text:
(Part 2 in a series: Part 1 talked about Whats Wrong with Old School Baseball Stats).
More and more in modern baseball writing, you see relatively new statistical creations thrown into articles in order to prove or disprove an opinion, and more and more you almost need a glossary to properly read these articles and properly understand what the author is attempting to say. I always want to understand that which I read, and at the same time I want to make sure I stay current and up-to-date on the stats out there, so I decided to do a little research (and pen my own post while I was at it) into some of these newer stats that are being used.
I'll write about each stat, give links to its calculation, write about how it may be used, then put in some rules of thumb by which to consider the stat.
Pretty much every stat here is defined and available at either Baseball-reference.com or fangraphs.com. BaseballProspectus.com also has some more obscure stats discussed further below. I've always thought that B-R's interface was so much easier to navigate that I tend to search there first, but a more complete set of stats is at fangraphs.
1. BABIP. Batting Average on Balls in Play. Most people know this one, but it is an important stat to consider in conjunction with other stats (especially the older Batting Average and Earned Run Average). The calculation, as it is seen at Wikipedia, measures basically how many balls put into play (removing from consideration home runs) turned into hits. Interestingly it penalizes the hitter for hitting sacrifice flies (not sure why). This stat is kept for both individual hitters and for pitchers.
How is BABIP used? The measurement is essentially used as a checkpoint for fluky seasons. If a pitcher has a very high ERA but also has a very high BABIP, one can explain that he's been unlucky and his talent level lays somewhere below his posted performance on the year. Ironically, the two leaders of Pitcher BABIP in 2012 were both on the Tigers; Rick Porcello and Max Scherzer had BABIPs of .344 and .333 respectively; this delta is probably going to lead to both of these guys having better ERAs in 2013. If a hitter has a decent hitting season but also has a high BABIP, one usually says that the hitter was "lucky" and is due to regress (Mike Trout in 2012 had a Babip of .383. That's really high, probably unsustainably high, and he probably regresses statistically in 2013).
MLB Average/Rule of thumb: .290-.300 depending on the year.
When BABIP is high: a hitter is considered to be "lucky," and future regression of more batted balls being turned into outs is expected.
When BABIP is low, a hitter is considered to be "unlucky," and future improvement of more hits on batted balls is expected.
Caveats using BABIP: there are many arguments about whether some pitchers "baseline BABIP" should be modified based on their talent or capabilites. For example, Mariano Rivera's career BABIP is .262 while R.A. Dickey's BABIP since he turned into a Mets knuckleballing starter is around .275. Rivera's lower baseline is probably attributed to his amazing cutter and his pure skill, while Dickey's is most likely due to the fluctuations of hitting his knuckleball. Meanwhile, some hitters maintain higher than average career BABIPs (two extreme examples that immediately come to mind are Ichiro Suzuki and Nyjer Morgan, with career BABIPs of .347 and .336 respectively. Why so high? Because both are skilled at bunting (or at least hitting choppy grounders) for base hits, artificially inflating their baseline BABIP.
2. ISO; Isolated Power. As posted on Wiki, Isolated power can be simply calculated by subtracting a hitter's batting average from the slugging percentage, or as it is more eloquently defined at FanGraphs, ISO is essentially a measure of how many extra base hits a batter hits per at-bat. Slugging tells you how many bases per at bat a hitter obtains, but ISO strips out singles to isolate a player's capability of hitting doubles, triples and homers. Here's a couple of decent examples from 2012; our own Bryce Harper hits a ton of extra base hits; he's posted a .206 ISO for the 2012 season. Meanwhile we know that the aforementioned Nyjer Morgan is not a very powerful hitter and ISO shows it; he's at .069 for the 2012 season. The league leaders for ISO reads like a list of MLB's best sluggers. Giancarlo Stanton would have led the league in ISO had he qualified; he posted a fantastic .318 ISO in 2012.
How is it used? ISO is used to measure how good a hitter is at getting extra-base hits.
MLB Average/Rule of thumb (from Fangraphs page) .145 is considered an "average" MLB ISO figure. .200 is pretty good, .100 is poor.
Caveats using ISO: as with many sabremetric-tinged stats, small sample sizes greatly skew the figures. Fangraphs says 550 ABs is needed before really drawing any judgements.
3. wOBA; Weighted On Base Average. Created by Tom Tango, wOBA is a relatively newer statistic that attempts to improve upon the traditional batting statistics we use (Batting Average, Slugging and On Base Percentage) by measuring cumulative "weighted" hits that a batter may achieve. It is based on the premise that the three traditional stats just mentioned all treat hitting events relatively the same. Is a single equal to a double? No, but in Batting Average it is. Is a double worth half as much as a home-run? No, but in the Slugging Percentage it is. Each hitting event is weighted and added together, with increases/decreases for stolen bases/caught stealing thrown in, to arrive at a measurement that attempts to better quantify pure hitting.
How is it used? wOBA attempts to be set to the same scale as the league wide OBP, which seems to hover around .315-.320 year to year.
MLB Average/Rule of thumb (from Fangraphs page) .320 is a good "league average" number. .370 is great, .300 is poor.
Caveats using wOBA: There are several to keep in mind; the weights change year to year, in order to normalize the stat across generations. It is NOT normalized to park factors, so hitters in places like Boston and Colorado will have artificially inflated wOBAs to their true value. Lastly, there's zero context given to the game situation when measuring hits (i.e. was there a guy on third with one out? Was it a close game in the 9th?) I think particular situation is nearly impossible to measure in any stat, but it is important.
4. RC/wRC: Runs Created and Weighted Runs Created. Runs Created is a stat that Bill James invented in one of his earlier Baseball Abstracts (1985) in order to try to measure simply how many runs an individual player contributed to the team in a given season. It was improved upon vastly in 2002 to be much more detailed and accurate; the original version over-emphasized some factors of hitting. It is a complicated statistic (see its wiki page for the formula). The aforementioned Tom Tango improved upon the basic RC by creating the Weighted version of the statistic based on his own Weighted OBA statistic (which he believed more closely measures the proper "value" of each hitting event).
How is it used? Individually, RC and wRC need to be understood in context of an entire season. It isn't until we get to wRC+ (see below) that a side-by-side comparison is capable. Its like saying "Player X has 105 hits." If that's through 75 games, that's pretty good; if that's for an entire season, well that's pretty poor.
MLB Average/Rule of thumb (from Fangraphs page) RC and wRC both have roughly the same scales. 60 is average, 100 is great, 50 is poor for a full season.
Caveats using RC and wRC: They are basically full season counting numbers. In 2012, Trout started in the minors, so his RC and wRC totals are less than his MVP competition Miguel Cabrera.
5. wRC+/wRAA: Weighted Runs Created Plus/Weighted Runs Above Average
wRAA and especially wRC+ are touted by fangraphs.com as being very good "single number" statistics to properly measure a player's hitting ability. I often use OPS+ as a singular number to measure a hitter; fangraphs specifically calls out this number and recommends using wRC+.
How is it used? Both numbers basically measure the same thing. wRC+ is a bit easier to explain; 100 is the league baseline, and points above or below the average are expressed as "percentage points above or below the league average." So, a person with a 120 wRC+ is considered to be 20% better at creating runs than the average major leaguer. Cabrera and Trout ironically tied for the MLB lead for 2012 in wRC+, each posting a 166 wRC+. Meanwhile wRAA (per fangraphs.com) "measures the number of offensive runs a player contributes to their team compared to the average player" and is scaled to zero. wRAA is essentially a direct calculation from wOBA, so if you're using one you can likely ignore the other.
MLB Average/Rule of thumb (from Fangraphs page) for wRC+: 100 is average while for wRAA zero (0) is average. 20-25 percentage points above is great, while 15-20 percentage points below is bad.
Caveats for using: Unlike wOBA, wRC+ is park- and league-adjusted, indeed making it an excellent single number by which to measure players. Otherwise the caveats for these weighted averages are all about the same; they seem to be based on an weighting of hits that you may or may not agree with.
What have I learned from looking into these hitting stats? I need to keep BABIP in mind. I like ISO but I don't see it gaining real credence over slugging percentage. And I should probably start using wRC+ more than OPS+.
Part 3 coming up on Pitching advanced stats.


