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|By Virtualization News
Article Rating:
|May 13, 2008 08:45 AM EDT
VMware announced that VMware Site Recovery Manager, a pioneering product for disaster recovery management and automation, will be available for order next week with general availability expected to follow within 30 days. VMware Site Recovery Manager, which is part of VMware's suite of management and automation products for the datacenter, leverages virtualization to simplify business continuity planning and testing, and reduces the risk and complexity associated with executing disaster recovery.
Traditional recovery plans leave organizations exposed to risk of extended downtime because they are laborious to set up, time-consuming to maintain, and difficult to test. As a result, only a subset of important systems can be adequately protected. For example, traditional disaster recovery plans for datacenters require extensive documentation consisting of hundreds of pages of instructions contained in runbooks that are nearly impossible to keep accurate and up-to-date. The complexity of the manual recovery processes in these runbooks makes it difficult for organizations to reliably recover within their recovery time objectives. Traditional non-virtualized systems have extensive dependencies on hardware configurations, which make consistent automation of the process extremely difficult if not impossible.
"Effective disaster recovery has been a significant challenge for many organizations," said Raghu Raghuram, vice president, products and solutions at VMware. "With the delivery of VMware Site Recovery Manager, VMware removes hurdles associated with disaster recovery planning and implementation. Through our innovative disaster recovery testing, management and automation capabilities, we bring predictability back into the hands of IT and help eliminate risks associated with human error."
Site Recovery Manager works seamlessly with VMware
Infrastructure, VMware VirtualCenter, and replication software from storage
partners to provide integrated disaster recovery management and automation. It provides:
- Integrated management of disaster recovery plans. Create, update and document recovery plans directly from VMware VirtualCenter.
- Non-disruptive testing of disaster recovery plans. Execute automated tests of recovery plans in an isolated testing environment using the recovery plan that would be used in an actual failover. Hardware configuration dependencies are eliminated and testing can occur without impacting production systems.
- Automated failover and recovery. Automate execution of the recovery process, eliminating many of the slow and unreliable manual processes common in traditional disaster recovery.
"Regulatory compliance and our drive for providing exceptional services to our customers is a large factor for our interest and involvement in VMware Site Recovery Manager," said Donald Wilkins, director of IT at Navicure. "Site Recovery Manager allows us to far exceed our recovery objectives in an automated manner and lets our IT staff do disaster recovery the right way - the only way."
"Brit Insurance chose VMware Site Recovery Manager after evaluating the advantages offered by centralized management and complete automation of disaster recovery plans over physical alternatives," said Brett Hockly, group infrastructure services manager at Brit Insurance. "As a long-term VMware virtualization user, our team is clear on the benefits of virtual infrastructure, having a disaster recovery solution we can test without jeopardizing our live systems makes our decision to standardise on VMware clearly correct."
VMware Site Recovery Manager leverages customers' investment
in storage replication software from VMware's storage partners including 3PAR,
Dell, EMC, FalconStor, Hitachi Data Systems, HP, IBM, LeftHand Networks and
NetApp. VMware is working with partners across its storage partner ecosystem to
ensure that customers can use Site Recovery Manager with their storage system and
software platform of choice. As a result of this collaboration, customers can deploy
advanced disaster recovery solutions with the full support of both VMware and
their storage provider.
At CloudEXPO Silicon Valley, June 24-26, 2019, Digital Transformation (DX) is a major focus with expanded DevOpsSUMMIT and FinTechEXPO programs within the DXWorldEXPO agenda. Successful transformation requires a laser focus on being data-driven and on using all the tools available that enable transformation if they plan to survive over the long term. A total of 88% of Fortune 500 companies from a generation ago are now out of business. Only 12% still survive. Similar percentages are found throug...
Jan. 23, 2019 10:45 PM EST
Every organization is facing their own Digital Transformation as they attempt to stay ahead of the competition, or worse, just keep up. Each new opportunity, whether embracing machine learning, IoT, or a cloud migration, seems to bring new development, deployment, and management models. The results are more diverse and federated computing models than any time in our history.
Jan. 23, 2019 10:30 PM EST
At CloudEXPO Silicon Valley, June 24-26, 2019, Digital Transformation (DX) is a major focus with expanded DevOpsSUMMIT and FinTechEXPO programs within the DXWorldEXPO agenda. Successful transformation requires a laser focus on being data-driven and on using all the tools available that enable transformation if they plan to survive over the long term. A total of 88% of Fortune 500 companies from a generation ago are now out of business. Only 12% still survive. Similar percentages are found throug...
Jan. 23, 2019 10:30 PM EST
Atmosera delivers modern cloud services that maximize the advantages of cloud-based infrastructures. Offering private, hybrid, and public cloud solutions, Atmosera works closely with customers to engineer, deploy, and operate cloud architectures with advanced services that deliver strategic business outcomes. Atmosera's expertise simplifies the process of cloud transformation and our 20+ years of experience managing complex IT environments provides our customers with the confidence and trust tha...
Jan. 23, 2019 02:15 PM EST
Where many organizations get into trouble, however, is that they try to have a broad and deep knowledge in each of these areas. This is a huge blow to an organization's productivity. By automating or outsourcing some of these pieces, such as databases, infrastructure, and networks, your team can instead focus on development, testing, and deployment. Further, organizations that focus their attention on these areas can eventually move to a test-driven development structure that condenses several l...
Jan. 23, 2019 11:45 AM EST
The graph represents a network of 1,329 Twitter users whose recent tweets contained "#DevOps", or who were replied to or mentioned in those tweets, taken from a data set limited to a maximum of 18,000 tweets. The network was obtained from Twitter on Thursday, 10 January 2019 at 23:50 UTC. The tweets in the network were tweeted over the 7-hour, 6-minute period from Thursday, 10 January 2019 at 16:29 UTC to Thursday, 10 January 2019 at 23:36 UTC. Additional tweets that were mentioned in this...
Jan. 23, 2019 10:00 AM EST
Over the course of two days, in addition to insightful conversations and presentations delving into the industry's current pressing challenges, there was considerable buzz about digital transformation and how it is enabling global enterprises to accelerate business growth. Blockchain has been a term that people hear but don't quite understand. The most common myths about blockchain include the assumption that it is private, or that there is only one blockchain, and the idea that blockchain is...
Jan. 23, 2019 09:45 AM EST
Never mind that we might not know what the future holds for cryptocurrencies and how much values will fluctuate or even how the process of mining a coin could cost as much as the value of the coin itself - cryptocurrency mining is a hot industry and shows no signs of slowing down. However, energy consumption to mine cryptocurrency is one of the biggest issues facing this industry. Burning huge amounts of electricity isn't incidental to cryptocurrency, it's basically embedded in the core of "mini...
Jan. 23, 2019 02:15 AM EST
In his general session at 19th Cloud Expo, Manish Dixit, VP of Product and Engineering at Dice, discussed how Dice leverages data insights and tools to help both tech professionals and recruiters better understand how skills relate to each other and which skills are in high demand using interactive visualizations and salary indicator tools to maximize earning potential. Manish Dixit is VP of Product and Engineering at Dice. As the leader of the Product, Engineering and Data Sciences team at D...
Jan. 23, 2019 01:30 AM EST Reads: 14,062
The term "digital transformation" (DX) is being used by everyone for just about any company initiative that involves technology, the web, ecommerce, software, or even customer experience. While the term has certainly turned into a buzzword with a lot of hype, the transition to a more connected, digital world is real and comes with real challenges. In his opening keynote, Four Essentials To Become DX Hero Status Now, Jonathan Hoppe, Co-Founder and CTO of Total Uptime Technologies, shared that ...
Jan. 23, 2019 12:30 AM EST


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Life Science
Prepare yourself for teaching the activity, "Digestion," in which students learn about digestion of foods by observing the action of meat tenderizer on luncheon meat.
Demonstration slide set for teachers.
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Funded by the following grant(s)
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NIH
My Health My World: National Dissemination
Grant Number: 5R25ES009259
The Environment as a Context for Opportunities in Schools
Grant Number: 5R25ES010698, R25ES06932


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In the second half of Saturday's game with Campbell the Lady Bisons picked up the pace to outscore the Camels 47-42 in the final 20 minutes, including 24 points off of fast breaks. Unfortunately for the Lady Bisons their intensity level wasn't enough to compete with the Camels in the first half setting the stage for an 88-80 loss at Allen Arena.
"We just didn't have real good intensity to start the game, especially on defense," Bennett said. "We weren't able to push the ball in the first half because they were scoring.
"Campbell was really on in the first half. We didn't play them solid. We didn't force them to have to try to make their shots."
It was the first time this season the Lady Bisons reached 80 points in a game. It was also the first time a team has scored in the 80s against the Lady Bisons.
In addition to scoring 47 points in the second half, the Lady Bisons also hit 57.6 percent from the field, 49.1 percent for the game.
"After the game I told them to see what they can do as a team when they do things right," Bennett said. "Offensively, we were aggressive in the second half. But we weren't forcing shots. We weren't holding the ball and trying to make a great shot.
"In the second half we played a lot better. We still had some technique problems on defense. I saw so many good things and I saw some things that weren't so good."
