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A Verisk Business
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03 May 2019
Strong performance from Integrated Gas made the difference, helping Shell to beat analyst expectations and outshine peers.
03 August 2018
Wood Mackenzie's latest Global gas demand long-term outlook data and report – H1 2018
27 July 2018
Long-term growth will be supported by environmental policy and infrastructure development.
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Are you prepared for National Preparedness Month?
By Sid Kirchheimer , August 29, 2013 09:01 AM
September is National Preparedness Month, and by no coincidence, it's also the historic peak of the Atlantic hurricane season. So it's a good time to ask: Are you prepared by the next disaster - and its aftermath storm of opportunity for scammers?
There are charity scams. Rip-off repairmen known as " storm chasers" who flock to devastated communities, causing more problems than they repair. So-called "flood cars" damaged by high or raging waters, but still driveable, that may be transported thousands of miles to soak unsuspected buyers.
And perhaps what feels like a scam: Insurance companies that may focus on hassles rather than help you when you're most in need - dragging their feet, short-changing or flatly denying insurance claims. So in addition to knowing FEMA's recommended contents for a bring-with-you disaster supplies kit, here are some tips to avoid (or at least minimize) possible insurance claim hassles:
Prove your possessions. If you haven't already, take photographs or or video-tape the contents of each room - including the garage - for proof you own possessions that might be lost or damaged. "An advantage of videotaping possessions is you can narrate, such as 'I bought this table at this store, at this time, it's this brand and cost me this much,'" notes Jeanne Salvatore of the Insurance Information Institute, which provides free online home inventory software, Know Your Stuff that can be accessed from anywhere or via a mobile app for iPhones and Android phones.
Know your policy. The biggest mistake made by disaster-devastated homeowners? Not knowing beforehand what their policies cover...and don't, says Salvatore. With "replacement cost" policies, you're covered for today's cost of re-buying damaged possessions; "cash value" policies cover items at their depreciated value, meaning you won't get as much money back. Also know that while tornado and fire damage are covered by most homeowners policies, supplemental insurance is needed for earthquakes and flood damage. Gauge risk and policy cost of the latter for your address at FloodSmart.gov. Know there's a 30-day "waiting period" from the time you buy to when flood insurance policies take effect.
Get your records ready to go. By avoiding a last-minute paper chase, you'll be better prepared to avoid post-disaster problems proving your identity and possessions (aside from insurance claims). When you have mere minutes to evacuate your home, there's little time to collect paperwork you'll need later. So now, collect and make copies of the following documents and records:
- Personal: birth and marriage certificates, divorce decrees, passports, diplomas and military documents, Social Security cards, and photocopies of your driver's license and page(s) of the front and back of all credit cards. Also include phone numbers of friends and relatives, because those stored on your cellphone may be inaccessible if its battery dies and electricity is lost for recharging.
- Home and property: home deed, mortgage and closing statements; car titles; insurance policies or at the minimum, your policy numbers and contact information for your agent and insurer; appraisal documents of jewelry and other valuables.
- Estate: your will, executor and estate planning paperwork, including names and phone numbers of attorneys and estate planners.
- Medical: Medicare and/or health insurance cards, prescription records (especially for medications for chronic conditions like diabetes and asthma), and contact information for your doctors.
- Financial: stock and bond certificates; IRA or 401(k) account numbers; bank statements; and tax records, including W2s and important receipts. Get more info on safeguarding tax documents from the IRS.
- Computer: Make copies of important computer files and photographs on an external hard drive and other back-up device, as well as an offsite service such as Dropbox, which is free.
Keep one set of originals in a portable file system or more-secure lock box for grab-and-go convenience and a "backup" set of electronic copies - scanned or photographed onto CDs, DVDs or external hard drives - stored in another safe location, such as a bank safe deposit box or distant home of a trusted friend or relative.

subset: commoncrawl


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GelPro Classic Mat
Eco-chic Grasscloth is a popular woven pattern that adds natural texture and warmth to any space. The Charcoal standing cushion mat is a very dark grey. If you like this color and pattern, but would like another style check out our GelPro Elite gel foam mat.
All designs/patterns on GelPro Comfort Mats are copyrighted materials. All rights reserved. Click here for more information
GelPro Classic is the original comfort mat made with a 100% patented gel cushion that absorbs the shock of standing so your feet, back and legs no longer hurt. With a ½" thick gel cushion, the GelPro Classic has a slightly firmer feel that our GelPro Elite. Now with a new and improved comfort feel, this premium anti-fatigue mat is constructed with soft, non-toxic polyurethane top surface that is not only stain-resistant, but also allows you to enjoy the benefits of soothing gel even more than before. The GelPro Classic Comfort Mat offers instant support and relief while improving circulation and overall comfort. Featuring no-curl flanged edges and a non-slip resistant bottom, this mat takes the discomfort and fatigue out of standing while you cook, clean or work.


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If you are even remotely interested in the PlayStation 3, then you've likely been looking forward to David Jaffe's next game. The eccentric creator is responsible two franchises synonymous with PlayStation consoles, Twisted Metal and God of War. He has long been hard at work on the first retail PS3 game from his new studio, Eat Sleep Play. Through his blog, Jaffe has been throwing his fans curve-balls; seemingly hinting at a new Twisted Metal game, and other times scoffs at any assumptions. We have uncovered what may be a "sweet" hint from Eat Sleep Play's Production Artist.
How do they know its triple A yet if it hasn't been reviewed?
Mountains out of molehills. Well, I'm off to buy groceries. Sweet!
I saw the Bonus Round today with Jaffe in it and he said they are working on an action game. It was Episode 3 of the Bonus Round.
Jaffe has been dropping hints for a LONG time now.
Remember this? http://cache.kotaku.com/ass...
I am sure this is just more fodder to play into that. Who knows maybe it was a bluff the whole time, but honestly he would really disappoint some people at this point.
A A A all the way, night and day, savage in the grey sky, to die tonight sweettooth give me a ps3 game right now