text:
|FreeBSD General Other questions regarding FreeBSD which do not fit in any of the categories below.
|Thread Tools
|Display Modes
FreeBSD 7.0 hanging up randomly
My freebsd 7.0 system keeps hanging up sometimes, and the computer becomes absolutely unresponsive( as in *nothing* works). Even the speakers emit garbage. The system does not even restart and there is no kernel dump(I did set all the dump parameters). I have to do a forced shutdown and I can't seem to pick up any evidence as to why the crash happened. I thought that this might be a bug of some sort in the release CD, so I synced with the latest stable tree and recompiled and it happened again today. It's not like it happens very often but it does happen. My hardware is the Dell Vostro 1400 laptop. The following is my make.conf:-
CFLAGS= -O2 -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe
CXXFLAGS+= -fconserve-space
COPTFLAGS= -O -pipe
# added by use.perl 2008-06-29 04:07:27
Also I had to patch my kernel to get my NIC working.
What could be the source of this problem?(I know it's very vague but this is excatly what it is)
Is there anyone out there with a similar problem?
I had a similar problem with my Dell Inspiron 9400 which has the Intel 3945ABG NIC. My system used to freeze when I copied large amounts of data via the network. Is there anything specific that you are doing to make it freeze or is it random?
i really can't say....to me it appeared completely random....or maybe I haven't yet figured out what was going on before the crash happened.
P.S I did do a memtest86 on my RAM and they're fine. Just to check for hardware problems.
Also I have the broasdcom BCM5906M NIC for which the kernel had no drivers and so I had to patch and recompile to get it working.
Are you sure all your hardware is working properly. Random hang-ups could actually be caused by a CPU overheating or similar. It isn't entirely implausible if you were compiling software from ports at the time.
When the crash happened, what applications did you have running? Was X running? What are the complete specifications of this laptop?
"UNIX is basically a simple operating system, but you have to be a genius to understand the simplicity."
MacBook Pro (Darwin 9), iMac (Darwin 9), iPod Touch (Darwin 9), Dell Optiplex GX620 (FreeBSD 7.1-STABLE)
I had similar problems with FreeBSD 7. It would freeze for no apparent reason I thought. Then I figured out that when I turn off DBUS, HAL and related services this would stop. I've switched to OpenBSD on my laptop now so I don't have those problems any more and I can't go deeper into debugging but I wanted to share this observation.
I constantly moniter the CPU temperatures. They were within the safe thresholds. No, I wasn't compiling anything at that time. I had X running, and I was trying to watch a movie on vlc. The desktop environment I was using at that time was GNOME with all it's associated DBUS and HAL stuff. Also I had linuxdcpp running in the background.
The complete specifications of my laptop are:-
Intel core 2 duo T9300 @ 2.5 GHz
4 GB DDR2 ram @ 667 MHz
200 GB hard drive @ 7200 rpm
NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS(I was running it on the "nv" driver)
Anything else you need?
I sort of have the problem which NightWeaver is having. *Random freezes*. I really don't know what's causing it and I have no clue as to which program might be the culprit. All the programs at that time was pretty run-of-the-mill. Plus even if one of those programs did cause the freeze, there was no way I could have found out cause it was like an absolute freeze. Help appreciated.
Try disabling DBUS, HAL and related services and see what happens. Random freezing stopped for me with those disabled.
If it moves, crypt it. Unless it's static - than you should double-crypt it.
With "random" freezes, I'd likely start by testing the RAM. Get the latest memtest86+, boot with it, and get a good book to read while it runs its tests.
Also, check /var/log/messages for any signs that your system is complaining about hardware (especially anything power related).
Kill your t.v.
Testing RAM is also important here. I'd try the suggestion about services first and move on from there.
I thought /tmp and /var/tmp were not dumped during a crash or ever unless the option was specifically specified in rc.conf. You might have a poke around /tmp or /var/tmp. Also, is VLC a common denominator in all your crashes. I've had issues where mplayer wasn't configured properly and cause repeated crashes because of the output driver.
"UNIX is basically a simple operating system, but you have to be a genius to understand the simplicity."
MacBook Pro (Darwin 9), iMac (Darwin 9), iPod Touch (Darwin 9), Dell Optiplex GX620 (FreeBSD 7.1-STABLE)
If it moves, crypt it. Unless it's static - than you should double-crypt it.
try these:
core2 is only supported on gcc 4.3 FreeBSD 7.0 uses 4.2 if you want 64bit then use nacona instead of prescott
-O -pipe were default on FreeBSD 4/5 now use these defaults: -O2 -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe
CPUTYPE=prescott CFLAGS= -O2 -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe -s CXXFLAGS+= -fconserve-space COPTFLAGS= -O2 -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe -s
religions, worst damnation of mankind
"If 386BSD had been available when I started on Linux, Linux would probably never had happened." Linus Torvalds
Linux is not UNIX! Face it! It is not an insult. It is fact: GNU is a recursive acronym for "GNU's Not UNIX".
vermaden's: links resources deviantart spreadbsd
I did run memtest86 and found no errors. As for the CPUTYPE, freebsd 7.0 automatically defaults to prescott for the 32 bit version if you set core2.And I did check /var/log/messages. Did not find anything unsual except for the following two line which seem to appear everytime I boot up.
503 Jul 28 16:22:14 Death-Star kernel: acpi0: reservation of 0, 9f000 (3) failed
504 Jul 28 16:22:14 Death-Star kernel: acpi0: reservation of 100000, dfd6d800 (3) failed
P.S This laptop is brand new. So I really don't think there's a hardware problem. And anyways I did run mentest86 just to check and there were no errors. I sort of have a feeling that whatever the problem is, it's in freeBSD 7.0. 6.2 was *rock-solid* for me. But that was on a different laptop.
Damn!...It happened again!!...was just browsing the net on firefox...no other programs were running....cpu temperatures were hovering around 40 degrees centigrade (104 degrees Fahrenheit)...Is that ok?....am now suspecting that is might have something to do with the NIC drivers, but I don't know for sure.
Last edited by mc_i2020; 28th July 2008 at 06:30 PM.
everytime I log out of opera, firefox, or seamonkey I run a small
shell script to clean out their cache. Started that in win98 when
firefox crashed without it. I'd start there...
FreeBSD 12.0-CURRENT
How long did you run Memtest? Also, vermaden, it's nocona, nacona.
"UNIX is basically a simple operating system, but you have to be a genius to understand the simplicity."
MacBook Pro (Darwin 9), iMac (Darwin 9), iPod Touch (Darwin 9), Dell Optiplex GX620 (FreeBSD 7.1-STABLE)
For about an hour and a half...it did not report any errors till then,so i just quit...should I continue it for longer?
I typically run memtest+ until it passes 2 or 3 times.
You should run it for around 12 hours, which is the safe mark. I've had errors pop up after three or four hours. 90 minutes is not enough.
"UNIX is basically a simple operating system, but you have to be a genius to understand the simplicity."
MacBook Pro (Darwin 9), iMac (Darwin 9), iPod Touch (Darwin 9), Dell Optiplex GX620 (FreeBSD 7.1-STABLE)
My computer crashed again today, but instead of forcing it to shutdown, I just waited and it did reboot and I got a kernel dump with a Fatal trap 12: Page fault.
The backtrace is given below:-
Fatal trap 12: page fault while in kernel mode
cpuid = 1; apic id = 01
fault virtual address = 0x8021
fault code = supervisor read, page not present
instruction pointer = 0x20:0xc071c2c7
stack pointer = 0x28:0xe7386920
frame pointer = 0x28:0xe7386958
code segment = base 0x0, limit 0xfffff, type 0x1b
= DPL 0, pres 1, def32 1, gran 1
processor eflags = interrupt enabled, resume, IOPL = 0
current process = 25119 (make)
trap number = 12
panic: page fault
cpuid = 1
Uptime: 21m41s
Physical memory: 3573 MB
Dumping 219 MB: 204 188 172 156 140 124 108 92 76 60 44 28 12
#0 doadump () at pcpu.h:195
195 pcpu.h: No such file or directory.
in pcpu.h
(kgdb) bt
#0 doadump () at pcpu.h:195
#1 0xc0579cf1 in boot (howto=260) at /usr/src/sys/kern/kern_shutdown.c:409
#2 0xc0579fc4 in panic (fmt=Variable "fmt" is not available.
) at /usr/src/sys/kern/kern_shutdown.c:563
#3 0xc078b144 in trap_fatal (frame=0xe73868e0, eva=32801) at /usr/src/sys/i386/i386/trap.c:899
#4 0xc078b394 in trap_pfault (frame=0xe73868e0, usermode=0, eva=32801) at /usr/src/sys/i386/i386/trap.c:812
#5 0xc078bcfa in trap (frame=0xe73868e0) at /usr/src/sys/i386/i386/trap.c:490
#6 0xc07736ab in calltrap () at /usr/src/sys/i386/i386/exception.s:139
#7 0xc071c2c7 in allocdirect_merge (adphead=0x1, newadp=0xc8cd4480, oldadp=0x8001) at /usr/src/sys/ufs/ffs/ffs_softdep.c:1744
#8 0xe7386974 in ?? ()
#9 0xc6c9f440 in ?? ()
#10 0x00080120 in ?? ()
#11 0x00000000 in ?? ()
#12 0x00004000 in ?? ()
#13 0xc6c45a70 in ?? ()
#14 0xc865cd00 in ?? ()
#15 0x00000000 in ?? ()
#16 0xcb6e6e70 in ?? ()
#17 0xc6c21800 in ?? ()
#18 0xe73869e4 in ?? ()
#19 0xc070f6a1 in ffs_update (vp=0x926ce860, waitfor=1166802943) at /usr/src/sys/ufs/ffs/ffs_inode.c:110
Previous frame inner to this frame (corrupt stack?)
religions, worst damnation of mankind
"If 386BSD had been available when I started on Linux, Linux would probably never had happened." Linus Torvalds
Linux is not UNIX! Face it! It is not an insult. It is fact: GNU is a recursive acronym for "GNU's Not UNIX".
vermaden's: links resources deviantart spreadbsd
|Thread Tools
|Display Modes
Linear Mode
|Similar Threads
|Thread Starter
|Last Post
|Apache Randomly Stops Working
|OpenBSD Packages and Ports
|4th May 2009 04:41 PM
|opensolaris latop keeps hanging screen freezes
|16th January 2009 07:08 PM
|Hanging on boot command syscons
|FreeBSD General
|28th November 2008 09:07 AM
|FreeBSD 7.0 hanging up randomly - again
|FreeBSD General
|6th September 2008 05:24 PM

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Welcome to Project Car Hell, where you choose your eternity by selecting the project that's the coolest... and the most hellish! Today we have a couple of projects that defy easy categorization.
There are the projects that make your friends shake their heads in awe, and then there are the ones that just make them shake their heads, period. You lock yourself in the Hell Garage and tell yourself that the stench of sulfur is perfectly normal. We had a pair of old Lincolns win the last Choose Your Eternity poll, so we're going to see if Ford's luxury marque can keep the string going… against one of the most ridiculous- yet coolest- project trucks we've ever seen.
I prefer to use the CAPS LOCK key sparingly, if at all, but sometimes there's just no choice but to apply it to the name of a Hell Project. When you take a four-wheel-drive chassis from a one-off Alaskan snowplow and perch the body of a 404 Unimog on top: behold the might of MOGZILLA! We're not looking at your usual silly-body-bolted-onto-Blazer-chassis deal here; why, that wouldn't even be particularly hellish! These days, MOGZILLA doesn't quite look as nice as it did when the photos in the listing were taken (and wouldn't you know it, the seller can't seem to provide any shots of its current appearance), because… well, there was a little mishap: "While attempting to set a world record for longest water crossing in a monster truck (dont ask me, I had nothing to do with it) the truck got stuck in the Hudson river in NY and the running gear got water in it and eventually froze up and busted the rear axle gears. The owner tried to replace the rear axle with one from a U.S. Deuce and a Half truck, but to find out that it turned the opposite direction of the existing drivetrain. So now it sits." Right, so it's a mystery Alaskan snowplow chassis- the secrets of which are probably buried in a hole in the permafrost- with an equally mysterious (and dead) drivetrain that rotates in the wrong direction, and the body of a vehicle so beloved by its aficionados that they won't be able to restrain themselves from attempting to tear your throat out with their teeth the moment they see your monstrosity. No problem! Thanks to Ben for the tip.
Sometimes there's a project car that so embodies both sides of the totally cool/totally hell PCH philosophy that its appearance on eBay triggers a disturbance in the Van Allen Belt, jolting hundreds of Hell Project addicts from their slumbers and triggering a phenomenon known as Optimism In The Face Of Eternal Vehicular Torment Disorder (OITFOEVTD). OITFOEVTD- which should be included in the DSM any day now- causes its sufferers to believe that they are capable of bringing the most hopeless Hell Projects back to life, and this early-40s customized Lincoln is such a project. Within hours of its appearance online, I had several tips on it- thanks, guys!- and no doubt many of the rest of you are cursing me for bringing in even more bidding competition for your
nightmare dream project. It's a 1941 Lincoln Custom limo chassis with a heavily customized body, which the seller theorizes was built between the mid 1940s and the early 1950s. A lot of talk about possible appearances in car magazines of that period follows in the description, but the upshot is that nobody seems to know the real history of this car… which doesn't keep it from having a reserve price of $17,900. It's got a Ford flathead V8 in it now, but of course it should be powered by a Lincoln V12, regardless of the dictates of 1947 hot-rodding fashion (if the brain worms noshed the last remaining specks of my rational mind and I purchased this fine machine, I'd immediately start shopping for a GMC Twin Six… and a bulletproof vest to protect me from whatever scary variety of purist would insist on this thing remaining Ford-powered). The seller seems to think it will be an easy project and implies that owning it would make even Billy Gibbons hisself look at his own collection and shake his head in despair. Of course! You can't go wrong here!


