text:
Will Justin Bieber make Santa's Naughty or Nice List this year?
By now you've seen Justin Bieber's Macy's "What's In Store?"commercial promoting his line of fragrances. Earlier this week, Macy's released a video of his bloopers from the commercial and it's evident even a superstar like the Biebs makes mistakes.
"Yes, he seems perfect. But as this video proves, even Justin can make a few mistakes now and then. Just a few," the video states.
The highlight of the video? His classic wink, nod, smile that seems to make everyone, even the store clerks, faint.
"Chris can you please take me off the Naughty List? I'll do better, I promise," Justin begs Chris Cringle.
While it's uncertain if he made it off the Naughty List this year, songs like his "Mistletoe" might just be able to persuade Santa to put him on the Nice List.
that time of the year youtu.be/LUjn3RpkcKY
— Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) December 19, 2012
-Annie Reuter, CBS Local


text: How easily Nadal crushed Davydenko and then looking very amateurish in the next round and complaining viciously towards the tournament organizers for breaking clay tradition and boldly refusing to ever play in Madrid until conditions are corrected. Nadal in that match being broken back twice by Verdasco. What do you think was the reason for Nadal's emotional breakdown in a match he was controlling? Was he furious about blue clay and wanted to ruin the tournament? Was he protesting?

subset: commoncrawl


text:
4 plead guilty in Houston sex ring using Mexican girls
Updated 10:00 pm, Thursday, July 17, 2014
Four people pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court for their roles in a Houston-based sex trafficking ring that prostituted underage girls from Mexico for up to $500 an hour.
Abel Medeles, 64, and Odelia Hernandez, 45, both from Houston, along with Mexican citizens Eduardo Guzman Gonzales and Alberto Mendez Flores, were among 13 people arrested after federal agents in October raided several Houston bars and brothels that charged "premium prices" for sex with girls.
They were convicted of a conspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants used in sex trafficking and money laundering, authorities said.
The four acknowledged working at the Las Palmas II club in the 5600 block of Telephone Road.
Federal prosecutors said the ring fixed the prices for sex with the underage girls based on how young and pretty they were. The victims were kept locked in a room over the bar and regularly beaten by pimps and clients, authorities said.
The prices for the sex acts ranged from $65 for 15 minutes to up to $500 per hour. The girls were charged a $20 fee for a condom and $15 to use one of the prostitution rooms.
Medeles, also known as "Chito," was in charge of the parking lot and responsible for alerting the others if police were in the area.
Federal prosecutors said Hernandez once warned the others to lock the doors when she learned police were approaching the cantina.
Gonzales, 30, also known as "El Pantera," and Flores, 25, also known as "Ardilla," managed the cantina. They paid the owners $20,000 each week out of the profits received from the trafficking ring and kept what was left. Authorities said they are in the country illegally.
Prosecutors said the operation is believed to have accumulated more than $12 million in cash and property since it began around 1999 when the ring's matriarch, Hortencia Medeles-Arguello, 66, ran a bar in east Houston called Las Flores.
Sentencing for Medeles and Hernandez is set for Oct. 10, while Gonzales and Flores will be sentenced the next week. They are facing 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. They will be held until the hearing, authorities said.
The cases against the others accused in the sex trafficking ring is continuing.
The three-year local, state and federal investigation was conducted by Houston police, the Harris County Sheriff's Office, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission along with the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service and Homeland Security.


text:
Like Patriots' Brady, Sox feel the pain
Injuries are part of the game, and not just for pro athletes
By Gary Gillis / MLB.com
While it's true that there isn't an athlete on the Boston sports scene whose absence would have a bigger impact on his team than Brady's will on the Pats, the Sox have had to fill some pretty big holes. David Ortiz missed 45 games, Mike Lowell a total of 37 and Josh Beckett has been on the DL a couple of times. That had to cost the team a couple of wins.
Injuries are part of the price many athletes pay when they subject their bodies to the physical stresses of professional sports, but that's nothing compared with the costs of the everyday Tom, Dick and Harrys who get hurt on the job.
"Most orthopedic surgeons will never examine or treat a professional athlete over the course of their careers," said Dr. Arun Ramappa, Chief of Sports Medicine in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. "I see a lot of the same type of injuries that pros suffer, but they happen to bricklayers and businesswomen too."
A little sleuthing uncovered some interesting figures. The Journal of Safety Research put the cost of occupational injuries at a tidy $155 billion -- that was back in 1997, when a billion was a lot of money. And according to a recent study, nearly 2 million workplace injuries required recuperation beyond the day of injury. Despite some recent, highly publicized incidents, most injured workers are anxious to get back on the job.
"I get asked all the time, 'When can I go back to work?,'" said Ramappa. "Every surgery is a negotiation. Patients need time for injuries to heal. They need rehab to regain strength and motion."
Like the Red Sox, Brady will have first-class medical care, the most progressive rehab program possible and the luxury of being well compensated for as long as that rehab takes. What nobody has is a guarantee that everything will be as good as new.
"I have had to tell somebody that even after I repair their injury, it's unlikely they can go back to their old line of work. That's not an easy conversation to have. I'd much rather deliver good news and, fortunately, most of the time I'm able to," Ramappa said.
For the Sox, now is the time to get healthy, as the regular season winds down. For Brady, it's going to be a long, lonely season. But if history is any indicator, Brady has a good chance of being ready to reclaim his spot when the Pats open their season next year.
Gary Gillis is a contributor to MLB.com. The BID Injury Report is a regular column on redsox.com. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is the official hospital of The Boston Red Sox. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


text:
I really think this project came out great, even better than I expected. I would like to thank Morgoth who helped allot on making this project(he wrote the code for the ATmega) and I hope we can work again on future projects.
But let's hear what you think about the Audio Spectrum Analyzer, do you like it ?


text:
Radio controlled planes take to the skies
JUNCTION CITY, Ore. - Some of the largest radio controlled airplanes took to the skies at the Big Bird Fly event in Junction City on Saturday.
Eugene Aeronauts hosts the event every year at Henson Field.
RC plane enthusiasts from all over the area come out to fly their airplanes for the public.
All of the airplanes have an 80 inch wing span or larger.
The event gives spectators a chance to pilot the fancy air crafts.
"A lot of people have the dream of flying, but they don't have the funds to fly a good sized aircraft or the time," said Brad Werneth, President of Eugene Aeronauts. "This a way to fly and fulfill that dream for a lot less money and a lot less time commitment."
"It's a blast," said Steve Coleman, an RC plane pilot from Medford. "I enjoy everything from an adrenaline rush when you get down low to the adrenaline and the fascination of being in front of a crowd."
More than 100 people came out for the event.
Eugene Aeronaut's next air show will be Saturday, August 18th at Henson Field in Junction City.


text:
Jobs Rebound Eases Fears of Spring Stall
Worries Over Early-Year Hiccups Recede As U.S. Businesses Add 175,000 Workers
The jobs market showed resilience in February as hiring picked up despite harsh winter weather, bolstering hopes the U.S. economy will break out of its recent slump as the spring arrives.
Nonfarm payrolls grew by a seasonally adjusted 175,000 in February, the Labor Department said Friday, following a two-month stretch of weaker growth. The unemployment rate ticked up to 6.7%, in part because more people joined the workforce....


text:
Office category page Microsoft Download Center
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Microsoft Access Database Engine 2010 Redistributable
This download will install a set of components that can be used to facilitate transfer of data between 2010 Microsoft Office System files and non-Microsoft Office applications.
Microsoft Skype for Business Basic
Microsoft Skype for Business Basic gives you instant messaging (IM), audio and video calls, online meetings, availability (presence) information, and sharing capabilities all from one, easy-to-use program.
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The 2007 Microsoft Office Suite Service Pack 3 (SP3)
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SharePoint Designer 2013 is the tool of choice for the rapid development of SharePoint applications. Please make sure your installation of SharePoint Designer is up to date by using Microsoft Update, or installing Service Pack 1 [see Details for more info].
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The Microsoft Office Configuration Analyzer Tool (OffCAT) 2.2 provides a quick and easy way to analyze Microsoft Office programs for known configurations that cause problems. By downloading OffCAT.msi for OffCAT 2.2, you are hereby consenting to the installation of this program to analyze select Microsoft Office programs on your computer.
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Open, edit, and save documents in the Works Word Processor file format supported by Works versions 6, 7, 8 and 9. This download requires Windows Installer version 3.1 or higher. Please refer to System Requirements below for more details.
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text:
The gift of a ring to mark a commitment is a tradition throughout human history. The never ending circles of your multistone january birthstone commitment jewelry express your boundless love, celebrate the occasion, and serve as a reminder of your bond from this day forward. The precious metals and gems stand for the preciousness of your promise. Your relationship is unique, so your rings should be too. Our wide selection of multistone january birthstone commitment jewelry means you can find a design that reflects and expresses your individual style. Skilled American craftspeople set every gem in our multistone styles by hand. Gemvara commitment rings perfectly symbolize your promise in the finest gems and precious metal, crafted to last a lifetime. Symbols, gems, and personal engravings express your personality through the design. Gemvara selects the finest possible materials to make one of a kind multistone january birthstone commitment jewelry to order, just for you. Our precious metals are recycled or responsibly mined. January's birthstone is garnet. Gemvara offers both deep ocher red garnet and purplish-pink rhodolite garnet for January babies. Gemvara's luxurious multistone january birthstone commitment jewelry are designed to be future heirlooms, made by hand in America.
We can help right away. Chat with a jewelry expert now!


