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Portland Reigns
From the November/December 2009 issue of National Geographic Traveler
This Oregon city gets almost everything right: It's friendly, sustainable, accessible, maybe even a model for America's future.
There are at least three things you can do especially well in Portland, Oregon, and they're all important: eating, drinking, and getting around. Here in the self-proclaimed "city that works," restaurants pride themselves on their fresh, locally grown fare, and you're never far from inspired coffee or innovative brew-pub beers. What's more, few cities in the United States are as bicycle friendly. Add to this the ubiquitous local art and a widespread recycling ethic, and you've hit upon much of what makes this verdant, forward-thinking city of 575,930 so appealing.
Portland is so thoroughly trendy these days that at times it seems, well, retro. It's among just a handful of American cities that have managed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Friendliness and civic involvement thrive here even as they decline elsewhere. The downtown farmers market on Park Avenue is jammed every Saturday morning with shoppers dedicated to buying organically grown arugula, Willamette Valley hazelnuts, and artisanal cheeses while listening to bluegrass and folk music. People live in town and in the suburbs, but farmland around the city has been preserved; and skiing and surfing are little more than an hour away.
Portland is all about sustainable, low-impact living, including getting from here to there. So I climb aboard a shiny red bike in the Southeast section of town and angle west toward the Willamette River, through a loose network of neighborhoods both funky and high-end. The bike's long, raised handlebars elicit appreciative bell tinkles from other riders. By the time I reach the river, it's raining. Ah, Portland.
As often happens in this city, there's a place nearby where I can have a meal—in this case, the little Produce Row Cafe, set amid warehouses. The rain stops as I finish my beer-battered fries, and I mount up again and take the riverside bike trail north. The path follows the fast-flowing Willamette in its last northward stretch before its confluence with the more powerful Columbia River. I steer away from the water toward Mississippi Avenue, where I find a Laughing Planet Café, one in a local chain, whose owner—former bike shop proprietor Richard Satnick—wears Bermudas and a New York Yankees cap.
"I realized Portland was home within 20 minutes of first arriving and riding around on my folding bicycle," the ex-New Yorker says. Satnick, struck by the "wonderfully cohesive neighborhoods," decided Portland is a model city, showing "how it has to go if we're to survive as a nation."
Every day, cyclists make more than 16,700 trips across Portland's four bridges, says Roger Geller, bicycle coordinator for the city government. Geller's trim white beard and straw hat stand out as he pedals his old two-wheeled "beater" to city hall. He's one of the 8 percent of Portlanders who usually bike to work. "Bicycles succeed here because we've built the facilities—bike lanes, parking places—and our distances are relatively short."
Local tourism agencies are in sync, offering cycling tours. And then there are some 4,000 organized bike rides each year, including one in which riders pedal "as bare as you dare," says Geller. Doesn't public nudity violate a city ordinance? I ask. "Yes," Geller says, "but what can you do with 5,000 naked people on bicycles?" Now that's Portland.
Every year the PedalPalooza festival hosts 270 events over 17 days; on Fridays, a supportive citizenry hands riders free pastries and mugs of coffee as they pedal past. Cyclist types range from Zoobombers—punks racing madly downhill—to cyclo-cross racers, who pedal up steps and over barriers, to a female dance troupe called the Sprockettes. One participant adapted a bike into a machine for making daiquiris.
An unusual contraption dear to many Portlanders is the "tall" bike, which consists of one bike frame welded atop another, with vertical and horizontal chain drives and a seat six feet high. "You have to kick it off," says Michael Jones, demonstrating, "like a scooter, and then hop on."
Red-bearded, energetic, the technology director of a small social media company, Jones prefers the moniker "transportationalist" to "young modern," a common reference to thirtysomethings drawn to Portland. He owns six bicycles of various sorts, plus five unicycles—one of which he rode 50 miles to the beach—but at the moment he's making an arc in the middle of 4th Avenue in Southwest. A block away, I can see "the carts," kitchens on wheels that serve good Eastern European, Thai, Mexican, and other ethnic cuisines out of trailers to a hungry midday workforce.
"Tall bikes have the same appeal as SUVs," Jones calls out. "You can see over things. Stopping is the problem. You have to get off, or put your foot on a lamppost, or"—he laughs—"on a car roof."
To navigate Portland, by bike or otherwise, you have to master some basic geography. First, imagine the Willamette River neatly cleaving the city, south to north, with the northwest and southwest (home of the city's downtown) sectors on one side, the north, northeast, and southeast sectors on the other.
The east-west dividing line, which extends to both sides of the river, is Burnside Street. Forest Park, a 5,156-acre urban retreat, gives the city's western horizon a wild, deeply green aspect.
In 1903, John Charles Olmsted designed a system of open spaces for Portland so it could accommodate rapid population growth. Parkland took on an intrinsic value, as did relatively small city blocks and building plots, office buildings of limited height, and broad sidewalks that would encourage vibrant street life.
And thanks to former governor Tom McCall, Portland also has an outer greenbelt, one of many in the state. Back in the late '60s, Governor McCall challenged every community in Oregon to come up with a plan for controlled growth and to establish no-build greenbelts to limit sprawl. These belts redirected growth back into the cities instead of onto farmland, emphasizing density over trophy houses—and helping to empower communities. A proposed interstate highway that would have wiped out whole neighborhoods, for example, was defeated. Money went into a light-rail system and other public transport.
Nowadays, in new developments, shops are built at street level with apartments and condos above, reflecting a European model. Environmental sensitivity has become part of Portland's social fabric.
Portland's Tom McCall Waterfront Park honors his legacy. The park's sinuous green ribbon draws walkers, skaters, bikers, and some sleepers; and on a clear day, it provides a glorious full-on view of the snow-creased mass of Mount Hood in the distance.
But of all the city's extensive green spaces, my favorite is the Portland Japanese Garden in Washington Park in Southwest. The garden provides a transformative descent into the intricacies of the spiritual landscape. "What makes a good Japanese garden is the placement of stones, shrubs, trees, and water to emphasize the subtle asymmetry of nature," says Diane Durston, the garden's curator of culture and art.
Durston and I move from the Stroll Garden—one of five blending seamlessly, this one populated by colorful koi finning under the Moon Bridge—to the Natural Garden, a wondrously realistic mimicry of waterfalls and sylvan paths bordered by smooth stones and Japanese maples, engendering repose in everyone who pauses to look. The Portland Japanese Garden manages to accommodate 200,000 visitors a year without losing its air of remoteness and discovery.
"I feel like I'm in the warm sunshine of Japan," adds Durston, who lived for 18 years in Kyoto and chose Portland on her return to the U.S. "because the city's so rich in cultural and natural assets, and because it tries to be conscious of future generations."
I trade the tranquil Japanese Garden for the busy streets of "The Pearl," epicenter of Portland's thriving art scene. This gentrified warehouse district brims with restaurants, cafés, and upscale chain stores, as well as Portland's legendary bookseller, Powell's. On the first Thursday of the month, a crowd of art lovers moves at a measured pace from gallery to gallery. Everett Street has edgy, electronic offerings, while the streets around the Pacific Northwest College of Art are dense with middlebrow landscape paintings, sculpture, and crafts of all sorts, from cast temple bells to knives made from motorcycle chains.
The creative arts are a way "to explore environmental issues and to inform people about specific landscapes," Tom Webb tells me. Webb, the editor of The Bear Deluxe Magazine, grew up in Portland and remembers "when people were leaving, not arriving." The timber industry had crashed, and so had the job market. "But when quality of life became an issue in this country, the Portland renaissance started. Now we all want to maintain the city's livability."
The gawkers—and buyers—on the Pearl's First Thursday may live in expensive condos overlooking Jamison Square, a handsome local park, but more come from highly individualistic neighborhoods in other sectors of the city connected to the center by light-rail. Lovely, Czech-designed trolleys trundle over rails in a modern mode of travel reminiscent of an earlier age. There's bus service, too.
I arrive at the northern edge of the Pearl District to take a seat in Portland's old Armory for some lively evening entertainment.
"It's... it's…"
"Live Wire!" screams the audience, in response to a card held aloft on stage by the prompter, filling the old stone fortress with an enthusiasm that makes Prairie Home Companion fans seem blasé. Recorded here in the Gerding Theater—a stunning architectural redesign of concrete, steel, and glass—Live Wire will be broadcast later on Oregon public radio.
The audience is fashionably eclectic—spiffy grunge to quasi-professorial—but mostly just relaxed and warmly responsive to jokes, a performance artist, the mellow Portland Cello Project, and homegrown alt-rock band, the Dandy Warhols.
At intermission, people make straight for the state-of-the-art espresso machine in the lobby, which also features interactive monitors and a Wi-Fi system. Tim DuRoche, the theater's community programs manager, ticks off the building's environmental street creds: "the only sustainable theater renovation in the country with a LEED Platinum certification by the U.S. Green Building Council; an outdoor 'bio-swale' landscaped with native species; irrigation by captured rainwater, which also feeds the minimum-flush toilets. These [features] give people things to think about." DuRoche, a multitalented chap dressed in black shirt and charcoal jacket, also reviews restaurants and dance performances and plays drums in a jazz band, "including sustainability, good air quality, and smart design."
Included in tonight's printed program for Live Wire is a "Green Cleaning Guide" foldout. References to environmental concerns throughout the show get the biggest applause. Sustainability, it seems, is not just a mantra here—it's a social imperative.
Next day, I'm introduced to another version of Portland's creativity in the Mississippi Avenue neighborhood, at the ReBuilding Center, a cavernous repository of used building parts and materials of every imaginable description. The exterior is a medley of whimsical mega-sculptures made of found objects, but inside it's all business: lumber, plumbing fixtures, barn siding, doors, flooring, railings, shutters, bathtubs—in short, a universe of building remnants turned into a $3-million-a-year business and a sight no visitor should miss, both for its astounding variety and variation on the Portland ethic.
"We employ 45 people and move eight tons of product a day back into structures housing Portlanders," says the founder, Shane Endicott, burning with conviction in his old T-shirt. "The idea is to take what society says is waste and turn it around so it can be used."
His goal, he says, "is to create a nonprofit model that can be given away to other places." It's included in the itineraries of visiting VIPs "from New Orleans to Kosovo. It's really the small stuff like this that will save society, not technological breakthroughs. People all over the world want to see what we do and how we do it. We let them hang out and learn these skills."
April Melnick, a 32-year-old artist and clothing designer who works as a barista for Stumptown Coffee Roasters, knows something about good water—and the other ingredients that make for a stellar brew: "The beans here are a mixture of Latin American, African, and Indonesian. The blend changes every year, depending upon the harvest," although the exact mixture is tantamount to a state secret.
Stumptown is a homegrown coffee roaster that started on Division Street in Southeast and now has five locations around town. From these emanate the satisfying whoosh behind a crema or a soy latte and the aroma of Stumptown's unique, mahogany-hued brew wafting into the subconscious of anyone within nosing distance. Melnick and I are in the Stumptown café attached to the Ace Hotel, in Southwest. We pass into the lobby and sit on a sofa covered in recycled green army surplus ponchos, listening to the chatter of a manual coffee grinder.
"Stumptown is fast-paced," Melnick says, "but you learn to pull the perfect shot on a beautiful Mistral machine, which has lots of controls." Jobs like hers are highly sought after by young creatives who want time off to go to the beach or to one of the many handy mountains for hiking, skiing, and snowboarding or just to stay home and work on their own projects, which, in Melnick's case, are fashion shows put on by boutique designers.
Our cups rest on a big industrial door turned coffee table that might have come straight from the ReBuilding Center. The Ace Hotel may not be strictly sustainable, but it tries, with bookshelves full of used volumes of Johnson, Tolstoy, Wilde, and Bret Hart. The rooms upstairs are decorated in the latest in eco-chic: pipe fixtures to hold the toilet paper, recycled paint buckets for wastebaskets, custom made, pure wool Pendleton blankets on frameless beds. The hotel traffic is mostly young, hip, and apparently happy in cut-offs, porkpie hats, and long chains, with not a tucked-in shirt in sight.
The lobby feeds into the Clyde Common restaurant next door, which is part of the scene, a kind of moveable feast where customers dine well together at big tables, and the bar offers everything from homemade, nonalcoholic lemon-ginger and lavender sodas to absinthe, that formerly forbidden fin-de-siècle libation served mixed with water—which turns it cloudy—poured from a vintage silver dispenser.
Sustainability, like social responsibility, is admirable, I'm thinking, but can highly competitive businesses like gourmet restaurants, coffee shops, and brewpubs toe this line? Leaving Stumptown, the Ace, and Clyde Common, I head to the Hopworks Urban Brewery, on Powell Street in Southeast, to sample Portland's favorite drink: the microbrew.
I take a seat at the bar, which has a trellis of lovely old bike frames strung overhead. The spigots for draft beer made on the premises are designed to look like Allen wrenches, and banana bike seats decorate the men's room. Owner Christian Ettinger, who wears hiking shorts and sneakers, tells me he "didn't do a marketing study because I'm just passionate about the outdoors, beer, pizza, and bicycles. I thought there had to be people in Portland who would want to put them all together, and the response has been incredible."
Hopworks' west parking lot is made of permeable pavers. Rainwater feeds old metal kegs sawed in half to serve as planters for native species of grasses and flowers. The burners under the brewery's kettles are fueled with biodiesel, as is Ettinger's old silver VW Golf. The fuel includes "SVO"—straight vegetable oil—from Hopworks' own fries cooker.
The refrigeration here is high-efficiency, and the furniture is made of recycled wood with low volatile organic compounds in all the finishes.
"The main thing," Ettinger goes on, "is that you're criticizing convention every step of the way. Hopworks is the first eco-brewpub making certified organic beer, and it serves only local produce in the restaurant. Initially it was more expensive to do all this, but the long-term paybacks mean real money."
Meanwhile, 62 people get to work in an attractive setting, serving customers with something ineffable in common. "Portland revolves around things that are thoughtful," Ettinger says in that quiet moment before Hopworks throws open its doors to the noontime pedaling public. "We're just local people trying to make a living responsibly, doing something we love."
Intelligent Travel: Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon, is on Pacific standard time.
Ace Hotel 1022 S.W. Stark St.; 1 503 228 2277; www.acehotel.com/portland.
Beast 5425 N.E. 30th Ave.; 1 503 841 6968; www.beastpdx.com.
Clyde Common 1014 S.W. Stark St.; 1 503 228 3333; www.clydecommon.com.
Departure 525 S.W. Morrison St.; 1 503 802 5370; www.departureportland.com.
- Nat Geo Expeditions
First Thursday Gallery Walk N.W. 23rd St. and the Pearl; 1 503 295 4979;www.firstthursdayportland.com.
Gerding Theater at the Armory 128 N.W. 11th Ave.; 1 503 445 3700;www.pcs.org.
Hopworks Urban Brewery 2944 S.E. Powell Blvd.; 1 503 232 4677;www.hopworksbeer.com.
Laughing Planet Café 3765 N. Mississippi Ave. (and five other locations); 1 503 467 4146; www.laughingplanetcafe.com.
Nines Hotel 525 S.W. Morrison St.; 877 229 9995.
Pacific Northwest College of Art 1241 N.W. Johnson St.; 1 503 226 4391;www.pnca.edu.
Powell's City of Books 1005 W. Burnside St. (and four other locations); 800 878 7323; www.powells.com.
Portland Farmers Markets (five markets at various locations on various days of the week); 1 503 241 0032; www.portlandfarmersmarket.org.
Portland Japanese Garden 611 S.W. Kingston Ave.; 1 503 223 1321;www.japanesegarden.com.
Produce Row Cafe 204 S.E. Oak St.; 1 503 232 8355;www.producerowcafe.com.
ReBuilding Center 3625 N. Mississippi Ave.; 1 503 331 1877;www.rebuildingcenter.org.
Stumptown Coffee Roasters 1026 S.W. Stark St. (and four other locations); 1 503 224 9060; www.stumptowncoffee.com.
Tanner Springs Park N.W. 10th Ave. and Marshall St.
Travel Portland www.travelportland.com.
Bike Portland http://bikeportland.org.
Shift PedalPalooza and other events; www.shift2bikes.org.


