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A Kenya Airways Airbus A-310 crashes after takeoff into the Atlantic Ocean off the Ivory Coast on this day in 2000. Because the passengers did not have enough time to put on life jackets, only 10 people out of the 179 on board survived.
Kenya Airways Flight 431 left Nairobi, Kenya, and was supposed to stop in Lagos, Nigeria, but was forced to land in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, because of strong Saharan winds. After waiting three hours, the flight took off from Abidjan at 9:08 p.m. As the plane left the ground, a stall warning signal sounded in the pilot's cabin. Apparently, the signal was faulty. However, it caused the pilot to descend and ignore ground proximity warning signals. Within a minute, the Airbus jet crashed into the ocean.
The dark of night made rescue efforts virtually impossible. Ambulances, firefighters, police officers, soldiers and divers waited at the beach near the crash site until the early morning hours when there was enough sunlight to see. However, by the time they could begin searching, there was little to be done other than collect the bodies that were washing ashore. Eventually, 146 bodies were recovered out of the 169 fatalities. Many of the victims appeared to have survived the initial crash, but subsequently drowned.
The plane had been scheduled to be replaced in the coming year.


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The old castle of Canalicchio, today fully restructured, is attainable from casalalta running along the provincial road for 6 km, crossing a mediterranean wood. The castle lies above the Gorgone ravine, 425 m above the sea elel; it was strategic in controlling roads lower down which led to Todi.
The present structure, renamed in 1236 after the reconstruction of its walls, is an amalgamations of various fortresses. In the second half of the XVIII century Canalicchio was decimated by a severe pleague and in 1827 came under the jurisdiction of Collazzone. In the historical centre there is the parish church (1750), the Church of St Philip and James, and not far from the towm the abbey chapel of.
It seems that the name Canalicchio derives from "certain poor people called Canalicole" or from the name of Hercules dog and his page Licha. Every year, on the 1st of May, is celebrated a torch-light procession dedicated to St Fortunato, as an agricoltural propitiatory event.
Luoghi d'arte e di cultura - Canalicchio
Church of Saints Filippo and Giacomo
Built on the middle of XVII century its placed inside the castle of Canalicchio, and preserves some important paintings, by the painter Marcello Leopardi (Potenza Picena 1750 ca. – Roma 1796).

subset: commoncrawl


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A trimmed-down version of the AC Ryan PlayOn! HD2 networked media player, the HD2 Mini is almost identical in terms of specs with one obvious exception: there's no internal hard drive.
The HD2 Mini is a pure streaming device, which finds videos and music from local computers and NAS boxes via UPnP, network shares or from a selection of internet sources, and puts them on your TV.
That means it's cheaper than the full PlayOn! HD2 and also smaller. Smaller than, say, an Xbox controller. And its glossy black lines are sleek and uninterrupted, save for a glowing logo on the front and a selection of connectors round the back.
These include ethernet and HDMI, as well as surround RCA audio jacks, optical SPDIF and USB ports for attaching portable hard drives full of films or an optional Wi-Fi adaptor.
It's silent, and the picture quality is good. If you've got a lot of videos on a networked drive, what's not to like?


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Yard Waste
Items Considered to be Yard Waste
Brush Debris—shrubs cut up, bushes cut up, vines, root balls
Fruit Debris—apples, pears, bananas, watermelons, cantaloupes, fruit peelings
Tree Debris—leaves, tree seed pods, acorns, walnuts, hickory nuts, hedge apples
Vegetable Garden Debris—tomato plants, lettuce, bean vines, raspberry or strawberry plants, herbs, pumpkins, corn and corn husks, vegetable peelings
Yard Debris—grass clippings, lawn rakings, weeds, ornamental grasses, garden and house plants, flowers
Automated Yard Waste Collection
The City of Cedar Falls offers it residents the opportunity to participate in an automated yard waste collection program. The city provides brown yard waste carts to residents to use. This program is not mandatory and residents are charged $10 on a per dump basis. April, October and November are charged $5 on a per dump basis. There is no fee or deposit to have a yard waste cart. All yard waste must be in a brown yard waste cart in order for the city to collect from curbside.
Each yard waste cart has a radio frequency tag attached to the front. This tag has a unique number and is assigned to a specific address. Each time the cart is dumped, the tag is scanned with a date and a time stamp. The fee is added to the resident's utility bill each time the cart is emptied. There is no monthly fee to have the cart.
Yard waste is collected curbside on Monday's in the months of April, May, June, October and November. From July through September carts will be picked up on Mondays every other week. Collection will vary due to the amount of yard waste placed at the curb. If your yard waste cart was missed on Monday please call the Public Works office by 10:00am on Tuesday. From December through March residents must call 273-8629 to schedule a pick up for yard waste. Residents can call after hours with their address to schedule a pick up for the following Monday.
Yard waste carts must be kept for one year. If you decide you no longer need your yard waste cart before the one year requirement you will be charged a $20 fee. We are unable to deliver yard waste carts just for the reduced fee collection months.
Yard Waste Carts
- Cart must be curbside / alley by 7 am
- Do not to over pack your cart-Limit 250 pounds.
- Please do not put dirt, sod, or ashes in the yard waste carts
- Leave three feet between other carts or any other object
- Please do not pack your yard waste carts too tight, this makes it difficult for the trucks to empty the carts completely.
- Do not place hot or warm ashes into yard waste cart. If cart is melted or burnt homeowner is responsible for buying a new one.
- Grass leach ate / ooze will stain your driveway, sidewalk or patio if it is not hosed off immediately.
- The yard waste cart will smother grass. In between collections, set yard waste cart on a paved, cement or gravel area, patio stone, or in a flower bed.
- The yard waste cart may smell if stored in an enclosed area. Consider leaving the yard waste cart outside.
- The yard waste cart should be rinsed out periodically to reduce odors and remove stuck materials.
- It must be set out with the arrows facing the street.
Yard Waste Bags
- Paper biodegradable yard waste bags will no longer be collected curbside. You may dispose them at the transfer station or at the compost facility (when open).
Transfer Station
Yard waste may also be taken to the Transfer Station in any type of container during regular hours. There is a nominal fee of $0.75 per bag or $29.50 per ton for yard waste deposited at the Transfer Station. Under 400 pounds will be a $7.00 minimum charge.


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Did you know that you can open a bottle of wine by whacking it against a wall? If you've read Lifehacker, you know it's possible. But what about the physics behind this phenomenon? Let's talk about why gas in the bottle pops the cork, even if the alcohol isn't champagne.
I know we're all supposed to be wading through a sea of sophisticated yet heart-healthy booze nowadays, but for those of us who don't drink much, something bad happens. Corkscrews disappear. Despite their bulk and odd shape, they slip behind drawers, hide themselves in dishwashers, and just generally get lost in odd-shaped kitchen clutter. That's how I end up buying a lot of corkscrews, but still drinking wine filled with cork bits because I had to hack through the cork with a kitchen knife. Mine is a glamorous life.
If you're willing to chance an explosion of glass and alcohol, you can find a different way to get a cork out of a bottle of wine. Put the wine in some kind of padding - most people recommend a sneaker - and crack its bottom against a wall or floor until the cork comes out. This actually works, although it seems it shouldn't.
The bubble of air at the top of the bottle moves to the bottom of the bottle as it gets accelerated backwards. The sudden, hard strike of the bottle against the wall compresses the bubble of air. One side of it is being pushed against the glass, the other side has the wine pressing against it. The inside volume of the bottle stays the same size, but suddenly the volume of the air bubble plus the volume of the wine is smaller. The wine could probably stand up to a mild vacuum, but the extra volume is filled by dissolved gas bubbling out of the water on the end of the bottle near the cork. Even if it's not champagne, wine, and most liquids, has air bubbles dissolved in it. The creation of the small vacuum pulls them out of the alcohol. This process is called cavitation.
Once the wine has hit the wall and rebounded, the bubbles that have just been created are pushed up against the cork. They burst and push the wine cork up and out of the bottle. Repeat this a few times and the cork should shake itself out far enough that it'll be possible to twist and pull it out by hand.
The problem? Although wine bottles are strong if they're struck exactly at the bottom, and with enough padding, hit them at an angle or without enough padding and they will shatter in your hand. That's going to be unpleasant for many reasons. Perhaps you can cover up the awkwardness with a lesson on physics, but that rarely works as well as you think it will. Still, if you're adventurous and desperate for liquor, this is the way to go. To be sure, please look at a video of an actual French person opening a bottle "avec une chausseur." They know wine. And shoes.
Via The Naked Scientists.
Top Image: Rennett Stowe


