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The use of terrestrial trunked radios (TETRAs) has raised concerns about health and sickness absence. Jackie Cinnamond looks at the evidence for a precautionary approach.
The British police and the other emergency services use a communication system involving technology called TETRA (terrestrial trunked radio), which is halfway between a mobile phone system and a walkie-talkie.
At one NHS trust during the autumn of 2013, it was noted that there seemed to be a correlation between increasing levels of sickness absence in ambulance staff and the recent introduction of TETRAs.
This assumed association was based upon clinical presentations of cases being seen in occupational health practice involving ambulance service employees, who maintain that their portable radio handsets are causing them to experience adverse health effects.
TETRA is the leading public safety radio communications system worldwide, and serves to enhance the function of almost 500,000 police, ambulance and firefighting employees (Airwave solutions, 2012; Motorola, 2007).
The Government commissioned TETRA in 2005 at a cost of £3 billion. It did so in response to concerns raised by the Police Federation regarding the use of a two-way radio communication system and its link with breast cancer in female operatives (Police Federation News, 2005).
The use of TETRAs was contentious due to similar health fears raised by the Health Protection Agency and its working group of 2001. Consequently, the Airwave Health Monitoring Study started in 2009 and the findings are due to be released in 2018 (Imperial College London, 2009). This long-term, observational study is investigating health outcomes of TETRA users within the police force.
Initial concerns were raised by Lancashire police after it was introduced, when almost 200 police officers began to experience symptoms of nausea, malaise, head pain, insomnia, skin complaints and two cases of oesophageal cancer (Farrell, 2002; Police Federation News, 2005).
Comparably, these symptoms correlate with reports of symptoms experienced by the ambulance employees within this trust, soon after the TETRA system was purchased, and which could be associated with electromagnetic radiation emitted by this technology.
Technical issues related to TETRAs
Radiation is a source of energy produced during atom separation. The process of ionisation results in the addition, or removal, of one or more electrons from an atom or molecule.
The force of the electromagnetic energy waves released during separation are categorised as either non-ionising, where the energy released is insufficient to ionise matter, or ionising radiation, where adequate energy is present to ionise matter (Tillman, 2007).
Ionising radiation is associated with the X-ray process; and non-ionising radiation is associated with the transmission and receipt of mobile telecommunication signals (IEGMP, 2000).
Electromagnetic fields are quantified by their wavelength, and the frequency at which the wave pulsates (Sanchez, 2006).
The wavelength frequencies are expressed in Hertz (Hz) and oscillate within a spectrum where one Hz is one oscillation per second, and one kiloHertz (kHz) is 1,000 Hz. Radios using 16-17Hz should be avoided as these frequencies are known to adversely affect health. TETRAs operate at a frequency of 17.6Hz
Potential implications for health
Mobile telecommunication devices are a cause of contention. The health effects associated with their use remain unproven (Kundi, 2009). Human stem cells are more susceptible to electromagnetic fields compared with differentiated human primary cells. The constraining influences of electromagnetic fields upon DNA regeneration in human stem cells could manifest itself in the development of abnormalities within the DNA replication process. Consequently, the initiation of cancer may result (Valberg et al, 2007).
With an estimated 500,000 emergency service employees currently using TETRA systems, if a causal relationship between the use of portable radio handsets and cancer development was subsequently established, then this could present a significant OH and public health challenge (Health Professionals Council, 2011; Dhani, 2012).
Current research
The incessant proliferation of wireless telecommunications technology use has intensified public fears and generated international debate regarding the chances of cancer developing as a direct consequence of exposure to electromagnetic fields emitted from devices such as mobile phones (Kundi, 2009).
Research findings accumulated over the past decade suggest a causal relationship between electromagnetic exposure through the use of wireless telecommunication systems and cancer development (Levis et al, 2011). Conflictingly, current research results conclude that there is insufficient evidence, or none at all, to suggest that acceptable electromagnetic frequencies emitted through mobile phone use can cause adverse health conditions or cancer (Kundi, 2009).
However, the majority of current research studies are sponsored by the telecommunication industry and, therefore, findings tend to significantly underestimate cancer risk. The overall accumulation of research findings, regardless of study design imperfections and financial bias, leans towards the opinion that there is an increased likelihood of a causal relationship between mobile phone use and cancer (Kundi, 2009; Levis et al, 2011).
Legislation related to TETRAs
Although most technology poses some level of risk to human health, such threats must be measured precisely and dependably (Levis et al, 2011). Presently, two international organisations â the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) â have produced guidelines for limiting exposure to electromagnetic fields within the UK and the European Union (EU).
The ICNIRP (1998) recommendations have been integrated into the European Council Recommendations (1999) and have subsequently been incorporated into statute in Germany (WHO, 2011).
Limits for human exposure to electromagnetic fields have been set accordingly by the ICNIRP and the NRPB (1993) at between 10 and 300 GHz. However, the ICNIRP guidelines have established an upper limit for occupational exposure that is five times higher in employees than it is in the general public (IEGMP, 2000). The exposure limit values are referred to as âbasic restrictionsâ and are based upon specific absorption rate (SAR), which equates to the rate at which the body absorbs energy in relation to each unit of body tissue (WHO, 2011).
Precautionary principles for TETRA use
In the absence of accurate guidance and methods for measuring exposure levels, the robust research evidence that establishes a causal link between electromagnetic exposure and cancer should be acknowledged and precautionary principles implemented (Hardell et al, 2005).
Precautionary principles with regard to electromagnetic radiation are defined by Valberg et al (2007) as implementing a safety-conscious approach prior to a significant causal link between electromagnetic fields and cancer development being established. The idea behind introducing precautionary principles is to try to reduce the degree of public concern regarding the potential health implications of exposure to electromagnetic fields (Wiedeman and Schutz, 2005).
However, the implementation of precautionary principles would be subjected to a cost-benefit analysis and, therefore, would be measured against what the populace deems financially equivalent to the cost of similar risks to society (Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, 2001).
Furthermore, their implementation may adversely increase the publics perception of risk and induce a psychosomatic-related development of adverse health problems and proceed to over burden already stretched resources unnecessarily.
However, the Bioinitiative Working Group (2012) contends that the public health approach to addressing exposure to electromagnetic fields should be viewed in the same regard as passive smoking and established on the current scientific evidence accessible.
Implications for OH
Despite the health risks associated with electromagnetic field exposure, the National Policing Improvement Agency continues to emphasise to its employees that the only adverse health effects of electromagnetic fields are established through tissue heating at significant levels.
It also discredited the accounts of the symptoms experienced by employees as psychosomatic conditions (Farrell, 2002; Police Federation News, 2005).
However, Kundi (2009) affirms that the carcinogenic effects of electromagnetic fields over a prolonged latency period are equivalent to the same intensities for smoking-related cancers. Furthermore, the latency period for cancer development is estimated to be 10-30 years. This raises concerns regarding the increased age of retirement, because occupational health departments could potentially have to adapt to accommodate older workers who have been subjected to long latency periods of electromagnetic exposure and its associated health conditions.
The Global Occupational Health Network (2006) advocates that staff undertaking occupational roles with a potential carcinogenic risk should be properly educated and instructed about the appropriate precautionary measures for working with carcinogens, in accordance with health and safety protocols.
The duty of care under s.2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act (1974) requires employers to implement what is reasonably practicable to safeguard the health and safety of their employees through the establishment of safe systems of work, and to ensure that staff are adequately informed regarding any potential hazards.
The Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones maintains that a precautionary approach to the use of mobile phones be adopted until more detailed and scientifically robust information on any potential health effects becomes apparent.
Telecommunication technology will continue to evolve and may be associated with future health risks. In the absence of any substantial research evidence to conclusively prove that exposure to electromagnetic fields does not pose a risk to health, precautionary measures should be implemented.
The emphasis of these measures should include policy changes that keeps pace with technological developments. This goes hand in hand with evidence-based practice and processes that educate employers and employees, aimed at minimising the potential health risks associated from prolonged electromagnetic field exposure. The findings of the airwave health monitoring study are eagerly awaited.


