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I suppose this could go into the gripe n' rant forum as well.
I've worked hard all my life. Nothing really special about that, a lot of people work hard, especially people in poor Third World Nations. I can't even imagine what they have to do just to survive every day. As poor as we are we're well-off in comparison. They wish that they lived like a poor person in a First World Nation.
But having said that, it still sucks. I remember Christmases where my girls would have 30 presents under the tree. Eat out twice a week. Get stuff on a weekly basis. Eat delivered food sometimes three times a week. If I wanted something like a new futon I could just go out and buy it. It's called being reasonably comfortable. Not rich...not well-off...but comfortable...comfortable to me anyways...and debt free.
Then the shit hit the fan...and for the last 5-6 years it's been one struggle after another. Trying to stay afloat. Keep the wolves from the door. Whatever other cliché you want to throw in there.
And the strange thing about this is I've been working the entire time. Yep, I'm the quintessential example of the working poor. The under-paid, over-worked, stiff, just barely making ends meet. One waiting disaster away from homelessness.
The only saving grace about the last few years has been I've managed to avoid debt. Only because I'm old school, if I can't pay cash...I don't buy it.
Got a few irons in the fire, nothing great, but enough to get me out of the shit-hole situation I'm in, enough to breath, but it's not coming fast enough. But it's a light...a hope...
who else here is struggling? Fox


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It is a familiar part of the lexicon now, one used to distinguish the greatest of our sports champions.
A term coined by Byron Scott in 1988 and trade-marked by Pat Riley, it slides across the tongue as smooth as a scoop of ice cream and defines a dynasty as readily as a crown atop a monarch's head.
But there is nothing at all easy about the three-peat.
When LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the rest of the Heat take the court Thursday night, they'll be attempting to become only the sixth team in NBA history to go back-to-back-to-back as champs.
Here's a look at Fab Five:
Minneapolis Lakers (1952-54)
"Geo Mikan vs. Knicks." That was the message on the marquee outside Madison Square Garden on Dec. 14, 1949. It succinctly said everything that you needed to know about George Mikan, the man who was the NBA's first superstar. In an Associated Press poll, the 6-foot-10 center was voted the greatest basketball player of the first half of the 20th century and he was later named as one of the 50 Greatest Players in league history. Mikan was such a dominant individual force that the goaltending rule was introduced to limit his defensive effectiveness and the lane was widened from six to 12 feet to keep him farther from the basket on offense.
However, Mikan still flourished and when he was teamed up with Vern Mikkelsen, Jim Pollard and Slater Martin, his Lakers rolled to three consecutive championships. The Lakers beat the Knicks for their first title in a series that was notable for neither team being able to play on its home court. Minneapolis' Municipal Auditorium was already booked and the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus was at the Garden. With Mikan double-teamed, Mikkelsen carried the Lakers offense to a 3-3 split of the first six games and then in the only true home game of the series, the Lakers won 82-65 to claim the crown. The Lakers came back to beat the Knicks again the following year 4-1 and the made it three in a row with a 4-3 defeat of the Syracuse Nationals in 1954.
VIDEO: George Mikan and the Minneapolis Lakers dominate the early NBA (more…)

subset: commoncrawl


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Weasels Are #1
I would remiss if I did not acknowledge something that happened in the world less common than the sighting of Hailey's Comet. It might even be rarer than an NDP government exercising some semblance of fiscal responsibility, but I don't know if I would go quite that far.
Nonetheless, this Earth-shattering event doesn't exactly happen every day.
The Arizona Screaming Weasels, a.k.a. Phoenix Coyotes, nee Winnipeg Jets, are the champions of the Pacific Division.
That's right. The Weasels won their division.
That's even hard to type.
Personally, I have no use for the Weasels and I don't particularly care whether they win the Stanley Cup or miss the playoffs. But it is a particularly noteworthy and historic event.
They claim that it is their first division title in franchise history.
It is their first division title as members of the NHL, but do you remember the last time the franchise won a division title?
It was 1976 and the Jets had finished atop the WHA's Canadian Division, narrowly edging the Quebec Nordiques.
It was the Jets' second and last WHA division title.
That year, the Jets were led by the Hot Line of Ulf Nilsson, Anders Hedberg, and Bobby Hull, who were together for their second season. New faces such as Peter Sullivan, Bill Lesuk, and Willy Lindstrom, along with new coach Bobby Kromm helped transform a team that had missed the playoffs the previous year into a bona fide contender.
The Jets swept the Edmonton Oilers in the first round, then they met the Calgary Cowboys in the second round. The Cowboys had upset the Nordiques in an ugly series that featured Rick Jodzio's attack on Marc Tardif at Le Colisee, prompting police presence on the ice. Jodzio later faced criminal charges for the incident.
The Jets dispatched the Cowboys in five games, then waited for the two-time defending AVCO Cup champion Houston Aeros to finish a long series with the New England Whalers. The Jets swept the Aeros and captured their first AVCO Cup championship on May 27.
Though the Jets were a bit shorthanded with injuries to defensemen Ted Green and Thommie Bergman, it is interesting to speculate as to what would have happened if they had met the Stanley Cup champion Montreal Canadiens in a true "World Series of Hockey". It might have been the greatest series in the game's history that was never played.
Nonetheless, that team was one of the best of its era. And they did win a division title.
It took 36 years for the franchise to win another.
I wonder how many people will be in attendance in Glendale this coming Thursday night who were even alive the last time the franchise was a division champion.


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Associated Health Costs - United States
Although few prospective long-term survival and health care cost studies are available for hepatitis C, it has been possible to estimate the life-long economic impact of the disease for both the individual patient and for the U.S. population with chronic hepatitis B. Lifetime health care costs for a patient with chronic hepatitis B has been estimated at $65,000 in the absence of liver transplantation. For the 150,000 HBV carriers with significant liver damage, the lifetime health care costs in the U.S. have been estimated to be $9 billion. Assuming an estimated survival of 25 years, the annual health care costs for the affected U.S. population with chronic hepatitis B is $360 million. Based on the same economic analysis, treatment of chronic hepatitis B with interferon is projected to increase life expectancy by about three years and reduce the aggregate health care costs.
Hepatitis C can only represent a far greater economic cost. While it infects about 3 and a half more times as many people in the United States than does hepatitis B, more than 80% of hepatitis C patients will develop chronic liver disease, as compared to only 20% of hepatitis B patients. Limited data suggest that 15-20% of those with chronic hepatitis C will develop cirrhosis within a five-year period, and as many as 25% may have cirrhosis by 10-20 years. The risk of developing liver cancer is uncertain, but may approach or exceed 1% during the first 20 years of infection and increase thereafter. Hepatitis C is responsible for about one-third of all liver transplants in the United States.
Approximately 1,000 patients are transplanted each year for liver disease due to hepatitis C. With the cost per liver transplantation in the range of $280,000 for one year, liver transplantation for hepatitis C alone reaches a cost of nearly $300 million per year.
Moreover, the average lifetime cost for hepatitis C, in the absence of liver transplant, has been estimated to be about $100,000 for individual patients. Assuming that 80% of the 4.5 million Americans believed to be infected develop chronic liver disease, the total lifetime cost for this group (3.6 million) will be a staggering $360 billion in today's dollars. Assuming an estimated survival of 40 years, the annual health care costs for the affected U.S. population with chronic hepatitis C may be as high as $9 billion.


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HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS — For those of you old enough and bold enough to admit it, Inside Stuff was your gateway to the NBA growing up.
Long before NBA TV and League Pass, before mobile apps and smart phones, there was Inside Stuff on Saturday mornings to help feed your insatiable appetite for all things NBA (yes, Ahmad Rashad was the man of the hour on Saturday mornings during our formative years).
Kristen Ledlow, the new co-host of Inside Stuff with Grant Hill, is doing her best to bring that feeling back for the next generation of NBA lovers.
She drops by for her first visit to the hideout on Episode 138 of the Hang Time Podcast, where we discuss everything from Kobe Bryant's return to practice with the Los Angeles Lakers, the work LeBron James is putting in without Dwyane Wade in the lineup for the Miami Heat, the simultaneous meltdowns by both the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets, the players' only team meeting in Cleveland and plenty of news, notes and observations from around the NBA.
You get all of that — not to mention the latest edition of Sounds of The Game and this week's update of Braggin' Rights (there is a tie at the top that does not involve Lang Whitaker) — on Episode 138 of the Hang Time Podcast featuring Inside Stuff Co-Host Kristen Ledlow:
As always, we welcome your feedback. You can follow the entire crew, including the Hang Time Podcast, co-hosts Sekou Smith of NBA.com, Lang Whitaker of NBA.com's All-Ball Blog and renaissance man Rick Fox of NBA TV, as well as our new super producer Gregg (just like Popovich) Waigand and the best engineer in the business, Jarell "I Heart Peyton Manning" Wall.
– To download the podcast, click here. To subscribe via iTunes, click here, or get the xml feed if you want to subscribe some other, less iTunes-y way.


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Let us consider a sequence of real valued functions of real variable $x$, defined as
$f_n = g_n\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\;\;$ when $ a \leq x < b $
$f_n = g_n + \frac{1}{n}\;\;\;\;\;$ when $ b \leq x \leq c $
let each $g_n$ be continuous. Thus, each $f_n$ is piecewise continuous, with a "step" of height $\frac{1}{n}$ at $x=b$.
Let us now suppose that the sequence of the $g_n's$ is uniformly convergent on $[a, c] $. Then, also the $f_n's$ are uniformly convergent on $[a, c] $(said it roughly, because the height of the "steps" vanishes as $n \rightarrow \infty$).
This is a very simple example of a sequence of discontinuous functions (although piecewise continuous) uniformly converging to a limit function which is continuous on the whole of the domain $ a \leq x \leq c $.
In fact, one might even think of a similar sequence of functions, whereby also the position $b$ of the discontinuity is made to depend on $n$. It would still be converging uniformly to the same continuous limit function.
I have not had much success when trying to find literature on similar results and-or examples applicable to analytic complex valued functions of complex variable. This is for me interesting because in general, when switching to analytic functions, the corresponding theorems on uniform convergence becomes much more powerful.
I am particularly interested in the following question:
are there versions of Osgood and Vitali type of theorems for uniformly convergent "piecewise analytic" functions?
and also a different question, this related to uniform convergence on boundaries:
would a sequence of piecewise analytic functions that converges uniformly on the finite length boundary of a closed domain always converge uniformly to an analytic limit function in the domain itself?