The Lady Bisons placed four players in double figures with junior guard Jenna Bartsokas scored a game-high 22 points. Freshman forward Morgan Faulkner finished with 18 points. Junior forward Valerie Bronson chipped in 15. Sophomore center Brittany Duerk tossed in 10.
Bronson played one of her strong games since the first part of the season.
"When teams give her space she can take a player one-on-one," Bennett said. "Three-point shots aren't her game. She is more of a driving and slashing type player."
Faulkner continues to improve with each passing game. She came off of the bench and hit five-of-10 shots from the field, including three-of-six from 3-point range.
"That's her sixth straight game where she has hit 50 percent or more on both two and three pointers," Bennett said. "She is knocking down some big shots. She is also good as slashing toward the basket.
"She is playing better defensively. That allows us to let her play more on offense."
With 3:40 left to play the Lady Bisons pulled within six, 75-69, on a 3-pointer by Bartsokas.
The Lady Bisons went on a nine-point run turning a 55-41 Campbell lead to 55-50. Bartsokas capped the run with a jumper in the lane.
The Lady Bisons cut the lead to five on two other occasions, but could not get any closer.
The biggest lead for Campbell was 18 points, 51-33, 18:26 left to play.
With 6:29 left Morgan Faulkner scored on a layup to cut the Campbell lead to six, 64-58.
The Lady Bisons trailed 46-33 at halftime. The biggest lead for Campbell was 18 points, 51-33, with 18:26 left to play.
In the first half Campbell was almost unstoppable offensively, hitting 66.7 percent of their shots from the field and hitting as high as 78 percent at one point.
Campbell scored the first two points and never trailed in the first half. The Camels biggest lead in the game was 16 points, 33-17 with 6:41 remaining before intermission.
Campbell also placed four players in double figures. Center Ashley Williamson led the way 16 points, eight-of-11 from the field. Forward Lauren Yesh added 15. Guard Courtney Cannon finished with 12. Guard Kate Cloxton chipped in with 10.
Yesh and guard Tonisha Baker each grabbed six rebounds. Duerk and Bronson also hauled in six rebounds each.
The Lady Bisons are 4-16, 2-8 in the conference. Campbell is 11-7, 6-3 in the A-Sun.
The Lady Bisons make the shortest road trip of the season Wednesday night when they play Belmont in the women's version of the "Battle of the Boulevard".
Written by Mark McGee, Senior Publisher/ Director of Media Relations


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Weekly Auctions of Exceptional Items
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|Price Results
- Indian Artifact Auction- ONLINE ONLY!
St. Ignatius, MT, United States
DoneSat, Jan 28, 2012 7:00 PM GMT
Indian Artifact Auction- ONLINE ONLY!
Jewelry, Pottery, Baskets, Rugs, Katsina Dolls, NW Coast & Eskimo Relics, Tradebeads, Books, Antiques, Western Collectibles, and More- OVER 300 ITEMS!!
Auction Info
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Auction & Auctioneer Information
Contact Auctioneer
St. Ignatius, MT, USA
You may preview the items at our warehouse in St.Ignatius normal business hours.
Buyer's Premium
- 15%
Terms & Conditions
1. A buyer's premium of 12% (15% for online bidders) of the hammer bid price will be added to the purchase price and is payable by the purchaser as the total purchase price. All purchases are subject to state and local sales tax unless the purchaser possesses a valid sales tax exemption number. Exemption numbers from participating states are as per state tax codes. Tax numbers must be registered at the time a bidder number is issued. Signed documentation may be required to qualify for tax exemptions. 2. All items are sold as-is to the highest bidder, and neither we, nor the consignor make any warranties or representations with respect to these items, and neither will be responsible for the correctness of description, genuineness, attribution, provenance, period, culture, age, source, origin, authenticity, or condition of any item sold. All statements, written and oral, are QUALIFIED STATEMENTS OF OPINION ONLY. Illustrations in our catalogs, website, and other materials are provided for identification only. Prospective buyers are, in all cases, responsible for determining the physical condition of lots. By placing a bid, either in person, by phone, absentee or via the Internet, you signify that you have examined the items as fully as you desire to or that you have chosen not to examine them. Merchandise returns will not be accepted for any reason. 3. The auctioneer reserves the right to reject any bid. The highest bidder acknowledged by the auctioneer will be the purchaser. If any dispute arises between bidders, the item in dispute shall, at the auctioneer's discretion, either be re-offered for sale or sold as stated. In any event, the auctioneer's decision will be final. If any dispute arises after the sale, our sales records shall be conclusive in all respects. Title will pass to the highest bidder when the auctioneer says, "SOLD", and thereafter the property is at the purchaser's sole risk and responsibility. 4. Very few items in this sale are offered subject to a reserve. This is a confidential minimum price agreed upon by the consignor and Allard Auctions, Inc., below which the item will not be sold. The reserve may be executed by bidding from the auctioneer, his assistant, or the owner. 5. All written and phone-in absentee bids will be executed by the auctioneer's assistant or the auctioneer himself, by use of a raised hand at the podium. Additionally, the representative(s) of the online bidding company, on behalf of pre-registered, online absentee bidders, will execute those bids live from the auction floor in the same manner. In the event of multiple absentee bids on an item, bidding on the floor must, and will, start at a figure no higher than the highest absentee bid, and no lower than the second highest absentee bid. Also, if any two or more absentee bids on a single item are tied, the first one received will be the one acknowledged and recorded. 6. Allard Auctions, Inc. reserves the right to withdraw any property before or during the sale, and has no liability whatsoever for the withdrawal of property. The local Federal Fish and Wildlife Dept. has been notified, and any items found to be illegal to sell because of feathers, attachments, or any other reason, will be pulled from the auction and not offered for sale. 7. By submitting any bid, whether in person, in writing, or any other means, the buyer acknowledges and accepts these terms and conditions. 8. We occasionally offer for sale firearms that do not fit within the range of Antiques as defined by the ATF. In such cases, the purchaser will be required to complete ATF Form 4473 and be cleared through the NICS system prior to the transfer of the firearm. Also, per ATF regulations, the tranfer can only be made to a designated FFL holder. Payment and Pick-up 9. Purchases may be paid for by cash, check, Paypal or credit card. Personal checks will be accepted only if credit has been established with Allard Auctions, Inc. or if a bank authorization has been received guaranteeing a personal check. Allard Auctions, Inc. reserves the right to hold merchandise purchased by personal check until the check has cleared. Purchases paid for by Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover must be cleared by telephone, and may take additional time at checkout. 10. All purchases must be paid for the day of the auction. Allard Auctions, upon request only, may agree to hold and arrange shipping of purchases on a limited basis. This is done solely at the purchaser's risk and expense, and Allard Auctions assumes no responsibility for loss or damage. Any claims or other shipping related issues will be between the shipper and the purchaser. 11. All items purchased through absentee, phone, and Internet bidding will be paid for in the manner described on the Absentee Bid Form and in the Internet Bidding section found herewith in these Terms and Conditions. 12. If any applicable conditions herein are not complied with by the purchaser, in addition to other remedies available to it by law, including without limitation the right to hold the purchaser liable for the total purchase price, Allard Auctions, Inc. at its option may either (a) cancel the sale, retaining as liquidated damages all payments made by the purchaser or (b) resell the property either privately or at auction without reserve, and the purchaser will be liable for any deficiency and costs, including handling charges, expenses of both sales, the commission on both sales at regular rates, all other charges due hereunder and incidental damages. SHIPPING Because we have only one day to process all absentee purchases, unless you contact us by 5 pm on the Monday immediately following the last day of the auction, shipping will be automatically arranged for you without contacting you first, using the credit card and address information that you provided with your registration. Items are sent as quickly as possible, but because of the volume of items being processed, in some cases it may take up to four weeks to receive your purchases. NOTIFICATION All successful absentee bids, whether submitted via phone, fax, website, or mail, and successful online bids will be processed and shipped without prior notification except as described above. You may contact us at our Montana office a few days after the sale to inquire about hammer prices of particular lots. Auction results will be posted on our website approximately two weeks following the sale.
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First-Time Home Buyers
Buying your first home can be both exhilarating and confusing, and full of questions. We've been helping first-time home buyers in the Northern Virginia area for generations, so we know what you're going through. That's why we take a daunting process and make it simple and easy to understand.
The first question to ask yourself is whether buying is right for you at this stage of life. While there are many benefits to owning a home, there are some additional considerations:
- Will you have enough money for a down payment and closing costs?
- How long do you plan to live in your home?
- Are you prepared to take on home maintenance costs and taxes?
To help figure out projected costs, we've provided mortgage and lifestyle calculators so you can determine how much home you can reasonably afford.
When you're confident with your financial situation and ready to buy, we offer several mortgage options that can be tailored just for you.
To learn more, stop by any branch or call us at 703-684-1655 and ask to speak with a Mortgage Loan Officer.


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Google Finally Changes ContentID Appeals Process
from the good-move dept
Users have always had the ability to dispute Content ID claims on their videos if they believe those claims are invalid. Prior to today, if a content owner rejected that dispute, the user was left with no recourse for certain types of Content ID claims (e.g., monetize claims). Based upon feedback from our community, today we're introducing an appeals process that gives eligible users a new choice when dealing with a rejected dispute. When the user files an appeal, a content owner has two options: release the claim or file a formal DMCA notification.This is a much more reasonable process that doesn't allow people claiming copyright to effectively take over a video regardless of whether or not the video's uploader disputes it. This probably should have happened a long time ago, but it's good to see it finally has.
