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The Bald Eagle
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
IWSG DAY, August 2, 2017, A Time to Be Silent and A Time to Speak; A Time to Embrace and A Time to Refrain From
51 comments:
Silence has a way to emphasise the beauty of nature around me during my morning walk. It also makes it an easy transition from walking to writing. I wish others would understand that silence isn't a burden or something that has to be solved or chased away with loud music and conversation. Silence is a gift in a world filled with empty noise.ReplyDeleteReplies
Thank you for coming by Ronel. I too wish people would not see silence as a burden.Delete
Shalom aleichem,
I can definitely relate to wanting quiet time in the morning. I like to wake up slowly over a cup of coffee before I speak to anyone. :-)ReplyDeleteReplies
There you go, so do I. I like waking up and getting my thoughts together over a cup of coffee before the hustle and bustle of the day.Delete
Shalom aleichem,
So very true, close our ears to distractions and open our hearts to all the beauty around us, which is God's glory. Take time to rejoice in all He has given. But thank Him for every sound, of nature or of man, as it pleasing to Him. God bless you, my friend!ReplyDeleteReplies
Yes, my dear friend,Delete
It is wonderful to wake up in the morning with praise in our hearts regardless of whether the sun is shining or it is raining as we listen to the beats of silence.
Shalom aleichem,
Some wise words, Pat!ReplyDelete
I don't talk in the morning because it takes several hours for my brain to turn on.Replies
Yes! So is it for me. I often say, people, please give me time to turn on.Delete
Shalom aleichem,
Excellent points on silence and speaking. And negativity. I think if you are surrounded by people who are always negative, you become negative too. It's a constant battle to be positive, but it really does make life better if you can tune into the good parts of it.ReplyDelete
JQ RoseReplies
I so agree with you. I have come to the point where I do my best to avoid negative people at all costs. I just don't have the time for them because that's not the way I'm going.Delete
Shalom aleichem,
I love quiet and silence. It feeds my soul.ReplyDelete
I've been working on not complaining so much. It has started to feel automatic, as if the words just tumble from my mouth without any thought. I don't like that, and I'm working on changing it. :)Replies
I love quiet and silence too and it is difficult but like you I have chosen to stay away from negative people and negative thoughts. I catch myself these days by thinking before I speak.Delete
Shalom aleichem,
Quiet is always welcomed! Love your eagle picture, by the way.ReplyDeleteReplies
Thank you. Quiet is always welcomed by me too.Delete
Shalom aleichem,
I enjoy the silence especially in the morning. With three kids, it's a rarity! :)ReplyDeleteReplies
Oh, Jennifer, with three kids, it is a rarity but how nice to know that you do get the chance to enjoy silence every now and then. It makes the sounds of silence even more special.Delete
Shalom aleichem,
Yes, out morning is mostly quiet, except for John's TV reporting the morning news. At least I don't have to worry about a jabber-box in out apartment! PHEW!!ReplyDeleteReplies
So happy to hear that you do get the chance to enjoy the silence.
Shalom aleichem,
- AnonymousAugust 2, 2017 at 4:49 PM
I feel some people have a need to fill silence. Over the last few years, I've learned to enjoy the quiet and be grateful for what's around me: the trees, the clouds, the birds outside my window. I've gained an attitude of gratitude. It's humbling.ReplyDelete
Enjoy the rest of your week!
I so agree with your thoughts. It is humbling when one learns to enjoy quiet and an attitude of gratitude does rise up within us.Delete
Shalom aleichem,
What a lovely post. Thank you.ReplyDelete
Yes, silence is an important part of my life, too. Some people act as though they're afraid of the stillness and the quiet... they must always have a television or radio blaring, or they must be yap, yap, yapping about everything and nothing. But it's in the quiet that we can find peace and the strength to keep our mouths shut. And sometimes we must do just that... keep our thoughts to ourselves... because it's far more important to be kind than to be right... just because we "know" we're right doesn't mean we have to express it.
Yes indeed, Susan. That's my experience also. It is in the quiet that we can find peace and the strength to keep our mouths shut.Delete
Thank you.
Shalom aleichem,
I need to take a lesson from you. I am so negative and critical, about both myself and others.ReplyDelete
I'm totally with you, though, regarding morning silence. There is nothing better than waking up to the wind blowing through the trees, birds chirping, and the pitter patter of rain against the window (even though all of those things may not happen in the same morning). Even better when I can "wake up slow". I have to be awake a good hour or two before words are allowed to be spoken. :)
With Love,
Oh Mandy that was a hard lesson for me to learn about myself. It was an eye opener when I saw that my negativity and criticism often was a reflection of poor self-esteem within myself. When I saw that, I began to breathe easier and live lighter.Delete
Shalom aleichem,
Great post, Pat! You're so right. How often do we hear variations on: "The sun is shining but." It's a poisonous phrase and should be eradicated, at least from my personal vocabulary. From now on, the sun is shining. Period. No 'buts."ReplyDeleteReplies
Thank you Olga.Delete
Shalom aleichem,
I also do not like to talk much in the morning. I also try to delay getting on the Internet, which can be noisy as well. I loved what you had to say here. Complaining really drags me down--whether I'm doing it or someone else. It's something I'm working on in myself--and I loved what you said about embracing people and dealing with your own self-righteous thoughts. Yes, I have to guard against that too.ReplyDelete
Good luck with your submissions!Replies
Thank you, Jenni. I delay getting on the internet also. I intentionally don't answer emails unless they are urgent. Correspondence belong to my late afternoon. I do my best to not start talking before eleven in the morning and on Sundays, I have imposed a do not work ban which I enforce on myself and it feels so good being away from the computer for a day.Delete
Shalom aleichem,
I never appreciated silence more until after I had kids. Sometimes, I just try to tune out the "Mama, mama, mama!"ReplyDeleteReplies
Yes, when you have kids you have to go with the flow. But aren't they wonderful. They're like sunshine.Delete
Shalom aleichem,
Pat, I can never understand why people ALWAYS have ear buds in their ears while they walk, run, do chores. Doesn't anyone want to listen to their own thoughts? Great post. Thanks for reminding us about the time needed to just listen to the self and find something positive to say about life.ReplyDeleteReplies
I don't understand that either. People go biking or running and they're talking on the phone. I sometime think we are afraid of our thoughts.
Shalom aleichem,
Love your deep thoughts, and they're right on. One of the things concerning me lately is that people get so wrapped up in the noise and speed of life that they don't take time to pause and think. Especially about others. That's a dangerous trend.ReplyDeleteReplies
Yes, Crystal, I agree. There is a dangerous trend going on that most people don't recognise. And that is not being able to deal with silence because our thoughts rise and trouble us.Delete
Shalom aleichem,
The only sounds I appreciate in the mornings are the birds outside my window. They're the nosiest in spring and I love to see how busy they become when those babies arrive. Otherwise, I'm with you. Give me a quiet morning.ReplyDeleteReplies
That is absolutely beautiful. One can learn so much by just listening to birds.Delete
Shalom aleichem,
Thanks for stopping by my blog and offering encouragement. Thanks for sharing this post. It speaks to me on many levels. I'm a morning person and take great comfort in the stillness and quiet of the morning, but (as you state) it doesn't last and I often get bogged down with 'buts' throughout my day. Verbal silence has is place and time, and so does mental silence. Sometimes I just need to quiet my mind.ReplyDeleteReplies
We all need to quiet our minds. Sometimes, I find myself in the same situation and I have to forcefully make my mind be silent.
Shalom aleichem,
I work from home and have the house to myself all day. I think about playing music, but most often I enjoy the silence more.ReplyDeleteReplies
Yes, I know what you mean. I have my office also at home. I usually don't play music because it disturbs me. But I do hear the music that is within me. That's comforting.Delete
Shalom aleichem,
Pat, this is a beautifully written essay. I loved he bible quotes and I am much like you except that my mornings begin at noon and I am going to sleep just as dawn creeps up. I treasure the sound of silence during those times. And I commune with God.ReplyDeleteReplies
Thank you my dear. Like you, I treasure the sounds of silence as dawn creeps up. It is my time to commune with God.Delete
Shalom aleichem,
Silence is a blessing. We hear so much more when we can sit in silence for a while.ReplyDeleteReplies
I agree with Lynda. We would hear so much more if we could sit in silence for a while. It is truly a blessing to be able to do that.Delete
Shalom aleichem,
I am listening to the birds right now! I find the sounds of nature soothing. It's my preferred soundtrack. Not a recording; the real thing. :)ReplyDeleteReplies
Beautiful! The sounds of nature are soothing.Delete
Shalom aleichem,
I love the sounds of silence...and yes, the awesome song of that name, too. I love my own company not that i'm anti-social. Silence serves us well.ReplyDeleteReplies
Yes indeed, Denise. Silence does serve us well if we will let it. And I too love that awesome song by Simon and Garfunkel. It never ages.Delete
Shalom aleichem,
I have to admit, I rarely have true silence in my life. My brain's pretty much constantly on full-blast.ReplyDeleteReplies
I hope you get the chance to experience true silence. Once you do, it will be something that you want to experience often.Delete
All the best, Misha.
Shalom aleichem,
Some of my best times have been when I've lived or stayed in a rural area or the mountains and can just enjoy the feel, smell, and sound of natural surroundings. Now I live in the city so the sounds of urbanity are all around me, but I try to keep things quiet in the house much of the day.ReplyDelete
You have made a good case.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out


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This Matter of Uncorking Champagne
For some reason, the chore of uncorking a bottle of sparkling wine intimidates some people. They sort of quietly pass on the responsibility to another in the group! (and thus never learn how to do it well). Then… there are those who tackle it head on, and sort of think that popping it is the… read more »

subset: commoncrawl


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The Bernalillo County/South Valley Rail Runner Station provides South Valley residents with a quick ride to Downtown Albuquerque. The station's location on Rio Bravo also allows for a quick bus connection to the Albuquerque International Sunport for people traveling to and from Valencia County.
113 Rio Bravo SE
Albuquerque, NM
(South Valley at Rio Bravo Boulevard and 2nd Street)
From I-25:
From the South Valley:
From the south:
Approximately 172 free parking spaces located to the east of the station. Accessible from Rio Bravo Boulevard or Prince Street.


