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Deep in the Ocean Depths
The dark deeps of the ocean has always been mysterious because they are dark (of course) as well hard to visit and see what is down there. For example the Coelacanth, long thought extinct, lives down deep and was only discovered in 1938 as well the elusive giant squids of legend. A study of the occurrence of fishes in the ocean's deepest reaches (the hadal zone, below 20,000 feet) has provided evidence that some species of fishes are more numerous at such depths than experts had thought. The authors of the study, which is published in the July/August issue of BioScience, observed 10 to 20 snailfish congregating at a depth of 25,000 feet around a baited video lander in the Japan Trench. The observation period lasted only five hours, so the occurrence of so many snailfish was a surprise.
The hadal zone (from the Greek for "like Hades") is the term used for the deepest oceanic trenches. This zone is found from a depth of around 20,000 feet to the bottom of the ocean.
It is believed that most life at this depth is sustained by organic debris falling from the upper regions of the ocean or the chemical reactions around thermal vents. The lack of light and intense pressure create hostile living conditions, and few species are adapted to these conditions. As no sunlight reaches this layer of the ocean, deep sea creatures have adapted with reduced eyesight, having very large eyes for receiving only bioluminescent flashes. Most of the deep sea dwelling creatures lack any pigmentation since coloration is not useful in an environment with no light. Life is weird to those more used to other marine forms.
The habitats chosen by snailfish are as widely variable as their size; they are found in both shallow intertidal zones and at depths of abour 24,000 feet or more, in both cold and warm waters. Some live closely related lives with scallops or kelp forests. Other species are found on muddy or silty bottoms of continental slopes.
Observations at such extreme depths (marine life is much more abundant on continetal shelves and in shallower water where sunlight is more abundant) is technically demanding and therfore rare.
The researchers who conducted the new study, Toyonobu Fujii of the University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom, and four of his colleagues, used a free fall lander that made video recordings of an illuminated patch of the sea floor for one minute every five minutes.
This enabled the scientists to distinguish at least 10 individual fish and record their behavior, which was similar to the behavior of fishes observed in 1965 from a bathyscaphe at a depth of 7300 meters in the west Atlantic. The fishes observed by Fujii and colleagues fed on crustaceans that were attracted to the mackerel bait.
How fish can live so far deep and removed from normal food supplies has long been a vexing question. Fish are often reported as being caught at great depths in fishing nets but there is uncertainty about what depth the fish were caught at. Fujii and colleagues remark that "current understanding of the hadal environment is inadequate." They nonetheless suggest that fish populations may routinely occur far deeper than previously thought in ocean trenches.
The depths of the ocean are poorly understood and there may be more interaction than suspected from the shallow depths to the deep abysmal levels.
For further information: http://www.aibs.org/bioscience-press-releases/100701_study_suggests_more_fish_than_thought_may_thrive_in_the_oceans_depths.html


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Wright, Reyes back in All-Star Game for Mets
By Anthony DiComo / MLB.com
Both began this season with much to prove. Both stumbled out of the gate.
Now, both are All-Stars.
Wright was named the National League's starting third baseman on Sunday, after a remarkable late surge in fan voting. Reyes made the team as a backup shortstop.
"It never gets old," Wright said. "It's a tremendous honor. Obviously, I'm very grateful for the fans that came out late that pushed me and got me the opportunity to start. I'm very grateful for that. I take a lot of pride in that. To be mentioned amongst some of the great players in the game is an incredible honor."
For Wright, a fifth All-Star selection and fourth start are acknowledgments that his 2009 struggles are officially behind him. For Reyes, his third career All-Star selection is an affirmation of his health.
One season after hitting a career-low 10 home runs, Wright needed until only June 5 this year to match that total. He now ranks fourth in franchise history with 155 homers.
"He's amongst the league leaders in average, RBIs, he's playing very well at third base -- extremely well at third base," Mets manager Jerry Manuel said. "You'd almost have to talk about him as MVP of the first half for the league."
The 81st Major League Baseball All-Star Game will be televised nationally by FOX Sports, in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and Sportsnet HD and Le Reseau des Sports and around the world by Major League Baseball International, with pregame ceremonies beginning at 8 p.m. ET. ESPN Radio will provide exclusive national radio coverage. MLB Network, MLB.com and Sirius XM also will provide comprehensive All-Star Game coverage.
Fans, having already decided the starters and this week the final player on each team, once again will have the opportunity to participate in the official voting for the Ted Williams Most Valuable Player presented by Chevy via the 2010 All-Star Game MVP Vote sponsored by Sprint on MLB.com during the All-Star Game.
Though Wright trailed Placido Polanco of the Phillies in fan balloting nearly every step of the way, his hot June allowed him to vault past Polanco in the final week of voting. Helping his cause was the fact that the Phillies placed Polanco on the disabled list Tuesday with a bone spur in his left elbow. But Wright, who hit .404 with a Major League-leading 29 RBIs in June, may have passed him anyway.
"It's good to go to the All Star Game," Wright said, "but it's more important that we're right in the middle of this race, and we've been able to accomplish what we've accomplished so far."
The renaissance of the Mets, to which Wright referred, has coincided with the renaissance of Reyes. After missing the start of the season due to the aftereffects of a thyroid imbalance suffered in Spring Training, Reyes has since rebounded from a slow start to rank among the league leaders in triples and stolen bases -- his specialties.
"I feel good about it," Reyes said. "All the things I've been through the past year and a half, and now I'm selected to the All-Star Game one more time, that's huge for me. That's a big step for me, so I really appreciate that. I'm going to enjoy it."
Reyes finished second to Colorado's Troy Tulowitzki in player balloting, but made the team due to Tulowitzki's injury.
Reyes, too, is a bit banged up, missing five consecutive games this week with a sore right oblique. But he plans to return to the Mets' lineup Tuesday, and Manuel said he would certainly allow Reyes to play in the All-Star Game.
"It's still a week away, so let's see what happens," Reyes said Sunday. "I'm going to play before that -- I think."
Heading into All-Star selection Sunday, most around the club figured the Mets would have two All-Stars: Wright and Mike Pelfrey, who leads the team with 10 victories. But it was Reyes who made the cut, and Pelfrey who became one of several notable snubs from the NL team.
"The biggest thing was I would have liked to have gone and sit there and watched the Home Run Derby with my kid," Pelfrey said. "Buy hey, it was a tough decision. There were a lot of guys who were qualified."
Last year in St. Louis, the Mets had four All-Stars: Wright, Johan Santana, Francisco Rodriguez and Carlos Beltran, who did not play due to injury.
Anthony DiComo is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

subset: commoncrawl


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For the last few months, Sammi Brown has, in some ways, felt like she's been tending a garden, although no soil has touched her hands.
Her flowerbed has been a bare staging area inside the Black Box Theater at the Out-of-Door Academy. And her plants, so to speak, have been the middle school student-actors with whom she has been working to develop their characters in the school's most recent theater production, "Paper Candles."
"I've helped them just by directing them, but they're the ones who help to foster the vision and make (the play) their own," says Brown, the play's student director. "Seeing them get something out of it (is rewarding). That's the greatest gift you can give as a director — for them to have that (acting) experience for themselves."
A senior at ODA, Brown herself is a veteran of the theater, having started in acting classes and camps at Florida Studio Theatre in preschool and continuing with the art ever since. Each time she's appeared on stage, Brown says she's relished the excitement of the spotlight and turning a character on paper into a living, breathing personality others can experience, as well.
After serving as an assistant director to ODA's production of "Rebel Without a Cause" last year, Brown says she was eager to try her hand, fully, at coaching the actors on stage.
"I always thought it would be interesting to see things from the other side," Brown says. "You see things you wouldn't see as an actor."
And, indeed, the sentiment has proven true. Brown says she's learned to step back and let the actors define their characters themselves, rather than forcing them to think as she does.
"It's definitely taught me a lot," Brown says of the experience. "As a director, you have to understand the actors have their own experience and how they choose to interpret that role.
"I'm a very meticulous person; I like things a certain way," she says. "The most important thing I've learned is to know when to step back and let things be as they are. You plant these ideas and these concepts in people's heads, but from then on, it's their journey."
Brown and ODA Director of Theater Arts L'Tanya Evans selected "Paper Candles" at the end of last school year, after gravitating toward the play's message against intolerance and hate. They also wanted to select a play that would resonate strongly with the middle-school students performing it.
The play, written by playwright Janice Cohn, tells the true story of how a community in Billings, Mont., joined together one holiday season in 1993 to support minority families who were being bullied and persecuted by a group of skinheads who migrated to the town.
Evans and Brown also made sure the performance of the play coincided with middle-school students' study of the Holocaust at ODA.
"We think it's really important to expand their knowledge and education about hatred that still exists in the world today," Brown says, noting she and Evans were shocked to learn about the events on which the play is based. "We really want to make kids aware."
Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].
For the last few months, Sammi Brown has, in some ways, felt like she's been tending a garden, although no soil has touched her hands.


