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- [noun] (physics) the process of diffusing; the intermingling of molecules in gases and liquids as a result of random thermal agitation
- [noun] the spread of social institutions (and myths and skills) from one society to another
- [noun] the property of being diffused or dispersed
- [noun] the act of dispersing or diffusing something; "the dispersion of the troops"; "the diffusion of knowledge"
Synonyms: dispersion, dispersal, dissemination | <urn:uuid:ac4827be-b1dd-4f31-a3f8-744365a6d680> | 2013-05-21T10:13:01Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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hit the roof
Meaning: You can say someone hits the roof if they lose their temper and show their anger.
- When the boss saw Jim's mistake, he hit the roof. He yelled and thumped the desk and told Jim to get out.
- When Johnny's dad found out that he'd been smoking cigarettes, he hit the roof.
The movie's director hit the roof when the actress | <urn:uuid:02de395c-884a-458c-bfda-d6059f3dc22a> | 2013-05-21T10:20:03Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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No, no Con-Con
By Henry Lamb
The U.S. Constitution provides two ways to offer amendments to the Constitution: by resolution of the Congress; and by a Constitutional Convention requested by two-thirds of the states. In either case, the proposed amendment(s) must be ratified by three-fourths of the states.
There is a very good reason why all 27 amendments to the Constitution were offered by Congressional resolution: a Constitutional Convention is an invitation to disaster.
Proponents of a Constitutional Convention claim that opponents of a Con-Con use "…half-truths, myths and outright falsehoods…" to instill fear of the process. They do not, however, provide any examples of the alleged "half-truths, myths, and outright falsehoods."
Here is the whole truth, which is neither a myth nor a falsehood.
Article V of the U.S. Constitution allows states to apply to the Congress for a Constitutional Convention. Should two-thirds of the states issue such an application, Congress is compelled to call a Constitutional Convention. Note, however, that the Constitution provides the states only with the authority to call for a convention for the purpose of "…proposing amendments…." There is no authority for the states to specify what those amendments might be, or to set, or limit the agenda of a convention.
When 34 states have applied for a Constitutional convention, Congress is compelled to call a convention. Here's where the scary begins. Congress sets the time and location for the Con-Con. Congress determines how the delegates are chosen, and how many delegates will be chosen. Congress could designate the existing Senate to be the delegates. Congress could designate the Electoral College from the last Presidential election to be the delegates. Or, Congress could allow the states to choose their own delegates in whatever manner Congress might contrive. But this is not the scariest part.
Should a Constitutional Convention ever be assembled, neither Congress nor any state would have any authority or control over what the convention might do. There is no way for Congress to set or limit the agenda of a Constitutional Convention, regardless of what proponents might say. As evidence, consider the only Constitutional Convention that was ever assembled. It was assembled expressly to amend the existing Articles of Confederation, with explicit instructions from some states for their delegates to walk out should the convention stray beyond this specific purpose.
History demonstrates that the convention ignored its instructions and abolished the Articles of Confederations while creating an entirely new Constitution. There is nothing to prohibit another Constitutional convention from doing precisely the same thing.
Proponents of a Con-Con say that the requirement that three-fourths of the states must ratify whatever comes out of a Constitutional Amendment is a safeguard to prevent radicals on either side from imposing radical provisions. These folks forget that the convention can specify what it takes to ratify whatever they produce. They could produce a new Constitution with an entirely new form of government and specify that ratification would occur upon a simple majority vote in national referendum. They could specify that the new document would be ratified when approved by state legislatures in any combination of states that represent more than 50-percent of the population. Under this scenario, a handful of blue states could transform the government of the United States.
Scary? You bet. Scenarios such as this should instill fear and force people to reject the idea of a Constitutional convention for any reason. Here is a thorough explanation of the dangers.
There is great need, however, to amend the Constitution. The imbalance in powers between the states and the federal government grows in the favor of the feds every time Congress meets or the President speaks. The United States of America originally was a unique experiment in shared sovereignty - in which the states' power was centered in the Senate, which had to approve virtually every legislative proposal suggested by the President or that originated in the people's House of Representatives. The tension between what the states considered to be in their interest, and what the people's representatives and the President considered to be in their interests created a competition that could not move any idea forward until all parties had agreed. This is the genius of the American System that made America the greatest nation on Earth.
The 17th Amendment removed the states altogether from participation in the federal government. The federal government's power and budget has expanded ever since. The time has come to restrain the powers of the federal government, and the best way to do it is to return to the design created by our Founders. Repeal the 17th Amendment! | <urn:uuid:7d10d8a1-cd08-4fb5-9760-48b450f029fb> | 2013-05-21T09:59:06Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Who knew Rashida Jones had such a sassy streak?
The Parks and Recreation star caused a firestorm yesterday for taking a surprising jab at John Travolta's much-speculated-about sexual orientation as well as his recent massage controversy.
While promoting her new movie Celeste and Jesse Forever, Jones said in an interview with SpinningPlatters.com that she'd love to see a big movie star come out of the closet as gay. "Like John Travolta?" the 36-year-old daughter of music legend Quincy Jones suggested. "Come out! Come on. How many masseurs have to come forward? Let's do this."
However, Jones took to Twitter this morning to say she was sorry. "Made a thoughtless comment about John Travolta," she tweeted. "I sincerely apologize. Nobody's personal life is my business."
In the same interview, Jones praised Frank Ocean for coming out.
"Because with someone like Frank Ocean, yes, it's fantastic that he did what he did and his letter was so beautiful, and he's in such close proximity to all these rappers so he's battling homophobia just by being honest," she said. "But big stars need to come out. Ricky Martin was huge. That was big; I was really happy about that." | <urn:uuid:6904c1c4-fb02-4229-9db2-3631a85365a8> | 2013-05-21T10:10:13Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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yield: Makes 4 first-course or light main-course servings
active time: 15 min
total time: 15 min
- 2 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 lb pickled herring, drained
- 1 (1-lb) jar sliced pickled beets, drained
- 1 (6-oz) bunch watercress, coarse stems discarded (4 cups sprigs)
- 2 medium Belgian endives, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices and cores discarded
Whisk together vinegar, sugar, and salt until sugar is dissolved, then add oil in a slow stream, whisking.
Arrange herring and beets on a platter and drizzle with half of vinaigrette.
Toss watercress and endives with remaining vinaigrette, then mound over herring and beets.add your own note | <urn:uuid:08291373-c324-41a2-b029-e755d2a02b02> | 2013-05-21T10:06:05Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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The blood clot for which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was hospitalized Sunday night is situated in a vein between her brain and her skull behind the right ear, reports CNN, but it has caused no neurological damage and the Associated Press says her doctors expect a full recovery:
BREAKING: Doctors: Hillary Clinton making excellent progress, predict a full recovery from blood clot.— The Associated Press (@AP) December 31, 2012
Clinton did not suffer a stroke before she was hospitalized Sunday night at Manhattan's New York-Presbyterian Hospital following a concussion earlier this month. And the AP's full report says Clinton is being treated with blood thinners and that "she will be released once the medication dose has been established."
Updates: Reuters reports that Clinton has not suffered a stroke:
More: Secretary Clinton did not suffer stroke or neurological damage - doctors— Reuters Politics (@ReutersPolitics) December 31, 2012
And that Clinton is "in good spirits":
More: Secy. Clinton "in good spirits" and will be released from hospital once dose of blood thinners has been determined - doctors— Reuters Politics (@ReutersPolitics) December 31, 2012 | <urn:uuid:3c6cbb5e-2554-459d-be7d-28a815a422c9> | 2013-05-21T10:28:15Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Dragonlord: The Sun [Tarot Series]
Marcus is searching for an old friend in a tiny village. Antoine has been murdered but his daughter is still alive and well. Lia has taken over her deceased husband's job as the village smith and is unprepared to meet another dragon, which is why she doesn't recognize him as one when she meets him. He offers her a chance to start a new life and she decides to take him up on it. Little does she realize that this is her second chance at life, love, children and finding a man to stand up to her. With all the subtlety of his species, he sets out to claim her as his own as swiftly as he can. He does one heck of a job. Join Lia with her Dragonlord for shape shifting fun, fights, and winged frolics. | <urn:uuid:df90b34d-0b39-4cd2-803e-7aeeef07c2b1> | 2013-05-21T10:06:05Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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During the summer, Albania was taking things a bit slower due to the elections in June 2009. However, the government produced an action plan on 29 July 2009, with ambitious but still realistic deadlines to meet the remaining roadmap conditions. On 16 September the new government pledged to achieve "free movement of Albanians in the Schengen area within the first year of the government mandate".
This soon translated into concentrated activities in Albania to achieve the remaining benchmarks. In October/November 2009, ESI and their partner organisation in Albania, the European Movement in Albania, analysed the Albanian government's regularly updated readiness reports, including the then most recent of 2 November. Like in Bosnia's case, we came to the conclusion that Albania had achieved significant progress, bringing it to approximately the same level of implementation that Serbia and Montenegro had achieved in May 2009.
Fortunately, this has been recognised by the European Parliament, EU member states (see statement attached to the European Parliament Opinion of 12 November 2009), and the European Commission. The Commission sent an EU national expert mission to Albania (and one to Bosnia, too) in December 2009 to assess progress under block 1.
In February 2010, national experts assessed the situation in Albania and Bosnia as regards blocks 2 and 3. | <urn:uuid:1fc83dfb-b3c1-4bbc-8165-ac7c5ba75c0f> | 2013-05-21T09:58:55Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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The bond between a father and his daughter is always a special one, but in the case of these women, the "Daddy's girl" moniker is particularly fitting. This Sunday these very accomplished women will give an extra-big thank you to their fathers for giving them the genes and the guts to go out and make their mark in the sports world.
Chips off the old block
These gals really followed in Dad's footsteps, finding success in the same sport that made their fathers famous.
Laila Ali: No discussion of father-daughter duos would be complete without boxing legend Muhammad Ali and his daughter, Laila. The 5-foot-10 super middleweight went 24-0 in her career, winning 21 of her matches by knockout. While she never got in the ring with the top-ranked fighters of her day, she did bring publicity and popularity to women's boxing. Since her last fight in 2007, Ali has been busy taking care of her two kids with husband Curtis Conway while working as an actress and TV host, recording an album and promoting her line of skin-care products.
Jacqui Frazier-Lyde: The daughter of the legendary Joe Frazier, Jacqui didn't take up boxing until age 38. A former college basketball player, the lawyer and mother of three was inspired to don the gloves after hearing of Laila Ali's career. Both women were undefeated when they faced off in 2001 in the first pay-per-view boxing card headlined by female fighters. Ali won by a majority decision in eight rounds, handing Frazier-Lyde the only loss of her 14-match career. Frazier-Lyde is now a Municipal Court judge in Philadelphia.
Maya Moore: Mike Dabney, father of the UConn standout, was a terrific hoops player in his own right, helping an undefeated 1976 Rutgers squad make a trip to the Final Four, the first in Scarlet Knights history. An honorable mention All-America guard when he played for assistant coach Dick Vitale at Rutgers, Dabney was taken by the Lakers in the third round of the '76 draft. Moore was raised by her mother, Kathryn, and Dabney wasn't in her life until her senior year in high school. Their relationship may be new, but his basketball genes have played a role in her success since day one.
These ladies got good genes from their dads but decided to take their own talents to another field.
Diana Taurasi: The four-time WNBA All-Star and former UConn superstar is one of the greatest women's basketball players of all time, but she almost gave up on hoops. When she was a teenager, it was her dad, Mario, a former professional soccer goalie, who told her that she should choose basketball over soccer. Born in Italy, Mario spent several years as a goalkeeper in Argentina, but he believed hoops was a better choice for a girl growing up in the U.S. Good genes and good advice -- no wonder Diana grew up to be a star.
Logan Tom: An NCAA champion at Stanford, three-time Olympic indoor volleyball player, silver medalist in Beijing and co-captain of the 2012 U.S. Olympic team, Logan grew up watching her dad play in the NFL. Mel Tom was a defensive lineman who played nine seasons in the league -- seven with the Eagles and two with the Bears.
Katie Smith: The all-time leading scorer in women's professional basketball, Smith has recorded more than 7,000 career points between the ABL and the WNBA. She grew up in a family of athletes and was inspired by her father, John Jr., who was a college football player at Ohio University.
Keelin Winters: The Boston Breakers midfielder and former captain of the U.S. U-20 women's national soccer team grew up playing basketball under the tutelage of her dad, Brian. Soccer is her first love, but hoops flows through her veins, as her father is a former NBA player and a well-traveled coach. A two-time NBA All-Star, Brian has coached for the Cavs, Hawks, Grizzlies, Warriors and WNBA's Fever. Keelin quit basketball in high school so she could focus on soccer and has since been teaching her hoops-loving dad to love "the beautiful game," too.
In a few years these athlete ingenues might compete with their dads for the sporting spotlight.
Sydney Moss: The daughter of NFL wide receiver Randy Moss is headed to the University of Florida to play basketball in 2012.
Tristine Johnson: The UNC jumper is following in the hops, steps and jumps of her hurdler and triple jumper father, gold medalist, three-time Olympian and NCAA champion Allen Johnson.
Sami Fagan: The former Florida Gatorade Player of the Year and ESPN RISE first-team All-American has signed on to play softball for the Florida Gators in the fall. Her dad, Kevin Fagan, won three Super Bowls as a defensive end with the San Francisco 49ers. | <urn:uuid:c6597d36-13dd-401c-a027-31a0f9ca90f7> | 2013-05-21T10:13:13Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Nope, it is not "OK" for a mother to take her child's food away without asking permission first. This isn't a matter of parental authority - it is general politeness.
Let's say you were eating with a married couple. The wife orders an appetizer, and when it arrives, as she starts to take a mouthful, her husband grabs the plate and asks, "Does anyone want some of my wife's appetizers?" Would you not think, at a minimum, he is being rude to her, in not at least asking, "Hey, can we share those?"
If the family tradition is to share appetizers, it does not spare the mother from the minimal common courtesy to her child to ask, "Hey, can we have some?" Basic politeness requires you to ask such a question, even if the expected answer is "yes, of course". | <urn:uuid:1714d446-6068-46b3-852a-dcc0a82b3bda> | 2013-05-21T10:21:09Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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New French champion SLUC Nancy Basket steps into the Turkish Airlines Euroleague with great confidence this season as the proud club marks its second foray into Europe’s premier competition. Nancy downed the previous champion, Cholet Basket, in a thrilling final in Paris in June to win the league and get back to the Euroleague after two years away. Founded in 1967, Stade Lorraine Universite Club (SLUC) Nancy Basket did not find its first real success until the early 1990s, when the team advanced to the French third division. In little time, Nancy jumped to the second division and by 1995 had finished an amazing run that started at the bottom of the French basketball ladder and took it to the first division. Nancy soon started to fight for titles and reached the 1997 French Cup final, although it lost against Asvel Basket. That year, the team lost to Tau Ceramica in the early rounds of the Korac Cup in its first-ever appearance in European competition. The team kept battling to reach the French League playoffs and finished sixth in the 2000-01 season. It was only a question of time before Nancy would win a title, and that finally happened in 2002. Big man Cyril Julian, Stevin Smith, Vincent Masingue and Joseph Gomis starred as Nancy downed Bayer Leverkusen, Dijon and Pivovarna Lasko to make it to the 2002 Korac Cup finals against Lokomotiv Rostov. Smith had 23 points in the first leg, which Nancy won 98-72, while Masingue helped hold off a Rostov rally in the second leg to bring the club its first title. Nancy's next piece of silverware came in 2005 when it won the Semaine Des As by thrashing Gravelines in the final. Starting that year, the club became a regular in the French playoff final. Nancy came up short the first three years, losing to Strasbourg, Le Mans and Chorale Roanne, respectively. In 2006-07, Nancy also made its ULEB Cup debut and reached the elimination rounds, only to lose against Strasbourg in an exciting eighthfinals matchup. The 2007-08 season brought new reasons to celebrate as Jeff Greer led the club to an 84-53 rout of defending champion Roanne in the French League final. That victory catapulted the club into the 2008-09 Euroleague, another step forwards for the club. Nancy came within one win of making it to the Top 16 too. Last season Nancy made its loudest noise at home as it went the distance in playoffs series against Hyeres-Toulon and Asvel Basket before beating Cholet in the title game to win the league and secure passage back to the Euroleague. The next step as Nancy ascends to new heights is to duplicate its success in France and to advance a stage in the Euroleague, which is something no French club has done since Pau-Orthez in the 2006-07 campaign, a streak that Nancy is more than capable of breaking.
Korac Cup: 2002
French National Championship: 2007-08, 2010-11
Semaine des As: 2005 | <urn:uuid:1523367a-e710-4a0d-be57-a144e9da991c> | 2013-05-21T10:08:57Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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About Hampton Roads
Centrally located on the U.S. East Coast, EVMS serves the southeastern region of Virginia known as Hampton Roads. The region comprises seven major cities: Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Newport News, Hampton and Suffolk.
EVMS’ main campus is situated in the heart of the historic Ghent neighborhood in Norfolk.
The total population of Hampton Roads exceeds 1.5 million people. Consistently earning high ranks in various “quality of life” surveys, the region abounds in cultural, educational and economic opportunities. Seven colleges and universities, as well as two community college systems, offer ample educational opportunities in the area. International trade, shipbuilding, health care, tourism, military bases and agriculture provide a diverse economic base with a wide range of employment possibilities.
The coastal region of Hampton Roads boasts a year-round balmy climate. Winters are mild, while the autumn and spring seasons are delightful. Summers are warm, yet tempered by breezes from the Atlantic Ocean, Chesapeake Bay and neighboring waterways. | <urn:uuid:d6d97726-be6c-4c33-9160-69fa70221a98> | 2013-05-21T09:59:04Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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The Evolution Deceit
Imaginary Dinosaur-Bird Links
As you saw in earlier chapters, it's impossible for birds to have evolved from dinosaurs, since no mechanism can have eliminated the enormous physiological differences between the two groups. Despite this, evolutionists still raise the scenario of birds being evolved from dinosaurs in various ways. They frequently resort to news reports, using pictures of reconstructions and sensational headlines regarding these so-called dino-birds, as if they represented the true facts. These accounts are intended to convince people feathered dinosaurs once lived on Earth.
This scenario is presented persistently as it were a proven fact. All objections, criticisms and counter-evidence are totally ignored, clearly indicating that this is deliberate propaganda intended to impose dino-bird myths on society. The biased fossil interpretations we shall examine in the following pages reveal their hollow, deceptive nature.
The claim that birds evolved from dinosaurs is actually opposed by a great many paleontologists or anatomists who otherwise support the theory of evolution. As you have seen, two renowned ornithologists, Alan Feduccia and Larry Martin, think this scenario is completely erroneous. This is set out in the textbook Developmental Biology, taught in U.S. universities:
Not all biologists believe that birds are dinosaurs... This group of scientists emphasize the differences between dinosaurs and birds, claiming that the differences are too great for the birds to have evolved from earlier dinosaurs. Alan Feduccia, and Larry Martin, for instance, contend that birds could not have evolved from any known group of dinosaurs. They argue against some of the most important cladistic data and support their claim from developmental biology and biomechanics. 170
Many evolutionist publications refer to the thesis that birds evolved from dinosaurs as if it were based on solid evidence and accepted by the entire scientific community. They try to give the impression that the only subject up for debate is which species of dinosaur birds evolved from. Although Martin earlier supported the dino-bird claim, he eventually realized in the light of his research that it was invalid, and abandoned his former ideas:
Every time I look at the evidence formerly discovered and then make a claim about the origins of the theropod, I saw its inaccuracy. That is because everything shows its inadequacy. The truth of the matter is that…I seriously suspect that they have the same features with birds and don't think that there exist striking features supporting that birds are of theropod origin. 171
Feduccia admits that concerning the origin of birds, the theory of evolution finds itself in a state of uncertainty. He attaches no credence to the deliberately maintained dino-bird controversy, which is in fact groundless. Important information is contained in his article, "Birds Are Dinosaurs: Simple Answer to a Complex Problem," published in October 2002 in The Auk, the journal of the American Ornithologists' Union, in which the most technical aspects of ornithology are discussed. Feduccia describes in detail how the idea that birds evolved from dinosaurs, raised by John Ostrom in the 1970s and fiercely defended ever since, lacks any scientific evidence, and how such an evolution is impossible.
Feduccia is not alone among evolutionists in this regard. Peter Dodson, the evolutionist professor of anatomy from Pennsylvania University, also doubts that birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs:
I am on record as opposing cladistics and catastrophic extinction of dinosaurs; I am tepid on endothermic dinosaurs; I am skeptical about the theropod ancestry of birds. 172
Despite being an evolutionist, Dodson admits the unrealistic claims of the theory of evolution, and has come in for severe criticism from his evolutionist colleagues. In one article, he responds to these criticisms:
Personally, I continue to find it problematic that the most birdlike maniraptoran theropods are found 25 to 75 million years after the origin of birds . . . .Ghost lineages are frankly a contrived solution, a deus ex machina required by the cladistic method. Of course, it is admitted that late Cretaceous maniraptorans are not the actual ancestors of birds, only "sister taxa." Are we being asked to believe that a group of highly derived, rapidly evolving maniraptorans in the Jurassic gave rise to birds, as manifested by Archaeopteryx, and then this highly progressive lineage then went into a state of evolutionary stasis and persisted unchanged in essential characters for millions of years? Or are actual ancestors far more basal in morphology and harder to classify? If the latter, then why insist that the problem is now solved? 173
Alan Feduccia sets out an important fact concerning the dino-birds said to have been found in China: the "feathers" on the fossils said to be those of feathered dinosaurs are definitely not bird feathers. A considerable body of evidence shows that these fossil traces have nothing at all to do with bird feathers. He says this in an article published in The Auk magazine:
Having studied most of the specimens said to sport protofeathers, I, and many others, do not find any credible evidence that those structures represent protofeathers. Many Chinese fossils have that strange halo of what has become known as dino-fuzz, but although that material has been "homologized" with avian feathers, the arguments are far less than convincing. 174
Citing Richard O. Prum, one of the supporters of the dino-bird claims, as an example, Feduccia goes on to mention the prejudiced approach so prevalent on the subject:
Prum's view is shared by many paleontologists: birds are dinosaurs; therefore, any filamentous material preserved in dromaeosaurs must represent protofeathers. 175
Latest Research Has Dealt a Severe Blow to Feathered Dinosaur Claims
The fossilized structures referred to as dinosaur feathers were shown by Theagarten (Solly) Lingham-Soliar, a paleontologist from Durban-Westville University in South Africa to be nothing more than decayed connective tissue. Professor Lingham-Soliar performed an experiment by burying a dolphin in river mud, semi-permeable to air for a year. The reason a dolphin was selected was that its flesh is easy to analyze. At the end of this period, the professor examined the dolphin's bunches of collagen—which constitutes connective tissue in the bodies of most living things— under a microscope. According to him, the decayed collagen in the dolphin's body bore "a striking resemblance to feathers."1 The German magazine Naturwissenschaften commented that: "The findings throw serious doubt on the virtually complete reliance on visual image by supporters of the feathered dinosaur thesis and emphasize the need for more rigorous methods of identification using modern feathers as a frame of reference." 2 With this finding, it emerged that even a dolphin could leave behind traces of apparent feathers. This once again showed that there are no grounds for regarding extinct dinosaurs with "feathers" as proto-birds.
1. Stephen Strauss, "Buried dolphin corpse serves science," 11 November 2003; http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20031111/UDINO11/TPScience/
According to Feduccia, one factor that invalidates this preconception is the presence of these same traces in fossils that have no relationship with birds:
Most important, "dino-fuzz" is now being discovered in a number of taxa, some unpublished, but particularly in a Chinese pterosaur and a therizinosaur, which has teeth like those of prosauropods. Most surprisingly, skin fibers very closely resembling dino-fuzz have been discovered in a Jurassic ichthyosaur and described in detail. Some of those branched fibers are exceptionally close in morphology to the so-called branched protofeathers ("Prum Protofeathers"") described by Xu. That these so-called protofeathers have a widespread distribution in archosaurs is evidence alone that they have nothing to do with feathers. 176
Feduccia recalls that various structures found around these fossils and thought to belong to them, were later determined to consist of inorganic matter:
One is reminded of the famous fernlike markings on the Solnhofen fossils known as dendrites. Despite their plantlike outlines, these features are now known to be inorganic structures caused by a solution of manganese from within the beds that reprecipitated as oxides along cracks or along bones of fossils. 177
The fossil beds preserve not only an indefinite structure such as dino-fuzz but also bird feathers. But all the fossils presented as feathered dinosaurs have been found in China. Why should these fossils have not emerged from anywhere else in the world—Feduccia draws attention to this intriguing state of affairs:
One must explain also why all theropods and other dinosaurs discovered in other deposits where integument is preserved exhibit no dino-fuzz, but true reptilian skin, devoid of any featherlike material (Feduccia 1999), and why typically Chinese dromaeosaurs preserving dino-fuzz do not normally preserve feathers, when a hardened rachis, if present, would be more easily preserved. 178
Feduccia states that some of these creatures portrayed as feathered dinosaurs are simply extinct reptiles with dino-fuzz and that others are genuine birds:
There are clearly two different taphonomic phenomena in the early Cretaceous lacustrine deposits of the Yixian and Jiufotang formations of China, one preserving dino-fuzz filaments, as in the first discovered, so-called "feathered dinosaur" Sinosauropteryx (a compsognathid), and one preserving actual avian feathers, as in the feathered dinosaurs that were featured on the cover of Nature, but which turned out to be secondarily flightless birds. 179
Peter Dodson, on the other hand, says, "I hasten to add that none of the known small theropods, including Deinonychus, Dromaeosaurus, Velociraptor, Unenlagia, nor Sinosauropteryx, Protarcheaeopteryx, nor Caudipteryx is itself relevant to the origin of birds."180 He means that these creatures cannot be the ancestors of birds because the earliest known bird, Archaeopteryx, lived long before the Cretaceous Period.
In short, the fossils portrayed as feathered dinosaurs or dino-birds either belong to certain flightless birds like today's ostriches, or else to reptiles possessed of a structure known as dino-fuzz which has nothing to do with actual feathers. There exists not a single fossil that might represent an intermediate form between birds and reptiles. Therefore, the claim that fossils prove that birds descended from dinosaurs is completely unrealistic.
1) The Alleged Intermediate From: Mononychus
Mononychus is one of the fossils used as a vehicle for evolutionist propaganda and depicted with feathers in the 26 April 1993 edition of Time magazine. It was later realized, on the basis of further evidence, that this creature was not a bird.
One of the best-known fossils in the alleged dino-bird chain is Mononychus, discovered in Mongolia in 1993 and claimed to be an intermediate form between dinosaurs and birds. Although not the slightest trace of feathers was found in this fossil, Time magazine reconstructed the creature with feathers on the cover of its 26 April, 1993 issue. Subsequent evidence revealed that Mononychus was no bird but a fossorial (digging) theropod.
The fact that this fossil had a bird-like breastbone and wrist bones led evolutionists to interpret Mononychus as an intermediate form. Biased interpretations and support from the media gave the impression that some proof existed to back this up. However, the anatomical features depicted as evidence are also found in other animals, such as moles. These inferences represent no evidence at all and they have only led to misinterpretations.
Writing to Science News, Richard Monastersky reports, based on observations, why this fossil cannot be classified;
Mongolian and U.S. researchers have found a 75-million-year-old bird-like creature with a hand so strange it has left paleontologists grasping for an explanation. . . Paul Sereno of the University of Chicago notes that Mononychus had arms built much like those of digging animals. Because moles and other diggers have keeled sternums and wrists reminiscent of birds, the classification of Mononychus becomes difficult.181
In addition, this fossil is at least 80 million years younger than Archaeopteryx—which totally undermines any proposed
2) Bambiraptor Feinbergi, Depicted with Imaginary Feathers
Evolutionist media immediately give certain bird-like features to biased interpretations. The fossil Bambiraptor feinbergi, claimed to be an intermediate form between dinosaurs and birds, was depicted as a feathered reptile in media illustrations. However, there is no evidence that this creature ever had feathers.
In 1994, another dino-bird claim was made on behalf of a fossil called Bambiraptor feinbergi, estimated to be 75 million years old. Found in the Glacier National Park in northern Montana, the fossil is 95% complete. Evolutionists promptly claimed that it represents an intermediate form between dinosaurs and birds. When the fossil, belonging to a dinosaur, was introduced as an alleged dino-bird, the report admitted, "Feathers, however, have not yet been found."182 Despite this reservation, the media drew the animal as a feathered creature, and the missing details were added using plenty of creative imagination.
The most evident objection to this so-called missing link is again, an error in dating. This alleged intermediate form fossil is 75 million years younger than Archaeopteryx, itself a species of flying bird. This fossil is therefore a specimen that demolished the ancestral relationship claimed by evolutionists. In the same way that this fossil provides no evidence for evolution, it also demolished the ancestral relationship claimed by evolutionists. According to Ohio University professor of zoology John Ruben:
A point that too many people always ignored, however, is that the most birdlike of the dinosaurs, such as Bambiraptor and Velociraptor, lived 70 million years after the earliest bird, Archaeopteryx. So you have birds flying before the evolution of the first birdlike dinosaurs. We now question very strongly whether there were any feathered dinosaurs at all. What have been called feathered dinosaurs were probably flightless birds. 183
Evolutionists use a few bird-like characteristics as grounds for their preconceived interpretations. Yet the effort of building a line of descent based on similarities is full of contradictions that evolutionists cannot explain. Whenever evolutionists construct an alleged evolutionary relationship between clearly different living things based on similar structures, they immediately close the subject by describing it as "parallel evolution." They claim that living things with similar complex organs but with no ancestors in common, evolved independently. However, since they cannot account for the origin of these complex organs in even one living thing, their statements that these organs supposedly evolved several times presents a serious predicament.
Alan Feduccia states that certain similarities between birds and dinosaurs do not show any evolutionary relationship between the two groups:
Bambiraptor is a small dinosaur, but it does have a number of birdlike features, as do many other forms. However there is nothing special about hollow bones, as some mammals and frogs have them. The problem, of course, is that Bambiraptor is some 80 million years beyond Archaeopteryx, and yet is claimed to be the dinosaur most close to bird ancestry. That alone should be a red flag, and a warning that the situation is far more complicated than suspected. 184
3) Confuciusornis Sanctus: Identical to Modern Birds
Two paleontologists, Lianhai Hou and Zhonghe Zhou, researching at the Vertebrate Paleontology Institute in China in 1995, discovered a new species of fossilized bird, which they named Confuciusornis sanctus. This was presented to the public as the earliest flying dinosaur, even as evidence for how hands used for grasping turned into hands used for flight. According to Alan Feduccia, however, this fossil is one of the frequently encountered beaked birds. This one had no teeth, and its beak and feathers share the same features as present-day birds. There are claws on its wings, as with Archaeopteryx, and its skeletal structure is identical to those of modern-day birds. A structure known as the pygostyle, which supports the tail feathers, can also be seen.
In short, evolutionists regarded this fossil as a semi-reptile, the earliest ancestor of all birds, of a similar age (about 142 million years) as Archaeopteryx and, bearing a close resemblance to present-day birds. This clearly conflicts with the evolutionist theses that Archaeopteryx is the earliest ancestor of all birds. 185
This is also definitive proof that Archaeopteryx and other archaic birds are not intermediate forms. These and similar fossils show no evidence that different bird species evolved from earlier ones. On the contrary, it proves that present-day birds and certain unique bird species similar to Archaeopteryx lived at the same time. Some of these species, such as Confuciusornis and Archaeopteryx, are extinct, but a few have survived to the present day.
What is in the heavens and in the Earth belongs to Allah. Allah encompasses all things. (Surat an-Nisa, 126)
4) Protarchaeopteryx Robusta and Caudipteryx Zoui: Vehicles for Biased Interpretations
Caudipteryx zoui , Protarchæopteryx robusta
The fossils Protarchæopteryx robusta and Caudipteryx zoui do not belong to dinosaurs, but to extinct flightless birds. The efforts to portray these creatures as dinosaurs is an example of evolutionists' eagerness to produce evidence.
In the summer of 1996, farmers working in the Yixian Formation found three separate turkey-sized fossils, so well preserved as to give genuine evidence of bird feathers. At first, Ji Qiang and his colleague Ji Shu-An concluded that these fossils must belong to a single species. Noting their surprising similarity to Archaeopteryx, they gave the creature the name Protarchaeopteryx robusta.
During his research in the autumn of 1997, Philip Currie concluded that these fossils belonged to two different species, neither of which resembled Archaeopteryx. The second species was given the name Caudipteryx zoui. 186
The discoveries of the Protarchæopteryx robusta and Caudipteryx zoui fossils were depicted as evidence that birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs. 187 The popular press stated that these fossils were definitely the so-called ancestors of birds. One commentator even wrote that the dinosaur-bird link was "now pretty close to rock solid."188 However, this certainty was again, only a biased interpretation.
According to evolutionist claims, Caudipteryx and Protarchaeopteryx were small dinosaurs whose bodies were largely covered in feathers. But on their wings and tails were longer and more complex feathers, arranged like those in present-day birds. However, it is no surprise that these creatures should have feather arrangements similar to modern birds', because their feathers are symmetrically shaped, as observed in present-day flightless birds.189 Therefore, the creatures in question are flightless birds, not dinosaurs.
In severely criticizing the dino-bird dogma, Larry Martin and Alan Feduccia stated that these fossils were flightless bird species like the modern ostrich. 190
But adherents of the dino-bird theory are reluctant to accept this because they want to classify the creatures as dinosaurs, even though this fossil provides no support for evolutionist claims. Indeed, this fossil represents a new contradiction to evolutionists' alleged ancestral relationships.
According to the evolutionist scenario, these dinosaurs and modern birds both have a special bone that lets them bend their wrists. Again according to evolutionist claims, this feature enabled them to move their forefeet in a wide manner, to catch fleeing prey with their long arms and gripping talons. This allegedly powerful beating movement represented an important part of the wingbeats the today's birds use to fly. However, such interpretations are scientifically invalid, because flight consists of far more complex actions than just wing beating:
Any forward beating movement gives rises to a counter impulse that propels the bird backward. For the purpose of flight, the main flight feathers are arranged at such an angle as to push the air back and propel the birds forwards. As in planes, the wings have a special aerofoil shape, which causes air to flow faster over the upper surface than the lower. This, according to the Bernoulli principle, reduces air pressure on the upper surface and creates lift. This is the main factor in take-off, but there is also the question of Newton's Third Law—the reaction to the air being propelled downward.). 191
While refuting the theory of evolution's dino-bird claims, the world of science also confirms that living things are perfectly created. The attitude of evolutionist scientists clearly reveals that they are blindly devoted to the theory in question.
In addition, the structure of a wing hypothesized to catch prey is very different from that created for beating in flight. A feathered wing is no advantage to a bird using its wings to catch prey, because a feathered wing's broad surface will only increase air resistance and make movement more difficult. If, the bird flapped for hunting, as evolutionists maintain then its wing structure should help the bird move forward by pushing air back. Therefore, it would be a greater advantage for the bird's wings to let air pass through them, like a sieve or flyswatter. Thus evolutionist accounts are full of illogicalities that conflict with their own claims.
In addition to its feathers, Caudipteryx has a series of other features showing it to be a bird—such as that it was carnivorous. Caudopteryx was portrayed as a theropod since it was first unearthed, it was thought to be a carnivore.192 But there were no teeth in its lower skull and lower jaw, and the first two fossil specimens contained the remains of crops that birds use for digesting plant materials.193 Organs such as the crop are found only in birds and not in any species of the theropod family. 194
Protarchæopteryx and Caudipteryx are therefore extinct birds. The only reason they are referred to as dinosaurs is because that's what evolutionists want them to be.
5) Sinosauropteryx: Another Fossil Subjected to Speculative Claims
Today's evolutionists have entirely abandoned their claim that the creature was feathered. But a dogmatic approach towards evolution and accepted preconceptions make such errors inevitable.
With every new fossil discovery, evolutionists speculate about the dinosaur-bird link. Every time, however, their claims are refuted as a result of detailed analyses.
One example of such dino-bird claims was Sinosauropteryx, announced with enormous media propaganda in 1996. Some evolutionist paleontologists maintained that this fossil reptile possessed bird feathers. The following year, however, examinations revealed that these structures so excitedly described as feathers were actually nothing of the sort.
One article published in Science magazine, "Plucking the Feathered Dinosaur," stated that the structures had been misperceived as feathers by evolutionist paleontologists:
Exactly 1 year ago, paleontologists were abuzz about photos of a so-called "feathered dinosaur" . . . The Sinosauropteryx specimen from the Yixian Formation in China made the front page of The New York Times, and was viewed by some as confirming the dinosaurian origins of birds. But at this year's vertebrate paleontology meeting in Chicago late last month, the verdict was a bit different: The structures are not modern feathers, say the roughly half-dozen Western paleontologists who have seen the specimens. . . . Larry Martin of Kansas University, Lawrence, thinks the structures are frayed collagenous fibers beneath the skin—and so have nothing to do with birds. 195
About the speculative claims regarding feathers and Sinosauropteryx, Alan Brush of Connecticut University had this to say:
The stiff, bristlelike fibers that outline the fossils lack the detailed organization seen in modern feathers. 196
Another important point is that Sinosauropteryx had bellows-like lungs, like those in reptiles. According to many researchers, these show that the animal could not have evolved into modern-day birds with their high-performance lungs.
6) Eoalulavis Hoyasi Shares with Wing Structure of Modern-Day Birds
The wing structure in Eoalulavis hoyasi is also present in certain present-day flying birds. The feathers on this bird's wing contain a small bunch of feathers attached to the "finger". When the bird wishes to slow down or descend to earth, it decreases the angle of the wing to the horizon. This allows air to flow over the wing's top surface and to stop without falling.
Another fossil to demolish evolutionist claims was Eoalulavis hoyasi. This, estimated at some 120 million years old, is older than all the known theropod specimens. Nonetheless, wing structure in Eoalulavis hoyasi is identical to some modern-day flying birds. This proves that vertebrates identical in many respects to modern birds were flying 120 million years ago.197 Any suggestion that theropods, which appeared after this creature, were the ancestors of birds is clearly irrational.
This bird's wing has a bunch of small feathers attached to the "finger." Recognizable as the alula, this structure is a basic feature of many birds alive today and consisting of several feathers that permits the bird to engage in various maneuvers during flight. But it had never before been encountered in a fossil bird from the Mesozoic. This new bird was given the name Eoalulavis hoyasi, or "ancient bird with an alula."198 Its presence shows that this bird, the size of a chaffinch, was able to fly and maneuver as well as modern-day birds.
The alula functions like the wing flap on an airplane. When the bird wants to reduce its speed or landing, it increases of its wing to the horizon. The drag produced by this wing position helps the bird to slow down. But when the angle between the direction of the air flow and the wing surface gets too steep, turbulence over the wing increases until the bird loses the lift necessary to maintain flight. Like an airplane under similar circumstances, the bird is in danger of stalling in midair. The alula now enters the equation. By raising this small appendage, the bird creates a slot between it and the main part of the wing, similar to what happens when a pilot deploys a craft's wing flaps. The slot allows air to stream over the main wing's upper surface, easing turbulence and allowing the bird (or plane) to brake without stalling. 199
Birds 120 million years ago were using the same technology as that employed present. This realization added yet another insuperable difficulty facing the theory of evolution.
7) Unenlagia Comahuensis: A Dino-Bird Based On Artists' Imaginations
Fernando E. Novas of the Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences in Buenos Aires and Pablo F. Puerta of the Paleontology Museum in Trelew announced a new fossil, said to be 90 million years old, in the 22 May, 1997, edition of Nature magazine, under the caption "Missing Link."200 They named this fossil Unenlagia comahuensis, meaning "half-bird from north-west Patagonia." This fossil, discovered in Argentina's Patagonia region, consisted of more than 20 pieces of the creatures leg, rib and shoulder bones. Based on these fragments, artists drew a creature complete with a neck, jaw and tail—and subsequently announced that this fossil was an intermediate stage in the transition from dinosaurs to birds.
However, Unenlagia comahuensis is manifestly a dinosaur, in many respects. In particular, certain features of its skull and the bone formations behind its eyes closely resemble those of theropods. There is also no evidence at all that it bore feathers. Evolutionist scientists, however, claimed that by raising its forearms, it could make similar movements to those used by birds for flying. But clearly, these prejudiced guesses and assumptions cannot be regarded as definitive proof.
On account of its different features, Lawrence M. Witmer of Ohio University describes this creature as a genuine "mosaic". 201
Alan Feduccia also states that Unenlagia comahuensis cannot be a missing link between dinosaurs and birds, emphasizing that it lived 55 million years after Archaeopteryx. 202
As Feduccia stressed in a 1996 article written together with several other authors in Science magazine, almost every dinosaur said to resemble the bird dates back to long after the emergence of the first true birds.203 This creates the problem that scientists refer to as the time paradox.
8) Dromaeosuar: The Dinosaur That Evolutionists Were | <urn:uuid:e6c7d68d-a1f6-4ee7-ab79-85230e4036f7> | 2013-05-21T10:13:23Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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My question involves civil rights in the State of: Minnesota
I have recently moved from out of state to be with my fiance. After the move, I no longer have access to a shooting partner (with two of us, we would usually just rent or use one of his).
So I applied for a permit to purchase.
I am 24.
I have no criminal background or psychological issues what-so-ever.
I hold a MN state drivers license.
My company has registered my earnings for taxes with the state.
This request was denied by the city police on the grounds that my move was "less than 1 year ago", that I was not a registered leaser in the city (as I moved into a house already leased by my fiance), and that my MN state ID was recently provided.
I did provide a very detailed past-address listing, so that my criminal record (or lack there of) could indeed be verified as clean from my previous state.
Is there any grounds to this denial?
I was not aware of an in-state residency length requirement to purchase firearms.
If so, what does the statute/law look like, and how long will I have to wait?
I understand that being denied flags you as an increased risk, and can increase the probability for denial again.
After the required time has passed (if any), should I expect this to still hinder my ability to purchase?
(As it was still a legal request. I realize that attempted to apply for a firearm that you are not allowed to own is a felony.)
If it isn't grounds for denial (as the only reason), what is my recourse with the city?
** I have no desire to bring anything against the city, I just want to be able to resume my hobby/sport.
Any help/advice/clarification would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! | <urn:uuid:9aca7331-01c1-4616-aff9-e2654a9f1b77> | 2013-05-21T10:35:23Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Air pollution is a broad term applied to all chemical and biological agents that modify the natural characteristics of the atmosphere.
Some definitions also consider physical perturbations such as noise pollution, heat, radiation or light pollution as air pollution. Some definitions include the term harmful as a requisite to consider a change to the atmosphere as pollution.
The sources of air pollution are divided in two groups: anthropogenic (caused by human activity) and natural.
Natural sources include:
Anthropogenic sources are mostly related to burning different kinds of fuel. They include:
- Volcanic activity
- Dust from natural sources, usually large areas of land with little or no vegetation
- Gases, such as methane, emitted by the digestion of animals, usually cattle.
- Smoke from wildfires.
- Dust and chemicals from farming, especially of erodible land, see Dust Bowl
- Industrial activity in general.
- Vehicles with internal-combustion engines.
