text:
A Box of Brigadeiros (Brazilian Fudge Truffles)
February 15, 2010 at 11:07 pm 101 comments
When my DSLR camera arrived in the mail, matte black and quite possibly the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen, the first place I went was the kitchen.
Up until then, I'd been using a small, compact digital camera to take my food photos. While I was satisfied with the results, I knew I wanted something more. I wanted a camera that caught the rich sheen of chocolate glaze, the buttery crumble of shortbread, and the vivid colors of buttercream frosting. And while my digital camera could take a photograph of a dessert, it didn't capture the real essence of what made each dessert truly, fork-halfway-to-your-mouth delicious.
But with my new Canon Rebel XTi, I felt sure that everything was about to change. I lifted my camera to my cheek, felt my eyelashes brush against the viewfinder, and pressed the button gently. My first photograph was a basket of green and gold apples in a woven basket, steeped in the most beautiful afternoon light I'd ever seen. I actually set the camera down to do a little dance right there on the kitchen tiles, feeling utterly radiant.
Since then, taking photographs has become just as fulfilling as baking a creamy, uncracked cheesecake or writing a seamless short story. I take long walks around the neighborhood with the Canon around my neck, glancing everywhere like I could take a picture with my eyes. I look for the extraordinary in the details, for interesting shadows and whimsical patterns.
Every time I check the photos I've taken, it's a mixed bag. There will always be a couple that are slightly out of focus or didn't replicate the view in my head. I don't think a good camera makes a photographer. But when I get a shot that makes me as giddy as that beautifully simple photo of a basket of apples, I feel like a life spent seeking breathtaking photos would be a life well spent.
I sent that photograph of the apples to my dad the day I took it. I included a brief, but cheery message with it: "Look!!! This is unedited, straight out of the camera! I think I'm just going to have to send you a photo every single day."
And you know what? I didn't think much of that last sentence at the time, but it's been nine months and he's kept me to it.
Every day, whether the sky releases a torrent of rain or I get home at nine with a headache and a temper, I send a daily photo. It's a different image every day… pastel sunrises, wrought-iron fences, even self-portraits if I'm feeling ambitious. And though it isn't always easy to come up with a new photo, it keeps me photographing the way 17 and Baking keeps me writing.
As it turns out, I love photographing almost anything – people, dilapidated houses, animals, unusual textures – more than food.
There is a side effect to the daily photos, though. I don't like my dad to look through my camera. I love surprises. I love being surprised, I love planning surprises, and I definitely like surprising other people, so I always want the daily photo to be new when my dad checks for it every night. Unfortunately, I think I care more than he does, so sometimes we fight over the Canon.
"Dad. Seriously. Don't look through it. I just got back from downtown and there's a lot of daily photos in there."
"Good!" He'll press the buttons to look through the saved photos, a thoughtful look on his face before I'll try to snatch the camera back.
"It should be a surprise!" And then I'll get served with the roll of his eyes, his mild annoyance, and that too-familiar face that says "Oh please." But I always persist.
But after we made this brigadeiros – Brazilian fudge truffles we made at the request of a reader – I surprised both of us by being somewhat open. I normally make him leave when I photograph food, preferring to be alone to avoid the pressure of his presence as well as his advice. But that day I let him stand off to the side as I adjusted settings, taking the same photo over and over.
When he asked what I was doing, I even turned over the camera to show him. Who knows. Surprises are important, but maybe a little family time with five dozen truffles and a set of pretty photographs is kind of important too.
I'd never heard of brigadeiros before, but when someone asked for them through a comment on an old post, I was tickled. Dad and I looked them up together and realized that they were a snack his grandmother had made for him when he was a little boy, exactly the same. Whether they evoked memories or not, though, they were my first request and I didn't even consider not making them.
With Dad's help, we decided on five variations: coconut lemon, cayenne cinnamon, tangerine, hazelnut-nutella (think Ferrero Rocher), and white chocolate-dipped lavender almond. It may sound like a mouthful, but actually, this might be the easiest thing I've ever made. To make five dozen truffles, including five different variations and a trip to the grocery store, the entire process took us two hours.
The base is only 3 ingredients, but gosh, these are delicious. The entire week we've said, "Wow. We need to give these away." But we haven't. We just keep eating them. For once, I don't feel like the photos do the brigadeiros justice.
White Chocolate-Dipped Lavender Almond Brigadeiro
[PS: I'm thinking about doing a frequently-asked questions post, so feel free to leave a comment with a question for me. I'll pick out some questions and answer them in a later post. You can ask about anything, food-related or not, and I might answer it! :) Hope you all had a great valentine's day. I spent it eating brigadeiros.]
Three ingredients and endless possibilities! You can be so, so creative with the brigadeiros. And you positively cannot go wrong with cocoa powder, butter, and sweetened condensed milk.
Frankly, I might call the white chocolate-dipped lavender almond brigadeiros a failure because the lavender wasn't very prominent. But even so, they were delicious. It was impossible to pick a favorite in my opinion. My dad's favorite was the tangerine, because the flavor was so bright and sunny. But I know he also really liked the hazelnut and the cayenne.
"Truffle" is a little misleading, but "fudge" isn't quite right either – both together are a little more accurate. Once chilled, the brigadeiros have the texture of a very thick caramel, but without the super stickiness. They're rich and creamy and chewy. They're really divine, so thank you to the reader who asked for them! They were delicious and I would completely make them again.
I'd love to try even more flavor possibilities. Maybe roasted banana, grapefruit, lemon and mint, walnut and maple?? Any extract, liquor, spice, or ingredient can probably be incorporated. Of course, they are also quite good as is, no variation required.
Assorted Brigadeiros (Brazilian Fudge Truffles)
Makes 5 dozen total (can be halved)
Makes a dozen of each of the following: white chocolate-dipped lavender almond, coconut lemon, tangerine, hazelnut-nutella, and cayenne cinnamon.
Base Brigadeiro Dough
2 (14 oz) cans of sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
White Chocolate-Dipped Lavender Almond
Scant 1/8 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp culinary lavender
2 oz white chocolate chips
Coconut Lemon
Scant 1/8 tsp lemon extract
Shredded coconut, for rolling
Zest of half of a tangerine/small mandarin orange, plus more for decorating
1/4 tsp Grand Marnier
Chocolate sprinkles, for rolling
12 whole hazelnuts
2 tablespoons nutella
Chopped hazelnuts, for rolling (preferably toasted and skinned)
Cayenne Cinnamon
Scant 1/8 tsp cayenne powder, plus more for decoration
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
Combine sweetened condensed milk, cocoa powder, and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly until the mixture comes together into a thick batter. [Really do stir constantly. It'll take 10-15 minutes and you might want to have a book or something.] When you tilt the pan, the mixture should not stick to the bottom of the pan, but slide cohesively like a dough. Cook further for another minute or so.
