2012年5月31日 星期四

Romney makes surprise visit to Solyndra

Mitt Romney made a surprise campaign stop on Thursday at the solar-panel firm Solyndra LLC, where he sought to use the bankrupt company as an example of how he says President Obama is hostile to job creation.Features useful information about glassmosaic tiles,

The presumptive nominee's visit to the failed solar-energy plant culminates a week-long push to depict the president as clueless when it comes to handling the economy. By focusing on Solyndra, a company that was selected for a $535 million Energy Department loan-guarantee but later filed for bankruptcy and laid off its entire staff,Ekahau rtls is the only Wi-Fi based real time location system solution that operates on any brand or generation of Wi-Fi network. Romney argued that Obama doesn't understand the free market and has wasted taxpayer dollars.TRT (UK) has been investigating and producing solutions for indoortracking since 2000.

"President Obama was here to tout this building and this business as a symbol of the success of his stimulus," Romney said. "Well, you can see that it's a symbol of something very different today."

Romney noted a recent Treasury Department inspector general's report that the loan guarantee was "rushed," something he said was done to reward Obama administration supporters running the company.

"It's also a symbol of how the president thinks about free enterprise. Free enterprise to the president means taking money from the taxpayers and giving it freely to his friends," he said.

Republicans have not found evidence to back up claims by some lawmakers that the loan was approved for political reasons. But Solyndra has been a popular punching bag for conservatives, who have used its collapse as a focal point for attacks against the White House's green-energy policies.

Two wealthy outside right-wing interest groups reportedly have spent more than $9 million attacking Obama on the issue. House Republicans also have probed deeply into the company's demise and what the GOP contends has been the Obama administration's obstruction of their efforts.

But polls last year showed that voters did not yet share that outrage. Former California GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said he considers the debate narrow-minded in a world moving faster toward renewable energy.

Romney's visit to Solyndra was conducted under strict secrecy. It was not on his daily advance schedule and reporters were told not to report his visit there until right before he arrived. The event was held across the street from the company,Professional Manufacturer for ceramictile. with Romney positioned on a podium just off the road.

"I think there are people who don't want to see this event occur, don't want to have questions asked about this particular investment, don't want to have people delve into the idea that the president took a half a billion dollars of taxpayer money and devoted it to an enterprise that was owned in large measure by his campaign contributors," Romney said when asked about the secrecy.

Nevertheless, the Obama campaign was ready for the Solyndra salvo. It issued a news release before Romney's visit accusing their rival of ignoring "his own record of using taxpayer money to pick winners and losers--some who were donors to his campaign" when he was Massachusetts' governor.

"The reality is that Solyndra received funding through a Department of Energy program created under the Bush administration - a program that has supported tens of thousands of jobs across the country and is moving forward with investments in innovative projects like the first nuclear plant built in the U.CMI moulding sells to retailers,S. in decades and the world's largest wind farm," spokeswoman Lis Smith said.

Sovereign Business Integration Group Launches EML Visual Dashboard

Sovereign Business Integration Group, the independent IT services and business solutions specialist, has today launched EML Visual Dashboard; a web-based dashboard view to be able to optimise vehicle management within the supply chain and logistics industry. A development of Sovereign’s Event Management Logistics (EML) solution, EML Visual Dashboard presents, in real-time, full visibility of each vehicle’s location and movement within the supply chain at any one time. This ‘live’ status of vehicle movement allows OEMs to forecast what is expected through the supply chain and more effectively manage vehicle movement from plant to dealership.

Incorporating information from the entire supply chain, EML Visual Dashboard’s visual analysis provides an overall picture of what is expected where and when, ensuring that transportation vehicles are prepared accordingly, compounds are running at the optimum capacity and dealerships can specify exact consumer expectation dates for delivery of their new vehicle. EML Visual Dashboard’s web front end is accessible via a user ID for all those involved in the supply chain and is permission-level based to determine user rights to stop, change or amend any stage of the process via the dashboard. With visuals illustrating map locations, capacity in the compound, status of each stage and alerts to potential issues or conflicts, users can plan accordingly based on the information being conveyed into once central overview.

Stuart Jones, Business Development Manager of Sovereign’s Supply Chain and Logistics Division, comments, “As it stands, it is virtually impossible for each member of the supply chain to accurately predict where their vehicles are and when they will be through the next stage of the process. The measure at the moment is guess work at best and based on predicted number of days, leaving the OEM with no way of optimising any stage of the process.TBC help you confidently buymosaic from factories in China.” He continues, “With this is mind,Silicone moldmaking Rubber, the we have developed EML Visual Dashboard to provide real-time, web-based visibility of each vehicle as it is released, tracked by the VIN at each stage of its journey.”

Sovereign’s EML Visual Dashboard tracks the average 12 movements from manufacturer to dealership and alerts each party to where the vehicle is at each stage. For the OEM,At Blow mouldengineering we specialize in conceptual prototype design. knowing where each vehicle is at each stage means that each participant in the process can plan to take delivery as appropriate and not only optimise the process in terms of time, but also save costs.

Stuart Jones explains, “As alerts come through the system to notify the user as to where the vehicle is, the appropriate preparations can be put in place to ensure a smooth transition onto the next stage. For instance, instead of directing vehicles to the compound, they can be directed straight to the quayside and go on from there.

Stuart Jones concludes, “The industry is craving a tool like EML Visual Dashboard to provide the visibility to optimise each stage of the supply chain.Save up to 80% off Ceramic Tile and porcelaintiles. The solution will reduce costs, reduce time, streamline the process and ultimately deliver better service to the end customer.Grey Pneumatic is a world supplier of impactsockets for the heavy duty, It is quite a culture change but one that will demonstrate a reward.”

Jon Stewart Is Hilarious but No Teacher of Religion

In a much discussed article in the new online publication Religion & Politics Journal, New York Times religion reporter Mark Oppenheimer offers an enthusiastic endorsement of Jon Stewart's coverage of religion on "The Daily Show," which Stewart hosts on Comedy Central. "Jon Stewart may not be a believer," writes Oppenheimer, "but he is one hell of a teacher."

This is an interesting claim -- and a ridiculous one. Stewart is hilarious, and I consider his show to be must-see TV. My wife and I watch it every night that it is on, discuss it with our adult children, and bemoan its absence when the show is on break. But Stewart does not qualify, in any sense, as a "teacher" of religion.

He does cover religion extensively, and his coverage is very funny for the same reason it is funny when he takes on political subjects. In his monologues and skits, he is a master of puncturing pretense and skewering inconsistency. He looks for the absurd in religion and, without much difficulty, finds it. Unconstrained as he is by political correctness, the Mormons with their unfamiliar theology are an easy target for him; so too are the Catholic hierarchy and its approach to contraception and papal authority; so too is the Muslim and Jewish obsession with the Middle East; and so too are some of the apparently bizarre rituals of the Jewish tradition .

As a religious person, I know that some of this humor comes at my expense, but I love it nonetheless. Even if it's not always "fair," it serves as a corrective to the self-righteousness to which religious people so frequently fall prey. It also serves as a welcome reminder of how people outside the religious world see us. To an outsider, removing a foreskin or refraining from eating pork may indeed seem weird.

I also recognize that it is simply a good idea for people to laugh at themselves from time to time. As a liberal in both the political and the religious realms, I know that I have some inconsistent, imprecise, do-good ideas, and it is funny when comedians and satirists point that out, even if their words may occasionally offend my sensibilities. To the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, which engages in screeching attacks on Stewart, my advice would be: Lighten up. I am also quick to acknowledge that the Jewish community, endlessly sensitive to the possibility of anti-Semitism, is often the American religious group least able to laugh at itself. Imagine that Trey Parker and Matt Stone had written a play entitled "The Book of Judaism," dealing not with Mormon youth but with black-coated Hasidic youth. How would we Jews have responded to that?

Nonetheless, it is a real a stretch to see Stewart as a teacher of religion. True, his interviews on religious matters,Save up to 80% off Ceramic Tile and porcelaintiles. as on everything else, are always civil; see, for example, his discussion with Mike Huckabee.What you should know about stone mosaic. But the fact is that while he avoids anger and bitterness, his jokes and skits on religion have a mocking, dismissive tone. As an ethnic Jew, Stewart does not appear to have a religious bone in his body, and his jokes -- even at their most hilarious -- are the jokes of a man who cannot imagine what religious belief and observance look like and feel like. Those who are funniest about religion are usually those who have experienced religion's absurdities from within,Professional Manufacturer for ceramictile. and who laugh at religion even as they retain some affection for it (and perhaps even a measure of belief). That is why Stephen Colbert,Find everything you need to know about kidneystone including causes, a practicing Catholic, is funnier about religion than is Stewart -- a point hinted at by Oppenheimer in his article.

Trey and Stone, in "The Book of Mormon," are wickedly funny and a bit cruel about Mormon theology, and they remind us of the role that ego plays in motivating even the most traditional believer. At the same time, their musical is suffused with an appreciation for the vitality, exuberance and altruism of Mormonism -- and of all religions at their best.We offer you the top quality plasticmoulds design This is precisely what Stewart's comedy is lacking.

Oppenheimer suggests that Stewart's show will help skeptics and the uninitiated to talk about religion. I doubt it. Hearing Stewart's mocking and dismissive tone, skeptics and the uninitiated are likely to walk away with a mocking and dismissive tone of their own. So let us accept Jon Stewart for what he is: a national treasure who is a very, very funny man. But if it is religious teachers that we are looking for, let us look somewhere else.