- Stoves and incinerators, specially coal ones.
- Paint fumes, or other toxical vapors.
Contaminants of air can be divided in particles and gases.
Particles are classified by their sizes. A usual division is in PM10 and PM2.5. PM10 are particles whose size is less than 10 microns (0.01 mm); they are dangerous to humans because they can be breathed and reach the lungs. PM2.5 are particles whose size is less than 2.5 microns (0.0025 mm), and they are even more dangerous because they can pass the alveoli and reach the blood.
Important pollutant gases include:
The worst single incident of air pollution to occur in the United States occurred in Donora, Pennsylvania
in late October, 1948
- Davis, Devra, When Smoke Ran Like Water: Tales of Environmental Deception and the Battle Against Pollution, Basic Books, 2002, hardcover, 316 pages, ISBN 0-465-01521-2 | <urn:uuid:1e5fc08f-591b-459f-92a9-ade0b76804ef> | 2013-05-21T10:06:46Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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were the youngest twin sons of Fëanor. From their mother Nerdanel
their inherited red hair, instead of Fëanor's black.
Amrod's father name in Quenya is "Pityafinwë", "Little Finwë". His mother name is "Ambarussa", "Top-russet", and this refers to his hair.
He fell in the Kinslaying of Sirion. | <urn:uuid:36406eec-21eb-4656-a0ae-4250fe5dcf17> | 2013-05-21T10:20:27Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Olorus was the name of several kings of Thrace. One was the father-in-law of Miltiades, while a later one was the father of Thucydides.
This article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by fixing it.
Fact-index.com financially supports the Wikimedia Foundation. Displaying this page does not burden Wikipedia hardware resources. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. | <urn:uuid:cfaefbbc-e1a5-4222-bba5-f4a615a17ec5> | 2013-05-21T10:06:28Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Sir George Somers
Somers, Sir George, 1554–1610, English naval commander. The leader of several successful privateering ventures against the Spanish, he was knighted in 1603. He was a founder (1606) of the London Company and set out with settlers for Virginia in 1609. They were shipwrecked and landed in the Bermudas, which Somers claimed for Britain. He continued to Virginia but returned to Bermuda (1610), where he died. Several versions of his shipwreck were written at the time, one of which may have inspired Shakespeare's The Tempest.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
More on Sir George Somers from Fact Monster:
See more Encyclopedia articles on: British and Irish History: Biographies | <urn:uuid:1f53cd70-0d96-4fd7-82bd-471cf2656c3f> | 2013-05-21T10:13:35Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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The Belgic Confession became the basis of a counter to the Arminian controversy that arose in the following century. The text was revised again at the Synod of Dort in 1618-19, was included in the Canons of Dort (1618–19), and adopted as one of the doctrinal standards to which all office-bearers in the Reformed churches were required to subscribe. This revision was drafted in the French language (1618–19).
The Belgic Confession consists of 37 articles which deal with the doctrines of God (1-2, 8-13), Scripture (3-7), humanity (14), sin (15), Christ (18-21), salvation (16-17, 22-26), the Church (27-36), and the end times (37).
The confession's chief author was Guido de Bräs, a preacher of the Reformed churches of the Netherlands, who died a martyr to the faith in the year 1567.
During the sixteenth century the churches in this country were exposed to the most terrible persecution by the Roman Catholic government. To protest against this cruel oppression, and to prove to the persecutors that the adherents of the Reformed faith were not rebels, as was laid to their charge, but law-abiding citizens who professed the true Christian doctrine according to the Holy Scriptures, de Bräs prepared this confession in the year 1561.
Article 32: The Order and Discipline of the Church
We also believe that although it is useful and good for those who govern the churches to establish and set up a certain order among themselves for maintaining the body of the church, they ought always to guard against deviating from what Christ, our only Master, has ordained for us.
Therefore we reject all human innovations and all laws imposed on us, in our worship of God, which bind and force our consciences in any way.
So we accept only what is proper to maintain harmony and unity and to keep all in obedience to God.
To that end excommunication, with all it involves, according to the Word of God, is required.
Carlton Pruitt ministers the gospel to the Los Angeles area. Formerly a Hollywood actor (SAG member)and junk removal expert he now spends most of his time studying the scriptures, writing articles, hymns and poems and doing street preaching.
See his videos on http://www.youtube.com Type LAStreetPreacher in the search bar. CONTACT at Carlton2061@gmail.com
Read more articles by Carlton Pruitt or search for articles on the same topic or others. | <urn:uuid:6a4893ca-1c9b-465a-8d81-e59f08a7b3cc> | 2013-05-21T10:00:16Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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His wife Sylvia Ashley was born Edith Louise Sylvia Hawkes in 1904. She was the widow of Douglas Fairbanks. Her first husband was Lord Anthony Ashley (they divorced November 28, 1934), her third was Lord Stanley of Alderney, and her fifth was Prince Dimitri Djordjadze (whom she married in 1954 and stayed married to until her death). She died June 29, 1977. Her grave stone refers to her as "Princess Sylvia Djordjadze."
His two step-children from wife Ria were George Anna "Jana" (b. circa 1913) and Alfred Lucas (b. circa 1919).
His widow, Kay Williams, was born August 7, 1917, and died in May of 1983.
He worked as a lumberman in the Willamette Valley of Oregon in the early 1920s. After a couple of months of doing that, he quit, saying that "the work was too hard" and he would rather act instead. He then left to go to Hollywood, where he began his acting career.
Gable and then future wife Carole Lombard first met in late 1924 while working as extras on the set of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925). They would make three films together as extras, Ben-Hur, The Johnstown Flood (1926) and _The Plastic Age (1925)_ and star together in No Man of Her Own (1932), but not become romantically attached until 1936.
Originally the image of Gable as an outdoors man was an invention of the studios, designed to bolster his masculine screen image during the early 1930s. However, he soon discovered that he enjoyed hunting, shooting and fishing, so the image swiftly became the reality.
Discouraged by his failure to progress in films, Gable tried the stage and became an employable actor, first in stock and eventually on Broadway, without acquiring real fame. When he returned to Hollywood in 1930 for another try at movie acting, his rugged good looks, powerful voice and charisma made him an overnight sensation as the villainous Rance Brett in his first sound picture, The Painted Desert (1931). Gable exploded onto the screen in a dozen 1931 releases, in small parts at first, but he was an established star by the end of the year. Soon his success threatened to eclipse every other star, including his rival Gary Cooper.
He was seriously considered to play Tarzan in Tarzan the Ape Man (1932), but he was deemed an unknown and Johnny Weissmuller was chosen instead.
So durable, he could play the same role in both an original (Red Dust (1932)) with Jean Harlow and Mary Astor, and its remake (Mogambo (1953)) with Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly.
When MGM remade Red Dust (1932) in 1953 as Mogambo (1953), Ava Gardner played the Jean Harlow part, Grace Kelly had the Mary Astor role, and Gable played his old part. Only Gable could fill Gable's shoes, even 21 years later.
Although he was never crowned #1 at the Box Office in the Top 10 Poll of Money-Making Stars, as ranked by Quigley Publications' annual survey of movie exhibitors, he made the list a then-record 15 times from 1932 to 1949, and a 16th time in 1955. Gable, "The King", was ranked in the top four of Box Office stars every year from 1934 to 1939 (the "Golden Age" of Hollywood), ranking #2 in 1934 and 1936 through 1938, inclusive, when he was topped by Shirley Temple. After ranking #3 at the Box Office in 1940, he slumped to #10 in 1941, a position he also held in 1942 and 1943. After returning from the war, he took the #7 spot in the Box Office poll in 1947 and 1948, before again slumping to #10 in 1949. He made his last appearance in the Top 10 in 1955, when he again placed #10.
Despite his rising popularity, Gable balked at playing gangsters and overtly callous characters, and was therefore very pleased to be cast in Red Dust (1932), the film that set the seal on his stardom.
Had to have almost all of his teeth extracted in 1933 due to pyorrhea. The infection would have killed him had he not been rushed to a private hospital for treatment.
1933: Underwent cosmetic surgery on his ears and teeth.
6/11/33: He was hospitalized for an infection of the gums the day before he was to begin shooting Dancing Lady (1933). He was hospitalized for several days, after which most of his teeth were extracted. Afterwards, he went on a vacation to Alaska and Canada with his wife, as it would take a couple of weeks for his gums to heal enough so he could be fitted for dentures. MGM shot around Gable until he returned and was fitted with a dental plate, but on July 30, after one day's shooting, the infection felled him again. In the days before antibiotics, the infection was so serious Gable's gall bladder was removed. Out another month, the film had to be shut down and went $150,000 over budget. MGM boss Louis B. Mayer docked Gable two weeks pay, which caused bad feelings between the studio and its top star. In order to teach him a lesson, Mayer lent him to Columbia Pictures, then a poverty-row studio, to make a comedy. The movie, Frank Capra's masterpiece It Happened One Night (1934), swept the Academy Awards the next year and brought Gable his only Oscar.
His father always opposed his decision to become an actor, and even after Gable became a major star he still denounced acting as a "sissy" occupation. Gable became a Freemason in 1933 just to please his father. However, he showed no grief when his father died aged 78 from a heart attack on 4 August 1948, having outlived his three wives.
When he was first cast in It Happened One Night (1934) opposite Claudette Colbert, he told director Frank Capra that he would give the role a shot, but if things weren't going well after a few days, he would leave the production.
Gave his Oscar for It Happened One Night (1934) to a child who admired it, telling him it was the winning of the statue that had mattered, not owning it. The child returned the Oscar to the Gable family after Clark's death.
Actress Judy Lewis is Clark's out-of-wedlock daughter by actress Loretta Young. The two had a romance during the filming of The Call of the Wild (1935).
Once named Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) as his favorite of his movies, despite the fact that he did not like his co-star Charles Laughton. He was also initially disappointed by the casting of Franchot Tone as Midshipman Byam since the two actors had been bitter rivals for the affections of Joan Crawford. However, during filming they became close friends.
On Easter weekend, 1935, Gable flew to Houston to give away step-daughter Jana in her marriage to Dr. Thomas Burke.
He separated from wife Maria ('Ria') in October, 1935.
He served as a pallbearer and usher at Jean Harlow's funeral in 1937.
1938: In a poll of entertainment readers, he was overwhelmingly selected "King of Hollywood" and was officially crowned by columnist Ed Sullivan.
Pictured on one of four 25¢ US commemorative postage stamps issued on 23 March 1990 honoring classic films released in 1939. The stamp features Gable and Vivien Leigh as Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind (1939). The other films honored were Beau Geste (1939), Stagecoach (1939) and The Wizard of Oz (1939).
1939: Part of Gable and Carole Lombard's honeymoon was spent at the Willows Inn in Palm Springs, CA. Today the Inn continues to operate and anyone can stay in the same room, which is largely unaltered since that time.
He disliked his most famous film Gone with the Wind (1939), which he regarded as "a woman's picture.".
In order to expedite divorce from his second wife Ria in order to marry Carole Lombard, Gable paid his ex-wife a $500,000 settlement in 1939, nearly everything he had at the time.
Turned down Cary Grant's role in The Philadelphia Story (1940) because he thought the film was too wordy.
He was highly patriotic, a staunch anti-communist and a firm believer in military intervention. Among the political leaders he admired were President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Sir Winston Churchill and King George VI. Until John Wayne's stardom eclipsed Gable's in the late 1940s, many Americans thought of Gable as THE American star.
1942: He enlisted in the army in honor of his late wife, Carole Lombard. She had been killed in a plane crash while on tour selling war bonds.
As head of the actors' division of the Hollywood Victory Committee, Gable sent his wife Carole Lombard on one of the first tours, in January 1942, to her home state of Indiana, where she sold $2 million worth of bonds. On the plane trip back to Hollywood the plane crashed, killing Lombard and her mother. Gable drank heavily for six months before enlisting as a private in the Army Air Corps. He served as a combat cameraman in Britain, rose to the rank of major, and eventually was furloughed to Fort Roach, as the First Motion Picture Unit headquarters came to be known. Gable's discharge papers were signed by Captain Ronald Reagan.
Although discharged from the US air force early in 1944, he refused to make another movie until the war had ended.
He was so disappointed by the critical and commercial failure of Adventure (1945) that he did not agree to make another film until more than a year had passed. Fortunately, The Hucksters (1947) proved to be a success and his performance was acclaimed.
1948: Proposed marriage to Nancy Davis.
In 1949 he served as a pallbearer at the funeral of director Victor Fleming, whom he considered something of a father figure.
In the 1950s Gable joined Walt Disney, John Wayne, James Stewart and other politically conservative entertainers to "assist" the House Un-American Activities Committee in its efforts to find alleged Communist infiltration in the film industry.
In the mid-1950s he started to receive television offers but rejected them outright, even though some of his peers, like his old flame Loretta Young, were flourishing in the new medium.
1952: His widow, Kay Williams, divorced her previous husband, Adolph Spreckels Jr., heir to the Spreckels Sugar fortune. In the divorce papers she alleged that he beat her with one of her slippers.
He was a conservative Republican, although his third wife Carole Lombard, a liberal Democrat, encouraged him to support President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal reforms. In February 1952 Gable addressed a televised rally at Madison Square Gardens in New York in support of the Republican candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower, and a few days before his death he voted by post for Richard Nixon in the 1960 presidential election.
Gable became increasingly unhappy with the mediocre roles offered him by MGM as a mature actor. He refused to renew his contract with them in 1953 and proceeded to work independently.
In 1955, he formed a production company with Jane Russell and her husband Bob Waterfield, and they produced The King and Four Queens (1956), the star's one and only production. The stress of making the film took such a toll on his health that Gable decided not to produce again.
Some sources say he turned down the role of Colonel William Travis in The Alamo (1960) because he didn't want to be directed by John Wayne. However this seems unlikely, since Travis was 26 at the time of the battle, and Gable would have been 58 when the movie was filmed.
Turned down Robert Mitchum's role in Home from the Hill (1960).
Although it is often claimed that Gable died as a result of Marilyn Monroe's behavior and performing his own stunts in The Misfits (1961), he was already in terrible health when filming began from years of excessive drinking and smoking more than three packs of cigarettes a day.
Playing a cowboy in his last film, The Misfits (1961), which was also the final film for co-star Marilyn Monroe, the aging Gable diligently performed his own stunts, taking its toll on his already guarded health. He died from a heart attack before the film was released.
Prior to making The Misfits (1961), he crash-dieted from a bloated 230 lbs. to 195 lbs. Twice in the previous decade he had suffered seizures that might have been heart attacks; once, ten years earlier, while driving along a freeway he had chest pains so severe that he had to pull off the road and lie down on the ground until he felt well enough to continue on.
Contrary to popular belief, Gable did not perform his own stunts in The Misfits (1961). He was only used for the close ups while a stunt double stood in for him in the long shots. His heart attack was caused by his lifestyle - thirty years of heavy smoking and drinking, plus his increasing weight in later years. It is also believed his crash diet before filming began may have been a contributing factor.
Director Howard Hawks had long intended to make Hatari! (1962) with Gable and John Wayne. However, by the time filming began Gable was already dead.
1970s: His Encino, CA, estate was subdivided and turned into a very upscale tract development called "Clark Gable Estates.".
Is portrayed by James Brolin in Gable and Lombard (1976), Bruce Hughes and Shayne Greenman in "Blonde" (2001), Charles Unwin in Lucy (2003) (TV), Larry Pennell in Marilyn: The Untold Story (1980) (TV), Edward Winter in The Scarlett O'Hara War (1980) (TV), Boyd Holister in Grace Kelly (1983) (TV) and Gary Wayne in Malice in Wonderland (1985) (TV).
Grandfather of Clark James Gable, who's the first child of his son John Clark Gable and his ex-wife Tracy Yarro. Clark James was born on September 10, 1988 at a hefty 10 lbs.
1995: Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#36).
1999: The American Film Institute named Gable among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, ranking at #7.
June 2004: As a native of Cadiz, OH, he was inducted into the Lou Holtz Museum/Upper Ohio Valley Hall of Fame (www.LouHoltzHallOfFame.com).
Military records on celebrities released by the Pentagon in 2005 reveal that Gable, upon enlistment, was described as a "motion picture specialist" and his weekly wage was listed as $7,500. A movie cameraman, Andrew J. McIntyre, enlisted along with Gable and trained with him, the documents showed. "In order to have something definite to describe and some tangible evidence of his experiences, it is proposed that there be enlisted his cameraman to be trained as an aerial gunner also who may make pictures of Gable in various theaters of operations," one Army memo said.
Joined the Army Air Corps during the Second World War, and was commissioned an officer with service number 565390. Rose to the rank of captain and served primarily in Public Affairs, making training films and performing public relations visits to soldiers and airmen in Europe. | <urn:uuid:fe97ce5a-5fcc-487a-bcff-d1195ea47d38> | 2013-05-21T09:59:24Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Watch the video "The Terry Wise Story: A Suicide Attempt Survivor" on Youtube.
It was just weeks before Terry and Peter's wedding that Peter was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. When the disease progressed and robbed Peter of his speech, Terry abandoned her career to help him sustain his financial planning business.
"We loved each other so much," Terry says. "I swallowed a lot of despair during those years in an attempt to salvage any happiness for us that I could."
Four years later, Peter died. Terry, widowed at 35, began her descent into despair. She began drinking and losing weight; distancing herself from family and friends. All the signs were there, but because there wasn't enough awareness about depression, nobody recognized them. Caught up in the all-consuming need to end her suffering, Terry took an overdose, and then passed out.
Fortunately, a friend stopped by and found Terry, incoherent, and took her to an emergency room. The doctors in the ICU had no medical explanation for her recovery from 'unexplained toxicity.' Terry never told her secret: it was a suicide attempt.
"I was not relieved to wake up," she recalls. "I absolutely wanted to die. Many people aren't relieved to wake up after a suicide attempt. They are still at great risk and it's very important for people to realize that."
A few days later, Terry was sent home and sought treatment from a psychologist.
"We met two to three times a week for several months," Terry says. "She was compassionate, accessible, and emotionally-challenging. She didn't insist that I take medication, but she did insist that I investigate it as an option. Initially, I refused, mostly because of the stigma. But after my suicide attempt, I agreed to try it and fortunately, it worked for me."
In therapy, Terry initially refused to discuss anything that came before the death of her husband. She thought her childhood was irrelevant. But her psychologist began to challenge her because it was common in therapy for a significant loss, such as Peter's death, to trigger the resurfacing of an earlier trauma. A short time later, Terry realized that unresolved issues associated with child abuse were contributing to her depression. It was then that she was able to recall her first thoughts of suicide, at the age of ten.
"My mom and stepfather had an abusive relationship. I was sexually abused until I was 13. When my mother found out, they divorced. All these years later, the abuse is still difficult to discuss."
Now, Terry speaks in cities across the country about recovering from depression, suicide prevention, grief, loss, and the challenges of caregiving. "When I'm in front of an audience, telling my story, I feel like I'm doing an emotional striptease. I am a very private person. The work I do today is the antithesis of who I once was. But the rewards far offset the discomfort."
For Terry, learning to live again has been a process. "Each day used to be a fight for survival. But it gets easier. Things do get better. Medication has been a very useful tool that augmented talk therapy for me. Recovery doesn't occur overnight, but there is treatment that works. I've had many 'light bulb moments,' but there's not any one that stands out. Rather, it was a series of them."
Terry feels recovery is rarely a smooth process. "Fighting depression can feel like an endurance test. When you have a bad day, you run the danger of becoming hopeless. You think your depression is inevitable, or you're back to square one. But it doesn't work like that. Depression may recur, but it isn't permanent. With the right support and treatment, you can find hope again." Terry Wise can be reached through her website, www.TerryWise.com. | <urn:uuid:1b799a96-b5ae-44db-9ae4-f0279da34810> | 2013-05-21T09:59:25Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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elli asked: Where was Rihanna's music video for "California King Bed" shot?
21st May 2013 @ 07:45am
Rihanna and Miley Cyrus both admit that they want to kiss each other
16th May 2013 @ 04:46pm
New Girl actress Lamorne Morris says that he wants Rihanna to appear in the hit show
12th May 2013 @ 02:20pm
Is Rihanna dissing Chris Brown on Twitter and Instagram?
9th May 2013 @ 03:00pm
Iggy Azalea has hinted that a Rihanna collaboration could be on the cards | <urn:uuid:c8e6c3fe-9409-49b5-a160-a7cf48236e72> | 2013-05-21T09:59:49Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Going forward, Versus will serve as a sort of design laboratory through which Donatella Versace will collaborate with "young designers, stylists, and creatives from different walks of life" that will produce capsule collections and limited-edition product lines.
"I am excited about the new Versus strategy, but the time has come to dedicate all my focus to the future of the Christopher Kane label," Kane told WWD.
"I want to thank Christopher for his contribution to Versus over six seasons, during which I have been able to appreciate his extraordinary talent," said Versace in a statement. "Working with young talented people, and see them grow and develop as I have seen Christopher do over these years, is one of the most rewarding parts of my work. I wish him all the best for the development of his own line. He will always have my total support."
News of Kane's departure comes just two days after he denied rumors that he will replace Nicolas Ghesquière, the outgoing creative director of Balenciaga. On Saturday, French newspaper Le Nouvel Observateur reported that Kane would start at Balenciaga on Dec. 1. On the same day, a Kane spokeswoman told WWD, "Rumors surrounding Christopher Kane's appointment as creative director of Balenciaga are unfounded." | <urn:uuid:f657ca59-8ee0-455e-9012-0974a2981a67> | 2013-05-21T10:30:27Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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and Join Today!
Time to Buy:
Let us know what you're looking for:
To create your own password, configure product interests and more, use the
full registration form. | <urn:uuid:9ff17764-d63b-4c4d-971e-8b1231f25f3e> | 2013-05-21T10:27:56Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Metropolis Health to Provide Clinical Samples to Biomoda
Metropolis Health Systems of Mumbai, India, has tied up with Biomoda to provide
clinical samples for Biomoda's diagnostic test development program. Metropolis
will support the validation studies for Biomoda's patented and patent-pending
products for the early detection and targeted treatment of specific cancers. | <urn:uuid:448aec62-f8c4-4c27-973e-ceabaafafd6b> | 2013-05-21T10:21:39Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Uruguay’s progress to the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ was far from smooth. One of the biggest problems coach Oscar Tabarez faced along the way was finding a goalkeeper he could rely on, with four men appearing between the Celeste sticks during the campaign. FIFA.com looks at the contribution each of them made to the side's qualification, and assesses their chances of being first-choice at the world finals.
Castillo usurps Carini
It was no surprise that Tabarez entrusted Fabian Carini with goalkeeping duties at the start of qualifying in October 2007. After all, the 28-year-old was the owner of over 60 caps in total, and had appeared at Korea/Japan 2002, in the Germany 2006 preliminaries and in two Copa Americas.
The only problem was that Carini was not a starter for Inter Milan, a situation he tried to remedy by moving to Spanish side Murcia, where he also failed to hold down a first-team place. His lack of match action perhaps impacted on his performances for his country, with Uruguay winning only one of their first five games, the opener against Bolivia, before drawing two and losing two, conceding six goals in the process.
Following the 1-2 defeat against Brazil in June 2008, Carini lost his place to his understudy Juan Castillo. Occupying a place on the bench for the next five matches, all the indications were that he would be restored to the starting XI after Castillo picked up an injury that October. Yet, although Tabarez included him for the November friendly against France, he was out of the picture for the March 2009 game against Paraguay.
“He hasn’t played enough,” explained the coach at the time. “I think you can put it down to his circumstances.” Tabarez has never selected him since.
Having decided to make a change between the posts, it was entirely logical that Tabarez should turn to Castillo first of all, especially as he had given the Botafogo shot-stopper his international debut two years earlier. Known in the game as Muralla (The Wall), Castillo played in the next five matches, keeping a clean sheet in three of them and conceding four goals in all. Of those five outings, Uruguay won two, drew two and lost one, against Argentina in Buenos Aires.
After helping his side defeat Colombia in Bogota, Castillo drew praise from none other than Ubaldo Fillol, who kept goal for Argentina when they won the FIFA World Cup on home soil in 1978. “He has an unconventional style,” said Fillol. “He’s not your typical steady keeper. He likes to take risks and get involved and he’s not afraid to do things differently.”
Yet, just as Castillo was cementing his place in the side, and only a fortnight after the match with Bolivia in October 2008, he tore cruciate ligaments in his right knee while on club duty.
Muslera capitalises on Viera slip-up
Even though there was a five-month gap before the qualifying competition resumed, Tabarez knew that Castillo would not be fit by then. He thus ended Sebastian Viera’s three-year spell in the international wilderness by calling him up to the squad for the November friendly against France.
A reliable pair of hands, the then-25-year-old had made his Uruguay debut under Jorge Fossati at the Copa America 2004, before making eight appearances in the qualifiers for Germany 2006. Like Carini before him, Viera was not playing regular football for his club, Villarreal. Yet, after remaining on the bench against the French, he did get the nod for a friendly against Libya the following February and the Paraguay match a month later.
After keeping clean sheets in the 2-0 defeat of Los Guaraníes and the subsequent goalless draw with Chile in Santiago, Viera turned in a poor performance in a heavy 4-0 defeat by Brazil in Montevideo. “I’m angry because I’ve always performed well for the national team, and yet as soon as I have a bad game the fans get on top of me,” he lamented afterwards. He has yet to be given a chance to redeem himself.
Four days after that loss to the five-time world champions, Tabarez took his side to Venezuela, restoring the fit-again Castillo to the number-one slot despite the fact he had yet to return to the Botafogo first team.
“It was bad luck,” said Castillo after Viera’s disappointing display. “No one can deny what a good keeper Viera is, and when you go through something like that you want to prove yourself again straight away.”
Aside from the Venezuela match, which ended in a 2-2 draw, Castillo would also appear in the back-to-back games against Peru and Colombia in September.
Defeated in Lima, Uruguay bounced back with a win over Los Cafeteros on home soil. Castillo’s performances were not up to standard, however, as he himself recognised: “I’ve made mistakes and so have Fabian (Carini) and Sebastian (Viera), but we just have to accept them and move on. There might be a lack of faith at the moment but we have to analyse our mistakes, try to avoid them in the future and become reliable again. Whoever plays has to be secure.”
The errors of the previous three incumbents opened the way for 23-year-old Lazio keeper Nestor Muslera, who was enjoying one of his best spells with the Italian side since his arrival there in 2007. Castillo’s deputy in those two games against Peru and Colombia, the tall custodian was promoted to the starting line-up for the crucial final two qualifying matches away to Ecuador and at home to Argentina. After impressing in both games, he held on to his place for the play-off against Costa Rica, with Castillo remaining on the bench.
Having proved his dependability under pressure, Muslera would appear to be in pole position for South Africa 2010. Neither Castillo nor Carini have given up hope of pipping him to the job, though, having made respective moves to Deportivo Cali and Atletico Mineiro in a bid to boost their chances of gaining Tabarez’s approval.
Also in the frame are Defensor Sporting’s Martin Silva and Esteban Conde of Universidad de Chile, two 26-year-olds who forced their way into the squad at various times during the qualifiers without getting a chance to prove their credentials.
With Tabarez due to announce his squad on 11 June, there is still plenty of time for Uruguay’s goalkeeping candidates to stake their claims. The competition for places promises to be intense. | <urn:uuid:0edb83a2-d910-41f0-b164-f989708a3113> | 2013-05-21T10:00:05Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Sorry, an error occurred. If you are unsure on how to use a feature, or don't know why you got this error message, try looking through the help files for more information.
The error returned was:
You must be a registered user to view this board. Please login below or register a free acount today to join the FightHype community. | <urn:uuid:7bd3d7e8-98d0-4096-b7da-ddc1f7a9273b> | 2013-05-21T10:28:53Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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It is something I observed from personal experience.
Well, I was watching a demonstration and I tried it out. Don't really know if it's exactly the same or not because I use the foot work from Karate.
I would very much like to practice Baji if I ever had the opportunity. If I could afford going to Taiwan then I might take up Baji.
The charging step I got from observation, research and practice. Let's just say, I spent a few weeks just trying to figure out how to put momentum behind every attack, a lot by trial and error. | <urn:uuid:2358ecc7-f6f6-41e1-b47b-0eb145a6a585> | 2013-05-21T10:20:21Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Celestia could barely avoid being skewered by Discord’s horn. Celestia squared her shoulders and got in a defensive stance in front of Luna, charging her magic. The captain was still grinning. Celestia charged towards Discord. He teleported away just before Celestia’s horn would impale him.
Discord started laughing and cracked his neck from side to side. Luna just stared at him in utter disbelief. She had no idea why his attitude would suddenly change like this, unless his periculum and his true self are two different entities. It was the only reasonable theory she could think of at the moment.
Celestia and Discord started circling eachother. They never broke their eye-contact with eachother. Discord suddenly stopped. Celestia was cautious and never lost her focus. Both Discord’s and Celestia’s horns flared to life. Discord charged again towards her, surprising her. Discord headbutted Celestia, temporarily disorienting the solar princess.
Discord took the opportunity and shot four magic blasts at her. Celestia sensed them coming and raised a barrier just in time. She slid back a few feet and Discord charged yet again.
Discord flew right into the barrier, breaking through it. Celestia sidestepped and slashed towards him with her horn, temporarily using her horn as a blade. Discord snickered and avoided every slash with ease. He jumped and rolled to his left and flared his wings, shooting towards Celestia like a crimson lightning bolt. Celestia panicked and raised her left leg to block him. Discord did a barrel roll and gave Celestia a powerful uppercut. Celestia was lifted into the air from the blow and grunted in pain. When she made contact with the ground again, her once perfect alabaster coat was now dirty and stained with her own blood.
’‘Why do you even try, Celestia?’’ Discord mocked her.
’‘Harmony will always prevail.’’ Celestia croaked as she tried desperately to stand up. Discord walked up to her and stomped on her right front leg. A crack from the bone echoed through the room. Celestia yelped in pain and gritted her teeth.
’‘Wrong...’’ Discord growled. ’‘Chaos is the last thing to ever cease existing. What happens when ponies leave their duties? Chaos. What happens when something out of the ordinary happens? Chaos. What will happen once I get rid of you, Luna and the Elements of Harmony?’’ Discord leaned down towards Celestia and whispered into her ear. ’‘Chaos...’’
Discord turned around and walked away from the fallen solar princess, laughing as he realised that he could actually win this time.
’‘Discord...’’ Celestia stood up, careful not to put any weight on her right leg. The spirit turned towards her in obvious disgust. ’‘I’m not done with you yet...’’ Celestia winced as a wave of pain rocked through her leg.
’‘Aren’t we stubborn?’’ Discord grinned and flared his wings.
’‘You have no idea.’’ Celestia shot open her wings and charged towards Discord, who accepted the challenge and flew to meet her in the air. They collided in mid-air in a mess of feathers and flailing limbs. Discord threw punch after punch at Celestia’s injured leg. Celestia tried to stab him with her horn. Discord’s horn flared to life and Celestia’s eyes widened as she realised that she couldn’t escape his grip.
Discord lowered his horn towards Celestia’s chestpiece. He started shaking from the power he was packing into just one blast. Celestia had stopped squirming and had realised that it was no idea in trying to get away from him now. As the blast was shot, the light inside the room wavered and a sound that imitated a thunderclap echoed through the entire castle. Celestia’s lifeless form crashed into a wall who crumbled on impact. She sailed through the wall into the corridor. She was stopped by a wall who cracked from taking an alicorn flying in a high speed towards it. She slumped to the floor and wasn’t moving at all.
Luna’s eyes started to water and she started sobbing when she laid her eyes on her unmoving sister. She feared the worst after seeing the display of power from two immortals battling eachother.
Discord chuckled and cantered the last distance between himself and the fallen goddess. As he came closer, he felt a weak magic field surrounding her. Celestia was still alive, but barely. Luna’s crying made him turn his head towards her. Luna was shaking and was too scared to say or do anything.
’‘She’s still alive.’’ Discord spat some blood. ’’I won’t kill her, just make her suffer like I did...’’ Discord growled and touched the tip of her horn with his own. His horn flickered to life as he concentrated on one particular spell.
Celestia’s eyes shot open from the sudden pain rising from her hindlegs. She looked down at them to see her legs becoming stone in a slow progression. She opened her mouth to scream but a pathetic whine was the only sound coming from her. She gritted her teeth and clenched her eyes shut as her gut became stone. Discord hadn’t been lying when he explained how painful it was to be turned into stone. Celestia started hyperventilating as her intestines stopped moving. She was in full panic when her heart stopped beating while she was still alive. Tears were flowing freely from her eyes.
’‘Bye-bye, Shiny...’’ Discord chuckled darkly and stood to his full height as he saw her eyes being covered by stone and her horn turn to a dark, dirty grey. Discord turned away from her and walked back inside the room where Luna and Black Rush were in. The captain looked overjoyed and cheerfully saluted to Discord, who rolled his eyes from the display. Luna was shaking and backing away from Discord with her wings flared and ears splayed back. Discord smirked as Luna was forced to the wall. He stopped just in front of her.
’‘Since I want this to be a little more interesting, I’m going to give you a ten-second head start to go wherever you want to go, unless you want to end up like Celestia immediately.’’ Discord’s eyes narrowed.
’‘Discord-’’ Luna glanced at her now petrified sister.
’‘Please, do-’’ Luna pleaded.
’‘Nine.’’ Discord squared his shoulders.
’’No...’’ Luna shook her head.
Luna shot out through an open window and flew away at full speed. Discord looked at the window where she had fled and smirked.
’’My lord, what do you want The Anarchy to do?’’ Black Rush walked beside Discord.
’’To stay away from me...’’ Discord growled and shot out into the air in the same window as Luna had before him. He saw a midnight blue dot in the horizon and grinned, the chase was on. But to his dismay, a bright flash made Luna disappear. She had teleported away from him. ’‘Clever girl...’’ Discord grinned. This just got much more interesting.
Twilight Sparkle had just finished re-shelfing her library when a teary-eyed lunar princess with a disheveled mane popped into existance beside her. Luna surprised the young mare by pulling her into an embrace, while sobbing uncontrollably.
Twilight realised immediately that something really bad must have happened if Luna is acting like this.
’‘Wha- what’s going on? What happened?’’ Twilight wasn’t sure if she wanted to know the answer.
’‘Discord...’’ Luna sobbed.
’‘W-what happened with D-Discord?’’ Twilight gasped.
’’Oh, I’m just fine, dear Twilight...’’ Discord stood in the doorway, smirking. Twilight recognised his voice and noted the change in his eyes. She gasped again as Discord took a step closer.
’‘Stay away..!’’ Luna croaked and stood up.
’‘Luna, my dear,’’ Discord snickered ’’if I could defeat your sister and petrify her, do you really think you can challenge my power?’’ After another bright flash, Luna and Twilight Sparkle was gone. Luna had teleported them to safety. Discord sighed and rolled his eyes.
In the town square, a flash ignited, startling almost everypony. Five other flashes and an equal amount of confused ponies materialised into existance. Luna was panting from the strain of finding five different ponies and teleporting them to her took a lot of energy out of her.
The now gathered Elements of Harmony all looked at eachother in confusion. All except for one. Twilight Sparkle was crying for the loss of her precious mentor. Luna stood up and cleared her throat, choking a sob.
’‘Girls...’’ They turned their heads to Luna, all of them had many questions that they wanted to be answered. ’‘I’m afraid I have some very, very bad news...’’ Luna looked down at the ground. ’‘Discord-’’
’‘Petrified your dear Princess Celestia and made a fancy garden decoration out of her.’’ All eyes turned to Discord, who trotted into the square while whistling a jaunty tune.
’‘You...’’ Twilight growled.
’’Me.’’ Discord held a hoof to his chest.
The Elements of Harmony got in front of Discord in a row like they had when they inprisoned him. But this time, no element necklaces or tiaras were there. Everypony stared at him with malice, even Fluttershy. Discord tsked and rolled his shoulders while cracking his neck.
’’Do you know from what animal my eyes are?’’ Discord smiled. The ponies in front of him stared at him in disbelief because of the random question. Twilight coughed awkwardly and spoke up.
’‘Dragon..?’’ She crooked an eyebrow.
Discord snickered and rolled his eyes. ’‘And I thought you had a little more intelligence than that. There’s no slits and no pupils at all.’’ Discord’s eyes widened and his eyes started glimmering, making the girls look at his eyes. ’‘Cockatrice...’’
Luna realised what was happening and shielded her own eyes with her hooves. The Elements of Harmony didn’t see it coming, and were now turning to stone. Six different piercing shrieks of pain echoed through the entire time.
Discord was laughing and pointing his hooves at them. Rainbow’s expression when she couldn’t move her wings was priceless. She was frozen with that expression. When it was complete, Discord had six new garden decorations.
The only pony left that could stop him was Luna, this was going to be different. This would be tormenting the one pony who truly loved him in his harsh life. Discord was almost about to go away and let her go, before the periculum sent another wave of hate and chaos magic rocking through his body. Discord closed his eyes and shook his head free from those thoughts.
’‘Ready to play, Luna?’’ Discord squared his shoulders and lowered his head into an attack position.
A/N: Preread and edited by the awesome frieD195! Fun fact, four words made me write this story in the first place; Discord is best pony. | <urn:uuid:349f8199-741b-4df9-8883-777b458c20c6> | 2013-05-21T10:34:36Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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LMAO!!! OK if these don't kill your appetite, nothing will. That was the plan, right? And I loved the text beneath the pictures. And your commentary.
This reminds me of a New Yorker cartoon from years ago. The caption was "When food goes bad" and it showed a ketchup bottle wielding a gun at a cowboy. This is really what happens when food goes bad!!! They make "snappy" mackeral out of it!!!!
Last edited by canary52; 12-11-2010 at 04:00 PM. | <urn:uuid:a8fcd64f-bcfa-4c56-8cce-0af41bc2cbd8> | 2013-05-21T10:35:47Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Wall 7 is the lintel over the doorway to the passage of the tomb. It bears a scene in sunk relief; the relief is actually cut into the plaster, not the rock. Click on the picture below for a larger version.
Stretching across the top of the scene is a 2 cm wide and very long ! sign. In the middle below is a winged sun disc with two pendant uraei, either side of which is a Behdetite text incorporating a cartouche of Thutmose III; only that on the left is well-preserved.
Immediately below the sun disc are two back-to-back figures of Osiris, destroyed from about the chest downwards. These figures are almost identical, wearing the white crown, with large counterpoises for their collars visible at the tops of their backs. The shape of the figures is perhaps subtly different, suggesting that they may have been made by different craftsmen, or that the artist worked differently in different directions: for example, the beard of the left-facing Osiris is longer and more curved than that on the right.
The left-hand Osiris holds a was and a heqa sceptre, and probably a flail, which are visible separately at the top, before the staffs merge together. The right hand Osiris holds similar items but the representations of the staffs are kept distinct.
The left-hand part of the scene, the only part moderately well-preserved, shows Senneferi and his mother before Osiris. Beneath the two leftmost columns of text is the right-facing head of a female figure, Senneferi's mother according to the text, wearing a tripartite wig with arm(s) raised before her. There is little detail remaining, and very little colour. To the right of the raised arm(s) is a small amount of green which may represent a pile of food being offered to Osiris.
Most of the right-hand part of the scene (after the first 3 columns of text) is lost, although the extent of the scene can be judged by the remains of the right-hand end of it, with a column divider evident just to the left of the cobras in the canopy in wall 4. All that remains of the decoration is the raised hand of the first figure, doubtless Senneferi, holding a µ pot, with the beginning of the offering text adjacent to it. I believe it is possible that Senneferi's father could have accompanied him in this part of the scene.
The texts in the scene are as follows:
At top (left)
'The Behdetite, may he give life to the lord of the two lands, Menkheperre…'
At top (right).
Between the two figures of Osiris:
'May protection and life be behind [him]'
Relating to left-hand Osiris
'That he might permit the smelling the sweet breath [of the north wind] ///, Osiris, king of the gods'
Relating to left-hand offering figures
'The iry pat haty-a [the trusted one of] the lord of the two lands, the overseer of [seal-bearers] Senneferi, true of voice;
His mother Satdjehuty'
Relating to right-hand Osiris
'That he might give invocation offerings and other offerings, Osiris lord of Abydos'
Relating to right-hand offering figures
'The iry pat haty-a ///
Below the hand of the figure offering at right
At the far right-hand end there is a trace of the final column divider of the text, and to the left of it are some green traces from hieroglyphs; they are perhaps from birds, but which ones is uncertain.
The plaster is painted dark red in imitation of a hard and expensive stone like quartzite or granite, with the hieroglyphs and other decoration filled with green paint, again imitating the usage of hard stone. Traces of red paint over the green suggest that the hieroglyphs might just have been painted before the stone imitation colour was applied. There is some modelling in the hieroglyphs, but no detailing, while there is also modelling in the figures, in particular the collars and the facial features.
Scenes relating to the adoration of deities on lintels over doorways (including the tomb entrance) and shrines are very common in Thebes. They may be found over the inner or outer side of doorways, although the majority are located so as to face towards the entrance to the tomb. In the 18th dynasty, these show the deities associated with death and the west, most frequently Osiris, Anubis, or the goddess of the West. They continue to be popular in the 19th dynasty, when solar deities are added to the repertoire. Locations over doorways are also a common place for the name of the king or kings served by the tomb owner.
A description of how we document the paintings will be found here.
© Nigel Strudwick 1997-2013 | <urn:uuid:4c4555b1-86b1-4e46-9f4e-30a4e44fdd91> | 2013-05-21T10:06:25Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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JAL's 747-400 most recently operated the Tokyo-New York-Sao Paulo route, which the carrier has now ended. Photograph: AirSpace user Commercial Aviation.
As part of its drastic restructure, JAL on Tuesday operated its final Sao Paulo-Tokyo (via New York JFK) flight, which it first started in 1978. JAL filed for bankruptcy in January after accruing $25.8b in debt.
The route may be gone but not forever as a spokesman told the 250 passengers on the flight: "We will be back to Sao Paulo after reconstructing our company." | <urn:uuid:42b00412-c7cd-4005-809f-688172ef8dc0> | 2013-05-21T10:07:34Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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The prevailing situation:
The FedEx MD-11 was approaching runway 34L at Tokyo Narita, with fairly high gusting winds forecasted. Gusting winds always raise the spectre of potential windshear, and Narita is renowned for it.
The forecast wind (320deg at 26kt gusting to 40kt) would have provided a crosswind from the left that was some 20deg off the runway heading, although that may not have been what actually prevailed on landing.
So although it was not going to be particularly easy to land any aircraft type in an elegant way that day, the conditions were far from extreme and the visibility was excellent.
Now watch the video below, be ready to pause it from time to time to examine the very rapid transition from a relatively normal landing to a disastrous one, and then check the text below for my interpretation of what you are seeing at each point:
The landing sequence shown in the video tells us the following:
1. On the last part of short final approach
1. On the last part of short final approachthe aircraft appears to be stable, if slightly low, with wings level and a normal pitch attitude for the circumstances (given that we don't know what the airspeed is);
2. the touchdown is very firm, but under gusty circumstances the pilots would naturally aim for a firm touchdown;
3. the nosewheel was lowered onto the runway at a high rate. Although the crew would want to put the nosewheel on the runway quickly to stop the aeroplane flying, the rate at which it was lowered might have threatened damage to the nose-gear - but it looks as if it survived the impact anyway.
