It takes more than one kind of telescope to see the light

By Joyce Evans,2014-11-13 15:17
10 views 0
It takes more than one kind of telescope to see the light

    It takes more than one kind of telescope to see the light!

    Why we need different types of telescopes to look at outer space…

The Multi-Wave Milky Way Galaxy

    Gamma ray

    Different types of telescopes usually don't take simultaneous readings. Space is a dynamic system, so an image taken at one time is not necessarily the precise equivalent of an image of the same phenomena taken at a later time. And often, there is barely enough time for one kind of telescope to observe extremely short-lived phenomena like gamma-ray bursts. By the time other telescopes point to the object, it has grown too faint to be detected.

    So why haven't scientists created a telescope designed to look at everything at once?

    "Nature has determined the design of our telescopes," says Dr. Martin Weisskopf, an astrophysicist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. The differing wavelengths among the various energies create different instrumental needs. This results in dissimilar, incompatible detecting devices.

    Telescopes rely on the interaction between energy and matter. The atomic matter that forms the telescope has to somehow interpret the energy emitted from astronomical objects. This energy is in the form of electromagnetic waves. Although the first telescope was created 400 years ago, we didn't have a complete picture of the electromagnetic spectrum until the early part of this century. As our knowledge of physics improves, scientists are able to develop increasingly superior telescopes. But as

    the technology advances and becomes more specialized, differences among telescope designs become more pronounced

    The Development of Telescopes

    Most of the universe is invisible to us because we only see the visible light portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. When most people think of telescopes they think of visible light, or optical, telescopes.

Optical telescopes:

    When the first optical telescope appeared in the 1570s, the design was simple - one concave and one convex lens fitted inside a tube. The tube acted as a receiver, or 'light bucket'. The lenses bent, or refracted, the light as it passed through the glass and thus made the scene appear 3 to 4 times larger. Galileo improved upon the design and by 1609 had developed a 20-power refracting telescope. Galileo made the telescope famous when he discovered the valleys and mountains of the moon and spotted four of Jupiter's satellites.

Reflecting telescopes:

    Isaac Newton invented the first reflecting telescope in 1671. By using a curved mirror to reflect and focus the light inside the tube, he was able to reduce the length of the telescope dramatically. The reflecting telescope solved another problem inherent in the refracting telescope: chromatic aberration.

    Chromatic aberration the property of a lens whereby the light of

    different colors is focused at different places

    In 1672, Newton described how white light is actually a mixture of colored light. Each color has its own degree of refraction, so curved lenses split white light into the colors of the spectrum. This chromatic aberration caused central images in refracting telescopes to be surrounded by rings of different colors. Planets seen through a refracting telescope would appear to be encircled by a rainbow.

    By 1730, Newton's reflecting telescope had caught on with the scientific community. Even today, large optical telescopes are based upon Newton's basic design. Yet another bonus of Newton's reflecting telescope is that it can also be used to study ultraviolet and infrared light. The Hubble Space Telescope, famous for its stunning optical images of the universe, also works in the ultraviolet and infrared parts of the spectrum.

     Radio telescopes:

     But it wasn't until the 1930s that astronomers even began looking for other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Karl Jansky inadvertently discovered galactic emissions of radio waves in 1933. Working at Bell Telephone Laboratories, Jansky was trying to find what caused short-wave radio interference in Trans-Atlantic (across the Atlantic Ocean) communications. By building a rotating radio telescope to look at the horizon, he eventually discovered that most of the static resulted from engine ignition noise and distant lightning storms. But Jansky also discovered that some radio noise was coming from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.

    Like optical telescopes, radio telescopes have reflectors and receivers. Most radio telescopes need to be large in order to accommodate radio's longer wavelengths and lower energies. Radio telescopes also need to be large in order to overcome the radio noise, or "snow," that naturally occurs in radio receivers. We generate a large amount of noise pollution on Earth as well, so smaller telescopes would lose some

    astronomical radio signals amid our daily production of rock music, television broadcasts and cellular phone calls.

    Radio and optical telescopes can be used on Earth, but some resolution is lost due to Earth's atmosphere. By viewing from the other side of the sky, the Hubble Space Telescope allows astronomers to see the universe without the distortion and filtering that occurs as light passes through the Earth's atmosphere.

Infrared & Ultraviolet telescopes:

    Infrared and ultraviolet light are affected more dramatically by the Earth's atmosphere. Their telescopes must therefore always be positioned high above the ground or in space. Infrared telescopes are placed on mountaintops, far above the low-lying water vapor that interferes with infrared light.

    Ultraviolet telescopes have to be placed even higher than infrared telescopes. The Earth's stratospheric ozone layer, located 20 to 40 kilometers above the Earth's surface, blocks out UV wavelengths shorter than 300 nanometers. By the 1940s, scientists were launching rockets with early UV detectors onboard.

    The Earth's atmosphere scatters or absorbs high-energy radiation, protecting us from the damaging effects of UV, X-rays and gamma rays. The atmosphere does such a good job that telescopes designed to detect these portions of the electromagnetic spectrum have to be positioned outside the atmosphere.

X-ray & Gamma-ray telescopes:

    Studies of astronomical objects in high energy X-rays and gamma rays began in the early 1960s. Although high altitude balloons and rockets can provide X-ray and gamma ray data, the best results come from satellites orbiting completely outside the Earth's atmosphere. NASA's first X-ray telescope was launched on Dec. 12, 1970.

    X-ray telescope mirrors are coated with gold or other metals. The mirrors have shallow angles of reflection because X-rays are so short they only reflect at angles almost parallel to the rays themselves. At steeper mirror angles the rays won't reflect - instead they will penetrate the mirror like a bullet embedding itself in a wall.

    Because gamma rays are even shorter than X-rays, there is no way to prevent them from passing right through a detection device. Since mirrors can't be used to focus gamma rays, a method had to be developed for detecting gamma rays indirectly.

    The American physicist Arthur Holly Compton discovered that gamma rays would expel electrons as they moved through a detector. Modern gamma-ray detectors use crystals or liquids that are triggered by these expelled gamma-ray electrons to record the passing gamma rays as flashes of light. The first gamma-ray satellite, Explorer XI, was launched in 1961. The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory launched in 1991 and is still orbiting the Earth today.

Why so many telescopes?

    Most objects give off several frequencies of energy simultaneously. Your body, for instance, glows in thermal infrared down to radio. But in order to get astronomical data about different wavelengths, scientists have to use several different types of telescopes. There is no such thing as an 'all-wave' telescope. The problem with having one telescope able to detect the entire electromagnetic spectrum lies in the differences in detection techniques.

    "Telescopes are designed with one goal in mind: to build a device that interacts with radiation coming from the cosmos," says Dr. Tony Phillips.

    Different energy wavelengths interact with matter in different ways. Radio waves will reflect from a metal that X-rays pass right through. These differences in the interaction between matter and energy have resulted in telescopes designed to only accommodate very specific wavelengths.

    With present technology, it is not possible to build one telescope able to efficiently survey the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Scientists follow established laws of physics in building telescopes, and an all-wave telescope would have to break those laws.

    "That's the wall that keeps us from building one device for everything," says Phillips.

    Because it is not currently possible to create an all-wave telescope, the next choice is to create a device that uses many telescopes at once. "What we want is a system that can look at all of the emissions simultaneously." Matched telescopes could be aligned to look at the same thing at the same time. A device containing all the different types of telescopes would have to be a satellite so that X-rays and gamma rays could be detected.

    Several multi-wavelength observatories have already flown - Skylab, the Solar Maximum Mission, and the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). The Skylab space station in particular is hailed as a good model for conducting multi-wavelength studies in space. Launched in 1973, Skylab had eight coordinated telescopes located on its Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM). The eight telescopes studied the Sun's spectrum from X-ray almost down to infrared, all with very high quality resolution. Skylab was coordinated with ground-based astronomers as well. Whenever ground observers detected active solar prominences, flares, or mass ejections, they would notify the astronauts, who would then point their telescopes to record the event.

    The problem in developing this type of technology today, says Weisskopf, is two-fold. Money is the most immediate impediment. It would cost several billion dollars just to create a high quality combined optical and X-ray telescope.

    More difficult to tackle is the social mind-set of scientists. Scientists are often trained to specialize; to study only one segment of the electromagnetic spectrum. Hence we have many X-ray astronomers, radio astronomers, and so on, with fewer scientists following a multi-wavelength approach. Facilities and instruments are built to study only portions of the spectrum, rather than phenomena as a whole.

    Because specialized telescopes are so well developed and are still strongly supported by scientists, the most logical approach would be to coordinate the telescopes already in existence.

    "You want to ask, 'Why didn't everyone do it this way from the beginning?'" Weisskopf grins. "It's because everyone got in their own cars and started driving, and many were just following the cars in front of them."

Report this document

For any questions or suggestions please email


On Thursday, Attorney General Maura Healey asked the state Legislature to shutter the market that allows individual consumers to buy electricity from independent suppliers, because in too many cases, they paid in millions in extra costs.

The AG released a report that showed over a two-year period from July 2015 and July 2017, certain electric customers who switched to what they thought was a competitive supplier collectively paid nearly $180 million more than if they had remained with their utility.

