text:
The Roanoke Robotics Club meets at the Science Museum on the first Saturday of the month at 12:00 Noon. If you want to build and operate robots, come join people who share your interest! From beginners to advanced builders, they have it! (Meetings not held in all months of the year – call (540) 819-8020 to confirm beforehand.)
For more, visit http://www.roanokerobotics.org/
And click on our EVENTS/UPCOMING page for a list of offerings by the Science Museum of Western Virginia.
Here are some of the experiments we featured on Fox 21/27′s So Cool Science School that you can do at home!
Make Your Own Slime
- Elmer's Glue® (8 oz bottle of Elmer's Glue-All)
- Borax (a powdered soap found in the grocery store)
- Large mixing bowl
- Plastic cup (8 oz size works well)
- Spoon
- Measuring cup
- Food coloring (optional)
- Water
- Paper towel for clean ups
- Zipper-lock bag
- Empty the entire bottle of glue into a mixing bowl. Fill the empty bottle with warm water and shake. Pour the glue-water mixture into the mixing bowl and use the spoon to mix well.
- Add a drop or two of food coloring (optional).
- Measure 1/2 cup of warm water into the plastic cup and add a teaspoon of Borax powder to the water. Stir the solution – don't worry if all of the powder dissolves. This Borax solution is the secret linking agent that causes the Elmer's Glue molecules to turn into slime.
- While stirring the glue in the mixing bowl, slowly add a little of the Borax solution. Immediately you'll feel the long strands of molecules starting to connect. It's time to abandon the spoon and use your hands to do the serious mixing. Keep adding the Borax solution to the glue mixture (don't stop mixing) until you get a perfect batch of Elmer's slime. You might like your slime more stringy while others like firm slime.
- When you're finished playing with your Elmer's slime, seal it up in a zipper-lock bag for safe keeping.
Make a Snowflake
Find out how crystals are formed using borax and a few other household ingredients.
- String
- A wide-mouth jar
- Pipe cleaners
- Boiling water
- Borax
- A pencil
- Blue food coloring (optional)
- Cut a pipe cleaner into three sections of the same size and twist the sections together in the center. Make sure the points of your shape are even by trimming them to the same length.
- Attach a piece of string and tie the opposite end of the string to the pencil. You will use this to hang your completed snowflake.
- Carefully fill the jar with boiling water. For each cup of water add three tablespoons of borax. Add one tablespoon at a time and stir until the mixture is dissolved. Don't worry if some of the borax settles at the base of the jar.
- Add food coloring if you'd like to give your snowflake a nice bluish tinge.
- Put the pipe cleaner shape into the jar so that the pencil is resting on the edge of the jar and the pipe cleaner shape is sitting freely in the borax solution.
Leave the "snowflake" overnight and in the morning you will find the snowflake covered in crystals!


text:
January, 2006
I often marvel at how lucky I am to be studying autoimmune diseases. This is a rapidly developing field that provides huge opportunities to have a significant impact on the quality and length of people's lives.
The normal immune system is like a well-armed and very clever sleuth, looking for things that should not be there and then blasting them away. Unfortunately, sometimes the sleuth loses its focus and becomes confused into thinking that a person's own tissues are a foreign invader. When the immune system attacks its own body, the illness is called autoimmune disease.
When I was a medical student, I saw the enormous damage that the immune system could mistakenly inflict on the body in these diseases, sometimes shutting down the kidneys, causing deep, ugly, and painful skin sores, or destroying the joints with severe arthritis. These diseases range from lupus to rheumatoid arthritis to scleroderma.
Tissues and organs, from the skin to the heart to the brain, can become inflamed and damaged. Someone suffering from an autoimmune disease may have a fever and feel very tired, just as if they were fighting a real infection by a virus or bacterium.
As a physician who specializes in diagnosing and treating autoimmune diseases, I am fascinated by following the trail of one of the most gifted "sleuths" known, learning from watching it at work, and trying to design new therapies to outsmart it when it goes awry. Much of the work my colleagues and I do involves people with autoimmune diseases, and it is a privilege to be the recipient of their generosity when they allow us to take blood and pieces of tissue for our studies.
Although the causes of autoimmune diseases are still unknown, the diseases are quite common, and almost all of us have a relative or friend affected by one of them. During the past twenty years, science has advanced dramatically in understanding the methods the immune system uses to recognize its targets, and the tools it uses to destroy perceived attackers. This understanding has helped us identify new ways to diagnose and treat autoimmune diseases, in some cases with spectacular results. For instance, doctors recently discovered that certain drugs can act on the immune system so as to essentially turn off rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease characterized by pain and swelling in the joints. The discovery has revolutionized the treatment of this previously devastating condition. This is just one example of the exciting recent developments in immunology.
Get the latest neuroscience news delivered to your inbox.

subset: commoncrawl


text: It is important that members of the university community be well-informed about a variety of safety and security issues. The Ball State University Police Department provides the university community emergency instructions, crime prevention, and personal safety tips specifically designed to enhance public safety. We also urge you to get information about emergencies such as an influenza pandemic or a terrorist attack.


text:
DeRoyal Web Tools: About : Register : Sign In
Since 1973, DeRoyal's industry-leading healthcare products and related business services have been helping healthcare providers like you improve the care of their patients. Each product and service we offer exists in response to real needs, based on advice and input from clinicians.
By choosing DeRoyal, you'll be backed by a global sales and marketing team trained to help you select the right products at the right price, along with a manufacturing and distribution system designed to deliver what you want, when you want it.
Latest News:
DeRoyal Celebrates 45 Years in Business
Volunteering at Second Harvest
DeRoyal Receives Large Business Excellence Award
Now Showing: Continuum® Exhibits AORN Press Release
Feeling the Love
Knoxville Chamber Announces DeRoyal as a Finalist for 2018 Pinnacle Business Awards:
DeRoyal's Medical Products Division offers you over 25,000 healthcare products in three major categories: Surgical & Acute Care, Orthopedics, Patient Protection, & Rehabilitation, and Wound Care.
Our Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Division offers you our extensive manufacturing cababilities on a contract basis.
Our International Division establishes and maintains partnerships with distributors throughout the world, delivering healthcare products to over 70 countries on every developed continent.
We provide our established customers with a variety of value-added Web Tools to make ordering and using our products easier.
May 5 - 8, 2019
Nashville, TN
May 7 - 11, 2019
San Antonio, TX
May 13 - 16, 2019
Denver, CO
All content © DeRoyal Industries, Inc. except where noted - all rights reserved. Legal Notices | Privacy Statement


text:
oval face shape
Holiday Hair and Makeup For Your Face Shape
Want to stand out in a sea of LBDs this holiday? We've got you covered.
Best Hat For Your Face Shape
Follow these tips to find the sexiest hat for you. And don't say you're not a hat person. We're not letting you off the hook.
New Hairstyle Trends for Your Face Shape
Discover what haircut you should ask for when you hit the salon. Hint: It's all about face shape
Best Updos for Your Face Shape
See which casual and formal updo hairstyles will be perfect for you
Best Bangs for Your Face Shape
Going for fringe? Check out the best and worst styles for your face shape first -- you can thank us later
Haircuts for Your Face Shape
Find the right cut for you based on these best and worst celebrity hairstyles
10 Beachy-Cute Celeb Looks
If cute, stylish and beachy is your thing, you'll love these celebrity looks. Just don't steal, er, copy them all at once
Quiz: What's Your Face Shape?
Finally figure it out -- no more guessing or staring at the mirror for you
Hot Frames for Your Face Shape
Choosing a face-flattering glasses style is easy if you know these simple tips


text:
Hundreds of articles, videos, and illustrations provide vital information about everything from fractures and sprains to bites and stings. Record vaccinations, allergies, and veterinarian details so your pet's medical history is all in one place. $4, itunes.com.
Everything you need to capture great photos. It makes dozens of different attention-getting sounds and comes with a variety of e-frames. $2, itunes.com.
Dog Whistler
Drill in the concepts of heel, stay, and come with one of the preset whistle patterns, or create your own. Free, itunes.com.
A database of people foods that are—and are not—OK to feed your dog, and explanations about why. $1, itunes.com.
Game for Dogs/Game for Cats
Mobile games for your critters. Some dogs are smitten; cats find it tough to resist. Free, itunes.com.
Paint for Cats
Felines create artwork by swatting around a mouse on an iPad. Images can be easily shared via Facebook. $2, itunes.com.
This article originally appeared on HouseBeautiful.com.
Helpful Pet Advice and Tips »
Top Tips for Pet Owners »
Stylish Backyard Chicken Coops »
Ask a Country Vet: Dog Advice »
Ask a Country Vet: Cat Advice »
From: House Beautiful US


text:
Lobbyists cash in on do-nothing Hill
Congress didn't get much of anything done last year, but you wouldn't know it looking down K Street.
Washington Inc. experienced only a minor squeeze, continuing to hum along even as Congress failed to pass the kind of bills that lobbyists are paid top dollar by corporate clients and other special interests to influence — like an overhaul of the Tax Code, immigration reform or a major deficit package.
Story Continued Below
The fact that big business is just barely scaling back on its spending for hired guns in a year when Congress is expected to do even less and a year after the economy was still weak is a testament to the resilience of Washington — and the firms that have thrived in the economy around it.
( Also on POLITICO: Social conservatives' big money plans)
Even with early projections that 2014 will be the year to "go small," K Street still isn't expecting the bottom to fall out of the lobbying industry.
"I'm cautiously optimistic that some of the signals of cooperation are out there," Don Pongrace, head of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld's government affairs operation, said of the year ahead. "Washington will always create issues for clients on which they will need to have firms such as ours assist them; where those issues arise and how they can be addressed will fluctuate somewhat, but they are always there."
To be sure, K Street is going through a lean time — the majority of big D.C. lobbying firms have seen their share of federal lobbying flat-line or decline over the last couple of years, a significant shift from the boom years in the mid-2000s.
After a down election year, lobbyists rallied around the possibility of major legislation in 2013 to try to buoy their bottom lines, signing new clients and coalitions to push a variety of issues. Gun control, immigration and even a big deal on long-term spending all looked liked plausible achievements heading into last year. New and long-term clients spent heavily in these areas, hoping to take advantage of potential deal-making momentum.
( Also on POLITICO: AFP launches Obamacare blitz)
And, while several downtowners said some companies are reviewing their contract lobbying firms and that many clients have been slow to re-up for 2014, the "always be selling" mentality is already in full effect.
Democratic lobbyist Jimmy Ryan said there is still "opportunity in [a] transitional year to actually get things done" even if it's unlikely a major corporate tax reform package or grand bargain gains serious traction.
"You can see where there would be common ground between Democrats and Republicans if you were to recognize that the tea party wing won't be calling the shots anymore," said noting that legislation like the highway bill contains areas of possible compromise.
( Also on POLITICO: Lieberman to Victory Park Capital)
Downtowners continue to point to immigration reform as an area where there will be a lot of K Street spending. The issue touches virtually every industry — and many of the biggest spenders are wealthy individuals like Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and outgoing New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who rely on their personal fortunes and whose commitment to Washington is less affected by short-term economic projections.
Even if proponents can't gain traction in 2014, they will be setting the stage for the coming years, when most congressional watchers believe some action will be taken to overhaul the country's immigration laws.
Still, not everyone has such a rosy outlook for Washington spending in the short term.
( CARTOONS: Matt Wuerker on immigration)
Many companies are still facing tough economic times, and their Washington government relations budgets are often the first to be slashed, which has a ripple effect on K Street, from companies lowering retainers to reassessing their trade association memberships.
Former trade association executive David Rehr, now of TransparaGov, said he expects another "mediocre year" because "everyone in business is anticipating a 'good' 2014 election, which is code for basically having the Republicans retake the Senate."