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The NHL Closer is written by Greg Wyshynski, of FanHouse and The Fourth Period. He is also the author of Glow Pucks And 10-Cent Beer.
Comcast offered Capitals fans the next evolution of hockey on television last night: The Ovech-Kam, a split screen broadcast of Washington's 3-2 win over Calgary (and Olie Kolzig's 300th) that featured the game on one side of the screen and a camera following Alexander Ovechkin's every move on the other side. Watching this experiment, you were able to focus on the frequently overlooked details of Ovechkin's game: From defensive positioning to how he celebrates a goal. But since the cameras didn't stop rolling when he went to the bench, we were also treated to a definitive tutorial on one of hockey's greatest traditions: The Snot Rocket, and how Alexander Ovechkin launches it.
First, a word about the Ovech-Kam: It was cool. I actually moved my seat in the press box over a few in order to watch the Comcast feed as I was watching the game. Sometimes it felt like a Paul Thomas Anderson 1970s film homage: The images in the boxes would compliment each other's narrative, like when the Ovech-Kam showed Alex celebrating his game-winning goal while the other box cut between screaming fans and the slow-motion replay of the goal. What I wasn't expecting was for the camera to stay on him while he sat on the pine, and that was a kick: Seeing Ovechkin catching his breath with an unblinking stare at the opposing goalie. Or seeing him screaming at his teammates; half the words are "Come on, boys," and the other half appear to be obscenities or Russian words or Russian obscenities or gibberish or lines from the movie "300" in the original broken English.
Or seeing him blow a Snot Rocket, which happened...oh, I'd say about 500 times per period. And thanks to Comcast's close-ups, here's how one of the biggest stars in the NHL does it (please take notes, kids): He takes his left thumb and places it under his left nostril, redirecting the flow of air to the right nostril, from which he launches a mucus missile like a Viper leaving Galactica. I'm sure this is a time-honored technique, perhaps born from Viktor Tikhonov's famous Snot Rocket drills with the Central Red Army team. And hey, it's effective: Teammates freely celebrate with AO without fear of leakage:
Skrastins That Itch. Confession time: I'm the asshole who screams "shooooooot!" when my team is passing the puck around on the power play. So to hear that Karlis Skrastins scored the game-winner in Florida's 4-2 victory over the Islanders because a teammate told him to shoot the puck instead of dumping it to the corner warms my heart. OK, not as much as seeing the Islanders finally descend into mediocrity and the seeds of Ted Nolan's next contentious departure from an NHL team being sown...
Operation: Cock Tease Update. Pavel Kubina scored his second straight game-winning goal for Toronto, and this time the Leafs beat the Flyers in regulation, 3-2, to move within five points of eighth-seeded Philly. And they did it without Mats Sundin, who went out in the first period with a strained groin muscle, which is exactly what Leafs fans will have once Toronto stops jerking them around with this playoff push nonsense. The latest delusion of grandeur: The chance for a Montreal/Toronto first-round match-up in the Wales Conference, a series that Rumor Me This believes will force Gary Bettman into admitting that this year's playoffs will get better TV ratings than last year's because the Leafs are in them. "He would be correct, but it would be because of two Canadian teams which Gary seems to dislike, too bad Bettman, admit it, if there were no Canadian teams, there would be no hockey!" Good Christ...incidentally, NASCAR star Kevin Harvick attended his first NHL game in Philly last night. "I'm probably the most uneducated hockey guy in the building," he told the AP. That's strange ... the box score said Derian Hatcher played 21 minutes last night.
Commit To the Unhelpfulness. Meanwhile, both the Panthers and the Capitals received no help from the Blackhawks, who gave up three goals to Carolina (Cole-Cullen-Staal) in a four-minute stretch in the first period to lose 3-0. Not exactly fun times in the Windy City this week: Looking at the standings, they're going down faster than a call girl on Client No. 9, and Martin Havlat's having season-ending shoulder surgery. But does any of that matter when the Blackhawks Ice Crew is running away with Puck That Hit's "Who Has the Hottest Ice Girls?" contest with 32 percent of the vote? Five-year veteran Ice Girl Jennie is especially good at "skating, Photoshop, reading celebrity gossip magazines, and finding out secrets."
Meanwhile, the Penguins were missing Sidney Crosby, the Sabres were missing, like, all of their defensemen, and Pittsburgh won, 7-3. Speaking of Sid the Kid: How nutty is it that the Penguins' power-play was remarkably better without him (26.8%) than with him (17.7%)? Meanwhile, the Canucks lost to Anaheim and some goalie named Jonas Hiller, who I believe is the Jonas Brother that directed "Love Story." My boys at the KB want their Canucks PPV money back.
Puck Headlines
* Here's something that will quickly become indispensable for you: Yahoo! Sports has a page that updates every morning with new playoff seedings based on last night's games. Flyers and Penguins in Round One? Yes please. [Yahoo!]
* Inviting Bob Probert to have a cameo in your hockey movie and then giving him a uniform with Tie Domi's number might be one of the funniest things Mike Myers has ever done. Well, at least since "Germany's Most Disturbing Home Videos" on "Sprockets." "Pet him! Love him! Liebe meine abschmenkee!" [Sun Media]
* One more "The Love Guru" point of interest: Stephen Colbert plays a hockey announcer in the movie. Now, if we can only get Ed Helms and Rob Corddry to do the studio show between periods and Samantha Bee into an Ice Girl outfit... [The No-Fact Zone]
* Denis Leary turns his back on hockey, provides voiceover for "MLB 2K8" video game commercial. Somewhere, Cam Neely weeps. For the record, I consider "The Ref" to be a modern Christmas classic. [Diamond Hoggers]
* Mark MYFO's words: In about five years, we will all refer to the Penguins' big move at the deadline as the "Pascal Dupuis Trade." Or, at the very least, "The Ape-Man Who Conquered Pittsburgh Trade." [MYFO]
* And finally, an old man gets overly curmudgeonly at a hockey game, calling everyone a "gutless piece of crap!" before flipping the world the double-bird and awkwardly leaving the stands with his wife of 50 years. And amazingly enough, it isn't my father...


