text:
" Brand: ELC / Type: Outdoor Play Equipment "
Both my husband and myself are big footie fans and are hoping that our girls will grow to love the game as much as we do. To start their interest in the game we looked around for a football for them, this Early Learning Centre foam ball caught my eye and we have a pink one. It is also available in yellow and blue.
The ball
This ball is standard football size and I was worried at first that it might be a bit big for my 2 year olds who are both on the dainty side. My concerns quickly disappeared when they started playing with it, the ball is made of foam and so doesn't hurt if it accidentally hits the girls.
In play
So far our playing with this ball has been limited to some very close throwing and catching and some kicking. One of my girls loves playing catch and we've spent lots of time developing her skills in this area. My other daughter prefers to just kick it around or throw it in a bush where it's hard to reach.
We've had our paddling pool out a lot this summer and this ball has been thrown in, it dries out much quicker than I expected which I was pleased with.
How's it lasting?
Considering it is made of foam it is still in really good condition at the end of a summer which has seen lots of outdoor play. The pentagon markings have worn off in places but there is no damage to the foam, I had been expecting it to have lost chunks by now so I'm impressed that it will be still be good for next summer. The recommended age is 3+ but I have always supervised my 2 year olds with this and they have never attempted to bite the foam.
Price and availability
I paid £4 for my football back in the spring sale, full price being £5. I'm pleased with the quality of this football and think this was a fair price to pay.
Would I recommend?
Yes, this is a great first football for toddlers. It allows you to teach them throwing, catching and kicking skills which helps develop their co-ordination.
The Mrs bought one of these foam balls for our little girl to play with. We did have some plastic ones which are great to play with but we wanted to get something which was lighter so that it's more delicate and this is a great ball.
The ball is made from foam so it's very light. This has quite a few positives to it. It means that when we have taught our little girl to catch this ball is much slower when you throw it through the air, it also meas that it is easier for her to then throw it back too as it's not too heavy. The softness of it is great because when she catches it it is soft against her unlike the plastic balls which are harder and more firm so have been known to hurt her a little bit. This ball is also nice and quiet, none of this being bounced around all over the place making that annoying bouncing noise!
This is a large ball, about 20cm and this is a good size to have to help teach children to catch. Over the last few months our little girl has become much better at her catching and I am sure it's because of this ball. She is able to get a good grip on it because it's big and so she can focus on it well and it only goes through the air slowly compared to a smaller ball so she has more time to get into position to catch it.
We have also used this ball to kick around and it's proven to be great fun, she has had many laughs with her brother running around the garden with this.
The negative of it really is that it isn't at all waterproof so we always make sure we bring it inside after use and it has got a little grubby over time as you just can't wipe it clean like you can a plastic ball.
I think this is a great ball and our daughter loves it because it's pink and I'm sure we'll be getting the blue one for our little boy very soon too so they can have one each
I do like to have a bit kick about in the garden or anywhere outside for that matter. Although this is a pink ball it's alright for me to kick about when playing with the kids and just an ok ball.
The benefit of this being a Foam ball is that it is a bit softer but still tough enough to be ok when getting kicked about. If you were using this inside then at least it won't be as noisy as a plastic ball, but for me ball games are about playing outside in the nicer weather. Then again staying in Scotland the weather isn't exactly good at most times.
The difference I find between this one and a plastic one is that it just doesn't bounce all that much and after a bounce and a half then this is down on the ground. Still ok though I think.
It is a nice enough pink colour and looks like how it does in this picture. A bit girly pink for me i'm afraid but you can get this ball in blue as well.
Being Foam this is easy enough for smaller children to pick up and carry about. It is still a large enough ball but if they are gripping onto this and holding it into themselves then it will squash up a bit so easier to carry.
I think I paid around £4 for this. I see that it says this costs £5 but I don't think I paid quite that much for this.
A good ball which gives a good kickaround.
My Little girl ended up with two of these balls after ger birthady party which is not necessarily a bad thing as provided you are careful this ball can be used indoors however it is primarily for outdoor use so with two in her possession we can allocate one to indoor use and gentle play as it were and one for outside play when she can kick or throw it as hard as she likes. The ball does have a certain amount of density to indoor use is restrictedto rolling and close up catch. Checking the website it is priced at a fiver.
She loved the colour and it is certainly aimed at young girls, being made of foam it is a great ball for kids to start to learn catching skills as it will not hurt if they miss it completely and get a face full of ball. It is a blend of light and dark pinks which merge together nicely as the pattern rolls across the floor. I think it is recommended for 3+ however my two year old copes well with it and is able to dig her hands into the ball to get a decent grip on it.
My daughter is happy playing with this on her own but it is far more enjoyable when she has someone to play with and for some reason she does like to lie across it and roll off, not very elegant but she giggles a lot when she does this and while the ball squashes a fair bit it soon retains its original shape.
It is reasonably robust for a foam ball however you do have to watch out for any fraying and foam comming away as little fingers will soon pick at it and foam can end up in mouths, this is primarily why there is a 3+ age recommendation I guess. It can be soaked in water to give it a clean and it dries out without any loss of bounce however given the colour the outdoor one certainly does look a bit grubby and has lost some of its perky pinkness.
The ball is nice and bouncy and being foam it does not hurt as much as a plastic ball, for little girls it is a good purchase and a fun simple toy.
Last year when our niece was getting to the age of enjoying days out to the park and the beach, we decided to buy a few little toys which we could take with us when we went out for the day. Now my niece is a little bit of a tomboy and although she loves some girly toys she is also just as happy playing with a ball, be it just throwing it around or kicking it across the grass. We therefore opted for the Early Learning Centre pink foam ball, pink being a bit stereotypical but the foam being handy as it was light enough to carry and gentle enough on her hands for her to catch.
==The Product==
The ball itself is very girly in colour and print being a light pink colour with a scattering of darker pink pentagons around the ball. Although being made of foam I have to admit that the foam feels quite dense in consistency meaning that this ball was not too lightweight as is often the case with cheaper foam balls. The foam texture of the ball means that it is relatively easy to hold which is handy for my niece's small hands as the ball is about the same size as an average football.
The Early Learning Centre advise that this ball is not suitable for children under 36 months old and I guess this would be because it is possible for them to pick off small pieces of foam which could be a choking hazard.
==Price and Availability==
We bought our football during a visit to the Early Learning Centre and paid around £5 for it last year. Having done a little big of digging around, the ball is currently stocked for £5 at the Early Learning Centre and for around the £5 - £6 region at online retailer Amazon. The price of this ball means that it is quite good value in my opinion even if it only lasts for a years worth of play.
==Our Experience==
We enjoy playing with this football as although it can be an awkward shape to carry, the weight of the ball means that it is light enough to pack in a carrier bag or rucksack and take with us down to the park or beach. Our niece loves playing with this ball in a manner of ways. One such way is for us to simply play a game of throw and catch with her. This began as a case of just rolling the ball to her when she was younger but has now progressed to her throwing the ball as far as she can and us trying to catch it. We also enjoy kicking the ball around and despite it being foam do not have the problem of it being too lightweight or blowing away as the foam is (as previously mentioned) quite dense.
Being foam, when we get the odd case of the ball rolling into the sea the ball does soak up the water. However; this is easily overcome by simply allowing the ball to dry out in the sun. Another problem that we have had is that the ball does gather quite a bit of dirt if played outside and ours is now beginning to look decidedly grey rather than pink. I guess this would be a problem if you wanted to use the ball both inside and out but as ours is just saved for outdoor play we continue to use it.
==My Summary==
The beauty of this ball, in my opinion is that it has introduced our niece to ball games without the need for heavy and harder surfaced footballs. This ball performs in much the same way as a football and does have a small amount of bounce in it when it is dropped. It is also light enough that when it accidentally hits you the ball is soft enough not to hurt.
This has given us a good few hours of amusement and although it is now looking a tad shabby I expect it will provide us with many more when the British summer finally arrives. I would recommend this toy and would hence score it four stars out of five.
Thanks for reading! x
I tend to buy a lot of outdoor toys from ELC, particularly when they have special offers or promotions on.
I have just brought this ball for £6 from Amazon (Amazon sell quite a lot of ELC products for the same price, they normally have the same promotion yet delivery tends to be free regardless of the amount you spend).
The ball is recommended from the ages of 3 upwards which I think is about right, although Lauren has not picked at the ball, a few pieces of foam have come off.
The ball in available in either blue of pink, I chose the pink version (as I tend to do with anything I buy my daughter!).
We keep our ball at the caravan and take it on the beach with us. It is a nice size and because it is made of foam, it is very light meaning it is easy to carry and play with, it also doesn't hurt Laurens toes if she kicks it (like some harder balls can do).
I really like this ball, we have had inflatable beach balls in the past and the slightest bit of wind and we end up chasing down the beach, although this isn't heavy, it doesn't tend to blow away as much. The only downside was that once it gets wet, it becomes very heavy and takes ages to dry out fully. We ended up getting it in the sea by accident and it took a good couple of days to dry out.
I would recommend this and five 4 out of 5 stars
Thanks for reading.
Review may be on other sites under the same user name.
We're quite a sporty family and I think it's really important for kids to be active and have some play time outside every day if they can.
My little girl is quite dainty and girly but she does like football, probably since she's been made to watch it since she was born and one of her favourite things to do is kick a ball around with us. We have a little plastic ball that we usually play with in the kitchen whilst I am getting the dinner ready as it keeps her entertained but for outside play this Early Learning Centre foam football is great. It's too big to play with in the house so it's most definitely an outside ball.
The best thing about this ball to begin with though is its pink so very eye catching and girly although my husband doesn't mind playing with it. It looks like a proper soccer ball in that it has the pentagon shapes on it although these are dark pink instead of black and the rest of the ball is a light pink colour compared to the usual white of footballs. I think it's just about proper football size although it might be a little bit smaller, I'm not too sure what regulation football size is although this is big enough to be perfect for a kick around.
The ball is made out of quite a tough foam so it's fairly soft to kick and catch and perfect for small children who are too little to play with a proper football. This ball will not really hurt a little one if it is kicked at them accidentally although it is strong enough to cause a bit of damage if you play with it inside. The ball is easy to catch as it does have a bit of give in it and will squish a bit when you catch it which is nice.
Even though it's made of foam it's still quite a tough ball and I like the way it's stood up to play so far. We've had it for a few months now and it's still fairly clean as you can wipe it with a damp cloth to get rid of any mud and dirt etc. it also doesn't have any holes or rips in the foam yet so I'm pleased with its performance.
For just £5 from The Early Learning Centre this has been a very enjoyable toy for our family.
For easter we don't like to buy our girls chocolate as they get so much from everyone else and so we buy them a little present each instead, my eldest daughter loves playing with balls in the garden and her younger sister had started to take an interest finding her kicking a ball very funny so we decided to buy her a foam one so she wouldn't hurt herself with it and it would be safe for use in the house.
We bought the ball from the Early Learning Centre where you can buy it in pink or blue, the ball cost us £5 and it is advised for children aged 3 years and upover however our youngest isn't even 2 yet and she enjoys playing with it.
The ball is made of foam as the name would suggest and although it does compress down like you would think foam would it is pretty tough foam, the ball is pale pink in colour and then has darker pink pentagon shapes on it. My eldest daughter was pleased with the ball as she loves pink and when we first gave my younger daughter it she did try and eat it.
My girls play well together with the ball and there have been no injuries from play which is great, my elder daughter will roll it for her sister to chase which they both find very funny and my youngest tries to throw the ball although at the moment it doesn't get very far as she near enough drops it rather than actually throwing it.
The ball has got a little grubby as my eldest decided to take it out in the garden not realising that it was only for playing with in the house so I wouldn't advise the ball is used for outdoor play or it won't stay pink for long. We only let the girls play with the ball whilst they are supervised as a young child could quite easily bite a chunk out of it and choke however apart from the initial attempt to bite the ball my youngest hasn't bothered since so I find this ball is perfect for her to play with under supervision.
I think the ball is a good toy and it is teaching my little girl things like rolling and kicking although an older child may be strong enough to cause damage in the house with it as the ball is pretty tough but with my little girls being so young it is a good indoor toy. The ball has the initial bite mark in it and is a little grubby but it is in perfect working order and for £5 I am pleased with my purchase.
When we moved into this house the thing I loved most about it were the hard floors throughout; a mixture of laminate, hard wood floors and tiles makes cleaning up after a large family a doddle, and they're easy enough to pretty up with rugs.
The problem is they're LOUD. You can hear every bang, tap and step from everywhere in the house - during the particularly nasty winter and spring of 2011 the racket of Hollie playing with her Pooh Bear ball was just about driving me to insanity. We solved the problem with a couple of foam footballs, although these were fairly cheap so became damaged - the theory was a good one though and the 'thudding' was much reduced, so when I saw these pretty pink foam footballs in ELC I decided to buy her one as I assumed the higher price meant it would be of better quality.
That actually is right, the ball is made of an extremely dense foam which makes for a soft but pretty solid texture. I suspect it would be more likely to break a window than the cheaper balls that we had previously, but this wasn't the reason we started using foam balls anyway so that's not an issue for me - they're practically silent in comparison to the plastic balls the kids play with outside and for me that's the main thing.
The ball doesn't act exactly how a 'normal' kids play ball would, but it has a bloody good go! It'll bounce to a reasonable height and has a good weight for throwing and catching games, this is more important than it sounds too as previous foam balls have proved to be a little too lightweight for Hollie to throw with any degree of accuracy. The tightly packed foam means it's comfortable to hold and adds an extra 'grippiness' for little hands, this isn't as pronounced as with the cheaper balls as this is far more dense so there's not as much give on the surface of the ball for fingers to grip.
My only irritation, and this is in no way ELCs fault, is that younger children than the recommended age of three years can bite chunks of foam out of the ball. Of course, a lot of homes that have a three year old will also have a baby in the house - I know I have, so need to be extra vigilant when sixteen month old David is wandering around near Hollie's toys. He did get hold of this ball once and although I was watching still managed to sink his teeth through the foam before I stopped him - well, to be completely honest it wasn't this exact ball but an identical blue one from ELC. I've been in a friends house when her similarly aged son actually bit a small piece from one of these balls (again, the blue version) and it was quite frightening the speed at which it happened, and also the fact that it could easily have choked the little lad. It can't be helped when you have ANYTHING made of foam and ELC make the age recommendation very clear, so the onus really is on the parent to keep a close watch on their children.
I'm more than happy with this pink foam ball, although I find it strange to be labelled as an 'outdoor toy' as I can imagine it becoming horribly filthy within five minutes of being played with outside. Part of this is obviously down to the pale colour of the ball, but foam plus mud (even dry mud!) is never a good combination! I paid £5 for this ball, which I admit is a bit more than I'd pay for a plastic football-type ball but it's worth it for the (relative) peace when Hollie is playing ball in the hallway.
As a result of a horrible scare I experienced while using the blue version of this ball this pink version ended up in the very same place as the other. THE BIN!
This is an incredibly soft ball that leads the owner in to a false sense of security that their child will be safe while playing with it. The metrical used is a super soft foam that ensures gentle play while the children kick and toss it to each other. That is one of the reason I bought these balls in the first place. I have had too many occasions where a child has ended up in tears after being hit in the face with a ball they where playing with. Also this ball will not burst like a normal inflatable ball would so that also made this more appealing because of the countless numbers of standard footballs that have come and gone over the previous summer months.
Also the fact that this ball wouldn't cause too much damage if used indoors was something that worked in it's favour. But soon enough I realised that this ball and it's blue friend were not as innocent as they first appeared.
The foam on these balls is easily picked at by little fingers and comes off in small clumps. This material can end up in the mouths of the child or pets. I had the horrific experience of discovering some of this very foam in my four year old sisters mouth ( The full story is in the review for the blue version of this ball ),
This reason alone is why I would NEVER recommend this type of ball to be played with unsupervised and especially not by very young children that will put everything into their mouths. This ball is said to be suitable for ages 3 and up but after my terrifying experience I would never allow a child that young to play with this ball.
Another couple of reasons I find this make to be disappointing is that they are very light indeed and will catch the slightest breeze and blow out of the garden or even worse onto the street if your children are playing outside. I know every ball can end up in the neighbours yard or on the road but they normally get kicked out there not blown. This ball also Iike the blue one is absorbent (I know it's made of sponge) I didn't expect it to be SO absorbent. And if the outer seal is broken by being picked at the water gets in even more.
This ball is a fantastic alternative to harder balls that smash windows and hurt children during play but the fact that the material can be swallowed makes this a very dangerous toy indeed. To look at it you would never think it could hurt your child but this very make only in a different colour nearly resulted in an unthinkable situation. Both this hall and the blue version had been played with for months and months before any thing bad happened but once it did we couldn't keep these in our house any longer.
Just as with the blue version I can not give this ball any more than one star and if I could Mark it lower I would.
Please supervise your child while playing with this kind of ball.
This soft foam football is ideal for a gentle kick about / Age range: From 3 years.