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Featured News - Current News - Archived News - News Categories
The following is a sampling of calls received by the Town of Niagara Police Department between Dec. 3 and 10. During that time period, 168 calls were received.
Monday, Dec. 3
•1900 block of Military Road, larceny. An Ontario man reported leaving his wallet on a bench inside the mall. Mall security found the victim's wallet in the men's restroom. The only thing missing was $64 in cash.
•Kay Ellen Drive, suspicious vehicle. Investigating a report of a suspicious vehicle, patrol found the driver who said he was taking his dog for a walk in the woods and was now on his way home.
Tuesday, Dec. 4
•Niagara Falls Boulevard and Tuscarora Road, check the welfare. Report of a woman, possibly in the roadway. Patrol found a woman sitting on a bench waiting for a bus, who appeared to be talking to herself, but not in danger.
•2500 block of Military Road, larceny. Patrol arrested a 45-year-old Pierce Avenue woman for shoplifting two ear-hair trimmers, cough syrup and a blouse. Recovered merchandise was valued at $53.86.
Wednesday, Dec. 5
•1900 Military Road, larceny. Complainant reported a shoplifter exited the store with a pair of Prada sunglasses valued at $280 and a pair of Armani sunglasses valued at $190.
•7100 block of Laur Road, EMS. Ill male. Rural Metro Ambulance transported to Mount St. Mary's Hospital and Health Center.
•Military Road, drug charge. A 39-year-old Bellreng Drive man was stopped for speeding and having a cracked windshield; was found to have revoked license; was in possession of acetaminophen and hydrocodone pills and a baggie of suspected marijuana; and had an active arrest warrant out of Lockport.
Thursday, Dec. 6
•Military Road, traffic arrest. A driver flagged down patrol and said he was sideswiped by another driver. Patrol found the driver in question who said she looked back to talk to her son in the back seat when she struck the other car. She said that driver continued to drive, so she was on her way home when stopped by patrol.
•4700 Chester Avenue, harassment. Complainant said her ex-boyfriend left a harassing message and a picture of himself naked on her cell phone.
Friday, Dec. 7
•Service Road, check situation. Caller reported she saw a pile of hay and skinned animals. Patrol observed the hide of a coyote in the field.
•Military Road, unlawful possession of marijuana. A19-year-old Creekside Parkway male was arrested after a traffic stop when marijuana was found inside the center armrest of his vehicle.
•2000 block of Tuscarora Road, suspicious person. Homeowner said an older man in a black Pontiac stopped in front of her residence and took photos, as he has done several times previously in recent months.
Saturday, Dec. 8
•3100 block of Woodland Avenue, animal problem. Caller complained of a dog barking outside for more than an hour. Owner advised to bring dog in for the night.
•2500 block of Military Road, larceny. A 24-year-old Elsa Place man was arrested for shoplifting a $79.99 drill. In another incident a 29-year-old Pierce Avenue woman was arrested for shoplifting a pair of men's sneakers, leaving an old pair in the box. She said she was on mental health medications, which affected her decision.
•5900 block of Hyde Park Boulevard, aid assist. Patrol assisted Lewiston Police on a report of an elderly male with dementia who was in possession of a handgun.
Sunday, Dec. 9
•I-190 South, traffic ticket. Ticket issued for failure to move over for an emergency vehicle roadside with emergency lights activated.
•1900 block of Military Road, vandalism. An Ontario resident reported someone smashed out a window of his vehicle while it was parked outside the mall and took two men's winter jackets and a passport.
Monday, Dec. 10
•5200 block of Sweet Home Road, larceny. Caller reported someone stole an inflatable snow globe that was in her front yard.
•1500 block of Military Road, larceny. A business representative reported that while he was helping another customer, a man about 20 to 25 years old took two pairs of wireless headphones and left the store.


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If a marriage has been registered in Ontario, you can apply for this certificate online quickly, simply and securely.
Please note: The marriage must be registered in Ontario to use this service.
To apply for your marriage certificate, you will need:
This website is provided for your convenience. If you'd prefer to call or email, my staff and I would be happy to hear from you.


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Description:Dell PE PERC H310 6Gb/s Dual Port PCI ExpressSATA/SAS Full Height RAID Controller Adapter CardFor Dell PowerEdge T320 T420 T620 R820 ServersPart Number(s)
Dell Part# 03P0R3
Dell Part# HV52W
Dell Part# 3P0R3
Dell Part# 0HV52W
Overview:The Dell PowerEdge PERC H310 RAID Controller is for select 12th Generation Dell Servers. It is a low-cost, Green RAID solution for High-density, entry level servers. It works with SATA or SAS Hard Drives and SSD, and has a data transfer rate of up to 6Gb/s per port. A unique feature of the PERC H310 is its ability to seamlessly migrate to other PERC product lines. Simply plug in a new controller to recognize and import the existing array without any reconfiguration. 6Gb/s SAS is designed for backward compatibility with 3Gb/s SAS and 3Gb/s SATA Hard Drives. This controller is designed to be installed in an open PCI-Slot.


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Frank McCarthy, the artist who was called upon to render a realistic picture of the crucial training-camp grudge fight for [author Bill] Cox's story, had only the experience of a few informal boyhood fights in Scarsdale, New York, to give him proper background.
"In my teens I was mostly a sailor," he recalls. "I took part in a lot of races and I sketched and painted everything I saw. After studying at the Art Students Legue and Pratt Institute I worked as a messenger boy and apprentice artist and gradually moved up to illustration.
"Then I made a 14,000 mile trip around the country, taking photos and sketching - all the way from New Orleans to California, Lake Louis to Yellowstone, and Montreal to Florida. The pictures and drawinga are invaluable to me now in my work.
"But I guess I owe my career to my grammar school, a progressive place where they taught me to print, not write. Somehow that got me started drawing. Furthermore, we never were made to study, so I had plenty of time."
From Collier's Credits, May 27, 1955
Celebrating illustration, design, cartoon and comic art of the mid-20th century.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
The Crowd Pleaser
4 comments:
I'm very happy that you're enjoying this week's scans, Joe. You can find full size versions of all these images in my Frank McCarthy Flickr set. Just click on the "All Sizes" tab above each image and choose the largest size. ;-)ReplyDelete
I'm really enjoying your blog, Leif!ReplyDelete
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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RICHARDSON, Texas (June 10, 2005) – Scientists at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) NanoTech Institute, together with an Australian collaborator, were honored this week at an international conference in Frankfurt, Germany, for their breakthrough in spinning carbon nanofibers into multifunctional yarns that demonstrate remarkable properties and have many promising potential applications.
At a gathering on Monday of more than 20,000 scientists, technologists and industrialists from around the world, the scientists were presented the New Materials Innovation Prize of the Avantex International Forum for Innovative Textiles. The advance for which they were honored involved assembling untold trillions of nanosize fibers into strong, tough, electronically conducting yarns that hold promise for such diverse applications as electronic textiles, artificial muscles, anti-ballistic vests, supercapacitors, fuel cells and wires connecting to neurons in damaged limbs. This major award recognizes the scientific and technological importance of the breakthrough in downsizing ancient technology of wool and cotton spinning to the nanoscale.
The breakthrough resulted from an unusual collaboration involving UTD nanotechnologists Dr. Mei Zhang and Dr. Ray H. Baughman and a noted expert in wool spinning, Dr. Ken Atkinson of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), an Australian national laboratory. The world first learned of the results of their work when they published a paper in the Nov. 19, 2004, issue of the prestigious journal, Science. Their more recent work is in enabling process upscale, optimizing properties, expanding applications opportunities and understanding fundamental scientific aspects – and that work has been dramatically accelerated by the efforts of Dr. Shaoli Fang, a research scientist at UTD, and Dr. Anvar Zakhidov, associate director of the UTD NanoTech Institute.
While individual nanotubes are well known to have remarkable properties, they are like minute bits of string, and many trillions of these invisible nanotubes must be assembled in a fraction of a second to make useful yarn, according to Baughman, a co-inventor of the technology and Robert A. Welch Professor of Chemistry at UTD and director of the UTD NanoTech Institute.
"We accomplish this by a novel solid-state spinning process, so restrictions on nanotube length and corresponding yarn properties for wet spinning processes can be avoided," he explained.
The nanotubes in the yarns, comprising seamless cylinders of carbon arrayed like rings in a tree trunk, are many thousands of times thinner than a human hair.
Pending patents, co-owned by UTD and CSIRO, describe the nanotube yarn spinning process and applications in artificial muscles, protective clothing, thermal heat pipes, sensors, electron field emitters, ultra-high intensity lamps, displays, structural composites, supercapacitors, batteries, fuel cells and electronic textiles. These and related pending patents in the nanotechnology area will be offered for license in November.
The research that led to the New Materials Innovation Prize was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, an agency of the United States Department of Defense, NASA, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Texas Advanced Technology Program, the Robert A. Welch Foundation and the Strategic Partnership for Research in Nanotechnology (SPRING).
About UTD
The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor ®, enrolls more than 14,000 students. The school's freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UTD, please visit the university's web site at www.utdallas.edu.