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Tom Sermanni named new U.S. Women's National Team head coach
U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati announced today the hiring of Tom Sermanni as the seventh head coach in U.S. Women's National Team history.
Sermanni, 58, comes to U.S. Soccer with 11 years of experience as a head coach in international women's soccer – all with Australia – a period during which he led the Matildas in three Women's World Cup tournaments.
Sermanni will officially begin his tenure as the WNT head coach on Jan. 1, 2013. U.S. Soccer Women's Development Director Jill Ellis, who was on the bench for the USA's two recent draws with Germany, will coach the team for the last five matches of the Fan Tribute Tour, presented by Panasonic. Due to his prior commitments with the Australia Women's National Team as he finishes up his responsibilities with the Matildas, Sermanni will not be attending the next two matches in Portland and Phoenix. Sermanni will be observing the U.S. Women's National Team for the last three matches of the 2012 tour, which will be announced in the near future.
"After an extensive search and interview process, we believe Tom Sermanni is the right person at the right time to lead our Women's National Team," said Gulati. "He has the knowledge, experience and vision to take on the challenge of keeping our team at the top of the world. He has a tremendous passion for the game, knows the American players, understands our system and knows the process of preparing a team for a World Cup tournament. We're tremendously excited to have him on board as we look forward to qualification for the 2015 Women's World Cup."
Sermanni comes to U.S. Soccer after eight years as head coach of the Australia Women's National Team, which he coached in both the 2007 and 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments, reaching the quarterfinal stage at both events. That eight-year period was Sermanni's second stint with Australia, as he also coached the Matildas from 1994 through 1997, during which time he led the team to the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup in Sweden.
"I'm honored to have this opportunity to work with tremendous players and in a program that has had such a tradition of success," said Sermanni. "U.S. Soccer has always been at the forefront of supporting the women's game, and it's exciting to coach the team in this next chapter of its history. After coaching against many of these players for years, I am looking forward to working with an accomplished group of veterans while integrating the numerous talented young players who are itching for a chance to prove themselves. It will be an exciting few years for the U.S. team and for all the great fans as we work toward the highest goals at the 2015 Women's World Cup."
In order to thoroughly examine the possible choices, Gulati headed a search committee that included U.S. Soccer CEO/Secretary General Dan Flynn, former U.S. Women's National Team players Mia Hamm and Danielle Slaton, and managing Director of Administration Tom King. The committee reviewed more than 30 male and female candidates both domestically and internationally.
During his time in charge of Australia, Sermanni helped bring the team into the top 10 in the FIFA Women's World Rankings. Named the 2007 Asian Football Confederation Coach of the Year, Sermanni led Australia to a runner-up finish at the 2006 AFC Women's Cup, where the team fell to China in penalty kicks, and to the championship in 2010, when the youthful Matildas downed Korea DPR in penalties.
Sermanni coached all three seasons of the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), serving as an assistant for the San Jose CyberRays during the inaugural season, in which he helped the club to the league championship. He was also an assistant for the CyberRays in 2002 before taking the head coaching job of the New York Power in 2003, where he coached U.S. Women's National Team legends Christie Rampone, Shannon Boxx and Tiffeny Milbrett.
Sermanni, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, had a long playing career as a midfielder from 1971 through 1989, playing more than 300 professional matches and scoring more than 50 goals. He quickly transitioned into coaching both men's and women's professional soccer all over the world, including stints in Japan, the USA and Malaysia.
Sermanni follows Mike Ryan (1985), Anson Dorrance (1986-1994), Tony DiCicco (1994-1999), April Heinrichs (2000-2004), Greg Ryan (2005-2007) and Pia Sundhage (2008-2011) as official coaches of the U.S. Women's National Team, which has been ranked No. 1 in the world since winning the 2008 Olympic gold medal in Beijing, China.

