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The blizzard of information and prophesying about trends in social networking is mind-boggling, and every pundit has a take on what the next best thing will be. Some say that MySpace is dead, and Facebook is the future. Others have said that Twitter, Brightkite and newer platforms will be the communication tools that matter.
Clearly, no one knows for sure how this medium will develop. Think about your parents or older friends, many of whom are now heavy Facebook users. Two years ago, would they have even known what Facebook meant, or even what it was? You must ask what those who are shaping this medium want. Recently, I spoke with several people for different perspectives on social networking.
Jeff Zwiefel, senior vice president of club operations for Life Time Fitness, Chanhassen, MN, says metrics are key. "We are working with our club members on the front end of this phenomenon by testing some of the mediums in our clubs in a variety of ways with some early encouraging results, and believe me, we are following it closely and measuring everything," he says.
Andromeda Wuebker has been an IT executive for two decades. She also is a health club member and offers these suggestions regarding this medium:
Gather feedback from your staff and members before creating a Facebook page. Ask them to be specific with their suggestions. Do not activate any networking technology until you know what you want to accomplish.
The club should have an easy-to-find fan page. Consider one for trainers and instructors, too. This tool can give you valuable testimonials and feedback.
Encourage members to direct friends and family to your site or particular Twitter feeds that might interest them.
As a club, you have tremendous leverage to broadcast new programs, featured trainers and special events. Use technology to do so (but sparingly), highlighting only truly unique programs.
Do not add content to any of your platforms unless you believe it will add value for your members.
Designate someone to update your site daily and make them accountable.
Moving forward, think not only of your current customers but your future customers, too.
Become a student of social networking. Follow the trends online and through the media.
Consider links that provide videos for exercisers outside of your club (travelers, office exercisers).
Find partners who align with your philosophy and direction to link with on your platforms.
Help members connect with each other and encourage groups of like-minded members to help each other with accountability or share information.
Some health club members I spoke with offered these suggestions:
If a new specialty group starts, use social networking to promote it.
Use social networking sites to announce class cancellations or substitute instructors.
Encourage trainers to have a blog or Twitter account that members can follow. This account should give members information they can use, not talk about what the trainers had for breakfast. Translation: the content needs to help members.
Wuebker sums it up best by saying, "Your customers will increasingly rely on tools like Twitter and Facebook for all aspects of their lives. For your future customers, these technologies are already baked into their daily routines. You can gain tremendous leverage and get ahead of the curve by starting now with some basic tools and IT platforms. This space will evolve quickly, and you want to begin experimenting now to find your rhythm and what works for your customers."
Gregory Florez is CEO of FitAdvisor Health Coaching Services and First Fitness Inc., which was rated as the No. 1 health coaching online training service by The Wall Street Journal. Florez can be contacted at [email protected].


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FOOD-THE DISH- Starr to Satellite: Off the Hill, into the Ballroom
As music mogul Coran Capshaw takes another step toward complete control of the local music scene, West Main Street loses another restaurant. As announced last week, Capshaw's Starr Hill Presents is partnering with the folks at the Satellite Ballroom to book and promote acts at their Corner location, and is closing down the Starr Hill Restaurant & Brewery and its upstairs music venue on West Main.
This means that Capshaw, who manages the Dave Matthews Band and has sizable interests in Bonnaroo and LiveNation, now controls a musical trifecta: a small, a medium, and a large venue.
Satellite Ballroom is the small (500 people for a standing event, 350 seated); the under-renovation Jefferson Theater is the medium (just under 1,000); and his opened-in-2005 Charlottesville Pavilion is the large (at about 3,500 seat-and-lawn capacity).
This range of venue sizes means that Capshaw can reduce his reliance on the approximately 1,000-seat Paramount and keep all his bookings under his own roof, with the exception of extremely large shows that remain the province of the John Paul Jones Arena. However, as Starr Hill Presents / Red Light Management spokesperson Jamie Sisley points out, Capshaw often partners with LiveNation to bring major acts to JPJ.
Last week, a member of the staff of Starr Hill– the eight-year-old West Main Street venue that has hosted the likes of They Might Be Giants (which wrote a song about the place!), Soulive, and Chris Daughtry– told the Hook they received word of the closure about two weeks ago. A press release issued June 28 confirmed that the July 7 concert featuring local rock band Navel will be the last.
"We were always friendly with Satellite," says Sisley, "and the opportunity to collaborate came along. This should help us bring some great artists to town." Sisley says there are no plans to add a restaurant to the Ballroom space, and he puts in a plug for Just Curry, a popular eatery directly behind the Ballroom. "I eat there all the time," he says.
However, according to some observers of the local music scene, Starr Hill and the Ballroom have been in heavy competition for the last two years, vying for similarly sized acts. Still, the official word on the partnership has the air of an engagement announcement.
"Our staff is delighted to be joining forces with Starr Hill's team," gushes Satellite Ballroom booker Danny Shea.
Although Starr Hill brought in musical stars, the approximately 450-person-capacity upstairs location– accessed by a pair of stairways– often raised eyebrows among safety-conscious patrons. By contrast, the Satellite Ballroom occupies a ground floor location behind Michael's Bistro in what had once been part of Charlottesville's long-operating Anderson Brothers Bookstore. Hook columnists have issued varying opinions of the Ballroom over the years, lauding its December 2004 opening but pleading later for a better sound system.
Sisley says the Ballroom location offers a larger, more centrally located venue than the Starr Hill location. He also says they plan to make significant upgrades to the sound system and other production capabilities over the summer.
Unaffected in all this is the beer bearing Starr Hill's name, as the award-winning brewing operation moved west in 2005 to the former ConAgra food processing plant in Crozet. But no longer will there be the option of enjoying a Starr Hill draft in its signature establishment.
The employee with whom the Hook spoke says that Starr Hill, which opened in the fall of 1999, has been sold to become– of all things (given that it's located across the street from Wild Wing Café)– a sports bar, although no such confirming announcement has been made.
Three scheduled July Starr Hill shows– Souls of Mischief, Israel Vibration, and Ben Kweller– have already been relocated to the Satellite Ballroom. The Navel farewell show has as its openers Book of Job and the Eli Cook Band.
Mel's gets new sign
As travelers along West Main may have noticed, Mel's Diner has a fancy new sign– a bright orange, light blue, and white affair that pictures a plate with a bite missing. According to owner Melvin Walker, the old familiar sign hadn't changed in longer than he can remember, and he remembers it long before it was Mel's. "It used to be a cleaners, and I remember that sign from when I was a kid in the 1960s," he says.
If not for a bit of well-earned good fortune, the old Mel's sign design might have remained for another few decades. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day this year, folks at the Abundant Life Ministries awarded Walker its annual Beloved Community award. "I've always done a lot to help them out," says Walker, "...like cooking food for a program where they feeds kids."
The award came with an unusual gift: a new sign design. The ministry raised about $900 for the sign, and Ben Foster of Hightech Signs matched that amount, says Walker. Foster had some trouble with the Board of Architectural Review, who wanted the skeleton of the sign, with its lighted arrow, preserved. But Walker says the new sign was finally finished about two weeks ago.
"I'm getting lots of compliments on it," he says.
Incidentally, when Dish parked along the street on West Main on June 29 (around 9am) to visit with Walker and photograph his new sign, making sure to stay within the parking boundaries, a cyclists (you know who you are) shouted, "Get out of the bike lane, Ass****" and gave Dish the finger as he passed.
No community service award for you, my friend! But perhaps a lesson learned: be careful who you flip the bird to, or you might end up in the Dish!

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WILSON � Jacksonville had more hits and zero errors � four fewer than its opponent � but Post 265 got beat by the long ball as Garner Post 232 came away with a 4-2 victory Friday in the opening round of the N.C. American Legion state championships.
WILSON � Jacksonville had more hits and zero errors � four fewer than its opponent � but Post 265 got beat by the long ball as Garner Post 232 came away with a 4-2 victory Friday in the opening round of the N.C. American Legion state championships.
Post 265 (13-22), which is making its first trip to the championships in the tournament�s 14-year existence, will take on Kernersville (29-9) today at 9:30 a.m. in a losers� bracket game at Fleming Stadium.
Garner (23-5) will face Shelby Post 82 (35-7) today at 4:30 p.m. Shelby beat Kernersville 4-1 in the first of four first-round games Friday.
The double-elimination tournament runs through Tuesday.
Jacksonville had nine hits to Garner�s six and also played errorless ball, but Post 265 couldn�t get the key hit when it needed it most � and Garner got one big hit that cleared the fence to come away with the victory.
Post 232 erased a 1-1 tie in the fifth inning on a three-run homer by Tyler Marshburn. With one out, Nick Stuart walked and went to second on a balk by Adam Daley before going to third on a single by Taylor Stephens. After Stephens stole second and a pop out, Marshburn hit a 3-2 pitch over the left field fence for a 4-1 lead.
Jacksonville loaded the bases in the top of the seventh when Logan Staup walked, Andrew Hartness reached on an error and Hunter Henry singled with two outs. But Spencer Howard, who leads Post 265 in RBIs with 22, lined out to third to end the inning.
Post 265 threatened again in the ninth.
Madison Malfitano singled on the first pitch he saw and then Hartness doubled on the first pitch he saw. With one out, Malfitano scored on a ground out by Hunter Henry to cut the lead to 4-2, but Howard fouled out to end the game.
Christian Kercado and Henry were both 2-for-5 for Post 265.
Jacksonville grabbed a 1-0 lead in the third. Kercado singled and went to second on a ground out before scoring on Howard�s single to center field.
Post 265 threatened to push home more runs, but with Howard on third and Dawnoven Smith at second on a single and a passed ball, Daniel Moran struck out and Daley flew out to end the threat.
Garner tied it up in the bottom of the fourth without a hit. With one out, Garrett Suggs flew out to center field to bring home Zac Orrison, who reached on a fielder�s choice and then stole second and third.
Jacksonville 001 000 001� 2 9 0
Garner 000 130 000� 4 6 4
WP�Ellington (NA) 5 IP 6 H 1 R 1 ER 3 K 0 BB. LP�Daley (1-4) 5 1/3 IP 5 H 4 R 4 ER 4 K 6 BB. Sv�Edwards. LEADING HITTERS�J: Kercado 2-5 1 run; Henry 2-5 1 RBI; G: Marshburn 2-4 1 run 3 RBIs HR BB. RECORDS�J 13-22, vs. Kernersville today at 9:30 p.m.in losers� bracket game. G 23-5, vs. Shelbytoday at 4:30 p.m.in winners� bracket game.