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HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS — As soon as Phil Jackson accepts the most challenging mission of his professional career, running basketball operations for the New York Knicks, the rest of us can get back to normal.
Any day now PJax, we do have a regular season to finish here Zen master.
Good luck to anyone trying to figure out how having Jackson on board helps fix a Knicks team that is saddled with bad assets through the end of the 2014-15 season, a superstar, Carmelo Anthony, some believing is eyeing his escape route and a head coach in Mike Woodson who has repeatedly been undercut?
There are, of course, some $15 million reasons for Jackson to come out of quasi-retirement to take the job. But it's still a seemingly impossible task, fixing the Knicks.
We do our best to sort it all out on Episode 151 of the Hang Time Podcast featuring Tina Cervasio of MSG Network.
We also have the latest installment of "Are You Kidding Me?" featuring special guest debater and Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas, filling in this week for fellow Hall of Famer Reggie Miller, squaring off with the Dean of Discipline Stu Jackson. They tackle LeBron's black mask and the "one and done" rule and whether or not it harms the NBA game.
And someone had a perfect run in this week's edition of Braggin' Rights.
Check out all of that and more on Episode 151 of the Hang Time Podcast Featuring Tina Cervasio of MSG Network …
As always, we welcome your feedback. You can follow the entire crew, including the Hang Time Podcast, co-hosts Sekou Smith of NBA.com, Lang Whitaker of NBA.com's All-Ball Blog and renaissance man Rick Fox of NBA TV, as well as our new super producer Gregg (just like Popovich) Waigand and the best engineer in the business, Jarell "I Heart Peyton Manning" Wall.
– To download the podcast, click here. To subscribe via iTunes, click here, or get the xml feed if you want to subscribe some other, less iTunes-y way.


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San Jose Earthquakes at FC Dallas
5:30 p.m. PT at FC Dallas Stadium, Frisco, Texas.
Television: CSN California
Radio: 1590 KLIV (English - CLICK TO LISTEN), 1370 KZSF (Spanish - CLICK TO LISTEN)
FC Dallas Scouting Report
FC Dallas (7-2-3, 24 pts.) currently tied for for first in the Western Conference with the New York Red Bulls, saw their undefeated streak come to an end last weekend. Dropping a 4-2 result at the Seattle Sounders, the club saw their first defeat since March 10. FC Dallas remains unbeaten at home this season, a streak lasting since July 28, 2012.
Of Note
- FC Dallas last defeated the Earthquakes on June 5, 2010. The Earthquakes have won three of the last six meetings, with three resulting in a draw.
- Earthquakes defeated FC Dallas in the last two of their three matches last year, with Alan Gordon scoring in both for the Earthquakes. The first match resulted in a draw between the clubs.
Social Media
@SJEarthquakes – Official account of the San Jose Earthquakes (#SJEarthquakes)
@QuakesMatchday – Follow for live updates on game days
MLS MatchDay 2013 – The official Major League Soccer app, providing up-to-the-minute score updates, in-game highlights, news and more.
For Apple iPhone and iPad: Click here
For Android phones and tablets: Click here
Places to Watch
Jack's Bar
167 E Taylor St.
San Jose, CA 95112
(408) 287-5225
Jack's Neighborhood Bar & Lounge
Almaden and Downtown Britannia Arms
173 W Santa Clara St.
San Jose, CA 95113
(408) 278-1400
Britannia Arms
The Mmoon Empanadas
177 W Santa Clara St.
San Jose, CA 95113
(408) 278-1400
The Mmoon Empanadas
Wicked Chicken
2565 The Alameda.
Santa Clara, CA 95050
(408) 246-9464
Wicked Chicken Wings
Danny Coyle's
668 Haight St.
San Francisco, CA 94117
(415) 558-8375
Danny Coyle's
Fiddler's Green
1333 Columbus Ave.
San Francisco, CA
(415) 441-9758


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After working off-schedule - and often under the radar - for many years, Emilio De La Morena is a name gaining recognition. His brief, body-conscious dresses in primary brights have sold out of Browns for winter, French Vogue's editrix Carine Roitfeld has ordered pieces, and this season marked his first on-schedule outing at London Fashion Week. Understandably, with everything going right, De La Morena didn't want to rock the boat for S/S 2010. The work of Annette Messager was ostensible inspiration behind the collection: less inspiration than excuse to trick out those bestselling bodycon frocks with slightly softer folds, drapes and tucks of fabric. The collection revolved around taut, short dresses - only one skirt grazed the knees, and even trousers came out legging-tight. Double-peplums were layered over skirts in georgette, while chiffon fluttered behind short asymmetric dresses fluttering with fluted chiffon hems and dotted with marbling to resemble sea creatures. Whether women are willing to look like jellyfish - even super-short slipstreamed chiffon ones - is perhaps a rhetorical question (one both posed and answered in the nineties by Thierry Mugler moreover). Regardless of this hitch, the niggles and bumps in De La Morena's aesthetic have by and large been ironed out - this polished collection could easily have sat on a New York or Paris catwalk. Perhaps that was part of the problem - the clothes had airs of Balenciaga, Preen and Helmut Lang in their collages of pleats, frills and ribbed chiffon, but none of the excitement of the new we have come to demand of London. They weren't bad a second time around - indeed the collection was accomplished, and should secure De La Morena's place on schedule for next season - but overall, you were left inexplicably wanting more from this reserved and ultimately restricted offering.
London Womenswear S/S 10
Emilio De La Morena
Show Report
The clothes had airs of Balenciaga, Preen and Helmut Lang, but none of the excitement of the new we have come to demand of London


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Need for Speed Rivals Trailer: Enemies Take to the Streets
The new story trailer for Need for Speed Rivals gives us the rundown on the intensifying rivalry between the racers and the cops.
It's a tale as old as time: racers speed around the roads and the cops try to stop them by any means necessary. In Need for Speed Rivals, this old rivalry flares up and now both sides want to send a message to the other.
The stakes have changed and now you're going to experience a more rough-and-tumble ride unlike anything you've seen before. Cops will be more rabid, rules will be broken and your tires will probably melt.
Watch the trailer above and get ready to hit the roads on Nov. 19 on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The next-gen versions will launch on Nov. 22.


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Blackstone Group LP hired former senior Boeing Co executive Jim Albaugh to boost the firm's private equity activities in the aerospace and defense sector.
The hiring of Albaugh, who most recently served as chief executive and president of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, could help put Blackstone on the map as a major investor in the sector, which has been led by rival private equity firm Carlyle Group LP .
Continue Reading Below
Blackstone said in a statement on Thursday that Albaugh, as a senior adviser to the firm, will also advise other businesses and clients across Blackstone's platforms.
Albaugh, 62, retired from Boeing in October. In a 37-year career there, he also headed Boeing's defense and space businesses before moving to commercial airplanes.
The New York-based alternative asset manager is building its strength in the industry at a time when defense companies are cutting capacity in response to budget cuts and sequestration, and commercial aerospace parts suppliers are trying to keep up with record production of jets by Boeing and Airbus.
Private equity companies can help the transformation, and Albaugh's experience in defense, commercial airplanes and space could help Blackstone identify opportunities in all these industry sectors, said Tom Captain, vice chairman at Deloitte, focused on aerospace and defense.
"The fact that a very large private equity company is hiring an aerospace and defense veteran speaks volumes as to what opportunities there may be in investing in the aerospace industry," Captain said.
"Clearly the guys at Carlyle are incredibly astute and successful. They have lots of experience in the sector," said Ken Herbert, analyst at Imperial Capital in San Francisco.
"Blackstone wasn't as strong. This puts them in the game."
Among the private equity firms active in the aerospace and defense sector, Carlyle is seen as a formidable competitor.
It owned Vought Aircraft Industries Inc, which made parts for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, and invested in other aerospace companies that include Aviall Inc, Avio SpA and Wesco Aircraft Holdings. Its aerospace investment activities have been spearheaded by Adam Palmer, a former Lehman Brothers investment banker who has been with Carlyle since 1996.
In 2009, Boeing agreed to buy the Vought facility in South Carolina where Dreamliner fuselage sections were made. That facility now houses Boeing's second production line for the 787.
(Reporting by Soyoung Kim and Alwyn Scott in New York, additional reporting by Greg Roumeliotis)


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An IUCN-organised consultation meeting on Dec. 4 – 5 allowed experts to consider possibilities for conserving Viet Nam's wetlands through a Payment for Environmental Services (PES) mechanism.
IUCN, through the Wetlands Education Network of Viet Nam (WENVN), partnered with the Can Gio protection forest management board to organise the meeting in Can Gio District, Ho Chi Minh City, to identify options for a PES system for the nation's wetlands, and specifically for Can Gio's mangroves.
The WENVN contributes to the management, conservation and sustainable use of wetlands in Viet Nam through education, awareness and communications activities. It does so partly by creating a forum where organisations can share information on wetlands conservation, this time about PES.
PES is a resource management tactic that aims to put the environmental benefits of a given ecosystem on par with other remunerative uses by giving those services a market value.
It requires the beneficiaries of a given ecosystem, who receive services like clean water, fisheries, disaster mitigation or ecotourism opportunities, to compensate local communities and others who are responsible for maintaining ecosystems. As such, it acknowledges the role people play in protecting ecosystems and provides them with an incentive to do so, rather than exploiting the environment for short-term economic gain.
IUCN helped pioneer PES in Viet Nam, by assisting the government in drafting the Law on Biodiversity containing a related article.
The consultation meeting introduced the concept of PES to stakeholders in Can Gio. About 40 participants from government agencies, academic institutions, tour companies, conservation groups and the media heard presentations on services the local mangrove forests provide, and discussed who benefits from those services, as well as which groups are in the best position to protect them.
After learning about PES implementation in the United States and in a pilot project in Viet Nam's Lam Dong province, participants analysed the applicability of PES in Can Gio.
Participants said they expect the findings from the consultative workshop to contribute considerably to efforts to identify options and craft proposals for suitable and effective PES mechanisms for wetlands in Viet Nam. Specifically, IUCN VN is planning to draft concept notes on a pilot PES project in Can Gio Protection Forest.
For more information, contact Ms. Tran Minh Phuong, at [email protected].