2012年5月29日 星期二

Americans grew gloomier about the economy in May

Americans grew much gloomier about the economy in May, causing a critical measure of consumer confidence to suffer its biggest decline in eight months and ending a period of steady optimism.

Worries about jobs, housing and the stock market rattled consumers, even though gas prices are falling. The latest figures suggest Americans will need to see more encouraging economic signs before their concerns start to dissipate.

The Conference Board,Industrialisierung des werkzeugbaus. a private research group, reported Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index fell to 64.9, down from a revised 68.7 in April. Analysts had expected the index to climb to 70.

The May figure, which represents the biggest drop since October, when the measure fell about 6 points, is now at its lowest level since January.

Americans are still worried about slow hiring, declining home values, the stock market and a worsening European economy that they fear will negatively affect the U.S.

"Consumers were less positive about current business and labor market conditions, and they were more pessimistic about the short-term outlook," said Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at the Conference Board.

Consumer confidence is widely watched because consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of economic activity. May's figure is significantly below the 90 reading that indicates a healthy economy. The measure hasn't been near that level since December 2007. But the latest reading is still well above the 40 figure reached last October and the all-time low of 25.3 in February 2009.

The consumer confidence measure has zigzagged so far this year, dropping in January, rising in February and holding nearly steady after that. Analysts were hoping a slight rise in May would give some credence to the idea that the economy is stabilizing.

Instead, the data, which was based on a survey conducted from May 1 through May 16 with about 500 randomly selected people nationwide, suggests that "the pace of economic growth in the months ahead may moderate," Franco said.

Mark Vitner, an economist at Wells Fargo, said May's reading is disappointing but consistent with the sluggish recovery so far.

"In some ways, it's a microcosm of the whole economic recovery," he said. "Every once in a while hopes are raised that things are getting better, and then the bottom seems to fall out again."

Analysts say the inconsistent job market is preventing Americans from being more upbeat.UK chickencoop Specialist.

Hiring picked up earlier in the year, but slowed in March and April, possibly indicating that the economy's momentum faded in early spring. Economists say a warm winter led employers to move up some hiring and accelerate other activity that normally wouldn't occur until spring.

A clearer picture of the jobs market will emerge Friday, when May employment figures are due.UK chickencoop Specialist. The unemployment rate is expected to remain at 8.1 percent for May with an increase of 160,000 jobs, according to FactSet. That's above April's gains but below the growth pace set during the winter.

Dana Berry, a public-relations manager in Arkansas, says she knows people who are still searching for a job, but she has seen some positive signs, like her oldest son landing a job after graduation. Gas prices are more of a concern,An airpurifier is a device which removes contaminants from the air. she said.

Gasoline has dropped 27 cents per gallon since early April. The national average was $3.67 per gallon at the start of the Memorial Day weekend. Some experts say it could fall as low as $3.50 by July 4.

"I travel quite a bit, so fuel and airline expenses are something I watch closely," Berry said. "It's a relief when the price of fuel goes down."

Mark Olwick, a designer at Microsoft in Seattle, said he still has concerns about the economy.

"I'm cautiously more confident," he said, "but there is still significant work to be done, especially around banking reform, job creation and gas price speculation."

He said he has not seen gas prices fall in the Pacific Northwest, and that led him to postpone traveling.

"I'd love to have taken a road trip over the Memorial Day weekend, but when it costs me $70 for each tank of gas, there's just no way I could afford it,An Air purifier is a device which removes contaminants from the air." he said.

Adding to Americans' job concerns, the stock market in May is on track for its worst month since last September. The S&P 500 is down 4.6 percent for the month.

City plans to give CAO control of sponsorships

The City of Winnipeg is poised to give its chief administrative officer the power to award exclusive commercial rights to any park, street, skywalk or other public space without political oversight.

And for now, city officials are refusing to say precisely what those rights would entail.

On Wednesday,We offer you the top quality plasticmoulds design council will peruse a plan to hand the CAO the authority to approve sponsorship deals that offer exclusive access to public spaces "for the purposes of engaging in commercial transactions."

In the short term, this plan will allow the city to conclude a pair of newspaper sponsorships negotiated earlier this year that respectively grant the free daily Metro exclusive distribution rights to city skywalks and the Winnipeg Sun the exclusive right to place its vending boxes along the Southwest Transitway.

But it will also allow the CAO to approve "future sponsorship agreements" that would grant the exclusive right to engage in commercial services in any park, street, rapid-transit corridor, walkway, skywalk "or any other public space" under city authority, without council oversight, according to a report approved by executive policy committee on Friday.

"These sorts of deals need to be negotiated at that level," said Charleswood-Tuxedo Coun.We are the largest producer of projectorlamp products here. Paula Havixbeck, the councillor responsible for the sponsorship program. "I think we have a great deal of confidence in the administration to negotiate these sorts of things."

Havixbeck said she personally peruses every potential sponsorship deal and has no problem with the fact councillors won't get a say in granting exclusive commercial rights to parks or other public spaces.

Her responsibilities, however, are not enshrined by any legislation. The oversight for corporate sponsorship is subject to an annual appointment by the mayor, which means there is no guarantee a member of council will oversee the city's sponsorship program in the future.

This delegation of authority troubles Fort Rouge Coun. Jenny Gerbasi, a critic of the city corporate sponsorship program. The report before council does not include explicit details of the sort of commercial rights that may be granted.

"There has been a deluge of concentration of authority within the hands of the CAO," said Gerbasi, who added the latest proposal raises red flags. "The commercialization of our public spaces could certainly be a concern if it wasn't done properly.

"When the sponsorship program started, we joked about Tim Hortons putting their logos on the zebras at the zoo. I don't know how far this is going to go. In certain public spaces, residents and councillors might want a say, especially if they're large sponsorships with a big visual impact."

The plan that comes before council Wednesday would amend city bylaws governing streets and parks.Welcome to the online guide for do-it-yourself Ceramic tile. City officials declined to comment about the potential scope of these changes,Offers Art Reproductions Fine Art oilpaintings Reproduction, as communications director Steve West said it would be inappropriate for them to speak after EPC made its decision.

Havixbeck said if the delegation of authority has undesirable results, the city could always reverse its decision.

"We have a problem, we change it back,I found them to have sharp edges where the injectionmoldes came together while production." she said. "There's always checks and balances that can be put in place."

The Morgan Library's Plein Air Collection Comes as a Nice Surprise

New York's Morgan Library & Museum in New York City has long been associated with the things that its founder, financier J. Pierpont Morgan, liked to collect -- rare, old books and manuscripts, antiques and artworks from the ancient world and the Far East, as well as Old Master paintings from the Renaissance. If that's not your cup of tea, don't go. Unless, of course, you have a fondness for plein air paintings. Plein air?

Plein air: artwork created not just in the studio but outside, and the subject being the outside world. We tend to think of plein air painting as having begun sometime in the middle of the 19th century in Europe,This is a really pretty round stonemosaic votive that has been covered with vintage china . when portraying the land and the people who worked on it was aTRT (UK) has been investigating and producing solutions for indoortracking since 2000. politically-tinged call for democratic government, reaching its apotheosis during the era of the Impressionists, then retiring to a niche area as the more progressive movements in art (pointillism, fauvism, Cubism, dada, Surrealism, abstract expressionism, Pop, minimalism, conceptual art and all else) moved back inside the studio. The Morgan's collection of plein air painting (142 works and counting) offers an alternative history, seeing its origins as far back as the 17th century (quite unrelated to politics) and extending in its purest form only to the period in which Impressionism in France was just beginning. Seen in this light, the Morgan's plein air collection looks to be an extension of the Old Master paintings found elsewhere in the museum, rather than a repudiation of it.

"These are drawings and oil sketches by artists who are otherwise represented in our collection by their paintings," said Jennifer Tonkovich, drawings and prints curator at the Morgan. At times, she noted, the plein air work was preliminary to a larger oil painting, "but the majority are unrelated to any paintings. This was exploratory work for a number of artists who were experimenting with how to depict light, how to capture the landscape and the use of color.Apply for a merchantaccountes and accept credit cards today. It was the lessons from this that they took back to their larger paintings."

All 142 plein air works were a donation from Eugene and Clare Thaw,Trade organization for suppliers and distributors in the promotional products industry. and they also have pledged another 350 Old Master drawings to the Morgan. Eugene Thaw (born 1927), a retired art dealer and a member of the board of trustees of the Morgan since 1988, and his wife Clare live in Tesuque, N.M. and began amassing a collection of plein air landscape oil sketches in the mid-1990s. It is by no means their only collecting efforts, as they have a 40-plus year record of buying drawings by European artists from the 16th century to the 20th century, and they also created an 850-object collection of American Indian art, which was donated in 1995 to the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. In the early 2000s, they donated a collection of ancient nomadic art of the Eastern Eurasian Steppes to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The generosity has gone even further, as the Eugene Victor Thaw Art Foundation in Santa Fe was established in 1999 to "educate and enrich the public about classical art through the loaning of artwork to major museums," and the foundation also makes grants, awarding the Morgan Library $1.7 million in 2010, its only award for that year.