text:
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Iran Claims to Have Snared Another U.S. UAV, Navy Says It's a Lie
Jason Mick
December 4, 2012 1:24 PM
Recipient E-mail
Sender E-mail
Iran said it was forced to capture the drone after it "invaded" Iranian airspace
Is the U.S. in the midst of drone debacle 2.0? Iran
claims so
I. Iran Say It's Captured Mid-Sized U.S. ScanEagle Drone
hostile Middle Eastern superpower
's police/military organization -- the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) -- claimed on its website on Dec. 4 to have "captured"
a U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
that had been hovering around its air space for several days.
Iran claims that the UAV -- a relatively commonplace low-cost flier model
called "ScanEagle"
, built by defense contractor The Boeing Comp. (
) -- entered its airspace, at which point it was forced to capture it.
The nation's state-run IRIB news agency carried a message from Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi who said he would use the captured flier as evidence at the UN of American violations of Iran's sovereign airspace. He said he would file a formal complaint "via international bodies" against the U.S.
A U.S. soldier carries a ScanEagle to storage in the Middle East.
[Image Source: Gunnery Sgt. Chad McMeen]
Iran has not yet shown pictures of the allegedly captured flier.
II. U.S. and Israel Fight Silent War With Iran
Iran has been zealous in its accusations that the U.S. and its ally Israel have been carrying out a campaign to sabotage its nuclear and oil production facilities via assassinations,
, and
traditional espionage
The U.S. intelligence community has responded with allegations that Iran has funneled money and weapons into the Gaza Strip, using the impoverished locals as
soldiers of fortune against Israel
Militants in the Gaza Strip recently put up billboards thanking Iran for its
"support" of their military. [Image Source: AP]
There have also been unconfirmed claims that
recent cyberattacks on U.S. banks
originated in Iran.
Both the U.S. and Israel also have accused Iran of plotting to develop nuclear weapons, despite Iran's insistence that
its nuclear ambitions are peaceful
. President George W. Bush, who
initiated the preliminary cyberattacks
(allegedly) against Iran's nuclear program, famously dubbed the Middle Eastern state as part of "the axis of evil".
Precisely a year, ago Iran captured a far more valuable target than a ScanEagle -- an RQ-170 Sentinel drone, flying on a surveillance mission for the
U.S. Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA). Initially the U.S.
expressed skepticism
that the capture was real, but eventually they admitted that the drone was indeed captured and
demanded its return
. Iran responded by
sending U.S. President Barack Obama a pink toy replica
of the captured flier.
III. Iran Has Filed Complaints to the UN
This October, Israel tracked a drone launched by Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, which invaded its airspace. The Israel Defense Force (IDF) promptly shot down the flier, which they say showed telltale signs of being
manufactured in Iran
This November Iran and the U.S. filed complaints against each other before international regulators. The U.S. claimed its UAV was flying in international airspace when it was fired on by Iranian warplanes. The Iranians claimed instead that the drone had violated Iran's sovereign airspace. It was unclear if that drone was destroyed in the incident, but Iran promised "decisive" action against future intrusions.
Iran has complained to the UN about alleged U.S. violations of its sovereign airspace.
[Image Source: The Pew Institute]
In his letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammad Khazaee called the alleged U.S. airspace violations "illegal and provocative acts". In the letter he claims that Iran has recorded seven different airspace violations in the Bushehr region near its nuclear plant.
IV. U.S. Navy Commander Denies Story About Captured Drone
U.S. Naval Forces Central Command has denied the latest Iranian claim of a drone capture, saying that all its drones are accounted for. In a statement to
, Commander Jason Salata comments, "The U.S. Navy has fully accounted for all unmanned air vehicles (UAV) operating in the Middle East region. Our operations in the Gulf are confined to internationally recognized water and air space."
The U.S. Marine Corps also makes use of ScanEagles, so it's possible that the Navy could be unaware of the loss if it was from the Marines, a semi-autonomous sub-branch.
ScanEagles are largely used to safeguard oil platforms against attack by pirates or terrorists in the Middle East. The 4-ft (1.25 meter) fliers are made from off-the-shelf components and aren't exactly top secret. They can be launched by catapaults mounted to vehicles or small ships. The catapults can also be positioned as a tripod-like ground-based launcher.
A catapault launch of a SkyEagle [Image Source: AFP/USMC]
Once in flight the drone flies on pre-programmed routes taking pictures and video, aided by onboard global position system (GPS) circuits. When returning to base the drone is snagged with a "Skyhook" system in which the drone catches a rope hanging from a 50-ft (16-meter) high pole.
If Iran did "capture" the drone (which the U.S. currently denies) it may have done it by broadcasting fake GPS signals to the flier. That's allegedly
how the Iranians "hacked" the RQ-170 flier
to land in a specially designated capture site.
The incident comes at a time when Israel is putting pressure on the U.S. to respond with harsher sanctions and more decisive efforts to halt Iran's nuclear ambitions. Israel has threatened to launch missile or bomber attacks against Iran's nuclear sites if the U.S. fails to satisfactorily halt the development. Iran has promised it would respond to any such assault.
"Well, we didn't have anyone in line that got shot waiting for our system." -- Nintendo of America Vice President Perrin Kaplan
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text: Star Charities met at the Ocean Pines Library last week to go over plans for the 2009 events. Pictured, seated, are Anna Foultz, President and founder of Star Charities with volunteer Imgard Heineke;, standing, from left, volunteers Stacy Schaefer, Susan Curtis, Susan Palamara, Robin Boyle and Ginny Reister. Details were reviewed and finalized for the first event of 2009, the Annual Beef and Beer Fundraiser to benefit Women Supporting Women on Saturday Jan. 10 at the American Legion Post #166 in Ocean City. Submitted Photos