The announcement also claims that their system is becoming better at avoiding "invalid claims." It sounds as though there's some sort of threshold now, where if something is borderline, it goes into a manual review queue, rather than automatically being taken down. So the more "gray area" cases will get a human review first.
We'll see how all of this works out, but it's good to see that Google is taking many of the complaints about ContentID's overeager takedowns seriously.


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A personal look at one family's 'Desert Roots'
Mitra Shavarini's book focuses on her parents' migration to US and return to Iran
Mitra Shavarini is a lecturer at the Women's and Gender Studies and Peace, Conflict and Coexistence Studies programs, where her research centers on women's education in Muslim societies. She is also the author of "Educating Immigrants: Experience of Second Generation Iranians" and the coauthor, with Wendy R. Robison, of "Women and Education in Iran and Afghanistan: An Annotated Bibliography."
But Shavarini's new book, "Desert Roots," is altogether more up-close and personal. In it, she tells of the pursuit of the American Dream by one immigrant family: her own.
At 5 p.m. on Friday in Laurie Theater, part of the Spingold Theater complex, she'll deliver a talk on her reasons for writing the book, which focuses on why her parents left Iran for America, where they lived for 33 years, and why they returned when her dad reached the advanced stages of Parkinson's Disease in 2005.
"It explores a very universal theme of this desire to go home," says Shavarini. "It usually sparks a lot of emotions, and not just in the immigrant community."
Kristen Lucken, a lecturer in International & Global Studies and Sociology, whose research focuses on the religious lives of immigrants and their children, will offer some scholarly insights about the immigration experience following Shavarini's talk.
Leila May Pascual '15, who was first exposed to the book in a class on immigration, will perform a song she wrote in her native Tagalog in response to the book.
"It's an important story, especially given where we are with Iranian relations," Lucken says. "National policy often clouds our relationship with Americans who are from different cultures."
Finally, a professional Playback Theatre group formed by Brandeis alumni Will Chalumus '07, Nathan Porteshawver '09, Etta King '10 and others will explore themes from the book using this improvisational technique based on the audience's reaction.
"I'm so honored to do this event at Brandeis," Shavarini says. "Here's a topic on Iran, controversial in the real world, and eight departments are supporting it," including Anthropology, the Crown Center for Middle East Studies, the Dean of Arts and Sciences, Education, Sociology, Women's and Gender Studies, Women's Studies Research Center and the Ethics Center.
Categories: Humanities and Social Sciences, International Affairs


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Windy City Wheels
By Matt Hawkins
February 25, 2014
A dozen Bradley public relations students worked the Chicago Auto Show floor in February as the university continued a 12-year relationship with the event.
Two groups of interns each spent a week at the nation's largest auto show, with the first crew working media preview week and the second crew on-site during the show's opening week.
"The Chicago Auto Show internship is a continuing example of how Bradley students are beneficiaries of rewarding experiential learning opportunities," said Dr. Ron Koperski, retired professor of communication. "The uniqueness of this experience is rooted in the multi-day, high-energy, cross-platform experiences the students get by working directly with media professionals and automotive manufacturer executives."
With more than 1,000 displays covering 1 million square feet of McCormick Place to monitor, interns hustled to keep in contact with media and to manage social media. The juniors and seniors handled media credentials, published press releases and assisted with press conferences as automakers rolled out new vehicles.
Bradley students also maintained the CAS social media presence. This meant snapping photos, shooting short videos and writing posts for CAS' official blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Vine feeds.
Multitasking under deadline pressure taught Michelle Flores '14 valuable career lessons.
"I think my time management skills will improve greatly," she said. "We attend press conferences, write blogs or press releases, and turn them in to the communications team in about an hour and a half. Once we graduate we will be expected to complete tasks quickly, and I think the Auto Show gave us excellent practice."
Beyond on-the-job training, the internship enabled students to network with industry professionals and connect with Bradley alumni in the Chicago area. Those ties have directly led to eight students finding jobs after graduation.
Erin Guth '14 appreciated both the insider's perspective and the multiple learning opportunities of the week.
"I wanted to help with the behind-the-scenes work because I had been there before and knew what it was like to be a guest," she said. "I was able to network with professions in the communications industry in Chicago, learn about the automobile industry, and use my social media skills in a different way. It was a very rewarding and entertaining experience."


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Tag Archives: solar energy cost
Why We Shouldn't Use Fossil Fuels
Why We Shouldn't Use Fossil Fuels
Question arises Why We Shouldn't Use Fossil Fuels? Most of the Consumers are acquainted with typical energy sources. Power generated by fossil fuels resembling coal, pure gasoline, or petroleum (oil) is extensively used internationally and many worldwide places rely on these finite sources as the primary provide of energy manufacturing. According to the latest report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (2011a), fossil fuels are anticipated to proceed supplying lots of the energy used worldwide, with petroleum based fuels remaining the most important provide of energy.
However, there are essential points with relying on this form of energy. Firstly, fossil fuels shouldn't thought-about a renewable energy. The formation of coal, pure gasoline and oil takes tens of hundreds of thousands to billions of years; consequently these sources might be consumed properly sooner than they're renewed. Experts have urged that the world is in the meanwhile on the height of oil manufacturing, with solely one different forty years of oil reserves on the market and sixty 5 years of gasoline remaining. With inhabitants progress persevering with to rise and the character of monetary progress and consumption, undoubtedly these fossil fuels will become very scarce and eventually unavailable. It is reasonably priced to depend on that as these sources become extra lowered, the value of energy will enhance and it will become a lot much less fairly priced for a lot of people. This is a scary prospect, notably for future generations.
Fossil fueled energy stations are principal emitters of carbon dioxide
Whilst there are very skilled points regarding the future availability of fossil fuels, one different downside is the setting impacts of using fossil fuels for our principle energy provide. Fossil fueled energy stations are principal emitters of carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gasoline thought-about one among many principal contributors to worldwide warming inside the ultimate century. For occasion, the burning of brown coal emits thrice as lots CO2 as pure gasoline, and black coal emits twice as lots CO2 per unit energy generated. Unless new experience might be developed to make energy manufacturing 'greener', legal guidelines to cut back CO2 emission will certainly affect the customer, whether or not or not that's by better prices because of carbon taxes or a limitation to the amount of energy on the market.
The affect of burning fossil fuels on human nicely being may also be a big concern. For occasion, publicity to particulates launched from coal energy crops has been confirmed to increase demise via respiratory and cardiac points (Grahame and Schlesinger, 2007). These particulates irritate small airways inside the lungs, which could lead to elevated points with bronchial bronchial asthma, persistent bronchitis, airway obstruction, and gasoline commerce (Nel, 2005). Uranium, thorium and totally different naturally occurring radioactive isotopes are moreover current in low ranges inside coal. Whilst they're in low concentrations, there's adequate coal being burnt that there is a essential amount of these substances being launched, inflicting radioactive contamination of the setting. Other damaging negative effects of burning coal are the contamination of waterways. Research has confirmed that the coal ash produced by coal-fired energy crops dumped at web sites all through America has consequence within the contamination of ground water with toxic part, along with dangerous poisons resembling arsenic and lead (Schoof, 2010). These poisons are acknowledged to set off bladder, lung and pores and pores and skin cancers. Also, as a direct outcomes of coal-fueled energy plant emissions there are widespread situations of mercury contamination in fish properly above the protected limit for consumption all by American waterways.
Nuclear Power
The use of nuclear energy is a extremely contentious concern. Whilst it is not used as repeatedly as fossil fuels to generate energy it is nonetheless intently relied upon in some elements of the world. Nuclear energy is utilized in thirty worldwide places as a provide of enterprise energy, with sixteen worldwide places counting on nuclear energy for no less than 1 / four of their electrical energy. France is the perfect consumer of nuclear energy, accounting for almost 75 % of their on the market energy. Nuclear energy accounts for one third or further of your entire energy consumed in Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovenia and Ukraine. Countries resembling Japan, Germany and Finland use over 1 / four of their energy from nuclear energy and in America one fifth of energy consumed is from nuclear energy. More detailed knowledge on the worldwide consumption of nuclear energy might be found from the World Nuclear Association (see the reference half).
There are a variety of the reason why society is afraid of nuclear energy. One is that the experience used to generate nuclear energy may even be utilized to the manufacturing of nuclear weapons. With the continued friction between quite a few worldwide places and ongoing civil wars, this could be a principal concern. However, the first anxiousness surrounding nuclear energy is nervous with nuclear waste and the associated radiation. Just about everybody appears to be conversant within the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, by which large parts of radioactive contamination was launched into the setting following an explosion on the Ukrainian Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Many people died or expert illness as a direct outcomes of radiation publicity. Groundwater moreover turned contaminated and regional pure world was moreover negatively impacted. More not too way back, the large earthquake off the coast of Japan in 2011 and its associated tsunami introduced on worldwide alarm that there may be a nuclear meltdown at a variety of of the county's energy crops. Whilst disasters resembling Chernobyl are unusual and threats to the soundness of current nuclear energy crops are uncommon, the possibilities for repeat catastrophes are adequate to point out people away from the utilization of nuclear energy.