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As with every beginning, Jennifer Aniston's began with an ending. An ending that's impossible to give away because, unlike with the classics of high-society romantic devastation—Madame Bovary, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Anna Karenina
—there isn't anyone who hasn't read and deconstructed the story of Brad and Jennifer. Or the sequel, Brad and Angelina. Or the companion guide, Angelina Goes to Africa.
While still recovering from having her heart ripped out and Hacky Sacked about, Aniston, in an effort to separate fact from fiction, gave a raw-nerved, teary-eyed, and delicately choreographed interview to Vanity Fair, the ruling-class glossy where a star can, with dignity, safely tell her sad story, pose in her underpants, and be done with it.
Months have passed. Seasons have changed. Eight-pound dumbbells rest on the floor. A bottle of pinot grigio chills on ice. A fabulous hair day is being had. "All that shit's old news," Aniston says, really smiling, waving it off. "Past: done. Present: now. Future: none of our business."
More From ELLE
Or, as her friend Courteney Cox-Arquette says, "There's definitely been a shift. And that chapter...well, she seems really happy now."
Aniston gets up to find her Merit cigarettes in what has been her home away from home, a luxe suite in Chicago's Peninsula hotel. It is, she swears, bigger than her new house. The actress is so thin she warrants a scolding. "I know, I know," she says. "I lose weight when I work. I'll gain it back." Seeing me wrestle with the wine opener, she takes over. "Let me open it, I was a waitress.... This is a terrible cork...." Struggling herself, she says in a polite tone, "Oh, motherf--ker!" Cork removed, she triumphantly holds up the bottle. "Would you like some wine?"
In flip-flops, snug Generra jeans, and a black T-shirt stamped with a skull sticking a red tongue out at the world, Aniston, 36, doesn't look old enough to drink. She has smooth, tawny skin, and thick, caramel-color hair pin-streaked with blond frames her small face. Her pool-blue eyes are etched with dark blue starbursts emanating from her pupils. She sees through everything.
It is Aniston's last weekend in Chicago, where she's been shooting The Break-up, opposite Vince Vaughn. They play a couple who buy an apartment, split up, and have to live together until it's sold. "This movie was fate," she says. "To be able to walk through a movie called The Break-up, about a person going through a breakup, while I'm actually going through a breakup?! How did that happen?! It's been cathartic. It's turned something into a fantastic experience—" Aniston catches herself. "Not that divorce is fantastic, but I've never had more fun in a creative process."
Since wrapping Friends, Aniston has been frenzied with film making. In Rob Reiner's Rumor Has It, costarring Mark Ruffalo and Kevin Costner, she plays an obit writer certain that she's the offspring of the lovers who inspired The Graduate. In the upcoming Friends With Money, she joins Catherine Keener, Frances McDormand, and Joan Cusack as a ganja-loving maid whose friends are all married and moving up in the world. The actress didn't have to go far to research the role. "I have a bunch of friends who are potheads who are genius and wonderful, but they just can't motivate. They'll spend days trying to figure out how to make a birthday card!" She lights a cigarette. "Trust me, I have no judgment on the casual user. I've lived. But I'm talking about the true potheads—the wake-and-bakers who have arrested development because they've gone to the THC well one too many times."
But it's her performance in this month's Derailed that allays any doubt as to whether Aniston can shed the skin of Rachel Green. Directed by Swedish filmmaker Mikael Håfström (2003's Oscar-nominated Evil), the psychological thriller is a cross between Fatal Attraction and The Grifters. "It took me so long to say yes because I was terrified of it," says Aniston, who acts her way through adultery, rape, and blackmail. "Not terrified—I don't want to say that. But I'd gotten comfortable, and I knew it was going to be a challenge."
Then she heard a voice of reason.
"I was in Italy at the time, with my ex. And they were filming Ocean's Twelve—all the Lake Como stuff. So they were all staying there together. So basically, we were all having lunch at George Clooney's house and I had just gotten the script FedExed to me. I open up the envelope and it says Derailed, starring Clive Owen. And I was like, Wow, Clive Owen. I love Clive Owen! I can't wait to read this. We go down to lunch and we're all talking, and out of the blue Julia [Roberts] goes, 'Has anybody worked with Clive Owen?' She'd just finished Closer. And I said to myself, That's an omen. And I told her about the script. And she said, 'Well, honey, if you can, you have got to work with him, because he is dreamy.'"
Reading the script, Aniston became unnerved. "I'm thinking, Good God, Jesus. It's like watching a car wreck—you're riveted and then disturbed. I thought, Why would I want to make someone feel this way?" She smiles, arching a perfect brow.
Like her critically acclaimed portrayal of Justine, the depressed Retail Rodeo clerk in Miguel Arteta's 2002 The Good Girl, Aniston in Derailed draws on the deeper, darker, often repressed facets of her talent. "You're not going to be able to type her easily," Reiner says. "She has the same range as, say, Meg Ryan, who can do light, deft comedy and then turn around and do In the Cut."
"No one has seen her do this kind of part before, and it was a very smart choice to book Jennifer in. The bottom line is, she's a really classy actress—incredibly smart and sensitive," says Owen, in his deep and dreamy British accent. He adds that she was "just hugely refreshing, completely unstarry, completely uncomplicated. There was no fuss. With big stars you never know quite what to expect. But for somebody who's lived under the spotlight for so long, she's incredibly sorted out and grounded. That was inspiring—that you can be a real human being. It takes an enormous amount of intelligence to keep rooted amidst that glare."
Tell Aniston the ghost of Rachel Green did not appear once while watching Derailed and she squeezes her eyes shut, opens them, reaches her hand across the table, and says, "That is one of my greatest compliments."
Arteta recalls the day he gave Aniston the Good Girl role. "She said, 'This is good timing.' After years of using comedy as a tool to make everybody happy...from her parents who got divorced [when she was nine] through the years of being on the show, she was ready to connect with the pain of being in her life," he says. "Comedy had been a shield for her, and she played it out as far as she could take it."
The director cast Aniston without an audition, understanding immediately the paradox that makes her perfect for the part. She is as sad as she is happy. "She connected with this universal feeling of 'I'm trapped in my life, I'm never going to get out.' Who would have thought that America's sweetheart could capture that? I will never forget the moment she walked onto the set," he says. "She transformed her whole body; she had this sad, Chaplin-esque walk, as if Charlie Chaplin forgot to take his meds. And I turned to my cameraman and said, 'We have a movie.' "
What The Good Girl promised, Derailed confirmed: that Aniston is gifted at conveying complex emotions. Consequently, you hate to see her out there treading in shallow water; she deserves better than getting-the-guy flicks. Aniston can tell you all about getting the guy. She deserved better than that, too. And after what she's been through, it would be disheartening to have her sell a character that buys into the fairy tale in 120 minutes, anyway.
Unless, of course, the prince is six feet five inches, hilarious, and named Vince Vaughn.
They say the only cure for love is to love more. "I agree," Aniston says. "But I'm good right now. I have so much love. I have love. My women friends—they're all my mothers, they're all my sisters, they're all my partners, they're all my wives, my everything. It's hard to find a man who can live up to any of them."
Vince Vaughn! He could live up to that. He could kick Brad's ass with one hand tied behind his back and the other cradling a beer.
Aniston wags a finger. "Vince is my friend," she says, trying to be stern. "I adore him. He's delicious and funny. He's got all the colors of the rainbow. But I don't want to be a rebound girl. I feel like it will happen when it happens."
(Asked later about the two of them looking very cozy at the Break-up wrap party, Aniston says, "No comment! Next question, please.")
Nevertheless, Vaughn has been just what she needed. "He's one of the funniest guys I've been around," says Arrested Development star Jason Bateman, who plays Vaughn's friend in the film. "She couldn't have picked a better person to spend a few months with while she's going through all this. Vince really looks out for her."
"The thing with Jen is, she's so easy to feel drawn to," Vaughn says, his affection obvious. "She's so genuine and warm, and she has a lightness, a classy ease about it all. You can see why people are so enamored. It's like she's stuffed with Elvis dust. Little kids see her and they don't know she's famous, and they just gravitate to her, they hang on her."
More than any of the other Friends friends, Aniston has been adopted by the world as its own, in a Princess Diana "There were three of us in this marriage" sort of way. "I'm in the makeup trailer this morning," says Paul Rudd, her costar in 1998's The Object of My Affection, calling from a London set. "And all the women were talking about how much they love Jennifer Aniston. They don't know her! But they do love her." What Rudd finds amazing is Aniston's grace in the face of her fans' surreal familiarity with her. "People have the nerve to walk up and ask the most personal questions. The biggest testament to Jen is that she doesn't make them feel stupid for asking. She graciously responds."
While in Chicago, Aniston is accompanied by Cyril, a sexy French bodyguard who belongs in a Luc Besson film but in the meantime is here to shield her from the crazies. "It's nice to have someone run interference," Aniston says. "Mostly to protect you from those evil paparazzi vultures—they charge you so that they can get this look of absolute horror—because you're being charged! Then they write some wonderful caption like, 'Jen, furious!' Whatever happened to, like, hiding in a bush?"
Ben Stiller, her costar in 2004's Along Came Polly, remembers being in Paris for the film's press junket. "With Jen, you can't go anywhere without 20 guys on motorcycles following," he says. One day she cleverly rented a boat to take Stiller and friends up the Seine to a secret pier, "and these insane photographers are off their bikes, running to catch the boat, and are left screaming on the dock like something out of Les Misérables."
The sound of a tiny bell comes from another room. "Do you hear Norm's jingle?" Aniston asks, cupping a hand to her ear. "Come here, Norman. Come say hello." Her big Welsh corgi-terrier mix trots into the room, his eyes the same blue as his mistress's. Aniston gets on her knees and gives him a huge hug. She grabs some grapes from the cheese platter, accidentally dropping a few on the floor. Bending to pick them up she says, "I'd swear you'd think I was pregnant." She gives her head a little shake. "I don't know why I said that. Maybe because my friend's pregnant and she knocks into things, drops things all the time."
No babies for Aniston—whom Stiller calls "the great catch of all time"—yet. But she's not quite ready to be caught.
"I'm enjoying this little solitude, this not needing anything," she says. "I don't know what's going to happen next. Isn't that exciting? I can't wait to go to my sexy little house"—in Malibu, not far from the spread now occupied by her "ex"—"and sit on the beach."
So if she were to run into someone she'd truly loved before, would she be open to loving that person again? "I don't know. I've never had that happen," she says, her face suddenly expressionless. But then her features soften. "Look," she says, "if you still love the person, you'll know it when you meet him again. And if you don't—you don't. If you do, you do. It didn't happen to me though, not yet, where I loved somebody and I met them 10 years later and 'I still love you.'" She reaches down to scratch Norman under his chin. "Maybe I would go back and do things differently. But those opportunities will come now. In the future. What's ahead. I've learned you can't change somebody. You be what you want to attract to you. You try to live by example and then hopefully it will come to you. But oh, projects are exhausting." Aren't all actors projects? Maybe she should date someone not in the business....
"I'm not saying I don't like a little fixer-upper," she adds quickly. "But it's gotta go both ways."
Listen to the hum, the whir, the ding, the ringing; you can hear Aniston's mind at work as she stares out the window at Lake Michigan. "I think I think too much," she says. "And then I think too much about thinking too much. I'm an overthinker. I think a lot." She taps her head. "The committee. Sometimes I have to say, 'Okay, guys, chill out.'"
It's the burden of having "her extreme emotional intelligence," Vaughn says. "People could abuse that. But she chooses to use her gifts to make people feel good. She chooses to be kind." Which is, given her situation, really saying something. But then again, she did once consider becoming a therapist.
"I love the human mind, the human emotion, the human being," Aniston says. "We're fascinating creatures. I love the shadow parts of ourselves and the good parts of ourselves. And only recently have I gotten to that place of learning to embrace all of them—no apologies." She looks out the window again. "My friend and I the other day were like, 'We're gonna rename ourselves the F--kits!' You know, 'F--k it! Just live.'"