text:
Civic and community leaders Ann and David Hicks were honored by the University of North Florida last month when UNF Hall was dedicated to them and its named changed to Hicks Hall. "Both David and Ann have a long history of dynamic leadership and unselfish support to Northeast Florida, the state and the nation," said UNF President John A. Delaney. "It's an honor to have a building at UNF named after two such outstanding philanthropists."David Hicks, a Jacksonville business executive, joined mortgage banker Stockton, Whatley, Davin & Company (SWD) in Jacksonville. Recognizing the opportunity of the mortgage software industry, he became a partner at C & S Services, an affiliate of SWD, in 1967. He raised initial capital of $18,000 and incorporated the firm as Computer Power, Inc. two years later. David served as chairman, CEO and president for the next 25 years. Over the years, he grew the firm to become the leading supplier of software and services to the mortgage industry, processing $1.3 trillion in mortgages — 43 percent of all U.S. mortgages at the time. In 1992, the firm was sold to publicly traded ALLTEL Corporation, and he retired from the company in 1995. Following the sale, David chaired several other highly successful start-up enterprises, including Alliance Mortgage Company (now EverBank), Enterprise National Bank and a U.K.-based self-storage business.While enjoying a successful career building and growing companies, David and his wife, Ann, are also deeply involved in leading and supporting local community organizations. David is credited with turning around the Jacksonville Housing Authority (JHA), where he served as chairman for seven years after his retirement from CPI. He used his entrepreneurial instincts to have the JHA partner with the local Habitat for Humanity affiliate, both of which he chaired. His vision for a public-private partnership in Jacksonville to eliminate substandard housing and foster home ownership has resulted in the construction of more than 1,400 new Habitat homes since 1994. As a result, HabiJax is the largest and most successful Habitat affiliate in the United States.David also serves on the board of Habitat for Humanity International and The United Way. Throughout the years, he has supported and served in leadership capacities on the board of many other organizations, including The Smithsonian Natural History Museum, The Deette Holden Cummer Museum Foundation, the UNF Foundation, the Jacksonville Community Council, Inc., the Jacksonville Symphony and the Boys and Girls Clubs.Additionally, David and Ann originated the idea of the Pathways to Success Scholarship program. This innovative program, which he and Ann generously funded, provides a way for students in HabiJax and public housing to attend UNF. The program's initial goal was a $10 million endowment to fund scholarships. With David's leadership, it succeeded in securing more than $15 million in donations from over 30 donors in Florida.Ann, a 1994 graduate of UNF, has made significant leadership contributions to UNF as a member of the University's first Board of Trustees and the Foundation Board. She is also greatly involved in providing scholarship assistance. Ann established the Gray Scholarship Program in honor of Rev. Neil Gray, an Episcopal priest and UNF adjunct instructor who made a deep impression on her while studying for her second bachelor's degree. She also has been active in the community, serving on boards of the Jacksonville Public Library, HabiJax, the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens and The Bolles School. At the dedication ceremony Ann and David expressed their gratitude. "This is the most amazing, most surprising and most humbling thing that has ever happened to us," Ann Hicks told the assembled guests. "David and I are so proud to be identified with this University and it is particularly significant to us that every prospective UNF student will walk through the doors of this hall. For us, our children and our grandchildren, we thank you for honoring us. You have created a legacy for our entire family."
Hicks Hall was once a call center for AOL, but the company shed the facility shortly after it was finished due to the dot.com bubble bursting. President Delaney quickly saw the opportunity for expansion and UNF purchased the property. The 135,000 square-foot facility soon became the gateway for students arriving on campus. It now houses Admissions, Financial Aid and the One-Stop Student Services. As thousands of new UNF students enter Hicks Hall in the coming years, they will see a display explaining the role of these two outstanding civic leaders. The final sentences contained on the dedication plaque on the building will allow them to gain appreciation for two donors who carved out a path to academic success for scores of students:Their outstanding leadership and generous philanthropic support have made UNF a better university while transforming the lives of students and alumni for generations to come.
Any university is only as
good as the promises it keeps. The University of North Florida student
experience should live up to the one depicted in its viewbook, the one
discussed during a campus tour and the one depicted on Facebook and Twitter. Today's prospective students and their parents are savvy.
They expect to see the same things on campus as they have in all the promotional pieces and online.
The promises a college or
university makes are not limited to the ones stated during the recruiting
process. The promises made are evident in every conversation, every meeting and every written document. Every interaction that a current or future student,
family member, faculty, staff, alumni, donor or stakeholder has with UNF is a
promise made and an opportunity to keep it.
The University of North
Florida is no different. That is why when it engaged Stamats Communications,
Inc., a higher education market research firm, to conduct an opinion survey on its
behalf in October 2011, University leadership was eager to learn what the
public thought UNF was getting right. The results of that survey, which were
generally very positive, led to another set of questions.
"It was interesting to learn
that more than 85 percent of the people in the five-county area really like
UNF," said UNF Vice President
and Chief of Staff Tom Serwatka. "But they could not tell say why. That provided
the perfect opportunity to determine what it is we wanted to be known
for in our own community and beyond."
The survey turned up
many interesting statistics. Sixty-one percent named UNF as a
top-of-mind college or university. UNF also rated quite well in terms of
quality of campus buildings and environment, academic variety and reputation
and for providing programs relevant to the community. And those survey
respondents who were familiar with UNF rated its commitment to the Northeast
Florida region as very high. Sixty-four percent who were considering attending
a college were considering UNF. And if they were not considering attending — or
had already attended a college — 65 percent would recommend UNF to someone
else. So UNF knew there were many positives from which it could draw to help
define itself for its various constituencies.
UNF administrators decided a brand
promise would help it stand out from other colleges and universities. Four brand promises were created and tested via a web-based survey among
30,000 current and prospective students, alumni, faculty, staff, donors and
The initial results came back
pretty evenly split between two of the brand promises, with different groups
identifying heavily with separate parts of the promises. The best of both were
combined and determined that the following brand promise was something with
which everyone could not only readily identify, but could use to inspire and
guide day-to-day interactions with one another, the faculty, staff and
UNF, a nationally ranked university located
on an environmentally beautiful campus, offers students who are dedicated to
enriching the lives of others the opportunity to build their own futures
through a well-rounded education.
"This is a statement that students, faculty and staff can live up to each day," said UNF Vice President
and Chief of Staff Tom Serwatka. "We already are. The proof points are many,
and in the coming weeks, we will be identifying brand ambassadors from the
University community who will help us communicate the promise through words and
The University is now taking
this opportunity to make its communities aware of the brand promise and to use
it as a filter for its significant decisions, publications and conversations
about UNF.
"It is a way for us to
establish this University as one of the preeminent destination institutions in
the southeast by delivering on what we promise," said John Yancey, UNF's
director of Admissions. "At UNF, we give our students a world-class education
by providing hands-on transformational learning opportunities with professors
who actually teach — the brand promise is a way to get that message out in the
community through our actions and words."
The recent
false report of a sexual assault at the new Student Wellness Complex left many
students, faculty, staff and community members worrying about campus safety at
the University of North Florida.
reality of the situation, however, is that UNF has experienced double-digit
drops in crime percentages during the past three years, making it consistently
one of the safest universities in Florida. A false report of a serious crime should
be viewed as an aberration that hardly reflects UNF's high level of campus
safety, said University Police Department Deputy Chief Mark Richardson.
Campus safer than ever
The steady
crime percentage drop-off over the past three years can be attributed in part to
UPD's increased focus on intelligence-led policing, which involves the
department working in concert with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office,
Richardson said. The Sheriff's Office's has shown UPD crime data analysis
techniques that officers use to target potential areas of concern and
effectively manage resources.
instance, the UPD is in the midst of cracking down on skateboard theft — one of
the more prevalent campus crimes. Richardson didn't want to elaborate on how
UPD is targeting skateboard thieves, but he said their intelligence-led
policing efforts have given officers insight into what locations to cover.
key focus has been placed on stopping parking decal theft. After spotting a
trend in the theft of parking passes, Chief John Dean and the rest of UPD
pushed hard for a move to stick-on parking decals that are harder to steal. And
while it might seem elementary, UPD officers have been working diligently to
stress the importance of locking car doors and keeping an eye on personal
belongings to students.
"Most of
the crimes on campus that we've encountered have been crimes of opportunity —
someone leaves their car door unlocked, another person sees something valuable
inside and takes it without having to break in to the car," Richardson said.
"These are avoidable instances, and we've been trying to educate the entire
campus community about the need to be aware of their surroundings and not leave
their items unattended."
said keeping the campus safe all comes down to a few core principles advocated
by Chief Dean and demonstrated by UPD — visibility, prevention and enforcement.
Services for students in need
Not all
students, however, have emergencies or issues that can be solved through
conscientious and dedicated law enforcement.
There are multiple
free, confidential and on-campus services for students who are feeling
distressed or overwhelmed. These services are repercussion-free, unlike filing
a false crime report, which includes a criminal charge.
The University
Counseling Center and the Women's Center both offer free appointments with
trained professionals skilled at communicating with students struggling with the
rigors of academic or personal life.
Spivey, director of the Women's Center, said students can receive emotional
support and intervention services 24-hours a day without even giving a name by
calling in to the campus crisis line at (904) 620-1010. Operators are trained
to explain victim rights, the process of meeting with law-enforcement officers
and suggest health-care services if needed.
"We always
make sure to let our students know that crisis doesn't occur on schedule,"
Spivey said.
Dr. Rene
Monteagudo, director of the Counseling Center, said the center is available to
all students, at any time, free-of-charge. Students can request appointments
with trained mental health specialists and participate in group programs that
offer emotional support for those in need. Accessibility is of the utmost
importance, and Monteagudo said the center is there to help students navigate
any of the difficulties that crop up in a university setting.
first-year students, moving on campus and, navigating all that independence, it
puts serious demands on their schedules and activates a lot of stressors," he
said. "Being away from home and parents, making decisions for themselves — if
they had problems before they could become exacerbated. For instance, these false
reports we've had recently could be products of someone feeling cornered or
desperate. It's a desperate solution that doesn't involve thinking through the
ramifications. My message would be to come to the Counseling Center if you're
feeling distressed instead of making a hasty decision. We're here for anyone
and everyone."
1,000 First Coast residents every year suffer a sudden cardiac arrest. If
immediate medical intervention, such as bystander CPR, isn't provided quickly,
the survival rate hovers around a 5 percent.
& Shands Jacksonville and the University of North Florida are looking to increase
those odds.
group of almost 50 pre-internship class students from the Brooks College of
Health, led by UNF professor Julie Merten, went through a training program in
mid-October designed to introduce them to hands-only bystander CPR, which
focuses solely on the compression aspect of traditional CPR.
said the recent training class is the start of a collaborative initiative
between the UF & Shands Jacksonville Bystander CPR Committee and UNF. The
goal is to train at least 8,000 UNF students, faculty and staff in hands-only
bystander CPR.
Joseph Sabato, an emergency physician at UF & Shands and chair of the Bystander
CPR Committee, said that the training for hands-only bystander CPR is
simple and quick to learn, but the benefits are extensive and wide reaching. He
said that the mouth-to-mouth part of CPR
doesn't boost survival rates and fewer than 50 percent of bystanders are
willing to even do mouth-to-mouth. Following that logic, compression-only CPR
is being touted as an easy and effective way to boost the survival for sudden
cardiac arrest patients. Communities that are actively implementing this
initiative have dramatically higher survival rates — almost two to four times
is of the essence when it comes to intervening in sudden cardiac arrest cases,"
he said. "If there is a person around who knows hands-only bystander CPR, that can
easily mean the difference between life and death. Based on our estimates, we
can save 100 lives in Northeast Florida in the coming year through the
knowledge offered by these programs. We've been working to spread this
knowledge to different groups in the community, and this UNF class is the
largest community outreach that we've done so far."
Shands Jacksonville staff, including Sabato, trained Professor Merten's pre-Internship
Community Health class using life-like mannequins and a brief instructional
Hall, a senior Community Health student who works as a nurse for Brooks Health,
said the hands-only bystander CPR training was a useful skill to add to her
professional toolbox. The experience, however, was applicable to all of the
students in the class.
is a skill that anyone would want to possess," Hall said. "It's easy to learn
and easy to use, and you can help save someone's life. To be able to be among
the first groups to try it means UNF will be ahead of the curve when it comes
to the health and safety of the people on campus."
said the students were divided into groups toward the end of the demonstration.
These teams of students will be responsible for training an additional 500 to
750 UNF students and faculty in hands-only bystander CPR before the end of this
semester. UF & Shands will be providing training mannequins for each of the
groups and hands-only bystander CPR instruction pocket cards for all those
trained by the students.
ultimate goal of the UF & Shands Bystander CPR Initiative is to train
80,000 First Coast residents in this life-saving method. wThe participation of
UNF will be a vital part of that total, as Merten said she wants to educate as
many people on the UNF campus as possible about the life-saving benefits of
hands-only bystander CPR.
is an experience to talk about and to share with anyone and everyone on
campus," Merten said. "The benefits of this are huge, and the students in my
class are learning valuable skills they can put on a resume at the same time.
This level of community engagement and opportunity for hands-on learning and
training is what UNF is all about, so it makes sense to pair up with a group
that feels the same way about getting the community involved."
videogame developer and academic, Dr. Ian Bogost, debuts his next
thought-provoking and irreverent interactive experience in November as part of
his eponymous Project Atrium exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, a
cultural resource of the University of North Florida.
latest work, "Simony," will explore the question of
buying versus earning achievement and will be unveiled Nov. 17. How
important is winning — and being seen as the winner — to the player? Named
after the practice, now usually
regarded as a sin, of buying or selling spiritual
or Church
benefits like pardons or relics, the game
requires players to ascend a dais and
earn — or purchase — their way to the top of a leaderboard projected on the
wall. A round in the game consists of the device
lighting up one or more buttons in a random order, after which the player must
press the buttons to reproduce that same order. The
raised platform, the illuminated manuscript style of the game, and the auditory
experience of the lutes and chants while being played enhance the
cathedral-like atmosphere of the Haskell Atrium Gallery. Bogost's allusion to
museum context as a basilica and the use of the iPad as an interface further
highlight similarities to how society worships religion, art and technology.
be on-site at the museum installing the work during the first two weeks of
November, accompanied by a free lecture about his work and career at 2 p.m.,
Saturday, Nov. 17.
"Ian Bogost is one of the foremost
scholars and designers of games and game theory," said MOCA Director Marcelle
Polednik. "His analysis and the games he designs frequently push buttons. On
the surface, his games appear deceivingly simple, but through their disarming
simplicity they address very complex and relevant social and political issues,
frequently in satirical ways. Ian is harnessing these approaches to both
reflect on and deploy the new media of today to highlight timely topics and
issues to a wider audience."
a game designer, he makes games for political, social, educational, and
artistic uses, and his previous videogames have covered topics as varied as
airport security, disaffected workers, the petroleum industry, suburban
errands, and tort reform. In "Fatworld," players
are charged with managing a diet-and-exercise regimen on a limited budget. "Bacteria
Salad" requires the player to grow and sell tomatoes and spinach
as quickly as possible while containing E.
coli outbreaks, and the game ends when too many people begin to
defecate violently. In one of Bogost's sentimental favorites, "Disaffected!,"
surly Kinko's employees struggle to fill orders for angry customers.
games have been played by millions of people and exhibited or collected at
venues across the globe. When he isn't writing, crafting videogames, or being a
guest on "The Colbert Report," Bogost is the Ivan Allen College Distinguished
Chair in Media Studies and Professor of Interactive Computing at the Georgia
Institute of Technology and founding partner at Persuasive Games, LLC.
Name: Cathy
Public Relations
title: Director, Marketing and Publications
do you do? I wear several hats at UNF. First and foremost,
I work with all campus departments to help market the University of North
Florida and its programs, faculty, staff and students to the rest of the world.
I am also the editor of Inside, the faculty and staff eCommunication (the
publication you are reading right now), the alumni Journal and I am one of the
trained crisis communications officers for the University. I also teach a
section of a writing class for the Communication department at UNF, which has
proven to be challenging and really inspiring all at the same time.
at UNF: 2
us about your family. I have been married to my husband,
Jeff, for three years. He is from England, and when I married him, I gained
three great stepsons, Levi, 22, Rylan, 20, and Dexter 18. My daughters are
Kirstie, 20, and Madeline, 9. Kirstie lives and goes to school in the Nashville
area, and Mads runs Palencia Elementary School — well, technically, she is just
in the fourth grade there, but don't tell her that. I also have a 14-year-old
Rottweiller who is really my favorite. We are like the Brady Bunch — minus Jan.
But that is OK because no one liked her anyway.
you could choose any other career, what would it be and why?
Hands down, I would be in guest
services at Disney World. And if you have ever met me, you would know that is
the perfect job for me.
would you like to do when you retire?
I work for the state. I am probably
not ever going to be able to retire. But if I win the lottery one day, my
husband and I have plans to buy a villa in Tuscany and annoy the natives with
our horrible Italian.
is your favorite thing about working at UNF?
This one is easy. The people. They
is the best thing you ever won?
I kid you not. I won a four-day,
three-night all-expenses paid trip to Graceland. My then-husband made me trade
it in for the cash. $300. Do you see why he is my ex-husband? It was GRACELAND.
band(s)/musician(s) would perform the soundtrack to your life?