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NICI Flats
You are here
NICI Flat Fields require special consideration because of the Focal Plane Masks. Imperfections in the masks (scratches, dust specks), as well as the occulting spots themselves, of course are in the focal plane and therefore cause artifacts in science images. The imperfections are different for each mask, and the visible pattern changes every time the mask is moved. Therefore, the best flat field strategy must be chosen for each observing mode; there is no single strategy which gives good results for every application.
Note especially two important points regarding flat fields:
- The Clear mask is a clear substrate, which is required to maintain correct focus, with its own imperfection pattern.
- It is not possible to take a flat without a coronagraph mask, but with the same pattern of imperfections as a certain mask.
The "Flat Fields" group in the NICI OT library contains several types of GCAL flat templates. The first three sets in this library contain examples for Dual, Red, and Blue-channel flats which may be inserted into observing sequences and taken along with the science data with the masks and filters in exactly the same positions. For standard imaging (with no coronagraph mask) this gives the best results at the expense of higher observing overheads.
The library examples show the proper GCAL and exposure time settings for different filters. The exposure times are set so that the shutter-open exposures will have about 3000 ADU or 36000 electrons. Where possible, the coadd is set to10 so the total electrons is about 3.6e5 and the S/N ~ 600. For some filters the exposure times are so long that 10 coadds becomes prohibitive. Adjust Ncoadds for higher or lower S/N as desired.
Another strategy we have adopted for ASDI and ADI coronagraphic imaging is to take a set of flats through the Clear mask while dithering the mask to several positions. The images are then median-filtered to produce a master flat which represents the detector component of the flat field, with the Clear mask imperfections filtered out. Images with any of the occulting masks can then be divided by the master flat without introducing a strong artifact at the occulting spot position, while the field rotation helps remove the remaining mask features. While not perfect, this appears to give acceptable results for detecting faint point sources within the main target halo.
An example Clear Mask Dither Sequence is contained in the last group of the library. With several mask positions and long integration times designed to achieve 0.1% flat accuracy, the sequence requires more than 30 min to execute and therefore is run during the day. Such a sequence should not be entered into an observation, but should be requested in an Observing Note and/or by making a request to your contact scientist.


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Tecmo Bowl and then Super Tecmo Bowl were both totally awesome games.
And...Contra, oh man how many games of Contra did I play?
Quote from: OCB on September 19, 2003, 03:46 PMAnd...Contra, oh man how many games of Contra did I play?Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, StartI will never forget that
I like Punch Out, but I can never get past King Hippo. Any hints?
...Ghosts and Goblins...
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Contact Our Consumer Information Office
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Understanding Organic Certification
The organic label is one of many claims that can help shoppers make product purchasing decisions. But what does organic really mean?
Organic is a term that refers to the way agricultural products are grown and processed. Organic regulations vary by country but are designed to address standards for producing and handling crops, livestock and processed agricultural products to ensure that they are produced without the use of banned processes, such as the use of genetically modified organisms, synthetic chemicals or sewage sludge.
Organic regulations apply to the way a product is created, not to measurable properties of the product itself. Although specific practices and materials used by organic operations may vary, every aspect of organic production and handling must comply with the provisions of the organic regulations in the country where the product is being sold in order for that product to be labeled as organic. Onsite audits are conducted by accredited certifying agents to verify that the producers of the organic crop, the handlers of the crop and the packaging location are following


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Closing the Cracks Children Fall Through
MIAMI – An acquaintance of mine is headed to Tallahassee today to have his brain picked.
He was summoned by lawmakers struggling with how to caulk the proverbial cracks that children keep falling through, the children who endure heartbreaking abuse, the ones who are murdered or neglected to death, the ones who leave a trail of tears that reveals their fates were sealed by some mistake or misstep by those with the state's Department of Children and Families who were supposed to be protecting them.
Again. And again.
This acquaintance, his will be a good brain to pick, as he has been intimately involved with Victor Barahona, was one of the advocates for Victor and his twin Nubia who tried to raise red flags about their care (or lack thereof) the were getting from their then-foster parents, Carmen and Jorge Barahona.
As you may know by now, the Barahonas were allowed to adopt the twins, and now stand accused of their systematic abuse, and Nubia's murder.
Just this week, we heard Victor's descriptions of how he lived, what he endured, the trauma deep within, as told by the woman who cared for him after his ordeal. Her audiotaped interview was made public by the State Attorney's Office. I cried listening, and you may, too.
Which brings me back to the brain-picking that will occur over the next few days in Tallahassee.
Lawmakers are considering bills that DCF brass says will strengthen the system. Opponents have concerns the bills eliminate significant standards now in place.
And skeptics will say, "Changes? Again?"
Change has become a familiar part of the aftermath: Rilya Wilson, Bradley McGhee, Ezramicah Hilliard...
People who have the best interests of children at heart and a desire to succeed convene Blue Ribbon panels, write scathing reports, face Grand Jury investigations, revamp procedures, launch new technology, and reorganize.
Again and again.
But just in the last week, a Miami-Dade judge demanded to know why a child-abuse investigator didn't notice signs of abuse on a 9-year old boy until he was found wandering alone in the street trying to escape abusers.
And in Hillsborough County, 8-month old Gabrielle Crawford slipped through caseworkers' cracks and died.
Whatever process, bureaucracy or statute lawmakers craft won't matter much if the people in the trenches make poor judgment calls, cover their backsides or slack on their smallest responsibilities. Protecting the most vulnerable is more than a tough job. It has to be a calling, a mission.
Lawmakers will see an example of that when they meet with my friend today.
Copyright 2012 by Post Newsweek. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Be on the Cutting Edge Building a Heart-Based Approach in Your Home
It's not easy being a parent today. Every child is unique. You need a toolbox of parenting resources. We are continually providing more tools to our members by giving them access to the most current products we're working on including access to the webinar library. Just $25 a month will give you access to a wealth of information to strengthen your family.
We know that our members want to continue to develop their parenting skills. They also appreciate our heart-based approach and want to stay closely connected to us. Here are just a few of the benefits to becoming a member.
1 • Access to the Webinar Library. Hours and hours of recorded counseling sessions where Dr. Turansky is giving hands on practical advice in specific situations. You'll learn so much in this area. It alone is well worth the membership fee.
2 • Access to the MP3 of the Month. We want to help you develop as a parent so we'll add links to free resources that will keep you growing.
3 • Access to our latest writing. We post chapters, ask for your feedback, and look for ideas from you that will help us improve the products we're creating.
4 • Access to us. As a member, you'll be able to call us and we'll talk to you and help you find the resources that are best for your family situation.
5 • Our members often help spread the word so we give you easy access to information and links you can share with others to help them in their parenting.
6 • Biblical Parenting University is the online parent training program for developing a heart-based approach in your home. As a member, you receive four free classroom management one-hour courses. And you receive 75% off the classes for parents. So instead of paying $100 per class, you pay only $25 per class. Each class is four hours long and has additional five hours of counseling prerecorded webinars you can listen to.
So, click here to sign up today!
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Home > Gardening > The Potting Shed
An all purpose mushroom that will grow on a variety of softwoods and hardwoods. Fruits in twelve to sixteen months, with crops in Spring, Summer & Autumn.
The ideal start kit if you can get your own freshly cut logs. These kits give you enough spawn plugs to inoculate your own 2ft to 3ft long, by 4in to 6in diameter, freshly cut log. It'll crop between two to three times a year, possibly more. The kits come packed in a fair trade jute bag, and contains a packet of 30 spawn plus, an easy to follow set of instructions and a correct size of drill. Buy multiple plus, for bigger logs!
If this item is showing as in stock, it will be dispatched within 48hours. This item will be shipped via either Royal Mail First Class or Courier. Express delivery is not available on this product.
Our packaging has your products safety at the forefront of its design - closely followed by the environment. Our goods are shipped in sturdy cardboard boxes - fragile items are packed full with either bubble wrap re-used from suppliers, biodegradable 'green' bubble wrap which we purchase or 100% biodegradable tissue paper (And incase you didn't know, normal tissue paper isn't biodegradable!). Lovingly wrapped, to ensure it gets to you in one piece. We hope you will be able to re-use all of our packaging too!
Some of our favourite products are fragile - We don't want that to put you off buying them.
We wouldn't have them for sale if we wern't confident in getting them delivered safely to your door. If, in the unlikely event your goods, including any glass or mirror products are damaged in transit, we'll replace them for you. Some larger, fragile items will be shipped by courier for added security. In the unlikely event your purchase arrives damaged, you must contact us within 48 hours of receipt. We will also require photographs of the damage before replacements can be issued for obvious reasons. Rest assured, if theres a problem, we'll resolve it. Thats our promise to you, the buyer.
This item is available for refund, up to 30 days from receipt of the item. The item must be returned by yourself, in the original, unopened packaging. We can not be held responsible for items lost in the post, and therefore recommend sending your item by trackable mail. The full purchase cost of the product will be refunded, less any postage and packaging charges. We withhold the right to refuse any used or damaged items. Please enclose your dispatch note with the item, and contact us by email or telephone before returning the item to us.
The mushroom log recycled kit means the tree you felled during the summer will not be thrown on the fire for burning this winter. You can now recycle your trees logs into a fresh supply of grow your own gourmet mushrooms. Fresh mushrooms for on toast, in stir-frys, or on gourmet pizzas. Please ensure you choose the right wood type for best results
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Even some of the most environmentally conscious people find it hard to give up drinking flavored bottled water. And even for them lies a solution in water filtration.
You've heard us say over and over that bottled water is expensive and bad for the environment. Bottled water advocates argue that their product provides a healthier option than sodas or other sugary beverages, and a ban on the bottle would only force people to turn to such less-healthy alternatives. Moreover, many people can't live without their daily dose of flavored water, which, up until recently, only came in a bottle. But with PUR flavor options, consumers are left with no more excuses to drink bottled water, flavored or not.
We recently added the PUR line of faucet filters and water pitcher filters to our website. (Actually, I must confess, they have been on the site for a few months now, so this announcement is a little late… but, better late than never, right?) The PUR flavored water pitcher filter and the PUR faucet mount filter with flavor options both reduce or remove harmful impurities and contaminants such as lead, mercury, cadmium, copper and microbiological cysts, in addition to the bad taste and odor of chlorine. How do you get flavored water from these filters? Very simply. Specially-made flavor cartridges allow you the option of adding a burst of strawberry, lemon, grape or raspberry flavor to each glass of purified water with the push of a button. The more you push, the more flavor is added. Each PUR flavor cartridge provides up to 75 servings of flavored water and contains no sugar, calories or dyes. The cartridges fit easily into the lid of the PUR water filter pitcher or into the front of the PUR flavor options faucet mount.
Pure, filtered water is the healthiest way to go. However, if you must drink flavored water, you can do your part to conserve the health of our planet by dropping the bottle in favor of a PUR filter with flavor options.