text:
I think we've done this before, but it's almost 2009, so let's do it again. I know I've upgraded a few times since the last tread on this topic.
I'll start:
I use a MOTU 828mk3 which I purcahsed a few months ago, replacing my older MOTU. This is probably considered a high-end box to use for quad conversions when compared to a PCI card or Sound Blaster type board (I'm sure there are also many more expensive options out there), and maybe it's a bit "overkill", but I really like the flexibility I get with it. In the past, I've used boards from the likes of Yamaha, M-Audio and a few others, but this one takes anything I throw at it. It works perfectly with Vista as wel as XP, and all of my recording apps fit the MOTU ASIO driver without issue.
This device plugs into a firewire port on your PC, so if you don't have one, you have to add one. Using firewire makes passing the HiRez audio signals to the PC a breeze, and this box can do multichannel 24/192 if you want it to.
It comes with a control app called the CueMixFX applet. This allows you to do a ton of stuff with the incoming audio. I have yet to even try anything but adjusting the levels of the incoming sound by channel, and this is the main reason I went to my original MOTU in the first place. Back when I had my Yamaha and M-Audio boards, there was no way to adjust the incoming audio level by channel. Today's apps may allow that, but it was the selling feature for me that sold me on the unit.
As you can see from the jpeg of my desktop below, if you look closely at the CueMixFX applet sitting on top of Vegas 8.0, the level controls for the first 4 channels are all different. That's because I'm putting to HD a reel that I recorded 30 years ago from a Q8 that, at the time, I did not pay attention to the recording levels. (What the hell was I thinking!! ) Anyway, by being able to adjust the audio on the PC, it allows me to do each channel on its' own. I can't do this on my AKAI 630DSS, because the fronts and rears are grouped together on two output level controls.
So, for those interested in a higher than average priced sound solution for recording quad tapes and discs to your PC, I can highly recommend this device. It's also a great way to make 24/192 stereo DVD-Audio discs of the recent audiophile LP releases that seem to be making their way back to the market.
Now, how about some of you other guys posting about what you're using so the membership can get an idea of what they can use. You'd be surprised how many PM's I get from members asking "What can I use to do quad conversions?"