subset: commoncrawl


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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
November 3, 2005
President Applauds Senate for Passage of ANWR Legislation
Increasing our domestic energy supply will help lower gasoline prices and utility bills. We can and should produce more crude oil here at home in environmentally responsible ways. The most promising site for oil in America is a 2,000 acre site in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and thanks to technology, we can reach this energy with little impact on the land or wildlife. I applaud the Senate for passing legislation to improve our energy situation with this commonsense approach.
# # #


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Deep Black is a third-person shooter that feels like Dead Space, Halo, Gears of War, and Call of Duty all got together and produced a mutant offspring. Frankenstein's monster comes closer to being a part of humanity than this game comes to being playable, or fun.
It attempts to be a half-on-land, half-underwater shooter that offers unique gameplay, but in the end, Deep Black is just half-baked.
Deep Black: Reloaded (PC)
Developer: Biart
Publisher: Strategy First
Release: April 18, 2012
Deep Black's major selling point is its underwater levels. While it's true that there really aren't any other games that use a lot of underwater play, they really aren't used that well here. It always feels like the same thing over and over again. Swim underwater towards a goal, shoot some robot mines that want to kill you, flip a switch to open a gate, run up on land, hit another switch, go back underwater, and repeat until you're bored silly.
Navigating underwater can be a major pain as well. Mines float towards you and explode, and destroying them before they kill you is almost impossible on the first try. Only after they have surprise-murdered you at least once can you attempt to learn where they are and shoot them before they do it again.
The levels above ground aren't any better. Getting past any mission is a matter of dying and repeating the level until you have learned where every enemy is and how to defeat them, and since the checkpoints are really spread out, this can take a long time. It's often necessary to replay the same sections upwards of a dozen times to successfully get to the next checkpoint.
The checkpoints are spaced out way too far, and even worse, they are often placed before cut scenes. As a result, there is nothing gratifying about getting past a combat encounter, since it feels more like beating the game's bad mechanics instead of fighting the enemies within the game.
There are over forty missions in Deep Black, and every level feels almost exactly the same. Every crate looks the same, every hallway has the same enemies that run at you, and every encounter is a repetitious chore. New enemies are introduced too slowly and they are too similar to existing ones. There are only a handful of guns available to the player, and they don't really respond differently.
Even when simply using up all the ammo in gun type 1 and switching to gun type 2, it doesn't affect the feel of combat at all. There is a "super weapon" that you find, and it's supposed to freeze guys and kill them. However, while they do freeze for just a second, they don't die unless you hit them multiple times. It's just as easy to kill them with a machine gun or the wimpy pistol that has endless ammo.
Moreover, the guns lack weight and believability. Shooting someone in the face doesn't always mean that they'll die, and enemies soak up bullets like sponges soak up water. They simply don't die. Shooting someone in the head with a shotgun less than ten feet away should kill them, but sometimes these morons don't even flinch. And it's not like the shot is missing them since the impact is visible; they just don't seem to mind being shot.
Boss battles are trials of patience and screwing around with mechanics that don't make any sense. One boss sits in a pit in the middle of the room, and in order to hit the switches required to lower its shields and damage it, you have to roll around the room. I don't mean rolling from cover to cover, or rolling to avoid certain attacks, I mean constantly rolling around the room like a ball. I'm sure that's how a real marine would do it.
The idiot robot that can't crawl up from this six-inch deep pit apparently can't hit anything if it's rolling around like a Katamari. That is, until its health is about halfway down, when it can start to hit everything it fires at. This often leads to player death about five minutes into the encounter, and because there are no checkpoints at different stages of the boss fight, you'll have to start all over again. After doing this for about an hour, blind luck will eventually win and the boss will die.
As bad as the combat is, the joke of a "story" is somehow worse. It's hard to tell what's really happening or why. The setting is bland and it doesn't help that the level environments all look the same. There isn't a solid antagonist at any point, and it's unclear what the goal is. The hero is a generic lieutenant that wants to be like Master Chief, but he has no personality, so he can't.
There's also a talking Cortana-like person who tells you where to go and says "affirmative" any time that Lt. Whats-his-face say something, or she talks about how nice her ass is. Some of the dialog is so bad it's laughable. There's an AI that talks like GlaDOS or the computer voice on the Enterprise, and it accuses you of violating her. Top that all off with voice acting that makes most commercials sound exciting, and you have a giant turd that makes Plan 9 From Outer Space seem Oscar worthy.
When it comes down to it, there really isn't anything here to enjoy. It's a collection of repetitive gameplay, bland levels, a horrible story with forgettable characters, and a poor system of checkpoints that forces you to keep replaying sections of the already tedious levels. The overall experience is mind-numbing and frustrating, making it hard to play it for more than 30 minutes at a time without wanting to throw something or burn things.
Just do yourself a favor and steer clear of this one. Even if you see it on sale for a dollar, just skip over it and play anything else instead.


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This article is a reprint of Wise Bread's contribution to OPEN Forum from American Express -- where small business owners can get advice from experts and share tips with each other.
The most well known leaders are often charismatic and extroverted. They make great speeches and can rally a crowd. In millions of successful and thriving businesses and communities around the world, there are also great leaders driving their companies and causes forward. But they're not all extroverted and gregarious. They're not all outspoken and charming. But they do all share four key attributes of leadership.
1. Leaders Make Decisions.
This sounds simple, but many business owners are paralyzed by the decision making process. A poor leader who can't decide between two great opportunities or two very tough calls makes things worse by deciding to do nothing at all. Almost as bad is the leader who asks a committee to make the decision, instead.
A good leader understands that she has to be wise but decisive. And while asking for opinions, ideas, and advice from others is important, ultimately a leader has to be prepared to make the call, and willing to take responsibility if things don't go well.
2. Leaders Meet and Greet Their People.
Those who follow need to feel connected to the leader. There has to be a trust in the leader's guidance and vision. Without a strong personal connection, that relationship cannot be built.
This doesn't mean one-on-one time with every employee, every day. If you're running a multi-million dollar company, you cannot know the name of every single person working there. But you have to be accessible. You have to find ways to meet and greet those on the ground floor. That's the only way they'll be willing to support you.
3. Leaders Establish a Common Purpose.
Your employees don't just want to help you make more money. That's not a worthy goal. Your company needs a mission statement and a culture that supports that mission. Give your employees something to be proud of by working for you. Give them a "worth vision" to pursue. The daily grind has to add up to something more than a paycheck.
The common purpose has to be worthy of their support, and they have to trust that you will hold to that purpose. Provide updates and news on the progress towards the shared goal, and make sure everyone knows where you and they stand in relation to that goal.
4. Leaders Teach.
The most important thing a good leader does is teach. Beyond the company's mission and long term vision, employees want to grow and perhaps one day create something of their own. Teach what you've learned. Share what you've been given. Be a mentor and example and ensure that you're providing an environment that will help your employees flourish. That might mean that you're giving them the tools to eventually leave your team. At the same time, stunting their ambition will be an invitation for them to leave as well.
It's easy to overlook these aspects of leadership when there are many more concrete and tangible things to address. It can be reports or meetings. It can be keeping up to date on industry news and developments. But at the end of the day, it's people who keep your company running and it's these people who deserve your attention.
Disclaimer: The links and mentions on this site may be affiliate links. But they do not affect the actual opinions and recommendations of the authors.
Wise Bread is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.


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Clytemnestra was the wife of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae. She was one of the tragic women in the Trojan War. While Agamemnon was away in the war, Clytemnestra took Aegisthus as her lover, and together they plotted to kill Agamemnon when he returned. One of her reasons was her husband's sacrifice of their daughter. When Agamemnon returned Clytemnestra pretended to greet him. Later, while Agamemnon bathed, Clytemnestra murdered him. She, herself was killed by her son Orestes.
Helen of Troy was said to be the most beautiful woman in Greece and the major cause of the Trojan War. While still a young girl, Helen was carried off by an Athenian hero, Theseus. Before any harm could come to her the Dioscuri rescued her. Later, she was sought after by almost every prince in Greece, but she finally married Menelaus, king of Sparta, who was the richest of the suitors. Helen and Memelaus had one child. Her name was Hermione.
Helen and Menelaus' marriage was threatened when Paris, a Trojan prince, fell madly in love with Helen. Taking advantage of Menelaus' absence from the palace, Paris abducted Helen and then left for Troy. This was the cause of the Trojan War. All of the other prices had promised Tyndareus, Helen's father, that he would in case of need, come to the aid of the lucky man who became Helen's husband. Faithful to their oaths, all the princes of Greece took power under the command of Agamemnon to avenge the outrage done to Menelaus.
For ten years the battle raged before the walls of Troy. Finally the Greek warriors were able to enter the city by hiding in the hollow flanks of a large wooden horse (see: Trojan horse) which the Trojans themselves had put in the city. Troy was conquered and set on fire. Helen was returned to Menelaus and they were reconciled. After Menelaus' death, Helen was put among the stars with Dioscuri.
Castor and Pollux had a magnificent temple erected in their honor. They accompanied the Roman army on its campaigns and during battles were seen among the cavalry. They also protected sailors and travelers at sea. At Ostia they calmed a storm which was not allowing ships loaded with corn from entering port. Castor and Pollux carried off the two daughters of Leucippus and married them. This was the reason for their quarrel between Idas and Lynceus, who were also seeing the two young women. Pollux killed Lynceus while Castor was mortally wounded by Idas. Pollux wept over the body of his brother; for being himself immortal he could not follow Castor to the Kingdom of Hades.
"In their quality of marine god they naturally presided over commerce." In the second century CE they were incorporated in funeral rituals and their popularity was so great that even Christians did not deny that they were symbols of life and death.