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Katelyn Adams recorded a double-double (16 points, 10 rebounds) during Liberty's 90-46 win at Radford on Thursday.
Freshman Mickayla Sanders scored a career-high 22 points and hit four of Liberty's season-high 11 three-pointers, highlighting Liberty's 90-46 romp over Radford, Thursday evening inside the Dedmon Center. Liberty tied the facility record with its 11 made triples, which led to the Lady Flames' fourth straight win. The Lady Flames are now 18-10 overall and 14-5 in Big South play after posting their largest margin of victory (44 points) in 61 all-time meetings with the Highlanders. The Lady Flames are now tied with Winthrop for second place in the Big South standings, sitting one game behind High Point entering the final game of the regular season. Despite Ayana Avery's 19 points, Radford falls to 7-21 overall and 5-14 in Big South play with its third straight setback. Liberty got its inside/outside scoring balance going early on. Within the first 9:02 of the contest, the Lady Flames made three triples and Ashley Rininger scored eight points in the interior. Rininger's nifty post move at the 10:58 mark gave blue-clad Liberty a 20-7 edge. Avery tried to keep the Highlanders within striking distance, tallying 10 straight Radford points during one stretch. However, the Lady Flames were able to build a trio of 21-point leads, including their halftime advantage of 44-23. Liberty shot 42.4 percent (14-of-33) from the field during the first half, highlighted by five made triples. The Lady Flames also got to the foul line often, making 11-of-17 first-half attempts for 64.7 percent. Radford made 34.6 percent (9-of-26) of its opening-half field goal tries and half of its four free throw attempts. Liberty dominated the rebounding category before halftime, grabbing 14 offensive boards as part of its 30-9 edge on the glass. The Lady Flames also committed just five turnovers during the first 20 minutes of play. Rininger and Sanders tallied 10 points apiece for the Lady Flames before halftime, while Rininger paced all players with eight rebounds. Sadalia Ellis dished out six first-half assists off the bench. Avery's 10 points topped Radford's scoring column before halftime, while Jordynn Gaymon pulled down four boards. Back-to-back triples by Sanders and Jaymee Fisher-Davis capped off a 12-0 Liberty run early in the second half, giving the Lady Flames a 63-27 advantage with 13:38 left. Liberty's lead got as large as 48 points on its way to a 90-46 triumph. It was Liberty's largest margin of victory since a 92-33 triumph at Charleston Southern on Jan. 10, 2013. The Lady Flames shot the ball well from the field (49.1 percent, 28-of-57) and three-point range (45.8 percent, 11-of-24), falling just one triple shy of the program single-game record for three-pointers made. Liberty also hit 23 of its 33 foul shots for 69.7 percent. Liberty limited Radford to 37.5 percent (18-of-48) field goal shooting, as the Lady Flames held an opponent under the 50-point mark for the fifth time in the last seven contests. The Lady Flames finished with a season-best +35 rebound margin, grabbing 50 boards to Radford's 15. The Highlanders set a Dedmon Center record for fewest rebounds in a contest. Liberty converted 20 offensive rebounds into 21 second-chance points and matched their season high for bench points with 46. Sanders, the first Lady Flame other than Rininger to post a 20-point effort this season, was one of four Liberty players to score in double figures. Katelyn Adams needed only 16 minutes of playing time to produce her sixth double-double of the season, consisting of 16 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Fellow post player Rininger chipped in a dozen points and eight boards. Freshman Audrey Rettstatt tallied nine of her career-high 10 points after halftime, while Ellis ended up with a career-best nine assists. Avery was the only Highlander to reach double digits on the night. Teammate Gaymon added seven points and a team-high four caroms. Liberty will wrap up the 2013-14 regular season on Saturday, when the Lady Flames make the short trip east on Route 460 to visit Longwood (8-20, 5-14 Big South). Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m. at Willett Hall for a rematch of the 2013 Big South Championship title contest. Liberty posted a 74-41 home victory over the Lancers on Jan. 23.


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Creamy Avocado Pesto Pasta - Pasta Week # 3
Friday, March 30, 2012
Recipe tried out on Sept 2011.
I had 6 avocadoes that I know not what to do with it. One afternoon, I saw this recipe and I told myself to go buy some sweet basil on the next grocery trip.
I made this one afternoon, kept the other half of avocado cream for another meal. Creamy and Delicious!
Healthy too!


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By AIMEE KUVADIA
Contributing Writer
Howard Klemperer is a cook and interior designer. He's a music buff and gun enthusiast, too. He loves to entertain, and claims to "drink†politics.
To pursue so many pastimes under one roof seems impossible. But Klemperer put his intelligence to work and designed a "smart†home so he could do just that.
Located in the Norton Commons neighborhood, this red brick house, built by Stonecroft Homes in 2009, embodies classic suburban style on the outside and modern European style on the inside.
"It's very utilitarian and doesn't lend itself to clutter,†said Klemperer about the home's interior, which flaunts clean lines and effective use of space. "It's very easy to maintain.â€
The home's Control4 system, installed by Visual Concepts, makes Klemperer's life significantly easier. With it, he can control lighting, audio-visual components, security and temperature from virtually any room in the house.
"If I'm in Europe, I could open the doors, turn on the heat and check security with my cell phone,†boasted Klemperer, who can also use his computer to manage these settings.
Unlike most lighting, which only functions at full capacity when turned on, Klemperer's lighting can function at the percentage of power he desires. So if he chooses to operate his lights at 85-percent power, he could save up to 15 percent on his energy bill.
The home's spray foam insulation made by Icynene provides similar savings on top of other benefits. It seals air leaks while reducing noise and improving air quality.
His home is the epitome of efficiency, not just in terms of energy but space, too. Though it's only about 3,400 square feet, its many windows, open floor plan, central staircase and tall cabinets make it feel much larger.
"They give the home an illusion of space,†Klemperer said. "I like the use of space. There are a lot of places to put stuff.â€
Red, geometrically shaped speakers in the basement disguise themselves as artwork on the walls. And under-cabinet lighting in the kitchen provides perfect illumination without being obtrusive.
The kitchen was a room Klemperer meticulously designed, since he adores cooking. In the '90s, he owned a business cleverly named "Thyme to Eat Personal Chef Service and Catering,†where he visited clients' homes, interviewed them about their dietary preferences and accordingly cooked their meals. Although Klemperer no longer prepares meals for a profit, he continues to prepare them for fun, hosting up to two dinner parties a month.
Klemperer's get-togethers sometimes revolve around the screening of a sporting event, television program or movie. For this purpose, he has a state-of-the-art home theater in his basement. It flaunts crimson leather recliners, Martin Logan speakers and recesses in the ceiling with dim red lights similar to those in movie theaters.
Unlike cinemas, however, Klemperer's home entertainment system is multi-purpose. Hiding behind a black porous wall known as a "whisper wall,†on which the projection screen is mounted, is a highly specialized sound system. It provides surround sound for television and two-speaker sound for music.
The word "smart†has come to be correlated with technology. But in the case of Klemperer's home, it should be correlated with sensibility also. His guests have the ability to simultaneously enjoy his cooking and entertainment because of the fully functional kitchen he has strategically placed in his basement.
"I don't have to schlep food up and down the stairs,†said Klemperer. "Hot foods stay hot.â€
Walking into Klemperer's hi-tech basement is like walking into the future. But walking into his living room is like walking backwards in time.
Its niche shelves display miniature, scrap metal figurines – everything from a hot air balloon to a dinosaur. Klemperer had these sculptures made from excess metal he collected while owning a metal trading company in the late '80s.
And as a subtle acknowledgement of his penchant for guns, Klemperer has hung on his wall unique artwork by Rachel Zegart featuring glass castings of bullets. With a red and black backdrop, this piece of art provides an otherwise neutrally toned room with just the right amount of color.
Though Klemperer abided by the form-follows-function maxim when designing his home, he didn't allow its minimalist implications to preclude personal touches.
Rendering external lighting unnecessary, a chromatherapy bathtub by BainUltra in his master bathroom flashes a series of colored lights from underwater, facilitating a more therapeutic bathing experience. And while his seemingly over-simplistic Hansgrohe plumbing fixtures don't appear anything like traditional washbasins, they actually deliver water quite effectually. Sleek, long-necked, silver faucets spill water into elevated ceramic bowls, which then overflow into invisible drains.
If Klemperer's home were a student, it would without a doubt have an above-average IQ. But placing it in the category of genius is its location
Norton Commons is a neighborhood development that's no different from a small town. It has everything from a grocery store and pharmacy to restaurants and salons.
"Norton Commons is one of the reasons I moved here,†said Klemperer. "I don't have to wander too far from home. And it forces you to become more social. People help each other.â€
Klemperer was previously residing in Sarasota, Fla., to be closer to his father. But after his passing, Klemperer moved back to Louisville. He liked that homes in Norton Commons were modestly sized.
"The concept of downsizing is going on across the country, but people don't want to lose amenities,†said Klemperer. "I've put the amenities of a million-dollar house into a smaller home.â€
Klemperer has downsized considerably from his other homes, but he wishes to cut back even more. That's why he has put his house up for sale. Parting with it, however, won't be so easy.
"I care about who buys my home because I put so much into it,†he said. "But if I had to do it all over again, I'd love to do it.â€
Photos by CHRIS HUMPHREYS | The Voice-Tribune