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It should be easy to just stop breastfeeding, right? The Lorax is almost 17 months old. I am tired of being in public and having him slap my boobs, cry and then reach his little tan hand down my shirt. Plus, as far as I know, the health benefits of breastfeeding beyond 1 year are few, if any.
Is there a way to stop and still be able to keep running? If not, how many days does the pain of full boobs last? Has anyone else out there had the same problem?


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Logistics supplier enters Grand Rapids market
A national manufacturer of material-handling systems is moving into the Grand Rapids market with an engineering office.
Elk Grove, Ill.-based Wynright Corp. recently moved into a space in Walker, at 701 Three Mile Rd. NW.
Wynright opened the office with six employees and expects to double its workforce within a year.
Engineering talent
The company chose the Grand Rapids metro, because its clients will have easy access to the office by car or air and there's a wealth of engineering talent in the region.
Western Michigan University, Michigan Tech University and Grand Valley State University will serve as good talent pools that the company can draw from for future employees, said Gordon Hellberg, executive vice president of sales for Wynright.
"The opening of this office continues Wynright's commitment to hiring the best people and allowing them to live where they want," Hellberg said. "Rather than centralizing all functions or requiring that everyone in a department work in the same space, we have offices all over the Midwest that house employees in multiple functional areas.
"There is a tremendous quality of life in Grand Rapids, which the people we're bringing in value," Hellberg added. "This office will allow them to continue to enjoy it."
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Wynright has been in business since 1972, and it employs more than 200 engineers throughout the company.
Wynright designs, manufactures, integrates and installs what it calls "intra-logistic" products: conveyor and sorting systems, voice-and-light-directed ordering equipment, warehouse controls and robotics.
Hellberg said the company services and supports its products around the clock.
"As our retail customers move deeper into multi-channel distribution, there is a growing need for automated system solutions," Hellberg said. "The engineers who will operate out of this office have a specialized knowledge of these advanced channels of distribution and deep experience in implementing them."
Parent company
Wynright is a subsidiary of Daifuku Webb Holding Co., which recently acquired the company. The U.S operation of Daifuku Webb is based in the southeast side of the state in Farmington Hills.
Modern Materials Handling magazine rates Daifuku Webb as its number-two supplier, with revenue of $2.37 billion last year, and places Wynright in the 16th spot, with revenue of $216 million in 2012.


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A candid photo of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and German Chancellor Angela Merkel went viral Tuesday, with online observers buzzing about the appearance of a Hitler-like mustache on the German leader's face.
The image of the two leaders at a news conference, taken Tuesday morning by Jerusalem Post photographer Marc Israel Sellem, showed Netanyahu pointing his finger — and inadvertently casting a shadow on Merkel's face that many said resembled the Nazi leader's signature mustache.
"At the end when I saw Netanyahu begin to point, I thought it would be interesting so I just started shooting, something like seven pictures a second," Sellem told the Jerusalem Post.
Sellem said he was just as surprised as everyone else when he first saw the image on his computer. He said he included it in an e-mail to the editors of the Jerusalem Post and its sister publication, the Israel Post.
Initially, the Jerusalem Post decided to not run the photo, but after an editor at the Israel Post published it to their Facebook page, it was shared more than 1,000 times in the first few minutes, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Shortly after, Sellem and The Jerusalem Post were flooded with inquiries from media outlets asking if the photo were retouched (it wasn't, they reported) and for permission to reprint it.
The photo was taken as Merkel spoke at a joint press conference with Netanyahu in Jerusalem Tuesday, as the two met to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian peace process ahead of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's planned peace talks framework slated for April.
In Jerusalem, Merkel said that she does not endorse boycotts of Israel. She said that although Germany sees Iran as a potential threat to Israel and Europe, she could not support Netanyahu's demand that Tehran give up all sensitive nuclear projects under any negotiated deal.


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I'm a Los Angeles voter who is registered decline-to-state, and thus was among the 180,000 people unlucky enough to receive the latest mailer from the Meg Whitman campaign. It's a nasty and nutty piece of work that seeks to compare the scandal in the small city of Bell, where the city manager was making $800,000 ($1.5 million if you count all benefits and payments), with Jerry Brown's tenure as mayor of Oakland.
The Whitman allegation is that Brown's Oakland, where the city attorney was paid $180,000 and where a number of workers made more than $200,000 (many of them firefighters), is just like Bell. The comparison is ridiculous on its face. Perhaps that's too much for city workers to make, but it's not wildly out of line. Police and fire officials all over the state make unseemly amounts when overtime is thrown in. And a recent LA Times survey found the average pay of a city manager in Los Angeles County was more than $200,000.
This flier isn't an outlier. It's symptomatic of a Whitman war room operation that, at cost to its credibility, insists on making wildly -- and unnecessarily -- exaggerated claims about Brown. It's not clear why the war room behaves this way, because Brown's long record in public life provides so many targets for attack that the truth alone -- heck, simply quoting all the bizarre things Brown has said over the years -- should be more than enough to sow serious doubts about the Democratic nominee.
One wonders if the Whitman exaggerations aren't getting in the way of more fruitful, honest attacks. Let me take just one small example. The Whitman campaign, over and over, calls Brown a "Sacramento politician" by way of insult. He's undoubtedly a politician, but it's not at all clear that he's a Sacramento figure -- and that fact could be the basis of attack.
Brown has a long history of avoiding Sacramento, even when public office should have required him to spend more time there. Perhaps most famously, he ran for president twice during his first two terms as governor, shirking his official duties for such long stretches that the national media took notice. And even as attorney general, he has spent relatively little time in Sacramento, preferring to manage from a satellite office closer to his home in Oakland.
Whitman's campaign could -- and should -- raise the question of whether Brown has spent enough time in Sacramento, and whether he's neglected official duties in past jobs because he was too busy running for his next job. Given Brown's record, voters should be concerned about whether he will be devoted to the job if he wins. But it's hard to make that case when the Whitman campaign is repeating, mindlessly, that he's a Sacramento politician.
So how about a new sign at camp Whitman, right from the New Testament (John 8:32)? "And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."