text:
BRIGHTON, Colo.—Police say a man severely wounded in a knife attack in Brighton managed to name his assailants before he died.
Officers responding to reports of a fight at a mobile home park around dawn Thursday located a 22-year-old man from Denver covered in blood.
Police say the man told the officers who attacked him before he lost consciousness. He was rushed to a hospital where he died.
In the afternoon, police say two men were arrested in connection with the attack and face preliminary murder charges.
No names were immediately released.


text:
Because when it comes to stackable rings, you can't be too rich or too thin, this sizable band is dazzling yet delicate enough to wear stacked in multiples or with another ring. Stack three or four as a fashion statement, add birthstones to wear as a mother's ring, or match your engagement ring to wear as a wedding band or anniversary band.
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text:
Thanks! We got a few comments like that, "she doesn't look like she's a day and a half old", but you never know if people are just being nice.
This will likely be our only child, so I'm acutely aware that time spent away from Ella is time I'm never going to get to even pseudo-repeat.


text: ABOVE SECTION OPEN TO UNDERGRADUATES ONLY What role does religion play in society? What are the similarities and differences in the major religious traditions in our society? How can we explain variation in belief and participation? Are we becoming more or less religious? This course will try to answer these questions and more. While we won't be looking at specific doctrines or histories, we will be looking at the general practices and beliefs of Mainline Protestants, Evangelical and Black Protestants, Roman Catholicism, Judaism, and Islam, especially their significance to contemporary social issues.


text:
Use this reader's response activity to analyze the characters in any book. Print and collect your scrapbook pages.
Writing With Writers
Explore genres with authors and publish online.
Share What You're Reading
Review your favorite books and get recommended reads.
Flashlight Readers
Join the club for kids who love books.
Character Charts
Understanding Character
Building Believable Characters
Because of Winn-Dixie
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Books with Strong Characters


text:
Gingerbread Cookies with Lemon Frosting Recipe
When I spread these spicy gingerbread rounds with my lemony cream-cheese frosting, I knew I had a hit. Cardamom and allspice add a hint of chai tea flavor. —Aysha Schurman, Ammon, Idaho
Recommended: 30 Classic Christmas Cookies to Spread Holiday Cheer
VERIFIED BY Taste of Home Test Kitchen
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 2-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and molasses. Combine the flour, ginger, baking soda, cardamom, cinnamon, allspice, lemon peel and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.
- Shape into 1-in. balls; place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until tops are cracked. Cool for 2 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.
- In a small bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add confectioners' sugar, lemon juice, peel and vanilla; beat until smooth. Frost cookies. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Yield: about 4 dozen.
Originally published as Gingerbread Cookies with Lemon Frosting in Country Woman Christmas Annual 2011, p63
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Any changes to your rating or review will appear where you originally posted your review


text:
Ruiz happy to remain with Philadelphia
Three-year deal worth $8.85 million, includes club option
By Todd Zolecki / MLB.com
Ruiz has been behind the plate for many memorable moments in recent seasons. In fact, he has started every postseason game for the Phillies the past three years. Assistant general manager Scott Proefrock said Tuesday at Citizens Bank Park, where he announced Ruiz had signed a three-year, $8.85 million contract extension, that he hopes Ruiz will be behind the plate for many more.
Ruiz hopes so, too.
"I'm really excited to be here in Philly," Ruiz said.
The contract buys out Ruiz's three years of salary arbitration, and includes a fourth-year club option worth $5 million. If Philadelphia picks up that option, it would buy out Ruiz's first year of free agency.
That is important because after they traded catching prospects Lou Marson to Cleveland in July for Cliff Lee and Travis d'Arnaud to Toronto in December for Roy Halladay, the Phils do not have much catching depth in the upper tiers of their system.
But for the next two years, they know they have Ruiz and Brian Schneider, who signed a two-year contract.
Ruiz will make $1.9 million this season, $2.75 million in '11 and $3.7 million in '12. The club has a $500,000 buyout on its '13 option, or it will pay him $5 million. Ruiz also receives $100,000 performance bonuses for 120, 130 and 140 games started. Any of those bonuses reached in any year will be added to his '13 salary.
In the past week, the Phillies have signed Joe Blanton, Shane Victorino and Ruiz to three-year extensions. That not only locks them up, but it also gives the Phillies a better picture of how much money they can spend in the future.
"It helps you plan if you know how much money you have committed," Proefrock said.
Ruiz has hit .246 with 22 home runs and 138 RBIs in 366 games with the Phils, but they did not sign him to an extension because of his bat -- although both Proefrock and Ruiz think he can improve offensively. They love his defense and his game-calling skills.
The pitchers love working with him, too. In fact, it is not an understatement to say Ruiz might be one of the more popular players in the clubhouse. He works hard. He has a great demeanor. By all accounts, he is a great teammate.
A long time ago, Ruiz said he just wanted to make the big leagues. Now he's got a multimillion dollar contract as a respected, established catcher.
"I never thought that one day I'd have a contract in the big leagues," Ruiz said. "Now it's very special to me to have this contract."
Todd Zolecki is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


