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This document is an excerpt from the EUR-Lex website
Satellite navigation: Galileo
Satellite navigation: Galileo
Satellite navigation: Galileo
This summary has been archived and will not be updated, because the summarised document is no longer in force or does not reflect the current situation.
Satellite navigation: Galileo
GALILEO is the European satellite radio navigation and positioning programme. Launched by the European Commission and developed jointly with the European Space Agency, it gives the European Union (EU) an independent technology to compete with the American GPS and Russian GLONASS systems. This communication marks the beginnings of Galileo and defines the issues at stake and the objectives of the programme.
Communication from the Commission of 10 February 1999 - "Galileo - Involving Europe in a new generation of satellite navigation services" [COM(1999) 54 final - Not published in the Official Journal].
The issues at stake
In the field of satellite navigation, there are considerable and numerous issues at stake. There are currently two competing systems: the American GPS, which dominates the marketplace, and the Russian GLONASS.
The current dependence, especially on GPS, raises questions of a strategic nature, since the systems utilised are not under European control. The challenge is to safeguard European strategic needs, for example in the field of the common foreign and security policy, without risk or excessive cost.
Satellite navigation offers obvious advantages for managing transport. It allows for greater safety, better traffic flow, reduced congestion and environmental damage, and the support of multi-modal development. The current GPS and GLONASS systems do not seem to guarantee the reliability and availability necessary for passenger transport. The implementation of the European Galileo system will remedy these shortcomings.
The stakes are both economic and industrial. In particular, with a potential global market valued at EUR 40 thousand million between now and 2005, the challenge is to capture a fair share of the satellite navigation market as well as the jobs which flow on from it. The current estimates are as follows: the development of the Galileo infrastructure would generate 20 000 jobs, while its operation would create 2 000 permanent jobs, not including opportunities in the field of applications.
Finally, the regulatory aspects are also considerable. In practice, use of information systems based on positioning and timing signals could make it possible to monitor compliance with certain Community regulations in the area of fishing, for example, or environmental protection.
Even though the United States already has a head start, considering the stakes it is essential for Europe to make a decision quickly on its participation in the next generation of positioning, navigation and timing systems.
Strategic choices
The development of a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) must be a concerted effort. In March 1998 the Council called on the Commission to explore the possibility of developing a common system with the United States. Discussions were held to clarify possible options. As the Americans were not prepared, for military reasons, to envisage joint ownership or an effective role for Europe in controlling the GPS system, cooperation would be possible:
The latter option was selected by the Commission, after rejecting the zero option consisting of consciously giving up all European participation in the core space segment of the future GNSS.
The Commission considers it equally desirable for Galileo to be opened to other partners, with whom contact has already been made, such as:
In short, Galileo would have to harness the potential for application of a satellite navigation system to civilian uses by striving to fill the gaps in the GPS and reinforcing the reliability of GNSS. It would have to provide global coverage immediately.
Requirements and technical characteristics
The system must be designed to assure global coverage and to allow mass-market public application, with a good level of safety for European transport and minimum space infrastructure. On the other hand, Galileo must provide at least horizontal accuracy of less than 10 metres.
In terms of security, the system will have to guarantee the physical protection of vital infrastructure and provide accurate signals in times of crisis or war. Care must be taken to make any signal rerouting or access to the system by the enemy in times of war completely impossible. To meet these security requirements, experts advocate the installation of controlled access.
Financial aspects
The total cost of Galileo for the period 1999-2008 is estimated at between EUR 2.2 thousand million and 2.95 thousand million, depending on the extent of cooperation with the United States and the use of terrestrial systems.
Current American policy is to provide the GPS base signal free of charge. This type of approach to Galileo would require heavy public financing, as the private sector alone cannot bear this kind of cost with a view to providing a free service for users.
As Galileo is considered a key element in the trans-European network and common transport policy, European financing is justified. This will be possible from the European Union budget, in particular the TEN budget, that of the European Space Agency and the fifth R&D Framework Programme. In addition, specific revenue streams could be established by means of regulatory arrangements such as installing certain controlled-access subscriber-only services, or taxing signal receivers. In short, the development of a public-private partnership should be encouraged.
Organisational framework
In order to design, build and operate Galileo, the Commission proposes an organisational structure bringing in, amongst others, the GNSS high-level group, the Commission, the European Space Agency and all investors. A small special management board could be set up.
Nevertheless, above all, a political commitment is indispensable in order to provide the necessary impetus for investment by industry, for negotiating the features of the system with international partners and for reinforcing European influence in this strategic domain. The European Council could lead the way in this respect.
Following an initial communication in January 1998, in March 1998 the Council called on the Commission to present recommendations on the European approach to global satellite navigation. This communication is the response to the Council's request. It was followed in 2002 by the creation of the Galileo joint undertaking and then the regulation on the deployment and commercial operating phases of the programme.
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council of 14 July 2004 on the implementation of the deployment and commercial operating phases of the European programme of satellite radionavigation [COM(2004) 477 final - Not published in the Official Journal]. The Galileo programme has now reached an advanced stage of maturity and goes well beyond the framework of a simple research project. This regulation aims to base the programme on a specific legal instrument, which is more appropriate for meeting its industrial and commercial needs and best meets the requirements of sound financial management.
Council Regulation (EC) No 876/2002 of 21 May 2002 setting up the Galileo Joint Undertaking. This Regulation sets up the joint undertaking to manage the development phase (2002-2005) of the GALILEO programme. Besides managing the development phase until 2005, this joint undertaking must also prepare the implementation of the later phases of the programme (deployment and commercial operation).
Council resolution of 3 August 1999 [Official Journal C 221 of 3 August 1999]. On 19 July 1999 the Council adopted a resolution on "Involving Europe in a new generation of satellite navigation services - Galileo - Definition phase", in which it called on the Commission to submit draft mandates to the Council for negotiations in order to explore fully possibilities for cooperation with the United States of America and the Russian Federation. It also called on the Commission to present a thorough cost-benefit analysis examining, in particular, options for revenue sources, the proposed public-private partnership and the possibilities for securing finance from the private sector.
Last updated: 13.01.2006


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The Canadian NRIC of the Census of Marine Life met along with Canadian marine science leaders from academia, government, and ocean-focused funding agencies in Ottawa on January 10-11, 2011 to explore ways to capitalize on Canada's emergence as a global leader in marine biodiversity research and to take advantage of Canada's world-class marine science infrastructure to plan for sustainable ocean use. About 40 marine biodiversity leaders from universities and government attended the two-day meeting to address changing marine biodiversity in Canada's three oceans.
"Canada was well represented in the first Census of Marine and our scientists held many leadership positions during its ten years of exploration and discovery," says Dr. Paul Snelgrove, professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland's Ocean Sciences Centre and Biology Department, Director of the NSERC Canadian Healthy Oceans Network, and author of Discoveries of the Census of Marine Life: Making Ocean Life Count, (Cambridge University Press, 2010), the authoritative book of Census results. "This experience puts Canada in the enviable position of having many of the world's leading experts in marine biodiversity, who are coming together to figure out how we might coordinate our research programs and move forward together using the plethora of knowledge and expertise learned from the first Census as a foundation for better ocean usage."The meeting is organized by the Census of Marine Life, completed in 2010, which brought together 2,700 scientists from more than 80 nations to establish a baseline of the diversity, distribution, and abundance of life in the global ocean against which future change can be measured. The first Census found that life in the ocean is richer, more connected, and more impacted by human activities than expected. Read the full story »
The Census of Marine Life was included in the 2010 Annual Year in Ideas feature in the New York Times Magazine
On April 20, 2010, the oil-drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico. The well it was drilling continued to gush oil for nearly three months, eventually causing one …
The University of Aberdeen wishes to appoint two Chairs, one in the area of Marine Biodiversity and the other …
Executive Officer – Southern Ocean Observing System (Click for full job description)
POSITION DESCRIPTION1. POSITION SUMMARYThe Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS) is an international program to collect sustained observations from the Southern Ocean. The SOOS …
SCOR began a program in 2009 to enlist the services of ocean scientists from the SCOR community, from both developed countries and developing countries, both recently retired and active, to teach short courses and to provide more extended on-site education and mentorship at developing country institutions.
World Wildlife Fund is announcing the 2011 Kathryn Fuller Science for Nature Fellowships to support doctoral and postdoctoral research on marine protected areas
Census of Marine Life sponsored a side event on Friday, October 22 at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of the Parties 10 in Nagoya, Japan.
The Census of Marine Life will present its findings at two regional symposium in the upcoming few months.
In Chile, a symposium titled "Symposio: Programa de Censos de la Vida Marina y Contribucion de Chile a …

subset: commoncrawl


text: Well, it's just 267 days away :-) In the past couple of weeks, TPTB have announced that the Geowoodstock 5 mega-event will be in Raleigh NC next Memorial Day weekend. I had a blast at the one in Texas where I met a ton of great people and did a whole bunch of Texas-style caching. I've already blocked this off on my calendar and will be driving down and back. If you think you might be interested, check out the http://www.geowoodstock5.com web site and sign up for the updates. More details in the months to come... :p


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Network Management Card SNMP Support Overview
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The APC Network Management Card 1 and 2 families (AP9617/18/19/30/31/35) and any device with an embedded version (such as Rack PDUs, Rack Power Filter, Netbotz 200, etc) support SNMPv1 and v3, not explicitly v2c. They are compliant with RFC1213 but also have an exclusive and extensive product specific MIB for full device support. The Network Management Card family supports SNMP traps for all UPS alarm conditions (e.g., on battery).
SNMPv1 is the initial implementation of the SNMP protocol. SNMPv2c then introduced new message formats and protocol operations that are incompatible with SNMPv1. Though, in order to use SNMPv2c, the Network Management Cards will utilize the SNMPv1 community strings and access control settings.
APC Network Management Cards support SNMPv2c enhancements except the InformRequest protocol operation. The other major addition in SNMPv2c (besides some format changes), was the GetBulk operation. The Network Management Cards do support that functionality with both SNMPv1 and SNMPv3. SNMPv3 also introduced security capabilities, such as authentication, integrity, encryption, that are not part of SNMPv2c which the aforementioned Network Management Cards support.
Lastly, certain applications (sumx, sy) also provide RFC1628 MIB support as outlined in knowledge base FA156148.


