A swimming pool at home is something most homeowners desire to have but are a bit wary of its installation and maintenance costs. However, upon choosing the right people to aid in the care of the pool, homeowners can easily gain numerous benefits which range from superficial to significant in nature. These benefits will not only provide added aesthetics to a home but could lead to health and lifestyle improvements as well.
Having a swimming pool at home can provide countless of fun for the whole family. Most particularly after a stressful day at work or during the hot summer days, dipping into the cool waters of the swimming pool could easily relax the mind and body. Some pools are fitted with a heating system to allow homeowners to take a relaxing dip during the colder seasons. Parents can also use their home pools to teach their young children how to swim while enjoying family bonding time. A pool, no matter what the size or type it may be, can also provide homeowners with a fun and entertaining tool when having guests over for barbecue nights and other sorts of celebratory occasions.
Having a pool at home is highly beneficial because it can also serve as a fitness tool in creating a healthier and fit lifestyle for the homeowners and their families. Water is naturally buoyant and can easily support the body while making strenuous exercise movements. Water floating devices can also be used when working out in the pool. The muscles of the body are properly given support and will not strain easily as compared to exercising on land. Due to this, it is more unlikely to get injured while exercising due to the low impact provided by water. People with bone and muscle ailments such as arthritis and osteoporosis or people with injuries will also benefit from having a pool in the backyard. By using the natural and safe resistance of the water, people with muscle and bone ailments will ease the bodily tension and pain they feel. In addition to this, people with injuries will heal faster. With less stress towards the ligaments and muscles, the body?s healing process will be quicker.
When deciding to finally have a pool installed at home, make sure to rely on only reputable contractors, such as Blue World Pools, to do so. Not only will it provide pool owners the reassurance they need and deserve, contractors such as Blue World Pools will help in homeowners take good care of their pools to make it last longer.
tekom, the world?s largest tech comm conference, ended today after three days with more than 220 presentations, workshops and tutorials in German and English. (More detailed numbers and much, much more conference blogging over at Sarah Maddox? blog.) Here are my top 12 lessons that I learned and 3 ways how I think tekom is unique and different from other conferences I?ve been to, such as TCUK, the STC Summit or WritersUA.
What I learned
? in no particular order:
Unusual topics work. Presentations, such as how meaning works in tech comm, can succeed if you have a well-told, well-sourced story, even if the research is a bit farther afield, for example, from semiotics or psychology.
?Cheap documentation is expensive!? ? From Sarah O?Keefe?s session on Transforming Technical Content into a Business Asset.
Reuse or conditionalize complete sentences, no less. Else it becomes virtually impossible to translate in DITA or otherwise. ? From Marijana Prusina?s tutorial Around the World with DITA (in German).
Have business cards handy. Even ?after-hours? over beer, they might just get you a cool free t-shirt by Atlassian that says ?Don?t drink and write.?
Have worthwhile content. High-concept talks will fail if the first half is trends and statistics which any listener will know who?s keeping up with industry news and the second half is about the great things your company does. ? From a session I marked down on the evaluation sheet.
Maintain a network. A good network of fellow tech comm?ers can help you in more situations than I imagined. ? From the Strategic Technical Communicator panel. And from lining up a few more speaking opportunities by tapping my, uhm: network?
Know time. Speakers, please practice and if necessary cut down your talk: Running late and then skipping over the last slides is doubly annoying. Unless you?ve been added to the program late, you?ve had plenty of advance notice!
?Poor design costs!? ? From Leah Guren?s Advanced Visual Editing.
Know your audience. The rift between academia and tech comm?ers will persist if research feels like institutions and budgets trying to justify themselves. I think presentations of academic research will be more successful if they appeal to a common interest in how and why stuff works. German academic speakers, please know your audience and front-load the cool benefits you can bring, not your definitions and methodology.
Cloud-based terminology is coming. The European Union funds a cloud-based Terminology as a Service project. ? From Klaus Schmitz? Terminological Information and Services for Language Workers (in German).
Cross-language documentation works. German and English are related so closely, you can successfully create German documentation for English interfaces. You will need to pay some attention to grammar, spelling and anglicisms, though. ? From Marc Achtelig?s Do you speak Deutsch? (in German).
Have some integrity. It?s fine to talk about yourself if you have a good story, but please don?t undermine your session title and audience expectations. ?Be more like me!? is not a widely applicable answer to ?How to do X??
How tekom is unique
Size. tekom is first and foremost uniquely large, it is huuuuge! 2400 registered attendants attending 15 concurrent streams of sessions takes a convention center, not a conference hotel as I know it from other tech comm conferences. Size makes tekom unique in a couple more ways.
Global and bilingual. Even though it is predominantly a German conference, it is the most successfully international, multi-lingual conference I know. A quarter of all presentations, workshops and tutorials are in English. My personal impression is that attendees come from more countries than to any conference.
