text:
If you're old enough to understand the connection between aluminum foil and your TV set, as I am, you'll probably be tickled to learn, as I was, that we might benefit in the future from technology seemingly as obsolete as phones with dials and long, flexible cords.
I'm talking about rabbit ears.
Not the real ones that you sometimes see bounding through the sagebrush with such velocity they might have been propelled by an artillery piece.
I mean a pair of pencil-width aluminum poles jutting, in the shape of a "V," above a console TV.
A console TV, by the way, is what TVs used to be before they underwent a drastic weight-reduction regimen and we started hanging them from the wall, like paintings or calendars. Modern TVs are so sleek and dainty that you could probably attach one to the refrigerator with magnets, right beside the pizza carryout number and the vaguely disturbing crayon drawings your kids made at school. I'd like to do this with the dorm refrigerator in my garage, except I don't have a garage. Or a dorm refrigerator.
But in the hazy past, when screens were not flat and were not meant to be flat (human eyes, after all, are curved), you bought your television set, like as not, in a store that also sold furniture. This was appropriate because TVs were, in fact, pieces of furniture. Significant pieces of furniture. They were made mainly of solid wood and if you tried to move one across the living room you were all but certain to wind up with a hernia or a smashed finger. Or both.
I've long believed the reason members of the The Who and Led Zeppelin and other rock bands often hurled TV sets from their hotel rooms was not merely because they took a lot of drugs but also because the hotel TVs were rather more svelte than average, and a normal person could actually lift one and, if desired, propel it through an open window.
Although probably it was just the drugs.
Anyway, we had big TVs but what we didn't have, at least many of us who lived in the hinterlands, was good and reliable TV reception.
So we had to hook up an antenna that would pull in the signals and ensure we never missed "Dance Fever" or "The A-Team."
Some people took up the task with the sort of initiative that made this country great — they climbed up on the roof and erected a metal contraption that looked a bit like a scale-model Eiffel tower.
But for many Americans who suffered from acrophobia, or who were loathe to mar the graceful line of their roof, the solution was one that became a defining symbol of that era — a rabbit ears antenna.
If you lived anywhere close to a city of respectable size these antennas were generally effective, just as the single-mast antenna on a car is adept at gathering AM and FM radio signals unless you've driven into a cave or a large body of water.
Also you didn't have to fall off the roof and land in the begonias to put up the rabbit ears.
Yet even TVs equipped with these simple antennas could be prone to interference — the dreaded "snow" that would scramble the picture just in time to ruin the Super Bowl or the season premiere of "Happy Days."
At some point a curious owner — probably the sort who also messed around with test tubes and blowtorches and pure sodium in the basement — reckoned that wrapping the rabbit ears with aluminum foil might give the antenna an extra metallic jolt that would magically bring Walter Cronkite's jowls into focus.
This proved to be a worthwhile accessory, at least occasionally, and suddenly there was another use for aluminum foil besides wrapping leftover meatloaf and fashioning hats that thwart the government's attempts to steal our thoughts.
These days, of course, most of us acquire our TV programming by way of Wi-Fi or a coaxial cable, and we wouldn't think to drape aluminum foil over our routers or satellite dishes. Probably this would have opposite of the desired effect, for one thing. Also the sight of multiple foil-festooned devices — at least outside the refrigerator — would provoke uncomfortable questions from visitors.
But before we toss old-fashioned TV signals into the room of relics with the carburetor and the cassette tape, let's ponder the possibilities of what's known as "white space."
These are frequencies, whose use is regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, that have been left vacant to prevent interference between adjacent TV channels.
(Viewers presumably didn't want channel 2 programming bleeding into channel 3, although I suppose that could make for an interesting, if somewhat hallucinatory, experience. Imagine, if you can, simultaneously watch, say, "The Love Boat" and Bob Ross painting happy little paths.)
It happens that those frequencies also are well-suited for supplying broadband internet. Among their advantages, according to people who understand what megahertz means, is that these signals travel a long ways and are not easily blocked by buildings, trees and mountains.
Officials from Microsoft, one of the companies that has been experimenting with white space broadband, say the technology makes it easier, and less expensive, to bring broadband access to about 80 percent of the estimated 23 million Americans who live in rural areas and who don't have such access. That includes parts of Baker County.
Broadband in this case is per the FCC's definition — download speeds of at least 25 Mbps and upload speeds of at least 3 Mbps. That's more than a twofold boost in speed for the service I have at home.
I've read a fair amount about white space technology over the past week. I think I even understood some of it. There were references to special receivers that customers would need to translate the signals to a form our computers recognize, and something about base stations.
And although I didn't see a single reference to aluminum foil I guarantee somebody will figure out how to use the stuff to squeeze a couple more megabits per second from the Net.
Jayson Jacoby is editor
of the Baker City Herald.