text:
Town Square
a preventable accident
Original post made by Sarah, South of Midtown, on Aug 24, 2007
Comments (21)
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Aug 24, 2007 at 10:04 pm
I tend to agree with you, my worry is that the accident will involve a child because they use their senses more when out and about on roads rather than what would be more apparent signs to adults that a parked car is about to move.
a resident of Midtown
on Aug 25, 2007 at 6:45 am
Perhaps a "town" horn? Kind of an "ahem"?
a resident of Midtown
on Aug 25, 2007 at 8:59 am
[Post removed by Palo Alto Online staff.]
a resident of Crescent Park
on Aug 25, 2007 at 3:04 pm
You don't get the typical audible warning/cue of a car coming when a Prius is sweeping down the street and you are planning to back out of your driveway...we must be extra, extra careful because of these cars.
a resident of Ventura
on Aug 25, 2007 at 8:29 pm
Maybe we should all be singing in our Priuses with the windows down. That would get pedestrians running away for their lives.
a resident of College Terrace
on Aug 25, 2007 at 9:26 pm
This present an interesting and unusual "road usability" problem, in that some of the most important cues that pedestrials and drivers use are aural cues. It's a perfect example of how everyday objects - when altered in some substantial way - lose certain user efficiencies in the environment in which they operate.
Toyota really does need to address this problem. Perhaps a front speaker that simulates the sound of an accelerating car, or some other solution, like sensors that "see" objects, and trigger an audible warning.
a resident of Greenmeadow
on Aug 25, 2007 at 10:12 pm
Perhaps a cowbell bolted under the front bumper and/or playing cards taped so they rub against the spokes of the wheels?
a resident of Adobe-Meadow
on Aug 25, 2007 at 11:14 pm
Just Singing: not funny.
The cars are too silent. We have all grown up listening for cars. I myself was shocked to find a hybrid suv back out of a garage onto the sidewalk where I was. It was day so I didn't really look for brake lights.
We all have to be careful. I hope that responsible owners (probably 1 out of 6 people) install backup sound lights.
a resident of Crescent Park
on Aug 25, 2007 at 11:17 pm
I find this discussion baffling. I would never step into the street or cross a driveway, etc. without looking for cars. As for looking for brake lights, what is the car is backed into the drieway?
The less noise the better, certainly not adding in those obnoxious backup beeps.
a resident of South of Midtown
on Aug 27, 2007 at 12:58 pm
It's just another safety shortcut the auto industry is taking. I'm as vigilant as humanly possible, but a hybrid SUV almost hit me this weekend near Ca Ave. We're walking through a parking lot, there's no auditory cue to step out of the way, and the person backed out quickly, clearly without looking. I'm feeling compassion for what the deaf community must have to deal with.
It would be great if the traffic roar in the Bay Area would disappear, but going completely silent can't work. So far, I vote for a sensor activated "ahem."
For those of you making light: I'd think most people have walked in parking lots or were momentarily distracted during conversations while walking down a sidewalk. Or maybe you're perfect and all drivers around you are perfect.
a resident of Midtown
on Aug 27, 2007 at 9:00 pm
I've been surprised by a stealth Prius at Town and Country Village near Peet's. It was in a hurry (some cars use T&C to cut through
to El Camino) and must have been doing 25-30 down that narrow
passage between parked cars. I was walking back to my parked car, and
I have to tell you Prius drivers like this one have no idea how
stealthy they are. All of a sudden it was upon me. No aural clues, and we're not talking about streets. We're going to see a lot of trouble from this. Add it to the news that famous people Who Shall Go Nameless get speeding tickets on state highways for going 107 mph in their Priuses!!! The illusion of safety??
a resident of South of Midtown
on Aug 27, 2007 at 10:55 pm
This strikes me as an extreme case of Prius envy.
Some citizens spend upwards of $25,000 to buy a "green" car, which will alleviate both air and noise pollution, and you provide nothing but complaints. The car is "too quiet."
Is this a case of "No good deed goes unpunished?" or "Looking a gift horse in the mouth?" I guess the lesson here is "Watch where you are walking, folks." Hang up your cell (self) phone!
Funny, I always thought one looked for cars, not listened for them. Silly old me.
Question: Would you also complain about a Rolls Royce--"the loudest noise will be the ticking of the clock"
Summing up in the immortal words of Daffy Duck, "What a bunch of maroons!"
a resident of Los Altos
on Aug 27, 2007 at 11:45 pm
Hey "Grumpy," Prius' are fine cars, I don't own a cell phone and I watch where I'm walking. Are you telling me that ALL hybrid car drivers pull out of parking stalls slowly and ALWAYS know if someone's walking near their car? In your dreams.
Some of you are oddly defensive about all this.
I've had the **** scared out of me a couple times in lots by hybrids. If it hasn't happened to you yet, it will. But I guess Grumpy has superhuman powers.
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Aug 28, 2007 at 9:02 am
I walk very sensibly, watching and listening (yes listening) for traffic, and have been surprised on many occasions. The most scary one was when a Prius silently came up behind me to park right beside me on the sidewalk, half on and half off. I do not have eyes in the back on my head and I do not expect cars to drive beside me on the sidewalk.
One of these days there will be an accident, it will be to an elderly person or a child, the driver and the pedestrian will both blame each other and the car will be deemed to be the cause by being too quiet.
My prediction.
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Aug 28, 2007 at 10:02 am
Bicyclists also rely on their sense of hearing when navigating the road. For example, hugging the edge of the road on a bike exposes the tires to a greater amount of debris. Riding slightly away from the edge and then moving in as cars approach is a fairly typical riding habit. (This can be done entirely within the striped bike lane, so no flames, please.) How to know that a car is approaching from behind? Its sound, of course.
The quiet-Prius defenders seem to assume that all bicyclists and pedestrians are (or ought to be) level-headed, spacially-aware, nimble adults. It's the children we should be especially worried about. "Stop, Look and Listen" is becoming obsolete; worse, it gives a false sense of security. The reason the "Listen" is in there is because sometimes we can hear danger -- a speeding car or even a parked car starting its engine -- before we can see it.
It's human nature to rely on sound to understand our surroundings. There are two options: attempt to rewire people's intuitive ways of understanding surroundings, or rewire the Prius to give us audio clues. To the Prius defenders: which do you think will be more successful?
a resident of Greenmeadow
on Aug 28, 2007 at 10:07 pm
The Prius is not too quite. All the other cars are too noisy. Noise is just another kind of pollution. The Prius reduces this type of pollution as well.
Image for a moment how much quieter your cities would be if all the cars were as quite as the Prius.
a resident of Duveneck/St. Francis
on Aug 28, 2007 at 10:41 pm
I bike and have no trouble hearing a prius approach. Listen for an electric engine, they are not silent.
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Aug 29, 2007 at 9:28 am
Alan and RS.
You both make excellent points. Would that all cars, and other road noises were as quiet as Prius, then maybe we could hear the electric engines. Unfortunately, the only time I can hear one is late at night when there are no other noises, distant rumbles from trucks or sirens, kids playing, lawn mowers and leaf blowers, construction noises, etc. etc.
a resident of South of Midtown
on Aug 30, 2007 at 5:29 pm
I've written my representatives about this issue. Maybe you would like to as well?
I wonder where Tesla Motors (new zippy electric car store opening in Menlo Park) stands on all this. Will they be willing to spend a couple bucks per car to make bicyclists & pedestrians safer?
a resident of East Palo Alto
on Sep 8, 2007 at 11:51 pm
I almost got hit by a Prius today that was backing out of a parking space. I never realized those cars were THAT quiet. My first thought was that the car's parking brake had disengaged and was rolling backwards. I agree, Toyota should install that "backig up beep" that utility and construction vehicles use.
a resident of Green Acres
on Dec 6, 2007 at 2:40 am
The less noise the better?
what about older people and people with disabilities
some people can't see as well as others.
Most people think only of themselves, empathy is rare
This problem exists its easy to solve it
but I am affraid a few people will have to die
before someone with half a brain that thinks that
will change his mind
J.D a guy with R.P
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text:
Microsoft appealed an 899 million euro, or
$1.3 billion USD, antitrust fine in an EU court on Tuesday.
Microsoft, an American electronics, computing and software corporation, was
initially issued a fine of 497 million euro by the European Commission in 2004
for abusing its dominant position to
hinder competitors. But in 2008, the European Commission issued another fine
for failing to comply with the previous order in 2004, which asked Microsoft to
allow other products to work with computers running the company's software.
But Microsoft called the EU's 2008 antitrust fine "excessive
and undeserved," since regulators were asking for almost double the previous
fine. The 2008 antitrust fine totaled 899 million euro, or $1.3 billion USD.
"This case would not have arisen if the Commission had been as explicit
with respect to rates which it wanted Microsoft to charge as it had been with
all other terms of licensing proposed by Microsoft," said Jean Francois
Bellis, Microsoft's lawyer.
Despite Microsoft's stance, EU regulators claimed that Microsoft showed that it
was able to determine measures needed to comply with the 2004 order within a
short period of time after a 2007 court ruling.
In 2009, Microsoft decided to reach a settlement with EU regulators by agreeing
to let users chose their own browser when using its Windows OS.
Now, Microsoft has filed an appeal against
the EU regulators' antitrust fine. Analysts believe the General Court's
verdict, which is usually given between six months and a year after a hearing,
could either give the European Commission discretion in its enforcement, or
change how the court handles the Commission's position on high fines. Ramon
Garcia Gallardo, a partner at SJ Berwin, noted, "fine reductions in cartel
fines have been relatively small."
The Computing Technology Industry Association and the Association for
Competitive Technology favored Microsoft's position in the case while Oracle
Corp., Red Hat Inc. and IBM supported the European Commission.
"This is a case about a gambler who doubled up on a losing bet, lost
again, and now wants his money back," said Nicholas Khan, a lawyer for the
European Commission.