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We have some time-sensitive and last-minute updates in this installment of TGM. For more deets, be sure to watch the video and visit us on the official GeekyAntics channel on YouTube and Twitch.
Choice Chamber & Twitch Interaction
We did our first Choice Chamber stream and it was AWESOME. This got us thinking that we need to identify more games that involved the Twitch chat fully. Choice Chamber engages the Twitch chat by allowing everyone to vote on what happens in the game. The current prototype is nowhere near complete but it provides tons of replay and interaction.. We can't wait for the full product!
If you missed the Kickstarter project, you can gain early access to the beta by using the above link. I believe the $15 and $30 both feature beta access but the latter deal is much sweeter. I've been talking to Michael and we'll likely have him join us on a few of our podcasts to talk shop. He's a really awesome dude!
Other ways we have been involving the Twitch community more include the Cards Against Humanity clone, Pretend You're Xyzzy, and Dawngate. The issue with MOBAs is that, while they are free, you can only involve so many people at once. Games like Choice Chamber and CAH are far more fully-involved, so that's the sort of thing we'll be exploring further.
Join me for future Choice Chamber streams. The upcoming beta will likely have multi-channel support, which will be EPIC! Word on the street is that there are other games featuring Twitch integration on the horizon. Even the consoles are starting to jump onto this trend. If you know of any of these, let us know in the comments!
Early HorsePLAY! LIVE & Possible Rescheduling
We'll be starting early tonight, Thursday July 31st 2014. Expect us to start around 10:45pm Eastern (3:45am GMT) and running a little shorter than usual. As such, we're skipping the obligatory news and featured discussion of the evening. HorsePLAY! LIVE is evolving to be more of an interactive show and THE official radio show for the Geeky Antics network so we'll be experimenting a lot more with the format. Tonight, expect more Twitch interaction and call-ins, too!
Join Us LIVE – http://twitch.tv/GeekyAntics
We'll be announcing the winner of Magic 2014 and Gun Monkeys on Steam tonight on the show. We were hoping to break 400-500 entries but no worries – more giveaways will be coming. For future giveaways, we really need some hype. The whole reason we give stuff away is to help draw in a greater audience. We love giving you guys free stuff but we need to get something in return.. After all, we're starving artists! LOL
With the earlier start tonight, there's a good chance we might play with the schedule. I think we'll stay on Thursdays but we may shoot for an earlier time. Heck, maybe we will start at 5:00pm LIVE on AllGames.com – that'd be neat, eh? Hmmm.. That may be TOO early though. *wink*
Kickstarter Projects Ending VERY Soon!
First up we have Fire With Fire, which is being developed and produced by some of our friends in the All Games Network community. This is a TD (Tower Defense) that should make Warcraft III mod fans and mobile gamers super happy in the pants. The funding period ends Sunday, August 10th 2014 so please share this with everyone you know and tag friends that like this sort of game. Even if you are not a TD fan, everyone knows people that love em!
Note how this game takes a very streamlined approach to TD PvP action. I am hopeful that this will be the game that Tower Wars should have been. Keep in mind this screenshot reflects and alpha/prototype version so there will likely be much more polish in the final release version.
For tabletop gamers, Factions looks REALLY good. It is a tile-based, fully-customizable strategy war game. The game designer reached out to me personally and must have known I am totally into this sort of thing. Chip Cella a.k.a. CaptinChaos would love this too. Let's spread the word because this Kickstarter project also ends on August 10th!
Goodies Coming To Geeky Antics.. FINALLY!
We're still working on getting Doctor Who content out to you guys. Most recently, it was announced that Peter Capaldi will be playing a non-flirty Doctor. How do you feel about the sexual tension on the series? Is it a trademark or just pointless pandering/fanfare?
Doctor Who returns on August 23rd but for us in the states, we may have to wait a little longer. We will keep you posetd!
There are tons of topics we'd love to discuss. Here are a few of the proposed topics and rough drafts we have in the pipelines:
- 10 MOBA Myths Debunked
- Booth Babes Banned – Hypocrisy Or Justice?
- The PC Police – Are People Too Uptight These Days?
- SEO Basics For Geeky Journalists & Podcasters
- Does Doctor Who Need A Strong Female Lead?
- A Non-Flirty, Serious Doctor: Good Or Bad?
- And MORE!
The first topic is the funniest to me because, sadly, for a web site to thrive you have to write lists and sometimes paginate.. People have ADD these days soooo.. Yeah. Please forgive us if we cheat a little bit. LOL
As always, please share your feedback in the comments… And remember: WE LOVE YOU!!

subset: commoncrawl


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Australia's most senior Catholic has criticised outgoing Pope Benedict XVI, saying his retirement sets a worrying precedent.
Australia's most senior Catholic has criticised outgoing Pope Benedict XVI, saying his retirement sets a worrying precedent.
In his first interview since the Pope announced he would step down, Cardinal George Pell has voiced concerns about the decision.
"People who, for example, might disagree with a future pope will mount a campaign to get him to resign," he told the Seven Network on Wednesday.
He described Pope Benedict as a "brilliant teacher", but noted that "government wasn't his strongest point".
"He's got to know his theology, but I think I prefer somebody who can lead the church and pull it together a bit," he said.
Pope Benedict retires on Thursday and the behind-closed-doors conclave ballot system used to select his successor is likely to begin in early March.
Cardinal Pell, 71, travelled to the Vatican late last week to join the 116 other cardinals, aged under 80, who will form the conclave at the Sistine Chapel.
He will be the only cardinal from the Oceania region to vote at the conclave and he is one of just 50 attending the vote who also helped select Benedict XVI during the 2005 conclave.
He told Seven he was "highly unlikely" to be in line for a promotion, although he did not rule it out.
"It could happen - I'm Catholic, I'm a bishop, I'm a cardinal," he said.


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Any Buckeystown resident can attest to the cold winters in Maryland. So it's understandable that the last thing you want is to come home to a broken furnace or heat pump and a cold house.
Fortunately, GAC Cooling & Heating (Gaithersburg Air Conditioning & Heating) has been performing heating repairs in the Buckeystown, MD and surrounding areas since 1970. As an HVAC company focused on building a long-term relationship with you, we provide professional and honest service every time you call. With GAC, you'll receive fast and courteous service, upfront pricing, and knowledgeable technicians.
Don't sit in the cold! Contact us for heating repair in the Buckeystown area today.
Our Buckeystown Heating Repair Services
When your HVAC system breaks down, you need a company you can trust to get the job done right the first time. At GAC Cooling & Heating, we provide repairs on all types of systems, including:
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All of our service vehicles are stocked with the most common heating repair parts and we keep a wide variety of high quality parts in stock. This means our technicians are sure to have what they need on hand when they arrive on at your home to fix your furnace or heat pump. Between our highly skilled technicians and our heavily stocked warehouse, we can ensure that your heating repair will occur in an accurate, timely, and professional manner.
And if you're looking to avoid potentially costly heating repair, make sure to sign up for a maintenance plan with GAC! In the event that you have a breakdown, you'll save 20 percent off your system repair.
Why Choose GAC for Your Heating Repair in Buckeystown?
There are a lot of HVAC companies to choose from in the Buckeystown, MD area. Our goal is to set new standards in quality heating and cooling services—we want you as a customer for life!
When you call GAC for heating repair in Buckeystown, you can expect:
- On-time service
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Call us today to experience the GAC difference!