Remove from heat and divide amongst 5 bowls, about 1/2 cup dough each. [You might want to grease the bowls first, but I didn't, and didn't have any problems.] In your first bowl, add the almond extract. In the second bowl, add the lemon extract. In the third bowl, add the tangerine zest and the Grand Marnier. In the fourth bowl, add the cayenne powder and the cinnamon. And leave the fifth bowl untouched (for the hazelnut-nutella). [You could mark the bowls, or identify through taste.] Let cool to room temperature.
Meanwhile, for the hazelnut brigadeiros, roll a dozen whole hazelnuts individually in a bit of nutella. Just try to coat them evenly. Put them in the freezer. These will make it easier to get the hazelnut, and a layer of nutella, inside the brigadeiros.
For the white chocolate-dipped lavender almond brigadeiros, melt the white chocolate either in a double boiler or using the microwave. Stir in the culinary lavender and keep warm.
Using a small cookie scoop, teaspoon, or melon-baller, scoop out the dough and roll it between lightly-greased palms. You can make any size you want, mine are about an inch in diameter. I would work with one flavor at a time.
Dip the almond brigadeiros in the white chocolate, then place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Roll the lemon brigadeiros in shredded coconut before placing on the sheet. Roll the tangerine brigadeiros in chocolate sprinkles, then top with zest. Top the cayenne brigadeiros with a bit of cayenne powder. For the hazelnut brigadeiros, flatten the ball into a disk and wrap around the chilled hazelnut/nutella, then roll in chopped hazelnuts.
Eat immediately, or chill brigadeiros.
Printer-Friendly Recipe – Assorted Brigadeiros
Disk of brigadeiro dough with a nutella-coated hazelnut
Entry filed under: Other Treats. Tags: almond, brazilian, cayenne, chili powder, chocolate, cinnamon, coconut, creamy, gluten free, grand marnier, hazelnuts, holiday, lavender, lemon, nutella, orange, spicy, sweetened condensed milk, white chocolate.
101 Comments Add your own
girl, your site and your pastries are really beautiful! congratulations!
they look yummy
i havent heard of those bel- whateveritis- things
You have a nice variety in your posts
How did u get started in photography?
As a Brazilian I have to say your brigadeiros are stunning! Perfect! Such wonderful flavor variations, I loved them!
Your photos are amazing as well.
Well, I made two batches of plain Brigadeiros using your basic recipe and they both turned out well, with one difference. I got tired of stirring and stopped cooking too early on the second batch and they were STICKY, STICKY, STICKY!!! The first batch was sticky too but not anywhere near as much. I didn't mess with the flavorings and extras; I made them for an event with a lot of people and I was working against the clock so I just kept it basic. I did use a few different toppings, though; colored sprinkles (jimmies), decorator's sugar, cinnamon sugar, and white chocolate. (Just a few got the white chocolate; I had a bar of it I needed to use up.) The sprinkles didn't stick well to the first batch but held like magic to the second batch so there's something to be said for the stickiness, but it was awfully hard to work with. The sugars were the best and my daughter declared the cinnamon sugar her favorite.
Anyway, our event is tonight where they will be given out to over 200 people, and I am so pleased with the results!!
I just stumbled across your post because I recently (yesterday) became obsessed with brigadeiros…. This afternoon after I made my variation on them, I came to my computer and searched them to see what other people have done. Yours are beautiful and definitely give me some ideas. I took brownies and crumbled them and drizzled them with rum extract and added them to my brigadeiro "dough" before it cooled. I also used unsweetened cocoa powder and added some brown sugar and a little instant coffee. Then I dipped them in chocolate. They're delicious and so fast to make. I'll definitely be trying some of your variations too!
Tihs is the reason I like 17andbaking.com. Surprising post.
I made the basic recipe yesterday for these brigadeiros and hadn't paid enough attn to the instructions. I wound up with a bowl of hard crunchy candy. Thankfully, I was able to salvage this "oops!" by re-melting the candy and spreading it on a silpat, covering this with chocolate and breaking it up into toffee. Let me just say that for anyone else who accidentally overcooks these candies, the toffee is a wonderfully tasty save. Yum! Better luck next time.
Very impressive blog. What are you using to light your photos? I love the halo effect of highlighting details. Are they sources with lens controls or perhaps just black wrap?
Hi !
I'm Brazilian and I must say I loved the way you cooked our "brigadeiros". They are a very common treat here in our birthday parties, but we don't normally add any ingredients to "the base dough" . Sometimes, we even make them white, with no cocoa powder at all, just the condensed milk and butter. Or we add coconut to this white dough, making "beijinhos", and if you add a piece of dried prune, you get "olhos-de-sogra"(mother in law's eyes =D ). Or we mix the white dough with the chocolate one, making what we call "casadinhos" (which means married in English). I personally like them sugar-coated and with shortbread cookie chunks, added after we remove them from the heat! Delicious!
Congratulation on the blog, it's awesome! Love the pics!
[…] Recipe from 17 and Baking […]
[…] and without sugar and without dairy. I'd just finished reading the beautiful entry on Brigadeiros by Elissa from 17andBaking. The girl has an elegance with her words, and gets just the right […]
I made these a few weeks ago and they were a hit! I made the whole batch with the hazelnuts. Mostly because I am a sucker for nutella, and they were all so good. I couldn't keep my hands off the serving dish!
what brand/type of cocoa did you use?
Nice photography!!!! I love baking and photography as well. I have the canon Rebel. I am looking to upgrade it soon. I am also brazilian from salvador bahia, andI have to say your photography and recipes caught my attention. Nice work~check out my site on grouprecipes.com…my screen name is cubralinda~ have a lot of recipes on there you might like!! Thanks for sharing~Merry Christmas~!!!
Made these for the family last night. DE-LICIOUS! My husband devoured them. I did the lavender, cinnamon/cayenne and lemon/coconut. I'll definitely be making these again with different flavor combinations. Thanks for the recipe!
Congratulations for the post!
Here in Brazil the brigadier's very popular in children's parties and among the older ones too!
And the amount of combinations is vast!
I have a store that only sells brigadiers
Try substituting chocolate for bittersweet chocolate or white chocolate bar!
It is wonderful!
Wow! you really capture what brigadeiros really are. Your recipe is very authentic! Growing up in Brazil I had them very often. It is a icon in every children's birthday party. Without them life is just not the same:). Thank you for sharing this delicious!
It looks delicious. What exactly is culinary lavender? Is it ground or in buds? Also, is it possible to substitute the culinary lavender for lavender extract? If so, in what quantity?Thank you.
What a delight!
Wonderful blog! I found it while searching on Yahoo News.
Do you have any suggestions on how to get listed in Yahoo News?
I've been trying for a while but I never seem to get there!
If you are going for most excellent contents like me, only visit this
web site every day for the reason that it presents feature contents, thanks
If you want to grow your familiarity only
keep visiting this website and be updated with the most redent information posted
Hi my family member! I want to say that this post is amazing, great written and come with
almost all important infos. I would like to see more posts like this
Mandela wanted to create the same opportunity for freedom in South Africa.