text:
Free Software Magazine Launches
Hong Feng, apparently a
gnome bias
This magazine seems way too GNU/GNOME biased. The only mention of KDE in it is by RMS. *shudder* Let's hope we can change that.
By ac at Wed, 2001/12/12 - 6:00am
Re: gnome bias
Didnt you know? KDE is a dissapointment to the free software desktop.
At least according to RMS....
Hetz, Juno, you two are very good at writing, send some articles there way!
-ian reinhart geiser
By Ian Reinhart Geiser at Wed, 2001/12/12 - 6:00am
Re: gnome bias
I doubt it will lack KDE converage due to the fact it is released by KDE. They probably just don't want people thinking it is a KDE zine only.
By RazzleDazzle at Wed, 2001/12/12 - 6:00am
Re: gnome bias
i think you may be thinking of another magazine effort started some time ago by some KDE people...
this one is managed by a Chinese group affiliated with the FSF
By Aaron J. Seigo at Wed, 2001/12/12 - 6:00am
Re: gnome bias
> This magazine seems way too GNU/GNOME biased.
Well, that's a good reason to get some KDE content in there! Also, since the focus seems to be on political issues, something describing the great technology the KDE project is shipping today would be a great contrast.
If anyone working on a submission would like some assistance with editing or proofreading, please email me.
By Otter at Thu, 2001/12/13 - 6:00am
Re: gnome bias
I agree, anyone planning to write an article?
By jz at Thu, 2001/12/13 - 6:00am
some words
Hi all,
thanks for your interest to the magazine I am going to publish,
1. The licenese issue.
I hope authors could submit the articles under GNU FDL as the default.
2. We are not KDE biased, instead, I welcome articles about KDE and Qt, actually, my door to KDE authors is always open. I will be glad to read them.
But commerical sales pitches are not welcome, as the magazine is aimed to "hackers write for hackers". If someone wants to place sales pitches, pls pay us for advertisement fees (if you could meet our criteria on advertising.)
3. We are not GNOME centered, instead, this is magazine for the "whole"
BTW, I am trying to control the printing costs of the magazine, so that the hackers in some poor countries could afford it too.
4. Articles about philosophy discussions are also welcome, as long as you are talking about free software, or free software related, but not the sales pitches for proprietary software (but you could critisize it by explosure its mistakes and weakness). I maybe not agree with your philosophy, but I respect your rights to publish your points and views in our magazine (if I think yours sounds reasonable, or you have your logic behind it to support.)
Best wishes,
By Hong Feng at Thu, 2001/12/13 - 6:00am
Re: some words
I can see the anti-kde prejudice in his statements already. Note how often he mentioned no sales pitches for proprietary programs. Its obvious thats what these FSF people think about kde. They think that kde is somehow not as open or free as Gnome. We should use this opportunity to get Kzine going again. The sun is setting on gnome and the FSF political folks and we should not artificially prolong there life by particpatring in there propaganda mechanisms.
By Craig at Thu, 2001/12/13 - 6:00am
Re: some words
What about writing an article for this magazine instead of bitching how bad it might be? Don't mess up this forum with your brain-excrements.
By Jake at Thu, 2001/12/13 - 6:00am
Re: some words
> I can see the anti-kde prejudice in his statements already.
I don't. Craig, just drop this KDE versus GNOME thing. It's not us versus them. It's us together against Microsoft, et al.
By jz at Fri, 2001/12/14 - 6:00am
Re: some words
Thats incredibly naive. The free software movements is a completely separate movement than the open source movement with totally different and conflicting aims. KDE i guarantee will play second fiddle to gnome in any FSF publication. If you don't see that then you haven't been following the movement or have let your idealism cloud your judgment. A open source magazine that expounds the superiority of linux and the kde desktop would serve the open source community in a more fruitful way then playing second fiddle in a rival movements publication and being portrayed as a second rate alternative to a Linux desktop that doesn't even have 50% the user base that KDE currently enjoys. Not to mention Richard Stallmans ego is squarely in the way of KDE being placed on a equal to or its deserved higher position.
By Craig at Fri, 2001/12/14 - 6:00am
Re: some words
> playing second fiddle in a rival movements publication and being portrayed as a second rate alternative to a Linux desktop that doesn't even have 50% the user base that KDE currently enjoys.
That's debatable. But does it really matter?
> Not to mention Richard Stallmans ego is squarely in the way of KDE being placed on a equal to or its deserved higher position.
The GNOME'rs are currently pissed at RMS too.
By jz at Fri, 2001/12/14 - 6:00am
Re: some words
All he asks is no advertisement for commercial proprietary software. Now how hard is that?
By Stof at Sun, 2001/12/16 - 6:00am
Just out of interest, because I've always wondered, where does GNUSTEP fit into the the Free softwaware big picture? GNUStep was started long before GNOME, but somehow, GNOME is the flagship Free SOftware desktop.
By Ezz at Fri, 2001/12/14 - 6:00am
Re: GNU/FREE?
> GNOME is the flagship Free SOftware desktop.
That's not really true. KDE is also a desktop that is Free Software, and is, of course, a flagship (as evidenced by the inclusion of KDE into many Linux distros). However, I think that you mean, "Part of the GNU Project".
> GNUStep was started long before GNOME
Your're right. GNUStep was started long before GNOME and even before KDE. However, it simply wasn't complete enough until about a year ago. Emulating someone else's API, like GNUStep must do, simply takes more time to implement than making your own from scratch, like KDE/Qt and GNOME/gtk.
By jz at Fri, 2001/12/14 - 6:00am
Re: GNU/FREE?
What he means is its the flagship GNU Desktop. Which means it is the flagship Desktop of the FSF. If you don't see that well i guess i don't know what to say.
By Craig at Fri, 2001/12/14 - 6:00am
I doubt that Hong Feng took time to write a reply to this forum in hopes of spreading secret anti-KDE propaganda. I think that any of us who scanned his reply and tried to see dragons where there are none need to step back a bit from the whole KDE vs. GNOME issue. They're both great products, and if we send him some articles he would include them. I doubt this is a false promise, as he took extra steps to tell us which license to place the article under, and asked that noone try to use the magazine as a launching pad for commercial advertising. I'm excited to see that a magazine will be published that is not controlled by its advertisers. I mean, Microsoft owns NBC. They literally own the media. In the issue before the last issue of Linux Magazine (US publication) Microsoft had placed an ad talking about how reliable their products were. The next issue had at least 3 letters from customers who were cancelling their subscription. Now THAT is a dirty tactic. I'm sure M$ meant to cause the publication to lose some subscribers. I'm sure that the Free Software Magazine will be scrupulous enough to exclude Microsoft and thus avoid their nasty games. I'll be looking forward to my first issue, and I'll support the magazine with my subscription. It's time for all of us to quit name-calling and finger-pointing and start to work together. Remember, if Vercingetorix had managed to keep the Gauls united, Caesar would not have been able to defeat them. Will ancient history repeat itself? In ten years, the whole KDE vs. GNOME issue could become resolved ... in a way that neither you nor I want to see.
By Nathan Waddell at Sat, 2001/12/15 - 6:00am
Re: Anti-KDE?
I commend your lofty aspirations and your cooperative attitude. However I'm afraid it's not as simple a KDE vs. Gnome issue. Whenever you deal with the FSF your dealing with a cult of personality of sorts. That of course being Richard Stallmen. Here's where the problem lies. He has a clear picture of the future of free software and believe me his vision does not include either Linux or KDE.
In Dick's little world The hurd kernel will replace Linux and Gnome will replace KDE and he'll have the GNU Operating system that he already pretends he has. He is driven by personnel ambition and Free software is his tools. Here's the scary part. The FSF folks idolize this guy and share his dream. He wants the glory that Linus now has for himself. So you see its not a KDE vs. Gnome issue at all, but something much weirder.
You venture into that world of the FSF folks and any sane person will get the willies. Lets stay on the side where common since and sanity rule and do a KDE/Linux magazine and let them keep the nut house.
By Craig at Sun, 2001/12/16 - 6:00am
Re: Anti-KDE?
> The FSF folks idolize this guy and share his dream. He wants the glory that Linus now has for himself.
Not all FSF-affilated folks do. For example, take the GNOME foundation. There is quite a rift between them and RMS currently. This is because RMS wants to continously meddle in GNOME's affairs.
Anyways, this magazine is about open sourced software. A large amount of this software is linked to the FSF on paper through the usage of the GNU Public License, including KDE.
So, Hong, if you are listening, the opinions of Craig are not shared by many in the KDE community anymore, although I am still ticked off at RMS for other things.
By zzz at Sun, 2001/12/16 - 6:00am
Re: Anti-KDE?
A large amount of this software is linked to the FSF on paper through the usage of the GNU Public License, including KDE.
The use of a particular license does not mean that one project belongs to another. There is nothing in the GPL (or any other OSS license) that attempts to place one organization over another. Just because some portions of KDE are under the GPL does not mean that KDE is linked to the FSF.
Parts of KDE are also under the BSD license. Is KDE now linked to *BSD? Other parts of KDE are under the Artistic license. Is KDE now linked to Perl?
KDE is Free and Open Source Software. If the FSF wishes to associate itself with KDE, they have all the freedom in the world to do so. But that doesn't mean that KDE is associated with the FSF despite any official grants of forgiveness on the part of RMS.
By David Johnson at Mon, 2001/12/17 - 6:00am
Re: Anti-KDE?
You're right, but KDE is still linked to the FSF by using a FSF-copyrighted work (the GNU GPL). This certainly does not mean that FSF is affiliated with KDE at all.
GNOME itself is linked to the FSF deeper. It is part of the GNU project. Remember that KDE is NOT, nor ever will be (hopefully, since then RMS would try to gain more control in KDE).
By zzz at Tue, 2001/12/18 - 6:00am
Re: Anti-KDE?
Oh sure, then explain me why the members of the GNOME Foundation haven't voted on RMS if all FSF folks worship him.
By Stof at Sun, 2001/12/16 - 6:00am
Re: Anti-KDE?
To be perfectly honest, I can't see how on Earth Craig managed to read any GNOME-biased features out of Hong's words. He is aware of the fact that with the KDE culture, there comes a bunch of proprietary software as well. He doesn't even mention it as strongly as e.g. I do, and I can't see anything indicate that he's any more GNOME-biased than KDE. He's making a magazine for the open-source community, and so he only mentions... that he only wants the open-source culture! Saying anything else would kinda spoil the point, wouldn't it?
If saying "only open-source, none proprietary" means anti-KDE... then KDE obviously doesn't belong to the magazine, does it? :) Note the question mark, I'm not making a statement here. I just can't see how you read anti-KDE from his reply.
And if you people have anything to say about GNOME and KDE, write it down, read it over a couple of time, contribute to Hong's magazine, and quit the whining. :)
By Helgi Hrafn Gun... at Sun, 2001/12/16 - 6:00am
Re: Anti-KDE?
I just read his statement once again and sure enough he didn't mention Open Source once. I guess whats tripping you up is a confusion between free software and Open Source software. I know its sometimes confusing but they are not the samething. The Open Source community is a more open place that excepts many different contributers. The FSF community is a more political driven culture that is closed to commercial ventures. In the Open Source world some proprietary company's are a valued members of the community. The FSF folks want to take away the right of a programmer to choose his or herlicenses. The fact is they have a much more close minded Stallmen driven perspective. For the most part the KDE community is a real community with many different contributers. They are a smaller more closed and intolerate bunch driven by a creepy love of Dick Stallmen. Its not uncommon to hear them claim that he's the "real" inventor of Linux. Its not the sane KDE community that we love. Its the difference between the Democrats and the Communits or the Republicans and the John Berchers. We are not them and they are not "us".
By Craig at Sun, 2001/12/16 - 6:00am
Re: Anti-KDE?
Somehow you remind me of Morgoth, an ancient GNotices troll who keeps spreading FUD even though it has been proven that none of what he said is true...
By Stof at Sun, 2001/12/16 - 6:00am
Re: Anti-KDE?
Gah, as much as many of us hate the FSF for certain comments that RMS made long ago, I think attributing them to Hong is simply unfair. No one else see's any "Anti-KDE" sentiment in his comment except you Craig.
And yes, I do think that RMS's personality cult is weird. RMS is human. He has many faults and good sides, but all of us do.
Also, think about this craig. Included with every kde source package is the file COPYING. These mostly include the GPL. It was written and copyrighted by the FSF. How much code in KDE have you written, Craig? Yup, 0 bytes (If I'm not mistaken).
By zzz at Sun, 2001/12/16 - 6:00am
Re: Anti-KDE?
There are many ways to contribute besides codeing.
By Craig at Sun, 2001/12/16 - 6:00am
Re: Anti-KDE?
> There are many ways to contribute besides codeing.
You mean like ranting about how evil the FSF and free software movements are? Who needs Microsoft when we have people like you.
By kholmes at Sun, 2001/12/16 - 6:00am
Re: Anti-KDE?
Long ago??? Just look at the crazy drivel that flows from his mouth on a daily basis. Lets take today as an example.
By Craig at Tue, 2001/12/18 - 6:00am
Re: Anti-KDE?
uh, that has nothing to do with KDE.
By zzz at Tue, 2001/12/18 - 6:00am
Re: Anti-KDE?
now could somebody explain this once in plain english: if one does not install any programs besides gpl and lgpl programs (and uses a free distribution, such as debian), will there really be a difference between gnome and kde?
By Johannes Wilm at Mon, 2001/12/17 - 6:00am
Re: Anti-KDE?
See what i mean. Total fruit loops.
By Craig at Mon, 2001/12/17 - 6:00am
Re: Anti-KDE?
ok could you maybe explain a little more about that? do you intend to say that i am a "fruitloop" and that then what? if that is your intention, please consider that there are many different political backgrounds for why one can be for open source/free software. please don't expect everyone to have the same visions, isn't the entire movement more something of a coalision of people who have different backgrounds for why they come to the conclusion that open source/free software is right?
By Johannes Wilm at Mon, 2001/12/17 - 6:00am
Re: Anti-KDE?
Just ignore him. He's a troll.
By zzz at Mon, 2001/12/17 - 6:00am
I think Craig is trying to say he doesn't want to buy the magazine.
By Nathan Waddell at Wed, 2001/12/19 - 6:00am
Re: Craig
Buy huh? But I thought the FSF would be morally agaist selling anything.
By Craig at Thu, 2001/12/20 - 6:00am
>Your assistance in this matter would be greatly appreciated.
By Joanna Shields at Wed, 2002/09/25 - 5:00am