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Jamaican Rice and "Peas"
4 cups water
1 cup dried red kidney beans, soaked overnight in 3 cups of water
1/2 pound smoked pork hocks, tails, or other meat for flavoring, optional
4 cloves garlic, smashed
4 scallions, crushed*
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
3 teaspoons salt
1 scotch bonnet, halved and seeded
2 1/2 cups long grain rice, washed and drained
Break the coconut meat into small chunks with your hands. Add the water to a blender, and blend on high speed, adding the coconut chunks little by little until the mixture resembles a coarse puree. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve and press to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the solids, measure the coconut milk, and set aside.
Place the beans, along with the soaking liquid into a large heavy pot or dutch oven. Add the pork hock and garlic and bring to a boil over high heat. Cover the pot, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook until beans are just tender, about 1 hour. Add the coconut milk, scallions, thyme, allspice, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil. Stir in the rice and, once the mixture has returned to a boil, stir, reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the rice is tender and has absorbed all of the liquid. Allow to sit for 15 minutes before serving. Remove the thyme sprigs and scotch bonnet pepper halves and serve.
**It is traditional to "crush" scallions by placing them on a cutting board and lightly tapping them with the handle of a knife. They can then be removed before serving but still impart their wonderful flavor to the rice and peas.
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
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© Malini's Kitchen :: Sri Lanka Recipes


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Reality shows are the rage these days. All the kids love 'em. It's like a living window into the world of deserted island survival, gold mining, or even finding crap that might be worth something.
But now we're hearing that one of them might be staged and not reality. Say it ain't so!
Dave Hester is a former cast member on A&E's Storage Wars, a show where enterprising folks go around to abandoned self storage units and then bid on the contents. When they open them, sometimes they find treasure — even cars — and other times they find pure crap.
Hester is filing suit against the show because he alleges that the producers would plant expensive items in certain storage lockers in order to raise the drama on the show (you can read the complaint here). During the first season, Hester says that he was asked to put his own valuables in some lockers.
But wait... there's more! He even alleges that A&E paid for one female cast member to have plastic surgery in order to create more "sex appeal." Hester claims he was released from the show after he expressed these concerns in September. Curiously, in September he was also negotiating a new contract and said that he would "walk away" if he didn't get the contract offer he wanted.
A&E has yet to comment.
Photo Credit: AP Images


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Leicester (G-B): The science of the search for Richard III
University of Leicester
Source - http://phys.org/news/2012-11-csi-science-richard-iii.html#jCp
DNA testing, environmental sampling and radiocarbon dating are some of the tests being undertaken to determine whether the skeleton found in Leicester was once Richard III - and there are also plans to do a facial reconstruction.
Lead archaeologist Richard Buckley, of the University of Leicester's Archaeological Services, has explained the schedule for the scientific processes the skeleton is being subjected to.
The complexity and rigorousness of the tests – along with the need to find specialist facilities for some crucial stages – mean that the results of the skeleton's identity will not come overnight.
After the remains were exhumed, soil samples were taken from the grave and from around the skeleton which may provide information about the burial practice and its environment together with information related to health and diet of the person.
The skeleton has been given a computed-tomography (CT) scan which will allow scientists to build up a 3-D digital image of the individual.
From here, they hope to reconstruct the individual's face, in a similar way to the images created of King Tutankhamun following CT scans of the 3,000-year-old mummy.
Samples of dental calculus - mineralised dental plaque, which sometimes builds up around teeth - will be taken from the skeleton to help the scientists find out more about the person's diet, health and living conditions.
Further samples have been taken from the teeth and a long bone so that ancient DNA can be extracted and compared with that of Michael Ibsen, believed to be a descendant of Richard III's sister, Anne of York via the female line.
But extracting the DNA from these samples is not straightforward, as even the act of breathing on 500-year-old remains can cause the sample to be contaminated with modern DNA.
While the testing of modern DNA from Michael Ibsen is being carried out at Leicester, the extraction of DNA from the skeleton is taking place in partnership with "ancient DNA" testing facilities which will allow the sample to be tested safely, without risk of contamination.
A separate genealogical study is being undertaken to verify Michael Ibsen's connection to the Plantagenets and researchers also hope to identify a second line of descent.
The skeleton is also being radiocarbon dated by two separate labs, which should indicate - to within 80 years - the date the individual died.
The skeleton has now been cleaned, and is currently being examined in detail in an attempt to ascertain the individual's age, build and the nature of its spinal condition.
Particular attention will be paid to the trauma to the skeleton which may have been incurred in battle – including the injury to the skull. Specialists in medieval battles and weaponry are advising the team on the kinds of instruments that may have caused the damage.
Forensic pathologists at the University's East Midlands Forensic Pathology Unit are also working with the team and are involved in helping to determine the cause of death.
Richard Buckley said: "We are looking at many different lines of enquiry, the evidence from which all add up to give us more assurance about the identity of the individual. As well as the DNA testing, we have to take in all of the other pieces of evidence which tell us about the person's lifestyle – including his health and where he grew up.
"There are many specialists involved in the process, and so we have to coordinate all of the tests so the analysis is done in a specific order.
"The ancient DNA testing in particular takes time and we need to work in partnership with specialist facilities. It is not like in CSI, where DNA testing can be done almost immediately, anywhere – we are reliant on the specialist process and facilities to successfully extract ancient DNA."
The University of Leicester, in association with Leicester City Council and the Richard III Society, is leading the Search for Richard III. The University has made it clear that it is not saying it has found Richard III – rather that the skeleton has characteristics that warrant extensive further detailed examination and that the search has moved from an archaeological to a laboratory phase.
The University has added that the outcomes of its investigations are expected early next year - and that possible outcomes are:
- The scientific research suggests it is Richard III
- The scientific research suggests it is not Richard III
- The scientific research is inconclusive and therefore conclusions may be drawn from the evidence available.
The Search for Richard III is also the subject of a Channel 4 documentary being made by Darlow Smithson. More information: Search for King Richard III press portal: http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/press/media-centre/richard-iii Provided by University of Leicester


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Desktop Cloud
Based on Huawei FusionSphere, the FusionAccess virtual desktop solution allows users to access cross-platform applications and desktops through thin clients or other connected terminals. FusionAccess features high security and reliability, superior user experience, and high efficiency. Enabling easy enterprise agility, the solution serves more than 1.1 million users worldwide and ranks top in the China market.


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- Bedrock Q Quartz by MSI countertops are non-porous so they never have to be sealed and are very stain resistant.
- Quartz is one of the hardest minerals on earth next to diamonds and a few previous stones. This makes Quartz a great product for countertops as it is very scratch resistant and chip resistant.
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Bedrock Quartz
Provider: Q Quartz