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2016 Suzuki KINGQUAD 500AXI POWER STEERING CAMO
The rugged and reliable KingQuad 500AXi Power Steering Camo receives a few new changes that provides smoother acceleration, quicker throttle response, and a stronger feel in the mid-high RPM range. The front end of the quad gets a newer aggressive stance while side panel change allows you to easily check your oil level without removing any body parts.
Three decades ago, Suzuki literally invented the four-wheel ATV. The original Suzuki LT-125 established Suzuki as the First on 4-Wheels. The Suzuki KingQuad 500AXi Power Steering Camo carries on the tradition of performance that rules. Boasting the same advanced technology as the extraordinary KingQuad 750AXi, it's engineered to help you cut the work day down to size - or conquer the toughest trails. The 500AXi Power Steering Camo offers plenty of class-leading features including advanced power steering providing lighter steering and more responsive handling, while its fuel-injected 493cc engine gives the 500AXi exceptional performance. Independent rear suspension, a locking front differential and a host of other impressive features place the KingQuad 500AXi at the front of the pack.
All inventory listed is subject to availability and prior sale. Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) if shown for a vehicle excludes set-up, freight, taxes, title, licensing or other dealer charges, and is subject to change. Individual prices may vary. Please request a quote for specific pricing.


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Ryan Gosling's career is a study in carefully calibrated contrasts: the small, sleek action movie (Drive) followed by the big romantic comedy (Crazy, Stupid, Love.); the serious actorly mannerisms and unlikely beginnings as Young Hercules; the Steven McQueen impression and obsession with Halloween decorations; that kind of squeaky voice. So it should come as no surprise that in the same breath as Elvis Presley, Gosling mentions his fondness for knitting. "It was one of the most relaxing days of my life," he says of his time knitting on the set of Lars and the Real Girl in an interview with GQ Australia. "If I had to design my perfect day, that would be it."
Two possibilities: One, Gosling has added another to his growing collection of eccentric James Franco-like hobbies. Or, just maybe, he's savvily expanding his fan base. It makes sense: These days, knitting has its own social network that's being touted as the better Facebook. It's an activity, we're told, that's quickly being taken up by the bored, restless young leaders of our creative economy, i.e., people who go to the movies. Now they have one more reason to be interested in Gosling's upcoming collaboration with Terrence Malick. And as Gosling points out, when you knit, "You get something out of it at the end. You get a nice present." You get a scarf. Who wouldn't accept a scarf hand-knit by Ryan Gosling?
Follow The Culture Blog on RSS and on Twitter at @ESQCulture.


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Alexander the Great Portait Coin Ring in Sterling Silver (DT-102)
This handmade sterling silver ring features the traditional Greek Drachma with the portrait of Alexander the Great. The entire ring is made of sterling silver.
- Sterling Silver Ring the brightest of all precious metals
- Handcrafted Ring. Forget the standardized jewelry on the market! Stand out with our individually ELEFTHERIOU EL handcrafted Jewelry
- Greek ring inspired by the Macedonian empire
- Made in Greece
- Alexander the Great
Being handmade it may have small differences in weight color or dimensions.


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Today again I just succumb to randomness. Below John Malik ( or is it Anabelle Roehrig) engages in some mimicry with the Bartholdi/Eiffel structure.
Thanks to Mike Lesser, Evening Tide, eastbound in the KVK.
Here's Penobscot, a downeast name like the others from Hartley Marine Services, east or downeastbound on the East River. I've got some great names coming up soon, maybe tomorrow.
Below Realist heads northbound from the Narrows. I've yet to discover the company for Realist and Specialist.
And finally, what was behind the first tuggable truck yesterday, Little C.
Back to my other work.


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Can't get enough of Microsoft shining the harsh light of reality on Google's limited Chromebook systems? Then you'll enjoy this new Microsoft video, which stars Ben Rudolph (of Ben the PC Guy fame) making man on the street comparisons of a Chromebook vs. a Windows laptop.
Polling people on the street, Ben asks people what they do on their laptops. The answers include such things as Photoshop, Illustrator, Word, Excel, PowerPoint
"Google says the Chromebook is everything you need in one laptop," he says. "It doesn't run Photoshop ... or Illustrator."
The response? "It's not practical."
The video also highlights the inability of certain Chromebook apps—like Google Docs—to run while the machine is offline. "Ouch," one guy says when shown the screen."
But the best exchange, perhaps, is this one: "Is that everything you need in one laptop?" he asks a woman.
"I don't think there's anything I need in that laptop," she says. Which is pretty much the point.
But Rudolph also implicitly addresses one of the faux complaints about Microsoft's previous "Scroogled" video about the Chromebook: He doesn't just make fun of the limitations of the competition, but he also shows off a Windows-based device, in this case the Windows 8-based ASUS T100, which costs about the same price as the HP Chromebook he was using previously—"about $300"—but has three times the storage and does so much more, including having a break-off screen that can be used as a multi-touch tablet.
Anytime the Chromebook stuff comes up, I get the same nonsensical complaints. "Microsoft is negative," etc. But I think this kind of thing is both correct and important, and as I've pointed out elsewhere, the Chrome browser is actually more powerful on Windows than it is on a Chromebook. For example, you can create taskbar-based web app pins for any site in Chrome for Windows, something you can't do on the Chromebook. Weird.
I'll also add this: If you are a Chromebook fan, at least accept the fact that Microsoft's attention is in some way at least complimentary. It takes Chromebook seriously enough to address it as a competitive threat.


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No charges planned in fatal Conn. Christmas fire
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Criminal charges won't be filed in a Christmas morning house fire that killed three girls and their grandparents, a blaze blamed on a bag of discarded fireplace ashes, a Connecticut prosecutor said Friday.
The fire killed 7-year-old twins Grace and Sarah Badger, 9-year-old Lily Badger, and their grandparents Lomer and Pauline Johnson. The girls' mother, Madonna Badger, and her friend Michael Borcina escaped the fire. Borcina is believed to be the one who threw out the ashes.
Stamford State's Attorney David Cohen said Friday that some precautions were taken and that while in hindsight they were insufficient, they didn't rise to the level of criminal negligence.
"When such a horrific event occurs, it is only natural that those related to the victims and the public in general want to hold someone responsible for what is otherwise an inexplicable accident," Cohen wrote in his conclusion. "I am aware that many have emotionally judged this circumstance differently. That is understandable. There is no way that I could begin to conceive of the depth of loss by the Badger family."
"However," Cohen continued, "where so much is unknown or in dispute, where the facts are inconclusive and where the safety of the public will not be enhanced, I have decided to exercise the discretion given to me by our state constitution and by my oath of office and decline, at this time, to prosecute."
The girls' parents, who are divorced, have filed notices that they plan to sue Stamford, accusing officials of intentionally destroying evidence when they demolished the tony shoreline home a day after the fire.
Cohen said "regrettably" the house was demolished and in the future the police department and prosecutor should be consulted before any demolition is carried out. Cohen, who said the investigation "was hampered to some degree" by city officials because of the demolition, said the local fire marshal should notify the state fire marshal and give that agency an opportunity to assist with the investigation so that a second opinion on the cause and origin can be determined.
Cohen said it was impossible to physically inspect the remains of the house to determine if any working smoke detectors were present in the debris, noting that debris was removed before such an inspection could be performed. He said there was no consensus on how many smoke alarms were present, where they were located or whether they had been removed or disabled, though the survivors said they didn't hear any smoke alarms.
In September, shortly after the Badgers moved into the house, five or six battery operated smoke detectors were purchased and installed, according to Cohen's report.
Richard Emery, an attorney for Matthew Badger, the girls' father, slammed Stamford officials for demolishing the house so quickly, saying it hampered an investigation. He said a building official responsible for the demolition should be fired.
"These are circumstances which are truly outrageous in the wake of what has to be one of the worst tragedies in Connecticut, let alone in Stamford," Emery said.
Emery said he understood why Cohen decided not to file any criminal charges.
"Given all the facts that he had available to him in the face of the destruction of the evidence, his conclusion is completely understandable," Emery said.
Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia said in a statement the city conducted a complete investigation and determined the cause of the fire to be accidental. The city determined the house was in imminent danger of collapse and therefore demolished, he said.
"Our thoughts and sympathies remain with the Badger family," Pavia said
A Stamford official earlier rejected allegations by Emery that the city failed to ensure safe conditions as the house was being renovated.
Cohen said Borcina cleaned out the fireplace around 3:30 a.m., shoveling the ash into a paper bag. Borcina said he smoothed out the ashes with his hand and that allayed any concerns Madonna Badger had about any live embers being present, Cohen said.
The bag of ashes was then placed in a plastic storage box which was then deposited just inside the exterior door in the mudroom, Cohen said.
"It is my opinion that there is insufficient evidence to establish that either Mrs. Badger or Mr. Borcina were aware of and consciously disregarded a risk that there was a possible live ember in the ash that could result in a catastrophic fire," Cohen wrote. "It stretches belief to think that they would consciously disregard the danger and go to sleep, much less that they would disregard any danger to the Badger children or Mrs. Badger's parents."
Borcina's attorney, Eugene Riccio, said he was grateful for the decision.
"Unfortunately, there's been some very unjustified criticism of Mr. Borcina in this terrible tragedy," Riccio said.