text:
Tips: TOP Gay Porn!
These guys FUCK on the first date. Click here for sex now...
6 Sites in 1: BoyExtra brings you 6 hot twink sites in one. Fresh and horny, you get full access to thousands of twinks in solo, hardcore and hot group sex videos and pics. This is one of the hottest new twink mega pass sites and you can get your pass to it now! Click here to take the free tour and unlock the entire twink porn archive!to get full access to all the hot boys!
Broke And Horny College Boys are looking for CASH to sustain their "frat" lifestyle.Click Here to watch them in action...
Want something a bit more extreme and way hot that will make you horny as fuck? Ball licking. Finger fucking. Shower stalking. Group cum eating. These campus "bros" do it all. And then some! You've got to see this shit to believe it. HazeHim is the ultimate in secret fraternity gay sex rituals.


text:
This event has been and gone!
Catch the next one:
Check out the info below for future tour dates, and track them to receive alerts when they tour near you
Never miss another 'Ultimate Eagles' show
Ultimate Eagles
Image © Ultimate Eagles
Ultimate Eagles
Here is a group of musicians that take the music of The Eagles very seriously. From the pitch-perfect harmonies to the blazing guitar solos, you'll be amazed by the stunning recreation of some of the finest songs ever written.
Each and every member is an outstanding musician in their own right - rock stars, BAFTA award winners and all well respected players with years of touring and recording experience. And make no mistake - this is a band that loves what it does.
One look at the Ultimate Eagles' collective experience, musicality and professionalism, and it's easy to understand the band's
simple yet bold mission statement: To play The Eagles' music better than anybody, anywhere, second only to The Eagles themselves.
Ultimate Eagles tour dates


text:
Hogyt wrote:Hi Terry,
Go to the NOD32 Control Center and click on Setup in the IMON section. Then go to Miscellaneous->Setup->Actions and select Delete in the sections you want and it should work as you wish. fwiw i used NAV 2003 until a month ago when i switched to NOD32 and haven't looked back yet
Thanks, Mat,
I looked all over for it with no success, and even with your directions had a hard time finding it. But now I have.
Yes, we've been using NAV 2003 and have gotten tired of it's deleting messages for no apparent reason, and Symantec's inablilty to fix the problem, among other issues. That's why I've been looking for alternatives.


text:
Justin Bieber Continues Campaign to Lower 'Bully' Rating
Justin Bieber signed an online petition to lower the rating of the important film 'Bully' from R to PG-13. But he hasn't stopped there.
The film was slapped with the restricted rating due to cursing, which means that no one under 18 will be admitted without a parent. That defeats the purpose of this documentary, which shines a spotlight on the epidemic of bullying, educates people about what's really going on out there, and can help kids to deal with the problem.
The Biebs called into TMZ Live yesterday (March 22) to campaign for the rating to be lowered, arguing that teens can handle a few eff bombs, especially since they are absorbing a larger and more critical message. While it was mentioned that 'The Hunger Games' only earned a PG-13 rating despite depicting the violent deaths of teenagers, many feel it's an acceptable rating since it's scripted and staged, whereas 'Bully' traffics in real life.
The Biebs said, "At the end of the day, the message it could be sending to all these kids is so much more powerful. I think they can handle a few curse words." He continued, "I think that Bully can serve a purpose and there is more to it than the curse words. 13-year-olds can handle a few curse words. It's really powerful. It should be rated PG-13."
The 'Boyfriend' singer was diplomatic and would not trash 'The Hunger Games.' He was incredibly PC, instead repeating his hope that the rating would be lowered and open up the viewing audience to people 13 and over because of the message. He reasoned, "If these kids can watch and see what goes on in schools around the world, they will want to make a change."
Listen to Justin Bieber Talk 'Bully' Rating


text:
We're making our first voyages to New Zealand in 2016, and the anticipation is almost too much to handle. New Zealand is one of the most beautiful and unique destinations on Earth. It's the perfect place for a cruise line that breaks the industry mold with a unique focus on Destination Immersion® experiences.
We won't be in "The Land of the Long White Cloud" until January, but until then we're pouring over photos of New Zealand on Instagram. We just had to share our excitement here on the blog! Here are some of our favorites:
The Wellington Botanic Garden. Source.
Wellington is the capital of New Zealand, and has been developing a reputation as a cool, yet relaxed, cultural hub. You'll find lots of art, fantastic coffee, and spectacular views from the top of Mount Victoria.
Wellington, New Zealand. Source.
We've planned an overnight stay in Wellington, so guests will be able to experience plenty of sightseeing and the city's vibrant nightlife.
Akaroa, New Zealand. Source.
Akaroa was made for nature lovers. The scenery is out of this world (as evidenced here!) and the wildlife is delightful - think penguins, seals and dolphins.
Akaroa, New Zealand. Source.
Akaroa also offers guests the chance to travel to Christchurch on a Azamara Shore Excursions tour, or journey into "Middle Earth" - the Southern Alps at Mount Potts High Country Station, where parts of The Lords of the Rings trilogy was filmed.
The Hobbiton™ Movie Set, near Tauranga. Source.
Tauranga is the most populous city on New Zealand's famous Bay of Plenty, and another port where we've planned an overnight stay. You can visit the incredible Hobbiton Lord of the Rings film set on a Azamara Shore Excursions tour - trust us, this isn't just for movie buffs! The natural landscape and the "hobbit holes" will have you pulling out your camera again and again.
Tauranga, New Zealand at sunset. Source.
Tauranga is also home to Mount Maunganui and the beautiful beach nestled below. A winery, waterfalls and geothermal pools are also popular sightseeing opportunities.
Tauranga, New Zealand. Source.
Dunedin, New Zealand. Source.
Dunedin is known as "the Edinburgh of New Zealand", thanks to the city's proud Scottish heritage. It's also known for the picturesque drive up Otago Peninsula. Don't forget your camera, you'll want to capture the rugged beaches and stunning panoramas that can't be found anywhere else.
Dunedin, New Zealand. Source: Instagram.
Dunedin also offers visitors great food and nightlife. You can tour the Cadbury World chocolate factory, relax in one of the city's many local pubs, cafes and restaurants, pick up a bottle of Milford (Dunedin's own single malt whiskey), or tour the Speights brewery.
Kaikoura, New Zealand. Source.
Bring your appetite to Kaikoura. The town is known for delicious seafood feasts, particular crayfish. But the best thing to do in Kaikoura is watch for whales and dolphins. Take a tour, and then enjoy dinner at a local restaurant! That's what late-night departures are all about.
A dolphin in Kaikoura. Source.
We'll be calling on Kaikoura in March of 2017. View the itinerary here.
Auckland, New Zealand. Source.
Auckland is the most populous city in New Zealand, yet features pristine beaches, farms, rainforest. You can go horseback riding or shopping; spend your day touring a sheep farm or taking in the city from atop the Sky Tower.
The nearby island of Waiheke offers wineries and art galleries for those looking to unwind. Or for something more adventurous, climb to the top of Mount Eden for breathtaking city views.
We have two voyages calling on New Zealand in 2016. This 16 Night voyage embarks from Sydney, Australia and concludes in Auckland. This 13 Night voyage embarks from Auckland, and concludes in Sydney. Can't join us? Don't worry! We'll be back in 2017. View those itineraries here and here.
from $3,974 USD
from $3,074 USD
from $3,599 USD
Other Blogs You May Like...
Recipe of the Month: Pico de Gallo and Guacamole
One of the best parts of traveling the world is getting to experience incredible local cuisine. Food is an integral part of culture, and one of the...
15 Photos That Prove Italy Was Made For Cruisers
We love seeing your Azamara cruise photos almost as much as you love Azamara cruises. These photos showcase fifteen incredible Italian travel...
Nice, France: Hub of the French Riviera
Nice is the fifth largest city in France, but in my mind it's the most important after only Paris. Nice is not only a beautiful Mediterranean city with a...
Are you excited for your next Azamara voyage?
Enter your email address below for exclusive offers, updates, and news. Don't miss out!


text:
AskUbuntu Add-on
by lovinglinux
This extension displays user reputation/badges, monitor activity and provides an easy access to unanswered questions, user questions, user favorites and user tags from an askubuntu.com account.
The extension preferences allow to specify which category of questions will be tracked and how many items per category to track. New activity is identified by colored icons and each question can be manually marked as read or by visiting the link. You can also hide items you don't have any interest and specify the update frequency.
Feedback from users
Reviews and ratings
ReckouNT > Why do you say Ubuntu = Shi ? I assume you're saying Ubuntu is crap ? If so, I'd like to know your reasons because I believe Ubuntu is the fastest, most stable OS and it's FREE. I've used Ubuntu for over 6 years after years of wanting to throw my PC from all the errors and blue screens when I ran Microsoft Windows and had to pay Microsoft. I have never had an error or problem with any computers running Ubuntu or Linux. I don't know why anyone would pay to use Microsoft software. I would use it if Microsoft paid me to use their software.
I like combo Opera + Ubuntu.
Ubuntu = Shiny Free Operating system
AskUbuntu = Shiny Free Support for shiny Free Operating System
AskUbuntu Add-on = Shiny Free add on for Shiny free browser for shiny free support for shiny free operating system
Crap Troll Review = Shi...
Ubuntu = Shi...


