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The Argus Ethylene Analytics service, part of the wider Argus Analytics line, puts you firmly in control of your petrochemicals information flow.
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- Production, consumption, capacity and trade data for ethylene and its derivatives from 2005-26
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Argus produce información y servicios para mercados globales, lo cual incluye que Argus comparta su información personal con compañías del grupo Argus y proveedores de servicios que están basados dentro y fuera del Área Económica Europea (EEA por sus siglas en ingles). Utilizaremos su información con discreción de acuerdo con nuestra política de privacidad. Tome un momento para completar la información a continuación.


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Events for December 29, 2019
Events Search and Views Navigation
Saskia Keeley: Dialogue and Transformation
Since 2015, photojournalist Saskia Keeley has conducted photography workshops in the West Bank for Palestinian and Israeli women and girls that promote dialogue and understanding between the two groups who would otherwise have no interaction. The resulting images are striking, deeply personal, and highlight the innate dignity of the individual. "The camera is a tool… Read More Saskia Keeley: Dialogue and TransformationFind out more »

subset: commoncrawl


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PS - HDR and Tone Mapping
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[♪music♪] [ADOBE TV Presents] [The Complete Picture with Julieanne Kost] Hi and Welcome. My name's Julieanne Kost and today we're going to take a look at the new Merged HDR Pro feature in Photoshop CS5 as well as the Tone Mapping adjustment. Now, as probably most of you know, we've supported true 32-bit, high dynamic range imaging in previous versions of Photoshop, which is excellent for special effects houses and photographers. But what we found is that many photographers also want to make more creative adjustments when they take their 32-bit images down to16-bit. So whether you're starting in Bridge and selecting Tools and then Photoshop, Merge to HDR Pro, or if you're starting in Lightroom, or in CS5, you can actually start in Photoshop using the new Mini Bridge. You simply select your range of images, and then using the fly-out menu here, you choose Photoshop and then Merge to HDR Pro. Now, while this is processing, we should really discuss what the problem is we're solving. As most of you know, if you go outside on a bright, sunny day at noon, and you try to photograph something, it's very difficult to capture the details in both the shadow and the highlight areas of an image. So what photographers have started doing is taking multiple exposures because if you just take a single exposure and say, expose for the highlights, and then try and post to actually bring out detail in the shadows, well, you can get a lot of noise in that shadow area and it doesn't look very good. So instead, by taking a range of exposures, what we can do is we can actually combine those exposures to increase that dynamic range. So I have a few suggestions as you go out and photograph these HDR range of exposures. One of them would be to try to use a tripod because you really do want your images to be aligned. Now, if you don't use a tripod, Photoshop will actually run some auto-alignment algorithms so it's not like it's that big of a deal, but if you've maybe changed a little bit on the camera, then we're going to have to straighten some of those images in order to get them to match, and when we do that, you lose a little bit of sharpness because of the interpolation. Another thing to keep in mind is to keep the exposures 1 stop apart. And, when you're changing exposure, you don't want to change the aperture, right? Because that would change your depth of field. So you want to change your shutter speed or your ISO when capturing these images. All right, excellent. As we can see, the new default for Mode is going to be 16-bit because we assume that you're going to use all of these creative controls in order to convert your image to 16-bit. However, if you need a 32-bit image, you can simply select that from the list. But let's take an in-depth look at all of these options. Now, just because they're listed in this order doesn't mean that this is necessarily the order that you have to use them. So for example, if you wanted to add some contrast between your shadow and highlight areas, that's what the Gamma slider's for--to either increase or decrease that contrast. You can use Exposure to either brighten or darken your image, and then once you get it kind of dialed in approximately how you want it, you can use either the Shadow or Highlight sliders in order to either increase the shadows-- kind of give like a fill flash to that area-- or you can decrease them. Same with Highlight. You can either increase the highlights, or you can compress just the very brightest points of your image to bring them down into a printable range with detail. We can also add detail with the Detail slider. This is going to make the image look a little bit sharper. If you go too far, you'll notice it's getting that really crispy look that's kind of popular today with HDR. And we have the ability to change your edge glow. We have both a Radius slider-- the radius is going to control how many pixels are affected by the glow-- and the Strength will determine how much contrast there is in the glow. So obviously that's a bit much; we'll tone that down and come down here to the bottom where we can change our color. Now, we can change both Vibrance and Saturation. The Vibrance, when you increase it, you'll notice that if you have an image that has flesh tones in it, the Vibrance is going to increase the color ranges that really aren't flesh toned, so you'll see a big increase in maybe a sky area or the grass area, and less of an increase in somebody's face. It's a relative slider. If you simply want to increase the saturation of everything in your image equally, then you would use the Saturation slider, because it is not a relative change. And, of course, you can use a combination of both of these to achieve exactly the look that you want. If you wanted to go in and actually refine this further as far as the tone curve goes, you click on Curve, and then you can click to add points to your curve to either increase or decrease contrast in your image. But did you notice up here, in the upper left-hand corner? We're getting kind of this odd artifacting, and that's because between exposures, the wind was blowing and so the leaves were moving, and this has kind of been the downfall to high dynamic range images that are shot with multiple exposures. But in CS5, we have the ability to simply click to remove the ghosting, or to remove those objects that move between exposures. You can even select which exposure you want to choose from by simply clicking on that exposure down here in the thumbnail view. Now, you'll notice that I clicked on the darker of 2 exposures, and if we think about that, the reason behind that is because when you're overexposing some of your images because you want to get the detail in the shadow area, my lens--when it overexposes in really bright areas, especially if it's a wide angle lens on the edges-- I get chromatic aberration, which is just a little bit of a misalignment of the pixels. And when you get that misalignment and then you enhance it using all of these creative tools, it can really stand out. So in my case, I'm much better off if I select one of my darker exposures to select which one is going to take priority when I remove that ghosting. Now, once I'm finished, I can save an Auto Response Curve if I want to or I could save a Preset, which would include all of these different options that I have. And in fact, I can then share those Presets with other people and I can use the same Presets when I open different images. So here we can take a look, for example-- this is kind of a more conservative change that I might make to the image-- versus something that might look completely surreal. And of course, you can see that there are additional Presets that ship by default that you can use. Some of them are for monochromatic, so you don't have to keep color. We can go in and create a beautiful high dynamic range black and white image as well. Excellent--all we need to do is click OK and Photoshop will take those individual exposures that it's already configured into a 32-bit image and reduce that down to 16-bit using all of the creative controls that we just applied. Excellent. But I know what some of you are thinking, so let me close this image and I know this will happen--you want that same control-- that same set of adjustments-- but you only have one image, so what can you do? Well, let's select this image, and you'll notice from Mini-Bridge, I can simply drag and drop it directly into Photoshop, which is quite nice. So now I just have a single image. This is not HDR--you can't have a single image HDR image. It just isn't. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to choose Image, and then Adjustments and come down to HDR Toning. And I use this quite often, so I've actually applied my own custom keyboard shortcut to it using the Keyboard Shortcut Editor. Now, you can see that I have that same set of adjustments-- Even the Toning Curve and Histogram right down here. So if I want to go in and change my exposure a little bit, maybe increase the contrast with Gamma, and then just bring down my Highlights a little bit, bring up my Shadow, and then add in some Detail, we can do that using the same set of sliders that we just familiarized ourselves with with the Pro HDR. And of course, I can save and load my Presets and we can select from the same set of Presets so if we've done a lot of work in the Pro HDR, I can then come and use those same Presets here. For example, I've made one right here that's just going to add a lot of punch to my image. You can see this also has a larger Radius, so that I'm not getting those really bright edge halos here, and I've kept my Strength down a little bit. So whether you're taking the time to photograph multiple exposures and then combining them using the Pro HDR feature or if you just have a single exposure but want that same HDR look and feel, all of that is now possible in Photoshop CS5. I'm Julieanne Kost. Thanks for joining me, and I hope to see you again on the next episode of The Complete Picture. [♪music♪] [ADOBE® TV PRODUCTIONS]
Video Details
Duration: 12 minutes and 12 seconds
Language: English
License: All rights reserved
Genre: None
Views: 154
Posted by: adobetv on Oct 6, 2010
In this episode of The Complete Picture, Julieanne Kost covers the new Merge to HDR Pro and Tone Mapping Adjustment features in Adobe Photoshop CS5 which allow you to get a much higher dynamic range in your images.
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get your head down
get (one's) head down
1. To take a nap. I just need to get my head down for a few minutes, so that I don't fall asleep at my desk.
2. To put forth effort on a task that involves reading or writing. If you just get your head down, you'll finish your paper much faster.
get your head down
1. If you get your head down, you concentrate and work hard at something. I could really do with getting my head down and finishing this chapter.
2. If you get your head down, you go to sleep. I'm going to get my head down for a bit. Compare with keep your head down.
get your head down1 sleep. 2 concentrate on the task in hand. British informal
get your ˈhead down(informal)
1 work or study hard: If you want to pass that French exam, you'll have to get your head down.
2 go to bed and sleep: It's time to get our heads down; we have to be up early tomorrow morning.


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I have downloaded, and am trying to use, the SBL Greek Font. Some of the letters are in a "different" location to the bwgreek, but I will get used to that.
However, I cannot find either the iota subscript, the ";" sign (for the question mark), or the sign for the semi-colon.
Could someone please help me.
Many thanks.


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The BritRail Scottish Highlands Pass is the most complete pass to explore Northern Scotland. Discover breath-taking landscapes and visit cities like Glasgow, Fort William, Inverness, Aberdeen and Kyle of Lochalsh.
The BritRail Scottish Highlands Pass allows you unlimited travel in 2nd class with the freedom to hit the tracks whenever and wherever you want! You can take as many trains as you like and there is no limit on the distance you can travel within a travel day. All of this at a fixed price.
Hop on and off trains at any time according to your desires and encounters. Just show up at the nearest train station and get ready to go and explore a new destination. (See 'Things to know' for more information about seat reservations).
The BritRail Scottish Highlands Pass is packed with bonuses to make your trip even more enjoyable. Discount on Strathspey Steam Railway and the Keith & Dufftown Railway, discounted ferry trips with Northlink Ferries, discounted fares with S&E coaches and more are included in your pass.
Whether you are the adventurous traveller or the avid planner, the BritRail Scottish Highlands Pass is your pass to freedom and the key to an unforgettable trip!