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I've found a dirty hack to solve my problem with the very
slow ethernet!
set in COREOPTIONS: cb_mem_base=<membase found in W98> reboot system start win98 (it dosn't works by starting only DOS :-() boot linux using loadlin if the pcmcia_cs is loaded there will be an error-message: ignore it :-) log in as root typein: /etc/rc.d/pcmcia stop /etc/rc.d/pcmcia start
and now my network is as fast as an 10base2-Network :-)
I've only found two differences in the pci-register sets:
the PCI-Latency-Timer is now 168 instead 32 and the Region 0 shows memory at <ignored> instead mamory at 0x0e....
I've not yet compared the EXCA-Registers!
Greetings from Germany
Dag Kröper


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Tesla a dirty car?? What's wrong with this evaluation?
Tesla a dirty car?? What's wrong with this evaluation?
Enjoy it - it is pure desperation. Wait for the articles when the panic starts.
It's a silly article, the author goes through pains to get the highest possible number for CO2 for the Tesla but uses EPA numbers for the other cars in comparison. if it was a true comparison they would find the true CO2 values for those cars too.
If you look at the bottom the author also has written articles advocating investment in petrolium companies and trusts.
I think we need an article from Petersen from Seeking Alpha to get the whole "help out the shorts" package complete.
He says he has no positions in TSLA stock, but he also says at the end that he is advising clients to be Short. So, he does have an interest in seeing the stock decline.
I read this article too, and I've seen this oil industry shill (Nathan Weiss) and others on seeking alpha debate the greenness of the Tesla Model S. So I did the calculations on my own vehicle. I found that the article author inflates the Model S energy usage numbers and then compares them to ICE vehicles without taking into account similar inefficiencies in ICE vehicles. I have no idea where he gets his CO2 emission numbers, either. He also conveniently ignores the 60 KWH model S, which is even more energy efficient than the 85 KWh.
Let me show you my numbers compared to his:
My 60 KwH Tesla (~3000 miles) His representative car
KWh/mile .315 .367
CO2/mile 196 228
Vamp loss/day 2.5 3.5
Miles per year 10,500 12,000
KWH/yr (includ. 4219 5681
Total Energy use 4963 KWh 6683 KWh
(85% chg eff)
Total CO2/mile 293 g 346 g
Total lbs CO2/yr 1400 4152
So, the main number to look at here is the 293 g CO2/mile that my personal 60Kh Model S emits, based on his calculations. How does that stack up to other vehicles?
I went to FuelEconomy.gov to compare results: (numbers shown represent combined tailpipe and upstream emissions)
My 60 KWh Tesla Model S: 293 (After 3000 miles) --> including all vampire/charging losses
60 KWh Tesla Model S (EPA estimate): 220 (Based upon my local region - Florida)
80 KWh Tesla Model S (EPA estimate): 240 (Based upon my local region - Florida)
2002 Lexus SC430 (my previous vehicle): 608
2013 Mitsubishi i-MiEV: 190
2013 Smart fortwo coupe: 308
2013 Chevy Spark 4 cyl: 326
2013 Chevy Volt: 250
2013 Toyota Camry 6 cyl: 443
2013 Toyota Highlander 2WD 4 cyl: 504
2013 Honda civic hybrid 4 cyl: 252
2013 Ford C-max hybrid: 236
2013 BMW 528i 4 cyl: 396
2013 Mercedes-Benz E400 Hybrid: 426
2013 Mercedes-Benz S550 8 cyl: 583
2013 2013 Jaguar XF 6 cyl: 528
2013 Cadillac CTS 8 cyl: 791 (sheesh!)
2013 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid 4WD: 528
2013 Cadillac Escalade AWD: 739
2013 Lexus LS 460 8 cyl: 583
So here's the thing: If you use Nathan Weiss's formula assumptions, my personal measurements indicate that the Tesla Model S emissions profile compares favorably with subcompact plug-ins, impressively with ICE super economy cars, and blows away other luxury vehicles, including luxury hybrids.
If Nathan Weiss doesn't feel that the Tesla Model S is a "Green Car," then I guess both the Chevy Spark and Smart Coupe don't qualify, either, because both of these vehicles produce more CO2 per mile than my 60 KWh Tesla Model S utilizing his own formula.
Furthermore, though a few vehicles had fever emissions on this list than my personal Model S, remember that I'm comparing my real world figures to EPA estimates. In real world measurements, all of the comparison vehicles would likely be much higher. If you level the playing field and use the EPA estimate for the 60 KWh Model S (220 g/mile), then only one vehicle outperforms the 60 KWh Model S: The Mitsubishi i-MiEV (190 g/mle)--essentially a souped up golf cart.
(The 85 KWh Tesla Model S by EPA estimates has about 10% higher emissions than the 60 kWH.)
All I know is, by these calculations I'm decreasing my annual CO2 emissions from 2.9 tons (2002 Lexus SC430) to 1.4 tons (60 KWhTesla Model S). What's not green about that?
There is one additional factor that he fails to emphasize: that vampire losses (looks like about 20% of annual energy use based upon my driving distance) will be fixed soon, making our cars even more energy efficient. And as the electric grid becomes less coal dependent in succeeding years, greenhouse emissions will go down even more compared with ICE vehicles.
Tesla Owners: Worry not. You ARE driving a very green car!
you lost me at seekingalpha.com . I've been tempted to make manual updates to my computers' hosts files to block that site. Utter noise.
My brother is a mariner and he has worked on a wide variety of vessels. Everything from oceanographic research vessels to oil tankers and dynamically positioning drill ships.
That brings this question to mind. Why don't they include the environmental costs and emissions associated with drill ships continuously cruising the globe and drilling dusters for oil speculators or the emissions associated with transporting oil?
How about trucks driving from city to city for gas deliveries to service stations?
Don't even get me started on leaking underground storage tanks, spills, and other environmental damage that is caused by using oil and fuel in personal vehicles.
Catain_Zap - don't get me statrted... 1 gallon of gasoline takes 13.5 kWh to produce - so I can drive 38 miles before you even put a single gallon of gas into the ICE. The whole argument is a lost cause.
"1 gallon of gasoline takes 13.5 kWh to produce".
I'd be interested in a source for that number. Have been hearing a lot of different estimates.
"Why don't they include the environmental costs and emissions associated with drill ships continuously cruising the globe and drilling dusters for oil speculators or the emissions associated with transporting oil?"
This is exactly the reason why Argonne Lab always talks about well-to-wheel efficiency, to get all upstream CO2 emissions too. Tar sands require a lot of heat (=CO2) to extract the bitumen from the sand. I bet they only used the tailpipe emissions as a comparison.
Just google it... That seems to be the general concensus. Half of it is just for the refining.
@awaite, That's what I call FOX News, FOX NOISE!
Kleist, thanks for the hint. Googling just brings up a wide variety of blogposts claiming anything between 2 and 15 kWh/gallon. That's why I asked.
Kleist, did some looking around and found that Argonne Lab research shows that the energy cost of producing 1 gallon of gasoline is 0,25 gallon of gasoline eq. (all included: extraction, refining, transport, etc). The lower heating value of gasoline is ~33.5 kWh/gallon. 25% of that is 8.4 kWh/gallon.
Now, what is this 8.4 kWh/gallon? Not electricity. It is the heat that results from the combustion of fossil fuels, and can be converted into electricity with an efficiency of ~50%, in a modern power plant. Factor in losses in the grid and the charger and the energy used to pump up, produce, refine, transport 1 gallon of gasoline could be used to generate ~4 kWh of electricity.
Remember that some kWh's are more equal than others. Electricity is a very high grade form of energy that can be used more efficiently than the low grade energy (heat) from fossil fuel combustion. Electric and thermal kWh's should therefore never be used interchangeably on a 1:1 basis.
You can also look at it from another angle. The US consumes about 130 billion gallons of gasoline per year. If each gallon indeed used up 13.5 kWh that would bring the electricity requirement to 1750 TWh. Annual US electricity generation is ~4000 TWh, so oil rigs and refineries would then consume nearly half of all US electricity. That doesn't pass the sniff test.
" to generate ~4 kWh of electricity." ==> " to deliver ~4 kWh of electricity in your battery."
I agree that his numbers are skewed but I think there are 2 major problems with the basic approach of the seeking Alpha article: 1) The calculation of CO2 emissions does not take into account that over time electricity will be produced with cleaner technologies resulting in lower CO2 emissions for EVs. ICE cars or even hybrid cars cannot benefit from this effect as they burn fuel. 2) Since most EVs are charged at night the incremental CO2 emission associated with such nightly charge is negligible since the power plants have to be kept operational regardless of demand. Once every house has an EV that fact will be different but by them electricity will likely be produced much more cleanly.


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H&R 1871 INC Synthetic Stock Handi Rifles
H&R Single Shot 30-06 Springfield/Synthetic Stock/22" Barrel/Scope Base
Synthetic stocks and forends make these unique rifles the toughest, most weather resistant Handi-Rifle ever built. True to the Handi-Rifle tradition, these models can be factory fitted with a number of accessory rifle and shotgun barrels for added versatility, making them an outstanding value for hunters and shooters. It is covered by the NEF Lifetime No Fault Service Plan.
SPECIFICATIONS:Mfg Item Num: SB2S06 Category: FIREARMS - RIFLES Action :Break OpenCaliber :30-06 SpringfieldBarrel Length :22"Capacity :1Trigger :StandardSafety :Transfer BarLength :38"Weight :7 lbsStock :SyntheticFinish :Blue


text: So am I the only one who thinks the Nikon D600 hits a great sweet spot by fitting a full frame sensor in to a crop size body? Seems like much of the interweb chat seems to be more focused on how it's not a D800... It's weather sealed, has a handy 5.5 fps, 39 focus points, a half magnesium body, all wrapped around a 24MP full frame sensor. I am sorely tempted to upgrade my D90 <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Fec3Vd9Gipk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Anyone else tempted?