text:
Transfer news: Burnley striker Charlie Austin fails medical at Hull City
Charlie Austin's move from Burnley to Premier League new boys Hull City is off after the striker failed a medical.
Last Updated: 09/07/13 3:04pm
Hull boss Steve Bruce has made Austin one of his top transfer targets this summer and has been chasing him for several weeks.
A fee had been agreed between the two clubs but Austin has now failed his medical, with a problem with his knee having shown up on scans.
The 24-year-old has established himself as one of the most prolific strikers in the country since being plucked from non-league football by Swindon four years ago, scoring 82 goals in 155 games for Swindon and Burnley.
"Well first and foremost it is totally disappointing for him in particular," Bruce told Sky Sports News.
"We have been working on it for the last three or four weeks behind the scenes but unfortunately he has a bit of a knee problem and with the amount of money at stake in the transfer fee the problem has shown up pretty visibly with the scan and unfortunately that has put a stop to the deal.
"So it is disappointing, very disappointing, and I have to say on behalf of us all particularly disappointing for Charlie the boy.
"It is totally frustrating, but one thing you have got to do and where football is now the sport science and medical department is now bigger than it's ever been and rightly so with the amounts of money that is being thrown about
"But obviously there is a problem there and a problem which we didn't think we could mend quickly and we have decided to put a halt to it.
"I haven't spoken to him this morning. I was with his dad and agent last night and he is obviously disappointed, but I just hope for him the situation doesn't flare up for him and he can go on to still have a very good career.
"It's no secret we need a striker and we possibly need a couple of them and that's been the aim since we finished the season. That is still on the agenda.
"It is always the most difficult to find because everyone is after a striker, but we go back to drawing board.
"We've still got six weeks before we start really and let's hope we can go somewhere else."
Austin has just 12 months remaining on his current deal and, with no indication that he will sign a new deal, Burnley had been forced to try to cash in on him.
The collapse of the transfer has provided Bruce with further frustration in his efforts to add extra firepower to his squad following Hull's promotion to the top flight and he has previously seen a bid for Celtic striker Gary Hooper rejected.
The likes of Swansea's Luke Moore, West Bromwich Albion's Peter Odemwingie and South African forward Katlego Mphela have also been linked with moves to the KC Stadium, and Bruce will now go back to the drawing board.
The Tigers have so far signed Maynor Figueroa, Curtis Davies and Allan McGregor in addition to securing permanent deals for George Boyd and Ahmed Elmohamady.


text:
Wow wow wee waa! I was in Martinsville for business and went here for lunch and will definitely be back next time I'm in Virginia. In fact, I would drive 50 miles to eat here again.— Yelp Review
You have 0
($0.00) in your shopping cart.
You have 0 items in your shopping cart.
View Cart
Martinsville, VA


text:
"O Israel, . . . thou hast destroyed thyself, but in Me is thine help. I will be thy King, for where is any other that may save thee in all of thy cities . . . ?" Hosea 13:9-14
"Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel . . . be glad and rejoice with all thy heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. For the LORD (Jehovah, Yehuwah) hath taken away thy judgments* (Galatians 3:13, Deuteronomy 28:15-47), He hath cast out thine enemy . . . . Yea, the King of Israel, even the LORD, is in the midst (heart) of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more . . .
In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem . . . My city and My people which are called by My name (Daniel 9:19) . . . Fear thou not ___________ (your name), and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. For the LORD thy God (Elohim) in the midst of thee is Mighty* (full of power, a Warrior, valiant and strong); He will SAVE !
He will rejoice over thee __________ (your name) with joy; He will rest (engrave) in His love, He will joy over thee with singing . . . !" Zephaniah 3:14-17, I Peter 2:5-9 and Ephesians 2:10 Continue reading


text:
ICT has been cut loose, not set free
January 11, 2012 4 Comments
The english language, unlike computer coding, is beautiful. The language is ever changing, different words from different counties make it the language of business and love. It allows for many words or expressions to be used in many different ways. It has rules that can be broken without any seeming rhyme nor reason.
The english language, unlike computer coding, is open for interpretation. One word or expression can mean something different, depending on the context and the way in which it has been used. For instance, when Michael Gove says 'From this September, all schools will be free to use the amazing resources that already exist on the web'. What he really means is 'From this September, all schools will be cut loose to wade through the myriad of resources that already exist'.
The idiom 'cut something' loose means 'to get rid of something'. To abandon, to give up on something. Today, Michael Gove ridded himself of ICT; cut it loose from government control and influence.
The speech that Michael Gove delivered today wasn't wholly without merit. There were many aspects of these proposals that ICT teachers have been trumpeting in forums for years. For instance, by having an open source policy it is allowing teachers the freedom to breathe new life into the curriculum. As a result, we should see the subject reinvigorated with fresh ideas that will allow the scope of the curriculum to broaden and tap into unexplored or lesser travelled routes of learning. To a certain degree, it will allow each school/academy to tailor its delivery of ICT to the needs of its student body and therefore make differentiation less time consuming.
For all the positives there are of course the obvious negatives. There are real concerns about how this open source approach will work in real terms, at the removable dry-wipe marker face. Too much scope and schools will end up with too broad a curriculum that tries to be all things to all people but ends up being as thin as a LED-VDU. When new exam courses are written, schools will end up teaching to the exam as they do now, therefore negating any such freedoms given.
The single biggest issue will be getting the teachers in to deliver the new curriculum. Gove placed emphasis on training for teachers. Will this training be free? Probably not. Will it be available for a September start? Probably not. Teachers need the training, after all, you wouldn't allow someone to teach maths if they couldn't add up. The training will be offered at great expense by the very companies now calling for fundamental change.
Which brings us to Michael Gove's true and unwritten agenda. In his speech today he set the wheels in motion towards his ultimate aim. Which is a curriculum that is designed and built based on what private companies think are important. He has already stated that he has no ideological opposition with companies making a profit out of education.
It should take no-one by surprise that these proposals were announced at BETT, the world's leading event for educational technology. By cutting ICT loose from government control and handing the reins over to Google and IBM, he is allowing education to be dictated to by market forces. With government cutting ICT loose and getting out of the way, there will be no-one to guide institutions as to what works and what doesn't. The market will decide and as we have learnt from recent history, the market doesn't always get it right.
Yes, there are some positives in this speech and some good will come out of it, it always does. However, I would say that Michael Gove, under the pretence of setting ICT free, has in fact, simply cut the subject loose. Abandoning it to fend for itself against private industry and interest who see only pound signs not exam marks.


text:
A Clarification of Thought Event
Kathy Kelly, long-time peacemaker and co-founder of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, will describe her recent experiences in Gaza during the final days of the Operation Cast Lead assault, and also discuss ways to nonviolently resist the UASs- Unmanned Aerial Systems (drones), used to attack people in Gaza, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. She and 14 companions were recently arrested at the gates of Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, headquarters for U.S. usage of the drones.
Please join us on Friday, May 1, 2009 @ 7:30 p.m.
Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, 503 Rock Creek Church Rd., NW.
For more info call 202.882.9649 or 202.360.6416


text:
image from http://sinfest.net/view.php?date=2006-05-18
image from http://sinfest.net/view.php?date=2006-05-18
British Wildlife & Photography
"Author David Masciotra is insightful, brilliant at times..." - In These Times
Minimal-state, low-tax, free-markets minarchist-libertarianism. Opposing all manifestations of Leftism
Dissecting the best crime drama on television and radio from around the world
By Dan Sims
Body Weight Exercies + Paleo Diet = The Primal Lifestyle!
We Review The Top Weightloss & Diet Products
Choose Weight Loss. Choose Health.
Sooz, just Sooz
The Casual Way to Discuss Movies
An award-winning filmmaker and screenwriter talks movies.
Mostly pithy film reviews and Netflix
healthy living, dieting, life goals, SMART planning, fulfilling your potential
A society dedicated to promoting awareness of the continuing importance of the 92 historic (or traditional) Counties of the United Kingdom.
Aspera Ad Astra


text:
Lady Gaga Goes Makeup-Free on Porter Cover, Says She Is Not Driven by Sexuality [VIDEO]
Lady Gaga ditched the wigs, the crazy makeup and costumes for her Porter cover. It's the mag's second issue and the fashion icon stripped down, showing off a bare face and simple blonde hair with bangs, looking like Courtney Love being made over to look like Stevie Nicks. Mother Monster also spoke about her sexuality and how it does not drive her.
Her look and image here were still uniquely Gaga, despite being so dialed down.
Seeing her without all of her Gaga-ness is actually quite refreshing. It's probably Ma Monster's loveliest cover.
In a candlelit video interview for the mag, Gaga tickled the ivories, performed in acoustic fashion, showing us a musically naked and sacred version of herself, without all the excess. She performed 'ARTPOP' in dramatic fashion, demonstrating the solid structure of the song.
Her viewpoint and perspective on her own sexuality are interesting, since she does not process her music as female or feminine.
"My sexuality doesn't play a big part in my life like that," she mused. "It's much more of an animalistic, pure thing and I struggled with understanding it my whole life, since I felt more connected to male artists and more connected to rock 'n' roll and more connected to glam culture."
Gaga furthered, "Today we tried wigs on, the ones that were more girly or pretty, I felt uncomfortable, since that's not how I see my music. There is a certain power in ignoring pretense about sexual orientation or gender."
She continued, "To me, a canvas doesn't have gender, so if you are a vehicle, you have to annihilate all those pre-conceived notions. Some people are driven by their sexuality and it's part of who they are but it's just not for me."
That makes sense -- since she was magnetically drawn to male, rock artists, she doesn't see her music as girly pop, and it isn't.
Her femaleness is not a priority or a definer for her, either. "Being a woman is a secondary part of my existence," she said. "I'm much more concerned with my consciousness and knowing that I am my fans and my fans are me. We are each other. All people are connected. It's all about compassion and love."
See more pics from Gaga's Porter shoot here.
Watch Lady Gaga Interview for Porter