text:
Sportsbet - On-Line Sports Activities Betting Give You The Best OddsSport betting is regarded as as a very well-liked supply of entertainment by individuals in many places of the globe. Turkey is 1 of those nations exactly where it is immensely popular. There are numerous sports in which you can enjoy your betting. The sports activities you select will depend on the place you reside and certain other elements. Some of the sports on which bets are commonly positioned are golf, baseball, soccer and basketball. Some bettors place their bets just for having enjoyable whilst some look for earning great amount of money from betting. Expert bettors spend a great deal of time in betting on a daily basis so as to get a lot of cash. If you too are eager on winning some fast cash from betting, and are looking for some useful tips that will manual you in being effective, then this article is just for you.
Email to SMS and SMS to Email messages: These methods permit you to complete your email advertising with efficient SMS advertising. When you send out a advertising email, there is an choice to send a notification SMS at the exact same time. In this way you can be sure that the receiver will know about your email in time. Likewise, when you send out an SMS message you can also forward the text to the email box of the receiver. These methods make sure multiple methods to reach your goal people.
Finally, you can make your unfold picks as long as you're educated about soccer. You don't always need a great sports participant. If appreciate watching the game and you comprehend a lot about the various groups, make sure you produce your own spread picks in soccer. You can put picks to place real bets or you could have to wager among family and friends.
There are many and million individuals bets on every working day and also there are many bookmakers betting on every day. There is an also online m88.com method which allows you to bet on-line. People search sports activities betting sites each day and bets online. The primary motto of this article is to provide you the best sports activities betting sites. These sites permit you to bet online as nicely as bets on specific manners. These sites also have contacts of well-known bookmakers. Although there are numerous websites which allow you very best betting techniques but people want to learn much more. This article has all best websites.
Premium rated SMS: Top quality rated SMS service refers to that when a mobile recipient is charged at a top quality rate for both receiving or sending a message usually in return for content material or a service e.g. games, news and climate content or for mobile marketing functions, and so on. Most generally brief codes are used for top quality rated SMSs.
At this stage I was getting a little thrilled about the product but I had to maintain this excitement at bay and continue to discover about the product to see if it was truly reputable. Subsequent I searched google, yahoo and other search engines to discover what customers thought of the product. I was astonished to learn that no one experienced a poor thing to say about the product. This was an additional great sign.
See betting and freebetting websites for particulars and read all the phrases & conditions of the highlighted freebets provides more info prior to opening freebetting accounts.
The way that the genuine sports activities bettors make cash is by subsequent a system that carefully analyzes data and tends to make knowledgeable picks. These bettors would by no means place a wager if they did not have such systems powering them. The Sports activities Betting Champ was created by John Morrison, a sports betting enthusiast who graduated from Cornell University with a doctorate in figures. His groundbreaking activity betting system is a should have and its winning picks need to turn out to be your successful sports bets. his system ought to be at the core of everybody's betting technique. The method analyzes the Vegas sports activities odds line and provides you solid winners.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Fidelity: 401K Withdrawals Reach 10-Year High
Fidelity: 401K Withdrawals Reach 10-Year High
297 results for 'retirement'. Showing results 271 - 288
Fidelity: 401K Withdrawals Reach 10-Year High
Defense Sec. Gates Plans to Retire Next Year
Justice Ginsburg: No Plans to Retire
BP Replaces Hayward, Reports $17 Billion Loss
Desmond Tutu to Retire from Public Life
Rev. Schuller Not Retiring from Crystal Cathedral
Nation's Oldest Postal Worker Retires
Dodd Statement
Dodd, Dorgan Retirements Shake Up Senate
Powerful House Chairman Obey to Retire
Group Warns More Recruits 'Too Fat to Fight'
How to Survive on a Teacher's Salary
Senator: Stevens' Retirement Could Cause 'Gridlock'
Embattled Rep. Stupak to Retire from House
Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens Retiring
A Look at the Supreme Court Justice Possibles
Supreme Court Justice Retiring?
Retiring Dem Says He was Forced Out the House


