text:
Companies Americans Love to Hate (the Most)
The good people over at The Atlantic recently reviewed the American Customer Satisfaction Index and compiled a list of the 19 Most Hated Companies in America. The list includes all the usual suspects that you've probably had actual or virtual run-ins with, for all the reasons you would put them atop a list you might mentally make for the sake of personal edification.
Americans hate banks because of excessive and often hidden fees; they hate airlines for flight delays and insultingly rapacious baggage fees; they hate utilities services for billing "problems" and service disruptions; they hate health care providers for providing health care they subsequently can't afford; and they hate communications companies for dropped calls and intentionally confusing billing practices. Oh, and they hate all of these companies for universally inept and inefficient customer service.
One company whose inclusion surprised me was MySpace (#9), because I can't believe anyone would take the time to fill out a survey complaining about it. Facebook made the list, too (#10).
Here's the rest of the top 10:
8. American Airlines
7. United Airlines
6. U.S. Airways
5. Charter Communications
4. Comcast
3. Time Warner Cable
2. Delta
1. Potomac Electric (Pepco)
Check out the full list here. What companies not listed would make your Top 19?


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*The economic climate is precarious as Ecuador continues to refuse to join ALBA or relent on Colombia
*Following widespread support in the 2008 referendum, Correa appears poised to continue vast social and economic reforms after his likely reelection bid
Ecuadorian president, Rafael Correa, will be joined by fellow leaders Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, Evo Morales of Bolivia, and newly-elected Mauricio Funes of El Salvador at the Summit of the Americas this weekend. The left-leaning brigade will head to the Trinidad forum with significant clout, which will likely assist Correa's prospects in Ecuador's upcoming elections. The outcome of the Ecuadorian presidential and legislative elections, set to take place on April 26, will most likely determine whether Latin America's left-leaning political shift will prevail in the Andean region, or if it was just an ephemeral initiative now destined to burn off. The incumbent quasi-populist leader, Rafael Correa, is expected to be reelected by an even larger margin due to his widespread social and economic reforms.
The effective restructuring of his country's political workings and quality of rule, in general, has been well received. Even though the approval of the new constitution in September 2008 created opportunities for various openings for change in Ecuador, the political and economic climate in the small Andean nation remains tense, even by Latin American standards. Running against the popular current leader of Ecuador are no strangers to the battle for presidency. They include ousted ex-president Lucio Gutiérrez, and Alvaro Noboa, currently on his fourth bid for the presidency.
Past Presidential Punch-out
This is not the first time Noboa and Correa contend for the presidency. In the 2006 presidential elections each candidate respectively used all of their available electoral snake oil to snare at least 40 percent of the vote plus at least a 10 point advantage over one's closest opponent. But, in the first round of elections, Noboa won 26.83 percent of the vote, while Correa was only able to attract 22.84 percent. While nearly all elections in Ecuador metaphorically draw blood because they tend to be vehemently-fought contests, the 2006 ballot came at a particularly discordant time in the nation's modern political history. In the ten-year period leading up to the 2006 election, seven different presidents had assumed office in Quito, three of whom had later been forced out of office by irate street scenes.
During the period leading up to the second round run-off, both candidates resorted to bombastic attacks against the opposing person. Noboa, considered to be Ecuador's richest national, resorted to a series of diatribes aimed at Correa, many of which attempted to portray his opponent as a puppet of Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez. "They have pursued the most immoral and dirty campaign against me in an effort to link me with communism, terrorism, and Chavismo," contended Correa. Much to the dismay of left-leaning Latin American leaders, the magnate even went so far as to accuse Chávez of covertly funding Correa's campaign.
Indeed, Chávez and Correa share a tight bond, but after having suffered humbling losses while attempting to aid political movements in Mexico and Peru, Chávez remained uncharacteristically silent during Correa's campaign. That is, until Chávez pursued his own onslaught against the rightist Noboa. "There are also strange things going on [in Ecuador]," asserted the Venezuelan leader. "A gentleman who is the richest man in Ecuador; the king of bananas, who exploits children and puts them to work, who doesn't pay them loans, suddenly appears in first place in the first electoral round." Such back-and-forth criticism continued until Noboa was stunningly defeated in the second round, losing to Correa by 57.07 percent to 42.96 percent of the total number of votes.
Ecuador Refuses ALBA In June 2008, Correa announced that Ecuador would not join the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), a "socially-oriented" regional trade bloc. The basis of this coalition stands in stark contrast to its U.S.-backed counterpart, the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), which, according to Teresa Arreaza of Venezuelanalysis, is "based on the logic of deregulated profit maximization."
A report by aporrea.org stated that Ecuador decided instead to pursue its integration efforts by means of the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR). According to telegrafo.com, in the same year that Ecuador decided not to join ALBA, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) promised a credit line of $150 million to Quito, guaranteeing Correa's decision to be ultimately dependent on U.S. funding. An agreement to join ALBA would have almost certainly jeopardized the allocation of such transactions. To this day, Correa maintains that Ecuador will become a member of ALBA only after Venezuela rejoins the Andean Community of Nations (CAN), making it likely that Ecuador's refusal to join ALBA was a coercive strategy to have Venezuela induced to rejoin CAN. Chávez refused to have Venezuela remain a CAN member, which he meant as a snub to Washington for the Bush administration's anti-Venezuela policies and its free trade agreements (FTAs) brokered with both Peru and Colombia.
Political Environment
On September 28, 2008, nearly 65 percent of Ecuadorians supported a constitutional referendum that, among other things, would allow the reigning Correa to stand for two more terms. The new constitution, the 20th since Ecuador achieved independence, also greatly reduced the power of the country's military and Congress, two institutions repeatedly responsible for aiding in prematurely terminating presidential terms in the decade leading up to Correa's first term in office.
The new constitution, aimed at alleviating the plight of Ecuador's poor, who make up 38 percent of the nation's total population, attracted overwhelming support as a result of proposed social programs that guaranteed free education and additional spending on health care. Programs aimed at increasing development and economic growth included the distribution of free seeds for crops, micro-loans with relatively low interest rates, and building materials for new home owners. Among its 444 articles, the new constitution also included increased governmental control over monetary policy, handing over control to Correa rather than the Central Bank. State control was also increased when it came to oil policy, which was a significant position to take, due to the fact that 45 percent of Ecuador's annual budget comes from oil revenues.
Correa had stated that he would resign if the constitutional referendum was not passed, but its sweeping victory will allow him to potentially remain in power until 2017. The tighter grip on the economy, as well as the reduced power of the legislative and judicial branches, is consonant with trends prevalent throughout the belt of left-leaning Andean nations. However, Correa claims that his newly acquired power will help him consolidate the citizen's revolution. The fear that Correa was changing the constitution in order to stay in power indefinitely was modulated by the inclusion of a clause that allows Congress to censure and impeach the president, given that it had sufficient public support behind it. Nevertheless, the new constitution allocates more power to Correa while concurrently weakening Congress, thus making it harder for Ecuadorians to oust him if they become disillusioned by his leadership.
The referendum's passage was yet another vital blow against the United States' once tight hold on the region. Today, Ecuador remains part of the group of Latin American nations to have fallen under the current "domino effect" that is characterized by the election of populist, leftist leaders, like Correa, throughout South and part of Central America. However, Correa's Ecuador remains unique among left-leaning South American nations because, unlike the nationalization strategies being pursued by Hugo Chávez and Bolivia's Evo Morales, Correa has not moved to nationalize the telecommunications or electricity industry. Despite the fact that he has attempted to renegotiate mining contracts, the mining industry has not been nationalized. Nevertheless, Washington is known to feel it still has some cause for concern. Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, met with Correa in 2008 to discuss Russia's willingness to aid Ecuador in nuclear energy projects, potentially claiming another Moscow ally that is too close for the State Department's comfort. And, as if meeting with an increasingly anti-American Russia is not enough, Correa has pledged to kill free trade talks with the United States, while simultaneously furthering bilateral agreements with Venezuela. Moreover, Correa's aim to detach Ecuador from American connections includes the freezing of his country's foreign debt payments and statements that the dollar should be abandoned as the official currency of Ecuador.
The El Salvador Connection
Fears of the "dominos falling" in Latin America have been further exacerbated by Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) figure, Mauricio Funes' rise to power. After the falling domino's dust settled, the United States was left with a feeling of apprehension concerning El Salvador's eventual direction. A series of rightist leaders in El Salvador had made the country one of Washington's closest allies in Latin America and its sudden lean to the left became a major setback to U.S. preeminence in the region.
The loss of a key pro-Washington government in Latin America has made the Ecuadorian election that much more important. The current fight for the presidency in Ecuador will be examined closely, as a Noboa victory will give the United States a much needed pro- American figure in power in the region. Correa, having stated that he will not renew the lease on Manta Air Base — the only such U.S. outpost in South America — differs greatly from Noboa, whose platform includes an emphasis on orthodox private sector planning, including attracting foreign investment and building up tourism.
Border Dispute with ColombiaCorrea's disapproval of any form of U.S. intervention in the region was further acknowledged when he claimed that Colombia had breached its borders in complicity with the United States. On March 1, 2008, Raúl Reyes, a rebel leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), was killed by the Colombian military after it made an incursion on Ecuadorian territory.
Colombia had erroneously claimed they killed the rebel leader as the result of an air strike launched from within its own territory and that it was, in fact, an act of self defense on Bogotá's part. Colombian soldiers then, according to this doctored version, crossed into Ecuador in order to confirm Raúl Reyes' death. Correa, heatedly criticizing President Álvaro Uribe's breach of Ecuadorian sovereignty, claimed that the fighting in fact took place within Ecuadorian territory and that the Colombian president had violated Ecuador's autonomy due to pressure from the United States. The angered leader was then joined by Chávez, who stated that if the same situation had occurred in Venezuela, it undoubtedly would have been understood as an act of war. Uribe fired back by producing evidence that allegedly linked Chávez and Correa to the FARC.
According to "evidence" found on a laptop computer belonging to the late Raúl Reyes, Chávez had paid the FARC $300 million in exchange for the release of hostages that they held. The laptop also included information alleging that Correa received campaign contributions from the Colombian guerrilla group during his 2006 presidential campaign.
In a call for the OAS to act against Venezuela and Ecuador during the border dispute, Uribe stated, "Members of the Permanent Council and citizens of the hemisphere, let there be no doubt that the governments of Ecuador and Venezuela were negotiating with narco-terrorists, the proofs are in your hands." Maria Isabel Salvador, Ecuador's representative to the OAS attempted to refute the claims, calling Uribe's evidence "alleged proofs," pointing out that the computer recovered was "strangely intact" after a bombing attack that killed the FARC leader and others.
The allegations brought forth over the border incident, which Correa dismisses as a joke, could become a major decision factor for undecided Ecuadorian voters. Although Colombia violated Ecuadorian sovereignty by sending troops across the Colombian-Ecuadorian border to allegedly recover Reyes' body, their allegations that Ecuador was in league with the FARC proposes a new obstacle in Correa's fight to shed his popular label as being Chávez' puppet. Latin News reports that despite having been in power since 2006, a Cedatos Poll, taken before the official campaign began, found that 44 percent of Ecuadorians were still undecided, and even Chávez' silence in this election may not spare Correa from being somehow linked to the Venezuelan leader.
The border dispute had severe implications on Andean integration and cooperation efforts. In a hearing prepared by the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the dispute was said to have had lasting, negative consequences, breaking down the cooperation between South American countries in combating guerrilla groups, such as the FARC, and containing the drug problem. The House Subcommittee also reported that there would be an escalation in the militarization of border regions. In May 2008, two months after the border conflict had broken down, Ecuador announced its purchase of three Russian helicopters, which among other military type purchases from Brazil and Chile, would help reinforce the border with Colombia. Correa, if elected, will follow through with additional steps to secure the border. On March 24, 2009, General Fabián Varela, Ecuador's Chief of the Joint Commander of the Armed Forces, stated that the aforementioned Manta Air Base, an important U.S. military site in the drug war, will be used as a center for its operations pertaining to the Colombian border when the U.S. lease expires in November 2009.
According to his campaign website, Noboa is running on a strong anti-corruption platform and has a professed interest in foreign investment. He currently has only 15 percent of the vote, having fallen to third place behind Lucio Gutiérrez (2003-2005), an April 6, 2009 final opinion poll found. It is unlikely that Noboa will gain much ground before the April 26 vote. Noboa's U.S.-like vision of Ecuador seems to be losing to Correa's promise of autonomy and social welfare, awarding the current Ecuadorian president 57 percent of the vote. Already, it seems Correa is set for a clean and decisive victory as he is ahead by 10 percent over his nearest opponent, and above the 40 percent mark needed to win the election in the first round. Correa's victory now seems eminent, but news that Noboa's Partido Renovador Institucional Acción Nacional and Gutierrez' Sociedad Patriótica are carrying on talks of possibly forming an electoral alliance in order to win a majority of seats in Congress could effectively handicap Correa's presidential prerogatives.
Council on Hemispheric Affairs:
This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associates Billy Lemus and David Rosenblum Felson April 16th, 2009 Word Count: 2500