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When I hear that someone has "the Foursquare of anything" my eyes usually glaze over. I almost wrote off this startup, IntoNow, because of that.
I'm very happy I didn't.
What does it do?
Well, you should watch the video. In it you'll see how it works: you hold your iPhone up while watching TV. It "senses" what show you are watching and checks you into it. Which lets your friends see what show you are watching. But that's only the beginning.
What else can happen with a system that knows what show you are watching? Well, a whole lot.
This is definitely a company to watch.
Now, excuse me, I've gotta go watch some TV. Will you join me and if you do you'll see what I'm watching? You should be able to find me and the shows I'm watching.


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Organisational Units Search
Search to find faculties, schools, centres, administrative & service divisions
- Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN)
- Global Change Institute (GCI)
- Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB)
- Institute for Social Science Research (ISSR)
- Mater Research Institute - UQ
- Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI)
- Queensland Brain Institute (QBI)
- Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI)
Key Divisions
Office of the Vice-Chancellor
Information displayed on this site is sourced from The University of Queensland Organisational Database (UQORG), which is the authoritative database for recording the University's organisational structure.
Submitting updates
UQORG facilitates the sharing, management and reporting of organisational data in University systems, for every reportable entity within the University. PPL 1.30.04 Organisational Structures in University Systems - Procedures define the mandatory processes for the approval and management of changes to the organisational structure of The University of Queensland. Authorised staff may submit requests to update organisational unit details by contacting the UQORG administrators on firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Hey there.
I have some news…. I have decided to take ITSY BITSY to another host.
As you can see, Over the past week, Itsy Bitsy on WordPress has been slowly coming down…wompwomp;)
I started itsy bitsy nearly SEVEN years ago and I started out using Blogger as the host. I loved it. One day I got the wild hair to switch over to wordpress because it seemed to be a super cool layout and really neat page front. Well after two years or even longer of using wordpress, I still within me can't find anything that I just LOVE about it. I feel more in control of my blogspot set up. So, I've decided after two longs years to take Itsy Bitsy back over to Blogger because I LOVED it. Simple as that. This is just my own personal opinion. Some people like wordpress better. Everyone is entitle to their own opinion right!
Happy Reading & Blogging, and please visit me on the new site!


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A red flag often serves as a warning signal and is widely used as a bad weather warning.
A red flag weather warning can save many LIVES.
In the O.T. they used banners to warn the Jews that they were being attacked and had to get ready for battle. The banners were place strategically as a rallying point so that the troops could see them before a battle.
When our marriage is under attack, we need to call out to God, YAHWEH NISSI.
Moses built an altar and called it YAHWEH NISSI that means"The LORD is my Banner."
GOD intervened to make the Israelites victorious over their enemy after crossing the Red Sea. This was their first battle
Ex.17:8-16 "For hands were lifted up to the throne of the LORD. The LORD will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation."
As you face spiritual battles of any kind you will be confident in the Lords protection and power.
Do you try to fight your own battles with your own strength?
Use the power of God's strength as you fight many battles on your way to the promised land: HEAVEN.
God alone, YAHWEH NISSI, gives you victory no matter how fierce the enemy.
CASE AND POINT: Many years ago my husband and I went to the Ronald Reagan Library. There was an array of articles that had so much history attached to them. At one part of this museum stood a section of the Berlin Wall that was donated to the Library. This was the wall that divided East Germany from West Germany. When the wall came down, the world cheered because now the people in East Germany were free. We were able to purchase a tiny piece of this wall which hangs in my husbands office. The people who now gained their freedom were left to face an enormous battle. These people now had to adjust into other European countries in order to survive which was a very hard and long process.
This is exactly what happened to the Jews while crossing the Red Sea and trying to get to their promise land. They encountered their first battle with the Amalekites, which resulted in victory for the Israelites.
As you may be facing many marital battles coming against your marriage, don't neglect to hold up the banner of God's power high.
Has your life been fueled with disappointment and you are now lacking faith?
You must ask God, YAHWEH NISSI, to put a fighting spirit in you for your children.
Ultimately, they need to see you put your trust and faith in a powerful God.
Ask God to wave His banner for your children to see.
1Cor.1:18 "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God."
Live under the banner of the cross of Christ.
Ask God for help in your life and in your marriage!!!
Raise that "Red Flag".
NOTE: Don't miss tomorrows post. Daily there is a new post.


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David Cichelli, Sr. Vice President of the Alexander Group, reveals a compelling truth in his new book The Sales Growth Imperative (McGraw-Hill): Market conditions drive sales effectiveness solutions. In this guest post, Cichelli challenges sales leaders to stop chasing fads, resisting change, and under-managing their sales force.
Sales leaders seldom have the luxury to be strategic planners. Why should they? Sales objectives provide enough context by telling sales management what's important. Often, it's only: "Sell more." Simple enough -- but wait, there's more. Sales objectives always come with lots and lots of additional goals such as selling certain types of products, selling at preferred prices, retaining customers, beating competitors, selling to new customers, reducing costs, improving sales productivity, supporting marketing campaigns and—whew—the list continues. While sales executives don't need to be strategic product portfolio planners, they do need to be sales strategists. Why? Because sales leaders must make wise decisions to achieve these escalating and often divergent goals.
Exceptional sales leaders pace the ramparts looking for ways to improve sales performance. For example, improving current practices offers immense opportunities. And improving sales time is a no-cost uplift. Changing job roles and coverage strategies are viable considerations. Investing in new sales enablement technologies is alluring, too. Each year, forward-looking sales executives develop a list of improvement objectives and program investments. It might include increasing headcount, changing internal processes, upgrading reporting, adding an inside sales force or investing in social media. It might also include cutting back, reducing customer counts and lowering sales support for select products. There is no shortage of ideas. Sales leaders get plenty of advice from executive management, product divisions, region management, internal staff and vendors, all of whom are at-the-ready to promote their passionate suggestions. Regardless, the buck stops with the vice president of sales. Sales leaders must make these forward strategic decisions correctly.
"There often seems to be more solutions than problems."
But correctly selecting and deploying the right sales effectiveness solutions has challenges. First, unchecked, current practices have often run amok. Staff levels have grown. Programs have become complex. Effectiveness has dropped. Second, the current organization resists change. New ideas are too risky. Comfort with current practices is high. And, third, it's not clear what will work and what will not work. There are some very appealing technology solutions, training platforms and new compensation programs. In fact, there often seems to be more solutions than problems.
To avoid sales force obsolescence and make the right sales investment decisions, sales leaders need to select solutions consistent with the company's phase of growth:
Phase I: Start Up. Sales departments in start-up companies have two simple objectives: sell as much as possible and proof-test the best sales approach. Keep the sales department simple and flexible. Hire smart and aggressive sellers. Learn by doing: Discover what works and quickly discard what does not work. Grow sales to reduce unit costs and watch as profits appear. Avoid costly sales investments.
Phase II: Volume Growth. During this period of scaling growth, simply replicate what works. Increase staffing support. Add execution tools. Implement a simple but accountable sales reporting system. Sell the "shared vision of success" to the sales force. And, frankly, just do more of whatever is working.
Phase III: Re-Evaluation. Oops, everything that made you successful as a scaling sales force during Phase II is most likely a liability in Phase III, Re-Evaluation. As growth rates decline to less than 10%, due to market saturation, competition and product displacement, scaling-silo solutions often doom the once successful sales department. Sales growth productivity declines. Price selling prevails. And, the sales force is often over-staffed. Sales management needs to make the following investments: finding lower cost sales channels, stepping-up performance management and adopting margin improving solution selling.
Phase IV: Optimization. At this stage of growth, the company is really a compendium of various products, some launching, some scaling, and some declining. Management discovers "not all business is good business." Here the sales force must become "opportunity segment," focused on deploying the right resources to match the buyer population, product type, and phase of growth. Promising segments are tested. Scaling segments get investments and perhaps dedicated resources. And mature segments see their costs reduced and sales fulfillment off-loaded to others.
Sales effectiveness solutions are not universal, they are situational. Before chasing a solution or adding one more program, ask: "How will this solution help us realize the best outcome given our stage of growth?" Sales leaders who deploy the right solution at the right time will continue to ensure the success of their sales department.
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Here's The First Trailer for Mindy Kaling's New Fox Series, The Mindy Project
Mindy Kaling's upcoming Fox show, tentatively (?) titled The Mindy Project, is the reason the comedienne is leaving Kelly Kapoor and The Office behind.
Will it be worth it? This four-minute trailer for the series-length romcom offers a pretty definitive response. Whether that response is positive or negative depends on whether or not you like what you see. (Though, considering how tired The Office is these days, this show could be Mindy Kaling reading out of the phonebook for thirty minutes and it would still be a smart career move on her part.)
Co-starring Anna Camp, Chris Messina, Ed Weeks, Bill Hader, Richard Schiff, Dana DeLorenzo, and Kaling's Office colleague Ed Helms, the show is set to begin airing Tuesdays this Fall.