Variety in content. Because of the huge number of sessions, tekom affords more variety in sessions than I?ve seen elsewhere. Streams are dedicated to the usual suspects, such as content strategy, localization, mobile documentation, user assistance. Add to that more unusual, but valuable streams, such as higher education and academia, visual communication, personnel and cost management.
- Oh, and as it turns out: You?ve just reached the end of my 200th blog post? Thanks for reading, thank you for your support!
This is a syndicated post from LifeSiteNews.com Latest Headlines. [Read the original article...]
by Peter Baklinski BERLIN, October 25, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) ? A high ranking political figure in Germany has slammed the country?s education laws for ?usurping? children and ignoring the role of parents in a child?s education. ?Today I observe a total usurpation of children by school,? said Norbert Blum,? (11)
While today's Windows 8 launch event in NYC didn't open our eyes and ears to anything we haven't known Microsoft's latest OS and the Surface RT tablet, we did take a few moments to spend some time with the New York Times' new app for the OS. The layout is frankly dead simple, and should be familiar to anyone who's unfolded a traditional daily edition made from that stuff they call paper and ink. Swiping from side to side lets you transition between verticals -- it becomes long-winded quickly, unfortunately -- while swiping down from the top edge gives you even more sub-sections to choose from, like photos and video. We're pleased to note that we didn't notice a hint of lag on the VAIO T13 Ultrabook and Asus tablet we tried it out on, either. Your main changeable setting is the interval between auto-refreshes and, naturally, a subscription is required for enhanced access to the NYT's content. Overall, it seems like a simple, clean and fresh reading experience. It's available now from the Windows store, and you can catch our video overview past the break to see for yourself!
HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) ? The highly caffeinated Monster Energy Drink has been cited in five deaths and one non-fatal heart attack, according to reports that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating.
The reports claim that people had adverse reactions after they consumed Monster Energy Drink, which comes in 24-ounce cans and contains 240 milligrams of caffeine, or seven times the amount of the caffeine in a 12-ounce cola.
Although the FDA is investigating the allegations, which date back to 2004, the agency said the reports don't necessarily prove that the drinks caused the deaths or injuries.
"As with any reports of a death or injury the agency receives, we take them very seriously and investigate diligently," Shelly Burgess, a FDA spokeswoman, said in a statement.
News of the FDA's investigation follows a filing last week of a wrongful death suit in Riverside, Calif., by the parents of a 14-year-old girl who died after drinking two, 24-ounce Monster Energy Drinks in 24 hours. An autopsy concluded that she died of cardiac arrhythmia due to caffeine toxicity and the medical examiner also found that she had an inherited disorder that can weaken blood vessels. But the child's parents claim Monster failed to warn about the risks of drinking its products.
Monster Beverage Corp., which touts on its web site that the Monster Energy Drink is a "killer energy brew" and "the meanest energy supplement on the planet," puts labels on cans that state that the drinks are not recommended for children and people who are sensitive to caffeine. The company, based in Corona, Calif., did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment on Monday, but said last week that it is "unaware of any fatality anywhere that has been caused by its drinks."
Monster is among a growing group of energy drinks on the market. Energy drinks are a tiny part of the carbonated soft drink market, representing about 3 percent of sales volume, according to a recent report by industry tracker Beverage Digest. But at a time when soda consumption is declining, energy drinks are becoming more popular: Last year, sales volume for energy drinks rose by nearly 17 percent.
Monster has benefited the most from the increase. Last year, Monster had a 35 percent share of the energy-drink market based on volume, while Red Bull had 30 percent and Rockstar had 19 percent, according to Beverage Digest. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are far smaller players in the arena, with about 5 percent each.
Investors have warmed up to the drinks as well. In the past two years, Monster's shares have more than tripled, from about $22 and hit a high of about $79 in June. But on news of the FDA investigation, Monster's shares plunged $7.59, or 14.2 percent, to close at $45.73 in trading on Monday.
The increase in popularity has brought heightened scrutiny. The levels of caffeine in the drinks have raised worries: Although the FDA caps the amount of caffeine in soda to 0.02 percent, there is no such limit for energy drinks.
In August, New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issued subpoenas to energy drink makers, including Monster, as part of the state's investigation of the industry. And in September, Senators Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., asked the FDA to take another look at the effect that caffeine and other ingredients in energy drinks have on children and adolescents.
Moffitt researchers study how patterns, timing of sunlight exposure contribute to skin cancersPublic release date: 23-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kim Polacek kim.polacek@moffitt.org 813-745-7408 H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
Blistering sunburns and working outdoors associated with 2 kinds of skin cancer
Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center, the University of South Florida and the International Agency for Research on Cancer in France have studied the patterns and timing of sunlight exposure and how each is related to two nonmelanoma skin cancers basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.