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Before this blog moves forward, we would be remiss not to mention what has transpired since the disenchanted 2011 season came to a close. The Chicago Cubs as a team and organization took a giant step forward in not only changing the direction of the club, but the culture as well.
On October 25, 2011 the Chicago Cubs named a new President of Baseball Operations, none other than Boston GM Theo Epstein. Talk about making a splash, and for once, it actually makes sense because it's off the field where it was needed most. Don't get me wrong, there wasn't much to like on the field the last couple of years, but in order to fix that, the real issue needed to be addressed, and it was. In order for Epstein to make the move to the North Side of Chicago he had to take a role that was above his current GM role in Boston. That in it of itself is a giant win for Ricketts, many die hard Cubs followers probably didn't think Ricketts had it in him, but he proved them, including us, wrong in a huge way.
Theo Epstein's full press conference (video)
Video of Epstein's full press conference via ABC 7 Chicago.
With Theo on board, the Cubs still needed to fill the role of General Manager, and Epstein wasted no time.
Within a week, Epstein made sure that he got exactly what he wanted and the Cubs needed, by reuniting with his former running mates in Boston, Jed Hoyer (San Diego GM) and Jason McLeod (Assistant to Hoyer in San Diego). Hoyer assumes the role of Executive Vice President/General Manager, and McLeod steps into the role of Senior Vice President/Scouting and Player Development. Given the track record of not only all three as individuals, but all three as a team, Cubs fans have a lot to be optimistic about. As of November 1st, the Cubs off season could already be deemed successful, and not one player had been signed, acquired or shipped out of town yet.
– George Cotugno & Mark Sorrentino
On Deck – New look Cubs begin to take shape


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It's tough living up to a rich history when you're a young player still in the middle of your own development.
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Garden Talk: November 5, 2009
From NGA Editors
New Hawaiian Taro Plants
The hot summer weather may be long gone, but fall is a good time of year to reflect on what grew well and plan for next spring. Colocassia, or taro, is a tropical plant that has huge leaves and edible roots. Used for food and considered a sacred plant in Hawaii, colocassia is also gaining in popularity for its attractive leaves. Ornamental selections look great grown in the landscape or in containers and add an exotic look to any garden.
Now from Hawaii comes a new line of ornamental colocassias that feature uniquely colored leaves. The Royal Hawaiian Colocassia series consists of 5 different selections. Here are some of the best: ?Blue Hawaii? has large green leaves with bluish-purple veins and red petioles (stems). ?Diamond Head? features large, dark purple leaves and dark burgundy petioles. ?Pineapple Princess? has yellow-green leaves with purple veins. All of these selections grow from 4 to 6 feet tall and thrive in hot, humid conditions. Consider adding one of these new Royal Hawaiian colocassias to your foliage garden next summer.
For more information on the Royal Hawaiian colocassia series, go to: Royal Hawaiian Colocassia .
Deep Composting
Composting is a great fall activity. Instead of shipping your leaves, grass clippings, and old annual plants to the landfill, they can be used to make a rich soil amendment for your garden. Most gardeners know these materials can easily be made into compost, but what about woodier materials, such as tree prunings, corn stalks, and hedge trimmings?
There is a simple technique to create compost from these slow-to-decompose materials. It?s called hugelkultur (in German), or mound composting (in English). This permaculture technique involves combining partially decomposed trees, green hedge trimmings, old corn or broccoli stalks, and small branches and piling them together in a windrow. (It?s best to avoid wood from rot resistant trees, such as hemlock and cedar, since they take a very long time to decompose.)
There are two ways to mound compost: Either dig a 6-inch-deep pit and bury the materials, or lay them on the ground and build them up into a 1- to 2-foot-tall mound about 6 to 8 feet long. Cover the material with rotten leaves and old weeds and plants from the garden, add a layer of soil or partially decomposed compost, and leave it. Common composting knowledge would tell you to wait to plant in the bed until the material breaks down. However, although it does take years to break down completely, in the meantime the bed will heat up in spring from the decomposition process. This makes it a perfect spot to grow potatoes, squashes, melons, and pumpkins. The wood holds moister longer than soil, the bed is aerated from the woody materials, and the soil adds enough fertility to grow crops. You may have to add a little nitrogen fertilizer the first year to jump-start the plants. The bed can stay naturally raised and fertile for up to seven years depending on the materials. So, this fall create a mound raised bed and try planting it in spring. You may be amazed at the results.
For more information on mound composting or hugelkultur, go to: Oregon Live.
Creating a Nation of Farmers
It is well-known that there are serious problems with our food system. It?s heavily dependent on fossil fuels, making it vulnerable to rising gas and oil prices. It contributes to pollution and global warming because food is shipped an average of 1500 miles before it reaches consumers. And food production is concentrated on large farms that are far away from (and have little or no contact with) the people eating the food. While these and many other problems are well known, the solutions often feel out of reach for the everyday citizen.
A new book, A Nation of Farmers, by Sharon Astyk and Aaron Newton (New Society Publishers, 2009), not only highlights the problems, but also offers practical steps that anyone can take. Harkening back to Thomas Jefferson?s phrase that America should be a ?nation of farmers? because it would be the best way to preserve our democracy, the authors call for the creation of 100 million new farmers to reconnect people with their food and create a more sustainable food system. The book combines essays and factual information plus interviews with the movers and shakers in the alternative agriculture community, such as Gene Logsdon. There are even recipes to try at home. If you?re looking for inspiration, practical ideas, and a good winter read, try this book.
For more information on this book, go to: A Nation of Farmers
Stop Cats from Catching Birds
Cats are cute and cuddly, but they still are felines. Their instincts are to hunt. Many cat owners are horrified to find their cat stalking and killing birds, especially those at the bird feeder. It?s estimated cats kill more than 4.4 million birds a year. Unless you keep your cat indoors 24/7, there is a possibility they will go after birds in your yard.
Now there?s a new product that will allow your cat to roam the property freely, yet prevent them from catching and killing birds. The catbib is a lightweight neoprene material that attaches to the cat?s collar. It hangs down in front of your cat to disrupt their hunting while allowing the cat to run, jump, eat, sleep, and act normally. The brightly colored bib alerts birds to a cat?s presence before they strike. Tests at Murdock University, Western Australia, showed the catbib prevented 81% of cats from catching birds. It also reduces small mammal predation as well.
For more information on the cat bib, go to: : Cat Goods.


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Will CUs Seize the Opportunity?
Major mortgage lenders appear to be continuing their strategic retreat from the U.S. housing finance market, leaving credit unions with a significant opportunity that they may not be willing or able to take.
Major lenders pulling back from their mortgage operations is not particularly new. Bank of America cut its share of the U.S. mortgage market to roughly 8.5% last October when it shut down its correspondent mortgage lending program with smaller banks. Then it and other mortgage lenders made news when they laid off significant numbers of their leading loan officers and processors.
Further, as Robert Dorsa, president of the American Credit Union Mortgage Association, pointed out, the big lenders still face waves of litigation stemming from the mortgage industry meltdown and the mortgage-backed securities debacle. They also face regulatory uncertainty that the rest of the industry faces as well.
"It's not hard to understand why the big lenders might be cool on housing finance at the moment," Dorsa said. "The mortgage market remains pretty dismal for the big guys. The big question is how much of an opportunity does that present credit unions and whether or not they will take it."
Media reports have cited analyses that show some of the regional banks, such as Fifth Third Bancorp and US Bancorp, have stepped into the gap left by the larger lenders, but credit unions also have an opportunity–if they decide to either increase their mortgage lending or start offering housing finance loans.
According to CUNA, more than 88% of credit unions with assets of over $20 million, which collectively serve more than 95% of current CU members, offer first-mortgage loans, many through relationships with outside for-profit firms or CUSOs that specialize in mortgages.
Yet the industry's share of mortgage originations still hovered at 6% as of the end of the third-quarter 2011. This is a record high, Dorsa acknowledged, but one that was particularly hard fought and yet still feels somewhat tenuous.
This particularly frustrates Dorsa now because there are signs the industry is starting to make real inroads into the broader mortgage market. More credit unions than ever before have been reaching out to Realtors, streamlining their mortgage programs and using them to reach out to their communities. But there are still too many CUs that are almost hiding the fact that they offer mortgage loans or are not offering them at all, Dorsa said, explaining that ACUMA discovers this anew each year when it takes a booth at the National Association of Realtors annual conference.
"Every year we routinely meet Realtors who say things like, 'Oh, I love my credit union,' and 'Credit unions are great,' but then are shocked to find out CUs offer mortgages," Dorsa said. "'My credit union offers mortgages? I didn't know that,' or 'My credit union offers mortgages? Since when?' And it's not just smaller credit unions, I have had members of Navy [Federal] say the same things."
But awareness is not the only obstacle credit unions can face in stepping up their mortgage lending, Dorsa explained, sometimes credit union leaders are just not familiar with housing finance.
"We have people who in credit union leadership from the boards on down who cut their teeth on personal loans and auto loans and maybe credit card lending," Dorsa said. "They're just not sure about mortgages and not sure they want to pull the trigger."
Mike Schenk, vice president for economics and statistics for CUNA also cited some of the same problems that impact other lending, such as increased costs of regulation and a lack of resources as part of the problem.
"On the question of why more small [credit unions] don't do this I suspect that regulatory burden is a major reason, though staff resource limitations (lack of expertise on mortgages, mortgage interest rate risk management and inability to pay to obtain this expertise) and a concern about the credit risk (one mortgage default for a small CU can be a big bottom line and/or capital hit) also are likely big concerns." Schenk said via email.
Schenk also noted that the way mortgages are priced nationally can serve to reduce the price advantages credit unions also have on other loans.
"One thing that prevents CUs from gaining more shares faster is that mortgage pricing is determined in the (national) secondary market so the big pricing advantages CUs have on other types of loans are not as obvious in the mortgage arena," Schenk said.