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The days of strict seasons for produce are gone – I made strawberry cupcakes with fresh strawberries on top for my older daughter's December birthday – but I still think that certain foods just taste better when it's warm outside. And strawberries, along with watermelon, squash and tomatoes, are just quintessential summertime snacks. When the days are boiling hot outside, strawberries are delicious blended in a breakfast smoothie, tossed over a lunchtime salad, made into a quick shortcake or ice cream dessert or spiked with rum for a post-work daiquiri. Strawberries are also a smart choice, with lots of fiber, vitamin C and antioxidants. They are low in calories, can help lower bad cholesterol and blood pressure and can even guard against certain types of cancer.
But snacking on strawberries is more than just healthy and tasty; it's practically your civic duty as a Louisianian: The Louisiana strawberry industry involves 83 growers who produce more than 380 acres of strawberries for a gross farm value of about $15.2 million, according to the Louisiana Ag Summary, and strawberries continue to be the leading fruit crop in the state, with Tangipahoa Parish as the leading strawberry-producing parish with $11.5 million in sales during 2010. In 2001, the state Legislature named the strawberry the state fruit.
The Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival, held every April, may be behind us, but there is no time like the present to get your fill of this sweet-tart summertime staple.


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I got up around 5:30 this morning so I could get over to the Effie Yeaw Nature Preserve and begin my monitoring of my milkweed plot there for evidence of Monarch Butterflies. I finished that (with the help of my friend and co-naturalist Roxanne Moger) around 8:30.
It was still relatively cool outside, so Roxanne and I decided to put our tools back into our car and walk for a little while. We came across some cooperative squirrels and a Desert Cottontail rabbit, and also checked out the tree where I'd seen the feral beehive earlier. There were about three times as many bees at the spot, so I'm assuming the queen has decided to set up shop there.
The surprise sighting was coming across another doe – with twin fawns! She was keeping them well-hidden in the shade and tall grass, but we were able to catch glimpses of them. And we couldn't help but chuckle when the babies went stotting through the grass with mom chasing after them. They're so tiny but soooo active! They're the first fawns I've seen this year and that's always exciting.
As we were leaving the preserve, I could hear a Ground Squirrel's alarm call and looked around to see if I could spot what the trouble might be. I saw movement overhead and spotted an adult Red-Shouldered Hawk fly overhead. It landed in a nearby tree and then sat there for quite a while, so we were able to get quite a few photos of it. So, even though our walk was only a single loop, we got to see quite a bit… which is always fun.
CLICK HERE for the album of photos.
We walked for about 2 hours before calling it quits and going to breakfast.
Species List:
- Asian Ladybeetle, Harmonia axyridis,
- Bewick's Wren, Thryomanes bewickii,
- Black Walnut Erineum Mite gall,
- California Bay, Umbellularia californica,
- California Black Walnut, Juglans californica,
- California Ground Squirrel, Otospermophilus beecheyi,
- California Mugwort, Artemisia douglasiana,
- California Scrub Jay, Aphelocoma californica,
- California Towhee, Melozone crissalis,
- Columbian Black-Tailed Deer, Odocoileus hemionus columbianus,
- Common Green Lacewing, Chrysoperla carnea,
- Coyote Brush, Baccharis pilularis,
- Coyote Mint, Monardella villosa,
- Crown Whitefly, Aleuroplatus coronata,
- Desert Cottontail, Sylvilagus audubonii,
- Eastern Fox Squirrel, Sciurus niger,
- European Honeybee, Apis mellifera,
- European Praying Mantis, Mantis religiosa,
- Feral Honeybees, Apis mellifera,
- Goldwire, Hypericum concinnum,
- Great Horned Owl, Bubo virginianus,
- Green Leafhopper, Empoasca sp.,
- Green Stink Bug, Chinavia hilaris,
- Interior Live Oak, Quercus wislizeni,
- Jumping Spider, Hentzia sp.,
- Lords-And-Ladies, Arum maculatum,
- Meadow Spittlebug, Philaenus spumarius,
- Oak Titmouse, Baeolophus inornatus,
- Oleander Aphid, Aphis nerii,
- Pumpkin Gall Wasp, Dryocosmus minusculus,
- Red Mite, Spider Mite, Tetranychus urticae,
- Red-Shouldered Hawk, Buteo lineatus,
- Rio Grande Wild Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo intermedia,
- Showy Milkweed, Asclepias speciosa,
- Spotted Lady's Thumb, Persicaria maculosa,
- Spotted Towhee, Pipilo maculatus
- Trashline Orb Weaver Spider, Cyclosa conica,
- Twenty-spotted Lady Beetle, Psyllobora vigintimaculata,
- Valley Oak, Quercus lobata,
- Yarrow, Achillea millefolium,
- Yellow Sac Spider, Cheiracanthium mildei,


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Microsoft launched a consumer preview of the new Microsoft Office suite this week. Traditionally, the core Microsoft Office elements have been Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, but OneNote has developed into a fourth pillar of the Microsoft productivity suite. In fact, Microsoft has put OneNote front and center as the poster child of the new mobile, touch-friendly Office.
First–in case you're coming late to the party–let's try to define what OneNote is. We all know Word is for word processing, Excel is a spreadsheet program, and PowerPoint makes slideshow presentations. OneNote, however, is a bit more difficult to label so succinctly.
The shortest answer is "It's a digital notebook," but that just leads to the question, "And why would I want a digital notebook?" The better answer is that it's a powerful, versatile tool for organizing just about anything. It's the application you turn to for jotting down to-do lists, capturing notes during a presentation, or recording the random ideas that run through your head so you can refer to them later after your brain has erased all traces of the original thought. You can store, organize, and search text, audio, video, photos, and handwriting.
OneNote has been one of my favorite applications since Microsoft began bundling it with Microsoft Office. I like that it syncs my data through SkyDrive so my notes and information are available from just about anywhere. Microsoft has also developed native apps for the iPhone, iPad, Windows Phone, and Android devices–making OneNote one of the most accessible, cross-platform tools Microsoft has.
Not that much is changed from OneNote 2010 to OneNote 2013. You can embed information in a wider variety of formats. OneNote 2013 lets you write using your finger, mouse, or a stylus, and it can convert the handwriting to editable text.
My single favorite feature of the new OneNote, though, is unique to OneNote MX–the Metro-ized app version of OneNote designed for Windows 8. Tapping the radial menu button opens a circle containing different formatting options. On some options an arrow is available that lets you dive deeper and access more options. At any point, you can click the back arrow in the center of the radial menu to go back to the previous menu.
The radial menu is brilliant. It is an innovative approach to working with information on a touchscreen mobile device, and I hope the radial menu is also a staple of the Office apps that come with Windows 8 RT, and/or that Microsoft extends the radial menu concept to the rest of the Office suite soon.
Now, if Microsoft would just include OneNote with Office for Mac, and/or develop a Mac OS X OneNote app I'd really be all set.


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Register Neverwinter
The time has come, adventurers, to defend the Sword Coast from utter destruction once again!
The Cults of Elemental Evil have amassed their forces to take over the Sword Coast and reduce all life down to its four basic elements: Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water. With each element comes a terrifying coterie of cultists more dangerous than the next. Fortunately for the good citizens of Neverwinter, the Sword Coast factions have lent their strength to the cause of driving out the menacing cultists and saving the Sword Coast. In addition to these powerful factions, two heroes have emerged to drive an armored boot into the elemental backside of evil. Indeed, the Ranger Minsc and his miniature giant space hamster, Boo, have appeared and are ready to aid in the fight to save Neverwinter.
With Neverwinter: Elemental Evil comes the Oathbound Paladin, a class suited to both tanking and healing. Elemental Evil will also bring with it a raised level cap, allowing players to reach level 70 and enter special epic dungeons that have been reworked to provide challenges worthy of their epic title. Adventurers on the PC will also be able battle the Cults of Elemental Evil through 4 new adventure zones, each with its own elemental theme.
The Forgotten Realms are in need of your aid once again, will you heed the call?
Click here to register for Neverwinter, the Dungeons & Dragons action MMORPG. The best part about Neverwinter: it's free to play! Get a head start in-game by purchasing Neverwinter item packs which include unique companions, mounts, boosts, and exclusive benefits!
Want more game details, screens, and videos? Like Neverwinter on Facebook for more fan-exclusive content and follow us on Twitter – tweet us your questions! And, subscribe to our YouTube channel for the latest Neverwinter videos.