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Broadway's 'Best Man': John Larroquette
A couple of months ago, it seemed at least possible that we might see the drama of a brokered convention this year - two or maybe three candidates struggling to win delegates as the presidential nomination goes ballot after ballot. But while that will not happen in Tampa or Charlotte, that drama plays out every night on Broadway, in a revival of Gore Vidal's "The Best Man." Set in 1960, the play features James Earl Jones, Angela Lansbury and Candice Bergen in supporting roles and stars Eric McCormack and John Larroquette as rivals grasping for the brass ring of the nomination.
John Larroquette, of course best known for "Night Court" and other TV series, but also the winner of a Tony Award for "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," he joins us in a moment. If you have questions about the intersection of theater, TV and politics, the phone number is 800-989-8255. Email: email@example.com. You can also join the conversation at our website. That's at npr.org and click on TALK OF THE NATION. John Larroquette has been nominated for his role as William Russell in the Broadway revival of Gore Vidal's "The Best Man," the category of distinguished performance for the Drama League Awards. He joins us now for - from our bureau in New York. Nice to have you with us today.
JOHN LARROQUETTE: Good afternoon. It's very nice to be here with you.
CONAN: Congratulations on the nomination.
LARROQUETTE: Thanks.
CONAN: You're also co-hosting that award ceremony.
LARROQUETTE: Yes, I am. So I would love to be able to open an envelope and read my own name.
CONAN: That would be interesting. There is a line in the play where your rival, Eric McCormack, tells you after he wins the nomination, you should get your own TV show.
LARROQUETTE: Yeah.
CONAN: And you reply: I'm sure you meant that as a compliment, and it gets a laugh, but maybe not exactly for the reason that Gore Vidal intended.
LARROQUETTE: Well, I don't know. I think maybe - I think, you know, in 1960, when you think about it, television was still relatively new, I suppose, and it started seeping into our lives during those years. And I think Gore Vidal had a bit of distain for the medium, perhaps, or at least Bill Russell, my character, does. So I think that perhaps there's more laughs in this play than I originally thought, although I thought when I first read it that comedy was important to find in it because sometimes it has a tendency to be a little - not pedantic, certainly, but it talks about philosophy and it talks about morals. And sometimes it's difficult to act, so I wanted to make the audience as comfortable as possible by making them laugh as often as possible.
CONAN: And your character, well, it could be played another way, towards the pompous.
LARROQUETTE: Yes. I'm - yes, it could. But I think that would be deadly. And, you know, I didn't see the movie. I didn't - and when I thought when I was offered the role, thinking to step in any shoes that Henry Fonda may have occupied might be really treacherous if I try to play it truly earnestly, but with tongue and cheek I thought I could probably pull it off.
CONAN: And when you were offered the part, did you know that you would have to swap lines with James Earl Jones?
LARROQUETTE: Yes, absolutely, because James had signed on, I think, either first or second and then Angela in that - or maybe not in that order, perhaps reversed. But when Jeffrey Richards, the producer, who came to see "How to Succeed" several times, which I was very complimented by, and he would talk to me after the show, that's what he said - James Earl Jones is doing this, and I basically said yes before I even read the play.
CONAN: That's a little intimidating, though, isn't it?
LARROQUETTE: Absolutely. You know, I told my wife, particularly. I said I'm sort of known perhaps for having a sort of stentorial(ph) voice with some depth to it. And I thought, I'm going to have to do this one - I don't know - like Mr. Peepers. You know, I can't even compete with James on the stage in that play.
CONAN: There's an old rule in radio: You never have any guest on who's got a better voice than yours.
CONAN: Same thing in - in fact, I read that you are, in fact, a radio refugee yourself.
LARROQUETTE: I am. Yes. I was sitting here in this studio in New York and listening to you in the background. One question I wanted to ask, and I didn't know if you guys print it anywhere. I'd love to know what that interstitial music was - you were playing the piano stuff before. I don't even know if you hear it. But you guys pick great music. I must say that it's a pleasure talking to you because I listen to you a lot. But I spent my youth in small crowded rooms where actually in those days you could smoke cigarettes and other things.
And in New Orleans - and I loved it - had radio stayed the way it was between '67 and '69, at least in my world, I don't think I would have left it. But it started to get commercialized, and so you had less time to play music and more commercials on your log. And so it was more difficult to be sort of free form.
CONAN: The tune was "Are We There Yet?" - the Chad Lawson Trio. It was picked by Gwen Outen, our director. I have nothing to do with it.
LARROQUETTE: Thank you. I'm glad to know that.
CONAN: Yes.
LARROQUETTE: I'll take a note of that.
CONAN: OK. And you were a music producer when you first went to L.A. And I, again, read that you walked into a performance of a play and said, wow, that's what I want to do.
LARROQUETTE: That is correct, although not producer. I was a promotion director for a record company, although I did the only - the actual, only product that ever came out of that relationship, which was three years long, a radio - a record company that was started by a gentleman who inherited a great deal of money, didn't know much about the business, and I tried to help set up distribution. But the only thing that was made was a children's album called "Hubert the Rainmaking Hippopotamus," which I don't take much credit for. I don't even think it exists anymore, but I did that.
But during that time, I walked into a theater in Old Town in San Diego, saw some actors sitting around this table, reading a play and something happened, you know? I'd not acted before, once in high school, but I'd acted on a radio, as I said, you know, the free formats that we had in the '60s, where each director - each DJ, excuse me, was his own program director. I bring in T.S. Eliot poetry or Korean wedding gongs and played it over Jimi Hendrix. And so I was acting with...
LARROQUETTE: I was acting...
CONAN: And you wonder why you're not working in radio today.
CONAN: But a lot of us can walk, you know, I sure walked into Yankee stadium and saw Mickey Mantle play centerfield and...
LARROQUETTE: Yes.
CONAN: ...I said I wanted to do that. It didn't work out that way.
LARROQUETTE: Yeah. Well, did you try?
CONAN: Yes, I did but, you know...
CONAN: ...the curve ball proved to be a deterrence, so did the fast ball and the slider.
CONAN: But as it turns out, when was there a moment when you said, you know, I can do this?
LARROQUETTE: Boy, I didn't - I never doubted I could do it. I just didn't know how to. I mean, having no experience, I moved to L.A., collected unemployment and on the bus one day saw a sign in the building that literally said, acting lessons $10 a week. And I walked into that room and sat there for two months, and a fellow in that room who became a friend of mine said he had read there was auditioning for a play. I went to audition for this play, "The Crucible," got role. The people in that play said, we're going to do a comedy. Would you like to do it? It was called "Enter Laughing." I did that, got a decent review, got an agent, met my wife and started working.
CONAN: Did you play a bad guy in "The Crucible"?
LARROQUETTE: I guess you might call Reverend Hale, the exorcist - certainly misguided.
CONAN: Yeah. Well, yeah. You played a sequence of people who are, at least partly in their lives, misguided.
LARROQUETTE: Yes. Yes. I'm not sure that reflects well on my soul, but it has been that I have played - I wouldn't say deviants, but certainly those who do not necessarily run along the same tract as most of the population.
CONAN: In this play...
LARROQUETTE: It's also funny to play those, you know. It's much funnier to play those.
CONAN: I would think so. And you star in "The Best Man" as William Russell, and you are not a perfect character, but a man of integrity. There's a scene we want to play from the play, where you meet with your rival, Joseph Cantwell, played by Eric McCormack, as we mentioned earlier. And you both have a political dynamite that you could use against each other, and here's part of the confrontation.
LARROQUETTE: (as William Russell) Come off it, Joe. I came down here to convince you to drop that nonsense against me, as I mean to drop this nonsense against you. These things are irrelevant, dishonest, not to mention, untrue. They cancel each other out. So yes, please, I wish you would join me in not indulging in personalities. I will tear this up. I will send Sheldon Marcus back to where he came from if you drop that nonsense against me.
ERIC MCCORMACK: (as Joe Cantwell) I see. You came here to make a deal with me.
LARROQUETTE: (as William Russell) No, Joe. I don't make...
MCCORMACK: (as Joe Cantwell) That makes perfect sense, what you're doing. And I have no hard feelings, really, I mean it, so don't be apologetic.
LARROQUETTE: (as William Russell) You have no feelings, I would say.
CONAN: Which is a man of - well, struggling with his integrity because the prize is so great.
LARROQUETTE: Mm-hmm. You know, my first question in my mind and, actually, I vicariously asked it directly to Gore Vidal, through the director, that at the end of the play, which I won't give away. I always thought it a great mystery, or it's not something that will...
CONAN: The best man wins, let's just put it that way.
LARROQUETTE: Correct. That by the action that William Russell takes at the end of the play, does it, in any way, indicate that he has either no balls or huge balls? Because I wasn't sure, after reading the play it several times and starting to rehearse it, which of those answers was correct because it had to be one or the other. As an actor, obviously, I have to think that my character does the right thing, at least that he thinks it's the right thing. So I sort of answered it for myself, but Gore Vidal did answer me.
And so I used that, his answer, to look at how William Russell actually removes himself from this. Because when you think about it, if you know the play, there are other routes he could take in order to ostracize Cantwell without himself sacrificing his presidency. But he doesn't take them, this obvious one, which is to go to the governor John Merwin character, and say, come on. Let's join forces and beat the hell of this guy. So it had to be - it has to come to point where Russell cannot be part of the system at all, secondarily. If he can't be, he's got to stop Cantwell from being.
CONAN: Because Cantwell is so egregious, but in a...
LARROQUETTE: And it's that, you know, that's, again, a personal and subjective thing, I supposed, although that's what William Russell thinks. Although even James Earl Jones' character has, you know, he vacillates about whether or not that's a good thing to be or not.
CONAN: As a president. One of the questions that has come up about this play is the casting of James Earl Jones, not that anybody wouldn't cast James Earl Jones as, you know, "Heidi," but...
LARROQUETTE: I like to see the ringlets. It would be a very nice sight.
CONAN: He could do it.
CONAN: But he is playing a former president of the United States. Of course, he's got complete de gravitas, but a black former president in 1960?
LARROQUETTE: Yes. You know, it's interesting also when you read the play a bit and, you know, I think not that James Earl Jones transcends race. I don't think any of us do. We are what we are. But I don't think, you know, and I don't read reviews and that's not - I'm not being facetious when I say that I hate them, the good ones and the bad ones. Because, as Richard Burton said, the bad ones kill and the good ones are never good enough. So I don't read them and - but - that I know of. No one has brought that up. No one has brought that out as, wow, how could they do that?
It's just - and if you noticed, the play - if one reads the play and sees the play - there's not one mention of race, I mean, even forgetting, you know, looking at Gore Vidal's original text, that does not come out as an issue in the play, and the communists and homosexuality and promiscuity do. But there's never an issue of race. In 1960, you'd have think that have been somewhat - you know, it certainly is part of my life, growing up in New Orleans - but it's not in this play. So I think James playing it is just not - I think it's a, you know, there's no problem with that.
CONAN: Here's an email question from Hank in Fernandina Beach in Florida: How did you end up doing the voiceover at the beginning of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," the greatest movie of all the time? He adds parenthetically...
LARROQUETTE: You know, it's funny how things come around. I was - I met the director in Colorado in 1969. And when I went to L.A., he contacted me because we had spent some time together in Colorado and said, I directed this movie, and I need a favor. I don't have any money. And so I went into the studio and I did this narration as a favor for him, and that was it. I've never seen the movie, and I never spoke to the director again, Tobe Hooper, but I did this a favor because he was, you know, a head from Colorado, like I was, and he was directing a movie, and I had moved to L.A., you know. So that's how it happened.
And to, you know, to show how some things that you do come around again and helped you 30 years later, or however long it was when I did the redux, I supposed they'd call it, or whatever, I was hired again by the new director and I actually got paid to do the narration this time.
So you never know. A favor...
CONAN: Scale?
LARROQUETTE: No, a little more than that.
CONAN: A little more than that.
LARROQUETTE: A favor can come back and actually be good for you.
CONAN: We're talking with John Larroquette, currently starring in the revival of Gore Vidal's "The Best Man" on Broadway. You're listening to TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News.
And here's another email question. This is from Phil in Huntersville, North Carolina: Do you feel your TV, "The John Larroquette Show," which ran on NBC from 1993 to 1996 was decade ahead of its time? The dark series, where you played an alcoholic, who's the night manager at a bus terminal, was very original and groundbreaking in the first season, but NBC felt it was too dark and traded your dingy boardinghouse with bright apartment. They gave you a clean-cut girlfriend. Suddenly, the show was just like every other sitcom and was canceled.
LARROQUETTE: No, it wasn't like every other sitcom. It was worse than every other sitcom.
CONAN: Yes. Now, networks are clamoring for dark shows and love giving their stars flaws and addictions. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
LARROQUETTE: I agree with the first comment in that I think the first 12 or 13 episodes of that television show written by Don Reo and other staff members and whatever contributions I made to it myself were some of the - I think some of the best sitcom television that has ever been on television. And if I had not been in it, I will say that. But it was - I blame myself as a good Catholic boy should for being able...
LARROQUETTE: ...too aggressive in pushing the whole dark alcoholic, you know, the first 12 episodes are based on the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, that anonymous group that some people join in order to learn how to live sober.
CONAN: Not that you would know anything about that.
LARROQUETTE: Nothing. And I should have - we should have spread that over a couple of seasons and found other stories that certainly were - there are multiple stories that you could do from dingy bus stations in St. Louis. But I have a feeling I was bit egotistical and - not acting out of hubris, but I just come off a very successful nine-year run. I had an open-ended deal at NBC, and I should have been - we - Don Reo and I should have been a little more conservative in pushing that dark element. I mean, as it, you know - but the first 12 or 13 episodes were wonderful.
And my greed factor then came in by the end of the first season, when I went into the studio - into the network and talked to Warren and Donald, my other president, and convinced them to pick it up for a second season. And I thought I could make it funny with moving away a little bit from the dark side and that was a mistake.
CONAN: Let's get a caller in on the conversation. This is Taylor. Taylor with us from August, Georgia.
TAYLOR: Yes. Augusta, Georgia.
CONAN: Augusta, yeah.
TAYLOR: I'm a huge fan. I was just wondering - you did a smarmy character, very sleazy character so well on "Night Court." I was wondering if you find those types of characters appealing, and would we probably see anything else like that from you in the future? And I'll take my answer off the air.
CONAN: Thanks, Taylor.
LARROQUETTE: As I said earlier, you know, for characters with great defects like that are more interesting to play, to me anyway. There's more handles to grab for comedy. But when I - yes, and I like playing them. But when you look at Dan Fielding - and that was, what, 25 years ago now - or however long, maybe longer - that to play those kind of characters at my age now, turns you into the perverted range, which probably isn't the best for a 64-year-old man to play. It becomes sort of sickly, and I think, not funny. Certainly, characters with bends like that of mental and unsociable and misanthropic tendencies are fun to play and can still be played, but it takes a - it's a different color when you're 40 as opposed to when you're 60 playing those.
CONAN: Let's see. We got one more caller in, Joe. Joe with us from Lansing. Just a few seconds left, Joe.
JOE: Yeah. Just real quick. What happen to your character on "The West Wing"? How come that was slashed? You're great and Aaron Sorkin would be great writer for you.
LARROQUETTE: That's very nice of you to say. And quite frankly, they wanted me to come back on a - and we call it as as-available-basis, not as a series regular, and I did not want to sit around waiting for someone to call and, by chance, have to turn something else down because they wanted me to come back. I enjoyed, very much, working with Aaron, and I thought - I think he's a great writer. And had I been able to be more of a regular in that show, I'd been there, driving every morning, waiting to go to work with Martin Sheen.
CONAN: Joe, thanks very much for the call. Appreciate it. Well, at least, you get to serve as a - at least a former secretary of state. You've done any number of public service jobs, at least fictionally.
LARROQUETTE: Indeed. That's absolutely true. And people outside theater, some nights, say, we'd vote for you, and I'd go, you know, there are far too many people still alive for me to ever run for public office. So too many stories to be told that that I don't want to hear on your television - on your radio show or on Nancy Grace's television show.
CONAN: And the last thing you want to hear is your name out of Ken Rudin's mouth. Yes, exactly.
LARROQUETTE: (Unintelligible)
CONAN: John Larroquette, thanks very much for the time today. Good luck with "The Best Man."
LARROQUETTE: What a pleasure talking with you. Thank you, Neal.
CONAN: John Larroquette stars in the revival of "The Best Man," Gore Vidal's play from 1960. It's showing on Broadway until July. He was kind enough to join us today in our bureau in New York.
Copyright © 2012 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio record.