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For overweight children, losing just a little weight can significantly lower their blood pressure, according to researchers from Indiana University School of Medicine.
High blood pressure, or hypertension, in children sets the stage for complications later in life, such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes, they noted.
"The effect of weight on blood pressure is very different in children in different weight categories," said lead researcher Wanzhu Tu, an associate professor of medicine.
"For obese and overweight children, even a small reduction in weight will produce a stronger benefit in blood pressure control," Tu added, while for normal-weight children, blood pressure is not so dramatically affected.
The results of the study were to be presented Friday at the American Heart Association's High Blood Pressure Research scientific sessions in Washington, D.C.
For the study, Tu's team collected blood pressure data on 1,113 children. The researchers compared the children's body mass index (BMI, a measure of body weight) to charts depicting normal blood pressure based on age, sex and height.
The study authors found that BMI had little effect on blood pressure among normal-weight children, but it had a significant effect on overweight children.
In fact, among overweight boys, BMI had an effect on their systolic blood pressure reading that was 4.6 times the effect found among normal-weight boys. The findings were similar among girls, Tu's group added.
Commenting on the study, Dr. Gregg Fonarow, a professor of cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that "obesity is a serious health concern for children and adolescents."
Obesity and overweight in childhood are well-documented to be associated with high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol levels, reduced insulin sensitivity, and abnormal blood vessel function, Fonarow said.
"Aggressive steps are needed to prevent and treat obesity in childhood and adolescence to avoid subsequent cardiovascular health problems in adulthood," Fonarow said.
As part of the obesity epidemic in the United States, high blood pressure among children seems to be very common.
In another presentation at the meeting, researchers collected blood pressure readings on more than 62,000 fifth graders from West Virginia.
The investigators found that 19.7 percent had blood pressures that were higher than normal for their sex and height.
For local information of your child and weight issues, contact:
Children's Hospital of Wisconsin
9000 W. Wisconsin Avenue
Wauwatosa, WI 53226


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Presidents Message (October 2019)
Greg HofstedPresident
2018-2019 Annual Report
CSC 2019 Awards
Construction nada MagazineThe latest interactive, digital edition of Construction nada is now available. It allows you to search for specific topics, e-mail articles to colleagues, print pages and click on web links to access detailed information about products and services.
To view Construction nada Magazine, or archived copies please click the logo below:
CSC Insurance – A BluePrint for Your Peace of Mind
In a world of disruption, chaos, and uncertainty, you deserve an expert who creates confidence.
Get YOUR peace of mind at http://mumby.com/specifition-writers-insurance
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CSC (Construction Specifitions nada) is a national multi-disciplinary, non-profit association with chapters across nada. CSC is committed to delivering progressive edution, certifition, publitions and professional networking opportunities for the design + construction community.
CSC and CSI Renew Agreement to License and Support MasterFormat®
CSC and BSD Announce Exclusive Alliance to Deliver the National Master Specifition (NMS) and more!
You n pay CSC membership renewals and other CSC invoices online athttp://uko7.lx8mmv.icu/billing.php
To order CCDC Documents/Contracts and/or Seals Click HERE
To place an order for CSC electronic documents, or Master Specifitions please click HEREMASTERFORMAT AVAILABLE HERE
The new 2019-2020 Directory of Members has be mailed to all CSC Members. If you have not received yours, please contact the Association office. Click to view the 2019-20 electronic version
Conference 2019 Wrap-Up
Thank you to the Regina Chapter Conference Committee for a very successful conference!
We look forward to seeing you in Montréal Québec May 20 - 24, 2020!CSC Edution Workshop Series
In just 5 days you n complete CSC's: PCD*, TR or C Course and in 7 days you n complete the Specifier (SP) course.
Principles of Construction Documentation (PCD) * PCD is a pre-requisiteNext offering TBA Construction Contract Administrator (C) March 4 - 8, 2020 (Toronto) March 18 - 22, 2020 (Vancouver)
Technil Representative (TR)March 4 - 8, 2020 (Toronto) Specifier (SP)March 2, 2020 (Toronto)To register for an above workshop click http://uko7.lx8mmv.icu/Edution/CSC+Edution+Workshops+/
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The Online PCD and TR courses will start January 6 2020
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Near Chittoor Bus StandChittoor
2-128/1 Puttur Road KongareddypalliChittoor
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Chittoor is a city in Andhra Pradesh, India. It is the headquarters of Chittoor district
Chittoor, very close to the revered temple of lord Balaji or Venkateswara at Tirupati, is also close to two eminent wildlife sanctuaries and the famous Horsley Hills, a famous hill resort named after W.D Horsley.
Situated in the valley of the Ponni river, Chittoor is a market for grain, sugarcane, and peanuts. Its industries include oilseed and rice milling. Jaggery from Aragonda area, a small town near Chittor is famous throughout the country. Chittor is a major place for producing hatcheries and mangoes. The city is surrounded by mango and tamarind groves, and cattle are bred in the area. A district administrative centre, Chittoor was a British military post until 1884.
From Chennai : Take Route No:144 bus from Chennai Koyembedu Bus Stand (CMBT) or Lalbagh train to Katpadi.There will be plenty of buses from Katpadi to Chittoor. Try to take GOVT bus as there will be too many stops for private buses.
From Bangalore : Take any KSRTC (Karnataka State Transport) bus from Bangalore Bus Stand (Majestic) going to Tirupati, Nellore,Vijayawada & Guntur.Get down in CTR. Take any APSRTC (Andhra Pradesh Transport) bus(Bangalore Majestic) going to Tirupati, Nellore,Vijayawada & Guntur.Get down in CTR. Don't take the private bus "Kalasipalya" as there are too many stops.
From Hyderabad : Take Kesineni(Volvo), Deepna, JBT, TTS travels by bus from Ameerpet X roads which usually runs everyday, APSRTC buses (7 buses) from MGBS and train is VENKATADRI express starts from Kachiguda at 8:05PM and reaches Chittoor by morning at 9AM.
From Tirupati: APSRTC buses ply every 10 min to and fro Chittoor (72 km).
From Vijayawada,Vizag and Machlipatnam: Take any APSRTC or Private bus going to Bangalore.Get down in CTR. Two APSRTC buses one in morning and one in evening starts from vijayawada to Chittoor and by train you can catch Sheshadri, Hatia, Sabari, KK express to reach chittoor.
Kanipakkam:12 km from Chittoor.For the devotes convenience there are direct buses to Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Bangalore, Chennai, Nellore & Ananathapur.
Mango pickles of all varieties. Pala Kova
All sorts of lodging facilities ranging from modest hotels to luxury suites at star hotels are available
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Air pressure: {{ weather.pressure }} hPa
Humidity:{{ weather.humidity }}%
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Sunset: {{ weather.sunset }}


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Tel-Aviv, Israeli-based software testing company Typemock has launched its Isolator++ for Linux. Designed for unit testing of C++ on the Ubuntu, Fedora, and SUSE distros, the new product is somewhat distinguished by its ability to offer unit testing tools and mocking frameworks for multiple platforms — and enable organizations that work on Windows and Linux to benefit from one solution for both platforms.
In a bid to win fans within the Agile development community, Typemock's Isolator++ for Linux works on any C/ C++ code (including complex code such as statics, globals, and non-virtual methods) by allowing the test to intercept and fake behaviors.
Its developers suggest that some kind of precision engineering approach features in this new product's design. As such, the company says that the API is specifically designed to make tests more concise, more resistant to production code changes, and easier to understand for new users, ensuring that time is not wasted rewriting unit tests.
It also protects the code from regression bugs and allows organizations to feel confident that their final product meets industry standards.
"Isolator++ for Linux enables developers to fake any part of the code, without the need to redesign for testability as opposed to other unit testing solutions that require many sections of code to be rewritten in order to be testable — it also replaces the need for manual validation with automatic C++ unit tests," said the company.
Typemock's intention is to provide a route towards "full code integrity" before the code reaches QA. Typemock insists that C++ is experiencing a surge in popularity as a result of its usage in smart phones and other advanced technologies. The company says that Isolator++ for Linux will ensure that final software application products surpass all regulatory requirements.


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The Central Connecticut men's soccer team dropped a 2-1 decision to the Quinnipiac Bobcats on Friday afternoon. The two teams entered the match tied for first place in the Northeast Conference with 19 points each. The Blue Devils fall to second place and an 8-7-1 (6-2-1 NEC) record. The Bobcats are now 9-5-2 (7-1-1 NEC) and move into first place in the conference.
The Bobcats struck first when William Daniels of Quinnipiac took an assist from teammate Simon Hinde and netted their first goal of the game. The score put the Bobcats up 1-0 early in the match as it occured in the 24th minute of play.
Despite two straight fouls committed by the Bobcats followed by a corner kick attempt from senior Jesse Menzies in the closing minutes of the first half, the Blue Devils could not capitalize and Central went into the break down 1-0.
The majority of the second half went scoreless but in the final push for Central, senior Steven Bailey punched in his second goal of the 2012 season off of an assist from freshman teammate Ben Knight, his first assists of the season. The goal came in the 72nd minute, late in the second period, and knotted the teams at 1-1.
Just six minutes after the CCSU score, Bobcat Robbie McLarney was fouled and awarded a penalty kick in the 78th minute. McLarney put his shot past senior Blue Devil goalkeeper Anthony Occhialini to give Quinnipiac the 2-1 advantage with less than 12 minutes remaining in regulation.
After a combined four shots in the final 10 minutes of action, the Blue Devils could not answer the Bobcats late goal and Quinnipiac went on to claim the 2-1 victory.
Occhialini stopped an impressive four shots-on-goal out of six by the Bobcats surpassing 160 saves in his career. He now has 42 saves on the season but falls to an 8-6-2 overall record. Occhialini played 85:11 minutes in the box before being relieved by senior keeper James Perkins who finished out the final 4:49 of the match.
Central was sent to the corner 11 times in the match compared to Quinnipiac's three. Nine of those 11 corner kicks were attempted in the second half.
Central's final match of the 2012 season will be on Sunday, November 4th as they take on the Bryant Bulldogs (5-8-2, 3-5-1 NEC). The game will serve as Senior Day for the seven Central Connecticut men's soccer seniors: Thomas Obasi, Ben Walsh, Mamoudou Dioubate, Reece Wilson, Steven Bailey, Jesse Menzies, and James Perkins.
Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m. and the match will be played at home on the CCSU Soccer Field located in New Britain, CT.