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Apple iPhone 4S: Thoroughly Reviewedby Anand Lal Shimpi & Brian Klug on October 31, 2011 7:45 PM EST
- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Apple
- Mobile
- iPhone
- iPhone 4S
Camera Quality
So we've gone over the details of improvements on the sensor, optical system, and finally ISP, and now the question is what this translates to in terms of actual image quality. To get to the bottom of this, we've turned to our usual smartphone camera bench locations and taken photos with the iPhone 4S at those locales. In addition I've taken photos with the 4S in our light box test with the lights on and off.
Anand mentioned that the smartphone battery life test needs some tweaking, the same also applies to the smartphone camera bench. To that end, we're doing a few new things here in addition to the same old stuff. I recently started taking video samples side by side with the device under test alongside another reference camera - we're going to start doing that more for stills now as well, and I've done this with the 4S alongside the 4 and an SGS2. I've always felt that our photo tests could be a lot more rigorous, and we will be coming up with some much more objective tests, but for now I have a preview with three new controlled tests. These sample photos are taken in another smartphone camera mount on a tripod 1.5 feet away from a test target. If we were being really scientific we'd be using an optical track and such, this is just a tripod with the phone on top some distance away. The goal is to have some objective testing, some subjective/qualitative testing.
The first is a distortion grid which is pretty straightforward. We're all familiar with distortion, which is a strongly field dependent magnification error. Put another way, rays at different field angles get different magnifications, and the result is either barrel or pincushion. It's actually easy to qualitate how much distortion there is present based on a sample like this, which we'll do in the future. In addition, it's also possible to correct out distortion computationally.
The 4S subjectively has much less distortion than the 4, though both appear to have some barrel going on. Interestingly enough you can immediately tell that the 4S and 4 have close to the same field of view, with the 4S being just a tad wider. The SGS2's wide field of view becomes readily apparent as well in the fourth image, and it suffers from a non-negligible amount of barrel distortion. I tossed in the other android handsets I have on hand as well as the 3GS to show how far things have come.
Another noteworthy thing is that the 4S minimizes but doesn't entirely eliminate the colored spot in the center. The 4 had an incredibly distinctive green spot in the center that was so notable you could spot images online and instantly tell they came from an iPhone 4. You can see a magenta circle in the 4's sample, but it's a bit harder to detect on the 4S image. It's an aberration that crops up whenever you're not looking for it, but seems to elude me when I try and track it down. Oddly enough I managed to find it in my carpet, where the 4S has no such green circle, but the 4 does. We talked earlier about the improved IR filter possibly mitigating this issue, and that does seem to be the case somewhat.
|iPhone 4S
|iPhone 4
Apple spent a lot of time in the keynote discussing their auto white balance functionality in the H4 ISP - the question is how well does it stack up? Onward on to our next test, which is a GMB/Xrite color checker classic card and the Kodak color control patches. I took a reference image with my D300s and configured white balance manually using an 18% grey card for comparison purposes, and then samples with the same phones again.
It's interesting that the iPhone images have been getting less saturated with each generation. The 4 image looks absurdly oversaturated and almost cartoonish compared to either the reference, the 4S, or the SGS2. I'd say that the SGS2 and 4S are pretty much tied here and look close to but not exactly in line with the reference. Going down the line you can see some of the other vendors have a long ways to go with their own white balance.
The third new test for right now is an industry standard ISO 12233 chart test. I see a lot of people taking pictures of this, but then offer little interpretation of the results. There are a bunch of different components in this chart - the thick 30 degree lines are for use with very popular slant MTF analysis algorithms, there are some patterns for distortion computation, and finally line pairs with ever increasing spatial frequency. Analyzing these requires looking at the full size samples, then finding the point at which the contrast between line pairs goes to zero - essentially, the point where you can't visually distinguish the pattern from irresolvable grey - in both vertical and horizontal. The numbers on the chart simply correspond to hundreds of line widths per picture height.
The gallery images of the full size charts are good but to really make conclusions you need to look at size crops of those tangential and saggital frequency regions. These are all taken with the same illumination, unfortunately the huge differences in white balance between cameras are just a reflection on how far the industry needs to go.
The difference between the frequency response of the 4S and the 4 is pretty huge. The disclaimer before you run into all of this data and start analyzing is that choosing the cutoff frequency is something of a science in and of itself (especially because there's a contrast reversal that tricks people up), plus unfortunately all smartphone cameras export lossy compressed images (JPEGs) and not raw data, and there's all kinds of sharpening and processing routines at play here. That said, I'd put the 4S cutoff in tangential around 17, and the 4 at 13. I threw the 3GS in as well to show how far things have come in such a short period - that camera barely makes it to 10. The results from the SGS2 put it around 15 or 16, though that camera is doing visible sharpening as evidenced by halos at the edge and an interesting spatial frequency response plot. If you look at contrast between 14 and 16 you can see the 4S narrowly edge out the SGS2 without any sharpening.
|iPhone 4S
|iPhone 4
|Galaxy S 2
I tossed in images from HDR mode from the 4S and 4 as well. These are made from computationally recombining three differently exposed images stored in a buffer. When you tap the capture button, those last three images get recombined into an image with more dynamic range. Interestingly enough, Apple does some sharpening in HDR Mode - again you can see halos and a big uptick on an SFR plot, but it isn't subjectively that bad, and we can distinguish lines up to arguably between 17 and 18. In the saggital direction, we can see lines down to about 17.5 on the 4S, 13 on the 4, and around 16 on the SGS2. It's hard to pick cutoffs when sharpening and nose reduction messes with the image, but clearly the 4S performance is very good. If you want to compare yourself, the original images cropped to tangential and saggital frequency areas is here (2 MB) and the full size charts images are here (19 MB).
Now for the subjective side by sides, which were taken in a bracket holding two smartphones at a time some distance apart horizontally. It's impossible to take the same exact photo from the same place in space and time, but we've done our best to offer a comparison with only a small amount of horizontal shift.
|iPhone 4S
|iPhone 4
The first 14 test images compare the iPhone 4 to the 4S and are at our test locations downtown, and from a few new angles. Then images 15–19 compare the 4 and 4S HDR performance, followed by 20–24 and 31 which compare the 4 and 4S in low light conditions. Last, 25–30 compare the 4S with the SGS2 which a lot of people have asked for.
The test charts we've shown so far tell the story, but seeing real world images makes the difference immediate. The 4S has vastly improved dynamic range over the 4 - you can see many more details in shadows and highlights, thanks in part to increased well depth between the two sensors. The difference between the 4 and 4S white balance is immediately visible as well in sample 4 where the 4S looks more like the actual bridge, and in 7 of a fountain.
In low light tests, the difference is even more dramatic and visible. The neon lit grill sign in 21 on the 4 is something of a blurry mess, while you can actually see the individual tubes in the 4S sample. I also shot a low light test in our light test box, number 31 where you can see a huge difference in noise between the 4S and 4.
The comparison with SGS2 is a little harder to make visually given the difference in field of view between the two. Aligning the two cameras also proved a challenge again thanks to this big difference in field of view, but you can see the effects of Samsung's sharpening when you look for it. Subjectively, however, the two are quite close.
|iPhone 4S
|iPhone 4
|Galaxy S 2
I've also included the 4S images in our usual lightbox gallery with and without flash, and the normal smartphone camera bench.
I mentioned earlier that I intentionally avoided using the LED flash on the 4, and the same continues with the 4S. If you're under 2 feet away from the subject, the tiny little fresnel lens on top of the LED flash continues to not be good enough at spreading light around evenly. There's also a nice bleeding effect that happens on the white model that doesn't affect the image but just casts a huge weird light pattern on the wall from light bouncing around inside the glass plate. In addition, Apple still doesn't illuminate the scene when focusing in the dark, so often you'll entirely miss focus if it's too dark.
With the lights on inside the box you can see how much better the 4S' white balance is than the 4, which has an almost red colored background in this test. Oversaturation is also gone, thankfully. I also tossed in images from HDR mode with the lights on. I haven't touched on it as much but the 4S also shows a big improvement in brightness uniformity with essentially no unwanted vignetting.
The front facing camera on the 4S is unchanged from the 4 (still just VGA), however this offers an interesting opportunity to compare that ISP-enhanced whitebalance. If you look at the sample from the 4S and compare to the 4, the difference is pretty shocking.
To conclude the still image analysis section, we can safely say that Apple has gotten serious about image quality with the 4S. Before the iPhone 4, the iPhone camera largely felt like a commodity cameraphone solution tacked onto otherwise great hardware. With complete control over almost the entire imaging chain on the 4S - custom optics, ISP, and software - we're starting to see some of Apple's vertically controlled influence spill over into this arena as well. Nokia has built an incredible reputation for itself by using glass optics and building phones around high performance cameras (like the N8 which is still in a different category entirely), and for the first time we're starting to see Apple venture into that category as well.
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tipoo - Monday, October 31, 2011 - linkAnyone know if there is a reason this hasn't made it into any Andriod phone yet? Does Google specify compatible GPU's, or is it cost, or development time, etc? Looks like it slaughters even the Mali 400 which is probably the next fastest. Reply
zorxd - Monday, October 31, 2011 - linkThe only reason is that no one used it yet. The TI OMAP 4470 will use the 544 which is probably a little faster.
The SGS2 is using the slower Mali 400, however it was released 6 months ago. Yet it's not that bad, even beating the 4S in Glbenchmark pro. Reply
zorxd - Monday, October 31, 2011 - linkI meant no SoC vendor is using it. Reply
djboxbaba - Monday, October 31, 2011 - linkThe numbers were incorrect and have been updated, the 4S is ~2x faster than the GS2 on the GLBenchmark Pro. Reply
freezer - Thursday, November 3, 2011 - linkBut not when running at phone's native resolution. Thats what people will use while running games on their phone.
iPhone 4S has much more pixels for GPU to draw while having much smaller screen. Not very optimal for gaming right?
http://glbenchmark.com/result.jsp?benchmark=glpro2... Reply
djboxbaba - Thursday, November 3, 2011 - linkCorrect, but we're comparing the GPU's by standardizing the resolution. Of course in the native resolution this will change. Reply
thunng8 - Monday, October 31, 2011 - linkI don't see any GL benchmark that the Mail 400 beats the 4S??? Reply
freezer - Thursday, November 3, 2011 - linkThat's because Anandtech review shows only the 720p offscreen results.
This gives very different numbers compared to running GL Benchmark Pro in phone's native resolution.
iPhone 4S has about 60% more pixels than Galaxy S2, and so its GPU has to draw much more pixels in every frame.
Go to glbenchmark.com and dig database yourself. Reply
Ryan Smith - Monday, October 31, 2011 - linkThe 544 should be identical to the 543 at the same clock and core configuration. It's effectively a 543 variant with full D3D feature level 9_3 support. The primary purpose of the 544 will be to build Windows devices, whereas for non-Windows devices the 543 would suffice. We don't have access to PowerVR's pricing, but it likely costs more due to the need to license additional technologies (e.g. DXTC) to achieve full 9_3 support. Reply
Penti - Tuesday, November 1, 2011 - linkWho will use it to support Windows Phone though? Qualcomm uses their own AMD/ATi based Adreno GPU. I guess it will be TI's attempt off getting Microsoft to support Windows Phone on their SoC in order to supply say partners of theirs like Nokia. Or might just be a later purchase/contract date for the other SoC vendors. Getting the IP-blocks later, but many did opt for the Mali-400 so why wouldn't they opt for the successor too? It seems to have worked out good. Samsung is just one of the vendors that usually did use PowerVR. I guess ST-E will use it in order to support Windows Phone on Nova A9540 SoC too. While Android vendors might opt for the older A9500 still.
Interesting to see how Nvidia do lag in this field though. Reply