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Saturday, June 21, 2014
Sports News
surges three clear after second straight 68
Send a link to a friend
[June 21, 2014]
(Reuters) - Michelle Wie stamped her
authority on the U.S. Women's Open at the halfway stage when she raced
into a three-shot lead over fellow American Lexi Thompson after the
second round in Pinehurst, North Carolina on Friday.
On a day when 11-year-old Lucy Li played respectably but missed
the cut, former child prodigy Wie birdied her final two holes,
rolling in a curling 15-footer at the last with her stooped
cross-handed putting style for a second consecutive two-under-par 68
at Pinehurst No. 2 Course.
She posted a four-under 136 total, while Thompson also shot 68 to
end the day the only other player under par, setting the stage for a
possible battle with Wie for the second successive major.
Thompson won the Kraft Nabisco Championship in April, while Wie
finished second after the pair started the final round tied for the
First round leader, American Stacy Lewis, carded 73 to slip four
strokes behind with South Korean Yang Amy (69) and Australian
amateur Minjee Lee (71).
"Yesterday I was thinking if I just did this again, that would be
nice," Wie told reporters.
"It's a grind out there. (I'm) really grateful for the par putts
that I made and some of the birdie putts that I made."
Wie, 24, has been playing in the U.S. Open since 2003, so she
understands that the halfway lead does guarantee anything.
"Being in contention, having the clubhouse lead for now, I'm just
really excited for the weekend," she continued.
"I think the U.S. Open as an American is one of the most important
tournaments, but at the same time Sunday is a very, very long time,
far away."
Wie has been in the public eye for more than a decade. In 2004, she
came within one stroke of making the cut against the men on the PGA
Tour at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Her career stalled for a few years, but this season she is second
behind Lewis on the LPGA money list thanks to a victory and a bunch
of top 10 finishes.
[to top of second column]
Long-hitting Thompson reeled off three successive birdies on her
back nine to vault up the leaderboard.
"Today went very well for me," Thompson said. "I didn't really get
stressed out about the bad shots, just went to the next one."
Li, meanwhile, was far from overawed on the biggest stage of her
young life as she carded a second straight 78 that included a triple
and a double bogey.
"I'm really happy with how I bounced back from those big numbers,"
said Li, the second youngest player ever to compete in a U.S.
Women's Open.
"I learned you have to be patient. It's been a great week. I did a
good job staying patient and going to the next shot and not caring
about what happens."
The cut fell at nine-over 149. Former champion Cristie Kerr was
among those to bow out.
The Women's version of the event is being played on the same course
where German Martin Kaymer won the men's U.S. Open last week.
(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina, Editing by John
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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The Creation Of The Universe
The Basic Concepts in the Qur'an
Giving Thanks to Allah
Being grateful to a fellow human being who has shown favour, is to render one's thanks to express appreciative sentiments. The concept of being grateful to Allah (shukr), on the other hand, is to grasp and emphasize the fact that every kind of grace and favour is granted exclusively by Allah. In the Qur'an, the opposite of being grateful is defined by the term "disbelief"(Kufr), which is synonymous with ingratitude. Only this definition indicates the importance attached to being grateful as a form of worship and the detrimental consequences its neglect may have for a believer.
Gratefulness to Allah is one of the concepts principally emphasized in the Qur'an. In almost 70 verses, the importance of rendering thanks to Allah is stated, examples of those who are grateful and ungrateful are given and the end their requital in the hereafter is described. The reason why so much importance is given to this concept is simply that it is a sure indication of one's faith and affirmation of the oneness of Allah. In one of the verses "being grateful" is described as "worshipping only Allah":
O you who believe! Eat of the good things that We have provided for you, and be grateful to Allah, if it is Him you worship. (Al-Baqara, 172)
In another verse, giving thanks to Allah is described as the opposite of idolatry:
But it has already been revealed to you, — as it was to those before you, — "If you were to associate other gods with Allah, truly fruitless would be your work (in life), and you would surely be in the ranks of those who lose (all spiritual good)". Therefore, worship Allah, and be of those who give thanks. (Az-Zumar, 65-66)
Satan's defiant statements to Allah (on the day of his refusal to bow to Adam) emphasize the importance of giving thanks to Allah:
"Because you have cast me out I will lie in wait for your servants as they walk on your straight path: Then will I assault them from in front of them and from behind them, from their right and from their left. Then you will find most of them, ungrateful for Your mercies." (Al-Araf, 17)
As stated in the verse above, Satan out of sheer pique, devoted His life to misleading people. His ultimate aim is to make people be ungrateful to their Creator. When this ultimate purpose of the Satan is considered, it becomes more comprehensible how a man goes astray when he does not render thanks to Allah.
Gratefulness is a part of the test by Allah. Man is surely endowed with His favour, and is informed about how he should benefit from it. In return, he is expected to assume a submissive attitude towards his Creator. However, it is again only man himself who chooses to be grateful or ungrateful to Allah:
We created Man from a drop of mingled sperm, in order to try him. We gave him the gifts of hearing and sight. We showed him the way: whether he be grateful or ungrateful . (Al-Insan, 2-3)
As the verses suggest, the choice of the human being whether to go grateful or ungrateful, is explicit sign of his faith or disbelief.
Gratefulness is also closely related to requital in the hereafter. No punishment shall befall those who have faith and are grateful:
What can Allah gain by your punishment, if you are grateful and you believe? Indeed, it is Allah who recognizes all good, and knows all things. (An-Nisa, 147)
This verse, together with many others, gives the good tidings that Allah rewards those who remain grateful to their Creator:
And remember! Your Lord caused to be declared (publicly): "If you are grateful, I will increase My favours to you. But if you show ingratitude, truly, My punishment is terrible indeed." (Abraham, 7)
"If you counted up the favours of Allah, you would never be able to number them: for Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." (Al-Nahl, 18) As this verse suggests, let alone counting up the favours of Allah,it is not conceivable even to categorize them. Since there is no limit to the favours of Allah, a believer should unceasingly keep himself occupied with the remembrance of Allah and express his gratefulness to Him.
In expectation of some very great favor, some people wait for special occasions to render their thanks to Allah. Settlement of a major problem, or recovering from a serious sickness are the proper times to express one's inner gratefulness to Allah, they assume. However, if one reflected only for a moment, one would instantly comprehend that he is always surrounded with infinite favours. At every moment, every minute, there is an uninterrupted flow of favours: life, good health, intelligence, consciousness, the five senses, the air that one breaths, in brief, everything that makes life possible is given to one by the grace of Allah. In return for all these, the individual is expected to serve Allah in gratitude. Those who are heedless of these favours and accordingly neglect to turn to Allah in order to express their gratefulness, acknowledge their importance only when they are deprived of them.
The Qur'an enjoins careful attention to the favours of Allah and repeatedly reminds us of those we tend to forget. Whole volumes would surely be insufficient to name all the blessings of Allah. Allah fashioned man into a man, He endowed him with five senses thus enabling him to perceive the world around him, guided him to the true path through His Book and Messenger, provided an explanation of the scriptures, desired no hardship for His servants, saved them from the oppression of unbelievers, made their habitations havens of rest and quiet for them, created fresh water, an abundant variety of food, sea- products, ships sailing night and day for the benefit of mankind.
No one can ever say "I say my prayers regularly and engage in righteous dealings, but do not give thanks to Allah". The individual who is not grateful to Allah is one who does not occupy himself with the remembrance of Allah, and hence is heedless of Him. A person who, like the animals, consumes everything given to him without pondering over why it is granted and the One Who grants it, surely needs to change this attitude. Otherwise, expecting to receive a reward from Allah and hoping to attain Heaven would be meaningless. That is why a believer should never neglect to render thanks to Allah.
We also know from the revelations of Allah that only those who give thanks to Allah can acknowledge the signs of Allah in the outer world and draw lessons for themselves. The following verses elaborate upon this theme:
From the land that is clean and good, by the will of its Cherisher, springs up produce, rich after its kind: but from the land that is bad, springs up nothing but that which is niggardly: thus do we explain the signs by various symbols to those who are grateful. (Al-Araf, 58)
The wisdom related in these verses and the evidences they furnish, can be comprehended only by those who are endowed with the insight and sensitivity of those who give thanks. This is no doubt a reward for being grateful to Allah. Ungrateful and insensitive people, on the other hand, do not even notice these verses.
In many verses, Allah advises His Messengers, one of whom is Moses, to be grateful:
(Allah) said: "O Moses! I have chosen you above (other) men, by the mission I (have given you ) and the words I (have spoken to you): take then the (revelation) which I give you, and be of those who give thanks." (Al-Araf, 144)
In Surat-al-Ahkaf, verse 15, a believer in his maturity (the age of 40 is referred to as the age of maturity in the Qur'an) prays that he may be a grateful person:
We have enjoined on man kindness to his parents. In pain his mother bore him, and in pain she gave birth to him. The carrying of the child to his weaning is a period of thirty months. At length, when he reaches manhood and attains forty years, he says, "O my Lord! Inspire me to be grateful for the favours which you have bestowed upon me, and upon both my parents, and to do good works of which you will approve; and grant me good descendants. Truly, I have turned to you and truly I bow to You in Islam. (Al-Ahqaf, 15)


