text:
With Firefox 22 now in beta Mozilla has decided not to enable its new third-party cookie-blocking feature by default. The feature, aimed at preventing cross-site tracking of browser users with cookies not originating from the sites users visit, will still be available in the next Firefox release (due in June) but will be turned off by default.
Cookies are small sets of data stored locally by the web browser, originally intended to help keep track of where a user was (his or her "state") within a web application. They're associated with a particular domain name and carry a set of values such as an application name, a unique identifying number or string for the user or the web session, and an expiration date. While most cookies are increasingly short-lived some can be essentially "immortal" (or last at least until a user purges them) with expiration dates far off in the future. Web sites can also query cookie data from a visiting web browser to gather analytical information about the user as well—and to target specific ads based on identity or web visit history data revealed by them.
Precision strike
In a blog post Mozilla Chief Technology Officer Brendan Eich explained the reasons for the delay in turning on the feature (a patch submitted by Stanford computer science graduate student Jonathan Meyer) by default. He said there were still issues to be resolved in how the feature avoided both "false positives," such as blocking cookies from the companies behind sites visited by the user because they were associated with a different domain name. There's also still an issue with "false negatives"—unwanted cookies that users pick up from sites they've visited that then follow them to other sites.
"Just because you visit a site once does not mean you are ok with it tracking you all over the Internet on unrelated sites, forever more," Eich wrote. "Suppose you click on an ad by accident, for example. Or a site you trust directly starts setting third-party cookies [such as those used by advertisers, delivered via JavaScript embedded in display ad code] you do not want. Our challenge is to find a way to address these sorts of cases."
Thinking outside the browser


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How do you know a news story is going to be good? One sure sign is that it opens with the line, "There's a high likelihood that hairs recovered during a state-sponsored expedition in a southern Siberian cave came from a yeti, a prominent Russian cryptozoologist said Tuesday."
Yes, that's right—a real honest-to-goodness Abominable Snowman. The Moscow Times has the story of Valentin Sapunov, a professor at the State Hydrometeorological University in St. Petersburg, who says he collected the suspect fur "during a trip to the Azasskaya cave in the Kemerovo region."
Sounds legit. But all geniuses have their haters, and Sapunov has one Jeff Meldrum, an Idaho State biologist who was at the "yeti conference" in Russia from which the expedition set off.
"There was no expedition. The conference participants were accompanied by the press on a field trip to a cave site. It is my opinion that the 'evidence' found in the cave was unreliable," said Jeff Meldrum, a biologist at Idaho State University and cryptozoologist.
Meldrum, who took part in the expedition, added that the footprints in the cave, a "short line of right feet only," were not convincing, and the "nest" of ferns had never been slept in.
"There was no other sign of occupation in the cave, except a few empty soda cans and snack food wrappers," he wrote in e-mailed comments to The Moscow Times on Tuesday.
Even yetis need the occasional Coke—that's according to our own cryptozoological expert, Ars science editor Jay Timmer, who may have been wise-cracking—but we'll concede the point. Perhaps there was no yeti fur in the cave. It hardly matters, though, because the last month has been a banner month for mythical creatures. Surely one of them has been located? I mean, the official news agency of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) wouldn't issue press releases about finding a unicorn lair unless the belligerent authoritarian regime had actually found a unicorn lair. Some things are just too serious to joke about.
Into the unicorn's lair
"Archaeologists of the History Institute of the DPRK Academy of Social Sciences have recently reconfirmed a lair of the unicorn rode by King Tongmyong, founder of the Koguryo Kingdom (B.C. 277-A.D. 668)," begins the November 29 announcement. "The lair is located 200 meters from the Yongmyong Temple in Moran Hill in Pyongyang City. A rectangular rock carved with words 'Unicorn Lair' stands in front of the lair."
I mean, this is written on a rock. You just don't go to that kind of trouble unless 1) you are setting the rock up next to an actual unicorn lair or 2) you're trying to make some historical point that will let you poke neighboring South Korea in the eye. Let's keep reading. Here's Jo Hui Sung, director of the History Institute:
The discovery of the unicorn lair, associated with legend about King Tongmyong, proves that Pyongyang was a capital city of Ancient Korea as well as Koguryo Kingdom.
The Atlantic notes that Korean unicorns aren't quite horses with a single horn, but they still remain firmly mythical. Sad, I say. Timmer wasn't nearly as broken up about it. "I'm just disappointed there won't be a 'Kim Jong Il looking at unicorns' photo," he said after I interrupted his reading of some scientific journal.
But Timmer has the skeptic's temperament, whereas I'm a "I want to believe" sort of person. Fortunately, this week brought serious, scientific proof of another mythical creature, the sasquatch, who I thought had come out of hiding for Harry and the Hendersons but apparently doesn't command broad national respect. That should change now that a US scientist has sequenced some bigfoot DNA.
Sasquatch, a true Native American
Down in Nacogdoches, Texas, Dr. Melba Ketchum claims to have spent the last five years sequencing the DNA of bigfoot. While sasquatch sightings most often turn out to be nothing more exciting than drunk guys wearing Ghillie suits, true believers know that the real thing is still out there, curiously resistant to non-blurry photography.
"Researchers' extensive DNA sequencing suggests that the legendary Sasquatch is a human relative that arose approximately 15,000 years ago as a hybrid cross of modern Homo sapiens with an unknown primate species," said this week's press release, which sounded quite science-y. "The male progenitor that contributed the unknown sequence to this hybrid is unique as its DNA is more distantly removed from humans than other recently discovered hominins like the Denisovan individual," said Ketchum, which sounds likely enough to me.
Timmer, when I interrupted him on a conference call with his freelancers, snapped, "It was actually a regular foot, but this is Texas, so they exaggerated it." I walked away wounded, because this is quite a serious issue. As the press release goes on to explain, not only is Bigfoot real, but the US government needs to "immediately recognize the Sasquatch as an indigenous people." Ketchum herself adds that "Government at all levels must recognize them as an indigenous people and immediately protect their human and Constitutional rights against those who would see in their physical and cultural differences a 'license' to hunt, trap, or kill them."
Sure! I mean, this has all been peer-reviewed. And published. Well, I thought it had until I badgered Timmer about it some more and he pointed me to the lines "currently under peer-review" and "full details of the study will be presented in the near future when the study manuscript publishes."
Then Time magazine decided to pile on, saying things like:
At this point it's probably important to note that the study has not yet been peer reviewed and Ketchum has thus far refused to release her data, explain her methodology or say where she got the "Sasquatch DNA samples" in the first place. Also, according to Houston Chronicle science writer Eric Borger, Ketchum has credibility issues of her own: her company, DNA Diagnostics, has received more than two dozen customer complaints and gets an F from the Better Business Bureau. Oh, and those mysterious third-species males who were supposedly picking up human women on some kind of proto-Craigslist? According to a blogger and Bigfoot enthusiast named Robert Lindsay, earlier drafts of Ketchum's study claimed they were angels.
Luckily—have I stressed just how many mythical creatures have been in the news this month?—I am still not out of options to rekindle my sense of wonder. The chupacabra will sustain me.
Guard your goats
Early this month, a hunter in Missouri shot what he thought was a coyote. But the "coyote" was 81 pounds, a full seven pounds more than the national record, and it has been taken to a regional conservation office for tests. That is, essentially, the entire news story. Naturally, it led one outlet to go with the headline "Chupacabra? Missouri hunter bags mystery coyote-type animal."
The chupacabra, the mythical goat-blood-sucking creature rumored to haunt the American southwest and northern Mexico, lives! (Or rather, lived. This one is definitely dead.)
I pondered looking into the story further, but we all know how that turned out the last three times. Instead, I've decided just to enjoy this crazy, wonderful, mysterious world we inhabit, one not filled with yeti, unicorns, or sasquatch—but one quite possibly filled with chupacabra.
I explained all this to Timmer, who just uncapped a bottle of single-malt scotch as he nodded along with a polite smile. He then started to drink, deeply.
Update: This article, now with more ghost vampires
A few hours after this article was posted, The Associated Press published news that a local council governing the western Serbian town of Zarozje has been warning its residents to keep garlic in their pockets and place wooden crosses in their rooms. The AP story, "Vampire on the loose in Serbia????" [additional question marks added by the editor to express excitement and/or shouting], says that while the local council's advisory is probably a ploy to increase tourist traffic in the remote area, at least three of the people the AP reporter talked to were actually keeping garlic in their pockets and believed in the possibility of the return of Sava Savanovic, Serbia's first vampire.
