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1964 Chevelle Restoration - The Waiting Game
Let's face it, waiting sucks. Everywhere you go, you are presented with a line to wait in. Sometimes waiting is for something trivial, sometimes for something good. Craig Stewart should be the poster boy for what good things can happen to people who can
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Craig Stewart began his assault on this '64 Malibu a full decade before finally taking delivery in 2001. It sat in a driveway a mere two blocks from his dad's house for 20 years, dying a slow and unceremonious death. Ten years prior, he made his first offer to the original owner, and made an annual attempt until she finally lost her will to resist. Craig's patience and persistence won the war of attrition.
Although the car was reasonably straight, it suffered from neglect and cancer in some key areas and required replacement sheetmetal surgery to correct the results of 20 years of exposure. Having built several hot rods from scratch, Craig knew what it would take to perform his first frame-off restoration. Vogel's Auto Body of San Gabriel, California, was pressed into service to replace a rear quarter-panel and apply new paint using the original Azure Aqua hue. The interior was painstakingly restored by C.A.R.S. of Fullerton, California, and features the original bench seats, stock gauges, and a brace of Moon gauges.
But a restoration was only part of Craig's equation. Having owned a number of fast rides, including a '65 Hemi car, he needed the Malibu to haul the mail as well. Originally equipped with a 283/Powerglide combination, he tossed the drivetrain in favor of bigger and better things. Craig commissioned Performance Machine of Pomona, California, to assemble a 496-inch Rat motor to provide the Chevelle with plenty of forward thrust. The parts included a Cola crank, SRP pistons, and a Comp roller, along with a set of heavily reworked GMPP aluminum cylinder heads perched on top. It's the original '68 Corvette Tri-power that gives the mill a period look. A custom set of step headers by Morse Muffler of Burbank, California, were pieced together to expel unwanted combustion by-products through a custom-bent 3-inch exhaust system featuring Flowmaster mufflers.
Without the help and moral support of his wife Jo, along with Gerry, Daniel of True Connections, Ray, Flash, and Ron to name just a few, this project would never have come to fruition. Craig's next objective is to acquire a '61 Ford Galaxie convertible, and he's had the current owner under siege for the last 6 years. He's hunkered down for the long haul, and knowing Craig, he will emerge victorious.
CC: Your car is part resto, part racer. What was your vision when you built your Chevelle? CS: I really wanted to do a nuts-and-bolts, body-off restoration, which is something I had never done. I have built a number of cars from scratch, but no full restos. And, it had to have power, because I like speed. It had to be streetable enough to drive, though. I won't build 'em if I can't drive 'em.
CC: What does the future hold for you and your Chevelle? CS: I'm going to drive it until someone makes me an offer I can't refuse, and then I'll build one more car. I already have it lined up, but the owner hasn't agreed to sell it to me--yet. But I'm a patient man.
THE DETAILS Car: '64 Chevy ChevelleEngine: GM 496ci big-block Heads: GMPP aluminum, ported, 2.30/1.90 intake/exhaust valvesInduction: Chevy aluminum dual-plane Tri-power intake, three 350-cfm Holley carbsCamshaft: Comp Cams solid roller, 248/254 degrees duration at 0.050-inch lift, 0.653/0.660-inch liftPower: 540 hp @ 6,200 rpm, 590 lb-ft @ 3,800 rpmTransmission: Muncie M22 four-speed, Centerforce dual friction clutch, Lakewood bellhousingRearend: GM 12-bolt, 3.73:1 gears, Moser axlesSuspension: Stock, big-block springs; gas shocks, front; Competition Engineering adjustable shocks, boxed lower control arms, rearBrakes: Stock '66 Chevelle discs, front; stock drums, rearWheels and tires: Stock steel 14x5 (narrowed) with BFGoodrich 6.95-14 fronts; stock steel 14x7 (widened) with Hoosier 26x9.5-14 Quick Time Pro, rearPaint: Azure Aqua, by Vogel's Auto Body of San Gabriel, CaliforniaCost to build: Too much
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22 Aug, 2016, 09:00 ET
SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug. 22, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Sena Technologies, Inc., the global leader in Bluetooth communication devices for motorsport, outdoor and industrial solutions, announced today the release of its new Tufftalk headset, which is engineered with Sena's almost two decades of industrial wireless Bluetooth expertise.
"Sena Tufftalk is the first fully Bluetooth integrated intercom device to both protect the user and supply a clearer communication channel." said Tae Kim, president and CEO of Sena Technologies, Inc. "This device marks our continued commitment to the safety and efficiency of the industrial field."
Sena's Tufftalk, an earmuff Bluetooth® communication and intercom headset, is designed specifically to meet the communication and connectivity needs of industrial applications. Tufftalk sports a 1.4 km working Bluetooth range – the furthest of any product on the market today. Its sturdy design and tough manufacturing offers up to 15 hours of uninterrupted intercom communication between up to four headsets. Coupled with its seamless compatibility with other Bluetooth and two-way radio devices, including Sena SR10i which allows for wireless two-way radio communication, Tufftalk far outpaces the competition.
Breaking through the noise
In rough and loud environments, safety is key, and this is exactly where Tufftalk truly shines. Tufftalk's secure earmuffs help protect users from harmful noise with an audio attenuation of 24dB. The ambient mode feature allows users to amplify external sounds – generating greater awareness of surroundings so important alarms or calls can be heard while still protecting hearing. For more active applications, Tufftalk offers an optional hard hat mount package.
"Poor worksite communication is costly for businesses," Kim said. "With Tufftalk we applied Sena's two decades of expertise to offer industrial strength seamless communication for the harshest of environments."
Equipped with HD quality speakers, Tufftalk delivers crystal clear audio that industrial mobile workers need to stay safe on busy and noisy worksites. Tufftalk features Sena's Advanced Noise-Control™ technology, which limits the interference of background noise while maintaining the full volume of voice communication.
Sena's patented Jog Dial design is glove-friendly and easy to control, while the VOX technology allows users to answer phone calls, communicate and react to voice commands, all while hands-free. Tufftalk is also compatible with a Sena App to configure settings and presets easily through any smartphone. As with all Sena units, Tufftalk is completely firmware upgradeable to ensure it remains compatible with all of the latest Bluetooth technology.
- Firmware upgradable
- Study design for industrial environments
- Optional 1.4 km communication range, or 800 km with default antenna
- Equipped with VOX for hands-free control
- Pairs to smartphones and other Bluetooth enabled devices
- 15 hours of talk time with lithium battery or 12 hours with AAA batteries
- Attenuation of 24dB
- HD-quality speaker with Sena's Advanced Noise-Control™ blocking external noise
- Compatible with two-way radios
- Optional hard hat mounting available
- Bluetooth 4.1
Since 1998, Sena has been recognized as a wireless leader specializing in Bluetooth-based solutions that benefit both users and businesses at large. Drawing from its industrial solutions, Sena is a leader in consumer goods in the power sports and action sports industries providing communication solutions for this market since releasing the SMH10 in 2011.
Like all Sena products, Tufftalk comes with Sena's industry-leading two-year warranty, and is now available on BuySena.com. For more information and the full Sena product line, please visit: www.SenaIndustrial.com.
About Sena Technologies, Inc.
Sena Technologies, Inc. is the global leader in Bluetooth Communication Devices for motorsports and industrial solutions – enabling real-time communication and optimal performance in the thick of the action. Using over 18 years of experience, and the most cutting-edge technological designs, Sena is helping change the way users communicate worldwide. Coupled with its sheer innovation in creating new perspectives, Sena is enhancing the lives of industrial workers and action-seekers for the better. Sena currently offers its products worldwide through its global network of distributors, retailers and OEM partners.
For more information on Sena Technologies, Inc. and its products, please visit www.sena.com, www.SenaIndustrial.com or contact (949) 716-3793 or [email protected].
Facebook: facebook.com/senabluetooth
Twitter: @senabluetooth
Instagram: @senabluetooth
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160812/397814
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160812/397815
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150414/198596LOGO
SOURCE Sena Technologies, Inc.

