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By T. J. Stiles
On the north side of East 42nd Street, at the Park Avenue intersection, stands one of New York's most admired buildings: Grand Central Terminal. Once the capitol of the New York Central Railroad empire, it remains the city's glittering gate for tens of thousands of travelers each day. Over the entrance looms a larger-than-life bronze statue of the man who made it possible, Cornelius Vanderbilt.
The memorial is fitting, even though the Commodore (as Vanderbilt was unofficially but universally titled) never knew the building his image now guards. He amassed the New York Central Railroad system between New York and Chicago in the 1860s and '70s, and constructed Grand Central Depot, the original incarnation of the modern Terminal. It's appropriate, too, that his statue looks toward Wall Street, which he dominated during much of its formative period. Over the course of a 66-year career, he helped to drive the transportation revolution, magnified the California gold rush, pioneered the modern business corporation, and contributed to the birth of big business in America. One of the wealthiest men in history (worth an estimated $100 million at his death in 1877), he was highly controversial, sparking a public debate over opportunity, equality, and the role of government that continues to this day.
His career can be divided into his many years as a manager and entrepreneur of steamboat lines in the Northeast; his decade as a mogul of ocean-going steamships; and his final years as a railroad tycoon.
Vanderbilt was born on Staten Island, New York, on May 27, 1794. He died in Manhattan on January 4, 1877, just a few miles to the north but a world away from the circumstances of his birth.
Vanderbilt's parents were of humble Dutch and English background, but they took part in the regional marketplace centered on the city of New York, just across the harbor on the southern end of Manhattan Island. His father used his sailboat as a ferry and to salvage cargo from shipwrecks. His mother loaned money, and even foreclosed a mortgage she had extended to her own daughter, after her daughter was widowed. Starting in 1810, at the age of 16, Vanderbilt operated a sailboat, though it was technically owned by his parents. On December 19, 1813, he married his first cousin, Sophia Johnson, and began to work entirely for himself. He ran a ferry between Manhattan and Staten Island, and began to trade in cargoes of fish, produce, and goods.
Early on, he established a reputation as a man who was tough yet honest and capable. Boatmen sometimes engaged in fistfights and dirty tricks to steal customers. Vanderbilt, who grew to be six feet tall, learned to use his fists effectively, and demonstrated skill and daring in handling a vessel.
Perhaps the greatest turning point in his life came on November 24, 1817, when he agreed to serve as ferry captain for Thomas Gibbons of New Jersey. Gibbons's vessel (which ran between New Jersey and New York) was a steamboat, which gave Vanderbilt an education in this new technology. More important, Vanderbilt assisted Gibbons in a battle against a legal monopoly on steamboats in New York waters that had been granted to the patrician Livingston family. Gibbons's lawsuit against the monopoly, Gibbons v. Ogden, was finally decided in his favor by the United States Supreme Court on March 2, 1824. Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that the monopoly had no force against interstate shipping; states, he declared, could not interfere with interstate commerce. The decision overturned lower court precedent to guarantee freedom of trade within the nation's borders. It allowed Gibbons's ferry to operate unhindered, and cleared the way for Vanderbilt's own future in transportation.
Vanderbilt worked for Thomas Gibbons until the latter man's death in 1826, and then for his son William Gibbons until 1829. During that time, Vanderbilt continued to operate his own enterprises on the side, displaying an aggressiveness that led Thomas Gibbons to write, "I am afraid of this man." Vanderbilt designed and built ever larger and faster steamers, becoming one of the leading maritime architects of the paddlewheel era. After leaving Gibbons's service, he inaugurated a series of lines radiating out of Manhattan—first to New Brunswick, New Jersey, then to Peekskill, Albany, and the ports on Long Island Sound. He competed against the dominant steamboat enterprises in each market, offering better speed and lower fares. At times he accepted pay-offs to end his competition; and he paid at least one rival, Daniel Drew, to do the same.
Starting in 1835, Vanderbilt concentrated on Long Island Sound, where his boats connected to the new railroads that served Boston and New England's budding factory towns. He acquired a stake in a number of these railways, and took part in their management. In 1847, with the aid of Daniel Drew (now an ally), he took control of the Stonington railroad, and was elected corporate president.
At the same time, he quietly sought social respectability. Starting no later than 1840, he spent each summer in Saratoga Springs, New York—a resort town where the nation's elite gathered. In 1846, he moved into an oversized brownstone townhouse in Manhattan, at 10 Washington Place , just off Washington Square , in the district favored by New York's most prestigious families.
He and his wife Sophia had thirteen children in all, born between 1814 and 1839 (one died in 1836 when only a few years old). Vanderbilt sent his oldest son, William Henry (born in 1821), to work for Daniel Drew, but William suffered a nervous breakdown, and Vanderbilt dispatched him to a farm on Staten Island. His second son, Cornelius Jeremiah, suffered from epilepsy, and later developed a lifelong gambling addiction. Vanderbilt brought many of his sons-in-law into his businesses, employing Daniel B. Allen as a business manager, William K. Thorn as his attorney, and Horace F. Clark as a lawyer and advisor, to name a few.
New York's patrician families did not embrace Vanderbilt, despite his aristocratic street address. In 1853, the Mercantile Agency, the nation's first credit bureau, denounced him as "illiterate & boorish, [very] austere & offensive." The uneducated former boatman was not actually illiterate, though he wrote phonetically. But he won respectability only very slowly.
In December 1848, Vanderbilt's life—and all of American history—was transformed by the news of gold in California. Many of the tens of thousands who rushed to San Francisco went by steamship. They paid as much as $600 each to be transported by the Pacific Mail and U.S. Mail Steamship companies, which operated on the Pacific and Atlantic, respectively, connecting through a land transit across Panama. These firms were heavily subsidized through a federal mail contract. Regardless, Vanderbilt decided to enter the market.
His initial plan was to construct a canal across Nicaragua, closer to the United States than Panama and largely traversed by natural waterways. After organizing a canal company and conducting surveys, he was unable to secure the necessary capital for the canal from British bankers. The Nicaraguan government, however, granted his company the exclusive right to transport passengers and freight from ocean to ocean. He went to Nicaragua three times in order to scout the canal and transit routes, negotiate with the government, and pilot steamboats up to Lake Nicaragua. He purchased a shipyard and engine works, and designed and constructed oceangoing sidewheel steamships of unprecedented size, speed, and fuel efficiency. He organized the Accessory Transit Company, a corporation chartered by Nicaragua to conduct transit operations within the country.
His line, inaugurated in July 1851, soon became an effective competitor with the established Panama route, carrying passengers between New York and San Francisco at lower fares. The route saved about a week compared to the journey via Panama, and several months off a voyage around Cape Horn. The success of the Nicaragua route lifted Vanderbilt to national prominence. He acquired the informal title of Commodore—then the highest rank of the U.S. Navy—an honorific that would be used by newspapers, politicians, and family members for the rest of his life. His iconic status was sealed in 1853 when he took his family on a highly publicized tour of Europe in the North Star, a private yacht the size of an ocean liner.
Unfortunately for Vanderbilt, the very success of his Accessory Transit Company led to a succession of conflicts with partners in the enterprise. In 1856, after a hiatus outside of the company, he resumed control, only to run up against William Walker. Walker was a "filibuster," one of America's antebellum soldiers of fortune who invaded foreign countries. In 1855, Walker succeeded in taking control of Nicaragua. He stripped Accessory Transit of its transit rights, transferring them to a friend, who resold them to Vanderbilt's business rivals. Vanderbilt intervened in a war between Walker's regime and Nicaragua's neighbors, helping to drive Walker out of the country in 1857. The new Nicaraguan government refused to reopen the transit route, however, so he started a new line running by way of Panama. Ultimately he forced Pacific Mail to divide the market with him and establish a joint monopoly in 1860.
During this period, Vanderbilt also engaged in other enterprises. On May 21, 1855, he initiated a transatlantic steamship line, in opposition to a federally subsidized company led by Edward K. Collins. As usual, his line offered steeply lower fares, and Collins's company eventually went bankrupt. After many prior ventures into ferries between Manhattan and Staten Island, he started the service that is the direct ancestor of the municipal Staten Island Ferry in operation today. During the Civil War, Vanderbilt donated his largest steamship to the Union navy (among other services to the federal government), for which Congress awarded him a gold medal.
In 1863, Vanderbilt began to transfer his interests from shipping into railroads. Starting with the New York & Harlem Railroad, a line that penetrated the center of Manhattan, he took control of a series of railroads that connected New York to Chicago—moving sequentially into the Hudson River, New York Central, Lake Shore & Michigan Central, and Canada Southern. Through consolidation, leasing, and coordinated management, he created an interregional railroad system. This was a major transformation of the railroad network, which previously had been fragmented into numerous short railroads, each with its own procedures, timetables, and rolling stock. The creation of a coherent system spanning several states lowered costs, increased efficiency, and sped up travel and shipment times.
In 1870, Vanderbilt consolidated his two core companies into one of the first giant corporations in American history, the New York Central & Hudson Railroad. The new company had a par-value stock capitalization of about $100 million, roughly four times greater than that of the New York Central alone just a few years earlier. (The par value of each share was $100, a figure of great importance to nineteenth-century investors. In theory, the total par-value of a company's stock represented its investment in physical capital.)
Much of the operational management of Vanderbilt's railroad empire fell to his oldest son, William Henry Vanderbilt, who had proven himself an able businessman during his years as a farmer and entrepreneur on Staten Island. Under his father's direction, William slashed costs and increased efficiency, turning the New York Central & Hudson River into one of the most profitable large enterprises in America. Cornelius Vanderbilt ordered the construction of new infrastructure, including the original Grand Central Depot (then the largest railroad station in the United States), a massive freight depot at St. John's Park in lower Manhattan, and an unprecedented four-track corridor between Albany and Buffalo. As a result of these measures, the New York Central & Hudson River was able to continue to issue regular dividends after the cataclysmic Panic of 1873, when other major railroads suspended payment and half of the nations' railways went bankrupt.
Despite the wealth Vanderbilt created, and the far-reaching benefits the nation reaped from his transportation enterprises, public controversy dogged his entire career. In 1859, for example, The New York Times created the metaphor (if not the actual phrase) of the robber baron to criticize Vanderbilt's penchant for competition. In January 1867, he halted all rail traffic into Manhattan to settle a business dispute; since a winter storm prevented ferries from reaching the city, he essentially cut off New York from the rest of the country. Such acts aroused fierce debate over the new power of corporations, about the inherent conflicts between private and public interests created by very large enterprises. Vanderbilt saw no such conflicts. As he explained his philosophy to the New York State legislature, "It is not according to my mode of doing things, to bring a suit against a man that I have the power in my own hands to punish."
Corruption was another issue that repeatedly appeared in Vanderbilt's career. In 1863 and 1864, he cornered the market in Harlem railroad shares in order to punish shortselling public officials who wished to damage the stock price. In 1868, he waged an epic (and failed) attempt to corner Erie Railway stock, which resulted in the wholesale bribery of the New York State legislature by his rival, Jay Gould. Many assumed Vanderbilt was paying off public officials as well, though evidence is lacking.
Some charges of corruption reflected economic theories that have long since lost currency. Vanderbilt was one of the great financial engineers of his day. He carried out some of the first notable stock splits, which were rewarded with rising share value on the stock market. Conventional economic thinkers, on the other hand, denounced these splits as "stock watering"; in keeping with the theory of the day, they believed that the shares of stock should equal the amount of investment in physical capital, usually at $100 per share, the standard par value. If new shares did not represent a corresponding increase in real estate, buildings, rolling stock, and the like, then they were condemned as "fictitious capital." Though Vanderbilt defended his operations in conventional terms, he contributed to the abstraction of the financial sector, decoupling securities from a direct linkage to the physical world.
A third issue that gained prominence in Vanderbilt's later life was corporate collusion to eliminate competition. Though Vanderbilt had celebrated competition as a steamboat entrepreneur, when he went into railroads he tried to construct cartels to set rates and manage conflicts across the industry. He was attacked by critics ranging from labor activists to the rural Grangers to such intellectuals as Henry Adams and his brother Charles, Mark Twain, and The Nation editor E. L. Godkin. These voices often disagreed with each other, but their arguments over Vanderbilt helped to shape a new debate over the wisdom of federal regulation of the economy, a debate that continues to this day.
Vanderbilt himself espoused laissez faire views he had held since at least the Jacksonian era. Though he likely never read The Wealth of Nations, he neatly summarized Adam Smith's ideas in testimony before the New York State legislature in 1867. "I have always served the public to the best of my ability," he said. "Why? Because, like every other man, it is to my interest to do so."
Personally, Vanderbilt remained a contradiction for those who knew him. Unfailingly honest yet also ruthless, enormously productive yet also exacting, he was a man of great capacities and difficult manners. He was intolerant of weakness, measuring others by the high standard he set, and he was often brusque and dismissive. Yet he collected many friends, especially around the card table or on race courses, and he could be affectionate as well as hard on his family.
Misquoted and Misunderstood
As an enormously powerful but also taciturn man, Vanderbilt became one of the most misquoted individuals in the nineteenth century. These misquotes (and outright inventions) include comments about Jay Gould ("It never pays to kick a skunk"), the law ("Law? What do I care about the law? Ain't I got the power?"), and his steamship rivals Charles Morgan and Cornelius Garrison ("Gentlemen: You have undertaken to cheat me. I won't sue, for the law is too slow. I'll ruin you."). Contrary to legend, he had nothing to do with the invention of the potato chip.
After his wife (and cousin) Sophia died in 1868, he remarried one year later to another cousin, the curiously named Frank Armstrong of Alabama, who was more than four decades younger than Vanderbilt and an unrepentant Confederate. An interest in helping the defeated South marked many of Vanderbilt's postwar charitable acts, including standing as a bondsman for the release of Jefferson Davis and the endowment of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, with a gift of nearly $1 million.
Though Vanderbilt is a name attached to great mansions—the Biltmore, the Breakers, and others—these were all constructed by later generations. The Commodore himself lived comparatively modestly in his brownstone off Washington Square. His primary indulgence was in fast horses, particularly for harness racing. He personally raced against all comers on the roads of upper Manhattan, well into old age.
Much of the notoriety that dogged his later years revolved around his involvement with the feminist sisters Victoria Woodhull and Tennessee Claflin. He appears to have gone to them for séances and magnetic healing (which were widely accepted as valid at the time), but they publicly exaggerated their connection to Vanderbilt, claiming that he supported their purported stock brokerage on Wall Street and their radical newspaper. No evidence has surfaced to support their claims, and both enterprises soon collapsed.
It has been claimed that Vanderbilt's connection to Woodhull and Claflin was a manifestation of syphilitic dementia, and that he went insane and died from the disease. No evidence has ever been produced to support this contention. Indeed, the claim is contradicted by all existing evidence. Syphilitic dementia, or "general paresis," is the result of the progressive destruction of the central nervous system by the syphilis bacteria. It results in wild behavioral aberrations, rapid loss of motor control, paralysis, and finally death within three or four years of the first manifestation of madness. Vanderbilt was a national celebrity, in the public eye on an almost daily basis until the last few months of his life, when he was bedridden with bladder and colon infections. Of these thousands of witnesses, none reported any symptoms consistent with general paresis. Impromptu newspaper interviews, private diaries and letters, and minutes of directors' meetings of his railroads all show him to have been in command of himself and his empire up until his death.
When Vanderbilt died in 1877, the value of his estate was estimated at $100 million. Multiplying that figure into a modern equivalent is problematic, due to the dramatic changes to the economy over time, and the inexact economic statistics available for the 19th century. One comparison, though, may give some idea of the scale of his wealth. If he could have sold his entire estate at full value to American buyers when he died, he would have taken roughly $1 out of every $20 in circulation, counting cash and demand deposits. By contrast, William "Bill" Gates III, considered the wealthiest man in the world before the financial panic of 2008, would have taken $1 out of every $138 at that time, had he been able to sell his entire $57 billion estate to American buyers at full market value. (The calculations for 2008 are based on the Federal Reserve's M2 figure for the stock of money in the economy.)
In Vanderbilt's will, he left about 95% of this fortune to his oldest son, William, dividing the rest among his wife and remaining children, who received between $200,000 and $500,000 each. Daughter Mary Vanderbilt La Bau sued to break the will, leading to a sensational trial. Despite salacious and often unreliable claims by La Bau's attorney (including many that were not backed up by actual testimony), the trial ended with the confirmation of the will. The fortune secure, William and his children emerged as leaders of high society in the Gilded Age.
T.J. Stiles is the author of "The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt" (Alfred A. Knopf, 2009), winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award. He also wrote "Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War," winner of the Ambassador Book Award and the Peter Seaborg Award for Civil War Scholarship. He lives in San Francisco.