Savanovic, "reputedly drank the blood of those who came to the small shack in the dense oak tree forest to mill their grain on the clear mountain Rogatica river," the AP reported, but "the wooden mill collapsed a few months ago - allegedly angering the vampire, who is now looking for a new place to hang his cape."
"Some locals claim they can hear steps cracking dry forest leaves and strange sounds coming from the rocky mountain peaks where the vampire was purportedly killed with a sharp stake that pierced his heart - but managed to survive in spirit as a butterfly," said the AP. (Nobody ever suspects the butterfly).
Science editor Jay Timmer was unavailable on Saturday morning to put this weekend editor's fears to rest, possibly due to the bottle of single-malt scotch deputy editor Nate Anderson drove him to drink yesterday afternoon. Until Timmer can find some science to disprove the return of the Serbian ghost vampire/butterfly, this editor recommends that readers eat garlic-rich foods in addition to watching out for that chupacabra.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Today's Music: ZZTop – Double Back
Note on Today's Music: The song fits, and yeah, I guess there was a rock n roll soundtrack kicked in as soon as I jumped.
Bungee jumping is an exercise in insanity whereby a moron tosses themselves off a bridge to bounce at the end of hyperelastic cords.
My name is El Guapo. And I'm a moron.
From a technical point of view, the sport is quite simple. The jumper is strapped into a harness (in this case, a waist harness and auxilliary chest harness). The bungee cord was in fact five cords held together, with fittings at either end connecting them to the jumper via two carabiners – one at the waist and one at the chest.
And the view was magnificent.
So at this particular site, the process was
– Fill out the questionnaire (my favorite question: Do you prefer an open or closed casket?)
– Get weighed. This is important. They ask your weight on the questionnaire, then confirm it on a scale. (And mock you if it's different.)
They have several bundles of cords, color coded, with different elasticities depending on the weight of the jumper.
After the weigh-in, they give you a color coded bracelet and you wait until they're up to your weight class for jumping.
– Wait, watch other jumpers, admire how much your hand is shaking (seriously, I couldn't hold it steady), ask the staff questions.
-When asking the staff questions, be prepared for at least two answers that will make you question the wisdom of jumping before you get a straight answer:
Guap: How often do you change the cords?
Jumpmaster: When they break…
Guap: How often do you guys jump?
JM: Are you out of your mind? This is dangerous!
The only question I asked that they didn't have a one liner prepared for:
Guap: At what point should I throw up so I can bounce through it the most times?
JM: *blink* *grin* Oh yeah, you're one of us!
The answer, by the way, is at the top of the first bounce. 2 to 3 splashes!
So after watching several others jump, including a girl that held on to the Jumpmaster for a few minutes before going (and shrieked through the whole thing) and a 14 year old boy who didn't even hesitate, it's your turn.
They strap you in.
You climb over a 4 foot rail onto a 2'x3′ platform.
They count to 3.
You hesitate. Swallow. Take a deep breath.
They start to count to 3 again.
You think "Well, this is what I came for".
And in my case, with all the grace (and much of the appearance) of a spastic gazelle,
n o t h i n g…
I was really surprised. Leaving the platform was easy. And the drop (191′ from bridge deck to stream) was fast!
And then comes the part everyone knows about – the bouncing.
In all honesty, this was the part that got me.
Going off the bridge wasn't bad – acceleration kicks in, you're whipping down astounded at what you've just done. Maybe you're screaming something inane.
But then the slack is gone, the cord stretches and you're catapulted back up. You come closer and closer to the top of the arc, all your movement slows down, and that's when your brain turns back on.
And as every single one of my internal organs prepare to crowd their way into my throat, I realize that I'm going to go back down again.
So to brace myself, I grab onto the nearest thing.
Which is the cushion at the end of the cord.
Truly, the scenery around me was spectacular!
And now that I had a death grip, I could bounce…happily(?) through it.
Looking through the pictures, I see the advantage of having long hair is that I can tell whether I was going up or down in any picture.
Until finally, it came to an end.
At this point, they lower another line, you clip in, and they pull you back up. Nice and easy.
It takes a few minutes to climb back over the rail onto the safety of the bridge, partly because all your limbs are jelly, and partly because your brain is too, and you don't realize the Jumpmaster is talking to you.
Oh, and the inane thing you might scream while you're jumping?
Well, you'll just have to listen and find out yourselves.
*No pants were pooped in the completion of this jump.
With extreme thanks to the photographer perched under the bridge for the photos, and The Most Wonderful Girl In The Universe for the video.
And when in the greater Portland/Seattle area, check out http://www.bungee.com for your own chance to joing the ranks of the courageously foolish!


text:
Start by checking the "Possible Causes" listed above. Visually inspect the related wiring harness and connectors. Check for damaged components and look for broken, bent, pushed out, or corroded connector's pins.
The cost to diagnose the P0B90 Chevrolet code is 1.0 hour of labor. The auto repair's diagnosis time and labor rates vary by location, vehicle's make and model, and even your engine type. Most auto repair shops charge between $75 and $150 per hour.
The Hybrid/Electric Vehicle battery pack contains 288 cells. Groups of three cells are welded together in parallel. There are a total of 96 cell groups in the hybrid/EV battery pack assembly. These cell groups are electrically connected in-series. Each individual cell group is rated at 3.7 V, for a nominal system voltage of 355 V direct current. The battery cells are also grouped together into three sections. The first 90 cells/30 cell groups make up battery section one. This section is adjacent to the cowl and contains batteries 67 through to 96. Battery section two is located behind section one. It is made up of 72 cells/24 cell groups and contains batteries 43 through to 66. The transverse battery section is section number three, it is made up of the remaining 126 cells/42 cell groups and contains batteries 1 through to 42. The three battery sections are individually serviceable components.
The battery energy control module monitors the voltage of the 96 battery cell groups through the four hybrid/EV battery interface control modules. Voltage sense circuits are attached to each individual cell group, and these sense circuits terminate at a connector located on the top surface of the battery section. A serviceable auxiliary battery wiring harness joins this connector to a hybrid/EV battery interface control module, also located on the top surface of the battery section. The hybrid/EV battery interface control module encodes the voltage reading and transmits it to the battery energy control module through the battery control harness. There is one hybrid/EV battery interface control module located on battery sections one and two, and two hybrid/EV battery interface control modules associated with battery section three. The hybrid/EV battery interface control module, battery energy control module wiring harness, auxiliary battery wiring harness, and battery energy control module are all considered serviceable components.
The battery energy control module will determine when a fault condition is present. Diagnostics and system status are communicated from the battery energy control module to hybrid/EV powertrain control module 2 through serial data. The hybrid/EV powertrain control module 2 is the host controller for diagnostic trouble code information.
Need more information on how to fix the P0B90 Chevrolet code? Get Access to Factory Service Manuals
Get the P0B90 Chevrolet code diagnosed by a professional: Find a repair shop in your area


text:
Rescuers free woman wedged between 2 buildings
PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland firefighters cut a hole through concrete and used an air bag and a soapy lubricant to free an Oregon woman who fell and became stuck in a narrow opening between two buildings Wednesday morning.
The woman spent about four hours in a space 8 to 10 inches wide. Local and national cable news broadcast footage of the rescue effort and showed the woman emerging from the space at about 7:30 a.m.
The woman raised her face, clenched her fists and shouted, "Oh, my God."
Firefighters said they hadn't gotten a clear explanation of how the woman got into the predicament. Lt. Rich Chatman of the Portland fire department said she had been seen smoking or walking on the roof of a two-story building before she fell about 10 to 12 feet.
The woman was wedged about four feet above the ground before rescuers installed braces to support her. Firefighters turned on a portable heater to keep her warm in near-freezing temperatures while they dropped an air bag into the opening to slightly spread the walls.
"She was in good spirits," Chatman said. "We just tried to reassure her ... we weren't going home without her."
After rescuers cut a window-size opening in the concrete wall, Chatman climbed in to help apply the soapy substance. The woman then wiggled toward the hole as the rescue team tugged on her.
"It was so tight, it wasn't until the last foot that she could actually see me," Chatman said. "She had that look in her eye that she was coming out no matter what."
She was taken to the Oregon Health & Science University hospital and appeared to be in good health, fire Lt. Damon Simmons said. Because she's a patient, the department won't release her name unless she gives her consent, he said.
