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Suede, Neoprene and Leather Sneakers
€480.00 €480.00
€240.00 €240.00
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- A runway-inspired sneaker in a suede, neoprene and leather mix, set on an accentuated tread.
- Upper: 52% polyester, 44% calf suede, 4% calf leather
- Linings: 100% sheep leather; 62% sheep leather, 30% polyester, 6% polyamide, 2% polyurethane
- Sole: 100% rubber
- Lace-up and Velcro tab closure
- Raised Burberry lettering at front
- Made in Italy
Item 40787151


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Translation Disclaimer
Welcome to the City of Berkeley Watershed Resources Webpage
This webpage contains general information for improving local watershed function and health. It also provides links to other websites regarding Urban Stormwater Run-off Management. This page will periodically be updated and expanded.
WATERSHED MANAGEMENT PLANThe City of Berkeley has adopted the Watershed Management Plan (WMP). This plan is intended to guide City efforts to establish a healthier balance between the urban environment and natural ecosystems. The WMP builds on existing City activities by recommenfind policies and programs to meet the goals of: water quality protection, urban flooding reduction, natural waterways and habitat preservarion, and rainwater re-use promotion.
The full Watershed Management Plan and its associated documents can be found here.
WATERSHEDSThroughout California and other parts of the country, watersheds are recognized as ecologically, socially, and hydrologically integrated systems that warrant local management and planning activities. No matter where one stands on the land, it is part of a watershed, because the slope of the land will "shed" water towards the lowest point in the landscape.
Simply stated, a "Watershed" is the area of land where all water that is under it or drains off of it goes into a common waterbody, like a storm drain, a creek, or the San Francisco Bay. A watershed can be thought of as a large bathtub: When a drop of water hits anywhere in that bathtub, it eventually finds its way to the drain (the lowest point). In this instance, the bathtub rim defines the watershed boundary. On land, a watershed boundary is determined by topography—ridgelines or high elevation points—rather than by political jurisdictions. There are 10 watersheds (or drainage basins) in the City of Berkeley, some are shared by other municipalities (link to map).
In the City of Berkeley, the interconnections between natural resources and the shared urban setting present many management challenges. We all live, work, and recreate in a watershed and can improve its health by making wise decisions in everyday life, like using non-toxic pest control approaches, disposing of wastes properly, and allowing only rain water into storm drain inlets.
Seemingly harmless choices, such as littering, allowing automobile fluid leakage, and using or over-using toxic pesticides degrade watershed health.
Stormwater is the flow of water on the ground immediately after precipitation - rain [or snowmelt - a very unusual event in Berkeley]. After a rainfall, some of the precipitation is infiltrated into the soil, some of it is taken up by plants, and some is evaporated back into the atmosphere, while the rest runs off land surfaces and other impervious areas, such as rooftops, parking lots, streets, and sidewalks. Stormwater management is the practice of efficiently channeling storm waters through the network of drainage pathways, both underground and on the surface and seeks to minimize pollutants that are often collected by urban stormwater run-off and conveyed through watersheds.
In Berkeley, stormwater run-off is collected and conveyed by roof gutters, downspouts, and street gutters into storm drain inlets and pipelines. Public Works installs, maintains, and repairs storm drainage infrastructure within the City right-of-way to convey run-off from private property, streets, and sidewalks. This drainage infrastructure (including storm drain inlets, catch basins, cross-drains, valley gutters, and 78 miles of stormdrain pipelines) reduces flood hazards to public and private property. The creeks and creek culverts within the City also receive stormwater run-off. The storm drain pipes, creeks, and creek culverts ultimately discharge untreated stormwater to San Francisco Bay. In Berkeley, the Storm drain pipelines are separate from the Sanitary Sewer pipelines (which carry wastewater to a treatment facility before its discharge to the Bay).
Local flood reduction and water quality protection are two challenges facing Berkeley's aging storm drain infrastructure. The Watershed Management Planning effort will guide the City's efforts in addresing these issues. A promising strategy is the use of Low Impact Development and Green Infrastructure approaches. These approaches primarily use landscape-based methods to promote stormwater detention, retention, infiltration, and treatment near the run-off source, prior to entrance into storm drains. These methods can include: bioswales, permeable paving, underground stormwater storage, rain gardens, and rainwater catchment—all of which can be employed on public and private property
Very Large Rain Barrel Permeable Paving in Parking Lane
Bioswale in Planter Strip Rain Garden
The City currently implements a variety of stormwater pollution prevention measures (such as street sweeping, inspecting commercial/industrial facilities, regulating new and redevelopment activities, reducing pesticide use, and raising public awareness) designed to address common urban stormwater run-off contaminants, which include:
Public awareness is critical because the everyday choices and activities of Berkeley residents impacts watershed health. Often people consider stormwater to be a waste product that must be disposed of as quickly as possible. One of our goals is to shift this understanding to treat water as a resource, opening up a range of design possibilities both on public and private property that take advantage of the benefits of water for beautification, irrigation, groundwater recharge, wildlife habitat, and other uses. The Water Environment Research Foundation has created Basic Principles of Sustainable Stormwater Best Management Practices as an introductory resource for anyone considering drainage improvements on their property.
How Can You Help Protect Our Watershed Resources?
For more information: Alameda Countywide Clean Water Program, Our Water Our World
Creeks naturally drain surface waters from watersheds. Creeks and riparian habitat are indicators of a watershed's health. Berkeley has many creeks due to its unique topography, geology, and hydrology. All waterways, including creeks and creek culverts, eventually discharge into San Francisco Bay, which connects to the Pacific Ocean. This connection allows Steelhead Salmon to continue to migrate up into the Codornices Creek Watershed, and hopefully others in the future.
The majority of open creeks in the City remain on private property in the Berkeley Hills areas. A significant portion of creeks was placed into culverts, underground pipes along the historic path of the creek, during the early 1900's by developers. Codornices Creek and Strawberry Creek are two creeks that are most publicly accessible as they run through public parks.
Like any property-owner, the City of Berkeley is directly responsible for managing creek environments in a manner that protects the creeks' beneficial uses where a creek runs through a City-owned parcel. Beneficial uses (as described by the San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board) can include:
Berkeley is home to an ethic of restoration and protection of natural resources in urban settings. The groundbreaking Strawberry Creek Restoration Project at Strawberry Creek Park in 1983 is considered to be the first "daylighting" (the removal of a culvert to restore creek functions) project in the country. Since then, the City has participated in several other local creek restoration projects including: Blackberry Creek at Thousand Oaks School (1995) and multiple projects on Codornices Creek between the railroad tracks and 9th Street. Planning for additional restoration work on Lower Codornices Creek (west of San Pablo Ave) is underway.
In 1989, the City enacted its Preservation and Restoration of Natural Watercourses Ordinance, BMC 17.08, also known as the Creek Protection Ordinance. The ordinance was revised in 2006 after a lengthy public process, led by the Council-established Creeks Task Force. The affect of the ordinance is to regulate and minimize further structural encroachments into sensitive riparian zones, which can support a rich diversity of plant and animal life. These regulations provide a setback that allows for a buffer zone to be maintained between the natural channel and upland development.

subset: commoncrawl


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Logitech has announced the Ultrathin Keyboard Cover, a case and Bluetooth keyboard accessory for the new iPad and iPad 2. It'll be available later this month and sell for £89.99.
iPads are fun, but the virtual keyboard is no replacement for a tappy-tappy physical 'board if you want to type longer-form docs. Enter the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover – a wireless keyboard that doubles-up as a protective case for your tablet.
This isn't the first keyboard for iPads Logitech has produced, but it is the sleekest and the slimmest. It attaches to the tablet magnetically, removing the need for any bulky clasps or clips. Using magnets also lets the Keyboard Cover work like a Smart Cover, automatically turning the iPad on and off as the case is opened and closed.
It uses a chiclet key design, with a distinct gap between each button. Logitech has made the use of the full width of the case too, which is good to see when many iPad keyboards end up feeling cramped. The keyboard interfaces with the iPad over Blueooth, powered by an internal battery that Logitech says will last for up to six months.
The Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover looks slick and, with an aluminium outer layer for extra protection, sounds like a premium accessory. However, it uses a fairly simple docking mechanism.
The iPad slips into a slot just above the keyboard. You won't be able to fold the mechanism flat like an Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime or laptop. That said, we're yet to see an iPad keyboard case does work this way.
What's your iPad accessory of choice?


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At the heart of the Jura region of France, the Haut-Jura nature reserve. Four villages which are dotted about in the reserve have come together and created a modern yet authentic ski area. The villages of Les Rousses, Prémanon, Lamoura and Bois d'Amont make up the area, which borders with Switzerland. The small resort which stretches from 1120 to 1680 metres in altitude is an ideal place to get away from the hustle and bustle of modern life and enjoy some unspoilt nature. Thanks to its position on the French-Swiss border Les Rousses offers no less than 5 alpine ski areas: - The Franco-Swiss ski area (30 marked ski runs): Is made up of Dole Massif (Switzerland) and the Tuffes Massif (in France). There is a specially built linking ski run between the two resorts. - The Tuffes ski area (13 marked ski runs) above the town of Prémanon is well regarded and has three different access points (Jouvencelles, Balancier and Darbella). The resort has everything a modern ski resort should have and everything is in reach by ski. It is a truly delightful ski area for families. - The Serra ski area (13 marked ski runs) is above the town of Lamoura. The area has recently been improved and upgraded with a newly installed chairlift and new ski runs. - The Noirmont ski area (10 marked ski runs), the most popular in the Haut-Jura range, is above the town of Les Rousses and has the Franco-Swiss border at mid-height of the resort. The ski slopes are set to delight skiers out looking for hair raising adventure and speed. - The Bellefontaine ski area (3 marked ski runs): This area is ideal for families who are just beginning to learn to ski. The reduced size of the area compared with the others lends itself to safely being able to teach children how to ski. Reduced in scope compared to other areas of the resort, its slopes are ideal for skiing with the family. For the younger generation Les Rousses ski resort has 3 bordercross courses: - A bordercross course accessible to all on the Serra blue slope - A bordercross course on the Entreroche blue slope (Bellefontaine ski area) - In the Tuffes Massive (Jouvencelles) there is a natural bordercross course (take the Jouvenceaux chairlift) (Worth a note as well that there are also two snow parks in Tuffes and in Serra. Equipped with various rails and boxes) Les Rousses is one of the largest ski areas in France, offering over 220 kilometres of regularly groomed ski runs. Spread across 6 different areas, the cross country skiing in Les Rousses varies in difficulty, setting enough of a challenge for experts but also areas for beginners to start out. The gentle landscape of the Haut-Jura lends itself particularly well to snowshoeing. Les Rousses ski resort has: - 18 Km of groomed snowshoe trails (access fee) - 50 Km of marked snowshoe trails (free access) - 10,000 hectares of virgin snow for freely snowshoeing around Les Rousses has several different solutions for the care of your children: - The Crèche "Les Petits Randonneurs (Small Hikers)" in Prémanon (children 3 months to 4 years) - The Lamoura Recreation centre "Les P'tits Boulis" (for children 3 to 12 years) - The Les Rousses day-care (for children 3 months to 6 years) - The "Francas" recreation centre specialising in local woodcraft (for children 3 to 11 years) - The "Jacobeys" recreation centre (for ages 5 to 13 years).
Quick access Shops Sport 2000 Resort overview Snow report Webcams
|Cable cars
|Poma lifts
|+33 (0)3 84 60 02 55


