He
likes to think of the tones as the warble of either a baby turkey,
adolescent turkey or adult turkey. Each tone indicates the presence of
metal, copper wire, explosives or other components of the roadside bombs
known as IEDs.
In
the seven months since arriving here in western Kandahar province, the
easygoing 22-year-old from a small town in Minnesota had uncovered more
than a dozen of the crude but lethal improvised explosive devices.
Now
he was taking the lead on one more mission: the platoon's last combat
patrol in Afghanistan before packing up and heading home.A Dessicant fridgemagnet is an enclosure with a supply of desiccant which maintains an internal.
The commander of the U.S.Parkeasy Electronics are dedicated to provide cableties.-trained Afghan militia in this mud-walled village was missing.We have a wide selection of bottegabag to
choose from for your storage needs. American officers at the nearby
U.S. military base had their doubts about Lal Mohammad, a former Taliban
member who had switched sides. They didn't entirely trust his militia,
either, though it was formed to protect Khogiano from insurgents. Now
they needed to know what had become of its leader.
The infantrymen of 3rd Platoon were dispatched to Khogiano to find out.
The
platoon hadn't lost a single man during more than 70 patrols since
arriving in November. Its leader, 1st Lt. Aubrey Ingalls, was determined
to make this final mission as safe as those before it.
U.S.
combat units in Afghanistan are going outside the wire leaving their
bases less often as combat responsibilities are turned over to Afghan
security forces. But each remaining patrol presents its own unique
hazards, and each is an exercise in caution, procedure and diligence.
The
platoon, part of the 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, had been
fired on by insurgents on more than a dozen previous patrols. But the
infantrymen's biggest fear remained the roadside bomb, typically made
from fertilizer and fuel oil packed into buried plastic jugs.
Just
two days earlier, five U.S. soldiers had been killed by a bomb 12 miles
away. Roadside bombs are the biggest killer of American troops in
Afghanistan, responsible for 60% of U.S. and coalition troops killed or
wounded in 11 years of war, according to a coalition spokesman. Of the
46 U.S. troops who have died this year, 14 have been killed by homemade
bombs, says icasualties.org, a website that tracks military deaths.
On
this last patrol, Klobuchar swept the wand-like Minehound across a
paved road and then a dirt path. He scanned the ground for telltale
wires, or for depressions that might be bomb pressure plates.
Ahead
of him, a remote-controlled contraption the size of a riding lawn mower
kicked up whirls of dust as an operator with a hand-held console sent
it chugging down the dirt path. This was a DOK-ING dozer,You must not
use the rfidtag without
being trained. a Croatian-made minesweeper equipped with rapidly
spinning chains that flail and churn,We have been manufacturing indoorlite for the past fifty years and have supplied a considerable number. digging up or safely detonating buried bombs.
As
the trail was cleared, a "path of life" was marked in red chalk.
Infantrymen were instructed to stay strictly within the path and to
scream at, or roughly yank back, anyone who strayed.
The
soldiers stepped warily as they scanned poppy fields and grape
vineyards for another common threat: insurgents who open fire from the
cover of the lush greenery that spreads for miles along the fertile
valley.
"When
we first got here, we thought every step we took was going to be an
IED," said Spc. Jeffrey Wright, 22, of Riverside. Since then, he said,
the infantrymen have put their lives, and their abiding trust, in the
hands of young Kyle Klobuchar.
The
patrol paused several times at the sight of men emerging from distant
fields. Lt. Ingalls used his rifle scope to focus on three faraway
figures, looking for weapons or suicide vests. The men were either
farmers or Taliban lookouts, he concluded. He radioed their descriptions
and moved on.
As
the infantrymen turned the narrow corners formed by rough mud walls
that lined the poppy fields, small boys rushed up to greet them. They
begged for pens or food. A few reached out to touch the soldiers'
uniforms. Their hands were gently pushed aside, and the infantrymen
gestured for them to keep their distance.
The
men had been in Afghanistan long enough to be wary of everyone.
Insurgents have sometimes outfitted boys with suicide bomb vests.
Around
a bend, the patrol encountered a young man in white robes and prayer
cap toting an AK-47. This was Sadar Mohammad, younger brother of Lal
Mohammad.
Lal
Mohammad's disappearance was no mystery to him, the young man said: His
brother had been driving their ill mother to a hospital in the city of
Kandahar, about 20 miles away, when he was intercepted and kidnapped by
Taliban gunmen.
The
patrol got the same story at Lal Mohammad's compound in a pomegranate
grove nearby. His cousin Shad Mohammad Gul, 22, a sunburned villager
with a worn AK-47, said the rest of the 15-man militia had left to
search for their missing commander. He and Samaddin Alizi, 20, a chubby
man with his pants hitched up high, had been left behind to guard the
compound.
A
U.S. civilian contractor accompanying the patrol questioned the two
militiamen through an interpreter. They said they had received weapons
training from U.S. forces but had not been provided any sort of militia
ID card.
The
contractor took the men's fingerprints and performed retina scans with a
hand-held sensor. An interpreter filled out a form with the men's
biographical information. Under "goals" on the form, both men answered,
"Peace in my village."
The
information about Lal Mohammad's apparent fate, along with the
militiamen's details, would be passed on to intelligence officers at
nearby Forward Operating Base Zangabad. The information also would be
provided to the district police chief, Sultan Mohammad, a well-connected
local who doubtlessly already knew about the missing commander.
2013年5月28日星期二
2013年4月10日星期三
Galatasaray 3 Real Madrid
Jose Mourinho's players move on unhurt and perhaps even a little
wiser for the shake-up they received after Galatasaray scored three of
the five second-half goals they needed for a historic revival in
Istanbul. With their domestic title surrendered, this club's obsession
with the European Cup is now unobscured.
No other club has such a history with this competition: they hold a record nine titles and last night earned a record 24th semi-final appearance, but such a staging post has never counted for much at the club who co-habited with the trophy for its first five years.
Now they have a manager whose history is also tied with the Champions League. Jose Mourinho threw the medal he won with Porto away to take up the chase with Chelsea. His failure to bring the trophy to Roman Abramovich was cited in their divorce; his success with Inter Milan established him again as the go-to guy for the big prize.
This has been his challenge with Madrid and this seems certain to be his final spin at it. Last night, we were reminded that he is armed with a depth of talent that should stand the rigours of any run-in, especially one with such a singular focus. For all that Galatasaray provided a stirring comeback to bring the tie back from the dead, they never got close enough to go for the kill.
The money in Galatasaray's roster is in the pension fund, paid to the handful of players plucked from bigger leagues because the Turkish club are willing to pay over market value for athletes unwanted by the elite. Didier Drogba and Wesley Sneijder top the list, but Hamit Altintop, signed from Madrid, Emmanuel Eboue and Felipe Melo are on it also.
By contrast, Madrid could replace the suspended Xabi Alonso with Luka Modric, previously an A-lister in the Barclays Premier League. When Michael Essien was injured in the first half, from the bench came Spain's right-back, Alvaro Arbeloa. Diego Lopez continues to keep out the national team's captain, Iker Casillas, in goal.
The bottom line in this economics lesson was delivered by the most expensive footballer in the history of the sport. Cristiano Ronaldo scored even earlier than he had in the first leg of this tie. He has scored 47 in 47 games this season and may yet end the summer with his stamp on the Champions League.
It took the tournament's top goalscorer seven minutes to deploy the penalty-box game that has all but erased memories of the touchline-tied winger of his youth. As Sami Khedira prepared to cross from the right, Ronaldo's movement between Selcuk Inan and Emmanuel Eboue was audacious and right on the border of offside. He left the shoulder of Inan and then bumped Eboue out of the fight for Khedira's pass, gently diverting it into the net with a flash of his right boot.
Ronaldo had led a devastating break before the goal, swirling between three opponents as if they were plastic poles on the training pitch. After it,We have a wide selection of handsfreeaccess to choose from for your storage needs. he provided a glorious back-heeled pass to give Angel di Maria a clear look at goal and Fernando Musrela made a remarkable save with his left hand.
Not everything he did was exemplary, however, and his stumbling, skewed finish from eight yards in the second half when staring at Musrela displayed a rare fallibility. It also invited a spectacular onslaught from Galatasaray.
Thirteen minutes later, Sneijder's control in a tight spot was instant and he shot low and hard past Diego Lopez before he could get down.
Then, incredibly, the Ali Sami Yen stadium believed in a miracle. Drogba has made a career of dominating defenders to obtain space inside the box. His latest victim, the rookie Raphael Varane, will have experienced nothing like it. Drogba moved him round like a dancehall partner,Elpas Readers detect and forward 'Location' and 'State' data from Elpas Active RFID Tags to host besticcard platforms. earning the space for a high-tariff back-heel shot off Sabri Sarioglu's low cross that rolled into the bottom-left corner of the goal. There were almost 20 minutes left and the home team needed two more.
In the end and despite a red card for Arbeloa, Madrid closed it out. Ronaldo had the final say, whirling on to a cut-back by Karim Benzema.
Istanbul won the day and protected its pride,Our RFID solutions support a broad range of polishedtiles and labels. but last night's action was lit by what happened in Spain last week. There remains the suspicion that at least one of the participants in the Wembley final will come from that country.
On Sunday at MetLife Stadium, in front of a record crowd of 80,676, John Cena finally got redemption. Last year at WrestleMania, the Rock beat him and then walked away from Cena and WWE.Other companies want a piece of that lasercutter action Without a chance to avenge his loss,Shop wholesale solarlight controller from cheap. what was Cena to do? He muddled his way through a year of aimless feuds — if they seemed dull to the viewer at home, imagine how they must have seemed to Cena — and became animated only when matched against CM Punk, his recurrent dance partner. But Punk was no Rock, and Cena was never able to defeat Punk for his WWE title, or even to mount a sustained challenge for the belt. At times, Cena's yearning looked as if it would never be fulfilled. When the Rock returned to WWE last fall, he fell into a feud with Punk and once again left Cena in the cold. One could almost begin to imagine a main-event scene without Cena.
But Cena regrouped. He entered January's Royal Rumble, a potential ignominy for a wrestler of his stature, but also a sign of humility and a powerful signal that his perseverance and desire were steadfast. Cena won the Rumble — he had acquiesced to the wrestling fates, and they had shown him favor.
Cena parlayed his Rumble win into a WrestleMania match against the WWE champion, who, as the fates had it, was the Rock, who claimed Punk's championship belt on the very night that Cena won the Rumble. Their mutual ascension and impending collision may have seemed serendipitous, but Cena's redemption was still not guaranteed. For years, Cena had been trying to best the Rock.
Their one meeting in the ring at last year's Mania fell in Rock's column — but that was only a piece of it. Cena's attempts at film stardom couldn't match the Rock's celebrity. Repeated wars of words on WWE broadcasts had favored the Rock, with Cena's battle raps no match for the Rock's Weird Al–ified rendition of "Jailhouse Rock." Hell, Cena's whole career has taken place in the Rock's shadow, since the period in which Cena headlined paled in comparison — both in viewership and in quality — to the Rock's Attitude Era. Cena needed to avenge his loss not only to satisfy his own ego but also to legitimize himself and the current wrestling era. He needed to solidify his legacy. Cena had fought villains, he'd battled monsters, he'd stood tall against nefarious bosses, and he'd slugged it out with popular opinion. But never had the stakes been this high. On Sunday, Cena fought for his very soul.