subset: commoncrawl


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The Black Spout.
Pitlochry. Scotland.
Loch Arkaig.
Munros and Mist.
Spean Bridge. Scotland.
Railway to the Forest.
From Spean Bridge to Eilean Donan Castle.
Around Eilean Donan Castle.
Around Eilean Donan Castle (2).
Green Approach.
The Black Spout Wood, Pitlochry. Scotland.
Forest in Achnacarry.
The Tile Forest. Near Spean Bridge. Scotland.
In this closed forest, famous for deer in the vicinity, I could not penetrate beyond a few feet, so thick and so weedy.
The contrast of light and freedom of movement between the outskirts of the forest and inside was tremendous, just as if you pass over from one world to another.
Distant Tree.
The Tile Forest Walks, Spean Bridge. Scotland.
Bush looking at the loch.
Around Eilean Donan Castle. Dornie. Scotland.
All photographs in this website are copyrighted by Jesús Ramón Campos Rodríguez. All rights reserved. These photographs cannot be reproduced, published, copied or transmitted in any way, including through Internet without permission of the author. Thank you for supporting creators.


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CMF DC Super Heroes
Kids and fans with a passion for superheroes will love these awesome LEGO® Minifigures (71026) DC Super Heroes Series collectible sets. Each mystery bag contains 1 of 16 different super-hero or villain characters from the DC Universe. Outstanding character lineup Children and adult fans can collect a range of character toys, old and new, from the expansive DC Universe, including Aquaman™, Batman™, Bat-Mite™, BUMBLEBEE, Cyborg™, The Flash™, Green Lantern™, Metamorpho™, Mister Miracle™, Sinestro™, Wonder Woman™, Superman™, The Joker™, Huntress™, The Cheetah™ and Stargirl™. Exciting accessories and posing brick for display Each of the finely crafted, highly detailed Minifigures comes in a sealed mystery bag with one or more accessory elements to add to the fun, a collector's leaflet with information on the character and a posing brick to display them in different poses.
Inspire thrilling super-hero role play with these cool Minifigures. A great gift for kids and fans of the DC Universe. Play starts straight out of the bag! These also make great collectibles for fans of any age.
What's in the bag? Kids can discover superheroes or villains they've never met before to add to their LEGO® Minifigures collections, with different characters from the DC Universe comic books.
These awesome characters are great for independent play, where kids can help their favourite superheroes face off against villains and save the day, be part of new stories with other models or collect and display.
Any fan of the DC Universe will love these unique collectible superheroes. The detailed LEGO® Minifigures (71026) and their accessories will thrill any kid and make a great gift for boys and girls aged 5+.
Small yet mighty. These mystery bags each contain 1 of 16 DC Universe superhero Minifigures, complete with one or more accessories and a posing brick. Totally portable and ready for play and display.
Powered by a child's imagination for hours of endless fun! Battery-free toys help boost kids' independent play and problem-solving skills, plus it gives them the joy of imagining new stories all on their own.
Open the bag and the play begins with assembling the Minifigure. Easy-to-follow instructions make building a snap, giving kids the joy of constructing their own cool super-hero toy - and loads of creative fun.
Give youngsters iconic characters for play or display with LEGO® Minifigures collectibles. This fun, mini playsets offer open-ended play that helps build children's creativity and imagination skills.
LEGO® bricks meet the highest industry standards and quality criteria, so they are consistent, compatible and connect and come apart easily every time – it's been that way since 1958.
At the LEGO Group, we drop, heat, crush, twist and analyze LEGO® bricks and pieces to make sure every kid's building toy meets the highest global safety and quality standards.


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Spider bites. The driving force behind tall tales, fictional superhero Spiderman, and, in southern Italy, medicinal dance music meant to cure victims bitten by an eight-legged venomous pest.
The Tarantella. The dance form dates back to ancient times and likely began in the area around the Greek colony of Taranta in southern Italy. It was believed that the only way to suppress the symptoms of a bite from the Lycosa tarantula (a type of wolf spider, although the offender was likely the Mediterranean black widow) was to use brisk, rhythmic music. The music played for the cure--and the dance associated with it--became known as the Tarantella. The facts get fuzzy from there, but the frenzied dance form flourished in the 19th century.
Felix Mendelssohn wrote a Tarantella. Louis Moreau Gottschalk wrote one, as did Hungarian composers Steven Heller and Franz Liszt. Though numerous Tarantellas were swirling through salons in Chopin's day, the one that seems to have inspired him was Rossini's.
Composed in 1841, Chopin's one and only Tarantella, like his single attempts at the Bolero, Barcarolle and Berceuse, adheres to form but with an elegance and understated quality all his own. - Jennifer Foster


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Sacramento What is Moveandstay
Moveandstay is an online company where travelers can find a great place to live and work.
With the largest network of serviced apartment and serviced office providers worldwide, Moveandstay helps 'mobile' people finding great places to live and work.
Moveandstay team handles the entire booking process from accommodation selection to final booking confirmation.
Businesses and individuals alike use Moveandstay when they travel, move or relocate. Property providers use Moveandstay to market their apartments and offices, and develop an international presence instantly.
How Moveandstay Works:
1. Use our apartment or office search
2. Get instant prices and availability
3. Book instantly
The Team behind Moveandstay
Moveandstay is an Asian company, created by a multinational team who all share a passion for lifestyle design and travel. Our team team includes French, Thai, Chinese and Caribbean people came together in Bangkok to build (actually, rebuilt) a better online serviced accommodation service that would meet the needs of business travelers, expatriates or tourists looking for some hotel alternatives and/or office solutions.
Our reward is when we receive 'testimonials" from clients, after we have assisted them in finding an amazing apartment to stay for a few days, weeks or months - Even better, is when we combine the apartment and office solution together. Yes, the very specific thing at Moveandstay is that we are very much into lifestyle design - and we truly believe that finding a great place to live and work has a true impact on your lifestyle.
Corporate Information
The company is privately-held and headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand.