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Board Game Merch Super Store
Great Gifts
Great Gifts
Rest your beverage mess-free with the Rainbow Meeple Board Game Coaster!
This design comes in two different types of coasters. You can have it printed on a rubber coaster which is similar to a wet suit material or you can get it on hardboard with a cork bottom. The coasters are are approximately 4" in diameter. You can buy this as a single coaster or as a 4 coaster set.
The blank coasters pictured with this item are to show you the raw product so you can see what it looks like before we print the design.


text:
One of the most compelling talks at GDC was Crayon Physics Deluxe creator Petri Purho's look back at the making of his marquee game, which won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the 2008 Independent Games Festival. After reflecting on his successes, Purho surprised the audience with a cutting critique of his game, detailing the ways in which he thought it failed. While Crayon Physics Deluxe might have seemed like a fully formed vision to outsiders, Purho had originally envisioned a game that somehow quantified creativity and rewarded right-brain thinking. He was disappointed when practical reality demanded that he scale back that ambitious concept.
One of the leading practitioners of the rapid-prototyping style of game development, Purho used to release a new prototype game each month, spending no more than a week developing each one. Crayon Physics Deluxe started as one of those seven-day projects.
Purho's latest game is 4 Minutes And 33 Seconds Of Uniqueness, created for this year's Nordic Game Jam. When the game launches, it pings the Internet to see if anyone else is playing. Then a progress bar starts to run. If anybody else starts playing the game, your copy automatically quits. In order to "win," you have to be the only person playing the game for four minutes, 33 seconds.
Following his GDC lecture, Purho talked to The A.V. Club about his creative process, art games, and how George W. Bush provided the inspiration for Crayon Physics Deluxe.
The A.V. Club: After that presentation, I have to ask, was Crayon Physics Deluxe a good experience for you? Are you happy you did it?
Petri Purho: It was a good experience for me. I'm really happy that I did it. I've wanted to do a real game for a long time. I didn't care, and I still don't care, if the game fails totally, if it's the poorest game ever, and I'm to be known as the Ed Wood of game developers afterward. It doesn't matter because doing a game by yourself, that you've designed, is one of those things in your life that, if you do it once, it's something you can look back on.
AVC: OK, but Crayon Physics is not a failure, right?
PP: No! Not at all, but I didn't want to talk about it at my talk like, "This is how awesome my game is. These are the best things about my game." I didn't want to do that marketing stuff, like these talks usually do. I wanted to point out, "These are the problems I had with the game, and maybe you guys can figure out solutions."
AVC: It's a pretty supportive community. It seems like everyone is rooting for each other.
PP: Yeah. [World Of Goo developers] Kyle [Gabler] and Ron [Carmel] helped me out a lot with the business side of things. And a lot of other indies—we really keep up with other people and help each other out. Everyone wants to see everyone succeed. We're not really competing at all.
AVC: In your talk, you touched on the fact that if you're playing through Crayon Physics just to get to the next level, you're missing the point. At any stage in the development, did you consider removing the goal-oriented aspect of the game and making it a pure playground?
PP: It crossed my mind. That's how it started out. I made the level editor before I made the levels, and I played around with the game in sandbox mode a lot, and found that to be the most interesting thing about the game. But games have these great structures for motivating people to do something, and inspiring people to do something. Like, the number of hours people put into World Of Warcraft is insane. So I thought I could do that, but do it with something that's more useful for people, so they learn to be more creative.
AVC: So, in 2008, the YouTube trailer becomes popular, and you're still working on the game, trying to get it right. Meanwhile, other programmers are churning out clones based on what they saw in your footage. How did that change your outlook as you went along?
PP: There was this point where, after the first few of the clones came out, it took the fire away from doing the game a bit. But then I decided that I should [finish] Crayon Physics Deluxe, because if I don't do it, then people aren't going to know where it all got started. I was kind of happy that there were so many of the clones because Crayon Physics got a brand name from it—people were referring to them as Crayon Physics clones. The clones were eating each other up and building up the idea that there was this one real game with that name.
AVC: What about the iPhone port? It was kind of shaky. I know you didn't have a hand in the programming of that version, but was it stressful to have it associated with the launch of your game?
PP: I was somewhat disappointed with the iPhone version of the game. I probably should have been more involved. After it came out, they fixed some problems with it, but still, to my mind, it's not the kind of game it should be. They messed some stuff up badly. All of the framerates in the game are very low. One of the powerful things in the game is actually seeing your drawing drop into the scene. They replaced this with small dots, which then would convert into your drawing. That took away from the magic of the game. They used an older level editor, not the one I wanted to ship the game with. I felt that they were rushing the game out there, and I didn't have any real input.
AVC: But did you have time to be working on two platforms at once?
PP: No, not at all. And that's another thing with the clones—I wanted to take more time to do the game, but because there were these clones coming out left and right, I had to push the game and be done with it. I felt I had to push it out a little early.
AVC: When did you decide to make crayons the theme?
PP: It was at the very beginning of the development. I had been thinking of doing a drawing physics game for a long time, but I didn't know what the game would be about. Then I was doing this other game called Daydreaming In The Oval Office. It's this really bad game, but because it was this game about George Bush, I thought the title screen would use crayons—he would definitely use crayons. [Laughs.] While I was making the title screen, I thought I could do this crayon look algorithmically, but what would I do with it? Then I realized, oh, it could be the physics drawing game I've been thinking of a long time ago.
I didn't want to do a cheery kids game, where you'd have bright colors and cheerful music. When I found the music for the game, that's when I realized that's what the direction of the game should be.
AVC: More dreamlike?
PP: Yeah. And with melancholy. The kind of way I really remember my childhood, not the cheery, fake stuff that tends to be put out there.
AVC: Interesting that this other, crappy game inspired Crayon Physics. So does your rapid development style help you generate ideas that you don't get with a traditional process?
PP: In a way, doing a lot of games provides you the possibility of testing a game and throwing it out there and moving on the next one. You don't have to go for any kind of a safe solution. You can go for the craziest stuff you come up with. "This is not going to work at all, but I'll make it anyway, just to see if anything can be done with it later."
AVC: Level editors are a popular feature in games right now. What makes a good level editor?
PP: There are two things. First of all, "easy to use" and "easy to pick up" are very important. Something that you can get into easily. On the other hand, it has to be powerful, so there have to be a lot of these small components that you can use to build bigger things, whatever you can think of.
AVC: Those two qualities often work in opposition to each other, though, don't they?
PP: In some ways, yeah. An example of a great level editor is the Wii's Mii editor. It's a sort of level editor, and it's so easy to use, yet you get such cool stuff out of it. You don't have to do much, but you get awesome things out of it. In my mind, really bad level editors end up being tools like Photoshop. You can do a huge amount of stuff, but it takes hours to learn, so such a small percentage of people actually end up using it.
One definition of when your user-generated content is working very well is the amount of dicks that you get. [Laughs.] So, if people draw lots of penises, you know your level editor is working.
AVC: Crayon Physics Deluxe players have been sharing some pretty incredible solutions on Vimeo and YouTube.
PP: When I saw things like that, I was like, "Yes!" Even though there are players who might not have "gotten" the game, at least there are some people who did. I think it's a different demographic. The hardcore players are very conquest-oriented. They want to conquer the game as quickly as possible, finish all the levels, get through the game. Then there are people, who aren't being served well by current games, who want to do more creative things.
AVC: Is 4 Minutes And 33 Seconds Of Uniqueness a game?
PP: In my opinion, yes. It has rules in it, and you can win or lose at the game. I think that's the definition of a game.
AVC: Do you know how many times Uniqueness has been won?
PP: I haven't checked the latest statistics, but for the first week or so, there were only about 200 players who actually got through the game.
AVC: Out of how many? Are we talking tens of thousands?
PP: I think it could even be a six-figure number.
AVC: You're big right now because of Crayon Physics, and then you come out with this game based on a work by John Cage. Those seem like the opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of accessibility.
PP: [Laughs.] I guess that's true. I've been obsessed by John Cage's 4'33"—as a piece of music, it's so interesting. And also, I can't remember the name of the artist, but he drew these big blank canvases—white paintings. I saw them, and I really liked that idea. I didn't think about the timing of it—immediately after Crayon Physics Deluxe, here's this art game. I was just thinking, "This is cool, I'll do it and put it out there." I'm used to putting out experimental games every month. I didn't realize it would be a big thing, but apparently it went over well.
AVC: What games do you play yourself?
PP: I wish I had more time to play games. I test out a lot of different games. It's unusual for me to play something for more than an hour, but I try to keep my spectrum of games very wide, from board games and role-playing games to AAA games and indie games. Indie games are what I play most right now.
AVC: What board games do you like?
PP: The German ones. Settlers Of Catan is a really well-made game. Puerto Rico has some great designs in it.
AVC: When you make a game, to what degree do you start with a fully-formed idea, and how much does it transform through the iterations in development?
PP: That actually changes a lot between different [projects]. I've made a lot of prototypes where I had a good idea of what I wanted the game to be like, down to the graphics and sound effects, and what the game mechanics would be. Usually those games turn out to be the worst ones.
AVC: At his talk on four-hour game development, Cactus said that there's a need for more serious games, and games don't necessarily have to be fun. Do you agree with that?
PP: Most definitely. There is a huge lack of games that—I would say some art games are hitting that spot, like what Jason Rohrer does. They aren't funny, and they aren't about violence, shooting up people. They're not serving teenage boys. They have deeper meaning and aren't about the things that games are usually about.