This study, published in the open-access journal BioMed Central, is the first case-control study to simultaneously evaluate identical patterns and timing of sunlight exposure as they are related to basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas in the same U.S. population with high annual ultraviolet radiation exposure. Patterns of sunlight exposure are continuous or intermittent, and timing refers to exposure during childhood, adulthood or both. It included 703 Florida residents - 218 with basal cell carcinoma, 169 with squamous cell carcinoma and 316 without skin cancer. The research goal was to identify potential differences or similarities in sunlight exposure responses for basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas.
"There are more than a million new cases of basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas diagnosed in the United States each year," said senior study author Dana E. Rollison, Ph.D., associate member of the Cancer Epidemiology Program, and vice president and chief health information officer at Moffitt. "While mortality associated with nonmelanoma skin cancers, such as basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas, is low, patients may experience substantial morbidity and treatment costs are high."
It is estimated that 25 percent of lifetime sunlight exposure occurs before age 18. Youth is a time of greater toxic sunlight exposure and also a time when the chances of receiving blistering sunburns are higher.
"Blistering sunburn is believed to result from high doses of intense ultraviolet radiation exposure in short increments of time and is considered to be a measure of intermittent exposure," said study co-author Michelle Iannacone, Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow at the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
The researchers surveyed those with basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas, as well as those with no history of skin cancer, to determine the effects of intermittent versus continuous sunlight exposure, as well as the timing of the exposure and age. They noted that although the relationship between both cancers and sunlight exposure is complex, researchers began to identify cumulative outdoor sunlight exposure as a risk factor for nonmelanoma skin cancer beginning in the 1950s.
Being exposed to ultraviolet radiation intermittently, perhaps while on summer vacation in high ultraviolet radiation regions, and continuous exposure through working at a job outside in the sunlight were patterns the researchers wanted to identify and correlate to basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas.
Study subjects were surveyed on their recollections of their history of sun exposure.
Survey results reveal that a history of blistering sunburn was associated with both basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas. Having a job in the sunlight was also associated with basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas. Measures of younger age at sunlight exposure "tended to be associated with squamous cell carcinoma, but not basal cell carcinoma, risk," researchers concluded.
"Sunlight exposure, regardless of the exposure pattern, is associated with both basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas," Iannacone said. "Understanding how sunlight exposure response may differ by nonmelanoma skin cancer type is important for educating the public on safe sunlight behaviors. Applying sunscreen while on vacation may decrease basal cell carcinoma risk with intermittent sunlight exposure, but may not impact the risk of squamous cell carcinoma, which may be more strongly related to continuous sunlight exposure."
###
The study was funded by a grant from the state of Florida's James & Esther King Biomedical Research Program (06NIR-08).
About Moffitt Cancer Center
Located in Tampa, Moffitt is one of only 41 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, a distinction that recognizes Moffitt's excellence in research, its contributions to clinical trials, prevention and cancer control. Since 1999, Moffitt has been listed in U.S. News & World Report as one of "America's Best Hospitals" for cancer. With more than 4,200 employees, Moffitt has an economic impact on the state of nearly $2 billion. For more information, visit MOFFITT.org, and follow the Moffitt momentum on Facebook, twitter and YouTube.
Media release by Florida Science Communications
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Moffitt researchers study how patterns, timing of sunlight exposure contribute to skin cancersPublic release date: 23-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kim Polacek kim.polacek@moffitt.org 813-745-7408 H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
Blistering sunburns and working outdoors associated with 2 kinds of skin cancer
Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center, the University of South Florida and the International Agency for Research on Cancer in France have studied the patterns and timing of sunlight exposure and how each is related to two nonmelanoma skin cancers basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.
This study, published in the open-access journal BioMed Central, is the first case-control study to simultaneously evaluate identical patterns and timing of sunlight exposure as they are related to basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas in the same U.S. population with high annual ultraviolet radiation exposure. Patterns of sunlight exposure are continuous or intermittent, and timing refers to exposure during childhood, adulthood or both. It included 703 Florida residents - 218 with basal cell carcinoma, 169 with squamous cell carcinoma and 316 without skin cancer. The research goal was to identify potential differences or similarities in sunlight exposure responses for basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas.
"There are more than a million new cases of basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas diagnosed in the United States each year," said senior study author Dana E. Rollison, Ph.D., associate member of the Cancer Epidemiology Program, and vice president and chief health information officer at Moffitt. "While mortality associated with nonmelanoma skin cancers, such as basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas, is low, patients may experience substantial morbidity and treatment costs are high."
It is estimated that 25 percent of lifetime sunlight exposure occurs before age 18. Youth is a time of greater toxic sunlight exposure and also a time when the chances of receiving blistering sunburns are higher.
