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It's Saturday morning. I am the first one up, and am now sitting at my desk by the window- feeling grateful that instead of the usual gloom and rain, there is sunlight streaming through. I long to put a record on my new record player and turn the volume up- but instead I'll play my Michael Bernard Fitzgerald CD on low on the computer so others can sleep. I have already made a to-do list for the weekend and it's pretty long. Realistically I know that I probably won't get everything done. but I'm choosing to be optimistic.
I have a feeling the bike ride to and from where I work, (so that I can see how long it would take me), might be the item on my list that get's left behind...but I hope not. Biking to work would save me money and provide me with extra exercise. I have been craving more exercise in my life (more so than running after two toddlers during the day), but since I caught this horrible cold that affected me for two months....I've been a little lax on actually attempting anything. I don't have any grand ambitions, that would just be setting myself up for failure, but I'm thinking if I can start with biking to work, and maybe some at home yoga a couple evenings, that would be OK. I do need a bit of a lifestyle change in general, I should not be getting so sick for so long, it's ridiculous! There needs to be way less crashing on the couch and eating too many carbs in my life!
Despite a particularly long work week and the faint desire to crawl back into bed and forget that I have thing's to do-I'm feeling pretty good about this weekend. My apartment is in huge need of a clean and a major de-cluttering session and I'm excited to get that done! (I'm a dork, but I just can't feel good or productive with mess surrounding me!)
I also have plans to see my really good friend Morgan and her kids tonight- including her new baby girl that I am dying to hold! :) Catching up with friends makes me really happy, especially when a couple of my closest friends don't live nearby...so I enjoy every moment.
Sunday will hopefully be productive as well, and I have my family coming over in the afternoon for dinner and hopefully a movie. I haven't seen my parents in over a month, (even though they live 15 minutes away), because they caught this same cold that I had, so I'm looking forward to getting back to normal. We usually try to see each other every Sunday, and I love it. Someday we might not live as close to one another and I'll miss these times, so I appreciate that I can see them often now.
These past couple months got me down- I had no energy, felt awful all the time and plans were often cancelled (including much needed date nights) because I just wanted to sleep and feel better. It was very easy for me to form complaints in my head and feel sorry for myself. Just in the process of writing this post though, I've realised that there are a lot of good thing's in my life right now that make me happy.
So I think I want to end this post with a few thing's that are making me happy right now, (in no particular order):
1. Chai tea- I'm addicted, it soothes my throat and tastes so good, Starbucks Chai Latte's are a favourite too!
2. Sunlight
3. My new white lace dress that I got at 60% off and cant wait to wear:)
4. Music- oh I don't know what I would do without you!
5. The Civil Wars album "Barton Hollow"- it's been on repeat on my Ipod for the past year
6. Michael Bernard Fitzgerald's cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" (that I'm currently listening to, and may or may not be dancing in my chair as I do so).
7. My sister's company
8. My friends
9. Getting to spend time with my friends' kids
10. The hugs I get daily from the two little guys I look after
11. Bright nail polish
12. Another trip to NYC coming up!
13. Reading
14. Family
(I want to try and write down what's making me happy daily, it instantly picks up my mood!)


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Follow @acidjacknyc
[Photos from the 3/19 show courtesy of P Squared Photography]
My thoughts on The War on Drugs don't differ much from those expressed in nyctaper's review of the previous night, but I do think some things bear repeating. Nine times out of ten — more like 95 times out of 100 — worthy bands who toil in the trenches don't make it. One thing doesn't go right or another. Maybe there's a lack of commitment on someone's part. Or a lack of confidence. Or, in most cases, a lack of pure dumb luck.
We've posted a lot of recordings of this band over the past few years not because we thought one day they'd be able to way-sell-out three nights in a row here in New York, which they just did, but because we believed they were worthy. As a fan, your biggest hope always ought to be that the band you're rooting for makes it. For Adam Granduciel, who toiled for over a year creating his magnum opus Lost In the Dream, it didn't yet seem to have sunk in that his band had. He showed a bit of nervousness before kicking off the opening number, "In Reverse", but after that, this show unfolded like the victory party it was meant to be. Compared to night one at the Bowery Ballroom, the band was looser and more poised, playing one song after another as easily as "Suffering" transitioned straight into "An Ocean In Between the Waves". Just as heavily-produced album tracks like "Under the Pressure" shone as rendered live, so too did re-arranged versions of the band's classics like a slowed-down "Brothers". With the bevy of personnel at his command, including a saxophonist, the band's more complex numbers took on a Destroyer-like caste at times (we've recorded WoD opening for them). Granduciel makes that work, too, being the kind of musician who can add complexity without letting it turn to overindulgence.
Normally when you can hear a crowd screaming at the stage between songs it's mindless heckling; if you listen closely to this recording, what's being hurled at Granduciel are compliments on the album. This was that kind of show, right through Granduciel acknowledging the fakeness of encores, asking for the lights to go up some so he could read the lyrics to John Lennon's "Mind Games" (streaming below) a bit more clearly. The War on Drugs may be critical darlings now, but this is isn't overnight success. This is it being done the old fashioned way. The kind that lasts.
I recorded this set from my usual spot in the venue with Schoeps MK5 cardiod microphones and a stereo soundboard feed provided by house engineer Kenny. The sound quality is outstanding, marred only slightly by light static during two songs. Enjoy!
Stream "Mind Games" [John Lennon]
Stream "Under the Pressure"
This recording is now hosted on the Live Music Archive. Download the complete show via these links: [MP3] | [FLAC]
Stream the complete show:
Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.
The War On Drugs
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA
Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack
Schoeps MK5 (DINa, balcony, LOC)>KC5>CMC6>Sound Devices USBPre2 + Soundboard (engineer: Kenny)>>Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, adjust levels, mix down, compression, fades)>Izotope Ozone 5 (EQ, effects)>Audacity 2.0.3 (track, amplify, balance, downsample, dither)>FLAC ( level 8 )
Tracks [Total Time: 1:39:24]
01 In Reverse
02 Baby Missiles
03 [banter]
04 Under the Pressure
05 Suffering>
06 An Ocean In Between the Waves
07 Eyes to the Wind
08 Red Eyes
09 Come To the City
10 Brothers [Slow Version]
11 Burning
12 [banter2]
13 Lost In the Dream
14 [banter3]
15 Mind Games [John Lennon]
16 Coming Through
17 [banter4]
18 Arms Like Boulders
If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT The War on Drugs, visit their website, and buy Lost In the Dream from Secretly Canadian.

subset: commoncrawl


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Texas expands power lines to wind farms
Texas has seen a spike in wind power in recent years, but not every region of the state has seen benefits from the projects. Now the state looks to spread the wealth of wind energy with the development of several new transmission lines, according to The New York Times.
Numerous projects have been begun to bring renewable electricity from the major wind farms in the flat western reaches of Texas to the major cities in the east. With the total cost currently estimated at more than $6.8 billion, the whole project is expected to be completed as soon as 2013.
The push could prove important, as the surge in wind power has created a great amount of intermittent capacity without large outlets. CleanTechnica reports that when Texas recently set a record in wind power generation, wholesale electricity prices literally dropped to nothing, as utilities looked to ensure the energy got used.
Expanding access to wind power in major urban centers like Dallas and Houston could prevent electricity providers from having to drastically reduce rates when production increases.
Other areas have sought to expand power lines to wind farms as well, with Wallaces Farmer reporting plans for a major new transmission project in Iowa.