subset: commoncrawl


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Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Commerce confirmed Patrick Gallagher as the 14th director of its National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Although the title may be new to Gallagher, NIST's mission of developing measurement science, standards and technology isn't. The 46-year-old physicist began his career in the organization's NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) in 1993 to pursue studies in neutron and x-ray instrumentation; in 2004 he became NCNR's director.
Now Gallagher is responsible for NIST's broader set of programs, which includes a vast spectrum of research in areas including robotics and artificial intelligence, construction standards, computer security protocols and quantum physics, to name just a few.
The agency's Intelligent Systems Division, for example, has spent more than $125 million and three decades developing robotic autonomous intelligent control subsystem called 4D/RCS. The agency is also working with the Michigan Department of Transportation on a $19-million project to build next-generation monitoring systems for bridges. In an effort to improve data security, NIST compiled a list of recommendations that government departments and agencies encrypt all data on mobile computers and devices unless the information was deemed "nonsensitive" in writing by the department or agency head.
How important is NIST? Important enough for the Obama administration to promise the agency $610 million in funds through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to pay for research, grants and new equipment as well as the construction of new facilities and laboratories. (NIST's total budget for fiscal 2009 is $1.6 billion.)
ScientificAmerican.com recently spoke with Gallagher about this dramatic increase in funding, NIST's plans for that money, and the importance of high school math and science.
[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]
How would you define NIST's mission?
NIST has a broad mission to promote competitiveness. The best way to think of NIST is as a four-program organization, with NIST Laboratories being what most people think of when they think of NIST. These labs are the nation's measurement laboratory, and the work they do is designed to put trust into all the transactions and interactions that take place in our economy.
How much does NIST's work impact people's lives on a daily basis?
Think about what NIST does just in terms of how a computer operates. We work behind the scenes to define security standards such as the encryption used to code and decode the information sent over the Internet. Your computer's clock [[http://tf.nist.gov/]] is probably set using the NIST time signal. In the computer itself we've looked at the performance and energy efficiency of its chips and the materials used to make and solder those chips inside the computer. We also set standards for monitors and other display technologies.
There's no shortage of technology priorities for the country at this time. What would you say are some of the most significant?
It's less about which technologies are driving, and more about what's pulling on the technology. Technology is a big component of how the country will solve a lot of problems. As a country, we have to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, improve health care delivery, and improve physical infrastructure. Technology will play a critical role in how we do this, and NIST has to provide the measurements and standards to ensure this technology is up to the challenge.
Why are measurements and standards so important?
Most technologies are not in and of themselves self-sufficient, or vertically integrated. You assemble most technologies from other technologies, and you need to know that these different components will fit together. This almost always involves a measured standard. If you're going to buy a smart meter or a smart appliance for your home, you're going to want to know that this technology will talk to the smart grid, and that's a measurement problem.
What role will measurements and standards play in the development of electronic medical records, a technology the Obama administration has made a top priority?
At a very deep level, it's about changing the way we do medicine. NIST has two roles: One is supporting how the medical systems that create the information for these records interoperate. The other is establishing protocols for medical tests. There's a lot more art than science here today, because the people who developed these different technologies had a different approach that maybe didn't take measurement science into account. They were more focused on providing a specific outcome for a specific procedure. NIST is full of measurement specialists, so we have a different way of looking at things. For example, there aren't standards when it comes to medical imaging, and this is an area we're actively working to develop.
How will the dramatic increase in funding affect NIST and your main goals for the agency?
NIST's mission is becoming critically important and very visible. We've become a priority of the president in terms of funding, and I'm trying to make sure we can meet that responsibility. Visibility at that level creates an urgency that's not there when you're not singled out as a priority. There are a lot of inside baseball issues that we will address to make ourselves more efficient. You can burn a lot of time getting people together to build an effective team for a new project. One of the real successes of our smart grid effort, for example, has been quickly pulling together a very diverse group of stakeholders (utility companies, local and state regulators, equipment manufacturers, ISPs, telecom and wireless tech providers) who had not worked together before. In the meantime, our scientists are ready to go on this project.
Before beginning your career as a scientist, you spent a year teaching high school math and science in Missouri. How did that experience prepare you for your current position?
I loved it. I have to confess, if I thought I could have made a real career out of it I would have stayed with it. There's nothing more basic to building the future of the country than education. It was also one of the hardest jobs I've had. Six courses a day back to back with three minutes in between and no lunch, I was a basket case by the end of the day. One of the more rewarding experiences came in 1986 during the Challenger space shuttle tragedy. I remember dropping our normal lesson plans to talk about it. It's not something you plan for, and it was a powerful experience. The kids were really fascinated by what happened. In the end I found that at least at the high school level, I was going to be teaching someone else's curriculum and that the logical career path was to move into administration. I saw more opportunities in going back to school and getting my graduate degree.
You mentioned the importance of education to a country's future. How would you encourage young people to become interested in education—in particular math, science and technology?
My message is the country needs you to do it if you have the interest. The other lesson is that there are many, many more career opportunities that are built on a foundation of math and science than you can imagine (including teaching, copyright law, high-tech manufacturing, medicine and health care). You don't necessarily have to be a mathematician or a scientist.
Measuring Up: New NIST Director, Plus Big Budget Put Measurement Science in Public Eye
With $610 million in economic stimulus money added to his budget, Patrick Gallagher is preparing the nation's standards and measures agency for prime time
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Commerce confirmed Patrick Gallagher as the 14th director of its National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Although the title may be new to Gallagher, NIST's mission of developing measurement science, standards and technology isn't. The 46-year-old physicist began his career in the organization's NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR) in 1993 to pursue studies in neutron and x-ray instrumentation; in 2004 he became NCNR's director.


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The Only Way to Become Amazingly Great at SomethingFebruary 14, 2017
9 Ways to Develop Your Intelligence at Any AgeFebruary 22, 2017
Overcoming Shyness
All my life I've been an inwardly directed person. While some people like to think out loud, I prefer to process the world internally, answer my own questions, and come to a conclusion before speaking up.
This personality trait has benefits and drawbacks. On the positive side, it's a source of strength as a writer and analytical thinker. Without it I wouldn't have taken an interest in books/writing and this site wouldn't exist. On the downside, my tendency to keep everything inside is responsible for one of my major weaknesses — shyness.
Understanding Shyness
Shyness is rooted in fear — an irrational fear of speaking up and being humiliated or ignored. Why are some people so afraid of speaking out? In my mind the main causes are oversensitivity and insecurity. When you associate speaking out with pain and embarrassment, you'll do almost anything to avoid it.
Unfortunately, shyness is an enormous detriment to success. For people who share this problem, it's important to understand the causes and work towards overcoming it.
It's Not You It's Them
For naturally quiet people, the fear of speaking can arise from a few bad experiences, especially at an early age. When an adult reacts angrily or dismissively to an attempt at self expression, it's natural to take it personally and shy away from future expression. Even if this only happens once or twice, people tend to exaggerate these incidents until they become mental monsters. Growing up, it took me a long time to realize how self centered people are. The way someone reacts to something you say usually has nothing to do with you–it's more likely a reflection of the mood they're in or a recent event in their life.
A key to overcoming shyness is recognizing these perceived slights for what they are–meaningless. When someone reacts to you negatively, don't take it personally. Imagine the other person's perspective. Is there something that may have put them in a bad mood? Are they trying to cover up their own inadequacy? Considering the perspective of the other person makes it easier to put their reaction in the proper context.
It's also essential to let go of bad experiences. When you dwell on a bad experience, it grows into something much more frightening than reality. Don't do this to yourself! The more you think about a bad experience the more power you give it. Don't blame yourself. Think about something constructive. The more you can fill your mind with positive memories of speaking up the easier it gets.
Other People Aren't So Different
Another important step in overcoming shyness is realizing that other people are basically the same as you. Everyone is insecure and afraid of embarrassment. Other people usually aren't as smart as you think. If you have a question, chances are someone else is wondering about the same thing.
Don't let one or two bad experiences dictate your entire opinion of humanity. By and large, people are friendly and interested in connecting with others. They'll respond favorably to your attempts at communicating. In most cases, people will be thrilled that you took the initiative to break the ice.
Realizing Self Worth
The second cause of shyness is insecurity. If you don't think you have anything valuable to contribute, what's the point of risking embarrassment?
To get over this you need to recognize the merit of your own thoughts and the value they present to others. It's ironic that the people most inclined towards shyness are often the most thoughtful. To reach your potential, you need to share yourself with the world. Your brilliant insights don't hold any value until they've enlightened someone else.
The best way to get accustomed to sharing is practice. Force yourself to speak up, especially when you don't want to. Sit in the front of the room and make yourself visible. Understand that sharing your insights with people is doing them a favor. Once you get used to opening up, you'll notice how positively people react. This will build your self confidence and faith in the goodwill of others.
The Duty to Contribute
Overcoming shyness isn't just something you should do for yourself, it's also part of being a contributing member of society. When you have a thought or idea that deserves to be heard, you're not only hurting yourself by keeping quiet, you're hurting the people around you.
A basketball coach once explained to me how passing can selfish. If a player has an open shot that she can make, and she decides to pass instead, that player is being selfish and hurting the team. When you pass up the chance to excel because of shyness or the fear of failure, you're hurting the group to shelter yourself.
Other people need you. They need your intelligence and insight. They need your help to work through problems. By hiding behind shyness, you limit the help you can give to your friends, family members, and colleagues.
A college professor of mine used to make a big deal about overcoming shyness. He called it a, "silly, foolish habit," and said, "the sooner you can break it the better." Shyness doesn't benefit anyone. Saving yourself a little embarrassment doesn't amount to much in the long run. By overcoming shyness, you give yourself the chance to be recognized and promoted. You create opportunities and open yourself up to forming meaningful relationships.
Don't keep your talent inside, share at every opportunity so it can grow and flourish.