text:
Discussion in 'Trek Tech' started by Praetor, Mar 23, 2009.
Time for Chapter 10 then.
Excelsior's modularity -> classes' modularity (or class' modularity?)
I think that semicolon should be a colon.
ships remained -> ships still remained
Thanks, k. Edited to fix.
800? wow, that's a lot of ships!
Indeed! It certainly explains why the Excelsiors were always the ones ferrying personnel to the 1701-D in TNG (consider that only six Galaxies were initially built). We should make Praetor list the names of the "nearly 1000" that were in service.
That goes back to the whole problem of the fleet size. TNG consistently suggests there is a small Starfleet, or at least one that is very widely spread. The 40 ships at Wolf 359 are all they can muster in Earth's back yard, and Picard could only scrounge together 20 vessels - some without full crews - on the Romulan boarder.
The Enterprise is often "the only ship in range", but that goes for most of TOS and the movies too. Generations is particularly guilty with the Enterprise-B seemingly the only ship in the vicinity of Earth, which stretches credibility. Damn dramatic licence!
DS9 gives much larger fleets, as you would expect from wartime, with the 600 in Sacrifice of Angels being only about a third of the force they wanted. The Seventh Fleet was supposedly only 112 ships, and the loss of all but 14 is considered a major loss. Even so, earlier in the series it suffers from small fleet-itis, with a mere six ships coming to DS9's aid in The Way of the Warrior. I can't remember how big the Klingon fleet is - "at least 20" or something like that.
Obviously improvements in special effects techniques had an effect on how many ships we could see at one time, and with CGI, they seemed to grow exponentially.
The big difference is time. I can believe that the short notice of the Borg cube only allowed to pull in 40 ships, whereas it took months or years to recall ships from distant exploration and other duties to assemble large fleets for the Dominion War effort.
I don't know how I feel about 800 Excelsior-class ships. We've seen a lot compared to some other classes, but we saw like 25 or something. It's difficult to reconcile Starfleet building small numbers of ships in many different classes and then building 800 heavy cruisers of this particular type. If I were to suppose a class of "only" 50, I would still expect this number to render it one of the most common types in the Starfleet.
I guess my real problem is the idea that *any* class would have hundreds and hundreds of representatives. I don't know if this is a safe assumption. There were 12 Constitution-class ships at that one point in TOS, though the design was not new; people say we saw "so many Mirandas" during TNG era, but I actually think it comes out to around 12, doesn't it? That's with a few variants in the mix, too. So I don't know if I feel like I have any grounds to extrapolate that seeing that many Mirandas could mean there are hundreds. I always thought it was really interesting that Starfleet seems to build so many different kinds of research and exploration ships, always trying new things and staying on the cutting edge, and wondered if it isn't somewhat more interesting from a fictional perspective (and for the fans who love to design starships) if the fleet was made up of many, many classes of only a small number of ships each. It shows that they have a cool kind of "leisurely stargazing" or tinkering attitude instead of a more militant "this works, and let's mass-produce it" view.
I might have believed 800 scouts or something, but Excelsiors are still quite good-sized even by the standards of the late 24th century (bit bigger than Voyager) and if like one in ten ships in the Starfleet is a huge heavy cruiser like that, well, it's a hell of a fleet.
I have looked around the net and other sources for material relating to the number of Excelsior Calss vessels built by Starfleet and the most that I could find in one listing was 30. I found this in Ships of the Star Fleet Vol. 1 Cruisers 2377-2378 by Chris Wallace. While not cannon by any means, it does seem a more reasonable number of vessels.
If anyone is interested here is the link for the .pdf file for reference. http://www.asdb.net/asdb/docs/sotsf/SOTSF1.pdf
I think Jackill had a few designs that numbered near the 100 mark or above, but those were mainly transport/tugs that served as support vessels. I think his Jenghiz class destroyer and a few other designs number between about 50-80, because the Jenghiz was an upgrade of the FJ destroyers. But many of the designs I've seen in various sources only have maybe 20-40 vessels max, and even then it tends more toward the lower end of that spectrum. When you consider how many designs a power like the Federation has if we include most of the regular non-canon sources (Jackill's, Ships of the Star Fleet, FJ's TM etc), then it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to build loads of every design. Only what you need per design.
Your work so far is truly creative and amazing Praetor.
I have throughly enjoyed reading all 10 chapters over the last hour and a half and look forward to what is yet to come.
I have only one stupid little nit...
Once you described how Sulu was elected President of the Federation (for three terms, no less!), should not the rest of the places he is described in the narrative, refer to him as President Sulu in honor of that accomplishment?
As for the number of Starfleet ships...
Should not one also consider the Size of Federation Space, when thinking about how many ships might be built?
While there may only be a few of the larger class of ships for exploration and such, any ship that could be considered a workhorse of the fleet would certainly have to be built in sufficient numbers to cover the extensive area that the Federation seems to have expanded to by the time of TNG.
Another thing to consider is the extraordinary length of time that has passed since the first introduction of the Excelsior Class and their rather unusual reliability, dependability and up-grading factor.
This would tend to also indicate that a much larger number of them have endured the test of time and survived to be added to the count.
Therefore to me anyway, hundreds of these type of ships being in service in various states of readiness, does not seem unreasonable.
While in most cases you certainly refer to somebody by the most prestigious title that person has earned, such as "president," there are some exceptions in everyday life. For instance, we're probably more inclined to refer to Eisenhower or Grant as "General Eisenhower" or "General Grant" than president because it was under that title that they became renowned. The same could apply to Captain Sulu. While the proper way to refer to him might be as "President Sulu", in everyday parlance, he might still be "Captain Sulu".
You of course noticed I hid for a day, right?
Indeed, good sir. A certain Plecostomus suggested I had too few ships and suggested I multiply my original numbers by a factor of ten. It felt a bit high to me, but I thought I'd go ahead and see what everyone's reactions were. I purposefully left it rather vague - but there are supposed to have been 1200 Excelsiors built, with 800 in service in the War.
My original numbers were roughly 160 built and all reactivated during the war (since the numbers are much lower), with 80 surviving the war.
I'd be curious to see if we could reach a general concensus over which numbers seem more feasible.
[Darth Vader] NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! [/Darth Vader]
That's generally my take on it too - I tend to favor a larger fleet than most people. I'm just not exactly sure how much larger...
Yeah, you've effectively summed up my original reasons for keeping it around 150. I tried to safely account for the ships we had named, plus the nameless ships we saw.
Yeah, more good reasons for leaning back towards the 150 ship figure...
Thanks very much.
Well, my thinking was actually basically this:
As to the numbers...
It's good to hear a dissenting opinion. And you've effectively summed up my reasoning for bumping the numbers up as I did.
So I'm still lost in indecisiveness. I could split the difference and say there are about 300 - essentially double my original numbers.
Thoughts and opinions are most highly solicited, please. Pursuade me.
I'd probably go for that compromise number. 1200 just seems too high, though 150-odd over nearly a century might be too low given the number we see in the Dominion War. I'd accept a thousand Mirandas, and even more Oberths though.
Also on the "President Sulu" front, when you are writing history, you generally use the form of address they would have held at the time, to prevent confusion. Hence General Montgomery at El Alamein, and Field Marshall Montgomery in Normandy, not Viscount Montgomery at either. Sulu wasn't President when he was captain of the Excelsior, so it would be pretty perverse to address him as such.
See, I would think there would only be a few more Mirandas than Excelsiors. And somehow, I'd imagined even fewer Oberths than either of them - a few built in large isolated groups.
Well, with the size of the federation, how many shipyards could they have capable of building a heavy cruiser? even if it is only 10 yards, building 1 per year, that is nearly 1000 ships total.
The real problem here is scale. We like to think of each of these ships as lovingly crafted and unique. When the numbers start to get into 3 digits it looks more like they were mass produced carbon copies. Our world bound mindset can't really reconcile the numbers needed compared with what "feels right".
In an organization the size of the Federation, 12 ships is not a production run. It's a design study. if they had said in TNG that there were 300 Galaxy class cruisers, how unique would Enterprise feel?
This also leads back to the question of scope. In TOS the Enterprise was a heavy cruiser. Not the flagship. We were given the impression that this was just one captain's adventures and that the galaxy was a large place with other captains and crews having adventures that we just hadn't seen. By the movie era things had become myopically focused on "one ship, one crew" above them all. This greatly skews how large starfleet is portrayed in order to have our hero ship be "the only one available".
It seems to me that the larger the ship, the fewer are built. I can imagine thousands of the smaller Mirandas and Oberths being built, as they do a lot of the basic scouting and scientific missions that form the bulk of Starfleet missions. I imagine that in a lot of stories, once the Enterprise does it's thing and moves on, the smaller ships come in and clean up after them.
You probably aren't going to have the Enterprise-E mapping an L-class planet in the back-end of nowhere, or cataloguing one of the thousands of nubulae or pulsars that must be knocking about in space - that's what everyone else does whilst the Enterprise is off having adventures on television. I suppose most of what Starfleet does is actually pretty boring, but we are lucky to see the biggest and best ships with the most exciting missions.
You know, I was just reading about the B-52 bomber. In some ways, I've seen it as an inspiration for my interpretation of the Excelsior. They built 744 B-52s. Maybe 700 is a nice round compromise number?
I'd forgotten to also mention that for many classes, Jackill lists a number of vessels that are merely proposed additions to that class. So for a design that has maybe a hundred ships listed total, the actual number in service might only be half of that. Whereas with the Jenghiz design, the high number makes some sense because it's implied to represent all of the FJ era destroyers (the Saladin class and its three variants). This seems pretty fair and logical to me, and I've seen similar notations in other works regarding vessels that are under construction or proposed but not actually commissioned into service.
That is my point exactly.
Once the narrative talks about his three terms as Federation President, would it not be proper to do so from that point on?
(as I stated in my post)
Okay, okay, I'll call him President Sulu!
Any more thoughts on the numbers before I do a revision?
Separate names with a comma.


text: In addition to being a teacher she also considers herself a healer, burgeoning writer, facilitator and spiritual activist. Spring has studied indigenous healing practices and works with students individually from around the world. She currently teaches workshops, large groups, compassion meditation and loving kindness retreats throughout the country. Her work includes earth based practices, awakening in the body, movement, dance and yoga.


text:
Seattle, WA (SportsNetwork.com) - The Seattle Mariners put the No. 19 in the "5.5 hole" on the infield dirt between the shortstop and third base, where Tony Gwynn collected many of his 3,141 career hits.
It was a touching tribute to Gwynn, who passed away at the age of 54 on Monday.
As for the game, Kyle Seager smacked a three-run homer and the Mariners beat the San Diego Padres, 5-1, in the opener of a four-game, home-and-home set.
San Diego hung Gwynn's No. 19 jersey in its dugout and wore black arm bands on its uniforms to commemorate him.
"Even though we're away from San Diego, I think the Mariners did a good job of putting Tony out there," Padres manager Bud Black said.
Gwynn had battled salivary gland cancer, the result of his longtime use of chewing tobacco. He had surgery to remove a malignant tumor in 2009 and again in 2012.
A career .338 hitter, Gwynn was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007, having been selected on 97.6 percent of ballots. He won eight National League batting titles and earned 15 All-Star selections.
Gwynn batted better than .350 seven times, including a career-best .394 during the strike-shortened 1994 season. He never hit below .309 in a full season and finished his career with 3,141 hits.
Gwynn helped the Padres to a pair of World Series appearances -- first in 1984 and again in 1998.
Chris Young (6-4) struck out six and scattered four hits and walked one over six scoreless innings against his former team as Seattle won its second straight on the heels of a five-game losing streak.
"Any fun about pitching against them disappeared this morning with the news of Tony passing," Young said.
Brad Miller whacked a solo shot in the triumph.
Tyson Ross (6-6) surrendered five runs on seven hits and seven walks over 5 2/3 frames for San Diego, which has dropped seven of its last eight contests. Carlos Quentin homered in defeat.
Seattle plated three runs in the first and two more in the second to jump ahead.
Endy Chavez led off the first with a single, James Jones bunted into a force out and Robinson Cano walked before Seager cracked a 3-0 pitch into the seats in right for his three-run shot.
Miller launched his solo blast down the right-field line with one out in the second, and Cano added an RBI double later in the frame to give the Mariners their five-run cushion.
Quentin cracked a solo shot in the ninth to get San Diego on the board.
After his playing career ended in 2001, Gwynn returned to his alma mater at San Diego State and had been the head baseball coach since 2003. He was on medical leave since March and had just signed a contract extension with the Aztecs last week ... Seattle was 2-for-7 with runners in scoring position, while San Diego was 0-for-8 with RISP.