"Blistering sunburn is believed to result from high doses of intense ultraviolet radiation exposure in short increments of time and is considered to be a measure of intermittent exposure," said study co-author Michelle Iannacone, Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow at the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
The researchers surveyed those with basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas, as well as those with no history of skin cancer, to determine the effects of intermittent versus continuous sunlight exposure, as well as the timing of the exposure and age. They noted that although the relationship between both cancers and sunlight exposure is complex, researchers began to identify cumulative outdoor sunlight exposure as a risk factor for nonmelanoma skin cancer beginning in the 1950s.
Being exposed to ultraviolet radiation intermittently, perhaps while on summer vacation in high ultraviolet radiation regions, and continuous exposure through working at a job outside in the sunlight were patterns the researchers wanted to identify and correlate to basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas.
Study subjects were surveyed on their recollections of their history of sun exposure.
Survey results reveal that a history of blistering sunburn was associated with both basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas. Having a job in the sunlight was also associated with basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas. Measures of younger age at sunlight exposure "tended to be associated with squamous cell carcinoma, but not basal cell carcinoma, risk," researchers concluded.
"Sunlight exposure, regardless of the exposure pattern, is associated with both basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas," Iannacone said. "Understanding how sunlight exposure response may differ by nonmelanoma skin cancer type is important for educating the public on safe sunlight behaviors. Applying sunscreen while on vacation may decrease basal cell carcinoma risk with intermittent sunlight exposure, but may not impact the risk of squamous cell carcinoma, which may be more strongly related to continuous sunlight exposure."
###
The study was funded by a grant from the state of Florida's James & Esther King Biomedical Research Program (06NIR-08).
About Moffitt Cancer Center
Located in Tampa, Moffitt is one of only 41 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, a distinction that recognizes Moffitt's excellence in research, its contributions to clinical trials, prevention and cancer control. Since 1999, Moffitt has been listed in U.S. News & World Report as one of "America's Best Hospitals" for cancer. With more than 4,200 employees, Moffitt has an economic impact on the state of nearly $2 billion. For more information, visit MOFFITT.org, and follow the Moffitt momentum on Facebook, twitter and YouTube.
Media release by Florida Science Communications
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Android is one of the most popular mobile operating systems in the world. As a result, it's also one of the most popular mobile operating systems to be targeted by malware writers. Malware aimed at Google's Android platform increased sixfold during the quarter that ended in September, according to a report released Monday by Trend Micro.
JERUSALEM (AP) ? Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter says the prospect of an Israel-Palestinian peace accord is "vanishing."
Speaking in Jerusalem Monday, Carter called the current situation catastrophic. He condemned Israel's West Bank settlement construction and the growing isolation of east Jerusalem from the West Bank. "We've reached a crisis stage," he said.
Carter is a longtime critic of Israeli policies. His 2006 book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," claimed that Israel's settlement of Palestinian land was the primary obstacle to Mideast peace and outraged many Israelis.
He's currently on a two-day visit leading a delegation known as the "The Elders," including the former prime minister of Norway and the former president of Ireland. The group met with Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Remember all those movies and TV series in which a FBI agent turned a completely blurred photo into a focused image by clicking one button? Remember how you sneered? Well, soon you will not be able to laugh at it anymore. This app lets you deblur any heavily blurred image just like that. More »
Processing takes an additional 3 to 4 days for orders from this seller (Happy Dog Place).
Realistic Skinneeez toys will bring out a dog's natural hunting instinct while dogs chase and flip-flop these toys all over the place. All Skinneeez are stuffing-free and last longer than regular plush dog toys because there is no stuffing for dogs to rip out.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic donors gave unprecedented amounts of money in September to their party's three main "Super PACs," federal disclosures revealed on Friday, a reflection of how wealthy Democrats' reluctance to give to such groups has faded in the weeks before the November 6 election.
A fundraising laggard for much of the campaign, the political action committee (PAC) backing President Barack Obama raised more than a rival group backing Republican Mitt Romney, the second consecutive month the Democratic group has done so.
The pro-Obama group Priorities USA Action raised $15.2 million in September, compared with $14.8 million for the pro-Romney group Restore Our Future, according to new filings with the Federal Election Commission.
Restore Our Future, a formidable advertising force whose attack ads on Romney's Republican rivals helped him secure the party's presidential nomination, began the crucial month of October with $16.6 million in cash on hand.
American Crossroads, a Super PAC run by veteran Republican operative Karl Rove, on Saturday reported raising $11.7 million and kicking off October with $15.8 million in cash on hand.
DONORS GIVE BIG
Republican PACs have invested far more in advertising than Obama's backers, spending $84.1 million since September 10 alone, according to a Reuters analysis of disclosures through October 18. Democratic-aligned groups spent $23.1 million in that time.
Early this year, many Democratic donors were reluctant to donate to PACs supporting their party's candidates because they disliked the idea of contributing to attack ads and other negative advertising - a staple of spending by groups known as "Super PACs" because they have no limits on how much they can raise and spend.
