text:
Fortunately, TOP is now popular enough that I'm again getting cameras from manufacturers for launch announcements and for review, not to mention loans (and even gifts!) from readers, so the pipeline is full again. Or full enough.
For me, the biggest problem of digital is not the cameras. It's that mastery itself has become more fugitive. Where computer photography is concerned, everything has a time-stamp, a sell-by date. No matter what it is, everything seems to march past on a steady progression from cutting edge to mainstream to obsolescent to unsupported. As soon as you're used to something and begin to master it, it changes. It hardly matters what it is: sensor, file type, color characteristics, image editor, calibration issues, printer models, even papers and inks.
Mastery of the old methods wasn't easy, lord knows. It required what my friend Nick called "the room-sized accessory," a.k.a. the darkroom, and a lot of time and practice, which in turn worked best if they were directed by knowledge, testing, and experimentation. More time spent and knowledge gained usually equaled improved or enhanced mastery. But many photographers spent a relatively short time mastering their craft and a very long time simply practicing it.
With digital, by contrast, you have to keep up: you have to invest substantial time and effort just to stay in the same place, and hard-won mastery can be obliterated by a change in one or another aspect of the process.
I mastered my first printer, for instance. Of course, now you can't buy paper or inks for it. Landfill.
I calibrated my first DSLR to a fare-thee-well. Of course it no longer works, and the company that made it left the camera business.
I mastered Photoshop...
...7, I think it was. (Or was it 5?) Photoshop hasn't stood still. Soon, I'll have to learn CS 4. Or 5. I'm several generations behind now, which won't be tenable for much longer.
I learned ACR when it appeared as a plugin to Photoshop. Of course, a friend who keeps up with technical issues says that ACR is not a good raw converter for the camera I've been thinking about buying next. He's recommending a third-party converter that has a "steep learning curve." Great.
And on it goes.
I'm guessing none of this is unfamiliar to you. A change in one link of the chain changes other links; and something or other is always changing. And if it hasn't changed yet, you know it will. Maybe not soon, but probably sooner rather than later. You have to keep up. To put it overly simplistically, it's the difference between running, and running on a treadmill.
This isn't necessarily worse, just different. But I would say that, for me, this is the biggest difference between the practice of photography now and what photography was like when I built my first darkroom in a bathroom under the basement stairs.
A little gain, a little give.
Featured Comment by gene lowinger: "While the digital age is always moving forward in a way analog film and chemicals did not, I find it a wonderful challenge. Practicing the craft of getting things right with my current software is as fulfilling as getting it right in my wet darkroom. And it keeps changing, so I have to constantly be upgrading my skills. This massages my aging brain cells and keeps my thinking tack sharp. I've found over the years that if I let version upgrades go by with the idea that I'll pick up another upgrade down the line, the more space there is between upgrades the harder the transition is. I don't buy the upgrades to keep software developers afloat. I buy them to keep my brain afloat!"
Featured Comment by Rodger Kingston: "The digital revolution in photography that we are swept up in today is very much akin to the first several decades after 1839, when photography was first invented. Then, as now, constant improvements in both equipment and light sensitive materials proceeded one another in a headlong race that makes ours today seem tame indeed.
"From Daguerreotypes to Ambrotypes to Tintypes; from Calotypes and paper negatives to albumen on glass, then wet collodion negatives; from salted paper prints to albumen prints; all were cumbersome processes that required taking the darkroom into the field and coating the plates immediately prior to exposure, then developing them before they dried.
"All of this (and countless more subtle refinements) took place in the nearly half century between 1839 and the late 1880s, when the first dry plate negatives and pre-sensitized printing papers were introduced, thus ushering in the modern age of photography that has ended so recently.
"The point of all this history is that some of the finest photographs in the entire history of the medium were made in these early years, when "operators" (as photographers were first called) had not only to master their cumbersome and ever-changing equipment and materials, but also had to invent the practice and profession of photography itself.
"Over my many years as both photographer and collector, I have often wished I could have experienced the excitement and sheer adventures of those amazing first decades of our medium. Well, now I am doing just that.
"This digital revolution we are all a part of is almost exactly the same as those first heady decades: the infancy of a whole new means of human expression and endeavor, with the same sorts of challenges that faced Fox Talbot and Daguerre, Roger Fenton, Frances Frith, and all the other early masters.
"They didn't complain about how slow their collodion on glass negatives were, or how inadequate their bulky cameras and crude lenses were; they worked to improve them, and more important, learned to make great photographs despite (or perhaps because of) the limitations under which they were forced to work.
"I love digital photography, and I come from a long career as a film photographer and Cibachrome printer. And if I have to struggle sometimes to keep up with the latest equipment and software, I know that I am simply walking hand-in-hand with Mathew Brady and Julia Margaret Cameron and all the others who brought photography into being."


text:
Mortgage rates seep to new record lows
Average U.S. rates for 30-year and 15-year fixed mortgages fell to fresh record lows this week. Cheap mortgage rates have made home-buying and refinancing more affordable than ever for those who can qualify.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on the 30-year loan ticked down to 3.83 percent. That's the lowest since long-term mortgages began in the 1950s. And it's below the previous record rate of 3.84 percent reached last week.
The 15-year mortgage, a popular option for refinancing, dropped to 3.05 percent, also a record. That's down from last week's previous record of 3.07 percent.
Low mortgage rates haven't done much to boost home sales. Rates have been below 4 percent for all but one week since early December. Yet sales of both previously occupied homes and new homes fell in March.
There have been some positive signs in recent months. January and February made up the best winter for sales of previously occupied homes in five years. And builders are laying plans to construct more homes in 2012 than at any other point in past 3 1/2 years. That suggests some see the housing market slowly starting to turn around.
Still, many would-be buyers can't qualify for loans or afford higher down payments required by banks. Home prices in many cities continue to fall. That has made those who can afford to buy uneasy about entering the market. And for those who are willing to brave the troubled market, many have already taken advantage of lower rates — mortgage rates have been below 5 percent for more than a year now.
Mortgage rates are lower because they tend to track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note. Slower U.S. job growth and uncertainty about how Europe will resolve its debt crisis have led investors to buy more Treasurys, which are considered safe investments. As demand for Treasurys increases, the yield falls.
To calculate the average rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country on Monday through Wednesday of each week.
The average rage does not include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.
The average fee for 30-year loans was 0.7 last week, down from 0.8 the previous week. The fee on 15-year loans also was 0.7, unchanged from the previous week.
The average on one-year adjustable rate was 2.73 percent last week, down from 2.7 percent the previous week. The fee on one-year adjustable rate mortgages was 0.5, down from 0.6.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
LONDON (TheBlaze/AP) -- Britain will start regulating electronic cigarettes and other products containing nicotine as medicines, according to the country's top regulator.
E-cigarettes are battery-operated products that turn nicotine into a vapor inhaled by the user.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency said in a statement Wednesday it would treat e-cigarettes as medicines, "so that people using these products have the confidence they are safe, are of the right quality and work."
E-cigarettes and other nicotine products will be licensed in the U.K. from 2016, giving manufacturers time to ensure their products comply with all standards for medicines. The U.K. regulator says e-cigarettes aren't recommended for use until then, but it won't ban them entirely.
"While it's best to quit completely, I realize that not every smoker can and it is much better to get nicotine from safer sources such as nicotine replacement therapy," Britain's chief medical officer, Sally Davies, said in a statement. "It's only right (e-cigarettes) are properly regulated to be safe and work effectively."
Cigarettes are exempt from the regulation.
Last week, Britain's independent health watchdog said smokers unable to go cold turkey should be encouraged to use nicotine products like gum and patches to help them cut down. It hadn't recommended e-cigarettes, because they weren't yet regulated. Experts say smokers are at risk from the toxins and tar in cigarettes, not the nicotine.
Smoking is the biggest cause of preventable deaths in England, killing about 80,000 people every year. Once e-cigarettes and other nicotine products are licensed by the U.K. regulator, they will be available for sale as over-the-counter medicines. Britain said it will now push for European law to recognize nicotine products as medicines.
Some manufacturers said they were concerned about the new classification. Damien Scott, commercial manager of e-cigarette maker SKYCIG, said the products have been self-regulated to ensure they meet consumer standards.
"Medical regulation, which could restrict access to these lifestyle products, is entirely unjustified," he said.
In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration announced in 2011 that it would regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco products and won't try to regulate them under stricter rules for medical drug-delivery devices following a legal battle.
The FDA, however, plans to assert regulatory authority over the fast-growing category in the near future.
E-cigarettes could also still be regulated as drugs or drug-delivery devices, if they are "marketed for therapeutic purposes" - for example, as a stop-smoking aid.
[AP Tobacco Writer Michael Felberbaum contributed to this report from Richmond, Virginia.]
Featured image AP photo.