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WASHINGTON (AP) (7/14/13) — The Justice Department said Sunday it is looking into the shooting death of Trayvon Martin to determine whether federal prosecutors will file criminal civil rights charges now that George Zimmerman has been acquitted in the state case.
The department opened an investigation into Martin's death last year but stepped aside to allow the state prosecution to proceed.
In a statement, the Justice Department said the criminal section of its civil rights division, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office for the Middle District of Florida are continuing to evaluate the evidence generated during the federal probe, in addition to the evidence and testimony from the state trial.
"Experienced federal prosecutors will determine whether the evidence reveals a prosecutable violation of any of the limited federal criminal civil rights statutes within our jurisdiction," the statement said. Justice added that it will determine "whether federal prosecution is appropriate in accordance with the department's policy governing successive federal prosecution following a state trial."
From the Rodney King case in Los Angeles to the Algiers Motel incident in Detroit more than four decades ago, the Justice Department has a long history of using federal civil rights law in an effort to convict defendants who have previously been acquitted in related state cases.
On Sunday, NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous started a petition calling for the Justice Department to open a civil rights case against Zimmerman for the shooting death of 17-year-old Martin, but experience has shown it's almost never easy getting convictions in such high-profile prosecutions.
"The Justice Department would face significant challenges in bringing a federal civil rights case against Mr. Zimmerman," said Alan Vinegrad, the former U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York. "There are several factual and legal hurdles that federal prosecutors would have to overcome: They'd have to show not only that the attack was unjustified, but that Mr. Zimmerman attacked Mr. Martin because of his race and because he was using a public facility, the street."
As to the last element, the confrontation between Zimmerman and the shooting victim occurred in a gated community, which may not fit the legal definition of a public facility.
Lauren Resnick, a former federal prosecutor in New York who successfully tried a man in the killing of an Orthodox Jew during the 1991 Crown Heights riots in Brooklyn, said the Justice Department could conceivably proceed under a theory that Zimmerman interfered with Martin's right to walk down a public street based on his race or religion. But that would be challenging, she said, because it would require prosecutors to prove, among other things, that trailing Martin on the street constituted interference.
"One could argue it did, if it freaked him out and he couldn't comfortably walk down the street — there's an argument here," said Resnick, who is now in private practice.
But she said federal prosecutors were likely to encounter the same hurdles as state prosecutors in establishing that Zimmerman was driven by racial animus and was the initial aggressor, as opposed to someone who acted in self-defense.
"When you have a fact pattern where one person's alive, and one person's not, and the person alive is the defendant, it's hard to prove things beyond a reasonable doubt," said Resnick.
Samuel Bagenstos, a former No. 2 official in the Justice Department's civil rights division, said: "This is an administration that hasn't shied away from bringing hate crimes cases that are solid prosecutions based on the facts and the law, but from what I've seen this would be a very difficult case to prosecute federally because the government would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that George Zimmerman acted because of Trayvon Martin's race. If you're trying to prove racial motivation, you are usually looking for multiple statements related to why he is engaging in this act of violence. I think it's a difficult case to prove."
Another federal case, the Rodney King prosecution, illustrates just how difficult it can be for the federal government to come in behind a state prosecution that ended in acquittal, even when there's videotaped evidence of the crime.
King was beaten by Los Angeles Police Department officers after a high-speed car chase in 1991, but the four police officers charged in the incident were acquitted on state charges of assault with a deadly weapon and three of the four were acquitted on a charge of use of excessive force. The jury deadlocked on the excessive force charge against the fourth officer.
Federal prosecutors obtained an indictment on charges of violating King's civil rights. Two of the officers were found guilty and were imprisoned. The other two officers were acquitted.
In a 1970 prosecution, the Justice Department charged three white Detroit police officers and one black private security guard with allegedly conspiring to deprive eight black youths and two white girls of their civil rights during the 1967 riots in Detroit.
The officers had gone to the Algiers Motel in a reported search for snipers. Three black teenagers were slain at the motel. One of the police officers had been acquitted earlier of a state charge of first-degree murder in the case; another officer had been found innocent in a separate state trial on a charge of felonious assault.
The federal case took place in Flint, Mich., an hour's drive north of Detroit, after the defense complained that the defendants could not get a fair trial in the city where the slayings occurred. A jury acquitted all four defendants.
In prosecuting the law enforcement officers, the Justice Department invoked an 1871 civil rights law. Prosecutors alleged that the officers had lined up the people staying at the motel and slugged them with clubs and rifle butts. There was testimony that several of the guests were taken into separate rooms where shotguns were fired into the ceiling in an effort to get those in a nearby hallway to disclose the identity of the alleged snipers and the location of firearms.
In a defense that turned out to be successful, defense attorneys emphasized that the charge against their clients was conspiracy, not assault, coercion, intimidation or murder. Lawyers for the two officers previously charged in the state cases also argued that their clients were being charged with serious criminality even though they had already been acquitted.


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Matrices and Forms II
Let's pick up our discussion of matrices and forms and try to tie both views of our matrix together. We're considering a bilinear form on a vector space over the real or complex numbers, which we can also think of as a linear map from to its dual space . We can also consider a sesquilinear form on a complex vector space, which is equivalent to an antilinear (conjugates scalars) map from the space to its dual.
We got a matrix by picking a basis for and plugging basis vectors into our form
And we also found that this is the matrix of the map from to , written in terms of the basis and its dual basis .
Now we have two bases of the same cardinality, so there is a (highly non-canonical) linear isomorphism from to which sends the basis vector to the basis vector . If we compose this with the map from to given by the form , we get a linear map from to itself, which we will also call . If is sesquilinear, we use the unique antilinear isomorphism sending to , and again get a linear map . The matrix of this linear map with respect to the basis is , just as before.
This seems sort of artificial, but there's method here. Remember that we can come up with an inner product by simply declaring the basis to be orthonormal. Then the linear functional is given by . It's this correspondence that is captured by both the non-canonical choice of inner product, and by the non-canonical choice of isomorphism.
But now we can extract the same matrix in a slightly different way. We start by hitting the basis vector with the new linear transformation to come up with a linear combination of the basis vectors. We then extract the appropriate component by using the inner product. In the end, we find
So in the presence of a given basis (or at least a given inner product) any bilinear (or sesquilinear) form corresponds to a linear transformation, and the matrix of the linear transformation with respect to the selected basis is exactly that of the form itself. On the other hand, if we have a linear transformation from to itself, we can stick it into the inner product as above and get a bilinear (or sesquilinear) form out.


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A few years ago, the psychologist Peter Gray released a fascinating—and sobering—study: Lack of free play in millennials' overscheduled lives is giving kids anxiety and depression in record numbers. Why? They're missing what Gray's generation (and mine) had: "Time to explore in all sorts of ways, and also time to become bored and figure out how to overcome boredom, time to get into trouble and find our way out of it."
What happens when a bunch of anxious kids who don't know how to get into trouble go to college? A recent trip back to my beloved alma mater, Vassar—combined with my interactions with students where I teach and some disappointing sleuthing—has made it apparent that much of the unstructured free play at college seems to have disappeared in favor of pre-professional anxiety, coupled with the nihilistic, homogeneous partying that exists as its natural counterbalance. The helicopter generation has gone to college, and the results might be tragic for us all.
I certainly noticed a toned-down version of this trend at Vassar, which in my day was where you went to get seriously weird (all right, not Bennington-weird or Hampshire-weird, but weird). A lot about the place was the same—interesting, inquisitive students; dedicated faculty; caring administrators—but it was also dead all weekend! The closest I saw to free play time was, I kid you not, a Quidditch game.
When I say the place was dead, I don't mean there were no keggers (although there are no keggers; Vassar banned kegs in 2011—because we all know that the best way to discourage young people from doing something is to make it taboo). I mean there were just very few people out and about doing anything—because there wasn't really anywhere for them to go. Indeed, in the past two decades, the college has done away with a lot of the minimally supervised goof off–ery that was hallmark of the extracurricular Vassar experience, including jettisoning the college pub—once the social center of campus—as well as the student-run café and dance club.
Gone, also, were the smaller moments of irreverence that contributed to my formation in surprisingly large ways: the cheeky "VASSar" shirts; the satirical back-page calendar in the school paper, the Miscellany News; the impromptu dorm parties where the "cost of admission" was a can of moss (yes, actual moss collected from a tree—which, given that Vassar is a nationally protected arboretum, was probably highly illegal).
And it's not just Vassar. As an adjunct professor I interact more with college kids than with my peers, and I can see that my now buttoned-up alma mater is a product of its generation. An entire generation of students seems hesitant or unwilling to veer from the straight and narrow in a collegiate setting. For example, on the occasions I jettison a traditional lesson plan for something quirky (I once turned a discussion of Medea into an "episode" of Law & Order), my students' first reaction is to wonder how the day will factor in to their "points." It's not their fault—it's just our world—but today's students spend most of their time either staring at a screen, or doing the minimum amount of work necessary to get that A that everyone "needs."
The silly subversiveness of college—which comes from being so minimally supervised that you don't feel compelled to spend your few free moments with a blood alcohol content of .35 percent, teetering on the precipice of an open window—is just disappearing. Even at College Confidential, where the comments of students are ostensibly free of image-scrubbing tuition-minded administrators, the best responses to their "weirdest schools" queries are Caltech, MIT, Reed, and that perpetual bastion of freak-flag eccentricity, the University of Chicago. I do not want to live in a world where the University of Chicago is considered "weird," and nobody else should either.
Worse, any search in earnest for college "weirdness" in the national media yields articles like this, which details "Hamburger University," a clown college, and two places where the primary extracurricular is manual labor. Yes, obviously Deep Springs College is still, and will always be, weird. But is a 4 a.m. wake-up call to milk cows and bale hay (and a strict isolation and no-sex policy!) the only way to get creative anymore?
Nowadays, unless you're at a school where side-hugging is considered risqué, "fun" is just Greek-style partying. But partying doesn't count as free play either—in fact, excessive drinking is just another consequence of lack of free play. It's predictable rebellion against an overscheduled life, in the form of scheduled destruction. Since college—despite it being used more and more as career training—is actually poor career training, what it should be is life training. But without free play, it risks failing at that, too.
Someone's got to help these damn kids today goof off more creatively, or we're all doomed to a generation where the pinnacle of entertainment is Total Frat Move. But as temporarily palliative as, say, returning Pain and Angst Open Myke Nyte to Vassar might be, the only true generational shift will come with today's tots. The end of college fun is not actually the colleges' fault—if you're a parent who overschedules your kid in the increasingly preposterous hopes that he'll get into Stanford, it's your fault.
Back off your damn children, and shove them outside. Strike the words "play group" from your vernacular, and give them the irreplaceable gift that Peter Gray suggests: the absence of your hovering. Not only will it help prevent them from turning into depressed, anxious mass murderers, it might also reinstill the desire for creative slacking if they do go to college, and thus give them the opportunity to be the kind of weirdos who make and run a lot of our very favorite stuff. It might make those extortionately priced four years something resembling worthwhile—or at least create Naked Vegan Croquet memories that last a lifetime.