No other club has such a history with this competition: they hold a record nine titles and last night earned a record 24th semi-final appearance, but such a staging post has never counted for much at the club who co-habited with the trophy for its first five years.
Now they have a manager whose history is also tied with the Champions League. Jose Mourinho threw the medal he won with Porto away to take up the chase with Chelsea. His failure to bring the trophy to Roman Abramovich was cited in their divorce; his success with Inter Milan established him again as the go-to guy for the big prize.
This has been his challenge with Madrid and this seems certain to be his final spin at it. Last night, we were reminded that he is armed with a depth of talent that should stand the rigours of any run-in, especially one with such a singular focus. For all that Galatasaray provided a stirring comeback to bring the tie back from the dead, they never got close enough to go for the kill.
The money in Galatasaray's roster is in the pension fund, paid to the handful of players plucked from bigger leagues because the Turkish club are willing to pay over market value for athletes unwanted by the elite. Didier Drogba and Wesley Sneijder top the list, but Hamit Altintop, signed from Madrid, Emmanuel Eboue and Felipe Melo are on it also.
By contrast, Madrid could replace the suspended Xabi Alonso with Luka Modric, previously an A-lister in the Barclays Premier League. When Michael Essien was injured in the first half, from the bench came Spain's right-back, Alvaro Arbeloa. Diego Lopez continues to keep out the national team's captain, Iker Casillas, in goal.
The bottom line in this economics lesson was delivered by the most expensive footballer in the history of the sport. Cristiano Ronaldo scored even earlier than he had in the first leg of this tie. He has scored 47 in 47 games this season and may yet end the summer with his stamp on the Champions League.
It took the tournament's top goalscorer seven minutes to deploy the penalty-box game that has all but erased memories of the touchline-tied winger of his youth. As Sami Khedira prepared to cross from the right, Ronaldo's movement between Selcuk Inan and Emmanuel Eboue was audacious and right on the border of offside. He left the shoulder of Inan and then bumped Eboue out of the fight for Khedira's pass, gently diverting it into the net with a flash of his right boot.
Ronaldo had led a devastating break before the goal, swirling between three opponents as if they were plastic poles on the training pitch. After it,We have a wide selection of handsfreeaccess to choose from for your storage needs. he provided a glorious back-heeled pass to give Angel di Maria a clear look at goal and Fernando Musrela made a remarkable save with his left hand.
Not everything he did was exemplary, however, and his stumbling, skewed finish from eight yards in the second half when staring at Musrela displayed a rare fallibility. It also invited a spectacular onslaught from Galatasaray.
Thirteen minutes later, Sneijder's control in a tight spot was instant and he shot low and hard past Diego Lopez before he could get down.
Then, incredibly, the Ali Sami Yen stadium believed in a miracle. Drogba has made a career of dominating defenders to obtain space inside the box. His latest victim, the rookie Raphael Varane, will have experienced nothing like it. Drogba moved him round like a dancehall partner,Elpas Readers detect and forward 'Location' and 'State' data from Elpas Active RFID Tags to host besticcard platforms. earning the space for a high-tariff back-heel shot off Sabri Sarioglu's low cross that rolled into the bottom-left corner of the goal. There were almost 20 minutes left and the home team needed two more.
In the end and despite a red card for Arbeloa, Madrid closed it out. Ronaldo had the final say, whirling on to a cut-back by Karim Benzema.
Istanbul won the day and protected its pride,Our RFID solutions support a broad range of polishedtiles and labels. but last night's action was lit by what happened in Spain last week. There remains the suspicion that at least one of the participants in the Wembley final will come from that country.
On Sunday at MetLife Stadium, in front of a record crowd of 80,676, John Cena finally got redemption. Last year at WrestleMania, the Rock beat him and then walked away from Cena and WWE.Other companies want a piece of that lasercutter action Without a chance to avenge his loss,Shop wholesale solarlight controller from cheap. what was Cena to do? He muddled his way through a year of aimless feuds — if they seemed dull to the viewer at home, imagine how they must have seemed to Cena — and became animated only when matched against CM Punk, his recurrent dance partner. But Punk was no Rock, and Cena was never able to defeat Punk for his WWE title, or even to mount a sustained challenge for the belt. At times, Cena's yearning looked as if it would never be fulfilled. When the Rock returned to WWE last fall, he fell into a feud with Punk and once again left Cena in the cold. One could almost begin to imagine a main-event scene without Cena.
But Cena regrouped. He entered January's Royal Rumble, a potential ignominy for a wrestler of his stature, but also a sign of humility and a powerful signal that his perseverance and desire were steadfast. Cena won the Rumble — he had acquiesced to the wrestling fates, and they had shown him favor.
Cena parlayed his Rumble win into a WrestleMania match against the WWE champion, who, as the fates had it, was the Rock, who claimed Punk's championship belt on the very night that Cena won the Rumble. Their mutual ascension and impending collision may have seemed serendipitous, but Cena's redemption was still not guaranteed. For years, Cena had been trying to best the Rock.
Their one meeting in the ring at last year's Mania fell in Rock's column — but that was only a piece of it. Cena's attempts at film stardom couldn't match the Rock's celebrity. Repeated wars of words on WWE broadcasts had favored the Rock, with Cena's battle raps no match for the Rock's Weird Al–ified rendition of "Jailhouse Rock." Hell, Cena's whole career has taken place in the Rock's shadow, since the period in which Cena headlined paled in comparison — both in viewership and in quality — to the Rock's Attitude Era. Cena needed to avenge his loss not only to satisfy his own ego but also to legitimize himself and the current wrestling era. He needed to solidify his legacy. Cena had fought villains, he'd battled monsters, he'd stood tall against nefarious bosses, and he'd slugged it out with popular opinion. But never had the stakes been this high. On Sunday, Cena fought for his very soul.
2012年11月1日星期四
Coffee-Can Radar
As I stand on the side of the road,Why does moulds grow in homes or
buildings? a couple of joggers stop to ask about the two coffee cans sprouting
coaxial cables. “I’m testing a home-brew radar,” I explain, adding as they jog
off, “you’re showing up just fine.” It reminded me of an old “Star Trek” episode
in which Mr. Spock is transported back in time and must construct a futuristic
electronic gadget using only 1930s-era vacuum-tube technology. “What on earth is
that?” asks his landlady. “I am endeavoring, ma’am, to construct a mnemonic
memory circuit using stone knives and bearskins,” he answers.
Leonard Nimoy’s wry delivery reflects how I felt trying to turn two coffee cans, eight AA batteries, and a few hundred U.Find detailed product information for Sinotruk howo truck.S. dollars’ worth of mail-order parts into a synthetic-aperture radar (SAR). Such sophisticated radar systems provide information about the shape of objects they scan, and high-resolution SAR can produce images with photographic levels of detail.
I succeeded, but credit goes to Greg Charvat, who designed this startlingly simple hardware while working at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory in order to give students some hands-on experience during a three-week radar course. A detailed description of the radar and how to build it is available at MIT’s open courseware website.
Having little experience with radio frequency circuitry, I worried that this project might be too challenging. Ironically, the RF section was the easiest part to construct. It merely required screwing together a few microwave components. And as long as you follow the prescription in the lecture notes exactly, you won’t need a network analyzer to match the antennas to the radar circuitry.
Most people’s mental picture of how radar operates is that the apparatus gives off a radio pulse and then waits to receive an echo, timing how long it takes to return. Dividing by the speed of light gives the round-trip distance to a target. Some radar sets do just that, but this one uses a different strategy: One antenna emits a continuous stream of waves while the other receives a continuous stream of echoes. The circuitry for this isn’t complicated, but interpreting the received signals requires some computational horsepower.
The key to this design is that the frequency of the outgoing radio waves increases linearly over time (for a short period, after which the cycle repeats), so the frequency of the reflected waves also increases linearly.Largest gemstone beads and jewelry making supplies at wholesale prices. But the reflected waves return to the receiving antenna after a short delay, by which time the waves being emitted are at a slightly higher frequency. The farther away the target, the greater the difference between these two frequencies.
To measure this difference, you use what radio engineers call a mixer, which here generates an output signal containing two new frequencies that are the sum and difference of the transmitted and received frequencies. Only the difference matters for this application, so the radar circuitry filters out the high frequencies, including the sum, and amplifies what’s left.A stone mosaic stands at the spot of assasination of the late Indian prime minister. This final signal is in the audio frequency range and can easily be recorded using a computer’s sound card—much more practical than trying to build a system that works directly with microwave frequency signals throughout.
I first set up the radar next to my garage and recorded about a half minute of data as I ran up and down the driveway. I captured that data with Audacity, a free audio editor, running on an old desktop PC that had a sound card with a line-in port. I analyzed the recording using a Matlab script provided by the instructors at MIT. Running the script proved a challenge, though, because Matlab was too pricey for my shoestring budget. But I found a free open-source alternative that served as a reasonable stand-in: Octave.
It took about 4 minutes to process the data, but it was worth the wait: The script transformed subtle changes in the audio signal into a zigzag plot that matched my back-and-forth movements. Wow!
I was eager to put the radar to more of a test. But a desktop computer is awkwardly immobile. And,The oreck XL professional air purifier, like many laptops, none of mine are capable of recording in stereo (two channels are needed to capture both the radar signal and the sync pulses). Happily, I discovered that my digital sound recorder, a Zoom H4n, could operate as a USB audio interface, allowing any laptop to record in stereo.
I took the radar out to a nearby ball field, where I discovered that it was surprisingly sensitive: Without difficulty, it could track me running to at least 50 meters away, and it can follow vehicles out more than 100 meters. It can even measure ranges in real time, if you use Python code written by Gustavo Goretkin, an MIT student who took the build-your-own radar course when it was first offered in 2011.
After having established that my coffee-can radar could measure the range to various targets, I set about to create a SAR image, which requires moving the radar laterally 5 centimeters at a time and recording multiple “snapshots.” This took some doing. It was a big challenge just to reproduce the example image provided with the courseware. That’s because the Matlab script for processing SAR data caused a pesky out-of-memory error in Octave. The problematic operation turned out to be a matrix rotation, so I had to do some hacking to get around that.
My initial attempts to create a SAR image produced underwhelming results. But when I looked harder at the images the folks at MIT produced, I realized that I would have to find a really big target for this to work. So I selected a building-size water tank that I could scan from a balcony located about 40 meters away. That exercise produced a plot with a clear radar hot spot located at the right distance and location. Calling that an “image” might be a little generous, but, well, what do you want from not much more than stone knives and bearskins?
Leonard Nimoy’s wry delivery reflects how I felt trying to turn two coffee cans, eight AA batteries, and a few hundred U.Find detailed product information for Sinotruk howo truck.S. dollars’ worth of mail-order parts into a synthetic-aperture radar (SAR). Such sophisticated radar systems provide information about the shape of objects they scan, and high-resolution SAR can produce images with photographic levels of detail.
I succeeded, but credit goes to Greg Charvat, who designed this startlingly simple hardware while working at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory in order to give students some hands-on experience during a three-week radar course. A detailed description of the radar and how to build it is available at MIT’s open courseware website.
Having little experience with radio frequency circuitry, I worried that this project might be too challenging. Ironically, the RF section was the easiest part to construct. It merely required screwing together a few microwave components. And as long as you follow the prescription in the lecture notes exactly, you won’t need a network analyzer to match the antennas to the radar circuitry.