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Kyle Farnsworth: Kansas City can win
Royals reliever a believer in his team's chemistry
I wanted to pitch for Kansas City because the organization has good, young talent and a strong emphasis on pitching. It was the right decision for me when I signed and remains the right decision for me today.
This organization hadn't had a lot of success the past couple of years, but I thought that could be turned around quickly. It's about getting the right guys in the right areas.
We came together quickly this season, and we've gelled. We have a good mixture of younger guys and older guys. As far as I can tell, everyone here gets along together well, and everyone here does a good job of supporting each other and rooting for one another.
I've been part of winning teams in the past, and getting off to a good start has been a common denominator. You can start slowly and win, but it's more difficult. When you establish yourselves as a winning team early, you aren't spending time trying to dig out of holes.
Being a pitcher myself, it's been fun to watch Gil Meche and Zack Greinke lead our rotation. I've seen and played with a lot of good starting pitchers, and these guys are up there with any of them. I like to see how they go about their business.
Greinke, of course, has gotten off to such a fabulous start. I can't remember playing alongside someone who has pitched as well as he has so far. I know he had great stretches last season. He works hard, and with his ability, he can really accomplish a lot of things.
Although he's on the DL now, Joakim Soria is another one of our game's best secrets. He's real loose, and he doesn't take things too seriously, but he has three or four quality pitches. He throws strikes, and he gets ahead of hitters.
When he does that, they can't sit on a pitch since he has so many good pitches. His ability to locate his pitches well also makes him so tough and is a key to his success. Our team will be better the second he comes off the disabled list.
In all, there is no reason why we cannot compete for our division, and I'm happy to be part of it.
Kyle Farnsworth, a hard-throwing veteran in his 11th MLB season, signed a two-year free-agent contract with the Royals over the winter, and he has struck out 15 hitters in 15 innings to go along with a 1-3 record and 3.94 ERA so far.
This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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Professor-authored play was a 2012 National Playwrights Conference semi-finalist
MEDIA CONTACT: Hilary Dickinson at email@example.com or 608-363-2849
The first play of the Beloit College theatre season, Coward Land, was a 2012 semi-finalist at the National Playwrights Conference held at the famed Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. Local audiences will get the opportunity to see it performed fromThursday, Oct. 3 through Saturday, Oct. 5 and from Thursday, Oct. 10 through Saturday, Oct. 12 at 8 p.m. in the Kresge Theatre on the Beloit College campus.
Written and directed by David Marcia, a visiting professor in the theatre, dance and media studies department at Beloit, the play centers on three young women in their early 20s played by Orianna O'Neill'16, Samantha Abrams'17 and Silvia Abelson'16.
Amid the wreckage of a wedding day and the end of an empire, they figure out questions like "what if you can't live where you're from anymore?," "what if the only way to better yourself is by oppressing others?" and "who fights our wars for us and why?"
"What makes this play special is that it deals with political and ethical issues in a provocative and entertaining way," Marcia said. "It's a funny play and it's a scary play, and it engages the audience in a very active way with the intent of making the people who leave the performance a bit different from those who arrived."
Due to the drama and humor, Coward Land is for mature audiences only. Tickets are $8.50 for general admission, $5 for seniors/faculty and $4 for students. To purchase tickets, call the box office at 608-363-2755 Monday - Friday from 12:30 p.m. - 5 p.m.
To watch the Coward Land trailer on YouTube, click here.


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And now, in local Phillies news….
All eight Phils who are eligible for arbitration have just filed, including Ryan Howard, 2008 NLCS and WS MVP Cole Hamel and Shane Victorino. All players must now tell the Phils how much they think they're worth by this upcoming Tuesday, and any of those that don't come to a quick decision with the ballclub, will have their case sent to a panel of three arbitrators for February 1-21.
In my opinion, I believe that except for maybe Howard, the players and the Phils will quickly settled their monetary differences and sign contracts for the next several seasons. With Howard, if last year is any indication, the team may decide to try their luck again with arbitration. While I think this might end up being another bad move on management's part, I can see their point because of Howard's low batting average and the large number of strikeouts he has made, in spite of his ability to knock in runs and hit home runs. But, I will say this, if the Phillies' front office stiff Hamel, after asking him to pitch a full season without an injury, which he did, by helping the team win it all in the post-season, by not giving him a several seasons contract, then they will only have themselves to blame if he decides to try free agency the first chance he gets. Hey, front office, listen up, lock him in, now!!!!
Also, in an Alden Gonzalez article that was posted recently on Phillies.com, J.A. Happ has said that he is ready to compete for the last spot in the Phillies' starting rotation, as he goes up against Chan Ho Park, Kyle Kendrick, and prospect Carlos Carrasco, among others for that spot.
I wish Happ luck on getting the spot. But if he doesn't, I'm sure he will continue what he was doing at Lehigh Valley, while waiting to be called back if something goes wrong with one of the starters on the main squad.


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All About Batteries, Part 10: Lithium Sulfur Dioxide (LiSO2)
6 comments post a comment
In this article, we focus on lithium sulfur dioxide (LiSO2) batteries, including their advantages, disadvantages, and chemistry.
Some time ago, Max Maxfield roped me into his ongoing robot project. I must say that Max is one busy techno-geek -- he has got more things going on at once than you can shake a stick at. (I bet he's probably done that stick-shaking thing somewhere along the line, as well.)
Be that as it may, this led to my writing this series of articles on the various battery technologies available to us. Along the way, in addition to the nitty-gritty technology details, I'm including tips and tricks with regard to selecting the most appropriate battery technology for your application, along with tidbits of trivia and nuggets of knowledge, as Max would say. In this article, we consider lithium sulfur dioxide (LiSO2) batteries, but first...
Tip No. 9: What size are you?
When designing a product, from time to time we all struggle with the question: "What will fit inside?" Who gets to decide how a number is assigned to a given shape/size and what it is called? Here are two of the organizations I use:
- Internationally, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) defines standards for many electrical/electronic devices, including batteries. When it recognizes a given primary battery, the battery is given a 60086 number.
- In the USA, a committee of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) created the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) C18 series, which defines battery sizes and characteristics.
Just in case you were wondering, the IEC and ANSI standards do not always agree, but they are mostly the same, and things have been improving over time. Everything we need to know about the characteristics of batteries for fitting and interchangeability can be purchased at the above websites.
I can't include everything here, since the list is so large, but for an example of what can be found, consider the ubiquitous AAA battery, with a diameter of 10.5 mm (0.41 inch) and a length of 44.5 mm (1.75 inch).
The LiSO2 battery
Constructed with sulfur dioxide on carbon bonded with Teflon, this battery technology is known for its wide operating temperature range, flat voltage-discharge curve, and high energy density. However, these benefits come with disadvantages. Because the SO2 is at high pressure, which requires a safety vent, there is an explosion hazard, and this is a high-cost battery. In addition, the forms of this battery that contain acetonitrile can produce small amounts of very poisonous hydrogen cyanide when subjected to extreme temperatures.
Another consideration: Especially after long storage and/or being subjected to low temperatures, the terminal voltage may dip suddenly at the first application of a load and then recover. The effect is similar to lithium-thionyl-chloride chemistries. (See All About Batteries, Part 7: Lithium Thionyl Chloride.)
- Specific energy: approximately 250 Wh/kg
- Energy density: approx. 400 Wh/L
- Specific power: 15 W/kg (light loads)
- Discharge efficiency: approx. 50-72%
- Energy/consumer-price: 0.12 Wh/dollar
- Service or shelf life: 10 years
- Self-discharge: 0.25%/month
- Cycle durability: primary battery/NA
- Nominal cell voltage: 2.85 V (3.9 V with bromine monochloride added)
- Open-circuit voltage: 3.0 V (varies by manufacturer)
- Cut-off voltage: 2.0 V (varies by manufacturer and use)
- Temperature: -55 to +70°C (selected versions to -60°C)
Anode: Li → Li+ + e-
Cathode: 2SO2 + e → S2O4
Overall: 2Li + 2SO2 → Li2S2O4
Though the military has typically been one of the larger users of this battery type, I think one of the more interesting applications is inside a spacecraft named Huygens that landed on a moon of Saturn called Titan.
The representative illustrations below are for the Saft G 06/2 (0.95AH) battery.
In my next column, we'll look at some more tips and tricks, and we will consider another battery technology. In the meantime, as always, I welcome any questions or comments.
Related posts:
- All About Batteries, Part 1: Introduction
- All About Batteries, Part 2: Specifications & Terminology
- All About Batteries, Part 3: Lead-Acid Batteries
- All About Batteries, Part 4: Alkaline Batteries
- All About Batteries, Part 5: Carbon Zinc Batteries
- All About Batteries, Part 6: Zinc-Air
- All About Batteries, Part 7: Lithium Thionyl Chloride
- All About Batteries, Part 8: Zinc/Silver-Oxide
- All About Batteries, Part 9: Sodium Sulfur (NaS)


