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On-line version ISSN 2071-0771
Print version ISSN 0075-6458
Koedoe vol.54 n.1 Pretoria Jan. 2012
Preliminary assessment of the impact of long-term fire treatments on in situ soil hydrology in the Kruger National Park
Edward S. RiddellI; Ahmed KhanI; Benjamin MauckI; Simphiwe NgcoboI; Jonathan PasiI; Andrew PicklesI; Jennifer PicklesI; Zinhle SitholeI; Simon A. LorentzI; Navashni GovenderII
ISchool of Agriculture, Earth and Environmental Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg campus, South Africa
IIScientific Services, South African National Parks, Kruger National Park, South Africa
There has been significant attention focused on the impacts of fire frequency and season of burn on ecological processes in the Kruger National Park (KNP). Whilst there has been some examination of these fire effects on soil properties, the explicit linkages of these effects to the hydrology of soils in burnt areas has remained a gap in our understanding. During August 2010, a field scoping campaign was undertaken to assess the impacts, if any, of long-term fire treatments on the hydrology of soils on the experimental burn plots (EBPs) in the KNP. Using various hydrometric and soil physical characterisation instruments soil, hydraulic conductivity and soil strength variations were determined across the extreme fire treatment on the EBPs, the annual August (high fire frequency) plots and the control (no burn) plots, on both the granite and basalt geologies of Pretoriuskop and Satara, respectively. It was found that there were soil hydrological and structural differences to fire treatments on the basalt burn plots, but that these were not as clear on the granite burn plots. In particular, hot, frequent fires appeared to reduce the variation in soil hydraulic conductivity on the annual burn plots on the basalts and led to reduced cohesive soil strength at the surface.
CONSERVATION IMPLICATIONS: The KNP burn plots are one of the longest running and well studied fire experiments on African savannahs. However, the impacts of fire management on hydrological processes in these water-limited ecosystems remains a gap in our understanding and needs to be considered within the context of climate and land-use changes in the savannah biome.
Savannahs are tropical grasslands with scattered trees; they occupy about 20% of the land surface of the Earth and 40% of Africa (Scholes & Hall 1996). These ecosystems are dynamic in their structure, composition and function. Fire is an important driver in savannah ecosystems, where it acts as both a generalist herbivore (Bond & Keeley 2005) and as a facilitator of the coexistence of trees and grasses (Higgins, Bond & Trollope 2000). The spatio-temporal availability of water is also considered a key driver of savannah heterogeneity (Walter 1971). Studies of catchment hydrological processes response to natural and induced fires have received the greatest attention in various land-systems within Australia (e.g. Brown 1972; Townsend & Douglas 2000). Studies elsewhere include mountain catchments under exotic forestry (Scott 1997) and fynbos (Lindley, Bosch & Van Wyk 1988) in South Africa; however, few studies have examined explicitly pyrohydrological interactions and the role of various burning regimes within African savannahs (Scholes & Walker 1993).
Fire has long been used in the management of savannahs and this management has been informed and adapted by the findings of ongoing research on experimental sites of selected fire regimes on fixed areas (Andersen, Cook & Williams 2003; Knapp et al. 1998). The long-term fire experiment in the Kruger National Park (KNP) was established in 1954, with the initial objectives being to study the effects of fire frequency and season on the vegetation of the KNP under indigenous grazing pressure (Van der Schijff 1958). The experimental burn plots (EBPs) were laid out in four of the 37 main vegetation landscapes of the KNP described by Gertenbach (1983): the Pretoriuskop sourveld vegetation, Skukuza Combretrum vegetation, Satara Knobthorn and Marula vegetation and Mopani Mopane vegetation.
Whilst there has been some examination of fire effects on in situ soil properties, the explicit linkages of these to the hydrological parameters of soils in burnt areas has remained a knowledge gap (Pierson et al. 2011). To date, a variety of soil hydrological responses have been described; for instance, frequent burning reduced the rate of infiltration of rainwater into soil as noted in the Drakensberg (Bijker et al. 2001). This is caused by crusting of the soil, thereby yielding lower electrical conductivity as a result of the removal of ash via increased surface water runoff and increasing soil erosion and as shown particularly for the granite EBPs in the KNP (Mills & Fey 2004). Webber (1979) showed that the unburnt control EBPs near Skukuza retained greater moisture levels well into the dry season and, where burning occurred on duplex soils, this made them susceptible to erosion.
In light of these previous findings, the objectives of this study therefore were to determine the impacts, if any, of long-term high fire frequency and intensity treatments versus fire exclusion on in situ soil hydrological characteristics in the KNP. Moreover, this included an assessment of the effects of potential fire impacts on soil hydrology in the two distinct geologies of the KNP: the granites and basalts.
Research method and design
The August 2010 field campaign focused on describing various in situ soil hydraulic and strength characteristics on these plots on the two extreme fire treatments, within an EBP string, on the two dominant geologies in the KNP, namely the granites at Pretoriuskop (Lowveld Sour Bushveld, sandy soils with mean annual precipitation [MAP] of 737 mm) and basalts at Satara (Acacia nigrescens savannah, clay soils with MAP of 537 mm) (Biggs et al. 2003). An EBP string is located generally along the crests of the hillslope and consists of twelve to fourteen 7 ha plots bounded by fire breaks to prevent natural and accidental fires from entering them. The fire treatments include winter August (dry season, hot), October (first spring rains), December (early summer wet season), February (late summer) and April (autumn) with annual, biennial and triennial treatments.
Because one string at both sites was deemed unrepresentative of the broader landscapes (Venter & Govender 2012), only three of the four strings at these sites were assessed, as shown in Figure 1.
A semi-systematic approach was taken in order to dismiss the inherent variability associated with the different soil morphologies linked to subtle changes in topography. Predetermined areas were selected according to diagnostic soil form characteristics, identified by a soil scientist (Le Roux pers. comm., 06 March 2010), which resulted in attention to sites characteristic of the Shortlands and Huttons soil forms (Soil Classification Working Group 1991) which were identified as being dominant on the basalt and granite plots, respectively. The reader is referred to Venter and Govender (2012) for detailed descriptions of the soil morphologies on the EBPs. Hydrological measurements and soil characterisations were then taken randomly within these areas.
A variety of techniques were used to determine the soils' hydraulic conductivity within 30 cm of the soil surface. These included:
- Double-ring infiltrometers, to determine saturated soil conductivities (Ksa) at the soil surface, according to the method of Lorentz et al. (2003).
- Guelph permeameters, to determine Ksat within the subsurface at 5 cm, 15 cm and 30 cm depths (Eijkelkamp Agrisearch Equipment 2008).
- Tension disc infiltrometers, to determine unsaturated soil conductivities (Kunsat at the soil surface, according to the method of Lorentz et al. (2003).
Two replicates of each of the above techniques were made at each EBP treatment per landscape and results are discussed simply based on visual interrogation of the data. Sampling sites were selected in a semi-random manner by first identifying areas a minimum of 10 m from large trees and 15 m from the fire breaks and then randomly placing instruments on bare ground. The unconfined cohesive soil strength on the EBPs was assessed using the following equipment:
- a dynamic cone penetrometer (Herrick & Jones 2002), consisting of a 1 cm diameter rod, conical extremity of 90° and a 2 kg weight dropped from a height of 100 cm
- a pocket penetrometer (Eijkelkamp Agrisearch Equipment 2009)
- a pocket vane tester (Eijkelkamp Agrisearch Equipment 2011).
These assessments were performed within a 5 m radius of the hydrology measurements and typically 10 readings were taken at each of the EBPs randomly within the immediate vicinity of the soil hydrology measurements. The resulting data was then subject to non-parametric statistical analysis using the Mann-Whitney U/-test for unmatched samples using the STATEXT v. 1.4 software (2011).
The Ksat values determined at the soil surface of the granite EBPs clearly illustrate higher variation across all the plots and between fire treatments (Figure 2). Unfortunately, no measurements were taken on the Numbi control plot; however, it was noted that, for both replicates, the Shabeni control plots had significantly greater Ksat values than the annual burn plots. At Kambeni, the annual and control plots had similar Ksat values, although in both replicates the values were slightly lower for the control. The Ksat values for the basalt EBPs had generally lower variation than the granite EBPs (Figure 3). With the exception of Marheya Replicate 1 (0.015 cm/s-1 beyond the axis range), there appeared to be no distinct difference in the K between annual or control sat treatments on the basalt EBPs.
The results of Ksat tests at depths between 5 cm and 30 cm (as depicted in Figure 2 and Figure 3) revealed that soils on the granite EBPs have, on average, a greater hydraulic conductivity on the annual frequent burn plots than the control plots; this was most noticeable at Kambeni and Shabeni. There was also a switch in the trend of Ksat where sat annual burn plots had lower Ksat at the soil surface than the control plots, a trend which reversed at depth. Interestingly, it appeared that there was less variation in Ksat at 5 cm within the control treatments on the granite EBPs. The Ksat distribution of the basalt EBPs, meanwhile, was an order of magnitude lower than the granite EBPs; however, there was no distinct difference in Ksat between annual and control treatments in the soil sub-surface.