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Says Gallup:
The 2009 satisfaction results are based on combined data for Gallup Daily tracking from Jan. 2 through Dec. 30, 2009, including more than 350,000 interviews for the entire year. The state sample sizes range from 632 in the District of Columbia and 878 in Wyoming to 37,203 in California. Forty-one states had more than 2,000 respondents...Now that just doesn't make any sense. Obviously things went downhill from 2008 to '09. Don't people know that? Don't they realize they must be less satisfied now than they were a year ago? Or is it that lean times make people feel more fortunate about their relative prosperity? After all, even now more than four-fifths of people who want jobs have them. That's 80% of the country that probably realizes they could be worse off than they are.
Overall, 31 states showed an increase in satisfaction of at least one percentage point between 2008 and 2009, whereas 5 showed a decrease of at least one point (the greatest decrease, Hawaii's, was less than four points.) The remaining 14 states plus the District of Columbia changed by less than one point.
At any rate, it's interesting that the most satisfied states seem to be those that have been least affected by the recession, rather than the ones that have the highest standard of living. And for the least satisfied states it's the same deal: they don't have the lowest objective standards of living, but they have been hard hit by the current recession. I take this to mean that satisfaction, in this context, correlates with perceptions of change in economic conditions, rather than economic conditions as such. (Which makes some sense: if you have a net worth of $1,000, and you find a hundred dollar bill on the street, you'll probably feel a lot more satisfied than someone who's got $10,000 in the bank, but just lost $50,000 at the craps table in Vegas (Nevada, by the way, is the least satisfied state in the country).)
But overall there's not a real huge range from least to most satisfied. Nevada, like I say, is the least satisfied, but 69% there still express satisfaction with their standard of living. The most satisfied is North Dakota, at 82.3%, followed by South Dakots, at 80.8%. (The Dakotas, by the way, are the two ugliest states in the country as well. The reader may make of that what she will.)
BONUS FUN FACT: Did you know the Rolling Stones' (Can't Get No) Satisfation is only the third-best version of that song? It's true! Here's the best:


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Vehicle Damage
Vehicle damage is a fundamental aspect in the GTA series where nearly any vehicle is susceptible to damage from the environment, typically in the form of crashes, gunfire, or other external forces, as it does in real life, providing a certain degree of realism and illustrating the vulnerability of vehicles in the series. If a vehicle is sufficiently damaged, it explodes in a fireball, destroying it and rendering it useless. As the series progresses, the variety of damage has been increased, offering additional opportunities on how the player can destroy vehicles. In addition, the manner in which damage is depicted in game has changed as new game engines are used.
Damage resistance should be considered when selecting a car for a task. The high performance of certain vehicles may be offset by a weaker body, while a slow, heavy vehicle may be far more resilient to damage. If a player is not proficient in their driving or has not properly planned their path to their destination, the choice of vehicle may become a hindrance if the player is urgently completing a mission or escaping from pursuers.
Certain missions and tricks throughout the series can create a damage-resistant vehicle, which include resistance to bullets, explosions, physical collisions, and fire. Tanks and certain armored vehicles are also naturally highly resistant to damage and are invulnerable to certain forms of destructive forces.
2D Universe
As the series began, vehicles in Grand Theft Auto 1 and Grand Theft Auto 2 can be destroyed via high speed crashes, gunfire from firearms and drops into water, features which are still present in all games after. The games are also capable of accurately visualizing portions of vehicles which are damaged using collision detection, and each vehicle has a number of sections that represent each part as either damaged or undamaged: six in GTA 1 and four in GTA 2.
Unlike much of the series after, a vehicle's performance degrades as its damage is increasingly severe. For GTA 1, the only hint to this is a growingly louder clunking engine noise; GTA 2 includes both the noise and an additional fire in the middle of the vehicle, which grows with increased damage or grows on its own.
3D Universe
By Grand Theft Auto III, vehicles are far more sensitive with damage, as parts can show signs of damage with the slightest collision, as well as high speed collisions with pedestrians. However, the performance of vehicles remains unaffected from damage, and imminent destruction of vehicles are represented by a burning engine. If a vehicle is flipped over, its engine may also engulf in flames and result in the vehicle exploding.
Developing from GTA 1 and GTA 2, GTA III's visual representation of vehicle damage improved in complexity. The engine may now emit steam and/or smoke, providing a gauge on how much damage a vehicle has before it is on fire, indicating the vehicle's imminent destruction. Most road vehicles in the game are also constructed from individual polygons with a central "core" (the wheels, engine, chassis, and body of vehicles). The damage system of vehicles represents the minor vehicle parts (doors, frontal quarter panels/head lights, and bumpers) as undamaged, damaged or missing, based on collisions detected on the vehicle; the core of each vehicle remains visually unchanged despite heavy damage. Boats and planes, however, will not show signs of damage until they are on the verge of exploding.
Between GTA Vice City and GTA Vice City Stories, various improvements and refinements were made on GTA III's damage engine:
- For road vehicles in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, front windscreens may now be shattered and tires can be punctured using a firearm (the latter affects handling and grip as an affected vehicle is more prone to spinouts; it also allows for the inclusion of spike strips) and melee weapons may be effectively used to damage vehicles, while trunk lids may detach from a vehicle at a certain speed if ajar; motorbikes and helicopters, which were introduced in the game, have only smoke from the engine to show. Smoke effects and color from the engine have also been improved to better depict the condition of a damaged vehicle (from white, to a mix of white and black, to black). Destroyed boats may also sink in the water, as are aircraft and road vehicles that have landed in water.
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas forgoes removable front quarter panels altogether (although headlights may still be broken if the same area is damaged), but allows bumpers to dangle before detaching. Doors, trunk lids, and boot lids may also be closed shut by physical force (i.e. swaying a vehicle side by side), making detachment of these parts far more difficult. Road vehicles may also explode if its fuel intake cap is shot at. Fixed-wing aircraft in the game may degrade performance-wise with increasing damage, and possess the ability to emit smoke from damage parts (such as the wings and fuselage), while flaps on the tail and wings may dangle for similar reasons. Airplanes may also explode on impact with any surface. Bicycles, which were introduced in the game, are invulnerable to damage.
- As Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories reuse GTA Vice City's game engine, their damage engines are exactly the same as in GTA Vice City. However, like GTA San Andreas, quarter panels are not detachable.
Grand Theft Auto Advance, which uses an independent top-down game engine, possesses a vehicle damage engine largely similar to that of GTA 1 and GTA 2, except large vehicles (i.e. buses and trucks) may also face the risk of rolling over when cornering at high speeds.
HD Universe
For Grand Theft Auto IV, vehicle damage has improved in leaps and bounds. Imminent destruction is now represented by either a burning engine, a burning gas tank or both, and clunking engine noises are reintroduced for vehicles with damaged engines. Alternately, the engines of severely damaged vehicles may simply cut off (this can be rectified by calling any number on the player's mobile phone); in addition, flipped vehicles no longer burn and explode. Also, most vehicles feature no gascaps as San Andreas had, eliminating the factor of exploding vehicles instantly with a single gun shot to the cap, however, very few cars feature such a cap, although it is merely for cosmetic purposes, such as on the Infernus or the Bullet GT. Sometimes, if players bail from any vehicles that is airborne at considerable great height, they may explode instantaneously on impact, with more chances if the vehicle lands around the engine or fuel tank area, although this also has the consequence of the player's death.
Instead of using readily modeled parts, GTA IV uses a more flexible, but not necessarily realistic, damage engine that allows any part of a vehicle's body to flex and distort based on the force and direction of an impact; the body of boats and helicopters may now be damaged in this manner, while motorcycles still do not. Essentially limitless on the extent on damage that can be done, players can literally flatten or crush any vehicle using extreme force; close contact with explosions may also damage a vehicle's bodywork severely. In addition, should a road vehicle sustain severe frontal or rear damage, its axle may also bend to a point when it can no longer function, locking and dragging its wheel along the ground as the vehicle moves, greatly affecting performance.
Small arms damage is handled differently in GTA IV, unlike in prior games where shooting a vehicle anywhere (engine, side panel, etc.) reduces its overall integrity. Side panels can sustain a significant amount of firearm damage whereas the engine compartment and fuel tank are more vulnerable. Drivers and passengers, including the player, risk health or armor damage if the greenhouse is shot.
Other minor damages were added in the game. Individual lights, including those of motorbikes, and windows can be broken. Opened doors can be broken off by forcing them against another solid object, as doors are now registered as solid objects. Loose hood and trunk lids can be torn off at high speeds, unless the player slows down and allow the lid to close. Scrapes, scratches and bullet holes are added for minute damages. Flat tires can break apart at a certain speed, resulting in the wheel running on a bare rim; tires may also be destroyed by fire or by burning out excessively, also fire damage may damage suspension, as the car will sag heavily onto whichever wheel. There is a glitch where if a door, trunk, or hood has been broken off and repaired "illegitimately" via the health cheat, they appear to be "weakened" as a simple rub against another car, or object, or driving over a broken fire hydrant will cause them to fall off. The only way to fix this, is taking a trip to a Pay 'n' Spray. Vehicles that have sunk or float in shallow water that leads to the engine cutting out, can be rescued by pushing the vehicle out of the water. They do, however, work on a rough timer of an estimated two minutes before the vehicle will no longer be operational.
In Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, the damage system reverts to that of the 3D Universe, limiting visual damage to ajar doors and hood and trunk lids, and smoke or fire from the engine. Vehicles are now certain to explode after sufficient damage, and the player will also be set alight when a vehicle they have damaged heavily ignites. Flipped vehicles will also explode in the same manner as it does prior to GTA IV.
Vehicle damage in Grand Theft Auto V is mostly similar to that in GTA IV; however, front quarter panels and bumpers can now fall off after sufficient damage, and wheels can break off the axle if hit hard enough. Vehicles that end up on the roof can be turned right side up by jarring the left analog stick, alleviating frustrations of potentially failing a mission due to a mission-specific vehicle being rendered unusable. However, this could already be done in GTA San Andreas, but on a somewhat limited scale. The fuel tank can be damaged to the point where it may leak fuel. The vehicle remains operational until the fuel runs out, and if the resulting fuel trail is ignited, it will catch fire and the vehicle will explode. Many non-emergency and non-industrial vehicles can be taken to Los Santos Customs and fitted with armor and puncture-resistant tires to increase durability.
See also