text:
Last week (in "Sugar Is Sugar, By Any Other Name…Or Is It? [Part 1]"), we scratched the surface, exploring various types of sugar, starting with good ol' table sugar and delving a little into different types of brown sugar. But sugar is kind of sneaky in that it exists in many forms.
Some people prefer "unrefined" or more "natural" types of sugar for use in cooking, baking, and overall sweetening. There's nothing wrong with using fewer refined foods; however, at least in the case of sugar, unrefined doesn't necessarily translate into "more nutritious." Let's continue our exploration of sugar. (A bit of sugar trivia: the word "sugar" is derived from the Sanskrit word shakara).
Honey. According to the National Honey Board (yes, there's a "board" for just about everything!), honey is made up of mostly carbohydrate (i.e., glucose and fructose) and water, with small amounts of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and antioxidants. Reading this makes honey sound almost like a complete food—all that's missing is the fat! However, you'd have to consume an awful lot of this thick, golden syrup to derive any kind of nutritional benefit in terms of vitamins, minerals, and protein.
One tablespoon of honey contains 65 calories and 17 grams of carbohydrate (you may recall that one tablespoon of sugar contains about 48 calories and 12 grams of carb), so it can have a definite impact on blood glucose control, although you may end up using a little less honey compared to sugar. Honey comes in many varieties, and their glycemic indices range from about 32 to 87; sugar's glycemic index (GI) is between 58 and 64 (depending on which GI list you consult).
Interestingly, though, honey does have some health benefits that sugar doesn't. For example, honey is a pretty effective cough syrup, at least in children. In fact, when compared to dextromethorphan, honey surpasses this conventional cough medicine in its ability to reduce both the frequency and severity of coughing in children. It might be that honey is more soothing to the throat than regular cough syrup, although it's possible that the antioxidants in honey somehow play a role in suppressing coughs. Honey is a good source of polyphenols, antioxidants that can possibly lower the risk of heart disease and some types of cancer.
What else does honey have to offer? It seems to have prebiotic properties. In other words, honey may help to increase the population of good bacteria, called bifidobacteria, in the gut. Bifidobacteria may help ward off illness, certain diseases, allergies, and vaginal and urinary tract infections.
And honey has wound-healing abilities. Ancient Egyptian physicians used honey to treat wounds, burns, cuts, and skin ulcers. The use of honey fell out of favor around the time of World War II, when antibiotics came into play. However, recently, some physicians have gone back to the old ways (well, one old way) and have been using honey, quite successfully, to treat wounds and speed up the healing process. Honey has antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. (The use of honey for medicinal purposes is called apitherapy).
Molasses. Molasses is the by-product of refining sugar cane into table sugar. It's sometimes called treacle or sorghum syrup. There are several stages of sugar refining, and the third stage results in the heavy, strong-tasting, dark-colored syrup known as blackstrap molasses. Blackstrap molasses is used primarily to make cattle feed, although some people take it as a supplement, or even use it in coffee or tea. Lighter grades of molasses are used in baking and to make candy and rum.
One tablespoon of blackstrap molasses contains 58 calories and 15 grams of carb. Unlike its sweet counterparts, though, molasses is a significant source of certain nutrients, such as iron, calcium, copper, magnesium, manganese, potassium, and vitamin B6. Keep in mind, though, that you'd need to eat a little over 1 cup of molasses to obtain the RDA for iron; there are easier, less caloric ways to meet your iron requirements!
Molasses came to the United States from Caribbean islands during early colonial times. And its past is tainted somewhat; molasses was the contributor to several deaths and to property destruction during the Great Molasses Flood in Boston in 1919. A storage tank holding two million gallons of molasses broke, flooding the streets of Boston with the dark, sticky syrup.
Next week: Agave syrup…and more!


text:
Ötzi is the name given to the 5,300-year-old body found in the mountains between Italy and Switzerland. Archaeologists had long thought Ötzi had been murdered in the Alps, perhaps after a long chase...but his stomach tells a different story.
This natural mummy really does remain one of the most remarkable finds in archaeological history, and twenty years after his discovery researchers are still able to tease out fascinating new details about his life. We know for certain that he died high up in the Alps, and based on various wounds he appeared to suffer leading up to his demise, archaeologists had assumed foul play.
Subsequent analysis has cast doubt on the murder theory, and new tests on his stomach indicate that he definitely didn't die after a long, exhausting chase through the Alps. Rather, the stomach contains plenty of partially digested ibex meat, and the fact that it's still there at all means that he must have died less than hour after this last meal.
According to researcher Albert Zink, Ötzi was shot with an arrow and killed between 30 and 60 minutes after this meal, and that's when he began his 5,300-year journey to posthumous fame. Zink says the meal was likely a hearty one that Ötzi consumed while enjoying a rest. This certainly doesn't seem like the sort of behavior of a man expecting death within the hour, but obviously there's a lot here that's purely speculation.
Apple MacBook Air Laptop
Powerful performance
The M1 chip delivers 3.5x faster performance than the previous generation all while using way less power. Get up to 18 hours of battery life.
If you're wondering why it took scientists twenty years after Ötzi's discovery to check the contents of his stomach, that's because they didn't actually know where it was - the organ had migrated upwards during the natural mummification process, and what researchers initially thought was the stomach was in fact the colon. This new research has also revealed that Ötzi had three gallstones, indicating that he ate a ton of animal fat. It appears Ötzi lived well and ate heartily, right up to the hour of his demise.


text:
(HealthDay News) -- Fatigue can be a significant problem for people with arthritis, but there are things you can do to help manage your symptoms.
The Arthritis Foundation offers these suggestions:
- Adjust your schedule to accommodate symptoms, such as starting chores after morning fatigue, pain and stiffness have eased.
- Eat lighter and more frequent meals.
- Get regular, moderate exercise and make time to get plenty of rest.
- Learn to prioritize, and do the important things first. Put off what you don't have the energy to do.
- Don't be shy about asking others to help when necessary.
This article: Copyright © 2014 HealthDay. All rights reserved.


text:
Man killed in stadium fall was lifelong Braves fan
August 13, 2013
By JEFF MARTIN and PHILLIP LUCAS
(ATLANTA, AP) — The mother of a Georgia man who died after falling from the upper deck of Turner Field in Atlanta says her son was a lifelong Braves fan who followed the team through losing seasons as well as winning ones.
Homer, 30, spoke with his mother Connie Homer by cellphone as he and other fans waited for the rain to let up. In that conversation, he said the rain was beginning to slack off and indicated he was preparing to go into the seating area for the game.
"He said 'I love you mom, and I said 'I love you too' and that was it," his mother said in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday morning.
"He was big hearted, just a great guy, very respectful," she said. "It didn't matter if they were winning, losing or what — he's been a Braves fan forever."
Homer, who grew up in Conyers, Ga., graduated in 2001 from Rockdale High School, where he was involved in student government.
He was 6 feet, 6-inches tall and did landscape work for a living, his mother said. He was her only son and leaves behind one sister.
There's no indication of foul play, and the fall appears to have been an accident, Atlanta police spokesman John Chafee said.
Connie Homer said she's heard nothing from authorities as to what might have caused her son to fall. An autopsy was planned for Tuesday, the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office said.
An Atlanta Braves spokeswoman declined comment Monday night, referring calls to the Atlanta police.
It was not the first fall at the stadium to result in death.
In May 2008, a 25-year-old man suffered head injuries when he fell down a stairwell at Turner Field during a game and later died. Police found that alcohol had factored into that accident, which the Braves had said was the first non-medical fatality to happen at the ballpark.
In August 2012, a 20-year-old man died after falling over a railing during a football game. Authorities said he landed on another man seated in the lower level and that alcohol was a factor.
The next month, a man fell about 25 feet (7.6 meters) over a staircase railing at a football game and was not seriously injured.
Turner Field served as the site of events for the 1996 Summer Olympics.


text:
Marcus "Lelo" Aurelio (6-1 MMA, 0-0 BFC) has scratched from next week's promotional debut at Bellator 73, and his original opponent, Amaechi Oselukwue (3-6 MMA, 1-0 BFC), now meets replacement Kelvin Tiller (4-0 MMA, 2-0 BFC).
Aurelio told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) he suffered an undisclosed injury over the weekend and hopes to return in October at Bellator 75.
Oselukwue vs. Tiller takes place at a catchweight of 179 pounds.
Bellator 73 takes place Aug. 24 at Harrah's Tunica Hotel and Casino in Mississippi. The event lost its MTV2-televised headliner on Tuesday following featherweight champion Pat Curran's withdrawal due to a broken orbital bone. A replacement search is underway for his opponent, Patricio "Pitbull" Freire.
Oselukwue, an XFC vet who's 1-4 in his past five fights, and Tiller, who's won four straight (including Bellator victories over Dan Spohn and Jeremiah Riggs), compete on the Spike.com prelims.
The latest Bellator 73 card now includes:
- Patricio "Pitbull" Freire vs. TBA
- Marcos Galvao vs. Luis Nogueira (season-six bantamweight tournament final)
- Attila Vegh vs. Travis Wiuff ("Summer Series" light-heavyweight-tourney final)
- Ryan Martinez vs. Mike Wessel
PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike.com)
- Cosmo Alexander vs. Harry Johnson
- Brian Albin vs. Jacob Noe
- Amaechi Oselukwue vs. Kelvin Tiller
- Andy Uhrich vs. Joe Williams
- Jay Black vs. Brian Hall
- Chris Coggins vs. Zach Underwood
For more on Bellator 73, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.
(Pictured: Kelvin Tiller)


text:
About Hookup Lures
Founded in 1992 by Captain Hank Brown, Hookup® Lures is proud to produce the finest Jigs, Rigs and Bucktails available on the market. Quality craftsmanship, unsurpassed attention to detail and the use of the highest quality materials, guarantee everyday anglers, guides and tournament anglers alike, a premium lure that will produce more fish, trip after trip.
954-969-1772 954-969-1772
How to Hookup!
Hookup Lures® Light Tackle Series jig heads are designed to be used with all smaller natural baits – live, dead or cut. The barbs on the hooks used in this series are slightly larger to better hold natural baits on the hook when casting or drifting.Light Tackle Watch Now
Hookup Lures® Inshore Premium Bucktails are made with VMC PermaSteel hooks for maximum strength, sharpness and durability. They are available in weights of ¼, 3/8 and 1/2 oz.) and 13 unique color combinations.Inshore Premium Bucktail Watch Now
Hookup Lures Prostaff
We're always looking for anglers who are active on social media! If you're shooting pics and creating vids to highlight your time on the water APPLY NOW!