On Marge's return, she finds what a mess her family hass been with out her, and that's when they commence realizing what she actually is.
He ends up buying a seemingly far superior dog named Laddie.
" It would be fitting, specifically if the artist were named Jones, Haggard, Cash, or perhaps Kobain, Stipe, or White.
Greetings! I just noticed your web site: A Box of Brigadeiros (Brazilian Fudge Truffles) when I was surfing around stumbleupon.com.
It looks as though someone loved your website so much they decided to bookmark it.
I'll unquestionably be coming here more often.
My brother suggested I might like this website.
He was entirely right. This post truly made my day.
You can not imagine just how much time I had spent for this info!
CGP ltd.
A Box of Brigadeiros (Brazilian Fudge Truffles) | 17 and Baking
Hi there fantastic website! Does running a blog such as this require a great deal of work?
I have absolutely no knowledge of programming however I was
hoping to start my own blog in the near future.
Anyway, if you have any recommendations or techniques for new blog owners please
share. I know this is off subject nevertheless I just wanted to ask.
Hiya there…. I've developed a exceptional Seo optimization service that could rank any online site in almost any business (whether it's a competitive niche including acai berry) to rank easily.
Google or bing will not likely identify as we take advantage of distinctive
ways to avoid footprints. Are you feeling planning to make use
of it with no charge?
I must thank you for the efforts you have put in writing this
website. I am hoping to view the same high-grade blog posts by you later on as well.
In truth, your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my own site now ;)
Hi everyone, it's my first go to see at this website, and piece of writing is genuinely fruitful in support of me,
keep up posting these types of articles.
Hi to all, it's actually a fastidious for me to go to see this web
site, it contains priceless Information.
They just straightened the lines, changed the hood and
aadded a Bat hood ornament and a few flights batman arkham knight keygen too
get the hang of it and decided to be the case. That's what I would've done Oh I don't
think so! Starring 'cos this is lame. The day and night cycle of the 1930s design with the reveal
of Batman: Robin Tim Drake. Or is it another example of this is different.
Hi, this weekend is good for me, for the reason that this point in time i am reading this great educational post here at my residence.
[…] 出典17andbaking.com […]
[…] Brazilian Fudge Truffles (from 17 and Baking) […]
Nossa gente são uma delicia vou fazer aqui em casa também
I'm brazilian and I love your recipes
Leave a Reply
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed


text:
Openmoko under QEMU/zh cn
From Openmoko
QEMU can be used in at least three ways to run Openmoko. Depending on the purpose that you are going to use the emulator for, you should decide on the target platform. QEMU 至少有三种方式来运行Openmoko.根据你的虚拟机使用目的,你应该决定要使用目标平台。
- PC - Openmoko can be built to run on regular i386 hardware, 32- or 64-bit and this is probably the fastest way to get Openmoko running if you want to get an impression of how it looks. In this scenario QEMU would only serve for isolating your Openmoko installation from your normal system, or, if you're not on a UNIX system, QEMU provides a non-intrusive way to get Linux up quickly. More information can be found in the FAQ and here.
- 个人计算机 - Openmoko 可以运行在兼容i386的硬件上,32位或64位,并且,他可能是运行Openmoko最快的方式了,如果你想对Openmoko有个整体印象的话。在这种方案中,QEMU在你的正常系统中独立的安装Openmoko。如果你用的是非UNIX系统,QEMU会提供个非侵入方式(non-intrusive way)快速运行Linux。更多的资料可以在FAQ中和here找到
- Integrator/CP - this is the default ARM-based machine that QEMU knows about. This target is used with MACHINE="qemuarm" and it is sufficient to run the original Openmoko rootfs image, although it doesn't emulate any of the Neo1973 Hardware except the very CPU core. Read more in the FAQ.
- Integrator/CP - 这是默认的QEMU模拟的基于ARM的机器。它的QEMU用参数MACHINE="qemuarm"编译的,并且他完全能运行原始的Openmoko根镜像,除了特定的CPU核,它不能完全模拟 Neo1973 Hardware。想知道更多的资料,可以读FAQ。
- Neo1973 - the QEMU tree available from Openmoko repositories is also capable of emulating most of the actual Neo1973 (GTA01) hardware, although not all of it. Additionally, Neo FreeRunner emulation is a work-in-progress. When all of the emulator parts are more mature our code is going to be submitted and merged to the main QEMU development tree.
Neo1973 emulation
This target will (obviously) run original Openmoko rootfs images, but then it should also be able to run the original u-boot and kernel images, the same ones that a real Neo1973 (GTA01) uses. Among other differences you will notice between this approach and the Integrator/CP target is you also get correct screen resolution, some (fake) battery readings, and other goodness. Currently missing parts of the GTA01 emulator are: AGPS and Bluetooth - these things will still be worked on, as well as general usability. Even with these things missing, QEMU should provide substantial help in debugging kernel and u-boot issues to developers.
What QEMU can *not* be used for, and probably no other emulator can, is speed measures and getting the general feel of Openmoko performance. Code running in qemu runs with the maximum speed your host computer can provide with an overhead of translating target code to host code, and this overhead is not uniform across different instructions. This means that even if your virtual Neo reports near 100 BogoMIPS (which is the speed of a real Neo), different actions performed in the emulator will not run with the same speed. On most PCs you will notice the virtual Neo running faster than a real one (Audio related operations may be one of the exceptions).
What hardware is supported
Rough status for each of the components that need emulation, following the outline of Neo1973 Hardware page.
|Usage notes
|S3C2410A Processor
|ARM920T core
|Already in mainline QEMU.
|Basic guts
|This includes GPIO interface, DMA, Interrupt Controller, Timers, NAND controller, MMC/SD host, I2C and IIS interfaces, Memory & Clock & Power management controllers, RAM.
|Serial ports
|Use the "-serial" switch (maybe be specified multiple times) to tell QEMU where serial input/output should go to. GSM module will be connected on UART0.
|On start QEMU will load it with current time/date - the Neo1973 kernel doesn't use it for time/date source currently.
|The guest kernel can drive it using either the SPI interface or raw GPIO bitbanging.
|The virtual LCD will display contents in QEMU window unless "-nographic" is specified on command line.
|Mouse events in QEMU window generate what would be touchscreen events on a Neo1973 and are passed to the guest OS through the on-chip ADC.
|This part is in mainline QEMU. Use the "-usb" switch to enable the controller and "usb_add" in QEMU monitor to attach new virtual or physical USB devices.
|Slave USB
|Linux's dummy HCD in conjunction with gadget filesystem API is used to make the virtual Neo appear as a real one connected to the host computer. See Setting up USB connection below. (Experimental)
|This is one of the less important on-chip peripherals in S3C2410. It is however used by Linux for rebooting the board.
|I2C bus peripherals
|(Aka PMU) Fakes the battery charge level (set at 88%), POWER button, etc. Also contains an RTC, also unused by Linux.