text:
2012 Trafficking in Persons Report - Equatorial Guinea
|United States Department of State
|Publication Date
|19 June 2012
|Cite as
|United States Department of State, 2012 Trafficking in Persons Report - Equatorial Guinea, 19 June 2012, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4fe30ccdc.html [accessed 23 January 2018]
|This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
EQUATORIAL GUINEA (Tier 3)
Equatorial Guinea is a source and destination for women and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking. The majority of trafficking victims are believed to be exploited in Malabo and Bata, where burgeoning construction and economic activity funded by oil wealth has contributed to increases in the demand for cheap labor and commercial sex acts. Children are transported from nearby countries – primarily Nigeria, Benin, Cameroon, Togo, and Gabon – and may be forced to work as domestic servants, market laborers, ambulant vendors, and launderers. In some instances, distant relatives claiming to be their parents are responsible for subjecting these children to forced labor. Equatoguinean girls, some as young as 14 or 15, are victims of sex trafficking in Malabo and Bata, and reports indicate some parents may encourage their daughters to engage in prostitution, especially with foreigners, in order to receive groceries, gifts, housing, and money. Women from Cameroon, Benin, and other neighboring countries are recruited for work in Equatorial Guinea, but may be subsequently subjected to forced labor or forced prostitution. Some Chinese women migrate to Equatorial Guinea for work or to engage in prostitution and may be subject to passport confiscation. In 2011, an Equatoguinean woman was identified and rescued from forced prostitution in Spain. Sub-contractor staff in the oil services and construction sectors, including migrants from Africa, Asia, and the Americas, may be vulnerable to forced labor, as they reportedly endure sub-standard working conditions and, in some instances, may be subject to passport confiscation.
The Government of Equatorial Guinea does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so. Over the reporting period, the government neither identified a single victim of human trafficking nor made any efforts to provide victims of trafficking with protective services, despite the mandate to do so in its 2004 anti-trafficking law. If the government had recognized a child victim of human trafficking it could possibly refer the child to a church-run orphanage and provide a scholarship for the child's care. The government routinely deported illegal immigrants without attempting to determine whether they were victims of trafficking or referring them to assistance services, and rarely notified embassies that their nationals had been detained. Prevention efforts were extremely limited; the government did not undertake any public awareness campaigns and its interagency commission on human trafficking took no action. The government's response to human trafficking has been negligible, particularly given its substantial financial resources.
Recommendations for Equatorial Guinea: Increase the use of the 2004 anti-trafficking law to prosecute and convict trafficking offenders and complicit officials; develop formal procedures to identify trafficking victims among child laborers, illegal immigrants, and women and girls in prostitution; dedicate funding for the sheltering and protection of trafficking victims and develop a formal system to refer victims to such care; train law enforcement officials, immigration officials, and social workers in the use of identification and referral procedures; cease summary deportation of foreign men, women and children from Equatoguinean territory without first screening for trafficking and, if appropriate, providing them with care and safe, voluntary repatriation; notify embassies when their nationals have been detained; research the extent and nature of the problem of human trafficking within the country; and launch a nationwide anti-trafficking public awareness campaign.
The Government of Equatorial Guinea demonstrated minimal anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts during the reporting period. The 2004 Law on the Smuggling of Migrants and Trafficking in Persons prohibits all forms of trafficking and prescribes penalties of 10 to 15 years' imprisonment, punishments which are sufficiently stringent. Despite having a law in place and reports of child trafficking, the government initiated no investigations or prosecutions of suspected trafficking offenses. Foreign embassies reported the resolution outside the justice system of potential trafficking cases involving their nationals; Ministry of Justice officials confirmed that this practice inhibits their ability to prosecute offenders. The Ministry of National Security reported conducting a training session on methods for identifying victims of human trafficking for police officers at the airport, border patrol agents, and chiefs of inspections. This training was funded by the Government of Equatorial Guinea.
The Government of Equatorial Guinea failed to demonstrate effective measures to protect trafficking victims during the reporting period. It did not identify or refer any victims to protective services in 2011. Although the 2004 anti-trafficking law mandates the government's provision of legal assistance, psychological and medical care, counseling, lodging, food, access to education, training, and employment opportunities to trafficking victims, the government failed to provide any of these protective services during the year. Care for possible Equatoguinean child trafficking victims continued to be provided by church-run orphanages with scholarships provided by the Equatoguinean government; foreign children continued to be deported summarily. There were no shelters or other types of protective services in Equatorial Guinea for adult trafficking victims. Law enforcement authorities did not employ procedures to identify victims of trafficking proactively and did not make efforts – in either a systematic or an ad hoc way – to refer victims to organizations that provide short- or long-term care, although the Ministry of National Security claimed it had procedures in place to screen illegal immigrants detained at the border to determine if they were victims of human trafficking. The absence of a proactive victim identification process, including procedures for screening deportees, impaired the government's ability to provide care or assistance to foreign trafficking victims. The government continued to penalize victims for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of their trafficking; it detained foreign nationals, including potential trafficking victims, at police stations for periods of several days to several months, and seldom notified their embassies of their detention or deportation. The overwhelming majority of those detained were young men, though children and women were also sometimes detained and deported. The government did not provide foreign trafficking victims with temporary or permanent resident status, or any other legal alternatives to their removal to countries where they might face retribution or hardship. Officials did not appear to fine or prosecute detainees, but sometimes confiscated their possessions and money.
The Government of Equatorial Guinea decreased its efforts to prevent trafficking during the reporting period. It did not launch any anti-trafficking informational or educational campaigns for the general public. The effectiveness of the Interagency Commission for Trafficking in Persons, directed by the Prime Minister's Office and chaired by the Ministry of Justice, remained limited, and it did not convene or produce any results during the year. The national action plan, produced following passage of the 2004 law, has not been implemented and is out of date. In February 2010, the government consulted with UNICEF and UNDP to revise this plan to include an initial study on the extent of child trafficking and establishment of a pilot shelter in Malabo, but it has still not finalized or implemented the plan. The Government of Equatorial Guinea worked with UNDP to revise and implement a new anti-trafficking plan as part of a wider human rights strategy for 2012. During the reporting period, the government made significant improvements in the residency cards it issues to foreigners to include biometric and holographic security features, which were not present in previous residency cards. In 2011, the Ministry of Labor conducted numerous workplace inspections to verify adherence to labor laws in regard to pay, benefits, and working conditions; when violations were found, the government required some employers to correct the problem, pay fines, or pay reparations to the employees. The Government of Equatorial Guinea did not participate in or implement any programs to address forced child labor, and did not identify a single child labor victim despite having 100 labor inspectors dedicated to documenting labor infractions. It did not undertake any discernible measures to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts during the year.


text:
COURSE: 01-331 Advanced Computer Graphic Design (3)
A continued study of 01-231, this course explores design principles and concepts utilizing a variety of computer programs. Students must have the skills needed to perform operations on images in multiple programs. The course may be repeated for a total of nine hours. Prerequisite: 01-231. Offered: Spring and Fall, RMVL.


text:
By Ben Golliver
Steve Nash could miss the next two weeks and his backup will be out significantly longer than that.
The Lakers announced Monday that point guard Steve Blake will undergo laproscopic surgery to repair a torn abdominal muscle that has kept him sidelined since Nov. 11. Blake will miss at least six to eight weeks. The Lakers previously announced that MRIs had revealed only an abdominal strain.
A six-week absence would sideline Blake until mid-January and cost him roughly 20 games. An eight-week absence would push his return to the beginning of February and keep him out of roughly 30 games.
Blake, 32, stepped in as the Lakers' starter after Nash went down with a lower leg injury in the Lakers' second regular-season game. He started the Lakers' next five games before going down with the injury and currently holds averages of 5.1 points, 3.4 assists and 1.3 steals this season. Blake has yet to play for new coach Mike D'Antoni, who took over for the fired Mike Brown last month. Without either Nash or Blake, D'Antoni has turned to second-year guard Darius Morris as the starter instead of veteran Chris Duhon.
This injury news continues an unusually rough 2012-13 season for Blake. Back in September, Blake punctured his foot while stepping on a spike strip in a parking lot. In November, Blake was fined for swearing at a courtside fan. On the bright side, Lakers All-Star guard Kobe Bryant gave him a ride to one of his doctor's appointments in his personal helicopter.
Still unclear is how well Blake, a low-risk, low-reward point man, will function under D'Antoni's desired high-paced offense. The Lakers can't get enough outside shooting, though, and Blake is a 38.7 percent career three-point shooter.
Finding a temporary replacement could prove difficult, perhaps so difficult that it winds up not being worth it. Los Angeles is in a roster bind with 15 players, and four point guards, already under contract, so someone would need to be traded or released to add a free agent. Former Lakers point guard Derek Fisher signed with the Mavericks last week, leaving only the likes of Mike Bibby, Jonny Flynn and assorted D-Leaguers available. (Bibby, 34, told HoopsHype.com this week that he's still hoping for a call from someone. Good luck with that.) Without an obvious free agent target to move the needle, the Lakers are probably better off holding the fort until Nash's return, whose presence should bring relief to their stretched backcourt rotation. Nash has had his timeline moved back a few times already so this will likely be an agonizing wait for Lakers fans.
Longer-term, the Lakers will likely seek to dump either Blake or Duhon, if at all possible, as both are underwhelming and overpaid given the role available behind Nash. That could prove difficult to accomplish by the trade deadline, but Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak and the resources available to him can't ever be totally counted out.


text:
DALLAS - Dirk Nowitzki scored 22 points, O.J. Mayo had two big fourth-quarter baskets and a career-high 12 assists, and the Dallas Mavericks bounced back from a blowout loss in Houston with a 112-108 victory over the Rockets on Wednesday night.
Mayo scored five straight points to put Dallas ahead 107-104, and the Mavericks won despite 28 points from James Harden, who scored the last seven for the Rockets.
Harden missed a 3-pointer and a layup with the Rockets trying to tie in the final seconds, three days after their 33-point win in Houston.
Chandler Parsons had 23 points for Houston, while Jeremy Lin scored 12 but sat the entire fourth quarter in favor of backup Patrick Beverley.
Officials twice had to use replay to confirm possession on an out-of-bounds call. The first call in favor of the Rockets was confirmed, giving Harden a second chance. But the second ruling went Dallas' way with 6.4 seconds left, and Darren Collison hit two free throws for a 112-108 lead.
Harden, who also had nine assists, put the Rockets ahead 104-102 with a 3-pointer with 3:41 remaining, but Mayo answered with a 3 and another jumper to put Dallas up for good at 107-104. Mayo's last assist came on a bucket by Nowitzki that pushed the lead to 109-104.
Shawn Marion matched Nowitzki with 22 points. Mayo had 13.
Nowitzki was called for his fifth foul and a technical midway through the fourth quarter after a rough sequence that ended with the 7-footer getting his shot blocked by the 6-foot-1 Beverley. Nowitzki knocked Carlos Delfino to the floor as he was trying to start a fast break.
Rockets coach Kevin McHale looked primed for a technical a few minutes earlier when Beverley was called for an offensive foul after he ran into Vince Carter while Carter was pursuing Thomas Robinson, whose dunk was waved off.
Three days after getting outscored by Houston 44-17 in the third quarter, the Mavericks pushed a four-point halftime lead to 13 before letting the Rockets get within 84-83 on a 15-3 spurt late in the third. Carter restored Dallas' four-point lead with a 3-pointer with 14 seconds left.
Lin hit a 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer, but officials overturned a ruling that the basket was good after a lengthy video review. The change gave Dallas a 60-56 halftime lead.
Lin's shot came at the end of a sequence that illustrated the brisk pace of the first half. After a Houston miss, Carter rushed up the floor with 7 seconds left, but Marion's layup was blocked by Parsons. The Rockets managed to get Lin an open shot at the 3-point line in less than 4 seconds.
The Mavericks were shooting nearly 70 percent in the middle of the second quarter but only led by four because the Rockets made six straight shots, four of them coming in a stretch of six combined baskets between the teams in just 1:23.
Houston's hot streak included three quick 3-pointers that erased most of a 41-31 Dallas lead, the biggest of the first half for the Mavericks. Delfino had two of them.
Nowitzki had eight points in the first quarter after finishing Sunday's blowout loss with that total. Marion had 12 in the first for Dallas, and the pair combined to go 9 of 12 from the field. Mayo had five assists in the first six minutes, and four of them led to layups and one dunk for Marion.
NOTES: G Mike James made his first start for Dallas. He was picked up as a free agent and played on a pair of 10-day contracts before getting a guaranteed deal for the rest of the season. It was James' first start since March 25, 2009, with Washington. ... Harden became the third Rockets player with at least 500 free throws in a season. He's on pace to break Moses Malone's franchise record of 630 from 1981-82. ... Mavericks C Elton Brand had a first-quarter block to pass McHale on the career list. They were tied for 24th at 1,690 blocks when the game started. ... Parsons has the longest 20-point streak of his career at five straight games.
Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


text:
I must say I really like the free version of Z.A. firewall and longer ago I tried out the Extreme Suite that I may eventually buy. I had a question about the free firewall: Would it ever be possible for the free version to include alerts for exploits? (please correct me if I'm wrong, though it doesn't seem to, unless you check the logs everytime) When reading the great review by Mr. Rubenking in PCMag, he states that:
"I also attacked the test system using the Core IMPACT penetration tool. Some products, Norton among them, detect and report such Web-based exploits even when the system is fully patched and hence not vulnerable. ZoneAlarm Free doesn't do so. None of the exploits managed to penetrate the test system, but ZoneAlarm took no note of those attempts. I'd much prefer to know when a Web site has attacked me, even if the attack failed."
Is ZoneAlarm just not reporting these supposed attempted exploits because they don't really carry a malacious payload anyway? Just curious.