Eugene Thaw (his father, a Romanian-born socialist, named him Eugene Victor in honor of American Socialist Party leader Eugene Victor Debs) opened an art gallery in New York City in 1950 with a $4,000 loan from his father, and it was at that gallery that abstract painters Joan Mitchell and Conrad Marca-Relli had their first solo exhibitions. As he noted in a 2007 interview for the Archives of American Art, he and his wife were good friends with Lee Krasner .

Years later, Eugene helped found the Pollock-Krasner Foundation and was instrumental in putting together the four-volume Jackson Pollock catalogue raisonne in 1978. However, he was not long in the contemporary art field and began moving back in time, buying and selling works (sometimes on his own, sometimes in collaboration with other dealers) on the secondary market by Kandinsky, Redon,Ekahau rtls is the only Wi-Fi based real time location system solution that operates on any brand or generation of Wi-Fi network. German Expressionists, the Fauve and eventually Breton, Corot, Delacroix and Rousseau, even Rembrandt and Bernini. That initial gallery, The New Gallery, became E.V. Thaw & Company when he eventually moved to East 78th Street in Manhattan.

The Easy Route to Better Grout

Glazed ceramic tile is one of the most durable building products ever produced. It's wear- and stain-resistant, easy to clean, and impervious to water. When properly installed, a tiled surface can last for generations. Yet tile has an Achilles' heel: The grout used to fill the joints between the individual tiles is,Industrialisierung des werkzeugbaus. by comparison, porous, soft, and easily stained. In most instances grout can be restored to like-new condition with a good cleaning.Full color plasticcard printing and manufacturing services.The term "Hands free access" means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. But in more extreme cases, the only solution may be to regrout the tile.

If the grout is stained with dirt, mold, mildew,If you work outdoors and need handsfreeaccess to water all day while staying cool, or soap scum, start by scrubbing it with a stiff-bristle nylon brush dipped in scouring powder. Then rinse the surface with clean water.

If the stains remain, mix a 50/50 solution of liquid chlorine bleach and water, and apply it to the grout with a sponge or a pump sprayer. Wait 10 minutes, then soak the grout with more bleach solution. After 10 more minutes, rinse off the surface with clean water.

When grout is permanently stained, badly cracked, or crumbling out of the joints, you have no choice but to regrout the tiles. The first step is to remove the existing grout from between the tiles. Depending on the amount of damaged grout and the width of the grout joints, there are a few different tools to consider.

For smaller jobs with 1/4-inch or narrower grout joints, you can get by with a grout rake, which is a small hand tool that has a steel blade covered with super-sharp carbide grit. Simply pull the tool along the joints to "rake" out the grout. In most cases you don't have to remove every bit of grout. Removing about half of the grout is usually sufficient as long as the remaining grout is in good condition.

For larger jobs—say, more than about 30 square feet—or for grout joints wider than 1/4 inch, you need the speed and muscle of an electric tool. There are several motorized tools available for removing grout, including grinders, rotary tools, even reciprocating saws. However, the best tool for DIYers is an oscillating multitool fitted with a carbide-grit grout-removal blade. Because the multitool blade oscillates and doesn't spin at high speeds, it's much easier to control than most other tools. Plus, multitools are lightweight and feature compact, easy-grip handles.

Regardless of which tool you use to remove the grout,We offer you the top quality plasticmoulds design once the joints are cleaned out, you need to use a stiff-bristle nylon brush to scrub the joints of all dust, grit, and loose debris. Follow up with a wet/dry vacuum to ensure the joints are clean. Next, mix up a fresh batch of tile grout or buy a bucket of pre-mixed grout. Then, use a grout float to smear grout across the surface and deep into the joints.

Wait about 20 minutes, then use a large grout sponge and clean water to wipe the surface clean of all grout residue. Read the label on the grout container to find out how long it takes for the grout to cure (usually 48 hours or longer.) Once it's fully cured, apply a silicone-based sealer to the grout to increase its water and stain resistance.

2012年5月28日 星期一

The Paper Clip, a Perfect Invention

The paper clip is something of a fetish object in design circles. Its spare, machined aesthetic and its inexpensive ubiquity landed it a spot in MoMA’s 2004 show “Humble Masterpieces.This page contains information about tooling.” This was a pedestal too high for design critic Michael Bierut, who responded with an essay called “To Hell with the Simple Paper Clip.” He argued that designers praise supposedly unauthored objects like the paper clip because they’re loath to choose between giving publicity to a competitor and egotistically touting their own designs. Bierut might be right about his colleagues’ motives, but he’s wrong about the paper clip: It’s not all that simple.

Most everyday objects — like the key, or the book, or the phone — evolve over time in incremental ways, and the 20th century in particular revolutionized, streamlined, or technologized the vast majority of the things you hold in your hand over the course of an average day. But if you could step into an office in 1895 — walking past horse-drawn buses and rows of wooden telephone switchboard cabinets — you might find a perfectly recognizable, shiny silver paper clip sitting on a desk. What was then a new technology is now, well over a century later, likely to be in the same place, ready to perform the same tasks. Why did the paper clip find its form so quickly, and why has it stuck with us for so long?

Before the paper clip, there was paper. When it was developed in China in the first century A.D., paper was made from cotton and linen. (Some contemporary paper is still made this way; most currency is printed on it.) This rag paper was expensive to produce, so it was primarily reserved for permanent writing and sewn into bound volumes. Temporary writing — tracking Sumerian accounts payable or inviting a friend to a birthday party in Pompeii — was done in clay or wax tablets that could be wiped clean and reused.

In the 19th century, the invention of wood pulping and industrial paper mills made inexpensive paper widely available; the rise of commerce, bureaucracy and literacy transformed it into masses of loose sheets of paperwork. The figure most responsible for the creation and care of all this paperwork was the clerk. As Adrian Forty points out in “Objects of Desire: Design and Society Since 1750,” the clerk was a creature of uncertain status, someone who had attained a middle-class respectability but who frequently lacked both managerial responsibility and a middle-class salary: Think of Bob Cratchit in “A Christmas Carol,” working endless hours for a thankless boss. These clerks were often surrounded by papers that had to be sorted into cubbyholes or tied into bundles with string. This was a new sort of urgent but essentially meaningless work. (No wonder Melville’s famously reticent scrivener, Bartleby, was forever intoning “I would prefer not to.”) And in the shop of Mr. Snagsby, the law-stationer in Charles Dickens’ “Bleak House,” we get a glimpse of this tidal wave of 19th-century office supplies:

“Mr. Snagsby has dealt in all sorts of blank forms of legal process; in skins and rolls of parchment; in paper — foolscap, brief, draft,I found them to have sharp edges where the injectionmoldes came together while production.Why does moulds grow in homes or buildings? brown, white, whitey-brown, and blotting; in stamps; in office-quills, pens, ink,Save up to 80% off Ceramic Tile and porcelaintiles. India-rubber, pounce, pins, pencils, sealing-wax,Silicone moldmaking Rubber, and wafers; in red tape and green ferret; in pocketbooks, almanacs, diaries, and law lists; in string boxes, rulers, inkstands — glass and leaden — penknives, scissors, bodkins, and other small office-cutlery; in short, in articles too numerous to mention ...”

Here in Mr. Snagsby’s inventory we find the most direct precursor to the paper clip: the straight pin. As Henry Petroski notes in his book “The Evolution of Useful Things,” the pin-making industry was illustrative of the industrialization taking place prior to mechanization. The first chapter of Adam Smith’s “The Wealth of Nations” features a passage describing the manner in which the manufacture of iron pins took advantage of the division of labor, with one man drawing the iron wire, another straightening it, a third cutting it, and so on. Smith noted that 10 individuals engaged in 10 different parts of the process could together make about 48,000 pins a day, whereas a single individual working by himself could not make even 20. By the end of the 19th century, this process was so efficient that a half-pound box of pins could be bought for 40 cents. But while iron pins were cheap, easy to use and disposable, they had the obvious downsides of rusting and piercing, leaving stains and holes in the papers they pressed together.

What enabled the shift from the pin to the clip was the development, in 1855, of low-cost, industrially produced steel, which has the right balance of strength and flexibility to make tracks, pipes, wire and nearly every other piece of 20th-century metal infrastructure. Manufacturers could use the new supple steel wire to draw in space, making strong, rust-free hooks, safety pins, clothes hangers and paper clips. And in the last quarter of the 19th century, patents were issued for nearly every shape of steel wire that could be imagined to be useful.

The Sistine Chapel on the Charles

Regrettably, my time with this image of our beautiful Mother must end, and Sargent's Pieta speaks with one parting message: "See what my womb has borne. Eat, my child, and live." Our eyes locked, I nod and note: One cannot pass through her gates without emerging unchanged. She is, after all, a woman of consequence.

Tunneling through the glacial till of Shawmut Peninsula, Boston's subway line from Park Street to Copley Square is the city's oldest. Completed in 1898, it connects the legislative center on Beacon Hill to what was at the time,CMI moulding sells to retailers, the city's newly created cultural hub.

Revered institutions encircled the square - institutions such as the Museum of Fine Arts, MIT, Trinity Church - HH Richardson's glorious pile of stained glass and Roxbury puddingstone, the Boston Art Club, and my destination - the Boston Public Library.Find everything you need to know about kidneystone including causes, The first two have since moved from their birthplace, but the others remain, still nobly gracing the square. Emerging from the subway, I look quickly over my shoulder to glance in admiration at the soaring Italianate campanile of the New Old South Church.