The department's Urban Search and Rescue unit who extricated the woman train for situations such as building collapses and none of the tactics used Wednesday were improvised, Simmons said.
"They're ready for when the big earthquake hits," he said.
The unit in recent years has dealt with people who have fallen into sinkholes. But Wednesday's incident was the first time firefighters had come across someone stuck exactly like the woman was, Simmons said.
"She was just so relieved," Chatman said. "She'd been there for over three hours against two cold slabs of concrete.
"Right before she went out to the ambulance, we were able to get a little hug in there."


text:
Morning Jolt: White supremacist executed
In the news
White supremacist Joseph Paul Franklin was executed this morning after several delays. Franklin was on death row in Missouri since 1977 after killing 22 people in an attempt to start a race war. His death this morning was scheduled for shortly after midnight but didn't happen until 6:07 a.m. CST because of last-minute court appeals. In the end, he was denied his requests and died without giving a final statement.
Opening bell
The Dow Jones opened at 15,967.03 after finishing down 8.99 points Tuesday.
Quote of the day
"For too long in this society, we have celebrated unrestrained individualism over common community." - Vice President Joe Biden
Hot video: JFK conspiracy theories continue 50 years later
The theory of multiple assassins in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, continues 50 years later. At the heart of history, Dealey Plaza hosts several conspiracy theorists.
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text:
Libretto: Jaroslav Kvapil
Conductor: Jiří Štrunc
Stage director: Zdeněk Troška
Sets: Milan Ferenčík
Costumes: Josef Jelínek
Chorus master: Adolf Melichar
Choreography: Dana Morávková
Dramaturgy: Jitka Slavíková
State Opera Orchestra
State Opera Chorus
Premiere: May 5, 2005
Antonín Dvořák based his most beautiful opera on the fairy tale The Little Mermaid by the famous Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. Pursuant to the story, the Czech poet Jaroslav Kvapil wrote one of the most poetic opera librettos there is. No wonder then that the fruit of the co-operation between the two creators, who were close both as artists and friends, was a magical, dreamy story of great, unfulfilled desire of the water nymph Rusalka, a work in which Dvořák's musical genius reached its apex. The fairy-tale atmosphere inspired the composer to create singular, impressionistic music replete with melodic imagination and masterful instrumentation, a suggestive expression of the play of waves and the reflection of moonlight on the surface of a lake, as well as the magic of a fairy-tale dream. Since its premiere in 2005, the production of Rusalka directed by the popular film maker Zdeněk Troška has been one of the most successful titles performed at the State Opera.
The opera is staged in Czech original version and English surtitles are used in the performance.
Photo: František Ortmann
Duration of the performance: 3 hours and 10 minutes, 2 intermissions
April 2015
- 07 Tuesday
May 2015
- 21 Thursday
June 2015
- 24 Wednesday
August 2015
- 28 Friday


text:
Amanda : "It's hard to imagine how much energy is harnessed in there."
Data : "Imagination is not necessary; the scale is readily quantifiable. We are presently generating twelve point seven five billion gigawatts per-" [cut off by alarm].
At this point in the episode the Enterprise is in orbit of a planet - she is not using her warp or impulse drives, shields or weapons. The warp core would presumably be 'ticking over' to generate the ships gravity field and maintain life support and so on - rather than running at full power to produce lots of energy energy nobody is using. So we have a figure for the low end of a Galaxy class starships engine output of 12.75 x 106 TeraWatts.
On page 55 a chart of the velocity values of various warp speeds is given. Overlaid on this is the energy required to maintain this speed, given in 'Megajoules per Cochrane' - Cochranes being a measure of the warp field. Strictly speaking this is an energy value rather than a power value - ideally it should read 'Megawatts per Cochrane'. However, we know that warp drive is a non Newtonian system - the Enterprise must continually expend energy in order to maintain a given warp speed. The text also refers several times to the power taken to maintain given warp speeds, and refers to features of the chart with reference to this. It thus seems certain that the graph is intended to give the power needed rather than the energy.
The text also states "note that the Cochrane value for a given warp factor corresponds to apparent velocity of a spacecraft travelling at that warp factor. For example, a ship travelling at Warp 3 is maintaining a warp field of at least 39 Cochranes and is therefore travelling at 39 times c, the speed of light".
By multiplying the Cochrane value of each warp factor by the power per
Cochrane we can calculate the power required for a Galaxy class ship to
cruise at a given warp speed velocity :
(speed in xc)
NOTE : The values for Warp 9.9 are extrapolated by projecting the curves slightly. There is therefore a greater degree of error involved in this particular calculation than the others, and it should be approached cautiously.
Page 57 tells us that the Galaxy class can cruise at a top speed of Warp 9.6 for twelve hours. This equates to a maximum designed power output of 4,770,000 TeraWatts.
Hence, we get a figure for the Galaxy class starships maximum power output of 4.770 x 106 TeraWatts.
Now while this is within an order of magnitude of the previous value, it does indicate a substantially reduced output since we are comparing minimum output to maximum output. There are possible answers to this problem : Most importantly, the Enterprise-D actually achieved a speed of Warp 9.7 during Encounter at Farpoint, indicating that the warp core can pull considerably more than the designed maximum out of its warp core when needed. In addition, the technical manual was written in 1991, a date which corresponds to 2368 of Startrek. The "True Q" episode is set some three months after the beginning of season six of the show, in 2369. It is possible that the Enterprise received a hefty upgrade to its warp core in the interval. In addition, the Enterprise may have been running some kind of very energy intensive scientific experiments at the time of Amanda's visit which required the core to be running at close to the maximum limit.
On page 67 - 69, the Galaxy class fuel arrangements are described. The ship is stated to have a total of 62,500 m3 of Deuterium storage, and 3,000 m3 of antimatter storage. The density of slush Deuterium is approximately 164 kgm-3, so the total Deuterium storage is 10,250,000 kg.
The density of the antimatter storage is not described, but we can get a good idea of how much there is by looking at how long the Galaxy class can go without refuelling. On page 2 the Galaxy class is described as having "independent mode exploration capability of seven standard years at nominal warp 6 velocity". Travelling at warp 6 for seven years would use a total energy of :
E = 1.56 x 1015 x (7 x 365.25 x 24 x 60 x 60)
= 3.446 x 1023 Joules
Even assuming a 100% conversion efficiency of matter to energy, this would require 1,914,494 kg of antimatter and an equal mass of matter. This allows us to get an absolute minimum density for the storage of antimatter of 638.16 kgm-3, which is nearly four times that of the matter tanks. Given that the ship must also run its antigravity field, inertial dampers and structural integrity field, possibly along with non critical systems, then the true fuel supply must be somewhat above this - we can't really know how much above, though in the Voyager episode "Revulsion" a hologram on an alien vessel complains that 30% of the ships power was devoted to maintaining its crew, a comment which evokes no real surprise from the Starfleet crew members.
But assuming the minimum supply for a moment, this would be sufficient to sustain the ship for 2.4 days at the maximum cruise of Warp 9.2, or about 20 hours at Warp 9.6. By Warp 9.9 the figure drops to 9.57 minutes, which presents an interesting problem in itself; the original Encyclopedia warp speed chart indicated that the Galaxy class could sustain Warp 9.9 for ten minutes before auto engine shutdown. As with all speeds above Warp 6, it would seem that component wear rather than fuel would be the limiting factor here. This is a fairly minor nit, as one can easily enough assume that compromises can be made with systems such as the Inertial Dampers or Structural Integrity Field - a steady but very high speed will not stress the ships fabric or interior as much as heavy manoeuvring at lower speeds, after all.
Of course, by far the greatest factor in determining the exact mass
of antimatter fuel would be the efficiency of the conversion process. Some
quotes do exist regarding engine efficiency, but they are not very specific
since we rarely know what is being expressed as a percentage of what. To
give you a feel for the range of figures, I've drawn up the following table
Deuterium supply.
Given that there is no real lack of space on board a typical Federation Starship, and certainly not on a Galaxy class, I would suggest that the reason for building the antimatter pods so small is that they must be capable of being ejected into space as rapidly as possible in the event of an emergency, whilst the Deuterium tank is much less of a danger. This, incidentally, indicates that the Federation is capable of generating and controlling enormously powerful magnetic fields with relative ease.