text:
Goatboy wrote:Oh, that's simple. All you need to do is dedicate many years of your life to studying security.
Microelite7711 wrote:Not sure how old you are, in fact, I was still in Mid School when I made this account, but now that I have a daughter, it puts extra meaning into my life.
That's my "point". And to have crazy fun, like skydiving.
brutal_hacker wrote:Fri Oct 26, 2012 6:41 am
5 years older?
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text:
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Understanding Technology Decision MakingGimpel, Gregory (Frederiksberg, 2011)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Recent innovations have integrated information and communication technology (ICT) into the fabric of people's daily lives. Wireless technology, with its constant presence and transcendence of geographical boundaries, has profoundly influenced people's behavior and the consumption of technology and related services. During the past few years, wireless technologies have shifted from simple devices offering mobile phone calling to multipurpose devices that incorporate the capabilities of other devices. The multiple uses of these devices, coupled with the blurring of the work-home and utilitarianhedonic technology, creates the need for a new understanding of technology adoption and use.... URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8326
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RISK-AWARE PATH PLANNING FOR AUTONOMOUS UNDERWATER VEHICLES by Arvind Antonio de Menezes Pereira A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (COMPUTER SCIENCE) Dec 2013 Copyright 2013 Arvind Antonio de Menezes Pereira
Object Description
|Risk-aware path planning for autonomous underwater vehicles
|de Menezes Pereira, Arvind Antonio
|Author email
|Doctor of Philosophy
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|Computer Science
|Viterbi School of Engineering
|Date defended/completed
|Date submitted
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|Date published
|Advisor (committee chair)
|Sukhatme, Gaurav S.
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Schaal, Stefan
Caron, David A.
|Path planning is the process of generating an optimal sequence of waypoints from a start configuration to a desired goal configuration under constraints (e.g., avoiding obstacles, respecting time/energy budgets). In this thesis, we study the problem of risk-aware planning. Specifically, we design, develop, and experimentally validate optimal paths for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) in the open ocean in the presence of navigational hazards such as ships and other obstacles. A novel aspect of this work is the introduction of ocean current predictions to optimize planning in such settings. This is challenging because current predictions are typ- ically available at non-uniform spatial resolution, noisy, and time-delayed. We designed three risk-aware planners that reason probabilistically about the uncer- tainty in ocean currents predictions. The minimum expected risk planner ensures that the AUV always reaches the goal, while minimizing risk along the way, Risk- aware Markov Decision Process-based planning uses stationary models over a short horizon, and trades off between goal-directed behavior and reducing risk. This is susceptible to finding sub-optimal policies due to stationarity. The non-stationary, risk-aware MDP makes use of variability in the currents where possible to overcome high-risk sections of paths on the way to the goal. In addition to these planners, we develop a taxonomy for risk-aware planning in dynamic settings. Another key contribution is learning the uncertainty in currents to improve planning. Results from extensive simulations clearly show that learning uncertainty helps significantly improve performance of risk-aware planners in uncertain currents, allowing AUVs to be operated in more challenging scenarios than was previously possible. Finally, the planners described in this dissertation have been field tested at unprecedented levels to validate their practical utility (∼2000 hours of testing at sea).
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|RISK-AWARE PATH PLANNING FOR AUTONOMOUS UNDERWATER VEHICLES by Arvind Antonio de Menezes Pereira A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (COMPUTER SCIENCE) Dec 2013 Copyright 2013 Arvind Antonio de Menezes Pereira


