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When I first started to learn about programming (many more years ago than I care to think about), my idea of how it should work was that it should be like teaching someone how to perform a task. After all, isn't the goal of programming to get the computer to learn some new behavior? And what better way to teach than by example?
So I imagined that what you would do would be to show the computer an example of what you wanted it to do, go through it step by step, have the computer remember all the steps, and then have it try to apply what you showed it in some new example. I guessed that you'd have to learn some special instructions that would tell it what would change from example to example and what would remain the same. But basically, I imagined it would work by remembering examples you showed it and replaying remembered procedures.
Imagine my shock when I found out how most computer programmers actually did their work. It wasn't like that at all. There were these things called "programming languages". The programming languages didn't have much to do with what you were actually working on. You had to write out all the instructions for the program in advance, without being able to see what any of them did. How could you know if they did what you wanted? If you didn't get the syntax exactly right (and who could?) nothing would work. Once you had the program, and you tried it out, if something went wrong, you couldn't see what was going on in the program. How could you tell which part of the program was wrong? Wait a second, I thought, this approach to programming couldn't possibly work!
I'm still trying to fix it.
Over the years, a small but dedicated group of researchers felt the same way, and have developed a radically different approach to programming, called "Programming by Example" (PBE) or sometimes, "Programming by Demonstration" (the user demonstrates examples to the computer). In this approach, a software agent records the interactions between the user and a conventional "direct-manipulation" interface, and writes a program that corresponds to the user's actions. The agent can then generalize the program so that it can work in other situations similar to, but not necessarily exactly the same as, the examples on which it is taught.
It is this generalization capability that makes PBE like "macros on steroids". Conventional macros are limited to playing back exactly the steps recorded, and so are brittle because if even the slightest detail of the context changes, the macro will cease to work. Generalization is the central problem of PBE, and ultimately, should enable PBE to completely replace conventional programming.
Significantly, the first real commercial market for PBE systems might be children! Children are not "spoiled" by conventional ideas of programming, and usability and immediacy of systems for them are paramount. We'll present two systems that have been recently brought to market and are enjoying enthusiastic reception from their initial users. David Smith, Allen Cypher, and Larry Tesler's Stagecast Creator , evolved from Apple's Cocoa/KidSim, brings rule-based programming by example to a graphical grid world. Alexander Repenning and Corrina Perrone-Smith's AgentSheets operates in a similar domain and for a similar audience. Ken Kahn's ToonTalk , a programming system which is itself a video game, uses a radically different programming model as well as a radical user interface. The crucial problem of generalizing examples gets solved in a simple, almost obvious way -- if you remove detail from a program, it becomes more general.
One way in which PBE departs from conventional software is by applying new techniques from artificial intelligence and machine learning. This both opens up a tremendous opportunity, and also some new risks. Brad Myers and Rich McDaniel treat the thorny issue of "how much intelligence?" from their wide experience in building a variety of PBE systems.
Of course, we can't convince people about the value of Programming by Example unless we have some good examples of application areas for it! Next, we move to some application areas that show how PBE can really make a difference. Everybody's current favorite application area is the Web. The Web is a great area for PBE because of the accessibility of a wealth of knowledge, along with the pressing need for helping the user in organizing, retrieving and browsing it. The emerging developments in intelligent agents can help -- but only if users can communicate their requirements and can control the behavior of the agent. PBE is ideal.
Atsushi Sugiura's Internet Scrapbook automates assembling Web pages from other Web sources, and he also explores Web browsers on small handheld devices. Matthias Bauer, Dietmar Dengler and Gabriele Paul present a mixed initiative system -- at each step, either the user or the agent can take action, cooperating to arrive at a "wrapper" which describes the format of Web pages.
Carol Traynor and Marian Williams point out the suitability of PBE for domains that are inherently graphical, like Geographic Information Systems. If you can see it and point to it, you should be able to program it. PBE lets the user see what they are doing, unlike conventional programming languages, where graphical data can only be referenced in a program by filenames and numbers. They illustrate the utility of PBE for "user-programmers" -- those who specialize in the use of a particular application, but also, at least occasionally, have the need to resort to programming. Patrick Girard embeds a PBE system in an industrial-strength Computer-Aided Design (CAD) application. Designers of mechanical, electrical, manfacturing or architectual systems can see the objects they are trying to design directly. Rich McDaniel moves from static graphics to the dynamic world of computer games, showing how interaction techniques can also demonstrate "hidden features" of applications that are not directly reflected in the graphics that the user will eventually see, but are nevertheless crucial.
PBE can automate many common but mundane tasks that tend to consume a frustratingly large fraction of people's time. Good ole text editing remains the application that people spend the greatest amount of time in, and so text editing applications are the target of the next set of PBE systems we'll look at. Tetsuya Masuishi and Nobuo Takahashi use PBE successfully for the common editing task of generating reports. Toshiyuki Masui's Dynamic Macro and PoBox systems use loop detection and a predictive interface to automate repetitive typing and editing, which can be especially important in minimizing typing in small handheld devices or for handicapped users. The systems of Masuishi, Masui, and Sugiura have all been distributed to a large user community in Japan. Tessa Lau, Steve Wolfman, Pedro Domingos and Dan Weld use the time-honored AI technique of version spaces to maintain a space of hypotheses about user actions, illustrating the synergy between work in machine learning and PBE.
Henry Lieberman, Bonnie Nardi and David Wright also put PBE to work for user convenience, in training text recognition agents to recognize by example common patterns of data that occur in the midst of unstructured information. Their PBE system for developing text recognition grammars, Grammex, was the first interactive interface of any kind to make the powerful grammar and parsing technology accessible to end users. Alan Blackwell adds to this general approach a visual syntax for the grammar rules, which he shows increases user comprehension of the resulting programs.
And we shouldn't forget programming environments themselves as a domain for PBE, even if the programming is done in a conventional write-a-file-and-compile-it programming environment. Jean-David Ruvini and Christophe Dony take advantage of the truism that "people are creatures of habit". They have a software agent detect habitual patterns in a conventional programming language environment, Smalltalk, and automate those patterns.
Well, if PBE is so great, how come everybody isn't using it? It's our hope that they soon will. But we realize that PBE represents such a radical departure from what we now know as "programming" that it is inevitably going to take a while before it becomes widespread. Despite the existence of many systems showing the feasibility of PBE in a wide variety of domains, conservatism of the programming community still seems the biggest obstacle.
Signs are growing, however, that PBE might just be beginning to catch on. Commercial PBE environments are beginning to appear, such as the childrens' PBE environments cited above, which are now on the market. But it also makes sense to view more conventional user-programming facilities, such as so-called "interface builders", macros and scripting systems as the "poor man's Programming by Example". Some of these facilities are beginning to evolve in directions that may incorporate elements of the PBE approach. And we will need conventional applications to become more "PBE-friendly" so that PBE systems can use the conventional applications as tools in the same way that a user would operate them manually. Gordon Paynter and Ian Witten show how we might be able to leverage scripting language and macro capabilities that are already present or on the way for applications into full-blown PBE systems. This might facilitate an adoption path for PBE.
In programming, as in theater, timing is everything. Much of the work in PBE is involved with demonstrating how to do something, but equally important is when to do it. David Wolber and Brad Myers explore what they call "stimulus-response" PBE, where we generalize on time and user input, to assure that PBE-programmed procedures are invoked at just the right time. Wolber also compares his PBE animation system to a conventional animation editor/scripting system, Macromind Director, which brings the similarities and differences of PBE versus conventional applications into sharp focus.
We then move on to explore some directions where PBE might be heading in the future. Alexander Repenning and Corinna Perrone-Smith show how we can take PBE a step further, using another important intuitive cognitive mechanism -- analogy. We often explain new examples by way of analogy with things we already know, thus allowing us to transfer and reuse old knowledge. Repenning and Perrone-Smith show how we can use analogy mechanisms to edit programs by example as well as create them from scratch.
Robert St. Amant, Henry Lieberman, Luke Zettlemoyer, and Richard Potter explore what at first might seem like a crazy approach. They actually have the computer simulate the user's visual system in interpreting images on the screen rather than accessing the underlying data. Though it may seem inefficient, it neatly sidesteps one of the thorniest problems for PBE -- coexistence with conventional applications. The approach enables "visual generalization" -- generalizing on how things appear on the screen, as well as properties of the data.
Programming by Example is one of the few technologies that holds the potential of breaking down the wall that now separates "programmers" from "users". It can give ordinary users the ability to write programs while still operating in the familiar user interface. Users are now at the mercy of software providers who deliver shrink-wrapped, one-size-fits-all, unmodifiable "applications". With PBE, users could create personalized solutions to one-of-a-kind problems, modifying existing programs and creating new ones, without going through the arcane voodoo which characterizes conventional programming. In this collection of articles, we hope that the diversity of systems presented, compelling user scenarios, and promising directions for the future of PBE, will convincingly demonstrate the power and potential of this exciting technology.
Foreword to "Your Wish is My Command"
by Ben Shneiderman, University of Maryland
Setting an alarm clock is probably the most common form of programming. Users set a time and then put the clock in alarm mode. Older 12-hour mechanical clocks usually had a special alarm hand that could be moved to the time for the alarm to ring, and then the users turned the alarm switch on. A nice form of direct manipulation programming easy to learn and use.
Direct manipulation is a term I coined in 1981 to describe the visual world of action in many successful graphical user interfaces such as video games, air traffic control and What-you-see-is-what-you-get word processors. The principles were to:
These principles can lead to interfaces that help novices and experts, prevent or at least reduce errors, and encourage exploration because reversibility is supported. Designers continue to refine and extend direct manipulation, but critics complain that direct manipulation only works for limited tasks. They often ignore the possibility of direct manipulation programming, which was part of the original conception [1, 2].
To explore the possibilities, we built a direct manipulation programming tool in 1984-85 that enables users to create macros for MS DOS. This tool, Direct Manipulation DOS (DMDOS) [3], enabled users to record and view their actions, and then store and replay macros. We were motivated by successful macro facilities for unix, word processors and spreadsheets. These early keyboard-oriented systems led us to joke that "those who ignore history are destined to retype it." We were also inspired by innovative programming-by-demonstration in David Canfield Smiths Pygmalion [4], graphical macro facilities in Dan Halberts SmallStar [5] and Alan MacDonalds early call for Visual Programming [6]. These pioneers and other innovators believed in the goal of empowering users to create useful programs, extend existing interfaces, and build small just-in-time programs that automated daily tasks.
This important volume of papers carries forward the agenda of making direct manipulation programming (or programming-by-example, programming-by-demonstration, end-user-programming, programming-in-the-user-interface, etc.) a reality. While there have been successes in the intervening years, such as programmable machine tools, visual programming languages, and a variety of macro building programs, widespread adoption is still elusive. Henry Lieberman deserves credit for his long devotion to this topic and for collecting the diverse strategies and application domains in this volume. He and the contributors to this volume remind us all of the breadth of opportunities and depth of ambition.
The allure of direct manipulation programming is its capacity to empower users, while minimizing learning of programming concepts. Researchers continue to seek simple cognitive models for programming that are in harmony with the cognitive model of the existing user interface. Just as the programmable mechanical alarm clock is tied to the familiar model of clock hands, researchers have wanted to build on the visual nature of graphical user interfaces.
This fundamental human-computer interaction challenge has inspired a generation of designers, who have come up with innovative strategies for supporting iteration, conditionals, parameter passing, modular design, pattern matching, and data representation. This treasure chest of strategies is likely to pay off in multiple solutions for direct manipulation programming and related problems. A successful strategy would not only be easy to learn, but also support rapid composition of common programs. Then it would also be easy to invoke, with comprehensible feedback about successful and unsuccessful executions.
One strategy represented in this book is to develop software that recognizes familiar patterns of action and infers a useful program. There may be some opportunities along this path but I prefer the second path of special tools for users to create a program, just as they move the special hand of an alarm clock to set the wake-up time.
A third path, also well represented in this book, is visual programming languages in which the users set out to write a program, but visually instead of textually. Visual programming languages may have a simple basis such as dragging items from a relational table to a screen-based form to create a report program. More elaborate visual programming languages have graphic symbols to represent objects, actions, conditionals, loops, and pattern matching.
A fourth path might be to add history capture environments for every interface. Unix command line interfaces had a history log that allowed users to conveniently review and reuse commands. World-Wide Web browsers support history keeping of page visits with relatively easy review and reuse. Microsoft Word captures a history of actions to support undo operations, but users cannot review the history or save it. Adobe Photoshop 5.0 added a nice history feature for graphic designers, demonstrating that even in complex environments rich history support is possible.
Our current efforts with Simulation Processes in a Learning Environment have emphasized history keeping, enabling users to review their work, replay it, annotate it, and send it to peers or mentors for advice [7]. An immediate payoff was that faculty could run the simulation in exemplary or inappropriate ways and store the histories for students to use as a training aid.
The story of this field and this book is that there is magic and power in creating programs by direct manipulation activities, as opposed to writing code. The potential for users to take control of technology, customize their experiences, and creatively extend their software tools is compelling.
Eighteenth century scientists, like Ben Franklin, experimented with electricity and found its properties quite amazing. Franklin, Faraday, Maxwell, and others, laid the foundation for Thomas Edisons diverse applications, such as refinements of telegraphy, generators, and electric lighting. This book brings reports from many Franklins, Faradays, and Maxwells who are laying the foundation for the Thomas Edisons, still to come. It is difficult to tell which idea will trigger broad dissemination or whose insight will spark a new industry. However, the excitement is electric.
(Acknowledgement: Thanks to Richard Potter for his comments on my drafts)
1. Shneiderman, B., The future of interactive systems and the emergence of direct manipulation, Behaviour and Information Technology 1, 3, 1982, 237-256
2. Shneiderman, B., Direct manipulation: A step beyond programming languages, IEEE Computer 16, 8, August 1983, 57-69).
3. Iseki, O. and Shneiderman, B., Applying direct manipulation concepts: Direct Manipulation Disk Operating System (DMDOS), ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes 11, 2, (April 1986), 22-26.
4. Smith, D. C., Pygmalion: A Computer Program to Model and Stimulate Creative Thought. Basel, Stuttgart, Birkhauser Verlag. 1977.
5. Halbert, Daniel, Programming by Example, Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Systems, University of California, Berkeley, CA, Available as Xerox Report OSD-T8402, Palo Alto, CA, (1984).
6. MacDonald, Alan, Visual programming, Datamation 28, 11 (October 1982), 132-140.
7. Plaisant, C., Rose, A., Rubloff, G., Salter, R., Shneiderman, B., The design of history mechanisms and their use in collaborative educational simulations, Proc. Computer Supported Collaborative Learning Conference (December 1999)<
Links to chapters in Adobe PDF format
Ben Shneiderman
Novice Programming Comes of Age
David Canfield Smith, Allen Cypher, Larry Tesler
Generalizing by Removing Detail: How Any Program Can Be Created by Working with Examples
Ken Kahn
Demonstrational Interfaces: Sometimes You Need a Little Intelligence; SometimesYou Need a Lot
Brad A. Myers, Richard McDaniel
Web Browsing by Demonstration
Atsushi Sugiura
Programming by Demonstration for Information Agents
Mathias Bauer, Dietmar Dengler, and Gabriele Paul
End Users and GIS: A Demonstration is Worth a Thousand Words
Carol Traynor and Marian Williams
Bring Programming by Demonstration to CAD Users
Patrick Girard
Demonstrating the Hidden Features That Make an Application Work
Richard McDaniel
A reporting tool using programming by example for format designation
Tetsuya Masuishi and Nobuo Takahashi
Composition by Example
Toshiyuki Masui
Learning Repetitive Text-editing Procedures with SMARTedit
Tessa Lau, Steve Wolfman, Pedro Domingos and Daniel S. Weld
Training Agents to Recognize Text by Example
Henry Lieberman, Bonnie A. Nardi and David J. Wright
SWYN: A Visual Representation for Regular Expressions
Alan Blackwell
Learning Users' Habits to Automate Repetitive Tasks
Jean-David Ruvini and Christophe Dony
Domain-independent programming by demonstration in existing applications
Gordon W. Paynter and Ian H. Witten
Stimulus-Response PBD: Demonstrating When as Well as What
David Wolber and Brad Myers
Pavlov: Where PBD Meets Macromedia's Director
David Wolber
Programming by Analogous Examples
Alexander Repenning and Corrina Perrone-Smith
Visual Generalization in Programming by Example
Robert St. Amant, Henry Lieberman, Richard Potter, and Luke Zettlemoyer