In addition to the social points surrounding the utilization of nuclear energy as an affect provide, there's moreover the problem of sustainability. Nuclear energy crops require radioactive supplies to generate energy; that's generally supplied inside the kind of plutonium. Plutonium is created from uranium ore. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (2011b), presently there are nineteen worldwide places all by the world mining uranium ore, with over sixty % generated from mines in Kazakhstan (33 %), Canada (18 %) and Australia (11 %). However, uranium ore is in low concentrations and identical to the fossil fuels talked about beforehand, it is also a non-renewable helpful useful resource.
Renewable Resources
Without question, the world in the meanwhile depends upon non-renewable energy for its energy present. Clearly that's unsustainable. However, there are a selection of renewable sources resembling water (hydro energy, tidal energy and wave energy), geothermal, wind and radiant energy (solar energy) which might be sustainable choices. The method ahead for energy expertise lies in these sources. Each of these energy sources has their benefits and negatives. However, in all probability probably the most helpful to 'frequently' buyers is undoubtedly radiant energy inside the kind of solar energy. Solar energy is extensively accessible, in distinction to totally different renewable sources. Anybody can buy solar panels and with the best arrange, produce their very personal energy present. There has been criticism that no matter the advantages of using radiant energy, the affordability of solar energy is simply not accessible to everyone. However, further not too way back there have been essential developments in DIY solar energy. With the best steering and provides, it is doable for house owners to create and arrange their very personal solar panels with fantastic success. Not solely are people able to generate their very personal electrical energy for his or her homes or corporations, nonetheless in some conditions they'll generate earnings by selling further energy once more to regional energy companies. Solar energy isn't a boutique energy provide; as an alternative it has become a smart consumer different, granting independence and certainty to anyone that selects one of these energy.
Source by Pete A Harris
-- Download Why We Shouldn't Use Fossil Fuels as PDF --
Solar Cell Phone Charger – Discover The Interesting Facts on Having One
Solar Cell Phone Charger – Discover The Interesting Facts on Having One
Solar Cell Phone Charger – Discover The Interesting Facts on Having One ; Charger is especially the unit utilized to cost up your digital dwelling gear. Mobile cellphone may additionally be often known as digital machine and if you wish to start your cellular telephone, then you will have to must value it up for utilization. There are a variety of strategies of charging your cellular telephone, it is attainable you may plug it in your laptop computer once you're at your office all through work, or place it in your dashboard even once you're driving in your car.
No matter how anyone prices it, the following solar battery charger will almost definitely be ready when you need with a view to value your cellphone, digicam, MP3 participant, and totally different units. Charging some cell telephones for about 10 minutes helps you to identify anyone or about three minutes. Whenever you is perhaps out of your office or your property, chances are you'll make solar energy by a sunny window.
Solar cellular telephone charger one in every of many hottest merchandise
Solar cellular telephone charger one in every of many hottest devices of world's solely pocket-sized photovoltaic lighter which can be the lightest and most compact solar charger on this planet. Only weighing about 9 ounces, this foldable charger fits principally in any baggage, be it from laptop computer laptop baggage or backpacks. Not to say that it is extremely efficient enough to value any of your non-public digital units or equipments.
Solar cellular telephone chargers have this profit since they're linked to the solar cell panels; it presents a battery backup for storing solar energy. A Turbo recharge facility that is accessible in such chargers makes certain that the cellphone is simply not impaired or overcharged not like the normal electrical solar battery chargers.
Solar cellular telephone chargers function by altering the solar's energy into electrical energy might be utilized to value your current cellular telephone. The solar cells on the mobile phone charger join with an inside battery which is ready to carry a full charged cellular telephone (typically it comparatively depends upon on the product you have acquired).
Solar cellular telephone chargers have develop into additional widespread since a lot of folks start seeing the value relying on renewable energy. Not solely does it allow you avoid wasting large money on your energy bill, nonetheless it's normally a beautiful energy once more-up once you encounter energy outage and chances are you'll nonetheless be able to use your cellular telephone or any electrical units with out worrying regarding the energy loss.
Solar cellular telephone battery chargers
Solar cellular telephone battery chargers are powered by the use of direct daylight; there is no wish to make use energy. During an emergency, equal to earthquake, blizzard, and hurricane are principally the causes of energy outage, abandoning the residents not having strategies to contact their relations, kinfolk or mates.
Powering even the smallest of apparatus that has a transparent energy provide go an ideal distance in chopping down your carbon presence. Using a solar energy mobile phone charger is just one-step on this particular course. This transportable charger collects energy from the heat of the solar, or by socket which is ready to then retailer that energy in an inside battery.
Solutions such as a result of the solar battery chargers should be accessible for everyone along with easy to buy, no matter the place you is perhaps positioned. This is a extremely commendable strive.
Source by Sallie Obin
-- Download Solar Cell Phone Charger - Discover The Interesting Facts on Having One as PDF --
Solar Powered Battery Chargers and How They Work Today
Solar Powered Battery Chargers and How They Work Today. As the title suggests solar energy chargers depend on solar energy to supply electrical energy . These are used for charging lead acid or Ni-Cd batteries to a most of 48V and 400 Ah functionality and are often movable. Its portability makes it a favourite various amongst of us for use as a battery charger as it might be merely carried to price your automotive wherever it may very well be.
There is a variety of solar powered battery chargers obtainable available in the market proper this second, used for charging quite a few electrical devices like:
- The moveable designs which are popularly used for charging a number of kinds of cellphones, iPods and completely different moveable audio gear. These chargers are associated to your cellular telephone using the help of a USB cable.
- Solar battery chargers used for autos can be found in a fold out model which you merely need to place in your car dashboard, and plug it into the cigar lighter. This means, the charger will maintain topping up the automotive battery, even when the automotive won't be in use.
- Solar battery chargers are moreover current in torches that work with an additional charging mechanism like a kinetic charging system.
How solar battery chargers work
Solar powered battery chargers typically work with the help of intelligent price controllers. Here, a sequence of solar cell array plates are individually put in on a roof prime, and are collectively associated to a battery monetary establishment.
These chargers won't be solely used for recharging capabilities, nevertheless may be associated to the mains present chargers to help save on energy costs in the midst of the day. Now you understand the prepare of a solar battery charger, you may positively shock how these solar chargers actually work at producing electrical energy from daylight.
Basically, free electrons that carry adversarial costs create movement in current. These free electrons are entangled in an orbit surrounding the atom nucleus manufactured from protons and neutrons. This is the fundamental facet that occurs inside the atoms of each half inside the universe.
Silicon is the material utilized in solar cells. In solar panels, these electrons are knocked free from its orbit by the energy current in photons from daylight This photon's potential in disentangling electrons from its orbit is named photoelectric impression.
Positive and adversarial aspect
By together with impurities like Boron and Phosphorus, an imbalance is created between the positively and negatively charged particles in silicon, which in flip helps creates topic. The electrons are pushed in route of the doorway of the solar cell to create a negatively charged aspect whereas the protons are left behind on the other aspect of the cell to create a constructive price.
These two sides are then associated to an exterior load similar to the terminals of a solar battery charger to create electrical energy. As a single solar cell can solely produce about one or two watts of energy, quite a lot of cells are combined in a solar charger to provide enough energy to price a battery.
Source by Guy Starbuck
-- Download Solar Powered Battery Chargers and How They Work Today as PDF --
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Wind Energy
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Wind Energy : Following para would throw mild upon benefits of wind energy whereas subsequent and entailing paragraphs would clarify the disadvantages of wind energy.
1.Wind energy is a transparent gasoline provide because it's fueled by the wind.It doesn't pollute the earth like energy vegetation,which rely on combustion of coal or pure gasoline.Another good issue is that wind turbine would not produce atmospheric emissions that set off greenhouse affect and acid rain.
2.Wind energy is also used in USA because of this of of the appreciable wind present throughout the nation.
three.Wind energy cannot be used up.It is dependent upon the renewable energy of the wind.Wind is certainly attributable to the rotation of the earth,the earth's flooring irregularities, and heating of the ambiance by the solar.Thus we'll say that wind is a kind of solar energy.
four.Wind energy is an reasonably priced renewable energy provide.For every kilowatt-hour produced by wind energy,the related payment is nearly four to six cents.The worth depends upon upon the endeavor financing and the wind provide.
5.Wind turbines benefits the agricultural areas on which they're constructed.Wind turbines are always constructed on farms or ranches, the place most of one of the perfect wind web sites are found.This would not set off any problem to the farmers and ranches because of this of the wind turbines solely use a fraction of the land.They can proceed to work there and get lease payment by the power plant householders.
1.Wind energy ought to compete with commonplace know-how sources on a worth basis. Depending on how energetic a wind web site is, the wind farm would possibly or might be not worth aggressive. Although the setup worth of wind power vegetation have been decreased a lot so far 10 years, it nonetheless requires the subsequent funding than fossil-fueled mills.
2.The essential drawback to using wind as a provide of energy is that the wind is intermittent and it would not always blow when electrical energy is required. Not all winds may very well be harnessed to satisfy the timing of electrical energy requires.
three.Good wind web sites are always positioned in distant areas that are faraway from cities the place energy is required.This will improve the related payment for energy change.
four.Wind helpful useful resource development would possibly compete with totally different makes use of for the land and these totally different makes use of is also further extraordinarily valued than electrical energy know-how.