text:
A 44-year-old man who died Friday after he accidentally shot himself has been identified as Windsor resident Richard Pinckard Jr., the Sonoma County coroner's office confirmed.
The shooting happened around 11:20 a.m. in the 2000 block of Silk Road south of Windsor in unincorporated Sonoma County near the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport, Sonoma County Sheriff Sgt. Carlos Basurto said.
Friends of the victim, who were in the home at the time of the shooting, were driving him to the hospital when they flagged down deputies in the 6000 block of Windsor Road.
The victim was then taken by ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital where he died, Basurto said.
Detectives determined there was no foul play and the wound was self-inflicted and seems to be accidental, Basurto said.
The weapon was recovered at the scene.
Copyright © 2012 by Bay City News, Inc. … Republication, re-transmission or reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.


text:
During his annual State of the Union speech last night, U.S. president Barack Obama highlighted Apple's intent to bring some Mac computer manufacturing back to America.
After shedding jobs for more than ten years, our manufacturers have added about 500,000 jobs back over the past three. Caterpillar is bringing jobs back from Japan. Ford is bringing jobs back from Mexico. After locating plants in other countries, like China, Intel is opening its most advanced plant right here at home, and this year, Apple will start making Macs in America again.
In December of 2012, Apple announced plans to invest over $100 million to bring production of one of its Mac lines to the U.S. Speculation has included both the Mac mini and a rumored next-generation Mac Pro. This followed increased media attention over their, and the industry's, use of Chinese manufacturing facilities and labor.
Apple CEO Tim Cook, as expected, was in attendance. He sat in the First Lady's section, behind Michelle Obama, in a dark suit and tie.
During last year's State of the Union President Obama mentioned Apple's late co-founder, Steve Jobs, praising his entrepreneurial spirit as his widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, watched from the First Lady's section.
Image: MacRumors


text:
No. 1 Florida State romped and No. 2 Ohio State stumbled, and now the SEC has chance to win its eighth straight BCS championship.
The Seminoles will play No. 3 Auburn in the BCS title game Jan. 6 in Pasadena, Calif., after the Tigers capped their remarkable turnaround season with a wild victory over Missouri in the Southeastern Conference title game, and then the Buckeyes were upset by Michigan State in the Big Ten on Saturday night.
For Florida State, it was business as usual against No. 20 Duke. Heisman Trophy favorite Jameis Winston had another huge game, and the Seminoles' defense smothered the Blue Devils 45-7 in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship in Charlotte.
"We're not champs yet," coach Jimbo Fisher yelled to his team after it crushed Duke.
Florida State will play for the national title for the first time since the 2000 season, and Winston will likely have to stop in New York to pick up the Heisman Trophy before Florida State heads to southern California. The Seminoles were will be looking for their first BCS title since 1999, and they'll be trying to break the SEC's vice grip on the national title before the BCS is replaced by a four-team playoff next year.
It looked as if the SEC did in itself last week, when Auburn upset Alabama. Florida State moved to No. 1 in the BCS standings and Ohio State to No. 2.
Auburn was No. 3, but the SEC was not about to go quietly and just hope for an upset.
The Buckeyes have been the target for the SEC supporters, who have insisted that their champion's one loss is as good as the Buckeyes' none because they played a tougher schedule.
"I have nine words," Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs was quoted as saying by SI.com on Saturday after the Tigers' 59-42 victory against Missouri. "Strength of schedule. Strength of schedule. Strength of schedule."
Now it doesn't matter.
Michigan State will go to the Rose Bowl, where it will face Stanford. Ohio State will probably have to settle for the Orange Bowl.
No. 9 Baylor (11-1) won the Big 12 and locked up an automatic bid to the Fiesta Bowl, with some help from 18th-ranked Oklahoma, who upset No. 6 Oklahoma State 33-24 in Stillwater to keep the Cowboys from winning the Big 12. Baylor will play No. 15 UCF (11-1), the American Athletic Conference champion, in its first BCS appearance.
Bowl selection show
Time, TV: 6 p.m., ESPN


text:
I had this idea in my head for sweet potato soup, but I didn't want to do the norm, I wanted to really test the flavours one can work with when you have sweet potato.
Growing up, sweet potato was baked in the oven and served with garlic parsley butter, or mashed sweet potatoes that have been beautifully caramelized in brown sugar and butter. Then I started with sweet potato chips, which I absolutely die for, and sweet potato & pearled barley curry, now, I wanted to take it one step further and make soup with these beautiful sweet potatoes I had in my possession.
Seeing what I had laying around, I wanted to make a sweet potato and goats cheese soup, but being somewhat indecisive, and of course a true chef where I know something just doesn't feel right, it struck me…camembert. We had camembert soup on our honeymoon, I was very intrigued by this and now was my opportunity to use the lovely camembert I got at Fairview.
I needed something fresh in there, something that would compliment the sweet potato and enhance the flavours, so I brought out one of my all time favourit spices to work with…cardamon. And together with all these goodness, I made my Roasted Cardamon Orange Sweet Potato & Camembert Soup. So here is the recipe…enjoy it!
Roasted Cardamon Orange Sweet Potato & Camembert Soup
serves 3 – 4
+- 1.5kg Orange Sweet potatoes
6-7 Cardamon pods crushed
1 clove crushed
Olive Oil
2 carrots, diced
2 leeks, diced
about 1L of vegetable stock (depending on how thick you want your soup)
½ wheel of good quality of camembert, cut into chunks and remove outer mould
2 tots ginger liqueur
Pre heat your oven at 180°C
Cut your sweet potatoes in half and place on roasting tray
Drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper and crushed cardamom & crushed clove
Roast sweet potato for an hour and a half
Once the sweet potatoes are roasted, put aside.
In a pot, sauté your carrots and leeks, add the garlic and deglaze with 1 tot of ginger liqueur and let simmer for a minute or two.
Peel the sweet potatoes and add to the pot, add your vegetable stock, blitz with a hand blender and let cook out on a low heat for about 5 – 8 minutes.
Add your camembert to the soup and let melt.
Once melted, your soup is ready!