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'New Mutants' #100.
Rob Liefeld was born in Fullerton, California, as the son of a preacher. At an early age Rob decided that he wanted to make a career in comics. In 1985, Rob moved to Oakland, California where he was hired by both Marvel and DC Comics. There he worked on the series 'New Mutants', later called 'X-force'.X-force's first issue, was the single largest selling issue of a comic ever.
Then, in 1992, Liefeld left Marvel when joined together with Todd McFarlane, Jim Valentino, Marc Silvestri, Whilce Portacio, Erik Larsen and Jim Lee to form Image Comics. There he realized the series 'Youngblood', this broke the record for the best selling ever independent comic. The record was again broken by McFarlane's Spawn No.1, and then again with Lee's WildC.A.T.S. No.1. During this time he also created such series as 'Supreme', 'Glory', 'New Men', and 'Prophet'. He resigned from Image Comics, the company he founded, and folded all his publishing efforts to Maximum Press.
Later on Liefeld had come to an agreement with Marvel Comics in which he revamped 'Avengers' and 'Captain America'. Rob returned once more to the self-publishing arena. He established a new company called Awesome Entertainment. Along with writer/publisher Jeph Loeb, Rob brought many talented creators such as Alan Moore and Ian Churchill into the company. Rob acquired the rights to Jack Kirby's, 'Fighting American'. He also lent his efforts to Alan Moore's 'Judgment Day' mini series.