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During the period of August 2004 to July 2006 a research project entitled "Traceability and autocontrol of GMOs in the food chain" was executed at the Hogeschool Gent. The project was coordinated by professors Eeckhout and Messens, both of the food science and technology department of the Hogeschool. A report is available from the department. For more information see www.hogent.be or contact: + 32 9 242 4276.
The Hogeschool Gent is also one of the Belgian partners of the Co-Extra project, participating in two working packages within the project, WP2 and WP3. One manuscript resulting from this work has recently been accepted for publication in the journal European Food Research and Technology, entitled "Co-existence and traceability of GM and non-GM products in the feed chain".
Additionally, a doctorate student at the University of Ghent is working on a thesis on GM plants, in which co-existence is part of the study material. Several important publication have resulted from this study:

subset: commoncrawl


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Chrysler Oil Change Capacity and Viscosity Guides
Performing an oil change on your Chrysler is one of the most important tasks involved with keeping your Chrysler running at its best for a very long time. These days tighter tolerance modern engines like the one found in your Chrysler require the correct amount of engine oil to keep it as close as possible to factory clean.
Not only does changing oil help keep your Chrysler engine perform at its peak and increase gas mileage (mpg) but it also decreases the amount of friction produced by moving engine parts, increases engine longevity and removes small deposits from critical engine parts. Even small deposits inside your Chrysler engine can make a huge difference in engine performance and reliability. The removal of these small deposits from critical engine parts and engine surfaces is vital to keeping your Chrysler engine in tip top shape.
Whether you perform a conventional oil change, synthetic oil change, recycled oil change or blended oil change, knowing how much oil to use is also an important part of how to change oil in your Chrysler. Using the wrong amount of engine oil in your Chrysler can damage your engine and even void your vehicle warranty. With that said, Carcademy has taken the Chrysler oil capacity information and cataloged them online for use by our visitors for free.
Our oil capacity charts allow you to finish your Chrysler oil change rather than waste countless hours trying to figure out how much oil you need for your Chrysler oil change. Feel free to use any oil capacity chart that is listed on Carcademy but keep in mind that all information here is provided "as is" without any warranty of any kind. Most of the oil capacity information listed on our enthusiast website are submitted by the Carcademy community. Use of the engine oil information is at your own risk. Always verify all oil capacity and oil change information found here before applying it your Chrysler.
If you have any questions pertaining to the engine oil capacity in your Chrysler, please feel free to post it at the bottom of the corresponding page and either we'll do our best to find you the information you need or hopefully someone in the Carcademy community will have the answer you're looking for.
Request an Engine Oil Capacity Chart
If you can't find the oil capacity information for your Chrysler on Carcademy, please feel free to post an oil capacity chart request at the bottom of this page and we'll do our best to find you the information you need for your Chrysler oil change.
Adding More Oil Capacity Information
If you would like to help the Carcademy community by adding any missing information or adding a new oil capacity chart to our resource, please feel free to post it at the bottom of this page.