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Collin Brooks
Collin Brooks has been part of the CPHR team since 2006, when he was originally employed as a laboratory technician after a number of years in similar roles conducting molecular and immunological research in the UK. Since then he has been employed as a junior research officer on several projects. Collin's research interests are primarily focused around respiratory disease, and he has been involved in clinical and epidemiological studies investigating the inflammatory mechanisms underlying different asthma phenotypes. Much of this research to date has been published and is included in his Doctoral thesis, entitled 'Non-invasive assessment of airway inflammation in asthma'. He also interested in the causative, protective and risk factors responsible for different asthma pathologies in populations of both children and adults. In 2020, Collin was awarded the Sir Charles Hercus Fellowship, which he says is an honour, as it is relatively rare for a public health researcher to receive one.
- Publications
- Current Research Projects
|Ali H, Brooks C, Crane J, Beasley R, Le Gros G, Holgate S, Gibson P, Pattemore P, Stanley T, Tzeng S, Pearce N, Douwes J. Airway sensory nerve sensitivity in adolescents with eosinophilic and non-eosinophilic asthma. Eur Respiratory J, 2020; 56:4081.
|Conference Proceedings
|Ali H, Brooks C, Crane J, Beasley R, Le Gros G, Holgate S, Gibson P, Pattemore P, Tzeng S, Pearce N, Douwes J. Autonomic nervous system activity in adolescent asthma. Respirology, 2020; 25(S1):032.
|Conference Proceedings
|Brooks C, Slater T, Tupai-Firestone R, Zock J, Pearce N, Douwes J. Respiratory health in professional cleaners: symptoms, lung function, and risk factors. Clinical & Experimental Allergy, 2020; 50(5): 567-576.
|Holst G, Pørneki A, Lindgreen J, Thuesen B, Bønløkke J, Hyvärinen A, Elholm G, Østergaard K, Loft S, Brooks C, Douwes J, Linneberg A, Sisgaard T. Household dampness and microbial exposure related to allergy and respiratory health in Danish adults. European Clinical Respiratory Journal, 2020; 7(1): 1706235.
|Compton B, Farrand K, Tang C, Osmond T, Speir M, Authier-Hall A, Wang J, Ferguson P, Chan S, Anderson R, Cooney T, Hayman C, Williams G, Brimble M, Brooks C, Yong L, Metelitsa L, Zajonc D, Godfrey D, Gasser O, Weinkove R, Painter G, Hermans I. Enhancing T cell responses and tumour immunity by vaccination with peptides conjugated to a weak NKT cell agonist. Org Biomol Chem, 2019; (In Press).
|Pembrey L, Barreto M, Douwes J, Cooper P, Henderson J, Mpairwe H, Ardura-Garcia C, Chico M, Brooks C, Cruz A, Elliott A, Figueiredo C, Langan S, Nassanga B, Ring S, Rodrigues L, Pearce N. Understanding asthma phenotypes: the World Asthma Phenotypes (WASP) international collaboration. ERJ Open Res, 2018; 4(3): 00013-2018.
|McLean D, Leblanc-Maridor M, Hall R, Moore N, Cullen K, Brooks C, Benschop J, 't Mannetje A, Weinkove R, Douwes J, Pearce N. Airborne dispersion of Leptospirosis in a meat processing plant. 32nd International Congress on Occupational Health, 29 Apr-4 May, Dublin, Ireland. Occ Environ Med, 2018; 75(2): A213.
|Conference Proceedings
|Leblanc-Maridor M, Hall R, Moore N, Cullen K, Brooks C, Benschop J, Pearce N, Douwes J, McLean D. (2018) Airborne dispersion of Leptospirosis in a meat processing plant. Pathobiome 2018, Pathogens in microbiotas in hosts, 18-20 March; Corsica, France. (poster)
|Conference Proceedings
|'t Mannetje A, Eng A, Walls C, Dryson E, Douwes J, Bertazzi P, Ryder-Lewis S, Scott D, Brooks C, McLerran D, Cheng S, Pearce N. Morbidity in New Zealand pesticide producers exposed to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). Environment International, 2018; 110: 22-31.
|Brooks C, van Dalen C, Harding E, Hermans I, Douwes J. Effects of treatment changes on asthma phenotype prevalence and airway neutrophil function. BMC Pulmonary Medicine, 2017; 17: 169.
|Speir M, Authier-Hall A, Brooks C, Farrand K, Compton B, Anderson R, Heiser A, Osmond T, Tang C, Berzofsky J, Terabe M, Painter G, Hermans I, Weinkove R. Glycolipid-peptide conjugate vaccines enhance CD8+ T cell responses against human viral proteins. Scientific Reports, 2017; 7: 14273.
|Brooks C, van Dalen C, Hermans I, Gibson P, Simpson J, Douwes J. Sputum basophils are increased in eosinophilic asthma compared with non-eosinophilic asthma phenotypes. Allergy, 2017; 72(10): 1583-1586.
|'t Mannetje A, Eng A, Walls C, Dryson E, Kogevinas M, Brooks C, McLean D, Cheng S, Smith A, Pearce N. Sex ratio of the offspring of New Zealand phenoxyherbicide producers exposed to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin. Occup Environ Med, 2017; 74(1): 24-29.
|Brooks C, van Dalen C, Zacharasiewicz A, Simpson J, Harper J, Le Gros G, Gibson P, Pearce N, Douwes J. Absence of airway inflammation in a large proportion of adolescents with asthma. Respirology, 2016; 21(3): 460-466.
|'t Mannetje A, Eng A, Walls C, Dryson E, McLean D, Kogevinas M, Fowles J, Borman B, O'Connor P, Cheng S, Brooks C, Smith A, Pearce N. Serum concentrations of chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, furans and PCBs, among former phenoxy herbicide production workers and firefighters in New Zealand. Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 2016; 89(2): 307-319.
|Douwes J, Boezen M, Brooks C, Pearce N. (2014) Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma. In Detels R, Gulliford M, Karim QA, Tan (Eds.), Oxford Textbook of Public Health (6th ed) Vol 3. Chapt 8.3 Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 945-969.
|Books and Chapters
Weinkove R,
Brooks C,
Carter J,
Hermans I,
Ronchese F.
Efficient depletion of chronic lymphocytic leukemia B cells using serial rounds of immunomagnetic depletion. J Immunol Methods, 2013; 396(1-2): 152-156.
|Brooks C. (2013). Non-invasive assessment of airway inflammation in asthma. A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Public Health (PhD), Massey University, Wellington, NZ.
Ashraf S,
Nitschke K,
Warshow U,
Brooks C,
Kim A,
Lauer G,
Hydes T,
Cramp M,
Alexander G,
Little A,
Thimme R,
Neumann-Haefelin C,
Khakoo S.
Synergism of tapasin and human leukocyte antigens in resolving hepatitis C virus infection. Hepatology, 2013; 58(3): 881-889.
Hall R,
Leblanc-Maridor M,
Wang J,
Ren X,
Moore N,
Brooks C,
Peacey M,
Douwes J,
McLean D.
Metagenomic detection of viruses in aerosol samples from workers in animal slaughterhouses. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8(8): e72226.
't Mannetje A,
Coakley J,
Bridgen P,
Brooks C,
Harrad S,
Smith A,
Pearce N,
Douwes J.
Current concentrations, temporal trends and determinants of persistent organic pollutants in breast milk of New Zealand women. Sci Total Environ, 2013; 458-460: 399-407.
Brooks C,
Gibson P,
Douwes J,
van Dalen C,
Simpson J.
Relationship between airway neutrophilia and ageing in asthmatics and non-asthmatics. Respirology, 2013; 18(5): 857–865.
Weinkove R,
Brooks C,
Carter J,
Hermans I,
Ronchese F.
Functional invariant natural killer T cell and CD1d axis in chronic lymphocytic leukemia: implications for immunotherapy. Haematologica, 2013; 98(3): 376-384.
Brooks C,
Pearce N,
Douwes J.
The hygiene hypothesis in allergy and asthma: an update. Curr Opin Allergy Clin Immunol, 2013; 13(1): 70-77.
Brooks C,
Siebers R,
Crane J,
Noss I,
Wouters I,
Sander I,
Raulf-Heimsoth M,
Thorne P,
Metwali N,
Douwes J.
Measurement of β-(1,3)-glucan in household dust samples using Limulus amebocyte assay and enzyme immunoassays: an inter-laboratory comparison. Environ Sci Process Impacts, 2013; 15(2): 405-411.
Brooks C,
van Dalen C,
Hermans I,
Douwes J.
Identifying leukocyte populations in fresh and cryopreserved sputum using flow cytometry. Cytometry: Part B - Clinical Cytometry, 2013; 84B(2): 104–113.
|Brooks C, Gibson P, Douwes J, van Dalen C, Simpson J. Assessment of the relationship between airway neutrophilia and aging in asthmatics and non-asthmatics. Respirology, 2012; 17(S2): 10. (abstract).
|Conference Proceedings
Douwes J,
Brooks C,
van Dalen C,
Pearce N.
Importance of allergy in asthma: an epidemiologic perspective. Curr Allergy Asthma Rep, 2011; 11(5): 434-44.
|Brooks C, Brogan S, van Dalen C, Lampshire P, Crane J, Douwes J. Measurement of Exhaled Nitric Oxide in a General Population Sample: A Comparison of the Medisoft HypAir FENO and Aerocrine NIOX Analyzers. J Asthma, 2011; 48(4): 324-8.
|Douwes J, Brooks C, Pearce N. Asthma nervosa: old concept, new insights. Eur Respir J, 2011; 37(5): 986-90.
|Brooks C, Weinkove R, Hermans I, van Dalen C, Douwes J. Invariant natural killer T cells and asthma: immunologic reality or methodological artifact? J Allergy Clin Immunol, 2010; 126(4): 882-5. (letter).
|Other Publications
|Brooks C, Weinkove R, Hermans I, van Dalen C, Douwes J. Invariant natural killer T cells and asthma: Immunologic reality or methodological artefact? J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2010;126(4):882-5.
|Douwes J, Brooks C, Pearce N. Stress and asthma: Hippocrates revisited. J Epidemiol Community Health, 2010; 64(7): 561-2.
|'t Mannetje A, Douwes J, Duckett H, Brogan S, Harding E, Brooks C, Harrad S, Ellison-Loschmann L, Smith A, Pearce N. (2010) Concentrations of persistent organic pollutants in the milk of New Zealand women. Report prepared as part of a Ministry of Health contract for scientific services. Centre for Public Health Research (CPHR), Massey University, NZ.
|Douwes J, Brooks C, Pearce N. Protective effects of farming on allergies and asthma: have we learnt anything since 1873? Expert Rev Clin Immunol, 2009; 5(3): 213-9.
|Simpson J, Brooks C, Douwes J. Innate immunity in asthma. Paediatr Respir Rev, 2008; 9(4): 263-70.
Interventions to reduce pesticide exposure and associated ill health in pesticide exposed workers and family members
Key words: Pesticides, Health Effects, Occupational
Biodiversity, microbiota, and childhood allergies and asthma: variation across space and time.
Key words: Microbiota, asthma, children, biodiversity, allergies
Cancer in meat workers: identifying the causal exposures
Key words: Meat workers, occupational cancer, bioaerosols, environmental monitoring, serological testing, sputum induction, mutagenicity, epidemiology
Examining the role of the airway neutrophil in the pathogenesis of asthma
Key words: Asthma, neutrophil, sputum, flow cytometry
The Role of the Innate Immune System in Childhood Asthma Development
Key words: Childhood asthma, allergy, innate immunity, birth cohort
Unpasteurised milk: protective for allergies and asthma?
Key words: Asthma, allergy, innate immunity, raw milk, unpasteurised milk
Non-inflammatory mechanisms in asthma
Key words: Asthma
The benefits of biodiversity: a novel approach to preventing asthma and allergy?
Key words: Asthma, allergies, natural environment, microbiota, biodiversity
Persistent airflow limitation and the airway microbiome in childhood asthma
Key words: Asthma, Microbiome, children
Asthma phenotypes in high and low income countries
Key words: Asthma, Socio-economic
Interventions to reduce solvent exposure and associated ill health in collision-repair workers
Key words: Occupational health, neurotoxicity, epidemiology, solvents
Interventions to reduce silica and associated ill health in construction workers
Key words: Silica, construction workers, occupation, NZ
Biodiversity and microbiota: a novel pathway to allergy and asthma prevention
Key words: Microbiota, biodiversity, asthma, allergy