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Artificial Intelligence driven Marketing Communications
Global Fluorocarbons Market 2019 Industry Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Global Fluorocarbons industry. This study categorizes the global Fluorocarbons breakdown data by manufacturers, region, type and application, also analyzes the market status, market share, growth rate, future trends, market drivers, opportunities and challenges, risks and entry barriers, sales channels, distributors and Porter's Five Forces Analysis.
Get Sample Copy of this Report – https://www.researchreportsworld.com/enquiry/request-sample/14214401
Global Fluorocarbons market size will increase to xx Million US$ by 2025, from xx Million US$ in 2018, at a CAGR of xx% during the forecast period. In this study, 2018 has been considered as the base year and 2019 to 2025 as the forecast period to estimate the market size for Fluorocarbons.
The Global Fluorocarbons market 2019 research provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Global Fluorocarbons market analysis is provided for the international markets including development trends, competitive landscape analysis, and key regions development status. Development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures are also analyzed. This report also states import/export consumption, supply and demand Figures, cost, price, revenue and gross margins.
Global Fluorocarbons Industry 2019 Market Research Report is spread across 118 pages and provides exclusive vital statistics, data, information, trends and competitive landscape details in this niche sector.
Inquire more or share questions if any before the purchase on this report @ https://www.researchreportsworld.com/enquiry/pre-order-enquiry/14214401
Global Fluorocarbons market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, and revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players including
The report also focuses on global major leading industry players of Global Fluorocarbons market providing information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis is also carried out. The Global Fluorocarbons market development trends and marketing channels are analyzed. Finally the feasibility of new investment projects are assessed and overall research conclusions offered.
With tables and figures helping analyze worldwide Global Fluorocarbons market, this research provides key statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.
Order a copy of Global Fluorocarbons Market Report 2019 @ https://www.researchreportsworld.com/purchase/14214401
Fluorocarbons Breakdown Data by Type
Fluorocarbons Breakdown Data by Application
The study objectives are:
In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Fluorocarbons :
Major Points from Table of Contents:
1 Study Coverage1.1 Fluorocarbons Product1.2 Key Market Segments in This Study1.3 Key Manufacturers Covered1.4 Market by Type1.4.1 Global Fluorocarbons Market Size Growth Rate by Type1.4.2 Perfluoroalkanes1.4.3 Fluoroalkenes1.4.4 Fluoroalkynes1.4.5 Perfluoroaromatic compounds1.5 Market by Application1.5.1 Global Fluorocarbons Market Size Growth Rate by Application1.5.2 Refrigeration and air-conditioning1.5.3 Polymer feedstocks1.6 Study Objectives1.7 Years Considered2 Executive Summary2.1 Global Fluorocarbons Production2.1.1 Global Fluorocarbons Revenue 2014-20252.1.2 Global Fluorocarbons Production 2014-20252.1.3 Global Fluorocarbons Capacity 2014-20252.1.4 Global Fluorocarbons Marketing Pricing and Trends2.2 Fluorocarbons Growth Rate (CAGR) 2019-20252.3 Analysis of Competitive Landscape2.3.1 Manufacturers Market Concentration Ratio (CR5 and HHI)2.3.2 Key Fluorocarbons Manufacturers2.4 Market Drivers, Trends and Issues2.5 Macroscopic Indicator2.5.1 GDP for Major Regions2.5.2 Price of Raw Materials in Dollars: Evolution3 Market Size by Manufacturers3.1 Fluorocarbons Production by Manufacturers3.1.1 Fluorocarbons Production by Manufacturers3.1.2 Fluorocarbons Production Market Share by Manufacturers3.2 Fluorocarbons Revenue by Manufacturers3.2.1 Fluorocarbons Revenue by Manufacturers (2014-2019)3.2.2 Fluorocarbons Revenue Share by Manufacturers (2014-2019)3.3 Fluorocarbons Price by Manufacturers3.4 Mergers and Acquisitions, Expansion Plans4 Fluorocarbons Production by Regions4.1 Global Fluorocarbons Production by Regions4.1.1 Global Fluorocarbons Production Market Share by Regions4.1.2 Global Fluorocarbons Revenue Market Share by Regions4.2 United States4.2.1 United States Fluorocarbons Production4.2.2 United States Fluorocarbons Revenue4.2.3 Key Players in United States4.2.4 United States Fluorocarbons Import and Export4.3 Europe4.3.1 Europe Fluorocarbons Production4.3.2 Europe Fluorocarbons Revenue4.3.3 Key Players in Europe4.3.4 Europe Fluorocarbons Import and Export4.4 China4.4.1 China Fluorocarbons Production4.4.2 China Fluorocarbons Revenue4.4.3 Key Players in China4.4.4 China Fluorocarbons Import and Export4.5 Japan4.5.1 Japan Fluorocarbons Production4.5.2 Japan Fluorocarbons Revenue4.5.3 Key Players in Japan4.5.4 Japan Fluorocarbons Import and Export4.6 Other Regions4.6.1 South Korea4.6.2 India4.6.3 Southeast Asia5 Fluorocarbons Consumption by Regions5.1 Global Fluorocarbons Consumption by Regions5.1.1 Global Fluorocarbons Consumption by Regions5.1.2 Global Fluorocarbons Consumption Market Share by Regions5.2 North America5.2.1 North America Fluorocarbons Consumption by Application5.2.2 North America Fluorocarbons Consumption by Countries5.2.3 United States5.2.4 Canada5.2.5 Mexico5.3 Europe5.3.1 Europe Fluorocarbons Consumption by Application5.3.2 Europe Fluorocarbons Consumption by Countries
About Us:
Research Reports Worldis the credible source for gaining the market reports that will provide you with the lead your business needs. At Research Reports World, our objective is providing a platform for many top-notch market research firms worldwide to publish their research reports, as well as helping the decision makers in finding most suitable market research solutions under one roof. Our aim is to provide the best solution that matches the exact customer requirements. This drives us to provide you with custom or syndicated research reports.
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Press Release Distributed by The Express Wire
To view the original version on The Express Wire visit Fluorocarbons Market 2019 â Business Revenue, Future Growth, Trends Plans, Top Key Players, Business Opportunities, Industry Share, Global Size Analysis by Forecast to 2025 | Research Reports World


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A coalition of advertising industry trade groups are expected to send a letter to California Attorney General Kamala Harris about her recently released guidelines for app developers, platforms and ad networks, Ad Age reports. The groups, including the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), Interactive Advertising Bureau and American Association of Advertising Agencies, say Harris' "Privacy on the Go" recommendations—which suggest apps send special notices to consumers before collecting data—extend beyond California law and don't consider the potential economic impact. Stu Ingis, privacy counsel to the DMA, said consumers "aren't clamoring for some special notice" and such proposals would actually "be bad for the consumer experience."
Full Story
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A local favorite for almost 25 years
the Fellsmere Frog Leg Festival has something for every member of your family!
Join us for famous mouth-watering frog leg and gator tail dinners. Browse hundreds of booths for unique gifts. Hear some great music and enjoy the fun rides. Discover why this festival is a January tradition for so many.


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Dear Readers,
While taking a trip down memory lane today, I stumbled upon an amusing yet jarring memory. Amusing for others. Jarring for me. This incident took place when I was quite small. I really tried to jog my memory to get a ballpark figure of my age but all that my brain could cough up was "Quite small". Eh, what are you going to do? My parents and I were on a holiday in Goa. My recollection starts off pleasant enough. Strolling down an over-crowded beach with my hands and mouth preoccupied with devouring a cob of corn with the sun setting in the background. Okay, to be honest, the taste of the corn is my only vivid recollection.. the probability of being on a beach( I mean it's Goa!) with the sun present somewhere in the sky is fairly high.
Maybe my small size made me extra vulnerable. Maybe the sight of me attacking the corn with such fervor was really off-putting but either way I found myself being chased by a cow. That's right, a COW! Now Readers, there are moments in life that strong arm you into prioritising. And any person in their right mind would choose safety over a corn cob. Not me. Nuh uh. The corn cob and I were one entity. So me, my misguided zeal, and my recently added appendage ran like a maniac fuelled by their nonsensical priorities.
Had this incident taken place outside of India, any neutral party would have declared the cow guilty, and me, just plain crazy. However, in this country, most people's assessment of the situation would have been clouded by the deep emotional bonds that they have with cows. I understand that they are harmless – not in my experience – but to others, perhaps. Even though I am a little weary of them, I will be gracious enough to admit that their innocent, gigantic eyes do have an endearing effect, and their contribution to providing me with tasty dairy products is much appreciated.
Through the journey of telling you this story, two thoughts struck me. The first one – Why were we holidaying on a beach? We hailed from Mumbai – a place with abundant beaches. Strange. Secondly, why was the cow holidaying on the beach? Come to think of it, their taste in real estate is quite lousy. Why would they spend all their time on our roads amidst us? I mean, let's admit it, even on our best days, we are tolerable company at best.
Wait a second, have we compelled these creatures to endure our company and compete for our corn cobs? Could the haphazard planning of our country and complete disregard for other creatures have something to do with the accidental sharing of holiday destinations? *Sigh* When did my unreasonable rant turn into sympathy for the nemesis.
Maybe this reality is one that I'll just have to live with – a cow squatting in the middle of the road, chewing on a blade of grass and the rest of the city whizzing past it… accepting diversity – taken to a whole new level. Eh, what are you going to do?
Yours – in need of a better nemesis,


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Additional photos from the event on 4-25.
MiG-21 Analog (Modelsvit kit perhaps)
First completed Hasegawa V-22 that I have seen
What was billed as an accurized 737, which presumably started out life as an Aurora kit
A Phoenix Type A from Joystick vacs
A crossover between aerospace and armor: an A9 under tow
I'll probably stitch together another selection of photos, but if you would like to take a look at the entire gallery, here is the link again: 2015 Seattle Spring Show
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Sunday, April 26, 2015
2015 IPMS-Seattle Spring Show (part 2)
Here are some more photos from the recent Seattle show.
First, one of a number of ragwing Hurricanes. Seems that Airfix might have a hit on their hands.
Another recent Airfix kit, the Lightning.
One of two C-54s at the show. Likely the owner wanted to get it seen before the Revell kit arrived.
The DML kit of the DeHav Sea Vixen.
One for the armor fellows: a nice little AA gun.
More later.
Saturday, April 25, 2015
2015 IPMS-Seattle Spring Show (part 1)
It would appear that the legends of my demise might be a bit premature. Though I haven't been doing much in the way of blog posting - or modelling for that matter - I am at least still breathing. Any day, as they say, above ground is a good day.
Though I am suffering from a bit of an Enthusiasm Gap at present when it comes to making models, I've also been rather busy this winter with a thorough house refresh. New roof, windows, interior paint, and a complete new wood floor to replace the ancient carpets. Add that to some temp work at King County Elections and a badly infected tooth and it has been a spring for the record books.
So what has caused this sneaky return? An annual event that typically wakes up even the modelling moles of the Great Northwest: the 2015 IPMS-Seattle Spring Show. Held, as it has been for the last decade, at the Renton Community Center, we got some proper weather for the event. Not cold enough to threaten snow, not warm enough to send everyone to the beach. And we've had both in past years.
Overall numbers seemed to be pretty consistent with prior years. Around 800+ entries, two vendor rooms, and a fairly crowded show floor. Areas that seemed to be especially active were Gundam figures and dioramas. My own personal interest, 1:72 aircraft, was in terms of numbers pretty average compared to previous shows. But I have to say that while build quality was high, type selection was, to be charitable, less than adventurous. I suppose if you are going to compete in a show it makes sense to start off with an already excellent mainstream injection molded kit. But I'll admit that I do have a weakness for the ones that throw that convention out and produce their magic with a vac or resin or at least a less over-displayed type.
The ragwing Hurricane seems to have been a hit with contest modellers. It is nice to see what is reportedly a popular kit actually getting built. There were 2 C-54s, clearly people wanting to get their vac or conversion creations in the public eye before the Revell kit arrives. And the "modelfying" category this year was a 1:72 A-10, which produced some interesting entries.
For the next few days I'll be posting sets of models that attracted my interest. They are entirely subjective; I make no claim that these were the best models on display. The entire set of photos that I took, as in previous years, is stored on Photobucket. They can be accessed at: http://s958.photobucket.com/user/a172ndguy/library/2015%20IPMS-Seattle%20Spring%20Show
We'll start with a vac Zeppelin-Staaken
A T-45 in CONA markings
A twin Warthog from the "modelfying" competition
A DC-3 in Alaska Airlines markings, one of which used to be displayed outside of the Museum of Flight here in Seattle
And here are a trio of views of the show floor around noon
More later.
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Are you living your life hands free? This week on BetterWorldians Radio we're discussing simple strategies to live hands free by letting go of meaningless distractions and truly connecting with the ones you love.
Our guest this week is Rachel Macy Stafford, author of the New York Times best-selling book, Hands Free Mama. Rachel will discuss how living hands free changed her life and how she's inspiring others to do the same.
Tune in every week to hear new guests share how they are making the world a better place and to learn how you can become a BetterWorldian!