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The December Photochatter is Here!
- PCC Christmas Banquet Info -Joe Virbickis will present "A Trip to Lands Down Under: Images of Australia and New Zealand".
- Information on upcoming Photography Seminar with Bryan Peterson
- Open 1, 2 Creative 1 and Photojournalism 1 winning entries
- The "Challenge"
- The Holiday Challenge due Jan 6!
- Still Life Photo Shoot


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A cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) culture is a laboratory test to look for bacteria, fungi, and viruses in the normally clear fluid that moves in the space around the spinal cord.
Culture - CSF; Spinal fluid culture; CSF culture
A sample of CSF is needed. This sample is usually taken with a lumbar puncture. This is called a spinal tap.
The sample is sent to the laboratory, where it is placed in a special dish (called a culture medium). The laboratory personnel watch to see if bacteria, fungi, or viruses grow in the dish. Growth means there is an infection.
For information on how to prepare for the procedure to obtain the CSF sample, see spinal tap.
For information on how it will feel to have a sample of CSF fluid removed, see spinal tap.
Your doctor may order this test if you have signs of an infection that affects the brain or nervous system. The test will help identify what is causing the infection. This will help your doctor decide on the best treatment.
A normal result means no bacteria, viruses, or fungi grew in the laboratory dish. This is called a negative result.
If bacteria are present, you may have bacterial meningitis. Other possible infections include tuberculosis and fungal infections. Some bacteria or viruses can also be detected using special tests.
Finding bacteria does not necessarily mean the infection is contagious, unless it is meningococcal meningitis. It may also include:
A laboratory culture poses no risk to you. For risks from the procedure done to get a CSF sample, see spinal tap.
Griggs RC, Jozefowicz RF, Aminoff MJ. Approach to the patient with neurologic disease. In: Goldman L, Schafer AI, eds. Goldman's Cecil Medicine. 24th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Saunders; 2011:chap 403.
Swartz MN, Nath A. Meningitis: bacterial, viral, and other. In: Goldman L, Schafer AI, eds. Goldman's Cecil Medicine. 24th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Saunders; 2011:chap 420.


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Find Our Latest Video Reviews on YouTube!
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Monday June 23, 2008 1:20 pm
HP Mini-Note 2133 review
Posted by Sparky Categories: Design, Features, PC / Laptop, Product Reviews
Amidst a flurry of small and seemingly underpowered netbooks, HP has taken a slightly different tact in their release of the surprisingly capable HP Mini-Note device. While its up-to-$850 price tag places it in a significantly different category than the Eee PC and other cheap sub-notebooks, it easily makes up for this price difference with functionality and power approaching that of its larger siblings: full sized laptops.
We've got an HP Mini-Note unboxing gallery for you to check out if you want to see how the thing looks from all angles, and of course, you can click through for Gear Live's in-depth review of the HP Mini-Note 2133's features, capabilities, and user experience, below.
Build Quality and Design
The most striking thing about the HP Mini-note is its compact design. While larger than the Eee PC or other ultra-portables in that class, it's still significantly smaller than any other laptops on the market, ranking in at about the size of the average hardcover book. The Mini-Note features rounded corners, and a mostly sleek exterior. Unfortunately the clean line is somewhat disturbed by the fact that the included battery sticks out significantly, however this does help raise the notebook up slightly on the desk it's placed upon, which helps increase airflow and eases typing strain on the users wrists.
While typing upon the Mini-Note's keyboard it's easy to see the benefit of having the larger keyboard, versus the Eee PC. The keyboard is nearly full-sized and surprisingly easy to type on. Unlike some other ultra-portable computers, any touch-typist should have no problem typing away on the Mini-Note right out of the box with a very minimal learning curve. The large keys have a decent travel and provide reasonable amounts of feedback which allow typing at a user's normal speed.
While the roomy keyboard makes typing a pleasure, the included trackpad is cramped and can feel awkward to use. HP designed the trackpad with the right and left mouse buttons off to the sides instead of the traditional bottom placement. This change - while minor - does take some getting used to. Virtually everyone else who has reviewed the Mini-Note has commented on non-standard button placement as "awkward" or "design-retarded", so we aren't alone there. One reviewer even commented that the design almost called out for two handed use – strange for a trackpad, stranger still for a device with a keyboard so directly aimed at touch-typists.
The trackpad does feature a deactivation button which is handy during extended typing sessions. Due to the small form factor of the device, it's easy to accidentally activate the mouse while resting the palms of your hands on the Mini-Note while typing, and having a single button to disable does a great job of mitigating this problem. The trackpad deactivation button lights up while active giving the user clear feedback as to if it is activated – a nice touch for what became a frequently used feature.
The Mini-Note features a bright screen capable of displaying sharp text and bright colors on its 1280x800 LCD display. This is a common resolution for 12-14" laptops, and while the real estate is nice, the small 8" screen leads to small text and potential eye-strain from extended use.
The Mini-Note's Via C7 processor and 2GB of RAM provide ample power to run the supplied Windows Vista Basic or Business. If running Windows Vista Business, the Mini-note is capable of running the Aero/Glass features for GPU accelerated window management and taskbar transparency. Although the machine is capable of running Vista, it should be noted that this notebook is far more geared towards email and browsing the web than gaming, or high end productivity tasks. Might wanna just wipe it clean and throw XP on it.
The Via C7 processor was a best of breed mobile processor for the last generation of ultra-portable computers, however with the release of the Intel Atom processor with its reduced power consumption and increased business productivity options, the inclusion of the C7 seems poorly timed. Like many portables released without the Atom in the past few months, the Mini-Note may end up being a transition product for HP to the up and coming Intel Moblin platform. Hey, what are you gonna do, right?
Despite our reservations on the C7 processor, the Mini-note's overall performance is plenty to run Outlook, a browser, or other simple applications. When combined with its feather light weight the Mini-Note becomes an attractive option for travelers both of the globe, and of office-parks looking to quickly jump from meeting to meeting without lugging around a full sized laptop and power adapter.
It should be noted that the initial Mini-Note we reviewed got very warm during heavy usage. After pegging the processor for a few hours indexing mail in Outlook, the computer was warm enough to surprise and alarm this reviewer. The "Jay Leno chin" battery seems to prop the Mini-note up enough from the desk or table it is placed upon to prevent overheating. After speaking with HP and getting our hands on another review unit, we were able to confirm that the overheating problem was due to the initial unit being pre-release hardware - the production hardware runs at a reasonably cool level to be appropriate for every day use.
While the small size may tempt some to compare the Mini-Note to the latest netbook offerings, it really is in a different class of its own. While the form factor is similar to the Eee PC, the Mini-Note offers laptop-like levels of performance - as opposed to netbooks, which are primarily focused on basic web browsing at an affordable price. The Mini-Note is still a great value, but aimed at being a serious business tool, capable of virtually any task.
If you have embraced the cloud as your source of computing services, and don't mind a significantly more cramped keyboard, the Asus Eee line may be a better choice. For anyone with a need for even moderate computing power, the Mini-note is the clear winner for when comparing value against the price and performance of what you get.
Closing thoughts
The HP Mini-Note 2133 impresses with its over-all well thought-out design and strong focus on business performance. While the unwieldy mouse button placement will likely throw most users for a loop, it is possible to adapt after a few hours of usage. If you are in the market for an ultra-light laptop with a roomy keyboard and high resolution screen, but don't feel like waiting around to see if an Atom version is on the way, the 2133 seems like an ideal choice.
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Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Nami-Nami Easter Brunch 2012
Here's an overview of this year's table:
And here are the individual dishes, with links to recipes, where appropriate.
We started with Mimosa cocktails, using freshly squeezed orange juice and Spanish cava. We also drank wine, apple juice and water, followed by tea and coffee later:
Crostini with dill-marinated pork tenderloin and a dab of Meira's cognac-mustard (based on a Bon Appetit recipe):
Our friends Kristiina and Paavo brought along this delicious salad with alfa-alfa sprouts and various citrus fruits:
I had composed a salad of avocado, mango, pumpkin seeds and mozzarella cheese:
Liina (also a food blogger ) had baked this delicious savoury Italian pizza pie, using wild boar meat and Estonian goat cheese:
Estonian home cheese, SÕIR, which I had seasoned with roasted caraway seeds. This was especially delicious with home-baked rye bread (courtesy of our friend Kristiina again):
Fun focaccia shots, topped with sun-dried tomatoes (I got the idea from Kerstin Rodgers' inspirational Supper Club: Recipes and Notes from the Underground Restaurant):
Marinated olives (a mix of Kalamata, green Greek and black Amfissa olives) with Aleppo chili flakes, roasted garlic cloves and caperberries (inspired by Kerstin Rodgers again):
Our friend Piret brought along a bowl of wild mushroom salad:
A Mason jar full of beetroot-pickled quail eggs. I've written about them before, this time I used beetroot juice, balsamic vinegar, caraway seeds, salt and pepper. I find that 12 hours is more than enough to dye and flavour the quail eggs:
Thinly sliced cold-smoked salmon from my favourite fishmonger, Pepe Kala (this was especially delicious on top of all those boiled eggs we ate):
Thinly sliced Estonian "lardo" or Ristemäe's herb-crusted lard:
There were three desserts. First on the table, a traditional Easter pudding, paskha. Very creamy, rich and delicious. I added raisins, dried sour cherries, pistachios and flaked almonds to the paskha mixture:
There was also a cardamom-scented apricot and curd cheese cake, topped with almonds:
And a very traditional Estonian curd cheese sheet cake, cut into small pieces to feed loads:
Our friends Liina and Tauno also brought along a traditional Russian Easter cake, kulitch, that they had bought on a weekend trip to Narva:
What was on your Easter table?
10 comments:
- Hovkonditorn said...
What a great Easter Brunch, lots of good food and the salads looked so fresh and delicious, not to mention the desserts :) Lovely!
- 10:19 am, April 10, 2012
- Claudia Moser said...
Strange, you have something called pashka, in Romania we have something called pasca, but I am sure it is more or less the same. Our Easter is this weekend and I am curious what mom will prepare, I am being pampered!
- 10:41 am, April 10, 2012
- 11:07 am, April 10, 2012
- Lemon said...
What a lovely Easter brunch, I'm sure everybody attending enjoyed a lot.
- 11:18 am, April 10, 2012
- Piret said...
Väga tore traditsioon ja imeline laud!
- 4:09 pm, April 10, 2012
Superilus! Tegin ka ise mustikatega mune (kõik peale parketi sai pärast puhtaks ka).
- 10:13 pm, April 10, 2012
- Natascha Coester said...
YUM, it alls looks so delish :)
- 9:56 am, April 12, 2012
- Melissa Bakth said...
Wow, this spread looks incredible!
- 12:25 pm, April 18, 2012
- Pille said...
Hovkonditorn - thank you :)
Claudia - well, in Estonian it's simply 'pasha', but the English spelling is usually paskha
Ebe - aitäh!!!
Lemon - well, our friends seem to come back every year, so they must enjoy attending as much as we enjoy hosting the brunch :)
Piret - suured tänud.
Kadri - parketist on muidugi kahju :D
Natasha and Melissa - thank you for your kind words!
- 9:09 pm, May 17, 2012
Could you share the recipes for those adorable focaccia buns, Estonian cheese, and marinated olives.
Thanks in advance!
- 6:39 pm, February 23, 2013


