, Yoko Ono, and the training staffs of the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles. One happy "tanker" the Times spoke to described the practice as "a self-development kind of thing that allows you to get in tune with yourself."
In the mid-1980s, the AIDS scare changed everything. People were frightened of contracting HIV from infected water in float tank centers. The business dried up. New Agers switched to yoga. Even the academic work fell out of favor. "Radical students began to equate isolation studies with torture and brainwashing," says Suedfeld. "People got hassled out of the field." By the time John Lilly died in 2001, it seemed that floating was over and done.
Turns out it was unsinkable. The February story in the Journal that caught my eye—titled "Float Centers Gaining Steam"—is pretty much a wormhole straight back to that Times trend piece from 30 years before. It notes a new wave of tank enthusiasm, crediting comedian Joe Rogan (a float tank evangelist) and stressed out, chillaxation-hungry Bay Area techies for spreading the word. Further evidence of floating's resurgence: a float center in Portland, Ore., has inaugurated an annual float conference. Peter Suedfeld—who, after receiving his Ph.D. from Princeton, headed the psychology departments at Rutgers and the University of British Columbia and ran tank studies for years in his own labs—was a featured speaker.
And now I'm part of the movement. Once I'd settled into my first tank session at La Casa, I understood why all these people get jazzed about floating. For the first time in my waking life, I had zero thoughts. It was a mental quietude I'd never known existed.
* * *
"We had a Zen master who visited my lab once," says Suedfeld, "and he asked to go in the tank for an hour. Most of his life he had meditated every day for four or five hours or more. And he thought the depth of meditation he reached in the tank was on par with a level he reached maybe once a year in his normal meditation environment—which was not exactly the middle of Times Square. He was amazed."
The water and air in the float chamber are skin temperature, the darkness is identical with eyes open or closed, and there is no sound—thus there is no external input. In turn, my brain decelerated until its output also slowed, and then stopped. I was suspended in a place with no space, or time, or purpose. Once in a while, some quotidian thought would begin to surface at the edges—did I respond to that email?—and then bounce around in the lonely void of my skull for a moment or two. But it would soon melt away as my brain realized it didn't care. Back to the void.
When my one-hour La Casa session ended with a gentle tapping on the wall—the prearranged signal from the spa—I emerged in a profound daze. I spoke slowly and quietly, like a smooth-jazz DJ, to the person at the spa desk who inquired how my session had gone. I felt more rested than if I'd slept for 16 hours on a pile of tranquilized chinchillas. Outside, colors were saturated; sounds were vivid.
I had to try this again, as soon as possible. For my second session, I went to Blue Light Floatation, on 25th Street in Chelsea. This turned out to be a loft apartment belonging to a tank owner named Sam Zeiger. But the setup was not nearly as weird as you might imagine: Zeiger cordons off a private area in which you float, shower, and change.
Having floated before, my transition happened more quickly this time. It took just a few minutes before I felt my brain and my body slowing, my restless thoughts fading out. If I chose to, I could purposefully focus on one idea at a time, roll it around in isolation, examine some part of my life with no distractions. Or I could just revel in the strangely exhilarating emptiness. At one point, I nodded off in the tank. The only way I knew this was that my limbs lightly spasmed—making a small splash—in that way limbs do when you're at the edge of sleep. There was no clear line between consciousness and unconsciousness. (I had no fear of drowning, as my buoyancy was such that it would be nearly impossible to roll over accidentally.)
Afterward, as Zeiger handed me a cup of herbal tea, he recounted his own conversion story. "My first time was supposed to be a one-hour session," he told me, "but the guy forgot about me and left me in the tank for several hours. I had a life-altering experience. I can't describe it to you now in a way that wouldn't devalue its meaning." Zeiger eventually felt compelled to get his own tank and install it in his apartment. Floating in this tank—and maintaining the tank in perfect order, and renting the tank out to other people for $80 an hour—is now his full-time passion.
I went back to La Casa for a final tank session and I knew, as I emerged, that I was hooked. (Disclosure: La Casa gave me my two sessions on the house; Slate paid for the one in Zeiger's apartment.) This is the closest you will ever come to having a drug-like experience without taking drugs. Though you will have no crazy hallucinations (at least, I didn't have any—your hallucinatory mileage may vary), you will understand your brain in an entirely new way.
Consider: Right now there are dozens of thoughts pinballing through your mind. When's lunch? This monitor is too bright. Should I ask her on a second date? My crotch itches. What is the person in the next cubicle saying on the phone? I should be more assertive. I'll get a burrito at lunch. Am I a good person? These thoughts are all occurring more or less simultaneously. There is a cacophony—a noisy din—in your head. The absence of the din is a genuine revelation. I highly recommend you find that out for yourself.
Peter Suedfeld is now using his accrued wisdom about isolation to consult with NASA and the Canadian Space Agency regarding the effects of long-duration space flight in confined, monotonous environments. Glenn Perry still sells his Samadhi tanks, and says sales are on the rise—you can buy your own starting at about $8,900. The annual float conference is running again this August (motto: "Looking Forward to a Whole Lot More Nothing").
As for me, I plan to climb back in a tank at least three or four times a year. Just thinking about the feeling I get from floating makes me crave it. I'm not sure I can fully explain why—but I'd love to ponder that question while buoyed by a tub full of warm, salty water.