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What do Jelly, Nextt, Spayce, Pheed, Sulia, Sharebloc, Bubblews and Learni.sthave in common? They're all new social media sites, most having launched within the last year. It seems like every week a new service (or two, or three) bursts onto the cultural consciousness. Just last week the social media buzz was about LACMA being the first museum to join Snapchat (an app designed for ephemeral messaging. Sort of like digital disappearing ink.)
With all these newbies on the block, it may seem positively antediluvian that Guzel and I just set up a CFM Facebook page. Facebook launched way back in 2004, four years before CFM's public debut. It took 'til now for me to decide that Facebook occupies a niche left vacant by the sites & services CFM already uses.
It's difficult to parse the nuanced differences between proliferating social media options-the strengths and weaknesses of each platform, demographics of its coreaudience, the likelihood it will reach a critical mass of users. Perhaps you are also picking your way through the process of choosing where you/your museum will establish digital outposts. So, in case it helps you with your decisions, I'm sharing the inventory of CFM's current digital platforms (how I use them, and who they seem to reach) that I prepared in reaching the decision to add Facebook to the mix. This might also help you assess which CFM feeds best suit your preferences for consuming news.
Dispatches from the Future of Museums, I use CFM's weekly e-newsletter to share synopsis and links to recent news articles that fall into the categories of Trends, Projections, Museum Innovations and Tools for the Future. Strengths: timely, topical, widely read. Weaknesses: many interesting articles I find fall outside the weekly time frame or the topic headings.
The CFM Blogprovides scope for medium length commentary and original essays by me and by guest bloggers. Strengths: flexible format, accommodates embedded pictures, video, even sound. Gives people various options for subscription (including RSS feed, Google "membership"—which makes new posts show up in their Google+ profile page, and email subscription. Weaknesses: there is a high bar to getting people to comment on the blog, which can be frustrating, especially for guest bloggers who want to engage with CFM readers.
Twitter is great for sharing links to articles and resources, and providing context (within the 140 character limit) for why I think a given story is important. Strengths: easy to post to Twitter from a variety of news sites and aggregators (like Flipboard). I don't put time boundaries on the material I share on Twitter—so if I stumble across a story that falls outside Dispatches' weekly timeframe, it may go out via Tweet. Weaknesses: some things just don't fit in 140 characters. There are some stories that might seem baffling, or inappropriate, without accompanying (longer) explanation.
Pinterestis a place to park compelling inspiring and amusing images related to trends CFM follows, and the future in general. Strengths: provides a visual counterweight to CFM's usually text-heavy exposition. Provides links to the photo sources, so people can follow the image back to the related stories. Serves as an idea board and illustration source for planning publications. Weaknesses: Not much interaction with other users/followers (other than seeing who "repins" my pictures).
YouTubewas very important when we launched CFM, as one of our first project was video interviewing a wide range of museum folk about their hopes, dreams and fears about the future. It also gave us a place to share video recordings of CFM lectures and symposia (which gave us a broader reach than the original live event could ever have.) Strengths: if you find things that really work better on video (like demonstrating Google Glass) it's great. Weaknesses: it turned out to be really hard to persuade people to video themselves and send us the recording. Which surprised me, given how many people post videos of practically anything on YouTube, but maybe folks feel a little more inhibited about putting themselves out there in their professional personas.
Where does Facebook add to this mix?
- It accommodates commentary that falls, in length, between Twitter and even the briefest essay on the Blog.
- It isn't constrained to the Dispatches categories—giving me, for example, a place to share news about disruptive events (which are, along with trends, significant drivers of change shaping the future)
- I hope it will be more interactive than CFM's existing platforms. Even widely read posts on the Blog rarely generate comments. (And people pretty much ignore the Blogger "Reactions" check boxes. I'm thinking of just removing that widget.) On Facebook, people seem to be uninhibited about about "liking" posts, commenting and building on the comments of others. We will see!
Whew. Reading the list of the social media platforms CFM does use makes me feel a bit out of date—not very futuristic at all. Maybe I should sign CFM up for Snapchat? Or Sulia? Or Pheed? Or…dang. So many choices.Skip over related stories to continue reading article


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From a vintage like 97, 'fair' at this point isn't bad. Few but St. Innocent made keepers. At least from what I understand.
Never had a Thomas. Have you liked them in other vintages or was this a one-off?
Moderators: Jenise, Robin Garr, David M. Bueker
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|2006-05-17, 14:51
|Link #21
Senior Member
Since you've already watched Ranma 1/2 and Inuyasha by Rumiko Takahashi, perhaps you'd be interested in her olders works--Urusei Yatsura and Maison Ikkoku. By virtue of their age, the animation isn't as incredible as some of the newer titles, however the plot lines are strong and engaging. Both stories, place less emphasis on action and more on character interaction than her newer works.
|2006-05-17, 17:06
|Link #22
Join Date: Apr 2006
I think you'll love akazukin cha cha - there's lots of love triangles/jealousy which adds to the comedy, it's one of the funniest anime I've seen and the funniest magical girl anime I've seen. It's magical girl but people who don't like magical girl animes still like it since it's funny
Also Kodomo no omocha - it's a very addicting show aka "marmalade boy" on crack
Last edited by xxanimefan4_ever; 2006-05-17 at 17:25.
|2006-05-22, 21:33
|Link #28
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Nishi no Yoki Majo-Astraea Testament- aka good witch of the west - the sweet couple grew up together but often end up argueing each other.
watch out for...
Kirarin revolution - idol show similar with full moon wo sagashite without the magic but no sub yet.
|Thread Tools


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The balls to make the bogans laugh
Comedian Nazeem Hussain has played a character who offered jihadists grooming tips for their facial hair.
Another faced down a group of motor racing fans after insisting the Holden car owners were losers who had to leave. Not surprisingly, he can foresee some of the notices that his race and politics-based comedy series for SBS, Legally Brown, will receive.
''There's definitely 'controversial'. That's an easy way to describe something you don't agree with,'' notes Hussain, a popular stand-up comic. ''You'll see 'edgy' as well, and a lot of 'ethnic'. But if you can't make jokes about Australia, what's the point of being an Australian comic?''
The commissioning of 10 half-hour episodes for the ''daring'' and ''boundary-pushing'' show (as the broadcaster describes it) to screen on SBS One in the second half of this year consolidates a swift and busy rise for the 27-year-old comedian. But if he already has a profile thanks to award-winning comedy duo Fear of a Brown Planet, slots on youth radio network Triple J and the Foxtel comedy show Balls of Steel, Hussain is now going to experience the accelerated attention that comes with national TV exposure.
''Is he ready for it? I'd say so,'' says Southern Star's Johnny Lowry, a producer on Balls of Steel and now Legally Brown. ''On Balls of Steel it was very apparent that Naz was a real talent and it was only natural that we'd move on to helping him develop his own show. You'll never see him give anything less than 100 per cent to anything he works on.''
Hussain says that this is more him, which is ''demanding and quite exciting''. ''You just hope it's funny,'' he says. ''I know we're all laughing. That's the challenge of comedy: you just have to do it and trust your gut. It feels like I'm just making comedy with my friends. It's easy to forget that it will be seen by a lot more people.''
Recalling Chappelle's Show and The Chaser, Legally Brown will be based around studio segments before a live audience, where Hussain's stand-up material will contextualise and introduce filmed sketches and character pieces in which the star is filmed interacting with an unsuspecting public.
The show ''may have'' already punked some bold-faced names, according to Hussain, but even pranks will come with a clearly defined philosophy of using comedy to engage with social and racial divisions in this country. For Hussain, a practising Muslim whose parents immigrated to Australia from Sri Lanka, that means not only cracking jokes about his own community, but also the nation's white majority.
''Every time I do a stand-up joke about a white person or white people, people always follow me up after the show to say, 'Dude, you seriously can't make those type of jokes in Australia. You're talking about racism but making jokes about white people - that's racist','' Hussain recalls.
''When you're making jokes about your own community those same people will laugh hysterically, but as soon as you point the finger the other way you get, 'Come on, take it easy mate'. As an ethnic comedian there's an outside expectation that you'll only make jokes about your parents and their friends. That's tiring.''
Part of what makes the potential reaction to Legally Brown so fascinating is that Hussain is not just a stand-up comic; the professionally qualified tax consultant is also on the board of the Islamic Council of Victoria. Having sat alongside Malcolm Turnbull on Q&A he's an acknowledged spokesman for his community, which makes some conservative members urge him to moderate his humour while others, thrilled at seeing a similar face in the media, want him to go further.
On Balls of Steel, Hussain played Calvin Khan, a foreign correspondent who ventured into the heart of Australian tradition with dismissive incomprehension and hilariously mixed with the locals. The Bathurst 1000 weekend was, Khan explained, ''the Mecca for hundreds of thousands of unemployed bogans''. Legally Brown will further that satire.
''There are a lot of issues he wants to commentate on and that's something that we're doing. It's a very challenging show,'' Lowry explains. ''We are trying to make something fairly broad as well.''
Hussain says it's ''just a comedy show where we're trying to do funny stuff'', but he knows he can't separate his world view from his humour. The two inform and fuel each other, and he'd be incomplete without either side. Without the jokes he'd be another opinionated talking head; without the social and political stances he'd be a flogger of cheap gags.
What is clear, both to Hussain and Lowry, is that SBS was the only home for a Nazeem Hussain television show. The two both credit the network, whose announcement for Legally Brown cited similarly alternative predecessors such as South Park, Housos and Wilfred, with providing creative freedom and generous support to date. ''They commission daring comedies,'' Lowry adds. ''The show does deal with contemporary social issues and race relations, but it doesn't take itself seriously. That's what Naz has: the unique skill to put a hilarious spin on a serious topic.''
Hussain, who is filming sketches at present before venturing into the studio for stand-up segments next month, is gregarious and engaging and that helps him balance disappointment with the status quo as he perceives it and the wealth of material it provides. ''There's so much Australia has to catch up on,'' he says. ''It's ripe for the piss-take, but whether that means people will find it funny or a little bit raw is the question.''