This indicates that the engines of the Galaxy class do not operate on the Deuterium/Tritium fusion process, but the Deuterium/Deuterium process. This is described by the equation :
2H + 2H ---> 3He + 1n + 3.2 MeV
The total mass of the initial two Deuterium atoms is 4.02726 u, equivalent to 3750.25 MeV. Since the reaction releases 3.2 MeV, it is therefore at most 0.08533% efficient in its conversion of mass to energy. Hence, for each 1 kg of fuel consumed by the Impulse system 7.67 x 1013 Joules will be released.
The performance of Impulse engines is a subject of some debate. Page 75 of the TNG TM states that the Ambassador class Starship was designed to accelerate at 10,000 ms-2, but in fact this is seriously low for an Impulse drive system. In ST : TMP we see the Enterprise head out of Earth orbit at full Impulse; 1.8 hours later the ship passes Jupiter, a distance of between 628,000,000 and 928,000,000 km, depending on the orbital arrangement. Even assuming that the ship accelerated continually throughout the trip to give us the lowest possible value, the acceleration was between 29,911 ms-2 and 44,200 ms-2. But in fact, the true figure is likely to be considerably higher; as the ship boosts out of orbit we see the Earth shrink dramatically behind it, indicating a sizeable fraction of light speed was reached in a matter of seconds - an acceleration of over a thousand times that of the much later Ambassador class.
But for the moment let's assume the lowest feasible value for acceleration, and further assume that the Constitution was the Ferrari of Starships, so 10,000 ms-2 is a standard figure for the TNG era. We know that "full Impulse" is usually restricted to velocities below 0.25 x c in order to avoid large relativistic distortions. It would thus take a Galaxy class ship 7,500 seconds to accelerate to full Impulse. The force required to produce this acceleration on a 4.96 million metric ton vessel is found via :
F = m x a
= 4.96 x 109 x 10000
= 4.96 x 1013 Newtons
We can calculate the distance covered in this time via :
S = 0.5 x a x t2
= 0.5 x 10,000 x 75002
= 281,250,000,000 m, or 281,250,000 km
And the total work done on the ship by its engines is equal to :
W = F x s
= 4.96 x 1013 x 2.8125 x 1011
= 1.395 x 1025 Joules
To supply this energy we would need to fuse some 181,877,444 metric tons of Deuterium. Unfortunately, the Primary Deuterium Tank only holds 10,250 metric tons!
Fortunately, we have a get-out. The TM describes the use of "space-time driver coils", which are described on page 75 as being "...similar to those in standard warp engine nacelles, that would perform a low level continuum distortion without crossing the warp threshold". The driver coil apparently reduces the effective mass of the ship - or multiplies the force, whichever way around you want to put it. So that the work required is reduced by some driver ratio, r, hence :
W = (F x s) / r
Unfortunately, in order to determine a value for r we would need to know the actual power output of the engines - and we don't. The TM can give us some clues, however. On page 77, it notes that fuel is injected into the reactors as solid pellets of frozen Deuterium, stating "Pellets can range in size from 0.5 cm to 5 cm, depending on the desired energy output per unit time. A standing pulsed fusion shock front is created by the standard initiators ranged about the forward inner surface of the sphere. The total instantaneous output of the IRC is throttleable from 108 to 1011 Megawatts."
Now it is tempting to say that each reactor can generate up to 1011 Megawatts, or 2.4 x 1012 MW for the entire system, but in fact this cannot really be so. At the efficiency noted above for the D/D fusion reaction, this would consume 31,290.743 kg of fuel per second - sufficient to exhaust the Primary Deuterium Tanks entire 10,250 metric tons in 5.46 minutes. Obviously this is nonsense.
From the description of the reactor operation above, it seems that the instantaneous power must refer to the rate of energy production while a particular fuel pellet is fusing; a 5 cm diameter pellet of Deuterium would mass 11.407 g, and when fused would release a maximum energy of 8.749 x 1011 Joules. In order to reach the maximum instantaneous power of 1011 MW, this pellet would be consumed in 8.749 microseconds. Unfortunately, the average power would also need to factor in how many pellets are fused each second, information which is not supplied.
We can only really make an educated guess at this number. We know that the Enterprise-D visited approximately one planetary system every two weeks throughout its life. The average time between refuelling for Starships is commonly pegged at three years; hence, the Enterprise could expect to visit 78 star systems. It has been stated that it is dangerous to engage warp drive within a star system; Kirk waited 1.8 hours before attempting to go to warp to intercept V'Ger in ST : TMP. On the other hand we have seen ships warp in and out of orbit many times in all of the series. It seems that the most we can really say is that it is dangerous to use warp drive whilst within some star systems some of the time.
On balance, I think it's not unreasonable to suppose that each visit to a star system will involve an average of two hours at impulse - one arriving and one leaving - for 156 hours total over three years. Hence, the ship would spend about 0.6% of its time at impulse speeds. Given the presumably lower fuel requirements for using Impulse as compared to normal Warp 6 cruising, my own personal guess for the power output of the Impulse reactors would be 107 MW each, or 2.4 x 108 MW total. This would equate to 11.43 pellets per reactor per second, or a total of 154,056,456 pellets massing 1,757,322.24 kg - about 17.151% of the total fuel - consumed over the entire three year time between refuelling.
Using this estimate, we would get a figure for the driver coil ratio of :
2.4 x 1014 x 7500 = (4.96 x 1013 x 2.8125 x 1011)
/ r
1.8 x 1018 = 1.395 x 1025 / r
r = 7,750,000
So the driver coils would lower the mass of the ship from 4.96 million metric tons to approximately 640 kg - quite an impressive accomplishment!
Now of course, this figure is wholly dependant on my own assumption for how much power the impulse engine puts out. It's an inverse relationship - the higher you rate the impulse engine power output, the lower you must rate the driver ratio. Alternatively, the higher you rate the acceleration the higher the drive ratio is going to be - and of these two factors, the latter is by far and away the more likely to be off.
Assuming, then, a more realistic figure for the acceleration of 107 ms-2, we would arrive at a drive ratio of 7.75 x 109, and the effective mass drops to 0.64 kg.
But some numbers we do know fairly well. To summarize a couple of the more important ones :
Maximum Warp Core Output : 4.77 x 106
TeraWatts - 12.75 x 106 TeraWatts
Average Warp Core Output : 1.56 x 1015 TeraWatts
Star Trek et al is Copyright Paramount Pictures
No Copyright infringement is intended and this page is for personal use only.
All of the above classes of star ships and all of the
named ships are copyright Paramount 1996/97.


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Nationals Park in-game host Clint Khoury has drawn more than occasional scorn from those purists who think the stadium hype during games distracts from the baseball at-hand. If you fall into that category, then it appears you are due either for some relief, or for double the pain, depending on your perspective.
Fans at Saturday's Washington Nationals exhibition game vs. the Baltimore Orioles were asked throughout the night to vote via text message for the new Nationals "co-host," with profiles of the three contestants — all women and all beauty pageant veterans — repeatedly shown on the giant HD scoreboard (photo courtesy of fellow Nats blogger Miss Chatter).
Now the Nationals have opened the voting to the general public, with votes being accepted online now through Tuesday, April 14, at 3:00pm.
Kate Michael could have the inside track on local votes, as she has been an emerging personality in DC media for several years, and knows a few things about promoting herself on the internet. The former Senate staffer and Miss District of Columbia threw out the first pitch at a 2007 Nats game (alas, quite weakly), and represented DC in the Miss America 2007 pageant. She boasts a personal web site, a separate blog called K Street Kate, and over 700 followers on Twitter. Her enthusiasm for new media could barely be contained on a recent episode of internet talk show The District Dish:
Guerin Austin is a former Miss Nebraska USA (2004), and for what it's worth appears to have become blonde only recently.
The self-proclaimed "military brat" claims to have moved over 20 times, and is a former competitive figure skater with a degree in broadcast journalism and experience as a TV journalist and host.
What Austin lacks in DC connections she appears to make up for in "emcee" experience on a variety of television shows. Her demo reel gives a pretty good sense of what she'd be like as Nationals Park co-host:
Yolanda Makle is the only one of the three contestants who has experience with the Nationals, having spent last season as a member of the Nat Pack while juggling a full-time job as a telecommunications engineer (I caught this photo of Makle during the 7th inning stretch at last season's Nationals Park 70s Night).
The striking DC mother of two is another pageant circuit veteran, having represented Puerto Rico in the 2006 Miss United States pageant and currently holding the title Ms. Belleza Latina 2009. She is an active volunteer in the community, has a blog and boasts just a handful of followers on Twitter.