5.Although wind power vegetation set off a lot much less environmental downside than totally different commonplace energy vegetation, there's some concern over the noise produced by the rotor blades, aesthetic (seen) impacts, and usually birds have been killed by flying into the rotors.
Source by Darren T Chow
-- Download The Advantages and Disadvantages of Wind Energy as PDF --
Solar Energy utilization for Eradicating Salt from Water
As time passes, solar energy is turning into a extra economical and versatile vitality provide. One area the place it is getting used with little fanfare is desalination of water. On this write-up we have to focus on solar energy utilization for Eradicating Salt from Water
Eradicating Salt from Water Using Photo Solar Energy
It is considerably ironic that the majority of our planet is roofed in water, nevertheless tens of hundreds of thousands of people are in areas affected by water shortages. The character of the irony is clear almost immediately. The oceans of the world embrace salt water, a mix we merely cannot drink. Why can't we undertake solar energy know-how for removing of salt from the water in order that the water may very well be made drinkable.
For the longest time, there was dialogue about altering saltwater into usable, drinkable water. This course of is known as desalination. If the tactic will be utilized on an enormous scale in a value environment friendly technique, it could resolve a lot of the water factors on the planet as we communicate whether or not or not they exist in third or first world nations.
Desalination is a time interval used for eradicating salt and minerals from ocean water. The title suggests one methodology, nevertheless there are actually many. Reverse osmosis is presently the popular and is definitely a filtration course of. It is well-liked in nations that presently have desalination crops corresponding to those found inside the Mideast and Caribbean. The strategy will also be gaining additional curiosity in China and the US the place certain areas are struggling recurring water shortages.
One in every of many factors that provide you with desalination is the facility worth. Most crops are powered by fossil fuels, although Russia is presently discovering out a plant run off nuclear energy. With world warming and energy worth concerns on the forefront, many are literally looking for to renewable energy platforms as an energy provide for these crops. Solar energy is no doubt one of many decisions.
Solar Energy desalination crops do not work in one of the best ways you may assume. Solar energy simply is not used to provide vitality to the desalination course of, although it almost definitely might probably be. In its place, the power of the photo voltaic is constructed into the system. The thought is to heat saltwater and swap it proper right into a vapor. The vapor is then run by a condenser system that turns it once more into liquid water.
Solar Energy desalination applications work in any other case, nevertheless the idea is to separate the water from salt by using the pure system one finds inside the oceans. As you probably know, water evaporates off of the ocean to sort clouds inside the atmosphere. When the right conditions occur, these clouds subsequently flip into rain clouds and launch the saltless water. Solar energy desalination tries to mimic the tactic.
The double concern of rising energy prices and world warming are stimulating evaluation inside the renewable energy self-discipline. Solar Energy desalination represents just one area the place this evaluation is producing tangible benefits.
Source by Richard Chapo
-- Download Solar Energy utilization for Eradicating Salt from Water as PDF --
Photovoltaic Energy Advantages Disadvantages
Many individuals know that Photovoltaic energy is an environment friendly issue, nevertheless few truly understand why. Subsequently, I compiled document of photovoltaic energy advantages and disadvantages that mean you can make an knowledgeable willpower whether or not appropriate for YOU
Photovoltaic Energy Advantages
1. Saves you money
- After the preliminary funding has been recovered, the ability from the photo voltaic is nearly FREE.
- The restoration/ payback interval for this funding may very well be very temporary counting on how so much electrical vitality your loved ones makes use of.
- Financial incentives could be discovered form the federal authorities that may cut back your worth.
- In case your system produce additional energy than you utilize, your utility agency can purchase it from you, enhance a credit score rating in your account! That's known as web metering.
- It's going to forestall money in your electrical vitality bill if in case you could have one the least bit.
- Photovoltaic energy does not require any gasoline.
- It is not affected by the supply and demand of gasoline and is because of this truth not subjected to the ever-increasing worth of gasoline.
- The monetary financial savings are on the spot and for a number of years to return again.
- The utilization of Photovoltaic energy circuitously reduces effectively being costs.
2. Environmentally nice
- Photovoltaic Energy is evident, renewable (in distinction to gasoline, oil and coal) and sustainable, serving to to protect the surroundings.
- It does not pollute our air by releasing carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, sulphur dioxide or mercury into the ambiance like many typical varieties of electrical generations does.
- Subsequently Photovoltaic Energy does not contribute to world warming, acid rain or smog.
- It actively contributes to the decrease of harmful inexperienced house gasoline emissions.
- It's generated the place it is wished.
- By not using any gasoline, Photovoltaic Energy does not contribute to the related payment and problems with the restoration and transportation of gasoline or the storage of radioactive waste.
three. Unbiased/ semi-independent
- Photovoltaic Energy may very well be utilized to offset utility-supplied energy consumption. It does not solely cut back your electrical vitality bill, nevertheless might even proceed to supply your non-public house/ enterprise with electrical vitality inside the event of an affect outage.
- A Photovoltaic Energy system can operate fully neutral, not requiring a connection to an affect or gasoline grid the least bit. Strategies can as a consequence of this truth be put in in distant areas (like trip log cabins), making it additional smart and cost-effective than the supply of utility electrical vitality to a model new web site.
- The utilization of Photovoltaic Energy reduces our dependence on abroad and/or centralized sources of energy, influenced by pure disasters or worldwide events and so contributes to a sustainable future.
- Photovoltaic Energy helps native job and wealth creation, fuelling native economies.
4. Low/ no repairs
- Photovoltaic Energy strategies are nearly repairs free and may last for a few years.
- As quickly as put in, there are no recurring costs.
- They operate silently, haven't any transferring elements, do not launch offensive smells and do not require you in order so as to add any gasoline.
- Further Photovoltaic panels can merely be added ultimately when your family members's needs develop.
Photovoltaic Energy Disadvantages
- The preliminary worth is the first downside of placing in a Photovoltaic energy system, largely because of the extreme worth of the semi-conducting provides utilized in establishing one.
- The value of picture voltaic energy could be extreme compared with non-renewable utility-supplied electrical vitality. As energy shortages have gotten additional frequent, Photovoltaic energy is becoming additional price-competitive.
- Photovoltaic panels require pretty an enormous house for set as much as understand diploma of effectivity.
- The effectivity of the system moreover relies on the position of the photovoltaic, although this downside may very well be overcome with the arrange of positive components.
- The manufacturing of picture voltaic energy is influenced by the presence of clouds or air air pollution inside the air.
- Equally, no photovoltaic energy will most likely be produced all through nighttime although a battery backup system and/or web metering will treatment this downside. See //www.dsireusa.org for particulars on how web metering allows you to save electrical vitality and money.
- As far as picture voltaic powered automobiles go – their slower tempo will not attraction to everyone caught up in instantly's rat race.
-- Download Photovoltaic Energy Advantages Disadvantages as PDF --


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The Patriots pulled out a 29-26 overtime victory over the Jets, putting them in sole possession of first place in the AFC East as the NFL midpoint nears.
FOXBORO — For once, they didn't blow it.
But boy, they almost did.
The New England Patriots pulled out a 29-26 overtime victory over the New York Jets, putting the Pats in sole possession of first place in the AFC East as the NFL midpoint nears. At 4-3 (and 2-1 in the division), they've finally found some breathing room in the standings, even if they still lack the ability to put teams away late in games.
"It was nice to pull out a close one," Tom Brady said. "It was not our best day of execution."
But at least it wasn't an execution.
After losing three games this season by a combined total of four points, questions began to arise as to whether or not the Patriots still had the "killer instinct" to remain amongst the NFL elite. They were no longer the team that opponents feared down the stretch in close games, despite having one of the best quarterbacks on the planet and the ability to run a hurry-up offense that seemingly works at hyper speed.
The Jets knew this going in, and played with a fearlessness that showed that they, and perhaps the rest of the AFC East, think the Patriots are ripe for the picking and that the division crown is anybody's to win. And although the Pats came out on top, it hardly felt like a clarion call that they'll be riding the top of the division from here on out.
"There's a lot of football to be played. I don't think anybody clinched anything today, I don't think anybody got eliminated today," Pats head coach Bill Belichick said.
Still, with the entire AFC East deadlocked at 3-3 going into Sunday's games, a win would feel like a big step closer to clinching, and a loss would surely have felt pretty darn close to an elimination. There's a lot of momentum that could possibly be swinging in favor of the winners, even if the Patriots didn't finish off the Jets as much as they simply outlasted them.
In a game that was nip-and-tuck throughout, the Patriots finally opened up a decent lead when Rob Gronkowski's second touchdown grab of the day, a 2-yard catch, made it 23-13 New England with 2:39 left in the third quarter. But in the fourth, Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez hooked up with tight end Dustin Keller for a 7-yard touchdown, followed by a 43-yard field goal by Nick Folk, to cut New England's lead to 23-20 with 5:44 to play.
The Patriots' next drive was an exercise in futility. Starting off with an offensive pass interference call against receiver Brandon Lloyd, the Pats were met with a chorus of boos from the Gillette Stadium faithful as they then went three-and-out to hand the ball back to the Jets with 4:31 left on the clock. New York took advantage with a 21-yard catch by Keller and a 13-yard run by Joe McKnight to as close as the New England 25-yard line, and Folk hit another 43-yarder to tie the score with 2:06 remaining.