text:
This dish we made for dinner tonight, Cheesy Chicken Pasta, would be a great way to sneak in several healthy ingredients without anyone knowing how good it was for them!
To start us off, we used whole-wheat penne that is filled with protein and fiber - if you haven't tried switching over to whole-wheat yet or you've tried it in the past and didn't like it, you might look into one of those multi-grain pastas (we've tried Barilla Plus in the past and have been pleased). They tend to be lighter in color and taste pretty darn close to regular pasta. When the penne was just short of being ready, we tossed a couple cups of small cauliflower florets into the same pot to save on dishes.
While I was waiting for the pasta water to boil and for it to cook through, I also had another pot on the stove getting the creamy cheese sauce going. With a base of softened onions and a splash of white wine, the rest of the sauce is composed of milk and flour that were whisked in and allowed to thicken. You have a basic milk sauce right now, but what turns this into a cheesy coating is the addition of intensely flavored shreds of Gruyère cheese. Cooked chicken, that I first shredded, was plunked into the mix for a bit more protein, along with a dollop of Dijon for a bit of tang in the background. The sauce was then combined with the cooked pasta and crisp-tender bites of cauliflower, then topped off with a few fresh chives.
Kind of like a stove-top mac-and-cheese, I almost thought that there was going to be too much of the sauce once everything was tossed together, but it didn't take us long to realize how tasty it was - and yes, we may even have to admit we licked our plates clean! The sauce was a tad on the thin side for me, but it was quite rich and did seem to cling well to the pasta, chicken and cauliflower. The nutty Gruyère made this for us, but I don't see a problem using a milder Swiss, which might satisfy a younger audience... that and it would probably be more friendly to the wallet!
Cheesy Chicken Pasta


text:
This story started on the Photo of the Week Page at corndancer.com Click on the link to see the first part of the story, a very cool thing to do.
Frank Cross, an invalid confined to his bed, was murdered in the mid-eighties at his home which formerly stood behind the tree. The family had the house demolished, but left the fine cedar tree standing as a memorial to Frank, who was an admired member of his community in southeast Arkansas.
Close inspection of the tree base reveals some artifacts which were probably part and parcel of the old home.
Note in the picture above how flat the grass is laying. The wind was whipping across the Delta fields in the 15 knot neighborhood. It was December 21, the alleged first day of winter. As if programmed to be true, the temperature was below 30 degrees in that afternoon. The wind chill factor was polar.
In the picture to the left, you see items left under the tree. For the uninitiated, the piece with the spring attached appears to be part of a cultivator, a tractor towed implement. The object to the right of the cultivator part is probably part of an andiron set. There are some bricks in the foreground, probably from the house.
Human nature being what it is, there was other detritus, probably not a part of the household leftovers. It seems that we humans have some sort of genetic bent to deposit trash where we find other (perceived) trash. There was an old hydraulic hose, some water valve parts and other bits and pieces, not endemic to a house which was probably 75 or 80 years old, when it met its demise. Also a few wrappers and bottles. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out how those got there. In the hot summer, this tree provides best shade for miles, a good place for working people to take a break.
Information for our original story on corndancer.com was generously provided by Chuck and Pam Taylor and Chuck's mother. Like a dummy, I did not write her name down. Family operates Taylors, a store and restaurant west of Dumas AR. I visited the bistro later and was not dissapointed. Since our first visit, they have changed their business model and now feature fine steaks. They are open for dinner only Thursday, Friday, and Saturday
Click here to see nine additional pictures of the tree.
Thanks for dropping by and Merry Christmas,
Joe Dempsey
Weekly Grist for the Eyes and Mind
Filed under: Behind the Scenes, but wait, there's more | Tagged: Add new tag, Agriculture and Forestry, Arkansas, cedar tree, Christmas, Christmas tree, Frank Cross, Horticulture, memorial, murdered, Photograph, Tree | 9 Comments »


text:
documented by Stephen Kidd
Change country
Change language
Behind the scenes at the Women's Fall/Winter 2018 show
documented by Stephen Kidd
Stephen Kidd captures some authentic moments backstage at the Women's Fall/Winter 2018 show in Milan, Italy.
Jil Sander uses cookies on this site to help provide you with a high quality browser experience. To find out more about the cookies used on this site and how to delete them, visite our cookie policy. By continuing to use this site, you agree to our use of cookies.


text:
Unless otherwise indicated, this material is protected by copyright and has been made available with authorization from the copyright owner. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
All of PRISMCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects


text:
Story highlights
14-year-old male victim shot in head but expected to be released
School resource officer disarms, apprehends suspect immediately
Relative at hospital calls victim "a good kid," denies any gang connection
A 14-year-old student suffered a gunshot wound to the head Thursday outside a middle school in Atlanta, Georgia, police and school officials said.
The victim was conscious and alert at Grady Memorial Hospital, his mother told CNN affiliate WSB-TV. A fellow Price Middle School student was in custody, according to police and Atlanta Public Schools. No other students were harmed in the 1:50 p.m. shooting.
Prosecutor gunned down outside courthouse
An off-duty Atlanta police officer working as a school resource officer disarmed and apprehended the suspect immediately after the shooting, police Chief George Turner said.
Police detectives were interviewing the victim in the hospital, his mother told WSB-TV. He knows the assailant, who the mother said was "talking smack" to her son between classes before pulling out a gun and firing, the station said.
Sandra Armour, a cousin of the victim's mother, said at the hospital there was no gang connection. "(The victim) is a good kid," Armour said. She said she didn't know whether either the victim or the suspect had ever been bullied.
The victim is expected to be released this evening, school district Superintendent Erroll Davis said at a 5 p.m. news conference.
Man holds child hostage in Alabama bunker
The school was locked down while a police tactical team swept the building for threats and administrators accounted for all students and faculty. Some parents grew restless and complained about a lack of communication while waiting for their children.
"Plans are always good until something happens and things go wrong, and then you learn," Davis said.
At 4:45 p.m. students were loaded onto buses and reunited with their families at a church less than two blocks from the school.
Price Middle School has about 400 students and has metal detectors at the doors, Davis said. He said the district would investigate how the assailant was able to carry a gun.
Newtown victim's father speaks out
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed issued the following statement:
"Gun violence in and around our schools is simply unconscionable and must end. Too many young people are being harmed, and too many families are suffering from unimaginable and unnecessary grief. I pray that the student who was shot today at Price Middle School in southwest Atlanta recovers quickly and can return home to family and friends. A suspect has been taken into custody. I would also like the students, faculty and families of the Price Middle School community to know that they have the full support of the City of Atlanta as they heal from today's terrible incident. The city's Employee Assistance Program counselors are already at the school providing guidance for students, faculty and family members."


text:
President Obama plans to ask Congress for a $1.2 trillion increase in the debt ceiling this week.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The year couldn't end without a final word about the nation's debt ceiling.
President Obama plans to ask Congress this week to raise the debt limit by $1.2 trillion, an increase that should get the government through most of next year, a Treasury department official said Tuesday.
Fortunately, though, the increase should come without the fireworks that accompanied this summer's debt battle, as it comes in line with the deal struck back then.
That deal, signed into law in August, authorized a phased increase of the debt ceiling by up to $2.4 trillion, with $400 billion of that kicking in immediately and another $500 billion coming in September.
This final request would increase the debt limit from its current level of roughly $15.2 trillion to $16.4 trillion. The government is expected to come within $100 billion of the current limit by the end of this week, the Treasury official said.
While Obama still has to put the latest increase to Congress, it can only be blocked if both the House and Senate pass a resolution against it, which, with the Democrats in control of the Senate, is extremely unlikely.
In September, the Republican-controlled House passed a resolution against Obama's request to increase the debt limit, but the Senate did not. Even if a joint resolution were passed, Obama could veto it.
With Congress out of session until Jan. 17, lawmakers may not even get to introduce resolutions against the increase within the 15-day window they have once the president's request is made. The increase goes into effect after the 15 days are up.
At the very least, though, it should give Republican candidates one more talking point out on the campaign trail in the coming weeks.
In November, the Congressional committee tasked as part of this summer's deal with cutting the deficit by $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years announced that it could not come to an agreement. As a result, some $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts are set to kick in in 2013, though lawmakers may choose to scale back these cuts between now and then.
|What we want Apple to unveil at WWDC
|Millennials squeezed out of buying a home
|7 traits the rich have in common
|Big Data knows you're sick, tired and depressed
|Your car is a giant computer - and it can be hacked
|Overnight Avg Rate
|Last Week
|30 yr fixed
|15 yr fixed
|30 yr refi
|15 yr refi
Today's featured rates:
|Latest Report
|Next Update
|Home prices
|Aug 28
|Consumer confidence
|Aug 28
|Aug 29
|Manufacturing (ISM)
|Sept 4
|Sept 7
|Inflation (CPI)
|Sept 14
|Retail sales
|Sept 14