Figure 4 shows the Kunsat values of the granite EBPs soil surface, where, on average, the annual burn plots tended to have greater K unsat than the controls. Also, there was a distinctly ï J greater Kunsat on the annual burn plots at the lowest soil moisture tensions close to saturation (0.5 cm). The opposite trend of the annual EBPs having a lower Kunsat on average than the controls was demonstrated on the basalt EBPs (Figure 5). The outliers to the above trend on the basalt EBPs were the Marheya string and, with the exception of the Satara annual plot replicate, the controls had greater variation in Kunsat than the annual burn plots.
Drop cone penetrometer tests for granite EBPs revealed that the first approximate 150 J was the threshold for maximum depth penetration across annual and control plots; thereafter, there was a steady increase in depth at each energy increment (Figure 6). The greatest variations in soil strength properties were noted for control plots compared to annual burn plots on the soil of the granite EBPs. Whilst with the basalt EBPs (Figure 7), it was the annual plots which again had distinctly less variation in soil strength compared to the control plots. An interesting aspect depicted in Figure 7 was the slightly lower threshold in energy over depth, which was reached at about 130 J before further energy resulted in less depth penetration.
Table 1 presents the statistical results of the raw drop cone penetrometer data at two energy levels (2 kg ÷ 2 kg weight drops, or 34 J/cm-2 and 10 kg ÷ 2 kg weight drops, or 307 J/cm-2). There was no significant difference in the cohesive soil strength between control and annual burn plots on the granite EBPs; however, the basalt EBPs showed a significantly greater mean depth of penetration at both energy levels on the annual burn plots. The pocket penetrometer data supported this with no significant difference on the granite EBPs, but there was a statistical difference on the basalt EBPs. No significant difference was observed within the soil shear strength between annual and control treatments on both geological settings.
The data presented in these results are based on human measurements and thus aspects pertaining to the trustworthiness of the collected data need to be considered in the following contexts.
Repeatability of acquiring the same results of both the Kunsat and Ksat measurements is achieved from standard in situ hydrological measurements. However, replication of the results would require the placing of the instruments at precisely the same locations, otherwise inherent heterogeneities in the soil matrix would yield different results. A potential observer bias arises when determining whether Kunsat , and Ksat , is reached at a steady-state infiltration unsat sat J rate. To ensure that this bias inherently did not affect the collected data, we followed the convention of 10 equal time intervals per volume of water infiltrated interval (for further details consult Lorentz et al. 2003).
The same principle applies for soil strength characteristics determined via the drop cone penetrometer method, where consistency of measurements is achieved by the dropping of a known weight from a standard height on the penetrometer device. However, reliability of the data may be questioned should the penetrometer not be held vertically above the soil. Care was taken during this study to ensure that each measurement was taken with a vertical deployment of the penetrometer device. Similarly, this principle also applies to the pocket penetrometer and pocket vane tester. However, we did observe a potential effect of pressure applied to the soil surface and angle of contact by these devices, meaning that each operator has the potential to influence the outcome of the measurement. To minimise this risk, the same operator conducted these measurements during this study.
The validity of the reported measurements was believed by the authors to be appropriate to achieving the objectives of this scoping exercise within these specific study areas. Nevertheless, significantly greater replication of these measurements should be performed in future to quantify the variability of results from significant soil surface spatial heterogeneities on the EBPs and to answer comprehensively those causal mechanisms postulated in the following discussion.
These measurements reveal interesting differences across the soils associated with the two geologies of granite and basalt in relation to long-term fire and no fire treatments. In the absence of greater spatial and temporal replication, the interpretation at this stage is speculative, but sets the scene for future data collection and analysis. Nevertheless, key aspects and questions from these initial interpretations and assessments should be explored further.
As expected, and as a result of their finer texture soils, the basalt EBPs have a Kat distribution of an order of magnitude lower than the granite EBPs. Meanwhile, there is generally greater Kunsat at the surface on the granite EBPs annual burn plots versus the control plots, than compared to the similarity observed within the basalt annual burn and control plots.
Furthermore, the Ksat at the surface is distinctly higher than at depth on the annual burn plots of the granite EBPs. These effects seen on the granite EBPs could be attributed to the loss of organic residues at the soil surface caused by longterm fire treatments, which would explain these higher Kscu and K values of the annual plots. As demonstrated by Fynn, Haynes and O'Connor (2003), organic carbon was significantly reduced within the first 2 cm of the soil profile under repeated grassland dry annual and biennial winter fire treatments at Ukalinga in KwaZulu-Natal. Similar results were described by Mills and Fey (2004) on the granite EBPs at Numbi, but also the Napi plots in the Skukuza EBP strings. Recently, soil carbon was also shown to be lower on dry annual burn plots than the controls in the Mopani EBPs on basalt (Holdo, Mack & Arnold 2011). Whilst the N'wanetsi string, also on basalt and following 30 years of fire treatment, showed a quarter lower organic carbon content in the control than on the annual, biennial and triennial burn plots (Jones et al. 1990).
The observed switch in K trends between the surface sat and deeper layers, as noted on the granite EBPs, is also a point of interest. The differences noted at depths below the surface, such as Ksat and the soil strength, could simply be a result of inherent site differences such as soil morphological characteristics associated with different slope angles and position of measurements in the landscape; this is highly likely in the undulating landscape of Pretoriuskop. This points to the need for greater replication and spatial coverage in future studies of this type to isolate for such heterogeneous influences in the analysis. However, it is feasible that the lower Ksat on the annual plots on the granite EBPs soil surface may result from changes in the soils sorptivity resulting from ash deposition, the effects of which can be markedly variable depending on the texture of the soil (see e.g. Moody, Kinner & Úbeda 2009). This also points to the need in future to examine explicitly soil sorptivity characteristics resulting from fire.
However, the basalt EBPs show a smaller variation in Ksat and Kunsat on the annual treatments than the control plots, which may result from the development of a relatively homogenous soil layer structure on the more frequently burnt plots. This could be caused by a loss of organic matter and downward illuviation of finer material and ash deposits. The basis for this theory arises from two aspects. Firstly, the influence and importance of organic matter content on soil sheer strength is further demonstrated by Ekwue (1990), who showed that soil shear strength increased as a result of grass derived organic matter content. Therefore, the annually burnt basalt plots of the KNP have reduced soil strength as a result of a loss of organic carbon caused by frequent grassland vegetation fires at the site. This will make the soils on burnt areas within basalt both susceptible to erosion and have reduced soil moisture retention properties. The above results of deeper soil penetration per unit energy on the annual basalt plots described in this communication would support this hypothesis. Secondly, DeBano (2000) discusses the role of fires in facilitating the development of a water repellent layer in the soil subsurface. The frequent annual burning on the basalt EBPs could lead to the formation of a water repellent layer below the surface, rather than as a crust at the surface as suggested by Mills and Fey (2004). The small variation in Ksat at 5 cm on the basalt annual burn plots compared to the control plots is supportive of this theory, but warrants more detailed assessment, replication and analysis.
Seemingly, the same effects could also have occurred on the coarser soils of the granite EBPs. Whilst these may not be apparent within the limited analysis described here, the intricacies of different fire severities associated with soils of different textures on changes in aggregate stability warrants further determination (for a review see Mataix-Solera et al. 2011). Moreover, both granite and basalt EBPs showed high compaction beyond 5 cm soil depth in the penetrometer analysis and a concomitant similarity in Kat between annual burn and control treatments beyond 5 cm. This suggests that fire effects on soil hydrology may be most significant within the first 5 cm of soil and should also be investigated further by analysis using parameters such as soil bulk density and rooting density, especially to complement further penetrometer data.
Results from this preliminary assessment of the impact of long-term fire treatments on in situ soil hydrology indicate that frequent hot fires lead to structural homogenisation of the soil surface particularly on basalt soils. Interpretation of this dataset requires cognisance of other recent findings on the effects of fire frequency and season on the KNP landscape. The reduction in woody vegetation cover as a result of frequent burning (Smit et al. 2010) and increase in small tree dominance under frequent burning (Higgins et al. 2007) are bound to have an effect on soil structure, as suggested by the scale dependent controls on biogeochemical processes resulting from tree canopy size (Holdo et al. 2011). Results will need to be discussed in this light. Whilst most interpretations and explanations have focused on the vegetation (both woody and grass) feedbacks on soil hydrological properties through a fire driven system, changes in herbivore utilisation and density (e.g. Burns et al. in review) and resultant trampling and nutrient deposition as a result of fire treatments also need to be considered.