Note: up until this point the aircraft's landing performance and behaviour has been well within the normal range. But then:
4. immediately following nosewheel touchdown the aircraft pitched up dramatically and the aircraft ballooned into the air again.
Note: the rate at which the nosewheel was lowered may have been a part of the cause of the pitch-up following nose oleo compression, and that pitch-up might also have been exacerbated by the automatic extension of the spoilers which, in this type, are renowned for producing a pitch-up moment;
5. Now the aircraft is airborne again. This ballooning following first touchdown might have been made worse by a sudden gust of wind, momentarily raising the airspeed. But if that were true, the spoilers would have been simultaneously destroying a lot of the lift, and producing considerable drag; so, as the gust died (if it did) the aircraft might have been at or below stalling speed;
6. then - and this is what leads to disaster - the nose drops and stays low until the nosewheel's impact with the runway. This happens either because of lack of elevator authority, or because the pilot flying was tempted into a classic pilot induced oscillation.
Note: there are no circumstances under which a pilot of any type should deliberately select a nose-down attitude at that point - if, indeed, pilot selection of the nose-down attitude is what actually happened. During ballooning following touchdown the nose MUST be held up (if the elevator authority allows it) and appropriate power applied, whether the crew are trying for a successful second touchdown or for a go-around.
7. finally the nosewheel hits the ground extremely hard and the nose instantly rebounds upward, the main gear touching the surface momentarily a fraction of a second later. Almost simultaneously, the aircraft begins its fatal bank to the left, from which recovery was impossible once the left wingtip had hit the ground.
Note: banking to the left is not what the forecast crosswind would have been expected to produce. Normally, especially in a swept-wing aircraft like this one, the upwind wing has a tendency to lift, but in this case it didn't. So the crosswind does not appear to be the critical factor here, although windshear is very likely to be one of the causal factors.
For all those with different interpretations (or even to agree), please feel free to file your comments, | <urn:uuid:0dd6df32-2afd-4912-bc40-431517102373> | 2013-05-21T10:36:43Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Former Buffalo Bills linebacker Shawne Merriman. / Timothy T. Ludwig, USA TODAY Sports
Shawne Merriman announced his retirement after eight seasons in the NFL.
The pass rusher, famous for his "lights out" sack dance, posted on his website Tuesday has decided to retire now to be able to leave the game on "my own terms."
"My retirement from the game I love so much and from the game that has brought me so many great opportunities on and off the field has been decided with great thought for my future on and off the field," Merriman wrote.
He was set to become an unrestricted free agent March 12.
"I retire today not because I don't feel I can go out there and still play the game at a very high level, I am retiring because I want to retire on my own terms and leave while I know I can still play the game," he added.
Merriman was a first-round pick in 2005 by the San Diego Chargers. He was named the NFL's defensive rookie of the year after recording 10 sacks. In 2006, he served a four-game suspension for violating the league's steroid policy, yet still finished the season with 17 sacks and was third in defensive player of the year voting.
Merriman was never able to match the production of the early years in his career.
After totaling 39.5 sacks in his first three seasons while making the Pro Bowl each year, he managed just six sacks from 2008 through 2012.
A knee injury limited him to only one game in 2008. After continuing to battle knee problems, as well as foot and calf problems the following seasons, the Chargers placed him on injured reserve in 2010. But Merriman was released off IR during the season and landed with the Buffalo Bills. He returned in 2011 and started in six games in his two seasons with the Bills.
Copyright 2013 USATODAY.com
Read the original story: Shawne Merriman announces retirement | <urn:uuid:ac101aa7-d849-4166-9978-6815988046ae> | 2013-05-21T10:14:17Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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We know that the college selection process can be a fun and exciting time. We also know that it can, at times, be stressful. With that in mind, we have created this website to aid you and your student with that process. We hope that you will find all of the information you need to help your student make a smooth transition from high school into college life. If at any time during the process, we can be of help please, feel free to contact us... We're here for you!! | <urn:uuid:7dc0f7dd-e394-454a-a7cb-00dd9291c33d> | 2013-05-21T10:07:39Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Submit your FML story
- - Please note that spam and nonsensical stories will result in you being blocked from accessing FML.
Today, I started at my new job. The woman who I'll be working right next to 40 hours a week introduced herself with, "I know what your name is. I know what you're planning, and I've been sent to destroy you." FML
At least you don't have to wonder who the office nut is anymore.
Speak your mind, but please try and be respectful. | <urn:uuid:59867ff6-2c72-4112-800a-b7ec220cd485> | 2013-05-21T09:59:09Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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- Chelsea News
- News Archive
- League Table
- Premier League News
Chelsea boss Rafael Benitez hails veteran Frank Lampard
Published : 14 Dec 2012 12:17:03
Interim manager Benitez claimed the Stamford Bridge decision-makers who have halted contract talks with the England midfielder had no doubt about "his condition, his levels, his quality".
His wage, age, 34, and recent injury record might come into consideration when debating a new deal but Benitez told BBC Sport: "For sure, he's a fantastic player, a great professional - there's no doubt about this. Also, when I talk to the people in charge, they are telling me the same, so nobody has any doubt about his condition, his levels, his quality. So the decision could be analysing different things, not just the quality of the player."
Lampard insisted he had "two or three years at least" left to give as an elite footballer - even if Chelsea appeared to think otherwise.
He admitted on Thursday his glittering career with the European champions could be drawing to a close after revealing he was not in talks with them over a new contract to replace the one that expires next summer.
Lampard appeared resigned to his fate after helping Chelsea into the Club World Cup final in Yokohama, coming off the bench against Monterrey for his second appearance since recovering from a troublesome calf problem.
That compounded an injury-hit 2012 but Lampard made it clear he had more to give.
"I feel like I have two or three years, at least, in me at the top level," he said.
"It is not for me to decide on this one. It's up to the club.
"Whatever happens, I have had a great time at Chelsea. I am determined to play a few more years and see what pans out in the near future." | <urn:uuid:f9afff69-c74a-481e-a29c-a307261a11d5> | 2013-05-21T10:01:36Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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- Manchester United News
- League Table
- News Archive
- Premier League News
Ferguson stands up for Ron
21 Mar 2008 - 07:14:05
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has launched a strong defence of in-form winger Cristiano Ronaldo against charges that he is a diver.
The 23-year-old Portugal ace has been in scintillating form for the Red Devils this season, netting 33 goals for the Premier League leaders, but some opponents still believe that he goes to ground a little too easily.
Ferguson said: "Arsene Wenger recently complained that his team are on the receiving end of more fouls than any other.
"I'm not sure about that, but what I do know is that Cristiano Ronaldo must be one of the most fouled players in the league.
"The fouls are frustrating, especially for Ronaldo and I have nothing but admiration for the way he picks himself up and keeps running at people.
"Time after time he is tackled unfairly and often opponents try to indicate that he has dived.
"Of course, when Ronaldo is running at full speed sometimes it doesn't take much to knock him over, but the truth is that too many opponents don't know how to tackle properly. To disguise their shortcomings they accuse him of falling deliberately.
"I am pleased for him with the punishment he has taken lately. I have been making the point about his courage and the fact he is determined that he is not going to be kicked out of the game." | <urn:uuid:5dad53e4-10cb-465e-ac99-1e3699bc4cbb> | 2013-05-21T10:17:49Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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The bitter rivals meet in a 12:30pm kick-off for the first time since Rovers triumphed 1-0 away from home in the Premier League two-and-a-half years ago, while Burnley last tasted derby victory in April 1979.
The statement read: "We encourage all supporters attending this game to respect each other and the authorities.
"An East Lancashire derby between our two historic clubs is always a special occasion and we hope Sunday's match will be remembered for the action on the pitch and the positive backing of both sets of supporters.
"We acknowledge that there will be some disruption to the normal matchday schedule. However, this has been done with the safety of all supporters in mind and all fans should be aware that breaches of stadium regulations - including anti-social behaviour - will not be tolerated.
"Burnley and Blackburn Rovers also have a zero tolerance for discrimination of any sort, on the pitch or in the stands. If you experience any form of discrimination before, during or after the game, or require assistance in any matter, please contact a matchday steward." | <urn:uuid:db002cea-8577-42a3-b306-f3cc6c789bcd> | 2013-05-21T10:22:35Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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The 21-year-old has made just three substitute appearances in all competitions this season amid the strong attacking options from which boss Sir Alex Ferguson can select.
United have preferred to use Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie, Danny Welbeck and Javier Hernandez which has meant Macheda is likely to leave on another temporary deal.
Blackpool and Hull have both been linked with the former Sampdoria and Queens Park Rangers loanee but his agent has revealed Germany or Spain are more likely destinations.
Macheda's representative, Giovanni Bia, told claciomercato.it: "Federico obviously wants to play more and also Manchester United agree to let him go.
"Blackpool and Hull City? No, he definitely won't go to one of them. We're talking with two or three clubs in Spain and German, which I don't want to name." | <urn:uuid:1c3cba7a-acc7-460d-ad82-dc62406fff35> | 2013-05-21T10:01:08Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Manager Roy Hodgson had performed a selection U-turn in welcoming Manchester United defender Ferdinand back to his squad for the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers against San Marino and Montenegro.
But the centre-back on Monday lunchtime had to pull out of the squad due to his 'detailed pre-planned training and medical programme', which has managed his back injury problems in recent years.
And after learning of Ferdinand's withdrawal, Oxlade-Chamberlain told Sky Sports News: "It is really disappointing for us. Obviously, Rio is an amazing footballer.
"He plays for a club like Manchester United so the experience that he can bring to us from his club team and the level he plays at - Champions League football - would be brilliant.
"But the players that will come in and the players in the squad are more than capable to do the role and fill in with good quality and good experience."
Hodgson had previously appeared to have looked beyond 34-year-old Ferdinand having decided not to select the former West Ham United and Leeds United player for Euro 2012.
But Ferdinand has always maintained he will not turn his back on his country and Oxlade-Chamberlain sees no reason why there could not be a return in the future.
"I do not think there is any reason why he should not," said the Arsenal star. "He is an amazing player and has been for so many years.
"But, obviously, it is not for me to say. I am not the manager. But, for me, Rio is an amazing player and would be a great asset to the squad." | <urn:uuid:f95a57a6-b558-45a9-a4fd-5e376ae469bd> | 2013-05-21T10:08:24Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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29 Nov 2006
All week, we're profiling the semi-finalists for the Fantasy Football Hall of Fame class of 2007. The FFHoF enshrines players whose statistical accomplishments were more impressive than their actual accomplishments. To be eligible, a player must be retired, have made a significant contribution to fantasy football, and have no shot of making the Pro Football Hall of Fame. To find out more or to vote for your favorite players, read this Friday's Too Deep Zone at Football Outsiders or right here on FOX.
If Hearst had avoided injuries, we would be polishing his bust for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
But Hearst couldn't stay healthy. His first two seasons were marred by injuries. He bounced from Arizona to Cincinnati to San Francisco, emerged as a great running back, and promptly tore up his ankle in a playoff game. The injury was so bad that it led to a circulatory problem, and Hearst disappeared for two full seasons.
When he came back in 2001, he was the kind of player you take in the very last round of your fantasy draft: a big name worth a flyer in the unlikely event that he plays. But Hearst did play, rushing for over 1,200 yards and scoring five touchdowns. He scored nine more touchdowns in 2002 for another fine fantasy season.
Hearst was a great player in the regular season, but he rarely played well in the playoffs. He did have a great game against the Packers in 1998, but that was the only postseason game in which he rushed for over 55 yards. And of course, getting hurt so bad on your first carry that you need two years of rehab can officially be classified as a "very bad day."
A great statistical player who didn't play as well in the playoffs? A top talent whose career is full of false starts and strange interruptions? There's only one place that can truly honor such a player: the Fantasy Football Hall of Fame. You can do your part by voting for the finalists at Football Outsiders on Friday. It's your chance to be part of the democratic process.
Who stole Bill Belichick's cojones in 2012, and are they the same people who stole Mike Smith's cojones? Here are Aggressiveness Index numbers for all head coaches in 2012 plus an added bonus: updated career AI numbers for the top 84 head coaches going back to 1991. | <urn:uuid:786aca57-0e1a-4b5f-b687-28302f388821> | 2013-05-21T10:28:41Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Second, Rowden ignores the experience of India, which has pulled millions out of poverty and vaulted up international league tables without engaging in a massive push for industrialization. In contrast to the East Asian model, India has boomed for 30 years without industrialization. The pace of India's GDP growth is exactly the same pace as Developing Asia for the last 20 years -- but with a 10-year lag. Manufacturing accounted for 11 percent of India employment in 1995 and 11 percent in 2011. It is services that are driving Indian growth. We argue that India is 20 years ahead of sub-Saharan Africa on this, and that growth in the region can accelerate for the next generation without industrialization leading the charge.
Rowden states that, absent such an emphasis on manufacturing and other value-added activities, a sub-Saharan country will be saddled with "still largely a primary agricultural economy with little movement towards the increased manufacturing or labor-intensive job creation that are needed for Africa to "rise."
In fact, if there is a myth in Rowden's piece, this is it. Justin Yifu Lin, the Taiwan-born chief economist of the World Bank, recently emphasized in his own book, The Quest for Prosperity, that every economic miracle -- including that of his Taiwanese homeland -- starts with the primary sectors doing well first.
Even Britain, the cradle of the Industrial Revolution, had to achieve an 18th-century agricultural revolution first. Russia's development in the late 19th and early 20th centuries followed a similar pattern.
Indeed, the mistake of too many African countries in the 1960s was in believing western and Soviet economic propaganda that promised post-independence leaders they could leap-frog straight to industrialization. This flew in the face of both western and Soviet history as even Stalin only industrialized on the back of what had been a very successful agricultural, mining, and resource sector.
The consequence was that African governments built up debt during the last commodity boom of the 1970s to pay for industrialization that was premature given infrastructure constraints (human and physical capital was lacking). Mining and resources in general today are helping Africa pay for the infrastructure improvements (from human to physical capital) that will enable the continent to expand industry. | <urn:uuid:539b4719-02d2-4246-a5fe-3407c8017f70> | 2013-05-21T10:20:28Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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The NILIF program is remarkable because it's effective for such a wide variety of problems. A shy, timid dog becomes more relaxed knowing that he has nothing to worry about, his owner is in charge of all things. A dog that's pushing too hard to become "top dog" learns that the position is not available and that his life is far more enjoyable without the title.
It is equally successful with dogs that fall anywhere between those two extremes. The program is not difficult to put into effect and it's not time consuming if the dog already knows a few basic obedience commands. I've never seen this technique fail to bring about a positive change in behavior, however, the change can be more profound in some dogs than others. Most owners use this program in conjunction with other behavior modification techniques such as coping with fear or treatment for aggression. It is a perfectly suitable technique for the dog with no major behavior problems that just needs some fine tuning.
I personally recommend NILIF to ALL dogs, behavior problems or not, I think this is how dogs should be treated to give them a sense of purpose and a place to be in the pack with your family. This is a great way to PREVENT behavioral issues.
Where to start?
ATTENTION ON DEMAND
The program begins by eliminating attention on demand. When your dog comes to you and nudges your hand, saying "pet me! pet me!" ignore her. Don't tell her "no", don't push her away. Simply pretend you don't notice her. This has worked for your dog before, so don't be surprised if she tries harder to get your attention. When she figures out that this no longer works, she'll stop. In a pack situation, the top ranking dogs can demand attention from the lower ranking ones, not the other way around. When you give your dog attention on demand you're telling them that they have more status in the pack than you do. Timid dogs become stressed by having this power and may become clingy. They're never sure when you'll be in charge so they can't relax. What if something scary happens, like a stranger coming in the house? Who will handle that? The timid dog that is demanding of attention can be on edge a lot of the time because he has more responsibility than he can handle. When a timid, or dog clearly not meant to be leader is forced to be leader by your lack of involvement, your dog will handle it themselves. If this happens to be a fearful dog this can end up as a behavioral issue while your dog handles it in an inappropriate way.
Some dogs see their ability to demand attention as confirmation that they are the "alpha", then become difficult to handle when told to "sit" or "down" or some other demand is placed on them. It is not their leadership status that stresses them out, it's the lack of consistency. They may or may not actually be alpha material, but having no one in the pack that is clearly the leader is a bigger problem than having the dog assume that role full time. Dogs are happiest when the pack order is stable. Tension is created by a constant fluctuation of pack leadership.
Your dog already knows that he can demand your attention and he knows what works to get that to happen. As of today, it no longer works, but he doesn't know that yet. We all try harder at something we know works when it stops working. If I gave you a twenty dollar bill every time you clapped your hands together, you'd clap a lot. But, if I suddenly stopped handing you money, even though you were still clapping, you'd clap more and clap louder. You might even get closer to me to make sure I was noticing that you were clapping. You might even shout at me "Hey! I'm clapping like crazy over here, where's the money?". If I didn't respond at all, in any way, you'd stop. It wasn't working anymore. That last try -- that loud, frequent clapping is an extinction burst. If, however, during that extinction burst, I gave you another twenty dollar bill you'd be right back in it. It would take a lot longer to get you to stop clapping because you just learned that if you try hard enough, it will work.
When your dog learns that the behaviors that used to get him your attention don't work any more he's going to try harder and he's going to have an extinction burst. If you give him attention during that time you will have to work that much harder to get him turned around again. Telling him "no" or pushing him away is not the kind of attention he's after, but it's still attention. Completely ignoring him will work faster and better.
YOU HAVE THE POWER
As the human and as his owner you have control of all things that are wonderful in his life. This is the backbone of the NILIF program. You control all of the resources. Playing, attention, food, walks, going in and out of the door, going for a ride in the car, going to the dog park. Anything and everything that your dog wants comes from you. If he's been getting most of these things for free there is no real reason for him to respect your leadership or your ownership of these things. Again, a timid dog is going to be stressed by this situation, a pushy dog is going to be difficult to handle. Both of them would prefer to have you in charge.
To implement the NILIF program you simply have to have your dog earn his use of your resources. He's hungry? No problem, he simply has to sit before his bowl is put down. He wants to play fetch? Great! He has to "down" before you throw the ball. Want to go for a walk or a ride? He has to sit to get his lead snapped on and has to sit while the front door is opened. He has to sit and wait while the car door is opened and listen for the word (I use "OK") that means "get into the car". When you return he has to wait for the word that means "get out of the car" even if the door is wide open. Don't be too hard on him. He's already learned that he can make all of these decisions on his own. He has a strong history of being in control of when he gets these resources. Enforce the new rules, but keep in mind that he's only doing what he's been taught to do and he's going to need some time to get the hang of it all.
You're going to have to pay attention to things that you probably haven't noticed before. If you feed your dog from your plate do you just toss him a green bean? No more. He has to earn it. You don't have to use standard obedience commands, any kind of action will do. If your dog knows "shake" or "spin around" or "speak" use those commands. Does your dog sleep on your bed? Teach him that he has to wait for you to say "OK" to get on the bed and he has to get down when you say "off". Teach him to go to his bed, or other designated spot, on command. When he goes to his spot and lays down tell him "stay" and then release him with a treat reward. Having a particular spot where he stays is very helpful for when you have guests or otherwise need him out of the way for a while. It also teaches him that free run of the house is a resource that you control. There are probably many things that your dog sees as valuable resources that I haven't mentioned here.
The NILIF program should not be a long, drawn out process. All you need to do is enforce a simple command before allowing him access to what he wants. Dinner, for example, should be a two or three second encounter that consists of nothing more than saying "sit", then "good dog!", then putting the bowl down and walking away.
ATTENTION AND PLAY
Now that your dog is no longer calling the shots you will have to make an extra effort to provide him with attention and play time. Call him to you, have him "sit" and then lavish him with as much attention as you want. Have him go get his favorite toy and play as long as you both have the energy. The difference is that now you will be the one initiating the attention and beginning the play time. He's going to depend on you now, a lot more than before, to see that he gets what he needs. What he needs most is quality time with you. This would be a good time to enroll in a group obedience class. If his basic obedience is top notch, see about joining an agility class or fly ball team.
NILIF DOES *NOT* MEAN THAT YOU HAVE TO RESTRICT THE AMOUNT OF ATTENTION YOU GIVE TO YOUR DOG. The NILIF concept speaks to who initiates the attention (you!), not the amount of attention. Go ahead and call your dog to you 100 times a day for hugs and kisses!! You can demand his attention, he can no longer demand yours!
Within a day or two your dog will see you in a whole new light and will be eager to learn more. Use this time to teach new things, such as 'roll over' or learn the specific names of different toys.
If you have a shy dog, you'll see a more relaxed dog. There is no longer any reason to worry about much of anything. He now has complete faith in you as his protector and guide. If you have a pushy dog he'll be glad that the fight for leadership is over and his new role is that of devoted and adored pet. | <urn:uuid:b0f44d44-2679-4c86-9a1b-30d214f2b966> | 2013-05-21T10:35:39Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Obama will attend a signing ceremony on Friday for the order for 230 aircraft, which the White House said would support more than 110,000 jobs across the United States, on the sidelines of an East Asia Summit he is attending on the Indonesian island of Bali.
The White House described the deal in a statement as one of the largest between a U.S. company and an Indonesia one.
It said the deal included options for another 150 aircraft valued at $14 billion, bringing its potential total value to $35 billion.
The White House is seeking to underline the U.S. jobs potential from Obama's efforts to increase U.S. engagement in the Asia-Pacific region, including trade with emerging powers in Southeast Asia.
Deals announced during the president's trip would total more than $25 billion and could support 127,000 jobs.
Under pressure to bring down a 9 percent U.S. unemployment rate, Obama is seeking to boost American exports to the Asia-Pacific to help offset weakness in Europe.
In addition to the Lion Air deal, the White House announced on Thursday that Boeing had also reached a $2.4 billion deal for Singapore Airlines to buy eight wide body aircraft.
The White House said GE will sell 50 engines to Indonesia's Garuda Airlines in an agreement worth $1.3 trillion.
A subsidiary of United Technologies will also supply 12 Blackhawk helicopters to the Royal Brunei Armed Forces Support Helicopter Project, in a deal worth $325 million. | <urn:uuid:e46d45f0-17fd-42f7-970e-b50010e523c2> | 2013-05-21T10:27:46Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Microsoft Corp made available Thursday a Windows 7-compatible test version of the software behind its hit Kinect motion-sensing game device, in the hope that developers will invent a host of ``hands-free'' features for standard PCs.
Microsoft's Kinect, launched last year, is a sensing camera and microphone device that plugs into the Xbox 360 console, allowing users to play games purely with gestures and voice commands.
The hugely successful device is seen by some as a blueprint for future computing, and was immediately attractive to hackers who devised ways of making it work on standard computers.
Microsoft was at first hostile to such attempts, but by releasing a beta version of the Kinect software development kit is showing that it is interested to see what developers will make of the technology.
The software kit, which Microsoft insists is for noncommercial use at this point, can be downloaded at http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/kinectsdk/ . | <urn:uuid:e612b47e-4dd6-4865-af26-e5ef6a9365e3> | 2013-05-21T10:00:19Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Federal officials responsible for the nation's volunteer service center reportedly yanked two participants working in a Planned Parenthood of New York City office after determining their activities violated program guidelines.
The two women had been working at the clinic for nine months before attracting attention from the Corporation for National and Community Service, which runs AmeriCorps, over activities they performed, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The roles of the women didn't raise red flags because of the abortion services Planned Parenthood provides, the newspaper reported, noting that AmeriCorps bans "providing abortion services or referrals for such services," but because the two may have violated rules on "attempting to influence legislation" and "organizing or engaging in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes."
A spokeswoman for the Corporation for National and Community Service, Ranit Schmelzer, said federal officials informed state officials on May 18 "to take prompt action to prevent two New York City Civic Corps members from engaging in prohibited activities," according to the paper.
The New York Civic Corps agreed to use private money to cover the $1,270 monthly stipend and a $5,350 educational award given to the two women, officials told the newspaper. That is funding normally paid by AmeriCorps to the state, which then pays New York City's Civic Corps.
According to The Wall Street Journal, nationally, 13 workers, of the more than 80,000 AmeriCorps volunteers, work at Planned Parenthood organizations. The number is down to 11. | <urn:uuid:79792cda-f052-4f18-af90-017c0646767b> | 2013-05-21T10:02:24Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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When Old Hawks Retract Their Talons
In recent years, the annals of national security are replete with retired generals expressing second thoughts about how militarized the United States has become. The latest is Gen. (Ret.) James Cartwright, who chairs the Global Zero movement's U.S. Nuclear Policy Commission, which recently issued a report titled Modernizing U.S. Nuclear Strategy, Force Structure and Posture. It's a radical departure from what you'd expect from a former chief of STRATCOM (the United States Strategic Command), which includes the U.S. nuclear-weapons arsenal.
At Foreign Policy, J. Peter Scoblic writes that "Cartwright is challenging the nuclear status quo in a way that few Washington elites with such credibility on the subject have dared to do." The report, Scoblic explains, argues that the United States could
… reduce the number of nuclear weapons it deploys by two-thirds and the number of warheads it keeps in reserve by nearly 90 percent. [This] would force the United States to step across a line that separates existing nuclear doctrine from one that it has done its damnedest to avoid for decades, shifting from "counterforce" [targeting the nuclear weapons of, for instance, Russia] toward "countervalue" [other targets, as Scoblic explains below].
By suggesting that the United States limit its deployable weapons to several hundred, he has explicitly chosen a number that would eliminate the U.S. ability to conduct a preemptive, decapitating strike against [Russia's] nuclear weapons and eliminate its ability to retaliate. … Instead, [the wepons'] greatest utility would shift primarily to destroying larger, softer targets -- economic hubs, military-industrial facilities, population centers, and the like -- in retaliation for an enemy strike. As Cartwright told me, this would represent a "significant departure from our existing posture." It's much closer to a "countervalue" strategy.
As Scoblic concedes, "Calls for lower numbers are not new, certainly not from groups dedicated to nuclear disarmament like the one Cartwright worked with -- and not even among former heads of Strategic Command."
He's referring to one of the most dramatic examples of a former general calling for the United States to reconsider arming itself to its teeth. In 1997, Gen. George Lee Butler created an impact when he delivered a speech and presented a disarmament manifesto signed by 60 retired generals and admirals from nuclear states. Among other things, he said:
"We need to think more boldly in terms of immediate initiatives. … We need to move beyond the sort of lock step, numbers-driven, phase-down, years-at-a-time, arms-control reductions of the cold war.''
One of the few American generals to request the use of nuclear weapons after World War II was Douglas MacArthur while he was chief of the U.N. Command during the Korean War. Part of his rationale? As I posted recently: "Sweeten up my B-29 force."
It's not commonly known, but even MacArthur mellowed. After the Bay of Pigs, President John F. Kennedy met with MacArthur in a courtesy call that extended to the whole afternoon because of Kennedy's intrigue by what MacArthur had to say. Kenneth O'Donnell reported for Life Magazine in 1970:
MacArthur implored the president to avoid a U.S. military build-up in Vietnam, or any other part of the Asian mainland, because he felt that the domino theory was ridiculous in the nuclear age. MacArthur went on to point out that there were domestic problems -- the urban crisis, the ghettos, the economy -- that should have far more priority than Vietnam.
MacArthur regaled Kennedy's successor, Lyndon Johnson, with similar advice. In MacArthur: Volume III, Triumph and disaster, 1945-1964 by Doris Clayton James wrote:
President Lyndon Johnson (a Democrat) once visited the ailing Douglas MacArthur (a Republican) at his Waldorf Astoria Hotel Tower residence in New York. Johnson sought the advice of the old commander about the Vietnam War shortly before the general’s death in 1964. Specifically, the President asked MacArthur about the fast expanding Vietnam War and what the increasing US military presence should do.
MacArthur’s lecture was brief. He said the US should not get involved in any kind of war on the Asian mainland because it has no known boundaries. The old warrior specifically referred to Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), and Thailand as countries without fixed boundaries, but separated only by deep ravines, rivers, and rain forests.
Most retired generals who share the perspective they've gained on how militarized the United States has become are marginalized. But when someone of the stature of MacArthur speaks, it seems to at least give presidents pause. The equivalent today would be if current CIA head and full-time celebrity-general James Petraeus issued cautionary words about our national-security policy. Unfortunately, he neither gives any indication of fading away nor of backing down from his hawkish stances. | <urn:uuid:28ace512-3785-48de-bfb8-afc88db3b65e> | 2013-05-21T10:20:32Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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From Sept. 30 to Oct. 19 , Brazilian cities Rio de Janeiro and Brasila will host the sixth futsal World Cup - the most important event in indoor football. Twenty teams from five continents will vie for the world champion title.
Europe will be represented by six teams (Spain, Russia, Italy, Portugal, Ukraine and the Czech Republic), Latin America by four (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay), while the rest of America will have three competing teams (USA, Cuba and Guatemala). Five countries will be present from Asia (Iran, China, Japan and Thailand), two from Africa (Egypt and Libya), while the Salomon Islands will be the sole country from Asia and the Pacific
Futsal (contraction of Futebol de Salão) or indoor football, originated in the 1930s in the schools of São Paolo to compensate for the lack of playing fields. The sport soon spread through Latin America and then gained notoriety across the world.
As compared to traditional football, futsal has fewer players, and can be adapted to indoor stadiums of different sizes. The sport is thus practiced by more people than in traditional football, though its popularity is far less.
A typical futsal team has five players, including a goalkeeper. The ball used is smaller and heavier than in traditional football. Meticulous technique and swiftness is thus required of the futsal player, a reason why the sport has become compulsory in football training schools. As the saying goes in the football community, a professional footballer starts his career in futsal and ends it in beach soccer.
Falcao, the most spectacular player in the world
Football fans know that stars like Brazil’s Zico or Cantona from France finished their careers in beach soccer. But few know that the majority of renowned professional footballers started off as futsal players.
Until the late 1980s, FIFA did not allow the association of the term football with the indoor version of the sport, hence the name futsal. The sport’s overwhelming success compelled the federation to finally integrate futsal into its structure.
Three world cup championships were held prior to FIFA integration. Brazil won the first two titles and Paraguay won the third. Following futsal’s acceptance by FIFA, five world tournaments have been held. Brazil won the first three in 1989, 1992 and 1996. The last two world championships in 2000 and 2004 crowned Spain.
Taking into account their previous titles, Spain, led by 34 year-old Javi, and Brazil, captained by 31 year-old Falcao – known as the most spectacular player in the world – are the two obvious favourites. Many are already hoping for a clash between the two teams in the final, in which Brazil hopes to wrench away the world title from the defending champions.
However, over the years, other teams like Argentina, Russia, Italy, Portugal, Egypt and Iran have shown much improvement. This year’s futsal World Cup may well bring forth a surprise winner. | <urn:uuid:5e5aca3d-2250-42d3-b95a-31a60c57cc0c> | 2013-05-21T10:37:10Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Latest update: 04/07/2011
Rural activists murdered amid land rows
An unsolved double murder in Brazil adds to a recent spike in crimes believed to be linked to disputes over the Amazon's vanishing forest. Pictures of Hugo Chavez are released by Venezuela and Cuba - an attempt to end feverish speculation about his health. Finally, a new Brazilian soap explores the dark past of the country’s military dictatorship. | <urn:uuid:af261ec1-f68b-4688-b1c1-c1366aeb57fc> | 2013-05-21T09:58:56Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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The St. Bonaventure campus is a blend of traditional Florentine and modern brick buildings including science laboratories, computer facilities, art galleries, a recital hall, theater, band and choral classrooms, art studios, a sports arena, a recreation and fitness center, swimming pool, classroom buildings, modern languages and journalism laboratories, a library with a resource center, and residence halls and apartments for men and women. The campus also contains a friary for the community's Franciscan friars.
Science laboratories include facilities for instruction and research in a variety of fields including computer science, physics, biology, microbiology, geology, psychology, environmental science, chemistry and mathematics.
Among the facilities are an observatory, biotechnology laboratory, tissue culture laboratory, equipment for research in the growth of microorganisms and an extensive mammal collection.
A massive renovation of, and addition to, the De La Roche science building has been completed; the $13 million William F. Walsh Science Center opened in the fall of 2008. It houses state-of-the-art computer science, laboratory and classroom space, biology labs, organic and general chemistry labs, a Natural World lab, and a 150-seat indoor amphitheater.
Computer facilities are provided through the Office of Technology Services. The campus is directly connected to the Internet and is completely wireless. All residence hall rooms have computer network access with e-mail addresses supplied to all students. Computer labs are available in every academic building on campus. | <urn:uuid:0367ffff-fb59-4372-a8c1-c2d93ec5aab2> | 2013-05-21T10:27:53Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Demand in the US for industrial and institutional (I&I) cleaning chemicals will increase 3.7 percent per year to $11 billion in 2016. Disinfectants and sanitizers and hand cleansers will be the fastest growing products. The manufacturing market will lead gains, driven by the food and beverage processing and fabricated metals processing segments.
This study analyzes the $9.3 billion US I&I cleaning chemical industry. It presents historical demand data for the years 2001, 2006 and 2011, with forecasts for 2016 and 2021 by market (e.g., commercial, manufacturing, institutional and government), product (e.g., general purpose cleaners, floor care products, warewashing detergents, disinfectants and sanitizers, laundry care products) and raw material (e.g., chlor-alkalies, solvents, surfactants, phosphates, biocides).
The study also considers market environment factors, details industry structure, evaluates company market share and profiles 46 industry players, including Akzo Nobel, BASF and Church and Dwight. | <urn:uuid:4f90a314-c5a4-4293-aced-78357f8fb920> | 2013-05-21T10:36:20Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Need some work done? Post a Project Today
This is a permeant full time position. The rate of pay is $1.75/USD hour. You will work 40 hours a week.
Website design and construction.
Must have a good working knowledge of:
You must speak and write english fluently.
A few more things, please do not bid if you are not willing to work for $1.75 an hour. Also please write “website maintenance” as the first two words of your response so I can be sure you have read this in its entirety.
Please bid. :) | <urn:uuid:a0a6e7a3-bb91-4355-8e8f-ecef3a540ec9> | 2013-05-21T10:10:58Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Hello. I ran into a somewhat nasty bug, which I solved myself. I've created this thread to share the fix with everyone. Note. This applies to the 64-bit Linux version. It may or may not apply to the 32-bit Linux version.
- The Frictional Games logo doesn't show up when you first start the game.
- The screens that give you an introduction to the game and ask you to adjust the gamma settings have no background images.
- The game segfaults after you click through the intro screens.
- You get a backtrace from GDB similar to the one below:
#0 0x00000000008585f0 in hpl::cGuiGfxElement::GetImageSize() ()
#1 0x00000000007a15cc in cLuxLoadScreenHandler::DrawMenuScreen() ()
#2 0x0000000000923abd in hpl::cUpdater::SetContainer(std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >) ()
#3 0x00000000006dfddc in cLuxPreMenu::Update(float) ()
#4 0x0000000000924737 in hpl::cUpdater::RunMessage(hpl::eUpdateableMessage, float) ()
#5 0x000000000092548b in hpl::cEngine::Run() ()
#6 0x00000000006880e0 in hplMain(std::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> > const&) ()
#7 0x0000000000910aa9 in main ()
ERROR: Texture manager Couldn't load bitmap '/home/alaran/games/Amnesia/graphics/general/menu_loading_screen.jpg'
ERROR: Could not load texture 'menu_loading_screen.jpg'!
Copy your system's IL library over the one in installDirectory/Amnesia/libs64/libIL.so.1. In my case it was located at /usr/lib/libIL.so.1.1.0. Once you do this, the game should start. | <urn:uuid:405e2205-60ec-4287-9d11-455e75679d7a> | 2013-05-21T10:20:02Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Keeping the 'Stans Straight, Part 1: Kyrgyzstan
We know how embarrassing it can be when you mistakenly say "Kyrgyzstan" when referring to Kazakhstan at a dinner party. The music screeches to a halt, forks and jaws drop, all eyes turn to you. They're all thinking the same thing: "Kyrgyzstan?! Uhh, ya mean Kazakhstan?" You bow your head sheepishly, grab your coat, and walk out the door. You are no longer welcome at that party.
Fortunately, we are here to make sure that you never make such an egregious error again. For the next week or so, we'll present a short primer to help you keep straight the so-called 'Stans (by the way, "stan" simply means "land" or "place"). Up first: fittingly enough, Kyrgyzstan.
Location: Shares a northern border with Kazakhstan and eastern border with China.
In a nutshell: The population of this mountainous ex-Soviet republic is traditionally nomadic, with only about one-third of residents living in urban areas; agriculture makes up the largest portion of the economy. There's good reason to spend so much time outside: with its scenic, snow-capped mountains and lush valleys, Kyrgyzstan has been hailed by some as one of the most stunningly beautiful places in the world.
How you know it: One of the few countries in the world you've never been able to spell.
Interesting factoid: The Kyrgyz people were some of those who initially raided China, eventually causing them to built the Great Wall.
Make sure to check out: Bishkek: it's the newest up-and-coming city in Central Asia-- and yes, such a thing exists. Also take a look at Ala Archa National Park, 40m south of Bishkek, and home to dozens of glaciers. | <urn:uuid:cbe06aae-6434-40c0-b16b-13a38f164395> | 2013-05-21T09:58:59Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Canadian video game developer Silicon Knights has allegedly laid off the majority of its staff.
Sources speaking to 1UP confirmed the news over the weekend, saying that all but 25 of the company's "core staff" were let go.
Though the studio's headcount as of last week is unknown, Silicon Knights was staffed by 97 people in July.
It was at that time that the studio received a CDN$3 million grant from the Ontario government to help expand its headcount. According to president Denis Dyack, the funding would help the company become "self sustaining," and further allowing its staff size to increase from 97 to 177.
That grant came on top of a total of CDN$35 million that the studio had received in grants over the past five years.
The exact nature of the layoffs was not reported by 1UP's sources, nor has the information been officially confirmed by a company representative at press time.
Its latest game, Activision's comic book-licensed X-Men Destiny was a critical flop, with Metacritic scores ranging from 38 to 52 across its three home console SKUs.
Update: Studio CFO Mike Mays has confirmed layoffs at the studio, blaming a project that was cancelled "at the final second" for the necessity of the redundancies. The exact numbers, however, were not accurate in the original report: the current headcount of the studio is "just under 40," not 25 as previously reported, and the amount of employees laid off was 45. | <urn:uuid:6eef1eaf-1350-4517-a95b-24ce09105e68> | 2013-05-21T10:06:47Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Hi all, When you talk to the housekeeper, try to take the bronze plate, she won't let you, so go into the stable, use the oil with the stable door, pick up the cat and use it with the stable door, the housekeeper comes running, and you can nip in and get the bronze plate.
Go to church check everything out, try to put the frog in the font. Talk to the altar boy, talk to the priest, try to pick up the paper on the floor.
Use the 'open' command on the fold in the carpet, pick up incense ashes, leave the church and go to the road where the apothecary lives, talk to Cide Hamete, he has lost a coin, talk to apothecary about the coin, Oh, no, he put it in the collection box. Go into town and talk to ennesto, about bronze plate, he will take it and give you money.
Go to see Quijano, talk to him about the 2 pages, and the money, he wants you to get a shield and some saddlebags, leave the house and talk to ennesto again, ask him about a shield, he will make you one, if you cure his backache.
Go and see the apothecary, (on the way, talk to Cide Hamete again, now we know where the saddlebags are!) he needs poison, rosemary and holy incense, (he gives you a small bottle) use the scorpion with the bottle. (save your game here, as when I got the rosemary, it disappeared), talk to the barber, about rosemary, choose the 'stinking feet' option, he gives you some lotion. Take the ingredients, to the apothecary, get the cure and take it to ennesto and get the shield.
And that my friends, is as far as I got, I have no idea, how to get the coin, or get rid of the altar boy to put the frog in the font, believe me, I have tried everything. | <urn:uuid:1470d5ee-2d11-4e52-b71c-ee621d36974e> | 2013-05-21T10:20:49Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Women post wins in 9 of 12 events
South Carolina begins outdoor season at Coastal Carolina
SOUTH CAROLINA CROSS COUNTRY: Made two appearances in the 2012 season, both 5K events, recording a top mark of 19:57.10 at the Gamecock Invitational to take 22nd...in 2011, competed in two meets ... had a top time of 19:43.80 in the 5K at the Gamecock Invitational, placing 15th overall.
2012: Indoors, competed unattached in the 3000 yard run recording a best time of 10:52.55 to take second at the Gamecock Invitational...outdoors, competed in the 5000m twice, taking second at the Gamecock Open...top mark at the Shamrock Invitational at 19:26.91
QUINNIPIAC CROSS COUNTRY: In 2010, was a top 10 runner for the Bobcats ... placed 24th overall at the Northeast Conference Championships with a time of 18:55 in the 5K en route to the team's sixth consecutive NEC team title.
HIGH SCHOOL: Was 2007 and 2008 South Jersey State Sectional Champion in cross country ... received the Ocean County Sporstmanship of the Year Award in 2010 ... named All-Shore third team and All-County second team ... team won several championships, including the Ocean County Championship in 2008 and 2009. | <urn:uuid:83d27a05-de02-4f72-b8e8-42e3514de0d6> | 2013-05-21T10:06:08Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Company of Heroes Tales of Valor
Road N 13
N 13 was the road that connected the shore of the north with south of France. It passes through Sainte-Mere-Eglise. Here you have to take the village and keep the road open.
This map created by xxCOMPANY OF COWARDSxx
If you have any problem or any suggestion you can send e-mail.
Extract the archive into
c:\\\\documents\\\\my games\\\\Company of Heroes\\\\ww2\\\\data\\\\scenarios\\\\MP
if doesn\\\'t exist create it.
NOTE: You need to lauch CoH in -dev mode to use this map!
If you don\\\'t know how read below.
Make a new shortcut for the game.Now make right click and choose properties.
You will see that
Target: \\\"C:\\\\Program Files (x86)\\\\THQ\\\\Company of Heroes\\\\RelicCOH.exe\\\"
Put the cursor in the end and press the space bar and write -dev.
It will look like this
Target: \\\"C:\\\\Program Files (x86)\\\\THQ\\\\Company of Heroes\\\\RelicCOH.exe\\\" -dev
Now you are ready.
Tip: if you write in the end -nomovies the intro of the game is skipped.
Target: \\\"C:\\\\Program Files (x86)\\\\THQ\\\\Company of Heroes\\\\RelicCOH.exe\\\" -dev -nomovies | <urn:uuid:fa2b9011-ba84-4deb-bf81-cdb550c9587d> | 2013-05-21T09:59:45Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Keith Vaz, the United Kingdom’s most vocal critic of video games in Parliament, is now urging the government there to look "more closely and first-person shooters" using the trial of accused Oslo, Norway mass murderer Anders Breivik as an example of how games can influence people to do evil...
Select Committee Chairman Vaz has tabled an early day motion in Parliament urging the government to take action. Luckily only he and four others have signed on to the motion.
After Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik testified at his trial that he used Call of Duty: Modern Warfare to train for his attacks, Vaz said that he is "concerned" that the Pan European Game Information (PEGI) rating system only provides an age rating for a "particular video game." According to Vaz's motion, more precautions should be taken before games like Call of Duty (first-person shooters) are published due to their "increasing realism."
Vaz has long been a critic of video games and the link he sees between them and acts of violence. Last year he tabled a motion aimed at Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 saying that there was growing evidence of the link between violent video games and those who commit violent crime.