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Part consultancy, part thinktank, part social enterprise, Halcyon helps you prepare for and respond to personal, organisational and societal change.
Halcyon's 52:52:52 campaign on Twitter will help you address 52 issues with 52 responses over 52 weeks.
To be a catalyst is the ambition most appropriate for those who see the world as being in constant change, and who, without thinking that they control it, wish to influence its direction - Theodore Zeldin


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Washington, D.C. (December 6, 2012) — Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) President and CEO John Castellani issued the following statement today:
"We applaud Congress for approving Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) for Russia. Improving trade relationships with Russia will protect and bolster U.S. biopharmaceutical jobs and exports.
"The U.S. innovative biopharmaceutical industry supported Russian accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Russia received approval to join the WTO in December 2011 and became a formal member by mid-2012.
"With Congress now passing PNTR, the United States will receive the same benefits from Russia's accession agreement as all other WTO members.
"In order to continue to foster economic growth in the United States and the much- needed medical breakthroughs that will save lives, the U.S. Government must continue to pursue public policies that promote innovation and that require protection of intellectual property rights and the removal of critical barriers to market access. Establishing PNTR with Russia helps address many of the concerns affecting our industry in exporting to and competing effectively in Russia."
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) represents the country's leading innovative biopharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies, which are devoted to discovering and developing medicines that enable patients to live longer, healthier, and more productive lives. Since 2000, PhRMA member companies have invested over $500 billion in the search for new treatments and cures, including an estimated $49.5 billion in 2011 alone.
Find PhRMA Online:
- Website – http://www.phrma.org
- facebook – www.facebook.com/PhRMA
- Blog – www.phrma.org/catalyst
- Twitter – www.Twitter.com/PhRMAand www.Twitter.com/PhRMApress
- YouTube – www.youtube.com/PhRMApress
For information on how innovative medicines save lives, visit: http://www.innovation.org
For information on the Partnership for Prescription Assistance, visit: http://www.pparx.org
For information on ensuring the flow of medicines during public health emergencies, visit http://www.rxresponse.org


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NEW YORK — America's renewed zeal for home renovations is here to stay.
Both Home Depot Inc. and Lowe's Cos. topped their initial sales forecasts for last year, benefiting from consumers' eagerness to invest in their homes. The results helped alleviate concern that a slowdown in the housing market's rebound and sluggish job growth would quell demand for appliances, flooring and paint.
"Some of the recent housing and jobs data has softened a little bit," Lowe's Chief Executive Officer Robert Niblock said in an interview. "But we still think the consumer is going to be there, and 2014 is going to be a great year."
Home Depot, the biggest home-improvement chain, topped fourth-quarter earnings estimates Tuesday, marking six straight years of meeting or beating projections. Sales rose 5.4 percent to $78.8 billion last year, more than twice the 2 percent growth rate the company had initially expected. While Lowe's results were in line with estimates, the company forecast 5 percent annual sales growth Wednesday. That would be the second- highest increase of the past seven years.
The outlook adds to growing optimism that the housing market is regaining its footing. Purchases of new U.S. homes unexpectedly climbed in January, reaching the highest level in more than five years. The sales figures, released today by the Commerce Department, topped the highest estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
The Northeast housing market posted the biggest gains, with a 73.7 percent increase — the largest jump since July 2012. Sales climbed 11 percent in the West and 10.4 percent in the South. They dropped 17.2 percent in the Midwest.
The housing strength defied concerns that winter weather would crimp sales. Last month was the coldest start to a year since 2011, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Lowe's, which ranks second to Home Depot in the home- improvement industry, expects shoppers to continue opening up their wallets for larger renovations, Niblock said. For the past three quarters, purchases above $500 have been the biggest source of sales gains. In the latest period, those kinds of orders rose 8.9 percent, while purchases of $50 to $500 increased just 2.2 percent.
Niblock has added workers at the chain's busiest times, aiming to capitalize on the surge in home upgrades. Big-ticket items for renovations sold better than Christmas gifts and decorations last quarter, the Mooresville, N.C.-based company reported.
Consumers are buying things like appliances, flooring and fixtures, Niblock said.
"They have been doing the ongoing maintenance, but now that they feel better about the value of their home and the overall economy," he said. "They are starting to engage in some of this discretionary spending around the home that they had put on the back burner."
Home Depot reported a similar trend last quarter: Purchases above $900 rose 5.5 percent, more than the total gain in same- store sales of 4.4 percent.
Shares of Atlanta-based Home Depot rose 4 percent to $80.98 after its earnings Tuesday, while Lowe's gained 5.4 percent to $50.72 today in New York.
Severe weather can be a mixed blessing for home-improvement chains since it spur sales of generators and repair equipment — assuming customers can make it to the store. For Home Depot, heavy snowfall and cold weather hurt results last quarter and contributed to a sales decline in New York and New Jersey.
The unusually cold temperatures should help boost sales by spring, which is the company's largest sales period of the year, Home Depot said Tuesday.
The company expects the housing rebound to continue this year and serve as a "tailwind" for its business, CEO Frank Blake said on a conference call with analysts.
Still, the jobs picture has to improve before the company can put concerns about a slump behind it, said Carol Tome, Home Depot's chief financial officer.
"The economic recovery is all about jobs," she said in an interview. "If we are going to lose any sleep, it's all about jobs."
With assistance from Michelle Jamrisko in Washington.


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Six New eTrainings announced for Adobe Presenter: Register today for free!
Topic: Build 21st Century Skills in Media Literacy in Your Classroom
Date and time: Wednesday, 4th September, 2013 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM US/Pacific
Description: Are you still feeling challenged to provide your students with the domains identified for 21st century learners, yet at a loss for how to begin? Integrating media literacy into your curriculum should be fun, not a burden. Join Dr. Allen Partridge, Adobe eLearning Evangelist for part two of an examination of media literacy education in the modern classroom. Dr. Partridge will demonstrates the incredibly simple way that you can empower your students to learn 21st century media literacy with Adobe Presenter. You'll learn how to help your students create powerful, on-topic, professional quality videos in just minutes. You'll see how these tools can be adopted in your classroom and learn how to use them. In this special second session Dr. Partridge will also provide examples of in-class uses of media literacy to integrate 21st century skills with the traditional curriculum.
Topic: Create Videos for Flipped Classrooms with Adobe Presenter 9
Date and time: Thursday, 5th September, 2013 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM US/Pacific
Description: So you've been reading and hearing about flipped classrooms for quite some time, but not sure how to implement it in your organization. Worry no more! Join Dr. Pooja Jaisingh as she takes you through an amazing journey of flipping the classroom with Adobe Presenter Video Creator. You will learn about the fundamental principles behind the flipped classroom, and how to easily migrate your lessons and lectures into online modules. You will also see a short demonstration on how to record video lectures in three simple steps using Presenter Video Creator which will equip you with the technology needs of the flipped classrooms.
Topic: Effortless Video Creation from the Comfort of your Desk
Date and time: Wednesday, 11th September, 2013 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM US/Pacific
Description: Dr. Allen Partridge introduces video editing best practices for Adobe Presenter 9 Video Creator and Adobe Presenter Video Express. This amazing tool lets a total novice create incredible high definition personalized videos from the comfort of their desktop. Learn how to easily combine shots of yourself and your screen and how to add professional quality lower third text and intro/outro movies along with rapid shot succession and tons of other great tricks. Dr. Partridge will reveal the secrets that make his videos look great every time, and show you how to do it yourself from the comfort of your own desk. You won't want to miss this session – chock full of tips and tricks to make your videos look like the pros without any of the time or money traditionally required to create great videos.
Topic: In Course Collaboration & Performance Tracking for eLearning
Date and time: Wednesday, 18th September, 2013 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM US/Pacific
Description: Adobe has put the social back into eLearning. With in-course collaboration and tracking in Adobe Presenter 9, teachers and students are finally able to discuss topics, ask questions and collaborate on projects and topics. You'll also be able to gain insight into student progress and even get recommendations from the system to help you identify which students need extra help and attention based on their performance.
Topic: Gamification 101: Building Fun and Play into your eLearning Courses
Date and time: Wednesday, 25th September, 2013 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM US/Pacific
Description: Isn't it about time you put the fun back into your classes. Why should online courses be dry and dull? Join Dr. Allen Partridge, Adobe eLearning Evangelist for this practical overview of ways to add a little play into your online courses. We'll discuss the guiding concepts behind the gamification movement and explore & demonstrate ways to add these elements in appropriate ways into your courses. We'll talk about the limitations of these approaches and as always, bring it back to the fundamental teaching objectives for your course.
Topic: Let your Students Collaborate and Learn!
Date and time: Thursday, 26th September, 2013 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM US/Pacific
Description: Join Dr. Pooja Jaisingh, Adobe eLearning Evangelist, to learn how to use Adobe Presenter 9 to enable collaboration in an eLearning course and assign scores for student participation. You will also see a short demonstration on how students will be able to ask questions, and participate in course discussions, from within the context of the course and how teachers will be able to track and incentivize this participation.