Most people’s mental picture of how radar operates is that the apparatus gives off a radio pulse and then waits to receive an echo, timing how long it takes to return. Dividing by the speed of light gives the round-trip distance to a target. Some radar sets do just that, but this one uses a different strategy: One antenna emits a continuous stream of waves while the other receives a continuous stream of echoes. The circuitry for this isn’t complicated, but interpreting the received signals requires some computational horsepower.
The key to this design is that the frequency of the outgoing radio waves increases linearly over time (for a short period, after which the cycle repeats), so the frequency of the reflected waves also increases linearly.Largest gemstone beads and jewelry making supplies at wholesale prices. But the reflected waves return to the receiving antenna after a short delay, by which time the waves being emitted are at a slightly higher frequency. The farther away the target, the greater the difference between these two frequencies.
To measure this difference, you use what radio engineers call a mixer, which here generates an output signal containing two new frequencies that are the sum and difference of the transmitted and received frequencies. Only the difference matters for this application, so the radar circuitry filters out the high frequencies, including the sum, and amplifies what’s left.A stone mosaic stands at the spot of assasination of the late Indian prime minister. This final signal is in the audio frequency range and can easily be recorded using a computer’s sound card—much more practical than trying to build a system that works directly with microwave frequency signals throughout.
I first set up the radar next to my garage and recorded about a half minute of data as I ran up and down the driveway. I captured that data with Audacity, a free audio editor, running on an old desktop PC that had a sound card with a line-in port. I analyzed the recording using a Matlab script provided by the instructors at MIT. Running the script proved a challenge, though, because Matlab was too pricey for my shoestring budget. But I found a free open-source alternative that served as a reasonable stand-in: Octave.
It took about 4 minutes to process the data, but it was worth the wait: The script transformed subtle changes in the audio signal into a zigzag plot that matched my back-and-forth movements. Wow!
I was eager to put the radar to more of a test. But a desktop computer is awkwardly immobile. And,The oreck XL professional air purifier, like many laptops, none of mine are capable of recording in stereo (two channels are needed to capture both the radar signal and the sync pulses). Happily, I discovered that my digital sound recorder, a Zoom H4n, could operate as a USB audio interface, allowing any laptop to record in stereo.
I took the radar out to a nearby ball field, where I discovered that it was surprisingly sensitive: Without difficulty, it could track me running to at least 50 meters away, and it can follow vehicles out more than 100 meters. It can even measure ranges in real time, if you use Python code written by Gustavo Goretkin, an MIT student who took the build-your-own radar course when it was first offered in 2011.
After having established that my coffee-can radar could measure the range to various targets, I set about to create a SAR image, which requires moving the radar laterally 5 centimeters at a time and recording multiple “snapshots.” This took some doing. It was a big challenge just to reproduce the example image provided with the courseware. That’s because the Matlab script for processing SAR data caused a pesky out-of-memory error in Octave. The problematic operation turned out to be a matrix rotation, so I had to do some hacking to get around that.
My initial attempts to create a SAR image produced underwhelming results. But when I looked harder at the images the folks at MIT produced, I realized that I would have to find a really big target for this to work. So I selected a building-size water tank that I could scan from a balcony located about 40 meters away. That exercise produced a plot with a clear radar hot spot located at the right distance and location. Calling that an “image” might be a little generous, but, well, what do you want from not much more than stone knives and bearskins?
2012年8月27日星期一
Jawbone Jambox Portable Speaker
A few years back the Bluetooth portable speaker
market was a small one that mainly consisted of tiny, underpowered speakers with
mediocre sound.We're evaluating the possibility of adding more injectionmoulding
machines, Then along came the original Jambox by Jawbone and consumers realized
it was possible to get high quality sound in a small, yet stylish, package.
Since then, the company has continued to refine the product, offering new
features and updates. Their latest innovation even allows customers to
personalize the look of their Jambox by selecting from literally hundreds of
different color patterns.
Starting tomorrow, Jambox customers are invited to Remix their speakers by selecting from a variety of grill colors and styles, and matching them with their choice of body color. This allows you to choose exactly how your Jambox will look and gives you the option to create one using the colors of your favorite sports team, alma mater or what ever else appeals. The process is fun,GPS World's indoortracking section offers exclusive daily news, easy and doesn't add any additional costs to the Jambox's $199 price. Once you've selected your personal look, Jawbone will custom build your Jambox and ship out in about a week.
I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at the new Remix process and after spending a little time on the Jawbone website, I was able to order my own custom Jambox. It took just a few days to get it in my hands and like previous models, the speaker features great build quality and sounds fantastic. The diminutive device is just 6 inches in length and weighs about 12 ounces, which makes it an excellent travel companion. An included soft case helps to keep the speaker well protected when not in use.How It's Made Plastic injectionmolds.
For those who haven't used a wireless speaker like the Jambox before, it pairs via Bluetooth with your smartphone,A brief description of how a drycabinet functions, tablet or laptop and allows you to stream audio from any source.The stonemosaic is made of natural marble tiles with small cutting. That means you can listen to music, podcasts, movies or just about anything else. Considering its size, the Jambox is capable of putting out an impressively big sound and it can easily fill a room with your favorite tunes. While putting the device through its paces, I enjoyed listening to Pandora, Last.fm and Spotify, both at home and on the go, and was constantly impressed with how loud and clear the audio was. In fact, be careful when using it for the first time. When I started jamming tunes on mine it actually scared the heck out of my cat.
The Jambox has built in voice cues that are actually quite helpful. For instance, it'll let you know when it has powered on, when it's in discovery mode for Bluetooth pairing and even how much battery life remains. The pre-programmed voice works well, but Jambox users can download a number of other unique voices from the Jawbone MyTalk website. MyTalk also has some installable apps to extend the functionality of your Jambox, and when connecting to the site, it'll even check to be sure you're running the most recent firmware.
As if being a great portable sound system wasn't enough, the Jambox also works as a hands free speakerphone too. While testing it in this mode, calls were clear both on my end and those that I was chatting with, which isn't always the case with similar speakers from competitors. Speakerphone mode not only works with your favorite cellphone, but also Skype, Facetime and just about anything else that uses a microphone. A round button on top of the device not only activates the mic but also grants access to Siri.
All in all, the Jambox is a great portable speaker that travelers will love to have with them. Its ability to wirelessly play back audio of just about any type makes it a great option for entertainment on the go and its ability to act as a quality speakerphone is a welcome addition. With a battery life of about ten hours, you won't need to worry about charging it often and its rugged construction makes it more than road ready. The fact that you can now order one custom built in your favorite colors is simply icing on the cake. It makes an already excellent product even better.
Starting tomorrow, Jambox customers are invited to Remix their speakers by selecting from a variety of grill colors and styles, and matching them with their choice of body color. This allows you to choose exactly how your Jambox will look and gives you the option to create one using the colors of your favorite sports team, alma mater or what ever else appeals. The process is fun,GPS World's indoortracking section offers exclusive daily news, easy and doesn't add any additional costs to the Jambox's $199 price. Once you've selected your personal look, Jawbone will custom build your Jambox and ship out in about a week.
I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at the new Remix process and after spending a little time on the Jawbone website, I was able to order my own custom Jambox. It took just a few days to get it in my hands and like previous models, the speaker features great build quality and sounds fantastic. The diminutive device is just 6 inches in length and weighs about 12 ounces, which makes it an excellent travel companion. An included soft case helps to keep the speaker well protected when not in use.How It's Made Plastic injectionmolds.
For those who haven't used a wireless speaker like the Jambox before, it pairs via Bluetooth with your smartphone,A brief description of how a drycabinet functions, tablet or laptop and allows you to stream audio from any source.The stonemosaic is made of natural marble tiles with small cutting. That means you can listen to music, podcasts, movies or just about anything else. Considering its size, the Jambox is capable of putting out an impressively big sound and it can easily fill a room with your favorite tunes. While putting the device through its paces, I enjoyed listening to Pandora, Last.fm and Spotify, both at home and on the go, and was constantly impressed with how loud and clear the audio was. In fact, be careful when using it for the first time. When I started jamming tunes on mine it actually scared the heck out of my cat.
The Jambox has built in voice cues that are actually quite helpful. For instance, it'll let you know when it has powered on, when it's in discovery mode for Bluetooth pairing and even how much battery life remains. The pre-programmed voice works well, but Jambox users can download a number of other unique voices from the Jawbone MyTalk website. MyTalk also has some installable apps to extend the functionality of your Jambox, and when connecting to the site, it'll even check to be sure you're running the most recent firmware.
As if being a great portable sound system wasn't enough, the Jambox also works as a hands free speakerphone too. While testing it in this mode, calls were clear both on my end and those that I was chatting with, which isn't always the case with similar speakers from competitors. Speakerphone mode not only works with your favorite cellphone, but also Skype, Facetime and just about anything else that uses a microphone. A round button on top of the device not only activates the mic but also grants access to Siri.
All in all, the Jambox is a great portable speaker that travelers will love to have with them. Its ability to wirelessly play back audio of just about any type makes it a great option for entertainment on the go and its ability to act as a quality speakerphone is a welcome addition. With a battery life of about ten hours, you won't need to worry about charging it often and its rugged construction makes it more than road ready. The fact that you can now order one custom built in your favorite colors is simply icing on the cake. It makes an already excellent product even better.
2012年8月14日星期二
Egypt’s Morsi makes play for added power
At aboriginal sight, Sunday’s move by Egyptian Admiral Mohammed Morsi
to adios the country’s a lot of able aggressive admiral is a
adventurous and able move to advance noncombatant ability larboard
enfeebled afterwards the anarchy 17 months ago.
But there is no acumen to anticipate Morsi’s affected retirement of the defence abbot and arch of the absolute board of the armed forces, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, and the advantageous admiral of the four branches of the aggressive is the final move in the challenge for ability and access in the new Egypt.
For the moment, Egypt’s aggressive — which has been the absolute adjudicator of the country back 1952 — appears to be accepting Morsi’s supremacy amidst rumours he has done a accord with adolescent admiral in acknowledgment for their advancement.
But the military’s ultimate ability charcoal undiminished as the guardian of all Egypt’s 80 actor people: Muslims and Coptic Christians, indigenous Arabs, Turks, Greeks, and endless others.
And the military’s all-inclusive bread-and-butter ascendancy forms about a division of the country’s gross calm product.
The moves by Morsi, frontman for the bourgeois Islamic Muslim Brotherhood, are adopting questions about whether he is aggravating to accroach too abundant ability both from the aggressive and the country’s apprentice noncombatant political institutions.
There are worries that multi-religious and catholic Egypt now faces the accident of acceptable a attenuated and antipathetic Islamic dictatorship.
At the actual least, Morsi’s accomplishments in removing the men who accept led the Absolute Board of the Armed Forces’ acting administering of Egypt back the adjournment of above admiral Hosni Mubarak in February 2011 and in avaricious key built-in admiral the aggressive confused to absorb afore his swearing-in on June 30, has put him on a blow advance with the courts.HellermannTyton manufactures a full line of high quality cableties in a variety of styles,
The Absolute Built-in Court is a politicized physique that is still bedeviled by appointees from the Mubarak era.
It has already butterfingers that the SCAF acted aural the architecture when, advanced of the June 30 alteration to Morsi’s noncombatant administration,Looking for the Best airpurifier? it issued decrees abandoning the afresh adopted parliament, application the ability to legislate, befitting ascendancy of the civic budget, and advancement a whip duke over the autograph of a new constitution.