The report focused on the nearly 500,000 residents who buy directly from these supposedly competitive suppliers, not residents participating in a group contract organized by their community.

Healey said she found patterns indicating low-income and minority neighborhoods became targets of aggressive sales tactics. That's reinforced by the fact that 36 percent of low-income households received their electricity supplies from a competitive supplier, double the rate of other income groups.

Consumers, who have been able to buy electricity from a company other than their utility since a 1997 state deregulation law took effect, have been inundated with solicitations of cheaper electricity rates.

Fortunately, many communities, including Lowell, Billerica, Chelmsford, Dracut, Lunenburg and several other area municipalities, have joined electric aggregation groups, which pass savings on to their residents.

Dracut, as part of the Southeast Regional Planning & Economic Development Distract (SRPEDD) Electric Aggregation Group, buys its electricity in bulk with 22 other cities and towns. Town Meeting in June 2015 approved the program that automatically enrolls residents unless they choose to opt out of the plan. According to Town Manager Jim Duggan, as a result, the average Dracut resident now saves between $150-$175 annually.

That's basically how all these municipally sponsored programs work. While it's true that a savvy consumer may be able to find even lower rates, it's doubtful most have the time or patience for that.

And in doing so, they expose themselves to unscrupulous operators. That's what the attorney general wants to prevent.

While we agree with the spirit of Healey's measure, we don't believe legislating this industry out of existence is the answer. In our economic system, individuals should have the right to make their own choices, even bad ones. However, companies found to have used deceptive or illegal sales practices should be vigorously prosecuted.

As Healey herself indicated, one supplier, Viridian Energy LLC of Connecticut, agreed to pay $5 million to settle charges that its marketing and sales practices were deceptive. It also agreed to a two-year, door-to-door ban on marketing.

Subjecting these suppliers to stricter regulations, such as substantiating their marketing claims, should in time separate legitimate suppliers from the fraudulent players. That's how the attorney general should address this problem.


Balancing Time and Space in the Brain: A New Model Holds Promise for Predicting Brain Dynamics

Study extends popular “balanced network theory”

Misshapen Proteins, visual word form area, Proteins, Silicon Crystal, balanced network theory

For as long as scientists have been listening in on the activity of the brain, they have been trying to understand the source of its noisy, apparently random, activity. In the past 20 years, “balanced network theory” has emerged to explain this apparent randomness through a balance of excitation and inhibition in recurrently coupled networks of neurons. A team of scientists has extended the balanced model to provide deep and testable predictions linking brain circuits to brain activity.

Lead investigators at the University of Pittsburgh say the new model accurately explains experimental findings about the highly variable responses of neurons in the brains of living animals. On Oct. 31, their paper, “The spatial structure of correlated neuronal variability,”was published online by the journal Nature Neuroscience.

The new model provides a much richer understanding of how activity is coordinated between neurons in neural circuits. The model could be used in the future to discover neural “signatures” that predict brain activity associated with learning or disease, say the investigators.

“Normally, brain activity appears highly random and variable most of the time, which looks like a weird way to compute,” said Brent Doiron, associate professor of mathematics at Pitt, senior author on the paper, and a member of the University of Pittsburgh Brain Institute (UPBI). “To understand the mechanics of neural computation, you need to know how the dynamics of a neuronal network depends on the network’s architecture, and this latest research brings us significantly closer to achieving this goal.”

Earlier versions of the balanced network theory captured how the timing and frequency of inputs—excitatory and inhibitory—shaped the emergence of variability in neural behavior, but these models used shortcuts that were biologically unrealistic, according to Doiron.

“The original balanced model ignored the spatial dependence of wiring in the brain, but it has long been known that neuron pairs that are near one another have a higher likelihood of connecting than pairs that are separated by larger distances. Earlier models produced unrealistic behavior—either completely random activity that was unlike the brain or completely synchronized neural behavior, such as you would see in a deep seizure. You could produce nothing in between.”

In the context of this balance, neurons are in a constant state of tension. According to co-author Matthew Smith, assistant professor of ophthalmology at Pitt and a member of UPBI, “It’s like balancing on one foot on your toes. If there are small overcorrections, the result is big fluctuations in neural firing, or communication.”

The new model accounts for temporal and spatial characteristics of neural networks and the correlations in the activity between neurons—whether firing in one neuron is correlated with firing in another. The model is such a substantial improvement that the scientists could use it to predict the behavior of living neurons examined in the area of the brain that processes the visual world.

After developing the model, the scientists examined data from the living visual cortex and found that their model accurately predicted the behavior of neurons based on how far apart they were. The activity of nearby neuron pairs was strongly correlated. At an intermediate distance, pairs of neurons were anticorrelated (When one responded more, the other responded less.), and at greater distances still they were independent.

“This model will help us to better understand how the brain computes information because it’s a big step forward in describing how network structure determines network variability,” said Doiron. “Any serious theory of brain computation must take into account the noise in the code. A shift in neuronal variability accompanies important cognitive functions, such as attention and learning, as well as being a signature of devastating pathologies like Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy.”

While the scientists examined the visual cortex, they believe their model could be used to predict activity in other parts of the brain, such as areas that process auditory or olfactory cues, for example. And they believe that the model generalizes to the brains of all mammals. In fact, the team found that a neural signature predicted by their model appeared in the visual cortex of living mice studied by another team of investigators.

“A hallmark of the computational approach that Doiron and Smith are taking is that its goal is to infer general principles of brain function that can be broadly applied to many scenarios. Remarkably, we still don’t have things like the laws of gravity for understanding the brain, but this is an important step for providing good theories in neuroscience that will allow us to make sense of the explosion of new experimental data that can now be collected,” said Nathan Urban, associate director of UPBI.

In addition to Doiron and Smith, Jonathan Rubin, professor of mathematics at Pitt; Robert Rosenbaum, a former postdoctoral scholar at Pitt and now an assistant professor at the University of Notre Dame; and Adam Kohn from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine contributed to this work.

The research was funded by National Science Foundation grants awarded as part of the federal BRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) Initiative. Additional support was provided by the National Eye Institute, Research to Prevent Blindness, the Eye and Ear Foundation of Pittsburgh, and the Simons Foundation.

With more than 150 faculty members, the University of Pittsburgh Brain Institute seeks to unlock the mysteries of normal and abnormal brain function and then translate discoveries into new approaches for overcoming brain disorders. The institute employs multiple levels of analysis, from molecular and cellular approaches to whole systems and behavioral analysis, and incorporates research across disciplines including neuroscience, bioengineering, computer science, and robotics.


So much for One America News Network

I thought I’d found a decent news outlet. Their commentary/opinion stuff tended conservative to libertarian, but the news segments seemed to make the attempt to stick to facts, with a minimum of speculation or “interpretation.”

Turns out I was wrong.

OANN ran a story titled “Guardians of Suspected Parkland School Shooter Testify in Court” (March 8, 2018). Since “guardian” has a specific legal meaning Florida law, I contacted OANN to be sure they were using the correct term, or if they had information that the Sneads were “guardians.” I never got an answer.

But if you clicked that link, you’ll see they killed the story.

And republished it as “Couple Who Took in Suspected Parkland School Shooter Testify in Court,” with the exact same date/timestamp, including the previous “UPDATED” time. No indication that they changed “guardians” to “couple who took in.”

So I contacted them again, with the following (details edited down from what I wanted to send to meet their 1,000 character limit).

I write for The Zelman Partisans and also edit their weekly newsletter and aggregated news stories. I will no longer use you as a source. You have edited a story to remove the reference to “guardians.” I was good with you trying to be accurate.

You didn’t make any acknowledgement on the page that the story had been altered; not even changing the “UPDATED” timestamp.

That puts you in the same low class as Ken Foskett of who altered a story that fellow news people manufactured and transferred an illegal machinegun, only when they thought they were reported to the ATF.

If you cannot be trusted not to change published stories because you don’t wish to be caught in inaccuracies, then you cannot be a trusted source for my work.

Carl “Bear” Bussjaeger
Author: Net Assets, Bargaining Position, The Anarchy Belt, and more
Writer for The Zelman Partisans (“Jews. No compromise. No surrender.”)

OANN has been deleted from my news source list. I suggest you do the same.


Alto Sax Racer

Alto Sax Racer uses the microphone to listen as you quickly switch between notes to keep your car fueled. Pull out your Alto Sax and play the correct Notes to pass the other cars. How many cars can you pass? The Perfect app for beginners and advanced players of all ages: Works with your REAL instrument. Uses the device's microphone to listen and analyze each note you play. The scoreboard shows you best time, and how many cars you have passed. Unlock new cars based by your performance.
Operating System Android


The Congress Party-led Indian government is attempting to push a Food Security Bill through parliament in a hurry. This bill may be politically beneficial for India’s ruling party, but will prove detrimental to the country’s poor.

The ambitious Food Security Bill aims to supply subsidized food to India’s underprivileged population. It seeks to provide 7 kg of rice, wheat and grains per person to two-thirds of the country’s households at highly discounted prices. This bill has been hastily approved by the cabinet and will be tabled in parliament this week.

The urgency to pass this legislation is understandable from a political point of view, as it forms a key part of the Congress’s pro-poor platform. In light of the upcoming vital election in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and in the midst of increasing inflation, slowing economic growth and corruption scandals, the government must find a way to appease an increasingly dissatisfied public.