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February in Oaxaca: Colors
I was lucky to escape the Polar Vortex this winter for 8 days and nights, and to once again visit Oaxaca. While the food, friends, and temperatures were a highlight, it was being in a landscape that wasn't monochromatic that did me as much good as anything. This was a winter that left so many of us feeling trapped, physically and mentally. And I also felt trapped visually. Being in a place where color was so enmeshed in the everyday did my soul a lot of good.
Here's some of what we saw. There will be more to come.
Here's some of what we saw. There will be more to come.
|Market crochet samples
|Carvings in La Union
|La Union brickyard
|Oaxacan embroidered shirt
|Sweet baby of a bookmark vendor
|Young plants in a greenhouse
|No explanation needed
|Al fresco chess tournament on Oaxaca's zocolo


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The Turkish prime minister announced on Wednesday night that Turkey had fired artillery at targets in Syria, in retaliation for Syrian mortar fire that fell in a Turkish border town and killed five Turkish civilians. It was the first instance of significant fighting across the Turkish-Syrian border since the Syrian uprising began last year, and raised the prospect of greater involvement by the NATO alliance, to which Turkey belongs.
"This atrocious attack was immediately responded to adequately by our armed forces in the border region, in accordance with rules of engagement," said a written statement from the office of the prime minister, carried by the semiofficial Anatolian News Agency. "Targets were shelled in locations identified by radar."
"Turkey, in accordance with the rules of engagement and international law, will never leave such provocations by the Syrian regime against our national security unrequited," the statement added.
NATO said it would convene an urgent meeting on the issue Wednesday. Before firing into Syria, Turkey contacted the United Nations and NATO to protest the killings and express its "deepest concern." Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she was "outraged" by the mortar attack in Turkey.
The five Turkish civilians — a woman, her three children and a relative — were killed in the town of Akcakale, and their deaths were the first caused by the stray shells that have frequently flown across the border, a Turkish official said. Angry residents of the town marched to the mayor's office demanding security measures, Turkish NTV reported.
It was unknown whether the mortar fire came from Syrian government forces or rebels fighting to topple the government of President Bashar al-Assad. The Turkish response seemed to assume that the Syrian government was responsible.
Atilla Sandikli, the director of the Ankara-based Center for Strategic Studies, said on NTV that Syria was trying to pull Turkey into the conflict, and that the government should react with "utmost care."
The incident ratcheted up tensions that have grown with Turkey's support of the Syrian insurgency and the Syrian government's downing of a Turkish plane over the Mediterranean in June. "This last incident is pretty much the final straw," the Anatolian News Agency quoted Bulent Arinc, the deputy prime minister, as saying.
In Aleppo, Syria, on Wednesday, several huge explosions struck a government-held district, shearing off the fronts of two tall buildings, killing dozens of people and filling the streets with rubble in a square near a public park, according to video, photographs and reports from the Syrian government and its opponents.
At least two explosions, which both sides said appeared to be car bombs, struck Saadallah al-Jabiri Square near an officers' club and two government-owned hotels that residents said had housed pro-government militiamen who had essentially taken over the square. Another explosion struck near the chamber of commerce in nearby Bab Jenine, both sides reported.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the suicide bombings, which came after several days of increased violence in Aleppo, Syria's largest city, that has caused anguish for government supporters and opponents alike. Since Friday, a spike in fighting has brought a new level of destruction and chaos to Aleppo's downtown and its treasured medieval old city. The scale of Wednesday's bombings seemed to deepen the city's sense of alarm and disgust, bringing expressions of horror and bewilderment from people on either side of the conflict.
"Oh, my God, the destruction is huge," an accountant who works nearby, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Rami, said on his cellphone as he tried without success to approach the square, which he said was barricaded by security forces. Back in his office, listening to gunfire still echoing through the area, he wrote on Facebook: "My soul has died and my body is waiting for its turn."
One Syrian activist, who uses the pseudonym Anonymous Syria, wrote on Twitter: "Whoever is behind those explosions is a terrorist if civilians were killed. Whether it is the regime, Al-Nusra brigade" — a Qaeda-affiliated insurgent group — "or the Free Syrian Army."
In the square, men simply shouted obscenities and cursed "the terrorists' fathers." Their voices could be heard in the background as another man videotaped the bomb scene for a pro-government YouTube channel, panning over the corpses of two men in crisp camouflage uniforms who he said were would-be suicide bombers killed by security forces.
Bombings are "mysterious"
Even the Tawhid Brigade, the branch of the insurgent Free Syrian Army that on Friday declared a "decisive battle" for the city, disavowed the attack. Jebhat al-Nusra, the armed movement that has claimed responsibility for similar attacks, issued no statement. The government blamed its opponents and said civilians were among the dead. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in Britain and relies on a network of observers inside Syria, said most of the dead were from the security forces and the explosions went off after clashes between gunmen and guards at the officers' club.
Citing medical sources, the Observatory said 40 people were killed and 90 wounded. The Syrian government said at least 34 people died.
A spokesman for the Tawhid Brigade, which claims to coordinate insurgent battalions in in Aleppo, said the bombings were mysterious and suggested that they were "orchestrated by the regime," an idea often floated by antigovernment fighters after similar bombings without specific evidence.
But an antigovernment activist from Aleppo who is currently in Beirut praised the attack, calling it a "strong strike," perfectly timed to avoid hitting many civilians and probably carried out by an army defector working with the Free Syrian Army. The activist, who goes by the name Abo Abdo, said it was not in security forces' interest to kill the pro-government militiamen, or shabiha, who had dominated the area. "They need shabiha," he said.
Abo Abdo said two hotels on the square, the Siahi (Tourist) and the Qalaa (Castle), had been taken over by the shabiha about two months ago, when major fighting began in Aleppo, turning the square into an area where protesters dared not go.
One female activist wrote on Facebook: "When I used to pass by this place wearing stylish clothes, curious eyes used to chase me. The area was full of shabiha, informers and intelligence." But she added that the ogling was preferable to wholesale destruction, writing, "Oh God, I miss those days."
Sham Daoud, a Syrian antigovernment activist living in Paris, wrote in a message on Facebook: "I don't understand anything anymore. There is no excuse for such an operation, whoever did it, and this is not called a struggle against the regime or a war. This is, in very simple terms, called terrorism."
An antigovernment group at Aleppo University posted a statement online suggesting that the target had been Mr. Assad, who, according to reports in a pro-Syrian Lebanese newspaper, had visited Aleppo and ordered tens of thousands more troops to move there from the city of Hama. But official Syrian media did not mention a visit.
In recent days, a large part of the city's ancient market was burned and fighting spread to areas that had been stable, with fires gutting part of the old city's covered market, rebels attacking the central municipal building and clashes erupting in once-quiet Christian and Kurdish neighborhoods.
The square hit on Wednesday borders a graceful public garden, a downtown district full of hotels and offices, and the Christian neighborhood of Aziziyeh, where many people had sought refuge over the weekend. Activists also reported that the Al Hal, or Cardamom, spice market near the site of the bombings was being shelled. Dozens were wounded and people were trapped there by the fighting, activists said.
The pro-government video on YouTube showed that facades had been sheared off four buildings, two about eight stories high, and two smaller ones between them. On the other side of an intersection, a building appeared to have collapsed. The man narrating the video said that a coffee shop and a cellphone store had been destroyed along with a hotel, and that several senior officials had come to the scene.
The video then cut to the bodies of two men wearing army uniforms.
"Those are the terrorists carrying explosive belts as we can see attached to the hand of this terrorist," the cameraman says as the video zooms in to show a corpse's mouth covered with blood.
In the background, someone shouts: "Film the blow-up device in his hand, film it!" What appeared to be a small metal cylinder was strapped to the man's wrist with an elastic band.
Car bombs and suicide bombers have targeted numerous security agencies in Damascus, but they have been less frequent in Aleppo. During the Syrian uprising, which began in March 2011, Aleppo had been seen as a bastion of stability and government support until February, when two suicide car bombers attacked security buildings.
Anne Barnard reported from Beirut, and Sebnem Arsu from Istanbul. Hala Droubi, Hania Mourtada and Hwaida Saad contributed reporting from Beirut.