That gave the Patriots the ball back with just over two minutes to go and three timeouts, plus the two-minute warning, to work with. In the past, this would be the time the Patriots put their collective foot on the throat of the opposition. Brady would lead the offense down to the end zone and win the game in spectacular fashion. His legendary late-game drives have become as much a part of New England culture as potholes, Nor'easters and Dunkin' Donuts.
But he didn't get the chance, at least not yet.
Devin McCourty fumbled the kickoff return — a damper on a day that saw him run back a kickoff 104 yards for the Patriots' first touchdown of the game, the second-longest kickoff score in team history — and the Jets made him pay for it with 1:42 to go when another 43-yard kick by Folk made it 26-23 Jets.
On the Pats' final possession of regulation, Brady completed passes of 15 and 12 yards to Gronkowski and 20 yards to Danny Woodhead to get New England down to the New York 32-yard line, but an attempt to go end zone with Lloyd fell incomplete and the Patriots needed Stephen Gostkowski to kick a 43-yarder of his own to put the game into overtime.
Gostkowski then hit a 48-yarder in OT to give New England the 29-26 lead, and the Jets kept it interesting until Jermaine Cunningham and Rob Ninkovich sacked Sanchez on second down, with Ninkovich forcing a fumble and then picking it up himself, to secure the win.
It was a strange dichotomy, to watch the offense do just enough and the defense come up with the big play to win the game, after it had been the other way around for so many years in New England. New England could always make up for its defensive deficiencies during the past couple of seasons because its offense would always bail them out.
What's funny is that even as the Patriots have failed to put opponents away down the stretch, especially as the offense has floundered, Brady and his cohorts are still on pace for some record-breaking numbers this season.
They've registered 203 first downs so far — an average of 29 per game — and are on pace to finish with 464, well over the record of 416 set by New Orleans last year. They're also likely to break the franchise mark of 6,848 total net yards on the season (they've already got 3,053 through the first seven games), which they set last year and is fourth in NFL history. They've already tied the 1999-2000 St. Louis Rams for the most consecutive games with 350 or more yards (16), after turning in 381 yards of offense against the Jets.
So how can a team put up such eye-popping offense while still losing games, and losing them so closely? When they've won, they've won by double digits, but blowing out teams in the regular season will serve no purpose if they can't start winning more of the squeakers. The playoffs are more likely to feature the latter rather than the former; that's assuming, of course, that the Patriots keep improving enough to make the postseason.
"I think we've improved every week. I think other teams are improving, (and) they should be," Belichick said. "Everybody's getting better. We've just got to get better faster than our opponents are getting better."
"It's not like in the seventh week of the year, you have all the answers. You never really have all the answers," Brady said. "There's only one team that's really happy at the end of the year, and I think it's a building process and playing your best football at the most important times."
It's still only October, and the commonly held belief is that in the NFL things get serious after Thanksgiving. That's when you'll really know if your team has what it takes to compete for a Super Bowl or not.
But a continued inability to finish off teams is a real concern, especially if the AFC East remains as close as it has been through the first seven weeks of the season. If that's the case, than the most important times, of which Brady spoke, are already upon the Patriots.
Tim Weisberg covers the New England Patriots for The Standard-Times. Contact him at email@example.com


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New York, NY -- July 10, 2013 -- The attractions industry is a significant driver of the United States economy. Based on research sponsored by the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions Foundation and conducted by Tourism Economics, an Oxford Economics company, the U.S. attractions industry generated a total economic impact of nearly $219 billion in 2011.
Attractions generate a ripple effect of economic activity, including direct industry sales ($34 billion), capital expenditures ($5 billion), and the ancillary spending of out-of-town visitors at local establishments outside the attraction, such as hotels, restaurants, and retailers ($52 billion). A full measurement of the impact of the attractions industry also includes indirect and induced impacts ($127 billion) through the supply chain and the spending of attractions generated incomes.
The attractions industry grew at nearly twice the rate of the overall U.S. economy from 2004to 2011. In 2004, the attractions industry generated a total economic impact of $146 billion. Over seven years, the impact of attractions in the US grew 50% with an average growth rate of 6% per annum. The attractions industry's nationwide economic impact of nearly $219 billion in 2011 included $91 billion in direct impacts [1-see notations] and $127 billion in indirect and induced impacts. This total economic impact of $219 billion included nearly $67 billion in total labor income, supporting more than 2.3 million total jobs [2-see notations]. Amusement and theme parks (including water parks) had the largest impact, generating $122 billion in total economic activity, including $40 billion in total labor income and 1.3 million total jobs. Museums and family entertainment centers (including amusement arcades, bowling centers, ice/roller skating rinks, miniature golf courses, coin-operated amusements and concession operators of amusement rides) generated economic impacts of $37 billion and $32 billion, respectively.
In addition to the economic impacts, the attractions industry also generated significant fiscal (tax) impacts at the federal and local and state levels. In 2011, the industry generated more than $22 billion in federal taxes and nearly $19 billion in state and local taxes. Amusement/theme parks (including waterparks) generated more than $12 billion in federal taxes and nearly $11 billion in state and local taxes.
At the state level, the attractions industry generated an impact of nearly $48 billion in Florida, including $14 billion in total labor income, supporting nearly 489,000 total jobs. Fiscal impacts in Florida approached $5 billion in federal taxes and more than $4 billion in state and local taxes. California ranked second, with a total economic impact of more than $38 billion, including $11 billion in total labor income and nearly 358,000 total jobs.
1. Direct impacts include attractions' sales, annual capital expenditures, and ancillary spending by attractions' patrons.
2. Jobs include seasonal employment and are expressed as part-time and full-time jobs.
Summary Economic Impacts of the U.S. Attractions Industry, by Subsector, 2011 ($ Millions & Total Jobs)
Summary Fiscal (Tax) Impacts of the U.S. Attractions Industry, by Subsector, 2011 ($ Millions)
Top 10 Statewide Impacts Attributable to the Attractions Industry, 2011 ($ Millions)
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Sentient beings thrive on challenge, and require it in order to grow, live long, and prosper.
Some sentient beings on this board bit off more than they could chew when they decided that they wanted to make canelés, the small cakes that originated in the city of Bordeaux, France. Biting into the project was simple; all it required was some form of mold (preferably copper) and a willingness to bake. Chewing involved juggling a complex equation with questionable roots. Added to the equation was the fact that some of these beings (e.g. me) had never before seen or tasted a canelé, so even if they found what they were looking for, they were unable to recognize it!
Much progress has been made, but the search continues. The search thus far has been documented in two prior threads; this is a continuation, with a brief intro to the principal players. The last thread may be found at:
This search would have been in vain were it not for a Starship captain, Pilinut, who can be encountered on her ship, mumbling under her breath, "Five grams of flour more", or, "Out, out, damned wax", among other things. In her quest she has been known to deprive loved ones of an ingredient called moo juice, which is vital to her baking. She has met with much success in her quest.
Assisting the captain is the very able first officer, Trewq. To date she is the only crew member who has achieved perfection in canelé baking. Our fervent hope is that she does not abandon us, so she is being treated with much respect, and handled with kid gloves.
The next baker is Souschef, Chief Engineer, me. I have had some successes and some spectacular failures.
Hopefully soon to join the ranks will be Consultant Cynsa. Devoid of an oven, she relies on her mother to provide heat to cook her nourishment. Her last excuse to not participate will be removed within 48 hours.
We are waiting for Buttertart, Visiting Vulcan Dignitary and Collector of Tomes, to roll up her formidable baking sleeves, and join in the search. Her passion for baking (and tomes) knows no bounds.
Caroline1, our counsellor, has not been heard from in a while. It is rumoured that she is on the Holodeck, exposing herself to art by contemplating the statues in the fountains of Rome.
Chef Chicklet has returned, to the relief of one and all. Her role is as yet undetermined, but she receives an honourable mention as personal thanks in the Chief Engineer's personal log.
Putting in an appearance recently is 'miss Louella', who has been caught up in the mystique and hopes to begin baking after acquiring objects even more elusive than the Beast at Tenagra, i.e. previously-enjoyed canelé molds.
Caitlin McGrath, who is taking a pragmatic approach, and is not having any of this until all the nitty gritties have been worked out. Accordingly, she has been assigned quarters on the wings of the starship.


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Doc's Kid to Duke: Austin Rivers CommitsPosted by rtmsf on September 30th, 2010
Big news on the recruiting front today, as the nation's top player in the Class of 2011 according to Rivals.com has committed to Duke. Austin Rivers, a 6'4 whirlwhind of a point guard and the son of Boston Celtics head coach Doc, made his decision on Wednesday night and informed coaches Bill Self and Roy Williams at his other two finalists, Kansas and UNC, this morning. Rivers cancelled on-campus official visits with both schools, as UNC was set to welcome him with open arms this coming weekend and Kansas was scheduled for later in October. If Rivers' ranking holds through his senior season, he will be the first top overall recruit that Duke has inked since 2005 (Josh McRoberts) — let's hope for Rivers' sake that he turns out a little better in a Blue Devil uniform than McBob did.