text:
Related Items
Trending Stories
Q&A: U.S. Soccer Director of Scouting, Tony Lepore, On Developing Youth Players
Today Lepore works with youth players in many different capacities. As Director of Scouting for U.S. Soccer, he leads a complex scouting network throughout the country. He works closely with the U.S. Soccer Development Academy to continually improve the league and challenge top players. He also serves as head coach for the U-15 Boys' National Team where he aims to help players reach their full potential and continue on the U.S. Soccer pathway. A true coach and teacher, Lepore is involved with many youth development initiatives throughout the country.
ussoccer.com: When you were young, your father worked as a financial manager for the Hartford Bicentennials in the North American Soccer League. Is that how you first got involved in soccer?
Tony Lepore: "Yes, that is correct. In the first couple of years in the NASL there was a team called the Hartford Bicentennials. My dad is a finance guy by trade and the company he was working for was their major investor so they asked him to oversee all of the financial aspects. But I also got involved like most kids, through our town program. I grew up in Farmington, Conn., and we had Farmington Soccer Club. It is one of those things where you look back and you realize how fortunate you were. It was run by this really special man, a Scotsman named Al Bell. Al was way ahead of the time, and he set up an awesome program at the local level. We had this outstanding soccer-only facility called Tunxis Meade, which is still rare today. So there was this great place to go and play. It was near my house so I spent a lot of time at the field. That was probably the most important part of my introduction to the game but I was also really lucky because of my dad's position with the Bicentennials. I had this unique experience where I kind of got to tag along with my dad and spend time around a professional team. That's definitely part of my introduction to the game and that sort of sparked my interest that continues today."
ussoccer.com: Manfred Schellscheidt, former head coach for the U.S. MNT, was the coach of the Hartford Bicentennials back then. Were you around him during this time? Was he a mentor to you?
TL: "That relationship actually came later. Manny didn't become a mentor until about 20 years later when I started coaching with Region I ODP. Manny had a big influence on my development, not only as a coach but as a man and as a person. He became probably my greatest mentor. I know I'm among many when I say I feel fortunate to have had this time with him, coaching alongside him and learning from him, and even more fortunate to have a continued friendship with him. He's a special person."
ussoccer.com: What other mentors influenced you during your coaching career?
TL: "I consider myself really lucky because there were many other mentors along the way that contributed to my growth as a coach. These were guys that you wanted to emulate. I spent many years with the U-15 Boys' National Team with Jim Barlow, and before him with Ken Lolla, and also Charlie Inverso. Working along those three guys was really influential. I learned a ton working closely with John Hackworth when we started the Development Academy in 2007/2008. Also at that time, the former Director of Coaching, Bob Jenkins, was another great role model. More recently I had the privilege of working with Claudio Reyna, who taught me a great deal. I've been really lucky to have a lot of great coaching mentors along the way."
ussoccer.com: After playing in college and for some semi-pro teams, you became a middle school counselor while still playing for many years. How did you then transition in to coaching soccer?
TL: "I was actually still playing and coaching while at the same time starting my career as a middle school counselor. The only option I had at that time was playing in the USL, which was a summer heavy schedule. I was able to juggle things until the school year ended and it blended together really nicely for many years. I was still enjoying playing and competing until my early 30's. It was actually hard for me to let go of playing but it was a really natural transition. I see a lot of similarities in counseling and coaching. For me, the rewarding part of both is connecting with young people and supporting them and helping them grow and figure things out and take ownership of their development whether in soccer, school, or life. The idea is to help them prepare for whatever is next and to help them reach their full potential and find success. I have a great passion for the game and for teaching, and for me, coaching is teaching. The other thing that helped me apply methodology was my education. I had a really strong understanding of childhood development and how to apply age appropriate guidelines. As a youth coach, it is very different than senior level coaching."
ussoccer.com: As the head coach of the U-15 Boys' National Team, what goals do you have for the players at that age? What are some of the key areas for development with this age group?
TL: "This is the age group where it starts with player identification and evaluation. There is a lot of talent across the country in this age group so it ties nicely into my role of scouting. The goal is to identify a core group of players for the future. The general focus is to accelerate the development of our elite players. We want to expose them early to the U.S. Soccer way. With the U-15 Boys' National Team, they are part of a step-by-step process. The core group has come up from the U-14's and the next step for the U-15's is to become part of the U-17 MNT residency cycle. That is the next step so we work closely with the U-17 MNT to help prepare them for that cycle. Of course we always have new players in every camp and new players breaking into the core group, which is also really important."
ussoccer.com: In late April and early May the U-15 BNT participated in the Tournament Delle Nazioni in Italy. The team tied Italy and Chile, and defeated Slovenia 2-0 to advance to the second round of the tournament where they unfortunately fell to Croatia 2-1. Tell us about that tournament and what the team learned from it.
TL: "It was a great experience overall. For this group of players, the '98s, they did not have an international trip at U-14. The cycles moving forward will always have an international trip at U-14. We feel there is a lot of value in them. So with the help of Director of Youth National Teams Jim Moorhouse, we're actually adding more. But for this group that was their first international trip. The 98 cycle is a really talented age group. With this core group we brought 20 players and they've shown that internationally they can play with anyone. They can even dominate by playing the right way. It was a chance to apply our style of play on an international level. I think the result is not the most important; the players would probably say they were disappointed with the result against Croatia. I think the key thing was that the trip gave them the belief and confidence that they can play with the top footballing nations.
"It was the same with the recent tournament in Mexico City. The U-15 National Team staff handed the group off to Richie Williams and his staff because they are starting residency in August. The team made it to the semifinals again. They are beginning to put together solid consecutive performances and they are learning. I think both experiences gave them a lot of belief and a lot of confidence in their ability by playing the right way. Now it's important for the players to realize there is still a long way to go. Part of that is they have to take responsibility for their own development pathway from here. That's the exciting part; they have a long way to go before they really reach their full potential."
ussoccer.com: Describe your role as the Director of Scouting for U.S. Soccer.
TL: "As Director of Scouting, I oversee scouting for the U-14 through U-18 and the U-20 Boys' and Men's National Teams. As part of that, I supervise eight full time Technical Advisors located in key markets throughout the country and about 100 per diems that make up our scouting network. Along with the Technical Advisors, we oversee, we support, we push, we scout, and we serve as compliance officers for about 10 Development Academy clubs each. There are now about 100 academy members, including the U-14 age group. We get to know them intimately and provide the technical direction for the U.S. Soccer Development Academy league.
"Another big part is that we run Training Centers throughout the key markets and scout meaningful events. Last year as a group we collectively scouted over 2,000 matches and ran over 200 Training Centers. The idea is to connect this scouting network and the TA's as closely as possible with the Youth National Team staff. As part of that, I oversee our database, which is the central location for every match report and every player evaluation. We have weekly scouting calls with the Youth National Team staff, and the Technical Advisors are part of the youth national team staff now. Every Youth National Team age group has a Technical Advisor as a head coach or an assistant, which strengthens that connection. We also have to oversee our video library of all the Youth National Team and Academy matches because we use video for a lot of our scouting now."
ussoccer.com: This fall marks the first season for the new Development Academy age group. Describe the decision to expand the Academy to the U-13/14 age group. What benefits does this offer?
TL: "The benefits are the same that we have at the U15/16 and U17/18 age group. We are applying the same philosophy and we wanted to apply it earlier in the players' development process to a really key age group. It provides them with a structure of more training, less matches, and more meaningful matches, all with the support and oversight from U.S. Soccer that I discussed when talking about the TA roles. Again, this is a really key age group. I think it can be considered part of the golden years of learning. We've seen all of the benefits from the Developmental Academy at U-15/16 and U-17/18 over the past seven years and are excited about the impact it will have on younger players to help develop important habits at an earlier age."
ussoccer.com: What changes have you seen on the field since the Academy required clubs to participate in a 10-month season?
TL: "We have a really clear and consistent pathway now. It's not for everyone, but it's for those that want to make the commitment and have the dedication and motivation to reach their full potential. We are seeing the benefits for players of continuously spending time in the best everyday environment. That's what the Development Academy clubs represent."
ussoccer.com: You led a combine for five days in August for 64 elite players age 15-17 years old. What was the purpose of that event? Describe how the event was run and how it went.
TL: "It went great. I'd say it was a really successful first event. This was the culminating event for just over 200 Training Centers. The scouting process was a year-long process, we wanted to evaluate the top 97's and some 96's heading into the U-18 cycle. The timing was ideal. These are the players that make up the domestic pool of the U-18 Men's National Team cycle. We felt like it was another good opportunity, in a good setting at Nike, to inspire players on and off the field. All of our TA's were there and did a great job with the sessions, making the experience special and meaningful for the players.
"We had off-the-field education as well. The days were pretty full. We tried to make the best of every opportunity without taxing the players physically. We had two field sessions a day, meetings before each session, and evening meetings. Nike also brought in a guest speaker, Chris Wondolowski, which was a great opportunity for the players. We also did video with the players in the evening. We ran it very similar to any Youth National Team camp.
"From this event, we have now selected players that should be coming out for the first U-18 Men's National Team camp. Some international players weren't present, but one of the main purposes was so that U-18 MNT head coach Javier Perez feels like he's ready to start the cycle. He now has a good grasp on his player pool and the players that we need to track throughout the cycle."
ussoccer.com: That event was part of U.S. soccer's expanded Training Center program that was launched earlier this year in partnership with Nike. Describe this new program and why it is important.
TL: "Nike has been a great partner and they have really helped us take the Training Centers to the next level. The Training Centers are important for player identification and evaluation. They are the pathways to the U.S. Youth National teams. We've been doing the single day Training Centers for many years now. We wanted to add multiday combines in key markets such as L.A., North Cal, Dallas, D.C., Chicago, New York/New Jersey, and Philadelphia. That's where we started with the combines. The majority of players came through those combines and Training Centers heading into the national combine."
ussoccer.com: Last month we spoke with Keith Tozer about the role futsal can have in youth development. From your perspective, why is U.S. Soccer hosting futsal events for youth players?
TL: "It is great to have Keith Tozer as our resource as we implement futsal for the U-13/14s. He's been a terrific resource. Keith has also done a few futsal coaching education symposiums for our Academy clubs. The futsal events that we will host are culminating events as a part of the mandatory futsal period, which is basically January to February for all Development Academy member clubs. We're excited about the implementation of this futsal period for the 13/14s because we know it has tremendous value for the players' development. It starts with their technical development and their comfort on the ball. Futsal is more touches; the ball is on the ground because it has less bounce. It has the small sided technical applications. It also has value in that it offers a young player freedom of expression, which is crucial in their development."
ussoccer.com: Within the Development Academy we often find ourselves focused on the development of the players. Can you explain the evolution of the coach in the Academy?
TL: "I think what we have seen is that the Development Academy is a great environment, a real environment, for coaches to develop. One of the trends we are seeing, which puts us in line with international standards, is that we are seeing more career youth coaches that are responsible for one age group. They are really able to focus and provide attention and time and address the details over 10 months whether that is on the field, or the planning, or the feedback given to players. I think the Development Academy has been a really appealing place for not only the top players, but now the top coaches are migrating to the Academy clubs. That includes former Men's National Team players, professional players, and career coaches."
ussoccer.com: What are the key initiatives you have for your staff leading into year seven of the Academy?
TL: "I think a key change is that this year we move to a training requirement of four days a week for all clubs. Over 10 months, we have a ratio of four trainings for every match. The U-13/14 program is also a key initiative. We want to continue to grow the scouting network. We want to continue to amplify the Training Centers in the key markets. We want to add coaching education programming that is specific to the needs and requirements of a Development Academy coach. We want to continue to take steps forward with style of play elements that are consistent with our Youth National Teams and continue to adopt a philosophy and be more uniform throughout. That is a big challenge in a country our size, to get everyone on the same page and be really consistent; but we've made great strides there."
ussoccer.com: Can you expand on the coaching education for Development Academy coaches?
TL: "We are excited to be working closely with Dave Chesler, the Director of Coaching Development. We are in the midst of piloting a youth technical director course. We have had a few modules already, and we have an international trip planned to Germany in October. All of the TA's are piloting the course, as well as a select number of current Academy technical directors that are located in key markets. They are partnering to pilot this course with the goal to roll it out within a year."
ussoccer.com: What messages do you have for youth coaches out there who may or may not be involved with the Development Academy?
TL: "I think the message goes back to how important it is for us to have a collective effort and realize that we all work for U.S. Soccer. It's about helping our nation's players be better rather than just coaching a team. As youth coaches, we need to recognize that we develop players, we don't develop teams. Individual development is above everything else."


text:
Item Code: VC487TKH-32-7
Suggested Price: Cdn $0.01 or US $0.01
Model TKH-32" diameter brush,25-30 gpm (7 ft).Front Mounted Hydraulic Drive Windrow Type Dual motor- 32 inch diameter brush Pin and/or quick-attach mountings for most popular applications. Many quick atach configurations require customer to provide female quick atach. Consult factory. Driven from tractor loader hydraulic system. Requires 2&30 gpm � 2000 psi. Optional independent hydraulic system may be available in certain applications where tractor loader hydraulics are not of sufficient capacity. Brush is driven by dual hydraulic motors coupled directly to the core by splined shafts. Two (2) 4.80 x 8 six ply pneumatic casters are provided. Hoses are provided from the motors to a bulkhead at the rear of the broom. Customer to provide hoses and couplers to connect loader hydraulics to bulkhead. Price does not include hydraulic valve(s). Brush on/off with tractor loader valve. 32 inch diameter sectional brush, with choice of polypropylene, wire or combination radial segments. Manual angle change 30 deg. right and left is standard. Optional hydraulic angle change is available. Estimated shipping weight: 1550 lbs (7 ft), 1650 lbs (8 ft), 1750 lbs (9 ft), 1850 lbs (10 ft);
For more information about this product, please use our online contact form, call Eastern Farm Machinery at (519) 763-2400, or contact one of our dealers.