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Surfing the interwebs, I've found that the most vocal opponents to writers self-publishing seem to be:
When I began self -pubbing two years ago, I had my reservations. I didn't believe it would ever be my sole source of income (especially one where I make $1200 a day, which I'm currently doing.)
But many writers have shown this to not only be an obvious alternative to traditional publishing, but a preferable one. There is money to be made, readers to be discovered, publicity to be garnered. All it takes is trying it.
And yet, all over the world wide web, I see writers repeating and restating the same tired argument against self-pubbing: If you do it, you probably won't sell many books.
What amazes me about this is it is coming from traditionally published authors who fail to see the irony of that statement.
If you've been traditionally published, you have first-hand experience about how truly few books you can sell within the system. You also know the hard work, sacrifices, tireless promotion, and luck it took to sell in those paltry numbers.
But Stockholm Syndrome reigns supreme in this business. Writers cannot wrap their minds around the fact (and it is a fact, not a hypothesis) that publishing houses aren't needed anymore. They make excuses for publishers, and call writers like me exceptions.
While I've never said that self-pubbing is a guaranteed ticket to wealth, I've seen enough evidence to realize that writers can and will make more money self-pubbing than they will going the traditional route. You have just as much of a chance selling a book on Kindle as you do signing with one of the Big 6 and selling a book in a bookstore. And actually, according to my numbers, your chances are better on Kindle.
Some writers have conducted their own experiments, putting up a single ebook, pricing it too high, and after a month have concluded there is no money to be made.
That isn't following the formula. And there is a formula. The majority of those who succeed are publishing multiple titles at low prices with good covers, and it is taking several months, or even years, to find an audience.
Until you've done that, you can't say self-pubbing doesn't work. All that doesn't work is your poor attempt at an experiment.
But don't take my word for it. In the past few days, I've featured guest posts from self-published authors selling as well, or better, than I am.
Today's post is from Aaron Patterson, who regularly smokes me on the Kindle bestseller lists.
From Rags to Royalties
by Aaron Patterson
I believe eBooks are the future for publishers and authors alike. I find many in both camps are resistant to the idea; some are outright against it. I hope my story will shed more light on the subject and will inspire other authors and aspiring writers.
I am 31 years old and worked in construction for eleven years. Reading has always been an addiction. Growing up, I was the stereotypical odd duck—home schooled, introverted and painfully shy. I was the kid who read two to three books a day, the kid who wanted to be a writer but never thought I had what it took.
In 2008, I decided to try my hand at a novel. I sat down with no formal training, no writing experience or any idea what I was doing. I just had all these stories and I knew they had to get out. A month later, I finished my first book, Sweet Dreams.
I set out to learn everything I could about the publishing industry. After a year of research, I almost gave up; the publishing world was a mess! I didn't want to waste two years sending out query letters with little guarantee of success. So I decided to self publish and started my own company. To this day, I haven't submitted a single query letter. I figured the best thing to do was start selling some books to see what the public thought of my writing.
In December 2008, Sweet Dreams was officially published online and in print. I uploaded it as an eBook on Amazon, not really understanding the potential of such a market. The initial eBook price was $14.99; and I sold only 12 a month for 6 months. But, because I was a new writer, I believed building a fan base was more important than the bottom line, so I dropped the price to $4.99. That month I sold 48 eBooks.
This is when my little brain started working. I released my second book, Dream On, in December, 2009 and dropped the price of Sweet Dreams to $0.99. This is when many authors begin to roll their eyes and mutter that my shenanigans were "devaluing the market."
Here is a breakdown for Sweet Dreams:
In the first month at its new price point, I sold 102 eBooks.
The next month, 250.
Then, 340, 550, 700, 850, 900, 1000 and 1200.
I eventually readjusted the prices of both my novels to $2.99. I expected my sales to drop, but my numbers went up instead: I sold 2600. In December, I sold 3200, and my sales continue to climb.
I never really thought anyone would read my book, let alone publish it. But here I am, making a living as a full time writer and helping others do the same. My story is proof that you don't need a big publisher to be a successful author. J.A. Konrath is not "an anomaly." Anyone can do what we have done. By means of online marketing, blogs, Facebook and Twitter, we are able to reach out to fans. And because of eBooks, I'm building my own future.
To you, the author: The power is now yours if you choose to take it. The question is, will you?
Aaron's blog: www.theworstbookever.blogspot.com
Twitter: @mstersmith
Web site: www.StoneHouseInk.net
Sweet Dreams
Dream On
19 (A Digital Short)
The eBook on eBooks (a Digital Short)
In Your Dreams (Coming 2011)
Airel (Coming 2011)
Joe sez: Patterson did what all writers should be doing. He tried it for himself, then experimented over a long period of time in order to find the sweet spot that maximized sales. He also continues to innovate, and has rereleased Sweet Dreams as a double ebook, pairing it with The Remains by Vincent Zandri. That's a smart way to cross-pollinate fans, and also doubles Aaron's virtual shelf space, allowing him to be more easily discovered.
So to all the naysayers who continue to beat the tired drum of traditional publishing, and continue to insist that self-pubbed author will sell in tiny numbers and never make any money, I say: try it.
You may not hit a homerun. But many baseball players have long and lucrative careers hitting infield grounders over and over again, and over the years those stats accrue. If you write good books, with good covers, and release them at low prices, you WILL make more money and you WILL sell more books than you would selling traditionally. Ebooks are forever. Print books are not. Infinite will earn more than finite. Just be in it for the long haul, don't shy away from experimenting, and start now.
Forever is a long time. But if you don't start until tomorrow, you lost the money and the head start you could have had today.
Monday, January 17, 2011
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Friday, June 30, 2017
Colorful Contemporary Horse Art Equine Painting "Moonlit Malaki" by Contemporary Animal Artist Patricia A. Griffin
Click HERE for pricing.
10% of the profits from each painting are donated to Conservation.
View more of my work at http://www.griffingallery.org
Click HERE to learn about Artists for Conservation.
1 comment:
- Sue Marrazzo said...
A Favorite!
- July 6, 2017 at 10:32 AM
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Smith engineering students come from all over the globe with unique experiences, skills and interests. All are looking to make a difference in the world. Together, they form a lively community committed to building a sustainable future.
A Smith Experience
Click on the images below to read testimonials from 12 of the 278 students who have graduated from the Picker program since the inaugural class graduated in 2004.


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After being introduced to a new cog technology on a previous thread, I decided to give the "quick-cog" by Lunar Bikes a chance.
The design is very solid with high quality manufacturing. I purchased this with 2 optional cogs that attach to the base. Changing them is very easy by simply removing a securing ring. I'm impressed with this product so I figured I would share.
I recently moved to a new area and I'm working on finding the best gear for the various rides. Also, as in most places, the terrain is vastly different from one trail to another so I can gear appropriately prior to heading to a certain location in only a minute.
For the record: I paid, my own hard earned money, for the quick-cog and I have no affiliation with Lunar Bike whatsoever. I'm just excited about this new product and wanted to let y'all know.