This effort to spread the benefits of economic development to the poor seems laudable at first glance. However, this distribution of resources is exactly what the bill fails to provide for. While it legislates for specific amounts of food grains to be distributed to needy families, it lacks detail on how it plans to ensure this allocation.

India’s supply chains are famously afflicted by inadequate infrastructure and its distribution channels riddled with corruption. Food grains are produced in surplus in the country, but rot due to the lack of sufficient cold storage year after year. And yet, instead of dealing with this recurrent underlying problem, the bill seems to focus on the superficial aspects of food security. Without paying attention to effective distribution, the bill will simply exacerbate the problem of food wastage while millions continue to starve.

Paradoxically, this bill which was designed to uplift the rural poor will hurt farmers by reducing the market prices of food crops by increasing the supply of subsidized grain. Thus, the bill may prove to be disadvantageous to the very population it was designed to benefit. Additionally, as many have pointed out, the timing of the bill is economically inopportune (to put it mildly) in light of the country’s looming fiscal deficit and slowing economic growth. The government has not as yet explained how it plans to finance this policy which is estimated to require 950 billion rupees per year.

Consequently, introducing this bill seems to be a baseless political move that provides little policy benefit. The country needs legislation that allows farmers to profit economically and grow autonomous, instead of forcing them to further depend further on the state. The government would do better to provide market incentives, not charitable hand-outs.

Despite these fundamental problems, it is likely that this legislation will pass through parliament fairly smoothly. The bill is Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi’s pet project, and it is no secret that she pulls the strings of the government behind the scenes. As she is the head of the National Advisory Council (NAC) that has (conveniently) drafted the bill, it seems very unlikely that the plan will have trouble gaining approval. It would be political suicide for any political party to reject the bill when the mood in the country is already fragile; no policymaker will risk their seat by angering India’s poor further at this time.

The Congress party seems to have decided to stick to its guns firmly on this bill to prove it is still in control, after the Winter session of parliament embarrassingly grinded to a stand-still this month after much uproar over a Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) retail bill that provided for foreign investment in the country’s supply chains and supermarkets. The FDI bill was ultimately shelved due to the strong opposition in parliament, although ironically it had a much better chance at addressing the underlying problems the agricultural sector faces than the new bill.

It is highly unfortunate that the Congress party has chosen to stand firm on the wrong piece of legislation. Where’s the Indian government's famous policy paralysis when you need it?

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons


Haywire RC5

Payload map in the style of 2fort!

  1. Balancing and Optimization: Episode 2

    - Decreased BLU respawn time on second point
    - Increased RED respawn time on second point
    - decreased metal and HP drops on second point so it's less campable
    - Added a wheel to move over the wooden wall around the second point
    - Further optimization process.
    - Fixed being able to enter RED's forward spawn as BLU after capping second(Thanks Alexis)
    - Adjusted certain prop heights so they arent floating anymore
    - Fixed missing texture around Last
    - Gave each point individual names!
  2. Optimization and Last

    - Fixed an exploit to get out of the map
    - adjusted some props
    - fixed visible nodraws
    - aligned several textures
    - increased RED respawn on last to prevent stalemates
    - removed small healthpack in the shack with the big window at Last
    - turned the small healthpack at the tower to a medium one
    - turned the medium healthpack at the roof-plate cover into a small one
    - Optimized Map

    Hopefully the FINAL version of Haywire so I can stop annoying Server Owners with updates. Optimization dont will...
  3. A quick brushover

    RC3 is mostly there to fix a few bugs, adjust a few gameplay related things and also add a tiny bit of optimization and misc stuff.

    NOTE: RC2 has an exploit that is very much potentially gamebreaking, if you are a server owner, I heavily recommend updating to RC3.

    Nonetheless, here is the changelog....
    Xayir thanked this.
  4. RC2 and Workshop Release

    This version will mark the end of Haywire's development, and I'm really happy how it turned out.
    This map, being my second, taught me a lot about hammer, but even more about people, balancing, and what to do with feedback, given my first map was more of a "proof of concept" release for myself.

    I've had people I respect a lot that made a lot of amazing stuff for TF2, including maps tell me that areas or certain things about the map are great and fun, but at the same time had the same...
  5. Release Candidate 1

    After several map tests and feedback of friends, strangers, and enemies, the map is at a point where I am personally happy with it and seemingly others, too.

    I aim for this version to be final, but if the next test ends up with some technical issues, Ill obviously fix them.
    As far as looks and gameplay goes, these are very much final.
    Thanks for all the input and feedback to make Haywire as good as it can be!

    - Changed lightning a bit.
    - Changed the color of the wall...
  6. The Sound of Cows

    - Added Soundscapes for their respective locations.
    - Added several lights to make gameplay spaces which were too dark not too dark anymore
    - Further optimization
    - Increased Respawn Time of RED on third, decreased it on First
    - Increased Setup time by 20 seconds to allow Engineers smoother setup and to allow people to be dorks infront of the windows for longer
    - Moved McJohn sign so it stops floating
    - Fixed an issue that caused HDR to go haywire (heh)
    - Added even more Arrows
    - Now...
  7. Balancing and McJohn Water

    This Update is experimenting with the balancing of the map, as many have replied that both Second and Third arent really defendable.

    - Moved the first point into the hut with the deathpit
    --expanded the ground of the deathpit a bit
    - Moved the second point into the double hut with the sniper sightline blockers
    --Added a closed door to RED's forward spawn to block an unwanted sightline
    --Also added some props to block a sightline to prevent snipers sniping the point from their...
  8. A Bitter Taste Of Sniper Sightlines and Optimization

    Hey. I've tested the map again and fortunately, most of the reactions were rather positive to both the looks and the gameplay! However there were still some hiccups, which I hope to have fixed in this patch.

    If nothing else comes up, chances are the next step will be the final release. Haywire has been taking up a large chunk of my time as of late, afterall.

    Either way, here is the Changelog:

    - Adjusted respawn times for the first point to give BLU a higher edge, even in unbalanced teams....
  9. An actual map now.

    After having worked on the map for roughly a month to two non-stop, I'm happy to say that I'm finally done - not entirely of course, but the Map is very close to a releasable format, and all that's left is polishing.

    This update is essentially just this: Detailing. Props, doorframes, textures, details - everything to make the map look like an actual map and not a roblox prototype, there are other changes aswell, though, gameplay-related.

    - Updated the entire map with props,...
  10. Sightlines

    - Adjusted Respawn times again focusing on Third.
    - Fixed Supply Cabinet not working after capping second for BLU
    - Added an Extra Arrow around red's forward spawn that literally stands on the track so people cant avoid looking at it
    - Fixed some brush oddities
    - Moved spawns ever so slightly forward when capping second so BLU doesnt have to walk too much
    -Fixed several stupid and overly long sniper sightlines:
    At B:
    ---- Moved rock a bit so you cant snipe out of the hut anymore....


Implications of this Decision

This decision highlights the importance of drafting any claims to a “method of design” with the tests for manner of manufacture firmly in mind. There is no reason that a claim to a method of design should not be patentable provided that it can satisfy the manner of manufacture tests.

The decision is a reminder to ensure a claimed method results in an output that extends beyond “intellectual information” and to ensure that the claim itself provides a method that is more than an algorithm or mere working directions to this “intellectual information”.

These implications are not limited to claims that are directed to a method of design, but potentially to any claim which covers subject matter that has no clear “physical effect”. This highlights the need for careful consideration during drafting to ensure there are grounds to argue that the claim relates to some physical effect, and to include appropriate dependent claims to better define that physical effect.

Australian patent application 2005264908 was filed in the name of ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company (ExxonMobil). This application was accepted (allowed) on 3 February 2010 and subsequently opposed by Woodside Energy Limited (Woodside).

This application was broadly directed towards an Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) liquefaction plant, methods for producing LNG, methods for designing an LNG plant, and methods of operating an LNG plant.

Grant of the application was opposed on the basis that the claims lacked clarity, succinctness, fair basis, novelty, inventive step, and that the claims did not define a manner of manufacture.

Case summary

Much of the case revolved around standard tests to determine whether the claims of the patent application were novel and involved an inventive step over the prior art. However, there were a couple of interesting aspects of the decision regarding: (i) Woodside’s approach to arguing invalidity under Section 40 of the Patents Act (1990) concerning clarity, succinctness, and fair basis; and (ii) the Delegate’s comments in regard to whether certain claims defined a manner of manufacture (i.e. patentable subject matter).

  1. Clarity, Succinctness, and Fair Basis

Woodside adopted an unorthodox approach to arguing the clarity, succinctness, and fair basis objections. Woodside submitted that the claims lacked these features as there were inherent difficulties in ascertaining the nature of a single general inventive concept from a fair reading of the specification as a whole.

Essentially, this was an attempt by Woodside at an invalidity argument based on the claims defining several separate inventions (lack of “unity of invention” grounds) on the basis that and this lack of unity made it difficult to determine the scope of the claims.

This was an interesting approach as unity of invention is not a ground of invalidity that is available during opposition or revocation proceedings.