|The CODEC is also connect to the CPU's IIS port. Basic audio functionality is supported - see QEMU documentation on getting audio input/output from the emulator. Volume control has no effects.
|Other peripherals
|NAND Flash
|However, some pieces are not confirmed to be completely compatible with the real hardware because of lack thereof. Use "-mtdblock flashimagefilenamehere" switch to point QEMU to your flash image. The file should be at least 69206016 bytes big.
|(Aka LCM) Wired to the SPI channel 1
|Enter is the AUX button, Space is the POWER button. Wired to on-chip GPIO and PCF50606.
|SD card
|This part is already in mainline QEMU. Use the "-sd cardimagegoeshere" switch to point QEMU to the card image. The regular QEMU monitor commands for removable media can also be used. The card works, however the on-chip host controller gave block length errors on heavy I/O despite working as described in specification. I suspect the kernel driver. DMA operation is not tested.
|A generic Bluetooth HCI (just like the BlueCore4 chip) is connected to internal USB hub (just like the Delta DBFM dongle). Currently qemu emulates no other bluetooth devices, so the dongle behaves as if there was no BT-enabled slaves around, being the only device on the piconet, i.e. is not really useful. Likely a Bluetooth keyboard will be emulated. A physical Bluetooth dongle can also be attached to the emulator (see USB documentation in QEMU).
|A fake modem is connected to UART0 understanding a (currently quite limited) subset of AT commands. Ultimately it should support as much functionality as possible (basic AT command set, fake GPRS connections, dialing and SMS send/receive). This way all parts of the phone subsystem (CALYPSO, TWL3014, TRF6151) will not have to be emulated. There is a possibility to wire a real GSM modem to QEMU's serial port, or the phonesim modem simulator from the Qtopia project (use the --enable-phonesim switch to ./configure) as well as the atinterface modem emulator, also from Qtopia.
|To Do
|There are obvious difficulties emulating the chip, but hopefully it can be made to present the guest OS with some fixed coordinates later when more is known about the chip. Again a real chip could be connected to QEMU's serial port.
Current development is aiming for GTA01Bv4 compatibility; earlier revisions can also be emulated if needed. The differences between the hardware revisions currently only manifest themselves in GPIO wiring. Hardware emulation is implemented in a clean-room manner using official specifications where possible.
Neo FreeRunner emulation
The second line of Openmoko phones, the Neo FreeRunner (GTA02) saw various hardware changes and improvements since Neo1973 (GTA01). QEMU has fullest support for the GTA01 (the first model), but partial GTA02 emulation is also planned. This will only include the hardware components which were added in GTA02 and were not present in GTA01:
- The u-blox GPS chip (i.e. raw NMEA protocol).
- The Atheros AR6001 WLAN / WiFi chip (and SDIO bus).
- The two LIS accelerometers.
What that means is that the emulated machine will internally not be exactly like Neo FreeRunner, but will be functionally the same. That in turn means that it needs a custom kernel because it's neither a GTA01 nor GTA02 internally. This kernel source will be provided as part of qemu. The bootloader used will be the GTA01 build of u-boot.
This approach is called paravirtualisation and is often used as an emulation solution for mobile platforms. For a userspace programmer (Application developers) the machine will be visible as a genuine GTA02. For a kernel hacker it will be a custom board.
If there's an initiative among the users, to emulate GTA02 hardware to a bigger extent than explained here, patches / improvements will be always welcome because the QEMU projects seeks to emulate the real hardware and stay always as close as possible to physical hardware (in other words, full emulation is preferred over paravirtualisation in the QEMU upstream).
What hardware is supported
Below is a rough status information for each of the components.
|Usage notes
|GTA01 hardware
|Processor, on-chip and external peripherals
|See the GTA01 supported hardware chart above. This hardware is at the base of the Neo FreeRunner emualtor. The same usage notes apply.
|GTA02 components
|A virtual GPS chip is connected to the second serial port of the virtual machine, exactly like on the Neo FreeRunner.
|Partial support
|The Atheros AR6001 (second firmware revision) is emulated to an extent that it gets detected by the kernel SDIO stack and registered as a network interface by the Atheros driver. It doesn't allow for actual network communication yet. The basic SDIO bus emulation is complete.
|Two dummy accelerometers are connected to the virtual machine's I2C bus. They provide a constant 1G reading at the moment. One improvement idea to be implemented when there's some software available for testing, is to pass Qemu's SDL window movements as input to the virtual accelerometers, i.e. dragging the X window around would generate motion sensor events. These events would be two-dimensional but should be enough for Application developers to test their programs' interactions with the movements.
How to get it running
These instructions talk about the GTA01 emulator (default). 这些步骤讨论的是 GTA01 模拟器(默认的)。
Using MokoMakefile
使用 MokoMakefile
This is arguably the easiest way of building qemu-neo1973 since you won't need to deal with the compiling and flashing processes yourself. See MokoMakefile for details. 这是可以证明的最简单的搭建QEMU-neo1973的办法,因为你不需要 亲自编译和Flash烧写,详细请参见MokoMakefile If you *just* build QEMU and use the official images by typing "make qemu" only (as opposed to setting up monotone and openembedded and building an entire new image for yourself with MokoMakefile), then the build takes less time than the manual instructions below (since it's all done automatically).
如果你只是通过"make qemu"搭建QEMU使用官方的镜像(反对设置单一的开放式嵌入式创建整个新的镜像),花很少的时间就能成功,因为所有的一切都是自动的。
Manual setup
To obtain the latest source code for the emulator, you will want to do something like the following: 获得最新的模拟器源代码,要做的就是:
$ svn checkout https://svn.openmoko.org/trunk/src/host/qemu-neo1973 $ cd qemu-neo1973
Now, we're going to configure and build the emulator (Note Requirements below): Now,我们将配置和构建模拟器
$ ./configure --target-list=arm-softmmu # GCC 3.x will be required, see --cc= $ make
See other available options for the configure script by appending "--help". 你也可以使用这个配置脚本的另外一个可用的选项"--help"。
Now you should have a working emulator under the name "arm-softmmu/qemu-system-arm". To run 现在你已经有了一个可以工作的模拟器在"arm-softmmu/qemu-system-arm"下.为了运行OpenMoko你将无论如何要安装OpenMoko在你的虚拟的电话上(此时,他还是干净的),有几个块设备的选择,最好的选择或许是这样做正是Neo1973制造商没有设备给最终用户。 这一进程中描述Bootloader , 内核 , NAND 闪存芯片坏块和Devirginator但你并不需要知道的所有细节。 Two scripts are provided to generate a firmware for your phone, as realistic as possible.提供了两个脚本生成固件为您的手机,因为现实的可能。 First run首次运行 Openmoko you will also need to somehow install Openmoko on your virtual phone, which is totally clean of any software at this moment. There are several block devices to choose from, the best option is probably to do exactly what the Neo1973 manufacturer does before it ships the device to the final user. This process is described in Bootloader, Kernel, NAND bad blocks and Devirginator but you don't need to know all the details. Two scripts are provided to generate a firmware for your phone, as realistic as possible. First run
$ openmoko/download.sh
which will look up the list of latest available Openmoko snapshot builds from buildhost.openmoko.org and choose the most recent u-boot, Kernel, and root filesystem images, and download the images (unless they are already found in the openmoko/ directory). These binaries will be used by the flash.sh script. First make sure you have the netpbm package installed for some graphics conversion utilities. On Ubuntu this can be done by:
sudo apt-get install netpbm
Then run:
$ openmoko/flash.sh
which runs the emulator, loads u-boot into it and then uses u-boot's capability to program the Flash memory to install all the necessary parts of the system into the virtual Flash. It will also set up all the bootloading process including a boot menu (ENTER is [AUX] and SPACE is [POWER]), splash, u-boot environment and some default kernel parameters. If everything goes OK, the script should print a command which you can use to start using the emulator.