text:
Fred Savage baby, holiday shopping and more: Our parenting news roundup
Fred Savage baby announcement, pols Joe Biden and Cory Booker try living like the people by shopping at Costco and going on foodstamps, US birthrates plunge, and ... in the best news for parents child sex abuse crimes drop.
Fred Savage, of "Wonder Years" fame, made a cryptic birth announcement via Twitter. Vice President Joe Biden and Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker decided this week to go shopping with the people. And new reports show both birth rates and child sexual assaults are down.
Yes, it's time for our Friday parenting news wrap up – a helpful guide for those of you who might have missed the news, or just spent this week in a post-Turkey (or family gathering) haze.
The price is right...
If you were a Washington, D.C. parent and had decided Thursday morning to head to Costco to grab a jumbo pack of, I don't know, Honey Nut Cheerios, you may have well run into fellow shopper Joe Biden. As in, Veep.
Yes, the second in line to the presidency made an appearance at the store's opening, pushing a shiny, new, extra large cart in order to grab some cookies, kids' clothing, fire logs and – he's one of the people, after all – a new flat screen television. (He did decline a set of new tires, saying he didn't drive anymore, but what can you do.)
As The Monitor's Peter Grier wrote in the Decoder Wire, there are plenty of reasons Mr. Biden might have wanted to do a Costco run, ranging from political reward-giving to promoting urban business development. But we at Modern Parenthood wonder if there's something more: With the mom vote proving so important this past election, and pundits focusing on the so-called "Walmart Mom" in particular, maybe Biden wanted to show that he knows how to bargain shop with the best of them.
If that's the case, though, he's still no match for Newark Mayor Cory Booker. That same day, Mr. Booker told the Associated Press that he will live on food stamps for a week, starting Nov. 27. He has challenged Twitter followers and even some celebrities to join him in the effort – part of a campaign by a number of public figures to show the difficulties of living on government assistance. (In New Jersey the monthly food stamp benefit is around $134 a month. Booker says he will be limited to $1.40 per meal.)
Next week, the pols reveal their favorite couponing strategies.
Sexual assault down
Here's a positive, if sober, news item that came out this week: Researchers at the University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center said that data coming from a number of sources seem to indicate that sexual crimes against children have declined significantly since the 1990s. Violent crime overall has also dropped during this period, but there are conflicting reports as to whether physical (not sexual) child-abuse has declined.
Some of the stats:
- FBI statistics based on local law enforcement crime reports show a 35 percent drop in sex crimes overall between 1992 and 2010; with 50 percent of rape victims younger than 18, these numbers suggest a drop in child assaults.
- The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, showed a 62 percent decline in substantiated sexual abuse between 1992 and 2010.
- And the National Survey of Children Exposed to Violence, conducted in 2009, found that 2 percent of children ages two to 17 had been sexually assaulted, down from 3.3 percent in a survey five years earlier.
Sexual assault statistics (and local crime statistics overall, for that matter) are notoriously problematic as far as accuracy and reporting go.
Still, we'll take it.
No baby boom here
Feel like all of your friends are giving birth these days? Are the post-work get-togethers dwindling? Is holiday party chatter veering dangerously away from hip new restaurants and adventure travel toward strollers and preschools?
Well, we're here to say that, yup, it's just you.
A new report from the Pew Research Center, putting together numbers from US Census data and National Vital Statistics Reports from the US Centers for Disease Control, says that the birth rate last year was the lowest in recorded history. Immigrant women having fewer babies was the main reason for the drop, Pew says. (The birth rate for US-born women has been declining for a while.) You can check out our piece on this here for more details.
Get out the vote: Pink LEGOs versus the 7-11 Slurpee Maker
Each year before the holidays, in a mocking companion to the Toy Industry Association's Toy of the Year Award (aka TOTY), the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood presents its TOADY Award. (That's Toys Oppressive and Destructive to Young Children, if you couldn't figure out the acronym on your own.) The group tries to pick the worst toy of the year out of a disturbingly large choice of items that either promote the sexualization of children or push branded and screen-time based entertainment at the expense of other sorts of play.
Now, you can vote among the finalists. These include the LEGO Friends Butterfly Beauty Shop, in which girls can play with shapely LEGO figures at a LEGO hair salon, helping them "get primped and pretty" or "shop for makeup and hair accessories." ("How do you turn one of the all-time great toys into a TOADY contender?" the advocacy group writes. "Give it a makeover!") There's the Put Me In the Story App by Jabberwocky Kids, which allows children to insert themselves as the main e-book character in a choice of otherwise classic children's stories.
And, perhaps my personal favorite in the age of obesity, the 7-11 Slurpee Maker by Spin Master, with which kids can make their very own Slurpees. Awesome. Health concerns aside, though, it's the branding that got the Slurpee Making nominated for a TOADY. The toy comes with the 7-11 logo, and a coupon for a free real Slurpee.
Voting is open through Dec. 5 on The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood website.
Baby tweet
And because we admit to indulging in celebrity baby news now and then... Fred Savage – who, I admit, in my mind will always be Kevin Arnold of the "Wonder Years" – has a new baby son. Or so we assume, from a Tweet the actor sent out Nov. 26. The character-limited announcement included a snapshot of a baby's hand and the words "he's here." No public info yet on when the baby was born or the name. Mr. Savage and wife Jennifer already have a 6-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter.


text:
Who doesn't start the new year out with a resolution to lose weight? But it's only week two of 2014 and, I don't know about you, but I'm already off track.
According to our GHRI Nutrition Director, Samantha Cassetty, one of the best ways to cut down on calories is by minding your portion sizes, but exactly how to do that can be challenging. For easy guidance on just how much you should eat, try some of the new portion-control dinnerware, designed with input from dieticians and health professionals. Unlike earlier "diet" dishes, the latest crop are decorative rather than utilitarian-looking. They show you how much to eat of which food group without spelling out "meat," "veggies," and "starch" right on the plate.
Here are a few new ones we like:
More From Good Housekeeping
Slimware and Slim & Sage
On each Slimware plate ($37.50 for 4 melamine plates, $59 for 4 ceramic plates), there's an image of flowers or spheres of varying sizes. The largest bloom or circle is for vegetables, the medium-sized for carbohydrates or side dishes, and the smallest for proteins or entrees. Sporting geometric patterns, Slim & Sage's plates ($99 for 4 porcelain plates) make it easy to visually divide your meal into quarters, so you can learn to use a fourth each for proteins and whole grains and half for vegetables.
Precise Portions' Nutrition Control SystemPrecise Portions' line of dishes includes porcelain plates and bowls ($22.95 for 4 bowls to $199 for a complete set) and drinking glasses ($29.95 for 4), compostable disposable dishes ($9.95-$12.95 for 25 plates, cups, or bowls), and a sectioned, covered travel plate ($29.95 for 4). Graceful vines section off the correct portions on the china and glass pieces while compartments and indentations mark off the recommended sizes on the paperware and travel dish.
Zak's Healthy By Design Plates
You can help your kids learn to eat smartly with images of Disney Princesses, Sofia the First, Hello Kitty, Thomas & Friends, or Cars. These melamine dishes teach portion control with a four-compartment design. Each section is sized and labeled as to the proportions recommended by the USDA Choose My Plate initiative, so kids learn they need a lot more broccoli than chicken nuggets and that fruit should part of every meal. Raised edges help keep food on the plate and not on the table or the floor. Dishwasher safe, Zak Healthy By Design plates are $16.47 to $23.96 with cups, water bottles and/or bowls.
TELL US: Would you add these to your dishware?
Sharon has been with the GHI since 1987, when she was hired as an assistant primarily to develop recipes for the magazine's column on microwave cooking. Before joining GHI, she was a chef in restaurants in the World Trade Center.


text:
Get secret deals & discounts exclusively for members.
Get discounts when you sign up to our newsletter!
Enter your e-mail and password:
New customer? Create your account
Lost password? Recover password
Enter your email:
Remembered your password? Back to login
Your cart is empty
35 products
Showing 1 - 24 of 35 products
Free worldwide shipping!
We ship all items for free. No minimum purchase required!
Refunds are accepted!
With our easy refund policy, we will issue full refund if you are not satisfied with your purchase
Top-notch support
Contact us if you would like to have a custom order. We usually reply within 24 hours.
100% Secure Checkout
All transactions are being secured & guaranteed by major credit cards and e-payment processors.


text:
Find your fortune in Jewel Quest Solitaire, both a card game and a mini version of Jewel Quest.
More info
Clear the board as fast as you can by removing the cards.
Save the magical realm of Avalon in Avalon Legends Solitaire, an enchanted journey of fun.
Clear the pyramids as fast as you can by removing the cards.
Immerse yourself in the idyllic Hawaiian Islands of Aloha Solitaire.
Take a balloon ride over the Hawai'ian Islands in Aloha TriPeaks.
Move the cards to the foundations in ascending order. All cards are available right away.
Don't get bored on the beach; just play a game of cards in Tropix Solitaire.
Pharaoh's Solitaire is an improved version of the well-known game of pyramids.
Sail the seas, explore the world and play unlimited solitaire card games in Solitaire Cruise.
Privacy policy
terms of service
News Room
About Zylom
copyright © 2001-


text:
Recipe for Coffee
Are you bored of the same coffee bean flavour? When you grind your coffee beans, do you tire because you know it's going to be the same old taste? Well, have I got an idea for you! When adding your beans to your coffee grinder, consider adding some dried slug. Yes, dried slug! It tastes great and it's a great way to get rid of some surplus slugs.
Take your unwilling slug, if they resist then just knock them on the head with a miniature hammer, tie the little blighter up and leave outside under the sun - much like how you would when 'making' sun-dried tomatoes. If you live in England and the sun isn't out very often then the slug can be grilled. Just make sure that no other slugs are nearby witnessing you committing slugicide.
Once the slug is sun-dried and very dead, simply add him/her to the grinder with your coffee beans and grind as normal. (If there's a high-pitched scream then you haven't left your slug out under the sun for long enough). Then make your coffee as you usually would and savour the unique flavour and great, slug-tastic taste. Sluglicious!
Works wonderfully for espressos, lattes and destroying slug morale etc...
Leave a Reply.
Elias Zapple
In Maputo I am known for my love of tinned tuna.
September 2017