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This publication is now archived.
The March 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami that severely damaged the Fukushima Daiichi power plant has dampened what had been a renewed interest in nuclear power twenty-five years after the explosion at Chernobyl in northern Ukraine. That interest was sparked by rising energy demands in emerging markets and developing nations as well as the need to reduce use of fossil fuels in response to climate change, making nuclear more attractive though less competitive than other types of power (PDF). But the 2011Fukushima incident has led to new scrutiny of plant safety regulations and emergency measures, and to questions about reactor design and how to deal with spent nuclear fuel. Still, while experts say Fukushima is likely to have some impact on nuclear power going forward, it is unlikely to be as disruptive for the industry as Chernobyl.
The Nuclear Renaissance
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In 1986, an explosion at a reactor (Guardian) at Chernobyl in Ukraine spewed radiation enough for four hundred Hiroshima-sized bombs. As a result, plans for new plants were shelved across the globe and many politicians, particularly in Europe, pushed to phase out nuclear power. That changed over the last decade, though, with a renewed interest in nuclear power. Two factors helped create this so-called "nuclear renaissance"--emerging-market energy demand and climate change. Many countries with growing economies and middle classes are looking at ways to access reliable and diverse electricity production. With fossil fuel use increasingly less attractive because of climate change, nuclear energy--which has a very small carbon footprint--has gained new attention.
Four hundred-forty reactors are operating worldwide, representing about 14 percent of global electricity generation. Sixty power plants are under construction, and many older plants slated to be decommissioned may be given new operating licenses. Overall, at least sixty countries that currently do not have it have expressed interest in pursuing nuclear power.
While most of the world's nuclear power generation is in Europe and the United States, much of the new nuclear power coming online in the next decade will be in Asian emerging markets, particularly China and India. Nearly half of all reactors under construction are being built in China, which plans to expand its output from nearly eleven gigawatts (GW) of power to eighty GW by 2020. India hopes to expand its nuclear capacity to at least twenty GW by 2020, up from less than four today.
Nineteen new reactors also are under construction in Europe as of January 2011. Almost all are in Russia, with a handful in Bulgaria, Ukraine, and the Slovakian Republic. Only Finland is constructing a new plant in Western Europe. However, prior to Fukushima, some Western European governments were reconsidering plans to phase out nuclear-power plants. With coal increasingly falling into disfavor because of climate change, many EU countries are worried that reducing nuclear power use would lead to more dependence on natural gas imports--especially from Russia.
Only one new reactor is being constructed in the United States, another two are expected to break ground soon, and a little over two dozen more have made it to the planning stages.
More on:
A growing number of climate advocates argue that nuclear power could act as a stop-gap, emissions-free technology to supplement growing renewable energy production. Some of these advocates continue to defend the need for nuclear after the Fukushima accident. But other environmental advocates, such as U.S.-based Public Citizen and Greenpeace, say nuclear power is not the answer to climate change even short term. "The nuclear industry has seized on the problem of climate change to try to revive its dying industry," says Greenpeace International (PDF). "[B]ut the reality is that wasting yet more time and money pursuing the nuclear nightmare would be too late, too expensive, too risky."
Many supporters and critics say nuclear power's biggest impediment is economic. Projects are expensive and slow-developing, with a number of basic logistical hurdles that make them less competitive than other types of energy, even with the inclusion of a carbon price. Nuclear expert Charles Ferguson notes that when U.S. utilities even mention interest in nuclear power they face having their stocks downgraded. "Wall Street doesn't want to take the risk," says anti-nuclear advocate Michael Marriotte.
The Fallout from Fukushima
Since Chernobyl, the absence of high-profile accidents and concerns about global warming has helped soften attitudes on nuclear power. CFR's 2009 world opinion project found significant support for nuclear power in many countries as a means of energy diversification, though concerns about nuclear safety remained high. U.S. polls also showed growing support for nuclear. But polling since the Fukushima incident has shown support has diminished around the world--though some experts say the reaction is more muted than following Chernobyl.
A number of experts, including Nathan Hultman, a climate policy expert at the Brookings Institution, say the Fukushima incident will likely have different impacts in different parts of the world. For example, Germany, the largest importer of Russian gas, has shut down seven reactors since Fukushima. And the country's largely unpopular plans to extend the life of other reactors past 2020 has been stopped all together. Italy renewed its moratorium on nuclear power, and other EU countries are reviewing their future plans for nuclear power. Across the world, countries including the United States and China also have begun new safety evaluations of their plants to see how well they operate in situations involving issues such as earthquakes, terror attacks, flooding, and loss of power.
"Regardless of individual regulatory and investment environments, events at Fukushima will complicate planning for nuclear expansion for the coming years in all countries," writes Hultman. "Fukushima simply exposed what has always, and will always, persist with nuclear power--it is a technology that is perceived as dangerous, and no amount of redundancy will ever be able to completely scrub the specter of nuclear risk from discussions of energy policy."
In September 2011, the International Atomic Energy Agency endorsed an action plan (PDF) on nuclear safety, which includes new voluntary measures to help avoid an accident similar to Fukushima. The plan calls on governments to immediately begin safety assessments of existing plants and allow IAEA inspectors access to plants. The plan also calls for countries to work toward better international liability regimes. Some countries, such as Germany, France, and Canada, were unhappy the plan did not contain stricter measures (Reuters) that mandated IAEA inspections. However, other countries, such as the United States, India and China, stressed that the power to ensure safety should remain in the hands of national authorities.
Nuclear Safety Concerns
A number of experts have said that the Fukushima accident will not be as bad as Chernobyl, because the accidents at Chernobyl and Fukushima were very different. Chernobyl involved a huge explosion, which spewed radioactive debris high into the air, while Fukushima, so far, has involved multiple reactors as well as spent fuel pools, leaks of radioactive coolant and steam, and smaller explosions that have damaged reactor containment.
The number of related deaths (Guardian) from Chernobyl remains in dispute, ranging from as low as four thousand to as high as five hundred thousand. Other health effects may include high instances of infant mortality and more than six thousand cases of thyroid cancer in children and adolescents according to a 2008 UN report. Environmental damage in nearby areas and, in some cases, as far away as Britain persists. CFR's Laurie Garrett notes that in contrast to Chernobyl, Japanese authorities quickly distributed iodine tablets, which help protect the thyroid against radiation. The total number of people harmed by the Fukushima accident is unknown, but a number of workers at the plant have received high levels of radiation exposure and radiation is already contaminating the food and water supplies in surrounding areas.
Many nuclear experts say Chernobyl served as a wakeup call within the nuclear industry. The World Association of Nuclear Operators was established shortly after to serve as the industry's self-policing watchdog and write confidential safety reviews on nuclear plants. Richard Meserve, head of the International Working Group on Nuclear Safety, noted in a 2010 letter (PDF) to the International Atomic Energy Agency: "Every user of nuclear power is hostage to the safety performance of other users because of the adverse consequences that would arise if there were a nuclear accident anywhere."
According the World Nuclear Association, there have been eleven "serious nuclear reactor accidents" since the inception of nuclear power, with six occurring at commercial reactors between 1975 and 2011. These accidents happened with few or no immediate deaths--comparatively coal, gas, hydroelectric, and oil accidents can result in hundreds of deaths per year, the association notes. Other analysis, such as a 2010 Swedish study (PDF) and one from ProPublica, points out that nuclear power generation per watt is responsible for fewer deaths than other types of power--and those health effects do not include potential impacts from climate change, which are significant for fossil fuels.
Still, nuclear power must address a significant safety issues, such as:
Meltdowns and Accidents. Human error is considered largely responsible for the 1979 Three-Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania, and design flaws triggered the Chernobyl explosion. Since these accidents, the World Nuclear Association says the Western industry has employed "a defense-in-depth approach," with multiple safety systems, including: "high-quality" design and construction; comprehensive monitoring and regular testing; and redundant systems to prevent significant radioactive releases. Overall, the industry argues it has worked hard to make nuclear power safe, and newer reactors have safety features that overcome some of the problems that led to radiation releases at Fukushima and Chernobyl, including better shielding and passive cooling systems.
But new reactor types still face questions--such as how well they withstand earthquakes--and industry assurances about new reactors don't address concerns about older reactors. In the United States, many of these have been relicensed or are in the process of being relicensed after forty years of operation (NYT). Some environmental advocates want all twenty-three Mark I (first generation) boiling water reactors--the same type as those that failed in the Fukushima accident--permanently decommissioned because of inherent design flaws--including placement of the spent fuel rods and strength of the reactor containment.
Other advocates argue that human error makes a future meltdown possible no matter how well a plant is designed. A 2011 report from the Union of Concerned Scientists, a U.S.-based environmental group, found that some of the fourteen "near-misses" occurred at U.S. nuclear plants in 2010 in part because of inadequate training, faulty maintenance, and failure to investigate problems thoroughly. And some nuclear experts question the degree of safety measures employed at plants.
Nuclear Waste. Short- and long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel has been a challenge for the industry and policymakers. Spent fuel, if not disposed of properly, could contaminate water supplies or be used by terrorists to create a dirty bomb. In the short-term, spent fuel is stored in pools on-site--but they only need to stay there a few months until they are cool enough to move to dry storage (either on site or in a long-term storage facility). Still, at some plants, fuel rods are packed in pools in numbers well above design specifications and stay in the pools long after they are ready to be moved (R&D). Fukushima revived U.S. discussion (Beacon) about plans for a long-term storage facility at Yucca Mountain in Nevada that had been scrapped. Meanwhile, advocates say utilities should be required to move spent fuel to hardened, dry-cask storage as soon as possible.
Efforts to reprocess nuclear waste are expensive and come with associated environmental and security risks. Yet a growing number of countries--including Japan and Russia--have begun fuel recycling projects.
Natural Disasters. The earthquake and tsunami that damaged the Fukushima plant has some questioning the sensibility of locating plants in seismically active regions, with some environmental advocates calling for new seismic studies before any older plants are relicensed. In addition, there are concerns about other types of disasters such as tornados and hurricanes. One climate advocate warns that sea level rise resulting from climate change also needs to taken into consideration.
Security Issues. Most countries either pursuing nuclear power or currently using it have signed on to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and have agreed to comply with rules that ensure that they will not use nuclear technologies toward making weapons. However, any country with nuclear technology is considered a proliferation risk. Also after 9/11, concerns arose over the security of 104 U.S. nuclear plants, particularly Indian Point, located thirty miles north of New York City. However, experts maintain the facilities are relatively safe.
Editor's Note: This Backgrounder was formerly entitled "Chernobyl, Nuclear Power, and Foreign Policy."


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Annie Turner
- Qualified with Body Control Pilates in 2010
- Level 3 Award in Pilates and Bone Health
- Level 3 Award in Pilates for the Older Person
- Back4Good® Practitioner (Low Back Pain specialist)
- Comprehensive Studio Certification
- Master Matwork Certification
Annie teaches Reformer group classes at the Body Control Pilates Centre and is available for Private 1:1 Sessions.
Annie's personal experience of the benefits of Pilates inspired her to train as a Pilates teacher. Before becoming a Pilates teacher, Annie was a solicitor and spent more than ten years as a partner in a City law firm, combining working full time with a busy family life. Annie's "past life" means she understands the stresses of a busy life and the effect this can have on the mind and body. She found Pilates a wonderful stress reliever and great for her posture after a busy working day.
As a result of her own experiences, Annie knows how beneficial Pilates can be for office workers and she teaches workplace matwork classes in the City. Annie is a Level 4 Low Back Pain specialist teacher qualifying through the Body Control Pilates Back4Good® programme, and has a particular interest in working with those with low back pain.
Annie believes in teaching with positivity and encouragement and enjoys working with clients from all walks of life.
To book Annies classes or book a Private 1:1 Session please call The Body Control Pilates Centre on 020 7636 8900.
Contact Details:
Mobile: 07795 231 713 Email: email@example.com
1:1 Sessions
£60 per session
£285 per block of 5 (pre-paid)


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One of the ways TriStar Portland takes care of its employees is through the HCA Total Rewards program. HCA has plans and programs that provide employees with financial and non-financial rewards — pay, incentives, benefits, a healthy work environment and a variety of other rewards — in an effort to create a valuable employment experience.
TriStar Portland knows that people are different. They have different needs that require different benefits. That's why the HCA Total Rewards program offers a flexible benefits program to eligible employees. This program allows you to choose the benefits that best fit the needs of you and your family.
The HCA Total Rewards program offers the following benefit options:
Health and Welfare Benefits Plan:
- Medical
- Dental
- Vision
- Employee Assistance Program
- Flexible Spending Accounts
- Life and AD&D Insurance and Dependent Life Insurance
- Long-Term Disability
- Paid Time Off
- Employee Wellness Program
- Voluntary Benefits
- Auto & Home Insurance (Note: Home insurance not available in all locations)
- Legal Benefit
- Long-Term Care
- Short-Term Disability
- Voluntary Permanent Life Insurance
Retirement Benefits:
- 401(k) Plan