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ACHICA / Court of Versailles
Court of Versailles
Court of Versailles
Many view Versailles as unparalleled in its magnificence and splendor, the regal courts of Louis XIV living up to the definition of decadence. If you fantasise about aristocratic elegance, you can easily have a taste after taking advantage of this stunning furniture promotion. Discover lavish mirrors, dressing tables, cabinets and more, to create a truly beautiful boudoir.
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Topic: [Solved] Changing LDAP Passwords
==== Required information ====
- iRedMail version: 0.8.3
- Store mail accounts in backend (LDAP):
- Linux/BSD distribution name and version: CentOS 6.3
Hello Zhang,
Thanks again for the wonderful product. I'm trying to setup a backup mail server, but am running into problems with the LDAP piece. I have imported my LDIF backup as described in the wiki (http://www.iredmail.org/wiki/index.php? … _LDIF_file), but when I try to update the passwords for vmail and vmail admin in phpldapadmin, I get:
Could not perform ldap_modify operation.
LDAP said: Server is unwilling to perform
Error number: 0x35 (LDAP_UNWILLING_TO_PERFORM)
Description: The LDAP server refused to perform the operation.
Not wanting to throw in the towel, I tried changing the password at the command line:
ldappasswd -s <vmailPasswd> -D "cn=Manager,dc=mydomain,dc=com" \
-w <ManagerPasswd> -x cn=vmail,dc=mydomain,dc=com
This returns:
Result: Server is unwilling to perform (53)
Additional info: shadow context; no update referral
I have tried looking in /var/log/openldap.log for additional information, but it is empty, even after changing log level to -1 in slapd.conf and restarting the service.
However, the service is running:
# service slapd status
slapd (pid 14275) is running...
And there are no issues with connecting to phpldapadmin and viewing the imported data. I simply can't login to any user accounts. (Presumably because the vmail password is incorrect)
Here's a snippet of the /var/log/maillog file during a connection attempt:
Jan 30 11:12:44 ruthie postfix/proxymap[13349]: warning: dict_ldap_lookup: Search error 50: Insufficient access
Jan 30 11:12:44 ruthie postfix/proxymap[13349]: warning: dict_ldap_lookup: Search error 50: Insufficient access
Jan 30 11:12:44 ruthie postfix/proxymap[13349]: warning: dict_ldap_lookup: Search error 50: Insufficient access
Jan 30 11:12:44 ruthie postfix/trivial-rewrite[14606]: fatal: proxy:ldap:/etc/postfix/ldap/virtual_mailbox_domains.cf(0,lock|fold_fix): table lookup problem
Jan 30 11:12:45 ruthie postfix/qmgr[14469]: warning: problem talking to service rewrite: Success
Jan 30 11:12:45 ruthie postfix/master[13307]: warning: process /usr/libexec/postfix/trivial-rewrite pid 14606 exit status 1
Jan 30 11:12:45 ruthie postfix/master[13307]: warning: /usr/libexec/postfix/trivial-rewrite: bad command startup -- throttling
Jan 30 11:13:25 ruthie roundcube: IMAP Error: Login failed for firstname.lastname@example.com from 184.108.40.206. LOGIN: Temporary authentication failure. in /var/www/roundcubemail-0.8.2/program/include/rcube_imap.php on line 191 (POST /mail/?_task=login&_action=login)
Obviously nothing works so long as I can't update these passwords. Any idea what I'm doing wrong?


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Fire in outer Melbourne 'a reality check'
A fast-moving grassfire has been a reality check for people living on Melbourne's fringes and authorities warn they should steel themselves for similar fires.
The blaze in the city's north highlighted a lack of preparedness by residents in the city's rapidly expanding fringes, fire chiefs say.
A man is expected to be charged with recklessly causing the grassfire, which destroyed sheds, threatened homes and created traffic chaos on Monday.
Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley said he was troubled by photos of shirtless men trying to fight fires with garden hoses.
"You're putting yourself in harm's way," he said. "If the fire is of significance, you'll die."
He said residents at the city's edges need to take heed of the fire danger.
"This is a reality check for everyone that lives in the outer metropolitan area."
CFA incident controller John Deering said many people in affected areas were not sure what to do.
The grassfire was initially thought to have destroyed a home in Epping North but CFA crews assessing damage in the area found three sheds had burned.
A Geelong man was arrested on Tuesday but released after being interviewed over recklessly starting the fire which has burned more than 2400 hectares.
The 48-year-old is expected to be charged on summons, a police spokesman said.
The blaze, which started in Kalkallo on Monday afternoon, has been contained but continues to burn near Donnybrook, Epping and Campbellfield.
Cooler conditions and light rain on Tuesday reduced the threat.
Meanwhile, about 150 firefighters battling a blaze in the Grampians area stopped the bushfire from impacting a small farming community in the Victoria Valley that had been threatened on Monday.
The bushfire, which has since grown to 12,000 hectares, is now mostly in bushland.
However one edge of the blaze may impact Woohlpooer, Glenisla and Mooralla on Tuesday evening.
Mr Lapsley said the fire is expected to continue to burn for some time.
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Mostly Cloudy
U.S. stocks closed slightly higher Thursday, as investors digested a better-than-expected jobless claims report and another influx of corporate earnings.
NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks closed slightly higher Thursday, as investors digested a better-than-expected jobless claims report and another influx of corporate earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2%, the S&P 500 added 0.4% and the Nasdaq gained 0.6%.
The U.S. government reported that initial jobless claims dropped to 339,000 in the latest week, significantly lower than the 351,000 claims that economists were predicting.
Trading has been choppy recently as investors take their cues from mixed economic data and company-specific news. The year got off to a great start, so some gyrating is to be expected, though most analysts still expect stocks to keep grinding higher.
In fact, all three indexes are still up between 9% to 13% so far this year as individual investors tentatively step back in. Investors poured $1.7 billion into U.S. stock mutual funds in the week ended April 17, according to the Investment Company Institute.
Earnings roll in: Exxon Mobil beat earnings forecasts, but sales declined from a year earlier and fell short of estimates.
UPS also reported a jump in quarterly earnings, helped by domestic shipping.
Shares of Safeway tumbled 14%, as investors focused on weaker-than-expected sales even though the grocer reported a higher quarterly profit.
Dow Chemical reported better-than-expected earnings, fueled by sales of agricultural products.
Shares of Zynga fell nearly 7%, a day after the online gaming company issued a gloomy forecast.
3M was the biggest drag on the Dow, after the company missed profit and revenue expectations and lowered its 2013 earnings outlook.
Amazon and Starbucks report results after the close.
In other news, the Chicago Board Options Exchange resumed trading Thursday afternoon after being closed for most of the day due to an apparent software glitch.
Verizon Communications drew attention after Reuters reported the company had hired advisers to look at a possible $100 billion bid to take full control of Verizon Wireless from Vodafone Group. Vodafone and Verizon declined to comment.
Mixed action in overseas markets: European markets closed higher, following a report that the British economy dodged a triple-dip recession, according to preliminary estimates.
At the same time, Spanish unemployment rose a record to 27.2%, and European car sales sunk to their lowest level since the mid-1990s.
"With the eurozone recession deepening and global climate looking gloomy in general, I don't think many people are expecting UK growth to kick on from here," said Caxton FX analyst Richard Driver. "Major risks still hang over the UK economy but this certainly brightens the outlook for sterling a little."
Asian markets also ended mixed, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng gaining nearly 1% and Japan's Nikkei up 0.6%. The Shanghai Composite finished 0.9% lower.
The dollar rose against the euro, but fell against the British pound and the Japanese yen.
Oil and gold prices jumped.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.71%.


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Has fear of a lawsuit ever stopped you from firing someone – even a hopelessly incompetent worker?
Nowadays, the risk of litigation goes beyond firing. When you bring on a new hire, EVERY step of the way – from writing the ad and conducting interviews to checking references and making the offer – can leave you exposed to a crippling lawsuit.
As an employer, hiring and firing are a huge part of your job. And now you can do BOTH free from fear of legal reprisals – IF you know the secrets top HR pros know…
Dear Employer,
"You're FIRED!"
Wouldn't you like to say those words to whomever you want … whenever you want … without getting slapped with a lawsuit?
Unfortunately, getting rid of deadwood without finding yourself in court is getting harder and harder to do these days. But it wasn't always like this.
Time was, HR professionals and bosses could hire and fire as they pleased. That was their job, for heaven's sake. Now the government seems hell-bent on turning employers into babysitters … making them shells of their former selves. You can't even fire a hopelessly incompetent worker without worrying about getting sued into the poorhouse.
Workers' "rights" have gotten out of hand. Entire classes of people are virtually untouchable. Fire any member of a protected "minority" and you could easily be forced to spend thousands in legal costs to defend yourself against discrimination charges.
We think this is a gross injustice. After all, the employer takes all the risks … works the long hours … and gets the ulcers. So if a worker isn't pulling his weight, you should have the right to fire him – no questions asked.
We feel so strongly about this that we've mounted a campaign to show employers how to reassert the right to hire and fire at will. From now on, you'll be able to tell lazy, ineffective workers to shape up or ship out – with no risk of winding up in court. By keeping the 20% of the staff that does 80% of the work, employers can slash overhead and add productive workers as needed.
It's all in our top-selling reports, Fire at Will and Hire at Will. We are now releasing these invaluable "boss's rights manuals" to HR professionals and executives across the country.
Fire at Will will tell you all about:
The truth is, there are ways to get rid of employees in almost any situation. The trick is how you do it. Fire at Will gives you the simple techniques that give you an unassailable legal position.
And once you've cleared out the clock-watchers and whiners, you'll be ready to replenish your ranks with honest, hard-working team members.
Every time you hire someone … interview a candidate … or even place an ad, you have to be sure you're on the right side of myriad laws. As the person in charge, it's up to you to overcome today's constricting web of laws and regulations, and take back control of the hiring process.
That's exactly what Hire at Will will help you do. It outlines the issues involved in hiring today and offers strategies that will make your hiring efficient, effective – and legal.
Soon you'll know:
So arm yourself with the proven strategies in Fire at Will and Hire at Will, at a low combo price.
Pat DiDomenico
P.S. Remember, there's absolutely no risk. If you don't see how you can clean house and hire the best, we'll refund your entire purchase price – no questions asked – and you'll have no further obligation.
P.P.S. You do NOT have to be at the mercy of lazy, unproductive, and weird employees. Armed with the secrets of hiring and firing at will, you'll have all the power you need to manage your personnel as you see fit – and watch your productivity zoom. Get your copies of Fire at Will and Hire at Will now!