text:
(credit: Ben Hider/Getty Images)
Jerry Lee Lewis has walked down the aisle for the seventh time.
The Huffington Post reports the 76-year-old singer wed Judith Brown in a secret wedding in Natchez, Mississippi on March 9, 2012.
Brown is 14 years younger than Lewis and was working as his caretaker when their relationship bloomed. Brown is also the former wife of Lewis' cousin Rusty.
Lewis has a colorful history of marriages. Lewis' third wife, Myra Gale Brown, was his 13-year-old first cousin once removed. Lewis married his first wife, Dorothy Barton, in 1952 when he was 14 and she was 17.
Lewis split from his sixth and most recent wife, Kerrie McCarver, in 2004 after a marriage of twenty years.


text:
Gulfstream's senior management team is headed down to São Paulo, Brazil this week, where they will showcase three of the company's business jets at the eighth Latin American Business Aviation Conference, which opens Thursday.
The aircraft are the wide-cabin, high-speed Gulfstream G150, the large-cabin, long-range Gulfstream G450 and the large-cabin, ultra-long-range Gulfstream G550.
Among those flying in is senior vice president of marketing and sales Larry Flynn, who will become president of Gulfstream Aerospace in September as current president Joe Lombardo's corporate duties with Gulfstream parent company General Dynamics expand.
The Latin American market is a growing one for Gulfstream. In a conference call last October, General Dynamics CEO Jay Johnson told industry analysts that some 40 percent of the jet maker's order backlog came from South America and the Asian Pacific.
The annual, three-day air show continues to be an important venue for Gulfstream, Flynn said.
"The Gulfstream fleet in Latin America has grown dramatically since we sold our first aircraft in Brazil in 2002, he said. "Today, there are 146 Gulfstream aircraft in the region, an increase of more than 140 percent compared to just five years ago.
The fleet has more than doubled in Brazil alone, Flynn said, going from 14 aircraft in 2009 to more than 30 today.
"LABACE is an excellent forum for us to showcase our worldwide product support network, the capabilities of our aircraft, our research and development efforts and to connect with current and potential customers," he said.
Gulfstream is headquartered in Savannah, where the company's five largest business jets – the G350, G450, G500, G550 and G650 - are manufactured.


text:
I'm trying to write a program to help me look up Chinese characters in the dictionary. It's really hard on the eyes to use the book-dictionary and it takes forever. I'm a newb C++ programmer w/out even a book to help me, just trying to learn from online tutorials.
I'm wondering, when I use getline in the following piece of code, it reads from the text file the first line just fine but the next array is just garble. How do I move to the next line of the text file to read the next line into the next array?
Thanks a million for your help!
Code:if (a_file.is_open()) { a_file.getline(radindex1, 40); a_file.getline(radindex2, 40); a_file.getline(radindex3, 40);


text:
Browsing this Thread: 1 Anonymous Users
2008 Mythopoeic Awards announced
2006/5/26 20:36
From California, USA
Posts: 1529
Congrats to Diana and David - their book The Company They Keep won the Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies. Here is the complete list of winners this year.
Press Release: Mythopoeic Awards: 2008 Winners Announced
August 17, 2008
The Mythopoeic Society has announced the winners for the 2008 Mythopoeic Awards. Download the press release in PDF format. For more information about the awards, visit the Awards section of this site.
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature
* Catherynne M. Valente, The Orphan's Tales, consisting of In the Night Garden (Spectra) and In the Cities of Coin and Spice (Spectra)
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature
* J.K. Rowling, The Harry Potter series, consisting of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's [Sorcerer's] Stone (Bloomsbury); Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Bloomsbury); Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Bloomsbury); Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Bloomsbury); Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Bloomsbury); Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Bloomsbury); and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Bloomsbury)
Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies
* Diana Pavlac Glyer; appendix by David Bratman, The Company They Keep: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as Writers in Community (Kent State University Press, 2007)
Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Myth and Fantasy Studies
* T.A. Shippey, editor, The Shadow-Walkers: Jacob Grimm's Mythology of the Monstrous (Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2005)
Posted on: 2008/8/18 12:55
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The City of Richardson Arts Commission invites Richardson residents to participate in a Feb. 19 public meeting to provide vital input on the community's first-ever Cultural Arts Master Plan. The draft plan, which has been in the works since 2010, was developed by the Richardson Arts Commission in partnership with Lord Cultural Resources, a global professional practice dedicated to creating cultural capital worldwide.
The Cultural Arts Master Plan has been developed to strengthen the arts community in Richardson by building synergies among the various performance arts groups and enhancing the existing arts facilities in the area.
The draft of the Cultural Arts Master Plan is available for review on the City's website HERE.
The event is open to the public and walk-ins are welcome; however, those planning to attend are asked to RSVP by Monday, Feb. 18 to 972-744-4209 or firstname.lastname@example.com in order for meeting organizers to make necessary preparations.
411 W. Arapaho Rd. Richardson, TX 75080-4551 PH# 972 -744-4100 | Mailing Address P.O. Box 830309 Richardson, TX 75083-0309
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| Accommodations for Persons with Disabilities call, 972-744-0908 or Email firstname.lastname@example.com


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SPONSORED: How to Decorate with Target's Threshold Collection
J.R. Watkins introduced its first cleaner—vegetable-based soap "pure enough to eat!" according to the tagline—in 1917. The 145-year-old company's current home collection continues the natural tradition with plant-based, biodegradable dish soap, laundry detergent, window cleaner, and more.
($3.49-$12.99 each, jrwatkins.com)
Here's a whole new way to purchase household cleaners: Common Good partners with grocery stores and boutiques (currently 39 locations across 14 states) so shoppers can replenish their supply of the company's laundry, dish, all-purpose, and hand soaps while they're out running errands.
($6.99-$24.99 each, commongoodandco.com)
7 Years Younger: The Best Age-Defying Body Lotions


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Flooding follows thunderstorms
Torrential downpours brought flooding to parts of the country today, as firefighters in storm-hit areas admitted they were "stretched" amid a strike by union members.
A number of homes and roads were flooded in south-east England after the Met Office issued a "yellow" warning for rain across eastern Britain.
The Environment Agency issued two flood warnings, meaning flooding is expected, while more than 20 flood alerts were in place across the Midlands, Anglia and the south of England.
Essex Fire and Rescue Service said it dealt with incidents including a house fire following a lightning strike, people stranded in vehicles stuck in flood water, cables arcing and hedgerow fires.
It came as Fire Brigades Union members went on strike from 5pm to 7pm tonight.
A spokesman for Essex Fire and Rescue Service said: "Firefighters are dealing with numerous flood and weather related calls across the county following thunder, lightning and heavy downpours.
"Canvey is one area particularly affected but calls have also included Southend, Harlow, Aveley, Ongar and Corringham, and resources are stretched."
Essex Police said properties in Canvey Island were flooded, while roads were blocked by flood water in Southend, Rayleigh, Castle Point, Wickford and Ramsden Heath.
The force urged motorists to avoid unnecessary journeys and drive with caution.
Southend University Hospital's accident and emergency department was temporarily closed due to flooding, the BBC reported. A site manager at the hospital refused to comment.
Flooding near Billericay meant that trains were unable to run between Shenfield and Southend Victoria and also between Wickford and Southminster, Network Rail said.
Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service said it had also dealt with a number of flood-related calls.
The EA issued flood warnings for the River Roach, Prittle Brook and Eastwood Brook in Southend, Essex, and for Spixworth Beck from Horsham St Faith to Crostwick in Norfolk.
Meanwhile, the Lambeth Country Show at Brockwell Park in Brixton, south London, was abandoned after torrential rain.
On Twitter, organisers wrote: "Sadly, we have had to close the event. We thank you for coming this weekend but ask, could you leave the park in a sensible manner."
John Curtin, the EA's director of incident management and resilience, said: "As we've seen over the past two days, flooding can happen very quickly so we urge people to continue to check local weather forecasts and the Environment Agency website for flood risk information on a regular basis.
"We will continue monitoring the situation closely and supporting local authorities, who will respond to any reports of surface water flooding."
Temperatures are likely to soar again next week, with the mercury possibly topping 30C (86F) for a three-day spell from Wednesday.
But the heat is again likely to bring with it the risk of heavy showers and thunderstorms, especially in the South, on Wednesday and Thursday.
Gemma Prebble, a forecaster with MeteoGroup, said: "By Tuesday there will be highs of 28C (82.4F) in the South East and on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday it will possibly be up to 30C (86F) in the South East."
Essex Police said flood-hit residents in Canvey Island were suffering "further anguish" because some motorists were driving too quickly and causing waves of water to enter homes.
Supt Stuart Ashton said: "We have 4x4 vehicles on the island and are closing as many roads as possible, but the scale of the flooding is over a huge area.
"The fire brigade have four appliances and the Environment Agency are on scene. The water levels are falling and I urge residents to avoid car journeys for as long as possible to allow water to fall.
"Some irresponsible drivers are causing misery to residents as they drive too fast through flood water, which is causing further water to enter their homes.
"Slow down, observe road closures and be patient."