text:
Fra: H.C. Andersen Til: Anna Mary Livingstone
Sprog: engelsk.
"Rolighed", Østerbro
Copenhagen 14 August 1872
My dear young friend!
It gave me much pleasure to receive your nice letter and to hear about your trip to the Hebrides. The Description was so fresh and lively that I imagined myself there. The greenstone enclosed in your letter fell among the gravel in the garden when I opened it and could not be found, I therefore beg you to send me a piece of the same kind in your next letter, I shall then take care of it and keep it, not only as a protection against dangers of the sea, but as a kind remembrance of my young friend. During the latter Days my mind and that of many many in Denmark has been occupied with the thought of your glorious father, whe have all rejoiced that he was still alive and had been found. Tears came into my eyes, when I read about Mr Stanleys meeting with him, and I felt inclined to embrace Mr Bennett for his words:/ "it is not a question of money, only find Livingstone.
When Papa comes home, Miss Mary will accompany him to Denmark, so my dear young friend wrote in one of her first letters to me, I wish my hope could be realized. All hearts and doors will be opened to you, and particularly, I can say so, of the Melchiors family, the home where I am spending my sommer. Their handsome Villa is situated opposite the sea, near Copenhagen. Your sister once paid me a visit there.
What a yoy it would give us all if your father amde up his mind to come and see our norhtern countires. Denmark is like a large English garden, Sweden and Norway remind one of Scotland.
Lucky Mary! to have Livingstone for a father, his name will live / in distant times to come, when railways will cross the lands where he with confidens in the Allmighty and for the good of mankind has been tried during many weary days and nights.
Lucky Mary! may God grant you and all your dearones a pappy meeting with your beloved father in Scottland. He will have many tales to tell, what will those I have created seem to be in comparison to the adventures that he has experienced. Do not forget to mention me to him when you embrace him, remember me, kindly to your dear aunt, who has been a mother to and has lived only for his children.
I hope soon to hear from you again, believe me dear little Miss Mary Livingstone your true and severe friend.
Hans Christian Andersen


text:
Sometimes life is a Pixar movie, and this is one of those times: the fun, yet pathos-ridden, adults-and-kids-will-both-enjoy flick Raccoon Mechanic will undoubtedly be winning Oscars by 2015.
Those scampy raccoons! They're either repairing your jalopy or banging right outside your window. You gotta respect it. Work hard, play hard.
[via Tastefully Offensive]


text:
French Laundry-inspired chef launches gluten-free flour line
When a diner burst into tears in the middle of the French Laundry dining room in Yountville, Thomas Keller and Lena Kwak were utterly charmed. The gluten-allergic guest had just tasted her first piece of bread in seven years -- and it was thanks to Kwak, the restaurant's research development chef.
The wheat flour-substitute that made the bread so memorable is now available in stores, and Kwak and her 2-year-old company, Cup4Cup, have been honored with prizes and accolades, including a Martha Stewart American Made award this past fall and a place on Forbes' "30 Under 30: Food and Wine" notables list.
With Keller's backing, New York-born Kwak's company went national in 2011, sending bags of the gluten-free flour to Williams-Sonoma stores. A pizza crust mix has just been added, and a pancake-waffle combination is set to launch in April. Not bad for a 27-year-old private chef who essentially created her own job at one of the nation's most famous restaurants.
Naturally, we had questions.
Q. Wait a second -- you created your own job at French Laundry?
A. It's always been my motto: It never hurts to ask. I'd proposed a new job as research development chef in 2008. A lot of people were coming with dietary restrictions, so it was to address the larger food allergens (and issues) coming in -- sugar-free, vegans, celiacs. It never hurts to ask, and look what has happened.
Q. So you started doing bread at French Laundry?
A. We were seeing an increasing number of guests coming in with gluten-free (needs). Chef asked me to recreate the canapes -- the classic gougeres and cornets are the only thing on the menu that stays constant day to day -- and we were doing bread service. The reaction to the bread was so strong and powerful. People were crying. That was really touching. I sat down with chef and told him the story. It really resonated -- how do we share this with the world?
Q. What happened next?
A. We were not trying to create the best gluten-free flour. Our gold standard was really wheat -- and creating something where the flavor, texture, performance matched wheat flour. It's incredible how chef Keller has mentored me. Even as a chef, he's such an intuitive businessman. In this process, I've been taken away outside the kitchen and force-fed an MBA, you know? I've always wanted to get one -- and will eventually -- but it's been a crash course. That's really been the greatest part about this, being thrown into a situation and adapting.
Q. Do you have gluten allergies yourself?
A. I'm not a celiac, but I probably don't eat that much wheat anymore. I think people are becoming more aware of what they're eating and how their bodies react to it. There was a time when the era was about indulgence and luxury and eating rich foods. It's a very American idea that a lot more is better. Now there's an awareness that too much of anything is a bad thing.
Q. Now you've added a pizza crust mix to the line?
A. And we're releasing a pancake-waffle mix in April. Yeah, it's the whole idea: You're trying to recreate someone's memory, the nostalgic foods they might not be able to have. A lot of people affected are children. To have a slice of pizza or pancakes or waffles and share it with their whole family, without anyone feeling left out -- it's important to eat off the same plate and share together.
Where to find it
Cup4Cup mimics wheat flour with a mixture of cornstarch, white and brown rice flour, milk powder, tapioca flour, potato starch and xanthan gum. Find both the flour ($19.95 for a 3-pound bag) and the pizza crust mix ($14.95) at William-Sonoma, Draeger's, Andronico's, some Whole Foods and other markets. For details, go to www.cup4cup.com.


text:
Brights of Nettlebed are an established family business specialising in exceptional classical furnishings with over 1,500 items in stock available for inspection in your home or office. Whether it is dining furniture, traditional sofas, period lighting, giltwood mirrors or hand woven rugs, Brights of Nettlebed offer an unrivalled service and selection as a result of continual pursual and development of the finest artisan craftsmanship, internationally. Bespoke commissions are also undertaken.
The fine art and antique dealer, Biggs of Maidenhead, was founded by my Aunt's Grandfather in 1866 and was later owned and run by my uncle, F. Roy Stamp. I worked for Biggs in Maidenhead on leaving school and as a consequence developed an affinity with fine English furniture and formed Brights of Nettlebed as an independant company in 1970. Upon my uncle's death in 1988, all records and photographic archives were handed over to Brights of Nettlebed. In 2004, my son Henry Stamp joined us after leaving education - Henry has a particular passion for period mirrors and creating faithful hand carved reproductions and bespoke commissions.
- Robert Stamp, Chairman


text:
Brendon S necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 67 diseños de 31 diseñadores freelance.
A new business is starting up, and will sell prescription glasses via the internet. As long as a customer knows his or her prescription, they'll be able to order their glasses in a variety of frames, and get them at a massive discount.
Accepted File Formats:
Vector Formats (.eps, .pdf or .ai)
As a new business, there is no existing branding to worry about. Choice of colors and imagery is left to your imagination.
The domain name will be: discounteyewear.com.au
The website has not yet been developed.
The logo should be recognisable at small sizes, and we expect it will also later be used on business cards and other stationary.
The website will take the angle of heavily discounted, but not 'cheap' (as that word implies low quality, which these are not).
My imagination at this point is limited to an iconic eye, or stylised glasses. Perhaps you can come up with something better?
I figure that the icon could be either 'just the icon', or could have the domain name text in there as well. I leave this up to you - if you've got other ideas, please try that too.
Obviously, given our target market, we would like the logo to be recognisable to those with eye trouble. So don't make any text too small, or low-contrast, etc.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


text:
Boulder, Colorado Tours
Bike Tours in Boulder
- Julie, Colorado
More Testimonials
…for information, please call us at 303.494.7062.
Our Affiliates
Boulder Bikesmith
Avery Brewing
Twisted Pine Brewing
Red Stone Meadery
Hotel Boulderado
St. Julien Hotel & Spa
Brewing Market Coffee
The Cup Boulder
About Us │
Tours │
Groups │
Schedule │
About Boulder │
FAQ's │
Reservations │
Links │
Contact Us │
Copyright © 2007-2013 Boulder Area Bicycle Adventures. All rights reserved. Designed & developed by Janna Vance


text:
These examples of celeb-inspired vector art really pushes the edge of was Adobe Illustrator can do. Made to imitate actual photographs, these vector art pictures really look, well, like photographs. The implications? Pretty soon we can all make our own posable, and nude, Angelina Jolie models.
The World's Most Photoealistic Vector Art [basang panaginip]