This study indicated interesting geologically specific feedbacks between fire and soil hydrology. These need to be more thoroughly determined in order to quantify the impacts of soil crusting and water repellency resulting from fire on plant available water in the savannah landscape. The EBP experiment provides a valuable opportunity to explore the role of fire management policies on soil hydrological properties at point and plot scales, with the added benefit that the experiment allows for the inter-comparison between geological settings. The results presented here have suggested that the effects of fire management on soil hydrology become more apparent on the finer texture basalt soils than the coarser granites. However, future studies of this nature should be based on a more comprehensive, replicated and multifactorial analysis. These should focus on quantifying the variation of pyro-hydrological interaction both between geologies, but also the nuances that may be associated with fire frequency and intensity of burn within geologies, as well as an explicit assessment of the influence of slope and landscape position, amongst other aspects.
The authors acknowledge the contributions from the following people: Dr Pieter Le Roux (University of the Free State) for assisting with site selection based on soil diagnostics, Renson Thethe and Thomas Rikombe (both South African National Parks) for protection whilst in the field and Johannes Hachmann (Vrije Universiteit, the Netherlands) for providing additional assistance during the field campaign. The authors are also grateful for the useful comments provided by two anonymous referees.
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationship(s) which may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this paper.
Authors' contributions
E.S.R. (University of KwaZulu-Natal) was responsible for the methodological design, data collection and analyses used in this study. He was also responsible for analysing the results and compiling the manuscript. A.K. (University of KwaZulu-Natal), B.M. (University of KwaZulu-Natal), S.N. (University of KwaZulu-Natal), J.P. (University of KwaZulu-Natal), A.P. (University of KwaZulu-Natal), J.P. (University of KwaZulu-Natal) and Z.S. (University of KwaZulu-Natal) were responsible for data collection and analysis. S.A.L. (University of KwaZulu-Natal) contributed to the methodological design and was also responsible for data collection. N.G. (South African National Parks) provided the team with background information on the EBPs, logistical support during the campaign and made valuable contributing comments to the manuscript.
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Correspondence to:
Edward Riddell
Private Bag X01, Scottsville 3209, South Africa
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Received: 23 Dec. 2011
Accepted: 08 May 2012
Published: 27 July 2012
© 2012. The Authors. Licensee: AOSIS OpenJournals. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.


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Parallella Build Progress
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Great news! The Parallella boards are starting to roll off the production line. So far we have 300 boards built up with more boards being built... Read more
The Build Starts This Week...
Dear Friends and Backers:
Since closing our funding round at the end of December we have been fighting major lead time battles. As many of you know distributors these days... Read more
Parallella Shipment Update
Dear Friends and backers,
Now that everything is finally on the table, we can provide a more complete summary of where the Parallella board production pipeline stands.
But first, we... Read more
"The Announcement"
Dear Friends and Backers,
It took much longer than expected, but we can finally disclose more details about "the announcement" that we mentioned back in mid November. The really great... Read more
First Parallella User Created Video
We thought you might like to get external validation that the Parallella actually works so here you go..
One of the most active Parallella forum members "@shodruky" received a... Read more
First Shipment Status
Since last Wednesday we have been busy ramping up our production test flow and validating all the features on the Gen1 Parallella board. We are very pleased to announce that... Read more
Today was a good day...
The initial batch of the "hopefully final" Parallella boards came back to today and they work great! No smoke on power-up, everything that worked on the Gen1 board still works,... Read more
The Parallella is feeling blue..
The fabs are back and as you can see we have made a late change to the look of the Parallella board. It's now blue! Interestingly enough I don't think... Read more
Finally a breakthrough!
Dear Friends and Backers,
My sincere apologies for disappearing off the face of the earth for the better part of a month! Due to very unfortunate circumstances that materialized in... Read more
Shipment Delays
Dear Friends and Backers:
Not sure where to start… The last couple of months have been a disaster and I am disappointed to report that we are still weeks away... Read more
Parallella HDMI now works! Thanks Antmicro!
The Parallella project just took a huge step forward thanks to the incredible debugging efforts of our new best friends from Antmicro over in Europe.
As noted back in the... Read more
A Much Overdue Parallella Hardware Update
First of all, we apologize for the long interval between Kickstarter updates. We do post news and updates almost daily on Parallella Community Forum, Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and Github... Read more
Shipping Parallella to early Kickstarter backers!
Last week we put together the first large scale Parallella cluster. The system consisted of 42 Parallella boards (for a total of 756 CPUs), with the total power consumption coming... Read more
Parallella: An Open Source Hardware Project
We are proud to say that we have now published all the hardware sources for the first version of the Parallella board on Github, making the Parallella a proper open... Read more
Progress report and shipping update
We are happy to announce that we can finally offer updated delivery schedules with some confidence. We wish we could have done it earlier, but there was simply too... Read more
Parallella now runs Ubuntu!
Great news, the Parallella is now a real computer!! The gigabit ethernet port is working and the full Ubuntu desktop version is up and running! The full story is posted... Read more
Parallella runs Linux!
We are making progress! This picture shows bare-bone Linux up and running on the Parallella board. To get this far we actually need a lot of things to work, including:... Read more
The first Parallella boards have arrived!!
Finally, after many months of non-stop (but fun) work we were able to hold actual Parallella boards in our hands!
So far so good! A recollection of... Read more
Continuing the drive towards an open Parallella platform
While you are waiting for news about the Parallella board power-up, you might want to check out these latest developments.
A Parallella Platform Reference Design: A how-to guide for building... Read more
Parallella design files shipped to manufacturer!
It took longer than expected, but the first revision of the Parallella board has been sent off to the manufacturer and we will have the first 10 Parallella boards built... Read more
Epiphany drivers released as open source
We are pleased to announce that we have now published the driver and library sources for the Epiphany SDK to go with the GNU tool chain that Embecosm published previously.... Read more
Parallella Reference Manual
Now that the Parallella board design is finally stabilizing we can release rev-zero of the Parallella Reference Manual. Here is the blog post describing the document release. In the same... Read more
A First Look at the Parallella Board
The screen shot above shows the latest Parallella board placement (after three major redesigns) and we are now within striking distance of meeting the aggressive project design and cost constraints... Read more
First Parallella prototypes shipped!
Today we reached another Parallella milestone in shipping the first prototype boards to backers! These prototypes obviously aren't the final form factor boards, but they represent a major system integration... Read more
Parallella Forum, SDK, Boards, and More
Progress is definitely speeding up for the Parallella project, but as always time is the enemy...Here are some of the things we have been done in the last... Read more
Progress Report
The last few weeks have been VERY busy. We are pushing forward in parallel on many fronts and making good progress.
The builds for the $10k and $2.5k backer... Read more
First Post Funding Update
What a finish! We're still recovering…As memorable as that was, let's NOT do THAT again! If we ever do this again, we will show up with "the whole package" from... Read more
Making the case for Parallella
There was a fantastic backer request to get a case add-on for the Parallella board. Thinking about the Raspberry Pi and Arduino efforts we realized we had missed the fact... Read more
The Adapteva Story
Our favorite blogger and bit-banger Clive "Max the Magnificent" Maxfield has written up another really positive article at EETimes. Thanks Max!
Here's another article he did a couple of... Read more
More rewards and final push
New Rewards
Some reward tweaks were requested, so here they are:
1.) We lowered the pledge level for getting access to a prototype Parallella board and engineering support to $2,500.... Read more
New Rewards and Add-Ons
64-core version of the Parallella board now offered!
The Epiphany-IV (64+2) core Parallella board will be offered for pledges above $750. We really wish we could offer it cheaper!... Read more
We REALLY need your help in spreading the word!
We really wish we could have been this ready from day one of the Kickstarter, but we couldn't wait with the launch. Time has been our enemy from day one... Read more
New "SuperTV" video is NOW up at our Kickstarter page
Here's a summary of what can be seen in the new video:
- Running a proper Ubuntu 12.04 desktop O/S on the dual core ARM A9 Zynq device
- Kinect sensor connected... Read more
Parallella "relaunch" at 6pm today on Kickstarter!
We will be doing a soft relaunch of the project video to show what our Parallella computer could do for non-programmers at 6pm today! If you like it, tell EVERYONE... Read more
Testimonials from partners & students that worked with Epiphany
Here are some video testimonials and white papers from partners and students who have worked with the Epiphany for a long time(some of them for years). We think the fact... Read more
SDR and Cognitive Radio on Parallella
This update is for all of our Software Defined Radio backers. We put together a quick white paper together with a researcher at the Swedish Defense Research Agency showing how... Read more
The Parallella Uncovered and Other Updates
In our careers,we have found that some engineers get very quiet when they don't work others get quiet when the do. We would like to think that we belong to... Read more
More evidence that the Epiphany multicore processor is a proper CPU
We are running about a day behind schedule in regards to updates this week, but things are moving forward quickly with the Parallella hardware platform.