QEMU has *tons* of commandline switches and things that can be configured. You can look them up in QEMU user docs. You will probably want to use the "-snapshot" switch, among other ones. Saving and restoring emulation state at any point (unrelated to "-snapshot") should work as per QEMU user docs too. In addition the monitor commands "help" and "info" are of great help. The monitor usually sits in second virtual console, thus ctrl-alt-2 and ctrl-alt-1 switch to monitor and back.
Pre-built binaries
Win32 binaries shipped with firmware can be downloaded from openmoko-emulator-win32-bin-20070625.zip (or a mirror here). Tested on MS Windows XP and Vista Business.
Neo FreeRunner (GTA02)
The instructions for running the emulator are the same for FreeRunner, but the final command line to invoke qemu changes. Instead of "-M gta01" as the machine name "-M gta02fake" has to be used.
The kernel supporting GTA02 emulator is obtained by applying the openmoko/linux-gta02-pseudo.patch patch found in qemu-neo1973 sources, to the 2.6.24 openmoko kernel (vanilla linux-2.6.24 + the openmoko patchset from http://svn.openmoko.org/branches/src/target/kernel/2.6.24.x/patches/). Since the GTA02 kernel support is still under heavy development, please refer to the openmoko/README file contained in qemu-neo1973 sources for the latest instructions on building the kernel.
If a normal Openmoko kernel is used under Neo FreeRunner emulator, it will simply run as if the machine was a GTA01 and not detect any of the new peripherals.
Convenient Scripts
- openmoko/qemu-auto.sh
launches qemu and opens a unix socket for communication. All additional parameters are passed to qemu. (e.g. openmoko/qemu-auto.sh -nographic launches the virtual machine with no graphics etc.).
- openmoko/qemu-upload.sh <filename>
produces a SD card image with one partition with the given file(s) on it (you can pass a list of files) and inserts it into the phone. The Openmoko kernel should detect the event and the automounter should mount the partition. openmoko/qemu-auto.sh must be running already. If you pass no parameters, it ejects the media (the OM kernel is too dumb to detect this unfortunately). This will only work with gta01 emulation because gta02 has no SD.
- openmoko/qemu-quit.sh
powers the VM down cleanly.
- openmoko/qemu-gadget.sh
attempts to connect target's S3C USB slave to host's dummy HCD (if present and gadgetfs is mounted).
This QEMU tree has only been tested on GNU/Linux. To get graphical (not counting VNC) and/or audio output from the emulator you will need either SDL or Cocoa installed on your computer. To enable audio, see the available switches to the ./configure script.
The scripts that sit in openmoko/ require lynx, wget, python, netpbm and most GNU base utilities installed in standard locations. The netpbm package contains tools necessary for bootsplash image conversion.
All of the build-time and run-time requirements listed in QEMU documentation apply. This includes zlib, etc. On distributions that use binary packages, remember that you need the packages ending in -dev or -devel.
QEMU and GNU debugger
QEMU lets you debug operating system kernels and bootloaders like you debug all other programs. To do this you will need a debugger that speaks the GDB remote debugging protocol - GDB is the obvious choice. Some cross toolchains come with GDB already set up. Otherwise building cross-GDB yourself is quick and easy (compared to building binutils and cross-gcc).To debug u-boot, load the file "u-boot" into gdb (not "u-boot.bin") that is produced by "make" when building u-boot. To debug a Linux kernel, load the file "vmlinux" from the main source directory into gdb. These files are in ELF format and contain all the symbol information and are not stripped of debugging data until you run "strip" on them, unlike "u-boot.bin" and "Image"/"zImage"/"uImage". Next, tell QEMU to enable the gdbserver by appending the "-s" switch or issuing "gdbserver" in the monitor. Use the command
(gdb) target remote localhost:1234to make a connection to the emulator. From there you should be able to use all the usual GDB commands, including stepping instructions, setting breakpoints, watchpoints, inspecting stack, variables, registers and more. If gdb is running in the same directory from which it grabbed the ELF executable, the "edit" command should work so you can jump right to the source line which is executing.
Simple network connection with pppd
One simple way to get a network connection from the emulated Neo is via an emulated serial port and pppd. Add -serial vc -serial pty to the QEMU command line, and QEMU prints a device name on a line like "char device redirected to /dev/pts/12".
On the Neo side, open a terminal and run the command "pppd nodetach debug /dev/ttySAC1".
On the host computer side, open a root terminal and run the command "pppd nodetach debug 192.168.68.1:192.168.68.2 noauth /dev/pts/12", substituting the actual device name from above.
Now on the host computer side, you should be able to "ping 192.168.68.2" and "ssh email@example.com".
NB : If you see in pppd trace something like this "Received bad configure-rej: 12 06 00 00 00 00" again and again, you will ping but no application will work. It is probably the compression protocol (ccp) negotiation which fail. Add "noccp" to the two pppd commands like "pppd nodetach debug noccp /dev/ttySAC1".
Setting up Internet connection for your qemu neo
Before you start, you have to have a working pppd or USB connection, (see the previous chapter and the next chapter)
(I assume that your local ip-adress is 192.168.0.100 and your router is 192.168.0.1)
In qemu terminal (or via ssh) type:
$ ifdown usb0 $ route add default gw 192.168.68.1
Edit /etc/resolv.conf: nameserver 192.168.0.1
On the host-computer type:
$ echo 1 >> /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward $ echo 1 >> /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_dynaddr $ modprobe ip_tables $ modprobe iptable_nat $ modprobe ipt_MASQUERADE $ iptables -t filter -F $ iptables -t nat -F $ iptables -t filter -P INPUT ACCEPT $ iptables -t filter -P FORWARD ACCEPT $ iptables -t filter -P OUTPUT ACCEPT $ iptables -t nat -P PREROUTING ACCEPT $ iptables -t nat -P POSTROUTING ACCEPT $ iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -s 192.168.68.0/24 -j MASQUERADE
(Where eth0 is your network interface connected to the router)
Thats it - now you can enjoy internet in qemu.