text:
From a 2004 Playboy interview with Larry Page, in which the Google co-founder describes a very different company from the one we use now:
PLAYBOY: Portals attempt to create what they call sticky content to keep a user as long as possible.
PAGE: That's the problem. Most portals show their own content above content elsewhere on the web. We feel that's a conflict of interest, analogous to taking money for search results. Their search engine doesn't necessarily provide the best results; it provides the portal's results. Google conscientiously tries to stay away from that. We want to get you out of Google and to the right place as fast as possible. It's a very different model.
A lot changes in eight years. [PandoDaily via Gruber]


text:
A marshmallow toasting dragon slayer from Montréal asked about the unary &.
I like this question, because when I saw it, I realized immediately that although I've figured out how to use it to accomplish certain things, writing an answer serves the excellent purpose of forcing myself to learn more.
Let's start with what I do know, and what everyone can figure out from grepping source code: It has something to do with converting things to and from blocks. If you take nothing else away from this, remember that when you see a unary "&" in Ruby, you are looking at making something into a block, or making a block into something.
Now, blocks in Ruby are not first-class entities. You cannot store them in variables. They are not objects. There is no Block.new expression. The only way to make a block in Ruby syntax is to write one as part of a method call, like this:
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5].map { |x| x * x }
=> [1, 4, 9, 16, 25]
As we said above, you cannot assign a block to a variable:
square_block = { |x| x * x }
=> syntax error, unexpected '}', expecting $end
What do we do with these blocks? Well, inside of a method, we can yield to a block. Yielding to a block is something very much like calling a function. The value of an expression yielding to a block is the value of the expression in the block, paramaterized by anything you pass in the yield expression.
Oh heck, an example is much better:
def take_a_guess(range) # expects a block testing a guess
guess = range.begin + rand(range.end - range.begin)
if yield(guess)
"Yay, I guessed correctly"
"Boo hoo, my guess was wrong"
take_a_guess(1..10) { |x| x == 6 }
=> "Boo hoo, my guess was wrong"
take_a_guess(1..10) { |x| x == 6 }
=> "Boo hoo, my guess was wrong"
take_a_guess(1..10) { |x| x == 6 }
=> "Yay, I guessed correctly"
This method plays a guessing game with you: it takes a range ("guess a number from one to ten") and a block for testing whether the guess was correct. It takes a guess and yield the guess to the block. It then exclaims its joy to the world if it guesses correctly.
Notice that there is nothing in the method signature saying it expects a block. There is no name for the block. You have to look for the yield keyword to figure out what is going on if the programmer doesn't add a comment.
converting blocks to procs
So… Let's talk conversions. If you want to do anything besides invoke a block with yield, you really want a Proc, not a block. For example:
class Guesser
attr_reader :range, :tester
def initialize(range, &tester)
@range, @tester = range, tester
def take_a_guess
guess = range.begin + rand(range.end - range.begin)
if tester.call(guess)
"Yay, I guessed #{guess} correctly"
"Boo hoo, my guess of #{guess} was wrong"
foo = Guesser.new(1..10) { |n| n == 6 }
=> "Boo hoo, my guess of 2 was wrong"
=> "Boo hoo, my guess of 8 was wrong"
=> "Yay, I guessed 6 correctly"
We want to store the tester block as an instance variable. So what we do is add a parameter at the very end with an ampersand, and what Ruby does is take the block and convert it to a Proc, which you can pass around as an object. And when you want to use it, you send it the #call method.
Now if you think about this for a second or two, you'll realize that almost every Proc you ever create works this way: We pass a block to a method, and the method turns it into a proc by having a parameter with an &. Let's try writing another one:
def our_proc(&proc)
double = our_proc { |n| n * 2}
=> 14
Not much to it, is there? When you want a Proc, you can create one by calling a method with a block and using ¶meter to convert the block to a Proc. There is no other way to convert a block to a proc because the only place blocks exist is in method invocations.
converting procs to blocks
Okay, we know how to make a Proc out of a block. What about going the other way? What if we want to make a block out of a Proc?
Let's reopen our Guesser class:
class Guesser
def three_guesses
guesses = Array.new(3) { range.begin + rand(range.end - range.begin) }
if guesses.any?(&tester)
"Yay, #{guesses.join(', ')} includes a correct guess"
"Boo hoo, my guesses of #{guesses.join(', ')} were wrong"
bar = Guesser.new(1..10) { |x| x == 3 }
=> "Yay, 5, 9, 3 includes a correct guess"
What just happened?
For starters, we made an array with three guesses in it. That line of code includes a block, but let's ignore that as being irrelevant to this particular discussion. The next part is what we're after:
We then want to call Enumerable#any? to ask the array if any of its members are the correct guess. Now #any? expects a block. But we don't have a block, we have a Proc. So now we do the reverse of what we did when we wanted to convert a block to a Proc: instead of a method having an extra parameter with an ampersand, we pass a parameter to the method and apply the ampersand to the parameter we are passing.
So "&tester" says to Ruby: "Take this object and pass it to a method as a block." The #any? method gets a block, it has no idea we are doing any Proc to block conversion shenanigans. We can prove that:
def did_you_pass_me_a_block?
if block_given?
did_you_pass_me_a_block? { 'I passed you a block' }
=> "I passed you a block"
proc = Proc.new { 'I passed you a proc' }
=> "I passed you a proc"
As you can see, our methods don't really know whether they get a block or a proc passed as a block. They just yield and all is well. (And yes, you can convert a block to a proc and then the method can convert it right back into another proc.)
to_proc shakur
Which leads us to the final piece of the puzzle. How does Ruby convert whatever you pass with "&" into a block? The answer is that if it is not already a Proc, it tries to convert the object to a Proc by calling the object's #to_proc method, and from there it converts the Proc into a block.
So you can do fun stuff like convert strings into blocks by defining a method that converts a string to a Proc:
(1..5).map &'*2'
=> [2, 4, 6, 8, 10]
Note that this conversion only happens when you try to pass a string as a block to a method with "&." It is not correct to say that "&" converts an object to a Proc, the #to_proc method does that. It is correct to say that when passing an object to a method, the "&" unary operator tries to convert the object to a block, using the Object's #to_proc method if need be.
We'll close with an example, where we decide that a Guesser can be converted to a Proc:
class Guesser
def to_proc
Proc.new { |guess|
"Yay, I guessed #{guess} correctly" if tester.call(guess)
foo = Guesser.new(1..10) { |n| n == 8 }
=> syntax error, unexpected tAMPER
=> #<Proc:0x0008cc08@-:26>
=> ArgumentError: wrong number of arguments (1 for 0)
=> "Yay, I guessed 8 correctly"
So that's it: When you want to convert a block to a Proc, define an extra parameter for your method and preface it with an ampersand. When the method is called, the parameter will hold a proc.
When you want to convert any object to a block, pass it to a method expecting a block and preface it with an ampersand. Ruby will call the #to_proc method if need be, then convert the Proc into a block.
because it's friday
I really hate writing anything too serious on a Friday. So if you're eyes have glazed over and you've marked this to be read later, here's a little diversion for you. I just picked up The Magic Garden of George B. And Other Logic Puzzles by my favourite nonfiction author, Raymond Smullyan.
Right off the bat, the first paragraphs of the preface introduce a neat puzzle:
Here is a remarkable problem: Imagine a garden of magic flowers that can change color from day to day. On any one day, a flower is either blue the entire day or red the entire day, but can change from one day to another. Given any flower A and any flower B, there is a flower C that is red on all and only those days on which A and B are both blue. Also, we are given that for any distinct flowers A and B, there is at least one day on which A and B are of different colors. Now suppose that the number of flowers is somewhere between 200 and 500. How many flowers are in the garden?Amazingly enough, the problem actually has a unique solution! Doesn't this surprise you?
Have fun!