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IFSC stands for Indian Financial System Code. It is an 11 character alphanumeric code which is unique for every branch of a bank. The first four characters represent the bank name, the fifth character is generally is zero while the last six digits are unique and represent a particular branch of the bank. Whenever you transfers funds online through any of the money transfer facilities— national electronic fund transfer (NEFT), real time gross settlement (RTGS) and immediate payment system (IMPS), you will have to provide the IFSC code of the beneficiary account. If you are using net banking facility to buy mutual funds or insurance, you will need the IFSC code.
IFSC code helps the National Clearing Cell of the Reserve Bank of India in identifying the particular branch of the bank and in executing the transaction without any error.
Following are the ways in which you can get the IFSC code of a bank branch:-
1. You can get the IFSC code of the branch using Paisabazaar's IFSC Code Locator tool.
2. You can find the IFSC code on your cheque and bank passbook.
3. You can get the branchwise list of IFSC codes for each bank on the Reserve Bank of India's website.
4. You can get the list of IFSC code on a particular bank's website for all its branches.
MICR stands for magnetic ink character recognition code. It is character recognition technology that helps in faster processing of cheques. Like IFSC code, every branch of a bank has a unique MICR code. It comprises of nine digits. The first three digits in the MICR code represent the city code, the next three give the bank code and the last three digits cover the branch of the bank. For example, if you have an account with State Bank of India, Mumbai, Empire House Fort branch then its nine digit MICR code will be 400005003 wherein 400, the first three digits representing the city code for Mumbai; 005, the next three digits representing the bank code for SBI; and 002, the last three digits representing the bank branch code for Empire House Fort branch.
MICR code helps in the fast and error-free processing of cheques. MICR code is printed in a unique magnetic ink usually iron oxide which is readable by machine. The cheque reading machine reads the MICR code and processes the cheque automatically hence reducing the scope of error.
1. You can find the MICR code using Paisabazar.com's IFSC code locator tool.
2. MICR code is also printed on your cheque and the pass book.
3. You can also find the MICR code on the bank's website.
MICR code is a nine digit code used for the clearing the cheques while IFSC code is a 11 character alphanumeric code used in case of online transfer of funds.
The most commonly used method of transferring funds online is NEFT. It stands for national electronic fund transfer. Using NEFT, you can electronically transfer funds from your bank account to any other account of the same bank or any other bank. The money transfer facility under NEFT doesn't happen instantly. It happens with a time lag in 12 hourly settlements during the weekdays between 8 am to 7 pm (Monday to Friday) and 6 hourly settlements from 8 am to 1 pm on Saturdays (except 2nd and 4th Saturday). You can't transfer funds using NEFT on Sundays.
There are no minimum limit and maximum limit on the amount of money that can be transferred using NEFT as per the Reserve Bank of India while there is a maximum limit of Rs 50,000 per transaction.
Following are the charges applicable for transferring funds under NEFT
|Upto Rs.10,000
|Upto Rs.1.00 lakh
|Above Rs.1.00 lakh to 2.00 lakh
|Above Rs.2.00 lakh
*Plus service tax
It stands for real time gross settlement. As the name suggests, the fund transfer under this facility happens on a real time basis without any time lag. Under RTGS fund transfer facility there is a minimum limit of Rs 2 lakh. There is no maximum limit on the amount that can be transferred under the facility as per the Reserve Bank of India while banks may have an upper ceiling. Also, to transfer funds under this facility both the transferring bank as well as the receiving bank have to be RTGS enabled. The facility is available between 9 am to 4.30 pm between Monday and Friday and 9 am to 2 pm on Saturday.
Following charges will be levied if you use RTGS facility
|Time of settlement at the RBI
|Transaction Slab
|09.00 am
|12.00 pm
|Rs.2.00 lakh to Rs.5.00 lakh Above Rs.5.00 lakh
|Rs.25 Rs.51
|After 12.00 pm
|3.30 pm
|Rs.2.00 lakh to Rs.5.00 lakh Above Rs.5.00 lakh
|Rs.26 Rs 52
|After 3.30 pm
|4.30 pm (on week days)
|Rs.2.00 lakh to Rs.5.00 lakh
*Plus service tax
It stands for immediate payment service (IMPS). It is the latest electronic fund transfer facility which was introduced in November 2010. Under this facility, the bank account holder can transfer funds using their mobile phone, ATM and net banking. As the name suggests, using IMPS facility, the money is transferred instantly to the beneficiary's account. The most important benefit of IMPS facility is that you can transfer money anytime 24X7 throughout the year 365 days using IMPS money transfer facility, even on bank holidays. A fund transferor as well as the receiver should have a mobile money identifier (MMID), a seven digit random number issued by the bank upon the registration for IMPS for transferring funds under this facility.
Following charges will be levied for using IMPS facility
|Upto Rs.10,000
|Rs. 5.00
|Above Rs 10,000 and upto Rs 1 lakh
|Rs. 5.00
|Above Rs 1 lakh and upto Rs 2 lakh
|Rs. 15.00
*plus service tax