subset: commoncrawl


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You can have your college football opening night. Me, I'll be staying up for a West Coast preseason NFL game, counting off the 49er downs until it's time to punt. That's when Andy Lee will blow minds, break hearts, and fracture phalanges.
Lee hopes to bust out his secret weapon tonight. It's called the knuckle punt, and it's exactly what it sounds like. Let poor bastard Kyle Williams, who's had to face it in practice, explain:
"I turned to Ted Ginn and said, 'What the hell was that?'" Williams said. "It's just like a knuckleball in baseball. It's floating up there, and it will change direction probably three or four times within the last 5 yards, 10 yards, and then it's right there. It's tough to deal with."
Just as a knuckleball can't be delivered with any velocity, a knuckle punt necessarily sacrifices height and distance, so it can't be used for just any old punt. Lee wants to use it in a fair-catch situation, in the hopes that it'll deflect off the returner's hands and be recovered by the 49ers.
The technique is a trade secret, passed down through the loyal brotherhood of punters. Craig Hentrich gave it to Joe Nedney, Nedney to Lee. Lee doesn't have it mastered yet—he says he can nail it with regularity in practice, but game situations are a different story, and so much can go wrong. So tonight, the fourth preseason game and the one most resembling a scrimmage, seems like a perfect opportunity to give it a shot.
Who knows? If he gets the knuckle punt down pat, maybe it'll make an appearance in a regular season game. Lee does play in the perfect stadium for it.
49ers' Lee hoping to test secret weapon in preseason finale [CSN Bay Area]


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EMC is selling its Syncplicity file-sharing and collaboration business to private investment company Skyview Capital for an undisclosed sum.
EMC bought Syncplicity in May 2012 in response to the growth of mobile computing and bring-your-own-device policies in enterprises. Syncplicity is one of a host of cloud-based file services, including Box, Dropbox and Google Drive, that have emerged in the past few years. It's available for iOS and Android as well as PC operating systems.
In the three years it owned Syncplicity, EMC adapted the system so enterprises could use it for access to data in their own storage systems. The company also added central controls over how specific types of files could be shared and with whom.
But continuing to evolve Syncplicity and keep it competitive in the file-sharing industry would divert EMC's attention from its core enterprise storage business, EMC said in a press release. The sale will help its storage division, EMC Information Infrastructure, focus its investments on that core business.
EMC will retain a financial interest in Syncplicity after the sale and will continue to sell Syncplicity as part of the EMC Select partner program, the company said. The deal is expected to close this month.
Skyview said it plans to invest heavily in Syncplicity and continue to enhance it. The purchase gives Skyview a chance to accelerate innovation and attract a broad ecosystem of partners and resellers, the investment company said.
EMC has expanded its scope well beyond its core enterprise storage systems business in recent years, becoming a "federation" of storage, virtualization (VMware), security (RSA Systems) and big data (Pivotal). That model has come under fire recently from investors who think the company should be split up.
Skyview, based in Los Angeles, has a small portfolio of technology companies that includes carrier network vendor NewNet, Tekelec Mobile Messaging and secure transaction processing company Traxcom.


text:
Please select from the tags below to filter your results.
In our latest mentoring blog, cardiology registrar Dr George Collins, and Dr Parag Gajendragadkar, BHF clinical research training fellow at the University of Oxford, discuss their experiences of being a mentee-mentor on the Royal College of Physicians' (RCP's) mentoring scheme.
Professor Margaret Johnson, RCP academic vice president gives her view on the barriers to research.
Dr Patrick Cadigan, registrar and lead officer for the Francis Inquiry, said:


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The Jetsons was one of the most important cartoons of all time, having helped shape the way that we talk about the future here in the 21st century. The show predicted many of the technologies we have today. And this week, Americans can check another crazy Jetsonian prediction off the list.
After nine long years, the FDA just recently approved the swallowable PillCam. Developed in Israel, the PillCam is used as a way to examine a patient's colon without a colonoscopy. The patient swallows the small device and it slowly makes its way through the digestive tract in about 8 hours. The information is beamed to a receiver device carried on the patient's waist, and a doctor can then review the results later.
The December 30, 1962 episode of The Jetsons featured a device that was strikingly similar—even if it was admittedly an over-the-top joke.
The "peek-a-boo capsule" is swallowed by George (or more accurately shot into his mouth) and starts its journey through his body. The doctor can then see what's happening (through the cartoon logic of being able to see this capsule device by way of an invisible second camera) and communicate with the device to make a diagnosis. This being The Jetsons, everything goes wrong, and the doctor tells George he doesn't have much time left to live. This may be the future, but everything can still turn to shit.
It appears George has nothing left to live for, sending him into a pseudo-suicidal tailspin. George no longer fears death, so he'll try anything. Needless to say, this is one of the darker episodes ever produced in the show's original 24-episode run.
You can watch the entire 1962 episode below, complete with cheesy Cold War jokes. Let's hope that when the real PillCam goes into effect, it's a little more reliable.
The Jetsons Season01 Ep15 - Test Pilot by f651311517
Images: Screenshots from the December 30, 1962 episode of The Jetsons; PillCam screenshot via YouTube