It was an open secret that Coach K was considered the favorite to land Rivers, as he regularly was spotted sporting Duke gear in the last year or so (the above photo may or may not be real). Krzyzewski certainly has plenty of success to hang his hat on, but we wonder if his "coolness" factor has translated better with the younger generation of recruits since he took on the reins as the head coach for the US National Team. For better or worse, 16- and 17-year old basketball players are going to be more impressed by stories about coaching LeBron James and Kevin Durant in the Olympics than they are about seemingly-ancient tales regarding Christian Laettner and Grant Hill. Rivers originally committed to home school Florida as a high school freshman when the Gators were still awash in the glow of back-to-back titles, but he re-opened his recruitment a year later and says that he fell in love with Duke during a visit there last fall.
Coach K's greatest teams always have elite point guards, from Tommy Amaker in the 80s to Bobby Hurley in the early 90s to Jason Williams a decade ago. While last year's national champion Blue Devils assuredly had stellar point guard play from senior Jon Scheyer, he wasn't the caliber of player of the others on this list. This year's incoming lead guard, Kyrie Irving, and presumably next year's (Rivers), most certainly are. In 1991, Duke won the national title somewhat accidentally; UNLV was far and away the best team (34-0 and defending champs), but the Devils caught the Runnin' Rebs on the right night and ultimately cut down the nets "a year early." Their 1992 team was the dominant one, and it's entirely possible that we could be looking at a similar situation for Coach K in 2011 and 2012. So long as the Plumlees and Ryan Kelly can maintain the paint on defense and the boards, the next two years of Duke backcourts with Irving/Rivers, Nolan Smith (2011), Seth Curry and Andre Dawkins looks phenomenal. Just imagine if Coach K can convince Irving that two seasons in Durham is a good thing — the 2011-12 backcourt of he and Rivers could be one of the most talented the game has ever seen.
Uber-recruiters Thad Matta, John Calipari, Roy Williams, Billy Donovan, Bill Self and others should be on notice — Coach K never really left the recruiting circuit, but with Irving and now Rivers coming to Durham, the 63-year old coach has once again served notice that he will continue to be reckoned with.


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Saudi Arabia's official news agency says King Abdullah's cabinet has approved the kingdom's largest ever annual budget, projecting revenues of 829 billion rials, or $221 billion, for 2013 and 820 billion rials, or $219 billion of expenditure.
The budget foresees a $2.4 billion surplus.
The Cabinet meeting Saturday reported that revenues in 2012 amounted to $330 billion with $227 billion expenditure, leaving a $103 billion surplus. That surplus was due to the government's calculating oil prices at $70 per barrel, while the actual price stood at around $100 per barrel.
The 2013 allocation for education has risen by 21 percent to $54.3 billion. The budget includes $26.6 billion for health and social affairs services and $9 billion for municipality services.


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Plaque showing the development of a human embryo, Europe, 1801-1830
The plaque shows the development of the human embryo in seven stages, from shortly after conception to a well developed foetus in the uterus.
Object number:
A600051 Pt7
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Glossary: pregnancy
The condition of having a developing unborn embryo or foetus in the body. A human pregnancy is usually of 40 weeks gestation.
Glossary: obstetrics
A branch of medicine dealing with the care of women. This care occurs during pregnancy, childbirth, and the period of recovery from childbirth.
Glossary: plaque
An ornamental tablet of metal, porcelain etc that depicts a person, scene or inscription. Often fixed to a building in commemoration of a person or notable historical occurence.
Glossary: embryo
An animal or human at an early stage of development, before birth. In humans the term refers to an unborn child up to the eighth week of development.


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Several years ago, unable to quash the Taliban with bullets alone, military brass figured they'd try a different approach, one that would bolster the agrarian roots of the desperately poor in southern Afghanistan.
That's how, in 2010, the Agriculture Development Team One – a joint Air Force/National Guard counter insurgency effort – came to be surrounded by the chaotic ruckus kicked up by thousands and thousands of sheep and goats. Word had spread like wildfire through the mountainous desolation: the Americans would vaccinate and treat herds. The hand-to-mouth populace latched onto the golden opportunity and the team worked for days on the animals.
In the year-plus the team spent in Afghanistan's dangerous Zabul Province it was a scene that would repeat itself many times.
The team, largely composed of Mid-South men, arrived in Afghanistan in February of 2010. A troop surge was ongoing and it was early March before they reached their base, which proved to be nothing except a bare patch of ground a bit over 7,000 feet in elevation. Tents were pitched, generators brought in, everything built from scratch.
Some 50 miles from the notorious Pakistan border, the base was in a historical area. About a mile away sat a castle built for Alexander the Great – certainly nice, but small consolation weighed against the near-constant threat of violence.
The team
David Paul Hafer is a young east Arkansan raised in a farming family south of Helena. He was even younger when, after earning a degree in agricultural business and farming for a few years, the events of 9/11 spurred him to join the National Guard. He rented the farmland out and was sent to Iraq in 2008. When he returned home, Hafer joined the agriculture team bound for Afghanistan in 2010.
Also on the team was Addison Taylor, who'd been raised on an Arkansas rice farm in Jefferson County's Altheimer. Taylor was managing the family farm when, he says, "We were notified about the deployment at the end of October and would start training on our mission in November for departure in January. We had short notice to get our affairs in order."
The team consisted of "guys who came from all sorts of agricultural backgrounds: agronomy, animal science, poultry, whatever," says Hafer. Prior to leaving, "we went through an intense, week-long training program with the University of Arkansas Extension Service. It was saturation sessions, getting everyone up to speed on whatever field they'd be covering once we were in-country."
Once there, Hafer and colleagues spoke with "Special Operation guys. 'Here's who we are, here's what we're doing.' They were very happy to see us because they didn't have enough to offer the (locals). They needed to build up some goodwill. They'd walk into a village and the residents would say 'okay, now what?'
"Once our team hit the ground, though, they were able to tell the villagers 'we're the Special Forces. Plus, we have these guys who are going to help you with your farming. If you have any problems, visit with them and they'll help you fix it.'"
Strategic planning and assessments of terrain and local populations followed. "None of it was anything like we'd previously planned or trained for," says Taylor. Locals were illiterate and "none of the people knew what was even on the other side of the river from them. At the same time, we were being pulled in many directions by all of the units in the battle space, from U.S. Special Operation guys to the Romanian Army."
Hafer found unexpected benefits from having sweated with the Extension Service during summers while attending the University of Arkansas. Asked to put together projects to help educate Afghan farmers, he drew on that work.
"I was asked to build a couple of model farms while in Afghanistan. These were demonstration farms – one in the south part of the province we were in, one in the north.
"I tried to pull everything the university does – sort of cobbling together all the verification projects and the like – and put it on one little farm to show the Afghans. We had everything from grapes to wheat to chickens."
Then, the team planned to put together an education center on the demonstration farms, a place where Afghan farmers could receive up-to-date farming advice. "We envisioned it as kind of what we do with Extension agents in the States."
Optimism was high but difficulties abounded.
"It was tough because the education system there is not comparable to the West," says Hafer. "A college degree earned there is probably equivalent to a ninth-grade or high-school education here. That's a great divide to overcome.
"Things were tough for multiple reasons. One, the security where we were at was lacking. If we weren't in the most dangerous place in the country, it was second-most. That meant getting Afghan 'Extension agents' to work with us was a feat in itself, never mind matching up educational requirements we knew were needed."
Along with one of the Air Force personnel, Hafer and Taylor decided that in addition to the demonstration farms they'd put together a series of agricultural seminars.
"We developed a plan to go to as many of the 13 districts that we could to get the Afghan government officials out there," says Taylor. "We came up with the idea from the medical seminars that the Special Forces guys did to teach the locals. We took the idea and made it fit for agriculture … and it lasted the rest of the tour. We would go and do a recon of the area and speak to the locals in a town hall-type setting, called a 'Shurra,' about three weeks before we would have the seminars."
Suicide bomb threats weren't uncommon and, Taylor says, more than once "some of the locals we were working with got kidnapped. It was bad for the Taliban to have the Afghan government helping the locals and we met resistance at many of the events -- both attacks on us and the Afghans."
At one point, team members traveled to the university in Kabul and spoke with professors and Extension agents. "We said 'we'll send Chinook helicopters to pick you up and we'll fly you wherever we need to go in the province,'" says Hafer.
Whenever possible, the idea was to put an Afghan face on the team's efforts, allow the Afghans any glory. Every district in the province has a center where elders and tribal chiefs hold court. Those are where the team put on two- and three-day seminars and pushed the leaders to the front.
Presentations were provided on all sorts of crops. "Maybe we'd have an expert on pomegranates, which is a major crop there. If a farmer came in and was having trouble, hopefully the lecture would help him. Then, they'd sidebar after the lecture and get advice about their specific situation."
Hafer found the lack of roads and isolation of Afghan village life hard to comprehend. The agricultural seminars were a simple way to bring villages together. "Honestly, some of these folks could see another village in the distance. But for their entire lives they'd not travel over and meet them -- live and die and never even know who their neighbors are.
"Things are very primitive. These villages are out in the middle of nowhere. One village we walked into, the people thought we were Russians."