We have now documented two... Read more
Update Schedule This Week
You may have noticed that the Parallella campaign is saturating. Still, we haven't given up yet and we hope you haven't either!
Here's our plan for this week:
Tuesday: Publish... Read more
Face Detection using the Epiphany Multicore Processor
We are getting very close to being able to show off the real time demo videos that everyone wants to see..but we are not there yet. It would be a... Read more
Parallella Survey Results
So far we have 894 survey results and they are interesting enough that we wanted to share them with everyone. Sorry if we couldn't record everyone's "other input in this... Read more
The Parallella Roadmap
As Moore's Law slows down, silicon real estate efficiency will become a dominant concern and the most efficient architecture will always win in applications that put a premium on cost... Read more
Demos, white papers, and example projects
There have been a lot of requests for demos and examples (and rightfully so!). Here's a taste! There will be more demos published in the coming week. Clearly one of... Read more
New Cluster Rewards
We have added two more major rewards that will be part of our plan to help out with parallel programming education. We are working with our academic partners and hope... Read more
Epiphany Documentation Release
We promised that we would released our documents if we reached $500,000 by today. We are not going to reach our goal..but we are still going to release the documents... Read more
64-Core Reward
The 64-core reward has been added as a selection. Note that the 64-core version at $199 is only possible if we reach our stretch goal of $3M. If we don't,... Read more
New $199 Parallella Pair Reward!
There have been lots of requests for a $199 reward, so here it is! The new reward, which includes a pair of Parallella boards can be chosen by anyone who... Read more
Thank you!!
Thank you everyone for giving us hope! We still have a long way to go but having 1000 people believe in us and a parallel future means we have a... Read more

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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* All vehicle images and car descriptions on this site are for illustration and reference purposes only and are not necessarily an accurate representation of the vehicle on offer.
E: firstname.lastname@example.com
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TMC Vehicle Solutions are a trading name under Transport Management Contracts Limited and are a credit broker and not a lender, we are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered No : 654403
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Registered Office : Deb House 19 Middlewood Way, Wharncliffe Business Park, Carlton, Barnsley, S71 3HR
Copyright © 2019 TMC Vehicle Solutions , All rights reserved.


text:
by Peter Del Tredici
The amazingly warm fall and winter we've been experiencing in southern New England this year has provided welcome relief to people who prefer more mild conditions at this time of year. By analogy, the same can be said for a group of weedy plants known as winter annuals. The seeds of these herbs typically germinate in early fall and the seedlings grow slowly throughout the autumn and winter, whenever temperatures are above freezing. Winter annuals flower in early spring, as the days are getting longer, and they die by the end of the spring, leaving behind a crop of seeds that is proportional to the size they have attained.
Most of the winter annuals common in the northeast come from Europe, and their numbers across the urban landscape seem to be increasing as our winters get warmer and our springs arrive earlier. To wit, mild fall weather lasts longer than it did in the past, which gives these plants more time to accumulate carbohydrate reserves; and at the other end of their life cycle, the earlier arrival of warm weather in spring allows the plants to start growing earlier and to grow for a longer time before flowering. Winter annuals occur most abundantly on disturbed, rich soil like that of the typical vegetable garden, and common examples include: yellow rocket (Barbarea vulgaris), shepherd's purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris), hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta), Virginia pepperweed (Lepedium virginicum), chickweed (Stellaria media), knawel (Scleranthus annuus), groundsel (Senecio vulgaris), and red sandspurry (Spergularia rubra).
This same pattern of opportunistic growth also holds true for many biennial species that complete their life cycle over two growing seasons, beginning with seed germination in spring or early summer. For these plants, the protracted fall and mild winter provides the evergreen rosettes a longer period to develop, resulting in a bigger, more prolifically seeding plant in late spring or summer. Typical examples of biennials include burdock (Arctium minus), celandine (Chelidonium majus), mullein (Verbascum thapsus), bull thistle (Cirsium vulgare), and garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata).
Taken together, these plants illustrate how changes in the weather can favor those species with the capacity and flexibility to respond to the opportunities presented by our rapidly changing climate. Indeed, the weeds are well positioned to inherit the earth.


text:
NZ Retail sites attract heavy bidding
Property Here - Saturday, March 16, 2013
Strong competition for retail investment property was a feature of Bayleys Real Estate's first commercial and industrial portfolio auction of the year.
Three of the seven properties that sold at a Greater Auckland auction were at yields of 5.9 per cent to 6 per cent, with three others selling at yields of 7.6 per cent or less.
"The market has picked up where it left off in 2012, with the demand for well-located retail property significantly outstripping a limited supply of offerings for sale," says Chris Bayley, Bayleys' national director commercial and industrial.
The highest price was for a 340sq m single-level retail building on a 377sq m site at 2-6 Todd Plaza, in central New Lynn, which sold before auction for $1,250,000 at a 6 per cent yield through John Jefferson of Bayleys Auckland and Tony Chaudhary of Bayleys Manukau.
The premises are occupied by a mini mart, the Mekong Neua Thai restaurant and long-established West Auckland real estate agency Glovers.
Todd Plaza is a cul-de-sac linked to main arterials Great North Rd and Totara Ave and is in a location fast becoming the heart of New Lynn with the Merchant Quarter development transforming the area, says Jefferson.
The property drew many offers before auction and was bought by a development company, he says.
"A combination of short-term leases, the potential to go up a floor and proximity to the Lynn Mall shopping centre meant the buyer was prepared to pay a premium to secure the property, although the rentals are somewhat below market."
Two other properties sold for over $1 million. A 297sq m retail outlet in the recently developed Merton East Convenience Centre in St Johns attracted strong competition before selling for $1,130,000 at a 6.9 per cent yield through James Chan of Bayleys Auckland. It has a nine-year lease to V's Vege Shop from November 2012, with three-yearly stepped rental increases until 2021.
Reinforcing that there is still demand for older, character buildings, the most heavily bid property of the day was a 342sq m recently refurbished masonry building, on a 101sq m site at 166 Karangahape Rd in central Auckland. It attracted 26 bids before selling for $1,050,000 at a 7.6 per cent yield through Nicolas Ching and Quinn Ngo, Bayleys Auckland.
An Esquires coffee outlet is the anchor street-level tenant with an internet cafe occupying the upper floors. They are on 10- and five-year leases respectively from mid 2010.
The lowest yield was achieved on a 50sq m cafe trading as L'Espresso Cafe in the Eden Quarter shops in Dominion Rd which sold under the hammer for $560,000 at a 5.9 per cent yield, on its current net annual rental income of $33,287, through Tony Chaudhary and Janak Darji of Bayleys Manukau and Nicolas Ching of Bayleys Auckland.
Chaudhary says the tenant has occupied the site for more than 12 years and before the auction signed a new five-year lease from November, 2013 at an increased rental of $39,000 per annum.
In Otahuhu a two-level landmark building that was childhood home of former Prime Minister David Lange on a 976sq m high-profile corner site sold before auction for $653,000 at 7.2 per cent yield through Mark and Rachael Pittaway of Bayleys Auckland and Tony Chaudhary of Bayleys Manukau.
The property, at 2 Piki Thomson Way, was built for David Lange's father, Roy, who also ran his medical practice from the home. It was converted to commercial use after the Langes sold it and the current tenant, Moneyshop Group, has been in occupation for over 20 years with its current lease expiring in March 2016.
A 680sq m food-grade industrial unit 53A Greenmount Drive, East Tamaki sold for $700,000 through James Hill, James Valintine, Bayleys Auckland soon after auction at a 9 per cent yield. It has a three-year lease, with a three-month break clause.
A 74sq m office unit on the third level of a renovated character building at 130-138 St Georges Bay Road, Parnell, with one basement car park on a separate unit title, sold for $250,000 at a 6 per cent yield through Rachael and Mark Pittaway, Bayleys Auckland.
It has a two-year lease to Stormwater Solutions Consulting, which expires in August this year.
Bayleys is now sourcing properties for its next Greater Auckland portfolio, which will be released to the market on April 12.


text:
Wotofo Warrior 25mm RDA | Wotofo RDA
The Wotofo Warrior RDA, designed by JMT Elite together with Wotofo! JMT Elite is a team of coil builders, as in handcrafting coils, that are a group of influential authorities in the builder scene. With their expertise in coils, you bet this 25mm dual coil RDA is the most coil-friendly RDA incorporated with the profound wisdom of coiling. The Warrior RDA features a domed top cap which has a great deal of structural strength and functions to compress air as to enhance flavor. The top cap is removable with a sealing O-ring secured around. As always, such removable top cap can serve as the airflow controller to adjust the air inflow.