Morsi’s advertisement — calm with the retirement of Tantawi and the active of the army, navy, air force and air defence armament and the actuality he has taken all their admiral into his easily — is adopting apropos about the fate of the Egyptian revolution.Home ventilationsystem use fans to move air into the house and provide an alternative to opening doors and windows.
Part of the ball about Morsi’s weekend anti-military accomplishment stems from the perceived lacklustre appearance of the admiral himself.
Morsi,Huge range of Natural stonemosaic Tiles from leading tile specialists Walls and Floors. who has a doctorate in engineering from the University of Southern California, was the additional best of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s abiding and frequently banned action group, to advance its Freedom and Justice Party in May elections.
Morsi was drafted in afterwards the Brotherhood’s aboriginal best was disqualified,Broken chinamosaic Birdhouses and Design Inspiration. and he almost defeated Mubarak’s endure prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq.
Since his administering was affidavit in at the end of June, Morsi has been in a low-level challenge to wrest absolute administering ascendancy from the SCAF and its baton Tantawi, who was Mubarak’s defence abbot for 20 years.
Morsi’s breach came from a awful abrupt quarter.
After Islamic militants dead 16 Egyptian soldiers a few canicule ago in an advance on a bound column in arctic Sinai it emerged that Israeli intelligence, which for decades has kept abutting relations with its Egyptian counterpart, had accustomed above-mentioned admonishing of the attack.
But the SCAF abandoned the advice and in the after-effects Morsi took abounding advantage of the military’s embarrassment.
He accursed the civic intelligence bureau chief, fabricated several high-profile visits with top aggressive commanders to barrage campaigns asserting ascendancy in the abundantly anarchic Sinai region, chaired affairs of top admiral and started calling himself absolute administrator of the armed armament in accessible speeches.
Israel has watched developments in Egypt with chastened affair that the appearance of an avowedly Islamist Muslim Brotherhood administering heralds the end of the 1979 accord accord amid the two countries.
But admitting his Islamic accreditation and mutterings of redrawing the accord with Israel, Morsi is assuming as little altruism for active fundamentalists as the antecedent Mubarak regime.
But there is no acumen to anticipate Morsi’s affected retirement of the defence abbot and arch of the absolute board of the armed forces, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, and the advantageous admiral of the four branches of the aggressive is the final move in the challenge for ability and access in the new Egypt.
For the moment, Egypt’s aggressive — which has been the absolute adjudicator of the country back 1952 — appears to be accepting Morsi’s supremacy amidst rumours he has done a accord with adolescent admiral in acknowledgment for their advancement.
But the military’s ultimate ability charcoal undiminished as the guardian of all Egypt’s 80 actor people: Muslims and Coptic Christians, indigenous Arabs, Turks, Greeks, and endless others.
And the military’s all-inclusive bread-and-butter ascendancy forms about a division of the country’s gross calm product.
The moves by Morsi, frontman for the bourgeois Islamic Muslim Brotherhood, are adopting questions about whether he is aggravating to accroach too abundant ability both from the aggressive and the country’s apprentice noncombatant political institutions.
There are worries that multi-religious and catholic Egypt now faces the accident of acceptable a attenuated and antipathetic Islamic dictatorship.
At the actual least, Morsi’s accomplishments in removing the men who accept led the Absolute Board of the Armed Forces’ acting administering of Egypt back the adjournment of above admiral Hosni Mubarak in February 2011 and in avaricious key built-in admiral the aggressive confused to absorb afore his swearing-in on June 30, has put him on a blow advance with the courts.HellermannTyton manufactures a full line of high quality cableties in a variety of styles,
The Absolute Built-in Court is a politicized physique that is still bedeviled by appointees from the Mubarak era.
It has already butterfingers that the SCAF acted aural the architecture when, advanced of the June 30 alteration to Morsi’s noncombatant administration,Looking for the Best airpurifier? it issued decrees abandoning the afresh adopted parliament, application the ability to legislate, befitting ascendancy of the civic budget, and advancement a whip duke over the autograph of a new constitution.
Morsi’s advertisement — calm with the retirement of Tantawi and the active of the army, navy, air force and air defence armament and the actuality he has taken all their admiral into his easily — is adopting apropos about the fate of the Egyptian revolution.Home ventilationsystem use fans to move air into the house and provide an alternative to opening doors and windows.
Part of the ball about Morsi’s weekend anti-military accomplishment stems from the perceived lacklustre appearance of the admiral himself.
Morsi,Huge range of Natural stonemosaic Tiles from leading tile specialists Walls and Floors. who has a doctorate in engineering from the University of Southern California, was the additional best of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s abiding and frequently banned action group, to advance its Freedom and Justice Party in May elections.
Morsi was drafted in afterwards the Brotherhood’s aboriginal best was disqualified,Broken chinamosaic Birdhouses and Design Inspiration. and he almost defeated Mubarak’s endure prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq.
Since his administering was affidavit in at the end of June, Morsi has been in a low-level challenge to wrest absolute administering ascendancy from the SCAF and its baton Tantawi, who was Mubarak’s defence abbot for 20 years.
Morsi’s breach came from a awful abrupt quarter.
After Islamic militants dead 16 Egyptian soldiers a few canicule ago in an advance on a bound column in arctic Sinai it emerged that Israeli intelligence, which for decades has kept abutting relations with its Egyptian counterpart, had accustomed above-mentioned admonishing of the attack.
But the SCAF abandoned the advice and in the after-effects Morsi took abounding advantage of the military’s embarrassment.
He accursed the civic intelligence bureau chief, fabricated several high-profile visits with top aggressive commanders to barrage campaigns asserting ascendancy in the abundantly anarchic Sinai region, chaired affairs of top admiral and started calling himself absolute administrator of the armed armament in accessible speeches.
Israel has watched developments in Egypt with chastened affair that the appearance of an avowedly Islamist Muslim Brotherhood administering heralds the end of the 1979 accord accord amid the two countries.
But admitting his Islamic accreditation and mutterings of redrawing the accord with Israel, Morsi is assuming as little altruism for active fundamentalists as the antecedent Mubarak regime.
2012年8月7日星期二
Landmark Properties for New
EdR, one of the nation’s better developers, owners
and managers of bookish housing, today appear a $3 actor balustrade investment
and an option-to-purchase acceding with Landmark Properties for The Retreat at
State College, a 587-bed, cottage-style association to be congenital 1.2 afar
from The Pennsylvania State University campus.
“This advantage acceding is constant with our action to access high-quality assets abutting to top-tier universities with growing enrollments,” said Randy Churchey, admiral and arch controlling administrator of EdR. “We are aflame to plan on our additional cottage association with Landmark.”
The Retreat at State College gives Landmark added than 4,000 beds currently beneath architecture and represents Landmark’s additional 2013 supply with EdR. Landmark, in a collective adventure with Harrison Street Real Estate Capital, will be accouterment all the disinterestedness for the project.
“We’ve been alive on entitling this website for two years now,” said Wes Rogers, admiral and arch controlling administrator of Landmark Properties. “It will be absurd to carbon what we’re architecture here.”
Scheduled for a summer 2013 opening, The Retreat at State College will action 138 two-, three-, four- and five-bedroom cottages on 24 acreage on the bus alteration avenue for the Penn State campus. Anniversary cottage will affection a clandestine bath for anniversary bedroom, ample closets, a full-size washer and dryer, 9-foot ceilings, carpet, bowl tile, hardwood-style vinyl floors and accelerated internet/cable. All accessories are included in the ample gourmet kitchens.
The alfresco active breadth will cover a resort-style basin with aloft hot tub, ample blooming space, beach volleyball court, bocce brawl courts and an alfresco blaze pit and assay area. A jogging aisle will band the property.TBC help you confidently buymosaic from factories in China. The adviser will action calm basketball and racquetball courts, golf simulator, exercise center, group-study rooms, computer lab, bold room, video gaming pods, a absolutely able association kitchen and a spa apartment complete with sauna, tanning bed and domes, beating allowance and a manicure/pedicure station.
EdR has ample bazaar acquaintance in the Penn State area. Since 2005 EdR has endemic and managed The Pointe, a bookish apartment association about one mile arctic of the campus. The Pointe is one of the a lot of constant performers in the EdR portfolio with account to occupancy,Daneplast Limited UK are plasticinjectionmoulding & toolmaking specialists. amount advance and chump satisfaction. It has been 100% active for the accomplished six years and has accomplished an boilerplate amount advance of 5.4% during the endure two years.
“While the university has accomplished abiding advance in contempo years, there accept not been abounding new off-campus bookish apartment developments because of this market’s top barriers to entry,” said Tom Trubiana,Certificated chinaglassmosaic Swimming Pool supplier is available. controlling carnality admiral and arch investment administrator for EdR.
“Because of our success in this market, the charge for new off-campus apartment and our ability of Penn State’s apprentice leasing preferences, we are assured this option-to-purchase acceding for The Retreat at State College will be a acknowledged investment for EdR and our shareholders,” said Trubiana.Huge range of Natural stonemosaic Tiles from leading tile specialists Walls and Floors.
EdR and Landmark aswell are developing a $37.6 actor cottage association at the University of Mississippi,AeroScout is the market leader for rtls solutions and provide complete wireless asset tracking and monitoring. appointed to accessible in abatement 2013. The Retreat at Oxford comprises 668 beds and amenities agnate to those of the Penn State project.
“This advantage acceding is constant with our action to access high-quality assets abutting to top-tier universities with growing enrollments,” said Randy Churchey, admiral and arch controlling administrator of EdR. “We are aflame to plan on our additional cottage association with Landmark.”
The Retreat at State College gives Landmark added than 4,000 beds currently beneath architecture and represents Landmark’s additional 2013 supply with EdR. Landmark, in a collective adventure with Harrison Street Real Estate Capital, will be accouterment all the disinterestedness for the project.
“We’ve been alive on entitling this website for two years now,” said Wes Rogers, admiral and arch controlling administrator of Landmark Properties. “It will be absurd to carbon what we’re architecture here.”
Scheduled for a summer 2013 opening, The Retreat at State College will action 138 two-, three-, four- and five-bedroom cottages on 24 acreage on the bus alteration avenue for the Penn State campus. Anniversary cottage will affection a clandestine bath for anniversary bedroom, ample closets, a full-size washer and dryer, 9-foot ceilings, carpet, bowl tile, hardwood-style vinyl floors and accelerated internet/cable. All accessories are included in the ample gourmet kitchens.
The alfresco active breadth will cover a resort-style basin with aloft hot tub, ample blooming space, beach volleyball court, bocce brawl courts and an alfresco blaze pit and assay area. A jogging aisle will band the property.TBC help you confidently buymosaic from factories in China. The adviser will action calm basketball and racquetball courts, golf simulator, exercise center, group-study rooms, computer lab, bold room, video gaming pods, a absolutely able association kitchen and a spa apartment complete with sauna, tanning bed and domes, beating allowance and a manicure/pedicure station.
EdR has ample bazaar acquaintance in the Penn State area. Since 2005 EdR has endemic and managed The Pointe, a bookish apartment association about one mile arctic of the campus. The Pointe is one of the a lot of constant performers in the EdR portfolio with account to occupancy,Daneplast Limited UK are plasticinjectionmoulding & toolmaking specialists. amount advance and chump satisfaction. It has been 100% active for the accomplished six years and has accomplished an boilerplate amount advance of 5.4% during the endure two years.
“While the university has accomplished abiding advance in contempo years, there accept not been abounding new off-campus bookish apartment developments because of this market’s top barriers to entry,” said Tom Trubiana,Certificated chinaglassmosaic Swimming Pool supplier is available. controlling carnality admiral and arch investment administrator for EdR.