text:
Keystone XL Decision Likely Last to Be Made
Congressional Leaders Want a Highway Bill By the End of the Week
As lawmakers scramble to reach agreement on a highway bill by week's end, they appear to be leaving decisions on many big, politically tricky questions for last, such as whether to include language to approve the Keystone XL pipeline.
"We'll take all that up after" the transportation-focused issues are resolved, Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said off the Senate floor Wednesday.
On orders from their leadership, Boxer and House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) are pushing to reach a deal on a transportation infrastructure bill by the end of the week.
Rep. Reid Ribble (R-Wis.), a member of the conference committee working on the bill, agreed that decisions on Keystone and other non-transportation-related issues would be left for last with leaders expected to weigh in.
"Those [transportation issues] are difficult enough," Ribble said. "I think, quite frankly, on Keystone, that is probably going to be above everybody's pay grade where leadership is going to get engaged."
As transportation talks are ramping up, Congress also is working to pass legislation that would prevent an increase in student loan interest rates, which Democrats would like to do in conjunction with the transportation bill.
"It would be easier if you address them together," a Senate Democratic aide said. "That would definitely be our preferred approach."
However, no decisions have been made, and Republicans and Democrats remain at odds over how to pay for the both measures.
While the two issues will not necessarily be linked, both have the same deadline, with student loan interest rates set to double July 1, the same day transportation funding will cease to flow unless Congress either puts in place a new transportation measure or an extension of the current law.
Along with Keystone — a 1,700-mile pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast that the GOP has been pushing to include on the final bill — Republicans have also called for a provision that would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from setting enforceable safeguards for coal ash as well as inclusion of the Restore Act, which would send most of the fines from the 2010 BP oil spill to Gulf Coast states.
But before addressing those issues, Republicans want to reach agreement on reforms, including easing of environmental regulations in an effort to allow infrastructure projects to be completed more quickly.
"Reforms are critical," said Rep. Steve Southerland (R-Fla.), also a member of the conference committee. "No one in America believes that it should take 14 years" to complete a highway project.
The GOP is also calling for the consolidation of transportation programs and a scaling back of transportation enhancements, which is the primary source of funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects.
Meanwhile, conference committee members are set for series of meetings in order to try to reach a deal on a bill by their self–imposed deadline of week's end.
"Starting today we are meeting for hours, and we'll let you know when we have an agreement," Boxer said.
Boxer said she was meeting "with the principals" but declined to provide any other details.
The bicameral, bipartisan conference committee is made up of 47 lawmakers and charged with negotiating a transportation package that can pass both chambers. The panel will have to decide soon whether an agreement can be reached or whether it should instead pursue a short-term extension of current law.
Some lawmakers, such as Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), were not optimistic that a deal could be reached.
"My suspicion is that we end up with a six-month extension," Upton said.
The stakes are high, with billions of dollars for transportation projects and related jobs around the nation riding on Congress' ability to pass a bill, said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who is a member of the conference committee.
"If we do an extension, it kills the construction season in states that know what winter is all about," said Durbin, who blamed Republicans for the stalemate.
In March, the Democratic-run Senate passed, 74-22, a surface transportation bill that would extend programs for two years and provide $109 billion for projects. After failing to pass a GOP House version, Republican leaders are still trying to negotiate a bill that can win support of freshman conservatives in their caucus. Tea-party-affiliated freshmen in particular have been skeptical of the need for a highway bill and the spending in the Senate package.
"Sixty-one thousand highway workers in Illinois will have their jobs in jeopardy if Speaker Boehner refuses to call up the Senate bill," Durbin said.
Not only does an extension threaten jobs, Durbin argued, but it also cripples the nation's ability to finance improvements and expansions of transportation infrastructure that is at capacity.
"What we are doing now is limping along with existing projects, with no promise of long-term funding, so any major project in my state is put on hold," Durbin said. "If we had, at least, a two-year agreement, that project goes forward."
Durbin demurred when asked whether he would oppose an extension, if that were all Congress could achieve.
"I am not saying I wouldn't vote for an extension," Durbin said. "I would do it pointing a finger to the House."
Still, Durbin praised GOP Illinois Reps. Judy Biggert and Robert Dold, who have voiced their support for the bipartisan Senate passed transportation bill.
He sent a letter last week to the GOP Members of the Illinois delegation, calling on them to demand a House vote on the bipartisan Senate transportation bill.


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The Hubble Spacecraft, also known as the Hubble Space Telescope or just the Hubble, launched in 1990 and has been sending us amazing pictures of distant galaxies ever since. But the Hubble's journey hasn't been a smooth one. In fact, there were problems with the Hubble from the very beginning. As a result, part of the Hubble's history is a series of NASA missions designed to repair the telescope. The latest repair mission will also be the Hubble's last -- NASA plans to replace the Hubble with a new space telescope in 2013.
Hubble Space Telescope Image Gallery
Why use a space telescope in the first place when we have massive telescopes here on Earth? Space telescopes can focus on objects that are fainter and further away than terrestrial telescopes. It all has to do with the Earth's atmosphere. Particles in the air absorb, refract and reflect light. Warm air rises and cold air falls, which can also distort light. In space, there's no interference because there's no atmosphere. Telescopes in space are able to collect much sharper images than the ones we have here on the ground.
But a space telescope is more accurate than Earthly telescopes only if it's designed properly. About a month after NASA launched the Hubble, the organization discovered that the telescope they had been working on for eight years had a fundamental flaw. A mirror designed to reflect light into the telescope's sensors wasn't the right shape. The mirror's manufacturer had made a mistake when building it. As a result, the images the Hubble sent to NASA were out of focus and blurry.
NASA soon scheduled a repair mission, which launched in 1993. NASA sent up astronauts in the space shuttle Endeavour to manually repair the telescope. Five space walks later, the astronauts completed the repairs. They installed a device containing 10 small mirrors that intercepted the light from the primary mirror and corrected the pathway to the sensors. Afterwards, the Hubble began to take some of the most astounding images of space we've seen so far.
But the Hubble once again needs repairs. Unlike the problem with the mirror, these repairs involve multiple systems and are much more complicated. For a while, NASA considered abandoning the Hubble completely rather than invest in another repair mission. Ultimately the organization changed its course, and now it has scheduled another repair mission. We'll take a look at what exactly happened to the Hubble to necessitate repairs, why NASA almost decided to give up on the telescope and what the future has in store for this device.
So what exactly is wrong with the Hubble? We'll focus on the problem in the next section.


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Mennonite Mutual Aid
1957 Article
Mennonite Mutual Aid, Inc., was incorporated in 1945 as an Indiana nonprofit corporation sponsored by the Mennonite General Conference (MC) to provide a means within the church for its members to carry out the historic Mennonite practice of sharing financial burdens and providing loan aid to those in need of assistance. The first project was assisting in the rehabilitation of returning Civilian Public Service men. At present loan aid is given to any member, provided satisfactory local credit was not available and the applicant merited assistance. Financial counsel and vocational placement services were provided. A plan for sharing expenses of hospitalization, surgical and burial aid was carried on by a subsidiary Pennsylvania nonprofit corporation called Mennonite Aid, Inc. Another subsidiary Pennsylvania non-profit corporation called Mennonite Automobile Aid, Inc., organized to share costs of automobile collision and comprehensive expenses. Another Indiana nonprofit corporation, the Mennonite Foundation, was recognized by the Treasury Department of the United States as a depository for tax exempt funds, therefore bequests, legacies, or gifts of property to the Mennonite Foundation are deductible as provided by law. Orie O. Miller continued as president of Mennonite Mutual Aid from its beginning. C. L. Graber was secretary treasurer from its beginning to 1954 and continued as its treasurer. Original Board appointees, made by Mennonite General Conference, and still active members in 1957 were Guy F. Hershberger and H. A. Diener. Also Simon Gingerich and John H. Alger were original appointees but retired from active participation. Later appointees included E. C. Bender, vice-president; Harry Wenger, John D. Burkholder, J. Robert Kreider, H. Ralph Hernley, Abram P. Hallman, and Harold L. Swartzendruber, secretary. -- Harold L. Swartzendruber
1987 Update
Mennonite Mutual Aid was incorporated in 1945 as an Indiana nonprofit corporation sponsored by the Mennonite Church (MC). Its purpose was to provide a means for members, congregations, and church communities in the United States to carry out the historic Anabaptist and New Testament practice of stewardship of material and financial resources, and to share in times of crisis and hardship.
In the two decades following 1945 additional corporations were formed to accomplish the purpose of mutual aid and stewardship ministries. In 1967 these corporations were consolidated under one board. In 1988 MMA consisted of eight corporations.
Mennonite Mutual Aid, Inc. (1945), administered salaries and office services for 210 employees and coordinated the administration of other MMA entities. Mennonite Foundation (1952) was a tax exempt stewardship service agency. Mennonite Automobile Aid, organized in 1954, provided comprehensive and collision coverage, and avoids lawsuits. Approximately 25,000 vehicles were enrolled in 1987. Mennonite Church Buildings (1956) formerly provided investment opportunities and financing for institutions and congregations. This program was being phased out. MCB was the tax exempt corporate entity that held title to MMA buildings and equipment. Menno Insurance Service (1957) enabled MMA to broker insurance products to members and church institutions. This included employee benefit management, casualty, and property products. Approximately 2,500 policies were in force in 1987. Mennonite Retirement Trust a tax exempt corporation formed in 1963, provided pension plans for church workers and employees of church institutions. There were approximately 4,500 participants. Mennonite Mutual Aid Association was a tax exempt fraternal benefit society organized in 1965. It provided health insurance, life insurance, and retirement annuities. Fraternal benefits provided beyond-contract assistance and grants to members and participating churches. Educational programs included wellness, health ethics, safe driving, stewardship, and mutual aid. In 1987 there were approximately 53,500 adult participants in health plans, 6,400 persons covered by life insurance, and 3,800 annuity certificates. Share-Net Insurance, Inc. (1987), provided group health, life, and disability insurance plans for congregations, institutions, and businesses.
These eight corporations, known as Mennonite Mutual Aid (MMA) were governed by a 17-person board appointed or elected by Mennonite Church (10 members); General Conference Mennonite Church (5 members); and Mennonite Brethren (2 members). The board appointed a president who was responsible for administration through vice presidents appropriate to meet the needs of the organization.
MMA is inter-Mennonite in its board and membership. It is also a program board of the Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church USA), with a formal relationship to the Mennonite Church USA General Board. MMA is also accountable to the broader Anabaptist constituency through its inter-Mennonite board and through its members.
The Mennonite Mutual Aid Association states that "Mennonite and related Anabaptists" qualify for membership. It serves the broad spectrum of Mennonites, Brethren in Christ, the Church of the Brethren, and others whose roots and history grow out of the Anabaptist and Believers' Church movements.
In the mid-1980s MMA decentralized its distribution activities, working with regional advisory committees and placing representatives in many church communities. The network of congregational representatives was given new focus in an effort to promote mutual aid in local communities and in congregations. MMA cooperated with other mutual aid organizations of the Associated Mennonite Aid Societies (AMAS) so that congregations could use the rich resources of organized societies to meet needs in the congregation.
Sharing was published quarterly for members. It was a popular interest way for members to share their experiences in giving and receiving help in times of unusual need. Tool Kit was a simple two-page leaflet, published bimonthly. It offered information and advice for building health, safety, and lifestyle (health education).
The combined assets managed by MMA on behalf of institutions and members in 1987 were $175 million (US). This included gift investment accounts of the Mennonite Foundation, life insurance, Mennonite Retirement Trust, Annuity programs, and reserves for the various health plans. -- Laban Peachey
2010 Update
In 2010 Mennonite Mutual Aid and Mennonite Financial Federal Credit Union united under the name Everence. This change recognized MMA's relationship to other Anabaptist denominations. In 2003 representatives of the Missionary Church, Brethren in Christ, and the Conservative Mennonite Conference joined the MMA board, which already included Mennonite Brethren Church representatives. That same year the credit union separately expanded its membership to include multiple Anabaptist groups. The head offices remained in Goshen, Indiana.-- Sam Steiner
Mennonite Church Yearbook contains statistical, organizational, and personnel information biennially.
Mennonite Historical Bulletin (July 1978).
"MMA and Mennonite Financial become Everence." Everence. 1 November 2010. Web. http://www.everence.com/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=15331&libID=15306 (accessed 2 December 2013).
"MMA gets new addition and new name: MMA and Mennonite Financial make historic shift to new identity." TheMennonite (1 October 2010) Web. http://www.themennonite.org/issues/13-10/articles/MMA_gets_new_addition_and_new_name (accessed 2 December 2013)
Sharing 14, no. 2 (Summer 1980): 21, no. 4 (Winter 1987).
Additional Information
Website: Everence
|Harold L. Swartzendruber
|Laban Peachey
|Samuel J. Steiner
|Date Published
|December 2013
Cite This Article
MLA style
Swartzendruber, Harold L., Laban Peachey and Samuel J. Steiner. "Mennonite Mutual Aid." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. December 2013. Web. 27 Sep 2023. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Mennonite_Mutual_Aid&oldid=175292.
APA style
Swartzendruber, Harold L., Laban Peachey and Samuel J. Steiner. (December 2013). Mennonite Mutual Aid. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 27 September 2023, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Mennonite_Mutual_Aid&oldid=175292.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 632; vol. 5, pp. 572-573. All rights reserved.
©1996-2023 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.