The Delegate of the Commissioner found that there was no legal requirement that the matter described in the specification or claims be limited or bound to a single inventive concept. The Delegate found that the claims did not lack clarity, succinctness, or fair basis when considered in light of the appropriate legal tests on claim construction, and further indicated that whether the description or claims related to a single inventive concept is not a requirement for clarity, succinctness, or fair basis.

  1. Manner of manufacture

Woodside submitted that the claims directed to a method of designing a LNG liquefaction plant did not define a manner of manufacture as these claims related to a “mere scheme” or “plan”. The Delegate agreed citing Grant v Commissioner of Patents [2006] FCAFC 120 (Grant) in supporting the findings that the claims did not relate to a manner of manufacture.

As a side note: Grant concerned the patentability of a financial transaction method, specifically an asset protection method. However, regardless of the difference in subject matter, some of the key points to come out of Grant were:

“It has long been accepted that "intellectual information", a mathematical algorithm, mere working directions and a scheme without effect are not patentable.”

It was the Delegate’s opinion that the these “design” claims related to “intellectual information” as the method of these claims results only in a design, which “may be achieved as simply as via drawing or thought”, and not in any “physical effect in the sense of a concrete effect or phenomenon or manifestation or transformation”. This view is generally consistent with Australian law in which an idea itself is not patentable subject matter.

ExxonMobil argued that the claims related to an LNG plant, however the Delegate commented that this relationship was “not sufficiently direct as to involve any physical effect”. Therefore the fact that the claimed subject matter relates to an apparatus (in the field of engineering) does not itself provide a physical effect.


The idea that the human brain sees tools as an extension of the body is an old one. Now scientists have some proof that it's true.

Tool use is not entirely unique to humans, but the efficient use of a wide range of tools is a key skill separating us from other animals. Researchers have long thought that when we use a tool, even for just a few minutes, it changes the way our brain represents the size of our body; the tool becomes a part of what is known in psychology as our body schema.

In the new study, researchers reasoned that if one incorporates a used tool into the body schema, his or her subsequent bodily movements should differ when compared to those performed before the tool was used.

Indeed, that is exactly what they saw.

"Since the origin of the concept of body schema, the idea of its functional plasticity has always been taken for granted, even if no direct evidence has been provided until now," said Alessandro Farnè of INSERM and the Université Claude Bernard Lyon. "Our series of experiments provides the first, definitive demonstration that this century-old intuition is true."

The finding, detailed in tomorrow's issue of the journal Current Biology, help to explain how it is that humans use tools so well.

"We believe this ability of our body representation to functionally adapt to incorporate tools is the fundamental basis of skillful tool use," said Farnè's colleague Lucilla Cardinali. "Once the tool is incorporated in the body schema, it can be maneuvered and controlled as if it were a body part itself."


TODAY the Mirror exposes a shocking series of security lapses on trains carrying nuclear waste around the UK.

With the country on continual high alert in the wake of last year's London bombings, the flaws beggar belief.

Most people would rightly expect trains with such a deadly cargo to be guarded like a radioactive Fort Knox.

But that comforting assumption is alarmingly far from the truth.

Our investigators saw trains left unattended at stops, while private guards wandered out of sight and the crew popped into a cabin for a tea break.

Radioactive flasks of spent uranium fuel rods from Dungeness and Sellafield were left vulnerable to hijack or attack.

Our reporter was able to wander around the nuclear train and leave an innocent device which could just as easily have been a bomb.

The consequences would be unthinkable and the failure to take every precaution is unforgivable.

The government must demand urgent tightening of security procedures.

But it must also think hard about plans to build more nuclear power stations, doubling the amount of nuclear waste.


86. Vacuum capacitor cylindrical inner cylinder has a r

Pay with:
i agree with "Terms for Customers"
Sold: 2 (last one 8 days ago)
Refunds: 0

Uploaded: 19.03.2016
Content: fiz059_86.doc (55 kB)

86. Vacuum capacitor cylindrical inner cylinder has a radius r = 1,5 cm and the outer radius of cylinder R = 3,5 cm. Between cylinders potential difference U = 2,3 kV. What speed υ receive an electron by the field of the capacitor, moving from a distance l1 = 2,5 cm and the distance l2 = 2 cm from the axis of the cylinder?

Additional information

No feedback yet.
1 month 3 months 12 months
0 0 0
0 0 0


Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney General's Office Win National Cybersecurity Innovation Award

Nov 03, 2011, 12:41 ET from SANS Institute

The Coreflood botnet Takedown - Creative and proactive steps making the Internet more secure

WASHINGTON, Nov. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The SANS Institute announced today that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney General's Office have won the 2011 U.S. National Cybersecurity Innovation Award for their innovative techniques in cyber law enforcement using the computer virus' own command and control system to disable the malicious software.

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111103/DC99678)

Coreflood, the latest botnet, allowed compromised PCs to be accessed by attackers, enabling them to steal sensitive personal data such as passwords, usernames, and financial information for use in a variety of criminal purposes including stealing funds. Once the computer is infected it can be controlled remotely from another computer, known as a command & control (C&C) server. The Coreflood botnet is believed to have been in operation for nearly a decade and has infected more than 2.3 million computers worldwide, 80% within the United States.

A temporary restraining order put in place by the FBI and its partners allowed authorities to seize five C&C servers that remotely controlled hundreds of thousands of infected computers. These servers were swapped out and replaced with substitute C&C servers run by the government to prevent Coreflood from causing further injury to owners and users of infected computers.

The restraining order also has allowed the government to respond to requests from infected computers with a command to disable the malware. This stops the attackers controlling the botnet from introducing different versions of the Coreflood malware onto the infected computers. In addition authorities will alert the user's Internet service provider and ask the service provider to contact the user recommending they install antivirus software to eliminate the infection.

The FBI and the Attorney General's Office have taken steps that are the first of their kind and used those steps to mitigate the threats posed by the Coreflood botnet.  Thus are the winners of the 2011 National Cybersecurity Innovation Award for deploying innovative techniques in cyber law enforcement which have resulted in large scale risk reductions to make the internet more secure.

About the National Cybersecurity Innovation Awards

The National Cybersecurity Innovation Awards recognize developments undertaken by companies and government agencies who have developed and deployed innovative processes or technologies which are innovative in that it has not been deployed effectively before, can show a significant impact on reducing cyber risk, can be scaled quickly to serve large numbers of people, and should be adopted quickly by many other organizations. Nominations included most senior government officials involved with Cybersecurity as well as those from major Cybersecurity Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISACs).  Corporations and individuals, including SANS instructors, also nominated innovations and each nomination was tested by the SANS Institute research department. More than 50 nominations were received and 14 were selected.

About SANS Institute


• Diagnostic Services

  • 1.5 Tesla Wide Bore and 3 Tesla MRI

    Computed Tomography (CT) Scans

    CT scans, sometimes called CAT scans, are one of the diagnostic tools doctors use to reveal cancer within the body.

    Using an advanced x-ray unit that rotates around your body and a powerful computer to create cross-sectional images, like slices, of the inside of your body—the CT scan clearly reveals bones and organs and their inner structure, plus a detailed anatomy of the pancreas, adrenal glands, kidneys, and blood vessels.

    A radiologist, a physician specifically trained to supervise and interpret radiology examinations, analyzes the images and sends a signed report to your primary care or referring physician, who will share the results with you.

    Diagnostic Radiology (x-rays)

    Digital Mammography

    Our Women's Breast & Imaging Center at San Antonio Regional Hospital features digital mammography, which is an advanced type of imaging that uses a computer, rather than x-ray film, to record x-ray images of the breast.

    Digital mammography is different from standard mammography. With digital pictures, the physician can zoom in, magnify, and optimize different parts of the breast tissue in the picture without having to take an additional image.

    Endoscopic Services (GI)

    These short and simple procedures can provide an early diagnosis, which may save your life. We encourage you to talk to your physician about any specific questions or concerns that you may have. You may also call our Endoscopic Services Department weekdays, from 6 am to 4 pm, at 909.920.4991.

    Gamma Knife

    The Gamma Knife is an advanced brain surgery device that permits outpatient brain surgery with no incision, minimal discomfort, and a brief recovery. Developed in Sweden in the 1950s, the Gamma Knife has been in use in the United States for more than two decades, providing patients with a treatment option for brain disorders that were once only treatable by open skull surgery. Over half a million patients have been treated with Gamma Knife surgery. In fact, Gamma Knife is the only radiation therapy system specifically licensed by the FDA for irradiating brain metastases. With unsurpassed and proven clinical outcomes, the Gamma Knife is the gold standard in
    cranial radiosurgery.

    Nuclear Medicine

    Nuclear Medicine is a medical specialty that uses safe, painless, and cost-effective techniques to diagnose, treat, manage, and prevent serious diseases. Nuclear Medicine focuses on organ function and structure, while radiology centers on anatomy.

    We have three cameras available for imaging at San Antonio Regional Hospital: a triple head whole body scanner, a triple head cardiac scanner, and a multi-purpose single head scanner. This equipment represents the latest technology for conducting planar and SPECT (single photon emission computerized tomography).

    Examinations are scheduled weekdays, from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm. If you have questions about your test, please contact your physician or the Nuclear Medicine Department at 909.920.4977.