RDA Features:
- Made in Collaboration with JMT Elite
- 25mm Diameter
- Deep Juice Well
- Superior Stainless Steel Construction
- Domed Top Cap Design - Flavor Enhancement
- Spacious Build Deck
- Clamp-Style Two-Post Design
- Top Secured via Phillips Screws
- Single or Dual Coil Configuration
- PEEK Insulator - Made in Germany
- Dual Multi-Hole Beehive Style Airflow - Fully Adjustable
- 810 Resin Widebore Drip Tip
- 810 Delrin Widebore Drip Tip
- 510 Drip Tip Adapter
- Gold-Plated Squonk BF 510 Pin
- Gold-Plated 510 Connection
Package Contents:
- 1x Warrior RDA
- 1x Spare 810 Drip Tip
- 1x 510 Drip Tip Adapter
- 1x Single Coil Block
- 1x Bag of Prebuilt Coils
- 1x Set of Agletted Japanese Cotton
- 1x Spare Parts Bag
- 1x Instructional Manual
Our policy is 14 days. Unfortunately, we CAN NOT offer you a refund or exchange if 14 days have gone by since you received your item.
To be eligible for a return, your item must be unused and in the same condition that you received it avid with the original packaging.
Several types of goods are exempt from being returned if they have been opened. We do not accept e-juice, tanks, atomizers, or drip tips, due to the nature of the product.
To complete your return, we require your proof of purchase.
Please do not send your purchase back to the manufacturer.
There are certain situations where only partial refunds are granted (if applicable)
Any item not in its original condition; is damaged or missing parts for reasons not due to our error.
If an item is granted a returned after 14 days.
To return your product, you should mail your product to:
333 Arthur Godfrey Rd #806 Miami Beach Florida US 33140.
You will be responsible for paying for your own shipping costs for returning your item. Shipping costs are non-refundable. If you receive a refund, the cost of return shipping will be deducted from your refund.
Depending on where you live, the time it may take for your exchanged product to reach you, may vary.
If you are shipping an item over $75, you should consider using a trackable shipping service or purchasing shipping insurance. As there is always room for error, we don't guarantee that we will receive your returned item.
Refunds (if applicable)
Once your return is received and inspected, we will send you an email to notify you that we have received your returned item. We will also notify you of the approval or rejection of your refund.
If you are approved, then your refund will be processed, and a credit will automatically be applied to your credit card or original method of payment. Refunds or credits may take to 5 business to reflect on your account.
Late or Missing Refunds (if applicable)
If after 5 business days a refund is not posted, contact your credit card company and bank to VERIFY if the refund was issued and just been posted.
If you've done all of this and you still have not received your refund yet, please contact us at email@example.com.
Lost or Stolen Packages
Fuggin Vapor Co is not held responsible for ANY lost or stolen packages. We understand how frustrating it can be to not receive your order. Once your product has shipped, we have NO control over the carrier to ensure you receive your package. Please contact the carrier that was used to ship your order to file a clam
If you need assistance on filing a claim, please contact us at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Sale Items (if applicable)
Only regular priced items may be refunded. Unfortunately, sale items cannot be refunded.
Exchanges (if applicable)
We only replace items if they are defective or damaged. If you need to exchange it for the same item, send us an email at email@example.com and send your item to: 333 Arthur Godfrey Rd #806 Miami Beach Florida US 33140.
If the item was marked as a gift when purchased and shipped directly to you, you'll receive a gift credit for the value of your return. Once the returned item is received, a gift certificate will be mailed to you.
If the item wasn't marked as a gift when purchased, or the gift giver had the order shipped to themselves to give to you later, we will send a refund to the gift giver and he will find out about your return.
We usually process and ship orders within 1 to 3 business days from Miami Beach, Florida. Depending on stock and availability, processing times may vary. We do not ship on weekends and U.S. federal holidays. Orders are shipped via USPS or FedEx 1 day priority. If you order more than one item, they may come in more than one package.
It is the customers responsibility to make sure the address information provided is accurate, including city, state and zip code to prevent any error or delays in shipping. Customers shipping address cannot be changed once the order has been shipped out. It is the customers responsibility to review their shipping information before order submission. Failure to provide accurate shipping information may result in a delay and additional shipping costs. Shipping to APO/FPO/DPO addresses may take up to 45 business days for delivery via USPS policy.
Free shipping is offered on all orders of $100 or more (excluding taxes and shipping) and applies to standard domestic shipping only.
Canadian customers' orders may take up to 30 business days. Please note, you may be subject to import duties and taxes, namely GST (Goods and Services Tax) and HST (Harmonized Sales Tax). In addition, a fee may be levied upon your purchase by Canada Post. These costs are not included in your overall purchase price and Fuggin Vapor is NOT held liable for any custom issues.
International customers (the recipient) is the importer and must comply with all laws and regulations of the destination of origin. Orders shipped outside of the United States may be subject to import taxes, customs duties and fees levied by the destination of origin. Delivery may take up to 4-8 weeks to arrive via USPS policy. The recipient of an international shipment may be subject to such import taxes, customs duties and fees, which are levied once a shipment reaches the recipient's country. Additional charges for customs clearance must be fulfilled by the recipient; Fuggin Vapor Co has no control over these charges, nor can Fuggin Vapor Co predict what they may be and is NOT held liable for custom issues.
Customs policies vary widely from country to country; you should contact your local customs office for more information. When customs clearance procedures are required, it can cause delays beyond our original delivery estimates. Using a freight forwarder to ship or hand-carrying items internationally may result in complications not covered by Fuggin Vapor Co. Your privacy is important to us, and we know that you care about how information about your order is used and shared. We would like our international customers and customers shipping products internationally to be aware that cross-border shipments are subject to opening and inspection by customs and/or postal authorities.
In addition, we may provide certain order, shipment, product information (such as titles to our international carriers,) and such information may be communicated by the carriers to customs and/or postal authorities to facilitate customs local policies/laws. If the order is a gift, the package is marked "Gift," but the cost of the item is still stated on the customs form. Custom authorities require the value of the gift item to be stated directly on the package.
No shipping cost will be refunded for any reason. You will receive an email with the tracking information once the order has been shipped.


text:
The Martin Luther King memorial in Washington, DC celebrates a man of conscience; the freedom movement of which he was a beacon; and his message of freedom, equality, justice and love. Liz and I were very moved and inspired by our visit to the memorial last year. In honor of the upcoming Martin Luther King Day holiday we should all remember that freedom and liberty are priceless gifts.
Martin Luther King Day Special
Celebrate Martin Luther King Day weekend with a relaxing getaway in our luxurious and cozy inn. Stay with us January 18th and 19th and receive the 20th for free! Escape the winter doldrums. Visit our quaint waterfront village. Slip off to snowshoe, cross country ski, or ice skate. Walk the dramatic shoreline. Attend a wine tasting on January 18th at Bel Cibo da Cherie. Or maybe just snuggle into one of our plush robes and read by your in-room fireplace. Maine is spectacular any time of the year no matter where your interests lie. Take advantage of our three nights for the price of two offer over Martin Luther King Day weekend by calling us today!


text:
Contributed by Georgia
(The Census year begins June 1, 1879 and ends May 31 1880.