text:
With file sizes rapidly increasing and average consumers owning gigabytes of music, photos, and videos we've been seeing changes in the storage industry lately. Increased capacity has always been a trend, but now ease-of-use and accessibility are major factors as well. This has resulted in external hard drives becoming commonplace for casual users, as well as add-on storage being necessary for people that would probably not have considered them just a few years ago.
We recently saw an example of an external storage product aimed at home users in Western Digital's 2TB My Book Mirror Mirror Edition. This is a dual disk enclosure that could easily add one or two terabytes of storage (depending if you chose to use RAID 0 or 1) to any computer. It uses USB to connect, which limits transfer speeds and can only connect to one computer at once, but means that you can have the device working with any computer in just a few seconds. Despite its being a RAID1 product the My Book's features are limited, so users who are looking for something more than just an external hard drive will have to upgrade to more advanced.
As it turns out, WD just released something much more robust: a network-attached storage (NAS) device. While the consumer-centric My Book line already has networked devices, the ShareSpace is intended to take WD into the level of something like a NetGear ReadyNas, Buffalo Technology TeraStation, or one of the many other four disk NAS units currently available. These devices appeal to advanced home users as well as the SOHO crowd, so it's a lot more than just adding extra capacity to your setup–they bring along the security of RAID5, 4TB capacity (out of the box), accessibility from anywhere, and much more.
The ShareSpace is a 4-bay NAS device that comes populated with 1TB WD GreenPower drives. These are used because they are said to consume 33 percent less power than standard 3.5-inch disks while running quite cool. The disks are interesting, but the star of the show is the enclosure. It's an all-metal box that is about the size of five (or so) hard cover books stacked on their side (6.3 x 7.8 x 7.7-inches, WHD). It has three USB slots (two in the rear and one up front), Gigabit ethernet, and two buttons, but that's it as far as external features go. The drives are cold swappable, so it has to be powered down in order to replace them.
The build quality of the ShareSpace is quite good. The metal housing is an improvement on the standard plastic cases that we tend to see on external storage, the chassis seems rugged enough to stand up, and the entire unit is well cooled. From a design standpoint, it is not something that you would call good looking, but it's not exactly an eyesore either, so it will be fine to be stowed away on a shelf or under your desk. The ports are all easy to reach and the front USB port was a nice inclusion for usability reasons. Because the ShareSpace allows push-button data transfers, that front USB slot should definitely come in handy.
As far as features you don't see, it includes: iTunes server support, email alerts, Microsoft Active Directory support, a download manager, WD AnyWhere network backup software, MioNet remote access, an FTP server, and more. It even has administration options, like permissions, user IDs, quotas, and so on. Storage can be handled in RAID0, RAID1, or RAID5 (default for the 4TB model, leaves you with about 3TB capacity). It is compatible with Windows 2000/XP/Vista as well as OS X.
Even with all these features the ShareSpace should be easy to use–they are not trying to replace the ReadyNas NV Pro or something along those lines. Installation, as expected, is painless. You simply have to attach the ShareSpace to your network and then pop a disc in your computer, WD's tools (discovery/setup application, Anywhere BackUp, and MioNet) do the rest. This part of the setup is as easy as you would expect, and neither MioNet nor AnyWhere BackUp are new so they shouldn't need much explanation. One annoying part is that I had to update Flash within Internet Explorer, which, for people that don't use IE, can be a hassle.
The main interface with the NAS will be in your browser which is where you will be able to configure the NAS as well as access your download manager. It has the basic information you would expect (uptime monitor, IP address, percent usage, RAID level) as well as the devices tools. WD's goal was obviously to make things like permissions, user access, quotas (etc.) as easy to use as possible, and they succeeded. The backend is easy to work with, and simple tasks can be handled without too much clicking around. The system was tested with firmware 1.0.4 with MioNet 126.96.36.199.
When it comes to transfer speeds the ShareSpace did relatively well. It's not billed as a performance NAS so these weren't as important as on a SMB model, but if you are moving 3TB or so of data, speed matters. Average transfer speeds varied in the range of 6.5MB/s to 7.91MB/s (that's 52-63.28Mb/s) which are not incredibly high, but are certainly a good showing. This chart shows speeds of some other 4-bay, Gigabit ethernet devices, though most of which are more expensive than the ShareSpace. We used our own testing methods, but you will be able to get some idea of relative speed.
{ad}Speaking of price, the ShareSpace retails for $699 with two 1TB disks and for $999 with four 1TB ones. WD's Caviar Green disks (WD10EACS) are currently for sale on NewEgg.com for $130 each, so some quick math tells us that the ShareSpace is $480, though a diskless model is not available. The price puts it roughly on par with the Drobo ($500) and significantly cheaper than the Synology CS407 ($560) or ReadyNas NV+ ($949.99). Of course, these are not perfect comparisons as features can vary widely from one device to the next, but if you are looking for a 4-disk NAS for the home or SOHO environment, the ShareSpace certainly has most the features you are looking for. The per-gigabyte price is not the best out there though, so this should be taken into consideration by anyone who values capacity over features.
It's never easy to deliver a verdict on a product like WD's ShareSpace because so many factors will ultimately depend on the user's demands on the product. These demands are something that everyone will have to figure out for themselves, but what testing showed was that the ShareSpace is a very good entry-level NAS. It has a solid feature set that is extremely easy to use, and the hardware should have no problem holding up. The USB ports are a major bonus and are too often left out of products in lower price categories. Build quality is excellent, and Western Digital knows a lot about drives and connected storage, so things are looking good from that angle. The device also runs cool and nearly silent (at least it can't be heard when placed near my computer). There are some shortcomings, for example the drives are not hotswappable, controls are simplistic, the backend is a bit slow, and it does not appear that users can be put on a time schedule. It would be nice if the manual was more extensive, as things like email alerts and setting up the print server can be tricky to use, but once WD's knowledge base is running, this point may be moot. Also transfer speeds are good, but have some room for improvement, based on our testing.
Overall, the ShareSpace turned out to be a great NAS for the money and one of the better picks in its category. The most notable part about it though, is that this is a NAS that you don't need an IT department to set it up or keep it running.


text:
Harrison says he's ready after strong rehab start
ARLINGTON -- A day after his most productive rehab start to date, Rangers lefty Matt Harrison was as eager as ever to get back on a Major League mound -- and he may get his chance within the next week.
Harrison will be accompanying the Rangers on their trip to Oakland and could conceivably be slotted into the rotation during the three-game series that starts Friday in Seattle.
Harrison's rehab start for Double-A Frisco on Saturday night went smoothly. He got through eight shutout innings, throwing 86 pitches and 54 strikes. He walked one and allowed three hits. Though no date has been announced, Harrison said Sunday there's no doubt in his mind he's ready to pitch for the Rangers again.
"I felt like myself again yesterday," Harrison said, "and we'll just see what happens from there."
Harrison hasn't pitched for the Rangers since April 6 of last year. He underwent back surgery and has worked his way back to the brink of returning to the rotation, much like Saturday starter Colby Lewis did over the past two seasons. Harrison said he can't wait to pitch for the Rangers again, and that he has been "lobbying for awhile" to get that chance.
"I don't think I have the words to express it," Harrison said. "I know talking to Colby, how excited he was to get back … But when I get back on that mound, I'll take a deep breath and say, 'All right, I'm back.' But take a deep breath and, 'Here we go. I'm coming after you.' It's a big difference in that. I don't want to relax just because I got back."
Manager Ron Washington said no decisions have been made on whether Harrison will rejoin the rotation or make another start in the Minors. The club wants to see how he recovers from his longest rehab outing thus far. Pitching coach Mike Maddux and bullpen coach Andy Hawkins will evaluate his next bullpen session.
"We're certainly very happy with what Harry did last night and the manner in which he did it, but we haven't had a chance to discuss a gameplan yet," Washington said. "He's going to go on the road so Mike and Hawk can get their eyes on him instead of have second-hand information."
Harrison threw up to 94 mph Saturday, the fastest he's thrown since the surgery.
"My velocity was better, I was more focused, I was on the attack and once I got through the fourth inning was when I hit another gear," Harrison said. "I allowed one baserunner after that and we stayed on the attack … It's definitely something that I haven't felt in a long time."


text:
2011 saw six of the world's biggest clothing brands commit to the elimination of hazardous chemicals and begin to Detox - all thanks to the power of the people. Pressure is now mounting on those who have yet to commit; they must stop making excuses and start acting for change. To help, I've put together an easy-to-follow programme to help these companies cut their toxic addiction - and begin their journey to clean production.
Dear polluting clothing brands,
It looks like 2012 is set to be remembered as the year when it will be no longer acceptable to continue with the 'business as usual' of our planet and millions of people suffer at the expense of your polluting behavior.
Six of you are already on the road to recovery; now it's time to for the rest of you to come clean, and to help we have created a simple step-by-step guide to aid you in cutting your toxic addiction:
Step 1: Admit that you have a problem.
Just like any addict, the first step is admitting that you have an issue that you need to deal with and that your problem is impacting upon the lives of others. Talk to your CEO about it, and if you are the CEO, talk to the board and your employees. Tell them that this behavior has to stop.
Step 2: Go big or go home.
Commit to eliminating ALL hazardous chemicals used across your ENTIRE supply chain and in ALL your products by 2020 (those with a competitive streak can opt to commit to a date before 2020). Be sure to make your commitment public – pop it on your website, put in your annual report and tell your customers too – because if it's public, then there is no going back.
Step 3: Be open about your progress.
You want to show your customers your progress, right? Demonstrate that your supply chain is releasing less and less pollution, that your products are becoming toxic free and that you are storming ahead of the competition? Well then it that case you will need to be transparent about everything you are doing to come clean, release the data online in an easily understandable and searchable way for all to see, starting from day one.
Step 4: Tackle the obvious problems first
The textile industry uses a whole host of chemicals that need to be eliminated, some are already banned or regulated in certain regions and these should be the first to go. Such an approach will not only deal with the nastiest chemicals first, but it will also show your customers and your suppliers that you are really serious about kicking the habit and creating transformational change.
Step 5: Make your own action plan.
Now that you have committed to Detox, you need to look into details – the necessary nitty-gritty. How you will manage your supply chain communication? What green chemical alternatives will you look into? Can you simply do without some of these chemicals? Creating the plan will help you establish the answers to these important questions and identify next steps, timelines and deadlines. Each company needs to make its own action plan, because each has its own unique set of challenges and opportunities.
Step 6: Join a support group
Feeling lonely? Join others. You do not have to, but several brands that are on the Detox programme already started a "self-help" club. Not anonymous, not perfect, but helpful. They were asking others what they think about their plan to come clean and got some interesting comments.
Step 7: Make it happen
Most of all, this process is about turning words in action. It is about eliminating chemicals with toxic, hormone-disrupting properties from your supply chain and products and setting global standards across all your production facilities so that people around the world have access to clean, unpolluted water.
By taking these steps to Detox you are doing the right thing. So be bold, innovate and become a champion for a toxic-free future by abandoning your toxic past and embracing a new way of doing business that your employees, customers and fans can all be proud of.
The world is watching you.
Martin Hojsik is Head of the Detox Campaign at Greenpeace International - you can follow him at @mhojsik
(Unregistered) yvette
It seems that most school uniform here in Australia are going to polycotton and nylon I'v gone against school policy and dress my daughter in cott...
It seems that most school uniform here in Australia are going to polycotton and nylon I'v gone against school policy and dress my daughter in cotton .These synthetic fabrics emit toxins forever ! All the best on your quest It would be great to think that our cottons could be produced with less camical too !!
9 February, 2012 at 12:34
Flag abuse
To post a comment you need to be signed in.
(Unregistered) Sandy Halliday
It would be quite an achievement if we could buy clothes that had not been treated with harmful chemicals but is this going to put the price up?
It would be quite an achievement if we could buy clothes that had not been treated with harmful chemicals but is this going to put the price up?
Let's hope that they can do this well before 2020!
Sandy Halliday
9 February, 2012 at 14:03
Flag abuse
(Unregistered) Nano-Dye
we are getting so close to no toxic waste with dyeing cotton and poly/cotton textiles and guess what; the cost does not increase. just 3 more months.
26 June, 2012 at 5:09
Flag abuse
1 - 3 of 3 results.
Are you sure to remove this comment?
Are you sure to report this comment as abuse?