    Radiation Oncology

    Radiation Oncology, also known as Radiation Therapy, is the medical specialty that treats cancer with radiation and is part of our Cancer Services. It is administered in the form of gamma rays or x-rays designed to destroy cancer cells, while allowing the adjacent normal cells to repair themselves. Radiation is the preferred form of treatment for some types of cancer, and in other cases it is used in conjunction with surgery or chemotherapy.

    Ultrasound Diagnostic

    Ultrasound procedures are used to assess soft tissue structures such as muscles, blood vessels, and organs.


In a mainstream class at Typical Elementary, third-graders Maria and Jose listen to the teacher explain Thanksgiving, draw a turkey, study vocabulary words, look at a Mayflower picture, sing a Thanksgiving song, and act out Indians feasting with Pilgrims. An aide may help in English or Spanish; they'll spend 30 minutes a day studying English with other "English learners."

Maria will be proficient in English by fifth grade and go on to earn a high school diploma. Jose will remain an English learner into middle school, where he'll drift away from the mainstream. He'll take low-level high school classes, give up and drop out. While Maria is in community college planning a nursing career, Jose will be working on his uncle's mow-and-blow crew.

Forty percent of English learners who started California schools as kindergartners won't be proficient in English by seventh grade, according to a study by the Legislative Analyst's Office. Others reach even grimmer numbers: More than 60 percent aren't proficient after 10 years in California schools, estimates a state-commissioned study on Proposition 227's effects by two nonprofit research groups, the American Institutes for Research and WestEd.

California is losing the talents of an enormous number of young people. Some elementary schools have figured out how to educate students so that Maria and Jose are prepared to succeed. Most haven't. A huge achievement gap -- 256 points on the Academic Performance Index for English learners -- separates successful elementary schools from those where those students lag far behind in academic skills, concludes an EdSource ( study released recently.

What counts isn't whether students are taught in Spanish or English, but whether they're taught well.

Now Playing:
  • Now Playing
    What's special about San Francisco? San Francisco Chronicle
  • Corgi Con returns to Ocean Beach San Francisco Chronicle
  • San Francisco's most famous animals Katie Wood/SFGATE
  • SF's Boxing Room makes New Orleans cocktails SFGATE

"The education of English learners has been defined by the bilingual versus English-only debate," says Kenji Hakuta, a Stanford education professor and principal investigator for the EdSource study, "Similar English Learner Students, Different Results: Why Do Some Schools Do Better?"

Some schools do better because they develop a coherent, standards-based curriculum, use data to improve teaching, set high and measurable objectives, and provide competent teachers with up-to-date instructional materials. English learners do well in these schools. So do native English speakers.

While English learners also benefit from extra attention from teachers and aides, they benefit most from attending a school that's organized to improve the achievement of all students. In short: It's the teaching, stupid.

One in 4 California students -- and 1 in 3 elementary students -- is classified as an English learner. About 85 percent come from Spanish-speaking families; a similar percentage come from low-income families. The vast majority are born in the United States or come before kindergarten, and most start school with some English skills. Since Prop. 227 passed in 1998, the percentage of English learners in bilingual classes has fallen to 7 percent.

Although nearly half of English learners score in the "early advanced" or "advanced" range on the California English Language Development Test, less than 10 percent are reclassified as "fluent English proficient" each year.

I researched reclassification for a Lexington Institute ( report, "How Good is Good Enough? Moving California's English Learners to English Proficiency." It was clear that some districts and schools monitor students' progress closely and try to move students from English learner status as soon as they're ready. Glendale Unified, near Los Angeles, doubled the state average with a 19.7 percent reclassification rate. Others didn't consider reclassification important: In Alvord Unified in Riverside County, only 1 percent of English learners reached fluent English proficient status in 2005-06.

But many students don't qualify for reclassification because their academic skills are below average.

If English learners don't catch up by the end of elementary school, they usually don't catch up later, warns Robert Linquanti, a WestEd researcher and co-author of the Prop. 227 follow-up study. When he meets with school administrators, Linquanti asks them how many of their students who've been enrolled since kindergarten go on to middle school as English learners. "How many go on to be reclassified? How well do they do?" When he shows them the data on student failure, they're "horrified," he says. He's made administrators cry.

Starting in middle school, English learners may take separate English classes and sometimes social studies, science and math classes designed for students with limited English proficiency. Expectations are low. Many get stuck on an English learner track to nowhere.

The dropout rate is enormous. In Los Angeles Unified, only 29 percent of ninth-grade English learners are still enrolled by 12th grade.

Some of these students arrived in the United States too late to learn English and catch up with their classmates, but most are long-term students.

It's not hopeless for English learners who arrive in elementary school, EdSource found. Researchers compared schools with similar demographics: Most students come from low-income families.

A few English learner teaching techniques correlate with higher scores. Students do better if they receive English-language instruction from a specialist teacher rather than the classroom teacher. Students learn more math if their teacher uses English learner strategies and an aide helps in the student's home language.

What really distinguishes schools on the high side of the achievement gap, however, is a commitment to effective teaching for all students.

Not surprisingly, successful schools have more experienced and certified teachers; principals report a higher percentage of teachers understand their subjects, know how to link standards to teaching, collaborate well with colleagues and are excited about teaching. These schools are more likely to have up-to-date textbooks.

At high-achieving schools, principals analyze test data from multiple sources to improve instruction and learning. They track struggling students to offer more help when needed.

These schools implement a coherent curriculum linked to state standards. Teachers work together to ensure consistent instruction.

High expectations correlate with high scores. When "the principal communicates a clear vision for the school, sets high standards for student learning, and makes expectations clear to teachers for meeting academic achievement goals, the school is more likely to be high achieving," the study says. Schools that work for English learners and others make measurable student achievement a priority.

Putting a priority on achievement leads to achievement.

"It sounds like, duh," says Trish Williams, director of EdSource.

But it's harder to do than it sounds.


In an Arlington office building, there is a classroom with computer parts and car parts everywhere. Immigrants from Vietnam, Laos, South Korea, Afghanistan, Nicaragua and other countries come to learn how to say "keyboard," "printer" and "hard disk." They come to learn how to dress for a job interview and how to put a computer back together.

Amtek Systems Inc., a small Arlington software development and computer services company started by three Vietnamese refugees who met here in the mid-1980s, has conducted such courses since it was founded in 1986. Last month, the company regrouped its top executives and formed a nonprofit organization, the Amtek Institute, to help other refugees struggling with resettlement. With training in technical skills, as well as language and cultural skills, the newcomers can get started on career paths, rather than just into jobs.

Long Dinh, Peter Ly and Toa Do, the three principals, know what they are talking about.

Dinh and Ly came to the United States from Vietnam as refugees in 1975; they were both students. Do, a former South Vietnamese government official, was in a relocation camp for several years and finally left during the Vietnamese boat lift in 1980. With no money or contacts and educations with little value here, the three took the typical immigrant's path: working several jobs at a time to feed big families, studying English and learning marketable skills in the growing computer industry.

"We had educations, but when we came to this country we did not have opportunities to use the background ... because the education system is different," Ly said. "So most of the people who even have a very high degree ... have to start everything from ground zero."

Four years ago they formed the company, but only Dinh worked there full time. Today Amtek has a dozen employees and is starting to take off, Ly said. Last year he and Do quit other jobs and came to Amtek full time. The company had sales of about $100,000 in 1990, and Ly predicts gross sales will be nearly $1 million in 1991.

By restructuring and incorporating a nonprofit group, they hope to minimize overhead and expand the training programs, going to local governments in search of more contracts.

The Amtek Institute, and programs like it, they hope, will cut out some of the struggle involved in starting over in a new country.

With contracts from the Fairfax County Department of Human Development, Amtek has taught groups of refugees on public assistance the basics of computer or automobile repair in four-month courses. The programs are not set up to produce experts in electronics or auto repair; rather, they teach the immigrants the basics so they can get entry-level jobs.

Gary Gortenberg, program manager for employment training in Fairfax, said Amtek is one of several contractors the county uses to train refugees and get them off welfare. The program's goal is to give them "career latitude and a work history so they can move up," he said.

Joe Jackson, automotive sales manager in Sears's automotive department in Fair Oaks, has hired several of the graduates from Amtek's courses. He said that although they usually need more training after they are hired, the students fill a big need for him because good entry-level workers are tough to come by.

"They're very good employees," he said. "They're dependable ... if we could find a way to bottle their enthusiasm we would all be rich. They're dedicated, they're hard-working, they have a thirst for knowledge. The information you get from the institute is like a survey course in college... . It's hard to make somebody a mechanic in four months."

Najibullah Mukhtar, who came here with his wife and five children from Afghanistan two years ago, hopes the automobile repair course he took will help him get off public assistance. Mukhtar, 46, who was a truck driver and mechanic in Afghanistan, said that the four-month course was enough to teach him the English terms for the parts of a car and introduce him to air conditioning, automatic transmissions and fuel injection, which cars in Afghanistan do not have.

Plus, at graduation, he received a certificate for completing the course and a box of tools, so he can practice working on his own car.

"Those short months, they will help me," he said. "I'm ready to work."