text: On Sun, 9 Mar 2003, Robert Myers wrote: > Robert G. Brown wrote: > > >The sad truth is that cluster nodes have an ECONOMICALLY useful lifetime > >of somewhere between 18 months and 3 years, depending on lots of things, > >although one can arguably get work done out to 5 years on nodes that > >require no human time to run or repair that other people are paying to > >feed and cool. > > > > > > > That makes a strong argument for considering energy consumption when > building a cluster in the first place. Lower energy consumption = Lower > energy cost, longer economically useful life = Lower TCO/year. It absolutely is unwise to ignore energy consumption (for power and cooling), renovation costs, "rent" on the physical space, human mangement costs and so forth -- really all the infrastructure and management costs -- when building a cluster. That doesn't stop many folks from doing so. Let us do a little review of cluster economics. When computing TCO for clusters being inserted into existing facilities and being run by existing personnel (as opposed to ones being created from whole cloth with everything a line item and full time enterprise) a lot of the expense is "opportunity cost". (Opportunity cost is an economic term for the value of the time, space, power that people spend building and managing a cluster that THEY COULD HAVE SPENT ON SOMETHING ELSE. Or more particularly, it is the cost of the something else. This needs to be compared to the BENEFIT of building the cluster and diverting all of those resources.) If you have a suitable space and preexiting LAN infrastructure handy, some low priority/low return tasks that can easily be displaced or put off, and a decent "return" from building a cluster (in term of whatever goals you might have) then cluster infrastructure, except for power, can be nearly "free". If you have to renovate a space in a crowded building that displaces or prevents other work from being done, and manage the cluster with the time of an ALREADY overworked systems manager who has to delay other tasks that reduce the productivity of the environment, using a LAN infrastructure built and managed from the ground up just for the cluster and task at hand, the cost of a cluster can be high, much higher than you likely estimated when considering building the cluster. MANY of the original beowulfish clusters, and many clusters today, have a very low relative TCO because much of their indirect (non-hardware) expense is/was opportunity cost labor and other resources that wouldn't otherwise be able to produce anything of comparable value, OR because they had dedicated resources but those resources were still far less costly than alternative approaches to getting the same work done with big iron. Or both. Frankly, this is still very much true, but as clusters get bigger the differences between their infrastructure requirements and those of big iron clusters gets smaller. When clusters have more than 8-16 nodes, the recurring costs for operating them start to get to large to safely ignore. I think the $1/watt/year figure comes as a bit of a surprise to a lot of folks (it's based on electrical costs of $0.08 per kilowatt-hour, 8760 hours per year, or about $0.70 for the electricity up front, plus another estimated $0.30 to remove the heat with an air conditioner with a coefficient of efficiency in the range of 2-3, so you can see that there is nothing up my sleeve). Of course it could be off by a factor of 2 either way depending on energy costs and AC efficiency in your actual environment. I remain very aware of these numbers as I pay them out of pocket for my home beowulf. It's "different" when it is your money...;-) > Same argument works for server blades, and I'm amazed that energy costs > don't come up as a consideration more often. > > A researcher at LANL has built a cluster based on Transmeta chips called > Green Destiny, making the energy cost argument, which is documented in > > http://public.lanl.gov/feng/Bladed-Beowulf.pdf > > He claims a much lower TCO for his Transmeta-based system, but only a > small part of the claimed savings is electricity costs. I'm not convinced that these save THAT much money (or any at all) for the following reasons: a) From on-list discussions in the past it does not appear that one saves THAT much energy PER FLOP (or aggregate MHz, or bogomip, or whatever measure of performance you like). Indeed, it seems likely that in a lot of cases one will LOSE energy per unit of actual work done. This is for a lot of reasons, the most fundamental of which is that it takes a certain amount of energy to switch the state of a flip-flop, a certain amount of energy to hold the state of a flip-flop. That energy isn't scale invariant in either the spatial domain or temporal domain. Also, there is the energy cost of shared infrastructure for the CPU -- the number of disks, the amount of memory, the number and kind of peripheral cards supported PER UNIT OF WORK DONE (not per CPU). I'm not certain that anybody has done a systematic study of the scaling laws for WORK done for typical numerical tasks, but my feeling (which could be incorrect) is that one's total energy cost per unit of work done by a non-idle system actually decreases with e.g. CPU clock and VLSI generation. As in my guestimate for the P5's vs P6's, a 2.4 GHz P6-class CPU might well get 24 times the work done as a 200 MHz P5 class CPU, but I don't think that there is any way in hell that it draws 24 times as much power. More like 2-3. If we are generous and presume four times as much power for twenty four times as much work over six years, this suggests VERY CRUDELY that there is a Moore's Law-like scaling law that decreases power cost per unit of work done with a time constant maybe twice that of Moore's Law itself. Then there is Amdahl's law, which dictates that it is (nearly, barring accidental superlinear speedup) ALWAYS less efficient to use three 800 MHz CPUS than one 2400 MHz CPU, all things being equal. Some computer-science-economist out there may have done the math and published it, or somebody out there may read this and find a master thesis or senior honors thesis...;-) So I'm by no means convinced that blades signficantly lower total power consumed per unit of work done relative to much higher clock, hotter, but faster node units and wouldn't be horribly surprised if it were the opposite. b) On top of that, blades are very, very expensive per raw FLOP (or whatever measure du jour you like/need). At any given point in time, there is some hardware combination out there that gives you optimum work accomplished per dollar spent for your particular task. For a CPU-bound task, that is likely to currently be something in the lowball Celeron/Duron/Athlon/P4 family, in a tower (cheapest but space inefficent) or rack case (if space is an issue) depending on how sensitive your task is to memory type and speed and CPU cache size. For a memory bound task, likely a P4 or Athlon, on a relatively good motherboard with high FSB clock and with high end memory. For communications bound parallel tasks, a 64/66 PCI bus and high end communications card is necessary. Since CPU >>prices<< tend to vary highly nonlinearly with clock (and many times work done scales at least approximately with clock) one can just go down the list and pick the most cost efficient CPU clock and packaging. I don't think it will be a blade. Now, if blade packaging of a relatively low-clock CPU is only TWICE as expensive per unit of work done than a current generation cost-optimum packaging, the energy savings over the lifetime of the unit in no way justify the higher cost. The cost per year to operate a 2.4 GHz CPU is likely to be in the $100-150 range, and over a three year lifetime that is a TOTAL cost of $300-450. The marginal cost of three 800 MHz blades (presuming work done that DOES scale perfectly with clock) is way, way higher than $300, and although they >>may<< draw less total power, they aren't going to draw no power at all, so this will be further reduced. c) Even the management/ease of installation element of TCO touted for blades is, in my opinion, very questionable. Or rather, they may well be extremely easy to install and manage, but >>so are plenty of alternative, more traditional hardware configurations<<. We are well past the "hobby cluster" stage, and linux has come a long way from when nodes had to be cobbled together and installed "by hand" one at a time, taking perhaps and hour or hours each. The http://www.phy.duke.edu/brahma/linux-mag.html collection is just a small and probably highly incomplete snapshot of installation and management methodologies that reduce the marginal cost per node for installation and management to near zero (once a fixed cost of setting up for the methodology of your choice is paid). RH archive+DHCP/PXE+Kickstart+Yum, Debian archive+DHCP/PXE+Apt, Scyld, Clustermatic, various turnkey vendors, there are open source and free installation methodologies, shrink-wrapped methodologies that you can buy with support, and turnkey clusters you can buy where you've already paid the fixed cost of installation and setup and even the cost of programming and customizing your primary application(s), usually for a fairly paltry 10-20% of the per-node hardware price. Even hardware reliability isn't necessarily a significant differentiator, as one can easily enough buy nodes with 3 year onsite service plans, or maintain a small stock of spare parts to minimize hardware downtime. The BEST reason to consider a blade cluster, in my opinion, is to save the nonlinear and potentially high capital costs for large spaces and/or renovation in environments where the "cost" of space and renovation is high, or there is no way to reasonably amortize thosee costs over (say) 10 years (where they diminish to being a comfortably small fraction of the recurring costs for power and cooling you're paying anyway). Bottom line: I think one has to do a fairly serious CBA for the various alternative ways of building a cluster for accomplishing any particular task in any particular environment. One will very likely need to either ignore vendor claims for their "TCO" or take them with a large, shiny grain of salt and do your own less biased estimates. Perhaps estimates derived by companies that make roughly equal amounts of money selling both bladed and rackmount and tower/shelf clusters all three can be trusted, I don't know. However, there is no substitute for running, and fully understanding, the numbers yourself. rgb -- Robert G. Brown http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/ Duke University Dept. of Physics, Box 90305 Durham, N.C. 27708-0305 Phone: 1-919-660-2567 Fax: 919-660-2525 email:rgb at phy.duke.edu


text:
Available in Black or White Sleeve.
Introducing AIR VOLTAGE, Wireless Qi Charging Mat and Qi Charging Sleeve for iPhone 4 (sleeve sold separately). These new products conform to the Qi Wireless Charging Specifications, a universal technology standard which has now been adopted by many manufacturers to allow for wireless charging with Qi compatible electronic devices.
Our Head Office Hitachi Maxell, Ltd. was the first company in Japan to release this product, with great success, and now Maxell will be making this available to Europe for the first time.
With the popularity of smartphones, users frustratingly have to charge multiple digital devices, however with the AIR VOLTAGE range users can now charge their iPhone 4 without having to place it in a docking station or charge off their computer. Simply insert the iPhone 4 into the Charging Sleeve, place the phone onto the Charging Mat and the phone charges automatically and wirelessly! You can also use the separate Wireless Charging Sleeve as an everyday iPhone 4 protective sleeve too so there is no need to worry about taking your phone in and out. Once your phone is in the sleeve, place it on the Wireless Charging Mat and go…Effortless!
Maxell has learnt that as many as 80 different leading electronics manufacturers have started to adopt the Qi technology standard in their product range so this means an exciting future of Qi compatible products over the next year, with Hitachi Maxell, Ltd. already starting to develop additional Qi compatible accessories which can be used with the Wireless Charging mat and with future Qi-enabled devices as well.
For more information, visit www.maxellair.eu
To see a video demonstration of AIR VOLTAGE, visit http://www.maxellair.eu/air-voltage-home/


text:
If you're going to bother investing in surge protection, you want it to be ready in case of an actual emergency. Middle Atlantic Products says that its Series Protection line provides some of the fastest response times in the industry.
The newly launched surge suppression line features patent-pending technology designed to protect all of your AV goodies from surges — which can seriously damage your investment. It features "non-sacrificial circuitry," which boasts system reliability and noise-free performance by protecting connected equipment without contaminating the system ground.
According to Middle Atlantic, each Series Protection product can automatically disconnect devices from sustained over- and under-voltage events. Each one can also recover automatically, once an event is over. No downtime is necessary!
The Series Protection line includes a hardwired model, as well as half-width models. Full-width rack-mount models for 19-inch enclosures are also available. Last, but certainly not least, the company says they are planning to add Series Protection technology into its growing RackLink Power Management System.
Middle Atlantic Products plans to start selling the Series Protection line on September 15, 2012.