In recent months, fundraising for Democratic PACs has accelerated to counter the waves of anti-Obama and anti-Democratic ads from Republican groups.
Priorities in September received $2 million from founder of Newsweb Corp Fred Eychaner; $1.5 million from billionaire hedge fund manager of Renaissance Technologies Corp James Simons; and $1 million each from film director Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg and New York lawyer David Boies Jr, according to filings.
The group had $7.3 million in cash on hand at the end of last month, Saturday's filing showed. Spending nearly three times less than Priorities in September, Restore Our Future started October with $16.6 million.
Restore's biggest donors in September included Texas home builder Bob Perry and billionaire Harold Simmons.
Perry gave $2 million in September and leads all donors with $10 million contributed to Restore Our Future during this election cycle. Simmons gave $500,000 for the month, increasing his total to the group to $1.3 million.
Simmons is also the biggest donor to American Crossroads. The Dallas patron was the group's biggest donor, giving $2.5 million in September. Together with his firm Contran Corp, Simmons has given $15.5 million to the Super PAC.
Its other big September donors included telecommunications conglomerate Armstrong Group of Pennsylvania, which gave $1.3 million, and Jay Bergman of PETCO Petroleum Corp in Illinois, who gave $1 million.
CONTROL OF CONGRESS
The Democratic PACs seeking to help candidates win House of Representatives and Senate seats also saw donations rise in September.
Majority PAC, the group helping Democratic candidates for the Senate, announced on Friday its biggest cash haul since its creation in 2010: $10.4 million in September, and another $9.7 million during the first week of October.
Its sister group, House Majority PAC, also had its best month in September and is on track to double that in October, an aide to the group said.
Democrats need a net gain of 25 seats to become the majority party in the 435-seat House, an outcome that most pollsters see as unlikely. Republicans need a net gain of four seats to take control of the Senate. Most pollsters also see that as unlikely.
Scores of Republican PACs and tax-exempt groups have been formed to support Republican House and Senate candidates. Tax-exempt groups do not disclose their finances.
American Crossroads alone spent $27.9 million on polling and ads, among other things, in September, filings showed.
Republicans showed greater fundraising strength at the party level in September.
The Republican National Committee raised $48.4 million and ended September with $82.6 million in cash on hand. Its Democratic counterpart took out a large loan.
The Democratic National Committee, which has focused on races for the Senate and House, raised $20.3 million in September and borrowed $10.5 million. It ended September $20.5 million in debt, according to its filing with the FEC.
A DNC representative declined to comment on the reason for the debt and how it might affect Democratic candidates in the final two weeks before the election. The party had $4.6 million in cash on hand heading into October.
The RNC reported $9.9 million in debt at the end of September, with its $82.6 million in cash on hand.
Unlike the DNC, the Republican Party has been working closely with its presidential candidate, Romney, who heavily relies on its grassroots operation. On the Democratic side, Obama's campaign has a huge grassroots organization itself and does not need such help from its party.
(Additional reporting by Alexander Cohen; Editing by David Lindsey, Bill Trott and Todd Eastham)
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Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein (7) is brought down near the goal line by West Virginia's Pat Miller, rear, and Karl Joseph (8) during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game in Morgantown, W.Va., Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012. Kansas State won 55-14. (AP Photo/Christopher Jackson)
Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein (7) is brought down near the goal line by West Virginia's Pat Miller, rear, and Karl Joseph (8) during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game in Morgantown, W.Va., Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012. Kansas State won 55-14. (AP Photo/Christopher Jackson)
Kansas State's Tyler Lockett (16) is brought down by West Virginia's Karl Joseph during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game in Morgantown, W.Va., Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Christopher Jackson)
Players from Kansas State, including Keenan Taylor (79), celebrate their victory with fans following an NCAA college football game against West Virginia in Morgantown, W.Va., Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012. Kansas State won 55-14. (AP Photo/Christopher Jackson)
Florida linebacker Jelani Jenkins (3) goes airborne after assisting on a tackle on South Carolina's Kenny Miles (31) during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012, in Gainesville, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Boise State's Lee Hightower (29) is the first to take the field as Boise State wears black uniforms for an NCAA college football game against UNLV on Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012 in Boise, Idaho. Boise State won 32-7. (AP Photo/Matt Cilley)
Consider this performance an ad campaign for Collin Klein for the Heisman Trophy.
The Kansas State quarterback threw for a career-high 323 yards and three touchdowns and ran for four scores in the No. 4 Wildcats' 55-14 victory over No. 17 West Virginia on Saturday night.
Earlier, No. 3 Florida avenged consecutive losses to South Carolina with a 44-11 drubbing of the No. 9 Gamecocks. The Gators' latest win keeps coach Will Muschamp's team undefeated and on the cusp of the SEC's Eastern Division crown.