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Drone Shoots Highlight Jacksonville Credit Union (VIDEO)
Look up in the Jacksonville, Fla., sky and you may spot a helicopter drone over 121 Financial Credit Union's branches.
Cindy Breslin, vice president of marketing for the over $442 million credit union, hired 4th Dimension Studios, a video production company, to use its helicopter drone to fly over and around each of the credit union's branches for online videos and television commercials.
Originally designed as a way to help potential members identify the location of individual branches in121 Financial commercials, the footage begins with a slow approach to the front door and then inside to the lobby where local members share their 121 Financial experience on air.
"This way, a prospective member not only gets information on a branch near them, they can actually see what the branch looks like," said Breslin of why the footage has been incorporated on its website as part of the location and contact information page.
The aerial footage has also been used by the credit union's security team and as a part of new employee training, giving new hires an insider look at every branch. Breslin said she continues to find different uses for the drone, most recently to cover a car sale held at the credit union's headquarters.
Chris Fanning, a partner with his father in 4th Dimension Studios, said he is the only owner of a video production company who has a helicopter drone in Northeast Florida. He actually has two - a smaller drone and a larger one about the size of a coffee table.
In addition to being a video producer, Fanning is a licensed pilot, which allows him to fly the drone at various altitudes.
(Below, click on these images to see them enlarged.)


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Recorded during the annual car show and race in Rotterdam, on Sunday August 16th 2009. Former (two times) world champion Fernando Alonso drives his 2009 Renault F1 car around the track in the city. Ear deafening sound from his Renault V8 engine revving as he accelerates and drives at (more or less) full speed. Sony PCM-D50
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Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Hober Mallow, Dec 13, 2008.
District 9 was set in present day SA.
Still Alien Nation was set in an America which had just assimilated a similar number of refugees from Southeast Asia and then from Cuba. Along with that the Newcomers were humanoid enough for some members of the races to have actual physical attraction and develop emotional relationships beyond seeing the other race's hooker for the kick of being with something different.
Alien Nation The Series was set 5 years after The Newcomers' arrival. I forget, was District Nine taking place years after their arrival?
Alien Nation, it seems, treated The newcomers no differently in the beginning then District Nine did, it's just that we joined the story 5 years later in Alien Nation and saw The Newcomers struggle with their freedom and their quest for Equal Rights
An alternate present-day South Africa, a generation after the aliens had arrived in 1982. That's the point. When the aliens arrived, apartheid was still fully in force, and the consequences of their arrival caused South Africa's history in the D9 universe to unfold differently than it did in our universe. In our reality, apartheid was overthrown (though much discrimination remains), while in the D9 universe, a new form of apartheid was imposed on the aliens and remained in force up to the present.
Like I said, it's about initial conditions. The D9 aliens arrived in 1982 South Africa, a place and time where racial segregation was normalized and institutionalized, and their arrival only reinforced those patterns. The Tenctonese arrived in 1990s California, a place and time where the society and its laws and institutions were attempting to eliminate and overcome the racial segregation of the past and cope with a society that was already a rich mixture of different ethnicities and cultures coexisting in the same community. Thus, the conditions upon the aliens' arrival made it harder for a policy of isolation and internment of immigrants to take permanent hold.
Of course, both works were social allegories. AN was an allegory for the immigrant experience in America and the turbulent racial politics of 1990s Southern California (remember, this was only a few years before the 1992 LA race riots). D9 was an allegory for the decades-long history of apartheid, and the legacy thereof that South Africa was still dealing with even decades after it had officially ended. So the treatment of the aliens in the respective works differs in the same way that the racial history of the two countries differs. It's not about one being more "believable" as if there's only one possible way for human beings to behave. They're both believable in the context of the different countries, eras, and cultures in which they take place, because they were both created to be reflections of the real-life racial issues in those cultures.
I don't think people are that different wherever they are. I think there would be very strong resistance to integration of an alien species unless there was a clear benefit for humanity and even then it would be a big ask for most people. A more likely scenario would be to put them in concentration camps and hope that someone else will deal with it. Either that or put them in self-governing reservations in the back end of nowhere.
However Alien Nation took place in a liberal democracy and while some may have decided to push them into the seas, maybe a reason why they were settled on the coast was to make a final solution easier if it came to that, others would push for full freedom. And a judge, not a policeman/soldier would have the ultimate decision making power over freedom or concentration camp.
Would have it been worth a full civil war? In the show no, however the former white supremacist linked up with other to form a purist group which is stronger then the present day or 1990s Aryan Nation and KKK alliance.
I think if you'd lived in South Africa in the '80s and Los Angeles in the '90s, you might have a greater appreciation for the differences in human behavior. I'll never understand people who believe human nature is some single, fixed thing. Human nature encompasses everything from Gandhi to Hitler.
And again, if you remembered Alien Nation at all, you would remember that there was very strong resistance from many quarters of the populace. The government had belatedly allowed the Newcomers to integrate, but a large part of the human population resisted it fiercely -- just as many white Americans resisted it (and, alas, still do in some quarters) when the government passed laws ending discrimination and segregation toward black Americans. Seriously, the whole series was about those racial tensions and the Newcomers' struggle against them.
Which is what was done initially. According to the original movie, the Newcomers were quarantined for three years before finally being allowed out into society.
Hmm. I see that the series is also available on DVD, at a pretty decent price. And between the comments on this thread, and my own general preference for an "In the Heat of the Interstellar Night" premise, rather than a "Buddy Cop from Another Planet Helps Kill off Drug Lord from Another Planet" premise, I might just buy it. After all, I've got lots of far more obscure stuff in my DVD library, like A Christmas Without Snow (made-for-TV movie, probably intended mainly as a "chick-flick," staring John Houseman, Michael Learned, Ed Bogas, and a young James Cromwell, in a story about a church choir), and Footprints on the Moon: Apollo 11 (Barry Coe's documentary).
And I think you're over-complicating the way that humans behave. Humans are tribal at their most basic mode. Levels of sophistication are layered on top of this in modern civilizations. But the core default position of humans is family, social circle, tribal, tolerant of others all things being equal and if all things are not equal, defensive. Since human immigrants are resisted in most post-industrial western nations, the idea that aliens would be accepted into society (unless as I said there was a clear advantage in doing this) would just not happen.
^Again, you're arguing against a completely false premise. The aliens in AN were not completely accepted into society, not by a long shot. They'd just recently been let out of internment and were beginning a long, turbulent process of integration, meeting violent and genocidal opposition. The whole series was an allegory for racism. So I don't even know what it is you imagine you're criticizing, but it sure as hell isn't Alien Nation.
I get what Deckerd is saying. He doesn't believe realistically that the Newcomers would ever have been released from quarantine in the first place. Maybe, maybe not. The series never really explored the circumstances which led to the Newcomers' release. We got the occasion flashback to quarantine (including an episode in which we learn the U.S. government had plans to turn the aliens into assassins), but aside from offhand purist comments about the ACLU, we never found out how the Newcomers came to be released. The crux of the show, though, was in the tension the release of aliens -- who are stronger, smarter, and breed fast than humans -- caused the population of Los Angeles.
The United States is still living down the shame of centuries of slavery and of the internment of Japanese-Americans in WWII. So there's plenty of historical reason why many American citizens and politicians would object to the idea of the permanent internment of any population. Maybe today it's easier to believe that we'd tolerate such a violation of civil rights because we've allowed our regard for civil rights to become so badly eroded in the years after 9/11. But we're talking about the 1990s, when those principles had not yet been undermined to the same extent.
Besides, there may have been pressure from groups other than civil libertarians. Business leaders might've wanted the Newcomers freed from quarantine so that they could be exploited as cheap labor. Also, the government would surely have been interested in their technology. Those Newcomers (mostly Overseers) who had some insight into the technology or advanced knowledge of their enslavers may have offered that knowledge in exchange for being freed from quarantine, or the government and corporations may have needed them to be out of quarantine so they could be brought to labs and so forth to teach what they knew.
Plus there's the security concern. Someone else, some more powerful alien race, enslaved the Tenctonese. How do we know they won't find and enslave us? It would've been in our own best interest to get on the Newcomers' good side and gain their cooperation in telling us all they knew about their enslavers.
I'm criticizing the idea that human civilizations would carry out any comparable integration. It would be mayhem beyond what any sci fi show could depict. If it were a small group who were definitely not at a physical advantage to humans, (intellectual advantage is neither here nor there in the short term and can only be beneficial to the human race in the long term) then I think there may be a glimmer of hope. I can't recall whether the aliens in AN were spread across the planet or all concentrated in one city but either way it's an unrealistic prospect on just about any level you care to consider. As we've all been saying; the way we treat any big influx of our own kind to an established area is appalling enough.
As far as we saw, the newcomers were mostly in the Los Angeles area. Given that there were about 250,000 of them at contact, and that quarantine ended shortly before the beginning of the series, it seems like they mostly lived in LA.
That's right. One of the Pocket tie-in novels, Extreme Prejudice by L.A. Graf, had Matt and George travel to Pittsburgh and have to deal with the different kind of prejudices and problems a Newcomer would face in a city where most people had never met one before.
Always liked the show.
Haven't seen it in years.
I always wondered what Tv/movies would have developed in the AN world...talk about a reboot of Trek....would they have had an episode of TNG or maybe ST5 would have involved a displaced tenctonese starfleet officer who seeks help restoring the proper timelines where the Tenctonese landed on Earth in 1988 after purists changed it..no one would know him or have heard of the tenctonese..maybe a Spock mind Meld convinces them....of course tng may have been cancelled if aliens landed in 1988...
this could even move the eugenics wars to 2020's in human response to the superiorphysical and mental nature of tenctonese.......Babylon 5 would.be different too...tenctonese as a vorlon experiment to crossbreed Narns and centauri?
Upon further review the series picks up one month after the events of the movie with Detective Sikes/Sykes visiting the grave of his partner
So a modified version of the AN film's events still happened in the series continuity? Like the Stargate film, which (again, modified) also happened in the SG-1 version of that universe?
^Yes. Matt and George go on to find out that Matt's that old partner (from the film) was actually/also murdered by a cop. (It's a pretty stupid add-on to the film's narrative in my opinion, but that's neither here nor there. ) The film events "mostly" happened.
That's what most TV series based on movies do. They continue on from the basic storyline of the film, but tweak the details as needed. The '80s Starman TV series followed up on the events of the movie, but retconned those events to have happened in the '70s rather than the '80s so that the title character could have a teenage son in the present day. Men in Black: The Series followed up on continuity and character threads from the movie, but ignored K's retirement at the end, and presented L as a more experienced agent (though not a field agent) than J. And so on.
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I think Kishi got wrong the idea of romance in the manga.
But what totally got me on the offensive and defensive with her was every since I joined the base and I started to get more into this whole Naruto thing and saw the hate she gets. I just don't stand people bashing on someone/something. I always been the warrior who defends the ones that are not that liked or are wronged, lol, but that's another story.
Sakura doesn't deserve even half of the hate she gets from the fandom. But that's another thing I will discuss.
I am not trying to turn this thread into that.
I will have a separate one for the matter.
Here is only to show her development or at least how could Kishi develop her.
For this I will have another thread coming-up soon.
Or at least as soon as I can because it's going to take a while until I will write it, it's going to be one of those wall text, heh...
As I said, before that, I didn't know that stuff like hating her happened, but when I saw it and I saw people did it wrong, I always got on the offensive when someone bashed about her, because she doesn't even deserve it.
Most of the people don't even understand what's Sakura's role in this manga.
But indeed, the Chuunin exams was... wow.
She didn't care, she was ready to get beaten to a pulp just to protect both of them and stood all the night awake so that they will not be in the slightest danger.