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Fort Monroe facts for kids
Quick facts for kidsFort Monroe
|Part of Harbor Defenses of Chesapeake Bay 1896–1945
|Headquarters, garrison fort, training center
|Site information
|Federal, State, Local
|Open to
the public
Fort Monroe National Monument
Fort Monroe in 2004
|Hampton, Virginia
|565 acres (229 ha)
|Simon Bernard
|Architectural style
|Third system fort
|Fort Monroe National Monument
|NRHP reference No.
|66000912 (original)
13000708 (increase)
|Significant dates
|Added to NRHP
|October 15, 1966
|Boundary increase
|March 9, 2015
|Designated NHLD
|December 19, 1960
|Designated NMON
|November 1, 2011
|Site history
|Built by
|U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
|In use
|stone, brick, earth
|American Civil War
World War I
World War II
Fort Monroe, managed by partnership between the Fort Monroe Authority for the Commonwealth of Virginia, the National Park Service as the Fort Monroe National Monument, and the City of Hampton, is a former military installation in Hampton, Virginia, at Old Point Comfort, the southern tip of the Virginia Peninsula, United States. Along with Fort Wool, Fort Monroe originally guarded the navigation channel between the Chesapeake Bay and Hampton Roads—the natural roadstead at the confluence of the Elizabeth, the Nansemond and the James rivers. Until disarmament in 1946, the areas protected by the fort were the entire Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River regions, including the water approaches to the cities of Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland, along with important shipyards and naval bases in the Hampton Roads area. Surrounded by a moat, the six-sided bastion fort is the largest fort by area ever built in the United States.
During the initial exploration by a mission headed by Captain Christopher Newport in the early 1600s, the earliest days of the Colony of Virginia, the site was identified as a strategic defensive location. Beginning by 1609, defensive fortifications were built at Old Point Comfort during Virginia's first two centuries. The first was a wooden stockade named Fort Algernourne, followed by other small forts. However, the much more substantial facility of stone that became known as Fort Monroe (and adjacent Fort Wool on an artificial island across the channel) were completed in 1834, as part of the third system of U.S. fortifications. The principal fort was named in honor of U.S. President James Monroe. Although Virginia became part of the Confederate States of America, Fort Monroe remained in Union hands throughout the American Civil War (1861–1865). It became notable as a historic and symbolic site of early freedom for former slaves under the provisions of contraband policies. For two years thereafter, the former Confederate President, Jefferson Davis, was imprisoned at the fort. His first months of confinement were spent in a cell of the casemated fort walls that is now part of its Casemate Museum. Around the turn of the 20th century, numerous gun batteries were added in and near Fort Monroe under the Endicott program; it became the largest fort and headquarters of the Harbor Defenses of Chesapeake Bay. In the 19th and 20th centuries it housed artillery schools, including the Coast Artillery School (1907–1946). The Continental Army Command (CONARC) (1955–1973) headquarters was at Fort Monroe, succeeded by the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) following a division of CONARC into TRADOC and United States Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) in 1973. CONARC was responsible for all active Army units in the continental United States. TRADOC was headquartered at the fort from 1973 until it was moved to Fort Eustis in 2011.
Fort Monroe was deactivated September 15, 2011, and many of its functions were transferred to nearby Fort Eustis. Several re-use plans for Fort Monroe are under development in the Hampton community. On November 1, 2011, President Barack Obama signed a proclamation to designate portions of Fort Monroe as a national monument. This was the first time that President Obama exercised his authority under the Antiquities Act, a 1906 law to protect sites deemed to have natural, historical or scientific significance.
Within the 565 acres of Fort Monroe are 170 historic buildings and nearly 200 acres of natural resources, including 8 miles of waterfront, 3.2 miles of beaches on the Chesapeake Bay, 110 acres of submerged lands and 85 acres of wetlands. It has a 332-slip marina and shallow water inlet access to Mill Creek, suitable for small watercraft.
The land area where Fort Monroe is became part of Elizabeth Cittie [sic] in 1619, Elizabeth River Shire in 1634, and was included in Elizabeth City County when it was formed in 1643. Over 300 years later, in 1952, Elizabeth City County and the nearby Town of Phoebus agreed to consolidate with the smaller independent city of Hampton, which became one of the larger cities of Hampton Roads.
Colonial period
Arriving with three ships under Captain Christopher Newport, Captain John Smith and the colonists of the Virginia Company established the settlement of Jamestown of the British Colony of Virginia on the James River in 1607. On their initial exploration, they recognized the strategic importance of the site at Old Point Comfort for purposes of coastal defense. They initially built Fort Algernourne (1609–1612) at the location of the present Fort Monroe. It is assumed to have been a triangular stockade, based on the fort at Jamestown. Other small forts known as Fort Henry and Fort Charles were built nearby in 1610. Fort Algernourne burned in 1612.
In the latter part of August 1619, a Dutch ship, the White Lion, appeared off the coast of Old Point Comfort. Its cargo included more than 30 Africans captured from the slave ship Sao Joao Bautista. Traded for work and supplies from the English, they were the first Africans to come ashore on British-occupied land in what would become the United States. Although the Bantu Africans from Angola were considered indentured servants, their arrival is considered to mark the beginning of slavery in America.
Another fort, known only as "the fort at Old Point Comfort" was constructed in 1632. In 1728, Fort George was built on the site. Its masonry walls were destroyed by a hurricane in 1749, but the wood buildings in the fort were used by a reduced force until at least 1775. In 1781, during the Siege of Yorktown, the French West Indian fleet established a battery on the ruins of Fort George. Throughout the Colonial period, fortifications were manned at the location from time to time.
Early 19th century
Following the War of 1812, the United States realized the need to protect Hampton Roads and the inland waters from attack by sea. In March 1819, President James Monroe came up with a plan of building a network of coastal defenses. In 1822 construction began in earnest on the stone-and-brick fort which would become the safeguard for Chesapeake Bay and the largest stone fort ever built in the United States. Among the original buildings is Quarters 1, designed as a residence and headquarters for Fort Monroe's commanding officer. Work continued for nearly 25 years. The fort was designed by the French Napoleonic General of Engineers Simon Bernard, who had been banished from France after the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815. It features a moat completely surrounding the inner structures.
As a young first lieutenant and engineer in the U.S. Army, Robert E. Lee was stationed there from 1831 to 1834 and played a major role in the final construction of Fort Monroe and its opposite, Fort Calhoun. He resided at Quarters 17. Fort Calhoun, later renamed Fort Wool, was built on a man-made island called the Rip Raps across the navigation channel from Old Point Comfort in the middle of the mouth of Hampton Roads. The Army briefly detained the chieftain Black Hawk at Fort Monroe, following the 1832 Black Hawk War.
When construction was completed in 1834, Fort Monroe was referred to as the "Gibraltar of Chesapeake Bay." The fort mounted an impressive complement of the most powerful artillery of the time: 32-pounder guns with a range of over one mile. In conjunction with Fort Calhoun (later Fort Wool), this was just enough range to cover the main shipping channel into the area. (Decommissioned after World War II, the former Fort Wool on Rip Raps is now adjacent to the southern man-made island of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, first completed in 1957.)
American Civil War
Fort Monroe played an important role in the American Civil War. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union. Four months later, on April 12, 1861, troops of that state opened fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Five days later, Virginia's legislature passed (subject to voters' ratification) the Ordinance of Secession of Virginia to withdraw from the Union and join the newly formed Confederate States of America. On 23 May 1861, voters of Virginia ratified the state's secession from the union.
President Abraham Lincoln had Fort Monroe quickly reinforced so that it would not fall to Confederate forces. It was held by Union forces throughout the Civil War, which launched several sea and land expeditions from there.
A few weeks after the Battle of Fort Sumter in 1861, U.S. Army General-in-Chief Winfield Scott proposed to President Abraham Lincoln a plan to bring the states back into the Union: Cut the Confederacy off from the rest of the world instead of attacking its army in Virginia. His Anaconda Plan was to blockade the Confederacy's coastline and control the Mississippi River valley with gunboats. In cooperation with the Navy, troops from Fort Monroe extended Union control along the coasts of the Carolinas as Lincoln ordered a blockade of the southern seaboard from the South Carolina line to the Rio Grande on April 19 and, on April 27, extended it to include the North Carolina and Virginia coasts.
On April 20 the Union Navy burned and evacuated the Norfolk Navy Yard, destroying nine ships in the process, keeping Fort Monroe at Old Point Comfort as the last bastion of the United States in Tidewater Virginia. The Confederacy's occupation of Norfolk gave it a major shipyard and thousands of heavy guns, but they held it for only one year. Confederate Brigadier General Walter Gwynn, who commanded the Confederate defenses around Norfolk, erected batteries at Sewell's Point, to protect Norfolk and to control Hampton Roads.
The Union dispatched a fleet to Hampton Roads to enforce the blockade. On May 18–19, 1861, Federal gunboats based at Fort Monroe exchanged fire with the Confederate batteries at Sewell's Point. The little-known Battle of Sewell's Point resulted in minor damage to either side. Several land operations against Confederate forces were mounted from the fort, notably the Battle of Big Bethel in June 1861.
On May 27, 1861, Major General Benjamin Butler made his famous "contraband" decision, or "Fort Monroe Doctrine", determining that escaping male slaves who reached Union lines would be considered contraband and not be returned to bondage. The order resulted in thousands of slaves fleeing to Union lines around Fort Monroe, which was Butler's headquarters in Virginia. Fort Monroe became called "Freedom's Fortress", as any slave reaching it would be free. In the Summer of 1861, one escaped slave named Harry Jarvis made his way to Fort Monroe and insisted General Butler let him enlist. Butler refused because he believed "it wasn't a black man's war." Jarvis replied, "It would be a black man's war," due to the presence of the incoming of thousands of runaway slaves. This marked a sudden shift in the war, and what the outcome would mean for every African-American living in the United States. By the fall, the Army had built the Great Contraband Camp to try to house the families. It was the first of more than 100 that would be established by war's end, and the Roanoke Island Freedmen's Colony (1863–1867), which started as a contraband camp.
Mary S. Peake was teaching the children of freedmen to read and write near Fort Monroe. She was the first black teacher hired by the American Missionary Association (AMA), a northern missionary group led by black and white ministers from the Congregational, Presbyterian and Methodist denominations, who strongly supported education of freedmen. Soon she was teaching children during the day and adults at night. The AMA sponsored hundreds of northern teachers and hired local teachers in the south; it founded more than 500 local schools and 11 colleges for freedmen and their children.
Under Gen. Butler's command, Fort Monroe was the site of a military balloon camp under the flight direction of aeronaut John LaMountain. The Union Army Balloon Corps was being developed at Fort Corcoran near Arlington under the presidentially appointed Prof. Thaddeus S. C. Lowe. At the same time, LaMountain, who was vying for position as Chief Aeronaut, had gained the confidence of Butler in using his balloon Atlantic for aerial observations. LaMountain is credited with having made the first successful report from an aerial station that was of practical military intelligence. LaMountain was later reassigned to Lowe's balloon corps, but after a period of in-fighting with Lowe, he was released from military service. Lowe eventually assigned regular military balloons to Fort Monroe.