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Icebergs: Floating Snow Cones
by Ann Stalcup
Icebergs—giant blocks of ice that float in the sea—come in many shapes, sizes, and colors. Some are deep blue or green. Some look like floating sculptures. Old icebergs that have been worn down by the weather sometimes look like pillars of ice.
How is an iceberg formed? Icebergs begin and end in the ocean. First, moisture from the ocean rises into the air and moves up into Earth's atmosphere. Over Antarctica, where air is cold, the water falls as snow. As layers of snow develop, their heavy weight presses down and turns the snow to ice in the frigid polar climate—lots of ice. In fact, 90 percent of all the world's ice is on the continent of Antarctica. Huge areas of ice called ice sheets and glaciers move slowly across the continent toward the sea. (The fastest-moving Antarctic glacier moves about 1.25 miles in a year.) When glaciers finally reach the coast, huge pieces split off into the ocean. These are icebergs.
Scientists call the splitting off of icebergs "calving." Icebergs are a lot larger than a calf, though. One of the largest Antarctic icebergs formed recently is 185 miles long and 25 miles wide.
Usually, only about one-fifth of an iceberg appears above the surface of the water. The other four-fifths of the "berg" is hidden underwater, out of sight. Sometimes, an iceberg has what is called a "foot," an extension completely underwater. These are especially dangerous for ships. It was an iceberg "foot" that sank the Titanic in 1912, killing 1,503 people.
Every year, thousands of new icebergs are formed in the ocean around Antarctica. If you're lucky, you'll get to see one someday.
- What form of water is an iceberg?
[anno: An iceberg is a solid form of water.]
- How is the formation of an iceberg part of the water cycle?
Draw a diagram that shows the steps of the water cycle as an iceberg is formed in Antarctica. Show each of the steps involved. Label each part of your diagram with words that you learned in Lesson 1.
[anno: Diagrams should show the formation of an iceberg. Students should correctly label parts of their diagrams with the words: condensation, precipitation, evaporation.]


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It took a while, but after several calls for action from prominent intellectuals, the Mexican government finally said something about the United States' proposed plans to scale up security on its side of the border.
Mexico's Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Jose Meade, read a statement to reporters Tuesday afternoon in which he criticized a U.S. bill that would add 700 miles of border fencing and double the number of Border Patrol agents, in exchange for the legalization of 11 million undocumented immigrants.
"We are convinced that fences do not unite [both nations]," Meade said. "The enlargement of this wall is not congruent with plans to create a modern and secure border, and to develop the region."
Meade thanked the U.S. government for the bill's main aim: trying to establish a legal status for millions of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S., many of whom are Mexican. But he said that plans for increased fencing and patrolling - which have been attached to immigration reform efforts by conservative politicians - would hamper commerce along the border and disrupt the lives of 14 million people who live in counties on either side of the fence.
"Our country has let the U.S. government know that measures which will affect the links between communities do not coincide with the principles of good neighborship and shared responsibility," Meade said in typical diplomatic parlance.
His criticisms may sound tame, but they actually mark an interesting shift in the Mexican government's position on the immigration reform debate.
In recent years, the administrations of Presidents Enrique Peña Nieto and Felipe Calderón had stayed strictly on the sidelines of that debate, reluctant to issue any pronouncements that might stoke U.S. worries about Mexican intervention in American affairs. Some analysts have also argued that any Mexican declarations could be used as ammunition by congressional critics of immigration reform.
But after momentum gathered around plans for a law enforcement buildup on the border, several well-known analysts in Mexico pressed their government to say something about U.S. immigration reform, arguing that at some point, Mexico had to stand up for the interests of its citizens at home and abroad.
"This is a contradiction," historian Lorenzo Meyer said in a Monday morning radio show about plans to build up border defenses. "The United States wants commerce with Mexico, they want [laws that allow U.S.] investment, but they don't want the unavoidable part of this relationship between unequal countries: The [Mexican] workers."
"It is a very unfriendly move," former foreign minister Jorge Castañeda said Tuesday on MVS Noticias, one of Mexico's top radio shows. Castañeda described the U.S. proposal as something that would happen along the borders of enemy countries "like North Korea and South Korea" - another border where the U.S. stations thousands of troops.
So if the U.S. border buildup proceeds, what will Mexico do in response? It is still unclear. But a couple of suggestions have been made.
"We have things we can shut down, too," said Meyer, who suggested that in retaliation, the Mexican government could make it harder for U.S companies to invest in the country, or cancel laws that enable U.S. citizens to buy property in Mexico. Meyer said that while those measures might have a small impact, they could "send a signal" to the U.S. government about Mexico's displeasure with the border fence.
Sergio Aguayo, a lawyer and human rights activist, had a more moderate suggestion. He said the Mexican government should seriously lobby the U.S. congress and American society in general for policies that better suit the country's interests, just as Israel currently does through a robust lobbying presence in Washington.
Aguayo said that when it comes to lobbying, Mexico has an advantage that Israel did not have: More than 30 million Mexican-Americans who already live in the U.S. and make up 10 percent of the country's population. That segment of the population, he added, tends to sympathize with Mexico's interests.


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Hey! im interested in purchase some normal quality Small Pneumatic or normal lathe chuck and tool holder. Im building an small machine i need to machine kist 6cm diameter for 10cm length aluminium and 304 steel.
Im designing a cnc lathe and looking some place to purchase this items because in my country all are expensive and crap.
Dont know if its the right forum to post it!
Thanks in advance and sorry for my english.


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California Department of Transportation
Date: October 19, 2012
District: 4 - Oakland
Contact: Allyn Amsk
Phone: (510) 286-5445
ALAMEDA/CONTRA COSTA COUNTIES - Work began this morning on an $80 million technology-laden project to make life easier on one of the Bay Area's busiest commuter corridors, Interstate 80.
When completed, traffic signals on surface streets will be in better synch with onramp meters and computerized highway signs, helping cars and buses better share the road during rush hour. The Interstate 80 Integrated Corridor Mobility Project is the result of a partnership between Caltrans, the Alameda County Transportation Commission and the Contra Costa Transportation Authority.
"We're working together to help people get to work easier and faster," said Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty. "This is a good example of how technology can help us make better use of the roads we already have."
The project includes $66 million in Proposition 1B funds, the voter-approved transportation bond passed in 2006, which are awarded by the California Transportation Commission.
"This project will provide our cities the necessary tools to better manage traffic on our streets when things break down on the freeway," said West Contra Costa Transportation Advisory Committee (WCCTAC) Chair Janet Abelson.
The project is a cooperative effort between the ten municipalities along the corridor (Oakland, Emeryville, Albany, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Richmond, San Pablo, Pinole, Hercules, and the unincorporated areas representing Contra Costa County); AC Transit; WestCAT, and the West Contra Costa Transportation Advisory Committee.
The project also relies on voter-approved local sales tax measures, approximately $2.8 million from the Alameda County Measure B half-cent sales tax, and $5 million from the Contra Costa Measure J half-cent sales tax.
"With an investment of $5 million in Contra Costa's Measure J half-cent sales tax, the Contra Costa Transportation Authority has leveraged more than $76 million in state and other regional funds to improve traffic flow and safety along one of the most congested corridors in the Bay Area," said CCTA Chair Don Tatzin.
The corridor includes I-80 from the I-80/580/880 interchange in Oakland to the Carquinez Bridge, San Pablo Avenue, and the arterials that lead to I-80. The improvements include adaptive ramp metering with commuter bypass lanes at some of the metered ramps; active management of traffic during freeway incidents using variable advisory speed limits and lane management on the freeway and coordinated traffic signal timing on local streets; bus priority at traffic signals and at some metered ramps; enhanced traveler information; and the coordinated operation of all of these components – collectively referred to as the I-80 Integrated Corridor Mobility (ICM) project.
"Safer and more efficient and reliable traffic flows along I-80 are essential
to the current and future vitality of the Bay Area," said Alameda CTC Chair Mark
Green. "Alameda CTC is working to ensure that county and regional transportation
systems will run as smoothly as possible and keep up with demand as the Bay
Area's population grows, using high-tech solutions to increase capacity on our
existing roadways. This project means time savings and greater convenience for
Bay Area residents and businesses
that rely on the I-80 corridor."
"Drivers will benefit from this innovative use of technology," said Caltrans District 4 Director Bijan Sartipi. "When a traffic incident occurs, motorists will be provided with real-time information to help them choose whether to remain on the freeway, choose a detour, or travel to the nearest public transit station."
To date, the state has allocated nearly $14.5 billion in Proposition 1B funds for transportation purposes statewide.
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Hostel Mundo Joven Catedral
Hostel Catedral is ideally located in the best spot a hostel can be in Mexico city. Right in the zocalo, the heart of the country, within walking distance to donwtown´s major attractions and nightlife while also having instant access to the metro transport network. All of this in a safe, fun, clean and comfortable beautiful building.
We invite you to relax in our rooftop terrace while you enjoy the view of the largest and oldest Cathedral in the Americas and the bustling Zocalo (Mexico´s main square) or have a cold beer while meeting with fellow travelers. Our hostel is a meeting place for travellers from all over the globe.
We strongly believe that one should get as much value for money as possible that is why we offer the following to all our guests:
-FREE breakfast,
-FREE Walking tours of downtown attractions and off-the-beaten-track places like local cantinas and markets.
-FREE internet access (computers)
-FREE WiFi
-FREE Coffee all day
Hostel Catedral boasts a total of 164 beds.
We offer 4 and 6 people dorm rooms. These include comfy beds with reading lamps each. All of them with SAFETY LOCKERS.
All of our private rooms have flat screen TV. The ensuite ones, come with bathroom ammenities.
All our guests are given electronic key cards to access the building and their rooms. Safety is our priority.
Come stay with us, we will make sure you leave happy!
All our rates INCLUDE taxes.
Breakfast ins included for everyone (served from 8am to 10am). Everyday.
We offer free walking tours and night activities.
There is WiFi everywhere on the building and also computeres for guests to use.
Availability & RatesTo view availability and prices please select dates and click 'Update Dates'
Hostel Facilities & Policies
- 24 Hour Reception
- 24 Hour Security
- Bar
- Bicycle parking
- Board Games
- Book Exchange
- Free Breakfast
- Cable TV
- Café
- Card Phones
- Common Room
- Credit Cards Accepted
- DVDs
- Elevator
- Free City Maps
- Free Internet Access
- Free WiFi
- Hot Showers
- House Keeping
- Key Card Access
- Self-Catering Facilities
- Late check-out
- Laundry Facilities
- Linen Included
- Security Lockers
- Luggage Storage
- Meals Available
- No Curfew
- Outdoor Terrace
- Postal Service
- Reading Light
- Reception (limited hours)
- Restaurant
- Safe Deposit Box
- Taxes included
- Tea & Coffee Making Facilities
- Tours/Travel Desk
- Towels For Hire
- Towels Included
- Vending Machines
- Washing Machine
Cancellation PolicyThis property has a 1 day cancellation policy. Failure to cancel within this time will result in a cancellation charge equal to the first night of your stay.
Must-Read Hostel InfoThis property has specific Terms & Conditions.
Check Out: 11:00 A.M.
Check In: 2:00 P.M.
However if you arrive earlier, if the room is empty will give it to you. We also have a free baggage room for your comfort.
DirectionsShow MapHide Map
By Subway:
Line 2 (blue line) station Zocalo, look for the 'Catedral' exit, you will find us behind the Cathedral, just walk toward it and round it.
By Taxi:
Just ask the driver to take you to the main square (Zocalo), to Republica de Guatemala #4, behind the Cathedral.
Located Near
Hostel Catedral is located in the heart of Mxico Citys downtown, right behind the Cathedral! We are by far the best located hostel in Mexico.