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Last month I spent some time with Wayne Kosko, Navistar's service education manager, during the 2013 Rush Truck centers (RTC) Technician Skills Rodeo taking a tour of a tractor-trailer the OEM's training experts unofficially call "The Educator."
It's actually one of three tractor-trailers Navistar uses primarily to provide technician training for fleet customers concerning the company's MaxxForce engines and other components; primarily as a way to help fleets and their technicians determine when to keep a repair in-house and when to outsource it to a dealership.
[To view more photos of "The Educator," please click here.]
"For example, we'll walk a fleet's technicians through a fuel system issue, diagnosing a variety of problems related to the fuel pump, filters, etc.," Kosko told me. "If it's a fuel pump issue, the fleet's got a decision to make. They can replace it themselves, but that requires special tooling and procedures. Is it worth it for them to invest in that or in this case take that repair to their local dealer?"
The other side of the coin, though, is when the issue turns out to require only minimal work – such as a filter replacement and check – and thus makes a particular repair most cost-effective to rectify within the fleet's shop.
"The thing is you really can't open up the hood and tell right away if a particular fuel system fault is due to a fuel pump failure or a clogged filter; that's where the diagnostic training we give them in 'The Educator' comes in," Kosko told me. "When we're at a customer location, we also provide onsite training using their vehicles so technicians get both the 'outside' and 'inside' view of problems they can and can't see when making repairs."
He noted that at any given time two of Navistar's training trailers – officially dubbed "mobile training solutions" – are on the road visiting customer locations, and are usually on the road for up to 30 weeks. The trailers themselves optimally hold six technicians per classroom session with the trailer interior able to be configured any number of ways based on the components being dissected.
In my case, this particular "Educator" featured three engines, with the one in the middle capable of being cranked up and operated at full power.
Kosko stressed, though, that these training trailers augment Navistar's network of more traditional brick-and-mortar training facilities spread out across the U.S., which includes: the OEM's Las Vegas Training Center in (where else?) Las Vegas, NV; its Woodridge Product Support/Training Center in Woodbridge, IL; and its West Chester Training Center in West Chester, PA, just outside Philadelphia.
"We use our training centers to support fleet and dealer technician needs alike, but the trailers are really mostly focused on supporting fleet needs," Kosko told me. "Bringing the training to their shops makes the training more effective and efficient for the customer."
I'm going to bet fleets agree with that sentiment fairly wholeheartedly too.