text: OpenDoor Church desires to inspire and equip men to know the Word, teach it and faithfully follow Christ as husbands, fathers, brothers, and friends. We biblically train and equip men to be spiritual leaders in their homes, in the church and in their places of business. The Men's Ministry develops men in Christian living to make a positive impact for this generation and those to come. We accomplish this mission through Bible study, discipleship classes, evangelism training, leadership development, accountability groups, mentoring, retreats, mission trips and other special events. In today's culture, it's increasingly important for men to honor God with their hearts and lives.


text:
These game changing flowers are the perfect way to step it up & show you wanna make this relationship last. These flowers last 6 months or longer! 100% fresh-cut blooms are cut at their peak & the water & sap in the plant is replaced by a moisturizer prolonging it's beauty. Blooms By Heinau has 25+ colors of roses & hydrangeas w/50+ arrangements. All natural, maintenance-free & requires absolutely no water.
Available at bloomsbyheinau.com


text:
Cozy Jamble at UCB TONIGHT!
· by cozyjamble · in Sketch Comedy
Hey friends! Tonight at 6:30 at UCB Franklin my class has our 301 Sketch Graduation Show! There are laughs to be had, and good times to experience — come and see it!
Come see the BHPS perform tomorrow!
· by cozyjamble · in Sketch Comedy
We of the Burbank Historical Preservation Society have a show tomorrow! Sep. 5th, 9:30 PM @the M.I. Westiside Theatre $10 tickets at the door, with TONS of free beer and food! Tell your friends, bring your friends, and revel in…


text:
With the indie music season upon us, there are a slew of releases in the pipeline. Among the first ones to be announced is by Dualist Inquiry, the solo project by Sahej Bakshi. He will release his four-track EP, titled Natural Disasters, on September 8.
His debut album, Doppelganger, set a precedent for Indian indie music producers to experiment with sounds that aren't meant to be club bangers. The new EP takes this sound forward. "I have never made music to get people to dance, but if it does have that effect then it's great. I just want to put my music out there and see the reactions it receives," says Bakshi. With this EP, the musician has gone back to his songwriting roots — composing the songs on his acoustic guitar and then translating them electronically.
The result is music that is emotive. The first release, Come On, is a house track with a blues influence and a heavy electro sound. The EP has been released on the record label he launched earlier this year, Dualism Records. It will be up for download and streaming off his Soundcloud page.
For all the latest Lifestyle News, download Indian Express App


text:
Summary: The Iraqis have finally started major infrastructural improvement works, which despite reducing oil exports in the short term will allow for a major increase in future exports. But there are elections coming soon and political manoeuvring is rapidly becoming once again the chief concern; the level of infighting is reaching the point where forming a new coalition might prove a daunting task. Despite some hints that a new deal between Maliki and the Kurds was being struck, there are now signs that Maliki might not be fully committed.
Note: To read more, click here


text: If you were always a straight-A student, you probably looked forward to receiving every report card. Some of us, on the other hand, were easily distracted by boys or baseball or hairstyles or Hendrix. We did well in some subjects but struggled through others, and so we dreaded report card time. Our palms got sweaty … Continue reading "How to Get an A+ on Your Performance Management Program?"