text:
About Balsamic Vinegar of Modena
TRADITIONAL BALSAMIC VINEGAR OF MODENA is made from cooked grape must, matured by a long and slow process, through natural fermentation, followed by progressive concentration by aging in a series of casks made from different types of wood and without the addition of any other spices or flavorings. (Our products go through 7 different types of wooden barrels over 18 years.) After aging the Balsamic is combined with a high quality wine vinegar creating a commercial balsamic vinegar.
COLOR: dark brown but full of warm light.
DENSITY: a fluid and syrup-like consistency.
FLAVOR: The perfect proportion of sweet and sour. It will offer your taste buds a full and rich flavor with a variety of shadings.
- The word vinegar comes from the French "vin aigre", which means "sour wine". The Italian word for vinegar is "aceto", which is the name of the bacteria (enzymes) that creates the vinegar. Vinegar has existed for thousands of years and in all cultures, from wine vinegars, malt vinegars, cider vinegars, rice vinegars, etc. In countries, such as Italy, where the consumption of wine is widespread, wine vinegars are used extensively.
- Vinegar is caused by the action of oxygen and acetobacters (enzymes), which digest the alcohol in the wine, thus turning it into vinegar. This method is called the "Orleans" method. It is a rather slow process, but retains the flavors of the original material used for converting it into vinegar.
- Balsamic vinegar is made from a different process than wine vinegar. Balsamic vinegar comes from Modena, in the region of Reggio Emilia, Italy, and is made with Trebbiano grapes. These grapes are left on the vines until the very end of autumn, so they can soak up the last rays of the autumn sun. The grapes are crushed and the must, which is not allowed to ferment, is filtered, then boiled, reducing the liquid from 30 to 70%, depending on the vintage, the sugar level, and the expertise of the vinegar maker. Once the must is reduced it is filtered again, and poured into wooden casks, after cooling.
- Topping up creates the distinctive flavors and consistency of balsamic vinegar. Topping up, or decanting, is done when the must is transferred from one wooden cask to another in decreasing size progression. The casks are made from oak, cherry, chestnut, ash, and mulberry. Selection of woods and the order in which they are used will depend on family tradition and on the Balsamic maker. This series of wooden casks is called "the Batteria". The "Batteria" is kept in the attic, not in the cellar, and it is the combination of the must, the special woods, the climate - hot in the summer, cold in the winter - and time, which transforms the must into Balsamic Vinegar of Modena.
- Traditional Balsamic vinegar is aged in the "Batteria" at least 12 years. The licensing of the traditional balsamic vinegar is controlled by the Consortium of Producers of the Traditional Balsamic Vinegars of Modena. The Italian government has bestowed its DOC, or, Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) in recognition of balsamic vinegar of a certain quality. In compliance with rigorous quality standards, the Consorzio places its Seal of Guarantee on each numbered bottle.
- The commercial type balsamic vinegar which you see on the supermarket shelves is made from a wine vinegar into which aged balsamic vinegar must has been added. The addition and amount of must added to the red wine vinegar determines the quality of the commercial type balsamic vinegar.
- balsamic vinegars range from the "commercial" type generally sold on the supermarkets' shelves, to the traditional balsamic vinegars.
- The "Star" system to distinguish the different qualities of commercial balsamic vinegars that are produced, since there are differing qualities found on the shelves of the supermarkets. The most common star rating for balsamic is a level 3 a higher quality is often given a level 6 and the best commercial balsamic available is a 25 Star, which is what you will find on this website.
- All of our Balsamic products have been prepared in the traditional manor aging a minimum of 18 years through various wooden casks The addition of natural flavors is done after the ageing process and can take severl months to several years for the final product.


text:
Make the Most of Black Friday 2017 in Myrtle Beach
Courtney Martin | 21 Sep 2017
It's almost the most wonderful time of the year in Myrtle Beach and the surrounding areas! With Thanksgiving just around the corner, it's time to get started planning for your beach getaway to the Grand Strand for the best in Black Friday shopping experiences that are sure to make everyone on your holiday gift list smile from ear to ear! Explore some of the top shopping destinations in the Myrtle Beach area during your Black Friday 2017 condo rental experience.
Start at the north end of Myrtle Beach by spending some time at Tanger Outlets and the Myrtle Beach Mall. Both shopping destinations are located on Highway 17 North, making them convenient and within close proximity to your accommodations and other Myrtle Beach experiences. With hundreds of shops and dining options between the two of them, you'll have plenty of opportunities to grab everything on your holiday shopping list. The fun begins the day before Thanksgiving at Tanger Outlets, which are open on Wednesday, November 22, from 9am to 9pm. After taking a break to celebrate the holiday on Thursday, November 23, Tanger will reopen that evening 6pm and remain open continuously throughout Black Friday until 10pm Friday night. Visit stores like Coach, Ralph Lauren, H&M, and so many more whenever you shop Black Friday sales Myrtle Beach. After you've completed your shopping at Tanger, head across the street and check out the stores and restaurants at the Myrtle Beach Mall!
If you're looking to shop in Central Myrtle Beach, be sure to stop by Coastal Grand Mall for a truly grand holiday shopping experience. You can get your pictures with Santa, choose from a variety of dining options on-site, like Cracker Barrell, Logan's, and of course, get in all of your holiday shopping at stores like Belk, Bed, Bath, & Beyond, Old Navy, Gap, and much more! The sales start Thanksgiving week, so stop back by for updates on Black Friday hours and more.
As you drive further south, make a stop at the Market Common for another extravagant shopping experience. This upscale, outlet-style area features stores and boutiques like Anthropologie, Southern Living, Pottery Barn, Barnes & Noble and more! The area will be bursting with excitement starting on Thanksgiving Day, when the annual Turkey Trot Race takes place in Valor Park and the Market Common. Stores will remain closed on Thanksgiving, but they will reopen bright and early on Black Friday at 8am. Get your holiday shopping season started with a trip to the Market Common!
No matter where you choose to shop on Black Friday, your Myrtle Beach getaway will offer you the best deals for all of your holiday gift lists. Spend Turkey Day on the beach, and then head out for a thrilling Friday of hustle, bustle, and fun when you reserve one of our spectacular condos during this holiday week.
Keyword Search
Recent Articles


text:
New 2023 Jayco Jay Flight 212QBW
Save your favorite RVs as you browse. Begin with this one!
Excellent Customer ServiceGreat first time experience with Worldwide RV! Please pass along my thanks to your parts department manager Christina for her outstanding research of window parts for our RV. Quick and accurate research and great pricing. In fact, she honored the price quoted in her email even though the price had increased!
Excellent Customer ServiceI'm leaving for Rocky Point next week and I realized my range exhaust cover has flown off my travel trailer. I called many places to try and find the replacement. The first couple of stores I called were unhelpful and didn't seem to want to help. Christina from Worldwide RV was so helpful. She was quick
Excellent Customer ServiceChuck our sales representative did a great job presenting and answering all our questions during our visit to the dealership. And now we have moved to the ordering and pre credit/ down payment documentation process and Chuck has done a great job making this process smooth and easy!
World Wide RV is not responsible for any misprints, typos, or errors found in our website pages. Any price listed excludes sales tax, registration tags, and delivery fees. Manufacturer pictures, specifications, and features may be used in place of actual units on our lot. Please contact us @623-283-3440 for availability as our inventory changes rapidly. All calculated payments are an estimate only and do not constitute a commitment that financing or a specific interest rate or term is available. Sales price is financed through World Wide RV.
* Price includes finance incentive.
* Sale price does not include freight and prep.


text:
(CNN) - An announcement from Rep. Ron Paul indicates that the Republican presidential candidate will no longer actively campaign for the GOP nomination, but will continue to work to secure delegates at upcoming Republican state conventions.
"Moving forward, however, we will no longer spend resources campaigning in primaries in states that have not yet voted," said Paul, in a statement released Monday afternoon. "Doing so with any hope of success would take many tens of millions of dollars we simply do not have."
- Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker
- Follow Paul Steinhauser on Twitter: @psteinhausercnn
As of April 1, Paul's campaign had $1.8 million cash on hand.
But the longtime congressman from Texas, who's making his third bid for the White House, says he'll continue to try and secure delegates to the Republican convention in Tampa, Florida in late August.
"Our campaign will continue to work in the state convention process. We will continue to take leadership positions, win delegates, and carry a strong message to the Republican National Convention that Liberty is the way of the future," adds Paul, in his statement.
As of April 1, Paul's campaign had $1.8 million cash on hand.
With former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich having suspended their campaigns, Paul is the last remaining major candidate still standing against former Massachusetts Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
According to the most recent CNN estimate, Romney has secured 945 delegates, compared 286 for Santorum, 145 for Gingrich and 99 for Paul. One-thousand, one-hundred and forty-four delegates are needed to clinch the nomination.
Last Wednesday Paul told CNN that he doesn't foresee lending his support to Romney any time soon, and that he's staying in the race to impact the party's agenda. He added that to reconcile his differences with Romney would, at this point, be "pretty hard."
"It certainly isn't for the reason of disrupting the convention," said Paul, of his push for delegates at state party conventions. "I'm in it for very precise reasons: to maximize our efforts to get as many delegates as we can. I'm still a candidate, and to promote something that is very, very important, that is a change in the direction for the Republican Party."
– CNN's Gregory Wallace contributed to this report
Also see:
Ron Paul to end active campaigning
RNC, Team Romney roll out debt attack on Obama
Leading progressive group attacks Romney over women's issues


text:
Chivas USA's Agudelo named MLS Player of the Week
New York, NY – Chivas USA forward Juan Agudelo was named Major League Soccer's Player of the Week on Monday for Week 4 of the 2013 season.
Agudelo scored and added an assist in his club's 4-1 dismantling of the Chicago Fire on Sunday at Toyota Park.
Agudelo set up the go-ahead tally for the Goats in the 57th minute to break a 1-1 deadlock when he sent a perfect pass to Edgar Mejia, who ripped a wicked strike past Chicago goalkeeper Paolo Tornaghi.
15 minutes from time. Agudelo found the back of the net when he corralled a pass from Jorge Villafana on the break and curled a shot off the far post and past Tornaghi.
Chivas is tied with the Los Angles Galaxy for second place in the Western Conference with the result and will host Vancouver on Saturday.
The MLS Player of the Week award is selected each week by the North American Soccer Reporters. The group consists of members of online, print, television, and radio media.
2013 MLS Player of the Week winners:
Week 1: Mike Magee (Los Angeles Galaxy)
Week 2: Robert Earnshaw (Toronto FC)
Week 3: Bill Hamid (D.C. United)
Week 4: Juan Agudelo (Chivas USA)