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Hating Energy Dependence, Not Loving Energy Independence.
I worked on this piece on and off from November 30th to January 21st. I wrote the bulk of it on the first day, and most of the editing since then had been cosmetic. It is somewhat related to a project I was helping a friend with, although that is not the reason I wrote it. This piece originally appeared on January 21st at Notes on Liberty, where it was my first for that blog.
Contrary to what one might be led to think, energy independence need not be the opposite of energy (inter)dependence. Likewise, contrary to what many advocates of free markets and free trade will say, energy dependence (perhaps not their choice of words), is not a good thing. Energy interdependence certainly can be a good thing, but in today's world I can't agree that every instance of it always is. Continue reading


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Amazing demonstration of part of the design process. How often do you get this kind of inside look? Great stuff
"Video showing the making of the 1/4 scale clay model of the BAC Mono. A frame was taken every minute throughout the course of the work.
The clay gave the designers an invaluable opportunity to experiment with proportions and surface volumes. Having finished modelling, the clay was then scanned and turned into CAD data, serving as the basis for the CAD model."


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The learning environment at Santiago Canyon College is a collaboration between our faculty, staff and students. The community enrichment that results from this collaborative process starts at the top. The president and the administrative staff are driven by the college's mission to be an innovative learning community dedicated to intellectual and personal growth.
The President's staff consists of the President and his direct reports: the Vice President for Administrative Services, the Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Vice President for Student Services, the Vice President for Continuing Education, and the Executive Assistant to the President.
The Board of Trustees consists of seven elected community members. For more information on the administrative staff, their functions, and the college's strategic plan, check out the links on the left.
Santiago Canyon College is part of the Rancho Santiago Community College District and is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges.
Discrimination and Harassment Complaints and Investigations | Non-Discrimination Policy


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Yoshi is back and he's bustin' out the big eggs. Crush your surroundings and create paths with his new Mega Eggdozers in a brand-new platforming adventure! It'll take more than egg tosses and flutter jumps to lead fledgling Mario through a dangerous new island littered with inventive power-ups. Can you save poor Luigi?
Guide Yoshi and a young Mario through all-new stages, from slippery slopes to watery wonderlands. As Yoshi fans know, it's all about the collectibles and they're more enticing than ever to find. You'll need the new Mega Eggdozers to beat puzzling platforming moments and locate every collectible and surprise. They're hiding—are you seeking?


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Did Google's Earnings Gaffe Spook the Street on Tech Stocks?
Man, it was a rough morning for Google on the Nasdaq.
Close to midday on Thursday, Google's financial printing partner, RR Donnelly, published the search giant's earnings release draft hours before it was supposed to. The result: Shares of Google dropped sharply and almost instantly by nearly 75 points, with the unexpected gaffe only compounding the fact that Google missed its quarterly expectations.
But the company wasn't alone.
Major Internet company stocks slumped across the board on the news. As of 2:30 pm ET, LinkedIn shares were down 2.5 percent, joined by Amazon, whose shares dropped three points.
Social companies Facebook and Zynga also shrank by nearly 5 percent and 2 percent, respectively. Groupon was down nearly 3 percent.
Apple, too, dropped 11 points, close to a 2 percent drop overall, while Microsoft was down around a quarter of a percent.
It's worth noting that Thursday was a down market day overall for the Nasdaq, off around 1 percent midday. There was, however, one shining light amid the tanking Internet stocks: eBay was up nearly 5 percent in midday trading.
But the sharp drop for many Internet companies could mean that the Street was spooked by Google's folly. However momentary, the Valley felt the repercussions.
Google still plans to hold its earnings conference call at the end of business today. We'll be watching to see what after-hours trading for tech stocks looks like.


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"Beach Days" kaftan in Little Chirpies pattern
Note From Designer: I really like the idea of beach coverups as they help showcase your appreciation for artistic wear even on the beach. When making it, I kept in mind the atmosphere of the beach — Made it completely open in the front while at the same time to enhance the feminine beauty of the person wearing it I gave it a drawstring which cinches just under the bust. This gives a very comfortably, holidayish and yet no less exciting vibe. I really like how this design has turned out. Not only do I enjoy designing the kaftan but also enjoy choosing the fabric as much; for this style I chose Little Chirpies fabric in Light Blue to go with the beach mood.
Style: Simple open front drawstring style empire waist kaftan
Material: 100% mulmul cotton (fine quality and extremely soft, gets softer with every wash)
Fabric Options: A variety of colors are available in this fabric (Fabric swatches are there in one of the pictures above). If you want the same fabric pictured, just select the Same as Picture option!
Size Guide: Below is our size guide:


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Trundling toward Seville with a bootful of booty – a creamy blue cheese from Galicia, a jar of blue cheese cream from Asturias, a jar of apple jam, a jar of orange jelly, a jar of strawberry jam, a jar of quince and orange paste, a jar of quince and lemon paste, a jar of chilli chutney and a small bottle of nispero liqueur, the maker of which didn't so much recommend to us as warn us about. Two bottles of hand-picked olives in deep brine and three bottles of Extremaduran wine, a fridge magnet, two porcelain beer mugs and, wrapped up carefully in a straw hat, the most delicate cargo of all: six eggs from the finca we've just left and the chickens we've just waved goodbye to. Now all we have to do is get them home, just over four hundred kilometres away.
The project does not have an auspicious beginning; after just a few minutes we drive through a small town so sleepy and rural that even the main street is cobbled. Mis huevos, I complain as the car rattles through. We stop afterwards, outside a mammoth industrial complex of some kind that caught my eye on the way here yesterday – four huge silos and more at the other end next to a concrete dome the size of a small moon. At least half a kilometre in length, the plant consists of enormous pipes and ramps, a thousand stairwells, chutes and chimneys in all sizes and the constant noise of process. More