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The Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States, provides the nation with a safe, flexible, and stable monetary and financial system.
Federal Open Market Committee
Monetary Policy Principles and Practice
Policy Implementation
Review of Monetary Policy Strategy, Tools, and
Institution Supervision
Reporting Forms
Supervision & Regulation Letters
Banking Applications & Legal Developments
Regulatory Resources
Banking & Data Structure
Financial Stability Assessments
Financial Stability Coordination & Actions
Regulations & Statutes
Payment Policies
Reserve Bank Payment Services & Data
Financial Market Utilities & Infrastructures
Research, Committees, and Forums
Working Papers and Notes
Data, Models and Tools
Bank Assets and Liabilities
Bank Structure Data
Business Finance
Dealer Financing Terms
Exchange Rates and International Data
Financial Accounts
Household Finance
Industrial Activity
Interest Rates
Micro Data Reference Manual (MDRM)
Money Stock and Reserve Balances
Supervision & Enforcement
Community Development
Research & Analysis
Consumer Resources
Add to Clipboard
Level from quarterly Reports of Condition for U.S.-chartered depository institutions (forms FFIEC 031, FFIEC 041 and FFIEC 051), schedule RC-C - Loans and Lease Financing Receivables, Lease financing receivables (net of unearned income) (series RCON2165) less Leases to individuals for household, family, and other personal expenditures (i.e., consumer leases) (series RCFDF162 for FFIEC 031 reporters and FFIEC 041 or FFIEC 051 reporters with total assets greater than $300 million, and for FFIEC 041 and FFIEC 051 reporters with total assets less than $300 million). Unadjusted transactions are the change in the level; seasonally adjusted transactions are obtained using X-13-ARIMA procedure.


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The CEO of a global technology firm was invited to lecture at a local university on the future of the internet. After his presentation, a student in the audience asked him for his views on network neutrality: the idea that internet service providers shouldn't base their prices on the content their customers access. The CEO answered candidly, arguing in favor of price discrimination based on content; there was an engaging exchange; and he left satisfied with his visit.
Little did he know that, in the coming days, his semiprivate comments would enter a very public realm—the blogosphere—unleashing a storm of controversy around him and his company. (For confidentiality, names have not been revealed.)
The executive had no active social media presence—no profile on Facebook or LinkedIn, no Twitter account, no blog on the company's website. He had decided that social media weren't "his thing." In fact, he became aware of the buzz over his comments only after some people in the company had alerted his communications group. There were lengthy discussions about whether and how to respond. Customers and other stakeholders were participating in the debate online, arguing strongly in favor of net neutrality. Employees were watching. Should the company issue an official response to comments made in a private setting? Could the CEO wade into the public discussion when he had never been active in the blogosphere and had no other social media platform? In the end, he and his team did nothing, leaving everyone feeling frustrated and helpless.
For a comparison, consider the ease with which Tom Dickson, founder and CEO of small U.S. blender manufacturer Blendtec, uses social media. Until 2006, few people had heard of Dickson; today, there aren't many business owners who haven't. That's because Dickson is the star of the Will It Blend? series of YouTube videos, in which he subjects a host of objects (marbles, computer games, an iPod, an iPhone, an iPad) to the sharp blades of his products. Thanks to the campaign's popularity (the iPhone-blending video has been viewed more than 9 million times), Blendtec's sales have increased sevenfold in the past three years—impressive when you consider that each video lasts only about two minutes and is produced for a few hundred dollars.
Through a series of YouTube videos, Tom Dickson, CEO of a small U.S. blender manufacturer, has built a strong personal brand.
Dickson, a grandfather, had no idea what YouTube was when his marketing director pitched the video idea. Now he is an internet rock star—a popular radio and television guest (with appearances on The Tonight Show and Today), a sought-after speaker on viral marketing, and a frequent participant in music videos and other companies' advertising campaigns. Thanks to the internet's global reach and his affable, down-to-earth manner, Dickson has developed a strong personal brand. Employees are proud of the recognition Blendtec has received, and thousands of fans have sent suggestions for his next video. How many CEOs of the Fortune 500 can claim such connection with the people they want to influence?
A Connected World
It's no secret that social media—global, open, transparent, non-hierarchical, interactive, and real time—are changing consumer behavior and workplace expectations. As a result, the best businesses are creating comprehensive strategies in this area to support their goals. However, my research on the organizational implications of social media and consulting work with dozens of companies in America, Europe, and Asia suggest that it is taking longer for corporate leaders to consider what the new paradigm means for them personally.
Take the world's leading CEOs as a sample. According to data from Fisheye Analytics, the top 50 chief executives (as identified by Morten T. Hansen, Herminia Ibarra, and Urs Peyer in "The Best-Performing CEOs in the World," HBR January–February 2010) are increasingly discussed in online venues, but few are using social media to spread their own messages: Only 19 were on Facebook, only six had a LinkedIn page, and only two—Google CEO Eric Schmidt and former Norilsk Nickel CEO Mikhail Prokhorov—were tweeting or blogging (although some used their corporate pages for blogs). Anecdotal evidence suggests that the story is the same for leaders below the CEO level and that even those who have a social media presence aren't using it strategically. That is a mistake.
Today's leaders must embrace social media for three reasons. First, they provide a low-cost platform on which to build your personal brand, communicating who you are both within and outside your company. Second, they allow you to engage rapidly and simultaneously with peers, employees, customers, and the broader public, especially younger generations, in the same transparent and direct way they expect from everyone in their lives. Third, they give you an opportunity to learn from instant information and unvarnished feedback. Active participation in social media can be a powerful tool—the difference between leading effectively and ineffectively, and between advancing and faltering in the pursuit of your goals. You can use this tool proactively, as Dickson did, or reactively, as the technology CEO could have done.
Social Media Must-Dos
In addition to exploring the benefits of a personal social media strategy, I offer here a framework for developing one that fits your goals, desired audience, and resources, and I outline the challenges of wading into this developing territory.
The Three Realms of Social Media Leadership
Social media (as defined by social media website Wikipedia) are "media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques [and] web-based technologies to transform and broadcast media monologues into social media dialogues." Virtually everyone has heard of such global platforms as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, but there are others popular in particular countries or regions—such as Orkut in Brazil and Tuenti in Spain—as well as company- and industry-specific networks, such as Medscape's Physician Connect and Epernicus, for medical researchers. All social media platforms have grown in size and importance in recent years, as exemplified when Facebook, the most successful, hit 500 million members in July 2010.
Tom Dickson's success shows the tremendous value of social media for personal branding. Starting from relative obscurity, he used a low-cost, accessible, no-barriers-to-entry platform to become, for lack of a better word, famous.
Branding can also be more limited—within an industry, for instance. Consider Robert Scoble, a technology executive currently working for Texas-based web-hosting company Rackspace. When Scoble worked in sales support at NEC Mobile Solutions, he set up a blog to provide technical help to customers and solicit their feedback. Microsoft took notice and hired him to be a professional "spokesblogger." But he used this corporate platform in a personal way, not only promoting Microsoft but also sometimes criticizing it and praising its competitors. In 2005, he started his own blog, Scobleizer, and he has since been poached by PodTech,Fast Company, and then Rackspace. He tweets, too (an average of 21 times per day, according to a 2008 study) and is now so well known that he is parodied—an April Fools' spoof on British tech-news website The Register claimed he was an IBM bot.
Perhaps the easiest way to build your brand among colleagues is through internal corporate networks. In their book Empowered, Forrester Research's Josh Bernoff and Ted Schadler point to the story of Frank Goudsmit, an underwriter in Chubb's life sciences unit who was one of many employees to submit a business idea to Idea Central, an internal site launched by the company to spur innovation. Out of 608 suggestions, his was one of the few pursued, earning him new respect from colleagues and superiors and the opportunity to work with the IT group on a million-dollar project.
Social media also help executives engage with an array of contacts—both internal and external—in order to strengthen and leverage relationships; show commitment to a cause, profession, company, or product; and demonstrate a capacity for reflection instead of just action. With 70 million members, LinkedIn is known as a place for job seekers to find employment and for entrepreneurs to raise funds. Jeff Epstein was hired to be the CFO of Oracle after a recruiter found him on LinkedIn, and Ger Hartnett, founder of Irish software company Goshido, and his team used the network to send 700 messages to potential investors, raising $230,000 in eight days.
Executives can also use social media to engage with employees, customers, and investors. In 2008, when Ben Verwaayen was appointed CEO of Alcatel-Lucent, he started blogging on the company's internal website, asking for input from all 80,000 staff worldwide and responding to their comments. He describes the blog as a "fantastic tool" that allows him to get beyond "corporate speak" into a direct dialogue with employees. Verwaayen believes that this open and clear communication positively influences their motivation and support for him.
The third reason for using social media is learning. Verwaayen, for example, has used his blog to seek feedback from more than 9,000 employees on his company's strategic plan. This not only improved the strategy but also helped bring everyone on board, thereby smoothing the implementation process. André Schneider, COO of the World Economic Forum, uses LinkedIn discussion groups and the postings of Facebook friends to learn about emerging trends and issues, filtering the feedback to retain the "few gems." He has also used local social media tools to learn about potential partners for events in China.
Padmasree Warrior, CTO of Cisco, uses Twitter to take learning one step further. A social media pro—whose tweets range from news and thoughts about her company to short poems she has composed—Warrior has often considered the views of her 1.4 million followers when developing industry presentations.
Your Next Steps
Now that you understand the benefits of developing a social media presence, where should you start?
It helps to look at the two spheres of social media activity—personal and professional—against the target audience—private and public. These dimensions are represented in the exhibit "Finding the Right Presence." If your goals are in the far left box, you aim to build stronger bonds with friends and family members. If you're reading this article, you probably want to do more than that, but even this limited presence can help you as a leader by strengthening your social network. In the next box, the focus is on representing yourself as a team player through collaboration and communication with colleagues. In the third box, the purpose is to build a personal brand by engaging with people in your community and in society at large. And the goal in the far right box is to win recognition within your profession, building networks and broadcasting your competence. This exhibit also outlines how branding, engagement, and learning can be achieved in each area, and lists some social media tools that can help.
Finding the Right Presence
To formulate your personal social media strategy, you need to answer the following sets of questions:
1. Are your goals personal, professional, or both? Are there conflicts between how you want to present yourself in the two spheres? If so, you must decide which is more important. Think about the three realms of social media leadership—branding, engagement, and learning—and what you are hoping to achieve in each. Make sure that your online profile does not contradict your activity in the "real world" and that your messages are authentic.
2. Is your desired audience private (a limited set of friends, family, and colleagues) or public (your industry or even the world)? Social media activity will necessarily increase your presence and make it easier for others to Google you. How big do you want that presence to be?
3. What resources do you have? Does this project require your own time and money, or can it justifiably be done using office time and tech-team support? (For example, Blendtec helped Dickson reach a large audience by building a dedicated Will It Blend? website and creating a YouTube channel.) Please note that outsourcing is not an option. In social media, authenticity in your message is key, and only you can provide that.
The answers to those questions can help you choose the right combination of platforms and decide how much time to devote to each. For example, if you want to strengthen relationships with colleagues and industry peers, get active on a company social network and LinkedIn. If you want to share your ideas with the broader community, start a public blog and use Twitter. Your platforms should also suit your location—for example, local networks may be more appropriate in Asian countries.
Continuity is important, so set aside enough time for each activity you want to pursue. A blog might require an hour every fortnight for writing and an hour or so every week for reading comments and posting responses. Twitter requires less time per interaction, but the frequency must be high for you to establish a meaningful presence.
The Risks of an Online Presence
The risks of using social media can be grouped into three categories.
The first risk is how you manage social capital. With whom do you connect? The boundary between personal and professional spaces, and between private and public audiences, is blurry. For example, should work colleagues be your Facebook friends? If so, how do you ensure that your nonwork friends don't post pictures or comments that could hurt you professionally? If not, how do you tactfully decline requests to connect? No one should assume that a private social media presence will stay that way. On the flip side, opening yourself up to the public poses its own risks. How do you vet the people with whom you are connecting? How do you respond to inaccurate or abusive posts? My advice is to build your audience slowly and be selective about your contacts.
The second risk is about managing intellectual capital. What do you communicate about? Corporate communications and legal departments tend to worry about employees who are active online. One concern is that the company's message will be muddied; another is a possible breach of industry guidelines or government regulation. Still another is concern over intellectual property: The law is tricky when it comes to ideas developed on a social network. The personal/professional and public/private divides also come into play. Seventy-five percent of U.S. recruiters and human resources professionals say they research candidates online, and tales of employees fired by bosses who disapproved of their Facebook or blog content are common. What you say online matters, especially because it can be very difficult to erase (at least until the future that Eric Schmidt envisions—the one in which people can start fresh with new profiles at age 21—becomes reality). Set some guidelines about what information you should and should not disclose. Be authentic and consistent across spheres, online and in other media. And remember that anything you want to keep private and maintain control over should not be posted on a social media platform.
The third risk is managing your progress. How do you maintain momentum? The success of your social media strategy will depend on your resources and the quality and authenticity of your message. But how do you ensure you're not wasting your time? It's easy to tell how many Facebook friends and Twitter followers you have, but, depending on your goals, you should also consider social media monitoring tools, such as Google Alerts and TweetDeck (both are free) or Radian6 and Fisheye Analytics (both charge a fee). To evaluate whether you're engaging and learning effectively, keep track of how many useful connections you make each month or the number of ideas you develop as a result of social media interaction.
Social media are here to stay. They are changing the way we do business and how leaders are perceived, from the shop floor to the C-suite. And they give leaders a new, low-cost tool for personal branding, engaging in conversations with stakeholders, and learning from new sources. By looking closely at your goals as a person and a professional, your target audience, and your resources, you can choose the platform that's right for you and head off any risks.