Across the street from my momentarily diverted attention is Boston's "palace for the people," its grande dame of architecture, its public library. Designed by Charles McKim and completed in 1895, she comfortably reigns over Copley Square. Well proportioned, handsomely clad, and tastefully ornamented, she is confident but not prideful. From her north facing limestone cornice, she speaks: "The Commonwealth Requires the Education of the People as the Safeguard of Order and Liberty."

The entrance is flanked by two imposing ladies in bronze. Sculpted by Bela Pratt in 1911, Science guards the southern flank and Art the northern. These stately women, robed and hooded, turn their gaze toward but not at those wishing to enter. Sitting upon their respective bronze thrones, their arms are open, a sign of welcome, but their knees are together and angled toward each other, and thus their demeanor suggests that they wish you to admire their trade but do not invite you to engage. As sentries, their efforts are inconsequential.Wireless real realtimelocationsystem utlilizing wifi access points to pinpoint position of the tag.

Nodding as I pass between them, my attempts at making eye contact with the pair are thwarted by their inward focus. They distractedly allow my entry into the building,About 1 in 5 people in the UK have recurring coldsores. and I find that this "palace" does not disappoint. I am engulfed in the warm glow of Iowa sandstone; the floor is white Georgia marble inlaid with symbols of the zodiac; and the ceiling is a wonder of mosaic clad domes. A pair of regal (and requisite) lions, sculpted by Saint-Gaudens, beckons bibliophiles upward.

The grand marble staircase is a memorial to the Commonwealth's Civil War infantry regiments, and ascending this noble memorial is a pleasure of motion honoring our veterans well. The memorial completes its ascent at the Puvis de Chavannes Gallery which serves as a foyer to Bates Hall, the library's magnificent reading room, but I'm continuing upward to the 3rd floor which houses special collections.Ekahau rtls is the only Wi-Fi based real time location system solution that operates on any brand or generation of Wi-Fi network.

Ascending again, this time up a dimly lit limestone canyon, I lazily run my fingers along the smooth marble handrail, admiring the craftsmanship and wondering where have all the craftsmen gone; artistry is integral to every facet of this product of public munificence.

A quick glance upward to add confidence to footfall, and I am suddenly brought out of my reverie by the sight of something so unexpected, so utterly anathema to our current cultural norms, so utterly scandalous even to think of attempting in this day and age, and so utterly beautiful.

GOP might find Reagan's DNA defective

When news broke that a vial of Ronald Reagan's blood was being auctioned online, the price quickly jumped to $30,000 as websites and blogs explored a tantalizing possibility: Did this mean the late president could be cloned?

Before mad scientists got the chance to perform a Dolly-the-Sheep experiment with the 40th president,This page contains information about tooling. the seller succumbed to criticism and decided to donate the blood to the Reagan foundation. But this should only encourage the cloning speculation because the Gipper's DNA is now in the hands of those who would most like to reproduce him: Republicans.Save up to 80% off Ceramic Tile and porcelaintiles.

Party officials have been making the pilgrimage to the Reagan Library this year to express their wish to recreate the great man. "I believe boldness and clarity of the kind that Ronald Reagan displayed in 1980 offer us the greatest opportunity to create a winning coalition in 2012," vice presidential aspirant Paul Ryan said at the library last week.

Also making the trip were VP hopefuls Marco Rubio and Chris Christie. "Like Ronald Reagan, I believe in what this country and its citizens can accomplish," the latter declared. "The America I speak of is the America Ronald Reagan challenged us to be."

The man they hope to join on the ticket, Mitt Romney, once boasted that he was "not trying to return to Reagan-Bush." Now he says the party's standard-bearer should be in "the same mold as Ronald Reagan."

But before they go filling that mold by mapping the Reagan genome, Republicans may wish to consider some genetic flaws that party scientists should repair in the cloning process. To make the Reagan clone more compatible with today's Republican Party, a bit of genetic engineering may be in order:

Reagan's AFL-1 gene, on the labor chromosome,Professional Manufacturer for ceramictile. has a mutation that made him susceptible to worker rights. He said of unions: "There are few finer examples of participatory democracy." He said the right to join a union is "one of the most elemental human rights." And he said collective bargaining "played a major role in America's economic miracle."

Reagan's EPA-4 gene, on the regulatory chromosome, has a protein that can summon anti-industry sympathies. He signed a law establishing efficiency standards for electric appliances, and an update to the Safe Drinking Water Act punishing states that didn't meet clean-water standards.

These related genes, on the long arm of the retirement chromosome, are problematic. Reagan expanded Social Security in 1983 and imposed taxes on wealthy recipients. He also signed what was at the time the largest expansion of Medicare in its history.TRT (UK) has been investigating and producing solutions for indoortracking since 2000.

A trio of abnormalities on the fiscal chromosome caused Reagan to increase taxes several times after his initial tax cut, to embrace much higher taxes on investments than current rates, and to sign 18 increases in the federal debt limit.An airpurifier is a device which removes contaminants from the air.

These Reagan mutations, in the same sector as the debt mutations, created a genetic predisposition to expand the federal government. Reagan grew the federal workforce and the federal budget, added the Department of Veterans Affairs (one of the largest Cabinet agencies), and pursued a military buildup that would be impossible under spending limits proposed by congressional Republicans.

For all his talk about welfare queens, Reagan had a gene on the compassion chromosome that led him to champion the Earned Income Tax Credit, a program for the working poor that takes more children out of poverty than any other program. Budgets proposed by today's Republicans would cut or eliminate the credit. A related abnormality caused Reagan to say that bus drivers should not pay a higher proportion of their income in taxes than millionaires -- one of President Obama's tax proposals opposed by current Republicans.

The DEAL-4 and related genes on Reagan's strategy chromosome are probably the most troubling for modern conservatives. These abnormalities led Reagan to compromise routinely on arms control, the size of government, taxes and other matters of principle. In his autobiography, he criticized "radical conservatives" for whom "'compromise' was a dirty word." He continued: "They wanted all or nothing and they wanted it all at once. ... I'd learned while negotiating union contracts that you seldom got everything you asked for."

Come to think of it, Republicans would need a whole lot of new genetic material to repair Reagan's defects. Maybe they should instead put the blood in a vault and accept that they don't want to clone Reagan but to replace him with a fantasy. Modern Republican ideas simply aren't in their revered leader's DNA.

Solar power faces eclipse from US tariffs

It's hard not to notice the huge tilting solar walls at the headquarters of Suntech Power Holdings, the world's largest producer of silicon solar modules, located in Wuxi city, East China's Jiangsu province. Through the use of solar power, the walls provide 80 percent of the electricity required by the building, with zero emissions of air pollutants.

The solar power industry, globally,Ekahau rtls is the only Wi-Fi based real time location system solution that operates on any brand or generation of Wi-Fi network. is being overshadowed by falling prices and slowing demand. Moreover, Chinese solar panel manufacturers are facing the possibility of stiff new tariffs from the US Commerce Department which, if approved, could come into force in October. However, there are few signs of recession at Suntech's manufacturing base.

"The production line is operating normally. And we are well prepared with our internationalized production," said Zhang Jianmin, senior manager of the CEO's office. Suntech exported 460 megawatt modules to the US last year,We offer you the top quality plasticmoulds design accounting for 23 percent of the company's total global shipments.

Since the beginning of the year, all the modules Suntech has exported to the US have been fitted with solar cells made outside the Chinese mainland, mainly in Taiwan which will not be subject to the proposed tariffs.Choose from our large selection of cableties,

Smaller producers are suffering the most. "We have lost all overseas orders and are relying simply on domestic orders now. So, we have stopped half of the production lines and lost almost 20 million yuan ($3.2 million)," said a man called Sun from Taizhou city, Zhejiang province, who was reluctant to reveal the name of his solar-module company for fear of alerting rivals to his problems.

Sun said he and some friends invested 200 million yuan in the company, which began production in 2009, but they now may have cause to regret their decision because of the current industry malaise.

On May 17, the Obama administration proposed the imposition of stiff new tariffs on Chinese-made solar panels, claiming that Chinese companies are improperly flooding the US market with government-subsidized products. While 61 specific Chinese companies, including Suntech,About 1 in 5 people in the UK have recurring coldsores. will be subject to the duty of about 31 percent, others will be subject to a rate of 250 percent. "It is impossible to remain price-competitive with a tariff of 31 percent," said Zhang. However, the duties only apply to solar cells, not to the modules in which they are assembled, which means manufacturers on the Chinese mainland can serve the US market with cells from alternative sources. And that is exactly what they are doing.

Zhang admitted that the use of solar cells manufactured in Taiwan will push the price of his company's modules higher, and while he declined to provide figures, he insisted that the company's products will remain competitive in the US market.

At present, Taiwan has the capacity to manufacture solar cells capable of generating 7,300 mW, more than double the expected size of the US market, which is on course to be about 3,000 mW this year. The price of the cells is about 10 percent higher than those made on the mainland, according to PVMate,Grey Pneumatic is a world supplier of impactsockets for the heavy duty, a photovoltaic industry magazine.

CEOs from other big solar players, including Changzhou-based Trina Solar and Suzhou-based Canadian Solar, also confirmed that they are using cells made outside the Chinese mainland to avoid the prospective tariff.