Setting up USB connection
It is possible (although not very straight forward, probably about the complexity of tun-tap networking) to connect the virtual, emulated Neo1973 to the Linux PC on which the emulator is running, and work with it as if a real Neo1973 was plugged into the computer's USB port, but no twiddling with cables is needed. If you're testing your applications on the Neo, it may be worth setting up this kind of connection because it lets you enable normal networking between the PC and the phone and ssh into it (which is much more comfortable than typing commands into the Openmoko's terminal emulator via on-screen keyboard). Here's what you will need in order to get this working:
A Linux host with a 2.6 series kernel. The following drivers compiled-in or in modules: dummy_hcd, gadgetfs, usbnet, cdc_ether. A detailed guide to building the necessary modules is available (primarily Ubuntu focused). Generic instructions follow.
Note that you need root access to perform most actions described here. Here's how to enable the drivers in menuconfig.
Find and enable Device Drivers -> USB support -> USB Gadget Support -> Support for USB Gadgets
Find Device Drivers -> USB support -> USB Gadget Support -> USB Peripheral Controller and set it to Dummy HCD (DEVELOPMENT)
Find and enable Device Drivers -> USB support -> USB Gadget Support -> Gadget Filesystem (EXPERIMENTAL) (this one is good to have as a module)
Find and enable Device Drivers -> USB support -> USB Network Adapters -> Multi-purpose USB Networking Framework
(in 2.6.25 (from ???) Device Drivers -> Network device support -> USB Network Adapters -> Multi-purpose USB Networking Framework)
Find and enable Device Drivers -> USB support -> USB Network Adapters -> Multi-purpose USB Networking Framework -> CDC Ethernet support (smart devices such as cable modems)
(in 2.6.25 (from ???) Device Drivers -> Network device support -> USB Network Adapters -> Multi-purpose USB Networking Framework -> CDC Ethernet support (smart devices such as cable modems))
These last two drivers are the same drivers that you need to work with a real Neo over USB network. After you've built the drivers, make sure that the copy of kernel headers in /usr/include/linux is up to date. In particular the file /usr/include/linux/usb_gadgetfs.h needs to be present and if your distribution came with headers older than 2.6.18 or so, then you need tell the package manager to update them, or you can do that manually with
# cp -a /usr/src/linux/include/linux/* /usr/include/linux/
(assuming that your kernel sources are in /usr/src/linux). It is important that this is done before building qemu because the build system checks if these headers are functional and in case they aren't found it will disable the USB Slave functionality. Run "grep CONFIG_GADGETFS config-host.h" in qemu build directory to make sure that the detection succeeded. If it didn't, correct your linux headers and reconfigure qemu.
After building qemu and before running it, make sure that the modules are loaded into the kernel. I found it useful to load gadgetfs with the following command:
# modprobe gadgetfs default_uid=1000 # assuming my User ID is 1000
and added the following line to my /etc/fstab:
gadget /dev/gadget gadgetfs noauto,user,group 0 0
Make sure that the mountpoint /dev/gadget exists:
# mkdir -p /dev/gadget
After that the rest of the procedure can be performed from your regular user account. Mounting gadgetfs is done with:
$ mount /dev/gadget
The "default_uid" parameter changes the ownership on all files under /dev/gadget to your own and since the files there are created and destroyed dynamically, there's no easy way to have that performed by udev. Now running qemu as you usually do but appending "-usb -usbgadget" (in the current version of the MokoMakefile this is not included) should enable the USB Slave functionality. The qemu monitor commands "info usbslave" and "usb_add gadget" will be useful. The former instruction asks the OS running under the emulator (Openmoko) to describe its slave features (that's what lsusb does after a Neo1973 is connected to a PC). You can see the available USB configurations in this command's output. Since gadgetfs allows only one configuration, we will need to choose the desired configuration - most device have only one such configuration, in which case you can use just "usb_add gadget" to connect to host; CDC ethernet devices however usually include a second configuration for RNDIS networking (i.e. Ms Windows compatibility) and so does Openmoko when using the g_ether driver. Hence, to get this right, wait for Openmoko to fully boot up and execute the following in QEMU monitor:
QEMU 0.9.0 monitor - type 'help' for more information (qemu) info usbslave USB2.2 device 1457:5122: Manufacturer: Linux 184.108.40.206-moko8/s3c2410_udc Product: RNDIS/Ethernet Gadget Configuration 0: RNDIS Configuration 1: CDC Ethernet (qemu) (qemu) usb_add gadget:1
If qemu gives "couldn't add device gadget:1", double-check that it was built against gadgetfs - the file config-host.h must contain the line "#define CONFIG_GADGETFS 1".
The "1" in "usb_add gadget:N" is the number of the USB configuration that we want to use. If everything went correctly - you can check that in dmesg - you should now have a new network interface called usb0 on the PC, through which you can talk to the Openmoko running in QEMU:
$ dmesg | tail <6>gadgetfs: bound to dummy_udc driver <7>hub 3-0:1.0: debounce: port 1: total 100ms stable 100ms status 0x101 <6>usb 3-1: new high speed USB device using dummy_hcd and address 3 <6>gadgetfs: connected <7>usb 3-1: default language 0x0409 <7>usb 3-1: new device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0 <6>usb 3-1: Product: RNDIS/Ethernet Gadget <6>usb 3-1: Manufacturer: Linux 18.104.22.168-moko8/s3c2410_udc <6>usb 3-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice <7>usb 3-1: adding 3-1:1.0 (config #1, interface 0) <7>usb 3-1:1.0: uevent <7>cdc_ether 3-1:1.0: usb_probe_interface - got id <7>cdc_ether 3-1:1.0: status ep3in, 16 bytes period 14 <7>usb 3-1: adding 3-1:1.1 (config #1, interface 1) <7>usb 3-1:1.1: uevent $ su - Password: # tail /var/log/everything/current May 8 19:25:32 [kernel] gadgetfs: connected May 8 19:25:32 [kernel] gadgetfs: disconnected May 8 19:25:32 [kernel] gadgetfs: configuration #1 May 8 19:25:32 [kernel] usb0: register 'cdc_ether' at usb-dummy_hcd-1, CDC Ethernet Device, 52:e7:eb:76:0a:d0 # lsusb -vvv Bus 003 Device 003: ID 1457:5122 Device Descriptor: bLength 18 bDescriptorType 1 bcdUSB 2.00 bDeviceClass 2 Communications bDeviceSubClass 0 bDeviceProtocol 0 bMaxPacketSize0 64 idVendor 0x1457 idProduct 0x5122 bcdDevice 2.12 iManufacturer 1 Linux 126.96.36.199-moko8/s3c2410_udc iProduct 2 RNDIS/Ethernet Gadget iSerial 0 bNumConfigurations 1 Configuration Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 2 wTotalLength 80 bNumInterfaces 2 bConfigurationValue 1 iConfiguration 