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Thank you for stopping by!
I've been cranking all of my scraps through the GO! Baby with the tumble die. I have a scrappy quilt coming up. The pillows are so cute I think the owner of the custom quilt will be asking for them if they see this post!ReplyDelete
I love these and now I'm thinking I might need that tumbler die cutter for my GO! Baby!!!ReplyDelete
I ADORE those pillows. I have the original GO!...I really should use it more often! I see some pillows in my future ;) Smiles~BethReplyDelete
Absolutely LOVE the tumblers...what FABULOUS pillows! Can't wait to see what else you come up with!ReplyDelete
Gosh, with your following, I was asking myself.... what took them so long!!ReplyDelete
They look great. It's a Hoot is a gorgeous line. I got the tumbler and HST dies too :-) Love them.ReplyDelete
Your pillows are so cute! Eek! they are sending one to me too. It should arrive this week. I can't WAIT!!!ReplyDelete
I'm so jealous! I can't wait to see all your creations using this.ReplyDelete
Go Baby?
Go Rita!!!!
Looks like you have had lots of fun with your new Go! Those pillows are gorgeous!ReplyDelete
Perfect use of leftovers, I bet your daughter will be thrilled!ReplyDelete
Wow Rita, Steph is lucky to be adding these beautiful pillows to her collection. Great work and it looks like the Go! Baby is a wonderful tool.ReplyDelete
Oh, wow! You have used it heaps already! I love the way your pillows turned out.ReplyDelete
Great looking pillows! Looks like you are having fun with your new Go! Baby, can't wait to see what else you crank out!ReplyDelete
Awesome! the pillows turned out really cute :)ReplyDelete
I would love that UPS man to come to my house...{sigh}...
Love that tumbler die..
wow! gollly gee! you're putting it to good use! the go! baby should've come to this rita's house!ReplyDelete
I've been thinking about buying an Accuquilt since A) I hate to rotary cut and B)I'm really bad at it. Here's my question...Isn't there alot of waste when you cut your fabric this way. I thought you might be left with all sorts of leftover odd pieces once you get things all aligned. I'll be interested to hear about your experiences. ThanksReplyDelete
Love the Pillows! You have made good use of the Go Baby! Looks like a great device.
Have a super great sewing and stitching day.
Aren't you the lucky one! Very cute projects- I love the look.
Those pillows turned out SEW great. Now can you get that UPS guy to find my house.
A super use of the Go Baby
So Jealous! And those pillows turned out great, I can see why they were snatched up! :-DReplyDelete
I absouletly love those pillows. The more I see done with the GO! the more I consider buying one. Thanks for sharing with us. Looking forward to seeing what else you do.ReplyDelete
Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment! I really appreciate it.
Comments are published after review.
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The Mini Baja Learning Curve
UCSB Engineering Students Driven to Succeed
Last quarter, as thousands of UC Santa Barbara graduating seniors were digging in for the final exams of the school year, writing their last papers, or wringing the most out of their senior year, a handful of UCSB engineering students headed down a home stretch of another kind: the 2014 Mini Baja race in Peoria, Illinois.
The objective? To build a one-person off-road car that can drive fast, maneuver over and around obstacles, and endure extended run time on inhospitable terrain in one of the most popular intercollegiate design competitions in the world.
"We just like to build things with our hands," said Tucker Root, one of 10 mechanical engineering seniors split across two teams for the project; it also formed their senior capstone project. "We wanted to build something that we could actually use."
Dividing their time among classes, fabrication, testing, and little else, the students met alternately at the UCSB Engineering fabrication shop on campus and in a well-appointed garage they call "The Barn" in a quiet neighborhood near the university. Over the past year, they designed and built their vehicle, a deceptively simple machine that involves only the most necessary of equipment surrounding the regulation 10-horsepower Briggs & Stratton motor that all the participants in the race are required to use.
The Idea
"The Mini Baja is a national endeavor for universities that has existed for a long time," said Glenn Beltz, associate dean of UCSB's College of Engineering, professor of mechanical engineering and the adviser to Team 24, as the students are collectively known. Like the Mexican desert race that inspired this racing series, the Society of Automotive Engineers' (SAE) Mini Baja races are a test of the limits of performance, endurance and handling of the vehicle. Unlike the Mexican desert race, however, the Mini Baja takes place on a controlled course, with scoring based on the ability of each car to overcome specific obstacles or run long distances without breaking down. Teams can choose one course or another and in doing so customize their designs to the requirements of the course. But to win, a team has to compete in all the events. So, for Team 24, it's been a constant negotiation of durability and speed and maneuverability.
"Well, we only have to really last those few days," a team member pointed out in one discussion. If they built a lighter car, they could be more competitive in the speed events but they would also increase the chance of breaking the very machine they would spend a year of their lives building. It was a risk worth taking.
"The goal for this capstone design course in general is for all students, no matter what project, to get good experience," said Beltz, "and not only with fundamental design but also with building, testing, benchmarking and setting goals and meeting them." His job, he said, is part cheerleading, part motivational intervention, part focusing and refocusing the students as well as guiding them through the required interviews. The Mini Baja simulates real-world challenges developing a market-worthy vehicle, from design to build to test, going beyond the pure engineering aspect of the race to its more entrepreneurial facets, such as fundraising and promotion.
Team 24 is not the first group of UCSB students to run in the Mini Baja races. But participation has been spotty at best, with teams forming maybe every other year. Would-be racers might have had other engineering interests, maybe the distance from home was a factor, or perhaps the non-engineering part of the Mini Baja — fundraising and promotion — was more than anyone wanted to do.
Because no one ever really thought to document and record their progress — another layer of work on top of everything else — each team, including 24, has essentially started from scratch.
And the competition is fierce, with teams from other engineering schools starting their competitors as early as their freshman years. Some show up in 18-wheelers with logos emblazoned on the sides.
But even for Beltz, who has overseen several other teams from UCSB, this group was different. They started early, planning each phase of the project from fundraising to the build schedule.
"They have been very organized, very focused on fundraising, very focused on what they need to do, not only in terms of academics but in terms of what they need to do to do well in terms of the competition. They have been, for me as an adviser, the ideal team," he said. Part of the reason for this disciplined effort, he believes, is the large percentage of transfer students who bring with them some measure of real-world experience and developed time-management skills.
Still, it wasn't easy. It takes money to race at Mini Baja — money to purchase the engine, money to purchase parts and equipment and extra parts and equipment, money to drive the 2,000 miles to Illinois and stay there for a couple of nights … money the group didn't have, even after pounding the pavement all last summer and raising a few thousand dollars from local businesses, friends and family.
Fortunately for Team 24, there was Virgil Elings — UCSB physics professor, entrepreneur and philanthropist. His matching donation put the team just over the $15,000 it needed to get competitive.
"He's legendary around town for being very interested in automotive projects — cars, motorcycles," said Beltz. "He's always been a very passionate advocate for hands-on training in terms of curriculum and I think he really has a point."
The team has also embarked on a very detailed documentation of its progress, something to pass on to successive Mini Baja racers. Through photos and notes on their Facebook page and their website, team members have preserved step-by-step notes on their work in an effort to give the next group a head start.
Ultimately, according to the team, in addition to funding its expenses, the group wanted to establish a program to support future UCSB Mini Baja participants.
The Build
At the end of the day, it's about the car, which at three-quarters the size and weight of previous models was the smallest to come out of the UCSB teams, at least in recent history. Elegance — the hallmark of a well-built machine — is apparent in the details: the adjustable steering wheel; the special-engineered cutting brake system for maneuverability; the cheese holing of solid metal parts to drop every ounce of weight without sacrificing strength; even the custom-built uprights that optimize the car to the terrain. While the capstone projects that they worked on concern only certain parts of the car, the team was bent on finishing every event and acing the engineering design and review — conducted by Society of Automotive Engineers officials — with the help of their adviser, who specializes in fracture mechanics.
The beauty of the Mini Baja for the participants is that it's realistic — anything can change at any moment. The scary thing is that it's realistic — anything can change at any moment, even during the race. So the run-up to the competition was an endurance race in itself as 24 tweaked its design and dealt with little surprises, or constantly analyzed its method to see if there was a better way to do things.
Over time, team members found their own niche. Tim Phillips has an affinity for composite materials, so he happily tackled the task of building parts of body panels. Ahdi Melkote is a natural teacher, so the visiting students interested in becoming next year's competitors gravitated to him for guidance and inside knowledge. Dean Wink is particularly handy with machining parts and welding, so he played a large role in the assembly of the chassis, while Spencer Wass and Kyle Wollert took on the suspension.
After the building came the breaking in of the car, as the team put it to the test, pitting it against rocks, logs and jumps. This was, arguably, the most fun part of the build.
"We've all been working so hard on this thing and it's designed such that if it fails, it'll fail because of the design, and not because of us," said Root.
And then there was the road trip: three days of hauling car, parts, equipment and people from the West Coast to the Midwest — perhaps the true test of this team's cohesiveness.
The Race
A year's worth of late nights and coffee-fueled days, missed social appointments and more trials and errors than the team could count came to a head on June 4, with 24 arriving at the dusty, rocky and obstacle-ridden track in Peoria.
"Illinois is beautiful," the teammates wrote on their Facebook page. But it's also the Midwest, birthplace of the American automotive industry, and thus also home to some of the nation's top mechanical engineering schools. Contestants in this race are veteran car builders, with years, perhaps even generations of Mini Baja knowledge behind them. Added to that are competitors from schools around the world with exceptional mechanical engineering departments.
Simply to make it to the race, and be counted among the likes of the University of Michigan, the University of Wisconsin, or Cornell, is no small feat for the UCSB racers. And to participate and finish in every heat is rarer still, as previous UCSB teams have tended to focus on one aspect of the race or another, without the full spectrum of competition in mind.
And while competition is intense, the group noted, it's not cutthroat. Teams share information and ideas freely, something Team 24 came to rely on in the absence of previous years' documentation. Even during the races, teams lend one another what they can to get through the race: a part they can spare, a tool, even some advice.
Team 24's performance was more than just respectable; it was impressive against the big guns of the mechanical engineering schools in the world and against a field of more than a hundred competitors. They placed 64th in hill climb, 36th in acceleration, and 16th in rock crawl. Team member Terry Davis took the team to ninth overall in the maneuverability test, a hectic series of twists, turns, elevation changes, and bumps in the road. Off the track, they scored significant marks in the cost report and cost prototype evaluations as well as their sales presentation.
The Finish Line
For all the work and excitement, the competition itself was the very intense, very fun icing on the cake. The team that started out ambitious and just a little cocky a year ago is now a team that knows its capabilities and how to push beyond limitations. The team that started out with virtually nothing now leaves its own legacy and a head start for the next Baja team, which already has members. The group that started out relying on what it has come to call "Old-Man Knowledge" — advice from veterans that doesn't make sense at first but comes into play in a major way down the line — can dispense some of its own. And it is this rite of passage — seeing an idea from amorphous concept to concrete completion — that these teammates bring with them as they go into industry, as some have already done, or to grad school, as some are planning to do. There's all that, plus some bragging rights and lots of good memories.
"It's going to be weird saying goodbye to all of this," Root said. "But it's going to be a fun road."


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Best Wedding Photographers in 2020 V04 Photography Competition
The Wedding Photojournalist Association is proud to present the winners of Best Wedding Photographers in the 2020 v04 Photography Competition. WPJA documentary wedding photographers are the best in the industry and know that their images are judged by the most notable and respected working newspaper photojournalists and picture editors in the news industry. Winning an award in these competitions is a true accomplishment.