Navigating bureaucracy
Navigating entrenched Afghan bureaucracy was also a struggle for the team. Two men they quickly learned to keep happy: the DAIL (Director of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock) at the provincial level, and the MAIL (Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock), Afghanistan's top agricultural official.
"We had to run everything through these guys. If you tried to do something without going through the right channels, you'd shoot yourself in the foot. They'd sandbag you and corruption is rampant. It's incredibly corrupt over there. It took us a while to find people we could work with."
Still, the team's work progressed.
"Towards the summer, we were hitting the agricultural seminars heavy. And if a farmer stayed through the whole seminar, we'd give them X amount of vaccinations, tools, all kinds of things they'd never have been able to afford on their own."
It was a bit of dilemma deciding what sort of aid to provide the Afghans. "Some of the humanitarian organizations would give a tractor or generators and other types of modern equipment," says Taylor. "That wasn't a good idea. If you gave them something like a tractor, it would break down and they have no part stores to fix it and had no education of how to even start. It also would cause problems by creating a welfare type dependency – 'why buy it or build it, when the Americans will give it to us.' It also showed favoritism and made locals targets for the Taliban when we left."
The team decided to provide locals with tools. Doing so meant "we could educate them on the proper and best uses of the tools, like back pack sprayers and vet supplies," says Taylor.
Wheat was a large focus of Hafer's. "The seasons in Afghanistan are like ours – they also plant wheat in the fall. In that respect, we didn't have to do any work-arounds. Of course, there were other crops we weren't as familiar with like pomegranates and almonds."
It became readily apparent that the Afghan's crop genetics were poor.
"They don't know to keep the best seed to replant and eat the poorer seed. They did the complete opposite. They'd eat the best wheat and plant the garbage. This had been in practice for so long that the genetics were very bad.
"We went searching for a new wheat variety that would fit their needs. They have a bad rust problem and in order to deal with it, we had a variety flown in and established a wheat distribution program. If we couldn't truck the variety to villages, we'd put it in helicopters and fly it to them."
At the same time, the team educated the villagers on the importance of proper wheat farming. "They typically planted wheat and barley together and wondered why the two weren't performing. Well, one crop was competing with the other. They accepted that sort of advice."
But some things the Afghans wouldn't change. An example, says Hafer, was simply to trellis grapes.
"They wouldn't trellis, period. Grapes there are grown on long earth mounds, draped over them.
"We talked a farmer into allowing us to take a small spot of his grapes. We cut the mound out from under them and put them on a trellis. By the end of the season, those grapes looked three times better than the rest."
It didn't matter.
"They told us 'we put in so much work on the mounds, we're going to keep doing it that way.' Those are the situations where you just shrug and move on."
Meanwhile, the Afghan's irrigation methods were "very, very efficient" – a good thing after a decade-long drought.
"They make use of a system that is thousands of years old that incorporates 'karezes.' That's a series of vertical shafts in a row that usually start next to a mountain or on a mountainside. Believe or not, one guy goes into those shafts and they dig a horizontal shaft beneath the vertical shafts all the way to end. Water then collects in those shafts – usually associated with a spring."
Cisterns are also built up. In a village there is usually a central irrigation system. From that, there will be five or six canals connected. All day long, men sit at the central hub timing the water flow.
"Every family receives a certain amount of water for their orchard or whatever through one of the canals. When their time of running water is over, they pack the canal with mud and break open the barrier to another canal so that family can get their share.
"It's amazing. I'd almost swear they can make water run uphill. Water was so precious and they wasted none."
Harvest and soil tests
Wheat was harvested using small hand sickles. Afghan farmers use everything from the plant, cut at dirt-level. The straw is almost as valuable as the wheat itself, used to "feed animals, make beds, whatever.
"They usually have a thrasher pulled by a tractor. Once a village has harvested its wheat, the thrasher will come through and charge everyone a certain amount per bushel. They take the wheat by hand and throw it in the thrasher. The thrashed wheat is piled up on the ground, it's bagged and put on donkeys and off they go."
Hafer was surprised at the number of tractors the villagers have. Many of the villages are so poor that the tractor is community-owned.
"They'll take the tractor and work the land up, plant the wheat and then water it like we do rice. They have a tool that looks kind of like a snow shovel with a rope on the end. One guy pulls the rope and that's how they make levees. They reform the levees once the field is worked up and then plant the wheat by hand.
"We tried to help them understand why yields were so bad. You could walk fields and see big wads of seed in spots with very little around it. But that was another thing we couldn't come to a middle ground on.
"Then, once the seed is out, they flash flood the field. The water is dropped off and that's how the wheat seed is germinated. They do it that way because it never rains – it rained twice while we were there."
As for soil tests, Hafer backpacked a mobile soil test kit everywhere. Anytime he traveled to a new village and got the elders' permission, "I'd go out and test fields or orchards right on the spot. Fertility was awful nearly everywhere – zero nitrogen, very low potash and phosphorous.
"I hated to categorize these villages in terms of strategic importance, but that was how things were set up. If a village was ranked high, I'd call and have the DAIL send in X amount of fertilizer and other necessities."
Sometimes that fertilizer was trucked, other time flown in. The chances of a convoy being hit by a road-side bomb were so high, "you never knew if inputs being trucked in would make it. It was a crap shoot. But eventually we'd show the villagers how to put out the fertilizers."
Demonstration farms
America is a go-go nation and citizens have been conditioned to expect quick results. Often to the team's frustration, that wasn't the case in Afghanistan.
"Over there, they want to talk about things, go slow. And they don't just want to talk once, but five or six times. It can take months to get anything done."
The demonstration farm in the south was set up in a nursery that had been started years earlier by a non-governmental organization.
"When their money ran out, they walked off and left it. I went in to set the farm up and lived with the Romanian infantry. We had a tractor, worked the land into shape and put a fence all around it. A building was renovated and we used it to hold classes and provide office space for the area Extension agent.
"There was also a school there, which was so important. The boys and girls were educated separately."
The whole set-up was vital for the area. Besides learning to read and write, the children were also taught to farm.
"There is a big gap in the generation of Afghans due to the decades of war there. They've lost a lot of the fundamental knowledge about farming to violence."
And, slowly, the team saw the tide turning; saw their efforts beginning to pay off. "Once the people saw we were there to help them and make this work, we were accepted and appreciated. Hordes of people would show up."
When the team left, the southern demonstration farm was operational. The northern farm was in the beginning stages and will be much larger with areas for pasture management, alternative and drought-resistant grasses.
Despite barely escaping some "hairy situations," Hafer came to admire the Afghans. He says they are "toughest people I've ever seen. You could see it in their eyes. They are incredibly resilient.
"We'd be 10,000 feet up a mountain, shivering in the freezing cold and barely able to stand it with all this special clothing on. The locals would be standing outside in sandals, without coats, smoking cigarettes. We'd just shake our heads and think 'How on earth is that possible?'"
Hafer has shaken hands with the Taliban. "They typically dress better than the locals, look healthier, and are usually bigger. You could tell they wanted to do us in, and would have if they could get around all our guns. They knew we'd smoke their heads."
The team also worked with many Mujahedeen fighters that took on the Soviets in the 1980s. One, Rosie Mohammed, had a great-great-grandfather who was a king.
Rosie, says Hafer, "had the stroke and had been one of the bigwigs when they were fighting the Russians. It was gentlemen like Rosie that had stepped up to the Taliban and said 'we're sick of this. You won't let our kids go to school. You've held us down and we're tired of being stupid. You've had your chance and now we're going to work with the Americans.'
"And Rosie's village drove the Taliban out. It can be done.
"The mission we were on was so important because the whole country revolves around agriculture. And it's not over -- the mission is ongoing and we need to support it."
The original agriculture team was replaced by a second from Arkansas: AR ADT 02.
"We were glad to see their faces after the long year and tried to set them up for success … so they could continue to execute the missions that worked," says Taylor. "We didn't want them wasting time trying to do things that others back home had told them worked. ... We helped shape the way that the Coalition forces approached the winning of hearts and minds and really helped (the Afghans) build up agriculture, something that would last long after we were gone."
Gin Show/Whole-farm management
Following their work in Afghanistan, the agriculture team returned home in February of 2011 and integrated back into regular life for a couple of months.
Since then, Hafer has been working with fellow team-member and Arkansan, Addison Taylor.
Addison's mother, an estate planning and agriculture attorney in Fayetteville (who is also the daughter and wife of cotton farmers), "had been toying with the idea of putting together a company that would cover the whole farm management picture," explains Hafer. "Some companies do only certain aspects of farm management. She wanted to put together something that would specialize in everything under one roof: state laws, ag laws, farm management and the rest."
Hafer was asked to fill the senior farm management position at the newly-formed Farmland Strategies.
"Addison had seen me work overseas in many environments and I'd seen him. We know what each other is capable of.
"So, this summer we started with the ASFMRA (American Society Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers) farm management track. It takes about three years to get – it isn't easy to achieve and they're rightfully proud of it."
Taylor and Hafer also earned real estate licenses and are working on requirements to become accredited farm managers with the Society.
Since then, "we've been out beating the bushes. Starting something from nothing is not easy. It can be a bit overwhelming at first. But the thing is, in Afghanistan we really did start something from nothing (so this is not) new to us."
For more, visit www.farmlandstrategies.com or the company's booth at the upcoming gin show in Memphis.