text:
Sign up and be the first to know about upcoming deals and receive 15% off your first purchase!
Farmhouse Decor, Chalk Paint, Clothing, Antique Furniture
This field can be seen by: Everyone Change
Register Now
To finish activating your account, check your inbox for our Welcome message and confirm your email address.
Remember Me
Forgot password?
Sign In
Username or E-mail:


text:
Is HSM ready for open-systems storage?
Is HSM ready for open systems or has is it had its day?
The drive to better align data storage policies to business needs is spurring the development of new storage management tools. Two goals are improved efficiency of assets through better utilization and greater effectiveness of people through automation. These goals converge in a renewed effort underway by several vendors to reintroduce a technology that's been around for many years--hierarchical storage management (HSM).
This time-honored mainframe technology (see "When disk wasn't cheap") never caught on in the Windows and Unix worlds. But changes in technology suggest you should take another look at HSM. And if you're thinking of implementing HSM, consider how to integrate HSM into your open systems environments.
A solution in search of a problem? Several factors have combined to limit the adoption of HSM in open systems, notably:
- Dramatically falling prices for disk storage
- Distributed nature of open systems environments
- Fundamental characteristics of open system apps
This practice resulted in an increase in overall capacity, while utilization rates fell. Although this was wasteful, as long as the emphasis was on the cost of acquisition rather than the cost of management, it seemed reasonable. However, as administrative costs have begun to outstrip hardware costs, IT managers have renewed their interest in any option that can mitigate these costs.
The decentralized nature of open systems also discouraged the adoption of HSM. In the days of non-centralized, direct-attached storage (DAS), the opportunity to reallocate excess storage didn't exist. It wasn't worth the effort to recoup space from a particular system because there wasn't a way to effectively reassign it. With the onset of storage networks, reallocating storage has become more practical, so this objection no longer applies in many environments.
Nor does the issue of open systems' more interactive (vs. mainframe's) character. Open-systems applications tend to be highly interactive, whereas mainframes--to a large extent--perform huge quantities of batch processing. And the interactive nature of open-systems apps doesn't work well with HSM. If you directly applied the mainframe approach to open systems, when users attempted to access a document, for example, they'd be faced with an hourglass icon for several minutes. The potential increase in help desk calls alone is enough to discourage adoption of HSM. That problem is particularly apparent when tape is the target media for HSM data.
HSM in today's environment
So, is there a place for HSM? The answer is a qualified yes. Some reasons to consider HSM today are:
- To reduce costs of storage management
- To improve backup/restore performance
- To improve management of large e-mail repositories and other databases
|When disk wasn't cheap
HSM also dramatically improves backup operations. In traditional backup environments, full backups are performed on a regularly. Studies have shown that a large percentage of files on file servers are rarely accessed after a few months, yet these files continue to impact the time required to perform backups and the amount of media consumed.
With HSM, these files would be migrated to tape with stubs--or fingerprints--left on primary storage, greatly reducing the size of the primary data stores. They would no longer be constantly backed up, thereby improving backup and recovery times and reducing tape consumption.
Similarly, a problem plaguing many environments today is the growth of e-mail and databases. Several vendors offer HSM-related products specifically designed for use with applications such as Microsoft Exchange or Oracle that enable the migration of old messages, attachments and infrequently accessed records to other media (see "Application-focused HSM/HSM-related products"). The promised result is a reduction in the size of the primary repositories.
Additional considerations
Integrating an HSM solution into a storage management framework shouldn't be approached without evaluating the impact on the rest of the organization. You should consider four main questions:
How well do you know your data? There needs to be a solid understanding of the data being managed in order to establish appropriate policies that correctly align with the value of the data at risk. Simply determining that a file hasn't been accessed for a certain period of time isn't sufficient to make it a candidate for migration. A clearly defined data classification methodology with broad support within the organization is one requirement for a successful HSM implementation.
What's the impact on users and applications? The impact of delays in accessing data needs to be understood before deploying HSM. Are delays acceptable? Can they be mitigated with near-line storage? Can your applications handle them appropriately?
How does HSM impact backup and other storage operations? It's important to understand what operational changes will be required to accommodate HSM. Also, where will HSM software or agents need to be deployed, and what's the impact?
How can I back out the HSM solution from the environment, if necessary? If HSM turns out to not be the right solution or there's a desire to change vendors, it's important to understand the level of effort and impact to return the environment to its non-HSM state.
With the evolution of storage networks, low-cost disk, and enhanced software offerings, HSM is worth another look. Application-focused HSM solutions, in particular, have the potential to provide some unique benefits. The success of these solutions depends on a clear understanding of requirements, benefits and risks.


text: A group of designers have come up with structures designed especially for dogs. The Architecture for Dogs project is the brainchild of Muji creative director Kenya Hara who is endeavouring to bring "a new kind of joy to the relationship between dogs and humans". The result is a quirky collection of structures that include the Chihuahua Cloud, created by Reiser + Umemoto, orange fabric that acts as both a coat...Picture: Hiroshi Yoda/Rex Features


text:
After selection of your ZIP code, we designate the relevant staff to attend to you at once.
Please select the energy chain and the "self-supporting" or "gliding" case of application.
After entering the additional load, travel distance, speed and acceleration, the service life of the energy chain is calculated. As an option, it is possible to enter outside influences such as dirt, impact and the ambient temperature.
The expected service life is specified in double strokes and kilometers.
By clicking on "Catalog page of the series selected", you will receive further information and can enquire about or order the energy chain in the catalog.
The service life calculation is available for selected energy chains and is constantly extended.