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The Middle East and North Africa Program supports a diverse group of civil society organizations, research centers, universities, and media organizations across the Arab region. Based in Amman, Jordan, and with a satellite office in Tunisia, it works to strengthen civil society in its efforts to build vibrant and tolerant societies where governments are accountable to their citizens. It currently supports the work of civil society in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Syria, and Tunisia across five programmatic areas:
- rights and governance
- women's rights
- higher education
- media and information
- arts and culture
Grant making supports efforts to improve government transparency, the rule of law, and human rights, as well as those to empower women and to foster independent media and the arts. The office also engages with governments and regional bodies to support judicial reform and the reform of higher education, and to promote human rights.
Current and recently supported projects and initiatives include monitoring the Tunisian parliament; documenting and exposing human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories; investigative journalism training for reporters; providing access to legal aid for migrant and indigent communities in Jordan; and supporting music, theater, cinema, visual arts, and literature through the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture. The Middle East and North Africa Program is currently spearheading a regional initiative to increase civil society engagement on human rights at the League of Arab States, and is developing new programming to address the question of food security in North Africa.
The Middle East and North Africa Program combines grant making with support for capacity building, technical assistance, and networking to strengthen the effectiveness, impact, and sustainability of partner organizations. We support civil society actors dedicated to building free and just societies based on human rights, and aim to orient support toward civil society according to the priorities identified and pursued by local organizations and thought leaders.


text: For me it kind of depends on the recipe. For something like a dark roasted malt that I'm using in a relatively low amount to begin with I may leave the quantity the same, especially if it's there primarily for color. Otherwise, I usually scale by percentage, but then I start rounding up the specialty grains to an even number of ounces because I have OCD like that.


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The Anchor Inn is a beautiful Sussex country pub and restaurant set on the west bank of the River Ouse, one of the most unspoilt parts of rural Sussex, four miles upstream from the county town of Lewes.
Built in 1790, the Inn has a long history, and today offers two cosy bars and two restaurant rooms, serving real ale, bottled lagers, fine wines and freshly prepared food from our menu. Boats can be hired to explore the surrounding countryside. There are also rooms and a marquee available for any type of function.
The Anchor Inn is licensed to hold cilvil wedding ceremonies. These and private receptions are catered for either within the Inn or in a riverside marquee. For additional information please ring or email us. Our wedding brochure can be downloaded as a pdf from the Weddings and Functions page.
the Anchor from Richard Cottier on Vimeo.


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Recording period between
One of England's top jazz musicians of the 1950s and '60s, Tubby Hayes was a fine hard bop stylist on tenor and occasionally vibes and flute. A professional at 15, Hayes played with Kenny Baker and in the big bands of Ambrose, Vic Lewis, and Jack Parnell during 1951-1955. He led his own group after that, and started doubling on vibes in 1956. Hayes co-led the Jazz Couriers with Ronnie Scott (1957-1959), and appeared in the U.S. a few times during 1961-1965. He headed his own big band in London, sat in with Duke Ellington's Orchestra in 1964, and was featured at many European festivals. Heart trouble forced him out of action during 1969-1971, and caused his premature death. Tubby Hayes led sessions for Tempo (1955-1959), London, Jazzland (1959), Fontana, Epic (a 1961 date with Clark Terry and Horace Parlan), Smash (a 1962 album which matched him with James Moody and Roland Kirk), 77, Spotlite, and Mole. ~ Scott Yanow


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by George Zamora
SOCORRO – A retired New Mexico Tech physics professor who was "in the delivery room" when the nuclear age was born has donated the bulk of his memoirs, papers, historic artifacts, and personal library to the university's Joseph R. Skeen Library.
Marvin H. Wilkening, professor emeritus of physics and dean emeritus of graduate studies at New Mexico Tech, was still a graduate student at the Illinois Institute of Technology when he joined a group of 41 other scientists on December 2, 1942, in achieving the first sustained nuclear chain reaction under the bleachers of the old football stadium at the University of Chicago.
Wilkening's participation in this historic event would not be the highlight of his research career, however, since a few years later he would also play a supporting role in the Manhattan Project and would become an eyewitness to the first atomic explosion at Trinity Site.
Through the recent donation, Skeen Library patrons will now be able to draw on some of Wilkening's first-hand accounts of events that shaped the nuclear age, as they peruse various scrapbooks, photo albums, films, and research papers.
A full two shelves of the Wilkening Collection, as the donated materials are being called, will be dedicated to books about the Manhattan Project and the atom bomb.
"We are very excited to receive this unique and interesting collection," says Joan Shedivy, Information Literacy Librarian at the Skeen Library. "The donated items which make up the Wilkening Collection are among some of the most meticulously arranged materials I've ever seen–even the file cabinets are extremely well organized."
Books in the Wilkening Collection will soon be available for check out at the Skeen Library, Shedivy says, while archival-type materials are currently being catalogued and should be available for viewing within a year.
Wilkening first joined the New Mexico Tech faculty in 1948 and retired from his various teaching, research, and administrative positions at the university in 1984.
An internationally recognized authority on radon gas, having authored more than 35 published papers and books on the naturally occurring radioactive gas, Wilkening is also credited with establishing New Mexico Tech's first radon research laboratory during his tenure at the school.
The Skeen Library's procurement of the Wilkening Collection was made possible through the concerted efforts of Marvin Wilkening's daughter, Dr. Laurel Wilkening, and son, Dr. Wes Wilkening.


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Sorry, the requested page could not be found. If you believe this to be in error, please contact the OSU Herbarium.
Questions or comments? E-mail the
Phone: (541) 737-4106
Web Disclaimer
This page was last updated on .
OSU Herbarium
Department of Botany and Plant Pathology
2082 Cordley Hall
Corvallis, Oregon 97331-2902


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The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has proposed that fees charged to cotton producers for classification services will remain the same as in 2010.
The $2.20 per bale fee established for the previous crop is sufficient to recover the estimated costs of providing the services as required by section 14201 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, commonly known as the 2008 farm bill. As in previous years, cotton classification fees for cotton collected by sampling agents will be discounted five cents per bale. This fee will be applicable for the entire 2011 U.S. cotton crop.
The cotton classing fees are calculated by a new method mandated in the 2008 farm bill, and the annual adjustment of the fee is also required by the legislation. Elements of the cost factors used to determine the 2011 user fee include salaries, costs of equipment and supplies, and other overhead costs, such as facility costs and costs for administration and supervision.
Estimated production of cotton from the 2011 harvest is projected to increase approximately 10 percent from the previous two years, based upon plantings intentions surveys. Market conditions favor the increased planting of cotton in 2011, as the supply of cotton on the world market has diminished and demand remains strong.
A large proportion of AMS costs for the service are fixed in permanent facilities, equipment, and personnel, and when the cotton production increases significantly, AMS' unit costs for providing classing services are lower.
Details of the fees were published in the March 23, 2011, Federal Register. Comments must be received on or before April 7, 2011. Copies are available from Darryl Earnest, Deputy Administrator, Cotton and Tobacco Programs, AMS, USDA, Stop 0224, Room 2635-S, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-0224, Tel (202) 720-3193, and can be found at http://www.ams.usda.gov/cotton/rulemaking.htm.


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I went on a job interview where I barely spoke to anyone and instead took a battery of personality and assessment tests. What's that about, and how do you prepare for them?
Well, we've come a long way from the typing test. It's about a brave new world — where science and technology replace human interaction and millions of years of evolutionary instincts. That said, the hiring process is a critical business decision that often lacks rigor — which these software companies are attempting to compensate for with programs that assess a job applicant's likelihood of success in that company. But humans are social beings, and there is no substitute for sitting face to face with someone and looking them in the eye. Don't try to "game the system." Answer the questions truthfully — if you do so, and the computer doesn't think you're a good fit, you don't want to work there anyway.
We have a new colleague who's a hugger and a kisser. He hugs people good-bye when wishing us a good weekend. If we go out for drinks he hugs and kisses people good-bye. We think it's harmless but also a little inappropriate. How do you politely tell someone to stop doing that without hurting their feelings?
If you feel it's harmless, I'm assuming he isn't trying to French kiss or grope you. I have to say that close colleagues often do give a friendly hug and cheek kiss when saying good-bye at the end of an event or night out, so I don't agree that the act in and of itself as commonly exhibited in general is inappropriate. It's the intent and how the recipient feels about it. If you don't like it, you need to tell him, "Listen, I know you mean no harm, but I'm not a hugger . . . A wave of the hand or handshake is friendly and warm enough." Or the next time he approaches for a cheek-to-cheek embrace, step back and stick out your hand offering to shake instead. And if he doesn't get the message, you can always don a hospital mask on Fridays and when you're out for drinks.