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romance writing than verse; the discovery was not fully made till nearly a century after their time. But most of them, from Chamberlayne downwards, might surely have known that, whether you tell a story in verse or prose, you should tell it intelligibly and clearly; with, at any rate, distinct sequence, if not with elaborate plot; and in language arranged so as to convey thought, not to conceal it. They were not to blame for adopting the overlapped form of couplet: they were to blame for letting reasonable and musical variety overflow into loquacious disorder. Although there may be more difference of opinion here, they were not to blame for adopting the 'metaphysical' style, inasmuch as that style lends itself to the sublimest poetic beauty; but they were to blame for neglecting to observe that, when it is not sublime, it is nearly certain to be ridiculous. So, again, their practice of fantastically cut and broken lyric, and their fingering of the common and long measures, were wholly admirable things in themselves; but, at the same time, they were apt to make their verse 'not inevitable enough'-to multiply its examples in a mote-like and unimportant fashion. To take the two capital examples just dwelt upon in another age, Benlowes would probably either not have written at all or have been a religious and satiric poet of real importance; while it may be taken as certain that Cleiveland's satiric, if not his lyrical, powers would have been developed far more perfectly if he had been born a generation or two generations later. And those later generations, though they lost something that both Benlowes and Cleiveland had fitfully, and that shows far better in Chamberlayne and Stanley and Hall, benefited, both consciously and unconsciously, by the faults of the school we have been studying.
THE 'overdated ceremony,' as Milton himself might have called it, of protesting that the best record of a great writer's life is in his works can, at least, plead this in its favour, that it applies to hardly any two persons in quite the same way. In Milton's case, especially, its application has a peculiarity partaking of that strong separation from ordinary folk which is one of the great Miltonic notes. We are not, in his case, without a fairly large amount of positive biographical information; and that information was worked up and supplemented by David Masson with heroic diligence, with lavish provision of commentary and without that undue expatiation into 'may-havebeens' and 'probablys' and 'perhapses' which, despite the temptation to it which exists in some cases, is irritating to the critically minded and dangerously misleading to the uncritical. But, in order to understand the external information, we need unusually constant and careful recurrence to the internal, and, on the other hand, we are likely to misread not a little of the work if we do not know the life. Nor is this double process one requiring mere care. The ordinary conception of Milton, among people more than fairly educated, may be fairly uniform and reasonably clear; but it does not follow that it is either correct or complete. He may not so absolutely 'evade our question' as does Shakespeare. The contradictions or inconsistencies in him may not be trivial and exoteric as in Bacon. But, like Dante, whom, of all other writers of the highest class, he most resembles, Milton gives us his life and his work, to explain each other, it may be, but offering not a few puzzles and pitfalls in the course of the explanation. Although, therefore, the immense mass of detail which has been accumulated about Milton defies distillation and condensation in such a chapter as this, it has been thought important to give all the principal points, while excluding those proper to a full 'life,' or a critical edition of the 'works' in extenso.
The life itself was not extraordinarily eventful, but it was unusually so when compared with the average lives of men of letters; and, though the unusualness was partly due to the times, it was largely increased by Milton's own attitude towards those times, during the last forty years of his life. In the circumstances of his birth and origin, he reflected the peculiar ecclesiastical-which meant, also, the political-history of England for the past three generations. He was born on 9 December 1608, in the city of London, at The Spread Eagle, Bread street, Cheapside, where his father (and namesake) carried on the business of a scrivener-that is to say, a lawyer of the inferior branch, who had specially to do with the raising, lending and repayment of money on landed or other security. The sign of the office or shop was the crest of the family-an Oxfordshire one of the upper yeomanry; and the reason of the elder John's taking to business was that he had been disinherited by his father for abandoning Roman Catholicism and conforming to the church of England. The poet's younger brother Christopher reversed the process, became a judge and a knight under James II and (probably on that account, for we know very little else about him) has been generally spoken of in a depreciatory manner by biographers and historians. But the brothers seem always to have been on good terms. There was also an elder sister, Anne, who married and became the mother of John and Edward Phillips, both men of letters, in their way, the latter our chief original source of information about his uncle. Of the poet's mother, we hear but little, and it is by inference rather than on direct evidence that her name is supposed to have been Sarah Jeffrey or Jeffreys.
Milton's father, however, was not only a prosperous man of business, but one of rather unusual culture. His son derived from him his interest in music; and that the father was not indifferent to poetry-perhaps not to romance-is evident from his connection with a contemporary version of Guy of Warwick, which exists in MS and to which he contributed a sonnet. He sent his son to St Paul's school, giving him, also, a private tutor, Thomas Young, who was a good scholar but an acrid presbyterian and, later, the 'ty' of Smectymnuus. And Milton seems to have had no objection to being 'brought on' in the Blimberian sense-working by himself when a boy of twelve, till the small hours. Although it is impossible to deny the indebtedness of some of the good qualities of his work to this 'overpressure,' it must have had bad results in various directions, moral and physical. And, though his blindness cannot
have been actually caused by this over-exertion of his eyes, it was certainly not staved off by the process. For the time, however, all went well. Alexander Gill, high master of St Paul's, was an excellent teacher, and his son continued to be a great friend of Milton when Gill went to Oxford and Milton to Cambridge. There, he was admitted at Christ's on 12 February 1625, when he had just entered his seventeenth year; and he began to keep terms at Easter. His college sojourn begins the Milton legend and controversy-tedious and idle like all controversial legends and to be kept down as much as possible. He certainly did not get on with his tutor Chappell, and was sent away from college; though not technically 'sent down' or rusticated, inasmuch as he did not lose a term. And his transference to another tutor has been held (though the fact is not quite conclusive) as proof that there were faults on both sides. He himself admits 'indocility' and grumbles that he was not allowed to choose his own studies. That he was unpopular with his fellow undergraduates is not certain, though it is not improbable. The celebrated nickname 'the lady of Christ's' admits of and has been fitted with-both interpretations that of a compliment to his beauty and that of a sneer at him as a milksop. He certainly must have been as different as possible from the 'Square-Cap' of his contemporary Cleiveland's lively glorification of the graduates and undergraduates of Cambridge. But he protested, later, that the Fellows treated him 'with more than ordinary respect' and wished him to stay up at the end of his seven years, when, in 1632, he took the M.A. degree. The upshot of the whole seems to be that he was studious, reserved and not quite like other people-once, at least, and, probably, more than once, becoming definitely 'refractory.' He was always to be studious, reserved and not like other people; and, in his nearly seventy years, the times of truce were not very common and the times of war very frequent.
It is impossible to say what he would have done if his father had not been unusually, though by no means unwisely, indulgent, and of means sufficient to exercise indulgence. That Milton could work hard at mere routine when it suited him, the disastrous secretaryship afterwards showed; but it is impossible to imagine him in any ordinary profession. He had been 'destined of a child' to the church. But, though there is no positive evidence of antiAnglican feeling in his work before Lycidas, and, though Lycidas itself might have been written, in a quite possible construction, by an orthodox and even high Anglican who was an ardent church
reformer, Milton's discipleship to Young and the Gills, his difficulties with Chappell, who was a Laudian, and his whole subsequent conduct and utterance, explain his abandonment of orders.
No (or only the slightest) obstacles were put in his way, and no force was used to urge him out of it. His father had given up business, and settled at Horton in the south of Bucks, less than twenty miles from London, on the river Colne, within sight of Windsor, and in a pretty, though not wildly romantic, neighbourhood. Here Milton lived, and read, and thought, and annotated, and wrote, for five years, directing his attention chiefly to linguistic, literary and historical study, but, at last, setting seriously to work at poetry itself. Besides smaller pieces, Comus (1634) and Lycidas (1637) certainly date from this time; and the ingenious attempts of Mrs Byse1 can hardly be allowed to carry L'Allegro and П Penseroso on to the period that followed. In 1635, he was admitted ad eundem as M.A. at Oxford.
Milton had thus twelve years-counting together his Cambridge and his Horton sojourn-of literary concentration; in the first seven, he was somewhat, but probably not much, interfered with: in the second five, he was completely undisturbed. It is quite clear from various passages of his works and letters, earlier and later, that these years were definitely and deliberately employed on 'getting his wedding garment ready'-on preparing himself for the great career in poetry upon which he actually entered in the last of these years, but which was subsequently interrupted. In a sense, nothing could be more fortunate. Solitude, and the power of working as one pleases and when one pleases only, are among the greatest of intellectual luxuries; they are, perhaps, more than luxuries-positive necessities-to exceptional poetic temperaments. The moral effect of both may be more disputable. It certainly did not, in Milton's case, lead to dissipation, in any sense, even to that respectable but deplorable and not uncommon form of literary dissipation which consists in always beginning and never finishing. In such a temperament as his, it may have fostered the peculiar arrogance-too dignified and too well suited to the performance to offend, but only not to be regretted by idle partisans-the morose determination to be different, the singular want of adaptability in politics and social matters generally, which has been admitted even by sympathisers with his political and religious views.
But the elder John 'was for Thorough' in regard to his son's education. He had given him the best English training of public 1 See bibliography.