text:
For the first time, the backend of any encoder I've written supports explicit selector RDO. It basically tries to balance luma noise vs. bitrate. I've discovered a large number of improvements to crunch's basic approach. Each time I get tempted to try a completely different algorithm, I find another optimization.
Here's a random example of what selector RDO looks like on kodim18. At these quality settings, Basis ETC1 intermediate format gets 1.52 bits/texel, RDO compression (with the exact same quality level) on the ETC1 .KTX file+LZMA gets 1.83 bits/texel, and plain ETC1+LZMA is 3.33 bits/texel.
Delta selector RDO Enabled: 1.52 bits/texel Luma SSIM: .867811 (plain non-RDO ETC1 Luma SSIM is .981066)
RGB delta image (biased to 128):
The two textures above share the exact same endpoint/selector codebooks, the same per-macroblock mode values (flip and differential bits), and the same block color "endpoints". The delta selectors in the 2nd image were chosen to balance introduced noise vs. bitrate. I'm still tuning this algorithm but it's amazing to find improvements like this with so little code. This improvement and others like it will also be available in Basis's support for the DXT formats.
We also support an "ETC1S" mode, that doesn't support per-block tiling or 4:4:4 "individual" mode colors. It transcodes to standard ETC1 blocks. It gets 1.1 bits/texel, Luma SSIM .8616 using the same selector/endpoint codebook sizes. This mode has sometimes noticeable 4x4 block artifacts, but otherwise can perform extremely well in a rate-distortion sense vs. full ETC1 mode.
ETC1S mode has better behavior in a rate-distortion sense vs. full ETC1 mode, so there's still a lot of work to do.
The encoder's backend hasn't been tuned hardly at all yet, there are some missing optimization steps (that crunch used), and the selector codebook compression stage needs to be redone. The ETC1 per-block "mode" bits are also pretty expensive right now, so I need to implement a form of explicit "mode bit" RDO that purposely biases the mode bits in the front end to achieve better compression.


text:
Big Gay News – December 1, 2011
Dec. 1 is World AIDS Day, and in commemoration of the occasion, the HIV Vaccine Trials Network, headquartered at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, debunks the top 10 myths about HIV vaccine research.
Myth No. 1: HIV vaccines can give people HIV. HIV vaccines do not contain HIV and therefore a person cannot get HIV from the HIV vaccine. Some vaccines, like those for typhoid or polio, may contain a weak form of the virus they are protecting against, but this is not the case for HIV vaccines. Scientists make HIV vaccines so that they look like the real virus, but they do not contain any HIV. Think of it like a photocopy: It might look similar, but it isn't the original. In the past 25 years more than 30,000 volunteers have taken part in HIV vaccine studies worldwide, and no one has been infected with HIV by any of the vaccines tested – because they do not contain HIV.
Myth No. 2: An HIV vaccine already exists. There is no licensed vaccine against HIV or AIDS, but scientists are getting closer than ever before to developing an effective vaccine against HIV. In 2009, a large-scale vaccine study conducted in Thailandcalled RV144 showed that a vaccine combination could prevent about 32 percent of new infections. Researchers are starting to understand why this vaccine combination worked and how to improve upon it.
Researchers around the world continue to search for an HIV vaccine that is even more effective. Leading this effort is the HIV Vaccine Trials Network, the largest publicly funded group of HIV vaccine researchers in the world. The HVTN is an international effort to find a safe and effective vaccine to stop the spread of HIV. It is funded by the U. S. National Institutes of Health.
Myth No. 3: Joining an HIV-vaccine study is like being a guinea pig. Unlike guinea pigs, people can say yes or no to participating in research. All study volunteers must go through a process called informed consent that ensures they understand all of the risks and benefits of being in a study, and those volunteers are reminded that they may leave a study at any time without losing rights or benefits. The HVTN takes great care in making sure people understand the study fully before they decide whether or not join. All HVTN research adheres to U.S. federal regulations on research, as well as the international standards for the countries in which it conducts research.
Myth No. 4: A person must be HIV positive to be in an HIV vaccine study. Not so. While some research groups are conducting studies of vaccines that might be used in people who are already infected with HIV, the vaccines being tested by the HVTN are preventive vaccines. They must be tested on volunteers who are not infected with HIV.
Myth No. 5: Vaccine researchers want study participants to practice unsafe behaviors so they can see whether the vaccine really works. Not true. The safety of study participants is the No. 1 priority of HIV vaccine researchers and study site staff. Trained counselors work with study participants to help them develop an individual plan on how to keep from contracting HIV. Participants also are given supplies such as condoms and lubricant as well as instructions on how to use them properly. HIV efficacy trials enroll thousands of participants over several years, and with even with the best counseling some participants will still become infected through their risky behavior. Changing human behavior is never easy; after all, many people still smoke, even though it is widely known that smoking is the major cause of lung cancer. An AIDS epidemic would not exist if prevention was as simple as counseling people to change their risky behavior.
Myth No. 6: Now that there are pills that can prevent HIV infection, an HIV vaccine is no longer necessary. HIV-negative people who are at high risk can take antiretroviral medication daily to try to lower their chances of becoming infected if they are exposed to the virus. This type of therapy – called PrEP, short for PreExposure Prophylaxis – has been shown to be effective among those at high risk. However, it has not yet been recommended for widespread use. PrEP is unlikely to be an option for everyone because the pills are expensive and are not always covered by insurance, may cause side effects, and not everyone has access to them. Remembering to take a pill every day is also challenging for some people. The most effective way to eliminate a disease is by using an effective vaccine. It was a vaccine that eliminated small pox and has almost eliminated polio. Most likely it will be an HIV vaccine that eliminates HIV from the world. Vaccines are an effective, affordable and practical option.
Myth No. 7: An HIV vaccine is unnecessary because AIDS is easily treated and controlled, just like diabetes. While treatment for AIDS has dramatically improved over the last 30 years, it is no substitute for prevention. Current HIV medications are very expensive, and there are also many side effects. Sometimes people develop drug resistance and have to change the regimen of pills they take. Access to these drugs for the uninsured in the U.S. and those in the developing world is also very limited.
Myth No. 8: The search for an HIV vaccine has been going on for a long time and it's just not possible to find one that works. The science of HIV-vaccine development is challenging, but scientific understanding continues to improve all the time. In just the past two years there have been promising results from the RV144 study in Thailand as well as exciting laboratory work, such as the discovery of new broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV. HIV is a powerful opponent, but scientists are constantly learning from one another and using advanced technology to fight it. Science has come a long way in the 30 years since AIDS was discovered. In comparing preventive HIV vaccine work to other vaccine development, the time it has taken is not so surprising; the polio vaccine took 47 years to develop.
Myth No. 9: Vaccines cause autism and just aren't safe. This is not true. Numerous studies in the past decade have found this claim to be false. The British doctor who originally published the finding about vaccines and autism has since been found to have falsified his data. There is actually no link between childhood vaccination and autism. It is true that vaccines often have side effects, but those are typically temporary (like a sore arm, low fever, muscle aches and pains) and go away after a day or two. The value of protection to vaccinated individuals and to the public has made vaccines one of the top public health measures in history, second only to having a clean water supply.
Myth No. 10: People who aren't at risk don't need an HIV vaccine. A person currently may not be at risk for HIV, but life situations can change along with disease risk. Such a vaccine also may be important for one's children or other family members and friends. By being knowledgeable about preventive HIV vaccine research, a person can be part of the solution by educating friends and family about the importance of such research and debunking the myths that surround it. Even if a person is not at risk, he or she can be part of the effort to find a vaccine that will hopefully save the lives of millions of people worldwide. To learn more or find out how to get involved in an HIV vaccine study, please visit www.hvtn.org
For more information, please visit