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SUMMER may not be the best time to cook, but it's certainly among the best times to eat. Toss watermelon and peaches with some ingredients you have lying around already, and you can produce a salad that's delicious, unusual, fast and perfectly seasonal.
That's the idea behind the 101 ideas found in this section. In theory, each salad takes 20 minutes or less. Honestly, some may take you a little longer. But most minimize work at the stove and capitalize on the season, when tomatoes, eggplant, herbs, fruit, greens and more are plentiful and excellent.
This last point is important. Not everything needs to be farmers' market quality, but it's not too much to expect ripe fruit, fragrant herbs and juicy greens.
Salt, to taste, is a given in all of these recipes. Pepper, too (if I want you to use a lot of pepper, I say so).
Herein, then, are enough salad ideas to tide you over until the weather cools down.
1. Cube watermelon and combine with tomato chunks, basil and basic vinaigrette. You can substitute peach for the watermelon or the tomato (but not both, O.K.?). You can also add bacon or feta, but there goes the vegan-ness.
2. Mix wedges of tomatoes and peaches, add slivers of red onion, a few red-pepper flakes and cilantro. Dress with olive oil and lime or lemon juice. Astonishing.
3. A nice cucumber salad: Slice cucumbers thin (if they're fat and old, peel and seed them first), toss with red onions and salt, then let sit for 20 to 60 minutes. Rinse, dry, dress with cider vinegar mixed with Dijon mustard; no oil necessary.
4. Shave raw asparagus stalks with a vegetable peeler. Discard the tough first pass of the peeler — i.e., the peel — but do use the tips, whole. Dress with lemon vinaigrette and coarse salt. (Chopped hard-boiled eggs optional but good.)
5. Grate or very thinly slice Jerusalem artichokes; mix with pitted and chopped oil-cured olives, olive oil, lemon juice and a sprinkling of coarsely ground cumin. Unusual and wonderful.
6. Sichuan slaw: Toss bean sprouts, shredded carrots and celery, minced fresh chili, soy sauce, sesame oil and a bit of sugar. Top with chopped peanuts and chopped basil, mint and/or cilantro. (The full trio is best.)
7. Grate carrots, toast some sunflower seeds, and toss with blueberries, olive oil, lemon juice and plenty of black pepper. Sweet, sour, crunchy, soft.
8. Chop or slice radishes (or jicama, or the ever-surprising kohlrabi) and combine with chopped or sliced unripe (i.e., still crunchy) mango, lime juice and mint or cilantro.
9. Chop or slice jicama (or radishes or kohlrabi) and mango and mix with coconut milk, lime juice, curry powder and cilantro or mint.
10. Cook whole grape tomatoes in olive oil over high heat until they brown lightly, sprinkling with curry powder. Cool a bit, then toss with chopped arugula, loads of chopped mint and lime juice.
11. Chop and steam baby or grown-up bok choy until crisp-tender, then shock it in ice water. Drain, then toss with halved cherry tomatoes, capers, olive oil and lemon juice.
12. Combine sliced fennel and prune plums; serve with vinaigrette spiked with minced ginger. Nice pairing.
13. A red salad: Combine tomato wedges with halved strawberries, basil leaves, shaved Parmesan and balsamic vinegar.
14. A classic Moroccan thing: Thinly slice carrots, or grate or shred them (the food processor makes quick work of this). Toss with toasted cumin seeds, olive oil, lemon juice and cilantro. Raisins are good in here, too. There is no better use of raw carrots.
15. Cut cherry or grape tomatoes in half; toss with soy sauce, a bit of dark sesame oil and basil or cilantro. I love this — the tomato juice-soy thing is incredible.
16. Slice fennel and crisp apple about the same thickness (your choice). Combine, then dress with mustardy vinaigrette and chopped parsley. Come fall, this will be even better.
17. With thanks to Szechuan Gourmet restaurant: Finely chop celery and mix with a roughly equal amount of pressed or smoked tofu, chopped. Dress with peanut oil warmed with chili flakes and Sichuan peppercorns, then mixed with soy sauce.
18. Roughly chop cooked or canned chickpeas (you can pulse them, carefully, in a food processor) and toss with olive oil, lemon juice, lots of chopped fresh parsley and mint, and a few chopped tomatoes. Call this chickpea tabbouleh.
19. Mix cooked cannellini or other white beans, chopped cherry or grape tomatoes and arugula or baby spinach. Lightly toast sliced garlic in olive oil with rosemary and red pepper flakes; cool slightly, add lemon zest or juice or both, then pour over beans.
20. Shred Napa cabbage and radishes. The dressing is roasted peanuts, lime juice, peanut or other oil, cilantro and fresh or dried chili, all whizzed in a blender. Deliciousness belies ease.
21. Dice cucumbers (if they're fat and old, peel and seed them first) and toss with cubes of avocado, a little mirin (or honey, but then it's not vegan), rice vinegar and soy sauce. (You could mix in a little lump crab meat, really not vegan, even rice, and call it a California roll salad.)
22. Thinly slice button mushrooms; toss with finely chopped carrots and celery and mix with mung bean sprouts. Finish with peanut or olive oil, sherry vinegar, a little soy sauce and minced ginger. (This is a super vinaigrette, by the way.)
23. Thinly slice some cucumbers (if they're fat and old, peel and seed them first), red onions, radishes and fresh chili pepper. Soak for a few minutes in equal amounts vinegar and water, with some salt and sugar. When they taste lightly pickled, drain and serve, alone or over rice.
24. Blanch spinach, then drain and shock in ice water. Squeeze it dry, chop it and toss it with toasted pine nuts, raisins, olive oil and a tiny bit of balsamic vinegar. Capers are good, too. Quite elegant, actually.
25. Combine chopped bell peppers, tomatoes, red onion, chilies and cilantro, then toss with corn tortilla strips, toasted in a 350-degree oven until crisp (or yes, use packaged chips; why not?). Dust with chili powder and lots of lime juice.
26. Combine mushroom caps and thinly sliced red onions with olive oil; broil gently until tender and browned. Toss with a lot of chopped fresh parsley or basil (or both) and a simple vinaigrette. Some chopped escarole, arugula or watercress is good, too.
27. Cook whole, unpeeled eggplant in a dry, hot skillet or on a grill, turning occasionally, until completely collapsed and soft. Chop and toss with toasted pita, toasted pine nuts, cooked white beans and halved cherry tomatoes. Dress with olive oil, lemon juice and lots of black pepper. Or a (non-vegan) yogurt dressing is good, especially one laced with tahini.
28. Toss mâche or another soft green with toasted slivered almonds and roughly chopped fresh figs. Thin some almond butter with water and sherry vinegar to taste and use as a dressing. Some will like this with fresh goat cheese.
29. Pit and halve cherries (or halve and pit cherries), then cook gently with olive oil and a little balsamic vinegar until they break down. Toss with chopped radicchio, endive, escarole or a combination, some toasted hazelnuts and more oil and vinegar, if necessary.
30. Fast, grown-up potato salad: Boil bite-size red potatoes. While still warm, dress them with olive oil, lemon juice, whole grain mustard, capers and parsley. Chopped shallots, bell peppers, etc., all welcome, too.
31. Roast beets whole (or buy them precooked), then slice or cube and toss with a little chopped garlic (or a lot of roasted garlic), toasted walnuts, orange juice and olive oil.
32. Same deal with the beets, but toss with cooked corn, arugula, olive oil, sherry vinegar and chopped shallots.
33. The real five-bean: Chickpeas, cannellini or other white beans, kidney or other red beans, steamed string beans and steamed yellow wax beans. Toss with vinaigrette, chopped scallions or red onion, and parsley.
34. Grill quartered romaine hearts, radicchio and/or endive. Drizzle with olive oil and sherry vinegar, and add dill and chopped shallots. Teeny-tiny croutons are great on this.
35. Combine cooked or canned black beans with shredded cabbage and this vinaigrette: olive oil, fresh orange juice, not much sherry vinegar, ground cumin.
36. Mix cooked or canned chickpeas with toasted coconut, shredded carrots, chopped celery, curry powder, olive oil, lime juice and cilantro.
37. Cube smoked tofu, then brush it with a mixture of honey and orange juice; broil until browned. Toss with chopped cucumbers, radishes and peas or pea shoots; drizzle with soy sauce and lime juice.
38. Cube watermelon; combine with roughly chopped mint, crumbled feta, sliced red onion and chopped Kalamata olives. Dress lightly with olive oil and lemon juice. Despite saltiness of feta and olives, this may need salt.
39. Yucatecan street food as salad: Roast fresh corn kernels in a pan with a little oil; toss with cayenne or minced chilis, lime juice and a little queso fresco. Cherry tomatoes are optional.
40. Slice cucumber and top with capers, olive oil, lots of pepper and little dollops of fresh ricotta. Note: cucumbers, ricotta and oil must all be really good.
41. Halve avocados and scoop out some but not all of their flesh. Roughly chop and toss with black beans, queso fresco, cilantro, chopped tomatillos and lime juice. Serve in the meaty avocado shells.
42. Trim crusts if necessary from day-or-two-old bread (or even three-day-old bread), cube and marinate in black olive tapenade thinned with more olive oil. Add chopped capers and toss with tomatoes, basil and mozzarella. (Anchovies optional.)
43. Grate raw beets (use the food processor to avoid ruining everything within spattering distance) and toss with watercress or arugula. Top with sherry vinaigrette and a little goat cheese. Especially obvious, perhaps, but also especially popular.
44. Make a crisp grilled cheese sandwich, with good bread and not too much good cheese. Let it cool, then cut into croutons. Put them on anything, but especially tomato and basil salad. This you will do forever.
45. Halve or quarter cooked artichoke hearts (the best are fresh and grilled, but you can use canned or frozen) and combine with cherry tomatoes, bits of feta or Parmesan or both, olive oil and lemon juice.
46. Sauté mushrooms and shallots in olive oil. Add a lot of spinach, chopped unless the leaves are small. When it wilts, stir in parsley and crumbled blue cheese. Feels like a steakhouse side-dish salad.
47. Thinly slice raw button mushrooms; combine with sliced or shaved Parmesan, parsley and a vinaigrette of olive oil, sherry vinegar and shallots.
48. Toss roughly chopped dandelion greens (or arugula or watercress) with chopped preserved lemon, chickpeas, crumbled feta and olive oil. (Before you start cursing me out, here's a quick way to make preserved lemons: chop whole lemons and put in a bowl with the juice of another lemon or two, sprinkle with a fair amount of salt and let sit for an hour or so.)
49. Toss greens with walnuts, blue cheese and raspberries; drizzle with a simple vinaigrette. Sell for $14 a serving.
50. It's puttanesca-ish: Egg salad with pitted black olives, chopped tomatoes, capers, anchovies (optional), a tiny bit of garlic and some red onion; mayonnaise as needed.
51. Arrange sliced ripe tomatoes and hard-boiled eggs on a platter; scatter a handful of chopped pitted green olives on top. Drizzle with a dressing made with olive oil, sherry vinegar and a teaspoon of pimentón.
52. Chop hard-boiled eggs and mix with just enough mayonnaise to bind; spoon into endive leaves. Top each with a small canned sardine and drizzle with a vinaigrette of olive oil, lemon juice and mustard.
53. Peel beets and grate them in a food processor. Mix equal parts plain yogurt and tahini, and toss with the beets along with lemon juice and za'atar (a mixture of toasted sesame seeds, dried green herbs and ground sumac; you can make it yourself using dried thyme).
54. Slice roasted red peppers (if you must use canned, try to find piquillos) and fresh mozzarella. Toss with cooked white beans, olive oil, red wine vinegar, a chopped shallot and fresh rosemary or parsley.
55. Mix watercress with chopped smoked salmon, avocado, red onion and capers. Make a vinaigrette with olive oil, sherry vinegar and mustard powder.
56. Salade niçoise, sort of: On or around a bed of greens, make mounds of olives, cooked new potatoes and green beans (warm or at room temperature), good tomatoes, capers, fennel slivers, hard-cooked eggs and good quality Italian canned tuna. None of these is crucial; you get the idea. Serve with vinaigrette or aioli.
57. Toss cubes of day-or-more-old good bread with soy sauce, chopped sautéed shrimp, chopped radishes and cilantro. Like a weird shrimp toast panzanella.
58. Sear tuna until rare (for that matter, you could leave it raw) and cut it into small cubes. Toss with shredded jicama or radish and shredded Napa cabbage; season with mirin, soy sauce and cilantro. Avocado and/or wasabi paste are great with this, too.
59. Sear tuna, or use good canned tuna. Chop it up and mix with chopped olives, capers, tomatoes, parsley and olive oil.
60. Ditto on the tuna. Mix with chopped apples, halved seedless grapes, chopped red onion, olive oil, a bit of cumin and black pepper.
61. Mix canned salmon (sockeye, or use cooked fresh) with capers, chopped celery, yogurt or mayonnaise, and lemon juice. Serve on greens or in endive leaves.
62. Dust shrimp with chili powder. Sauté in butter or oil (or a combination) with fresh corn kernels and flavorful cooking greens (bok choy is good, as is watercress). Add halved cherry tomatoes and lime juice at the last minute.
63. Sunday brunch salad: Mix diced cucumbers, chopped tomato, minced red onion and capers with bits of smoked salmon. Dress with lemon juice (you won't need much oil, if any). Take a step further by adding croutons of cubed toasted bagels.
64. Alternative Sunday brunch: Shred or chop cucumbers (if they're fat and old, peel and seed them first), then toss with flaked smoked trout or whitefish, capers, dill, lemon juice and olive oil.
65. In a hot pan, flash-cook cut-up squid in a little olive oil for no more than two minutes. Toss with cooked or canned chickpeas, chopped bell peppers, lemon juice, a little more oil and parsley.
66. In a hot pan, sear sea scallops for a minute or two on each side, depending on size. Slice or chop, then toss with thinly sliced fennel and lemon or orange vinaigrette and some chopped fennel fronds.
67. Bread salad for anchovy lovers: Chop together many anchovies, a few capers, lemon juice and olive oil (or anchovy oil). Toss with cubes of toasted bread and chopped tomatoes or halved cherry or grape tomatoes.
68. Mix crab meat with pan-roasted corn, chopped avocado, halved cherry or grape tomatoes, olive oil, lemon juice and perhaps a bit of cilantro and crumbled ancho chili.
69. Stir-fry small or chopped shrimp in olive or peanut oil with lots of ginger; while still warm, combine with tomato wedges, chopped romaine, cilantro, scallions and lots of lime juice. Good in pita.
70. Shred brussels sprouts in the food processor, preferably with the slicing disk. Toss with vinaigrette and crumbled bacon.
71. Combine sliced green tomatoes and sliced fresh mozzarella; top with roughly chopped basil, olive oil, black pepper and crumbled bacon.
72. Sort-of carpaccio salad: Broil or grill skirt or sirloin steak very rare and slice very thin. Arrange on a plate with tomato wedges, lettuce and lemon juice.
73. Hawaiitalian: Combine pineapple chunks with bits of any cured pork product — cooked guanciale is ideal, or any ham — and a not-too-subtle chili vinaigrette.
74. Julienne red, yellow and orange bell peppers; mix with thinly sliced red onion, olive oil and cooked crumbled sausage or chopped salami.
75. The Little Italy salad: Chop or julienne salami and prosciutto, then toss with cubed mozzarella, chopped tomato, pepperoncini, oil and wine vinegar.
76. Slice fresh figs — many, if you live where they grow — and top with crumbled bacon, balsamic vinegar (the best you have) and crumbled blue cheese.
77. Combine shredded cabbage or lettuce with bits of good turkey, Swiss cheese and rye croutons. Top with good old Russian dressing, call it a turkey sandwich salad and don't knock it until you try it.
78. What happens when your Chicago hot dog falls apart: Toss together tomato wedges, chopped pickles, hot peppers, shredded lettuce and a few slices of broiled or grilled hot dog. Dress with a vinaigrette made with mustard (should be yellow for authenticity, but ...) and celery salt. (You could throw in freshly made croutons; inauthentic, but better than a hot dog bun.)
79. Sear a steak and move it to a cutting board (don't wash the pan); wait a minute or two, then slice. Cut kale (preferably black, also known as Tuscan, or dino kale) into thin ribbons and toss in the pan over high heat for a minute. Turn off the heat, add chopped black olives, olive oil and sherry vinegar. Serve kale with steak on top.
80. Sort-of-Cobb salad: Choose any combination of hard-cooked eggs, chopped prosciutto, cooked chicken, crumbled Gorgonzola, chopped tomatoes, chickpeas or white beans, sliced red onion, olives. Make vinaigrette with capers and anchovies.
81. Soak sliced prune plums or figs in balsamic vinegar for a few minutes, then add olive oil, chopped celery and red onion, shreds of roasted or grilled chicken, chopped fresh marjoram or oregano and chopped almonds. Serve on top of or toss with greens. So good.
82. Cut pancetta into matchsticks and crisp in a skillet with some oil, then caramelize onions in the fat. Toss both with chopped bitter greens — radicchio, escarole or endive, for example — toasted pine nuts and halved cherry or grape tomatoes.
83. Toss thinly sliced Vidalia or other sweet onions with olive oil and red wine vinegar. Sear a skirt steak and let sit a minute; slice it thin. Toss salad greens with the onions, roasted red peppers, and steak; add a little more oil and vinegar if necessary.
84. Spring rolls, unrolled: One at a time, soften a few sheets of rice paper in warm water. Drain, pat dry, cut into strips and toss with chopped cucumber, grated carrots, chopped cilantro, bean sprouts, chili flakes and chopped roasted peanuts. Dress with toasted sesame oil, fish sauce or soy sauce, and rice vinegar or lime juice. A few shrimp are a nice addition.
85. Mix lots of arugula with somewhat less cold whole wheat penne, lemon zest, olive oil and Parmesan. The idea is an arugula salad with pasta, not a pasta salad with arugula.
86. Toss chilled cooked soba noodles with diced cucumber (if they're fat and old, peel and seed them first), a small amount of hijiki reconstituted with water, toasted sesame seeds and a vinaigrette laced with soy sauce and miso.
87. Cold not-sesame noodles: Combine about a half-cup peanut butter with a tablespoon soy sauce and enough coconut milk to make the mixture creamy (about a half cup), along with garlic and chili flakes in a blender or food processor. Toss sauce with cooked and cooled noodles, a load of mint, Thai basil, and/or cilantro, and lime juice. Shredded cucumber and carrots optional.
88. Toss cooked pasta with roasted red peppers, toasted walnuts, fresh goat cheese, basil and olive oil. Corny, but still good.
89. Soak or cook rice noodles, drain and rinse; toss with cubed unripe mango, chopped peanuts, shredded carrot and minced scallion. Make a dressing of rice vinegar, fish sauce, lime juice, chili and a bit of sugar.
90. Sort of classic pasta salad: Pasta, artichoke hearts, sliced prosciutto or salami, chopped plum tomato. Dress with olive oil and a bit of balsamic vinegar, perhaps with some mustard.
91. Cereal for grown-ups: Start with puffed brown rice; toss with chopped tomatoes, scallions, a minced chili, cooked or canned chickpeas and toasted unsweetened coconut. Dress with coconut milk and lime juice.
92. Simmer a cup of bulgur and some roughly chopped cauliflower florets until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Toss with chopped tarragon, roughly chopped hazelnuts, minced garlic, Dijon mustard, olive oil and lemon juice.
93. Mix leftover rice with lemon or lime juice, soy sauce and a combination of sesame and peanut oils. Microwave if necessary to soften the rice, then serve at room temperature, tossed with sprouts, shredded radishes, chopped scallions, bits of cooked meat or fish if you like and more soy sauce.
94. Cook and cool quinoa. Toss with olive oil, loads of lemon juice, tons of parsley, some chopped tomatoes and, if you like, toasted pine nuts. Call it quinoa tabbouleh.
95. Mix cooked couscous or quinoa with orange zest and juice, olive oil, maybe honey, sliced oranges, raisins or dried cranberries, chopped red onion and chopped almonds. Serve over greens, or not.
96. Cook short-grain white rice in watered-down coconut milk (be careful that it doesn't burn) and a few cardamom pods. While warm, toss with peas (they can be raw if they're fresh and tender), chopped cashews or pistachios, a pinch of chili flakes and chopped raw spinach.
97. Toss cooked, cooled farro, wheat berries, barley or other chewy grain with chopped-up grapes. Add olive oil, lemon juice and thinly sliced romaine lettuce; toss again, with ricotta salata or feta if you want.
98. Toss cooked bulgur with cooked chickpeas, quartered cherry or grape tomatoes, a little cumin, lots of chopped parsley, and lemon juice.
99. Toss cooked quinoa with fresh sliced apricots, cherries, pecans, and enough lemon and black pepper to make the whole thing savory.
100. Mash a canned chipotle with some of its adobo and stir with olive oil and lime juice. Toss with drained canned hominy, fresh corn cut from the cob (or drained pinto beans), cilantro and green onions.
101. Cook a pot of short-grain rice. While it's still hot, toss with raw grated zucchini, fermented black beans, sriracha, sesame oil, sake and a touch of rice vinegar. Add bits of leftover roast chicken or pork if you have it, and pass soy sauce at the table.