Makle's community service, DC roots, love of sports, and experience on The Nat Pack might otherwise make her a favorite in my book, but I don't think I could cast my vote for somebody who openly calls Abe Lincoln her favorite racing president. Ouch.
Online voting ends Tuesday, April 14, at 3:00pm, with the winner to be announced at the Nationals game vs. the Marlins on Friday, April 17th.


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Front Runners List: Click to see list completion progress by climbers that log their climbs using Peakbagger.com.
Compare Climbers: Click to compare ascents of up to 5 climbers working on this list.
The reason this list has a threshold cutoff of 13,750 feet is that allows two peaks in Wyoming (Gannett Peak and the Grand Teton) to be listed. Most of these peaks are in Alaska, Colorado, and, California, with two each in Washington and Wyoming. In particular, Colorado summits dominate this list.
= Peak with Rank #1 on List;   = Other Peaks
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Keeping Fit: Body composition outweighs BMI in importance
BMI stands for body mass index and is determined by your height and weight. The formula for calculating BMI is your body weight in kilograms divided by your height in meters squared.
Although the equation requires mathematical manipulations, the result is a number based on height and weight. Consequently, BMI addresses body size but not body composition.
The recommended range for a healthy body mass index is 18.5 through 25. However, this reading does not indicate what percentage of your body mass is fat (adipose tissue) and what percentage is lean (muscle, bone, blood, organ and connective tissue).
For example, a 6-foot tall man with 30 pounds of fat weight and 170 pounds of lean weight has the same BMI as a 6-foot tall man with 60 pounds of fat weight and 140 pounds of lean weight, because both individuals have identical body heights and weights.
Obviously, the first man has a much healthier body composition than the second man. With 30 pounds of fat weight, the first man is 15 percent body fat, which is very desirable for males. With 60 pounds of fat weight the second man is 30 percent fat, which is highly undesirable for males from both a health and fitness perspective.
As another example, Tom weighs the same 160 pounds at age 65 that he did at age 25. Assuming his height hasn't changed, his BMI would be exactly the same as it was 40 years earlier. However, if Tom did not perform regular resistance exercise, he has actually lost more than 20 pounds of muscle and added 20 pounds of fat for a 40-pound undesirable change in his body composition. Unfortunately, BMI does not provide this important health-related information.
I favor body composition assessments over BMI calculations for a variety of reasons. Body composition assessments determine what percentage of your body weight is fat weight and what percentage is lean weight. Once these percentages are known, you can make more sense out of body weight changes.
For example, let's say Mary weighs 100 pounds and is 25 percent fat. She therefore has 25 pounds of fat weight and 75 pounds of lean weight. After a three-month program of strength and endurance exercise, Mary still weighs 100 pounds. However, her new body composition assessment reveals she is only 20 percent fat. That means she now has 20 pounds of fat weight and 80 pounds of lean weight.
Although her weight has not changed, she has actually lost 5 pounds of fat and added 5 pounds of muscle for a 10-pound improvement in her body composition.
Body composition assessments are also helpful to dieters who lose weight too quickly because of an unhealthy reduction in lean tissues.
For example, Linda starts her diet plan at 150 pounds and 30 percent body fat. She therefore has 45 pounds of fat and 105 pounds of lean weight. After one month of dieting she weighs 130 pounds, and her new body composition is 25 percent body fat. Her new fat weight is 32 pounds, for a 13-pound fat loss, which is good.
However, her new lean weight in 98 pounds for a 7-pound muscle loss, which is not good. More than one-third of Linda's weight loss has been muscle tissue, which is an unhealthy consequence of losing weight too quickly.
Linda must change her eating habits to prevent further muscle loss, which can lead to serious health problems. She should also begin a sensible strength training program to regain the essential muscle tissue that she has lost through insufficient caloric consumption.
If Linda had used BMI calculations, she may not have realized that her diet program was actually more harmful than helpful, seriously reducing her muscle mass and metabolic rate. This is one reason I recommend dieters have periodic percent fat assessments.
Most YMCAs and fitness centers can measure your body fat quickly and easily through ultrasound, electrical impedanceor skinfold caliper.
By measuring your body composition, you can accurately track your progress toward an ideal fat level, generally acknowledged as less than 15 percent for men and less than 25 percent for women.
Wayne L. Westcott, Ph.D., teaches exercise science at Quincy (Massachusetts) College and consults for the South Shore YMCA.


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Welcome back to Midweek Madness, in which Intern Tanisha assists as we gobble the fast food gossip from In Touch, Us, Ok!, Life & Style, and Star. This week: Emily from The Bachelorette has been sending filthy texts and nudie pix to a dude who is not her fiancé; a porn star claims he was in a three-way with Kim Kardashian and some other chick; and if you want to check out Honey Boo Boo's parents' mug shots, well, you're in the right place.
"Teen Mom Nastiest Fights Ever"
Not-a-teen-anymore mom Maci Bookout got nasty on her 21st birthday, celebrating with sex toys, flavored condoms and tiny bottles of alcohol, provided by her friends and boyfriend, Kyle King. However: her babydaddy, Ryan Edwards, thinks that bday behavior was irresponsible, as opposed to the lack of condoms and self-pleasure exhibited during the conception of their now 3-year-old child, Bently. Sometimes-absentee mother Jenelle Evens was still with boyfriend Kieffer Delp, even when he tweeted a naked picture of Jenelle, but the pair broke up when Kieffer insisted on cleaning their home while she was reading Fifty Shades of Grey. Dealbreaker! Katy Perry, however, doesn't need an erotic novel to get hot and bothered, as she — and all of John Mayer's exes — think his body is a wonderland. Meanwhile, John's ex, Jennifer Aniston, refuses to sign a prenup, because "true love doesn't need to be protected." In requisite Kardashian news, Kimye discuss how to accessorize with a (as yet nonexistent) baby: "If they start off talking about heels then somehow the topic changes to 'Well, you can't wear those sky-high heels when you're chasing around a baby.'" Gucci Gucci coo.
Grade: F (moldy hamburger bun)
Life & Style
"Baby Joy & Drama"
Babies are the new Hollywood must-have accessory. Borrowing a page out of the "Kris Jenner Book of Parenting" Kimye can't wait to give birth to twins: a baby and a children's clothing line. Also trying to add to the Kardashian kast, Kim's sister Khloe is pulling out all the stops to get pregnant, including starting her second round of IVF treatments. Meanwhile, Jessica Simpson is feeling pressure to lose the remaining 14 pounds of baby weight still left after giving birth to baby Maxwell, and is "sacrificing time with her little girl" to work out six days a week. Next, new bachelor RPattz is getting sweet, sexy revenge on Kristen Stewart by looking "flawlessly groomed with a stylish wardrobe to match," while KStew has been hiding at a friend's house looking "skinny and disheveled" like the evil crone the media has made her out to be. And finally, Prince Harry challenged Ryan Lochte to a race at a Vegas hotel pool on August 19th, and as we all know, the Locht-ness monster replied, "Jeah" and proceeded to beat his royal heiny.
Grade: D (sour milkshake)
In Touch
"Get Away From My Baby!"
Coverline or Lifetime mini-series starring Meredith Baxter Birney? Kourtney K doesn't want American Psycho Scott Disick anywhere near her offspring. Scott has been behaving like a third child, in need of attention, "He's bored…he's a 29-year-old dad with no real job and nothing to do", and so has been partying and using drugs to fill the void left by his partner's responsible parenting. Speaking of responsible parenting, Snooki is worried that she won't be a good mother, but insists that she'll try her best to balance being a strict mom with being a cool mom, saying "I mean, I want my kid to feel comfortable enough to say fuck in front of me." Also, she's against spray tanning children, so she's totally going to be a great mom! Meanwhile, Miley Cyrus's loved ones worry that the NINETEEN year old is headed for a Britney-esque breakdown, because she changed her look dramatically, is getting tattoos, is worried about what others think about her, and tweets sexy pictures of herself. And finally, the mag celebrates starlets for giving up extreme diets yet embracing their still-thin bodies, with the spread "They Look Better With Curves" (Fig. 1)
Grade: D+ (cold french fries)
"Emily Caught Cheating!"