Source: The Inquirer | <urn:uuid:8029e331-88c0-4660-a3ff-4348d72e07ce> | 2013-05-21T10:07:10Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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The War of 1812 is a tactical/operational level game covering the major battles of the War of 1812 from the pre-war Battle of Tippecanoe to the post-war Battle of New Orleans. The game includes the same detailed tactical game engine as the earlier game Campaign 1776 and a higher level campaign game so that a player can fight individual battles or campaigns. Over 100 historical and what-if battles are included in the game together with a full-feature scenario editor. Single-phase turn structure, the addition of ships to the game engine, new winter terrain graphics, and a new rocket weapon type. Play Modes include play against the computer (A/I mode), two-player hot-seat at the same computer, two-player Play-By-E-Mail (PBEM), and multi-player network play (over the Internet, LAN, modem dialup, or direct cable connections). Includes Main Program, Scenario Editor, Campaign Front-End, and Campaign Editor. The Campaign Editor allows the player to construct their own campaign games. Supports both 2D and 3D graphical views. In 3D view, units are shown in detail with uniforms matching the historical situation. Complete on-line documentation help files together with printable versions of the documentation files. Includes period background music which can play during the game. | <urn:uuid:838a87e6-747e-4d26-8556-e0af943b0d0d> | 2013-05-21T10:36:20Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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SEATTLE. Sea-Tac International, the airport that serves the greater Seattle area, is usually empty on a Thursday night and so the crowd milling around just outside the security checkpoints is unusual, if well-behaved.
"You want to see how this knick-knack looks on the mantle? Fine."
"You watch," says Evan Harrison, an ectomorphic young man with a wispy beard and a dog-eared copy of Sylvia Plath's "The Bell Jar" in his hand. "You're going to see some of the most sensitive men in the world pass through here tonight."
"You're not thinking about watching the NBA Playoffs, are you?"
Harrison is alluding to the 2012 World's Most Sensitive Man Competition, a three-day event that begins here tomorrow afternoon and continues through the finals on Sunday, which will be televised by tape-delay on ESPN 13. "Fee-lings, fee-lings, fee-lings!" the crowd begins to chant as they see Pierce Stuart Pfeiffer, the reigning champion, come down the gangway off his flight from Minneapolis. Pfeiffer acknowledges the crowd's cheers, stops to autograph a woman's muffin tops that flop discreetly over the waist of her mom-jeans, then heads to baggage claim to get his suitcase and the Lady Duff-Gordon Cup, the trophy in the shape of a stereo speaker covered with a dust ruffle that has been in his possession since his upset triumph in the 2011 competition.
"This is the oakiest chardonnay they had at the store, sweetie."
"I'm expecting a tough fi . . . I mean a difficult struggle to retain the cup," Pfeiffer says, his face a mask of determination. "We could go into overtime this year, as long as we're off the air in time for the Lifetime Disease-of-the-Week Movie."
Modeled after the World's Strongest Man Competition, in which contestants throw beer kegs over their backs, pull trucks with their teeth and flip tractor tires among other pointless tests of masculinity, the World's Most Sensitive Man Competition tests men's endurance through events such as moving furniture back-and-forth between two spots while a woman decides which she likes best, changing cat litter because she thinks she read somewhere it induces hot flashes, and watching figure skating without rolling their eyes at the men's costumes.
"These guys are real athletes," says Skip Blattner of Xtremely Sensitive, the "bible" of sensitive man competitions. "They put the seat down on the toilets in the men's rooms here," he says as he fiddles with his portable cassette player in the hope of getting an interview with one of the top-ranked stars of the circuit. "They're in training year-round, eating nothing but arugula, dark chocolate and Yoplait Key Lime Chiffon yogurt."
The NSML--the National Sensitive Man League--is still looking for its "Jackie Robinson," according to Blattner--a cross-over star who can lure male viewers in the all-important 25-46 year-old knucklehead demographic. "We need somebody like Michael Jordan, with flashy moves to the basket," he says. "You know, not just foreplay but afterplay, flowers when she's not mad at you, disgusting stuff like that." | <urn:uuid:3ac8e954-5227-4376-8e2d-81561d8f7e5f> | 2013-05-21T10:07:35Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Tombs of the sacrificers?
A few tombs share the characteristic of containing a few very specific objects
: full warrior equipment including a sword in its sheath, spear, shield and also a knife or cleaver (butcher's blade) and an axe with an eye handle, together with one or more small buckets, a bronze pan, a toolbox, and fragments of amphorae. One or other of these objects may be missing, depending on the chronology, but the assembly is still remarkable
. The trilogy of weapon(s)-small bucket(s)-axe/cleaver is always found and the general destruction of the weapons is reminiscent of the Gauls' sacred sites.
One of the axes fits perfectly into the wound in the skull of the murdered man discovered at the settlement and this similarity, together with the specific sets of metal objects, could indicate the tombs of sacrificers
. The replacement of the axe with the butcher's cleaver, at a time when hundreds of ewes were ritually slaughtered at the settlement, is another argument for viewing these remains as those of men of religion. | <urn:uuid:5e2e4176-b5c4-41cf-b970-d3c57aa89017> | 2013-05-21T10:05:34Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Clifford B. Harman |
(fl. 19th & 20th centuries)
Clifford B. Harman (July 1, 1866, - June 25, 1945), known as Colonel Harmon, was born in Urbana Ohio. He moved to New York City as a young map and partnered with Wood to create the real-estate firm Wood, Harmon & Co. The firm is credited with several important suburban developments in Westchester (Harmon-on-Hudson), Long Island (Pelham), and in Brooklyn. Outside of his successful real-estate interests Colonel Harman had a reputation as a thrill seeker and playboy. He interests changed rapidly from race cars, to hot air balloons and ultimately to aviation, in which he became one of its earliest pioneers. Harmon, in his Curtiss bi-plane, became the first man to fly over Long Island and, along with Claude Graham-White, the first to do a roundtrip flight across the English Channel. He also claims to be the first bomber pilot, though this is somewhat disputable. Click here for a list of rare maps from Clifford B. Harman.
Rare maps by Clifford B. Harman currently for sale.
Rare maps by Clifford B. Harman in the Geographicus Antique Map Archive. | <urn:uuid:5b32ce70-127a-4afe-9caf-33d9722af570> | 2013-05-21T09:58:41Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Pete Drake (1932-1988)
Roddis Franklin "Pete" Drake was a record producer, record company founder,
Drake was born in Augusta on October 8, 1932, the son of a Pentecostal preacher. His brothers, Jack and Bill, performed as the Drake Brothers. Jack was a bass player for Grand Ole Opry star Ernest Tubb's band, the Texas Troubadours, for twenty-four years.
At age eighteen Drake drove to Nashville, Tennessee, heard steel guitarist Jerry Byrd on the Grand Ole Opry, and was inspired to buy a steel guitar in an Atlanta pawnshop. He organized a band, Sons of the South, in Atlanta in the 1950s; it included future country stars Jerry Reed, Doug Kershaw, Roger Miller, Jack Greene, and Joe South.
In 1959 Drake moved to Nashville at the suggestion of Kathleen Jackson,
Drake had a productive association with folk singers Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. He played on Dylan's three historic Nashville-recorded albums, including Nashville Skyline, and on Baez's David's Album.
After Drake met George Harrison of the Beatles at Bob Dylan's New York home, Harrison invited him to England to work on All Things Must Pass. In turn, Harrison persuaded fellow Beatle Ringo Starr to come to Nashville to produce his Beaucoups of Blues album with Drake in 1970. This marked the first time a member of the Beatles had recorded in the United States.
Drake produced albums for many other music stars, including B. J. Thomas, the Four Freshmen, and Leon Russell. He founded Stop Records and First Generation Records. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame's Walkway of Stars in 1970 and the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1987. He died in Nashville, Tennessee, on July 29, 1988.
Don Rhodes, Morris Communications
A project of the Georgia Humanities Council, in partnership with the University of Georgia Press, the University System of Georgia/GALILEO, and the Office of the Governor. | <urn:uuid:1df7d8d1-f565-4987-b584-c185a6b37fe3> | 2013-05-21T09:59:41Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Sep 1, 2010 - by Steve Gerweck
Real name: Brandon Silvestry
Weight: 170 lbs.
Date of birth: September 6, 1979
From: Brooklyn, NY
Pro debut: October 10, 1998
Trained by: Homicide & Jim Kettner
Finishing move: Ki Crusher
- On February 24, 2001, Low Ki won the 5th Annual ECWA (East Coast Wrestling Association) Super 8 tournament.
- Low Ki and the American Dragon defeated the Haas brothers on April 7, 2001 to capture the ECWA Tag Team title.
- On June 16, 2001, Low Ki defeated Billy Fives in Davies, FL to claim the FOW (Future of Wrestling) title.
- On June 30, 2001, Low Ki downed Xavier in a ladder match to capture the ICW (Impact Championship Wrestling) title.
- Low Ki beat Homicide in Philadelphia, PA on July 7, 2001 to win the JAPW (Jersey All Pro Wrestling) title. Either on the show, Low Ki defeated Nick Berk to claim the promotion’s Light Heavyweight title.
- On November 30, 2001, Low Ki pinned Eddy Guerrero in Queens, NY.
- On April 6, 2002, Low Ki and Xavier captured the ECWA Tag Team title in Wilmington, DE.
- At the Big Dick Dudley Memorial brawl on June 8, 2002, Low Ki and Xavier won a three way dance to win the USPW Tag Team title.
- Low Ki went through Doug Williams, Spanky, and Christopher Daniels on July 27, 2002 in a sixty minute Iron Man contest to win the ROH (Ring of Honor) title.
- Low Ki defeated A.J. Styles for the X division title on the August 7, 2002 TNA PPV in Nashville, TN.
- On September 16, 2002, Styles defeated Leonard Spanky in Tokyo, Japan to capture the Zero-One International Junior Heavyweight title.
- In TNA, Low Ki eventually turned heel, and joined Vince Russo’s Sports Entertainment Xtreme faction.
- On the January 22, 2003 TNA PPV, Low Ki and Elix Skipper defeated America’s Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm) to win the NWA World Tag Team title.
- On March 12, 2003, Low Ki and Daniels defeated America’s Most Wanted to capture the NWA World Tag Team title.
- Low Ki and Tatsuhito Takaiwa defeated Kaz Hayashi and Jimmy Yang on March 27, 2003 in Sapporo on an All Japan Pro Wrestling show.
- Low Ki defeated Justin Credible on February 8, 2004 in Fall River, MA to claim the PWF (Premiere Wrestling Federation) Universal title.
- On February 19, 2004, Low Ki and Spanky defeated Dick Togo and Ikuto Hidaka in Korakuen, Japan to capture the NWA International Lightweight Tag Team title.
- At Lockdown ’06, Low Ki turned out to be the mystery opponent for Christopher Daniels. Now wrestling as Senshei, he defeated Daniels with the help of the ropes.
- Senshi defeated Shark Boy, Petey Williams, Jay Lethal, Alex Shelley and Sonjay Dutt at Slammiversary ’06.
- Senshi defeated Sonjay Dutt and Samoa Joe in a three way dance at the June 19, 2006 Impact tapings in Orlando, FL to capture the X-division title.
- At Victory Road ’06, Senshi defeated Frankie Kazarian to retain the X-division title.
- Senshi defeated Petey Williams and Jay Lethal to retain the X-division title at the 2006 Hard Justice PPV.
- At No Surrender ’06, Senshi defeated Chris Sabin to retain the X-division title.
- At Turning Point ’06, Senshi defeated Austin Aries, Alex Shelley, Sonjay Dutt, and Jay Lethal in an elimination match.
- Senshi defeated Austin Starr at the 2007 Against All Odds PPV.
- Senshi defeated Starr at Destination X in a “chicken wing submission” match.
- At Lockdown ’07, Senshi defeated Starr in a six sides of steel cage match. Bob Backlund served as the special guest referee.
- Senshi and Rhino defeated LAX at Slammiversary ’07.
- On December 3, 2007, Low Ki requested and received his TNA release.
- In January 2008, Low Ki signed a contract to work as a regular for New Japan Pro Wrestling.
- In January 2009, Low Ki agreed to terms to join World Wrestling Entertainment.
- In Florida Champion Wrestling, Low Ki’s ring name was changed to Kaval.
- Kaval won the second season of NXT.
- Kaval was released on December 23, 2010.
- In 2012, Low Ki jumped to New Japan Pro Wrestling. | <urn:uuid:6d87f66b-815e-4117-ae25-23dc9ddf44ae> | 2013-05-21T10:07:18Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Hey guys, I just read somewhere that the European version of Yakuza 3 will be heavily censored: no massage parlors, no host clubs, and no gambling mini-games whatsoever. The source claims that Sega Europe officially stated that the host clubs have been completely removed from the game. Does anyone have any information confirming this? I'm asking because it doesn't make any sense whatsoever to me. The game is already rated M, and GTA4 nor Saint's Row 2 were censored in any way. In those games you can fuck all you want, be a pimp and then beat a hooker to death with a baseball bat. That's what you do in GTA and SR. Now, a host club has nothing to do with sex (it was more of an in-game dating sim in the previous installments of the Yakuza series), and in the first two games these clubs were crucial to the story, as I imagine they are in Yakuza 3. How does that make any sense? I can understand why they would remove the massage parlor mini-game, there's a fully naked chick there. But what is the reason for taking out the gambling mini-games?? | <urn:uuid:bd64dd36-1756-4552-8b42-d2fe42bdc4d7> | 2013-05-21T10:22:30Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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The clock Command
The clock command has facilities for getting the current time, formatting time values, and scanning printed time strings to get an integer time value. The clock command was added in Tcl 7.5. Table 13-1 summarizes the clock command:
Table 13-1. The clock command.
|clock clicks||A system-dependent high resolution counter.|
|clock format value ?-format str?||Formats a clock value according to str.|
|clock scan string ?-base clock? ?-gmt boolean?||Parses date string and return seconds value. The clock value determines the date.|
|clock seconds||Returns the current time in seconds.|
The following command prints the current time:
clock format [clock seconds]
=> Sun Nov 24 14:57:04 1996
The clock seconds command returns the current time, in seconds since a starting epoch. The clock format command formats an integer value into a date string. It takes an optional argument that controls the format. The format strings contains % keywords that are replaced with the year, month, day, date, hours, minutes, and seconds, in various formats. The default string is:
%a %b %d %H:%M:%S %Z %Y
Tables 13-2 and 13-3 summarize the clock formatting strings:
Table 13-2. Clock formatting keywords.
|%%||Inserts a %. |
|%a||Abbreviated weekday name (Mon, Tue, etc.). |
|%A||Full weekday name (Monday, Tuesday, etc.). |
|%b||Abbreviated month name (Jan, Feb, etc.). |
|%B||Full month name. |
|%c||Locale specific date and time (e.g., Nov 24 16:00:59 1996).|
|%d||Day of month (01 ?31). |
|%H||Hour in 24-hour format (00 ?23). |
|%I||Hour in 12-hour format (01 ?12). |
|%j||Day of year (001 ?366). |
|%m||Month number (01 ?12). |
|%M||Minute (00 ?59). |
|%p||AM/PM indicator. |
|%S||Seconds (00 ?59). |
|%U||Week of year (00 ?52) when Sunday starts the week.|
|%w||Weekday number (Sunday = 0). |
|%W||Week of year (01 ?52) when Monday starts the week. |
|%x||Locale specific date format (e.g., Feb 19 1997).|
|%X||Locale specific time format (e.g., 20:10:13).|
|%y||Year without century (00 ?99).|
|%Y||Year with century (e.g. 1997).|
|%Z||Time zone name.|
Table 13-3. UNIX-specific clock formatting keywords.
|%D||Date as %m/%d/%y (e.g., 02/19/97).|
|%e||Day of month (1 ?31), no leading zeros. |
|%h||Abbreviated month name. |
|%n||Inserts a newline. |
|%r||Time as %I:%M:%S %p (e.g., 02:39:29 PM).|
|%R||Time as %H:%M (e.g., 14:39).|
|%t||Inserts a tab. |
|%T||Time as %H:%M:%S (e.g., 14:34:29).|
The clock clicks command returns the value of the system's highest resolution clock. The units of the clicks are not defined. The main use of this command is to measure the relative time of different performance tuning trials. The following command counts the clicks per second over 10 seconds, which will vary from system to system:
Example 13-1 Calculating clicks per second.
set t1 [clock clicks]
after 10000 ;# See page 218
set t2 [clock clicks]
puts "[expr ($t2 - $t1)/10] Clicks/second"
=> 1001313 Clicks/second
The clock scan command parses a date string and returns a seconds value. The command handles a variety of date formats. If you leave off the year, the current year is assumed.
Year 2000 Compliance
Tcl implements the standard interpretation of two-digit year values, which is that 70?9 are 1970?999, 00?9 are 2000?069. Versions of Tcl before 8.0 did not properly deal with two-digit years in all cases. Note, however, that Tcl is limited by your system's time epoch and the number of bits in an integer. On Windows, Macintosh, and most UNIX systems, the clock epoch is January 1, 1970. A 32-bit integer can count enough seconds to reach forward into the year 2037, and backward to the year 1903. If you try to clock scan a date outside that range, Tcl will raise an error because the seconds counter will overflow or underflow. In this case, Tcl is just reflecting limitations of the underlying system.
If you leave out a date, clock scan assumes the current date. You can also use the -base option to specify a date. The following example uses the current time as the base, which is redundant:
clock scan "10:30:44 PM" -base [clock seconds]
The date parser allows these modifiers: year, month, fortnight (two weeks), week, day, hour, minute, second. You can put a positive or negative number in front of a modifier as a multiplier. For example:
clock format [clock scan "10:30:44 PM 1 week"]
=> Sun Dec 01 22:30:44 1996
clock format [clock scan "10:30:44 PM -1 week"]
Sun Nov 17 22:30:44 1996
You can also use tomorrow, yesterday, today, now, last, this, next, and ago, as modifiers.
clock format [clock scan "3 years ago"]
=> Wed Nov 24 17:06:46 1993
Both clock format and clock scan take a -gmt option that uses Greenwich Mean Time. Otherwise, the local time zone is used.
clock format [clock seconds] -gmt true
=> Sun Nov 24 09:25:29 1996
clock format [clock seconds] -gmt false
=> Sun Nov 24 17:25:34 1996 | <urn:uuid:f36d7530-13dd-4d6a-8426-ea739f255160> | 2013-05-21T10:27:39Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Paris St-Germain are considering a £40m bid for Tottenham Hotspur star Luka Modric - matching Tottenham's valuation of the midfielder.
Modric has been a long-term target for Manchester United and Chelsea, but Real Madrid were thought to have stolen a march on their rivals and were seemingly in pole position to sign the Croatian.
But, according to the Guardian, that transfer has been completed by the fact that PSG are willing to meet Tottenham's valuation of £40m, putting them ahead in the race to sign the creative midfielder.
Modric has been fined two weeks wages - roughly £80,000 - for refusing to train with the Spurs squad, as he looks to clinch a move to the La Liga champions. And the Croatian midfielder's behaviour has been widely condemned by the north London club - Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas even branded the midfielder "unprofessional".
Modric has since apologised and returned to Spurs training, although he will not join Tottenham's pre-season tour of North America.
Andre Villas-Boas said: "He has spoken to me and to the chairman, and I think his apology comes and it's welcome, the player is now training and just hopefuly will make the right decision in the future. We're just waiting on the bidding clubs to offer the right value for the player."
Reports suggest that although Modric has given little consideration to joining the French side, their ability to meet Modric's valuation may allow Spurs to coax out a higher fee from Real Madrid.
The Spanish side have reportedly offered a package worth £31m, but Spurs insist they will reject all unsatisfactory bids and keep the wantaway star at the club if necessary.
In a similar situation last summer, Modric made it clear he wanted to leave for Chelsea, but was not allowed to depart, and went on to enjoy a successful season with Spurs.
Manchester United were thought to be in the hunt this summer, but United are thought to view Modric's valuation as too steep.
Chelsea could still come back in for the midfielder, but it appears Modric now favours a move to Madrid. | <urn:uuid:2adc6101-a60e-4e3d-a8c3-611c9a110113> | 2013-05-21T10:27:37Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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There's a makeup move I'd like us all to discuss that involves your eyebrows. You might remember it on Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge, but if not, here's a shot of singer Keri Hilson going for it for reference.
Notice that the end of her eyebrow seems a little longer than usual? If you can't tell, here's a shot of her eyebrow without the extra help:
In the first shot, she's got a little pencil or powder drawn out past the last hairs of her brows. Why? It exaggerates the line of her brow bone to make her bone structure look a bit more pronounced while creating the illusion of a higher arch. This is a trick you have to be super careful with--go overboard and you'll end up looking surprised. But it's an interesting thing to play around with if you're looking for a little something to amp up your eye looks.
Do you use this trick? Think it looks weird? Would you have noticed if I hadn't pointed it out? Discuss below.
More Ways to Get Glamour | <urn:uuid:40ddebb5-1b51-43fc-8735-6972e9137bfd> | 2013-05-21T10:07:05Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Connect to share and comment
Tearful family and friends said goodbye to slain model Reeva Steenkamp in a private funeral ceremony in South Africa on Tuesday as her boyfriend Oscar Pistorius appeared in court charged with her murder.
Steenkamp's coffin, draped in a cloth with a white flower arrangement on top, was carried into the chapel at the crematorium in her hometown of Port Elizabeth at 10:00 am (0800 GMT) by six people.
Sombre-faced mourners exchanged hugs and wiped away tears after the intimate memorial service in the southeastern coastal city where Steenkamp grew up.
"There's a space missing inside all of the people that she knew that can't be filled again," her brother Adam, who gave the eulogy, told reporters after the ceremony. "We'll miss her."
The late law graduate and cover girl was shot dead at her boyfriend's luxury home on Valentine's Day, in a case that has rocked the nation where Pistorius, a double amputee Olympian and Paralympian, is a national hero.
While Steenkamp was being laid to rest, a sobbing Pistorius appeared in a Pretoria court seeking to be released on bail, sparking a fresh media frenzy.
But in Port Elizabeth, the focus was firmly on Steenkamp.
A funeral programme simply entitled "Reeva", with the dates of her birth and death on it, showed a black-and-white portrait of the 29-year-old.
The words "God's Gift, A Child" were written on the back.
When her family addressed the media, they made no mention of Pistorius, whom Steenkamp had been dating since late last year.
Steenkamp's brother said the mood at the ceremony was sad, but also an opportunity to remember the good times they had shared.
"At certain points we were smiling whilst remembering Reeva because we only have good memories of her and I think that's what we were all thinking," he said.
Her uncle Michael Steenkamp, who broke down while speaking about his niece, recalled how she wanted to be an activist who spoke up for women's rights and advocated against violence.
He said he hoped her death might make a difference.
"By her passing away, it actually can make a change in the lives of many people," he said.
"She was an angel," added Gavin Venter, an ex-jockey who worked with her race horse trainer father.
Venter said there had been no indication that the glamorous young woman was having relationship problems.
"I asked her father, her father said no, she was very happy with Oscar, there was no problems, but maybe she was just hiding it away," he told journalists.
Venter said he thought the star athlete should be denied bail.
"I'm disgusted and he must be dealt with harshly," he told reporters. "He's a danger to the public. He'll be a danger to witnesses, he must stay in jail, they mustn't release him."
Pistorius himself broke down in court as the prosecution accused him of premeditated murder.
One of Steenkamp's former classmates at a local private Catholic school, Bongiwe Gaxambaa, said she would remember her school friend's smile, the way she got along with people, and her love and warmth for others.
Steenkamp's murder was hard to come to terms with, she added.
"It's kind of only sinking in now that I'm actually here, that she's really gone."
Also among the mourners were nuns from her old school, a well-known DJ who hosted a reality show that Steenkamp appeared on and the Springbok rugby player Francois Hougaard. | <urn:uuid:6d0238bb-773c-4d9b-979c-7a55bb95fe6f> | 2013-05-21T10:21:07Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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A recursive function typically contains a conditional expression which has three parts:
Recursive functions can be much simpler than any other kind of function. Indeed, when people first start to use them, they often look so mysteriously simple as to be incomprehensible. Like riding a bicycle, reading a recursive function definition takes a certain knack which is hard at first but then seems simple.
There are several different common recursive patterns. A very simple pattern looks like this:
(defun name-of-recursive-function (argument-list) "documentation..." (if do-again-test body... (name-of-recursive-function next-step-expression)))
Each time a recursive function is evaluated, a new instance of it is created and told what to do. The arguments tell the instance what to do.
An argument is bound to the value of the next-step-expression. Each instance runs with a different value of the next-step-expression.
The value in the next-step-expression is used in the do-again-test.
The value returned by the next-step-expression is passed to the new instance of the function, which evaluates it (or some transmogrification of it) to determine whether to continue or stop. The next-step-expression is designed so that the do-again-test returns false when the function should no longer be repeated.
The do-again-test is sometimes called the stop condition, since it stops the repetitions when it tests false. | <urn:uuid:e12ee1b9-01d9-4f3a-a24b-f6f5a1a8acc0> | 2013-05-21T10:01:11Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Uris Pool, home to Columbia's men and women's swimming and diving teams, is located within the Dodge Physical Fitness Center on the campus of Columbia University. The pool can be accessed via the second floor of the Dodge Fitness Center.
The Dodge Physical Fitness Center is located at Broadway and West 119th Street. However, the building cannot be entered from 119th Street; it can only be entered from the campus level, accessible through the 116th Street gates.
Uris Pool is accessible via the New York City MTA #1 train, which stops at 116th and Broadway, just outside the main gates of the University.
From West: Take the West Side Highway (Henry Hudson Parkway) to the 125th Street exit. Turn east onto 125th Street, and proceed to Broadway (first light). Turn right on Broadway, and continue south to campus at West 116th Street and Broadway.
From East: Take the FDR Drive to 125th Street. Follow directions below.
From Queens and Long Island: Take the Triborough Bridge to 125th Street. In both cases, take 125th Street west to Broadway, turn left, and continue to the campus.
Parking is available on local streets and in two private garages on West 122nd Street, just east of Broadway, and on Broadway between 113th and 114th Streets. | <urn:uuid:029e48d9-0f5e-4f56-a935-b7194e802081> | 2013-05-21T10:28:16Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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US 4792783 A
A multifunction control system for a vehicle includes a plurality of switches, each switch adapted to control a plurality of vehicular functions. Each switch has associated therewith a display element for indicating which of the functions that switch is controlling. The system further includes a microprocessor based controller which mediates which designator each display element will exhibit as well as which vehicular function a given switch will control. The system is readily adapted to a menu-driven mode of operation, and the switches may be mounted upon the steering wheel of a vehicle.
1. A control system for use by an operator of a vehicle for actuating a plurality of vehicular functions located remotely from the operator, said system comprising:
(A) a plurality of discrete switches disposed upon the steering control of said vehicle, each switch adapted to selectably control a plurality of remotely located functions and each switch providing tactile feedback to the user;
(B) discrete display means associated with, and in close proximity to each of said plurality of switches, each display means adapted to selectably provide a plurality of alterable function designators that specify the particular function being controlled by the associated switch;
(C) control means including a microprocessor and adapted to: (1) receive signals indicative of the activation of each of said switches, (2) determine which alterable function designator is to be appropriately displayed in conjunction with each of said switches, (3) activate the display means of said appropriate designator, and (4) provide control signals in response to the activation of each of said switches; and,
(D) means adapted to receive the control signals and distribute said signals to the appropriate function which is to be controlled, whereby each switch is adapted to operate in cooperation with the control means so as to control a plurality of said vehicular functions, and the display means associated with each switch is adapted to display which of said functions is being controlled at a given time.
2. A control system as in claim 1, wherein said control means is further adapted to cause each of said display means to display a preselected designator in response to the activation of one of said switches.
3. A control system as in claim 2, wherein said preselected designators correspond to the last previously displayed designations.
4. A control system as in claim 1, wherein said control means is further adapted to cause each of said display means to display a preselected designator each time the vehicle is energized.
5. A control system as in claim 1, wherein said control means is further adapted to cause each of said display means to display a preselected designator upon the passage of a predetermined length of time in which none of said plurality of switches is activated.
6. A control system as in claim 1, further including non-volatile memory means associated with the microprocessor.
7. A control system as in claim 1, further including a read-only memory associated with the microprocessor.
8. A control system as in claim 7, wherein the read-only memory contains a program to be executed by the microprocessor.
9. A control system as in claim 1, further including means for transmitting control signals from the control means to the receiving and distributing means.
10. A control system as in claim 9, wherein the control signal transmission means includes means for providing an optical signal and means for reviewing said optical signal.
11. A control system as in claim 9, wherein the control signal transmission means includes means for producing a variable magnetic signal and means for reviewing said magnetic signal.
12. A control system as in claim 11, wherein said receiving and distributing means is adapted to transmit signals to the control means indicative of the status of at least one of said vehicular functions, said control means operative to control at least one of said display means in accord with the transmitted signal, so as to indicate the status of said at least one vehicular function.
13. A control system as in claim 9, wherein said control signal transmission means is further adapted to transmit signals from the receiving and distributing means to the control means.
14. A control system as in claim 1, wherein said control means has associated therewith a power source including a battery.
15. A control system as in claim 1, wherein said control means has associated therewith a power source including photovoltaic cell.
16. A control system as in claim 1, wherein the control means is further adapted to activate the display means in a predetermined pattern of designators, said pattern corresponding to a related vehicular function.
Referring now to the figures of the drawings, the preferred embodiment of the present invention can be better understood. While the preferred embodiment will be illustrated in the context of an automobile, it will be readily understood by those skilled in the art of vehicular control design that the present invention is easily adaptable to trucks, motorcycles, military vehicles, farm tractors and other motorized farm vehicles, tracked vehicles, watercraft, and aircraft. Throughout this application, "body" is meant to include all parts of the vehicle, other than those directly manipulated by the vehicle operator to steer the vehicle.
FIG. 1 is a close-up view of an automotive steering wheel 10 including the first assembly 12 of the present invention. Assembly 12 comprises an array of pushbuttons 16, preferably of a tactile type such as a snap-action switch and a display unit 18. Switches 16 may be organized in a pattern which is ergonomically suitable. Individual switches in array 16 will be designated with a letter suffix. For a given pattern, this designation will be unchanged throughout this application.
In FIG. 1, the array of switches 16 is organized in two columns of six switches each. Display unit 18 is organized in association with switches 16, so that a separate portion of display unit 18 may be allocated to each of switches 16. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, display unit 18 is a single vertically disposed area, without separation into the portions associated with each switch 16. If desired, however, display unit 18 can be segmented.
Display unit 18 can be based on any of a variety of display technologies, such as liquid crystal displays (LCDs), light emitting diodes (LEDs), electrochromic displays, cathode ray tubes (CRT's), and electroluminescent displays. Display unit 18 will be chosen to be capable of presenting a variety of indicia to the vehicle operator. A dot-matrix display may be appropriate to serve as display unit 18, although any of a number of alternative approaches for displaying the indicia will be apparent to those skilled in the art.
In addition to the controllable functions shown on the steering wheel of FIG. 1, certain other functions which should always be available on the steering wheel (such as a horn), or which will require a dedicated switch, can also be placed on steering wheel 10 independently of assembly 12.
FIG. 2 shows an alternative configuration of first assembly 12 built into steering wheel 10. As shown in FIG. 2, steering wheel 10 may comprise a number of spokes 14 radiating from a central portion 15 toward a circumferential ring 13. Display unit 18 is divided into two separate portions, each portion being subdivided into areas associated with each switch 16. In FIG. 2, there are two columns having six switches each, although the number of switches and their configuration can be varied according to non-engineering dictates, such as design and appearance, as long as the number of switches does not exceed some modest number, such as from 12 to 18. Steering wheel 10 in FIG. 2 also shows two switches having fixed designations, such as "HORN" and "RETURN," whose functions will be described in following portions of this detailed description.
In addition, while FIGS. 1 and 2 show a function controller whose first assembly 12 has been built-in to steering wheel 10, the function controller may alternatively take the form of an add-on device and, therefore, be separable from steering wheel 10. In this add-on configuration, the function controller's first assembly can comprise two horizontally disposed display units 18 with associated switches 16.
Generally, this invention can be used in any application where an operator desires to control a relatively large number of functions at remote locations with a realtively small number of switches. Thus, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that, while the first assemblies of the embodiments used to illustrate the invention are placed on a vehicle's steering wheel, the first assembly can be placed at any location in the proximity of the operator.
FIG. 3 of the drawings shows an embodiment of the present invention in the interior of an automobile. Steering wheel 10, with first assembly 12 attached thereto is rotatable with respect to steering column 20. Steering column 20 is held in fixed position relative to the remainder of automobile body 24. Signals produced by assembly 12 are passed through cable 26 to transmitter means 28. Transmitter 28 can be of the sort which converts electrical signals to optical signals or, alternatively, of the sort which produces a variable magnetic field corresponding to the signals sent on cable 26. Attached to steering column 20 is receiver, 30 which receives the coded signals transmitted by transmitter 28.
If transmitter 28 and receiver 30 are optical devices, there is no particular need to align transmitter 28 and receiver 30 to a high degree of accuray. This is because the light produced by transmitter 28 can be caused to flood the interior of steering column 20 to ensure that receiver 30 receives the signals transmitted by transmitter 28 regardless of the angle of rotation of steering wheel 10. The signal received by optical receiver 30 is transmitted via cable 32 to control second assembly 34.
Likewise, if the transmitter 28 produces variable magnetic fields and receiver 30 is a Hall effect sensor or an inductive pickup, any needed alignment of parts can be readily accomplished to ensure that control signals can be transmitted and received regardless of angular steering wheel position.
Assembly 34 conditions signals received over cable 32, causing appropriate commands, originating from assembly 12, to be sent to the controlled units over appropriate lines 36. In some instances, a feedback signal will be received by assembly 34 from the controlled unit over lines 36.
FIG. 4 shows steering column 20 and the lower rotating portions 21 of steering wheel 10 in a cutaway view. Within steering column 20 and rotating portion 21 is a steering shaft 23 which runs from steering wheel 10 to the steering gear (not shown) of the vehicle. Optical transmitter 28, which may, for example, be an infrared (IR) emitter of the sort available from Motorola as part no. MFOE 71. Photodetector 30, responsive to infrared light, can be purchased from Motorola. Modulated signals reaching transmitter 28 along cable 26 cause emitter 28 to transmit, for example, digital signals which are received by IR detector 30. An asynchronous serial communications format is an appropriate choice for this purpose.
FIG. 5 is another cutaway view of steering column 20 and the lower portion 21 of steering wheel 10. Steering shaft 23 also connects steering wheel 10 to the steering gear (not shown). As with the discussion of FIG. 4, the transducer of FIG. 5 receives control signals from cable 26. These signals cause a varying magnetic field inside the steering column and receiver 30 responds to these varying magnetic fields. Receiver 30, which may be a Hall effect transducer, is connected to two signals. One wire pair from cable 29 connects to a voltage-sensing device to detect any fluctuations, while the other pair produces a supply voltage on cables 31. Modulation of the signal on line 26 affects the magnetic field within cavity 33, and this modulation is transferrred electronically to controller 34, where it is interpreted and used to produce the desired control signals. The communications format can be an asynchronous serial format.
Alternatively, the communications between the steering wheel 10 and steering column can be accomplished through serial communications by means of either a magnetic induction sensor or direct wires. If wires are used, communications can also be made through a parallel format.
FIG. 6 of the drawings is a block diagram of the electronic components of one embodiment of the present invention. The display unit 18 of assembly 12 can, by way of illustration, take the form of two small parallel panels, such as dot matrix liquid crystal display (LCD) units (made by Polaroid or Hitachi) capable of creating a wide variety of indicia. Each of the indicator panels 18 is preferably capable of displaying appropriate indicator symbols or alphanumeric characters simultaneously, as well as a series of special symbols, such as arrows or other indicators, which identify an amount or set points etc. Portions of display unit 18 are associated with each of the switches 16, preferably those portions which are most nearly adjacent to the associated switch, to provide an unambiguous designation of the function provided by depressing each switch. Assembly 12 further comprises two rows of switches 16 which complete electrical contacts when they are depressed.
In addition, assembly 12 comprises microprocessor 38 which is provided with electrical power from rechargeable battery 40 over power supply line 42. Microprocessor 38 can be appropriately chosen from the Intel family, and can be a model 8052. Power supply line 42 also provides power to optical receiver 44, display driver 46, read-only memory (ROM) 48, nonvolatile memory 50, and optical transmitter 52. Display driver 46 can be a Hitachi HO44780, ROM 48 can be an Intel 27512, and non-volatile memory 50 can be an Intel 2816. When first supplied with electrical power, microprocessor 38 executes a computer program from ROM 48. It is this program which microprocessor 38 continually performs, to cause assembly 12 to perform its desired functions.
First assembly 12 supplies electrical power to displays 18 and switches 16. This power is supplied by display driver 46, under the control of microprocessor 38, over power line 54. Microprocessor 38 also provides appropriate signals to display driver 46 over bus 56. Display driver 46, in turn, causes appropriate signals to be transmitted over bus 58 to the appropriate parts of display 18. In turn, microprocessor 38 receives signals from memory contact switches 16a-16n over bus 60. These signals indicate the activation of a switch by a user who is attempting to cause a certain vehicular function to be performed. Microprocessor 38 also stores and reads prior control set point values from the non-volatile memory 50. These values can be displayed by assembly 12, as will be described more fully in succeeding portions of this detailed description. In response to the receipt of signals signifying the appropriate closure of one or more of switches 16a-16n, microprocessor 38 causes a modulated signal to be transmitted over line 62 to optical transmitter 52. These modulations can be pulsed modulations, or any other suitable form, such as the asynchronous serial format discussed above.
Optical transmitter 52 creates an optical signal, such as an infrared (IR) signal which is receive by optical detector 64 in second assembly 34. Detector 64 (which is supplied its electrical power either when a light 65 is turned on in the interior of the vehicle by activating one of the switches 67, or when ignition switch 66 is turned to the "ON" position to energize the automobile for use) receives the signals tranmitted by optical transmitter 52 and converts them to electrical signals which are then transmitted to receiver 67 over line 68.
The mode of communication to receiver 67 can be of at least two distinct types. In one mode, when the displayed menu is changed, receiver 67 is sent a code by microprocessor 38 designating the new menu. Until the menu is changed again, any subsequent activations of switches 16 are interpreted by receiver 67 in view of the presently displayed menu. Receiver 67 transmits appropriate signals, signifying both the present menu and the activated switch, to signal distributor 70. In another mode, each separate controllable function is assigned to unique code. When controlling a particular function, its code will be used, regardless of the menu displayed or the switch to be operated, to signify that the particular function is to be performed. The interpretation of switch closures and presently displayed menu is made by microprocesor 38, which sends an appropriate unique code to optical transmitter 52. This code is received by detector 64 and interpreted by reeiver 67 which generates an appropriate electrical signal for signal distributor 70. The apparatus described above can be used in either mode, depending on the development of an appropriate program for microprocessor 38.
Closure of ignition switch 66 to energize the vehicle for use also activates light source 72 which, in turn, transmits light to be received by photovoltaic array 74. Photovoltaic array 74 (for example, a silicon solar cell) is attached to the steering wheel and converts light energy received by photovoltaic array to electrical current for recharging battery 40. While assembly 12 can be activated by the act of turning on an interior light (by closing a switch, either directly or by opening a door), this kind of activation is timed function. In other words, if no further action is taken within a moderate period of time, say, 15 seconds, assembly 12 is disconnected from the electrical power. This mode of operation avoids wasting power, but also allows certain functions, such as door locks, to be activated without the need for the vehicle's electrical system to be turned on.
Second assembly 34 is activated when it reeives electrical power upon the activation of ignition switch 66 or interior lights 65. Distributor 70 receives appropriate control signals over line 68 from optical receiver 64 and, upon decoding these signals, causes appropriate control signals to be sent to the various automotive functions to be controlled. Feedback control signals are received over lines 36 by assembly 34, converted to electrical signals, and transmitted over line 76. The signals on line 76 are received by optical transmitter 78 and converted to optical signals which are received by detector 44, mounted on the steering wheel. These feedback signals are converted back to electrical form and transmitted, over line 80, to microprocessor 38.
Among the actions taken by microprocessor 38, upon receipt of appropriate switch closure signals over bus 60, is the display of another menu of indicia on display 18. Appropriate formats for these additional menus are contained in ROM 48 and retrieved from the ROM when a new menu is called for. Non-volatile memory 50 contains values which may be displayed at appropriate places on display unit 18, depending upon the menu in use.
While the foregoing description has shown an optical transmitter/ receiver pair used to communicate between the steering wheel and the automobile body, those skilled in the art will appreciate that alternative transducers, such as the Hall sensor of FIG. 5, or an inductive pickup, can also serve this function.
FIGS. 2, and 7A-7D show details of some of the menus used in connection with the present invention. All menus are displayed on display unit 18 of the controller in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 2, the master menu comprises displays relating to other menus which may be chosen (lights, windshield wipers, climate control, door locks/window lifts, seat controls, accessories, radio, mirrors, phone, trip computer, keyless entry, and selectable diagnostic readouts. Other functions could be selected to be displayed on the master menu in FIG. 2 designating switches to be used for controlling the transmission, alarm-enable, hazard warning lights, cruise control, keyless ignition, diagnostic displays, and the horn or return switch, etc. Microprocessor 38 (in FIG. 6) can be programmed to display the master menu each time assembly 12 is reactivated and to revert to the master menu if it has been displaying another menu for a predetermined period of time without any of switches 16 being activated.
FIG. 7A shows the CLIMATE CONTROL menu, which can be accessed by pressing switch 16c, which is associated with the "CLIMATE CONTROL" designation 90 on display unit 18 in FIG. 2. A major feature of the menu system is the ability to recall the last menu previously displayed by depressing switch 92, associated with the RETURN designation. This RETURN switch is consistently placed in the same position on all menus. Because it can be consistently labelled and positioned, the RETURN switch need not be associated with a portion of display unit 18. Likewise, the HORN switch (i.e., the switch associated with the RETURN designator), which is active in all menus, so it can be placed in a convenient predetermined pposition, such as the lower left corner of the display.
The CLIMATE CONTROL menu controls functions that relate to the interior environment of the automobile. The controls are activated and deactivated by the switch associated with ON/OFF designators 94. Fan speed can be incrementally varied by depressing switch associated with either designation 96 (to increase speed) or switch designation 98 (to decrease speed). The common function served by these two switches ("FAN" in this case) can be caused to appear in the area of display unit 18 containing designations 96 or 98. Heating elements in the rear window (back-light) are activated by the switch corresponding to designator 100, while the switch associated with indicator 102 causes the windshield to defrost.
The desired interior temperature is controlled by the switches adjacent to areas 104 and 106. Within these two areas, the desired temperature can be displayed digitally. Indicia 108 points out the button which activates the air-conditioning system and switches for indicia 110-114 control wherethe cooled air is directed. The only menu which can be accessed from the CLIMATE CONTROL menu is the master menu, shown in Figure 2. Access is achieved by depressing the RETURN switch near area 92, as described earlier.