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A policy group lets you group policies to ease administration and to provide easier assigning and scheduling of the policies in the policy group.
You can use ZENworks Control Center or the zman command line utility to create policy groups. This section explains how to perform this task using the ZENworks Control Center. If you prefer the zman command line utility, see
Policy Commands in the ZENworks 10 Configuration ManagementAsset Management Command Line Utilities Reference.


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Working Papers
Get the Working Papers RSS feed
To enable the Working Papers RSS feed, simply drag this link into your RSS reader.
What is RSS?
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is an XML-based format for sharing and distributing Web content, such as news headlines. RSS provides interested scholars with convenient feeds of newly posted Working Papers content.
When new articles appear in Working Papers, our corresponding RSS feeds are updated and your RSS reader alerts you of the new content.


text:
Empire Township
- Town in Kansas
Report Card
- Public Schoolsgrade C+
- Crime & Safetygrade unavailable
- Housinggrade B+
- Nightlifegrade B minus
- Good for Familiesgrade B minus
- Diversitygrade C+
- Jobsgrade B
- Weathergrade B
- Cost of Livinggrade A minus
- Health & Fitnessgrade B+
- Outdoor Activitiesgrade B
- Commutegrade B
Empire Township is located in Kansas with a population of 1,470. Empire Township is in McPherson County. Living in Empire Township offers residents a rural feel and most residents own their homes. Many families live in Empire Township and residents tend to be conservative.
Real Estate
Median Home Value
Median Rent
Area Feel
Rent vs. Own
- Rent12%
- Own88%
Sponsored Mortgage Options for Empire Township
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Crime & Safety
Crime & Safety
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Based on violent and property crime rates.
Violent Crimes
- Calculated annually per 100,000 residents
- AssaultNo data availablenational 282.7
- MurderNo data availablenational 6.1
- RapeNo data availablenational 40.7
- RobberyNo data availablenational 135.5
Property Crimes
- Calculated annually per 100,000 residents
- BurglaryNo data availablenational 500.1
- TheftNo data availablenational 2,042.8
- Motor Vehicle TheftNo data availablenational 284
grade C+
Based on ethnic and economic diversity.
- <10 years11%
- 10-17 years12%
- 18-24 years7%
- 25-34 years11%
- 35-44 years14%
- 45-54 years18%
- 55-64 years10%
- 65+ years15%
Education Levels
- Master's degree or higher6%national 13%
- Bachelor's degree20%national 21%
- Some college or associate's degree37%national 29%
- High school diploma or equivalent22%national 26%
- Less than high school diploma15%national 11%
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Based on employment rates, job and business growth, and cost of living.
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Cosplay Costumes
Cat Cosplay
There isn't an anime or manga called "Cat". We know. BUT lots of people seem to like to cosplay as cats or cat type characters. Not only that but there are plenty of cat like characters in many different anime and manga out there. We thought it'd be helpful to list a few cat costumes. You can even consider making up your own costume! Then when people say "Who are you supposed to be"? You can say... what do you mean? This is how I always dress ^_^
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text: The Florida-based political rap duo Dead Prez consists of Stic.man and M-1, a pair of rappers inspired by revolutionaries from Malcolm X to Public Enemy. They immersed themselves in political and social studies as they forged their own style of hip-hop. They went on to work with Big Punisher on his 1998 album Capital Punishment and released singles like 1998's "Police State with Chairman Omali" and 1999's "It's Bigger Than Hip-Hop." Their debut album, Lets Get Free, was released in early 2000. A two-volume mixtape project — Turn off the Radio: The Mixtape, Vol. 1 and Turn off the Radio: The Mixtape, Vol. 2: Get Free or Die Tryin' — followed in 2002 and 2003, boasting tracks and new productions, and their proper studio follow-up, RBG: Revolutionary But Gangsta, appeared in 2004. Two years later the group collaborated with the three remaining members of the Outlawz for Can't Sell Dope Forever, followed shortly after by Soldier 2 Soldier, a joint record between Stic.man and Young Noble. 2009's Pulse of the People, presented by DJ Green Lantern and technically the third volume in the Turn off the Radio series, was enlivened by appearances from Chuck D, Bun B, and Styles P. In 2012 they issued Information Age, an album filled with more futuristic and electro-based production but the same politically minded lyrics.


text:
Stefon, Amy Poehler Return to SNL to Send Off Seth Meyers
Last night was head writer Seth Meyers' last episode of Saturday Night Live before he takes Jimmy Fallon's spot on Late Night (and before Jay Leno has both of them killed). During "Weekend Update," Amy Poehler and classic Meyers-era "Update" character Stefon swung by along with Andy Samberg see Meyers off.
Everybody was nearly in tears, and that probably includes all of our moms, too.