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Sleep loss precedes Alzheimer's symptoms
Sleep is disrupted in people who likely have early Alzheimer's disease but do not yet have the memory loss or other cognitive problems characteristic of full-blown disease, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report March 11 in JAMA Neurology.
The finding confirms earlier observations by some of the same researchers. Those studies showed a link in mice between sleep loss and brain plaques, a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. Early evidence tentatively suggests the connection may work in both directions: Alzheimer's plaques disrupt sleep, and lack of sleep promotes Alzheimer's plaques.
"This link may provide us with an easily detectable sign of Alzheimer's pathology," says senior author David M. Holtzman, MD, the Andrew B. and Gretchen P. Jones Professor and head of Washington University's Department of Neurology. "As we start to treat people who have markers of early Alzheimer's, changes in sleep in response to treatments may serve as an indicator of whether the new treatments are succeeding."
Sleep problems are common in people who have symptomatic Alzheimer's disease, but scientists recently have begun to suspect that they also may be an indicator of early disease. The new paper is among the first to connect early Alzheimer's disease and sleep disruption in humans.
For the new study, researchers recruited 145 volunteers from the University's Charles F. and Joanne Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. All of the volunteers were 45 to 75 years old and cognitively normal when they enrolled.
As a part of other research at the center, scientists already had analyzed samples of the volunteers' spinal fluids for markers of Alzheimer's disease. The samples showed that 32 participants had preclinical Alzheimer's disease, meaning they were likely to have amyloid plaques present in their brains but were not yet cognitively impaired.
Participants kept daily sleep diaries for two weeks, noting the time they went to bed and got up, the number of naps taken on the previous day, and other sleep-related information.
The researchers tracked the participants' activity levels using sensors worn on the wrist that detected the wearer's movements.
"Most people don't move when they're asleep, and we developed a way to use the data we collected as a marker for whether a person was asleep or awake," says first author Yo-El Ju, MD, assistant professor of neurology. "This let us assess sleep efficiency, which is a measure of how much time in bed is spent asleep."
Participants who had preclinical Alzheimer's disease had poorer sleep efficiency (80.4 percent) than people without markers of Alzheimer's (83.7 percent). On average, those with preclinical disease were in bed as long as other participants, but they spent less time asleep. They also napped more often.
"When we looked specifically at the worst sleepers, those with a sleep efficiency lower than 75 percent, they were more than five times more likely to have preclinical Alzheimer's disease than good sleepers," Ju says.
Ju and her colleagues are following up with studies in younger participants who have sleep disorders.
"We think this may help us get a better feel for the way this connection flows — does sleep loss drive Alzheimer's, does Alzheimer's lead to sleep loss, or is it a combination?" Ju says. "That will help us determine whether we can change the course of disease with pharmaceuticals or other treatments."
This study was funded by an Ellison Medical Foundation Senior Scholar award and NIH grant P01NS074969 from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Ju Y-E S, McLeland JS, Toedebusch CD, Xiong C, Fagan AM, Duntley SP, Morris JC, Holtzman DM. Sleep quality and preclinical Alzheimer disease. JAMA Neurology, online March 11.
Washington University School of Medicine's 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked sixth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.
Michael C. Purdy
Washington University School of Medicine


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Google teams up with HP, unveils sleek Chromebook 11 for $279
The Chromebook 11 has a sleek, plastic frame with no sharp edges or corners - or even screw holes. The speakers are tucked under the keyboard so sound comes out toward the user, even when the laptop is on the user's lap.
Google is introducing a $279 laptop that runs its Internet-centric Chrome operating system, borrowing many of the high-end features found in models that cost $1,000 or more.
Hewlett-Packard Co. makes the new HP Chromebook 11. Although its price is in line with most other Chrome OS notebooks, the new model sports many design features found in pricier devices, including the $1,299 Chromebook Pixel.
Unlike Windows and Mac laptops, Chromebooks rely heavily on continuous Internet connections to run Gmail, Google Docs and other online services. Many apps don't run directly on the device but over the Internet. The devices also have relatively little storage, as documents, photos and other files are supposed to be stored online.
Google promotes Chromebooks as affordable laptops for a wide range of people, including schoolchildren and merchants who can use Google's tools on the Internet without the extra expense and hassle of installing more sophisticated software such as Adobe's Photoshop photo-editing software or Microsoft's Office word processing and spreadsheet package.
Chromebooks come with a lightweight photo editing package and Quickoffice, a Microsoft Office alternative that Google bought in last year.
The Chromebook 11 has a sleek, plastic frame with no sharp edges or corners - or even screw holes. The speakers are tucked under the keyboard so sound comes out toward the user, even when the laptop is on the user's lap. Devices with speakers on the back or the bottom don't do that.
The new laptop's display measures 11.6 inches (29 centimeters) diagonally, the same as a popular Chromebook model from Samsung Electronics Co. The Chromebook 11 weighs slightly less, at 2.3 pounds (1.04 kilograms), compared with 2.4 pounds (1.09 kilograms) for the Samsung model.
Caesar Sengupta, Google's vice president of product management for Chromebooks, said HP approached Google after seeing the Pixel, which Google designed and made on its own using an unnamed contract manufacturer.
He said Google and HP made a few trade-offs to keep the price low. The Chromebook 11 doesn't have a touch screen, and the display's resolution isn't as sharp as the Pixel's.
The Chromebook 11 also uses a plastic frame rather than metal, but there's magnesium underneath to keep the laptop sturdy. There's less storage, too - 16 gigabytes, compared with 32 gigabytes for the base model of the Pixel.
In recognition of the growing popularity of smartphones and tablet computers, the Chromebook 11 uses the same Micro-USB charger common in those mobile devices.
Other laptops typically come with their own charger, which Sengupta described as yet another item that needs to be packed for weekend trips.
The Chromebook 11 is available starting Tuesday at Google's online Play store and selected retailers, including Best Buy and Amazon.
The laptop comes in white or black. The white model has a choice of four accents around the keyboard and under the device: blue, red, yellow and green.
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Merry Christmas from my family to yours! We hope you have a very blessed, joyful, and pain-free Christmas with your loved ones! May God's love surround you and yours and I am beyond thankful for each and every one of you and I know that God has big plans for 2016 and I cannot to see what is to come!
Merry Christmas to all & to all a great day!


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Product Brand : Ozone
Ships In: 7-10 business days
Ozone SS H Type Glass Door Handles 25mm X 600mm
Save 630.00 (30% Off)
Glass Door Handle H Type
• Pull Handle With Back to Back installation on Glass/Wooden/Metals Doors.
• In case of Wooden Exteneded Spindle would be provided on request
• Gaskets to prevent the contact between glass and metal.
• Supporting washer with raised bevelling on the outer surface.
• Grub screws kept out of sight.
• Material:-Stainless Steel Grade 304.
• Finish: Single Finish of SSS.


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This example is for Wiring version 1.0 build 0100+. If you have a previous version, use the examples included with your software. If you see any errors or have comments, please let us know.
I2C HMC6352 compass heading (sparkfun breakout) by BARRAGAN (http://barraganstudio.com)
Demonstrates use of the Wire library reading data from the HMC6352 compass heading On Wiring v1 boards the SCL and SDA pins are: 0 and 1 On Wiring S board the SCL and SDA pins are: 8 and 9
Demonstrates use of the Wire library reading data from the HMC6352 compass heading On Wiring v1 boards the SCL and SDA pins are: 0 and 1 On Wiring S board the SCL and SDA pins are: 8 and 9
#include <Wire.h> int compassAddress = 0x42 >> 1; // From datasheet compass address is 0x42 // shift the address 1 bit right, the Wire library only needs the 7 // most significant bits for the address int reading = 0; void setup() { Wire.begin(); // join i2c bus (address optional for master) Serial.begin(9600); // start serial communication at 9600bps pinMode(WLED, OUTPUT); digitalWrite(WLED, HIGH); } void loop() { // step 1: instruct sensor to read echoes Wire.beginTransmission(compassAddress); // transmit to device // the address specified in the datasheet is 66 (0x42) // but i2c adressing uses the high 7 bits so it's 33 Wire.write('A'); // command sensor to measure angle Wire.endTransmission(); // stop transmitting // step 2: wait for readings to happen delay(10); // datasheet suggests at least 6000 microseconds // step 3: request reading from sensor Wire.requestFrom(compassAddress, 2); // request 2 bytes from slave device #33 // step 4: receive reading from sensor if (2 <= Wire.available()) // if two bytes were received { reading = Wire.read(); // receive high byte (overwrites previous reading) reading = reading << 8; // shift high byte to be high 8 bits reading += Wire.read(); // receive low byte as lower 8 bits reading /= 10; Serial.println(reading); // print the reading } delay(500); // wait for half a second }


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This article is more than 1 year old
Intel preps Pentium D core update
EM64T, single-core operation bugs fixed?
Intel is to upgrade the cores incorporated into its 'Smithfield' dual-core processors in October, The Register has learned.
The chip maker will offer samples of the updated Pentium Extreme Edition 840 chip and the Pentium D 820, 830 and 840 processors on 5 August, Intel documents reveal, ahead of commercial product availability on 21 October.
The update will see the introduction of a new core, B-0 - the current 'stepping' is A-0 - which will be accompanied by a change in CPUID code from F44 to F47.
The update notification doesn't detail the improvements the B-0 core will bring over the A-0 core, but Intel's most recent Pentium D specification update lists 52 bugs in the A-0 core, of which just seven are marked for a possible fix in a future core stepping. Some or all of these will undoubtedly be resolved by the B-0 core.
Planned fixes include preventing crashes when programmers attempt to switch the dual-core chip into what appears to the operating system to be a single-core part. Other planned fixes centre on the CPUs' support for Intel's EM64T 64-bit addressing system.
Intel isn't expected to extend the PD or PEE chip lines until early next year when it debuts the 65nm incarnations of the chips, together codenamed 'Presler'. Presler will also add support for Intel's Virtualisation Technology, it is believed. ®
Related stories
Intel overcomes 'weak' line-up during Q2
Intel slaps 'wide load' tag on new Itanium
Intel readies mainstream discrete dual-core chipset
Intel and Dell thrilled to join the dual-core server chip era
Intel to add VT to P4 in Q4
AMD to drive dual-core downmarket
Intel ships 64-bit, 1MB L2 Pentium 4s
Intel preps 'low-end dual-core chipset'


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The Assembly adopted two reports: on "Euro-Mediterranean
integration: The role of regional and local authorities" by the rapporteur
Jihad Khair, Mayor of Beit Sahour, Palestine and on "Blue
Economy for local and regional authorities in the Mediterranean" by the
rapporteur Vincenzo Bianco, member of Catania City Council, Italy.
In 2020 ARLEM will prepare reports on digitalisation of small and medium
enterprises (rapporteur Ms Lizzy Delaricha, Mayor of Ganei Tikval, Israel) and on
agriculture and food security in climate sensitive regions (rapporteur Ms Agnès
Rampal, IMC-CPMR, Member of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regional Council).
The Plenary adopted the Action Plan for the next term of office as well
as the Recommendations for 2020. During its new term of offcie ARLEM will focus
on sustainable economic development, climate action in the Mediterranean and
women's empowerment.
ARLEM's current term of office ended on 25 January 2020. The plenary
assembly decided to appoint by acclamation Musa Hadid (Mayor of Ramallah,
Palestine) as co-president of ARLEM from the Mediterranean
partners group. The new co-president from the European Union group will be the
new president of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) to elected on 13
The winners of the ARLEM Award 2020 - Young local entrepreneurship in
the Mediterranean were awarded at a special ceremony. They are Ms Leila Rima
Boussada (Algeria) and the local antenna of ANSEJ, the agency supporting young
entrepreneurs at local level.