FIG. 7B shows the RADIO menu which, in addition to the toggling switch adjacent to indicia 82, includes digital displays of frequency and radio broadcast band 84, including possibly a stereo indicator 85, and volume controls 86a and b. Areas 86a and b can consist of special up and down arrows or other symbols corresponding to incremental increases or decreases in the radio volume. Other functions relating to radio operation are scan up and scan down switches areas 90a and 90b, respectively, and memorized program switches for insignia 92a-d. Memory switch 16c is used as a set switch in conjunction with the memorized program switches for areas 92a-d while storing broadcast frequencies in non-volatile memory 50 (see FIG. 6).
The volume switches are incremental control switches, like the switches associated with FAN indicia 96 and 98 in FIG. 7A. The scan switches 16g and 16h are likewise incremental switches which cause the frequency selected by the radio to be incremented. Depressing the switch corresponding to indicia 88 causes an entirely separate menu, the MODE menu, to be displayed. The main menu is accessed by depressing the RETURN switch next to area 92d.
FIG. 7C of the drawings is the MODE menu which may be selected by depressing switch 16f near area 88 in the radio menu shown in FIG. 7B. As shown, in connection with the mode menu, the switches for areas 116 and 118 operate in incremental fashion to cause the left/right balance and front-rear balance of speaker volume to be varied. In adddition, a special symbol, representing the present balance setting, (not illustrated) can appear between areas 116 and 118. Depressing switch 16f next to RADIO indicia 120 causes the RADIO menu shown in FIG. 7B to be displayed, and depressing switch 16e associated with area 122 causes the EQUALizer menu to be displayed. (See FIG. 7D.) The RADIO menu may also be reached from main menu shown in FIG. 2 by depressing the switch for RADIO indicia 120. The BASS, FADER, and TREBLE functions, each using two switches from array 16, can also display special symbols (not illustrated) showing their current settings.
FIG. 7D shows one possible form of the EQUAL menu which may be accessed from the main menu shown in FIG. 7C. Depending upon its orientation, the EQUAL menu may contain non-functional switches or redundant switches. As shown in FIG. 7D, the switches associated with region 124L and 124R can affect the emphasis of the frequencies below 50 Hz. The switch associated with region 124L can incrementally decrease the emphasis of this frequency band, while the switch for region 124R can cause the emphasis to increase. The switch for segment 120 causes the RADIO menu to be displayed, while the switch next to area 88 brings up the MODE menu.
FIG. 7E shows an alternative form of the EQUAL menu. This menu allows the operator to observe the present broadcast band and frequency and whether the signals are received in stereo, through area 140 associated with switch 16b. Also on the lefthand side of the equalizer menu shown in FIG. 7E is a switch allowing choice of the MODE menu, the RADIO menu, and volume controls. The righthand portion of display 18 shows, in bar form, the current settings of each of five equalizer bands. These equalizer settings can be varied by depressing the associated switches 16g-16k until the desired setting is obtained. By operating in a cyclic mode, the switch for the selected frequency band can be held until the alterable designator reaches the desired level. The level cycles from low to high and then back to low again. Depressing switch 161 will activate the TAPE menu (not shown).
FIG. 8 of the drawings illustrates the hierarchy among menus. When operating in the main menu of FIG. 2, any of the other twelve menus to which the main menu is directly connected may be selected by depressing the proper switch (see FIG. 2). By means of the RETURN function, the previously displayed menu may again be displayed. This possibility is signified in FIG. 8 by the double-headed arrows connecting blocks representing the different displayable menus. In addition, if the main menu has been displayed as a result of a "time-out" of a previous menu (say, MODE menu 132), this previous menu can be redisplayed through the RETURN function, even though no arrow is shown connecting these menus in FIG. 8. As may be seen, RADIO menu 130 can be selected from main menu 128. Further, MODE menu 132 may be selected from RADIO menu 130 and RADIO menu 130, EQUAL menu 134, and TAPE menu (not shown in detail) 136 can be chosen from MODE menu 132. Because RADIO menu 130 can be accessed from EQUAL menu 134, the RADIO, MODE, and EQUAL menus for a cycle of menus.
If desired, menus can be created and added to those shown in this preferred embodiment, with microprocessor 38 of FIG. 3 maintaining control of both the menu currently being displayed and the identities of menus which may be reached from the menu currently being displayed. The displayable menus can be changed by replacing ROM 48 in FIG. 6 as additional controllable features are desired and/or developed for use with the controller.
FIG. 9 of the drawings illustrates a block diagram of the program to be performed by microprocessor 38 in FIG. 6. The microprocessor enters this phase from a dormant state through the activation of either the ignition switch or an interior light. The first step for microprocessor 38 is to scan the positions of the switches 16. If none of the switches is closed, microprocessor 38 checks to see whether a predetermined time interval since the last switch closure has lapsed. If so, the MAIN menu is selected for redisplay. Microprocessor 38 next causes display driver 46 to display the currently selected menu, possibly drawing stored values from non-volatile memory 50, such as the frequency to which the radio is presently tuned. Then microprocessor 38 checks to determine whether the ignition switch is on. If it is, the program returns to scan the switch array. If the ignition switch is off, the display was activated by turning on an interior light and microprocessor 38 then determines whether the display has been on for more than a nominal period of time, say, 30 seconds. If this time period has been exceeded, the controller resumes a dormant state to save electrical power. Otherwise, the program returns to scan the switches.
If, after scanning the switches, microprocessor 38 determines that one has been close, the signals produced by this closure are next passed through a debounce operation. If the switch closed is operated as a toggle switch in connection with the current menu and if it was closed during the previous few iterations through the flowchart shown in FIG. 9, the present closure is ignored. This is done to prevent the rapid accidental toggling between the conditions controlled by the switch which has been activated. Next, microprocessor 38 determines which switch has been closed. If the switch closure designates a menu change, microprocessor 38 acts to bring up data from ROM 48 required for the new menu including any values due to be displayed in connection with non-volatile memory. The microprocessor 38 then passes that information to display driver 46 over bus 56, which in turn passes the informatiom to displays 18 over bus 58.
If a menu change is not indicated, but a toggle switch (such as the ON/OFF switch for area 94 in FIG. 7A.) has been depressed, microprocessor 38 causes a value stored in non-volatile memory 38 to be changed along with the value of the control variable that is associated with that toggle switch. Microprocessor 38 then causes display driver 46 to update the display of the preesntly displayed menu by changing the value displayed in connection with the switch which was operated. Finally, if the switch operation is not a toggle switch, it must be an incremental switch (such as the fan control switch 96, in FIG. 7A). The incremental switch closure causes microprocessor 38 to change the value of the associated control variable in non-volatile memory 50 and to store the new value of the control variable, such as the radio frequency, if applicable. Following these changes in stored operations, microprocessor 38 causes the new value to be displayed in accordance with the current menu. The microprocessor then resumes the operations according to the flowchart with the first box, by scanning the switches of assembly 12.
While the detailed description given above has been expressed in relation to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, those skilled in the art will recognize that many modifications to this embodiment may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. The scope and spirit of the present invention is to be limited only by the following claims.
FIG. 1 is a close-up view of a vehicular steering wheel including the first assembly of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a close-up view of another vehicular steering wheel including an alternative embodiment of the first assembly of the present invention, showing a master menu;
FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the vehicular steering wheel of FIG. 1 attached to its steering column and conveying signals from the first assembly of the present invention to the second assembly of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a close-up view of the steering column of FIG. 3, showing an optical link for conveying signals from the first assembly to the second assembly;
FIG. 5 is a close-up view of the steering column of FIG. 3, showing an alternative link for conveying signals from the first assembly to the second assembly, using a Hall effect transducer;
FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the circuitry of one embodiment of the first assembly of the present invention;
FIGS. 7A-7E are examples of displayable menus, which are alternative to the master menu shown in FIG. 2, provided by the alterable designators of the display of one embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the hierarchy of the menus of one embodiment of the present invention; and
FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a computer program implemented by the microprocessor in one embodiment of the first assembly of the present invention.
This invention relates to apparatus for use in a vehicle for adjusting operator controllable functions and, more particularly, to such apparatus having a display and associated switches for changing and causing the display of a variety of vehicular functions and including means for transmitting the control signals within the vehicle.
Virtually all of the controls for operator controllable functions in present-day vehicles, ranging from automobiles and trucks to farm implements and aircraft, are located on their dashboards, seats, and/or doors. To operate such a control requires the operator to both move a hand from the steering wheel to the control and to divert his attention from the view ahead to locate the control to be operated. This diversion can be both unsafe and inconvenient.
Systems for overcoming these drawbacks by mounting controls on or near the vehicle steering wheel have been proposed. However, these systems fail to satisfy customer needs because they either (1) have too many switches or (2) control only a few functions. To illustrate the first extreme, a proposed prototype van, pictured in the Jan. 13, 1986 edition of the Detroit Free Press and the May 1986 issue of Car and Driver magazine, is equipped with a steering wheel having over 40 switches--certainly enough to distract and confuse the operator who is deciding which switch to activate. At the other extreme, the system disclosed by Kishi et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,456,903 has a small number of steering wheel-mounted switches for operating a speed control device. In contrast to these two extremes, it is highly desirable to control more functions with a small number of switches.
Operator-actuated controls are used only relatively infrequently and the functions to be served tend to cluster in natural groups of a few related functions, such as radio controls, climate controls, and so forth. It is therefore possible to use only a few switches to control many functions, group by group. This can be done by dedicating the switches to a single group of related functions at a time, and by associating the switches with a variable display that shows the specific function controlled by each switch.
To preserve the safety of operating a vehicle, it is important that the switches be easy to locate and that they provide at least a non-visual feedback to the user, such as a tactile sensation, indicating that the switch has been activated.
Accordingly, it would be useful to have a controller for operator-actuated functions located in the proximity of the operator, the controller being capable of controlling many vehicular functions through an assembly having a relatively small number of switches associated with a display of alterable function designators.
The present invention provides a vehicle function controller, located in the proximity of the vehicle operator, operable by the operator through a small array of pushbuttons, such as snap-action switches, and an associated display. The display shows the present functional designation of each associated switch, as well as the status of the control variable it affects, when appropriate. The functional designations are alterable. The controller has a microprocessor for controlling which alterable designators are shown on the display and, consequently, causing one of a variety of "menus" to be displayed and used in conjunction with the pushbuttons. Electrical power is provided to the steering wheel-mounted controller through means of a self-contained battery, with back-up power to recharge the battery being provided by a photovoltaic cell which receives light from a source mounted to the vehicular body.
Desired functional control changes are entered through the switches in conjunction with a display of the appropriate menu. Signals which effect these changes are encoded and transmitted from the steering wheel to a receiver which is located remotely from the operator.
The encoded received signals are transformed to electrical signals and passed on to a controller which, in response, distributes the appropriate commands to the various vehicular functions which are to be controlled.
According to one aspect of the invention, the controller comprises a first assembly located near the operator, including a display having portions showing alternate function designators which indicate a selection of one of a plurality of menus of performable control functions, a number of switches, each associated with a different portion of the display, showing the menu of performable control functions, and a microprocessor adapted to receive the signals relating to the activation of the switches. This assembly further includes a signal transmitter connected to the microprocessor for transmitting the signals generated by the microprocessor means, and may include a power supply, such as a battery, and a photovoltaic energy converter adapted to receive light from a source external to the steering wheel and to replenish the electrical power supplied by the power supply. The controller also includes an assembly located remotely from the operator, including a control signal receiver for receiving signals produced by the transmitter, and a control signal distributor for receiving the electical signals produced by the control signal receiver and distributing appropriate control signals in response. The remote assembly may also include a light source operable to generate light energy directed toward the photovoltaic energy converter.
The transmitted signals can uniquely specify the function to be controlled or, alternatively, first specify the menu being displayed and then the switch which is activated. The menu specification signal can be transmitted each time a switch is activated, or only when a new menu is caused to be displayed.
The first assembly can be attached to a vehicle steering wheel and can further include a microprocessor-accessible non-volatile memory for storing current values of appropriate control variables. It can also include a read-only memory (ROM) means for storing the program used by the microprocessor.
Further embodiments of the present invention can comprise a feedback signal receiver connected to the control signal distributor for converting electrical signals from the signal distributor to transmittable signals and a receiver, located near the operator, for converting the feedback control signals to electrical signals for use by the microprocessor. Signals may be transmitted between the two assemblies through, for example, optical, inductive, or Hall effect transducers. | <urn:uuid:f3deaa02-df75-467b-9d6a-40f6baed9f8d> | 2013-05-21T10:00:12Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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US 6803344 B2
Thermosensitive recording materials such as thermal paper have printed indicia of high quality on the back thereof printed on a backcoating. This backcoating also incorporates an optically variable compound which provides a security feature.
1. A thermosensitive recording material comprising a base sheet, optionally a base coating, a thermosensitive coating on one surface of said base sheet or the surface of said base coating when present, and a backcoating on the surface of the base sheet opposite the thermosensitive coating, wherein said backcoating incorporates an optically variable compound selected from the group consisting of NIRF compounds, fluorescent compounds, and photochromic compounds said backcoating additionally having an image printed thereon.
2. A thermosensitive recording material as in
3. A thermosensitive recording material as in
4. A thermosensitive recording material as in
5. A thermosensitive recording material as in
6. A thermal paper as in
7. A thermal paper as in
8. A thermal paper as in
9. A thermal paper as in
10. A thermal paper as in
11. A thermosensitive recording material comprising a base sheet, optionally a base coating, a thermosensitive coating on one surface of said base sheet or the surface of said base coating when present, and a backcoating on the surface of the base sheet opposite the thermosensitive coating, wherein said backcoating incorporates an optically variable NIRF compound, said backcoating additionally having an image printed thereon.
12. A thermosensitive recording material comprising a base sheet, optionally a base coating, a thermosensitive coating on one surface of said base sheet or the surface of said base coating when present, and a backcoating on the surface of the base sheet opposite the thermosensitive coating, wherein said backcoating incorporates an optically variable fluorescent compound said backcoating additionally having an image printed thereon.
13. A thermal paper as in
14. A thermosensitive recording material comprising a base sheet, optionally a base coating, a thermosensitive coating on one surface of said base sheet or the surface of said base coating when present, and a backcoating on the surface of the base sheet opposite the thermosensitive coating, wherein said backcoating incorporates an optically variable photochromic compound, said backcoating additionally having an image printed thereon.
15. A thermal paper as in
The present invention relates to thermosensitive recording materials with high quality images preprinted thereon.
Direct thermal paper is a thermosensitive recording material on which print or a design is obtained without an ink ribbon by the application of heat energy thereto. Direct thermal paper comprises a base sheet, a base coating and a thermosensitive coating with color forming chemicals that respond to heat.
The most common type of thermosensitive coating used on direct paper is the dye-developing type system. This typically comprises a colorless dye (color former), a bisphenol or an acidic material (color developer) and sensitizer. These solid materials are reduced to very small particles by grinding and incorporated into a coating formulation along with any optional additives such as pigments, binders and lubricants. The coating formulation is then applied to the surface of a support system, typically a base sheet and base coating. The color is formed by application of heat to the thermosensitive coating to melt and interact the three color producing materials.
Thermal printing on thermosensitive recording materials provides a number of advantages over printing on plain paper using inked ribbons. One advantage is that thermal printers are less noisy than impact printers. With fewer mechanical operations, thermal printers are believed to be more reliable than impact printers. There are some compromises which must be made when switching from bond paper to thermal paper because the color producing components require special handling and conditions.
To replace plain paper receipt rolls, it is often desirable that the thermal paper also provides security features and preprinted information such as store logos, advertisements, rules and regulations, etc. It is also desirable that this preprinted indicia be of high quality.
By adding features to thermal paper, care must be taken not to pre-react the reactive components within the thermosensitive coating of the thermal paper or prevent the formation of an image on the thermal paper when passed through a thermal printer. Certain chemical factors can adversely affect and degrade the performance of the thermosensitive coatings and should be avoided such as some organic solvents, plasticizers, amines and certain oils.
The use of ink with optically variable compounds as a security measure is well known. Optically variable compounds change color or reflect a unique wavelength in response to a change in ambient conditions such as exposure to a light source other than ambient light or a change in ambient temperature. Optically variable compounds as defined herein include fluorescent compounds and photochromic compounds which respond to infrared or ultraviolet light, thermochromic compounds which change color at different temperatures and near infrared fluorescent (NIRF) compounds which reflect radiation in the near-infrared range. Examples of fluorescent compounds include those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,153,593, 4,328,332 and 4,150,997. Examples of thermochromic compounds are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,425,161; 5,427,415; 5,500,040; 5,583,223; 5,595,955; 5,690,857; 5,826,915; 6,048,347; and 6,060,428. Examples of near infra-red compounds (NIRF) include those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,292,855; 5,423,432 and 5,336,714. The use of fluorescent compounds as a security feature for thermosensitive recording materials is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,883,043. The use of NIRF compounds as a security feature for thermosensitive recording materials is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,060,426, assigned to the assignee as the present invention.
To protect thermal paper from environment conditions, and premature coloration from handling, a number of developments have been made. One is to produce a barrier or protection on top of the thermal coating as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,370,370; 4,388,362; 4,424,245; 4,44,819; 4,507,669 and 4,551,738. A U.V. cured silicone acrylate/methacrylate protective coating for a thermosensitive layer is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,604,635.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,955 discloses coating a latent image comprising a thermochromic ink on the reverse side of thermal paper with a thin protective layer.
The present invention provides a thermosensitive recording material such as thermal paper, comprising a base sheet, an optional base coating, a thermosensitive coating on the top surface of the base sheet or the optional base coating, a backcoating on the side of the base sheet opposite the thermosensitive coating and a printed image on the top surface of the backcoating. The backcoating has incorporated therein a fluorescent compound, a thermochromic compound, a photochromic compound, or a near infrared fluorescent compound (NIRF).
When used as a security feature, the amount of NIRF compound within the backcoating must be sufficient to be sensed by a photon detector operating in the near infrared region of 650 nm to 2500 nm. For a photochromic or fluorescent compound to provide a security feature, the amount of these compounds within the backcoating must be sufficient to generate a latent image when exposed to infrared or ultraviolet light. To provide a security feature, the amount of thermochromic compound within the backcoating must be sufficient to generate or eliminate an image when exposed to temperatures greater than ambient temperature.
The backcoating containing the fluorescent compound, photochromic compound, thermochromic compound and/or NIRF compound can be a U.V., infrared or electron beam cured coating or an air dried coating such as a flexographic or lithographic coating. The backcoating is preferably U.V. cured. This will eliminate the exposure of reactive components within the thermosensitive coating to heat which can cause the reactive components to prematurely color. The backcoat provides a medium in which the optically variable compounds will provide their security function while shielding the reactive components of the thermosensitive coatings from these optically variable compounds. This shielding will preserve the activity of the optically variable compounds as well as the activity of any reactive components within the thermosensitive coating of the thermal paper so that the thermosensitive coating will still generate color when exposed to heat.
In certain embodiments, two or more optically variable compounds can be present in the backcoating to provide two modes of security. For example, optically variable compounds responsive to ultraviolet light can be combined with NIRF compounds which are responsive to near-infrared radiation. In alternative embodiments, the backcoating can overcoat a separate image of a security ink. This requires an additional printing step and is not preferred.
The backcoating can be applied by conventional coating processes such as flexography, gravure, wet-offset printing, letter press and relief printing and where necessary cured by air drying or U.V., infrared or electron beam curing techniques. Following the cure of the backcoating, an image is printed over the backcoating by conventional printing techniques such as flexography, gravure, wet-offset printing, letter press and relief printing.
The thermosensitive recording media of the present invention have a base sheet and a thermosensitive coating positioned on one side of the base sheet. Optionally, a base coating is positioned between the thermosensitive coating and the base sheet. Conventional base sheets and base coatings can be used in the thermosensitive recording materials of the present invention. The base sheet can comprise those materials used in conventional thermosensitive recording materials and at least includes those derived from synthetic and natural fibers such as cellulose (natural) and polyester (synthetic) fibers. The base coating is typically comprised of an inert pigments and binders and provides a smooth surface for the thermosensitive coating. The base sheet and base coatings must not contain any reactive elements which will prematurely color the thermosensitive coating or cause the loss of the color forming properties of the thermosensitive coating.
The thermosensitive coating is preferably of the dye-developing type. Particularly suitable dye developer systems are those wherein the reactive dyes are colorless or white colored and become dark colored when melted or exposed to color developer. Such dyes typically are basic substances which become colored when oxidized by acidic compounds or bisphenol compounds. In these dye-developer systems, sensitizers are typically mixed with the dyes to form a blend with a reduced melting point. This reduces the amount of heat necessary to melt the dye and obtain reaction with the color developer. The components of the thermosensitive coating are often determined by the operating temperature of the thermal printer to be used. The operating temperature of conventional thermal printers varies widely, typically within the range of from 50° C. to 250° C. A well-known dye that operates in this range is identified in the art as “ODB-II”. A preferred color developer is bisphenol A and a preferred sensitizer is M-terphenyl. One skilled in the art can readily determine the melting point necessary for desired application and select a dye and developer accordingly, or select a conventional thermal paper with a thermosensitive coating on one side.
The thermosensitive coating can vary in composition as is conventionally known in the art, including the encapsulation of components therein and the use of protective layers thereon to prevent premature coloration during handling. These thermosensitive coatings can be applied by conventional methods using conventional equipment.
Color formers suitable for use in the coating formulations that form the thermosensitive recording materials of this invention are leuco dyes. Leuco dyes are colorless or light-colored basic substances, which become colored when oxidized by acidic substances. Examples of leuco dyes that can be used herein are leuco bases of triphenylmethane dyes represented by formula I in U.S. Pat. No. 5,741,592. Specific examples of such dyes are: 3,3-bis(p-dimethylaminophenyl)-phthalide, 3,3-bis(p-dimethylaminophenyl)-6-dimethylaminophthalide (Crystal Violet Lactone), 3,3-bis(p-dimethylaminophenyl)-6-diethylaminophthalide, 3,3-bis(p-dimethylaminophenyl)-6-chlorophthalide, and 3,3-bis(p-dibutylaminophenyl)-phthalide.
Leuco bases of floran dyes represented by formula II in U.S. Pat. No. 5,741,592, are also suitable. Some examples of these fluoran dyes are:
3-cyclohexylamino-6-chlorofluoran, 3-(N—N-diethylamino)-5-methyl-7-(N,N-Dibenzylamino)fluoran, 3-dimethylamino-5,7-dimethylfluoran and 3-diethylamino-7-methylfluoran. Other suitable fluoran dyes include: 3-diethylamino-6-methyl-7-chlorofluoran, 3-pyrrolidino-6-methyl-7-anilinofluoran, and 2-[3,6-bis(diethylamino)-9-(0-chloroanilino)xanthylbenzoic acid lactam].
Also suitable are lactone compounds represented by formula III in U.S. Pat. No. 5,741,592 and the following compounds:
3-(2′-hydroxy-4′-dimethylaminophenyl)-3-(2′[-methoxy-5′-chlorophenyl)phthalide, 3-(2′-hydroxy-4′-dimethylaminophenyl)-3-(2′-methoxy-5′-nitrophenyl-phthalide, 3-(2′-hydroxy-4′-diethylaminophenyl)-3-(2′-methoxy-5′-methylphenyl)phthalide, and 3-(2′-methoxy-4′-dimethylaminophenyl)-3-(2′-hydroxy-4′-diethylaminophenhl)-3-(2′-methoxy-5′-methylphenyl)phthalide, and 3-(2′-methoxy-4′-dimethylaminophenyl)-3-(2′-hydroxy-4′-chloro-5′-methylphenyl)-phthalide.
There are many substances which change the color of the dyes by oxidizing them and function as developers. Color developers suitable for the coating formulations and thermosensitive recording materials of this invention are phenol compounds, organic acids or metal salts thereof and hydroxybenzoic acid esters. Preferred color developers are phenol compounds and organic acids which melt at about 50° C. to 250° C. and are sparingly soluble in water. Examples of suitable phenol compounds include 4,4′-isopropylene-diphenol (bisphenol A), p-tert-butylphenol, 2-4-dinitrophenol, 3,4-dichlorophenol, p-phenylphenol, 4,4-cyclohexylidenediphenol, 2,2-bis(4′-hydroxyphenyl)-n-heptane and 4,4′-cylcohexylidene phenol. Useful examples of organic acid and metal salts thereof include 3-tert-butylsalicyclic acid, 3,5-tert-butylsalicyclic acid, 5-a-methylbenzylsalicylic acid and salts thereof of zinc, lead, aluminum, magnesium or nickel.
Sensitizers or thermosensitivity promoter agents are preferably used in the thermal papers of the present invention to give a good color density. The exact mechanism by which the sensitizer helps in the color forming reaction is not well known. It is generally believed that the sensitizer forms a eutectic compound with one or both of the color forming compounds. This brings down the melting point of these compounds and thus helps the color forming reaction take place at a considerably lower temperature. Some of the common sensitizers which are suitable are fatty acid amide compounds such as acetamide, stearic acid amide, linolenic acid amide, lauric acid amide, myristic acid amide, methylol compounds or the above mentioned fatty acid amides such as methylene-bis(stearamide), and ethylenebis(stearamide), and compounds of p-hydroxybenzoic acid esters such as methyl p-hydroxybenzoate, n-propyl p-hydroxybenzoate, isopropyl p-hydroxybenzoate, benzyl p-hydroxybenzoate.
The backcoating for printing on the reverse side of thermosensitive recording medium preferably has a thickness of from 0.05 to 2.0 mils. It should be recognized however that higher thicknesses will not affect the chemical activity of the thermosensitive coating on the thermosensitive recording media. In addition, higher thicknesses will not affect the ability of the backcoating to accept print. The above range is preferred from the standpoint of cost and efficiency.
Flexographic and lithographic printing methods are preferred for applying the backcoating on the thermosensitive recording medium. Other suitable techniques include gravure, letter press and relief printing which does not require temperatures above 50° to 65° C. Once applied the backcoating preferably does not require temperatures in excess of 125° F. (about 50° C.) to cure. The backcoat can vary significantly from a U.V. or visible light cured polymer coating to an electron beam cured polymer coating, to a heat cured polymer coating cured at temperatures of up to 125° F., to a condensed polymer coating which dries at ambient temperature in air. This backcoat serves to protect the thermosensitive layer from the optically variable compounds incorporated therein when the thermosensitive recording medium is stored on a continuous roll rolled onto itself or is stored as stacked sheets.
The backcoating may contain additives such as resins binders, pH stabilizers, U.V. stabilizers, surfactants, color pigments and defoamers provided they do not pre-react the thermosensitive layer. The nature of the additives will depend on the end use of the backcoating. Suitable binder components of the backcoating include: polyvinyl chloride polymers, polyvinyl acetate polymers, vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymers, polyvinyl alcohol polymers, polyethylene polymers, polypropylene polymers, polyacetal polymers, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers, ethylene alkyl(meth)acrylate copolymers, ethylene-ethylacetate copolymers, polystyrene, styrene copolymers, polyamides, ethylcelluloses, epoxy resins, polyketone resins, polyurethane resins, polyvinyl butryl polymers, styrene butadiene rubbers, nitrile rubbers, acrylic rubbers, polypropylene rubber, ethylene alkyl(meth)acrylate copolymers, styrene-alkyl(meth)acrylate copolymers, acrylate acid-ethylene-vinyl acetate tert polymers, saturated polyester polymers and sucrose benzoate. To obtain emulsions of polymers which are insoluble or partially soluble, the resin is typically ground to submicron size. U.S. Pat. No. 5,843,864 describes some of the suitable synthetic resin binders and suitable cellulose binders with synthetic wax are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,495.
Suitable U.V. cured backcoatings are the coatings described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,886,744. Most free radical initiated polymerizations can be suitably cured with the use of a free radical initiator that is responsive in the U.V. range. These U.V. cured backcoatings may also contain additives such as U.V. absorbers and light stabilizers. Employing the U.V. cured backcoating allows for rapid drying. U.S. Pat. No. 5,158,924 also describes ultraviolet curing resins which are suitable for backcoatings and include urethane resins, epoxy resins, organosiloxane resins, polyfunctional acrylate resins, melamine resins, thermoplastic resins having high softening points such as fluorine plastics, silicone resins and polycarbonate resins. A specific example of a urethane acrylate-type U.V. curing resin is UNIDIC C7-157 made by Dianippon Ink and Chemicals Inc.
The optically variable compound that can be incorporated within this coating can include fluorescent compounds, photochromic compounds, thermochromic compounds and NIRF compounds. The fluorescent compounds and photochromic compounds typically respond to infrared or ultraviolet light. Representative inks which fluoresce include those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,153,593; 4,328,332 and 4,150,997. Representative photochromic compounds are disclosed by Takahashi et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,266,447.
Photochromic compounds which change color when exposed to U.V. light can be used. Suitable photochromic compounds include the spiro compounds of formula V disclosed by Takahashi in U.S. Pat. No. 5,266,447. These include spiro oxazine compounds, spiropyran compounds, and thiopyran compounds of the formulae in cols. 5-6 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,266,447. Other examples of suitable photochromic compounds include the benzopyran compounds disclosed by Kumar in U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,774, the benzothioxanone oxides disclosed by Fischer in U.S. Pat. No. 5,177,218 the dinitrated spiropyrans disclosed by Hibino et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,155,230, the naphthacenequinones disclosed by Fischer et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,395 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,407,885, the naphthopyran compounds disclosed by Knowles in U.S. Pat. No. 5,384,077, the spiro (indoline) naphthoxazine compounds disclosed by VanGemert in U.S. Pat. No. 5,405,958, the ring compounds disclosed by Tanaka et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,106,988 and the spiro-benzoxazine compounds disclosed by Rickwood et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,446,151. Mixtures of such compounds are preferred and are available commercially from such sources as Color Change Corp. of Shaumburg, and Chromatic Technologies Inc. of Colorado Springs, Colo.
Suitable fluorescent pigments and dyes include the fluorescent resins produced in U.S. Pat. No. 4,328,332 from trimelitic anhydrides and propylene glycol with zinc acetate catalyst. Representative water soluble fluorescent dye components are fluorescein and eosine dyes and blaze orange 122-8524-A (manufactured by Dyco Color Corp. of Cleveland, Ohio).
The concentration of the fluorescent and/or photochromic pigment within the backcoating used on the thermal paper and method to this invention can vary widely. In general, the optical effect can be developed in most thermal papers with the fluorescent dye or photochromic pigment component present in an amount which ranges from 1 to 50% by weight and preferably in an amount of 1 to 15% by weight.
Suitable NIRF compounds are typically employed in polyester based and polyester amide based coatings. Examples of suitable NIRF compounds are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,292,855; 5,423,432 and 5,336,714. Suitable NIRF compounds include pthalocyanines, napthalocyanines squaraines with are covalently bonded to halometals. NIRF compounds typically provide a security measure that is responsive to wavelengths in the near infrared region of 650 nm to 2500 nm. The NIRF pigment particles are solids and typically comprise a polymer or copolymer which is either admixed with NIRF compounds or the NIRF compounds are copolymerized with other active monomers, oligomers or polymers to form a copolymer. The amount of NIRF compound within the ink formulation typically falls within in the range of 0.1 ppm to 1000 ppm, based on dry components of the ink. Typical amounts fall within the range of 0.5 ppm to 300 ppm with amounts of 1 ppm to 100 ppm often being most preferred.
The thermochromic compounds suitable for use in the backcoating are selected to provide a security measure that is responsive to temperatures above ambient temperature (above 20° C.) and below the temperature of activation of the thermosensitive recording medium (typically about 60° C.). One class of preferred thermochromic compounds are active at temperatures in the range of 21° C. to 40° C., (about 70° F. to 100° F.). The compounds may be responsive to temperatures above this range but heating the thermosensitive recording medium to temperatures above this range will activate most conventional thermosensitive layers. One or more “sensitizers” may be added to the backcoating to control the temperature at which the color change occurs. Examples of suitable sensitizer compounds for the thermochromic compounds include carboxylic acids, acid amides, hydroxides, alcohols, esters and phenols. The thermochromic compounds are preferably stable to air, sunlight, and fluorescent light.
When a flexographic process is employed to deposit the backcoating, the thermochromic compounds are preferably soluble dispersible or emulsifiable in water to provide “water based” formulations or inks. When a lithographic process is employed to deposit the thermochromic compounds, it can be used in a hydrophobic or oil based formulation or ink, provided it is compatible with the backcoating. Water-based or U.V. cured formulations are preferred to avoid the use of solvents that may prereact the thermosensitive layer or cause the loss of color forming properties of the thermosensitive layer.
Preferred thermochromic compounds have excellent thermal stability with little light absorption in the visible light region, i.e., they impart little or no color to coatings and substrates to which they are applied. Preferably, they are transparent or invisible to the naked viewing eye under ambient light at ambient temperature (about 20° C.). Suitable thermochromic compositions include those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,292,855; 5,423,432; 5,336,714; 5,461,136; 5,397,819; 5,703,229; 5,614,088; 5,665,151; 5,503,904; 4,425,161; 5,427,415; 5,500,040; 5,583,223; 5,959,955; 5,690,857; 5,826,915; 5,048,837 and 6,060,428. These include the conventional electron donors/electron accepting combinations known in the art. Examples of electron donor compounds are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,425,161 and include diarylphthalides, such as crystal violet lactone, polyarylcarbinols, leucoauramines, Rhodamine B lactams, indolines, spiropyrans and fluorans. Examples of electron-acceptor compounds are also described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,425,161 and include triazol compounds, thioureas, phenols, phenol resins, benzolthiozols, carboxylic acids and metal salts thereof, and phosphorous esters and metal salts thereof.
Suitable commercially available thermochromic printing inks which activate at temperatures in the range of 21° to 51° C. include 744020TC (thermochromic blue), 744010TC (thermochromic turquoise), 744027TC (thermochromic yellow), 734010TC (thermochromic rose), 724010TC (thermochromic orange), 754027TC (thermochromic green) sold by SICPA Securink Corp. Springfield, Va. Included are the thermochromic inks which lose color when heated, i.e., change from a color to clear. This includes the compounds 138000TC5 (rose/clear) and 178002TC (Blue/clear) available from SICPA Securink Corp. which are active at 1° C.-12° C. Marks and images made of these compounds are colorless at ambient temperature and change color when cooled. The compound 178002TC (Blackclear) from SICPA Securink Corp. is active at 27° C.-36° C. Compounds from SICPA Securink Corp. which are active at 22° C.-31° C. include: 128001TC (orange/clear), 1384175TC (rose/clear), 150015TC (green/clear), 148003TC (blue/clear), 17800TC (black/clear), 14001TCBR (blue/red) and 128001TCY (orange/yellow). Compounds from SICPA Securink Corp. which are active at 24° C.-33° C. include: 118000TC (yellow/clear), 128002TC (orange/clear), 138103TC (vermillion/clear), 15002TC (green/clear), 14001TC (blue/clear), 14000TCBR (blue/red) and 128001TCY (orange/yellow). Compounds from SICPA Securink Corp. which are active at 24° C.-33° C. include: 11800TC (yellow/clear), 128002TC (orange/clear), 138103TC (vermillion/clear), 15002TC (green/clear), 14001TC (blue/clear), 14000TCBR (blue/red) and 128002TC (orange/yellow). Compounds from SICPA Securink Corp. which are active at 32° C.-41° C. include: 13001TC (rose/clear), 148002TC (blue/clear), 178001TC (black/clear) and 178002TCBR (blue/red).
Preferred thermochromic compositions are microencapsulated within the backcoat. The microcapsules can be dispersed in a slurry, preferably a neutral aqueous slurry and can be dried to a powder. The encapsulant can vary in composition and includes epoxy resins and polyurea resins. Microencapsulation can be performed by any conventional technique such as interfacial polymerization as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,429,827 and 3,167,602 and in-situ polymerization as described in British Patent No. 989264, coacervation from an aqueous slurry as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,800,457 and 3,116,206, suspension coating as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,202,533 and spray drying as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,016,308. The microcapsules can be of a conventional size but are typically about 30 microns or less.
The thermochromic compositions can be employed in the backcoating formulations in amounts of from 1% to about 50% by weight of the solids within the backcoating formnulation. Preferred levels range from about 5% to about 40% by weight of the microencapsulated thermochromic composition, based on the total weight of solids in the backcoating formulation.
Preferably, a special apparatus is not needed to detect the presence of a thermochromic composition and simply rubbing the mark or image with a finger will generate the color shift. Devices which will excite the thermochromic compositions include incandescent light sources, hot air dryers, resistance heaters and other radiant energy sources that emit heat or infrared radiation. Preferred heat sources are those which heat the surface of the thermosensitive compound to a temperature above ambient temperature but less than the temperature of activation of the thermosensitive layer, i.e. about 21° C. to 51° C. The thermochromic compounds typically have a defined temperature range at which the color shift is actuated. For example, thermochromic inks with actuation temperatures in the following ranges are commercially available.
1° to 12° C.
22° to 31° C.
24° to 33° C.
27° to 36° C.
32° to 41° C.
The carrier or vehicle used for the backcoating formulation preferably dries or cures at a temperature below 50° C. If the formulation is for flexographic printing, aqueous based formulations are preferred. The aqueous vehicles which dry by gelation, polymerization or solidification are suitable as are water miscible organic solvents which do not pre-react the thermosensitive layer. The aqueous based carrier may contain a dispersing agent to help solubilize the optically variable compounds within the backcoat formulation. The backcoat formulation preferably has a viscosity which is below 500 cps and preferably in the range of about 5 to 100 cps at 25° C., for flexographic printing. For flexographic printing, a solids content of 40-60 wt % is preferred. For UV cured backcoatings, a tack within the range of 10-20 at 1200 rpm and 90° F. is preferred.
The backcoating may contain an optional pigment or dye which does not interfere with the optical properties of the optically variable ink. Examples may include carbon blacks, cadmium, primrose, cobalt oxide, nickel oxide, etc. When used, the pigment or dye preferably comprises from 0.01 to 10 wt % of the backcoating, based on solids.
Thermal papers which contain security features as a separate image overcoated by the backcoating can be prepared by methods similar to methods with the security feature within the backcoating as described above but with an additional printing step.
The backcoating applied to the thermosensitive recording material may contain more than one security feature provided by a different optically variable compound or by the binder of the backcoating. For example, the fluorescent compounds may be combined with NIRF compounds, thermochromic compounds or photochromic compounds and the binder may provide a water mark or a water repellant image once cured.
The binder component of the backcoating employed in the thermal papers of this invention may be a water repelling agent such as acrylic polymers and copolymers or it may contain a separate water repelling agent such as a silicone resin in an amount of 0.5 to 10 wt % based on total solids. This water repelling agent may provide an additional security for the thermal paper obtained. The water repellant agent is used in amounts efficient to provide a dry image with a surface tension less than 35 dynes preferably between 20 to 30 dynes. Water has a surface tension of 70 dynes. The binder may also dry to provide a pseudo water mark when applied in a pattern.
The backcoating may cover the entire back surface of the base sheet of the thermal paper or it may only cover a portion of the base sheet. Where the backcoating provides a pseudo water mark or a waterproof image, the backcoating does not cover the entire base sheet.
An image is printed on the backcoating by a conventional printing technique such as flexography, lithography, gravure, letter press, relief printing or ink jet printing which does not require the application of heat or high temperatures (less than 65° C.), including U.V., electron beam and infrared cures. The technique employed is preferably identical to the printing method employed to apply the backcoating to the base sheet. Most conventional inks are suitable for providing the image provided they do not contain components which react with the thermosensitive layer. Suitable pigments include carbon blacks, cadmium, primrose, cobalt oxide, nickel oxide, etc. The carrier and binder employed in the ink is preferably identical to that used to apply the backcoating to the ensure compatibility. With such inks, high quality images with high gloss, referred to in the art as “magazine quality” images can be produced.
Without further elaboration is believed that one skilled in the art can using the proceeding description utilize the present invention to its fullest extent. The entire disclosure of all applications, patents, publications, cited above and below are herein incorporated by reference.
Commercially available thermal papers consisting of substrate paper, base coat and an active thermosensitive coat are used. The base coat (40% solids) is comprised as conventional base coat components such as pigments/binders to produce a level surface for the thermosensitive coat. The active coat comprises conventional active coat components such as the dye ODB-2, a bisphenol A co-reactant, a stabilizer and a sensitizer.
Backcoating Containing a Thermochromic Ink
A backcoating formulation which is water based contains a thermochromic ink with thermochromic compounds sold by SIPCA Securink Inc. Corp. of Springfield, Va. The thermochromic compounds respond to color changes at temperatures in the range of 21° C. to 41° C. and a U.V. curable acrylate binder in an amount of 40 to 60 wt %. This backcoating is printed on the side of the thermal paper opposite the thermosensitive layer using a Mark Andy 830 flexopress. The coating comprises a U.V. curable acrylate polymer which is transparent and is controlled to form a three inch wide strip down the center of the paper. The backcoat is cured by exposure to a U.V. lamp for less than 30 seconds.
After curing to a solid, a portion of the coating changed color to pink with the application of heat by rubbing the coating with a finger.
Overprinting the Backcoat
Printing over the protective backcoat with a conventional black water based flexographic ink in the form of the “NCR” logo by conventional flexographic techniques provides an image with high definition, high contrast and high adhesion to the backcoating.
The proceeding examples can be repeated with similar success by substituting the generically or specifically described reactants and/or operating conditions of this invention by those described in this application.
In the foregoing description, one skilled in the art can easily ascertain the essential characteristics of this invention without departing from the spirit and the scope above, can make various changes and modifications to the invention to adapt it to various usages and conditions. | <urn:uuid:dc3c9d3e-ee9a-4a13-8884-cfbed672b87b> | 2013-05-21T10:22:46Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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US 4903326 A
A detachable battery pack with a built-in broadband antenna is disclosed. Since the antenna is wholly contained within the battery housing, it is protected from damage and is detachable from the transceiver when the battery is detached. A transmission line structure formed between the battery and the transceiver is used to create an open circuit near the antenna feed point.
1. A portable radiotelephone having improved decoupling of conductive surfaces of the radiotelephone and antenna such than little antenna efficiency is lost when the portable radiotelephone is held in a user's hand, comprising:
a transceiver portion further comprising a first conductive surface;
a battery portion, detachable from said transceiver portion and having a housing and a second conductive surface within said housing, said second conductive surface disposed opposite said first conductive surface when said battery portion is attached to said transceiver portion;
an antenna, coupled to said transceiver portion and disposed within said detachable battery portion housing; and
a transmission line formed by said first conductive surface, said second conductive surface, and said housing disposed between said first conductive surface and said second conductive surface, said transmission line further having a short circuit between said first conductive surface and said second conductive surface thereby improving decoupling of radiotelephone conductive surfaces and antenna.
2. A portable radiotelephone in accordance with claim 2 wherein said battery portion and said transceiver portion further comprise means for coupling together said first conductive surface and said second conductive surface at a first end of said transmission line when said transceiver portion and said battery portion are attached, thereby creating said short circuit at said first end.
3. A portable radiotelephone in accordance with claim 2 wherein said transmission line further comprises an open circuit at a second end and wherein said antenna is disposed within said detachable battery portion housing closer to said second end than said first end.
4. A portable radiotelephone in accordance with claim 2 wherein said transmission line further comprises a virtual short circuit between said first end and a second end of said transmission line.