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QR Scanner
QR and barcode scanner pro - is a handy and simple application which allows you to scan all types of QR and barcodes. You won't need to press other buttons and make photos. All you need to do is to direct the camera of your smartphone to the needed code to make the utility find and scan...read more


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The seventeenth of May is just another day to most people, but in Oslo (and all across Norway for that matter) it's an eagerly anticipated annual event: Norwegian National Day. A celebration of the signing of the Norwegian Constitution, National Day is a joyous and rather rambunctious affair. It has the usual parades, bands, street parties and food stalls you'd expect, plus a healthy dose of patriotic singing and flag waving. Children are allowed as much ice cream as they can ingest, and Oslo's half a million inhabitants come out in their droves. But the twist in Norway is all in the togs.
Walk out of your door on the big day and you'll feel as if you've accidentally stumbled onto the set of a historical costume drama, with everyone dressed head to toe in traditional dress. Women bustle about in floor-length woollen dresses in vibrant reds, greens, blues and purples, their laced-up bodices adorned with intricate embroidery. Little boys run around in plus fours and woollen waistcoats to match their fathers while teenagers, depending on their year in school, wear traditional fishermen's overalls in fire-engine red and peacock blue. The effect is disconcerting at first and then, frankly, wonderful as everyone takes part and the city is completely transformed.
Don't worry if you've not got the gear, and certainly don't try to buy an outfit for the occasion as they cost hundreds (if not thousands) of euros and are passed down in Norwegian families from generation to generation. Just steer clear of jeans and wear something nice and you'll blend right in. The best advice is to go with the flow: clap along with the packs of teenagers chanting traditional Norwegian songs; smile at the children strutting by, their faces scrubbed clean and hair done perfectly for the occasion; bow and nod to the waved greetings of the royal family from the balcony of the palace; and above all let yourself be dragged into the spontaneous and joyous revelry all around.
Oslo's main tourist office is in the centre, behind the Rådhus at Fridtjof Nansens plass 5 (www.visitoslo.com).
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Episode 3.8 was submitted yesterday. It contains the following:
HD-certified graphics:
-The completely redone artwork brings you as close to the HD experience as you can get on iPhone and iPod touch!
Restore your kills based on OpenFeint achievements:
-If you reinstall the game or install it on another device, log on to OpenFeint and the game will automatically restore your kills based on your achievements. Note that the game cannot know the exact number of kills you had, just the kills it can award from your achievements.
Other improvements:
-Weapon recoil effects for all characters.
-Made it possible switch performance-intensive "3rd generation effects" (bullet shells and fence) on and off.
Visual comparison of Episode 3.7 and Episode 3.8:


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Pathways Christian Bookstore
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What Detective Brady St. John really needs is a relaxing vacation. Unfortunately, just as the sun is setting on his second day at a friend's cabin on Lake Henley, he hears a scream and races to rescue a woman from her would-be killer. When the killer escapes only to return to finish the job, Brady vows to utilize all of his many resources to keep her safe--and catch those who would see her dead. Financial crimes investigator Emily Chastain doesn't trust many people. And even though she let the detective who saved her life in on a few pertinent facts about why she was being attacked, there are some things you just don't share with a stranger. Little does she suspect that the secret she is keeping just might get them both killed. Bestselling and award-winning author Lynette Eason sends readers on a race for the truth in this heart-stopping story of risk, regret, and redemption.
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- Series Name: Baker Publishing Group Bestsellers
- Series Number: 3


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IT seems Keith the seal may be taunting her potential captors as she lounges around Upton Marina – the home of Mercia Inshore Search and Rescue (MISAR).
Lying on her back seemingly without a care in the world, the plucky seal raises a paw in the air as if to say "catch me if you can".
Obviously, the female seal is unaware of the continuing furore surrounding her presence in the river Severn with the battle lines drawn between those who believe she should be captured and returned to the sea and those who would rather leave her alone.
In November, MISAR and the British Divers Marine Life Trust were instructed by the Angling Trust to capture Keith and release her into the sea after the trust was granted a licence from Natural England.
However, the female seal evaded capture and the plans were put on hold because the locks were shut for two weeks and have yet to be resumed.
MISAR chair David Walker was unavailable to comment yesterday about when the efforts to capture the marine mammal would continue.
Almost 3,000 people have so far signed a petition asking the trust to abandon the capture attempts.
While the conflict rumbles on, Keith has continued to be spotted along the river Severn. On Saturday, she greeted the new boss of Northwick Marina after popping up alongside the boats.
Mike Fernandes, of Sinton Green, took over the marina on January 1 and was astounded to be greeted by the city's most notorious resident.
As he took a customer to look at a boat, assistant manager Jules Knott spotted the female seal in the waters off Neweys Hill.
Mr Knott, of Greenford Gardens, Worcester, said: "We were all in awe, you don't get to see something like that every day and in such close surroundings too."
Yesterday the Angling Trust said it remained "entirely committed" to capturing Keith and returning her to the sea.
In a statement the trust said it was working with the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) animal rescue charity to remove Keith in order to protect both her and endangered fish stocks in the river.


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The sun had yet to rise when a few dozen people from New York's Irish American community huddled together on 41st Street and Park Avenue in Manhattan before we boarded a yellow school bus to the Rockaways. Over 400 volunteers made the trip last Saturday for Meitheal na Nollaig -- the second Irish Day of Action.
As we approached our destination, the beauty of the chilly winter morning was contrasted by the bleakness of the oceanfront community.
It has been almost two months since Hurricane Sandy struck, and one month since the first Irish contingent came to the Rockaway peninsula.
Since then a few more businesses have reopened, but there were few signs of visible progress on the streets. On a metal railing on one street corner, someone had scrawled the words "LIPA sucks" in thick black graffiti. On another corner, a man wheeled his laundry out of a launderette, suggesting for him some small sense of normality had resumed.
Read More: Hurricane Sandy hit Irish neighborhoods in New York and New Jersey hardest
About 400 volunteers arriving from the Bronx, Queens, and Manhattan disembarked their buses for the second Irish Day of Action on Beach 95th Street and Cross Bay Parkway. Irish Consul General Noel Kilkenny thanked everyone for coming out before we splintered off into different task groups.
My friend and I joined the toy factory group, and once again boarded a yellow school bus bound for a public school a short distance away.
Driving along Shore Front Parkway, mounds of sand piled on the boardwalk still obstructed the ocean view. Beachfront properties remained boarded up. A playground near the edge of the beach, once a haven for the neighborhood children, was covered with piles of sand and trash bags.
When we entered PS 104 in Far Rockaway, I was reminded of the horrors in Newtown, Connecticut. Notice boards with "Pupil of the Month" displayed young smiling faces.
As part of the New York Irish Center's annual shoebox appeal, hundreds of New Yorkers donated Christmas shoe boxes to Christmas Meitheal.
An assembly line of 30 volunteers emptied two vans worth of Christmas toys for the youngest Sandy victims. Inside the warm school auditorium everyone peeled off their layers of insulation before we began sorting through the toys.
With festive music blaring in the background, volunteers got busy sorting the gifts and assembling the cardboard boxes. It was great to see so many kind messages from children tucked inside the Christmas boxes for Sandy victims.
"If I am getting gifts at Christmas, so should you," one child wrote.
In addition to the donated pre-packaged boxes, volunteers also packed hundreds of boxes with toys and gifts. There were dolls, teddy bears, games, coloring books, jigsaw puzzles, clothes and chocolate.
Read More: Top ten facts and figures about Hurricane Sandy -- New York's worst storm in decades - VIDEO
It was truly amazing to witness a group of strangers aged from 7 to 77 working together in a makeshift toy factory. Our only connection was our Irish heritage.
When we walked into PS 104 in Far Rockaway on Saturday morning, most of us were strangers.
Before long we were all chatting, sharing how we heard about the volunteer drive and cracking jokes together.
Rockaways local Marina Callaghan and assistant school principal Deirdre McShane shared their Sandy experiences while we worked. Everyone got involved as a member of the female security staff at the school rolled up her sleeves and began wrapping boxes.
Read More: Hurricane Sandy one month on - Irish Day of Action reveals many still hurting in the Rockaways
Around lunchtime, Dublin native Paul Hurley, owner of P.D. O'Hurley's restaurant in Manhattan, delivered a vat of delicious potato and leek soup for the volunteers.
By early afternoon, we assembled, checked, and wrapped 700 Christmas boxes for children affected by Sandy. All the boxes were separated into different age groups and piled high in one of the classrooms.
"Every person who has come into the room since is in awe," says McShane, whose father is from Raphoe in Co. Donegal.
"All of us are so grateful," she added.
The school, which has 650 pupils enrolled, intends to hand out the gifts to students this week.
McShane told the Irish Voice that many students were affected by the storm. Some of them have been relocated to different homes. As a result, attendance in the school is down to around 575.
"I know there was one student whose family swam out of their home with the cats and dogs during the storm," McShane said.
As well as PS 104 students, over 30 percent of the school's staff were affected by the storm. McShane's family home in Freeport, Long Island was also destroyed by Sandy. McShane, her husband and their one-year-old son, Liam, have been staying with family since late October.
"Two months on, my insurance has not given us any figures about the cost of the damage done," she said.
With countless people still suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, McShane says it was inspiring to see many Irish people come out to help last Saturday.
"Everyone was so pleasant and happy," McShane said.
"I am still in awe. When you see the goodness in people, it's amazing."