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"When he showed it to me, I asked him: 'Do you know what you have there?'" recalls team leader William Saturno of the University of New Hampshire. "'That is likely the earliest text in the Maya era. It is likely among the earliest texts in the New World as a whole.'"
In a paper published in the current Science Express the researchers describe the 10-glyph fragment found on the boulder. "The glyph ajaw, meaning ruler, is clearly visible," Saturno notes. "It's not rudimentary. The style is distinct. It's clearly not the first one ever painted."
But according to radiocarbon dating of burnt wood bits found in the plaster and from surrounding strata, it is by far the oldest known Mayan writing--dating from between 300 and 200 B.C., which is roughly concurrent with the earliest writings of other Mesoamerican cultures. Previous examples of Mayan script could only be confidently dated to around A.D. 250, leading to speculation that the Mayans may have inherited their writing from other, older cultures, such as the Zapotec, despite stylistic differences.
The find seems to upend that theory, proving that the ancient Maya were as literate as their descendants. Unfortunately, the plaster piece only provides what appears to be the tail end of a longer text and, without the accompanying pictures of the mural it accompanied, it defies easy translation. "We're talking about 400 to 600 years before [modern researchers are] literate. It's pretty arcane," Saturno explains. "Most likely it's part of a title referring to some person, mythic or real, we don't know."
Archaeologists will have to wait for more ancient writings--hopefully attached to murals for easy translation, Saturno says--to offer any hope of piecing together the script. "The more of it we find," he observes, "the more likely we are to recognize the patterns and make connections with later texts to be able to trace things back and forth."


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Post Box for the Open Society
Online platform for the exchange of ideas and designs on the subject of the open society
Open: A Bakema Celebration
The Dutch entry to La Biennale di Venezia's 14th International Architectural Exhibition
Entry: Wednesday, May 28, 1947
Submitted by:
Jaap Bakema Study Centre
The Netherlands
For the 1955 CIAM meeting in La Sarraz Jaap Bakema presented a basic grid of the elements for the new city extension of Rotterdam, Alexanderpolder, as produced by the Rotterdam CIAM group of Opbouw. In an attempt to address the general theme of Habitat, which was the key issue for CIAM in the 1950s, it presents a catalogue, that ranges from the smallest element of the single house to the largest of a slab block reminiscent of Le Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation of 1952. The various typologies accommodate families from all walks of life. Together they create a modern cityscape based on patterns of mobility and the logic of mass production in the building industry.
Comments: [3]


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Mars in our Night Sky
If you were to look up in the eastern sky at the same time each night and note where Mars appears to be compared to the constellations of stars, you would find the planet a little farther east with each viewing. That is, Mars appears to move from west to east from one night to the next.
Every two years or so, there are a couple of months when Mars' position from night to night seems to change direction and move east to west. This strange behavior was very puzzling to early skywatchers. Did the planet really stop, back up, change its mind, and then continue to move forward? Did it have some weird, mystical meaning?
Today we know what's going on. It's an illusion, caused by the ways that Earth and Mars orbit the sun.
Mars Retrograde Happens Every Two Years
The two planets are like race cars on an oval track. Earth has the inside lane and moves faster than Mars -- so much faster, in fact, that it makes two laps around the course in about as much time as it takes Mars to go around once.
About every 26 months, Earth comes up from behind and overtakes Mars. While we're passing by the red planet this year, it will look to us as though Mars is moving up and down. Then, as we move farther along our curved orbit and see the planet from a different angle, the illusion will disappear and we will once again see Mars move in a straight line.
This apparent erratic movement is called "retrograde motion." The illusion also happens with Jupiter and the other planets that orbit farther from the sun.
Just to make things a little more odd, the orbits that Earth and Mars follow don't quite lie in the same plane. It's as if the two planets were on separate tracks that are a little tilted with respect to each other. This causes another strange illusion.
Suppose you were to draw a dot on a sky map each night to show where Mars appears as it moves forward, goes through retrograde, and then resumes its forward motion. Connect the dots, and you'll draw either a loop or an open zigzag. The pattern depends on where Earth and Mars happen to be in their tilted racetrack orbits.


text: Last Tuesday I went to see my friend V. This is what she served me! Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries on top of vanilla bean ice cream presented on a blue and white china plate. A perfect Fourth of July dessert. The summer berries combined with the rich creamy ice cream were delicious. I wanted to lick the plate. I knew it wold be a good post as soon as I saw her serve it. Good thing I brought my camera.


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Before applying for a position at Ramboll, we recommend that you familiarise yourself with our business areas. If you have any questions, feel free to contact the hiring manager listed in the job posting. The recruitment process in Ramboll may vary depending on the position you are applying for or the country it is based in.
Your application should reflect who you are as a person. Make sure to include your motivation for applying for the specific job, and attach an up-to-date resume including a detailed description of your professional skills.
After submitting your application through our online form, your skills and experience will be assessed by our recruiters. If they believe there's a match for the position, they'll contact you for a phone or video interview, or meet you in person.
At the initial interview you will typically meet the hiring manager responsible for the business area or department where you have applied. You'll learn more about Ramboll as well as the position. And they will of course want to learn more about you.
If you are invited to a second interview, you will typically meet a representative from HR and/or other members of the team. Depending on which position you are applying for, we might ask you to fill out an assessment test before making a formal offer.
At Ramboll we are always looking for talented employees to fill our job vacancies. Here are some tips for writing a good application.
We receive numerous solicited and unsolicited applications daily – a fact that pleases us immensely. For this reason, your application has to be interesting and exciting enough to stand out from the crowd. The application is your opportunity to catch our interest and thus the first step on the path to a job interview.
Ten tips for applying for a job at Ramboll
01 Read the job application carefully
It must be visible in your application that you have understood the content of the job description properly.
02 Inform us of your experience
Tell us what experiences from your study, previous student jobs, internships, projects etc. that you can draw on.
03 Explain why we are a match
You should present a convincing case for how you match the job requirements.
04 Let your motivation shine through
Specify why you want to work at Ramboll and how you think you can contribute.
05 Express your values
Tell us what is important in your working life.
06 Show us who you are
Your personality must shine through so we get an impression of you as a person.
07 Write a CV
Your CV must as a minimum contain personal contact info:Full name, address, mobile, email etc., relevant education, work experience and the relevant responsibilities you have had. End your CV with your spare time activities, e.g. sport activities, hobbies.Put a page number on each side.
08 Include other insights
Any international experience, 'management skills' obtainedn from student jobs or other positions, voluntary work – write it in.
09 Keep it short
Your application must be targeted, accurate - approximately one A4 page.
10 Be structured
Arrange the information in your CV and application in a comprehensive manner.
See our vacant positions here.
Unsolicited applications
You can upload your CV here. We will contact you directly if we have a job opening that matches your profile.


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This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The first two Utahns to die of influenza this season were between the ages of 35 and 64 a group that so far is taking the brunt of the H1N1, or swine flu, strain now prevalent.
The Salt Lake County Health Department confirmed the deaths Thursday, but because of privacy laws could not provide other details such as whether they were men, women or had underlying health problems.
No Utah children have died of the flu, said Rachelle Boulton, an epidemiologist with the Utah Department of Health. Federal law requires states to track only flu deaths that occur in children under age 19.
But 237 people have been hospitalized throughout the state, and 35 percent of those cases were severe enough to require intensive care a signal that this year's flu is severe for many, Boulton said. "It's incredibly high," she said.
Ilene Risk, Salt Lake County's epidemiologist, said the county is seeing a disproportionate share of young and middle-aged adults hospitalized for the flu.
It reflects the same pattern seen in 2009, when H1N1 first swept the country.
"Sometimes that's the group that feels the healthiest," and is least likely to be get immunizations, Risk said.
The vast majority of the 167 hospitalized in Salt Lake County for the flu so far were 25 to 49 years old, Risk said.
The majority had other health issues, such as chronic lung problems, cardiovascular issues or diabetes, that make it hard to fight the flu. But a third of this season's flu patients, Risk said, had no underlying health issues.
A number of pregnant women have been hospitalized; that population also suffered disproportionately in 2009, Boulton said.
"That's a group we certainly want to get vaccinations," she said.
It's not entirely clear why older people are less vulnerable to H1N1, the prevalent strain this season, but it could be that they built up immunity when exposed decades ago to a similar virus, Boulton said.
The flu season typically peaks in January or February, so it's not too late to get immunized, Boulton and Risk said.
Of those hospitalized so far, only 15 percent statewide and 17 percent in Salt Lake County were vaccinated against the flu.
This season's vaccination provides good coverage against the strains that are circulating, Risk said.
While there are other nasty bugs afoot in Utah, severe aches and pains, fatigue, chills and sudden onset of symptoms are characteristics of the flu, but not a common cold.
The family of a 47-year-old Tooele woman cited the flu as the cause of her death in her late December obituary, but that couldn't be verified by state health officials.
Twitter: @KristenMoulton
Find a flu shot
Vaccinations are available at Salt Lake County Health Department Public Health Centers. Find locations at http://www.slcohealth.org. Call 385-468-4152 to schedule the required appointment.
You can also try the Utah Vaccine Locator offered by the Utah Department of Health at http://www.immunize-utah.org/apps/flu.