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Healthy & Delicious: Avocado Chicken Salad Recipe
Healthy and delicious recipes from Serious Eats
As part of my life's work to eradicate it from the face of the earth, I'm forever in search of salads with no mayonnaise. Egg salad, macaroni salad, potato salad - all too often, their otherwise delicious ingredients are drenched in Hellmann's, rendering them fairly unhealthy, somewhat unattractive, and to me at least, completely revolting.
That's why, when I find a recipe like Mrs. Micah's Avocado Chicken Salad, I'm quick to jump on it, lest the computer gods steal it away like so many accidentally unsaved grad school papers. I made the dish (note: with some changes) the day I first saw it (note: yesterday), and have been high on it ever since (note: 17 hours as of noon).
Aside from its bright, guacamole-tinged flavor, the salad is wonderfully moist without being heavy. It derives much of that from avocado, tomato, and pan-cooked chicken thighs, which add juiciness and only a little fat. A touch of cilantro and lime seal the deal, leaving you with a smile on your face, a spring in your step, and a stellar, mayo-less chicken salad recipe in your repertoire.
A word about chicken thighs: while chicken breast is the fallback poultry of perpetually dieting cooks everywhere (self included), boneless, skinless chicken thighs are only a tad fattier and much, much tastier. If you can find them on sale, stock up and freeze for future use.
- Yield:4
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, filleted
- Kosher salt and fresh black pepper
- 1 Hass avocado, chopped
- 1 large beefsteak or slicing tomato, seeded and chopped
- 1/2 bunch scallions, chopped
- 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
- 1 lime
Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high. While oil is heating, salt and pepper both sides of the chicken. Add chicken to pan and sear 4 or 5 minutes per side, until browned and just cooked through. Remove chicken from pan and let sit for 10 minutes.
While chicken is cooling, combine avocado, tomato, scallions, and cilantro in a bowl. Then cut the lime into approximate halves, with one slightly bigger than the other. Squeeze larger half over ingredients in bowl. Stir to combine.
Once fairly cooled, chop chicken into 1/2-inch chunks. Squeeze remaining lime over chunks and add to avocado mixture. Stir until combined. (Avocado should cover everything, but shouldn't itself be annihilated.) Salt and pepper to taste.


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It's time to show them just how special they really are! 1-800-FLOWERS.COM offers an amazing selection of birthday flowers and gifts they are sure to love. In just a few clicks you can purchase and send the perfect gift that will add to their birthday cheer. Why wait? Arrange for your delivery today and make this birthday one to remember. Shopping for fresh flowers is only the beginning when you visit 1-800-FLOWERS.COM. Sweet and salty treats, decorative flower arrangements, stuffed animals, and balloons can all be combined to create an amazing gift. Recipients turning 1 to 100 will appreciate the sentiment of our unique birthday flowers and gifts.
Some special friends and family members enjoy gifts that are out-of-the-box! 1-800-FLOWERS.COM offers a rich selection of chocolate dipped strawberries, caramel apples, nuts, and other delectable treats to satisfy those with a celebratory sweet tooth. Adorable stuffed animals are also available with some packages for the younger birthday recipients or just those young at heart.
Birthday floral arrangements can vary in size, color, vase type, and design. Depending on the message you want to send, you can select from a variety of styles ranging from sophisticated to whimsical. Some of the most popular birthday arrangements feature fresh seasonal flowers in a variety of colors and shades. Decorative designs including flip-flops, birthday cakes, and modern bouquet arrangements are sure to put a smile on their face.
If your special someone lives near or far, you can send a gift with no worries or concerns. Shipping to home addresses or office addresses are not a problem when you choose birthday flowers and gifts from 1-800-FLOWERS.COM. You can have confidence in the secure online shopping and ease of delivery that is synonymous with our team of experts. Now, all you have to do is decide which gift will be the best to give!


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The blog "Potters for the N.C. Pottery Center" has an interesting and useful new post about "Rebecca" pitchers, which were one of the most popular products of local potters during the "art pottery" era of the 1930s and 40s. Go to their blog entry here.
The name comes from the Biblical story of Rebecca at the well of Nahor in Genesis, Chapter 24. Isaac, son of Abraham, was old enough to marry, and Abraham sent a servant to the city of Nahor in Mesopotamia to find a suitable young woman. The servant arrived at the local well with ten of Abraham's camels, and planned to ask the young women of the city for a drink of water. Any one who not only gave him a drink, but poured water for the camels, would be the one sent by God for Isaac's wife.
"Rebecca, who was born to Bethuel… came out with her pitcher on her shoulder… And she went down to the well, filled her pitcher… And the servant ran to meet her and said, "Please let me drink a little water from your pitcher." So she said, "Drink, my lord." Then she… let down her pitcher and gave him a drink. And when she had finished… she said, "I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking." then she hastened and emptied her pitcher into the trough, ran back to the well to draw water, and drew water for all his camels. [verses 15-20]
The form was one of the most popular products of the J.B. Cole Pottery on the border between Randolph and Montgomery counties. Their 1940 catalog displays many different sizes and several different forms of Rebecca pitcher (see the catalog here). The children of J.B. Cole, Waymon and Nell, both lived in Randolph county and were familiar figures at the pottery for more than 60 years; they both made Rebecca pitchers large and small and in a myriad of different glaze colors.
Rebecca jugs were one of the first forms which were "just for show," meaning that they had no day to day use. The tall, narrow shape and impractical tall looped handle of the jugs were impractical for almost any method of dipping and carrying water in rural North Carolina.
The standard utilitarian forms were pitchers and jugs. Pitchers were short and fat, with wide mouths, usually used to serve milk;
Jugs were round and bulbous with narrow mouths, usually used to store and transport liquor.
The shape of a Rebecca pitcher is that of a "ewer," an ancient ceremonial form with a single tall handle and a flaring spout. This was definitely NOT a traditional North Carolina form, and was probably copied from Sunday School literature which illustrated archeological forms.
The form is still offered in some fashion by most of the Seagrove area potters. Here's one from King's Pottery, which has their website here.


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PositionClicks brauchte ein neues Website Design und hat einen Wettbewerb auf 99designs gestartet.
Aus 15 Designs von 7 Designern wurde eine Gewinner gewählt.
National legal advertiser providing 100s of various legal niche websites for attorneys/lawyers to advertise with.
Disabled Americans looking to apply or re-apply for social security disability benefits.
The sites primary focus is to funnel viewers into the sites contact us form (see attached image .form) I would like for this form to be on the page and be the main focus. I would like the colors of the site to be similar to this old banner ( image banner) I really like the look of the banner however I want something different but also something that looks similar with logo and use of the american flag. This is a landing page for the site however, the page needs to be able to be used throughout the website with or without the form and still look good. Some website designs i like are:
Please keep the patriotic red, white and blue theme.


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The image shows the Human Task editor. On the left are the following links from top to bottom: General, Data, Assignment, Presentation, Deadlines, Notification (selected), Access, and Events.
To the right is the Advanced tab of the Notification section. Below this from top to bottom are the No Reminders list, the Encoding list, the Make notifications secure (exclude details) check box, the Show worklist URL in notifications checkbox, the Make notification actionable checkbox, the Send task attachments with email notifications check box, Group notification configuration list (with Send individual emails selected), Use separate task forms based on locale check box, and the Notification header attributes section, which is expanded to display the Name, Value, Add icon, and Delete icon sections.


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Seattle Public Utilities Mami Hara, General Manager/CEO
Construction and Demolition Waste Management
Construction and demolition (C&D) related materials account for approximately 31% of all waste disposed in Seattle. Construction waste is generated through construction, demolition and remodeling activities by contractors, commercial businesses and homeowners. Seattle has recently adopted new recycling requirements for C&D materials through landfill disposal bans, facility certification and waste diversion reporting. Seattle's Green Building Incentives programs also often require salvaging and recycling a large percentage of the construction waste generated by construction activities. Learn more about these topics and how to find recycling services for your project through the following resources:
- Salvage and deconstruct materials before demolition or remodeling.
- For remaining waste, comply with new Seattle laws that impact your business and construction projects:
- Find a recycler for specific materials from King County's "What do I do with..." list.
- Follow city permitting, land use and code compliance policies and procedures through Client Assistance Memos on Solid Waste Information for Developers and Building Material Salvage and Recycling.