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Project News
- SDK 1.2 Released!
- Blog posts: Security Mechanisms in the SDK & Planet Jetpack BETA
- SDK hack day coming to Mountain View November 19th. Register now!
- Development news: 1.3 is in stabilization, 1.4 is in development.
Meeting Brief
- Builder re-pack changes pushed to production last Wed. Will re-pack add-ons for 1.2
- SDK: need to replace Google translate docs example, will poll google group
- mobile support goal at risk due to Native UI change
- SDK hack day event booked, November 19th in 10FWD
- L10N talk at MozCamps Berlin & KL
Full minutes are available here:


text:
- Science
- Not Exactly Rocket Science
I've got your missing links right here (23 June 2012)
Top picks
The EU released a teaser video of its campaign to get young girls into science. It did not go down well. The Knight Tracker has a copy of the video (now taken down) and collated all the reactions.
Really fascinating piece about how complicated "informed consent" is becoming in the era of big data. By Erika Check Hayden.
Vivid, well-told feature on the climate wars, by Tom Clynes.
How flight beat float: Megan Garber on the death of the dirigible.
The only good abortion is my abortion. This piece by Maggie Koerth-Baker is amazing not just because it's brave but that it allows others to be brave. Salute
In 1935, a radio program sponsored by the FDA wrote a ditty praising arsenic. Great post by Deborah Blum.
Most people who bang on about science literacy are talking crap. This brilliant piece shows why.
I was sad as a kid when I learned that tractor beams weren't real. But they might be!
Astonishing. Your brain looks different depending on whether the data analysis is done on a Mac or PC
These are wonderful: famous landmarks, seen through the eyes of hundreds at once
Women with super-vision live among us, and one scientist is trying to track them down. Cool piece by Veronique Greenwood.
XKCD: All 786 known planets drawn to scale
"If you were a mantis shrimp, your rainbow would be unimaginably rich" – two great posts on the nature of colour
"Caution about over-interpretation. Over-interpretation." – Vaughan Bell's template for all neuroscience stories
Typically excellent piece by Carl Zimmer on how the microbes within us are turning doctors into wildlife managers.
World's slowest shark even slower than previously thought.
Teach With Portals. Great idea from Valve.
Hermaphroditic banana slugs chewing off each others penises after sex. As you do.
Skip straight to step 5! Discover wants you to send an experiment to space and they'll give you $1500 to do it.
Henrietta's revenge: HeLa cells continue to wreak havoc on other cell cultures
Abandoned Russian neuroscience lab in haunting photos
"We need to stop trying to teach every child as either a future scientist or a future failed scientist," argues Deb Blum.
From Deep Sea news: I thought I was a plant, but now I think I'm a killer!
600 years later, engineers are realizing the dreams of da Vinci and making human-powered helicopters
Do cephalopods dream of aquatic sheep? With mandatory Cthulhu reference
NEOShield: Europe leading the way on asteroid deflection
Are drug company R&D depts reading blogs? Antidepressant paper corrected after NeuroSkeptic post
Excellent BBC problem on the cult of TED. And TED's problem us summed up by the fan who says "the difference between TED [&] church is all the talks are verifiable by science." LMFAO
Can you smell what the rock is preservin'? Brian Switek on Archaeopteryx, turtle porn & shark… something
Why do spammers say they're from Nigeria? So only most gullible respond [pdf]
The gigapixel camera: allowing you to spy on people with as little skill or planning as possible
Scientists trace wiring plan for entire mouse brain
Nobel laureate directing African HIV centre? Good news? Oh wait… it's Luc Montagnier
Good news: you have a beautiful baby. Bad news: two tapeworms
What makes us laugh?
Teenager survives harpoon through the brain. In at the front, out at the back. Amazing x-ray.
This awesome view of the Arctic sea ice atop the Blue Marble could soon be the stuff of history:
Korean scientists are fighting back against proposed anti-evolution textbook changes
Making The Connection: The Oceans In Contemporary American Culture
Extinct toad is not actually extinct!
AbyssBox – a high-pressure aquarium tank for deep-sea life. But how to stock it, sez I
This post about the world's fastest supercomputer has a truly inspired headline
Is this vanishing fat-tailed lemur a ninja, or is it just hibernating?
Wired's tribute to Alan Turing's many achievements
I think this may be the best photo ever: jumping dolphin with octopus on its genitals
"Matthew Power is the kind of writer everyone dreams of becoming." Here, he journeys to the island of the tree kangaroos.
One woman and her giant tortoises – Virginia Huhes recounts her visit to the Galapagos
Be the opposite of Prometheus! BFI & Wellcome Trust launch screenwriting prize to encourage films inspired by science
FOIA reveals safety problems at CDC pathogens lab – violations for which CDC would poss shut down any other lab
The ultimate bouncer: an absolutely great post on the P-glycoprotein efflux multi-drug transporter.
Simon Baron-Cohen on what the McLean brain bank breakdown means for autism research
Later Terminator: We're Nowhere Near Artificial Brains
The Legend of Mike 'The Durable' Malloy, History's Most Stubborn Murder Victim
If any man could save the northern white rhinos, it was him. But Congolese Government inanities smothered his plans
This is what a honeybee looks like as it loses its stinger
Sinners and winners in the race to protect the oceans revealed
Paper mistakenly says earth orbits the moon
You Chose Wrong. All the various ways of dying in choose-your-own-adventure books
21 Pictures That Will Restore Your Faith In Humanity
I love that the winner of the Wellcome Image Awards was undoctored, and actually used in a scientific context.
This whale spouts rainbows
Glaminals. Love the starfish.
An awesome display of counter-trolling
Journalism /internet/society
Fellow science writer Jonah Lehrer was caught recycling material from old columns for his new New Yorker blog. (Disclosure: Jonah and I used to be on ScienceBlogs together; I've recommended his writing on this blog; we haven't met but are mutually supportive acquaintances.) But yes, even though they're all his words, this is a problem. Paul Raeburn says the "journalism issues are simple and clear" and he's absolutely right. The Daily Beast sums up what happened. Robert Wright muses on the bigger picture. Slate has some thoughts on the Big Ideas culture. Felix Salmon has some advice on blogging. And at some point, the bloody Huffington Post retweeted Jonah's apology for recycling content! And then I died of irony poisoning.
Twitter going down is funny … also kind of scary in the age of uber-connection
Brill. Pick up your dog's poo, and get free wi-fi. I love this idea, but fundamentally, it rewards owners of dogs that produce heavier poo.
Blogger Asserts Copyright, Newspaper Editor Gets Irate
"Facebook has the governance structure for you" Another brilliant piece by Alexis Madrigal
Taliban to US: "If you don't stop killing our kids w/ drones, we'll kill them with polio." World to Taliban: "Erm…"
The lawyer for FunkyJunk is now suing The Oatmeal and the American Cancer Society and the National Wildlife Federation
Gatwick's Border Agency shocking conduct towards ethnic minority women, gays and those w/ HIV
When Science Media Becomes a Parody of Itself
Using stats to spot sockpuppetry and dodgy reviews on TripAdvisor
How a D-list superhero taught Adam Rogers that w/ great parenting comes great responsibility (oldie but goodie)


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Put your best foot forward
A business card is sometimes the first and only impression you get to make. Your business cards reflect your business, its attitude, and a level of professionalism; make it a good one.
No matter what look you are trying to achieve with a business card there are literally thousands of ideas to choose from and a thousand different impressions to leave potential clients with. Choose from a variety of paper stock, colors, fonts, designs, horizontal, vertical, two-sided, gloss or matte finishes. The possibilities are endless.
We're your source for business cards, whether you need something quick and economical, or a classic premium offering. Let us help you with design ideas, paper stock options - everything you need for this essential element of your business. You (and your clients!) will be so impressed with the quality of your cards that you'll keep coming back for more.