text:
Pink Machines
An essay came by my Twitter feed recently that I cannot share enough–oversharing, though, is sure to lead to a loss in followers, so I opt instead to reply with an essay of my own.
Also, I am testing out a new script that I have written that, if I like how writing this post goes, you should expect to see continued use of in the future.
Let's begin.
The Empty Brain
Dr. Robert Epstein writes about the modern paradigm of treating the human brain like a computer. He begins straight away by arguing that images, songs, and memories not and never have been [[etched into our brains|BK]].
[[BK: Information is not stored away or retrieved or processed, although those words do work perfectly well for describing how a machine works. [[If we were just like machines|AJ]], wouldn't memories be a lot more complete and precise?]]
[[AJ: Well, we still could be machines, only made of unreliable parts though. Even modern machines have flaws, which makes sure that there is a market for research into reliable computing. There's that maxim about backing up your data for a reason, after all.]]
Nowadays, any IT professional can draw a picture pointing out [[exactly where that cat video you downloaded is stored|BK]] in nice and simple ones and zeros, but that does nothing to change the fact that the human brain is mysterious, pink, squishy goo.
[[BK: Downloaded media is typically stored on a hard drive or solid state drive, depending on the device, although exactly where and how it is arranged on the drive depends heavily on the operating system installed and the video encoding used, but those are still details [[that could be worked out|AJ]] given enough time.]]
[[AJ: Now, I know that drawing this picture is only hypothetical, but it'd be a helluva lot easier to do [[by writing some code|BK]] to scan the hard drive and spit out a doodle for us to the monitor. It doesn't change the triviality of the task at all, but it does let us get on with our impatient lives quicker.]]
[[BK: However, this is exactly the train of thought that makes this analogy "sticky," that we can replace tedious, hard, uncertain, or otherwise uncomfortable work with the instructions for that tedious, hard, uncertain, and otherwise uncomfortable work. Literally, this is a case of "easier said than done."]]
For the past 2,000 years, Epstein traces, humans have tried out a handful of different explanations of our consciousness–we were clay given a soul, humours flowing in balance, gears and springs and other elements of automata arranged into complex machines, chemistry and electricity making up machines atomic in size, and, today, the prevalence of computing and computational lingo making it easy to assert, [[the result of calculations|AJ]].
[[AJ: Right. Like in the Matrix. No, that movie assumed that life is a calculation, not our perceptions of it as the model we're talking about assumes.]]
When Epstein challenged his peers to give an explanation of human rational behavior, [[it could not be done|BK]] without referring to the "information processing" analogy.
[[BK: A liberal arts perspective makes it easy to imagine non-technical definitions of what it means to be human–e.g., Love, Honor, the Pursuit of Happiness. Of course, these are less rigor and more poetry. Nonetheless, something to keep in mind, as STEM researchers, is that there are plenty of people–entire disciplines–that can operate under these non-rigorous definitions and be none the worse.]]
Athough thinking about ourselves as machines is useful in some scenarios (since it masks away the unending amount of detail), an inability to reason about ourselves in some other way can be [[dangerous|BK]]. This is because (i) the computational model of man is not exactly true, given that there are provable facts that it does not explain and (ii) it is so tempting to accept now that money is being thrown at research that is, from the start, inherently flawed.
[[BK: There is a more important danger than money lost though, one that Epstein concludes with. We all experience life differently, from different angles, with different backgrounds, and other differences that all continue to culminate and compound each second. Because of this, the "pink goo" of our brains are stimulated and changed in different ways, causing us to "process" information in different ways, leading to more differences in how we perceive or understand the life experiences that further cause our brain tissues to change–not only is [[the same song heard differently by each person listening|AJ]], but the same goes for literally everything. This is compactly known as the Uniqueness Problem.]]
[[AJ: It's almost like just saying that we are machines makes life easier. As robots, we can stop arguing about uniqueness or conflicting ideals, since everyone can be held to the same, universal standards.]]
So what do we do? We continue to use the brain-as-computer analogy [[where appropriate|BK]], but also "get over it". We accept that it is simply not, nor ever will be, an accurate representation of mankind.
[[BK: In a text that I frequently go back to in this blog, Sciences of the Artificial, Herbert Simon reasoned that man is a simple machine that only searches for optimal solutions in an abstract space, operating on and according to the environment in which it finds itself. However, he also reasoned that memory itself is part of that environment and not part of the core machine. Therefore, the complexity and seeming randomness of human behavior can be written off as not inherent to ourselves, but to the world that we are trying to navigate. This thought experiment, however, was never taken to be literal, something that throughout the years has appeared to happen, but instead was given only to help explain the "bounded rationality" to which we've been cursed as imperfect beings. We must keep in the front of our minds the assumptions made in our reasoning and to separate the models of reality we use to make decisions from the Truth of that reality itself.]]
Simply put, analogy is a device.