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Valvoline Instant Oil Change was created in 1986 with the purchase of Rapid Oil Change centers in upstate New York and the Minneapolis/St. Paul region and from the Instant Oil Change and DipStick acquisitions in Lansing and Grand Rapids, Michigan.
As the second largest quick-lube chain in the United States, we are focused on being the quick, easy, trusted way for you to avoid costly, inconvenient breakdowns.
As such, we are committed to delivering you only those services necessary for the safety and performance of your vehicle. So when we make a recommendation, you can be sure it's in the best interest of your car, not the best interest of our wallets.
VIOC is a business group of Valvoline, www.valvoline.com, a division of Ashland Inc., www.ashland.com.
Services: Auto Repair Centers, Quick Lube
In Business Since: 1900
Joined Askpatty.com June, 2011
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Surprising modern art highlights deli man Ziggy Gruber's inner Loop home
No one expected a New Yorker to move to Houston and open one of the best traditional Jewish delis in the country, so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that the home of Ziggy Gruber, the owner of Kenny & Ziggy's Deli, defies expectations as well.
An unassuming presence on a bustling Upper Kirby street, the entrance to his house is tucked behind a front courtyard, lined with flowering trees and a modern fountain. Inside, the wow factor is immediately apparent. The open living room is large, sleek and filled with Gruber's collection of modern art. White leather seating with cubist lines sets a neutral palette that puts the focus on an antique Chinese cabinet in a bright red lacquer that dominates one wall, as well as the azure blue in a contemporary painting that hangs over the fireplace.
"I'm very eclectic. I did have a lot of antiques in my previous home, but this was just a bit more clean-lined," said Gruber, who moved into the 4,000-square-foot house three years ago. "I walked in here, and it was like, 'This is it, this is my home.' "
In a room full of furnishings and artwork on a grand scale it's almost possible to miss a small, framed work by Marc Chagall, once a page from the artist's sketch pad. On the other side of the space, the custom dining table is surrounded by chairs from his deli - Gruber says he's still looking for chairs to replace them with - and a wine storage and display case designed by Gruber. Square windows dotting the stairway in the center of the open space illuminate a large reproduction of a Roy Lichtenstein painting, and add glimmer to a golden cube sculpture by Tony Rosenthal.
"You know, in front of Astor Place [in Manhattan], the big black cube that sits there? This is the baby version," said Gruber.
The Rosenthal isn't the only artwork that references Gruber's New York heritage. In his office upstairs, next to a bookshelf full of Jewish cookbooks, is an artist proof of an early 3-D work by pop artist Charles Fazzino, a hyper-colorful street scene the depicts the busy layers of the Lower East Side.
"I like it because this is the neighborhood where I came from," said Gruber.
The open living area is made for entertaining, but Gruber and his wife Mimi, who owns the new River Oaks Wellness Center, say they spend most of their time in the kitchen. Gruber redesigned the space when he moved in, adding granite counters, new tile on the backsplash and floors and a wall of sleek brown cabinetry that hides several pantry closets, all maximized by an Italian storage system.
In lieu of another formal dining set-up, Gruber tucked a microsuede sectional and a flat-screen television into the corner between the kitchen and the garage and it has become the busy couple's go-to lounging spot.
The overall feel is surprisingly urban. The outside environs, too, which pleases the third-generation deli man from the Big Apple.
"For my money, this in the most unique street in all of Houston because of the mix of residential and business," said Gruber. "It reminds me of New York. This is my Gramercy Park."


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Advantages of Robotic Surgery
In today's operating rooms, you'll find two or three surgeons, an anesthesiologist and several nurses, all needed for even the simplest of surgeries. Most surgeries require nearly a dozen people in the room. As with all automation, surgical robots will eventually eliminate the need for some personnel. Taking a glimpse into the future, surgery may require only one surgeon, an anesthesiologist and one or two nurses. In this nearly empty operating room, the doctor sits at a computer console, either in or outside the operating room, using the surgical robot to accomplish what it once took a crowd of people to perform.
The use of a computer console to perform operations from a distance opens up the idea of telesurgery, which would involve a doctor performing delicate surgery miles away from the patient. If the doctor doesn't have to stand over the patient to perform the surgery, and can control the robotic arms from a computer station just a few feet away from the patient, the next step would be performing surgery from locations that are even farther away. If it were possible to use the computer console to move the robotic arms in real-time, then it would be possible for a doctor in California to operate on a patient in New York. A major obstacle in telesurgery has been latency -- the time delay between the doctor moving his or her hands to the robotic arms responding to those movements. Currently, the doctor must be in the room with the patient for robotic systems to react instantly to the doctor's hand movements.
Having fewer personnel in the operating room and allowing doctors the ability to operate on a patient long-distance could lower the cost of health care in the long term. In addition to cost efficiency, robotic surgery has several other advantages over conventional surgery, including enhanced precision and reduced trauma to the patient. For instance, traditional heart bypass surgery requires that the patient's chest be "cracked" open by way of a 1-foot (30.48-cm) long incision. However, with the da Vinci system, it's possible to operate on the heart by making three or four small incisions in the chest, each only about 1 centimeter in length. Because the surgeon would make these smaller incisions instead of one long one down the length of the chest, the patient would experience less pain, trauma and bleeding, which means a faster recovery.
Robotic assistants can also decrease the fatigue that doctors experience during surgeries that can last several hours. Surgeons can become exhausted during those long surgeries, and can experience hand tremors as a result. Even the steadiest of human hands cannot match those of a surgical robot. Engineers program robotic surgery systems to compensate for tremors, so if the doctor's hand shakes the computer ignores it and keeps the mechanical arm steady.
Let's take a look at the different approaches to robot surgery, starting with supervisory-controlled systems in the next section.


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By Skip Mendler
In the battle of words and legislation presently raging in Washington over the problems of the national debt, Federal spending, Medicare, Social Security, many questions are being asked – except for the most important one.
If I understand the Republicans correctly, a new set of Divine ordinances has been handed down via Grover Norquist and other for-profit prophets. According to these immutable edicts, our options going forward are strictly circumscribed: on the one hand, taxes must never be raised again, on anything or anyone; on the other, the military budget must remain sacrosanct and allowed to expand as much as it damn well pleases. Progressive alternatives such as the "People's Budget" (see http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov) dare not be exposed to the light of day, much less the lights of a major TV news studio or the floors of Congress.
In such circumstances, there's really only one question to ask:
How many Baby Boomers like myself will have to die early – that is, before beginning to draw benefits at age 63 or so – to make the books finally balance and save our economy for our kids, their kids, and, oh yeah, those other kids down the block?
Simple enough question, don't you think? It's just a number, after all – somewhere between zero and (according to http://www.boomerdeathcounter.com) 76 million or so. Clearly, if all of us Boomers were to survive into the triple digits (and hey, given advances in medical technology, it could happen) the system couldn't support us all – even if we were still earning money from our hospital beds by fielding customer service requests from Mumbai or operating audioanimatronic greeter robots at the doors of the Kinshasa Ultra-WalMart. And if we were all to disappear tomorrow – well, many folks would breathe a sigh of relief at that, wouldn't they? Somewhere between those extremes is the right number.
Please note that I am not talking about any kind of fascistic "culling" protocol, active euthanasia, or even "Soylent Green"-style protein recycling. My Modest Proposal is this: we should volunteer. And I shall be happy to be the first to do so.
After all, we've had a good run of it, haven't we? Folks of my g-g-g-generation have been blessed by a succession of technological and cultural innovations previously undreamed of in human history, from Twinkies and Rock'em-Sock'em Robots to the Bay City Rollers and "Three's Company."
How good did we have it? Two words: Count Chocula.
I rest my case.
And frankly, the future's looking less attractive by the moment. There are pharmaceutical sales reps and insurance executives out there who are literally drooling right now over the money to be made from us Boomers as we drift into dotage. (Yes, you know who you are, don't look so innocent. Wipe off your chin, it's disgusting, really.) I am not sure that I really want to be their cash cow – even if it did mean I could watch reruns of "Three's Company" on a wall-sized 3D screen while munching on Count Chocula to my stented and pacemaker-stimulated heart's content.
Due to the timing of my birth, I had the completely unmerited good fortune to go through college during that brief, magical time AW/BA – after Woodstock, but before AIDS – and by the same accident of timing, I missed the draft, which ended shortly before I became eligible for service. (Darn good thing, too; my random sequence number was 012, and I had many years to go before I would join the Quakers.) This is just to say that I have had more than my share of fun, and given somewhat less than my share of sacrifice. So if leaving early means that my daughter's future could be a bit less insecure, well, then it's worthwhile.
So how will I do this? I lack the intestinal fortitude to commit seppuku, and I'm too acrophobic for jumping off bridges – but I most certainly can up my indulgence in certain high-risk behaviors. And I will (seriously, now) be sure that I have all the advance directives in place to ensure that, at the first occurrence of anything even remotely fatal, I shall allowed to go quietly – and quickly – into that good night. When the party's over, it's time to leave – particularly if your ride is waiting.
Pete Townshend, of course, famously wrote "Hope I die before I get old," and then forgot to do just that. Wouldn't it be ironic if doing just that turned out to be our generation's greatest legacy.