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The Era and Background Behind
"Spying has always gone on since ancient times".
Russian President Vladimir Putin
News Conference 19 December 2013
Beginning on Monday 23 July 2018 this page of the 'A Secret To Die For' web site will bring to life all the real life drama of actual espionage during the entire era of the storyline of 'A Secret To Die For'; with colourful anecdotes, scandals, and intriguing mysteries. Former Intelligence Officers and espionage experienced writers will be invited to contribute to this web page.
President Putin, himself a former Lieutenant Colonel, with Soviet KGB Intelligence during the 'Cold War' in Dresden, former East Germany, stated that he "supports spying and that is part of the way countries operate". http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/19/world/europe/russia-putin/.


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15 Jan 2016
Project Update January 2016
What have we done recently?
- We have extracted article processing data direct from our system (EPrints) and submitted this to the Jisc APC analysis.
- CASRAI UK initial webinar has taken place and plans are being made for initial working groups – which I hope will include further work on open access definitions.
- The Research Excellence Framework Open Access plug-in for EPrints has been tested and delivery of the full version is anticipated before the end of January.
- We continue to explore options to improve our service. We are trying to process all fully open access costs expediently but there are a number of issues associated with this and we will liaise with other Pathfinder projects on this topic.
- We are continuing to improve our open access reports to schools and colleges. The current version gives a chart of % full text articles and conference proceedings and lists those articles with no full text on the repository. We plan to add REF exemption information once that is available and dates of when the full text was accepted, as well looking at REF eligible staff who might be at risk of non-compliance. As usual revised code will be shared with the EPrints community – but do let us know if you want some information or code now.
- We plan to publish formal case studies about EPrints and Fedora and Open Access by March 2016. Case study to date is document in this blog – see earlier posts.
- We will be looking at sharing best practice on recording funders in EPrints and sharing some code for this.
- Installation of the REF Open Access module and live use.
- We are speaking to peer sites notably the LOCH Pathfinder sites to compare processes and share best practice.
- We are signed up to participate in Jisc Monitor – systems and reports for managing open access – testing. We already know our data export fits the specification and can be imported successfully – more testing to follow.


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CartOn C6
£95.00 £0.00
Dimensions: D 425mm H 176mm
Finish: The lampshades are made entirely from cardboard.
As a natural material there can be slight variances in appearance.
Maximum wattage: 100w incandescent. Also compatible with
CFL and LED lamps of equivalent wattage.
Lead time: 1-2 weeks.
The C6 can be used on a pendant fitting.
Handmade in the UK.


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|KX3 serial number 1990
Sunday, September 30, 2012
The Elecraft KX3 has a pulse........
4 comments:
Hi Mike, good job. I am curious about your videos. Good luck! 73 PaulReplyDeleteReplies
Good evening Paul, I am going to take my time on the video as I am not to familiar with editing and merging different recordings. I also have my hands full with running the KX3 on a Mac OS that I am not at all knowledgeable on. But life is all about learning.Delete
Mike, good luck with the KX3. I look forward to seeing your videos. EI2KCReplyDeleteReplies
Good morning Anthony, I have been spending my evenings getting the KX3 setup with software updates, menu setups and finally this is going to be a rig that runs with my Mac software. That sure has been a learning curve as up to this point all my rigs have been windows. As for the videos I have been also getting my mind around that with Imovie in the Mac software suite. Great to see all the new DXCC's you have been getting as well. I guess the book is done now hope that is working out well for you.Delete


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As a publisher spit out of the initial seizure of publishing-shrinkage, I bobbed around like a Styrofoam cup on the waves for awhile. I was angry at industry leadership for fixing prices, lying, lawyers getting all the money. Not writers. Not copyeditors. Not designers. Not agents. Not editors. LAWYERS. What did all this money do? Built an empty library, a room with no books, paper or otherwise. I doubt there were even desks.
Then I removed myself from the industry spin and really started thinking about what e-books meant. Sure, publishing CEOs Carolyn Reidy and John Sargent were testifying in front of Federal Judge Denise Cote with their fingers-crossed behind their backs about price-fixing but, on the other side of the globe (in all respects), the march toward an e-book world continued. Publishing was entrenched in a range war that did not change the fact human beings were afire with information. It was spreading fast and free.
These e-readers, for the first time in history, allowed you to carry the equivalent of the Library of Alexandria in your hand. (Well, almost.) These e-readers can be taken where books cannot; down a river to a school, up the side of a mountain to a settlement, into a rural health clinic where mothers are giving birth.
All these e-readers need is to be loaded full of books – on mathematics, science, African novelists, politics, history AIDS, Ebola, conservation, history, medicine, farming, language, animal husbandry, accounting, business – and carried in, by visitors, so they make their destination. The generator charges the e-reader. Believe me, it is achievable now: We still have 30 boxes of kids' books lost somewhere over the Congo.
Our first school for E-book Africa? Chiawa Basic. It sits atop a slope down into the Zambezi River: Children are lost to crocodiles each year when they go to get water. The former camp of the great "Dr. Livingston I presume" is around the river's bend and his great Cathedral, built over the slave-fattening pit, is a little upriver. The town is tiny, beyond poor, riddled with AIDS, and beautiful beyond words.
Enter Cherri Briggs and Richard Wilson, owners of Explore Africa and two of the greatest micro-lenders in Southern Africa. They fought off Chinese mining companies and more than a few death threats while keeping their stretch of the Zambezi intact. They provided burials for the kids taken by crocs and eventually got water running up to the school.
Cherri and I started "Chicks for Chicks," after a foolhardy bounce through Zimbabwe. These vertical chicken farms (watch your predators!) were given to women to create small family businesses. A huge fish farm was dug in the African bush. The restaurants in the capitol of Lusaka are now full of their foods, bought for a fair price.
Cherri and Richard started cracking the code of Africa graft: Go around the NGO and straight to the Village Chief and Elders. When the Chief saw his first e-reader, there were moments of confusion that it toasted something. Then the words sprang up and he shouted. Cherri and Richard knew he knew he was holding magic in his hands. In seconds, the village pushed in on him and they didn't stop pushing buttons and flipping pages for hours. E-book Africa was on.
So, we begin to our gather of the first 20 e-readers for Africa, Chiawa Basic School, Zambia. We are not teachers and will need huge amounts of help with the books we load. We feel the weight of our task and do not want to choose the wrong words for lives given so little at the start. http://www.shadowteams.com/#!e-book-africa/c22up
Me? I'm still a bit of a Styrofoam cup inside myself, but the work on E-book Africa is helping me fall in love with all of life's work again. I started a publishing services company, edit a wild range of gifted writers that a publishing company wouldn't let through the front door, and I write my own books again.
Most importantly, when I got away from the anger and hysteria of publishing, I started to read again and feel the edges of that joy starting to return. I can't wait to get to Chiawa Basic School in Zambia with those first set of e-readers loaded with intellectual loot. I can't wait to watch those kids watch us put everything together and then pass them their e-reader.
On their faces I'll see it, that thing I lost. The words. The possibility. The future. The magic.
Like all givers, I am the one that wins: I need their joy to help bring me back to mine.
follow us on twitter @shadowteams @giantsweettart


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NFC vs. Bluetooth beacons: More different than similar
Bluetooth Beacons and NFC (Near Field Communication) are often mentioned in the same breath, but in terms of technology and applications, they are not really that similar. Here's a quick run down of the differences between the two technologies.
NFC is a short-range communication technology that works best over a range of a few centimetres or less, with typical applications asking the user to deliberately 'touch' devices together to initiate contact. NFC is designed especially for payment transactions and it's commonly used for contactless credit card payments and payment-related applications such as travel tickets. Use of NFC in smartphones enables both mobile payments and things like file sharing between phones that are in close proximity (such as to share contact details). There are also some applications for NFC tags, where the user 'taps' or 'bumps' their phone on a dedicated NFC tag at a particular location (or on a particular object) to learn more about it.
In the case of NFC tags, the user typically touches their phone to the tag, at which point RF energy from the phone powers up the chip in the tag, which executes its program. Typically this program would transmit the contents of its memory to the phone. One of NFC's advantages is that the tag (or credit card) doesn't need a power source – it is passive and is simply read or written to by the powered terminal.
Beacon technology uses Bluetooth Smart, an ultra low power version of Bluetooth, which works over a range of a few metres to tens of metres. Beacons continuously transmit a packet of data so that when a smartphone passes by, it receives and decodes the packet, which contains the Beacon's ID number. This ID number is used to retrieve information about what kind of action should be triggered by being in proximity to this particular Beacon, for example, popping up a notification, opening a browser and navigating to a website, or some other app-specific action.
Bluetooth Beacons are intended for enabling a smartphone's location based services – in other words, services that trigger a response to the phone's physical surroundings without needing to be paired to it. So far, the majority of use cases have been in retail environments. For example, when a shopper reaches the cleaning products aisle in the supermarket, their phone receives a signal from a battery-powered Bluetooth Beacon in that aisle which has a notification pop up on their phone with a coupon for a particular brand of fabric softener. Users can even be tracked around the store as they shop, so they can be marketed to more effectively. Other use cases include indoor mapping in large buildings such as airports.
The upcoming version 5 of the Bluetooth specification, which will be released around the end of this year, will offer extended performance such as quadruple the range or doubling the speed of Bluetooth Smart signals. Crucially for Beacons, richer, more intelligent messages will be enabled since the capacity of broadcast messages will increase by a factor of 8. This is set to be a big factor in the explosive growth of Beacon technology: more than 371 million Bluetooth enabled beacons are projected to ship by 2020, according to ABI Research.
There are two key areas of overlap in terms of applications. The first is mobile payments. Android's mobile payment technology, Android Pay (set to launch imminently in the UK) uses NFC. Meanwhile, Apple's version of Bluetooth Beacon technology (called, unsurprisingly, iBeacon) is used for payments in Apple Stores when customers check out using the company's app. Using Beacons for mobile payments is not as straightforward as tapping a credit card or smartphone on a contactless NFC terminal. Typically, the store's app on the phone receives a packet from a Beacon letting it know that the consumer is in a branch of that particular store, while the retailer's system is also alerted that the consumer is inside the store. At checkout, the staff can assign purchases to the customer's mobile payment account on their system, after independently verifying the consumer's identity. In this space, NFC probably has the edge; being specifically designed for payments, it is tried and tested in terms of both ease of use and security. A typical transaction would involve selecting the account the consumer wishes to pay with in their mobile wallet app, then simply touching their phone to the point of sale terminal when requested.
The second area of overlap for applications is location-based services. Bluetooth Beacons are expressly designed for this – they broadcast signals that can be picked up by smartphones, telling them their physical location, and the smartphone can act on this data as the consumer wanders past. However, many consumers don't like the idea of being tracked around a department store, feeling their privacy has been invaded. There's also the issue of beacon overuse; too many notifications and adverts popping up as you're just trying to do the shopping can become annoying and intrusive. Using NFC for location-based services presents an alternative as the consumer has control of which messages they want to receive, since they need to deliberately touch their phone to the NFC tag to get the information. On the downside, unless they actively do this (perhaps feeling adverse to marketing materials), they will miss the tag completely and miss out on potentially helpful or interesting information.
The differences between these two technologies mean that there is definitely room for both in the smartphone, even if they are unlikely to compete within applications. While Bluetooth has been a standard feature in smartphones for years, NFC has a lower, but growing, level of penetration, which will be driven by the acceptance of mobile payment technologies.
Avnet Abacus stocks components for both NFC and Bluetooth products, and our dedicated team of technical specialists can help you navigate the pros and cons that they present. To learn more, or discuss your design, get in touch in your local language through our Ask an Expert page.