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text:
It's our first day back in the office since the storm hit, and boy, does it feel good. We've been Google-hanging, Skyping, and G-chatting with fellow R29ers for the past seven days — not only to make sure our second family is A-okay, but also to bring you fresh, daily content despite Sandy's devastating aftermath. Whether it was lending a bed and offering a warm shower to a stranded staffer or coming together with a Refinery29 blood drive in Williamsburg, we've come through this with an updated, stronger definition of teamwork.
To see how the hurricane impacted other Big Apple dwellers, we sent out photographer Atisha Patterson to document the destruction, and also capture the community's efforts to help each other out and move forward. And, while we're amped to all be in the same space together, we understand that not all New Yorkers have power, homes, or even fresh food or water yet. So, we hope our #Sandy slideshow will inspire you to be a real-life hero. We suggest bookmarking this post to help keep that feeling of togetherness strong, long after the disaster is gone.


text:
I've just released ArduPlane 2.73 as a bug fix release for several important bugs in 2.72
The main reasons for this release are:
This release does not contain the new attitude controllers that I previously said would be in 2.73. Paul and I decided that it would be better to hold those over to the next release, and get this release out with just the above critical bug fixes.
The airspeed problem stemmed from a changed introduced in 2.72 to make ArduPlane automatically scale analog inputs with board voltage. That change was good for voltage and current sensing, but it added a lot of noise to airspeed sensing as the 3DR airspeed sensor is ratiometric (the sensor output scales with the supply voltage). The fix was to add support for ratiometric analog inputs. This release also fixes a bug in the airspeed ratio handling. To confirm the fix I have been driving around in my car with an APM2 and PX4 logging airspeed and GPS speed - that test confirmed the airspeed sensing is now accurate.
The flyaway bug in L1 was caused by an unusual situation where the previous waypoint was equal to the next waypoint, which can happen when a mission is interrupted and restarted. The L1 controller would then level the wings and fly straight ahead until the operator intervened. The bug fix was to make the L1 controller detect this situation and track directly to the next waypoint. I don't think many users would have seen this bug, but it definitely could happen and warranted a bug fix release.
The GPS handling bug was related to the MTK GPS, which can be very slow to report loss of GPS lock, which could lead to very poor attitude from DCM and even a crash if the plane tries to turn while the GPS is reporting incorrect velocity information. The fix was to watch the satellite count, and stop using the GPS velocity for accelerometer correction when it had less than 6 satellites. This is selectable with the new AHRS_GPS_MINSATS option.
Other changes
While this release doesn't have the new attitude controllers I decided to leave in some other smaller changes that have been made since the 2.72 release that I consider to be low risk, including:
Of these, perhaps the most useful is the ELEVON_OUTPUT option. That makes it possible to setup your transmitter with normal aileron/elevator and get the APM to do a software elevon mixer on output. That gives better control in FBWA mode than the previous elevon options.
I recommend that all users of 2.72 upgrade to 2.73. Happy flying!
Cheers, Tridge
Views: 28192
Great work.. I will be giving it a try this week end in my Ardu-Raven sUAS. When do you foresee the release of the new attitude controller. I am looking forward to this next feature to make setting up an airframe simpler.
Thanks, Tridge. Looking forward to trying out the new Elevon controller.
Andrew thanks for the quick turn around on a bug fix. I'll load up the firmware later on today and give it a whirl!
Hi Joseph,
I am currently thinking the new attitude controller may be released in a couple of weeks, but it depends on testing results, and time to do testing.
Cheers, Tridge
Andrew, when are you going to enable gimbal control? And GRIDv2 not filling in the polygon. You had to have seen my many posts about this...
It seems like 90% of people just use Arduplane for flying waypoints. But those wanting to map are plagued with bugs and no help. We are the minority but we still want a working product. I cant even use this for mapping because of the lack of gimbal control through DO commands, and the problem with GRIDv2, which I need for camera triggers...
I don't understand how to beg harder than I already have for some assistance.
Hi Matt,
The first thing to do is to create an issue in our issue tracker. I tend to check that list before releases and try to fix as many issues as I can.
Regarding GRIDv2, we'd need to work out if this is a MissionPlanner issue or a ArduPlane issue. My first guess is it is probably a MP issue, but that would need to be confirmed by examining the interaction between the APM code and MP when a grid is created. I don't use the GRIDv2 feature myself, so perhaps you can tell me if it has worked in the past and is now broken, or if it has never worked? Does it work on ArduCopter?
I apologize that these issues haven't been addressed previously. I don't read all the forum postings (I'd need a lot more hours in the day to do that!), so I rely on users creating issues and then I use the issues list as a todo list.
Cheers, Tridge
Tridge -- thank you, you rock! This was a great move.
I had some fly aways happen in 2.7.2 and thought it might have to do with WP telemetry data transfer errors but I never experienced that before 2.7.2. It always failed and gave an error or worked flawlessly in previous versions.
I would like to also continue testing the 2.7.3 beta (now 2.7.4beta?) with the new attitude controllers and happy to provide feedback.
Great work! I look forward to testing the new 2.7.3 production firmware.
Thanks for the link, Ill add future bugs there. Gridv2 has never worked for me since I purchased the unit last year. Not sure on arducopter.
Heres an open issue that someone created for me 2 months ago, addressing the DO Mount issue, and its still open:
Thank you for the bug fixing.before you release the 2.73,I fly my skywlker(1680)and it appears the two cases(airspeed sensor,L1 algorithm).Now I use the 2.73 firmware,thank you for your hardworking.
Hi again Matt,
I just had a go with GRIDv2 for the first time. It really is a nice feature!
I found it worked for me as long as the total number of mission items doesn't exceed the mission item limit in ArduPlane (which is currently 176 items).
Can you tell me:
Also tell me if the grid does get generated in the planner and the problem is with the upload, or if it doesn't get generated in the planner. If it is generated in the planner screen, can you save the resulting mission and attach it in a reply?
I notice that Randy has closed your issue request and asked you to move it to the MissionPlanner issues list. That may mean Randy has already looked into this and knows it is a MP problem.
Cheers, Tridge
Well here's my test results from this afternoon. Mission in full auto from start to finish.
Complete with a video flyby
I should probably go in there and do a bit of PID tuning for the Skyhunter with the new firmware. So far I'm using 16 and 0.75 for my NAV1 settings. Anything outside that and the plane looks like a roller coaster.