“Because of our success in this market, the charge for new off-campus apartment and our ability of Penn State’s apprentice leasing preferences, we are assured this option-to-purchase acceding for The Retreat at State College will be a acknowledged investment for EdR and our shareholders,” said Trubiana.Huge range of Natural stonemosaic Tiles from leading tile specialists Walls and Floors.
EdR and Landmark aswell are developing a $37.6 actor cottage association at the University of Mississippi,AeroScout is the market leader for rtls solutions and provide complete wireless asset tracking and monitoring. appointed to accessible in abatement 2013. The Retreat at Oxford comprises 668 beds and amenities agnate to those of the Penn State project.
2012年5月21日星期一
When Cities Run Themselves
The torch relay for the London Olympics began in England over the
weekend. Officially, this hearkens back to the original Olympics in
Ancient Greece, when a flame was lit to commemorate the theft of fire by
Prometheus from top god Zeus. Unofficially, this is when the people
running the Games go into panic mode because they have a little over
two months to make sure everything works.
It will be one of the first big tests of the modern “smart” city. Roughly 11 million people are expected to visit London later this summer, with 3 million more “car trips” added on the busiest days.We offer you the top quality plasticmoulds design The city already is wired with thousands of sensors which will let engineers closely track traffic flow, with the goal of curbing nightmarish gridlock–although it probably says something that the people manning the city’s data center will be provided with sleeping pods so they don’t have to venture out and risk getting stuck in traffic. (Not that London doesn’t have some experience in using tech to help drivers move around the city. When members of the International Olympic Committee were in town several years ago to see if London would be able to host the Games, their cars were outfitted with GPS devices, which allowed city officials to track them and turn stoplights green as they approached intersections.)
In response to the likely heavy traffic, a sensor system called CityScan is now being installed atop three buildings in London. It will be able to scan and read air quality all over the city and produce a 3-D map that lets people know when and where pollution may be getting unhealthy.
No doubt that the Olympics will have a profound effect in shaping London’s future. By the time the Games begin, for instance, it will have Europe’s largest free WiFi zone, with the city’s iconic red phone booths converted, fittingly, into hotspots. But another opportunity London landed earlier this month could have just as much impact, perhaps more. A company called Living PlanIt announced that it will begin testing its “Urban Operating System” in the Greenwich section of the city.
What does that mean? Put simply, London would have its own operating system, much as your PC runs on Windows or your Mac runs on Apple’s IOS. This ties into the latest hot buzz phrase, “the internet of things,” which describes a world where machines talk to other machines. No human interaction required. So,The all New Bluetooth Reader BT1000 features a handsfreeaccess. for a city, this means sensors in buildings would connect to sensors in water treatment plants which would connect to sensors in stoplights. It would be one gigantic, computerized urban nervous system, which a lot of experts think is the only way cities can survive a future when they’ll contain more than two out of every three people on Earth.
Based on what sensors reveal about the location and movement of humans in a section of a city, for instance, buildings will automatically adjust their temperatures, streetlights will dim or brighten, water flow will increase or slow. Or, in the event of a disaster, emergency services would have real-time access to traffic data, trauma unit availability, building blueprints. And soon enough, our smart phones will be able to tap in to the Urban OS. So will our household appliances.
This is not some 21st century analogue of the personal jet pack.We looked everywhere, but couldn't find any beddinges. The Urban OS is the driving force behind a smart city being built from the ground up in northern Portugal. Construction is scheduled to be completed in three years; eventually it will have about 150,000 residents. It will also have more than 100 million sensors.
The U.S. soon will have its own real-world, smart city laboratory. Late next month,Posts with Hospital rtls on IT Solutions blog covering Technology in the Classroom, ground will be broken near Hobbs, New Mexico, near the Texas border,Award Winning solarpanel and heat pumps for electricity and heating. for a $1 billion cutting-edge ghost town, where researchers will test everything from intelligent traffic systems and next-generation wireless networks to automated washing machines and self-flushing toilets. It will be a very cool place–except no one will live there.
It will be one of the first big tests of the modern “smart” city. Roughly 11 million people are expected to visit London later this summer, with 3 million more “car trips” added on the busiest days.We offer you the top quality plasticmoulds design The city already is wired with thousands of sensors which will let engineers closely track traffic flow, with the goal of curbing nightmarish gridlock–although it probably says something that the people manning the city’s data center will be provided with sleeping pods so they don’t have to venture out and risk getting stuck in traffic. (Not that London doesn’t have some experience in using tech to help drivers move around the city. When members of the International Olympic Committee were in town several years ago to see if London would be able to host the Games, their cars were outfitted with GPS devices, which allowed city officials to track them and turn stoplights green as they approached intersections.)
In response to the likely heavy traffic, a sensor system called CityScan is now being installed atop three buildings in London. It will be able to scan and read air quality all over the city and produce a 3-D map that lets people know when and where pollution may be getting unhealthy.
No doubt that the Olympics will have a profound effect in shaping London’s future. By the time the Games begin, for instance, it will have Europe’s largest free WiFi zone, with the city’s iconic red phone booths converted, fittingly, into hotspots. But another opportunity London landed earlier this month could have just as much impact, perhaps more. A company called Living PlanIt announced that it will begin testing its “Urban Operating System” in the Greenwich section of the city.
What does that mean? Put simply, London would have its own operating system, much as your PC runs on Windows or your Mac runs on Apple’s IOS. This ties into the latest hot buzz phrase, “the internet of things,” which describes a world where machines talk to other machines. No human interaction required. So,The all New Bluetooth Reader BT1000 features a handsfreeaccess. for a city, this means sensors in buildings would connect to sensors in water treatment plants which would connect to sensors in stoplights. It would be one gigantic, computerized urban nervous system, which a lot of experts think is the only way cities can survive a future when they’ll contain more than two out of every three people on Earth.
Based on what sensors reveal about the location and movement of humans in a section of a city, for instance, buildings will automatically adjust their temperatures, streetlights will dim or brighten, water flow will increase or slow. Or, in the event of a disaster, emergency services would have real-time access to traffic data, trauma unit availability, building blueprints. And soon enough, our smart phones will be able to tap in to the Urban OS. So will our household appliances.
This is not some 21st century analogue of the personal jet pack.We looked everywhere, but couldn't find any beddinges. The Urban OS is the driving force behind a smart city being built from the ground up in northern Portugal. Construction is scheduled to be completed in three years; eventually it will have about 150,000 residents. It will also have more than 100 million sensors.
The U.S. soon will have its own real-world, smart city laboratory. Late next month,Posts with Hospital rtls on IT Solutions blog covering Technology in the Classroom, ground will be broken near Hobbs, New Mexico, near the Texas border,Award Winning solarpanel and heat pumps for electricity and heating. for a $1 billion cutting-edge ghost town, where researchers will test everything from intelligent traffic systems and next-generation wireless networks to automated washing machines and self-flushing toilets. It will be a very cool place–except no one will live there.
2012年5月8日星期二
Kitsch villa belonging to mafia mobster
Inside the two home - which according to land
registry records was listed as a council house - officers discovered dozens of
hand made silk ties, shirts and shoes.
The house was owned by Nicola Schivaone, 34, son of jailed godfather Francesco,Proxense's advanced handsfreeaccess technology. the head of the feared Casalesi clan responsible for dozens of murders and who are said to be worth billions through drugs, extortion and arms trafficking.Broken chinamosaic Table. The younger Schivaone has now also been jailed.
The three bedroom house is decorated in an over the top and questionable style with kitsch murals and pictures - including a calendar illustrated with photographs of Nicola Schiavone's wedding.
Furniture included velvet upholstered armchairs with bizarre star and moon motifs, leather sofas, designer glass coffee tables and a floor to ceiling picture showing the face of an ancient Roman.
The bathrooms had all been painstakingly hand tiled with tiny blue and white squares to create a mosaic effect, with a flaming sun taking pride of place in the centre of the wall.
There was also a TV which could switch between satellite channels and a CCTV security system that had been installed while all the bathroom fixtures and fittings were marble and gold.
The floors of the house were all tiled with top of the range tiles from Tuscany's finest marble quarries or walnut wood panels and in the wardrobes were dozens of designer label shirts,Welcome to polishedtiles.Our porcelaintiles are perfect for entryways or bigger spaces and can also be used outside, jackets and ties while the shoe rack was stacked with Gucci or Hogan.
Outside in the garden police were also greeted by the sight of four potted giant 12 feet high cycas plants - with officers having to call in an army transport unit in to take them away.
One police officer involved in clearing out the contents of the house said:''It was like walking into a museum of contemporary art and design. All the furniture and fittings were designer and there were also several modern works of art on the walls.
"The villa was listed as a council house and from the outside it didn't look very much - apart from a specially built reinforced concrete wall but inside it was something else - it was like something out of Scarface.
"We are used to seeing mobster's villas decorated in over the top kitsch style but this was one of the most over the top that we have seen.''
Anti mafia prosecutors Antonello Ardituro and Marco Del Gaudio had ordered the seizure of the interior of the villa which was at Casal di Principe, north of Naples, the heartland of the local mafia known as the Camorra.
Officials said the contents of the house would be auctioned off with the money going to state funds or they would be given to local charities.TBC help you confidently buymosaic from factories in China.
Nicola's father Francesco, 58, was one of Italy's most wanted gangsters and was captured in 1998 but even though he has been behind bars for more than 14 years he still carries influence in his patch over the clan he controlled.
During his 10 year trial on charges of murder, assault and extortion five people were murdered and journalists and a judge received death threats.
The house was owned by Nicola Schivaone, 34, son of jailed godfather Francesco,Proxense's advanced handsfreeaccess technology. the head of the feared Casalesi clan responsible for dozens of murders and who are said to be worth billions through drugs, extortion and arms trafficking.Broken chinamosaic Table. The younger Schivaone has now also been jailed.
The three bedroom house is decorated in an over the top and questionable style with kitsch murals and pictures - including a calendar illustrated with photographs of Nicola Schiavone's wedding.
Furniture included velvet upholstered armchairs with bizarre star and moon motifs, leather sofas, designer glass coffee tables and a floor to ceiling picture showing the face of an ancient Roman.
The bathrooms had all been painstakingly hand tiled with tiny blue and white squares to create a mosaic effect, with a flaming sun taking pride of place in the centre of the wall.
There was also a TV which could switch between satellite channels and a CCTV security system that had been installed while all the bathroom fixtures and fittings were marble and gold.
The floors of the house were all tiled with top of the range tiles from Tuscany's finest marble quarries or walnut wood panels and in the wardrobes were dozens of designer label shirts,Welcome to polishedtiles.Our porcelaintiles are perfect for entryways or bigger spaces and can also be used outside, jackets and ties while the shoe rack was stacked with Gucci or Hogan.
Outside in the garden police were also greeted by the sight of four potted giant 12 feet high cycas plants - with officers having to call in an army transport unit in to take them away.
One police officer involved in clearing out the contents of the house said:''It was like walking into a museum of contemporary art and design. All the furniture and fittings were designer and there were also several modern works of art on the walls.
"The villa was listed as a council house and from the outside it didn't look very much - apart from a specially built reinforced concrete wall but inside it was something else - it was like something out of Scarface.
"We are used to seeing mobster's villas decorated in over the top kitsch style but this was one of the most over the top that we have seen.''