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Even though we have to deal with 100-degree summers and 15-degree winters, hobos on the subway, and slow-walking tourists, sometimes it really pays off to be a New Yorker. Samsung's highly anticipated Galaxy Tab 10.1 won't hit stores nationally until June 17, but a few lucky New Yorkers, and possibly some smart-shopping tourists, will be able to pick up a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 as early as June 8.
The 10.1-inch Samsung slate will only be available at New York's Union Square Best Buy location, and according to Samsung, there will only be a limited quantity of the WiFi edition Galaxy Tab. Online and in-store pre-orders for the New York inventory will begin on June 8, as well. Unfortunately for the rest of the country, a plane ticket to the Big Apple will be your best bet to snag the early release Galaxy Tab 10.1.
The good news, however, is that the new Samsung tablet will come with Android 3.1 Honeycomb. Plus, Samsung promises future software updates to bring TouchWiz into the mix, among other things.
In terms of pricing, the 32GB WiFi model of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 will cost $599 from Best Buy, Fry's Electronics, Amazon.com, Micro Center, Tiger Direct, and Newegg. The 16GB version runs for $100 less, at $499. And for the patient, Samsung also mentioned that Sprint would be picking up the device in mid-summer 2011.
June 02, 2011 08:09 AM Eastern Daylight Time
Samsung Galaxy Tab™ 10.1, World's Thinnest Mobile Tablet, Makes Official Landing in U.S.
Premium Android Honeycomb Tablet with Ultra-slim, Lightweight Design and Brilliant 10-inch Touchscreen Available Exclusively at Best Buy Union Square Store in New York City Starting June 8; Available Nationwide Starting June 17
DALLAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile), the No. 1 mobile phone provider in the U.S.1, and Samsung Electronics America, a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, today announced the upcoming retail availability of the Galaxy Tab™ 10.1, starting June 8. The WiFi-enabled tablet measures at just 8.6 millimeters slim, making it the thinnest mobile tablet currently available in the world. The 32GB version of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 WiFi edition will be available for $599, while the 16GB version of the device will be available for $499.
"Ensuring that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 launched with Android 3.1 Honeycomb was part of our constant commitment to meeting the needs of our customers"
A limited quantity of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 WiFi edition will be available for purchase exclusively at the Best Buy Union Square store in New York City on June 8. Best Buy customers may also pre-order the Galaxy Tab 10.1 online or in-store beginning that day.
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is powered by Android™ 3.1 Honeycomb, offering faster and smoother transitions between different applications, more intuitive navigation to and from home screens and broader support of USB accessories, external keyboards, joysticks and gamepads.
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is the thinnest mobile tablet currently available in the world, measuring in at an ultra-slim 8.6 millimeters. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 also boasts an incredibly light weight of just 1.25 pounds (565 grams) for outstanding mobility and comfort in the user's hands.
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is designed with a brilliant 10.1-inch HD touchscreen display with WXGA 1280 x 800 resolution delivering vibrant colors and crisp clarity. This expansive screen is centered inside a narrow bezel to enhance the wide viewing angle.
"Ensuring that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 launched with Android 3.1 Honeycomb was part of our constant commitment to meeting the needs of our customers," said Dale Sohn, President and CEO of Samsung Mobile. "The Galaxy Tab 10.1's ultra-thin design and 10-inch touchscreen are impressive differentiators in the tablet market place. We're going to make the Galaxy Tab 10.1 even more powerful, entertaining and secure through a series of upgrades coming to this device."
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 will receive these new upgrades through a software update that customers can access over the air in the near future. Those upgrades are currently scheduled to include:
Customized User Experience "Samsung TouchWiz UX"
Samsung's TouchWiz user experience is designed with a Live Panel menu for customizing the home screen of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 with digital pictures, favorite Web sites and social network feeds.
In addition, the TouchWiz UX includes a "Mini Apps" tray of commonly used features such as task manager, calendar and music player which can be launched while other major applications are already in use.
Samsung Media Hub
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 software upgrade will introduce the evolution of Samsung's popular movie and TV content service, known as Media Hub. Media Hub has been redesigned with a new user interface for even easier downloads of rented or purchased content. The new version of Media Hub also includes an HD Extender which allows the user to playback Media Hub content on TV through an HDMI cable from the Galaxy Tab 10.1 dock or adaptor.
Readers Hub & Social Hub
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 will also gain access to Samsung's Readers Hub service, which is a robust library filled with more than 2.2 million books, 2,000 newspapers and 2,300 magazines. Also, the software upgrade will install Samsung's Social Hub service, which aggregates email, instant messaging, contacts, calendar and social network connections into a single interface.
Optimal Enterprise Solutions
In addition, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 integrates several enterprise solutions to provide support for exchange device management policies, improve the security of data and services maintained on the tablet and meet IT guidelines for remote device access. The enterprise solutions include:
On-device encryption of user data
Enhanced Exchange ActiveSync Support
Cisco AnyConnect SSL VPN
Versatile Content Sharing
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 will also receive Samsung's Allshare service, for seamless content transfer between the tablet and other DLNA-enabled devices such as HDTV's, monitors and digital cameras. The software upgrade will also transform the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 into a device capable of accepting streaming content from a TV to the tablet itself.
Impressive Speed, Power & Battery Life
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 supports Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n connectivity to deliver rapid mobile download speeds and reduce data transfer times. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 also includes a Nvidia Tegra 1GHz dual core application processor for powerful gaming and multimedia performance. The Tab's ultra-thin design does not sacrifice battery life, thanks to a 7000 mAh battery providing up to 9 hours of continuous use on a single charge2.
Full Adobe Flash Player Compatibility
The device offers extensive Web browsing access through Adobe® Flash® Player compatibility. Flash Player delivers beautiful HD video, faster graphics rendering, and high performance on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and is designed to take advantage of native device capabilities – enabling richer, more immersive user experiences.
Quality Cameras and Sound
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 features a 3 megapixel rear camera and a 2 megapixel front camera providing smooth video chat capabilities and seamless 1080p HD video playback3. High quality speakers are positioned on the right and left sides of the device for a rich, deep audio experience.
Google™ Mobile Services
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is preloaded with the full suite of Google Mobile Services including access to more than 60,000 Android Market™ applications for Galaxy Tab 10.14, Gmail™, Google Search™, Google Maps™ 5.0 with 3D maps, and Google Talk™ with video and voice chat.
Availability & Pricing
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 WiFi edition will be available exclusively starting June 8 at the Best Buy Union Square location in New York City. Starting June 17, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be available at Best Buy online and in-store along with Fry's Electronics, Amazon.com, Micro Center, Tiger Direct and Newegg. These retail outlets will have the 32GB version of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 WiFi edition available for $599, and the 16GB version of the device will be available for $499. In addition, the WiFi version of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be available through Sprint starting mid-summer 2011. Visit www.samsung.com for additional details.


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The Wyoming Telecommunications Association's mission is to provide information, representation, and general assistance to its Members in regulatory, legislative, and general business matters relating to the telecommunications industry.
WYTA seeks to unify the industry's efforts to promote greater effectiveness in presenting industry issues before regulatory, administrative, and legislative agencies. WTA members collect, assemble, and disseminate information about or concerning the industry to its members, interested parties, and governmental agencies.
The WYTA consists of 9 independent local exchange telephone companies that are located in whole or in Wyoming. These companies, located mainly in rural communities, have provided local telephone service in their communities for decades. All are dedicated to supporting and expanding the economic viability of their communities and to enhancing the educational and business opportunities available to community members.
WYTA members provide a variety of services to their customers, including basic local telephone service, long distance service, cellular phone service, high-speed DSL service, high-speed wireless internet, and digital television. Our members allow rural customers to receive cutting edge technology solutions from local businesses they know and trust.


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Al Bahr Towers Responsive Facade / Abu Dhabi
Al Bahr Towers Responsive Facade / Abu Dhabi
A quick glimpse at the upcoming weather for Abu Dhabi will show a week of intense sunshine, temperatures steadily above 100 degrees Fahrenheit with 0% chance of rain. In such extreme weather conditions, even architects listing environmental design as their top priority are up against a tough battle. Never mind that the sand can compromise the structural integrity of the building, the intense heat and glare can render a comfortable indoor environment relatively impossible if not properly addressed. For Abu Dhabi's newest pair of towers, Aedas Architects have designed a responsive facade which takes cultural cues from the "mashrabiya", a traditional Islamic lattice shading device.
More about the towers' shading system after the break.
Completed in June 2012, the 145 meter towers' Masharabiya shading system was developed by the computational design team at Aedas. Using a parametric description for the geometry of the actuated facade panels, the team was able to simulate their operation in response to sun exposure and changing incidence angles during the different days of the year.
The screen opperates as a curtain wall, sitting two meters outside the buildings' exterior on an independent frame. Each triangle is coated with fiberglass and programmed to respond to the movement of the sun as a way to reduce solar gain and glare. In the evening, all the screens will close.
"At night they will all fold, so they will all close, so you'll see more of the facade. As the sun rises in the morning in the east, the mashrabiya along the east of the building will all begin to close and as the sun moves round the building, then that whole vertical strip of mashrabiya will move with the sun," said Peter Oborn, the deputy chairman of Aedas.
It is estimated that such a screen will reducing solar gain by more than 50 percent, and reduce the building's need for energy-draining air conditioning. Plus, the shade's ability to filter the light has allowed the architects to be more selective in glass finished. "It (the screen) allows us to use more naturally tinted glass, which lets more light in so you have better views and less need of artificial light. It's using an old technique in a modern way, which also responds to the aspiration of the emirate to take a leadership role in the area of sustainability," added Oborn.
For the project's sustainable engineering and sensitive cultural and urban approach, the towers were awarded the 2012 Tall Building Innovation Award (be sure to check out our previous coverage on the additional winners here) by the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
"The façade on Al Bahar, computer-controlled to respond to optimal solar and light conditions, has never been achieved on this scale before. In addition, the expression of this outer skin seems to firmly root the building in its cultural context," explained Awards Juror Chris Wilkinson of Wilkinson Eyre Architects.
Such an award acknowledges the importance of the necessary integration of architectural form, structure, systems, and sustainable design strategies.
You can view the gallery here: "Al Bahr Towers Responsive Facade / Abu Dhabi"