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|Sat 8 Dec 2012, 12:00pm–3:00pm
On Saturday December 8, Red Bull Drift Shifters will transform Victoria Street into a giant pinball inspired drift track.
Motorsport fans will be treated to a totally new style of racing that will test driver's skills to the limit, thrilling the crowds with tight turns and drifts through pinball inspired obstacles.
When the smoke and rubber clears one driver will reign supreme as the new Red Bull Drift Shifters Champion. He will have beaten 11 other competitors from around the world in the ultimate test of drift driving skills. The competitions race track can only be described as a giant drift and pinball game hybrid.
Just like its pin ball counterpart, Red Bull Drift Shifters is a race to create the highest score. Drivers will race one at a time collecting points from clipping obstacles, speed through sections and style points from the judges. The driver's points will display on a giant scoreboard at the top of the course just like a pinball game.
Drift Shifters is the brainchild of Mike Whiddett, arguably New Zealand's best known and most talented drift driver. In his professional career Mike has travelled the world, racing in many top motorsport locations, but nothing that will come close to Red Bull Drift Shifters.
"I have always had the dream of bringing a drift event into the CBD. In New Zealand our competitions are really limited to existing race tracks. I wanted to create something new, exciting and different" says Mike
Different and exciting is exactly what the Drift Shifters track will aim to deliver. It will be packed with combinations of tight turns, clipping points, speed tunnel runs, sweeping corners, transition drifts under sea containers and a final 180 turn into a tight car park. This will keep competitors hands firmly on the wheel if they have any hope of taking out the title.
"I really wanted to build a course that would show the true skill of a driver and the ability they have to control the car in tight and varied situations in a short amount of time" comments Mike Whiddett.
The competition format is fast and tight with12 drivers starting, reduced to the eight top scorers after the qualifying round, then down to four in the semi-final. The top two drivers will battle it out in the grand final. Red Bull Drift Shifters – a totally new way to race.
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4Shared File Storage and Sharing Service Entices Users With 15GB Free
4Shared is already an established file storage and sharing service with over 1 billion files uploaded, downloaded and shared daily across over 200 countries. Unfortunately, names like Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, SkyDrive suck up all the publicity and coverage. 4Shared at first glance is no different than any of the name-brand cloud options - Users can upload files and access them across the web, desktop app, or mobile device to backup and share files.
I know, you need another cloud storage option like you need another hole in your head. To stand out from the crowd, 4Shared looks to gain popularity and pull in users by offering new users 15GB of free space - That's way above what services like Dropbox at 2GB and SugarSync & Google Drive's 5GB, and Microsoft SkyDrive 7GB. By simply creating a free account, you are guaranteed the 15gigs of space. In other words, you're not reaching your storage limit the second you upload a couple of files.
4Shared users can also stream their photos, music, videos without downloading the content to their mobile device first. 4Sync, an additional feature that's in beta keeps your data in sync to ensure all your devices have access to the same information.
On the flip-side, a free 4Shared account has some drawbacks that are nonexistent on other services:
- Slow upload speed
- Download wait time
- Ads displayed during download
To get rid of all of the former-mentioned drawbacks, you must upgrade to a premium account at $78 annually that bumps up your storage space to 100GB and will also lift the maximum size of files you can upload from 2048MB to 5GB. Dropbox for example, has no max upload size if you upload from the desktop application (500MB if you upload via web application), but will run you slightly more at $99 for 100GB of space.
Another tid-bit: Your "public" files are accessible to anybody with a 4Shared account. Depends on the type of user that will determine whether this is a good or bad feature. You can lock-down your files to only be accessible by certain people or by only you, for a more traditional cloud storage option. for more information and to download, check out 4Shared's website and let us know what you think.


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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) Almost every major-college coach says he doesn't care about the polls, for fear others will think his team will be distracted.
``Not this coach,'' Ohio State's Urban Meyer said.
With Ohio State banned from playing in a bowl, banished from the Bowl Championship Series picture or even being listed in the coaches' poll due to NCAA sanctions, the Associated Press Top 25 offers a bit of incentive for a team with limited time to prove itself.
So, each week when Meyer meets with his players, they discuss the media poll, how far the Buckeyes have come and where they have yet to go.
``The thing is, they're going to talk about it when they go home, when they walk to class,'' Meyer said on Monday. ``Why not (discuss), `Here's really where we're at'?''
Meyer knows that his players follow the game. They know who the best teams are, who's rising and falling, who the national contenders are. Why not bring it out in the open?
``These players are just playing football, and they have a right to know where they stand on a national level,'' he said.
Nowadays, the Buckeyes have a lot to talk about. In the preseason, they were ranked 18th. They bounced around during an up-and-down non-conference portion of their schedule, going to 14th and 12th, then up to 16th, before climbing to No. 14, No. 12 and, this week, No. 8 in the media poll.
The Buckeyes will have made their biggest jumps, naturally, since knocking off ranked teams the past two weeks. They edged No. 20 Michigan State 17-16 on the road two weeks ago before battering No. 21 Nebraska 63-38 on Saturday.
It'll be difficult to make up any more ground on top-ranked Alabama and the rest over the next four games unless there are a substantial number of upsets, because the Buckeyes play four consecutive unranked teams over the next month (at Indiana on Saturday, Purdue at home, at Penn State and Illinois at home).
During his 10-year tenure at Ohio State, former coach Jim Tressel disavowed any knowledge of the polls - even the BCS rankings, which determine the teams in the national championship game. At the same time, almost all of his players knew precisely where they were ranked, who was ahead and who was behind them.
``I definitely think it's important to us,'' center Corey Linsley said. ``Like coach Meyer says, `If you don't think that statistics are important, you're kind of lying.' It's what we play for. We play for these polls, we play to be No. 1 in the country, for there to be no doubt.''
Because of NCAA transgressions during the Tressel regime, Ohio State is on NCAA probation and is banned from playing in a bowl after the season. Still, the Buckeyes remain in the race to capture the AP poll - which is based simply on the top teams in the country, regardless of their status with the NCAA.
The Big Ten has already determined that Ohio State is eligible to win a Leaders Division title and the trophy that goes with it. Should everybody else in the nation lose at least one game, and the Buckeyes were to go 12-0, they could also steal the AP's national championship trophy.
There is some precedent for such a run. Auburn was on NCAA probation in 1993 but went 11-0 and the Terry Bowden-coached Tigers finished fourth in the final AP rankings despite staying at home during the postseason.
``The players have to believe that it's doable,'' said Bowden, now the head coach at the University of Akron. ``I remember we had won (six) games and we played No. 4 Florida and beat `em. It was a big win for us. At that point, those kids said, `Let's take `em one at a time. Let's show `em what we can do.'''
Other NCAA-sanctioned teams have threatened to pull off the no-bowl-but-national-title feat- Oklahoma in the mid-1970s, SMU before getting hit with the death penalty in the 1980s, Southern California just last season - but none has done it. Yet.
Bowden isn't discounting Ohio State's chance.
``Urban's always got little motivators that he's always wired into. I don't think there'll be a problem,'' Bowden said. ``One we used then (was), `They can vote for whatever mythical championship, whatever you want - but if we go undefeated, no other team in the country can take it away.' And we ended up the only undefeated team in the country that year.''
Just last year, Ohio State's football credentials were sullied by ugly charges and innuendo, suspensions, defections and Tressel's forced resignation for major violations. On top of that, the team went 6-7 - the most losses for the program since 1897.
Now the Buckeyes are enjoying their return to the spotlight.
``(The AP poll) is important to the team to kind of show where we are right now,'' defensive end John Simon said. ``We'll try to get to No. 1 if at all possible. We're doing everything we can.''
Just last week, the Buckeyes hung 63 points on Nebraska before a record Ohio Stadium crowd of 106,102. The atmosphere was electric.
``You ask what it feels like to coach a top 10 team, it's an extraordinary feeling,'' cornerbacks coach Kerry Coombs said. ``I've had the good fortune to coach in a Sugar Bowl and an Orange Bowl when I was with Cincinnati. Neither of those experiences compared to the game on Saturday night, frankly, because of the number of people who were at a home game and all of the tradition.''
Meyer isn't skirting the talk about the rankings, either.
``We're not shy,'' he said. ``(This is a) top 10 football team, and the stakes are real high.''
It's far too early to declare the Buckeyes officially redeemed from 2011 and back on the right track after their lost year.
But it sure feels like that to those who within the program.
``I've been a lucky man. I've coached on a lot of really good teams in high school and in college. But this experience right now is second to none,'' Coombs said. ``And, I told my guys after the game, `Let's just plan on not losing anymore.' You know, I mean, this is pretty good stuff.''
Follow Rusty Miller on Twitter:http://www.twitter.com/rustymillerap