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On the verge of 2013:
- Details
- Published on Saturday, 13 April 2013 23:35
Take advantage of the Spring Warmup golden opportunity.
NORWALK, Ohio – Mashing gas and peeling out memories of fifty years of fun at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio can't happen with just the young or just the old.
The Spring Warmup on April 20, 2013 polishes a Golden Anniversary opportunity to push your pet project out of the garage and tool down the dragstrip for old times' sake.
Better yet, fill 'er up with the grandkids and share memories of a lifetime.
While Summit Motorsports Park whoops it up all season, only one day makes history as the gate opener for the anniversary: The Spring Warmup test and tune and swap meet on April 20, 2013.
We need all ages to swap stories as much as car parts.
And wouldn't it be great if fans and new racers took their grocery getters for a spin?
Think about the magnitude of that opportunity.
Out of hundreds of race tracks across the country, the National Hot Rod Association sponsors 24 events in the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series a season.
Summit Motorsports Park happens to be one of those honored tracks, hosting July 4-7, 2013 the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals with families, fun and fireworks!
The Bader family created test and tunes for times like this: A fan's daily driver lines up at the same starting line as John Force, Greg Anderson, Bob Motz, Jill Canuso, Larry "Spiderman" McBride, Tony Schumacher. The list of greats who've burned rubber at this track is endless.
Feel the adrenaline. Take the green light. Keep it in the groove. Savor the rush.
The next time Summit Motorsport Park splashes across the television set, you can say, "I've been there, done that."
Better yet, save your E.T. slip and drop jaws at the water cooler.
This is the season, while we're celebrating the old, to try something new.
One of the beauties of a test and tune – variety – means you never know what type of vehicle lines up next to yours. A Volkswagon Bug against a dragster? Laugh. Have friends take photographs. Then drive your own buggy. You're seeing what you can do. You're not racing against each other.
Those moments piled high add up to our fifty years of fun.
We understand some people can't come out on April 20, so VP Racing Test N' Tunes pop up on many Fridays. Check the 2013 season brochure or the Website for details.
Also, Mickey Thompson $7 Fun Nights open the gates wide on Wednesdays for beginners as well as old wrenches with dream-maker garage projects. Those Corvettes, Cobra Jets, Camaros, Solstices, Vipers and '57 Chevys need speed.
In 2012 we witnessed a stunning lineup Wednesday after Wednesday. We love it!
Finally, a golden anniversary opportunity for teens saunters in at the High School Nationals on May 5, 2013 at Summit Motorsports Park.
Just-for-you time trials, which are similar to a test and tune, begin at 8:30 a.m. to give a feel for the Christmas tree and a run down the track. A pre-race ceremony at 1:30 p.m. sets the stage for the 2 p.m. eliminations with fun activities all day.
We haven't quite figured out the dynamics of this, but last year Mom's daily driver showed up as the vehicle of choice for most teens, even the experienced racers, at the High School Nationals.
What do dads know about teens, cars and dragstrips that moms don't?
So this year we boldly recommend: Moms, come on out to the test and tune and tool the track a few times. Why should the rest of the family have all the fun?
In 2013 accept the Golden Anniversary challenge to mash the gas yourself and have a marvelous time!