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By I. William Zartman
Genocide doesn't burst out unannounced. It is preceded and prepared by identity conflict that escalates from social friction to contentious politics, from politics to violence, and eventually to targeted mass killing. The United Nations in 1946 defined genocide as "a denial of the right of existence of entire human groups" and redefined it in 1948 as "acts committed with intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnical, racial or religious group." It can be carried out by rebel movements, but it is more frequently the work of the sovereign state.
More strikingly, it is generally not an aggressive but a defensive reaction — pathologically defensive, against a perceived existential threat. Instigators of identity conflict feel themselves targeted, ultimately for extinction, by another identity group whom they feel must be defeated and ultimately exterminated,. So, in a security dilemma, they themselves target the perceived threateners for extinction. Whether this fear is realistic or not is irrelevant; often it is not, usually it has some grain of evidence taken out of proportion, and sometimes it is at least ostensibly accurate. But the point is that political entrepreneurs sell this fear to their client public to gain their support. Peacemakers have the challenge of removing the potential tinder before the arsonist gets to throw a match at it.
Options to prevent this situation are fraught with dilemmas. What is required is a separation of the political entrepreneurs from the public, a move presenting dilemmas in free societies. Democratic rights of free association and speech provide such entrepreneurs with space to mobilize their public (the tinder), overtly or covertly, around identity markers. Removing the fears of identity groups and protecting identity diversity separate the public from the political entrepreneurs' appeals. This means a return to (or toward) the ideal condition of normal politics, where government responds to the fears, needs, and demands of all of its citizens and the citizens regularly review the record of the government in adequately providing this response.
However, such fears are often deep-rooted, and trust in constitutional arrangements and agents of authority is shallow. Alternative actions to create social, economic, and political conditions that reduce the need and opportunity to mobilize around identity markers are expensive and may alienate other parts of society. If the motivating fears cannot be exorcized, then measures must be taken to disarm those who mold them and render them incapable of causing damage. This is a necessarily intrusive challenge, especially when the political entrepreneur is the government. Telling governments (or rebel movements) that their fears are groundless and that they should be nice to their minorities is not an easily welcomed message.
Obviously, not all identity conflicts end in genocide, so it becomes important to understand the mechanism by which some do. Conflict doesn't necessarily mean "violent conflict"; the violent stage is an escalation from the initial, political stage of incompatible demands and cannot be understood in isolation from it. The non-violent stage of demonized conflict is the predecessor of genocide itself. Most identity conflicts go through the usual conflict evolutions to victory, stalemate, or fatigue. One side wins, the conflict reaches an impasse and turns to negotiation, or the demonizers weary of their efforts and leave their images in their public's subconscious for a later day's use. But some go on, ever escalating the images of the Other until they reach the ultimate confrontation, confirming the fears of the opponents.
Entrapment is the motor of the mechanism. Leaders become entrapped vis-à-vis their public. They have identified the scapegoat and now they must do something about it. Leaders become entrapped vis-à-vis each other; they enter into spirals of outbidding that force them into action. Leaders and followers alike become entrapped vis-à-vis the Other; they must increase their defenses against fear and threats and so enter into the security dilemma and a "spiral of vengeance." Followers become entrapped vis-à-vis each other; they must follow the mass paroxysm of their neighbors or become its victims. Thus, it isn't enough to understand the mechanics of genocide; one must understand where it comes from and the mechanics of its origin.
What can negotiation do in such a situation? And what can external parties do to foster negotiation of the measures that are necessary to prevent conflict escalation down the slippery slope toward mass killing and genocide? Blocking that slide means first listening for the frequent early warnings and taking early action. What is needed is a process that removes the feelings of zero-sum threat and fear, and that process has to come from positive interaction between the parties.
That means negotiation, including dialog, ripening, and preemptive accountability, to forestall identity conflict escalation. Intervention when the slide is temporarily arrested ("lest it happen again") includes monitoring and reconstruction, followed by reconciliation and remediation, once the violence has been brought under control. The blockage of such interaction is what makes the conflict; removing the blockage is the first step towards managing escalation, and the nature of the blockage or conflict imposes its requirements on the substance of the negotiations. Two types of contributions to a solution are available: structural and attitudinal, with continual interrelations between the two. Attitudinal changes are necessary to embark on structural solution searches; effective structural solutions give confidence to parties that there are systems in place to protect identities and make structures stick. They are symbiotic.
I. William Zartman is Jacob Blaustein Professor Emeritus at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington DC. His books include Cowardly Lions: Missed Opportunities to Prevent Deadly Conflict and State Collapse and Negotiation and Conflict Management. He is the co-editor of The Slippery Slope to Genocide: Reducing Identity Conflicts and Preventing Mass Murder with Mark Anstey and Paul Meerts. All three editors are on the Steering Committee for the Processes of International Negotiation Network at the International Institute for Applied Systems.
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text: The acronym A.C.A.B. is often found as graffiti on the walls of the city and is used by many youth subcultures in its various forms and backronyms. This electromechanical version of A.C.A.B. is an ironic allusion to the various (mis)interpretations of these four politically charged letters. The small object consists of a letter cube in combination with an electric motor. When a small switch is turned on, the cube begins to rotate and the text A.C.A.B. becomes visible.


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Abbottabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- The United States will be given access to Osama bin Laden's wives and children, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik told CNN on Tuesday.
On Monday, a senior Pakistani intelligence source had said the United States could question bin Laden's wives only if their "country of origin has been asked for permission."
One of bin Laden's wives is from Yemen. A well-placed U.S. official who would not speak on the record said the other two wives are from Saudi Arabia.
Malik, in an interview Tuesday with CNN, said Pakistan is giving the United States access "so they can interrogate them, they can interview them."
Malik did not say when or where the United States would have such access. Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan said Tuesday U.S. and Pakistani officials were discussing the matter.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said the administration is optimistic that U.S.-Pakistani cooperation "will continue with regards to" access to bin Laden's wives "and also to the materials that were collected by the Pakistanis after the U.S. commandos left" the compound where they killed bin Laden.
Carney described the U.S.-Pakistani relationship as "important and complicated."
Malik, in his interview with CNN, said allowing the wives to be interviewed should make clear to the United States that Pakistan has nothing to hide -- and put to rest any suspicions that the world's most-wanted terrorist might have had a support network inside the Pakistani government, military or intelligence services.
If Pakistan had "skeletons" to hide, "do you think we would allow access to the wives and the children of Osama?" he asked.
Malik called the decision "proof" that Pakistan is "very clear that we didn't know" bin Laden was living in a compound in Abbottabad, a Pakistani city with a major military presence, rather than in mountainous areas which Pakistani and U.S. officials often said were believed to be bin Laden's hiding place.
U.S. President Barack Obama told CBS' "60 Minutes," "We think that there had to be some sort of support network for bin Laden inside of Pakistan. But we don't know who or what that support network was."
Malik said there is "not an iota of doubt" in his mind that bin Laden had "no support network from official sources."
Acknowledging an intelligence failure, he said the investigation that Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has ordered will explore what went wrong, and the answers "will be made public."
One U.S. official said "both sides understand the importance of the relationship," but expressed concerns over Pakistan's control over all of its political participants.
"The boat is moving, but there is some chop in the water."
The official said that CIA Director Leon Panetta and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Chief Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha "have always had productive exchanges, even though there have been disagreements."
Pasha's position atop the ISI is considered valuable to the U.S., the official said, because of his close connection to chief of army staff, Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani.
Meanwhile,Pakistani officials have said bin Laden's family members will be repatriated to their home countries after their initial interrogations.
All three wives and eight of his children were taken into Pakistani custody after the May 2 raid by U.S. commandos that killed bin Laden, the leader of the al Qaeda terrorist movement.
The 29-year-old Yemeni wife, Amal Ahmed Abdulfattah, was wounded during the raid. The U.S. official identified the other two women as Khairiah Sabar, also known as "Umm Hamza," and Siham Sabar, or "Umm Khalid."
Although U.S. officials have warned of possible reprisal attacks by bin Laden supporters, there has been no surge of attacks inside Afghanistan, the commander of NATO forces in eastern Afghanistan said Tuesday.
"There has been a lot of talk about revenge, about (insurgents) coming at both the coalition and the Afghan forces here, but we have not seen that here since the first of May," said Regional Command East Commander Maj. Gen. John Campbell. U.S. and coalition forces were already on guard against an expected Taliban spring offensive even before bin Laden's death, Campbell added.
Campbell said he hoped that bin Laden's death, and the images of him inside the compound that the United States released, may discourage insurgents. But he also cautioned that bin Laden will certainly be replaced with a new al Qaeda leader.
"I don't think that one person makes the war on terror here," Campbell said. But he added that he expects insurgents to face some difficulties raising money without bin Laden's "charisma" as part of the effort.
The commander also noted al Qaeda is just one of the insurgent groups that NATO and U.S. forces are fighting in Afghanistan.
CNN's Pam Benson contributed to this report