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U.S. History
Trump has certainly changed his tune on low interest rates since he was elected.
Global EconomyInterventionismPrices
The challenge from now on for OPEC and for oil producers is not to seek artificial price inflation, but to improve efficiency.
StrategyU.S. History
History is an easy subject to teach if you are intellectually lazy. It is the most challenging subject if you care about understanding causes and effects.
Free Markets
Wealth stems not from spending, but from production. Declines in production are be remedied by frugality, intelligence, activity, and freedom.
Money and BanksCapital and Interest TheoryMoney and Banking
Without saving and investment, there can be no material progress — which is necessary for cultural progress and flourishing.
Free MarketsInterventionism
Legal SystemTaxes and SpendingPolitical Theory
History of the Austrian School of Economics


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When I look at what is available on contract for 4G data here in Portugal where I'm spending two weeks, I'm just about floored at what we're paying in the USA for less speed, data caps and for more money.
Imagine 4G spectrum being used, unlimited data, speeds of 100 megs down, 50 megs up, multiple users options, dongle/USB stick or MiFi/PocketSpot, tablet or smartphone all for....30 euros or 25 Euros depending on the carrier. (That's about what pal Om Malik pays for his broabdand connection at his flat in San Francisco. With those kinds of speeds he could be on a vacation vs. a staycation.)
In Portugal there's Portugal Telecom's TMN charges 24.29 euros a month on a two year contract, and if you want to have multiple users add 12.20 (so what). Their rival, and in my book the better network here along the Lisbon area cost is Optimus, whose Kanguru is working very well inside my iPad. While I'm not getting the Banda Larga as they call it as it's not available on pre-paid (yet), their prices are slightly higher, at 29.90 with a 15 euro charge to share.
But what's interesting are the Samsung devices, including the 8.9" Android tablet, the ZTE made USB stick and the Samsung Galaxy SIII smartphone. With this plan, the Galaxy SIII and what amounts to 45 euros (about 55 dollars a month at current exchange rates) one would have all the broadband one needs, on the go, or at home at speeds that are 5x what we see in the USA for a lot more money from our leading two carriers, AT&T and Verizon Wireless. My guess is the next generation of iPhone's will have the same 4G chips as this technology will move to other countries rather soon, as Portugal is viewed as the best place for wired or wireless broadband as many of the hardware brands do their development and testing here.
It begs two question...why are we the "have nots" given all the attention to broadband buildouts, money being spent to upgrade networks, while the bigger question is why do we have higher prices, data caps, and slower speeds? We didn't win the space race by being second best. We won because our leader had a vision. In the USA when it comes to the Internet, connectivity the only vision the operators seem to have is on the balance sheet this quarter, not what it takes to be better next year. It's one thing to be profitable, but it's another to be building for the future.
P.S. The services also include unlimited video and music downloads and streaming. That begs one last question. Why in anyone's name did the cable companies in the USA sell off their spectrum rights?


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Expert's Rating
- Bluetooth enabled
- Very good multitouch touchpad
- Limited port configuration
- SSD only for system use
Our Verdict
The Toshiba Satellite U845-S406 is a thin, light, affordable system that will work well for business users on the go.
Best Prices Today: Toshiba Satellite U845-S406 Notebook
The Toshiba Satellite U845-S406 is a reasonably priced ultraportable laptop that still manages to pack quite a punch.
It comes equipped with an Intel Ivy Bridge dual-core processor (the Core i5-3317U) that has a stock speed of 1.7GHz, but can rev up to 2.6GHz when using Intel's maximum Turbo Frequency. Those specs won't impress power PC enthusiasts, but the Core i5-3317U can handle most stressful tasks with ease.
The S406 earned a mark of 127 on our demanding WorldBench 7 Benchmark Suite, which means that it scored about 27 percent higher than our base system–a desktop PC with a Core i5-2500K chip and a discrete graphics card. The system supports Intel's Smart Response technology. It ships with a small, 16GB solid-state drive for hard drive caching and a 500GB, 5400-rpm hard-disk drive for storage. The caching SSD probably boosted the system's WorldBench 7 score, and it also delivered average boot times of 17.3 seconds from a completely powered-off state to a fully functioning desktop.
Like many other Ultrabooks, the S406 relies on Intel's integrated HD Graphics 4000 chip set, which supplies enough power to handle some less strenuous games, but not enough to avoid choking on our high-end tests. We ran two graphics-intensive games–Dirt 3 and Crysis 2–at a maximum resolution of 1366 by 768 pixels and high settings, and the S406 managed a measly 19 frames per second on Dirt 3 and 12.1 fps on Crysis 2. At a resolution of 800 by 600 pixels and low settings, it managed a frame rate of 42.4 fps on Dirt 3 and 26.9 fps on Crysis 2, bordering on playable.
In addition to its small SSD, which it uses as the Windows 7 cache drive, the S406 carries a 500GB 5400-rpm hard-disk drive for data and application storage. Using a small caching SSD alongside a slower hard drive reduces cost, but don't expect performance to be match that of a single, large SSD.
The S406 packs 6GB of DDR3 1600MHz memory and various connectors: one USB 3.0 port, two USB 2.0 ports, an SD Card/Memory Stick reader, an HDMI-out port, ethernet, and the typical headphone/microphone-out ports. It also has a front-facing camera and microphone for web-chatting. To save space, however, Toshiba omitted an optical drive; so unless you invest in an external drive, this won't be your go-to machine for disc-based movie watching.
The pleasantly smooth multitouch touchpad is completely flat, with no texture at all. In my tests it was quick and responsive, and it didn't go rogue with a ton of missed clicks. As a user who swears by the mouse, I didn't feel like pulling my hair out after working with this touchpad for a while, and that's about the nicest compliment I can give a touchpad. The keyboard's keys, on the other hand, were a bit cramped, shallow, and stiff. Though responsive, they just weren't comfortable to type on.
The laptop is 802.11n Wi-Fi ready and Bluetooth enabled. The latter should enable you to find a much more comfortable keyboard to use than the built-in one. The option of adding accessories while not taking up any of the precious few USB ports is a plus.
The S406 weighs 3.7 pounds alone and 4.3 pounds with the included power adapter. The laptop measures 13.5 inches wide by 9 inches deep by 0.8 inch high. It is small enough to fit easily in a typical backpack,and yet it sports a 14-inch LED backlit display.
On our battery test, which cycles 10 minutes of video and then 10 minutes of typing, the S406 held out for exactly 6 hours.
If you're looking for more power, albeit with a bigger hit to your wallet, the Acer Aspire S5 (priced at $1399 as of July 18) may be a better fit. It has a slightly smaller screen (13.4 inches) and a 256GB SSD, which significantly boosts performance.
Overall, the Toshiba Satellite U845-S406 is a great option if you need just a little extra power for work on the go, but don't feel like shelling out cash for a desktop replacement.


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EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) Michigan State has suspended senior linebacker Max Bullough for violating team rules, making him ineligible to play in the Rose Bowl.
In a news release sent early Thursday, Spartans coach Mark Dantonio said Bullough had been suspended for the rest of the season. He did not say what rules the two-time team captain violated.
"It is extremely disappointing for all parties involved," Dantonio said.
The No. 4 Spartans will play No. 5 Stanford in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 in Pasadena, Calif. It is Michigan State's seventh straight bowl game and first appearance in the Rose Bowl in 26 seasons.
Bullough, from Traverse City, had 76 tackles and 9.5 tackles for loss this season, earning him third-team All-America honors and first-team All-Big Ten honors. He has 299 career tackles and made 40 consecutive starts.
Playing for Michigan State has been a family affair. Max Bullough's grandfather, Hank Bullough, played for Michigan State in the early 1950s, and his father Shane followed in the mid-1980s. Two of Max Bullough's uncles were Spartans and his younger brother Riley is a redshirt freshman.
"Max will forever remain a Spartan and valued member in this team's achievements," Dantonio said in the statement.


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The youngest son of the eminent architect James Wyatt, Matthew Cotes Wyatt (1777-1862) was born in London, attended Eton and the Royal Academy Schools, and started out as an artist, doing decorative work and remodelling, and painting portraits and historical subjects, before turning to sculpture. He designed the Nelson Monument in Liverpool, though the work of casting it was given to the more experienced Richard Westmacott Junior. Family connections had meant the early patronage of George III, and he made his first mark as a sculptor with the memorial to Princess Charlotte in St George's Chapel, Windsor, completed in 1826. His equestrian statue of the pigtailed George III at Cockspur Street, London, unveiled 1836, is generally considered his best work, while his huge equestrian statue of Wellington for the top of the Wellington Arch (completed 1843) was problematic from the beginning, because the commission was not won through competition (see Physick 1), and was almost universally slated as "poorly modelled" and over-sized (O'Donoghue). It was eventually removed to the military town of Aldershot. Nevertheless, his obituarist in the Art-Journal called him "one of our oldest and most eminent sculptors" (86), though much of the obituary is given over to an account of his illustrious family. Perhaps the last word on Wyatt should go to John Martin Robinson: "His designs represented a dramatic and full-blooded union of neo-classicism and baroque revival. He was more a theatrical designer than a sculptor in the conventional sense." — Jacqueline Banerjee
Art-Journal. Vol. I (1862). Google Books. Web. 8 May 2012.
O'Donoghue, F. M. "Wyatt. Matthew Cotes (1777-1862)." Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 62. Internet Archive. Web. 8 May 2012.
Physick, John Frederick. The Wellington Monument. Victoria and Albert Museum, London/HMSO, 1970. Print.
Robinson, John Martin (who revised F. M. O'Donoghue's original entry in the DNB) . "Wyatt. Matthew Cotes (1777-1862)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed. Web. 8 May 2012.
Last modified 8 May 2012