text:
Jellyfish Robot Powered by Hydrogen and Nanotechnology
Mar 22, 2012, 08:42 ET
DALLAS, March 22, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas and Virginia Tech have created an undersea vehicle inspired by the common jellyfish that runs on renewable energy and could be used in ocean rescue and surveillance missions.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120322/DC75382)
In a study published this week in Smart Materials and Structures, scientists created a robotic jellyfish, dubbed Robojelly, that feeds off hydrogen and oxygen gases found in water.
"We've created an underwater robot that doesn't need batteries or electricity," said Dr. Yonas Tadesse, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at UT Dallas and lead author of the study. "The only waste released as it travels is more water."
Engineers and scientists have increasingly turned to nature for inspiration when creating new technologies. The simple yet powerful movement of the moon jellyfish made it an appealing animal to simulate.
The Robojelly consists of two bell-like structures made of silicone that fold like an umbrella. Connecting the umbrella are muscles that contract to move.
In this study, researchers upgraded the original, battery-powered Robojelly to be self-powered. They did that through a combination of high-tech materials including artificial muscles that contract when heated.
These muscles are made of a nickel-titanium alloy wrapped in carbon nanotubes, coated with platinum and housed in a pipe. As the mixture of hydrogen and oxygen encounters the platinum, heat and water vapor are created. That heat causes a contraction that moves the muscles of the device, pumping out the water and starting the cycle again.
"It could stay underwater and refuel itself while it is performing surveillance," Tadesse said.
In addition to military surveillance, Tadesse said, the device could be used to detect pollutants in water.
Tadesse said the next step would be refining the legs of the devices to move independently, allowing the Robojelly to travel in more than one direction.
Dr. Ray Baughman, the Robert A. Welch Distinguished Chair in Chemistry and director of the Alan G. MacDiarmid NanoTech Institute at UT Dallas, was an author of the study. The research was a collaboration between researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Virginia Tech, including Dr. Shashank Priya, the study's senior author.
The study was funded by the Office of Naval Research.
SOURCE University of Texas at Dallas


text:
Best Beers of 2012
Like making a year-end list of best records, creating a list of one's favorite is a silly yet necessary exercise. Silly because who really cares? Necessary because everybody's doing it. In no particular order, here are beers that were either released this year, discovered by me this year, or finally made sense to me this year. I apologize upfront for the IPA-heavy list. I'm a hop head and have trouble remembering what I thought about most sours, stouts, Saisons, etc.
Trappist Westvleteren 12
I've had Westy before, but it was a small sample at the end of an evening of craft beer debauchery. My bother "won" one of those lottos just to get a chance to buy and $85 six pack. He shared as family is wont to do over the holiday. Half a bottle was more than enough for me to fully appreciate what many consider to be the best beer in the world. I don't know about all of that or even if it's the best Belgian quad, but it's very very good.
Goose Island King Henry
This may have been released in 2011, but we never saw it locally. One evening in Lincoln, Nebraska at an excellent pizza joint offered me the opportunity to try this magnificent beast.
Bells Black Note Stout
I should not have had a glass of this beer, but I did. A sample was sneaked to me as I had to leave a Bells dinner. Imagine the molasses-fueled deliciousness of Expedition, mixed with the sweetness of a milk stout, and brewed in bourbon barrels. Even then, you can't imagine how glorious this beer tasted.
Three Floyds Zombie Dust
I love me some APA's but this one is on another level. So much Citra. So good.
Stone Ruination Tenth Anniversary IPA
Specially released IPA's from Stone are all over my list. This one featured an amped-up version of what was my epiphany beer, if that was even possible… Of course it was! This was as good a tribute as any brewery has ever brewed.
Stone Enjoy By 12.21.12 IPA
I actually preferred this one to the September version. It's possible this one was fresher, but both were consumed well before their best by dates. The idea of a ridiculously fresh IPA is nothing new, but this release made it a priority. There's no way one of these will ever sit on shelves too long. I hope they continue to brew Best By IPA's.
Cantillon Lou Pepe Kriek (2008)
Obviously, this beer was not from this year, but I finally opened it and was glad I did. No one does lambics and sours like Cantillon. Probably no other more obvious sentence has ever been uttered regarding beer. Lou Pepe was no exception. I suspect the aging altered the beer, but I doubt I wouldn't have loved it a couple of years ago.
Boulevard Rye-On-Rye
This one is on the brain as I just picked up the latest release of this great Smokestack Series brew. I always liked this beer but never really got it until this year. I don't know whether that's trying so many inferior rye beers or just the ongoing development of my palate, but it's so rich and so good. Aside from Boulevard's Saison Brett (another all-time favorite that could make this list every year), this is one of the true Missouri craft beer treasures.
The Bruery 5 Golden Rings
I stumbled upon one of these at a Whole Paycheck the day before Xmas Eve and figured it would make the perfect Xmas dinner drink. And it did. No one outside of these guys and Stillwater consistently make beers that go better with food. I was lucky I paced myself of this one would have put me under the table.
Broadway Brewery Columbus Single Hop IPA
Never in my wildest dreams would I have figured a beer brewed here in Columbia, MO would make a list like this, but this one stacks up. I'm sure the freshness factor comes into play here, but I dragged a growler nine hours to Ohio, another three to Cleveland – all of it in a cooler that was probably not properly chilled and a growler that was not properly filled to the top – and the beer survived. Hell, it did better than survive. It was downright delicious.
Odell The Meddler Oud Bruin
I had nearly given up on Odell's special releases, but this one was decently priced and I like to try anything new in this style. The beer was beautiful from appearance to aroma to the all-important flavors within. It paired well with whatever I was eating that night. This beer renewed my faith in Odell.
Schlafly Tasmanian IPA (TIPA)
Schlafly has been experimenting with different varieties of hops, mostly through special keg-only releases and cask ale. Still, this one was a nice little surprise. It's one of those beers that nails the hoppiness hop heads are always after, causing us to want to drink one after the other.
Millstream Great Pumpkin Imperial Stout
This is how pumpkin ale should be done. Screw the pumpkin pie and sour varieties. Put your pumpkin in an imperial stout or Baltic porter! As an imperial stout, it's not my favorite. However, it made me rethink pumpkin beers just as I was writing them off.
Treble Kicker Beer New Slang Saison
My own Saison is easily one of my favorites. I upped the ante with this year's version for my partner's tenure celebration. More lemon zest and rosemary = a punch in the face Saison that is not playing around. Add in some dry-hopped Sorachi Ace hops and you have a lemon bomb/balm that needs to brewed again and soon.
Stone 16th Anniversary IPA
This one was met with many mixed reviews, but I loved the twist this one offered some lemon verbena and rye-induced spice that made for one of the more interesting/surprising beers this year.
Deschutes Chainbreaker White IPA
Why isn't the white/wheat IPA more popular? Because no one wants to take on Deschutes' hold on hoppy beers. No one hops a beer like Deschutes. No one.
Tallgrass 8-Bit Pale Ale
This was my beer of the summer. Refreshingly hoppy goodness in a can carried me through record-setting heat, including a 30-mile bike ride.
Green Flash Rayon Vert
I'm not sure how long this beer has been around, but it made its first appearances in middle-Missouri earlier this year and I'm sure glad it did. Another twist on the IPA (this time with Belgian love), Rayon Vert became the "heavy" beer of summer.
Stillwater Debutante
What can I say that hasn't already been said before about Stillwater's excellence. I could put any of their beers on this list every year. Still, this one made its debut in 2012 and I for one welcome it to the best lineup of Saisons this side of Belgium.
Firestone Walker Wookey Jack
The Black IPA/Cascadian Dark Ale continues to dig out a niche in craft beer and Firestone's entry is no different than the best of the style.
Deschutes Chasin' Freshies
Did I mention Deschutes' mastery of the hop. This fresh-hopped IPA and its fresh-hopped APA cousin (Hop Trip) do what fresh/wet-hopped beers are supposed to: capture the essence of Dionysus' underwear… or something like that.
Mikkeller Royal Rye Wine
Most of the Mikkeller releases I enjoyed this year were not all that new to me. However, the experience surrounding the Royal Rye Wine made this possibly the most memorable beer of the year. Read more about it here.
What did I forget? What would you add? Disagree or agree with any of these?


text:
Shooting Gallery. I got there very early, so a crowd was yet to form, but I hope some visitors braved the cold after a few drinks later in the evening. The artists showing are those that have helped with the continued development of the Shooting Gallery, including John Felix Arnold III, Ferris Plock, and APEX, all of whom have shown work recently in the Tenderloin. The intermingling of two-dimensional and sculptural works emphasized the variety of artists who show at the Shooting Gallery, which is a great way to finish their last show in this space. I can't wait to see what they do with the larger space they are moving into very soon, continuing to foster creativity, but hopefully with much more room to do so.
John Felix Arnold III, Mixed media on wood panel
Morgan Slade
Lauren Napolitano, Ink and pencil on paper book pages
Aaron Nagel, Sundown, Oil on canvas, 30"x44"
Bryan Schnelle, Prepare to Die, Paper collage and enamel on canvas, 72"x72"
Jet Martinez
Left: Blues, Acrylic on board, 36" x 48"
Right: Embroidered Armadillo, Acrylic on board, 36"x48"
Michael Page
Top: In Deep, Acrylic and oil on wood panel, 12"x12"
Middle: Lion 5, Acrylic and oil on wood panel, 15"x15"
Bottom: Bluenight, Acrylic and oil on wood panel, 12"x12"
Hugh Leeman, Blossom, Oil on wood panel, 30"x36"
APEX, Untitled 1, 2, and 3, Spray paint on canvas, 24"x24" each
Clockwise from back left:
Ferris Plock, Robeast, Acrylic and gold leaf on panel, 30"x40"
Casey Gray, Still Life with Sea Shells and Hermit Crab, Acrylic spray paint on panel, 18"x24"
Ferris Plock, Boombox (Green), Acrylic on laser etched wood, 24"x6"x13"
Ferris Plock, Boombox (Cream), Acrylic on laser etched wood, 24"x6"x13"
Ferris Plock, Boombox (Blue), Acrylic on laser etched wood, 24"x6"x13"
|< Prev
|Next >


text:
Q: I have tried to take exceptionally good care of my 2006 Jetta's interior and exterior, but this winter a 1/4-inch crack appeared in my dash. It almost looks like it has been cut, and I have no idea where it came from. My greatest concern is the crack getting larger. What are my options?
A: That dash consists of a vinyl fabric over a foam padding. Sunlight, excessive cleaning and incessant slathering with protectant can leach all the vinyl-chloride plasticizer out of the vinyl—which then gets brittle and cracks. Eastwood (eastwood.com) has a repair kit that will let you make a pretty good repair if the crack is small, especially if it's in an unobtrusive place. Unfortunately, odds are the vinyl will crack elsewhere fairly soon. The only real cure is to recover or replace the entire dash, which is neither simple nor cheap.
Your other solution is one of those cheesy-looking fabric dash covers. You also could go retro and glue on some shag carpeting . . .
More From Popular Mechanics
Next time, don't use anything except a soft rag and warm water to clean the dash. Avoid harsh cleaners like 409, Janitor in a Drum, ammonia, alcohol, window cleaner or even detergents. They'll leach the plasticizers out of the vinyl coating prematurely.