5. A handheld radio having a detachable antenna and battery, and having improved decoupling of conductive surfaces of the handheld radio and antenna such that little antenna efficiency is lost when the handheld radio is held in a user's hand, the handheld radio comprising:
(a) a transceiver portion further comprising a first nonconductive housing and a conductive surface disposed within said first nonconductive housing;
(b) a battery portion, detachable from said transceiver portion, further comprising:
a second nonconductive housing having an inner surface,
at least one electrochemical battery cell disposed within said second nonconductive housing,
an antenna disposed within said second nonconductive housing, and
a conductive area disposed on at least part of said inner surface said second nonconductive housing; and
(c) a transmission line comprising:
said conductive surface of said transceiver portion as a first conductor,
said conductive area of said detachable battery portion as a second conductor and short circuited to said first conductor to improve decoupling of handheld radio conductive surfaces and antenna, and
at least part of said first and part of said second nonconductive housings, disposed between said first conductor and said second conductor when said battery portion is attached to said transceiver portion, as a dielectric of said transmission line.
6. A handheld radio in accordance with claim 5 further comprising at least one electrical contact through which said at least one electrochemical battery cell and said conductive area of said battery portion is connected to said conductive surface of said transceiver portion when said battery portion is attached to said transceiver portion.
7. A handheld radio in accordance with claim 6 wherein said battery portion and said transceiver portion each further comprise opposing first and second ends when said battery portion is attached to said transceiver portion and said electrical contact is disposed at said first end of said transceiver portion thereby producing said short circuit of said transmission line at said first ends of said battery portion and said transceiver portion.
8. A handheld radio in accordance with claim 7 wherein said transmission line further comprises an open circuit at said second ends of said battery portion and said transceiver portion.
9. A handheld radio in accordance with claim 8 wherein said battery portion further comprises said antenna disposed within said second nonconductive housing closer to said second end of said battery portion than to said first end of said battery portion.
10. A handheld radio in accordance with claim 7 wherein said transmission line further comprises a virtual short circuit between said first ends and said second ends of said battery portion and said transceiver portion.
This invention relates generally to small internal transceiver antennas and more particularly to a broadband antenna mounted within a detachable battery for a portable or handheld transceiver. This invention is related to U.S. patent application, No. 186,545, "Internally Mounted Broadband Antenna" filed on the same date as the present invention on behalf of Zakman and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention.
Portable transceivers generally utilize an external projecting antenna which is a convenient fraction of a wavelength in order to provide nearly optimum radiation of transmitter energy and reception of received energy. Such an external antenna, however, is subject to breakage or can make the portable transceiver awkward to handle. Therefore, some portable transceiver antennas have been made retractable and some antenna have been built into the portable transceiver. Antennas which have been located within the housing of the transceiver (an "internal antenna") have resolved the aforementioned problems but because of size limitations and positioning within the transceiver, have yielded a compromised performance over the external antenna. Improved performance has been realized in internal antennas as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,672,685, "Dual Band Antenna Having Separate Matched Inputs of Each Band" and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,305, "Dual Band Notch Antenna For Portable Radiotelephones".
It is, therefore, one object of the present invention to provide a miniaturized high efficiency duplex antenna contained within the housing configuration of a portable transceiver.
It is another object of the present invention to further incorporate the miniaturized antenna within a detachable battery housing of the portable transceiver.
It is a further object of the present invention to decouple the miniaturized antenna from the metal surfaces of the transceiver by creating a transmission line between the detachable battery and the transceiver which produces an open circuit at the antenna feed point.
Accordingly, these and other objects are realized in the present invention which encompasses a portable radiotelephone which has a detachable battery portion containing an antenna coupled to the portable radiotelephone transceiver. Since the battery contains the antenna within its housing, the antenna is detached from the transceiver when the battery is detached from the transceiver. A transmission line formed by a conductive surface of the transceiver, a conductive surface within the battery housing, and the housing itself reduce antenna efficiency losses when the portable radiotelephone is held in the user's hand.
FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a portable radiotelephone which may employ the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a view of the rear of the radiotelephone of FIG. 1 in the battery portion has been detached.
FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the battery portion which is detach from the radiotelephone of FIG. 1.
FIG. 4 is a diagram of the portable radiotelephone of FIG. 1 illustrating the electrical relationships of the battery portion to the transceiver portion of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a simplified diagram of a miniaturized, internally mounted broadband antenna which may employ the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a schematic representation of the simplified of FIG. 5.
FIG. 7 is a diagram of a miniaturized, internally mounted broadband antenna which may employ the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a frequency versus return loss graph of an antenna employing the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a schematic representation of an antenna and its associated reactive ground coupling which may be employed in the present invention.
A hand-held transceiver such as that shown in FIG. 1 is a portable radiotelephone transceiver 100 which may beneficially employ the present invention. Such a transceiver may be similar to that described in Instruction Manual 68P81071E55 "Dyna T*A*C* Cellular Portable Telephone" available from Motorola, Inc. Technical Writing Services, 1301 E. Algonquin Rd., Schaumburg, Ill. A cellular portable radiotelephone of this nature generally is equipped with an external antenna to enable radio transmission and reception. This antenna typically can be unscrewed and removed from a connector on the top surface of the radio telephone transceiver 100.
Portable cellular telephones also generally have a detachable battery portion 102 so that a freshly charged battery may be attached to the portable telephone transceiver 100 while a discharged battery can be placed into an external charger (not shown) for recharging. Additionally, a portable transceiver similar to that of FIG. 1 may be connected to an appropriate mating part in a vehicle (when the battery portion 102 is detached) to obtain power from the vehicle and to make use of a vehicularly mounted antenna. To do so requires that there be connections for both external power and antenna within the transceiver 100. Such connections are shown in FIG. 2.
A rear elevation view of the portable transceiver 100 of FIG. 1 is shown in FIG. 2 with the battery portion 102 detached from the transceiver 100. In. FIG. 2 the removable antenna has been removed, exposing the external antenna connector 203. In this view with the battery portion 102 removed, power connectors 205 and 207, internal antenna connector 209, and control connector 211 are exposed.
The battery portion 102, removed from the transceiver 100, is shown in FIG. 3 (with the outer surface cover separated from the rest of the battery portion). In the preferred embodiment, the battery comprises six electrochemical battery cells 301 (which may be connected in conventional form to provide power for the radio transceiver 100). Additionally, the battery cells 301 are enclosed in a part of a housing compartment 302 which may be constructed of plastic or similar non-conductive material having low dielectric loss which, in turn, may be partially covered with a conductive material on its inner surfaces. The remaining part of the battery housing may be dedicated to an antenna area 303 located in the top part of the battery portion 102 in the preferred embodiment. The metallization of the inner surfaces of the battery housing surrounding antenna portion 303 is electrically common with the metallization of the housing enclosing the battery cells 301 in the preferred embodiment. Additional metallization on the outer surface cover is not shown but may be utilized in the present invention.
One important aspect of the present invention is the decoupling of the grounded surfaces of the transceiver 100 and the antenna. A simplified representation of the ground portion of the transceiver 100 and the battery portion 102 is shown in the diagram of FIG. 4. An effective ground is realized at the bottom end of the transceiver 100 and the battery portion 102 where the negative terminal 205 of the transceiver connects to battery cells 301'. A connection between the metallized part 403 of the battery portion 102 and the conductive part 405 of the transceiver 100 is made at this ground point.
Between the battery portion metallized part 403 and the transceiver conductive part 405 there exists the plastic housing material 409 of the battery portion 102 and the plastic housing material 411 of the transceiver 100. There is also an air gap 413 at least between the plastic material 409 and the plastic material 411. This structure can be considered a transmission line at the frequency of operation of the transceiver, in which the plastic materials 409 and 411 and the air gap 413 form the composite dielectric between two conductive planes (formed by metallized part 403 and conductive part 405). In the preferred embodiment, where the dielectric constant of the plastic is ε.sub.r1 =2.4, the effective length of the "transmission line" is determined by the physical wavelength (λ.sub.g) at the frequency of operation (800-900 MHz) in the composite dielectric: ##EQU1## where d.sub.2 is the thickness of air gap 413, d.sub.1 is the thickness of material 409, and d.sub.3 is the thickness of material 411. Therefore, λ.sub.g /2=12.55 cm. In a transceiver having a total length of approximately 19 cm, this places a virtual short circuit at approximately the top part of the battery cell compartment 302 and an open circuit at the top of the antenna area 303. Since this "transmission line" is loaded with the plastic dielectric, the electric fields are localized between the two conductors and little energy is radiated from it. Hence not much antenna efficiency is lost when the transceiver/battery combination is held in the hand.
The effective open circuit of the "transmission line" close to the antenna area 303 enables the utilization of a reactive ground antenna feed. The antenna of the preferred embodiment, then, is a reactive ground feed, two coupled resonators, foreshortened quarterwave microstrip antenna with air dielectric and deformed ground plane. This unique antenna and ground configuration produces an omnidirectional radiation pattern. In the preferred embodiment of a hand-held radiotelephone operating between 800 and 900 MHz, a physically small antenna size is realized for a given return loss bandwidth.
A simplified version of the unique antenna of the present invention is described first in association with the physical representation of FIG. 5 and its equivalent circuit diagram of FIG. 6. A conductive surface 501 in FIG. 5 has two structures 503 and 505 suspended above the conductive surface 501. Structure 503 and structure 505 have different dimensions and, in combination with surface 501, form two microstrip transmission line resonators which are resonant at two separate frequencies. (In the preferred embodiment, the frequencies are 826 MHz and 904 MHz with a total 2:1 VSWR bandwidth of 100 MHz). Structure 503 is connected to surface 501 by means of a tab 507. Likewise, structure 505 is connected to surface 501 by means of a tab 509. At the frequencies of interest, tabs 507 and 509 may be modeled as series inductances.
Essentially between structures 503 and 505, a non-conductive notch 511 is cut in surface 501. It is well known that interruptions of predetermined dimensions in otherwise conductive surfaces will produce reactances to radio frequency signals and can be used as transmission lines. In the antenna of the present invention, a signal source 513 (having an internal resistance 515 and a feedline inductance 517) is connected to appropriate two-point connection points 519 and 521 on either side of notch 511. In general, there is a distance represented by a between connection point 519 and the edge of conductive surface 501 and a distance represented by a' between connection point 521 and the edge of conductive surface 501. There is also a distance (d+d') defining a path on conductive surface 501 between connection point 519 and 521 and notch end 522. There is another pair of distances (b and b') which define a path on surface 501 between the open end of notch 511 and the area of electrical connection of tab 507 and 509, respectively, to surface 501. Each pair of these distances can be analyzed as a transmission line.
Thus, a reactive ground feed for the antenna of the present invention can be defined by paths a→a', b→b', and d→d'. The antenna itself consists of the open circuit structures 503 and 505 which have paths c and c' respectively. These paths represent transmission line dimensions between the structures 503 and 505 and the conductive surface 501 which radiate as antennas. (It should be noted that an antenna is a reciprocal device which can transmit energy or receive energy. The term radiation, while implying transmission of energy by electromagnetic radiation, should also imply the capability of reciprocally receiving energy from electromagnetic radiation). The structures 503 and 505 also create a transmission line between themselves which may radiate at a frequency determined by the dimensions of the structures 503, 505 and the reactive notch length. In the preferred embodiment, this frequency is substantially below the two frequencies of interest; therefore, the interstructure 503-505 transmission line merely presents an effective impedance to the antenna.
The structures 503 and 505 may be capacitively loaded to the conductive surface 501 (as represented by capacitor 523 and capacitor 525, respectively). The primary focus of radiation from each resonator occurs a these capacitors. A capacitance 527 is also created between structures 503 and 505. Capacitor 527 is reflected back to the input of each structure as a shunt impedance.
Referring now to FIG. 6, the equivalent circuit for the physical structures of FIG. 5 can be related. Signal source 513 and its associated internal resistance feed a transmission line which is connected via series inductance 517 to connection points 519 and 521. Paths a→a' and b→b' may be modeled as sections of transmission lines as shown. Path d→d' is modeled as a shorted transmission line, which has the effect of placing a shunt inductance across feed connection points 519, 521. Structure 503 is connected to the connection point 519 via inductance 507 and paths b and a and is modeled as a radiating transmission line 601 formed between dimension c and the conductive surface 501. Similarly, structure 505 is connected to connection point 521 via inductance 509 and paths b' and a' and is modeled as a radiating transmission line 603 formed between dimension c' and the conductive surface 501. (Radiation resistance is shown as resistors 609 and 611). The transmission line between structures 501 and 503 is modeled as transmission line 607 between dimensions c and c' and terminating in capacitance 527.
The implementation of the antenna of the present invention in a cellular portable telephone battery is shown in the exploded view of FIG. 7. The conductive surface corresponding to conductive surface 501 is the deformed ground plate bracket 701, fabricated from high conductivity sheet metal which is contoured to the inner surface of the battery portion 102. This bracket 701 is roughly "L" shaped with a foot portion 703 and a leg portion 705. The leg portion 705 has a notch 711 which corresponds to the notch 511 of the simplified conductive surface 501. Tabs 707 and 709, which connect between the reactive ground feed and the resonant structures, are elevated portions of the bracket 701 and correspond to tabs 507 and 509 of the simplified version of FIG. 5.
A coaxial cable 710 is attached at one end to opposite sides of the notch 711 and connected, at the other end, to a coaxial connector 713 which mates with connector 209 of transceiver 100. This coaxial connection provides antenna input to the receiver of transceiver 100 and antenna output of the transmitter of transceiver 100. The coaxial cable 710 center conductor forms an inductor portion 717 (corresponding to inductor 517 of the model) which is connected to one side of notch 711 at connection point 719. The shielded portion of coaxial cable 710 is connected to the opposite side of notch 711 at connection point 721. In this fashion, the reactive ground feed of the present invention is realized in the battery portion of a portable transceiver.
The realization of structures 503 and 505 of FIG. 5 in the preferred embodiment is achieved as copper foil traces on a single sided glass epoxy printed circuit board 731. A copper foil trace 733 (corresponding to structure 503) is constructed so that it will be resonant at the transmit frequency band. (In the preferred embodiment, the transmit frequency band is approximately between 820 MHz and 845 MHz. The copper foil trace, therefore, is 4.2 cm. long, 0.9 cm. wide, and 0.05 mm. thick on FR4 material). A second copper foil trace 735 (corresponding to structure 505) is constructed so that it will be resonant at the receive frequency band. (In the preferred embodiment the receive frequency band is approximately between 870 MHz and 895 MHz. The copper foil trace is 4.2 cm. long, 0.9 cm. wide, and 0.05 mm thick). At the open circuit end of the traces 733 and 735, conductive end flaps 737 and 739, respectively, are coupled to the traces and provide capacitive loading between the open circuit end of traces 733 and 735 and the grounded foot 703 of bracket 701. In this way, the capacitors 523 and 525 are realized. Radiation of the antenna is produced by the displacement current in one or the other capacitor 523 or 525 thereby providing polarization orthogonal to the gap. Thus, the radiation pattern of the antenna of the present invention is similar to that of a single resonator quarter wave antenna with a loading gap capacitor.
It is possible to adjust the antenna for minimum return loss by sliding end flaps 737 and 739 along the associated copper foil traces prior to the securing of the end flaps 737 and 739 to the traces during assembly. The lower frequency resonator 733 is loaded with an inductive notch 741 to make the gap between the end flaps 737 and 739 and the foot 703 essentially equal. In so doing, the radiation characteristics of each resonant foil trace are made similar. The spacing between the two foils 733 and 735, the thickness of the circuit board 731, and the spacing of the battery portion plastic cover determine the coupling between the resonators and thereby determine the minimum return loss between the return loss maxima 801 and 803 in FIG. 8. Since there is an optimum trace coupling and feed coax location combination for the widest return loss bandwidth, the best compromise thickness of the circuit board is between 0.05 and 0.1 cm.
The lower portion of the battery housing forms the antenna ground configuration. The construction of the unique combined antenna and battery can be apprehended from FIG. 3. In this view, the conductive metallization of the battery portion 102 is shown as a conductive strip 1001 extending the length of the battery compartment. In the preferred embodiment, this conductive strip 1001 is made of a thin copper strip adhesively attached to the battery cells 301. The conductive strip is connected to the foot 703 of the bracket 701 via a metallized portion of plastic 1003.
The ground configuration of the present invention is modeled in the diagram of FIG. 9. As described previously, a gap between the transceiver 100 and the battery portion 102 form a transmission line resulting in a virtual short circuit at or near the top of the battery compartment. This virtual short circuit is modeled as a short circuit 901 across a transmission line 903. Transmission line 903 is that which is formed between the transceiver conductive part 405 and the battery portion metallized part 403. For purposes of analysis, the battery portion metallized part 403 includes the deformed ground plate bracket 701 up to but not including the portions on either side of the notch 711. The portions on either side of the notch 711 form two separate transmission lines 905 and 907 which independently decouple the feed points 719 and 721 (519 and 521 in the model) from the transceiver conductive part 405.
In summary, then, a combined battery and antenna for a portable radiotelephone has been shown and described. Since the antenna is wholly contained within the housing of the battery, it is protected from damage and is detached from the transceiver when the battery is detached. Further, since the metallization of the battery housing is separated from the conductive chassis of the transceiver by the nonconductive housings of the battery and transceiver, a transmission line may be created. This transmission line is short circuited at the battery contacts to the transceiver thus producing an open circuit near the antenna feed point at the top of the portable radiotelephone and a virtual short circuit near the capacitive loading of the antenna resonators. Therefore, while a particular embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, it should be understood that the invention is not limited thereto since modifications unrelated to the true spirit and scope of the invention may be made by those skilled in the art. It is therefore contemplated to cover the present invention and any and all such modifications by the claims of the present invention. | <urn:uuid:5f8f2e90-6d90-44d7-a39c-0145106fdc94> | 2013-05-21T10:28:12Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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US 6855489 B1
Systems and methods treat plasma carrying contaminants and cellular matter that are capable of entraining contaminants. The systems and methods separate cellular matter from the plasma by filtration, thereby removing contaminants entrained within the cellular matter. The system and methods add to the plasma a photoactive material. The systems and methods emit radiation at a selected wavelength into the plasma to activate the photoactive material and thereby eradicate the contaminant that is free of entrainment by cellular matter.
1. A kit comprising
tubing adapted to be coupled to a blood constituent source to convey blood constituent,
a source of photoactive material to be mixed with the blood constituent,
a transfer container coupled to the tubing, the transfer container including a wall made of a material that is transparent to light that activates the photoactive material, and
a removable overwrap separate from the wall of the container, the overwrap enveloping the source of photoactive material within the kit said overwrap including a light filtering material that is not transparent to light in the activating spectrum for said photoactive material thereby preventing degradation of the photoactive material prior to removal of the overwrap.
2. A kit according to
wherein the photoactive material includes methylene blue.
3. A kit according to
wherein the light filtering material includes a blue material.
4. A kit according to
wherein the blue material includes phtalocyanine pigments.
5. A kit according to
wherein the photoactive material includes psoralen.
6. A kit according to
wherein the light filtering material includes a red material.
7. A kit according to
wherein the overwrap envelops the entire kit.
8. A kit according to
wherein the tubing includes a first filtration media to separate a first cellular blood species from the blood constituent conveyed from the blood constituent source, and
wherein the tubing also includes a second filtration media in series with the first filtration media to second cellular blood species from the blood constituent conveyed from the blood constituent source, to thereby produce a filtered blood constituent that is essentially free of the first and second cellular blood species.
This application is a division of application Ser. No. 08/742,572 filed Oct. 28, 1996 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,190,855.
The invention generally relates to the eradication of contaminants using photodynamic therapy. The invention also generally relates to the processing of whole blood and its components for storage and transfusion. In a more specific sense, the invention relates to the extracorporeal treatment of collected whole blood and its components with photoactive materials to eradicate viruses and other pathogenic contaminants.
With the coming of blood component therapy, most whole blood collected today is separated into its clinically proven components for storage and administration. The clinically proven components of whole blood include red blood cells, used to treat chronic anemia; platelet-poor plasma, from which Clotting Factor VIII-rich cryoprecipitate can be obtained for the treatment of hemophilia; and concentrations of platelets, used to control thrombocytopenic bleeding.
It is well known that blood can carry infectious agents like hepatitis-B virus; the human immunodeficiency (AIDS) virus; the Herpes virus; and the influenza virus. To avoid the transmission of these infectious agents during blood transfusions, donors of blood are routinely screened and also undergo serologic testing to detect the presence of these agents. Still, it is difficult to always assure that these infectious agents are detected.
The use of photodynamic therapy has been suggested as a way to eradicate infectious agents from collected blood and its components. Still, there has been a general lack of success in economically adapting the benefits of photodynamic therapy to the demands of the blood banking industry. One reason for this is that not all biological contaminants are carried free within the blood where they can be readily coupled to photoactive agents. Some biological contaminants are entrained on or within white blood cells out of the reach of photoactive agents.
For this and other reasons, the promise of photodynamic therapy in treating the nation's banked blood supply has gone largely unfulfilled.
The invention provides improved systems and methods for treating blood constituents to adventitious viral agents.
One aspect of the invention provides systems and methods which remove viral agents from plasma. The systems and methods remove from the plasma targeted cellular matter that does or might entrain viral agents. In a preferred embodiment, the targeted cellular matter includes leukocytes. The system and methods add to the plasma a photoactive material, which binds to viral agents that are free of entrainment by the targeted cellular matter. Radiation emitted at a selected wavelength into the plasma activates the photoactive material and thereby eradicates the free viral agents.
In a preferred embodiment, a system for treating plasma comprises tubing adapted to be coupled a plasma source, and a filter in the tubing to separate cellular matter from the plasma conveyed from the source. The system includes a transfer container coupled to the tubing to receive cellular matter-reduced plasma from the filter, and a source of photoactive material to be mixed with the plasma. In this embodiment, the tubing includes a path to vent air from the transfer container in a path that bypasses the filter.
In a preferred embodiment, systems and methods remove viral agents entrained within the cellular matter by conveying plasma in a first path through a filter. The systems and methods convey the cellular matter-reduced plasma from the filter in a second path, which includes a connected transfer container. The systems and methods mix the cellular matter-reduced plasma with a photoactive material within the transfer container, forming a plasma mixture.
In this embodiment, the systems and methods convey a portion of the plasma mixture from the transfer container in a flush path, which includes the second path, to thereby expose residual contaminants in the second path to the photoactive material. The systems and methods then separate the transfer container from the filter by severing the second path. After severance from the filter, a remnant of the second path remains attached to the transfer container. However, due to the prior flushing step, all contaminants in the attached second path remnant have been exposed to the photoactive material. Subsequent radiation of the transfer container thereby eradicates contaminants, which are free of entrainment by cellular matter, both within the transfer container and the attached second path remnant.
In a preferred embodiment, the flush path by passes the filter and also provides a path to vent air from the transfer container.
Another aspect of the invention provides systems and methods for treating plasma using multistage filtration, which targets for removal different species of cellular matter. The systems and methods separate a first species of cellular matter by filtration through a first filter media, thereby removing contaminants entrained within the first species of cellular matter. The systems and methods separating a second species of cellular matter by filtration through a second filter media, thereby removing contaminants entrained within the second species of cellular matter. The systems and methods add to the plasma a photoactive material and emit radiation at a selected wavelength into the plasma to activate the photoactive material, thereby eradicating the contaminant that is free of entrainment by cellular matter. In a preferred embodiment, the first filtration media targets leukocytes for removal, while the second filtration media targets platelets for removal.
Another aspect of the invention provides a kit that envelopes photoactive material in an overwrap that includes a light filtering material. The light filtering material absorbs light that activates the photoactive material. The presence of the light filtering material in the overwrap protects the photoactive material from photo-degradation due to absorption of ambient light during handling and storage prior to use.
In a preferred embodiment, the photoactive material within the kit includes methylene blue. In this embodiment, the light filtering material includes a blue material having phtalocyanine pigments.
In a preferred embodiment, the photoactive material is contained in liquid form within the kit. In this embodiment, the overwrap also includes material that reduces liquid vapor loss from the kit.
Other features and advantages of the invention will be pointed out in, or will be apparent from, the drawings, specification and claims that follow.
The invention is not limited to the details of the construction and the arrangements of parts set forth in the following description or shown in the drawings. The invention can be practiced in other embodiments and in various other ways. The terminology and phrases are used for description and should not be regarded as limiting.
The kit 300 includes a processing and storage container 302, which carries an integrally attached length of flexible transfer tubing 304. In the illustrated embodiment, the transfer tubing 304 is made from medical grade plasticized polyvinyl chloride plastic. However, other flexible medical grade plastic materials can be used.
The transfer tubing 304 includes an integrally attached in-line filter 306. The filter 306 includes a filter media 307 (see
The pore size of the filter media 307 can be tailored to remove by exclusion all or some species of cellular matter found in plasma, depending upon the extent to which viral agents sought to be eliminated are entrained by the different cellular species. In the illustrated embodiment, the principal cellular species targets of the filter 306 are leukocytes, for it is known that leukocytes entrain many viral agents. With this objective in mind, the filter media 307 comprises a non-fibrous membrane having a pore size smaller than the size of leukocytes, to thereby remove leukocytes by exclusion. In the illustrated embodiment, the media 307 also includes a prefilter material, which removes fibrin clots and other large size aggregates from the plasma.
The composition of the membrane for the media 307 can vary. For examples, hydrophilic membranes made from nylon, acrylic copolymers, polysulfone, polyvinylidene fluoride, mixed cellulose esters, and cellulose ester can be used to remove leukocytes by exclusion. Non-hydrophilic membranes can also be treated to serve as a membrane for the filter media 307. Likewise, the composition of the prefilter for the media 307 can vary. For example, the prefilter can comprise fibers of glass or polyester. Material selection takes into account customer preferences, performance objectives, and manufacturing requirements, including sterilization techniques.
In the illustrated and preferred embodiment, (see FIG. 5), the filter media 307 includes three filter media layers 342, 344, and 346. The first filter media layer 342 comprises USP Grade VI glass fiber or the equivalent. The second and third filter media layers 344 and 346 comprise polyethersulfone (PES) membranes, which remove leukocytes by exclusion. The second and third filter media layers 344 and 346 possess pore sizes which are approximately 10 fold smaller than the size of leukocytes and which decrease in the direction of flow. The second filter media layer 344 has a pore size in the range of about 0.9 μm to about 2.0 μm, with an average pore size of about 1.2 μm. The third filter media layer 346 has a smaller pore size in the range of about 0.3 μm to about 1.5 μm, with an average pores size of about 0.8 μm. The second and third filter media layers 344 and 346 also incidently remove red blood cells by exclusion.
The filter media 307 should preferably be capable of filtering 310 ml of plasma, suspended at a head height of 3 feet, in 20 minutes.
The housing part 348A includes an inlet 350, which, in use, conveys plasma and leukocytes into contact with the prefilter layer 342. The axis 351 of the inlet 350 is generally parallel to the plane of the layer 342 to uniformly perfuse plasma across the entire prefilter layer 342.
The housing part 348B includes an outlet 352, which conveys leukocyte-reduced plasma from the second and third PES filter layers 344 and 346. As
Referring back to
The far end of the transfer tubing 304 carries an air pillow 310. The air pillow 310 prevents collapse of the tubing 304 and 308 caused by pressure differentials during steam sterilization of the kit 300.
The transfer tubing 304 further includes a conventional in-line frangible cannula 312 between the filter outlet 352 and the processing and storage container 302. The cannula 312 normally closes fluid the transfer tubing 304 to fluid flow.
The cannula 312 can be constructed in various ways. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,181,140 and 4,294,247 disclose representative constructions for the cannula 312, which are incorporated herein by reference. Alternatively, an external roller clamp or C-clamp of conventional construction could be used for the same purpose.
The branch tubing 308 includes a conventional in-line one-way valve 314. The valve 314 prevents fluid flow through the branch tubing 308 in the direction of the processing and storage container 302, while permitting fluid flow in the opposite direction away from the processing and storage container 302. For redundancy, the branch tubing 308 also includes an external roller clamp or C-clamp 328. The C-clamp 318 normally closes the tubing 308 between the one-way valve 314 and the processing and storage container 302.
The processing and storage container 302 can be constructed in various ways. In the illustrated and preferred embodiment, the container 302 includes an interior chamber 320. The transfer tubing 304 communicates with the chamber 320 for conveying plasma into the chamber 320. In a preferred implementation, the chamber 320 is capable of holding between 235 to 310 mL of plasma. A normally sealed outlet port 360 also communicates with the chamber 320. The port 360 is opened when it is time to remove plasma from the chamber 320.
The chamber 320 holds a photoactive material 326. The photoactive material 326 mixes with the plasma introduced into the chamber 320. The photoactive material 320 binds to extracellular viruses that plasma introduced into the chamber 326 may carry. When exposed to light energy in a particular spectrum, the photoactive material 326 inactivates the nucleic acids of the bound viruses, rendering them nonviable.
In the illustrated and preferred embodiment, the photoactive material 326 comprises 10 mL of liquid solution containing 83 micrograms of methylene blue in water at pH 3.1, without buffers or other additives. Methylene blue, a thiazine dye, possesses the ability to bind to nucleic acids with high affinity, targeting the viruses for destruction upon exposure to a particular spectrum of light energy. Methylene blue absorbs light in the 660 nm region of the visible spectrum, which is the spectrum region where plasma is most transparent. Methylene blue inactivates a broad range of viruses, such as HIV, human hepatitis B (HBV), human hepatitis C(HCV), and Parvo virus B19, with minimal loss of therapeutic plasma proteins.
The mixture of plasma and photoactive material 326 is irradiation by light within the chamber 320 as part of a viral inactivation process. The container 302 is therefore made of a material that is substantially transparent to the applied light energy. The material for the container 302 is also adapted to withstand contemplated storage conditions for the plasma.
In the illustrated and preferred embodiment, the applied light energy is in the white light spectrum (400 to 700 nm). The container 302 is therefore made of a plastic, poly(ethylene vinyl acetate) material. This material is transparent to white light and is also resistant to the cold temperatures at which frozen plasma is stored. This material is commercially available and is made and sold, for example, by Baxter Healthcare Corporation under the trademark PL-732® Plastic.
The container 302 also includes a flap 322, which extends below the chamber 320. The flap 322 carries a printed label 324 having identifying indicia. The flap 322 keeps the label 324 away from the chamber 320, where it could block or impede the irradiating light.
The container 302 also serves after the viral inactivation process to store the viral inactivated plasma at temperatures below −30° C., following standard blood banking procedures.
Further details of container 302 are found in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/121,820, filed Sep. 15, 1993, and entitled “Container for Irradiation of Blood Products.”
To minimize evaporation of the liquid photoactive material 326 from the container 302 prior to use, the envelope 328 includes a material 332 possessing a relatively low water vapor transmission rate (WVTR). In the illustrated and preferred embodiment, the targeted WVTR is about 0.020 g−1 at 25° C. and 60% relative humidity.
The particular composition of the water vapor barrier material 332 can vary. In the illustrated and preferred embodiment, the water vapor barrier material 332 comprises an oriented polypropylene material having a thickness of 25 μm.
To prevent degradation of the photoactive material 326 prior to use, the envelope also includes a light filtering material 330 possessing the ability to absorb ambient light energy in the spectrum that activates the photoactive material 326. It has been discovered that, during storage and handling prior to use, the photoactive material 326 absorbs from ambient visible light (400 nm to 700 nm) the spectrum that initiates photoactivation. The incidental absorption of ambient visible light by photoactive material 326 initiates a photoreduction process, creating byproducts that are either partially or completely ineffective for viral inactivation.
For example, exposure of methylene blue to visible ambient light (whose emission spectrum includes the 660 nm region) converts the methylene blue into colorless leucomethylene blue. The leucomethylene blue photoreduction byproduct is not effective in inactivating viruses.
The particular composition of the light filtering material 330 will vary according to the light sensitivity spectrum of the particular photoactive material 326 used. In the illustrated and preferred embodiment, the light filtering material 330 comprises a blue die of phtalocyanine pigments. The blue die material 326 transmits not more than 1% of light in the range of 600 nm to 700 nm, which is the spectrum in which methylene blue is activated.
Each laminated sheet S1 and S2 also preferably includes as another exterior layer a material 334 that flows in response to heat. The presence of the material 334 makes it possible to heat seal the two sheets S1 and S2 together, forming the envelope 328.
The particular composition of the heat flowing material 334 can vary. In the illustrated and preferred embodiment, the material 334 comprises a cast polypropylene material having a thickness of about 25 μm. The heat flowing material 334 can be attached to the layer 332, for example, by a polyurethane-polyester resin-epoxy.
Laminated sheets S1 and S2 as described, with the layers 330, 332, and 334 and suited for use as the overwrap envelope 328, can be purchased from Hosokawa Yoko Co., LTD. (Japan). The sheet material from this company has a weight of 50 g/m2 and density 1.0 g/cm3.
The envelope 328 is created by laying the sheets S1 and S2 of the overwrap laminate together (as
Despite the presence of the light filtering material 330, the overwrap envelope 328 as above described nevertheless retains sufficient transparency to other visible light spectrums to allow visual inspection of the contents of the overwrap envelope 328, for quality control or customer inspection purposes.
The overwrap envelope 328, including an appropriate light filtering material 330 as just described, can be used in association with other containers or in other systems which hold liquids or other materials sensitive to ambient light degradation. For example, photoactive materials 326 activated in different spectrum regions will require accordingly different light filtering material 330, For example, 4′-(4-Amino-2-oxa)butyl-4,5′8-trimethylpsoralen (S-59) is a photoactive material usable in conjunction with platelet-containing blood suspensions. S-59 is activated by ultraviolet-A light and can undergo intramolecular reactions when exposed to ambient UV-A and short wavelength regions of visible light. To protect against such degradation of S-59 material, the light filtering material 330 can comprise a UV-A absorbent red die.
For another example, as
The overwrap envelope 328 (or 364 in the
Known sterile connection mechanisms (not shown) like that shown in Spencer U.S. Pat. No. 4,412,835 can be used for connecting the container 338 to the transfer tubing 304. These mechanisms form a molten seal between tubing ends, which, once cooled, forms a sterile weld 340. The air pillow 310 is discarded after sterile connection between the source container 338 and the transfer tubing 304 is made.
It has been observed that the triple layer membrane filter 306 described above provides plasma having a leukocyte level that is below the limit of flow cytometer detection (i.e., less than about one leukocyte per μL). The actual residual level of leukocytes in the plasma after filtration by the filter 306 is estimated not to exceed an average theoretical level of 0.004 leukocyte per μL. Based upon an initial leukocyte level of 0.79×108 per L, the leukocyte reduction percentage of the filter 306 is estimated to be about 99.99% (log reduction≧4.0).
The methylene blue photoactive material 326 is mixed with the leukocyte-reduced plasma within the container 302 by manual inversion.
After air venting and flushing, as just described, the tubing 305 next to the container 302 is sealed closed using, for example, a dielectric tube sealer. As
The container 302 holding the methylene blue and leukocyte-reduced plasma, and carrying a remnant of the tubing section 305, is placed into a white light chamber 356 (see FIG. 9). The chamber 356 comprises twelve fluorescent lamps 358, which supply output in the visible range (400 to 700 nm) to both sides of the container 302. The chamber 356 monitors the light intensity adjusts exposure time to control total light dosage delivered to the container 306. The light activates the methylene blue to release singlet oxygen, which inactivates viruses in the plasma. The approximate time of illumination to deliver a targeted dose of 3.3 J per cm3 is 30 minutes. Further details of a light chamber can be found in Wolf et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,290,221 and Bischof et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,300,019.
After the illumination step, the leukocyte-reduced plasma is frozen within the container 302 at less than −30° C. for storage using conventional blood bank practices. The plasma within the container 302 is thawed when fractionation or transfusion is required.
In the illustrated embodiment (see FIG. 1), the kit 300 includes written instructions 374 for using the kit for its intended purpose. The instructions 374 direct the technician to handle the kit in a prescribed way to best accomplish the desired therapeutic objectives, as set forth in the preceding description and shown in
The instructions 374 may take various forms. Representative instructions 374 direct the technician, upon removal of the overwrap 328, to convey plasma through the tubing 304 from the source 338 through the filter 306 to separate leukocytes from the plasma. The representative instructions 374 also direct the technician to convey leukocyte-reduced plasma through the tubing 304 from the filter 306 to the transfer container 302. The representative instructions 374 also instruct the technician to mix the photoactivated material 326 with the plasma and to expose leukocyte-reduced plasma mixed with the photoactive material 326 to light that activates the photoactive material 326. The representative instructions 374 also direct the technician to store the plasma in the container 302 after the photoactivation process.
The instructions 374 can, of course, include further details based upon the particular configuration of the kit 300. For example, in the context of the kit 300 shown in
A study was conducted to demonstrate the ability of the kit 300 when used in accordance with the instructions 374 to inactivate viruses under intended use conditions. In the study, a maximum plasma volume of 310 mL was employed to provide the lowest concentration of methylene blue and the greatest fluid thickness to be illuminated. In addition, the nominal targeted light dose of 33 J/cm2 was reduced to 24 or 30 J/cm2 to further stress the study conditions.
Plasma was collected from CPD anticoagulated whole blood units following routine blood bank procedures, yielding plasma that is essentially free of red blood cells. The plasma was not frozen prior to treatment during the study.
A panel of viruses was selected to represent the most significant agents that can contaminate fresh frozen plasma and to represent a broad spectrum of physical/chemical forms of viruses (i.e., lipid enveloped and non-lipid enveloped RNA and DNA viruses, as well as intra-cellular viruses). The panel included the following viruses: BVDV (strain Singer); HIV Type 1 (HIV-1, strain III8); human herpes simplex virus Type 1 (HSV-1, strain MacIntyre); pseudorabies virus (PRV, strain Aujeszky); simian virus Type 40 (SV-40, strain Pa-57); duck hepatitis B DHBV; and cell associated HIV (H-9/HIV, HIV III8 chronically infected H-9 cells).
These viruses were added to units of plasma before treatment in physiologically representative concentrations. A process control comprising an aliquot of virus-spiked plasma, was collected from each unit prior to processing in the kit 300. The process control served as the baseline value for the calculation of the virus load reduction, called the log reduction value (LRV). LRV represents either (i) the difference in log virus titers between the process control and the processed sample, or (ii) the difference in log virus titers between the process control and the validated sensitivity limit of the assay, if there was no recoverable virus (indicated by the use of the symbol “>” in the Table 1 below).
The virus panel and the log reduction values (LRV's) obtained by processing the plasma in the kit 300 in accordance with the instructions 374 are summarized in the following Table 1:
Table 1 demonstrates that use of the kit 300 is effective against small and large lipid enveloped viruses with either RNA or DNA genomes. Table 1 also demonstrates the capability of the kit 300 to inactivate certain non-enveloped viruses, which are not resistant to the virucidal action of methylene blue (for example, non-enveloped encephalomyocarditis virus (EMC) has demonstrated a resistance to the virucidal action of methylene blue).
The kit 300 provides more reliability and ease of use than the removal of leukocytes from plasma by lysing using conventional freeze-thaw processes. The kit 300 also provides greater removal of adventitious agents (i.e., viruses) than mere light inactivation (which does not remove intra-cellular agents) and/or bed-side filtering of plasma (which only removes fibrin clots, and not leukocytes).
However, the kit 300′ shown in
Instead, the far end of the tubing 304 in the kit 300′ is closed by a plug 372. The kit 300′ also includes an air reservoir 370 integrally connected to the tubing 304 by the Y-connector 316 between the filter 306 and the container 302.
The air reservoir 370 takes the place of the air pillow 310. Like the pillow 310, the reservoir 370 contains a residual amount of air to prevent collapse of the tubing 304 during steam sterilization. The reservoir 370 also serves as a chamber to receive vented air and residual plasma from the container 302 at the end of the filtration process.
More particularly, using the kit 300′, plasma from the source container 338 is passed for leukocyte reduction through the filter 306 and mixed with the photoactive material 326 in the container 320 in the same manner previously described and shown in FIG. 7.
In all other respects the process for handling the kit 300′ is the same as previously described with respect to the kit 300.
As described above in connection with the filter media 307, the pore size of the filter media 378 can be tailored to remove platelets from plasma by exclusion. It is believed that candidate materials for the media 307 formed with a pore size range of between 0.3 μm and 0.45 μcm (which is smaller than the pore size range of the media 307) will serve to remove platelets from plasma by exclusion.
The presence of the second, downstream media 378, having a smaller pore size than the first, upstream media 307, also provides added assurance that the cellular species targeted for removal by the first media 307 (i.e., leukocytes) will, in fact, be depleted or essentially depleted from the plasma. In this respect, the smaller pore size media 378 serves both a redundant function of removing leukocytes and an added second step function of removing the smaller platelet species.
It should be appreciated that the second filter media 378 can, instead of being separately housed as the filter 378, be integrated as another layer with the already multi-layer filter media 307.
In all other respects the process for handling the kit 300″ is the same as previously described with respect to the kit 300.
Features and advantages of the invention are set forth in the following claims. | <urn:uuid:1c9031db-73cd-43a5-8636-60eba33ffebc> | 2013-05-21T10:07:27Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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FIG. 1 is a top left perspective view of a helmet showing the new design;
FIG. 2 is a right side elevational view thereof, the left side being a mirror image;
FIG. 3 is a front end elevational view thereof;
FIG. 4 is a rear end elevational view thereof;
FIG. 5 is a top plan view thereof; and,
FIG. 6 is a bottom plan view thereof.
The broken line showing of interior structure is included for the purpose of illustrating environment and forms no part of the claimed design. | <urn:uuid:3b7928a6-5d9d-44ac-81c6-8cbdf728bbab> | 2013-05-21T10:07:18Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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US 4159944 A
An auxiliary process and method for use in wastewater treatment plants, modifying conventional primary and secondary treatment, to condition the effluent for use as agricultural irrigation water containing liquified fertilizer and soil amendment materials. Primary sludge and skimmed materials are comminuted and added to the volume of organic materials available for secondary treatment. A bacterial inoculum is added to accelerate the microbial reduction of biodegradable materials into a biomass of cells. The separated predominantly cellular secondary sludge is processed to rupture the cellular structure thus releasing the protoplasm to colloidal suspension. Combined with the mainflow of secondary clarified effluent, the resultant micro-particulate effluent is thereby conditioned for effective chelation treatment to remove heavy metal ions and for effective disinfection with reduced requirements for toxic reactants. The product is discharged as agricultural irrigation water containing, in solution, agricultural fertilizers as nitrogen, minerals, carbonaceous compounds and oxygen, plus ligno-cellulose soilbuilding materials. The heavy metals may be separated and recycled as a by-product.
1. In the processing of wastewater by primary and secondary treatments, which includes a biochemical reaction according to the activated sludge process wherein the wastewater is separated into a sludge component and a clarified effluent, the improvement for salvaging and recycling the valuable components thereof comprising: comminuting primary sludge separated from said primary treatment and adding the comminuted mass to the organic input for said secondary treatment, subjecting sludge separated from the biochemical reaction of said secondary treatment to sufficient pressure to substantially rupture all of the walls of cells in said sludge and discharge the contents of the cells as part of a colloidal suspension, combining said colloidal suspension with the clarified effluent, and contacting said clarified effluent and colloidal suspension with a metal chelating substrate to remove heavy metals therefrom.