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jutaylor necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 62 diseños de 13 diseñadores freelance.
"The DotCom Lifestyle" (Stop Dreaming..and Start Living Your Dream!)
As a company we like designs that are fun and colorful. Visit http://www.helpmybusiness.com or http://www.gotbiz.tv to see some sample logos.
Stop Dreaming…and Start Living Your Dream!
How does a broke gym teacher in the Bronx, NY, become a world-renowned expert on fitness and internet business development in the space of a few short years?
It's all about passion, according to Ryan Lee.
Highly sought after as a business consultant, motivational speaker and fitness expert, Lee has been featured in publications including The New York Times, Entrepreneur, and Millionaire Blueprints. His "Four Minute Workout" series was a best-selling infomercial phenomenon, and today Lee oversees an empire of over 50 recurring revenue products.
Like a personal fitness trainer helping to whip both your business and body into tip top shape, Lee's humorous, high-voltage approach is always enlightening, entertaining—and above all—energizing. Whether you're interested in increasing your revenue or your muscle mass, "The Dotcom Lifestyle" will help you develop a business on the internet that allows you to live the lifestyle of your choice.
So stop dreaming…and start living your dream! Because you can't get ahead until you get off your behind!
Entrepreneurs; Business Owners
Description – We are creating a new Web TV show called "The DotCom Lifestyle" . We need a logo. Concentrate on the "LIFESTYLE" portion of the title not the "DOTCOM"
What I Want – Bold, colorful, fun designs. (See above). It needs to look good as small as 72 x72, SO PLEASE THINK THAT THROUGH.
What I Don't Want – DO NOT INCLUDE THE TAG LINE (Stop Dreaming..and Start Living Your Dream). We also do not want anything techy.
Formats - We need to have a vector file (Illustrator).
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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Death Valley park officials consider wild burros a scourge. To activists like Diana Chontos, the misunderstood creatures embody the soul of the West
It's a breathtakingly cold January morning on this isolated ranch in the Eastern Sierra. The burros are moving slowly in the early light, exhaling steam in the 27-degree air. This is where Diana Chontos lives alone with 180 burros. The ranch is Wild Burro Rescue, a last outpost for burros removed from nearby Death Valley National Park.
Alpenglow on the freshly fallen mountain snow turns the jagged peaks pink, but Chontos has little time to stand and marvel at the sunrise; she's wondering if the water troughs will be frozen when she steps outside. If they are, this means extra work on top of distributing grain, cleaning stalls, providing special care to elderly burros, and bringing in firewood before dark so that she and her 11 dogs can stay warm through the windy, bitterly cold night.
Mercifully, the water isn't frozen. The burros perk up at the sight of her, gathering together and letting out low sounds, like a murmuring crowd. Behind them, the Inyo Mountains glow, marking the western boundary of Death Valley National Park, the 3.4 million-acre expanse of desert they once called home.
How Chontos and the burros ended up together on the ranch in Olancha is a story hundreds of years in the making.
Chontos' part began in 1985 in Washington state, where she was living when she found out about a burro roundup taking place in Death Valley. The park service had long seen the animals as an invasive species, and they were taking another stab at extinguishing them for good. She and her then husband adopted two, both of whom turned out to be pregnant.
"Seven months later I had two baby burros," she says, smiling. "Happiest time of my life. And then I found out two years later that Death Valley had started shooting them."
Incensed, she and her husband quit their careers and decided to take their burros on a walk — a 500-mile walk from Mt. St. Helens in Washington to Mt. Lassen in northern California.
"We got so tired of people saying, 'What are burros good for? Why do you want burros?'" she says. "We decided to just take the burros out and show them."
They traveled all summer in a sort of educational road show. Each day they'd educate people on trails and in towns, and each night, the burros would lay down beside their sleeping bags.
"A lot of times when I didn't even trust myself, I'd let the donkeys go and say, 'You pick the trail. I'll follow you," Chontos remembers. "And they always would."
That journey led her to a wild horse rescue in Shingletown, California, where she had learned of 14 recently rounded up burros that the sanctuary couldn't take in. Over a campfire and a bottle of Jim Beam, she and the sanctuary owner struck a deal: The burros were hers to care for.
"I wasn't going to walk away and have that on my head for the rest of my life," Chontos says. "So I went home (to Washington) and I founded Wild Burro Rescue to offer Death Valley an alternative to killing."
Chontos is a Pacific Northwesterner at heart, but she established Wild Burro Rescue in Olancha, California, just outside of Death Valley National Park, to give the burros a chance to live as close to their home as possible. Originally from North Africa, the burros thrive in the harsh environment, which is brutally hot in the summer and freezing in the winter. For humans, it's not so easy.
"I'd much rather live in the rainforest of Washington state," Chontos says. "Rain there goes into the ground. Rain here takes the mountain away. But it's the burros' country, so I live here for them."
Since starting Wild Burro Rescue in 1991, Chontos has taken in hundreds of burros from Death Valley, many of which might have otherwise died. She remains at the windswept ranch in Olancha, ready to take in more should the need arise.
The good, the bad, and the burros
The need may arise soon. Not everyone loves burros like Chontos does. In December of 2017, the first rumblings of a burro roundup began with a Facebook post from the park service. Accompanied by images of a desert spring, hoofprints in the dirt and a herd of burros standing resolute among sagebrush, it read, "Feral burros, which are not native, cause significant damage to these precious resources." The social media post included a request that visitors to Death Valley report the location of burros to the park service, for the purposes of "resource protection." In other words, they were looking to get rid of the burros.
Abby Wines, management assistant for Death Valley National Park, says the park service is getting ready to conduct the first burro roundup since 2005.
"Death Valley's goal is a zero burro and horse population in the park," she explains. "Burros are not native, and the national park service has direction that we are supposed to preserve the natural environment of the landscape. Burros damage springs and compete with desert bighorn sheep for both food and water."
It would be more fitting to say that burros appear to compete for food and water because few major studies on burros have been carried out in the United States since a 1974 review by the California Department of Fish and Game, which describes "spring and waterhole disturbance, and competition with native wildlife for food, water and space." The report suggests that burros are one threat among many, including respiratory diseases, parasites, drought — and humans: "mining activities, usurpation or occupation of water sources, highway construction, fencing and other barriers, and poaching." Another 2008 literature review, conducted by UNLV Life Sciences Assistant Professor Scott Abella, cited studies between 1972 and 1988 that noted burros' grazing impact on native grasses and competition with desert tortoises.
But it's not so straightforward. Research conducted by Erick Lundgren in 2015 offers a different picture. Then a master's student in biology at Arizona State University, Lundgren wondered whether burros might benefit the environment by increasing access to water for other species. He placed trail cameras on wells dug by wild burros in the Sonoran Desert, and found that more than 40 native species use the wells. The footage, which can be found on YouTube, shows burros digging wells. As the video continues, we see javelinas, bighorn sheep, cattle, coyotes, and mule deer drinking from the wells, occasionally alongside the burros. Lundgren also contributed to an October 2017 article in the journal Ecography, "Introduced Megafauna Are Rewilding the Anthropocene." Lundgren, now a Ph.D. student in ecology at the University of Technology Sydney, says his research doesn't answer whether wild burros are, on the whole, good or bad for Death Valley. But it certainly complicates the conversation, and suggests that perhaps the reigning paradigm of park wildlife management — keep everything as "natural" as possible — isn't very realistic or useful.
"The simplistic good/bad distinction when it comes to talking about native species and introduced species is starting to fall apart," he says. "I think the next generation of land management professionals and ecologists will start to question these paradigms." He adds: "It would be nice to see if we could create a new mandate that allows nature to change and evolve as it does. It seems much of our effort is to resist that change. The very least Death Valley could do is study burros."
The survivors who flourished
To understand how Death Valley arrived at its latest attempt to remove the burro, you must go back to a time before the park was even a park. Burros arrived in Death Valley in the mid-19th century, brought there by white settlers determined to extract gold from the unforgiving mountains, even if it meant driving out the Timbisha Shoshone natives who had been there since 900 A.D. The settlers eventually used mammoth burros — a giant breed of burro — and draft horses to create the iconic Twenty Mule Teams often associated with the early days of borax mining in Death Valley. After the burros had served their purpose, the miners and settlers let them go, not giving any thought about whether the animals would survive or perish.
The burros did more than survive. They flourished — or at least they did until 1933, when Death Valley became a national monument. The burro roundups began in 1938 and continued periodically until 2005. Roundups were conducted by setting water and food traps and later by corralling them via helicopter. Roundups included relocation to government auction sites, attempts at adoption, and, in many cases, killing. According to a 1985 Los Angeles Times article, federal officials acknowledged that as many as 700 burros may have been unintentionally killed during roundups at the time, with some shipped to a slaughterhouse in Oregon. Up through the early 1990s, the park service occasionally shot burros as part of its management plan.
According to Chontos, this often involved deliberately shooting pregnant female burros (called "jennies") in the stomach. "It takes hours to die if you gut shoot them," she says.
"None of them have been killed since 1993 due to public outcry," Wines points out, describing the phases of the current management plan. Wines says the park service is currently involved in phase two of that plan, which involves working with nonprofit organizations that will help with the roundup process.
Despite the fact that Wild Burro Rescue would offer the remaining Death Valley burros a chance to live in the same environment they've called home since the 19th century, the park service has not contacted Diana Chontos for assistance with the current roundup. Instead, they plan to work with Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue, a nonprofit based in Texas. The reason for this, Wines says, is money or, rather, the park service's lack of it. "Peaceful Valley is able to fund this one on their own," says Wines.
Peaceful Valley plans to use the water trapping method to capture all of the wild burros in Death Valley (a number estimated at 600 to 4,000, depending on who you talk to). Burros will then be domesticated and offered for adoption all over the country, from Connecticut to Washington. Any burros that can't be domesticated will live out their lives in sanctuaries in Texas or Louisiana. The initial roundup was set for March through May of this year, before scorching summertime temperatures. Assuming funding is available, subsequent roundups will continue until the park's zero-burro policy is met.
Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue has been involved in burro roundups across the country for over 20 years, but this is their first foray into Death Valley.
"This isn't a government project," says Mark Meyers, executive director of Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue. "This is a donkey rescue project. We put the safety of the burros first. We don't want to go out and cowboy around."
If phase one is the government roundup, and phase two involves help from nonprofit rescue groups, what's phase three? "Direct reduction" — government-speak for shooting the burros — an action which the park service is still legally able to take.
"If it wasn't for us, they would shoot them," Meyers says. "That's the only way they can meet the letter of the law. They have no money, they have a skeleton crew."
'We owe it to them'
Part of the burros' quandary — they survived and flourished, only to be chased out, rounded up, or shot — is an image problem. People don't view burros the way they view wild horses, even though both are non-native equines.
"Horses are beautiful and magnificent, and the wind blows in their tails and manes," Chontos says. "Burros just stand there and look at you with great big brown eyes. I don't know, it's just some romantic Western thing, the wild horses."
She's right. There is something to be said for the image of a mustang running wild in the Western landscape. But there's also something to be said for a burro, all stocky limbs and sturdy spirit, plodding along and carrying settlers across Death Valley, methodically climbing steep mountainsides to help build railroads and carry silver from mines.
"Without the burro, there would be no westward expansion," Meyers says. "They've lost their place in society, and we owe it to them to treat them with respect."
To Chontos, the burros are more than just the patient, slow creatures who carried settlers across the unforgiving desert.
Looking back on that long walk from Mt. St. Helens to Mt. Lassen, and to the burro she played with on her mother's farm as a child, she says, "They were my companions."
When the park service calls burros non-native, it's hard not to think of another non-native being: the white settler making his way across the West, seeking to drive out native people, to tame the wild land, to build resorts, raise livestock, unearth minerals, and test military weapons. In Death Valley's Cottonwood Range, it's not uncommon to see cows grazing among the Joshua trees, with the blessing of the park service. The next valley over, you can expect to be buzzed by F-18 fighter jets while soaking in the Saline Valley hot springs, all within park boundaries. In the Panamint Mountains, an active gold mine sprays the cliffs with cyanide, mere miles from the border of the park. And yet the burro is characterized as a threat to Death Valley's ecology.
For Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue and Wild Burro Rescue, going along with the park's zero-burro policy is the only way to save the animals, even if that means driving them from somewhere they never asked to be brought to in the first place.
"Nobody wants to shoot an innocent animal," Meyers says. "This isn't hunting. This is shooting an animal that will stand there and stare at you. That's the threat that hangs over your head, but as long as I'm here, it won't come to that. They'd have to shoot me, too."
"They're very much like elephants," Chontos says. "Their whole social structure is like elephants. They celebrate birth, they mourn death. They can even die when their best friend dies. And they love people. The biggest downfall of burros is that they love people."
If you drive through Death Valley, to the place where the sprawling desert floor meets the endless blue wall of the Eastern Sierra mountains, you'll find an unmarked dirt road beside a gas station in Olancha. And if you take that road — the kind of rambling, rock-strewn road that threatens to rip out the belly of your car — you'll find yourself at Chontos' ranch, among nearly 200 burros who once ran free in Death Valley. As you consider their trumpeting brays, their sturdy forms, the thought that struck Chontos decades ago may strike you, too: The spirit of Death Valley doesn't just exist in an abandoned mine shaft or in the ruins of a boomtown from the Gold Rush; it lives just as much in the footprints, the comically long ears, the gentle eyes of the burro