Notes: R = Race
Name Age Sex R MStatus POB FB MB Occupation Mon Died Disease Days Sick _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Alexander, Nancy 32 F W Married TN TN TN Keeping House Oct. Typhoid Fever 8 Moringer, E. H. 74 M W Divorced NC NC NC Farmer Feb. Typhiod Fever 10 Moringer, Jane 59 F W Married TN TN TN Keeping House Sept. Typhoid Fever 10 Wyle, Joseph 26 M W Married TN TN TN Farm Laborer Sept. Lumbar Abscess 1 Smith, Martha 98 F W Widowed VA VA VA Dec. Age 1 Young, William 1 M W Single TN TN TN Oct. unknown 1 Shadden, John 72 M W Widowed TN TN TN Farmer Jan. Dropsey 10 Hope, John B. 10 M W Single TN TN AL June Lock Jaw 8 Brown, Henry 1 M W Single TN TN TN Sept. Diarrhea 8 Wilkerson, Sarah 48 F W Married TN VA TN Keeping House Jan. Consumption 2 Lyle, William 2 M W Single TN TN TN July Scrofolow 2 Wilson, Thomas 32 M B Married TN TN TN Farmer Jan. Lenoir, Issebell 17 F B Singl TN TN TN May Pneumonia Fever 12 Preston, John 3/12 M W Single TN TN TN Feb. Noy known 1 Delass, James? 1 M W Single TN TN TN May Billious Fever 2/12 Jones, Robert 2/12 M W Single TN TN TN Apr. Not Known 6 Eldridge, Amey 50 F B Widowed TN TN TN May Consumption 1 Shur, Jane? 70 F W Married SC SC SC Keeping House July unknown 1 Harvey, Addie 2 F W Single TN TN TN July Typhoid Fever 1 Hatcher, Nancy 50 F W Widowed TN TN TN Keeping House Mar. Typhoid Fever 4 Cole, James 7- M W Widowed TN Farmer Apr. Pneumonia Duff, William F. 11/12 M W Single TN Sept. Hooping Cough McGee, Lulce 22 F B Married TN Oct. Consumption Lundce, - 4/12 F W Single TN Aug. Choe Infantism Mullins, Sarah 35 F W Married TN June Consumption Fritts, James S. 1/12 M M Single TN TN TN none June Croup 1/12 Davis, Anna 1 F W Single TN VA TN none Sept. Inflamation of Bowels 1 Browder, William J. 49 M W Widowed TN TN TN R R Conductor Sept. Congestive Chill 49 Tallent, William J. 12 M W ? Single TN TN TN Laborer Apr. Bronshitis 12 Abbott, William P. 20 M W Single TN VA VA Farmer Sept. Congestive Chill 20 Nichols, James F. 43 M W Married VA VA NC Farmer Apr. Consumption 25 Rather, Rhoda 42 F W Married TN TN TN none Nov. Consumption 42 Lenoir, Willis 17 M B Single TN TN TN Laborer Aug. Fever 17 Bearden, Harriet 8 F W Single TN TN TN Nov. Typhoid Fever 8 Gibson, Nancy 59 F W Widowed TN TN TN none Apr. Consumption 59 Bright, Louisa 28 F W Married TN TN TN Sept. Consumption Secar, Samuel 12/30 M M Single TN TN TN July Not Known Nelson, Luke 30 M B Married TN TN TN Farmer Mar. Brain Fever 30 Lenoir, Lillie 1 F M Single TN TN TN none Oct. Croup Keener, Phebe 2 F W Single TN TN TN Oct. Inflamation Terrell, Polly 74 F W Married VA VA VA May Old Age Runiege, Jessee? 70 M W Married TN TN TN Laborer Dec. Dropsey Boinrds 70 Myers, Polly 70 F W Widowed TN TN TN none Mar.Womb 40 McKinley, Sarah 72 F W Widowed TN ? ? none Sept. Womb 45 Homes, Ann E.C. 32 F W Married TN Keeping House Apr. Consumption
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text:
This course covers the design and analysis of combinatorial algorithms. The curriculum is concept-based and emphasizes the art of problem-solving. The class features weekly exercises designed to strengthen conceptual understanding and problem solving skills. Students are presumed to have adequate programming skills and to have a solid understanding of basic data structures and their implementation in the programming languages of their choice. Although some mathematical sophistication is very helpful for this course, the necessary mathematics is contained within the curriculum.
In some recitation sessions, sophisticated problems will be solved by the class in closely supervised individual, collaborative, and group efforts. Other recitation sessions will be used for additional lecture.
The Greedy Method
Dynamic Programming
Sorting- and Selection-based processing
Algorithm Redesign and Adaptation
Problem Transformations
Asymptotic Growth
Recurrence Equations
The Recursion Tree Solution Method
Probabilistic Analysis
Structural Analysis
Lower Bounds
Lists, Stacks, Queues, Priority Queues, Trees and
Tarjan's Categorization of Data Structures
Search Trees and their Enhancement
Sorting, Selection, and Hashing
Topological Sort
Connected Components
Biconnected Components and Strong Components
Representative styles of Dynamic Programming and their applications
Standard Sorting and Selection Algorithms
Selected topics in Hashing
Minimum Spanning Trees
Shortest Path Problems


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Often you need a notation for a finite sequence with one element is removed; i.e. $$(x_1,\dots,x_{i-1},x_{i+1}\dots, x_n).$$ I know one notation $$(x_1,\dots,\hat x_i,\dots, x_n)$$ and I hate it. It is too long and it has no sense; i.e., unless you know the meaning you will never guess what is it.
Question: Did you see any other?


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Tom Wheeler is fighting back against his latest net neutrality court loss. Yesterday, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposed new rules for preventing what he called "improper blocking of and discrimination among Internet traffic."
In January, the FCC took a legal beating in a federal court when Verizon, one of the largest Internet broadband providers in the country, worked to overturn rules regarding what classifies as an "open Internet." As previously reported, the FCC had established three basic rules for defining what open means. First, broadband service providers need to be transparent about how they manage their traffic. Second, providers aren't allowed to block traffic. And, third, they can't throttle back on services that compete with their own. But a Washington, D.C. federal court threw out the second and third rules.
What was kept intact was the FCC's authority to govern broadband providers' treatment of Internet traffic. In fact, reminded the FCC in an FAQ, "the court upheld the conclusion that without rules of the road, broadband providers could harm consumers and the economy."
It's that basis around which Wheeler appears to be building a case for revamping how the FCC handles net neutrality. Wheeler is proposing a set of steps "to ensure that the Internet remains a platform for innovation, economic growth and free expression." His stated goal: to ensure that broadband providers don't block or create barriers to lawful content, Web sites or services.
First, he is pushing for approval of new rules to put Internet broadband providers on notice that they need to be on their best behavior:
Second, Wheeler reminded the FCC that it retains the ability under the Communications Act to reclassify Internet access service as a telecommunications service instead of its current status as an "information service." The importance of that point, as Time magazine recently explained, is that broadband providers currently aren't viewed as "common carriers," thereby exempting them from the same kinds of regulations that prevent telecom companies from showing traffic discrimination.
Wheeler is taking his mission to maintain network neutrality to the American public. The commissioner opened a new docket, "Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet," to solicit input over the next month regarding what actions the commission should take in light of the court's decision.
He is also recommending that the FCC look for ways to encourage greater choice for delivery of broadband. For example, he noted, one "obvious" way to boost competition is to eliminate legal restrictions that might exist on the ability of cities and towns to offer broadband services to consumers in their communities.
Wheeler also suggested that the FCC drop any additional legal action in regards to appealing the Verizon decision, possibly a sign that he believes he can work within the judge's ruling to obtain his ultimate goals.
The commission is divided regarding Wheeler's latest actions. Two commissioners, Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel, have publicly supported his efforts. "The Commission must act expeditiously to adopt clear, enforceable rules that protect the openness of the Internet while continuing to promote innovation and investment," stated Clyburn in a statement. "I am also pleased that the chairman announced that the commission will look for opportunities to enhance broadband competition including examining restrictions on the ability of municipalities to offer broadband — restrictions that I have long advocated be eliminated."
Two other commissioners, Ajit Pai and Michael O'Rielly, have suggested that additional rules are unnecessary. "We should all fear that this provision ultimately may be used not just to regulate broadband providers, but eventually edge providers," wrote O'Rielly in a public statement. "It appears that the FCC is tilting at windmills here. Instead of fostering investment and innovation through deregulation, the FCC will be devoting its resources to adopting new rules without any evidence that consumers are unable to access the content of their choice."
Wheeler appears not to be deterred. In the statement laying out his current position and the new recommendations, he concluded, "The Internet is and must remain the greatest engine of free expression, innovation, economic growth and opportunity the world has ever known. We must preserve and promote the Internet."
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The way Dell Technologies' Jeremy Merrill sees it, hyperconverged infrastructure is simply the next smart step in moving to the virtualized data center. As this technical expert explains, HCI loads software on top of commodity servers to allow IT administrators to manage the compute layer as well as storage. That consolidation gives them far simpler management and expanded oversight of their virtualized workloads to help them keep up with district IT goals. Here's what you need to understand to get started.
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That's why it was so important to have the Pear Blossom Run marked on our calendars. The buds on the trees were blossoming in February and have since been pelted with rain and snow. It was uncanny how most of our training seemed the same. Having racked up impressive mileage and tested ourselves with races throughout the winter a few of us were feeling downright hesitant and gun shy leading up to our regional rite of spring.
As with most things, we endure.
This year's race would usher in a new champion as Max King joined some 700 runners at the American River 50 with the hope of getting an entry into the Western States 100. Erik Skaggs found himself serving bread at the finish line and cheering for his fitter half out on the course. That left most of us wondering who would take this years crown. I imagine it gave a few people hope, but as we headed out of town my eye caught a glimpse of what looked like a Kenyan and that would be the end of the speculation. However, on the ladies side a fierce battle was being waged as our local favorite proved that her leg speed was not lacking after coming off a recent marathon.
Indeed, the fanfare our Born to Run hero has garnered has not change her humble roots. She has been seen mingling with the regular folk of our area and was even spotted signing a Kindle at the pre-race registration. With a Sharpie none-the-less. When asked if I should sign the Kindle, I was met with skepticism, "Are you in the book?" Humbling, just humbling.