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When comparing V vs C++, the Slant community recommends V for most people. In the question"What is the best programming language to learn for backend developers?" V is ranked 22nd while C++ is ranked 23rd. The most important reason people chose V is:
V is easier than C and fast like C.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pro Fast as C
V is easier than C and fast like C.
Pro Simplicity
V is simple and powerful.
Pro Generics
V has generics.
Pro GUI editor
A visual editor for building native GUI apps is planned, it will use WinAPI/GDI+ on Windows, Cocoa on macOS. On Linux custom drawing is used.
Pro Huge language supports most everything
C++ is a large language with an even larger community and following. It has libraries for every kind of task that is possible to do with C++
Pro Powerful memory management
Allows puting large arrays on the "heap" to avoid "stack overflow".
Pro Teaches problem solving
The great STL is the most powerful Data Structure and Algorithms Library. It would benefit you very much in problem solving, your main main way to love programming. The code is much compact compared to Java and C#. No unnecessary classes are in your way; yet when you need classes they are available unlike C. The code runs very fast.
Pro Teaches fundamental OOP
Teaches you to leverage object oriented programming.
Pro C code can be used in C++ code
Most C code will work as C++.
Pro Excellent compiler optimization
Both open source compilers (such as Clang and GCC), and proprietary ones (like Intel's and Microsoft's) are very good at analyzing program flow and program optimization. This is mostly due to the widespread usage of C/C++ applications running everything from mobile/desktop/server Operating Systems, to search engines and webserver software, and the demand for performance.
Pro Teaches low-level programming, but doesn't have as many pitfalls as C
Teaches data types, low-level program flow and the so common C-style syntax while not being as much of a pain as C itself.
Pro STD is often updated
The functionalities keep growing throughout the years. C++11 gave us a soft type of garbage collecting with the smart pointers.
Pro Universal, portable, best complexity/efficiency trade-off
Pro Best way to understand algorithms
Con Alpha stage
V 1.0 release is planned for December 2019.
Con Module system is not great
C++ uses the
#include mechanism provided by C. Which unfortunately is a poor way of accessing the API of a library. Some of the reasons why the module system is weak are:
Compile time scalability: The compiler must preprocess every header included in a file, and every header included in those headers. This process must be repeated for every translation unit in the program. As can be imagined, this doesn't scale very well. For each header added you are increasing the compilation time exponentially.
Fragile: modules included are treated as textual imports by the compiler. This causes all sorts of problems since they are subject to any macro definitions in the time of the inclusion. If any of these macro definitions collide with a name in the library it can break the library API .
Con Undefined behavior
Subtle errors can render the entire program "undefined" by the complicated C++ standard. The standard imposes no requirements in such cases. Thus C++ compiler writers are free to ignore the existence of such cases and Bad Things are prone to happen instead. Even experts can't reliably avoid undefined cases in C++, so how can beginners be expected to do so?
Con Huge language gets in the way of learning
C++ is such an atrociously over-complicated language that its learning curve may get in the way of learning fundamentals. Learning C++ well is a ten-year project, and even experts are frequently surprised by the language.
Con No two programmers can agree on which 10% subset of C++ to use
C++ is such a huge and complicated language, that programmers have to learn a disciplined subset of it to reliably get anything done. The problem is, no-one can agree on which subset to use and they can't understand each other.
Con Retains nearly all bad habits of C
Con Tough to learn as the first language
Many of the concepts are hard to grasp if you have no prior programming experience.
Con Bugs easily corrupt the memory you need to find them
You can usually get a core dump, but often the call stack gets completely overwritten. Compilers are not even consistent in how they map the binary objects to code.
Con Painfully slow compilation
Beginners need fast feedback
Con No reflection
C++ objects are frustratingly opaque. This makes debugging especially difficult, something beginners have to do a lot.
Con No way to locate definitions
No modules, just files, and no way to tell where anything came from.
Con Complicated types
Con Undefined behaviors and weak limited type safety
Undefined behavior in a program can cause unexpected results, making it hard to debug. With UB, program behavior may vary wildly depending on optimization settings. There are many cases that invoke UB, such as signed overflow, invalid dereferences, large integer shifts, uninitialized variables, etc. C++ allows for non-type safe operations such as logic errors, wild pointers, buffer overflow, etc. UB and type safety issues create a large number of bugs and security vulnerabilities.
Con Standard library missing important features
Con Arcane binding rules
Con Incomprehensible operator overloading resoution
Arrays, strings, pointers, etc. have both C and C++ versions. Sometimes the C++ versions are worse. This is more useless trivia beginners have to sort through.


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It's no secret that LD23 House Republican candidate Jennifer Petersen has her sights set on trying to knock off Ugenti in the Scottsdale-based district.
To read more on this item plus all the stories in the Aug. 2 Yellow Sheet Report, go to www.yellowsheetreport.com (Yellow Sheet Subscription Required).
To subscribe to the Yellow Sheet Report, where you'll find the inside scoop on the Capitol, state government agencies and more, click here.


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10 Metros With Largest Increases in Single-Family Homes
May 6, 2014
Some metros have been seeing a noticeable increase in their single-family inventories over the last seven years. In a new analysis by the National Association of Home Builders, researchers point to the following metros as having the largest percentage-point increase in single-family concentration from 2005 to 2012:
- Fairbanks, Alaska
- St. George, Utah
- Yuma, Ariz.
- Yakima, Wash.
- Auburn-Opelika, Ala.
- Athens-Clarke County, Ga.
- Jonesboro, Arkansas
- Las Cruces, N.M.
- Warner Robins, Ga.
- Laredo, Texas
From 2005 to 2012, all the metros in the top 10 except for Yakima, Wash., saw a double-digit population growth. For example, population growth in Auburn-Opelika, Ala., was more than 24 percent in that time period.
"Population growth alone cannot explain the large increases in single-family concentration," says NAHB's Eye on Housing blog. "Land-use regulation and availability also play a role. Higher concentrations are typical of locations with less-dense developments."
Source: "Concentration of Single-Family Housing 2005 to 2012," National Association of Home Builders' Eye on Housing Blog (May 5, 2014)
Read more:
Single-Family to Lead 2014 Construction Market
Top 10 'Hidden Gem' Single-Family Rental Markets
Don't Rule Out Multifamily Investments
Latest Headlines
Latest Headlines
Updated: August 23, 2019


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MACON, Ga. - Two Macon police officers charged with stealing a tractor are no longer employed with the police department.
WMAZ-TV (http://on.wmaz.com/WuPT1P ) reports that police announced the change in a one-sentence news release Saturday.
Earlier, police had declined comment on the job status of Troy Guidry and Jon Wantz.
A tractor worth nearly $25,000 was reported stolen from a Macon plumbing business late Wednesday or early Thursday.
The owner says he used a GPS to locate the tractor at Guidry's home in Monroe County.
The two ex-officers are charged with theft, criminal trespassing and violating their oath. It's unclear if they have lawyers.


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$30M Heavy Haul Project to Get UnderwayPosted: Updated:
How to Find a New Audience After Hitting a Marketing Plateau
It may sound like a marketer's dream scenario: efforts have proven to be so successful it appears a company has completely saturated their target audience. While it may be a good problem to have, it still may be a problem. Hitting a marketing plateau is an opportunity for companies in any industry to reevaluate, re-energize and come to the table with new ideas for better understanding existing customers and engaging new audiences.
Most Popular Stories
Andrew Luck Retiring from NFL
In a shocking development following the Indianapolis Colts' preseason loss to the Chicago Bears, quarterback Andrew Luck has announced his retirement from the NFL. Luck, who did not play in Saturday's game, said the number of injuries he has suffered throughout his professional career "has taken my joy of this game away." Luck teared up during a news conference in which he made his announcement. "After 2016 where I played in pain and was unable to regularly...
Pier 48 Manager Named
FK Restaurant Group has named Shaina Keck sales and banquet manager for Pier 48 Fish House and Bar in downtown Indianapolis. She previously served in sales at Kilroy's Bar & Grill. Keck is a graduate of Indiana University Kelly School of Business with a bachelor of science degree in finance and accounting with a concentration in international studies.
Crews Start Demolition of Carson's in Hammond
The face of downtown retail in Hammond is changing once again with the demolition of Carson's department store, the one-time the anchor of Woodmar Mall. Our partners at The Times of Northwest Indiana report excavating crews have started to demolish the last vestige of the shopping center which stood since the 1950s.
Michigan City Commits $12M to South Shore Track Project
The Michigan City Common Council has formally committed to contribute $12 million towards the proposed $416 million Double Track project for the South Shore commuter line. Our partners at The Times of Northwest Indiana report the council voted unanimously to pay $7 million upfront and finance the remaining $5 million through a 20-year bond issue.
Find out when and where you can watch and listen to our reports.


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1 Like
Wooden Art on the Seebruecke in Zingst during a spectacular sunset.
Zingst Peninsula is the easternmost portion of the three-part Fischland-Darß-Zingst Peninsula, located in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany between the cities Rostock and Stralsund on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea. The area is part of the Pomeranian coast. Zingst Peninsula extends eastward nearly 20 kilometres and has a width of just 2 to 4 kilometres. Zingst serparates the Baltic Sea from the Bodden Inlet, which belongs to the Darß-Zingster-Boddenkette (Darß-Zingst Bodden Chain), a large or estuary. The shallow waters of the inlet are a major rest stop for the migratory European cranes.
Germany? Before the beginning there was Ginnungagap, an empty space of nothingness, filled with pure creative power. (Sort of like the inside of my head.)And it ends with Ragnarok, the twilight of the Gods. In between is much fighting, betrayal and romance. Just as a good Godly story should be.Heroes have their own graveyard called Valhalla. Unfortunately we cannot show you a panorama of it at this time, nor of the lovely Valkyries who are its escort service.Hail Odin, wandering God wielding wisdom and wand! Hail Freya, hail Tyr, hail Thor!Odin made the many lakes and the fish in them. In his traverses across the lands he caused there to be the Mulheim Bridge in Cologne, as did he make the Mercury fountain, Mercury being of his nature.But it is to the mighty Thor that the Hammering Man gives service.Between the time of the Nordic old ones and that of modern Frankfort there may have been a T.Rex or two on the scene. At least some mastodons for sure came through for lunch, then fell into tar pits to become fossils for us to find.And there we must leave you, O my most pure and holy children.Text by Steve Smith.