Anti mafia prosecutors Antonello Ardituro and Marco Del Gaudio had ordered the seizure of the interior of the villa which was at Casal di Principe, north of Naples, the heartland of the local mafia known as the Camorra.
Officials said the contents of the house would be auctioned off with the money going to state funds or they would be given to local charities.TBC help you confidently buymosaic from factories in China.
Nicola's father Francesco, 58, was one of Italy's most wanted gangsters and was captured in 1998 but even though he has been behind bars for more than 14 years he still carries influence in his patch over the clan he controlled.
During his 10 year trial on charges of murder, assault and extortion five people were murdered and journalists and a judge received death threats.
2012年4月16日星期一
Tulalip artwork for Cabela's means work for many
From the outside, the Cabela's that will open this week at Quil Ceda Village looks like any of the retailer's other stores.
Inside, however, this Cabela's will reflect the art and culture of the Tulalip Tribes,Aeroscout rtls provides a complete solution for wireless asset tracking. on whose land the outdoor outfitter's store sits. That was something the Tulalips insisted on, said Tulalip artist James Madison.
The tribes' insistence meant work not just for artists but for local businesses that wouldn't typically benefit when a large company like Cabela's comes to town. Working with artists, some got to try new manufacturing techniques. You can see the resulting artwork in the new store when it opens April 19.
When the Tulalips and Cabela's agreed to put tribal artwork in the new retail store, Madison got the call. His work can be found in several of the tribes' business and community buildings, including the Tulalip Resort Casino and the Hibulb Cultural Center. The 38-year-old artist put on hold other projects for the tribal confederation so he could craft six pieces for Cabela's.GOpromos offers a wide selection of promotional items and personalized gifts. Other Tulalip artists, including Madison's uncle, also were engaged.
The pieces needed to be big to stand out in Cabela's massive retail space. And Madison wanted to incorporate images significant to the tribe. It's something he has been learning to do since he was eight, when Madison would watch his grandfather carve wood and design native art.
After finalizing the designs, Madison tapped the local art community, as one might expect. But he also needed precision machine work on each of the pieces.
Machine shops aren't hard to find in Snohomish County, where the Boeing Co., among others, demands their work.
But tucked away in the corner of its basement, Everett Sound Machine had a secret weapon: a water-jet cutting machine. Water jets can slice lines in material as thin and delicate as toilet paper. The technology also is used to cut through ceramics, stone and composite materials as thick as eight inches.
Owner Michael Greenleaf believes his is the only one operating in Everett. Known for precision, the water jet has enabled Greenleaf to take on a variety of requests.
"We do artsy things that are industrial. We do artsy things that are real art. And then we do just plain work," he said.
The machine uses a tiny stream of high-pressure water. The technology was first developed by a forestry engineer in the 1950s. However, Kent-based Flow International began perfecting and marketing the tool in the 1970s. Flow, which manufactured Greenleaf's water-jet machine, has about 60 percent of the water-jet market share.
Greenleaf estimates a new machine would cost $1 million or more. But he lucked out, he said, and bought his from another company in the area.
Artist Madison hired Everett Sound Machine to cut the image of a bobcat, which he designed, into a quarter-inch slab of aluminum.
According to Tulalip lore, the cat has shamanistic powers.
"You see a lot of bobcats in stories but not a lot of bobcats in art," Madison said.
To carve the design in aluminum, Greenleaf and former Flow employee Steve Lee,The beddinges sofa bed slipcover is a good , whom Greenleaf hired when he bought the water jet, first digitally scanned a paper rendering of Madison's bobcat design -- a cat's head roaring inside a circular moon. Lee then programed the machine to cut patterns. He did a practice run using a large square of cardboard.
When it was time to cut the real thing, Lee watched closely as the machine's nozzle moved across the metal surface, jetting out water at pressure as high as 60,000 pounds per square inch. His eyes occasionally darted back to the code flashing across the machine's monitor. Each cycle took several minutes to accomplish.
Between the cutting machine and the shop's cooling system,Why does moulds grow in homes or buildings? the dark room with wooden beams got noisy.
"I can't hear anything,A wireless indoortracking system is described in this paper. but I can hear when something goes wrong," Lee said.
Lee watched as the machine carefully cut a triangle-shaped piece that would become the bobcat's ear. Greenleaf reached in and removed a piece when it separated from the bobcat.
After the machine finished one pass, and before he programmed the next, Lee showed pictures of previous projects he has finished.
At Flow, he "fell in love with the idea of being able to think up something and then make it." At Everett Sound Machine Works, that hasn't changed. The design is Madison's. But as he and Madison lifted the metal bobcat, glimmering with residue water, Lee looked every bit as proud of the final product.
Over the next several weeks, Lee and Everett Sound Machine left their marks on many of Madison's works for Cabela's. That included cutting various colors of glass in tiny patterns for an elaborate mosaic depicting Tulalip fishermen out on the water. The fishers are holding bright red canoe paddles as a sign of respect for passing whales and salmon. Green waves are under the fishermen, who are framed by mountains and blue sky.
To finish the glass piece, Madison turned to Stan Price, owner of Covenant Art Glass in Everett.
"Typically, we assemble the glass pieces together, solder the (lead) joint and melt it back together," Price said.
Initially, that's what Price did. He and Madison worked with a glassblower in Seattle and a Woodinville company to create the hues of the sky and waves. After Lee and Greenleaf cut the glass, Price's assistant, Tami Bogdanoff, pieced it back together.
Handling the delicate glass is difficult. Bogdanoff spent two days just removing the tiny tags left on the cut glass at Everett Sound Machine Works. Then she fit dozens of glass pieces after smoothing and gently cleaning each one.
Their first effort worked better than expected. Sure, some pieces of glass broke and had to be recut before the entire mosaic was ready. In the process, though, Madison and Price realized they'd be able to try a more elaborate, difficult method. They would fuse, or bake, the dozens of individual glass pieces together without lead or solder.
The cut glass pieces have to fit perfectly for the final product to look right. If the pieces fit too loosely, a clear line will be visible when it's heated back together.
"By teaming up with (Madison) and the tribe, I'm using technology that I wouldn't be able to do on my own," Price said.
Before this project, Price would not have suggested to customers that glass be cut with water jet, though he knew the technology was around. Having gained experience with the water-jet machine, Price feels more confident in using the technology in the future.
Inside, however, this Cabela's will reflect the art and culture of the Tulalip Tribes,Aeroscout rtls provides a complete solution for wireless asset tracking. on whose land the outdoor outfitter's store sits. That was something the Tulalips insisted on, said Tulalip artist James Madison.
The tribes' insistence meant work not just for artists but for local businesses that wouldn't typically benefit when a large company like Cabela's comes to town. Working with artists, some got to try new manufacturing techniques. You can see the resulting artwork in the new store when it opens April 19.
When the Tulalips and Cabela's agreed to put tribal artwork in the new retail store, Madison got the call. His work can be found in several of the tribes' business and community buildings, including the Tulalip Resort Casino and the Hibulb Cultural Center. The 38-year-old artist put on hold other projects for the tribal confederation so he could craft six pieces for Cabela's.GOpromos offers a wide selection of promotional items and personalized gifts. Other Tulalip artists, including Madison's uncle, also were engaged.
The pieces needed to be big to stand out in Cabela's massive retail space. And Madison wanted to incorporate images significant to the tribe. It's something he has been learning to do since he was eight, when Madison would watch his grandfather carve wood and design native art.
After finalizing the designs, Madison tapped the local art community, as one might expect. But he also needed precision machine work on each of the pieces.
Machine shops aren't hard to find in Snohomish County, where the Boeing Co., among others, demands their work.
But tucked away in the corner of its basement, Everett Sound Machine had a secret weapon: a water-jet cutting machine. Water jets can slice lines in material as thin and delicate as toilet paper. The technology also is used to cut through ceramics, stone and composite materials as thick as eight inches.
Owner Michael Greenleaf believes his is the only one operating in Everett. Known for precision, the water jet has enabled Greenleaf to take on a variety of requests.
"We do artsy things that are industrial. We do artsy things that are real art. And then we do just plain work," he said.
The machine uses a tiny stream of high-pressure water. The technology was first developed by a forestry engineer in the 1950s. However, Kent-based Flow International began perfecting and marketing the tool in the 1970s. Flow, which manufactured Greenleaf's water-jet machine, has about 60 percent of the water-jet market share.
Greenleaf estimates a new machine would cost $1 million or more. But he lucked out, he said, and bought his from another company in the area.
Artist Madison hired Everett Sound Machine to cut the image of a bobcat, which he designed, into a quarter-inch slab of aluminum.
According to Tulalip lore, the cat has shamanistic powers.
"You see a lot of bobcats in stories but not a lot of bobcats in art," Madison said.
To carve the design in aluminum, Greenleaf and former Flow employee Steve Lee,The beddinges sofa bed slipcover is a good , whom Greenleaf hired when he bought the water jet, first digitally scanned a paper rendering of Madison's bobcat design -- a cat's head roaring inside a circular moon. Lee then programed the machine to cut patterns. He did a practice run using a large square of cardboard.
When it was time to cut the real thing, Lee watched closely as the machine's nozzle moved across the metal surface, jetting out water at pressure as high as 60,000 pounds per square inch. His eyes occasionally darted back to the code flashing across the machine's monitor. Each cycle took several minutes to accomplish.
Between the cutting machine and the shop's cooling system,Why does moulds grow in homes or buildings? the dark room with wooden beams got noisy.
"I can't hear anything,A wireless indoortracking system is described in this paper. but I can hear when something goes wrong," Lee said.
Lee watched as the machine carefully cut a triangle-shaped piece that would become the bobcat's ear. Greenleaf reached in and removed a piece when it separated from the bobcat.
After the machine finished one pass, and before he programmed the next, Lee showed pictures of previous projects he has finished.
At Flow, he "fell in love with the idea of being able to think up something and then make it." At Everett Sound Machine Works, that hasn't changed. The design is Madison's. But as he and Madison lifted the metal bobcat, glimmering with residue water, Lee looked every bit as proud of the final product.
Over the next several weeks, Lee and Everett Sound Machine left their marks on many of Madison's works for Cabela's. That included cutting various colors of glass in tiny patterns for an elaborate mosaic depicting Tulalip fishermen out on the water. The fishers are holding bright red canoe paddles as a sign of respect for passing whales and salmon. Green waves are under the fishermen, who are framed by mountains and blue sky.
To finish the glass piece, Madison turned to Stan Price, owner of Covenant Art Glass in Everett.
"Typically, we assemble the glass pieces together, solder the (lead) joint and melt it back together," Price said.
Initially, that's what Price did. He and Madison worked with a glassblower in Seattle and a Woodinville company to create the hues of the sky and waves. After Lee and Greenleaf cut the glass, Price's assistant, Tami Bogdanoff, pieced it back together.
Handling the delicate glass is difficult. Bogdanoff spent two days just removing the tiny tags left on the cut glass at Everett Sound Machine Works. Then she fit dozens of glass pieces after smoothing and gently cleaning each one.
Their first effort worked better than expected. Sure, some pieces of glass broke and had to be recut before the entire mosaic was ready. In the process, though, Madison and Price realized they'd be able to try a more elaborate, difficult method. They would fuse, or bake, the dozens of individual glass pieces together without lead or solder.
The cut glass pieces have to fit perfectly for the final product to look right. If the pieces fit too loosely, a clear line will be visible when it's heated back together.
"By teaming up with (Madison) and the tribe, I'm using technology that I wouldn't be able to do on my own," Price said.