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The centerpiece of the case against Obamacare is the requirement that everyone buy some kind of health insurance or face stiff penalties--the so-called individual mandate. It is a way of moving toward universal coverage without a government-run or single-payer system. It might surprise Americans to learn that another advanced industrial country, one with a totally private health care system, made precisely the same choice nearly 20 years ago: Switzerland.
Switzerland is not your typical European welfare-state society. It is extremely business-friendly and has always gone its own way, shunning the euro and charting its own course on health care. The country ranks higher than the U.S. on the Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom.
Twenty years ago, Switzerland had a system very similar to America's--private insurers, private providers--with very similar problems. People didn't buy insurance but ended up in emergency rooms, insurers screened out people with pre-existing conditions, and costs were rising fast. The country came to the conclusion that to make health care work, everyone had to buy insurance. So the Swiss passed an individual mandate and reformed their system along lines very similar to Obamacare. The reform law passed by referendum, narrowly. The result two decades later: quality of care remains very high, everyone has access, and costs have moderated. Switzerland spends 11% of its GDP on health care, compared with 17% in the U.S. Its 8 million people have health care that is not tied to their employers, they can choose among many plans, and they can switch plans every year. Overall satisfaction with the system is high.
Zakaria continues,
The most striking aspect of America's medical system remains how much of an outlier it is in the advanced industrial world. No other nation spends more than 12% of its total economy on health care. We do worse than most other countries on almost every measure of health outcomes: healthy-life expectancy, infant mortality and--crucially--patient satisfaction. Put simply, we have the most expensive, least efficient system of any rich country on the planet. Costs remain high on every level. Recently, the International Federation of Health Plans released a report comparing the prices in various countries of 23 medical services, from a routine checkup to an MRI to a dose of Lipitor. The U.S. had the highest costs in 22 of the 23 cases. An MRI costs $1,080 here; it costs $281 in France.
In 1963, Nobel Prize--winning economist Kenneth Arrow wrote an academic paper explaining why markets don't work well in health care. He argued that unlike with most goods and services, people don't know when they will need health care. And when they do need it--say, in the case of heart failure--the cost is often prohibitive. That means you need some kind of insurance or government-run system.
Now, we could decide as a society that it is O.K. for people who suddenly need health care to get it only if they can pay for it. The market would work just as it works for BMWs: anyone who can afford one can buy one. That would mean that the vast majority of Americans wouldn't be able to pay for a triple bypass or a hip replacement when they needed it. But every rich country in the world--and many not-so-rich ones--has decided that its people should have access to basic health care. Given that value, a pure free-market model simply cannot work.
In the campaigns for president, it seems that the conservatives have changed their tunes on requiring mandate for everyone to be included in health insurance. Zakaria observes,
Catastrophic insurance--covering trauma and serious illnesses--isn't a solution, because it's chronically ill patients, just 5% of the total, who account for 50% of American health care costs. That's why the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, came up with the idea of an individual mandate in the 1980s, proposing that people buy health insurance in exactly the same way that people are required to buy car insurance. That's why Mitt Romney chose this model as a market-friendly system for Massachusetts when he was governor. And that's why Newt Gingrich praised the Massachusetts model as the most important step forward in health care in years. They have all changed their minds, but that is about politics, not economics.
He concludes,
When listening to the debate about American health care, I find that many of the most fervent critics of government involvement argue almost entirely from abstract theoretical propositions about free markets. One can and should reason from principles. But one must also reason from reality, from facts on the ground. And the fact is that about 20 foreign countries provide health care for their citizens in some way or other. All of them--including free-market havens like Switzerland and Taiwan--have found that they need to use an insurance or government-sponsored model. All of them provide universal health care at much, much lower costs than we do and with better results.