text: Specifying Single Revisions """"""""""""""""""""""""""" Mercurial supports several ways to specify individual revisions. A plain integer is treated as a revision number. Negative integers are treated as sequential offsets from the tip, with -1 denoting the tip, -2 denoting the revision prior to the tip, and so forth. A 40-digit hexadecimal string is treated as a unique revision identifier. A hexadecimal string less than 40 characters long is treated as a unique revision identifier and is referred to as a short-form identifier. A short-form identifier is only valid if it is the prefix of exactly one full-length identifier. Any other string is treated as a bookmark, tag, or branch name. A bookmark is a movable pointer to a revision. A tag is a permanent name associated with a revision. A branch name denotes the tipmost open branch head of that branch - or if they are all closed, the tipmost closed head of the branch. Bookmark, tag, and branch names must not contain the ":" character. The reserved name "tip" always identifies the most recent revision. The reserved name "null" indicates the null revision. This is the revision of an empty repository, and the parent of revision 0. The reserved name "." indicates the working directory parent. If no working directory is checked out, it is equivalent to null. If an uncommitted merge is in progress, "." is the revision of the first parent.


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Little Apples Quilt Top, a photo by jenib320 on Flickr.
this tutorial! Thankfully, they turned out great!
the shop!
Today I love the..
Smell of: Evergreen candle
Sound of: The Office
Taste of: Candy Cane Hersey Kisses
Sight of: George
Feel of: Comfy clothes
Good Things about Today:
- No line at the post office
- Christmas candy
- Pretty light today
- Hanging out with George bunny


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Vivian Bummed (lilmochidoll) is an adorable cosplayer… Yeah, she might want to freshen up her gimmick since there are already millions of similar e-girls out there. Take a look at the pics.
Take a look at the additional pics from the NudoStar forum if you feel like it.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lilmochidoll
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lilmochidoll


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With the new SportContact 6, Continental is continuing its successful range of high-performance tires. The new high-tech product from the development department in Hanover is now available for purchase. Forty-one dimensions are being produced for rims with diameters of between 19 and 23 inches. The new super sports tire is particularly suited to pure sports cars such as the Audi R8 or Porsche 911 as well as very sporty vehicles such as the BMW 5 Series or Mercedes AMG. The range also includes a suitable tire for the electrically powered Tesla S. Continental expects this high-performance market segment to become increasingly popular with customers and is anticipating annual market growth of just under 10% for the various sizes of the new SportContact 6. The new high-tech tire has already received its first seal of quality: Honda has approved the tire for the new Civic Type R before its official release and achieved a lap record on the Nordschleife at the Nürburgring
Download the SportContact 6 video here.
Success story: The SportContact tire range
The first high-performance "ContiSportContact" tire was released for sale in 1994. As was usual at the time, it emerged from the hot press in sizes of between 13 and 20 inches. It was soon a firm favorite with tuners and vehicle manufacturers alike. For example, Audi, Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, Abt, and Hartge used the sports tire in their top models ex works. But the tires were also a hit with end users. It was therefore seven years before a successor – the ContiSportContact 2 – was required. Today, the tire industry expects shorter product cycles because progress made in R&D is quickly passed on to motorists through new developments. All "ContiSportContact" tires have proven successful: In addition to a number of test successes in the trade press, Continental's first-class products have racked up over 250 approvals from vehicle manufacturers and tuning specialists. Since then, performance parameters for high-tech tires are not the only thing to have improved significantly – the new SportContact 6, for example, has been consistently approved for up to 350 km/h – and dimensions have also increased. The latest addition to Continental's high-tech tire family is available for rims with diameters of 19 to 23 inches.
"UHP" market segment with growth rates of almost 10%
While the European tire market is relatively stable, the high-performance segment can expect its "UHP" products to present good opportunities for growth. Continental forecasts suggest that tires in the now sought-after sizes for rims of between 17 and 18 inches will rise by around 5% each year until 2020, and the tire manufacturer expects this segment to reach a volume of around 37.3 million by 2020. Demand for tires with diameters of between 19 and 23 inches is expected to increase even more: An average of 9% is expected each year, equating to 7.5 million tires in 2020. A closer look at the forecasts shows that the larger the tire, the greater the growth. The expectation is for 19-inch to increase by 8%, 20-inch tires by 10%, while experts assume that tires with diameters of 21 inches or more will rise by 14% each year. This means that demand in this segment would almost double by 2020.
Continental expects the new SportContact 6 to achieve good approval levels not just from motorists, but also from vehicle manufacturers. At the moment, around one third of new vehicles from European car manufacturers roll off the production line with Continental tires. Although original equipment customers expect a lot – particularly in the EU – the technicians in Hanover are optimistic. They are encouraged by initial approval received even before the market launch. Honda is already equipping its new Civic Type R with the SportContact 6 ex works, allowing it to set a new record on the Nordschleife of the legendary Nürburgring.


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Where Are the Happiest Cities to Work?
Not everybody can go to work with a smile on his or her face. However, there are places in America where that actually is the case.
CareerBliss.com recently teamed up with Forbes to compile a list of the happiest and unhappiest cities for workers.
So, where in this great country of ours can you find the city with happiest workers? If you said Dayton, Ohio and Knoxville, Tennessee, then give yourself a lollipop because you win. Those two metropolises tied for the top spot. At the other end of the spectrum is Boulder, Colorado. The beautiful scenery clearly isn't enough for people earning their paychecks there.
1. (tie) Dayton, Ohio
1. (tie) Knoxville, Tennessee
3. Honolulu, Hawaii
4. Memphis, Tennessee
5. (tie) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
5. (tie) Virginia Beach, Virginia
7. Grand Rapids, Michigan
8. (tie) Trenton, New Jersey
8. (tie) St. Louis, Missouri
8. (tie) Salt Lake City, Utah
1. Boulder, Colorado
2. Reno, Nevada
3. Wichita, Kansas
4. Fresno, California
5. Little Rock, California
6. (tie) Cleveland, Ohio
6. (tie) El Paso, Texas
8. (tie) Stockton, California
8. (tie) Allentown, Pennsylvania
10. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Short of working in a rainbow factory, there are other factors that go into figuring out which are the happiest cities to work. Rankings were based on 36,000 people around the country answering questions in several areas, including:
* Relationship with the boss and co-workers
* Work environment
* Job resources
* Compensation
* Growth opportunities
* Company culture
* Company reputation
* Daily tasks