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Mmmmm...Pumpkin Mousse
Love the silky taste of mousse for dessert but not the fat and calories? Try this easy to prepare, lightened up Pumpkin Mousse recipe and enjoy the richness of mousse with the added deliciousness of pumpkin.
Each ½ cup serving of this dessert is:
• Low Fat
• Fat Free
• Saturated Fat Free
• Low Cholesterol
• Cholesterol Free
• Excellent source of Vitamin A
Prep Time
Cooking Time
Skill Level
servings (1/2 cup each)
In this recipe
- 1 box (3.4 ounces) vanilla instant pudding and pie filling mix
- 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or ground cinnamon
- 2/3 cup (5 fl.-oz. can) NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Evaporated Fat Free Milk
- 1 cup LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
- 1 1/2 cups thawed fat-free frozen whipped topping
COMBINE pudding mix and pie spice in medium bowl. With whisk, add evaporated milk; mix until well blended. Add pumpkin; mix well. Gently fold whipped topping into pudding mixture. Spoon into serving dishes. Top with additional whipped topping and pie spice, if desired. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate.
Makes about six 1/2-cup servings
Makes about six 1/2-cup servings
Nutritional Information
Serving Size 6
Calories Per Serving 120
Calories from fat 0
% Daily Value *
- Total Fat 0g 0%
- Saturated Fat 0g 0%
- Cholesterol 0mg 0%
- Sodium 260mg 11%
- Carbohydrates 27g 9%
- Dietary Fiber 1g 4%
- Vitamin A 60%
- Vitamin C 2%
- Calcium 6%
- Iron 2%
- Sugars 21g
- Protein 2g
* Percentage Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.


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Soda: Manhattan Special's Non-Coffee Sodas
I can't get enough of Manhattan Special's Espresso Coffee Soda. That obsession evolved in stages. When I first grabbed one and tasted it for a review, I found it interesting. But a few days later, I saw it in a store, and found myself with a bottle in hand at the cash register. And about a week later, I was purposefully walking by stores I knew carried it just so I could have one. I love ripping the cap off and slurping down the first gulp to prevent it from volcano-ing over onto my hand.
But I only recently discovered that Manhattan Special makes other soft drinks, the Black Cherry, Vanilla Cream, and Gassosa. It was hard to believe those standard-sounding flavors could outmatch the Espresso, but we had to give them a try.
Their Gassosa is a lemon-lime soda, much like Sprite. It's rich and full-bodied, slightly tart and acidic, with a better crisp than Sprite. And it's sweeter than I expected, most likely because looking at it I expected a flavored seltzer. (It borrows its name from the Italian term for soda water, gazzosa, which is a bit confusing.) I found it very interesting, but probably too sweet to be refreshing.
The Vanilla Cream was not terribly creamy. Don't get me wrong, I liked it; it's just more of a vanilla soda, which I feel it succeeds at—mild, subtle, and refreshing, probably good for people who don't like flavor-heavy sodas. But the Black Cherry was one of my new favorites. Very deep in cherry flavor, and almost syrupy but not quite, it's not too sweet, definitely made from cane sugar, and one of the richest, most deeply flavored black cherry sodas I've had.
None of the three has replaced the Espresso Coffee Soda as my favorite, but they're all worth knowing about as complements to the flagship soda. The best of the three is, in my opinion, the Black Cherry, but the others aren't bad. They're the friendlier cousins of the brash, outgoing espresso leading character.
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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Auto auction, show hits with car crowd
Concours d'Elegance: 2-day event a benefit for AmeriCares
GREENWICH -- About two hours into Sunday's car auction at the Greenwich Concours d'Elegance, two 40-something men in casual garb stepped to the front of the packed tent.
Up for grabs was a 1952 Jaguar XK120 OTS, a curvy white convertible with lipstick red interior leather.
For several minutes, as auctioneer Rupert Banner called out steadily higher bids, one of the men defiantly raised his placard.
"One hundred and fifteen is the bid," Banner cried at one point. He paused to survey the hundreds of people in the tent, the handful of people phoning investors scattered across the globe. "Are we in or are we out?"
The competition was out. Banner slammed his hammer and said, "Your car, sir!"
With that, the bidding man turned and hugged the guy beside him.
"Happy birthday," he said.
By Sunday's standards, $115,000 was actually cheap. The sixth annual event by the British auction house Bonhams, which took place at Greenwich's 18th annual classic car show, included a 1967 Aston Martin DB 6 once owned by conductor Leonard Bernstein, which sold for $825,000. There was also a 1905 Pierce "Great Arrow" that went for $243,100.
In all, there were 100 international cars for sale. But there were scores more competing for awards and the public's attention over the two-day Greenwich Concours d'Elegance at Roger Sherman Baldwin Park. The hot, sunny weekend was expected to draw 10,000 to 20,000 people.
Tickets cost $30 for adults for one day and $45 for both days. Proceeds benefitAmeriCares.
The event drew well-heeled investors, but also car fanatics with no intentions of writing a six-figure check.
"Unbelievable," said Paul Solis, a Bridgeport resident, who works for a Subaru dealership in New Jersey. "This is a lot better than I thought it was going to be."
Solis led around his 4-year-old son, Patrick, who wore a collared shirt with a car emblem on his chest.
"He's going to be in the car business," the father declared, as the son hopped over to pet a nearby Golden retriever. "He's more into dogs right now, though."
Outside the giant tents, the expansive grassy field was filled with classic cars on display. The cars were arrayed in circles, separated into groups by their manufacturer.
Greg Giacchi was smitten with a bright blue 1939 Delage GP, a flashy French racer with an open top, vents lining its considerable body and the number 22 prominently bubbled on its side.
For four years, Giacchi has come up from New Jersey for the show. For the first time this year, he got invited to bring his own baby, a dark blue 1979 Pontiac Trans-Am. He showed it off Saturday and won a trophy.
"Here's Wayne!" he said, as a mustachioed man who had been seen earlier with two video cameras in his face marched toward the tent. "I've pretty much watched every episode of his on the Velocity Channel."
That would be Wayne Carini, a Portland resident who had nine cars for sale in Sunday's auction. Seven years ago, at 52, Carini completed the quest he had started at 16 to track down and buy a Hudson Italia, of which only 25 were ever made.
After the New York Times published a story about it, Carini got a phone call about hosting a reality show. "Chasing Classic Cars" has enjoyed six seasons and is something like must-see TV for the classic car set.
"Great show today, great camaraderie," Carini said during a 15-minute window in which none of his cars was being sold. He'd already sold a Cadillac for $43,000 and a yellow 1922 Mercer Series 5 for $110,000. The latter he'd acquired from a California man dying of cancer.
"He said he only wanted to sell it to me," Carini said, then promptly got interrupted.
"Big fan of your show!" a passer-by called out.
Carini returned to the tent.
By day's end, several people who hadn't purchased tickets mingled on a street corner at the front of the park.
"This is the spot to be," said Peter White, a Jamaican man who lives in Queens, N.Y., and has only missed two Greenwich events ever. "What goes in has to come out."
With that, White impressed car owners leaving the show with his encyclopedic knowledge and boisterous demeanor.
"Please, sir, please rev that beautiful, beautiful engine," he called out as an Aston Martin DB5 pulled out of the lot. That's the model that James Bond drove in the movie "Goldfinger."
When the engine roared, White became a picture of contentment. "This is what a car should be like."
Moments later, a Hummer H-2 that had not been part of the car show pulled out of the lot.
White looked unimpressed.
"Why would I pay $60,000 for that?" he said.
firstname.lastname@example.com; twitter.com/timloh; 203-625-4428


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Great ! How about CTS? What's that ?
But the timing has to be right, hold down the reset, select the program from the IDE, when it says loading, count one two three, and release the reset.
Thanks ! Finally I understand why is there a cap there- to bring the RESET High and LOW.


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With our business built on the foundation of excellence and diversity, quality is at the very heart of all our processes.We guarantee our services will meet your expectations.
Recruiting physicians that serve underrepresented communities increases cultural competency, community comfort, and patient well-being.
Clinical trials are research studies that explore whether a medical strategy, treatment, or device is safe and effective for people.
Tony Nguyen
Clinical Research Coordinator
FOMAT has positively impacted my perspective on medical research. Format's aspiration, to diversify clinical trials while maintaining high-quality results to produce a better treatment is something I am proud to say I believe in and am fortunate to aid in. There is this overwhelming sense of accomplishment to know that I am part of this pioneer experience in serving the underrepresented populations throughout the continental Americas, innovating and diversifying clinical research, and ensuring quality results. I believe that Fomat is the innovative force that will transform medicine and clinical research.
Beatriz Morales
Clinical Trials Specialist
Working for FOMAT has been a wonderful experience, which has allowed me to learn more about Clinical Trials and the importance to Diversify studies.
Valentina Fama
Clinical Research Coordinator
Being part of FOMAT is much more than a job. Every day I feel motivated to thrive for the best interest of patients, of research and of our future. Team work is vital and supporting each other is what we do best. Being part of FOMAT is being part of a big family.
Patrick Varnava
Marketing Specialist
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What makes a college unique? In part, its traditions, which unite the students of today and yesterday.
Here are a few of ours:
- Social activism, from our Social Gospel roots through alt break and the Social Entrepreneurs of Grinnell.
- Dressing up for the waltz.
- 2 a.m. bakery runs to Danish Maid or ice cream and corn nuggets at Dari Barn.
- Theme parties like the cross-dressing Mary B. James and the nostalgic Disco and 80s parties.
- Lighthearted competition at Grinnell Relays.
- Graffiti in the library bathrooms.
- Loggias.
- Self-governance.
- Pagliai's Pizza.
- The world's best study breaks.
- Burling Library's jungle gyms.
- Dial-a-Johns.
- Mattress sledding in ARH.
- Our integrated Young, Gifted, and Black gospel choir. (And yes, any student can join.)
And there's always waiting for the train to pass through campus.