2. The improvement in accordance with claim 1, wherein said pressure is at least about 3,000 PSIG.
3. The improvement in accordance with claim 2, wherein the sludge is subjected to a rapid pressure drop following the application of said pressure to accelerate the particles to cause further shattering by shearing and impact.
4. The improvement in accordance with claim 1, wherein said metal chelating substrate is water insoluble cross-linked starch xanthate.
5. The improvement in accordance with claim 1, wherein said metal chelating substrate is an anion exchange resin containing tertiary amine and quaternary ammonium groups.
6. The improvement in accordance with claim 1, wherein said pressure is sufficient to reduce particle size in said suspension to less than about one micron.
7. The improvement in accordance with claim 1, wherein said pressure is sufficient to substantially destroy biological life forms in the sludge to thereby facilitate any subsequent disinfection treatment of the sludge.
8. The improvement in accordance with claim 1, wherein the biochemical reaction utilized in said secondary treatment is accelerated and increased by adding an inoculating amount of heterotropic aerobic hydrolyzing and cell synthesizing micro-organisms to the organic material undergoing the biochemical reaction of secondary treatment.
9. The improvement in accordance with claim 1, wherein skimmed sludge from said primary treatment is comminuted and added to the organic input for said secondary treatment.
"The Federal Water Polution Control Amendments of 1972" (PL92-500) and other Federal public laws and regulations reflect the national objectives and public interest in reduction of environmental pollution. In particular this law establishes specific restrictions on discharge of pollutants into the nation's waters by 1985.
To meet the future requirements of law in regard to discharge of sewage wastewater effluents into public waters, it appears that costly tertiary treatment will be needed to remove substantially all solids prior to discharge of the clarified effluent. Additional costs will be incurred for disposal of the resulting sludges.
As wastewaters and most of their solids content are of potential value for irrigation, fertilization and soil conditioning, several studies have been published regarding these opportunities and the related problems.
An excellent review of this subject is the paper "Land Disposal . . . What's the Realistic View" by authors H. L. Michel, P. H. Gilbert and H. K. Cread, published in Water and Wastes Engineering, June 1974. This refers to a comprehensive study program completed for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers by PBQ&D, Inc., Engineers relative to the San Francisco Metropolitan Bay Area.
The potentials of this opportunity are evident from the data published for untreated combined municipal and industrial wastewaters. Expressed in volumes per 1,000,000 persons the daily wastewater flow includes approximately 175 million gallons containing 645 tons of solids including about 87.5 tons of nitrogen plus large quantities of other fertilizer nutrients and soil building materials. Substantial economic and ecologic value potentials are apparent particularly in situations where an urban metropolitan area is adjacent to a water deficit agricultural area. Agricultural fertilizer potential values are substantial. The nitrogen content is of special importance because natural gas is the principal resource used in its manufacture. For instance about 40,000 cubic feet of natural gas is required to manufacture one ton of fertilizer nitrogen, according to Commercial Fertilizers, May 1975, published by the Statistical Reporting Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The study referred to also shows that this typical wastewater flow also contains 3.6 mg/ml or over 5000 pounds each day of heavy metals, principally cadmium, copper, molybdenum, nickel and zinc. These metals are potentially toxic, can accumulate in the soil and can be taken up by growing plants.
Conventional primary and secondary treatment is effective in removing up to 90% of putrescrible and other suspended solids. The discharged effluent may then be used for agricultural irrigation; however, such use is limited by the fact that about 60% of gross heavy metals content of the raw wastewater influent is still present in the discharged effluent.
Such treatment produces substantial quantities of sludge as a by-product containing a large content of heavy metals. The opportunities and limitations regarding agricultural uses of sludge are summarized in the following reports published by the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST), Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa: "Utilization of Animal Manures and Sewage Sludges in Food and Fibre Production", Report 41, Feb. 1975, and "Application of Sewage Sludge to Croplands: Appraisal of Potential Hazards of the Heavy Metals to Plants and Animals", Report 64, Nov. 1976. Heavy metals pollution, particularly by cadmium, is a major limitation. Costs of transportation and incorporation into the ground are major considerations.
FIG. 1 is a flow sheet illustrating the conventional activated sludge process including the improved treatment provided by this invention.
FIG. 2 is a detailed view of a cell-rupturing apparatus useful in the process of this invention.
FIG. 3 is an illustration of the chelation aspect of the present invention.
The process and method used in conventional activated sludge sewage treatment plant is illustrated in FIG. 1.
Primary Treatment facilitates 1 for treatment of influent 2, raw wastewater, may include:
Screening 3--to separate pieces of wood, rags, wire, and other sizeable material. Processing may include:
Physical size reduction by grinding or shredding,
Wash-flushing of organic materials back to process stream,
Refuse solids are discharged at 4, typically 12 pounds dryweight per million gallons of influent 2.
Disposal is usually to landfill 5.
Grit Removal 6--to separate relatively heavy gritty materials, sand, ashes, glass and metals. Processing may include:
Efficient separation of solids,
Wash-flushing of organic materials back to process stream,
Refuse grit is discharged at 7, typically 900 pounds dryweight per million gallons of influent 2,
Disposal is usually to landfill 8.
Skimming 9--separation in a floatation tank of oil, grease, scum, floating fibrous trash, etc. Processing may include:
Grinding and dewatering,
Discharge at 10, typically is 230 pounds of dryweight solids per million gallons of influent 2, of which about 200 pounds is oil and grease,
Conventional disposal of residual solids to incineration or landfill 11 completes the process of wasting the potential values of these material resources.
Primary Sedimentation Tank 12 provides for gravity concentration of settleable solids. Primary sludge discharged at 13 contains 4-5% solids, mostly organic matter. Typically, 2500-3000 gallons of sludge is separated per million gallons of influent 2, this containing 1000-2000 pounds dryweight solids.
Secondary Treatment facilities 21 for further treatment of primary effluent 22 may include:
Aeration Tank 23, wherein air 24 is diffused into the recirculating effluent to stimulate microbial growth and proliferation thus converting biodegradable nutrients in solution into cellular biomass.
Secondary sedimentation tank 25 provides for gravity separation of activated sludge, part of which is recirculated 20 back to aeration tank 23 to sustain the biochemical reaction. Typical discharge at 26 is 4000 to 20,000 gallons of activated sludge per million gallons of influent 2, of which 700-900 pounds (.+-.11/2%) is dryweight solids.
A sludge thickener 27 may be employed in modern treatment plants to dewater this sludge to about 8-16% solids discharged as thickened secondary sludge at 29. The decanted liquid discharged at 30 may be recycled back to secondary effluent 28. Suitable dewatering devices, well known in the art are, for example, centrifuges, vacuum screen belt filters and pressure filters. If necessary, a supplemental dewatering device may be installed to reduce the water content of the secondary sludge discharged at 29, to facilitate subsequent processing according to the method of our invention.
A filter 31 is often included in modern treatment plants as the effluent discharged at 28 may contain up to 100 mg/ml of suspended solids. Preferably particulate matter larger than a few microns in size should be removed. This may be accomplished by use of a revolving microscreen filter and/or a multi-layer sandbed filter or other filter techniques well known in the art. The clarified effluent is discharged at 32 and the separated solids are recycled at 33 back to secondary sludge. If necessary a supplemental filter may be installed to reduce the particulate solids content of the effluent discharged at 32, to facilitate subsequent processing according to the method of our invention.
A disinfection unit 35 is often included in modern treatment plants. The clarified effluent discharged at 32 is usually conveyed via dotted line 34 to the disinfection unit wherein contact with a toxic agent, usually chlorine, is employed to reduce the level of viable pathogenic bacteria to levels prescribed for disposition, usually to waste 36. Alternatively, disinfected secondary effluent 36 may be used for irrigation under limited conditions. Only about 40% of the heavy metals present in raw wastewater influent 2 are removed in primary and secondary treatment operations.
Sludge Conditioning and Disposal: is a major cost item in all conventional wastewater treatment facilities. Usually the Primary sludge 13 and the Secondary sludge 29 are combined via dotted line 37 and discharged at 38 to further processing which may include:
Digestion and thickening,
Physical size reduction grinding,
Dewatering, drying, incineration,
Sludge lagoon digestion thickening or drying,
Dryland spreading or landfill disposal or discharge into oceans, rivers or lakes completes the process of wasting the potential values of these material resources.
Processing for discharge to Agricultural lands may include:
Digestion and drying in sludge lagoons,
Filtration and heat drying,
Composting, sometimes combined with other dry waste materials,
Digestion for wet sludge spreading or irrigation.
Only about 25% of total USA sludge production is applied to land and not all of this land is used for crops. Agricultural uses are subject to the limitation that heavy metals are concentrated in digested mixed sludges typically at levels about 300% dryweight basis above the levels in the raw wastewater influent 2. A further limitation is the fact that the nitrogen content of the raw organic materials in sludges is only slowly released to plant life in the soil--typically 15% during the first year following application.
This invention provides a method and process for adaptation of modern wastewater treatment plants for conditioning of raw sewage wastewater into agricultural irrigation water, liquid fertilizer and soil amendment materials.
A major object of this invention is to conserve and recycle energy, after allowance for process energy, equivalent to the energy that would otherwise be required for production and delivery of the equivalent volumes of water, liquid fertilizer and soilbuilding materials comprising the product produced by the method and process of our invention.
A major object of this invention is to conserve and recycle to useful agricultural purposes, the natural resource materials and water usually discharged as wastes in conventional sewage treatment operations.
A major object of this invention is to reduce the environmental damage inherent in current practices of discharging conventionally treated sewage wastewaters and sludges to public water resources and lands.
An object of this invention is to provide for comminution of oil and grease and other primary organic skimmings and to recycle such processed materials back to process flow as additional raw organic materials.
An object of this invention is to provide for comminution of primary sludges and to recycle such processed materials back to process flow as additional raw organic materials.
An object of this invention is to improve efficiency of biolytic conversion of the increased throughput of organic raw materials into a biomass of cells by periodic seeding of selected viable microorganisms into conventional secondary treatment aeration tank reactors adapted to the method and process of this invention.
An object of this invention is to rupture the biomass cells comprising the bulk of secondary sludge, thus to release their protoplasm to colloidal suspension.
An object of this invention is to rupture the cell structure and viability of microorganisms often present in secondary sludges including bacteria, fungi, algae, protozoa, rotifers and also eggs, worms and other life forms.
An object of this invention is to rupture the cell structure and viability of seeds and other viable forms of plant life often present in secondary sludges.
An object of this invention is to provide for effective and economical conditioning of sludge from secondary treatment operations into colloidal slurry form for suspension in clarified effluent from such secondary treatment.
An object of this invention is to provide a colloidal slurry in which the cellular structure of organic solids has been ruptured, thus increasing effectiveness of subsequent treatment to remove heavy metal ions.
An object of this invention is for recapture, as a useful by-product, the heavy metals separated by ion chelation treatment of the colloidal slurry.
An object of this invention is to provide a processed wastewater effluent in which the cellular structure of organic solids has been ruptured, thus increasing the effectiveness of subsequent disinfection treatment using a lesser quantity of chlorine, or other disinfection reactant, than would otherwise be required.
Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown schematically the auxiliary facilities 41 necessary to accomplish the objects of this invention, in combination with conventional primary treatment facilities 1 and secondary treatment facilities 21.
A comminutor 42 is employed to receive input raw organic materials discharged as skimming sludge at 10 and as primary sludge at 13. Suitable comminutor equipment for grinding sewage sludge is well known in the art, for instance: Hydraulic Sludge Disintegrator, available from BIF Sanitrol, a unit of General Signal Corp., Largo, Fla.; or, Fryma-Wastewater Mill MA, available from Neumunz, Inc., Leona, N.J.
An optional or supplemental hydraulic pressure-drop reactor may be used for comminution purposes, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,939,066 to William J. Bauer.
The comminuted sludge discharged at 43 is a free-flowing slurry with particulate matter reduced in size preferably to diameters of one millimeter or less. Such comminuted solids will more rapidly be decomposed and metabolized in the subsequent biochemical reaction. This slurry is added to the primary effluent 22 flow into aeration tank 23 thus substantially increasing the volume of organic materials available as nutrients for the aerobic cell synthesizing reaction therein.
It may be necessary to accelerate and increase the effectiveness of this biochemical reaction due to this increased volume of organic material. In such event, we prefer to add from batch tank 44 through control valve 45, an inoculating solution of heterotropic aerobic hydrolyzing and cell synthesizing microorganisms.
A crude concentrate of dehydrated bacteria may be used. This is a concentrate of bacteria grown on a nutrient substrate, attached to and harvested with the substrate residue. When dried, a concentration of about five billion viable microorganisms per gram is obtained. This is dispersed in water in the proportion of one pound per five gallons of warm water two hours prior to inoculum addition into aeration tank 23. About one pound of dried microorganisms is used per 4000 pounds of biodegradable organic material, typically 1.35 pounds per million gallons of influent 2. For large installations, the dried microorganisms can be extended 25 to 50 times by growing inoculum cultures in a suitable nutrient substrate solution, thus reducing the quantity of dried microorganisms required to less than 1 or 2 per million gallons of influent 2.
For example, microorganisms employed may include:
______________________________________Hydrolyzing microorganisms Synthesizing microorganisms______________________________________Bacillus Cereus Bacillus LicheniformisBacillus Megaterium Bacillus SubtilisBacillus Subtilis Bacillus CereusBacillus Polymyxa Bacillus MegateriumBacillus Macerans Serratia MarcescensAeromonas Proteolytica Cellulomonas SpArthrobacter Flavescens Micrococcus SpCellulomonas Biazotea Alcaligenes SpStreptomyces Cacoai Nocardia SpMicromonospora Chalcea Pseudomonas SpSerratia Marcescens Pseudomonas FluoreslensFungi Neurospora CrassaAspergillus Oryzae Streptomyces SpAspergillus Niger Saccharomyces Sp______________________________________
These microorganisms will hydrolyze and metabolize anionic and non-anionic detergents, cationic shampoos, fabric softeners, hair and paper cellulose fibers and other materials which are not effectively degraded by naturally occurring microorganisms present in sewage wastewaters. Such dried viable microorganisms are available from Bioferm International, Inc., 209 Chester Avenue, Morristown, N.J.
In the practice of this invention, an object is to produce in the secondary sludge a biomass of cells harvested near the top of the logarithmic growth curve for biochemical cell synthesizing solutions, prior to substantial biolysis of the predominant strains of bacteria seeded into solution from batch tank 44. This will avoid loss of valuable organic materials through biochemical decomposition to ash materials.
We have found that each pound of BOD input will produce 0.7 to 0.8 pounds of biomass (wet weight). Cells are .+-.82% water so dry weight is about 13.5 pounds per 100 pounds of BOD. Dry weight constituents include approximately 45% amino acid proteins, 42% carbohydrates, 6% lipids (fats) plus minerals. Equivalent nitrogen content is about 7% as proteinaceous nitrogen.
Biochemical reactions to this stage can be completed in somewhat less time than for usual aeration tank processing. This factor plus the accelerated reaction resulting from optional addition of inoculating microorganisms provides added flexibility in adaptation of existing waste treatment plants to aeration tank processing of practically all organic materials present in influent 2, a unique feature of our invention.
Cell rupture device 46 has the capacity to rupture the cell structure of organic solids in solution by such thorough mixing action that all parts are made to correspond in structure. Such machines are well known in the art and are usually employed in the chemical industries for dispersal of solids in fluid solutions and for preparation of emulsions.
Suitable cell rupture machines are available from the Gaulin Corporation, Everett, Mass. FIG. 2 illustrates the principle of operation. A reciprocating pump is employed to bring the sludge 51 to hydraulic pressures preferably in the range 3,000 to 10,000 PSIG. Flow movement of the pressurized sludge through valve seat 52 forces open a pre-loaded adjustable valve 53. The sludge flows through the restricted aperture 54 where an instantaneous pressure drop to less than atmospheric pressure occurs, causing shearing action aand cavitation bubbles. The sludge then strikes impact ring 55 at velocities up to about 900 feet per second, further shattering the particles by impact and implosion of the bubbles. In practice, particulate size reduction to less than one micron can be achieved. This is adequate for rupturing of cell structure and destroying viability of practically all biological lifeforms present in the thickened secondary sludge discharged at 29. This fine particulate matter will remain dispersed in solution, with substantially less tendency to settling, precipitation or adherance to surfaces. Heavy metal salts metabolized by the cells are released to solution so can be readily removed in the following chelation step. The colloidal slurry 56 is discharged at 47, combined with the filtered effluent 32 via 57 and flows via 48 into chelation unit 61.
Alternative processing may be employed to rupture the cell structure of the organic solids content of the secondary sludge discharged at 29, without departing from the scope and innovation of the process and method of our invention. Such alternative processing may include use of chemical agents or biochemical enzymes capable of hydrolyzing the cellular walls or membranes.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,979,286 to Robert E. Wing et al. describes a process for Removal of Heavy Metal Ions from Aqueous Solutions with Insoluble Cross-Linked Starch Xanthates. The process involves removal of heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions with an amount of water insoluble cross-linked starch-xanthate chelating material, prepared by first cross-linking starch with a cross-linking reagent and subsequently xanthating the cross-linked starch by reacting the same with carbon disulphide, and wherein said cross-linked starch-xanthate has a degree of cross-linking such that cross-linked starch-xanthate exhibits a degree of swelling in water at 95 starch-xanthate being such that the molar ratio of the xanthate moiety to metal ions is about 1:1 and has a xanthate degree of substitution of from 0.1 to 1.
Example 35 in the Wing et al. patent illustrates the effectiveness of this process. Tests on nine industrial effluents containing a variety of heavy metal ions were treated with the following results:
______________________________________ Removal Efficiency______________________________________Cadmium 82% minimumChromium 79% "Copper 79% "Iron 99%Lead 100%Nickel 99%Zinc 99%______________________________________
Alternatively commercial anion exchange resins containing tertiary amine and quaternary ammonium groups have proved to be useful in industrial wastewater treatment to remove heavy metal ions. Commercial usage is limited by high costs principally related to the fact that these resins are petrochemically based.
In any event, neither the anion exchange resin technology nor the Wing et al. process based on relatively low cost agricultural starch is effective in removing heavy metals from domestic wastewaters and sewage sludges. In this case, a substantial proportion of the content of heavy mineral salts have been metabolized and are shielded from the chelation reaction within the relatively impervious cellular walls. This limitation is resolved by the cell rupture step of our invention, thus releasing the heavy metal salts to colloidal suspension where they can readily be removed by chelation.
FIG. 3 illustrates adaptation of the chelation process to the purpose of our invention. A reactor tank 62 retains a supply of insoluble cross-linked starch-xanthate material in the form of pellets 63 between two grid plates 64, 65. The combined inflow of filtered effluent and colloidal slurry enters the chelation reactor tank at 48 through two-way valve 66 and after flowing through the chelate pellets 63 is discharged through two-way valve 67 is discharged at 68 to flow into disinfection unit 35. Typically for a flow rate of one million gallons per day reactor tank 62 is about 8 feet in diameter and the spacing between grid plates 64, 65 is about 6 feet. Additional pellets are added occasionally to compensate for gradual dissolving of some pelletized chelate material into the process flow.
Release of the metallic salts accumulated, and regeneration of the chelate material 63 may be accomplished by occasional backwash flashing with a 10% nitric acid solution to redissolve the salts in such solution. This can be accomplished as illustrated schematically in FIG. 3 with an acid backwash solution from tank 70 flowing through pump 71, rotated valve 67 the chelate pellets 63, rotated valve 66, valve 72 into an anion exchange resin bed reactor 73. Therein the metallic salts are retained in the resin bed and the clarified acid flows through valve 74 into tank 70 for subsequent reuse. The metallic salts may subsequently be recaptured by backwash flow of water from source 75 through rotated valve 74, through the exchange resin reactor 73, rotated, valve 72 and into metals slurry tank 76. The discharged slurry 77 of metallic salts may be refined to recover the values in metallic content. Alternatively the acid backwash fluid may be neutralized with lime and disposed of as waste. All of the techniques outlined in this paragraph are well known in the art.
An alternative process for removing heavy metal ions in water is described by Joshiaki Kajyama in U.S. Pat. No. 3,890,225, wherein absorption by coral follis limestone in granular form is employed. As is the case with the Wing et al. process, and in all other ion removal processes known to us, such processing is not effective in removal of the heavy metal ions contained within the cellular wall structures comprising much of the biomass of secondary sludges. Other alternative processing methods for heavy metal ion removal may be employed without departing from the scope and innovation of the process and method of our invention.
The conventional disinfection step indicated at 35 usually involves contact chlorination to reduce pathogenic bacteria to levels required by local health authorities. Alternatively ozone may be used as the reactant chemical. Although the effluent discharged at 68, according to the method and process of our invention, contains a substantially increased content of organic materials, relatively little additional disinfection is needed because:
Most pathogenic bacteria have been destroyed by the cell rupturing action of device 46, and
The size of such particulate matter has been reduced substantially by action of device 46 and such fine particles are more efficiently treated in disinfection unit 35.
The irrigation-fertilizer effluent discharged at 36 is a unique product, containing in solution most of the components of the wastewater influent 2 except gross solids refuse discharged at 5 and grit refuse discharged at 8 and heavy metals recovered at 77. Due to the cell rupture step in our method, less disinfection treatment is required, resulting in a relatively low residual of disinfection chemicals in the product discharged at 36.
The biodegradable organic material has been biochemically metabolized and stabilized by aerobic cell synthesis reaction. The organic solids content is dispersed in colloidal suspension, having relatively little tendency to precipitation. The product is biochemically inactive. In event of interim storage or delay in distribution, the product can be maintained in biochemically inactive condition by adjustment to maintain the necessary chlorine residual layer, as is well known in the art. When distributed to agricultural lands the organic materials in suspension are in form suitable for relatively rapid uptake by soil microoganisms and plants, as contrasted to the more extended period usually required for biodegrading the organic solids content of conventional wastewaters and sewage sludges.
About 75% of the total nitrogen content of raw wastewater influent 2 is converted by the process and method of our invention into the equivalent of commercial grade liquid fertilizer. The cellular protoplasm content, from ruptured cells, is particularly valuable as a potent and readily available plant nutrient. The nitrogen component of this protoplasm is in the form of proteinaceous nitrogen which is readily assimilated as a plant nutrient.
About 50% of the input effluent flow of carbonaceous materials is present in colloidal suspension in discharged product of our invention mostly in the form of stable biomass cellular debris. Unreacted ligno-cellulose components are also present in fine particulate form. These components are valuable for soilbuilding purposes.
After removal of the heavy metals, the remaining minerals content of our discharged irrigation-fertilizer product is of value for agricultural purposes, including phosphorous, potassium, and trace minerals. Part of these minerals have been metabolized in the aerobic reactor tank 23, discharged to colloidal solution in our cell rupture step 46 and are in a form readily assimilated by vegetation.
The product is useful for general agricultural use as irrigation water containing high quality liquid fertilizers. The product is most effectively used in low density distribution over large land areas with the objective of retaining fertilizer nutrients within the plant root zone.
We believe that our product can be most advantageously used in semi-arid or moisture deficit areas. The warmer climate and long growing season typical of such areas makes irrigation water distribution and efficient utilization possible practically year-round.
In semi-arid semi-desert areas such year-round application of supplemental irrigation water, plus liquid fertilizer and soil amendment materials can be effectively used for production of irrigated grass pasture crops. Over a period of years of such an agricultural and soilbuilding program, marginal land can be converted to improved land suitable for fieldcrop production.
We believe that a major use for our product will be to supply moisture and nutrients to treecrops grown on marginal lands and continuously harvested, on about a four-year rotation cycle, for fuel or chemical resource content. Specific information about "Energy Ranch" renewable resource production of plant biomass fuel for electric power generation and for SNG gas production is contained in a report "Effective Utilization of Solar Energy to Produce Clean Fuel" prepared by Stanford Research Institute for the U.S. National Science Foundation, SRI Project 2643.
Data in this report shows that major production cost factors are the cost of purchase of irrigation water in water deficit areas and the cost of purchase of commercial fertilizers required for continuous treecrop production. We believe that these costs can be substantially reduced by utilization of the resource value of sewage "wastewaters" conditioned for agricultural use according to the process and method of our invention.
We believe that the total costs of the auxiliary process and method of our invention will be about comparable to total costs of tertiary treatment that will be required by public law for discharge of wastewater effluents to public waters.
In any event, the practice and use of our invention will accomplish a major reduction in environmental damage and economic resource waste resulting from discharge of sewage effluents to public waters and disposal dumping sewage sludge and effluents on land.
We make no claim as to invention in regard to any conventional process or method for primary or secondary wastewater treatment as outlined herein. Nor do we make any claim as to invention in regard to comminutor homogenizer or chelation apparatus, well known in the art for numerous other uses.
Although the foregoing improved method for Wastewater Energy Recycling Method has been described in some detail by way of illustration and example for purposes of clarity and understanding, it is to be understood that certain changes, modifications, and omissions may be practiced within the spirit of the invention as limited only by the scope of the appended claims.
Citations de brevets
Citations hors brevets | <urn:uuid:97dd0ad7-4839-4419-ba82-7297d3ddd640> | 2013-05-21T10:34:52Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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The URL used to reach this page may be incomplete or out-of-date.
A location is required to build this page. For example, chromosomal coordinates:
You can also browse this genome via its karyotype
If you think this is an error, or you have any questions, please contact our HelpDesk team. | <urn:uuid:04801fcc-3bd0-4974-a7e7-a904ef36ac91> | 2013-05-21T10:27:14Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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I refuse to believe that rainbows are the result of light refracting through air-borne water droplets.
Is this the thread where be refuse to believe facts just because?
Somebody Else's Problem wrote:
Well no, I'm not a geneticist. And I don't think there'll be adequate DNA evidence from 40,000 years ago to make such a comparison in the first place.
See: Neanderthal Genome Project
Alvin Flummux wrote:
Harry Bizzle wrote:
I've read that lactose tolerance developed within the last 10,000 years or so.
Interesting, I'd like to know more about this.
Unsurprising, considering the Neolithic Revolution occurred around 10,000 years ago. Up until that point, lactase production stopped once individuals surpassed the weaning age and were no longer drinking milk. Domestication of cattle, goats and camels allowed neolithic humans to continue to drink milk without having to suck on their mothers teats their entire lives. So lactase (the enzyme that breaks lactose into glucose and galactose) production continued into adulthood. Lactose intolerance by population of people correlates with the access to domesticated mammals that neolithic humans living in that area had. | <urn:uuid:735d251a-a823-48fb-bf6f-fcc5dece7876> | 2013-05-21T10:13:48Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Hi once more,
now i have two questions:
the first is: Is it possible for the listowner to get all subscribers
of a list, although the "who" command is disabled for everybody
(who_access = closed). (for example with the approve-password)?
If possible, how does this work?
the second question is: are there any tools to interprete the
logfile automatically. For example a want to get an eMail when a user give
the "who"-command, etc...)
Roland Schreder Phone:+49-7531-884178
78434 Konstanz http://www.swbv.uni-konstanz.de/ | <urn:uuid:a0a9379f-4740-4a34-9746-a78e61dc221c> | 2013-05-21T10:06:04Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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High selection pressure on domestic cattle has led to an undesirable increase in inbreeding, as well as to the deterioration of some functional traits which are indirectly selected. Semen stored in a cryobank may be a useful way to redirect selection or limit the loss of genetic diversity in a selected breed. The purpose of this study was to analyse the efficiency of current cryobank sampling methods, by investigating the benefits of using cryopreserved semen in a selection scheme several generations after the semen was collected.
The theoretical impact of using cryopreserved semen in a selection scheme of a dairy cattle breed was investigated by simulating various scenarios involving two negatively correlated traits and a change in genetic variability of the breed.
Our results indicate that using cryopreserved semen to redirect selection will have an impact on negatively selected traits only if it is combined with major changes in selection objectives or practices. If the purpose is to increase genetic diversity in the breed, it can be a viable option.
Using cryopreserved semen to redirect selection or to improve genetic diversity should be carried out with caution, by considering the pros and cons of prospective changes in genetic diversity and the value of the selected traits. However, the use of genomic information should lead to more interesting perspectives to choose which animals to store in a cryobank and to increase the value of cryobank collections for selected breeds.
Within the context of farm animal biotechnologies, cryopreservation is one of the most useful tools for selection improvement, dissemination of genetic progress and ex situ conservation. In its Global Plan of Action, the FAO recommended the implementation of ex situ programmes to complement in situ conservation of animal genetic resources. It was also suggested that cryopreserved bio-specimens could be used as a backup material to redirect the selection scheme of a given breed, if needed [2,3]. Consequently, several gene banks have been created with different strategies and policies that vary with the breed, species, and country concerned [4,5] and methods have been proposed to use ex situ genetic resources to optimise the management of genetic diversity in endangered breeds . Breeds with large populations are subject to high selection pressures and have rates of inbreeding greater than the desired values . In these cases, the use of stored semen from male ancestors has seldom been investigated, although breeding organisations could be interested in doing so. For instance, in the dairy cattle breed Abondance (a local selected breed in the French Northern Alps), the semen of a bull born in 1977 (called Naif), which was rarely used in the 1980's, was used from 2004 to 2007, to produce 20 young bulls in order to reintroduce some genetic variability in the breed.
Depending on the country, different strategies have been implemented to sample individuals for national collections. In the Netherlands, most of the tested bulls are sampled for preservation in the gene bank , while in the USA, the selection of animals for cryopreservation is aimed at optimizing genetic diversity within the collection, by sampling animals from clusters determined through computed genealogical relationships . In France, based on the idea that individuals sampled for a cryobank should be as diverse as possible and carry special genotypes , regulations have been implemented to conserve frozen sperm from three main origins: (I) animals from endangered breeds, (II) original animals from non-endangered breeds (with either extreme positive or negative Estimated Breeding Values (EBV), carrying rare alleles or representing rare pedigree lines), and (III) representative animals from non-endangered breeds .
The purpose of this study was to analyse the efficiency of current cryobank sampling methods by investigating the benefits of using cryopreserved semen in a selection scheme several generations after the semen was collected. Based on simulations, we examined two situations in which cryopreserved sperm was used (1) to redirect the selection goal, by including a trait which, in the past, had shown a negative correlated selection response (e.g. fertility in dairy cattle), and (2) to limit the loss of genetic diversity in the breed. The impact of using cryopreserved sperm was measured by estimating the evolution of two negatively correlated traits and the evolution of the breed's genetic diversity, assessed through pedigree information.
A simplified cattle breed was simulated with 13 discrete generations, each consisting of 100 males and 10000 females. In each generation, 10 bulls and 50 cows were chosen as parents of the male progeny, and 20 bulls and 10000 cows were chosen as parents of the female progeny (with no selection on the dam to dam path). Mating was random resulting in random variation of progeny size among parents, i.e. the sire and dam of a given newborn were randomly chosen in the corresponding lists of parents.
Simulation of genetic values and EBV
We considered two traits A and B. Trait A corresponded to a production trait which had been recently and intensively selected and improved (such as milk production in dairy cattle). Trait B corresponded to a functional trait which had deteriorated because of a negative correlation with trait A (e.g. fertility or longevity). The genetic standard deviation of each trait (σA and σB, respectively) was set to 1 and the correlation between traits (ρ) was set to -0.3.
For each trait, an additive polygenic model was assumed and the simulation of correlated genetic values was based on the bivariate normal distribution (see, e.g. ). At generation 0 (base population), genetic values for trait A were randomly and independently drawn from a N (0, 1) distribution. For a given individual (i), the genetic value for trait B (Bi) was generated from its value for trait A (Ai):
where βi is a N (0, 1) random number independent of Ai.
In the following generations, genetic values of individual i were simulated from the genetic values of its sire (Ap and Bp) and its dam (Am and Bm), taking into account the parent's coefficients of inbreeding (Fp and Fm, resp.) [12,13]:
In these equations, γi and δi are two numbers randomly drawn from a N (0, 1) bivariate normal distribution with a correlation equal to ρ.
EBV were directly simulated from genetic values, assuming an evaluation procedure leading to an accuracy (CD = square of the correlation between the EBV and the true genetic value) equal to 0.6 for bulls and 0.4 for cows, whatever the trait and the generation considered. Therefore, the EBV of a given individual for trait A (EBVAi) and for trait B (EBVBi) were computed as follows:
where εi and ϕi are two independent numbers drawn from a N(0, 1) distribution. Finally, a Total Merit Index (TMIi) was computed, weighting the two EBV by wA and wB = 1 - wA, respectively:
Sampling and use of cryopreserved semen
Simulations comprised two stages. During stage 1 (generations 0 to 8), the lists of parents were selected based on their EBV for trait A only, without considering the evolution of the genetic mean for trait B or the average coefficient of inbreeding. During stage 2 (generations 9 to 12), the bulls were also used to improve trait B or to introduce genetic diversity in the breed.
During stage 1, the semen of some bulls was sampled and cryopreserved if the animals fulfilled one of the three following conditions, which correspond to the current sampling rules of the French National Cryobank for type "II" (original bulls) :
- (i) EBVA is three standard deviations above or below the mean of the generation,
- (ii) EBVB is two standard deviations above the mean of the generation (trait B is considered as a functional trait and for functional traits, only animals above the average are considered),
- (iii) the bull is a sire of sires with no male offspring selected after the evaluation process (these bulls were actually selected with one generation lag).
To check the validity of this elaborate sampling method, we tested a simpler sampling method (similar to the one used in the Netherlands), where the semen of all young bulls is stored in the cryobank.
In the simulations performed here, we investigated the impact of a one-time use (i.e. during a single generation) of cryopreserved semen.
At generation 9, four bulls with cryopreserved semen were selected (hereafter referred to as 'cryobank bulls'), these bulls fulfilling one of the following conditions either (i) they are the best cryobank bulls for the TMIi or (ii) they have the lowest average kinship with the existing population (males and females taken together). We studied the impact of various selection orientations (use of cryopreserved semen, conservation of male lines, etc.) only on the male path, because applying the above conditions on the female path would be much more restrictive, less effective, and would require a larger amount of semen, all the more since the number of doses is generally limited in cryobanks (200, in France) .
For these reasons, we considered that cryobank bulls were used only to procreate young bulls for progeny testing. The 9th generation of young bulls was then generated using either the bulls from the cryobank or the group of 10 sires selected as described in previous sections. Depending on the scenario (see following section), 0, 40 or 80 individuals (among the 100 newborn bull calves) were sired randomly by one of the four selected cryobank bulls.
Simulation scenarios and results
Six simulation scenarios were completed with two main options (Table 1).
Table 1. Description of simulation scenarios
Firstly, in scenario "b", emphasis was put on the selection of both traits B and A. To achieve this goal, three methods were compared:
- b1: at generation 9, the four bulls with the highest TMI (wB = 0.5) were used to sire 40% of the young bulls, while the selection criterion during stage 2 remained unchanged (improving EBVA). The other young bulls were sired by bulls randomly sampled within the group of 10 sires;
- b2: at generation 9, no cryobank bull was used, and during stage 2, TMI (wB = 0.5) was used as the selection criterion instead of EBVA;
- b3: at generation 9, the four cryobank bulls with the highest TMI were used to sire 40% of the young bulls, and during stage 2, TMI was used as the selection criterion instead of EBVA. To test more or less drastic selection changes, scenario b3 was tested with an increasing weight given to trait B (wB increasing from 0.5 to 1).
Secondly, in scenarios "d", emphasis was put on genetic variability while trait A remained the breeding goal. Three methods were also compared:
- d1: at generation 9, the four cryobank bulls having the lowest kinship with the existing population (scenario b1) were used to sire 40% of the young bulls;
- d2: at generation 9, no cryobank bull was used, while during stage 2, the progenies on the sire to sire path were given the same size i.e. for each sire of sires, 10 male offspring were created among which those with the two best EBVA became the sires of dams and that with the best EBVA became a sire of sires;
- d3: at generation 9, the four cryobank bulls having the lowest kinship with the existing population (scenario b1) were used to sire 40% of the young bulls, while during stage 2, selection was used to equalise progeny sizes on the sire to sire path.
Simulations were performed with 1000 runs for each scenario. For each generation, individual inbreeding coefficients and genetic values were computed and averaged for the entire male and female populations. The individual coefficients of kinship were also computed and averaged over males only and over the entire populations. The proportion of genes originating from cryobank bulls was computed on the basis of the gene dropping procedure (one locus averaged over the 1000 runs).
Stage 1: evolution of selected traits, diversity loss, and sampling of cryobank bulls
As expected, the results of the different scenarios did not differ significantly for generations 0 to 8 given that in stage 1, the conditions were the same whatever the option chosen, (here we present results averaged over the 1000 runs of one scenario only). With the parameters chosen for the simulation, each sire of sires had on average 10 male offspring (across sires standard deviation s.d. = 2.9) and each sire of dams had on average 500 female offspring (across sires s.d. = 21.6). As expected (see Figure 1), selection on trait A during stage 1 led to a major increase in the mean of this trait (+ 6.7 initial genetic standard deviation) from generation 0 to 8, while at the same time, the mean of B decreased to a lesser extent (-2 initial genetic standard deviation). The average coefficient of inbreeding increased simultaneously. Young bulls were slightly more inbred than cows, as they originated from a smaller number of sires and dams. In parallel (generation 0 to 8), the average coefficient of kinship among the young bulls and among the entire population increased to 8.1% and 6.9%, respectively.
Figure 1. Changes in genetic values (a) and in genetic diversity (b) (scenario b1). Dotted lines: young bulls; solid lines: whole population; red: trait A, blue: trait B; green: average between A and B; purple: inbreeding F; pink: kinship Φ.
An average of 31 cryobank bulls was sampled per replicate, 58% being sampled because of outstanding EBVB (see Table 2). Table 2 shows that cryobank bulls chosen for their genetic diversity were generally born earlier than others, which can be explained by the fact that they were chosen with one generation lag compared to other sampling procedures.
Table 2. Average number and birth generation of bulls selected for conservation
Stage 2 in scenarios b: change in breeding goals
As shown in Figure 1, introducing cryobank bulls with exceptional TMI without changing the selection criterion during stage 2 (scenario b1) had a temporary impact on traits A and B as well as on the diversity indicators of the young bulls. At the whole population level, the impact was negligible, since young bulls sired by cryobank bulls were rarely subsequently selected as sires: three generations after introduction (generation 12), the cryobank contribution to genetic diversity was less than 3% (Table 3).
Table 3. Origin and impact of cryobank bulls used in the different scenarios
When TMI was used as a selection criterion (considering wB = 0.5), without using cryobank bulls (scenario b2), there was a per generation increase in the mean of trait B from generation 9 on (b1: -0.3 vs b2: +0.4), while the genetic gain for trait A decreased (b1: +1.0 vs b2: +0.4, see additional file 1). The change in breeding goals had no impact on diversity indicators.
Additional file 1. Changes in genetic values (a) and in genetic diversity (b) (scenario b2). The data represent the simulation results for scenario b2. Dotted lines: young bulls; solid lines: whole population; red: trait A; blue: trait B; green: average between A and B; purple: inbreeding F; pink: kinship Φ.
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Combining the use of cryobank bulls and TMI as a selection criterion (scenario b3 for wB = 0.5) resulted in a slight but significant (P < 0.001) reduction in average kinship (-0.3% between scenario b2 and b3, with 40% of the males from generation 9 sired by cryobank bulls, see additional file 2). Concerning the selected traits, the genetic gain for trait A decreased slightly when cryobank bulls were used (-0.12 between scenarios b2 and b3, P < 0.001), while the genetic gain for trait B increased slightly (+0.06 between scenarios b2 and b3, P = 0.02). These tendencies increased slightly when 80% of the males from generation 9 were sired by cryobank bulls (see additional file 2). According to the results from Table 3, cryobank bulls contributed to 6.5% of the diversity three generations after their introduction. It should be noted that the cryobank bulls used were generally sampled in recent generations, their average birth generation being 6.6 (Table 3).
Additional file 2. Changes in genetic values (a) and in average kinship (b) when trait B was added to selection goals. The data represent the simulation results when selection is redirected with a new trait accounting for 50% of the total merit index and when the use of semen from cryobank bulls is increased. Scenario b3 and whole population are considered with the weight wB given to trait B accounting for 50% of the total merit index and an increased use of the semen from cryobank bulls. Brown: no cryobank bull is used (scenario b2); red: cryobank bulls are used to produce 40% of sons (scenario b3); yellow: cryobank bulls are used to produce 80% of sons; o: genetic value for trait A; ♦: genetic value for trait B; dotted line: average genetic value between A and B; x: kinship Φ.
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As a result of the increased weight of trait B within TMI (see Figure 2), there was a per generation increase in genetic gain for trait B, while there was a slightly lower increase or even a decrease in genetic gain for trait A, as well as in average kinship, when trait B accounted for more than 80% of EBV. When only trait B was taken into account for TMI, the genetic value of traits A and B reached 4.7 and 1.37, respectively at generation 12 (versus 8.4 and -0.41 respectively when wB = 0.5), while average kinship reached 8.9% at generation 12 (versus 11.9% when wB = 0.5).
Figure 2. Changes in genetic values (a) and in average kinship (b), when trait B was added to selection goals. Scenario b3 and whole population are considered with the weight wB of trait B increasing for computation of the total merit index. Black: wB = 0 (scenario b1); brown: wB = 0.5; red: wB = 0.6; orange: wB = 0.7; green: wB = 0.8; light blue: wB = 0.9; dark blue: wB = 1; o: genetic value for trait A; ♦: genetic value for trait B; x: kinship Φ.
Stage 2 in scenarios d: improvement in genetic diversity
As shown in Figure 3, the use of cryobank bulls with a minimised kinship with the current generation (scenario d1), had no impact if the selection policy was not modified, since none of the offspring of the cryobank bulls were selected as sires. Equalising progeny sizes on the sire to sire path alone (scenario d2) decreased diversity a little less (in generation 12, Φ = 12% for scenario d1 and Φ = 11% for scenario d2), with an almost negligible impact on genetic progress. Combining this option with the introgression of cryobank bulls (scenario d3) resulted in a significant reduction in average kinship (-2% in comparison to d1). Under such a scenario, the genetic mean of trait B also increased slightly (+0.3 between scenario d1 and d3, P < 0.001), while that of trait A and the average of both traits decreased slightly (-0.08 and -0.02 respectively, between scenarios d1 and d3, P < 0.001). It should be noted that most of the cryobank bulls used originated from the founder population, their average birth generation being 0.3 (Table 3).
Figure 3. Changes in genetic values (a) and in average kinship (b), when the aim was to manage genetic diversity. The whole population is considered Brown: no change in selection; cryobank bulls used to produce 40% of male offspring (scenario d1); red: conservation of male lines (scenario d2) (curve overlapping the preceding one); yellow: conservation of male lines and cryobank bulls used to produce 40% of male offspring (scenario d3); o: genetic value for trait A; ♦: genetic value for trait B; dotted line: average genetic value between A and B; x: kinship Φ.
Modifying which bulls entered the cryobank by preserving semen for all the young bulls did not significantly alter the results of scenarios b3 and d3, either for the selected traits or for kinship evolution (data not shown). It should be noted that in this case, the average birth generation of the cryobank bulls used was 7, in scenario b3 (instead of 6.6, in the first cryobank sampling method), and 0, in scenario d3 (instead of 0.3, in the first cryobank sampling method).