In March 1862, the naval Battle of Hampton Roads took place off Sewell's Point between the first ironclad warships, CSS Virginia and USS Monitor. While the outcome was inconclusive, the battle marked a change in naval warfare and the end to wooden fighting ships.
Later that spring, the continuing presence of the Union Navy based at Fort Monroe enabled federal water transports from Washington, D.C., to land unmolested to support Major General George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign. Formed at Fort Monroe, McClellan's troops moved up the Virginia Peninsula during the spring of 1862, reaching within a few miles of the gates of Richmond about 80 miles to the west by June 1. For the next 30 days, they laid siege to Richmond. Then, during the Seven Days Battles, McClellan fell back to the James River well below Richmond, ending the campaign. Fortunately for McClellan, during this time, Union troops regained control of Norfolk, Hampton Roads, and the James River below Drewry's Bluff (a strategic point about 8 miles south of Richmond).
Beginning in 1862 Fort Monroe was also used as a transfer point for mail exchange. Mail sent from states in the Confederacy addressed to locations in the Union had to be sent by flag-of-truce and could only pass through at Fort Monroe where the mail was opened, inspected, resealed, marked and sent on. Prisoner of war mail from Union soldiers in Confederate prisons was required to be passed through this point for inspection.
In 1864, the Union Army of the James under Major General Benjamin Butler was formed at Fort Monroe. The 2nd Regiment, United States Colored Cavalry, mustered at Fort Monroe on December 22, 1864, and the 1st Regiment, United States Colored Cavalry mustered the same day at nearby Camp Hamilton. The Siege of Petersburg during 1864 and 1865 was supported on the James River from a base at City Point (now Hopewell, Virginia). Maintaining the control of Hampton Roads at Fort Monroe and Fort Wool was crucial to the naval support Grant required for the successful Union campaign to take Petersburg, which was the key to the fall of the Confederate capital at Richmond. As Petersburg fell, Richmond was evacuated in 1865 on the night of April 2–3. That night, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet escaped Richmond, taking the Richmond and Danville Railroad to move first to Danville and then North Carolina. However, the cause was lost, and Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered what was left of the Army of Northern Virginia to Grant at Appomattox Court House the following week.
After the last Confederate cabinet meeting was held on April 26, 1865, at Charlotte, North Carolina, Jefferson Davis was captured at Irwinville, Georgia, and placed under arrest. He was briefly confined in an unheated, open casemate until the Union Surgeon John J. Craven recommended more humane care for Mr. Davis. General Nelson A. Miles approved changes and even moved Mr. Davis to more hospitable quarters. He was held at Fort Monroe for two years. Some historians have speculated that his treatment in captivity was intended to be lethal. In poor health, Davis was released in May, 1867, on bail, which was posted by prominent citizens of both Northern and Southern states, including Horace Greeley and Cornelius Vanderbilt, who had become convinced he was being treated unfairly. The federal government proceeded no further in its prosecution due to the constitutional concerns of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase.
The Journal of the United States Artillery was founded at Fort Monroe in 1892 by First Lieutenant (later General) John Wilson Ruckman and four other officers of the Artillery School. Ruckman served as the editor of the Journal for four years (July 1892 to January 1896) and published several articles therein afterward. One publication by West Point notes Ruckman's "guidance" and "first-rate quality" work were obvious as the Journal "rose to high rank among the service papers of the world". The Journal was renamed the Coast Artillery Journal in 1922 and the Antiaircraft Journal in 1948.
Twentieth century
Over time the armament at Fort Monroe was improved, taking advantage of new technologies. In addition, the fort controlled several sub-installations around Hampton Roads, making the area one of the most heavily defended in the United States.
The Jamestown Exposition held in 1907 at Hampton Roads, featured an extensive naval review, including the Great White Fleet. Beginning in 1917, the former exposition site at Sewell's Point became a major base of the United States Navy. Currently, Norfolk Navy Base is the base supporting naval forces operating in the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, and Indian Ocean. It is the world's largest naval station by number of military members supported.
Coast Artillery School
In 1907 the Coast Artillery School was established along with the U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps. New buildings were constructed for classrooms and barracks (the library and school buildings completed in 1909)[1]. As part of the schools responsibility the "Coast Artillery Journal" was published under the supervision of the commandant. [2] The school operated until 1946 when most of the coast artillery was disbanded, and the school was moved to Fort Winfield Scott.
Commandants list
|Begin Date
|End Date
|Lieutenant colonel
|Ramsay D. Potts
|22 February 1904
|11 August 1906
|Lieutenant colonel
|George F. E. Harrison
|24 October 1906
|14 January 1909
|Lieutenant colonel
|Clarence Page Townsley
|7 September 1911
|Lieutenant colonel
|Frederick S. Strong
|8 September 1911
|27 February 1913
|Ira A. Haynes
|18 February 1913
|16 October 1916
|Stephen M. Foote
|1 October 1916
|23 August 1917
|John A. Lundeen
|23 August 1917
|30 March 1918
|Frank K. Fergusson
|30 March 1918
|11 September 1918
|Robert R. Welshimer
|8 September 1918
|29 January 1919
|Eugene Reybold
|29 January 1919
|19 January 1920
|Jacob C. Johnson
|19 January 1920
|3 November 1920
|Richmond P. Davis
|28 April 1921
|28 December 1922
|Brigadier General
|William Ruthven Smith
|11 January 1923
|20 December 1924
|Brigadier General
|Robert Emmet Callan
|20 December 1924
|3 June 1929
|Brigadier General
|Henry D. Todd
|28 August 1929
|31 August 1930
|Brigadier General
|Stanley Dunbar Embick
|1 October 1930
|25 April 1932
|Brigadier General
|Joseph P. Tracy
|31 August 1932
|1 December 1936
|Brigadier General
|John W. Gulick
|3 January 1937
|12 October 1938
|Brigadier General
|Frederick H. Smith
|21 November 1938
|1 October 1940
|Brigadier General
|Frank S. Clark
|10 October 1940
|15 January 1942
|Brigadier General
|Lawrence B. Weeks
|15 January 1942
|1 October 1945
|Brigadier General
|Robert T. Frederick
|1 November 1945
|19 August 1947
During World War I and World War II Fort Monroe and Fort Wool were used to protect Hampton Roads and the important inland military and civilian resources. The fort installed the first anti-submarine net in America in February 1917 stretching to Fort Wool.
By World War II, Fort Monroe served as headquarters for an array of coast artillery guns ranging from 3-inch rapid fire guns to 16-inch guns capable of firing a 2,000 pound projectile 25 miles. In addition, the Army controlled submarine barriers and underwater mine fields. But this vast array of armaments was made largely obsolete by the end of the Second World War due to the development of the long-range bomber and the refinement of naval aviation.
Since World War II, it served as the major headquarters for training soldiers for war. In 1973, Fort Monroe became home to the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), which combines the recruitment, training and education of soldiers with the development of operational doctrine. At the turn of the 21st century while as a United States Army post, Fort Monroe supported a work population of some 3000, including 1000 people in uniform.
Base Realignment and Closure
The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission of the Department of Defense released a list on 13 May 2005 of military installations recommended for closure or realignment, among which was Fort Monroe. The list was approved by President George W. Bush on 15 September 2005 and submitted to Congress. Congress failed to act within 45 legislative days to disapprove the list in its entirety, and the BRAC recommendations subsequently became law. Installations on the BRAC list by law must close within six years.
Many of its functions were transferred to nearby Fort Eustis, which was named for Fort Monroe's first commander, General Abraham Eustis, a noted artillery expert.
Fort Monroe today
As several re-use plans for Fort Monroe are, as of December 2011, under development in the Hampton community, plans for its long-term use cannot be yet documented.
Fort Monroe has become a popular historical site. The Casemate Museum, opened in 1951, depicts the history of Fort Monroe and Old Point Comfort, with special emphasis on the Civil War period. It offers a view of Confederate President Jefferson Davis' prison cell. Also shown are the quarters occupied by 1st Lt. Robert E. Lee in 1831–34, and the quarters where President Abraham Lincoln was a guest in May 1862.
The area inside of the moat was to be used for a boarding high school in the year 2016-17. "Buildings once reserved for the school are now fair game for any developer because a letter of intent between the STEAM Academy's organizers and Fort Monroe Authority has expired."
Redevelopment possibilities
The Fort Monroe Federal Area Development Authority (FMFADA) was established in 2007 by legislative action of the Virginia General Assembly as a public body corporate and as a political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Virginia, to serve as the official Local Redevelopment Authority (LRA) recognized by the Department of Defense. The task of the FMFADA commission was to study, plan, and recommend the best use of the resources that remain when the Army closed the fort in September 2011. The Fort Monroe Reuse Plan was officially adopted August 2008. The FMFADA relies on the expertise of national consultants in the areas of BRAC law, environmental engineering, historic architecture and preservation planning, structural engineering, housing market analysis, commercial/retail analysis, public relations/marketing, and tourism planning.
The Virginia Department of Historic Resources and the Department of Environmental Quality have major regulatory authority that influences the work.The state took a lead role in planning because most of the land that Fort Monroe occupies will revert to the Commonwealth when the Army closes the fort. The effort was guided by three priorities — keep Fort Monroe open to the public, respect the rich history, and advance economic sustainability.
The Authority is an 18-member body consisting of appointees from the city of Hampton, the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate and the Virginia governor's cabinet, with two specialists in historic preservation and heritage tourism.
Virginia historically has given local government strong consideration in determining disposition at that point, such as occurred at Fort Pickett in Nottoway County (near Blackstone) in the Southside region. Given the historic significance of the post, the decommissioned fort will be a good candidate for heritage tourism along with many other historical sites throughout the greater Hampton Roads area. Redevelopment to help offset the economic loss of a base closure is a priority.
Fort Monroe is a National Historic Landmark and the moated fort and the 190 historic buildings on Old Point Comfort will be protected with historic preservation design guidelines for reuse. Old Point Comfort is prime development property and some mixed used new construction will be allowed within strict guidelines. For example, the historic Chamberlin Hotel was leased to a developer by the Army and beautifully renovated as retirement apartments.
The National Park Service and the Fort Monroe FADA have been communicating to identify the best way to achieve a partnership and the park service presented several options. In 2013, Governor Bob McDonnell approved a new master plan to revitalize the site and the National Trust for Historic Preservation cited the site as one of ten historic sites saved that year. In August 2014 only 2 businesses had moved in.
The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Fort Monroe has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.
Images for kids
See also
In Spanish: Fort Monroe para niños
|Bill Richardson
|Horacio Rivero Jr
|Julissa Reynoso Pantaleón
|Edward C. Prado