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One day, our grandchildren will look back on our era dirty fossil fuels, and they'll laugh at us for not getting our energy from clean, efficient dead cats like they do.
Um, what?
You read that correctly: fuel from dead cats. And if you think the idea is extremely strange and unlikely...well, you'd be right.
Rising energy prices are taking a chunk out of everyone's budget, and the economic effects have pushed "green" technology into the mainstream. To reduce our dependence on expensive, polluting fossil fuels, a lot of new energy sources are being explored. Wind energy, electric cars, hybrid cars, hydrogen fuel cells, biodiesel, ethanol -- the world of alternative energy can often seem strange and unpredictable.
It turns out there are energy sources out there that are much more bizarre than corn and sugar. For the most part, almost anything that can be burned can be used as a fuel source, but to really work on a large scale, an alternate energy source has to meet certain criteria. It has to produce more net energy for less money than current technologies, it must be widely available in large quantities and it should produce minimal pollution.
Which bizarre energy sources fit the criteria? You might be surprised by some of the alternative fuel solutions mentioned here; but which of these ideas are pure crank science, and which have a real chance of changing the world?
Let's begin by getting one of the more wacky ideas out of the way first -- an energy source that will most likely never catch on.
Dead Cats
Could you use cat corpses to fuel your vehicle? If you could, would you want to? A German newspaper reported in 2005 that an inventor had developed a fuel system that could be powered by garbage, including deceased felines.
The story, soon picked up by Internet news sites, included the gruesome fact that a full tank of fuel would require 20 cats. The article even offered some comments from at least one outraged animal rights supporter.
Like many bizarre stories, this one had a grain of truth. Dr. Christian Koch did indeed invent a machine that can convert garbage such as paper, plastics and yard waste into biodiesel fuel. There was no mention of cats, however. The whole dead-cat angle was apparently invented by a ghoulish, but creative reporter. Koch's KDV 500 device can supposedly turn trash into gas at a steep discount compared to prices at the pump [source: Deutsche Welle].
Like many claims of revolutionary energy sources, we're still waiting to see the results -- dead cats excluded.
Up next, an idea for an alternative fuel that some people may find difficult to part with -- especially on a hot summer day.
Well, it's not exactly beer, but this is a fuel you can brew yourself.
Ethanol can be made by fermenting sugars, similar to whiskey. It's possible to run a car on pure ethanol -- in fact, all of the race cars in the Indy Racing League use it. So why not buy some sugar and set up your own backyard gas pump?
The idea itself isn't inherently bad. It may be a good answer for certain individuals, and improvements in technology are making ethanol easier to produce at home; however, there are still a few reasons why this won't work on a large scale. The economics just don't work out.
Using the United States as an example, the sugar that's available is just too expensive to make this a worthwhile endeavor. In addition, distilling ethanol in your yard requires special permits, and it isn't currently legal to run a car on pure ethanol in the U.S. -- home distillers are required to make a fuel blend to stay on the right side of the law [source: Fitzgerald].
The biggest problem might actually be the effort involved. A certain segment of the population is highly motivated and technically skilled, and they'd love the thought of brewing their own fuel. But for this energy source to go mainstream, the average soccer mom has to be willing and able to tackle the process, too.
We're not picking on soccer moms here, but any fuel source that requires more effort than plugging-in to a wall outlet or filling-up at the pump is going to face an uphill battle for widespread acceptance.
Despite what you may be thinking, there are a few alternative energy sources that have a real shot at changing the world -- they're just a little unusual. But then again, that's why you're reading this article, right?
Sawdust and Wood Waste
This idea might sound outlandish - how could we generate enough sawdust to generate a useful amount of energy? The average U.S. saw mill processed 7.1 million board-feet of lumber in 2001 alone [source: Bowe, et al]. Multiply that by the number of mills worldwide, and we're talking about a lot of sawdust.
All the waste material from industrial wood processing is generally discarded, and we're talking tons of wood waste here. Some of it's reprocessed into particle board or into wood pellets for stoves, but there's still a lot of unused waste wood out there. When left to rot, wood waste is actually an environmental hazard that generates methane, a harmful greenhouse gas.
One solution is to ship the sawdust to a power plant designed to burn it. The heat is used to generate electricity. The idea is more than feasible, it's already in practice -- a 14-megawatt wood waste power plant is being built in Nigeria. Sawdust from nearby mills will be shipped to the plant, and the electricity generated will in turn be used to power the wood mills, with enough energy left over to sell to the national power company [source: Energy Resource].
The next alternative fuel idea will probably make you wrinkle up your nose, but Canada is willing to give it a go. Why shouldn't you?
Dirty Diapers
This one sounds almost as gross as dead cats, but used diapers could be an excellent fuel source -- not that anyone would want to live downwind of the power plant. It's possible for garbage to be turned into fuel gas and fuel oil with very little pollution by using a process called pyrolysis. It differs from incineration in that the material is heated in a sealed, oxygen-free environment, which breaks down the molecules inside to create useful byproducts.
Why do diapers make such good candidates for pyrolysis? There are several reasons. For one, we have a lot of disposable diapers, and we (as in, babies) constantly generate more. The second reason is that it would be relatively easy to use special recycling bins to separate them from other garbage.
The third and final reason is -- and really, this is the biggest reason it would work -- consistency. Pyrolysis works best when it has been fine-tuned to the material being heated. Mixed garbage is full of all kinds of random materials, and you never know what sort of mix you're going to get from one day to the next. We know exactly what's in diapers, that is, in terms of the plastics and fabrics used in their manufacture, as well as what's in diapers, in terms of what babies put there.
So what's the end result of taking in dirty diapers for finely tuned pyrolysis? Fuel products, of course. A power company in Quebec, Canada is planning a plant to test the technology [source: Hamilton].
Solar Paint
If someone suggested you could power all the electric devices in your home with paint, and then you compared the price per-gallon of paint to fuel, you might think this idea is short-lived. But this isn't paint you burn as fuel -- it's a special solar paint that captures the energy of the sun.
Swansea University engineers are working on what is essentially a paint-on solar panel that can be applied to the steel panels used to cover many buildings. The interaction of the sun with the paint and the underlying steel surface creates a current that can be captured and diverted.
Taking into account the huge amount of square-footage available, and using a relatively modest 5 percent conversion rate for available solar energy, the scientists calculate that annually the solar paint could produce the energy of 50 wind farms in Britain alone. And that's even considering the level of sunlight Britain receives -- not much compared to places like Arizona or Kenya [source: Science Daily].
Compressed Air
This is a technology that has kinda, sorta, almost made it out of the laboratory. But when you read more about it, you'll wish it stayed there.
Indian car company Tata Motors (who now own Jaguar and Land Rover, in a nice reversal on British colonialism) has been working for years to develop and market a car that runs on compressed air. Here's how it works: a tank full of compressed CO2 sprays out air, driving a tiny piston engine that turns a crankshaft and drives the wheels of a small, lightweight car.
Tata Motors has the license to technology crafted by a French company called MDI, which has been developing compressed air as an alternative fuel since the early 1990s. They've been plagued with numerous setbacks, however, including lawsuits and a failed almost-launch in 2010.
The company said recently that they're closer than ever to getting a compressed air car on India's roads. The good news? No emissions, and obviously, no dependence on fossil fuels. The bad news? It's going to be slow. Like, really, really slow. Expect power and torque to be in the single digits, and for top speeds to be around 30 miles per hour. Its range is extremely limited as well. Maybe Tata's next project will be a car that a human being can't outrun during a brisk jog.
Remember the 1996 Keanu Reeves film "Chain Reaction?" No? Well, you're not the only one. But here's the part that's relevant to what we've been discussing: the movie is about a team of researchers trying to create energy from water. (Also, Rachel Weisz is in it, and there's nothing wrong with that.)
Fans of the movie, all four of them, have long wondered: Why haven't scientists found a way to extract energy from water? The truth is, they've been working on it. In 2007, an inventor found a way to ignite salt water using radio waves. That scientist, John Kanzius, who was actually working on a technique to fight cancer, discovered that the heat from the ignited water could power a small engine [source: Stroh]. In other words, the concept has been proven that salt water is a potential power source, but development of this idea hasn't progressed very far.
At least one other scientist claimed to have developed a car that could run on water. In the mid-1990s, inventor Stanley Meyer said he created a "fuel cell" that ran on water. However, the scientific community debunked Meyer's claims, and he ended up getting sued by his investors, during which he was declared a fraud by the courts. Maybe there's someone else out there that can truly make water work as a fuel.
Landfill Gas
If there's anything we humans are exceptionally great at, it's making garbage. No, we're not talking about Keanu Reeves movies again. We're talking about the stuff that's filling up your trashcan. In general, we're a wasteful society, and we don't think twice about throwing things away when we're done with them.
But what if trash could be used as a fuel source? Actually, some scientists say it can. Landfill gas, also called biogas and biomethane, is one of the few ideas on this list that's getting pretty close to being "out of the lab." While it's a relatively new technology, it's becoming increasingly popular in the U.S. and other countries because it's renewable -- and because there's no shortage of garbage on our planet.
As trash sits in landfills, the organic materials break down over time, creating methane and other gases. The landfills are covered up, and those gases are compressed to be used as a fuel source. Several corporations have begun to look for ways to use biogas to power their operations. Most recently, Apple has said biogas will help power a fuel cell farm at one of their centers in North Carolina [source: Gigaom]. It's about time we found something useful to do with all of our trash.
Not all of the alternative fuel sources on our list are disgusting like the dead cats and landfill trash. Who doesn't love chocolate? Perhaps at some point in your life, you've been indulging in a Hershey bar or some rocky road ice cream and said to yourself, "You know what would make this even better? If I could run my car off of it."
Perhaps that same thought is what led scientists at the University of Warwick in Britain to create a Formula 3 racecar that runs on the waste byproducts created when chocolate is made. "Anything with a fat in it can be turned into diesel, and that's what we've managed to do," project head James Meredith told the New York Times in 2009 [source: Motavalli].
The fuel they used comes from the Cadbury's factory in England, making research for the car extra delicious. It's a good example of how nearly anything can be used to create biodiesel fuel.
Interestingly enough, their F3 racecar was made almost entirely out of recycled and plant-based organic materials. Your fancy-pants Prius doesn't look so green now, does it?
One of the most promising fuels on this list doesn't come from our kitchen, trashcan or litter box like the rest; it comes from the bottom of the sea.
Scientists across the world have been working hard at getting algae-based fuels out of the laboratory and into power plants that could light and heat our homes. Algae can be used to create biofuels with the potential to augment and replace our existing fossil fuel supply. Oil is harvested from the algae cells through a variety of methods; those oils are then mixed with other chemicals to create biodiesel. The good news about algae is that it can be easily grown in a tank.
In other words, what we have here is a truly viable renewable energy source. It's far superior to corn when it comes to producing fuel and doesn't threaten our food supply. Both government and private money has been invested heavily in algae fuel research.
But algae fuel development remains in its very early stages; that's why this one hasn't made it out of the lab. At least, not yet -- one recent study says algae fuels are at least a decade away from marketability [source: Keune]. Still, it's one of the more promising alternative fuel ideas out there -- and it doesn't even smell like dirty diapers.
After Volkswagen: Where Does Diesel Go From Here?
After the VW diesel scandal, many are asking the same question: "Where does diesel go from here?" Find out if diesel will endure at HowStuffWorks Now.
Author's Note: 10 Alternative Fuel Ideas That Never Made It Out of the Lab
Alternative fuel sources are critical to humanity's future -- that much should be clear to everyone by now. Scientists seem to be throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks, which may not be such a bad idea. This article lists a wide variety of experimental fuel sources. Some are very advanced and could see the light of day in the near future, while others are half-brained attempts at scamming investors. It'll be interesting to see which of them really catches on in the next few years. My guess is it won't be the dead cats.
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- Curiosity Project: Materials Science Pictures
- Bowe, Scott A., Smith, Robert L., Araman, Philip A. "A National Profile of the U.S. Hardwood Sawmill Industry." Forest Products Journal. September 2000. (May 21, 2012) http://www.srs4702.forprod.vt.edu/pubsubj/pdf/01t22.pdf
- Deutsche Welle. "Inventor Denies Dead Cat Fuel Ingredient." Sept. 18, 2005. (May 21, 2012) http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1713598,00.html
- Energy Resource. "Sawdust to Generate Power for Proposed Waste-to-Energy Plant in Nigeria." May 21, 2008. (May 21, 2012) http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m5CNK/is_2008_May_21/ai_n25451000
- Emspak, Jesse. "Air-powered car coming to India." Discovery News. May 9, 2012. (May 21, 2012) http://news.discovery.com/autos/air-powered-car-tata-motors-120509.html
- Fehrenbacher, Katie. "Apple's fuel cells will be powered by landfills." Gigaom.com. April 30, 2012. (May 21, 2012) http://gigaom.com/cleantech/apples-fuel-cells-will-be-powered-by-landfills/
- Fitzgerald, Michael. "Home Brew for the Car, Not the Beer Cup." The New York Times. April 27, 2008. (May 21, 2012) http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/technology/27proto.html
- Hamilton, Tyler. "Turning dirty diapers into diesel." The Toronto Star. Oct. 29, 2007. (May 21, 2012) http://www.thestar.com/article/271380
- Keune, Nash. "Algae: Fuel of the Future?" National Review Online. March 8, 2012. (May 21, 2012) http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/292913/algae-fuel-future-nash-keune#
- Motavalli, Jim. "An Eco-Racecar That Runs on Chocolate." The New York Times. April 22, 2009. (May 21, 2012) http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/an-eco-racecar-that-runs-on-chocolate/
- Science Daily. "Colorful Idea Sparks Renewable Electricity From Painting Solar Cells." March 10, 2008. (May 21, 2012) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080306223745.htm
- Stroh, Michael. "Turning Water into Fuel." Popular Science. Nov. 13, 2007. (May 21, 2012) http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2007-11/turning-water-fuel