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What? Google Search Isn't Awesome? Top 10 Reasons WhyPosted on August 28th, 2012 No comments
You know you love Google's #1 product… their impressive Google web search. If you're like me, you use it hundreds, if not thousands of times a day.
In addition to the Google's basic web search, Google offers Google Advanced Search, as well as a Google Image Search,
It's now almost impossible to find the link to Google Advanced Image Search, but it's still there, and it's the best way to perform an advanced search for images online.
You can use Google Search Operators, also called Google Search Modifiers, and they even offer users a whole page of Google Search Tips., including tricks like searching for recipes, using the calculator functions, and lots more.
But as good as Google's search box is, there's always room for improvement. Here's a list of new and improved Google Web Search features I'd like to see. If you agree with these great feature additions I've suggested below, or if I forgot any, leave me a comment! I know I'd use them for sure!
Top 10 Ways Google Can Improve Search
10. Starting with something boring and annoying, how about a Tax Forms search? The one at irs.gov is alright, but let's face it, the government could use Google's help. The Google search 1040 site:irs.gov year:2011 type:pdf should bring up the obvious result I am after. It doesn't. Google could help me spend even less time on the IRS website than I do already, which would be a very good thing.
9. Music Search. There's no way to search music available in iTunes, without launching iTunes. I love music, but the search capability of iTunes and other music programs is terrible. Let me flag a song or album for later, like a wish list, and remind that I liked it. Integrate with all the streaming services like Pandora, Slacker and such. Give me Search Operators like artist:justin+bieber or label:interscope or genre:thrash+metal. (That's three different search examples.)
8. Melodic Search. Create a musical instrument interface with which to perform song searches. As a play-by-ear pianist, I can never remember the lyrics or the names of songs, but I can play the notes! Let me play notes on an on-screen keyboard, or with my attached Midi keyboard, and find music matching the musical notes I am playing. For example, if I play C . . G C . . G C G C E G –> Google should pull up Mozart Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. This is easily implemented with widely available MIDI data.
7. Advanced Video Search. To perform an Advanced Video Search on Youtube now is an exercise in aggravation. An advanced YouTube search that worked would be really cool. Give me all the fields as operators, too, like views:1M or maru type:video views:2M..5M by:views ord:desc. This should show me maru clips between 2M and 5M views ordered by views descending. This search actually returns an incredibly random assortment of useless junk.
6. Expert Search right from the Google.com home page. Upgrade the advanced search operators, giving power users like me the utmost flexibility. For any input field on the advanced search or advanced image search, create an Advanced Search Operator for it. For example, why can't I find cat exact:lolz type:gif w:128 h:128? I clearly am after an exact search of funny cat gif icons. I should be able to easily guess the "colon operator" for any advanced search field, and why not show me what it is when I hover over it on the advanced image search form so I don't have to go find an obscure help doc on a different website on performing an advanced Google search.
5. Create Search Templates — Let me save and share advanced search filters and advanced images search filters and use them for later. For example, it can take a few minutes to set up a good advanced images search. Why not let me store the following for easy retrieval… for example (site:a.com OR site:b.com OR site:c.com) (type:jpeg OR type:png) (size:2mp..4mp). Clearly I am looking for jpg or png images betwen 2mp and 4mp on 3 specific websites. As a designer, if I could save those search parameters and re-use them, I could easily load it up, add a keyword, and save hours every year.
4. How about a Movie Search? Just buy IMDB.com , Blockbuster.com and RottenTomatoes.com and combine them. You know you want to. Your current Movie Showtimes Search is very embryonic. Is it too much to expect that type:movie (actor:judd+nelson AND actor:molly+ringwold) could find The Breakfast Club and 16 Candles? Results: ho-hum.
3. You can't have a movie search without a Celebrity Search. It amazes me that I cannot set up an RSS feed for daily updates of Zoë Saldana jpegs that are at least 1280 x 1024. I clearly want wallpaper. Why not let me do celeb:zoë+saldana type:jpg size:2mp..
2. You're obviously working on a Travel Search, otherwise you wouldn't have bought ITA Software and Frommer's. Are you ever going to improve Google Flight Search? I bet some readers don't even know that exists. I hate every minute of making travel plans online, and since the internet killed the travel agent, I'm forced to do this on my own now, forevermore. Hurry up and fix it already!
1. Social Search. This is a no-brainer. I can't search anything on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or even Google+. The state of social search is so incredibly dismal, it's going to require an entire blog post all on it's own. In short, if I'm logged into all of my social networks, I should be able to search them all with ease. They all provide APIs, don't they? Don't you have, like, fifty zillion programmers? Surely with all the work that went into Google+ you had to think about how to make all of that content searchable. It seems like the moment I link to something or share it, the sooner I can never find it again!
Now I hinted at this in #7 above, but how cool would it be to search the web with SQL? Or at least, using some SQL-like operands? By now millions of people use SQL on a daily basis, and certainly your search algorithms could be easily adapted to understand things like by:relevance ord:desc. (ORDER BY relevance DESC) or BETWEEN 2011-12-31 AND 2012-06-30? This reminds me that you could make it a lot easier to combine mulitple boolean operators. Only one or two work at a time. Why not let me use AND, OR and Parentheses? ( this OR that ) AND (brick OR brack). So I guess you could call this a bonus eleventh way Google could improve it's search features. Call it Nerd Search.
Okay, there now, Googlebot, fans of Google, and other casual readers. What do you think?
What happened to the j.mp sidebar?Posted on June 2nd, 2012 No comments
A few years back, I found the iPhone app Runmeter. It keeps getting better, too, and is still one of the best $5 I ever spent. Very cool app. When you finish a run, skate or walk, it sends you a j.mp short link to a Google map of your exercise with all the stats it captured via GPS.
As a web developer interested in link shortening services, I instantly signed up to use j.mp to shorten my links.
One of the best things about the j.mp link shortening service was the j.mp sidebar, a Javascript bookmarklet that creates a side panel over whatever site you're on that allows you to use the j.mp shortening service without leaving the page you're on. It was elegant, easy and just perfect for my needs.
Even though around September of 2009 bit.ly encouraged their users to switch to j.mp to make their URLs even shorter, they have now appeared to have tabled the j.mp brand along with the excellent j.mp sidebar. This wouldn't be a big deal if the new bit.ly services were the same or better, but they're far from it. The new bit marker is annoying and takes five times longer to shorten a link, tries to integrate with sharing sites for you and lots of other annoyances.
So they deprecated the j.mp sidebar, which as of the time of this writing is still working, but you cannot find it anywhere on the web! So frustrating.
To combat this problem, here are some instructions below — just sign up for bit.ly if you don't already have an account, and follow the steps below.
bit.lyj.mp sidebar bookmarklet
Drag this link to your browser's bookmark toolbar
j.mp sidebar
bit.lyj.mp sidebar manual creation method
1. Create a new blank bookmark in your bookmark toolbar folder and name it j.mp sidebar (or bit.ly sidebar if you prefer)
2. Paste in the following for the URL
How to Fix no acceptable C compiler found in $PATH on Mac OS X LionPosted on May 16th, 2012 2 comments
If you have a need to compile Memcache or wget on Mac OS X Lion and are wondering why you are getting the error
no acceptable C compiler found in $PATH
on Mac OS X Lion, you're not alone.
Thanks to this post, I was able to fix my problem. Here are the steps.
- Run App Store
- Search for Xcode – it's a free install from Apple
- Wait for awhile. Took 30min to download for me on a 20mbps connection
- Authenticate and let Xcode install. Once Xcode is installed you may be thinking you're done. You would be wrong!
- Launch Xcode and run the mobile toolkit update (you can't skip it, deal with it)
- Go to Xcode Preferences or press ⌘, (Command-comma)
- Click the Downloads tab -> Components list as shown below
- On the last row of the available downloads are the Command Line tools. Install them.
You should be good to go after that!
How to use Setup Assistant to migrate to a new MacPosted on May 15th, 2012 No comments
I told you in a recent rant on this blog that I bought myself a new MacBook Pro.
It truly is a glorious computer; perhaps the best laptop on the planet. It's blazing fast, ultra quiet, and it's built like a Sherman tank, but is as sexy as a Ferrari. With Unix under the hood, Apache, PHP and MySQL preinstalled, it's a web developer's dream machine.
I always look forward to setting up a new computer for the first time, but instead of starting from scratch as is my normal approach, this time, I decided to use Apple's built-in Migration Assistant.
How to use Migration Assistant to transfer files from another Mac is the name of KB article HT4413 at Apple.com. If you've already created your account on your Mac for the first time, but want to migrate a profile (your user account, applications and files) from a different machine or Time Machine backup, using Migration Assistant is the way to go.
But if you already created your login on your new Mac, read carefully:
Important info not obvious on Apple's KB article
Using Migration Assistant, your old files will be copied to a new, alternate, secondary profile on your new Mac. In other words, if you logged in as ghoffman on your old Mac, and you already created a fresh, new profile ghoffman on your new Mac, you can't use Migration assistant to get old ghoffman copied into new ghoffman. You can use Migration Assistant to restore ghoffman (old) to ghoffman2 or ghoffmanNEW or any other alternate named profile, just not the one you probably want.
If you have not yet created your user account on your new computer, or if you are willing to format your Mac and restore it to factory default settings, there is a little-known startup configuration mode when you first boot Mac OS X. It's called Setup Assistant.