In other games Saturday, No. 1 Alabama topped Tennessee 44-13, fifth-ranked Notre Dame rallied past BYU 17-14, No. 6 LSU got past No. 20 Texas A&M 24-19, No. 7 Ohio State came back to beat Purdue 29-22 in overtime, and No. 10 Oklahoma crushed Kansas 52-7.
Fuel efficiency was not a criteria for the Taxi of Tomorrow. (Photo via the Taxi and Limousine Commission)
A long time ago, way back in early 2004, during the spring semester of my junior year of college, I took a class on the politics and economics of the automobile industry. In a way, I credit that class with launching my interest in public transportation as we focused extensively on the many drawbacks of an auto-centric and auto-dependent society. For my final paper, I proposed converting New York City?s taxi fleet to an all-hybrid one.
For much of the latter part of the 2000s, it seemed as though the city had embraced this idea. The Taxi & Limousine Commission had allowed hybrids to be included on the list of eligible taxi cars, and as gas prices have risen, taxi drivers have embraced the high-MPG vehicles. Not as roomy as the old Crown Victorias, these cars are nonetheless far more fuel-efficient, and drivers can take home more money at the end of the day.
Of course, the best laid plans often go astray. After a mid-decade push by the City Council to require hybrid cars, the taxi lobby sued, and on what I thought were shaky grounds, a court determined that only the federal government could impose fuel economy standards. Although the city could regulate its own taxis, the ruling stood, and hybrids become a choice rather than a requirement.
Now, that era, however, is over. When the ugly, boxy and large NV200 becomes the city?s one and only Taxi of Tomorrow, the hybrids will be phased out, replaced instead with a vehicle that gets only around 25 miles to the gallon. The look may be uniform, but the daily costs for drivers and the impact on the city?s environment will be significantly more. How did we go wrong?
In my view, this angle of the story hasn?t been covered enough. A push away from hybrids should garner more attention and outrage, but until earlier this week, the press had largely been silent. Dana Rubinstein, Capital New York?s tireless transportation writer, penned an extensively look at the death of the hybrid taxi. Her piece is well worth the full read, but I?ll excerpt:
Not only has the city?s powerful taxi lobby defeated the mayor?s hybrid-cab plan in federal court, but the city is now taking steps that will actually reduce the number of hybrids on city streets. ?We were really hoping New York could be a leader,? said Johanna Dyer, an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council. ?It?s kind of a shame that it seems like we?re falling back a little bit.?
?The idea [for the Taxi of Tomorrow] was this. The city would leverage its market power by offering one manufacturer an exclusive decade-long deal, estimated at $1 billion, to manufacture one tailor-made vehicle for New York. The vehicle would be designed to handle the wear and tear of the city?s pothole-ridden streets and offer both drivers and passengers a more comfortable ride than current cab models do.
The city whittled down the competition to three entries before settling on Nissan?s NV-200. ?Fuel efficiency was not used as a specific criterion for evaluation,? noted the mayor?s press release announcing Nissan the winner. (This was the city?s effort to make clear it wasn?t violating federal law, as interpreted by the courts.)?
Green-taxi advocates, noting that a hybrid fleet would have been more fuel efficient than one made up of Taxis of Tomorrow, say that there were steps the city could have taken to incentivize hybrid ownership that would not have violated the law. Roderick Hills, an N.Y.U. Law School professor, thinks the city?s loss in federal court on emissions standards ?left the City cowed by the idea of promoting hybrids in their contract with Nissan?much too much so, in my view.?
There?s a lot more to Rubinstein?s story so do click through. She talks about how Nissan could potentially deliver an electric vehicle for the city and how nearly 50 of the fleet today consists of hybrid vehicles. She focuses on San Francisco?s more successful push to make all taxis hybrid cars and the reticence the city has felt in the face of the federal court ruling.
All in all, I find it disappointing. The Taxi of Tomorrow doesn?t have much tomorrow-ness about it. It?s ugly; it?s big; it?s not fuel efficient. It is almost the taxi of yesterday when lower gas prices led to the proliferation of SUVs. It?s going to take six years for the Nissan vehicle to become the only one on the road. I?ll mourn this missed opportunity in the meantime.
On his show, Comedian Rodney Perry covers arts and entertainment, everything from comedy and politics to music and acting, with his signature comedic slant.
MashUp Radio is a 30-minute podcast that discusses the fusion of technology, life, culture and science. Host Peter Biddle, engineer and executive for Intel?s Atom Software, dishes up a thought-provoking discussion.
Deepak Chopra Radio provides an online forum for compelling and thought provoking conversations on success, love, sexuality and relationships, well-being and spirituality.
The Bottom Line Sports Show is hosted by former NBA stars Penny Hardaway, Charles Oakley, Mateen Cleaves. Tune in to get the inside scoop on what's happening in sports today.
Joy Keys provides her listeners with insight to improve their lives mentally, physically, monetarily and emotionally. Past guests on the show have included Meshell Nedegeocello, Blair Underwood, in addition to an impressive list of CEOs, humanitarians and authors.