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beyerdynamic presents new wireless systems at ISE in Amsterdam
Preview Integrated Systems Europe Amsterdam (29-31 January 2013) - Hall 1, Booth M100
Wireless communication systems are becoming more and more widespread and many people never go anywhere without mobile terminal devices such as smartphones. But this was not the case even just a few years ago. It is therefore all the more impressive that the German audio company, established in 1924, has more than 50 years experience with wireless microphones. As early as 1962 beyerdynamic introduced the first wireless microphone with its so-called "Transistophone". Exactly 50 years on, in 2012, beyerdynamic created two more milestones in its wireless history with the Quinta wireless conference system and the TG 1000 digital wireless system.
The TG 1000 digital wireless system is primarily distinguished by its large, future-proof bandwidth. By cascading up to 12 dual receivers it is possible to operate 24 channels without antenna splitters. The first systems have already been delivered. For example, the system is already being used for the musical "I've never been to New York" in Zurich / Switzerland, and Cro took the TG 1000 on their Germany tour. The system will be officially presented to the European market for the first time in January at the Integrated Systems Europe trade fair in Amsterdam.
The name Quinta is the product range – Quinta stands for the 5th generation of beyerdynamic wireless conference technology. The future-proof system uses the latest technology, such as intelligent frequency hopping, an AVB interface or control via smartphone or tablet PC. It was used, for example, at the Formula 1 press conference in Hockenheim / Germany and has been installed in the modern conference room belonging to the broadcasting company Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg (RBB).
The Synexis System also resulted from many years of experience in the tour guide and interpreting sectors and has many different applications. For example, it is used for guided factory tours at Audi, hearing assistance in New Apostolic churches or for commentaries for the visually impaired at Fortuna Dusseldorf (German soccer club). Additions to the range, such as the new Synexis T12 transport case and the DT 4 disposable earphones will be presented in Amsterdam.
At Integrated Systems Europe in Amsterdam (29 – 31.01.2013) you will be able to experience these three latest fruits of beyerdynamic's 50 years of wireless expertise at Stand M100 in Hall 1.
More information about TG 1000


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Quick Search: Choose Model and Year, then enter search topic.
Page: 133
Searching for points of interest in the map display
You can also view the details for a traffic message or destination flag shown on the display by touching them.
Starting navigation to the point of interest
Changing options for route guidance
The options for route guidance are also available to you in the map display.
Setting a detour
To be able to set a detour, you must have
activated the route guidance component of your
navigation system.
If you set a number of detours, they always refer to the current route. Older route calculations are discarded.
Making a detour around route sections
The list of route sections shows the individual sections of the calculated route. The section you are currently driving on is at the top of the list.


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Featured News - Current News - Archived News - News Categories
The State Labor Department has released local area unemployment rates for September 2012, which are developed using a procedure determined by the U.S. Department of Labor. As reported in last week's jobs press release, the state's overall unemployment rate fell from 9.1 percent to 8.9 percent in September. The state rate relies on the results of a telephone survey of 3,100 households (out of more than 7 million) in New York as a primary source of data.
In contrast, the USDOL's private sector job count, which is based on a survey of more than 18,000 employers, increased by more than 134,000 from September 2011 to September 2012. In addition, the number of initial claims for unemployment insurance decreased by 3.4 percent, from 87,996 to 85,018 during that time period. Due to its larger sample size, the payroll survey is considered a more reliable gauge of the state's economy
Unemployment rate highlights in September 2012:
The counties in New York with the lowest unemployment rates include:
•Tompkins County (5.7 percent)
•Hamilton County (6.3 percent)
•Yates County (6.6 percent)
•Ontario County (6.7 percent)
•Putnam County (6.7 percent)
The counties in New York with the highest unemployment rates include:
•Bronx County (12.1 percent)
•Fulton County (10.6 percent)
•Montgomery County (9.9 percent)
•Orleans County (9.9 percent)
Note: Labor force statistics, including the unemployment rate, for New York and every other state are based on statistical regression models specified by the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. These are the most up-to-date estimates of persons employed and unemployed by place of residence. Estimates are available for New York, labor market regions, metropolitan areas, counties, and municipalities of at least 25,000.
Unemployment in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls category rose from 7.7 percent in 2011 to 8.4 percent in 2012.


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Half-Trillion-Dollar Exodus Magnifies Treasury Bill ShortageLiz Capo McCormick and Daniel Kruger
Half-Trillion-Dollar Exodus Magnifies Treasury Bill ShortageLiz Capo McCormick and Daniel Kruger
One of the biggest winners in the push to make money-market funds safer for investors is turning out to be none other than the U.S. government.
Rules adopted by regulators last month will require money funds that invest in riskier assets to abandon their traditional $1 share-price floor and disclose daily changes in value. For companies that use the funds like bank accounts, the prospect of prices falling below $1 may prompt them to shift their cash into the shortest-term Treasuries, creating as much as $500 billion of demand in two years, according to Bank of America Corp.
Boeing Co., the world's largest maker of planes, and the state of Maryland are already looking to make the switch to avoid the possibility of any potential losses. With the $1.39 trillion U.S. bill market accounting for the smallest share of Treasuries in six decades, the extra demand may help the world's largest debtor nation contain its own funding costs as the Federal Reserve moves to raise interest rates.
"Whether investors move into government institutional money-market funds or just buy securities themselves, there will be a large demand" for short-dated debt, Jim Lee, head of U.S. derivatives strategy at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc's capital markets unit in Stamford, Connecticut, said in a telephone interview on July 28. "That will lower yields."
He predicts investors may shift as much as $350 billion to money-market funds that invest only in government debt.
Lowest Costs
During the past five years, America has enjoyed some of the lowest financing costs in its history as the Fed held its benchmark rate close to zero and bought trillions of dollars in bonds to restore demand after the credit crisis.
Based on prevailing Treasury bill rates, it costs the U.S. just 0.015 percent to borrow for three months as of 11:55 a.m. today in New York. In the five decades prior to 2008, the average was more than 5 percent.
Now, with traders pricing in a 58 percent chance the Fed will raise its overnight rate by July, speculation is building that borrowing costs are bound to increase. That's made finding buyers for the nation's debt securities even more important.
The sweeping rule changes in the money-market fund industry may help provide that demand. Since 1983, money-market funds have been permitted to keep share prices at $1, meaning a dollar invested can always be redeemed for a dollar.
Unnecessary Risk
Institutional prime money funds, which invest in short-term IOUs issued by companies known as commercial paper, are among the funds that will now have to report daily prices which may fluctuate based on their underlying holdings, according to rules adopted July 23 by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The SEC the will also give the funds the ability to impose fees on redemptions and lock up investors' money for as long as 10 days when a fund faces an inability to meet redemptions.
The changes are intended to prevent a repeat of 2008, when the collapse of the 37-year-old, $62.5 billion Reserve Primary Fund triggered a run on other money funds and deepened the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Still, investors using prime funds to manage their idle cash may find floating prices an unnecessary risk when differences in fund rates are so minimal, said Brian Smedley, an interest-rate strategist at Bank of America in New York.
He estimates about half the $964 billion held in institutional prime funds will flow into those that only invest in government debt and yield about 0.013 percentage point less, before the new rules become fully effective in 2016.
Two Days
"We're not really getting paid for the risks associated" and the rules will make these funds even less attractive, Joseph D'Angelo, who oversees $70 billion as head of money-market fixed-income at Prudential Investment Management, said in a July 30 telephone interview from Newark, New Jersey.
Peter Crane, president of money-market researcher Crane Data LLC, anticipates fund values will remain stable because the underlying assets mature so quickly and are easily replaced. The shortest-term commercial paper comes due in two days.
Any exodus will be limited to about 10 percent of prime fund assets because the yield advantage over government-only funds will increase as the Fed starts raising rates, he said.
Credit Suisse Group AG also has a more conservative estimate and foresees $100 billion flowing out of prime funds, versus Bank of America's half-trillion dollar projection.
"Very little will change," Crane, who has been covering the industry for two decades, said in a telephone interview on July 28. "I expect it will prove that net asset values don't actually prove to really float much."
'Principal Preservation'
The prospect of prime money-market funds falling below $1 a share, known as "breaking the buck," has already prompted some companies to weigh a shift to those that buy U.S. debt.
Boeing, which usually keeps about $1.4 billion to $2 billion of its cash in prime funds, says it needs daily liquidity to pay suppliers and meet payroll and can't afford any losses that would result from withdrawing money at less than the $1 a share the company put in.
On $1 billion of cash, a drop to 99.99 cents a share from $1 a share, the smallest increment allowed by the rule change, would result in a $100,000 decline excluding accrued interest.
"We're definitely worried about breaking the buck," Verett Mims, assistant treasurer at Chicago-based Boeing, said in a telephone interview on July 30. "That's our biggest problem, the notion of principal preservation."
The state of Maryland may also refrain from investing in prime money-market funds as a result of the floating-price rule, according to its treasurer, Nancy Kopp.
Winning Out
The changes "make these money market funds less usable, if not usable at all as investment vehicles," she said in a July 22 conference call organized by the Chamber of Conference.
As more companies opt for the safety of government debt, the supply of Treasury bills stands to decrease further. With the Obama administration projecting the deficit will narrow to a six-year low of $583 billion, the Treasury Department has pared its issuance of the short-term debt.
U.S. government securities due in four weeks to one year account for just 11.5 percent of the $12.1 trillion market for Treasuries, the smallest proportion in data compiled by Barclays Plc going back to 1952. As recently as 2008, bills accounted for more than third of the total.
This lack of supply, coupled with the money-market fund shift, mean short-term rates will remain low, Deborah Cunningham, the head of money-market funds at Pittsburgh-based Federated Investors Inc., which oversees $245 billion in short-term securities, said in a July 31 telephone interview.
"The government wins out on this."