As many people wondered upon seeing our hero at the starting line, was this her day to shine. Ultimately, it reminded me of that eighties sitcom with the undeniable theme song, "The Greatest American Hero."
Perhaps it was just Connie Sellecca?
And there were others that had come to enjoy the day in the same fashion, if you will.
As the race developed, it was amazing to see so many familiar faces out there with an improbable number of registrants. Some 1,800 runners in the 10 miler and another 1,200 in the 5k. Not to mention a Mayors Mile filled with hundreds of youngsters. The record setting Ruch School garnering the most participants again this year, congrats coach Stemple!
There are too many to individually congratulate so I will perpetuate the Mail Tribunes coverage of the Top Ten because, well, I made it.
1 Aron Rono 27 Santa Fe NM 0:49:49
2 Kirby Davis 25 Portland OR 0:50:21
3 Jonathan Marcus 26 Portland OR 0:52:41
4 Damian Baldovino 43 Lakeview OR 0:53:52
5 Dennis Brands 23 Canby OR 0:55:24
6 Scott Becker 26 Medford OR 0:56:35
7 Hal Koerner 34 Ashland OR 0:56:43
8 Neil Olsen 42 Central Point OR 0:56:45
9 Thomas Kreuzpeintner 44 Eugene OR 0:56:4910
10 Justin Loftus 38 Ashland OR 0:57:32
1 Jenn Shelton 26 Ashland OR 0:59:50
2 Kristen Rohde 26 Portland OR 1:00:12
3 Alanna Steinert-Garcia 27 Grants Pass OR 1:01:57
4 Holly Hight 34 Ashland OR 1:03:30
5 Melissa Schweisguth 35 Ashland OR 1:04:30
6 Maggie Donovan 34 Medford OR 1:05:08
7 Mercy Ray 28 Medford OR 1:06:24
8 Ixel Sanchez 24 Ashland OR 1:06:35
9 Bobbi Wright 27 Gold Hill OR 1:07:12
10 Janelle Ralph 28 Gold Hill OR 1:07:21
Seriously, I hope to see many more participants at all the valley races I know you all can run a long way now. And with that, enjoy the commentary.


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New 2019 HondaHR-V EX-L 2WD SUV
- Stock: H1641
- Fuel Economy
- 28.0/34.0 mpg City/Hwy
- Exterior Color
- Milano Red
- Interior Color
- Black
- Body/Seating
- SUV/5 seats
- Transmission
- continuously variable automatic
- Drivetrain
- front-wheel
- Engine
- 1.8L I-4 cyl
Highlighted Features
- Lane departure
- Distance pacing cruise control
- Leather upholstery
- Automatic temperature control
- Emergency communication system
- Power moonroof
- Wireless phone connectivity
- Exterior parking camera right
Detailed Specifications
Dealer Notes
This 2019 Honda HR-V EX-L in Milano Red features: 28/34 City/Highway MPG
KBB.com Consumer Reviews
- 5.0
7 months later
By shcdav269 on Wednesday, January 17, 2018I have owned this car since May 2017, I have driven from GA to Ohio twice, IL and IN once. And have been in TN twice. This vehicle is very comfortable and after previously driving a Corolla I find that sitting higher helps a lot with the headlights blinding me. I have always owned smaller cars and didnt want a big SUV/Crossover. This is the perfect size for me. Also the additional storage space within the vehicle is awesome.
- 5.0
In love with this car!
By jl1676 on Friday, July 01, 2016I'm going on my third month with the HRV and I have to say I love this car. I was researching SUV's for almost a year preparing for my end of lease with my Chevy Malibu. I wanted a smaller SUV but wanted AWD for the harsh winters in NY. I noticed that all of the competition does not offer the standard features that the HRV EX come with including; rear view camera, Bluetooth, lane watch (a great feature), brake hold (great in traffic or drive thru windows), moon roof, AWD, and heated cloth seats. All of this for 24K. That and the cargo space is what sold the car for me. For a small SUV it has a pretty big trunk and the magic seats add to the cargo capacity. Plenty of room for a family of 3 like mine or maybe even 4. I'm 5'11" and there's plenty of space behind the driver's seat for an adult as well. Now with everything there are some negatives to point out. You will not be winning any races with this car. This wasn't that important to me. Although I was disappointed coming from a car with 190+ HP. I knew what I was getting into and have gotten used to having less power but much better fuel economy! 27 MPG I'm averaging on mostly city driving. If you're looking for a lot of power you won't find it here so look elsewhere. Though I don't agree with the expert reviews on other websites that say the car is slow. It moves but you have to push it for power and when pushed the engine is loud. Here are some more things that I wish were better with the vehicle; interior storage space is lacking, the radio on the EX and EX-L doesn't have knobs nor does the heat/ac. I have gotten used to this but it can be annoying to some. There is no temperature gauge in the car. I've never had a car without this and was quite surprised. Basically, you will not know how hot the engine is running until it's about the over heat. The car also does not handle bumps all that well. It's generally quiet on smooth roads but driving on NY roads with many potholes is not fun if you like a smooth ride. Also, the car doesn't come with an owner's manual. However, you can go to Honda's website and request one to be mailed. Another thing I noticed is the doors seem heavy and I have to reopen and close them a lot because I generally don't slam the door hard enough. These negatives are pretty minor to me but noteworthy. Overall, this is one of my favorite cars and I've owned 8 so far. I highly recommend checking out the HRV if you're looking for a small sporty looking SUV that gets great MPG. None of the competition can beat the price/value, cargo space and features.
- 4.0
Overall Great Vehicle
By sometechyguy on Sunday, April 30, 2017I really, really like this vehicle. Mid trim gets you a lot of great features. The ride height is nice, the interior quality is better than most. Gas mileage is also good. My few complaints are, it can be noisy on highways. The inside door panels are fabric which can get dirty easily. The power is also a little laggy, although you can still pass semi trucks. Interior volume is surprisingly great, we fit almost anything with the seats down. 4 passengers will feel great, 5 can do, but not the best. The transmission hump is small so thats helps. Honestly I would buy this HRV again, but id get the leather seats and AWD. So far we havent had any major issues. Weve done all the maintenance and its still going strong.
Prices shown are manufacturer suggested retail prices only and do not include taxes, license, doc fee, or destination charge. Manufacturer vehicle accessory costs, labor and installation vary. Please contact us with any questions.
**Based on 2014 EPA mileage ratings. Use for comparison purposes only. Your mileage will vary depending on driving conditions, how you drive and maintain your vehicle, battery-pack age/condition and other factors. For Fit EV Models, 132 city/105 highway/118 combined miles per gallon of gasoline-equivalent (MPGe) rating; 82 mile combined (city/highway) driving range rating (adjusted). Ratings determined by EPA. Use for comparison purposes only. Your MPGe and range will vary depending on driving conditions, how you drive and maintain your vehicle, lithium-ion battery age/condition, and other factors. For additional information about EPA ratings, visit http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/label/learn-more-electric-label.shtml.
For 2014 Honda Accord Plug-In Hybrid, 115 combined miles per gallon of gasoline-equivalent (MPGe) electric rating; 47 city/46 highway/46 combined MPG gasoline only rating. 13 mile maximum EV mode driving range rating. 570 mile combined gas-electric driving range rating. Based on 2014 EPA mileage and driving range ratings. Use for comparison purposes only. Your MPGe/MPG and driving range will vary depending on driving conditions, how you drive and maintain your vehicle, lithium-ion battery age/condition, and other factors. For additional information about EPA ratings, visit http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/label/learn-more-PHEV-label.shtml.


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Boulder has published city manager's rules that define what, exactly, constitute bear-resistant trash containers and enclosures.
An ordinance adopted in March requires everyone living west of Broadway and south of Sumac Avenue to use bear-resistant trash cans or keep their trash in secure enclosures at all times.
Enforcement will start this summer in central Boulder in areas with alley trash service. The fine for non-compliance is $250.
The ordinance's goal is to reduce the incidence of bears living in town and eating trash. Four bears were killed in Boulder last year.
Boulder's bear rules
Boulder's complete rules on bear-resistant trash are available at boulderwildlifeplan.net. Boulder is accepting comments on the rules until 5 p.m. May 13. Comments can be sent to Urban Wildlife Conservation Coordinator Val Matheson at firstname.lastname@example.com.
The rules describe what enforcement officers will be looking for from residents.
A "bear-resistant container" must have a certification from the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee that its design has withstood an hour of sustained bear assault without breaking.
There are several commercially available bear-resistant containers.
Western Disposal CEO Frank Bruno said a retrofit of the company's 64-gallon container recently passed the testing protocol, and its 32-gallon container, which is the most popular size, and the 96-gallon container are scheduled for testing soon.
Bruno said he should have final pricing information in a few weeks.