text:
While T-Mobile pioneered the Android "revolution" in the United States, the nation's fourth largest wireless carrier hasn't had a high-end, slate-like Android device until now. Enter the Samsung Vibrant, a member of the Galaxy S series, and the one that most closely resembles the European Galaxy S design. With a 1 GHz processor, 4-inch Super AMOLED display, and thin body, it's a feature packed phone – but does it hold its own amidst the flurry of summer phone launches?
Design & Features
The Vibrant ships with the battery, AC adapter, and USB cable (which doubles as the power cord), spare battery cover (purple), and instruction manuals. Measuring in at 4.82 inches tall by 2.54 inches wide by 0.39 inch thick, and weighing 4.16 ounces, it's thin and light enough to stow in a bag, pocket, or purse. With 16.7 million colors, the 4-inch Super AMOLED screen is absolutely beautiful. The Vibrant comes pre-loaded with Avatar (more on that later), and the picture quality is absolutely beautiful. Surprisingly enough, the screen isn't as bad in direct sunlight as the typical AMOLED display.
The left side of the unit houses the volume rocker, and the right side has the power/lock button. The top has the microUSB charging port and 3.5mm headphone jack. For the most part, the device looks like a typical smartphone, but one of my favorite design elements on the device is the little "door" that covers the microUSB charging port on the top. Instead of using the typical cover that most manufacturers use, it's a door that slides from left to right. It's easy to use, and you don't have to worry about it falling off after prolonged use.
When I saw the Galaxy S series for the first time at a Samsung event in New York City, my initial thought was "man, these phones feel cheap." And there's no denying it – compared to the hard plastic, glass, and metal found on devices like the Nexus One, iPhone 4, EVO 4G, and Legend, the Vibrant is very plasticky. As time went on, though, I found myself appreciating the build quality as lightweight and clean versus lightweight and cheap. The Vibrant felt great in the hand, and the chrome accents give it a nice look.
Usability & Performance
Complete with Android 2.1, the Vibrant offers a modified version of Samsung's TouchWiz user interface. I'm not a huge fan of the TouchWiz that is installed on the manufacturer's featurephones, but it's surprisingly functional on the Vibrant. Like the iPhone 4, the Vibrant has a bottom "dock" that contains "Dialer," "Contacts," "Messaging," and "Applications" shortcuts. There are seven individual pages to customize, and in a neat feature, Samsung allows you to re-arrange, add, and remove pages. Similar to the myTouch 3G Slide interface, all icons are "boxed." When I initially picked up the phone, I didn't care for the user interface. After a few days, however, it grew on me.
The Vibrant offers Samsung's 1 GHz Hummingbird processor, and in day-to-day use, the Vibrant is speedy. Apps opened quickly, video loaded without a hitch, and I never experienced the occasional lag that other reviewers have discussed. The phone ships with a few T-Mobile goodies like James Cameron's Avatar (full movie), MobiTV, Visual Voicemail, Telenav, and a shortcut to GoGo's in-flight Wi-Fi service. The Super AMOLED display handles Avatar beautifully, and in a few minutes of watching it, I was more mesmerized than I was in theaters.
The Vibrant offers a 5.0-megapixel camera with autofocus, though it's absent of a flash. Pictures taken during the day were rich and full of color, and thanks to the Vibrant's "night mode" pictures taken in low light were surprisingly decent. That being said, I can see instances where the flash would have improved the overall quality of the photo, but after a few days of snapping pictures, I didn't miss the flash as much as I thought I would. The camera takes decent pictures across the board, but after using the iPhone 4, EVO 4G, and Incredible, I was a bit spoiled. The Vibrant offers 720p video recording, and video quality was quite good.
I tested the Vibrant in the Charlotte metropolitan area, and call quality was impressive. The earpiece on the device is incredibly loud, and could be one of the best I've tested in recent memory. I have several phones on my desk, and in several occasions, I found myself using the Vibrant to call people instead of another devices. When testing the device in a T-Mobile fringe area in Charlotte, I was able to hear the other caller, despite some choppiness and slight audio fading. Speakerphone worked well, and I was able to pair two Bluetooth headsets to the device.
With a 1500 mAh battery, the Vibrant offers 6.5 hours of talk time, and just under 18 days of standby time. Given that it uses Android and has a large touchscreen, it's not going to make it through several days of heavy usage, but with moderate use including calling, text messaging, browsing the web, using apps, and use of the Android Market, I was able to make it through a full business day with the unit – it died at about 9:00 PM, 13 hours after I removed it from the charger. The battery charges incredibly slow, though, so those that enjoy a quick charge in the car or in between meetings (read: me) may have to rethink their strategy.
The Samsung Vibrant offers HSPA connectivity, so browsing speeds were very fast. The full CNN webpage loaded in about 16 seconds, and the PhoneDog homepage loaded in 25 seconds. Other data-intensive tasks such as Google Maps, the Android Market, Google Talk, the Amazon MP3 store, and downloaded apps worked well. Though the Vibrant doesn't support HSPA+ per-se, it does benefit from markets that have HSPA+. At present, T-Mobile offers HSPA+ to 85 million people in 50 markets, with the goal of covering 185 million people by the end of 2010.
Despite some minor flaws like battery charging time and a "cheap" feel (for some), the Samsung Vibrant is the best Android device availble on T-Mobile. At $200, the high-end device is a direct competitor to the DROID X, iPhone 4, EVO 4G, and Captivate, and it holds its own with a big Super AMOLED display, thin form factor, and speedy 1 GHz processor. It's available now for $199.99, or $499.99 full retail at T-Mobile.


text:
October 25 has been designated World Pasta Day, and as part of typography's contribution to this important initiative, we're pleased to share the following: an excerpt from the typeface "Nr. 941. Dubbelmittel (corps 28)," as it appears in Berlingska Stilguteriet Stilprof, a type specimen book from the Berlingska type foundry of Lund, Sweden, circa 1900. It is a dimensionally extruded ring accent, shaped like a piece of rigatoni.
This concludes our contribution to World Pasta Day. See you in 2011. —JH


text:
Chicken Soup for the Soul Brand Introduces Homestyle Chicken Soup
The famous Chicken Soup for the Soul brand, best known for its affiliation with life improvement, inspiration and wellness books, is bringing comfort to consumers through an extensive line of nutritious, quality, home-style foods. Chicken Soup for the Soul Foods, Greenwich, Conn., will begin the product launch in early 2013, beginning with soups.
Suitable for singles or busy families, many items will offer convenient ways to shorten meal prep time and serve delicious meals in minutes. Products such as gravies, broths and meal starters can be used to start a variety of different meals, including pot pies, casseroles and stews. All items in the food line will be designed with today's health-conscious consumer in mind.
"With hundreds of millions of books in print, which have been sold in more than 100 countries, our worldwide group of readers and fans know that the 'Chicken Soup for the Soul' name represents a trusted and familiar source for stories and products that resonate and inspire," says Bill Rouhana, CEO of Chicken Soup for the Soul. "Meal times play such an important role in living a well-balanced life that our readers and fans have asked us for years to launch a food line. By creating a line of delicious comfort foods that warm the heart and nourish the soul, we are providing yet another way that we can always be there to care for and support our community."
The Chicken Soup for the Soul Soup line will include seven varieties, led by iconic Chicken Noodle, made with tender chunks of chicken, egg noodles and vegetables in a signature broth. Other varieties will include traditional favorites such as Chicken and Rice, Creamy Tomato and Mushroom Barley, as well as unique blends including Country Style Squash, Sweet Corn and Chipotle, and Hearty Black Bean. The initial soups will be available in 15-oz. and 24-oz. reusable and recyclable traditional glass mason jars.


text:
LogMeIn Remote Access
When "Can't be done?" Becomes Simply Possible
Simplifying how people connect to their colleagues, employees, devices and the world around them to solve some of the world's most complex problems, LogMeIn has grown to become one of the world's leading SaaS companies with over 800 employees in 8 offices around the world.
Having connected over 300 MM devices to a LogMeIn cloud service since 2003, we have not only capitalized on but fueled the modern way of working – remote, efficient, mobile, productive. And we're continuing to transform business and lives by helping build the "Internet of Things".
All of this is possible through our simple edifying belief that possibilities increase with connectivity.


text:
605 W 23rd Avenue, Vancouver Listing #: R2261317
605 W 23rd Ave!On the corner of Ash & 23rd.If you want to save time!Building permits are issued!Engineering, interior design & site survey all paid include in this valued price!BUY now to save on taxes!It's MAY!best weather to build a family home near Douglas Park! Save time! Call, to view building plans & floor plans,+laneway/ house, legal suite & an attic office pensuite!steps away from Cambie Village & Douglas Park.Best central location, a few blocks to Cambie King Edward skytrain station!House has 4 levels +coach house!Total living space over 3,700 sqft plus extra porch, deck, & balconies;land is RS5.Nice corner w/over 3,700 sqft!Interior design,rendering,architecture design all READY TO GO!Custom built dream home at this Beautiful Location! CALL Today FOR A SHOWING! Hurry!
Taxes (2017): $7,375.00
Similar Listings
Listed By: Maxcel Westcoast Realty Ltd.
Disclaimer: The data relating to real estate on this web site comes in part from the MLS Reciprocity program of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver or the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board. Real estate listings held by participating real estate firms are marked with the MLS Reciprocity logo and detailed information about the listing includes the name of the listing agent. This representation is based in whole or part on data generated by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver or the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board which assumes no responsibility for its accuracy. The materials contained on this page may not be reproduced without the express written consent of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver or the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board.