Fat Elvis.
is your favorite fictional character? What makes them your favorite?
Three-way tie, but all for the same
reason. Hermione Granger, Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham and CJ
Cregg. Smart girls rock.
you won the lottery, what would you do with the money?
Take care of everyone in my life.
No one would want for anything ever again. Unless it was one of those
scratch-off tickets and I only won like 10 bucks. Then you are on your own,
you were not working at UNF, what would you be doing?
I would be working on a college
campus somewhere. I love working with students.
your favorite UNF-related memory?
Using my CNN connections to finagle
a meeting between my then eight-year-old daughter and Wolf Blitzer, her hero.
She used to watch the Situation Room every day with my mom, and when my mom
died, Mads could not watch Wolf any more. During the debate, I mentioned
something to him about her, and he told me to bring her up. He could not have
been more gracious in meeting her and making her feel special. He took what
could have been a really emotional moment and made it into a tender memory for
us all.
is your favorite way to blow an hour?
With my Kindle.
you were asked to paint a picture about anything you wanted, what would you
My daughters' hands when they were
infants. All that potential. Before they stuck them in all sorts of places.
was the best money you ever spent?
My Kindle. I am on my fifth one, by
the way.
there a piece of technology that you just couldn't live without?
My Kindle. Are you sensing a theme
is the proudest/happiest moment of your life?
I should probably be politically
correct and say the moment my kids were born … and that was important and I was
proud and happy and nothing really does compare, but there was also something
really special about the first time I saw one of my books listed on Amazon for
sale. I have written two on "true" ghost stories and one on true crime. Of
course, I was immediately crushed when I saw the sales rank was 2,314,567. So
it all evens out. Eh, should have gone with the birth story.
us something that would surprise people to know about you:
I am actually incredibly shy.
was the first concert you ever attended, and what was the most recent concert
you attended?
First concert ever — Billy Squirer
opened for Foreigner at Crisler Arena on the campus of the University of
Michigan. The last concert I attended was — and this is embarrassing —
Larry the Cable Guy at the Convocation Center on the campus of Eastern Michigan
University. They were free tickets.
person had the greatest impact on your life?
My dad. That would probably shock
everyone who knew me growing up because he was a traveling management
consultant who left home every Sunday and come back every Friday night or
Saturday morning. He was never around. His territory was Michigan, Ohio and
Pennsylvania. Rain or shine, snow or sleet, 51 weeks a year, he was on the road,
living out of a suitcase, doing what had to be done and setting an incredible
example in the process. He called home every night and talked to my brother and
me, keeping track of our classes and hockey games. He didn't miss out, and he
didn't let up. At the time, I hated it. But now, I get it and I really
appreciate the sacrifices he made by being away from us and the effort he made
to still be an integral part of our family. He might not have been there, but
he was always there.
are you most passionate about?
Being kind. I have a plaque in my
office that says, "Because nice matters." Because it does.
is the most famous person you ever met?
Bill Clinton. He was the
commencement speaker at Eastern Michigan University, and I was the director of
Special Events — and I actually did not meet him so much as knocked him over.
He was not where he was supposed to be. The U.S. Secret Service really don't
take kindly to that, by the way. I met his wife a few years later when I worked
on her campaign in Nashville, Tenn. The most famous person I would like to have met was Princess Diana.
us something about you that even your friends don't know: Unfortunately
for them, there is nothing my friends don't know about me. But they may not
know that when I was 13 months old, I knocked out all my front teeth chasing
after a clown in a mall. After that, my life is pretty much an open book. Come
to think of it, my life would have been a whole lot easier had I stopped
chasing after clowns when I was 13 months old. Would have saved me a couple of
do you hope to accomplish that you have not done yet? Aside
from figuring out the whole direction thing (North? South? East? West? I am
clueless … never take directions from me), I would like people to say after
meeting me, "She is a really kind person." I am working on it.
book read:
I'll have to check my Kindle.
College of Health
Dr. James Churilla and two
of his graduate students, Ryan Richardson and William Boyer, from Clinical and
Applied Movement Sciences, along with Dr. Tammie
Johnson from Public Health, presented findings from two of their research
projects at the 10th annual World Congress on Insulin Resistance, Diabetes, and
Cardiovascular Disease in Los Angeles Nov. 1. The project titles are "Associations between High Sensitivity
C-Reactive Protein and Self-Reported Screen Time in U.S. Adults and Association of Muscle Strengthening
Activity with Glycosylated Hemoglobin."
Coggin College of Business
Marketing and Logistics: Dr. Ronald J. Adams presented "A Brief
Assessment of the U. S. Supreme Court's 2011 Ruling Denying Class Certification
in Dukes v. Wal-Mart" at the 19th International Conference on Recent Advances
in Retailing and Services Science Vienna, Austria in July.
Dr. A.C. "Josh" Samli had an article titled,
"Generating a Culture of Innovation: The Necessary Ingredient for Economic
Progress" published in the summer 2012 edition of The Marketing Review.
College of
Arts & Sciences
and Design: Dr. Maria Elena
Versari presented "A Tangible achievement: On the posthumous fortune of
Futurist sculpture" at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. He also
presented "Materia: From Futurist Materiality to Dadaist Contamination" at the
Third Biannual conference on Material Meanings of the European Network for
Avant-Garde and Modernism Studies at the University of Kent.
Dr. Eric
Johnson presented a seminar, "Science supporting sustainability: A
stronger fole for ecology in coastal fishery management," to the Department of
Biology and Environmental Fellows Program at DePauw University, Greencastle,
Doria Bowers and her
student, Zoe L. Lyski, presented a poster, "Vertical blood feeding and
arbovirus persistence in mosquitoes," at the 44th Annual Society for Vector
Ecology Conference in St. Augustine.
Dr. Cliff
and co-authors R. Ritson-Williams, K. Olsen, K and V.J. Paul, published their
paper, "Short-term and latent post-settlement effects associated with elevated
temperature and oxidative stress on larvae from the coral Porites astreoides" in the journal, Coral Reefs.
Joe Butler, with co-authors
G. L. Heinrich and M. L. Mitchell, published "Diet of the Carolina diamondback
terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin centrata)
in northeastern Florida" in Chelonian Conservation and Biology. With co-authors
E. C. Munscher, E. H. Kuhns and C. A. Cox, he published "Decreased nest
mortality for the Carolina diamondback terrapin following removal of raccoons
from a nesting beach" in Herpetological Conservation and Biology.
Dr. Kelly Smith, with co-authors
A. Shyn, J. Chalk, N. L. Charnock and G.
K. Bielmyer, published "Zinc distribution in the organs of adult Fundulus heteroclitus after
waterborne zinc exposure in freshwater and saltwater" in Archives of
Environmental Contamination and Toxicology.
Dr. José A. Jiménez with Dr. Mariana
Sendova of New College, published "Plasmonic coupling
in silver nanocomposite glasses" in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C. He also published "Kinetics
of Ag nanoparticle growth in thick SiO2 films: An in situ optical assessment of Ostwald
ripening" in Materials Chemistry and
Physics. Additionally, he published "In situ isothermal monitoring of the enhancement and quenching
of Sm3+ photoluminescence in Ag co-doped glass" in Solid State Communications.
Christa Arnold published
"Revisiting patient communication training: An updated needs assessment and the
AGENDA model" in Patient Education and Counseling. She also
published "Is social media, texting and other such technology
hurting our interpersonal communication?" in Mass Communication and
Criminology and Criminal Justice:
Dr. Jennifer K. Wesely
received a Research Enhancement Plan award from the UNF College of Arts and
Jeremy G. Carter co-presented, with Dr. Michael Binder, "Impacts of concealed carry licenses on crime: A
new decade and approach" at the Southwestern Criminal Justice Association
annual conference in Atlantic Beach.
Mark Ari edited and produced "EAT POEMS #3: EAT JUSTISS," an audio anthology
of the works Jacksonville poet, Alan Justiss, as read and interpreted by
Jacksonville writers and artists.
Nicholas de Villiers wrote an article, "That's the Surprise: Tom Rubnitz's
Sexy, Wiggy, Desserty World," for the publication accompanying the Dirty Looks
NYC exhibition of videos by Tom Rubnitz and Dynasty Handbag at the White
Columns gallery in New York.
Clark Lunberry presented "In One Ear & Out the Other — On Not Hearing
John Cage," at the conference, "Transatlantic Cage: John Cage's Centennial in
Paris," at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris. He also completed a
commissioned "Writing on Air" installation on the windows of the Paris
conference site of the Galerie Colbert. Additionally, he served on the keynote
panel at the conference "Convergence on Poetics," at the University of
Washington-Bothell and presented "Language onto Landscape — Floating Form Less"
at the same conference. Finally, he completed his permanent installation,
"Suspended Sentence," at the UNF Thomas G. Carpenter Library
James Beasley delivered an invited lecture, "From Normal to Valpo: The
Importance of Mantie E. Baldwin, 1875-1914," at Valparaiso University, Indiana.
Michael Wiley's book "A Bad
Night's Sleep" took top honors in the Shamus Award ceremony. In the
past, the Best Hardcover Award has gone to some of the best and most broadly
admired mystery/detective fiction writers.
Dr. Alison J. Bruey published
"Limitless land and the redefinition of rights: Popular mobilisation and the
limits of neoliberalism in Chile, 1973-1985" in Journal of Latin American
Languages, Literatures and Cultures: Dr. Shira
Schwam-Baird delivered an invited paper, La Longue Vie de Valentin et Orson" at the colloquium
"Pour un nouveau répertoire des 'mises en prose' : Romans, chansons de
geste, autre genres, " in Gargnano, Italy.
Constanza López presented "Testimonio
y re-escritura del conflicto colombiano en Escrito para no morir de María
Eugenia Vásquez Perdomo" at the Latin American Studies Association in San Francisco
and gave the invited annual alumni lecture, "Trauma, memoria y teoría: El relato autobiográfico
de María Eugenia Vásquez Perdomo," at the Graduate Center of The City
University of New York.
Clayton McCarl led the formation of a new Colonial section within the Latin
American Studies Organization and, with Yongan Wu, published "Using External
Text Vocalization to Enhance Reading Development Among Beginning Level Chinese
Learners" in the Journal of Chinese
Language Teachers Association. Additionally, he published "Notes of
Teaching Chinese as a Second Language" in Studies of Education and Teaching.
Dr. Randy Tinnin, with Dr. Amanda Pepping
and New Trinity Baroque,
performed Italian concerti for two trumpets at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal
Church in Atlanta.
Randy Tinnin and Erin Bennett
performed with Serafini Brillanti
at the Académie de Pramenoux in Lyon, France.
Philosophy Department: Dr. Andrew Buchwalter presented "The
Dialectic of Human Rights and Democracy under Conditions of Globality" at the
Conference on Interpretive Policy Analysis, University of Tilburg, Netherlands.
He also presented "Human Rights, Political Membership, and Historicity: Hegel
and the 'Right to Have Rights'" at the World Congress of the International
Political Science Association in Madrid, Spain.
College of
Computing, Engineering & Construction
Computing: Dr. Sanjay P. Ahuja, Sindhu Mani and Jesus Zambranopublished their paper, "A Survey of
the State of Cloud Computing in Healthcare" in the Network and Communication
Technologies Journal, available online here.
Counseling Center
Rose Turner, psychiatric nurse practitioner at the Counseling Center,
had an article published in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric
Milestone anniversaries
Congratulations to the following employees who will celebrate a milestone
anniversary at UNF in November:15 years
Lola Argalas, Assistant Director of University Housing Operations,
University Housing
Hawkins, Undergraduate Research
Coordinator, Honors Program
10 years
Hans Priepke, Applications System Analyst, Enterprise Systems
Five years
Cynthia Harper, Executive Secretary, Counseling CenterKate Learch, Coordinator, Academic
Support ServicesMarie Michel, Custodial Worker,
Physical Facilities
Barbara Ruby, Executive Secretary, Major Gifts
Fen Yu, Assistant Director, Institutional Research
The following employees were either hired by UNF or were promoted from OPS
positions from mid-September to early-October:Cynthia Akin, Office Manager, Military
and Veterans Resource Center
Marlan Borden, Maintenance Mechanic, Maintenance and Energy Management
Mary Brown, Senior Registered Nurse, Student Health Services
Darren Carr, Maintenance Mechanic, Osprey Fountains
Anthony Colon, Custodial Worker, Custodial Services
Kellie Cosner, Coordinator, Events Planning, Fine Arts Center
Scott Curry, Recruiting
Assistant, Career Management Center
Frank Goodin, Admissions Coordinator, Admissions
Trey Gowdy, Events Planning Coordinator, Institute for Values, Community
and Leadership
Mitchell Haley, Admissions Coordinator, Admissions
Hamilton, Senior IT Support Technician,
User Services, Information Technology Services
Artis Hartley, Custodial Worker, Custodial Services
Carrianne Kinney, Executive Secretary, Student Affairs
Kelly Maki, Education Training Coordinator, Florida Institute of
John Mark, Coordinator, One-Stop Student Services
Mala McGill, Administrative Secretary, Nursing
Amanda McPherson, Assistant Director, English Language Program
Michelle Mickem, Custodial Worker, Custodial Services
Alibina Mikhaylova, Coordinator, Research Development ORSP
Tyler Mitlyng, Enrollment Services Coordinator, Enrollment Services
Processing Office
Rachael Trinklein, Academic Support Services Coordinator, Honors Program
Terence Tripp, Custodial Worker, Custodial Services
Crawford, Office Assistant, Urban Internship
Great job
The following employees were promoted from mid-September to early October.
Hether Celetti, Events and Reservations Coordinator, Student Union
Alison Cruess, Assistant Director, Information Technology Services
Garrow, IT Support Coordinator, User
Levine, Director of Development, Thomas
G. Carpenter Library
Natalie Nguyen, LGBT Coordinator, LGBT Office
Heartfelt well wishes in their new endeavors for the following employees, who
left UNF in September:
David Jones, Enrollment Services Specialist, One-Stop Student Services
Tyran Lance, Administrative Assistant, Arts & Sciences
Lisa Laporte, Career
Coordinator, Career Management Center
Margaret Meadows, Development Director, Major Gifts
artha Rengifo, Custodial Worker, Custodial Services
salads to stews, this exotic fruit is very versatile and can be used in a
variety of ways. Chayote squash, or its scientific name of Sechium edule, is a
tropical fruit and member of the squash family. The chayote squash is used in
many cultures and has adopted many common names, including Madeira marrow,
vegetable pear, mirliton, gayota, huisquil, papa del aire, chocho, christophine
and pimpinella. Dr. Claudia Sealey-Potts, registered dietitian, dietetic internship director
and faculty member in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics Flagship
Program, discusses chayote squash, a nutrient filled, low-calorie food that is
a good source of vitamins, minerals and fiber. To help you add chayote to your
diet, a recipe is provided.
Myth: Chayote is unknown in United
Although chayote is native to Central America and was an important part of the
Maya and Aztec diets, it's still a common ingredient in indigenous and other
ethnic groups' recipes in the United States. Previously exotic fruits and vegetables
are becoming household staples on dinner tables quite far from their countries
of origin. The proposed health
benefits and adaptable flavor of chayote have also broadened its appeal in the
U.S. It's sold most of the year in many grocery stores.
Myth: Chayote has very little food
chayote's taste is mild, similar to a zucchini, and the texture is firm. Its flesh, stems and leaves can be consumed. The fruit,
which is the most widely seen and used in the United States, can be peeled and
incorporated into soups, casseroles and stews or used for children's dishes,
including porridges, mock-apple sauce, jams and dried for snacks. Chayote can
be eaten raw or cooked. The fruit can be grilled or slow-roasted and served as
an accompaniment to main courses featuring pork, poultry and shrimp. Chayote also
compliments other ingredients, such as legumes, chilies, hard and soft cheeses,
garlic, cumin, summer melons, pistachios and almonds. In addition, the fruit is
often shredded and used in salads along with cilantro, greens and citrus
juices. The fruit, shoots and flowers can be stuffed, fried and/or baked, while
its seeds can be dried, toasted and used for crunchy snacks.
Myth: Chayote isn't nutritious.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, one half cup of
chayote squash has 17 percent of the daily requirement for vitamin C and 2
percent of the daily iron and calcium in a 2,000-calorie diet. Chayote truly
delivers beneficial fiber in the diet. Raw, shredded chayote squash contains 47
percent soluble fiber per one-half cup serving. One whole chayote provides 3.5 grams
of dietary fiber. Chayote is a low-calorie food that provides 39 calories per seven-ounce
serving, more than 94 percent of its raw content is water and it's low in
carbohydrates. Chayote is also a very low-sodium food and provides two to four
milligrams of sodium per squash. Other nutrients provided by this exotic fruit
include folic acid, potassium and flavonoids (antioxidants). Additionally, its seeds
are a rich source of several amino acids.
Myth: There is no evidence of the medicinal
uses of chayote.
Historically, chayote has been used for medicinal uses in ethnic populations.
The chayote leaves have been infused and used in treatments to dissolve kidney
stones and assist with arteriosclerosis, hypertension and genitourinary
problems; however, no human research exists to verify the beneficial use of
chayote in any of those health conditions. More research is needed before
chayote can be recommended for use as an alternate medicine for disease
Chayote Squash Salad
recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/chayote-salad
Servings: 4
Total Prep
Time: 15 minutes
3 chayotes
1 Serrano chili pepper
¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 small lemon, juiced and strained
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Salt to taste
Fresh ground black pepper
Garnish with cilantro
1. Combine chayote, chili, cilantro, lemon juice, oil and vinegar in a large
2. Toss to thoroughly coat
3. Sprinkle salt and pepper
4. Garnish with cilantro
Nutrition Facts:
Calories: 192.2
Calories from fat: 163
Total Fat: 18.2 g
Sat. Fat: 2.5 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate: 7.7 g
Fiber: 2.8 g
Protein: 1.3 g
Calcium: 29 mg
Folate: 143 mcg
Magnesium: 20 mg
Potassium; 216 mg
Iron: 1 mg
The Goods is a monthly column about food myths and
facts by faculty members in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics Flagship
Program and runs in The Florida Times-Union's "Taste" section.
Have a question about chayote? Contact Dr. Sealey-Potts
If you are traveling to colder climates
through the holiday season or just out exercising in the early morning colder
temperatures here in Florida, remember to dress appropriately.
Being prepared is critical when dealing
with colder temperatures. A little planning and dressing right for colder than
usual temperatures can get you ready for enjoying outdoor activities despite
the elements — even here in Florida, but especially if you are traveling north
of the Mason-Dixon line.
Dressing in layers will help keep you dry
and regulate your temperature. Match your layers to the climate conditions you
are in, your activity level and whether you tend to get too hot or too cold.
Outer layers should protect from wind,
rain and snow. Jackets and pants made of Gore-Tex are an ideal outer layer. Middle
layers hold in your body heat. Materials include fleece, polyester, down, wool
or synthetic and natural-blended materials. Inner layers are the first layer of
clothing closest to your body. This base layer should fit snugly and keep
moisture away from the body to prevent becoming chilled by wet clothing.
Materials are usually polyester, polypropylene, silk or a mix of synthetic and
natural insulating fibers. Peel off layers as you need to, in order to regulate
your comfort level when you're active. Better to have too many layers to take
off than to be left exposed to the elements. You'll be more comfortable
outdoors if you are properly dressed.
"A grown up is a
child with layers on." - Woody Harrelson
Healthy Osprey is
designed to provide solid advice on how to become more healthy at work and at
home. Shelly Purser, director of Health Promotion, and Mike Kennedy, assistant
director of Health Promotion, write a different article each month that will
focus on some aspect of health and wellness.
Healthy Osprey is a collaboration
of students, faculty and staff working together to foster a University
community that embraces the development of a healthy body, mind and spirit. The purpose of the Healthy
Osprey initiative is to assess and respond to the needs of the UNF community to
create and maintain a healthy environment, which will enhance the holistic
student experience. For more
information, contact Shelly Purser at email@example.com.