text:
The chemical, lab-related, scientific and transmutational aspects of alchemy.
1 Week Ago
The herbal medicine produced by alchemical procedures. These procedures involve fermentation, distillation and the extraction of mineral components from the ash of the plant.
How Would You Make "Living"...
The tools of the trade such as Alembics, Crucibles, Flasks, Furnaces, Pelicans and Retorts.
2 Weeks Ago


text:
The text files available on our download site contain indexes to official records that have been filed with the Records, Taxes and Treasury Division. The file date represents the day index records were verified and released. The files contain records processed on the previous day.
If you may need any assistance, e-mail email@example.com
As of June 1, 2013, Records Taxes and Treasury Division will no longer post records on this Web page.These records will only be available at our Download Site.
View Download Site Here


text:
While it remains to be seen whether the Occupation of America, from Wall Street to San Diego, will be able to sustain its amazing initial momentum, it has unquestionably struck a nerve and sparked a national discussion about class, power, and politics. The heavy weights at the New York Times have recently staked out an interesting range of opinion on the occupation movement. You have Paul Krugman, the paper's reliable progressive, observing the panic of the plutocrats and astutely noting that, "The way to understand all of this is to realize that it's part of a broader syndrome, in which wealthy Americans who benefit hugely from a system rigged in their favor react with hysteria to anyone who points out just how rigged the system is."
This has been followed by the less hysterical reactions of the paper's liberal to moderately conservative hegemonists, Thomas Friedman and David Brooks, whose takes on Occupy Wall Street range from cautious skepticism to condescending dismissal. Friedman's column on the protests starts by citing Austrian author Paul Gilding who argues that the American and global uprisings:
"are a sign that the current growth-obsessed capitalist system is reaching its financial and ecological limits . . . Occupy Wall Street is like the kid in the fairy story saying what everyone knows but is afraid to say: the emperor has no clothes. The system is broken . . . This particular round of protests may build or may not, but what will not go away is the broad coalition of those to whom the system lied and who have now woken up. It's not just the environmentalists, or the poor, or the unemployed. It's most people, including the highly educated middle class, who are feeling the results of a system that saw all the growth of the last three decades go to the top 1 percent."
Friedman then counterbalances Gilding's take with the views of John Hagel III who argues that the new opportunities of the global economy have resulted in "a huge global flow of ideas, innovations, new collaborative possibilities and new market opportunities. This flow is constantly getting richer and faster. Today, they argue, tapping the global flow becomes the key to productivity, growth and prosperity. But to tap this flow effectively, every country, company and individual needs to be constantly growing their talents." He then predictably concludes that his "heart is with Hagel" and his "opportunity-based" narrative rather than the "threat-based" narrative of Gilding but he thinks we ignore Gilding's points at our peril.
…let's hope that Occupy America is a sign that people are beginning to wake up…
Finally we have the sage of the affluent suburbs, David Brooks, the conservative every NPR-listening-liberal wishes was the face of the loyal opposition rather than that of the snarling tea baggers. His take on the occupation of America is patronizing at best:
If there is a core theme to the Occupy Wall Street movement, it is that the virtuous 99 percent of society is being cheated by the richest and greediest 1 percent. This is a theme that allows the people in the 99 percent to think very highly of themselves. All their problems are caused by the nefarious elite. Unfortunately, almost no problem can be productively conceived in this way. A group that divides the world between the pure 99 percent and the evil 1 percent will have nothing to say about education reform, Medicare reform, tax reform, wage stagnation or polarization. They will have nothing to say about the way Americans have overconsumed and overborrowed. These are problems that implicate a much broader swath of society than the top 1 percent.
Brooks follows this up by knocking down the strawman argument that taxing or taking the wealth of the top 1% would eliminate the federal deficit as if that was the key point of the entire protest. His answer is to look toward the "boring" folks proposing real policy solutions that make use of "market forces." It's the insiders like Sam Nunn, Pete Domenici, and former Clinton staffer Matt Miller who are the real visionaries, not the "milquetoast radicals" occupying Wall Street.
What is interesting about this discussion in the Times is that: 1) these elite columnists think it's necessary to opine on the subject of the occupation; and 2) that the usual apologists for neoliberal globalization and corporate hegemony are both struggling to find a way to avoid basic facts just as their colleague Krugman suggests. This makes for some interesting ideological maneuvers.
The Friedman strategy is a kind of inoculation—acknowledge the obvious through another writer's words but hold it at a distance and don't address the key point about real economic power while shifting the discussion to a more comfortable ideological frame with regard to globalization (the world is "flat" remember?). Hence, Friedman is not in favor of a global system that benefits the economic elite, he is for "opportunity."
The Brooks strategy is to pooh-pooh the very notion of an elite altogether as a simplistic fantasy, a facile oversimplification by the simple-minded rabble on the streets. Clearly only these conspiracy nuts who don't read his columns regularly enough to know that Pete Domenici is out there fighting for us are a silly bunch indeed.
By obfuscating the very real existence of the American and global elite, Friedman and Brooks do what they always do and what much of what constitutes American mainstream political and economic discourse always does: fail to give Americans an accurate cognitive map of political and economic power. This is crucially important because if people don't have the tools to clearly understand the nature of power, they don't know how to contest it and frequently place blame for our country's problems in the wrong places.
But let's hope that Occupy America is a sign that, despite the obstacle of a corporately owned media system, people are beginning to wake up.
While recent discussions of the "Buffet rule" have focused people's attention on the fact that the rich have gotten richer while the rest of us have suffered, they have also exposed the truth that, as opposed to the decade's old mantra of the anti-tax zealots, the affluent pay a smaller percentage of their income in taxes than the rest of us. The rich have gained, the poor are poorer, and the middle class is shrinking. You don't have to have a Nobel Prize in economics to know that this is not fair.
What this phenomenon has done is push us further towards plutocracy or the rule of the dollar. And for those out there who think this is a conspiracy, all one need do is check out the activities of American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC.
What is ALEC? As the Center for Media and Democracy's ALEC Exposed website explains:
ALEC is not a lobby; it is not a front group. It is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, behind closed doors, corporations hand state legislators the changes to the law they desire that directly benefit their bottom line. Along with legislators, corporations have membership in ALEC. Corporations sit on all nine ALEC task forces and vote with legislators to approve "model" bills. They have their own corporate governing board which meets jointly with the legislative board. (ALEC says that corporations do not vote on the board.) Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. Participating legislators, overwhelmingly conservative Republicans, then bring those proposals home and introduce them in statehouses across the land as their own brilliant ideas and important public policy innovations—without disclosing that corporations crafted and voted on the bills. ALEC boasts that it has over 1,000 of these bills introduced by legislative members every year, with one in every five of them enacted into law. ALEC describes itself as a "unique," "unparalleled" and "unmatched" organization. We agree. It is as if a state legislature had been reconstituted, yet corporations had pushed the people out the door.
More specifically ALEC (which is 98% corporate funded) pushes a corporate agenda at the international, national, state, and local levels with regard to union busting, workers' rights, the privatization of education, healthcare, the environment, energy, agriculture, voting, taxes, prisons, immigration, and much more. It is not a conspiracy of the imaginary "nefarious elite" as David Brooks puts it; it is how the very real economic elites have high-jacked our government at every level. It's how the Koch brothers' money talks and democracy walks. To put it another way, this is what plutocracy looks like.
To review ALEC's activities on a state by state level, see where their money comes from and which politicians are part of the organization, see: www.alecexposed.org.


text:
Family: Poaceae
[Muhlenbergia glomerata var. cinnoides (Willd.) Trin., more...]
Etymology: Muhlenbergia: after Gotthilf Heinrich E. Muhlenberg (1753-1815). Born in Trappe, Pennsylvania, educated in Halle, Germany, after returning to US., devoted his leisure hours to the study of the natural sciences, botany in particular.
Plants: perennial grass
Conservation Status: Native
Plants: perennial grass
Conservation Status: Native
Flora of North America: Flora of North America Floristic Rating: Coefficient of Conservatism = 9, Wetland Indicator = FACW+ Atlas of the Wisconsin Prairie and Savanna Flora: by T.S. Cochrane & H.H. Iltis: habitat, distribution infomation / flowering and fruiting times USDA Plants Database: Federal Distribution and detailed information including photos Grasses of Iowa: Detailed photographs, descriptions, maps USGS - Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Wetland Plants and Plant Communities of Minnesota and Wisconsin


text:
2 16-ounce eggplants, cut crosswise into ½-inch-thick slices
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
¾ cup pine nuts, toasted
¾ cup dried currants
½ cup drained capers
2 14 ½ -ounce cans diced tomatoes in juice
1 pound fusilli pasta
1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
½ cup chopped fresh basil
Place eggplant slices on large rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt. Let stand 20 minutes. Turn eggplant slices over. Sprinkle with salt. Let stand 20 minutes longer. Rinse eggplant. Drain: pat dry with paper towels. Cut eggplant into ½-inch cubes. Set aside.
Heat olive oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and sauté until golden, about 4 minutes. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add eggplant; sauté until tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in pine nuts, currants and capers; sauté 1 minute. Add tomatoes with juices; bring to simmer. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite. Drain. Return pasta to pot. Add eggplant mixture, ¼ cup cheese and basil. Toss to combine. Transfer to large bowl. Serve, passing remaining cheese separately.