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When director Shawn Levy's Real Steel opened last October, it surprised quite a few people. For one, the so-called "robot boxing movie" packed a whole lot of heart. While some may have been expecting wall-to-wall robot fights, they soon found out that buried beneath this sci-fi adventure was an emotional father-son story. Secondly, audiences discovered that Real Steel featured some of the best visual effects of the year. I nstead of relying solely on CG for the numerous robot-boxing matches, Levy opted for a nuanced blend of practical effects and cutting-edge motion capture technology. What resulted was some of the most seamlessly blended effects in recent memory. When it came time for the Oscars to announce the contenders in the Best Visual Effects category, it was no surprise that Real Steel popped up on the list.
As we're just a few weeks away from the Academy Awards, Steve got the chance to sit down with Levy earlier today to talk about the visual effects in the film. In addition to musing on the hybrid effects approach, the SimulCam technology that made the effects possible, and what sets Real Steel apart from the other VFX nominees, Levy also provided a few updates on the Real Steel sequel, specifically talking about how their approach to Real Steel 2 was directly influenced by what demographics responded to Real Steel most passionately. Hit the jump to watch the full interview.
Here's a time index so you can watch the parts that interest you:
- :08 – Levy shows off and talks about the original model of Atom that they made when conceptualizing the film. They based all the robots in the movie off of this model.
- 1:17 – Talks about the enthusiastically positive response to the movie from people on the street and colleagues in the entertainment business. With 20/20 hindsight, he'd like to tinker the marketing. Real Steel is more of a family film geared towards a father-son story, but the marketing sold it as a "robots fighting" movie.
- 3:35 – The difficulty of selling an original movie not based on any pre-existing material in a 30-second TV spot. "The reason why, frankly, sequel talks are still ongoing is that the movie's done $300 million around the world, we're on our third round of making the toys, our DVD has sold and rented crazily, and so we've kind of been having these conversations about like, it's in the culture now and if we were to tell a new iteration of that same story, we're not climbing that same hill."
- 4:30 – The status of the Real Steel sequel: "I speak to [DreamWorks Co-Chariman/CEO] Stacey Snider every week and we're getting our script within the next two weeks. I'll just say that—I mean look, $300 million worldwide, that's a good number for a movie that cost just north of $100 million. The DVD seems to be articulating, the sales of the DVD seems to be speaking to a fanbase that now exists, whether it's from having seen the feature or being curious and seeking it out on Blu-ray. I'll just say that those numbers with the box office, with the toy sales, they've all got us thinking and they do have us talking. So it's a maybe with a capital 'M' (laughs). I just made up that incredibly pretentious expression."
- 6:04 – Talks about the hybrid of practical and computer-generated visual effects. In order to make the seamless blend of the old school approach, they built the actual robots complete with hydrolic remote controls and used the practical robot for every shot that was possible with a real robot. The fighting, dancing, etc. of the robots was done using motion-capture and CG. They blended the old school craftsmanship of great practical effects work done by puppeteers with the outer edge of motion-capture technology to give Real Steel a textural realism.
- 7:35 – Steve recounts a story about describing the seamless integration of Real Steel to Michael Bay about the seamless integration he saw in a Real Steel editing bay visit.
- 8:07 – Talks about what he thinks distinguishes Real Steel from the other visual effects Oscar nominees. He says their blend of the older paradigms in effects work with the newest paradigms of effects work results in the visual effects on display in Real Steel.
- 9:00 – The practical models. Levy says he has Atom's head in his office, but there's also a full articulated Atom and a stunt Atom. Noisy Boy, Ambush, and the Hero Atom are still in Stan Winston's studio.
- 9:59 – Real Steel action figures. Levy says he has the whole set and they sit in his office next to his model Owen Wilson from Night at the Museum.
- 10:48 Explains what Simulcam is and how the process works. The computer captures the movement of the fights, stores the data, and converts it into a robot. Each robot is a different fighter so the robots have distinctive styles. When he's filming a fight between two human boxers, the computer shows him onset the robot versions of each fighter moving. The Simulcam is a real-time comp and playback of the motion capture data.
- 11:58 – How much has the story they're working on now for the sequel changed from their initial idea for the follow-up. "The question you can and should be asking is how much is that story gonna be tweaked based on what we now know is the fanbase of the franchise. Because what I now know is, yeah maybe teenagers were into Real Steel but not nearly as passionately as kids and their parents. Which is interesting because I'm like 'the family film guy' and here I made a movie that doesn't look like anything else I've made, that's tonally different, and yet we never escape what we are."
- 12:44 – Talks about tweaking the sequel script based on knowing the fanbase of Real Steel "I broke the story of the sequel with John Gatins, so the writer of Real Steel 1 and I, when DreamWorks told us 'We want another one', we sat in a room for a couple of months, and then we sat in a room with Spielberg, and we tweaked it and we reworked it, and so the story that we're writing for the sequel to Real Steel is very much the story that John Gatins and I broke way back when. Once I started seeing 'Well who is sending me those letters since Real Steel came out, what are the things about that movie that people are responding to?' Yes it's the fights, but it was really that father-son heart of the movie, and the wish fulfillment of like 'What if you could be that kid?' and the good movies, whether it's The Goonies or whatever, it's going to tap into the kid version of us. I think that's what Night at the Museum did and I think that's what Real Steel did and so we're certainly kind of tweaking the sequel script based on an awareness now that that is what happened with Real Steel."


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PHOENIX - Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is in good condition now and will be moved to a rehabilitation center on Wednesday morning, according to officials at the Houston hospital where she is being treated.
Giffords' condition was upgraded from serious on Tuesday evening, a statement from Memorial Herrmann-Texas Medical Center said.
Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, were photographed in her hospital room watching President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
Giffords was moved to Houston Friday from Tucson, where she had been treated since being shot Jan. 8 in an assassination attempt that left six people dead and 12 others wounded.
The statement said "Giffords has made strong progress" in the intensive care unit and was ready to move on to rehabilitation. A news conference was planned for 3 p.m. local time Wednesday.
Giffords, a three-term Democratic congresswoman, was shot in the forehead. Among the six who died in the attack at a constituent event was a 9-year-old girl who was interested in politics and was taken there by a neighbor to meet Giffords.
Christina Taylor Green's family, as well as a Giffords intern who cared for the congresswoman after she was shot, attended the State of the Union speech in Washington. Daniel Hernandez was hailed as a hero for rushing to Giffords' side and applying pressure to her wounds before paramedics arrived.
Also attending the address was Dr. Peter Rhee, head of trauma surgery at the hospital where Giffords initially was treated.
An empty seat was left in the chamber, and Obama noted Giffords' absence in the speech.
On Monday, the 22-year-old man accused in the shooting pleaded not guilty to charges in the attack.Jared Loughner smiled and nodded but said nothing as his attorney entered the plea Monday to federal charges of trying to assassinate Giffords and kill two of her aides. He also faces murder charges in the deaths of a federal judge and another Giffords aide killed in the Tucson shootings, and more charges were expected.