text:
ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — Ousted Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo said Monday that he is aiming to return to power and will rally allies at home and abroad after a landslide congressional vote forced him from office in what he called a break with democracy.
Lugo has symbolically created a parallel Cabinet, attacking the legitimacy of the government that replaced him, and told reporters he will seek to plead his case on the international stage at this week's summit of the Mercosur trade bloc in Mendoza, Argentina. Lugo said he would also challenge the new leaders over Paraguay's role in a broader alliance of South American nations.
He also called on domestic backers, who so far have been relatively quiet, to turn up the pressure.
"I want to resist until we regain power because here there was a parliamentary coup," he said Monday morning after meeting with aides at a left-leaning party's headquarters in the capital. "I call on people from the countryside, the youth and all citizens to resist until we are back in the office we unfairly had to leave."
Meanwhile, aides to former Vice President Federico Franco, who was installed as president on Friday after lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to dismiss Lugo, condemned a Mercosur resolution preventing his new government from attending the summit. Franco's new foreign minister, Jose Felix Fernandez, noted that Paraguay has not been expelled outright from the group that also includes neighboring Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.
"We reject Mercosur's decision to suspend us from the right to attend the Mercosur meetings, but I would like to make clear that Paraguay is not out of the bloc," Fernandez said. He said it was a measure "for just one meeting, and Paraguay continues to have the pro-tem presidency of the Union of South American Nations," another regional group, known as Unasur.
But Lugo has said he intends to hand over Unasur's rotating presidency to Peru this week, months before it is scheduled to change hands in November. Ecuador's foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, told reporters in Quito that leaders of Unasur countries may meet this week to take up the issue.
Congress booted Lugo out of office in fast-track proceedings last week triggered by a clash between police and landless protesters in which 17 people died. The Senate found him guilty of poor performance of his duties, citing a clause in the constitution that leaves wide room for congressional interpretation. Franco was tapped to serve out the remainder of Lugo's term, until August 2013.
After saying last week that he would honor the outcome, however, Lugo has reversed course.
"I accepted my removal only to avoid greater evils for the country and avoid violence against protesters in the plaza" in front of Congress, Lugo said Monday. He left the government palace three days ago and has been staying at his home on the outskirts of Asuncion.
"It's impossible for Lugo to return to power because the sovereign and autonomous decision of Congress is irreversible. It doesn't allow for appeal because it was a political process, not a judicial one," Eusebio Ayala, a lawyer for Franco, told reporters. "What's more, Lugo himself announced to the world that he accepted his dismissal as he left the government palace."
The Supreme Court on Monday denied a request by Lugo to overturn the Senate trial that removed him from office. Military officials also said they would not intervene.
So far, local support of Lugo has been restrained. A few thousand people demonstrated outside Congress last week, and a smaller group turned out for a weekend protest.
An "open-microphone" demonstration where citizens have been speaking out against Lugo's ouster stretched into its third night Monday. This time, at least 100 people from the countryside traveled to the capital to take part.
"Not just anyone can come to speak here. To speak here one must have high morals and not be afraid," said Nelson Riveros of San Pedro, the impoverished rural province where Lugo for years was bishop.
"The people do not legitimize this government," Riveros said. "The struggle continues, companeros!"
Some Lugo supporters accused Franco's government of being responsible for a half-hour outage of TV Publica, the public TV station that's organized and broadcast the open-microphone rallies. Officials blamed an electricity shutoff for maintenance scheduled before the impeachment.
TV Publica set up a second microphone in a nearby square for people on the other side of the conflict.
"We exhort the international community to respect our sovereignty and our right to self-determination," said Sebastian Daponte. "We the Paraguayan people will resolve our internal problems."
The most strenuous reaction has come from Paraguay's neighbors.
Presidents of the Mercosur bloc have said they will consider the political crisis this week and mull whether to take further action, though several regional governments, including Brazil and Chile, said they will do nothing that would hurt the people of Paraguay, suggesting economic measures against the impoverished, landlocked South American nation may not be on the table.
Lugo concurred.
"As a Paraguayan, I want the best for the country. May there be no economic blockade — we would all lose," he said in the evening after meeting with union and social groups who back him.
But Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a Lugo ally, announced the suspension of diesel sales to Paraguay.
Franco met on Monday with Paraguayan petroleum providers to evaluate the impact of the loss, and was told that Venezuela provides about one-third of the fuel consumed in the country.
"We told the president that the Venezuelan decision will not affect our market," said fuel importer Juan Jose Zapag. "We will surely cover the demand with other sellers."
Zapag said Venezuela does not actually ship the diesel to Paraguay, but instead finances a Paraguay company to purchase the fuel. He added that if Venezuela cuts off those funds, by contract it would be unable to collect a $260 million debt owed by Paraguayan oil company Petropar.
Franco's newly installed government has also been trying to counter growing diplomatic repercussions. Ambassadors have been called home for consultations by the governments of Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile and Peru.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said U.S. officials "remain quite concerned about the speed of the process used for this impeachment in Paraguay."
Asked if the U.S. government considers it a coup, she said: "We have not so designated it at this point."
Nuland said that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke over the weekend with Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota, and that the region's countries plan to discuss the events in Paraguay at a meeting of the Organization of American States in Washington on Tuesday.
The State Department confirmed that Lugo, at his request, met with the U.S. ambassador to Paraguay on Thursday, the day of his impeachment, but without divulging the content of their discussion.
Associated Press writers Peter Orsi in Asuncion, Eva Vergara in Santiago, Chile, Gonzalo Solano in Quito, Ecuador, and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
Ousted leader hopes to regain power in Paraguay
ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — Ousted Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo said Monday that he is aiming to return to power and will rally allies at home and abroad after a landslide congressional vote forced him from office in what he called a break with democracy.


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Okay now I won't be able to do this documentary without you, yes you! Filmmaking is a collaborative art. Do you have any ideas, suggestions, hook-ups on people I can stay with as a travel around, I want to hear it. Email Me!
On top of all the grants I'm applying for, I'm going to need some start up money for hard drives, cards, travel, etc. Anything helps. Seriously, $10, $20, $30, or even $50 that adds up. If you donate to this project, I will put your name in the credits under the Special Thanks. Just click the DONATE button and give what you can.
Don't have money to spare, that's okay, you can also donate frequent flier air miles, comped hotels rooms, and any other travel hook up you have. Most of the budget for this movie is made up of travel. Maybe you work for a company that needs to give money and might want to sponsor the project.
This is my Indiegogo fundraising video. The campaign is over but you can still check out the video.
Click Here to Go to the Online fundraiser, IndieGoGo!


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First Look SanDisk's upcoming
cassette Micro SD personal stereo, SlotMusic, will be coming to the UK and the rest of Europe early next year, Register Hardware can reveal after having a play with the gadget.
The ciggie-lighter sized player is a model of simplicity: a Micro SD slot at one end, 3.5mm earphone socket and power key at the other. On one edge you'll find the play/pause and track skip keys, all implemented as simple rubber covered switches.
There's no display, but SanDisk sees the SlotMusic Player as a single-album device. The main body section is actually a slide-off U-shaped sleeve, and each album comes with a sleeve-shaped sticker: peel it off and slap it on the sleeve, and not only do you have the album art on the front, but a track list on the back so you can skip to the track you want.
SanDisk will sell the SlotMusic Player bundled with an album, so the US price of $35 includes a $15 album, so the hardware's actually only $20. In addition to the album art, there's a generic SlotMusic sleeve sticker.
SanDisk's SlotMusic Player: cheap and cheerful
Removing the sleeve reveales the Player's battery bay: it takes a single AA alkaline battery, included with the Player, so you're ready to go and there's no need to ever connect it to a computer. Actually, you can't - there's no USB, for starters - but that's the whole point.
Each SlotMusic card is 1GB in capacity, and the Player will take generic Micro SDs of up to 2GB. The songs are stored in 320Kb/s MP3 format, so there's no DRM and you're free to play the tracks on other devices, copy them, back them up, format the card etc. The Player's own sound quality isn't great but it is adequate.
In the States, SanDisk is partnering with WalMart and BestBuy to sell Players and SlotMusic albums. Over here, no retailers have yet - publicly, at any rate - been signed up, but SanDisk say it's talking to all the major music retailers, from specialists like HMV and Zavvi to generalists like bookshop chains and grocers.
The Micro SD SlotMusic card comes in a small plastic case, itself inside a CD-style jewel case. Packaging overkill, yes, but it's retail friendly, allowing SlotMusic racks to show up as well as CD racks do, and even be stacked among the discs - with suitable 'does not contain a CD' messaging, we hope.
SanDisk also reckons buyers will want to stack their SlotMusic purchases with their CD library, which is another reason why it's packaging the products in CD jewel cases.
Not only does SlotMusic use an entirely open and accessible music format but SanDisk also says it's publishing the spec - such as it is - to allow other Micro SD vendors to strike deals with labels and release SlotMusic albums of their own.
The company's not daft - it knows it needs more widespread adoption of the format if SlotMusic is to become the de facto successor to the CD it wants it to be.
It also knows it needs consumers, and it believes there are plenty of folk out there who either aren't yet ripping CDs to PCs and copying the songs to players. Some are just uncomfortable with the process - we know people who do this for non-techie partners. Other people simply don't want the hassle - they want to buy an album, slot it into the player and start listening immediately.
SlotMusic albums also bundle a very slim USB adaptor, so Micro SD cards can be plugged into in-car hi-fis and other music playback devices with USB slots. Again, SanDisk reckons the format will appeal to people already using these methods.
A Micro SD card rebranded
We're not convinced there's a long-term future for SlotMusic, but it's certainly the case that CD sales - purchases of physical, tactile media - still outweigh downloads. If plenty of punters still buy CDs rather than downloads, it's plausible that SanDisk can persuade them to buy memory cards instead. Plenty of CD buyers don't rip their discs as soon as they get them home.
CD, of course, is supported by a huge array of players, and most folk own a CD playback device of some kind. But there are a fair few phones out there with Micro SD slots, and SanDisk sees SlotMusic appealing to owners of these devices as much as anyone else.
Will it work? It might, and it's going to be interesting to see how SanDisk promotes the platform. It seems a crazy idea to people who download at the drop of a hat, but they're not the target audience. As we say, there a lot of music consumers who aren't downloading. Maybe now they never will.
We're sceptical, but SlotMusic is going to make an interesting experiment.
SanDisk MP3 Player Reviews
SanDisk Sansa Clip MP3 player
SanDisk Sansa Fuze
Sponsored: How to simplify data protection on Amazon Web Services