After the finale of The Bachelorette, we thought — nay, hoped — we could forget all about Emily Maynard and her fiancé, Jef With One F. But the toothy blondes have resurfaced! Apparently Emily went to hang out with Jef's family in Pawleys Island, South Carolina. Clean-living good girl Emily and her daughter, Ricki, stayed in one room, while Jef bunked with his brother, and everyone went to the beach and laughed and had a good old time. Then Jef saw some explicit text messages and photos to and from another man on Emily's phone and yelled: "You've been fucking cheating on me for months! Pack your shit and get the fuck out." The gentleman on the receiving end is "unidentified," but this story would be better if he were Arie, yes? Anyway, good girl Emily cried, told the family she'd fucked up real bad, and left. However, the mag claims they are "keeping up a united front." (And just today she was saying lovey-dovey crap about him on Twitter. So, grain of salt.) Also inside: Scarlett Johansson and boyfriend Nate Naylor were spotted in Paris canoodling over rosé and scallops at a restaurant called Le Schmuck, which is our new fave name for a restaurant and/or ex-boyfriend. Britney Spears is "dragging her feet" about getting married and sometimes feels like Jason is more of a mentor than a husband. Is that bad? Taylor Swift is "head over heels" for Conor Kennedy, who is four years younger and will be a senior in high school this fall. Kristen Stewart doesn't sleep, just stays up all night crying, and insists to RPatz that she and Rupert Sanders never had sex. Rob doesn't understand why she did it, but a "friend" claims that he doesn't hate her and he's not mad and "this isn't the end of them." Because vampires are immortal, duh.
Grade: C (day-old chicken nuggets)
"Kim Caught With A Man — And A Woman!"
A porn star named Julian St. Jox, who wears colored contact lenses, looks like he could be in the Soul Glo commercial, and whom you should not Google lest you want pictures of dicks all over your screen, claims that in 2001 — yes, eleven years ago — he had group sex with Kim Kardashian at a swingers' party. This was a classy, upscale, invite-only event, held at a small hotel Culver City. You had to know someone or submit a photo to get invited. Kim was 20 years old at the time and married to Damon Thomas, and the two of them arrived at the party, met Mr. St. Jox and another porn star, a busty blonde named Emily Ann, and they danced and drank and went into a hotel room where lots of people were already having sex and took all of their clothes off. St. Jox erroneously assumes of Kim, "I'm pretty sure she knew who I was." He says Emily Ann and Kim were kissing and then Emily Ann went down on KK and then he went down on KK and then "I kissed her all over her body and we had sex in a few different positions." St. Jox adds: "I'm not sure if this was her first time at an orgy or not, but she looked very comfortable." Anywho, with this slut-shaming, we're supposed to believe that Kanye might leave Kim over this decade-old encounter, and that Monsieur St. Jox, who's put his P in approximately one zillion Vs, remembers Kim Kardashian from before she was famous. Moving on! When he has a cute waitress, Johnny Depp likes to leave his phone behind, so she'll chase after him. Then he'll strike up a conversation and get her digits. He could also just say, "Hi, I'm Johnny Depp," but maybe that's not as fun? Meanwhile, apparently now that Katie Holmes is divorced, she has only one pair of shoes? (Fig. 2) Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman are "fighting like catty tween girls" on the set of Les Misérables — Russell "sneers" at Hugh's "musical theater background" (of course! you can just picture him calling HJ a pansy or some crap) and Hugh hates Russell's embarrassing bad reputation. What else? Selena Gomez refused to come out of her air-conditioned trailer to shoot a scene for her new movie Parental Guidance Suggested, saying it was too hot. It was about 87° that day. Jennifer Lopez and Casper Smart have been fighting ever since the alleged glory hole incident. Russell Brand was spotted kissing a woman who is not his girlfriend. The cover claims Brad Pitt was "busted with hot blonde," but inside, you discover that she was an actor playing a chauffeur and he was filming a scene for a movie. In TSwift news, a source claims she is "coming on way too strong" for poor young Conor Kennedy, and when he told her she was smothering him, she went ballistic, screaming, "I've rearranged my life for you, and now you have the nerve to dis me like this?" LOLWUT. Apparently TayTay is "extremely needy" and maybe proof that home schooling can fuck you up? Finally, the Honey Boo Boo family — and their mug shots — make an appearance in this issue: Mama spent four days in jail in 2008 for skipping child support payments, and Sugar Bear was convicted of burglary in 1994 and arrested again in 1998 for "theft by entering an auto" and possession of a firearm. The editors at Star called his grandmother — as they are wont to do — and she says he is "not exactly right." Pretty sure she means "in the head." (Fig. 3)
Grade: C+ (kiddie cone)
Fig. 1, from In Touch
Fig. 2, from Star
Fig. 3, from Star


text:
Brian Skoloff
and Jacques Billeaud
Associated Press
TUCSON, Ariz. — Gabrielle Giffords limped to the front of the courtroom and stared silently Thursday as she came face-to-face for the first time with the man who tried to kill her.
The former congresswoman hadn't been near Jared Lee Loughner since the deadly rampage outside a meet-and-greet at a supermarket that killed six people and left her partially blind, with a paralyzed right arm and brain injury.
Giffords' astronaut husband told Loughner what Giffords couldn't, before he was sentenced to seven life terms for the January 2011 slayings and attempted assassination of a member of Congress.
"Mr. Loughner, you may have put a bullet through her head, but you haven't put a dent in her spirit and her commitment to make the world a better place," Mark Kelly said.
Giffords, wearing a black brace around her torso, looked closely at the 24-year-old Loughner for several minutes without uttering a word. Loughner returned their gaze, but showed no emotion. His mother sobbed nearby.
Loughner was then ordered to serve the seven consecutive life sentences, plus 140 years in federal prison for the shootings that killed six people and wounded 13, including Giffords, as she met with constituents in a Tucson shopping plaza.
His guilty plea enables him to avoid a federal death sentence. No state charges will be filed.
The sentencing marked the end of a nearly two-year-long saga in which Loughner, who has schizophrenia, was forcibly medicated at a Missouri prison medical facility so he can be competent to understand the charges against him.
U.S. District Judge Larry Burns recommended Thursday that he remain there indefinitely. Some victims, including Giffords, welcomed the plea deal as a way to move on.
It spared victims and their families from having to go through a potentially lengthy and traumatic trial and locks Loughner up for life.
At the hearing, Loughner looked nothing like the smiling bald man with a bruise around his eye seen in the mug shot taken after the shooting. He had closely cropped brown hair and was wearing dress pants, shirt and tie. One by one, his victims had the chance to tell him how his actions immeasurably changed their lives.
They approached the podium to address Loughner, and asked the judge if they could turn to face him.
Loughner told the judge that he would not speak, and sat showing no visible emotion at a table with his attorneys.
The last victim to approach the podium was Giffords, causing the courtroom to go quiet and somber.
The couple had been sitting several rows behind the prosecutor's table, across the room from Loughner.
As they sat in the courtroom, Kelly put his arm around her, and she would lean into him.
When they made their way gingerly to the podium, the 42-year-old Giffords, dressed in black pants and a turquoise shirt, limped. Kelly held her arm and spoke to Loughner, who stared blankly at the couple.
"Gabby would trade her own life to bring back any one of those you savagely murdered on that day," Kelly said. "Gabby works harder in one minute of an hour fighting to make each individual moment count for something than most of us work in an entire day."
Kelly added: "Her life has been forever changed. Plans she had for our family and her career have been immeasurably altered. Every day is a continuous struggle to do those things she once was so good at."
Kelly kissed Giffords when he was done. He grabbed her hand and helped her walk back to her seat. Susan Hileman, who was shot three times while trying to save her 9-year-old neighbor, shook as she spoke.
"We've been told about your demons, about the illness that skewed your thinking," she said. "Your parents, your schools, your community, they all failed you. It's all true. It's not enough."
Officials at Pima Community College had suspended Loughner over safety concerns after his classroom disruptions.
They told him that if he wanted to return, he would have to get a mental health clearance. Loughner withdrew.
The court-appointed psychologist who treated Loughner has warned that although Loughner was competent to plead guilty, he remained severely mentally ill and his condition could deteriorate under the stress of a trial.
Authorities said they will return Loughner to the Missouri prison facility, but it's up to federal prison officials whether he will remain there.
Legal experts had predicted that the only viable defense for Loughner was an insanity defense, given the number of witnesses and video surveillance footage. Still, Loughner never mounted such a defense.