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Cecile Richards was chosen yesterday to speak to the 2012 Democratic National Convention in early September. In case you missed this profile of her when it ran in the Houston Chronicle earlier this year, we'd like to give you a second chance.
Cecile Richards remembers shopping for groceries with her mom, Ann, in the 1960s. They were the ones looking for the lettuce with the United Farm Workers union label.
Conversation at the family dinner table was likely to include talk of social justice for the victims of racial discrimination in Jim Crow Dallas and the rampant sexism that limited women's career opportunities.
Her dad, David, was one of the leading civil rights and voting rights lawyers in Texas. Her mother later became the history-making former governor of Texas.
"They never took on any small issues," Cecile Richards, now 54, says of her parents. "They took on the toughest issues and lived to tell the story. They were fearless in their own ways."
Nearly half a century later, Richards is following her mother into the national spotlight as a prominent player in some of the toughest political issues of her time. As chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards has been at the center of raging debates over abortion rights, birth control, funding for women's health programs and insurance coverage for contraceptive services.
Battle with charity
From her office in New York, the Texas native and mother of three has guided her organization through a controversial decision by the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast-cancer charity to withdraw its funding from Planned Parenthood for cancer-prevention screenings – an action that was quickly reversed and led to the departure of at least five high-ranking executives of the foundation.
Richards has battled Republicans in state capitals, including Austin, who are seeking to end state funding for all of Planned Parenthood's health-care programs because of the abortion and family counseling services the organization offers. And she has been a staunch advocate of family planning information and contraception services in the wake of an aggressive offensive by hard-line anti-abortion foes.
"Cecile strikes me as the best leader that Planned Parenthood could have under a troubling and adverse situation," said Rep. Lloyd Doggett, an Austin Democrat who has known her for decades. "Cecile is just tenacious like her mom. She is articulate. And she is really committed to the cause."
Richards says "the cause" is what keeps her going in tough political times: "Women's health just doesn't come with a political label," she said in an interview. "At the end of the day, this country is not about 'red' and 'blue.' It's a country that really believes in basic human decency. And that's what we do at Planned Parenthood every day."
Conservative groups have a much different perspective on Planned Parenthood, which performs about 25 percent of abortions in the U.S. And while abortion comprises just a tiny fraction of its spending, it is the political lightning rod that it a top target of Republicans.
She's 'right person'
Florida Rep. Cliff Stearns, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations, has launched a congressional investigation into Planned Parenthood's use of federal funds and accounting practices – a probe dismissed by supporters as political theater.
With Planned Parenthood under investigation in several states and on Capitol Hill, its backers say they need a leader with the political savvy and experience of Richards.
"Now that everything's been so politicized, she's absolutely the right person to be leading this organization at this point in time," said Elena Marks, former health director for the city of Houston and currently chair of Planned Parenthood's board.
If politics is important, Richards has a hefty résumé. She's a former deputy chief of staff to Nancy Pelosi, then the House Majority Leader and later House Speaker and Minority Leader. After her mother was defeated for re-election by George W. Bush in 1994, she headed up the Texas Freedom Network, a grass-roots group dedicated to countering the growing influence of the Religious Right on the Texas Legislature and State Board of Education.
Before accepting the Planned Parenthood job in 2006, she said she talked to her mother.
"I said, 'well, boy, there are a lot of things I don't know how to do,'" Cecile Richards recalled. "And she said, 'Well, that's OK, you'll learn how to do them.' And it made a big difference to me."
For Cecile Richards, comparisons to her mother, a Texas Democrat icon, are inevitable. Friends call her less flamboyant and gentler than her charismatic mother – but more ideological, a trait she inherited from her father. Still, she can be cutting in her critiques.
Of Romney, who once sought Planned Parenthood's endorsement when he was running for governor of Massachusetts, she notes, he "is incredibly out of touch with where the voters in this country are, particularly women."
What mother would say
Richards says that Texas Gov. Rick Perry, whose cut-off of state funds to Planned Parenthood has resulted in a loss of federal funding for the Texas Women's Health Program, is "literally on the frontier of taking women back to the 1950s."
That kind of talk is not received kindly in the governor's office.
"Sadly, the most anti-woman agenda has been coming from those at Planned Parenthood who were willing to see the entire Women's Health Program killed, just to save their organization," said Perry spokeswoman Catherine Frazier.
Asked how her mom would have responded to the cacophony of debate swirling around Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards thought for a moment and then responded, "My mother would say, if she were with us, 'I hear America singing.' "
"That is actually how I feel every day."
Here's Cecile Richards' speech at the 2008 convention:


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There is no agreement in the church today about what happens to people when they die. Yet the New Testament is crystal clear on the matter: In a classic passage, Paul speaks of "the redemption of our bodies" (Rom. 8:23). There is no room for doubt as to what he means: God's people are promised a new type of bodily existence, the fulfillment and redemption of our present bodily life. The rest of the early Christian writings, where they address the subject, are completely in tune with this.
The traditional picture of people going to either heaven or hell as a one-stage, postmortem journey represents a serious distortion and diminution of the Christian hope. Bodily resurrection is not just one odd bit of that hope. It is the element that gives shape and meaning to the rest of the story of God's ultimate purposes. If we squeeze it to the margins, as many have done by implication, or indeed, if we leave it out altogether, as some have done quite explicitly, we don't just lose an extra feature, like buying a car that happens not to have electrically operated mirrors. We lose the central engine, which drives it and gives every other component its reason for working.
When we talk with biblical precision about the resurrection, we discover an excellent foundation for lively and creative Christian work in the present world—not, as some suppose, for an escapist or quietist piety.
Bodily Resurrection
While both Greco-Roman paganism and Second Temple Judaism held a wide variety of beliefs about life beyond death, the early Christians, beginning with Paul, were remarkably unanimous on the topic.
When Paul speaks in Philippians 3 of being "citizens of heaven," he doesn't mean that we shall retire there ...1


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MILPITAS, Calif. - (BUSINESS WIRE) - November 28, 2006 - SanDisk Corporation (Nasdaq:SNDK) today announced that Judy Bruner, Executive Vice President, Administration and CFO, will present to the investment community attending the NASDAQ 18th Investor Program in London on Tuesday, December 5, 2006 at 9:45 a.m. GMT. The session will be webcast and it can be accessed live from SanDisk's Corporate Investor Relations website by using the link: www.sandisk.com/IR. The webcast will also be available on-demand following the conference. If you have "pop-up" blocking software installed, please disable or press and hold the CTRL key when you click on the webcast link.
About SanDisk
SanDisk is the original inventor of flash storage cards and is the world's largest supplier of flash data storage card products using its patented, high-density flash memory and controller technology. SanDisk is headquartered in Milpitas, CA and has operations worldwide, with more than half its sales outside the U.S.


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Dr. Greene`s Answer:
Pearl, you sound like an awesome big sister! Your little sister is really lucky to have someone like you watching out for her and helping her to learn about her own health. Taking her to the doctor AND making sure you understand the truth yourself is a winner combination. It sounds to me that you really are on the road to becoming a great Pediatrician.
Ringworm is NOT a Worm
Infections by worms have been recognized since antiquity. Treating some of these infections was among the few notable successes of early doctors. Physicians adopted as their professional symbol a staff encircled by two worms. This symbol, the caduceus, is used to this day.
One of the more obvious worm infections was one which we today call cutaneous larva migrans. As the worms travel through the body just under the skin, scaly red lines mark their paths. These lines are actually inflammatory reactions to the worms.
A very similar skin finding, with raised scaly rings instead of straight lines, was also noted in antiquity.
This infection came to be called ringworm, since the worms apparently traveled in laps around a short circle, rather than in a wandering line. Ringworm typically lasted several months and then, thankfully, resolved on its own. The infection was known to be mildly contagious, but the worm itself was never seen. It was a great mystery.
Some people thought that the ringworm skin lesions looked rather like the holes made in garments by moths — flat in the center, with a raised border. During the Middle Ages physicians began calling this infection tinea, the name of a common family of moths. Physicians added a descriptive word to the name to specify where on the body the infection was located: ringworm infections on the head were called tinea capitis, on the body tinea corporis, on the feet tinea pedis. They also had specific names for the same infection found in the groin, armpit, facial hair, or nails.
Ringworm is a Fungus
It was not until 1837 that the true cause of ringworm was found. A Polish physician looking at scrapings from the skin of people with ringworm identified a fungus (that he then massaged into his own arm!). Over the next several years, a number of investigators proved that what we call ringworm is always a fungal infection. This was the first time that any microscopic organism was ever proven to cause human disease. It has no connection at all with worms, other than the similar appearance of the skin lesions.
Fungi are tiny plants that survive by eating plant or animal material. The ringworm fungi feed on keratin — the material found in the outer layer of skin, hair, and nails. These fungi thrive best on skin that is moist, hot, and hidden from the light. When this infection is found on the feet, it is commonly called athlete's foot; when it is found in the groin it is commonly called jock itch; and when it is found on the body it is still called ringworm. Up to 20 percent of the population has one of these infections at any given moment.
Ringworm is Mildly Contagious
Ringworm is very mildly contagious. It can be caught from domestic animals (especially dogs and cats) as well as most farm animals. The infection can be caught from the animal directly, or from anything the animal rubs against (yes, Pearl, your sister could have gotten it from playing on the ground at the BBQ). Ringworm can also be caught from other humans, both by direct contact and by prolonged contact with flakes of shed skin (from sharing clothes or from house dust, for instance). Wrestlers commonly spread it back and forth with their sweaty contact (tinea gladiatorum!).
To catch ringworm, you have to be exposed to it and you have to be susceptible. Some people are much more susceptible than others. Those with eczema or other skin problems get ringworm more easily because the protective barrier of the skin's outer layer is less intact. Children are more susceptible before puberty. Boys get it more easily than girls. Some people are genetically predisposed, and can get it easily throughout life (like me!).
How to Treat Ringworm
The treatment for ringworm is one of the many effective topical antifungal creams, such as miconazole (Tinactin) or clotrimazole (Lotrimin). Several of these antifungal creams are now available without a prescription. Treatment may require several weeks. Only by treating for at least one week after the resolution of symptoms (and for a total of at least 4 weeks) can one guarantee eradication. (Pets can be treated with the same medicines, but this is difficult, since they often don't get a rash with their infections. Contact your pet's veterinarian to get up-to-date information on the best treatment for animals). As soon as treatment has begun it's fine for her to play with others, but it's best not to share clothing or to let other children rub the patch of ringworm.
Rarely, when ringworm of the body is resistant to topical therapy, we use oral antifungal medications for about one month.
When ringworm is found in the nails or on the scalp the infection is much more difficult to eliminate. Prolonged treatment with a prescription oral anti-fungal medicine (as well as other topical medicines) is usually necessary. Scalp ringworm is a major cause of hair loss, and should be treated aggressively.
Pearl, I expect that your sister's patch of ringworm on her leg will clear up with the Tinactin. In the meantime, thanks for watching out for her!