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Birthday [Daily] Sticker (Thrive)
Birthday Daily - Thrive
Designed to match the LBD 2019 Planners.
- 14 x Birthday Daily - Thrive stickers per sheet
- suitable for daily layouts
*Colour Disclaimer: While every effort is made to portray accurate colour in product images, please be aware colours shown on screen may differ slightly from actual item due to printing processes, lighting and variation of monitor displays.
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Nier Creator Yoko Taro Has Stubborn Demands, And A New RPG Called SinoAlice
Hyper Scape Impressions: Is Ubisoft's Battle Royale Worth Playing?
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Mike Tao
on June 4, 2012 at 4:53PM PDT


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According to the report, which was compiled by rights lawyer Rajia Omran and other members of the No to Military Trials Campaign, 225 people have been detained from the vicinity of Cairo's Tahrir Square since the second anniversary of Egypt's January 25 Revolution, which coincided with mass rallies against the government and President Mohamed Morsi.
Those detained have included minors who were subject to torture and days-long incarceration at Central Security Forces (CSF) training camps, the report asserts. Detentions were officially said to have been "pending investigation," but according to the report's authors, detentions were generally employed as punishment and were unnecessary to investigations.
The report notes one case in particular in which 12 young people – including eight minors – were referred to the Abbasiya prosecutor's office. The young people had reportedly suffered injuries as a result of police torture and were therefore detained for four days "pending investigation."
Egypt's April 6 Youth Movement also released a statement on Sunday asserting that one of its members, Hossam El-Din Abdel-Hamid, had gone missing. The youth group alleged that Abdel-Hamid had been detained, suggesting that that the interior ministry had refrained from referring him to prosecutors – along with others who had been detained with him – in order to conceal the torture he had been subject to at the hands of police.
"Abdel-Hamid was brutally beaten and is suffering from a severe injury and has not been referred to the prosecution until this minute," April 6 stated. "When we asked about him we were told by a police officer that he had been moved to the Khalifa Police Station…but when we went there to ask about him we were told he was at the Qasr El-Nil Police Station and there they again denied his presence."
The rights activists' report echoed the youth group's allegations, stating that many of those reported missing were later found to have been illegally detained, mostly in the Gabal El-Ahmar and Tora CSF training camps. Unlike prisons or police stations, neither of these facilities represent official detention centres.
"Most of those arrested [estimated at more than 600 since 25 January] are now being detained in CSF camps that are not made or equipped for detention," Malek Adly, a rights lawyer told Ahram Online.
"Unlike prisons or police stations, these camps aren't equipped to provide prisoners with meals, so detainees are often left without food or water for long periods," Adly said.
The report added that since detainees were not referred to prosecutors they lacked any access to family members or lawyers.
Only after the media had exposed cases of missing persons, the report continued, eight of them were finally referred to the Qasr El-Nil prosecutor's office on 30 January – following five days of illegal detention. Abdeen's criminal court later ordered their immediate release, arguing that the means by which they were detained had been illegal.
Another five detainees were also allowed to return to their homes after four days of being illegally held, the report added.
On Monday, thousands of protesters marched in the funeral of slain activist Mohamed El-Gendy, who allegedly died from torture sustained while in police custody. The young activist's death has reignited debate on police brutality, against which large swathes of the Egyptian public rose up in the revolution two years ago.
"While many have been shocked by El-Gendy's death, he is not the first to die of torture during Morsi's rule," human rights activist Hossam Bahgat said via Twitter. "You only know his name because he's a political activist."
In January, the Cairo-based Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) – of which Bahgat is a founding member – released a report documenting 16 cases of police violence. The report noted that, since Morsi's assumption of the presidency last summer, 11 people had been killed and ten tortured inside Egyptian police stations.
"Police still use excessive force and torture is still systematic, just as it was under the Mubarak regime," the report stated.
In response to the EIPR's study, an interior ministry official – speaking anonymously – told AP that such claims were "untrue" and "full of exaggerations."
In response to El-Gendy's case, the presidency released a statement in which it insisted: "There will be no return to human rights abuses or violations of citizens' freedoms since the January 25 Revolution, especially now with the establishment of a constitutional state."
Nevertheless, a video has recently circulated online showing a man – later revealed to be 50-year-old Hamada Saber – being beaten and dragged naked by CSF personnel. The incident was filmed during Friday's clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces outside the Presidential Palace in Cairo.
The interior ministry has since issued an official apology, asserting that the incident had constituted an "individual act" and did not reflect ministry policy. Public prosecutors are currently investigating the case.
The presidency, too, has condemned the police violence depicted in the footage.
"We are awaiting the outcome of the investigation, which should be released with transparency in accordance with the objectives of the January 25 Revolution," the presidency declared in a statement.
The statement went on to assert that the presidency was currently working "for the enforcement of constitutional articles that prohibit torture, intimidation, or causing individuals physical or psychological harm."
© 2010 Ahram Online.


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Part of the global Toshiba Corporation, Toshiba TEC Europe Retail Information is the European operation providing sales and service support for retail point of sale devices and printers. In the UK, the company is based in Chertsey, Surrey, and its customers include some of the best known retail and hospitality outlets on Britain's high streets.
Crucial to Toshiba's relationships with its customers is a reliable service support, to ensure any issues are addressed as quickly as possible to minimise disruption. To enable this, the company has a team of 26 field service engineers working throughout the UK and Northern Ireland. Each customer has an agreed service level agreement ranging from 2 to 24 hours. Engineers will either repair on site or do a product swap as appropriate.
Having recently taken delivery of a new fleet of 25 hybrid vehicles, the company wished to compare the performance of the new vehicles with the existing fleet and also monitor driver behaviour and performance.
The field service engineers cover around 2,000 miles a month, achieving an average of three calls a day. The requirement for accurate monitoring of their geographical locations to communicate arrival times on site was critical in honouring service agreement levels. The selected telematics system also needed to be fully compatible with Tesseract, the office job scheduling tool used by Toshiba TEC.


text: Our engineers are among the most knowledgeable in the world when it comes to gas-enabled applications. Here you will find a wealth of information on the process innovations and application expertise they have brought to Melting & Heating. Simply click on the applications and discover how we can help you meet your quality, efficiency and optimisation targets.


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The spy photogs paid by the Road that is not straight snapped some great pictures of what's purported to be the sedan version of the hatchback Suzuki SX4 that'll be hitting stores across the US in just under a month's time. The sedan version appears to share with the five-door the same random quarter window next to the side mirrors — but the rear end, according to the vehicular spy photogs of KGP is "reminiscent of the original Nissan Altima." Oh boy, we can't wait to see another Japanese manufacturer take a run down the ol' Bluebird lane with rear ends — cause that worked so well for Nissan the first time around. Although incidentally, with the SX4 five-door expected to arrive with a 2.0-liter, 16-valve DOHC rated at 143 horsepower and 136 pound-feet of torque, if this sedan comes to market with the same engine — the Bluebird will have it beat by 7 hp. Not bad for '93.
Spied: Suzuki SX4 Sedan! [Winding Road]
New Suzuki Models to Show up in New York [internal]