Learn how to write an argumentative research paper using this Bioterrorism paper example

Written by: academicwriter

13 Sep 2010

Topic sentence (Bioterrorism in this case)

What are you about to sell your justification to your readers with? Selecting a topic statement for your persuasive paper is tremendously important to competence of the composition. Keep in mind the fact that the topic should be concentrated at revealing a statement. You will find such topic sentences that can be difficult, although provided that you are competent to defend it to an acceptable degree with information along with data you may take the challenging one. Challenging topics analyzing bioterrorism are always victorious.

Research paper structure

Shape your paper
in the style that helps you make your readership consider your arguments without leaving a drop of hesitation. There are actually some expedient arrangement designs for the persuasive paper relating to bioterrorism. One suggests that you explain pros for every single belief in an individual paragraph, then give introduction to possible cons to the points which you confute afterward.

Brainstorm contra statements for each idea in your paper and then to contradict these ideas with the help of sufficient defending data. It is vital to generate a conclusion (which reveals the opinion as regards the bioterrorism) at the last part of the paper despite which style of presenting the statements you take.

Present arguments

When refuting antagonistic thoughts to your bioterrorism claim, proclaim the con. This would make your disproof pointed. Declaration of opposing claim brings to light what exactly you're gonna contradict, which makes it a lot easier for you personally and also your readers to figure out. As refuting, utilize only strong objections. Confirm the argument with information from trustworthy sources.

There are three forms of contradiction:

  1. corroboration of irrelevancy (when you, the author denote that confronting statement is unrelated to the bioterrorism topic statement)
  2. total discrepancy (at this juncture you are demanded to offer strong rebuttal plus back up the arguments using information in order to crash the antagonistic argument)
  3. compromise (while you, the author, agree to the antagonistic claim on the whole but also provide evidence that the argument isn't good adequately)

Develop awesome conclusion

Depending on the approach of delivering you chose for the bioterrorism research paper, your closing must either sum up without exception, all supporting suggestions as well as mention disproofs to cons, or review contradictions to all cons to the bioterrorism question. You'll find orgnization models about ways the breaking off ought to be prepared, it is dependent upon the manner of demonstration you chose for the bioterrorism paper. The first one: it is supposed to summarize all pro arguments and present confutations to opposing ideas. The next variant: your closing paragraph is supposed to debate confutations to every contrasting claim to your bioterrorism subject. Once you have done it, you're now able to formulate a final judgement concerning bioterrorism.

Latest academic writing posts

Read more on Academic Writing Blog

  • The word "analytical" in critical paper does not necessarily imply that you will have to criticize someone's creation. You can create an analytical essay that wholly supports reading. The term "analytical" illustrates your attitude when you study the text. Such outlook can be explained as "uninvolved evaluation," meaning that you need to appraise the logic of the analyzed work, the logic of its facts, and so on, before you approve or refuse it.

    That's it for today. Will be posting more soon.

  • Before you start writing your paper, it's very important to brainstorm all ideas that you have or have gathered on your topic, to understand what structure and logic your work should have. Some of the tools you can employ is prewriting - simply sitting down and starting to write every idea that comes to your mind with regards to your paper topic, and webbing - creating a web of ideas and suggestions, connected to the main topic of your writing. First, you coonect basic ideas to your topic, and all the examples or explanations of these ideas are connected to them, in turn.


أخبار عاجلة
المشهد اليمني: اليمن… مقبرة المشروع الفارسي -

CENT Elon Musk's Boring Co. wins O'Hare Airport train contract - Roadshow

Chicago Cityscapes And City Views

Musk Boring Co. aims to whisk airline passengers between Michigan Avenue and O'Hare Airport in 20 minutes.Raymond Boyd/Getty Images

Elon Musk's the Boring Company said late Wednesday it's won the contract to build a high-speed express train to Chicago's O'Hare's International Airport.

Under the contract, Musk's company will design, fund, build and operate a high-speed loop connecting O'Hare Airport with downtown Chicago, the company said on its website. The plan comes in response to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's request last year for proposals to build and operate a high-speed rail line that will whisk passengers from the airport to downtown in 20 minutes or less.

"We're really excited to work with the Mayor and the City to bring this new high-speed public transportation system to Chicago!" the company said in a

Musk, the brains behind SpaceX and Tesla, created Boring to build transport tunnels that provide an alternative means of transportation and alleviate traffic congestion. But Musk's plan for Chicago is a little different than his Hyperloop, a futuristic form of transportation that uses electromagnetic pulses to shotgun passengers through low-pressure tubes at near-supersonic speeds.

"A Loop is like a Hyperloop, but without drawing a vacuum inside the tube," Musk

in November.

Musk's transportation ambitions aren't isolated to the Windy City. The billionaire entrepreneur has detailed plans for a "personalized mass transit" system in Los Angeles that would carry 16 people per pod and travel at 150 miles per hour from downtown to LA International Airport in eight minutes via a tube.

The office for the Chicago mayor's office couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

2018 Audi S4: The sweet spot sport sedan

2018 Volkswagen Tiguan: Bigger is better, less is more

2018 BMW Alpina B7: The de facto M7

اشترك فى النشرة البريدية لتحصل على اهم الاخبار بمجرد نشرها

تابعنا على مواقع التواصل الاجتماعى

السابق CENT Elon Musk's Boring Co. wins O'Hare Airport train contract - Roadshow
التالى الجزيرة : UN slams 'excessive' Israeli force against Palestinians in Gaza


Vintage diamond engagement rings (3)

You are also suggested to read:

Modern Vintage Engagement Rings

In this written text, there will be explained that the modern vintage engagement rings properties, designs and importance with our thoughts and opinions.

Mark Patterson Modern Vintage Engagement Ring

Mark Patterson Modern Vintage Engagement Ring

  • What are the properties of modern vintage engagement rings?
  • What are the designs of modern vintage engagement rings?
  • What are the reasons and importance of modern vintage engagement rings preference?

Engagement ring, heading for marriage for couples, as a symbol of promise and commitment, while at the same time, for many years, will be moved a finger accessory refers. In this sense, especially the bride candidates by choosing an engagement ring are pretty important.

Show yourself in all areas, depending on the vintage flow, especially at weddings and vintage-themed weddings; it is possible to come across frequently. In this sense, vintage engagement rings, both stances and flamboyant structures by couples are among the most preferred models.

Modern vintage engagement rings usually have too many characters are timeless, contemporary rings, unique piece. Vintage pieces passed down for generations have the potential to become heirlooms. There’s a commemorative ring in your family, even if the election of a new ring made in the style of the vintage, as in a real estate purchase ring, is an option.

Vintage ring, choosing to feel modern tissue at the same time when the bride is designed to meet the expectations of modern vintage engagement rings, vintage reflects the visual flow, combining modern lines, offers both valuable and stylish look. Simple touches of modern lines, sometimes simple and elegant style, while some also different embellishments; it is possible to come across more eye-catching models. In addition, differences in the design and cut shapes and of different materials with the use of different tastes that will appeal to modern vintage engagement rings can be sent to the model. No matter what modern vintage engagement rings with modern designs, vintage models of structure, elegance and quality, offering a combination of models appears to be.

For the thoughts of many modern brides, modern vintage engagement rings can be worn from the jump and you look like something Grandma vintage style rings are preferred instead. OK, maybe this is just a classic film (very good) stepped up out it doesn’t look as attractive. Vintage rings are elegant, complex, and always provide prestige.

Every woman is unique and timeless as classy and a little pizzazz and want to be remembered. I mean, it must have the same attributes as the public. There are a lot of rings available in the market. Modern vintage engagement rings are getting the fame from the last couple of years. You can find many great shopping malls, modern ring. In the past no longer when we saw a single diamond ring designs changed the transition. Now a lot of other pieces of small diamond rings as well as modern designs you can find. People are always going to bring joy and happiness on the face of her daughter want to buy an engagement ring. When it comes to Design Choices and preference is different. Modern vintage engagement rings when there are different types of designs on the market. If you go to the shop of jewelry you happiness each design will be to know different prices, different shapes and designs of contemporary rings you will see. This type is used in the construction of the public; there are different metals and materials.

Some designs are modern yet simple look and add elegance. Modern vintage engagement rings have selection diversity in the run, including some diamond designs but some rings different stones are formed. A pearl modern vintage engagement ring looks stunning and certainly will add elegance to the public. Have your own class, but, above all, a more affordable than buying a diamond ring is so because the use of different stones, modern engagement rings is very common.


— The South Centre Blog

When “trade deals” get over-loaded

Khor 1Trade_FacilitationTrade agreements like the TPPA have become over-loaded with non-trade issues as well as extra conditions that a powerful country and its Congress can demand of partners like Malaysia.

Once upon a time, trade agreements were just about trade.  The negotiator’s principle was:  I’ll allow some of your products to enter my market if you allow some of mine to sell in yours.

Both countries could estimate what the benefits would be for them, and if it’s mutually satisfactory, a good deal is made.

Today, trade deals are not mainly about trade anymore.  The trend started when intellectual property, services and investment measures entered into the system of trade rules when the old GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) was transformed into the WTO (World Trade Organisation).

If you do not respect my companies’ patent rights, I can impose an extra tariff on your product and block it from my market to punish you.

This has complicated the rules of trade since non-trade issues invaded the system.   But this complication at the WTO is minor compared to the bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) involving the United States and the European Union.