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Parrot AR.Drone full review
The Parrot AR.Drone is an exciting, fun-to-fly, four-rotor helicopter that can be piloted over Wi-Fi by an Apple iPad, iPod touch or iPhone.
But flying indoors proves tricky and may frustrate inexperienced pilots. We first saw the Parrot AR.Drone at CES in January, and you can buy one from HMV for £299 inc VAT. For a video review of the toy, click here.
Parrot AR.Drone: Getting started
Pairing the Parrot AR.Drone unit with an iPad was easy. The toy creates its own wireless network. If there are too many wireless signals in the area, the drone may have trouble pairing, a Parrot spokesman said, but in downtown Boston, Mass - awash with Wi-Fi - we had no issues.
Parrot AR.Drone: Wireless cameras
The Parrot AR.Drone has two cameras, one pointing forward and one pointing down, that stream video back to the controlling device. The cameras seem designed to take advantage of the augmented reality games we saw during CES. In one game an airplane appears on your iPad and you have to control your helicopter to shoot it down. We weren't able to test that game, but we're told that it should be available in the Apple App Store by the end of 2010.
Don't count on the camera to pilot the drone when you can't see it. While the small, front-facing camera has a relatively wide range of view at 93 degrees, it only shoots at 15 frames per second, hardly fast enough to avoid walls and doorways. Outside, though, the cameras give you a unique perspective on the world, especially when you hover the Parrot AR.Drone drone amidst trees.
Parrot AR.Drone: Controlling the toy
The AR.Drone includes basic controls that are on the screen of the iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. Tilting the iPad makes the Parrot AR.Drone drone fly in the same direction as the tilt. When first flying it's best to stand behind it for easier orientation.
The software allows for a lot of customisation of flying controls. You can increase and decrease the tilt sensitivity as well as the vertical speed and yaw speed. Making the controls slightly more sensitive makes the Parrot AR.Drone helicopter easier to control because you don't need to move the iPad as much.
Parrot AR.Drone: Indoor flying
Flying the AR.Drone indoors requires a lot of space and minimal obstructions. Parrot suggests using the "indoor hull". Its Styrofoam bumpers ring the propellers and protect them. The indoor hull did indeed protect the rotors, but at a cost. Within two days, our hull fractured in several places and eventually broke into pieces.
We repaired the first few fractures with Super Glue and let the repairs sit overnight, but the next day the hull would break in a new place. Parrot offers "mending tape" for about a tenner and even has an online instruction video for repairing the hull. If your indoor hull is beyond repair, a replacement can be purchased for about £40.
Parrot AR.Drone: Outdoor flying
In low wind, outdoor flying proved to be much easier than indoor flying because of large, open spaces and the ability for the drone to ascend quite high. Selecting "outdoor flight" mode allows the drone to compensate for wind. We tested this feature with our hands off the controls and the toy effectively stabilized itself in the wind.
Outdoor flying was much more fun than flying indoors because the drone is quite agile and can fly very quickly in all directions. The main body of the drone, including its propellers, is forgiving. We accidentally crashed the drone several times outdoors, and the propellers and body of the drone stayed fully intact and did not impact future flights.
Parrot AR.Drone: Battery life
Flying time on a fully charged battery is around 15 minutes. There is a battery indicator on the screen of the iPad and the drone will gently land once the battery gauge hits 12 percent. Charging takes about 90 minutes. If you think you'll be flying a lot, we suggest buying a spare battery.
Parrot AR.Drone: Software
The only app available in the App Store when we reviewed the drone was AR.FreeFlight. It allows for full control of the drone including monitoring the video feed from the drone's two cameras. While it works on an iPad, it's designed for the screen size of an iPhone or iPod touch.
Parrot said that more games, like the augmented reality one we saw at CES, would be available by the end of the year. Parrot has also made an SDK (software development kit) available in hopes that developers will create more apps for the toy. We would enjoy seeing one that allows for video recording. The AR.Drone was initially designed for use with Apple products, but there are also videos online of it being used on a Google Android phone.
Parrot AR.Drone: Product durability
The biggest problem we ran into with the AR.Drone was the durability of the indoor hull during our initial testing phase. Being new to the toy, crashes are a near definite and can damage the hull. All of the pieces of the drone are replaceable and a special section of Parrot's website includes repair videos. Parrot said that, "The hull is first and foremost meant to protect the components of the AR.Drone such as the brushless motors, onboard processor and navigation board."
See also: The iPad-controlled helicopter camera