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Alaska and Hawaii Seafood Dives
The Bamboo Room Restaurant, 14-15 Second Ave., Haines, AK; 907/766-2800 or kcd.com/bamboo/index2.html . Justly famous for halibut fish-and-chips. (2001)
The Hangar on the Wharf, 2 Marine Way, Juneau, AK; 907/586-5018 or hangaronthewharf.com . The menu features "Hangar Wraps" encasing king crab and other fixin's; "Pre-flight Snacks" of steamers, crab dip, and the like; and "Water Landings" for halibut, salmon, and crab. (2005)
Hot Bite, Auke Bay Harbor, Auke Bay, AK; 907/790-2483. Since 1983, Southeast Alaskans have headed here for juicy buffalo burgers and halibut cheek sandwiches with cusabi (cucumber-and-wasabi dressing). A few miles north of downtown Juneau, the café's small pink building lies beyond the cruise-ship crowds. (2006)
Huggo's on the Rocks, 75-5828 Kahakai Rd., Kailua-Kona, HI; 808/329-7204 or huggos.com . On the Big Island (Hawaii), this open-air restaurant features a thatched-roof bar and front-row seats for showy sunsets. Ahi sashimi and seafood pizza provide ocean-inspired fare. (2004)
La Mariana Sailing Club, 50 Sand Island Rd., Honolulu, HI; 808/848-2800. A kitschy Oahu hideaway with tiki bar ambience and a mean mahi mahi burger. (2001)
Paia Fish Market and Restaurant, 100 Hana Highway. Paia, HI; 808/579-8030. Maui windsurfers dock here for the fresh fish (several varieties, several preparation choices), then grab a place at one of seven picnic tables. (2005)
The Shrimp Shack, 53-352 Kamehameha Highway. Punaluu, HI; 808/256-5589 or alternative-hawaii.com/shrimp . The bright-yellow lunch truck parked at Naturally Hawaiian Gallery in Punaluu draws hungry motorists to Oahu's north shore for pan-fried garlic shrimp. Served with two scoops of rice, locally grown corn on the cob, and an ocean view, it's well worth the drive from Honolulu. (2007)


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It's like deja vu all over again.
Last year I posted a graphic similar to the one below. That was on November 23rd. It took about a month longer this season, but the same "any given Sunday" concept can now be represented in graphical form once again.
All credit for the graphic goes to Reddit user butterbuttz. It has 630 upvotes and counting as I type this.
Update: And just who is "butterbuttz" you may be wondering? He is Scott Hamilton of the blog Crabby Scott's. Follow him on Twitter at @NYYSportsFan.
I would actually be curious to know if this concept has been applicable in every NFL season (other than 1972, of course). My guess is no, but I bet it does happen more often than it does not. I'm not about to take the time to figure it out, but if anyone has this knowledge offhand please comment below.


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Officials: Smoke filled the cabin of Dreamliner in Logan fire — after passengers had disembarked
A fire broke out this morning in a battery in the underbelly of a Japan Airlines Boeing 787 jetliner parked at Logan International Airport, filling the plane's cabin with heavy smoke after passengers had disembarked, Massport officials said today.
The firefighters were on the scene within three minutes, said Ed Freni, Massport aviation director.
Massport Fire Rescue Chief Robert J. Donahue said arriving firefighters encountered heavy smoke in the cabin and used thermal imaging devices to determine the source of the fire.
"We found a fire condition about midships in the avionics compartment underneath,'' he said. He said the fire began in a battery that was part of an auxiliary power unit that is only used when the plane is on the ground and its engines are turned off.
The fire was extinguished within an hour, officials said. Donahue said firefighters used the halotron fire extinguishing agent. No injuries were reported.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it would send investigators to Boston to look into the incident, the latest of several electrical and mechanical mishaps involving the much-anticipated high-tech plane known as the Dreamliner.
On Dec. 5, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered inspections of all 36 787s in service after it received reports of fuel leaks on two aircraft operated by foreign airlines. Several incorrectly assembled fuel couplings on in-service and in-production 787s were subsequently discovered. The conditions could result in fuel leaks that could lead to a loss of power or fire, according to the FAA directive.
Boeing is also investigating electrical issues on the Dreamliner after incidents involving at least four aircraft, according to several published news reports. A United Airlines flight from Houston to Newark was diverted to New Orleans last month after an electrical problem occurred mid-flight, and Qatar Airways later said it grounded a 787 for the same reason. United took another jet out of service to replace a power panel and generator, and a power panel on an aircraft set to be delivered to Qatar Airways was replaced following a test flight.
The Dreamliner, which is made with durable, lightweight composites, relies heavily on its electrical system, using more electricity to power its primary and secondary systems than conventional planes do.
"We are aware of the event and working with our customer,'' Boeing said in a statement. The FAA issued a statement saying it was "looking into'' the incident. The Japan Airlines public relations office didn't immediately return a message seeking comment.
Freni said he believed that this particular plane had gone into service only recently, in the past few weeks.
He said he had seen the plane land from his office. "I saw it taxiing. There was no indication of smoke at that point,'' he said.
Flight 8 was expected to turn around and fly back this afternoon, but it has now been grounded.
The Dreamliner nonstop flight connecting Boston and Tokyo has been a pivotal part of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's efforts to expand trade between Massachusetts and Asia.
Passengers who had been aboard the flight said they were unaware that a fire had broken out.
Noriyuki Sakai, an engineer visiting Boston on business, said, the flight was "very usual, and there were no problems.''
"Oh, that's where it was?'' a surprised Yutaro Yamaguchi, 16, said. "I didn't smell anything.''
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Found 174 resultsAuthor Title Type [ Year]
Filters: First Letter Of Title is R [Clear All Filters]
"Randomized Trial of Lactin-V to Prevent Recurrence of Bacterial Vaginosis.", N Engl J Med, vol. 382, no. 20, pp. 1906-1915, 2020.,
"Randomized Multicenter Trial of Sirolimus vs. Prednisone as Initial Therapy for Standard Risk Acute GVHD: BMT CTN 1501.", Blood, 2019.,
"Randomized Clinical Trial of A Single Versus A Double Dose Of 13-Valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine In Adults 55 Through 74 Years of Age Previously Vaccinated With 23-Valent Pneumococcal Polysaccharide Vaccine", Vaccine, vol. 36, no. 5, pp. 606-614, 2018.,
"A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial to Assess the Utility of Tacrolimus (FK506) for the Prevention of Erectile Dysfunction Following Bilateral Nerve-Sparing Radical Prostatectomy.", J Sex Med, vol. 15, no. 9, pp. 1293-1299, 2018.,
"A randomized, placebo-controlled phase I trial of live, attenuated herpes zoster vaccine in subjects with end-stage renal disease immunized prior to renal transplantation.", Transpl Infect Dis, vol. 20, no. 3, p. e12874, 2018.,
"Randomized trial comparing the safety and antibody responses to live attenuated versus inactivated influenza vaccine when administered to breastfeeding women.", Vaccine, vol. 36, no. 31, pp. 4663-4671, 2018.,
"Reduced-intensity conditioning for hematopoietic cell transplant for HLH and primary immune deficiencies.", Blood, vol. 132, no. 13, pp. 1438-1451, 2018.,
"Randomized Comparison of Allogeneic Versus Autologous Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Nonischemic Dilated Cardiomyopathy: POSEIDON-DCM Trial", J Am Coll Cardiol, vol. 69, no. 5, pp. 526-537, 2017.,
"A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial of N-acetylcysteine for Cannabis Use Disorder in Adults", Drug Alcohol Depend, vol. 177, pp. 249-257, 2017.,
"A Randomized Trial of Hyperbaric Oxygen in U.S. Service Members with Post-Concussive Symptoms", in Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society Annual Scientific Meeting 2017, Naples, FL, 2017.,
"Recruiting a Representative Sample in Adherence Research -The MALT Multisite Prospective Cohort Study Experience", Pediatr Transplant, vol. 21, no. 8, 2017.,
"A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study of Omalizumab Combined with Oral Immunotherapy for the Treatment of Cow's Milk Allergy", J Allergy Clin Immunol, vol. 137, no. 4, pp. 1103-10.e1-11, 2016.,
"Recombinant Sendai Vaccine Delivered Mucosally Induces Potent Gag-Specific T-Cell or Antibody Responses Depending on Prime Boost Regimen in Humans", in HIV R4P 2016, Chicago, IL, 2016.,
"Reduced-Intensity Conditioning with Fludarabine, Cyclophosphamide, and High-Dose Rituximab for Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation for Follicular Lymphoma: A Phase Two Multicenter Trial from the Blood and Marrow Transplant CTN", Biol Blood Marrow Transplant, vol. 22, no. 8, pp. 1440-1448, 2016.,
"Retrospective Studies: A Fresh Look", Am J Speech Lang Pathol, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 157-163, 2016.,
"A Randomized 36-Week Crossover Trial Comparing Ranibizumab and Bevacizumab for Diabetic Macular Edema", in 2015 Annual Meeting of The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), Denver, CO, 2015.,
"Recalibration and Cut-Point Refinement of Genomic Tests to Improve Clinical Interepration and Individual Risk Predictions in Prostate Cancer.", in Joint Statistical Meetings, 2015.,
"Recalibration of Genomic Risk Prediction Models in Prostate Cancer to Improve Individual-Level Predictions.", in American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, 2015.,
"Rheumatologist Care in Rheumatoid Arthritis: Are We Dropping the Ball?", in Canadian Rheumatology Association-Arthritis Health Professions Association Annual Scientific Meeting, Quebec, Canada, 2015.,
"Race and Ethnicity Differences in a MI-Based Brief Intervention Delivered in an ED Setting", in College on Problems of Drug Dependence Meeting, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2014.,
"Racial/Ethnic Differences in Clinical Trial Enrollment, Refusal Rates, Ineligibility, and Reasons for Decline Among Patients at Sites in The National Cancer Institute's Community Cancer Centers Program", Cancer, vol. 120, pp. 877-884, 2014.,
"Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Soluble Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor: Enbrel (Etanercept) for the Treatment of Idiopathic Pneumonia Syndrome After Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation: BMT CTN Protocol", Biol Blood Marrow Transplant, vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 858-864, 2014.,