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60 Degrees Angled Coupler 2 x 12mm Tubes
Under the label "CoolForce - powered by Nanoxia" we present selected components for demanding water cooling and modding enthusiasts.
We offer you a broad variety of straight and angled connectors and compression fittings for every demand. Using our products makes it very easy to lay out your tubing inside your system as desired. Our fittings are of the highest grade and offer outstanding quality. Sealing rings ensure that the fittings are permanently sealed.
This 60° angled compression fitting is ideally suited to connect two of our CF1 PETG tubes with an outer diameter of 12 mm in a water cooling system. The adapter is a coupling for joining two tubes which are not running on a common straight line. Two rubber rings on both sides seal the connection. In addition, the Hard Tubes (or acrylic tubes with identical dimensions) are secured with screw caps.
|Model: CF 60° Hard Tube Adaptor - 2 x 12 mm Ø
|Color: Black
|Material: Brass
|Inner Thread: 2 x Hard Tube (12 mm Ø)
|Diameter: 20 mm
|Length: 33 mm
|Angle: 60°


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Welcome To AlbumLinerNotes.com
"The #1 Archive of Liner Notes in the World!"
Celebrating Our Shared Musical Heritage
Home Page
Artists List
Paul Davis
Paul Davis (LP)
Paul Davis
Biography by Stacia Proefrock
Spotted playing with his country-rock band the Reivers by Illene Berns of Bang Records in 1970, Paul Davis was signed to the label as a solo artist. Born on April 21, 1948, in Meridian, MS, his soft, country-inflected style helped win him several minor hits, including his first single, a cover of the Jarmels' 1961 doo wop hit "A Little Bit of Soap." He released his first LP with Bang in 1972, A Little Bit of Paul Davis. His next album, Ride 'Em Cowboy, produced a signature song of the same name. He followed up that album with Southern Tracks & Fantasies in 1976. Released in 1977, Singer of Songs -- Teller of Tales featured the ballad "I Go Crazy," which would become his biggest hit, peaking at number seven a full eight months after its release. Its continuing appeal helped keep it in the Top 100 for 40 more weeks. In 1981, he moved to Arista Records and recorded the LP Cool Night, which spawned two Top 20 hits, including "65 Love Affair." The album was more slickly produced and pop-influenced than his previous releases. The formula was not a comfortable one for Davis, however, and he reverted to country recordings, eventually issuing two country-pop duets with Marie Osmond in the late '80s. Paul Davis was in the midst of a comeback when he suffered a heart attack in his hometown of Meridian and died on April 22, 2008.
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Fennel is another one of those vegetables, like cauliflower, that gets a bit of a bad name. People have preconceived ideas about it. They don't like it. But many have never tried it cooked. I may have been one of those narrow-minded people.
Running past this field full of feathery fennel fronds floating in the breeze in front of an 11th Century Moorish watchtower while Rufus begs me to turn around and run back because of the pack of very tiny dogs who bark (or actually yap) at his heels as we pass, made me want to research this undervalued vegetable a little more deeply.
And by research I mean, look at recipes. On Pinterest mainly. Not that I'm addicted or anything but that is where I store all of the recipes I like the look of and want to make soon.
The idea for this recipe didn't come from Pinterest though. It came from Jim, The Washer Up's dad. It's not his recipe. I don't think he stretches much farther than a ham sandwich in his own particular kitchen, but he does send me everything food related cut out from the British press, neatly folded in a brown envelope every couple of weeks. This is always a very welcome distraction, for me, from any cleaning that might need doing.
It was in one of those envelopes that I found out about baking and stuffing fennel.
Because I bought four whole fennel (complete with long feathery fronds still attached) from the farmer's market on Sunday, I decided I wouldn't waste all of that aniseedy greenery and I made a stock out of them for the risotto. This isn't essential but if you have them, you may as well if you have the time.
In the original recipe they stuffed the fennel with wild rice. I decided to make a risotto using brown rice and the mushrooms I had in my fridge and use that to stuff them instead.
I have finally worked out how to make risotto from brown rice that actually looks and tastes like risotto. You have to part cook the rice first so it is nearly done. Then you add it to the risotto and continue as you would with uncooked risotto rice. It' so much softer and creamier. I have to give credit to The Washer Up for this tip, he has been telling me to do it for ages.
And he was right. There I said it.
To make the fennel stock I cut the stalks and fronds off of the fennel bulbs and chopped them up roughly. I put them in a large pot with 3 or 4 bay leaves, 15 whole peppercorns and a good teaspoon of salt. Bring this to the boil then lower the heat and simmer, covered for about an hour. Taste and add more salt if necessary . Then drain and store in the fridge or freezer in 500 ml or 1 litre pots.
You can just use a normal vegetable stock if you don't have the fronds, time or inclination.
Mushroom Risotto Stuffed Baked Fennel Recipe
Serves 4, vegetarian. Adapted from
- 300 ml brown rice
- 600 ml fennel stock or water
Put the rice and stock/water in a pan. Bring to the boil then lower the heat, cover and cook for about 15 minutes until the rice is nearly cooked. Drain if necessary. Rinse under cold water if not using straight away to stop the cooking and set aside.
- 4 fennel bulbs
- olive oil
- salt & black pepper
- white wine (or cava)
Preheat oven to 180C. Cut about 2 cm off of the base of each bulb so it can stand up. Then cut another inch or so off of the tops. Remove any damaged/bruised outer layers. Using a teaspoon, hollow out the fennel bulbs as best you can (see picture above) reserving the fennel flesh for the risotto.
Stand the hollowed out fennel bulbs on a large sheet of foil, drizzle with olive oil and season well with salt & pepper. Start to bring the edges of the foil up and around the fennel then carefully pour in about 4 Tbsp white wine. Seal the foil package completely around the fennel but make sure that they are still standing. Bake for about 40-45 minutes until nicely softened.
- reserved fennel flesh from above, finely chopped
- 1 stick celery, finely chopped
- 1/2 onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves, garlic, finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- a good pinch of dried chilli flakes
- 1 lemon, zested
- about 250 g mushrooms, cleaned & sliced
- a splosh of white wine
- up to 1 litre vegetable/fennel stock
- 30 g grated manchego/parmesan
- a handful of breadcrumbs
- a handful of manchego/parmesan
- fresh parsley, finely chopped
- a handful of pine nuts, toasted in a dry pan
- tomato pasta sauce/marinara sauce
Put the stock in a small pan over a medium heat and keep hot but not boiling.
Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a large pan over a medium heat, add the onion, celery, chopped fennel and a pinch of salt and cook for about 4 minutes until softened but not browned. Then add the garlic, thyme, chilli flakes, half of the lemon zest and cook for another 2 minutes.
Add the mushrooms, cook for three minutes until softened then add the part cooked rice. Add a good splosh of white wine and cook until evaporated. Season well with salt & black pepper then start adding the hot stock a ladleful at a time, waiting for it to be absorbed before adding the next ladleful, stirring and swirling occasionally. Keep going until you have used all the stock and the rice is cooked. The risotto should be soft and quite liquidy.
Add a squeeze of lemon, a little of the chopped parsley and stir in the 30 gr grated manchego/parmesan. Turn off the heat, put a lid on and leave for 3-5 minutes. Heat up your tomato sauce.
If your fennel bulbs are done remove them from the oven and put the grill/broiler on high.
Mix together the breadcrumbs, grated manchego/parmesan, rest of the lemon zest, some pine nuts & some chopped parsley in a small bowl.
Check the risotto for seasoning add more salt if necessary. Spoon some risotto into each fennel bulb right to the top and a little bit more, sprinkle over the breadcrumb mix and put them under the grill for a minute or two until browned.
To serve: Cover the base of each dish with a shallow pool of risotto and place the stuffed fennel in the middle. Spoon some of the tomato sauce on and around the dish and garnish with some of the breadcrumb mix if you have any left, some chopped parsley or fennel fronds.
Buen Provecho!!