text:
The sem package is available on the Comprehensive R Achive Network (CRAN).
For more information (now quite out of date), see J. Fox (2006), "Structural Equation Modeling With the sem Package in R." Structural Equation Modeling, 13:465-486, and the package help pages, which include many examples.
The current version of the sem package was written by John Fox, Zhenghua Nie, and Jarrett Byrnes.
Please address comments, questions, and suggestions to jfox
AT mcmaster.ca.


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Call for Papers: Culture & Canada-US Border Conference
CALL FOR PAPERS: Deadline Extended (January 15th 2013)
Straddling Boundaries: Hemispherism, Cultural Identity, and Indigeneity
Keynote Speakers: Claudia Sadowski-Smith, Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair, Guillermo Verdecchia
The Culture and the Canada-US Border (CCUSB) network invites proposals for 20 minute papers, or full panels, for its inaugural conference to be held at Algoma University, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, from 24th-26th May 2013.
Where border studies in North America has hitherto focused primarily on US engagement with Mexico to the south, the CCUSB network seeks to shift border discussion North to the 49th parallel, and to investigate the representation of the border in both American and Canadian culture and cultural production.
As part of a series of CCUSB events, this conference will intervene in familiar border discourses, which have expanded out of the social and political contexts of the US-Mexico border, while the Canadian border with the USA has tended to be overlooked—prior to 9.11 at least—as 'passive'. Ultimately we seek to develop further border-specific conversations within Hemispheric and Transnational Studies, drawing attention to the ways in which cultural production at/on the Canada-US border both corroborates and unsettles that narrative of 'passivity', and highlights the nuances and exigencies of US-Canadian relations, as well as Canada's unique place in the cultural history of the Americas.
Algoma University is a small progressive university in Northern Ontario overlooking the Canada US border, providing an ideal location for the staging of this conference. The strategic location of the Twin Cities of Sault Canada and Sault Michigan on the St. Mary's River is the site of a rich international history linked to border issues, including those surrounding indigeneity and the border, the cross-fertilization of cultural identity, and the culture and 'architecture' of post-9/11 security and surveillance. The Algoma campus is located on the site of a former Indian residential school, and now includes Anishinaabe programs through Shingwauk Education Trust. For the 2013 CCUSB conference we will have the option of accommodation on site so that participants can enjoy the campus. For further details, visit: http://www.algomau.ca
We seek contributions that examine issues raised by the cultural implications of the Canada-US border in Canadian and/or American literature, television, cinema, visual art, music, and other cultural forms, as well as the significance of such cultural forms within other discourses—truth and reconciliation, health policy, security, foreign policy, and so on. We particularly encourage papers focusing on the following issues, though submissions on any relevant area of interest are welcome:
- Indigeneity and the border(lands)
- migration and immigration
- cultural cross-fertilization
- militarization of the border
- cultures and architectures of surveillance
- racialisation along the border
- américanité and the Québec-US border
- Canada and hemispheric America
- language and regionalism
- the culture of leisure on and across the border
Please send proposals for 20-minute papers and a brief CV to firstname.lastname@example.com by January 15 2013. Panel proposals of 3 papers (for a 90 minute slot) should include paper proposals plus a brief (100 words) summary of the panel's theme.
The CCUSB network, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, grew out of a conference held at the University of Kent, UK, in 2009. Its core members are located at the Universities of Kent and Nottingham, SUNY Buffalo, Algoma, Mt. Royal (Calgary), and Royal Roads (Victoria). Participation in the network's activities does not require membership. For further details visit: http://www.kent.ac.uk/ccusb
Catherine Barter
Research Network Administrator | "Culture and the Canada-US Border"
School of English, University of Kent, CT2 7NX
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Working Hours: Monday and Tuesday, 9am-5pm
twitter: http://www.twitter.com/CCUSBorder
fb: https://www.facebook.com/groups/249625671815331/
www: http://www.kent.ac.uk/ccusb


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Are you a representative of a distributive trades for fishing equipment, are you selling gear for fishermen, or maybe you have an online shop and got interested in the world's first smart sonar created by "Deeper"? Please fill the form below.
When possible, our sales managers will contact you and discuss the terms of cooperation.


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Coal stockpiles above five-year range in first quarter of 2012
Download CSV Data
Estimated coal stockpiles at U.S. electric power plants in March 2012 (latest EIA data available) were about 196 million short tons, almost 18% above the level in March 2011 and above the five-year range. Coal stockpiles are up as a result of declines in coal consumption by electric power plants.
Coal stockpile levels typically decline during summer and winter months as power plants burn through stocks to meet seasonal peak electric demand for cooling and heating load, respectively. However, mild weather during the winter of 2011/2012 combined with falling natural gas prices dampened demand for coal-fired electricity.
One measure of the disposition of coal stocks, called days of burn, is an estimate of how many days a stockpile of coal would last at a plant based on past consumption patterns. This measure creates a forward-looking estimate of coal supply at a power plant. Days of burn in February 2012 were at their highest levels since 2008, when EIA began computing the statistic. Days of burn in March 2012 were slightly below the February levels, reaching a national average of 91 days of burn. Mostly for reliability reasons, plant operators maintain stockpiles within certain ranges (usually about 50 to 80 days) even though coal supply disruptions of that duration are relatively unlikely.
Download CSV Data
Coal-fired generators are using various commercial strategies to manage their growing coal stockpiles, including:
- Not accepting additional purchases of coal by executing a contractual procedure known as force majeure. For example, GenOn, a merchant generator, described its invocation of force majeure in a recent quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission due to a lack of physical space to store additional coal receipts.
- Identifying new coal storage facilities.
- Renegotiating or buying out long-term contracts with coal sellers, as Duke Energy Indiana testified to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.
- Deferring purchases of coal to later years in a long-term contract. Consequently, some generators are then dispatching natural gas-fired units ahead of coal-fired units or using other hedges against further price fluctuations in coal markets.