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TLC Computer Training Schedule: September 9 - 13, 2013
Contributed by Tony Tabone on 09/06/13
ITS offers computing workshops every week on a variety of topics in the Technology Learning Center (101 Friends Hall) at no charge to all faculty, staff, and students. The TLC will be offering training on Taskstream, Sakai, Web Profile Manager, and Outlook from Monday, September 9 through Friday, September 13.
Click the links below to register online:
► Sakai: Creating Learning Units
► Web Profile Manager: Department Web Sites
► Outlook for Macintosh: Calendar
► Outlook for Windows: Calendar
Click the links below to review the workshop schedule:
© Copyright Ithaca College. All rights reserved; unauthorized use prohibited. All material on this server is produced by our community but, except for designated pages, is neither approved nor verified by Ithaca College.


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As a Cultural Studies student, you have the opportunity to conduct an internship with a non-profit organization, public agency, company, or campus unit to gain practical experience during your course of study. If you are seeking credit for your internship, you will be responsible for completing a specified number of hours and an academic product, in addition to fulfilling the functions of your position. Your academic product should provide clear benefits to your learning, the internship site, and the University of Washington. Once you've completed the prerequisite BCULST 500: Formations of Cultural Studies, you are eligible to register for 2-5 credits of BCULST 520, the internship course, during a given quarter. Students may earn up to 10 credits of BCULST 520 during the Cultural Studies program. Please note: BCULST 520 credits do not count toward your 10 required BCULST course-based elective credits.
Below is an overview of the entire internship process, and all documents referenced may be found in the focus box on the right side of this page.
The benefits of conducting internships are numerous. Here are just a few benefits that past students have noted:
As a graduate student, you have the unique opportunity to pursue internships during the course of your program. While some internship sites stipulate that you must be earning academic credit while completing an internship, others do not have this requirement. The merits of pursuing a credit-bearing "academic internship" include:
Conversely, conducting internships outside of the academic system has benefits. Students still gain experience, skill development, industry contacts, and credibility without having the extra requirement of producing an academic product or accruing a specific number of hours. Not-for-credit internships allow students to utilize their elective credits for other purposes.
During the internship quarter, the Alumni and Community Relations Manager will contact your Site Supervisor to learn more about the site and to explore further opportunities for engagement with the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences and UW Bothell.
Read through the guide to Cultivating Organizational Partners for Internships (.pdf) to learn how to go about creating an internship.
Potential internship sites and site supervisors should refer to the Internship Site Guide (.pdf) and contact the IAS Graduate Office with questions about hosting an intern.
For organizations looking to create an internship for IAS graduate students, please refer to our guide for Developing a Graduate Internship (.pdf).
Faculty internship supervisors should refer to the Faculty Internship Guide (.pdf).
© University of Washington Bothell Privacy | Terms


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The expensive, state of the art facility bears little resemblance to media accommodations for the 1948 "Austerity Games."
For London's 1948 summer Olympics, the fittingly titled "Austerity Games" had its Broadcast Center (used mostly by the BBC) situated inside the city's old Palace of the Arts. Media personnel crammed into the historic building, which was constructed for the 1924 British Empire Exhibition, leaving behind no permanent upgrades to the facility once they departed.
In stark contrast, London's new media digs for the 2012 Olympics show little sign of austerity. The massive, publicly funded complex officially opened over the weekend. It's the first venue at Olympic Park to be fully open for business.
The Media Centre is a critical portion of the built legacy of these Olympics, replacing the derelict Hackney Wick Stadium that once stood in its place. It consists of almost 900,000 total square feet of space, costing an estimated $460 million to build. While the Games are ongoing, it will be used by journalists, photographers, broadcasters, and Olympics staff.
When plans to build the facility were first announced, officials anticipated an entirely privately funded project, thinking it would be easily seen as a permanent employment hub after the Games, especially for creative industries. By 2010, local Olympics officials realized it had to be publicly financed thanks to a poor credit market.
Its post-Olympics future has also been a cause for concern among locals, with its size and public cost seemingly too high to secure a healthy long term future. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, officials have narrowed down the media center's potential post-Olympics tenants to two bidders, UK Fashion Hub and iCITY. UK Fashion Hub would use the site for manufacturing and design. iCITY would develop an information technology research center. The winner will be announced after the Games.
But rejected bids have been allowed to reenter and an extension has been made on a final decision. A Financial Times report also states that advisers to Boris Johnson are examining the costs of tearing down the entire complex, perhaps suggesting more public financing could be needed to keep it open, a move likely to be poorly received for an already expensive redevelopment of East London.
As of now, the Media Centre as well as the Olympic Stadium have uncertain futures upon the conclusion of the Games.


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The Obama administration has approved a one-year air pollution permit for an Arctic drilling rig operated by Royal Dutch Shell, The Los Angeles Times reports. This could result in the initiation of controversial oil drilling off the coast of Alaska, which some environmental experts claim would destroy the natural ecosystem and lead to air and water pollution.
"Today's planned announcement that the Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] has given Shell Oil an exemption to pollute in America's Arctic Ocean is yet another sign from the Obama administration that they are putting the whims of a corporate giant over the future of one of our nation's most valued natural treasures," said Cindy Shogan, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League, according to the news source.
The EPA's compliance order requires the careful monitoring of generator emissions to ensure that pollutants created from the machines do not exceed federal standards - especially for toxins such as nitrous oxide and ammonia. Such pollutants can travel along air currents for hundreds of miles and impact the health of homeowners far away.
As the hunt for energy sources continues, more plants, oil rigs and gas refineries may be constructed, which could lead to an increase in air pollutants. Homeowners concerned about the air quality they are breathing can invest in a home air purifier to reduce the presence of fine particulate matter and toxins within the house.


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Denver, Colorado 80202
United States
|Areas of Practice
|1) Litigation
|Most recent firm
|Snell & Wilmer LLP
A. Harrison Barnes is a well-known attorney throughout the United States. As a member of the Malibu community, Harrison is committed to serving the needs of Malibu residents and businesses in legal matters.
Anthony Ciasulli is a senior counsel in Morgan Lewis's Real Estate Practice. Mr. Ciasulli represents both developers and lenders in connection with commercial, residential, industrial and resort real estate.


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LZF provides LZF compression/decompression for JavaScript. It is compatible with the lzf_compress and lzf_decompress PHP functions (see LZF in PECL). It is based on the C source of LZF functions by Marc Alexander Lehmann and on the C source of the LZF PHP extension by Marcin Gibula.
An image processing component.
A Java framework for building data integration and ETL applications.


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The May Department Stores Company
List of Deals
- 1929 issue and underwriting of additional common stock
- 1945 sale of 150,000 shares of $3.75 cumulative preferred stock (without par value) and sale of 80,000 shares of common stock (par value $5 per share)
David May, the founder of the May Department Stores, opened his first store in 1877, in Leadville, Colorado. The store, called May, Holcomb & Dean, supplied miners in the town with red woolen underwear and copper-riveted overalls. The store was an instant success, but a real estate dispute dissolved his partnership with the store's two other founders. May put up a building on newly purchased ground and called his second store the Great Western Auction House & Clothing Store. He was joined soon thereafter by a partner, Moses Shoenberg. After testing the market with a huge stock of expensive dresses bought from an overstocked Chicago store, May and Shoenberg were quickly able to expand their merchandise to include women's apparel. May bought out Shoenberg's interest in 1885 and added branch stores in Aspen, Colorado, and Glenwood Springs, Colorado. By that time, the company's print advertising that touted bargain prices lured an ever-escalating, middle-class clientele, while frequent sales kept the merchandise moving. Fast stock turnover kept the customers in the height of fashion.
May's company continued to expand through the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries. In 1892 he purchased the Famous Department Store in St. Louis, Missouri, and in 1898 he bought the Hull & Dutton store in Cleveland, Ohio. The company was incorporated as the May Department Stores Company in 1910 in New York. The following year, the company bought William Barr Dry Goods Company in St. Louis and merged that store with its other St. Louis store, forming the Famous-Barr Company. Sales for 1911 reached $14.8 million, with profits of $1.5 million. In 1923 May bought a Los Angeles department store, A. Hamburger & Sons, and renamed it the May Company. This new store helped the May Department Stores Company surpass $100 million in sales for 1926. That year, the company acquired Bernheimer-Leader Stores, Inc., in Baltimore, Maryland, which was also renamed the May Company. This was the company's last acquisition for some time. May's top priorities at that time were consolidation, improvement in performance, and store remodeling. Systematic modernization to update delivery systems and to provide customer parking began in 1928 and was completed in 1932.
The company remained successful during the Depression years. The stores' inventory was key to this success. Buyers had always maintained large stocks of merchandise, regardless of the external economic climate. This policy now proved profitable, for higher purchase costs were not a problem; the company added the old and the new prices of an item, averaged the two, and held one of its famous sales. Large inventories thus became an asset, leaving the stores unaffected by the Depression era foundering of distressed suppliers. Another advantage during that time was the wide geographical spread of May's subsidiaries. Each store had its own buying department, allowing it to cater to its individual needs. Additional centralized buying facilities, however, allowed buyers to take advantage of mass-purchasing practices to keep their costs down. Careful planning paid off—although sales dropped to $72.5 million by 1932, they slowly recovered, rising to $89.2 million by the end of 1935.
A downside of the 1930s came from new competitors. The automobile's rising popularity made cheaper locations on city outskirts more accessible to customers. Labor disputes were also a problem for most department stores during this decade. In 1937 a union disturbance resulted in the arrest of a New York May store manager, and another caused panic among customers after strike organizers raised false fire alarms. Sales figures were not harmed by such events and reached $98.4 million by 1938, yielding a net profit of $3.8 million. By 1939 the company was once again ready to expand. Foreshadowing a 1940s trend toward suburban shopping centers, it opened a Wilshire Boulevard branch of its Los Angeles store, stocking it with merchandise for upper-income customers.