text:
By Caroline McGraw Dec 31, 2011 0
Savant Syndrome and Autism
Despite the fact that approximately only one in 10 individuals with autism have savant syndrome (and approximately 50 percent of savants have an autism spectrum diagnosis), savant syndrome remains among the most mysterious and misunderstood aspects of life on the autism spectrum. The incidence of savant syndrome is an important, if enigmatic, piece in the puzzle of how the human mind works. In fact, Stephen Edelson of the Autism Research Institute has gone so far as to say that the field of cognition will be incomplete unless more light can be shed on the phenomenon of autistic savants. Similarly, Dr. Darold Treffert, a world-renowned expert on the subject of autistic savants who has published two books on the subject, says, "When I see some of these cases, I'm in awe of their ability, and struck by that [ability] in relationship to their limitations—and I wonder, 'What does that say about all of us, and about the capacity of the brain itself? What does it say about ability within us all?'"
What Does it Mean to be a Savant?
The original term for autistic savants was idiot savant. The term is French, meaning unlearned skill. Though idiot savant has been replaced by autistic savant in the scientific lexicon, it still appears in Merriam-Webster's dictionary, as "a person affected with a mental disability (as autism or mental retardation) who exhibits exceptional skill or brilliance in some limited field (as mathematics or music)—called also savant." Treffert clears up the ambiguity in the definition by saying, "Not all autistic persons are savants, and not all savants are autistic. Dr. John Langon Down termed that condition 'idiot savant'—by which he meant, an individual with an IQ below 25, a knowledgable person in a specific area—now, it's a reprehensible term."
Hence, when an individual is referred to as a savant, it can be difficult to tell whether or not the term is meant to signify a lack of functioning in other cognitive areas. Furthermore, there are degrees of ability inherent within the term savant itself. Treffert elaborates, "There are three levels of savant ability: First, there's something called splinter skills—this would be a case with someone who has a talent for memorization above the norm, for example. Then there's something called a talented savant—someone who has a marked talent in one area—and finally, there's something called the prodigious savant—someone with truly extraordinary gifts. There are fewer than one hundred known prodigious savants living, worldwide."
Popular Conceptions of Savants on the Autism Spectrum
When most people hear the term autistic savant, their minds jump to the character of Raymond Babbitt, the focus of the film "Rain Man." However, the person on whom the "Rain Man" main character was based, Kim Peek, was not actually diagnosed with ASD. (Raymond was a "composite character," for whom Kim Peek was a primary inspiration.) In this case, one actor's role has become the basis for an entire cultural conception. Though Peek was not autistic, that performance may indeed deserve its place of primary association, as filmmakers took pains to present an accurate portrayal of savant syndrome and consulted with Treffert throughout the making of the film.
As Treffert recounts, "When the script for "Rain Man" came to Hollywood, they knew that I'd been working in that area, as my "Extraordinary People" book had just come out. They sent the script to me, and they said, we want the movie to be accurate, and to be sensitively done. And I feel they succeeded … all the scenes that you see in the film are based on the lives of actual individuals." Furthermore, while some critics do not feel that "Rain Man" has earned its place as an iconic representation of the life of an autistic savant, the film has earned its place in the hearts of millions. Treffert captures the film's spirit of transformation and acceptance when he says, "The thing that I really like about the movie is this: Who really changed in that six-day tour? [Raymond's neurotypical] brother Charlie did. To make that change from, 'He's weird,' or, 'He's a retard,' to, 'This is someone who is differently abled,' … that's key."
Cultural Fascination with Savant Syndrome
While the release of "Rain Man" may have been the catalyst for the cultural fascination with savant syndrome, a small group of researchers were captivated by the syndrome long before the film was released in 1988. Treffert recalls how his own initial interest in savant syndrome was piqued by meeting Dr. Leo Kanner, a pioneer in the field of autism research. Treffert remembers hearing Kanner describe early infantile autism, and being intrigued by the descriptions he heard. After completing his residency, Treffert created a children's unit in the Winnebago Mental Health Institute, where he worked with individuals with savant syndrome. As Treffert says, "Three of them caught my attention. One had memorized the bus system in the city of Milwaukee; another was practically an almanac of everything that had happened on any given day in history; a third was mute and severely autistic, but you could put a two hundred piece jigsaw puzzle in front of him, picture side down, and he could assemble it based upon looking at the geometric shapes."
Down, Treffert's predecessor in the field of developmental disability, had a similar introduction to the phenomenon in his work with developmentally disabled children. Treffert remembers a talk Down gave, recounting that early experience, "Down described 10 patients, 10 cases of savant syndrome in children—one boy had memorized "The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire"; one would go to operas and come back singing the arias." For both Down and Treffert, seeing such remarkable ability in an individual with developmental disabilities was astonishing. As Treffert says, "It struck me—how is that possible, to have this jarring juxtaposition of ability and disability in the same individual?" This initial question became a driving force behind his lifetime of research.
Scientific Explanation for the Occurrence of Savant Syndrome
There are a wide range of ability levels encompassed within the scope of savant syndrome. Much as individuals on the autism spectrum have unique and varied ability levels, no two individuals with savant syndrome have the exact same skill sets, or manifest those skills in precisely the same way. Whatever the skill may be, however, if the individual is a savant, their gift is always accompanied by a seemingly-impossible capacity for memorization. Scientists have categorized the skill sets most frequently found in individuals on the autism spectrum with savant syndrome into five general areas of ability: art, music, calendar calculation, lightening calculation, and visual/spatial skills. In most individuals with savant abilities who are on the autism spectrum, the giftedness is focused in skill sets such as mathematics and memorization—that is, right-brain-specific activities.
However, some savants, such as Daniel Tammet, have extraordinary left-brain-based abilities as well. Tammet is presently at work creating his own language, which does draw on his extensive knowledge and memorization of other languages (left-brain), but also employs his own special talent for linguistic creation (right-brain). That said, Tammet is an exception; for many savants, their giftedness seems to center in the right brain, often as a result of an injury or neurological condition which impairs left-brain function, or left and right-brain connectivity.
Modern researchers can utilize advances in medical technology, such as CAT scans and MRIs, to study savant syndrome and autism spectrum brain functioning as well. These technologies have opened up new windows into the minds of those with savant syndrome. As Treffert observes, "If we are really going to understand autism and savant syndrome, then we need to see the brain at work. By comparing and contrasting normal function and autistic or savant function, we can learn a lot more about normal functioning and creativity." Thanks to modern imaging technology, researchers have learned that, when faced with neurological dysfunction, the brain can undergo a process which entails recruitment, rewiring, and release. Treffert sums up that process by saying, "When this occurs, the brain 'recruits' undamaged areas, 'rewires' itself to that area, and with that rewiring comes a 'release' of dormant capacity." Doctors have observed that, in many cases of savant syndrome, damage to an individual's left hemisphere results in significant right brain compensation.
For example, Peek was born with damage to his cerebellum, and without a corpus callosum, the connective tissue between the right and left brain hemispheres. (He was also diagnosed with Opitz-Kaveggia syndrome, a genetic disorder characterized by intellectual disability as well as physiological abnormalities.) However, it was not Peek's intellectual and developmental disability itself which formed the basis for his astonishing abilities. Instead, doctors posit that the disconnection between his cranial hemispheres may have formed the basis for his particular instance of savant syndrome. Current theories surrounding savant syndrome thus highlight the brain's remarkable capacity for adaptation—when injuries and abnormalities occur, savant syndrome can sometimes emerge.
Writing for the Wisconsin Medical Society recently, Treffert noted the work of behavioral neurologist Dr. Bruce Miller may prove to be extremely significant when it comes to our understanding of savant syndrome's neurological basis. Miller and his team have been focused on analyzing brain scans of neurotypical adults who have been diagnosed with a specific form of dementia and, subsequently, developed savant abilities. Intriguingly, Miller has been able to link their precise type of neurological abnormality with that of a teenage savant on the spectrum.
Likewise, Treffert's second book, "Islands of Genius," explores the idea that savants are people who utilize areas of the brain that all of us possess, but seldom access. This theory is supported by cases of individuals who have undergone neurological trauma and subsequently gained extraordinary abilities. Treffert notes, "I've been at this [field of study] since 1962, but the cases [of savant syndrome] that I was studying then were congenital cases—situations wherein a developmental disability was present from birth. But, in about 1980, I began to learn about cases of people who were neurotypical, who had some sort of accident and gained savant abilities; that's called the 'acquired savant'. The big question is, how can you tap that potential without, say, having a stroke?"
Modern-Day Savants: Skills and Supports
How, indeed, can individuals access savant skills without undergoing a neurological trauma? Many individuals with savant syndrome have a history marked by neurological disruptions. Such was the case for Tammet, whose special gifts are believed to have been triggered by a childhood incidence of epilepsy. His prodigious skills in mathematics amaze doctors, but it is his creative ability, as well as his capacity to explain to neurotypical individuals how his mind works, that make him so unique. Likewise, savants such as Stephen Wiltshire (who has autism) are excellent examples of individuals who are supporting themselves through their extraordinary gifts. Wiltshire's remarkable ability to memorize and recreate entire cityscapes has earned him world-wide fame. Wiltshire lives with family in London, and with their support, he owns his own gallery, publishes books, gives sizable donations to charity and earns considerable income through his art.
As Wiltshire's case illustrates, caregivers and parents play an essential, often-overlooked role in such autistic savant success stories. Treffert describes savant syndrome as a three-legged stool. The first leg is idiosyncratic brain function; the second is skill formation; and the third is support of the skill. The three-legged stool image highlights the need for a support person or team that can nurture natural ability, provide practical supports, and empower the individual with savant syndrome to learn and grow. "In watching caregivers over the last few decades, I've witnessed the power of care and love and concern," Treffert comments. "I've learned as much about that as about synapses and neurons." Treffert cites the Tailor Institute (which focuses on helping individuals on the autism spectrum to develop their savant abilities, and utilize those abilities in the workplace) and Hidden Wings (a volunteer-based organization that seeks to bridge the gap from adolescence to adulthood in autism services) as two organizations doing vital support work for autistic savants.
Although individual stories of prodigious savant syndrome continue to fascinate scientists, these instances are also discouraging in their rarity. One of the major challenges facing scientists researching savant syndrome is the fact that prodigious savants are few and far between, and located all over the world. As such, Treffert has developed a savant syndrome registry, which presently lists approximately three hundred savants on the autism spectrum from throughout the world, along with their differing skills, abilities, and limitations. Researchers in the field hope to utilize that data in order to study the phenomenon of savant syndrome as a whole, allowing for a much wider sample size than in previous, limited studies.
Still More Questions
While modern scientific research and technologies have shed light on the biomechanics of savant syndrome, larger questions of brain functioning in individuals with savant syndrome on the autism spectrum still remain. Likewise, questions of human capability are intertwined within discussions of savant syndrome; in studying the minds of savants, researchers hope they will eventually understand how neurotypical individuals can harness the brain's amazing and untapped capabilities.
Although more neurological and sociological research is needed to gain greater understanding of savant syndrome and autism alike, one thing is clear: Individuals on the autism spectrum with savant syndrome need to be both celebrated for their gifts and supported in their areas of need. In his decades of study, Treffert has met many families of individuals with autism and savant syndrome. He sums up the perspective of the parents, siblings, and caregivers he has encountered by noting,"They're not concerned about what's missing [in their loved one], they're excited about what's there." And their excitement helps society as a whole to move toward a place of greater understanding and compassion.


text:
In early June I'll be heading south for a few days of research along the border of Alabama (Chambers and Randolph Counties) and Georgia (Heard and Troup Counties). Even though I'm very excited about this trip, I've put off doing all the prep work and only seriously started working on the "To Do" list last week. It's a good thing my genealogy software of choice, Legacy Family Tree, has such a great "To Do List" function.
Having a detailed to do list is a great tool whether you're headed to the library for a couple of hours or hitting the road for several days. Having a record of the places you have already searched for something can save you from wasting time covering the same ground over and over. All of these things can be tracked in Legacy.
It's called a "To Do List" but this Legacy function is really a research tracking system. Items can be general or specific to an individual. There are fields for: Category, Locality, Task to be Done, Open Date, Reminder Date, Close Date, Open/Closed Status, Priority and Tagging. There are tabs for Task Description and Results – both free form notes. There is also a tab for Repository where you can enter the name, address, phone number, e-mail, website and notes (like hours of operation).
|Blank To Do Item
Items can be filterd by Category and/or Locality with the ability to include or exclude items based on status, type, priority and tag. Reports can also be filtered and sorted to get the specific items you want and you have control over which fields to include on the printed report. (Sample reports to come in a later post.)
|List Filtered for Cemetery Category in Chambers County, AL
In addition to identifying the actual records I want to find, I use the To Do List to plan and prepare for the trip. I set up a new Category (AL/GA Trip 2010) and add To Do items for all the pre-trip things that need to be done – like making calls to courthouses and libraries to find out where records are housed; identifying cemeteries to visit and creating lists of grave sites in each cemetery; and finding addresses and directions for repositories and cemeteries.
I should get to work now. Hopefully, I'll be back in a few days to discuss my well laid plans and more about the trip.
Disclaimer: I have no connection to Millennia (creator of Legacy Family Tree software), receive no compensation from them and did not discuss this post with anyone connected to the company. I've just loved Legacy from the first day I started using it in 2007.


text:
In $\mathbf{Top}$, if $A$ is a subspace of $X$ and $f: A \to Y$ is a continuous mapping, then $Y$ embeds into $X \cup_f Y$. I wonder if this generalizes to an arbitrary category.
Consider the pushout of a cospan $Y \leftarrow A \hookrightarrow X$, where the latter arrow is a regular monomorphism. Is the arrow parallel to the regular monomorphism itself a regular monomorphism?


text:
Directions from:
View Profile
Taxi Service in Wharton, NJ
Know more about this business than we do? Cool! Please submit any corrections or missing details you may have.
Be the first lehighvalleylive.com user to add photos or videos of Hre Productions Llc
Posted on June 17, 2015.
Brought to you by


text:
I'm learning how to designs GUI's but I realized it's something that can take ages to learn since putting component after component in the frame AND then placing them in the right position can give you a lot of work.
As you may know, NetBeans can do that for you, you don't even have to write the code, you do have to do write the functions of what you want the components to do but that's the easy part I guess.
My question is, in reality, do people at work use those Desktop Application tools? is that considered "cheating"? would you recommend creating GUIs writing line by line?