The first time you start up a new Mac, on one of the very first screens, even before entering your name for creating your account, you have the option of using Setup Assistant, which may be better named First-run Migration Assistant.
Using Setup Assistant at first-run is by far the fastest way to get going on a new Mac. I was extremely impressed at how simple and complete it was. Just like Migration Assistant, you have a several options as far as the source and transfer method, including using your other computer (as a disk in target mode) or from a Time Machine backup. I chose to use my Time Machine backup over FireWire 800. Other transfer options include USB, Ethernet and Wi-fi.
I was able to restore my Mac OS X Snow Leopard account on a 250GB MacBook Pro 17″ (Aug 2008) onto a new i7 processor 750GB MacBook Pro 17″ running Lion, in about 2 hours. Over 200 GB of data were restored, including my login username and password, all my keychain files, every document, every application – even Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office, iTunes, iPhoto – everything! Even my ~/Sites folder for web development, with all my local MySQL databases, were perfectly restored.
I've really got to hand it to you, Apple. Not only is this laptop amazing hardware, but your software is extremely good, too.
Now I just need a new iPhone. And an iPad.
Epson Printer Driver Update is 922 MB?Posted on May 14th, 2012 No comments
I just got a new MacBook Pro with Lion installed, and I love it. I used the Setup Assistant (very similar to Migration Assistant) to transfer my account from my old MacBook Pro to my new one. The process was wonderfully simple, seamless and successfully transferred 99.99% of my files, documents, applications and settings.
After running Software Update to check for the latest system and software updates, I am told I need to download the Epson Printer Driver software update… for a whopping 922 mb!
Seriously, Epson? Sure, I have a fast connection, but not everyone does yet. Forcing your users to download a gigabyte of software when we own at most, one or maybe two of your printers? Why must I keep drivers for every printer you ever made on my computer? That's just insane.
Your printers are pretty decent but your programmers are seriously lazy.
Here's another way we end up paying more for everything.
The more printers Epson makes, the more code they stuff into their bloated driver download. The more we download, the more our ISP's incrementally charge us for bandwidth.
It's a printer for gosh sakes. Didn't printer drivers used to fit on a floppy?
How to gracefully handle WordPress plugin activation errors?Posted on February 25th, 2012 No comments
Things I learned while attempting to build a custom WordPress plugin…
A) The documentation is far from clear.
B) There's lots of ways of doing it
C) Many blog posts exist around the net with tutorials and examples, and many of them are outdated
D) Proper, logical coding practices and assumptions do not work.
E) You have to just mess with it until it works.
I inherited a fairly large 15-domain WordPress multi-site which uses Ajax, inline dynamic CSS, and inline dynamic Javascript throughout the theme. Page load times without caching are anywhere from 7 to 15 seconds per page. I can't have page load times this long, so I should use caching, I think to myself.
"The world is already flooded with blog posts about how great W3 Total Cache is and how terrific Super Cache is and how fantastic Bat Cache is. Surely one of these will work for me," I think to myself.
But alas, I tested using each of these plugins on my site and none of them really did the trick. W3 Total Cache actually broke my theme completely and threw errors; Super Cache didn't help much either. And Bat Cache was just complete rubbish. Discouraged, I decided to write my own plugin from scratch. So, off I go.
I'll write a custom caching plugin that uses Memcache.
After a week of off-and-on development, I got my caching plugin working extremely well: What was up to 15 seconds is now sub 300ms! Same page, same WP Multi-site, one plugin with only about 300 lines of code. But it only works in a highly-controlled environment. I want to put it up on the WordPress site so others can use it, but before I can release it into the wild, I need to make sure it's really polite about errors and easy to work with.
Specifically, I have these 3 simple goals to finish it up:
1) If you don't have the Memcache extension installed when you try to activate the plugin, it needs to display a warning message about missing extension;
2) I want to use the standard h2 error message to display this error to the user; and
3) I want the plugin to remain deactivated if activation fails.
You would think the WordPress Codex, Plugin Resources and Plugin API Documentation would be chock full of great examples for Plugin developers, wouldn't you? I did, too, but unfortunately this just isn't the case.
I'll give examples of A through E above, and hopefully explain how I was able to achieve the proper implementation points of 1, 2 and 3.
How do you handle WordPress Plugin Activation errors gracefully?
This post says to use the wp_die( ) function.
I tried that and it actually does prevent the plugin from getting activated.
This post suggests that you should just let the fatal error happen and display a slightly better error message in a status box. Terrible idea, IMO.
Better to use this. Render red error messages in h2′s like this post shows. I'm trying to combine these concepts into a single, elegant solution and having a real rough time of it.
I think the only way to do it is like HungryCoder says, you have to freaking ob_start and catch the error with output buffering…
Facebook Update Status ErrorPosted on February 18th, 2012 No comments
See, nobody's perfect. Not even Facebook. (Ha! Far from it, right?)
I'm not able to post an update status at the moment. I thought I'd document it.
Not bad, though, Facebook IT team, I think you have, what, 99.9999% uptime?
Top 10 Redis Resources OnlinePosted on February 4th, 2012 2 comments
Chances are you've heard of Memcache. Tons of websites use it to speed up page load times. I often say that Redis is like Memcache on steroids. You may not have heard of Redis, but if you're using Memcache or APC, you should see how Redis could improve what you're already doing. If you're not using Memcache or APC yet, don't bother – I urge you to take a look at Redis for a bunch of reasons.
First, Memcache is a key-value store only. You set a string value under a string key, and that's it. With Redis, on the other hand, you have the luxury of several different types of data storage, including keys and values, but Redis also supports hashes, lists, sets and sorted sets.
An example to help explain why this is such a huge improvement. Say you have a big array of data, such as the kind that can come back from a web service request, like a parsed XML file or JSON packet. With Memcache, to store this in memory you have to serialize the data, often base64 encode the data, and then store it on the way in, and then to get a portion of the data back out again, you have to get the whole string, base64 decode it, deserialize it and then you can read from it. These extra steps needlessly chew up compute cycles.
With the same data object stored in a Redis Hash, for example, you can have instant access to the data stored in any key of the hash, you don't have to grab the whole thing, deserialize it and all that mess. Just a single line of code, and boom, there's your data. Much more elegant.
Another key reason Redis is superior to Memcache is that when you ask Memcache to store something, it's in memory and that's it. If your server goes down and you have to reboot, you have to repopulate your Memcache data over again. If your app has gotten huge, and your cache is huge, this can not only take awhile but puts a huge strain on your database server during this so-called "cache warmup" period. Unlike Memcache, Redis actually stores a copy of its data to a file on disk in the background, so if you stop and start your Redis server, it reloads everything automatically. It does this mind-blowingly fast, too, like millions of keys in seconds.
Finally, Redis supports master-slave configurations that you can use to build high-availability systems more easily. In the upcoming release (everyone is very eager for) Redis Cluster will support sharding out of the box!So, now that you want to dig in and start learning Redis, here are my…
Top 10 Redis Resources Online
NotesYou may be wondering about NoSQL and where Redis fits into this discussion. When people bring up NoSQL, I tend to think of MongoDB. Unlike Memcached and Redis, MongoDB is a general purpose document/object (think JSON) store that (strangely enough) allows you to use some SQL-like commands to retrieve subsets of your data. I think of Redis as a data structure server. You don't use SQL to talk to Redis, so I guess it could be considered along with other NoSQL solutions. You can compare Redis to MongoDB by going to try.mongodb.org/
- Redis documentation: redis.io/commands
- Try Redis Online: try.redis-db.com
- Redis-DB Google Group List Archives: groups.google.com/group/redis-db
- Antirez (Redis developer Salvatore Sanfilippo's) blog: antirez.com
- Recent blog posts about Redis: RSS Feed
- Q&A: stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/redis
- The Little Redis Book – Just released openmymind.net/2012/1/23/The-Little-Redis-Book
- Slides from Redis Tutorial simonwillison.net/static/2010/redis-tutorial
- A Collection of Redis Use Cases www.paperplanes.de/2010/2/16/a_collection_of_redis_use_cases
- My GitHub Page. Chock full of Redis-related project forks. github.com/phpguru
- Bonus: Here's a slideshow for a Redis 101 talk I gave if you're interested.
Configure Subversion with Apache and Security in 5 Easy StepsPosted on January 19th, 2012 No comments
I've been running WampServer for years on my trusty Dell XPS running Windows XP Pro. A while back I installed Subversion and got it working with mod_dav and authz_svn to serve multiple repositories, each with their own user and group permissions. It was tricky to set up and there are some finer points that most documentation I read doesn't address. I followed a few different web resources like this great beginners guide, but ultimately it boils down to the 5 simple steps below.
Just recently I needed to add a new repository. I thought I had done everything right, but when I went to use it for the first time, I got the following errors:
D:\svn\repos>svn mkdir http://localhost:8080/svn/myproject/trunk -m "Trunk" svn: OPTIONS of 'http://localhost:8080/svn/myproject': 200 OK (http://localhost:8080)
D:\svn\repos>svn ls http://localhost:8080/svn/myproject/trunk svn: URL 'http://localhost:8080/svn/myproject/trunk' non-existent in that revision
D:\svn\repos>svn ls http://localhost:8080/svn/myproject svn: Could not open the requested SVN filesystem
If you are getting any of these common errors, this post is for you.
When using svn over http, you have to use Apache's configuration files to control access to each repository separately. Start by installing Apache, Subversion, and then referencing these three modules in your httpd.conf as follows:
LoadModule dav_module modules/mod_dav.so LoadModule dav_svn_module modules/mod_dav_svn.so LoadModule authz_svn_module modules/mod_authz_svn.so
Now we're ready to begin.
1) Add the repository:
#> svnadmin create D:\svn\repos\myproject
*(On Unix systems, chown -R myproject so it is writable by the user Apache runs as)*
2) Edit your httpd.conf (or extras/httpd-vhosts.conf) adding something like this:
<Location /svn/myproject> DAV svn SVNPath d:/svn/repos/myproject AuthType Basic AuthName "My Project SVN Repo" AuthUserFile c:/etc/svn-auth-file Require valid-user AuthzSVNAccessFile c:/etc/svn-acl </Location>
3) Add the project to your svn auth file at c:/etc/svn-acl (it's referenced in the Location directive in your Apache config.)
[groups] yourgroupname = yourusername, user_b, user_c
[myproject:/] yourusername = rw @yourgroupname = rw
This is what tells Apache which users and groups are allowed to access the path(s) in your repository.
4) Give yourusername an htpasswd (and user_b and user_c)
cd c:/etc/ htpasswd -c svn-auth-file yourusername
*(If that file already exists, omit the -c option)*
5) Finally, restart Apache
httpd -k restart
Then you're ready to create trunk
#> svn mkdir http://localhost:8080/svn/myproject/trunk -m "Adding trunk" Committed revision 1.
I got the errors shown above when forgetting step one or more of these steps.
Developing Web Apps on Amazon AWS EC2 with Mac OS XPosted on November 13th, 2011 No comments
I recently set aside an hour to read Robert Sosinski's blog Starting Amazon EC2 with Mac OS X. What a fantastic guide that is! Thanks, Robert!
Hopefully he won't mind my slightly modified mirror, below.
Starting Amazon EC2 with Mac OS X
Amazon EC2 (Elastic Cloud Compute) is now one of the top choices for cloud-based deployment. With EC2, you can ramp up to a massive server farm in a matter of minutes, while scaling back down to a single server when things calm down. The benefits are obvious, as you only pay for what you need and you have access to more computing power right when you need it.
EC2 works on the idea of server instances. You start with building one instance, which costs as low as a few cents per hour of operation, and you can even start free (with a t1 micro for a month!).
An instance acts just like a dedicated machine, with full root access and the ability to install any software you choose. You can chose from a variety of sizes and operating systems. An m1.small instance, for example, comes with some pretty competitive system specs including:
1.7 Ghz Xeon CPU
1.75 GB of RAM
160 GB of local storage
250 MB/s network interface
If your first instance gets some heavy traffic, EC2 can build another one automatically for another few cents an hour. Turnkey infrastructure has never been better.
Getting Started
First off, you have to set up your computer so you can connect to and administer your Amazon EC2 account.
If you don't already have an account at Amazon.com, create one now.
1. Log into your Amazon.com account and then click over to the Amazon AWS subdomain and sign up for EC2. It will be linked to your Amazon.com account.
2. Once signed up, hover over the yellow "Your Web Services Account" button. Here, you should select the "AWS Access Identifiers" link.
3. Login, if prompted.
4. Select the "X.509 certificates" link.
5. Click on the "Create New" link. Amazon will ask you if you are sure, say yes. Doing so will generate two files.
A PEM encoded X.509 certificate named something like cert-xxxxxxx.pem
A PEM encoded RSA private key named something like pk-xxxxxxx.pem
6. Download both of these files.
What is PEM?
PEM (Privacy Enhanced Mail) is a protocol originally developed to secure email. Although rarely deployed for its indented purpose, it's encoding mechanism for generating certificates is used for quite a few web services including Amazon EC2, PayPal Web Payments Pro and SSH Key Pairs.
7. Download the Amazon EC2 Command-Line Tools.
8. Open the Terminal, go to your home directory, make a new ~/.ec2 directory and open it in the Finder.
$ cd
$ mkdir .ec2
$ cd .ec2
$ open .
9. Copy the certificate and private key from your download directory into your ~/.ec2 directory.
10. Unzip the Amazon EC2 Command-Line Tools, look in the new directory and move both the bin and lib directory into your ~/.ec2 directory. This directory should now have the following:
The cert-xxxxxxx.pem file
The pk-xxxxxxx.pem file
The bin directory
The lib directory
11. Now, you need to set a few environmental variables. To help yourself out in the future, you will be placing everything necessary in your ~/.bash_profile file. What this will do is automatically setup the Amazon EC2 Command-Line Tools every time you start a Terminal session. Just open ~/.bash_profile in your text editor and add the following to the end of it:
# Setup Amazon EC2 Command-Line Tools
export EC2_HOME=~/.ec2
export PATH=$PATH:$EC2_HOME/bin
export EC2_PRIVATE_KEY=`ls $EC2_HOME/pk-*.pem`
export EC2_CERT=`ls $EC2_HOME/cert-*.pem`
export JAVA_HOME=/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Home/
12. As you made some changes to your ~/.bash_profile file, you will need to reload it for everything to take effect. Run this:
$ source ~/.bash_profile
Creating and Connecting to a Server Instance
Launching an EC2 Instance from the Command Line on Mac OS X
Now that your computer is set up to work with EC2, it is time to make your server instance.
1. Type this into the Terminal.
$ ec2-describe-images -o amazon
What does the -o option do?
The -o option stands for owner. In this example, you are asking EC2 to describe the images that belong Amazon. To see every image available, give the -a option instead.
2. After a short wait, you will be given a list of available images which should look something like this.
IMAGE ami-20b65349 ec2-public-images/fedora-core4-base.manifest.xml
IMAGE ami-22b6534b ec2-public-images/fedora-core4-mysql.manifest.xml
IMAGE ami-23b6534a ec2-public-images/fedora-core4-apache.manifest.xml
IMAGE ami-25b6534c ec2-public-images/fedora-core4-apache-mysql.manifest.xml
IMAGE ami-26b6534f ec2-public-images/developer-image.manifest.xml
IMAGE ami-2bb65342 ec2-public-images/getting-started.manifest.xml
IMAGE ami-36ff1a5f ec2-public-images/fedora-core6-base-x86_64.manifest.xml
IMAGE ami-bd9d78d4 ec2-public-images/demo-paid-AMI.manifest.xml
Note that you can also do something like
$ ec2-describe-instances -a > ami-list-2011-11.txt
and then search the generated text file for platforms you might need, such as magento or wordpress:
$ cat ami-list-2011-11.txt | grep magento
3. Lets create something simple for now, a Fedora Core 4 machine with Apache. To do this, we need to generate a keypair. This keypair will supply the credentials we need to SSH (Secure Shell) into our server instance. To make a new keypair named ec2-keypair, type the following:
$ ec2-add-keypair ec2-keypair
4. This will create a RSA Private Key and then output it to the screen. You are going to copy this entire key, including the —–BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY—– and —–END RSA PRIVATE KEY—– lines to the clipboard. Now, go into your ~/.ec2 directory, make a new file called ec2-keypair, open it in your text editor, paste the entire key and save it.
5. Next, it is important to change the permissions of your keypair file, or else EC2 will not let you connect to it via SSH. To do this, just type the following in your ~/.ec2 directory:
$ chmod 600 ec2-keypair
6. Time to create your new machine. Ensure you are in your ~/.ec2 directory and type the following, substituting "ami-23b6534a" with the id of the image you wish to create.
NOTE: It is important to understand that once you tell EC2 to start creating your server instance, you will start paying 10 cents every hour until you terminate it.
$ ec2-run-instances ami-23b6534a -k ec2-keypair
RESERVATION r-xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx default
INSTANCE i-xxxxxxxx ami-23b6534a pending ec2-keypair
7. It may take a bit for EC2 to start your new machine, but you can always check its status by typing:
$ ec2-describe-instances
RESERVATION r-xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx default
INSTANCE i-xxxxxxxx ami-23b6534a ec2.compute-1.amazonaws.com
8. Great, your instance is up and running. Take note of your server's web address (ec2-xx-xxx-xx-xx.compute-1.amazonaws.com) and ID (i-xxxxxxxx) as you will need both of these later in this tutorial. If you forget them, you can always type the ec2-describe-instances command again. Now, lets prep our server by enabling port 22 for SSH access and port 80 so Apache can serve web pages.
$ ec2-authorize default -p 22
PERMISSION default ALLOWS tcp 22 22 FROM CIDR 0.0.0.0/0
$ ec2-authorize default -p 80
PERMISSION default ALLOWS tcp 80 80 FROM CIDR 0.0.0.0/0
9. This is the moment you have been waiting for, connecting to your new machine. Open a new web browser window and type in your instance's web address. You should now see an Apache welcome page.
10. Fantastic, your instance is serving the Apache test page. Now, lets SSH into the machine and check it out. Ensure you are in your ~/.ec2 directory as you will need your ec2-keypair file.
$ ssh -i ec2-keypair firstname.lastname@example.com
11. SSH will ask you if you are sure you want to connect. Just enter yes and you should be connected to your server instance.
__| __|_ ) Rev: 2
_| ( /
Welcome to an EC2 Public Image
__ c __ /etc/ec2/release-notes.txt
[root@domU-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-E2 ~]#
12. Enjoy.
Terminating Your Server Instance
Keep in mind that you are still on the meter. Because of this, you should shut down your server instance if you do not plan on using it.
1. Enter the terminate command with your server's instance ID.
$ ec2-terminate-instances i-xxxxxxxx
INSTANCE i-xxxxxxxx running shutting-down
2. Take a look to see if everything is terminated.
$ ec2-describe-instances
RESERVATION r-xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx default
INSTANCE i-xxxxxxxx ami-23b6534a terminated
3. Done and done.
Next Steps
Now that you have an intro to using Amazon EC2 instances on Mac OS X, in step 7 above, you installed the tools. Check out the Amazon AWS Command Line Tools API for all the various ways you can monitor your EC2 instances and other AWS services from the command line. Here are a few more resources:
- AWS EC2 API Documentation
- Finding a suitable AMI – Amazon Machine Image
- Generating a new SSH Key-pair
- Launching an Amazon EC2 Instance
- You can even Launch EC2 Instance via the web with an HTTP Query
Amazing stuff, and more affordable than you might think. See Reserved Instances.
Thanks, Amazon.com.
Final Notes
When starting instances, be sure to take note of the Availability Zone you're starting your instance in. If you end up creating more servers, for example, an Apache server, a MySQL server, a Memcache or Redis Server, you'll want to make sure you start them all in the same availability zone to avoid unecessary charges and security group headaches. More about AWS Availability Zones and AWS Security Groups over at Rightscale.