"The whole goal of doing this was to reduce the cost to our customers, make this a little easier for the city to implement and make sure we could make use of our existing carts," he said.
One Way Disposal is making a 32-gallon screwtop Bearicuda available to its customers for $69 or a $2.93 a month rental fee. At the end of two years, the customer would own the can and the rental fee would go away.
For an additional $10 a month, One Way also will retrieve trash directly from secure enclosures or even garages and sheds.
People who don't want to buy or rent bear-resistant containers or who don't have trash service at their homes can build an enclosure.
The rules say such an enclosure "shall be an enclosed structure, made of metal, wood, stone, brick, concrete or the equivalently sturdy material, consisting of five sides and a secure door or cover, which shall have a latching device of sufficient design and strength to prevent access by bears."
A garage or other building could count.
Contact Camera Staff Writer Erica Meltzer at 303-473-1355, firstname.lastname@example.com or twitter.com/meltzere.


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You first Krugman..Your old…
Let us hope so!!
Ted vs Pisshead Morgan…I'll pick Ted on this one..
Ted Nugent to Piers Morgan: " Perfect poster boy to stand up for things that make no sense"
Buck Ofama…Killing Americans…
He needs to go away..
- The U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens if they are believed to be 'senior operational leaders' of Al Qaeda or 'an associated force,' the memo states
- The U.S. government can do so even if there is no clear evidence that the American targeted is engaged in an active plot to attack the U.S.
- NBC reported the news after obtaining and releasing the memo
- The Justice Department told MailOnline that it would not comment on the news
Buck Ofama..murdering Americans any which way he can…
Supporting NARAL..
Remember…he wants our guns..
Background checks down by 10% in January…well it could be..
"You can't do a background check if a guy doesn't have a gun to buy," said Mike Fotia, manager at Duke's Sport Shop in New Castle, Pa. "There's nothing to buy."
Or maybe with the threat of having to register guns…folks are buying them through other means….Just saying now..
Economy bad? If you only knew…
Drones..Some States are stepping up and doing something about Drones…


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A man washes his hands at a tap outside the Green Pharmacy at Area 8 in Abuja, September 1, 2014. Image: Afolabi Sotunde
(Reuters) - The United Nations said on Tuesday the spread of the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa was causing food shortages in one of the world's poorest regions and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned the disease was threatening the stability of stricken countries and their neighbors.
Doctors in Liberia were out on strike as they struggled to cope with the worst outbreak of Ebola on record, while the global aid organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said 800 more beds for Ebola patients were urgently needed in the Liberian capital Monrovia alone, while in Sierra Leone highly infectious bodies were rotting in the streets.
Governments and aid organizations have scrambled to contain the disease, which according to the World Health Organization (WHO) has killed more than 1,500 in West Africa since March.
In an address to United Nations member states, MSF President Joanne Liu said, "Six months into the worst Ebola epidemic in history, the world is losing the battle to contain it." She said aid charities and West African governments did not have the capacity to stem the outbreak and needed intervention by foreign states.
Slamming what she called "a global coalition of inaction," Liu called for the urgent dispatch of field hospitals with isolation wards and mobile medical laboratories.
MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said biological disaster response teams were needed to support West Africa's buckling healthcare systems.
There are no approved Ebola vaccines or treatments, but as hospitals and Ebola treatment centers battled to contain the disease and tend to the sick and dying, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said a federal contract worth up to $42.3 million would help accelerate testing of an experimental Ebola virus treatment being developed by privately held Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc.
The agency said in a statement that Mapp, based in San Diego, California, would manufacture a small amount of its ZMapp drug, which uses antibodies manufactured in tobacco plants, for early stage safety studies and animal studies needed to prove its effectiveness and safety in people.
ZMapp is one of several treatments for Ebola under development. The drug, although never tested in humans, gained attention this summer when two American aid workers who contracted Ebola in Liberia were cured after receiving it. Their physicians said they did not know if the drug helped.
Human safety trials are due to begin this week on a vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline Plc GSK.L and later this year on one from NewLink Genetics Corp NLNK.O.
The Ebola epidemic in West Africa could infect more than 20,000 people and spread to more countries, the World Health Organization warned last week. With a fatality rate of 52 percent, the death toll stood at 1,552 as of Aug. 26.
Cases of Ebola have been reported in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Nigeria, Senegal, and Democratic Republic of Congo. The cases in Congo, which include 31 deaths, are thought to be a separate outbreak and not related to the West African cases.
U.S. missionary organization SIM USA said on Tuesday that an American doctor treating obstetrics patients at the ELWA hospital in Monrovia had tested positive for Ebola. The doctor, who was not working in the hospital's Ebola treatment center, was in an isolation ward at the hospital and responding well so far, SIM said on its website.
At Monrovia's John F. Kennedy Medical Center (JFK) scores of staff went on strike to protest against working conditions and unpaid bonuses. Amid shortages of equipment and trained staff, more than 120 healthcare workers have died in West Africa in the Ebola outbreak.
"Health workers have died (fighting Ebola), including medical doctors at ... JFK and to have them come to work without food on their table, we think that is pathetic," George Williams, secretary general of the Health Workers Association of Liberia, told Reuters.
Williams said healthcare workers at JFK, the country's largest referral hospital, had gone unpaid for two months.
The Liberian strike came a day after healthcare workers at the Connaught hospital in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown held a one-day protest over pay and conditions.
Staff there returned to work on Tuesday after they said the government settled a backlog of hazard pay and agreed to raise the weekly risk bonus to $100 from $40 for nurses working in Ebola wards and members of burial crews.
Separately, the Liberian government began offering a $1,000 bonus to any healthcare workers who agreed to work in Ebola treatment facilities.
The World Health Organization and other international bodies have rushed to support healthcare systems in affected countries, but additional staff and resources have been slow to arrive.
In Monrovia, Medecins Sans Frontieres said its new ELWA 3 center, which has 160 beds, was overflowing with patients. "Every day we have to turn sick people away because we are too full," said Stefan Liljegren, MSF coordinator at the site.
Further pressuring the ability of the region's governments to spend money on healthcare, the epidemic has put harvests at risk and sent food prices soaring in West Africa, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said. The agency issued an alert over food security for Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, which are most affected by the outbreak.
Restrictions on people's movements and establishment of quarantine zones to contain the spread of the haemorrhagic fever have led to panic buying, food shortages and price hikes.
"Even prior to the Ebola outbreak, households in some of the most affected areas were spending up to 80 percent of their incomes on food," said Vincent Martin, head of an FAO unit in Dakar coordinating the agency's response. "Now these latest price spikes are effectively putting food completely out of their reach."
The director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Thomas Frieden, said he expected the outbreak to accelerate and urged governments to act now.
"We're likely to see significant increases in cases. Already we have widespread transmission Liberia. In Sierra Leone, we're seeing strong signs that that will happen in the near future," he said.
Frieden said the outbreak was the first epidemic of Ebola the world has ever known, meaning it was spreading widely in society and "threatening the stability" of affected and neighboring countries.
Frieden, who has been briefing U.S. President Barack Obama on the outbreak, said there was still a window of opportunity, but "that window is closing."
"We need action now to scale up the response. We know how to stop Ebola. The challenge is to scale it up to the massive levels needed to stop this outbreak," he said.
"The virus is moving faster than anyone anticipated. We need to move fast."
In a video message to West Africans in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria and released on YouTube, Obama affirmed the United States' support in the fight against Ebola and attempted to dispel some myths about how it is spread. here
"Ebola is not spread through the air like the flu. You cannot get it from casual contact like sitting next to someone on a bus," he said.
Instead, he said the most common way people become infected "is by touching the body fluids of someone who is sick or has died from it, like their sweat, saliva or blood, or through a contaminated item, like a needle."
Obama said that was why so many people were becoming infected while caring for Ebola patients at home, and he urged people who felt sick to get prompt treatment because half of the people who become ill recover.
"Stopping this disease won't be easy, but we know how to do it. You are not alone," Obama said.
To try to ease the strain on their economies, Ivory Coast, which closed its borders with Liberia and Guinea last month, announced on Tuesday it would open humanitarian and economic corridors to its two western neighbours.
The death toll from an Ebola outbreak in the Djera region of northern Democratic Republic of Congo has risen to 31, Minister of Health Felix Kabange Numbi told Reuters on Tuesday. The outbreak in Congo's Equateur province is thought to be separate from the West African epidemic.
(Reporting by James Harding Giahyue; Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Isla Binnie in Rome, Umaru Fofana in Freetown, Susan Heavey in Washington, Bienvenu-Marie Bakumanya in Kinshasa, Michelle Nichols at United Nations, Caroline Humer and Ransdell Pierson in New York, Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago, Daniel Flynn in Dakar; Writing by Joe Bavier and Toni Reinhold; Editing by Howard Goller)