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or Revis could stay on IR for 2013 and return for a run in 2014 (After Sanchez)
Revis will go to The Steelers, Falcons, 49ers or Packers and win a Super Bowl if he walks. Like Deion did.
Bottom line: the Jets can not afford to pay top dollar for a cornerback. If Revis makes it clear that he wants to be paid like a top 5 defensive player (which he is), the Jets will trade him to maximize his value to them.
The Jets have lots of needs, and cornerback is one of the few positions where they have options.
It will not be popular, but I think it is virtually certain that the Jets will trade Revis before paying him top dollars. He probably deserves the money, but it makes no structural sense with regard to the currently constituted Jets. Idzik is a smart guy and paying Revis does not = success for the Jets.
There are many ways to skin a cat. Yes you need a great QB, but last that teams can be strong in different ways - and pass defense is one of them just because you have Revis doesn't preclude you from having a pass rush.
Modern defenses seem to heading towards the bend-don't-break mold - and Revis is the perfect CB for that. Give us a ballhawk safety and watch the turnovers mount!!
And you want to trade him for what?? Draft picks? Lottery tickets. You'll never get a player as good as him back.
Revis stays this year, plays well. Then what? You think Mevis will be looking to be the highest paid corner in the league? You think the Jets can afford to pay him and mortgage even more of the future with another horrendously huge contract?
I have no doubt Revis will play lights out next year. He'll be playing for a a big contract for himself, which IMO, is all he cares about. The Jets can't afford to pay him, even if they could they shouldn't. So he walks away, gets paid, and the Jets get nothing. How do you stop this scenario from happening?
Keeping Revis next year and not shopping him, hoses the Jets either way you look at it... whether he stays for HUGE money or whether he walks and the Jets get nothing.
How many very good pass rushers are there in the league? Quite a few - certainly a dozen Espc. If you add in situational guys (and some aging vets).
How many shutdown corners are there in the league? Half that number MAYBE.
Pass rush can be generated by groups of players and by scheme; shutting down stud WR's - not so much.
So, from my point of view it is nowhere as simple as people here want to make it seem. If you have the best player at a scarce position AND he is still productive, then paying him is a reasonable move. Jets will have lots of space in 2014 AND the cap goes up. Zero chance Revis gets traded in 2013. He may walk afterwards but he's not getting traded.


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U.S. freight carload traffic during 2014's second week fell sharply, down 8.2%, compared with the second week of 2013. U.S. intermodal volume also fell significantly, and out of line with intermodal's usual string of advances, down 6.7%. Total combined U.S. weekly rail traffic was down 7.5%.
Only two of the 10 carload commodity groups AAR measures on a weekly basis posted led by grain, up 10.1%. Declining commodities included motor vehicles and parts, down 22.5%, metallic ores and metals, down 20.3%, and nonmetallic minerals and products, down 16.0%.
Canadian freight carload traffic during the week ending Jan. 11 shared a similar fate, down 11.8%, while Canadian intermodal volume also fell, down 10.2%. By contrast, Mexican freight carload traffic rose 5.0%, while Mexican intermodal volume notched the same percentage gain, up 5.0%.
Combined North American freight carload traffic for the first two weeks of 2014 on 13 reporting U.S., Canadian, and Mexican railroads was down 4.5%. Combined North American intermodal volume declined 2.6%.


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This isn't so much about why I am an atheist so much as when I recognized that I was one. In the 70s, the public schools in Richmond VA had become such inner-city honor-culture shit holes that my parents, aware of my general timid nature, decided to send me to a cheap Catholic school instead. My experience there, despite bullying by peers was actually kind of pleasant. The nuns were the full-on types regarding their habits and convent life, but were of that odd variety that probably emerged after Vatican II was put into place. Guitar masses, Kum-ba-ya, warm fuzzies=good, cold pricklies=bad and all that. On nice days we had classes outside. The math program was especially good, and there was no in-school time dedicated to Catholic doctrine or any other Xtian doctrine to speak of. I imagine there must have been a morning prayer but those kinds of banal memories are the first to get washed away as we get older. There was, however, mandatory mass on Tuesdays and Thursdays which I kind of liked since they were held in a beautiful church next to and affiliated with the church that Patrick Henry ostensibly gave his "give me liberty" speech. ( Oh, and George Washington slept here too…I'm just sayin'). And there was the ritual and the mediaeval sounding call and response largely sung in Latin. All very exotic and entirely new to me.
But tender souls beg for beatings just by existing, so of course there were bullies, two in particular that gave me such regular grief that I actually kept a little notebook that mapped out where and when I shouldn't be at any given place and time in order to avoid "the boot" as it were. The thing is, they were terrified of the main priest who presided over the church and the school, and most of that anxiety centered on the mandatory monthly confessions that all the Catholic kids were required to make. Although required for the Catholic kids, it was "optional" (could it have even been allowed? I couldn't take communion for instance) for non-Catholics. I remember the first non-threatening thing those boys said to me was along the lines of "you're lucky you don't have to go to confession." I said it didn't seem that bad, so, in a change of tactic, instead of threatening me, they dared me to go to confession, and there would be a five dollar bill at the end of it if I did.
The anonymous side of the confessional was like you would imagine. However, there was also an option to sit with the priest face to face, and I'm sure this is what I was being paid to do. So I did it. He was a nice enough guy. I remember him asking if I was Catholic (he must have smelled my Methodist blood), and me saying no and him asking why I had come. I told him I was just curious and then he asked if there was anything I wanted to confess. I told him I had hit my sister and talked back to my parents (neither of which I had done), then conveniently skipped the part about my recent discovery of the joys of masturbation (I was 12).So, long story short; The bullies actually paid up and then quit bothering me after that. I remember thinking 'what were they so afraid of', followed by a quick and completely uninteresting realization that it was all crap. I also realized at that moment that I had never believed any of it in the first place. I had just never really thought about it.
There was also a time when I was 6, when I prayed to god that my runaway basset hound would come home. I remember even then feeling like I was simply hedging my bets. Might as well? You know?…Shows what a crock Pascal's wager is…Cross your fingers behind your back…Even a kid can do it!…right.
Ashley Bell


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Actually very low amount of people show this jutsu.
For example, the only current kage who used a summon, is tsunade.
Summoning technique seems quite powerful.
1 Which characters(that have not shown a summmon) would you like to see with one?
2 What kind of summon would they have?
3 Which summon would you like to have?
1 Konohamaru.
2 Monkey's.
3 Cats.


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MBTA first dismantled the existing structure Friday night, before setting in motion its Accelerated Bridge Construction project, roughly six miles south of downtown Boston.
"There were little metal sticks, pylons, holding the bridge up and it had been dented on multiple occasions by cars," said Secretary of Transportation Rich Davey, who was at the site Saturday, according to local media.
Substitute bus service was provided during the weekend.


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Regulus satrapa
IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern
Kelly Azar
Golden-crowned Kinglets are boldly marked with a black eyebrow stripe and flashy lemon-yellow crest. A good look can require some patience, as they spend much of their time high up in dense spruce or fir foliage. To find them, listen for their high, thin call notes and song. Though barely larger than a hummingbird, this frenetically active bird can survive –40 degree nights, sometimes huddling together for warmth. They breed in the far north and montane west and visit most of North America during winter.
These are tiny songbirds with a rounded body, short wings, and skinny tail. They have relatively large heads, and their bills are short and thin, perfect for gleaning small insects.
Golden-crowned Kinglets are pale olive above and gray below, with a black-and-white striped face and bright yellow-orange crown patch. They have a thin white wingbar and yellow edges to their black flight feathers.
These tiny songbirds usually stay concealed high in dense trees, revealing their presence with thin, very high-pitched calls. They pluck small insects from clusters of conifer needles, often hovering briefly to reach them. In migration and winter, kinglets frequently join other insectivorous songbirds such as warblers in mixed flocks.
Golden-crowned Kinglets live mainly in coniferous forests. They breed in boreal or montane forests (especially spruce and fir), as well as in conifer plantations. In winter, kinglets are somewhat less selective about their habitat: though they still use conifers, you may also find them in deciduous forests, suburbs, swamps, bottomlands, and scrubby habitat. They can occur from sea level to more than 10,000 feet elevation.
Ruby-crowned Kinglets have an obvious white eyering on an otherwise bland face, lacking the black-and-white contrast of Golden-crowned Kinglets. Brown Creepers don't look much like Golden-crowned Kinglets, but their habitat and calls are similar. Kinglet calls are usually slightly shorter and repeated several times, while Brown Creeper calls are longer, descend slightly, and waver a bit.
Search for Golden-crowned Kinglets in dense stands of spruce and fir during summer—or, if you live south of their breeding range, look for them in winter, when they may be in shrubs or deciduous trees. They're tiny, hard to see birds that spend much of their time among dense needles, often high in the tree. So use your ears and listen for the high, tinkling song of males and especially the high, thin call notes, frequently given while foraging. Once you've heard your target, look for movement high in conifers and be prepared for quick views. If you want to attract a kinglet closer for a better look, try making a pishing sound to bring in kinglets along with, possibly, chickadees and warblers.
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Morales agrees to Minor League deal with Bucs
Catcher invited to Spring Training to compete for backup role
By Jenifer Langosch / MLB.com
Before the Pirates finalized one-year Major League contracts with outfielder Nate McLouth and pitcher Erik Bedard, the club announced that it had signed 28-year-old catcher Jose Morales to a Minor League deal. Included is an invitation for Morales to join the big league club in Spring Training.
A few hours later, the Pirates designated catcher Jason Jaramillo for assignment in a move that cleared space on the 40-man roster for the team's free-agent signings. Jaramillo had been expected to compete with Michael McKenry for the role as the team's backup catcher.
Coming into play in the decision was the fact that Jaramillo was set to come into Spring Training without any remaining Minor League options. That means that the Pirates were going to have to give him the backup job or risk losing him on waivers.
Hot Stove news, analysis
Pittsburgh did not want to make that commitment given how much they still think of McKenry.
"It was tough to sit here and almost commit to Jason as our backup catcher with everything that Michael's done," general manager Neal Huntington said. "We like Jose enough that we felt that was a good move for us."
Though McKenry would be considered the favorite to win the job over Morales, the Pirates have had their eye on acquiring Morales at various points over the last two years. After appearing in 22 games for Colorado last season, Morales became a free agent when the Rockies took him off their roster in early October.
He made 17 starts behind the plate and played second base twice. Morales' season ended in June when he sustained a right thumb fracture and had to undergo season-ending surgery. He hit .267 in that brief stint with the Rockies.
A third-round pick in the 2001 First-Year Player Draft, Morales made his Major League debut with Minnesota in 2007. He appeared in just one big league game that season and didn't make it back to the Majors until '09. In 96 Major League games, Morales has a .289 batting average, .365 on-base percentage, 12 doubles and 21 RBIs.
He has thrown out 34 percent of attempted basestealers. While most of Morales' playing time in the Minors also came as a catcher, he does have experience playing all four infield positions.
Morales offers the Pirates a switch-hitting option, which could work nicely alongside right-handed-hitting Rod Barajas. Huntington noted that Morales probably has a bit more offensive upside than McKenry, who would be considered the better defender of the two.The Pirates have now handed out non-roster invites to Spring Training to six players.
Jenifer Langosch is a reporter for MLB.com. Read her blog, By Gosh, It's Langosch, and follow her on Twitter @LangoschMLB. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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Associated Press writer
LITTLE ROCK (AP) - Industries and organizations can deploy armies of lobbyists in Arkansas without disclosing how much they spend to influence state legislators and executive officers, according to a new report that gives Arkansas' lobbyist disclosure laws a failing grade.
The study, released Thursday by the Center for Public Integrity, showed lobbyists and their employers spent $715 million nationally to influence state officials last year.
Arkansas is among eight states that do not compile aggregate lobby spending figures.
The Washington-based government watchdog group surveyed all 50 states. No state received an "A" on the center's 48-question survey, and more than half of the states received a failing grade.
Washington state topped the list with 87 out of a possible 100 points; Wyoming scored lowest with 34 points. Pennsylvania, where a state court struck down the lobby disclosure statute last year, scored zero.
"Pitiful is the norm," said Leah Rush, the center's director of state projects.
Arkansas received an "F" with 56 total points, tied with Montana for 28th among the states.
As of Friday, 401 lobbyists were registered with the state, about three per each of the 135 state legislators.
While the state received relatively high marks for the registration requirements it imposes on individual lobbyists and enforcement of lobbyist disclosure laws, it did not score any points for financial scrutiny of industries and organizations that employ lobbyists.
"There is no compensation or salary disclosure whatsoever, which is probably one of the most egregious missing links in Arkansas' lobbyist disclosure law," Rush said.
Graham Sloan, director of the state Ethics Commission, which monitors lobbyists' compliance with disclosure laws, said the state law properly focuses on lobbyist expenditures.
"Seems like the critical information is how much is spent on public servants. A company hires a lobbyist and a lobbyist spends money on a public servant. That's being disclosed," Sloan said.
But Rush said money that an individual lobbyist spends wining and dining individual lawmakers typically is a fraction of the total a company shells out to influence lawmakers. The amount that a company compensates a lobbyist can be a gauge of the extent of its investment in influencing public policy, she said.
At least 20 former state legislators were registered as lobbyists during the regular legislative session that ended April 16 and last week's special session.
Four of them ended legislative terms in January: former Sen. Jon Fitch and ex-Reps. Bill Bevis, Dean Elliott and Terry McMellon.
Two others resigned from the state Senate in 2000 to take jobs as lobbyists.
In April 2000, Tom Kennedy became a lobbyist for Entergy, Arkansas' largest electric utility, less than a year after sponsoring electricity deregulation measures in the 1999 General Assembly. He resigned from the Senate a month after taking the job.
Morril Harriman vacated his state Senate seat in August 2000 after the board of the Arkansas Poultry Federation, the trade organization for one of the state's largest industries, chose him as the organization's executive director.
In 2001, legislation that would have prohibited legislators and constitutional officers from working as statehouse lobbyists until a year after the end of their terms failed in the Legislature.
Act 1453, adopted during this year's regular session, prevents a legislator from resigning to become a lobbyist by prohibiting a legislator from registering as a lobbyist until his or her term expires.
Randy Thurman, a former state House member who now is president of the Arkansas Society of Professional Lobbyists, said Arkansas' ranking was "reasonably fair."
Thurman noted that the state's lobbyist disclosure system was part of an ethics law created by a citizens initiative in the late 1980s because for years "legislatures wouldn't touch it."
"There is a place for citizens initiatives, but sometimes they leave a lot to be desired," he said. "Obviously, there's always room for improvement in any reporting system. This report probably indicates some specific areas that we as a body and the Legislature probably should begin to address."
On the Net: www.publicintegrity.org/hiredguns.aspx