text:
Robust image acquisition
Many system designers make the assumption that nothing will go wrong within the system as a whole, and that problems such as over triggering, bus contention, or external electrical noise corruption will never occur. It is true that many applications simply do not need this functionality, but when developing a robust inspection system, or when the design is approaching the limits of a particular interface technology, a robust acquisition framework becomes essential. Some manufacturers have evolved robust mechanisms that provide vision system designers with feedback when system errors occur, allowing them to take corrective action. Without these technologies, system crashes could occur, or systems could continue without anyone being aware that something has failed, or that an image suffered corruption. In this section we outline the features required to make a system robust against unusual system events, such as Teledyne DALSA's "Trigger-toImage-Reliability" framework (T2IR), Allied Vision's "Secure Image Signature" (SIS) and features found in the GigE Vision and USB3 Vision standards.
Trigger and acquisition counters and call-backs
A common and serious design flaw is the assumption that every trigger will cause an image to be captured. It is often assumed that if the camera cycle time is faster than the speed of the triggering, nothing can go wrong, however, this does not take into consideration what happens if the triggers begin to arrive faster than the maximum system speed, or if spurious triggers are generated because of noise in the system, thereby causing unexpected requests for images. In many acquisition systems these triggers are simply ignored which can result in triggers that do not cause an inspection, thus allowing products to pass through the system unchecked. In other systems this can cause the acquisition to be reset halfway through the capture process, resulting in either corrupt images or, in the worst cases, it can cause a system crash if the DMA and memory management become confused or overflow. Good implementations will manage the missed trigger correctly without corruption and notify the application of a problem via a call-back or a counter that can be monitored. The application can then take appropriate action. Applications with synchronous capturing of multiple cameras require the implementation of a detailed signal and data check, to capture possible faults.
|Notifies the host application that a trigger hasoccurred.
|Double trigger
|Notifies the application that two triggers occurred inclose proximity and one was ignored.
|Start of frame/field
|Notifies the host that an image capture has begun.
|End of frame/field
|Notifies the host that an image acquisition transfer tomemory has completed.
|Start of transfer
|Notifies the host that an image transfer to PC memoryhas begun.
|End of transfer
|Notifies the system that the image transfer to PCmemory has completed.
Time stamping Knowing when an image is captured can be useful in a number of situations. A time stamp does not necessarily represent an actual time, but can use any input that enables the images to be marked and synchronised to an external event. For example, in applications that use conveyor belts or moving products, time stamping an image with the output from an encoder that tracks the movement of the product allows a reject mechanism further down the line to reject the correct item, even if the conveyor changes speed, or starts and stops. Another scenario could involve a multi-camera acquisition system that requires later off-line processing. If the images have a common acquisition time stamp, the postprocessor can be sure of the relationship between the images. Synchronising camera time stamps can now be achieved using the PTP protocol found on in the GigE Vision standard. More can be found about this in section 6.9.3. Time stamping can also provide useful system information like trigger and acquisition counters, so that an application can be sure that an image is valid, is in sequence, or has not been missed.
Data monitoring and CRC checking
In high-speed acquisition systems, external signal errors or noise can sometimes cause spurious data clocks and data errors. Good interface designs monitor these signals and check that they are as expected. For instance, some interface solutions for LVDS, analogue and CameraLink can detect and report if any line or frame has too few or too many pixels, thus enabling the system to take action.
This monitoring also enables the system to recover immediately if an event occurs. When using techniques like USB or GigE, a CRC check is applied. CRC stands for Cyclic Redundancy Check, and is a system that produces a checksum for a particular file or data packet. The checksum is then used to detect errors after transmission or storage. The issue here is that this requires a processor to build the CRC check into the camera, and then the host needs to read the whole image in order to prove that the CRC check matches. On interfaces such as FireWire or Gigabit Ethernet, the interface chips already include hardware CRC engines to check each packet of data. With clever driver programming the number of expected packets per image is monitored, enabling CRC checking results in the correct identification and reporting of corrupt images. In addition to the identification of transmission errors, GigE Vision or USB enables the host to request corrupt or lost packets to be resent so that valid data can be guaranteed. Similar technologies are also used in CoaXPress and CameraLink HS interfaces. In fact CameraLink HS takes this to the next level with an automatic resend correction capability. For reference the only machine vision acquisition standard not to deploy CRC data integrity checking is CameraLink.
Control and synchronisation
In recent years the function of the frame grabber or interface has become more than just image acquisition and this trend is finding its way into cameras with digital interfaces. The timing between trigger, acquisition, exposure control, illumination strobe and reject control was previously the responsibility of the system integrator and usually required custom hardware, because PC timing latency was not good enough. If PC timing was used, this could often result in inconsistent system behaviour because of these latencies. Now, many of these functions are to be found inside the acquisition interface or the camera, making system configuration a lot easier and much more robust. Using additional inputs such as reject sensors, encoders or internal counters, these advanced acquisition solutions can manage the timing between product detection, system control and subsequent delayed reject management. An example of this control is shown in the following illustration.
Before the introduction of this technology, a vision system designer spent a lot of time building circuitry that synchronised trigger, reject and lighting strobe control. One recommendation when selecting an acquisition interface would be to think of the system as a whole. What appears to be the cheapest solution at the outset could end up costing more in the long run due to the additional time, effort and hardware needed to develop an acquisition control and reject system that is suitably robust.
In recent years, Gigabit Ethernet's ability to locate cameras about 100 metres away from the processing PC has required an even greater flexibility. This ability enables host PCs to be moved away from the factory floor and into clean, cool server room environments. This change has meant that the more traditional integration of synchronisation and reject control functionality on the PC's acquisition board is no longer viable, as the PC can now be situated some distance away from the physical process.
Clearly an alternative solution is required in this situation. Ethernet based timing controllers now allow the synchronisation of multiple cameras, triggers and reject gates over a network. This also works with cameras used on encoder based conveyors. This ability gives rise to a new type of vision system: The network centric vision system. The temporal synchronisation of cameras between each other has also been included into the GigE Vision 2.0 standard by the introduction of PTP (Precision Time Protocol) to allow for such possibilities.
Learn more:


text:
It's a lovely Saturday here on the mountain. Cold with no wind and a crisp layer of snow on the ground. I suppose it is laughable that we call it a mountain especially to my friends on the west coast but it is ours and we like it.
Today we have done some usual chores, son and G1 are out buying a toy he has saved up for, G2 is sitting quietly and DIL is catching up on some paperwork. The plan is to go for a family swim later today, something both G1 and G2 love.
Me? I am rewriting Chapter 2 trying to get into the head of one of my characters. I have done 2 rewrites on this particular chapter and am not been happy with either. There is something I am missing but am not quite sure what it is but am confident I will recognize it when I see it.
I have opened my apartment today to the critters of the household who usually reside with the rest of the family. Jewels, the deaf white is sleeping peacefully on the back of my sofa. Scout who has been renamed Henry is getting cozy trying out different spots which has included my lap and chest as I try typing. Bree our yellow is happy anywhere but especially under my desk when I work.
Now Jack our third white who I have previously reported as being foul mooded since the arrival of Henry stalked around here a bit taking the odd swipe at Henry and then left to be near DIL. Funniest thing is that during any given work day the animals are scattered but when DIL arrives home all, and I do mean all, congregate in the kitchen en masse and then where ever she goes. DIL is a Dr. Doolittle which suits her profession as Vet Tech. If you need a pet whisperer of any sort she would be your choice.
Now in addressing the Chaff and the Poop. It seems G2 who at three is learning to take dominion over parts of his life as he should do, had also decided not to part with the products of certain body functions, which is not unusual in this age group. This was never a particular problem with G1 who is now eight, although I do recall that at that age he had decided that if the back yard was suitable for the then canine in residence, Scooby, it was good enough for him. It was an amusing and temporary problem easily solved once we got G1 to identify with the humans in the house rather than the animals.
There doesn't seem to be an easy solution for the problem at hand but I hope the wee guy gets it straight soon… for his own comfort.
Any suggestions out there from you experts would be greatly appreciated!
And now a pic of our dear departed Scooby taken in 09 through the back window of the playhouse.


text:
West Bridgewater trooper's suicide stuns local residents
By all accounts, state Trooper Gregory Jasinskas was an eager Boy Scout who grew up to be a dedicated war veteran and member of the State Police, local residents said Wednesday.
But his suicide on Monday, while authorities were investigating Jasinskas, 40, for an alleged sexual assault while on duty, has both stunned and saddened residents in this small town, where he lived, and in Abington, where he grew up, the Enterprise reported.
"Completely out of character and unexpected," said Jasinskas' neighbor Lorraine Walker, as tears streamed down her face in her kitchen Wednesday morning.
Authorities were investigating Jasinskas, a trooper for eight years, on allegations that he sexually assaulted a Brockton woman in the parking lot of a business adjacent to Route 24 in Avon early Sunday, Brockton Police Chief Emanuel Gomes said Wednesday.
Gomes said his department was drawn into the investigation Sunday after State Police asked his officers to go to the alleged victim's Brockton home.
"We were just trying to assist and make contact," Gomes said.
West Bridgewater police were also asked to check on Jasinskas, but he was not home.
Brockton police officers also assisted in the search for Jasinskas on Monday after State Police received reports he intended to harm himself, Gomes said.
"We were trying to locate him and also at one point trying to locate a witness for the State Police," Gomes said. "That's our only involvement."
No criminal court complaints had been taken out against Jasinskas, said Michael Connolly, a spokesman for Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey.
State Police on Wednesday would not identify the trooper who was found dead Monday afternoon at the Hilton Garden Inn in Devens. State Police found the trooper in a room, dead of self-inflicted wounds, State Police spokesman David Procopio said in a statement.
Authorities began searching for the trooper after two people told State Police the trooper had made statements "indicating he intended to harm himself," Procopio said.
State Police launched a probe Sunday into the trooper's "alleged criminal act that occurred early Sunday morning while he was on duty" and subsequently confiscated the trooper's service firearm and relieved him of duty, Procopio said.
State Police would not comment further on the case Wednesday.
Wednesday morning, a state trooper stationed in the driveway of Jasinskas' West Bridgewater home kept media away. Jasinskas' family could not be reached for comment.
Jasinskas, a 1991 graduate of Abington High School, had served three deployments overseas, two in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, which he completed last year.
Bill Kovatis, a retired West Bridgewater fireman, said he put American flags along East Street in West Bridgewater to celebrate Jasinskas' return from Afghanistan.
"It's unbelievable," Kovatis, 70, said. "It's absolutely devastating."
Walker, his neighbor, said Jasinskas, a married man who was assigned to the Milton barracks, often was seen washing his State Police cruiser in his driveway. His wife often brought food to West Bridgewater's police station for officers on holidays.
"It shocked us," Walker said of the death while crying. "When I saw it on TV, I said, 'Is it our Greg?'"
Over in Abington, Bob Pratt, the town's veterans agent, recalled the days when Jasinskas, then a tall, lanky boy, went camping with his Boy Scout troop.
"I'm kind of at a loss of words now. He was one of my Boy Scouts. He was a fun-loving kid," said Pratt, 63. "He was always willing to help people."
Pratt said he was shocked to hear of the alleged misconduct by Jasinskas.
"It doesn't sound like the boy I know," Pratt said. "That's completely out of his personality."