Burns said Loughner did not have an insanity case because the evidence indicated he was aware of his actions and knew they were wrong.
In fact, the judge noted, an examination of Loughner's computer showed the 24-year-old had researched Giffords and the federal death penalty beforehand.
"It would not have washed," the judge said.
Loughner planned the attacks by getting a gun, high-capacity pistol magazine and ear plugs and lying in wait for Giffords at the grocery store, Burns said.
Among those killed was another federal judge, John Roll.
Mavy Stoddard, who was shot three times and cradled her dying husband, 76-year-old Dorwin Stoddard, in her arms as he lay bleeding after shielding her from gunfire, was among those who spoke to Loughner.
"You took away my life, my love and my reason for living," Stoddard said. "I am so lonesome, hate living without him," she said, her voice cracking. Staring down at Loughner, she said, "we will never let you win. You will not take our spirit."


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7 Inch Heel MOON-708MER Clear Black
7" (178mm) Heel, 2 3/4" (70mm) Cut-Out Platform Ankle Strap Sandal Featuring Blacklight Reactive Ombre Mermaid in the Platform and Mini Iridescent Glitters on the Platform Bottom
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Your regular shoe size is the best way to determine what size to order. Our shoes are only available in whole sizes. So when determining a size, go with the closest size to your normal shoe size.
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Thigh high boots: Most Thigh High Boots and Knee High Boots are generally sized for a small to medium sized legs.
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text: Notice: Undefined index: mca1888 in D:\inetpub\zhotweb\classalert\include\auth.function.php on line 8 Notice: Undefined variable: sessionAUTH in D:\inetpub\zhotweb\classalert\include\auth.function.php on line 12 Notice: Constant AUTH already defined in D:\inetpub\zhotweb\classalert\explore3.php on line 6 Seminary of the Southwest (TX) home page | about | register | login | contact class alertbuild your perfect schedule home textbooks reviews courses register login Seminary of the Southwest (TX) myclassalert.com / explore / texas / seminary-of-the-southwest-tx Ah crap, Seminary of the Southwest (TX) isn't supported just yet we are currently working very hard to add support for more and more colleges, we just haven't finished yours yet By visiting this page we have been notified that someone is interested in support for this school (that doesn't mean reload this page as many times as possible, it's per IP address) Would you like to be notified personally when this school is supported? Click Here Looking to make some money? We are looking for campus reps and software engineers, click here to apply. 03/23/2012 - 03/28/2012 Estimated dates for this college to be supported Copyright © 2010-2012 All Rights Reserved.Echovoice® and MyClassAlert® are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Echovoice® LLC in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Powered by Echovoice® Technologyhome page | about | textbook search | explore catalogs | faqs | terms of service | privacy policy | register | login | forgot password | contact | jobs


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One Piece Perona Cosplay Shoes Brown Boots Custom Made
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One Piece Perona Cosplay Shoes Brown Boots Custom Made
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Actiontec Router Login
You should follow these instructions to login to your
Actiontec Router.
- Connect the cable from the router to your computer. If you want, you can use your wireless network as an alternative option.
- Recommendation: If you are using an Actiontec – R3010SUW router, we recommend using a wired connection. This eliminates the risk of suddenly losing your session while making settings changes.
- Now access your router's admin panel and fill in your router's default user name and password in the desired fields. If you do not know your username and password, we recommend that you try one of the default passwords for Actiontec routers.
Actiontec Routers Help
If you are having difficulty logging in to your router, you are probably entering the wrong username or password. After changing both, we recommend that you write them down so you don't have trouble remembering them.
- Login don't remember your password? You can resolve this issue by not resetting your router's login information. To reset your router, press the small black button on the back of your router for 10 seconds. This will restore your router to the factory settings.
- Router login page not loading? If the login page is not loading, make sure the device you are using is connected to the wi-fi. You will also need to check if the wrong router IP address is set as the default one.
- Users may experience problems with loading time on pages or failing to reach the speed they need to access. This is because your network uses a different IP address. In this case, you should check our IP address router list and find the correct address for you. If you need help, you should check out our article on how to find your router's IP address.


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Here Are The Details About Our Program
Hello Future Homeowner,
My name is Alex . If you would like to buy a home, but can't qualify for a conventional mortgage, you've come to the right place.
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Many of these homes have beautiful new kitchens and master bathrooms, big master bedroom suites, and big fenced in yards for the kids and your pets. Most of them have big 2 car garages and plenty of storage.
On this web page, I'm going to show you the simple steps you can take to buy a home. These aren't difficult steps… they don't take a lot of your time and, in fact, they can be pretty exciting… especially when you start looking for your new home.
We make it very easy to own your own home… to have a place that you can claim as your own and be a proud homeowner. Nearly every one of our past buyers had been turned down again and again and again by banks and mortgage brokers… even banks that advertised "bad credit okay." They never thought they'd EVER be able to actually buy a home for themselves and their family until they got into our program.
This web page will give you all the details you need to get into your new home in as little as 7 to 10 days.
There is absolutely no charge for this service, we make our money on the sale of the property. There is also no obligation. If you like what you see, great, let us know and we'll get you started and get you the list of properties we have available… if, on the other hand, you decide it's not for you, that's no problem… there's no hard feelings. It's really pretty simple and straight forward.
Well let's get started.
First of all… let me tell you where we buy the properties we offer for sale.
We get lots of calls, every day, from people who have homes they want to sell. If we think these homes will fit the needs of buyers like you, we will purchase these properties and then offer them to our "Registered Buyers."
We buy from sellers who, maybe can't get their houses sold or maybe they just want to sell quickly… there are as many reasons as there are sellers. It doesn't matter to us as long as the deal we make solves the Seller's problem, is profitable for us and is right for one of our "Registered Buyers."
We aren't in the business of taking advantage of distressed Buyers or Sellers. We believe that we make the most money by helping people… and we sleep better at night because of it.
By the way, if you are interested in selling a home, please click here. We will make you an offer on your home within 24 business hours… then you can take your time and decide if that offer is right for you.
So… since we are able to do this, we end up with a lot of properties and we are constantly looking for good people to sell them to. Fortunately for us, because of this web site, we have a ton of people who want to buy our houses. In a minute I'm going to explain how we will structure the home purchase deal with you, but first I want to tell you the second way we can help you find a home.
If what we are offering does not fill your needs or if you feel there is just too much competition between our buyers for the homes we do have, (since we have so many people in our program). If you feel you would like to buy a house that we do not have for sale, we can still help. Here is what you do…
Once you are registered with us, you can also look at every home listed "For Sale By Owner" or "For Rent" that is in the paper or has a sign in the front yard. If you look at these properties and find 3 to 5 that you like, we can usually get on the phone and put together a deal with the seller of at least one of them that will make sense for you. Just let us know which properties you like.
We will negotiate with the seller so that we can structure the purchase in a way that will work for your situation. These turn out to be win-win-win situations for the Seller, for us, the middleman Buyer and for you, the end Buyer.
Okay… now you know how you are going to find your new home… either through the list that we send out every week or by tracking down a "For Sale By Owner" or a "For Rent" property. Now I'm going to move on to…
How We Structure The Deals You Will Be Buying From Us
Here is how we do it. We sell you the property "Rent To Buy."
That means that you are buying the property from us. We lease the property to you for a specific period of time, usually 1-2 years depending on your situation, and during that time you have the option to buy it from us at a price that we both agree upon when you first move in.
You will also pay a "Lease Option Fee" when you move in and buy the house from us. This money will apply to the purchase price of the home and will reduce (usually eliminate) your down payment when you eventually take out a 30 year mortgage with a bank. The minimum "Lease Option Fee" that we accept is $2000 plus the first monthly lease payment. So if the monthly lease amount is $1050 and the "Lease Option Fee" is $2000, you will need $3050 to close the deal and move into the house. Make sense?
Each property is different and has a different "Lease Option Fee" amount. When you register online, just tell us how much you have for the "Lease Option Fee" and we will try to only send you houses that fit those specifications.
For example, if you have $5000 for the "Lease Option Fee," don't ask for the list of $10,000 "Lease Option Fee" properties… it will just disappoint and frustrate you. We encourage you to be realistic about what you can afford, so your payments don't stress you out.
It is our goal to help you eventually qualify for a mortgage and refinance the house, pay us off and put you on the deed. Remember, you do NOT have to qualify for a mortgage now.