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A man leaving a rooftop party in Manhattan was seriously injured when a landing on the building's staircase collapsed early Sunday morning, causing him to fall through three flights of stairs and leaving dozens of others stranded on the roof.
Firefighters responded to the seven-story building on Second Avenue in the East Village at around 1:30 a.m. and were able to remove the injured man from the building on a stretcher. His injuries were not considered life-threatening and he was in stable condition, officials said.
About 30 to 40 people who were gathered on the building's roof for a party had to be brought down by firefighters using a tower ladder and the building's fire escape. No other injuries were reported.
Officials from the Department of Buildings inspected the staircase after repairs were made
and deemed it structurally sound. The city said that the Environmental Control Board had issued a violation to the property owner for failing to maintain the building.


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Weighty Issues
- Dec 1, 2009
- Topics:
While a dozen horses pass the afternoon grazing outdoors, Rose is being readied for a workout. But the normally cooperative Quarter Horse is fussy, and she's calling to the pasturemates she can see through an opening in the barn door.
"She's on a diet," says Rose's owner, Kari Sullivan, "and she's not happy about it."
For Rose, "dieting" means spending more time in a stall than outdoors picking sweet pasture grass. It also means Sullivan is boosting her activity to include daily workouts beyond her regular schedule as the stable's school horse.
In old-school terms, Rose is an easy keeper: It doesn't take much in the way of feed to keep her in good flesh all winter long. But after few days munching on spring- time's high-calorie pasture grass, Rose begins to pack on pounds and becomes vulnerable to a number of life-threatening obesity-related complications.
According to Nicholas Frank, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM, associate professor and large animal section chief in the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences at the University of Tennessee's College of Veterinary Medicine, equine obesity sets the stage for equine metabolic syndrome (EMS), a condition that causes laminitis in some horses.
"EMS has three key factors: obesity or fat in the neck and fat pads near the tailhead, insulin resistance, and laminitis," he says.
Laminitis is a condition that causes lameness when the laminae, which bond a horse's hoof wall to the bone inside the hoof, break down. So-called pasture laminitis occurs when at-risk horses ingest excessive amounts of concentrated carbohydrates, such as those contained in pasture grass.
A horse becomes insulin-resistant when he's unable to process glucose at the cellular level.
Metabolically efficient horses--those that require fewer calories to maintain body condition, such as ponies, Paso Finos, and Morgans--are deemed at higher risk for EMS, Frank says. But all horses are at risk when they become over-weight.
"There is no difference between a fat horse and an obese horse," Frank states. "But it's at the point that horses become insulin-resistant or have laminitis that, looking back, owners could have prevented the problems earlier."
That means changing your horse's diet as soon as he shows significant weight gain.
Feeding Fat Horses
Generally, horses should eat between 2% and 3.5% of their body weight in dry matter (such as hay and pasture grass) daily, according to Carey Williams, PhD, equine extension specialist and associate director of the Rutgers University Equine Science Center. Fat horses are probably consuming three times more than that; and even more if their owners are feeding them grain.
"People feed grain, and their horses just don't need it," she states. "They get everything, including most of the vitamins and minerals they need, from good-quality forage--green pasture and quality hay."
When horses are obese, it's critical to not only eliminate grain from their diets, but to control the amount calories they con-sume while grazing.
To do that in the spring, Williams recommends turning horses out during early morning hours before heat from sunlight has a chance to increase grass' carbohydrate content.
"Horses that need to lose weight should graze from 2-3 a.m. to 10-11 a.m. because the sugar content of pasture grass is at its highest peak from about noon to 6 p.m. in the spring," Williams says. "In fall it's just the opposite. Pasture grass has its highest carbohydrate content in the morning. Horses in need of weight loss should graze in the afternoon."
Horses that must be turned out on rich grass should wear grazing muzzles.
"The muzzles reduce horses' grass intake by about one-third," Williams says.
Owners can also cut calories from their horse's diet by offering lower-quality mature hay on a free-choice basis, says Sarah Ralston, VMD, PhD, Dipl. ACVN, associate professor at Rutgers University's School of Environmental and Biological Sciences' Department of Animal Sciences.
"Lower-quality hay provides low-calorie forage," she states. "It has lots of fiber and will keep them eating longer."
If uncontrolled grazing is to blame for weight gain in pastured obesity-prone horses, stalled horses get plenty of help packing on pounds from their well- intentioned owners. That's because many owners believe daily grain rations are necessary to keep horses fit and full.
Most horses that spend more time in the barn than in the pasture don't require grain to thrive.
"These horses should have access to free-choice hay," recommends Williams. "Let them eat as much as they want 24/7, and provide a salt or mineral block. If you need a carrier for joint support or other supplements, mix it with beet pulp instead of grain."
Still, it's difficult to convince owners that a grain-scant diet is best for their horses, says Frank, noting, "People feel a horse getting hay is getting an unexciting diet. Feeding grain makes the owner feel better."
To satisfy their own need to feed grain, many owners substitute so-called lower calorie, "light" commercial feeds for traditional corn and sweet feeds.
Ralston warns against that practice.
"They really are not low-calorie," she states. "They still contribute significant carbohydrates to horses' diets. Total mixed ration products are a better alternative."
Composed of processed forages, vitamins/minerals, and sometimes grain, all bound together with soybean oil, total mixed rations (TMR) are low in calories, high in fiber, and contain minerals horses would otherwise get from pasture grasses, high-quality hay, and grains. The products are available in both pellet and cube forms. Ralston prefers cubes because horses tend to eat them more slowly.
"In our studies, the pellets were gone in 30 minutes or less, but horses were still munching on the cubes 30 minutes later," Ralston says.
On average, healthy horses consuming a high-fiber, low-carbohydrate diet should lose about 50 pounds each month. Each 50 pounds reduces body condition by one score.
Owners should use a weight tape to monitor progress. Horses that fail to achieve desired weight loss need less pasture time, more hay, and more exercise.
While it's taken some time for the idea to catch on, "people are beginning to realize that if they have a fat horse, they could be killing it with kindness," Williams says.
But convincing owners that their best intentions jeopardize horses' health is not easy, states Frank. Especially when they believe the opposite is true.
"Often an overweight horse is what people consider to be a happy horse," he says.
"People have ideas about what a healthy horse should look like," and this varies from breed to breed, Frank says. "For example, people expect a Thoroughbred to be lean. But when it comes to a Quarter Horse, people want to see it high on the body condition scale."
Ultimately, Frank's message about obesity and its effect on equine health is simple: "There is no advantage to having your horse become obese; so let's not do it."
Take-Home Message
Equine obesity increases a horse's risk for equine metabolic syndrome, laminitis, and insulin resistance. Owners can bring horses back to healthy body condition by replacing grain rations with a fiber-rich, low-carbohydrate diet, while increasing exercise to include daily workouts.
About the Author
Pat Raia
Pat Raia is a veteran journalist who enjoys covering equine welfare, industry, and news. In her spare time, she enjoys riding her Tennessee Walking Horse, Sonny.
Related Content
Study Evaluates Unintentional Weight Loss in Horses
Drought, Heat Push Horse Feed Costs Skyward
Help Sick Horses Heal with Nutrition
New Insulin Resistance Test Method for Horses (AAEP 2011)
Equine Supplements and Nutritional Requirements (AAEP 2011)
Estimating Horse Weight Accurately
Grazing Muzzles' Efficacy at Reducing Pasture Intake
Researchers Examine Link Between Obesity, Laminitis, and EMS
Using Nutrition to Prevent and Manage Equine Disease
Managing Laminitis-Prone Horses