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I'm not a huge football fan. But I do marvel at the drama of professional football.
In particular, I admire what Peyton Manning has done for the Broncos the past two years. His individual contributions are well documented. But what I've been most impressed by is the positive impact he seems to have had on the rest of the team. Sports are a great metaphor for many aspects of life. In this case, entrepreneurs could learn a lot from Peyton Manning and the leadership he's brought to the Broncos.
- Sense of Urgency: Manning has had one goal since he arrived in Denver and he's pursuing it with maniacal focus. Set a goal and pursue it fervently.
- Be Precise: In an era where many NFL quarterbacks are making an impact with pure athleticism (Cam Newton, Kapaernick, Russel Wilson), Manning makes an impact with precision. The Bronco's offense is a meticulous yardage producing machine. You can't single-handedly carry your company and win consistently. Inspire execution precision across your entire team and your company will perform. Run your company with the level of precision that Manning runs the Bronco's offense and your company will be a capital efficient value-creation machine.
- Have a Contingency Plan: Manning is better than any other quarterback in the league at running through his progressions (the contingency) so that if the play does't work as designed, he can check-off to another receiver. Always have a contingency plan; just in case your first attempt doesn't work out as intended.
- Work Ethic: Manning has a reputation for working harder than anyone else on the team. This is a guy who, on his one-day per week off practice, can be found soaking his injured ankle in a hot-tub with his helmet on and iPad listening to his offensive coordinator call practice for the rest of the offense. With the level of success he's had, he has every right to slack off every now and again, but he doesn't. We should all set such a high bar for ourselves.
- We not I: Listen to Manning at a press conference. This past week, all of the talk was about Brady-Manning. All Manning wanted to talk about was the team. Whenever possible, he accepts blame that shouldn't be put on him and deflects praise directed toward him on others. Corporate leaders can/should do the same.
- Be Selfless: What Manning does better than any quarterback in the league is take what the defense give him. If the defense wants to play 7 defensive backs, he'll run the ball. If they want to crowd the line of scrimmage, he'll throw it. He adapts, on a dime, and runs whatever play the circumstances call for. He's not interested in how he looks when he audibles, but rather that the play is the "right" one for the situation. The point here is that more often than not he makes the right call regardless of how it affects his own personal stats. In the end, the only way to "look good" is to have your company perform. The selfless call is more often than not the right right call.
- Set an Expectation of Greatness: You sense that Manning's high expectations for himself extend to everyone around him. He doesn't accept mediocrity from anyone. Remarkably, everyone around him seems to rise to the challenge. I'm a big believer that people will behave the way you expect them to. If you expect greatness, they will perform great, if you expect mediocrity, they will perform just well enough to get buy.
In full disclosure, I grew up a fan of the lowly Detroit Lions. They will forever be my "home-team" and rank ahead of my "adopted team, the Broncos. So this isn't some kind of fan-boy post. I'm not sure Matthew Stafford's leadership offers a whole lot of learning for entrepreneurs.


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Prescription Lariam Drug Information
Do not use this medication if you are allergic to mefloquine or similar medications such as quinine (Qualaquin) or quinidine (Quinaglute, Quinidex, Quin-Release).
You should not use this medication to prevent malaria if you have a recent history of seizures, depression, anxiety, or a psychiatric illness such as schizophrenia. However, your doctor may prescribe mefloquine to treat malaria even if you do have any of these conditions.
Before using this medication, tell your doctor if you have liver or kidney disease, severe complications from infection with malaria, or uncontrolled vomiting or diarrhea.
If you vomit within 1 hour after taking this medication, take another dose. If your vomiting continues, call your doctor.


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Katherine Arnett
Saatchi & Saatchi S
Sustainable Brands Releases Program Details for SB'13 Conference in San Diego CA, June 3-6, 2013
Presenting Sponsor BMW i joins BASF, Target, SAP, Coca-Cola, Sprint, Johnson & Johnson plus over 2,000 for Purpose-Driven Brand Innovation Conference
SAN FRANCISCO, California, April 17, 2013 – Sustainable Brands® recently announced program details and a list of confirmed speakers for its largest community gathering in San Diego, CA on June 3-6, 2013. Presented by host sponsor BMW i, Sustainable Brands expects record-breaking attendance this year that will draw over 2,000 businesses, solutions and service providers, NGOs, academics, entrepreneurs and government agencies to collaborate on enabling successful purpose-driven innovation. Confirmed speakers from companies such as UPS, Starwood Hotels, Philips, Microsoft, Target, PUMA, T.G.I. Friday's, plus others will inspire interactive discussions, facilitate breakout sessions, and lead plenary presentations during each of the three main conference days.
The gathering begins on Monday, June 3 with half-day pre-conference workshop sessions. Comprehensive sessions provide skill-building fundamentals and foundational learning in sustainability strategy and execution. Sessions are devoted to calculating the ROI of sustainability with Bob Willard, author of The New Sustainability Advantage; integrating smart carbon offset strategies that address unavoidable emissions with panel participants representing CodeREDD, Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and International Emissions Trading Associations (IETA); the North American launch of G4 Reporting Guidelines with GRI-certified trainers and sector leaders; and a research roundtable with the latest consumer insights from BBMG, GlobeScan, MPG/Havas Media, Shelton Group plus others. Additional workshop sessions can be found on the conference website.
Trends, market drivers, and brand innovations set the tone for morning plenary sessions beginning June 4 and will include thought-provoking contributors such as:
- Bea Perez, Chief Sustainability Officer of The Coca-Cola Company on the challenge of building shared value and how Coca-Cola is working to put sustainability in the heart of the brand.
- Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle on the many consumer faces of trash as treasure.
- John Havens, Founder of The H(app)athon Project, Contributing Writer at Mashable on unleashing the personal data economy.
- Uwe Dreher, Head of Marketing at BMW i sharing perspectives on a sustainable future without tradeoffs.
- Katie Bethell, Managing Director of US Campaigns, Change.org on the power of positive, consumer-focused messages in the evolving dialogue between brands and consumers.
- Natasha Davidson, Area Marketing Manager of Philips Lighting Africa on energy infrastructure innovation for emerging markets, providing a sneak peek into the grid-free future.
- Jonathan Wolfson, CEO of Solazyme on the beauty and versatility of algae.
Facilitated breakout sessions are scheduled for each afternoon in six conversation tracks addressing forward-looking topics: Strategy & Metrics, Employee Engagement & Organizational Change, Manufacturing & Supply Chain, Product & Service Innovation, Consumer Insights & Behavior Change, and Communications. Distinguished faculty leading these sessions includes:
- Hailey Broderick, Brand Manager, Global Sustainability Programs at PUMA on translating technical effort and complex impacts into effective consumer-facing communications.
- Ephi Banaynal, Director, Social & Environmental Accountability at Microsoft along with Mary Lewis, Sourcing Manager at Sprint and Scott Lercel, Director of Social Responsibility at Target on tackling transparency and effective utilization of data collected through supply chain scorecard programs.
- Andy Broderick, VP Community Investment at Vancity and Jonathan Atwood, VP of Sustainable Living and Corporate Communications at Unilever shares case studies on tangible HR incentives facilitating corporate sustainability agendas.
- Kim Lopdrup, SVP Business Development at Darden Restaurants in conversation with James Gibson, Head of Sponsorship at Air New Zealand on adding brand value through innovative investments in ecosystem services and biodiversity.
- Erol Odabasi, Director of Sustainability, Medical Device & Diagnostics, Johnson & Johnson, along with Gwen Migita, VP of Sustainability & Community Affairs, Caesars Entertainment, and Daniel Aronson, Leader, Sustainability Transformation & Sustainability Strategy, Deloitte, on conquering uncharted territory in demonstrating the ROI of corporate sustainability.
- David Bennett, VP, Global Corporate Partnerships, National Geographic, along with Todd Reeve, CEO, BEF and Christian McGuigan, Director, Social Action Film Campaigns, Participant Media, on making consumption real through sticky visualization of environmental impacts.
"This is our 7th year gathering visionary and optimistic change makers from across the globe who share a passion for purpose and a desire to contribute to our flourishing future," states KoAnn Skrzyniarz, Founder of Sustainable Brands. "We are thrilled to have such a vast and diverse community of business and brand leaders who are focused on the positive shifts in business and society and willing to gather in person each year to provide examples of purpose-driven brand innovation that is reinvigorating our global and local economies."
An expanded Solutions Expo is also featured at SB'13. This best-in-class selection of solutions used by the world's leading brands to help them maintain the business leadership in a changing world will showcase many of the knowledge resources and tools needed to deliver more sustainable products and services to market. Featured exhibitors include: BMW i showcasing its series of electric cars and offering test drives of its ActiveE vehicle released just last year, Ecologic Brands sharing their smartly designed line of fully compostable containers, Covanta 4Recovery discussing waste-to-resource solutions, plus cause-related organizations such as The Nature Conservancy, 1% for the Planet, and Environmental Defense Fund.
Located at Paradise Point Resort in San Diego, CA, this premier gathering of business leaders is presented by host sponsor BMW i, as well as supported by many others including BASF, Saatchi & Saatchi S, Citizen Group, Target, and other sponsoring companies. For further information on the conference program, a complete list of confirmed speakers or sponsorship requests, please visit the conference website at http://www.sustainablebrands.com/events/sb13.
About Sustainable Brands
Sustainable Brands® is the premier global community of brand innovators who are shaping the future of commerce worldwide. Since 2006, our mission has been to inspire, engage and equip today's business and brand leaders to prosper for the near and long term by leading the way to a better future. Digitally published news articles and issues-focused conversation topics, internationally known conferences and regional events, a robust e-learning library, and peer-to-peer membership groups all facilitate community learning and engagement throughout the year. Sustainable Brands is hosted by Sustainable Brands Worldwide, a division of Sustainable Life Media headquartered in San Francisco, CA.