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What do John Lennon, author Ayn Rand and Bill Gross have in common? They're all famous philatelists, meaning they collect and study stamps. And if you think it's just a hobby, think again. It often involves big business and bigger dollars.
As AdvisorOne contributor Ed McCarthy noted in January, The American Philatelic Society (APS) in Bellefonte, Pa., has over 33,000 members. Stamps trade actively, as well. Scott Trepel, president of Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries in New York, reports that since 1930 his firm has run 1,037 auctions of stamps and covers; the auctions' dollar volume reached $35 million in 2012. (Covers are postage stamps on a cover, postal card or stamped envelope.)
Now comes word that Gross (left) and his wife, Sue, will auction pieces of their collection in April with the proceeds going to charity. The sale is expected to generate $1.5 to $2 million for nonprofit organizations Doctors Without Borders and the Millennium Villages Project at Columbia University's Earth Institute. The auction will be conducted by Gross' "philatelic advisors," Charles and Tracy Shreve.
The bond king's philatelic ties run deep. Gross recently purchased a plate block of the famous Inverted Jenny stamp for about $3 million. The Inverted Jenny features an upside down airplane and is a famous stamp-misprint. He then traded the Jennys for a single stamp needed to complete his collection, according to McCarthy.
The Wall Street Journal's Total Return blog reports that Gross became interested in stamp collecting through his mother, who had saved sheets of stamps from the 1950s and 1960s and hoped to sell them later at a profit. While his mother's stamps ultimately weren't worth much, it notes, "Gross set about to prove that stamp collecting could be fun, but also a good investment."
Some of the items in the upcoming fundraising auction date back to 1847, the first year the United States issued postage stamps. One of the postal history highlights is a letter mailed in 1851 with an 1847 $0.10 stamp neatly cut in half and used in place of a five-cent stamp. It has an estimated value of $15,000 to $20,000.
Another highlight is a four-page letter with early Hawaiian and U.S. postage stamps that was written and mailed from Honolulu in 1854 by Maria Whitney Pogue, the first missionary child born in Hawaii. It is estimated at $50,000 to $70,000.
A letter written in 1851 and sent to New York from Canada using an 1847 U.S. postage stamp is estimated at $20,000 to $30,000. The letter is addressed to Edwin D. Morgan, who would be elected New York Governor in 1859 and elected to the U.S. Senate in 1863. Edwin also served as the first chairman of the Republican National Committee.
"I enjoy collecting, studying, admiring and displaying historic stamps and postal history, and have always been fascinated by the provenance of items and how important items move from one outstanding collection to another over the years," Gross said in a statement. "This gives each new collector an opportunity to acquire and learn. It's my hope that a new generation of collectors will carry on, deriving the same great pleasure from these items that I enjoy."
Read PIMCO's Bill Gross: 'If the Fed's So Smart, Why Are Some of Us Still Poor?' on AdvisorOne.


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Lucy Hale Announces Album Title
Lucy Hale has revealed the title of her upcoming debut album: 'Road Between'!
The 'Pretty Little Liars' star and budding country-music artist shared the big news via her social-media accounts on Tuesday (Feb. 11). "Excited to announce the title of my first ever album is #RoadBetween !! Can't wait to share these songs with u !" she wrote on Instagram.
There's no release date set yet and no other details have yet been revealed, but fans excitedly shared the news via their own social sites. It should come as no surprise that Lucy broke the news on a Tuesday night: 'PLL,' which airs at that time on ABC Family, is a regular trending topic then.
The native Tennessean has been hoping for a country career for several years, and dropped her first-ever single, 'You Sound Good to Me,' in January. The sunny and upbeat track performed well on the charts, rising to No. 21 on the country singles tally and hitting No. 1 on the iTunes Country Chart. It can probably be safely assumed that the song will be included on 'Road Between.'


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Britons were horrified by a report released on Tuesday that documented "truly dreadful" care at an English hospital, from patients left moaning in their own waste to family members forced to bring in food.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said he would press for a culture change in his country's treasured National Health Service to give patients a bigger say in their care-- and he'll get American help to do it.
The report says patients were ignored as they pleaded for clean sheets and even water, and it says certainly thousands died from the neglect. Britons, who take huge pride in their health service, were shocked by the findings of the report.
"Many will find it difficult to believe that all this could occur in an NHS hospital," Cameron said Tuesday.
While it was just one hospital – in the central English town of Staffordshire – Cameron said he couldn't believe the problems were restricted to a single facility.
"What happened at The Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust between 2005 and 2009 was not just wrong, it was truly dreadful. Hundreds of people suffered from the most appalling neglect and mistreatment," Cameron said.
"Calls for help to use the bathroom were ignored and patients were left lying in soiled sheeting and sitting on commodes for hours, often feeling ashamed and afraid," reads the report, written by lawyer Robert Francis.
"Patients were left unwashed, at times for up to a month. Food and drinks were left out of the reach of patients and many were forced to rely on family members for help with feeding," added Francis, who was appointed to investigate the hospital in 2009 after it showed a higher-than-usual rate of deaths.
Francis said it would not be possible to say just how many patients died from the neglect and poor conditions. Many British newspapers ran lurid accounts of conditions at the hospital, but Francis said he couldn't document some of them, such as reports about thirsty patients drinking from flower vases.
"The inquiry found that a chronic shortage of staff, particularly nursing staff, was largely responsible for the substandard care," he added. "Staff who spoke out felt ignored and there is strong evidence that many were deterred from doing so through fear and bullying."
Cameron said he would get help from an American – Dr. Donald Berwick, who was appointed President Barack Obama's administrator of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, but who finally stepped down after Republicans in Congress refused to confirm his appointment. Many Republicans were infuriated by Berwick's praise of Britain's NHS.
Berwick, an expert in healthcare quality, is now at the left-leaning Center for American Progress. He has recommended changes in quality after a series of reports have shown that anywhere between 100,000 and 200,000 Americans die every year from mistakes and neglect in the U.S. healthcare system.
Britain's National Health Service is such a source of pride that it featured prominently in opening ceremonies for last year's Olympics. U.S. supporters of healthcare reforms have pointed to its lower costs and to reports that show Britons are healthier than Americans. Critics of Obama's approach have expressed doubts that Britain's system works better than the U.S. system.
"I love our NHS, I think it is a fantastic institution, a great organization, it says a great deal about our country and who we are," Cameron said Tuesday.
The report blamed cost-cutting for many of the problems at the Staffordshire hospital. Britain's hospitals are run by trusts, which are a type of public corporation, with outside boards.
"Problems at the Trust were exacerbated at the end of 2006/07 when it was required to make a 10 million pound ($16 million) saving," the report reads. "The Board decided this saving could only be achieved through cutting staffing levels, which were already insufficient."
Cameron said boards need to be held more responsible for the hospitals they oversee, and patients need a chance to speak up when something goes wrong. But he also blamed Britain's Department of Health, nursing organizations and doctors for failing to act.
He said there were three problems in the NHS as a whole. "First, a focus on finance and figures at the expense of patient care," he said. "Second, there was an attitude that patient care was always someone else's problem….Third, defensiveness and complacency."
Health experts have identified similar problems at U.S. hospitals. The 2010 Affordable Care Act will gradually change the way hospitals are paid by Medicare and other government health insurance plans, to take patient satisfaction into account. Hospitals will also be penalized if patients get sick again too quickly after they are discharged or if they acquire infections while in the hospital.
John Newland in London contributed to this story
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NFC NORTH: Vikings' Adrian Peterson starting to find 5th gear
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Even while defying the odds to return from reconstructive knee surgery in time for the season opener, Adrian Peterson was still trying to recapture that last bit of juice and burst that he had before he went down in December.
The Minnesota Vikings star running back spent the first three weeks plowing ahead, taking all the carries given to him to try to shake the rust off, loosen that left knee up and get back to dropping jaws and leaving linebackers in his wake.
From his very first carry on Sunday against the Detroit Lions, Peterson has never looked more like his old electrifying self. He made a razor-sharp cut followed by a burst of speed through the hole for a 12-yard gain, setting the tone for a 102-yard effort in Minnesota's 20-13 victory.
"He looked more like the Adrian of old than at any point in this young season," coach Leslie Frazier said on Monday. "He had some runs that showed the strength, the power, the elusiveness that we've seen in the past. It was just great to see. There was no hitch anywhere. He looked good."
It was Peterson's first 100-yard day since last October, a critical performance for an offense that struggled to move the ball all day long, yet still managed to improve to a surprising 3-1. Four of his 21 carries went for at least 10 yards against a Lions defense that prides itself on being tough against the run.
It also allowed the sluggish offense to hold on to the ball for nearly 30 minutes to help run out the clock after two special teams touchdowns and a couple of field goals gave them enough points to snap an 11-game losing streak against NFC North opponents.
"I felt real good," Peterson said after the game. "I feel myself just continue to get stronger each week. So, I'm just blessed, thank God."
When Peterson went down against Washington in December with a significant tear in his ACL, most expected that he would need at least 10 months to recover. But after a successful surgery and a rehab plan developed by Vikings head athletic trainer Eric Sugarman and his staff, Peterson returned to action in 8½ months.
He was back in the starting lineup for the season opener against Jacksonville, rushing for 84 yards and two touchdowns against the Jaguars, rushed for 60 yards in a Week 2 loss at Indianapolis and then churned out 86 tough yards in a win against San Francisco two weeks ago. But he wasn't really back until last weekend.
Before the game against the Lions, Peterson went up to Percy Harvin and told him he felt "icy."
"When he tells me icy, that means he's smooth and ready to go," Harvin said after the game.
Even though he has been perhaps the best running back in the game ever since he entered the league in 2007, Peterson still caught the Lions off guard.
"He's a lot better than what everybody thought he was going to be," Lions defensive back Chris Houston said. "He looks a lot better coming off the injury."
And Peterson says he's only going to get better. That will be a big key for the Vikings offense, which is relying more on long, grind-it-out drives and not turning the ball over than it is on making big plays to light up the scoreboard.
"I don't know what the stats look like, but as long as we're winning, I'll keep handing it off to Adrian and Toby (Gerhart) back there and they're going to keep chugging along," said quarterback Christian Ponder, who only needed to throw for 111 yards in the victory. "As an offense, we're going to keep doing what we're supposed to be doing to win games."
That doesn't mean Peterson is content to pound it out methodically for the last 13 weeks of the season. Before he was injured, he was known for his ability to break off a 60-yard touchdown run in a heartbeat, and he feels another one of those coming sooner rather than later.
"It'll come, you know," Peterson said. "That's what I kept telling myself. I'm not focusing on it. I want to get in the end zone every time I touch the ball, but just be patient and it'll come eventually. We got the W, that's all that matters to me."