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My Anritsu
United States
Higher data rates introduce new challenges for test solutions. There are several 20+ Gbit/s high speed standards that are driving the upper end of the test spectrum from 40 GHz all the way up to 110 GHz and beyond. Along with the design trade-offs related to choices of vias, stackups, and connector pins, accurate measurements are needed to better understand new challenges related to conductor skin effects and dielectric losses on PC boards. For many of these measurements, it is necessary to collect data that includes higher value harmonic frequencies.
When using Vector Network Analyzers (VNAs) to evaluate backplane and interconnects, one of the most basic considerations is the frequency range over which to make S-parameter measurements. The choice of frequency range affects the ability to locate defects, the correlation between simulations and measurements, and ultimately the ability to make good decisions concerning cost/performance trade-offs.
It's been a decade since the last major increment in networking data rate. In 2001 the ceiling was raised to 10 Gb/s and, other than a few starts and stops, it has stayed there until now. Finally, in the second decade of the high tech millennium, 100 Gb/s is coming. This is where ultrahigh rate serial data technology converges with mega high rate fiber optic technology. Optical engineers and electrical
engineers alike need to know some of the other's trade to get ready. This is where using a bit error rate tester (BERT), to test the quality of signal transmission of single components or complete systems is needed.
20+ Gbit/s High Speed Standards
Data Rate
Number of Lanes
19.90 to 28.05 Gbit/s
1 to N
19.90 to 25.80 Gbit/s
IEEE802.3ba 100GBASE-LR/ER
25.78125 Gbit/s
32G Fiber Channel
28.05 Gbit/s
Infiniband 26G-IB-EDR
Sometimes problems are caused by vias, stackup issues, and connector pins. However, frequency domain data alone is not enough; it is necessary to transform that data into the time domain in order to locate the position of particular problems. Passive components, as well as near-end and far-end points between daughter boards must be measured in the frequency and time domains to assure that the transmission characteristics at each measurement point meet the standards. Using the best resolution capability improves your ability to locate discontinuities, impedance changes and crosstalk issues. In addition, many of the structures today are electrically large and put pressure on the measurement solution's alias-free range.
As bit rates increase, the upper frequency limit for evaluating backplane and interconnect transmission characteristics must also increase. Higher speeds basically translate into higher test frequencies being required to perform measurements to the 3rd or 5th harmonic of the NRZ clock frequency. For example, for a 28 Gbps data rate, this means either 42 GHz or 70 GHz stop frequency for an S-parameter sweep. Attenuating the harmonics of the clock frequency will distort the signal and hence the need to characterize the frequency response of transmission media to higher frequencies – to the 3rd harmonic at a minimum and ideally to at least the 5th harmonic.
Native time domain instruments can provide S-parameters by doing a Fast Fourier transformation (FFT) on the time domain data. Making high quality S-parameter measurements in the frequency domain has some inherent advantages over time domain based instruments, namely dynamic range (DR).
Time domain based instruments are inherently broadband in nature. This bandwidth does net some speed advantages in the measurements, but the very broadband nature of these means that they have significant noise (noise power = kTB, where k is Boltzmann's constant, T is temperature in Kelvin, and B is noise bandwidth). This increases the noise floor and reduces the Signal to Noise (S/N) ratio. The net effect is a reduction in the DR of S-parameters provided by these instruments.
VNAs on the other hand are inherently narrow band instruments and have lower noise floors because the bandwidth driven kTB noise is much lower. VNAs can measure to an instantaneous IF bandwidth of
10s of Hz which provide very high S/N ratio data and yield higher DR S-parameter measurements.
As a practical example, S-parameters provided by a typical TDR/TDT instrument have on the order of 40 dB DR, where the typical DR of VNA S-parameters is typically greater than 100 dB. This higher quality data can be important when correlating measured and simulated results for channels used in signal integrity applications.
Many channels used in SI applications have fixtures or connectors required for measurement that will affect the measured S-parameters. Typical fixtures include Baluns, connectors, and/or PCB traces. Having a way to remove these features and structures from the measurement is often very useful. Network extraction is the process of determining the S-parameters for the features that we want to de-embed from (or embed into) the measurement.
The more the insertion loss increases with frequency, the softer the edges will become and the eye will further close in from the sides. Lower frequency defects may create structure throughout the eye, not just the edges. Jitter will cause a general edge broadening while additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) will cause a more complete line broadening.
The eye will be based on the data and the parameter in a current trace and will update as the underlying frequency domain data updates. It is possible to have traces in the same channel with frequency domain data, regular time domain results, frequency with time gate results and eye diagrams simultaneously.
The data waveform is constructed in time domain using the parameters entered and this is convolved with the lowpass time domain representation of the current frequency domain data. Eye diagrams will not be available if the current frequency list does not support lowpass time domain (i.e., the start frequency is not multiple of the step frequency).
If the bandwidth of the current data is far below the frequency content of the requested data waveform, a very flat, low-amplitude eye diagram will result. If the current data suggests a much larger bandwidth, the eye diagram will approach that of the input data waveform overlaid on itself.
If the DUT is electrically very long (more than an alias free delay ~ 1/ (frequency step)), the calculation may have difficulties. Using a reference plane shift to reduce that length can help as can reducing the frequency step size in the measurement.
Since the output of the calculation is a time domain waveform, the result will always be real. Most graph types are allowed due to some unique application requirements but the Real graph type is the most commonly used. The scale will be labeled in Units but the values are in volts with the results driven by the input signal levels specified by the user.
Any response parameter can be used for the calculation. S21 is the most common selection in a 2-port system but all transmission parameters are frequently used. Reflection parameters are normally only studied this way in specialty applications.
PAM4 brings loss levels down to acceptable specifications but the trade-off is an incremental leap in signal complexity. PAM4 also introduces potential nonlinearities. Variations in the eye heights of the three "eye" openings is called "eye compression." Similarly, "timing skew" occurs when the centers of the three eyes are misaligned.
A 100 Gb/s signal has a bit period of 10 ps and a 25 Gb/s signal has a 40 ps period - there isn't much time for the eye to open. Consequently, extreme data rates require lightning fast rise and fall times. The closer a digital signal approaches the square - wave limit, the more high frequency harmonics are introduced. The high frequencies cause ringing at the slightest impedance mismatch, but that's not the worst of it. Fast rise and fall times generate violently changing electric fields, and changing electric fields are precisely the cause of electromagnetic radiation. It is a breeding ground for crosstalk.
Modulation of the optical signal presents several intriguing challenges. The standard on - off, Morse code - style, non - return to zero (NRZ) formatting of digital optical signals suffers as rates increase: as pulse widths get smaller, the optical bandwidth increases. As the optical bandwidth increases, so does the minimum possible wavelength spacing. Increased optical bandwidth also exacerbates both Chromatic and Polarization Mode Dispersion (CD and PMD). Plus, the increased power during high logic levels aggravates nonlinear interactions within the fibers and generates noise.
As fiber and free-space optical communication bandwidths increase, the need for very high speed optical modulators and detectors has also increased. The frequency response characterization of these electrical-to-optical (E/O, modulators sometimes integrated with lasers) and optical-to-electrical (O/E, detectors and receivers) converters can be important in terms of such parameters as bandwidth, flatness and phase linearity. The VNA has a number of measurement utilities to facilitate this kind of analysis and, coupled with an O/E calibration module, some level of measurement traceability is possible.
VNA Reflections is an educational blog discussing leading trends in vector network analysis, emerging VNA applications, fundamentals of VNA measurements, and technological advances in VNAs.
VectorStar Family70 kHz - 70 GHz frequency142 dB maximum Dynamic Range
VectorStar Broadband VNA70 kHz - 110, 125, 145 GHz124 dB maximum Dynamic Range
VectorStar Broadband VNA4-Port 70 kHz - 110, 125 GHz123 dB maximum Dynamic Range
ShockLine 2 port VNA50 kHz - 8.5, 20, 43.5 GHzE-Band frequencies
ShockLine 4 port VNA50 kHz - 8.5, 20, 43.5 GHz freq140 dB max Dynamic Range
8-slot modular, high-performance BERT supporting all-in-one Physical layer measurements of both high-speed network interfaces as NRZ and PAM4, and PCI Express, etc., bus interfaces.
All-in-one Tester combines a BERT (4ch x 28.2 Gbit/s) and sampling oscilloscope (optical 35 GHz; electrical 40 GHz).


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The children's book author Dr. Seuss may have been on to something when he imagined that microscopic communities could live and flourish on small specs of dust, barely visible to the naked eye. In fact, such vibrant communities exist in a material with a Seussical sounding, yet scientific name called 'floc.'
McMaster University researchers have now discovered that floc "goo-like" substances that occur suspended in water and that host large communities of bacteria also contain high levels of antibiotic resistance.
"This has important public health implications because the more antibiotic resistance there is, the less effective our antibiotic arsenal is against infectious diseases," says Lesley Warren, the principal investigator for the study that looked at floc in different freshwater systems.
The research was led by Warren, a professor of earth sciences and Gerry Wright, scientific director of the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, both of McMaster, along with Ian Droppo, a research scientist at Environment Canada.
They examined floc collected from Hamilton Harbour, which is impacted by sewer overflow; Sunnyside Beach in Toronto, which is impacted by wastewater; a rural stream near Guelph, impacted by light agricultural activities; and a remote lake in a natural preserve area in Algonquin Park, accessible only by float plane.
Researchers analyzed the water and floc samples for trace element concentrations and the presence of 54 antibiotic-resistant genes.
They were surprised to discover that genes encoding resistance to clinically relevant antibiotics were present in floc bacteria at all four sites, although resistance varied in intensity based on human influence. That is, there was less antibiotic resistance detectable from Algonquin Lake compared to Hamilton Harbour, which harbored the highest concentration of floc trace elements.
"What this tells us is that antibiotic resistance is widespread in aquatic environments ranging from heavily impacted urban sites to remote areas," says Warren. "Yet, it also demonstrates that areas with greater human impact are important reservoirs for clinically important antibiotic resistance.
Floc are vibrant microbial communities that attract contaminants such as trace metals that are markers of resistance, Wright says.
Warren added the study of antibiotic resistance in floc has never been done, "and we are only scratching the surface. The presence of environmental bacterial communities in aquatic environments represents a significant, largely unknown source of antibiotic resistance," she said. "The better we understand what is out there, the better we can develop policies to safeguard human health as best we can."
The research has been published in the science journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. Funding for the study was received from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and Environment Canada.