7 CDC Ethernet bmAttributes 0xc0 Self Powered MaxPower 0mA Interface Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 4 bInterfaceNumber 0 bAlternateSetting 0 bNumEndpoints 1 bInterfaceClass 2 Communications bInterfaceSubClass 6 Ethernet Networking bInterfaceProtocol 0 iInterface 5 CDC Communications Control CDC Header: bcdCDC 1.10 CDC Union: bMasterInterface 0 bSlaveInterface 1 CDC Ethernet: iMacAddress 3 52E7EB760AD0 bmEthernetStatistics 0x00000000 wMaxSegmentSize 1514 wNumberMCFilters 0x0000 bNumberPowerFilters 0 Endpoint Descriptor: bLength 7 bDescriptorType 5 bEndpointAddress 0x83 EP 3 IN bmAttributes 3 Transfer Type Interrupt Synch Type None Usage Type Data wMaxPacketSize 0x0010 1x 16 bytes bInterval 14 Interface Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 4 bInterfaceNumber 1 bAlternateSetting 0 bNumEndpoints 0 bInterfaceClass 10 Data bInterfaceSubClass 0 Unused bInterfaceProtocol 0 iInterface 0 Interface Descriptor: bLength 9 bDescriptorType 4 bInterfaceNumber 1 bAlternateSetting 1 bNumEndpoints 2 bInterfaceClass 10 Data bInterfaceSubClass 0 Unused bInterfaceProtocol 0 iInterface 4 Ethernet Data Endpoint Descriptor: bLength 7 bDescriptorType 5 bEndpointAddress 0x81 EP 1 IN bmAttributes 2 Transfer Type Bulk Synch Type None Usage Type Data wMaxPacketSize 0x0040 1x 64 bytes bInterval 0 Endpoint Descriptor: bLength 7 bDescriptorType 5 bEndpointAddress 0x02 EP 2 OUT bmAttributes 2 Transfer Type Bulk Synch Type None Usage Type Data wMaxPacketSize 0x0040 1x 64 bytes bInterval 0 Device Qualifier (for other device speed): bLength 10 bDescriptorType 6 bcdUSB 2.00 bDeviceClass 2 Communications bDeviceSubClass 0 bDeviceProtocol 0 bMaxPacketSize0 64 bNumConfigurations 1 # ifconfig usb0 inet 192.168.0.200 netmask 255.255.255.0 # exit $ ssh firstname.lastname@example.com The authenticity of host '192.168.0.202 (192.168.0.202)' can't be established. RSA key fingerprint is de:21:87:93:52:1c:6b:c7:69:29:6c:af:66:50:02:02. Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes Warning: Permanently added '192.168.0.202' (RSA) to the list of known hosts. email@example.com's password: root@fic-gta01:~$ uname -a Linux fic-gta01 22.214.171.124-moko8 #1 PREEMPT Wed Apr 25 11:13:52 UTC 2007 armv4tl unknown
Connecting to the serial port/Communicating with u-boot
If you add the option -serial telnet:localhost:1200,server to QEMU will create a telnet server on port 1200 that you can connect to as the serial port.
This will allow you to experiment with u-boot configuration without risking to brick the real device.
Please note that QEMU will wait for you to connect to the telnet server at port 1200 before starting the emulation.
(use the command telnet localhost 1200 to establish the connection)
See also
- Building Gadget USB Module - Helpful guide
- Xephyr - Openmoko on i386
- Xoo - Openmoko on i386
English • العربية • Български • Česky • Dansk • Deutsch • Esperanto • Eesti • Español • فارسی • Suomi • Français • עברית • Magyar • Italiano • 한국어 • Nederlands • Norsk (bokmål) • Polski • Português • Română • Русский • Svenska • Slovenčina • Українська • 中文(中国大陆) • 中文(台灣) • Euskara • Català

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The second juror to speak publicly told ABC News in an interview made available Thursday that she feels George Zimmerman got away with murder for fatally shooting Trayvon Martin, but that there wasn't enough evidence at trial to convict him under Florida law.
Juror B29 told Robin Roberts that she favored convicting Zimmerman of second-degree murder when deliberations began by the six-member, all-women jury.
"I was the juror that was going to give them a hung jury," she said. "I fought to the end."
But by the second day of deliberating, she realized there wasn't enough proof to convict the 29-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer of a crime.
"George Zimmerman got away with murder, but you can't get away from God," she said. "And at the end of the day, he's going to have a lot of questions and answers he has to deal with."
Zimmerman was acquitted earlier this month of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges in the 2012 slaying of the unarmed 17-year-old. The Miami teenager was shot and killed during a confrontation with Zimmerman in Sanford. The case spawned heated national debates about racial profiling and the so-called Stand Your Ground self-defense laws in Florida and other states.
Zimmerman was seen publicly for the first time last week when he assisted a family after their SUV flipped over on a Florida highway.
Juror B29 is the second panelist to go public with what went on during deliberations earlier this month. She allowed her face to be shown and used her first name, Maddy, unlike Juror B37, who was interviewed on CNN last week with her face obscured.
Four jurors, not including the one interviewed by ABC, issued a statement last week saying the opinions expressed by Juror B37 to CNN's Anderson Cooper did not represent their views.
That juror said the actions of Zimmerman and Martin both led to the teenager's fatal shooting, but that Zimmerman didn't actually break the law.
Juror B29 also told ABC that she didn't believe race was an issue at the trial. Though the judge so far has refused to release the names or biographical information about the jurors, B29 said she was 36 years old and Puerto Rican.
Martin was black and Zimmerman identifies himself as Hispanic. Martin's parents believe Zimmerman racially profiled their son when he started following him after spotting him walking through the neighborhood where Zimmerman lived and Martin was visiting. B29 said she couldn't speak for her fellow jurors on the race issue. The other women on the jury were white.
Juror B29 is a nursing assistant and mother of eight children who recently moved to Florida from Chicago.
She said she feels like she owes Martin's parents an apology.
"I felt like I let a lot of people down, and I'm thinking to myself, 'Did I go the right way? Did I go the wrong way?'" she said. "As much as we were trying to find this man guilty ... They give you a booklet that basically tells you the truth, and the truth is that there was nothing that we could do about it."


text:
Thank you for your interest in 214-031-292-175A of aircrat model. 214-031-292-175A is a PANEL ASSY part, manufactured by Bell Helicopter Textron and intended for use on Aircraft Part vehicles such as model number Helicopter. 214-031-292-175A is currently in stock and readily available for purchase in new condition. If you are interested in other helicopter parts and aircraft parts that we stock, please feel free to peruse our parts catalogues or use our optimized search engine to find everything you need with ease.
By clicking this box, I acknowledge that I have read and accept the ASAP Semiconductor Terms and Conditions and agree that all quotes and purchase orders are exclusively subject to the ASAP Semiconductor
Terms and Conditions.