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DGS Publications
|Publication Date
|SP20 Delaware Piedmont Geology
|Plank, M.O., Schenck, W.S.
|RI56 The Setters Formation in the Pleasant Hill Valley, Delaware: Metamorphism and Structure
|Plank, M.O., Schenck, W.S.
|SP19 Delaware: Its Rocks, Minerals, and Fossils
|DGS Staff
|RI40 Sodium Concentrations in Water from the Piney Point Formation, Dover Area, Delaware
|Spoljaric, N.
|SP10 Selected Papers on the Geology of Delaware
|Jordan, R.R., Pickett, T.E., Kraft, J.C., Sheridan, R.E., Spoljaric, N., Thompson, A.M., Woodruff, K.D., Varrin, R.D., Leavens, P.B., Carey, W.L.
|RI32 Removal of Metals from Laboratory Solutions and Landfill Leachate by Greensand Filters
|Spoljaric, N., Crawford, W.A.
|OFR5 Removal of Metallic Contaminants from Industrial Waste Waters by the Use of Greensands, A Preliminary Report
|Spoljaric, N., Crawford, W.A.


text:
At E3 I had a meeting scheduled with the fine folks of High Voltage Software, creators of the very attractive Wii title The Conduit. What you may not know is that actor Mark Sheppard was hired to provide the lead character's voice in that game, and I faced the charismatic Brit as I checked in. It's not every day you come face to face with Gaius Baltar's lawyer, or one of Firefly's more flamboyant gangsters. To me though, he'll always be...
"Mr. President," I said, shaking his hand.
"I can tell you're a man of character!" Sheppard told me, laughing. "Have you played the game?" In a few minutes I learned that Sheppard goes everywhere the game is, talking to people, getting them excited about the game. At E3 he worked the booth like a master showman, grabbing people and giving them demos.
I made my way upstairs to the roof of the booth, where creative officer Eric Nofsinger and design director David Pellas were waiting for me. The Conduit is shipping in a matter of weeks, so we were there to talk about The Grinder, the upcoming four-player online co-op title where a scrappy band of characters fights off a collection of monsters. The game looked great, with detailed environments, gun play, and even a miniboss on display. Nofsinger happily played the game in front of me, explaining the concepts and the story of the game. You're a bounty hunter, a mysterious stranger hires you to take down some monsters, and there you are.
"We wanted to do something that takes advantage of our tech, our experience, and our resources that we gained on the Conduit. So we decided to do a first-person shooter with traditional monsters." You'll also see giant worm-like creatures, "very much inspired by the movie Tremors." The team also wanted to include wolf-men. I was asked if I remembered the cult-classic film Monster Squad.
"Wolfman has nards?" I asked helpfully. They nodded. Wolfman has nards. So far we had met Romo Lampkin, name-dropped Tremors, and discussed the genitalia of classic movie monsters. This was, so far, one of the most nerd-tastic meetings I had at E3. They extolled the virtues of the game's Architect system, which controls the behavior of the enemies on screen. You'll be fighting the monsters, the monsters will be fighting each other, and the game will exist in a barely controlled state of chaos.
The technology is impressive. If you light a collection of vampires on fire, each one becomes a separate light source. The game looks great, especially for the Wii, and we were told that WiiSpeak will be supported for the online play, and four-player online will be the "minimum." They're also looking at competitive game play modes, and Pellas asked if I have any ideas for that aspect of gameplay. I shrugged, but the amazing thing is that I know he's not blowing smoke. When High Voltage took the Conduit to shows back in the day they asked gamers for ideas on what they wanted to see in terms of control. The best ones were incorporated into the game. These guys don't just show off their games, they brainstorm with the press and the public.
The game is coming in late 2010, which means we saw at E3 is very early work. What's impressive is that the fully-fleshed out level we played was created in two months. "We have an amazingly talented group, and incredible technology and mature tools. All of the tricks of the trade we learned on the Conduit, and many we've learn since them, are all incorporated into this game." It took many hours, they stressed, and the team did four months of work in that two month period, but it's still an amazing feat. "It's a testament to the tools we built for the Conduit, and the maturity of them. We have such a robust toolset, we were able to get this up and running in a week." It may not have looked as good as the final E3 demo, but it was playable and functional. "It's amazing to demo this and know that two months ago, it didn't exist." The final game will also likely support the Wii MotionPlus, along with some nice swordplay.
It wasn't just the voice actors who got caught up in the excitement. "We have an amazing angel investor," I was told. "And he doesn't just write the check. He comes in, he plays the games, he's been here for two days, he works the booth. He's a really awesome guy." They couldn't tell me who that is, although they also assured me it's not Mark Sheppard, which was my first guess after seeing how invested the actor has been while working the booth. The take-away is that the company is fully funded, and is focusing on making the games, not worrying about finding a publisher... although there is no shortage of interest.
At this point I had to run to my next meeting, but High Voltage stuck in my head for the rest of the day. This developer has no shortage of gee-whiz technology and enthusiasm, and even the voice actors fall in love with the product. The investor was there at E3, working the booth and getting people excited. They invited me to tour the studio next time I'm in Chicago, and I promised to give them a call when I'm in town. Surrounded once again by booth babes and blasting music as I made my way back onto the show floor and away from the nice little meeting room on top of High Voltage's booth, I was glad to know that in this sometimes jaded and cynical industry, there are still a few people living their dream.