text:
Court acquits radical Jordanian cleric in 1 case
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — A military court on Thursday acquitted a radical Jordanian preacher known for his fiery pro-al-Qaida rhetoric of involvement in a foiled 1999 plot to attack an American school in Amman but postponed a ruling on other terrorism charges.
It was a welcome victory for Abu Qatada, described as a onetime lieutenant to Osama bin Laden, nearly a year after he was deported back to his homeland by Britain after losing a decade-long legal battle over demands for his extradition. As the ruling was read Thursday, Abu Qatada's family and relatives erupted into cheers. The women embraced and kissed one another. Abu Qatada, sporting a chest-length gray beard, smiled and waved from inside the defendants' cage.
The State Security Court in Amman said it found insufficient evidence to convict the 53-year-old Muslim preacher in the 1999 plot, but he will remain in detention pending a verdict on a charge of involvement in a plot to target Israeli and American tourists and Western diplomats in 2000. It said it will render a decision in that case on Sept. 7. Abu Qatada has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The timing of the trial has cast a spotlight on statements by Abu Qatada that have underscored the bitter rift between the al-Qaida movement founded by bin Laden and a splinter group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which has rejected the central leadership's authority while fighting to carve out a self-styled Islamic state in the Middle East.
During his time in custody, Abu Qatada has made no secret of his militant views, advising foreign fighters to remain in Syria and urging suicide attacks in Lebanon against Shiite targets. But while he has expressed support for extremists fighting in Syria he has criticized the Islamic State, which has seized large swaths of Iraq as well as areas in neighboring Syria.
He said in January that the Islamic State "ignored instructions" from al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri to confine its activities to Iraq and that its fighters had been "misled to fight a war that is not holy."
The split has led to fierce infighting between the breakaway group and rival Islamic militants as well as moderate rebels and activists in Syria, a conflict that has threatened to upstage the civil war against Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Hassan Abu Haniya, an Amman-based expert on Islamist groups, said the acquittal may be part of a government strategy to deepen a wedge between Jordan's own ultraconservative Muslims and more hard-line militant groups like the Islamic State.
"It's a message to ... distinguish between those who are considered moderate, who have no aims of carrying out (violent) operations in Jordan, and the more radical fringe of ISIL," he said.
Earlier this month, Jordan released Essam al-Barqawi, better known as Abu Mohammed al-Maqdisi, after he served a five-year sentence on terror charges. Maqdisi was the mentor of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in 2006.
But Maqdisi, like Abu Qatada, has been critical of the splinter group that emerged from the remnants of al-Zarqawi's group.
Abu Qatada fled a Jordanian crackdown on militants, arriving in Britain on a forged passport in 1993. He was granted asylum a year later, but eventually wore out his welcome because of his suspected militant activities.
The preacher had been convicted in absentia and sentenced to life in prison on both Jordanian charges. But on his extradition to Jordan last July, those sentences were suspended and he was ordered to stand a new trial.
Abu Qatada had questioned the impartiality of Jordan's military court, an issue that delayed his deportation from Britain for years. But last June, Britain and Jordan ratified a treaty on torture, paving the way for his extradition.
Following more complaints later by his defense team, the Jordanian military court brought civilian judges to preside over the case.
"We are happy," said Um Ahmed, Abu Qatada's sister. "But I want him to leave with us."
Abu Qatada, whose real name is Omar Mahmoud Mohammed Othman, has been described in courts in Britain and Spain as a senior al-Qaida figure in Europe who had close ties to the late bin Laden.
Britain accused him of links with Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in the United States over the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and with shoe bomber Richard Reid. Audio recordings of some of the cleric's sermons were found in an apartment in Hamburg, Germany, used by some of the Sept. 11 hijackers.
Britain's immigration and security minister, James Brokenshire, said that because of the deportation order, Abu Qatada will never be able to return to Britain.
"While the courts in Jordan have acquitted (Abu) Qatada of one of the two charges against him, it is right the due process of law is allowed to take place in his own country," Brokenshire said after the ruling. "We await a verdict on the remaining charge."
Associated Press Writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.


text:
Karla Kush is a Porn Star from United States. She was born in Nevada on January 19, 1991. She is listed on FreeOnes since 2013 and is currently ranked 77th place. She currently has 346 gallery links and 44 videos in her own FreeOnes section.
Our records show that Karla Kush is currently active which means she is still making movies, doing live shows and/or doing photo shoots.


text:
Kabali is a new tamil movie of super star rajanikanth. He signed this movie after above average Linga movie directed by ks ravikumar. Currently actor rajinikanth age is 65(Dec 12, 1950) but still he is the greatest hero of all time and he is an nspirational role model to these youngsters. Kochadaiiyaan and Linga didn't make any impact at box office. Kochadaiiyaan was a computer animated movie directed by his daughter Soundarya R. Ashwin. Linga was directed by KS Ravikumar, They teamed again after Padayappa but failed to impress the box office. Kabali is written and directed by Pa. Ranjith, this is his 3rd movie after Attakathi and Madras. Both these films got fabulous reviews and did decently at box office and lets hope kabali review also will be positive for him.
Kabali Movie is a rajinikanth upcoming movie produced by S. Thanu under the banner V Creations. Radhika Apte, Prakash Raj, Kishore, Kalaiyarasan, Dhansika, and Attakathi Dinesh are in the supporting roles. The first look poster of Kabali Tamil Movie was released earlier and the teaser got released during the month of May. Movie captured in Malaysia, Bangkok and Hong Kong, Santhosh Narayanan is composing the music. Right now he is one of the leading Music directors of Kollywood. Songs have been released already and its a hit. Neruppu da song from the kabali movie became a anthem for Rajini fans already and kabali release is a major tamil movie news from the industry.
Kabali release date have been scheduled for July 22, 2016. As the trailer of the movie is well received by the tamil cinema audience, Now Kabali is the most expected movie in Rajinikanth movie list career and now the meter is raised to 100+%. Kabali movie tickets are selling in high speed as many screens across the world have been fulled for the opening day already and the kabali ticket price is also high in many kabali theatres. Team kabali is looking forward to smash all the box office records of Indian Cinema as this movie is releasing 10000 theatres worldwide.
The problem now is "Piracy", Most of the tamil movies get released Online on the same day of the movie release so to avoid this Producer of the movie S Thanu has moved to the Madras high court to stop tamil movie streaming websites uploading kabali. He also given the list of about 180 other online streaming websites. Tamil rockers website is now available in this tamilrockers.be, earlier on facebook they have informed that Kabali pirated copy will be uploaded on same Kabali release day.
Rajinikanth fans on socialmedia have started trolling TAMILROCKERS website and few others also creating Kabali vs Tamilrockers memes and spreading it across Facebook and Whatsapp now. Here we got some Kabali Tamilrockers memes which will make you laugh for sure. TAMILGUN.COM has released the kabali movie on net before FDFS.
On other side Superstar Rajini fans are celebrating kabali movie by doing many activities online and offline.
Written and Directed by Pa.RANJITH Music : Santhosh Narayanan D.O.P : Murali.G Editor : Praveen K.L Art : Tha.Ramalingam Stunts : Anbariv Sound Designer : Anthony Bj Reuben Choreography : Sathish Lyrics: Kabilan, Gana bala, Umadevi, Arun Kumar Co-Director : Suresh Mari, Akiran, Franklin Jacob, Vicram Lachumanam Associate Director : Athiyanathirai, B. Vetriselvan, R.Ramesh, N. Sridhar Raj Costume Designer : Anuvardhan, Niranjani Ahathian, Selvam
50+ Kabali funny photos are here, just for a laugh .