text: With Steve Jobs' passing, we have lost one of the greatest technological innovators of our time. Jobs wasn't just a savvy businessman, he was a visionary who made it his mission to humanize personal computing, rewriting the rules of user experience design, hardware design and software design. His actions reverberated across industry lines: He shook up the music business, dragged the wireless carriers into the boxing ring, changed the way software and hardware are sold and forever altered the language of computer interfaces. Along the way, he built Apple up into one of the most valuable corporations in the world. Quite a run. He will be missed.Apple I, 1976 Apple Computer was founded on April 1, 1976 by a small group headed by Jobs, engineer Steve Wozniak and industry vet Ronald Wayne, who was brought in to provide "adult supervision." Priced at $666.66, Apple's first computer was little more than a circuit board. Once you bought one, you still had to hook up your own keyboard, monitor and power supply. As such, the Apple appealed mostly to the DIY hardware hackers of the day, who had these things on hand already. Photo by Kevin T. Houle/FlickrApple II, 1977 The company hit the jackpot one year later with 1977's Apple II, a fully assembled desktop computer in a handsome case. Hackers still took to it because of its expandability. More importantly, schools used it to teach programming (it ran Integer BASIC) and offices started snatching them up once VisiCalc launched on the nascent platform.Macintosh, 1984 The Macintosh arrived in 1984, and it was the first computer to successfully integrate two things that are now commonplace: a graphical user interface and a mouse. Little pictures of folders, the piece of paper denoting a file, the trash can — most of us learned how all of these things worked when we sat down at the Mac. Drag-and-drop, too. Apple launched the Macintosh with a massive media campaign spearheaded by a minute-long TV commercial (riffing on Orwell's 1984) that aired during the Super Bowl. http://www.youtube.com/embed/OYecfV3ubP8Apple IIc, 1984 Only a few months after launching the Macintosh, Apple released the Apple IIc, a slimmed-down version of the Apple II that was much more portable. It had a handle on the back so you could carry it around comfortably with one hand. It wasn't quite a laptop — the monitor and power supply weren't attached — and the guts weren't a whole lot different than what you got in the bigger Apple II models. But the little white eight-pound box was an important step for desktop computers. It was one of the first small-form-factor PCs to hit the market, signaling the industry-wide move toward compact, integrated designs that would come later. Also, its diminutive size and unassuming looks were far less intimidating than the hulking machines common in the mid-1980s. It was an era when computers beginning to creep into middle-class homes, and first-time buyers found the IIc a "friendly" and appealing option. It looked equally attractive in the family room as it did in the office.LaserWriter, 1985 It cost $7,000 and was bigger than your microwave. But put one on your desk and you could publish your own newspaper. The LaserWriter wasn't the first desktop laser printer to hit the market, but it was the first created for the Macintosh, and the first to use the cutting-edge PostScript language that gave designers a new level of control over page layout, text options, and graphics. It was announced on the same day as its killer app, Aldus PageMaker. So while the LaserWriter wasn't the first shot fired in the desktop publishing revolution, it was the first to draw blood.Pixar, 1986 Steve Jobs bought Pixar in 1986. At the time, it was a small group of engineers spun off from the computer graphics department at Lucasfilm. Jobs paid $5 million to George Lucas and sank $5 million of his own money into the company. His original vision for Pixar was to develop graphics-rendering hardware and software, but the business eventually evolved into an animation studio. Jobs signed a distribution deal with Disney and Pixar began cranking out a string of hit family films, all of them computer-animated. 1995's Toy Story was the first blockbuster. Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, WALL-E and Up followed. Accolades and Oscars came rolling in, along with massive mountains of cash. In 2006, Jobs flipped his original $10 million investment, selling Pixar to Disney for $7.4 billion in stock. That's one hell of an exit.NeXT, 1988 After the success of the Macintosh, Jobs was marginalized by Apple's board of directors, so he left to found a new computer company called NeXT. Without Jobs at the helm, Apple floundered through the early 1990s. A series of missteps eventually caused the company's market share to fall into the low single digits. Meanwhile, Jobs launched a new computer system at NeXT. Its most famous workstation was an austere black cube — Jobs constantly pushed his designers to experiment with innovative case constructions throughout his career — that cost $6,500. It ran a new operating system, NeXTSTEP, which was based on Unix. Though it was pricey, it was fast and especially adept at math functions, and it had a built-in Ethernet port in an age when most computers still needed a network interface card. Because of these high-end features, NeXT boxes were ignored by the mass market, but quickly snatched up by academics and programmers. Tim Berners-Lee used one to write the first web server and the first web browser. The first server node on the World Wide Web was a NeXT box.iMac, 1998 After NeXT failed to gain traction, Jobs sold the company to Apple and came back into the fold in 1996. Two years later, the company released a complete rewrite of the desktop PC — the candy-colored iMac. It kicked the boring beige PC box to the curb, and it marked the return of the revolutionary all-in-one design first introduced by the original Macintosh. The first iMac was a runaway hit, and the all-in-one design is still used by today's iMac (and widely copied by other PC manufacturers).Power Mac G4 Cube, 2000 Jobs wasn't ready to let go of his dream of a cube-shaped computer, which he first tried at NeXT. He encouraged Apple designer Jonathan Ive to work the shape into the Power Mac line, and the company pumped out the eight-inch clear acrylic cube in 2000. It didn't do so hot. It was $1,800, the disk drive had problems, and the case developed stress cracks easily. Still, it was a forward-thinking step that design nerds still drool over. There's even one in the MoMA's permanent collection.iPod, 2001 The first iPod was a $400 MP3 player with a 5-gigabyte hard drive and a mechanical scroll wheel that didn't sync to Windows machines. Not a very likely candidate for the device that would completely change the music industry. But it did, pouring fuel on the fire of online mayhem lit by Napster and creating a mindset among music device buyers where ease-of-use, convenience and sex appeal trump all other features. The iPod's all-white design was minimalist compared to other players that came before and, more importantly, the user interface was remarkably easy for anyone who picked it up to figure out. The hardware had its quirks — if you got sand in the scroll wheel, you'd get stuck listening to Spin Doctors all day — but it was quickly refined to incorporate further innovations: the touch-wheel, a color screen for watching videos and eventually, the industry-standard touchscreen.Mac OS X, 2001 When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, he ordered a rethink of the Mac's native operating system. Of course, he pushed for NeXTSTEP — the Unix-based OS he developed independently and sold to Apple in 1996 — to serve as the blueprint. Eventually surfacing in 2001, Mac OS X was a complete departure from earlier Mac operating systems and, as Jobs had promised, a true "next generation" OS. It appealed to novices fluent in Windows (enabling the craze of "switching") but it retained enough of its Unix guts and enough of Apple's well-established interface conventions to keep the Apple geeks interested.Apple Stores, 2001 Walk into any big-box store — BestBuy, Wal-Mart, Target — and go to the computer department in the back. Look at all the PCs on display. It's a mess of machinery, heaps of humming boxes all shaped, priced and configured differently. The sales people aren't always well-trained, and concise technical answers are difficult to come by. Jobs understood purchasing decisions are made on the sales floor, and he didn't want Apple's appeal to get lost in the quagmire of somebody else's retail failure. His solution? Build your own house. Apple retail stores began popping up in 2001. Everything about their environment is tightly controlled. Only Apple computers are displayed and accessories are thoughtfully curated. Employees are approachable and well-trained, and they carry hand-held point-of-sales devices. Every store has a Genius Bar, the retail-level customer support help desk, and most have a classroom where you can learn how to use your Mac. There are now over 300 Apple Stores worldwide. Even more phenomenal than the boost they provide to Apple sales is the way they fuel the Apple culture. On regular days, the stores buzz with the excitement of a crowded nightclub. On product launch days, eager customers queue up for hours, even days.iTunes Store, 2003 iTunes was the first hint at Jobs' vision to turn the home PC into a "digital lifestyle hub." That plan was cemented in 2003 by the debut of the iTunes Store. Suddenly, it wasn't just about creating or collecting media, but purchasing it, too. And because it was directly plugged into the iPods everyone already owned, the iTunes Store was a huge hit. With it came the era of the digital single, easily downloadable for $0.99 and offering instant satisfaction. Of course, the record companies weren't happy to see their monopoly on distribution challenged. But traditional retail tapered while iTunes exploded. Tower Records folded. Virgin Megastores were boarded up. By 2007, Apple was selling 5 million songs a day.Intel MacBook Pro, 2006 In 2006, Jobs announced that Apple would be switching from PowerPC processors to Intel's Core Duo chips. The MacBook Pro, released soon after the announcement, was Apple's first laptop with an Intel CPU. The whole Apple line was transitioned to Intel before the end of the year, an astonishingly short period of time. Jobs said he and the Apple engineers felt the PowerPC architecture had hit a ceiling and wasn't improving fast enough. By switching to Intel, the average clock speeds of Macs were drastically improved, especially in laptops. Sales soared, too, as Apple laptops could finally compete on both price and performance with Windows-based machines (and they could even run Windows).iPhone, 2007 During his keynote address at Macworld 2007, Jobs said Apple would announce three things: "A widescreen iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone and a breakthrough internet communications device. An iPod, a phone and an internet communicator." Of course, it was all three of those things in one — the iPhone. Years on, Apple's phone has not only completely changed our expectations of how a smartphone should look, feel and behave, but Jobs' famous wrangling with the wireless carriers has toppled the long-standing power structure in the industry. Before Apple, carriers insisted on controlling the hardware and software on their phones. Now, if they want the hottest phones, the carriers have to play ball.App Store, iPhone SDK, 2008 The next time you're in an Apple Store, take a look at that constantly shrinking shelf of boxed software. Smells like 2007, right? With the arrival of the iPhone SDK in 2008, developers could create their own native apps for the iPhone and sell them through the App Store built into iTunes. This not only set up a clean, centralized distribution model for apps, but also introduced a budget-minded pricing structure — $1 and $2 apps — that encouraged you to download as many apps as you wanted. It was a boon for developers. Unfortunately, it also earned Apple the title of "Gatekeeper," souring relationships with developers who were suddenly subjected to the company's arcane app approval guidelines. But the damage is done. Today, it's all about apps.MacBook Air, 2008 When it showed up in 2008, the MacBook Air was touted as "the world's thinnest notebook." Thin and light have always been sexy, but this one was weird. It shipped without an optical drive. You could buy an external DVD drive if you really needed one, or you could simply "borrow" another computer's DVD drive and beam the data over Wi-Fi. Even though many laughed at the notion, the Air was Exhibit A to those predicting the death of the optical drive. Close to four years later, disks and drives are still around, but they are disappearing quickly as software increasingly moves into the browser and into cloud-based app stores. Also, Windows laptop manufacturers are now competing in an entirely new category: "ultrabooks." These super-portable laptops cost a little more, but they are thin, very light, use SSDs, ship without optical drives and are fitted into brushed metal cases — just like the MacBook Air.iPad, 2010 It's the device everyone wanted Apple to create, even though most of us weren't sure how it was going to fit into our lives once it got here. But Jobs got sentimental when showing off the first iPad in 2010. He said it was a culmination of years of work, starting with OS X, then iTunes, then the iPhone, then the App Store. The shockwaves are still evident more than a year later as manufacturers race to catch up, pumping out their own tablets. But they can't match Apple's success. The iPad 2 was Steve's swan song. We all felt it, but few chose to accept it. What nobody can argue is that the man went out on top, crossing the finish line well ahead of everyone else.


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The Louis Store Finder
More than 80 Louis stores in Germany, Austria, Netherlands and Switzerland. That means more than 80 stores specialising in motorcycles, clothing, equipment and accessories, plus expert advice.
Find a Louis store by clicking on one of the regions on the map below. Or select a location under "Louis locations".
Or enter your postcode or town to find the Louis stores near you, sorted by distance.
Select region on the map:
- Region: Saarland
- Select store
- Louis store
|Opening hours
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