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Tag Archives: Jean Shipman
How to: Biomedical Publishing
The National Network of Libraries of Medicine present a webinar on "Biomedical Publishing 101" hosted by our own Jean Shipman!
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Trying something new
Our library is fortunate to be hiring for at least 3 new positions, and we are trying something new: a personal invitation from Jean Shipman our Library Director. As of yesterday, our "Positions Available" page has been visited over 1,400 times, and the video has been viewed at least 240 times. Jean has encouraged all […]
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Today is Thursday, October 10, the 283rd day of 2013. There are 82 days left in the year.
Highlights in history on this date:
680 – Hussein, one of Shiite Islam's key saints, is killed at the Battle of Karbala in modern-day Iraq.
1733 – France declares war on Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI for aiding Elector Augustus III of Saxony.
1842 – Britain proclaims victory as second Afghan War ends.
1845 – The U.S. Naval Academy opens in Annapolis, Maryland.
1859 – Civil war breaks out in Argentina.
1886 – The tuxedo dinner jacket makes its American debut at the autumn ball in Tuxedo Park, New York.
1911 – Revolutionaries in Wuhan begin a revolt that spreads through southern China and leads to the overthrow of the 2,000-year-old Manchu dynasty.
1913 – Atlantic and Pacific oceans are united when the Gamboa Dam in the Panama Canal is blown up.
1917 – Brazil declares war on Germany in retaliation for the torpedoing of Brazilian ships.
1938 – Nazi Germany completes the annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.
1943 – Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek becomes President of China.
1957 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologizes to Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, the finance minister of Ghana, after the official is refused service in a Dover, Delaware, restaurant.
1961 – The whole population of the South Atlantic island Tristan da Cunha is evacuated to Britain after a volcano erupted.
1963 – High dam collapses near Belluno, Italy, and resulting flood kills an estimated 1,800 people.
1964 – The Tokyo Olympic Games, the first held in Asia, begin.
1970 – Fiji becomes independent after nearly a century of British rule; Quebec Labor Minister Pierre Laporte is kidnapped by the Quebec Liberation Front, a militant separatist group. His body is found a week later.
1973 – U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew resigns after his conviction for income tax evasion.
1975 – The murder of journalist Vladimir Herzog in an army jail in Brazil causes indignation in the military high command and starts a gradual dismantling of the dictatorship.
1980 – Thousands of casualties are reported following earthquake in Al Asnan, Algeria.
1985 – U.S. jet fighters force an Egyptian airliner carrying hijackers of cruise ship Achille Lauro to land in Italy, where the hijackers are arrested.
1988 – Suspected Tamil militants attack a village in northern Sri Lanka, killing at least 47 people as they sleep.
1990 – The U.S. freezes $564 million in economic and military aid to Pakistan, because of its suspected continued development of nuclear weapons.
1991 – German political leaders agree to establish large refugee camps to protect people seeking asylum. The agreement came amid a continuing wave of violence led by neo-Nazi skinhead youths against foreigners in Germany.
1992 – A court in Karachi, Pakistan acquits Asif Ali Zardari, the husband of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, on charges of masterminding the murder of 29 rival political supporters.
1993 – Socialist Andreas Papandreou returns to power in Greek elections.
1994 – Haitian leader Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras resigns, paving the way for the return of exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
1995 – Israel releases about 300 Palestinian prisoners and hands a military government office to the PLO in a fitful start to the West Bank autonomy agreement.
1996 – Afghanistan's new Taliban rulers search house-to-house for anyone suspected of collaborating with the former regime, unleashing a wave of fear among ethnic minorities.
1997 – A former senior FBI official is sentenced to 18 months in prison for his role in covering up a damning report about the 1992 standoff at white supremacist Randall C. Weaver's cabin near Ruby Ridge, Idaho, which resulted in three deaths.
1998 – Rebels use a missile to shoot down a jetliner carrying 40 civilians in eastern Congo, claiming it was ferrying government troops to the besieged town of Kindu.
1999 – Cuban President Fidel Castro agrees to an emigration deal with Israel where members of Cuba's small Jewish minority are allowed to move to Israel using Canadian-issued exit visas.
2000 – Sirimavo Bandaranaike, who 40 years earlier became the world's first female prime minister, dies of a heart attack in Colombo, Sri Lanka, after voting in parliamentary elections. She was 84.
2001 – Americans George A. Akerlof, A. Michael Spence, and Joseph E. Stiglitz win the Nobel Prize in economics for research into how the control of information influences everything from used car sales to the rise and collapse in high-tech stocks.
2002 – Final results from legislative assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir state confirm that the National Conference party failed to win a majority after ruling the Himalayan region for most of the past 50 years.
2003 – U.S. President Bush announces measures to increase U.S. pressure on the government of Cuban President Fidel Castro, including a crackdown on U.S. tourists who visit Cuba illegally and the creation of a high-level task force to plan for a post-Castro Cuba.
2004 – Afghans pack polling stations for a historic presidential election that is blemished when all 15 candidates opposing U.S.-backed interim President Hamid Karzai withdrew, charging the government and the U.N. with fraud and incompetence.
2005 – Gen. Augusto Pinochet's wife and younger son are arrested in Chile's capital and charged as accomplices in a tax evasion case linked to an investigation into the former dictator's multimillion-dollar fortune overseas.
2006 – Two bombs explode in insurgency-torn southern Philippines, killing six people and wounding more than 30, as officials heighten security amid warnings that al-Qaida-linked terrorists were planning further attacks.
2007 – The Russian Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz TMA-11 space ship carrying a new crew to the international space station lifts off from the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.
2008 – Martti Ahtisaari, Finland's ex-president, wins the Nobel Peace Prize
2009 – Turkey and Armenia sign a landmark agreement to establish diplomatic relations and open their sealed border after a century of enmity, as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton helps the two sides clear a last-minute snag.
2010 – Churches, banquet halls and other wedding venues across the U.S. are extra busy as couples seeking a perfect 10 rushed to tie the knot on a once-in-a-century milestone: Oct. 10, 2010.
2011 – Egypt's ruling military condemns a surge in deadly violence as an attempt to undermine the state, and warns it will act to safeguard the peace following a night of clashes that drew in Christians, Muslims and security forces.
2012 – Schools shut their doors and Pakistanis across the country hold vigils for a 14-year-old girl who was shot by a Taliban gunman after daring to advocate education for girls and criticizing militant group.
Today's Birthdays:
Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer (1813-1901); Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian explorer (1861-1930); Ivo Andric, Yugoslav writer and Nobel laureate (1892-1975); Alberto Giacometti, Swiss artist (1901-1966); Thelonious Monk, U.S. jazz musician (1917-1982); Harold Pinter, U.S. writer/director (1930-2008), David Lee Roth, U.S. singer (1954–).Nora Roberts, (aka J.D. Robb) U.S. romance/mystery author (1950–).
Thought For Today:
At every single moment of one's life one is what one is going to be no less than what one has been — Oscar Wilde, Irish poet and dramatist (1856-1900).


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Well I like both versions but I think the new one works better. It's a clean, neat end. The final pose is just gorgeous. Glad that they kept the spin though!
@ anne-marie: They broke character, yes. I'm not sure whether they actually STOPPED skating altogether (might have, but the camera angle in slow mo makes it hard to tell). Only one full stop (10 secs) or two stops (5 secs) is allowed; they could've gotten dinged on that.


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Last edited by Catfish; February 7th, 2013 at 10:24 AM.
"...Defense shut 'em down! Offense make plays! Hey, let's go be champions, boys!"- Greg McElroy
A couple months later he ins involved in an altercation at Krystals when he called a couple of black students the "N" word.
More than likely this punk was imbibing on Saturday and his true colors came through again when he used the racial slur.
This kid is a cancer on that team, and I for one am glad that they have him.
I was listening to Max Howell's show on the drive home last night and the barners were all calling in singing the praises of the new staff and doging the crap out of chizik. "He has ruined Kiel Frazier" etc. My how they have forgotten the "Chizik is out recruiting Saban" He's a better coach" BS I can't wait till the new bozo is processed and sent back to AR to coach high school ball again.
I remember how the barn won their 2010 title, is anyone here that was alive for their other one?
I loved the statement of one Barner friend who posted on FB that the rest of the SEC should "take notice" because of their great recruiting class.
Think about that. They are so blind to how "great" things are with Auburn that they can't even see that their class got them even further behind the rest of the SEC West (except for MSU).
Also, regarding the way we've been beating Auburn the last few years (true beat downs). Back when they beat us six games in a row they NEVER beat us like we've been beating them.
In a few years they'll grow to realize that the worse thing that ever happened to them was the year they beat us 28-27. It has and will continue to serve as motivation for CNS dominating TSDTR!
Since I am surrounded by Auburn fans at my office, I am subjected to a never-ending barrage of this sort of rhetoric.
I can recite quite a few points from memory:
1. National championships simply do not exist. They are mythical. [Now, they were not mythical in 2010 when my Auburn fan coworkers were high-fiving each other over the chance to win their first NC in 53 years.] The only way for there to be a championship, they say, is for there to be a playoff. The --- only --- way.
2. Even though national championships do not exist, the only ones that can be considered legitimate are the ones when a team goes undefeated (and untied in years past).
3. Alabama's only two accomplishments in the Nick Saban era are two SEC titles. That is all that we have done. Everything else, they say, is smoke-and-mirrors.
4. Alabama's other accomplishments (National Championships, Heisman trophies, Outland trophies, Doak Walker Awards, etc) are decided by polls. Therefore, any accomplishments by Alabama in these arenas are simply beauty pageants, where the voters are a press corps that are biased toward
5. They present me (weekly during the off-season, daily during football season) with various statistics about the two programs. They will compare winning percentages with varying start dates depending on what they want to "prove." The start dates are very convenient: "We [Auburn] have won more [games, titles, etc] since [2001, 2000, 1997, 1992, 1983, 1982, 1981] than Alabama has."
6. When they are in a slump, they revert to their second line of defense: They are not a football school [I usually agree with them on this point], and tout their academics. When I point out that Alabama ranks higher in the US News & World Report rankings, I am harangued with arguments about the quality of various colleges within the two universities. They seem particularly impressed with their engineering school.
I could go on and on, but that is a good snapshot of what I deal with each day, surrounded by a bank of mercifully-loud servers that drown-out most of their moaning and wailing.
"If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride--and never quit--you'll be a winner. The price of victory is high, but so are the rewards." Coach Paul Bryant


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New Satellite To Help Farmers Facing Drought
Satellites are put into orbit for a variety of tasks. From sending television signals to our homes to enabling GPS devices, to helping us see weather on a global scale, satellites collect information and provide us with modern conveniences. One new use for a proposed satellite scheduled to launch this winter is soil moisture monitoring at a local level.
Regions across the globe face drought from time to time. Right now, about 60 percent of California is experiencing "exceptional drought," the U.S. Drought Monitor's most dire classification. California's last two winters have been among the driest since records began in 1879. Without enough water in the soil, seeds can't sprout roots, leaves can't perform photosynthesis, and agriculture can't be sustained.
In order to monitor drought, farmers, scientists and resource managers can place sensors in the ground, but these only provide spot measurements and are rare across some critical agricultural areas in Africa, Asia and Latin America. For this reason, NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite was created. The mission will collect the kind of local data agricultural and water managers need.
SMAP uses two microwave instruments to monitor the top 2 inches of soil on Earth's surface. Together, the instruments create soil moisture estimates with a resolution of about 6 miles, mapping the entire globe every two or three days.
"Agricultural drought occurs when the demand for water for crop production exceeds available water supplies from precipitation, surface water and sustainable withdrawals from groundwater," said Forrest Melton, a research scientist in the Ecological Forecasting Lab at NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.
"Based on snowpack and precipitation data in California, by March we had a pretty good idea that by summer we'd be in a severe agricultural drought," Melton added. "But irrigation in parts of India, the Middle East and other regions relies heavily on the pumping of groundwater during some or all of the year." Underground water resources are hard to estimate, so farmers who rely on groundwater have fewer indicators of approaching shortfalls than those whose irrigation comes partially from rain or snowmelt. For these parts of the world where farmers have little data available to help them understand current conditions, SMAP's measurements could fill a significant void.
For more information visit NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Satellite image via Shutterstock.