text:
The Finder is the first thing that you see when your Mac finishes starting up. It opens automatically and stays open as you use other apps. It includes the Finder menu bar at the top of the screen and the desktop below that. It uses windows and icons to show you the contents of your Mac, iCloud Drive, and other storage devices. It's called the Finder because it helps you to find and organize your files.
Open windows and files
To open a window and see the files on your Mac, switch to the Finder by clicking the Finder icon (pictured above) in the Dock. Switching to the Finder also reveals any Finder windows that might be hidden behind the windows of other apps. You can drag to resize windows and use the buttons to close , minimize , or maximize windows. Learn more about managing windows.
When you see a document, app, or other file that you want to open, just double-click it.
Change how your files are displayed
To change how files are displayed in Finder windows, use the View menu in the menu bar, or the row of buttons at the top of the Finder window. You can view files as icons , in a list , in columns , or in a gallery . And for each view, the View menu provides options to change how items are sorted and arranged, such as by kind, date, or size. Learn more about customizing views.
When you view files in a gallery, you can browse your files visually using large previews, so it's easy to identify images, videos, and all kinds of documents. Gallery View in macOS Mojave even lets you play videos and scroll through multipage documents. Earlier versions of macOS have a similar but less powerful gallery view called Cover Flow .
Gallery View in macOS Mojave, showing the sidebar on the left and the Preview pane on the right.
Use the Preview pane
The Preview pane is available in all views by choosing View > Show Preview from the menu bar. Or press Shift-Command (⌘)-P to quickly show or hide the Preview pane.
macOS Mojave enhances the Preview pane in several ways:
- More information, including detailed metadata, can be shown for each file. This is particularly useful when working with photos and media, because key EXIF data, like camera model and aperture value, are easy to locate. Choose View > Preview Options to control what information the Preview pane can show for the kind of file selected.
- Quick Actions let you easily manage or edit the selected file.
Use Quick Actions in the Preview pane
With Quick Actions in macOS Mojave, you can take actions on a file without opening an app. Quick Actions appear at the bottom of the Preview pane and vary depending on the kind of file selected.
- Rotate an image
- Mark up an image or PDF
- Combine images and PDFs into a single PDF file
- Trim audio and video files
To manage Quick Actions, click More , then choose Customize. macOS Mojave includes a standard set of Quick Actions, but Quick Actions installed by third-party apps also appear here. You can even create your own Quick Actions using Automator.
Use Stacks on your desktop
macOS Mojave introduces Stacks, which lets you automatically organize your desktop into neat stacks of files, so it's easy to keep your desktop tidy and find exactly what you're looking for. Learn more about Stacks.
Search for files
To search with Spotlight, click the magnifying glass in the menu bar, or press Command–Space bar. Spotlight is similar to Quick Search on iPhone or iPad. Learn more about Spotlight.
To search from a Finder window, use the search field in the corner of the window:
When you select a search result, its location appears at the bottom of the window. To get to this view from Spotlight, choose "Show all in Finder" from the bottom of the Spotlight search results.
In both Spotlight and Finder, you can use advanced searches to narrow your search results.
Delete files
To move a file to the Trash, drag the file to the Trash in the Dock. Or select one or more files and choose File > Move To Trash (Command-Delete).
To remove a file from the Trash, click the Trash to open it, then drag the file out of the Trash. Or select the file and choose File > Put Back.
To delete the files in the Trash, choose File > Empty Trash. The storage space used by those files then becomes available for other files. In macOS Sierra, you can set up your Mac to empty the trash automatically.


text: Today's the day we've been anticipating for months: iPhone 4S launch day. Apple fans hit retailers in droves to get their hands on the new handset, braving wind, rain and, perhaps most dangerously of all, other Apple aficionados. The iPhone 4S has shown phenomenally strong pre-order numbers, and by the looks of it, first-day sales won't be too shabby either (some estimates are pegging sales of over 4 million for this weekend alone). Some lucky German folks who pre-ordered the phone received their units several days early. Those who missed out on the chance to pre-order, but still wanted to get the handset on opening day, had to stand in line to pick up the 4S this morning. Here are some of our favorite iPhone 4S launch day images from around the world. Above: Japanese Apple fans donning iPhone-cut-out headpieces wait in line in front of a Softbank Mobile Corp. storefront in Tokyo on launch day. The cardboard-based hats don't look too comfortable, but at least they make you stand out in a crowd (and get your photo taken by the press). (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)The excitement cannot be contained! An overjoyed customer leaps into the arms of an Apple employee outside the Covent Garden Apple Store after purchasing the 4S. I bet he's psyched about the phone's dual-core A5 processor, which will allow games like Infinity Blade II to look stunningly detailed. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)Way better than a red carpet: Apple employees at London's Covent Garden store location welcome customers with clapping and high-fives as they head into the store. The only thing that's missing here is confetti raining down from the sky. And of course, 4S boxes in hand. Did you see that iFixit already tore apart the iPhone 4S for our ogling pleasure? (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)On Thursday evening Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak announced he was the first in line for the iPhone 4S at the Los Gatos, Calif. Apple Store. This year, Woz decided to go with a Verizon iPhone. Wozniak had to wait 20 hours to get his unit when the store opened this morning. Here, he holds up his prize as he makes his getaway on his signature Segway. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)Really? Is that a bumper on your 4S? You know you don't need that anymore, right? Bostonian Elliott Johns shows off his new iPhone 4S in front of an Apple Store location in Boston on Friday. The 4S features a redesigned antenna system that can intelligently switch between two antennas to both transmit and receive, and eliminates that pesky Antennagate issue that plagued its predecessor. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)In Philadelphia, people stroll past a sign in front of an ING Direct Cafe offering a free drink if customers come in and show their new iPhone. 4S users can ask voice-controlled AI Siri where the nearest or best coffee around is, but she can't tell you where the cheapest spot is (yet). Good thing this place put out a sign. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)Customers patiently wait in line to purchase the 4S in front of a makeshift memorial to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who passed away last week, outside of a Philadelphia Apple Store. Similar Post-It based displays — some accompanied by roses, candles and apples — appeared on Apple Store windows across the nation after news of his death. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)No, this isn't a scene from #OccupyX. This is the scene in front of the Munich, Germany Apple Store prior to its doors opening on Friday. If I were one of the first few in line to get my 4S, I'd head back outside and snap a picture of the suckers still waiting to make it into the store with the handset's souped-up 8-megapixel camera. Then I'd post it to Instagram, and hightail it over to Philadelphia so I could take advantage of that free coffee. (Christian Hartl Maier / DAPD)"We've got spirit, yes we do, we've got spirit, how about you?!" Or so it would seem. Apple Store employees applaud to their loyal Apple fans waiting in line in Omaha, Nebraska. Judging by the hoodies and scarf, it looks like it was a chilly morning in the cornhusker state. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)You can look, but you can't touch: A crowd of people wait in line to buy the 4S outside New York's Upper West Side Apple Store. Those toward the front of the line could see into the warm, inviting glow of the store, but couldn't get a new phone into their hands until Apple actually opened its doors. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)Apple Stores weren't the only places you could pick up an iPhone 4S on launch day. AT&T, Verizon and Sprint locations, as well as retailers like Radio Shack and Best Buy, were also stocking the handset. This photo, taken in front of a Philadelphia area Sprint store, looks a lot less chaotic than in front of Apple Stores. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)