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Save Our Shirts!
I'm thinking we need a new charity dedicated to preserving the history and culture of Hawaiian shirts, not that there's much, mind you, but it's an interesting idea nonetheless. Since we've passed Labor Day, the 'full Cleveland' look - which includes those lovely white shoes and belt coupled with a polyester leisure suit - has to be put back in the closet until next summer.
Seriously, I have never owned a leisure suit, white shoes (other than Converse All Stars) nor a white belt. If I ever appeared in public wearing such apparel, I would expect one of you to shoot me immediately to end the misery. I'd consider that merciful.
According to Wikipedia, Hawaiian shirts are considered business wear and are suitable for all but the most formal occasions in Hawaii. We need to promote that on the mainland, too, but if it catches on, I'll have to change my wardrobe.
Labels: hawaiian shirts


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Legend of the Apple
The apple played an important role in the traditional European Christmas Eve celebrations. Following dinner, the head of the family would slice an apple crosswise. If the slice revealed the image of a perfect star and the seeds were plump, it was believed that a peaceful year of good fortune and health awaited the family. Each member of the family then ate a piece of the apple.
Customer Reviews
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text:
Online shopping in the US has grown sharply so far this holiday shopping season after retailers pushed out a slew of mobile and Internet deals that lured consumers before Cyber Monday today, traditionally the biggest day for e-commerce in the US.
While it remains to be seen if the gains over Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday can be sustained, the latest estimates show shoppers scooping up early special offers via their smartphones and tablets the way they used to hunt for bargains in brick-and-mortar stores.
Online sales increased 17.4 percent on Thanksgiving and 20.7 percent on Black Friday compared with last year, according to IBM Smarter Commerce, a unit of International Business Machines Corp that analyzes transactions from 500 US retailers.
Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, had traditionally been the start to the holiday season for stores. This year, retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Target Corp made their biggest push ever with special offers during the holiday itself.
"The Thanksgiving creep revitalized the thrill for people," WSL Strategic Retail chief executive Wendy Liebmann said. "It got people excited to go out. But it pulled a lot of sales forward."
Visits to stores rose approximately 3.5 percent on Friday, down from a 4.7 percent increase last year, ShopperTrak said.
Sales actually fell an estimated 1.8 percent, said the company, which analyzes store traffic.
However, if Thursday's sales were included, ShopperTrak estimates that Black Friday sales would have been up a little less than 1 percent from a year earlier.
"It's not a superstar Black Friday, but it also wasn't an underperform[ing] Black Friday," ShopperTrak chief marketing office Ed Marcheselli said.
Cyber Monday, which follows the long holiday weekend, has been the biggest day for online shopping in recent years, as workers return to their office computers.
Now, armed with mobile devices, particularly Apple Inc's iPad and iPhone, shoppers are no longer waiting. They are also using the devices to track down the lowest prices.
The average order value on Black Friday declined by 4.7 percent to US$181.22 and the average number of items per order dropped 12 percent to 5.6, IBM Corp said.
Client sales on Black Friday rose 23 percent from last year, while Thanksgiving sales rose 32 percent year-on-year, said Mercent, which helps merchants sell on Web sites, including Amazon.com, ebay.com and Google Inc's online shopping program.
"What we don't know is whether this is a zero-sum game or whether there is some benefit to retailers by broadening the holiday shopping window," Best said. "There is risk that real growth in retail for the entire holiday may be overestimated based on these early numbers."
E-commerce software firm ChannelAdvisor said clients' same-store sales on EBay's online market rose 27 percent on Thanksgiving and 31 percent on Black Friday compared with a year earlier.
Last year's year-on-year growth was about 15 percent for EBay, ChannelAdvisor said.
"The online players are definitely participating more on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, so Cyber Monday is being shared with other holidays now," ChannelAdvisor chief executive Scot Wingo said.
EBay usually grows more slowly early in the holiday season and then ramps up later as retailers run out of hot products and shoppers turn to EBay sellers for those items.
Its strong start this year is driven partly by the company's success in attracting mobile shoppers through shopping apps on smart phones and tablets, Wingo said.
EBay on Saturday said that the volume of mobile transactions on its online marketplace jumped 153 percent on Black Friday compared with a year earlier.
PayPal, the payments division of EBay, saw Black Friday volume almost triple year-on-year.
More broadly, purchases from mobile devices accounted for 16.3 percent of online sales on Black Friday, up from 9.8 percent last year and 3.2 percent in 2010, IBM data show.
Apple's iPads and iPhones led the charge, with owners using the devices to browse and buy on retailer Web sites.
Overall, the percentage of sales from online shopping is expected to rise.
However, while retailers bring in more revenue from online shopping, they may also face some higher costs in terms of shipping a larger number of packages to more shoppers.
Among tablets, iPads were the clear leader, generating 88.3 percent of traffic to retailers' sites on Friday, followed by Barnes & Noble Inc's Nook with 3.1 percent, Amazon.com Inc's Kindle with 2.4 percent and Samsung Electronic Co's Galaxy with 1.8 percent, IBM said.