text:
To help History Week celebrate, we're offering two tickets to dine with Tony Bilson at his famously brilliant Bilson's Restaurant on the 9th September, at the History Week event: 'The Art of Living in Australia: A Special Event with Tony Bilson".
All you have to do is name Tony Bilson's first Sydney restaurant and send your answer in an email to email@example.com, with the subject: "Tony Bilson Giveaway" and you'll go into the draw to win this fabulous fine dining prize, courtesy of History Week and the NSW History Council! Entries close 5pm EST Monday, 29th August 2011.
'The Art of Living in Australia: A Special Event with Tony Bilson"
At this event, Tony Bilson and Darren De Bortoli will discuss the development of Sydney's food and wine scene with Simon Marnie from ABC 702 Sydney, while guests savour a specially created menu inspired by recipes featured in Philip E. Muskett's book, The Art of Living in Australia.
- Friday 9 September 2011, 7:00pm to 9:30pm.
- Bilson's Restaurant, Radisson Plaza Hotel Sydney, 27 O'Connell Street, Sydney.
- Free for our lucky winner, your tickets get you a gastronomic dinner and De Bortoli wines.
Muskett, a public health reformer, advocated the consumption of seafood, fresh produce and Australian wines. Eighty years later Tony Bilson transformed NSW dining with his first Sydney eatery Tony's Bon Gout.
NSW History Week runs Saturday, 3rd September to Sunday, 11th September. Go to the NSW History Council site for more information or follow them on Facebook and Twitter for updates.
Terms & Conditions:
Entries close 5pm EST on 29/08/11. The first correct entry drawn at random will win two tickets to the "event" on Friday, 09/09/11 valued at $440, courtesy of History Week 2011. The winner will be notified on Tuesday, 30/08/11. The prize is not redeemable for cash.


text:
Please call us for pricing: 818-597-7800
Sometimes you need to accommodate extra guests, other times you need less room at the table. A table leaf allows you to conveniently adjust the size of your table to fit your needs.
Enhance your mealtimes with a convenient dining bench. This seating option fits more people and helps eliminate clutter by being stored underneath the table when not in use.
You couldn't possibly find a better staging area for your fresh culinary creations of light summertime salads, hors d'euvres, and tasty barbeque than this gorgeous, coastal-inspired table. Perfectly embodying the tailored and sophisticated coastal vibe of the Hamptons, this formal dining table boasts a trestle base with interlocking circle pedestals and a cool, Oyster White wood finish. To better fit all your dinner guests, the table extends to an ultimate length of 124 inches with the addition of two optional table leaves. This set pairs the table with upholstered chairs and a button tufted accent bench for versatile seating.
The Oyster Bay Six Piece Dining Set with Montauk Table and Upholstered Bench by Lexington at Reeds Furniture in the Los Angeles, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Agoura Hills, Oxnard, Calabassas, Malibu, California area. Product availability may vary. Contact us for the most current availability on this product.
Give your space the upscale yet coastal casual look of an airy mansion in the Hamptons with the Oyster Bay collection. Tailored yet casual is the recipe for style in the Hamptons, where heiresses and movie stars come to relax away from the hustle and bustle of NYC. The fresh, coastal look of Oyster Bay is the ideal way to cool off and wind down at the end of the day, whether or not you're celebrating summer holidays in the Hamptons. The bright white and distressed gray finishes of Oyster Bay furniture have gained popularity across all styles of furniture, from traditional to Vintage Casual, making these pieces easy to integrate in any modern home. Here traditional shapes and design details play alongside contemporary materials like brushed metal and burnished stainless steel, creating an elegant and fashion-forward way to furnish your room.The Oyster Bay group offers furniture staples and unique accent pieces for every room, from bar to bedroom to living room. Highlights of this collection include two styles of bed with upholstered headboard and nailhead trim, several options of dining chairs and bar stools, and a pleasing complement of upholstered living room pieces. Living room sofas and chairs that complement the white finish of this collection feature calming, neutral colors and coastal-inspired design details like woven water hyacinth.
The Oyster Bay collection is a great option if you are looking for furniture in the Los Angeles, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Agoura Hills, Oxnard, Calabassas, Malibu, California area.
These images are representative of this group as a whole and may differ from this item.
Browse other items in the Oyster Bay collection from Reeds Furniture in the Los Angeles, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Agoura Hills, Oxnard, Calabassas, Malibu, California area.
This item has been tagged as: Table, Dining Tables, Table Set, Dining Table Set, Table and Chair Set, Dining Table and Chair Set, Dining Chairs, Chairs, Arm Chair, Dining Arm Chair, Side Chair, Dining Side Chair, Pub Table, Counter Height Table, Bar Table, Pub Table Set, Counter Height Table Set, Bar Table Set, Counter Height Stool, Stool, Bar Stool, Dining Room Furniture, Entertaining Furniture, Furniture Sets, Game Table Set, Gaming Tables, Kitchen Tables, Kitchen table Sets, Bistro Table, Bistro Table Sets, Dining Room Table Sets, Dinette, Dinette Set
Nothing on this page may be copied or reproduced without explicit permission.


text:
Mining Nuggets of Gold Along the Fiber-Laser Learning Curve
The 170,000-sq.-ft. metal stamping and forming operation of Premier Tool & Manufacturing, Peosta, IA, took on a whole new look in mid-2012, when the firm welcomed the area's first fiber-laser cutting machine. Focused for most of its 23-yr. existence on building and running dies for high- and low-volume work, Premier's business model took a turn toward low- or no-cost tooling about 3 yr. ago. The company's vice president of operations Brian Seemann says that "the market shift to zero-tooling-dollar work has created significant opportunities for us, so investing in laser cutting made sound business sense as we expect this trend to continue."
Premier Tooling and Manufacturing launched operations in 1990 with nine employees in a 5400-sq.-ft. plant. Now its 170,000 sq. ft. of operations, including a 40,000-sq.-ft. die shop, employs 150. The firm is home to 45 stamping presses, to 1500-ton capacity, as well as CNC production-machining centers, weld booths and assembly cells.
Premier's 5- by 10-ft. Fibermak fiber-laser cutting machine, from Ermaksan, boasts a 3-kW laser source that the firm has been able to push to 1180 in./min. when cutting 16-gauge mild steel.
In 2011 the firm brought in a CNC turret press to react to the upswing in zero-tooling or low-volume fabrication opportunities coming its . But to really attain the process speeds required, outsourcing such work to local CO2-laser-cutting job shops gained favor.
"While we have some great options nearby to outsource laser cutting," shares Seemann, "in 2012 we decided that we wanted to gain more control of this critical process, and no longer rely on the schedules of outside suppliers."
CO2 or Fiber?
Early into its mission to select a laser-cutting machine of its own, Premier's search team concluded that fiber-laser technology, rather than CO2, fit better into its mix of customers and products. So says industrial engineer Jeremy Kaiser, who notes that its business has drifted a from a customer base requesting high volumes to a more diverse customer base looking for lower volumes.
"We stamp and fabricate primarily mild steel, as well as some stainless and aluminum, from 16 to 6 gauge," Kaiser says. "We make a lot of seat components for the ag, construction and truck industry, as well as emission-control parts and assemblies. A day's worth of work might mean 1000 relatively large parts, or 10,000 smaller parts, and for some of our projects it no longer makes sense to build dies."
After evaluating several suppliers from which to source its laser-cutting machine, Premier settled on a 5- by 10-ft. Fibermak model from Ermaksan, outfitted with a 3-kW laser source. Included in the deal is CAD/CAM programming software from Lantek that houses built-in process-parameter charts based on workpiece material type and thickness, as well as the ability to automatically generate parts nests. The software also accommodates unique requirements such as film burning and common-line cutting.
Busy from Day One
Almost from the day the machine was brought up to speed by Premier's production team, it's been churning out parts for a solid shift five days/week. At that rate, Seemann calculates an efficient return on investment of around 3 yr. But, he expects that since the laser work has only been, so far, mostly for existing customers, as the firm's marketing efforts begin to pay off new customers will eventually allow the addition of a second shift of laser cutting.
"We don't see other shops in this area operating fiber-laser machines," he says, "so we expect to quickly leverage a competitive advantage with our machine. That advantage comes since these machines, compared to CO2, consume less energy and require less maintenance."
The firm's competitive advantage also continues to grow as Premier's staff climbs the learning curve and finds s to squeeze every ounce of productivity from its new machine. Knowing that such a learning curve often can take considerable time to navigate, we were excited to hear of a few notable nuggets of gold the company already has mined as it's refined its procedures. Kaiser explains.
"We're learning all the time, trying to cut faster than the charts say we should. And, another focus has been on reducing, or even eliminating, pierce times. For example, on one nested sheet of 8-gauge steel that we process often and which contains hundreds of holes, we fine-tuned the laser focal point and the assist-gas pressure and shaved pierce time from 8 sec. down to 3 sec. That alone trimmed 20 min. from the overall cycle time for the job.
"We're also cutting thin-gauge sheet (0.071 in. or less) without piercing at all," Kaiser continues. "On 16-gauge steel, for example, the laser originally was set up to cut at 280 in./min. After removing the pierce, as well as change nozzle style and, again, fine-tuning process parameters, we're cutting 16 gauge at 1180 in./min."
One last little efficiency nugget that's helping quicken the laser's payback period: Premier has requested that customers order parts in full-sheet quantities. "All of our jobs are quoted per sheet," Seemann says, "so if a sheet nest can fit 10 parts, that's the minimum order quantity. We avoid remnant issues—handling, storing, tracking etc.—and in most cases have been able to achieve 90-percent material utilization."
What's Next?
Continuing his look up the learning curve, Kaiser says the emphasis now has shifted to better-utilizing the Lantek software, more fine-tuning of the process-parameter database, and learning more about using common-line cutting."We're also taking a look at our cell layout to optimize product flow (the laser shares space with three press brakes and a small mechanical press) and adjusting our preventive-maintenance schedule to avoid unplanned downtime." MF
See also: Ermaksan, Lantek Systems Inc.
Related Enterprise Zones: Fabrication


text:
Our system detected that you are visiting from The United States. In an effort to keep your shipping costs down, you'll be directed to our US site to purchase our products.
You are about to leave by-ekobo.com and will be redirected to the www.by-ekobo.us. Are you sure you want to visit www.by-ekobo.us?
There are 102 products.