Hits Radio covers basketball, sports culture and entertainment with past guests including Jason Kidd, Robin Lundberg and Chris Herren.
Listeners get an earful on The Halli Casser-Jayne Show, Talk Radio for Fine Minds. Whether it?s the current political cocktail or the latest must-read award-winning book, Halli tackles all topics and likes to stir ? and sometimes shakes ? things up.
Award-winning World Footprints is a leading voice in socially responsible travel and lifestyle. Hosts Ian & Tonya celebrate culture and heritage and bring a unique voice to the world of travel.
Football Reporters Online is a group of veteran football experts in the fields of coaching, scouting, talent evaluation, and writing/broadcasting/media placement. Combined, the group brings well over 100 years of expertise in sports.
Host John Martin interviews the nation's leading entrepreneurs and small biz experts to educate small business owners on how to be successful. Past guests have included Emeril Lagasse and Guy Kawasaki.
The Movie Geeks share their passion for the art through interviews with the stars of and creative minds behind your favorite flicks and pay tribute to big-screen legends. From James Cameron and Francis Ford Coppola to Ellen Burstyn and Robert Duvall, The Geeks have got'em all.
Sylvia Global presents global conversations pertaining to women, wealth, business, faith and philanthropy. Sylvia has interviewed an eclectic mix from CEOs and musicians to fashion designers and philanthropists including Randolph Duke and Ne-Yo.
Seasoned entertainment reporter Robin Milling gets up close and personal with the world's most compelling celebs. From Michael Douglas to Katie Holmes to Kevin Kline to Ashley Judd to America Ferrera, she sits down in person each week with each and every A-lister.
Mr. Media host Bob Andelman goes one-on-one with the hottest, most influential minds from the worlds of film, TV, music, comedy, journalism and literature. That means A-listers like Kirk Douglas, Christian Slater, Kathy Ireland, Rick Fox, Chris Hansen and Jackie Collins.
Paula Begoun, best-selling author of Don't Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me, separates fact from fiction on achieving a radiant, youthful complexion at any age. She?s regularly joined by health and beauty experts who offer the latest on keeping your skin in tip-top shape.
We have seen the multi-billion dollar communications market get disrupted as the phone met the IP network. In the video below Phil Edholm describes how with WebRTC, the phone meets the web. As he describes, even though IP communications has been around for more than a decade, there hasn?t been a fundamental change in how we communicate. We still hang our phones off servers which allow communications to take place. Now, every web browser will become a multimedia communications engine, allowing browsers to communicate to other browsers directly. This is a totally new way of working ? I like to refer to it as putting the power of an open-Skype into every browser.
Phil believes WebRTC will change communications the way the web changed the way information is shared. In other words ? you can communicate very easily with others ? without the need for continuous and central command and control.
As you may know, Edholm was Vice President of Technology Strategy and Innovation for Avaya GCS and previously the CTO/CSO for Nortel Enterprise Solutions. He knows the industry well and has been a past keynoter at ITEXPO. TMC has partnered with him and Crossfire Media to launch a new conference called WebRTC EXPO in order to educate the world on the power of this new technology.
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Here is a partial list of people who should attend the event and why, according to Phil. The last one is my addition:
Enterprise IT: How will WebRTC integrate or even potentially replace your unified communications systems? Will you need to integrate WebRTC into your contact center to more fluidly communicate with current and potential customers?
Carriers: The implications of every browser allowing for rich communications to impact your business model can?t be overstated. In short, the pace of communications disruption continues. The simple question is, ?Will you be driving or under the steamroller??
Website owners: Does the addition of communications to the browser change your business model? How do you benefit from WebRTC? Can you use it to add value or generate more revenue for example?
Developers: This is a ground floor opportunity to change the world by writing new and innovative applications which weren?t possible before.
Investors: The entire phone network has just come under increasing pressure as a result of WebRTC. Moreover, Facebook, Twitter, Zynga and other companies with large reach have the ability to become their own phone network overnight.
WebRTC Expo?takes place in South San Francisco, Nov 27-29, 2012 with keynotes from Plantronics and Thrupoint. We hope to see you there.
The most tempting way to advertise your business, whether it is inside the internet world or a novelty product or service is through free online advertising; in this approach you will require first and foremost to have all your content written with a search engine optimization in mind; consequently, your free online ads will combine efforts with the search engine submissions that you make, increasing the traffic flow.? Websites like SEOwebguys.com and Cosmodex.com will be able to provide you with the right content writing or help you modify the already existing one.
What makes free online advertising so enticing for neophyte business owners both inside and outside the Internet world is that they can set up and launch their advertising and marketing campaigns without having to pay a cent in ad fees during the entire time when they are using the free online ads that they want.