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|Version 39 (modified by cameron, 4 years ago) (diff)
Welcome to the Parabix Technology Home Page
Parabix technology is a high-performance programming framework for streaming text processing applications, leveraging both SIMD and multicore parallel processing features.
- November 18-20, 2015: Join us in Zhangjiajie, China for our presentation at ICA3PP 2015.
- October 28-29, 2015: Join us at the 2015 LLVM Developers' Meeting for Parabix-LLVM discussion.
- October 26-27, 2015: Join us at Unicode Conference 39 for our presentation of Unicode regular expression matching in icgrep.
- September 2015: Look at our plans for additional Parabix regular expression facilities in the Parabix Regular Expression Road Map
- February 2015: Check out icGrep 1.0 offering Gigabyte Per Second Performance!
Parabix Transform
The Parabix framework is based on the concept of parallel bit streams, a fundamentally new transform representation of text. Byte-oriented character stream data is first transformed into eight parallel bit streams, each bit stream comprising one bit per character code unit. Code units may be ASCII characters or UTF-8 bytes, for example, with one parallel bit stream defined for each of bit 0 through bit 7 of each code unit. Given such a representation, the 128-bit SIMD (single-instruction multiple-data) registers of the SSE (Intel architecture SIMD technology) or Altivec (Power PC architecture) may be used to process 128 code unit positions at a time.
The Pablo Language and Compilers
The Pablo Language allows parallel bit stream programs to be conveniently written using primitives that manipulate arbitrary-length bitstreams. Pablo comes in two different forms: the python Pablo language for direct generation of C++ programs from Pablo language source files, and the Pablo intermediate representation that can be translated to LLVM IR.
IDISA Run-Time Libraries
The IDISA project defines an abstraction for portable SIMD programming featuring support for operations at all power-of-2 field widths as well as transitions between those field-widths (inductive doubling architecture).
Parabix with LLVM
The Parabix-LLVM project is investigating the use of LLVM as a back-end for Parabix tools and applications.
ICXML: Incorporating Parabix Technology into the Xerces-C XML Parser
ICXML (TM) is a highly-accelerated version of the widely-reknowned Xerces-C XML Parser. Developed by International Characters, Inc., in partnership with our SFU research lab, ICXML systematically incorporates Parabix and other acceleration technologies into Xerces. Speedups of 1.5X and more have been measured with various applications on single core, while our experimental dual core applications have seen acceleration of more than 2X over Xerces.
We are pleased that International Characters, Inc. is releasing ICXML as open source software hosted here under the Open Software License 3.0.
icGrep: Gigabyte Per Second Regular Expression Search
icGrep is the latest demonstration project for Parabix technology, offering a full-featured grep program with world-beating performance and broad support for Unicode regular expression matching.
Parabix software as provided here as open source software under Open Software License 3.0. Commercial licensing is available through International Characters, Inc., an SFU spin-off company based on Prof. Cameron's research. Parabix is a trademark of International Characters. International Characters, Inc., holds several patents on Parabix technology, but has dedicated those patents free for use in open-source software, teaching and research.