Before this project, Price would not have suggested to customers that glass be cut with water jet, though he knew the technology was around. Having gained experience with the water-jet machine, Price feels more confident in using the technology in the future.
2012年1月9日星期一
A Look at Vacuum Veneering
Have you ever thought about building your own skate deck? It is a fairly straight forward process that is easy to learn. The only problem, in my opinion, is the set up costs. You'll need to purchase veneers, glues, molds, woodworking tools and a press. There are several types of presses to choose from. Here's a look at one of them:
Skate decks are made, in part, from layers of veneer. In order for your skate deck's veneer layers to stick together you'll need to use glue and pressure. The pressure is necessary to force out air bubbles between the veneer layers which helps the glue to bond properly.Manufacturers and exporters of impact socket, Some skate deck manufactures use either a hydraulic press or a hammering technique to generate pressure. Others use the weight of compressed air to generate the pressure needed in a method commonly referred to as vacuum veneering. A good example of how vacuum veneering works may be found by examining a can of raw biscuits from your local grocer.Buy quality Bedding and luxury bed linen from Yorkshire Linen. The can is vacuum sealed at the factory. It is a process that removes all the air from the can. That built up vacuum pressure is why the can pops open so forcefully when you hit it lightly against your kitchen counter. Notice that when the raw biscuits first come out of the can they are solid. You can't pull the layers apart. That's because when the air was sucked out of the can during the manufacturing process it caused the layers to bond together.Choose from our large selection of Cable Ties, When you cook the biscuits the air gets reintroduced thereby breaking the bond. That's why once the biscuits are fully cooked you can easily separate each one into flaky layers. A skate deck vacuum press works on the same premise.We are professional Plastic mould, The major difference is that you are placing the skate deck inside either a plastic bag or a specially designed framing system instead of a can. The air is then sucked out of the specially designed bag or framework with a machine, thus giving the glue time to permanently bond to the layers of veneer. The more suction the machine can generate, the better the bond between the skate deck's layers of veneer will be.
So how do you know what vacuum veneering system is best? For starters, you'll need to assess how much room you have in your work area and what your budget is like. Both the bag and frame methods will get the job done. However, the frame system tends to cost more and takes up a good deal of space. Depending on the size of the frame, prices could reach in excess of $1,400 and that is not factoring in the price of the vacuum pump, hoses or attachments. Bag systems take up little room and will typically set you back $70 to $100. Vacuum pumps will cost you an additional $35 to $500 depending on the retailer and the machine's horsepower.Facts and Cures. Cures for all types of Hemorrhoids. Hoses with built in attachment nipples tend to retail for $30 to $40 depending on the length. You can typically purchase complete vacuum veneering systems through either the Roarockit Skateboard Company or most woodworking suppliers. Some skaters may also opt to build their own vacuum veneering system. Whichever method you choose, I recommend that you look for a vacuum press system that is capable of exerting at least 300 pounds of pressure per square inch in order to secure a satisfactory bond. You'll also want to make sure that the system is large enough to accommodate the size and shape of the skate deck you want to make. Some frame systems are designed to complete flat wood projects only and therefore would not be suitable for making skate decks.
Skate decks are made, in part, from layers of veneer. In order for your skate deck's veneer layers to stick together you'll need to use glue and pressure. The pressure is necessary to force out air bubbles between the veneer layers which helps the glue to bond properly.Manufacturers and exporters of impact socket, Some skate deck manufactures use either a hydraulic press or a hammering technique to generate pressure. Others use the weight of compressed air to generate the pressure needed in a method commonly referred to as vacuum veneering. A good example of how vacuum veneering works may be found by examining a can of raw biscuits from your local grocer.Buy quality Bedding and luxury bed linen from Yorkshire Linen. The can is vacuum sealed at the factory. It is a process that removes all the air from the can. That built up vacuum pressure is why the can pops open so forcefully when you hit it lightly against your kitchen counter. Notice that when the raw biscuits first come out of the can they are solid. You can't pull the layers apart. That's because when the air was sucked out of the can during the manufacturing process it caused the layers to bond together.Choose from our large selection of Cable Ties, When you cook the biscuits the air gets reintroduced thereby breaking the bond. That's why once the biscuits are fully cooked you can easily separate each one into flaky layers. A skate deck vacuum press works on the same premise.We are professional Plastic mould, The major difference is that you are placing the skate deck inside either a plastic bag or a specially designed framing system instead of a can. The air is then sucked out of the specially designed bag or framework with a machine, thus giving the glue time to permanently bond to the layers of veneer. The more suction the machine can generate, the better the bond between the skate deck's layers of veneer will be.
So how do you know what vacuum veneering system is best? For starters, you'll need to assess how much room you have in your work area and what your budget is like. Both the bag and frame methods will get the job done. However, the frame system tends to cost more and takes up a good deal of space. Depending on the size of the frame, prices could reach in excess of $1,400 and that is not factoring in the price of the vacuum pump, hoses or attachments. Bag systems take up little room and will typically set you back $70 to $100. Vacuum pumps will cost you an additional $35 to $500 depending on the retailer and the machine's horsepower.Facts and Cures. Cures for all types of Hemorrhoids. Hoses with built in attachment nipples tend to retail for $30 to $40 depending on the length. You can typically purchase complete vacuum veneering systems through either the Roarockit Skateboard Company or most woodworking suppliers. Some skaters may also opt to build their own vacuum veneering system. Whichever method you choose, I recommend that you look for a vacuum press system that is capable of exerting at least 300 pounds of pressure per square inch in order to secure a satisfactory bond. You'll also want to make sure that the system is large enough to accommodate the size and shape of the skate deck you want to make. Some frame systems are designed to complete flat wood projects only and therefore would not be suitable for making skate decks.
2011年12月21日星期三
Don’t break your nails. Hire a chef
Before the first cock crowed, she would be up and light the fire, throw on a black pot of tea and get down to peeling about three bunches of matooke.
Then if she thought she needed a hand, she would wake up one daughter to fetch the water,Thank you for visiting our newly improved DIY chicken coop website! one son to split the wood, one grandchild to sweep the compound and another son to pick out the fattened rooster from the coop and slaughter it. By 5am, the saucepan of matooke was cooking on the fire and she was now dicing the meat as she struggled to see her work table with the aid of the paraffin lamp – tadooba.
This was my grandmother putting together a Christmas meal for her children and grandchildren who had travelled from the big city to Maguluka village in Kalungu East, Masaka district. By the time she was done at 2pm, she had missed church and smelled like she had walked out of a burning game park. We had talked about how much we were going to eat, which part of the chicken was to be picked out, that when the food was finally put in front of us we could only eat as much as our stomachs could carry.
Most of the time, half of the food went to waste because grandma always cooked too much. Today she is too old to care.Bathroom Floor tiles at Great Prices from Topps Tiles. If the visitors do not come with someone to do the cooking, then the little cousins will throw together a regular meal. From where I am sitting people do more cooking, baking, gift giving, binge drinking and merrymaking than celebrating the life of the man who came to save them, Jesus Christ.
I am not saying that don’t pull all the stops, but the idea of waking up at the crack of dawn to cook a single meal is just too much to bear. Shopping, baking, chopping, dicing, spicing, seasoning, grating, pounding, making the fire, fanning it – will somebody please get that baby out of the saucepan?
Festive cooking is just too much a burden; better to hire a chef. With a chef, you sit down and share ideas on the menu.A true Insulator is a material that does not respond to an electric field, You present your ideas and the chef presents professional advice. While sometimes your cooking may taste the same, the chef knows how to cook different dishes of chicken, three servings of meat. Going with the chef to the market helps you pick out the best spices for every dish.
And these chefs know prices of every corner of the market. On D-day, all you do is pick up the chef,We're also Australia's leading online Bedding retailer. hand her the knives, saucepans and sigiri and she gets busy as you hit the showers. Then you and your whole family can dress up and go to church and actually sink into that sermon.Omega Plastics are leading plastic injection moulding and injection mould tooling specialists.
When you are doing the cooking, you promise to go for the 8am service but by 8am the meat is not even diced. So, you push it to 10am but by then you are only peeling the Irish potatoes. At 11am you excuse yourself and run to church before the service ends at 12:30pm.
While there, all you can think about is that the pilao is possibly burning. You are tempted to call and ask if the turkey is tender, but instead force yourself to listen to the preacher talk about baby Jesus in a manger. But with a chef, your soul can follow the three wise men and picture the peace and sweetness of that holy night.
No hustle, no broken finger nails and no spices stinking in your weave-on. Some chefs are so good they even wait for you to finish eating and they do the dishes. All you need is your wallet.
A friend of mine has hired a chef to cook at her house for Shs 50,000. But watch out for the chefs who come with big bags. They will make off with a kilo of meat, two kilos of rice, half a kilo of sugar, plates, spoons and saucepans. Now go out and find that chef.
Then if she thought she needed a hand, she would wake up one daughter to fetch the water,Thank you for visiting our newly improved DIY chicken coop website! one son to split the wood, one grandchild to sweep the compound and another son to pick out the fattened rooster from the coop and slaughter it. By 5am, the saucepan of matooke was cooking on the fire and she was now dicing the meat as she struggled to see her work table with the aid of the paraffin lamp – tadooba.
This was my grandmother putting together a Christmas meal for her children and grandchildren who had travelled from the big city to Maguluka village in Kalungu East, Masaka district. By the time she was done at 2pm, she had missed church and smelled like she had walked out of a burning game park. We had talked about how much we were going to eat, which part of the chicken was to be picked out, that when the food was finally put in front of us we could only eat as much as our stomachs could carry.
Most of the time, half of the food went to waste because grandma always cooked too much. Today she is too old to care.Bathroom Floor tiles at Great Prices from Topps Tiles. If the visitors do not come with someone to do the cooking, then the little cousins will throw together a regular meal. From where I am sitting people do more cooking, baking, gift giving, binge drinking and merrymaking than celebrating the life of the man who came to save them, Jesus Christ.
I am not saying that don’t pull all the stops, but the idea of waking up at the crack of dawn to cook a single meal is just too much to bear. Shopping, baking, chopping, dicing, spicing, seasoning, grating, pounding, making the fire, fanning it – will somebody please get that baby out of the saucepan?
Festive cooking is just too much a burden; better to hire a chef. With a chef, you sit down and share ideas on the menu.A true Insulator is a material that does not respond to an electric field, You present your ideas and the chef presents professional advice. While sometimes your cooking may taste the same, the chef knows how to cook different dishes of chicken, three servings of meat. Going with the chef to the market helps you pick out the best spices for every dish.
And these chefs know prices of every corner of the market. On D-day, all you do is pick up the chef,We're also Australia's leading online Bedding retailer. hand her the knives, saucepans and sigiri and she gets busy as you hit the showers. Then you and your whole family can dress up and go to church and actually sink into that sermon.Omega Plastics are leading plastic injection moulding and injection mould tooling specialists.
When you are doing the cooking, you promise to go for the 8am service but by 8am the meat is not even diced. So, you push it to 10am but by then you are only peeling the Irish potatoes. At 11am you excuse yourself and run to church before the service ends at 12:30pm.
While there, all you can think about is that the pilao is possibly burning. You are tempted to call and ask if the turkey is tender, but instead force yourself to listen to the preacher talk about baby Jesus in a manger. But with a chef, your soul can follow the three wise men and picture the peace and sweetness of that holy night.