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|The Typeable class reifies types to some extent by associating type representations to types. These type representations can be compared, and one can in turn define a type-safe cast operation. To this end, an unsafe cast is guarded by a test for type (representation) equivalence. The module Data.Dynamic uses Typeable for an implementation of dynamics. The module Data.Data uses Typeable and type-safe cast (but not dynamics) to support the "Scrap your boilerplate" style of generic programming.
|The Typeable class
|Type-safe cast
|The type-safe cast operation
|A flexible variation parameterised in a type constructor
|Type representations
|Construction of type representations
|Applies a type constructor to a sequence of types
|Adds a TypeRep argument to a TypeRep.
|A special case of mkTyConApp, which applies the function type constructor to a pair of types.
|Observation of type representations
|Splits a type constructor application
|Applies a type to a function type. Returns: Just u if the first argument represents a function of type t -> u and the second argument represents a function of type t. Otherwise, returns Nothing.
|Observe the type constructor of a type representation
|Observe the argument types of a type representation
|Observe string encoding of a type representation
Returns a unique integer associated with a TypeRep. This can be used for making a mapping with TypeReps as the keys, for example. It is guaranteed that t1 == t2 if and only if typeRepKey t1 == typeRepKey t2.
It is in the IO monad because the actual value of the key may vary from run to run of the program. You should only rely on the equality property, not any actual key value. The relative ordering of keys has no meaning either.
|The other Typeable classes
|Note: The general instances are provided for GHC only.
|Cast for * -> *
|Cast for * -> * -> *
|Default instances
|Note: These are not needed by GHC, for which these instances are generated by general instance declarations.
|For defining a Typeable instance from any Typeable1 instance.
|For defining a Typeable1 instance from any Typeable2 instance.
|For defining a Typeable2 instance from any Typeable3 instance.
|For defining a Typeable3 instance from any Typeable4 instance.
|For defining a Typeable4 instance from any Typeable5 instance.
|For defining a Typeable5 instance from any Typeable6 instance.
|For defining a Typeable6 instance from any Typeable7 instance.
|Produced by Haddock version 2.6.1


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Jackyl – Best in Show (2012)
I have to admit that the first couple of times that I listened to Jackyl's latest effort Best in Show, I wasn't that impressed. I thought a band that I have often compared to Jackyl, SNEW, out did Jackyl on their latest effort.
I do love the song "Screwdriver", but I thought the rest of the CD was hit & miss. Last Friday night (at The Inner Circle), I saw the band perform several of the songs live, and my opinion changed 100%. You see, a few of the songs on Best in Show translate better live than they do in the studio. After seeing the band perform the songs live, I have grown to appreciate Best in Show much more than I did originally.
The album starts off with a real face melting rocker with "Best In Show". This is one of the many songs that translate better live, although I like the version on the CD a lot.
"Screwdriver" and "Better Than Chicken" are a couple of tongue-in-cheek tracks that borrows from the Steel Panther playbook. Jesse James Dupree and company truly deliver these songs live. These may not be the type of songs you want to play around your young children, but I doubt you play Jackyl around your kids anyway.
Jackyl has crafted an almost perfect stripper pole anthem with their song "Encore". This song came as completely unexpected when I heard it the first time but this one is a real party starter in Jackyl's live set. I am sure this song will find its way into Gentemen's clubs nationwide soon.
"Horns Up" is a fun little rocker that has a little Nazareth influence on it. I absolutely love the groove on the song "Golden Spookytooth". This is quickly becoming one of my Jackyl favorites.
"Walk My Mile" is the longest track on Best in Show, and shows Jackyl taking a more serious approach to their music. This is a heavy tune, and a good one at that.
"Open Invitation" would have had a lot more impact, if it would have been released before Bin Laden's death. While the man will be hated forever, this song was obviously written before he was killed.
The only band that has successfully pulled off the rap/rock thing was Aerosmith in my opinion. Needless to say, I still question why Jackyl covered "It's Tricky" on this album. I am not a fan of the rap/rock hybrid, and I thought this cover was silly at best. For me that song ended the album on a down note. Nonetheless, Jackyl has delivered another solid album.
Best in Show is exactly what you would expect from a Jackyl CD. It is raw, raunchy and anything but subtle. Most importantly, it is a hell of a lot
of fun to listen to. The more I have listened to Best in Show, the more I have enjoyed it. It isn't a perfect CD, but I think it is easily the band's best effort since their 1992 self titled debut. Check it out!
Rating: Out of 10
Track Listing:
1. Best in Show
2. Encore
3. Screw Driver
4. Horns Up
5. Golden Spookytooth
6. Cover of the Rolling Stone
7. Walk My Mile
8. Favorite Sin
9. Better Than Chicken
10. Don't Lay Down On Me
11. Eleven
12. What I Do
13. Open Invitation
14. It's Tricky
Jackyl is:
Jesse James Dupree- Vocals & Chainsaw
Roman Glick- Bass
Chris Worley- Drums
Jeff Worley- Guitars