text:
AIMS Public Health , 2018, 5(2): 122-134. doi: 10.3934/publichealth.2018.2.122
Research article
Export file:
- RIS(for EndNote,Reference Manager,ProCite)
- BibTex
- Text
- Citation Only
- Citation and Abstract
African American women perceptions of physician trustworthiness: A factorial survey analysis of physician race, gender and age
1 Department of Health Policy and Management, College of Public Health, University of South Florida
2 Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Medical Center
3 Research Design and Statistics Unit, School of Nursing, University of Wisconsin-Madison
4 School of Public Health, Samford University
Received: , Accepted: , Published:
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2. Boulware LE, Cooper LA, Ratner LE, et al. (2003) Race and trust in the health care system. Public Health Rep 118: 358–365.
3. Armstrong K, Ravenell KL, McMurphy S, et al. (2007) Racial/ethnic differences in physician distrust in the United States. Am J Public Health 97: 1283–1289.
4. Halbert CH, Armstrong K, Gandy OH, et al. (2006) Racial differences in trust in health care providers. Arch Intern Med 166: 896–901.
5. Jacobs EA, Rolle I, Ferrans CE, et al. (2006) Understanding African Americans' views of the trustworthiness of physicians. J Gen Intern Med 21: 642–647.
6. Street RL, O'Malley KJ, Cooper LA, et al. (2008) Understanding concordance in patient-physician relationships: personal and ethnic dimensions of shared identity. Ann Fam Med 6: 198–205.
7. Cooper-Patrick L, Gallo JJ, Gonzales JJ, et al. (1999) Race, gender, and partnership in the patient-physician relationship. JAMA 282: 583–589.
8. Malat J, Hamilton MA (2006) Preference for same-race health care providers and perceptions of interpersonal discrimination in health care. J Health Soc Behav 47: 173–187.
9. LaVeist TA, Nuru-Jeter A, Jones KE (2003) The association of doctor-patient race concordance with heatlh services utilization. J Public Health Policy 24: 312–323.
10. Johnson RL, Roter D, Powe NR, et al. (2004) Patient race/ethnicity and quality of patient-physician communication during medical visits. Am J Public Health 94: 2084–2090.
11. Saha S, Komaromy M, Koepsell TD, et al. (1999) Patient-physician racial concordance and the perceived quality and use of health care. Arch Internal Med 159: 997–1004.
12. Chen FM, Fryer GE, Phillips RL, et al. (2005) Patients' beliefs about racism, preferences for physician race, and satisfaction with care. Ann Fam Med 3: 138–143.
13. Benkert R, Hollie B, Nordstrom CK, et al. (2009) Trust, mistrust, racial identity and patient satisfaction in urban African American primary care patients of nurse practitioners. J Nurs Scholarsh 41: 211–219.
14. Meghani SH, Brooks JM, Gipson-Jones T, et al. (2009) Patient-provider race-concordance: does it matter in improving minority patients' health outcomes? Ethn Health 14: 107–130.
15. Saha S, Shipman S (2006) The rationale for diversity in the health professions: A review of the evidence. In: Administration HRaS, editor. Rockville, MD.
16. Traylor AH, Subramanian U, Uratsu CS, et al. (2010) Patient race/ethnicity and patient-physician race/ethnicity concordance in the management of cardiovascular disease risk factors for patients with diabetes. Diabetes care 33: 520–525.
17. Chan KS, Bird CE, Weiss R, et al. (2006) Does patient-provider gender concordance affect mental health care received by primary care patients with major depression? Womens Health Issues 16: 122–132.
18. Garcia JA, Paterniti DA, Romano PS, et al. (2003) Patient preferences for physician characteristics in university-based primary care clinics. Ethn Dis 13: 259–267.
19. Derose KP, Hays RD, McCaffrey DF, et al. (2001) Does Physician Gender Affect Satisfaction of Men and Women Visiting the Emergency Department? J Gen Intern Med 16: 218–226.
20. Bertakis KD, Franks P, Epstein RM (2009) Patient-centered communication in primary care: physician and patient gender and gender concordance. J Women's Health 18: 539–545.
21. Hall JA, Roter DL, Blanch-Hartigan D, et al. (2014) How patient-centered do female physicians need to be? Analogue patients' satisfaction with male and female physicians' identical behaviors. Health Commun 30: 1–7.
22. Saha S, Taggart SH, Komaromy M, et al. (2000) Do patients choose physicians of their own race? Health Aff 19: 76–83.
23. Rossi PH, Nock SL (1982) Measuring social judgments: The factorial survey approach. Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE Publications.
24. Brown RL, Saunders LA, Castelaz CA, et al. (1997) Physicians' decisions to prescribe benzodiazepines for nervousness and insomnia. J Gen Intern Med 12: 44–52.
25. Musa D, Schulz R, Harris R, et al. (2009) Trust in the health care system and the use of preventive health services by older black and white adults. Am J Public Health 99: 1293–1299.
26. Mascarenhas OA, Cardozo LJ, Afonso NM, et al. (2006) Hypothesized predictors of patient-physician trust and distrust in the elderly: implications for health and disease management. Clin Interv Aging 1: 175–188.
27. Lauder W (1999) A survey of self-neglect in patients living in the community. J Clin Nurs 8: 95–102.
28. Atzmüller C, Steiner PM (2010) Experimental vignette studies in survey research. Methodol Eur J Res Methods Behav Soc Sci 6: 128–138.
29. Muller-Engelmann M, Krones T, Keller H, et al. (2008) Decision making preferences in the medical encounter--a factorial survey design. BMC Health Serv Res 8: 260.
30. Shlay AB (2010) African American, White and Hispanic child care preferences: A factorial survey analysis of welfare leavers by race and ethnicity. Soc Sci Res 39: 125–141.
31. Reysen S (2005) Construction of a new scale: The Reysen Likability scale. Soc Behav Personal An Int J 33: 201–208.
32. Cabral D, Napoles-Springer A, Miike R, et al. (2003) Population- and community-based recruitment of African Americans and Latinos: the San Francisco Bay Area Lung Cancer Study. Am J Epidemiol 158: 272–279.
33. Lipsey MW (1990) Design sensitivity: statistical power for experimental research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
34. Hall MA, Zheng B, Dugan E, et al. (2002) Measuring patients' trust in their primary care providers. Med Care Res Rev 59: 293–318.
35. Babbie E (2009) The Practice of Social Research. CA: Wadsworth Publishing.
36. Hox JJ, Kreft IGG, Hermkens PLJ (1991) The analysis of factorial surveys. Sociol Methods Res 19: 493–510.
37. Rabash J, Steele F, Browne WJ, et al. (2012) A User's Guide to MLwiN, v2.26. University of Bristol: Centre for Multilevel Modeling.
38. Brown RL, Brown RL, Edwards JA, et al. (1992) Variation in a medical faculty's decisions to transfuse: Implications for modifying blood product utilization. Med Care 30: 1083–1096.
39. Hintze J (2007) NCSS 2007. Kaysville, Utah, USA: NCSS, LLC.
40. Roter DL, Erby LH, Adams A, et al. (2014) Talking about depression: An analogue study of physician gender and communication style on patient disclosures. Patient Educ Couns 96: 339–348.
41. Kumar D, Schlundt DG, Wallston KA (2009) Patient-physician race concordance and its relationship to perceived health outcomes. Ethn Dis 19: 345–351.
42. Cohen PN, Huffman ML (2003) Occupational segregation and the devaluation of women's work across U.S. labor markets. Soc Forces 81: 881–908.
43. Hall JA, Blanch-Hartigan D, Roter DL (2011) Patients' satisfaction with male versus female physicians: a meta-analysis. Med Care 49: 611–617.
44. Beavers FP, Satiani B (2010) Diversity in vascular surgery: Adapting to America's new face. Vasc Surg 51.
© 2018 the Author(s), licensee AIMS Press. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licese (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)