Since production of the model began in 1976, many units have been in active service across the globe, serving various military and government operators such as the Italian Army, Swiss Air Rescue, South African Air Force, and Royal New Zealand Air Force. For operation, the 214-031-292-175A may be piloted by one or two crew members within the cockpit, and upwards of seven passengers may be situated across the available cabin seating.
ASAP Parts 360 is a leading parts distributor for both helicopter and aircraft parts and components that are of premium quality. Whether you need parts that are new, used, or obsolete, we provide you access to over six billion items from a variety of top manufacturers so that you can obtain everything you need in one location. To ensure that our parts are of the utmost quality and will serve you well, we subject each and every item to rigorous quality assurance testing and inspection before shipment. Due to our unwavering commitment to such quality standards and practices, we have established ourselves as an FAA AC 00-56B, ISO 9001:2015, and AS9120B certified enterprise.
When you are ready to begin the purchasing process, we invite you to fill out the Request for Quote form provided below. By entering details such as your desired quantity, price, and when you need your parts by, our team of industry experts can make a personalized quote that caters towards your need. Once we receive your submission, a sales representative from our team will reach out to you in 15 minutes or less to continue the purchasing process. At ASAP Parts 360, owned and operated by ASAP Semiconductor, we are fully committed to the quality of our inventory and to customer excellence. Get started with us today and experience the ASAP difference.
All Orders are Fulfilled in the U.S.A.
All shipments must comply with U.S.A export laws.
No exceptions.
The only independent distributor
with a NO CHINA SOURCING Pledge
"We Proudly Support Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund that serves United States Military Personal experiencing the Invisible Wounds of War : Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Post Traumatic Stress (PTS). Please visit website (www.fallenheroesfund.org) and help in their valiant effort".
If You'd Like to Stay Up to Date On Our Latest Deals, We're always Ready to Serve, 24/7, 365 Days a Year.
We use cookies to ensure that we give you an amazing browsing experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.


text:
WASHINGTON – U.S. worker productivity shrank in the final three months of last year, mostly because of temporary factors that dragged down growth.
Productivity contracted at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.9 per cent in the October-December quarter, the Labor Department said Thursday. That's about the same as last month's estimate of a 2 per cent decline. It followed a 3.1 per cent gain in the July-September quarter.
Productivity is the amount of output per hour of work. It shrank because economic activity barely expanded in the fourth quarter, while hours worked rose at a solid pace.
The decline in productivity doesn't necessarily signal more hiring. That's because the economy's 0.1 per cent annual growth in the fourth quarter was due to defence cuts and slower company restocking. Those trends should reverse in the current quarter.
Still, the trend in productivity has been fairly weak. For all of 2012, productivity rose by just 0.7 per cent, after an even smaller 0.6 per cent rise in 2011.
Those gains were less than half the average growth in 2009 and 2010, shortly after many companies laid off workers to cut costs during the Great Recession. And it's below the long-run trend of 2.2 per cent growth a year dating back to 1947.
Companies may ultimately need to hire more workers if they see only modest gains in productivity and more demand for their products.
Economists predict worker productivity will stay weak through 2013. Higher productivity is typical during and after a recession, they note. Companies tend to shed workers in the face of falling demand and increase output from a smaller work force. Once the economy starts to grow, demand rises and companies eventually must add workers if they want to keep up.
The Federal Reserve closely monitors productivity and labour costs for any signs that inflation is affecting wages. Mild inflation has allowed the central bank to keep interest rates at record lows in an effort to boost economic growth and fight high unemployment.


text:
Hunters snag 1K-pound alligator, an Alabama record
CAMDEN, Ala. — A family battled a 1,000-pound alligator for more than five hours, putting several large hooks into the beast before firing a fatal shotgun blast into the gator's head.
The result? The catch of a lifetime and a state record in Alabama.
The 15-foot gator was hooked in a creek about 80 miles west of Montgomery early Saturday, Al.com reported (http://bit.ly/1p5ycbg ). The first attempt to weigh the gator destroyed a winch state biologists typically use, so they had a backhoe lift it. It weighed 1,011.5 pounds.
It was caught by Mandy and John Stokes, brother-in-law Kevin Jenkins and his children, 16-year-old Savannah and 14-year-old Parker.
"We give all the glory to God. Ten men couldn't have done what we did," John Stokes said.
The gator didn't go down without a fight. After the family got some large hooks into the gator, Mandy Stokes aimed her 20-gauge shotgun at the "sweet spot" behind the alligator's eyes. That's where she was told to aim during a mandatory training class for Alabama gator hunters.
She pulled the trigger, but the gator's head was too far beneath the water's surface.
"All it did was make this gator mad," Mandy Stokes told Al.com. "Fear had taken hold at this point."
The gator surged forward and towed the 17-foot boat and its five passengers across the creek at a startling speed, the hunters said. The towing continued until the boat crashed into a tree stump in the creek, sending the crew spilling on top of each other.
Eventually, Mandy Stokes got another shot.
"When I pulled the trigger this time, water just exploded on all of us," she said.
This time, she killed the alligator. Anyone within a hundred miles probably heard the mixed screams of relief, joy and exhilaration, John Stokes said.
They tied the gator to one side of the boat and hugged the opposite side so it wouldn't tip over as they made an hour-long trek back to their truck.
The family planned to send the gator to a taxidermy shop. Beyond that, they're not sure what they're going to do with it.
The previous Alabama record was a 14-foot, 2 inch, 838-pound gator captured in the Alabama River in 2011.


text:
Somali piracy is down 32 percent from last year, reports Ben Berkowitz for Reuters, but it's still highly profitable. In fact, they've professionalized their operations and now present their victims with a package of material outlining the ransom process — printed on letterhead. Berkowitz writes:
The cover sheet, in memo format, is addressed "To Whom It May Concern" with the subject line "Congratulations to the Company/Owner."
"Having seen when my Pirate Action Group (P.A.G) had controlled over your valuable vessel we are saying to you Company/Owner welcome to Jamal's Pirate Action Group (J.P.A.G) and you have to follow by our law to return back your vessel and crew safely," the memo begins. …
"Do not imagine that we are making to you intimidation," the memo says, before signing off with "Best regards" and the signature of Jamal Faahiye Culusow, the General Commander of the Group.
The tone of the memo belies the violent reality of the pirate's actions. [They] were responsible for 35 deaths in 2011 alone.
Lest there be any doubt about who Jamal is or what he does, his signature is accompanied by his seal — yes, Jamal has a stamped seal — depicting a skull and crossed swords with the name of the group.
The pirates are not the only ones profiting.
A small coterie of companies … offer "kidnap and ransom" policies to shipping companies for just these kinds of situations.
Guess one hand washes the other. But insurance companies have long offered war risk insurance. In fact, writes Berkowitz:
Because the number of attacks have declined, piracy coverage prices have, too, said Amanda Holt, a vice president in the financial and professional liability unit at insurance brokerage Marsh in Norwich, England. "Often if you buy piracy cover you'll get a discount on your war premium. It makes a lot of sense for ship owners and managers."