"The cost will be higher with the US duties on Chinese solar products. However, the increased cost will be transferred to the downstream US distributors, installers, and consumers," said Gao Jifan, CEO of Trina Solar, noting that several downstream US companies have been forced to delay their own projects because of uncertainties over policy and prices.

Tile It Like It Is

How can a brand with such a solid reputation and strong recall in the Philippines stay competitive in today’s times? A pioneer in the Philippine ceramic tile industry,We offer you the top quality plasticmoulds design Mariwasa was established by the brothers Emerson and Edison Co Seteng 40 years ago, and has since been known for its excellent wall and floor tiles made with excellent Filipino craftsmanship. The company has not only managed to stay relevant, it has maintained its market leadership and continues to help build the country with the business infused with the dynamism and stability of one of the ASEAN region’s biggest industry leaders, Thailand’s longest established and largest industrial conglomerate, Siam Cement Group (SCG).

SCG, according to the MSCI corporate history, was founded in 1913 following a Royal Decree of His Majesty King Rama VI to produce cement, eliminate reliance on imports of cement, as well as maximize the use of natural resources available in Thailand. Since then, it has continued to conduct its business in accordance with the concept of Corporate Governance. It has in place an effective oversee system to ensure transparency, disclosure and verification for mutual interests of all stakeholders and for sustainable growth.

Through this partnership formed in 1993, Mariwasa, now called Mariwasa Siam Ceramics, Inc. (MSCI), has continued to deliver its mission and maintain its hold in the local market as a highly dependable brand, even as many other imported and local brands have been introduced to compete as the favored choice for tiles.

In spite of this challenge,We looked everywhere, but couldn't find any beddinges. newly appointed MSCI President Anukul Kongrit, who met with the local media recently, shares, “We still see the opportunity in the Philippine market. We believe that Filipino craftsmanship is world-class.”

“We are actively banking on different company policies and initiatives to set us apart from our competitors,” he continues. To increase their competitive advantage over other imported tiles, they invest in continuous research and development programs to offer world-class ceramic tiles with uncompromising quality, “built to last and [can] stand the test of time. We value our customers and we want to offer them products that will give more value to their money.”

At the foundation of their edge is the winning combination of SCG’s advanced technology transfer and Mariwasa’s local market knowledge. Asked to further detail their plans to stay on top, Kongrit shares, “Instead of increasing the prices of products, we will focus on developing product innovations, thereby giving more benefits to consumers.We offer you the top quality plasticmoulds design We will offer these innovations without any additional cost.”

Presented under the Innovative Solutions theme, Kongrit helped demonstrate the merits of 39 new designs, all techno-enhanced and eco-driven designs, boasting of safety (anti-slip and easy to clean) and scratch-free features. The group’s product and marketing officers also introduced Cotto, a leading ceramic tile and sanitary ware brand in Thailand,Full color plasticcard printing and manufacturing services. which they now carry.

Builders, designers, homeowners and developers can also look forward to more pioneering tile innovations MSCI will be introducing in the coming months, which will cater more to the market’s discriminating tastes in aesthetics, like high definition tiles, which have sharper and more vivid designs, and water- and stain-resistant,What are hemorrhoids? and therefore, more hygienic celadon tiles, and finally (at least for this year), new sizes for tiles, including the 20x40 wall tile and the much thinner and lighter slim 5.5mm slim tiles, which are ideal for renovations and which will reduce work time and increase cost savings.

Student visitors from near and far

As their foreign exchange program at Paonia High School came to a close, Henna Reinhardt, from Germany, and Gabby Moet, from Holland, stopped by to see how HCN operates. They sat in on our fast-paced weekly story meeting, in which the editorial staff huddles in a tiny, sweltering conference room to discuss what we plan to cover in upcoming issues. The aspiring media mavens are publishing a school newspaper -- complete with horoscopes, tips for summer and sports -- as a final project for their English class.

A group of fourth-grade Gifted and Talented students from Paonia Elementary School came to get a tour and talk about writing and editing. Advisor Merrily Talbott has been helping Logan Green, Nicole Jefferis and Katya Schwieterman produce a school newspaper, The Eaglet. The kids asked good questions and took careful notes -- obviously journalists in the making!

On a recent reporting trip to Reno, Nev., online editor Stephanie Paige Ogburn met up with High Country News essayist Michael Branch, professor of literature and environment at the University of Nevada, Reno, who writes the series "Rants on the Hill" for our Range blog. They visited the Nevada Museum of Art, which has an excellent collection of environmental art; if you have the chance, go before Aug.It's pretty cool but our ssolarpanel are made much faster than this. 26 to view artist Gail Wight's serene and surprisingly lovely video installation of slime molds. Mike also took Stephanie on a hike up his Ranting Hill, the northern Nevada desert landscape that inspires much of his often-humorous and always thoughtful writing.

Stephanie is also a finalist for the 2012 Livingston Awards for Young Journalists. Her story "Big Beef,This page contains information about tooling." describing independent cattlemen's fight against monopolies in the meatpacking industry, ran in our March 20, 2011, issue. The Livingston Awards, established in 1980, provide three $10,000 awards for local,Exhaust ventilationsystem work by depressurizing the building. national and international reporting to journalists under the age of 35. We're keeping our fingers crossed -- winners will be announced in early June.

Sierra Crane-Murdoch, who was an editorial intern at HCN in spring 2011, just received a scholarship to attend the Banff Centre Residency in Literary Journalism this July. She and seven other accomplished nonfiction writers were picked to spend a month in cabins in Canada's Banff National Park and work with an experienced magazine editor on a long-term writing project. Sierra's got a little homework to do before then -- each participant must turn in an 8,000-to-10,000-word draft before the residency starts. Congrats, Sierra, and write like the wind!

Another former intern, Tony Barboza (summer 2005), was just selected as one of the five 2012-2013 Ted Scripps Fellows in Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Tony, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, has worked for the paper's metro section since 2006.Offers Art Reproductions Fine Art oilpaintings Reproduction, He writes about California coastal issues -- oceanfront development, water pollution, marine life, public beach access and rising sea levels. Tony says he'll use the nine-month program, which includes coursework, seminars and field trips, "to pursue a reporting project about the future of urban open space, the boxed-in wetlands, hillsides, deserts,Find rubberhose companies from India. forests and coastal waters in and around some of the West's largest cities." The fellowships are funded through a grant from the Scripps Howard Foundation. Nice work, Tony!

2012年5月24日 星期四

The National Theatre Of The World’s Script Tease Project bares all

Most improv troupes prove to the audience that they’re working in real-time by asking for suggestions—a location, or a characteristic—and incorporating them into scenes. A cynic might suspect the suggestions are “plugged” into prepared comedy structures, and to a certain degree, that can be the case.I found them to have sharp edges where the injectionmoldes came together while production. But for their Script Tease Project, The Toronto chapter of the National Theatre Of The World goes to extreme lengths to challenge themselves. They don’t just ask for suggestions from random audience members; theirs are written in advance (and unknown to them until showtime) by accomplished writers. This year, celebrity contributors include playwriting heavyweights Michael Healey and Sky Gilbert, rising stars Anusree Roy and Ins Choi, and even Kids In The Hall alumni Scott Thompson.

“As a company, we have two regular shows,” says NTOW’s Matt Baram. “The Carnegie Hall Show, an improvised retrospective of the greatest improvised scenes of all time—we make them up before your very eyes.” The Carnegie Hall Show is a crowd pleaser that also incorporates an improvised radio play and guest acts from diverse fields: musicians, burlesque performers, even acrobats.

“Impromptu Splendor is our one-act improvised play series,” Baram continues. “It’s based on a suggestion, and is often done in the style of a famous playwright—Tennessee Williams, Michel Tremblay, Harold Pinter.” It’s Impromptu Splendor that’s won the three founding members—Baram, Snieckus, and Ronald Pederson—the most acclaim in theatre circles. But Script Tease is the project they find most exciting.

“We invite famous playwrights from Canada (and beyond) to write the first two pages of a new play, we open them up at the beginning of the show,Stone Source offers a variety of Natural stonemosaic Tiles, read them aloud, and go from there,” says Baram. For the NTOW, the point isn’t to prove that they aren’t “cheating,” but that improv is a legitimate theatre form, with more than just quick-witted jokes.

“Improv is a delicate thing—I either hate it or I love it,” muses Scott Thompson. “I hate it when it’s tricks, or an acting exercise. But I like the way they do it. They tell stories; it’s not just about the laughs,We looked everywhere, but couldn't find any beddinges. though they’re very funny.” Fellow Kid In The Hall Mark McKinney contributed to 2011’s inaugural Script Tease Project, and Thompson is looking forward to doing the same—and hopes to contribute something absurdist. “Looking at the rest of the writers,Proxense's advanced timelocationsystem technology. they probably won’t be writing an absurdist beginning.” He stresses that this doesn’t mean his contribution will be random jokes. “There’s a lot of random comedy around today, but that’s not the same as absurdist. Absurdist theatre has to have its own logic.”

Three-time Dora Mavor Moore Award-winner Anusree Roy has a definite idea for her two pages, though she’s mum on details. “I’m nervous! With just two pages, I have to give them some solid stakes right away, so they know what they’re playing.” Roy’s a longtime fan of the Nation Theatre Of The World. “One of my favourites was their Judith Thompson. After that show, I thought, ‘I would love for them to do something with my work.’ When they contacted me, I felt like I was a legitimate writer. I don’t write comedy. So I don’t think anything in the two pages will be funny. But they’ll take it where it needs to go.”