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Crafting with dollar/thrift store plastic animals is one of the many new crafting trends. You can buy a lot of these finished crafts online. But if you've got some spare time, why not just make your own? Google "plastic animal crafts" and you'll find a whole slew of tutorials. I decided to try a few on my own. I used small plastic figures but there are other crafts out there for using the larger ones. If you're going to do something such as bookends, you will probably want a larger, more sturdy toy.
Here is what I made:
magnetic necklace holder
ring holder
magnetic photo holder or fridge magnet
place card holder
Gather your supplies...I got a little crazy with mine! You probably won't want to do all of these projects in one day. It really did take a long time because of all the painting/waiting for paint to dry/cleaning up the glitter, etc ;)
Pick out acrylic paints in whatever color you choose. I did a couple of neons, gold, white and black. I also grabbed some glitter. I am not so great with glitter, it pretty much got onto every animal!
Here is a list of everything I used...
exacto knife
dremel multi max
E6000 glue
acrylic craft paint
miniature wood plaques/hearts
newspaper to protect the craft surface
Mod Podge Hard Coat
To make the place card holders use your exacto knife to carefully slice a line through your toy. For the zebra, I chose the mouth; for the lion, I cut in the middle of his back. Cut as deep as you want the cards to sit.
Use your Dremel tool (or Exacto knife, but I promise that will take longer and your hand may get sore!) and slice the chosen animals in half. Be careful because the friction of the Dremel will cause the plastic to heat up quickly! Either clamp one end of the toy to your table or have someone carefully hold the toy down while you cut.
Once they are cut arrange them on your plaques and decide how you want to decorate them.
Start by painting the animals with a base of white for primer. Once dry, paint each animal with your choice of colors -- or if you're adventurous, try some glitter! That picture above is my poor hippo drowning in glitter!
You may want to use a couple of coats depending on how well the white covers the original color. Once all paint is dry, coat with some Mod Podge Hard Coat for a glossy shine. Also, paint your wooden plaques/hearts being used to mount the animals.
Once everything has dried, use your E6000 or hot glue gun to attach the animals to their base. Glue the magnets onto the back or use a picture frame hanger if you want to be able to mount it onto a wall.
There are so many fun colors and combos you can come up with! What do you think? Will you chop up your plastic animals and make something fun?! :)


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Sooooo disappointed with these trousers!
Was shocked at the poor quality of these trousers as soon as I pulled them out of the packing! So thin with no shape and an awful faded black/brown colour. To be honest I wouldn't even give these to the charity shop and will be returning immediately. It shouldn't be this difficult to get a smart pair of black trousers for work!


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The Forex world is constantly evolving and during its weekly trading hours there is a wealth of news a trader must keep on top of if they want to make the most money possible. Indeed, because the market can be affected by a number of dynamics, it is essential they know exactly what's happening at all times in order to avoid any unprofitable deals.
For example, let's assume the US Dollar is trading well against the Great British Pound during the first half of the week. This would be a good time to invest some money and reap the benefits of a positive market condition. However, by Wednesday a series of negative news stories emerge from the UK and affect the country's economic performance. These dynamics then adversely affects how well the two currencies are trading. At this point it's important to know what's just happened because it will influence whether or not someone should cease trading this currency pair for a while or continue.
Knowing the value of each currency based on various internal and external factors is crucial and the reason why FXBrokerSearch.com's Forex news centre is a vital resource. Drawing on a number of resources, our information section provides the latest information and data from which users can refine their trading activity.
Beyond shifts in the currency market itself, FXBrokerSearch.com's new section has been designed to give traders an insight into the best offers and promotions. By monitoring each of our 200+ Forex brokers we're able to quickly tell users about the latest updates and bonuses.
By compiling all this current data into one portal we believe investors will be able to make even more money in the Forex market. Indeed, thanks to our dedicated team of analysts and experts, users can find out the latest market developments as well as the best deals in the industry. Putting all this together should help everyone gain a better understanding of the market, which in turn should give them the ability to make even more money.
JPMorgan Chase Chief U.S. Economist Michael Feroli says the gloomy dip in average hourly earnings in December is likely a fluke, and not worth getting concerned over. ..
The Market Vectors Russia ETF (NYSEArca: RSX) lost about three-quarters of a percent early in Friday's after-hours session after Fitch Ratings lowered Russia's sovereign credi ..
Citigroup Inc this week cut its bonus pool for fixed-income and equity market traders after market revenues plunged during the last two weeks of the year, according to a perso ..
(Reuters) - Slow wage growth and low inflation are prompting two top U.S. Federal Reserve officials to call for deferring interest-rate increases until next year, and a third ..
Investors hope the lower gasoline cost is putting more money in consumers' wallets for spending on apparel and other retail goods. The next two weeks will indicate whethe ..
If there ever was doubt about the strategy of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, its wealthiest members are putting that issue to rest. ..
Global oil markets resumed their slide on Friday, with Brent and U.S. crude hitting April 2009 lows and ending down for a seventh straight week, although prices recovered from ..
Santander chief Ana Botin is expected to target Britain, the United States and the bank's Spanish home market under her plan to accelerate growth after raising 7.5 billio ..
President Barack Obama on Friday proposed to bring the cost of two years of community college "down to zero" for all Americans, an ambitious nationwide plan based on ..
A survey by the Pew Research Center found that 54% of those with the greatest financial security believe that "poor people today have it easy because they can get governm ..
Risk Disclosure: fxBrokerSearch.com will not be held liable for any financial loss or damage caused by users acting upon any information contained within this website, not limited to and including: all numerical data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals. Moreover, please be advised that Forex trading is one of the most volatile investment forms in the world and all trades should be placed with full consideration of the risks and costs.
fxBrokerSearch.com does not support nor encourage the execution of any investments. Trading with a margin is high risk endeavour and not suitable for everyone, therefore, each investor should carefully consider all relevant trading conditions, such as experience, risk and cost, before taking part in any type of trading, including Forex.
While every effort has been made to ensure all our data is as accurate as possible, fxBrokerSearch.com cannot be held responsible for any prices that are not in line with real-time data. Indeed, the currency exchange market is constantly changing and all CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are set by market makers.
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Since 1968, Wamco has quickly grown to become the world leader in advanced light sciences and lighting solutions and components. Since the beginning, we have been proudly serving the military, defense, aerospace, industrial, and medical industries. Read More...
Wamco engineers are experts in optical technologies. We design and manufacture high quality products that incorporate the latest technical innovations in lighting, custom LED lighting, optics, optoelectronics, Night Vision Imaging System (NVIS) filtering, material construction, polymeric dye formulations, and manufacturing processes. Our engineering team can provide "full-cycle support" of our products, from the design input phase to the production phase.
Difficult light challenges are our business! Our engineering staff and facilities can provide rapid prototyping with optical and environmental testing.
Wamco is a leader in high-contrast Night Vision filters (NVIS filters) with product deployment on over 100 military platforms worldwide, from military fighter jets and helicopters, to transport aircrafts and trainers. Wamco filters developed for Secure Lighting applications are specially designed for portable electronics and ground applications providing a secure environment at night to keep our soldiers safe from enemy detection.
Please contact Wamco to discuss your secure lighting application requirements. Wamco filters are also used in civilian applications, including crew station displays for search and rescue, forest fire surveillance, wildlife surveillance, and border patrol. Whether your application is for AMLCD/CRT displays, wings tips and cargo area lighting or warning lights, illuminated switches and panels, or custom LED and other lighting products, Wamco offers a lighting solution to meet your needs.
Wamco�s unique knowledge of display performance in harsh environments has led to numerous advancements in AMLCD displays, especially in high-end military applications. Scientists and applications engineers have pioneered development, and based on years of field feedback the company has mastered unique material science technologies related to displays. This expertise has also been at the base of Wamco�s development of ruggedized display modules where optical elements are added to standard industrial LCD cells or integrated in custom module solutions. Wamco can help define performance specifications and develop all components required in a display module; backlights, light plates, film stacks, heaters, NVIS filters, optical bonding, EMI, AR cover glass, and touch screens.
Moreover, Wamco�s industry leading optical metrology provides unparalleled optical measurements only matched by specialized US government laboratories. This provides the unchallenged reliability and performance required for high performance applications.
We are pleased to announce a new product video showcasing the Colt LED 14 ft. ladder harness system.Click Here to View the Video
For more than 40 years, Wamco has been providing a wide spectrum of lighting solutions to industries across the globe.
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Australia GFS Snow Forecast +24 hour Chart
About GFS
Global Forecast System. The operational numerical weather forecasting model run by NCEP. The GFS superceded the AVN and MRF models, on which it is largely based. Forecast data from the GFS is available out to 180 hours at full resolution and 16 days at a reduced resolution.
Weather News
WA's drought 'the driest the land has been in 40 years'
Parts of Western Australia are in the grip of one of the worst droughts some pastoralists have seen in more than 40 years.
Murrurundi's taps turned on in drought-ravaged town living for years on restrictions
In a momentous day for the residents of Murrurundi in the Upper Hunter Valley, a 40-kilometre water pipeline supplying the town will be switched on today where locals have been living under the highest level water restrictions for two years.