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Inside the mind of a rabid Obot (no link, biohazard):
And it's why I smile when I read people shrieking and rending their garments for him to do this or say that as if he were their servant.
Obama IS our servant you moron. Haven't you ever heard the term "public servant?"
We don't work for him, he works for us.
This fundamental misunderstanding of the relationship between Obama and the rest of the country explains a lot about Obots. It explains a few things about Obama too.
Both of these actions are part and parcel of the movement style campaign politics Obama favors and which is so beloved of the righteous Stevensonians. It is narcissistic and a-historical (We are the one's we have been waiting for), refuses to acknowledge politics as they are, and antithetical to mundane, interest-based transactional governance. It doesn't want responsibility, only obedience and adulation, and so refuses to take it when things go belly up.
Barack Obama ran for office because he wanted to BE President of the United States. He wanted the perks and privileges of power, he was on the ultimate ego trip.
Hillary Clinton wanted to be president because she wanted to USE the power of the office to do things for our country, to make our nation a better place. She could care less about the trappings of power.
Both Hillary and Bill Clinton have made public service their life's work. And not just our nation, they have served the world. There is no higher calling than that.
Barack Obama came into office presumptuously comparing himself to Abraham Lincoln. Today is the anniversary of Lincoln's most famous speech:
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
I'm gonna make a prediction – 100 years from now schools and banks will be open on Barack Obama's birthday.
Filed under: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, General, Hillary and Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, zombies | Tagged: Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Clinton Global Initiative, Gettysburg Address, Hillary Clinton | 31 Comments »


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Leppävaara is located in Espoo and is easily accessible by both bus and train from Helsinki. Adjacent to the rail and bus station is a modern, attractive shopping centre called Sello which has a wide selection of shops and cafes. As it was such a warm, sunny day we decided to take a stroll over to the Sports Park which is accessed through the rail tunnel. Our route took us past a small shopping plaza and some modern apartment blocks before taking a left turn to enter the park.
Leppävaara has a large swimming complex including two outdoor pools. One has water slides which were proving extremely popular on such a warm day whilst the other is for more serious swimmers and has ten lanes. There is also a cafe and plenty space to sit and sunbathe.
Continuing, we noticed an Angry Birds children's playground, football pitches and a fully equipped athletics stadium which seemed to be such a good resource to have locally.
Climbing a hill, we followed a path through the forest which led us to Treetop Adventure Huippu.
We didn't know this was here but it was fun to watch both adults and children moving from tree to tree using zip wires, balancing on nets, crossing swaying bridges and walking on tight ropes up to 60 feet high. I've heard of similar activity centres in the U.K. but I hadn't seen one before.
We then retraced our steps back to Leppävaara bus station from where we took a bus the short distance to Jorvi to visit Glims Farmstead Museum. The museum is located just across the road from Espoo's largest hospital where the bus terminates.
The Glims farmstead situated in the Karvasmäki village dates back to the 16th century. The current eleven museum buildings date back to the 19th century and are still standing in their original places forming an authentic farm yard. A tour was about to start when we arrived but as it was going to be in Finnish we decided to explore by ourselves which wasn't a problem. There were several varieties of sheep and some native breeds of hen within the farm and children were enjoying looking at them and petting. One of the buildings was the former dairy which demonstrated how cows were milked by hand and there was a stone vat for keeping the milk cold, so very different from the high tech methods used in farming today.
In another building there was a display of old farm machinery, sleighs and carts with large wooden wheels whilst next door a demonstration of hand weaving was taking place. I really enjoyed my visit, it's especially nice on a warm summer's day when you can enjoy being outdoors in the beautiful countryside.
Before leaving, we enjoyed drinks in the attractive small cafe and chatted with some other visitors who were also there for the first time. It costs €4 to visit the museum but if you can arrange your visit for a Wednesday then there is no charge. Walking back to the hospital we just timed it right as a bus was ready for us to board back to Helsinki. If you would like more information on Glims Farmstead you can find it here.
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AL KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia, June 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Moody's Investors Service has announced that it has assigned an A3 insurance financial strength rating (IFSR) to Chubb Arabia Cooperative Insurance Company.
Based in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, Chubb Arabia is a large capacity multiline commercial property and casualty insurer which also provides personal accident and group life insurance to a diverse group of clients.
Abdul Aziz Al Khereiji, Managing Director, Chubb Arabia Cooperative Insurance Company, said:
"I am delighted and very proud that Moody's has assigned an A3 insurance financial strength rating to Chubb Arabia. This is a significant achievement for the company and is reflective of the hard work by our team as we further develop our business in the Kingdom."
Note for Editors
Details of the Moody's announcement can be found here
Ab out Chubb
Chubb is the world's largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company. With operations in 54 countries and territories, Chubb provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance and life insurance to a diverse group of clients. As an underwriting company, we assess, assume and manage risk with insight and discipline. We service and pay our claims fairly and promptly. The company is also defined by its extensive product and service offerings, broad distribution capabilities, exceptional financial strength and local operations globally. Parent company Chubb Limited is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CB) and is a component of the S&P 500 index. Chubb maintains executive offices in Zurich, New York, London and other locations, and employs approximately 31,000 people worldwide.
Chubb Arabia Cooperative Insurance Company is a partially-owned affiliate of Chubb Group.
Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/


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Commuters are raving about the wide-open feel and beauty of the span. Many said the span feels easier to navigate with access to shoulder lanes and without the dreaded S-curve. The CHP has had a strong enforcement along the bridge and is encouraging drivers to obey the speed limit and pay attention to the road, not the new tower.
While it was still dark out, some drivers took advantage of the light traffic.
"It was really beautiful and I drove slower, I think everyone was driving a little slower just to admire the bridge," said San Francisco resident Hector Huang.
Commuters who arrived a little later, by bus, found themselves caught up in traffic, but, all the better to see the new sights.
"I actually stayed awake coming across the bridge just because I wanted to see it and there was definitely excitement," said Oakland resident Diony Gamoso.
The delicate, white tower certainly draws the eye. But drivers, and riders, are also impressed with the wide lanes and new lighting.
"It's kind of fast -- faster than the other one actually," said commuter Aldo Martinez.
Monday ceremony reopens the bridge
On Monday afternoon, Bay Area lawmakers and transit officials gathered to celebrate the new eastern span and hold a chain cutting ceremony. The ceremonies included several hundred guests, but was a downsized version of the opening celebration that was called off after concerns about bolts on the bridge left the opening date in question.
Following the ceremony featuring speeches from various bridge officials, Lt. Gov. Gavin News performed the ceremonial chain cutting at the newly refurbished toll plaza with help from San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and Oakland Mayor Jean Quan. Gov. Jerry Brown was at a family function in Michigan and could not attend Monday's events. Several speakers at the ceremony remarked upon the lengthy process of getting the new span designed and built after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake collapsed part of the upper deck of the old cantilever bridge, which opened in 1936.
Metropolitan Transportation Commission Executive Director Steve Heminger cited the many challenges faced during the project, some with technical issues like the broken bolts and others involving political battles over the span's design that led to escalating costs. The bridge is opening "at long last," Heminger said. "This truly is a landmark event."
State Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, said legislators "will review and learn from our mistakes" to ensure that similar delays and cost overruns do not happen on other large infrastructure projects in the state.
Other speakers chose to highlight the beauty of the bridge, including San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, who said the new span "serves as a monument to creativity and ingenuity," while state Sen. Loni Hancock, D-Oakland, said it will serve as "a gorgeous piece of public art" in the Bay Area.
Changes for drivers and bicyclists
There are some changes for FasTrak users and how they get on the bridge. The new view as you approach the Bay Bridge toll plaza shows the need for FasTrak drivers and those paying cash to get into separate lanes earlier than before. The idea is to ease congestion. And there's an extra FasTrak lane if you get on the bridge from I-880 or West Grand Avenue.
Also, The tunnel on Yerba Buena Island got a good scrubbing inside and out. You'll notice the lack of grime immediately.
Workers also finished hacking apart a section of the old span so they could install the new bike and pedestrian path that goes along the road deck. It'll run into Oakland and Emeryville and should be open to cyclists today at noon.
Beauty comes at a price
On the first full day of service for the new Bay Bridge, drivers are marveling at the beauty and the price tag which is expected to be even more than previously thought. Commuters at the toll plaza are already paying the bulk of the project.
The price tag being heard bandied about is $6.4 billion, but wait, there's more -- much more, when you add in the finance charges.
Drivers say the new bridge is spectacular, but that beauty comes with a price. "Ouch. Well, I think that's the way our government is. We've got to watch that," motorist Paul Cutteridge told ABC7 News said in reaction to the $6.4 billion cost.
The price tag is nearly three times what they thought it would cost when construction began on a bridge originally scheduled to be completed in 2007. But political bickering over design and placement dragged the process along.
UC Berkeley professor Karen Trapenberg Frick has made a career out of researching the Bay Bridge, which she calls a mega project -- captivating, complex, and costly.
"Time is money, clearly, and over that time, steel prices have increased, construction costs just in general, across the industry, have increased, with September 11th, suddenly insurance and bonding costs went up, which nobody could have predicted at the time," Trapenberg Frick told ABC7 News
"I think it's worth the money, but not that much money," one man told ABC7 News. Commuters are paying the lion's share of the project. According to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, about 69 percent will come from tolls. And while $6.4 billion is already staggering, the final final is likely to be nearly twice as high -- $12 billion by the time the bonds are paid off in 2054.
"Just as when you buy a home, for instance, you end up paying an awful lot of interest on top of that," said John Goodwin with the MTC. But the spokesman for the MTC says toll increases are not forecast for this project.


text: ACCEPT "Steven M. Christey" wrote: > > All, > > Please vote on the current text of the CyberCrime treaty statement, > included below, which I've labeled v5.5 (just in case it doesn't turn > out to be the "final"). > Please send one of the following votes to me and Dave Mann > (firstname.lastname@example.com), or to the Editorial Board list: > > ACCEPT - accept text as recorded > > MODIFY - make modifications. Please send any MODIFY votes to the > list. However, at this time you are strongly urged not to > suggest minor modifications that could be labeled "pedantic > wordsmithing" :-) > > NOOP - use this if you wish to abstain from voting. > > REJECT - use this vote at your own risk ;-) > ------------------------------------------------------------ David W. Baker INFOSEC Engineer firstname.lastname@example.com G023 - Secure Information Technology (703) 883-3658 The MITRE Corporation (703) 883-1397 FAX 1820 Dolley Madison Blvd, Mailstop W435 McLean, VA, 22102 ------------------------------------------------------------ "Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts... A graphic representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding..." - William Gibson, "Neuromancer" "640K ought to be enough for anybody." - Bill Gates, 1981 -------------------------------------------------------------