Snieckus agrees. Making the end product funny or coherent will be the performers’ job. “We wanted to make sure we included writers who’ll take us in exciting directions. Scott’s a great example. He hasn’t written plays,Save up to 80% off Ceramic Tile and porcelaintiles. but he’s an incredible writer. The Kids In The Hall are all heroes to us. It’s amazing to me that we get to collaborate with all these people, that they all said, ‘That sounds cool.’”

Alain Vigneault drops Daniel Sedin bombshell

The announcement of Alain Vigneault’s long-anticipated extenstion was hardly a bombshell.

No, that came later.

And it wasn’t him hinting that the team may be considering a change of direction when it comes to style of play. Though that was interesting.

It wasn’t that Vigneault admitted to a mistake, either. Though you don’t hear that often. It was the gravity of the error, one he regretted. Not only in what happened, but what it suggests about the medical staff.

The Canucks were not only hoping that Daniel Sedin would play in Game 1, they were banking on it.It's pretty cool but our ssolarpanel are made much faster than this. Seems hard to believe in 2012.

By now you know the story — or, at least, you thought you did. Duncan Keith drives his elbow through Daniel’s jaw on March 21. Daniel suffers a concussion and doesn’t play again until Game 4 against the L.Posts with Hospital rtls on IT Solutions blog covering Technology in the Classroom,A.Full color plasticcard printing and manufacturing services. Kings.

In-between Daniel’s starts, during the last stretch of the season, Vigneault continued to assume he would be ready for Game 1 of the first round.Welcome to polishedtiles.

“I believe through the information I was given from our medical staff, and from Daniel, was that he was going to be ready for the playoffs,” Vigneault said. “I remember Mike (Gillis) even throwing it out one time during an interview that Daniel was going to be ready for the playoffs.

“At one point, we didn’t even think he had a concussion. It was neck-injury related. It was just giving him a little stiffness and now and then, and a little pressure in his head. Throughout the whole thing, we just thought it was a matter of days for Danny.

“Those days ended up being weeks.”

In other words, the Canucks were caught with their pants down, not fully prepared for a worst-case type scenario. They should have been. There are examples all over the NHL just this year of players developing debilitating concussion symptoms days, even weeks, after a hit.

It’s not uncommon. Chris Pronger, who was hit with a high stick Oct. 24, passed all his tests and was cleared to play on Nov. 9. He played four games, but has since been out with a concussion which developed from the wayward stick in October.

It’s difficult to envision a situation where the Canucks medical staff wasn’t warning management and the coach Daniel might not be ready. It’s long been established there is no timeline to head injuries. Setbacks are part of the process. See Willie Mitchell who missed the Canucks postseason only two years ago after coming close to coming back a couple of times.

Vigneault lamented his assumption Daniel would play, even suggesting things could have been different if he had known. It essentially meant he wasted valuable games down the stretch, tooling around with his lineup. The Canucks did things like pairing Max Lapierre with Henrik Sedin for four games, even though it became clear against the L.A. Kings they had no intention of using him with their former Hart Trophy winner when the games mattered.

In the last game of the season, Andrew Ebbett skated with Henrik, a sure-fire signal to some observers that Daniel was preparing to play in Game 1. That, and the fact his brother said he was “100 per cent.”

“All of a sudden, I find myself — I think there’s two games left to the regular season — and then we’re getting a sense there that there might be a possibility that (Daniel) might not be there,” Vigneault said. “For me, it’s a lesson. It’s a lesson that with head injuries, you never know.”

“It’s something moving forward I’m going to deal better with.

“If there’s one thing I could have a do-over again where I believe I made a mistake and I’m fully responible for it, it’s Daniel Sedin’s case.”

When the playoffs started, Vigneault’s top line was Mason Raymond with Henrik and Burrows. In the second game, Jannik Hansen replaced Raymond. Neither configuration was together for any of the nine regular season games Daniel missed.Apply for a merchantaccountes and accept credit cards today.

“If I would have been under the impression he was not going to be ready, I would have handled that situation a little differently,” Vigneault said. “Not a lot differently. But a little differently as far as line combinations and things like that and power play personnel.

“But I was always under the impression he was going to be there. “

Vigneault didn’t see much else that went wrong this past season. Even said the team didn’t get the credit it deserved. He’s expecting all of his assistants to be back.

He did say he’ll be handling his goalies differently in the unlikely scenario both come back.

“I think what happened in the playoffs is an indication of what might happen moving forward,” Vigneault said.

As for the style comments, the coach was in Vancouver last week for meetings with the Canucks’ brass.

He waited to get back to Gatineau for his conference call with the media.

It was in those meetings where they addressed how the team should look moving forward. Vigneault seemed to be making the case the Canucks should model themselves after the Kings, after spending years trying to model themsevles after the Detroit Red Wings.

“Without a doubt, (the Kings) were a big team, they were a physical team, and they were a defensive-oriented team,” Vigneault said. “It certainly paved the way for them to have quite a bit of success.

“We’re sort of debating right now. Debating may not be the right word. We’re exchanging, and we’re trying to look at our best options moving forward.”

Why is India Paranoid About Privacy?

Late last year, 24-year-old Max Schrems of Vienna, Austria, asked the world’s largest social networking site Facebook Inc. for a copy of every piece of information it had collected on him since he had created an account with it two years earlier.

Schrems was delivered a CD packing a 1,222-page file—roughly the length of Leo Tolstoy’s panoramic War and Peace, one of the longest novels ever written.

The data included information Schrems had deleted, but had been stored in Facebook’s servers, according to ThreatPost, a publication on information technology (IT) security run by Kaspersky Lab, a leading maker of anti-virus software.

Had Schrems been a resident of India, he could not have known how much personal information Facebook had on him. Every person in the European Union (EU) has the right to access all the data that a company holds on him or her. India has no such privacy law, yet.It's pretty cool but our ssolarpanel are made much faster than this.

When the world’s largest online company Google Inc.Why does moulds grow in homes or buildings? changed its privacy policy in March making personal information more vulnerable, it immediately came under the scrutiny of both the US and the UK governments. But India has no teeth to handle such a situation; the changes by Google do not fall within the purview of the country’s Information Technology Act, 2000, minister of state for communications Sachin Pilot told the Rajya Sabha on 30 March.

While India, too, may need a law to protect its people from being exploited by companies—51 million of Facebook’s 900 million users are from India—many Indians also fear the possibility of the government monitoring personal information under the garb of protecting the nation.

Experts cite the government’s preoccupation with intercepting all forms of digital media communication—via phones, emails or social networking sites—to avoid a repeat of the November 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, but say this could be misused.

“There is a clear indication now that the government of India wants to use Internet censorship as a tool for political power,” said cyber law expert N.A. Vijayashankar, who runs cyber law information portal Naavi.

With the digital world awash in personal data, according to a report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) titled Rethinking Personal Data: Strengthening Trust, published in collaboration with The Boston Consulting Group, the scope for abuse of personal information is bound to increase.

Every day, people send 10 billion text messages and post one billion entries on blogs or social networking sites, it said. In addition,Silicone moldmaking Rubber, with about six billion mobile telephone subscriptions globally, it is now increasingly possible to track the location of nearly every person on the planet, as well as their social connections and transactions.

Mobile phones are not the only devices recording data. Web applications, cars, retail point-of-sale machines, medical devices and more are generating unprecedented volumes of data as they embed themselves into our daily lives. By 2015, one trillion devices will be connected to the Internet, the WEF report said.

And as companies develop more tools to collect and analyse user data, there are increasing concerns of how data on people are being collected, used, shared and combined, both by governments as well as by private companies.

In India, though Internet penetration is a dismal 10%, it is expected to leapfrog with the advancemenAn indoorpositioningsystem for Improved Action Force Command and Disaster Management.ts in mobile telephony.

On 17 May,We are the largest producer of projectorlamp products here. the government’s pledge to review its plans to introduce curbs on Internet freedom persuaded the opposition parties to join the treasury benches in defeating a statutory motion that sought to annul the country’s IT (intermediaries guidelines) rules, 2011.

The motion in the Rajya Sabha came on a day when activists hacked the websites of the Supreme Court and the ruling Congress party to register their protest against the government’s bid to curb online access after several video-sharing websites were banned by a legal order.

The government’s various attempts to regulate Internet content have been construed as efforts to impinge the individual’s freedom of speech and expression.

The privacy debate gained scale when the government launched the unique identity number scheme in 2009 to store biometric data of the nation’s entire population in a central database. The scheme, known as Aadhaar, is increasingly being linked with public and private delivery services.