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Classes are currently being taught online. All physical facilities are closed to the public at this time, and employees are working remotely.Please visit
dcccd.edu/coronavirus for additional information and to
find contact information for various departments.If you need additional assistance, please visit
My Community Services and our
Community Employment Resources.
This article appeared in a June 2016 issue of the student newsletter.
By Brian Reinhart
"I had my midlife crisis at age 18." Tyler Huynh is so young, and so quick to smile, that his claim is hard to believe. But, as his high school years ended, he didn't know what to do next. "I felt really lost. I couldn't find my passion."
He found that passion at North Lake College. Over two years at NLC, Tyler Huynh recovered his sense of purpose and set himself on a career path. This May, Huynh graduated with an associate of science degree, a concentration in sustainability studies, and plans to study environmental engineering at Southern Methodist University in the fall.
When Huynh arrived at NLC, he considered studying business. "I thought I would help people invest in their dreams." He's still passionate about the subject, but he quickly found that "the environment spoke to me more. I realized I wanted to help people from a humanitarian angle."
Environmental engineering is a challenging, growing field. "It's about making things more efficient," Huynh explains, "getting more from less resources." At North Lake, he was able to take science courses, participate in the student-led
Green Club, join the Phi Theta Kappa
honor society, and acquire a concentration in sustainability studies. NLC's is the
first such concentration offered by any community college, and sustainability students receive a special green cord to wear at the graduation ceremony.
In addition to being well-rounded, with courses in nearly every subject the college offers, the green concentration focuses on practical applications. Huynh says, "I feel like it does open your eyes to events that are happening—real-life environmental events. It gives you more of a real-world aspect of what you're studying."
Huynh got more experience as an intern to Brandon Morton, the college's sustainability coordinator. "Brandon said to 'be the sponge,' absorbing knowledge," Huynh says of his internship. Aside from career mentorship, the job involved compiling and presenting data, attending policy meetings, assisting and job-shadowing Morton, and learning how to write grant proposals.
Ask Tyler what he wants to do next, and he may not have a clear answer. He's bursting with different ideas: "Maybe environmental consulting?" Inventing some kind of engineering solution? Perhaps oceanography or hydrology: "Fresh water is the next big resource; I think it's the next oil." They're all subjects he can pursue this fall at SMU. Ultimately, he says, "I just want to help people."
As he prepares to transfer to SMU, Tyler Huynh reflects on his "midlife crisis" and is thankful for the path he took as a result. "North Lake gave me an opportunity to really find myself." Armed with a degree and internship experience, he looks forward to making a big impact in his chosen subject. As he puts it, an environmentalist "can literally save the world."


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Editors' note: This is an updated review to reflect the server's performance with Seagate's new 3TB internal hard drives.
When it was first released in 2009, the BlackArmor 440 was considered to be a fast NAS server. More than a year later, we revisit the server, as Seagate recently started shipping the industry's largest 3TB internal hard drive with it, and found that the server's glory days are over. It's no longer one of the fastest NAS servers on the market.
Nonetheless, the BlackArmor 440 is still relatively fast and continues to prove itself to be a reliable workhorse in our testing. If you can deal with its sluggish and rather unfriendly Web interface, at around $650 for 6TB (up to $1,900 for 12TB), the BlackArmor 440 makes a decent investment for businesses that need a secure and abundant network storage solution. If performance and features are what you are after, check out the Synology DS410 or the Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra4, instead.
Design and setup
Other than the support for 3TB internal hard drives, making its total support amount of storage up to 12TB (up from 8TB), the BlackArmor 440 NAS sever is exactly the same as what it was a year ago.
The server has a bold-looking design, with four bays on its front and the top that protrudes farther out, showing off its tiny LCD. Each bay can hold one SATA hard drive of any capacity, which means that the device can host up to 12TB of storage. Seagate only ships a 3TB hard drive with its NAS server. However, the company said it will soon ship 3TB upgrade kits so that owners of existing BlackArmor 440 servers can take advantage of this significant pump in storage space.
The device's design is such that you can completely replace these hard drives by yourself, without any tools. Seagate recommends you use only the company's hard drives, providing tech support only for Seagate drives, but the BlackArmor can work with SATA hard drives from any vendor.
Considering its large size, the BlackArmor's fan is surprisingly quiet. Also, it is the first NAS server we've seen that allows you to replace its cooling fan. This is a useful feature, as over time the fans tend to collect dust, become noisier, or just stop working.
On the back of the BlackArmor are two Gigabit Ethernet ports and three USB ports, with another USB port on the front for quick and convenient thumbdrive use. The USB ports support both USB external storage devices and printers. A small LCD on the front displays the status of the USB-connected device, providing status information such as IP address, link status, data, time, so on. On the right side of the LCD are two navigation buttons that we found rather confusing to use at first, as they are not labeled.
The BlackArmor's backup solution is based on Acronis' excellent True Image and comes with a license for 10 computers. One of its more useful features is the capability to quickly recover a crashed computer by booting from the included software CD that lets you perform a complete system recovery from a backup contained on the BlackArmor NAS.
Thanks to the included discovery software utility, setting up the BlackArmor was a simple task. Once you have everything set up, the utility assists in finding the NAS server on the network and will let you map network drives to its two default share folders: "public" and "download." Fortunately, the utility isn't needed to access the NAS, as it fully supports SMB protocol and can be easily found using Windows Explorer.
You can also use the discovery utility to launch the BlackArmor's Web interface, but this is where the simplicity ends. Unfortunately, you will need to figure out a lot by yourself as we found the NAS server's manual rather scant on details.
Though it lacks support for fancy features such as IP cameras and support for Time Machine, the BlackArmor 440 NAS server has a long list of features. In this review, we touched on only those we found significant or unique to this device.
General features: The BlackArmor has a standard user account management. By default, the device comes with an "Admin" account that allows you to log in and create other user accounts. Though this default account has administrative privileges, it doesn't include all of the features of a user-created account. For example, you won't be able to use the Admin account to access the NAS remotely over the Internet. This is confusing since most, if not all, NAS servers, give the "Admin" account the same (or more) access to features as it does regular accounts.
Once a new user account has been created, you can assign it different access privileges for each share folder. Also, placing a user account in a group automatically gives it the access privileges of that group. Aside from public share folders, each user account has a private share folder of its own, and if you have an office with a centralized server, the BlackArmor 440 NAS can be set to work as a domain member. Again, this part requires you to understand Windows server's Active Directory as well as other advanced user account management to set up.
The NAS offers four different ways to set up the hard drive: RAID 0, Span, RAID 5, and RAID 10. At least three hard drives are necessary for RAID 5, and all four for RAID 10, which is a combination of RAID 1 and RAID 0. Setting up a RAID configuration takes quite some time with the BlackArmor 440. In our test using four 4TB hard drives, RAID 5 took us about half a day. However, if you buy a BlackArmor 440, it's likely that it will come set up in RAID 5.
With built-in digital media and iTunes servers, the BlackArmor can automatically stream music, video, and photos to compatible devices, including computers, set-top boxes, and game consoles. To share these types of files, simply place them in their appropriate folder within the default "Public" share folder. For example, if you want to share music via iTunes, place the music files in the "Our Music" folder, which is inside the "Public" share folder. Then, you can set the intervals that the server will automatically scan for new music to add to the share, ranging from every 5 minutes to once a day. We tried this out, and it worked very well.
The BlackArmor NAS server has support for Network File System that lets the system administrator store resources in a central location on the network, providing authorized users continuous access to them. It can work as a FTP, HTTP, and a secure HTTPS server. It also has support for Dynamic DNS through dyndns.com, meaning you can set up the servers to work over the Internet for free with an easy-to-remember address.


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The Chinmaya Mission Pledge
We stand as one family,
bound to each other,
with love and respect.
We serve as an army,
courageous and disciplined,
ever ready to fight against,
all low tendencies and false values,
within and without us.
We live honestly the noble life of
sacrifice and service,
producing more than
what we consume,
and giving more than what we take.
We seek the Lord's Grace
to keep us on the path of
virtue, courage and wisdom.
May Thy grace and blessings flow
through us to the world around us.
We believe that
the service of our country
is the service of the Lord of Lords,
And the devotion to the people is
the devotion to the Supreme Self.
We know our responsibilities,
give us the ability and the
courage to fulfill them.
Chinmaya Mission Pledge.
What we have is a gift from HIM.
For the first time, an online teaching on Vedanta is now available in French.
Chinmaya Mission Delhi
Classes by
Vedanta Classes
Swamini Gurupriyananda
Swami Chidrupananda
Padhuka Pooja
Swami Durgeshananda