In this study, we assessed the impacts of using cryopreserved bull semen either to redirect selection or to improve the genetic variability of a selected cattle breed. Simulation parameters were chosen as a compromise between realism in the scenarios, their applicability, and the simplicity of the model. For instance, with respect to the choice of population size, a breed with 20 breeding males and 10000 potential dams could be considered quite small, especially with reference to the FAO endangerment status . In our simulation, sires and dams were randomly chosen from lists of reproducers. This differs significantly from what occurs in real breeds, in which an unbalanced use of reproducers is frequently the case, leading to a reduced size of the effective population. In terms of effective size, our breed would correspond to a much larger population with a similar inbreeding rate per generation (1.07%) to that found in real dairy cattle breeds e.g. .
Concerning sampling conditions in the simulations, as mentioned above, the procedure chosen to select bulls for cryopreservation is similar to that currently applied in France. This choice was made to test if bulls selected this way could be effectively used in a selected breed. Compared to the case in which all young bulls are sampled for cryopreservation (which corresponds more or less to the current procedure in the Netherlands), the results were basically the same. This shows that the French sampling procedure is reasonably efficient to select useful bulls, and could be applied in situations when only a limited number of semen samples can be stored in a cryobank (for financial reasons, for instance).
One of the main conclusions of this study is that using cryopreserved semen is relevant for a breed for which major changes in selection objectives or practices are considered. Since genetic progress is rapid in dairy cattle breeds (e.g. ), a bull for which semen has been stored for a few generations, is likely to have a lower genetic value than current bulls, if the selection goals remain the same. Thus the latter's offspring may not be used, as illustrated by scenarios b1 and d1, and using cryobank bulls is then meaningless. The results of scenario b3 demonstrate that using cryobank bulls has a significant impact on the selected traits and on genetic diversity only if a relatively large change is implemented in the selection programme (i.e. introducing a new trait formerly negatively selected but subsequently accounting for more than 50% of EBV). Under that scenario, when trait B accounted for less than 70% of EBV, the cryobank bulls selected were those more recently collected, since they generally had a higher value for trait A than older cryobank bulls, which compensated for a slightly lower value for trait B. When trait B accounted for 80% or more of EBV, most of the cryobank bulls finally used, originated from generation 0 (data not shown), which explains the sudden decrease in average kinship after introgression of the cryobank bulls (see Figure 2). Therefore if managers of a selection scheme want to redirect breeding goals, using cryobank bulls is viable only if the breeding goals are subjected to a major modification (i.e. if the weight of the new trait accounts for more than 50% of EBV). Our results also indicate that cryobank bulls that have been sampled for functional traits with high EBV will tend to be used more frequently than other cryobank bulls, independently of the aim.
If the objective is to introduce genetic diversity into the breed, using cryobank bulls appears to be a valid choice. However, it is imperative that other measures are also taken to guaranty that genes are spread within the breed i.e. either conserving male lines (scenario d3), when their use is promoted among breeders, or setting up more restrictive and effective breeding schemes. Several methods of varying complexity have been proposed to minimise kinship , or to maximise breeding values for a predefined inbreeding rate , or to minimise average kinship for a desired average EBV , usually by optimising the contribution of reproducers.
On the one hand, decreasing inbreeding in a selected breed may improve selected traits; for instance, it has been shown that in Holstein cattle, milk production (over 305 days) can decrease by about 20 litres per 1% inbreeding increase . On the other hand, using semen from cryobank bulls has a negative impact on previously selected traits, as illustrated by our simulations. In the case of local breeds, in which genetic progress is not as effective as in breeds with a larger population size, the difference in EBV between current bulls and bulls from earlier generations should be minimised. This could lead to an effective use of cryobank bulls to reintroduce diversity without overly affecting selected traits. As an illustration in the Abondance breed, one of the male offspring of the bull born in 1977 was found to have quite a high EBV (Vaccin, born in 2003, ), and was therefore recently confirmed as a sire of dams. Among all the sires of dams, this bull shared the lowest average kinship with the 2004-2007 female cohorts (4.6% vs. 6.5% on average, personal communication). The impact of using this bull on the genetic variability of the breed remains to be assessed.
Based on our results, using semen from cryobank bulls should be useful either to introduce drastic changes in selection goals or to reintroduce genetic diversity within a given population. However, it is important to carefully assess the pros and cons of the potential changes in genetic diversity and values of the selected traits.
Our simulations were based on a classic quantitative selection scheme. Recent progress in genomic tools should make it possible to identify semen from cryobank bulls that share specific alleles or QTL of interest for selection. This could then be taken into account when choosing cryobank bulls as well as how they will be used. Using such reproducers should be investigated in further studies, which opens exciting perspectives for an improved exploitation of cryobank collections.
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
EV, CDB and GL jointly conceived the design of the study and discussed the results. GL wrote and checked the simulation program. GL wrote the first draft of the manuscript, which was then modified by CDB and EV. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
This study was funded by the Bureau des Ressources Génétiques (BRG) (Contract 2007-14 "CryoSitu"). The authors wish to thank Emilie Setlakwe, Daphne Goodfellow and Hélène Hayes for linguistic revision.
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Philipsson J, Forabosco F, Jakobsen JH: Monitoring sustainability of international dairy breeds. [http://www-interbull.slu.se/bulletins/bulletin40/Philipsson.pdf] webcite
Coopérative d'élevage et d'insémination animale de Haute-Savoie [http://www.ceia74.fr/Index/GenetiqueLait.php?Race=12] webcite | <urn:uuid:30c1ac70-c148-4b2b-8154-d2886ecd021f> | 2013-05-21T10:27:31Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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There was a brief warm spell around 9 September, on which date the highest September temperature for six years was recorded, but much of the rest of the month was cool. In fact it was the coolest September since 1993, and heavy rain during the third week caused floods. This was the result of a deep and slow-moving low pressure system delivering copious rain between 23 and 25 September. Prior to that it was dry in East Anglia and south-east England.
The mean maximum temperature in September ranged from 20.2C at St James's Park, London, to 12C at Lerwick, Shetland. The Central England Temperature (CET) was 13.1C, which is 1 degree below average. Daytime temperatures were between 0.2 degrees above average in East Anglia and 1.3 degrees below in western Scotland. The highest recorded temperature was 29.3C at both Writtle in Essex and Cambridge on the afternoon of 9 September. The coldest night was that of 22/23 September, when Braemar, Aberdeenshire, recorded a minimum temperature of -4.1C.
Across England and Wales there was 78mm of rain, which is 102% of the average. Scotland had 81mm, exactly on the average, while Northern Ireland had 98mm, or 123% of average. Much of that rain came from the slow-moving storm during the last week of September. Up to 22 September it was relatively dry, but the following three days had widespread heavy rainfall which led to significant floods. During that period 131mm of rain fell on Ravensworth, North Yorkshire. The wettest location through the month was Cluanie Inn, Wester Ross, which measured 325mm of rain, while Otterbourne in Hampshire was the driest with 24mm.
England and Wales had an average 171 hours of sunshine, which is 116% of the mean. Only 11 Septembers have been sunnier in the last 100 years. Scotland had 127 hours, or 111% of its average, and Northern Ireland recorded 139 hours, which is 113% of the average. Manston in Kent was the sunniest location with 196 hours of sunshine, while Kinlochewe, Wester Ross, had the lowest sunshine total with only 62 hours. | <urn:uuid:346be386-e31b-4085-ba3f-4b5d9e16a935> | 2013-05-21T10:37:57Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Fox News has attacked the struggling Republican presidential candidate, Newt Gingrich, after an outburst in which he blamed the network for the failure of his campaign and claimed it was biased in favour of Mitt Romney.
The channel, where Gingrich had a contract before hitting the campaign trail, dismissed the accusations and claimed his criticism of the network was motivated by a desire for a job at rival CNN.
Gingrich's outspoken criticism of Fox came at a meeting in Delaware on Wednesday with Tea Party activists.
According to the RealClearPolitics website, which was given access to the meeting, Gingrich said: "I think Fox has been for Romney all the way through. In our experience, Callista and I both believe CNN is less biased than Fox this year.
"We are more likely to get neutral coverage out of CNN than we are of Fox, and we're more likely to get distortion out of Fox. That's just a fact."
Fox hit back in a strongly personal attack. In a statement provided to the Guardian, it said: "This is nothing other than Newt auditioning for a windfall of a gig at CNN – that's the kind of man he is. Not to mention that he's still bitter about the fact that we terminated his contributor contract."
While Gingrich has chosen to remain in the Republican race after the exit of Rick Santorum on Tuesday, he has won only two states so far and is trailing well behind Romney. He is also struggling financially, having accumulated huge debts during the campaign and suffered the indignity of seeing a $500 cheque to the Utah Republican party bounce.
Gingrich is campaigning this week in Delaware, one of several states where he hopes he can benefit from Santorum's departure.
At the Delaware meeting, he said he was working on the assumption that Rupert Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, Fox's parent company, had thrown his support behind Romney.
"I assume it's because Murdoch at some point said, 'I want Romney', and so 'fair and balanced' became 'Romney'. And there's no question that Fox had a lot to do with stopping my campaign because such a high percentage of our base watches Fox."
Fox, led by Roger Ailes, has been the main media forum for the Republican candidates. Fox insists it has been fair and balanced. In the initial stages of the primary and caucus season, it even seemed to be more hostile toward Romney than the other candidates. But by March, Santorum was complaining, on Fox, about bias.
Santorum said Romney enjoyed a huge advantage in terms of money, organisation and media coverage. "He's had Fox News shilling for him every day," Santorum said.
Gingrich is to attend the White House correspondents' dinner at the end of the month, but as a guest of CNN, not Fox. He insisted he was largely indifferent to the views of journalists: "They know I don't care about their opinions. I don't go to their cocktail parties. I don't go to their Christmas parties. The only press events I go to are interesting dinners when the wife insists on it, so we're going to go to the White House correspondents' dinner because she wants to. And we're actually going to go to CNN's table, not Fox."
He expressed disappointment that former colleagues Fox, with whom he had a contract until he officially joined the Republican race, had apparently written him off last summer.
Gingrich enjoyed massive media coverage when he won the South Carolina primary in January, but interest dipped after he failed to win Florida the same month. Since then, coverage has gradually evaporated, with no print journalists any longer attached full-time to coverage of his campaign.
In the meeting in Delaware, according to the RealClearPolitics report, he expanded his criticism of the media beyond Fox, in particular columnist George Will, whom he accused of personal jealousy.
"In the case of Will, I was on [George] Stephanopoulos on Sunday morning with him, and it was kind of a 'You're not allowed to run for office – I mean, if you could run for office, why am I not running for office?' " Gingrich said. "And it's almost like they were personally offended. You know, 'This can't be real', and 'How can this guy go do that?'
"I got that reaction from Will a few years back about writing a book, because I'm supposed to be a politician. He's supposed to be the writer. Well, I've now written 24 books, and 13 of them are New York Times bestsellers. I mean, there's a morning when George ought to just get over it."
As well as criticising the media, Gingrich attacked the Republican party, describing it as "inarticulate". He added: "The Republican party is a managerial party that doesn't like to fight, doesn't like to read books."
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Some men in a pickup truck drove to a lumber yard. One of the men walked into the office and said, "We need some four-by-twos."
The clerk asked, "You mean two-by-fours, don't you?" The man said, "I'll go check," and went back to the truck.
He returned shortly and said, "Yeah, I meant two-by-four." "All right. How long do you need them?"
The customer paused for a moment and said, "I'd better go check."
After a while, he returned to the office and said, - "A long time. We're gonna build a house..
Another day, another zero. (Alfalfa, Our Gang) | <urn:uuid:30a49a90-dd76-4457-a2f2-d69847cb74ec> | 2013-05-21T10:28:19Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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The house ranks architecturally with many of the great mansions built in the late Colonial period; however, it is the only house directly inspired from a plate in Palladio’s, I Quattro Libri dell’Architettura. It is arguably the most exquisite house remaining from the Colonial period in America.
Architect William Buckland cleverly adapted Palladio's Villa Pisani design to satisfy the tastes of colonial Annapolis. He re-designed the plan to accommodate the tastes for asymmetrical regional preferences and modified the hyphens from Palladio's arched entries to more practical single storey connecting links. He also incorporated fashionable urban design by sinking the windows in the method mandated by the London Building Act of 1774. This device provided better protection from fire and gave the overall design a greater degree of visual solidity and three dimensionality (see image at right). This adaptation from Palladio's model marks his maturity as an architect and ranks him as one of America's first and finest architects.
The initial design of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello was taken from the Villa Cornaro in Piombino Dese, Italy, in Book II, Chapter XV of I Quattro Libri dell’Architettura, but this façade was later covered up by Jefferson’s own expansions to his house. Thomas Jefferson made two drawings of the Hammond-Harwood House when he served the government in Annapolis in 1783-4. One could assume that Jefferson recognized the house as derived from Palladio because his knowledge of The Four Books of Architecture was extensive. He referred to the book as his architectural “bible” and the plate of the Villa Cornaro follows the Villa Pisani plate; and directly opposite the Villa Cornaro in some 18th century English transcriptions of the work. | <urn:uuid:862911c8-aa36-4573-afb4-29f54310cc03> | 2013-05-21T10:33:55Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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RESETTING YOUR IQUE®
You may need to perform a reset if your handheld no longer responds to the buttons or the screen. A soft reset allows your
handheld to get a fresh start, similar to rebooting a PC. All records and entries are retained after a soft reset.
To perform a soft reset:
1. Using the reset tip tool (that may be threaded into the head of your stylus) or an unfolded paper clip (or similar object
without a sharp tip), lightly press the Reset button inside the hole on the back panel of your handheld.
A hard reset will erase all records and entries stored in your handheld. Never perform a hard reset unless a soft reset does not correct your problem. When you perform your next HotSync® operation, you can restore any data that you previously synchronized to your computer.
To perform a hard reset:
- With the unit powered off, use the reset tip tool to gently press and release the Reset button.
- Press and hold down the power button until the Palm Powered™ logo is displayed.
- When the Palm Powered™ logo is displayed, release the Power button.
a message appears on the handheld screen warning that all data stored
on the handheld is about to be erased, do one of the following:
- Complete the hard reset by pressing the upper half of the scroll button on the front panel of the handheld. The Digitizer screen appears.
- Press any other button to perform a soft reset.
NOTE: When you perform a hard reset, the current date and time are retained. Formats, preferences, and other settings are restored to their factory default settings. | <urn:uuid:7cb69112-0826-4dca-b900-56dfb1e5443a> | 2013-05-21T10:28:28Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Instead, check out our most popular content on the home page or the various clips and collections below.
Don Michael Corleone: "You heard what happened in my home?" Frankie Pentangeli: "Mike, I almost died myself. It was all so..." Don Michael Corleone: "IN MY HOME! IN MY BEDROOM WHERE MY WIFE SLEEPS! Where my children come and play with their toys. In my home." | <urn:uuid:0ba307cd-f8d1-4e66-9e08-47eb7d728e33> | 2013-05-21T10:20:48Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Keanu Charles Reeves (pronounced /ke????nu?/ [kay-AH-noo, often pronounced kee-AH-noo]; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor. Reeves is perhaps best known for his roles in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed, and the science fiction-action trilogy The Matrix. He has worked under major directors, such as Stephen Frears (in the 1988 period drama Dangerous Liaisons); Gus Van Sant (in the gritty 1991 independent film My Own Private...
The Oracle and Neo talk in the Oracle's kitchen.
Neo tells Trinity that Morpheus made the wrong sacrifice.
Trinity explains to Neo why Morpheus and Lock are rivals.
Neo is introduced to the Architect for the first time.
Neo is surprised when Trinity pulls a real device out of him.
Neo talks on the phone to the Matrix.
Haman notes that the night is peaceful because everybody is asleep.
The Oracle exits, Agent Smith enters.
Neo notes that two very similar black cats crossed his path.
Link loses Neo in the Matrix, but Neo knows where he is.
The Architect tells Neo that he is the sixth in a progression of Neo's.
Neo wonders if there are more helpful programs in the Matrix.
Neo uses Morpheus' argument to explain that the prophecy is a lie.
Trinity explains that the Oracle changed Morpheus and it ultimately ruined hi...
Neo threatens the machines.
The Oracle offers, then gives Neo a piece of candy.
Morpheus tells Neo that he has an edge because he doesn't follow the rules.
Seraph explains how the glitch works.
Neo has completed over ten hours of training. Morpheus invites him to spar.
Trinity and Neo are in the elevator shaft, about to face the Agents.
Neo realizes what he is and the problem he creates for the Matrix.
Neo follows the white rabbit on DuJour's shoulder to a club where Trinity int...
While waiting for the Oracle, Neo talks to a youngster that seems to bending ...
Neo pleads with Morpheus to keep an open mind. | <urn:uuid:ae52c856-7d44-44b8-acad-0c1df34a7b35> | 2013-05-21T10:13:59Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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A/N: dracosgem beta read this chapter, thank you so much for being so fast! You're the best :)
Warning: There are lots of s e x u a l i n n u e n d o e s in this chapter, too.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.
In Chapter Seven:
“If I've interpreted the variables correctly – especially the rather significant one that...presented itself this morning – there might be an inkling towards some sort of physical interest.”
“That sounds about right,” Draco gave her a crooked smirk. “And if your conclusion happened to be correct... What would you say?”
“Granger, I've been meaning to ask you... What in the name of Merlin is that?”
Draco was pointing at the old-fashioned television that sat in the corner of the living room on a small cabinet. There was a befuddled expression on his face.
“That's a television. Muggles use it for entertainment and spreading news around the world,” Hermione told him. “There are all kinds of shows and movies on TV.”
“Shows and moo-vees? What are those?”
“Well... I guess it's a bit like reading a book, but instead of reading you see what happens. Like in plays. I wish I could show you, but the TV doesn't work,” she sighed. “There's too much protective magic in the house. The wireless is fine, but that shouldn't be a surprise since wizards use them all the time.”
Draco shook his head a bit. “Crazy Muggles and their inventions.”
“It's not crazy! It's a lot of fun,” Hermione contradicted with clear enthusiasm in her voice. She hopped off the sofa, sat down on the floor in front of the TV and threw open the cabinet doors. “I really wish it functioned, there are so many great videos in here: Titanic, Sleepless in Seattle, Sense and Sensibility, Shakespeare in Love, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast...”
“What was that last one?” he chuckled.
“Beauty and the Beast... Why?”
“What kind of a beast are we talking about?” he asked in return, the corners of his mouth curving into a grin. “If it's what I think it is, I bet you'd just love to read a book with that title.”
She gave him a stern look, but the corners of her mouth were twitching, too. “It's not that kind of a beast.”
“What a shame,” Draco grinned. “It would've made an interesting moo-vee. But if it's not that kind of a beast, what's the story about then?”
Hermione grabbed the Beauty and the Beast video, closed the cabinet doors and took a seat next to the boy again. She furrowed her brows a bit as she studied the cover of the familiar movie. How could she describe the story without hinting at the similarities between it and their own situation?
“Well... There's this prince who's really selfish and doesn't care about anyone besides himself. One day a curse is placed upon him and it turns him into a beast,” she started her explanation.
The silence prompted her to go on, and she stole a glance at Draco. The hard part was about to begin. “He has to learn how to love and be loved in return before his twenty-first birthday, or he'll remain a beast forever.”
“Twenty-first birthday,” he repeated, blinking slowly. He would turn 21 in less than a year. “Well, does he learn to...you know?”
“He does,” Hermione admitted, pausing to pick her next words very carefully. "A girl called Belle comes to live with him in his castle, and they form a bond as time passes. It's the thought of losing the other that makes them realise how they feel.”
Draco shifted nervously. He was clearly making the connections.
“I see,” he uttered tensely.
“It's not so serious all the time,” she quickly added. “There are these silly little household items that sing and dance – they're actually the servants, but the curse changed them too. And the songs are really funny.”
She twirled the video in her hands nervously. The atmosphere could not have been any more awkward. If only she could read his thoughts... Did he think she thought he was doomed and wanted to save him from the same destiny? She didn't think that, not at all. Well, at least not that much. Hermione was torn in two directions. On one hand, she didn't want Draco to get the wrong idea. On the other hand, she didn't want to explain herself in case she was wrong about her assumptions regarding what he was thinking.
The silence was broken as Ginny suddenly entered the room. Hermione heaved a sigh of relief at the interruption.
“There you are,” Ginny smiled widely. The tone of her voice led Hermione to believe that the girl was pleased to catch her friend in Draco's company. “Ooh, are you going to watch Beauty and the Beast?”
“The TV doesn't work,” Hermione told the redhead.
“What a shame. She's made me watch that movie countless times over the years, it would have been nice to see someone suffer the same fate,” Ginny told Draco with a laugh. “Sure, it's a good one, but I think Hermione relates to the brown-haired bookworm more than I do.”
It felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured over Hermione. She gulped and glanced at Draco cautiously, only to find him looking at her, his eyebrows raised. Ginny didn't notice.
“Anyways, do you mind if I join you guys in a while? I'll just make myself a cup of tea first, it's a bit chilly in here. You want some?” The duo on the sofa shook their heads in unison. “Alrighty then, I'll be back in a minute.”
She twirled around and left the room, leaving Hermione and Draco alone in the tension-filled silence. It didn't last for long.
“So, that Belle girl is a bookworm, huh?” he mused with a smirk. “With brown hair, no less. Sounds like someone I know.”
“It's just a coincidence,” Hermione murmured without meeting his gaze.
“I'm sure it is,” he agreed. With a badly concealed grin and fake casualness, he then proceeded to inch closer to her, stretching his arms and resting one of them on the back of the couch directly behind her. “Just like me holding you near is a coincidence.”
“Stop that,” she swatted the arm away. ”Ginny will get suspicious.”
She could have bitten her head off for her slip of the tongue. “Uh, nothing really... She just thinks there's something going on. You know, between you and me.”
“She does?” Draco raised an eyebrow in amusement. “Well that just won't do. We obviously have to distract her.” He leaned closer and lowered his voice into a conspiratory murmur. “It'll be our little secret.”
Hermione turned towards him to remind him that there really wasn't a secret in the first place, but her breath hitched in her throat as she saw just how close the sneaky blonde actually was. She automatically lifted her head a bit to look into his eyes.
Wrong move. Her brain scolded her the moment it registered the alluring magnetism in Draco’s gorgeous grey orbs. It felt as if every fiber of her being was suddenly tuned into the frequency that was Draco. Time seemed to stand still all of a sudden, and there were little jolts of electricity in the parts of her closest to his body. With such an intense awareness of the boy sitting next to her, she was surprised to find that her senses were still functioning. She could hear footsteps approaching the living room, and with great difficulty she snapped out of her daze and turned away from her rather striking distraction just as Ginny walked through the door.
The redhead's eyes grew wide as she measured the distance between her friend and the boy she sat next to. They were definitely closer to each other than before, but she thought it best not to mention anything. How could she observe them if they were on the defensive from the start? She sat down on a comfy armchair opposite the pair.
Hermione was still trying to clear her head. She wasn't sure what had happened, or if anything had happened at all. She only knew that in the few seconds that she and Draco had looked at each other, for it couldn't have been much longer than that – although it had certainly felt like an eternity – her head had been spinning like crazy. Now that she thought about it, she realised her heart was also beating erratically. Abruptly, as if struck by lighting, she understood what it meant.
She was falling for him, fast and hard.
Closing her eyes, Hermione inhaled deeply to calm her raging heart and thoughts. She didn't think she could stop the feelings but she would try to keep them to herself. She had to, because only moments after her insight, she was already feeling quite vulnerable. The emotions she was going through were extremely powerful, and having been so caught off guard by them, she didn't know if she would be able to hide them for long. Ginny knew her very well, and Draco was sitting right next to her. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that something was going on.
Deciding to try and act cool nevertheless, she opened her eyes and put a smile on her face. Ginny was looking at her with a suspicious expression on her face, whereas Draco didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary. In order to have something to do, Hermione retrieved the Beauty and the Beast video and got up to return it to the cabinet. When settling back on the sofa, she made sure not to sit too close to Draco.
The three of them started a conversation about nothing in particular. It was a relief and a welcome distraction for Hermione to see how well Ginny accepted Draco. She didn't give him any nasty comments about his past, but it was probably because she had never been at the center of the hostilities between him and their group of friends. Ginny hadn't been a part of the worst of it, but that didn't diminish the gratitude Hermione felt towards her. It was great to have someone who wasn't openly against the boy she'd grown so fond of during the few weeks she'd spent with him.
The longer they chit-chatted, the harder it was for Hermione to focus on the subject at hand. She found her thoughts drifting towards forbidden areas quite often. It was difficult to keep the worried frown off her face when she thought about her other friends finding out and reacting badly. Yet that was nothing compared to her sudden yearning to look at Draco, when she knew she couldn't. If she let herself do that, everything she felt would shine right through her eyes. It had all happened so fast she hadn't had time to adjust. She needed time to think and regain control of her senses.
“Guys... I'm not feeling that well,” she murmured quietly, not meeting their eyes. “I think I'll go upstairs and lie down for a while.”
Refusing Ginny and Draco's offers to keep her company, Hermione exited the living room and climbed up the stairs, her head full of thoughts. It was one thing to do a little harmless flirting with someone, but quite another to become infatuated with them. Flirting didn't hurt anyone but there was a possibility of heartbreak should the latter get out.
Now that she thought about it, she couldn't believe how blind she had been. Why hadn't she seen this coming? The signs had all been there, she just hadn't noticed them the right way. Like the pieces of a puzzle, it was all starting to make sense.
He had been making her blush since their first day at the first safe house. She had felt safe in his arms that day when he'd comforted her. It had been easy to let go of her defensive walls when she was with him, and she had enjoyed his company immensely. She had actually missed him when her friends had kept him away, even though she hadn't admitted that to anyone.
Then there was that silly little comment – about her being able to do him with her eyes closed and all that jazz – had that been a message from her subconscious side? That was no longer an option, obviously. Doing him. Draco might very well be open to the idea, but now that there were feelings involved on her side, it simply wouldn't do. A fling would be downright dangerous.
What made everything even more overwhelming for Hermione was how fast it had happened. The circumstances affected the situation, of course. Staying within four walls all the time intensified every feeling she experienced. Their living space was limited and the people were always the same. There was no escape from it. Nevertheless, it had been a huge blow to have all these emotions bombard her right out of the blue.
She had been very attracted to him the previous evening, she could see that now. Honestly, what kind of an idiot was she, not recognising it for what it was before? Some genius she was. But she couldn't think of how stupid she had been before, not when there was a much more important question hanging in the air – what on earth would she do now?
* * *
After mulling it over in her head for quite some time, Hermione finally managed to convince herself that her newly discovered feelings didn't have to change anything. So she had a little crush on Draco. Big deal. If she could just keep acting normal, he wouldn't even notice. He didn't need to know about any of it, and she didn't need to worry about being rejected. Nothing needed to change.
If only he didn't make it so hard for her to hang onto that thought.
Once he was sure that she wasn't ‘feeling faint’ anymore, he continued with the sort of teasing they'd been enjoying earlier. What he didn't know was that her response to it was quite different from the one she'd had before. It didn't take anything special for her heart to start hammering like crazy, all that was needed was Draco's presence. She tried not to look at him straight in the eye, because every time she did, she could literally feel the changes in her appearance. Did he know that dilated pupils were a sign of attraction? She hoped he didn't.
At the moment they were alone in the en-suite bathroom of the bedroom, getting ready to go to sleep. Draco had slipped in to join her right before Hermione's friends had entered the bedroom. Ron's loud complaints about the sleeping arrangements had barely registered in her head, for she had been busy trying to control the fluttery feeling in her stomach.
“Want to hear a secret?” the cause of said fluttery feeling asked abrubtly, waking her from her reverie.
“Sure. Tell me,” she replied.
She hoped her voice didn't sound too shaky, for that was how she felt. It got even worse when Draco moved closer to her. He was way too close. Her wide eyes met his teasing ones in the mirror for a short moment before he turned his head toward hers.
“I'm wearing my silk boxers,” he whispered in her ear.
His low voice sent shivers down her spine and her eyes closed automatically. Stay in control, stay in control, Hermione chanted inside her head. She couldn't afford to get her hopes up, there was no point in it. Nothing needed to change.
She let out a small 'mm-hmm' sound to show that she'd heard him. Draco smirked.
“How about it, Belle? D'you feel like trying to tame a beast?”
Her eyes shot open. What if something could change?
She wasn't sure if he knew any French, but he'd just called her beautiful. Could he really mean it? Her thundering heart wanted to believe he did. The she remembered she had a question to answer.
“Uh... Right now?” she mumbled, unable to think of anything better. “There are people in the next room.”
A grin spread on Draco's face. “Ever heard of the Silencing Charm?”
“Right, that... Yes, that would indeed be helpful,” she admitted breathlessly. A voice in the back of her head was shouting at her to change the subject, but she couldn't come up with anything.
“Granger, are you actually considering it?” he asked, the grin still etched on his face. “'Cause if you are, you know I'm game.”
A blush tinged Hermione's cheeks. “Of course I'm not considering it.”
“Are you sure? It could be a lot of fun.”
She was glad he was wearing a t-shirt with the familiar pyjama pants. Not only did it make it easier for her to resist his charm, but it was also nice that not everyone got to see what he had underneath that garment.
“I think I'll manage,” she quickly forced the reply out of her mouth before she could change her mind.
“We can take a rain check any day if you like,” Draco winked at her. “Or any night. Whatever you prefer.”
“Sure,” Hermione mumbled before she could stop herself. She was glad to see Draco leave the bathroom after giving her one last teasing smile. As soon as he'd closed the door behind him, her walls collapsed.
Letting out a huge breath, she put her hands on either side of the sink for support. She was exhausted, both emotionally and physically. Could not showing how she felt really take up so much energy? If it did, she couldn't handle it for long.
Why was he doing this? What did he want from her? He was interested in spending the night with her, that much was clear. If that was all he had in mind, she couldn't let herself fall into that trap. He would just use her time and again, and she would let him because she craved to be near him. Then one day he would be free to leave the safe house and she would never see him again. She couldn't let that happen.
What could she let happen, then? What did she want from him? She wasn't sure. It was all so confusing, she didn't know what to think of it. She decided to try and keep herself calm. That way she could examine how she felt when she was with Draco, determine what it was she wanted from him and if it was possible for her to have that.
Glad to have made at least some kind of decision, Hermione braced herself and stepped into the bedroom. Everyone else was in their bunks already. She made her way to her bed, sat down and glanced briefly at Draco. Seeing the sly look on his face instantly made her wary.
“Hey, Granger,” he called, “Care to join me?”
“Dream on, Malfoy,” Ron hollered from his position on the upper bed closest to the door. “Like she would ever want to sleep in your bed!”
“Right... Silly me,” Draco smirked. But when his eyes met Hermione's, they both knew he was far from being silly.
To avoid any further questions, she quickly scrambled to lie down and pull the covers over herself. A moment later Ginny's head peeked at her from the upper bed.
“Hermione, I need to talk to you tomorrow.”
Great. Just what she needed... But she would just have to deal with it. “Sure.”
A/N: You probably won't believe this, but I was taken by surprise when Hermione realised she felt something for Draco. I honestly didn't see it coming until it happened! I mean I knew it had to happen soon enough, but I had no idea it would be like that. Crazy, huh? :D
As always, I absolutely love getting reviews and I answer every single one of them! | <urn:uuid:d740acaa-9c0e-467d-8904-70a5d2dbcdd8> | 2013-05-21T10:28:08Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Roman Catholic priests from the Order of the Sacred Hearts and led by Father Alexis Bachelot, first arrived from Europe in July of 1827. Three priests and three lay brothers celebrated the first mass of record on Hawaiian soil on July 14, 1827.
Under pressure by American Protestant missionaries, who considered Catholic doctrine a damning religious error, Kamehameha III twice expelled the Catholics. When priests reappeared in 1837 and again faced expulsion, the Sandwich Island Gazette newspaper came to the defense of religious freedom. The French in 1839 also brought pressure upon the king, and in that year Kamehameha III proclaimed a Declaration of Rights and Edict of Toleration that granted religious toleration throughout the Islands.
This was a period of fierce verbal attacks between Catholics and Protestants. The Catholic Mission wanted to have its own press. In 1841, it bought the Gazette’s old equipment and set up a print shop on the site of the present Our Lady of Peace Cathedral, but Father L. D. Maigret complained to his European superiors: “The Protestants have excellent presses of the new kind, while we have only a bad one, the characters of which do not work.” Maigret received a new press from Europe, and in 1852, the first Catholic newspaper appeared, He Mau Hana I Hanaia, Works Done, to begin a tradition of Catholic publication that continues to the present.
By Helen G. Chapin | <urn:uuid:7c2a695e-16b0-4b98-a1a4-6e3dda0ba66a> | 2013-05-21T10:34:03Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Fly High... in Aerospace Testing
HBM: Setting the standard in aerospace testing
The world's leading aerospace companies are turning to HBM and MGCplus as the standard measurement platform for their testing applications. Why?
- One platform for static and dynamic testing, and high-precision measurement
- Data quality and security
- Parallel and synchronous data acquisition
- Ease of use with catman® software
- Excellent price/performance ratio | <urn:uuid:46b1a7f1-11fc-4121-82dd-8bb88bb491f5> | 2013-05-21T10:27:58Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Re: Pregnant no meds
If you're okay with it, perhaps treat yourself to a massage or 2, get in some ultra relax time. If you can't afford it, convince hubby to do it. Try to sit down with the kids and play gofish or some easy card games, just for fun, something you don't have to concentrate on. Take long warm bubble baths with really good smelling scents. Go to the pool and just float on a raft. There's lots of things you can do to relax, it's just hard to think of them all when your stressed. | <urn:uuid:6c7ef37a-433a-4fd7-84ce-49af73b83113> | 2013-05-21T10:28:56Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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While visiting friends, I bonded immediately with their two-year old son, Robbie. We played while the adults talked. After about an hour he got hungry and asked his mother for some of his favorite food, peanut butter.
Robbie ate 4 teaspoons straight from the jar and within minutes he turned into a whirling dervish, a cyclone of hyperactivity. He was banging his head against a pillow on my lap one minute and the next tearing down the hall to throw toys around his room. The parents seemed all too familiar with this behavior and began making excuses. He gets like this when we have company, when he's overtired, when he's excited.
As a doctor, I immediately knew what the problem was - sugar. Robbie's parents had already figured out that indulging his sweet tooth lead to hyperactive episodes. But they didn't make the connection between the peanut butter and the behavior. I took the jar and showed them the label, which listed two different sugars (high fructose corn syrup and sugar). The parents were stunned and said they would be more diligent about cutting out the hidden sugars in their son's diet. When my husband saw Robbie's father a week later, he said Robbie was much calmer, was sleeping better, and was like a different person both at home and at daycare.
Most people do realize that sugar can cause hyperactivity, but what they don't realize is that sugar lurks where you least expect to find it and affects the human body in myriad ways. The sugar industry vehemently denies that sugar is hazardous to human health. Are the parallel increases in sugar consumption, obesity, and diabetes just a coincidence? Here are the straight answers.
I know sugar can lead to weight gain, but is it really all that bad for me?
Yes, it really is. Sugar is a simple carbohydrate found naturally in many foods, including fruits and grains. If the only sugar we consumed were in natural, whole foods, we'd all be just fine. But the average American diet is full of refined, nutrient-depleted foods and contains an average of 20 teaspoons of added, refined sugar every day. That's twice the amount recommended by the USDA (10 teaspoons and four times the maximum I personally recommend.)
So what's wrong with refined sugar? Many things. First, sugar compromises immune function. Two cans of soda (which contain 24 teaspoons of sugar) reduce the efficiency of white blood cells by 92 percent - an effect that lasts up to five hours, according to Kenneth Bock, M.D., an expert in nutritional and environmental health. Since white blood cells are an integral part of your immune system, if you happen to meet a nasty virus or bacteria within five hours of drinking a few colas, your immune system may be unable to fight off the invader.
Refined sugar also overworks the pancreas and adrenal glands as they struggle to keep the blood sugar levels in balance. When you eat sugar, it is quickly absorbed into your blood stream in the form of glucose. This puts your pancreas into overdrive, making insulin (which carries glucose to your cells to be used for energy) to normalize blood sugar levels. But this rapid release of insulin causes a sudden drop in blood sugar. In reaction to the falling blood sugar, excess adrenal cortisone is stimulated to raise blood sugar back to normal. A constantly high intake of simple dietary sugar keeps this roller coaster going and eventually overworks or "burns out" normal pancreas and adrenal function leading to early menopause, adult-onset diabetes, hypoglycemia, and chronic fatigue. | <urn:uuid:6a3139df-482b-44fa-90d1-5127c728148d> | 2013-05-21T10:28:31Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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|This is a measure of the brightness of a celestial object. The lower the value, the brighter the object, so magnitude -4 is brighter than magnitude 0, which is in turn brighter than magnitude +4. The scale is logarithmic, and a difference of 5 magnitudes means a brightness difference of exactly 100 times. A difference of one magnitude corresponds to a brightness difference of around 2.51 (the fifth root of 100).
The system was started by the ancient Greeks, who divided the stars into one of six magnitude groups with stars of the first magnitude being the first ones to be visible after sunset. In modern times, the scale has been extended in both directions and more strictly defined.
Examples of magnitude values for well-known objects are;
|Sun||-26.7 (about 400 000 times brighter than full Moon!)|
|Brightest Iridium flares||-8|
|Venus (at brightest)||-4.4|
|International Space Station||-2|
|Sirius (brightest star)||-1.44|
|Limit of human eye||+6 to +7|
|Limit of 10x50 binoculars||+9|
|Limit of Hubble Space Telescope||+30| | <urn:uuid:a13e5774-8a15-4ad6-bc01-def7c66a2edb> | 2013-05-21T10:27:14Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Mystery shrouds the death of eminent filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak's granddaughter, Aditi Ghatak, who died in an accident in Sonarpur's Kheyada area, in the South 24-Parganas, on the night of November 30.
The 21-year-old's relatives have lodged a complaint with the police, holding her friends responsible for her death. The police have already begun an investigation into the allegations.
"We think she was murdered. She might've been drugged and, after that, she was left alone and couldn't get out of the car. My daughter never goes out without informing me. We've appealed to the police for a proper inquiry into her death," Sanghita Ghatak, Aditi's mother, told HT.
Upon learning about the police complaint, state urban development minister Firhad Hakim visited the Ghataks' Chetla residence and spoke to Aditi's mother.
"I've told the Sonarpur police to conduct an inquiry," Hakim said after his visit.
A college student, Aditi had gone for a picnic on November 30 with some of her friends, but kept her guardians completely in the dark about the excursion. While returning, the car she was in overturned near a pond.
"According to the statements of her relatives, everybody else escaped, leaving Aditi trapped inside the car for almost two hours. Finally, the locals rescued her and admitted her to a hospital nearby," Hakim added.
There were three more people apart from Aditi inside the vehicle. One of these was Aditi's male friend, Gyandat Patar, who was driving the car, which belonged to his elder brother. However, Patar's relatives rubbished the allegations of his involvement in the accident.
"On Saturday, we received a complaint through the Tiljala police station. The vehicle they were travelling in overturned and fell into a ditch," Pravin Tripathi, superintendent of police, South 24-Parganas, said.
"THE complainant accused Gyandat Patar of reckless driving. We heard that two other women were also in the vehicle. We have started an inquiry," Tripathi added. Alisha Poddar, a friend and neighbour of Aditi, said she had met the victim on Saturday evening.
"After chatting for some time, she left in the car," Poddar added.
The police have also learned that a certain Tania was also with the group. The police will summon all those involved, including Tania, for questioning. | <urn:uuid:24569897-df30-4c2d-99e3-ecac41b5994b> | 2013-05-21T10:36:11Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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The Sheriff is a.22 caliber single-action revolver. Built on the stylistic frame of the popular Earl, the Sheriff "wears" a slightly shorter 2.5 inch barrel. Most characteristic of this model is the rectangular shaped cylinder pin, which lines perfectly and compliments the octagonal barrel.
Please Note: This description may represent a general group of products. Please read the item's title and specifications for more specific information about this particular item. | <urn:uuid:046b0d47-167c-4673-8e85-e68ac0ef4ff2> | 2013-05-21T09:59:32Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval's prolific night didn't end when he walked off the AT&T Park field after hitting three home runs in Game 1 of the World Series. Sandoval returned to his locker and found 300 text messages from friends and family.
"It's so exciting how the people watched and paid attention to all the things in the game," Sandoval said Thursday before the Giants defeated the Detroit Tigers, 2-0, in Game 2. "They're just excited to be a part of this."
Sandoval got another surprise when he logged onto Twitter, finding hundreds of congratulatory messages, including a tweet from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Sandoval has never met Chavez, but he plans to play for Venezuela in the upcoming World Baseball Classic and said he is excited to return to his home country this offseason.
"I'm the kind of guy that spends time with fans out there, spends time with kids," he said. "That's what makes me happy out there."
Late Wednesday night, Sandoval retweeted messages from several athletes, including former Giants postseason star Cody Ross, Venezuelan golfer Jhonattan Vegas and longtime major leaguer Bobby Abreu. But one message stood out.
Matt Kemp of the rival Los Angeles Dodgers tweeted a "panda" hashtag and wrote, "Wow! That's all I can say."
"That means a lot to me," Sandoval said. "I know that guy, because we went to the All-Star game together, so we talk a lot. He's one of the best hitters in the big leagues. For me, that was exciting."
- Commissioner Bud Selig said there remains no timetable to decide on whether the A's can move to San Jose.
Speaking before the game, Selig deflected most questions about the A's ballpark issue, which has dragged on more than 3 1/2 years with no resolution.
Selig declined to comment on whether Oakland remains a realistic site for a new venue, whether he expects a resolution before he steps down as commissioner, or whether he would consider it a failure if the A's don't get a new stadium during his tenure.
"I don't feel any pressure," Selig said. "The only thing ultimately that will guide me - on every issue, including this one - is what I think is in the best interest of baseball. That is the only pressure I'll ever feel."
The next round of owners meetings take place in November, but Selig said the issue is "not on the agenda."
Selig was seen talking to Giants President Larry Baer and Corey Busch, who is part of the three-man committee Selig appointed to study the A's stadium issue, before Game 1 at AT&T Park. Selig said he has not met with A's managing partner Lew Wolff since arriving in the Bay Area but that he has talked to Wolff on the phone recently.
- Selig said he expects instant replay to be expanded next season to include borderline fair/foul calls down the baselines and for trapped balls. He also confirmed that the one-game wild card playoff format will remain.
- The Giants' 8-3 win over the Detroit Tigers set a record-low television rating for a World Series opener. Fox said Wednesday night's game received a 7.6 rating and 12 share and that it was seen by 12.2 million viewers, according to fast national ratings by Nielsen Media Research.
The rating was a 13 percent drop from last year's opener between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers.
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- NTSB Wants to Lower Blood Alcohol Limit to 0.05 | <urn:uuid:9bcfa5a2-8f93-4080-8031-72a5990fe0b9> | 2013-05-21T10:20:06Z | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | [
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