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After 2012 emergence, Johnson ready for anything
Versatile right-hander not daunted by crowded group of fifth-starter hopefuls
By Brittany Ghiroli / MLB.com
SARASOTA, Fla. -- The Orioles have a dozen starting pitching candidates this spring, though the competition doesn't bother right-hander Steve Johnson.
"It's easier than most people think because this is what you've been doing your whole career," said Johnson, who is coming off an impressive rookie season and is hoping to be the team's fifth starter.
"You are competing every level to beat out people. In the lower levels, it's even a little harder because not only do you have the guys you are trying to beat at that level, but it's the guys that are a level above that and a level above that. It's just trying to outperform every one of them. ... At the same time, you can't really worry about what they've been doing, you've got to do the best you can do and hope that's good enough."
Johnson was plenty good enough for the Orioles last year. He was a pleasant surprise after his Major League debut July 15, posting a 4-0 record and a 2.11 ERA in 12 games (four starts). Johnson, who was also used in the bullpen, allowed nine earned runs on 23 hits and 18 walks with 46 strikeouts over 38 1/3 innings.
"It's like we told you last year, we weren't going to overlook him -- and we didn't," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said of Johnson, who was one of the early cuts in his first big league camp last spring, but rose on the organization's radar with an impressive Minor League season. "There's not many guys in this camp, with the younger guys with a little bit less experience, that have the numbers he's got in Triple-A last season and what he continued in the big leagues."
Johnson posted a 2.86 ERA in 19 games (14 starts) for Triple-A Norfolk. He struck out 86 and walked 31 in 91 1/3 innings before being promoted to Baltimore, where he was initially used as an extra arm for an overtaxed bullpen. As a reliever, Johnson pitched to a 1.10 ERA in 16 1/3 innings over eight appearances, before winning his first Major League start against the Mariners on Aug. 8.
"Obviously, you get a little more confident knowing, 'Hey, I did well last year,' but you've got to do it again," Johnson said. "You've got to keep doing it over and over. Last year helped me a lot, but there's still a lot of work to do."
Johnson started throwing the first week of January because he said otherwise, his velocity doesn't get up to where he needs it to be. He also reported to camp early after going on a family vacation in Florida.
The Orioles rotation projects to include Jason Hammel, Wei-Yin Chen, Miguel Gonzalez and Chris Tillman. Johnson, Brian Matusz, Zach Britton, Jake Arrieta, Jair Jurrjens, T.J. McFarland, Dylan Bundy and Kevin Gausman are all being considered for the final spot.
Johnson has options and the Orioles made a lot of roster transactions last season, which is why the 25-year-old points out there is still a "good chance" that should he start the season at Triple-A, he will be able to help the big league club this season. Johnson is helped by his versatility -- he's had success as a starter and a reliever -- and his excellent command. This spring, Johnson is also trying to work on improving his slider.
"It was terrible last year," he said. "And basically, [I need to] just keep throwing strikes. I know I'm good when I can get ahead of hitters. There's something about my fastball that's a little deceptive, I don't know what it is, but when I get ahead of them it's just that much better."
Johnson's fastball fluctuates anywhere from 84-93 mph, which is unusual, even to him.
"I don't know what it is exactly," Johnson said. "I don't really care. I know I can use it to my advantage. There are some days it's more deceptive than others, and I can figure that out by how the hitters react. But I think the fact that I fluctuate my velocity, I don't know why I do that, I don't try to do that, it definitely helps."
Johnson had a left knee issue last year after taking a ball off his right foot in late September, but he's fully recovered from that.
"We thought we might have had to slow-play him early and catch up some on the offseason work he normally does," Showalter said. "But he's catching up real quick. He had a good outing [on Wednesday]."
Brittany Ghiroli is a reporter for MLB.com. Read her blog, Britt's Bird Watch, and follow her on Twitter @britt_ghiroli. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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Re: **The Bedrock "Rate The Last Movie You Watched" Thread**
Gravity. At the superb Imperial in Copenhagen. Massive screen. 10am showing. 6 cans of Tuborg. 3D. I was there. Is space. Floating around with Sandra and George. Hands out. Touching the stars. Holding on to my piss. For fucking eternity. Having to bail out. 20 minutes from the end. Down the stairs to the pisser. Why is it so fucking dark. Still got your 3D specs on you tit.
Yeah, so basically just like Razzle Christmas Special 1987: a real visual treat. Compulsory. 4.5/5
From a sliding glass door, through white curtains fluttering in the breeze, comes Bruno, Guetta's elegant manservant. The two exchange a few words in French, and Bruno re-emerges a few minutes later with salads.


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Stop and smell the cactus.
Desert wildflowers are in bloom. But don't wait too long to see them. With sparse rains, many of the flowers already are wilting in low elevation areas such as the canyons in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.
But at higher elevations at Anza-Borrego and areas such as Joshua Tree National Park – which averages around 3,000-4,000 feet above sea level and mountains as high as 6,000 feet – there are still plenty of yellow, red and pink flowers dotting the landscape.
Vying for survival in a rugged landscape, desert flowers are special. They scream color.
Here's a brief guide to my point-and-shoot photo report, with special help from Bob Allen, also known as "BugBob," an entomologist and botanist.
And while you're taking photographs, be careful not to get too close to the flowers. You don't want your nose to look like a porcupine.
Allen, a photographer, and avid hiker, works for the Orange County Vector Control District and teaches weekend courses about plants and insects at Fullerton Arboretum. He sees more in a photograph than I do seeing the real deal. He offers:
"The photo with the Nolina parryi in bud in the foreground and a (not flowering) Yucca schidigera in the background contains some great biology.
"While Nolina and Yucca appear similar, they are not even related. Both have long narrow leaves and flowers on very tall stalks. The similarity ends there.
"Individual Yucca flowers are larger – about golf ball-size – and contain both male and female parts in the same flower and on the same plant. Thus, each Yucca plant is male and female. In botany, we call that "perfect."
"Individual Nolina flowers are small – smaller than a dime – and contain only male or only female parts in a flower. Each plant has only flowers of one sex. Thus, Nolina plants are either male or female. In botany, we call that 'imperfect.'
"Check the shrub right behind the Nolina. See the webbing on it (near lower center of photo)? Those are desert tent caterpillars. They spin webs and live together as they feed on the plant's leaves. After pupation on the plant, the adult moths emerge from the cocoon in fall."
Allen's report leaves me awestruck. I mistook the webbing for a cobweb.
Raised in San Juan Capistrano and a former instructor at Irvine Valley and Santa Ana colleges, Allen has authored several books including, "Wildflowers of Orange County and the Santa Ana Mountains," which is due out in July.
Peering at my snapshots, he's left playing detective.
He examines one photo and admits, "I'm having a hard time with this one; I really need a wider photo to be sure. But I did narrow it down to two species.
"If the plant's main stem was low to the ground (under 2.5 meters), it is likely Yucca baccata. If the plant's main stem is taller (1 to 5 meters tall, tree-like) with leaves clustered mostly at the branch tips, it is probably Yucca schidigera.
"I'm pretty sure it's Yucca schidigera, enough to tell you to go with it."
Allen nailed it.
I photographed the Yucca schidigera standing atop a 6-foot boulder.
Allen explains both Yucca baccata, also known as Spanish bayonet, banana yucca, blue yucca and Yucca schidigera, commonly called Mohave yucca "are pollinated by yucca moths, tiny moths that are most often white with small dark dots on its wings. Our local species of yucca moth is all-black."
Allen checks out another photo shot with my battered Canon G7. He muses, "Pink petals and sepals."
The Mission Viejo resident announces, "Opuntia basilaris, also called beavertail cactus and beavertail prickly pear."
Prickly pear we know. But sepals?
I looked it up – all by myself. Sepals look like petal wannabes at the base the flower.
Allen warns the cactus has "plenty of glochids – short, barb-edged spines that go in but do not come out easily.
"They can be very dangerous, such as when someone touches the cactus, gets the glochids in their fingers, then rubs their eyes, lips, or…"
He adds prickly pear is "found in the Mojave and Colorado Deserts and is common in Anza-Borrego and Joshua Tree, plus closer to the coast, such as the western edge of the deserts and its interface with chaparral."
I can testify prickly pear is also found along certain trails in Aliso and Wood Canyons and Whiting Ranch Wilderness parks.
How do I know this? I've had dozens of barbs imbedded in my forearm during mountain bike crashes. Ouch!
Thank you for the expert work, "BugBob" Allen.
For more: Joshua Tree: nps.gov/jotr/; Anza-Borrego: parks.ca.gov
Contact the writer: firstname.lastname@example.com