Take the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) negotiations, involving  Malaysia and 11 other countries, as a prime example.  Under the leadership of the US, the TPPA includes chapters on many non-trade issues including intellectual property (with standards far higher than in the WTO), rules on investment liberalisation, a system where foreign investors can sue the host states in an international tribunal, and opening up of services sectors to foreign ownership.

Then there are the two issues that directly intrude into the way the government operates.  Government procurement, or the rules on how the state decides to award contracts for goods, services and projects, is to be opened to foreigners as if they were locals.

And government-owned enterprises, including private companies in which the state has a share, are to be governed by rules that prevent them from having advantages.  The way they buy and sell goods and services are also to be opened to foreigners as if they are locals.

The “free trade agreement” has gone far beyond the terms of importing and exporting goods, and penetrated deep into the structure of the domestic economy, including how local businesses are allowed or disallowed from benefitting from government policies, and how the government conducts its business.

Then there are also TPPA chapters on labour and environmental standards.  The origins are with the US government attempt to please its Congress members, trade unions and environmental groups that would otherwise oppose the US entering FTAs with other countries.

The FTAs are seen by these groups to have negative effects on American workers (as jobs travel abroad with increased imports and companies investing overseas) and on the environment (due to an increase in imports whose production cause deforestation or pollution).

To offset this, the FTA partners are asked to abide by labour and environmental laws that are of a standard acceptable to the US administration, Congress and constituency groups.

Developing countries do not like the intrusion of an FTA that interferes with their social and environmental policies.  They also fear that increased cost could erode their competitiveness.

But they have no choice but to accept this, together with the other non-trade issues, if they want to sign a FTA with the US or EU.

However even this is not enough to satisfy the US Congress or the lobby groups. In recent weeks new demands and issues have emerged that will probably become new conditions for countries that want to sign the TPPA.

These issues have significance for Malaysia as it is one of the countries that are especially targeted.

First, a large number of Congress members have made clear that they will not approve the TPPA unless it has an “anti-currency manipulation” chapter.

Countries that “manipulate” their currency to make its level lower than it should be (and thus enable their exports to be sold more cheaply) will be punished by having extra duties imposed on their products to offset their artificial cheapness.

In a paper authored by a chief proponent of this issue, Malaysia is mentioned as one of the two TPPA countries that are practising this currency manipulation.  The criteria used to define that a country is a manipulator can be intellectually challenged; but there is the prospect that the accused country would have to defend itself.

Second, several Congress members have recently pointed to Vietnam and Malaysia as countries that have labour standards and practices that are below what is acceptable.  An American journal on trade has reported that the US TPPA negotiators are approaching the two countries to ask them to change their labour regulations so that they can meet the TPPA requirements of the Congress.

Thirdly, the US has produced a report on human trafficking which also includes treatment of migrants.  Thailand and Malaysia have been put in the lowest category of countries, implying their standards are among the worst.

This accusation about Malaysia was even highlighted in a full editorial in the International New York Times.  Though the government has denied the accusations, this may be taken up by the US in the context of TPPA.

Then there is another peculiarity of the US system that can jam up a country’s ability to enjoy the benefits of the TPPA.

This is the “certification requirement”.  Even after the TPPA is signed by all the parties, the preferences to be given by the US to a partner country will not come into force until it obtains “certification” by Congress that the country has complied with all the provisions of the TPPA.

At this stage, Congress can still demand that the country makes changes to its laws, regulations and practices.  This happened to some of the countries that recently signed a bilateral FTA with the US.

We can expect the US President or more likely the Congress to make additional demands that a country change its economic, social and environmental policies, additional to what it has already agreed in the negotiations.

Juan Pablo Letelier, a leading senator from Chile who accompanied his President, Michelle Bachelet, in their trip to the US last week, is a strong critic of the certification requirement.

The criticism, according to a report in Inside US Trade  (4 July),  is that this gives the U.S. the ultimate authority in determining whether other trading partners’ legislation brings them in line with the terms of the agreement – and leverage to demand changes to those laws by withholding entry into force of the TPPA.

Letelier argued that agreeing to the certification mechanism would amount to the Chilean Congress giving up its “legislative sovereignty,” which is unacceptable to his constituents.

Letelier has co-drafted a resolution, which he expects the Senate will approve this month, that calls for the Chilean president to evaluate the utility of the country continuing in the TPP negotiations, and also asks for a guarantee that the TPP would not affect the legislative sovereignty of the country.

All the above issues constitute the larger picture and the framework within which the TPPA negotiations take place.

It is important not to miss seeing the forest when negotiating each tree or chapter of the TPPA.  The agreement is over-loaded with all kinds of issues and conditions that raise questions of sovereignty and the restriction on “policy space”, or a country’s ability to formulate and implement policies of its choice and to suit its national priorities.

The TPPA negotiations resume this week in Canada, when many of the outstanding issues will be negotiated, in an attempt to meet the deadline announced by President Barrack Obama that a draft of the entire text be ready by November.

Submit comment


We Are Hiring: Seasonal Part-Time Arboretum Assistant

Part-Time Seasonal

Arboretum Grounds Assistant:

General: Under the supervision of the Community Outreach Director the individual will perform tasks involved in the continuous care and maintenance of cemetery arboretum as well as provide on-site assistance during public community events.  Work M-F and occasionally Saturday/Sundays.

Example of Duties:

  1. Perform landscaping work such as pruning, deadheading, controlling weeds, monitoring garden pests and diseases.
  2. Mowing, string-trimming, and edging as needed.
  3. Assist in the building and establishing of new gardens. This work will include planting new trees, perennial, and annual gardens.
  4. Assist in the setting up and clean-up of arboretum and community events. Duties will include setting up chairs, working with the public, providing onsite support.
  5. Ability to communicate in a professional manner with the community.

  1. Perform manual work.
  2. Able to lift fifty pounds (soil, plants, chairs)
  3. Self-motivated, good organizational and interpersonal skills, detail-oriented, ability to multitask, prioritize, and meet deadlines


From TSW to Living Life Again

TSW is a painful process that is both poorly documented and evaluated. The evidence that it works is minimal, if it exists at all. While the vast majority of medical professionals do not believe in TSW, the internet is rife with reports that ceasing all use of topical steroids can have a beneficial effect. While the jury is still out on this hypothesis, there are hundreds of people who are now reporting that even after years of topical steroid withdrawal, their symptoms and pain only increased while all aspects of increased health benefit decreased. Please be aware that topical steroid withdrawal lacks the scrutiny and support of all science that laymen purport as evidence of the condition. The haphazard approach to TSW can lead to massive amounts of inflammation in the body and inflammation is largely responsible for the vast majority of health issues that occur in the body. The following video highlights a large number of individuals who engaged in the painful process of TSW and ultimately found a safer alternative to TSW, allowing the body to heal in a pain-free manner, respective of good health and the many benefits that accompany it – all while ridding the body of atopic eczema and the associated redness that many believe to be the result of topical steroid use.


Browsing Date

November 2014

Asia, Destinations

A Chinese Thanksgiving

November 27, 2014 • By

Happy Thanksgiving! In solidarity with my countrymen, I ate the steamed pumpkin dumplings and the pumpkin congee (rice porridge) for breakfast. I also spent the morning at Starbucks and the afternoon breaking with tradition and shopping. I’ve reversed my decision never to marry and I am searching for a Chinese man. With this many Prada, Gucci, and Louis Vuitton stores in one city, I think I can find someone who can actually afford me.

…..And back to our regularly programming of a tourist’s life in Xi’an.

While I mentioned earlier, there are a great number of factories in Xi’an. Agriculture is an equally important industry. They farm wheat, corn, persimmons (whatever those are) and pomegranates. I happen to love pomegranates so when my guide presented me with a slice, I hesitated at first because she cut it in four squares like an orange. She reassured me this was the way to go and I opened wide and gnawed away until she commented that I’m not supposed to eat the seeds. Who knew? I mean I’m fairly certain I’ve had pomegranate seeds for $10 a carton in NYC but I’m clearly not an expert and typically stick to juice. I’ve now devoured two pomegranates and their seeds in the last 24 hours. Hagan Daz can shove it.

I adored my guide “Phoebe” who spent the day with me in Xi’an. Before I visited China, I had a notion that Chinese women were the equivalent to “China dolls” –very pretty, made up and subservient at least that is the reason I thought so many Caucasian men preferred Asian beauties to Irish/German ones. So far, I found the opposite to be true. I am not saying Phoebe isn’t pretty because she certainly is but she dressed like a lululemon or gap version of me and stressed her independence at work and home. Most of the women don’t even wear make up!

When I told Phoebe about my vision of Chinese women, she thought that represented more her grandparents generation. Phoebe and her husband met at tourism school and work at the same company. They married at age 26 and have a five-year-old daughter who is in kindergarten. The both work full time and Phoebe’s parents seem to do most of the cooking and babysitting. I laughed when I asked Phoebe if she cooks and she giggled before responding that her husband does most of the cooking.   Later she revealed, her mother is an awful cook too and her father is the man in the kitchen.

Pingyao, China, China Tourism, Pingyao Tourism

My last view of the Drum Tower in Xi’an Friday morning.