text:
To return to the main Release and Transfer process page, please click here
1) Where do I begin the Release and Transfer process?
a) Please go to www.calsouth.com and select "Youth - Soccer Login"
2) I forgot my username and password.
a) Please click on "Forgot Password" and follow the prompted steps.
3) How do I contact my league or club registrar?
a) Use the "Find-A-League" (www.calsouth.com/en/find-a-league/) on the Cal South website. Locate your league or club, click on their name, and it will take you to their website, where you can find the contact info for their registrar.
4) I'm having a difficult time accessing my account. What do I do next?
If you're having a difficult time accessing your account, there are three options to try:
1) Contact your league or club registrar.
5) I don't know my transferring team ID#. Where can I find it?
Contact your transferring team administrator to obtain this information or you may also use the "Team Info Search" tool.
6) The release and transfer option is not available when I log in to my account. What does this mean?
The releasing team has not been activated or the player has not been assigned to the releasing team; contact your releasing club registrar for further guidance.
7) What are my options after being released?
A Tournament Pool Pass may be requested via your District Commissioner or the Cal South League Account Management Department for tournament play only. As a courtesy, please give 3 to 5 business days notice before the tournament in order for your Tournament Pool Pass to be printed and shipped. (Arrangements can also be made to pick up Tournament Pool Passes from your District Commissioner or the Cal South Corporate Office once you have given the 3 to 5 day lead time.)
8) Will I be notified when Release and Transfer approvals are completed?
Yes, when a release and/or transfer has been approved by Cal South, an automated email will be sent to the primary parent/guardian's email listed in his/her Cal South profile.
9) May another person initiate the online process on my behalf if I am unable to access my account?
A release may be initiated by another person only upon the express, written consent of the player through their parent/guardian. The written consent must be evidenced by an email or written document authorizing the initiation of a release. [Rule 1.5.4, Cal South Rules and Regulations (amended)]
10) How long will the approval process take?
1. If it is a release is without an accompanying transfer it may take 1-3 business days.
11) A message appeared during the process: "Transferring team is currently not accepting transfers!" What does this mean?
This may be caused by transfer limits, blackout dates, etc. Please make sure to contact your league or club registrar or the Cal South League Account Management Department Office for further guidance.
12) What if I want to do a release and transfer during the Fall Roster Freeze period?
You may initiate a release and transfer during the Fall Roster Freeze period:
• The Fall Season roster freeze period is from August 1st through the 1st Monday after Thanksgiving.
• A Release and Transfer is only allowed during this time period when initiated online by the parent and uncontested by both the releasing and incoming club
• There is a maximum of 7 days for the releasing registrar to contest the transfer request online, otherwise the request is deemed approved
• If contested, the parent may appeal. The parent must initiate the appeal process within 3 days and pay the $100 appeal fee (refundable if transfer granted on appeal). Otherwise, the transfer is denied.
• IMPORTANT NOTE: Your local competitive leagues (CSL, Presidio, SCDSL, Central Coast, Bakersfield, LA Futbol Circuit) may have more restrictive player transfer policies. These policies will take precedence during their respective season.
13) How does the Appeals process work?
a) The request for an appeal shall be initiated by the player through the completion of the electronic Player Transfer Appeal Form to Cal South within three (3) days of notification that the request is contested. The reason for requesting an appeal must be clearly and fully stated.
b) If no timely appeal is initiated within the three (3) day period, the transfer request shall be denied.
c) A $100.00 fee payable to Cal South must accompany requests for appeals. In the event the contested transfer is allowed, the account of the contesting releasing club shall be charged the $100.00 fee and the appealing player shall receive a refund of the appeal fee. The accepting club, if the transfer is approved, shall be charged a transfer fee as determined and published by Cal South.
d) Cal South may, but is not required, to hold a hearing on the appeal in its sole discretion. If it is determined that a hearing is necessary, the parties shall be informed of the date and time of the hearing and shall be given five (5) minutes per side to present their position. If a party does not intend to present oral argument that party shall notify Cal South. The parties shall be notified by Cal South of the decision on the appeal.
Contact Cal South:
• Contact Administrative Services Group (ASG): firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Sexism is Alive and Well in Linux/FOSS
A Culture of Denial
On September 19th, the GNOME Foundation and the Free Software Foundation will host a mini-summit on how to increase women's participation in the free and open source software (FOSS) communities. The summit is probably an effort to repair relationships between the two foundations after Richard Stallman was pilloried for sexism after his keynote in Gran Canaria a couple of months ago.
Of course, that is not what the official mythology says. Officially, the FOSS community is a meritocracy, where characteristics like gender don't matter, and everybody is judged only on their contributions.
For instance, in describing FOSS culture, Eric Raymond writes:
"Hackerdom is still predominantly male. However, the percentage of women is clearly higher than the low-single-digit range typical for technical professions, and female hackers are generally respected and dealt with as equals. . . . When asked, hackers often ascribe their culture's gender- and color-blindness to a positive effect of text-only network channels, and this is doubtless a powerful influence. Also, the ties many hackers have to AI research and SF literature may have helped them to develop an idea of personhood that is inclusive rather than exclusive --- after all, if one's imagination readily grants full human rights to future AI programs, robots, dolphins, and extraterrestrial aliens, mere color and gender can't seem very important any more."
Raymond is not read much any more, but many members of the FOSS community voice almost identical convictions.
But the figures prove the conventional mythology wrong. True, women continue to be under-represented in computing science and high-tech business in general, not just FOSS. According to Angela Byron's keynote at the Open Web Vancouver conference earlier this year, women compose 28% of those involved in proprietary software, slightly more than half what you would expect from a random distribution.
Asked to guess what percentage of FOSS developers are women, mostly people guess a number between 30-45%. A few, either more observant or anticipating a trick question after hearing the proprietary figure, guess 12-16%. The exact figure, though, is even lower: 1.5%
In other words, women's participation in FOSS development is over seventeen times lower than it is in proprietary software development. Proprietary software is inferior in so many ways to FOSS that the fact that it is more successful in recruiting women highlights, more than anything else, that FOSS has a problem -- even if you allow for the widest possible margins of error. The figures are a galling reversal of what those of us in the FOSS community prefer to believe. We're the idealistic and progressive ones, we like to believe.
The situation is slightly better here and there. Byron suggested that Drupal, the project she is mainly involved in, consists of about 12% women. In conversation, Aaron Seigo suggested a similar percentage for KDE. You can also point out individual women who have made their mark in FOSS, such as Stormy Peters of the GNOME Foundation, or Carla Schroder, the editor of Linux Today. Yet such exceptions do not change the overall situation.
Look at the boards of prominent FOSS projects. No women sit on the Free Software Foundation's board of directors, nor the Linux Foundation's board. KDE e.V's board has one woman, and GNOME's board one. If anything, the number of female maintainers in Debian is probably lower than 1.5%. The figures don't change much, no matter which FOSS organization you look at.
Or, if you prefer, listen to the horror stories female developers tell about sexist remarks or being asked out for dates. Look at the constant trolls on the mailing lists for female developers.
Or notice how raising the issue inevitably brings accusations of exaggeration and political correctness. Despite the obviousness of the evidence, many people would prefer to pretend that the problem doesn't exist except in the minds of a few feminist radicals. And, while everyone is in denial, the FOSS community loses female -- and male -- developers when it needs every possible volunteer.
A culture of denial
The problem is not new. People have been discussing it at least since 1998, when Deb Richardson founded LinuxChix to combat it. Moreover, Val Henson's "Howto Encourage Women in Linux" pinpointed the problem, its causes, and the most common reactions to it as long ago as 2002.
- Skip Ahead
- 1. A Culture of Denial
- 2. A Culture of Denial


text:
Pimp Your Seats With Seat Heating
Are you finding your leather seats too cold? Well, look no further, because we've found an idea that's quite interesting. It involves installing some seat heating into your seats to make them warmer in cooler temperatures.
Nico Mertens came up with this idea when he asked his friends about leather seating. The women he questioned said that they liked how leather seats looked, but didn't like sitting on them because they got cold. This revelation led him to install a heating system into his IKEA Poang chair. While he was doing this, he also extended the headrest so that it would fit his height.
In order to deliver the heat, you'll need an extra cushion to make a strap for the electrics, a seat heater which could come from an electric blanket or a heat pad, a notebook power adapter that gives out between 12 and 13.5 V and up to 7 Amp, and some odds and ends to make the chair look good. The seat heating was basically sewn into the seat cushion. Nico added a nice little piece of wood to serve as a place to insert his seating button, which obviously was salvaged from a car, just as his seat heater. The whole chair was sanded down and repainted so that everything would match. The best thing is that he got an offer of $1,500 for his pimped out Poang chair.
[via IKEA Hacker, photos by Nico Mertens]


text:
Spring Break Is Poppin: Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Jae Millz & Young Money At MTV's Spreak Break 09'! (Nicki Says Weezy Was Getting Questioned By Authorities)
Nicki Minaj TV reports "NICKI MINAJ GETS FOOTAGE OF YOUNG MONEY ON MTV'S SPRING BREAK AND SPOTS LIL WAYNE BEING QUESTIONED "
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


text:
Design quickly with intuitive tools and a true drag-and-drop experience.
Constant Contact offers dozens of email templates for your business. They're reusable and mobile responsive. Flexible and functional. Easy to edit and customize. So pick yours—and use it over and over for whatever you want to say.
"I really appreciate that I have my template that I can copy, drop some pictures into, and create four emails for the month in just two hours. I love that reliability. I go in and it works."Sarah Waters, Treat Cupcake Bar
Design quickly with intuitive tools and a true drag-and-drop experience.
Customize colors, fonts, and more to match your brand.
Access stored images and free stock photos.
"I love how we can customize templates. The designs are really clean and then we can customize the template with our school colors."
Cynthia Lee, Dominelli School of Music
First-time users prefer creating emails with Constant Contact 4-to-1 over top competitors.
We make sure your email is mobile-ready: 69% of emails are now opened on mobile devices
Mobile-responsive templates work: Mobile users (53%) click more often than desktop users (47%)
Reach for the inbox: 98% of Constant Contact emails are delivered (only 77% from regular email)


text:
GEAR UP -- Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs
Mission: The mission of the federal GEAR UP program, administered by the U.S. Department of Education, is to significantly increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in post secondary education. This is done by promoting academic excellence through a variety of locally designed and innovative early intervention services.
NMU's GEAR UP grant is also supported by the King Chavez Parks Initiative College Day Program. Together, these grants help to support the students at North Star Academy.
Come check us out on the GEAR UP Facebook for more information, to see cool pictures, and to be our friends.
Click here for Federal Pell Grant and the TIP (Tuition Incentive Program).
Student Financial Aid Checklist
Median Earnings by Major and Subject
Fastest Growing Occupations
1. Network Systems and Data Communications Analyst ($18,610--96,860)
2. Physician Assistant ($16,460--74,390)
3. Medical Assistants ($16,460--74,390)
4. Medical Records and Health Information Technicians ($16,460--74,390)
5. Computer Application Software Engineers ($18,610--96,860)
6. Physical Therapist Aides ($16,460--74,390)
7. Fitness Trainers and Aerobics Instructors ($7.09--26.22 hourly)
8. Database Administrators (16,460--74,390)
9. Veterinary Technologists and Technicians ($16,170--33,750)
10.Dental Hygienists ($8.45--39.24 hourly)
For more information click here
Michigan's Hottest Careers
1. Engineering Managers ($52.93)
2. Construction Managers ($44.21)
3. Education Administrators, Postsecondary (42.49)
4. Management Analysts ($42.26)
5. Medical and Health Services Managers ($39.61)
6. Personal Financial Advisors ($38.82)
7. Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary ($38.53)
8. Physician Assistants ($38.10)
9. Computer Software Engineers, Systems Software ($38.08)
10.Computer Systems Analysts ($37.54)
For more hot careers click here
Michigan Private Colleges and Universities
Is a private school the right choice for you? Michigan private colleges and universities offer a wide range of education programs with degrees and certificates up to the doctoral level, as well as professional degrees such as law and medicine. Some private colleges and universities have a religious affiliation and others are secular. Private colleges and universities may be profit or non-profit institutions. More information on private institutions can be found here.
Helpful Tools
Check out these resources that can assist in your preparation for furthering your education.
Glossary of College Terms
Tuition Incentive Program & Federal Pell Grant
Michigan Indian Tuition Waiver
What can college do for you?