Online free advertising works in two general ways:? In the first one, it is of the highest importance that you have a functioning website; since registration of your website is required.? The free online advertising provider will ask you to register your website accordingly, that is, if you want to advertise your business, you will register the home page, and if you are looking forward to advertising a specific product or service you will register that particular page of your website.
In both cases, you will need, as said before, a working website address.? Once you have registered, an HTML code will be given to you to paste in the corresponding page of your website, and as soon as you publish it (that is, that your website is properly open for all internet traffic) you will see a changing ad.? This might sound similar to a banner exchange program, and even though it is somewhat similar, there are distinct differences between them; for instance, the banner exchange program requires you to provide the banner display or construct your own banner with the banner creating program that in some cases they provide while the free online ad has a preset display and structure that you cannot change or alter in any way.
The websites that provide such services are many, and you can find them with a simple query in your favorite search engine; websites like agridwork.com can provide with such a service as well as a helping hand for all neophytes.
The other way is to use free online classifieds; these will not require a functioning website address, just an email one.? This can be the best alternative for business owners that are exploring to advertise in the internet world without having to venture completely or that do not believe (yet) that having an online store front or website can increase their commercial activities.
This form of online free advertising is the simplest one, and it will only require for you to write a traditional form of a classified ad in which you can place even a photograph or any other visual aid that you feel that you will require to maximize the benefits of free classified ads.? While this is a great idea when you want to a reach a specific and small sized target market such as a local market or a regional one, it lacks the momentum that you want to have when you are seeking to reach wider ranges in target markets.
Nonetheless, there are websites that offer online classifieds ads that are nationwide such as webclassifieds.us where you can advertise your website, you?re outside of the Internet business as well as a specific product or service without having to pay a posting fee.
Using any of these two approaches separately can work as efficiently as using them in conjunction; it will all depend on the advertising and marketing campaign that you are creating and considering for your website, business, product or service.? Nonetheless, if you are not sure on what such strategy or campaign should be, then you should seek either the assistance of a comprehensive website that offers free online advertise.
These comprehensive websites will provide you with a hands-on guidance that will allow you to determine which one of the two approaches to free online advertising will benefit you the most; as well as help you decide if you only need to use one of these approaches, or you will benefit the most from using both of them.
Regardless if you are launching your advertising campaign in a worldwide level, or you are expecting to reach only a local market or a small target market; you can find many websites that will provide you with guidance such as trafficsoar.com and redcog.net.? All that it will take are time and patience to contact these companies and ask them for their assistance.
Regardless of the type of approach, when you are venturing into the internet world, and you do not have the necessary time, knowledge or resources to create your own website, it will be better for you to use online classifieds ads to advertise your product or services on the internet.? The number of people that visit the internet and in particular the classifieds are constantly increasing, and you will see your business operations increase even if you are only using a simple form of free online classifieds ads.
Naturally, if you are planning to expand your target market and grow from local or regional to nationwide or worldwide markets, then it will be better for you to take on a more elaborate form of free online advertising such as free online ads that will allow you to use a more elaborate form of visual assistance and aids such as video feeds and gif images.
When a business owner has already invested in creating the website, hiring the proper search engine optimization agency as well as an online advertising agency, the investing budget can be almost running out; at this time, free online advertising presents a much sweeter aspect than ever before.? Yet, despite the best intentions of the online advertising agency or those of the business owner and his or her staff; there is nothing that can replace knowledge.
Researching and reading as much as possible in the subject of increasing your website traffic is the best choice for the business owner; it will give him or her the necessary elements to discern what it is that the business requires in terms of target marketing or market growth.? For a more extensive reach, it will be a good idea to register at any of the many electronic newsletters such as the ones that SiteProNews.com offer.
A 3D video game that creates a virtual world on-the-fly could change how blockbuster shoot-'em-up titles are built.
Most video games today build a gaming environment for players by accessing a library of graphical objects and textures. Instead, A New Zero draws all its scenes and objects itself in real time, as well as simulating real-world physics. This means players are not limited by game design and can, as developer Alex Austin puts it, "jump through any window they want".
Austin says that the game started off as a less ambitious side project: a flight simulator. "I figured that since I didn't have an artist, I may as well try to do everything with code," he says.
The idea of building gaming environments from code, known as procedural generation, is not new. Austin points to an early 1990s space simulation called Frontier: Elite 2, which procedurally generated a whole galaxy for exploration. The popular Elder Scrolls series of games uses procedural generation to draw many of its dungeons, which are then touched up by artists.
Austin's game goes much further than this, generating moving human figures and bullet trajectories that conform to real-world physics. He claims this model of development will have a big part to play in games of the future.
Simon Green, a graphics programmer at Nvidia, is less confident. He points out that other developers, like Naturalmotion, are doing more practical work that blends motion capture with physics simulation. "I like procedural techniques, but for realism you need good artists or motion capture," Green says.
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Public release date: 23-Oct-2012
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