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State of the Union: Obama and GOP Want Compromise, but How Much?
President Obama jockeys for position ahead of the March 1 deadline that will trigger the start of $1.2 trillion in cuts to domestic and defense programs.
Obama's fourth State of the Union address was one part campaign-style appeal to Congress to reach a deal to avoid massive automatic spending cuts, while the other part was a campaign-style kiss-up to the American middle class. Polls show Obama has the majority of Americans backing his agenda, and he clearly wants to keep that edge.
Partisanship, of course, permeates everything, from Senate confirmation of Obama's cabinet picks to passing aid for states struck by Hurricane Sandy. And fiscal gridlock over what parts of the budget to cut and how best to raise revenue creeps into almost every aspect of government business.
The overriding goal that Obama has set going forward is to have the economy emerge from its doldrums, giving Americans something to be hopeful about. The climbing financial markets are a big boost, but Obama needs to see the number of jobs created each month double, property values surge and incomes increase.
Obama wants a big infrastructure program as the centerpiece of his government-spurred jobs program. The roads, bridges, and tunnels that require fixing would be a boom for builders in many parts of the country. The president will get a transportation bill that will mean some jobs this year, but it's doubtful that the House Republicans will cough up the megabillions of dollars Obama wants for a comprehensive infrastructure program.
The ambiguous recovery of the U.S. economy so far is not the validation Obama seeks for his two terms in office. The federal debt -- $16.5 trillion and growing -- is a yoke Obama can't shake off. He won't begin to wipe out the federal debt, but he knows he at least needs to show it can begin to decline by the time he gives up the office in January 2017.
"Nothing I'm proposing" Obama insisted, "should increase our deficit by a single dime. It's not a bigger government we need, but a smarter government that sets priorities and invests in broad-based growth."
Unfortunately, Obama is noncommittal at this point on entitlement spending, the biggest long-term draw on the federal treasury. He gave no clue about how committed he is to fixing Medicare or Social Security, choosing to keep his negotiating strategy close to the vest. The same goes for where he is willing to cut and what tax holes he expects to be closed in return: near-silence.
Obama will get some give from Republicans on a few key issues.
He will most likely get a pared-down gun control bill that at the least will include universal background checks. There is widespread agreement on that measure, but an assault weapons ban and limits on the size of ammunition magazines won't be part of a new law.
On immigration reform, there is more reason for optimism, particularly in the Senate, where John McCain (R-AZ) has signaled he intends to do some heavy lifting to pass a bill. The House, as has become routine, is a harder read. Few Republicans have stepped up to carry the load in the House of Representatives.
There remains a big split in the House GOP on the issue of how best to deal with immigrants. Speaker John Boehner (OH) may be willing to allow only a bill that can pass to get to the floor. If that scenario were to occur, it makes it much more likely that a watered-down immigration bill will emerge, one resembling a glorified guest worker program rather than anything that offers a fast track to U.S. citizenship.
Obama has his best chance to work in tandem with the Republicans in Congress on foreign policy matters. Keeping a nuclear weapon out of Iranian hands, and isolating North Korea until it curbs its nuclear program and behaves less erratically, are issues of mutual concern to Obama and the GOP.
The drawdown of troops in Afghanistan has bipartisan appeal. Obama will reduce by half the number of U.S. troops there, from the 66,000 men and women currently serving to a 34,000-person force in the next year.
The president hasn't decided yet on the final size of a garrison force after 2014, but expect it to be somewhere between 5,000 and 15,000 troops, depending on conditions in the country. The better the Afghan police and military perform, the fewer Americans there will be on the ground in Afghanistan after 2014.
Domestically and abroad, the state of the union is stronger, as Obama proclaimed, but the government remains divided, and this lot in Washington has a record of suffering from self-inflicted wounds. Anything can happen.
The GOP leaders find themselves in the position of having to counter the president's agenda with their own proposals, while trying to hold together the party's often unruly ranks. The Democrats don't have this problem of deep division and are much more unified. The Republicans need to come to terms with the path their party is taking.
Divisions remains in the GOP ranks. Not only did the Republicans offer competing rebuttals to Obama's address -- one the official response and the other a tea party reaction -- but the two men who delivered the separate retorts are both tea party favorites. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida gave an all-inclusive official GOP response, and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky provided a more biting rebuttal for the tea party. Both men shared their disdain for government.
"This opportunity, to make it to the middle class or beyond no matter where you start out in life, it isn't bestowed on us from Washington. It comes from a vibrant free economy where people can risk their own money to open a business," Rubio said.
There clearly is a lot of daylight between the two parties.
So the task ahead for Obama, Boehner and the other leading players in Washington was clear before Obama spoke a word at the Speaker's podium in the House of Representatives at the annual address to the Congress: They either find a way to work together to fix problems now or quickly slip into the next election cycle, and little will get done and much time will have been wasted.