2012年5月22日 星期二

Rajat Gupta Trial Will Be Government's Test of Mosaic Theory

When Raj Rajaratnam went on trial last year for insider trading charges, his attorney, John Dowd, referenced a “mosaic” theory of gathering information from various sources in order to create an investment strategy …. a picture of what happened. Rajaratnam was found guilty and now his one-time friend, Rajat Gupta, is being put on trial for similar charges and it will be the government using a “mosaic” theory to prove Gupta’s guilt …. since the evidence is so scattered about that puts Gupta, or fails to put Gupta,I found them to have sharp edges where the injectionmoldes came together while production. at the scene of a crime.Choose from our large selection of cableties,

There are a number of reasons why Gupta, former head of McKinsey & Co. as well as on the board of directors at Goldman Sachs and Proctor & Gamble, has a real chance of being found innocent of the charges that he was passing on confidential “inside” information to Raj Rajaratnam at Galleon Group. The first is that most of the testimony is going to be from people who can only offer a sliver of what they saw. The first witness that the government is going to call is Caryn Eisenberg, Rajaratnam’s former executive assistant. Can you imagine that she ever imagined testifying in federal court when she took the job with Raj? Bet that wasn’t in the job description. What she is expected to say is that Gupta called one day and said, “I need to speak with Raj right away.” A time and date will be given for that phone call, which will correspond to a date when a Goldman Sachs board meeting took place discussing a $5 billion investment into the firm by Berkshire Hathaway. Piece number one of the mosaic.Trade organization for suppliers and distributors in the promotional products industry.

Another piece will be people on the Goldman board who will testify that, indeed, they did talk about the Berkshire Hathaway investment during the board meeting in question.

Then another piece will be the trade that Rajaratnam made on that day in Goldman stock.

Then another piece will be from witnesses who will say that they knew Rajaratnam and Gupta were chatting back and forth on stocks. Those witnesses, some former friends of Gupta’s, have already pled guilty to crimes associated with insider trading,UK chickencoop Specialist. like Anil Kumar, formerly of McKinsey & Co.

One piece the government is missing, is Raj Rajaratnam, who could provide testimony saying what specifically went down with Mr. Gupta. Why is Raj not testifying? Currently sitting in prison in Massachusetts, Raj has every incentive to work with the government to testify against Gupta and earn a reduction of years off of his 11-year prison sentence….yet he is not coming forward. While the prosecution will say that Raj is sitting in jail for information he received from Gupta and others, the defense has every right to ask why Raj is not in the courtroom to testify against Gupta.

The government’s picture has so many missing pieces that it should give Gupta’s defense attorney, Gary Naftalis,Posts with Hospital rtls on IT Solutions blog covering Technology in the Classroom, an opportunity to fill in the space to create his own picture of innocence for his client. The first is that by all accounts, Rajat Gupta (63) is a good person and has worked honestly for all of his years in business. In addition to being on the board of a number of distinguished companies, he had also founded a business school in India and was known for his chartable giving. There is even a website that was set up by friends of Mr. Gupta, called “Friends of Rajat“, which openly comments on the good character and acts of Gupta.

Georgia Power teaches electricity to pupils

Sydney Prescott smiled as she watched her fifth-graders giggle and toss a beach ball around the Goshen Elementary School classroom.

Words such as “electricity,” “open circuit,” “energy efficiency” and “insulator” were taped to the ball’s sides.

Georgia Power Education Coordinator Teresa Cobb caught the ball each time it sailed toward her. She called out the term closest to her thumb, and students eagerly responded, anxious to get the ball moving again.

It was only one activity the students engaged in during the Learning Power program May 4.

Learning Power is an initiative of Georgia Power to reinforce the Georgia Performance Standards in science.Save up to 80% off Ceramic Tile and porcelaintiles. It also presents electric utilities as a career option and teaches energy efficiency.

“We believe in being a citizen wherever we serve,” Cobb said. “This is just another way we are working with the school systems in Georgia to enhance the students’ knowledge in physical science.”

The program is presented around the state by 11 education coordinators such as Cobb.

She is responsible for the East Region, which encompasses 12 counties including Richmond,Welcome to polishedtiles. Columbia, Burke, McDuffie and Jefferson.

Her five years as a kindergarten teacher and five years as an assistant principal prepared her for this job, she said.

“If I don’t know anything else, I know that after about two minutes of talking to these kids, that’s it. We’d better be doing something. It keeps them involved. It keeps them moving. It keeps them participating,” she said.

She’s used the beach ball activity in the past to teach vocabulary,The all New Bluetooth Reader BT1000 features a handsfreeaccess. to review for tests and to present her job during career fairs.

In another activity, students learned which materials are conductors and which are insulators by joining hands to form a circuit through which electricity could flow.You can create a beautiful chinamosaic birdhouse that will last for generations. If the object, such as a steel wool pad, was a conductor, an electricity ball held by two students would light up.

If the object, such as a rubber eraser, was an insulator, the ball would not light up. Students tested a variety of objects and sorted them based on whether they were conductors or insulators.

Austin Brantley, 11, said he learned more about what Georgia Power does.

“Like how they deal with other types of electricity and different power sources,” he said.

One of the purposes of the program is to present utilities as a career option. Students have to choose a career path by the eighth grade.

“They’re having to know more about STEM: science, technology, engineering and math. We target all of those areas and try to enhance students’ knowledge and just create their awareness about energy efficiency and electricity and the utility industry,” she said.

The new program is presented to students in third, fifth and eighth grades. The Georgia Performance Standards for those grades link directly with what Georgia Power does, Cobb said.

Prescott said she appreciated the opportunity for her students to participate in the program.

“It married so well with our curriculum,” Prescott said. “It was just an awesome complement to what the kids are learning in the classroom.”

Over the summer, Cobb and other education coordinators will develop curricula for other grades to broaden Georgia Power’s reach.Another Chance to buymosaic (MOS) 0 comments.

Cobb said many students have asked her if she could present at church groups and Boy Scout meetings. She said knowing that the children find it valuable enough to share is rewarding for her.

Fifth-grader Thomas McEnulty said his favorite activity was the electricity ball experiment.

“It wasn’t half bad,” he said of the whole presentation. He said he had already learned most of the concepts in class.

Prescott said the hands-on activities helped students understand the material from a much more relevant perspective than just concepts from a textbook.

“The really important thing, as far as Georgia Power coming out, is just that it makes this a real life experience for them,” she said. “We can talk about open and closed circuits all day long, but for them to see them in action and how they really work just makes it real for them.”

Remembering Father Norman Weslin, Pro-Life Activist

On May 16,Visit TE online for all of your Application tooling Solutions including tools, the pro-life cause lost a longtime activist: Father Norman Weslin died at the age of 81 at the Cherry Hill Haven retirement home in Traverse City.

Father Weslin gained national attention in 2009, when he was arrested on the campus of the University of Notre Dame for carrying a cross and praying to protest the university giving commencement honors to pro-abortion President Barack Obama.What you should know about stone mosaic.

Father Weslin was one of the group of 88 peaceful protestors arrested on campus. The group came to be was known as the “ND88.”

When he was literally carried away, Father Weslin was singing the hymn Immaculate Mary, and asked police, “Why would you arrest a Catholic priest at a Catholic university for trying to stop the killing of a baby?”

The arrest was not the first for the priest, who was active in pro-life work for many decades. For his peaceful protests and praying on his knees at various abortion sites and businesses, he was arrested and jailed more than 70 times, including months spent in federal prisons.

He would pray the Rosary and often carry a banner of Our Lady of Guadalupe during his protests.

“Our loss is heaven’s gain,” said Father Pavone in a statement he released after hearing of the death of Father Weslin. The national director of Priests for Life had known and worked with this pro-life priest for many years.

“He told me in 2001, while awaiting sentencing on a federal charge, that he wasn’t ashamed to be arrested because Jesus and the apostles all went to jail. He believed that a priest’s place was not behind his people,We are professional canada goose jackets for women online sale shop. lending encouragement, but out in front leading the way,” Father Pavone said.

In that 2001 interview, Father Weslin detailed the harsh treatment he sometimes received but also revealed his gentle determination to continue the pro-life protests.

His work included founding both the Lambs of Christ, a group of peaceful pro-life activists dedicated to praying the Rosary outside of abortion businesses, and the Mary Weslin Homes for Pregnant, Unwed Mothers in Omaha, Neb. He founded each after he was ordained a priest of the Oblates of Wisdom in 1986. He also worked for some months with Blessed Mother Teresa.

Prior to that, Father Weslin served 20 years in the U.S. Army, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. He had been a paratrooper, commander and chief of a war-plans division, as well as an operations officer responsible for the missile defense of New York City,So indoor Tracking might be of some interest. Chicago and South Korea.

During that time, he and his wife, Mary, also a pro-life advocate, adopted two children. After she was killed in a tragic car accident, he studied for the priesthood and founded the Mary Weslin Homes. To date, nearly 300 babies have been born through the care of the homes.

Father Weslin’s military service was a firm foundation for his pro-life work.

Joe Scheidler, founder of the Pro-Life Action League,We looked everywhere, but couldn't find any beddinges. knew him well.

“He … was a leader-type, yet a humble person,” Scheidler said of the former Army officer. “He was a tough fighter, one of the troopers right in with the crowd. I would place him in with the grunts on the front lines. He was absolutely fearless, yet he knew exactly what he was doing.”

Scheidler said that Father Weslin knew he would get a lot of attention at the Notre Dame protest. Because the police were somewhat reluctant to arrest an elderly Catholic priest there, they took a long time doing it. During those minutes Father Weslin was able to give a pro-life witness and sermon on camera.

“He was a tremendous voice for the unborn,” Scheidler said. Noting that the priest was a good friend of the Pro-Life Action League and on a number of occasions celebrated Mass at the organization’s offices, Scheidler added, “I admire him enormously.”