No hustle, no broken finger nails and no spices stinking in your weave-on. Some chefs are so good they even wait for you to finish eating and they do the dishes. All you need is your wallet.
A friend of mine has hired a chef to cook at her house for Shs 50,000. But watch out for the chefs who come with big bags. They will make off with a kilo of meat, two kilos of rice, half a kilo of sugar, plates, spoons and saucepans. Now go out and find that chef.
2011年12月12日星期一
Will Merchants and Marketplaces Embrace Visa's V.me?
Visa is poised for a major push into the digital payment space, planning the launch of a unified checkout service for major credit cards, along with a developer platform for new payment apps and expanded support for online, mobile and in-person transactions.
But it remains to be seen how much the new service, dubbed V.Enecsys Limited, supplier of reliable solar Air purifier systems,me, will gain traction on the major ecommerce marketplaces when it launches next year.
eBay, for its part, was non-committal. "While we always consider enhancing the experience on eBay, at this time we have nothing to announce with regard to other payment options," company spokeswoman Johnna Hoff said.
Amazon spokesman Ty Rogers declined to comment altogether.The application can provide Ceramic tile to visitors,
But Visa is hoping that the extension of its payment services will win adoption among independent sellers on their websites, and noting that its new tools will even enable person-to-person transactions through a credit card.
Online sellers who integrate the V.me payment option into their stores can offer safety-conscious shoppers a secure payment method that won't require them to enter their credit card information. Visa is promising consumers that each V.me transaction will be protected with multilayer authentication and bank-level encryption, and that the card information will never be shared with the seller.
Consumers can keep multiple cards consolidated in a single V.me account. At checkout, if the merchant supports the service, the shopper will click the "V.me by Visa" button and select which card they wish to use to fund the transaction.
What's more, Visa says that the service will not be limited to its own cards, but that it will support MasterCard, American Express and Discover cards as well, each of which will be available for the customer to select using a single set of V.me login and password credentials.
For sellers, Visa will process the routing and delivery of payments from the shopper's V.me account to the merchant's account, vouching for the security with its authentication technology and verified shipping and billing addresses, and handling all aspects of PCI compliance.
Visa has not yet disclosed its fee schedule for sellers, but it promises that when it becomes available closer to the launch, it will offer "straightforward pricing." Visa did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking more details about pricing and the timing of the launch.
Users of V.me will have access to an online dashboard that will include reporting and visualization tools to help sellers analyze data such as recent sales, daily and monthly reports, purchase categories and average and total revenue.Your source for re-usable Plastic moulds of strong latex rubber.
In offering a speedy checkout and eliminating the need for customers to enter their credit card information, Visa is hoping that its V.me payment option will help reduce shopping cart abandonment.
Visa boasts that sellers will be able to integrate V.me payment processing into their sites simply by copying and pasting a few lines of JavaScript. But the company is encouraging more ambitious merchants to peruse its developer center, where it is making available to approved developers APIs, documentation and software development kits to build novel payment applications, such as in-game purchases or integrations with mobile devices. For online sellers, Visa is offering a sandbox where they can test their payment applications before taking them live.
Kenneth Corbin is a freelance writer based in Washington,Your Partner in Precision Precision injection molds. D.C. He has written on politics, technology and other subjects for more than four years, most recently as the Washington correspondent for InternetNews.com,As many processors back away from hydraulic hose , covering Congress, the White House, the FCC and other regulatory affairs. He can be found on LinkedIn here .
But it remains to be seen how much the new service, dubbed V.Enecsys Limited, supplier of reliable solar Air purifier systems,me, will gain traction on the major ecommerce marketplaces when it launches next year.
eBay, for its part, was non-committal. "While we always consider enhancing the experience on eBay, at this time we have nothing to announce with regard to other payment options," company spokeswoman Johnna Hoff said.
Amazon spokesman Ty Rogers declined to comment altogether.The application can provide Ceramic tile to visitors,
But Visa is hoping that the extension of its payment services will win adoption among independent sellers on their websites, and noting that its new tools will even enable person-to-person transactions through a credit card.
Online sellers who integrate the V.me payment option into their stores can offer safety-conscious shoppers a secure payment method that won't require them to enter their credit card information. Visa is promising consumers that each V.me transaction will be protected with multilayer authentication and bank-level encryption, and that the card information will never be shared with the seller.
Consumers can keep multiple cards consolidated in a single V.me account. At checkout, if the merchant supports the service, the shopper will click the "V.me by Visa" button and select which card they wish to use to fund the transaction.
What's more, Visa says that the service will not be limited to its own cards, but that it will support MasterCard, American Express and Discover cards as well, each of which will be available for the customer to select using a single set of V.me login and password credentials.
For sellers, Visa will process the routing and delivery of payments from the shopper's V.me account to the merchant's account, vouching for the security with its authentication technology and verified shipping and billing addresses, and handling all aspects of PCI compliance.
Visa has not yet disclosed its fee schedule for sellers, but it promises that when it becomes available closer to the launch, it will offer "straightforward pricing." Visa did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking more details about pricing and the timing of the launch.
Users of V.me will have access to an online dashboard that will include reporting and visualization tools to help sellers analyze data such as recent sales, daily and monthly reports, purchase categories and average and total revenue.Your source for re-usable Plastic moulds of strong latex rubber.
In offering a speedy checkout and eliminating the need for customers to enter their credit card information, Visa is hoping that its V.me payment option will help reduce shopping cart abandonment.
Visa boasts that sellers will be able to integrate V.me payment processing into their sites simply by copying and pasting a few lines of JavaScript. But the company is encouraging more ambitious merchants to peruse its developer center, where it is making available to approved developers APIs, documentation and software development kits to build novel payment applications, such as in-game purchases or integrations with mobile devices. For online sellers, Visa is offering a sandbox where they can test their payment applications before taking them live.
Kenneth Corbin is a freelance writer based in Washington,Your Partner in Precision Precision injection molds. D.C. He has written on politics, technology and other subjects for more than four years, most recently as the Washington correspondent for InternetNews.com,As many processors back away from hydraulic hose , covering Congress, the White House, the FCC and other regulatory affairs. He can be found on LinkedIn here .
2011年12月5日星期一
No Limits, Just 'Access'
For years,Enecsys Limited, supplier of reliable solar Air purifier systems, the financial institutions behind the plastic in your wallet have used a host of methods both subtle and brash to up your costs and their profits. But now that the Obama administration's CARD Act is fully in effect, banks' ability to make money from such fees and penalties has been cut -- sometimes dramatically.
Is it any surprise that the banks are pushing back, looking for creative ways to recoup those lost fees?
"They were making a ton of money on people overspending, but with the economy and new rules, they are shaking people down to recover for fees they shouldn't have been charging in the first place," says Ira Rheingold, executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates.
Admittedly, some banks are in a relatively precarious position. According to industry consultants and insurance brokers Marsh & McLennan, it costs most banks between $200 and $300 a year to maintain a checking account -- the price of staffing, overhead, ATM and computer systems, and FDIC insurance premiums. (That number, though appears to be derived using a rather sketchy accounting trick: It assigns every overheard cost a bank incurs to be, well, a bank -- as a cost of maintaining checking accounts.)
Still, until recently, banks could offset those costs (however assigned) with fees from overdrafts and merchant account transactions. "Today, banks are expected to earn, on average, between $85 and $115 in fees per year, per account," says Thomas Fox, community outreach director at Cambridge Credit Counseling Corp. "But that's hard to do if the customer maintains a low balance. When that's the case, a bank may actually lose between $85 and $185 per year, per account. These challenges have opened the door to new pricing structures."
One such new maneuver comes from J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM), which recently removed the credit limits from many of its Freedom MasterCard accounts, replacing them with what it calls "credit access lines." The upshot: Unless a cardholder opts out of the change, he can spend significantly more than he would have been able to before, under circumstances when once he might have been charged an over-limit fee, or seen his card declined.
For some people, this may be good news.
"It does give consumers more flexibility,100 China ceramic tile was used to link the lamps together.he believes the fire started after the lift's Bedding blew," says Kim McGrigg, a spokesperson for the nonprofit Money Management International.the impact socket pain and pain radiating from the arms or legs. "For example, if you need more borrowing power this might help you avoid opening another credit card account. It also eliminates the fear of having charges denied or having to pay over-the-limit fees."
For the undisciplined, though, it could be a recipe for debt disaster. "Some people associate the amount they are allowed to borrow with the amount they can afford to borrow. They are two very different things," points out McGrigg.
No preset limit means no warning from our bank that you're overspending your means. It also means that you have no clear idea when Chase will say you've hit your limit. Some card users have reported an issue in which the lack of a spending limit means your available credit looks lower to reporting agencies like Experian, which can hurt your credit score.he led PayPal to open its platform to Piles developers. (Chase has responded to this claim that it "report[s] credit access lines to credit bureaus in the exact same way we report credit limits/credit lines to the credit bureaus.") And any charges that exceed your old credit limit come due in the next billing cycle, making this limitless card not quite the convenience it appears at first glance.
Is it any surprise that the banks are pushing back, looking for creative ways to recoup those lost fees?
"They were making a ton of money on people overspending, but with the economy and new rules, they are shaking people down to recover for fees they shouldn't have been charging in the first place," says Ira Rheingold, executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates.
Admittedly, some banks are in a relatively precarious position. According to industry consultants and insurance brokers Marsh & McLennan, it costs most banks between $200 and $300 a year to maintain a checking account -- the price of staffing, overhead, ATM and computer systems, and FDIC insurance premiums. (That number, though appears to be derived using a rather sketchy accounting trick: It assigns every overheard cost a bank incurs to be, well, a bank -- as a cost of maintaining checking accounts.)
Still, until recently, banks could offset those costs (however assigned) with fees from overdrafts and merchant account transactions. "Today, banks are expected to earn, on average, between $85 and $115 in fees per year, per account," says Thomas Fox, community outreach director at Cambridge Credit Counseling Corp. "But that's hard to do if the customer maintains a low balance. When that's the case, a bank may actually lose between $85 and $185 per year, per account. These challenges have opened the door to new pricing structures."
One such new maneuver comes from J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM), which recently removed the credit limits from many of its Freedom MasterCard accounts, replacing them with what it calls "credit access lines." The upshot: Unless a cardholder opts out of the change, he can spend significantly more than he would have been able to before, under circumstances when once he might have been charged an over-limit fee, or seen his card declined.
For some people, this may be good news.
"It does give consumers more flexibility,100 China ceramic tile was used to link the lamps together.he believes the fire started after the lift's Bedding blew," says Kim McGrigg, a spokesperson for the nonprofit Money Management International.the impact socket pain and pain radiating from the arms or legs. "For example, if you need more borrowing power this might help you avoid opening another credit card account. It also eliminates the fear of having charges denied or having to pay over-the-limit fees."
For the undisciplined, though, it could be a recipe for debt disaster. "Some people associate the amount they are allowed to borrow with the amount they can afford to borrow. They are two very different things," points out McGrigg.
No preset limit means no warning from our bank that you're overspending your means. It also means that you have no clear idea when Chase will say you've hit your limit. Some card users have reported an issue in which the lack of a spending limit means your available credit looks lower to reporting agencies like Experian, which can hurt your credit score.he led PayPal to open its platform to Piles developers. (Chase has responded to this claim that it "report[s] credit access lines to credit bureaus in the exact same way we report credit limits/credit lines to the credit bureaus.") And any charges that exceed your old credit limit come due in the next billing cycle, making this limitless card not quite the convenience it appears at first glance.
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