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Signs – North Fort Myers
Is your business is in need of custom signs in North Fort Myers? Contact Signs In One Day, we are your one stop shop for all of your signage needs! At Signs In One Day, we offer custom work for all types of signs in North Fort Myers and surrounding areas. Not quite sure what you want? There is no need to worry when you work with Signs In One Day! Our expert staff has over 25 years of experience and will work with you to help you get the finished product that you are looking for. We are proud to offer services creating custom signs in North Fort Myers, and look forward working with you. There is no job that is too small or too big for Signs In One Day. We are a rapid completion signage company devoted to getting your your signage and digital printing done in the quickest time possible. All signs are custom made for you when you place the order. Below are some examples of common signs along with some materials and signage design references. Once you have decided on what you need just contact us for a quote, or simply contact us and we will be happy to help you decide what you need.
Common Sign Types
Real Estate Signs
Real estate signs follow a few common design elements. Most are made of aluminum sheets in a metal frame. These are also referred to as "job site" signs. The lettering and graphics on these signs are made from vinyl, digital prints and sometimes paint. The most common type of signs are 18″ tall and 24″ wide, with vinyl lettering showing the name of the company, agent and the telephone number. Some agents also have their pictures on the signs via a digital print. Materials include Aluminum (thin .024 and thick .060 – thin bends easily and requires a frame while the thicker metal is stiffer and does not require a frame), Corex, Wood and Sintra.
Banners are available in almost any length. Common sizes are 3'x6′, 2'x4′ and 4'x8′. Banners can be full color digital prints or one color vinyl designs, or anything in between. All of our banners have brass grommet reinforced mounting points and are seemed on the edges for a finished and professional touch.
Store Front (Commercial Signs)
We offer a full range of marquee and commercial sign services including re-lettering and complete store front signage. We also do window lettering and portable signs. Contact us for a custom quote for your business signage needs.
Special Event Signs
Special event signs can be almost any design. One of the most common types are made from a material called Corex. Corex is a corrugated plastic material. Lettering and graphics on these type of signs are usually done in vinyl or even screen printed directly on the plastic. This type of sign usually uses a thin wire frame and are considered temporary signs. They are also very inexpensive compared to other types of signage
Contractor & Development Signs
This type of signage is usually made of wood and mounted on 4″x4″ wooden posts. There are several types of wood available as well as metal and other materials. The signs are painted with a base coat color or your choice and then have the lettering and graphics applied with vinyl or digital prints. This type of signage is more expensive than some other types, but also last a very long time. It is best suited to permanent or semi-permanent signs.
Sand Blasted Signs
Sand blasted signs are 3-Dimensional signs that have a carved appearance to them. They are made from a foam material that is sand blasted to remove material, leaving only the design intended. The sign is then painted in whatever color(s) necessary. The final result looks quite similar to wood that has been carved and is relatively light, but very durable. This type of sign is best for permanent signage.
Sign Backing Materials
Here is an overview of some common sign backing materials (the material that the wording or graphics is applied to, referred to as the substrate.) This is not a comprehensive list. If you would like a sign made on a different type of material just let us know, we will do our best to accommodate your needs.
Click on the image to the right to view our Sign Backing Materials >>
Colors and Graphics Materials
Vinyl is the most common material for applying text and graphics to signs. Almost any design or text style, in many different colors, can be applied to a sign with vinyl. This is the most economical way to letter your sign. Vinyl lasts up to 5 years and can be changed much easier than paint or other types of lettering materials.
Click on the image to the right to view some of our Color and Graphic Materials >>
Vinyl Appropriate Designs
Vinyl graphics are cut from rolls of vinyl by our plotters. While our equipment is cutting edge, there are some things that vinyl just can't do. These includes things such as photographs and anything with continuous tone gradients. Also there are some things that just don't turn out well, such as very small text (less than .25″) and designs with very small detail. In situations that are not appropriate for vinyl, Digital Prints are available. Here are some examples of good vinyl designs and not so good designs: You can see the difference in the images. The picture on the left has definite borders where one color stops and another one starts while the one on the right is smooth shaded. Both images could be put on a sign, but only one in vinyl.
Digital Prints
Digital Printing is a full color solution for signage. Digital Printing involves printing your sign graphics directly on a full color decal. Almost anything can be put on a digital print, from photographs to small text. The material used to print on is self-adhesive and can be applied to any of our sign backings.
Mounting and Stands
Several different types of mounting types are available for our signs. The exact type of mounting depends on the purpose and type of sign.
Some signs are attached directly to another surface. These types of signs are application specific and are the responsibility of the purchaser. Please review the building codes and permit restrictions in your locality.
Click the image to the right to view more about Mounting and Stands >>
Design Guidelines
Below are some basic sign design guidelines, like how to choose the right colors, fonts and text size for your application.
Sign Elements Visibility -The sign should be the right size for the intended purpose, and audience. Styling is also an important element in visibility.
Stand-out or "Pop" -The sign should be designed so that it stands out from it's environment. The color, size, fonts etc. all play an important part in this.
Legibility -The sign should be very readable. The intended audience should not have to squint to read the sign. Also text and graphics should be chosen so that the reader can understand it easily. For instance, lots of small text on a sign designed to be read by those driving by, is not a good idea, as the drivers will not have time to read it.
Colors -The right color for your signage is important for overall impact. Some colors have a higher visibility than others due to contrast, etc. Always try to have the greatest contrast in your sign, so that the intended audience will be able to read the sign easily.
As you can see in the image to the right, some colors contrast better with others. For example, white and black or yellow and black are very good sign colors, so are red and blue on white.
Type Style – We have many different fonts that we can use for your sign. We usually stick to a select few however, as they tend to work best for most circumstances. We can also use your fonts of choice. You always want your sign to read clearly and quickly depending on the application and intended audience. Helvetica fonts (similar to Arial for windows users) or Sans Serif is one of our primary fonts. It is very readable at large sizes because it is very clear. At smaller sizes or in large amounts however it is not as readable. Times (Times New Roman for windows users) or Serif is another font used quite regularly. Times is not as readable in large sizes as Helvetica, but is very easy to read at smaller sizes or in large amounts.
Custom Signs for Every Need & Every Occasion
Easy to Order - Fast Turn Around Time
We Proudly Serve the Following Areas:
Bonita Springs, Cape Coral, Estero, Fort Myers, Lehigh Acres, Naples, North Fort Myers, North Naples, San Carlos Park, Sanibel Island and All Surrounding Areas
Fort Myers
Lehigh Acres


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Seeing a Lexus with its rear tires steeply cambered by an overladen trunk, John Scott, a Wisconsin car enthusiast, had a brilliant idea. Now his concept for negatively cambered tires may literally reinvent the wheel.
Scott's idea — he calls it the Camber Tire, which he submitted for patent approval in 1998 and which was approved in 1999 — is a tire built with an outer sidewall that's slightly taller than the inside sidewall. That results in a continuing decrease in the diameter across the tread surface and allows for compensation for a negatively cambered alignment setting to the wheel. When mounted on a vehicle with independent negatively cambered suspension or negatively cambered non-driven axles, his research indicates that the Camber Tire can deliver substantially improved handling, ride quality, tread wear and fuel economy.
Better yet, it provides all these benefits for cars with independent suspension or non-driven solid axles with no additional add-on equipment — just a new set of tires and an alignment including properly setting the suspension camber.
Scott's physics look sound. We all know that standard tires aren't square to the road when a car's body leans into turns. A negatively cambered tire's shape allows it to maintain contact on those curves.
The phenomenon of negative camber is something racers have used for a long time to achieve higher cornering speeds. Even NASCAR drivers — despite knowing how we feel about NASCAR, we're willing to give them begrudging respect on this point — use the concept on oval tracks (where every turn is to the left). Teams will angle the right side tires in at the top and the left side tires out at the top to give maximum surface contact to all four tires in the turns.
But the tires aren't just for the track. Automobile's Don Sherman, wrote for the New York Times that he drove a Lancer GSR equipped with Scott's tires and found the CamberTire-equipped Mitsubishi
"demonstrated shorter stopping distances, higher cornering speeds and a markedly improved ride. The tires' breakaway at the ragged edge of adhesion was more progressive and predictable than the Mitsubishi's original-equipment Yokohama radials."
Here's a detailed look at the results of Automobile's tests:
That's all well and good, but there are some problem with altered camber tires. One issue racers have had with futzing with the camber is increased tread wear on patches of the tire with higher contact time with the road. Scott's Camber Tire beats the problem because its tread runs flat. He claims his prototype, in high-mileage tests, are able to maintain normal tire tread life because of that design
So, are Scott's tires the future? He's betting on it — and positive reaction from outlets like Automobile and even car guys like Jay Leno, can't hurt. Although his claim to have "reinvented the wheel" may be a bit of hyperbole, he did recently receive passing grades from the Department of Transportation (DOT) for durability and speed ratings. Scott's next step is to take the concept from niche performance tires — where he's currently focusing his efforts — into more conventional sizes. If he succeeds in bringing this straight-from-the-track tire technology to the masses then maybe he really has "reinvented the wheel."


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Show SummaryAdam opens the show discussing the freeway signs that are finally telling people to pull their cars to the side of the road if they get into an accident. Adam also complains about horrible clinger farts, and a sports bar in Sacramento spinning Top 40 hits. Next up, Adam takes calls, and speaks to fans about life in Jerusalem, long distance relationships, and waiting to have babies. Before the break, Adam pitches a kid petting zoo. Jay Mohr is in studio next, and Adam asks him to audition for The Floaters in the voices of the many of amazing impressions he can do. Alison then begins the news discussing Tila Tequila losing her mind, and the guys wonder if it's just a publicity stunt. As the show wraps up, Alison reads a story about tricky tongue twisters, and the guys try their hands at saying it.
LinksVisit http://jaymohr.com for more info on today's guest. Also subscribe to Mohr Stories on iTunes, and follow on Twitter @jaymohr37
Superfan SidebarClick Here for Superfan Giovanni's recap and commentary on today's episode. For more, go to AdamCarolla.com/Gio.
Show CreditsProducers: Mike August, Mike Lynch, and Mike Dawson Co-Producers: Gary Smith, Chris Laxamana, Matt Fondiler and Jeff Fox Newsgirl: Alison Rosen Sound Effects: Bryan Bishop


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Richard Byrne on Free Technology for Teachers reminds us today that Google Drive is a perfect vehicle for sharing files. He is addressing the education community but his suggestion is just as pertinent for genealogists.
He says "You can upload videos, audio files, PDFs, Word documents, and just about any other file to your Google Drive account and you can make access to the file public if you want to. This is how I occasionally share some of my large PDFs. Grab the link to the file by clicking the share button in your Google Drive account then select "anyone with the link" as your accessibility setting. Now you can paste that link into your Facebook page for your class or your school."
I use Google Drive all the time to share documents with family and find it very effective. I also used it in 2012 to plan a Rootstech presentation with genealogists in three other countries.
To access Google Drive you need a Google Account. Do consider setting one up - it gives yo access to a suite of wonderful tools.