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1) What is a "Credit Score"?
And How Can it Affect Your Credit?
Credit Scoring is a statistically analyzed credit report that provides a simple three-digit score comparing an individual's past and current credit performance to that of similar consumers. Your credit score provides lenders, or other potential creditors, such as insurance companies or landlords, a quick, fairly objective way to assess your creditworthiness—or your ability to pay back a loan, mortgage or pay the rent.
A "credit score" is often also called a "FICO score," after the Fair Isaac Company, which developed the most widely used analytical system and software. It may also be called a "credit rating," although individual credit bureaus or credit reporting agencies (CRAs) adapt, add to or modify Fair Isaac models to suit their needs and provide their own credit score, most use the FICO score or system as a foundation. The "big three" CRAs—Equifax, Experian (formerly TRW), and TransUnion—use FICO models in developing their scores.
Why Do Lenders Use Credit Scores?
First, it's quick. But as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) points out, credit scoring is based on a wide pool of actual data and statistics of persons using credit. As a result, most experts consider it more reliable than "subjective" or "judgmental methods." Read the FTC report on Credit Scoring, for more details.
How are Various Scores Ranked?
Generally, the higher your credit score the better. The best scores, indicating high creditworthiness are from the mid 700s and higher. Credit scores below 620 are considered poor. Most people fall in the 600s and 700s. Different lenders will give various scores different weights, but typically scoring 680 or above puts you in the category of an average or better credit risk.
What Factors Contribute to Creating an Individual Credit Score?
Before looking at the factors that go into creating a credit score, it's important to know that the models used are complex, they can vary from CRA to CRA, or from lender to lender—and that can vary for different types of credit, such as credit card, auto loan or mortgage. The weight given to any particular factor can also vary.
That said, let's go to the source: The Fair Isaac Company reports the following factors and the approximate weight they contribute to your score. The company also notes FICO scores consider only the information on the individual's credit report but that other lenders may add other factors or items such as age, length of current employment, and so on.
- Your history of payment on all types of accounts: approximately 35% of your FICO score reflects whether you've paid bills on time or have been late. How late, how often you've been late and how many accounts you've been late on is taken into consideration. Any collections, liens, suits, judgments and the like also count.
- The amount of money you owe: this category considers how much money you owe on how many different accounts. Owing a lot of money on many different accounts may signal that the borrower is overextended. This factor accounts for approximately 30% of your credit score.
- How long you've had credit: in general the longer your credit history the better, particularly if you've handled that credit responsibly. This factor counts for about 15% of the score.
- How much debt you've taken on recently: if you've recently opened several credit accounts in a short period of time, that fact tends to lower your score. The scoring also looks at how many requests for your credit report have come in and the nature of the requests. (Requesting your personal credit report for review does not count against you nor do checks made by lenders who send out "pre-approved" offers that crowd your mail box). This category accounts for about 10% of the score.
- What kinds of credit you have: approximately 10% of your score is based on the mix of credit you have (credit cards, installment loans, retail accounts, mortgages, small loans from finance companies) and how much of each you have.
For information beyond this summary, check out the extensive information provided under the "Credit Education" button at www.myfico.com, starting with What's in Your Score.
How Can I get My Credit Score?
Until a few years ago you couldn't, unless a friendly lender shared it with you during a loan application process. But during the last three years or so, the CRAs and other parties have conceded the battle to keep credit scoring "secret." Since credit scores are still proprietary, you'll have to pay for a report (contrary to all those "free" websites come-ons). Presently, the most useful score is available from a joint venture between Equifax and Fair Isaac—My Fico.com. For $14.95 you can receive your credit score, a copy of one credit report, and access to the FICO Score Simulator (not to be confused with the free Sample FICO Score Simulator) which lets you see how various activities would potentially improve or lower your credit score. You can purchase your FICO score also when you get your federally mandated free credit report, as detailed in the next section.
Federally Mandated Free Credit Reports are Now Available in Some Areas.
As a protection against identity theft, many consumer experts and security officials are urging consumers to keep close tabs on their credit reports with the three major CRAs. Consumers in all states have the right to a free annual credit report from each of the three major CRAs. These federally mandated free reports are ONLY available at www.annualcreditreport.com (or phone: 1-877-322-8228), a service run by the three major CRAs.
Beware of Free Credit Report and Free Credit Score Scams.
Unfortunately, the scam artists have also latched on to this new consumer benefit. Many scam artists run fake "get your free credit report" websites that exist just to "harvest" your personal information such as Social Security Number and account numbers that they can use to steal your money. At best, even the legitimate "free credit report" sites provide out-of-date-information and their main purpose typically is to sell you expensive "credit monitoring services." We recommend getting your free credit reports from the major CRAs. Stagger each of your free reports throughout the year and you will be able to check your report every four months for errors or possible fraudulent activity. And remember that no government agency or credit reporting agency sends you unsolicited emails requesting your personal information or asking you to correct your report.
The Importance of Checking Your Credit Report for Your Credit Score.
Whether you like your credit score or are alarmed by it, begin managing it by checking your credit report carefully for errors. Because your credit report provides the primary information used to determine your credit score and your creditworthiness, correct any errors you find immediately.
How can I correct errors in my credit report? The process is not particularly complex, but it does have a number of steps to make sure you adequately inform all the parties who need to know and follow up on your complaint. The FTC guide, How to Dispute Credit Report Errors, provides complete details on how to do this.
In addition to making sure your credit report is accurate, you can take other steps to improve your credit rating and credit score. Tips for Improving Your Credit Score and How to Review Your Credit Report provide more information.
Information Edge Tip: keep your credit healthy not only by being a responsible borrower and consumer, but also by checking your credit report regularly. You'll also help protect yourself against identity theft.


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Once a physicist: Salvator Roberto Amendolia
Salvator Roberto Amendolia is the scientific attaché to the Italian Embassy in London.
Why did you originally choose to become a physicist?
When I was 13, I read a science book for young boys, and I remember being fascinated by the descriptions of particle physics, especially of parity violation (though the level was, of necessity, far from elementary). Peculiarly enough, the last particle-physics experiment I did dealt with charge–parity (CP) violation in B-mesons, which was exactly the topic discussed in the book. I went on to study physics at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Italy, from where I obtained both my undergraduate physics degree in 1971, and the equivalent of a PhD in particle physics three years later (PhDs did not exist in Italy at that time).
How did your physics career progress after that?
After obtaining my doctorate, I did a postdoc at the University of Pisa, and I stayed there as a researcher until 1986. I then moved to the University of Sassari to become an associate professor and then a full professor. My research activities were conducted mostly abroad, however, mainly at places like CERN and Fermilab.
How did you end up in your current role?
During my last 15 years in academia I also carried out research into the applications of physics technologies such as electronics and computer science to different fields, mostly to the biomedical and energy sectors. This brought me in closer contact with the industrial world, and brought technology-transfer issues to my attention. I joined the Italian Embassy partly for personal reasons and also because I wanted to try something new. I had over 30 years of basic and applied research behind me, so I thought I could survive few years without a daily dose of physics.
What does your new job involve?
I mainly organize bilateral workshops on scientific subjects such as energy, medicine and nanotechnology, which cover themes politically relevant to both Italy and the UK. For example, in early 2006 I arranged a workshop on clean-coal technologies and climate change. These events are attended by representatives from governments, industries and academia. I also set up higher-education courses that bring together universities from the two countries, as well as organizing seminars of distinguished Italian scientists and acting as a link between the Italian Ministry of Universities and Research and the many Italian scientists working in the UK.
How does your physics background help the way that you work?
Physicists are good at framing problems in simple terms, and at approaching solutions in a pragmatic way. They also have strong mathematical skills and a good knowledge of basic natural processes. If, like me, you are lucky enough to have attended good universities and collaborated with smart people, then you gain "vision", which is instrumental in tackling all sorts of different problems. It makes it easier to understand the basis of sciences other than physics, to learn from evidence, and to deal with aspects of science (like its application to industry) that are not normally taught in a university course. All this allows me to carry out the job of scientific attaché in a proactive way.
Do you still keep up to date with any physics?
I am still in touch with former physics colleagues. I read scientific literature whenever possible, and I try to attend conferences, though mostly on the application side rather than on blue-sky research.
This article originally appeared in the February 2008 issue of Physics World
last edited: September 11, 2018


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Katy Perry Reveals What She Thought of Miley Cyrus Kiss
She kissed a girl and she liked it! Katy Perry reportedly enjoyed the kiss that Miley Cyrus planted on her during the 'Wrecking Ball' singer's L.A. Bangerz Tour stop on Feb. 22.
"It was in the heat of the moment, and Katy is super cool with it because it was just a fun moment," an insider reveals to HollywoodLife about the smooch, which appeared to take Perry by surprise.
"It's not a big deal," the source continued. "It wasn't planned; it was something that people have seen and she thinks it was actually super cool."
While we're not surprised that Perry is so chill about the lip lock, she did seem to be taken aback when Cyrus went in for the kill. While singing 'Adore You,' Cyrus jumped off stage and unexpectedly kissed the 'Dark Horse' singer on the lips, and Perry immediately jumped back and stuck her tongue out.
However, if the source is to be believed, Perry was just simply caught off-guard -- but actually loved the moment.


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In master paintings, beauty lies in the romance of an instant, with movement expressed only through form, balance, and color; for the animation artist Rino Stefano Tagliafierro, emotional potency is lost in immobility, their dramatic narratives lost to the stationary canvas. By animating famous Renaissance, Romantic, and Neoclassical paintings using modern technology, he revels in the joy of storytelling through art.
In his video Beauty, Tagliafierro uses mostly Academic paintings, relying on the balance and mythos of Neo-Classicism and the sentimentalist nature of Romanticism to celebrate the female body in motion. Animating mostly paintings by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, he heightens the sensuality of the work by adding slow, gentle movements and soft musical notes. The delicacy of both the young female and the mother figure is exalted to the angelic, her creamy flesh revealed through the coy lifting of her skirt.
Tagliafierro subverts the traditional gentleness of his woman subjects by including Baroque heroines, whose rapid movements only heighten their power. In Caravaggio's Judith Beheading Holofernes, we are given the just moment of impact, left breathless in the moment before the kill; in his adaptation, the modern artist affords viewers the satisfaction of closure, allowing Judith's weapon to effortlessly glide through the neck of her enemy.
The gifs of Caravaggio's Isaac and Luis Ricardo Falero's witches, played in a loop, relieve viewers of the suspense of the famous biblical and mythological images, allowing us follow a visual story that moves from terror to a sort of redemption. The human body is seen as a creative force, in constant flux between tension and release. (via Design Boom)