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Q. Hi dear Oracle
I have this question that only you can answer
Do (Coldplay) ar taking a year off?
I hear this rumour in A Coldplay Fans page but im not sure. Anyway Coldplay is and it will be always be the best band ever
Greetings From Mexico :)
I'm not the only one who can answer that; nobody can answer that - not even the band.
Decisions are made and changed on a daily basis as to what happens next after a campaign is coming to an end.
The natural thing to do is to take some time off but that has never yet been a year.
The band may be out of sight to the public but that doesn't mean they aren't working in some way or another.
After the Viva tour, the band returned for a Latin American leg. They finished 11th March 2010. They performed a couple of Crisis at Christmas gigs later that year and then re-emerged for live shows in June 2011 while continuing with the writing & recording process.
Who knows how long it will take for the next album? It's not a time frame you should really try and quantify. They will return when they do and the album will be finished when it is. I can't really say anything more than that at this premature stage but I'm sure ( & hope) it will fly by - like last time?!


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An Evening with Carrie Fisher
Public Programs
An Evening with Carrie Fisher
"She can make us laugh, she can make us cringe, but she can also teach a great deal about the power of forgiveness."—People (on Shockaholic)
A true Hollywood princess—pop culture icon Princess Leia in the Star Wars movies and the daughter of one of Tinseltown's most scandalous divorces—Fisher is also no stranger to trauma, rehab, and the challenges of addiction and bipolar disorder. Hilariously blunt and bravely honest, she has chronicled her experiences in Wishful Drinking, her best-selling memoir and award-winning solo Broadway show, and her new book, Shockaholic. Tonight she'll tell tales and share insights from throughout her life and career with Erin Moriarty, Ohio State alumna and reporter for CBS's 48 Hours.
Proceeds benefit The Ohio State University's Wexner Center for the Arts and STAR (Stress, Trauma, and Resilience) Program of the Wexner Medical Center.
Honorary event chairs: Lynnda Maria Davis and Elizabeth M. Siemer.
$45 Balcony
$75 Floor and loge
Cardinal Health Foundation
Limited Brands Foundation
Siemer Family Foundation
The Columbus Dispatch


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Speaking of novak's defense come on guys look at this help contest
Speaking of novak's defense come on guys look at this help contest
Twitter - @thekid_it
Novak is a good shooter, not a good player.
If Your Uncle Jack Helped You Off An Elephant, Would You Help Your Uncle Jack Off An Elephant?
Sometimes, I like to buy a book on CD and listen to it, while reading music.
Fields plays him incredibly well to force Kobe to go for a rather tough shot he hits it cause he's Kobe lol. To Fields credit too a lot of other players would have set fuck it and let Kobe by hes all over him good D.
Not exactly sure what Novak was doing lmao runs over at first looking to be a move double to force a trap but loses himself on a Kobe fake then regains balance to put up a lousy contest to help Fields lol awful.
Don't want to sound rude, but assuming you aren't trolling, this is absurd. We do this, and teams are going to parade into our paint. Jonas isn't Roy Hibbert or Dwight Howard, his defense is no where near the point where he can clog the lane by himself and defend. You leave JV on an island like that and he'll never play 30+ min a game due to foul troubles. While Novak can technically be labelled as a stretch 4 due to his size, he's nothing more than a pure shooter that should be brought off the bench for a couple 3s a game.
While I like Novak for his shooting ability, he's even worse than bargs at defense. True that bargs wasn't a good help defender, but he plays decent man-to-man defense due to his size and decent agility. Bargs could also create his own offense by going for the drive, pulling up for mid range jumper or catch and shoot at the 3pt line. Whereas for Novak, pretty much all his possessions are catch and shoot situations behind the 3 point line.
And why breakup our starting line of lowry, dd, gay, amir and jonas. Though the sample size was small, didn't we have one of the better starting lineups in the league? And didn't we have one of the most effective front court tandems in JV and Amir?
Last edited by Pong; Mon Sep 23rd, 2013 at 04:08 PM.
Great idea for the offense ... helps with spacing for Gay and Derozan.
BUT - our coach is Dwane Casey, and defence is the focus.
The only way to bag a classy lady is to give her two tickets to the gun show... and see if she likes the goods.
that kobe video was hilarious
My bold prediction for the 2013-14 season, is that Daye out plays Novak and gets his minutes.
-"You cant run from me. I mean, my heart dont bleed Kool-Aid."
-"I aint no diva! I dont have no blond hair, red hair. Im Reggie Evans.
My fear with Novak is that he tries to do more than he's capable of.. kind like Kapono did when he was a Raptor. That seems to be a common trend among role players and the Raptors. They think because they are on a bad team they can do whatever they want.
my only fear about Novak is that his shooting stroke become Rasual Butler esque yalk about embarrassing....*** all he has to do is sink those open 3s and hes worth it imo.
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Progress in technology has brought microelectronics to the nanoscale, but nanoelectronics is not yet a well-defined engineering discipline with a coherent, experimentally verified, theoretical framework. The NCN has a vision for a new, 'bottom-up' approach to electronics, which involves: understanding electronic conduction at the atomistic level; formulating new simulation techniques; developing a new generation of software tools; and bringing this new understanding and perspective into the classroom. We address problems in atomistic phenomena, quantum transport, percolative transport in inhomogeneous media, reliability, and the connection of nanoelectronics to new problems such as biology, medicine, and energy. We work closely with experimentalists to understand nanoscale phenomena and to explore new device concepts. In the course of this work, we produce open source software tools and educational resources that we share with the community through the nanoHUB.
This page is a starting point for nanoHUB users interested in nanoelectronics. It lists key resources developed by the NCN Nanoelectronics team. The nanoHUB contains many more resources for nanoelectronics, and they can be located with the nanoHUB search function. To find all nanoelectronics resources, search for 'nanoelectronics.' To find those contributed by the NCN nanoelectronics team, search for 'NCNnanoelectronics.'
More information on Nanoelectronics can be found here.
Crystal Viewer Lab Exercise
28 Jun 2010 | Teaching Materials | Contributor(s): Gerhard Klimeck, Parijat Sengupta, Dragica Vasileska
A central problem in the investigation of material properties involves the examination of the underlying blocks that aggregate to form macroscopic bodies. These underlying blocs own a definite...
Negative Differential Resistivity Exercise
In certain semiconductors such as GaAs and InP the average velocity as a function of field strength displays a maximum followed by a regime of decreasing velocity. Hilsum, Ridley, and Watkins...
Exercise for MOSFET Lab: Device Scaling
28 Jun 2010 | Teaching Materials | Contributor(s): Dragica Vasileska, Gerhard Klimeck
This exercise explores device scaling and how well devices are designed.
Quantum Bound States Exercise
16 Jun 2010 | Teaching Materials | Contributor(s): Gerhard Klimeck, Parijat Sengupta, Dragica Vasileska
Exercise Background
Quantum-mechanical systems (structures, devices) can be separated into open systems and closed systems. Open systems are characterized with propagating or current carrying...
Quantum Tunneling Exercise
Exercise Background
Tunneling is fully quantum-mechanical effect that does not have classical analog. Tunneling has revolutionized surface science by its utilization in scanning tunneling...
Periodic Potentials Exercise
In this exercise, various calculations of the electronic band structure of a one-dimensional crystal are performed with the Kronig-Penney (KP) model. This model has an analytical solution and...
Crystal Viewer Tool Verification (V 2.3.4)
15 Jun 2010 | Teaching Materials | Contributor(s): Dragica Vasileska, Gerhard Klimeck
This text verifies the Crystal Viewer Tool by comparing the amount of dangling bonds at the silicon surface for [100], [110] and [111] crystal orientation. The crystal viewer results are in...
Crystal Structures - Packing Efficiency Exercise
Consider the most efficient way of packing together equal-sized spheres and stacking close-packed atomic planes in three dimensions. For example, if plane A lies beneath plane B, there are two...
PCPBT Manual
08 Jun 2010 | Teaching Materials | Contributor(s): Dragica Vasileska, Gerhard Klimeck
This is a manual for the Piece-Wise Constant Potential Barrier Tool.
Tight-Binding Band Structure Calculation Method
This set of slides describes on simple example of a 1D lattice, the basic idea behind the Tight-Binding Method for band structure calculation.
Poisson Equation Solvers
08 Jun 2010 | Teaching Materials | Contributor(s): Dragica Vasileska
There are two general schemes for solving linear systems:
Direct Elimination Methods, and
Iterative Methods.
All the direct methods are, in some sense, based on the standard Gauss...
Poisson Equation Solvers - General Considerations
We describe the need for numerical modeling, the finite difference method, the conversion from continuous set to set of matrix equations, types of solvers for solving sparse matrix equations of...
Conjugate Gradient Tutorial
This is an extensive tutorial on the description and implementation of the basic conjugate gradient method and its variants.
Multigrid Tutorial
This set of slides describe the idea behind the multigrid method and its implementation.
Crystal Structures
08 Jun 2010 | Teaching Materials | Contributor(s): David K. Ferry, Dragica Vasileska, Gerhard Klimeck
In mineralogy and crystallography, a crystal structure is a unique arrangement of atoms in a crystal. A crystal structure is composed of a basis, a set of atoms arranged in a particular way, and a...
Crystal Directions and Miller Indices
Miller indices are a notation system in crystallography for planes and directions in crystal lattices. In particular, a family of lattice planes is determined by three integers, l, m, and n, the...
Verification of the Validity of the PN Junction Tool
These simulations and comparisons with the depletion charge approximation prove the validity of the PN Junction tool.
Solve a Challenge for a PN Diode
This is SOLVE A CHALLENGE PROBLEM for pn-diodes.
Drift-Diffusion Modeling and Numerical Implementation Details
01 Jun 2010 | Teaching Materials | Contributor(s): Dragica Vasileska
This tutorial describes the constitutive equations for the drift-diffusion model and implementation details such as discretization and numerical solution of the algebraic equations that result...
Physical and Analytical Description of the Operation of a PN Diode
A detailed physical and analytical description of the operation of PN diodes is given.