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Fitzmagic alive and well
Veteran QB throws 4 TDs, leads Bucs to 48-40 victory over Saints
Ryan Fitzpatrick backpedaled giddily for about 20 yards as he watched DeSean Jackson come down with a 36-yard touchdown pass over the middle. The journeyman quarterback then turned toward the Tampa Bay Buccaneers sideline and triumphantly thrust his arm in an upward arc.
Time will tell if the Bucs are on a similar trajectory this season, but there's no denying they're off to an encouraging start.
Fitzpatrick highlighted a 417-yard, four-touchdown performance with two scoring strikes of more than 50 yards, and the Buccaneers stunned the Saints 48-40 on Sunday.
"I'm happy to announce: FitzMagic is alive and well," Tampa Bay coach Dirk Koetter said of his 35-year-old reserve quarterback, who was starting for suspended 2015 first-overall draft choice Jameis Winston. "Quite a start, huh?"
Fitzpatrick completed 21 of 28 passes without an interception and also ran for a short touchdown, bowling over free safety Marcus Williams on his way into the end zone.
"I hope somebody had him in fantasy because he went crazy today," Bucs receiver Mike Evans said of Fitzpatrick. "And he was running the ball — phenomenal game. One of the most complete games I've seen."
Coming off a playoff appearance and hosting a team that won only five games last season, the Saints were among the more heavily favored teams in Week 1. But some of the Saints' defensive players who were instrumental in New Orleans' success a season earlier had a miserable start to 2018.
Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore, the 2017 defensive rookie of the year, had trouble covering Evans, who caught seven passes for 147 yards, including a 50-yard touchdown that put the Bucs up 41-24 late in the third quarter.
"It isn't going to get me down. Everybody gets beat," Lattimore said. "We needed to get slapped in our face one good time to see we're not on a level we think we're on."
A season ago, Evans was so frustrated with coverage by Lattimore that he hit him after the whistle and wound up being suspended a game for it. After this latest meeting, Evans said, "I like my odds against anybody, not just him."
Jackson caught scoring passes of 58 and 36 yards to highlight his five-catch, 146-yard day before leaving with a concussion.
Fitzpatrick also threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Chris Godwin.
"The talent level in that huddle, with guys that can go up and make plays, it's a pretty special group," Fitzpatrick said. "I'm glad we showed it today, but now it's about consistency."
The Saints put together a frantic offensive flurry in the fourth quarter, scoring twice on touchdowns by Alvin Kamara — the first a 1-yard run and the second a 7-yard catch, both followed by 2-point conversions. That cut the Saints' deficit to eight points with 3:31 to go.
On third-and-11, Fitzpatrick needed to make one more play — and did. He scrambled to his left for 12 yards at the two-minute warning. With New Orleans out of timeouts, Fitzpatrick was able to run out the clock.
"That's the type of game we've played in year's past as a .500 team," Saints coach Sean Payton said, alluding to three straight 7-9 seasons from 2014-16 before the Saints returned to the playoffs with 11 wins in 2017. "Nothing carries over from last year. I've said it a millions times."
The combined 88 points set an NFL record for a regular-season opener, narrowly eclipsing Philadelphia's 45-42 victory over Washington in September of 1947.
New Orleans' Drew Brees was 37 of 45 for 439 yards and three TDs. Kamara, the 2017 offensive rookie of the year, caught nine passes for 112 yards and one touchdown to go with two touchdown runs. Receiver Michael Thomas set a single-game franchise record by catching 16 passes for 180 yards and a TD, but turned the ball over on a fumble across midfield in the third quarter.
Tampa Bay scored on six of its first seven possessions. The only Bucs drive of the first half that did not produce points was when they ran out the final 55 seconds before halftime. Tampa Bay did not punt until their eighth drive about halfway through the third quarter. The Bucs finished with eight passing plays of 20 or more yards.
The Saints punted only once in the first half and trailed 31-24 at halftime after Thomas' 6-yard touchdown catch.
With Mark Ingram serving a four-game suspension for use of a banned substance, the Saints brought in running back Mike Gillislee after he was cut by New England. In his Saints debut, Gillislee fumbled in the second quarter on a hit by Vernon Hargreaves. Cornerback Justin Evans scooped up the loose ball and ran it back for a 34-yard TD.
Buccaneers: Hargreaves was helped to the locker room with a shoulder injury in the fourth quarter.
Saints: New Orleans did not announce any injuries.
Buccaneers: Host Philadelphia on Sunday.
Saints: Host Cleveland on Sunday.
WHO: Philadelphia Eagles at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
WHERE: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa
WHEN: 1 p.m. Sunday


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While I was researching the Wulff's, I came across this obituary for Mrs. Henry (Mary) Wulff on page 4 of the Freeport Journal-Standard, Monday, May 19, 1958. Her relationship to me: wife of 2nd great grand uncle.
Transcription of obituary:
Stockton—Mrs. Henry (Mary) Wulff died Sunday about 5:15 p.m. from a heart attack suffered at the home of her son, Arthur of rural Stockton.
The former Mary Bohnhoff was born Feb. 8, 1875, in Thompson Township, Jo Daviess County, the daughter of John and Henrietta Weich Bohnhoff. She married Henry Wulff Sept. 12, 1894, in Schapville. He died in 1951. Two sons also preceded her in death
Survivors include two sons, Arthur and Wesley, both of Stockton; five grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; and two brothers, Lewis of Galena and Fred of Springfield, Mo.
Funeral service will be held Tuesday at 2 p.m. in the Christ Lutheran church with the Rev John Hieronymus, pastor, officiating. Burial will be in Ladies Union Cemetery.
Friends may call at the Hermann Funeral Home until noon Tuesday and then at the church.


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FBI Vehicle-Tracking Device: The Teardown
by Kim Vetter May 9, 2011
The FBI's use of GPS vehicle tracking devices is becoming a contentious privacy issue in the courts, with the Obama administration seeking Supreme Court approval for its use of the devices without a warrant, and a federal civil rights lawsuit targeting the Justice Department for tracking the movements of an Arab-American student.
In the midst of this legal controversy, Threat Level decided to take a look at the inside of one of the devices — which are generally custom-made for law enforcement. Working with the teardown artists at iFixit, we examined a device an environmental activist discovered on her vehicle in 2005, which she recently provided to us.
What follows is iFixit's analysis of the first-ever dissection of an FBI vehicle tracker.
Step 1
We finally have one of these on the teardown table! Being in its presence, I can almost feel my civil liberties being flushed down the toilet.
Before we whip out the blowtorches and jackhammers, here's a look at the entire tracking system.
Clockwise from the top, the system is composed of:
Battery pack
GPS antenna
Transmitter-receiver unit
Magnetic mounting bracket
The components of the system are all attached to the tracked vehicle with extremely powerful magnets. Some were so stubbornly attached that they ripped out of the mounting brackets to forever remain stuck on the undercarriage of the host vehicle.
Step 2
Wondering what kind of technology keeps the tracking device powered? Let's remove the battery pack's end cap and find out. The device is powered by four lithium-thionyl chloride (Li-SOCl2) D cell batteries.
Step 2 (Continued)
Each cell is good for 13,000 mAh [milliampere-hours]! That's about double the capacity of the iPad 2's battery.
Step 2 (Continued)
These cells are suited for extremely low-draw applications where longevity is needed, making them ideal for powering an always-on transmitter-receiver. Their service life is rated at 10 to 20 years.
Step 3
To begin tearing the device apart, we detached the two antennas from their screw-in mounts on the transmitter-receiver module.
Step 3 (Continued)
The short antenna we disconnected in the first picture is responsible for transmitting the location signal to transponders that the FBI would use to find you.
The larger antenna is for receiving GPS signals from satellites orbiting far above the earth's surface.
Step 4
Removing a few Phillips screws allows us access to the innards of the GPS antenna.
Step 4 (Continued)
In keeping with the nonpermanent mounting solutions, the GPS antenna is attached to its bracket with a hefty piece of Velcro.
Step 4 (Continued)
A quick peek at the antenna board indicates it was manufactured by SIgem, a company that partnered with Tyco in the early 2000s to make GPS components.
Step 5
Let's turn our attention back to the transmitter-receiver module.
A few screws are all that remain between us and the innards of this invasive device.
Step 5 (Continued)
It seems that this rear cover is simply a method to connect the module to power. Presumably, power sources (batteries) of different shapes, sizes and capacities can be connected through the same plate to make the tracking device more universally installable.
Step 6
To get to the brains of the module, we focus on the other end cap.
The FBI really did not want anyone tampering with the innards of their tracking devices. The screws were coated with so much thread locker that we had to break out the power drill and eliminate the screw heads.
Step 6 (Continued)
Step 6 (Continued)
Step 7
Upon successfully drilling out all the screw heads, the outer case slides right off the transmitter-receiver assembly.
The two modules can be split apart to examine their circuits.
Step 7 (Continued)
The small blue wire connects the GPS antenna to the GPS receiver board.
Step 7 (Continued)
After disconnecting the GPS board, we can take a closer look at both components.
Step 8
The module providing the GPS signal processing on this device is a µ-blox GPS-MS1 that's sort of ancient in the realm of modern electronics. It was released June 29, 1999!
It features an astonishing 0.125 MB of SRAM and 1 MB of flash memory.
Step 8 (Continued)
The backup battery on its reverse side powers a real-time clock and maintains the GPS connection if the main power supply is interrupted.
The slightly imperfect alignment of the SMD components on the board indicates that the FBI hand-soldered them to the board and tailored the component choices to their specifications.
Step 9
The larger of the two boards contains the connections for both antennas and is responsible for the RF side of the tracking device. Its notable chips include:
XEMICS XE1201 Ultralow-power single-chip transceiver
The XE1201 allows for data transmission and data reception in half-duplex mode.
Step 9 (Continued)
RFM RF1172 SAW (surface-acoustic-wave) filter
The RF1172 provides front-end selectivity (the capability to separate signals in one frequency from all other frequencies) in 433.92 MHz receivers.
Typical applications of this filter include wireless remote-control and security devices operating in Europe under ETSI I-ETS 300 220
Step 10
Tracking device Reparability Score: -10 out of 10. (10 is easiest to repair.)
The FBI will find you if you find their tracking device.
You cannot choose to be not tracked by the FBI.
ou can legally be tracked by one of these units.
We'll be right back, the FBI is knocking on our door.
All photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
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A popular feature of The Milwaukee Journal from 1963 through 1994 prepared by library staff to highlight Milwaukee's past as preserved in the Historic Photo Collection
Taking a test? Practice your skills with tutorials, books and sample tests for the ACT, SAT, AP, Praxis, TOEFL, ASVAB, CDL, NCLEX, civil service and more. Provided as part of Wisconsin's BadgerLink program.
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