text:
On the evening of March 5th, 2012, more than a dozen federal law-enforcement officers broke down the door of a small brick house on the southwest side of Chicago and arrested Jeremy Hammond, a 27-year-old anarchist and computer hacker. Six feet tall and lanky, dressed in a purple T-shirt and cool trousers – a signature style one of his female friends.
He's now facing life imprisonment, under a biased Judge whose husband was one of his victims. Continue reading "Save Jeremy #Hammond the Hacktivist Hero: faces life from Bent Judge"


text:
Downslope of the Fan
September 27, 2012
This false-color map shows the area within Gale Crater on Mars, where NASA's Curiosity rover landed on Aug. 5, 2012 PDT (Aug. 6, 2012 EDT). It merges topographic data with thermal inertia data that record the ability of the surface to hold onto heat. Red indicates a surface material that retains its heat longer into the evening, suggesting differences relative to its surroundings. One possibility is that the materials that make up these soils and rocks have been more tightly bound together by mineral cements. The black oval indicates the targeted landing area for the rover, known as the "landing ellipse," and the cross shows where the rover actually touched down at the Bradbury Landing site.
An alluvial fan, or fan-shaped deposit where debris spread out downslope, has been highlighted in lighter colors for better viewing. On Earth, alluvial fans often are formed by water flowing downslope. New observations from Curiosity of rounded pebbles embedded with rocky outcrops provide concrete evidence that water did flow in this region on Mars, creating the alluvial fan. Water carrying the pebbly material is thought to have streamed downslope, extending the alluvial fan, at least occasionally, to where the rover now sits, studying its ancient history. The evidence for former water at the Bradbury Landing site may help the science team better understand the nature of the red areas in this map.
The rover is heading toward Glenelg, just to the lower right of Bradbury, where three different types of material connect up in a "triple junction."
This image was obtained by the Thermal Emission Imaging System on NASA's Odyssey orbiter.


text:
Superior's elected leaders voted Tuesday night to give Town Manager Matt Magley a pay boost from $127,500 to $135,000 a year.
The raise takes effect Jan. 1. Magley, who was first hired by the town in February 2011, will also get an additional week of vacation annually.
Other terms of Magley's contract — health, vision, life and dental insurance, plus a $500-a-month reimbursement for use of his vehicle for town business and a recreation club membership up to $1,000 — will remain the same.


text:
TTT#316 Preview K12 Online Conference w/ Peggy George, Kim Caise, Susan vanGelder, Karen Fasimpaur, Gail Desler, Val Burton 9/26
On this episode of TTT we get a preview of the 2012 K12 Online Conference with three organizers and three presenters.
Paul Allison, Monika Hardy, and Chris Sloan
host K12 Online Conference organizers
Peggy George, Kim Caise and Susan van Gelder,
and K12 Online Conference presenters
Karen Fasimpaur, Gail Desler, and Valerie Burton
Find out more:
Saturday, October 13: Join the Classroom 2.0 LIVE Community for a webinar preview of the 2012 K-12 Online Conference. Organizers will discuss what's new in this year's conference, "Learn, Share and Remix." Get a taste of the presentations coming in our strands this year, Getting Started, Visioning New Curriculum, Kicking It Up a Notch and Student Voices. Also learn about our dynamic pre-conference keynote presentation, to be shared by Kevin Honeycutt. The homepage of Classroom 2.0 LIVE (http://live.classroom20.com) will have the direct Blackboard Collaborate links the week prior to this show.
The 2012 K-12 Online Conference is coming to a computer near you soon! This year's FREE online conference will take place the weeks of Oct 22 – 25 and Oct 29 – Nov. 2, with a pre-conference keynote by Kevin Honeycutt on October 15th. The 2012 theme is, "Learn, Share, Remix."
The organizer team for this year's conference selected "Learn, Share, Remix" for our theme because it embodies many of the ACTIONS we can model as 21st century teachers and students. We all want to model lifelong learning. Our digital connections afford us amazing opportunities to SHARE what we are learning along the way. REMIXING is the process taking knowledge and using it in creative and innovative ways. Remixers build on the work of others. REMIXING can also include transforming the ways we teach and learn. In each strand of our conference this year, we hope presenters will explore and model ways we can learn, share and remix our professional development.
As we have in the past six years since K12Online started in 2006, our conference will continue to be primarily asynchronous, offering downloadable videos for participants to view at any time. We will also host several live events during this year's conference. All conference dates will be listed on our 2012 Schedule. http://k12onlineconference.org/?page_id=1046
- Gail Desler and Natalie Bernasconi will keynote our "Getting Started" strand, one of two strands to be shared the first full week of our conference October 22 – 25.
- Karen Fasimpaur will keynote our second strand for week one of our 2012 conference, "Visioning New Curriculum." This is a new and exciting strand for K-12 Online this year.
- Mathew Needleman will keynote the "Kicking It Up a Notch" strand of our 2012 conference in week two, which will run Oct 29 – Nov 2.
- Tiana Kadkhoda, aka "Paul," from Mathtrain.TV will keynote our "Student Voices" strand during week 2 of our 2012 conference.
Announcing K12Online12 Keynoters, Conference Flyer and Hashtag (#k12online12)
Announcing K12Online12 Presenters
Volunteers for both small and large tasks are still needed before, during and after the conference. View our volunteer brainstorming notes to see if there is something you might be able to help with.
October 15th, pre-conference keynote presentation by Kevin Honeycutt. Strands for 2012 are:
- Week of Oct 22 – 25: Getting Started and Visioning New Curriculum
- Week of Oct 29 – Nov. 2: Kicking It Up a Notch and Student Voices
Click Read more to see the chat that was happening during this live webcast.


text:
Spring, electricity in the air in couture day 1
PARIS (AP) — There's never a gray moment for haute couture.
As it snowed outside, it was a spring garden party for Christian Dior on Monday, the first day of Paris's spring-summer 2013 season.
A roll call of A-list celebrities were able to enjoy agreeable weather thanks to a lavish garden created for the Dior show— replete with hazelnut trees and scented boxwood hedges — in an annex inside Paris' famed Jardin des Tuileries.
Sigourney Weaver, Jessica Alba, Rosamund Pike as well as French first lady Valerie Trierweiler were able to dry off on the front row to explore Raf Simons' creative flower-themed landscape of gowns.
The spring season often lends itself naturally to earthly explorations, and the show's first day proved this in abundance.
Italian-born Maurizio Galante's designs had the delicate layering of forest foliage, whereas organic themes abounded in 28-year-old wunderkind Iris Van Herpen's death-defying ode to electricity in the human body.
But Donatella Versace — who rebelled to show at the end of menswear fashion week and outside the official calendar — is always one to buck the trend.
Her designs' unapologetic, gold contours looked almost superhuman in their sculpted proportions, not to mention sexy thanks to the exposed flesh. But the Italian designer didn't convince everyone, not even Kevin Costner, who watched from the front row with his wife.
"Yes, I suppose Versace makes them sexy," the actor mused after the show. "But the most beautiful woman here is sitting next to me."
Haute couture is an artisan-based method of making clothes that dates back over 150 years. The very expensive garments, shown in collections only in Paris twice a year, are bought by a core group of no more than 100 rich women around the world.
Spring was in the air at Christian Dior, whose couture show carried on with last season's idea of the "flower women."
The show saw multi-layered flower embroideries and detailing that increased — like a blossom — as the 47 looks progressed. It was a nice idea, but detailed gold, yellow and blue appliques sometimes detracted from the gowns.
The collection's subtlety was to be found, instead, in Simons' exploration of sections and layers through color.
Apart from the staple hourglass shape that's familiar Dior territory, Simons experimented away from the house DNA, with colored sections on ensembles which seemed to grow in stages, like a plant shoot.
This produced some of the show's best looks, like strips of pale lemon, off-white and pale lilac, which broke up one embroidered, black silk bustier. Or one silk ball skirt that expanded out at a line, like an organic growth spurt.
Iris Van Herpen's electrifying haute couture show should have come with a warning sign: Danger High Voltage.
A mysterious black statue in a dimly lit Parisian salon awaited revelers who suddenly gasped as this "statue" began to move; the figure was in fact a performer inside a black body stocking, standing on a Tesla coil.
Then followed one of the most unforgettable —and frightening — displays seen in recent couture memory: the electricity was turned on and this figure lit up like lightning.
As if straight out of a scene from the movie "X-Men," long electrical sparks shot out in all directions for several minutes.
In 11 dynamic looks, Van Herpen continued her signature exploration of organic life. This was, as ever, twinned with a dash of poetic license, all to produce one of her strongest shows to date.
White trapezoid silhouettes with all-over spiky appliques perfectly evoked the high-energy fuzz of a voltage current.
But it was the electric human that stole the show.
Maurizio Galante is inspired by nature.
To the sound of birdsong, the designer presented a show where models, like forest spirits, sported moist organic hairstyles.
The looping, shredding and draping of diaphanous fabrics such as crepe, chiffon, organza and taffeta — often with glistening crystal beads — were aimed at evoking the delicate layers of foliage.
In some ensembles this worked.
A shredded, flowing white silk look that included flared chiffon pants flowed beautifully with the natural movement of the model.
However, at times the contrasting shredded fabrics came across busy in their myriad cutouts and loops.
It was high octane glamor for Donatella Versace, who kicked off the haute couture season with a front row of celebrities and a sculpted razor-sharp set of silhouettes.
Taking inspiration from glass domes and steel beams, metal lines constructed the clothes in 24 carat gold pinstripe — and oversized fluorescent leather piping marked out the neckline.
Many inches of exposed leg and peek-a-boo slits accompanied this to make the show ooze with sexuality.
The 27 looks included a bubblegum pink babydoll evening dress with pink crystals and mirrors, and a deep V cut into the front.
It proves ones thing: The all-guns-blazing Versace woman is certainly not shy.
Follow Thomas Adamson at http://Twitter.com/ThomasAdamsonAP