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Simple flames border transparent background
You can get acquainted with the presented collection of Simple flames border transparent background to choose suitable ideas for your business or design interface.
Today we have 23 cliparts and vectors for this category.
Advice on how to make a good presentation
Remove all unnecessary
Creating a presentation all at once then leaving as it is is a myth: it's physically not possible. There are various reasons why you need to review and proofread your presentation multiple times. Here's why:
- When we are beginners we tend to get carried away: too many slides, too many images, too many unnecessary icons.
- Ask a friend or colleague to proofread your presentation to make sure no grammar errors stay in it.
- Give it some time, then get back to it with a fresh mind and be ruthless: cut it down as much as you can. You are to talk and not about to read your presentation.
This is the best approach for you to get rid of anything and everything which should not be part of your presentation.
17 Best images about Fire Animated | Real estate investing, Real estate investor and Carousel horses


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Not feeling the greatest today. I have a headache and a killer sore throat. It hurts to swallow. This is day 2 of not feeling well – I made yesterday a rest day (exercise-wise) and took the term "rest day" to heart, taking a nice long mid-day nap. I'm loaded up on Zicam (generic) and Naproxen (name-brand) and I don't feel much like blogging. So I'm not going to.
BUT, check this out! Keep It Up, David has been named Best of the Web! Become.com, an online shopping website, has a weekly round-up of the best sites out there, and this week, I'm on the list. Woo-hoo! Check it out here. Also check out their sporting goods blog, Be In The Game. Thanks for the honor, folks at become.com!
Hope all of you have a great weekend – and hope you're feeling better than I am! It's hard when I'm sick, but I still gotta…
…Keep it up, David!


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XSL and XSLT FAQ, searchable, basic and advanced issues covered, XSL-FO O'reilly book examples, code examples, Special Characters, Printing, XSLT version 2, nbsp
Maintained: Dave Pawson
<david at this uri>
A book on XSL-FO, the W3C recommendation for the production of print output from XML, is now available from O'Reilly's web site. It should have a fox on the front.. FO XSL? No, OK. It hasn't. It has instead, Macrodypterix Vexillarius, about which you may draw your own conclusions! Read and enjoy. via the associates program
These are the examples from the book
Individual answers may be out of date due to changes in the WD's or improvements in the tools, and if someone finds an error, I would really like it if you would inform me, or send me the corrected text.
Many thanks to the people who kindly answered the questions. By doing this I hope to help others get more from XSL by sharing that which the early adopters have done. My especial thanks to the regular voices without whom this would not be possible.
New! A service to business and stylesheet writers. Making the connection!
|Revision History
|Revision 1.1
|27 Sept 2000
|Major site changes. Search facility removed, not being used.
|Revision 2.0
|June 10 2001
Started using website 2.0
|Revision 3.0
|April 2002
Website update
|Revision 4.0
|Dec 2002
Section re-org
|Revision 5.0
|Apr 2003
Introduced XSLT section
|Revision 6.0
|Jan 2005
Moved to a Linux host


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It's fairly safe to assume that the concept of the work triangle - a set distance between stove, sink and fridge - has been around for centuries. It has been the mainstay of kitchen design for decades, and there have even been rules set down as to just how many steps someone should take to cook an evening meal. But what if that hampers rather than helps householders? Fisher & Paykel recently launched the concept of the 'Social Kitchen', the idea that kitchens can be designed around consumers and households rather than a rigid plan. The idea is to free householders from the work triangle, and to make kitchens into places where people feel free to live and interact rather than just complete domestic tasks. "What we mean by 'Social Kitchen' is looking at the changing nature of the kitchen and how appliance design can make that a better space and a better working and social environment," says Fisher & Paykel's head of design Mark Elmore. The kitchen of Carl Koppenhagen and Natalia Schamroth, owners and head chefs of The Engine Room restaurant, exemplifies the 'Social Kitchen' concept perfectly. Carl and Natalia's main consideration was to make the kitchen a place where they could not only cook for themselves and test recipes for the restaurant, but interact with friends and family. To do this, they relocated the kitchen to the front of their home and installed Fisher & Paykel modular appliances to create a space of maximum flexibility and functionality.
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The Chef's Kitchen
Thanks to Fisher & Paykel, Carl Koppenhagen and Natalia Schamroth's kitchen was designed with functionality and sociability in mind.
Firstly, it was vital to have enough bench space for them both to work. To facilitate this, Natalia and Carl chose a Fisher & Paykel cooker with twin 60cm ovens and six-burner gas cooktop rather than a traditional 90cm chef's oven. Thus, one of them could be creating a robust spicy savoury while the other cooks a delicate cake or souffle. The cooker is integrated into the island, which means the couple never turn their backs on guests while tending the oven. A powerful Fisher & Paykel extractor above the hob is carefully placed so it doesn't obscure eye contact with guests during conversations. But what about all the dishes? Along the back wall are two deep square sinks, and just below bench height resides a Fisher & Paykel Double DishDrawer™. "When entertaining we do a half-load of the prep dishes on a fast cycle, so it is all put away before our guests arrived," Natalia says. "When it's just the two of us we can do a small load without wasting water and power. Then when we entertain, the Double DishDrawer™ can easily handle all the mess." The appliance the couple is most excited about is the Fisher & Paykel CoolDrawer™ placed near the end of the island, close to the dining table. Natalia and Carl can adjust the temperature and use the CoolDrawer™ to hold anything from fruit and vegetables to bottles of wine. "Rather than having one big fridge, and everyone trying to get in and out of it at once, people can help themselves from the CoolDrawer™ and it frees up space for food in the fridge," Carl says. The CoolDrawer™ can also be transformed into a freezer to accommodate home-made ice cream or frozen desserts for parties on hot summer days. With everything complete, the couple is loving their new space. "We were just desperate to have a kitchen that was totally social," says Natalia. "Being able to put this kitchen in place has really changed our lives."


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Earlier this month, we reported that Sean Penn would be directing Crazy for the Storm, an adaptation of the Norman Ollestad memoir scripted by Will Fetters (The Lucky One). Now, reports have Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men) in talks to star. Ollestad, at age 11, was the only survivor of a plane crash that killed his father, who would be played by Brolin. His memoir centers on the skills his father taught him, skills that enabled him to survive the crash. Fetters' script made the 2011 Black List and its easy to see what makes this story a compelling one. Hit the jump for more on Crazy for the Storm.
Variety reports that, although deals are not finalized for Penn or Brolin as of yet, the plan is to start production in the first quarter of 2013. There was previously talk of Penn also starring in the Warner Bros. pic, but it looks like he will stick to the director's chair for this one.
Here's a look at the synopsis from Ollestad's memoir (via Amazon):
Dad Said
Ollestad, we can do it all. . . .
Why do you make me do this?
Because it's beautiful when it all comes together.
I don't think it's ever beautiful.
One day.
We'll see, my father said. Vamanos.
From the age of three, Norman Ollestad was thrust into the world of surfing and competitive downhill skiing by the intense, charismatic father he both idolized and resented. While his friends were riding bikes, playing ball, and going to birthday parties, young Norman was whisked away in pursuit of wild and demanding adventures. Yet it were these exhilarating tests of skill that prepared "Boy Wonder," as his father called him, to become a fearless champion–and ultimately saved his life.
Flying to a ski championship ceremony in February 1979, the chartered Cessna carrying Norman, his father, his father's girlfriend, and the pilot crashed into the San Gabriel Mountains and was suspended at 8,200 feet, engulfed in a blizzard. "Dad and I were a team, and he was Superman," Ollestad writes. But now Norman's father was dead, and the devastated eleven-year-old had to descend the treacherous, icy mountain alone.
Set amid the spontaneous, uninhibited surf culture of Malibu and Mexico in the late 1970s, this riveting memoir, written in crisp Hemingwayesque prose, recalls Ollestad's childhood and the magnetic man whose determination and love infuriated and inspired him–and also taught him to overcome the indomitable. As it illuminates the complicated bond between an extraordinary father and his son, Ollestad's powerful and unforgettable true story offers remarkable insight for us all.


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