We work with a very good, very reputable, very understanding mortgage brokerage… they are "good people" and we'd like you to talk to them. Now, don't misunderstand… we don't expect you to be able to qualify for a mortgage right now… after all, that is probably why you tracked me down and are listening to what I have to say.
What we want to do, is find out how soon you will be able to qualify… for some people, it may only be a few months… for others it may be a year or two years or five. It doesn't matter to us how long it takes, but we don't want to put you into a program that doesn't give you enough time to get on track financially so you can get a loan when the time for that finally comes.
Our mortgage broker is excited about doing your prequalification for a mortgage because they know that they have a good chance of getting your business down the road when you are finally able to take out a loan. They are not going to be nasty to you like so many other mortgage brokers, just because they can't do a loan for you right now… they're like us… in it for the long term.
So that's the first thing we are going to ask you to do… it's a quick phone conversation that takes maybe 20 minutes… you don't even have to go meet with them… and they keep everything 100% confidential.
And by the way, there is nothing that we haven't seen before… you're not going to shock us, no matter how bad your current situation. Remember, there were over 1 million bankruptcies in the United State last year alone… and a lot more people than that have bad credit. Our mortgage broker will just ask you a few questions about your income and your job (or lack thereof), they'll pull your credit report to see if there are any surprises, and then, they'll be able to tell us exactly how long you are going to need before you can get a bank loan.
Just a side note… and this is for maybe 10% of you out there. Sometimes, we discover that you qualify for a home loan right now… you may have thought that you had bad credit, but it turns out after we look at your credit report that the bad things on your credit that you thought were so bad, didn't matter as much as you thought.
If this happens, it's very cool because now your options open up… you can buy virtually any home on the market that is within your price range. Of course, we would still be happy to sell you one of our homes, but we also want to give you the opportunity to see what else is available out there.
What we will do is connect you up with a real estate agent… someone who works with buyers as their main job… someone who isn't pushy, will take the time you need to help you find a property and will hold-your-hand through the process. We look very hard for good agents to connect you with… real pros. This agent will either meet with you in person and sit in front of a computer with you and pull you up listings or email you or they will snail mail you the listings. Whichever you prefer.
But remember… that's only going to be for about 10% of you who are reading this page. What we REALLY do is work with the other 90% of you… that's our expertise.
After you talk to our Mortgage Broker, we will send you an official "Buyer Registration And Qualification" email. You are now officially registered as one of our potential buyers… and remember… all this is FREE and there is absolutely no obligation.
Now comes the fun stuff…
It's Time To Start Looking At Houses
There are two ways that we can do this.
First… we want to sell you our properties. Every time we get a new property in the area you are looking, we'll send you an email.
But here's the rub… we have a lot of people like you who are actively looking for a home… as of last count, it was 183… and we get more every day. So when we get a new home for sale, those homes move pretty quickly.
The problem for us was… how can we be fair about this… and we thought about it for a long time. Who should we notify about our new properties first? Should first notice go to the people who are on our list the longest, the ones who are ready to buy "right now," the ones we think will qualify in the shortest period of time… on and on we went with this and we finally came up with what I think is a pretty fair solution.
We just send the email to everyone at the same time and then it's "first come, first serve." Nothing else matters. First family who wants it, gets it.
Now you may not feel comfortable acting quickly in the beginning and we sure aren't going to push you. We let you tell us when you're ready to go. What happens most of the time is, at first, when folks become "Registered Buyers" they take their time, they look at the properties we have for sale, they let a few pass by them because they weren't exactly what they were looking for or they want to get comfortable with the process.
But then… after a while, our "Registered Buyers" start getting comfortable. They see what is available for the money they can afford, they get to know the different neighborhoods… they get comfortable with us and realize that we are for real and that we do what we say we do and then… that is when they feel comfortable about making an offer on a house on very short notice. We won't push you… only you know if the house is right for you. If it's not, just wait… you may not get that one, but we are always getting new property. We don't want you to be a hasty buyer… only you know your comfort zone.
So… as soon as you get your official "Buyer Registration And Qualification" email, we will start sending you properties to look at. Sometimes we may only have one or two a week… other times, we will have 15 or 20 a week. It all depends on how many houses we bought.
So… we'll email you the address of the property and a brief description of it. If it looks interesting to you at all, we encourage you to go see it immediately. Drive by… we find that 75% of the time, you can tell if a house is for you by looking at the exterior and the yard and the neighborhood… or maybe it's more accurate to say that you can tell that it's NOT for you, by looking at the outside.
If it looks interesting to you, then it's time to take action and call us. One of our people will schedule a time that is convenient for you both and show you the property. They will get you inside so you can look around at your leisure… check out the condition; get a feel for the size and the layout.
Then, just sit down on the couch or the floor and soak it in and decide if this house feels like home. If it does… if it pushes your buttons… and you'll know when it does… something magic happens when you find a house that you know is going to be YOUR home. When you decide, then it's time to take the next step.
Before I go any further, let me ask you for a favor in advance. If you drive to the house without one of our representatives, please do NOT knock on the door. Someone may be living in the house… it may be the previous owner who hasn't moved out yet, it may be a tenant who is entitled to their privacy. Please, I ask again, do not disturb the tenant. It just creates lots of problems for us because we have so many people looking at these properties… it's not fair to those folks if people are knocking on their door all day.
Okay… let's move to the next step. It's time to fill out the paper work. When you meet with our representative to view the property, they will bring all of the necessary paperwork. When you say, "We want it!"…our representative will fill it out and explain it to you.
It explains the move-in date, the price, the terms, the monthly payment, the length of the option and it lays out who is responsible for what, in the agreement and what happens if one of us defaults on the agreement. One of the valuable things we do is treat you like the owner as soon as you move in. We pretty much trust you to take care of the property like it was yours… after all, you are buying it… you just haven't got the deed yet. It is in our best interest to see you succeed in the purchase of this home and that, by the way, is how we make the most money. It's also a lot of fun to have happy campers around.
Now… If you don't understand the paperwork, please feel free to take it to your attorney before you sign it. We will NOT pressure you to buy. We want you to be 100% comfortable with your decision. This is a legally binding agreement and you only want to sign it if you are fully and completely aware of what you are agreeing to.
Our representative has the authority to okay you as the new buyer of the home, but the only way the agreement is sealed is when you transfer the funds for the "Lease Option Fee" and the first month's payment. We only accept certified funds to activate the purchase agreement… for example: a wire transfer, a cashiers check or a certified check… we can not take cash.
The reason we do this is because we do not want to tie up the property in an agreement with someone who ends up not being able to come up with the money or who needs more time to make a decision. We may have others waiting in line for a chance at that property and it's not fair to them if we let someone tie up a property without being truly serious or capable of closing. As I mentioned before, it really is "first come, first served." With that said, you might want to drive to your bank with our representative, right then and there when you sign the agreements and have a cashiers check drawn up to "secure" the property for you and culminate the deal.
With all that said about "Securing" the property… just remember, that we don't want you to feel pressured to make a decision before you are ready… we will always get more properties next week if you aren't 100% sure of this one.
Well that's it. I hope I've answered all of your questions. If not, feel free to email us. The only thing you need to do to get started is just scroll down the page and fill out the online form. It asks a few basic questions, gets your contact information and helps us get you on the right path. Make sure to give us your primary email address. We have had a lot of problem with free accounts like hotmail and yahoo and we've also had problems getting email through to AOL addresses. If that's all you've got, that's okay, but we want to make sure you get the house listings when we send them out.
Hopefully the things you've learned from this program has convinced you that what we offer is real, that we are real people with a desire to help you achieve your goals. I tell all of the people who work with me that, as a company, we are here to solve problems. "The more people we help, the more money we make." Yes, we are in it for the money… this isn't a charity, but it's funny how the more you give, the more you get. It's Karma and the Golden Rule all rolled up together. We will do our best to help you find your dream home… but now it's your turn… it's time for you to take action.
Just scroll down the web page and fill out the "Buyer Questionnaire." It will only take 5 minutes… 5 minutes that can change your life. As soon as you do, the wheels start turning and our little machine goes into action for you exactly like I laid it out. Remember, this "Buyer Registration" is 100% free. You are not obligated to buy our properties in any way… as a matter of fact we don't want you to buy our properties if they aren't right for you.
Thank you for reading this (rather long) web page. Your dream of home ownership can finally be realized if you just take action and get started now by filling out the form.
Whatever you decide, I wish you the very best of all good things.
Best Wishes,