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This might be farfetched and/or a too long read but bare with me
Tsukuyomi is the god of the moon in Shinto and Japanese mythology.
Izanagi which was summoned by the first gods ended up creating
Amaterasu (incarnation of the sun) from Izanagi's left eye,
Tsukuyomi (incarnation of the moon) from his right eye, and
Susanoo (incarnation of storms and ruler of the sea) from his nose.
Izanagi went on to divide the world between them with Tsukuyomi taking control of the night and moon.
Sasuke used his left eye when he used his Amaterasu ability, opposed to Itachi who used his right for some reason. In this case it looks like Sasuke is the one in line with Shinto. Sasuke used his right eye to supress Amaterasu. (Which makes sense because the reason why night and day never is together is in Shinto, because Amaterasu who represents the sun was furious with Tsukuyomi who represents the night. That is why the right 'eye of the moon' would supress the Amaterasu's fire created by the left 'eye of the sungodess' and vice versa)
With that said lets move on to tobi/madara. In Naruto 386 page 11 | One Manga Itachi says "Today Madara is a pathetic shell of his former self. He is no longer worth being considered the greatest Uchiha."
This leads me to believe that Madara has lost some of his power, a huge key to understanding just what it is he has lost is that he(tobi) ever only shows his right eye. He is evitently covering up a secret about himself. I think he is covering up the fact that he has lost the power of is left eye, perhaps not completely who knows. Since why else would he purposely hide 50% of his EMS? Knowing this I can think of 2 plausible alternatives
1, Either the "Moon's Eye plan" is to cause whatever havoc he can with his right eye (the right eye of the moon) possibly something that could lead to a 4th ninjawar. Possibly some kind of genjutsu on the Kages, as his eye is the one that deals with genjutsu. Something that stengthen this theory is that in Naruto 453 page 18 | One Manga he says "I've had enough of being cautious" which suggests his plans are to take action in some form (what that is will be pretty impossible to determine until we get more clues) Another reason why it's his 'eye of the moon' that is still active is that he was able to put out the trap-amaterasu that Itachi planted on Sasuke. The less convincing alternative is that
2, He, much like Itachi, has reversed eye-order. His right eye is the Amaterasu eye meaning it's his 'eye of the moon' that has lost it's power. Therefor he means to restore it making him essentially immortal again. He could be restoring it by taking Sasuke's eye, afterall he knows Sasuke is planning to attack the Kages which means he would without a doubt have to use his MS.
What do you think of these 2 ideas? can you think of other plausable ideas too? Feel free to discuss
I've been thinking how Madara tends to operate when it's full moon. Helping Itachi with the Uchiha slaugher, the 9 tails attack on Konoha as examples.. I'm yet to figure out a connection with the full moon though.


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Ryan Roxie 的 Flashback 77 TonePrint
Ryan Roxie's Flashback 77 Delay toneprint is an all purpose delay setting, fit not just for rhythm parts, but also for solos as well. Inspired by the great analog delays of the late 1970's.
获取这个 TonePrint
Have an iOS or Android device? Use the TonePrint AppDownload the TonePrint EditorRyan Roxie 的 Flashback 77 TonePrint
<iframe width="920" height="518" src="http://player.youku.com/embed/XNjE1MTU1ODk2"></iframe>
其他TonePrints Ryan Roxie
Visiting Ryan Roxie in his rehearsal studio, or his lair, as he aptly said, was a pleasure. The room definitely had a lair-feel, packed with all sorts of musical instruments, a cool place to get into the creative mode. We wanted Ryan to create a delay toneprint, and Ryan was definitely up for it. Ryan wanted to dial up a delay sound that he uses with the band he plays with in Stockholm called Casablanca. A lot of the songs on the album Apocalyptic Youth sort of have this delay setting. Ryan said: It's a longer delay. It kind of just adds a lot to the atmosphere and colors the sound. It gives me a lot of cool effects to play with, especially during the solos.了解更多 Ryan Roxie


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Thread: What boards are yall riding???
08-20-2012, 04:34 PM #1Member
- Join Date
- Aug 2010
- Posts
- 42
What boards are yall riding???
I know another "what blah blah should I buy?" thread....
Right now I have a Liquid force (5ft) and a Liquid force custom (4-10) and I am looking for something better. I am around 190-200lbs and I am finding that I am too heavy for the custom, it is becoming the GFs board. The other liquid force I have is just too slow and heavy. I am looking to get into something faster, lighter and more agile but there are so many boards out there I dont know where to start.
I hate to use the dreaded drive/push words but I am really looking for something faster. I can ride wireless and get some kicks of the wake but just finding it hard to get enough speed to really get some air.
Last thing I want to do is keep buying boards that I dont like. I have looked around an no one around me lets you demo boards, unless I drive up to Austin, which isnt very convenient.
Any suggestions would be appreciated?
I have finally got my boat wave dialed in and am now seeing the limitations of the boards I am riding.2002 Mobius LSV
SA, Texas
You can look into The Walker Project. IF you can find somewhere that STOCKS them that's the way to go. I have a 4'8 F18 built as a triple that we ride as a twin and it is a rocket down the line. You can recover from a mile back and if I had any more skill could air it out like no other. The board wants to fly.
Buying direct from TWP however, I'll never go that route again. 3 terrible experiences with 3 different boards from them learned me that lesson.2006 Supra 20 - Sold
2006 Supra 24 Gravity Games - Sold
2015 Supra SE450 - Sold
08-20-2012, 04:51 PM #3Member
- Join Date
- Aug 2010
- Posts
- 42
I'm 200lb 6'2" and I ride a 5'3" LF Fish. It's nice and fast so, and I need all the speed I can get to stay in the pocket behind my LS. Yeatesrday I was able to ride for quite a while ropeless seeing as I finally have the ballast figured out and I can carve and weave too. I can't doo the same on my buddy's 5'0" Ronix Koal or my other buddy's 5'0" Shaka, plus both of those boards are waaaaay too squirrely for my liking. I think If I had been able tyo get the LF Fish 5'6" on sale like I did with the 5'3" I have, it would have been perfect and much more forgiving as far as being able to stay in the pocket.2017 Moomba Craz
I am 5'11" 200 even and switch between 2 now-
on the supra wave, I loved my inland 4skim. that wave was a blast to ride on a short skimboard, but it has been retired from my lineup on the boat now. my friend still loves it and it's all he will ride. he's 6ft, 220 or so.
the 2 I switch to now are a phase5 daniello pro carbon. it's nice and stable and can be ok to ride, but I bought a ronix koal 4'10"(yes, the pink womens version as I love the color and it's the same board as the guys 4'10model) and I absolutely love it on the wave I have now.
my next board will be a soulcraft custom as he's right around the corner from me and is an awesome guy, but I can't seem to find a spare 5bills
I have found that everyone can recommend what they like, but seems that every board rides different to every person based on your height/weight and the actual shape and characteristics of the boat wake you are riding..'06 Supra Launch 20SSV-gone but never forgotten
I ride and inland surfer Red Rocket, fun, very stable, and bouyant, but not to easy to trick around on.Brad
2011 Launch 21V Sold... boatless replaced with a Jeep JKUR
2006 Moomba Mobius LSV sold
2004 Outback sold
08-20-2012, 10:06 PM #7Senior Member
- Join Date
- Apr 2012
- Location
- Wake Forest, NC
- Posts
- 208
Hyperlite landlock. It was a great board to learn on before I started adding ballast since I'm 6'4" 220, but now that I'm riding more aggressively and my wave has progressed it can't keep up. I'm looking at the daniello pro carbon or the diamond as my next board.
Sandm: I'd love to hear more insight on your board selection and riding style2008 Outback V
my opinion. read if you like..
a lot of the board selection and what you are happy with comes down to the wake off the boat. the supra I had was a tall and steep wake with a ton of push but didn't have a lot of length, therefore a very small sweet spot to work on, but once you found it, you could ride for miles with zero effort. that said, here's how I came to the boards I have..
no real riding style per se. I don't do 360's/air(haven't really tried working on 360's yet and too fat to catch a ton of air), but I do really like to work the wake and ride up/down/back/forward. I have gotten pretty good at lipslides. I would consider myself an above average rider imo.
I started out on a hyperlite broadcast in '07 as that's what they recommended for beginners. grew out of it quickly and bought the 4skim the next spring. it was a very fast and easy to spin board and suited the wake on the supra well.. decided to look for a different board in late '08 or so. being a boating noob, I thought that a new board would help ride the wake better. demo'ed a prop and loved it, so found the cash and bought the daniello pro. it's the same basic shape and size as the prop, but was touted as a ton lighter. it rode the wake well and I like the fact that it's almost as fast as the skim but has more surface area and a different fin setup so it grips the top of the wake better.
all of this was prior to meeting jeff at soulcraft and nick-a sponsored rider for triplexxx. I have ridden some amazing boards from both(probably close to 15 in the last 2 years-got to ride a carbon skim prototype never released from xxx and it was almost identical to the daniello but a lot lighter yet-would have been a big hit), both skim and surf style and have decided that surf style was what I like now. that's how I ended up with the ronix koal. it's a much different ride than either the skim or daniello. fast, but seems much more planted and able to generate speed down the wave.
as mentioned, a lot of this has to do with the wake your boat creates as to how the boards feel. I didn't have a chance to ride the ronix on the supra, but I really think it would have been hard to ride as the spot was so small on that boat, but the wave I have now has been a blast with the surf style and can't wait to get my hands on another one..
fwiw, wake from supra with a buddy riding the 4skim. not very far back but steep..
a friend riding the wake now. that board is a custom one-off from Calibrated riding called a piscus. similar to the daniello and very lightweight, but has a different edge to it. not real rounded..
'06 Supra Launch 20SSV-gone but never forgotten
I'm 5'8" 205lbs and ride a phase 5 Razz, love it... only has one fin so it's a little squirrely but i'm trying to learn 360's so it's nice for that...
geof2014 Mondo with da flow!!! Exile towers, stock everything else.... for now!
08-21-2012, 03:23 PM #10Senior Member
- Join Date
- Apr 2012
- Location
- Wake Forest, NC
- Posts
- 208
Thanks for the feedback sandm!2008 Outback V