It is widely reported that Chinese women who date or marry foreigners are frowned upon but Chinese men who marry foreigners are superstars. In this very male dominated society, I am rooting for the Chinese women. Phoebe said there is a genuine shortage of Chinese women due to the government imposed one child rule on the Han people, the ethnic majority in China, in the 1980s. She and her husband are both products of this ban and therefore wish to have only one child (although she is wavering maybe). Phoebe made it clear that she and her husband will need to provide for her parents, his parents and his grandparents and that being an only child is often challenging but at least now everyone is available to help her and spoil her daughter.

On a side note, everyone loves a good wedding. Phoebe’s wedding took place at a restaurant for lunch with 100 of her closest family and friends and no wedding rings are exchanged. This is what normally takes place in China. Can you imagine the savings? Start calculating. Unless the dress is $100k, couples are saving a whole lot of money, which leaves me to believe that is why they are sporting Chanel and LV bags. The average wage in Xi’an is about $6,000-$8,000 a month. That is about $750-$2,000 USD and I can’t fathom that salary warrants the number of shopping stores in this city.

The Chinese, however, do put a great deal of emphasis on dressing well. Even in the countryside, people present themselves in a suitable manner. I look like a schlepper compared to these people. Their clothing definitely does not equate to economic status. From what I have seen, even the less fortunate children and families in China maintain good hygiene and dress. I expected rags to some extent in the villages but even the street kids wear intact clothing.

That’s probably why sales people seemed revolted at my outfit while shopping today. Dressed like I was going hiking, these sales people either wanted nothing to do with me or they stood over my shoulder and made me so uncomfortable I couldn’t even browse. Needless to say, once I discovered the entire floor dedicated to cashmere with the average price listed over $1,000USD, I headed to the food court. I worked out all the stores were celebrating Thanksgiving by giving 30-50 percent off merchandise. I only figured this out after I ended up at the Gap to buy a pair of jeans. Get this…my jeans at the Gap in the States cost $50-$70. This Chinese pair (probably made in China) cost $83 BUT ding ding ding…Thanksgiving sale price of….$60 and back to where I started.

Xian, China, Chinese Tourism, China tourism, Xian Tourism

The Muslim Quarter, the Great Mosque

The Chinese are consumers. It’s hard to imagine this country ever slowing down. I want to take a non-scientific survey and see if Apple or Samsung are winning the cell phone war. It’s impossible to walk more than 10 feet without seeing a Samsung or Apple carrier or independent store. Even though Google, Twitter and Facebook are blocked (thank you Judith for the assist), there are some 500 million Chinese online. making China the largest Internet market in the world. While I thought the Chinese were prohibited from “communicating” per se, I was wrong. They may be restricted but they are finding ways around that daily. Until recently, you couldn’t even practice religion (Communism prohibits worship) but now people practice Buddhism openly. Public life is changing rapidly here. It’s like the song from the movie Hairspray, “You can’t stop the beat.” I think the rest of the world better watch out, the Chinese are a powerful force.

Check out the video of my morning in the park:

The parks may be small but they are clean and open and locals are always exercising or playing games. This morning some older men caught me spying on their “whipping game” (I really hope this video plays or you will think I found myself in a chapter of Twenty Shades of Gray).

Intrigued mostly by the cracking sound, I watched them for several minutes before they insisted I take a try. I took hold of the leash made a few hula hoop moves along with some strong-arm action and attempted to whip the moving oversized thimble. My moves garnered many laughs until one man stopped me and tried to give me a proper lesson: Less twerking more figure eight motion. Nothing ventured nothing gained. I’m just hoping I’m not sore tomorrow.

Taking the high-speed train to Pingyao tomorrow. May the train be smoke free, the bathroom clean and my seatmate a single, handsome, rich 40-year-old something.

Asia, Destinations

Terra-Cotta Warriors – my intro to Xi’an

November 27, 2014 • By

People visit China to experience the history of Beijing – to visit the Forbidden City and to step foot on the Great Wall but the real secret to learning about Ancient China begins in present day Xi’an and its surrounding areas. The Capital of Shaanxi province in Northwest China, Xi’an is considered the great ancient capital of China. The Silk Road originated here, as did the dynasties of Zhou, Qin, Han, Sui and Tang. In more recent times, Xi’an celebrated the 40th anniversary of the discovery of the terracotta warriors or the Terracotta Army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang and that’s why I am here, to see firsthand the spectacular work of the local Chinese artisans some 2,000 years ago.

The first emperor of China from 221-206 BC, Qin Si Huang, unified China, standardized weights and measures and developed the character writing system used today. In addition to ordering his people to work as laborers and soldiers to build his many palaces and city buildings, Qin also instructed artisans and local workers to build an army of terracotta warriors to guard his tomb in the afterlife.  He died at age 21 likely from mercury poisoning, which is somewhat ironic because he surrounded himself with Mercury “rivers” as a way of protecting himself in death.

In 1974, farmers digging a water well unearthed the discovery of a lifetime. It’s hard to imagine these men working long days in the field and then tapping into bronze arrowheads and color painted clay soldiers. Before the government learned of their find and archeologist sent to investigate, farmers even sold some of the precious relics to make money.

It must have been quite an undertaking for archeologists to preserve these treasures. There are an estimated 8,000 terracotta soldiers: 6,000 in the first pit; 2,000 in the second pit; and 68 in the third pit. Experts believe there was a fourth pit that probably never came to fruition because of the untimely death of Emperor Qin Si Huang. It is believed it took 700,000 people working together to complete the army.

Resembling a real standing army, these clay soldiers were lined up according to rank. Envision rows of life-like cavalrymen, infantrymen, low ranking to high-ranking hunkered in ditches ready for war. There were archers and horses with carriages, even acrobats and entertainers all found outside the city wall of Qin Si Huang’s tomb. Qin’s tomb sits at the base of the Li Mountains where he built his traveling palace. It was a mountain rich with jade and gold – perfect for an emperor’s resting place.

It must be noted that each clay “soldier” looks significantly different. Prior to being exposed to oxygen during the excavation process, the soldiers were painted a a brownish-orange color with white face and colored armor. The detail in their faces is incredible. One soldier may have a mustache or other facial expression, while the soldier next to him nothing. They are truly exact replicas of human soldiers.

At some point, it’s likely the area was looted shortly after Qin’s death and the area set on fire, which allowed the rafters to essentially bury the soldiers in time. It’s overwhelming to see what these people created in 221 BC and with such unbelievable precision and detail. Many of the pits have been sealed off at this time until scientists can figure out how ways to better preserve the soldiers.

There is a great video if you wish to see what the soldiers may have looked like in ancient times.

Xi’an’s population is about 8.4 million people. In a country with 1.4 billion, it’s relatively small. HA! Understandably, the terracotta warriors are the big draw in Xi’an but it’s also worth catching a glimpse of the ancient city wall that encloses the city. Constructed by the Ming dynasty in 1370, the current wall remains intact today. It’s about 8 miles around and 40 feet high. In ancient times, a moat and drawbridge warded off invaders. It’s stunningly beautiful and most of the businesses in Xi’an remain located within the walls. A bell tower sits on the east side and the drum tower nearby to the west. The people would ring the bell to announce the sunrise and beat the drum to declare the end of the day and sunset.

The bell tower

The bell tower

Xi’an is also home to one of China’s largest Muslim population. There are an estimated 50,000 Muslims living in Xi’an, which was the first city introduced to Islam. Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty officially allowed the practice of Islam in 651 AD. I visited the Muslim Quarter at “sunset” (I’ve yet to see the sun) and it’s as if people came out of the woodwork. Food vendors lined street after street of narrow alleyways. I don’t know what I was expecting but the Muslims in China resemble Chinese people not Middle Eastern. The women cover their hair but only with a light scarf. Similarly, the men wear a type of white cap but the rest of their attire is jeans, tops etc. I sampled my way through the Muslim Quarter tasting an ear of corn (a local specialty), a type of banana rice sponge cake dipped in vinegar and lastly a rice dumpling loaded with jelly. My blonde hair is not helping me here with the pictures. I tried to take a selfie in front of the drum tower while eating my sponge caked and it fell off the stick. The eyewitnesses giggled until finally after watching my demise, a local took pity on me and snapped a picture.  Visiting the Muslim quarter is like diving into a shoppers anonymous course. If I slowed to take a peak at any merchandise, an army of shop owners crowded my space yelling, “real pashmina, real jade” and I felt compelled to pay attention to their presentation before declining.

In Xi’an, I also finally found the pollution everyone talks about in China. It’s like an umbrella of haze hovering over the city. I feel trapped in a bubble, as I can’t see above most building tops and it’s as if the sky is one giant continuous cloud of gray. When the sun peaks through, it reminds me a bit of light bright from my childhood days.

Why is the pollution so bad? It’s easy to understand. Here in Xi’an it’s the factories and the coal used for heating. It’s about 40F degrees here and it turns quite cold so it’s necessary to heat the homes and buildings. With automobile, aircraft and textile factories dotting the landscape, it’s obvious it creates poor air quality. I’m surprised most people aren’t wearing masks. It doesn’t bother me at all to breathe. I just wish I could see the skyline but give me a mask for the bathrooms!