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"Cupcake baker" has officially replaced "handbag designer" as annoying It profession.
And while certainly we love cupcakes, maybe there's a slight point there—with the vast quantity of cupcake places opening up, it can be hard to know who's good and who will last. So it was immensely refreshing to come across Freeport Bakery, an institution of a bakery based in Sacramento that's been serving up sweet treats (not just cupcakes!) since 1987. They've been open through various cake and bakery trends, but customers keep on coming back for their European-inspired cakes and tortes; with a new, expanded location coming soon, they're certainly doing something right. In a recent interview, co-owner Marlene Goetzeler dished on the cakes she's seen come and go, how sweet life is with a German baker husband, and introduced us to the PIMS cake:
Cakespy: How did you get started as a baker?
Marlene Goetzeler: Walter is my husband and partner. He grew up in Bavaria, above his parents' bakery. He came to the US when he was in his twenties to travel and see the states. He had gone to baking school in Germany and worked in bakeries since he was about fourteen. I do the business end (the "not sexy" part, I know...) and he takes care of the baking part.
CS: Do you remember what the first sale was on your first day open, over 20 years ago?
MG: I remember selling my first cake. It was the Fruit Basket.
CS: Where do your recipes come from?
MG: We work with familiar recipes and then add our style to them. Walter brought a lot from Germany. We also have a great and talented staff. We think of things we liked when we were younger and things that we like as adults.
CS: What is your most popular cake flavor?
MG: Has to be the golden buttermilk. Personally, I'm chocolate girl but I can eat that any time.
CS: Have certain cake flavors gone in and out of fashion during the time you've been baking?
MG: I remember Dobash Torte being requested all the time years ago. More than flavors, it's cakes. Like tiramisu. OMG! Trend of all trends. Or chocolate cake with raspberry couli.
CS: What is this PIMS cake we see on your menu? Is there a story behind it?
MG: My head cake decorator (she's been with us 19 years), my manager (she's been with us since '91) my assistant (since '89) and I go away together after the holidays for a few days every year. We eat really good food and laugh a lot. I brought along some PIMS cookies that someone gave me in a Christmas basket. We were drinking wine and eating. I ate one of the
cookies and said we really need to make a cake with these flavors. When we got back into town, Carol, the decorator, took me up on it. It is fantastic.
CS: What is your personal favorite dessert item (doesn't have to be something from your bakery, but it can be)?
MG: Walter makes fantastic homemade vanilla bean ice cream. We bring home some chocolate cake and eat it with the ice cream. Otherwise, I can eat one of our napoleons just about anytime!
CS: What, to you, is the most important factor in making a "good" cake?
MG: From a bakery owner's standpoint? Consistency. A wonderful cake that will taste great today and when you order it a month from now. No recipe changes. No surprises about the flavor. When you cook, you can change a recipe. When you bake you stick to the recipe. From a person who loves baked goods? It has to have fresh ingredients and a really good frosting. (Cakespy Note: We concur about the frosting!)
CS: What is the best time of day to eat cake?
MG: Are you kidding? Right now!
CS: What do you think of the cupcake popularity that seems to be sweeping the nation?
MG: I admire the flavor combinations some people are coming up with. They sound fantastic. My grandmother and grandfather came to visit us every Sunday. My grandmother brought a huge shirt-box box full of chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles. We devoured them by Tuesday. We make cupcakes at the bakery with a recipe that is as close as we can get to my memory of my "grandma's cupcakes." And we will keep making them after this wave has passed.
CS: Any future plans for Freeport Bakery?
MG: We recently signed on with a developer to move the bakery to a new location. It's only 1/4 mile away but a much larger location. Our little bakery is bursting at the seams. We have over 50 employees and we are open seven days a week. Too much going on for our little space. We will be able to do more with more space but what that is, is a secret for now.
CS: Do you have any advice for those interested in starting a bakery today?
MG: Work in one. For a long time. Do every job you can. Good luck.
Freeport Bakery recently celebrated its 20th anniversary (!). They are located at 2966 Freeport Blvd., Sacramento; online at freeportbakery.com.


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Badges... seem to be the best and likeliest bet on accreditation's future.
Oklahoma City, OK (PRWEB) July 10, 2014
techJOYnT Academy is revolutionizing the way students learn the subjects of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) by offerings kids recognition for their achievements through Mozilla Open Badges. Through a system of badges, students in STEM classes become scouts who can gain greater recognition with the amount of projects they complete.
From an early age, students receive recognition for a handful of activities whether it is for participation or excellence. Shelves and walls are lined with trophies, plaques, medals, ribbons, etc. from Little League, Karate, making the Honor Roll, or winning the Spelling Bee. Rarely, however, do students receive recognition for their achievements in STEM fields. Today, there is a major deficit in the amount of students willing to pursue STEM careers due to lack of incentive, and this framework must change to create positive change for the future of our students.
Open Badges are a new online standard to recognize and verify learning or other achievements. Badges make it easy to get acknowledged for the things someone learns, and they include a shared standard for recognizing skills and achievements and helps make them count toward job opportunities and lifelong learning. They are the digital versions of the badges that Scouts receive for their hard work. Additionally, employers, organizations and schools can explore the data behind every badge issued using Mozilla Open Badges to verify individuals' skills and competencies.
The STEM "Eagle Scout" can then take his or her badges anywhere in their digital backpack and potentially receive college credit for what they have already accomplished - Arizona State University and Texas A&M already provide this kind of program.
Harvard's Business Review, in 2012, named Open Badges one of the top 4 innovations to watch, saying "Badges - not digital diplomas - seem to be the best and likeliest bet on accreditation's future."
Furthermore, techJOYnT's Director of Operations Wes Warner describes the utility of badges, saying "Open Badges helps bring STEM education in line with students' social environments of today," explaining that kids can unlock achievements by playing video games or doing community service, and now they can do the same by learning to program a robot or design a computer game.
The approach to STEM, whether it is education, involvement, or advertising, is fundamentally flawed, but students should not be deterred from these fields. A system of recognition can change all that, paving the way for the innovators and entrepreneurs of tomorrow. For more information, follow techJOYnT on Facebook and Twitter.


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- Design
- Inverters
- Racking
- Panels
- Off Grid
- Solar Kits
- Balance of System
- Solar Cells
An outstanding addition to the family: The next generation of filed serviceable Fronius IG Plus Advanced inverters include industry first Arc Fault Protections in a High Frequency inverter, Advanced grid Features for Smart Grid Integration, built in Com Card for data communications, and DC connecting distributors included with all three power stage inverters. Add these to our impressive list of standard features including a built-in six circuit string combiner, integrated lockable DC Disconnect, multiple power stage Mix Technology with "Power on Demand" and built in redundancy, lightest and best looking in class satin finished aluminum NEMA 3R housing with Power Plug system for easy installation.
Features of the Fronius 4,210,126,800 IG Plus Advanced 10.0-1 UNI 10,000 Watt Inverter
Grounding selectable on site.
Decide on site what type of grounding is required as the Fronius IG Plus is field programmable for either positive or negative module grounding.
Designed for indoor and outdoor installations.
All Fronius IG Plus inverters have a robust, well designed aluminum housing. UV resistance and corrosion protection enable them to be used either indoors or outdoors. Fronius is proud to be one of the only inverters tested and approved to operate at 122° F.
Integrated DC disconnect.
No external DC disconnect installation or cabling is necessary. The Fronius IG Plus comes complete with an approved, built-in, lockable and load breakable DC Disconnect.
Power plug system. The connection area and power stages are installed separately from each other. Very easy and extremely safe: The connection area is attached to the wall as normal. Then the power module is simply plugged in. The power plug connects both parts into one secure unit. If service is required, the connector remains on the wall maintaining all settings and configurations.
Field Programmable AC output voltage.
The Fronius IG Plus inverter line from 3.0 to 11.4 kW is field programmable to 208, 240 or 277 volts (Fronius IG Plus 12.0 kW only available in 277 volts), eliminating the need to install different inverter models to accommodate three-phase installations.
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Students map spills over recharge zone
A new interactive map created by students at Texas State University shows where sewer line breaks and overflows have dumped sewage over the recharge zone of the Edwards Aquifer in Bexar County since 2004.
The spills totaled more than 809,000 gallons in the past eight years.
For the students, making the map was a chance to apply the skills they learned in school to a real-word situation. For the San Antonio Water System and its ratepayers, the map is a reminder of what may become a very expensive problem.
"It was really an eye-opening project," said Mark Wilson, one of the students. "Once you put it on a map, you see how much sewage is going into our aquifer. ... We found a lot of spills that came from the same pump station that would spill every couple years."
San Antonio depends on the aquifer for its drinking water and has no means of treating what it pumps out of the ground if the Edwards were contaminated.
The city has been on notice by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice since 2007 that it could be forced to spend more in its sewer system to reduce the number of spills. SAWS estimates those improvements could cost between $250 million and $1 billion.
"However, the total final costs may significantly exceed SAWS preliminary estimates, and will depend on the course of action ultimately agreed upon between SAWS and EPA/DOJ or ordered by a Federal District Court," a Q&A on SAWS' website states.
The students made the map while working with the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance, which advocates against SAWS building more sewer lines over the recharge zone to limit the number of residents living over the sensitive feature and causing more pollution.
"The fewer people you have producing sewage on the recharge zone, the safer you are going to be," said Annalisa Peace, executive director of GEAA.
SAWS points out that only a small percentage of sewage escapes its sewer lines.
"We do a heck of a good job of treating what we collect," SAWS spokeswoman Anne Hayden said.
But the federal standard to protect public health is no leaks or spills, and the EPA and DOJ have forced cities across the country to invest billions in their systems to reduce spills. Consequently, those cities — from Honolulu to Kansas City — have had to double or quadruple their rates.
Hayden said SAWS is negotiating with the EPA and Justice Department to reach an agreement that will minimize the cost.
"At this point we don't know what is going to happen," she said.