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NASA Solicits Concepts for Asteroid-Capture Mission
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NASA has set an ambitious goal: sending humans to an asteroid by 2025. In order to succeed, the mission will require a combination of current capabilities and yet-to-be-developed technologies, which the space agency is now seeking as part of a broad agency announcement.
NASA is soliciting proposals that will contribute to its Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) -- specifically, technologies that include an alternate asteroid capture system, rendezvous sensor systems, and secondary payloads. The capture system must be capable of enormous operations in order to restrain a 30- to 1,000-metric-ton asteroid against a robotic spacecraft.
The proposals, due May 5, could be worth up to $6 million in total awards from NASA.
Here's some additional information from NASA's Asteroid Initiative Opportunities Forum:
For the full story, see EETimes sister site InformationWeek.
— Elena Malykhina has written for InformationWeek.com, The Wall Street Journal, Scientific America, and other publications.


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You are welcome Denise, and I hope you like the box of goodies when you open them. Here's wishing you a very Merry Christmas and also a Happy New Year!!
from TN
Candis:Santas helper just left a package on my doorstep! Thank you so much Melissa!!! It is so nice we live in the same state!! I absolutly love all the thoughtful gifts you chose for me. I took Pics. I have eaten 3 pieces of the homemade fudge already! OMG! it is soooo good! I love all the angels! The cocoa will be divine!! Love the fat quarters,! the wall hanging you made is just what I have been wanting for my sewing room. I will mount it better, but for now here it is! I am in love with it! You did so well with all of it! Thank you so much!!!!!
Candis, you are so welcome. I had so much fun with your gifts. This is the first time I have ever been involved with a Secret Santa on line or otherwise. I'm so glad you like this things I chose. Merry Christmas.
Georgetown CA I'd Rather Be Quilting
Thea, I received my package and finally opened it!
Thank you so much Pat. Everything was so nice. I didn't even know they made pink pins. I love the little tin they came in also. The fat quarters, of course, are my favorite colors. They were just perfect. I'm looking forward to making a little something for myself. Again, thank you so much and I hope you have a wonderful Christmas. God bless.
I have received my secret Santa today and I could not wait to open it!!!!!
thanks Pat I loved every single gift and Calvin loved his toy as well. I tried to find you to ssend you a PM but I could not find your name, so I will
Thank you here. First of all I was in Victoria this past August and I loves it, it's absolutely gorgeous! As for the gift every single one is beautiful and I love them all.
here are the pics:
You are all getting such nice packages, what fun!
Life is like a quilt...bits & pieces, joy & sorrow, stitched with love
Isabella : I am so happy you like everything....didnt have time to make anything quilted or sewed. I hope you will enjoy your wine charms and bookmark. I really had enjoyed shopping to be your secret santa. I wished I had got to know you when you were in Victoria, we you here on holidays
Pat From Canada
Pat I was on an Alaskan cruise and stopped for few hours. I had time to visit Burchart (not sure this is how ou spell it) gardens....it is amazing! I also got to see a little bit of town and I loved it...,DH and I said we will come back some day and spend more time in Victoria.
I am enjoying so much waiting and looking at everyones secret santa gifts. they all all so beautiful. Everyone is doing such an amazing job. Thea you have been outstanding in organizing this. Pat
Got my gifts from Caryl; everything is wonderful and I love it all. Will try to post pics Sunday afternoon or evening; this weekend has been busy. Thank you so much, Caryl. Love the purple fabric and blocks!
I am so glad you got to stop by in Victoria, yes Butchard Gardens(I think i spelled it wrong too lol) is beautiful. We are going out their for Christmas, everything has different themes of christmas and they have an outdoor skating rink for the public. I would love to get together with you if you were ever to go into town, I would love to show you around town, and quilt shops too.......I was in Miami once when we went on a cruise.
Ive received mine thanks to Melody i will post pictures later.
lots of love
Everyone is getting some fabulous goodies. Isn't this just the best .. Barbara
It is amazing barbara just loving it
Everyone is getting some fabulous goodies. Isn't this just the best .. Barbara
This is the most fun I've had all year. This year has been a year filled with quilting. I hope next year will be even more. I can't wait for next year's Secret Santa.
Well Melissa ,we will just have to make sure it is . LOL ..Barbara


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BySudeep Reddy
The most jarring element of the delayed September jobs report, due out Tuesday, may be the fact that it isn't coming on a Friday. Job growth was likely steady but unremarkable in the month heading into the government shutdown. Economists expect little change in the nation's unemployment rate as the economy closed out the third quarter.
The 16-day shutdown shuttered most of the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics, which produces the monthly snapshot, just days before the originally scheduled Oct. 4 release date. That means its team had already collected data for the September report but needed to put the finishing touches on the analysis. As a result, the September report could be the last clean gauge of the job market before most short-term effects — or longer-run damage — from the budget battles hit U.S. employers and households.
Visit WSJ.com on Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. Eastern for live analysis of the jobs report.
How will the Fed see the latest jobs report? Submit your questions for the WSJ's Spreecast with Jon Hilsenrath and tune in at 11 a.m. Eastern.
Jobless Rate, Payrolls and Revisions
The consensus forecast among economists, based on a Dow Jones Newswires survey, puts the unemployment rate unchanged at 7.3% in September and the payroll gain at 180,000 jobs for the month. That would be a slight (but insignificant) increase from the 169,000 jobs added in August and pretty close to the gains of the past year. The revisions could be as important as the headline figure for September. The latest figures show a gain of just 104,000 jobs in July. Downward revisions to prior months, along with a weaker-than-expected reading for September, could fuel speculation about whether businesses were growing more cautious due to interest-rate volatility, talk of war in Syria (remember that?) or the approaching Washington dysfunction.
For the numbers geeks among us, the team at CRT Capital Group offers this trivia: The first snapshot of September payrolls has a statistical tendency to come in lower than expected 69% of the time, with an average miss of 89,000 jobs off the consensus. For the other 31% of the time it comes in higher than expected, the average upward surprise is 54,000 jobs.
Shutdown Effects
Sorry, you'll probably need to wait a month to see any obvious effects of the shutdown in the employment data. It's conceivable that the run-up to the shutdown could have influenced the September data. One survey of businesses showed the shutdown and debt-ceiling fight weighing on hiring plans as early as September. A more recent survey showed executives slashing hiring expectations as well. But all of that will be tough to see in Tuesday's data. It could take months to know whether those effects turn out to be small and short-lived or something more meaningful driven by the recent drop in confidence.
Fed Implications
Unless the jobs report shows an extreme surprise in either direction, this isn't a jobs report that will move the needle for the Federal Reserve's decision at its Oct. 29-30 meeting. Officials have already signaled that the shutdown has muddied economic data too much for a data-dependent central bank to make any immediate decisions.
But Fed officials will be watching closely to assess the labor market's development and decide whether to hint at a potential change in policy before the year is out. The latest Wall Street Journal survey of economists, conducted in the early days of the shutdown, showed most forecasters betting on a December or January reduction in the Fed's $85 billion bond-buying program. Some traders and economists, however, already are pushing their expectations down to March.
Does 'Jobs Tuesday' Sound Unnatural? Yes.
The longest U.S. government shutdown on record, covering a three-week stretch from December 1995 to January 1996, delayed the jobs report by a couple of weeks. But the Labor Department still released it on a Friday: January 19, 1996. Even if the September employment data proves to be forgettable, a generation of economics reporters will never forget their first — and only, we hope — Jobs Tuesday.


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Free Horse: 8 yr old TB mare in Micanopy Florida
Lady was recently started under saddle in the Martin Black Colt starting. This is a powerful, high energy mare. She needs a professional level trainer/rider. She has about 15 rides but she is not currently in training as she will not be a candidate for our typical amautuer adopters. We can try her in a jump chute if adopter would like to see her jumping ability (just need to find or make one) Please email for photos. We ask that you send us an adoption application and pictures of your facility.
Horse NameLady of the Knight
Height15.3 hh
Weight1150 lbs
SireAscot Knight
DamSpring Promise
LocationMicanopy, FL, USA
StatusFound Home