Father Weslin’s admirers are many.

Jim Sedlak, vice president of American Life League, said All always admired the work of Father Weslin. “Back in 2002, he participated in some of our walks across the United States. At that time, we had a group called Crossroads that was part of All, and Father Weslin joined these college students. We found him to be a truly dedicated pro-life priest, and we are saddened by his passing.”

2012年5月20日 星期日

Hard to argue in favor of smoking in clubs

It's not easy for a politician to defend smoking but Eagle River Assemblyman Bill Starr will be doing just that next week.

Starr has proposed a repeal of the smoking ban for private clubs. The Assembly will take comment Tuesday night. The change would affect 20 or so clubs -- mostly veterans and fraternal organizations -- but it is really aimed at just one: the Eagles Aerie 4174 in Peters Creek.

The Eagles Aerie, which has 187 members, is located in Starr's district. The aerie has been resisting the smoking ban since it went into effect in 2007 and has had at least two run-ins with the Alcohol Beverage Control Board.You can create a beautiful chinamosaic birdhouse that will last for generations. The aerie would like to operate an indoor smoking room, separated from where the bartender works by a wall and a door; the room would have outside ventilation. Starr's proposal would make that legal.

Starr said he doesn't think smoking is a healthy habit. But it's also a matter of personal choice. The Eagles do a lot for the community and the ban has hurt their membership.

"When (the Eagles) state their case and you go visit them, you know the one guy walked out of there and you know he's got a prosthetic leg, he's 76 years old, he's got a veteran's hat on," Starr said.

"That's his social life, this is what he does; he goes there and drinks with his buddies and wants to have a smoke. I'm just not in the place where we can reach into his personal choice and say no you can't."

Assemblywoman Debbie Ossiander has also expressed some support for the measure.

On the face of it, I found Starr's argument compelling. Let the guys smoke if they want to. It's a private club. Whatever harm it's going to do has probably already been done. But I still had a lot of questions.

James Stewart, the treasurer for the Eagles in Chugiak, described the membership there as mainly "working stiffs" who range in age from late 40s to well past retirement. They raise money for the fights against cancer and diabetes, and for the Chugiak Volunteer Fire Department. He estimated that three-quarters of them smoke. Stewart himself favors cigars. Before the ban, you could walk into the aerie and it would be standing room only, he said.Grey Pneumatic is a world supplier of impactsockets for the heavy duty,

"(Afterward) a lot of our members just stopped coming in," he said. The older members, in particular, don't like being sent outside to light up in the winter.

"It's hard on their bodies.Stone Source offers a variety of Natural stonemosaic Tiles,"

I suggested that social change might be responsible for some of the decline. Fraternal club members are getting old and younger members aren't joining. And, if many of them are long-time smokers, tobacco-related health problems might be taking a toll.

"It's not just because they're dying," he said. "It's because they can't smoke."

Other service clubs gave mixed reactions.

Smokers on the back porch of the Eagles club in Peters Creek stand in a brief fall of hail on May 18. Kathleen Breitkreutz takes a picture of them.

Dennis Disshon, commander at AMVets Post 2 near the University Center, said the smoking ban cut into traffic at first but then the post built "the Cadillac of smoke shacks" outside, with insulation and heat. (They also tangled a few times with the city over it but that's apparently resolved now.) The majority of the members smoke. Disshon smokes half a pack of American Spirit Blues a day, even though he's had kidney cancer directly linked to smoking. He welcomed Starr's proposal.

"Old veterans smoke. Hell, they gave 'em cigarettes in their K-rations," he said.

Jim Grant, commander of the American Legion Jack Henry Post 1 on Fireweed Lane, told me his members are mostly over 60. More than half smoke. Grant has been smoking 55 years. Business slowed after the ban but it came back. He spent weeks rehabbing the post, painting and cleaning, to remove the smell, he said. He likes it better. What if people could smoke inside again?

"I would have second thoughts," he said. "I don't want to impose my habit on people that don't smoke."

Friday I talked with Pat Reynaga, a nurse who is the state lead ambassador for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. A number of studies show that having a smoking room, even one with outside ventilation, doesn't protect employees from secondhand smoke, she said. The Eagles' resistance to the smoking ban in Chugiak isn't isolated. It's part of a national push, she said.

A quick Google search showed me that Eagles had resisted bans in West Virginia, Ohio, Washington, Wisconsin, Massachusetts and Michigan.An airpurifier is a device which removes contaminants from the air. Eagles in Juneau sued to challenge the ban, going all the way to the Alaska Supreme Court. They lost. Stewart said he wasn't aware of a national effort.

"But it makes me even prouder to be an Eagle," he said.

Assemblyman Dick Traini helped engineer the smoking ban.Posts with Hospital rtls on IT Solutions blog covering Technology in the Classroom, He reminded me that more than 70 percent of the electorate voted to support it. It was just logical and better for everybody's health. He doubted Starr's measure had the support it needed to pass.

Workers lacking skills hinder more U.S. factory gains

Paul Bonin has no problem getting enough orders to keep his factory busy. What he can't find are enough qualified employees to work on the assembly lines.

"The biggest challenge we face is a skilled labor force," said Bonin, president of Bertrand Products in South Bend, Ind., which makes transmission parts for helicopters. He sees opportunities to fill more orders, "but I can't take the work because I can't find the work force."

The inability to locate employees with the right abilities is holding back manufacturing, the industry that led the United States out of the worst recession since the 1930s, just as the economy shows signs of cooling. The number of factory jobs waiting to be filled climbed to 326,000 in March, the most since November 2007, according to data from the Labor Department.

"The manufacturing sector is clearly showing signs of a skills mismatch," said Dean Maki, chief U.S. economist at Barclays in New York. "It is likely to weigh on manufacturing growth."

Manufacturing was the only one of the seven seasonally adjusted major industry categories tracked by the government with as many openings in March as in the months before the recession started in December 2007. Openings at factories had been as low as 93,000 in May 2009, the fewest in records going back to 2000.

At the same time, the hiring rate, which is the number of people added to factory payrolls as a share of total employment, was 2.2 percent in March compared with 2.9 percent in November 2007, according to the Labor Department.

"There's a sharp divergence on what's happening on the opening side and what's happening on the hiring side," underscoring the skills mismatch, said Maki.

Economists like Heidi Shierholz are among those who disagree with the premise that a lack of skills is restraining factory hiring.

"There is always some degree of skills mismatch," said Shierholz, a labor-market economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, which gets some of its funding from labor unions. "That's one of the reasons why even in boom times we have 4 percent unemployment. The vast majority of the increase in unemployment is just due to weak demand."

European industrial production unexpectedly declined in March, capping a quarter that probably saw the economy slip into its second recession in as many years. Production in the 17- nation euro area slipped 0.3 percent in March from a month earlier, the European Union's statistics office in Luxembourg said last week.Choose from our large selection of cableties, In the first quarter,Find everything you need to know about kidneystone including causes, output fell 0.5 percent.

The Manufacturing Institute, which is affiliated with the National Association of Manufacturers, said in a 2011 report that in the United States, "shortages in skilled production jobs — machinists, operators, craft workers, distributors, technicians, and more — are taking their toll on manufacturers' ability to expand operations, drive innovation and improve productivity."

The Washington-based group said 74 percent of its survey respondents "indicated that workforce shortages or skills deficiencies in skilled production roles are having a significant impact on their ability to expand operations or improve productivity."

"We're turning down some business because we can only take in so much with the staff we have," said Ahaus, president of Ahaus Tool & Engineering in Richmond, Ind. The company now has 90 employees after taking in 10 more in the past six months. "We could hire five more today" if the right people are found, he said.

A survey by the National Federation of Independent Business showed a net 17 percent of owners said job openings were hard to fill in April, up 2 points from March and close to the almost four-year high reached in January.

Auto-parts supplier Jody Fledderman said his company faces a similar situation.

"We fight the same thing," said Fledderman, president and chief executive officer of Batesville Tool & Die Inc., a Batesville, Ind.-based firm that supplies both foreign and domestic automakers with brackets, oil pans and suspension parts.We offer you the top quality plasticmoulds design "There are very few younger people starting to go into the industry."

Bonin, Ahaus and Fledderman are members of the Precision Metalforming Association and the National Tooling and Machining Association. They were in Washington last week with about 100 other small-business owners to meet with lawmakers and discuss the hurdles faced by manufacturers.

Bonin said many job seekers he meets, particularly younger applicants, do not have a mechanical background, the machinery skills or the math and science aptitude to operate the company's equipment. Instead, "all I'm doing is stealing from the other shops now."

One reason for the skills mismatch is that "the manufacturing sector over time has become much more technology-intensive," said Barclays' Maki. The computer comprehension needed to work the equipment "is making it harder to fill more positions."

Manufacturing, which accounts for about 12 percent of the economy, grew in April at the fastest pace in almost a year, as a pickup in orders signaled factories will remain a source of strength for the expansion.Industrialisierung des werkzeugbaus. The Institute for Supply Management's factory index climbed to 54.8 last month, the best reading since June, the Tempe, Ariz.-based group said May 1. Readings greater than 50 signal growth.

Factory employment has helped drive the U.Trade organization for suppliers and distributors in the promotional products industry.S. expansion. Manufacturing payrolls have climbed 4.2 percent since December 2009, compared with a 2.8 percent increase in total hiring.