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Calif. blaze could signal difficult wildfire season
- The fire%2C which began Thursday amid a hot%2C dry spell%2C was 60%25 contained Sunday
- Full containment of the blaze is expected by late Monday
- The cause of the fire has not been determined
A fortuitous turn of weather Sunday aided the battle against a Southern California wildfire that has driven 2,000 people from their homes, but the severity of the spring blaze did not bode well for the region's coming wildfire season.
Cooler temperatures, damp air and occasional showers rolled in off the Pacific Ocean on Sunday, supporting firefighters pitted against the 44-square-mile blaze at the western end of the Santa Monica Mountains, Ventura County Fire Capt. Dan Horton said.
The so-called Springs Fire, which began Thursday amid a hot, dry spell, was 60% contained Sunday, and Horton said full containment is expected late Monday.
"All evacuations orders have been lifted," Horton said. "That's great news. We're mopping it up, taking care of hot spots, keeping an eye on everything."
The bad news, Horton said, is that a blaze like this one typically doesn't strike until deep into summer or fall, after the summer's dry heat has withered hillside vegetation.
"The hot, dry conditions we have seen are usually what we see in July," Horton said. "It does raise our level of concern. If this is any indication, we are definitely looking at a difficult fire season ahead."
The blaze is one of more than 680 wildfires in the state this year — about 200 more than average. The state has seen a severe drought during the past year, and the water content of California's snowpack is only 17% of normal.
"What we're experiencing across California, including in Ventura, is incredibly dry conditions," said state Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Daniel Berlant. "Fires are burning a lot faster and a lot more intensely than they would in a normal May."
The potential for more wildfires is only going to increase, he said.
"Unfortunately, as we move into the summer months, it's only going to get drier," he said.
In Ventura, Horton said six people suffered minor injuries, five of them firefighters. Fifteen homes were damaged, and 26 outbuildings were destroyed
He said nearly 2,000 fire personnel, 247 engines, 11 helicopters, six air tankers and other equipment had been called in to battle the fire that started Thursday about 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Those numbers will fall quickly as firefighters gain control, he said.
The cause of the fire has not been determined.


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Alan Meier is senior executive editor of Home Energy.
Editorial: Milk, Melons, and Smaller Refrigerators
One seemingly irreversible trend in American homes is the growing refrigerator. This is particularly puzzling because the average household size is shrinking. What do people put in there? We ... [continue reading]
Editorial: The Next Big Thing
I am sometimes asked what I believe will be the next new use of energy or the next big efficiency measure. I made a couple of lucky calls in ... [continue reading]
Cooking with Less Gas
Microwave ovens, when they're on, stack up well against traditional ovens. [continue reading]
Standby for Set-Top Boxes
Set-top boxes have the highest standby power consumption found in home appliances. Thanks to the upcoming change to digital TV formats,many consumers will be forced to either purchase ... [continue reading]
Editorial: That 3,000-Lb Gorilla in the Garage
With high gasoline prices, one's attention naturally turns to that thirsty, 3,000-lb gorilla in the garage: the car. But how does gasoline consumption compare to the energy ... [continue reading]
Editorial: Surprising Turnabout at Energy Star
For the first time, Energy Star is decertifying an entire category of product—the programmable thermostat—because it doesn't reliably save energy (see "Energy Star Changes Approach to Programmable Thermostats,&... [continue reading]
Editorial: My House of the Future?
Nothing frightens me more than those model "homes of the future." I recently visited one of them—the "ConnectedLife" home—at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. ... [continue reading]
Editorial: Getting the Price Right
Some people claim that most of our inefficient use of energy will disappear once we "get the price right"— that is, that the price reflects the true costs of supplying that energy.&... [continue reading]
March/April 2007 Editorial: Surprising Turnabout at Energy Star
Alan Meier
For the first time, Energy Star is decertifying an entire category of product—the programmable thermostat—because it doesn't reliably save energy (see "Energy Star Changes Approach to Programmable Thermostats," p. 10). Field studies in diverse climates demonstrated that homes with programmable thermostats used no less—and often more— energy than similar homes without the smart thermostats. As a result, the programmable thermostat will no longer receive the ... [continue reading]
September/October 2007 Editorial: The Rising Cost of Home Energy
Alan Meier
Yes, the price of a subscription to Home Energy is rising. Home Energy is published by a non-profit organization, but our costs are nevertheless inescapably climbing. You can mitigate the personal impact of the increase by committing yourself to a longer subscription. You will appreciate that because it means skipping the nuisance of renewing. We like those longer subscriptions too because we spend less money servicing the subscription and can devote more on the stuff ... [continue reading]
July/August 2007 Editorial: Getting the Price Right
Alan Meier
Some people claim that most of our inefficient use of energy will disappear once we "get the price right"— that is, that the price reflects the true costs of supplying that energy. I agree that the price is important, but even when the price is right, the system may still be broken. Here are a few examples. More than one-fourth of all refrigerators are purchased by people who will not pay for ... [continue reading]
November/December 2007 Editorial: Energy Efficiency Pioneers
Alan Meier
OK, there's a new energy-saving product on the market. It might even be the fruit of government-funded research. But it's expensive and available from only a few, small manufacturers (or perhaps just one manufacturer). The price would surely fall if economies of scale kick in. But investors don't understand the energy efficiency market and are reluctant to supply the needed capital. Nothing happens. The country—indeed the world&... [continue reading]
January/February 2008 Editorial: The Afterlife of a CFL
Alan Meier
The CFL is a poster child for energy efficiency but sometimes in ways that we might not want it to be. To be sure, the CFL has a wonderful record of constantly improving quality, applicability, and reliability all the while falling in price. After faithfully saving consumers electricity for 6,000 hours, the CFL eventually flickers out and must be thrown away. That's where the adventure begins. CFLs contain minute amounts of mercury, which qualifies ... [continue reading]
March/April 2008 Editorial: Reflections on the Consumer Electronics Show
Alan Meier
The 2008 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is already ancient history, and the 140,000 participants, TV cameras, and bloggers have returned home to quieter lives. But it's still worth reflecting on this most amazing assemblage of new products, trends, and controversies, all seen through the eyes of Home Energy. First, the name CES could sometimes have been taken to stand for Consumer Environment Show, Consumer Efficiency Show, and of course Consumer Energy Show. Being green is ... [continue reading]
May/June 2008 Editorial: Who Is Going to Build the Zero Energy Home?
Alan Meier
You could easily have overlooked a quiet change in recent statements by the world's leading climate change researchers. Everyone knew that the goals set forth in the Kyoto Protocol were baby steps on the road to achieving much greater reductions in carbon emissions. Even though only a few countries—and the United States is not among them—will achieve those goals, plans for even greater reductions are under way. Now most ... [continue reading]
July/August 2008 Editorial: Juneau Saves Electricity in a Hurry
Alan Meier
What do you do when the price of electricity suddenly jumps fivefold? This was the dilemma faced by the residents of Juneau, Alaska, when an avalanche suddenly cut the transmission line to their source of cheap hydropower. The answer is conserve, conserve, and (in case you weren't paying attention), conserve. In only a few weeks, Juneau's electricity consumption fell 30% (see Figure 1). This represents the largest and fastest regional reduction in electricity ... [continue reading]


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Review: Sigur Rós at Edgefield
If there's one thing that rings true, it's that Sigur Rós looked as if they could have been plucked straight out of a Stumptown coffee shop. The Icelandic ensemble, with their uniformly unkempt hair and five-o-clock shadow, just have that aesthetic. But, if they hailed from PDX and not Reykjavík, they'd arguably be one of the many local bands that you listen to once—and promptly forget.
If you were present at the McMenamins Edgefield amphitheater this past Thursday for the sold-out Sigur Rós show, and took the time to ask an adoring concertgoer what drew them there, they'd tell you it's the band's atmospheric sound and ethereal whisperings; or, possibly, its strategic use of crescendo and diminuendo to create layers of brooding, hypnotic-yet-ambient minimalist soundscapes. They certainly would not praise the witty and relatable lyricism, since the band mostly sings in Icelandic or a made-up language (See: gibberish/ Glossolalia) resembling humming. Essentially, Sigur Rós is a band that has made its reputation on glacial arrangements and vocals that are not much different than the cries of the nearby trembling two-year-old, who started whining and covering her ears when the reverb of lead singer Jónsi Birgisson's bowed guitar bled from stage.
As far as stage presence goes—what stage presence? Save for their keyboardist, who deftly switched back and forth between instruments and looked to be having a good time doing so, the rest of the band (and their six helper musicians) didn't venture outside a radial area much bigger than that of a hula-hoop. Not once did they acknowledge that there was a sold-out audience in front of them. No witty chitchat, no banter, nothing. If you want to see a band that actively engages the crowd in more than a close-your-eyes-pretend-you're-happy-and-falling-asleep-to-dream-of-ponies-and-peonies way, Sigur Rós is not the band for you. Or me. Or the 70-some people I counted sleeping. Maybe we're just spoiled by all the great music in Portland, but if I'm looking for a lushly orchestrated, cinematic band, I'll take Typhoon over Sigur Rós any day.
Admittedly, there was a moment when the sum-of-its-parts created something wholly different than the meanderingly cathartic vibe that the majority of the concert was predicated on. The encore song, Popplagið, reached a powerful, billowing, near thunderous level. But, too little, too late.
Of course, I realize there were many in the crowd experiencing something akin to transcendence. If you're one of them, let us know about it in the comments below.
Here's the set list if you're into that sort of thing.
Ekki Múkk
Olsen Olsen
Viðrar Vel Til Loftárása
Í Gær
Með Blóðnasir
Encore: Popplagið
For more about Portland arts, visit PoMo's Arts & Entertainment Calendar, stream content with an RSS feed, sign up for our weekly On The Town Newsletter, or follow us on Twitter @PoMoArt! Blog content reflects the views of the individual author and not necessarily SagaCity Media, Inc.