text:
For leaders to realise the potential of technology in their organisation, the starting point is digital literacy and a digital mindset.
This holistic programme is designed to create that literacy and embed that mindset through fast, hands-on learning, which empowers leaders to see and do things differently from the very next day.
We immerse leaders in the digital world, getting them hands-on with the technologies of the future.
This four-part programme is delivered as an intensive two-day bootcamp, or as four modules over the course of a year.


text:
The LC100 Portable Load Bank
Rugged, compact design meets the demand of daily transit and testing.
The LC100 Portable Indoor Load Bank offers the most compact, highcapacity design in the industry. LBD is setting the standard with intelligent operator controls, safety indication layouts, adjustable load step resolution, and lightweight designs. The LC100 is the perfect solution for regularly scheduled maintenance testing and commissioning of missioncritical standby emergency power systems.
Construction | Built to Last
The LC100 is constructed of galvanized steel with the highest quality durable powdercoat paint finish. Portability and ease of positioning are provided with moving handle and optional travel case with casters.
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The LC100 features a set of fullyrated, industry exclusive CamLok power connectors which are color coded for operator safety and easeofphase identification. Protective snapback covers provide added safety during storage and operation.


text:
Eagles Abroad is brought to you by Grubber, makers of fine sporting apparel.
A couple of try scorers among Americans over the weekend. Blaine Scully notched a try for Cardiff as they beat the Southern Kings. Joining him on the list was Dino Waldren who started and made an impact for London Scottish. While some players missed out on first team action over the weekend other, like Titi Lamositele, saw time in the 'A' League.
If you liked what you read consider a donation. Eagles Abroad is one of our favorite segments but it takes resources. Your support makes it possible. If so inclined, there is a donation button on the right hand side of the page.
British Isles:
Aviva Premiership
Chris Wyles started and played 54 minutes while Titi Lamositele was not in the line-up for the Saracens as they beat Bath 41-6 on Saturday.
Chris Baumann was not in the line-up for Leicester as they lost to Northampton 27-21 on Saturday.
Joe Taufete'e and Andrew Durutalo were not in the line-up for Worcester as they lost to Wasps 30-15 on Saturday. Taufete'e is injured.
AJ MacGinty started, played 80 minutes, and kicked three penalties and three conversions for Sale as they lost to Newcastle 35-20 on Friday. Nick Civetta was not in the line-up for Newcastle.
Guinness Pro 14
Callum Black started and played 54 minutes for Ulster as they beat the Ospreys 8-0 on Sunday.
Blaine Scully started, played 80 minutes, and scored a try for Cardiff as they beat the Southern Kings 45-12 on Saturday.
Greg Peterson was not in the line-up for Glasgow as they beat Connacht 35-22 on Saturday.
Ronnie McLean started for Richmond as they lost to London Scottish 30-29 on Saturday. Dino Waldren started and scored a try for London Scottish.
Nick Civetta started for Doncaster as they lost to Bristol 68-10 on Friday. Thretton Palamo was not in the line-up for Bristol.
Will Hooley started, played 54 minutes, and scored three conversions for Bedford as they lost 34-29 to Cornish Pirates on Saturday.
Robbie Shaw was not in the line-up for Hartpury as they lost to Ealing 54-26 on Saturday.
Conor Kearns plays with Oxford University.
Ollie Drew plays with Romsney.
Louis Mulholland plays with with Cheshunt.
All Ireland League
Pierce Dargan, Roman Salanoa, and Old Belvedere beat Ballynahinch 16-13 on Saturday.
Kalei Konrad and Terenure College beat Kevin O'Connor, Alex McDonald, Will Sims, Liam Smith, and Trinity 50-12 on Saturday.
Women's Premiership
Jess Wooden started and scored a try for the Harlequins as they beat Wasps 22-7 on Saturday.
Top 14
Samu Manoa was not in the line-up for Toulon as they beat Montpellier 32-17 on Saturday.
Dave Ryan started and played 48 minutes for Agen as they beat Pau 33-22 on Saturday.
Pro D2
Christian Ostberg was not in the line-up for Aurillac as they beat Mont-de-Marsan 31-26 on Sunday.
David Tameilau was not in the line-up while Siaosi Mahoni started and played 40 minutes for Narbonne as they beat Bayonne 26-21 on Sunday.
Eric Fry started and played 67 minutes for Vannes as they lost to Dax 34-28 on Sunday.
Victor Camptat plays for the Brive Reserves.
Mose Fualaau plays for the Clermont Academy.
Inaki Basauri plays for Stade Nantais.
Nafi Maafu plays for the Perpignan reserves.
Roland Suniula started for Reggio as they beat San Dona 26-20 on Saturday.
New Zealand:
Mitre 10 Cup
Toni Pulu and Counties Manukau have finished their season.
Tony Lamborn, Pas Dunn, and Hawke's Bay have finished their season.
Michelle Wong is training and playing with Sydenham.
Steven Knight is training in the Southland system.
Marcel Brache and the Perth Spirit have finished their season.
James Hilterbrand and the Sydney Rays have finished their season.
Shute Shield
James Hilterbrand and Manly lost to the Northern Suburbs 25-21.
BC Premier League
Graham Harriman and James Bay beat Westshore 39-20 on Saturday.


text:
Unprecedented Advanced Manufacturing and Consumer Demand Revised Full-Year Guidance to Accelerate Growth Rate and Investments
Unprecedented Advanced Manufacturing and Consumer Demand Revised Full-Year Guidance to Accelerate Growth Rate and Investments
ROCK HILL, South Carolina – October 29, 2013 - 3D Systems Corporation (NYSE: DDD) announced today that its third quarter revenue grew 50% from the prior year to a record $135.7 million on a 76% increase in printers' and other products revenue and 30% overall organic growth, resulting in GAAP earnings of $0.17 per share and non-GAAP earnings of $0.26 per share.
Gross profit increased 52% and gross profit margin expanded 80 basis points to 52.6%, contributing to GAAP net income of $17.7 million, and non-GAAP net income of $26.2 million, representing a 44% improvement over the 2012 quarter.
For the nine months 2013, revenue grew 42% to $358.6 million, on an 81% increase in printers and other products revenue and 27% organic growth, resulting in GAAP earnings of $0.34 per share and non-GAAP earnings of $0.66 per share. Gross profit increased 46% and gross profit margin expanded 120 basis points to 52.3%.
"We are very pleased to report another record revenue quarter on unprecedented printer units demand that more than tripled last year's unit sales," said Avi Reichental, 3D Systems' President, and Chief Executive Officer. "Stronger materials sales increased advanced manufacturing activities and meaningful consumer products revenue contribution fueled our growth."
Third Quarter 2013 Revenue Highlights (compared to 2012 quarter):
• 3D printers and other products revenue increased 76% to $59.8 million.
• Print materials revenue grew 30% to $33.2 million.
• Services revenue rose 38% to $42.7 million.
• Healthcare revenue grew 39% and contributed $16.9 million to our total revenue.
• Consumer solutions contributed $13.5 million to our total revenue.
The company continued to increase its R&D and marketing expenditures, making investments in support of its near-term opportunities and expanding product portfolio. For the third quarter in a row, the company expanded its manufacturing capacity to accommodate increasing demand for its products and services.
"We are accelerating developments of key products, channels, and technologies to capture a broader share of upstream production applications and downstream consumer opportunities," continued Reichental."
To accelerate its growth rate, the company decided to further increase its R&D, marketing, and retail field operations spending in connection with specific, near-term, new product introductions and retail channel expansion. Significant marketplace interest in its recently acquired, proprietary, Phenix direct metals 3D printers also compelled the company to accelerate new products development and capacity investments. As a result, the company updated its annual guidance for the full year 2013, increasing its revenue guidance to be in the range of $500 million to $530 million and, consistent with the step up in discretionary spending, reducing its non-GAAP earnings per share guidance to be in the range of $0.93 to $1.03.
"For the next few periods, we are going for accelerated market-share expansion ahead of earnings per share. We believe that our portfolio's diversity, ranging from direct metal printers at the high end to desktop consumer printers at the low end, is best positioned to capture this unprecedented market opportunity, and expect that our decisive actions will extend our first mover advantage in key verticals. With the fundamentals of our business model remaining intact, we fully expect that the higher investments we are making currently will favorably influence our results in the coming periods," concluded Reichental.
Conference Call and Webcast Details
3D Systems will hold a conference call and webcast to discuss its operating results for the third quarter and nine months 2013 on Tuesday, October 29, 2013, at 9:00 a.m., Eastern Time.
• To access this webcast, log onto 3D Systems' web site at www.3dsystems.com/investor. To ensure timely participation and technical capability, we recommend logging on a few minutes prior to the conference call to activate your participation.
• To access this conference call, dial 1-800-706-7745 from in the U.S. or 1-617-614-3472 from outside the U.S. and enter participant code 86406937.
• The webcast will also be available for replay beginning approximately two hours after completion of the call at: www.3dsystems.com/investor.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements made in this release that are not statements of historical or current facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from historical results or from any future results or projections expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In addition to statements that explicitly describe such risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements in the conditional or future tenses or that include terms such as "believes," "belief," "expects," "estimates," "intends," "anticipates" or "plans" to be uncertain and forward-looking. Forward-looking statements may include comments as to the company's beliefs and expectations as to future events and trends affecting its business and are necessarily subject to uncertainties, many of which are outside the control of the company. The factors described under the headings "Forward-Looking Statements," "Cautionary Statements and Risk Factors," and "Risk Factors" in the company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as other factors, could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected or predicted in forward-looking statements.
Presentation of Information in This Press release
To facilitate a better understanding of the impact that several strategic acquisitions had on its financial results, the company reported non-GAAP measures that adjust net income and earnings per share by excluding the impact of amortization of intangibles, non-cash interest expense, acquisition and severance expenses, litigation settlements, loss on conversion of notes and stock-based compensation expense. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results is provided in the accompanying schedule.
About 3D Systems Corporation
3D Systems is a leading provider of 3D content-to-print solutions including 3D printers, print materials, and on-demand custom parts services for professionals and consumers alike with materials ranging from thermoplastics, metals, ceramics and edible sugar. The company also provides software design tools including CAD, reverse engineering and inspection and consumer 3D printers, apps and services. Its expertly integrated solutions replace and complement traditional methods and reduce the time and cost of designing new products by printing real parts directly from digital input. These solutions are used to rapidly design, create, communicate, prototype or produce real parts, empowering customers to manufacture the future.
More information on the company is available at www.3DSystems.com.
Tables Follow in the attached PDF


text:
Hello, I have already read the document entitled "Defining N-ary Relations on the Semantic Web" which is available on the following link <http://www.w3.org/TR/swbp-n-aryRelations/>. I want to define supervisor as a property having domain and range person. This property carries data defining where and when this relationship (supervisor) was established. In order to infer the inverse property, i associate the /OWL:inverseOf/ apprentice to supervisor. I want to define the supervisor property as a sub property of a more generic relationship called /knows/ as defined in the FOAF schema. I use the reification method to represent all this information as follow: The problem that the management of the blank node is very complicated. My question is there a solution to represent a property as a class in such a way that the class keeps the characteristics of the property (i.e., transitivity, inverse, symmetry etc) without representing the blank node? Waiting your response, Beast regards, Sonia -- ---------------------------------------- Sonia LAJMI ---ATER Université Jean Monnet ---Faculté des sciences de Saint Etienne PHD student Université de Lyon Laboratoire LIRIS (UMR 5205) 7 avenue Jean capelle Bur. 501.315 Bât. Blaise PASCAL F-69621 Villeurbanne Cedex Tél: (+33)4 72 43 72 29 Fax: (+33)4 72 43 87 13 Web: http://liris.cnrs.fr/membres?idn=slajmiReceived on Monday, 7 December 2009 22:16:24 UTC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Friday, 17 January 2020 19:48:03 UTC


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The Best Conference Room Furniture
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